title: Novell

text: One of Novell's major innovations was Novell Directory Services (NDS), later known as eDirectory. It was based on the CCITT X.500 standard and supported the notion of a distributed directory. Introduced with NetWare 4.0 in 1993, NDS replaced the old Bindery server and user management technology employed by NetWare 3.x and earlier. Directory services were seen as a crucial strategic key to staying relevant in the networking marketplace. It was also one where Novell had a lead over Microsoft, as the latter's Active Directory was not yet out.


title: Novell

text: Then with UnixWare gone, Novell focused on major upgrades to its core NetWare-based network operating system. The initial release of NetWare 4 came with compatibility problems for some NetWare 3 users, and large enterprises were faced with an upgrade-all-or-upgrade-none decision. However some 40 million users declined to move to NetWare 4, with the result that Novell lost large amounts of possible revenue in upgrades. Although the NetWare 4.1 release of 1995 sought to remedy some of these issues, the lag had caused many Novell customers to take a serious look at Windows NT. And Windows NT was proving better as a platform for application and database services than NetWare. Furthermore, Microsoft was having success with its no-extra-charge bundling of Microsoft's IIS web server on NT, while Novell's presence in the Internet market was severely lacking. Still, as of 1996, by one estimate there were three million networks, and tens of millions of PCs, still using NetWare.


title: Novell

text: In 1996, the company began a move into Internet-enabled products, replacing reliance on the proprietary IPX protocol in favor of a native TCP/IP stack. Support for the new Java programming language also began to be added to NetWare. An Internet-focused product released during 1996 was called Intranetware.


title: Novell

text: These moves were accelerated when Eric Schmidt became CEO in April 1997, the first in the post since Frankenberg's departure; Christopher Stone was brought in as senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, reporting to Schmidt. Many observers were surprised that Schmidt would leave his chief technical officer position at Sun Microsystems, which at the time was doing very well, to go to Novell, which was viewed as a company in real trouble. The new CEO said, "Novell has been defocused by a series of acquisitions and forays that didn't work out. In this collaborative world, it's more important to do a few things well and just go for them like you've never seen."


title: Novell

text: One result of these shifts was BorderManager, released in August 1997, which supplied proxy server, firewall, and other services for connecting NetWare networks to the Internet. Another was a new version of NDS, that was capable of running with Windows NT, not just NetWare.


title: Novell

text: And still another was NetWare 5.0, released in October 1998, with hopes for it accelerating Novell's improved fortunes under Schmidt. NetWare 5.0 leveraged and built upon eDirectory and introduced new functions, such as Novell Cluster Services (NCS, a replacement for SFT-III) and Novell Storage Services (NSS), a replacement for the traditional Turbo FAT filesystem used by earlier versions of NetWare. While NetWare 5.0 introduced native TCP/IP support into the NOS, IPX was still supported, allowing for smooth transitions between environments and avoiding the "forklift upgrades" frequently required by competing environments. Similarly, the traditional Turbo FAT file system remained a supported option.


title: Novell

text: The inclusion of networking as a core system component in all mainstream PC operating systems after 1995 led to a steep decline in Novell's market share. Unlike Windows 3.1 and its predecessors, Windows NT, Windows 95, Linux, and OS/2 all included network functionality which greatly reduced demand for third-party products in this segment. For instance, one mid-1996 survey of a thousand corporate users, conducted by Forrester Research, showed that 90 percent of them owned NetWare but only 20 percent said they had upgraded to the latest NetWare version and less than half of the users thought they would still be using NetWare three years hence. By March 1996, the company's stock price had fallen from a high of $33 a share in 1993 to a new low of under $12. Revenue declined from 1995 on. By 1997, Windows NT was winning 42 percent of new network operating system installations versus 33 percent for NetWare, and it was on the verge of overtaking NetWare even when upgrade sales were included. Overall, NetWare's market share had fallen to 26 percent and had been passed by Windows NT's 36 percent. Unix also had a significant share, and the free software Linux operating system had started to appear and make inroads as well.


title: Novell

text: With revenues in decline, Schmidt took actions to control costs, and some 18 percent of Novell employees were laid off during the first few months of his tenure. In addition he was forced to halt NetWare shipments to resellers because unsold inventory levels were so high. By the end of summer 1997, Schmidt was saying, "I took the job on the presumption that we would not have to do this. If I'd known what shape the company was in, I might not have taken it." While there was some speculation that Novell might relocate much of the company to its San Jose facility, Novell instead recommitted to Provo, building a new headquarters tower that opened in 2000.


title: Novell

text: But Novell's decline and loss of market share accelerated under Schmidt's leadership, with Novell experiencing an across-the-board decline in sales and purchases of NetWare and a drop in share price from /share to /share. Analysts commented that the primary reason for Novell's demise was linked to its channel strategy and mismanagement of channel partners under Schmidt.


title: Novell

text: Schmidt embarked on a channel strategy to undo Noorda's "look the other way" approach and thereby remove the upgrades as whole box products, then directed Novell's general counsel to initiate litigation against a large number of Novell resellers who were routinely selling upgrades as newly purchased NetWare versions.


title: Novell

text: Although this move bolstered Novell's revenue numbers for several quarters, Novell's channels subsequently collapsed with the majority of Novell's resellers dropping NetWare for fear of litigation.


title: Novell

text: By 1999, Novell had lost its dominant market position, and was continually being out-marketed by Microsoft as resellers dropped NetWare, allowing Microsoft to gain access to corporate data centers by bypassing technical staff and selling directly to corporate executives. Most resellers then re-certified their Novell CNE employees— the field support technicians who were Novell's primary contact in the field with direct customers—as Microsoft MCSE technicians, and were encouraged to position NetWare as inferior to Windows 2000 features such as Group Policy and Microsoft's GUI, which was considered to be more modern than the character-based Novell interfaces. With falling revenue, the company focused on net services and platform interoperability. Products such as eDirectory and GroupWise were made multi-platform.


title: Novell

text: By 2000, some large NetWare enterprise customers, such as Chase Manhattan Bank, United Parcel Service, and the University of Southern California were in the process of migrating most or all of their NetWare systems to alternatives. Revenue warnings during the second quarter of 2000 resulted in a 40 percent drop in the company's stock price. In October 2000, Novell released a new product, dubbed "DirXML", which was designed to synchronize data—typically user information—between disparate directory and database systems. This product leveraged the speed and functionality of eDirectory to store information, and would later become the Novell Identity Manager, forming the foundation of a core product set within Novell.


title: Novell

text: During Schmidt's tenure during the late 1990s, Novell developed and delivered a series of Internet-centric products that were well-reviewed. But these new products did not sell as well as the company had hoped, in part due to Novell channel issues with training, lead generation, and support. Indeed, there were reports of channel stuffing taking place. So despite its efforts in these other spaces, Novell was increasingly becoming irrelevant within the industry. Of Schmidt's efforts with Novell, News.com wrote, "He had traversed a rocky road as chief executive at Novell, briefly laying a smooth path for a renaissance at the aging network software provider before succumbing to strategy issues that have plagued it for years."


title: Novell

text: In March 2001, it was announced that Novell was acquiring the consulting company Cambridge Technology Partners (CTP), founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts by John J. Donovan, to expand offerings into services. Novell felt that the ability to offer solutions (a combination of software and services) was key to satisfying customer demand. The merger was apparently against the firm's software development culture, and the finance personnel at the firm also recommended against it.


title: Novell

text: The CEO of CTP, Jack Messman, engineered the merger using his position as a board member of Novell since its inception, and as part of the deal became CEO of Novell. Chris Stone, who had left in 1999, was rehired as vice chairman to set the course for Novell's strategy into open source and enterprise Linux. With the acquisition of CTP, which closed in July 2001, Novell moved its headquarters to Massachusetts. As for Schmidt, he departed Novell soon after the CTP announcement and headed for Google, where he became chair of the board (and soon after that, CEO).


title: Novell

text: In July 2002, Novell acquired SilverStream Software, a leader in web services-oriented applications, but a laggard in the marketplace. Renamed to Novell exteNd, the platform comprised XML and web service tools based on Java EE.


title: Novell

text: In August 2003, Novell acquired Ximian, a developer of open source Linux applications (Evolution, Red Carpet and Mono). This acquisition signaled Novell's plans to move its collective product set onto a Linux kernel.


title: Novell

text: In November 2003, Novell acquired Linux OS developer SuSE, which led to a major shift of power in Linux distributions. IBM also invested to show support of the SuSE acquisition.


title: Novell

text: In mid-2003, Novell released "Novell Enterprise Linux Services" (NNLS), which ported some of the services traditionally associated with NetWare to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) version 8. NetWare 6.5, released in 2003, would prove to be the last version of that product.


title: Novell

text: In November 2004, Novell released the Linux-based enterprise desktop Novell Linux Desktop 9, based on Ximian Desktop and SUSE Linux Professional 9.1. This was Novell's first attempt to get into the enterprise desktop market.


title: Novell

text: The successor product to NetWare, Novell Open Enterprise Server (OES), was released in March 2005. OES offers all the services previously hosted by NetWare 6.5, and added the choice of delivering those services using either a NetWare 6.5 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 kernel. The release was aimed to persuade NetWare customers to move to Linux.


title: Novell

text: In August 2005, Novell created the openSUSE project, based on SUSE Professional. openSUSE can be downloaded freely and is also available as boxed retail product.


title: Novell

text: From 2003 through 2005 Novell released many products across its portfolio, with the intention of arresting falling market share and to move away from dependencies on other Novell products, but the launches were not as successful as Novell had hoped. In late 2004, Chris Stone again left the company, after an apparent control issue with then CEO Jack Messman. In an effort to cut costs, Novell announced a round of layoffs in late 2005. While revenue from its Linux business continued to grow, the growth was not fast enough to offset the decrease in revenue of NetWare. While the company's revenue was not falling rapidly, it wasn't growing, either. Lack of clear direction or effective management meant that Novell took longer than expected to complete its restructuring.


