title: Telecommunications in India

text: With all this consolidation, the Indian mobile market has turned into a four-player market, with Jio as the number-one player, with revenue market share of 34%, Airtel India in second position, with revenue market share of 28% and Vi, with revenue market share of 27%. The government operator BSNL/MTNL is in the distant 4th position, with an approximate market share of 11%


title: Telecommunications in India

text: Private-sector and two state-run businesses dominate the telephony segment. Most companies were formed by a recent revolution and restructuring launched within a decade, directed by Ministry of Communications and IT, Department of Telecommunications and Minister of Finance. Since then, most companies gained 2G, 3G and 4G licences and engaged fixed-line, mobile and internet business in India. On landlines, intra-circle calls are considered local calls while inter-circle are considered long-distance calls. Foreign Direct Investment policy which increased the foreign ownership cap from 49% to 100%. The Government is working to integrate the whole country in one telecom circle. For long-distance calls, the area code prefixed with a zero is dialled first which is then followed by the number (i.e., to call Delhi, 011 would be dialled first followed by the phone number). For international calls, "00" must be dialled first followed by the country code, area code and local phone number. The country code for India is 91. Several international fibre-optic links include those to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany. Some major telecom operators in India include the privately owned companies like Vi, Airtel, and Reliance Jio and the state-owned companies - BSNL and MTNL.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: Before the New Telecom Policy was announced in 1999, only the Government-owned BSNL and MTNL were allowed to provide land-line phone services through copper wire in India with MTNL operating in Delhi and Mumbai and BSNL servicing all other areas of the country. Due to the rapid growth of the cellular phone industry in India, landlines are facing stiff competition from cellular operators, with the number of wireline subscribers fell from 37.90 million in December 2008 to 20 million in October 2020. This has forced land-line service providers to become more efficient and improve their quality of service. As of October 2020, India has 20 million wireline customers.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: On July 21, 1995, then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu made the first mobile phone call in India using Nokia handset, inaugurating Modi Telstra's MobileNet service from Writes' Building to then Union Telecom Minister Sukhram at Sanchar Bhaban of New Delhi. Sixteen years later 4G services were launched in Kolkata in 2012.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: With a subscriber base of more than 1151.8 million (31 Oct 2020), the mobile telecommunications system in India is the second-largest in the world and it was thrown open to private players in the 1990s. GSM was comfortably maintaining its position as the dominant mobile technology with 80% of the mobile subscriber market, but CDMA seemed to have stabilised its market share at 20% for the time being.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: The country is divided into multiple zones, called circles (roughly along state boundaries). Government and several private players run local and long-distance telephone services. Competition, especially after entry of Reliance Jio, has caused prices to drop across India, which are already one of the cheapest in the world. The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to be taken by the Information Ministry.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: In September 2004, the number of mobile phone connections crossed the number of fixed-line connections and presently dwarfs the wireline segment substantially. The mobile subscriber base has grown from 5 million subscribers in 2001 to over 1,179.32 million subscribers as of July 2018. India primarily follows the GSM mobile system, in the 900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz band. The dominant players are Vi, Airtel, Jio, and BSNL/MTNL. International roaming agreements exist between most operators and many foreign carriers. The government allowed Mobile number portability (MNP) which enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another. In 2014, Trivandrum became the first city in India to cross the mobile penetration milestone of 100 mobile connections per 100 people. In 2015 three more cities from Kerala, Kollam, Kochi and Kottayam crossed the 100 mark. In 2017 many other major cities in the country like Chennai, Mysore, Mangalore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc. also crossed the milestone. Currently Trivandrum tops the Indian cities with a mobile penetration of 168.4 followed by Kollam 143.2 and Kochi 141.7.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: Public, commercial Internet access in India was launched by Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) on 15 August 1995, though access was available via the Educational Research Network (ERNET) to educational institutions as early as 1986. VSNL was able to add about 10,000 Internet users within 6 months. However, for the next 10 years the Internet experience in the country remained less attractive, with narrow-band connections having speeds less than 56 kbit/s (dial-up). In 2004, the government formulated its broadband policy which defined broadband as "an always-on Internet connection with a download speed of 256 kbit/s or above." From 2005 onward the growth of the broadband sector in the country accelerated but remained below the growth estimates of the government and related agencies due to resource issues in last-mile access which were predominantly wired-line technologies. This bottleneck was removed in 2010 when the government auctioned 3G spectrum followed by an equally high-profile auction of 4G spectrum that set the scene for a competitive and invigorated wireless broadband market. Now Internet access in India is provided by both public and private companies using a variety of technologies and media including dial-up (PSTN), xDSL, coaxial cable, Ethernet, FTTH, ISDN, HSDPA (3G), 4G, WiFi, WiMAX, etc. at a wide range of speeds and costs.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: According to the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the Internet user base in the country stood at 190 million at the end of June 2013, rosing to 378.10 million in January 2018. Cumulative Annual Growth rate (CAGR) of broadband during the five-year period between 2005 and 2010 was about 117 per cent.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: There were 204 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offering broadband services in India as of 31 December 2017. As of January 2018, the top five ISPs in terms subscriber base were Reliance Jio (168.39 million), Bharti Airtel (75.01 million), Vodafone (54.83 million), Idea Cellular (37.33 million) and BSNL (21.81 million). In 2009, about 37 per cent of the users access the Internet from cyber cafes, 30 per cent from an office, and 23 per cent from home. However, the number of mobile Internet users increased rapidly from 2009 on and there were about 359.80 million mobile users at the end of January 2018, with a majority using 4G mobile networks.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: One of the major issues facing the Internet segment in India is the lower average bandwidth of broadband connections compared to that of developed countries. According to 2007 statistics, the average download speed in India hovered at about 40 KB per second (256 kbit/s), the minimum speed set by TRAI, whereas the international average was 5.6 Mbit/s during the same period. In order to attend this infrastructure issue the government declared 2007 as "the year of broadband". To compete with international standards of defining broadband speed the Indian Government has taken the aggressive step of proposing a $13 billion national broadband network to connect all cities, towns and villages with a population of more than 500 in two phases targeted for completion by 2012 and 2013. The network was supposed to provide speeds up to 10 Mbit/s in 63 metropolitan areas and 4 Mbit/s in an additional 352 cities. In February 2018, the average broadband speed of fixed-line connection in India was 20.72 Mbit/s, which is less than the global average download speed of 42.71 Mbit/s. In terms of mobile internet speed, India performed quite poorly, with average speed of 9.01 Mbit/s when compared with global average mobile broadband speed was 22.16 Mbit/s.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: As of December 2017, according to Internet and Mobile Association of India, the Internet penetration rate in India is one of the lowest in the world and only accounts for 35% of the population compared to the global average internet penetration is over 54.4%. Another issue is the digital divide where growth is biased in favour of urban areas; according to December 2017 statistics, internet penetration in urban India was 64.84%, whereas internet penetration in rural India is only 20.26%. Regulators have tried to boost the growth of broadband in rural areas by promoting higher investment in rural infrastructure and establishing subsidised tariffs for rural subscribers under the Universal service obligation scheme of the Indian government.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: As of May 2014, the Internet was delivered to India mainly by 9 different undersea fibres, including SEA-ME-WE 3, Bay of Bengal Gateway and Europe India Gateway, arriving at 5 different landing points.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: In March 2015, the TRAI released a formal consultation paper on "Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT)" services, seeking comments from the public. The consultation paper was criticised for being one sided and having confusing statements. It was condemned by various politicians and internet users. By 18 April 2015, over 800,000 emails had been sent to TRAI demanding net neutrality.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: The TRAI on 8 February 2016, notified the Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016 which barred telecom service providers from charging differential rates for data services.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 by "Doordarshan", a state-run medium of communication, and had slow expansion for more than two decades. The policy reforms of the government in the 1990s attracted private initiatives in this sector, and since then, satellite television has increasingly shaped popular culture and Indian society. However, still, only the government-owned "Doordarshan" has the licence for terrestrial television broadcast. Private companies reach the public using satellite channels; both cable television as well as DTH has obtained a wide subscriber base in India. In 2012, India had about 148 million TV homes of which 126 million has access to cable and satellite services.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: Following the economic reforms in the 1990s, satellite television channels from around the world—BBC, CNN, CNBC, and other private television channels gained a foothold in the country. There are no regulations to control the ownership of satellite dish antennas and also for operating cable television systems in India, which in turn has helped for an impressive growth in the viewership. The growth in the number of satellite channels was triggered by corporate business houses such as Star TV group and Zee TV. Initially restricted to music and entertainment channels, viewership grew, giving rise to several channels in regional languages, especially Hindi. The main news channels available were CNN and BBC World. In the late 1990s, many current affairs and news channels sprouted, becoming immensely popular because of the alternative viewpoint they offered compared to Doordarshan. Some of the notable ones are Aaj Tak (run by the India Today group) and STAR News, CNN-IBN, Times Now, initially run by the NDTV group and their lead anchor, Prannoy Roy (NDTV now has its own channels, NDTV 24x7, NDTV Profit and NDTV India). Over the years, Doordarshan services also have grown from a single national channel to six national and eleven regional channels. Nonetheless, it has lost the leadership in market, though it underwent many phases of modernisation in order to contain tough competition from private channels.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: Today, television is the most penetrative media in India with industry estimates indicating that there are over 554 million TV consumers, 462 million with satellite connections, compared to other forms of mass media such as radio or internet. Government of India has used the popularity of TV and radio among rural people for the implementation of many social-programmes including that of mass-education. On 16 November 2006, the Government of India released the community radio policy which allowed agricultural centres, educational institutions and civil society organisations to apply for community based FM broadcasting licence. Community Radio is allowed 100 watts of Effective Radiated Power (ERP) with a maximum tower height of 30 metres. The licence is valid for five years and one organisation can only get one licence, which is non-transferable and to be used for community development purposes.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: As of June 2018, there are 328 private FM radio stations in India. Apart from the private FM radio stations, All India Radio, the national public radio broadcaster of India, runs multiple radio channels. AIR's service comprises 420 stations located across the country, reaching nearly 92% of the country's area and 99.19% of the total population. AIR originates programming in 23 languages and 179 dialects.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: Historically, the role of telecommunication has evolved from that of plain information exchange to a multi-service field, with "Value Added Services (VAS)" integrated with various discrete networks like PSTN, PLMN, Internet Backbone etc. However, with decreasing average revenue per user and increasing demand for VAS has become a compelling reason for the service providers to think of the convergence of these parallel networks into a single core network with service layers separated from network layer. Next-generation networking is such a convergence concept which according to ITU-T is:


title: Telecommunications in India

text: Access network: The user can connect to the IP-core of NGN in various ways, most of which use the standard Internet Protocol (IP). User terminals such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and computers can register directly on NGN-core, even when they are roaming in another network or country. The only requirement is that they can use IP and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Fixed access (e.g., digital subscriber line (DSL), cable modems, Ethernet), mobile access (e.g. W-CDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, GPRS) and wireless access (e.g.WLAN, WiMAX) are all supported. Other phone systems like plain old telephone service and non-compatible VoIP systems, are supported through gateways. With the deployment of the NGN, users may subscribe to many simultaneous access-providers providing telephony, internet or entertainment services. This may provide end-users with virtually unlimited options to choose between service providers for these services in NGN environment.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: The hyper-competition in the telecom market, which was effectively caused by the introduction of "Universal Access Service (UAS)" licence in 2003 became much tougher after 3G and 4G competitive auction. About of optical fibres has been laid in India by the major operators, including in the financially nonviable rural areas and the process continues. Keeping in mind the viability of providing services in rural areas, the government of India also took a proactive role to promote the NGN implementation in the country; an expert committee called "NGN eCO" was constituted in order to deliberate on the licensing, interconnection and quality of service (QoS) issues related to NGN and it submitted its report on 24 August 2007. Telecom operators found the NGN model advantageous, but huge investment requirements have prompted them to adopt a multi-phase migration and they have already started the migration process to NGN with the implementation of IP-based core-network.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: LIRNEasia's Telecommunications Regulatory Environment (TRE) index, which summarises stakeholders' perception on certain TRE dimensions, provides insight into how conducive the environment is for further development and progress. The most recent survey was conducted in July 2008 in eight Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines. The tool measured seven dimensions: i) market entry; ii) access to scarce resources; iii) interconnection; iv) tariff regulation; v) anti-competitive practices; and vi) universal services; vii) quality of service, for the fixed, mobile and broadband sectors.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: The results for India, point out to the fact that the stakeholders perceive the TRE to be most conducive for the mobile sector followed by fixed and then broadband. Other than for Access to ScarceResources the fixed sector lags behind the mobile sector. The fixed and mobile sectors have the highest scores for Tariff Regulation. Market entry also scores well for the mobile sector


title: Telecommunications in India

text: as competition is well entrenched with most of the circles with 4–5 mobile service providers. The broadband sector has the lowest score in the aggregate. The low penetration of broadband of mere 3.87 against the policy objective of 9 million at the end of 2007 clearly indicates that the regulatory environment is not very conducive.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: In 2013 the home ministry stated that legislation must ensure that law enforcement agencies are empowered to intercept communications.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: In India, electromagnetic spectrum, being a scarce resource for wireless communication, is auctioned by the Government of India to telecom companies for use. As an example of its value, in 2010, 20 MHz of 3G spectrum was auctioned for . This part of the spectrum is allocated for terrestrial communication (cell phones). However, in January 2005, Antrix Corporation (commercial arm of ISRO) signed an agreement with Devas Multimedia (a private company formed by former ISRO employees and venture capitalists from USA) for lease of S band transponders (amounting to 70 MHz of spectrum) on two ISRO satellites (GSAT 6 and GSAT 6A) for a price of , to be paid over a period of 12 years. The spectrum used in these satellites (2500 MHz and above) is allocated by the International Telecommunication Union specifically for satellite-based communication in India. Hypothetically, if the spectrum allocation is changed for utilisation for terrestrial transmission and if this 70 MHz of spectrum were sold at the 2010 auction price of the 3G spectrum, its value would have been over . This was a hypothetical situation. However, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India considered this hypothetical situation and estimated the difference between the prices as a loss to the Indian Government.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: There were lapses on implementing Government of India procedures. Antrix/ISRO had allocated the capacity of the above two satellites to Devas Multimedia on an exclusive basis, while rules said it should always be non-exclusive. The Cabinet was misinformed in November 2005 that several service providers were interested in using satellite capacity, while the Devas deal was already signed. Also, the Space Commission was kept in the dark while taking approval for the second satellite (its cost was diluted so that Cabinet approval was not needed). ISRO committed to spending of public money on building, launching, and operating two satellites that were leased out for Devas.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: In late 2009, some ISRO insiders exposed information about the Devas-Antrix deal, and the ensuing investigations resulted in the deal being annulled. G. Madhavan Nair (ISRO Chairperson when the agreement was signed) was barred from holding any post under the Department of Space. Some former scientists were found guilty of "acts of commission" or "acts of omission". Devas and Deutsche Telekom demanded US$2 billion and US$1 billion, respectively, in damages.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: The Central Bureau of Investigation concluded investigations into the Antrix-Devas scam and registered a case against the accused in the Antrix-Devas deal under Section 120-B, besides Section 420 of IPC and Section 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of PC Act, 1988 on 18 March 2015 against the then executive director of Antrix Corporation, two officials of USA-based company, Bangalore based private multimedia company, and other unknown officials of Antrix Corporation or Department of Space.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: Devas Multimedia started arbitration proceedings against Antrix in June 2011. In September 2015, the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce ruled in favour of Devas, and directed Antrix to pay US$672 million (Rs 44.35 billion) in damages to Devas. Antrix opposed the Devas plea for tribunal award in the Delhi High Court.


title: Telecommunications in India

text: The adjusted gross revenue in the telecom service sector was in 2017 as against in 2016, registering a negative growth of 18.87%. The major contributions to this revenue are as follows (in INR crores):


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: Davidson County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the heart of Middle Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 715,884, making it the second most populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Nashville, the state capital and largest city.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: Since 1963, the city of Nashville and Davidson County have had a consolidated government called the "Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County", commonly referred to as "Metro Nashville" or "Metro".


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: Davidson County has the largest population in the 13-county Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin Metropolitan Statistical Area, the state's most populous metropolitan area. Nashville has always been the region's center of commerce, industry, transportation, and culture, but it did not become the capital of Tennessee until 1827 and did not gain permanent capital status until 1843.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: Davidson County is the oldest county in the 41-county region of Middle Tennessee. It dates to 1783, shortly after the end of the American Revolution, when the North Carolina legislature created the county and named it in honor of William Lee Davidson, a North Carolina general who was killed opposing the crossing of the Catawba River by General Cornwallis's British forces on February 1, 1781. The county seat, Nashville, is the oldest permanent European settlement in Middle Tennessee, founded by James Robertson and John Donelson during the winter of 1779–80 and the waning days of the Revolutionary War.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: The first white settlers established the Cumberland Compact to establish a basic rule of law and to protect their land titles. Through much of the early 1780s, the settlers also faced a hostile response from the Native American tribes, such as the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), and Shawnee who while not living in the area used is as a hunting ground and resented the newcomers moving into there and competing for its resources. As the county's many known archaeological sites attest, Native American cultures had occupied areas of Davidson County for thousands of years. The first white Americans to enter the area were fur traders. Long hunters came next, having heard about a large salt lick, known as French Lick, where they hunted game and traded with the Native Americans.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: In 1765, Timothy Demonbreun, a hunter, trapper, and former Governor of Illinois under the French, and his wife lived in a small cave (now known as Demonbreun's Cave) on the south side of the Cumberland River near present-day downtown Nashville. They were the parents of the first white child to be born in Middle Tennessee. A number of the settlers came from Kentucky and the Upper South. Since the land was fertile, they cultivated hemp and tobacco, using the labor of enslaved African Americans, and also raised blooded livestock of high quality, including horses. Generally holding less land than the plantations of Western Tennessee, many Middle Tennessee planters nevertheless became wealthy during this period.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: Davidson County was much larger when it was created in 1783. However, four more counties were carved out of Davidson County's territory between 1786 and 1856.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: Following the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the voters of Davidson County voted narrowly in favor of seceding from the United States: 5,635 in favor, 5,572 against. However, the Union Army occupied the county in February 1862, which caused widespread social disruption as the state's governing institutions broke down.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (4.2%) is water.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: The Cumberland River flows from east to west through the middle of the county. Two dams within the county are Old Hickory Lock and Dam and J. Percy Priest Dam, operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Important tributaries of the Cumberland in Davidson County include Whites Creek, Manskers Creek, Stones River, Mill Creek, and the Harpeth River.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 715,884 people, 289,427 households, and 152,833 families residing in the county.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 569,891 people, 237,405 households, and 138,169 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,135 people per square mile (438/km). There were 252,977 housing units at an average density of 504 per square mile (194/km). The racial makeup of the county was 67.0% White, 26.0% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 2.3% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.4% from other races, and 2.0% from two or more races. 4.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: In 2005 the racial makeup of the county was 61.7% non-Hispanic white, 27.5% African-American, 6.6% Latino and 2.8% Asian.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: In 2000 there were 237,405 households, out of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.9% were married couples living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.8% were non-families. 33.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.96.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.2% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 34.0% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.80 males.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: The median income for a household in the county was $39,797, and the median income for a family was $49,317. Males had a median income of $33,844 versus $27,770 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,069. About 10.0% of families and 13.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.1% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: Davidson County is a Democratic stronghold, due to it comprising the liberal bastion of Nashville. It last went Republican when George H. W. Bush won the county in 1988, and Democratic presidential candidates have handily won the county by double-digit margins since. However, Davidson County has trended even more Democratic in recent years while most of the rest of the state has shifted Republican. In 2020, Joe Biden won Davidson county with 64.5% of the vote and a 32.1% margin of victory, the best Democratic performance in the county since Franklin D. Roosevelt's landslide victories.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: In local elections, the county is equally Democratic. Since the end of the Civil War, Nashville has mostly been in the 5th district, however, between 1875 and 1933, and 1943 and 1953, it was located in the 6th district. No Republican has represented Nashville in the Congress since Horace Harrison left office in 1875.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: All of Davidson County is encompassed under the consolidated Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. However, several municipalities that were incorporated before consolidation retain some autonomy as independent municipalities. These are:


