title: IG-11

text: Later, after IG-11 helps the party escape from the bunker into the sewer system, they come across a Mandalorian armorer in the tunnels, who provides them an escape route aboard a droid-controlled floating barge on a river of lava. As the barge approaches the tunnel exit, the Mandalorian's scans reveal that a large number of Moff Gideon's stormtroopers are hiding at the tunnel gate in an ambush. IG-11 concludes there was no scenario in which the Child could be saved and IG-11 would survive, so he decided to sacrifice himself. He asked the Mandalorian for an assurance that the Child would be safe in his care, which would allow him to default to his secondary command so he could self-destruct. The Mandalorian refuses at first, insisting they still need IG-11, but eventually he reluctantly agreed. He is saddened at the loss of IG-11, to which the droid responds: "There's nothing to be sad about. I've never been alive." IG-11 then walks through the river of lava, which causes him to start to melt down, but before doing so he reaches the stormtrooper squadron and detonates himself in the middle of them, killing them all in an explosion and ensuring safe passage for the others.


title: IG-11

text: IG-11 has a thin body made of an armored substrate, making it durable and able to withstand repeated assaults. He is an excellent and efficient fighter and an extremely accurate shot, capable of eliminating many enemies even when outnumbered. Taika Waititi, the actor who performs his voice, compared IG-11 to the Terminator, the murderous android character from the media franchise of the same name. IG-11 is also very fast, as illustrated by his ability to quickly catch up on foot to the two Imperial Scout Troopers who abduct the Child, even though they were riding on speeder bikes. When first introduced in "The Mandalorian", IG-11 is a ruthless killer, willing to annihilate his victims, and is single-minded in his purpose to collect upon his bounties. Once reprogrammed by Kuiil, IG-11 is still capable of great destruction, but his instincts now are for servitude and protection of the child instead of killing. He remains direct, stoic, and by-the-book, but his personality becomes obedient and deferential, with IG-11 serving the characters meals and tea like a maid. However, he shows the same level of determination he had as a bounty hunter when he is learning, or relearning, everything following his reprogramming. IG-11 does not understand sarcasm or know how to lie. Waititi described him as having a childlike innocence and naivety, saying: "It's like a child with a gun." IG-11 is often a comedic character, with his straightforward personality and monotonic line delivery providing what Kofi Outlaw of "Comicbook.com" called "unique off-beat droid humor". Waititi believed IG-11 became "a very lovable character" as the season progressed. Armaan Babu of Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide suggested there is a particular bond between IG-11 and Kuiil because they share similar histories: "Both IG-11 and Kuiil have violent pasts that they were sold and forced into against their will, who are now learning to live life on their own terms."


title: IG-11

text: IG-11 closely resembles a bounty hunter droid character of a similar model in the "Star Wars" franchise named IG-88, who made a brief appearance during one scene in "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) as one of several bounty hunters with whom Darth Vader meets. IG-88 stands in one place during the scene and does not move, so IG-11 marked the first time this type of droid was seen moving and in action in a live-action production. "The Mandalorian" executive producer Dave Filoni said of IG-88: "People forget in "Empire", you never even see him walk or take a step – the prop was actually bolted to the floor. So just giving (IG-11) feet was something new and original." "The Mandalorian" creator Jon Favreau first revealed IG-11 on Christmas of 2018, via a photo on the social media network Instagram of the character standing in front of a green screen, without identifying him by name. The character was then featured prominently in posters, commercials, and other promotional materials in advance of the release of "The Mandalorian".


title: IG-11

text: IG-11 immediately became a highly anticipated character among fans familiar with IG-88, and many fans and journalists mistook the character for the actual IG-88 due to their resemblance. In an "Entertainment Weekly" article that ran on April 14, 2019, Favreau clarified that the character was not IG-88, but rather an entirely new character named IG-11. Filoni said rather than simply reusing IG-88, he preferred establishing a new character without any defined backstory and contributing something new to the "Star Wars" universe. Filoni noted that IG-88 already had a well-established character history in the "Star Wars" expanded universe, which extends to novels, comic books, video games, and other mediums, even though most of his stories were no longer considered official canon following Disney's purchase of the franchise. Filoni also cited the success of Ahsoka Tano, a new character introduced in the television series "" and later featured in the show "Star Wars Rebels", as further validating for introducing a new character in IG-11 rather than re-using an old one.


title: IG-11

text: IG-11 was voiced by actor and director Taika Waititi. Favreau offered him the part, having become familiar with Waititi through their mutual work on films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; Favreau directed "Iron Man" (2008) and "Iron Man 2" (2010), executive-produced "Iron Man 3" and all four "Avengers" films, and portrayed Happy Hogan in several Marvel films, while Waititi directed "" (2017) and played Korg in two Marvel films. Favreau was impressed by Waititi's creativity and energy, describing him as "a powerhouse right now, creatively". He was also impressed by Waititi's comedic background and abilities, as well as his passion for the "Star Wars" franchise: "He brings his style of humor to it, but he was also a fan. To me, that was the bottom line." The casting was first announced by Favreau on March 21, 2019, when he posted a photo on Instagram of Waititi recording dialogue for the character. Waititi also directed the first-season finale, which included IG-11's final appearance in the series.


title: IG-11

text: Waititi said it was a challenge to come up with the voice for IG-11 because it had to lack human emotion and personality while still maintaining some semblance of humanity, which he described as a subtle and tricky balance. He described the voice somewhere between those of Siri, the virtual assistant of Apple Inc. products, and HAL 9000, the artificial intelligence character from "" (1968). Waititi said he felt IG-11 had an "amazing arc", changing and evolving as the series progressed.


title: IG-11

text: Kuiil's reprogramming of IG-11 raises nature versus nurture themes in "The Mandalorian". Even after IG-11 is reprogrammed, the Mandalorian does not believe he has truly changed, because he believes droids have an essential nature and that IG-11's nature remains murderous and untrustworthy. But in reprogramming IG-11, Kuiil nurtures him and helps him to change; Kuiil feels that in the process of learning how to function again, IG-11 gained a new personality. Kuiil insists to the Mandalorian: "Droids are not good or bad — they are neutral reflections of those who program them." Keith Phipps of "Vulture" wrote of IG-11 and the nature versus nurture theme: "He's not bad. He's just programmed that way, and with care and change he can do a lot of good in the world."


title: IG-11

text: The dynamic between Kuiil and IG-11 reflect a childrearing theme that is prevalent among multiple characters throughout the first season of "The Mandalorian". The two have a relationship similar to that of a father and son, as demonstrated in the scene in which Kuiil teaches IG-11 how to operate and function after the droid is reprogrammed. This dynamic is similar to the one shared by the Mandalorian and the child throughout the season. The Kuiil and IG-11 scenes also demonstrate that the way in which the "child" character is raised makes a significant difference in whether the child becomes an asset or a threat to those around him. The droid was a dangerous assassin before Kuiil reprogrammed him, but thanks to the Ugnaught's parenting, he becomes a protector and helper instead. This, too, is similar to the relationship between the Mandalorian and the Child. For example, the scene in which the Child uses the Force to choke Cara Dune shows that the Child has the potential for evil if he is not properly guided by his "parent".


title: IG-11

text: Additionally, Phipps questions of whether IG-11's destructive behavior around the Child could ultimately be bad for his development, even though the violence is intended to protect him. Since the Child may be learning by observing, Phipps suggests his Force power could become very dangerous if he uses it for violence like IG-11 does: "That look of wonder in the Child's eyes as IG-11 kills and kills again is hilarious, but also a little chilling." IG-11 also raises questions about the sentience of droids in the "Star Wars" universe. IG-11, like many droids in the franchise, appear to have a distinct personality and be almost fully sentient, but still accept full servitude to their biological masters and allies. Babu wrote: "Are the droids in the "Star Wars" universe all slaves, or is their free will merely an illusion borne of their programming, rendering the slavery question moot but bringing up a lot more? IG-11 seems like just the droid to explore that concept further."


title: IG-11

text: IG-11 has been received positively by reviewers and fans alike. Following the release of the season finale, a large number of fans took to social media outlets like Twitter to discuss and voice their appreciation for the character, with some calling him the best droid in the "Star Wars" franchise. Gina Carbone of "CinemaBlend" called IG-11 a "fan favorite", particularly praising his "amazing" final scene in the finale. Charles Ridgely of "Comicbook.com" called IG-11 "one of the most beloved characters in recent "Star Wars" history", as well as "the real MVP" of the season finale and possibly the entire series. He wrote: "If you've never been emotional about a droid before, IG-11 will certainly make it happen." Some fans on Twitter said IG-11's sacrifice was more powerful than a scene in "" in which C-3PO similarly puts himself in danger to help his friends. Umberto Gonzalez of "TheWrap" described the character as a scene stealer.


title: IG-11

text: "Screen Rant" placed IG-11 ranked sixth on list of the most interesting characters from the first season of "The Mandalorian", and fourth on a separate list of the best characters introduced by the show. He also ranked sixth on a "CinemaBlend" list of the most iconic droids of the "Star Wars" franchise. "Screen Rant" writer Kevin Pantoja called IG-11 "awesome from the moment we meet it", and said Taika Waititi's vocal performance is a large part of the character's appeal. Keith Phipps of "Vulture" said of IG-11 in the series finale: "The title may still read "The Mandalorian", but this episode really belongs to IG-11." Armaan Babu called IG-11 "one of the most interesting droids in the 'Star Wars' universe", describing his transformation from bounty hunter to protector a "surprisingly effective tale". Babu felt the story of IG-11 and Kuiil was strong enough that they warranted their own spin-off series. Likewise, "Variety" writer Will Thorne called IG-11's reprogramming and evolution surprising and unexpectedly moving: "Who knew we needed an emotional droid rehabilitation segment?"


title: IG-11

text: Taika Waititi has said of the character: "He really held up the entire season, didn't he? From episode one all the way through, he was the hero." In a January 2020 interview with "TheWrap", Waititi said he believed fans should start a petition to bring IG-11 back for the second season of "The Mandalorian", though some journalists believed the suggestion was facetious.


