title: Axiom's End

text: Reviewers praised "Axiom's End"s fast pace and cultural commentary. "Pajiba" said it is "less about action than an exploration of communication across boundaries both human and deeply inhuman," and praised Ellis's handling of the book's themes, and that her "well-trained eye for the oddities and political edges of various cultural contexts comes in very handy." Ryan Britt of "Syfy Wire" said that Ellis's authorial voice serves to "demystify" the story's central concepts: "Luckily, unlike so many 'big idea' sci-fi books, it's utterly unpretentious." John Hickman of "Like the Dew" noted that the novel moves readers from a pessimistic to an optimistic astrobiology assessment of First Contact. "Kirkus Reviews" said the book "uses first contact to interrogate our tendencies toward xenophobia and prejudice and challenge our conceptions of what humanity means" and that it is "solid" but unpolished. Other critiques focused on the novel's conclusion, which balances tying up the story's events while setting up a sequel.


title: Axiom's End

text: According to the review aggregator Book Marks, "Axiom's End" received "positive" reviews, based on 7 reviews.


title: Axiom's End

text: In a video uploaded to YouTube on July 19, 2020, Ellis announced that the second and third books in the "Axiom's End" series would be released in summer 2021 and 2022. The second novel, "Truth of the Divine", was published in October 2021.


title: David Slade

text: David Aldrin Slade (born 26 September 1969) is a British film and television director and actor. His works include the films "Hard Candy", "30 Days of Night" and "". Slade is also a director for television, directing episodes for "Breaking Bad", "Awake", "Hannibal", "Crossbones", "Powers", "American Gods" and "Black Mirror". Before he was a film director, Slade was a director of commercials and music videos.


title: David Slade

text: He started his career making amateur music videos for local bands in the south of England. He had his films processed by an elderly woman who developed super 8 films for cheap in her bathtub. His first professional job was directing a commercial for the video game "Silent Hill", for the English market. His first feature film, "Hard Candy", was released in 2005 by Lions Gate Entertainment, who purchased the independent movie at the Sundance Film Festival. He went on to direct the vampire film "30 Days of Night" in 2007. Slade directed "", the third film in the "Twilight" film series.


title: David Slade

text: In a Twitter post, Slade listed his favorite films as "Performance", "Wings of Desire", "", "A Clockwork Orange", and "Possession". Slade also attributes "Performance" as his main inspiration for becoming a film director.


title: Fulvia

text: Fulvia (; c. 83 BC – 40 BC) was an aristocratic Roman woman who lived during the Late Roman Republic. Fulvia's birth into an important political dynasty facilitated her relationships and, later on, marriages to Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio, and Mark Antony. It is important to note that all of these men would go on to lead increasingly promising political careers as "populares", tribunes, and supporters of Julius Caesar.


title: Fulvia

text: Fulvia remains an important figure in ancient Roman history due to her perseverance as a woman heavily involved in politics, as well as her role in the Perusine War against Octavian (future emperor Augustus). She played an important political role behind the scenes of her three marriages. Though she is most famous for her involvement in Antony's career, there are many scholarly debates taking place over whether or not Fulvia was already involved in politics before her husbands or as a result of marrying them. However, one thing is for sure: she was highly interested in politics and developed an increasingly strong public voice over time. She is most famous for her activities during her third marriage and her involvement in the Perusine War of 41–40 BC. She was the first Roman non-mythological woman to appear on Roman coins.


title: Fulvia

text: Fulvia was born and raised either in Rome or Tusculum. Her date of birth is not known. Fulvia was a member of the Fulvia gens, which hailed from Tusculum. The Fulvii were one of the most distinguished Republican plebeian wealthy families in Rome; various members of the family achieved consulship and became senators, though no member of the Fulvii is on record as a consul after 125 BC. Fulvia was the only child of Marcus Fulvius Bambalio and Sempronia. As a result, Fulvia may have also represented the last of both the Fulvii and the Sempronii families, which meant she was likely an heiress of extreme worth and value. Her father Marcus received the nickname "Bambalio", from the Latin "to stutter", because of his hesitancy in speech. Her maternal grandfather was Sempronius Tuditanus, who was described by Cicero as a madman, who liked to throw his money to the people from the Rostra.


title: Fulvia

text: Her first marriage was to Publius Clodius Pulcher, circa 62 BC. Fulvia and Clodius had two children together, a son also named Publius Clodius Pulcher and a daughter, Claudia. As a couple they went everywhere together. Claudia later married the future Emperor Augustus.


title: Fulvia

text: In 52 BC, Clodius ran for "praetor" and political competition with a consular candidate and rival, Titus Annius Milo, escalated to violence. Milo and his gang killed Clodius on January 18 on the Appian Way, the road built by Clodius's ancestors. Fulvia first appears in the record after his death. Fulvia and her mother Sempronia were present at the trial of Milo, and Fulvia's was the last testimony given by the prosecution. Milo was exiled for his crime.


title: Fulvia

text: While alive, Clodius had control of many gangs, and Fulvia retained the power and status that came with their loyalty. There is some evidence that she may have been involved in organizing the "collegia". Even after Clodius' death however, the Clodian following remained strong because of Fulvia's understanding of her political potential. After the death of her husband, Fulvia used her strong political following to avenge his death: she and her mother brought his body to the streets of Rome so the Roman citizens would see his wounds, and grow angry towards Milo. as a sign that she was to be his avenger. Fulvia would therefore actively invest herself into the political atmosphere that followed the death of her first husband, as a "visible symbol and reminder of his presence."


title: Fulvia

text: With Pompey's seizure of power in Rome, he militarily forced out any remaining supporters of the late Clodius (including captains and tribunes), which prompted Fulvia to continue on her late husband's legacy alone within the city, taking advantage of every opportunity that allowed her to extend her influence and political prestige.


title: Fulvia

text: Her widowhood did not last long, as the customary period of mourning for Romans was ten months. Fulvia most likely married her second husband, Gaius Scribonius Curio, soon after his return from Asia and her mourning period had passed. They were married in 52-51 BC, ultimately solidifying him as the legitimate "continuator and heir of Clodius' "popularis" policies," though initially an "optimate." Like Clodius, Curio was very popular with the plebeians. He was from a less distinguished family than Clodius, being from a new consular family, but he may have had more wealth. He soon became important to Gaius Julius Caesar and Clodian supporters, becoming a trusted and valued political ally to these vitally important individuals because of his marriage to Fulvia and her emphasis on promoting the Clodian legacy. In 50 BC, the year after he married Fulvia, Curio won election as a tribune.


title: Fulvia

text: Curio died in 49 BC. He was killed during the Battle of the Bagradas in North Africa, fighting for Julius Caesar against King Juba I of Numidia. During the civil war, Fulvia was most likely in Rome or nearby, due to Caesar's troops taking over Italy. At the time, she would have had her two children by Clodius and was either pregnant with Curio's son or had delivered him.


title: Fulvia

text: After Curio's death in Africa, Fulvia was still an important widow in elite circles and her political interests were well known. She provided an important tie to Clodius and his "clientela," and could offer a husband money and political organization. Also, her husband would become the stepfather of Clodius' children, further linking him to Clodian politics.


title: Fulvia

text: Fulvia's third and final marriage was to Mark Antony in 47 or 46 BC, a few years after Curio's death, although Cicero suggested that Fulvia and Antony had had a relationship since 58 BC. Cicero wrote about their relationship in his "Philippicae" as a way of attacking Antony. According to him, while Fulvia and Clodius were married, Antony once left a military post to sneak back into Rome during the night and personally deliver a love letter to Fulvia describing his love for her and how he had stopped seeing the famous actress Cytheris. Cicero also suggested that Antony married Fulvia for her money. At the time of their marriage, Antony was an established politician. He had already been tribune in 49 BC, commanded armies under Caesar and was the Master of the Horse in 47 BC. Fulvia's marriage to Antony was not one of subordination, rather, they had become a "formidable political force" within the crucial city of Rome. They had two sons together, Marcus Antonius Antyllus and Iullus Antonius.


title: Fulvia

text: Fulvia played a very influential role in Mark Antony's political career. She was the brains behind many of his policies (such as the decision to give Sicilians Roman citizenship, as well as to confirm Deiotarus in his kingdom), as well as a very persuasive campaigner for her husband. It is also possible that former Clodian policies were continued through him. Throughout their marriage, Fulvia defended Antony from Cicero's attacks, sustained his popularity with his soldiers and hindered Octavian's ascension to power. In fact, Fulvia still retained the support of gangs formerly ruled by her first husband, Clodius. Antony was able to gather that support by publicly associating himself with Clodius' children. Antony was able to use what was left of Clodius' gangs through Fulvia's influence in his own gang wars against Dolabella and his supporters.


title: Fulvia

text: Through the political connections of his wife and his close friendship with Caesar, Antony was found to be the most powerful man in Rome after Caesar's assassination. Therefore, it was only fitting that Fulvia was to be heavily involved in the political aftermath. After Caesar's death, the senate realized his popularity and declared that it would pass all of Caesar's planned laws. Antony had attained possession of Caesar's papers, and with the ability to produce papers in support of any law, Fulvia and Antony made a fortune and gained immense power. She allegedly accompanied Antony to his military camp at Brundisium in 44 BC. Appian wrote that in December 44 and again in 43 BC, while Antony was abroad and Cicero campaigned for Antony to be declared an enemy of the state, Fulvia tried to block such declarations by soliciting support for Antony.


title: Fulvia

text: Antony formed the Second Triumvirate with Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in 43 BC and began to conduct proscriptions. To solidify the political alliance (and the advancing of Clodian interests), Fulvia's daughter Claudia was married to the young Octavian. Appian and Cassius Dio describe Fulvia as being involved in the violent proscriptions, which were used to destroy enemies and gain badly needed funds to secure control of Rome. Antony pursued his political enemies, especially Cicero, who had openly criticized him for abusing his powers as consul after Caesar's assassination. Although many ancient sources wrote that Fulvia was happy to take revenge against Cicero for Antony's and Clodius' sake, Cassius Dio is the only one who describes the joy with which she pierced the tongue of the dead Cicero with her golden hairpins, as a final revenge against Cicero's power of speech.


