title: Shelly Martinez

text: She made her in-ring debut for TNA in a singles against Awesome Kong, and was quickly defeated. She then began competing more frequently in matches, including intergender tag team matches alongside Homicide and Hernandez. Salinas participated at Lockdown in the first ever "Queen of the Cage" match, which was won by Roxxi Laveaux. After a Knockouts "Makeover Battle Royal" was announced for the Sacrifice pay-per-view, where one Knockout would get their head shaved, Salinas competed in a match to gain immunity from the head shaving on the May 8 episode of "Impact!", but was unsuccessful. At Sacrifice, the "Makeover Battle Royal" was won by Gail Kim, and Roxxi Laveaux had her head shaved. The same night, Salinas and Hector Guerrero were in the corner of LAX as they won the TNA World Tag Team Championship. As part of LAX's feud with Beer Money, Inc., Salinas wrestled their manager Jackie Moore on "Impact!" in June 2008, but lost by submission. She participated in a gauntlet battle royal match for the number one contendership to the TNA Women's Knockout Championship, but was unsuccessful, and a few weeks later lost a three-on-one handicap match to Awesome Kong and The Beautiful People (Velvet Sky and Angelina Love). After Beer Money, Inc. won the TNA World Tag Team Championship from LAX, the two teams began feuding, and at No Surrender in September, Salinas was attacked off camera by their manager Jackie Moore. This storyline was put in place as a way to take Martinez off television, as she had quit TNA to film an Italian thriller movie.


title: Shelly Martinez

text: Martinez wrestled under her real name for the Perros del Mal promotion in Mexico. Martinez is part of both World Independent Ladies Division and World Wrestling Fan Xperience in the Philippines. Martinez has also appeared as a valet for Dragon Gate USA.


title: Shelly Martinez

text: Beginning in 2010, Martinez began appearing for Championship Wrestling From Hollywood. She defeated Lucky O'Shea in her debut match for the promotion in August 2010. In 2013, she was briefly associated with Todd Chandler, before switching her affections to Ricky Mandel, appearing as his storyline girlfriend.


title: Shelly Martinez

text: On May 10, 2014, Martinez and J. T. Dunn competed in the 2014 WSU Queen and King of the Ring tournament, losing to the team of Candice LeRae and Joey Ryan. In 2016, Martinez appeared on TNA's One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown 4, where she fought Rebel in a losing effort.


title: Shelly Martinez

text: She also starred in a pin-up film titled "American Pinups Vol. 2". Martinez collaborated with Jewel De'Nyle on an all-female spanking and soft-core bondage video entitled "The Notorious Jewel De'Nyle & Shelly Martinez". In October 2009, Martinez posed nude for a contest called "THE 1 Contest". In November 2012, Martinez appeared on the fourth season of the "Bad Girls Club" spin-off "".


title: Shelly Martinez

text: She starred in the independent supernatural horror movie "Dead Things". In addition, she was a contestant on the reality show "The Search for the Next Elvira", which debuted October 13, 2007, on the Fox Reality Channel. Martinez appears in the beginning of the Mötley Crüe hit music video for "Saints of Los Angeles". In May 2011, Martinez, Raven, and Cheerleader Melissa filmed the music video for the Smashing Pumpkins hit song "Owata".


title: Shelly Martinez

text: As of late 2011, Martinez has been the official Hollywood event correspondent and the hostess for the horror news website MoreHorror.com.


title: Shelly Martinez

text: Martinez is of Mexican descent. She is an advocate of medical marijuana and is also as an animal rights activist.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Media freedom in Russia concerns both the ability of directors of mass-media outlets to carry out independent policies and the ability of journalists to access sources of information and to work without outside pressure. Media of Russia include television and radio channels, periodicals, and Internet media, which according to the laws of the Russian Federation may be either state or private property.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: , Russia ranked 155 out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. In the 2017 Freedom House "Freedom of the Press" report Russia scored 83 (100 being the worst), mostly because of new laws introduced in 2014 that further extended the state control over mass media. Freedom House characterized the situation as even worse in Crimea where, after the 2014 annexation by Russia, both Russian jurisdiction and extrajudicial means are (according to Freedom House) routinely applied to limit freedom of expression.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Multiple international organizations criticize various aspects of the contemporary press-freedom situation in Russia. The Russian government engages in internet censorship.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The Russian constitution provides for freedom of speech and press; however, government application of law, bureaucratic regulation, and politically motivated criminal investigations have forced the press to exercise self-censorship constraining its coverage of certain controversial issues, resulting in infringements of these rights. According to Human Rights Watch, the Russian government exerts control over civil society through selective implementation of the law, restriction and censure.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Russia's ombudsman, named officially the Commissioner for Human Rights, is appointed for a certain term by the Parliament. The ombudsman cannot be dismissed before the end of his term, and is not subordinate to any body of power, including the president or the government. Russia's 83 administrative regions have the right to elect a local ombudsman whose authority is limited to that region. Less than half have done so.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin reported in 2006, that suggesting that freedom of speech is non-existent in Russia would be an exaggeration, the constitutional right for speech freedom is basically observed, as well as that there was no institutionalised censorship. Apparently for these very reasons journalists and publishers seldom appeal to the commissioner protesting restrictions of their right of seeking, receiving, transferring, publishing or distributing information. Yet disguised restrictions exist to a considerable degree, they are often put through the economic pressure on mass media by the authorities and loyal business. The so-called "self-censorship" which induces journalists to refrain from disseminating information which, in their opinion, may not please the authorities, is also widespread. So in many places, the right to praise the authorities is ensured, while the opposite right is just formally declared.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2008 annual report, Vladimir Lukin wrote that it is important to have the comprehensive legal interpretation of the terms that may limit the freedom of thought and word. He spoke against the election legislation amendment that is "a practical prohibition" of contesting candidates' criticism, calling it obviously excessive. And Lukin was critical about the Law on combating extremist activities, noting that extremism and dissent must be strictly legally divided.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The dangers to journalists in Russia have been well known since the early 1990s but concern at the number of unsolved killings soared after Anna Politkovskaya's murder in Moscow on 7 October 2006. While international monitors spoke of several dozen deaths, some sources within Russia talked of over two hundred fatalities.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Remembrance Day of Journalists Killed in the Line of Duty in Russia is observed on 15 December every year.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Since the early 1990s, a number of Russian reporters who have covered the situation in Chechnya, contentious stories on organized crime, state and administrative officials, and large businesses have been killed. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, since 1992, 50 journalists have been murdered for their professional activity in Russia (which made it the third deadliest country for journalists in the 1992–2006 period): 30 journalists from 1993 to 2000, and 20 journalists since 2000.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: According to Glasnost Defence Foundation, there were 9 cases of suspicious deaths of journalists in 2006, as well as 59 assaults on journalists, and 12 attacks on editorial offices. In 2005, the list of all cases included 7 deaths, 63 assaults, 12 attacks on editorial offices, 23 incidents of censorship, 42 criminal prosecutions, 11 illegal layoffs, 47 cases of detention by militsiya, 382 lawsuits, 233 cases of obstruction, 23 closings of editorial offices, 10 evictions, 28 confiscations of printed production, 23 cases of stopping broadcasting, 38 refusals to distribute or print production, 25 acts of intimidation, and 344 other violations of Russian journalist rights.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: On 7 October 2006, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, known for her criticisms of Russia's actions in Chechnya and the pro-Russia Chechen government, was shot in the lobby of her apartment building. The death of Politkovskaya triggered an outcry of criticism of Russia in the Western media, with accusations that, at best, Vladimir Putin has failed to protect the country's new independent media.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: International Press Institute reports selective use of regulations, politically motivated criminal investigations, journalist imprisonments, outlet shutdowns and aggressive harassments by security services. According to the organization, Russia remains the most dangerous European country for journalists, with four killed in 2009.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Amnesty International reported in 2009, that "Human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers who spoke openly about human rights abuses faced threats and intimidation. The police appeared to be reluctant to investigate such threats and a climate of impunity for attacks on civil society activists prevailed." Amnesty International reported also a "climate of growing intolerance towards independent views". According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Russia is a more dangerous place now than it was during the Cold War. Only Iraq and Algeria outrank it on the list of most life-threatening countries for the press.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In October 2016, a group of Chechen journalists published an anonymous, dramatic appeal in The Guardian describing the intimidation and physical attacks they are experiencing under the Ramzan Kadyrov government and complete control the officials are enforcing over the media organisations in the republic.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The Human Rights Committee of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is concerned about the contemporary situation in Russia.at the alarming incidence of threats, violent assaults and murders of journalists and human rights defenders, which has created a climate of fear and a chilling effect on the media, including for those working in the North Caucasus, and regrets the lack of effective measures taken to protect the right to life and security of these persons.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Article 29(5) of the Constitution of Russia states, "The freedom of the mass media shall be guaranteed. Censorship shall be prohibited." The World Report 2009 by Human Rights Watch said that the Russian government controlled over civil society through selective implementation of the law, media restrictions and harassment of activists and human rights defenders.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe in 2005 interview to Russian radio Ekho Moskvy said there was pressure on media from authorities in Russia's regions, and situation with the central media caused concerns, as many central TV media looked to lose former independence; his conclusion was that the most important task in Russia was to protect the victories of the 1991 law on mass media, and to let journalists work fully independently; yet he said that with all the difficulties the Russian media were free as a whole, and that he was interviewed in a direct broadcast without censorship spoke also about press freedom.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: According to 2005 research conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (WCIOM), the number of Russians who approve of censorship on TV has grown in a year from 63% to 82%; sociologists believe that Russians are not voting in favour of press freedom suppression, but rather for expulsion of ethically doubtful material such as scenes of violence and sex (57% for restricting of violence and sex depiction on TV, 30% for ban of fraudulent businesses ads; and 24% for products for sex ads, and 'criminal way of life propaganda' films).


