title: The Fountain

text: "The Fountain" was released on DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray in the United States on May 15, 2007. The included extras were the theatrical trailer and a six-part featurette gallery about the film's periods and settings. Aronofsky was disappointed with the limited extras available on home video. He reported that Warner Bros. did not want to have the director record a commentary track because it felt the commentary would not help sales. He hoped to petition for the film to be re-released in the Criterion Collection with extras that were not made available on the initial media. Aronofsky recorded a commentary track on his own and made the track available on his personal website. In December 2008, he expressed interest in reassembling "The Fountain", not as a director's cut, but as an alternate story that combined theatrical footage and unused footage.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football, the Malaysia Super League. The club is owned by Tunku Ismail Idris. In 2014, JDT gained their first major honour by winning the national league during the first season under Croatian manager Bojan Hodak. Under Argentine Mario Gómez's tutelage, they won the 2015 AFC Cup and the 2015 Super League. By winning the AFC Cup, JDT became the second Malaysian team since 1967 to enter a final of a major continental competition, and the first ever Malaysian club to win a continental title. Between 2014 and 2022, JDT won nine consecutive league titles. Before this achievement, no Malaysian team had ever won the league championship more than twice in a row since the league system was first introduced in Malaysia in 1982.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Since 2012, Johor Darul Ta'zim FC are known by their new nickname, the "Southern Tigers" (), replacing the old nickname "Jengking" (Scorpion). The new nickname is based on the Johor State Council coat of arms. The team's home ground is the 40,000 capacity Sultan Ibrahim Stadium. Since 2013, the club has developed a fierce rivalry with Pahang and Felda United.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: The club were founded in 1972 as "PKENJ FC". After winning the Malaysia FAM Cup twice, the Johor Corporation (a state funded corporation) decided to takeover the club in 1996 and changed its name to Johor Football Club (Johor FC). The club finished as the runners-up in the 1996 season.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In 1998, Johor FC were promoted to the second tier Malaysian football league, Liga Perdana 2 and won the title in 2001 which secured promotion to the first division, Liga Perdana 1. After two years in the top division, Johor FC were relegated to the new second-division, the Malaysia Premier League after failing to achieve promotion to the new top division, the Malaysia Super League during the 2003 season. The club earned an automatic promotion to the Malaysia Super League during the 2006–07 season after the Football Association of Malaysia's decision to expand the league to 14 teams and were a regular top 5 finisher in the league. Johor FC were the first club team in the Malaysian football league system to enter the Malaysia Cup in 2000 under English manager Bruce Stowell. The Malaysia Cup was previously dominated by state teams and by defeating ATM on aggregate in the second-round group qualification, the club marked another record in the competition. The club also participated in the AFC Cup in 2009 replacing Negeri Sembilan when the latter qualified but did not proceed to compete in the competition.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Starting from 2 February 2012, former Singaporean international footballer Fandi Ahmad began his three-year contract with Johor FA serving as the technical advisor. Later in the year, Fandi assumed the role as the team's head coach. The team eventually finished fourth in the 2012 Malaysia Premier League season.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Tunku Ismail was officially appointed as the new President of Johor FA (PBNJ) in the association's congress held on 16 February 2012. During the congress, he first mooted a proposal to revamp the whole organisation structure and its footballing activities. Part of the plan was to consolidate its football teams into a single representative competing in the Malaysian League.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: During the season, there were several match fixing allegations and investigations involving players from Johor-based teams. At the end of the 2012 season, Johorean football was in a poor state. Johor based teams were underperforming and struggling in the Malaysian League. "Johor FC" barely avoided relegation in the Malaysian Super League, while other Johor-based clubs – "Johor FA", "Johor Bahru City F.C.", and "MP Muar F.C." – were struggling to compete in Malaysian Premier League. Just months after Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim took charge as Johor FA's president, a bold strategic revamp within Johor FA (PBNJ) was initiated. The move was to realign and consolidate football teams and clubs representing Johor. It saw both teams, Johor FC and Johor FA being placed under a single management to ensure the stability of both teams. All Johor-based clubs except for Johor FC and Johor FA were withdrawn from the Malaysian League. Both teams were reinstated with same name and were placed in numerical order. In December 2012, the FAM announced that they had received the application of the team's name change to "Darul Ta'zim FC" for the upcoming 2013 season and with no objections to it. The team was later renamed as "Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club".