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: For U.S. Census purposes, the portions of Davidson County that lie outside the boundaries of the six independently incorporated municipalities are collectively treated as the Nashville-Davidson balance.


title: Davidson County, Tennessee

text: In addition, several other communities in the county that lack the official status of incorporated municipalities (either because they were never incorporated or because they relinquished their municipal charters when consolidation occurred) maintain their independent identities to varying degrees. These include:


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Hurricane Laura was a deadly and destructive Category 4 hurricane that is tied with the 1856 Last Island hurricane and 2021's Hurricane Ida as the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana, as measured by maximum sustained winds. The twelfth named storm, fourth hurricane, and first major hurricane of the record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, Laura originated from a large tropical wave that moved off the West African coast on August 16 and became a tropical depression on August 20. Laura intensified into a tropical storm a day later, becoming the earliest twelfth named storm on record in the North Atlantic basin, forming eight days earlier than 1995's Hurricane Luis.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Laura first hit the Lesser Antilles and brushed Puerto Rico as a tropical storm, then moved across the island of Hispaniola, killing 31 people in Haiti and four in the Dominican Republic. The storm then moved across the length of Cuba, prompting tropical storm warnings and the evacuation of more than 260,000 people there. Subsequently, the outer rainbands extended into the Florida Keys and South Florida. Laura then moved across the Gulf of Mexico, strengthening slowly at first, before a period of rapid intensification on August 26. That day, Laura became a major hurricane, and later attained its peak 1-minute sustained winds of , making it a Category 4 hurricane. The approaching storm prompted the issuing of many warnings and watches for Louisiana, as well as the evacuation of many people.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Early on August 27, Laura made landfall near peak intensity on Cameron, Louisiana. Measured by windspeed, Laura was the tenth-strongest U.S. hurricane on record to made landfall in the USA. The effects of Laura across Louisiana were devastating. Nearly 10 foot high storm surge was recorded in Cameron Parish. Numerous parishes had severe flooding and extreme damage to houses. Several roads had to be closed, and drivers were advised to use different routes. The storm caused the deaths of 30 people in the state alone. Texas and Arkansas were struck notably hard as well. The storm caused the deaths of at least 41 people in the U.S. and inflicted an estimated $19 billion in damages on southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas near the Gulf of Mexico. After landfall, Laura weakened as it moved inland, becoming a tropical storm later that day, and weakening further to a tropical depression over Arkansas the next day. On August 29, Laura degenerated into a remnant low over Kentucky, before being absorbed into another extratropical storm near the East Coast of the U.S. shortly afterward. Overall, Laura caused more than $19.1 billion in damage and 81 deaths. Areas that were affected by Laura, namely the Gulf Coast, were affected again six weeks later by Hurricane Delta.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: On August 16, 2020, a tropical wave along the eastern end of a monsoon trough emerged off the west coast of Africa over the Atlantic Ocean. At this time, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted the possibility of tropical cyclogenesis over the next five days as environmental conditions gradually became more favorable for development. The system produced disorganized convection over a broad area and steadily consolidated. A surface low accompanied by organizing banding features coalesced about 700 mi (1,120 km) west-southwest of the Cape Verde islands. By 03:00 UTC on August 20, the low and accompanying convection became sufficiently organized to be classified as a tropical depression, the thirteenth of the season, about 1,035 mi (1,670 km) east-southeast of the Leeward Islands. The depression moved briskly west-northwest in response to the Bermuda High to the north, a high that would steer the system throughout its lifetime. After struggling to intensify for over a day, the depression center reformed and an increase an organization and the presence of tropical storm-force winds prompted an upgrade to tropical storm status and storm was named "Laura". This marked the earliest classification of a season's twelfth named storm since reliable records began in 1851, surpassing the previous record set by Hurricane Luis, on August 28, 1995. Moderate wind shear hampered further development through August 22, displacing the bulk of convection east of the surface circulation. Early on August 22, Laura traversed the Virgin Islands and sideswiped Puerto Rico to the south before making landfall in the southeastern Dominican Republic with maximum sustained winds of early on August 23.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Despite interacting with the mountainous terrain of Hispaniola, the overall structure of Laura actually improved with little intensity loss. Laura subsequently traversed Haiti and emerged over the Windward Passage. Once back over water, the storm intensified some and made a brief landfall around 00:00 UTC on August 24 in Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba, with winds of 60–65 mph (95–100 km/h) before emerging over the Caribbean along Cuba's southern coast. Laura's structure briefly degraded on August 24 before it reorganized and traversed Pinar del Río Province in western Cuba, early on August 25. Maintaining a west-northwest trajectory, Laura entered the southeastern Gulf of Mexico and quickly organized throughout August 25, reaching hurricane-strength by 12:15 UTC. After moving out of an area of dry air, the hurricane began a period of rapid intensification on August 26. The storm grew in size and featured a well-defined eye surrounded by increasingly symmetric deep convection. By 12:00 UTC, Laura strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale before becoming a Category 4 hurricane six hours later. Continuing to strengthen into August 27, Laura reached its peak intensity of , a high-end Category 4 hurricane, and a minimum pressure of 937 mbar (hPa; 27.67 inHg). At this time, the hurricane turned north toward the Texas–Louisiana coastline within a weakness along the western edge of the Bermuda High.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Little change in intensity took place in the few hours before Hurricane Laura made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, around 06:00 UTC on August 27 near peak strength, as its pressure had risen by 2 mbar. Laura matched the strength of the 1856 Last Island hurricane for strongest landfall in the state and was the first Category 4 landfall on record in southwestern Louisiana. Progressing inland across southwestern Louisiana, Laura produced destructive winds over a wide area, although the storm rapidly weakened as it progressed farther inland. Steady filling of the storm and the disappearance of its eye ensued throughout the day, and Laura weakened to a tropical storm by 17:00 UTC about east-southeast of Shreveport. Maintaining tropical storm-force winds, the system progressed into southwestern Arkansas. By August 28, Laura degraded to a tropical depression over central Arkansas; heavy rain became the primary threat across the Southeast. Around that time, the NHC issued their final advisory on Laura, passing on the responsibility for issuing advisories to the Weather Prediction Center (WPC). Gradually losing tropical characteristics, the weakening storm accelerated east-northeast within the mid-latitude westerlies. The system ultimately degenerated into a remnant low over Kentucky early on August 29, as it began merging with an approaching extratropical storm. Laura's remnant low continued moving eastward, before being absorbed into the approaching extratropical system several hours later over Maryland.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: In preparation for the storm, schools were closed in Anguilla and Antigua. A tropical storm watch was issued for several islands in the group on August 20, being upgraded to a warning the next day. The storm prompted the closing of all ports in the British Virgin Islands.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: A tropical storm warning was issued covering the coast from Punta Palenque to the northern Haitian border. A red alert was also issued for 18 provinces, a yellow alert for 8, and a green alert for 6.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Haitian authorities urged people to evacuate to shelters, and to remember to wear masks and respect social distancing orders in the areas due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Although the center of Laura was forecast to remain north of Jamaica, associated rainbands on the southern side of the circulation were anticipated to bring significant precipitation. On August 23, the Jamaican Meteorological Service issued a flash flood watch for low-lying areas nationwide. This was later upgraded to a flash flood warning on August 24 as torrential rains affected the nation.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Originally, the bulk of the storm was forecasted to stay north of the Cayman Islands, but as the forecast kept on shifting further southwest of earlier forecast, the projections of significant precipitation and for Tropical Storm conditions continued to increase. The Cayman Islands Government issued Tropical Storm Warning for their Islands on August 23. This was in addition to the Severe Weather Statements and Flood Warnings that were already posted.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Ahead of Laura's first landfall in Cuba on August 23, tropical storm watches and warnings were issued throughout the nation. At one point, the western tip of Cuba was under both a tropical storm watch from Laura and a tropical storm warning from Hurricane Marco at the same time. Officials evacuated 106,000 people in Santiago de Cuba Province, 81,300 in Holguín Province, and 12,000 in Guantánamo Province. Power was preemptively cut across Guantánamo Province as a precautionary measure. On August 24, a further 45,000 people in Villa Clara Province, 16,466 people in Matanzas Province, and 300 in Ciego de Ávila Province were evacuated. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic complicated evacuation efforts, resulting in typical evacuation shelters such as schools not being opened. Those suspected of being infected were relocated to quarantine centers. Residents nationwide were alerted to the potential of widespread flooding as many reservoirs were at or near capacity.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Hurricanes Marco and Laura threatened a large swath of oil rigs positioned across the Gulf of Mexico. By August 23, approximately 58 percent of oil production and 45 percent of natural gas production was shut down; this included the evacuation of 114 platforms. By August 25, 299 of 643 platforms and 27 of 28 mobile rigs were evacuated. Seven tornado watches were issued for this storm. They included the Coastal Waters as well as Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky. The staff at the NWS Lake Charles office also evacuated; warnings for their area being issued by NWS Brownsville. Three rare Extreme Wind Warnings were issued for Louisiana and Texas as Laura approached landfall.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez declared a state of emergency, and FEMA teams were ready to help with recovery efforts in Puerto Rico.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: On August 21, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for southern counties in the state. A mobile hospital unit was pre-staged in Marion County and personal protection equipment kits were readied for distribution to shelters. A tropical storm watch was issued for the Florida Keys as the storm approached, although the north side of the area was dropped when Laura went farther south than expected. The rest were eventually upgraded to warnings. The mayor of Monroe County, Heather Carruthers declared a local state of emergency, and mandatory evacuations for mobile homes and boats, although visitors were allowed to stay.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Hurricane, tropical storm, and storm surge watches were issued for areas mainly near and east of Galveston on August 24. Most were upgraded to warnings the next day and a flash flood watch was also issued for the eastern portion of the state.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: On August 23, Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of emergency for 23 counties in eastern Texas. On August 25, mandatory evacuation orders were issued for low-lying areas of Chambers, Galveston and Jefferson counties, and for the entirety of Orange County. This included the entirety of the Bolivar Peninsula and cities of Galveston and Port Arthur. Galveston city officials advised residents that all city services would cease at noon on August 25 and upon the arrival of tropical storm-force winds, emergency services would be suspended. A total of 50 busses were used to assist in evacuations. A voluntary evacuation order was issued for coastal areas of Brazoria and Harris counties. An estimated 385,000 people were under evacuation orders in the state, including the entire city of Beaumont.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Hurricane, tropical storm, and storm surge watches were issued for almost the entire coastline on August 24. This came just hours after the southeastern portion of the state had their tropical storm and storm surge warnings for Marco cancelled. Most of the watches were upgraded to warnings the next day and a flash flood watch was also issued for the western half of the state as over of rain was expected. As the threat of surge increased for the coastline, the NHC stated that there would be "unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves."