title: IG-11

text: A Funko Pop figurine of IG-11 was announced on December 31, 2019. An action figure of the character was released by Hot Toys, and Hasbro released a six-inch action figure of the character as part of the company's "" toy line.


title: Genesis G80

text: The Genesis G80 () is an executive sedan manufactured by South Korean luxury marque Genesis, which is owned by Hyundai Motor Company. The G80 model was previously introduced as the second-generation Hyundai Genesis model (DH) and then rebranded as the G80 in 2016 after Genesis Motor was established as a separate luxury division of Hyundai.


title: Genesis G80

text: The vehicle debuted as the updated version of the Hyundai Genesis at the 2016 North American International Auto Show, followed by the 2016 Busan Motor Show. South Korean models went on sale in July 2016 with US models selling in September 2016 as a 2017 model year vehicle. Powertrains available included 3.8, 3.8 HTRAC, 5.0, and 5.0 HTRAC. The Russian market release in 2017 included a 2.0-liter Theta turbocharged engine that produced , eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive.


title: Genesis G80

text: The Genesis G80 Sport (2017-2020) has a twin-turbo 3.3-liter V6 engine producing , features sport-styled bumpers, quad-exhaust tips, staggered nineteen-inch wheels, copper tint accent chrome, copper leather stitching and a mesh grille. The vehicle also comes standard with the Ultimate trim, technology package, heads-up display, panoramic sunroof, suede liner and Napa leather. The vehicle debuted at the 2016 Busan Motor Show, followed by the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show, and the 2017 North American International Auto Show. US models were sold as 2018, 2019, 2020 model year vehicles.


title: Genesis G80

text: All models have an eight-speed automatic transmission with shiftronic. The G80 is available with rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive (HTRAC).


title: Genesis G80

text: The second-generation Genesis G80, codenamed RG3, was officially revealed via an online livestream on March 30, 2020, and went on sale in the US during the summer of that year. It is also considered the third-generation model of the original Hyundai Genesis as the first-generation G80 model was initially launched as the second-generation Hyundai Genesis model (DH) and later rebranded as the G80 in 2016 after Genesis Motor became a separate luxury division of Hyundai. There are three engine options – a 2.5-liter gasoline turbo engine, a 3.5-liter gasoline turbo engine, or a 2.2-liter diesel engine.


title: Genesis G80

text: The Electrified G80 is the battery electric version of the G80. It debuted at the Shanghai Auto Show on 19 April 2021. It has been sold in South Korea since 2021.


title: Genesis G80

text: It is available in a dual-motor, all-wheel drive configuration. It uses two electric motors (272 kW combined), one at each axle, and a 87.2 kWh battery. The vehicle can charge from 10% to 80% in 22 minutes, if a 350 kW charger is available. Just like the Ioniq 5, it has a vehicle-to-load (V2L) function, meaning that various appliances like laptops or electric bikes can be plugged into the car (instead of a wall socket) and use the car as their power source. The Electrified G80 can be equipped with an optional solar roof.


title: Genesis G80

text: The interior contains recycled materials, including leather made with natural dye (seats, console and rear seat armrests), scrap wood produced after making furniture ("forged wood" garnish) and thread spun from plastic bottles. The Electrified G80 offers a Disconnector Actuator System (DAS), an Active Noise Control-Road (ANC-R) system, a Preview Electronic Control Suspension (Pre-view ECS), a solar charging roof, a Vehicle to Load (V2L) system and a 400/800V multi rapid charging system.


title: Genesis G80

text: The long wheelbase version of the Electrified G80 was used as the official VIP car for participating leaders and delegates at the 2022 G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia with the wheelbase extended to and overall length to .


title: Genesis G80

text: After the design release on July 5, 2021, the Genesis G80 Sport was released on August 10, 2021. This model introduced redesigned grills, bumpers, headlamps and wheels compared to the non-Sport model. A Cavendish Red paint color is exclusive for the G80 sports model. Two gasoline engines and a diesel are available.


title: Genesis G80

text: The G80 Sport is also equipped with Rear Wheel Steering (RWS) system, a technology that actively controls the optimal rear-wheel steering angle along with front-wheel steering.


title: Genesis G80

text: The Genesis G80 is manufactured in Ulsan, Korea. Between 2015 and 2018 worldwide sales of the G80 were 127,283. Hyundai Motor America sold 6,166 units in 2016, 16,214 units in 2017, and 7,663 units in 2018 in the United States. Hyundai attributes flagging US sales in 2018 to disagreements among its dealership networks that caused deliberate dwindling supplies, not on reduced consumer demand.


title: Genesis G80

text: During the 2017 NFL Pro Bowl, Genesis G80 sedans were awarded to offensive and defensive "most valuable players."


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Rafic Bahaa El Deen Al Hariri (; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese business tycoon and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation on .


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hariri headed five cabinets during his tenure. He was widely credited for his role in constructing the Taif Agreement that ended the 15-year Lebanese Civil War. He also played a huge role in reconstructing the Lebanese capital, Beirut. He was the first post-civil war prime minister and the most influential and wealthiest Lebanese politician until his assassination.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hariri was assassinated on 14 February 2005 by a suicide truck bomb in Beirut. Four Hezbollah members were indicted for the assassination and are being tried "in absentia" by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, but others have linked the assassination to the Syrian government. The outcome of a 15-year investigation led to the guilty verdict of multiple people in Hezbollah's party taking part; however, the only one left alive would be Salim Ayyash, a well-connected, mid-level operative in Hezbollah.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: The assassination was a catalyst for dramatic political change in Lebanon. The massive protests of the Cedar Revolution helped achieve the withdrawal of Syrian troops and security forces from Lebanon and a change in governments.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hariri was born on 1 November 1944 to a modest Sunni Muslim family in the Lebanese port city of Sidon. He had two siblings (brother Shafic and sister Bahia). He attended elementary and secondary school in Sidon, and graduated in business administration from Beirut Arab University.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: In 1965, Hariri went to Saudi Arabia to work. There, he taught for a short period of time before shifting to the construction industry. In 1978, he gained Saudi Arabian citizenship, in addition to his Lebanese citizenship.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: In 1969, Hariri established Ciconest, a small subcontracting firm, which soon went out of business. He then went in business with the French construction firm Oger for the construction of a hotel in Ta’if, Saudi Arabia, the timely construction of which earned praise from King Khaled. Hariri took over Oger, forming Saudi Oger, which became the main construction firm used by the Saudi Royal family for all their important developments. As a result, a few years after his first contract with King Khaled, Hariri had become a multi-billionaire.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Having accumulated his wealth, Hariri started a number of philanthropic projects, including the building of educational facilities in Lebanon. His first initiative in Lebanon was the Islamic Association for Culture and Education, which he founded in 1979. The association was later renamed the Hariri Foundation. Hariri became progressively more embroiled in politics. His appeals to the United Nations and services as an emissary to the Saudi Royal family won him international recognition on the political stage for his humanitarian efforts.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: In 1982, Hariri donated $12 million to Lebanese victims of the 1978 South Lebanon conflict and helped clean up Beirut's streets with his company's money and contributed to early reconstruction efforts during lulls in the Lebanon war. Said to have heavily financed opposing militias during the war, his former deputy Najah Wakim later accused him of helping to destroy downtown Beirut in order to rebuild it again and make billions of dollars in the process. After the conflict, he acted as an envoy of the Saudi royal family to Lebanon. He laid the groundwork that led to the 1989 Taif Accord, which Saudi Arabia organised to bring the warring factions together. Taif put an end to the civil war, building goodwill for Hariri politically. While acting as the Saudi envoy to Lebanon, he spent more time in Damascus than in Beirut where he ingratiated himself with the Assad regime; he had a new presidential palace built in Damascus as a gift to the Syrian dictator but Assad didn't use it personally.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hariri returned to Lebanon in the early 1980s as a wealthy man and began to build a name for himself by making large donations and contributions to various groups in Lebanon. However, he continued to serve as a political advisor to Prince Bandar bin Sultan in 1983. He was implanted as the Saudis' strong man following the collapse of the PLO and the paucity of any viable Sunni leadership in the country as well as a response to the rising power of the Shiite militia Amal. As a former Saudi diplomatic representative, he played a significant role in constructing the 1990 Taif Agreement that ended Lebanon's sixteen-year civil war. In 1992, Hariri became the first post-civil war prime minister of Lebanon under president Elias Hrawi. In addition, he was the minister of finance. After the 1996 elections he also took on the role of minister of post and telecommunications. Hariri put the country back on the financial map through the issuing of Eurobonds and won plaudits from the World Bank for his plan to borrow reconstruction money as the country's debt grew to become the largest per capita in the world. Between 1992 and 1996 the public debt grew from $3 billion to $9 billion. His first premiership lasted until 1998, and Hariri was replaced by Salim Hoss as prime minister. In fact, as a result of the power struggle between Hariri and newly elected president Émile Lahoud, he left office.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: In October 2000, Hariri was again appointed prime minister, replacing Salim Hoss, and formed the cabinet. In September 2004, Hariri defended UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which called for "all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon." On 20 October 2004, his second term ended when he resigned from office. Omar Karami succeeded him as prime minister.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hariri implemented an aggressive new economic policy. In 1992 inflation was running at 131% but such was the confidence in Hariri’s leadership that within two years it had been reduced to 12%. Perhaps Hariri's most important creation in the beginning of his career was "Horizon 2000" the government's name for its new rejuvenation plan. A large component of "Horizon 2000" was Solidere, the privately owned construction company that was established to reconstruct post-war Lebanon. Solidere was owned by the government and private investors. Solidere was largely focused on redeveloping Beirut's downtown and turning it into a new urban center as quickly as possible as one aspect of the various infrastructure redevelopment plans that would be implemented by "Horizon 2000". Solidere was given powers of compulsory purchase, compensating in Solidere shares rather than cash, and was accused of harassment and underpaying former land owners. Another aspect of the decade-long plan was the privatization of major industries. Numerous contracts were awarded in important industries such as energy, telecommunications, electricity, airports and roads.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: The last and perhaps most significant aspect of "Horizon 2000" was economic stimulus via foreign direct investment. Specifically, Hariri supported foreign firms and individuals taking an interest in Lebanon's developmental potential. Hariri simplified tax codes and provided tax breaks to foreign investors. Due to his previous successes in the private sector and the numerous resulting international connections, Hariri was able to garner a significant amount of low-interest loans from foreign investors. Hariri also pursued aggressive macroeconomic policy such as maintaining strict regulations on bank reserves and inter-bank interest rates to curb inflation and raise the value of the Lebanese pound relative to the dollar.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hariri's economic policies were a remarkable success during his first year in office. From 1992 to 1993 there was a 6 percent increase in real national income, the capital base of commercial banks effectively doubled, the budgetary earnings hovered at around a billion dollars, and commercial banks' consolidated balance sheets increased about 25%. By 1998, however, real GDP growth was around 1%, a year later it would be -1%, national debt had skyrocketed 540% from two to eighteen billion dollars, Lebanon's economy was in a miserable state.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: In 1996 it was estimated that 30% of Lebanon’s population were living below the poverty line and that there were 500,000 Syrian labourers working illegally in the country.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Amid the political crisis brought on by the extension of President Émile Lahoud's term, Hariri resigned as Prime Minister, saying: "I have... submitted the resignation of the government, and I have declared that I will not be a candidate to head the (next) government."