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Officially, 2013 was the first year in which the "Southern Tigers" made its debut under the new transformation initiative. A fully refurnished Larkin Stadium was made to accommodate more fans. With the introduction of season passes, it allowed fans entry to all competitive matches for an entire season. At the start of the 2013 season, Fandi Ahmad was handed the role of head coach of the team in the Malaysia Super League, while the Malaysia Premier League team was handled by former international and Johor player, Azmi Mohamed, with the assistance of compatriot Ismail Ibrahim. Before the start of the season, Johor signed former Spanish international Dani Güiza and Italian midfielder Simone Del Nero. However, both left in the middle of the season. JDT managed to reach the 2013 Malaysia FA Cup final on away goals rule, defeating Pahang FA. In the final, JDT lost 1–0 to Kelantan FA. During the middle of the 2013 season, Fandi Ahmad was relieved of his coaching duties, but would stay on as the team's manager. Azmi Mohamed became JDT's coach on an interim basis while waiting for the arrival of a new head coach. In the first season after the club's transformation, JDT managed to finish third in the 2013 Malaysian Super League. Later on, just a day before the 2013 Malaysia Cup kicked off, Fandi Ahmad resigned as team manager and parted ways with Johor FA amicably. With the motivation to rejuvenate the glory days of the past into the future, JDT appointed former Valencia and Atlético Madrid manager Cesar Ferrando Jimenez as the new club's head coach.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In February 2014, Bojan Hodak was appointed as team manager to assist Cesar Jimenez in managerial duties. On 26 June 2014, JDT secured their first national league title by defeating Sarawak FA 1–0. In the 2014 Malaysia Cup campaign, JDT made it through to the final for the first time in 23 years, emulating the former Johor FA that won the double (league and Malaysia Cup triumphs). Billed as the "Match of Heavyweights", it was a highly anticipated match between JDT (league champions) and Pahang (Malaysia FA Cup winners). JDT lost 5–3 in the penalty shoot-out.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: On 31 January 2015, JDT competed in the Piala Sumbangsih for the first time in the club's history, qualifying to the competition as the 2014 Malaysian champions. They defeated Pahang 2–0 to win the trophy. The club made their debut in the AFC Cup on 24 February 2015 with a 4–1 win over East Bengal FC in the first game of the group stage. In late April 2015, the head coach Bojan Hodak left the club and was replaced by Roberto Carlos Mario Gómez. As the new head coach, he was also given the authority to revamp youth development programmes in JDT, especially its development squads, from JDT II to JDT V.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: On 12 July 2015, an announcement was made that Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim left his post as president of the Johor FA; instead, he would still serve in his capacity as the Royal Patron of Johor FA. Dato' Haji Ismail bin Karim, State Secretary of Johor, was appointed as his replacement with immediate effect. In August 2015, JDT defended the Malaysia Super League title, becoming the national champions for the second year in a row. On 31 October 2015, JDT became the first Malaysian team to reach the final of the AFC Cup. In the final, held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, they defeated the home side FC Istiklol 1–0 with a goal scored by Leandro Velazquez. As a result, JDT became the first Southeast Asian club to win a continental title.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In the opener of the 2016 season, JDT edged Selangor in a 7–6 penalty shoot-out win, successfully defending the Piala Sumbangsih title. In the same season, JDT clinched their first-ever Malaysia FA Cup title after staging a comeback 2–1 win over PKNS FC. It was the first time a club side lifted the trophy since its inception in 1990. JDT secured their third consecutive league title on Match Day 20 of the 2016 season with a 3–0 win over Terengganu. The club became the first team to win three consecutive league titles – a feat never achieved before by any team since the inception of the national league championship in 1982. Also in the 2016 season, JDT managed to end the league undefeated, thus becoming the first ever club in Malaysia to have done so.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: On 18 January 2017, JDT announced that they had parted their ways with Mario Gómez barely two days before the season opener. The club promoted Mexican Benjamín Mora from JDT II to coach the squad for the 2017 season. On 21 January 2017, despite leading 1–0 at half-time, JDT were denied a third Piala Sumbangsih in a row after losing 5–4 in the penalty shoot-out to Kedah. In the 2017 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off, JDT reached the play-off round for the first time in their history, after eliminating Bangkok United in the second preliminary round after penalties. In the play-off round, JDT lost 3–0 to the Japanese side Gamba Osaka. Following on from that, Perak defeated JDT 2–1 and ended the club's record unbeaten streak of 26 league matches dating back to the opening fixture of the 2016 season.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: During the 2017 mid-season break, JDT demoted Mora back into his previous position as the second team's head coach. The club appointed Portuguese Ulisses Morais as the new manager of the main squad. Morais led the team to its fourth consecutive league title; with JDT confirmed to have clinched the 2017 Super League title on 5 August 2017 with three games remaining.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: During JDT Congress held in early October 2017, Tunku Ismail made several major moves in the state of Johor. All race-based football associations in the state were disbanded. However these teams will be allowed to continue participating as football clubs in the state competitions. As for the club, major restructuring of the organisation were made to ensure future success in both off and on-the-pitch. Amongst them were the appointment of Martín Hugo Prest as the new Sporting Director, meanwhile the previous Sporting Director, Alistair Edwards was reassigned as the club's Technical Director, responsible for all developmental teams including JDT II, with the team playing in the Malaysia Premier League as a developmental team instead of a feeder club.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: After completing the league fixtures in late October 2017, JDT contested in the Malaysia Cup final against Kedah, the 2017 Malaysia FA Cup winners, whom they met earlier in the season opener in January. Playing in front of 80,000 fans at the Shah Alam Stadium, JDT seized the title from the "Red Eagles" with a 2–0 victory and clinched a double in the 2017 season.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In 2018, JDT were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia FA Cup after losing to Pahang 3–0 on aggregate. JDT also failed to defend their Malaysia Cup title, losing to Terengganu in the semi-finals. During the same season, Johor won their fifth consecutive league title.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: On the eve of the 2016 season, JDT officially came under the ownership of Tunku Ismail in a statement released by Johor FA dated 10 January 2016. It further clarified that JDT were now turned into a full-fledged professional outfit, as a separate entity from the Johor FA which organises the overall football development programme in the state. As the JDT owner, Tunku Ismail is directly involved in the decision-making process and club management, compared to his previous role as the Royal Patron of Johor FA, when he provided directions and counsel. A day later, former Johor striker who was a key member of the historic double-winning team of 1991, Alistair Edwards was appointed as JDT's Sporting Director to assist Tunku Ismail. The move was seen as part of the privatisation process and a strategic initiative on how Malaysia football clubs should be run and managed professionally including the youth development in the region.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Shortly after, on 12 January 2016, the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Almarhum Sultan Iskandar decided to give RM50 million as a reward to the club. After a successful 2015 season, when the club won the Super League, the Piala Sumbangsih, and the AFC Cup, Sultan Ibrahim made the decision to contribute RM50 million as he was satisfied with how football in the state had united the citizens of Johor and put the state's name on the map.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In an interview published on the club's social media in early December 2016, the majority shareholder in the club is Tunku Ismail himself, who holds 70% of the club.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: As part of the restructuring process, the club made an unexpected announcement by naming Luciano Figueroa as the new Sporting Director. His responsibility and focus was on the first team and to assist the head coach, Ulisses Morais. Meanwhile, the previous Sporting Director, Alistair Edwards was reassigned as the new Technical Director and would be responsible to oversee all JDT development and grassroot programmes.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: The JDT foundation was registered on 9 August 2016. The mission behind the formation of the foundation is to collect funds and distribute aids to the development of the club.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Just days before the 2016 Malaysia FA Cup final, the club announced JDT Foundation (), was launched officially in September 2016 as the platform for JDT supporters to be more involved with the team in terms of the team's future and the development of JDT football programmes. JDT Foundation Board of Trustees Chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad said that it would give opportunity for JDT fans to actually have a "say" in the football club through proper ownership.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: With the establishment of the JDT Foundation, fans can become shareholders of the club and send representatives to have meetings with the club officials to understand the club's direction and plans including its monthly financial statement which was planned to be released informing them on all expenditures and its costs. After several postponements, JDT Foundation is slated to be launched in mid January 2017.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: The foundation's Membership Card launch was held at the Persada International Convention Centre in Johor Bahru on 7 December 2016.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: On 27 July 2016, Tunku Tun Aminah binti Sultan Ibrahim, the sister of Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, has been appointed as the President of Johor DT. Besides focusing on the youth development and attracting youth into sporting activities and active lifestyles, she is also considering an establishment of a JDT women's football team in the near future.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: From the 1970s to 2012, the JDT team kit was manufactured by various companies including Adidas, Umbro, Lotto, and Jking.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In the 2014 season, JDT became the first Malaysian club to have Nike as their official kit sponsor. In November 2014, Nike Malaysia created a new special kit for their 2015 AFC Champions League campaign.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: On the eve of 2016 season, JDT's signed a contract with Adidas. The new kits were officially unveiled with a commercial video featuring JDT footballers inside the Senai International Airport terminal. The jerseys featured three different designs in red, white and blue, representing the colours of the Johor state flag.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In November 2016, JDT announced that they have signed a three-year deal with Nike, starting with the 2017 season. It was the biggest kit sponsorship ever signed by a Malaysian club. The three-year cooperation encompassed all the teams under JDT, namely main squad, JDT II, JDT III, and JDT IV. The official kit was unveiled on 12 January 2017.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: The club crest is derived from the Johor State Council coat of arms, although all that remains of it on the current crest is the part of the tiger's head.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In 2013, JDT adopted a new logo, featuring a more ferocious looking tiger and a darker colour scheme.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: "Boys of Straits" (formerly known as Southern Trooper) is the name of the official supporters of the Johor Darul Ta'zim. The main colours of the supporters are usually blue with a red scarf and banners, like the team's kits colours. The supporters always bring drums and large colorful flags to the stadiums.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Known for their constant singing, drumming, and rallying team throughout a match, they have consistently built-up the spirit of togetherness and camaraderie among the fans of the club's home and away matches. It caught the attention of Hong Kong media during the 2016 AFC Cup quarter-final match with South China AA when they singled out South China's captain Chan Wai Ho for verbal abuse during the second leg of the tie.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: "Inter Johor Firm" was created to support Johor Darul Ta'zim. The early aim of the creation of IJF was to protect JDT fans in away games. But when the fan groups went over capacity, IJF were implicated with a football hooliganism scandal. In late 2014, IJF was officially banned by the club's president to enter any home or away matches.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Other small supporters' groups are "Sini Laken", "Flag Pole", "Brotherhood Johor", and "JDT-Sg" (Singapore-based group).


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: The rivalry with Pahang began to develop in 2013 after a 3–2 loss in the club's debut in the Malaysia Super League, and an event of overcrowding and crowd trouble during the Malaysia FA Cup semi-final second leg match at Darul Makmur Stadium on 28 May 2013.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Since then, it has developed into an intense and fiery competition between both sides. It has also created an immense atmosphere for supporters and fans of both sides.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Beginning in 2013, with JDT's resurrection and emergence as one of Malaysia's football powerhouse to fight for the league titles and other domestic cup campaigns, Felda United became one of the club's main rivals. Between 2013 and 2016, the two sides met on 12 occasions, with JDT triumphant six times, Felda United thrice, with the remaining three games being draws.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In the 2014 edition of the Malaysia Cup, the clubs met in the semi-final for a place in the final. JDT went into the match hoping to complete a "double" after winning the 2014 Malaysia Super League title, whereas Felda United were trying to salvage their season with a cup final appearance and the possibility of winning silverware after being the losing side in the 2014 Malaysia FA Cup final. After Felda won 4–3 in the first leg in a waterlogged pitch at Selayang Stadium, JDT won the second leg 3–1 and earned a place in the final with a 6–5 aggregate victory.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Towards the end of the 2015 season, the 2015 AFC Cup winners crashed to a 2–1 home defeat from Felda United, eliminating JDT out of the Malaysia Cup competition in a quarter-final duel. It was the first home loss for JDT since 2013.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Over the course of the 2016 season, the rivalry became highly competitive and intense with both clubs competing for the league title. On Match Day 18 (24 August 2016), the two sides met in a head-to-head match, dubbed as the "Top of the Table Clash". With JDT as the league leaders and four remaining league games, Felda United were determined to stop JDT from creating history as the first Malaysian club to win three consecutive league titles. Playing away at Felda United's home ground, JDT managed to win 3–2 in the title decider.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Prior to 2020, Johor Darul Ta'zim FC played their home games at Tan Sri Dato' Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium, also known as Larkin Stadium. The stadium was originally built in 1964, with a capacity of 15,000 spectators. The stadium is named after the former Menteri Besar of Johor, Tan Sri Dato Hj. Hassan Yunus.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In 1991, the stadium's capacity was doubled following extensive renovations. An athletics track, floodlight masts and media infrastructure were added to allow the ground to host major events. The stadium was also used for the FIFA U-20 World Cup and Sukma Games.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: The Sultan Ibrahim Stadium was completed in January 2020 and is located within the vicinity of JDT Sports City. The club's new headquarters are part of the stadium complex. The stadium has a capacity for 40,000 spectators and was constructed by Country Garden Pacificview at the cost of RM200 million. It is named after the state's ruler, Ibrahim Ismail of Johor.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: Padang Sri Gelam is the training facility for Johor Darul Ta'zim, located at Johor Bahru, Johor. Besides the indoor synthetic field measuring 16 x 109.2 metres, the building comes with the gym equipment, a swimming pool, and ice baths. The project is in line with the vision of Tunku Ismail, who wants international-level training equipment for the players and to help those who are injured to recover faster.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: After its design plans were approved on 24 December 2014, the groundbreaking ceremony of the all-weather training arena was held on 1 January 2015, attended by Tunku Aminah.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: The development of the RM15 million indoor facility was sponsored by Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. The 0.8ha indoor facility were designed and built according to the requirements and specifications set by FIFA, the world's football governing body.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: After its completion, it was named the "Dato Suleiman Mohd Noor Indoor Training Centre" as a special recognition and appreciation for his contribution as the "Father of Johorean Football" on 23 February 2016. It was officially opened on 21 April 2016.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: To demonstrate his ideas and commitment to youth development in the state, Tunku Ismail has entered into partnerships and built ties with various football individuals all over the world. To date, JDT has developed strategic partnership and collaborations with Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo (Japan), and Valencia (Spain). Besides signing new young players for development, the club has been organising competitive tournaments across all age groups in the districts of Johor.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In mid-January 2017, the club revealed that they have signed a three-year coaching and player development partnership with Valencia. The partnership was introduced to oversee the implementation of a long-term player development plan for JDT. This plan is based on Valencia Academy's methodologies and development philosophies, adapted to JDT's needs and context.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: As of December 2015, the club is in the process of building a brand new youth academy with up to 15 football pitches and modern facilities, designed in collaboration with Borussia Dortmund, who have entered into a partnership with JDT. The development of the 40-hectare academy in Kulai will be focusing to develop local youth talents from the grassroots level and promote JDT's regional presence.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: As part of JDT's Youth Development Plan, the club has announced its plan to build a pre-season training facility in Spain on 21 June 2016. The facility will be used to accommodate JDT's young players for pre-season training, as well as for lodging of youth JDT players who will be on playing stints in Spain.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: A delegation of JDT's officials has been sent to Spain to scout for prospective sites for the development of this facility. The site will either be in the region of Valencia or Barcelona.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In January 2016, as part of Tunku Ismail's strategic plan to develop the state's football and other programmes, the club announced the development of JDT Sports City. The Johor state government had provided a 70-acre (28.3 hectares) plot of land for the project in Iskandar Puteri, Johor. Under its blueprint, the sports complex will house a new stadium and other sporting facilities such as a hotel, apartments, and a shopping mall.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: As part of the club's acquisition and subsequent rebranding in 2012, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, the Johor Football Association's President, took the decision to rename all the club's teams using the same nomenclature. In addition, Roman numerals were used to denote each team's hierarchy in the club.