title: Fulvia

text: In 42 BC, Antony and Octavian left Rome to pursue Julius Caesar's assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Fulvia was left behind as the most powerful woman in Rome, seeing as though she had already manifested her political aptitudes throughout the decades. According to Cassius Dio, Fulvia controlled the politics of Rome. Dio wrote that "the following year Publius Servilius and Lucius Antonius nominally became consuls, but in reality it was Antonius and Fulvia. She, the mother-in‑law of Octavian and wife of Antony, had no respect for Lepidus because of his slothfulness, and managed affairs herself, so that neither the senate nor the people transacted any business contrary to her pleasure."


title: Fulvia

text: Shortly afterwards, the "triumvirs" distributed the provinces among them. Lepidus took the west and Antony went to Egypt, where he met Cleopatra VII. Octavian returned to Rome in 41 BC to dispense land to Caesar's veterans, divorced Fulvia's daughter and accused Fulvia of aiming at supreme power. Fearing that Octavian was gaining the veterans' loyalty at the expense of Antony, Fulvia traveled constantly with her children to the new settlements in order to remind the veterans of their debt to Antony. Fulvia also tried to delay the land settlements until Antony returned to Rome, so that the two "triumvirs" could share the credit. With Octavian in Italy and Antony abroad, Fulvia allied with her brother-in-law Lucius Antonius and publicly endorsed Mark Antony in opposition to Octavian.


title: Fulvia

text: These actions caused political and social unrest. In 41 BC, tensions between Octavian and Fulvia escalated to war in Italy. According to Appian, Fulvia was a central cause of the war, due to her jealousy of Antony and Cleopatra's affair in Egypt; she may have escalated the tensions between Octavian and Lucius in order to draw back Antony's attention to Italy. However, Appian also wrote that the other main causes were the selfish ambitions of the commanders and their inability to control their own soldiers.


title: Fulvia

text: Together with Lucius Antonius, Fulvia raised eight legions in Italy to fight for Antony's rights against Octavian, an event known as the Perusine War. The army occupied Rome for a short time, and Lucius organized his troops at Praeneste, but eventually retreated to Perusia (modern Perugia), where Octavian besieged him. Lucius waited for Antony's legions in Gaul to come to his aid. However, unaware of the war, Antony was still in the eastern provinces, and his legions were unsure of his commands and did not assist Lucius. Although during this conflict, Fulvia was at Praeneste, there is evidence she helped Lucius. According to Appian, she "urged Ventidius, Asinius, and Calenus from Gaul to help Lucius, and having gathered another army, she sent it to Lucius under the command of Plancus." During the war, Octavian's soldiers at Perusia used sling bullets inscribed with insults directed at Fulvia personally and Octavian wrote a vulgar epigram directed at her in 40 BC, referring to Antony's affair with the ex-courtesan queen of Cappadocia Glaphyra. It is recorded by Martial within one of his own poems:


title: Fulvia

text: The siege at Perusia lasted two months before Octavian starved Lucius into surrender in February 40 BC. After Lucius' surrender, Fulvia fled to Greece with her children. Appian writes that she met Antony in Athens, and he was upset with her involvement in the war. Antony then sailed back to Rome to deal with Octavian, and Fulvia died of an unknown illness in exile in Sicyon, near Corinth, Achaea. After her death, Antony and Octavian used it as an opportunity to blame their quarrelling on her. According to Plutarch, "there was even more opportunity for a reconciliation with Caesar. For when Antony reached Italy, and Caesar manifestly intended to make no charges against him, and Antony himself was ready to put upon Fulvia the blame for whatever was charged against himself."


title: Fulvia

text: After Fulvia's death, Antony married Octavian's sister, Octavia Minor, to publicly demonstrate his reconciliation with Octavian. Antony never regained his position and influence in Italy.


title: Fulvia

text: Once Antony and Octavia were married, she took in and reared all of Fulvia's children. The fate of Fulvia's daughter, Clodia Pulchra, after her divorce from Octavian is unknown. Her son Marcus Antonius Antyllus was executed by Octavian in Alexandria, Egypt in 30 BC. Her youngest child, Iullus Antonius, was spared by Octavian and raised from 40 BC by Octavia Minor. Iullus married Octavia's daughter and Octavian's niece Claudia Marcella Major and they had a son Lucius Antonius and possibly a daughter Iulla Antonia.


title: Sharesome

text: Sharesome is an adult social media website founded in 2018 and based in Cyprus. The website's founders claim they built Sharesome for adult content creators and to offer them tools to grow their audience. Due to its familiar social network design, the platform has been dubbed “the Facebook of porn".


title: Sharesome

text: Email is not required for registration and users can stay anonymous. The platform allows users to join or create topics and interact with each other based on shared interests. Inside topics, users can upload content as well as share links of photos, videos and GIFs. Communities are manually moderated according to their guidelines. Sharesome receives 2.5 million visits per month and is ranked #8,500 in the United States according to SimilarWeb. The platform gained most of its user base because of the Tumblr ban on NSFW content. Unlike other adult content providers, who traditionally rely on older or less tech-savvy audiences for monetization.


title: Sharesome

text: Sharesome was launched in 2018. The company has reported over one million user registrations to its Flame Token airdrop.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (; April 7, 1952) is a Pakistani philosopher, educationist, and Scholar of Islam. He is also the founding President of Al-Mawrid Institute of Islamic Sciences and its sister organisation "Danish Sara".


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: He became a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology (responsible for giving legal advice on Islamic issues to the Pakistani Government and the country's Parliament) on 28 January 2006, where he remained for a couple of years. He also taught Islamic studies at the Civil Services Academy for more than a decade from 1979 to 1991. He was also a student of Islamic scholar and exegete, Amin Ahsan Islahi. He is running an intellectual movement similar to Wasatiyyah, on the popular electronic media of Pakistan. Currently he is Principal Research Fellow and Chief Patron of Ghamidi Center of Islamic Learning in United States. Javed Ahmad Ghamidi was named in "The Muslim 500" (The World's Most Influential Muslims) in the 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi was born as Muhammad Shafique (Later he renamed himself as Javed Ghamdi) on 7 April 1952 to a Kakazai family in a village called Jiwan Shah, Arifwala in (District Pakpattan), Punjab, Pakistan. His family village settlement was Dawud in Sialkot. His father, Muhammad Tufayl Junaydi, was a landowner, involved in medicine and a committed follower of tasawwuf until his death in 1986.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Ghamidi and his two elder sisters grew up in a Sufi household. His early education included a modern path (matriculating from Islamia High School, Pakpattan), as well as a traditional path (Arabic and Persian languages, and the Qur'an with Nur Ahmad of Nang Pal).