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: According to journalist Maxim Kononenko, "People invent censorship for themselves, and what happens on some TV channels, some newspapers, happens not because Putin dials them and says: 'No, this mustn't go.' But because their bosses are fools." However, political scientist Yevgenia Albats in interview with Eduard Steiner has disputed this assertion: "Today the directors of the television channels and the newspapers are invited every Thursday into the Kremlin office of the deputy head of administration, Vladislav Surkov to learn what news should be presented, and where. Journalists are bought with enormous salaries. In discussions they tell us then how horrible it is to work in the state television service."


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Since 2012, at the beginning of Vladimir Putin's third presidential term, numerous laws have been passed to make censorship and extensive surveillance easier. Such measures also led to self-censorship. A 2016 report by PEN America shows that limitations of freedom of expression in today's Russia do not affect only journalism and media, but the overall cultural space. According to the report, a confluence of laws aimed at contrasting terrorism and religious hatred and protecting children have led to an environment in which is increasingly hard to distribute fiction, broadcast independent television and promote independent theatre and music productions. In addition, the selectivity and, at times, arbitrariness of Roskomnadzor, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media, create uncertainty for writers, authors, publishers and other media producers, which often results in self-censorship as a way to avoid uncertain rules and arbitrary enforcement.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Also, according to the 2016 Freedom House's report on freedom of the press, government officials frequently use the country's politicized and corrupt court system to harass journalists and bloggers who expose abuses by authorities. In the Russian legal system the definition of extremism is broad and this make possible for officials to invoke it to silence critical voices. Enforcement of such legal provisions has encouraged self-censorship in the country.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2019 Russia introduced new regulation commonly called "fake news law" which criminalizes publications containing "unreliable" information" as well as opinions that show "disrespect for society, government, state symbols, the constitution and government institutions". The law was criticized for vague wording allowing selective application e.g. against political opposition.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic the Novaya Gazeta was fined 60'000 rubles under new "fake news" law for disputing the officially declared mortality statistics.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In summer 2012, the Russian State Duma considered Bill 89417-6 which would create a blacklist of Internet sites including child pornography, drug-related material, and extremist material; as well as making providers of telecom services liable for such breaches. The bill was criticized as not being aimed at combating the causes of illegal content and its distribution through the internet, nor contribute to the effectiveness of law enforcement and prosecution of criminals, and its subjective criteria could allow Russian authorities to mass block internet resources with legal content. In December 2013, a law criminalizing "calls for separatism" was proposed. Under the law, violators face a fine of up to 306,700 rubles ($9,500) or jail terms of up to five years for making public calls for action aimed against the country's territorial integrity.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Since 2009, the practice of the law enforcement agencies (most notably FSB) was to abuse newly introduced anti-extremism laws to suppress freedom of speech, including corruption investigations. Publications and activities classified as "extremist" included protests against the court rulings in Bolotnaya Square case ("calling for illegal action") and criticism of overspending of local governor ("insult of the authorities") or publishing a poem in support of Ukraine ("inciting hatred") In 2015, the fines for "extremist" content were raised to a maximum of 1 million rubles ($16,069).


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: From 2021 Russia Today was increasingly involved in tracking any independent media outlets and singling them out as "foreign agents". RT relied on its own investigations and also on work of "patriotic" activists such as Alexander Ionov and Vitaly Borodin.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In September 2021 OCCRP declared it will cease work in Russia as a significant number of journalists cooperating with OCCRP were harassed by the authorities.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The regulations about extremist content are being applied selectively: in October 2021 the "Republic" news website was fined by Roscomnadzor for mentioning the Taliban without making a mandatory remark about its "banned terrorist organization", while at the same time state media agency Rossiya Segodnya sent out an internal memo to its reporters to discontinue adding the same remark to their news, which was described by editor of "Republic" as "introduction of two parallel legal realities".


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: After Russia took control of Crimea, the Russian parliament passed a law making it a criminal offense to question Russia's territorial integrity within what the government considers its borders. A man named Andrei Bubayev was jailed for two years for reposting a picture of a toothpaste tube with the words "squeeze Russia out of yourself" and an article under the headline "Crimea is Ukraine" by a controversial blogger, who is in jail now, calling for military aggression against Russia.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The Russian-language edition of the popular bestseller 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari published in 2019 had references to the annexation of Crimea and Putin removed or replaced on the topic of fake news, with some other references to them changed. The author said that he gave permission to the changes. He said that he has allowed changes in other translations as certain examples "could deter those audiences or spur censorship on the part of certain regimes".


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: A number of people were fined after the 2014 law against the "rehabilitation of Nazism" which includes criminalising what is deemed to be false information about the Soviet Union that is intentionally spread. Putin and other officials have talked about the need to counter the "rewriting of history", opposing interpretations that differ from official narratives.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2021 a new law was proposed to regulate "educational activities" (Russian: "просветительская деятельность"), which would require government license for any kind of educational activity, including public or private lectures, podcasts, video lectures etc. The proposal caused a large outcry from scientific community, including petition signed by nearly 250'000 people. Lawmaker Valentina Matvienko defended the measures explaining they "can be defined in different ways and very broadly", which was precisely why the law was so controversial as critics pointed out that in the Russian practice law enforcement will be stretching it beyond any common sense and use for prosecution of free speech.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Russia was found to engage in selective Internet filtering in the political and social areas; no evidence of filtering was found in the conflict/security and Internet tools areas by the OpenNet Initiative in December 2010. Russia was on Reporters Without Borders list of countries under surveillance from 2010 to 2013 and was moved to the Internet Enemies list in 2014. On 31 March 2013, "The New York Times" reported that Russia was beginning 'Selectively Blocking [the] Internet'.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Social media platforms came under increased pressure in 2014. In April the founder of Vkontakte, Pavel Durov, announced he'd resign and leave the country due to FSB intimidation, after he refused to hand over the account data of Ukrainian activists. In September 2014 Vkontakte was taken over by mail.ru, owned by Kremlin-friendly businessman Alisher Usmanov.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Prosecutors in Russia have the custom of charging individuals – including journalists, bloggers, and whistle-blowers – with trumped-up criminal offenses including defamation, extremism, and other common criminal charges, as part of an effort to deter and limit their activities.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Judicial harassment of the blogger and politician Aleksey Navalny continued in 2014. Navalny was fined $8,400 in April for defaming a Moscow city councillor on Twitter. In December he was sentenced to three and a half years (with suspended sentence) together with his brother Oleg Navalny upon fraud charges. Roskomnadzor warned four media that reported on the sentence and relied a video of Navalny calling for demonstration, accusing them of inciting extremism.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The government has been using direct ownership, or ownership by large private companies with government links, to control or influence major national media and regional media outlets, especially television. There were reports of self-censorship in the television and print media, particularly on issues critical of the government.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: As to a 2016 Mediastandart Foundation survey, most of the Russian journalists feel that they are not free and independent, and believe that media owners undermine the independence of journalists. According to Alexey Kudrin, Russia's former Minister of Finance and current head of the Civil Initiative Committee, "in the regions, the number of independent media is progressively declining. The same happens on the federal level—major corporations and state institutions exercise influence on the media."


