title: Exorcist

text: In Christianity, exorcisms are a rite used to cast out demons from individuals deemed possessed. In training exorcists, ecumenical collaboration between Christians of various traditions, such as the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran and the Anglican denominations has occurred, as with a May 2019 exorcists' conference in Rome.


title: Exorcist

text: In a Roman Catholic context, "exorcist" may refer to a cleric who has been ordained into the minor order of exorcist, or a priest who has been mandated to perform the rite of solemn exorcism.


title: Exorcist

text: Since at least the third century, the Latin Church has formally ordained men to the minor order of exorcist. Text previously attributed to a fourth Council of Carthage (398), now identified as a collection called "Statuta Ecclesiæ Antiqua", prescribes in its seventh canon the rite of ordination of such an exorcist: the bishop is to give him the book containing the formulae of exorcism, saying, "Receive, and commit to memory, and possess the power of imposing hands on energumens, whether baptized or catechumens".


title: Exorcist

text: These exorcists routinely performed ceremonies over adults and infants preparing to be baptised. Authors such as Eusebius (3rd century) and Augustine (4th century) provide details of these minor exorcisms: Eusebius mentions the imposition of hands and prayer. Augustine noted that rites of exorcism by exsufflation (breathing upon the candidate) were also performed for the baptism of infants.


title: Exorcist

text: The office of Exorcist was not a part of the sacrament of Holy Orders but as a sacramental was instead first conferred on those who had the special charism to perform its duties and later to those studying for the priesthood. By the twentieth century, the order had become purely ceremonial. As a minor order, exorcists wore the surplice.


title: Exorcist

text: In 1972, the minor orders were reformed; men preparing to be ordained as Catholic priests or deacons would no longer receive the minor order of exorcist; the minor orders of lector and acolyte were retained, but redesignated as "ministries". It was left open to the Catholic bishops of individual countries to petition the Vatican to establish a "ministry of exorcist" if it seemed useful in that nation.


title: Exorcist

text: The rite of conferral continues in societies that use the 1962 (or earlier) form of the Roman Rite, such as the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, Society of St. Pius X, and also among groups not in communion with the current bishop of Rome, such as the Society of St Pius V. Some believe that attainment of the position of Acolyte in post-Council practices implies ordination to the minor orders which used to be below it, such as Exorcist and Porter, although this has not been officially defined (although Canon Law section 1009 does specifically state that the only "orders are the episcopate, the priesthood and the diaconate").


title: Exorcist

text: The Eastern Churches did not establish a minor order of exorcist, but simply recognised the calling of lay or ordained members of the faithful who had the appropriate spiritual gifts. In principle, every Christian has the power to command demons and drive them out in the name of Christ.


title: Exorcist

text: The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that: "Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing". The 1917 Code of Canon Law explicitly stated that the solemn exorcism of a person believed to be possessed may only be performed with the express authorisation of the local bishop or equivalent; "this permission is only to be given to priests of the highest repute". The revised 1983 Code of Canon Law similarly stated that the bishop is "to give this permission only to a presbyter who has piety, knowledge, prudence, and integrity of life."


title: Exorcist

text: The Catholic Church's Rite of Exorcism was revised in 1999. Paragraph 13 of its introduction states that a priest can be appointed by the local Bishop either for a single act of exorcism, or to the permanent position of 'exorcist'. The Rite then specifies that whenever it uses the word "exorcist" without qualification, it indicates a priest mandated in this way.


title: Exorcist

text: Among notable exorcists, Gabriele Amorth served as chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome; he was the founder of the International Association of Exorcists.


title: Exorcist

text: In Lutheranism, exorcists practice the "extensive ministry of casting out evil spirits ... in the name of Christ." In Madagascar, where the Malagasy Lutheran Church has territorial jurisdiction, the demand for exorcisms is quite high and pastors from sister Lutheran Churches, such as the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod have brought the education they gleaned while training in Madagascar back to the United States.


title: Exorcist

text: Beliefs and practices pertaining to the practice of exorcism are prominently connected with the ancient Dravidians in the south. Of the four Vedas (holy books of the Hindus), the Atharva Veda is said to contain the secrets related to magic and medicine. Many of the rituals described in this book are for casting out demons and evil spirits. These beliefs are particularly strong and practiced in West Bengal, Odisha and southern states like Kerala.


title: Exorcist

text: Vaishnava traditions also employ a recitation of names of Lord Narasimha and reading scriptures (notably Bhagavata Purana) aloud. According to Gita Mahatmya of Padma Purana, reading the 3rd, 7th and 8th chapter of Bhagavad Gita and mentally offering the result to departed persons helps them to get released from their ghostly situation. Kirtan, continuous playing of mantras, keeping scriptures and holy pictures of the deities (Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Shakti etc. but especially of Narasimha) in the house, burning incense offered during a puja, sprinkling water from holy rivers, and blowing conches used in "puja" are other effective practices.


The 2020 United States presidential election in Maryland was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Maryland voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Maryland has 10 electoral votes in the Electoral College.


title: 2020 United States presidential election in Maryland

text: Biden easily carried Maryland 65.4% to 32.2%, a margin of 33.2%, better than Hillary Clinton's 26.4% in 2016. Prior to the election, all news organizations considered Maryland "Safe Biden". Maryland has been a Democratic stronghold since 1992. Biden carried Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, and Baltimore counties, and the city of Baltimore, with 78.6%, 89.3%, 70.7%, 62.3%, and 87.3% of the vote, respectively. He continued the Democrats' longstanding dominance of the Baltimore-Washington axis. While Republicans typically win more counties by running up huge margins in more rural western Maryland and the Eastern Shore, the Baltimore-Washington area casts over three-fourths of the state's vote, making it extremely difficult for a Republican to carry Maryland, and the 2020 election was no different. While Trump won 14 of Maryland's 24 county-level jurisdictions, Biden won the six largest jurisdictions, all of which are part of the Baltimore-Washington area–Montgomery, Prince George's, Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties and Baltimore City–by over a million votes, more than enough to carry the state.


text: Per exit polls by the Associated Press, Biden's strength in Maryland came from 94% of African-Americans, who represented 28% of the electorate. 74% of voters believed the criminal justice system needed a complete overhaul or major changes, and they opted for Biden by 73%. Biden won all other demographic groups; winning 52% of Whites, 69% of Latinos, 79% of Jews, 54% of Protestants, and 51% of Catholics.


text: Biden flipped the Washington, D.C.-area exurban county of Frederick County, as well as Talbot County—home to Easton—Democratic for the first time since 1964. He also flipped Kent County, located on the Eastern Shore, voting Democratic for the first time since 2008. In a third county on the Eastern Shore, Wicomico, Biden failed to prevail but nevertheless held Trump to the first plurality (rather than majority) win for a Republican nominee since 1996.


text: Biden's performance was the strongest in Maryland since fellow Democrat Horatio Seymour did marginally better in 1868. In terms of statewide vote share, Trump performed worse than any Republican since 1912, when the national Republican vote was split by former President Theodore Roosevelt's third-party run against both President William Howard Taft and New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson. Even landslide losers Herbert Hoover in 1932, Alf Landon in 1936, and Barry Goldwater in 1964 managed higher vote shares than Trump's 32.15%. Apart from 1912, only in the antebellum elections of 1856 and 1860 did the Republican nominee perform worse in the state than Trump did in 2020.


text: All but one county in the state swung to the left, the lone exception being Somerset County which shifted right by 3.19%. The Republican presidential vote share has now declined for four elections in a row in the Old Line State, the longest such run of declines for either party in any state. It was also one of five states in the nation in which Biden's victory margin was larger than 1 million raw votes, the others being California, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois.


text: The primary elections were originally scheduled for April 28, 2020. On March 17, they were moved to June 2 due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.


text: Donald Trump won the Republican primary, and thus received all of the state's 38 delegates to the 2020 Republican National Convention.


title: Pilum

text: The pilum (; plural "pila") was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about long overall, consisting of an iron shank about in diameter and long with a pyramidal head, attached to a wooden shaft by either a socket or a flat tang.


title: Pilum

text: A "pilum" had a total weight of between , with the versions produced during the earlier Republic being slightly heavier than those produced in the later Empire.


title: Pilum

text: The weapon had a hard pyramidal tip, but the shank was sometimes made of softer iron. The softness could cause the shank to bend after impact and so render the weapon useless to the enemy. Some believe that the "pilum" was not meant to bend after impact but that bending came from improper handling/removal of the weapon when it became stuck in an object. If a "pilum" struck a shield it might embed itself, the bending of the shank would force the enemy to discard his shield as unusable without removing the "pilum", which would be time-consuming. Even if the shank did not bend, the pyramidal tip still made it difficult to pull out. However, there were many cases in which the whole shank was hardened, making the "pilum" more suitable as a close-quarters melee weapon and also making it usable by enemy soldiers."


title: Pilum

text: Although the bending of its shank is commonly seen as an integral part of the weapon's design and as an intentional feature, there is little evidence to suggest that. The most commonly-found artifacts suggest that the "pilum" was constructed to use the weight of the weapon to cause damage, most likely to be able to impale through armour and reach the enemy soldier's body. The combination of the weapon's weight and the aforementioned pyramidal tip (the design of which would be seen in the Middle Ages in the form of bodkin arrow tips), made the "pilum" a formidable armour-piercing weapon. If the weapon was meant to be used against armour and to use its mass (as opposed to its speed) to cause damage, the bending of the shank seems to be a beneficial result of its intended use, which is to pierce through layers of armour. That the "pilum" needed to pierce layers of armour (through the shield, into body armour and past clothing) necessitated a lengthy shank, which was prone to bending. In one work, M.C. Bishop wrote that the momentum of the "pilum" caused the shank to bend upon impact, and although unintended, that proved a useful characteristic of the weapon. However, a newer work by M. C. Bishop states that "pila" are "unlikely to bend under their own weight when thrown and striking a target or ground"; rather, it is human intervention such as improper removal of a pilum stuck in a target that is responsible in some way, and Caesar's writings should be interpreted as the "pilum" bending when soldiers tried to remove them.


