title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. , it is estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the Aegean Sea, the archipelago of Madeira and the Cabo Blanco area in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. It is believed to be the world's rarest pinniped species. This is the only species in the genus Monachus.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: This species of seal grows from approximately long at birth up to an average of as adults, females slightly shorter than males. Males weigh an average of and females weigh , with overall weight ranging from . They are thought to live up to 45 years old; the average life span is thought to be 20 to 25 years old and reproductive maturity is reached at around age four.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: The monk seals' pups are about long and weigh around , their skin being covered by 1–1.5 centimeter-long, dark brown to black hair. On their bellies, there is a white stripe, which differs in color and shape between the two sexes. In females the stripe is usually rectangular in shape whereas in males it is usually butterfly shaped. This hair is replaced after six to eight weeks by the usual short hair adults carry. Adults will continue to molt annually, causing their color vibrancy to change throughout the year.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Pregnant Mediterranean monk seals typically use inaccessible undersea caves while giving birth, though historical descriptions show they used open beaches until the 18th century. There are eight pairs of teeth in both jaws.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Believed to have the shortest hair of any pinniped, the Mediterranean monk seal fur is black (males) or brown to dark grey (females), with a paler belly, which is close to white in males. The snout is short broad and flat, with very pronounced, long nostrils that face upward, unlike their Hawaiian relative, which tend to have more forward nostrils. The flippers are relatively short, with small slender claws. Monk seals have two pairs of retractable abdominal teats, unlike most other pinnipeds.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Very little is known of this seal's reproduction. As of 2020, it is thought that there are roughly 500 pairs of monk seals remaining in the world. Scientists have suggested that they are polygynous, with males being very territorial where they mate with females. Although there is no breeding season since births take place year round, there is a peak in September, October, and November. Although mating will take place in the water, females will give birth and care for the pups on beaches or underwater caves. The use of underwater caves may have began in order to make predatory actions almost impossible as these caves are difficult to access. Because they will stay with the pups to nurse and protect, they use their stored fat reserves to nurse. Data analysis indicates that only 29% of pups born between September and January survive. One cause of this low survival rate is the timing of high surf around the areas of breeding, creating a threat to young pups. As well, if a female determines that her environment is not a safe one, she can initiate an abortion, indirectly lowering the population. Because of smaller populations there is an increase in genetic events such as inbreeding and lack of genetic variation. During other months of the year, pups have an estimated survival rate of 71%.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: In 2008, lactation was reported in an open beach, the first such record since 1945, which could suggest the seal could begin feeling increasingly safe to return to open beaches for breeding purposes in Cabo Blanco.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Pups make first contact with the water two weeks after their birth and are weaned at around 18 weeks of age; females caring for pups will go off to feed for an average of nine hours. Most female individuals are believed to reach maturity at four years of age unto which they will begin to breed. Males begin to breed at age six. The gestation period lasts close to a year. However, it is believed to be common among monk seals of the Cabo Blanco colony to have a gestation period lasting slightly longer than a year.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Mediterranean monk seals are diurnal and feed on a variety of fish and mollusks, primarily octopus, squid, and eels, up to 3 kg per day. Although they commonly feed in shallow coastal waters, they are also known to forage at depths up to 250 meters, with an average depth varying between specimens. Monk seals prefer hunting in wide-open spaces, enabling them to use their speed more effectively. They are successful bottom-feeding hunters; some have even been observed lifting slabs of rock in search of prey.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: The habitat of this pinniped has changed over the years. In ancient times, and up until the 20th century, Mediterranean monk seals had been known to congregate, give birth, and seek refuge on open beaches. In more recent times, they have left their former habitat and now only use sea caves for these activities. Often these caves are inaccessible to humans. Frequently their caves have underwater entries and many caves are positioned along remote or rugged coastlines.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Scientists have confirmed this is a recent adaptation, most likely due to the rapid increase in human population, tourism, and industry, which have caused increased disturbance by humans and the destruction of the species' natural habitat. Because of these seals' shy nature and sensitivity to human disturbance, they have slowly adapted to try to avoid contact with humans completely within the last century, and, perhaps, even earlier. The coastal caves are, however, dangerous for newborns, and are causes of major mortality among pups when sea storms hit the caves.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: The mediterranean monk seal can be found in Western Sahara, Mauritania, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, and Croatia. It may be extinct in Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Spain and Albania. Its status in Algeria and Morocco is unknown.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: This earless seal's former range extended throughout the Northwest Atlantic Africa, Mediterranean and Black Sea coastlines, including all offshore islands of the Mediterranean, and into the Atlantic and its islands: Canary, Madeira, Desertas, Porto Santo, as far west as the Azores. Vagrants could be found as far south as Gambia and the Cape Verde islands, and as far north as Atlantic France.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Several causes provoked a dramatic population decrease over time: on one hand, commercial hunting (especially during the Roman Empire and Middle Ages) and, during the 20th century, eradication by fishermen, who used to consider it a pest due to the damage the seal causes to fishing nets when it preys on fish caught in them; and, on the other hand, coastal urbanization and pollution.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Some seals have survived in the Sea of Marmara, but the last report of a seal in the Black Sea dates to 1997. Monk seals were present at Snake Island until the 1950s, and several locations such as the and Doğankent were the last known hauling-out sites post-1990.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Nowadays, its entire population is estimated to be less than 700 individuals widely scattered, which qualifies this species as endangered. Its current very sparse population is one more serious threat to the species, as it only has two key sites that can be deemed viable. One is the Aegean Sea (250–300 animals in Greece, with the largest concentration of animals in Gyaros island, and some 100 in Turkey); the other important subpopulation is in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Western Saharan portion of Cabo Blanco (around 270 individuals which may support the small, but growing, nucleus in the Desertas Islands – approximately 30-40 individuals). There may be some individuals using coastal areas among other parts of Western Sahara, such as in Cintra Bay.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: These two key sites are virtually in the extreme opposites of the species' distribution range, which makes natural population interchange between them impossible. All the other remaining subpopulations are composed of less than 50 mature individuals, many of them being only loose groups of extremely reduced size – often less than five individuals.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Other remaining populations are in southwestern Turkey and the Ionian Sea (both in the eastern Mediterranean). The species status is virtually moribund in the western Mediterranean, which still holds tiny Moroccan and Algerian populations, associated with rare sightings of vagrants in the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, and other western Mediterranean locations, including Gibraltar.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: In Sardinia the Mediterranean monk seal was last sighted in May 2007 and April 2010. The increase of sightings in Sardinia suggests that the seal occasionally inhabits the Central Eastern Sardinian coasts, preserved since 1998 by the National Park of Golfo of Orosei.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Colonies on the Pelagie Islands (Linosa and Lampedusa) were destroyed by fishermen, which likely resulted in local extinction.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Cabo Blanco, in the Atlantic Ocean, is the largest surviving single population of the species, and the only remaining site that still seems to preserve a colony structure. In the summer of 1997, more than 200 animals or two-thirds of its seal population were wiped out within two months, extremely compromising the species' viable population. While opinions on the precise causes of this epidemic remain divided between a morbillivirus or, more likely, a toxic algae bloom, the mass die-off emphasized the precarious status of a species already regarded as critically endangered throughout its range.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Numbers in this all-important location started a slow-paced recovery ever since. A small but incipient (up to 20 animals by 2009) sub-population in the area had started using open beaches. In 2009, for the first time in centuries, a female delivered her pup on the beach (open beaches is the optimal habitat for the survival of pups, but had been abandoned due to human disturbance and persecution in past centuries).


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Only by 2016 the colony had recovered to its previous population (about 300 animals). This was made possible by a recovery plan financed by Spain. Also in 2016, a new record of births was set for the colony (83 pups).