title: Rafic Hariri

text: During a BBC interview in 2001, Harīrī was asked by Tim Sebastian why he refused to hand over members of Hezbollah that were accused by America of being terrorists. He responded that Hezbollah were the ones protecting Lebanon against the Israeli occupation and called for implementation of passed United Nations resolutions against Israel. He was further accused of making the American coalition in the war on terrorism worthless and asked if he was ready for the consequences of his refusal, reminding him that George W. Bush had said: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." He replied that he had hoped there would be no consequences, but would deal with them if they arrive. Hariri further said that he opposed the killing of all humans – Israeli, Palestinian, Syrian or Lebanese – and believed in dialogue as a solution. He further went on to say that Syria would have to stay in Lebanon for protection of Lebanon until they are no longer needed and Lebanon asks them to leave.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a recent recruit of the anti-Syrian opposition, emboldened by popular anger and civic action now being called Lebanon's Cedar Revolution, alleged in the wake of the assassination that on 26 August 2004 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad threatened Hariri, saying "<nowiki>[</nowiki>President of Lebanon<nowiki>]</nowiki> Lahoud is me. ... If you and Chirac want me out of Lebanon, I will break Lebanon." He was quoted as saying "When I heard him telling us those words, I knew that it was his condemnation of death." This meeting between Hariri and Assad, which had been on 26 August 2004, lasted for just fifteen minutes.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: On 22 June 2005, Beirut International Airport was renamed Rafic Hariri International Airport. Additionally, Beirut General University hospital was renamed Rafiq Hariri Hospital. Rafic Hariri was succeeded by his son Saad Hariri as leader of the Future Party.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hariri was accused of corruption that plagued Lebanon during the Syrian occupation. Among the allegations made against him was that his wealth grew from less than $1 billion when he was appointed prime minister in 1992, to over $16 billion when he died. The Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut's Central District, known as Solidere, in which Hariri is the primary shareholder, expropriated most property in the central business district of Beirut, compensating each owner with shares in the company which were worth as little as 15% of the property's value. That Hariri and his business associates profited immensely from this project was an open secret.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: In 1996, at the beginning of Hariri’s second term as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance it was reported that $26 million had been embezzled from the Ministry of Finance.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hariri and his protégés were not the only beneficiaries of this spending spree. In order to secure support from militia chieftains, and pro-Syrian ideologues that Damascus had installed in the government, Hariri allowed kickbacks from public spending to enrich all major government figures. Contracts for the import of petroleum were awarded to the two sons of President Elias Hrawi.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: As result of the growing criticism and popular discontent with Hariri's policies, the government banned public demonstrations in 1994 and relied upon the Army to enforce the decree. In return for a relatively free hand in economic matters, Hariri cooperated with Syria's drive to consolidate its control over Lebanon. Under the guise of "regulating" the audiovisual media, the government placed control of all major television and radio stations in the hands of pro-Syrian elites. Supporters of Michel Aoun were also perpetually harassed and detained.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: On 25 September 1996 Prime Minister Hariri’s government issued a decree ordering the closure of Lebanon’s 150 privately owned radio stations and 50 TV stations. This followed Information Minister Farid Makari’s 17 September order banning the broadcast of news programs. Licences were to be issued to Future Television owned by Hariri, the Christian owned Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI), Murr Television (MTV) owned by the brother of Michel Murr the interior minister, and the National Broadcasting Network (NBN) being set up by Nabih Berri.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: The radio stations which were to be given licenses were Hariri’s Orient Radio, Berri’s NBN, and the Lebanese Forces’s Voice of Free Lebanon. It was estimated that the move would result in the loss of 5,000 jobs.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hariri married twice. He had six children. In 1965, he married an Iraqi woman, Nidal Bustani, who is the mother of his three sons; Bahaa (born 1967), who is a businessman, Saad, who succeeded his father as leader of the future movement, and Houssam—who died in a traffic accident in the US in the late 1980s. They divorced. He married his second spouse, Nazik Audi, in 1976 and she is the mother of three of Hariri's children: Ayman, Fahd and Hind.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: From 1982 until his death, Hariri owned 2–8a Rutland Gate, a large house in London's Knightsbridge district. The house was gifted to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Sultan bin Abdulaziz, after Hariri's assassination.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: On 14 February 2005, Hariri was killed when explosives equivalent to around of TNT concealed inside a parked Mitsubishi van were detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel in Beirut. 23 people, including Hariri himself, were killed. Among the dead were several of Hariri's bodyguards and his friend and former Minister of the Economy Bassel Fleihan. Hariri was buried along with his bodyguards, who died in the bombing, in a location near Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: A 2006 report by Serge Brammertz indicated that DNA evidence collected from the crime scene suggests that the assassination might be the act of a young male suicide bomber.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: In its first two reports in 2014, the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission indicated that the Syrian government may be linked to the assassination. Lawyers tasked with prosecuting those responsible for the 2005 bombing said they had received evidence linking Bashar Assad's phone to the case. In its tenth report, the UNIIIC concluded "that a network of individuals acted in concert to carry out the assassination of Rafiq Hariri.”


title: Rafic Hariri

text: A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news investigation claimed that the special UN investigation team had found evidence for the responsibility of Hezbollah in the assassination. A UN-backed tribunal issued four arrest warrants to members of Hezbollah.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Alleged Hezbollah supporters Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra have been indicted for the assassination and were tried "in absentia" by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hariri was well regarded among international leaders, for example, he was a close friend of French President Jacques Chirac. Chirac was one of the first foreign dignitaries to offer condolences to Hariri's widow in person at her home in Beirut. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was also created at his instigation. Syria was initially accused of the assassination, which led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon following widespread protests.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Major General Jamil Al Sayyed, then head of Lebanese General Security, Brigadier General Mustafa Hamdan, Major General Ali Hajj and Brigadier General Raymond Azar were all arrested in August 2005 at the request of German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who was carrying out the UN investigation about the assassination. Sayyed was one of the persons who decided to assassinate Rafik Hariri according to a leaked draft version of the Mehlis report along with other Syrian high-rank intelligence and security officers and officials, namely Assef Shawkat, Maher Assad, Hassan Khalil and Bahjat Suleyman. However, later reports about the assassination did not repeat the allegations against Jamil Al Sayyed and other three Lebanese generals. Four Lebanese generals were held in Roumieh prison, northeast of Beirut from 2005 to 2009. They were released from the prison due to lack of evidence in 2009.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Following Hariri's death, there were several other bombings and assassinations against minor anti-Syrian figures. These included Samir Kassir, George Hawi, Gebran Tueni, Pierre Amine Gemayel, Antoine Ghanem and Walid Eido. Assassination attempts were made on Elias Murr, May Chidiac, and Samir Shehade (who was investigating Hariri's death).


title: Rafic Hariri

text: An indictment against alleged Hezbollah members Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra was issued and confirmed by the Pre-Trial Judge of the United Nations special tribunal (see Special Tribunal for Lebanon) in 2011. In February 2014, the case against Hassan Habib Merhi was joined with the "Ayyash et al." case. Proceedings against the accused Mustafa Badreddine were terminated in July 2016 following credible reports of his death. Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra currently remain on trial "in absentia".


title: Rafic Hariri

text: Hezbollah accused Israel of the assassination of Hariri. According to Hezbollah officials, the assassination of Hariri was planned by the Mossad as a means of expelling the Syrian army from Lebanon. In August 2010, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah presented evidence, consisting of intercepted Israeli spy-drone video footage, which he said implicated Israel in the assassination of Hariri. After an altercation between male Tribunal staff and women at a gynecology clinic in October 2010, Hezbollah demanded that the Lebanese government stop all cooperation with the Special Tribunal, claiming the tribunal to be an infringement on Lebanese sovereignty by western governments. On 1 November 2010, a report was leaked by "Al Akhbar", a local secular, leftist newspaper, stating that Hezbollah drafted plans for a quick takeover of the country in the case an indictment against its members is issued by the UN Special Tribunal. The report states that Hezbollah conducted a simulation of the plan on 28 October, immediately following a speech by its secretary general.


title: Rafic Hariri

text: On the other side, it was revealed by leaked US embassy cables that then Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate director Omar Suleiman reported that Syria "desperately" wanted to stop the investigation of the Tribunal.


title: Question

text: A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are interrogative in form but may not be considered bona fide questions, as they are not expected to be answered.