title: Pilum

text: Since the pyramidal tip of a "pilum" was wider than the rest of the shank, once it had penetrated a shield, it left behind a hole larger than the rest of the shank, and it could move through the shield with little resistance, stabbing the soldier behind. The length of the shank and its depth of penetration also made it difficult to pull out of a shield even if it failed to bend. If the bearer of the shield was charging and a "pilum" penetrated the shield, the end of the heavy shaft of the "pilum" would hit the ground, holding the shield in place. Some "pila" had a spike on the end of the shaft, which made it easier to dig into the ground.


title: Pilum

text: "Pila" come in two models: heavy and light. Pictorial evidence suggests that some versions of the weapon were weighted by a lead ball to increase penetrative power, but archaeological specimens of that design variant are not (so far) known. Recent experiments have shown "pila" to have a range of approximately , although the effective range is up to . The earliest known examples of the heavy version of the "pilum" have barbed heads and their tangs have a figure-eight shape.


title: Pilum

text: Romans also used the "pilum" as a melee weapon in close-quarters combat. Note pictorial depictions from the Tropaeum Traiani monument, descriptions of Caesar's troops using javelins as pikes against the Gauls in Caesar's "Gallic War", Book VII, and descriptions of Caesar's men using javelins to stab at Pompey's cavalry in Plutarch's "Life of Caesar".


title: Pilum

text: The origin of the design of the "pilum" is a matter of contention. Arguments have been proposed which suggest that the design stemmed from ancient Italian tribes or from the Iberian Peninsula. Considering that there are two versions of the "pilum" (the heavy and the light), the Roman "pilum" may be descended two different weapons, perhaps from different cultural groups. The two weapon-designs may have coalesced into the form of the typical Roman "pilum" as it is known today.


title: Pilum

text: Legionaries of the late Republic and early Empire often carried two "pila", with one sometimes being lighter than the other. Standard tactics called for Roman soldiers to throw one of them (both if time permitted) at the enemy, just before charging to engage with the "gladius"; however, Alexander Zhmodikov has argued that the Roman infantry could use "pila" at any stage in the fighting.


title: Pilum

text: The effect of the "pilum" throw was to disrupt the enemy formation by attrition and by causing gaps to appear in any protective shield wall. The design of the pilum's tip is such that once wedged inside a shield, it is difficult to remove: a shield thus penetrated by a pilum became very awkward to wield, and was usually discarded. This resulted in the aforementioned gaps in the protective shield wall, which could then favor the short "gladius" in tight hand-to-hand mêlée.


title: Pilum

text: "Pila" could also be used in hand-to-hand combat; one documented instance of this occurred at the Siege of Alesia, and another during Mark Antony's Parthian campaign. Additionally, "pila" could be employed as a thrusting implement and a barrier against cavalry charges. Some "pila" had small hand-guards, to protect the wielder if he intended to use it as a melee weapon, but it does not appear that this was common.


title: Pilum

text: It may be argued that a short iron shaft has very few confirmations from archaeology. Vegetius wrote about a one-foot iron shaft because at Vegetius' time the "pilum" had disappeared and been replaced by similar shorter weapons such as the "plumbatae" and the "spiculum".


title: Pilum

text: Thanks in part to experimental archaeology, it is generally believed that the design of the "pilum" evolved to be armour-piercing: the pyramidal head would punch a small hole through an enemy shield allowing the thin shank to pass through and penetrate far enough to wound the man behind it. The thick wooden shaft provided the weight behind the punch.


title: Pilum

text: In one description, one of the two iron nails that held the iron shaft in place was replaced with a weak wooden pin that would break on impact causing the shaft to twist sideways. Gaius Marius is sometimes given credit for that modification.


title: Khakkhara

text: A khakkhara (; ; , sometimes referred to in English as a pewter staff, is a staff topped with metal rings traditionally carried by Buddhist monks, particularly in East Asian Buddhism.


title: Khakkhara

text: Originally used as a noisemaker to announce a monk's presence and frighten away animals, it was adapted for use as a rhythmic instrument during chanting and sutra recitation, and for use as a weapon. It is also known as a "tiger pewter staff" (虎錫), due to its traditional use of driving away predatory animals.


title: Khakkhara

text: The earliest recorded description of a khakkhara is in the writings of the Chinese pilgrim monk Yi Jing who traveled between China, Indonesia, and India in the years 671 to 695 AD.


title: Khakkhara

text: The basic design of a khakkhara is of a central staff, normally in wood, topped by a finial in metal, with a looped design, from which smaller metal rings hang on each side (similar to the stringing of traditional Chinese cash). Various numbers of loops and rings are employed, with each number being assigned symbolic significance on the basis of a variety of Buddhist numerical formulas. Historical examples from the Famen Temple include staffs with one, two, or four loops and four, six, or twelve rings on each loop.


title: Khakkhara

text: Several versions of the staff's origin are given in the Sarvastivada vinaya, but in all of them the staff is recommended to monks by the Buddha in order to ward off animals- either for protection from dangerous predatory animals like tigers and lions, or for scaring off small creatures like spiders and snakes that might be trod on by wandering monks. The ringing of the staff can also alert donors within earshot of the monk's presence, as monks traditionally remain silent while collecting alms.


title: Khakkhara

text: In the Mahayana sutra known as the Pewter Staff Sutra (得道梯橙錫杖經), the Buddha instructed his monks that they should have one of these staffs, because the Buddhas of the past, present and future also kept such a staff.


title: Khakkhara

text: According to the Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms by Faxian, the capital city of Nagara, once had a vihara that held the staff that belonged to the Buddha. The staff was made of "bulls-head sandalwood" (Sanskrit: "gośīrṣa candana") and was about 16-17 chi in length. It was encased in a wooden sheath and too heavy for even a thousand men to move.


title: Khakkhara

text: In Chinese monasteries, the khakkhara symbolizes the abbot's administrative authority. When ascending the platform during large ceremonies, the abbot takes the khakkhara and strikes the ground three times while shaking it, symbolizing the breaking of ignorance and calling out to all beings. In Japanese temples, the khakkhara is usually handheld, with the rattle of the khakkhara being used as a rhythmic instrument during sutra chanting to keep time, similar to the wooden fish.


title: Khakkhara

text: The khakkhara came to symbolize monks in Chinese literature, serving as an emblem similar to the robe and bowl. A popular name for a wandering mendicant monk is 飛錫 (flying staff). Alternatively, a monk who dwells comfortably in a monastery may be referred to as 掛錫 (hung-up staff). A monk who belongs to a monastery but frequently travels for various religious duties may also be called a 掛錫 or a 卓錫, indicating the laying down of his staff. 'Planting a staff' similarly referred to a monk who had taken up a long-term residence.


title: Khakkhara

text: The number of loops and rings featured on the staff was also assigned symbolic significance, according to a variety of Buddhist numerical formulas- four loops symbolizing the Four Noble Truths, six rings representing the Six Perfections, or twelve rings representing the twelvefold chain of cause and effect.


title: Khakkhara

text: A notable carrier of the staff is Kṣitigarbha, the bodhisattva of children and travelers. He is usually depicted holding a khakkhara in his right hand. It is also often held by images of the thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara in Chinese and Japanese statuary.


title: Khakkhara

text: Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou, China features a spring known as "Pewter Staff Spring" (錫泉). According to legend, a monk struck the earth with his staff which caused the spring to appear.


title: Khakkhara

text: The "eye-cleansing well" (根洗いの井戸) at Enkōji in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan is said to have been created by means of a khakkhara. The temple's legendary account tells that in 795, Kōbō-Daishi used his staff to break the ground and pull water in order to save the nearby village from drought.


title: Khakkhara

text: The wooden shaft can either be long for use as a walking stick or short for accompaniment in chanting. As a staff, the khakkhara could be wielded as a weapon; in Chinese "wuxia" novels the khakkhara is often the weapon of warrior monks, especially those of Shaolin Monastery. It has been used in defensive techniques by traveling Buddhist monks all over East Asia for centuries, and monks at the Shaolin temple in China specialized in its use.


title: Khakkhara

text: In Japan, the "shakujō" became a formidable weapon in the hands of a practiced Buddhist monk . It could be used as a staff to block and parry attacks, and the metal rings at the tip could be slammed into an opponent's face to momentarily blind him. At the very tip of the metal finial is a sharp point which can be used to attack weak points of the body. The bottom end of the khakkhara has a metal butt which can be used to thrust and hit an opponent.


title: Khakkhara

text: Shorinji Kempo contains methods of self-defense using the khakkhara, but these are rarely practiced today.


title: Khakkhara

text: Other chinese literature makes mention of the staff in the context of filial piety. It is argued that if one's parent fall into hell, it is due to their own wickedness. How then can the Buddha's pewter staff save them (豈浮屠錫杖所能救而出之者乎)?


