title: Ijtihad

text: Outside these circles, some scholars amongst traditional Sufi circles were also in favour of Ijtihad. These included the prominent Ottoman Hanafite jurist Ibn Abidin (1784-1836) who is a scholarly authoritaty for even Hanafites of the "Taqleed" camp. Ibn Abidin employed "Ijtihad" in order to issue fatwas, using reasoning and believed that "ijtihad" was acceptable to use in certain circumstances. According to Ibn Abidin, Hanafite Muftis should look up to rulings of Abu Hanifa, then Abu Yusuf, then Shaybani, then Zufar and then some lesser jurists for fatwas. However, if a previous Hanafi scholar hasn't found an answer to the issue, then he should employ "Ijtihad" to solve the novel issue. According to Ibn Abidin, it is not obligatory to follow a particular "mad'hab" as well.


title: Ijtihad

text: On the issue of existence of "Mujtahids" and continuity of "Ijtihad", contemporary scholarship are divided into two camps:


title: Ijtihad

text: 1) Those who oppose "Ijtihad": These include the Orientalist scholars who view that "Gates of "Ijtihad" are closed". Sufi groups such as Barelvis, Deobandis, etc. believe that "Mujtahids" have ceased to exist. Some others such as Said Nursi is not theoretically against "Ijtihad", but advocates postponing "Ijtihad" to a later time when Muslims attain sufficient strength.


title: Ijtihad

text: 2) Those who advocate "Ijtihad": These include Salafi scholars and Islamic modernists who believe in the existence of "Mujtahids". Salafis argue that "Ijtihad" doesn't have a gate, but only pre-requisites. Others who advocate Ijtihad include Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Asad, etc. Recent scholars in academia such as Wael Hallaq are also its supporters.


title: Ijtihad

text: Starting in the middle of the 19th century, Islamic modernists such as Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, Jamal al-din Al-Afghani, and Muhammad Abduh emerged seeking to revitalize Islam by re-establish and reform Islamic law and its interpretations to accommodate Islam with modern society. They emphasized the use of "ijtihad", but in contrast to its original use, they sought to "apply contemporary intellectual methods" such as academic or scientific thought "to the task of reforming Islam". Al-Afghani proposed the new use of "ijtihad" that he believed would enable Muslims to think critically and apply their own individual interpretations of the innovations of modernity in the context of Islam.


title: Ijtihad

text: One modernist argument for applying ijtihad to sharia law is that while "the principles and values underlying Sharia (i.e. "usul al-fiqh")" are unalterable, human interpretation of sharia is not. Another, (made by Asghar Ali Engineer of India), is that the "adaat" (customs and traditions) of Arabs were used in the development of the sharia, and form an important part of it. They are very much not divine or immutable, and have no more legal justification to be part of the sharia than the "adaat" of Muslims -- Iranians, Uzbeks, Turks, Chinese, Indians and others -- living beyond the home of the original Muslim in the Arab Hejaz.


title: Ijtihad

text: In Indonesia, following considerable debate among the ulema, Indonesian "adaat" "become part of Sharia as applicable in that country". This use of ijtihad of "adaat" applies to "mu’amalat" (socio-economic matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance), and not "Ibadah" fiqh (ritual salat, sawm, zakat, etc.). Asghar Ali Engineer argues that while the Quran was revealed in a "highly patriarchal" Arab "adaat" that still informs what is understood as sharia, the Quran itself has a "transcendental" vision of justice that includes "absolutely equal rights" between genders and should guide ijtihad of sharia.


title: Ijtihad

text: Contemporary Salafis are major proponents of "ijtihad". They criticize "taqlid" and believe "ijtihad" makes modern Islam more authentic and will guide Muslims back to the Golden Age of early Islam. Salafis assert that reliance on "taqlid" has led to Islam's decline.


title: Ijtihad

text: Ahl-i-Hadith revivalist movement of subcontinent highly influenced by the thoughts of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, Shawkani and Syed Ahmed Barelvi, fully condemn "taqlid a"nd advocate for "ijtihad" based on scriptures. Founded in mid-19th century in Bhopal, it places great emphasis on hadith studies and condemns imitation to the canonical law schools. They identify with the early school of Ahl al-Hadith. During the late 19th century, Najdi scholars would establish contacts with Ahl-i-Hadith and many Najdi students would study under the scholars of Ahl-i-Hadith, amongst them prominent scholars.


title: Ijtihad

text: The Muslim Brotherhood traces its founding philosophies to al-Afghani's "ijtihad". The Muslim Brotherhood holds that the practice of "ijtihad" will strengthen the faith of believers by compelling them to better familiarize themselves with the Quran and come to their own conclusions about its teachings. But as a political group the Muslim Brotherhood faces a major paradox between "ijtihad" as a religious matter and as a political one. "Ijtihad" weakens political unity and promotes pluralism, (which is also why many oppressive regimes reject "ijtihad"s legitimacy).


title: Ijtihad

text: The Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini envisioned a prominent role for "ijtihad" in his political theory of "" ("vilāyat-e faqīh").


title: Ijtihad

text: Osama Bin Laden supported "ijtihad". He criticized the Saudi regime for disallowing the "free believer" and imposing harsh restrictions on successful practice of Islam. Thus, Bin Laden believed his striving for the implementation of "ijtihad" was his "duty" ("takleef").


title: Ijtihad

text: A mujtahid (, "diligent") is an individual who is qualified to exercise "ijtihad" in the evaluation of Islamic law. The female equivalent is a "mujtahida". In general "mujtahids" must have an extensive knowledge of Arabic, the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and legal theory (Usul al-fiqh). Sunni Islam and Shia Islam, due to their divergent beliefs regarding the persistence of divine authority, have different views on "ijtihad" and the qualifications required to achieve "mujtahid". In order to clarify how "ijtihad" differs in Sunni and Shia Islam it is necessary to explore the historical development of this position in both branches.


title: Ijtihad

text: In the years following the death of Muhammad, Sunni Muslims practiced "ijtihad" and saw it as an acceptable form of the continuation of sacred instruction. Sunni Muslims justified practice of "Ijtihad" with a particular hadith, which cites Muhammad's approval of forming an individual sound legal opinion if the Qur'an and Sunnah contain no explicit text regarding that particular issue. As Muslims turned to the Quran and Sunnah to solve their legal issues, they began to recognize that these Divine proponents did not deal directly with certain topics of law. Therefore, Sunni jurists began to find other ways and sources for "ijtihad" which allowed for personal judgment of Islamic law. Thus, a legal theory ("usul al-Fiqh") was developed during the classical period to facilitate "Ijtihad". It established a coherent system of principles through which a jurist could extract rulings on upcoming issues. Only a competent Muslim of sound mind with intellectual qualifications was allowed to engage in "Ijtihad". Abu'l-Husayn al-Basri (d. 436/1044) provides the earliest, complete account for the qualifications of a "mujtahid", in his book ""al-Mu'tamad fi Usul al-Fiqh"".


title: Ijtihad

text: After Basri, classical "Mujtahids" like Al-Shirazi (d. 467/1083), Al-Ghazzali (d. 505/1111), Al-Amidi (d. 632/1234) would also develop various criterion with minor changes. Amidi also allowed less qualified "Mujtahids" who didn't meet these requirements to solve issues provided he has the tools of solution. From the declaration of these requirements of "mujtahid" onwards, legal scholars adopted these characteristics as being standard for any claimant of "ijtihad". This allowed for "mujtahids" to openly discuss their particular views and reach a conclusion together. The interaction required by "ijma" allowed for "mujtahids" to circulate ideas and eventually merge to create particular Islamic schools of law ("madhhabs"). This consolidation of "mujtahids" into particular "madhhabs" prompted these groups to create their own distinct authoritative rules. These laws reduced issues of legal uncertainty that had been present when multiple "mujtahids" were working together with one another. Oftentimes, multiple rulings would be issued by jurists of the same legal school. Historical records show that throughout the tenth to nineteenth centuries, legal practitioners had consistently modified law using degrees of "Ijtihad", making it flexible and adaptable to change. Eventually, there developed a legal system of authoritative rulings on which influential jurists agreed. However, by the 14th century, while influential jurists held that knowledgeable legal scholars should be allowed to engage in "Ijtihad ," some others began to argue that there were no longer any legal scholars capable of performing "Ijtihad" beyond a certain limit as the founders of the four "mad'habs". Despite this dispute, many high-ranking jurists upheld the practice of "Ijtihad" in legal rulings.


title: Ijtihad

text: Recent scholarship has largely adopted this view, concluding that "Ijtihad" was indispensable in Islamic legal theory. Rather than obstructing "Ijtihad", the legal theory as well as its stipulated qualifications facilitated "Ijtihad".


title: Ijtihad

text: Shia Muslims understand the process of "ijtihad" as being the independent effort used to arrive at the rulings of sharia. Following the death of the Prophet and once they had determined the Imam as absent, "ijtihad" evolved into a practice of applying careful reason in order to uncover the knowledge of what "Imams" would have done in particular legal situations. The decisions the "Imams" would have made were explored through the application of the Qur'an, Sunnah, "ijma" and "'aql" (reason). It was not until the end of the eighteenth century that the title of "mujtahid" became associated with the term "faqih" or one who is an expert in jurisprudence. From this point on religious courts began to increase in number and the ulama were transformed by Shia Islamic authorities into the new producer of "ijtihad". Early Shiite theologians had denounced Sunni interpretative tools like "Ijtihad" and "Qiyas" ( analogical reasoning) citing reports from the Shi'i Imams. They held that "Ijtihad" was a deductive process based on personal conjecture to argue that it had no legal basis in the shari‘a (Islamic law). Therefore, until the 13th century, the concept of Ijtihad was denounced disparagingly by the Shi'i jurists, who wanted to construct a systematic and stable legal edifice that was devoid of any uncertainty. However, with the passage of time some Shia jurists sensed the need to respond to newer and novel circumstances.