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In the 15 years after 1990 most of the Russian print media underwent a change of ownership. Many of them disappeared, others changed owners repeatedly. After the new Law on Mass Media was adopted in 1991, the first stage of privatization of the media market followed. The term "oligarchs", including "media oligarchs", started to be used specifically in Russia indicating powerful businessmen close to political power. The latter, made them the "chosen ones" in the redistribution of the country's wealth after the Soviet Union's dissolution. Since the election of Vladimir Putin in 1999, only oligarchs loyal to the government are able to maintain their control on strategic sectors of Russian economy and politic such as the information one.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Over 5 years between 2011 and 2016 the government forced changes of ownership over 12 significant newsrooms with all-country reach, all of them previously associated with honest and independent reporting. RBC, Forbes, Russian Media Group, TV2, Russkaya Planeta, REN TV, Grani.ru, Lenta.ru, Rain TV, RIA Novosti, Gazeta.ru and Kommersant were suppressed or taken over using different techniques - some of the, with government owned shares were completely disbanded and their resources passed to newly created bodies under control of state-approved managers (e.g. RIA Novosti), while Rain TV was forcibly removed from TV channels and only allowed to continue business as an Internet-only station.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: All but one national TV channel are fully or partially owned by the state. The last channel – NTV – is owned by Gazprom, in which the state has a controlling stake. The situation in the radio market is similar. Major information channels are somehow controlled by the state.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: As of 2009, the Russian government owns 60% of newspapers, and in whole or in part, all national television stations.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2008, the BBC has stated in recent years, that companies with close links to the Government, state-owned Gazprom among them, have bought several of the most influential papers.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: As to the IREX association Media Sustainability Index, in smaller cities, private independent media are often the only sources of local news, because local municipal newspapers publish only official information.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Russian antimonopoly regulation is still evolving, with many uncertainties and compliance challenges remaining. Many of the key provisions of the Competition Law are unclear and open to interpretation. For this reason, they require further interpretation by Russian courts.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Moreover, governmental control over media is in addition exercised through the distribution of state subsidies and advertising revenues.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Observers have noted the loss of the independence of national television stations. As stated by the BBC, two out of the three main federal channels Channel One and Russia TV are controlled by the government, since they are completely or partially owned by the Rosimuschestvo (the Federal Agency for State Property Management). Instead, state-controlled energy giant Gazprom owns NTV.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Russia TV (Rossiya) covers 98.5% of the country's territory and is state- owned. Channel One (Pervyj Kanal) covers 98.8% of Russia's territory and has a shared state and private ownership (51% state- 49% private). However, most of the private shareholders include National Media Group (controlled by the structures of Yuri Kovalchuk, chairman of the Board of Rossiya Bank, one of the largest banks in Russia, and Vladimir Putin's personal friend; and Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club and Putin's ally). NTV covers 84% of the national territory.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, "All three major television networks are now in the hands of Kremlin loyalists." Indeed, while "Rossiya TV" (Channel Russia) was state-owned since its foundation in 1991, major shareholders of ORT and NTV (Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky, respectively) sold their stocks to the government and Gazprom in 2000–2001. Moreover, TV6, a media outlet owned by Berezovsky, was closed in 2002 using a legal loophole. In 2003 TVS channel which was formed mainly of former NTV and TV6 was closed due to financial problems.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Along with that, plenty of media outlets actively develop now while state participation in them is minimal. There are private Russian TV networks with the broadcast cover reaching the majority of the Russia's population: REN TV (known for the daily analytical talk show with Tigran Keosayan, analytical news program "Week" with Marianna Maksimovskaya), TV Center ( known for "Postscriptum" with Aleksey Pushkov, "Moment of Truth" with Andrey Karaulov), Petersburg - Channel 5.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Liberal opposition TV-Channel RTVi owned by Vladimir Gusinsky is not broadcast in Russia, but available in that country through networks of cable and satellite television, MMDS and IPTV networks. A former editor of a program on that channel, Vladimir Kara-Murza, believes it is the merit of the RTVi that the possibility of a third presidential term of Vladimir Putin was prevented, and that the "backdoor political technologists" were made to "abide to the Constitution, albeit with the "Successor" operation".


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: On 29 January 2014, the largest Russian TV providers, after key politicians expressed their discontent, disconnected Dozhd channel in response to a survey on its website and in live "Dilettants" discussing program. The survey asked if Leningrad should have been surrendered to the invading Nazi army in order to save hundreds of thousands of lives.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Top state television channels frequently apply self-censorship, avoiding any controversial topics that might impact the public image of the authorities. For example, massive truck drivers protests across the country were never even mentioned in the First Channel in spite of wide coverage in local and independent media and requests of the viewers.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The situation in the radio market is similar. Major information channels are in one way or another controlled by the state. Only four Russian radios broadcast political talk shows: Mayak, Radio Rossii, Vesti FM, and Ekho Moskvy. Mayak, Vesti FM and Radio Rossii are state-owned (Rosimushchestvo), while Ekho Moskvy is owned by the state-controlled Gazprom Media. A complete list of the audiovisual services in Russia can be found in the MAVISE Database, made by the European Audiovisual Observatory. Such list includes the ownership of TV channels and on-demand services.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Kommersant-Vlast, Expert, and the New Times are weeklies that provide serious analysis of the current political issues. However, they are owned by oligarchs who openly support the government. Kommersant-Vlast is produced by Kommersant Publishing House that is owned by Alisher Usmanov. Expert is a part of Expert Media Holding that is owned by Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element and a Russian state corporation—Vnesheconombank.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Most popular websites, if they are not internationally owned such as Google and Facebook, are state-owned or owned by a couple of influential businessmen such as Alexander Mamut and Alisher Usmanov.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: A law signed in 2014 provided to limit foreign ownership stakes in any Russian media assets to 20% by early 2017. As a consequence, in 2015, the German Springer Publishing House sold the Russian edition of "Forbes", and Finland's Sanoma sold its stakes in the business newspaper "Vedomosti" and the English-language publication, "The Moscow Times". Russian media executives bought the stakes in both transactions. "The Moscow Times" subsequently switched from daily to weekly publication, and its chief editor resigned due to conflicts with the new owner. The new publisher of "Forbes" said that the magazine would carry fewer stories on politics and focus on business and economics.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: As reported by Clifford J. Levy in a 2008 "New York Times" article, all Vladimir Putin's opponents are being made to vanish from Russian television. They are blacklisted and not allowed to appear in television shows. In one example, a presentation critical of Putin's policies has been digitally erased. This is the case of Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky, two powerful Russian oligarchs in the 1990s. Berezovsky had invested in the former public broadcaster ORT's first channel while Gusinsky, created Russia's first independent TV station, NTV. After Putin's power takeover, the media owned by Berezovsky and Gusinsky were the first victims of this "purge." Tax controls, raids by armed men, searches and arrests forced their bosses to flee the country and to sell their media outlets.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: On 16 October 2009, "Kommersant" newspaper reported that the owner of private television channels REN TV and Channel 5 had made changes to the managing structures of the channels. Referring to an anonymous source, "Kommersant" stated that as the result these channels would cease to broadcast independent news; instead, since 2010 they would receive the news from the state channel RT (known as Russia Today until 2009). As "Kommersant" wrote, "the Channel 5 and REN-TV are the only Russian TV channels today whose editorial policy is different than state news. Only through these channels opposition politicians are aired, as well as other events adversed by authorities are reported." However, the head of a REN-TV analytical news program "Week" Marianna Maksimovskaya was quoted by "Kommersant" as saying she held optimistic about the new executive director of REN-TV and sure that its editorial policy would not be altered.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: On 19 October 2009, press secretary of REN-TV channel Nazarov asserted that REN-TV and Channel 5 will receive from the RT network "exclusively technological support", and the state channel will impose no influence on the informational part of the news.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: On 22 October 2009, Alexander Orjonikize, a former head of REN-TV, and now CEO of National Media Group that owns TV channels in question, said that while the possibility of partnership in order to produce more saturated and interesting news is discussed, "it's important to note that whatever business strategy would be chosen in that direction, editorial policy regarding news and its informational contents will not be altered."


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Channel 5 employs 1,700 people in Saint Petersburg. Its sales in 2009 accounted for US$20 million, while the expenditures exceeded 100 million. On 19 October 2009, employees of the TV channel published an open letter to the top Russian politicians, concerned over a possibility of mass dismissals. On 23 October 2009, CEO of NMG-TV Vladimir Khanumyan in an interview promised no mass dismissals will take place; he also commented that "Information about Russia Today is generally some misunderstanding. I don't even understand how could it be used in our project. It's the TV channel which makes programs for the abroad audience in English and Arab languages. How does that relate to Channel 5?"


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2016 leadership and top journalists of RBC media holding left the company following an investigation launched by the authorities into an alleged "fraud", which was widely associated with the non-mainstream coverage of political affairs and the government, including the latest Panama Papers publications on the wealth of Vladimir Putin. One journalist described the situation as "having a strong resemblance to the takeover of NTV in the early 2000s".


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2000, prior to the presidential election, Kommersant published a long document titled "The Reform of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation", allegedly leaked from the election committee of Vladimir Putin. The programme proposed a number of changes to government information policy, including strict centralization of mass media and suppression of criticism from both media as well as from opposition in Duma."The Directorate, setting a goal for itself, needs to act more effectively and actively than the opposition, must be harsher in its work and claims than the opposition, it must use sharper and more crushing facts. There should be no weakness or liberalism, there is no time left for this. For every claim directed against the Leadership of the country or its policy, the Presidential Press Center of the Administration must immediately answer. Operational information about the intentions of opposition forces to conduct political events comes to the Directorate. The Directorate implements all preemptive actions before the action to be conducted by the opposition, but in a beneficial "light" for the Presidential side".The document also offered a number of case studies and examples on how journalists or members of Duma exposing cases of corruption or suspicious purchases (e.g. foreign property) by members of the administration should be silenced with "preventive political actions", involving release of compromising personal details about the whistleblowers, journalists and protesters or organizing "spontaneous" counter-pickets in support of the administration. These methods were also applied to foreign journalists reporting from Russia and included ostensible surveillance, tapping of apartments and threats to relatives.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2006, President of Russia Vladimir Putin commented that in the period of 1990s freedom of press in Russia "was indeed under threat, not from the former state ideology that once held a monopoly on expression, but from the dictates of oligarchic capital". When asked about media freedom in 2006 interview with NBC TV channel, Putin replied: "We have more than 3,500 television and radio companies here in Russia and state participation in them is decreasing with every passing year. As for print media, there are more than 40,000 publications and we could not control them all even if we wanted to."