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Pub.L. 103–159, 107 Stat. 1536, enacted November 30, 1993), often referred to as the Brady Act or the Brady Bill, is an Act of the United States Congress that mandated federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States, and imposed a five-day waiting period on purchases, until the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was implemented in 1998. The act was appended to the end of Section 922 of title 18, United States Code. The intention of the act was to prevent persons with previous serious convictions from purchasing firearms.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: Various iterations of the Brady Bill were discussed and rejected by Congress between 1987 and 1993, when it finally became law.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: On February 4, 1987, two Ohio Democrats, Representative Edward F. Feighan and Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum, introduced the Brady Bill for the first time in the 100th Congress. In its original form, the Bill mandated a seven-day waiting period between the time a person applied for a handgun and the time the sale could be completed. The Bill was approved as an amendment to the Omnibus Drug Initiative Act by the House Judiciary Committee on a voice vote in June of the following year. However, on September 15, 1988, the Brady Bill was defeated in the House by a vote of 228-182.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: In March 1991, the Bill was introduced again into the House of Representatives by Representative Chuck Schumer, but was never brought to a vote.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: On February 22, 1993, the bill was reintroduced for the final time by Rep. Schumer leading to the final version being passed in the 103rd Congress on November 11, 1993. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 30, 1993, and the law went into effect on February 28, 1994.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: The Brady Bill requires that background checks be conducted on individuals before a firearm may be purchased from a federally licensed dealer, manufacturer or importer—unless an exception applies. If there are no additional state restrictions, a firearm may be transferred to an individual upon approval by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) maintained by the FBI. In some states, proof of a previous background check can be used to bypass the NICS check. For example, a state-issued concealed carry permit usually includes a background check equivalent to the one required by the Act. Other alternatives to the NICS check include state-issued handgun purchase permits or mandatory state or local background checks.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: In Section 922(g) of title 18, United States Code the Brady Bill prohibits certain persons from shipping or transporting any firearm in interstate or foreign commerce, or receiving any firearm which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, or possessing any firearm in or affecting commerce. These prohibitions apply to any person who:


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: Section 922(n) of title 18, United States Code makes it unlawful for any person who is under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year to ship or transport any firearm in interstate or foreign commerce, or receive any firearm which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: After a prospective buyer completes the appropriate form, the holder of a Federal Firearms License (FFL) initiates the background check by phone or computer. Most checks are determined within minutes. If a determination is not obtained within three business days then the transfer may legally be completed.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: Firearm transfers by unlicensed private sellers that are "not engaged in the business" of dealing firearms are not subject to the Brady Act, but may be covered under other federal, state, and local restrictions. The Brady Act has since been amended that private transfers of firearms must be conducted through a Federal Firearms Licensee, who, at their discretion may charge a fee for processing the transaction through the NICS system.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: The Brady Bill also does not apply to licensed Curios & Relics (C&R) collectors, but only in respect to C&R firearms. The FFL Category 03 Curio & Relic license costs $30 and is valid for three years. Licensed C&R collectors may also purchase C&R firearms from private individuals or from federal firearms dealers, whether in their home state or in another state, and ship C&R firearms in interstate commerce by common carrier. Curios or relics are defined in as "Firearms which are of special interest to collectors by reason of some quality other than is associated with firearms intended for sporting use or as offensive or defensive weapons." The regulation further states:


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: James Brady was press secretary to President Ronald Reagan when both he and the president, along with Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy and District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delehanty, were shot on March 30, 1981, during an assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr., Brady was shot in the head and suffered a serious wound that left him partially paralyzed for life.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: John Hinckley Jr. bought the .22 caliber Röhm RG-14 revolver used in the shooting at a Dallas, Texas, pawn shop on October 13, 1980. In a purchase application that he filled out before taking possession of the revolver, he provided a false home address on the form and showed an old Texas driver's license as "proof" that he lived there. This constituted a felony offense. Additionally, Hinckley had been arrested four days earlier at the Metropolitan Airport in Nashville, Tennessee, when he attempted to board an American Airlines flight for New York with three handguns and some loose ammunition in his carry-on bag. That same day, President Jimmy Carter was in Nashville and scheduled to travel to New York. Finally, Hinckley had been under psychiatric care prior to his gun purchase.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: According to Sarah Brady, had a background check been conducted on Hinckley, it could have detected some, or all, of this important criminal and mental health history.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: Sarah Brady, James's wife, became active in the gun control movement a few years after the shooting. She joined the Board of Handgun Control, Inc. (HCI) in 1985 and became its chair in 1989. Two years later, she became Chair of the center to Prevent Handgun Violence, HCI's 501(c)(3) sister organization. In 2001, the organizations were renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in honor of James and Sarah.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: On February 4, 1987, the Brady Act was introduced in the U.S. Congress for the first time. Sarah Brady and HCI made the passage of the Brady bill, as it was commonly called, their top legislative priority. In a March 1991 editorial, President Reagan opined that the Brady Act would provide a crucial "enforcement mechanism" to end the "honor system" of the 1968 Gun Control Act and "can't help but stop thousands of illegal handgun purchases."


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: James and Sarah Brady were guests of honor when President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Act into law on November 30, 1993. President Clinton has stated, "If it hadn't been for them, we would not have passed the Brady Law." In December 2000, the Boards of Trustees for HCI and the center to Prevent Handgun Violence voted to honor James and Sarah Brady's hard work and commitment to gun control by renaming the two organizations the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: In 2000, controversy arose when Sarah Brady purchased a .30-06 Springfield rifle in Delaware for her son. Gun rights groups claimed that this action was a straw purchase, intended to avoid the NICS, and may have also violated Delaware firearms purchase laws. No charges were ever filed against Sarah Brady, however. A firearm purchased as a gift is not considered a straw purchase under U.S. federal law if the recipient may legally possess it. Critics pointed out, however, that private firearm transfers like the one made by Sarah Brady are a common concern of gun control advocates (although exemptions for family members have been allowed in past legislation to regulate such sales).


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: Though dissenting opinions assert that legislation to limit the prevalence of gun violence is needed, opponents of the Act argue it will have limited impact on the nation's issue with violent crime because its provisions do little to stop guns from being obtained illegally, and only deal with firearm sales from registered dealers.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: After the Brady Act was originally proposed in 1987, the National Rifle Association (NRA) mobilized to defeat the legislation, spending millions of dollars in the process. While the bill eventually did pass in both chambers of the United States Congress, the NRA was able to win an important concession: the final version of the legislation provided that, in 1998, the five-day waiting period for handgun sales would be replaced by an instant computerized background check that involved no waiting periods.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: The NRA then funded lawsuits in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming that sought to strike down the Brady Act as unconstitutional. These cases wound their way through the courts, eventually leading the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Brady Act in the case of "Printz v. United States".


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: In "Printz", the NRA argued that the Brady Act was unconstitutional because its provisions requiring local law enforcement officers to conduct background checks was a violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution (Brief Amicus Curiae of the National Rifle Association of America in Support of Petitioners, "Printz v. United States", 521 U.S. 898, 1997). Based on these grounds, the NRA told the Court "the whole Statute must be voided."


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: In its 1997 decision in the case, the Supreme Court ruled that the provision of the Brady Act that compelled state and local law enforcement officials to perform the background checks was unconstitutional on 10th amendment grounds. The Court determined that this provision violated both the concept of federalism and that of the unitary executive. However, the overall Brady statute was upheld and state and local law enforcement officials remained free to conduct background checks if they so chose. The vast majority continued to do so. In 1998, background checks for firearm purchases became mostly a federally run activity when NICS came online, although many states continue to mandate state run background checks before a gun dealer may transfer a firearm to a buyer.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: Background checks for firearms purchases operate in only one direction because of the Firearm Owners Protection Act. That is, although a firearms dealer may obtain electronic information that an individual is excluded from firearms purchases, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) do not receive electronic information in return to indicate what firearms are being purchased.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: From the inception of the NICS system in 1998 through 2014, more than 202 million Brady background checks have been conducted. During this period approximately 1.2 million attempted firearm purchases were blocked by the Brady background check system, or about 0.6 percent. The most common reason for denials are previous felony convictions.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: Prosecution and conviction of violators of the Brady Act, however, is extremely rare. During the first 17 months of the Act, only seven individuals were convicted. In the first year of the Act, 250 cases were referred for prosecution and 217 of them were rejected.


title: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act

text: A 2000 study in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" ("JAMA") found that the implementation of the Brady Act was associated with "reductions in the firearm suicide rate for persons aged 55 years or older." While the same study was unable to conclusively demonstrate the Brady Act had an effect on other gun-related deaths, later studies found waiting periods for handguns significantly reduce overall gun deaths. Georgetown University professor Jens Ludwig and Duke University professor Philip J. Cook, who conducted the "JAMA" study, praised the law. However, they also pointed out that it did not regulate a "secondary market" which involved acquiring guns from non-dealers, stating that "Our own view is that the Brady Act was a useful—but modest—first step, reducing the availability of guns to high-risk groups such as teens and convicted felons. The Brady Act's apparent effect in reducing gun suicides is encouraging, and implies that lives were probably saved as a result of the waiting period that was required during the first four years of the legislation. But effective action to reduce gun crime may require extending the regulatory umbrella to include the secondary market." Despite allegations that firearm-related homicides did not greatly decrease by 2000, nationwide data collected by the U.S. Department of Justice showed otherwise, with firearm related homicides dropping from 17,527 in 1994 to 10,801 in 2000. However, other factors played a role as well, as non-gun-related violence declined throughout the period. Researchers continue to debate how much of the decline in violent crime can be attributed to the Brady Act or other gun control legislation.


title: Jaymes Young

text: Jaymes Young (born Jaymes McFarland; September 1, 1991) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. On September 9, 2013, he debuted his first extended play, "Dark Star". His debut album "Feel Something" was released on June 23, 2017.


title: Jaymes Young

text: In 2013 he was signed to a recording contract with Atlantic Records and toured with the trip hop trio London Grammar. He released his second EP "Habits of My Heart" on September 28, 2014, on Atlantic Records and opened for Vance Joy on the latter's "Dream Your Life Away" tour. He was featured alongside Birdy in David Guetta's "I'll Keep Loving You" on Guetta's 2014 album "Listen". In 2016, he worked with American electronic musician Zhu in co-writing and featuring un-credited vocals on two tracks, entitled "Hometown Girl" which was originally based on Meghan Gier and Benjamin Griffith's relationship and "Cold Blooded" which was based on Jaymes Young's life at a young age. The songs eventually became part of ZHU's debut studio album "Generationwhy", which was released on July 29, 2016.


title: Jaymes Young

text: On June 23, 2017 he released his debut album "Feel Something", featuring the RIAA certified gold single "I'll Be Good". On July 12, 2019 he released the standalone single "Happiest Year" which achieved viral success, and was also certified gold. In 2021, "Infinity" from his debut album hit #1 on TikTok's Viral chart and surged across streaming platforms. He is currently working on his next project.