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Due to the continued threat of Marco and Laura making landfall in Louisiana, on August 21, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency for 36 parishes. Evacuations related to Marco were in place for Plaquemines Parish, Jefferson Parish, Grand Isle, and Port Fourchon. A mandatory evacuation for the entirety of Calcasieu Parish, approximately 200,000 people, was ordered on August 25. State-run shelters were opened with cots spread farther apart due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just hours before Laura made landfall on August 26, I-10 was shut down in both directions between the Louisiana/Texas border eastward to the Atchafalaya Basin.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Despite being well away from the center of the storm, the coastline of Mississippi was placed under a storm surge watch from Ocean Springs westward on August 24 due to the massive size of Laura. However, these were dropped before the storm made landfall. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency on August 22 due to both Hurricanes Laura and Marco threatening the state, which the federal government granted on August 24.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Search and rescue teams were put on standby as Governor Asa Hutchinson declared an emergency ahead of Hurricane Laura and set aside $250,000 to prepare for the storm's impacts. One day later President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency for the state of Arkansas. For the first time in the state's history the National Weather Service issued tropical storm watches and warnings for several southern counties of Arkansas with local forecasters predicting that areas southeast of Little Rock face the greatest risk of damage.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Laura caused widespread devastation throughout most of its path with tropical-storm force winds going over almost all of the Antillean Islands, hurricane and tropical-storm force winds impacting parts of Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Arkansas, and flooding rain and storm surge affecting a large portion of the storm's path. Losses are estimated at over $19.1 billion, and at least 81 people were killed, with 63 of them coming from Haiti and Louisiana alone, making Laura the 16th-costliest hurricane on record. With agricultural losses estimated at $1.6 billion, Laura did more agriculture damages in Louisiana than Hurricanes Katrina and Rita combined.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: As Laura passed through the Leeward Islands, the storm brought heavy rainfall to the islands of Guadeloupe and Dominica, which was captured on radar imagery from Guadeloupe. In the Netherlands Antilles, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint-Maarten saw minor flooding. Scattered power outages affected 4,000 people in Saint Kitts and Nevis. In the Virgin Islands, a peak wind gust of was reported in Sandy Point, Saint Croix. It caused some power outages and flash flooding across the Virgin Islands.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Tropical Storm Laura brought damaging winds and flooding rains to much of the Dominican Republic. Precipitation was heaviest along the southern coast, with a peak 24-hour accumulation of in Barahona. Approximately 1.1 million people lost power while 1.56 million people experienced disruption to water services. Early assessments as of August 24 indicated significant damage to 1,791 homes, prompting the evacuation of 8,995 people. In Santo Domingo, a woman and her son died after their house collapsed, due to the rain brought by Laura, and in Pedro Brand, a man died when a tree fell on his house. Severe flooding was reported across Santo Domingo. A police officer lost his life after falling on a downed electric cable in the Elías Piña Province.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Similar to the Dominican Republic, heavy precipitation affected much of Haiti; a personal weather station in Port-au-Prince measured of rain. Extensive flooding affected the nation, forcing many families to evacuate their homes. As of August 28, at least 31 people were confirmed dead with another 8 missing. The Péligre Dam overflowed, sending floodwaters down the Artibonite valley. Public Works Minister Nader Joaseus alerted residents that the dam could collapse. Agriculture suffered significant damage as the nation struggled with COVID-19 related food shortages. Flooding damaged 447 homes and destroyed 15 others across the Artibonite department.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: After clearing Hispaniola, Tropical Storm Laura brought damaging winds and flooding rains to Southeastern Cuba on August 23–24. Wind gusts reached in Maisí, tearing roofs off homes and downing trees. Rainfall reached in Complejo Palma, Santiago de Cuba, and in San Antonio del Sur, Guantánamo. Damage across Holguín Province was relatively limited; some structures and crops were damaged and scattered power outages occurred. A bridge in Buey Arriba, Granma Province, collapsed due to flooding, which isolated 30 communities. A station in Cabo Cruz recorded sustained winds of and a gust of . Minor flooding and power outages occurred in Las Tunas Province.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Flash flooding across Jamaica caused significant disruptions to road infrastructure. A weather station in Negril, Jamaica observed of rain. A landslide blocked the main road to Gordon Town; unstable terrain hampered efforts to clear debris. A bridge in Saint Thomas Parish was washed away, isolating residents of Trinityville, Georgia, and Cedar Valley. Additionally, the main road connecting Papine to Dallas Castle in Bull Bay collapsed. Wind gusts reached along southern coastlines near Kingston, and in Montego Bay on the country's north coast. Initial damage estimates totaled to around J$54 million (US$360,000) according to Jamaica's National Works Agency (NWA).