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: However, the threat of a similar incident, which could severely reduce or wipe out the entire population, remains.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: On 7 January 2010, fishermen spotted an injured Mediterranean monk seal off the coasts of Tel Aviv, Israel. When zoo veterinarians arrived to help the seal, it had slipped back into the waters. Members of the Israel Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center arrived at the scene and tried to locate the injured mammal, but with no success. This was the first sighting of the species in the region since Lebanese authorities claimed to have found a population of 10–20 other seals on their coasts 70 years earlier. In addition, the seal was also sighted a couple of weeks later in the northern kibbutz of Rosh Hanikra.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: In April 2010, there was a report of a sighting off the island of Marettimo, in the Egadi Islands off the coast of Italy, in Trapani Province. In November 2010, a Mediterranean monk seal, supposedly aged between 10 and 20, had been spotted in Bodrum, Turkey. On 31 December 2010, the BBC Earth news reported that the MOM Hellenic Society had located a new colony of seals on a remote beach in the Aegean Sea. The exact location was not communicated so as to keep the site protected. The society was appealing to the Greek government to integrate the part of the island on which the seals live into a marine protected area.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: On 8 March 2011, the BBC Earth news reported that a pup seal had been spotted on 7 February while monitoring a seal colony on an island in the southwestern Aegean Sea. Soon after, it showed signs of weakness and it was taken to a rehabilitation centre to try to save it. The aim is to release it back into the wild as soon as it is strong enough. In April 2011, a monk seal was spotted near the Egyptian coast after long absence of the species from the nation.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: On 24 June 2011, the Blue World Institute of Croatia filmed an adult female underwater in the northern Adriatic, off the island of Cres and a specimen of unverified sex on 29 June 2012. On 2 May 2013 a specimen was seen on the southernmost point of Istrian peninsula near the town of Pula. On 9 September 2013, in Pula a male specimen swam to a busy beach and entertained numerous tourists for five minutes before swimming back to the open sea. In summer 2014 sightings in Pula have occurred almost daily and monk seal stayed multiple times on crowded city beaches, sleeping calm for hours just few meters away from humans. To prevent accidents and preserve monk seal, local city council acquired special educational boards and installed on city beaches. Despite clear instructions, an incident occurred with a tourist harassing a seal. The whole event was filmed. Less than a month later on 25 August 2014 this female monk seal was found dead in the Mrtvi Puć bay near Šišan, Croatia. Experts said it was natural death caused by her old age.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: In 2012, a Mediterranean monk seal, was spotted in Gibraltar on the jetty of the private boat owners club at Coaling Island.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: In the week of 22–28 April 2013, what is believed to have been a monk seal was viewed in Tyre, southern Lebanon; photographs have been reported among many local media. A study by the Italian Ministry of the Environment in 2013 confirmed the presence of monk seals in marine protected area in the Egadi Islands. In September and October 2013, there were a number of sightings of an adult pair in waters around RAF Akrotiri in British Sovereign Base waters in Cyprus.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: In November 2014, an adult monk seal was reportedly seen inside the port of Limassol, Cyprus. A female monk seal, called Argiro by the locals, was repeatedly seen on beaches of Samos island in 2014 and 2015, and two were reported in April 2016.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: On 7 April 2015, a large floating "fish" was reported near Raouche, Beirut in Lebanon, and collected by a local fisherman. This turned out to be the body of a female monk seal known to have been resident there for some time. Further investigations revealed that she was pregnant with a pup.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: On 10 April 2016, a monk seal was spotted and photographed by a group of foreign exchange students and local bio-engineers in a creek in Manavgat District in Turkey's southern Antalya Province. According to the scientists involved in local projects to protect the animals, this was the first ever documented sighting of a monk seal swimming in a river. Possible reasons for the animal's appearance included better opportunities for hunting, as well as higher salinity levels due to lower water levels.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: On 13 June 2017, a specimen was spotted and photographed by a group of fishermen off the coasts of Tricase in the south of Italy.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: In November 2018, a young monk seal was spotted at the coast of Karavostasi in Cyprus, only to be found dead at the same area a few days later.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: On 15 March 2019, a monk seal was spotted and photographed by a group of citizens at a marina in Kuşadası.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: On 15 December 2020, a monk seal was spotted and videotaped while seated on a sunlounger in Samos Island, Greece.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: On 24 July 2021, a previously rescued and rehabilitated monk seal nicknamed "Kostis" was found dead in the waters of the Cycladic islands. MOm, the Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal reported that the seal had been executed at close range with a spear gun. Additionally, MOm pledged a €18,000 bounty for any evidence that “will lead to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for the killing of the seal, known as Kostis.”


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Damage inflicted on fishermen's nets and rare attacks on off-shore fish farms in Turkey and Greece are known to have pushed local people towards hunting the Mediterranean monk seal, but mostly out of revenge, rather than population control. Preservation efforts have been put forth by civil organizations, foundations, and universities in both countries since as early as the 1970s. For the past 10 years, many groups have carried out missions to educate locals on damage control and species preservation. Reports of positive results of such efforts exist throughout the area.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: In the Aegean Sea, Greece has allocated a large area for the preservation of the Mediterranean monk seal and its habitat. The Greek Alonissos Marine Park, that extends around the Northern Sporades islands, is the main action ground of the Greek MOm organisation. MOm is greatly involved in raising awareness in the general public, fundraising for the helping of the monk seal preservation cause, in Greece and wherever needed. Greece is currently investigating the possibility of declaring another monk seal breeding site as a national park, and also has integrated some sites in the NATURA 2000 protection scheme. The legislation in Greece is very strict towards seal hunting, and in general, the public is very much aware and supportive of the effort for the preservation of the Mediterranean monk seal.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: The complex politics concerning the covert opposition of the Greek government towards the protection to the monk seals in the eastern Aegean in the late 1970s is described in a book by William Johnson. Oil companies apparently may have been using the monk seal sanctuary project as a stalking horse to encourage greater cooperation between the Greek and Turkish governments as a preliminary to pushing for oil extraction rights in a geopolitically unstable area. According to Johnson, the Greek secret service, the YPEA, were against such moves and sabotaged the project to the detriment of both the seals and conservationists, who, unaware of such covert motivations, sought only to protect the species and its habitat.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: One of the largest groups among the foundations concentrating their efforts towards the preservation of the Mediterranean monk seal is the Mediterranean Seal Research Group (Turkish: "Akdeniz Foklarını Araştırma Grubu") operating under the Underwater Research Foundation (Turkish: "Sualtı Araştırmaları Derneği") in Turkey (also known as SAD-AFAG). The group has taken initiative in joint preservation efforts together with the Foça municipal officials, as well as phone, fax, and email hotlines for sightings.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Preservation of the species requires both the preservation of land and sea, due to the need for terrestrial haul-out sites and caves or caverns for the animal to rest and reproduce. Even though responsible scuba diving instructors hesitate to make trips to known seal caves, the rumor of a seal sighting quickly becomes a tourist attraction for many. Irresponsible scuba diving trips scare the seals away from caves which could become habitation for the species.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: The Environment and Urbanization Minister of Turkey announced on 18 November 2019 that a plan was proposed to further preserve the species to allow the sub species of Foça, Gökova, Datça and Bozburun to increase in numbers.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), also known as the Bonn Convention, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning Conservation Measures for the Eastern Atlantic Populations of the Mediterranean Monk Seal was concluded and came into effect on 18 October 2007. The MoU covers four range States (Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal and Spain), all of which have signed, and aims at providing a legal and institutional framework for the implementation of the Action Plan for the Recovery of the Mediterranean Monk Seal in the Eastern Atlantic.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: As there are indications of small population increases in the subpopulations, as of 2015, the Mediterranean monk seal's IUCN conservation status has been updated from critically endangered to endangered in keeping with the IUCN's speed-of-decline criteria, with a recommendation for re-assessment in 2020.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: The Mediterranean monk seal occasionally appears in Classical mythology. In Homer's "The Odyssey", the sea god Proteus is shown herding monk seals for Poseidon. The mythical hero Phocus of Aegina (with "phokos" literally translating to seal in Greek) was the son of the nereid Psamathe, and was conceived while she was transformed into a seal. The ancient city of Phocis (and possibly Phocaea) was named after Phocus, and the city of Phocaea took on the monk seal as an emblem. This has been thought to either be due to the myth of Phocus' birth, or monk seals formerly inhabiting the area where Phocaea was established. There is only a single known surviving depiction of the monk seal from antiquity, this being on a Caeretan hydria likely created by Phocaean refugees in Etruria.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: Despite its mythological connections and association with certain peoples, the monk seal still seems to have been generally been reviled and feared by the ancient Greeks and Romans due to its form and smell, as well as its association with the unknown nature of the ocean. Many Greek and Roman metaphors and idioms portrayed the seal in a negative light. This antipathy may have contributed to its long-term decline in numbers by spurring persecution of the species.


title: Mediterranean monk seal

text: In the 11th century BC, the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I was gifted several animals by the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses XI, including a crocodile and an unknown creature known as the "river-man". These animals were displayed in the menagerie of his son Ashur-bel-kala, and are portrayed on several of Ashur's obelisk fragments. A pair of hind flippers on one partial fragment has been identified with the "river-man", and if so indicate that the "river man" was almost certainly a monk seal.


title: 2021 Atlanta Braves season

text: The 2021 Atlanta Braves season was the 151st season of the Atlanta Braves franchise, the 56th Season in Atlanta, and the Braves' 5th season at Truist Park. The Braves were managed by Brian Snitker, in his sixth season as the team’s manager. The Braves clinched their fourth consecutive National League East division title. They defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the Division Series and faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Championship Series for the second straight year. They defeated the Dodgers in six games to reach the World Series for the first time since 1999. They would go on to defeat the Houston Astros in six games, winning their first World Series since 1995, their second since moving to Atlanta, and their fourth in franchise history. Jorge Soler won the Most Valuable Player award in the World Series.


title: 2021 Atlanta Braves season

text: On May 28, Marcell Ozuna was arrested and charged with aggravated assault by strangulation and battery after police allegedly witnessed him grabbing his wife by the neck and throwing her against a wall. When the arrest occurred, Ozuna was on the 10day injured list recovering from an injury sustained on his left hand.


title: James Rubin

text: James Phillip Rubin (born March 28, 1960) is an American former diplomat and journalist who served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in the Clinton Administration from 1997–2000. He wrote a regular column on foreign affairs for "The Sunday Times" of London, and is currently Diplomatic Counselor to the newly elected Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).


title: James Rubin

text: Having served in the State Department during the administration of President Bill Clinton, Rubin became a Sky News presenter with his own show called World News Tonight. The show was short-lived and after it was cancelled he became a commentator for the channel. In 2013, he moved from New York City to live permanently in London, England, with his then-wife, CNN Chief International Correspondent and anchor Christiane Amanpour, and their teenage son.


title: James Rubin

text: Rubin was born on March 28, 1960, into a Jewish family in New York City, and raised in the village of Larchmont, in Westchester County, New York. He is the son of Harvey Rubin, a publisher and President of Pindar Press, and his wife, Judith ("née" Lowe), who trained students specializing in psychiatry. His sister Elizabeth Rubin is a journalist, Edward R. Murrow press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and staff writer for "The New York Times Magazine".