title: Ijtihad

text: According to "Usuli" scholars, "Mujtahids" existed continuously since the 16th century and employed "Ijtihad" to form new laws according to altering circumstances. From the late 18th century, "Usuli" jurists had advocated for appending "'Aql" (intellect) as the fourth source of law. This enabled them to issue legal opinions based on societal needs. The "Akhbari" school rejected the idea of human intellect playing any role in legal reasoning. In order to produce perceptive "mujtahids" that could fulfill this important role, "Usulis" developed the principles of Shia jurisprudence ("Usool") to provide a foundation for scholarly deduction of Islamic law. Shaykh Murtada Ansari and his successors developed the school of Shia law, dividing the legal decisions into four levels of certainty ("qat"), valid conjecture ("zann"), doubt ("shakk"), and erroneous conjecture ("wahm"). These rules allowed "mujtahids" to issue adjudications on any subject, that could be derived through this process of "ijtihad", demonstrating responsibility to the Shia community. Furthermore, according to Shia Islamic Jurisprudence a believer of Islam is either a "Mujtahid" (one that expresses their own legal reasoning), or a "Muqallid" (one performing taqlid -- following or imitating a Mujtahid) and a "Muhtat" ("a lay Shiite who does not follow anyone, yet acts on such precaution that assures him the fulfilment of his religious obligations"). Most Shia Muslims qualify as "Muqallid", and therefore are very dependent on the rulings of the "Mujtahids". Therefore, the "Mujtahids" must be well prepared to perform "ijtihad", as the community of "Muqallid" are dependent on their rulings. Not only did Shia Muslims require:


title: Ijtihad

text: However, these scholars also depended on further training that could be received in religious centers called Hawza. At these centers they are taught the important subjects and technical knowledge a "mujtahid" need be proficient in such as:


title: Ijtihad

text: Therefore, Shia "mujtahids" remain revered throughout the Shia Islamic world. The relationship between the "mujtahids" and "muqallids" continues to address and solve the contemporary legal issues. Participating in ijtihad, however, has been cautioned by scholars for those not properly educated in interpretation of the Qu'ran. This is narrated by Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, the great-grandson of Muhammad, when he cautioned Aban ibn abi-Ayyash, a fellow companion, saying, "Oh brother from 'Abd Qays, if the issue becomes clear to you, then accept it. Otherwise remain silent and defer to Allah because your interpretation from the truth will be as far from the Earth as the sky."


title: Ijtihad

text: Women can be "Mujtahid" and throughout Islamic history there were well known female Islamic scholars and "Mujtahids" who played an important role in traditional Islamic discourse. Aisha, the wife of Prophet Muhammad was a well-known hadith scholar and a "Mujtahid". She was an assertive, intelligent woman as well as an eloquent speaker. According to Urwah Ibn Zubair, Aisha was the most knowledgeable in "hadith" and "fiqh" and surpassed everyone in knowledge of poetry and medicine. Al-Zuhri studied under the well-known woman jurist of the day, Amrah bint Abdul Rahman. She was one of the most knowledgeable people of hadith and was described as an "ocean of knowledge". When the judge of Madinah heard Amrah's message, he did not feel the need to get a male opinion, although Madinah was then housing the famous Seven Jurists. Islamic scholar Akram Nadwi published a 40-volume biographical collection of female Muslim scholars wherein more than 8,000 female scholars were detailed. Other famous female "Muhadditha" and jurists include Zainab bint Kamal, Fatima Al Batayahiyyah, Fatimah bint Muhammad al Samarqandi, etc. Fatima Al Fihiriyya founded the University of Qarawiyyin in Fez in 859, world's first academic university that offered a degree. Scholars such as Umm al-Darda used to sit and debate with male scholars in the mosque. She was a teacher of hadith and Fiqh and also lectured in the men's section. One of her students was a Caliph.


title: Ijtihad

text: In Shiism, there have been dozens of women who have attained the rank in the modern history of Iran (for instance, Amina Bint al-Majlisi in the Safavid era, Bibi Khanum in the Qajar era, Lady Amin in the Pahlavi era, and Zohreh Sefati during the time of the Islamic Republic). There are diverging opinions as to whether a female "mujtahid" can be a marjaʻ or not. Zohreh Sefati and some male jurists believe a female "mujtahida" can become a "marja‘" — in other words, they believe that believers perform "taqlid" (emulation) of a female mujtahid— but most male jurists believe a "marjaʻ" must be male.


title: Maggie De Block

text: Maggie Celine Louise De Block (, born 28 April 1962) is a Belgian politician of the who has been chairing her party's group in the Chamber of Representatives since 2020.


title: Maggie De Block

text: De Block served as Minister of Social Affairs and Health in the governments of Prime Ministers Charles Michel and Sophie Wilmès from 2014 until 2020. Following a reshuffle on 9 December 2018 to prevent the government's collapse, she additionally resumed responsibility for Asylum and Migration.


title: Maggie De Block

text: Maggie Celine Louise De Block was born in Merchtem, Province of Brabant (present-day Flemish Brabant) on 28 April 1962. She was the first of three children born to Jan De Block who worked at the Belgian railway company the NMBS/SNCB. After her first brother was born, her mother became a housewife to care for the children. When Maggie was seven her father died in a car accident. Five months later her mother gave birth to Maggie's second brother who they called Jan after their father.


title: Maggie De Block

text: De Block went to the former secondary school "Koninklijk Lyceum" (now "Lyceum Martha Somers Brussel") in Laeken. After her graduation, she studied medicine at the . Still a student in 1982, De Block married Luc Asselman. They have two children. She graduated as a family doctor.


title: Maggie De Block

text: In 1999 De Block nominated herself for the federal election as member of the liberal party also known as VLD. During the elections, she was elected as a Member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives for the electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.


title: Maggie De Block

text: Four years after the election she became Secretary of the Chamber of Representatives for four years. In 2010 De Block also became Chairman of the Infrastructure Committee until the following year. De Block was chosen to become Secretary of State for Asylum, Immigration, and Social Integration in the newly Di Rupo Government which would be formed in December 2011. On 6 December she becomes Secretary of State for Asylum, Immigration, and Social Integration and part of the Federal Government.


title: Maggie De Block

text: In December 2012, De Block became the vice-chair of the party. In March 2013, she was voted woman of the year by readers of the francophone newspaper "La Libre Belgique". In 2013 and 2014 polls, she became the most popular Flemish politician, ahead of the Minister-President of Flanders Kris Peeters.


title: Maggie De Block

text: De Block became Minister of Justice charged with Asylum, Immigration, Social Integration, and Poverty Reduction in the Di Rupo Government in July 2014.


title: Maggie De Block

text: In the government of Prime Minister Charles Michel formed in October 2014, De Block became Minister of Social Affairs and Health. When taking the oath, she described the portfolio as "her dream". Critics have said that she does not set the right example as Health Minister due to her obesity, and she has answered that "I know I'm not a model but you have to see what's inside, not the packaging".


title: Maggie De Block

text: During her time as minister, De Block was involved in coordinating the Belgian response to the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa. In 2015, she led a joint effort of Belgium and the Netherlands to negotiate the purchase of remedies for rare diseases with pharmaceutical groups. In June 2015, she signed a royal decree legalising certain uses of medical cannabis, which at the time only included Sativex oral spray for multiple sclerosis.


title: Maggie De Block

text: By 2015, De Block was the most popular politician in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels, making her the most popular politician in Belgium.


title: Maggie De Block

text: In 2018, under De Block direction as health minister, the strategic reserve of FFP2 masks was destroyed because of being out of date and not replenished. She claimed she did not replenish them to save taxpayer money. This decision came under fire during the COVID-19 pandemic when the shortage of masks contributed to make Belgium one of the hardest-hit countries.


title: Maggie De Block

text: On 9 December 2018, it was announced that De Block would be responsible again for Asylum and Migration, replacing Theo Francken. She held the post in a previous government. Her official title in the caretaker Michel II government and in the succeeding Wilmès government was Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health, and Asylum Policy and Migration.


title: Maggie De Block

text: During the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, De Block oversaw the government's response. In May 2020, she called on European Union countries to be “united” in the distribution of protective face masks. By July 2020, she publicly cited the lack of greater coordination with Belgium's neighbours – France, Germany and the Netherlands – as a “big concern”.


title: Maggie De Block

text: De Block was not re-appointed to the government led by Alexander De Croo and instead became a regular member of the Belgian Parliament again.


title: Maggie De Block

text: In 2020, De Block was appointed by the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe to serve as a member of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, chaired by Mario Monti.


title: Maggie De Block

text: Also since 2020, De Block has been an alternate member of the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, co-chaired by Sheikh Hasina and Mia Mottley.


title: Ranvir Singh

text: Ranvir Singh (born 11 August 1977) is a British journalist and television presenter. She is the political editor and newsreader/deputy presenter for "Good Morning Britain".


title: Ranvir Singh

text: Singh was born in 1977 in Preston, Lancashire, into a Sikh family. Educated at Kirkham Grammar School, an independent school in Kirkham, Lancashire, she graduated from the University of Lancaster with a degree in English and Philosophy. She then gained a postgraduate qualification in journalism at the School of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Central Lancashire in Preston.


title: Ranvir Singh

text: Singh joined BBC Radio Lancashire in 2002, initially on work experience before being given a six-month contract. She then moved to BBC GMR, covering the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Singh joined the BBC North West regional news programme "North West Tonight" in 2005 as a journalist and bulletin presenter. Her first national presenting role came on Good Friday, 2006 when she co-presented "Manchester Passion", a live BBC Three play that retold the last hours of Jesus Christ.


title: Ranvir Singh

text: On 10 September 2007, Singh joined long-serving presenter Gordon Burns as the main co-presenter on "BBC North West Tonight". Former "BBC South Today" sports editor Roger Johnson became Singh's co-presenter in October 2011 following Burns' departure. While working on "North West Tonight", Singh was also a regular presenter for late night and weekend breakfast shows on BBC Radio 5 Live. Singh went on maternity leave from "North West Tonight" on 18 May 2012. It was later announced that she would not be returning to the BBC but would be joining the ITV Breakfast programme "Daybreak". She made her first appearance on "Daybreak" on 3 September 2012.


