title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: On 24 April 2019, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested an official swap between Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Negar Ghodskani, an Iranian citizen being held in Australia on a US extradition warrant. Britain has rejected a prisoner-swap proposal by Iran's foreign minister, calling it a "vile" diplomatic manoeuvre. An Iranian state TV report quoted an anonymous Iran official on 2 May 2021 stating that the United Kingdom had agreed to settle its debt of £400 million, in return for her release. The British government denied this on the next day, saying the negotiations about the debt, accrued due to it not delivering tanks to Iran as agreed in a deal in the 1970s, were separate from her case and still ongoing.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: In February 2018, Richard Ratcliffe said he believed his wife's release was dependent on the interest on a £450 million debt the UK has owed to Iran since the 1970s for a cancelled arms deal. In October 2019 he repeated the claim with more detail, stating that a UK government agency was using "every legal roadblock to delay and minimise the payment".


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: In 1971, the Iranian government, then under the Shah of Iran, paid Britain for an order for more than 1,500 Chieftain tanks and other armoured vehicles as part of a £650 million deal. When the Shah's regime fell, Britain cancelled the undelivered part of the order and the Islamic regime asked for a partial refund on undelivered tanks. A legal dispute had existed between Britain and Iran ever since. In May 2021, after his wife had her sentence extended yet again, Richard Ratcliffe wrote a piece for "Declassified UK", in which he stated that the UK's secretive, unaccountable arms export is a danger to Nazanin and British citizens everywhere.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: In January 2016, the United States refunded Iran $400 million for undelivered military equipment which was associated with the release of four Iranian-Americans, including "Washington Post" journalist Jason Rezaian, which could be viewed as a precedent for Zaghari-Ratcliffe's situation.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: Zaghari-Ratcliffe was allegedly told by her military interrogators of the link between her detention and the disputed arms deal. This claim was denied by both the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the British Foreign Office, with the latter stating:


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: Richard Ratcliffe reaffirmed his belief that his wife was being used as a bargaining chip in the dispute over the unpaid IMS debt and talks over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear enrichment deal with Iran. However he believed recent reports on Iranian TV suggested the governments were in the middle of negotiations. On 2 May 2021 British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Iran was using Zaghari-Ratcliffe in "a cat-and-mouse game", and her treatment "amounts to torture". The debt repayment deal failed, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson later explained as "difficult to settle and square away for all sorts of reasons to do with sanctions".


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: On 16 March 2022, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced that after months of negotiations the government had paid the debt of £393.8 million to Iran, ring-fenced for humanitarian use only. The same day the travel ban on Zaghari-Ratcliffe was rescinded and she flew back to the UK.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: On 21 March 2022, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee announced it would hold an inquiry into the delay in paying the debt to Iran. The former Middle East minister Alistair Burt had written to the committee stating that even while in office he could not discover which part of government was resisting paying the debt, and suggested the committee should now investigate.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: On 7 May 2016, Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard Ratcliffe launched an online petition urging both the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Iran's supreme leader to take appropriate action to secure the safe return of his wife and daughter. The petition now has over 3.5 million supporters in 155 countries. The Prime Minister had pledged to meet Richard Ratcliffe but no date had been agreed.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: In June 2019, both Richard and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe went on hunger strike, in protest at Nazanin's imprisonment, with Richard Ratcliffe camping outside the Iranian Embassy in London. They both ended the hunger strike on 29 June 2019, after 15 days.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: In September 2021, Richard Ratcliffe and the release campaigns called on the British government to sanction individual Iranian officials involved with the detention with asset freezes and travel bans. Richard Ratcliffe called the detention "hostage-taking".


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: On 24 October 2021, Richard Ratcliffe went on a second hunger strike to persuade the British government to expand the efforts in calling for his wife’s release from Iran’s detention. His hunger strike took place outside the Foreign Office in London. On 9 November 2021, the 17th day of his hunger strike, there was mounting concern over his health. On 13 November 2021, Richard Ratcliffe ended his hunger strike after 21 days, stating that their daughter "needs two parents".


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: A central part of Zaghari-Ratcliffe's defence was that she was there on a holiday and never worked to train journalists in the country. However, on 1 November 2017, the then-British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said "When we look at what Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism, as I understand it, at the very limit." These remarks appeared to have put her at risk, prompting condemnation from Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn, who called for Johnson to be sacked.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: Her employer, Thomson Reuters Foundation, called on Johnson to "immediately correct the serious mistake he made" in this statement. They added "She is not a journalist and has never trained journalists at the Thomson Reuters Foundation". Four days later, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was returned to court in Iran where the Foreign Secretary's statement was cited as evidence against her.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: Zaghari-Ratcliffe was thought likely to appear in court again on 10 December 2017 to face additional charges relating to her work for the BBC World Service Trust; however, Iranian court officials released a statement that no new charges had been raised and these reports were false. Johnson visited Tehran on 9 December 2017, raising the case of Zaghari-Ratcliffe.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: The United Nations has on several occasions called for Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release. On 7 October 2016, the United Nations rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, called on Iran to immediately release Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The call was repeated a year later by Shaheed's successor, Asma Jahangir, as well as by José Antonio Guevara Bermúdez, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: "We consider that Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been arbitrarily deprived of her liberty and that her right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial tribunal has been violated … These are flagrant violations of Iran's obligations under international law". The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had also formally called for her immediate release in its Opinion 28/2016, adopted in August 2016.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: Further calls for Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release have been made by the US Congress, the Canadian Parliament, and the European Parliament.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: In February 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Iran, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was suspected of falling ill with COVID-19 from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Her family called on the UK and Iranian governments to ensure that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was tested for the virus and received proper medical treatment. However, Iran's judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said she did not have coronavirus and was in "good health". Gholamhossein also described reports of her infection as "propaganda".


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: On 17 March, she was temporarily freed for two weeks, which was later extended indefinitely. After her new trial was postponed in September, the Foreign Office called for her to be permanently released. Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, called it nonsense that the trial had been moved, saying she had already faced an unjust trial. She accused the Iranian government of playing cruel political games on her and asked the British government to work harder for her release.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: In December 2020, in relation to Zaghari-Ratcliffe's imprisonment it was widely reported that British citizens arrested abroad do not have a right to government help or protection even if they are being tortured. However, in normal circumstances, British citizens abroad are eligible for consular assistance in times of need. The legal difficulty for the British Foreign Office in this particular case is that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in the country of her birth citizenship and in a country which does not recognise dual nationality for Iranian citizens. Furthermore, during her visits to Iran, Zaghari-Ratcliffe entered the country using her Iranian passport. The FCDO have acknowledged the risk to dual nationals of arrest and detention in its travel advice to persons travelling to Iran.


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released, together with Anoosheh Ashoori, on 16 March 2022. Boarding a Royal Air Force of Oman plane, the pair arrived in Muscat that day and returned to the United Kingdom the next day in a government-chartered flight to RAF Brize Norton. The decision to release her has been linked to the UK's payment of the £393.8 million debt related to the unfulfilled arms deal in the 1970s, although the Iranian government have denied this, and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called them "parallel issues". Other factors which have been described as contributory included her family's campaigning, British diplomacy's focus on the issue and an alignment of interests between the two countries during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. English humanitarian Terry Waite, who was held captive for four years in Lebanon from 1987 to 1991, said that Zaghari-Ratcliffe "should tell her story".


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: Zaghari-Ratcliffe said in a press conference soon after her release that the feeling of returning home was "precious" and "glorious" but also criticised the government's response to her imprisonment commenting that "I have seen five foreign secretaries change over the course of six years. How many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home?" and "We all know… how I came home. It should have happened exactly six years ago." Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt sympathised with this, arguing on social media that "Those criticising Nazanin [for her views on her imprisonment] have got it so wrong. She doesn't owe us gratitude: we owe her an explanation. She's absolutely right that it took too long to bring her home."