title: Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.

text: In early 2014, the Football Association of Malaysia approved Johor FA's application and officially registered all the club's teams to Johor Darul Ta'zim.


title: Shweta Bachchan Nanda

text: Shweta Bachchan Nanda (born 17 March 1974) is an Indian columnist, author, and former model. She has been a columnist for "Daily News and Analysis" and "Vogue India", and is the author of the bestselling novel "Paradise Towers". She has worked as a model for television advertisement, and in 2018 launched her own fashion label, MXS. Her younger brother Abhishek Bachchan is an actor and her sister-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is also an actress.


title: Shweta Bachchan Nanda

text: Shweta was born to actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan on 17 March 1974. Shweta married Escorts Group businessman Nikhil Nanda on 16 February 1997, who is the son of Hindi film actor-producer Raj Kapoor's daughter Ritu Nanda, and son of Rajan Nanda. The couple has two children, daughter Navya Naveli Nanda (born December 1997), and son Agastya Nanda (born November 2000). She attended Boston University.


title: Shweta Bachchan Nanda

text: Shweta modeled for the first time in September 2006, for a magazine entitled "L'Officiel India". She appeared in the seventh annual issue of the same magazine, in June 2009, with her brother Abhishek Bachchan.


title: Shweta Bachchan Nanda

text: In 2007, Shweta became the leader in the category – Next Generation – during "NDTV Profit". A series of interviews was broadcast on the channel. Since 2018, she has been the brand ambassador for Kalyan Jewellers.


title: Shweta Bachchan Nanda

text: She has been a columnist with "Daily News and Analysis" and "Vogue India". "The Tribune" praised her columns as "funny" and "insightful".


title: Shweta Bachchan Nanda

text: In October 2018, Shweta launched her debut novel, "Paradise Towers", published by HarperCollins. The book became a bestseller despite negative reviews. Ishita Sengupta of "The Indian Express" reviewed the book, observing, "The novel, for all its elegance, ultimately, reads like it has a bunch of characters in search of a plot."


title: Shweta Bachchan Nanda

text: Shweta has also written the forewords for Aishwarya R. Dhanush's 2016 book "Standing on an Apple Box: The Story of a Girl among the Stars" and Rukhsana Eisa's book "The Golden Code: Mastering the Art of Social Success".


title: Matt Frewer

text: Matthew George Frewer (born January 4, 1958) is an American-Canadian actor, singer and comedian. He portrayed the 1980s icon Max Headroom in the 1985 TV movie and 1987 television series of the same names.


title: Matt Frewer

text: He became prominent when playing roles in films, like Russell Thompson, Sr. in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" (1989), Jobe Smith in "" (1996), Frank in "Dawn of the Dead" (2004), Moloch in "Watchmen" (2009), Mitch in "50/50" (2011) and Archibald Stanley in "" (2014).


title: Matt Frewer

text: His television credits include Dr. Mike Stratford in "Doctor Doctor" (1989–1991), Bob in "Shaky Ground" (1992–1993), Matt Prager in "" (1997–1999), Dr. Jim Taggart in "Eureka" (2006–2012) and Doctor Leekie in the Canadian science fiction drama "Orphan Black" (2013–2017).


title: Matt Frewer

text: Frewer's more recent performances include a portrayal of "General #2" in the Steven Spielberg picture "The BFG" (2016), the character Carnage in the Netflix series "Altered Carbon" in 2018 and Logan in "Fear the Walking Dead" (2019). Also, he portrayed The Binder in 3 episodes of "The Magicians" and Peter Morton in 8 episodes of "The Order" (2019−2020).


title: Matt Frewer

text: His voice roles include Panic in "Hercules" and its 1998 television series, Inspector 47 in "The Magic School Bus", the Pink Panther in the 1993 television series of the same name, Lloyd Christmas in the "Dumb and Dumber" animated series, Jackal in "Gargoyles" and Dedgar Deadman in "Toonsylvania".


title: Matt Frewer

text: Frewer was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Gillian Anne (née German) and Captain (Ret'd) Frederick Charlesley Frewer, a Royal Canadian Navy officer. He was raised in Peterborough, Ontario, where he graduated from Lakefield College School. He went on to train at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, graduating from its three-year acting course in 1980. His brother Frederick Barry Frewer also served in the Canadian Navy.


title: Matt Frewer

text: Frewer portrayed the artificial intelligence character Max Headroom in the 1980s, starring in the 1985 eponymous science fiction television movie; Frewer also played award-winning Network 23 journalist Edison Carter in the film. This led to a series on the UK Channel 4 network with the Max Headroom character as a video jockey and interviewer. This ran for two seasons, the second of which featured a studio audience with whom Max interacted. In 1987, an American series based upon the 1985 movie aired, titled "Max Headroom" (1987–1988). He also portrayed the character in other media, including a series of television commercials for "New Coke" and "Radio Rentals", as well as the single and music video for "Paranoimia" by Art of Noise. He reprised this role in the science fiction comedy film "Pixels" (2015).


title: Matt Frewer

text: Frewer starred as Mike Stratford in "Doctor Doctor" (1989–1991). He also appeared as Trashcan Man in the television miniseries "The Stand". Frewer has also appeared in such films as "The Fourth Protocol" (1987), "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" (1989), "National Lampoon's Senior Trip" (1995), and the 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead".


title: Matt Frewer

text: Frewer was nominated for two Gemini Awards in 2000, one for a guest appearance on "Da Vinci's Inquest" and another for his work on the series "Mentors". He was a regular on "Eureka" during the series' first two seasons, playing Jim Taggart. He has done voice-over work on several animated projects, including "Batman: The Animated Series" (1993) and "The Incredible Hulk" (1996–1997). Frewer portrayed Matt Praeger in "" from 1997–2000.


title: Matt Frewer

text: In 2009, Frewer portrayed the retired villain Moloch the Mystic in "Watchmen" and appeared as the White Knight in the December 2009 Syfy two-part miniseries "Alice", based upon "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". He starred as Pestilence in two episodes of Season 5 of "Supernatural". He has appeared in several adaptations of Stephen King stories, such as "The Stand", "Quicksilver Highway", "Riding the Bullet", "Desperation" and "Bag of Bones".


title: Matt Frewer

text: In 2018, Frewer portrayed Carnage in the Netflix series "Altered Carbon". In the same year, Frewer was cast in the Netflix horror-drama series, "The Order".


title: Matt Frewer

text: Frewer has been married to Amanda Hillwood since 1984. In 1989, they bought a house in Marina del Rey, California.


title: Marlon Brando filmography

text: This is a complete filmography of Marlon Brando, who is considered one of the greatest actors of all time.