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: His first exposure to traditional Islamic studies was in the Sufi tradition. After matriculating, he came to Lahore in 1967 where he is settled ever since. Initially, he was more interested in Literature and Philosophy. He later graduated from Government College, Lahore, with a BA Honours in English Literature & Philosophy in 1972.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Ghamidi encountered the works of Hamiduddin Farahi, a scholar of the Quran by chance in a library. Finding mention of Amin Ahsan Islahi (who advanced Farahi's thought) in this work inspired Ghamidi to meet Islahi who resided in Lahore during that time. This encounter would change Ghamidi's focus from philosophy and literature, to religion. In 1973, he came under the tutelage of Amin Ahsan Islahi (d. 1997), who was destined to who have a deep impact on him. He was also associated with scholar and revivalist Abu al-A‘la Mawdudi (d. 1979) for several years. He started working with them on various Islamic disciplines particularly exegesis and Islamic law.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: In his book, Maqamat (مقامات), Ghamidi starts with an essay "My Name" (میرا نام) to describe the story behind his surname, which sounds somewhat alien in the context of the Indian Subcontinent. He describes a desire during his childhood years to establish a name linkage to his late grandfather Noor Elahi, after learning of his status as the one people of the area turned to, to resolve disputes. This reputation also led to his (grandfather's) reputation as a peacemaker (مصلح). Subsequently, one of the visiting Sufi friends of his father narrated a story of the patriarch of the Arab tribe Banu Ghamid who earned the reputation of being a great peacemaker. He writes, that the temporal closeness of these two events clicked in his mind and he decided to add the name Ghamidi to his given name, Javed Ahmed. Taxila.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Ghamidi's conclusions and understanding of Islam, including the Sharia, has been presented concisely in his book "Mizan" with the intention of presenting the religion in its pure shape, cleansed from "tasawwuf", "qalam", "fiqh", all philosophies and any other contaminants.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: In his arguments, there is no reference to the Western sources, human rights or current philosophies of crime and punishment. Nonetheless, employing the traditional Islamic framework, he reaches conclusions which are similar to those of Islamic modernists and progressives on the subject.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: The only valid basis for jihad through arms is to end oppression when all other measures have failed. According to him Jihad can only be waged by an organised Islamic state, that too only where a leader has been nominated by the previous leader or by the consensus of the ulema if the state is newly established. No person, party or group can take arms into their hands (for the purpose of waging Jihad) under any circumstances. Another corollary, in his opinion, is that death punishment for apostasy was also specifically for the recipients of the same Divine punishment during Muhammad's times—for they had persistently denied the truth of Muhammad's mission even after it had been made conclusively evident to them by God through Muhammad.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: According to Ghamidi, the formation of an Islamic state is not a "religious" obligation upon the Muslims per se. However, if and when Muslims do happen to form a state of their own, Islam "does" impose certain religious obligations on its rulers as establishment of the institutions of salat (obligatory prayer), zakah (mandatory charity), and "'amr bi'l-ma'ruf wa nahi 'ani'l-munkar" (preservation and promotion of society's good conventions and customs and eradication of social vices); this, in Ghamidi's opinion, should be done in modern times through courts, police, etc. in accordance with the law of the land which, as the government itself, must be based on the opinion of the majority.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Ghamidi argues that the Qur'an states norms for male-female interaction in Surah An-Nur, while in Surah Al-Ahzab, there are special directives for Muhammad's wives and directives given to Muslim women to distinguish themselves when they were being harassed in Medina. He further claims that the Qur'an has created a distinction between men and women only to maintain family relationships.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: According to Ghamidi, all that is Islam is constituted by the Qur'an and Sunnah. Nothing besides these two is Islam or can be regarded as part of it. Just like Quran, Sunnah (the way of the prophet) is only what the Muslim nation received through ijma (consensus of companions of the prophet) and tawatur (perpetual adherence of the Muslim nation). Unlike Quran and Sunnah, ahadith only explain and elucidate what is contained in these two sources and also describe the exemplary way in which Muhammad followed Islam. The Sharia is distinguished from fiqh, the latter being collections of interpretations and applications of the Sharia by Muslim jurists. Fiqh is characterised as a human exercise, and therefore subject to human weakness and differences of opinion. A Muslim is not obliged to adhere to a school of fiqh.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Ghamidi writes on moral and ethical issues in Islam. He states:After faith, the second important requirement of religion is purification of morals. This means that a person should cleanse his attitude both towards his Creator and towards his fellow human beings. This is what is termed as a righteous deed. All the sharī‘ah is its corollary. With the change and evolution in societies and civilizations, the sharī‘ah has indeed changed; however faith and righteous deeds, which are the foundations of religion, have not undergone any change. The Qur'an is absolutely clear that any person who brings forth these two things before the Almighty on the Day of Judgement will be blessed with Paradise which shall be his eternal abode.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Like Wahiduddin Khan, Maulana Naeem Siddiqui, Israr Ahmed and Dr. Khazir Yasin, Ghamidi also worked closely with Maulana Syed Abul Ala Maududi (alternative spelling "Syed" "Maudoodi"; often referred to as "Maulana Maududi") (1903–1979) and Amin Ahsan Islahi. His work with Maududi continued for about nine years before he voiced his first differences of opinion, which led to his subsequent expulsion from Mawdudi's political party, Jamaat-e-Islami in 1977. Later, he developed his own view of religion based on hermeneutics and ijtihad under the influence of his mentor, Amin Ahsan Islahi (1904–1997), a well-known exegete of the Indian sub-continent who is author of Tadabbur-i-Qur'an, a Tafsir (exegeses of Qur'an). Ghamidi's critique of Mawdudi's thought is an extension of Wahid al-Din Khan's criticism of Mawdudi. Khan (1925–2020 ) was amongst the first scholars from within the ranks of Jamaat-e-Islami to present a full-fledged critique of Mawdudi's understanding of religion. "Khan's" contention is that Mawdudi has completely inverted the Qur'anic worldview. Ghamidi, for his part, agreed with Khan that the basic obligation in Islam is not the establishment of an Islamic world order but servitude to God, and that it is to help and guide humans in their effort to fulfill that obligation for which religion is revealed. Therefore, Islam never imposed the obligation on its individual adherents or on the Islamic state to be constantly in a state of war against the non-Islamic world. In fact, according to Ghamidi, even the formation of an Islamic state is not a basic religious obligation for Muslims. Despite such extraordinary differences and considering Maududi's interpretation of "political Islam" as incorrect, Ghamidi in one of his 2015 interviews said that he still respects his former teacher like a father.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Ghamidi's thought and discourse community has received some academic attention in the recent past by Pakistani scholar Dr. Husnul Amin whose critical analysis of Ghamidi's thought movement has received academic attention. Amin traces the history of secessionist tendencies within the mainstream Islamism, and its ruptures, and then critically examines Ghamidi's emergence and proliferation in society as an unprecedented phenomenon. Ghamidi's views and discourse on Islam and democracy have also been examined in another cited research paper.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Ghamidi resigned in September 2006 from the "Council of Islamic Ideology (CII)", a constitutional body responsible for providing legal advice on Islamic issues to the Pakistani government. His resignation was 'accepted' by the President of Pakistan. Ghamidi's resignation was prompted by the Pakistani government's formation of a separate committee of "ulema" to review a Bill involving women's rights; the committee was formed after extensive political pressure was applied by the MMA. Ghamidi argued that this was a breach of the CII's jurisdiction, since the very purpose of the council is to ensure that Pakistan's laws do not conflict with the teachings of Islam. He also said that the amendments in the bill proposed by the "Ulema" committee were against the injunctions of Islam. This event occurred when the MMA threatened to resign from the provincial and national assemblies if the government amended the Hudood Ordinance, which came into being under Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization. The Hudood Ordinances have been criticised for, among other things, a reportedly difficult procedure to prove allegations of rape.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Ghamidi has appeared regularly on dedicated television programs. His television audience consists of educated, urban-based middle-class men and women between the ages of 20–35, as well as lay Islamic intellectuals and professionals. Ghamidi's religiously oriented audience tends to be dissatisfied with the positions of traditional ulema and Western-educated secular-liberal elite, and find his interventions and ideas more sensible, moderate, and relevant.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Some books highly critical of Ghamidi are, "Fitna-e-Ghamdiyat" () by Hafiz Salahuddin Yusuf and "Fitna-e-Ghamdiyat ka Ilmi Muhasbah" () by Muhammad Rafiq.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Ghamidi left Pakistan in 2010 as a result of opposition to his work and threat to his life and his closed ones. In a 2015 interview with Voice of America, Ghamidi explained his reason for departure was to safeguard the lives of people near him including his neighbours who had begun to fear for their safety. Some of his close associates had already been killed like Muhammad Farooq Khan and Dr. Habib-ur-Rehman. Ghamidi maintained that his work of education was not affected by his departure because of modern communication. Ghamidi, also regularly appears on "Ilm-o-Hikmat", a Pakistani "Dunya News" show. He has stated his desire to return in the future when circumstances change.


title: Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

text: Ghamidi moved to Dallas, Texas, USA as of July 2019, to support establishment of Ghamidi Center of Islamic Learning, an initiative of Al-Mawrid US and an educational institute named after himself.


title: Auschwitz Album

text: The Auschwitz Album is a photographic record of the Holocaust during the Second World War. It and the "Sonderkommando" photographs are the only known pictorial evidence of the extermination process inside Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the German extermination camp in occupied Poland.


title: Auschwitz Album

text: The images were taken by photographers from the camp's Erkennungsdienst ("identification service"). The identity of the photographers is uncertain, but it is thought to have been Bernhard Walter or Ernst Hoffmann, two SS men who were director and deputy director of the Erkennungsdienst. Among other things, the Erkennungsdienst was responsible for fingerprinting and taking photo IDs of prisoners who had not been selected for extermination.


title: Auschwitz Album

text: The album has 56 pages and 193 photographs. Originally, it had more photographs, but before being donated to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Israel, some of them were given to survivors who recognized relatives and friends.


title: Auschwitz Album

text: The images follow the processing of newly arrived Hungarian Jews from Carpathian Ruthenia in the early summer of 1944. They document the disembarkation of the Jewish prisoners from the train boxcars, followed by the selection process, performed by doctors of the SS and wardens of the camp, which separated those who were considered fit for work from those who were to be sent to the gas chambers. The photographer followed groups of those selected for work, and those selected for death to a birch grove just outside the crematoria, where they were made to wait before being killed. The photographer also documented the workings of the "Canada" storage facilities, where the looted belongings of the prisoners were sorted before transport to Germany.


title: Auschwitz Album

text: The album's survival is remarkable, given the strenuous efforts made by the Nazis to keep the "Final Solution" a secret. Also remarkable is the story of its discovery. Lili Jacob (later Lili Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier) was selected for work at Auschwitz-Birkenau, while the other members of her family were sent to the gas chambers. The Auschwitz camp was evacuated by the Nazis as the Soviet army approached. Jacob passed through various camps, finally arriving at the Dora concentration camp, where she was eventually liberated. Recovering from illness in a vacated barracks of the SS, Jacob found the album in a cupboard beside her bed. Inside, she found pictures of herself, her relatives, and others from her community. The coincidence was astounding, given that the Nordhausen-Dora camp was over away, and that over 1,100,000 people were killed at Auschwitz.


title: Auschwitz Album

text: The album's existence had been known publicly since at least the 1960s, when it was used as evidence at the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials. Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld visited Lili in 1980 and convinced her to donate the album to Yad Vashem. The album's contents were first published that year in the book "The Auschwitz Album", edited by Klarsfeld.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: Judy Zebra "J. Z." Knight (born Judith Darlene Hampton; March 16, 1946) is an American spiritual teacher and author known for her purported channelling of a spiritual entity named Ramtha. Critics consider her to be a cult leader.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: Knight has appeared on US TV shows, such as "Larry King", MSNBC and "The Merv Griffin Show", as well as in media such as "Psychology Today". Her teachings have attracted figures from the entertainment and political world such as Linda Evans and Shirley MacLaine. Knight claims to bridge ancient wisdom and the power of consciousness together with the latest discoveries in science. Some of the ideas are similar to those of Shirley MacLaine, which were criticized for being "kindergarten metaphysics" by mathematician and skeptic Martin Gardner. Shirley Maclaine claimed in her book that she was the brother of Ramtha in their Atlantean past lives. Ramtha's teachings have been criticized by scientists and skeptics. The Southern Poverty Law Center has criticized Knight for "homophobic, anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic racist rants".