title: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

text: Because of the Mahsa Amini protests, Zaghari-Ratcliffe cut her hair publicly as a symbol of opposition to tyranny in the Islamic Republic of Iran.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: Star Wars Battlefront is an action shooter video game developed by DICE, with additional work from Criterion Games, and published by Electronic Arts in November 2015. The game, based on the "Star Wars" film franchise, is the third major release in the "" sub-series, but is considered a reboot to the previous games, instead of a sequel, to reflect the new "Star Wars" canon that Lucasfilm established (to replace the "Star Wars" expanded universe) after being acquired by The Walt Disney Company.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: "Battlefront" received mixed to positive reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay, visuals, music, technical aspects and high production values, but criticized its lack of content at launch in both single and multiplayer modes, and use of a season pass model. Despite this, the game was a commercial success with more than 14 million copies sold worldwide. A sequel, "Star Wars Battlefront II", was released on November 17, 2017.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: "Star Wars Battlefront" is an action game played from either a first-person or third-person view; players can switch views whenever desired, similar to previous games, except when controlling "hero" characters or their personal guards. Players traverse planets from the original "Star Wars" trilogy, such as Endor, Hoth, Tatooine, Bespin, and Sullust, as well as the planet of Jakku introduced in the sequel trilogy. To navigate the game's various maps, players use a variety of vehicles, including both air and land-based vehicles, such as speeder bikes and AT-STs, which can be unlocked during every match by finding tokens that spawn randomly across the map. Battles are planet-based, restricting players from exploring space. The only maps that are space-based were added through DLC, namely in the "Death Star" pack (released in September 2016), which included the titular Death Star, and the "Rogue One" pack (released in December 2016 and based on the movie of the same name), which included Scarif. The game's weapons, characters, gear, and abilities are customizable. As new weapons are unlocked, players have the ability to share them with their teammates. "Battlefront" does not feature iron sights apart from one blaster, but allows players to zoom in for better accuracy.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: The game lets players choose whether to control a Rebel Alliance soldier or an Imperial Stormtrooper. Players can also assume the role of iconic characters from the "Star Wars" films, which serve as "heroes" and, similarly to vehicles, are unlocked during every match by finding specific tokens across the map. At launch, the hero roster included Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Emperor Palpatine, Leia Organa, and Boba Fett, with Nien Nunb, Greedo, Lando Calrissian, Dengar, Bossk, Chewbacca, Jyn Erso, and Orson Krennic being added later through DLC. Non-playable characters such as C-3PO, Admiral Ackbar, and Jabba the Hutt also make minor appearances in the game. The game includes cooperative missions, which can be played offline, but excludes a campaign mode. Players can complete the missions both independently and with bots or another player; the game supports split screen on consoles. The game's online multiplayer mode supports up to 40 players in one match and consists of 16 multiplayer maps. These maps feature five locations from the "Star Wars" universe: Hoth, Tatooine, Endor, Sullust, and Jakku, with three more locations added through different DLCs: Cloud City on Bespin, the Death Star, and Scarif.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: A mode where there are 40 players on each team, the Rebels and the Imperials. The Rebel's objective is to destroy the Empire's AT-AT walkers, which are advancing on their position. The Empire's objective is to prevent them from doing so. The Rebels must keep their uplink stations online so their Y-Wing bombers will be able to perform bombing runs on the walkers. The Empire must keep the uplinks offline or shut them down when necessary.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: A starship-only mode, basically team deathmatch in the sky. Additionally, each side will spawn in a transport ship, which the other team must destroy. Either team wins upon reaching 200 points.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: A 40-player mode; the objective for both teams is to capture as many control points as possible. The team that captures the most control points will win.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: A "Cat-and-Mouse" style game mode which pits a single Hero character against seven other players on the opposing team. The Hero must stay alive as long as possible and kill attacking pursuers. Once a pursuer kills the Hero, the round ends and the players that dealt the most damage will become the next Hero. The person with the highest number of kills at the end of the match, or the first one to obtain 50 will win the game.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: This round-based game mode features all hero and villain characters from the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire. Teams of six must keep their three heroes or villains (four in the "Outer Rim" maps) alive while destroying the enemy heroes or villains of the other team. The heroes or villains are supported by infantry. For heroes and villains that have bodyguards, they are limited to two spawns only. The first team to win five rounds will win the match.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: This game mode has two teams of six tying to steal each other's cargo whilst defending their own. It is very similar to the capture the flag.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: In May 2013, publisher Electronic Arts obtained exclusive rights to develop "Star Wars" games for gaming consoles, and its subsidiaries DICE, Visceral Games, and BioWare started work on "Star Wars" games after LucasArts was shut down. DICE first acknowledged the game at Electronic Arts' E3 2013 press conference, along with a teaser trailer. The game is built with the Frostbite 3 engine; studio head Patrick Söderlund stated that the game would be "DICE's interpretation of what "Battlefront" should be", while still incorporating elements from the previous two games. As such, DICE did not brand the new game as a sequel to "", but a reboot of the franchise. Söderlund said that the game almost was not developed, but that staffers at DICE lobbied to be given the project; he called DICE's development of "Battlefront" "a match made in heaven". Instead of using traditional modeling techniques, the developers used photogrammetry to produce the assets. Small teams formed by artists were responsible for selecting the right assets that could be used by level designers to build maps. According to DICE, the process of developing the assets for the game took half as much time as developing the assets for "Battlefield 4", which were produced by using traditional modeling techniques.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: In June 2014, it was revealed at EA's E3 2014 press conference that the ice planet Hoth and the forest moon of Endor would be playable maps for the game. In late October of that year, it was revealed that the game would be released Christmas 2015, tying in with the release of "". To meet the deadline, the team had to remove the game's single-player campaign mode. In early March 2015, the first gameplay footage of the game was shown at a private retail event and received a standing ovation from the audience. In April 2015, at "Star Wars" Celebration 2015 in Anaheim, California, the first gameplay details and the second trailer was released. The first downloadable content of the game, entitled "Battle of Jakku", was also announced during the event.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: In April 2015, EA announced that "Battlefront" would release in North America on November 17 and in Europe on November 20 of that year. They also announced that the game would be released in Australia on November 18. It has been stated that the release date for Europe would fall on November 19. It was confirmed that the game would not feature the Battlelog system, but to use a new system developed by Uprise, an Electronic Arts subsidiary based in Sweden, which has previously worked on the Battlelog system of "Battlefield 4". On June 15, further gameplay was shown at E3 2015 depicting the Walker Assault mode on Hoth from perspectives of both the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire using various weapons, items and vehicles such as the AT-AT walker, Snowspeeders and TIE Fighters ending with playable characters Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader engaging in battle. Another gameplay trailer featuring cooperative missions was also shown at the event. An open beta of the game was released for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 8. The beta includes the Walker Assault, Drop Zone, and Survival mission modes. The beta was originally set to close on October 12 but was extended to October 13 for testing of "extreme scenarios". The beta was played by more than nine and a half million players. According to Electronic Arts, it was their largest beta.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: Fellow EA developer Criterion Games helped DICE develop the speeder bikes for the game. Visceral Games also assisted in an undisclosed capacity.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: "Star Wars Battlefront" features downloadable content (DLC). A season pass was announced on October 12, 2015, and includes four DLC packs. The "Ultimate Edition" was released digitally that includes the "Deluxe Edition" of the game and the season pass. Aside from the contents of the season pass, additional content will be released for free, which includes new maps and star cards.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: The first downloadable content release, titled "Battle of Jakku", was revealed during "Star Wars" Celebration 2015 and was available as a free download to players on December 8, 2015. Players who pre-ordered the game received the "Battle of Jakku" DLC a week earlier, on December 1, 2015. It features two maps set on planet Jakku. "Outer Rim" is the second downloadable content for the game, which was released on March 22, 2016. It adds maps set in Jabba the Hutt's palace in Tatooine and a factory area in Sullust. It also includes iconic characters Nien Nunb and Greedo. The DLC is available to players who have purchased the game's Season Pass. "Outer Rim" is the first of the four DLC packs planned for Season Pass owners. The second expansion pack is titled "Bespin", and was released on June 21, 2016. It introduces the Cloud City, Bespin, and allows players to play as the hero Lando Calrissian and the bounty hunter Dengar. The third expansion pack, titled "Death Star", was released on September 20, 2016, and marked the debut of the Death Star in the game, as well as Chewbacca, and bounty hunter Bossk, as playable characters. The final expansion pack as part of the Season Pass, "Rogue One: Scarif", was released on December 20, 2016, based on the 2016 film "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story". The expansion pack debuted the new tropical planet of Scarif introduced in the film. The expansion pack introduces characters Director Orson Krennic for the Empire and Jyn Erso for the Rebellion.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: Criterion Games developed a PlayStation VR exclusive mission titled "Rogue One: X-Wing VR Mission", taking place alongside the events of the 2016 "Star Wars Anthology" film, "". It was released free for the PlayStation 4 version of the game in December 2016 and requires the PlayStation VR headset and PlayStation Camera.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: "Base Command" is a companion app available on the App Store and Google Play. "Base Command" can be played with or without owning "Star Wars Battlefront". Players defend the Rebel base from the Galactic Empire using Star Cards featuring vehicles, weapons, and power-ups. In the companion app, players can earn virtual credits, which can be used to unlock star cards, weapons, and character customization in the main game.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: Leon Hurley of GamesRadar had a positive impression of "Star Wars Battlefront" beta. He praised the game's gunplay for its being "strong" and seeming "great" but heavily criticized Walker Assault, one of the game's modes, for its difficulty of winning it as a Rebel. He compared the game's visuals to the "Star Wars" films' realistic clashes. Moreover, he praised the accuracy of Stormtroopers for its being "at least 100% true to the movie" and called wave-one soldiers "exceptionally special" while pointing out the flaw that the game had an unusual balance of "Star Wars" heroes and villains. For example, Darth Vader would be splatted by any passing ship while Luke Skywalker would have "far more luck on the 'looking epic' side of things" such as successfully destroying an AT-ST solo. Another flaw which he had pointed out is the "weird" and "infuriating" timing of ending scenes in which screens overlap the ends of matches.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: The game's lack of a campaign for the single-player mode was criticized. Steven Storm of "Ars Technica" praised the visuals, stating: "DICE has at least captured the look and feel of "Star Wars", perhaps better than any other game with the license before it." He likened gameplay to the "standard "Battlefield" formula of walk, get shot, respawn, and repeat...".


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: "Star Wars Battlefront" received "mixed reviews" for the PC and PlayStation 4 and positive reviews for the Xbox One, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. "Mizuho Securities" analyst Neil Doshi noted the negative reviews, but predicted that the game would prevail as a financial hit. Mike Mahardy of GameSpot criticised the game's combat as repetitive. Dan Ryckert of Giant Bomb praised the game for capturing the "Star Wars" feel. Due to heavy criticism about the gameplay's lack of depth and approach to casual gamers, Blake Jorgensen, Electronic Arts' chief financial officer admitted that the game was intentionally designed to be accessible for those new to first-person shooter games, or children wanting to play with their parents, going against the hardcore fanbase of "" (2004).


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: The universal consensus among many critics is that the game's details are generally praiseworthy. For that reason, Mitch Dyer of IGN referred to the game as one of the best-looking games of the generation.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: The feeling of "Battlefront"s lack of content upon release was noticed by several critics. Andrew Reiner of "Game Informer" criticized the Season Pass approach by feeling a little cheated given the sparse content available at launch.