The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. Within it there are three distinct organisations that are legally independent from each other, but are united within the movement through common basic principles, objectives, symbols, statutes and governing organisations.


title: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

text: Until the middle of the nineteenth century, there were no organized or well-established army nursing systems for casualties, nor safe or protected institutions, to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. A devout Calvinist, the Swiss businessman Jean-Henri Dunant traveled to Italy to meet then-French emperor Napoleon III in June 1859 with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in Algeria, which at that time was occupied by France. He arrived in the small town of Solferino on the evening of 24 June after the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Austro-Sardinian War. In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were left wounded on the field. Dunant was shocked by the terrible aftermath of the battle, the suffering of the wounded soldiers, and the near-total lack of medical attendance and basic care. He completely abandoned the original intent of his trip and for several days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care for the wounded. He took point in organizing an overwhelming level of relief assistance with the local villagers to aid without discrimination.


text: Back at his home in Geneva, he decided to write a book entitled "A Memory of Solferino", which he published using his own money in 1862. He sent copies of the book to leading political and military figures throughout Europe, and people he thought could help him make a change. His book included vivid descriptions of his experiences in Solferino in 1859, and he explicitly advocated the formation of national voluntary relief organizations to help nurse wounded soldiers in the case of war, inspired by Christian teaching regarding social responsibility and his experience after the battlefield of Solferino. He called for the development of an international treaty to guarantee the protection of medics and field hospitals for soldiers wounded on the battlefield.


text: In 1863, Gustave Moynier, a Geneva lawyer and president of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, received a copy of Dunant's book and introduced it for discussion at a meeting of that society. As a result of this initial discussion, the society established an investigatory commission to examine the feasibility of Dunant's suggestions and eventually to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee, which has subsequently been referred to as the "Committee of the Five", aside from Dunant and Moynier were physician Louis Appia, who had significant experience working as a field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir, from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss army general of great renown. Eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded".


text: From 26 to 29 October 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battlefield. The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were: Austrian Empire, Grand Duchy of Baden, Kingdom of Bavaria, French Empire, Kingdom of Hanover, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kingdom of Prussia, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Saxony, Kingdom of Spain, United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.


text: Among the proposals written in the final resolutions of the conference, adopted on 29 October 1863, were:


text: Only a year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, the Empire of Brazil and the Mexican Empire to attend an official diplomatic conference. Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. On 22 August 1864, the conference adopted the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention:


text: The convention contained ten articles, establishing for the first time legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict.


text: Directly following the establishment of the Geneva Convention, the first national societies were founded in Belgium, Denmark, France, Oldenburg, Prussia, Spain, and Württemberg. Also in 1864, Louis Appia and Charles van de Velde, a captain of the Dutch Army, became the first independent and neutral delegates to work under the symbol of the Red Cross in an armed conflict.


text: The Ottoman government ratified this treaty on 5 July 1865. The Turkish Red Crescent organization was founded in the Ottoman Empire in 1868, partly in response to the experience of the Crimean War (1853-1856), in which disease overshadowed battle as the main cause of death and suffering among Turkish soldiers. It was the first Red Crescent society of its kind and one of the most important charity organizations in the Muslim world.


text: In 1867, the first International Conference of National Aid Societies for the Nursing of the War Wounded was convened.


text: Also in 1867, Jean-Henri Dunant was forced to declare bankruptcy due to business failures in Algeria, partly because he had neglected his business interests during his tireless activities for the International Committee. The controversy surrounding Dunant's business dealings and the resulting negative public opinion, combined with an ongoing conflict with Gustave Moynier, led to Dunant's expulsion from his position as a member and secretary. He was charged with fraudulent bankruptcy and a warrant for his arrest was issued. Thus, he was forced to leave Geneva and never returned to his home city.


text: In the following years, national societies were founded in nearly every country in Europe. The project resonated well with patriotic sentiments that were on the rise in the late-nineteenth-century, and national societies were often encouraged as signifiers of national moral superiority. In 1876, the committee adopted the name "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC), which is still its official designation today. Five years later, the American Red Cross was founded through the efforts of Clara Barton. More and more countries signed the Geneva Convention and began to respect it in practice during armed conflicts. In a rather short period of time, the Red Cross gained huge momentum as an internationally respected movement, and the national societies became increasingly popular as a venue for volunteer work.


text: When the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Jean-Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist. More significant than the honor of the prize itself, this prize marked the overdue rehabilitation of Jean-Henri Dunant and represented a tribute to his key role in the formation of the Red Cross. Dunant died nine years later in the small Swiss health resort of Heiden. Only two months earlier his long-standing adversary Gustave Moynier had also died, leaving a mark in the history of the committee as its longest-serving president ever.


text: In 1906, the 1864 Geneva Convention was revised for the first time. One year later, the Hague Convention X, adopted at the Second International Peace Conference in The Hague, extended the scope of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare. Shortly before the beginning of the First World War in 1914, 50 years after the foundation of the ICRC and the adoption of the first Geneva Convention, there were already 45 national relief societies throughout the world. The movement had extended itself beyond Europe and North America to Central and South America (Argentine Republic, the United States of Brazil, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Cuba, the United Mexican States, the Republic of Peru, the Republic of El Salvador, the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, the United States of Venezuela), Asia (the Republic of China, the Empire of Japan and the Kingdom of Siam), and Africa (Union of South Africa).


text: With the outbreak of World War I, the ICRC found itself confronted with enormous challenges that it could handle only by working closely with the national Red Cross societies. Red Cross nurses from around the world, including the United States and Japan, came to support the medical services of the armed forces of the European countries involved in the war. On 15 August 1914, immediately after the start of the war, the ICRC set up its International Prisoners-of-War Agency (IPWA) to trace POWs and to re-establish communications with their respective families. The Austrian writer and pacifist Stefan Zweig described the situation at the Geneva headquarters of the ICRC:


text: However, by the end of the year, the Agency already had some 1,200 volunteers who worked in the Musée Rath of Geneva, amongst them the French writer and pacifist Romain Rolland. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for 1915, he donated half of the prize money to the Agency. Most of the staff were women, some of whom – like Marguerite van Berchem, Marguerite Cramer and Suzanne Ferrière – served in high positions as pioneers of gender equality in an organisation dominated by men.By the end of the war, the Agency had transferred about 20 million letters and messages, 1.9 million parcels, and about 18 million Swiss francs in monetary donations to POWs of all affected countries. Furthermore, due to the intervention of the Agency, about 200,000 prisoners were exchanged between the warring parties, released from captivity and returned to their home country. The organizational card index of the Agency accumulated about 7 million records from 1914 to 1923. The card index led to the identification of about 2 million POWs and the ability to contact their families. The complete index is on loan today from the ICRC to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. The right to access the index is still strictly restricted to the ICRC.


text: During the entire war, the ICRC monitored warring parties' compliance with the Geneva Conventions of the 1907 revision and forwarded complaints about violations to the respective country. When chemical weapons were used in this war for the first time in history, the ICRC mounted a vigorous protest against their use. Even without having a mandate from the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC tried to ameliorate the suffering of civil populations. In territories that were officially designated as "occupied territories", the ICRC could assist the civilian population on the basis of the Hague Convention's "Laws and Customs of War on Land" of 1907. This convention was also the legal basis for the ICRC's work for prisoners of war. In addition to the work of the International Prisoner-of-War Agency as described above, this included inspection visits to POW camps. A total of 524 camps throughout Europe were visited by 41 delegates from the ICRC through the end of the war.


text: Between 1916 and 1918, the ICRC published a number of postcards with scenes from the POW camps. The pictures showed the prisoners in day-to-day activities such as the distribution of letters from home. The intention of the ICRC was to provide the families of the prisoners with some hope and solace and to alleviate their uncertainties about the fate of their loved ones. After the end of the war, between 1920 and 1922, the ICRC organized the return of about 500,000 prisoners to their home countries. In 1920, the task of repatriation was handed over to the newly founded League of Nations, which appointed the Norwegian diplomat and scientist Fridtjof Nansen as its "High Commissioner for Repatriation of the War Prisoners". His legal mandate was later extended to support and care for war refugees and displaced persons when his office became that of the League of Nations "High Commissioner for Refugees". Nansen, who invented the Nansen passport for stateless refugees and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922, appointed two delegates from the ICRC as his deputies.


text: A year before the end of the war, the ICRC received the 1917 Nobel Peace Prize for its outstanding wartime work. It was the only Nobel Peace Prize awarded in the period from 1914 to 1918. In 1923, the International Committee of the Red Cross adopted a change in its policy regarding the selection of new members. Until then, only citizens from the city of Geneva could serve in the committee. This limitation was expanded to include all Swiss citizens. As a direct consequence of World War I, a treaty was adopted in 1925 which outlawed the use of suffocating or poisonous gases and biological agents as weapons. Four years later, the original Convention was revised and the second Geneva Convention "relative to the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea" was established. The events of World War I and the respective activities of the ICRC significantly increased the reputation and authority of the Committee among the international community and led to an extension of its competencies.