title: Question

text: Questions come in a number of varieties. "Polar questions" are those such as the English example "Is this a polar question?", which can be answered with "yes" or "no". "Alternative questions" such as "Is this a polar question, or an alternative question?" present a list of possibilities to choose from. "Open questions" such as "What kind of question is this?" allow many possible resolutions.


title: Question

text: Questions are widely studied in linguistics and philosophy of language. In the subfield of pragmatics, questions are regarded as illocutionary acts which raise an issue to be resolved in discourse. In approaches to formal semantics such as alternative semantics or inquisitive semantics, questions are regarded as the denotations of interrogatives, and are typically identified as sets of the propositions which answer them.


title: Question

text: At the level of semantics, a question is defined by its ability to establish a set of logically possible answers.


title: Question

text: At the level of pragmatics, a question is an illocutionary category of speech act which seeks to obtain information from the addressee.


title: Question

text: At the level of syntax, the interrogative is a type of clause which is characteristically associated with questions, and defined by certain grammatical rules (such as subject–auxiliary inversion in English) which vary by language.


title: Question

text: Some authors conflate these definitions. While prototypical questions (such as "What is your name?") will satisfy all three definitions, their overlap is not complete. For example "I would like to know your name." satisfies the pragmatic definition, but not the semantic or syntactic ones. Such mismatches of form and function are called indirect speech acts.


title: Question

text: The principal use of questions is to elicit information from the person being addressed by indicating the information which the speaker (or writer) desires.


title: Question

text: A slight variant is the display question, where the addressee is asked to produce information which is already known to the speaker. For example, a teacher or game show host might ask "What is the capital of Australia?" to test the knowledge of a student or contestant.


title: Question

text: A direction question is one that seeks an instruction rather than factual information. It differs from a typical ("information") question in that the characteristic response is a directive rather than a declarative statement. For example:


title: Question

text: Questions may also be used as the basis for a number of indirect speech acts. For example, the imperative sentence "Pass the salt." can be reformulated (somewhat more politely) as:


title: Question

text: The term rhetorical question may be colloquially applied to a number of uses of questions where the speaker does not seek or expect an answer (perhaps because the answer is implied or obvious), such as:


title: Question

text: Loaded questions (a special case of complex questions), such as "Have you stopped beating your wife?" may be used as a joke or to embarrass an audience, because any answer a person could give would imply more information than he was willing to affirm.


title: Question

text: The main semantic classification of questions is according to the set of logically possible answers that they admit. An open question, such as "What is your name?", allows indefinitely many possible answers. A closed question admits a finite number of possible answers. Closed questions may be further subdivided into yes–no questions (such as "Are you hungry?") and alternative questions (such as "Do you want jam or marmalade?").


title: Question

text: The distinction between these classes tends to be grammaticalized. In English, open and closed interrogatives are distinct clause types characteristically associated with open and closed questions, respectively.


title: Question

text: A "yes–no question" (also called a "polar question", or "general question") asks whether some statement is true. They can in principle be answered by a "yes" or "no" (or similar words or expressions in other languages). Examples include "Do you take sugar?", "Should they be believed?" and "Am I the loneliest person in the world?"


title: Question

text: An "alternative question" presents two or more discrete choices as possible answers in an assumption that only one of them is true. For example:


title: Question

text: The canonical expected answer to such a question would be either "England", "Ireland", or "Wales". Such an alternative question presupposes that the addressee supports one of these three teams. The addressee may cancel this presupposition with an answer like "None of them".


title: Question

text: In English, alternative questions are not syntactically distinguished from yes–no questions. Depending on context, the same question may have either interpretation:


title: Question

text: An "open question" (also called a "variable question", "non-polar question", or "special question") admits indefinitely many possible answers. For example:


title: Question

text: In English, these are typically embodied in a closed interrogative clause, which uses an interrogative word such as "when", "who", or "what". These are also called "wh"-words, and for this reason open questions may also be called "wh"-questions.


title: Question

text: Questions may be marked by some combination of word order, morphology, interrogative words, and intonation. Where languages have one or more clause type characteristically used to form questions, they are called interrogative clauses. Open and closed questions are generally distinguished grammatically, with the former identified by the use of interrogative words.


title: Question

text: In English, German, French and various other (mostly European) languages, both forms of interrogative are subject to an inversion of word order between verb and subject. In English, the inversion is limited to auxiliary verbs, which sometimes necessitates the addition of the auxiliary "do", as in:


title: Question

text: Open questions are formed by the use of interrogative words such as, in English, "when", "what", or "which". These stand in as variables representing the unknown information being sought. They may also combine with other words to form interrogative phrases, such as "which shoes" in:


title: Question

text: In many languages, including English and most other European languages, the interrogative phrase must (with certain exceptions such as echo questions) appear at the beginning of the sentence, a phenomenon known as wh-fronting. In other languages, the interrogative appears in the same position as it would in a corresponding declarative sentence ("in situ").


title: Question

text: Different languages may use different mechanisms to distinguish polar ("yes-no") questions from declarative statements (in addition to the question mark). English is one of a small number of languages which use word order. Another example is French:


title: Question

text: Cross-linguistically, the most common method of marking a polar question is with an interrogative particle, such as the Japanese "ka", Mandarin "ma" and Polish "czy".


title: Question

text: Of the languages examined in the World Atlas of Language Structures, only one, Atatláhuca–San Miguel Mixtec, was found to have no distinction between declaratives and polar questions.


title: Question

text: Most languages have an intonational pattern which is characteristic of questions (often involving a raised pitch at the end, as in English).


title: Question

text: In some languages, such as English, or Russian, a rising declarative is a sentence which is syntactically declarative but is understood as a question by the use of a rising intonation. For example, "You're not using this?"


title: Question

text: On the other hand, there are English dialects (Southern Californian English, New Zealand English) in which rising declaratives (the "uptalk") do not constitute questions. However it is established that in English there is a distinction between "assertive" rising declaratives and "inquisitive" rising declaratives, distinguished by their prosody.


title: Question

text: Questions may be phrased as a request for confirmation for a statement the interrogator already believes to be true.


title: Question

text: A tag question is a polar question formed by the addition of an interrogative fragment (the "tag") to a (typically declarative) clause. For example:


title: Question

text: Question (C) indicates speaker's commitment to the truth of the statement that somebody killed the cat, but no commitment as to whether John did it or didn't.


title: Question

text: In languages written in Latin, Cyrillic or certain other scripts, a question mark at the end of a sentence identifies questions in writing. As with intonation, this feature is not restricted to sentences having the grammatical form of questions – it may also indicate a sentence's pragmatic function.


title: Question

text: In Spanish an additional inverted mark is placed at the beginning: "¿Cómo está usted?" "How are you?". An uncommon variant of the question mark is the interrobang (‽), which combines the function of the question mark and the exclamation mark.


title: Question

text: The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language distinguishes between an "answer" (being a member of the set of logically possible answers, as delineated in ) and a "response" (any statement made by the addressee in reply to the question). For example, the following are all possible responses to the question "Is Alice ready to leave?"


title: Question

text: Only the [i] responses are answers in the Cambridge sense. The responses in [ii] avoid committing to a "yes" or "no" answer. The responses in [iii] all "implicate" an answer of "no", but are not logically equivalent to "no". (For example, in [iiib], the respondent can cancel the implicature by adding a statement like: "Fortunately, she packed everything up early.")


title: Question

text: A direct answer to a given question is a piece of language that completely, but just completely, answers the question...What is crucial is that it be effectively decidable whether a piece of language is a direct answer to a specific question... To each clear question there corresponds a set of statements which are "directly" responsive. ... A direct answer must provide an unarguably final resolution of the question.


title: Question

text: "Negative questions" are interrogative sentences which contain negation in their phrasing, such as "Shouldn't you be working?" These can have different ways of expressing affirmation and denial from the standard form of question, and they can be confusing, since it is sometimes unclear whether the answer should be the opposite of the answer to the non-negated question. For example, if one does not have a passport, both "Do you have a passport?" and "Don't you have a passport?" are properly answered with "No", despite apparently asking opposite questions. The Japanese and Korean languages avoid this ambiguity. Answering "No" to the second of these in Japanese or Korean would mean, "I "do" have a passport".


title: Question

text: A similar ambiguous question in English is "Do you mind if...?" The responder may reply unambiguously "Yes, I do mind," if they do mind, or "No, I don't mind," if they don't, but a simple "No" or "Yes" answer can lead to confusion, as a single "No" can seem like a "Yes, I do mind" (as in "No, please don't do that"), and a "Yes" can seem like a "No, I don't mind" (as in "Yes, go ahead"). An easy way to bypass this confusion would be to ask a non-negative question, such as "Is it all right with you if...?"


title: Question

text: Some languages have different particles (for example the French ""si"", the German ""doch"" or the Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian ""jo"") to answer negative questions (or negative statements) in an affirmative way; they provide a means to express contradiction.


title: Question

text: As well as direct questions (such as "Where are my keys?"), there also exist indirect questions (also called "interrogative content clauses"), such as "where my keys are". These are used as subordinate clauses in sentences such as "I wonder where my keys are" and "Ask him where my keys are." Indirect questions do not necessarily follow the same rules of grammar as direct questions. For example, in English and some other languages, indirect questions are formed without inversion of subject and verb (compare the word order in "where are they?" and "(I wonder) where they are"). Indirect questions may also be subject to the changes of tense and other changes that apply generally to indirect speech.


title: Question

text: Questions are used from the most elementary stage of learning to original research. In the scientific method, a question often forms the basis of the investigation and can be considered a transition between the observation and hypothesis stages. Students of all ages use questions in their learning of topics, and the skill of having learners creating "investigatable" questions is a central part of inquiry education. The Socratic method of questioning student responses may be used by a teacher to lead the student towards the truth without direct instruction, and also helps students to form logical conclusions.


title: Question

text: A widespread and accepted use of questions in an educational context is the assessment of students' knowledge through exams.