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: Electronic Arts expected the game to sell nine to ten million copies before the end of the company's 2016 financial year on March 31, 2016. After the release of the game's beta, the company hoped the game to sell at least 13 million copies by the end of March 2016. "Star Wars Battlefront" debuted at number one in the UK for retail non-digital sales according to Chart-Track in its first week of release, and became the fourth fastest-selling title released in 2015. It marked the biggest launch of a video game in the "Star Wars" franchise, and exceeded the sales of "", the previous record holder, by 117%. It was also the fastest-selling online PlayStation 4 video game in the UK, breaking the record previously held by "Destiny".


title: Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

text: In early December 2015, GameStop president Tony Bartel told retail investors that a number of key November games had sold fewer copies than the chain had expected. "Star Wars Battlefront" was one of three titles listed, along with "Halo 5" and "Assassin's Creed Syndicate". Peter Moore, however, defended 's launch sales and spoke out to investors to say that Electronic Arts was still standing by its target of selling 13 million copies by the end of March 2016. According to analyst Michael Pachter, 12 million copies had been sold as of December 31, 2015. Electronic Arts made its sales goal of shipping 13 million copies of the game by the start of 2016 and had shipped 14 million copies by May 2016. Although launched in 2015, the game sold well enough to be the seventeenth best-selling game in the UK in 2016. In Japan, the PlayStation 4 version sold 123,908 copies within its first week of release, placing it at number one on the all format sales chart.


The 1996 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives on November 5, 1996, which coincided with the re-election of President Bill Clinton. Democrats won the popular vote by almost 60,000 votes (0.07%) and gained a net of two seats from the Republicans, but the Republicans retained an overall majority of seats in the House for the first time since 1928.


title: 1996 United States House of Representatives elections

text: Although the Republicans lost 3 seats, 1 of them included an Independent who would caucus with them and switch to the Republicans. This resulted in a 227 Republican majority to the Democrats' 208 minority which also included an Independent caucusing with them. A total of 12 Freshman Republicans who were elected in the 1994 Republican Revolution were defeated in the election. The election is similar to the 1952 elections, although, in terms of the total vote this result remains one of the closest in U.S. history.


text: This remains the last election in which Republicans won a majority of seats in the New Jersey delegation.


text: 50 incumbents retired: 29 Democrats and 21 Republicans, giving the Republicans a net gain of 6 seats from the Democrats.


text: 21 seats switched parties in the November elections, giving the Democrats a net gain of 15 seats from the Republicans.


text: , these were the last elections in which the Republican Party won a majority of congressional districts from Washington.


title: Joana Ceddia

text: Joana Campos Ceddia (born June 21, 2001) is a Brazilian-Canadian former YouTuber, vlogger and former competitive swimmer and runner. A nominee of a Streamy Award and a Shorty Award, Ceddia is known for her quirky and ironic sense of humor, and is famed for her work on YouTube targeted towards teenage audiences.


title: Joana Ceddia

text: On October 30, 2021, Ceddia's YouTube channel and Instagram account were deleted. The reasons behind the deletions remain unknown.


title: Joana Ceddia

text: Joana Campos Ceddia was born on June 21, 2001, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Denilce Campos, a former professional gymnast, who represented Brazil at the 1980 and 1982 South American Artistic Gymnastics Championships, winning gold in team all-around both times, and Rolando Ceddia, who is currently an associate professor at the School of Kinesiology & Health Science at York University. Ceddia currently resides in Toronto, where she studies physics and astronomy.


title: Joana Ceddia

text: Ceddia participated in competitive school swimming and is an OFSAA gold medalist. After suffering an injury that prevented her from pursuing a career in competitive running, she created her YouTube channel in 2018, initially uploading videos of her creating artwork. She then received recognition for her video where she attempts to cut her own hair with craft scissors, which gained over 13 million views prior to its deletion.


title: Joana Ceddia

text: Ceddia then became an internet sensation, gaining nearly two million subscribers in the space of a few months. She had been faced with controversy in 2018, being accused on platforms such as Reddit of buying her subscribers due to the abnormal rate of growth she had been receiving on her channel, although it has been disproven statistically.


title: Joana Ceddia

text: While she was active, her most notable content included recreating popular artwork, making vlogs and jokingly "transforming" herself into popular characters and public figures by creating costumes. For her work, she was a finalist for the "Best YouTube Comedian" category at the Shorty Awards in 2018, and was nominated for the "Breakout Creator" category at the 2019 Streamy Awards. As of July 2021, her YouTube channel had accumulated 3.28 million subscribers and 316,388,216 views from her videos collectively.


title: Joana Ceddia

text: Following the deletions of her YouTube channel and Instagram account on October 30, 2021, Ceddia no longer has a presence on any social media platform.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: Powerhouse Animation Studios, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in April 2001 with a subsidiary called Powerhouse Animation LLC, established in summer of 2014. The company develops and produces traditional 2D animation, motion comics, motion graphics, art assets, digital paint, and illustration for television series, motion pictures, video game cinemas, commercials, advertising campaigns, educational properties, and entertainment companies.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: Headquartered in Austin, TX, Powerhouse Animation was founded on April 1, 2001, as a privately held animation service studio by Frank Gabriel, Brad Graeber, and Bruce Tinnin.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: Powerhouse Animation's name is partially inspired by Raymond Scott's song "Powerhouse," which was often placed in scores that Carl Stalling wrote for Warner Bros. shorts and has been featured in numerous animated cartoons. Powerhouse's motto is: "To better humanity through the miracle of traditional animation and space-age multimedia technology; promote truth, justice, and capitalism through cartoons."


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: In the fall of 2014, Powerhouse Animation Studios, Inc. opened its first satellite office in Burbank, CA.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: Powerhouse Animation LLC, a division of parent company Powerhouse, joined The Animation Guild and became a Signatory of IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees) in May 2015.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: In 2002, Powerhouse produced the short "Heroes" which parodied the film "Clerks" as well as Marvel Comics characters. After seeing the short, Kevin Smith, the director of "Clerks", contacted the firm to produce an unfinished commercial from "Dogma". After producing the short, Smith hired Powerhouse to create an arcade machine that featured a custom video game. The game was given as a wrap party present, to Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez for their work on "Jersey Girl". In the game, the main character is Lopez trying to rescue Affleck from an unknown villain and a band of ninjas. The player fights several bosses including a robotic Matt Damon and finally Smith himself.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: In 2003, the firm created a 35mm test for a feature film based on "" for Smith. They animated "" which was included on the "Clerks X: 10th Anniversary" DVD. As writer-director Smith explains in the introduction to the scene on the DVD, it had originally been written for "Clerks", but was not filmed due to budgetary restraints. The short was named the "best bonus feature of 2004" by "Rolling Stone" magazine.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: In 2004, they animated the "Mr. Mom" video for the band Lonestar. In 2008, they worked with Hothead Games to produce mini-games and cinemas for the video game "". In 2010, they created in-game animation and cinemas for the game "" produced by Electronic Arts and Hasbro.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: The firm produces animated versions of many syndicated comic strips including "Dilbert", "Pearls before Swine", "Cul de Sac", "Lio", "Pooch Café" and "Over the Hedge" produced by RingTales. Powerhouse has animated over 300 "Dilbert" shorts. It has produced animated content for educational companies including TED-Ed, Brain Chase, Compass Learning, Ignite! Learning and the National Fire Protection Association.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: It produces animated content for websites, podcasts and other internet companies including several segments of the "B.S. Report Animated Archives" and "Jalen Rose Story Time" for ESPN's "Grantland", and episodes of Kevin Smith's "Spoilers" series for SModcast and Hulu. It has created animated video games cinematics for AAA console titles and iOS games such as "Mortal Kombat X", "Epic Mickey" and "Epic Mickey 2", "DC Universe Online", "Darksiders 2", "Starhawk", "The Banner Saga", "W.A.R.P.", "Avengers Initiative", "Grey Goo", "Disney's Hidden Worlds", "Man of Steel" and others.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: In November 2013, Powerhouse worked with Disney Interactive and Disney Television Animation with collaboration by language instruction company Rosetta Stone to create an nine-episode season of "", Based on the Disney Parks attraction, "It's a Small World".


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: Powerhouse has produced animated advertising content for brands such as Old Spice, IAMS, Disney Parks, Disneyland, Metlife, Coca-Cola, Oreo, Mountain Dew, Ruffles, GoDaddy.com and many others. In 2015, they worked with Weiden + Kennedy to animate a segment for a Weight Watchers ad called "All You Can Eat" that aired during Super Bowl XLIX.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: Powerhouse has produced animated music videos for Lizzo, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Wale ft. French Montana, A Sound of Thunder and Lonestar. The firm also develops original IPs and has optioned a series to a toy company. In 2015, the company wrote, created, designed and voiced a short series for Awesomeness/DreamWorksTV called "Advice Times with Grandpa Theo" that can be seen on DreamWorksTV's YouTube page. In 2017, the firm worked on numerous cutscenes featured in the action-adventure game "Agents of Mayhem".


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: From 2017 to 2021, Powerhouse Animation Studios worked on the Netflix animated series, "Castlevania", written by Warren Ellis; produced by Frederator Studios and Adi Shankar. "Castlevania" aired July 7, 2017 on Netflix.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: Powerhouse work on a Greek mythology-based anime-influenced animation series titled "Blood of Zeus" released on Netflix in March 2019.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: In August 2019, it was announced Powerhouse would be working on "" for Netflix. It will serve as a sequel series to the original "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe". In late October 2019, "Heaven's Forest" was announced and will be set in an Indo-futuristic world, inspired from the Indian epic Ramayana.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: On October 2, 2021, the studio worked with OfflineTV to create an animated music video called "Break Out".