title: Novell

text: In June 2006, chief executive Jack Messman and chief finance officer Joseph Tibbetts were fired, with Ronald Hovsepian, Novell's president and chief operating officer, appointed chief executive, and Dana Russell, vice-president of finance and corporate controller, appointed interim CFO.


title: Novell

text: In August 2006, Novell released the SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 (SLE 10) series. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server was the first enterprise class Linux server to offer virtualization based on the Xen hypervisor. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (popularly known as SLED) featured a new user-friendly GUI and XGL-based 3D display capabilities. The release of SLE 10 was marketed with the phrase "Your Linux is Ready", meant to convey that Novell's Linux offerings were ready for the enterprise. In late September 2006 Novell announced a real-time version of SLES called "SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time" (SLERT), based on technology from Concurrent Computer Corporation.


title: Novell

text: Beginning in 2003, Novell became a key player in the SCO–Linux disputes. The case "SCO Group, Inc. v. Novell, Inc." revolved around the interpretation of the 1995 asset-transfer agreements between Novell and the Santa Cruz Operation, a predecessor company to The SCO Group – when Novell got out of the Unix business as part of abandoning its effort to take on Microsoft on all fronts – and a 1996 amendment that had attempted to clarify that agreement. The SCO Group believed that the transfer included ownership of, and copyrights for, the source code for the Unix operating system (which they in turn claimed Linux had infringed upon). Novell counter-sued, claiming that the asset-transfer agreements did not, in fact, transfer the intellectual property rights SCO sought.


title: Novell

text: The case attracted considerable industry and media attention, with the free and open source software (FOSS) community solidly on the side of Novell. There were a series of court rulings, most of which went in Novell's favor and which sent The SCO Group into bankruptcy. The matter was settled finally in 2010 when a jury trial in Utah ruled that the copyrights belonged to Novell. (Novell made no material use of the Unix ownership once it was ruled theirs, as by then their interests were with SuSE Linux.)


title: Novell

text: In 2004, Novell sued Microsoft, asserting it had engaged in antitrust violations regarding Novell's WordPerfect business in 1994 through 1996. Novell's lawsuit was subsequently dismissed by the United States District Court in July 2012 after it concluded that the claims were without merit.


title: Novell

text: On 2 November 2006, the two companies announced a joint collaboration agreement, including coverage of their respective products for each other's customers. They also promised to work more closely to improve compatibility of software, setting up a joint research facility. Executives of both companies expressed the hope that such cooperation would lead to better compatibility between Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org and better virtualization techniques.


title: Novell

text: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said of the deal, "This set of agreements will really help bridge the divide between open-source and proprietary source software."


title: Novell

text: The deal involved upfront payment of from Microsoft to Novell for patent cooperation and SLES subscription. Additionally, Microsoft agreed to spend around yearly, over the next 5 years, for marketing and selling a combined SLES/Windows Server offering and related virtualization solutions, while Novell paid at least yearly to Microsoft, in the same period.


title: Novell

text: One of the first results of this partnership was Novell adapting the OpenXML/ODF Translator for use in OpenOffice.org.


title: Novell

text: Microsoft released two public covenants not to sue users of the open source Moonlight runtime—a workalike for the Microsoft Silverlight rich media platform—for patent infringement. One condition common to each covenant was that no Moonlight implementation be released under the GPLv3 free software license.


title: Novell

text: In contrast to the SCO case, here initial reaction from members of the free and open source software community over the patent protection was mostly critical, with expressions of concern that Novell had "sold out" and doubt that the GNU GPL would allow distribution of code, including the Linux kernel, under this exclusive agreement.


title: Novell

text: In a letter to the FOSS development community on 9 November 2006, Bradley M. Kuhn, CTO of the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), described the agreement as "worse than useless". In a separate development, the chairman of the SFLC, Eben Moglen, reported that Novell had offered cooperation with the SFLC to permit a confidential audit to determine the compliance of the agreement with the GPL (version 2). Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, said in November 2006 that changes coming with version 3 of the GPL would preclude such deals. When the final revision of the third version of the GPL license was decided, the deal between Microsoft and Novell was grandfathered in. A clause within GPLv3 allows companies to distribute GPLv3 software even if they have made such patent partnerships in the past, as long as the partnership deal was made before 28 March 2007 (GPLv3 Section 11 paragraph 7).


title: Novell

text: On 12 November 2006, the Samba team expressed strong disapproval of the announcement and asked Novell to reconsider. The team included an employee of Novell, Jeremy Allison, who confirmed in a comment on Slashdot that the statement was agreed on by all members of the team, and later quit his job at Novell in protest.


title: Novell

text: In early February 2007, Reuters reported that the Free Software Foundation had announced that it was reviewing Novell's right to sell Linux versions, and was considering banning Novell from selling Linux. However, spokesman Eben Moglen later said that he was quoted out of context, and was only noting that GPL version 3 would be designed to block similar deals in the future.


title: Novell

text: In December 2009, Novell announced its intention to lead the market in intelligent workload management, with products designed to manage diverse workloads in a heterogeneous data center. Seeing this approach as a key to giving customers confidence in the area of cloud computing security, Novell restructured its business around the new initiative. Technologies from Novell's 2008 acquisition of Canadian company PlateSpin were involved. Key to this also was the use of SUSE Studio, an online Linux software creation tool through which users could develop their own Linux distribution, software appliance, or virtual appliance. Hovsepian said, "Cloud computing is a megatrend that matches the company's core competencies. ... We've developed our Suse appliance tool for application vendors [who have brand new applications being written or built for the cloud]. This product allows them to create a virtual appliance. They won't have to rewrite and retest the application once it is in the cloud and it allows firms to host their application on other clouds too." But Novell's approach would also support other cloud environments such as those based around Hyper-V, VMware, and Xen.


title: Novell

text: Partnerships in connection with intelligent workload management were announced with SAP, Citrix Systems, Ingres, and others. Reaction of industry analysts to the move varied, with some positive and some more mixed. Among the more skeptical was Dan Kusnetzky of ZDNet, who wrote that Novell "clearly hopes that putting its products together in new ways and invoking today's catch phrases and buzz words will appear fresh and new." While Novell did have strong technologies in this computing realm, it struggled to attract the same market attention that competing product lines from the likes of Microsoft or VMware held.


title: Novell

text: Novell had long been rumored to be a target for acquisition by a variety of other companies. In March 2010, Elliott Associates, L.P., an institutional investor with approximately 8.5% stock ownership of Novell, offered to acquire the company for per share in cash, or . The company declined the offer, saying that the proposal was inadequate and that it undervalued the company's franchise and growth prospects.


title: Novell

text: Novell announced in November 2010 that it had agreed to be acquired by The Attachmate Group for , and planned to operate Novell as two units, one being SUSE. As part of the deal, 882 patents owned by Novell were sold to CPTN Holdings LLC, a consortium of companies led by Microsoft and including Apple, EMC, and Oracle. According to Novell's SEC filing, the patents "relate primarily to enterprise-level computer systems management software, enterprise-level file management and collaboration software in addition to patents relevant to our identity and security management business, although it is possible that certain of such issued patents and patent applications read on a range of different software products". The Attachmate Group expressed in advance of the deal closing that there would no change to the relationship between the SUSE business and the openSUSE project. The merger completed in April 2011, with per share in cash being paid to acquire Novell. Novell became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group.


title: Novell

text: Concurrent with the closing of the acquisition, some of Novell's products and brands were transferred to another of the Attachmate Group business units, NetIQ, and the SUSE Linux brand was spun off as its own business unit. The fourth business unit, Attachmate, was not directly affected by the acquisition.


title: Novell

text: Immediately prior to merger being finalized, Novell completed the patent sale to CPTN Holdings for . The U.S. Department of Justice announced that, as originally proposed, the deal with CPTN would jeopardize the ability of open source software, such as Linux, to continue to innovate and compete in the development and distribution of server, desktop, and mobile operating systems, middleware, and virtualization products; to address the department's antitrust concerns, CPTN and its owners had altered their original agreement:


title: Novell

text: With the acquisition, Novell's headquarters were moved back to Provo. But by then considerable consolidation had occurred, and the original six buildings of the Provo campus were sold.


title: Novell

text: During April and May 2011, The Attachmate Group announced layoffs for the Novell workforce, including hundreds of employees from the Provo location, raising questions about the future of some open source projects such as Mono.


title: Novell

text: In September 2014, mainframe software company Micro Focus announced it was buying The Attachmate Group, including Novell, for . The acquisition closed on November 20, 2014, and the SUSE organization was split out separately from the rest of the former Novell organization within Micro Focus. SUSE was sold to EQT Partners in 2019.


title: Novell

text: The Novell products themselves were relabeled and dispersed among the file and networking services, collaborations, and security product lines of Micro Focus, such that offerings like Open Enterprise Server, GroupWise, and Zenworks became billed as Micro Focus products with no mention of their Novell past. The one page at the Micro Focus website listing former Novell products does not even mention NetWare.


title: Novell

text: As "The Register" has written, "NetWare was almost uniquely a thing of its time. Whereas the PC has transcended its roots ... and Windows has grown ... into a sophisticated 64-bit OS, NetWare never escaped as its niche. When Windows was just a client OS, Novell’s proprietary IPX/SPX protocol and simple, fast, semi-dedicated file servers were a compelling offering. As Windows grew into a server OS too, though, NetWare couldn't compete."


title: Novell

text: Novell was one of the first computer companies to provide proficiency certification for users of its products. They included:


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The Seuna, Sevuna, or Yadavas of Devagiri (IAST: Seuṇa, –1317) was a Medieval Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Narmada river in the north to the Tungabhadra river in the south, in the western part of the Deccan region. Its territory included present-day Maharashtra, North Karnataka and parts of Madhya Pradesh, from its capital at Devagiri (present-day Daulatabad in modern Aurangabad district, Maharashtra).