title: J. Z. Knight

text: Knight lives in a French chateau-style home in Yelm, Washington, teaches courses and runs Ramtha's School of Enlightenment.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: Knight has been married three times and is the mother of two children from her first marriage, which ended in divorce.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: Knight grew up in poverty. After graduating from high school, she dropped out of business school. She later worked in the cable television industry, and due to her work moved to Tacoma, Washington, where, according to her autobiography, a psychic told her the "Enlightened One" would appear to her in the future. She says that Ramtha first appeared to her in her kitchen in 1977.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: Knight appeared on "The Merv Griffin Show" in 1985 and wrote the autobiographical "A State of Mind" in 1987. "Time" called her "probably the most celebrated of all current channelers". She is currently the president of JZK, Inc and Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, located near the town of Yelm, Washington. Knight owns several U.S. trademark registrations featuring the "Ramtha" name. She appeared in the 2004 film "What the Bleep Do We Know!?", produced by members of the Ramtha School.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: "Ramtha" (the name is claimed to be derived from "Ram" and to mean "the God" in Ramtha's language) is a reputed entity whom Knight says she channels. According to Knight, Ramtha was a Lemurian warrior who fought the Atlanteans over 35,000 years ago. Knight claims Ramtha speaks of leading an army over 2.5 million strong (more than twice the estimated world population at about 30,000 BC) for 63 years, and conquering three-fourths of the known world (which was allegedly going through cataclysmic geological changes). According to Knight, Ramtha led the army for 10 years until he was betrayed and almost killed.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: Knight maintains Ramtha spent the next seven years in isolation recovering and observing nature, the seasons, his army making homes and families, and many other things. She says he later mastered many skills, including foresight and out-of-body experiences, until he led his army to the Indus River while in his late fifties (after having led his army for 63 years). According to Knight, Ramtha taught his soldiers everything he knew for 120 days, then he bade them farewell, rose into the air, and in a bright flash of light he ascended before them. Knight says that he made a promise to his army he would come back to teach them everything he had learned. JZ Knight says that in 1977 Ramtha appeared before her and told her he had come to help her over the ditch. JZ Knight claims to have become his first student of what she calls the great work.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: Ramtha is the central figure (the "master teacher") of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, started by Knight in 1987 near the town Yelm, Washington. Classes (or "dialogues") had been held around the world for the previous 10 years. There are currently over 6,000 students of Knight's teachings.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: Knight's teachings appear to be a mixture of Jungian philosophy, Western occult traditions and contemporary positive-thinking attitudes (such as New Age beliefs) and have yet to stand against elementary skepticism or scrutiny. Predictions made by Knight in the name of the disembodied entity have either failed to come true (e.g. predicting a holocaust would take place in 1985, or the US would be involved in a major war in 1985) or the predicted scenarios are too wide to evaluate and/or have too large an error margin to be considered, which is usually the case with channelers.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: When Knight says she is channeling Ramtha she speaks mostly in English in what sounds like an accent from the British Raj.


title: J. Z. Knight

text: In her teachings "Ramtha" has made several controversial statements such as Christianity is a "backward" religion, that Jesus' parables can be explained by means of photon waves and probability, that "murder isn't really wrong or evil" (if one believes in reincarnation), or (during the court case JZ Knight v Jeff Knight) Jeff Knight stated Ramtha had declared HIV is Nature's way of 'getting rid of' homosexuality. The Southern Poverty Law Center observed "Ramtha" has made anti-semitic comments such as ""Fuck God's chosen people! I think they have earned enough cash to have paid their way out of the goddamned gas chambers by now".


title: J. Z. Knight

text: Skeptics point to Ramtha's story as proof that he does not exist. Ramtha claims to come from the continent of Lemuria and to have conquered Atlantis. The existence of the two locations is considered of legendary nature, and neither has been found. Furthermore, the claim that Ramtha led an army of 2.5 million contradicts estimates of the world population at 33,000 BC, and her claims of clairvoyant, telepathic, telekinetic and other ESP abilities, for which there is no scientific support, have been heavily criticized by skeptics and scientific communities.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The Garmin Forerunner series is a selection of sports watches produced by Garmin. Most models use the Global Positioning System (GPS), and are targeted at road runners and triathletes. Forerunner series watches are designed to accurately measure distance, speed, heart rate (optional), time, altitude, and pace, all of which can be important to athletes in training.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The Forerunner series consists of the 101, 201, 301, 205, 305, 50, 405, 60, 405CX, 310XT, 110, 210, 410, 610, 910XT, 70, 10, 220, 620, 15, 920XT, 225, 25, 230, 235, 630, 735XT, 35, 935, 30, 645, 645 Music, 45, 45S, 245, 245 Music, 945, 745, 55, 945 LTE, 255, 255 Music, 955, 955 Solar (listed in chronological order by release date). All models except the 101 include a way to upload training data to a personal computer and training software.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: Garmin registered the name "Forerunner" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in August 2001 but released the first watches — the 101, 201, and 301 — in 2003.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: In 2006, the improved 205 and 305 appeared. These models are smaller than the first generation and feature a more sensitive SiRFstarIII GPS receiver chip.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: In late 2007, the Forerunner 50 was introduced. As opposed to GPS, this model paired with a foot pod to measure displacement. The Forerunner 50 also came packaged with a USB stick that allowed training data to be transferred wirelessly to one's pc. This feature has since become a staple of Garmin's more full-featured sport watches.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The Forerunner 405 was introduced in 2008 and is significantly smaller than its predecessors, only slightly outsizing a typical wristwatch. The 405 also featured improved satellite discovery and connection.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: In 2009, Garmin produced three new models: the Forerunner 60 (an evolution of the Forerunner 50), the Forerunner 405CX (405 chassis), and the Forerunner 310XT (an evolution of the 305 chassis). New features included additional battery life and vibration alerts on the 310XT and advanced calorie consumption modeling on all watches. The new calorie consumption modeling in these devices was the result of Garmin's first collaboration with Finnish physiological analytics firm Firstbeat. The 310XT was also the first watch of the Forerunner series to be waterproof, thus allowing its use for swimming and on all legs of a Triathlon, also thanks to extended battery life. In 2010 a firmware update added vastly improved open-water swimming metrics.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: In 2010, the Forerunner 110, 210 and 410 were introduced. The releases included the addition of a touch-sensitive bezel on the 410, presumably, although heavily debated, allowing for easier scrolling and selection of functions. It was touted as providing "unmatched reliability in sweaty, rainy conditions."


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The Forerunner 610 was released in the spring of 2011. It features a touch-sensitive screen as well as vibration alerts.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: In 2012 the Forerunner 910XT was introduced, which is a development of the 310XT. This version was originally supposed to be released in Q4 of 2011, but the November date had slipped and it was eventually released in Q1 of 2012. New features are the inclusion of the SiRFStar iv chipset, a barometric altimeter, and improved swimming metrics using an accelerometer in the watch. This allowed it to automatically count pool lengths and to recognize swimming styles.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: A further addition to the series was the Forerunner 10, a simple watch offering just GPS tracking of activities and run metrics like distance, pace and calories burned.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: At the end of 2013 the Forerunner 220 and 620 were introduced, with color screens, Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE; allowing connections to some smartphones), and, for the 620 only, a touchscreen, Wi-Fi (allowing automatic activity download) and enhanced "running dynamics" given by an updated Heart rate monitor. These watches also abandon syncing via the ANT+ protocol in favor of wired (USB) and Wi-Fi (620 only) data transfers. They are also fully waterproof, but do not include any kind of swimming mode.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: In 2014, the Forerunner 15 and 920XT were introduced. The 15 is a development of the 10, adding activity tracking, increased battery life, footpod and heart rate monitor capability. The 920XT is the successor of the 910XT, featuring all the capabilities of it (except ANT+ scale and fitness equipment capability) and adding features found in the 620 such as a color screen, Wi-Fi data transfers and running dynamics. Additionally, battery life over the 910XT was improved, daily activity tracking, GLONASS support and a swim drill mode added, and the 920XT is the first Garmin watch extensible with custom apps built using the Garmin Connect IQ software development kit.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: Announced in May 2015, the Forerunner 225 is the first Garmin watch with an integrated optical heart rate monitor.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: Announced in May 2016, the Forerunner 735XT is a triathlon-ready Garmin watch with an integrated optical heart rate monitor.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: In April 2017, Garmin announced the Forerunner 935, billing it as a watch for running and triathlons with features similar to the Fenix 5. The watch boasts 24/7 wrist-based heart rate monitoring and new advanced training features.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: On March 12, 2018, Garmin released the Forerunner 645 and 645 Music marketed as a high-end running watch. The watch adds Garmin Pay, an NFC-enabled touchless pay system and the 645 Music is Garmin's first watch with onboard music storage (4 GB).


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The Forerunner 45/45S, released on April 30, 2019, is an entry-level running watch. The 45S has a smaller bezel (39mm) than the 45 (42mm) - there are no other differences. It has a 3rd generation optical heart rate monitor which features stress detection and Body Battery™ energy, along with earlier-generation OHR metrics. Bluetooth-connected features include audio prompts, Live Track, and smart notifications. The activity profiles include outdoor running, treadmill, walk, bike, and cardio, with the ability to configure more through Garmin Connect. The Forerunner 45 also has built-in incident detection and assistance, which notifies a predetermined contact if you crash or fall and provides a live track link of your location.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The Forerunner 245/245 Music, released on April 30, 2019, are mid-range running watches. The 245 has all of the same capabilities as the 245 Music, though the 245 Music allows you to store and play up to 500 songs directly on the watch or play music through music streaming services, such as Spotify or Deezer, through wireless Bluetooth earphones. The 245 has Garmin Elevate with a 3rd generation optical heart rate monitor which features Pulse Ox, stress detection, Body Battery™ energy, along with earlier-generation OHR metrics. Also new for the Forerunner is a detailed Activity summary screen, improved Race Predictor and Training Status.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The Forerunner 945, released on April 30, 2019, is a triathlon-focused feature-rich watch. The 945 allows you to store and play up to 1000 song directly on the watch or play music through music streaming services, such as Spotify or Deezer, through wireless bluetooth earphones. The 945 has all of the capabilities of its 935 predecessor and all of the features of the Forerunner 245. Other new features of the 945 are heat and altitude acclimation, training load balance, mapping with Trendline™ popularity routing, respiration rate, Around me mode, Climbpro™ future elevation plot, cartography support and topographical maps, XERO™ location, and for the golfer, the 945 is preloaded with 41,000 courses.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The Forerunner 955, released April 31, 2022, is a superset of the Forerunner 945 and includes a touch screen. To extend battery life, the Forerunner 955 has a solar charging ring in the display. Charging for both 955 models is through the proprietary Garmin charging port and a USB-A connector.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The Forerunner can be used to record historical data by completing a workout and then uploading the data to a computer to create a log of previous exercise activities for analysis.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: Additionally, the Forerunner can be used to navigate during a workout. Users can "mark" their current location and then edit this entry's name and coordinates, which enables navigation to those new coordinates. The watch uses the hh.mm.mmmm (hours, minutes, and minute decimals) coordinate format. The 310XT can display additional formats; it also has a screen to display current coordinates in real-time.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The user can download a previously-traveled course/route to the Forerunner using Garmin's Communicator software together with the ANT+ technology, and then follow this course/route to "race" against this historical course/route. Until recently this download was possible via the tethered USB connection on the older 205 & 305 models. However, the current version of the software has eliminated this option, requiring the user to acquire a newer model with a wireless connection in order to use this feature.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: The user can also make new courses or routes, which can be downloaded to the watch and then followed. This is a convenient way to go on a cross-country bike ride while navigating with the Forerunner. Note: navigating with a course is better than navigating with a route, because a Garmin course can store more points than a Garmin route.