text: As early as in 1934, a draft proposal for an additional convention for the protection of the civil population in occupied territories during an armed conflict was adopted by the International Red Cross Conference. Unfortunately, most governments had little interest in implementing this convention, and it was thus prevented from entering into force before the beginning of World War II.


text: The Red Cross' response to the Holocaust has been the subject of significant controversy and criticism. As early as May 1944, the ICRC was criticized for its indifference to Jewish suffering and death—criticism that intensified after the end of the war, when the full extent of the Holocaust became undeniable. One defense to these allegations is that the Red Cross was trying to preserve its reputation as a neutral and impartial organization by not interfering with what was viewed as a German internal matter. The Red Cross also considered its primary focus to be prisoners of war whose countries had signed the Geneva Convention.


text: The Geneva Conventions in their 1929 revision formed the legal basis of the work of the ICRC during World War II. The activities of the committee were similar to those during World War I: visiting and monitoring POW camps, organizing relief assistance for civilian populations, and administering the exchange of messages regarding prisoners and missing persons. By the end of the war, 179 delegates had conducted 12,750 visits to POW camps in 41 countries. The Central Information Agency on Prisoners-of-War ("Agence centrale des prisonniers de guerre") had a staff of 3,000, the card index tracking prisoners contained 45 million cards, and 120 million messages were exchanged by the Agency. One major obstacle was that the Nazi-controlled German Red Cross refused to cooperate with the Geneva statutes including blatant violations such as the deportation of Jews from Germany and the mass murders conducted in the Nazi concentration camps. Moreover, two other main parties to the conflict, the Soviet Union and Japan, were not party to the 1929 Geneva Conventions and were not legally required to follow the rules of the conventions.


text: During the war, the ICRC was unable to obtain an agreement with Nazi Germany about the treatment of detainees in concentration camps, and it eventually abandoned applying pressure in order to avoid disrupting its work with POWs. The ICRC was also unable to obtain a response to reliable information about the extermination camps and the mass killing of European Jews, Roma, et al. After November 1943, the ICRC achieved permission to send parcels to concentration camp detainees with known names and locations. Because the notices of receipt for these parcels were often signed by other inmates, the ICRC managed to register the identities of about 105,000 detainees in the concentration camps and delivered about 1.1 million parcels, primarily to the camps Dachau, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, and Sachsenhausen.


text: Maurice Rossel was sent to Berlin as a delegate of the International Red Cross; he visited Theresienstadt in 1944. The choice of the inexperienced Rossel for this mission has been interpreted as indicative of his organization's indifference to the "Jewish problem", while his report has been described as "emblematic of the failure of the ICRC" to advocate for Jews during the Holocaust. Rossel's report was noted for its uncritical acceptance of Nazi propaganda. He erroneously stated that Jews were not deported from Theresienstadt. Claude Lanzmann recorded his experiences in 1979, producing a documentary entitled "A Visitor from the Living".


text: On 12 March 1945, ICRC president Jacob Burckhardt received a message from SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner allowing ICRC delegates to visit the concentration camps. This agreement was bound by the condition that these delegates would have to stay in the camps until the end of the war. Ten delegates, among them Louis Haefliger (Mauthausen-Gusen), Paul Dunant (Theresienstadt) and Victor Maurer (Dachau), accepted the assignment and visited the camps. Louis Haefliger prevented the forceful eviction or blasting of Mauthausen-Gusen by alerting American troops.


text: Friedrich Born (1903–1963), an ICRC delegate in Budapest who saved the lives of about 11,000 to 15,000 Jewish people in Hungary. Marcel Junod (1904–1961), a physician from Geneva was one of the first foreigners to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped.


text: In 1944, the ICRC received its second Nobel Peace Prize. As in World War I, it received the only Peace Prize awarded during the main period of war, 1939 to 1945. At the end of the war, the ICRC worked with national Red Cross societies to organize relief assistance to those countries most severely affected. In 1948, the Committee published a report reviewing its war-era activities from 1 September 1939 to 30 June 1947. The ICRC opened its archives from World War II in 1996.


text: On 12 August 1949, further revisions to the existing two Geneva Conventions were adopted. An additional convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea", now called the second Geneva Convention, was brought under the Geneva Convention umbrella as a successor to the 1907 Hague Convention X. The 1929 Geneva convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" may have been the second Geneva Convention from a historical point of view (because it was actually formulated in Geneva), but after 1949 it came to be called the third Convention because it came later chronologically than the Hague Convention. Reacting to the experience of World War II, the Fourth Geneva Convention, a new Convention "relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War", was established. Also, the additional protocols of 8 June 1977 were intended to make the conventions apply to internal conflicts such as civil wars. Today, the four conventions and their added protocols contain more than 600 articles, a remarkable expansion when compared to the mere 10 articles in the first 1864 convention.


text: In celebration of its centennial in 1963, the ICRC, together with the League of Red Cross Societies, received its third Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1993, non-Swiss individuals have been allowed to serve as Committee delegates abroad, a task which was previously restricted to Swiss citizens. Indeed, since then, the share of staff without Swiss citizenship has increased to about 35%.


text: On 16 October 1990, the UN General Assembly decided to grant the ICRC observer status for its assembly sessions and sub-committee meetings, the first observer status given to a private organization. The resolution was jointly proposed by 138 member states and introduced by the Italian ambassador, Vieri Traxler, in memory of the organization's origins in the Battle of Solferino. An agreement with the Swiss government signed on 19 March 1993, affirmed the already long-standing policy of full independence of the committee from any possible interference by Switzerland. The agreement protects the full sanctity of all ICRC property in Switzerland including its headquarters and archive, grants members and staff legal immunity, exempts the ICRC from all taxes and fees, guarantees the protected and duty-free transfer of goods, services, and money, provides the ICRC with secure communication privileges at the same level as foreign embassies, and simplifies Committee travel in and out of Switzerland.


text: At the end of the Cold War, the ICRC's work actually became more dangerous. In the 1990s, more delegates died than at any point in its history, especially when working in local and internal armed conflicts. These incidents often demonstrated a lack of respect for the rules of the Geneva Conventions and their protection symbols. Among the slain delegates were:


text: In the 2000s, the ICRC has been active in the Afghanistan conflict areas and has set up six physical rehabilitation centers to help land mine victims. Their support extends to the national and international armed forces, civilians and the armed opposition. They regularly visit detainees under the custody of the Afghan government and the international armed forces, but have also occasionally had access since 2009 to people detained by the Taliban. They have provided basic first aid training and aid kits to both the Afghan security forces and Taliban members because, according to an ICRC spokesperson, "ICRC's constitution stipulates that all parties harmed by warfare will be treated as fairly as possible". In August 2021, when NATO-led forces retreated from Afghanistan, the ICRC decided to remain in the country to continue its mission to assist and protect victims of conflict. Since June 2021, ICRC-supported facilities have treated more than 40,000 people wounded during armed confrontations there.


text: Among the ten largest ICRC deployments worldwide has been the mission in Ukraine, where the organisation has been active since 2014, working closely with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. At first, the ICRC was active primarily in the disputed regions of Donbas and Donetsk, assisting persons injured by armed confrontations there. When Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the fighting moved to more populated areas in the Eastern, North and South Ukraine. The head of the ICRC delegation in Kyiv warned on 26 February 2022 that neighborhoods of major cities are becoming the frontline with significant consequences for their populations, including children, the sick and elderly. The ICRC had urgently called on all parties to the conflict not to forget their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of the civilian population and infrastructure, and respect the dignity of refugees and prisoners of war.


text: In 1919, representatives from the national Red Cross societies of Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the US came together in Paris to found the "League of Red Cross Societies" (IFRC). The original idea came from Henry Davison, who was then president of the American Red Cross. This move, led by the American Red Cross, expanded the international activities of the Red Cross movement beyond the strict mission of the ICRC to include relief assistance in response to emergency situations which were not caused by war (such as man-made or natural disasters). The ARC already had great disaster relief mission experience extending back to its foundation.


text: The formation of the League, as an additional international Red Cross organization alongside the ICRC, was not without controversy for a number of reasons. The ICRC had, to some extent, valid concerns about a possible rivalry between the two organizations. The foundation of the League was seen as an attempt to undermine the leadership position of the ICRC within the movement and to gradually transfer most of its tasks and competencies to a multilateral institution. In addition to that, all founding members of the League were national societies from countries of the Entente or from associated partners of the Entente. The original statutes of the League from May 1919 contained further regulations which gave the five founding societies a privileged status and, due to the efforts of Henry Davison, the right to permanently exclude the national Red Cross societies from the countries of the Central Powers, namely Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, and in addition to that the national Red Cross society of Russia. These rules were contrary to the Red Cross principles of universality and equality among all national societies, a situation which furthered the concerns of the ICRC.