title: James Rubin

text: Rubin was educated at Phillips Exeter and Mamaroneck High School, from which he graduated in 1977, followed by Columbia College at Columbia University, from which he graduated with a BA in political science in 1982, and a Master of International Affairs (MIA) in 1984 from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. At Columbia, Rubin was a student of Zalmay Khalilzad, later U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations under President George W. Bush. Rubin also attended Boston University in Massachusetts.


title: James Rubin

text: Rubin served under President Clinton as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Chief Spokesman for the State Department from 1997 to May 2000. In the Clinton administration, he was considered Secretary Madeleine Albright's right-hand man.


title: James Rubin

text: After leaving government, Rubin and his family relocated to London. He took on a portfolio career, becoming: a Visiting Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics; a partner at communications consultancy Brunswick; and between 2002 and 2003, the host of PBS's "Wide Angle" series, a weekly international affairs program.


title: James Rubin

text: Returning to the United States, Rubin served as chief foreign policy spokesman for General Wesley Clark's presidential campaign from the launch of Clark's campaign in 2003 until Clark withdrew during the Democratic Party's 2004 Presidential Primaries, and then worked for Democratic nominee John Kerry during his 2004 Presidential Campaign, serving as a senior advisor for national security affairs.


title: James Rubin

text: Returning to London, from October 2005 to July 2006 Rubin became lead news anchor on "World News Tonight" on Sky News.


title: James Rubin

text: After returning to the United States in 2007 in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, Rubin was a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign team for the 2008 Democratic nomination. He caused some controversy when he described Lord Trimble, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner and former First Minister of Northern Ireland, as a "crankpot" for stating that Hillary Clinton's claim to have been "helpful" in the Northern Ireland peace process was "a wee bit silly". Rubin also stated that Trimble's opinion was not important as he was "a Protestant", and so "traditionally conservative".


title: James Rubin

text: During the 2008 campaign, Rubin was a guest on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" in a foreign policy discussion with Susan Rice, who later became Barack Obama's nominee for Ambassador to the United Nations.


title: James Rubin

text: Rubin joined Bloomberg News in December 2010 and oversees editorial issues of Bloomberg News in Central and South America, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. He also led Bloomberg View, a Bloomberg op-ed project, with David Shipley. After only 10 months, he quit the position, appointed adjunct professor at Columbia University. Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed Rubin commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 2011 as well as a counselor to the state's Empire State Development Corporation.


title: James Rubin

text: Rubin resigned all of his US-based positions on May 29, 2013, announcing that the family would return to London to work on several projects. Rubin was appointed scholar in residence at Oxford University's Rothermere American Institute. He also wrote a weekly foreign affairs column for "The Sunday Times" and co-chaired a high-level panel on Extending American Power for the Center for a New American Security in Washington.


title: James Rubin

text: Rubin was chair of International Policy and Strategy at Ballard Partners, based in Washington DC until June 2020. He was also a contributing editor at Politico, writing on U.S. foreign policy and world affairs.


title: James Rubin

text: Rubin relocated to Paris on June 1, 2021 to serve as diplomatic counselor to the newly elected Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). At the OECD, his portfolio is focused on advising Secretary General Cormann on global affairs and diplomacy with key countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.


title: James Rubin

text: Rubin was appointed as Special Envoy and Coordinator of the GEC on November 16, 2022 by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.


title: James Rubin

text: In 1998, Rubin, who at the time was spokesman for the US State Department, married Christiane Amanpour, Chief International Correspondent for CNN. Having moved to London, England, they returned to New York City in 2010, where they rented an apartment in Manhattan's Upper West Side. In 2013, he, his wife and son, Darius John Rubin (born 2000), moved back to London to live permanently. It was announced in July 2018 that Rubin and Amanpour were getting a divorce.


title: Dwight Ramos

text: Dwight Ramos (born September 2, 1998) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player for Levanga Hokkaido of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the Ateneo Blue Eagles of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). He has also played for the Philippines national basketball team.


title: Dwight Ramos

text: Ramos was born on September 2, 1998, in the United States in West Covina, California to Artemio Ramos from Ilocos Sur and Liliya Ramos from Russia. He is the eldest of three children. Ramos is second cousins with Miss Universe Bahrain 2022 Evlin Abdullah-Khalifa, by way of their mothers being cousins.


title: Dwight Ramos

text: He played for the Mustangs, the varsity basketball team of Walnut High School, under head coach Joe Khouzam.


title: Dwight Ramos

text: While Ramos was still in high school, he was contacted by coach Tab Baldwin who tried to recruit him to play for Ateneo de Manila University's Blue Eagles in the Philippines once he graduates. However he decided to forego from playing for Ateneo to continue his college basketball career in the United States.


title: Dwight Ramos

text: Ramos during his attendance at Fullerton campus of California State University played for the Cal State Fullerton Titans basketball team. He suited up for the team in the NCAA Division I from 2016 to 2018. He then went on to play for the Broncos of California State Polytechnic University in Pomona for one season in the NCAA Division II.


title: Dwight Ramos

text: After playing for the Cal State Pomona Broncos, Ramos went to the Philippines to play for the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP but had to serve residency in 2019 before he could suit up in official UAAP games. He played for Ateneo in the Philippine Collegiate Champions League helping the team clinch the 2019 league title. He was expected to make his UAAP debut for the Blue Eagles in Season 83 which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He became eligible to enter the PBA draft in 2021, but decided to forego from entering for a chance to play alongside his brother in Ateneo.


title: Dwight Ramos

text: Ramos decided to forgo his one year of eligibility in UAAP and he signed with Toyama Grouses of the Japanese B.League on September 10, 2021. Ramos played only for the 2021–22 season with his team finishing 7th in the west conference. Toyama didn't renew his contract.


title: Dwight Ramos

text: Ramos remained in the B.League, joining Levanga Hokkaido in May 2022 and is set to play for the team at least for the 2022–23 season.


title: Dwight Ramos

text: Ramos has been a prospective member of the Philippines national team by its management as early 2018, when he was included in a 23-member pool intended for the 2023 FIBA World Cup. He debuted for the Philippines in February 2020, playing in the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifier match against Indonesia. The Philippines won 100–70 in that match with Ramos contributing 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. Ramos played with a squad reinforced by PBA players in the first window of the qualifiers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent qualifier matches were repeatedly postponed with Ramos flying back and forth between the Philippines and the United States, usually training in the latter where pandemic-related protocols are more lenient.


title: Promontory

text: A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the softer rock to the sides of it, or are the high ground that remains between two river valleys where they form a confluence. A headland, or head, is a type of promontory.


title: Promontory

text: Located at the edge of a landmass, promontories offer a natural defense against enemies, as they are often surrounded by water and difficult to access. Many ancient and modern forts and castles have been built on promontories for this reason.


title: Promontory

text: One of the most famous examples of promontory forts is the Citadel of Namur in Belgium. Located at the confluence of the Meuse and Sambre rivers, the citadel has been a prime fortified location since the 10th century. The surrounding rivers act as a natural moat, making it difficult for enemies to access the fort.


title: Promontory

text: Another example of a promontory fort is Fort Pitt, which was built by the English during the American Revolution on the site of the former Fort Duquesne, which belonged to the French during the French and Indian War. The fort was located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, providing an additional layer of defense. The surrounding area eventually became the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.


title: Promontory

text: In Ireland, many promontory forts were built by the ancient Celts for defense against invaders. These forts were often located on isolated peninsulas or headlands and were difficult to access, making them ideal for defending against enemy attacks.