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The Yadavas initially ruled as feudatories of the Western Chalukyas. Around the middle of the 12th century, as the Chalukya power waned, the Yadava king Bhillama V declared independence. The Yadava kingdom reached its peak under Simhana II, and flourished until the early 14th century, when it was annexed by the Khalji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate in 1308 CE.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The Seuna dynasty claimed descent from the Yadavas and therefore, its kings are often referred to as the "Yadavas of Devagiri". The correct name of the dynasty, however, is Seuna or Sevuna. The inscriptions of this dynasty, as well as those of contemporary kingdoms, the Hoysala, Kakatiya dynasty and Western Chalukyas call them "Seunas". The name is probably derived from the name of their second ruler, "Seunachandra".


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The "Sevuna" (or Seuna) name was brought back into use by John Faithfull Fleet in his 1894 book "The dynasties of the Kanarese districts of the Bombay Presidency from the earliest historical times to the Musalman conquest of A.D. 1318".


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The earliest historical ruler of the Seuna/Yadava dynasty can be dated to the mid-9th century, but the origin of the dynasty is uncertain. Little is known about their early history: their 13th century court poet Hemadri records the names of the family's early rulers, but his information about the pre-12th century rulers is often incomplete and inaccurate.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The dynasty claimed descent from Yadu, a hero mentioned in the Puranic mythological legends. According to this account, found in Hemadri's "Vratakhanda" as well as several inscriptions, their ancestors originally resided at Mathura, and then migrated to Dvaraka (Dvaravati) in present-day Gujarat. A Jain legend states that the Jain saint Jinaprabhasuri saved the pregnant mother of the dynasty's founder Dridhaprahara from a great fire that destroyed Dvaraka. A family feudatory to the Yadavas migrated from Vallabhi (also in present-day Gujarat) to Khandesh. But otherwise, no historical evidence corroborates their connection to Dvaraka. The dynasty never tried to conquer Dvaraka, or establish any political or cultural connections with that region. Its rulers started claiming to be descendants of Yadu and migrants from Dvaraka after becoming politically prominent. Dvaraka was associated with Yadu's descendants, and the dynasty's claim of connection with that city may simply be a result of their claim of descent from Yadu rather than their actual geographic origin. The Hoysalas, the southern neighbours of the dynasty, similarly claimed descent from Yadu and claimed to be the former lords of Dvaraka.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The territory of the early Yadava rulers was located in present-day Maharashtra, and several scholars (especially Maharashtrian historians) have claimed a "Maratha" origin for the dynasty. However, Marathi, the language of present-day Maharashtra, began to appear as the dominant language in the dynasty's inscriptions only in the 14th century, before which Kannada and Sanskrit were the primary language of their inscriptions. Marathi appears in around two hundred Yadava inscriptions, but usually as translation of or addition to Kannada and Sanskrit text. During the last half century of the dynasty's rule, it became the dominant language of epigraphy, which may have been a result of the Yadava attempts to connect with their Marathi-speaking subjects, and to distinguish themselves from the Kannada-speaking Hoysalas. The earliest instance of the Yadavas using the term ""marathe"" as a self-designation appears in a 1311 inscription recording a donation to the Pandharpur temple, towards the end of the dynasty's rule. However the word was not used to indicate the Maratha caste but meant “belonging to Maharashtra”.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Epigraphic evidence suggests that the dynasty likely emerged from a Kannada-speaking background. Around five hundred Yadava inscriptions have been discovered, and Kannada is the most common language of these inscriptions, followed by Sanskrit. Of the inscriptions found in present-day Karnataka (the oldest being from the reign of Bhillama II), most are in Kannada language and script; others are in the Kannada language but use Devanagari script. Older inscriptions from Karnataka also attest to the existence of Yadava feudatories (such as Seunas of Masavadi) ruling in the Dharwad region in the 9th century, although these feudatories cannot be connected to the main line of the dynasty with certainty. Many of the dynasty's rulers had Kannada names and titles such as "Dhadiyappa", "Bhillama", "Rajugi", "Vadugi" and "Vasugi", and "Kaliya Ballala". Some kings had names like "Simhana" (or "Singhana") and "Mallugi", which were also used by the Kalachuris of Kalyani, who ruled in present-day Karnataka. Records show that one of the early rulers, Seunachandra II, had a Kannada title, "Sellavidega". The rulers had very close matrimonial relationships with Kannada-speaking royal families throughout their rule. Bhillama II was married to Lachchiyavve, who was from a Rashtrakuta descendant family in Karnataka. Vaddiga was married to Vaddiyavve, daughter of Rashtrakuta chieftain Dhorappa. Wives of Vesugi and Bhillama III were Chalukya princesess. The early Seuna coins also had Kannada legends engraved on them indicating it was a court language. The early Yadavas may have migrated northwards owing to the political situation in the Deccan region, or may have been dispatched by their Rashtrakuta overlords to rule the northern regions.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The earliest historically attested ruler of the dynasty is Dridhaprahara (c. 860-880), who is said to have established the city of Chandradityapura (modern Chandor). He probably rose to prominence by protecting the people of Khandesh region from enemy raiders, amid the instability brought by the Pratihara-Rashtrakuta war.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Dridhaprahara's son and successor was Seunachandra (c. 880-900), after whom the dynasty was called Seuna-vamsha (IAST: Seuṇa-vaṃśa) and their territory was called Seuna-desha. He probably became a Rashtrakuta feudatory after helping the Rashtrakutas against their northern neighbours, the Paramaras. He established a new town called Seunapura (possibly modern Sinnar).