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Rounds of gusty winds and heavy rainfall affected the Cayman Islands as Laura passed just to the north.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Hurricane Laura produced at least 16 tornadoes in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. The preliminary insured damages from Hurricane Laura in Texas and Louisiana were estimated at $19 billion. Laura became the first major hurricane to strike the mainland United States since Michael in October 2018.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: In Puerto Rico, Laura downed trees and caused flooding in Salinas. Part of the Salinas city sign was also blown over during the storm. A peak of of precipitation was reported in Villalba, with a peak wind gust of being reported in Salinas. Roughly 200,000 customers lost power in Puerto Rico, with nearly 14,000 losing access to running water.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Tropical storm-force wind gusts affected several counties across southern Florida, particularly Collier, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties. A gust of was observed at the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station. Farther south, a strong squall line moved through Key West, damaging streetlights, downing a tree, and generating a wind gust at the National Weather Service's Key West office. On August 25, a St. George Island first responder drowned while trying to rescue a swimmer caught in rough surf.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: The first report of sustained tropical-storm force winds on land was at Cypremort Point, on Vermilion Bay, where winds were recorded. Numerous tornado warnings began to be issued throughout Louisiana as Laura approached the coast on August 26. An EF0 tornado touched down briefly near Paincourtville, although no damage occurred. Another tornado was reportedly spotted by a trained spotter in Bell City, but was never confirmed. Coastal water rises began at around 19:00 UTC on August 26.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Cameron saw at least of storm surge. Holly Beach was extensively damaged as an RV was destroyed and several homes suffered roof damage. Storm surge flooding also covered SH 82. The town of Hackberry was severely damaged by storm surge flooding and two trains were derailed in Grand Lake, where the Grand Lake High School suffered damage.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Severe damage occurred throughout Lake Charles with widespread catastrophic-level damage to residential and commercial building roofs and structure, as well as half of all matured trees either blown down, badly stripped of branches, or 'broken over'. Double- and Triple-KVA (kilovolt-amp) power transmission towers and lines feeding power throughout the area were heavily damaged and/or destroyed. An RV was blown over and many mobile homes in parks were knocked off of their mounts, some rolled over, older ones stripped of their siding and gutted. The Lake Charles Regional Airport saw a wind gust of as well as multiple hangars destroyed. Another wind gust in the city reached . Many windows were blown out of Capital One Tower in Downtown Lake Charles.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Intracoastal City saw a storm surge of . Storm surge also flooded over SH 317 at Burns Point in St. Mary Parish. In Sulphur, a hotel was damaged. Extensive structural damage also occurred in Vinton. Softwood trees were blown down on Fort Polk. The NWS radar at Fort Polk also suffered a communication outage, causing it to go down. A home in Carlyss had its roof and entire back room ripped off, while another home was damaged in New Llano after a carport was blown into it. There was extensive damage to trees, power lines and poles, and structures in De Quincy and much of the town of Delcambre was left underwater due to flooding. A tree was blown down onto a fraternity house in Lafayette.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: In Shreveport a tree fell on a house, injuring a person inside, while another tree fell on a vehicle. In Monroe, metal roofing was blown off of multiple buildings. Widespread flooding was reported in Natchitoches Parish, where I-49 had to be closed past SH 174 west of Powhatan due to a downed tree. The police station in Robeline had its roof ripped off to go with the numerous downing of large trees throughout the town. Near Bossier City, a large tree was blown down on the Centenary College of Louisiana campus while several homes were damaged by falling trees south-southwest of the city. In Greenwood, flash flooding led to high water over the shoulder roads of I-20 at exit 5 with drivers being advised to use US 80 as an alternative.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: A total of 30 fatalities occurred throughout the state, four of them arising from falling trees. They included a 14-year-old girl in Vernon Parish, a 68-year-old man in Acadia Parish, a 51-year-old man in Jackson Parish, and a 64-year-old man in Allen Parish. Carbon monoxide poisoning from generators being inside homes, which is strongly discouraged, led to the deaths of twelve people in Calcasieu Parish and two people in Allen Parish. Another man died of drowning while aboard a sinking boat during the storm. Finally, one person died in Calcasieu Parish in a house fire, four people died in Calcasieu Parish, Natchitoches Parish, and Rapides Parish during the cleanup process, and eight others died in Beauregard Parish, Grant Parish, Rapides Parish, and Vernon Parish due to heat-related illnesses following the loss of electricity.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Before the hurricane made landfall, one person was killed and another injured after rough surf from Laura slammed them against jetties in Corpus Christi on August 26. Another man died after he was electrocuted while preparing for the storm. Eastern Texas saw a few tornado warnings as Laura neared landfall on August 26 as well, but no tornadoes were confirmed. Coastal water rises in the southeast part of the state began at around 20:00 UTC that same day. Wind gusts in both Houston and Galveston peaked at . A wind gust of was recorded at Kirbyville Raws site near Call and trees were downed in Groves. In Port Arthur, trees were downed, including one that fell on a house, and a parking lot lamp snapped at its base. A large tree also fell on and damaged a house in Beaumont. Structural damage occurred in near Pinehurst just west of Orange, where multiple trees and power lines where downed and several structures, including a church, were damaged. Structural damage also occurred in Bridge City. More trees and power lines were blown down across both Angelina and Sabine Counties, some of which blocked roads. In Hemphill, a roof collapsed at an Ashley HomeStore and multiple roads were blocked by falling trees. A man was killed northeast of the town when a tree fell on him while he was sitting on a recliner in his home. Southeast of the city, trees fell on homes and blocked all exits in the McGee's Landing Area. East of Center, a tree and power lines fell on FM 417 and FM 2694. Following the storm, five people died in Southeast Texas in four separate incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of improperly-placed generators. One person in Newton County was also killed in the cleanup process.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Despite the reduced surge threat on the coast, Mississippi still faced the threat of tornadoes from the storm, especially on the western side of the state. A number of tornado warnings were issued for parts of the state starting on August 26 with an EF0 tornado confirmed in Oxford on August 27. Widespread flash flooding occurred across Jefferson Davis County. In Natchez, trees were blown down and a sign at an Autozone damaged six vehicles when it was blown down. A tree was also blown down on a house in Warrenton.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Laura entered Arkansas while still at tropical storm strength. Numerous tornado warnings were issued in Arkansas with eight tornadoes confirmed in the state, the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded in the state during the month of August. A high-end EF1 tornado caused significant damage to a church in Lake City, though no one was hurt or injured. This same storm dropped another high-end EF1 tornado north of Brookland. A rare PDS tornado warning was also issued for this tornado. The storm then dropped its strongest tornado, which was rated low-end EF2, which damaged structures and homes southwest of Maynard. Widespread flash flood warnings were issued throughout the state. A wind gust was recorded just south of El Dorado, causing several trees and power lines to fall, two of which landed on houses. This caused many power outages in Union County. Numerous trees were downed in the Doddridge area, including one on US 71, causing numerous power outages. South of Bradley near the Louisiana/Arkansas state line, a tree fell on AR 29, blocking the road. AR 343 was shut down between Lewisville and AR 53 due to falling trees. Uprooted trees fell on power lines in Dermott and a barn also had its roof removed in Wilmot.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Trees were uprooted and power lines were downed across a widespread area in several counties. In the town of Camden, numerous trees were blown down, including one that fell on a house, and a metal roof was blown off a shop building. Downed trees were also reported in Sheridan and power poles were snapped along US 67 northeast of Caddo Valley. Eastbound I-30 was shut down west of Hope at mile marker 26 due to a downed tree blocking both lanes of the freeway. In Kingsland, several large trees were blown down, including one that significantly damaged a house. In Goodrich, a house carport was destroyed with a hole through its wall. Several roads east of Mena were closed due to flooding. A portion of County Road 106 southwest of Ravenden was washed out due to flooding, and flash flooding in Sherwood left an intersection impassable.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Moderate to heavy rainfall impacted the eastern half of Oklahoma, prompting a flash flood warning in Le Flore County. Outflow from the storm also generated a band of southwest-moving thunderstorms that extended from Oklahoma City southward to the Texas border.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: In Tennessee, a flash flood warning was issued in Memphis and tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued in the western part of the state late on August 27. The next day, more warnings issued, including one tornado warning for areas just north of Nashville, which had been hit by a high-end EF3 tornado just under six months earlier. Two EF0 tornadoes were confirmed in the state.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Multiple tornado warnings were also issued in Southern Missouri, Kentucky, Northern Alabama, and Eastern Maryland. Four tornadoes were confirmed in Alabama with three being rated EF1 while the other was rated EF0.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Following the passage of Laura, Haiti's Directorate General of Civil Protection (DGCP) began damage assessments. The agency quickly distributed food kits to affected residents in the Ouest, Nippes, Sud-Est, and Sud departments. Water treatment products were sent to Anse-à-Pitres and Belle-Anse by the National Directorate for Drinking Water and Sanitation. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) deployed medical teams across the country to assist the Haitian National Red Cross Society, though transport of victims was hampered by limited access to ambulances. Eleven schools were converted to shelters; however, many evacuees opted to stay with neighbors or relatives due to fears of COVID-19.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: The governors of both Texas and Louisiana surveyed storm damage in the hardest hit parts of their respective states after the storm had passed. Roads in both Calcasieu and Cameron Parishes in Louisiana were impassable, cutting off road access to both Cameron and Creole. About 200,000 people were left without drinking water after Laura made 80 water systems inoperable. Additionally, some areas saw complete destruction in their power grids, and over a million people lost power. Some areas were expected to be without power for weeks or even months. Multiple homes also were uninhabitable due to air conditioning units being destroyed. Recovery efforts were hampered by additional rainfall in the days after Laura had passed.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: After the storm, President Donald Trump approved a post-storm major disaster declaration for 23 parishes in Louisiana on August 27. Two days later, he visited the areas most heavily affected by the storm, including Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish, and Orange County. Trump visited the Cajun Navy, a rescue organization, and met with Governor John Bel Edwards.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Post-storm assessments indicated extensive damage and losses to Louisiana's timber industry with some small private forest landowners reporting complete loss of their timber acreage, an outcome which they had not experienced in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, 15 years earlier. Extensive damage was also reported to Louisiana's industrial facilities with one-third showing some type of damage and nine out of the 138 facilities showing critical damage, causing environmental concerns. Some of the most critically damaged facilities were the BioLab facility in Lake Charles and the Equistar Chemical facility in Westlake, and the Chemical Waste Management facility and the Lotte Chemical plant in Lake Charles.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Many of the repairs in Louisiana were undone six weeks later by Hurricane Delta, which made landfall just east of where Hurricane Laura did, with many areas in and around hard-hit Lake Charles being damaged again.