title: Promontory

text: The ancient town of Ras Bar Balla in southern Somalia is another example of a promontory fort. Located on a small promontory, the town was part of the Ajuran Sultanate's domain during the Middle Ages and was strategically located to defend against potential invaders.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: Upon the Magic Roads is a 2021 Russian live-action/computer-animated fairy tale fantasy film directed by Oleg Pogodin from a screenplay by Aleksey Borodachyov. Produced by CTB Film Company, Russia-1, and CGF Company, the film is an adaptation of the 1850s Russian fairy tale "The Humpbacked Horse" () by Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov as well as elements from Slavic folk tales. The film follows other adaptations of the fairy tale including the 1941 live-action feature-length film and the 1947 animated film of the same name filmed in the Soviet Union. The film stars Anton Shagin as Ivan the Fool, and Paulina Andreeva as The Tsar Maiden with the voices of Pavel Derevyanko, Lyasan Utiasheva, and Aleksandr Semchev.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The principal photography took place near Saint Petersburg in 2018. The set pieces tried to recreate the fantasy world by Yershov, filming in an exact copy of the fairy tale city. The film was a film making exhibition requiring professional assistance from costume designers and set designers, a production team, software engineers with background visual effects, actors, actresses and cameramen.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The style used in the film was intended to recreate the Tsarist period of time described in Yershov's fairy tale, using a combination of Russian Art Nouveau and fairy-tale elements. The film tells about John - who is neither a prince, nor a hero, nor a handsome man, but his older brothers even consider him a fool. But everything changes when John has a friend and faithful assistant - the Little Humpbacked Magic Foal. John and the Foal will have to test their friendship, face an insidious adversary and overcome incredible trials to find the Cloud Princess.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: Initially, the film was planned to be released on wide screen on 5 March 2020, but later its release was postponed first to 22 October 2020. "Upon the Magic Roads" was finally released theatrically on February 18, 2021 in Russia by Sony Pictures Productions and Releasing. The film received critical acclaim and commercial acclaim, with critics calling it an extraordinary continuity of cinematic creativity from past to present. The film became a blockbuster and was noted as the highest-grossing film adaptation of Russian literature, amounting to almost a billion rubles. The film is the 51st highest grossing film of 2021.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The story begins with a father calling his three sons and showing them a trampled field of wheat. The father instructs his sons to stand guard at night, so that they will find out who trampled the wheat, and the brothers, in turn, send the younger, Ivan the fool (John), there.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: At night, John, sweetly chatting with the hedgehog, which he had previously saved, sees the outline of the mare and throws the rope into a misty cloud. Suddenly the rope tightens, and the mare begins to carry him across the fields and meadows. They fall into a swamp, and John pulls out the drowning mare using the windmills. Being bound, she cries, and the hero, feeling sorry for her, lets her go free, taking the word that she will no longer trample on their fields. The next morning, in the stable, he discovers two horses and meets a small Humpbacked Magic Foal. He says that he was sent by mother mare to get help and support. John, wanting to get money for the horses, leads them to the bazaar. There the king sees them and orders them to take their horses to their stables, saying that they are actually his horses. Having received no money, John asks the Foal to help him, and he calls the horses back with a whistle. The King offers John the position of the most important groom, and he agrees.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: Over time, the people begin to love John more and more. The king wants to execute him, but can't find a reason. The sleeping bag suggests to him the idea of sending a groom for The Firebird, and then executing him for not following the King's order, as he thinks that John will not be able to find it. John and Foal go in search of the Firebird. After collecting the dream-nuts, they find the bird's shelter and pour them out to it. She, having eaten all the nuts, falls asleep. John puts the bird in chains. The next morning, the Foal tells us that the bird can only get hot when it is free. In chains, she cries, and John lets her go free. On their return, the executioners lead John to the block. He claims that he caught the Firebird, but let it go free, but no one believes him. When the axe is already raised over his head, the Firebird appears, and the execution is canceled.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The King, hating John more and more, at the instigation of the Sleeping Bag sends a groom for the King-maiden, thinking that he will not be able to cope with this task, since the maiden lives in an Ice country on a high rock. However, John and Foal reach their destination. The girl wakes up from a dream and tells John that she does not want to get married, because there are no heroes left, and then jumps into the abyss. John does not hesitate to rush after her, and at the bottom of them both picks up the Skate.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The king wants to get married right away, but the girl refuses to get married without her grandmother's ring, which she dropped in the ocean. John, who has already fallen in love with the King-maiden, asks the King for an impossible job, so as not to think about the upcoming wedding and the maiden herself. The delighted King sends John to get the ring. John and the Humpbacked Foal embark on an adventure in the Magical Roads. The Foal, after talking to the Sun, Moon and Wind, finds out where the ring is, and he and John fly to the Whale Fish. As it turns out, the whale is chained up for swallowing the ships years ago, but doesn't know how to set them free. John makes him sneeze, and the ships float out to sea decades later. In gratitude, the whale sends them a crab, which brings them the ring of the King-maiden.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: On his return, John comes to the girl in the tower and asks her to marry him. The King's guards break into the bedchamber and place John under arrest for attempted kidnapping. The king is ready to get married, but the bride asks him to rejuvenate himself according to his grandmother's recipe by bathing in cauldrons of boiling water, ice water and boiling milk. The Sleeping Bag advises to test the cauldrons on John before the execution. At night, the girl tells the Foal that in the first cauldron it is necessary to throw her grandmother's ring, in the second — the feather of the Firebird, and in the third - the flower of life and death that grows at the end of the world, and then John will remain alive. Foal goes in search of a flower. In the morning, the King hypocritically declares that he is giving John a chance at redemption, and orders him to jump into the cauldrons. In the first cauldron, the girl throws her ring, and John is carried out of there safely, in the second a feather falls, and he also remains unharmed. At this time, the Foal finds a flower and learns from it that the one who picks it is waiting for death. Despite this warning, he plucks the flower to save John and manages to deliver it when John finds himself in the third cauldron.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The renewed John appears before the maiden, and the King jumps into the first cauldron. A huge bubble bursts out of the cauldron, which carries away the cursing King. The Foal patiently waits for his death, but the King Maiden tells him that the words of the flower are a test, and if the Foal had not plucked it, he would actually have died, but now he will never die. The people demand a new King, and John becomes one. He and the King-maiden are getting married.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The Russian fairy tale is based on the work of Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov, "The Humpbacked Horse", first published in 1834. The book has become a classic of Russian literature. Despite the childish genre, the tale includes elements of social satire. In the Soviet Union, the manuscript was reprinted more than a hundred times due to its incredible popularity. The literary tale "The Humpbacked Horse" was named the cultural heritage of Russia and of the Tyumen Oblast.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: In the birthplace of Yershov, Ishim, Tyumen Oblast, cultural events were held during the film's premiere. Yershov's role in the Russian literature was noted by Lyubov Nechaeva, head of the Ishim Museum Complex, who said: "Pyotr Pavlovich is our everything! Therefore, on the eve of the large-format premiere of "The Humpbacked Horse", we decided to remind Russians again that this writer is of Siberian blood, and his small homeland is around Ishim."


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The residents of Siberia organized an event that became international in nature. A flash mob was started in more than 30 Russian regions and included participants from France and Morocco.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: In 1941, the first film adaptation of the fairy tale directed by Alexander Rowe took place. In 1947, Soyuzmultfilm released the second film adaptation of "The Hunchback Horse", directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano. More than half a century later, the third film adaptation, "Upon the Magic Roads" was released based on the script of director Oleg Pogodin, who has credits with works, including the TV series "Sherlock Holmes." Pogodin wrote the script together with scriptwriter Alexey Borodachev. This is the third film adaptation of the fairy tale for cinemas. Today, the fairy tale is popular with the public. Since 2020, the Mariinsky Theatre's audience has crossed the 25 million mark. One of the performances was Shchedrin's ballet "The Little Humpbacked Horse", which was viewed by 1.7 million users. The project was financed by the CTB Film Company with the support of the TV channel Russia-1 and Cinema Fund. Yershov's fairy tale is one of the favorite works of Sergey Selyanov, who in the early 2000s planned to adapt the story with Soviet Union director Sergey Ovcharov. However, at the time, the technology and budget were unsuitable. On April 17, 2018, the concept art "Upon the Magic Roads" was published. The script transformed the poetry of Yershov's characters for film adaptations. The film was produced by Sergey Selyanov, Anton Zlatopolsky and Alexander Gorokhov. According to Sergey Selyanov, the film is a living fairy tale.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: Actor Pavel Derevyanko voiced and acted as the Little Humpbacked Foal, using motion capture technology. The producers knew that Pavel Derevyanko was the best actor for the role of the character. The character is very well known from the donkey from "Shrek" or the horse Julius from "The Three Heroes". According to Ershov's poem, the Little Humpbacked Foal turned into a flying horse or a pegasus. The Firebird was played by gymnast and TV presenter Lyaysan Utyasheva. Martial arts master and actor Oleg Taktarov played the role of the Tsarist governor. The governor's costume required multi layer fur coats.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The main role was played by Anton Shagin, who, after many auditions, got the role of Ivan the Fool. Paulina Andreeva starred as The Tsar Maiden. Andreeva was happy to star in such an important role of the Tsar Maiden. This film was one of the actress's favorite moments because she wanted to star in at least one children's film. The film is intended for all viewers and especially for children - “It seems to me that this is a fairy tale for all times. If we, our heroes, will be associated for children with their childhood, if they matured and say 'We grew up watching your films', this will be the greatest joy for me,”says Paulina Andreeva.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The special effects were created by the computer graphics studio CGF. CGF is one of the largest virtual effects studios in Russia, directed by Alexander Gorokhov, who became one of the film's producers. Alexander Gorokhov noted that only with powerful visualization can this story be told. CGF used Blizzard software for filming.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The scenery in the film goes beyond the imagination of the director. At some point, the heroes will fall into the nostril of a giant whale, as well as into a bizarre oasis where The Firebird lives. One of the highlights in the film is when John finds the Tsar Maiden in the crystal palace, referring to Yershov's poems as if he were finding a doll that refers to the sleeping princess from Pushkin's fairy tales. The artists used the motif of frozen ice and silver to create the Tsar Maiden at this moment of discovery. The costume was of European character and the collar was laser cut with a silver ornament.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The complex production of the film required engineering decisions from the film crew. There were three sets: interiors, landscapes, a city with a village. Production designers Anastasia Karimulina and Isabela Tikhonskaya, together with three teams of technicians and a team of sculptors, built parts of the sets in the pavilions. CGF curators continued to build in the virtual world. The architecture drew inspiration from the visual style of wooden architecture and white stone architecture of medieval cities in Russia. Russian Art Nouveau combined with fairy-tale elements - facades decorated in the style of animals and birds, flowers and ornaments, similar to the Apartment House of the Trinity Church on Gryazekh in Moscow. The designers also presented ceramic tiles with images of animals and Russian wooden toys.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: A full-fledged Russian fairy-tale scene was built in the architectural style. Filming began in a large studio with an area of over 7,000 sq. meters. The stage consisted of three pavilions the size of a football field each. According to the stage designers, the fairy tale city emerged from the market, which had five houses, a gate and part of a palace. The work was very difficult. To this end, they named their city Isabelsk-on-Tears. Giant cauldrons, modeled on Russian coins with a touch of green patina, are part of the film's visual production. According to Yershov's tale, the royal chambers can be turned into a bedroom and a throne room. The wooden bed was skillfully carved and decorated with an Orenburg downy shawl.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: "Upon the Magic Roads" became one of the flagship films of 2021 in Russia. According to Kulturomania it is said to be a sumptuous carnival of modern adaptation of the tale, transforming Yershov's immortal tale into cinematic prose with some additional plot changes for the sake of entertainment and dynamics. The primary framework of friendship between the characters John and Foal, the Humpbacked Horse has been preserved. Additionally, the writers added a story line between John's love for the Tsar Maiden. The script was written specifically to entertain both children and family audiences, finding the right balance between the two genres. The score and the soundtrack for the film were directed by three composers, including Ivan Burlyaev. Burlyaev noted that the delay in the schedule allowed them to rearrange the scores, allowing them to find new themes. This is one of the first cases when Burlyaev wrote music for epic fantasy fairy tale genres. Principal photography of the film was shot in Saint Petersburg in the summer of 2018, and was completed closer to the fall that year.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: Principal photography of the film was shot in Saint Petersburg in the summer of 2018, and was completed closer to the fall that year. The main achievement was the costumes, which consisted of more than 50 different items, including caftans and special dresses for the queen. Professional costume designers worked on the clothes under the guidance of Nadezhda Vasilyeva and Olga Ostroumova. Nadezhda Vasilyeva was the costume designer for all films by Alexei Balabanov.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: A variety of techniques have been used to transform fabrics into colorful costumes. The sketches turned into embroidery with an emphasis on the fabulous component. All sundresses, caftans and hats were embroidered by hand. For the crowd alone, three hundred suits were made. There were different versions of the Tsar-Maiden costumes. At first, the costume for John was considered linen. However, linen was not suitable for Anton Shagin, who played John. Nadezhda Vasilyeva changed the style, and the final image was a handmade woolen sweater trimmed with chintz. An exhibition of costumes for the film will open at the Lenfilm studio.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: "Upon the Magic Roads" was originally scheduled to be theatrically released on October 22, 2020, but its release was postponed to February 18, 2021 in Russia. COVID-19 postponed the release of the film. The marketing of the film was launched to refresh the memory of the film. The trailers went on the air two years ago. Russia 1 TV channel and Sony Pictures Productions and Releasing (SPPR) have formed a promotional program for the film. The premiere of the adventure fantasy film "Upon the Magic Roads" took place in Moscow at the "Karo 11 October" cinema. At the 2021 Key Buyers Event worldwide distribution plans were signed. World Cinema will distribute the film to South Korea and Grindstone Entertainment Group acquired the North American rights to the film. The media group plans to release the film in 2022. On 6 July 2021, the Cannes Film Market featured the signing of the film's distribution plans to Japan by New Select. The film could have a sequel.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: In a review of KinoPoisk, Mikhail Morkin says that the creative period of costumes in Russian history dates back to the early Soviet period, when the opera-ballet "The Golden Cockerel" was staged not only in Russia, but also by Diaghilev's Russian troupe in Paris. The review dispelled all doubts about the impossibility of continuing the creative legacy of Soviet times: “But here it is, a miracle: in the "Little Humpbacked Horse" there is a character with a weather vane on his head, and he is organically inscribed in the space of the capital's Tsar Grad. And what shirts, what sundresses and brocade robes, what hats - this certainly cannot be said in a fairy tale and cannot be described with a pen."