text: The first relief assistance mission organized by the League was an aid mission for the victims of a famine and subsequent typhus epidemic in Poland. Only five years after its foundation, the League had already issued 47 donation appeals for missions in 34 countries, an impressive indication of the need for this type of Red Cross work. The total sum raised by these appeals reached 685 million Swiss francs, which were used to bring emergency supplies to the victims of famines in Russia, Germany, and Albania; earthquakes in Chile, Persia, Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Turkey; and refugee flows in Greece and Turkey. The first large-scale disaster mission of the League came after the 1923 earthquake in Japan which killed about 200,000 people and left countless more wounded and without shelter. Due to the League's coordination, the Red Cross society of Japan received goods from its sister societies reaching a total worth of about $100 million. Another important new field initiated by the League was the creation of youth Red Cross organizations within the national societies.


text: A joint mission of the ICRC and the League in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922 marked the first time the movement was involved in an internal conflict, although still without an explicit mandate from the Geneva Conventions. The League, with support from more than 25 national societies, organized assistance missions and the distribution of food and other aid goods for civil populations affected by hunger and disease. The ICRC worked with the Russian Red Cross Society and later the society of the Soviet Union, constantly emphasizing the ICRC's neutrality. In 1928, the "International Council" was founded to coordinate cooperation between the ICRC and the League, a task which was later taken over by the "Standing Commission". In the same year, a common statute for the movement was adopted for the first time, defining the respective roles of the ICRC and the League within the movement.


text: During the Abyssinian war between Ethiopia and Italy from 1935 to 1936, the League contributed aid supplies worth about 1.7 million Swiss francs. Because the Italian fascist regime under Benito Mussolini refused any cooperation with the Red Cross, these goods were delivered solely to Ethiopia. During the war, an estimated 29 people died while being under explicit protection of the Red Cross symbol, most of them due to attacks by the Italian Army. During the civil war in Spain from 1936 to 1939 the League once again joined forces with the ICRC with the support of 41 national societies. In 1939 on the brink of the Second World War, the League relocated its headquarters from Paris to Geneva to take advantage of Swiss neutrality.


text: In 1952, the 1928 common statute of the movement was revised for the first time. Also, the period of decolonization from 1960 to 1970 was marked by a huge jump in the number of recognized national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. By the end of the 1960s, there were more than 100 societies around the world. On 10 December 1963, the Federation and the ICRC received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1983, the League was renamed to the "League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies" to reflect the growing number of national societies operating under the Red Crescent symbol. Three years later, the seven basic principles of the movement as adopted in 1965 were incorporated into its statutes. The name of the League was changed again in 1991 to its current official designation the "International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies". In 1997, the ICRC and the IFRC signed the Seville Agreement which further defined the responsibilities of both organizations within the movement. In 2004, the IFRC began its largest mission to date after the tsunami disaster in South Asia. More than 40 national societies have worked with more than 22,000 volunteers to bring relief to the countless victims left without food and shelter and endangered by the risk of epidemics.


text: Altogether, there are about 97 million people worldwide who serve with the ICRC, the International Federation, and the National Societies, the majority with the latter.


text: At the 20th International Conference in Neue Hofburg, Vienna, from 2–9 October 1965, delegates "proclaimed" seven fundamental principles which are shared by all components of the Movement, and they were added to the official statutes of the Movement in 1986. The durability and universal acceptance is a result of the process through which they came into being in the form they have. Rather than an effort to arrive at agreement, it was an attempt to discover what successful operations and organisational units, over the past 100 years, had in common. As a result, the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent were not revealed, but "found –" through a deliberate and participative process of discovery.


text: That makes it even more important to note that the definition that appears for each principle is an integral part of the Principle in question and not an interpretation that can vary with time and place.


text: The International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which occurs once every four years, is the highest institutional body of the Movement. It gathers delegations from all of the national societies as well as from the ICRC, the IFRC and the signatory states to the Geneva Conventions. In between the conferences, the Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent acts as the supreme body and supervises implementation of and compliance with the resolutions of the conference. In addition, the Standing Commission coordinates the cooperation between the ICRC and the IFRC. It consists of two representatives from the ICRC (including its president), two from the IFRC (including its president), and five individuals who are elected by the International Conference. The Standing Commission convenes every six months on average. Moreover, a convention of the Council of Delegates of the Movement takes place every two years in the course of the conferences of the General Assembly of the International Federation. The Council of Delegates plans and coordinates joint activities for the Movement.


text: The official mission of the ICRC as an impartial, neutral, and independent organization is to stand for the protection of the life and dignity of victims of international and internal armed conflicts. According to the 1997 Seville Agreement, it is the "Lead Agency" of the Movement in conflicts.


text: The core tasks of the committee, which are derived from the Geneva Conventions and its own statutes, are the following:


text: The ICRC is headquartered in the Swiss city of Geneva and has external offices in about 80 countries. It has about 12,000 staff members worldwide, about 800 of them working in its Geneva headquarters, 1,200 expatriates with about half of them serving as delegates managing its international missions and the other half being specialists like doctors, agronomists, engineers or interpreters, and about 10,000 members of individual national societies working on site.


text: According to Swiss law, the ICRC is defined as a private association. Contrary to popular belief, the ICRC is not a non-governmental organization in the most common sense of the term, nor is it an international organization. As it limits its members (a process called cooptation) to Swiss nationals only, it does not have a policy of open and unrestricted membership for individuals like other legally defined NGOs. The word "international" in its name does not refer to its membership but to the worldwide scope of its activities as defined by the Geneva Conventions. The ICRC has special privileges and legal immunities in many countries, based on national law in these countries or through agreements between the committee and respective national governments.


text: According to its statutes, it consists of 15 to 25 Swiss-citizen members, which it coopts for a period of four years. There is no limit to the number of terms an individual member can have although a three-quarters majority of all members is required for re-election after the third term.


text: The leading organs of the ICRC are the Directorate and the Assembly. The Directorate is the executive body of the committee. It consists of a general director and five directors in the areas of "Operations", "Human Resources", "Resources and Operational Support", "Communication", and "International Law and Cooperation within the Movement". The members of the Directorate are appointed by the Assembly to serve for four years. The Assembly, consisting of all of the members of the committee, convenes on a regular basis and is responsible for defining aims, guidelines, and strategies and for supervising the financial matters of the committee. The president of the Assembly is also the president of the committee as a whole. Furthermore, the Assembly elects a five-member Assembly Council which has the authority to decide on behalf of the full Assembly in some matters. The council is also responsible for organizing the Assembly meetings and for facilitating communication between the Assembly and the Directorate.


text: Due to Geneva's location in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the ICRC usually acts under its French name "Comité international de la Croix-Rouge" (CICR). The official symbol of the ICRC is the Red Cross on white background with the words "COMITE INTERNATIONAL GENEVE" circling the cross.


text: The 2009 budget of the ICRC amounts to more than 1 billion Swiss francs. Most of that money comes from the States, including Switzerland in its capacity as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, from national Red Cross societies, the signatory states of the Geneva Conventions, and from international organizations like the European Union. All payments to the ICRC are voluntary and are received as donations based on two types of appeals issued by the committee: an annual "Headquarters Appeal" to cover its internal costs and "Emergency Appeals" for its individual missions.


text: The ICRC asked donors for more than 1.1 billion Swiss francs to fund its work in 2010. Afghanistan was projected to become the ICRC's biggest humanitarian operation (at 86 million Swiss francs, an 18% increase over the initial 2009 budget), followed by Iraq (85 million francs) and Sudan (76 million francs). The initial 2010 field budget for medical activities of 132 million francs represented an increase of 12 million francs over 2009.


text: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies coordinates cooperation between national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies throughout the world and supports the foundation of new national societies in countries where no official society exists. On the international stage, the IFRC organizes and leads relief assistance missions after emergencies such as natural disasters, manmade disasters, epidemics, mass refugee flights, and other emergencies. As per the 1997 Seville Agreement, the IFRC is the Lead Agency of the Movement in any emergency situation which does not take place as part of an armed conflict. The IFRC cooperates with the national societies of those countries affected – each called the "Operating National Society" (ONS) – as well as the national societies of other countries willing to offer assistance – called "Participating National Societies" (PNS). Among the 187 national societies admitted to the General Assembly of the International Federation as full members or observers, about 25–30 regularly work as PNS in other countries. The most active of those are the American Red Cross, the British Red Cross, the German Red Cross, and the Red Cross societies of Sweden and Norway. Another major mission of the IFRC which has gained attention in recent years is its commitment to work towards a codified, worldwide ban on the use of land mines and to bring medical, psychological, and social support for people injured by land mines.