title: Question

text: Enculturated apes Kanzi, Washoe, Sarah and a few others who underwent extensive language training programs (with the use of gestures and other visual forms of communications) successfully learned to "answer" quite complex questions and requests (including question words "who", "what", "where"), although so far they have failed to learn how to "ask questions themselves". For example, David and Anne Premack wrote: "Though she [Sarah] understood the question, she did not herself ask any questions — unlike the child who asks interminable questions, such as What that? Who making noise? When Daddy come home? Me go Granny's house? Where puppy? Sarah never delayed the departure of her trainer after her lessons by asking where the trainer was going, when she was returning, or anything else". The ability to ask questions is often assessed in relation to comprehension of syntactic structures. It is widely accepted that the first questions are asked by humans during their early infancy, at the pre-syntactic, one word stage of language development, with the use of question intonation.


title: Miru Tights

text: The first morning of the new semester is rainy, with cherry blossoms falling onto the puddles. The students of Yaegasumi High School enter the school gate with various colors of umbrellas. In front of the shoe locker, Yua starts chatting with her friend, Ren Aikawa, whose tights got wet from the rain. Homi, who was drenched, joined them pretending she was jumping. The new semester begins with the girls doing seemingly normal things, while heavily pandering to foot fetishists.


title: Miru Tights

text: "Miru Tights" was streamed on YouTube worldwide outside of Japan in English and Chinese subtitles. The ending theme is "True Days", with Haruka Tomatsu, Yōko Hikasa and Aya Suzaki each performing a version as their respective characters. A bonus episode is included with the series' Blu-ray, which was released on August 23, 2019.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: The film stars Masahiro Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa, Don Frye, Maki Mizuno, Kazuki Kitamura, Kane Kosugi, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara, Masami Nagasawa, Chihiro Otsuka, Shigeru Izumiya, Masakatsu Funaki, Masato Ibu, Jun Kunimura, and Akira Takarada. In the film, when a mysterious race of aliens known as the Xiliens arrive on Earth, the Earth Defense Force find themselves locked in battle with various monsters attacking cities around the world, leading them to revive the only chance to save their planet: Godzilla.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: The film coincided with the 50th anniversary of the franchise, and as such, the film features a variety of actors and "kaiju" from previous films. "Godzilla: Final Wars" premiered on November 29, 2004 in Los Angeles, California, and was released theatrically in Japan on December 4, 2004. Before the world premiere, Godzilla received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: During a battle in Antarctica with the original "Gotengo", the monster Godzilla is entrapped under ice by a cave-in caused by a series of missiles fired off from the submarine. In 20XX, environmental disasters cause the appearance of giant monsters and superhumans, dubbed "mutants", who are then recruited into the Earth Defense Force (EDF) to battle the monsters. An upgraded "Gotengo", commanded by Captain Douglas Gordon, battles and destroys Manda in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy, but the ship is wrecked in the process and Gordon is suspended from the EDF.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Mutant soldier Shinichi Ozaki is tasked with guarding a U.N. biologist, Dr. Miyuki Otonashi, who is sent to study a mummified monster. They are teleported to Infant Island where they encounter the Shobijin, fairies of Mothra, who reveal the mummified monster as Gigan, an alien cyborg sent to destroy the Earth who was ultimately defeated by Mothra. They warn that a battle between good and evil will happen soon and that Ozaki must choose a side. Suddenly, giant monsters attack several major cities: Rodan attacks New York City, Anguirus attacks Shanghai, Zilla attacks Sydney, King Caesar attacks Okinawa, Kamacuras attacks Paris, Kumonga attacks Monument Valley in Arizona, Ebirah attacks Tokai, and Hedorah attacks an unknown location. The EDF engages the creatures, until the monsters mysteriously vanish as an alien mothership appears over Tokyo. The aliens, named Xiliens, warn that an incoming planet called "Gorath" will soon impact the Earth, and offer their help to destroy it. A peace pact is signed between Earth and the Xiliens. Meanwhile, Minilla, Godzilla's son, is found in the forests of Japan by Kenta Taguchi and his grandfather Samon Taguchi.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Distrusting the Xiliens, Ozaki, Miyuki, and Miyuki's sister Anna discover that the Gorath shown by the Xiliens is actually a hologram and that the aliens have replaced several members of the EDF with duplicates. After the Xiliens are exposed with help from Gordon and the other mutants, the Xiliens' Controller (who called himself "X" during an interview on a radio show) kills his superior to assume command, revealing the plan to use humans as a food source while taking control of all the mutants except for Ozaki through a property in their DNA known as "M-base". X also has the monsters placed under his control through M-base in their DNA and awakens Gigan to wipe out the EDF. The group escapes in a repaired "Gotengo", although Gigan pursues them. Gordon convinces them to travel to Antarctica to release Godzilla, who is immune to Xilien control thanks to his lack of M-base and easily destroys Gigan. The "Gotengo" then guides Godzilla into battle with the other monsters: he defeats Zilla, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Rodan, King Caesar, Anguirus, Ebirah, and Hedorah, and then returns to Tokyo to engage the Xiliens. After penetrating the mothership, the humans are captured and brought before X as he summons Gorath to Earth. Godzilla destroys Gorath just before it crashes, but this unleashes Monster X and the two monsters battle. An upgraded Gigan joins Monster X but is intercepted by Mothra, who is gravely wounded while managing to destroy the cyborg.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: In the Xilien ship, X reveals that both he and Ozaki are superior beings known as "Keizers", powerful beings distinct from regular mutants born on rare occasions when human DNA and M-base are combined, before directly taking control of Ozaki to turn him against the group. A fight breaks out, and X loses control of Ozaki due to the Shobijins' blessing. Ozaki unlocks his true power and defeats X, who triggers the ship's self-destruct as the group falls back to the "Gotengo" moments before the mothership explodes. Godzilla and Monster X continue their battle, but a dying X transfers his Keizer energy to Monster X, enabling it to transform into its final form, Keizer Ghidorah. Godzilla is nearly killed by Keizer Ghidorah, but Ozaki transfers some of his own Keizer energy to Godzilla, giving him the strength to emerge victorious. Godzilla then shoots down the "Gotengo", before turning his ire towards its crew after they leave the damaged vessel. Fortunately, Minilla shows up at the scene and convinces Godzilla not to kill the humans. The humans watch as Godzilla and Minilla return to the ocean.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Ryuhei Kitamura accepted the offer to direct the film due to being unsatisfied with the "Godzilla" films of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, stating, "I loved the Godzilla movies back in the ’70s, but not so much the ones released in the 1980s and ’90s. Godzilla movies back in the ’70s were never just monster movies, there were always messages and themes that reflected the time and world within which they were made, and they combined this so well with straight-out entertainment. They lost that touch in the ’80s".


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Kitamura has compared "Godzilla: Final Wars" to that of a musician's "Best of" album, stating "We picked lots and lots of the best elements from the past and combined it in a new way. It's what I love about Godzilla and what I don't love about recent Godzilla movies".


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Like previous "Godzilla" films, "Godzilla: Final Wars" makes extensive use of practical effects rather than CGI. The special effects were directed and supervised by Eiichi Asada, who also directed the special effects for "" Commenting on the special effects, Kitamura stated at the film's world premiere in Hollywood, "We stick to the special effects. That’s what we've been doing for 50 years. And that’s why Hollywood doesn’t do it. So on the first meeting, I told everybody that we stick to the special effects, and the live action instead of CGI. So it’s a CGI-monster-Hollywood Godzilla versus our man-made live-action monsters."


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Filming included on-location shooting in New York City and Sydney, Australia. Scenes were also filmed in various locations across Japan, including Fukushima, Kobe, and Toho Studios in Tokyo.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: The film's score was composed by Keith Emerson, Nobuhiko Morino, and Daisuke Yano. Emerson was offered the job by Kitamura, who was attending Emerson's Japanese concerts at the time. Emerson's main concern was the potential lack of time before going on tour. Emerson was only given two weeks to write the score and ended up writing more music than what was used in the film. The film featured the track "We're All to Blame" by Sum 41 during the battle between Godzilla and Zilla. The band received top billing in the opening credits.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: "Godzilla: Final Wars" was distributed theatrically by Toho in Japan on November 29, 2004. It was released theatrically in the United States on November 4, 2004 and then released to video on December 13, 2005.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 50% rating, based on 12 reviews with a total score of 5.8/10.


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Steve Biodrowski of "Cinefantastique" called the film "utterly fantastic" and "a rush of explosive excitement." Jim Agnew of "Film Threat" gave the film four and a half stars out of five, saying "the good news for kaiju fans is that "Godzilla: Final Wars" is a kick-ass giant monster flick." Drew McWeeny of "Ain't It Cool News" remarked, ""Godzilla: Final Wars" earns a special place in my heart. It's fun. Pure lunatic fun, every frame." Sean Axmaker of "Static Multimedia" said, "Directed by a true fan of the old school, it's lusciously, knowingly, lovingly cheesy." Craig Blamer of the Chico "News & Review" called the film "a giddy and fast-paced celebration of the big guy."


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Conversely, David Nusair of "Reel Film" gave the film one and a half stars out of five, saying that "the battles are admittedly quite entertaining" but felt that director Ryuhei Kitamura "is absolutely the wrong choice for the material." David Cornelius of "eFilmCritic" gave the film two stars out of five, calling it "the dullest, weakest Godzilla movie I've seen in a long, long time." Ty Burr of the "Boston Globe" gave the film one and a half stars out of five, saying it focused too much on action and not enough on story, and calling it "35 minutes longer than is necessary."


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Among kaiju-related websites, J.L. Carrozza of Toho Kingdom "absolutely love[d]" "Final Wars", saying "[it's] no masterpiece, but it is such insane fun that quite frankly it's hard not to adore it." Mike Bogue of American Kaiju said "the film is flawed, but nonetheless entertaining," saying there are "too many ["Matrix"-style] battles" but that the film "makes excellent use of its monsters" and "Kitamura keeps things moving at a brisk pace." Japan Hero criticized the "[lack of] character development" but concluded that "Final Wars" is "a very entertaining movie," saying that "Kitamura did a wonderful job making it an interesting and great looking film worthy of being the final [Godzilla] movie."