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: Susanna Alperina's review of "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" says that before the premiere, everyone is waiting to see if the plot matches the original material. The review says that the film is worth watching, noting: "In the film, anyone will see familiar motives and will be amazed at the relevance of Peter Ershov's fairy tale, written back in 1830." Rodion Chemonin for Film.ru noted that the well-established translations of Ershov's poem “from a poetic source into a prosaic one” by Alexei Borodachev and Oleg Pogodin are stable. In addition, Chemonin said, “For starters, the 2021 "Little Humpbacked Horse" from director Oleg Pogodin is a very beautiful picture. Bright backgrounds, elaborate fantastic animals, birds and fish, exceptionally finely selected colors, well-placed light - it's all amazing."


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The "Kommersant" review notes that, despite the adversity faced by the consequences of COVID-19, as well as analysts' predictions of below average results due to the delay in “high-budget films,” fate “turned this film from another popular blockbuster into an unexpectedly perky pamphlet. with the logo "Russia" in the opening credits." In the review of "Novaya Gazeta" Larisa Malyukova notes that the main roles of the actors were at their best. Anton Shagin “demonstrates to Vanin his youthful ardor, naivety and innocence” while “Paulina Andreeva plays a witty, emancipated person, capable of building a whole kingdom into a frunt, walks around in the costume of Baron Munchausen, does not climb into his pocket for a word, leads the tsar by the nose, herself her betrothed chooses. "You are the main thing, Wan, do not yawn, look at both!" - instructs the simple-minded peasant son Konyok."


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: On the day of the premiere, "Upon the Magic Roads" topped Russia's box office. Pre-sales broke records set by major Hollywood companies. The largest record of 251.2 million rubles for the premiere weekend surpassed the previous records set by "Mulan" (2020 film) and . On February 20, the film raised 58 million in two days. At the end of the first weekend, the film continued to top the box office in Russia and the CIS, earning a total box office revenues of 581 million . At the end of the second week of distribution, the film had only a 16% drop in viewership.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: By the end of February, a record was set for the Russian film industry. "Upon the Magic Roads" has already been watched by 2.29 million people, and which in the first six days after its release, collected 585.2 million rubles, took first place in the box office rating. 45% of proceeds and 48% of tickets sold came from a fairy tale film. In addition, average attendance over the weekend ranged from 60 to 62 people per session. Preliminary opinion polls show that 74% of the audience were families.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: Viewers' opinions are generally positive. The Russian film industry entered a new historical moment when the film became the highest-grossing film adaptation of classic Russian literature. At a moment in time, the film marked the rise of the Russian film industry as the second largest film market in the world in 2021, overtaking major cinema industries such as those in United States and the United Kingdom, with the cinema industry of China being the largest film market.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: In March, the average attendance was above average: 46 on Saturday and 51 on Sunday. The second weekend on the screens brought 240.1 million rubles with a total cash register of 850 million rubles. In eleven days, 3.36 million people attended the sessions. On March 9, 2021, the film crossed the billion-ruble mark. The record was set in 18.5 days. On holiday weekends, the film is ranked the first in average attendance. In less than three weeks of distribution, the film managed to maintain the record, increasing its average attendance to four million people. The film has currently collected a total of $19 million. The film is currently the 51st highest grossing film of 2021.


title: Upon the Magic Roads

text: The film was released on video-on-demand in Russia on April 1, 2021 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.


title: Ride with Norman Reedus

text: Ride with Norman Reedus is an American travel series that premiered on AMC on June 12, 2016. The series follows actor and motorcycle enthusiast Norman Reedus where he and a guest of the week travel across a different destination on a motorcycle while exploring the city's biker culture and checking out various locales.


title: Ride with Norman Reedus

text: AMC ordered the series on October 29, 2015 with a premiere date set for June 2016. The idea came from AMC president of original programming Joel Stillerman who called Reedus about doing a show about his love for motorcycles in which Reedus replied "Yes, yes, yes right away" before Stillerman can change his mind. Reedus picks the ride companion for each episode due to their history and location, like Peter Fonda who is known for appearing in the film "Easy Rider".


title: Ride with Norman Reedus

text: AMC renewed the series for a six-episode second season on September 23, 2016, which began on November 5, 2017. On September 12, 2017, AMC renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on February 10, 2019. On January 24, 2019, AMC renewed the series for a fourth season which premiered on March 8, 2020. On December 9, 2019, the series was renewed for a fifth season.


title: Barnaul

text: Barnaul () is the largest city and administrative centre of Altai Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Barnaulka and Ob Rivers in the West Siberian Plain. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 630,877,making it the 20th largest city in Russia and the fourth largest in the Siberian Federal District.


title: Barnaul

text: Located in the south of western Siberia on the left bank of the Ob River, Barnaul is a major transport, industrial, cultural, medical and educational hub of Siberia. Barnaul was founded by the wealthy Demidov family, who intended to develop the production of copper and silver, which continued after the factories were taken over by the Crown. Barnaul became a major centre of silver production in Russia. Barnaul was granted city status in 1771.


title: Barnaul

text: Barnaul is the administrative centre of the krai. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with the work settlement of Yuzhny and twenty-four rural localities, incorporated as the city of krai significance of Barnaul – an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the city of krai significance of Barnaul is incorporated as Barnaul Urban Okrug.


title: Barnaul

text: Barnaul is located in the forest steppe zone of the West Siberian Plain, on the left bank of the Ob River, at its confluence with the Barnaulka.


title: Barnaul

text: The border with Kazakhstan is to the south, which makes Barnaul the closest major city to the Altai Mountains. The city is also situated relatively close to the Russian border with Mongolia and the border with China.


title: Barnaul

text: The area around the city has been inhabited by modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans, for hundreds of thousands of years. They settled here to take advantage of the confluence of the rivers, used for transportation and fishing. In the late BC millennia, the locality was a centre of activity for Scythian and various Turkic peoples.


title: Barnaul

text: While 1730 is considered Barnaul's official establishment date, its first mention dates back to 1724. It was granted city status in 1771. Chosen for its proximity to the mineral-rich Altai Mountains and its location on a major river, it was founded by the wealthy Demidov family. The Demidovs wanted to develop the copper in the mountains, and soon found substantial deposits of silver as well. In 1747, the Demidovs' factories were taken over by the Crown. Barnaul became the centre of silver production of the Russian Empire.


title: Barnaul

text: In 1914, Barnaul was the site of the largest conscription riot in Russia during World War I. There were more than 100 casualties from the fighting.