title: Garmin Forerunner

text: Additionally, a user can create downloadable points of interest (POIs) by creating a custom map with Google Maps. POIs can be transferred to the 205 or 305 but not to the 405 or 310XT.


title: Battle of Culiacán

text: The Battle of Culiacán was a failed operation by the Mexican National Guard to capture Ovidio Guzmán López (son of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán), who is wanted in the United States for drug trafficking.


title: Battle of Culiacán

text: On 17 October 2019, a large convoy of vehicles drove up to Guzmán López's house in Culiacán based on an extradition warrant from a US judge when it came under fire. The military succeeded in capturing Guzmán López, but quickly found themselves surrounded by cartel enforcers.


title: Battle of Culiacán

text: Around 700 cartel gunmen began to attack civilian, government and military targets around the city, and massive towers of smoke could be seen rising from burning cars and vehicles. The cartels were well-equipped, with armored vehicles, bulletproof vests, .50 caliber () rifles, rocket launchers, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns. In the end, Guzmán López was released after the cartel took multiple hostages, including eight servicemen and the housing unit where the military's families lived in Culiacán.


title: Battle of Culiacán

text: Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador defended the decision to release Guzmán López, arguing it prevented further loss of life, insisting that he wanted to pacify the country and did not want more massacres, and arguing that the capture of one drug smuggler could not be more valuable than the lives of innocent civilians. While admitting that the security forces underestimated the Cartel's manpower and ability to respond, López Obrador also clarified that the criminal process against Guzmán López is still ongoing, sending 8000 troops and police reinforcements to restore peace in Culiacan.


title: Heroes (Sabaton album)

text: Heroes is the seventh studio album by Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton. It was released on 6 May 2014. It is the first album to feature the new Sabaton line-up with guitarists Chris Rörland and Thobbe Englund, as well as new drummer Hannes van Dahl. It was produced by Peter Tägtgren in Abyss Studios. The artwork was made by Péter Sallai and the photos were created by Ryan Garrison. The first single "To Hell and Back" from their album was released digitally on 14 March 2014 and available on iTunes, Nuclear Blast, Amazon and Google Play. The second single "Resist And Bite" was also released digitally on 2 May 2014, available on iTunes, Nuclear Blast and Amazon.


title: Heroes (Sabaton album)

text: Pär Sundström said about the album's concept: "Well, I think this is a perfect concept for Sabaton. We decided to go for the idea to write about individuals instead of bigger battles. Individuals who we think basically went beyond their call of duty, put themselves into harm's way for the good of others".


title: Heroes (Sabaton album)

text: In an interview to the Brazilian Army's official blog, Sundström explained that the idea for the track "Smoking Snakes" came when he was doing some research for the album: "I tried searching for the word 'Helden', which means heroes in German. I then came across the story of the Drei Brasilianischen Helden (Three Brazilian Heroes) and, from that point on, we deepened our research and decided to write the track." On 17 April 2015, the Brazilian 14th Motorized Infantry Brigade Orchestra covered the song as a thanksgiving.


title: Heroes (Sabaton album)

text: All lyrics by Joakim Brodén and Pär Sundström. All music by Joakim Brodén, except "Inmate 4859" by Brodén & Peter Tägtgren, and "Soldier of 3 Armies" by Brodén & Thobbe Englund.


title: Heroes (Sabaton album)

text: The song "To Hell and Back" was also made into a music video which was directed by Owe Lingvall and produced by Bengt Larvia. It was uploaded on Nuclear Blast Records main YouTube channel on 15 May, and currently has over 5 million views as of March 2020.


title: Flight simulator

text: A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of flight controls, the effects of other aircraft systems, and how the aircraft reacts to external factors such as air density, turbulence, wind shear, cloud, precipitation, etc. Flight simulation is used for a variety of reasons, including flight training (mainly of pilots), the design and development of the aircraft itself, and research into aircraft characteristics and control handling qualities.


title: Flight simulator

text: The term "flight simulator" may carry slightly different meaning in general language and technical documents. In past regulations it referred specifically to devices which can closely mimic the behavior of aircraft throughout various procedures and flight conditions. In more recent definitions, this has been named "full flight simulator".. The more generic term "flight simulation training device" (FSTD) is used to refer to different kinds of flight training devices, and that corresponds more closely to meaning of the phrase "flight simulator" in general English.


title: Flight simulator

text: In 1910, on the initiative of the French commanders Clolus and Laffont and Lieutenant Clavenad, the first ground training aircraft for military aircraft were built. The "Tonneau Antoinette" (Antoinette barrel), created by the Antoinette company, seems to be the precursor of flight simulators.


title: Flight simulator

text: An area of training was for air gunnery handled by the pilot or a specialist air gunner. Firing at a moving target requires aiming ahead of the target (which involves the so-called lead angle) to allow for the time the bullets require to reach the vicinity of the target. This is sometimes also called "deflection shooting" and requires skill and practice. During World War I, some ground-based simulators were developed to teach this skill to new pilots.


title: Flight simulator

text: The best-known early flight simulation device was the Link Trainer, produced by Edwin Link in Binghamton, New York, United States, which he started building in 1927. He later patented his design, which was first available for sale in 1929. The Link Trainer was a basic metal frame flight simulator usually painted in its well-known blue color. Some of these early war era flight simulators still exist, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to find working examples.


title: Flight simulator

text: The Link family firm in Binghamton manufactured player pianos and organs, and Ed Link was therefore familiar with such components as leather bellows and reed switches. He was also a pilot, but dissatisfied with the amount of real flight training that was available, he decided to build a ground-based device to provide such training without the restrictions of weather and the availability of aircraft and flight instructors. His design had a pneumatic motion platform driven by inflatable bellows which provided pitch and roll cues. A vacuum motor similar to those used in player pianos rotated the platform, providing yaw cues. A generic replica cockpit with working instruments was mounted on the motion platform. When the cockpit was covered, pilots could practice flying by instruments in a safe environment. The motion platform gave the pilot cues as to real angular motion in pitch (nose up and down), roll (wing up or down) and yaw (nose left and right).


title: Flight simulator

text: Initially, aviation flight schools showed little interest in the "Link Trainer". Link also demonstrated his trainer to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF), but with no result. However, the situation changed in 1934 when the Army Air Force was given a government contract to fly the postal mail. This included having to fly in bad weather as well as good, for which the USAAF had not previously carried out much training. During the first weeks of the mail service, nearly a dozen Army pilots were killed. The Army Air Force hierarchy remembered Ed Link and his trainer. Link flew in to meet them at Newark Field in New Jersey, and they were impressed by his ability to arrive on a day with poor visibility, due to practice on his training device. The result was that the USAAF purchased six Link Trainers, and this can be said to mark the start of the world flight simulation industry.


title: Flight simulator

text: The principal pilot trainer used during World War II was the Link Trainer. Some 10,000 were produced to train 500,000 new pilots from allied nations, many in the US and Canada because many pilots were trained in those countries before returning to Europe or the Pacific to fly combat missions. Almost all US Army Air Force pilots were trained in a Link Trainer.


title: Flight simulator

text: A different type of World War II trainer was used for navigating at night by the stars. The Celestial Navigation Trainer of 1941 was 13.7 m (45 ft) high and capable of accommodating the navigation team of a bomber crew. It enabled sextants to be used for taking "star shots" from a projected display of the night sky.


title: Flight simulator

text: In 1954 United Airlines bought four flight simulators at a cost of $3 million from Curtiss-Wright that were similar to the earlier models, with the addition of visuals, sound and movement. This was the first of today's modern flight simulators for commercial aircraft.


title: Flight simulator

text: The simulator manufacturers are consolidating and integrate vertically as training offers double-digit growth: CAE forecast 255,000 new airline pilots from 2017 to 2027 (70 a day), and 180,000 first officers evolving to captains.


title: Flight simulator

text: The largest manufacturer is Canadian CAE Inc. with a 70% market share and $2.8 billion annual revenues, manufacturing training devices for 70 years but moved into training in 2000 with multiple acquisitions. Now CAE makes more from training than from producing the simulators.


title: Flight simulator

text: Crawley-based L3 CTS entered the market in 2012 by acquiring Thales Training & Simulation's manufacturing plant near Gatwick Airport where it assembles up to 30 devices a year, then UK CTC training school in 2015, Aerosim in Sanford, Florida in 2016, and Portuguese academy G Air in October 2017.


title: Flight simulator

text: With a 20% market share, equipment still accounts for more than half of L3 CTS turnover but that could soon be reversed as it educates 1,600 commercial pilots each year, 7% of the 22,000 entering the profession annually, and aims for 10% in a fragmented market.


title: Flight simulator

text: The third largest is TRU Simulation + Training, created in 2014 when parent Textron Aviation merged its simulators with Mechtronix, OPINICUS and ProFlight, focusing on simulators and developing the first full-flight simulators for the 737 MAX and the 777X.