title: Jaymes Young

text: McFarland grew up in Seattle, Washington, and attributes his varied interest in music to his music-loving parents and two older brothers and one younger sister. His musical influences include Coldplay, Radiohead, Maroon 5, Iron & Wine, and Death Cab for Cutie. McFarland began playing the guitar and writing lyrics at age 14. Music became a creative outlet for his ideas and inspiration. Apart from music, his interests include science and philosophy. He currently resides in Los Angeles. Before he adopted the name Jaymes Young, McFarland was a member of a small Seattle-based band named Corner State that released a single album in 2010.


title: Helly Shah

text: Helly Shah (born 7 January 1996) is an Indian actress and model who primarily works in Hindi television. She made her acting debut in 2010 with "Zindagi Ka Har Rang...Gulaal" portraying Talli. She is best known for her portrayal of Swara Sanskaar Maheshwari in "Swaragini" and Devanshi Pawan Bakshi in "Devanshi".


title: Helly Shah

text: Shah earned wider recognition with her dual portrayal of Saltanat Zaroon, Kaynaat Shah in "Sufiyana Pyaar Mera" and her portrayal of Riddhima Vansh Raisinghania in "Ishq Mein Marjawan 2" and its web series "".


title: Helly Shah

text: Shah began her acting career when she was in 8th grade. Her career began with Star Plus's show "Gulaal". In 2011 she appeared in "Diya Aur Baati Hum" playing Shruti. She then played Alaxmi in Life OK's "Alaxmi - Hamari Super Bahu". Later, she played Ami in "Khelti Hai Zindagi Aankh Micholi". She then appeared in Sony Pal's "Khushiyon Kii Gullak Aashi".


title: Helly Shah

text: In 2016, Shah participated in Colors TV's "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (season 9)". In 2017, she portrayed Devanshi Upadhyay/Bakshi in "Devanshi" for which she won the Indian Television Academy Award for Best Actress Popular.


title: Helly Shah

text: In 2019, she portrayed the double role of Saltanat Shah and Kaynaat Shah in Star Bharat's "Sufiyana Pyaar Mera" opposite Rajveer Singh for which she won the Gold Award for Best Actress in Negative Role. Next, she appeared as Neha in Star Plus's "Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyaar Ke".


title: Helly Shah

text: Shah portrayed Riddhima Vansh Raisinghania in "Ishq Mein Marjawan 2" opposite Rrahul Sudhir and Vishal Vashishtha, that aired from 13 July 2020 to 13 March 2021 on Colors TV. After the show went off air, the new season titled "" started to stream in Voot Select since 15 March, with Shah reprising the character of Riddhima.


title: Helly Shah

text: She made her Cannes red carpet debut on 18 May 2022. She unveiled the poster of her debut film "Kaya Palat", at the Cannes Film Festival on 21 May. The actress also walked the red carpet for L’Oréal Paris at Cannes Film Festival, the first Indian television actress to walk for the event sponsors L'Orèal Paris.


title: Helly Shah

text: Shah ranked 47th in Eastern Eye's Top 50 Asian celebrities of 2020. In 2021, she was ranked in Eastern Eye's Top 30 under 30 Global Asian Stars list.


title: 1960 European Nations' Cup

text: The 1960 European Nations' Cup was the first edition of the UEFA European Championship, held every four years and organised by UEFA. The first tournament was held in France. It was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Paris after extra time.


title: 1960 European Nations' Cup

text: The tournament was a knockout competition; just 17 teams entered with some notable absences, West Germany, Italy and England among those missing. The teams would play home-and-away matches until the semi-finals; the final four teams would then move on to the final tournament, whose host was selected after the teams became known.


title: 1960 European Nations' Cup

text: In the quarter-finals, Spain, who were under Francoist rule, refused to travel to the Soviet Union for political reasons. After a proposal to play the tie over one leg at a neutral venue were rejected by the Soviets, Spain were disqualified: accordingly, three of the final four teams were from communist countries: the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and SFR Yugoslavia, to go with hosts France.


title: 1960 European Nations' Cup

text: In the semi-finals, the Soviets made easy work of the Czechoslovaks in Marseille, beating them 3–0. The other match saw a nine-goal thriller as Yugoslavia came on top 5–4 after coming back from a two-goal deficit twice. Czechoslovakia beat the demoralised French 2–0 for third place.


title: 1960 European Nations' Cup

text: In the final, Yugoslavia scored first, but the Soviet Union, led by legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin, equalised in the 49th minute. After 90 minutes the score was 1–1, and Viktor Ponedelnik scored with seven minutes left in extra time to give the Soviets the inaugural European Championship.


title: 1960 European Nations' Cup

text: In all matches but the final, extra time and a coin toss were used to decide the winner if necessary. If the final remained level after extra time, a replay would be used to determine the winner.


title: Thongloun Sisoulith

text: Thongloun Sisoulith (; born 10 November 1945) is a Lao historian and politician serving as General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party since 15 January 2021 and President of Laos since 22 March 2021.


title: Thongloun Sisoulith

text: Sisoulith was born in the Houaphan province of Laos, and he studied at Pedagogical College of Neo Lao Hak Sat in Houaphan from 1962 to 1969. He was further educated in the Soviet Union and Vietnam. In addition to Lao, he speaks Vietnamese, Russian and English.


title: Thongloun Sisoulith

text: Throughout his years in government, he has an extensive list of appointments. He was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1987 to 1992, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare from 1993 to 1997, and a member of the National Assembly from 1998 to 2000. He became Deputy Prime Minister and President of the State Planning Committee on 27 March 2001, and he was additionally appointed as Foreign Minister on 8 June 2006, replacing Somsavat Lengsavad. He was chosen to become Prime Minister of Laos at the 10th Party Congress on 23 January 2016.


title: Thongloun Sisoulith

text: At the 11th National Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party in 2021, he was elected the party's general secretary, and hence "de facto" leader of Laos, the first civilian with no military background to be general secretary.


title: DCB Bank

text: DCB Bank Limited is a private sector scheduled commercial bank in India. It is amongst the new generation banks that received the scheduled commercial bank license from the bank regulator, Reserve Bank of India. DCB Bank received the licence on 31 May 1995.


title: DCB Bank

text: A professional management team guided by the Board of Directors runs the Bank. DCB Bank’s business segments include Retail, micro-SME, SME, mid-Corporate, Agriculture, Commodities, Government, Public Sector, Indian Banks, Co-operative Banks and Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFC). It has approximately 1,000,000 customers.


title: DCB Bank

text: The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) is the promoter of the Bank with around 15% stake. Public shareholding under the Resident Individual category is approximately 39.4%.


title: DCB Bank

text: DCB Bank Limited has 400 branches across India, as on 31st March 2022, and has operations within the India geography.


title: DCB Bank

text: It is publicly listed in India on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange respectively. DCB Bank offered shares to the public by an initial public offering (IPO) in 2006.


title: DCB Bank

text: Historically, DCB Bank's origin from Maharashtra, India was the outcome of the merger between Ismailia Co-operative Bank Limited and the Masalawala Co-operative Bank to form Development Co-operative Bank. This changed to Development Credit Bank upon grant of the scheduled bank license by the Reserve Bank of India in May 1995. DCB Bank Limited is the contemporary identity, registered entity, and corporate logo.


title: DCB Bank

text: DCB Bank was the runner-up Best Small Bank in India recognised by Businessworld Magna Awards 2018. It was also rated as the Best Small Bank in India by BusinessWorld Magna Awards 2017. The Bank was conferred the Good Corporate Citizen Award 2017–18 by the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry. This was in recognition of the activities actively promoted by the Bank for sustainability and climate change mitigation across India. DCB Bank has been awarded the "Excellent Services of the Year" award by ASSOCHAM, in the 8th MSMEs Excellence Awards March 2022. It has also won the Best CSR Impact Award in UBS FORUMS 2022 for its work in Banki, Cuttack, Orissa for its Livelihood Improvement Project through Integrated Watershed Management. It has achieved the prestigious Great Place to Work Certification for 2022-2023 which identifies and recognizes Great Workplace Cultures.


title: DCB Bank

text: 6. https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/dcb-bank-q1-profit-at-rs-700-million-against-rs-650-million-in-q-fy18-118071400624_1.html "Business Standard 14 July 2018"


title: Ilya Prusikin

text: Ilya Vladimirovich Prusikin (, born 8 April 1985), is a Russian musician, singer, record producer, vlogger, video director and screenwriter. He is best known as the front person and founder of Saint Petersburg punk-pop-rave group Little Big. He is also known under the stage name Ilich (), an in-joke referencing Vladimir Lenin's patronymic and "Oblomov" character.


title: Ilya Prusikin

text: Ilya Prusikin was born in Siberia, in the village of Ust'-Borzya, Chita Oblast (now Zabaykalsky Krai). In his early infancy, he moved to Sosnovy Bor, situated in Leningrad Oblast, with his parents. He studied piano at a local children's musical school. Prusikin later graduated from Saint-Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts with a degree in psychology.


title: Ilya Prusikin

text: In 2011, he started a collaboration with a subsidiary project of the Russian fun-production studio "My Ducks Vision" by Yuri Degtyarev named "Thank you, Eva!", uniting video bloggers into one large affiliate network, and in 2012 he directed "Guffy Gough Show" (2012) and "The Great Rap Battle" (2012). Both of his programs went on to become the network's highest-rated videos. Also in 2012, Prusikin produced and directed the Internet sitcom "Police Weekdays" (Russian: «Полицейские будни»). After three episodes, the show was cancelled indefinitely.


title: Ilya Prusikin

text: In 2013, Prusikin and Eldar Dzharakhov founded the artistic partnership “ClickKlak”. According to them, the audience of ClickKlack consists of "boys and girls with an active lifestyle and a good sense of humour". The channel's page contains such shows as “Give the Bream” (Russian: «Дай леща»), “Thrash Lotto” (Russian: «Трэш лото»), “As You Say” (Russian: «Как скажешь»), “Shocking Karaoke” (Russian: «Шокирующее караоке»), “Experiments' Destroyers” (Russian: «Разрушители экспериментов»), “Kick the Bucket” (Russian: «Сыграл в ящик»), etc.