title: Barnaul

text: Maria Stepanovna (née Zudilova) (1912–1996) was born and lived as a child in this city. She later became the mother of American actresses Natalie Wood (born Natalia Zakharenko) and Lana Wood (born Lana Gurdin). Her father Stepan was killed in the 1918 street fighting between the Whites and Reds following the Revolution. Afterward her mother took Maria and her siblings as refugees to Harbin, China. Maria married a Russian there, and they had a daughter Olga together. Maria eventually immigrated with Olga to the United States, where she married another Russian immigrant, from Vladivostok, and had two daughters with him.


title: Barnaul

text: Over half of the light ammunition used by the Soviet Union in World War II is estimated to have been manufactured in Barnaul.


title: Barnaul

text: Barnaul is an important industrial centre of Western Siberia. There are more than 100 industrial enterprises in the city, employing approximately 120,000 people. Leading industries include diesel and carbon processing; as well as production of heavy machinery, tyres, furniture and footwear.


title: Barnaul

text: Barnaul has public transport of Bus, Trolley and Taxies. Barnaul International Airport is located 16 kilometres West of the city center. It is served by airlines such as Aeroflot, S7, Nordwind, Iraero and Ural Airlines. It has regular flights to Moscow, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg and Surgut.


title: Barnaul

text: The humid continental climate of Barnaul (Köppen "Dfb") is defined by its geographical position at the southern end of the Siberian steppe: it is subject to long winters, with an average of in January, but also enjoys a short warm season in the summer with an average temperature of in July. Temperatures can vary in the extreme, from below in the winter to above in the summer.


title: Barnaul

text: The climate is relatively dry. The average precipitation in the area is per year, 75% of which occurs during the region's warmer season. This means snow packs can be quite moderate in spite of the cold temperatures.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: Liu Wen (; born 27 January 1988) is a Chinese model. In 2012, "The New York Times" dubbed her "China’s first bona fide supermodel". She was the first Chinese model to walk the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, the first East Asian spokesmodel for Estée Lauder cosmetics, and the first Asian model to ever make "Forbes" magazine's annual highest-paid models list. In 2017, Liu became the second Chinese model to ever appear on the cover of "American Vogue", and the first to be featured on the front cover rather than foldout. She landed on the cover a second time in American Vogue's April 2020 issue, becoming the first person of Chinese descent to appear twice. She is currently represented by The Society Management and is based in New York City.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: Liu was born in Yongzhou, Hunan province, China. Liu was encouraged by her mother to pursue modeling in order to improve her posture after she developed the habit of hunching her back as she towered over her classmates.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: In 2005, 17-year old Liu won the semi-final of the New Silk Road World model contest in her home province of Hunan. She was motivated to participate because the winning prize included a new laptop. Although she didn't place in the top 10 during the national final, she was offered to model in Beijing. She initially struggled to find jobs because her appearance didn't match the commercial look that was in demand at the time. However, Liu eventually became a sought-after model and gained first attention by the international modeling industry in 2007, when she appeared in an editorial for Chinese "Cosmopolitan", styled as Karl Lagerfeld and Viktor & Rolf.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: In February 2008, she appeared in four fashion-related articles for "Chinese Vogue". She debuted on international runways in the same month, walking for Burberry and closing the fall Trussardi show in Milan. The week after, she walked for Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Hermès in Paris. A year later in February and March 2009, Liu Wen appeared in 74 shows in New York, London, Milan, and Paris for the Fall 2009 ready-to-wear season — this was the highest number shows for a model in that season. It also remains the record for the most shows ever walked by a model of Asian descent in a single season. She followed that up with the Spring 2010 ready-to-wear season, walking 70 shows in the same four cities. This statistic made her the second most booked model for the season following French model Constance Jablonski.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: Liu has appeared in campaigns for Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Oscar de la Renta, Hugo Boss, Alexander Wang, Rag & Bone, H&M, Marni, Lane Crawford, Bergdorf Goodman, Diesel, Gap, and Vivienne Tam. Her record for a single season is seven including DKNY Jeans, The GAP, Barneys New York, Benetton, Alexander Wang, Converse, and cKone in Spring 2009. She has been featured as the only female in major "Vogue" editorials for "Vogue Germany", "Vogue Espana", "Vogue China", "Vogue Italia", "British Vogue", and "American Vogue". She has also been featured in editorials for "Numéro" (as well as a cover), "GQ", "V" magazine, "Harper's Bazaar", "Pop Magazine", "Allure", "i-D" (as well as a cover), "Interview", and "W"".


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: In 2009, Liu became the first woman of Chinese descent to walk in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Liu also participated in the 2010-2012 shows. She returned to the Victoria's Secret runway again in 2016, 2017, and 2018.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: In April 2010, it was announced that Liu along with Constance Jablonski and Joan Smalls would help to represent the cosmetics company Estée Lauder. In March 2012, "The New York Times" featured Liu Wen on the cover and in the main feature for their Style "T" Magazine's Travel Issue, and she was dubbed "China’s first bona fide supermodel". In the same year, she attended the Cannes Film Festival for the first time. In Spring 2013, Liu Wen was dubbed one of "The New Icons" by H&M for her widely admired street-style.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: In 2013 she also became the first Asian to be in the top five on "Forbes"' list of the world's highest-paid models, as number 5. She repeated the feat in 2014, with her salary rising from $4.3 million the previous year to $7 million. Also in 2013, Liu gained a rank of #3 on the Top 50 Models Women List by Models.com. She is the highest-ranked model of Asian descent in history. In July 2014, Models.com elevated her to the status of "New Supermodel", the first Asian model to ever receive that honor. She remains on that list as of February 2015.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: Liu Wen has garnered a heavy social media following on platforms such as Instagram and Weibo. The immensity of her audience led "American Vogue" to dub her as a leader in the digital movement, saying in their April 2014 issue, in an article about social media’s rise in the fashion industry, that "Liu also has, by far, the biggest social-media audience of any model". Models.com dubbed her the first ever Asian "New Supermodel" in July 2014.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: In October of the same year, Liu became the first person in the world to showcase an Apple Watch on a magazine cover when she appeared on "Vogue China"'s November 2014 issue.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: In April 2015, she and South Korean singer Choi Siwon participated in a Chinese spin-off of the South Korean variety show "We Got Married".


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: In 2017, Liu Wen became the second ever Chinese model to appear on the front cover of "American Vogue" for its 125th Anniversary March 2017 issue, photographed by Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin alongside Adwoa Aboah, Ashley Graham, Gigi Hadid, Imaan Hammam, Kendall Jenner, and Vittoria Ceretti.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: As a model, Wen has been associated with several major global brands. Examples of brands that have featured Wen in their marketing efforts include Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Roberto Cavalli, and Dolce & Gabbana. The model has also marketed products manufactured by Gap, H&M, Prada, and Bergdorf Goodman. Also, Chanel Beauty – a French company that produces luxury clothes and accessories – has appointed Wen as its global ambassador. These engagements have contributed significantly to Wen's growth as a professional in her modeling career.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: Currently, Wen resides in New York. The model has previously indicated that she is yet to consider having romantic relations and that she is more focused on pursuing her career. The supermodel also enjoys traveling, and she created a hashtag on Instagram titled #WenInFlight and which documents her experiences across the world. Moreover, the model has also participated in acting stints that have enabled her to feature in dating shows. In 2018, Wen was criticized by Chinese online users for affiliating herself with other countries and forgetting her heritage. The incident took place following a post by the supermodel on social media. Nonetheless, Wen has managed to avoid controversy throughout her modeling career.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: In February 2018, Liu Wen posted a photo on Instagram showing herself and Wendi Deng Murdoch with the English caption "Happy Lunar New Year!", which drew a large group of Chinese netizens accusing her of forgetting her Chinese roots, pandering to other Asian countries. Numerous other Chinese and international netizens defended her usage of the phrase. As a result, she changed the English caption to "Happy Chinese New Year" later.


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: After the fashion brand Coach produced a T-shirt listing Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as separate countries, rather than under China's flag, Liu cut her contracts with Coach. "I want to apologise for the harm caused to everybody due to my indiscreet selection of brand to represent," she said."I love my country, and will adamantly safeguard China's sovereignty. National sovereignty and territorial integrity are sacred and cannot be violated under any circumstances.""


title: Liu Wen (model)

text: In the past, Liu has said that after modeling she might enjoy working as a stylist or, were the opportunity to arise, as an actress—she feels that modelling and acting have much in common, but for now she enjoys modeling and working in the fashion industry. She has stated that she knows that, as a career choice, working as a fashion designer or stylist would be "very hard work", but she is now more seriously considering becoming a stylist because she would like "to share her fashion style—tomboyish, vintage, and comfortable—with the world".


title: Area code 206

text: Area code 206 is a North American telephone area code in the U.S. state of Washington serving Seattle and most of its innermost suburbs. The numbering plan area (NPA) includes such suburbs as Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, the islands of Mercer, Bainbridge, and Vashon, and portions of metropolitan Seattle from Des Moines to Woodway.


title: Area code 206

text: As of January 2017, 206 was one of the last urbanized numbering plan areas in the North American Numbering Plan without an overlay area code, making Seattle one of the largest cities where calls could still be originated by seven-digit dialing. On January 28, 2017, area code 564 was activated as an overlay for most of the western portion of Washington, and ten-digit dialing became mandatory on July 29, 2017.


title: Area code 206

text: Area code 206 was one of the original area codes assigned in 1947, and originally covered the entire state of Washington. On January 1, 1957, area code 509 was assigned for the eastern two-thirds of Washington in a flash-cut, with the split roughly following the Cascade Mountains.