text: The IFRC has its headquarters in Geneva. It also runs five zone offices (Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East-North Africa), 14 permanent regional offices and has about 350 delegates in more than 60 delegations around the world. The legal basis for the work of the IFRC is its constitution. The executive body of the IFRC is a secretariat, led by a secretary general. The secretariat is supported by five divisions including "Programme Services", "Humanitarian values and humanitarian diplomacy", "National Society and Knowledge Development" and "Governance and Management Services".


text: The highest decision-making body of the IFRC is its General Assembly, which convenes every two years with delegates from all of the national societies. Among other tasks, the General Assembly elects the secretary general. Between the convening of General Assemblies, the Governing Board is the leading body of the IFRC. It has the authority to make decisions for the IFRC in a number of areas. The Governing Board consists of the president and the vice presidents of the IFRC, the chairpersons of the Finance and Youth Commissions, and twenty elected representatives from national societies.


text: The symbol of the IFRC is the combination of the Red Cross (left) and Red Crescent (right) on a white background surrounded by a red rectangular frame.


text: The main parts of the budget of the IFRC are funded by contributions from the national societies which are members of the IFRC and through revenues from its investments. The exact amount of contributions from each member society is established by the Finance Commission and approved by the General Assembly. Any additional funding, especially for unforeseen expenses for relief assistance missions, is raised by "appeals" published by the IFRC and comes for voluntary donations by national societies, governments, other organizations, corporations, and individuals.


text: National Red Cross and Red Crescent societies exist in nearly every country in the world. Within their home country, they take on the duties and responsibilities of a national relief society as defined by International Humanitarian Law. Within the Movement, the ICRC is responsible for legally recognizing a relief society as an official national Red Cross or Red Crescent society. The exact rules for recognition are defined in the statutes of the Movement. Article 4 of these statutes contains the "Conditions for recognition of National Societies":


text: Once a National Society has been recognized by the ICRC as a component of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (the Movement), it is in principle admitted to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in accordance with the terms defined in the Constitution and Rules of Procedure of the International Federation.


text: Today, there are 192 National Societies recognized within the Movement and which are members of the International Federation.


text: The most recent National Societies to have been recognized within the Movement are the Maldives Red Crescent Society (9 November 2011), the Cyprus Red Cross Society, the South Sudan Red Cross Society (12 November 2013) and, the last, the Tuvalu Red Cross Society (on 1 March 2016).


text: Despite formal independence regarding its organizational structure and work, each national society is still bound by the laws of its home country. In many countries, national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies enjoy exceptional privileges due to agreements with their governments or specific "Red Cross Laws" granting full independence as required by the International Movement. The duties and responsibilities of a national society as defined by International Humanitarian Law and the statutes of the Movement include humanitarian aid in armed conflicts and emergency crises such as natural disasters through activities such as Restoring Family Links.


text: Depending on their respective human, technical, financial, and organizational resources, many national societies take on additional humanitarian tasks within their home countries such as blood donation services or acting as civilian Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers. The ICRC and the International Federation cooperate with the national societies in their international missions, especially with human, material, and financial resources and organizing on-site logistics.


text: The Russian Red Cross supports the organisation Myvmeste, which supports the Russian Army with their 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine through their "Everything for victory" fund.


text: The Red Cross flag is not to be confused with the Saint George's Cross depicted on the flags of England, Barcelona, Georgia, Freiburg im Breisgau, and several other places. In order to avoid this confusion the protected symbol is sometimes referred to as the "Greek Red Cross"; that term is also used in United States law to describe the Red Cross. The red cross of the Saint George cross extends to the edge of the flag, whereas the red cross on the Red Cross flag does not.


text: The Red Cross flag is the colour-switched version of the Flag of Switzerland, in recognition of "the pioneering work of Swiss citizens in establishing internationally recognized standards for the protection of wounded combatants and military medical facilities." In 1906, to put an end to the argument of the Ottoman Empire that the flag took its roots from Christianity, it was decided officially to promote the idea that the Red Cross flag had been formed by reversing the federal colours of Switzerland, although no written evidence of this origin had ever been found.


text: The 1899 convention signed at the Hague extended the use of the Red Cross flag to naval ensigns, requiring that "all hospital ships shall make themselves known by hoisting, together with their national flag, the white flag with a red cross provided by the Geneva Convention."


text: The Red Crescent emblem was first used by ICRC volunteers during the armed conflict of 1876–1878 between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire. The symbol was officially adopted in 1929, and so far 33 states in the Muslim world have recognized it. In common with the official promotion of the red cross symbol as a colour-reversal of the Swiss flag (rather than a religious symbol), the red crescent is similarly presented as being derived from a colour-reversal of the flag of the Ottoman Empire.


text: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was concerned with the possibility that the two previous symbols (Red Cross and Red Crescent) were conveying religious meanings which would not be compatible with, for example, a majority Hindu or Buddhist country from the Asia-Pacific region, where the majority did not associate with these symbols. Therefore, in 1992, the then-president Cornelio Sommaruga decided that a third, more neutral symbol was required.


text: On 8 December 2005, in response to growing pressure to accommodate Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance, and blood bank service, as a full member of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, a new emblem (officially the Third Protocol Emblem, but more commonly known as the Red Crystal) was adopted by an amendment of the Geneva Conventions known as Protocol III, thereby fulfilling Sommaruga's call.


text: The Crystal can be found on official buildings and occasionally in the field. This symbolises equality and has no political, religious, or geographical connotations, thus allowing any country not comfortable with the symbolism of the original two flags to join the movement.


text: The Red Lion and Sun Society of Iran was established in 1922 and admitted to the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement in 1923. The symbol was introduced at Geneva in 1864, as a counter example to the crescent and cross used by two of Iran's rivals, the Ottoman and the Russian empires. Although that claim is inconsistent with the Red Crescent's history, that history also suggests that the Red Lion and Sun, like the Red Crescent, may have been conceived during the 1877–1878 war between Russia and Turkey.


text: Due to the emblem's association with the Iranian monarchy, the Islamic Republic of Iran replaced the Red Lion and Sun with the Red Crescent in 1980, consistent with two existing Red Cross and Red Crescent symbols. Although the Red Lion and Sun has now fallen into disuse, Iran has in the past reserved the right to take it up again at any time; the Geneva Conventions continue to recognize it as an official emblem, and that status was confirmed by Protocol III in 2005 even as it added the Red Crystal.


text: For over 50 years, Israel requested the addition of a red Star of David, arguing that since Christian and Muslim emblems were recognized, the corresponding Jewish emblem should be as well. This emblem has been used by Magen David Adom (MDA), or Red Star of David, but it is not recognized by the Geneva Conventions as a protected symbol. The first use of the "Magen David Adom" was during the Anglo Boer War in South Africa (1899–1902) when it was used by the Ambulance Corps founded by Ben Zion Aaron in Johannesburg as a first aid corps to assist the Boer forces. Permission was given by President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic for the Star of David to be used as its insignia, rather than the conventional red cross.


text: The Red Star of David is not recognized as a protected symbol outside Israel; instead the MDA uses the Red Crystal emblem during international operations in order to ensure protection. Depending on the circumstances, it may place the Red Star of David inside the Red Crystal, or use the Red Crystal alone.


text: The Australian TV network ABC and the indigenous rights group Rettet die Naturvölker released a documentary called "Blood on the Cross" in 1999. It alleged the involvement of the Red Cross with the British and Indonesian military in a massacre in the Southern Highlands of Western New Guinea during the World Wildlife Fund's Mapenduma hostage crisis of May 1996, when Western and Indonesian activists were held hostage by separatists.