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In May 2008, the International Federation of Journalists welcomed signs of a "fresh start" in relations between the authorities and independent media in Russia.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In November 2008, state of the nation address President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev acknowledged problems with the Russian media:"[A]s was the case 20 years ago, the bureaucracy still does not trust free citizens and free activity. This logic pushes it into dangerous conclusions and acts. The bureaucracy from time to time casts fear over the business world, pressuring it to keep in line and not to take what they consider wrong action, takes control of this or that media outlet, trying to stop it from saying what they consider the wrong thing, meddles in the electoral process, preventing the election of what they consider the wrong person, and puts pressure on the courts, stopping them from handing down what they consider the wrong verdict."The policies adopted in that address answered that criticism the following way:"Ninth, parliamentary parties should have clear guarantees that their work will be covered by the state media.Tenth, freedom of speech should be backed up by technological innovation. Experience shows that it is practically of no use to persuade the bureaucrats to "leave the media in peace". Instead of persuading, we should work more actively to expand the free internet and digital television space. No bureaucrat can obstruct discussion on the internet or censor thousands of channels at once."In May 2009, a Federal Law "On Guarantees of Equality of Parliamentary Parties in Covering their Activities by the National State-Owned TV and Radio Channels" was adopted.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In his 2009 State of the Nation Address Dmitry Medvedev recommended all regions of the Russian Federation to pass laws on guarantees of equal media coverage of activity of parties represented in regional parliaments.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2007, a report by professor of politics Nicolai N. Petro asserted that foreign companies owned shares in over half of all Russian broadcasting companies and not the state. According to him, the Russian state's share in the newspaper and journal market is estimated to be less than 10%, while its share in electronic media is even smaller.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Russian head of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs Konstantin Kosachev said in a 2005 interview that there were no differences between freedom of speech in Russia and Western countries in regards to the printed media: "there is an enormous amount of newspapers which write any sort of stuff." Speaking of electronic media, he acknowledged that they were mainly under the control of the authorities, but added that that's not a specifically Russian phenomenon.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: According to the BBC, the Russian newspaper market offers its consumers a more diverse range of views than those same consumers can sample on the country's leading television channels.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: According to Vedomosti newspaper, in 2009 Rupert Murdoch's corporation failed to sell its three popular Russian radio stations because it didn't manage to find buyers for them.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The Russian military intervention in Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea, in 2014, led to a reinforcement of propaganda and disinformation from state-owned media outlets, including by alteration or misidentification of images, stories distortion (e.g. Crucified boy reportage) or invented from scratch. According to the war reporter Arkadiy Babchenko, Russian mass media played a significant role in actually starting the war in Donbas stating that "this is the first war in history started exclusively by Goebbels-like propaganda".


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Independent coverage of war-related issues led to official pressures on media outlets. Lenta.ru was warned by "Roskomnadzor" in March 2014 after publishing an interview with a member of Right Sector; the following day the owner replaced the editor with a pro-governmental one, and 40 employees resigned in protest. In October 2014, Ekho Moskvy was warned by Roskomnadzor after airing first-hand testimonies of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, allegedly "justifying war crimes".


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In March 2016 Sergey Shoygu when speaking at a Russian media prize ceremony described information in general as "yet another weapon, yet another unit of the Armed Forces. These weapons can be used for good or bad".


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The Russian censorship apparatus "Roskomnadzor" ordered media organizations to delete stories that describe the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine as an "assault", "invasion", or a "declaration of war". "Roskomnadzor" launched an investigation against the "Novaya Gazeta", Echo of Moscow, inoSMI, MediaZona, "New Times", Dozhd (TV Rain), and other Russian media outlets for publishing "inaccurate information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities and civilian casualties in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian Army". On 1 March 2022, Russian authorities blocked access to Echo of Moscow and Dozhd, Russia's last independent TV station, claiming that they were spreading "deliberately false information about the actions of Russian military personnel" as well as "information calling for extremist activity" and "violence". Additionally, "Roskomnadzor" threatened to block access to the Russian Wikipedia in Russia over the article "" ("Russia's invasion of Ukraine (2022)"), claiming that the article contains "illegally distributed information", including "reports about numerous casualties among service personnel of the Russian Federation and also the civilian population of Ukraine, including children".


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: On 4 March 2022, President Putin signed into law a bill introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations, leading to some media outlets to stop reporting on Ukraine.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: On 4 March 2022, "Roskomnadzor" blocked access to several foreign media outlets, including BBC News Russian, Voice of America, RFE/RL, Deutsche Welle and Meduza, as well as Facebook and Twitter.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Novaya Gazeta and its editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov, Dozhd and its CEO Natalya Sindeyeva filed an application against Russia (No.11884/22) with the European Court of Human Rights. On 3 March 2022, Dmitry Muratov requested urgent interim measures, namely, to indicate to the Russian Government not to interfere with lawful activity of Russian mass media, including Novaya Gazeta, covering the armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine, in particular, to refrain from blocking information items and materials containing opinions different from the official point of view of the Russian authorities; and to abstain from full blocking and termination of the activity of Russian mass media, including Novaya Gazeta. On 8 March 2022, the European Court of Human Rights indicated to the Government of Russia to abstain until further notice from actions and decisions aimed at full blocking and termination of the activities of Novaya Gazeta, and from other actions that in the current circumstances could deprive Novaya Gazeta of the enjoyment of its rights guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: On 5 April 2022, the Denis Diderot Committee launched a call for EU and EUTELSAT IGO sanctions against NTV Plus (Gazprom Media Holding) and Tricolor, two Russian pay-TV platforms operating on Eutelsat 36 E satellites arguing that 8 international news channels were cancelled of the offer in the context of the war in Ukraine.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: According to the World Press Freedom Review 2008 by International Press Institute, the pressure on Russian independent media outlets and their employees increased considerably in 2007. The government use variety of methods to control of broadcasters, to sideline critical journalists, and to intimidate them into self-censorship.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: According to International Press Institute, even bolder publications have to curtail their coverage to avoid problems with the authorities.Selective use of bureaucratic regulations were employed to inhibit media outlets, vague laws were passed to restrict independent activities, politically motivated criminal investigations against critics were used, independent journalists were imprisoned on trumped-up charges and their media outlets were closed, controlling interests in independent news outlets were purchased, aggressive harassment of journalists by security services took place and the failure to bring justice in the murders of journalists and in other violent attacks against the press prevailed.In 2016, the PEN association concluded that using a combination of methods including taking control over large media companies and TV channels and selective and flexible usage of newly introduced laws, the government has acquired practical control over what is published in mass-media in Russia:Although the press has not given in without a struggle and some key independent outlets, reporters, and editors continue to speak and publish, state television and a limited selection of other "loyal" outlets dominate today’s Russian media landscape. With the mainstream press increasingly toeing the Kremlin line, government restrictions have expanded to encroach upon other cultural spaces and modes of expression, including social activism, literature, art, and theater.While there are provisions in the Russian Constitution that guarantee freedom of speech and specifically forbid censorship, the practical execution of numerous legal acts and dependence of courts results in practically unlimited control of the government over what is published and where. The laws in question are the anti-extremism laws, law on protection of children from harmful information, law on insult to religious believers, foreign agents law and undesirable organisations law. An important role in the censorship system is played by Roskomnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications), an institution that- according to PEN- "has reawakened people’s internal editors – the voice in your head that consciously or unconsciously makes you question what you are writing or publishing: does this cross the line? Will this get me in trouble?"


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: According to an expert, the expulsion of competitive political actors from media ownership has gradually led to the depoliticisation of media content. Depoliticization of media content, however, led to its patriotisation as well.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: On 25 November 2017, Putin signed into law new measures allowing authorities to list foreign media outlets as "foreign agents", comparing it to the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act requirement that forces Russia Today to register as a Russian foreign agent in the U.S. The law allows Moscow to force foreign media to brand their own news provided to Russians as the work of "foreign agents". The law started to be enforced on large scale in 2020 and 2021, when a number of media outlets have received orders to include large "foreign agent" statement in the beginning of their publications. The media has been chosen inconsistently from the point of view of the law, which lists foreign financing and political activity as primary criteria — some media that fall within these criteria have not received orders (these were pro-Kremlin media), while some organisations like Memorial that do not engage in political activity were designated as "foreign agents". Most notable independent media that received orders were Meduza and Dozhd, even though their "foreign funding" was limited to advertising contracts.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: As stated by IPI, the Russian Government use selectively politicized regulations and bureaucratic harassment to inhibit media outlets. Main legal tools used here are anti-extremism laws (described above) and foreign agents law.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2008, Amnesty International criticized the run-up to parliamentary and presidential elections as "a clampdown on the freedoms of assembly and expression", stating that "the authorities have violently dispersed some opposition demonstrations, while pro-government events have gone ahead without interference."