title: Ranvir Singh

text: In 2012, Singh occasionally reviewed the newspapers on "This Morning". In May 2014, Singh joined "Good Morning Britain" as a features correspondent and news presenter with Susanna Reid, Sean Fletcher, Ben Shephard and Charlotte Hawkins. Since May 2014, Singh has been a relief newscaster on various ITV News bulletins. On 25 September 2014, Singh joined the factual ITV programme "Tonight" as a reporter. Since March 2015, she has guest presented numerous "Exposure" specials. From 2015 until 2016, Ranvir presented two primetime series for ITV called "Real Stories with Ranvir Singh".


title: Ranvir Singh

text: In 2016 and 2017, Singh co-presented "The Martin Lewis Money Show" alongside Martin Lewis, but was later replaced by Angellica Bell. In January 2017, it was announced that Ranvir had been promoted to "Good Morning Britain"s Political Editor. Since the summer of 2017, Singh presented "Eat, Shop, Save" for ITV. In 2017, Singh was presenting "Good Morning Britain" the day of the 2017 Westminster attack and garnered much praise for her ability to respond and react quickly to the developing story.  The "Good Morning Britain" Team then went on to win a prestigious Golden Nymph Award in the ‘Live Breaking News’ category at the 59th Monte-Carlo Television Festival in 2019, beating CNN and Al Jazeera.


title: Ranvir Singh

text: Singh's highlights at "Good Morning Britain" also include travelling around the world on board the RAF Voyager with the Prime Minister, with visits including China, Canada and inside the White House with President Trump, and live reporting from the ground as the Grenfell Tower fire unfolded. Since 2020, Singh has been a guest presenter on "Loose Women". On 2 September 2020, it was announced that Singh would be taking part in the eighteenth series of "Strictly Come Dancing". She was partnered with Giovanni Pernice. They reached the Semi-Final so were fifth place overall behind the four finalists Jamie Laing, HRVY, Maisie Smith and champion Bill Bailey.


title: Ranvir Singh

text: From 6 September 2020, Singh co-presented ten episodes of ITV’s "All Around Britain", a new weekly topical magazine series, with fellow "Good Morning Britain" presenter Alex Beresford. She was replaced with "Lorraine" entertainment presenter, Ria Hebden, while participating in the 18th series of "Strictly Come Dancing". On 16 December 2020, it was announced that Singh would be presenting "Lorraine" on the 21st, 22nd, and 23 December while main presenter, Lorraine Kelly, takes a Christmas Break. In 2021, Singh continued to guest present on "Lorraine".


title: Krais of Russia

text: A krai () is a type of federal subject of the Russian Federation. The country is divided into 89 federal subjects, of which nine are krais. Oblasts, another type of federal subject, are legally identical to krais and the difference between a political entity with the name "krai" or "oblast" is purely traditional, similar to the commonwealths in the United States; both are constituent entities equivalent in legal status in Russia with representation in the Federation Council. During the Soviet era, the autonomous oblasts could be subordinated to republics or krais, but not to oblasts. Outside of political terminology, both words have very similar general meaning ("region" or "area" in English) and can often be used interchangeably. When a distinction is desirable, "krai" is sometimes translated into English as "territory", while "oblast" can variously be translated to "province" or "region", but both of these translations are also reasonable interpretations of "krai".


title: Krais of Russia

text: Each krai features a state government holding authority over a defined geographic territory, with a state legislature, the Legislative Assembly, that is democratically elected. The Governor is the highest executive position of the state government in a Krai, and is elected by people. Krais can be divided into raions (districts), cities/towns of krai significance, and okrugs. Krais previously featured autonomous okrugs until the formation of Zabaykalsky Krai on March 1, 2008, when the last remaining autonomous okrug of a krai was abolished.


title: Krais of Russia

text: The term "krai" or "kray" is derived from the Russian word for an edge, and can be translated into English as 'frontier' or 'territory'. The largest krai by geographic size is Krasnoyarsk Krai at and the smallest is Stavropol Krai at . The most populous krai is Krasnodar Krai at 5,404,300 (2010 Census) and the least populous is Kamchatka Krai at 322,079 (2010).


title: Krais of Russia

text: Historically, krais were massive first-level administrative divisions in the Russian Empire, divided into large (governorates). Following the numerous administration reforms during the Soviet era, the guberniyas were abolished and krais were reshaped into smaller, more numerous divisions. Eventually, krais and oblasts became almost totally equal as the top-level administrative division of the Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs), the constituent political entities of the Soviet Union, with the only difference being autonomous oblasts could be subordinated to krais but not to oblasts. The krais were unique to the Russian SFSR, and held very little autonomy or power, but when the Soviet Union dissolved into sovereign states along the lines of the SSRs, they became first-level administrative divisions of the Russian Federation and received much greater devolved power.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: The 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup was to be the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was scheduled to be hosted by Indonesia between 20 May and 12 June 2021, which would be the first FIFA tournament hosted by the country. It would also be only the second U-20 World Cup to be held in Southeast Asia, first since 1997, and the first FIFA tournament in the region since the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: Ukraine were the defending champions, but did not qualify for the tournament after the UEFA decided to cancel 2020 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Northern Ireland due to COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, and nominated five countries to participate in the U-20 World Cup based on the UEFA qualifying round coefficient ranking for the 2019–20 season. Thus, they became the seventh consecutive incumbent title holders to fail to qualify for the subsequent tournament.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: The COVID-19 pandemic forced FIFA to cancel the 2021 tournament and award the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup hosting rights to Indonesia on 24 December 2020.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: The bidding procedure to hots the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup was launched by FIFA on 23 April 2019, with the following timeline:


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: Five bids to host the tournament were submitted per 23 May 2019, which were confirmed in July 2019. On 4 September 2019 there were three active bids under consideration. On 23 October 2019 it was reported that Brazil withdrew their bid due to low winning chances. The next day, Indonesia was announced as the winning bidder after the FIFA Council meeting in Shanghai, China.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: Indonesia had never hosted any FIFA tournament before, however had co-hosted the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, and solely hosted the 1962 and 2018 Asian Games.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: Peru had hosted one FIFA tournament, the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship. They originally won the bid to host the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup but later withdrawn by FIFA.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: Thailand had hosted the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship and the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup while Myanmar had never hosted any FIFA tournament.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: The joint bid of Myanmar and Thailand was withdrawn in favor of the Indonesian bid on 27 August 2019.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: Bahrain had never hosted any FIFA tournament. Saudi Arabia had hosted four FIFA tournaments, the last three were the first three editions of the FIFA Confederations Cup, originally King Fahd Cup, named after the then-Saudi king. United Arab Emirates had held seven FIFA tournaments, namely the 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, and four FIFA Club World Cups (2009, 2010, 2017, and 2018). Saudi and UAE were also the only countries in the bidding process to had hosted the U-20 World Cup before, in 1989 and 2003 respectively.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: The joint bid of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and UAE was left out from the list of FIFA U-20 World Cup bidders on 4 September 2019.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: Brazil had the most impressive record of hosting FIFA tournaments among the bidding countries individually; it had hosted two men's senior FIFA World Cups (1950 and 2014), the 2016 Olympic men's and women's football tournaments, the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, and was about to host the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup during the bidding process. It also hosted the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup and the first three editions of the FIFA-organized Beach Soccer World Cup (2005, 2006, and 2007), to make a total of 11 FIFA tournaments hosted.


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: Brazil withdrew on 23 October 2019 due to expectations of low winning chances according to Brazilian network Rede Globo. Had they won this bid, they would have become the first country to host all categories of FIFA-organized men's tournament (senior, U-20, U-17, Futsal, Club, and Beach Soccer).


title: 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup

text: A total of 24 teams would have qualified for the final tournament. In addition to Indonesia which automatically qualified as hosts, 23 other teams would have qualified from six separate continental competitions. Only teams from UEFA had secured qualification to the tournament prior to its cancellation.


title: Sam Anderson

text: Sam Anderson (born April 2, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for his character roles such as Sam Gorpley on "Perfect Strangers", Holland Manners on "Angel", dentist Bernard Nadler on "Lost" and in film, as the principal in "Forrest Gump".


title: Sam Anderson

text: Anderson was born in Wahpeton, North Dakota. He received a Master of Arts degree in American literature and creative writing at the University of North Dakota and the University of Wisconsin. During the 1970s, he taught drama at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California.


title: Sam Anderson

text: Anderson is best known for his roles as mailroom supervisor Mr. Gorpley on "Perfect Strangers", the lawyer Holland Manners on the first two seasons of "Angel" and as Bernard on "Lost". He notably played the school principal in "Forrest Gump". He is also known as the assistant manager of the Hotel Royale in "" episode "The Royale", and as Mike Seaver's adversarial Principal DeWitt on "Growing Pains". In addition, he was one of the recurring actors on various episodes of "WKRP in Cincinnati", playing various roles, including an immigration officer in the episode "The Americanization of Ivan". Anderson has guest-starred in Season 8 of "NCIS" as Walter Carmichael, a middle school teacher whose classroom becomes a crime scene where one of his students is kidnapped.


title: William Anders

text: William Alison Anders (born 17 October 1933) is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) major general, former electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. In December 1968, he was a member of the crew of Apollo 8, the first three people to leave low Earth orbit and travel to the Moon. Along with fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, Anders circled the Moon ten times, and broadcast live images and commentary back to Earth. During one of the mission's lunar orbits, he took the iconic "Earthrise" photograph.


title: William Anders

text: A graduate of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Anders was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1955, and became a fighter pilot flying Northrop F-89 Scorpions equipped with MB-1 nuclear-tipped air-to-air missiles. He hoped to study aeronautical engineering through the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, but the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program was ongoing, and he had to study nuclear engineering instead. He graduated from the AFIT in 1962 with a Master of Science degree in nuclear engineering, and was sent to the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, where he managed the technical aspects of the USAF nuclear power reactor programs.


title: William Anders

text: Anders was the executive secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council from 1969 to 1973, a commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1973 to 1975, and chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1975 to 1976. He then became the Ambassador to Norway from 1976 to 1977. In September 1977, he joined General Electric (GE) as the vice president and general manager of its Nuclear Products Division and became the general manager of the GE Aircraft Equipment Division in 1980. He left GE to join Textron as executive vice president for aerospace, and two years later became senior executive vice president for operations. During his time in the Civil Service, Anders had remained in the USAF as a reservist and had retained his active flight status. He retired from the reserves as a major general in 1988. In 1990, he became vice chairman of General Dynamics, and on 1 January 1991 its chairman and CEO. He retired as CEO in 1993, and as chairman in May 1994.