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Not much information is available about Seunachandra's successors — Dhadiyappa (or Dadhiyappa), Bhillama I, and Rajugi (or Rajiga) — who ruled during c. 900-950. The next ruler Vandugi (also Vaddiga I or Baddiga) raised the family's political status by marrying into the imperial Rashtrakuta family. He married Vohivayya, a daughter of Dhorappa, who was a younger brother of the Rashtrakuta emperor Krishna III. Vandugi participated in Krishna's military campaigns, which may have resulted in an increase in his fief, although this cannot be said with certainty.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Little is known about the next ruler, Dhadiyasa (c. 970-985). His son Bhillama II acknowledged the suzerainty of the Kalyani Chalukya ruler Tailapa II, who overthrew the Rashtrakutas. As a Chalukya feudatory, he played an important role in Tailapa's victory over the Paramara king Munja. Bhillama II was succeeded by Vesugi I (r. c. 1005-1025), who married Nayilladevi, the daughter of a Chalukya feudatory of Gujarat. The next ruler Bhillama III is known from his Kalas Budruk grant inscription. He married Avalladevi, a daughter of the Chalukya king Jayasimha II, as attested by a Vasai (Bassein) inscription. He may have helped his father-in-law Jayasimha and his brother-in-law Someshvara I in their campaigns against the Paramara king Bhoja.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: For unknown reasons, the Yadava power seems to have declined over the next decade, during the reigns of Vesugi II (alias Vaddiga or Yadugi) and Bhillama IV. The next ruler was Seunachandra II, who, according to the Yadava records, restored the family's fortunes just like the god Hari had restored the earth's fortunes with his varaha incarnation. Seunachandra II appears to have ascended the throne around 1050, as he is attested by the 1052 Deolali inscription. He bore the feudatory title "Maha-mandaleshvara" and became the overlord of several sub-feudatories, including a family of Khandesh. A 1069 inscription indicates that he had a ministry of seven officers, all of whom bore high-sounding titles. During his tenure, the Chalukya kingdom saw a war of succession between the brothers Someshvara II and Vikramaditya VI. Seunachandra II supported Vikramaditya (who ultimately succeeded), and rose to the position of "Maha-mandaleshvara". His son Airammadeva (or Erammadeva, r. c. 1085-1105), who helped him against Someshvara II, succeeded him. Airammadeva's queen was Yogalla, but little else is known about his reign. The Asvi inscription credits him with helping place Vikramaditya on the Chalukya throne.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Airammadeva was succeeded by his brother Simhana I (r. c. 1105-1120). The Yadava records state that he helped his overlord Vikramaditya VI complete the "Karpura-vrata" ritual, by getting him a "karpura" elephant. An 1124 inscription mentions that he was ruling the Paliyanda-4000 province (identified as the area around modern Paranda). The dynasty's history over the next fifty years is obscure. The 1142 Anjaneri inscription attests the rule of a person named Seunachandra, but Hemadri's records of the dynasty do not mention any Seunachandra III; historian R. G. Bhandarkar theorized that this Seunachandra may have been a Yadava sub-feudatory.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The next known ruler Mallugi (r. c. 1145-1160) was a loyal feudatory to the Chalukya king Tailapa III. His general Dada and Dada's son Mahidhara fought with Tailapa's rebellious Kalachuri feudatory Bijjala II. He extended his territory by capturing Parnakheta (modern Patkhed in Akola district). The Yadava records claim that he seized the elephants of the king of Utkala, but do not provide any details. He also raided the kingdom of the Kakatiya ruler Rudra, but this campaign did not result in any territorial gains for him. Mallugi was succeeded by his elder son Amara-gangeya, who was succeeded by his son Amara-mallugi (alias Mallugi II). The next ruler Kaliya-ballala, whose relationship to Mallugi is unknown, was probably an usurper. He was succeeded by Bhillama V around 1175.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: At the time of Bhillama V's ascension in c. 1175, his nominal overlords — the Chalukyas — were busy fighting their former feudatories, such as the Hoysalas and the Kalachuris. Bhillama raided the northern Gujarat Chaulukya and Paramara territories, although these invasions did not result in any territorial annexations. The Naddula Chahamana ruler Kelhana, who was a Gujarat Chaulukya feudatory, forced him to retreat. Meanwhile, the Hoysala ruler Ballala II invaded the Chalukya capital Kalyani, forcing Bhillama's overlord Someshvara to flee.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Around 1187, Bhillama forced Ballala to retreat, conquered the former Chalukya capital Kalyani, and declared himself a sovereign ruler. According to Hemadri, he then established the Devagiri city, which became the new Yadava capital.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: In the late 1180s, Ballala launched a campaign against Bhillama, and decisively defeated his army at Soratur. The Yadavas were driven to the north of the Malaprabha and Krishna rivers, which formed the Yadava-Hoysala border for the next two decades.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Bhillama's son Jaitugi successfully invaded the Kakatiya kingdom around 1194, and forced them to accept the Yadava suzerainty.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Jaitugi's son Simhana, who succeeded him around either 1200 or 1210, is regarded as the dynasty's greatest ruler. At its height, his kingdom probably extended from the Narmada River in the north to the Tungabhadra River in the south, and from the Arabian Sea in the west to the western part of the present-day Telangana in the east. He launched a military campaign against the Hoysalas (who were engaged in a war with the Pandyas), and captured a substantial part of their territory. The Rattas of Saundatti, who formerly acknowledged the Hoysala suzerainty, became his feudatories, and helped him expand the Yadava power southwards. In 1215, Simhana successfully invaded the northern Paramara kingdom. According to Hemadri, this invasion resulted in the death of the Paramara king Arjunavarman, although this claim is of doubtful veracity. Around 1216, Simhana defeated the Kohalpur Shilahara king Bhoja II, a former feudatory, who had asserted his sovereignty. The Shilahara kingdom, including its capital Kolhapur, was annexed to the Yadava kingdom as a result of this victory.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: In 1220, Simhana sent an army to the Lata region in present-day Gujarat, whose rulers kept shifting his allegiance between the Yadavas, the Paramaras, and the Chaulukyas. Simhana's general Kholeshvara killed the defending ruler Simha, and captured Lata. Simhana then appointed Simha's son Shankha as a Yadava vassal in Lata. Sometime later, the Chaulukya general Lavanaprasada invaded Lata, and captured the important port city of Khambhat. Simhana's feudatory Shankha invaded Chaulukya-controlled territory twice, with his help, but was forced to retreat. The Chaulukya-Yadava conflict came to end in c. 1232 with a peace treaty. In the 1240s, Lavanaprasada's grandson Visaladeva usurped the power in Gujarat, and became the first Vagehla monarch. During his reign, Simhana's forces invaded Gujarat unsuccessfully, and the Yadava general Rama (a son of Kholeshvara) was killed in a battle.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Several Yadava feudatories kept shifting their allegiance between the Yadavas and the Hoysalas, and tried to assert their independence whenever presented with an opportunity. Simhana's general Bichana subdued several such chiefs, including the Rattas, the Guttas of Dharwad, the Kadambas of Hangal, and the Kadambas of Goa. The Kakatiya king Ganapati served him as a feudatory for several years, but assumed independence towards the end of his reign. However, Ganapati did not adopt an aggressive attitude towards the Yadavas, so no major conflict happened between the two dynasties during Simhana's reign.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Simhana was succeeded by his grandson Krishna (alias Kannara), who defeated the invaded the Paramara kingdom, which had weakened because of invasions from the Delhi Sultanate. He defeated the Paramara king sometime before 1250, although this victory did not result in any territorial annexation. Krishna also attempted an invasion of the Vaghela-ruled Gujarat, but this conflict was inconclusive, with both sides claiming victory. He also fought against the Hoysalas; again, both sides claim victory in this conflict.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Krishna's younger brother and successor Mahadeva curbed a rebellion by the Shilaharas of northern Konkan, whose ruler Someshvara had attempted to assert his sovereignty. He invaded the eastern Kakatiya kingdom, taking advantage of rebellions against the Kakatiya queen Rudrama, but this invasion appears to have been repulsed. He also invaded the southern Hoysala kingdom, but this invasion was repulsed by the Hoysala king Narasimha II. Mahadeva's Kadamba feudatories rebelled against him, but this rebellion was suppressed by his general Balige-deva around 1268.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Mahadeva was succeeded by his son Ammana, who was dethroned by Krishna's son Ramachandra after a short reign in 1270. During the first half of his reign, Ramachandra adopted an aggressive policy against his neighbours. In the 1270s, he invaded the northern Paramara kingdom, which had been weakened by internal strife, and easily defeated the Paramara army. The Yadava army was also involved in skirmishes against their north-western neighbours, the Vaghelas, with both sides claiming victory. In 1275, he sent a powerful army led by Tikkama to the southern Hoysala kingdom. Tikkama gathered a large plunder from this invasion, although ultimately, his army was forced to retreat in 1276. Ramachandra lost some of his territories, including Raichur, to the Kakatiyas.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The Purushottamapuri inscription of Ramachandra suggests that he expanded the Yadava kingdom at its north-east frontier. First, he subjugated the rulers of Vajrakara (probably modern Vairagarh) and Bhandagara (modern Bhandara). Next, he marched to the defunct Kalachuri kingdom, and occupied the former Kalachuri capital Tripuri (modern Tewar near Jabalpur). He also constructed a temple at Varanasi, which suggests that he may have occupied Varanasi for 2–3 years, amid the confusion caused by the Delhi Sultanate's invasion of the local Gahadavala kingdom. He crushed a rebellion by the Yadava feudatories at Khed and Sangameshwar in Konkan.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Ramachandra seems to have faced invasions by Muslim armies from north India (called "mlechchhas" or "Turukas") since the 1270s, for a 1278 inscription calls him a "Great Boar in securing the earth from the oppression of the Turks". Historian P. M. Joshi dismisses this as a boastful claim, and theorizes that he may have "chastised some Muslim officials" in the coastal region between Goa and Chaul. In 1296, Ala-ud-din Khalji of the Delhi Sultanate successfully raided Devagiri. Khalji restored it to Ramachandra in return for his promise of payment of a high ransom and an annual tribute. However, this was not paid and the Seuna kingdom's arrears to Khalji kept mounting. In 1307, Khalji sent an army commanded by Malik Kafur, accompanied by Khwaja Haji, to Devagiri. The Muslim governors of Malwa and Gujarat were ordered to help Malik Kafur. Their huge army conquered the weakened and defeated forces of Devagiri almost without a battle. Ramachandra was taken to Delhi. Khalji reinstated Ramachandra as governor in return for a promise to help him subdue the Hindu kingdoms in South India. In 1310, Malik Kafur mounted an assault on the Kakatiya kingdom from Devagiri.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Ramachandra's successor Simhana III challenged the supremacy of Khalji, who sent Malik Kafur to recapture Devagiri in 1313. Simhana III was killed in the ensuing battle and Khalji's army occupied Devagiri. The kingdom was annexed by the Khalji sultanate in 1317. Many years later, Muhammad Tughluq of the Tughluq dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate subsequently renamed the city Daulatabad.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The Yadavas were the first major dynasty to use Marathi as an official language. Earlier, both Sanskrit and Kannada had been used for official inscriptions in present-day Maharashtra; subsequently, at least partly due to the efforts of the Yadava rulers, Marathi became the dominant official language of the region. Even if they were not of Marathi origin, towards the end of their reign, they certainly identified with the Marathi language. The early Marathi literature emerged during the Yadava rule, because of which some scholars have theorized that it was produced with support from the Yadava rulers. However, there is no evidence that the Yadava royal court directly supported the production of Marathi literature with state funds, although it regarded Marathi as a significant language for connecting with the general public.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Hemadri, a minister in the Yadava court, attempted to formalize Marathi with Sanskrit expressions to boost its status as a court language. Saint-poet Dnyaneshwar wrote "Dnyaneshwari" (c. 1290), a Marathi-language commentary on the "Bhagavad Gita", during Ramachandra's rule. He also composed devotional songs called "abhanga"s. Dnyaneshwar gave a higher status to Marathi by translating the sacred Geeta from Sanskrit. Mukundaraja wrote the Marathi-language philosophical treatises "Paramamrita" and "Vivekasindhu" during the Yadava period. The Mahanubhava religious sect, which became prominent in present-day Maharshtra during the late Yadava period, boosted the status of Marathi as a literary language. Mahimabhatta wrote "Lilacharita", a biography of the sect's founder Chakradhara. The text claims that Hemadri (who was a Brahmanist) was jealous of Chakradhara's popularity, and the Yadava king Ramachandra ordered killing of Chakradhara, who escaped with his yogic powers. The claim is of doubtful historicity.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Kannada was the court language of Yadavas till late Seuna times, as is evident from a number of Kannada-language inscriptions (see Origin section). Kamalabhava a Jain scholar, patronised by Bhillama V, wrote "Santhishwarapurana". Achanna composed "Vardhamanapurana" in 1198. Amugideva, patronised by Simhana II, composed many "Vachanas" or devotional songs. Chaundarasa of Pandharapur wrote "Dashakumara Charite" around 1300.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Simhana was a great patron of learning and literature. He established the college of astronomy to study the work of celebrated astronomer Bhaskaracharya. The Sangita Ratnakara, an authoritative Sanskrit work on Indian music was written by Śārṅgadeva (or Shrangadeva) during Simhana's reign.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: Hemadri compiled the encyclopedic Sanskrit work "Chaturvarga Chintamani". He is said to have built many temples in a style known after him – "Hemadapanti". He wrote many books on "vaidhyakshastra" (medical science) and he introduced and supported bajra cultivation.


title: Seuna (Yadava) dynasty

text: The Gondeshwar temple is an 11th-12th century Hindu temple located in Sinnar, a town in the Nashik district of Maharashtra, India. It features a panchayatana plan; with a main shrine dedicated to Shiva; and four subsidiary shrines dedicated to Surya, Vishnu, Parvati, and Ganesha. The Gondeshwar temple was built during the rule of the Seuna (Yadava) dynasty, and is variously dated to either the 11th or the 12th century.


title: Z-Cars

text: Z-Cars or Z Cars (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.


title: Z-Cars

text: The series differed sharply from earlier police procedurals. With its less-usual Northern England setting, it injected a new element of harsh realism into the image of the police, which some found unwelcome.