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2015, PolitPress initiated a database of various forms of repression applied to journalists and activists in Russia, counting overall 302 of those subject to various forms of repression, including 17 journalists. Memorial has published a list of political prisoners in Russia, that also includes journalists.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Russia's Law on Providing Access to Information on the Activities of State Bodies and Bodies of Local Self-Government, was enacted by the lower house of the legislature (State Duma) on 21 January 2009. The law positively guarantees the rights of Russian citizens to request and receive information, outlines a procedure for such requests, and determines government responsibility for providing such information. Such adoption was welcomed by the Human Rights Committee of United Nations in 2009.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: However, even if the right to information is also legally guaranteed in Russia by the first Article of the Russian Law on Mass Media (27 December 1991) and by Article 29 of the 1993 Constitution, the realm of information is characterized by secrecy rather than openness. The Law on Mass Media assigns a direct right to receive information only to mass media, while Russian citizens have the right to receive reliable information on the state activities and representatives via the mass media (Art. 38.1). State officials, in turn, are obliged to inform the media about their activities: on demand, but also actively.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: According to the Global Right to Information Rating (GRIR), the Russian legal framework (including jurisprudence) does not recognise a fundamental right of access to information. The GRIR appointed score 1 to Russia, where 6 is the maximum possible score with regard to the right to access information. However, when considered together with the scope and the requesting procedures provided by the Russian Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the GRIR assigned Russia a total score of 98, out of the maximum score of 150. The Penal Code (Art. 144) fixes high penalties for unlawful refusal of information and for hindering the professional activity of journalists. The right to access public information is particularly undermined by the legal exception valid for refusing the information's disclosure, namely the category of "confidential information" (commercial, state, or military secrets) is open to wide interpretations. The Law "on state secrets" was adopted on 21 July 1993 (amended in October 1997). In addition to a list of categories of information that could be classified as state secrets, the President of Russia can elaborate and approve such list through the publication of a public decree.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Svetlana Mironyuk commented to Vasily Gatov that Russian media since the early 2000s is divided into three groups: outsiders, our guys, and in-betweeners.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2015, the FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation), the principal security agency of Russia, proposed a new regulation that will restrict access to public property registers, that were previously frequently used by whistle-blowers to expose multimillion-dollar mansions belonging to public officials who could not afford them from their official salary. The regulation was proposed shortly after the media exposed an undeclared mansion belonging to FSB vice-director Sergey Smirnov using the public registers. In the same year, a group of deputies proposed a new law that would penalize "anti-Russian" or "anti-patriotic" statements. The law was criticized as unconstitutional and vague due to lack of definition of what these terms would really mean.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Another regulation enacted in 2015 is based on the European right to be forgotten concept, but without any of the safeguards for the public interest and freedom of speech. According to some experts, the regulation's scope is to silence publications about specific corrupted politicians, even if the accusations were true and confirmed in courts. Public land registers were also anonymized to hide names of property owners after they were frequently used by watchdogs to question unexplainable wealth of public officers.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2015, the non-profit association RosOtvet, launched an online service to facilitate requests for information to authorities.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Beyond the duty to disclose public information upon request, public authorities in Russia have an affirmative obligation to publish information (i.e. proactive disclosure). Such information consists in:


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Proactive disclosure of information by public bodies is provided by a series of laws, many of them aimed at contrasting corruption. One of them is the Russian Federation Federal Law "On providing access to information on the activities of state bodies and local governments", adopted by the State Duma on 21 January 2009.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: The Russian legislation provides several ways for government bodies to publish their open data: it can be done through the federal Open Data Portal ("data.gov.ru"), dedicating a section on a government body's own official website or on a special open data portal, regional or municipal.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: In 2016, the association Infometer has audited open data of 166 websites belonging to administrations of the largest Russian cities, those populated over 100,000. This study revealed that most cities' administrations do not publish open data:


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: 73 out of the 166 cities under survey do publish open data. They observe the requirements on open data publication for 47.9%.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: Infometer, from July to October 2014, made an audit of compliance of various level courts' official websites with the Federal Law "On Providing Access to Information on the Activities of Courts in the Russian Federation" No. 262-FZ from 22 Dec 2008. The experts focused on the openness of information on Russian general jurisdiction courts' activities, focusing on online publication of templates for documents used for filing applications to courts. The results showed that, with regard to the Supreme Court of Russia, information is available at 24.1%. Referring to Regional Court, out of the 85 examined their openness level appears to be 42.4%. Finally, with regard to First Instance courts, their openness was 31%.


title: Media freedom in Russia

text: With regard to open data, as to 2015 the Infometer association calculated that 69 Russian regions publish open data and for 36.6% at average regions observe requirements for open data publication. Most of these open data are published in the governmental field.


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb al-Zurʿī l-Dimashqī l-Ḥanbalī (29 January 1292–15 September 1350 CE / 691 AH–751 AH), commonly known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya ("The son of the principal of [the school of] Jawziyyah") or Ibn al-Qayyim ("Son of the principal"; ابن القيّم) for short, or reverentially as Imam Ibn al-Qayyim in Sunni tradition, was an important medieval Islamic jurisconsult, theologian, and spiritual writer. Belonging to the Hanbali school of orthodox Sunni jurisprudence, of which he is regarded as "one of the most important thinkers," Ibn al-Qayyim was also the foremost disciple and student of Ibn Taymiyyah, with whom he was imprisoned in 1326 for dissenting against established tradition during Ibn Taymiyyah's famous incarceration in the Citadel of Damascus.


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Of humble origin, Ibn al-Qayyim's father was the principal ("qayyim") of the School of Jawziyya, which also served as a court of law for the Hanbali judge of Damascus during the time period. Ibn al-Qayyim went on to become a prolific scholar, producing a rich corpus of "doctrinal and literary" works. As a result, numerous important Muslim scholars of the Mamluk period were among Ibn al-Qayyim's students or, at least, greatly influenced by him, including, amongst others, the Shafi historian Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373), the Hanbali hadith scholar Ibn Rajab (d. 795/1397), and the Shafi polymath Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852/1449). In the present day, Ibn al-Qayyim's name has become a controversial one in certain quarters of the Islamic world due to his popularity amongst many adherents of the Sunni movements of Salafism and Wahhabism, who see in his criticisms of such widespread orthodox Sunni practices of the medieval period as the veneration of saints and the veneration of their graves and relics a classical precursor to their own perspective.


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Muhammad Ibn Abī Bakr Ibn Ayyub Ibn Sa'd Ibn Harīz Ibn Makkī Zayn al-Dīn al-Zur'ī (), al-Dimashqi (الدمشقي), with kunya of Abu Abdullah (أبو عبد الله), called Shams al-Dīn ( شمس الدین). He is usually known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, after his father Abu Bakr Ibn Sa'd al-Zur'ī who was the superintendent ("qayyim") of the Jawziyyah Madrasah, the Hanbali law college in Damascus.


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: While the main teacher Ibn al-Qayyim studied from was the scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, he also studied under a number of other scholars including his father, Abu Bakr ibn Ayoub, Ibn 'Abd Al Da'im, Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī, and Safi Al-Din Al-Hindi. Ibn al-Qayyim began studying under Ibn Taymiyyah at the age of 21 (1313-1328, after the latter moved back to Damascus from Cairo, and he stayed studying with him and being a close companion of his until Ibn Taymiyyah passed away in 1328 CE. As a result of this 16-year union, he shared many of his teacher's views on various issues, though his approach in dealing with other scholars has been seen as being less polemic.


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Ibn al-Qayyim was imprisoned with his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah from 1326 until 1328, when Ibn Taymiyyah died and Ibn al-Qayyim was released. According to the historian al-Maqrizi, two reasons led to his arrest: the first was a sermon Ibn al-Qayyim had delivered in Jerusalem in which he decried the visitation of holy graves, including the Prophet Muhammad's grave in Medina, the second was his agreement with Ibn Taymiyyah's view on the matter of divorce, which


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: The campaign to have Ibn al-Qayyim imprisoned was led by Shafi'i and Maliki scholars, and was also joined by the Hanbali and Hanafi judges.


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Whilst in prison Ibn al-Qayyim busied himself with the Qur'an. According to Ibn Rajab, Ibn al-Qayyim made the most of his time of imprisonment: the immediate result of his delving into the Qur'an while in prison was a series of mystical experiences (described as dhawq, direct experience of the divine mysteries, and mawjud, ecstasy occasioned by direct encounter with the Divine Reality).


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya wrote a lengthy spiritual commentary on a treatise written by the Hanbali Sufi Khwaja Abdullah Ansari entitled "Madarij al-Salikin".


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: He expressed his love and appreciation for Ansari in this commentary with his statement ""Certainly I love the Sheikh, but I love the truth more!"'. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya refers to Ansari with the honorific title ""Sheikh al-Islam"" in his work "Al-Wabil al-Sayyib min al-Kalim al-Tayyab".


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Ibn al-Qayyim died at the age of 60 years, 5 months, and 5 days, on the 13th night of Rajab, 751 AH (September 15, 1350 CE), and was buried besides his father at the Bab al-Saghīr Cemetery.


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Like his teacher Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim, supported broad powers for the state and prosecution. He argued, for example, "that it was often right to punish someone of lowly status" who alleged improper behavior by someone "more respectable."


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Ibn Qayyim "formulated evidential theories" that made judges "less reliant than ever before on the oral testimony." One example was the establishment of a child's paternity by experts scrutinizing the faces of "a child and its alleged father for similarities". Another was in determining impotence. If a woman sought a divorce on the grounds of her husband's impotence and her husband contested the claim, a judge might obtain a sample of the husband's ejaculate. According to Ibn Qayyim "only genuine semen left a white residue when boiled".


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: In interrogating the accused, Ibn Qayyim believed that testimony could be beaten out of suspects if they were "disreputable".


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: This was in contrast to the majority of Islamic jurists who had always acknowledged "that alleged sinners were entitled to remain silent if accused." Attorney and author Sadakat Kadri states that, "as a matter of straightforward history, torture had originally been forbidden by Islamic jurisprudence." Ibn Qayyim however, believed that "the Prophet Muhammad, the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and other Companions" would have supported his position.