title: William Anders

text: William Alison Anders was born in Hong Kong on 17 October 1933, the son of Arthur F. Anders, a United States Navy lieutenant, and his wife Muriel . The family relocated from Hong Kong to Annapolis, Maryland, where his father taught mathematics at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. They were then posted to China. In June 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War erupted and Japan invaded China. In December, his father was serving as the executive officer of the river gunboat when it was attacked and sunk by Japanese bombers and was wounded in the attack. Anders and his mother fled Nanking before the advancing Japanese forces, taking a train to Canton.


title: William Anders

text: From the porch of the hotel they were staying in they could see Japanese aircraft bombing ships on the Pearl River away. This was ominous, as the river was their only means of escape. In addition to the threat of Japanese aircraft, the river was mined, and there was the danger of being boarded by bandits. Foreigners had to be separated from Chinese people on the boat by barbed wire. They eventually reached the Philippines, where they awaited news of his father. Arthur Anders was rescued by the British and sent to San Diego Naval Hospital to recover from his wounds and a staph infection. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy Cross but was discharged from the Navy due to his wounds. He was recalled to active duty during World War II.


title: William Anders

text: The family returned to the United States, where Anders was active in the Boy Scouts, achieving the organization's second-highest rank, Life Scout. As a teen, Anders attended St. Martin's Academy and Grossmont High School in El Cajon, California. To improve his grades where he could be accepted at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Anders was sent to the Boyden School, a military academy prep school in downtown San Diego. He commuted to Boyden by bus from La Mesa, California. The school lay under the flight path into Lindbergh Field and aircraft like the huge Convair B-36 Peacemaker would fly low over the school. He was fascinated with flight and built model aircraft. He graduated from Boyden in 1951.


title: William Anders

text: Anders received an appointment to Annapolis, following in the footsteps of his father, who graduated with the Class of 1927. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1955. Part of the course was orientation cruises during which midshipmen could experience life at sea. A cruise on board an aircraft carrier convinced him that he did not want to become a naval aviator; there were too many fatal accidents. Upon graduation in 1955, he chose to be commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force (USAF). While at Annapolis he met Valerie Elizabeth Hoard on a blind date. Midshipmen were not allowed to marry, but they were married soon after he graduated. Together, they had six children: Alan (born in 1957), Glen (born in 1958), Gayle (born in 1960), Gregory (born in 1962), Eric (born in 1964), and Diana (born in 1972).


title: William Anders

text: After graduation, Anders reported for flight training, which was conducted in the piston-engine Beechcraft T-34 Mentor and North American T-28 Trojan and then in the jet Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star. After receiving his pilot wings in 1956, he became a fighter pilot with the 84th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, an all-weather interceptor squadron of the Air Defense Command based at Hamilton Air Force Base in California, flying Northrop F-89 Scorpions equipped with MB-1 nuclear-tipped air-to-air missiles. He then served with the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in Iceland, where he participated in intercepts of Soviet heavy bombers who at the time were challenging America's air defense borders. After a year there, he returned to the 84th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Hamilton, which was now flying the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo.


title: William Anders

text: Anders set his sights on becoming a test pilot. He spoke to Chuck Yeager, who recommended that he first obtain an advanced degree. Anders submitted an application to the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, hoping to study aeronautical engineering, but the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program was ongoing, and the AFIT had him study nuclear engineering instead. While there he took a school course in aeronautical engineering at Ohio State University. He graduated from the AFIT with a Master of Science degree in nuclear engineering in 1962. By this time the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program had been canceled, so he was assigned to the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, where he was responsible for the technical management of the nuclear power reactor programs.


title: William Anders

text: Anders now applied to the USAF Aerospace Research Pilots School (ARPS) for test pilot training. But on 5 June 1963, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that it would be recruiting ten to fifteen new astronauts for Project Gemini and Project Apollo, and Anders decided to apply for that too. In two previous astronaut selections, applicants had to be test pilots, but this time it was preferred but not required, making Anders eligible. He was one of the 34 finalists chosen for interviews, and on his birthday, 17 October 1963, he was informed by Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton that he had been accepted as a member of the third group of NASA astronauts. Three days later, Yeager informed him that he had failed to make the cut for the ARPS, but recommended that he apply again the following year.


title: William Anders

text: While at NASA, he became involved in dosimetry, radiation effects, and environmental controls. In September 1966, he was the backup pilot for the Gemini 11 mission, with Neil Armstrong as the backup commander. This would have put him in line to fly a Gemini 13 mission, but no such mission was flown; Project Gemini ended with Gemini 12. Armstrong and Anders then became the first astronauts to fly the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle. The astronauts in his group without test pilot training—Anders, Roger Chaffee, Walter Cunningham, Rusty Schweickart, Gene Cernan and Buzz Aldrin—were assigned to Apollo crews as the lunar module pilot (LMP), the lowest-ranking crew member.


title: William Anders

text: On 22 December 1966, Anders was assigned to the third Apollo mission, which was to be commanded by Frank Borman, with command module pilot (CMP) Michael Collins; Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin were assigned as their backup crew the following year. Collins was replaced by Lovell in July 1968, after suffering a cervical disc herniation that required surgery to repair. The mission, scheduled for December 1968, was intended to be a second test of the lunar module (LM) in medium Earth orbit, but the delivery of the LM fell behind schedule, and when it arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in June 1968, more than a hundred significant defects were discovered. There was no prospect of it being ready to fly in 1968. In August 1968, there were reports, including one from the CIA, that the Soviet Union was planning a crewed lunar orbit mission before the end of the year.


title: William Anders

text: Although the LM would not be ready to fly in December 1968, the Apollo command and service module (CSM) would be, so a CSM-only mission could be flown. It could be sent to the Moon, entering lunar orbit before returning to Earth. Slayton asked James McDivitt, the designated commander of the second mission, if he still wanted to fly it. McDivitt turned it down; his crew had spent a great deal of time preparing to test the LM, and that was what he still wanted to do. When Borman was asked the same question, he answered "yes" without any hesitation. Slayton then decided to swap the crews and spacecraft, so Borman, Lovell and Anders' mission became Apollo 8. Anders was less enthusiastic about being the lunar module pilot of a mission without a lunar module.


title: William Anders

text: In December 1968, Anders flew on the Apollo 8 mission, the first mission where humans traveled beyond low Earth orbit, and the first crewed flight to reach and orbit the Moon. When the spacecraft came out from behind the Moon for its fourth pass across the front, the crew witnessed an "Earthrise" for the first time in human history. NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1 had taken the first picture of an Earthrise from the vicinity of the Moon, on 23 August 1966.


title: William Anders

text: Anders saw the Earth emerging from behind the lunar horizon and called in excitement to the others, taking a black-and-white photograph as he did so. Anders asked Lovell for color film and then took "Earthrise", which was later picked by "Life" magazine as one of its hundred photos of the century. Anders stated that the "Earthrise" photograph "really undercut my religious beliefs. The idea that things rotate around the pope and up there is a big supercomputer wondering whether Billy was a good boy yesterday? It doesn't make any sense. I became a big buddy of Richard Dawkins."


title: William Anders

text: The Apollo 8 command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 27 December after a flight lasting 147 hours and 42 seconds and a voyage of . It landed just from the recovery ship, the aircraft carrier . Due to time dilation, he had aged about 300 microseconds more than people back on Earth.


title: William Anders

text: The Apollo 11 mission was commanded by Armstrong, with Collins as the CMP and Aldrin as the LMP. The Apollo 8 crew became its backup, but without Borman. Lovell stepped up to become the backup commander, and Anders became the backup CMP, with rookie astronaut Fred Haise as the backup LMP.


title: William Anders

text: Anders could see that Project Apollo was coming to a close, and felt that his chances of commanding a Moon mission were slim. On 16 May 1969, President Richard M. Nixon nominated him to become the executive secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council (NASC). This was the highest government post ever offered to an astronaut up to that time. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on 19 June. The Space Council consisted of the Administrator of NASA, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), and the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Transportation, and was chaired by the Vice President. Due to his commitment to the Apollo 11 backup crew, Anders was unable to assume the position until August.


title: William Anders

text: In his new role, Anders was responsible for developing aeronautical and space policy. He worked closely with the Office of Science and Technology (OST) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and became a personal advisor to the OMB director, Caspar Weinberger. Anders worked hard to bridge the gap between OMB and OST on the one hand and NASA on the other. He became increasingly pessimistic about the future of the NASC and the space program generally. He opposed the development of the Space Shuttle, urging instead that NASA concentrate on developing the Skylab space station. He argued that a small Space Shuttle would be a better option than a large one, but the large one was approved because it would involve more jobs in California. Frustrated with the NASC's lack of influence, he recommended in 1972 that it be abolished. This was done on 30 June 1973.


title: William Anders

text: Nixon was impressed by Anders, and wanted to retain him in the administration. On 6 August 1973, he appointed Anders to the five-member AEC. Nixon felt that the commission was dominated by lawyers and he wanted an engineer on it. The chairman of the AEC, Dixie Lee Ray, made Anders the lead commissioner for nuclear and non-nuclear power research and development. He also served as the US chairman of the joint US-Soviet Union nuclear fission and fusion power technology exchange program. He spent much of his time dealing with the AEC's problematic research and development programs, particularly the troubled breeder reactor program.


title: William Anders

text: One issue that had dogged the AEC since its inception was its dual role in both developing nuclear energy and regulating it. The perception that there was a conflict of interest between the two roles became acute with the growth of the nuclear power industry. On 19 January 1975, the commission was split in two, with its research and development responsibilities assumed by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), and its regulatory ones by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Some 1,970 former employees of the AEC joined the NRC. President Gerald R. Ford appointed Anders as the first chairman of the NRC. He was the only one of the five AEC commissioners to transition to one of the new organizations. Anders made the decision process of the commissioners of the NRC more transparent than that of the AEC. The NRC inherited nuclear safety and environmental compatibility functions from the AEC, but unlike the AEC's regulatory branch, the NRC had its own safety and security research capability, so it was not reliant on the ERDA.