title: Flight simulator

text: Airbus and Boeing have invested in their own training centres, aiming for higher margins than aircraft manufacturing like MRO, competing with their suppliers CAE and L3.


title: Flight simulator

text: In June 2018, there were 1,270 commercial airline simulators in service, up by 50 over a year: 85% FFSs and 15% s.


title: Flight simulator

text: CAE supplied 56% of this installed base, L3 CTS 20% and FlightSafety International 10%, while CAE's training centres are the largest operator, with a 13% share.


title: Flight simulator

text: Boeing types represent 45% of all simulated aircraft, followed by Airbus with 35%, then Embraer at 7%, Bombardier at 6% and ATR at 3%.


title: Flight simulator

text: Most flight simulators are used primarily for flight training. The simplest simulators are used to practice basic cockpit procedures, such as processing emergency checklists, and for cockpit familiarization. They are also used for instrument flight training, for which the outside view is less important. Certain aircraft systems may or may not be simulated, and the aerodynamic model is usually extremely generic if present at all. Depending on the level of certification, instruments that would have moving indicators in a real aircraft may be implemented with a display. With more advanced displays, cockpit representation and motion systems, flight simulators can be used to credit different amount of flight hours towards a pilot license.


title: Flight simulator

text: Specific classes of simulators are also used for training other than obtaining initial license such as instrument rating revalidation, or most commonly obtaining type rating for specific kind of aircraft.


title: Flight simulator

text: During the aircraft design process, flight simulators can be used instead of performing some flight tests. Such "engineering flight simulators" can provide a fast way to find errors, reducing both the risks and the cost of development. Additionally, this allows use of extra measurement equipment that might be too large or otherwise impractical to include during onboard a real aircraft. Throughout different phases of the design process, different engineering simulators with various level of complexity are used.


title: Flight simulator

text: Flight simulators may include training tasks for crew other than pilots. Examples include gunners on a military aircraft or hoist operators. Separate simulators have also been used for tasks related to flight, like evacuating the aircraft in case of a crash in water. With high complexity of many systems composing contemporary aircraft, aircraft maintenance simulators are increasingly popular.


title: Flight simulator

text: Before September 2018, when a manufacturer wished to have an ATD model approved, a document that contains the specifications for the model line and that proves compliance with the appropriate regulations is submitted to the FAA. Once this document, called a Qualification Approval Guide (QAG), has been approved, all future devices conforming to the QAG are automatically approved and individual evaluation is neither required nor available.


title: Flight simulator

text: The actual procedure accepted by all CAAs (Civil Aviation Authorities) around the world is to propose 30 days prior qualification date (40 days for CAAC) a MQTG document (Master Qualification Test Guide), which is proper to a unique simulator device and will live along the device itself, containing objective, and functional and subjective tests to demonstrate the representativeness of the simulator compare to the airplane. The results will be compared to Flight Test Data provided by aircraft OEMs or from test campaign ordered by simulator OEMs or also can be compared by POM (Proof Of Match) data provided by aircraft OEMs development simulators. Some of the QTGs will be rerun during the year to prove during continuous qualification that the simulator is still in the tolerances approved by the CAA.


title: Flight simulator

text: These definitions apply to both airplanes and helicopters unless specified otherwise. Training devices briefly compared below are all different subclasses of Flight simulation training device (FSTD).


title: Flight simulator

text: Basic instrument training device (BITD) "airplanes only" : A basic student station for instrument flight procedures; can use spring loaded flight controls, and instruments displayed on a screen


title: Flight simulator

text: Flight Navigation and Procedures Trainer (FNPT) : Representation of cockpit with all equipment and software to replicate function of aircraft systems


title: Flight simulator

text: Flight simulators are an example of a human-in-the-loop system, in which interaction with a human user is constantly happening. From perspective of the device, the inputs are primary flight controls, instrument panel buttons and switches and the instructor's station, if present. Based on these, the internal state is updated, and equations of motion solved for the new time step. The new state of the simulated aircraft is shown to the user through visual, auditory, motion and touch channels.


title: Flight simulator

text: To simulate cooperative tasks, the simulator can be suited for multiple users, as is the case with multi-crew cooperation simulators. Alternatively, more simulators can be connected, what is known as "parallel simulation" or "distributed simulation". As military aircraft often need to cooperate with other craft or military personnel, wargames are a common use for distributed simulation. Because of that, numerous standards for distributed simulation including aircraft have been developed with military organisations. Some examples include SIMNET, DIS and HLA .


title: Flight simulator

text: The central element of simulation model are the equations of motion for the aircraft. As the aircraft moves through atmosphere it can exhibit both translational and rotational degrees of freedom. To achieve perception of fluent movement, these equations are solved 50 or 60 times per second. The forces for motion are calculated from aerodynamical models, which in turn depend on state of control surfaces, driven by specific systems, with their avionics, etc. As is the case with modelling, depending on the required level of realism, there are be different levels of detail, with some sub-models omitted in simpler simulators.


title: Flight simulator

text: If a human user is part of the simulator, which might not be the case for some engineering simulators, there is a need to perform the simulation in real-time. Low refresh rates not only reduce realism of simulation, but they have also been linked with increase in simulator sickness. The regulations place a limit on maximum latency between pilot input and aircraft reaction. Because of that, tradeoffs are made to reach the required level of realism with a lower computational cost. Flight simulators typically don't include full computational fluid dynamics models for forces or weather, but use databases of prepared results from calculations and data acquired in real flights. As an example, instead of simulating flow over the wings, lift coefficient may be defined in terms of motion parameters like angle of attack.


title: Flight simulator

text: While different models need to exchange data, most often they can be separated into a modular architecture, for better organisation and ease of development. Typically, gear model for ground handling would be separate input to the main equations of motion. Each engine and avionics instrument is also a self-contained system with well-defined inputs and outputs.


title: Flight simulator

text: All classes of require some form of replicating the cockpit. As they are the primary means of interaction between the pilot and the aircraft special importance is assigned to cockpit controls. To achieve good transfer of skills, there are very specific requirements in the flight simulator regulations that determine how closely they must match the real aircraft. These requirements in case of full flight simulators are so detailed, that it may be cost-effective to use the real part certified to fly, rather than manufacture a dedicated replica. Lower classes of simulators may use springs to mimic forces felt when moving the controls. When there is a need to better replicate the control forces or dynamic response, many simulators are equipped with actively driven force feedback systems. Vibration actuators may also be included, either due to helicopter simulation requirements, or for aircraft equipped with a stick shaker.


title: Flight simulator

text: Another form of tactile input from the pilot are instruments located on the panels in the cockpit. As they are used to interact with various aircraft systems, just that may be sufficient for some forms of procedure training. Displaying them on a screen is sufficient for the most basic simulators and amateur flight simulation, however most classes of certified simulators need all buttons, switches and other inputs to be operated in the same way as in the aircraft cockpit. The necessity for a physical copy of a cockpit contributes to the cost of simulator construction, and ties the hardware to a specific aircraft type. Because of these reasons, there is ongoing research on interactions in virtual reality, however lack of tactile feedback negatively affects users' performance when using this technology.


title: Flight simulator

text: Outside view from the aircraft is an important cue for flying the aircraft, and is the primary means of navigation for visual flight rules operation. One of the primary characteristics of a visual system is the field of view. Depending on the simulator type it may be sufficient to provide only a view forward using a flat display. However, some types of craft, e.g. fighter aircraft, require a very large field of view, preferably almost full sphere, due to the manoeuvres that are performed during air combat. Similarly, since helicopters can perform hover flight in any direction, some classes of helicopter flight simulators require even 180 degrees of horizontal field of view.


title: Flight simulator

text: There are many parameters in visual system design. For a narrow field of view, a single display may be sufficient, however typically multiple projectors are required. This arrangement needs additional calibration, both in terms of distortion from not projecting on a flat surface, as well as brightness in regions with overlapping projections. There are also different shapes of screens used, including cylindrical, spherical or ellipsoidal. The image can be projected on the viewing side of the projection screen, or alternatively "back-projection" onto a translucent screen. Because the screen is much closer than objects outside aircraft, for simulators with multiple pilots, there are special collimated displays that eliminate the parallax effect between the pilots' point of view.


title: Flight simulator

text: An alternative to large-scale displays are virtual reality simulators using a head-mounted display. This approach allows for a complete field of view, and makes the simulator size considerably smaller. There are examples of use in research, as well as certified


title: Flight simulator

text: Real-time computer graphics visualisation of virtual worlds makes some aspects of flight simulator visual systems very similar to game engines, sharing some techniques like different levels of details or libraries like OpenGL.


title: Flight simulator

text: Initially, the motion systems used separate axes of movement, similar to a gimbal. After the invention of Stewart platform simultaneous operation of all actuators became the preferred choice, with some regulations specifically requiring "synergistic" 6 degrees of freedom motion. In contrast to real aircraft, the simulated motion system has a limited range in which it is able to move. That especially affects the ability to simulate sustained accelerations, and requires a separate model to approximate the cues to the human vestibular system within the given constraints.


title: Flight simulator

text: Motion system is a major contributor to overall simulator cost, but assessments of skill transfer based on training on a simulator and leading to handling an actual aircraft are difficult to make, particularly where motion cues are concerned. Large samples of pilot opinion are required and many subjective opinions tend to be aired, particularly by pilots not used to making objective assessments and responding to a structured test schedule. For many years, it was believed that 6 DOF motion-based simulation gave the pilot closer fidelity to flight control operations and aircraft responses to control inputs and external forces and gave a better training outcome for students than non-motion-based simulation. This is described as "handling fidelity", which can be assessed by test flight standards such as the numerical Cooper-Harper rating scale for handling qualities. Recent scientific studies have shown that the use of technology such as vibration or dynamic seats within flight simulators can be equally effective in the delivery of training as large and expensive 6-DOF FFS devices.