title: Ilya Prusikin

text: In 2003, Ilyich became a member of nu-metal band Tenkorr. Prusikin also gained experience working with the other groups, Like A Virgin, St. Bastards and Construktorr among them. Ilya has since achieved greater domestic and international recognition with the band Little Big, founded on April 1, 2013. All music videos of the band are shot by its co-founder, Alina Pasok (Russian: Алина Пязок).


title: Ilya Prusikin

text: On July 6, 2016, Ilya Prusikin married musician Irina Smelaya, better known by her stage name Tatarka. Their son Dobrynya was born on November 26, 2017.


title: Ilya Prusikin

text: In 2018, Prusikin quoted the famous aphorism: "The [Russian] state has murdered my Motherland" and criticised the Russian populace's easygoing attitude towards life and, especially, local indifference towards corruption.


title: Ilya Prusikin

text: In a 2019 interview with Xenia Sobchak, Prusikin spoke of his total dislike of modern Russian politics, emphasising the increased "cult of intolerance and anger" in internal politics after 2012. He publicly supported Ivan Golunov during the journalist's persecution.


title: Ilya Prusikin

text: In 2022 after the Russian inviasion of Ukraine, Ilya stated "We adore our country, but we completely disagree with the war in Ukraine, moreover, we believe that any war is unacceptable." He also announced that he had left the country and relocated to Los Angeles with the singer Sonya, stating that "we are so disgusted by the Russian military propaganda machine that we decided to drop everything and leave the country." Later on 23 June 2022 he (as Little Big) released the single Generation Cancellation.


title: Westfield London

text: Westfield London is a large shopping centre in White City, west London, England, developed by the Westfield Group at a cost of £1.6bn,


title: Westfield London

text: on a brownfield site formerly the home of the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition. The site is bounded by the West Cross Route (A3220), the Westway (A40) and Wood Lane (A219). It opened on 30 October 2008 and became the largest covered shopping development in the capital; originally a retail floor area of , further investment and expansion led to it becoming the largest shopping centre in Europe by March 2018, an area of .


title: Westfield London

text: The mall is anchored by department stores John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, and House of Fraser, as well as multi brand retailer Next and large fast fashion brand Primark. Former anchor Debenhams closed down in April 2020.


title: Westfield London

text: The development is on a large brownfield site, part of which was once the location of the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition. The initial site clearance demolished the set of halls still remaining from the exhibition (their cheap-to-build, white-painted blank facades are said to be the origin of the name White City). There were also considerable precautions needed during demolition due to the expectation of finding unexploded bombs from raids on a local munitions factory during the World War II blitz.


title: Westfield London

text: Elsewhere on the site was a London Underground railway depot, which had to be kept fully operational while a new depot was built underground to allow the new shopping centre to be built above both the new depot, and on the old depot site. The old depot was then demolished.


title: Westfield London

text: The initial plan for a shopping centre at this location was developed by a consortium, the largest company involved being the UK division of Australian property company Multiplex. However, due to heavy financial losses in other ventures, including the construction of the new Wembley Stadium, Multiplex was forced to sell its stake to the Westfield Group.


title: Westfield London

text: The development was built by Westfield Construction, the developer's own construction arm and was delivered on schedule. Robert Bird Group were the structural engineers for the job. The roof was designed by Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering (Stuttgart, Germany). The project took five years to build, employing 8,000 people.


title: Westfield London

text: On the 7 July 2015, Mohammed Rehman and Sana Ahmed Khan planned to explode a bomb which consisted of 10 kg of urea nitrate inside the shopping centre. The attack was set to occur on the 10 year anniversary of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, but was thwarted by police.


title: Westfield London

text: The centre was opened to the public on 30 October 2008 by Frank Lowy, CEO of Westfield Group, in an event also attended by Mayor Boris Johnson, with a retail floor area of . It became the largest covered shopping centre in London having overtaken the Whitgift Centre in Croydon. Amid great hype, two million shoppers visited the centre in its first three weeks, despite the ongoing credit crunch in the UK.


title: Westfield London

text: However the financial crisis of the time did cause a swift fall in shoppers and some shops forcing to close in 2009. While some commentators suspected Westfield London to fail during the economic gloom, the centre reported increased sales in 2010 following an unexpectedly large number of tourist shoppers.


title: Westfield London

text: On 16 February 2012, Hammersmith & Fulham Council approved a 700,000 sq ft extension to the north of the existing site. Building work began in 2014, and the extension opened in three phases. The first phase opened in March 2018, and the final phase opened in October 2018. Once the extension was completed, Westfield London's size increased to , making it the largest shopping centre in Europe.


title: Westfield London

text: The north side of the extension is bounded by a railway viaduct, and the south side of the extension is adjunct to the original shopping centre. The extension replaces an industrial estate which previously occupied the area, divided by Ariel Way. The extension includes of retail space including a 70,000 sq ft Primark store, offices, new streets, public spaces, and approximately 1,522 new homes. The development ranges from four to twelve storeys high with one building of 20 storeys.


title: Westfield London

text: The work also includes modifications to Shepherd's Bush railway station, relocation of the White City bus station and reuse of the Dimco Buildings, and pedestrian links on the east side of the site connecting Hammersmith & Fulham with Kensington & Chelsea.


title: Westfield London

text: The department store John Lewis is the occupant of an 'anchor store' within the extension. Kidzania, a part of the extension, opened in 2015.


title: Westfield London

text: In 2015, a group of Arab terrorists tried to blow up the Westfield London but they were stopped by police. They wanted the bombing to be around the same day as that of the 2005 London attacks anniversary.


title: Westfield London

text: On 28 April 2020 it was announced that Debenhams Westfield London store had closed permanently due to the COVID-19 lockdown and entering administration. On 28 July Hammersmith & Fulham Council's Planning Committee approved Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield's planning application on transforming two-thirds of House of Fraser's space into office spaces and two separate retail units that will face the inside of the centre. Currently the Debenhams space is occupied by Harrods Outlet.


title: Westfield London

text: It has a retail floor area of . The centre features around 320 stores, including AllSaints, Apple, Bershka, Boots, Bose, Coast, Cotton On (includes RUBI and Factorie), Dorothy Perkins, Dwell, Early Learning Centre, Ernest Jones, Gerry Weber, Hackett, Hollister Co, House of Fraser, H.Samuel, Jaeger, Kurt Geiger, Lego, Mamas & Papas, Mango, Marks & Spencer, Next, Nomination, Oakley, Reiss, River Island, schuh, Starbucks Coffee, Tesla, Topshop, Uniqlo, the multiplex cinema Vue, Waitrose and Zara.


title: Westfield London

text: The development also includes a high-end retail area called The Village. The area includes brands Burberry, De Beers, Georg Jensen, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Mulberry, Myla, Tiffany & Co and Versace.


title: Westfield London

text: Vue opened a seventeen-screen cinema on 12 February 2010, including five 3-D-enabled screens, with a seating capacity of almost 3,000.


title: Westfield London

text: As part of the planning permission for the shopping centre, Westfield Group contributed £170m towards local transport improvements, with Transport for London contributing a further £30m. These transport improvements now serve the shopping centre, as well as the surrounding area.


title: Westfield London

text: Beofre opening, the centre was expected to attract trade that otherwise might have gone to the already busy West End, as well as having a potentially negative impact on nearby Kensington High Street. The development has also pushed up rents in the Shepherds Bush area, which is expected to impact on the value retail offer in the area, with many businesses as well as the Shepherds Bush Market expected to suffer. Others have criticised the centre's "clone stores".


title: CATL

text: Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (), abbreviated as CATL, is a Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company founded in 2011 that specializes in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, as well as battery management systems (BMS). With a market share of 32.6% in 2021, CATL is the biggest lithium-ion battery manufacturer for EVs in the world, producing 96.7 GWh of the global 296.8 GWh, up 167.5% year on year. The company plans to have a manufacturing capacity target of >500 Gwh by 2025 and >800 Gwh by 2030.


title: CATL

text: It is headquartered in Ningde, Fujian Province and operates manufacturing bases in Ningde, Fujian province; Xining, Qinghai province; Liyang, Jiangsu province; Yibin, Sichuan province; Zhaoqing, Guangdong province and in its first overseas plant located in Erfurt, Germany. Its four main R&D centers are based in Ningde, Fujian; Liyang, Jiangsu; Shanghai and Munich, Germany.


title: CATL

text: CATL was founded in Ningde, which is reflected in its Chinese name ('Ningde era'). The company started as a spin-off of Amperex Technology Limited (ATL), a previous business founded by Robin Zeng in 1999. ATL initially manufactured lithium-polymer batteries based on licensed technology, but later developed more reliable battery designs themselves. In 2005 ATL was acquired by Japan's TDK company, but Zeng continued as a manager for ATL. In 2012, Zeng and vice-chairman Huang Shilin spun-off the EV battery operations of ATL into the new company CATL. Until 2015, former parent TDK held a 15% stake in CATL.


title: CATL

text: China's battery sector, led by CATL, has decoupled from the monopoly of western technology due to China's supremacy in the supply of rare earth elements essential in batteries, accounting for more than 40% of the world's collection. It has joined Tesla's battery supply chain and the supply chains of European and American vehicle manufacturers, in addition to defeating Panasonic of Japan and L.G. Chemical of South Korea. As a result, CATL leads the globe in power batteries with a 33 percent market share, and the United States has no trouble catching up in terms of EV batteries.


title: CATL

text: In 2016, CATL was the world's third largest provider of EV, HEV and PHEV batteries behind Panasonic (Sanyo) and BYD. In 2017, CATL's sales of power battery system reached 11.84GWh, taking the sales championship worldwide for the first time.


title: CATL

text: In 2018, it was announced that CATL would establish a new battery factory in Arnstadt, Thuringia, Germany. CATL's annual sales volume amounted to 21.18 GWh of energy storage capacity in 2018.