title: William Anders

text: At the completion of his term as NRC chairman, Anders was asked if he would be interested in an ambassadorship. He did not want to, but asked his wife Valerie. She expressed an interest in Norway, based on their trip there during the Apollo 8 world publicity tour. So Anders asked if Norway was available. Lawrence Eagleburger submitted his name for the position. Anders was appointed Ambassador to Norway on 13 April 1976, and held that post until 18 June 1977.


title: William Anders

text: Anders served briefly as a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. In September 1977, he joined General Electric (GE) as its vice president and general manager of its Nuclear Products Division. Based in San Jose, California, Anders was responsible for the fuel, equipment, and instrumentation used in its boiling-water reactors in San Jose and Wilmington, North Carolina. He also oversaw GE's partnership with Chicago Bridge and Iron, which manufactured large steel pressure vessels in Memphis, Tennessee. In August 1979, GE sent him to Harvard Business School to attend its six-week Advanced Management Program. On 1 January 1980, he became the general manager of the GE Aircraft Equipment Division. From its headquarters in Utica, New York, the division controlled more than 8,500 employees in five locations in northeastern United States. Its products included aircraft flight and weapon control systems, cockpit instruments, aircraft electrical generating systems, airborne radars and data processing systems, electronic countermeasures, space command systems, and aircraft/surface multi-barrel armament systems.


title: William Anders

text: In 1984, Anders left GE to join Textron as its executive vice president for aerospace. Two years later he became senior executive vice president for operations, but Anders did not get along well with the CEO. A perk of the job was that he got to fly Bell helicopters, as Bell was a subsidiary of Textron. During his time in the civil service, Anders had remained in the Air Force as a reservist and had retained his active flight status flying NASA Northrop T-38 Talon aircraft and helicopters, retiring from the reserves as a major general in 1988. He was also a consultant to the US Office of Science and Technology Policy, and a member of the Defense Science Board and the NASA Advisory Council.


title: William Anders

text: Anders became vice chairman of General Dynamics in 1990, and on 1 January 1991, its chairman and CEO. As chairman, he appointed himself as an assistant test pilot for the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. He moved corporate headquarters from St. Louis, Missouri, to Falls Church, Virginia, to be closer to its military customers at The Pentagon but then reduced the staff there from 250 to 50. He negotiated a $1 billion settlement over the canceled McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II program, and sold off nearly $3 billion in assets, including the missile systems and Cessna, and sold the military aircraft division to the Lockheed Corporation for $1.5 billion. This reduced the number of employees from 98,600 to around 35,000, and the company's debt from $430 million (equivalent to $ million in ) to $183 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Value was returned to the shareholders in the form of $600 million in dividends. Although annual sales dropped from $10 to $3.5 billion, the value of the company's share price quadrupled. Anders earned over $40 million. He retired as CEO in 1993, and as chairman in May 1994.


title: William Anders

text: In retirement, Anders bought a house on the waterfront in the San Juan Islands. He disliked the winter there so he bought a second dwelling in Point Loma, California. He established the William A. Anders Foundation, a philanthropic organization for educational and environmental issues. He also founded the Heritage Flight Museum in 1996 in Bellingham, Washington, which moved to Skagit Regional Airport in Burlington, Washington, in 2014. The museum was run by his family, with Anders as president, his wife Valerie as secretary, son Greg as vice president, executive director and webmaster, and son Alan as vice president and director of maintenance. Anders was the president and, until 2008, participated in its air shows. From his Air Force career onward, he logged over 8,000 hours of flight time.


title: William Anders

text: Anders was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1983, the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 1990, the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997, and the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2004. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society, American Nuclear Society, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Academy of Engineering and Society of Experimental Test Pilots.


title: William Anders

text: Robert John Burke played Anders in the 1998 HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon". Anders appeared as himself in the 2005 documentary "Race to the Moon", which was shown as part of the PBS "American Experience" television series. The film, renamed "Earthrise: The First Lunar Voyage" in 2013, was about the events that led up to the Apollo 8 mission. He was interviewed in a chapter of the 2015 book "No More Worlds to Conquer" by Chris Wright. The chapter is roughly evenly split between his life in the Apollo program and his later corporate life. The book's front cover is the "Earthrise" image. He appeared with fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell on the C-SPAN channel book review, "Rocket Men". He confirmed the story that he had fallen asleep while awaiting the Apollo 8 launch.


title: Nanded

text: Nanded is a city in Maharashtra state, India. It is the tenth largest city in the state and the seventy-ninth most populous city in India. It is the second largest city in Marathwada region. It is the district headquarters of Nanded district.


title: Nanded

text: The last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh spent his last days in Nanded and passed his guruship to the sacred text Guru Granth Sahib before his death here in 1708.


title: Nanded

text: Nanded is located on the banks of river Godavari in west-central India. Nanded district borders Latur district, Parbhani district and Hingoli district to the west and Yavatmal district to the north. The district is bordered by the Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Nirmal and Adilabad districts of Telangana state to the east and Bidar district of Karnataka state to the south.


title: Nanded

text: Nanded has two parts: Old Nanded occupies the north bank of the Godavari river; New Nanded, to the south of the river, encompasses Waghala and neighbourhoods.


title: Nanded

text: From a copper plate inscription found at Washim, a town approximately north of Nanded, archaeologists deduce the city was formerly known as (). Another name was . Folklore suggests that the name "Nanded" developed from the Vahana of Shiva. Shiva was said to have performed penance on the banks () of the Godavari river. This "" later became "Nanded".


title: Nanded

text: Nanded is mentioned in Mahabharata as place of Bharat's maternal grandparents. In the 1st century CE, power in the area lay with the Andhrabhrtyas and Satvahanas. In the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, Nanded was ruled by the Nanda dynasty. In the 3rd century BCE (about 272 to 231 BCE), it was part of the Maurya Empire under Ashoka. Local irrigation practices and Nanded itself are recorded in the treatise, "Leela Charitra" (late 1200s CE). Nanded was the birthplace of three Marathi poet-saints—Vishnupant Shesa, Raghunath Shesa, and Vaman Pandit Construction of Kandhar Fort, located in Kandhar, is attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III of Malkheda who ruled around 10th century CE.


title: Nanded

text: From 1636, Nanded was the centre of governance of Nizam State, which includes present-day Telangana and Karnataka, and was an imperial province of the Mughal Badshah (emperor) Shah Jahan. In 1657, Nanded merged into Bidah Subah. Guru Nanak (1469 1539 CE) passed through Nanded on his way to Sri Lanka. Guru Gobind Singh (1666 1708 CE) arrived in Nanded with the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah I (1643 1712 CE) near the end of August in 1707 CE. When Bahadur Shah moved on to Golconda, Guru Gobind Singh remained in Nanded. Guru Gobind Singh proclaimed he was the last (tenth) living guru and established the sacred text, the Guru Granth Sahib as an eternal "living" leader. Guru Gobind Singh died without a lineal descendant due to the martyrdom of his four sons.


title: Nanded

text: In 1725, Nanded became part of Hyderabad State. In about 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh commissioned the construction of a gurdwara at Nanded with the financial aid of Sikander Jah (3rd Nizam of hyderabad) It was built on the site of Guru Gobind Singh's cremation. The gurdwara is part of the Hazur Sahib.


title: Nanded

text: After India gained independence in 1947, the Indian Armed Forces annexed Hyderabad and ended the rule of the Nizam in Operation Polo, making Nanded part of the new Hyderabad State. Nanded remained part of the Hyderabad state until 1956 when it was included in the Bombay Presidency.


title: Nanded

text: On 1 May 1960, Maharashtra state was created on a linguistic basis and the Marathi dominant Nanded district became part of Maharashtra. In December 2022, 25 Nanded district villages renewed their demand to merge with Telangana.


title: Nanded

text: Nanded urban area is . Nanded is built on the Deccan Traps lava flows of the upper cretaceous to lower eocene eras. The lava flows are overlain by thin alluvial deposits. The lava flows are horizontal and each flow has two distinct units. The highly weathered vesicular trap and underlying weathered jointed and fractured massive trap constitutes the main water-yielding zones. The soil is mostly formed from igneous rocks and are black, medium black, shallow and calcareous types having different depths and profiles. Godavari river passes through the city.


title: Nanded

text: 2011 census, Nanded had a population of 550,564. The municipality had a gender ratio of 924 females per 1,000 males. 12.4 percent of the population were under six years old. Effective literacy was 87.40 percent. 81.74 percent of women were literate. Male literacy was 92.68 percent.


title: Nanded

text: Nanded lies on NH 61 (Kalyan–Ahmednagar–Parbhani–Nanded–Nirmal), NH 361 (Nagpur–Wardha-Yavatmal–Nanded-Latur–Solapur–Sangli–Kolhapur–Ratnagiri) and NH 161 (Akola–Washim–Hingoli–Nanded–Degloor–Sangareddy). MSRTC buses connect Nanded to many cities of the Maharashtra state. TSRTC buses connect Nanded to some cities of the Telangana state.


title: Nanded

text: Hazur Sahib Nanded railway station is located on the Secunderabad–Manmad line of Nanded railway division of the South Central Railway Zone (SCR). Nanded railway division is one of the three railway divisions under South Central Railway zone of Indian Railways. Around 48 trains arrive and depart each day from this station. Maltekdi railway station is another railway station serving city of Nanded.


title: Nanded

text: The Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Airport, Nanded is served by daily TruJet flights to Hyderabad, Mumbai and Jalgaon. Air India operates flights to Amritsar.


title: Nanded

text: Crops grown around Nanded include cotton, bananas, sugarcane, mangoes, soya beans, sweet limes, Grapes, Papaya, and sorghum (jawar). Nanded has a Regional Cotton Research Center to support the Cotton-growing industry. There is an agricultural school operational under the aegis of Krishi Vidyapeeth of Parbhani.