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Stomp Tokyo said "the monster scenes are generally well done" but criticized the film's "incoherence," saying: "It's a shame that Kitamaura couldn't choose a tone for the film, instead shifting the movie's mood wildly from scene to scene." Lenny Taguchi of Monster Zero criticized Keith Emerson's soundtrack but gave "Final Wars" an overall favorable review, calling it a "fun and good" movie that "tries many things, and generally succeeds at almost all of them."


title: Godzilla: Final Wars

text: Director Kitamura commented at the film's world premiere that the reason why he agreed to direct the film was because he wanted to update Godzilla and recapture the same spirit seen in the later "Godzilla" films from the Showa era. He wanted to incorporate the same speed and power seen in films like "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla", which he believed was lost somewhere within the series, stating, "The Godzilla series had lost that kind of taste. I think that back in the '70s Godzilla movies had more power and speed. He was very fast and he was very strong. So in my Godzilla, you know, less dialogue and more action. That’s more fun than watching people discuss what we should do about Godzilla. As a Godzilla fan I want to see Godzilla punching and kicking, beating up all the other monsters instead of somebody talking again, you know, discussing the operation. That's what I wanted to do is to revive that, but not in the same way, I have to update. This is the updated version of '60 & 70s, crazy, monster movies. I hope that the Americans will not modify the Japanese version too much."


title: Urinary catheterization

text: In urinary catheterization a latex, polyurethane, or silicone tube known as a urinary catheter is inserted into the bladder through the urethra to allow urine to drain from the bladder for collection. It may also be used to inject liquids used for treatment or diagnosis of bladder conditions. A clinician, often a nurse, usually performs the procedure, but self-catheterization is also possible. A catheter may be in place for long periods of time (indwelling catheter) or removed after each use (intermittent catheterization).


title: Urinary catheterization

text: Catheter diameters are sized by the French catheter scale (F). The most common sizes are 10 F (3.3mm) to 28 F (9.3mm). The clinician selects a size large enough to allow free flow of urine, and large enough to control leakage of urine around the catheter. A larger size is necessary when the urine is thick, bloody, or contains large amounts of sediment. Larger catheters, however, are more likely to damage the urethra. Some people develop allergies or sensitivities to latex after long-term latex catheter use making it necessary to use silicone or Teflon types.


title: Urinary catheterization

text: Evidence does not support an important decrease in the risk of urinary tract infections when silver-alloy catheters are used.


title: Urinary catheterization

text: Common indications for urinary catheterization include acute or chronic urinary retention (which can damage the kidneys) from conditions such as benign prostatic hyperplasia, orthopedic procedures that may limit a patient's movement, the need for accurate monitoring of input and output (such as in an ICU), urinary incontinence that may compromise the ability to heal wounds, and the effects of various surgical interventions involving the bladder, prostate, or bowel.


title: Urinary catheterization

text: Intermittent self-catheterization may be indicated in cases of neurogenic bladder due to damage to the spinal cord or brain. This can be performed by the patient four to six times a day, using a clean technique. Nurses use a sterile technique to perform intermittent catheterization in hospital settings. For patients with neurogenic bladder due to spinal cord injury, intermittent catheterization (IC) is a standard method for bladder emptying. The technique is safe and effective and results in improved kidney and upper urinary tract status, lessening of vesicoureteral reflux and amelioration of continence. In addition to the clinical benefits, patient quality of life is enhanced by the increased independence and security offered by self-catheterization.


title: Urinary catheterization

text: A catheter that is left in place for more than a short period of time is generally attached to a drainage bag to collect the urine. This also allows for measurement of urine volume. There are three types of drainage bags: The first is a leg bag, a smaller drainage device that attaches by elastic bands to the leg. A leg bag is usually worn during the day, as it fits discreetly under pants or skirts, and is easily emptied into a toilet. The second type of drainage bag is a larger device called a down drain that may be used overnight. This device is hung on a hook under the patient's bed—never placed on the floor, due to the risk of bacterial infection. The third is called a belly bag and is secured around the waist. This bag can be worn at all times. It can be worn under the patient's underwear to provide a totally undetectable look.


title: Urinary catheterization

text: During long-term use, the catheter may be left in place all the time, or a patient may be instructed on a procedure for placing a catheter just long enough to empty the bladder and then removing it (known as "intermittent self-catheterization"). Patients undergoing major surgery are often catheterized and may remain so for some time. The patient may require irrigation of the bladder with sterile saline injected through the catheter to flush out clots or other matter that does not drain.


title: Urinary catheterization

text: Catheterization can have short and long term complications. Generally long-term catheterization carries higher risk of complications. Long-term catheterization carries a significant risk of urinary tract infection. Because of this risk catheterization is a last resort for the management of incontinence where other measures have proved unsuccessful. Other long term complications may include blood infections (sepsis), urethral injury, skin breakdown, bladder stones, and blood in the urine (hematuria). After many years of catheter use, bladder cancer may also develop.


title: Urinary catheterization

text: Some people experience bladder spasms with catheterization and may be more common in males. If bladder spasms occur, or there is no urine in the drainage bag, the catheter may be blocked by blood, thick sediment, or a kink in the catheter or drainage tubing. Sometimes spasms are caused by the catheter irritating the bladder, prostate/skene's glands, or penis/vulva. Such spasms can be controlled with medication such as butylscopolamine, although most patients eventually adjust to the irritation and the spasms go away.


title: Urinary catheterization

text: Everyday care of the catheter and drainage bag is important to reduce the risk of infection. Such precautions include:


title: Urinary catheterization

text: There is no clear evidence that any one catheter type or insertion technique is superior compared to another in preventing infections or complications. In the UK it is generally accepted that cleaning the area surrounding the urethral meatus with 0.9% sodium chloride solution is sufficient for both male and female patients as there is no reliable evidence to suggest that the use of antiseptic agents reduces the risk of urinary tract infection.


title: Urinary catheterization

text: Recent developments in the field of the temporary prostatic stent have been viewed as a possible alternative to indwelling catheterization and the infections associated with their use.


title: Urinary catheterization

text: Ancient Egyptian and Roman physicians have been described using reeds as urinary catheters to overcome blockages, and catheterization to relieve urinary retention has also been described in ancient Indian and Chinese texts.


title: Ruth Graham

text: Ruth McCue Bell Graham (June 10, 1920 – June 14, 2007) was an American Christian author, most well known as the wife of evangelist Billy Graham. She was born in Qingjiang, Jiangsu, Republic of China, the second of five children. Her parents, Virginia Leftwich Bell and L. Nelson Bell, were medical missionaries at the Presbyterian Hospital north of Shanghai. At age 13 she was enrolled in Pyeng Yang Foreign School in Pyongyang, Korea, where she studied for three years. She completed her high school education at Montreat, North Carolina, while her parents were there on furlough. She graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.


title: Ruth Graham

text: The Grahams met at Wheaton College and were married in the summer of 1943, shortly after their graduation. Ruth Graham became a minister's wife for a brief period in Western Springs, Illinois. She lived out the rest of her life in Montreat, North Carolina. The Grahams have five children: Virginia (Gigi), Anne, Ruth, Franklin, and Nelson Edman (Ned), 19 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.


title: Ruth Graham

text: Graham wrote "Our Christmas Story", "Sitting by My Laughing Fire", "It's My Turn", "The Legacy of a Pack Rat", "Prodigals and Those Who Love Them", "Clouds Are the Dust of His Feet", "One Wintry Night", "Coffee and Conversation with Ruth Bell Graham and Gigi Graham Tchividjian", "Collected Poems", "Mothers Together". and "Prayers from a Mother's Heart". Her most recent books published in 2001 are, "Never Let It End: Poems of a Lifelong Love" published by Baker Books, "Footprints of a Pilgrim: The Life and Loves of Ruth Bell Graham", published by Word Publishing and "A Quiet Knowing", published by W Publishing Group.


title: Ruth Graham

text: Ruth McCue Bell was born in Qingjiang, Jiangsu, China (now the main district of Huai'an, Jiangsu, China). Her parents, Virginia Myers (Leftwich) and Dr. L. Nelson Bell, were American medical missionaries at the Presbyterian Hospital 300 miles north of Shanghai. She grew up in China in a deeply religious household. Some of her early life in China is depicted in the biography of her father, a general surgeon, in "A Foreign Devil in China" (by John Charles Pollock, ).


title: Ruth Graham

text: Graham studied for three years at a high school in Pyongyang, now in North Korea, before graduating from a school in Montreat, North Carolina, while her parents were on furlough.


title: Ruth Graham

text: Graham returned to the U.S. at the age of 17 in the fall of 1937, and enrolled at Wheaton College, outside Chicago, Illinois, where she met Billy Graham. They married on August 13, 1943. In 1945, after a brief stint as a suburban pastor, her husband became an evangelist for Youth for Christ. The Grahams moved to Montreat near her parents where the Grahams continued to live for the rest of their married life. Despite her husband being one of the world's most famous Baptists, Graham remained a Presbyterian and often taught Sunday School.


title: Ruth Graham

text: Between 1945 and 1958, Graham gave birth to five children, whom she raised – sometimes single-handedly – while her husband was away on extended national and international evangelistic crusades. Their three daughters and two sons are all actively involved in ministry, including eldest son Franklin, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) founded by his father.


title: Ruth Graham

text: In 1959, Graham published her first book, "Our Christmas Story", an illustrated volume for children. She went on to write or co-write 13 other books, many of them works of poetry she wrote as an emotional release while her husband was so often on the road through the years.


title: Ruth Graham

text: Graham was a vital part of Billy Graham's evangelistic career, and he turned to her for advice and input about many ministry decisions. One of the early uses of media by the BGEA was the "Hour of Decision" radio program begun in 1950, which she named. After her upbringing in China and high school experience in Korea, she continued to have compassion for the people of Asia. She encouraged her husband to visit and later accompanied him during his historic visits to the People's Republic of China.