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: On October 11, 2022, Mark Phillips of RDCWorld1 announced that their new animated show, Dark Lights, is being animated by Powerhouse Animation.


title: Powerhouse Animation Studios

text: On November 1, 2022, the "Sonic Frontiers" promotional short "Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Divergence" was released, featuring animation by Powerhouse Animation.


title: Maritime republics

text: The maritime republics (), also called merchant republics (), were thalassocratic city-states of the Mediterranean Basin during the Middle Ages. Being a significant presence in Italy in the Middle Ages, four of them have the coat of arms inserted in the flag of the Italian Navy since 1947: Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi; the other republics are: Ragusa (now Dubrovnik), Gaeta, Ancona, and the little Noli.


title: Maritime republics

text: From the 10th century, they built fleets of ships both for their own protection and to support extensive trade networks across the Mediterranean, giving them an essential role in reestablishing contacts between Europe, Asia, and Africa, which had been interrupted during the early Middle Ages. These contacts were not only commercial, but also cultural and artistic. They also had an essential role in the Crusades.


title: Maritime republics

text: The expression "maritime republics" refers to the Italian city-states which, since the Middle Ages, enjoyed political autonomy and economic prosperity, thanks to their maritime activities. The economic growth of Europe around the year 1000, together with the hazards of the mainland trading routes, made possible the development of major commercial routes along the Mediterranean coast. The growing independence acquired by some coastal cities gave them a leading role in this development. These cities, exposed to pirate raids (mostly Saracen), organized their own defence, providing themselves substantial war fleets. Thus, in the 10th and 11th centuries they were able to switch to an offensive stance, taking advantage of the rivalry between the Byzantine and Islamic maritime powers and competing with them for control over commerce and trade routes to Asia and Africa.


title: Maritime republics

text: They were generally republics and formally independent, though most of them originated from territories once formally belonging to the Byzantine Empire (the main exceptions being Genoa and Pisa). During the time of their independence, all these cities had similar (though not identical) systems of government, in which the merchant class had considerable power.


title: Maritime republics

text: Amalfi, Ancona, Gaeta, Genoa, Venice and Ragusa began their own history of autonomy and trading after being almost destroyed by a terrible looting, or were founded by refugees from devastated lands.


title: Maritime republics

text: The maritime republics became heavily involved in the Levantine Crusades of the 10th to 13th centuries. They provided transport and support to Crusaders, and especially took advantage of the political and trading opportunities created by the conflict. The Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204, originally intended to recapture Jerusalem, ultimately resulted in the Venetian conquest of Zara and Constantinople.


title: Maritime republics

text: Venice, Genoa and Pisa became regional states: they had dominion over vast lands of their region and over different overseas lands, including many Mediterranean islands (especially Sardinia and Corsica), lands on the Adriatic, Aegean, and Black Sea (Crimea); Venice stands out from the rest in that it maintained enormous tracts of land in Greece, Cyprus, Istria, and Dalmatia until as late as the mid-17th century. Amalfi, Ancona, Gaeta and Ragusa instead extended their domain only to a part of the territory of their region, configuring themselves as a city-state throughout the period of their history. All maritime republics, had commercial colonies in the Near East and in North Africa; an exception is Noli, who used the Genoese ones.


title: Maritime republics

text: The history of the various maritime republics is quite varied, reflecting their different lifespans. Venice, Genoa, Noli, and Ragusa had very long lives, with an independence that outlasted the medieval period and continued up to the threshold of the contemporary era, when the Italian and European states were devastated by the Napoleonic Wars. Other republics kept their independence until the Renaissance: Pisa came under the dominion of the Republic of Florence in 1406, and Ancona came under control of the Papal States in 1532. Amalfi and Gaeta, though, lost their independence very soon: the first in 1131 and the second in 1140, both having passed into the hands of the Normans.


title: Maritime republics

text: The maritime republics formed autonomous republican governments, an expression of the merchant class that constituted the backbone of their power. The history of the maritime republics intertwines both with the launch of European expansion to the East and with the origins of modern capitalism as a mercantile and financial system. Using gold coins, the merchants of the Italian maritime republics began to develop new foreign exchange transactions and accounting. Technological advances in navigation provided essential support for the growth of mercantile wealth. Nautical charts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries all belong to the schools of Genoa, Venice and Ancona.


title: Maritime republics

text: The Crusades offered opportunities for expansion. They increasingly relied on Italian sea transport, for which the republics extracted concessions of colonies as well as a cash price. Venice, Amalfi, Ancona, and Ragusa were already engaged in trade with the Levant, but the phenomenon increased with the Crusades: thousands of Italians from the maritime republics poured into the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, creating bases, ports and commercial establishments known as "colonies". These were small gated enclaves within a city, often just a single street, where the laws of the Italian city were administered by a governor appointed from home, and there would be a church under home jurisdiction and shops with Italian styles of food. These Italian mercantile centers also exerted significant political influence locally: the Italian merchants formed guild-like associations in their business centers, aiming to obtain legal, tax and customs privileges from foreign governments. Several personal dominions arose. Pera in Constantinople, first Genoese and later (under the Ottomans) Venetian, was the largest and best known Italian trading base.


title: Maritime republics

text: Amalfi, perhaps the first of the maritime republics to play a major role, had developed extensive trade with Byzantium and Egypt. Amalfitan merchants wrested the Mediterranean trade monopoly from the Arabs and founded mercantile bases in Southern Italy and the Middle East in the 10th century. Amalfitans were the first to create a colony in Constantinople.


title: Maritime republics

text: Among the most important products of the Republic of Amalfi are the Amalfian Laws, a codification of the rules of maritime law which remained in force throughout the Middle Ages.


title: Maritime republics

text: From 1039 Amalfi came under the control of the Principality of Salerno. In 1073 Robert Guiscard conquered the city, taking the title "Dux Amalfitanorum" ("Duke of the Amalfitans"). In 1096 Amalfi revolted and reverted to an independent republic, but this was put down in 1101. It revolted again in 1130 and was finally subdued in 1131.


title: Maritime republics

text: Amalfi was sacked by Pisans in 1137, at a time when it was weakened by natural disasters (severe flooding) and was annexed to the Norman lands in southern Italy. Thereafter, Amalfi began a rapid decline and was replaced in its role as the main commercial hub of Campania by the Duchy of Naples.


title: Maritime republics

text: In 1016 an alliance of Pisa and Genoa defeated the Saracens, conquered Corsica and gained control of the Tyrrhenian Sea. A century later they freed the Balearic Islands in an expedition that was celebrated in the "Gesta triumphalia per Pisanos" and in the "Liber Maiorichinus" epic poem, composed in 1113–1115.


title: Maritime republics

text: Pisa, at that time overlooking the sea at the mouth of the Arno, reached the pinnacle of its glory between the 12th and 13th centuries, when its ships controlled the Western Mediterranean. Rivalry between Pisa and Genoa grew worse in the 12th century and resulted in the naval Battle of Meloria (1284), which marked the beginning of Pisan decline; Pisa renounced all claim to Corsica and ceded part of Sardinia to Genoa in 1299. Moreover, the Aragonese conquest of Sardinia, which began in 1324, deprived the Tuscan city of dominion over the "Giudicati" of Cagliari and Gallura. Pisa maintained its independence and control of the Tuscan coast until 1409, when it was annexed by Florence.


title: Maritime republics

text: Genoa, also known as "La Superba" ("the Superb one"), began to gain autonomy from the Holy Roman Empire around the 11th century, becoming a city-state with a republican constitution, and participating in the First Crusade. Initially called "Compagna Communis", the denomination of "republic" was made official in 1528 on the initiative of Admiral Andrea Doria.


title: Maritime republics

text: The alliance with Pisa allowed the liberation of the western sector of the Mediterranean from Saracen pirates, with the reconquest of Corsica, the Balearics and Provence.


title: Maritime republics

text: The formation of the "Compagna Communis", a meeting of all the city's trade associations ("compagnie"), also comprising the noble lords of the surrounding valleys and coasts, finally signaled the birth of Genoese government.


title: Maritime republics

text: The fortunes of the town increased considerably when it joined the First Crusade: its participation brought great privileges for the Genoese colonists, which moved to many places in the Holy Land. The apex of Genoese fortune came in the 13th century with the conclusion of the Treaty of Nymphaeum (1261) with the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus. In exchange for aiding the Byzantine reconquest of Constantinople, this led to the ousting of the Venetians from the straits leading to the Black Sea, which quickly became a Genoese sea. Shortly afterwards, in 1284, Pisa was finally defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Genoese Navy.


title: Maritime republics

text: In 1298 the Genoese defeated the Venetian fleet at the Dalmatian island of Curzola. The confrontation led to the capture of the Venetian Admiral and Marco Polo, who during his imprisonment at the Palazzo San Giorgio dictated the story of his travels to Rustichello da Pisa, his cellmate. Genoa remained relatively powerful until the last major conflict with Venice, the War of Chioggia of 1379. It ended in victory for the Venetians, who finally regained dominance over trade to the East.


title: Maritime republics

text: After a gloomy 15th century marked by plagues and foreign domination, the city regained self-government in 1528 through the efforts of Andrea Doria, who created a new constitution for Genoa. Throughout the following century Genoa became the primary sponsor of the Spanish monarchy, reaping huge profits, which allowed the old patrician class to remain vital for a period. The Republic remained independent until 1797, when it was conquered by the French First Republic under Napoleon and replaced with the Ligurian Republic. After a brief revival in 1814, the Republic was ultimately annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1815.


title: Maritime republics

text: The Republic of Venice, also known as "La Serenissima" (The Most Serene), came into being in 727 AD as a result of the development of trade relations with the Byzantine Empire, of which it was once formally a part, albeit with a substantial degree of independence. Venice remained an ally of Byzantium in the fight against Arabs and Normans. Around 1000 it began its expansion in the Adriatic, defeating the pirates who occupied the coast of Istria and Dalmatia and placing those regions and their principal townships under Venetian control. At the beginning of the 13th century, the city reached the peak of its power, dominating the commercial traffic in the Mediterranean and with the Orient. During the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) its fleet was decisive in the acquisition of the islands and the most commercially important seaside towns of the Byzantine Empire. The conquest of the important ports of Corfu (1207) and Crete (1209) gave it a trade that extended to the east and reached Syria and Egypt, endpoints of maritime trading routes. By the end of the 14th century, Venice had become one of the richest states in Europe. Its dominance in the eastern Mediterranean in later centuries was threatened by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in those areas, despite the great naval victory in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 against the Turkish fleet, fought with the Holy League.