title: Nanded

text: On 17 September 1994, the Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University (SRTMU) was established in Nanded after a restructuring of the Marathwada University in Aurangabad. The university supervises the educational activities in senior colleges in four districts of Marathwada division.


title: Nanded

text: Notable educational institutions in Nanded include the Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Shri Guru Gobind Singhji Institute of Engineering and Technology.


title: Nanded

text: The city of Nanded is managed by the Nanded-Waghala Municipal Corporation (NWCMC). The corporation consists of 81 democratically elected members. The Municipal Commissioner is the Chief Executive of the corporation. Sunil Lahane is the current Chief Executive of the corporation.


title: Nanded

text: Nanded Fort, also known as Nandgiri Fort is a fort located on the banks of Godavari river. The Godavari river encloses the fort on three sides. The fort has been converted into a garden to attract tourists. There is a water tank constructed in the fort.


title: Nanded

text: The Vedic rituals are regularly performed on the ghats of Godavari River which include Urvashi Ghat, Ram Ghat, and Govardhan Ghat.


title: Boutonnière

text: A boutonnière () or buttonhole (British English) is a floral decoration, typically a single flower or bud, worn on the lapel of a tuxedo or suit jacket.


title: Boutonnière

text: While worn frequently in the past, boutonnières are now usually reserved for special occasions for which formal wear is standard, such as at proms, homecomings, funerals, and weddings. (Women who wear jackets on these occasions may also wear boutonnières, but more typically a woman would wear a corsage.) Nowadays, a lapel pin is worn more often than flowers on business suits.


title: Boutonnière

text: Traditionally, a boutonnière was worn pushed through the lapel buttonhole (on the left, the same side as a pocket handkerchief) and the stem is held in place with a loop at the back of the lapel. The flower's calyx, if pronounced such as those of a carnation, should be fully inserted into the buttonhole which would secure it tightly and flat against the lapel. Thus the buttonhole should ideally be at least 1⅛" long for there to be enough room to fit a standard sized flower's calyx. Otherwise, the calyx would not fit into the buttonhole and the flower head would hang freely and move about in the wind.


title: Boutonnière

text: However, on many recently made coats and jackets, the lapel is made without the loop required, which would normally sit on the reverse of the lapel, beneath the buttonhole. Sometimes, the lapel buttonhole is in the "keyhole" shape, as opposed to the traditional straight cut, or is not even pierced through, in which case the boutonnière may be pinned onto the jacket lapel, although this may be considered unsightly and continued pinning could eventually damage the cloth or silk facing.


title: Boutonnière

text: The word "boutonnière" derives from the French word for "buttonhole flower". Similar to a wedding bouquet, in the 16th century, boutonnières were used to ward off bad luck and evil spirits. It was also used to keep bad scents away and believed to protect against diseases.


title: Boutonnière

text: In the 18th century, however, many wore boutonnières as fashion statements. They were put on the buttonholes of frock coats. In most parts of Europe during this time, it was normal for men to wear fashionable clothes which included not only a boutonnière, but also breeches and boots. The French soon began to incorporate this style as well.


title: Boutonnière

text: In the 19th century, boutonnières became popular with followers of the Romantic movement, adding fresh color to attire. This was one of the many accessories that a man could add to his clothing to make him stand out from the crowd, similar to picking a pair of well polished shoes. Other popular accessories were chains, cigar cases, and jeweled pins.


title: Boutonnière

text: In the 20th century, after World Wars I and II, the wearing of a flower on the lapel remained popular. Although worn less commonly as time went on, they served as a symbol of good breeding, elegance, and sophistication. This was due partly to the influence of cinema.


title: Boutonnière

text: Today, boutonnières are still a part of a man’s formal attire, chiefly used on special occasions such as weddings, proms, or ceremonies. When worn at prom or weddings, they often match the flowers (corsages) of the bride or date. There are many types and styles of boutonnières to choose from. The groom, along with the groomsmen and the father of the bride, all wear boutonnières, adding a touch of elegance to the important event.


title: Boutonnière

text: The flower itself is often a carnation, of which the most formal is white. The classic alternative is one in clove red. Other colours and flowers may also be chosen to better coordinate with whatever else is being worn, such as a blue cornflower. A white gardenia is sometimes seen as a superior alternative to carnations given its scent and beauty.


title: Boutonnière

text: At the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom it is tradition that students wear a carnation boutonnière while attending their formal examinations. This boutonnière is worn on the lapel of the students "subfusc", the style of formal academic dress at the University, but is not a compulsory part of the dress. The colour of the carnation indicates which examination the student is taking in that run of exams. At their first examination a white carnation is worn, at subsequent intermediate examination(s) a pink carnation is worn, and at their final examination a red carnation is worn.


title: Rat Fink

text: Rat Fink is one of several hot rod characters created by artist Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, one of the originators of Kustom Kulture of automobile enthusiasts. Roth conceived Rat Fink as an anti-hero to Mickey Mouse. Rat Fink is usually portrayed as either green or gray, comically grotesque and depraved-looking with bulging, bloodshot eyes, an oversized mouth with sharp, narrow teeth, and wearing red overalls with the initials "R.F." on them. He is often seen driving cars or motorcycles.


title: Rat Fink

text: Roth began airbrushing and selling "weirdo" T-shirts at car shows and in the pages of hot rod publications such as "Car Craft" in the late 1950s. By the August 1959 issue of "Car Craft", "weirdo shirts" had become a craze, with Ed Roth at the forefront of the movement. His T-shirt designs inspired an industry.


title: Rat Fink

text: Rat Fink was advertised for the first time in the July 1963 issue of "Car Craft". The ad called it "The rage in California". Also in 1963, the Revell Model Company issued a plastic model kit of the character. The initial run of the kit was from 1963 to 1965, but the Rat Fink kit, along with Roth's other creations, has been re-issued by Revell over the years. Rat Fink continues to be a popular item to this day in hot rod and Kustom Kulture circles in the form of T-shirts, key chains, wallets, toys, decals, etc.


title: Rat Fink

text: Other artists associated with Roth also drew the character, including "Rat Fink Comix" artist R.K. Sloane and Steve Fiorilla, who illustrated Roth's catalogs. Rat Fink and Roth are featured in Ron Mann's documentary film "Tales of the Rat Fink" (2006). Jeannette Catsoulis reviewed in "The New York Times":


title: Rat Fink

text: A Rat Fink revival in the late 1980s and the 1990s centered on the grunge/punk rock movements, both in the U.S. West Coast and in Australia (Roth drew Rat Fink artwork for the album "Junk Yard" by the Australian band The Birthday Party). The band White Zombie produced a song titled "Ratfinks, Suicide Tanks, and Cannibal Girls". The song was featured in the film "Beavis and Butthead Do America", along with an animated sequence reminiscent of Ed Roth's artistic style.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, Dione (; ) is an oracular goddess, a Titaness primarily known from Book V of Homer's "Iliad", where she tends to the wounds suffered by her daughter Aphrodite. Dione is presented as either an Oceanid, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, or the thirteenth Titan, daughter of Gaia and Uranus.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: Dione (Διώνη "Diṓnē", from earlier *Διϝωνᾱ "Diwōnā") is essentially the feminine of the genitive form of Greek Ζεύς "Zeús", that is, Διός "Diós" (from earlier Διϝός "Diwós"), "of Zeus". Other goddesses were called by this name (see the Dione (mythology) article for more).


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: Due to being a daughter of Dione by some traditions, Aphrodite was sometimes called "Dionaea" (Διωναίη "Diōnaíē") and even "Dione".


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: Following the deciphering of Linear B by Ventris and Chadwick in the 1950s, a goddess named "Di-u-ja" was found in the tablets. This was considered to be a female counterpart of Zeus and identified with Dione by some scholars.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: By the time of Strabo, Dione was worshiped at a sacred grove near Lepreon on the west coast of the Peloponnesus. She was also worshiped as a consort at the temples of Zeus, particularly his oracle at Dodona (perhaps the original, Indo-European consort of Zeus). Herodotus called this the oldest oracle in Greece and recorded two related accounts of its founding: the priests at Thebes in Egypt told him that two priestesses had been taken by Phoenician pirates, one to Libya and the other to Dodona and continued their earlier rites; the priestesses of Dodona claimed that two black doves had flown to Libya and Dodona and commanded the creation of oracles to Zeus. Homer and Herodotus both make Zeus the principal deity of the site, but some scholars propose Dodona originally served as a cult center of an earth goddess.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: In the 2nd-century BC sculptural frieze of the Great Altar of Pergamum, Dione is inscribed in the cornice directly above her name and figures in the eastern third of the north frieze, among the Olympian family of Aphrodite. This placementmaking her the offspring of Gaia and Uranusis Homeric and contradicts the theory put forth by Erika Simon that the altar's organization was Hesiodic. Dione's possible appearance in the east pediment of the Parthenon would likewise place her among the children of Gaia and Uranus.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: In Book V of the "Iliad", during the last year of the Trojan War, Aphrodite attempts to save her son Aeneas from the rampaging Greek hero Diomedes as she had previously saved her favorite Paris from his duel with Menelaus in Book III. Enraged, Diomedes chases her and drives his spear into her hand between the wrist and palm. Escorted by Iris to Ares, she borrows his horses and returns to Olympus. Dione consoles her with other examples of gods wounded by mortals — Ares bound by the Aloadae and Hera and Hades shot by Heracles — and notes that Diomedes is risking his life by fighting against the gods.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: In fact, Diomedes subsequently fought both Apollo and Ares but lived to an old age; his wife Aegialia, however, took other lovers and never permitted him to return home to Argos after the war.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: Dione then heals her wounds and Zeus, while admonishing her to leave the battlefield, calls her daughter.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: Dione is not mentioned in Hesiod's treatment of the Titans, although the name does appear in the "Theogony" among his list of Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, and according to Hesiod, Aphrodite was born from the foam created by the severed genitals of Uranus, when they were thrown into the sea by Cronus, after he castrated Uranus.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: The mythographer Apollodorus (first or second century AD) includes Dione among the Titans and makes her the child of Gaia and Uranus. He makes her the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus but clearly describes Dione as one of the god's adulterous partners and not his wife.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: The Genealogy or Preface of Gaius Julius Hyginus's "Fabulae", lists Dione among the children of Terra (Earth) and Aether.