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah opposed alchemy and divination of all varieties, but was particularly opposed to astrology, whose practitioners dared to "think they could know secrets locked within the mystery of God's supreme and all-embracing wisdom." In fact, those who believed that human personalities and events were influenced by heavenly bodies, were "the most ignorant of people, the most in error and the furthest from humanity ... the most ignorant of people concerning his soul and its creator".


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: In his "Miftah Dar al-Sa'adah", in addition to denouncing the astrologers as worse than infidels, he uses empirical arguments to refute the practice of alchemy and astrology along with the theories associated with them, such as divination and the transmutation of metals, for example arguing:


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Although Ibn al-Qayyim is sometimes characterized today as an unabashed enemy of Islamic mysticism, it is historically known that he actually had a “great interest in Sufism,” which arose out of his vast exposure to the practice given Sufism's integral role in orthodox Islamic life at his time. Some of his major works, such as "Madārij, Ṭarīq al-hijratayn" ("Path of the Two Migrations") and "Miftāḥ dār al-saʿāda" ("Key to the Joyous Dwelling"), "are devoted almost entirely to Sufi themes," yet allusions to such "themes are found in nearly all his writings," including in such influential works of spiritual devotion such as "al-Wābil al-Ṣayyib", a highly important treatise detailing the importance of the practice of dhikr, and his revered "magnum opus", "Madārij al-sālikīn" ("The Wayfarers' Stages"), which is an extended commentary on a work written by the eleventh-century Hanbalite saint and mystic Abdullah Ansari, whom Ibn al-Qayyim referred to reverentially as "Shaykh al-Islām." In all such writings, it is evident Ibn al-Qayyim wrote to address "those interested in Sufism in particular and ... 'the matters of the heart' ... in general," and proof of this lies in the fact that he states, in the introduction to his short book "Patience and Gratitude", "This is a book to benefit kings and princes, the wealthy and the indigent, Sufis and religious scholars; (a book) to inspire the sedentary to set out, accompany the wayfarer on the Way ("al-sā'ir fī l-ṭariq") and inform the one journeying towards the Goal." Some scholars have compared Ibn al-Qayyim's role to that of Ghazali two-hundred years prior, in that he tried "rediscover and restate the orthodox roots of Islam's interior dimension."


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: It is also true, however, that Ibn al-Qayyim did indeed share some of his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah's more negative sentiments towards what he perceived to be excesses in mystical practice. For example, he felt that the pervasive and powerful influence the works of Ibn Arabi had begun to wield over the entire Sunni world was leading to errors in doctrine. As a result, he rejected Ibn Arabi's concept of wahdat al-wajud or the "oneness of being, " and opposed, moreover, some of the more extreme "forms of Sufism that had gained currency particularly in the new seat of Muslim power, Mamluk Egypt and Syria." That said, he never condemned Sufism outright, and his many works bear witness, as it has been noted above, to the immense reverence in which he held the vast majority of Sufi tradition. In this connection, it is also significant that Ibn al-Qayyim followed Ibn Taymiyyah in "consistently praising" the early spiritual master al-Junayd, one of the most famous saints in the Sufi tradition, as well as "other early spiritual masters of Baghdad who later became known as 'sober' Sufis." As a matter of fact, Ibn al-Qayyim did not condemn the ecstatic Sufis either, regarding their mystical outbursts as signs of spiritual "weakness" rather than heresy. Ibn al-Qayyim's highly nuanced position on this matter led to his composing apologies for the ecstatic outbursts of several early Sufis, just as many Sufis had done so before him.


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Ibn Qayyim prohibited congratulating Christians on their religious celebrations, comparing such congratulations to endorsing the belief of Jesus as son of the God.


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Ibn Qayyim was respected by a number of scholars during and after his life. Ibn Kathir stated that Ibn al-Qayyim,


title: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

text: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah's contributions to the Islamic library are extensive, and they particularly deal with the Qur'anic commentaries, and understanding and analysis of the prophetic traditions ("Fiqh-us Sunnah") (فقه ). He "wrote about a hundred books", including:


title: Maria Maria

text: "Maria Maria" is a song by American rock band Santana featuring the Product G&B, included on Santana's 18th studio album, "Supernatural" (1999). The song was written by Wyclef Jean, Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis, Carlos Santana, Karl Perazzo, and Raul Rekow while Jean and Duplessis produced it. The track samples the drum beat from "God Make Me Funky" by American jazz fusion band the Headhunters, and the melody riff was inspired by the Wu-Tang Clan song "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta Fuck Wit". Interspersed with guitars and other strings, "Maria Maria" is driven by a hip hop beat. At the 2000 Grammy Awards, the song won for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, before it experienced commercial success.


title: Maria Maria

text: "Maria Maria" was released on September 14, 1999, to American urban radio and was issued across the world throughout the following year. It reached number one in Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. In the US, it stayed at the top of the "Billboard" Hot 100 for 10 weeks and reached number one on two other "Billboard" listings. In 2009, it was named the 14th-most-successful song from 2000 to 2009 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 Songs of the Decade. Nine years later, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Hot 100 chart, "Billboard" compiled its list of the top songs since the inception of the chart in various categories; "Maria Maria" came in at number 122 on this ranking.


title: Maria Maria

text: "Maria Maria" was written by Wyclef Jean, Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis, Carlos Santana, Karl Perazzo, and Raul Rekow. Jean and Duplessis conceived the song with Carlos Santana while Jean's previous musical group, Fugees, was on tour in San Francisco. During a "Drink Champs" podcast interview, Jean said that he came up with the song's composition by reworking by a 1993 Wu-Tang Clan song titled "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta Fuck Wit", borrowing the instrumental that plays during the title lyrics. The track also samples the drum beat from the Headhunters' song "God Make Me Funky" from their 1975 debut album, "Survival of the Fittest". Jean asked the Product G&B, a musical duo composed of Marvin Moore and David McRae, to sing on the track after the two had telephoned a nearby music studio in New York to speak to a friend. Rapper and Fugees member Pras Michel answered the call, at which point Moore and McRae immediately decided to meet him at the studio. Jean soon added the duo to his record label, Yclef.


title: Maria Maria

text: Jean and Duplessis produced "Maria Maria" while the Product G&B provide the lead vocals. Musically, "Maria Maria" is a hip hop song with Latin influences, punctuated by Spanish guitars during the verses and Carlos Santana's electric guitar during the post-choruses, climaxing at the bridge. Tom Breihan of online publication "Stereogum" called the recording a "rap song [...] with no actual rapping". The lyrics of the song describe a woman named Maria who observes the tumultuous circumstances of the world around her and wishes for more pleasurable existence. Carlos Santana sings additional vocals, performing the ""Ahora vengo mama chula"" chants, as does Jean, who came up with his intermittent lyrics by freestyling. Duplessis plays the bass guitar while he and Jean collaborated on the drum programming. Additional instrumentalists who contributed to the recording include Jeremy Cohen on violin, Daniel Seidenberg and Hari Balakrishnan on viola, and Joseph Hébert on cello. The track was mixed, engineered, and mastered at three studios in New York City and at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California.


title: Maria Maria

text: "Maria Maria" first appeared as the seventh track on "Supernatural", which was released in the United States on June 15, 1999. Three months later, Arista Records serviced the song to US urban radio on September 14, 1999, three weeks after previous single "Put Your Lights On" was sent to rock-oriented radio. The same month, rhythmic contemporary stations picked up the song, followed by contemporary hit radio in November. On January 25, 2000, the song was issued in the US as a CD single, a maxi-CD single, a cassette single, and a 7-inch vinyl single. The CD and cassette contain a remix of "Maria Maria" by Jean plus "Migra", the eighth track on "Supernatural". The maxi-CD includes additional remixes while the 7-inch single has the album's lead single, "Smooth", as its B-side.


title: Maria Maria

text: In Europe, a two-track CD single and a maxi-CD were distributed, with the latter format issued on February 7, 2000. Both formats contain various mixes and instrumentals of "Maria Maria". The maxi-CD was also issued in Australia. In the United Kingdom, the single was due to be released in late June 2000 to coincide with Santana's tour there, but it was delayed several times. It was eventually issued on July 24 as a CD and cassette containing the radio mix of the track plus Jean's remix and the Pumpin' Dolls remix.


title: Maria Maria

text: On October 23, 1999, "Billboard" reviewed the song, preferring the original version over the Wyclef remix and writing that it "sounds cooler than an autumn breeze on the airwaves", noting that its simplistic nature does not detract from the quality and pointing out that its classic yet modern sound works well. British columnist James Masterton referred to the track as a "perfect summertime soundtrack" and called Jean's contributions to the track "unmistakable". In February 2000, before the song became a commercial success, it won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, one of the eight awards Santana accrued for that night. Ultimate Santana wrote that the song's drum loop is montonous and called the electric guitar riffs messy, noting that "Maria Maria" would have been a "royal mess" had another team handled production, but went on to describe the song as "charming" and "infectious" with nicely performed vocals. In August 2022, Breihan reviewed the single for his "The Number Ones" column, giving the track a grade of 6 out of 10. He wrote that the song's beat and chants are the most engrossing parts of the composition, but the track does not live up to expectations, concluding, "It ultimately sounds like little more than a brand extension for all the parties involved, and that's really what it was."