title: Area code 206

text: Despite western Washington's explosive growth in the second half of the 20th century, this configuration remained in place for 38 years. By the start of the 1990s, however, 206 was on the brink of exhaustion because of the Seattle area's continued growth, as well as the proliferation of cell phones, pagers, and fax machines. The supply of numbers was further limited because much of the southern portion of the old 206 territory (Vancouver, Centralia, Kelso, etc.) is part of the Portland LATA, meaning many numbers in Portland's area code 503 weren't available for use for those areas.


title: Area code 206

text: Finally, on January 15, 1995, most of the old 206 territory outside of the Seattle/Tacoma area split off as area code 360, which was one of the first two area codes not conforming to the then-traditional N0X/N1X format.


title: Area code 206

text: Numerous residents in the Seattle exurbs protested about no longer being associated with 206, leading US West, now part of Lumen Technologies, to transfer these areas back to 206 shortly after the split. As part of the reintegration, the cities of Des Moines and Woodway were both split between the new area codes, required by the capacity of the switching centers.


title: Area code 206

text: However, 206 was on the brink of exhaustion even after the 360 split. The return of these exurbs, combined with the continued proliferation of cell phones, faxes, and pagers, hastened a three-way split of the 206 territory, effective on April 25, 1997. The southern portion, including Tacoma, received area code 253, while the northern portion, including Everett and the Eastside, was assigned area code 425.


title: Political socialization

text: Political socialization is the process by which individuals learn and frequently internalize a political lens framing their perceptions of how power is arranged and how the world around them is (and should be) organized; those perceptions, in turn, shape and define individuals' definitions of who they are and how they should behave in the political and economic institutions in which they live." Political socialization also encompasses the way in which people acquire values and opinions that shape their political stance and ideology: it is a "study of the developmental processes by which people of all ages and adolescents acquire political cognition, attitudes, and behaviors."It refers to a learning process by which norms and behaviors acceptable to a well running political system are transmitted from one generation to another. It is through the performance of this function that individuals are inducted into the political culture and their orientations towards political objects are formed. Schools, media, and the state have a major influence in this process.


title: Political socialization

text: Agents of socialization, sometimes referred to as institutions, work together to influence and shape people's political and economic norms and values. Such institutions include, but are not limited to: families, media, peers, schools, religions, work and legal systems.


title: Political socialization

text: Political socialization begins in childhood. Some research suggests that family and school teachers are the most influential factors in socializing children, but recent research designs have more accurately estimated the high influence of the media in the process of political socialization. On average, both young children and teenagers in the United States spend more time a week consuming television and digital media than they spend in school. Young children consume an average of thirty-one hours a week, while teenagers consume forty-eight hours of media a week. High school students attribute the information that forms their opinions and attitudes about race, war, economics, and patriotism to mass media much more than their friends, family, or teachers. Research has also shown that children who consume more media than others show greater support for and understanding of American values, such as free speech. This may be because eighty percent of the media content children consume is intended for an adult audience. In addition, the impact of the messages is more powerful because children's brains are "prime for learning", thus more likely to take messages and representations of the world at face value.


title: Political socialization

text: Media's role into political socialization continues in adulthood through both fictional and factual media sources. Adults have increased exposure to news and political information embedded in entertainment; fictional entertainment (mostly television) is the most common source for political information. The culmination of information gained from entertainment becomes the values and standards by which people judge.


title: Political socialization

text: While political socialization by the media is lifelong process, after adolescence, people's basic values generally do not change. Most people choose what media they are exposed to based on their already existing values, and they use information from the media to reaffirm what they already believe. Studies show two-thirds of newspaper readers do not know their newspaper's position on specific issues- and most media stories are quickly forgotten. Studies on public opinion of the Bush administration's energy policies show that the public pays more attention to issues that receive a lot of media coverage, and forms collective opinions about these issues. This demonstrates that the mass media attention to an issue affects public opinion. More so, extensive exposure to television has led to "mainstreaming", aligning people's perception of political life and society with television's portrayal of it.


title: Political socialization

text: There are different patterns in socialization based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, income, education, geographic region, and city size. For example, generally, African Americans and Hispanics rely on television for their information more than white people. More women than men watch daytime television, and more men than women follow sports programs. Older people read more newspapers than younger people, and people from the ages of twelve to seventeen (although they consume the most media) consume the least amount of news. Northerners listen to radio programs more than Southerners do. News outlets on the East Coast tend to cover international affairs in Europe and the Middle East the most, while West Coast news outlets are more likely to cover Asian affairs; this demonstrates that region affects patterns in media socialization. Income level is also an important factor; high-income families rely more on print media than television, and consume less television than most of the population.


title: Political socialization

text: Ultimately, however, the common core of information, and the interpretation the media applies to it, leads to a shared knowledge and basic values throughout the United States. Most media entertainment and information does not vary much throughout the country, and it is consumed by all types of audiences. Although there are still disagreements and different political beliefs and party affiliations, generally there are not huge ideological disparities among the population because the media helps create a broad consensus on basic US democratic principles.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia (""), with Katowice serving as its capital.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: Despite the Silesian Voivodeship's name, most of the historic Silesia region lies outside the present Silesian Voivodeship – divided among Lubusz, Lower Silesian, and Opole Voivodeships. The eastern half of Silesian Voivodeship (and, notably, Częstochowa in the north) was historically part of Lesser Poland.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The Voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Katowice, Częstochowa and Bielsko-Biała Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: It is the most densely populated voivodeship in Poland. Within the area of 12,300 square kilometres, there are almost 5 million inhabitants. It is also the largest urbanised area in Central and Eastern Europe. In relation to economy, over 13% of Poland's gross domestic product (GDP) is generated here, making the Silesian Voivodeship one of the wealthiest provinces in the country.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The first Silesian Voivodeship was created in the Second Polish Republic. It had a much wider range of autonomy than other contemporary Polish voivodeships, and it covered all the historical lands of Upper Silesia which ended up in Interwar period Poland. Among these were Katowice (Kattowitz), Rybnik (Rybnik), Pszczyna (Pleß), Wodzisław (Loslau), Żory (Sohrau), Mikołów (Nikolai), Tychy (Tichau), Królewska Huta (Königshütte), Tarnowskie Góry (Tarnowitz), Miasteczko Śląskie (Georgenberg), Woźniki (Woischnik), Lubliniec (Lublinitz), Cieszyn (Teschen), Skoczów (Skotschau), and Bielsko (Bielitz). This Voivodeship did not include – as opposed to the present one – lands and cities of old pre-Partition Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Among the last ones the Southern part was included in Kraków Voivodeship Żywiec (Saybusch), Wilamowice (Wilmesau), Biała Krakowska (Biala) and Jaworzno), and the North Western part Będzin (Bendzin), Dąbrowa Górnicza (Dombrowa), Sosnowiec (Sosnowitz), Częstochowa (Tschenstochau), Myszków, Szczekociny (Schtschekotzin), Zawiercie, Sławków) belonged to Kielce Voivodeship.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany on 8 October 1939, Hitler published a decree called, ""About division and administration of Eastern Territories"". A Silesian Province ("") was created, with a seat in Breslau (Wrocław). It consisted of four districts: Kattowitz, Oppeln, Breslau and Liegnitz.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The following counties were included in Kattowitz District: Kattowitz, Königshütte, Tarnowitz, Beuthen Hindenburg, Gleiwitz, Freistadt, Teschen, Biala, Bielitz, Saybusch, Pleß, Sosnowitz, Bendzin and parts of the following counties: Kranau, Olkusch, Riebnich and Wadowitz. However, according to Hitler's decree from 12 October 1939 about establishing General Government ("Generalgouvernement"), Tschenstochau (Częstochowa) belonged to GG.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: In 1941 the Silesian Province ("") underwent new administrative division and as a result Upper Silesian Province was created ("Provinz Oberschlesien"):


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: After the War during 1945–1950 there existed a Silesian Voivodeship, commonly known as Śląsko-Dąbrowskie Voivodeship, which included a major part of today's Silesian Voivodeship. In 1950 Śląsko-Dąbrowskie Voivodeship was divided into Opole and Katowice Voivodeships. The latter one had borders similar to the borders of modern Silesian Voivodeship.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The present Silesian Voivodeship was formed in 1999 from the following voivodeships of the previous administrative division:


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The Silesian Voivodeship borders both the Moravian-Silesian Region (Czech Republic), Žilina Region (Slovakia) to the south. It is also bordered by four other Polish voivodeships: those of Opole (to the west), Łódź (to the north), Świętokrzyskie (to the north-east), and Lesser Poland (to the east).


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The region includes the Silesian Upland (') in the centre and north-west, and the Krakowsko-Częstochowska Upland (') in the north-east. The southern border is formed by the Beskidy Mountains (Beskid Śląski and Beskid Żywiecki).


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The current administrative unit of Silesian Voivodeship is just a fraction of the historical Silesia which is within the borders of today's Poland (there are also fragments of Silesia in the Czech Republic and Germany). Other parts of today's Polish Silesia are administered as the Opole, the Lower Silesian Voivodeships and the Lubusz Voivodeship. On the other hand, a large part of the current administrative unit of the Silesian Voivodeship is not part of historical Silesia (e.g., Częstochowa, Zawiercie, Myszków, Jaworzno, Sosnowiec, Żywiec, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Będzin and east part of Bielsko-Biała, which are historically parts of Lesser Poland).