title: Ruth Graham

text: Graham's significant role in her husband's ministry was recognized in 1996, when they were jointly awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in a special ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C.


title: Ruth Graham

text: In 1966, Graham founded the "Ruth and Billy Graham Children's Health Center" in Asheville, North Carolina, with which she was actively involved until her death.


title: Ruth Graham

text: Graham had been in frail health since suffering spinal meningitis in 1995. This was exacerbated by a degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck that began with a fall while testing a swing she made for her grandchildren in 1974 that resulted in chronic back pain for many years. During the final months of her life, she was bedridden and had contracted pneumonia.


title: Ruth Graham

text: The day before Ruth Graham's death, Billy Graham released a statement through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association stating, "Ruth is my soul mate and best friend, and I cannot imagine living a single day without her by my side. I am more and more in love with her today than when we first met over 65 years ago as students at Wheaton College."


title: Ruth Graham

text: On Monday, June 11, at Graham's request and subsequent to consultation with her family, she was removed from life support. On June 13, 2007, following her decline into a semi-coma, her husband announced that he and his wife had decided to be buried beside each other at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. She died at 5:05 pm. EDT June 14, 2007, at the couple's home, "Little Piney Cove", in Montreat, North Carolina, with her husband and five children at her bedside, four days after her 87th birthday. A private ceremony followed by burial on the grounds of the Billy Graham Library was held on Sunday, June 17, 2007.


title: Ruth Graham

text: In a statement released from Wheaton College, Duane Litfin, president of the school, remarked, "Strong, steady, and dauntless, Ruth Bell Graham was the glue that held many of the parts of their lives together."


title: Ruth Graham

text: Graham was a poet and writer, authoring or co-authoring 14 books, as well as a regular contributor for newspapers and magazines.


title: Ruth Graham

text: Her biography, "A Time for Remembering" (later reissued as ""), was an early work of novelist Patricia Cornwell.


title: Apokolips

text: Apokolips is a fictional planet that appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The planet is ruled by Darkseid, established in Jack Kirby's Fourth World series, and is integral to many stories in the DC Universe. Apokolips is considered the opposite of the planet New Genesis.


title: Apokolips

text: Apokolips is a large planet covered entirely by a city (an ecumenopolis). It is a notoriously dismal place, where the slavish Hunger Dogs (low-class citizens) labor endlessly to feed the Energy Pits which supply light and power to the world. Both Apokolips and New Genesis exist in a different plane of existence from the regular DC Universe, located near the Source that originated the Old and New Gods.


title: Apokolips

text: Apokolips represents a failed society. As Jack Misselhorn writes: "No one on Apokolips evolves spiritually because there is no love. It is a stagnant society, its inhabitants living in ignorance, the legacy of oppression".


title: Apokolips

text: Accessing either Apokolips or New Genesis usually requires a form of travel known as a "Boom Tube", a portal generated by a device known as a Mother Box. In some versions, the boom tube actually converts the size of individuals that pass through to proportions fitting the destination, i.e., when a New God passes from Apokolips (or New Genesis) to Earth, they shrink in size, while someone going the other way would grow larger. If someone somehow reaches the Fourth World by other means, they will discover that its denizens are giants.


title: Apokolips

text: Apokolips and its bright counterpart New Genesis were spawned by the destruction of Urgrund, the world of the "Old Gods" (implied to be the gods of Norse mythology). While New Genesis was given strength and nobility from the "living atoms" of the Old God Balduur, Apokolips was saturated with evil from an unnamed sorceress. The two planets are locked in an eternal war, symbolizing the struggle of evil and good on a grand mythic scale. Apokolips is ruled by a fell being known as Darkseid, a dark leader who rules over his downtrodden people by force and fear. Apokolips appears to be a high-tech industrial ecumenopolis.


title: Apokolips

text: Both Apokolips and New Genesis were seemingly destroyed in a final battle prior to Grant Morrison's miniseries "Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle". However, the final issue of that series implied that the story's earlier events were merely visions seen by the hero as part of an elaborate test by the New God Metron. How much of the battle really happened and the current status of the New Gods remains to be seen.


title: Apokolips

text: Using Boom Tube technology, Brother Eye arrives on Apokolips and seemingly assimilates the entire planet. Before the assimilation is fully complete, the Pied Piper intervenes and channels the Anti-Life Equation through his flute. This destroys much of Brother Eye, causing its central core to make a last-minute escape off the surface of the planet and reverting much of Apokolips to what it was.


title: Apokolips

text: At the end of the "Death of the New Gods" miniseries, with all the gods now dead, the combined entity born from the melding of the Source and the Anti-Life Equation merges Apokolips and New Genesis into a single new planet with characteristics in common with both the former worlds.


title: Apokolips

text: In the 30th century, original "Legion of Super-Heroes" continuity, Apokolips is inactive and Darkseid incapacitated. In the reboot "Legion" continuity, Darkseid was aged and dying, with the planet mostly uninhabited, but the center of a large cult.


title: Apokolips

text: In DC continuity following its 2011 "Flashpoint" event and the launch of its "New 52" line of comics, the DC Multiverse remains composed of 52 worlds, but only one set of New Gods. Darkseid and his army from Apokolips has attempted to invade Earth-0, or Prime Earth, but is repelled by the first incarnation of the Justice League. At the same time, his armies invaded the alternate Earth of Earth-2 under the aegis of Steppenwolf, which was much more successful.


title: Apokolips

text: The invasion of Earth-2 cost the lives of that universe's original Superman, Batman, Catwoman, Wonder Woman and millions of humans, including Earth-2's Lois Lane, married to Superman on that world. The Apokoliptan forces have assistance from Fury (Earth-2 Wonder Woman's abducted and brainwashed daughter), with all her mother's Amazonian abilities. Five years on, a number of new "wonders" begin to emerge: Green Lantern (Alan Scott), the Atom, Hawkgirl, Doctor Fate, the Red Tornado (an android with Lois Lane's consciousness) and the Flash form an embryonic Justice Society to deal with threats such as Solomon Grundy. Before long, the armies of Apokolips attempt a second invasion of Earth 2, and the Wonders of the World are supported by further heroes includes Batman (Thomas Wayne), a new Superman (Val-Zod), the Huntress (Helena Wayne), Power Girl, Aquawoman (Marella), the Accountable (Jimmy Olsen), the New God Mister Miracle, and Earth 0's Mister Terrific.


title: Apokolips

text: Agents of Darkseid, such as Glorious Godfrey and Kalibak (in "Batman & Robin") and the Apokoliptian Orion (in "Wonder Woman"), have encountered the heroes of Earth-0 on several occasions, but no full-scale invasions have taken place. Later, in the series "Earth 2: Worlds' End", Mister Miracle discovers that Highfather made a deal with Darkseid that the armies of Apokolips could invade Earth-2 and that dimension freely without the intervention of the New Gods of New Genesis, explaining the wild disparity between the fates of Earth-0 and Earth-2. Ultimately, Apokolips itself enters Earth-2's Solar System and consumes Earth-2, transforming the planet into fuel to sustain itself.


title: Apokolips

text: When Perpetua destroys the Source Wall, one of the side effects is that Apokolips simply vanishes. With Apokolips gone, Darkseid plans to use the Ghost Sector to create a New Apokolips which he will use to invade and conquer the Multiverse.


title: Apokolips

text: The population is a downtrodden lot, including many kidnapped from other worlds before being "broken". The majority of the population are called Lowlies or Hunger Dogs, a bald and fearful race that has no sense of self-worth or value, and yet, in their own way, are just as much gods as those who rule the planet. The Lowlies are subject to constant abuse that ends only with death. Next are the Parademons, who serve as the keepers of order on the planet. Higher above the Parademons are the Female Furies, who are Darkseid's personal guard. They are blessed with unnatural strength and longevity and are either trained for their position in the Furies from birth, or are promoted from the ranks of general Apokoliptian troops. The leaders of the Furies are Granny Goodness, who sports the appearance of a matronly old woman while being the most powerful of the guards, and Kanto, who enjoys a unique position as Darkseid's master assassin. The chief guard, Big Barda, had a third position under Granny which has not been filled since her defection from the group. Deep below Armagetto, the lifeless forms of the Old Gods live on. They are known as the Dreggs.


title: Apokolips

text: Apokolips is ruled by Darkseid as its theocratic god/despot, but he delegates most of the actual day-to-day ruling to his counsellor DeSaad. Darkseid has no real contenders for the throne of Apokolips except the bug-like Mantis, although his sons Orion, Grayven and Kalibak are also potential contenders. Darkseid is cursed with Grayven and Kalibak's stupidity and Orion's service in the name of good. Orion once usurped the throne of Apokolips from his father temporarily, until coming to his senses and returning to New Genesis. It is prophesied that Orion will overthrow Darkseid. In "Kingdom Come", it is revealed that Darkseid's overthrow will not result in major changes on Apokolips, as Apokolips' evil comes from evil itself rather than from Darkseid.


title: Apokolips

text: There are different locations on Apokolips, a ecumenopolis (a world-city) with burning firepits, extant in between dimensions, occupying a ‘frequency’ somewhere between the physical universe and Hell:


title: Apokolips

text: Apokolips is on par with New Genesis in terms of technological advancement. With their technology, they are the height of power in most of the universe and are able to devastate galaxies when they choose to use it. Technology from Apokolips is sometimes on par with the technology used by Brainiac. Apokoliptian technology is furthermore the source of unparalleled misery in the universe, as the planet routinely arms evil groups with advanced technology to further its influence (and misery) across the universe. Apokoliptian technology was used by Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim and his organization Intergang in the "Superman" comics. It was a deal between Darkseid and Metron which was the cause of the invention of the "Boom Tube" using "Element X", which could only be found on Apokolips. The "Entropy Aegis" armor, used by Steel to defeat Imperiex, was Apokoliptian technology, as was Dmitri Pushkin's second suit of Rocket Red armor.