title: Maria Maria

text: On the "Billboard" Hot 100, "Maria Maria" debuted at number 15 on the chart dated February 12, 2000, becoming that week's highest debut with 55,000 sales. The following week, the song jumped to number eight, giving Santana two simultaneous top-10 hits, along with "Smooth", which was at number five. After rising above "Smooth" on February 26, the song took five more issues to reach number one, garnering 102,500 weekly sales on April 8. It topped the chart for 10 weeks, dropping to number eight on June 17, and stayed on the Hot 100 for 26 weeks in total. On other "Billboard" rankings, the song reached number one on the Maxi-Singles Sales chart for four weeks and on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart for three weeks. It also peaked at number two on the Mainstream Top 40, number seven on the Rhythmic listing, and number 12 on the Adult Top 40. At the end of 2000, "Billboard" ranked the song at three on its year-end edition, and in 2009, the same publication placed the track at number 14 on its decade-end ranking. In 2018, the Hot 100 published an all-time chart for its 60th anniversary, on which "Maria Maria" appeared at number 122. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the song a platinum disc in March 2000, denoting shipments of one million units.


title: Maria Maria

text: In Canada, "Maria Maria" peaked atop the "RPM" 100 Hit Tracks chart on April 17, 2000, and also appeared on the Adult Contemporary Tracks and Top 30 Dance rankings. In Europe, "Maria Maria" was the second-best-selling single of 2000, topping the Eurochart Hot 100. The song stayed at number one in Switzerland for five weeks, earned a platinum certification from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), and came in at number two on the country's year-end chart for 2000. In Sweden, the single reached number one for two weeks, while in both France and Germany, it remained atop the charts for four weeks. It also reached number one in Hungary in March 2000. Elsewhere in continental Europe, the song entered the top 10 in nine other nations, including Austria, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Belgium's Wallonia region, where it entered the top three. In the Czech Republic and Spain, the single achieved top-20 placings. In July 2000, the song debuted and peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart and at number 21 on the Irish Singles Chart. The song also charted in Australia and New Zealand, topping off at number 49 in both countries and spending two non-consecutive weeks within the top 50 on both national charts.


title: Maria Maria

text: The video starts zooming onto Carlos Santana and the Product G&B as they are performing outdoors to a group of people partying. Cut scenes include Santana playing the guitar. The focus is then put on a girl the viewers may assume is Maria. She is looking in the mirror and later joins the party. In January 2000, MTV and BET added the video to their playlists.


title: Maria Maria

text: "Maria Maria" became such a success that Carlos Santana worked together with chef Roberto Santibañez and California business Dudum Sports and Entertainment to open a restaurant chain named after the song. The menu, created by Santibañez, contains tradition Mexican food with alternations, containing meals such as mushroom fajitas, coconut ceviche, and guacamole made from seafood. Only four of these restaurants are operational, with two in northern California, one in Arizona, and one in Texas. Five artists were recruited to design the restaurants' decor.


title: Maria Maria

text: In 2017, "Maria Maria" was sampled by DJ Khaled on his song "Wild Thoughts", which features Rihanna and Bryson Tiller. This single reached the top 10 in many countries, peaking at number one on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy is a 2018 American science fiction action film directed by Don Michael Paul. It is the fourth and final film in the "Death Race" remake series and a direct sequel to the 2008 film "Death Race". The film was released on DVD and digitally on October 2, 2018.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: A privatized security firm runs the Sprawl, a massive prison housing around 420,000 inmates. Inside, the popular Death Race competition (a last-man-standing competition where inmates race modified cars armed with heavy weapons) has been made illegal by the new warden who was hired by the prison's owner, Weyland International. He has been tasked with taking out Frankenstein, the prison's Death Race champion and king.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: After defeating a competitor in a Death Race, Frankenstein arrives at an afterparty. A prison SWAT team attempts to take him out. They kill several convicts in the area but are eventually cornered and butchered by Frankenstein's loyal inmate army. Frankenstein speaks to the warden through one of their body cameras, saying that he will kill every man the warden sends to kill him. The warden is admonished by his boss, a Weyland International executive, for failing to kill Frankenstein, and warns him that he has one last chance.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: A helicopter of new prisoners flies over the Sprawl and a guard explains the rules of the land. They are each given a roll of silver coins to help make their way in the prison. Immediately upon landing, "the Cops," a prison gang run by Death Racer Johnny Law, come upon the new inmates and kill most of them. Two survive but refuse to hand over their coins. They defeat the entire gang, demonstrating unusually skillful technique, and go their separate ways.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: The male inmate, Connor, is picked up by a group of women who see his impressive fight. He tells them he is looking for Baltimore Bob, a name he overheard while on the helicopter, who supposedly runs the Death Races. They take him to a bar run by Frankenstein, where Johnny Law is about to be killed for failing to get all the coins from the new inmates. Connor defeats two more of Frankenstein's henchmen and Frankenstein confronts him personally. Though they do not fight, Connor shows no fear or respect for Frankenstein in their exchange. The bartender, Jane, connects Connor with Baltimore Bob who also witnessed his fight.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: Baltimore Bob takes Connor around the prison and they discuss the Death Races. They attend a qualifying match for the Death Race at the Death Pit, where riders on motorcycles must avoid obstacles and traps in order to survive. The other inmate who fought the Cops upon landing, Gipsy Rose, wins the qualifying match. That night, Jane once again sees Connor and brings him to her house. They talk about how they got into the Sprawl. She assumes he wishes to sleep with her, but Connor refuses to her surprise.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: The next day, Connor tells Baltimore Bob that he wants to be in a Death Race. His qualifying match is a footrace to a tower, which he must climb to claim the keys to a car. He fights his way to the tower and gets the keys, only to find that now he must face the Butcher, a huge man carrying a sledgehammer and sickle. Connor gruesomely defeats him and Frankenstein tells his concubine Carley to bring Connor to him. In the shower, Carley makes a pass at Connor, which he again refuses. Frankenstein tells him that if he wins the Death Race, he will become king of the Sprawl, and asks if he is ready for that responsibility. After the meeting, Connor goes to see Jane again. This time, they appear to begin a relationship.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: Connor begins construction of his Death Racer with Baltimore Bob. The woman who picked him up after his fight with the Cops asks to be his co-pilot, to which he reluctantly agrees. He spends the night before the Death Race with Jane again, telling her that before he got to prison, he had nothing to care about, and implies that now he cares only for her.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: The next morning, he sees the entire prison descending on Jane's house. He goes outside and is confronted by Frankenstein, who reveals to the whole prison that Connor is actually Sergeant Connor Gibson, a special operative sent inside to kill him. He declares that Connor will be allowed to compete in the Death Race, but many are angered by this betrayal and wish him dead.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: As the Death Racers arrive at the starting line, Frankenstein reveals that his new co-pilot will be a captive Jane, whom he is using as an "insurance policy" against Connor. Throughout the Death Race, competitors are taken out one by one, until only Connor, Frankenstein, Johnny Law and Gipsy Rose remain. Connor, in last, gets rerouted by Baltimore Bob. He performs a near impossible jump of 250 feet over a downed bridge and gets right back behind Frankenstein. Johnny Law is eliminated and Gipsy Rose is in third.


title: Death Race: Beyond Anarchy

text: During the final stretch, Connor runs out of gas. Frankenstein turns around and Jane begs him not to kill Connor. Frankenstein drives at Connor and his co-pilot; they fire a missile at him with no effect. At the last second, Gipsy Rose T-bones Frankenstein. Connor rushes to help Jane and Gipsy Rose gets out and shoots Frankenstein, killing him. She tells Connor that a helicopter will be there to pick them up soon; he realizes that she is also a special agent. Connor, now torn between his past life and his new one with Jane, decides to stay. Baltimore Bob tells him to put on the mask, become Frankenstein and run the Sprawl. He takes Frankenstein's coat and mask, wins the Death Race and presumably stays at the Sprawl.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (, ; January 1, 1798 – April 14, 1861) was one of the last great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting. He was a member of the Utagawa school.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: The range of Kuniyoshi's subjects included many genres: landscapes, beautiful women, Kabuki actors, cats, and mythical animals. He is known for depictions of the battles of legendary samurai heroes. His artwork incorporated aspects of Western representation in landscape painting and caricature.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: Kuniyoshi was born on January 1, 1798, the son of a silk-dyer, Yanagiya Kichiyemon, originally named Yoshisaburō. Apparently he assisted his father's business as a pattern designer, and some have suggested that this experience influenced his rich use of color and textile patterns in prints. It is said that Kuniyoshi was impressed, at an early age of seven or eight, by ukiyo-e warrior prints, and by pictures of artisans and commoners (as depicted in craftsmen manuals), and it is possible these influenced his own later prints.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: Yoshisaburō proved his drawing talents at age 12, quickly attracting the attention of the famous ukiyo-e print master Utagawa Toyokuni. He was officially admitted to Toyokuni's studio in 1811, and became one of his chief pupils. He remained an apprentice until 1814, at which time he was given the name "Kuniyoshi" and set out as an independent artist. During this year he produced his first published work, the illustrations for the "kusazōshi" "gōkan" "Gobuji Chūshingura", a parody of the original Chūshingura story. Between 1815 and 1817 he created a number of book illustrations for "yomihon", "kokkeibon", "gōkan" and "hanashibon", and printed his stand-alone full color prints of "kabuki" actors and warriors.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: Despite his promising debut, the young Kuniyoshi failed to produce many works between 1818 and 1827, probably due to a lack of commissions from publishers, and the competition of other artists within the Utagawa school (Utagawa-"ryū"). However, during this time he did produce pictures of beautiful women ('bijin-ga') and experimented with large textile patterns and light-and-shadow effects found in Western art, although his attempts showed more imitation than real understanding of these principles.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: His economic situation turned desperate at one point when he was forced to sell used tatami mats. A chance encounter with his prosperous fellow pupil Kunisada, to whom he felt that he was superior in artistic talent, led him to redouble his efforts (but did not create any lingering ill-feeling between the two, who later collaborated on a number of series).