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: Silesian Voivodeship has the highest population density in the country (379 people per square kilometre, compared to the national average of 124). The region's considerable industrialisation gives it the lowest unemployment rate nationally (6.2%). The Silesian region is the most industrialized and the most urbanized region in Poland: 78% of its population live in towns and cities.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: Both the northern and southern parts of the voivodeship are surrounded by a green belt. Bielsko-Biała is enveloped by the Beskidy Mountains which are popular with winter sports fans. It offers over 150 ski lifts and 200 kilometres of ski routes. More and more slopes are illuminated and equipped with artificial snow generators. Szczyrk, Brenna, Wisła and Ustroń are the most popular winter mountain resorts. Rock climbing sites can be found in Jura Krakowsko-Czestochowska. The ruins of castles forming the Eagle Nests Trail are a famous attraction of the region. Often visited is the Black Madonna's Jasna Góra Sanctuary in Częstochowa – the annual destination of over 4 million pilgrims from all over the world. In the south-western part of the voivodeship are parks, palaces and old monasteries (Rudy Raciborskie, Wodzisław Śląski). Along the Oder River are interesting natural reserves and places for swimming during the summer.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: With its more than two centuries of industrial history, the region has a number of technical heritage memorials. These include narrow and standard gauge railways, coal and silver mines, and shafts and their equipment from the 19th and 20th centuries.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: Due to its industrial and urban nature, the voivodeship has many cities and large towns. Of Poland's 40 most-populous cities, 12 are in Silesian Voivodeship. 19 of the cities in the voivodeship have the legal status of "city-county" (see powiat). In all it has 24 cities and 47 towns, listed below in descending order of population (as of 2019):


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 61 billion € in 2018, accounting for 12.3% of the Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 22,200 € or 74% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 83% of the EU average. Silesia Voivodship is the province with the fourth highest GDP per capita in Poland.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: mining is derived from one of the world's largest bituminous coalfields of the Upper Silesian Industrial District (') and the Rybnik Coal District (') with its major cities Rybnik, Jastrzębie Zdrój, Żory and Wodzisław Śląski. Lead and zinc can be found near Bytom, Zawiercie and Tarnowskie Góry; iron ore and raw materials for building – near Częstochowa. The most important regional industries are: mining, iron, lead and zinc metallurgy, power industry, engineering, automobile, chemical, building materials and textile. In the past, the Silesian economy was determined by coal mining. Now, considering the investment volume, car manufacturing is becoming more and more important. The most profitable company in the region is Fiat Auto-Poland S.A. in Bielsko-Biała with a revenue of PLN 6.2 billion in 1997. Recently a new car factory has been opened by GM Opel in Gliwice. There are two Special Economic Zones in the area: Katowice and Częstochowa. The voivodship's economy consists of about 323,000, mostly small and medium-sized, enterprises employing over 3 million people. The biggest Polish steel-works "Huta Katowice" is situated in Dąbrowa Górnicza.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: Katowice International Airport (in Tarnowskie Góry County) is used for domestic and international flights, with the other nearby airports being John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice. The Silesian agglomeration railway network has the largest concentration in the country.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The voivodship capital enjoys good railway and road connections with Gdańsk (motorway A1) and Ostrava (motorway A1), Kraków (motorway A4), Wrocław (motorway A4), Łódź (motorway A1) and Warsaw. It is also the crossing point for many international routes like E40 connecting Calais, Brussels, Cologne, Dresden, Wrocław, Kraków and Kyiv and E75 from Scandinavia to the Balkans. A relatively short distance to Vienna facilitates cross-border co-operation and may positively influence the process of European integration.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa (known by its acronym "LHS", English: "Broad gauge metallurgy line") in Sławków is the longest broad gauge railway line in Poland. The line runs on a single track for almost 400 km from the Polish-Ukrainian border, crossing it just east of Hrubieszów. It is the westernmost broad gauge railway line in Europe that is connected to the broad gauge rail system of the countries of the former Soviet Union.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: Large part of the Upper Silesia conurbation features the Silesian Interurbans, the longest tram network in Poland, and one of the largest in the world. Bus and tram transport in and around Katowice and surrounding cities is managed by the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ZTM) since 2019.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: There are eleven public universities in the voivodship. The biggest university is the University of Silesia in Katowice, with 43,000 students. The region's capital boasts the Medical University, The Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice, the University of Music in Katowice, the Physical Education Academy and the Academy of Fine Arts. Częstochowa is the seat of the Częstochowa University of Technology and Pedagogic University. The Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice is nationally renowned. Bielsko-Biała is home of the Technical-Humanistic Academy. In addition, 17 new private schools have been established in the region.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: There are over 300,000 people currently studying in the Voivodeship. The biggest universities (for day 30.11.2016 r.) are:


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The Silesian voivodeship's government is headed by the province's ' (governor) who is appointed by the Polish Prime Minister. The ' is then assisted in performing his duties by the voivodeship's marshal, who is the appointed speaker for the voivodeship's executive and is elected by the ' (provincial assembly). The current ' of Silesia is Jarosław Wieczorek, whilst the present marshal is Wojciech Saługa.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: Silesian Voivodeship is divided into 36 counties (powiats). These include 19 city counties (far more than any other voivodeship) and 17 land counties. The counties are further divided into 167 gminas.


title: Silesian Voivodeship

text: The counties are listed in the following table (ordering within categories is by decreasing population).


title: Tom Ketchum

text: Thomas Edward Ketchum (known as Black Jack; October 31, 1863 – April 26, 1901) was an American cowboy who later became an outlaw. He was executed in 1901 for attempted train robbery. The execution by hanging was botched; he was decapitated because the executioner used a rope that was too long.


title: Tom Ketchum

text: Tom Ketchum was born in San Saba County, Texas. He left Texas in 1890, possibly after committing a crime. He worked as a cowboy in the Pecos River Valley of New Mexico, where by 1894, his older brother, Sam Ketchum, had joined him. Black Jack and a group of others were named as the robbers of an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway train that was en route to Deming, New Mexico Territory, in 1892 with a large payroll aboard.


title: Tom Ketchum

text: The gang supposedly robbed the train just outside Nutt, New Mexico Territory, a water station twenty miles (32 km) north of Deming. Black Jack and his gang would often visit the ranch of Herb Bassett, near Brown's Park, Colorado, who was known to have done business with several outlaws of the day, having supplied them with beef and fresh horses. Herb Bassett was the father of female outlaws Josie Bassett and Ann Bassett, who were girlfriends to several members of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang. One of Ann Bassett's boyfriends and future Wild Bunch gang member, Ben Kilpatrick, began riding with Black Jack's gang about that time. Outlaw "Bronco Bill" Walters, later noted for the legend of his "hidden loot" near Solomonville, Arizona, is also believed to have begun riding with the gang at this time.


title: Tom Ketchum

text: The second major crime attributed to Tom was the murder of a neighbor, John N. "Jap" Powers, in Tom Green County, Texas, on December 12, 1895. However, information at the Sutton Historical Society in Texas, says that Will Carver and Sam Ketchum were the ones actually accused of killing Powers in Knickerbocker. Fearing the law, they closed their joint saloon and gambling venture in San Angelo, and hit the outlaw trail. Within six months, Mrs. Powers and her lover, J. E. Wright, were arrested for the murder, but it was too late for Carver and the Ketchums.


title: Tom Ketchum

text: By late 1895, outlaw Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan and his brother Lonnie Curry were members of Black Jack's gang. However, in early 1896, a dispute concerning their share of robbery loot prompted the Currys to leave the gang.


title: Tom Ketchum

text: It is alleged that Ketchum was involved with the February 1, 1896, disappearance and presumed murders of Albert Jennings Fountain and his son Henry Fountain of Las Cruces, New Mexico. In early June 1896, after working for the famed Bell Ranch in New Mexico, Tom and Sam Ketchum, and possibly others, robbed a combined store and post office at Liberty, New Mexico, northwest of present-day Tucumcari. According to contemporary accounts, the Ketchums rode into Liberty on June 12 and purchased supplies. That evening, a thunderstorm began, and they returned to the store, owned by Morris and Levi Herzstein, who invited them to take shelter.


title: Tom Ketchum

text: Returning the next morning to open his store, Levi Herzstein found that both the store and post office had been burglarized. After gathering a posse, Herzstein set out on the outlaws' trail. The posse, composed of just four men, took the two outlaws by surprise in the Plaza Largo arroyo, where a shootout immediately began. Seconds later both Levi Herzstein and Hermenejildo Gallegos lay dead. Seeing his comrades fall, Anastacio Borgue turned his horse and rode out of the arroyo. Placido Gurulé, the fourth member of the posse, also survived to give an account. Gurulé said he had been struck by a .30-30 bullet that knocked him off his horse. He landed on the ground with a blow that knocked the wind out of him. He lay in a semiconscious state as Black Jack Ketchum emptied his rifle into the bodies of Levi Herzstein and Hermenejildo Gallegos. Tom and Sam Ketchum were never tried for the killings at the Plaza Largo arroyo, but Morris Herzstein reportedly was present to witness the hanging of Black Jack Ketchum in 1901.


title: Tom Ketchum

text: Morris Herzstein moved to Clayton shortly after the killing in Liberty, and finally into the Texas Panhandle area. This is memorialized by the inscription on a shoe brush: "Herzstein's Clayton, New Mexico -- Dalhart, Texas. If it's from Herzstein's it's correct." Morris was the father of Albert Herzstein, who became one of the founders of Big 3 Industries in Houston, and is the man who helped the museum in Clayton to become a reality years later.