title: CATL

text: As the Chinese government started to phase out subsidies for EVs towards 2020, CATL sought to diversify its revenue overseas. According to SNE Research, in the year of 2020, CATL's EV battery consumption volume ranks No.1 in the world for four consecutive years. In June 2020, CATL's founder Zeng Yuqun announced that the company had achieved a battery for electric vehicles (EVs) rated as good for 1 million miles (or 2 million kilometres) and was waiting to receive orders.


title: CATL

text: In the first half of 2022, CATL is ranked first in the world with a market share of 34 per cent according to SNE research.


title: CATL

text: In March 2022, reported that EV makers in China have been decreasing their order sizes with CATL. Nio sought additional battery suppliers after a four-year exclusive partnership with CATL. GAC Group also began to place orders from China Aviation Lithium Battery (CALB), a direct competitor of CATL. CALB is known for lithium iron phosphate batteries, which were considered inferior to CATL's ternary lithium batteries due to the latter's longer battery life. This changed in 2019, when multiple GAC Aion S vehicles caught fire due to poor thermal stability of CATL's power cells, which were used for the range. In comparison, CALB's lithium iron phosphate batteries do not release oxygen when they generate electric power, making them less likely to catch fire. CALB has since sought to compete with CATL on the basis of battery safety, releasing a new product in September 2021 with an ultra-thin casing, 25% fewer components, and 40% lighter in weight.


title: CATL

text: Due to its main competitor BYD Company prioritizing battery supply to its own vehicles, CATL was able to capture partnerships with foreign automakers. CATL's battery technology is currently used by electric vehicle manufacturers in the international market, and CATL collaborates with companies including BMW, Daimler AG, Hyundai, Honda, Li Auto, NIO, PSA, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo and XPeng. In China, its clients include BAIC Motor, Geely, GAC Group, Yutong Bus, Zhongtong Bus, Xiamen King Long, SAIC Motor and Foton Motor.


title: CATL

text: In January 2017, CATL announced its plans to enter into a strategic partnership with Valmet Automotive, focusing its collaboration on project management, engineering and battery pack supply for EV and HEV. As part of the partnership, CATL acquired a 22% stake in Valmet Automotive.


title: CATL

text: BMW announced in 2018 that it would buy €4 billion worth of batteries from CATL for use in the electric Mini and iNext vehicles.


title: CATL

text: In July 2022, Ford announced buying batteries from CATL for use in the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Ford F-150 Lightning models.


title: CATL

text: In October 2022, CATL expands deal with Vinfast to provide skateboard chassis for EVs and ‘enhance global footprint’


title: CATL

text: According to former Tesla battery supply chain manager Vivas Kumar, CATL "are seen as the leaders of lithium iron phosphate battery technology". The company employs the cell-to-pack method to reduce the amount of inactive weight of its batteries. It increases volume utilization rate by 15% to 20%, doubles the production efficiency and reduces the number of parts for a battery pack by 40%, while the energy density of a battery pack jumps 140-150Wh/Kg to 200Wh/Kg.


title: CATL

text: According to Kumar, unlike competitors such as LG Chem or SK Innovation, CATL is more willing to adapt outside technology, as opposed to applying a full in-house design.


title: CATL

text: In 2021 the company unveiled a sodium-ion battery for the automotive market. A battery recycling facility is planned to recover some of the materials.


title: CATL

text: According to "36Kr", CATL prioritises cost and operational efficiency over innovation for new products and production techniques. In production, standardisation helps CATL reduce wastage, stabilise quality of products, and offer cheaper replacements for end users, but also restricts the company's ability to develop products for clients to match their designs.


title: Kei Kamara

text: Kei Ansu Kamara (; born 1 September 1984) is a Sierra Leonean professional footballer who plays as a striker for CF Montréal of Major League Soccer. He is one of only eleven players to have scored 100 goals in MLS history, achieving the landmark in 300 appearances, and is currently third on MLS's all-time scoring list.


title: Kei Kamara

text: Kamara was born and raised in Kenema, Sierra Leone's second-largest city, and began his career playing for Kallon F.C. from 2001–2003. At age 16, Kamara and his family migrated to the United States through a refugee program, initially moving to Maryland, before settling with relatives in Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles. He became an American citizen.


title: Kei Kamara

text: Kamara played college soccer at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where, in his second year, he was named third-team All-American. Kamara also spent two seasons with Orange County Blue Star in the USL Premier Development League.


title: Kei Kamara

text: Kamara was chosen by Columbus Crew in the first round ninth overall at the 2006 MLS SuperDraft. He spent two seasons there, making 36 appearances and scoring 5 goals.


title: Kei Kamara

text: Prior to the 2008 season, he was traded to San Jose Earthquakes in exchange for Brian Carroll. However, he spent only the 2008 season there, making 12 appearances and scoring 2 goals.


title: Kei Kamara

text: On 24 July 2008, Kamara was traded to Houston Dynamo for a first-round pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft and allocation money. On 30 September 2008, Kamara scored two goals for MLS champion Houston Dynamo against Mexican club UNAM Pumas in a CONCACAF Champions League match.


title: Kei Kamara

text: On 15 September 2009, Kamara was traded to Sporting Kansas City for Abe Thompson and allocation money. Kamara had several productive seasons with Kansas City which saw him become one of the most imposing wingers in the league.


title: Kei Kamara

text: Kamara was a transfer target of Norwich City of the English Premier League during the winter 2013 transfer window, following an unsuccessful trial at Stoke City earlier in the off-season. It was announced on 30 January 2013 that Kamara was signed on loan by Norwich for the remainder of the 2012–13 Premier League season. Norwich had the option for a pre-negotiated permanent transfer or to return Kamara to Sporting at the end of the season, in which case Kamara would miss the first 10 matches of the MLS season. As part of the deal, Kamara's contract with Major League Soccer was extended. Norwich City announced on 5 February that Kamara was granted a visa, making him legally eligible to play for the club. He made his league debut for Norwich as an 86th-minute substitute in a 0–0 draw with Fulham four days later. On the next matchday, 23 February, he came on as a 58th-minute substitute, and 19 minutes later, scored his first goal for Norwich, equalising 1–1 against Everton with a powerful header at Carrow Road, in an eventual 2–1 victory. Kamara assisted team-mate Wes Hoolahan in the 1–1 draw against Sunderland on 17 March, as his header past the goalkeeper was deflected into the net by Hoolahan who was standing on the goal-line. Kamara later claimed the only reason he did not claim the goal as his own was that it was St. Patrick's Day, and he and Irishman Hoolahan had an Irish dance celebration planned.


title: Kei Kamara

text: Kamara quickly became a fan favourite of the Norwich support for his enthusiastic and flamboyant style of play, with some fans composing songs to recognise their new-found hero. Despite this, Kamara did not score any more in a Norwich shirt and Norwich declined the option of taking him on a permanent transfer. On 4 May 2013, Norwich City confirmed the loan deal had ended and he would be returning to Sporting Kansas City immediately.


title: Kei Kamara

text: On 2 September 2013, it was confirmed that Kamara had signed for Middlesbrough of the Championship on a two-year contract for a fee of £900,000. He made his debut for the club twelve days later, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute in a 1–3 loss to Ipswich Town. On 17 September, Kamara made his first start and scored his first goal for Boro in a 2–2 draw at Nottingham Forest. He followed up his first goal against Forest by scoring on his home debut, a 3–3 draw against AFC Bournemouth four days later. He then scored on 5 October in a 4–1 win at home to Yeovil Town, and twenty days later in a 4–0 home win at over Doncaster Rovers. On 28 August 2014, it was announced that Middlesbrough had parted company with Kamara as his contract had been cancelled by mutual consent.


title: Kei Kamara

text: After parting ways with Middlesbrough, Kamara had a successful trial with recently promoted Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers. However, his work permit renewal application was declined after Sierra Leone fell to 75th place in the FIFA World Rankings and Wolverhampton shifted its focus to signing Yannick Sagbo instead.


title: Kei Kamara

text: In late August 2014, it was revealed that Kamara could return to MLS but would have to go through the league's allocation ranking system since Kansas City received a transfer fee for the player. At the time, the No. 1 spot in the allocation ranking was held by Columbus Crew SC, the club which initially drafted Kamara in 2006. On 7 October 2014 it was confirmed that Kamara had signed for Columbus and would officially be added to the roster 1 January 2015. Because he was released by Middlesbrough after the 2014 MLS roster freeze, he would not be able to appear for the Crew until the 2015 Major League Soccer season.


title: Kei Kamara

text: The following season, he helped the Crew to the play-offs by finishing second in the Eastern Conference, and finished the 2015 MLS season as the joint top-scorer of the league, alongside Toronto FC's Sebastian Giovinco, with 22 goals in 33 games, although Giovinco claimed the MLS Golden Boot due to having provided more assists throughout the season (16 compared to Kamara's 8), which was the tie-breaking criterion. In November 2015, he was named one of the three finalists for both the 2015 MLS Landon Donovan MVP Award and the 2015 Advocare MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year Award; he was awarded the MLS Humanitarian of the Year Award on 5 November, although he missed out on the MVP Award, which went to Giovinco. On 8 November, he scored two goals in a 3–1 win over Montreal Impact in the Eastern Conference semi-finals of the MLS Playoffs, including the decisive goal in extra-time, which allowed Columbus Crew to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. On 22 November, he scored in the first leg of the 2015 MLS Playoff Eastern Conference Finals, a 2–0 win over the New York Red Bulls, which allowed Columbus to claim the 2015 Eastern Conference Championship 2–1 on aggregate and advance to the MLS Cup Final. Due to an injury sustained in training, however, it was initially uncertain whether Kamara would be able to feature in the 2015 MLS Cup Final against the Portland Timbers; nevertheless, he played all 90 minutes of the match, scoring the only goal for Columbus in a 2–1 defeat. With 4 goals, Kamara was the top-goalscorer in the 2015 MLS Playoffs, bringing his total seasonal tally to 26 goals although he missed out on the MLS Cup MVP Award, which went to Portland's Diego Valeri.