title: Maritime republics

text: The Republic of Venice expanded strongly on the mainland, too. It became the largest of the maritime republics and was the most powerful state of Italy until 1797, when Napoleon invaded the Venetian lagoon and conquered Venice. The city passed between French and Austrian control over the next half-century, before briefly regaining its independence during the revolutions of 1848. Austrian rule resumed a year later, and continued until 1866, when Veneto passed into the Kingdom of Italy.


title: Maritime republics

text: Included in the Papal States since 774, Ancona came under the influence of the Holy Roman Empire around 1000, but gradually gained independence to become fully independent with the coming of the communes in the 12th century. Its motto was ('Dorian Ancona, city of faith'); its coin was the "agontano". Although somewhat confined by Venetian supremacy on the sea, Ancona was a notable maritime republic for its economic development and its preferential trade, particularly with the Byzantine Empire. Despite a series of expeditions, trade wars and naval blockades, Venice never succeeded in subduing Ancona.


title: Maritime republics

text: The republic of Ancona enjoyed excellent relations with the Kingdom of Hungary and was an ally of the Republic of Ragusa. Despite the link with Byzantium, it also maintained good relations with the Turks, enabling it to serve as central Italy's gateway to the Orient. The warehouses of the Republic of Ancona were continuously active in Constantinople, Alexandria and other Byzantine ports, while the sorting of goods imported by land (especially textiles and spices) fell to the merchants of Lucca and Florence.


title: Maritime republics

text: In art, Ancona was one of the centers of so-called Adriatic Renaissance, that particular kind of renaissance that spread between Dalmatia, Venice and the Marches, characterized by a rediscovery of classical art and a certain continuity with Gothic art. The maritime cartographer Grazioso Benincasa was born in Ancona, as was the navigator-archaeologist Cyriacus of Ancona, named by his fellow humanists "father of the antiquities", who made his contemporaries aware of the existence of the Parthenon, the Pyramids, the Sphinx and other famous ancient monuments believed destroyed.


title: Maritime republics

text: Ancona always had to guard itself against the designs of both the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy. It never attacked other maritime cities, but was always forced to defend itself. It succeeded until 1532, when it lost its independence after Pope Clement VII took possession of it by political means.


title: Maritime republics

text: In the first half of the 7th century, Ragusa began to develop an active trade in the East Mediterranean. From the 11th century, it emerged as a maritime and mercantile city, especially in the Adriatic. The first known commercial contract goes back to 1148 and was signed with the city of Molfetta, but other cities came along in the following decades, including Pisa, Termoli and Naples.


title: Maritime republics

text: After the fall of Constantinople in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, Ragusa came under the dominion of the Republic of Venice, from which it inherited most of its institutions. Venetian rule lasted for one and a half centuries and determined the institutional structure of the future republic, with the emergence of the Senate in 1252 and the approval of the Ragusa Statute on 9 May 1272. In 1358, following a war with the Kingdom of Hungary, the Treaty of Zadar forced Venice to give up many of its possessions in Dalmatia. Ragusa voluntarily became a dependency of the Kingdom of Hungary, obtaining the right to self-government in exchange for help with its fleet and payment of an annual tribute. Ragusa was fortified and equipped with two ports. The "Communitas Ragusina" began to be called "Respublica Ragusina" from 1403.


title: Maritime republics

text: Basing its prosperity on maritime trade, Ragusa became the major power of the southern Adriatic and came to rival the Republic of Venice. For centuries Ragusa was an ally of Ancona, Venice's other rival in the Adriatic. This alliance enabled the two towns on opposite sides of the Adriatic to resist attempts by the Venetians to make the Adriatic a "Venetian bay", which would have given Venice direct or indirect control over all the Adriatic ports. The Venetian trade route went via Germany and Austria; Ancona and Ragusa developed an alternative route going west from Ragusa through Ancona to Florence and finally to Flanders.


title: Maritime republics

text: Ragusa was the door to the Balkans and the East, a place of commerce in metals, salt, spices and cinnabar. It reached its peak during the 15th and 16th centuries thanks to tax exemptions for affordable goods. Its social structure was rigid, and the lower classes played no part in its government, but it was advanced in other ways: in the 14th century the first pharmacy was opened there, followed by a hospice; in 1418 the trafficking of slaves was abolished.


title: Maritime republics

text: When the Ottoman Empire advanced into the Balkan Peninsula and Hungary was defeated in the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Ragusa came formally under the supremacy of the sultan. It bound itself to pay him a symbolic annual tribute, a move that allowed it to maintain its effective independence.


title: Maritime republics

text: The 17th century saw a slow decline of the Republic of Ragusa, due mainly to an earthquake in 1667 which razed much of the city, claiming 5000 victims, including the rector, Simone de Ghetaldi. The city was quickly rebuilt at the expense of the Pope and the kings of France and England, which made it a jewel of 17th-century urbanism, and the Republic enjoyed a short revival. The Treaty of Passarowitz of 1718 gave it full independence but increased the tax to be paid at the gate, set at 12,500 ducats.


title: Maritime republics

text: The Peace of Pressburg of 1805 assigned the city to France. In 1806, the Republic was occupied by Napoleonic France. The Republic was dissolved by order of General Auguste Marmont on 31 January 1808 and was annexed to the Napoleonic Illyrian provinces. After a general insurrection against the occupation in 1813 and 1814, it was betrayed and occupied by its ally, the Austrian Empire.


title: Maritime republics

text: As Byzantine influence declined in Southern Italy the town began to grow. For fear of the Saracens, in 840 the inhabitants of the neighbouring Formiæ fled to Gaeta. Though under the suzerainty "de jure" of Byzantium, Gaeta had then, "de facto", a republican form of government with a "dux", as a strong bulwark against Saracen invasion.


title: Maritime republics

text: The first consul of Gaeta, Constantine, who associated his son Marinus with him, defended the city from the ravages of saracens pirates and fortified it, building outlying castles as well. He was removed in 867, probably violently, by Docibilis I, who established a dynasty.


title: Maritime republics

text: It was Docibilis II (died 954) who first took the title of "dux" or duke (933). Docibilis saw Gaeta at its zenith.


title: Maritime republics

text: Gaeta declined in importance in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. The Norman overlords of Gaeta appointed dukes from various families of local prominence, Normans mostly, until 1140, when the last Gaetan duke died, leaving the city to the Norman Kingdom of Sicily.


title: Maritime republics

text: Relationships between the maritime republics were governed by their commercial interests, and were often expressed as political or economic agreements aimed at shared profit from a trade route or mutual non-interference. But competition for control of the trade routes to the East and in the Mediterranean sparked rivalries that could not be settled diplomatically, and there were several clashes among the maritime republics.


title: Maritime republics

text: Towards the end of the 11th century, the First Crusade in the Holy Land began on the initiative of Pope Urban II, supported by the speeches of Peter the Hermit. Venice and Pisa entered the crusade almost simultaneously, and the two republics were soon in competition. The Venetian naval army of bishop Eugenio Contarini clashed with the Pisan army of Archbishop Dagobert in the sea around Rhodes. Pisa and Venice gave support to the Siege of Jerusalem by the army led by Godfrey of Bouillon. The Pisan force remained in the Holy Land. Daibert became the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and crowned Godfrey of Bouillon first Christian King of Jerusalem. Venice, in contrast, soon ended its participation in the first crusade, probably because its interests lay mainly in balancing Pisan and Genoese influence in the Orient.


title: Maritime republics

text: Relationships between Pisa and Venice were not always characterized by rivalry and antagonism. Over the centuries, the two republics signed several agreements concerning their zones of influence and action, to avoid hindering each other. On 13 October 1180 the Doge of Venice and a representative of the Pisan consuls signed an agreement for the reciprocal non-interference in Adriatic and Tyrrhenian affairs, and in 1206 Pisa and Venice concluded a treaty in which they reaffirmed the respective zones of influence. Between 1494 and 1509, during the siege of Pisa by Florence, Venice went to rescue of the Pisans, following a policy of safeguarding Italian territory from foreign intervention.


title: Maritime republics

text: The relationship between Genoa and Venice was almost continuously competitive and hostile, both economically and militarily. Until the beginning of the 13th century, hostilities were limited to rare acts of piracy and isolated skirmishes. In 1218 Venice and Genoa reached an agreement to end the piracy and to safeguard each other. Genoa was guaranteed the right to trade in the eastern imperial lands, a new and profitable market.


title: Maritime republics

text: Conflict between the two Republics reached a violent crisis in the struggle at Saint-Jean d'Acre for ownership of the Saint Sabas monastery. The Genoese occupied it in 1255, beginning hostilities with the sacking of the Venetian neighbourhood and the destruction of the ships docked there. Venice first agreed to an alliance with Pisa regarding their common interests in Syria and Palestine, but then counter-attacked, destroying the fortified monastery. The flight of the Genoese and of the baron Philip of Montfort, ruler of the Christian principality of Syria, concluded the first phase of the punitive expedition.


title: Maritime republics

text: Just one year later, the three maritime powers fought an uneven conflict in the waters facing Saint-Jean d'Acre. Almost all the Genoese galleys were sunk and 1,700 fighters and sailors were killed. The Genoese replied with new alliances. The Nicaean throne was usurped by Michael VIII Palaiologos, that aimed at reconquest of the lands once owned by the Byzantine Empire. His expansionist project suited the Genoese. The Nicaean fleet and army conquered and occupied Constantinople, causing the collapse of the Latin Empire of Constantinople less than sixty years after its creation. Genoa replaced Venice in the monopoly of commerce with the Black Sea territories.