title: Hurricane Laura

text: Due to the damage and loss of life in Louisiana and southeast Texas, the name "Laura" was retired from the Atlantic rotating naming lists by the World Meteorological Organization on March 17, 2021, at the joint 42nd and 43rd sessions of the RA IV hurricane committee, and will never be used again for an Atlantic hurricane. It will be replaced with "Leah" for the 2026 season.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff for the championship trophy, the Steinfeld Trophy, named after founder Jake Steinfeld. League attendance peaked at 6,417 in 2011 and the 2019 average was 4,587.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The Chesapeake Bayhawks and New York Lizards (originally the Baltimore Bayhawks and Long Island Lizards) were MLL members throughout its existence and competed in the first three championship games, with the Lizards winning two. The Boston Cannons, the last of the six charter franchises to remain in their original market with their original name, won their first championship in 2011. The Philadelphia Barrage returned to the league in 2020 after an 11-season hiatus. After moving from Bridgeport to Philadelphia, the Barrage won three championships in four years from 2004 to 2007. For much of the league's history, the Denver Outlaws were the only team west of the Mississippi River, being part of the league's ambitious westward expansion in 2006. Being owned by the Pat Bowlen family and the Denver Broncos, the Outlaws were successful from the start, missing the postseason only once in 14 seasons, while claiming three championships in ten appearances. The Connecticut Hammerheads were the league's youngest franchise, and were set to play at Rafferty Stadium near Bridgeport in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a shortened, quarantined season.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The final champions were the Boston Cannons, who defeated the Denver Outlaws at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland following a COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: On December 16, 2020, the league announced that it would be merging with the Premier Lacrosse League. At the time of the announcement, the 2020 MLL champion Boston Cannons were announced as the only team continuing play in the 2021 season as members of the PLL. Their roster would be set via expansion draft and, following PLL style, dropping "Boston" from their name, becoming the Cannons Lacrosse Club.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Major League Lacrosse was founded in 1999 by Jake Steinfeld, Dave Morrow and Tim Robertson. Steinfeld is the creator of the Body By Jake line of exercise equipment and videos. Morrow is a former All-American lacrosse player at Princeton and the president of Warrior Sports. Tim Robertson is the son of televangelist Pat Robertson and the former CEO of The Family Channel.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Steinfeld was a former lacrosse player at Cortland State (NY), read an article about Dave Morrow. After reading the article, Steinfeld couldn't believe that with the excitement the sport of lacrosse has, there was not a professional outdoor league. Steinfeld said, "For years, America's top collegiate lacrosse players have not had the opportunity to play in a professional outdoor league at the conclusion of their collegiate careers. Those days are over with the creation of Major League Lacrosse."


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The league held two separate drafts to stock the six teams for the 2001 season. The first draft took place in 2000 for post-collegiate players. A second draft was held on June 1, 2001, in Baltimore, Maryland, for players whose college eligibility had expired in 2001. Ryan Mollett of Princeton was selected first overall by the Rochester Rattlers. In addition, each team was assigned three franchise players to each team before the initial draft.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: MLL began play in 2001 with six teams in the northeastern U.S. split into two divisions. The American Division included teams in Boston, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and on Long Island; the National Division included teams in Baltimore, New Jersey, and Rochester. All teams were owned by the league, which assigned three franchise players to each team before the initial draft.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The first MLL game took place on June 7, 2001, with the Baltimore Bayhawks defeating the Long Island Lizards 16–13 at Homewood field in Baltimore, Maryland. Chris Turner scored the first goal in MLL history.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The MLL played a 14-game regular season its first two years, then the schedule was cut to 12 games. After the first year, the league's playoff format had the top teams in each division advancing to the semifinals, with two wild card playoff spots going to the teams with the next-best records regardless of division.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The first MLL Championship Game saw the Long Island Lizards beat the Baltimore Bayhawks 15–11 in September 2001. The game was played at the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Paul Gait was named the game's MVP.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Four out of the first five championship games were between the Long Island Lizards and the Baltimore Bayhawks. The Lizards won titles in 2001 and 2003, while the Bayhawks won in 2002 and 2005. The recently relocated Philadelphia Barrage beat the Boston Cannons 13–11 in 2004's final.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: In 2003, New Balance became a "founding member" and major sponsor of MLL. New Balance founder and CEO, Jim Davis got very involved in the operation of the league, including providing financial support. Davis still owns the Dallas Rattlers.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: In 2005, Andrew Goldstein became the first American male team-sport professional athlete to be openly gay during his playing career. Goldstein played goalie for the Long Island Lizards from 2005 to 2007, although he only appeared in two games in 2006.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: MLL added four teams for the 2006 season, bringing the league's number of teams up to ten. The expansion markets were Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, and San Francisco, extending the league across the country and into top media markets. MLL combined the original six teams into the Eastern Conference and put the new teams into the Western Conference.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The Los Angeles Riptide were owned by the Anschutz Entertainment Group and played its home games at the Home Depot Center. Denver Broncos' owner Pat Bowlen brought the Denver Outlaws to an NFL stadium, Mile High. The other new franchises were the Chicago Machine and the San Francisco Dragons.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Despite winning championships in 2006 and 2007, Philadelphia didn't attract more than 2,500 fans to their games. So in 2008, the Barrage tested out new markets by playing all of its "home" matches in five other cities: Cary, North Carolina; Hillsboro, Oregon; Irving, Texas; St. Louis; and Virginia Beach. In addition, the Barrage's "home game" against the Cannons was played in Boston.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: At the end of the 2008 season, four teams – Los Angeles, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and San Francisco – folded due to financial problems. Several of these teams suffered from poor attendance, San Francisco drew 2,808 per game and only 1,920 in New Jersey. This contraction forced the remaining six teams to form one conference.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The Rochester Rattlers won the 2008 Steinfeld Cup but like the Barrage, struggled at the gate. At the start of the 2009 season, a new ownership group in Toronto bought the rights to the Rochester franchise. The Toronto Nationals inherited the staff and players of the team, but the Rattlers' name and team colors were left in Rochester for the possibility of a future team. That same group of players went on to win another championship in 2009 playing for a different team in a different country.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The Chicago Machine played the entire 2010 season as a traveling team testing expansion markets for the league, before deciding that the franchise would be moving to Rochester and adopting the Rattlers name in 2011.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: In 2010, the Bayhawks and Lizards met for the fifth time in the championship game. The Bayhawks prevailed 13–9, almost the same score as when they beat Long Island 15–9 five years earlier. The newly renamed Chesapeake Bayhawks went on to win two more championships in the next three years, in 2012 and 2013. Their five Steinfeld Cup trophies are the most in MLL history.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The league's attendance peaked at 6,417 per game in the 2011 season. The individual franchises had a wide range of local support. Denver lead the league in attendance, drawing 12,331 fans per game in 2011, while the relocated Hamilton Nationals had 1,214 people per game, one-tenth of Denver's attendance.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: In late 2009, Kyle Harrison, Scott Hochstadt, Craig Hochstadt, Xander Ritz, and Max Ritz formed the LXM Pro Tour. The tour would feature two teams playing games across the country at special events involving the LXM Pro game and youth activities. The tour competed for players with the MLL as the more established league would not let players under contract play in other professional lacrosse events.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: On February 13, 2014, MLL announced a partnership with the LXM Pro Tour, a week after the league announced a new equipment deal with STX, a sponsor of one of the LXM Pro teams. The deal moved LXM to the MLL off-season and allowed players to participate in both MLL and LXM. However, LXM Pro didn't hold any tour stops after the announcement.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: During the early years of MLL, the league did not have any teams in the southeast. In January 2011, Commissioner David Gross announced that Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as Columbus, Ohio, were granted expansion teams for the 2012 season. The Ohio Machine and Charlotte Hounds opened play in April 2012, with both teams missing the playoffs in their inaugural season. With the expansion, the league grew to eight teams and expanded its schedule to fourteen games.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: In November 2013, the Hamilton Nationals folded and an expansion franchise was awarded to the Florida Launch for the 2014 season. The Launch inherited the Nationals roster. The Atlanta Blaze became the ninth MLL team in 2016. The Rattlers relocated [again] from Rochester, New York, in 2018 to Dallas, Texas, and began play as the Dallas Rattlers in 2018.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: On April 1, 2019, just two months before the start of the season, the league announced that the Charlotte Hounds, Florida Launch, and Ohio Machine would not be playing in 2019. While the Hounds announced they would be back in 2021 under new ownership in a renovated stadium, the Launch and Machine effectively folded. The announcement dropped the league down to six teams, the fewest teams since 2011, and meant all remaining owners owned only one team. Jim Davis, owner of New Balance, had owned the Hounds, Launch, and Machine, but he now owns only the Dallas Rattlers.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Returning from a two-year retirement, 44-year-old John Grant Jr. broke the record for career points scored during the 2019 season. Also in 2019, MLL saw its first goal by a Japanese player, Kohta Kurashima, who is also the first Japanese born player in MLL history. The Rattlers ceased operations after the 2019 season. and the staff and roster were shifted to an expansion team called the Connecticut Hammerheads. The Atlanta Blaze also ceased operations after the 2019 season and were replaced by a resurrected Philadelphia Barrage. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league announced they would play a week-long quarantined season in Annapolis at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with no fans. Every team would play each other once (five total games) before a four-team playoff as normal.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: On December 16, 2020, it was announced that the MLL had agreed to merge all operations with the Premier Lacrosse League. Under this agreement, the leagues will operate as one under the "PLL" brand and model. In order to accommodate the influx of players the PLL will be expanding the league to include its eighth touring team, known as Cannons Lacrosse Club, paying homage to the 2020 MLL champions, the Boston Cannons. The roster of this new team was determined by the 2021 expansion draft.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: A Major League Lacrosse Field is 110 yards long and 60 yards wide. The game is 60 minutes long, divided into four 15-minute quarters with 15-minute intermission at halftime, plus multiple 10-minute golden goal periods for regulation games ending in ties unless one team scores, which wins the game. Teams are required to dress twenty players, with ten players on the field at a time. MLL rules are based on NCAA rules with various changes. The most significant are a two-point goal line from each goal, a 60-second shot clock, the elimination of the restraining box, and allowing dive shots. The shot clock was originally 45 seconds before it was changed to 60 seconds for the 2005 season. From the inception of the league to 2008, there was a limit of three long-stick defensemen per team in order to promote scoring. Beginning in 2009, the league conformed to high school and college lacrosse rules and now allows four long–sticks per team on the field at any one time. 20 players dress for each regular-season game.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The MLL Championship Game was played at a neutral site decided by the league. Teams qualified for the playoffs by finishing with one of the top four records during the regular season. Those four teams played in a semifinal to determine who plays in the Championship Game.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Every year, Major League Lacrosse held a collegiate player draft. The collegiate player draft occurred prior to the league season. Only players who competed at the collegiate level and whose NCAA eligibility has expired in the previous season were eligible for the draft. The exact date, location, and number of rounds varied each year.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: In addition, each off-season, MLL heald a supplemental player draft. The draft was held to expand a team's protected list to a pre-season active roster of 40 players. If a player wasn't selected, they returned to the player pool.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Since 2006, overall league attendance has varied between 3,800 and 6,500 per game, peaking in 2011 and steadily decreasing to an all-time low in 2018. There has always been a great deal of disparity in attendance figures for different teams in the league. Playing at Invesco Field at Mile High, the Denver Outlaws have led the league in attendance all but one year of their existence. A significant portion of Denver's attendance is from one game each year. The Outlaws established a tradition of having a game on the Fourth of July that always attracts the biggest single-game attendance in the league. 31,644 people attended the game and watched fireworks afterward in 2015. The Fourth of July game has regularly attracted over 25,000 people. Outside of this special event game, Denver currently draws about 6,000 per game.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: The league is owned by Major League Lacrosse, LLC, which is controlled by the founders and the six franchises. The founders – Steinfeld, Morrow, Robertson, and Davis – control five of 14 ownership shares (36%); the nine franchises each have one ownership share (7%). Davis owns two of the nine franchises and has a stake in two others.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Atlanta Blaze owner Peter Trematerra sued Major League Lacrosse, LLC, Commissioner Gross, Jim Davis and several businesses controlled by the founders of the league in April 2017. Trematerra alleged that Gross provided inaccurate information about the profitability of the league in 2014, when Trematerra was considering buying an expansion franchise. The suit also claimed that because the league, some of its major sponsors, and Lax Sports Network were all controlled by the same people and entities, sponsorship and broadcast rights were sold for below market value.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: In August 2017, the MLL accidentally exposed the confidential personal information of over 1,000 players, nearly everyone who has ever played in the league or tried out for a team. The information was stored in one excel spreadsheet that was publicly linked on the league's website for a day. It is unknown if any player experienced identity theft as a result of the incident.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Fox Sports Network broadcast games for the first two seasons, then ESPN2 televised a weekly MLL game from 2003 through 2011. In 2012, ESPN2 televised three regular season games, the All-Star Game, one semifinal, and the MLL Championship game. MLL games have not been regularly shown on ESPN2 since 2012 due to low ratings. Games continue to be streamed on ESPN3. CBS Sports Network has televised all-star games and the playoffs since 2013. MLL did not receive any money from these networks for these deals.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: In 2017, Lax Sports Network was given exclusive rights to all 63 regular season games. Twitter streamed the semifinal games and CBS Sports Network broadcast the final.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: On April 1, 2019, the league announced they had reacquired broadcast rights from Lax Sports Network. It was unclear where each team would broadcast its games, though the Cannons announced on March 28 that NBC Sports Boston would air all 16 of their games.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: One day prior to the start of the 2019 season, the league announced that 12 games would be broadcast on Stadium and the network would air a weekly studio show.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Also in 2019, MLL re-partnered with the ESPN network. Weekly coverage was shown on ESPN+ and several games, including the league championship, were broadcast nationally on ESPN2. MLL saw their biggest television-reach in league history. The semi-finals and finals combined for 297 million total household viewers.