title: Kei Kamara

text: After being signed to a Designated Player contract, Columbus got off to a rough start in the 2016 season. Kamara scored five goals in his first nine games including a brace against Montreal on 7 May 2016 where Columbus had the lead. An argument arose between Federico Higuaín and Kamara over a penalty kick, with Kei potentially getting his first hat trick in his career; however, Higuaín wanted to take it himself. The game ended in a 4–4 draw. After the game, Kamara publicly called Higuaín out in an interview after the game. As a result, he was suspended by manager Gregg Berhalter for the next game.


title: Kei Kamara

text: On 12 May 2016, just five days after the penalty kick incident with Higuaín, Kamara was traded to New England Revolution in a blockbuster deal which saw Columbus receive a first-round pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, a second-round pick in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft, an international roster slot for the 2016 season, general allocation money, targeted allocation money, and a percentage of any fee received should New England transfer Kamara to a club outside of MLS.


title: Kei Kamara

text: He scored his first goal for New England in a 2–1 win over the New York Cosmos. On 2 September 2017, he scored his first MLS hat trick against Orlando City in a 4–0 win.


title: Kei Kamara

text: On 10 December 2017, Kamara was traded by New England to Vancouver Whitecaps FC in exchange for a first-round selection in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft and a conditional second-round selection in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft. He scored on his debut on 4 March against Montreal Impact in a 2–1 win. Kamara left Vancouver at the end of their 2018 season when his contract expired.


title: Kei Kamara

text: On 11 December 2018, Kamara was selected by FC Cincinnati in the 2018 MLS Expansion Draft and immediately traded to Colorado Rapids in exchange for an international roster slot for the 2019 season.


title: Kei Kamara

text: He scored the second hat-trick of his professional career, and the ninth overall hat-trick in franchise history for the Colorado Rapids, in a 6–3 win over Montreal Impact on 3 August 2019. The tally meant he reached 11 league goals for the season, the most for the Rapids since Omar Cummings in 2010.


title: Kei Kamara

text: On 18 September 2020, Colorado traded Kamara to Minnesota United for allocation money and a 2022 second round MLS SuperDraft pick. He scored a penalty kick against FC Cincinnati on 3 October 2020, becoming the first MLS player to score for eight different teams; no one else has scored for more than six.


title: Kei Kamara

text: On 30 July 2021, Kamara signed with HIFK Fotboll in Finland through the end of the 2021 season, with an option for the 2022 season.


title: Kei Kamara

text: In February 2022, Kamara returned to North America, joining CF Montréal on a one-year deal, with an option for 2023. He made his debut for his new club on 23 February against Santos Laguna of Liga MX in a 2022 CONCACAF Champions League match.


title: Kei Kamara

text: An international since 2008, Kamara was dropped from the national team set-up for "disciplinary reasons" in August 2019. He was recalled later that month. He retired from international duty in November 2019, blaming in part new manager Sellas Tetteh. Tetteh defended himself. Kamara later returned to the national team set-up and on 12 June 2021 Kamara scored the only goal for Sierra Leone in a victory against Benin which qualified Sierra Leone for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, their first since 1996.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: Pope Innocent VIII (; ; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death in July 1492. Son of the viceroy of Naples, Battista spent his early years at the Neapolitan court. He became a priest in the retinue of Cardinal Calandrini, half-brother to Pope Nicholas V (1447–55), Bishop of Savona under Pope Paul II, and with the support of Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere. After intense politicking by Della Rovere, Cibo was elected pope in 1484. King Ferdinand I of Naples had supported Cybo's competitor, Rodrigo Borgia. The following year, Pope Innocent supported the barons in their failed revolt.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: In March 1489, Cem, the captive brother of Bayezid II, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, came into Innocent's custody. Viewing his brother as a rival, the Sultan paid Pope Innocent not to set him free. The amount he paid to Pope Innocent was 120,000 crowns (an amount equal to all of the annual revenue to the Vatican) in addition to some holy relics and another sum of money to be paid annually. Any time the Sultan threatened war against the Christian Balkans, Innocent threatened to release his brother. On 28 January 1495, Cem was released by Innocent's successor, Pope Alexander VI, into the custody of King Charles's army; several weeks later he died, possibly after being poisoned, but more likely from contracting pneumonia.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo) was born in Genoa of Greek ancestry, the son of Arano Cybo or Cibo (c. 1375c. 1455) and his wife Teodorina de Mari (c. 1380?), of an old Genoese family. Arano Cybo was viceroy of Naples and then a senator in Rome under Pope Calixtus III (1455–58). Giovanni Battista's early years were spent at the Neapolitan court. While in Naples he was appointed a Canon of the Cathedral of Capua, and was given the Priory of S. Maria d'Arba in Genoa. After the death of King Alfonso (1458), friction between Giovanni Battista and the Archbishop of Genoa induced him to resign his canonry, and to go to Padua and then to Rome for his education.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: In Rome he became a priest in the retinue of Cardinal Calandrini, half-brother to Pope Nicholas V (1447–55). In 1467, he was made Bishop of Savona by Pope Paul II, but exchanged this see in 1472 for that of Molfetta in south-eastern Italy. In 1473, with the support of Giuliano Della Rovere, later Pope Julius II, he was made cardinal by Pope Sixtus IV, whom he succeeded on 29 August 1484 as Pope Innocent VIII.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: The papal conclave of 1484 was rife with factions, while gangs rioted in the streets. In order to prevent the election of the Venetian Cardinal Barbo, Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, on the evening before the election, after the cardinals had retired for the night, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, nephew of the late Pope, and Cardinal Borgia, the Vice-Chancellor, visited a number of cardinals and secured their votes with the promise of various benefices.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: It was claimed that Cardinal della Rovere met secretly with Cardinal Marco Barbo in order to secure him more votes to become pope if he was promised a residence, though Barbo refused in fear it would make the conclave invalid due to simony. Cardinal della Rovere then met with Borgia, who disliked Barbo and wished to block his election, with an offer to turn their votes over to Cibò, promising them benefits for doing so.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: Shortly after his investiture, Innocent VIII addressed a fruitless summons to Christendom to unite in a crusade against the Turks. A protracted conflict with King Ferdinand I of Naples was the principal obstacle. Ferdinand's oppressive government led in 1485 to a rebellion of the aristocracy, known as the Conspiracy of the Barons, which included Francesco Coppola and Antonello Sanseverino of Salerno and was supported by Pope Innocent VIII. Innocent excommunicated Ferdinand in 1489 and invited King Charles VIII of France to come to Italy with an army and take possession of the Kingdom of Naples, a disastrous political event for the Italian peninsula as a whole. The immediate conflict was not ended until 1494, after Innocent VIII's death.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: Bayezid II ruled as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. His rule was contested by his brother Cem, who sought the support of the Mamluks of Egypt. Defeated by his brother's armies, Cem sought protection from the Knights of St. John in Rhodes. Prince Cem offered perpetual peace between the Ottoman Empire and Christendom. However, the sultan paid the Knights a large amount to keep Cem captive. Cem was later sent to the castle of Pierre d'Aubusson in France. Sultan Bayezid sent a messenger to France and requested Cem to be kept there; he agreed to make an annual payment in gold for his brother's expenses.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: In March 1489, Cem was transferred to the custody of Innocent VIII. Cem's presence in Rome was useful because whenever Bayezid intended to launch a military campaign against the Christian nations of the Balkans, the Pope would threaten to release his brother. In exchange for maintaining the custody of Cem, Bayezid paid Innocent VIII 120,000 crowns, a relic of the Holy Lance and an annual fee of 45,000 ducats. Cem died in Capua on 25 February 1495 on a military expedition under the command of King Charles VIII of France to conquer Naples.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: On the request of German inquisitor Heinrich Kramer, Innocent VIII issued the papal bull "Summis desiderantes affectibus" (5 December 1484), which supported Kramer's investigations against magicians and witches:


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: The bull was written in response to the request of Dominican Heinrich Kramer for explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany, after he was refused assistance by the local ecclesiastical authorities, who disputed his authority to work in their dioceses. Some scholars view the bull as "clearly political", motivated by jurisdictional disputes between the local German Catholic priests and clerics from the Office of the Inquisition who answered more directly to the pope.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: Nonetheless, the bull failed to ensure that Kramer obtained the support he had hoped for, causing him to retire and to compile his views on witchcraft into his book "Malleus Maleficarum", which was published in 1487. Kramer would later claim that witchcraft was to blame for bad weather. Both the papal letter appended to the work and the supposed endorsement of Cologne University for it are problematic. The letter of Innocent VIII is not an approval of the book to which it was appended, but rather a charge to inquisitors to investigate diabolical sorcery and a warning to those who might impede them in their duty, that is, a papal letter in the by then conventional tradition established by John XXII and other popes through Eugenius IV and Nicholas V (1447–55).


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: In 1487, Innocent confirmed Tomas de Torquemada as Grand Inquisitor of Spain. Also in 1487, Innocent issued a bull denouncing the views of the Waldensians (Vaudois), offering plenary indulgence to all who should engage in a Crusade against them. Alberto de' Capitanei, archdeacon of Cremona, responded to the bull by organizing a crusade to fulfill its order and launched an offensive in the provinces of Dauphiné and Piedmont. Charles I, Duke of Savoy eventually interfered to save his territories from further confusion and promised the Vaudois peace, but not before the offensive had devastated the area and many of the Vaudois fled to Provence and south to Italy.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: The noted Franciscan theologian Angelo Carletti di Chivasso, whom Innocent in 1491 appointed as Apostolic Nuncio and Commissary, conjointly with the Bishop of Mauriana, was involved in reaching the peaceful agreement between Catholics and Waldensians.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: In 1486, Innocent VIII was persuaded that at least thirteen of the 900 theses of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola were heretical, and the book containing the theses was interdicted.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: In Rome, he ordered the Belvedere of the Vatican to be built, intended for summer use, on an unarticulated slope above the Vatican Palace. His successor would later turn the building into the Cortile del Belvedere. In season, he hunted at Castello della Magliana, which he enlarged. Constantly confronted with a depleted treasury, he resorted to the objectionable expedient of creating new offices and granting them to the highest bidders. The fall of Granada in January 1492, was celebrated in the Vatican and Innocent granted Ferdinand II of Aragon the epithet "Catholic Majesty."