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: During the 1820s, Kuniyoshi produced a number of heroic triptychs that show the first signs of an individual style. In 1827 he received his first major commission for the series, "One hundred and eight heroes of the popular Suikoden all told" ("Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori"), based on the incredibly popular Chinese tale, the "Shuihu Zhuan". In this series Kuniyoshi illustrated individual heroes on single-sheets, drawing tattoos on his heroes, a novelty which soon influenced Edo fashion. The Suikoden series became extremely popular in Edo, and the demand for Kuniyoshi's warrior prints increased, gaining him entrance into the major ukiyo-e and literary circles.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: He continued to produce warrior prints, drawing much of his subjects from war tales such as "Tale of the Heike" ("Heike monogatari") and "The rise and fall of the Minamoto and the Taira" ("Genpei Seisuiki"). His warrior prints were unique in that they depicted legendary popular figures with an added stress on dreams, ghostly apparitions, omens, and superhuman feats. This subject matter is instilled in his works "The ghost of Taira no Tomomori at Daimotsu bay" ("Taira Tomomori borei no zu") and the 1839 triptych "The Gōjō bridge" ("Gōjō no bashi no zu"), where he manages to invoke an effective sense of action intensity in his depiction of the combat between Yoshitsune and Benkei. These new thematic styles satisfied the public's interest in the ghastly, exciting, and bizarre that was growing during the time.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: The Tenpō Reforms of 1841–1843 aimed to alleviate economic crisis by controlling public displays of luxury and wealth, and the illustration of courtesans and actors in "ukiyō-e" was officially banned at that time. This may have had some influence on Kuniyoshi's production of caricature prints or comic pictures ("giga"), which were used to disguise actual actors and courtesans. Many of these symbolically and humorously criticized the shogunate (such as the 1843 design showing Minamoto no Yorimitsu asleep, haunted by the Earth Spider and his demons) and became popular among the politically dissatisfied public. Timothy Clark, curator of Japanese art at the British Museum, asserts that the repressive conventions of the day produced unintended consequences. The government-created limitations became a kind of artistic challenge which actually encouraged Kuniyoshi's creative resourcefulness by forcing him to find ways to veil criticism of the shogunate allegorically.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: During the decade leading up to the reforms, Kuniyoshi also produced landscape prints ("fūkeiga"), which were outside the bounds of censorship and catered to the rising popularity of personal travel in late Edo Japan. Notable among these were "Famous products of the provinces" ("Sankai meisan zukushi", c. 1828–30)—where he incorporated Western shading and perspective and pigments—and "Famous views of the Eastern capital" in the early 1830s, which was certainly influenced by Hokusai's early-1830s "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" ("Fugaku sanjūrokkei"). Kuniyoshi also produced during this time works of purely natural subject matter, notably of animals, birds and fish that mimicked traditional Japanese and Chinese painting.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: In the late 1840s, Kuniyoshi began again to illustrate actor prints, this time evading censorship (or simply evoking creativity) through childish, cartoon-like portraits of famous kabuki actors, the most notable being "Scribbling on the storehouse wall" ("Nitakaragurakabe no mudagaki"). Here he creatively used elementary, childlike script sloppily written in kana under the actor faces. Reflecting his love for felines, Kuniyoshi also began to use cats in the place of humans in kabuki and satirical prints. He is also known during this time to have experimented with wide composition, magnifying visual elements in the image for a dramatic, exaggerated effect (ex. "Masakado's daughter the princess Takiyasha, at the old Soma palace").


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: In 1856 Kuniyoshi suffered from palsy, which caused him much difficulty in moving his limbs. It is said that his works from this point onward were noticeably weaker in the use of line and overall vitality. Before his death in 1861, Kuniyoshi was able to witness the opening of the port city of Yokohama to foreigners, and in 1860 produced two works depicting Westerners in the city (Yokohama-e, ex. "View of Honchō" and "The pleasure quarters, Yokohama"). He died at the age of 63 in April 1861 in his home in Genyadana.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: Kuniyoshi was an excellent teacher and had numerous pupils who continued his branch of the Utagawa school. Among the most notable were Yoshitoshi, Yoshitora, Yoshiiku, Yoshikazu, Yoshitsuya, and Yoshifuji. Typically his students began an apprenticeship in which they worked primarily on musha-e in a style similar to that of their master. As they became established as independent artists, many went on to develop highly innovative styles of their own. His most important student was Yoshitoshi, who is now regarded as the "last master" of the Japanese woodblock print.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: Among those influenced by Kuniyoshi was Toyohara Chikanobu. Takashi Murakami credits the pioneering influence of Kuniyoshi affecting his work.


title: Utagawa Kuniyoshi

text: Kuniyoshi's work is held in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Nasher Museum of Art, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Walters Art Museum, the Portland Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Van Gogh Museum.


title: Albion Online

text: "Albion Online" (AO) is a free medieval fantasy MMORPG developed by Sandbox Interactive, a studio based in Berlin, Germany. Albion online is based on The Arthurian legends. During the beta stages of development, players were able to purchase "Founder's Packs" to gain access to the closed beta play-tests which were run intermittently by Sandbox Interactive, typically after an interval of a few months of development. After the release of the game, these founder's packs were made unavailable for purchase. Albion Online removed its free-to-play model for various reasons on December 30, 2015. (Which was then made free again at a later date)


title: Albion Online

text: When it initially released on July 17, 2017, Albion Online offered a selection of "Starter Packs" which granted players access to the game and offered a varying amount of gold to get started. Once a player purchased any of the starter packs, they would be granted open-ended access to the game with no extra mandatory fees. Players can also purchase membership for a limited amount of time without the benefits of the starter packs. As of April 10, 2019, Albion Online has gone Free to Play. Players can also buy premium with ingame currency (silver).


title: Albion Online

text: Albion Online's gameplay centres itself around a classless system, in which the equipment a player chooses to wear defines their abilities and the way they can play. Players can go out and do activities in Albion's world in order to gain "Fame" (Similar to Experience of other similar MMORPG's) Through this Fame players can get access to other weapon and armour types, with stronger equipment requiring more Fame to use. Stronger gear is required as you progress throughout the game.


title: Albion Online

text: The game has a large open-world map that players can travel through. Different PVP zones offer different levels of risk and reward, including Yellow, Red, and Black zones; Red and Black zones featuring full loot drop upon death.


title: Albion Online

text: The game has a fully player driven economy. All equipment and items are made by other players. The game offers both PVE and PVP experience.


title: Climate of Sydney

text: The climate of the Australian city of Sydney is humid subtropical (), shifting from mild and cool in winter to warm and hot in the summer, with no extreme seasonal differences as the weather is moderated by proximity to the ocean, although more contrasting temperatures are recorded in the inland western suburbs. Despite the fact that there is no distinct dry or wet season, rainfall peaks in the first few months of the year and is at its lowest just around the middle of the year, though precipitation can be erratic throughout the year. Precipitation varies across the region, with areas adjacent to the coast being the wettest. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Sydney falls in the temperate climate zone which has warm to hot summers and no dry season. Sydney's plant hardiness zone ranges from zone 11a to 9b throughout the metropolitan area.


title: Climate of Sydney

text: Sydney has 109.5 clear days and 127.2 cloudy days annually, though it has over 300 days of visible sunshine if partly cloudy days or sunny breaks are counted. Overall, Sydney has just about 66% of possible sun for Jun-Aug and around 54% for Dec-Feb, making winter sunnier than summer on average. Sydney's heat is predominantly dry in spring, but usually humid in the summertime. On some hot summer days, low pressure troughs increase humidity and southerly busters decrease temperatures by late afternoon or early evening. In the warm season, particularly late summer and early autumn, troughs combined with a humid air mass can bring large amounts of rainfall, and in late autumn to early winter, the city can be affected by east coast lows. When the subtropical ridge is north of Sydney in late winter to early spring, the wind comes from the west or inland. As the ridge moves south in summer and autumn, the winds become easterly.


title: Climate of Sydney

text: Sydney experiences an urban heat island effect, making certain parts of the city more vulnerable to extreme heat, particularly the west. Efforts have been introduced to investigate and mitigate this heat effect, including increasing shade from tree canopies, adding rooftop gardens to high rise structures and changing pavement colour. The El Niño Southern Oscillation, the Indian Ocean Dipole and the Southern Annular Mode play an important role in determining Sydney's weather patterns: drought and bushfire on the one hand, and storms and flooding on the other. Sydney is prone to heat waves and drought, which have become more common in the 21st century. Furthermore, the region of Sydney, and as well as the rest of the New South Wales coastline, is warmed by the East Australian Current.