title: Z-Cars

text: "Z-Cars" ran for 801 episodes, of which fewer than half have survived. Regular stars included: Stratford Johns (Detective Inspector Barlow), Frank Windsor (Det. Sgt. Watt), James Ellis (Bert Lynch) and Brian Blessed ("Fancy" Smith). Barlow and Watt were later spun into a separate series "Softly, Softly".


title: Z-Cars

text: The title comes from the radio call signs allocated by Lancashire Constabulary. Lancashire police divisions were lettered from north to the south: "A" Division (based in Ulverston) was the detached part of Lancashire at the time around Barrow-in-Furness, "B" Division was Lancaster, and so on (see Home Office radio). The TV series took the non-existent signs Z-Victor 1 and Z-Victor 2. The title does not, as sometimes suggested, come from the cars used, Ford Zephyr and Ford Zodiac. The Zephyr was the standard traffic patrol car used by Lancashire and other police forces, while the Zodiac was only used for specialist tasks such as traffic duty. Also, the term "Z-car" was used by British newspaper publishing companies to refer to any type of police vehicle.


title: Z-Cars

text: "Z Cars" as an idea came to creator Troy Kennedy Martin as he listened to police messages on his radio while trying to relieve the boredom of being ill in bed with mumps. It was set in the fictional Newtown, loosely based on the real-life modern suburb of Kirkby, one of many housing estates that had sprung up across Britain in the post-war years, and its ageing neighbour Seaport.


title: Z-Cars

text: The stories revolve around pairs of officers patrolling that week. Riding on changing social attitudes and television, the social realism, with interesting stories, garnered popularity for "Z Cars". It was initially somewhat unpopular with real-life police, who disliked the sometimes unsympathetic characterisation of officers. Being set in Northern England helped give "Z Cars" a regional flavour when most BBC dramas were set in Southern England. It directly challenged the BBC's established police drama "Dixon of Dock Green", which at that point had been running for seven years but which some considered 'cosy'.


title: Z-Cars

text: The one character present throughout the entire run (though not in every episode) was Bert Lynch, played by James Ellis (though John Phillips as Det. Chief Supt. Robins reappeared sporadically during the show's run – by the end of the series he had become Chief Constable). Other characters in the early days were Stratford Johns (Inspector Barlow), Frank Windsor (Det. Sgt. Watt), Robert Keegan (Sgt. Blackitt), Joseph Brady (PC "Jock" Weir), Brian Blessed ("Fancy" Smith) and Jeremy Kemp (Bob Steele). Also in 1960s episodes as David Graham was Colin Welland, later a screenwriter. Other British actors who played regular roles in the early years included Joss Ackland. Although he played no regular role in the series, future Monkee Davy Jones appeared in three episodes, and 1963 saw two well known faces join the regulars - Leonard Rossiter played DI Bamber in eight episodes and John Thaw, later known for his roles in "The Sweeney" and "Inspector Morse", appeared in four as a detective constable who had to leave the force because he had a "glass head" – he couldn't drink alcohol when socialising and mixing with the criminal fraternity, very much part of a detective's job.


title: Z-Cars

text: The original run ended in 1965; Barlow, Watt and Blackitt were spun off into a new series "Softly, Softly". When the BBC was looking for a twice-weekly show to replace a series of failed 'soaps' (one example being "United!"), "Z Cars" was revived. The revival was produced by the BBC's serials department in a twice-weekly soap opera format of 25-minute episodes, and only James Ellis and Joseph Brady remained from the original show's run. It was shown from March 1967, both 25-minute segments each week comprising one story.


title: Z-Cars

text: It ran like this until the episode "Kid's Stuff" (broadcast on 30 March 1971), shown as a single 50-minute episode for the week, proved the longer format would still work. Thereafter, "Z Cars" was shown in alternating spells of either two × 25 minute episodes or the single 50-minute episode each week over the next 16 months. This arrangement ended with the showing of the final two-parter, "Breakage" (Series 6, parts 74 and 75, on 21 and 22 August 1972 respectively), after which the series returned permanently to a regular pattern of one 50-minute episode per week.


title: Z-Cars

text: Like many series of its era, "Z-Cars" is incomplete in the archives. The period 1962–65 is reasonably well represented; though with big gaps. With the 1967–71 sixth series, when the programme was shown almost every week, material becomes more patchy still. Of the 416 episodes made for this series, only 108 survive: a few episodes each from 1967, 1969, and 1970, but there are no surviving episodes from 1968 or 1971. About 40% of the total 801 episodes are preserved.


title: Z-Cars

text: The original series was one of the last British television dramas to be screened as a live production. With videotaping becoming the norm and telerecording a mature method of preserving broadcasts, the practice of live broadcasting drama productions was rare by the time the programme began in 1962. Going out "live" was a preference of the series' producer David Rose, who felt it helped immediacy and pace and gave it an edge. As a result, episodes were still not being pre-recorded as late as 1965. Most were videotaped for a potential repeat, although the tapes – costed as part of a programme's budget – were normally wiped for re-use. The transfer of a live or videotaped programme to film greatly enhanced its chances of surviving.


title: Z-Cars

text: In the 1980s, the telerecording of the pilot episode "Four of a Kind" was returned to its writer Allan Prior by an engineer. He had taken it home to preserve it because his children had enjoyed the programme and as a result he could not bring himself to destroy it. This and two other early editions were released on a BBC Video in 1993.


title: Z-Cars

text: Two episodes were returned in 2004 after turning up in a private collection; there have been other occasional returns of individual early episodes in more recent years. When "Z-Cars" returned in 1967 in its 30-minute, twice-weekly format, it was on nearly every week of the year, which may account for its poor survival rate over this period. The 2 × 30-minute format gradually interchanged with the returning 50-minute format, and when the 50-minute format fell into regular use by the series, this coincided with an increase in its survival rate.


title: Z-Cars

text: All episodes from the 1975–1978 period are preserved in the archives. BBC Archive Treasure Hunt was a drive to seek out missing episodes and is still open to information regarding missing editions of lost BBC television programmes. British vintage television enthusiast organisation Kaleidoscope is also interested in the recovery of lost television shows, regardless of their original maker or broadcaster.


title: Z-Cars

text: The "Z-Cars" theme tune was arranged by Fritz Spiegl and his then wife, composer Bridget Fry, from the traditional Liverpool folk song "Johnny Todd". It was released on record in several versions in 1962. Johnny Keating's version (Piccadilly Records, 7N.35032) sold the best, reaching No. 8 on the Record Retailer chart and as high as No. 5 on some UK charts, whilst the Norrie Paramor Orchestra's version, on Columbia DB 4789, peaked at No. 33. A vocal version of the theme, using the original ballad's words, was released by cast member James Ellis on Philips Records PB 1230; this missed the charts.


title: Z-Cars

text: The song in Spiegl and Fry's arrangement is used as an anthem by English football clubs Everton and Watford, playing as the teams enter the pitch for their home games, at Goodison Park and Vicarage Road respectively.


title: Z-Cars

text: "Softly, Softly", a spin-off, focused on the regional crime squad, and ran until 1969, when it was again revised and became "", running until 1976. The character of Barlow (Stratford Johns) was one of the best-known figures in British television in the 1960s and 1970s. He was given several seasons of his own solo series, "Barlow at Large" (later "Barlow") which ran from 1971 to 1975. Barlow joined Watt (Frank Windsor) for the 1973 serial "Jack the Ripper". The serial's success led to a further spin-off entitled "Second Verdict" in which Barlow and Watt looked into unsolved cases and unsafe convictions.


title: Z-Cars

text: Windsor made a final appearance as Watt in the last episode of "Z-Cars", "Pressure", in September 1978, with Robins (John Phillips), the detective chief superintendent from the original series who had risen to chief constable. Jeremy Kemp, Brian Blessed, Joseph Brady and Colin Welland also appeared, though not as their original characters.


title: Z-Cars

text: In a 2000 poll to find the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century conducted by the British Film Institute, "Z-Cars" was voted 63rd. It was also included in television critic Alison Graham's alphabetical list of 40 "all-time great" TV shows published in "Radio Times" in August 2003.


title: Ali Soufan

text: Ali H. Soufan (born 1971) is a Lebanese-American former FBI agent who was involved in a number of high-profile anti-terrorism cases both in the United States and around the world. A 2006 "New Yorker" article described Soufan as coming closer than anyone to preventing the September 11 attacks and implied that he would have succeeded had the CIA been willing to share information with him. He resigned from the FBI in 2005 after publicly chastising the CIA for not sharing intelligence with him which could have prevented the attacks.


title: Ali Soufan

text: In 2011, Soufan published a memoir which includes some historical background on al-Qaeda: "The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda". In 2017, he published "Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of Bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State". He is the CEO of The Soufan Group and founder of The Soufan Center, "a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving as a resource and forum for research, analysis, and strategic dialogue related to global security issues and emergent threats." Soufan is a Phi Kappa Theta alumnus and winner of the Kennedy award in 2018.


title: Ali Soufan

text: Soufan was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1971. He comes from a Sunni Muslim family. He graduated from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania in 1995, receiving his B.A. in political science. He is an admirer of the poet Khalil Gibran.


title: Ali Soufan

text: In 1999, Soufan was called to Jordan to investigate the Jordan Millennium Bombing plot. Here he discovered a box of documents delivered by Jordanian intelligence officials prior to the investigation, sitting on the floor of the CIA station, which contained maps showing the bomb sites. His find "embarrassed the CIA", according to a 2006 "New Yorker" profile of him.


title: Ali Soufan

text: In 2000, he was made the lead investigator of the USS "Cole" bombing. When given a transcript of the interrogations of Fahd al-Quso, he noticed a reference to a one-legged Afghan named "Khallad", whom he remembered as a source identified years earlier as Walid bin 'Attash; this helped the FBI to track down Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.