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: It was noted that the attitude of Renaissance popes towards slavery, a common institution worldwide in contemporary cultures, varied. Minnich states that those who allowed the slave trade did so in the hope of gaining converts to Christianity. In the case of Innocent he permitted trade with Barbary merchants in which foodstuffs would be given in exchange for slaves who could then be converted to Christianity.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: King Ferdinand of Aragon gave Innocent 100 Moorish slaves, who were shared out with favoured Cardinals. The slaves of Innocent were called "moro", meaning "dark-skinned men", in contrast to negro slaves who were called "moro nero", meaning "black moors".


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: The pope named two saints during his pontificate: Catherine of Vadstena (1484) and Leopold III (1485).


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: Innocent VIII named eight cardinals in one consistory which was held on 9 March 1489; the pope named three of those cardinals "in pectore" (one of whom being a successor in Giovanni de' Medici who became Pope Leo X) with two of them having their names released after the pope died to ensure that they could vote in the 1492 conclave.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: By July 1492, Innocent had become very skinny. To Filippo Valori, he had become 'an inert mass of flesh, incapable of assimiliating any nourishment but a few drops of milk from a young woman's breast'.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: Innocent was first buried in the Oratory of Our Lady in Old St. Peter's Basilica. The tomb was crafted by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, who completed the work shortly before his own death in February 1498.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: The inscription below his tomb in Saint Peter's states: “Nel tempo del suo Pontificato, la gloria della scoperta di un nuovo mondo” (transl. "During his Pontificate, the glory of the discovery of a new world."). Writer Ruggero Marino, in his book "Cristoforo Colombo e il Papa tradito" (transl. "Christopher Columbus and the betrayed Pope") argues that since Innocent died shortly before the departure of Christopher Columbus on his presumedly first voyage over the Atlantic, this suggests that Columbus actually traveled before the known date and re-discovered the Americas for the Europeans before the supposed date of 12 October 1492.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: At some point the pope's coat of arms was replaced with an inscription, and the position of the two images of Innocent switched. After completion of the nave of the new basilica, in 1621 the monument was dismantled and relocated courtesy of Innocent's great nephew, Alberico Cybo Malaspina, prince of Massa, duke of Ferentillo, and marquis of Carrara.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: "The monument does have some historical inaccuracies, as already widely noted by the critics...": "Ciibo" instead of "Cibo", "vixit" instead of "sedit", the date of death as "1497" instead of "1492", a reference to the "Crucis Ssancro Santi; in addition, a reference to Bayezid as Imper(atore) scratched out and replaced with "Tyrant", any of which could have taken place during the reconstruction.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: Innocent had at least seven illegitimate children born before he entered the clergy. Only two of them, a son and a daughter, were recognized and legitimized, "towards whom his nepotism had been as lavish as it was shameless". In 1487, he married his elder son Franceschetto Cybo (d. 1519) to Maddalena de' Medici (1473–1528), the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, later Pope Leo X. His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare and had a son Aranino Cybo (father of Gherardo Cybo) and two daughters Battistina Usodimare who married Luigi d'Aragona and Peretta Usodimare (Rome, 1478 - Genoa, 3 December 1550) who married firstly Alfonso I del Carretto and secondly Andrea Doria. Savonarola chastised him for his worldly ambitions.


title: Pope Innocent VIII

text: His grandnephew was Bindo Altoviti, one of the most influential bankers of his time and patron of the arts, being friends with Raphael and Michelangelo.


title: Regional power

text: In international relations, since the late 20thcentury, the term "regional power" has been used for a sovereign state that exercises significant power within a given geographical region. States that wield unrivaled power and influence within a region of the world possess regional hegemony.


title: Regional power

text: Regional powers shape the polarity of a regional area. Typically, regional powers have capabilities which are important in the region, but do not have capabilities at a global scale. Slightly contrasting definitions differ as to what makes a regional power. The European Consortium for Political Research defines a regional power as 'a state belonging to a geographically defined region, dominating this region in economic and military terms, able to exercise hegemonic influence in the region and considerable influence on the world scale, willing to make use of power resources and recognized or even accepted as the regional leader by its neighbors.'


title: Regional power

text: In this list are states that have been described as regional powers by international relations and political science academics, analysts, or other experts. These states, to some extent, meet the criteria for regional power status, as described above. Different experts have differing views on exactly which states are regional powers. States are arranged by their region, and in alphabetical order.


title: Regional power

text: Even though the economic weight of Africa is relatively low compared to other continents, and more than two-thirds of African countries are among the world's least developed, their rich natural resources and diverse cultures carry the potential to enable future development.


title: Regional power

text: Traditionally, Northern Africa, or the Maghreb, has often been grouped with the Arab world or the Greater Middle East due to its close connection to Western Asia in both demographics and culture. Egypt, long known for its ancient civilization, is the most populous Arab country and has played a central role in Middle Eastern politics in modern times, also holding a strategic choke point in the Suez Canal and the Eastern Mediterranean. Algeria, on the other hand, is the largest country in both the African Union and Arab League, and the Algerian military force is the second-largest military (next to Egypt) in Africa, with the largest overall defence budget on the continent.


title: Regional power

text: Although South Africa was diplomatically isolated during the latter years of the apartheid era, it is considered to have successfully reintegrated into international affairs over the last 20 years. It is recognized as the only newly industrialized country in Africa and takes a crucial role in BRICS and G20.


title: Regional power

text: Nigeria, often referred to as the "Giant of Africa," due its population and economy both being the largest in Africa, and the cultural influence that it holds over other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, through its movie industry and mass media. Nigeria is also the largest oil producer in Africa.


title: Regional power

text: Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Algeria are the four largest African economies; all have GDPs over $150 billion (nominal) and $500 billion (PPP) as of 2020.


title: Regional power

text: Historically, Imperial China was the dominant power in East Asia. From the late 19th century, the Empire of Japan initiated far-reaching Westernizing reforms, and rapidly industrialized, to become a major power in Asia by the time of World War I, as one of the Allied Powers. With economic turmoil, Japan's expulsion from the League of Nations, and its interest in expansion on the mainland, Japan became one of the three main Axis powers in World War II.


title: Regional power

text: Since the late 20th century, regional alliances, economic progress, and contrasting military power changed the strategic and regional power balance in Asia. In recent years, a re-balancing of military and economic power among emerging powers, such as China and India, has resulted in significant changes in the geopolitics of Asia. China and Japan, being the second and third largest economic powers of the world respectively, have also gained greater influence over regions beyond Asia. In recent decades, South Korea has emerged as a significant economic and cultural power in East Asia. Japan and South Korea are important allies for the United States in the Indo-Pacific region.


title: Regional power

text: Russia – the dominant part of a former superpower, the Soviet Union, is now considered a potential superpower, and has historically been the primary geopolitical force in Eastern Europe. France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom are seen as the Big Four of Western Europe, as they play pivotal roles as part of the NATO Quint in the security of the Western Bloc. Most of the continent is now integrated as a consequence of the enlargement of the European Union, which is sometimes considered a great power as a whole, despite it not being a sovereign state. Historically, dominant powers in Europe created large global colonial empires (such as the Belgian, British, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish empires).


title: Regional power

text: The United States is the primary geopolitical force in North America, and is considered the contemporary sole superpower globally. It dominates the region so heavily that its neighbors, Canada and Mexico, both middle powers in the region, are generally not considered regional powers. Despite having a large enough economy to be a member of the G7, Canada is not a regional power for two reasons. It is militarily secure as a result of U.S. hegemony, and has become financially comfortable by its dependence on, and deep integration with, a robust U.S. economy. Mexico is an emerging power which could probably be viewed as a regional power if grouped with Latin America, or a definite regional power if considered in either Middle America or in Hispanic America due to its economic size and diverse cultural heritages. However, similar to Canada, Mexican economy is highly reliant on the U.S. with about 80% of its exports shipping to the U.S. alone.


title: Regional power

text: Australia is considered to be a regional power due to its relative wealth within Oceania and Southeast Asia. Despite having less than a tenth of Indonesia's population, Australia has a larger GDP in nominal terms.


title: Regional power

text: Since the Age of Discovery, Portugal and Spain mostly divided South America to be the foremost colonial powers in the continent, but following decolonization in the first half of the 19th century, the European powers withdrew and new nations were established, although their cultural influence and languages still remain predominant in Latin America.


title: Regional power

text: Argentina is the largest Spanish-speaking country and the second-largest economic power in South America, with vast natural resources in energy and agriculture. It is a global leading food producer with large-scale agricultural and livestock industries, and a highly diversified industrial base, in comparison to many countries in the region. Brazil, on the other hand, is long considered the most compelling geopolitical power in South America, as the country has the highest population and landmass in South America, and its economic size, which possesses enormous stockpiles of natural resources, including valuable minerals, a tenth of the world's fresh water and Earth's largest remaining rainforest. Brazil has an important role in international relations, especially in economic and global environmental issues. Argentina and Brazil are both members of the G20 major economies.


title: Dost Mohammad Khan

text: Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai (Pashto/Persian: ; 23 December 17929 June 1863), nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, Also titled Amir al-Mu'minin, was a member of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of the Emirate of Afghanistan. His 37-year rule was important in the creation of modern Afghanistan. With the decline of the Durrani dynasty, he became the Emir of Kabul in 1826. He was the 11th son of Payendah Khan, chief of the Barakzai Pashtuns, who was killed in 1799 by Afghan Emperor Zaman Shah Durrani.


title: Dost Mohammad Khan

text: Dost Mohammad began his official reign at the beginning of his rule in 1826 when he usurped Kabul. However, he had taken Kabul a few years prior in 1818, as well as later returning to power in 1843 after the First Anglo-Afghan War, where his rule was disputed from 1839 to 1842 by Shah Shuja Durrani.