title: Flight simulator

text: The largest flight simulator in the world is the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) at NASA Ames Research Center, south of San Francisco. This has a very large-throw motion system with 60 feet (+/- 30 ft) of vertical movement (heave). The heave system supports a horizontal beam on which are mounted 40 ft rails, allowing lateral movement of a simulator cab of +/- 20 feet. A conventional 6-degree of freedom hexapod platform is mounted on the 40 ft beam, and an interchangeable cabin is mounted on the platform. This design permits quick switching of different aircraft cabins. Simulations have ranged from blimps, commercial and military aircraft to the Space Shuttle. In the case of the Space Shuttle, the large Vertical Motion Simulator was used to investigate a longitudinal pilot-induced oscillation (PIO) that occurred on an early Shuttle flight just before landing. After identification of the problem on the VMS, it was used to try different longitudinal control algorithms and recommend the best for use in the Shuttle program.


title: Flight simulator

text: AMST Systemtechnik GmbH (AMST) of Austria and Environmental Tectonics Corporation (ETC) of Philadelphia, US, manufacture a range of simulators for disorientation training, that have full freedom in yaw. The most complex of these devices is the Desdemona simulator at the TNO Research Institute in The Netherlands, manufactured by AMST. This large simulator has a gimballed cockpit mounted on a framework which adds vertical motion. The framework is mounted on rails attached to a rotating platform. The rails allow the simulator cab to be positioned at different radii from the centre of rotation and this gives a sustained G capability up to about 3.5.


title: Daniel Peacock

text: Daniel Peacock (born 2 October 1958) is an English actor, director, writer and carer. He has worked with the team of "The Comic Strip Presents..." and played "Mental Mickey" in "Only Fools and Horses".


title: Daniel Peacock

text: Peacock was born on 2 October 1958 in Hammersmith, London. He is the son of late actor and composer Trevor Peacock (who played Jim Trott in "The Vicar of Dibley") and Iris Jones and the half-brother of actor Harry Peacock (a regular "Star Stories" satirist). He attended Ashmole School in Southgate, London.


title: Daniel Peacock

text: He attended the Central School of Speech & Drama before leaving early to pursue a career as a comedian in an act called the 'Diamond Brothers'. He worked as a blue coat for a Pontins Holiday camp in Selsey, West Sussex in 1978.


title: Daniel Peacock

text: Daniel has also had success as a television series writer credited with "Teenage Health Freak" (C4), Sister Said, "Cavegirl" (BBC) and other successful series.


title: Daniel Peacock

text: He moved into acting and writing and his credits as an actor include the following television series: "Assaulted Nuts", "The Young Ones", "Little Armadillos", "Only Fools and Horses", "Robin of Sherwood", "The Bill", "Doctor Who" as Nord the Vandal in the serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, "Casualty" and "One Foot in the Grave".


title: Daniel Peacock

text: Peacock has also starred in the second series of "Coming of Age" as DK's estranged father who has just left prison.


title: Daniel Peacock

text: His film appearances include "Bloody Kids", "The Supergrass", "Riding High", "Porridge", "Quadrophenia", "Gandhi", "I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle", "Party Party", "Whoops Apocalypse", Bull in "", and "Carry On Columbus". He also played young Jacques Clouseau in "Trail of the Pink Panther" and he appeared in "The Jewel of the Nile" as the special effects maestro.


title: Daniel Peacock

text: He was one of the regular cast in Nick Hyde and Glen Cardno's "Valentine Park" for ATV Network starring Ken Jones, David Thewlis and Liz Smith and wrote "Men of the World" starring John Simm and David Threlfall, "Cavegirl", "Harry and Cosh", "Mud", "Very Big Very Soon" for Central TV starring Paul Shane, Sheila White, Shaun Curry and Tim Wylton, as well as adapting "Teenage Health Freak" for TV. He voiced a Beeposaurus in "The Beeps".


title: Daniel Peacock

text: He appeared in a series of musical adverts in the 1980s for the Do It All chain of DIY stores along with another "Comic Strip" actor, Ron Tarr, and the Birds Eye Steakhouse advertisement featuring the song "We Hope It's Chips", sung to the tune of "Que Sera Sera".


title: Daniel Peacock

text: Daniel also stars as a thug in "Billy's Christmas Angels" which was shown on Channel 4 in 1988 alongside Nabil Shaban who was Sil the Slug in Doctor Who and Steve Johnson from Terror Towers CITV and Motormouth.


title: Daniel Peacock

text: His credits as a director include the metaseries "Harry and Cosh", "Morris 2274", "Billie: Girl from the Future" and "Cavegirl".


title: Daniel Peacock

text: For a short time he was the lead singer in a 5 piece band called The wild men of Wonga, releasing a single in 1985 . They played at least one gig at the now defunct Rock Garden in Covent Garden in the early - mid 1980's.


title: Daniel Peacock

text: His latest sitcom, Marley's Ghosts, revolves around a woman called Marley Wise who finds she can communicate with the dead. The series first aired on Gold in September 2015.


title: Daniel Peacock

text: Since around 2019, Peacock has been working as a carer at Hastings Court Care Home in East Sussex, resulting in a nomination for a National Care Award in 2022.


title: Winston Peters

text: Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020, the minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2008 and 2017 to 2020, and the treasurer of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 1981, 1984 to 2008 and 2011 to 2020.


title: Winston Peters

text: Peters was born in Whangārei, and raised in Whananāki in rural Te Tai Tokerau before attending school in Dargaville. He is of mixed parentage, his father being Māori and his mother being of Scottish descent. Widely known simply as "Winston", Peters has had a long and turbulent political career since first entering Parliament following the National Party win of the 1978 general election. Throughout his career, he has called for more focused and restrictive immigration policies. He has advocated benefits for senior citizens, criticised the media and "elitism", and has favoured socially conservative policies.


title: Winston Peters

text: Peters first served in the Cabinet as minister of Māori affairs when Jim Bolger led the National Party to victory in 1990. He was dismissed from this post in 1991 after criticising his own Government's economic, fiscal and foreign ownership policies. He resigned from the National Party to form the populist party New Zealand First in 1993. As leader of New Zealand First, he held the balance of power after the 1996 election and formed a coalition with the National Party, securing the positions of deputy prime minister and treasurer; the latter position created for Peters. However, the coalition dissolved in 1998 following the replacement of Bolger by Jenny Shipley as Prime Minister. In 1999, New Zealand First returned to opposition before entering government with Labour Party Prime Minister Helen Clark, in which Peters served as minister of foreign affairs from 2005 to 2008.


title: Winston Peters

text: In the 2008 general election, after a funding scandal involving Peters and his party, New Zealand First failed to reach the 5% threshold. As a result, neither Peters nor New Zealand First were returned to Parliament. However, in the 2011 general election New Zealand First experienced a resurgence in support, winning 6.8% of the party vote to secure eight seats in Parliament. In the 2014 general election, NZ First gained 11 seats and finished with 8.66%. In the 2017 election, Peters lost his electorate seat of Northland but NZ First won 9 seats overall, with 7.2% of the party vote. Following the election, NZ First again held the balance of power and formed a coalition government with the Labour Party. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern subsequently appointed Peters as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs. Peters was acting prime minister from 21 June 2018 to 2 August 2018 while Ardern was on maternity leave. In the 2020 election, NZ First failed to reach the 5% threshold and again left Parliament, with Peters leaving government.


title: Winston Peters

text: Peters's birth certificate records his birth in Whangārei and his registration as Wynston Raymond Peters. His father is of Māori descent and his mother has Scottish ancestry. His iwi affiliation is Ngāti Wai and his clan is MacInnes. Two of his brothers, Ian and Jim, have also served as MPs, and another brother, Ron, has also stood as a New Zealand First candidate. According to the journalist Ian Wishart, Peters had little exposure to the Māori language and culture during his childhood years due to vigorous assimilation policies that encouraged integration into Pākehā (New Zealand European) society.


title: Winston Peters

text: He grew up on a farm in Whananaki, and after attending Whangarei Boys' High School and Dargaville High School, Peters studied at the Auckland Teachers' Training College. In 1966 he taught at Te Atatū Intermediate School in Auckland but the next year went to Australia where he became a blast-furnace worker with BHP in Newcastle and later a tunneler in the Snowy Mountains.


title: Winston Peters

text: In 1970 Peters returned to New Zealand and studied history, politics and law at the University of Auckland. During his university years, Peters joined the New Zealand Young Nationals, the youth wing of the center-right New Zealand National Party, and became acquainted with Bruce Cliffe and Paul East, who later served as Cabinet ministers in the Fourth National Government. Like his brothers Ron, Wayne, and Allan, Peters played rugby. He was a member of the University Rugby Club in Auckland and captain of the Auckland Māori Rugby team. In 1973, Peters graduated with a BA and LLB. He married his partner Louise, and later worked as a lawyer at Russell McVeagh between 1974 and 1978.


title: Winston Peters

text: Peters entered national politics in 1975 general election, standing unsuccessfully for the National Party in the electorate seat of Northern Maori; he gained 1,873 votes, and became the first National candidate in a Māori seat for some years who did not lose his deposit. This followed a successful campaign by Peters and other members of his Ngati Wai iwi to retain their tribal land in the face of the Labour government's plan to establish coastal-land reserves for the public. As a result, the government of the day took virtually no ancestral land in the Whangārei coastal areas, and the initiative helped inspire the 1975 Land March led by Whina Cooper.


title: Winston Peters

text: Peters first became a member of parliament following the 1978 general election, but only after winning in the High Court an electoral petition which overturned the election-night result for the seat of (an electorate in the southern Auckland city area) against Malcolm Douglas, the brother of Roger Douglas. Peters took his seat – six months after polling day – on 24 May 1979. He lost this seat in 1981, but in 1984 he successfully stood in the electorate of Tauranga.