title: Ali Soufan

text: Following the September 11th attacks, Soufan was one of only eight FBI agents in the entire country who spoke Arabic, and the only one in New York City. Colleagues reported that he would sit on the floor with suspects, offer them tea, and argue over religion and politics in fluent Arabic, while drawing out information. Soufan has been described as having had a close working relationship with FBI counter-terrorism agent John P. O'Neill, who was killed on September 11.


title: Ali Soufan

text: While in Yemen investigating the September 11th attacks, Soufan received intelligence that the CIA had been withholding for months. According to "The New Yorker", "Soufan received the fourth photograph of the Malaysia meeting—the picture of Khallad, the mastermind of the Cole operation. The two plots, Soufan instantly realized, were linked, and if the CIA had not withheld information from him he likely would have drawn the connection months before September 11th." He was tasked with the "intensive interrogation" of Abu Jandal over the course of five days in Yemen, during which time Jandal gave up the names of a number of members of al-Qaeda. It was his questioning of Mohammed al-Qahtani that led to the terrorism charges against Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri in Chicago, whom al-Qahtani had mentioned as being a relative.


title: Ali Soufan

text: In 2005, Soufan approached a Florida doctor, Rafiq Abdus Sabir, pretending to be an Islamist militant, and asked him whether he would provide medical treatment to wounded al-Qaeda fighters in the Iraq War. When Sabir agreed to provide medical treatment, he was arrested and sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment for supporting terrorism.


title: Ali Soufan

text: Soufan obtained a confession from Salim Hamdan, accused of being a driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden. Soufan testified before his military tribunal that Hamdan was a hardened terrorist who had possessed advance knowledge of the September 11th attacks. He also obtained a confession from Ali al-Bahlul, an al-Qaeda propagandist and bin Laden media secretary accused of making a video celebrating the "Cole" attacks, and testified at his military tribunal as well.


title: Ali Soufan

text: Soufan resigned from the FBI in 2005 and founded the Soufan Group. He continues to be frequently called upon to serve as an expert commentator. Soufan was a former member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.


title: Ali Soufan

text: On May 14, 2009, Soufan testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for its hearing on torture. The hearing followed President Barack Obama's declassification of what is known as the "torture memos".


title: Ali Soufan

text: Most notably, Soufan claimed in his testimony that his interrogation of Abu Zubaydah had resulted in actionable intelligence, such as the identity of convicted terrorist José Padilla; and that thereafter, when waterboarding was performed on Abu Zubaydah, the flow of intelligence stopped. Soufan's statement contradicts the one made in the "torture memos", which were intent on making a legal case in favor of—and justification for—the use of waterboarding and other so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" (EITs). Soufan re-stated his claims in an April 22, 2009, op-ed for "The New York Times" entitled "My Tortured Decision", which was published shortly after the memos were released, and similarly two months later.


title: Ali Soufan

text: According to one of President George W. Bush's speechwriters, Marc Thiessen, writing in the "National Review" in October 2009, both Soufan's testimony and his April 2009 op-ed in "The New York Times" are contradicted by CIA documents that state that Abu Zubaydah revealed the actionable intelligence only during the CIA's interrogation, which included rougher treatment than the FBI had used. However, in turn, Thiessen's argument is contradicted by the 2008 Department of Justice's Inspector General Report, which quotes FBI sources stating that "Zubaydah was responding to the FBI's rapport-based approach before the CIA assumed control over the interrogation, but became uncooperative after being subjected to the CIA's techniques."


title: Ali Soufan

text: Soufan's argument was also supported by the CIA Inspector General's 2004 Report into the program. After investigating claims about the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques, the report stated that while the regular interrogation approach achieved many successes, "measuring the effectiveness of the EITs, however, is a more subjective process and not without some concern."


title: Ali Soufan

text: The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility report, published July 29, 2009, states that "the CIA Effectiveness Memo provided inaccurate information about Abu Zubaydah's interrogation." The CIA memo stated that "Zubaydah's reporting led to the arrest of Padilla on his arrival in Chicago in May 2003." However, the OPR report states, "In fact Padilla was arrested in May 2002, not 2003," and so "the information 'leading to the arrest of Padilla' could not have been obtained through the authorized use of EITs."


title: Ali Soufan

text: On May 8, 2012, "Bloomberg News" published an op-ed by Ali Soufan criticizing a book recently published by former CIA official Jose Rodriguez. Rodriguez's duties included supervising the CIA's enhanced interrogation program. Soufan strongly disputed Rodriguez's claims that the CIA's enhanced interrogation program was effective at securing reliable, useful information.


title: Ali Soufan

text: Soufan questioned whether the marked differences in Rodriguez's description of al-Nashiri's role in the USS "Cole" bombing from that of the prosecution would undermine the case against al-Nashiri. Soufan wrote that al-Nashiri was the bombing's mastermind; Rodriguez disputed that al-Nashiri was not intelligent enough to be a "mastermind".


title: Ali Soufan

text: In 2017 Soufan founded The Soufan Center (TSC), "an independent non-profit center offering research, analysis, and strategic dialogue on global security challenges and foreign policy issues...". , Michael G. Masters is President of the Center, while Naureen Chowdhury Fink is the Executive Director.


title: Ali Soufan

text: Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist with "The Washington Post", and an expatriate from Saudi Arabia, who had stirred the ire of the Saudi government, was a friend of Soufan's. When Khashoggi was assassinated in October 2018, Soufan helped erect a memorial to him in Washington DC.


title: Ali Soufan

text: In May 2020, CIA officials contacted Soufan to inform him they were monitoring al Qaeda militants who were plotting against him. He also started to receive threatening messages via social media. Cybersecurity experts hired by the Soufan Group determined the social media threats were orchestrated not by al-Qaeda, as the CIA claimed, but by the same Saudi government officials who had targeted his friend Jamal Khashoggi, prior to assassinating him.