title: Maritime republics

text: This period of conflict between Genoa and Venice ended with the Battle of Curzola of 1298 (won by Genoa), in which the Venetian admiral Andrea Dandolo was taken prisoner. To avoid the shame of arriving in Genoa in shackles, Dandolo committed suicide by smashing his head against the oar to which he was tied. A year later, the Republics signed a peace treaty in Milan.


title: Maritime republics

text: Towards the end of the 14th century, Cyprus was occupied by the Genoese and ruled by the "signoria" of Pietro II of Lusignano, while the smaller island of Tenedos, an important port of call on the Bosphorous and Black Sea route, was conceded by Andronikos IV Palaiologos to Genoa in place of the concession of his father John V Palaiologos to Venice. These two events fuelled the resumption of hostilities between the two maritime Republics, which were expanding from the east to the west of the Mediterranean.


title: Maritime republics

text: The conflict was named the War of Chioggia because the Venetians, after an initial success, were defeated in Pula by the Genoese, who occupied Chioggia and besieged Venice. The Venetians established a new fleet and besieged the Genoese in Chioggia in turn, forcing them to surrender in 1380. The war ended in favour of the Venetians with the Peace of Turin on 8 April 1381.


title: Maritime republics

text: The capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans of Mehmed II on 29 May 1453 put an end to the eleven centuries of the Byzantine Empire. This event aroused strong feelings that inspired Pope Nicholas V to plan a crusade. To realize his idea, the pope mediated between the two coalitions that were continuing to battle in Tuscany and Lombardy. Cosimo de' Medici and Alfonso V of Aragon entered the Italic League, together with Pope Nicholas, with Francesco Sforza of Milan and with Venice.


title: Maritime republics

text: While Popes Callistus II and Pius II tried to progress their predecessor's idea and were canvassing the states of the Italic League and other European powers to interest them in a crusade, the Ottomans defeated many Genoese and Venetian colonies. These events showed the superiority of the new great naval and military Ottoman power in the eastern Mediterranean and forced the two Italian maritime republics to seek a new destiny. Genoa found it the growth of international finance, Venice in land expansion.


title: Maritime republics

text: Around the mid-15th century, Genoa entered into a triple alliance with Florence and Milan, with Charles VII of France as its head. Meanwhile, Venice sided with Alfonso V of Aragon, who occupied the throne of Naples. Due to the rivalry of the Italian States, two great coalitions were formed, and foreign intervention in the peninsula was steadily increasing.


title: Maritime republics

text: To oppose the Ottomans, Venice and Genoa put aside their differences in the 16th century to join the Holy League created by Pius V.


title: Maritime republics

text: Most of the Christian fleet consisted of Venetian ships, around 100 galleys. Genoa sailed under the Spanish flag, as the Republic of Genoa lent all its ships to Philip II. The impressive Christian League fleet gathered in the Gulf of Lepanto under the command of the Spaniard John of Austria to clash with the Turkish fleet commanded by Kapudan Ali Pasha. The Battle of Lepanto was fought from midday on 7 October 1571 until the following dawn and ended in victory for the Christian League.


title: Maritime republics

text: To begin with, these two maritime republics, close to one another on the Tyrrhenian Sea, collaborated as allies against the threat of Arab expansion. However, their later rivalry dominated the western Mediterranean.


title: Maritime republics

text: At the beginning of the second millennium, Muslim armies had advanced into Sicily, and were trying to conquer Calabria and Sardinia. To resist them, Pisa and Genoa joined forces to banish the fleet of Mujāhid al-‘Āmirī from the coasts of Sardinia, where it had settled temporarily between 1015 and 1016, threatening the survival of the Sardinian "giudicati". Once that was achieved, disputes soon broke out over control of the conquered territories. Due to the limited forces available, the alliance was unable to occupy the large Tyrrhenian island for long.


title: Maritime republics

text: The many disputes, even the armed ones, were set aside in 1087 when they reunited to fight their common enemy. In the summer of the same year, a massive fleet composed of two hundred galleys from Genoa and Pisa, with some from Gaeta, Salerno and Amalfi, set sail for the Mediterranean coast of Africa. The fleet mounted a successful offensive against Mahdia on 6 August 1087. On 21 April 1092 the Pope elevated the archdiocese of Pisa to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese and placed the bishops of Corsica under its authority.


title: Maritime republics

text: That same victorious expedition persuaded Pope Urban II that a large crusade to liberate the Holy Land would be possible. Around the 1110s, Pope Paschal II asked Pisans and Genoese to organize a crusade in the western Mediterranean. The expedition was very successful and freed the Balearic Islands from the Muslims. As a sign of gratitude, the pope granted many privileges to the two republics. The Pisan archbishop was granted primacy over Sardinia, in addition to Corsica.


title: Maritime republics

text: The papal concessions to the archbishop of Pisa greatly increased the fame of the Tuscan republic throughout the Mediterranean, but at the same time aroused Genoese envy, which soon developed into conflict. In 1119, the Genoese attacked some Pisan galleys, beginning a bloody war on sea and land. It lasted until 1133, interrupted by several truces that were sometimes observed and sometimes violated. The clashes were brought to an end by sharing authority over the Corsican dioceses between the two cities.


title: Maritime republics

text: When Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa came to Italy to oppose the power of the Italian cities, Genoa gave its support to the imperial cause, although with slight reservations, while Pisa made its support conditional on the emperor taking part in the siege of Milan. In 1162 and 1163 Frederick I granted Pisa great privileges, such as control of the Tyrrhenian coast as far as Civitavecchia.


title: Maritime republics

text: This reignited Genoa's resentment and rivalry, which once again developed into open conflict. There was a pause in the conflict on Frederick's fourth descent into Italy, but it resumed soon after his departure. Peace was reached on 6 November 1175 with the return of the Holy Roman Emperor to Italy. The agreement favoured Genoa, expanding its overseas territories. Pisa and Genoa took part in the campaign commanded by Frederick's successor Henry VI against the Kingdom of Sicily.


title: Maritime republics

text: From 1282 to 1284 Genoa and Pisa reverted to fighting each other. A decisive naval battle occurred on 6 August 1284. Pisan and Genoese fleets fought the whole day in what became known as the Battle of Meloria. The Genoese emerged victorious, while the Pisan galleys, having received no help, were forced to retreat to the port of Pisa. Prisoners taken by the Genoese were in the order of thousands. Among them was the poet Rustichello da Pisa, who met Marco Polo (captured during the Battle of Curzola) and wrote down the adventures of the Venetian explorer.


title: Maritime republics

text: The Battle of Meloria greatly reduced the power of the Pisan Republic, which never regained its leading role in the western Mediterranean. Pisa had lost thousands of young men in the battle, causing a population collapse. Venice did not intervene to help its ally Pisa in its crisis. Some historians consider this decision to have been an error on the part of Venice, which yielded supremacy of the Tyrrhenian Sea to rival Genoa and simultaneously lost the precious help of Pisa in the east. Despite the setback, Pisa was able to continue its territorial expansion in Tuscany some decades afterwards, thanks to Guido da Montefeltro and Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor.


title: Maritime republics

text: In the 14th century, Pisa changed from a commune to a "signoria". Fazio Novello della Gherardesca, an enlightened aristocrat, improved relations with Florence, the Pope and Genoa. The treaty with Genoa was just the first of a series of commercial agreements. But in the first years of the following century, under the rule of Gabriello Maria Visconti, the city of Pisa was besieged by Milan, Florence, Genoa and France. Giovanni Gambacorta took advantage of this to rise to power, but he secretly negotiated surrender with the besiegers. On 6 October 1406 Pisa became a possession of Florence, which thus realized its long-held goal of access to the sea. That was the end of the Pisan Republic.


title: Maritime republics

text: Amalfi had already lost complete autonomy from the second half of the 11th century, although it continued running its commercial routes and enjoying a large degree of administrative autonomy, at least in this period. Under the protection of the Norman William II, third Duke of Apulia, in October 1126 the administrators of Amalfi reached a profitable commercial agreement with the neighbouring Pisa, to collaborate in the protection of their common interests in the Tyrrhenian. This agreement was the outcome of a decades-old friendship with the Tuscan republic.


title: Maritime republics

text: However, Amalfi had no army of its own to protect its commercial interests. That is why Amalfian ships are not often reported to have been engaged in military action against other maritime republics. In fact it was the Pisan army that broke the pact with Amalfi by attacking the coastal city on 4 August 1135 during the war waged by Pope Innocent II and the new emperor Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor (aided by the republics of Genoa and Pisa) against the Norman Roger II of Sicily, who controlled Amalfi. That war ended in favour of Roger II, who gained recognition of his rights over the territories of South Italy, but it was a severe blow for Amalfi, which lost both its fleet and its political autonomy.


title: Maritime republics

text: Commercial competition among Venice, Ancona and Ragusa was very strong because all of them bordered the Adriatic Sea. They fought open battles on more than one occasion. Venice, aware of its major economic and military power, disliked competition from other maritime cities in the Adriatic. Several Adriatic ports were under Venetian rule, but Ancona and Ragusa retained their independence. To avoid succumbing to Venetian rule, these two republics made multiple and lasting alliances.


title: Maritime republics

text: In 1173 Venice united its forces with Frederick I Barbarossa's imperial army to try to overpower Ancona. Fredrick's intention was to reassert his authority over the Italian cities. The Venetians deployed numerous galleys and the galleon "Totus Mundus" in the port of Ancona, while imperial troops lay siege from the land: thus began the siege of Ancona in 1173. After some months of dramatic resistance by the Anconitans, supported by Byzantine troops, they were able to send a small contingent to Emilia-Romagna to ask for help. Troops from Ferrara and Bertinoro arrived to save the city and repelled the imperial troops and the Venetians in battle.