title: Winston Peters

text: On 16 December 1986 Peters exposed the Māori loan affair in Parliament; this involved the-then Māori Affairs Department attempting to raise money illegally through a NZ$600 million loan-package offered by the Hawaiian businessman Michael Gisondi and the West German businessman Max Raepple. Peters became the National Party's spokesperson on Māori Affairs, Consumer Affairs, and Transport. In 1987 Jim Bolger elevated him to National's Opposition front bench as spokesperson for Māori Affairs, Employment, and Race Relations. After National won the 1990 election, Peters became Minister of Māori Affairs in the fourth National government, led by Jim Bolger.


title: Winston Peters

text: As Minister of Māori Affairs, Peters co-authored the "Ka Awatea" report in 1992 which advocated merging the Ministry of Māori Affairs and the Iwi Transition Agency into the present Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry for Māori Development).


title: Winston Peters

text: Peters disagreed with the National Party leadership on a number of matters—such as the Ruthanasia economic policies—and frequently spoke out against his party regarding them. This earned him popular recognition and support. However, his party colleagues distrusted him, and his publicity-seeking behaviour made him increasingly disliked within the party. While the party leadership tolerated differences of opinion from a backbencher, they were far less willing to accept public criticism from a Cabinet minister, which (they determined) was undermining the National government. In October 1991, Bolger sacked Peters from Cabinet.


title: Winston Peters

text: Peters remained as a National backbencher, continuing to publicly criticise the party. In late 1992, when the National Party was considering possible candidates for the elections in the following year, it moved to prevent Peters from seeking renomination (under any banner). In "Peters v Collinge", Peters successfully challenged the party's actions in the High Court, and in early 1993, he chose to resign from the party and from Parliament. This prompted a by-election in Tauranga some months before the scheduled general election. Peters stood in Tauranga as an independent and won easily.


title: Winston Peters

text: Shortly before the 1993 election, Peters established New Zealand First. He retained his Tauranga seat in the election. Another New Zealand First candidate, Tau Henare, unseated the Labour incumbent in Northern Maori, helping to convince people that New Zealand First was not simply Peters's personal vehicle. Peters started the Winebox Inquiry in 1994; which concerned companies using the Cook Islands as a tax haven.


title: Winston Peters

text: During the 1992 and 1993 electoral reform referendums, Peters advocated the adoption of the mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system. In the 1996 general election, the MMP system delivered a large increase in representation for New Zealand First. Instead of the 2 seats in the previous parliament, the party won 17 seats and swept all of the Māori electorates. More importantly, it held the balance of power in Parliament. Neither National nor Labour had enough support to govern alone. Neither party could form a majority without the backing of New Zealand First, meaning Peters could effectively choose the next prime minister.


title: Winston Peters

text: It was widely expected that he would throw his support to Labour and make Labour leader Helen Clark New Zealand's first female prime minister. Peters had bitterly criticised his former National colleagues, and appeared to promise that he would not even consider a coalition with Bolger. However, after over a month of negotiations with both parties, Peters decided to enter into a coalition with National. Michael Laws, then New Zealand First's campaign manager, later claimed that Peters had already decided to enter into an agreement with National and used his negotiations with Labour simply to win more concessions from Bolger.


title: Winston Peters

text: Whatever the case, Peters exacted a high price for allowing Bolger to stay on as Prime Minister. Peters became Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer (senior to the Minister of Finance), the latter post created especially for him. Initially, there were concerns about whether Peters would be able to work with Bolger, the National prime minister who had previously sacked him from Cabinet, but the two did not seem to have any major difficulties.


title: Winston Peters

text: Later, however, tensions began to develop between Peters and the National Party, which only worsened after Jenny Shipley staged a party room coup and became prime minister. After a dispute over the privatisation of Wellington International Airport, Peters was sacked from Cabinet again on 14 August 1998. He immediately broke off the coalition and led New Zealand First back into opposition. However, several MPs, including deputy leader Henare, opted to stay in government and leave New Zealand First. It later came out that Henare had tried to oust Peters as leader, but failed. Henare and other disaffected NZ First MPs formed the short-lived Mauri Pacific party. None of the MPs who opted to stay in government retained their seats in the next election.


title: Winston Peters

text: New Zealand First was severely mauled in the 1999 election, which saw Labour oust National from power. The party suffered for the rash of party-switching. Additionally, there was a wide perception that Peters had led voters to believe a vote for New Zealand First would get rid of National, only to turn around and go into coalition "with" National. New Zealand First collapsed to 4.3% of the vote. Under New Zealand's MMP rules, a party that falls below the 5% threshold can still qualify for MMP by winning one electorate seat. However, Peters just barely held onto Tauranga, defeating a National challenger by 63 votes. As a result, New Zealand First remained in parliament but was reduced to five seats. Still in opposition (to the Fifth Labour Government), Peters continued to promote his traditional policies, but also became more noticeably concerned about immigration policies.


title: Winston Peters

text: In the 2002 election, Peters performed well once again, campaigning on three main issues: reducing immigration, increasing punishments for crime, and ending the "grievance industry" around Treaty of Waitangi settlements. This message regained much support for both Peters and his party, especially from among the elderly who had in the past backed Winston Peters, and New Zealand First won 10% of the vote and 13 seats. Peters seemed to hope that Labour would choose to ally with New Zealand First to stay in power. However, Clark explicitly rejected this possibility, instead relying on support from elsewhere.


title: Winston Peters

text: In a speech at Orewa in 2005, he criticised immigration from Asian countries as "imported criminal activity" and warned that New Zealanders were "being colonised without having any say in the numbers of people coming in and where they are from." He also accused the Labour Party of having an "ethnic engineering and re-population policy." In July 2005, Peters said New Zealand should err on the side of caution in admitting immigrants until they "affirm their commitment to our values and standards".


title: Winston Peters

text: As the 2005 general election approached, Peters did not indicate a preference for coalition with either of the major parties, declaring that he would not seek the "baubles of office". He promised to either give support in confidence and supply to the party with the most seats, or to abstain from no-confidence votes against it, and that he would not deal with any coalition that included the Greens. He pledged to keep post-election negotiations to under three weeks following criticism of the seven-week marathon it took to broker a deal with National in 1996.


title: Winston Peters

text: In the election, some of New Zealand First's traditional support moved to National. Peters himself narrowly lost his longstanding hold on Tauranga to National MP Bob Clarkson, but New Zealand First did well enough to receive seven seats (down from 13 in 2002), allowing Peters to remain in Parliament as a list MP. Soon after the 2005 election Peters launched a legal challenge against Clarkson. The case alleged that Clarkson had spent more than the legal limit allowed for campaign budgets during elections in New Zealand. This legal bid ultimately failed, with a majority of the judges in the case declaring that Clarkson had not overspent.


title: Winston Peters

text: In negotiations with Helen Clark after the election, Peters secured the ministerial portfolios of Foreign Affairs and Racing in the Labour-led government, a move which apparently lay at odds with his earlier promise to refuse the "baubles of office". He was a member of the Executive Council, although he was outside cabinet; he was able to criticise the government in areas not related to his portfolios, which experts said was an unprecedented situation. Considering his previous comments relating to immigration, there were mixed reactions from commentators. His selection for the Foreign Affairs portfolio created some measure of surprise within the country and beyond. National Party leader Don Brash said the choice was "astonishing", because "the whole region distrusts Winston Peters – Australia, Asia [...]. I think putting him as minister of foreign affairs does huge damage for our international reputation." "The Age", in Australia, expressed surprise that the position had been given to an "outspoken, anti-migrant populist [and] nationalist".


title: Winston Peters

text: Allegations concerning Peters's involvement with Simunovich Fisheries and former Member of Parliament Ross Meurant, who was engaged as both adviser to Peters and in undefined business activities with Peter Simunovich (managing director of Simunovich Fisheries), culminated in a Parliamentary Select Committee enquiry into what became known as the 'scampi enquiry'. The enquiry cleared Peters, Simunovich and Meurant of any wrongdoing.


title: Winston Peters

text: The SuperGold Card has been one of Peters's flagship initiatives. As a condition of the 2005 confidence-and-supply agreement between New Zealand First and the Labour Government, Peters launched the SuperGold Card in August 2007. New Zealand First established a research team to design the SuperGold Card, which included public transport benefits like free off-peak travel (funded by the Government) and discounts from businesses and companies across thousands of outlets. Peters negotiated with then Prime Minister Helen Clark despite widespread opposition to the card on the grounds of high cost.


title: Winston Peters

text: Peters attracted media attention in 2008 over controversial payments for legal services and party donations. He had received $100,000 in 2006 to fund legal costs of challenging the election of Bob Clarkson to the Tauranga electorate. The money came from Owen Glenn, a wealthy New Zealand businessman and philanthropist based in Monaco. Under parliamentary rules, any gift to MPs over the value of $500 must be declared. Peters denied knowing about the source of the money but this was not corroborated by his lawyer Brian Henry and Glenn contradicted Peters's denial.


title: Winston Peters

text: The Vela family, prominent in the racing industry, had donated $150,000 to Peters over a four-year period. The payments were made in sums of $10,000 to remain within rules governing political party funding. "The Dominion Post" published details from New Zealand First sources that before the 2005 election $25,000 had been donated to the party from Sir Bob Jones via the Spencer Trust. The Trust is administered by Wayne Peters, a brother of Winston Peters. Jones confirmed that he had paid the money to the Spencer Trust and was asked by Winston Peters to make the donation. Peters denies that he had asked Jones for a donation to the party. The donation was not declared to the Electoral Commission as required by law.


title: Winston Peters

text: On 29 August 2008, Peters offered to stand down from his portfolios as Foreign Affairs and Racing Minister, pending an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office as to whether the donations from Sir Bob Jones and the Vela brothers reached New Zealand First as intended. On 10 September 2008, Winston Peters gave evidence to the Privileges Committee of the New Zealand Parliament in an attempt to refute evidence given by Owen Glenn. The Privileges Committee returned a report on 22 September recommending that Peters be censured for "knowingly providing false or misleading information on a return of pecuniary interests". Parliament passed a motion censuring Peters the following day. All but three of the parties in Parliament (New Zealand First, Labour, and Progressives who abstained) supported the censure.