title: Major League Lacrosse

text: Major League Lacrosse would expand its relationship with ESPN for the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. All 18 games (including postseason) will be available on the ESPN family of networks, including ESPN+. ESPN2 will broadcast two games on Sunday, July 19. A few days later, the partnership was expanded to TSN for Canadian viewers and ESPN Player to allow fans to watch from over 130 countries. The championship game will be broadcast on ESPN's flagship station on Sunday, July 26.


title: Shekhar Ravjiani

text: Shekhar Ravjiani is an Indian singer, music director, record producer and actor. He is one half of the Bollywood composing/producing duo Vishal–Shekhar, since 1999.


title: Shekhar Ravjiani

text: Ravjiani was born in a Kutchi family. He lives in South Mumbai with his wife Chhaya and daughter Bipasha.


title: Shekhar Ravjiani

text: Ravjiani started his career by advertising. He auditioned for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and was selected. Then he became a part of the duo Vishal–Shekhar. The duo produced many Bollywood songs and they were judges at Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in 2007 and 2010. Ravjiani has sung the hit tracks "Tujhe Bhula Diya", "Bin Tere" and "Meherbaan".


title: Shekhar Ravjiani

text: Following is the list of awards and nominations received by Shekhar Ravjiani alone. List of awards and nominations received by Vishal–Shekhar can be seen here.


title: Lyssavirus

text: Lyssavirus (from the Greek "lyssa" "rage, fury, rabies" and the Latin "vīrus") is a genus of RNA viruses in the family "Rhabdoviridae", order "Mononegavirales". Mammals, including humans, can serve as natural hosts. The genus "Lyssavirus" includes the rabies virus traditionally associated with the disease of the same name.


title: Lyssavirus

text: Lyssavirions are enveloped, with bullet shaped geometries. These virions are about 75 nm wide and 180 nm long. Lyssavirions have helical symmetry, so their infectious particles are approximately cylindrical in shape. This is typical of plant-infecting viruses. Virions of human-infecting viruses more commonly have cubic symmetry and take shapes approximating regular polyhedra.


title: Lyssavirus

text: The structure consists of a spiked outer envelope, a middle region consisting of matrix protein M, and an inner ribonucleocapsid complex region, consisting of the genome associated with other proteins.


title: Lyssavirus

text: Lyssavirus genomes consist of a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA molecule that encodes five viral proteins: polymerase L, matrix protein M, phosphoprotein P, nucleoprotein N, and glycoprotein G. Genomes are linear, around 11kb in length.


title: Lyssavirus

text: Based on recent phylogenetic evidence, lyssaviruses have been categorized into seven major species. In addition, five more species have recently been discovered: West Caucasian bat virus, Aravan virus, Khujand virus, Irkut virus and Shimoni bat virus. The lyssavirus genus can be divided into four phylogroups based upon DNA sequence homology. Phylogroup I includes viruses, such as Rabies virus, Duvenhage virus, European bat lyssavirus types 1 and 2, Australian bat lyssavirus, Khujand virus, Bokeloh bat lyssavirus, Irkut virus, and Aravan virus. Phylogroup II contains Lagos bat virus, Mokola virus, and Shimoni bat virus. West Caucasian bat lyssavirus is the only virus that is a part of phylogroup III. Ikoma lyssavirus and Lleida bat lyssavirus are examples in phylogroup IV. West Caucasian bat lyssavirus was classified within its own phylogroup because it is the most divergent lyssavirus that has been discovered.


title: Lyssavirus

text: Phyogenetic studies suggest that the original hosts of these viruses were bats. The greater antigenic diversity of lyssaviruses from Africa has led to the assumption that Africa was the origin of these viruses. An examination of 153 viruses collected between 1956 and 2015 from various geographic locations has instead suggested a Palearctic origin (85% likelihood) for these viruses. Date estimates (95% likelihood) for the most recent common ancestor were very broad - between 3,995 and 166,820 years before present - which suggests there is further work to be done in this area. Although bats evolved in the Palearctic, their origins antedate that of the lyssaviruses by millions of years, which argues against their co-speciation. The evolution rate in the N gene in the Africa 2 lineage has been estimated to be 3.75×10 substitutions per site per year. This rate is similar to that of other RNA viruses.


title: Lyssavirus

text: Viral replication is cytoplasmic. Entry into the host cell is achieved by attachment of the viral G glycoproteins to host receptors, which mediates clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Replication follows the negative stranded RNA virus replication model. Negative stranded RNA virus transcription, using polymerase stuttering, is the method of transcription. The virus exits the host cell by budding and by tubule-guided viral movement.


title: Lyssavirus

text: Wild mammals, especially bats and certain carnivores, serve as natural hosts. Transmission routes are typically via bite wounds.