title: Maritime republics

text: Venice conquered Ragusa in 1205 and held it until 1358 when Ragusa regained "de facto" freedom, paying tributes first to the Hungarians, and after the Battle of Mohács, to the Turks. During this period Ragusa reconfirmed its old alliance with Ancona.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: Nitroglycerin, also known as glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), is a medication used for heart failure, high blood pressure, anal fissures, painful periods, and to treat and prevent chest pain caused by decreased blood flow to the heart (angina) or due to the recreational use of cocaine. This includes chest pain from a heart attack. It is taken by mouth, under the tongue, applied to the skin, or by injection into a vein.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: Common side effects include headache and low blood pressure. The low blood pressure can be severe. It is unclear if use in pregnancy is safe for the baby. It should not be used together with medications within the PDE5 inhibitor family such as sildenafil due to the risk of low blood pressure. Nitroglycerin is in the nitrate family of medications. While it is not entirely clear how it works, it is believed to function by dilating blood vessels.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: Nitroglycerin was written about as early as 1846 and came into medical use in 1878. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. The drug nitroglycerin (GTN) is a dilute form of the same chemical used as the explosive, nitroglycerin. Dilution makes it non-explosive. In 2020, it was the 165th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 3million prescriptions.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: Nitroglycerin is used for the treatment of angina, acute myocardial infarction, severe hypertension, and acute coronary artery spasms. It may be administered intravenously, as a sublingual spray, or as a patch applied to the skin.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: GTN is useful in decreasing angina attacks, perhaps more so than reversing angina once started, by supplementing blood concentrations of NO, also called endothelium-derived relaxing factor, before the structure of NO as the responsible agent was known. This led to the development of transdermal patches of glyceryl trinitrate, providing 24-hour release. However, the effectiveness of glyceryl trinitrate is limited by development of tolerance/tachyphylaxis within 2–3 weeks of sustained use. Continuous administration and absorption (such as provided by daily pills and especially skin patches) accelerate onset of tolerance and limit the usefulness of the agent. Thus, glyceryl trinitrate works best when used only in short-term, pulse dosing. Glyceryl trinitrate is useful for myocardial infarction (heart attack) and pulmonary edema, again working best if used quickly, within a few minutes of symptom onset, as a pulse dose. It may also be given as a sublingual or buccal dose in the form of a tablet placed under the tongue or a spray into the mouth for the treatment of an angina attack.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: Tentative evidence indicates efficacy of glyceryl trinitrate in the treatment of various tendinopathies, both in pain management and acceleration of soft tissue repair.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: GTN is also used in the treatment of anal fissures, though usually at a much lower concentration than that used for angina treatment.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: GTN was once researched for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis; however, the researcher Sophie Jamal was found to have falsified the findings, sparking one of the largest scientific misconduct cases in Canada.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: After long-term use for chronic conditions, nitrate tolerance—tolerance to agents such as GTN— may develop in a patient, reducing its effectiveness. Tolerance is defined as the loss of symptomatic and hemodynamic effects of GTN and/or the need for higher doses of the drug to achieve the same effects, and was first described soon after the introduction of GTN in cardiovascular therapy. Studies have shown that nitrate tolerance is associated with vascular abnormalities which have the potential to worsen patients' prognosis. These include endothelial and autonomic dysfunction.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: The mechanisms of nitrate tolerance have been investigated over the last 30 years, and several hypotheses to explain tolerance have been offered, including:


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: Recent evidence suggests that deleterious GTN-induced production of oxygen free radicals might induce a number of abnormalities, include those described above, so that the oxidative stress hypothesis might represent a unifying principle.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: Glyceryl trinitrate can cause severe hypotension, reflex tachycardia, and severe headaches that necessitate analgesic intervention for pain relief, the painful nature of which can have a marked negative effect on patient compliance.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: GTN also can cause severe hypotension, circulatory collapse, and death if used together with vasodilator drugs that are used for erectile dysfunction, such as sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: GTN transdermal patches should be removed before defibrillation due to the risk of explosion and/or burns, but investigations have concluded that GTN patch explosions during defibrillation were due to voltage breakdown involving the metal mesh in some patches.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: GTN is a prodrug which must be denitrated, with the nitrite anion or a related species further reduced to produce the active metabolite nitric oxide (NO). Organic nitrates that undergo these two steps within the body are called nitrovasodilators, and the denitration and reduction occur via a variety of mechanisms. The mechanism by which such nitrates produce NO is widely disputed. Some believe that organic nitrates produce NO by reacting with sulfhydryl groups, while others believe that enzymes such as glutathione S-transferases, cytochrome P450 (CYP), and xanthine oxidoreductase are the primary source of GTN bioactivation. In recent years, a great deal of evidence has been produced that supports the conclusion that GTN's clinically relevant denitration and reduction produce 1,2-glyceryl dinitrate (GDN) and NO, and that this reaction is catalysed by mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2 or mtALDH).


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: The NO produced by this process is a potent activator of guanylyl cyclase (GC) by heme-dependent mechanisms; this activation results in formation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) from guanosine triphosphate (GTP). Among other roles, cGMP serves as a substrate for a cGMP-dependent protein kinase that activates myosin light chain phosphatase. Thus, production of NO from exogenous sources such as GTN increases the level of cGMP within the cell, and stimulates dephosphorylation of myosin, which initiates relaxation of smooth muscle cells in blood vessels.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: It was known almost from the time of the first synthesis of GTN by Ascanio Sobrero in 1846 that handling and tasting of nitroglycerin could cause sudden intense headaches, which suggested a vasodilation effect (as suggested by Sobrero). Constantine Hering developed a form of nitroglycerin in 1847 and advocated for its dosing as a treatment of a number of diseases; however, its use as a specific treatment for blood pressure and chest pain was not among these. This is primarily due to his deep rooted focus in homeopathy.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: Following Thomas Brunton's discovery that amyl nitrite could be used to treat chest pain, William Murrell experimented with the use of nitroglycerin to alleviate angina pectoris and reduce blood pressure, and showed that the accompanying headaches occurred as a result of overdose. Murrell began treating patients with small doses of GTN in 1878, and the substance was widely adopted after he published his results in "The Lancet" in 1879.


title: Nitroglycerin (medication)

text: The medical establishment used the name "glyceryl trinitrate" or "trinitrin" to avoid alarming patients, because of a general awareness that nitroglycerin was explosive.


title: Inkheart

text: Inkheart () is a 2003 young adult fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke, and the first book of the "Inkheart" series, which was continued with "Inkspell" (2005) and "Inkdeath" (2007). The novel won the 2004 BookSense Book of the Year Award for Children's Literature. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".


title: Inkheart

text: "Inkheart" was the first part of a trilogy and was continued with "Inkspell" (2005), which won Funke her second BookSense Book of the Year Award for Children's Literature in 2006. The trilogy was initially concluded in "Inkdeath", but has been revived in 2020 when Funke announced that a sequel called "The Colour of Revenge" () was published by October 2021 in Germany.


title: Inkheart

text: Following the release of the first "Inkheart" novel, New Line Cinema bought the film rights to all three books for a cinema adaptation. Directed by Iain Softley, the film is based on a screenplay by David Lindsay-Abaire and features an ensemble cast that includes Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren, Paul Bettany, Jim Broadbent, Rafi Gavron, Andy Serkis and newcomer Eliza Bennett, among others. Upon release, the film received mixed reviews. In 2009, a video game based on the film was released for the Nintendo DS.


title: Inkheart

text: 12-year-old Meggie lives with her father Mortimer or "Mo," who works as a bookbinder. One night, a man named Dustfinger visits Mo. Meggie overhears Dustfinger telling Mo that a man named Capricorn is looking for him. The next morning, Mo unexpectedly announces that he and Meggie have to go to Meggie's Aunt Elinor's house because Mo has to fix some books. Dustfinger joins them on the way. Mo sets off to work, and Meggie talks to Dustfinger, where she is introduced to Dustfinger's pet marten, Gwin. A short while after, Mo is captured by people with unusual names, bringing along with him a book, "Inkheart". Meggie and Elinor tell the police, but the police just think they are out of their minds.


title: Inkheart

text: Dustfinger, Meggie, and Elinor plan to venture to Capricorn's village where her father is being held. The three are taken to Capricorn's house where he waits for them. Elinor and Meggie are thrown into the cell where Mo is being held and they reunite, while Dustfinger disappears. Meggie makes Mo tells the story of why they were there.


title: Inkheart

text: A long time ago her father was reading "Inkheart" to Meggie's mother, Teresa. Mo found out that he had a special gift where he could bring things out of books just by reading aloud, but that came with a price: for everything that comes out of the book, something must go in. So, while reading the seventh chapter, three of the main characters from the book, Capricorn, Basta, and Dustfinger, come out of the book and into their house. Capricorn tries to fight Mo, but eventually Mo forces them out of his house. When he turns back, Teresa and their two cats that were sitting on her lap were gone and Meggie was crying. He later tried many more times to get his wife out of the book, but his power failed him.


title: Inkheart

text: Capricorn makes Mo read aloud. When Mo starts to read Tales from A Thousand and One Nights, a boy named Farid appears out of the book and is also imprisoned. That night, Dustfinger breaks out all of the prisoners.


title: Inkheart

text: Elinor returns home, while Dustfinger, Farid, Meggie, and Mo go to visit Fenoglio, the author of "Inkheart," since Capricorn had burned all copies of the book except his own. They are disappointed when they learn Fenoglio does not have another copy.


title: Inkheart

text: Fenoglio offers them an apartment so that they can live there for the time being when Mo fixes Fenoglio's books. Mo, on an urgent call from Elinor, goes to the airport leaving Meggie with Fenoglio and his three grandchildren.


title: Inkheart

text: Fenoglio and Meggie are captured by Capricorn's men and imprisoned in an attic in Capricorn's house, where Meggie discovers that she also has her father's power.


title: Inkheart

text: Farid and Dustfinger sneak into the village where Dustfinger meets one of his old friends, Resa. Resa is a mute who came out of the "Inkheart" story a while back. Resa and Dustfinger conspire a plan to get "Inkheart" from Capricorn, but are caught.