title: Dione (Titaness)

text: The 5th-century grammarian Hesychius of Alexandria described Dione as the mother of Bacchus in her entry from his "Alphabetical Collection of All Words". This is separately supported by one of the scholiasts on Pindar.


title: Míriam Colón

text: Míriam Colón Valle (August 20, 1936 – March 3, 2017) was a Puerto Rican actress. She was the founder and director of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in New York City. Beginning her career in the early 1950s, she performed on Broadway, later moving into television. She became well known on various television shows from the 1960s through the 2010s, including "Sanford and Son" and "Gunsmoke". She is best known as Mama Montana, the mother of Al Pacino's title character in "Scarface" (1983). (This is despite the fact that the actors had an age gap of less than four years.) In 2014, she received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama. She died of complications from a pulmonary infection on March 3, 2017, at the age of 80.


title: Míriam Colón

text: Míriam Colón Valle was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on August 20, 1936. She was a young girl in the 1940s when her recently divorced mother moved the family to a public housing project called Residencial Las Casas in San Juan. She attended the Román Baldorioty de Castro High School in Old San Juan, where she actively participated in the school's plays. Her first drama teacher, Marcos Colón (no relation) believed in her talent, and helped her gain permission to observe the students in the drama department of the University of Puerto Rico. She was a good student in high school and was awarded scholarships to the Dramatic Workshop and Technical Institute and Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio in New York City.


title: Míriam Colón

text: In New York, she befriended and acted with another young Puerto Ricanactor and future director Dean Zayas.


title: Míriam Colón

text: In 1953, Colón debuted as an actress in "Los Peloteros" ("The Baseball Players"), a film produced in Puerto Rico, starring Ramón "Diplo" Rivero, and in which she played a character called Lolita. That year, she moved to New York City, where she was accepted by Actors Studio co-founder Elia Kazan after a single audition, thus becoming the studio's first Puerto Rican member. In New York, she worked in theater and later landed a role on the soap opera "Guiding Light". She attended a performance of René Marqués' "La Carreta" ("The Oxcart") which motivated her to form the first Hispanic theater group, with the help of La Carreta's producer, Roberto Rodríguez, called "El Circuito Dramático".


title: Míriam Colón

text: In 1954, she appeared on stage in "In The Summer House" at the Play House in New York City. Between 1954 and 1974, she made guest appearances in television shows such as "Peter Gunn" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". She appeared mostly in westerns such as "Gunsmoke", "Bonanza", "The High Chaparral", and "Have Gun, Will Travel". She appeared in the 1961 film "One-eyed Jacks" as "the Redhead". In 1962, she was featured as the co-star in a teleplay written by Frank Gabrielsen, and produced for the TV series "The DuPont Show of the Week". The title of the hour-long episode is "The Richest Man in Bogota", airing on 17 June 1962. It starred Lee Marvin as Juan de Núñez, and Miriam Colón as "Marina" (not Medina-Saroté, as in the original H.G. Wells story, "The Country of the Blind"). She co-starred as Anita Chavez in "Thunder Island" (1963), with the screenplay written by Jack Nicholson.


title: Míriam Colón

text: In 1979, she starred alongside fellow Puerto Rican actors José Ferrer, Raúl Juliá, and Henry Darrow in "Life of Sin", a film in which she portrayed Isabel la Negra, a real-life Puerto Rican brothel owner. In 1983, she played the mother of Tony Montana (played by Al Pacino) in "Scarface." She was also cast as María in the 1999 film "Gloria", starring Sharon Stone. In 2013, she was cast in the role of Ultima, a New Mexico Hispanic healer, in the movie "Bless Me, Ultima" based on the novel by Rudolfo Anaya. She appeared in Season 1 of the TV series "Better Call Saul" in 2015, as Abuelita.


title: Míriam Colón

text: In the late 1960s, Colón founded The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater company on West 47th street in Manhattan, New York. The company presents Off-Broadway productions onsite and also goes on tour. She was the director of the company and she appeared in the following PRTT productions:


title: Míriam Colón

text: The play "The Ox Cart" ("La Carreta"), written by Puerto Rican dramatist René Marqués, was first produced in 1953. It was directed by Roberto Rodríguez and starred Colón. The success of the play allowed Rodríguez and Colón to form the first permanent Hispanic theatrical group, and for the group to have its own space, Teatro Arena, located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th street.


title: Míriam Colón

text: In 1993, Colón received an Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater. In 2000, she received the HOLA Raúl Juliá Founders Award, presented by the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA).


title: Míriam Colón

text: Colón's biography, "Míriam Colón: Actor and Theater Founder", was written by Mayra Fernandez in 1994.


title: Míriam Colón

text: In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded Colón the National Medal of Arts for her contributions as an actress. The citation reads as follows: "Ms. Colón has been a trailblazer in film, television, and theater, and helped open doors for generations of Hispanic actors."


title: Míriam Colón

text: Colón was married to George Paul Edgar from 1966 until his death in 1976. In 1987, she married Fred Valle.


title: Míriam Colón

text: She was an avid collector of ancestral arts including pre-Columbian, tribal African, historic Native American, and other tribal art. She collected Mid-East artifacts, abstract paintings, and modern sculpture. A signed Pablo Picasso sketch in crayon that she owned was auctioned for $6500 on June 16, 2019. At her death, she owned at least six signed movie posters of Al Pacino's "Scarface" and at least seven signed "Scarface" soundtrack albums.


title: Míriam Colón

text: Colón died on March 3, 2017, at the age of 80, in New York City of complications from a pulmonary infection.


title: Abc conjecture

text: The "abc" conjecture (also known as the Oesterlé–Masser conjecture) is a conjecture in number theory that arose out of a discussion of Joseph Oesterlé and David Masser in 1985. It is stated in terms of three positive integers "a", "b" and "c" (hence the name) that are relatively prime and satisfy "a" + "b" = "c". The conjecture essentially states that the product of the distinct prime factors of "abc" is usually not much smaller than "c". A number of famous conjectures and theorems in number theory would follow immediately from the "abc" conjecture or its versions. Mathematician Dorian Goldfeld described the "abc" conjecture as "The most important unsolved problem in Diophantine analysis".


title: Abc conjecture

text: The "abc" conjecture originated as the outcome of attempts by Oesterlé and Masser to understand the Szpiro conjecture about elliptic curves, which involves more geometric structures in its statement than the "abc" conjecture. The "abc" conjecture was shown to be equivalent to the modified Szpiro's conjecture.


title: Abc conjecture

text: Various attempts to prove the "abc" conjecture have been made, but none are currently accepted by the mainstream mathematical community and as of 2020, the conjecture is still regarded as unproven.


title: Abc conjecture

text: Before stating the conjecture, the notion of the radical of an integer must be introduced: for a positive integer "n", the radical of "n", denoted rad("n"), is the product of the distinct prime factors of "n". For example


title: Abc conjecture

text: If "a", "b", and "c" are coprime positive integers such that "a" + "b" = "c", it turns out that "usually" "c" < rad("abc"). The "abc conjecture" deals with the exceptions. Specifically, it states that:


title: Abc conjecture

text: A fourth equivalent formulation of the conjecture involves the "quality" "q"("a", "b", "c") of the triple ("a", "b", "c"), which is defined as


title: Abc conjecture

text: A typical triple ("a", "b", "c") of coprime positive integers with "a" + "b" = "c" will have "c" < rad("abc"), i.e. "q"("a", "b", "c") < 1. Triples with "q" > 1 such as in the second example are rather special, they consist of numbers divisible by high powers of small prime numbers. The third formulation is:


title: Abc conjecture

text: Whereas it is known that there are infinitely many triples ("a", "b", "c") of coprime positive integers with "a" + "b" = "c" such that "q"("a", "b", "c") > 1, the conjecture predicts that only finitely many of those have "q" > 1.01 or "q" > 1.001 or even "q" > 1.0001, etc. In particular, if the conjecture is true, then there must exist a triple ("a", "b", "c") that achieves the maximal possible quality "q"("a", "b", "c").


title: Abc conjecture

text: The condition that "ε" > 0 is necessary as there exist infinitely many triples "a", "b", "c" with "c" > rad("abc"). For example, let


title: Abc conjecture

text: By replacing the exponent 6"n" by other exponents forcing "b" to have larger square factors, the ratio between the radical and "c" can be made arbitrarily small. Specifically, let "p" > 2 be a prime and consider


title: Abc conjecture

text: The last step uses the fact that "p" divides 2 − 1. This follows from Fermat's little theorem, which shows that, for "p" > 2, 2 = "pk" + 1 for some integer "k". Raising both sides to the power of "p" then shows that 2 = "p"(...) + 1.


title: Abc conjecture

text: A list of the highest-quality triples (triples with a particularly small radical relative to "c") is given below; the highest quality, 1.6299, was found by Eric Reyssat for


title: Abc conjecture

text: The "abc" conjecture has a large number of consequences. These include both known results (some of which have been proven separately only since the conjecture has been stated) and conjectures for which it gives a conditional proof. The consequences include:


title: Abc conjecture

text: The "abc" conjecture implies that "c" can be bounded above by a near-linear function of the radical of "abc". Bounds are known that are exponential. Specifically, the following bounds have been proven:


title: Abc conjecture

text: In these bounds, "K" and "K" are constants that do not depend on "a", "b", or "c", and "K" is a constant that depends on "ε" (in an effectively computable way) but not on "a", "b", or "c". The bounds apply to any triple for which "c" > 2.


title: Abc conjecture

text: In 2006, the Mathematics Department of Leiden University in the Netherlands, together with the Dutch Kennislink science institute, launched the ABC@Home project, a grid computing system, which aims to discover additional triples "a", "b", "c" with rad("abc") < "c". Although no finite set of examples or counterexamples can resolve the "abc" conjecture, it is hoped that patterns in the triples discovered by this project will lead to insights about the conjecture and about number theory more generally.