title: Apokolips

text: During an intercompany crossover, Galactus visited Apokolips, but was unable to feed on the planet, since all of the life force that had dwelled there had either left to New Genesis or had been burned in the fire pits long ago, in essence leaving the planet with no lifeforce and making it too corrupt for him to feed on.


title: Ajman

text: Ajman (, ""; Gulf Arabic: عيمان ʿymān) is the capital of the emirate of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates. It is the fifth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Al Ain. Located along the Persian Gulf, it is engulfed by the larger emirate of Sharjah in territory.


title: Ajman

text: Al Bu Kharaiban Nuaimi rule in Ajman started in 1816, when Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi and fifty of his followers took the coastal settlement of Ajman from members of the Al Bu Shamis Nuaimi tribe in a short conflict. It wasn't until 1816 or 1817, however, that the Ajman fort finally fell to Rashid's followers and his rule was endorsed by the powerful Sheikh of neighbouring Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi.


title: Ajman

text: On 8 January 1820, following the sack of Ras Al Khaimah by a British force led by Sir W.G. Keir, Sultan bin Saqr signed the General Maritime Treaty with the United Kingdom on 4 February 1820, followed on 15 March by Rashid bin Humaid at Falaya Fort.


title: Ajman

text: An 1822 British maritime survey noted that Ajman had one of the best backwaters on the coast and was a small town with a single fortified building, the ruler's house. In common with many other coastal towns on what became the Trucial Coast, the population was mobile depending on the season – there were as many as 1,400 to 1,700 men of the 'Mahamee' tribe living there during the pearl hunting season (April–September), many of whom would migrate to Al Buraimi in the date season. The survey notes that Ajman's ruler Rashid bin Ahmed considered his dominion independent of Emirate of Sharjah, but that Sharjah did not maintain that view even though it had no power over Ajman. The survey noted that the inhabitants of Ajman were 'mostly strict Wahhabis' and recorded the presence of the ruined village of "Fasht" down the shore from Ajman town, which is today the Fisht suburb of Sharjah city.


title: Ajman

text: In 1831, the Sheikh of Ajman accepted a subsidy from the Imam of Muscat to join with Sultan bin Saqr of Sharjah against Sohar, but following Sultan's defeat declared for Sohar. In his absence, a part of Bani Yas from Abu Dhabi sacked Ajman town and its date groves. In retaliation, the forces of Ajman committed 'daring depredations' upon the cities of Sohar and Muscat. When called upon to provide redress for the actions of his 'subject', Sultan bin Saqr disavowed any authority over Ajman and in 1832 a British naval force was sent to Ajman to obtain redress for the raids on the East Coast cities. Ending a conflict between Sharjah, Ajman and Dubai on the one hand and Abu Dhabi on the other, Ajman (together with the other parties) signed the 1835 Maritime Treaty in its own right.


title: Ajman

text: In 1840, Humaid bin Obeid bin Subt of Al Heera invaded Ajman supported by a body of the Bani Naeem. Although initially reluctant to assist Humeid bin Rashid, Sultan bin Suggur of Sharjah sent his son Suggur who, together with Maktoum of Dubai, ejected the invaders and sacked Al Heera in reprisal.


title: Ajman

text: In 1843 a further Maritime Treaty was signed between the Trucial Sheikhs and the British and then, on 4 May 1853, 'A Perpetual Treaty of Peace' was entered into by the coastal Sheikhs, including Ajman. A copy of this treaty is on display in Ajman Museum. A further treaty of 1892 bound the Trucial States to Britain.


title: Ajman

text: By the 20th century, J. G. Lorimer's survey of the coast of the Trucial States showed Ajman to be a small town of some 750 inhabitants (in comparison, the population of Dubai at the time numbered over 10,000). On 2 December 1971, Ajman, under Sheikh Rashid bin Humayd Al Nuaimi, joined the United Arab Emirates.


title: Ajman

text: The city has more than 90% of the population of the emirate. The area runs directly into the city of Sharjah along the coast to the south-west, which in turn is adjacent to Dubai, forming a continuous urban area.


title: Ajman

text: Ajman is home to the Ruler's office, companies, commercial markets, and about 50 international and local retail shops. Banking interests include: Emirates NBD, Ajman Bank, Arab Bank PLC, Bank Saderat Iran, and Commercial Bank of Dubai. Ajman is also home to fishing industry & Seafood Importers/Exporters in UAE. Shopping malls include Ajman China Mall and City Centre Ajman.


title: Ajman

text: With capacity to accommodate 1500 companies and serving over 1,000 vessels a year, Ajman Port and Ajman Free Zone are major contributors to the emirate's economy. Exporting to over 65 countries, the Free Zone's companies make up approximately 20% of the UAE's overall industrial units, with some 256 industrial companies operating from the zone.


title: Ajman

text: Ajman is continuing the development stalled by the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and once again undergoing a period of growth. It has immensely grown throughout the years, with recent investments from foreign companies and installations and renovations of its tourist attractions, hotels and commercial sites. Tourist attractions in the emirate are growing rapidly. They include the Ajman Beach, Ajman National Museum situated at Ajman Fort, the Red Fort and the museum in the inland enclave of Manama. City Centre Ajman, the Emirate’s biggest mall, is a big attraction as well for its unique architectural experience and variety of shops and confectionaries.


title: Ajman

text: Ajman's corniche is a popular evening and weekend destination for families and features a number of fast food outlets, coffee shops and stalls. It is home to the 'Outside Inn', a popular watering hole with expatriates, as well as to a number of hotels, including the Ramada, Ajman Palace, Ajman Hotel, the Ajman Saray and Fairmont Ajman.


title: Ajman

text: Ajman's newly developed Al Zorah area supports a range of outdoor activities, including golf, children's play areas and kayaking.


title: Ajman

text: The natural port (or khor) of Ajman is located along a natural creek which penetrates the town. Ajman is also home to Arab Heavy Industries, one of the world's largest ship manufacturing firms.


title: Ajman

text: For international air travel, residents of Ajman can also use the Sharjah International Airport, which is only a few kilometers away.


title: Ajman

text: Ajman Stud is on of the most famous Horse Stud Farm and its established on 2002 by the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Ajman H.H. Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi . It was situated 30 Kms away from the main city of ajman. "Colt Gold" title won by Gallardo J in 2016 where H.H Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi was crowned as best breeder and owner.


title: Women's political participation in India

text: The term 'political participation' has a very wide meaning. It is not only related to 'Right to Vote', but simultaneously relates to participation in: decision-making process, political activism, political consciousness, etc.


text: Women in India participate in voting, run for public offices and political parties at lower levels more than men. Political activism and voting are the strongest areas of women's political participation. To combat gender inequality in politics, the Indian Government has instituted reservations for seats in local governments.


text: Women turnout during India's parliamentary general elections was 65.63%, compared to 67.09% turnout for men.


text: Women have held the posts of president and prime minister in India, as well as chief ministers of various states. Indian voters have elected women to numerous state legislative assemblies and national parliament for many decades.


text: The Constitution of India establishes a parliamentary system of government, and guarantees its citizens the right to be elected, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble and form associations, and vote. The Constitution of India attempts to remove gender inequalities by banning discrimination based on sex and class, prohibiting human trafficking and forced labour, and reserving elected positions for women.


text: The Government of India directed state and local governments to promote equality by class and gender including equal pay and free legal aid, humane working conditions and maternity relief, rights to work and education, and raising the standard of living. Women were substantially involved in the Indian independence movement in the early 20th century and advocated for independence from Britain. Independence brought gender equality in the form of constitutional rights, but historically women's political participation has remained low.


text: The movement for women’s suffrage began in the early 1900s in response to a national movement for suffrage, even though vast majority of neither men nor women had a right to vote the British colonial rule before 1947. After Indian independence from Britain, the Indian Constitution in 1950 officially granted women and men suffrage. Prior to universal suffrage, provincial legislatures had granted women the right to vote.


text: Madras was the first to grant women’s suffrage in 1921, but only to those men and women who owned land property according to British administration's records. The rights granted in response to the movement towards suffrage were limited to qualifications of literacy and property ownership, including property ownership of husbands. This excluded vast majority of Indian women and men from voting, because they were poor. This changed in 1950 when universal suffrage was granted to all adult Indian citizens.


text: In 1950, universal suffrage granted voting rights to all women. This is enshrined in Article 326 in the Indian constitution. India is a parliamentary system with two houses: Lok Sabha (lower house) and Rajya Sabha (upper house). Rates of participation among women in 1962 were 46.63% for Lok Sabha elections and rose to a high in 1984 of 58.60%. Male turnout during that same period was 63.31% in 1962 and 68.18% in 1984.


text: The gap between men and women voters has narrowed over time with a difference of 16.7% in 1962 to 4.4% in 2009.


text: Voter turnout for national elections in the past 50 years has remained stagnant with turnout ranging between 50 and 60%. State elections have seen a growing trend in women's participation, and in some cases women's turnout is exceeding male turnout. Increased turnout of women was reported for the 2012 Vidhan Sabha elections (legislative/state assemblies) with states such as Uttar Pradesh reporting 58.82% to 60.29% turnout. In the 2013 assembly elections, women’s overall turnout was reported to be 47.4%, and male turnout was 52.5%. Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Daman and Diu, and Puducherry all reported higher turnouts among women than men in 2013.


text: Increased participation is occurring in both rich and poor states in India. The sex ratio of voters has improved from 715 female voters for every 1,000 male voters in the 1960s to 883 female voters in the 2000s. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has sought to increase voter turnout by cleaning up electoral rolls and removing missing or deceased members. Voter outreach has included door-to-door voter registration, and in 2014 elections, voters will be issued a photo id with polling station information to increase voter turnout. Increased voter turnout in India is also partially due to the women voters. ECI has sought to encourage voter registration among women and participation through education and outreach on college and university campuses. Growing participation has also been attributed to increased security at polling stations.


text: Women turnout during India's 2014 parliamentary general elections was 65.63%, compared to 67.09% turnout for men. In 16 out of 29 states of India, more women voted than men. A total of 260.6 million women exercised their right to vote in April–May 2014 elections for India's parliament.