title: Inkheart

text: Fenoglio then starts writing a counter curse for when Meggie has to read out a horrible villain called the Shadow. Gwin passes notes back and forth between Mo and Meggie, which are written in Elvish, to let them know what was happening.


title: Inkheart

text: Elinor and Mo arrive at the village, but Elinor then gets caught and is put in the crypt with Resa and Dustfinger.


title: Inkheart

text: Meggie asks to see Dustfinger and finds that Resa is her mother. Farid and Mo set Capricorn's house on fire. While everyone is paying attention to the fire, Meggie switches out the planned reading for Fenoglio's handwritten story. She creates the Shadow and turns it against its master. Mo reads the beginning of last paragraph, killing Capricorn.


title: Inkheart

text: Meggie then finishes the tale and the Shadow turns back into the fairies, glass men, and trolls whose ashes it was created from. Many of the magical creatures come home with Elinor. Meggie, Mo, and Resa, go and live in Elinor's large house. Gwin, Dustfinger, and Farid leave in the night after Dustfinger steals the last remaining copy of "Inkheart" from Mo.


title: Inkheart

text: Kirkus Reviews declared it "a true feast for anyone who has ever been lost in a book". Writing in "The Guardian", Diana Wynne Jones stated "I don't think I've ever read anything that conveys so well the joys, terrors and pitfalls of reading".


title: Inkheart

text: The sequel "Inkspell" was released on October 1, 2005. The third book in the trilogy, "Inkdeath", was released on September 28, 2007.


title: Inkheart

text: Following the release of the first "Inkheart" novel, New Line Cinema bought the film rights to all three books for a cinema adaptation. Funke moved to Los Angeles in 2005 after she had accepted the offer to participate as the film's producer alongside Barry Mendel. Principal photography on the "Inkheart" film began in 2006.


title: Inkheart

text: Directed by Iain Softley, the film is based on a screenplay by David Lindsay-Abaire and features an ensemble cast that includes Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren, Paul Bettany, Jim Broadbent, Rafi Gavron, Andy Serkis and newcomer Eliza Bennett, among others. Upon release, the film received mixed reviews. In 2009, a video game based on the film was released for the Nintendo DS.


title: Poove Unakkaga

text: Poove Unakkaga () is a 1996 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Vikraman. The film stars Vijay and Sangita. Actor Murali makes a guest appearance in a song in the film. The film released on 18 February 1996. The film received critical acclaim and it was the first blockbuster and a major breakthrough in Vijay's career in the Tamil film industry. The movie ran over 250 days in theatres at the time of release. The film was remade in Telugu as "Subhakankshalu" (1997), in Kannada as "Ee Hrudaya Ninagagi" (1997) and in Hindi as "Badhaai Ho Badhaai" (2002).


title: Poove Unakkaga

text: Sadasivam and Stephen were family friends for generations until the time when Sadhasivam's daughter Janaki falls in love with Stephen's son Robert. The couple elope and get married against both families' wishes which leads both families to abandon them. Also enmity is created between the two families and they hate each other. Vasudevan is the son of Sadhasivam and Moses is the son of Stephen.


title: Poove Unakkaga

text: After 25 years, both the families receive a letter from Raja, who is born to Robert and Janaki and who is also visiting the families. Both the families get furious seeing the letter and they decide not to permit him to stay in their homes. Raja comes to the town along with his friend Gopi but is shocked that he is not allowed inside both the houses. Also Vasudevan and Moses ask the entire street to not let any house for rent to Raja and Gopi. Velangiri lives along with his wife and he permits Raja to stay in his house.


title: Poove Unakkaga

text: Though Sadhasivam and Stephen do not welcome Raja, but still they long to see their grandson from far. Same is the case with their wives Vijayakumari and Sukumari. Raja understands that only Vasudevan and Moses who are still angry while the other family members just pretend to be angry. So he decides to unite the family. He gets close with his grandparents slowly. Vijayakumari and Sukumari wanted to get Raja married. To escape, Raja lies that he is already married to a girl named Nirmala Mary aka Nimmy.


title: Poove Unakkaga

text: To Raja's shock, suddenly one day, Nirmala arrives at Velangiri's home introducing herself as the wife of Raja. Raja gets confused and he cannot reveal the truth as that would further disturb the proceedings. Nirmala plays pranks on Raja and Gopi, which always irritates them. One day, Raja plans to make love with Nirmala, so that she will reveal her true identity. Nirmala reveals that she is the only child and daughter named Priyadarshini aka Priya born to Robert and Janaki. She also says that the only man who stays in touch with her family in the town is Velangiri from whom they get frequent updates about the happenings. Now Priyadarshini questions Raja's intention about trying to unite both the families.


title: Poove Unakkaga

text: Raja reveals a flashback. Raja is an orphan who lives along with his friend Gopi in Chennai. Next to his house, there is a girls’ hostel. Nandhini is the daughter of Vasudevan and she stays in the hostel. Raja gets attracted seeing Nandhini and befriends her. Slowly friendship blossoms into love for Raja. When he is about to convey his love, Raja gets shocked to know that Nandhini is already in love with Lawrence, who is the son of Moses. As there is enmity between the two families, already the couple fears whether their love would be accepted by their family members.


title: Poove Unakkaga

text: Raja on knowing about the problem, decides to help the couple unite with the approval of their family members. Raja takes the responsibility of convincing both the families and disguises himself as the son born to Robert and Janaki. Priya gets surprised knowing Raja's intention of getting the family united despite knowing the fact that Nandhini is in love with Lawrence. Priya gets attracted towards Raja and starts loving him but does not express it.


title: Poove Unakkaga

text: Meanwhile, both the families get to know that Nandhini and Lawrence are in love and they get furious again. But Raja takes the couple somewhere and brings them back after a few hours. But Nandhini gets converted to Christianity while Lawrence gets converted to Hinduism. Raja makes the family members realize that love is eternal and it knows no religion/caste etc. Both the families get convinced listening to Raja's words and they agree for the wedding between Lawrence and Nandhini.


title: Poove Unakkaga

text: On the day of wedding, both Robert and Janaki arrive and the family members happily welcome them and they also apologize for keeping them away for 25 years. Both the families mention that it was their son Raja, who was responsible for reuniting the families. Robert and Janaki get surprised and reveal that they have only one child, which is a daughter named Priyadarshini. Priya reveals that Raja is the friend of Nandhini and he has come to unite the family so that they can get married. Both the families feel proud seeing Raja and they suggest getting Priya married to Raja. But Raja denies saying that he already had an unsuccessful love story and he can never fall in love again with one more girl. The movie ends with Raja leaving the house and walking alone.


title: Poove Unakkaga

text: The music was composed by S. A. Rajkumar while lyrics were written by Vaali, Palani Bharathi and S. A. Rajkumar. All songs were mega hits.


title: Heracles of Macedon

text: Heracles of Macedon (; c. 327 – 309 BC) was a reputed illegitimate son of Alexander the Great of Macedon by Barsine, daughter of Satrap Artabazus of Phrygia. Heracles was named after the Greek mythological hero of the same name, from whom the Argeads claimed descent.


title: Heracles of Macedon

text: It cannot be established definitively whether Heracles was Alexander’s son or not. Of the ancient sources, both Plutarch and Justin mention Barsine and Heracles but Arrian in the Alexander's Anabasis mentions neither. Plutarch recounts that Alexander took Barsine as his mistress, but on the arguably spurious grounds that she was recommended to him by Parmenion (despite the many disagreements between him and Alexander, and Alexander's apparent contempt for his judgement). Of Barsine, Mary Renault states that:


title: Heracles of Macedon

text: If Heracles "were" Alexander’s illegitimate child, then it also raises the pointed question as to why he, as Alexander’s only living son at the time of his death, was not immediately drawn into the succession disputes, and why he was passed over in favour of Philip Arrhidaeus - himself illegitimate - who was only a son of Alexander’s father Philip, and thus a more distant claimant than Heracles. Renault concludes that the romance with Barsine was invented retrospectively to validate Heracles' parentage.


title: Heracles of Macedon

text: On Alexander's death Nearchus, who was then son-in-law of Barsine, advocated for Heracles' inheritance, but was unsuccessful.


title: Heracles of Macedon

text: Either way, Heracles lived in obscurity until Alexander IV's murder by Cassander in 310 BC or 309 BC. At that point Polyperchon, a regent of Macedon who had been replaced by Cassander and had all but disappeared for the previous six years, began championing Heracles as Alexander's true heir, and Polyperchon began forming an army. Instead of fighting, Cassander negotiated with Polyperchon. By offering Polyperchon various bribes such as a sinecure and a large number of talents, Cassander persuaded him to murder Heracles, and Polyperchon retired to obscurity once more.


title: Empirical distribution function

text: In statistics, an empirical distribution function (commonly also called an empirical Cumulative Distribution Function, eCDF) is the distribution function associated with the empirical measure of a sample. This cumulative distribution function is a step function that jumps up by at each of the data points. Its value at any specified value of the measured variable is the fraction of observations of the measured variable that are less than or equal to the specified value.


title: Empirical distribution function

text: The empirical distribution function is an estimate of the cumulative distribution function that generated the points in the sample. It converges with probability 1 to that underlying distribution, according to the Glivenko–Cantelli theorem. A number of results exist to quantify the rate of convergence of the empirical distribution function to the underlying cumulative distribution function.


title: Empirical distribution function

text: Let be independent, identically distributed real random variables with the common cumulative distribution function . Then the empirical distribution function is defined as


title: Empirical distribution function

text: where formula_2 is the indicator of event . For a fixed , the indicator formula_3 is a Bernoulli random variable with parameter ; hence formula_4 is a binomial random variable with mean and variance . This implies that formula_5 is an unbiased estimator for .


title: Empirical distribution function

text: The mean of the empirical distribution is an unbiased estimator of the mean of the population distribution.