title: Abc conjecture

text: Andrew Granville noticed that the minimum of the function formula_3 over formula_4 occurs when formula_5


title: Abc conjecture

text: with "κ" an absolute constant. After some computational experiments he found that a value of formula_6 was admissible for "κ". This version is called the "explicit "abc" conjecture".


title: Abc conjecture

text: Since August 2012, Shinichi Mochizuki has claimed a proof of Szpiro's conjecture and therefore the "abc" conjecture. He released a series of four preprints developing a new theory he called inter-universal Teichmüller theory (IUTT), which is then applied to prove the "abc" conjecture.


title: Abc conjecture

text: The papers have not been accepted by the mathematical community as providing a proof of "abc". This is not only because of their length and the difficulty of understanding them, but also because at least one specific point in the argument has been identified as a gap by some other experts. Although a few mathematicians have vouched for the correctness of the proof, and have attempted to communicate their understanding via workshops on IUTT, they have failed to convince the number theory community at large.


title: Abc conjecture

text: Scholze and Stix wrote a report asserting and explaining an error in the logic of the proof and claiming that the resulting gap was "so severe that ... small modifications will not rescue the proof strategy";


title: Abc conjecture

text: Mochizuki claimed that they misunderstood vital aspects of the theory and made invalid simplifications.


title: Abc conjecture

text: On April 3, 2020, two mathematicians from the Kyoto research institute where Mochizuki works announced that his claimed proof would be published in "Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences", the institute's journal. Mochizuki is chief editor of the journal but recused himself from the review of the paper. The announcement was received with skepticism by Kiran Kedlaya and Edward Frenkel, as well as being described by "Nature" as "unlikely to move many researchers over to Mochizuki's camp". In March 2021, Mochizuki's proof was published in RIMS.


title: Characters of Peter Pan

text: The works of J. M. Barrie about Peter Pan feature many characters. The numerous adaptations and sequels to those stories feature many of the same characters, and introduce new ones. Most of these strive for continuity with Barrie's work, developing a fairly consistent cast of characters living in Neverland and the real-world settings of Barrie's stories.


title: Characters of Peter Pan

text: This article covers the characters appearing in the canonical works of Barrie, the official books and plays, the major motion pictures and television series based on them, and the major prequels/sequels (authorised and not):


title: Characters of Peter Pan

text: A number of characters appear throughout J. M. Barrie's works, including the play "Peter Pan", the novel "Peter and Wendy", and the novel "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens".


title: Characters of Peter Pan

text: Gwendolyn Jane Mary Darling Carlisle is a human girl whom Peter Pan brings to Never Land, and a descendant of Wendy Darling. She lives with her parents and grandmother in the same house that Wendy had lived in so long ago. She appears in the book "Fairies and the Quest for Never Land".


title: Characters of Peter Pan

text: Leonard and Louise Aster: Molly Aster's parents. Leonard is an ambassador for the King to Rudoon. In "Peter and the Shadow Thieves", Louise is taken captive by the Others.


title: Characters of Peter Pan

text: Molly Aster is one of the main characters of the four "Starcatchers" novels. She is the daughter of famous Starcatcher Leonard Aster and his wife, Louise Aster, and is therefore a Starcatcher by blood and very wealthy. Her relationships with Peter, George Darling, Tinker Bell, and the mermaids are all consistent with her being Wendy's mother, a conclusion hinted at but not confirmed until the fourth book, "Peter and the Sword of Mercy". It is implied throughout the books that she has romantic feelings for Peter, which is confirmed in "Peter and the Secret of Rundoon" where they share a kiss before parting ways. Because Peter wishes to stay on Mollusk Island (also known as Neverland) to stay young, she marries George Darling, a childhood friend for whom she also formed romantic feelings. She is called "Molly" rather than "Mary", but "Molly" is a traditional nickname for "Mary".


title: Characters of Peter Pan

text: The Darling children - three siblings who live in 21st century London. They are descended from the original Wendy Darling.


title: Characters of Peter Pan

text: Lost Kids - six children who do not know life in the real world and live with their leader Peter Pan in Neverland, because they, like him, have decided never to grow up. They are each very different and unique, and unlike most adaptations include girls.


title: Characters of Peter Pan

text: The Pirates - a gang of six pirates who live on the Jolly Roger with their captain, Hook. They often become discontent with their captain's obsession with Peter Pan, though most times he manages to win their favour with rumours of gold and treasure. They all come from different backgrounds and cultures.


title: Characters of Peter Pan

text: These four human-sized fairies are the guardians of nature in Neverland. They are also the forgotten godmothers of Tinker Bell. They each represent a season and together maintain the balance of nature's life cycle.


title: Book of hours

text: The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. Like every manuscript, each manuscript book of hours is unique in one way or another, but most contain a similar collection of texts, prayers and psalms, often with appropriate decorations, for Christian devotion. Illumination or decoration is minimal in many examples, often restricted to decorated capital letters at the start of psalms and other prayers, but books made for wealthy patrons may be extremely lavish, with full-page miniatures. These illustrations would combine picturesque scenes of country life with sacred images. Books of hours were usually written in Latin (the Latin name for them is "horae"), although there are many entirely or partially written in vernacular European languages, especially Dutch. The closely related primer is occasionally considered synonymous with books of hours, but their contents and purposes could deviate significantly from simply recitation of the canonical hours. Tens of thousands of books of hours have survived to the present day, in libraries and private collections throughout the world.


title: Book of hours

text: The typical book of hours is an abbreviated form of the breviary, which contains the Divine Office recited in monasteries. It was developed for lay people who wished to incorporate elements of monasticism into their devotional life. Reciting the hours typically centered upon the reading of a number of psalms and other prayers.


title: Book of hours

text: A typical book of hours contains the Calendar of Church feasts, extracts from the Four Gospels, the Mass readings for major feasts, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the fifteen Psalms of Degrees, the seven Penitential Psalms, a Litany of Saints, an Office for the Dead and the Hours of the Cross. Most 15th-century books of hours have these basic contents. The Marian prayers "Obsecro te" ("I beseech thee") and "O Intemerata" ("O undefiled one") were frequently added, as were devotions for use at Mass, and meditations on the Passion of Christ, among other optional texts. Such books of hours continue to be used by many Christians today, such as the Catholic “Key of Heaven” prayer books, the Agpeya of Coptic Christianity or The Brotherhood Prayer Book of Lutheranism.


title: Book of hours

text: The book of hours has its ultimate origin in the Psalter, which monks and nuns were required to recite. By the 12th century this had developed into the breviary, with weekly cycles of psalms, prayers, hymns, antiphons, and readings which changed with the liturgical season. Eventually a selection of texts was produced in much shorter volumes and came to be called a book of hours. During the latter part of the thirteenth century the Book of Hours became popular as a personal prayer book for men and women who led secular lives. It consisted of a selection of prayers, psalms, hymns and lessons based on the liturgy of the clergy. Each book was unique in its content though all included the Hours of the Virgin Mary, devotions to be made during the eight canonical hours of the day, the reasoning behind the name 'Book of Hours'.


title: Book of hours

text: Many books of hours were made for women. There is some evidence that they were sometimes given as a wedding present from a husband to his bride. Frequently they were passed down through the family, as recorded in wills. Until about the 15th century paper was rare and most books of hours consisted of parchment sheets made from animal skins.


title: Book of hours

text: Although the most heavily illuminated books of hours were enormously expensive, a small book with little or no illumination was affordable much more widely, and increasingly so during the 15th century. The earliest surviving English example was apparently written for a laywoman living in or near Oxford in about 1240. It is smaller than a modern paperback but heavily illuminated with major initials, but no full-page miniatures. By the 15th century, there are also examples of servants owning their own Books of Hours. In a court case from 1500, a pauper woman is accused of stealing a domestic servant's prayerbook.


title: Book of hours

text: Very rarely the books included prayers specifically composed for their owners, but more often the texts are adapted to their tastes or gender, including the inclusion of their names in prayers. Some include images depicting their owners, and some their coats of arms. These, together with the choice of saints commemorated in the calendar and suffrages, are the main clues for the identity of the first owner. Eamon Duffy explains how these books reflected the person who commissioned them. He claims that the "personal character of these books was often signaled by the inclusion of prayers specially composed or adapted for their owners." Furthermore, he states that "as many as half the surviving manuscript Books of Hours have annotations, marginalia or additions of some sort. Such additions might amount to no more than the insertion of some regional or personal patron saint in the standardized calendar, but they often include devotional material added by the owner. Owners could write in specific dates important to them, notes on the months where things happened that they wished to remember, and even the images found within these books would be personalized to the owners—such as localized saints and local festivities.


title: Book of hours

text: By at least the 15th century, the Netherlands and Paris workshops were producing books of hours for stock or distribution, rather than waiting for individual commissions. These were sometimes with spaces left for the addition of personalized elements such as local feasts or heraldry.


title: Book of hours

text: The style and layout for traditional books of hours became increasingly standardized around the middle of the thirteenth century. The new style can be seen in the books produced by the Oxford illuminator William de Brailes who ran a commercial workshop (he was in minor orders). His books included various aspects of the Church's breviary and other liturgical aspects for use by the laity. "He incorporated a perpetual calendar, Gospels, prayers to the Virgin Mary, the Stations of the Cross, prayers to the Holy Spirit, Penitential psalms, litanies, prayers for the dead, and suffrages to the Saints. The book’s goal was to help his devout patroness to structure her daily spiritual life in accordance with the eight canonical hours, Matins to Compline, observed by all devout members of the Church. The text, augmented by rubrication, gilding, miniatures, and beautiful illuminations, sought to inspire meditation on the mysteries of faith, the sacrifice made by Christ for man, and the horrors of hell, and to especially highlight devotion to the Virgin Mary whose popularity was at a zenith during the 13th century." This arrangement was maintained over the years as many aristocrats commissioned the production of their own books.


title: Book of hours

text: By the end of the 15th century, the advent of printing made books more affordable and much of the emerging middle-class could afford to buy a printed book of hours, and new manuscripts were only commissioned by the very wealthy. The "Kitab salat al-sawai" (1514), widely considered the first book in Arabic printed using moveable type, is a book of hours intended for Arabic-speaking Christians and presumably commissioned by Pope Julius II.