title: Lyssavirus

text: As of 2018 the direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) test is still the gold standard to detect lyssavirus infection. Since the new millennium reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) tests have been developed for rabies but only been used as a confirmatory test. Real-time PCR-based tests which have higher sensitivity and objective diagnostic thresholds and allow samples to be stored at room temperature have been promising since 2005, but require a real-time PCR machine and skilled workers with experience in molecular diagnostics. In an international evaluation a single TaqMan LN34 assay could detect Lyssavirus with high sensitivity (99.90%) across the genus and high specificity (99.68%) when compared to the DFA test. It will become the primary post-mortem rabies diagnostic test where possible.


title: Lyssavirus

text: Classic rabies virus is prevalent throughout most of the world and can be carried by any warm blooded mammal. The other lyssaviruses have much less diversity in carriers. Only select hosts can carry each of these viral species. Also, these other species are particular only to a specific geographic area. Bats are known to be an animal vector for all identified lyssaviruses except the "Mokola virus".


title: Gruppenführer

text: Gruppenführer (, ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA. Since then, the term "Gruppenführer" is also used for leaders of groups/teams of the police, fire departments, military and several other organizations.


title: Gruppenführer

text: In 1930, "Gruppenführer" became an SS rank and was originally bestowed upon those officers who commanded "SS-Gruppen" and also upon senior officers of the SS command staff. In 1932, the SS was reorganized and the "SS-Gruppen" were reformed into "SS-Abschnitte". A "Gruppenführer" commanded an "SS-Abschnitt" while a new rank, that of "Obergruppenführer", oversaw the "SS-Oberabschnitte" which were the largest SS units in Germany.


title: Gruppenführer

text: Initially in the SA, NSKK, and SS, the rank of "Gruppenführer" was considered equivalent to a full general, but became regarded as equivalent to "Generalleutnant" after 1934. During the Second World War, when the Waffen-SS began using the rank, an "SS-Gruppenführer" was considered equal to a "Generalleutnant" in the "Wehrmacht" and was referred to as "SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS". "Waffen-SS Gruppenführer" also displayed the shoulder boards of a "Wehrmacht Generalleutnant".


title: Gruppenführer

text: The insignia for SS-"Gruppenführer" consisted of three oak leaves centred on both collars of an SS uniform. From 1930 to 1942, the SS insignia was the same as the SA badge of rank; however the SS modified the "Gruppenführer" insignia slightly to include a collar pip (stern, a star), upon the creation of the rank "SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer" in April 1942.


title: Gruppenführer

text: In the SA, a "Gruppenführer" was typically in charge of a number of regiments (known as "Standarten") which were formed into "SA-Gruppen". The rank of "Gruppenführer" was also used in several other Nazi paramilitary groups, among them the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK) and the National Socialist Flyers Corps (NSFK). In October 1944, the rank of "Gruppenführer" was adopted by the "Volkssturm" as a low level non-commissioned officer position in charge of squad sized formations ("Gruppe") of "Volkssturm" soldiers. The term is also a generic term for the function of a leader of a squad of infantry (9 or 10 men – "Gruppe") in the German Army ("Heer"), Waffen-SS, or Luftwaffe ground troops.


title: Wicked Witch of the East

text: The Wicked Witch of the East is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is a crucial


title: Wicked Witch of the East

text: character but appears only briefly in Baum's classic children's series of "Oz" novels, most notably "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1900).


title: Wicked Witch of the East

text: The Wicked Witch was a middle-aged, malevolent woman who conquered and tyrannized the Munchkin Country in Oz's eastern quadrant, forcing the native Munchkins to slave for her night and day. Her charmed Silver Shoes (famously changed to magic ruby slippers in the 1939 film musical) held many mysterious powers and were her most precious and prized possession. The Witch met her demise when Dorothy Gale's farmhouse landed on her after being swept into the sky by a cyclone. Her old and withered body turned to dust, leaving behind the magical shoes that were passed to Dorothy as their new owner.


title: Wicked Witch of the East

text: The Wicked Witch of the East was believed to be more powerful than the Good Witch of the North, but not as powerful as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. She also appeared to be more powerful than Mombi, the Wicked Witch of the North, as the Good Witch of the North was able to defeat Mombi, but was powerless to overthrow the witch of the east and free the Munchkins.


title: Wicked Witch of the East

text: She was not in any way related to the Wicked Witch of the West (as is made out to be in several adaptions) but was in league together with her, the Wicked Witch of the North, and the Wicked Witch of the South, to conquer and divide Oz among themselves in four sections as recounted in Baum's fourth Oz book, "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz" (1908). After the fall of Pastoria, the last mortal King of Oz, the old witch conquered the eastern section of Oz and held the native Munchkins in her bondage for a number of decades.


title: Wicked Witch of the East

text: She had lived in a rather humble dwelling deep within the woods in a cottage located somewhere in Oz's eastern quadrant called Munchkin Country. She was bribed by an old woman who owned a beautiful Munchkin maid Nimmie Amee, who worked for her as a full-time servant, and happened to fall deeply in love with a local woodsman by the name of Nick Chopper. The woman gave her two sheep and a cow if the witch promised to prevent Nimmie Amee from marrying Nick and in leaving the old woman, the Wicked Witch of the East resolved to enchant Nick Chopper's ax. The curse cast upon it tragically caused him to eventually turn into the Tin Woodman when he hacked all his own limbs off one by one, replacing the parts that were amputated with a hollow tin one, until he was all made of tin from his head to his feet. Once a man of tin with no human heart, Nick Chopper believed he no longer had the proper emotions that were required to love Nimmie Amee — much to the Wicked Witch's satisfaction. A year later, it was while the witch was out in the Munchkin meadows looking for herbs and spices to cast yet another one of her wicked spells, that Dorothy's falling farmhouse unexpectedly descended from the atmosphere and accidentally crushed her to death after it was released by a cyclone from Kansas:


title: Wicked Witch of the East

text: She had helped certain Munchkins (such as Nimmie Amee's original mistress and the tinsmith Ku-Klip) with her witchcraft, under certain circumstances (usually at a reasonable cost). Among her exceedingly cruel actions was not just the enchantment of the woodman Nick Chopper's ax, but also Captain Fyter's sword, which caused him to turn into the Tin Soldier.


title: Wicked Witch of the East

text: In most adaptations and references to the Wicked Witch of the East, it is usually in her famous appearance, under a house, with only her feet exposed. Notable recent exceptions are ABC's 2005 television film "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" and Disney's 2013 theatrical film "Oz the Great and Powerful".


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: Otávio Edmilson da Silva Monteiro (born 9 February 1995), commonly known as Otávio or Otavinho, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Primeira Liga club Porto and the Portugal national team.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: He came through Internacional's, before signing with Portuguese Primeira Liga side Porto in 2014 as a free agent. He was immediately sent two-year loan deal to Vitória de Guimarães, before returning in 2016. After returning he became a starter, and won three Primeira Liga titles, two Taça de Portugal and two Supertaças Cândido de Oliveira, while being part of the squad that won two domestic doubles in 2020 and 2022, making over 200 official appearances for them.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: Born and raised in Brazil, Otávio represented his native country internationally at the under-20 level in 2014, but switched allegiance at the senior international level to Portugal, making his senior international debut in 2021.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: Born in João Pessoa, Paraíba, Otávio finished his development at Internacional after joining the Porto Alegre club's academy at the age of 15. He made his Série A debut only two years later, coming on as a second-half substitute in the 0–0 home draw against Santos on 15 July.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: Otávio's first league goal arrived on 8 June 2013, when he started and helped to a 2–2 away draw to Cruzeiro. He added a further five during the season, in a 13th-place finish.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: Otávio credited manager Dunga for helping him overcome his weight problems. During his spell at the "Estádio Beira-Rio", he netted seven times in 62 competitive matches.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: On 1 September 2014, even though it was originally thought the transfer had cost €5 million, Otávio joined FC Porto as a free agent after Internacional ceded his federative rights, and signed a five-year contract with a €50 million buyout clause. He was initially assigned to the reserve team, who competed in the Segunda Liga.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: In the last day of the 2015 January transfer window, Otávio, Ivo Rodrigues and Leocísio Sami were loaned to Vitória de Guimarães in the Primeira Liga. He made his debut in the competition on 8 February by playing 30 minutes in a 0–1 home loss against Belenenses, and scored his first goal in the last matchday of the campaign to help the visitors beat Académica de Coimbra 4–2.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: The deal was extended for the entire 2015–16, and his performances while on loan earned him a contract extension with Porto subsequently. He made his competitive debut for the latter on 12 August 2016, starting in the 3–1 away defeat of Rio Ave.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: Otávio won the Portuguese League at the end of his second season, contributing two goals from 15 appearances. He was sidelined for several weeks during the tournament, due to injury problems.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: During the 2019–20 campaign, Otávio featured in 48 games and scored two goals, helping the team conquer the double. As a result, he was included in the league's Best XI.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: Shortly after making his Internacional debut, Otávio was selected to the Brazil under-20 side by Alexandre Gallo.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: Otávio became a Portuguese citizen in March 2021. On 26 August of that year, he was called up to the Portugal national team by Fernando Santos for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland and Azerbaijan and a friendly with Qatar. He made his debut against the latter, scoring in the 3–1 win at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary.


title: Otávio (footballer, born 1995)

text: On 24 March 2022, Otávio scored his second goal, opening an eventual 3–1 home victory over Turkey in the semi-finals of the World Cup qualification play-offs and later providing an assist for Diogo Jota.