title: Ali Soufan

text: In the Hulu miniseries "The Looming Tower" (2018), based on Soufan's time in the FBI, he is portrayed by actor Tahar Rahim. In the 2019 film "The Report", he is portrayed by Fajer Al-Kaisi.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: Aviano Air Base () is a base in northeastern Italy, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. It is located in the Aviano municipality, at the foot of the Carnic Pre-Alps or Southern Carnic Alps, about from Pordenone.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: The Italian Air Force has ownership, and administrative and military control of the base. It hosts the U.S. Air Force's 31st Fighter Wing and is believed to host nuclear weapons.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: The 31st Fighter Wing is the only U.S. fighter wing south of the Alps. This strategic location makes the wing critical to operations in NATO's southern region. The 31st Fighter Wing maintains two F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter squadrons, the 555th Fighter Squadron and the 510th Fighter Squadron, allowing the wing to conduct offensive and defensive combat air operations.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: Aviano Air Base was established by the Italian government in 1911 as the first airport in Italy, and was later used as training base for Italian pilots and construction facility for aircraft parts. During World War I, Italy used the airfield in missions against the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. At that time, two Italian aviators, Captain Maurizio Pagliano and Lieutenant Luigi Gori, conducted an unauthorized and unsuccessful but heroic air raid on the Austro-Hungarian naval yards in Pula, in what is now Croatia. In their honor, the base's name was changed to "Aeroporto Pagliano e Gori" in 1919. During the war the airfield was also overrun by the Austro-German army between November 1917 and November 1918. After World War I, the airfield was again used as a training base.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: During World War II, both the Italian Air Force and the German Luftwaffe flew missions from Aeroporto Pagliano e Gori. British forces captured the base in 1945; they conducted air operations there until 1947, when the Italian Air Force resumed operational use of the airport.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: As part of the most extensive restructuring since the Air Force became a separate service, Tactical Air Command was deactivated and Air Combat Command was activated and the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing was redesignated to its current name, the 31st Fighter Wing.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: To avoid losing the wing's heritage and history as the highest scoring Army Air Force unit in the Mediterranean Theater in WW II, the impressive combat record in the Vietnam War and a number of significant firsts they produced in the early years of the Air Force, the 31st Fighter Wing was chosen to move rather than fade into obscurity. On 1 April 1994, the 31st Fighter Wing inactivated at Homestead AFB and subsequently activated at Aviano Air Base, Italy, in place of the 401st Fighter Wing.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: The 31st Fighter Wing received two new squadrons at that time, the 555th and 510th Fighter Squadrons, along with their Block-40 F-16s. The wing immediately became involved with events in Bosnia, part of the former communist country of Yugoslavia, in May 1994 as part of Operation Deny Flight. In June 1995, a massive search and rescue operation took place to extract Captain Scott O'Grady of the 555th Fighter Squadron who was shot down over Bosnian-Serb controlled territory in Bosnia. A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 picked him up after he evaded capture for six days.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: In August and September, Operation Deliberate Force began and the 31st Fighter Wing conducted air strikes against Bosnian Serbs to give the Muslim forces an upper hand in the conflict. Peacekeeping operations continued in the Balkans through the end of 2004, when the European Union assumed responsibility for the region.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: In 1999, U.S. Air Forces in Europe activated the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing-Noble Anvil at Aviano for Operation Allied Force in the Province of Kosovo, which was not authorized by the UN Security Council. Assigned under a joint task force, the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing flew from Aviano and joined NATO allies in a 78-day air campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia). From 24 March to 10 June 1999, the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing, the largest expeditionary wing in Air Force history flew nearly 9,000 combat sorties and accumulated almost 40,000 hours of combat service over the skies of Kosovo, Serbia and the rest of the Balkans in support of NATO operations. The wing accomplished much during OAF as the two permanently assigned flying squadrons, the 510th and 555th, flew more than 2,400 combined sorties and more than 10,000 combat hours.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: In 2000, the wing began deployments in support of the Expeditionary Air Force. From March to September 2000, the 510th and 555th Fighter Squadrons conducted back-to-back deployments to Ahmad al-Jaber AB, Kuwait, in support of Operation Southern Watch. While at Al Jaber, the squadrons flew more than 400 combat sorties.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: From June through December 2001, the fighter squadrons deployed combat search and rescue capabilities three times and helped enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: From August to December 2002, the 510th Fighter Squadron and 603rd Air Control Squadron returned to Southwest Asia. The two squadrons supported Operation Enduring Freedom.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: Simultaneously, the 555th deployed personnel and aircraft to Decimomannu Air Base, Sardinia, while the runway at Aviano was closed for repairs.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: The wing's support of Operation Iraqi Freedom began in late 2003. Aviano served as the launch point for airborne/air-land insertion of airborne forces opening a second front in northern Iraq. During that time, the wing secured, bedded and fed more than 2,300 Army and Air Force personnel. The operation, the largest airborne operation since 1989, constituted 62 missions, transporting 2,146 passengers and 2,433.7 tons of cargo.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: Since the beginning of combat operations in Iraq, forces from the wing have been on regular combat rotations into the region. In late 2003, the wing's 603rd Air Control Squadron became the first unit from the wing to deploy to Iraq. They also relocated their entire operation from Baghdad International Airport to Balad Air Base. Under combat conditions, the squadron transferred $73 million in equipment and more than 100 personnel with 20 convoys. On 10 April 2004, insurgents launched a mortar attack on Balad, killing Airman 1st Class Antoine Holt and injuring two other 603rd Air Control Squadron members. Airman Holt's death constituted the 31st Fighter Wing's first combat fatality since the Vietnam War.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: The 31st Fighter Wing continued deploying forces in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, with more than one-third of the wing deploying to support operations each year from 2003 to 2007.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: Since arriving at Aviano, the wing has also participated in numerous training exercises with international partners, including training deployments to Latvia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Spain, Slovenia and Poland.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: In March 2011, the 31st Fighter Wing played a major role in the United Nations' response to the crisis in Libya, known as Operation Odyssey Dawn, in enforcing no-fly zone. The wing hosted four flying units and more than 1,350 personnel during the 15-day operation, 17 to 31 March. It worked around the clock to launch 2,250 flying operations out of Aviano Air Base. As Operation Odyssey Dawn came to an end on 31 March, so began Operation Unified Protector, with NATO taking the lead until the operation's conclusion 31 October of that year.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: Aviano F-16s again returned to the skies over Libya in June 2014. Due to significant fighting in Tripoli during the 2014 Libyan conflict the U.S embassy was evacuated. During a five-hour non-combatant evacuation operation, three F-16s launched from Aviano guarded the evacuation of American citizens as embassy staff and U.S Marines convoyd overland from Tripoli into Tunisia.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: In the Cavalese cable car disaster, on 3 February 1998, a U.S. Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler jet flying too low on a training exercise from Aviano Air Base severed a cable car's cable over the Alps at Cavalese, Italy, causing 20 deaths.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: On 4 November 2009, the conviction by an Italian court of 22 CIA agents, a U.S. Air Force colonel and two Italian SISMI secret agents confirmed the role of the Aviano Air Base in the kidnapping, on 17 February 2003, of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, in the so-called "extraordinary rendition" program. The man, abducted in Milan by CIA agents, was taken to Aviano Air Base for interrogation before being transported via Ramstein Air Base in Germany to Alexandria, Egypt, and turned over to the custody of Egypt's State Security Intelligence.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: The 31st Operations Group ensures the combat readiness of two F-16CG squadrons, one air control squadron, and one operational support squadron conducting and supporting worldwide air operations. The group prepares fighter pilots, controllers, and support personnel to execute U.S. and NATO war plans and contingency operations. It trains, equips, plans, and provides weather, intelligence, standardization/evaluation, and command and control sustaining global flying operations.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: The 31st Maintenance Group provides peacetime and combat maintenance and munitions control, and executive support for the 31st Fighter Wing, geographically separated units under the command and control of the wing, and units gained during advanced stages of readiness. The 31st MXG also responds to humanitarian and contingency logistics support requirements as directed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff through Headquarters U.S. Air Forces Europe to locations in Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: The 31st Mission Support Group's goal is to provide infrastructure and service to support a premiere combat capability and quality of life to the 31st Fighter Wing, Aviano community and multiple geographically separated units.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: The 31st Medical Group supports the readiness of 31st Fighter Wing and associated units throughout the Southern Region, ensuring the health of its community by providing optimal patient-focused medical care from internal, Department of Defense and Host Nation resources. The unit employs medical resources and preventive initiatives to ensure airmen remain mission ready to support the Expeditionary Air Force, U.S. and NATO objectives worldwide.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) operates schools for children who are dependents of US military personnel. Aviano Elementary School and Aviano Middle High School are the two DoDEA schools on the property.


title: Aviano Air Base

text: Some of this text in an early version of this article was taken from pages on the Aviano Air Base website, which as a work of the U.S. Government is presumed to be a public domain resource. That information was supplemented by:


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is part of the Greater Danbury metropolitan area as well as the New York metropolitan area. Newtown was founded in 1705, and later incorporated in 1711. As of the 2020 census, its population was 27,173.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: In 1705, English colonists purchased the Townsite from the Pohtatuck Indians, a branch of the Pasgussett. It was originally known as Quanneapague. Settled by migrants from Stratford and incorporated in 1711, Newtown residents had many business and trading ties with the English. It was a stronghold of Tory sentiment during the early Revolutionary War. Late in the war, French General Rochambeau and his troops encamped there in 1781 during their celebrated march on their way to the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, which ended the Revolution.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: An important crossroads throughout its early history, the village of Hawleyville briefly emerged as a railroad center. The town's population grew to over 4,000 . In the following decades, the population dwindled to a low of 2,635 in 1930 before again growing.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Local industry has included the manufacture of furniture, tea bags, combs, fire hoses, folding boxes, buttons, and hats, as well as farming, and mica and feldspar mining. The game of "Scrabble" was developed here by James Brunot.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: From the period of highway development and suburbanization following World War II, the town has developed as a suburb of Danbury, with many people also commuting to Norwalk, Stamford, and Bridgeport.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: The local newspaper, "The Newtown Bee" has been the hometown media outlet since June 1877, under Publisher John Pearce of Bethel. The Smith family purchased the newspaper in 1881 and has continuously operated it since that time.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: , Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother in her home and then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School where he killed 20 children and six adult staff. Adam committed suicide when police arrived at the school.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Lanza suffered from severe mental illness which was left untreated. The event reignited a debate regarding access to firearms by people with mental illness and gun laws in the United States.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 2.22%, is water. Newtown is located in northern Fairfield County, about southwest of Hartford and about northeast of New York City. The state's fifth largest town in area, it is bordered by Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Easton, Monroe, Oxford, Redding and Southbury.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Smaller communities include Camelot, Head of Meadow (not necessarily related to Head O'Meadow Elementary School), Hopewell, Huntingtown, Lands End, Middle Gate, Palestine, and Taunton.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: As of the 2020 census, the total population was 27,179 in 9,934 households. (From https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/newtowntownfairfieldcountyconnecticut) As of the census of 2000, there were 25,031 people, 8,325 households, and 6,776 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 8,601 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 95.14% White, 1.75% Black or African American, 0.14% Native American, 1.40% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.64% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.36% of the population.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: There were 8,325 households, out of which 44.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.3% were married couples living together, 5.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.6% were non-families. 14.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.90 and the average family size was 3.24.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.3% under the age of 18, 4.4% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.5 males.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: The median income for a household in the town was $90,193, and the median income for a family was $99,192 (these figures had risen to $101,937 and $119,175 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $68,965 versus $42,217 for females. The per capita income for the town was $37,786. About 2.2% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.0% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: The town of Newtown offers many programs for area residents. Numerous parks and fields offer playgrounds, swimming, tennis, softball, baseball, volleyball, lacrosse, soccer, as well as a nature center and trails. Prominent Newtown parks include Treadwell Park, Dickinson Park, and Collis P. Huntington State Park. Treadwell Park, named after former selectman Timothy Treadwell, contains recreation facilities and the town pool. Dickinson park used to contain a swimming pool, which was a large asphalt-lined bowl-shaped depression surrounded by a grass "beach". It was a uniquely safe design for children because there was no "deep end"; however, it lacked a formal filtration system and required attendants to periodically row out and manually add chlorine to the water. The asphalt was removed and the pond pool filled with earth in 2006.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: In Connecticut politics, the town of Newtown is required to have both a Democratic and a Republican Town Committee. The Town Committee members vote on which candidates to endorse for public elections. Elected to a two-year term, the Board of Selectmen supervise the administration of the affairs of the town, except those matters which by the General Statute or Town Charter are exclusively committed to the Board of Education or other departments. They are led by a First Selectman, who is the Chief Executive and Administrative Officer of the town. The Board of Selectmen, with the assistance of the departments and boards and commission, prepares the annual budget for the town in February. The Board of Education prepares and passes an education budget for the town schools at the same time. Both budgets then proceed to the Board of Finance, who reviews the town budget and education budget before being sent to the Legislative Council. The Legislative Council of 12 members (elected to the same two-year terms) acts as the legislative body of the town and has the power to pass ordinances and approve budgets for referendums. Final budget approval is subject to a town-wide referendum. These procedures are set forth in the Town Charter adopted and reviewed by the citizens.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: The Borough of Newtown occupies about (or roughly two square miles) in the central part of town. Incorporated in 1824 by an act of the Connecticut General Assembly, it is one of only nine boroughs in the state. The borough adopted zoning for the town center long before the rest of the community. The lot sizes are smaller than the minimum lots of the rest of the community. The borough also has running public water provided by the Water & Sewer Authority. Much of the borough is sewered, whereas most of the rest of the town have wells and septic systems.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Newtown has a number of local landmarks. The flagpole, first erected in 1876, now stands in the center of Main Street. Across from the flagpole is Newtown Meeting House, which served as the town's Congregational church for many years. The rooster weather vane (a town symbol), located atop the meeting house, is said to have been used as a target by French soldiers encamped here in 1781 during the Revolutionary War.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Hawley School is a landmark constructed in the 1920s. It has been used as a whole-town school, a high school, and an elementary school, its current function. Though it has served many different school functions, its original section has remained much the same. Two additions have been added.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Newtown is the site of Fairfield Hills Hospital, a state psychiatric hospital constructed in the 1930s and closed in 1995. The hospital was used as the set of the juvenile facility in the film "Sleepers" in 1995. In 2004, Newtown purchased the property and, as of 2007, was considering a controversial plan for redevelopment. In 2008, the Newtown Youth Academy began to operate there; extracurricular amenities include a fitness section, basketball courts, and a turf field.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Constructed in 1930 by a private benefactress for the community, the Town Hall is used for public-private purposes. Offices for the town are located there. The facility also has available for private rental the Alexandria Room for weddings, parties and recitals; and smaller meeting rooms that can be reserved by community groups. A gymnasium is used for community sports events, as well as private parties, and art or craft shows.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: The Edmond Town hall is notable for its cinema. The theater shows popular films shortly after they leave mainstream theaters. It is the only $3 film theater in Connecticut. It is a popular spot for middle school and high school students.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: The theater has been the primary venue for the Newtown Friends of Music chamber music concerts, the Flagpole Radio Café productions, and several others. The "Live at the Edmond Town Hall" concert series was created by Newtown resident Hayden Bates in 2009. All proceeds are put towards aiding the Edmond's theater upgrades. Headliners have included The Low Anthem, The Bill Frisell and Sam Amidon Duo, Brown Bird and Phosphorescent. In 2014, the theater began showing classic films through the Sunday Cinema Series, later changed to the Someday Cinema Series. A dozen films from 1939 were selected to celebrate The Greatest Year in Film, most sponsored by community members and local businesses, and presented by the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: The Board of Managers of the Hall is composed of six members serving six-year terms. At each regular Town Election, two members are elected, who must represent different political parties. According to Town Charter, the Board "shall have the exclusive care and maintenance of Edmond Town Hall and all grounds and buildings appurtenant thereto, together with all powers and duties prescribed for said Board by Special Act No. 98 of the 1931 session by which it was created, as amended by Special Act No. 517 of the 1953 session".


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: The architect was Philip Sutherland, who also designed Cyrenius H. Booth Library. The Town Hall was constructed for the community by a local benefactress Mary Elizabeth Hawley and dedicated in 1930. The building was named for Miss Hawley’s maternal great-grandfather Judge William Edmond.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Newtown's public library was opened December 17, 1932, with a capacity for 25,000 volumes. The library is a posthumous gift of Mary Elizabeth Hawley. She named it for her maternal grandfather, a doctor in town from 1820 until his death in 1871. Hawley's gift paid for construction of the building, and an endowment, a trust fund of about $250,000. As a result, the town did not have to provide any financial support to the library until the 1980s.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Designed by Philip Sutherland, the building was considered one of the most modern libraries of its time, with several innovative features. The building was fireproof, had cork floors and acoustic ceiling tiles to deaden sound, and had a built-in humidifying unit and a centralized vacuum cleaner.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: In January 1998 an addition to the rear of the building was completed and officially opened. The expansion doubled the available floor space. It provides areas for meetings and displays of art and local historical artifacts from the library's large collection.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Of the residents of Newtown, especially prior to the rise of remote work that became more prevalent after the COVID-19 pandemic, many commuted for work to Manhattan, Hartford, and Stamford.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: According to the Newtown Connecticut Economic Development Commission, the top employers in the Newtown and Sandy Hook area are:


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: The Newtown Public Schools district operates four elementary schools (Hawley Elementary School, Head O'Meadow Elementary School, Middle Gate Elementary School, and Sandy Hook Elementary School) that serve grades K–4, Reed Intermediate School serving grades 5–6, Newtown Middle School serving grades 7–8, and Newtown High School serving grades 9–12.


title: Newtown, Connecticut

text: Newtown also has several private and parochial schools, including St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic School, the Fraser-Woods Montessori School, and the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: Andrew Jackson Whittaker Jr. (October 9, 1947 – June 27, 2020) was an American businessman in the construction industry. He was noted for being the winner of a 2002 lottery jackpot. His win of US$314.9 million in the Powerball multi-state lottery was, at the time, the largest jackpot ever won by a single winning ticket in the history of American lottery. After winning the lottery, he was proximate to a number of crimes, and experienced several personal tragedies.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: Before his lottery win, Whittaker had been the president of Diversified Enterprises Construction, a contracting firm in Putnam County, West Virginia, for 12 years. Whittaker already had a net worth of over $17 million before his windfall. On Christmas Eve 2002, Whittaker purchased the winning Quick Pick ticket at a supermarket in Hurricane, West Virginia, where he had stopped for a deli breakfast sandwich and to get fuel for his vehicle. He was not a regular lottery player but bought $100 in tickets because the jackpot was so high. He played the lottery only when it reached $100 million.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: The jackpot that Christmas Day (before taxes) was a $314.9 million annuity or $170.5 million cash. Whittaker chose the cash option of $113,386,407, after taxes.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: Whittaker pledged 10% of his winnings to Christian charities—including several churches affiliated with the Church of God—in southern West Virginia. One of the beneficiary congregations constructed a multimillion-dollar church in Hurricane. He also donated $14 million to establish the Jack Whittaker Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides food and clothing to low-income families in rural West Virginia. Moreover, for the deli manager who served the biscuits at the convenience store where he purchased the winning ticket, he purchased a $123,000 house and a new Jeep Grand Cherokee and gave her a check for $44,000. He then purchased a Lamborghini and drove it through his neighborhood throwing cash.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: On August 5, 2003, less than a year after Whittaker won the lottery, thieves broke into his car while it was parked at a strip club in Cross Lanes, West Virginia. The thieves made away with $545,000 in cash that Whittaker carried around in a suitcase. When asked why he would carry that much money around with him, Whittaker responded, "Because I can." In another incident, two employees at the club, the general manager and a dancer-manager who were romantically linked, were arrested and charged with a plot to put drugs in Whittaker's drinks and then rob him. On January 25, 2004, thieves once again broke into his car, this time making off with an estimated $200,000 in cash, but this was later recovered.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: On September 16, 2004, Jesse Tribble, an 18-year-old on-and-off-again boyfriend of Whittaker's granddaughter Brandi Bragg, was found dead in Whittaker's home in Teays Valley, West Virginia. A coroner's report indicated that he had died from overdosing on a combination of oxycodone, methadone, meperidine, and cocaine.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: On December 20, 2004, Brandi Bragg, 17, was found dead on the property of a male friend after being reported missing on December 9. Her body was wrapped in a plastic tarpaulin and dumped behind a junked van. Cocaine and methadone were found in her system, but the cause of death was listed as "undetermined". No one was charged with a crime.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: On October 11, 2005, at a hearing related to his January 2003 DUI, a visibly shaken Whittaker lashed out at local law enforcement agencies for focusing on his troubles while failing to arrest anyone in relation to his granddaughter's death, saying, "Go after whoever killed my granddaughter with as much as these butt holes are trying to convict me of something I didn't do."


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: Whittaker was later sued by Caesars Atlantic City casino for bouncing $1.5 million worth of checks to cover gambling losses. He countersued, claiming that his losses were supposed to be credited due to a slot machine he developed and that they, in fact, owed him money.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: On January 11, 2007, a legal complaint against Whittaker alleged he claimed that on September 11, 2006, thieves took all of his money. The thieves, according to the account, went to 12 branches of the City National Bank and cashed 12 checks. The incident came to light because Whittaker had not been paying money to a woman who had previously sued him. Kitti French filed the complaint earlier in the week, requesting court costs and money from Whittaker.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: On July 5, 2009, Ginger Whittaker Bragg, Whittaker's 42-year-old daughter and the mother of Brandi Bragg, was found dead in Daniels, West Virginia. No explanation was given, but officials did not suspect foul play.


title: Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

text: On December 2, 2016, around 7 a.m. Whittaker's home in Bland County, Virginia, was reported to be on fire. When firefighters arrived, the home was fully engulfed, and the house was deemed a total loss. Whittaker's wife was home when the fire broke out, but she was able to make it out safely and no injuries were reported. Whittaker stated that the home was not insured.


title: Luca Pellegrini (footballer, born 1999)

text: Luca Pellegrini (born 7 March 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a left back for club Eintracht Frankfurt, on loan from Juventus, and the Italy national team.


title: Luca Pellegrini (footballer, born 1999)

text: On 17 April 2018, Pellegrini signed his first professional contract with A.S. Roma keeping him at the club until 2021.


title: Luca Pellegrini (footballer, born 1999)

text: Pellegrini joined the first team in the 2018–19 season, aged 19. He made his professional and Serie A debut in a 4–0 win over Frosinone on 26 September 2018, making the assist for Aleksandar Kolarov's goal. He made his UEFA Champions League debut on 2 October 2018, in the group stage match won 5–0 against FC Viktoria Plzeň.


title: Luca Pellegrini (footballer, born 1999)

text: On 30 June 2019, Luca Pellegrini joined Serie A champions Juventus for €22 million, with Leonardo Spinazzola moving in the opposite direction for €29.5 million. On 19 August 2019, he rejoined Cagliari on loan for the 2019–20 season. On 26 September 2020, Pellegrini moved to Genoa on a one-year loan. He moved to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on a one-year loan on 12 August 2022.


title: Luca Pellegrini (footballer, born 1999)

text: Pellegrini made his debut with the Italy U21 team on 11 October 2018, in a friendly match lost 1–0 against Belgium.


title: Luca Pellegrini (footballer, born 1999)

text: With the Italy U20 side he took part in the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, in which Italy achieved a fourth–place finish.


title: Luca Pellegrini (footballer, born 1999)

text: He received his first call up to the Italy senior squad for the team's UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches against Armenia and Finland in September 2019.


title: Luca Pellegrini (footballer, born 1999)

text: He made his senior debut with Italy on 11 November 2020, featuring as a substitute in a 4–0 friendly win over Estonia in Florence.