text: Following the broadcast of the documentary, the Red Cross announced publicly that it would appoint an individual outside the organization to investigate the allegations made in the film and any responsibility on its part. Piotr Obuchowicz was appointed to investigate the matter. The report categorically states that the Red Cross personnel accused of involvement were proven not to have been present; that a white helicopter was probably used in a military operation, but the helicopter was not a Red Cross helicopter, and must have been painted by one of several military organizations operating in the region at the time. Perhaps the Red Cross logo itself was also used, although no hard evidence was found for this; that this was part of the military operation to free the hostages, but was clearly intended to achieve surprise by deceiving the local people into thinking that a Red Cross helicopter was landing; and that the Red Cross should have responded more quickly and thoroughly to investigate the allegations than it did.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab (13 July 1987 – 21 November 2012) was a Pakistani terrorist and a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist fighter organization, through which he took part in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in Maharashtra, India. Kasab, alongside fellow Lashkar-e-Taiba recruit Ismail Khan, killed 72 people during the attacks, most of them at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. Kasab was the only attacker captured alive by police.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Kasab was born in Faridkot, Pakistan and left his home in 2005, engaging in petty crime and armed robbery with a friend. In late 2007, he and his friend encountered members of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, the political wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba, distributing pamphlets, and were persuaded to join.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: On 3 May 2010, Kasab was found guilty of 80 offences, including murder, waging war against India, possessing explosives, and other charges. On 6 May 2010, he was sentenced to death on four counts and to life imprisonment on five counts. Kasab's death sentence was upheld by the Bombay High Court on 21 February 2011. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of India on 29 August 2012. Kasab was executed on 21 November 2012 at 7:30 a.m. local time, and subsequently buried within the precincts of Yerwada Central Jail in Pune.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Kasab was born in Faridkot village in the Okara District of Punjab, Pakistan, to Amir Shahban Kasab and Noor Illahi. His father ran a snack cart while his elder brother, Afzal, worked as a labourer in Lahore. His elder sister, Rukaiyya Husain, was married and lived in the village. A younger sister, Suraiyya, and brother, Munir, lived in Faridkot with their parents. The family belongs to the Qassab community.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Kasab briefly joined his brother in Lahore and then returned to Faridkot. He left home after a fight with his father in 2005. He had asked for new clothes on Eid al-Fitr, but his father could not provide them, which made him angry. He engaged in petty crime with his friend Muzaffar Lal Khan, eventually moving on to armed robbery. On 21 December 2007, Eid al-Adha, they were in Rawalpindi trying to buy weapons when they encountered members of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, the political wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba, distributing pamphlets. They decided to sign up for training with the group, ending up at their base camp, Markaz Taiba.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: An interrogator and deputy commissioner of the Mumbai Police stated that Kasab spoke rough Hindi and almost no English. He said his father in effect sold him to Lashkar-e-Taiba so that he could use the money they gave him to support the family. His father denied it. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a senior commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, reportedly offered to pay his family for his participation in the attacks. Another report said the 23-year-old was recruited from his home, in part, based on a pledge by recruiters to pay to his family if he became a martyr. Other sources put the reward at .


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Villagers in Okara claimed on camera that he was at their village six months before the attacks in Mumbai. They said that he asked his mother to bless him as he was going for jihad, and claimed that he demonstrated his wrestling skills to a few village boys that day.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Ajmal Kasab was among a group of 24 men who received training in marine warfare at a remote camp in the mountainous areas of Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. Part of the training was reported to have taken place on the Mangla Dam reservoir.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Kasab was seen on CCTV during his attacks at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus along with another recruit, Ismail Khan. Kasab reportedly told the police that they wanted to replicate the Islamabad Marriott hotel attack, and reduce the Taj Hotel to rubble, replicating the 9/11 attacks in India.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Kasab and his accomplice Khan, then aged 25, attacked the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) railway station. They then moved on to attack a police vehicle (a white Toyota Qualis) at Cama Hospital, in which senior Mumbai police officers (Maharashtra ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner of Mumbai Police Ashok Kamte) were travelling. After killing them in a gun battle and taking two constables hostage in the Qualis, Kasab and Khan drove towards the Metro cinema. Kasab joked about the bulletproof vests worn by the police and killed one constable when his mobile phone rang. The two fired some shots into a crowd gathered at the Metro Cinema. They then drove to Vidhan Bhavan where they fired more shots. Their vehicle had a tire puncture, so they stole a silver Škoda Laura and drove towards Girgaum Chowpatty beach.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: The D B Marg police had received a message from police control at about , that two heavily armed men had gunned down commuters at CST. 15 policemen from D B Marg were sent to Chowpatty to set up a double barricade on Marine Drive. The Škoda reached Chowpatty and halted 40 to 50 feet from the barricade. It reversed and attempted a U-turn. A shootout ensued and Khan was killed. Kasab lay motionless playing dead. Assistant sub-inspector Tukaram Omble, armed only with a lathi, charged the vehicle, being shot five times. Omble held onto Kasab's weapon, enabling Omble's colleagues to capture Kasab alive. Omble died from the bullet wounds. A mob gathered and attacked the two terrorists, which was captured on video.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Initially, Kasab pretended to be dead, and was being transported to the Nair Hospital when a police officer discovered Kasab was breathing. Seeing the mutilated body of another slain terrorist, Kasab begged doctors to put him on saline, saying "I do not want to die". The doctors who treated Kasab said he had no bullet wounds.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Kasab told police he was trained to "kill to the last breath". Later, after interrogation in the hospital by the police, he said: "Now, I do not want to live", requesting the interrogators kill him for the safety of his family in Pakistan, who could be killed or tortured for his surrender to Indian police. (Fidayeen suicide squad terrorists were instructed not to be captured and interrogated, use aliases instead of their real names, and hide their nationality.) He is also quoted as saying "I have done right, I have no regrets". Reports also surfaced that the group planned to escape safely after the attack.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Kasab told interrogators that all through the operation, the Lashkar headquarters from Karachi, Pakistan, remained in touch with the group, calling their phones through a voice-over-Internet service. Investigators succeeded in reconstructing the group's journey through the Garmin GPS that was found on Kasab. An email sent from a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claiming responsibility was traced to a Russian proxy, which was then traced back to Lahore with the help of the FBI.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Police announced Kasab was a Pakistani national based on his confession and other evidence. Several reporters visited Kasab's village and verified the facts provided by him. Former Pakistan Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif confirmed that Kasab was from Faridkot village in Pakistan, and criticised President Zardari for cordoning off the village and not allowing his parents to meet anyone.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Journalist Saeed Shah travelled to Kasab's village and produced national identity card numbers of his parents. His parents left town on the night of 3 December 2008. Mumbai Joint Police Commissioner of Crime Rakesh Maria said Kasab was from the Faridkot village in the Okara district of Pakistan's Punjab province, and was the son of Mohammed Amir Kasab.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: The Mumbai Police said much of the information that Kasab provided proved to be accurate. He disclosed the location of a fishing trawler, MV "Kuber", that the terrorists used to enter Mumbai's coastal waters. He told investigators where his team put the ship captain's body, a satellite phone and a global-positioning device, which the police found.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Pakistani officials, including President Asif Ali Zardari, initially denied Ajmal Kasab was Pakistani. Pakistani government officials attempted to erase evidence that there was a Lashkar-e-Taiba office in Deepalpur. The office was hurriedly closed in the week of 7 December. On the night of 3 December 2008, the parents were whisked away by a bearded Mullah, and since then, there was evidence of a cover-up by plainclothes police. Villagers changed their stories, and reporters who visit there were intimidated. In early December, Kasab's father admitted in an interview that Kasab was his son.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: In January 2009, Pakistan's National Security Advisor Mahmud Ali Durrani admitted to Kasab being a Pakistani citizen while speaking to the CNN-IBN news channel. The Pakistan Government then acknowledged that Ajmal Kasab was a Pakistani, but also announced that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had fired Durrani for "failing to take Gilani and other stakeholders into confidence" before making this information public, and for "a lack of coordination on matters of national security."


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: On 6 December 2008, "The Hindu" reported that the police officers who interrogated him did not speak his language, Urdu, and misinterpreted his caste origin "kasai", meaning butcher, to be a surname, writing it as "Kasav".


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: "The Times of India" reported a different version of the error. The paper stated that the police officers correctly understood that Ajmal Kasab does not have a surname. To satisfy an administrative requirement that people have surnames, the officers asked Kasab for his father's profession, and decided to use "butcher", or "Kasab" in Urdu, as his surname.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: "The Hindu" referred to him as either "Mohammad Ajmal Amir, son of Mohammad Amir Iman" or "Mohammad Ajmal Amir 'Kasab'".


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Ammunition, a satellite phone and a layout plan of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was recovered from Kasab. He described how his team arrived at Mumbai from Karachi via Porbandar. He said that they had received revolvers, AK-47s, ammunition and dried fruit from their coordinator. Kasab told the police that they wanted to replicate the Marriott hotel attack in Islamabad, and reduce the Taj Hotel to rubble, replicating the 11 September attacks in the US. Kasab told police that his team targeted Nariman House, where the Chabad centre was located, because it was frequented by Israelis, who were targeted to "avenge atrocities on Palestinians."


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Kasab told the police that he and his associate, Ismail Khan, were the ones who shot Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte. Kasab entered the Taj posing as a student from Mauritius and stored explosives in one of the hotel's rooms. In December 2009, Kasab retracted his confession in court, claiming he had come to Mumbai to act in Bollywood films and was arrested by the Mumbai police three days before the attacks.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Kasab repeatedly asked the interrogators to turn the camera off and warned them he would not speak otherwise. Nonetheless the following confessions were recorded on video:


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: When police asked Kasab what he understood about jihad, Kasab told the interrogators "it is about killing and getting killed and becoming famous." "Come, kill and die after a killing spree. By this one will become famous and will also make God proud."


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: "We were told that our big brother India is so rich and we are dying of poverty and hunger. My father sells dahi wada in a stall in Lahore and we did not even get enough food to eat from his earnings. I was promised that once they knew that I was successful in my operation, they would give 150,000 rupees (around US$3,352), to my family," said Kasab.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Police said they were shocked by his readiness to switch loyalties after he was apprehended. "If you give me regular meals and money I will do the same for you that I did for them," he said.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: "When we asked whether he knew any verses from the Quran that described jihad, Kasab said he did not," police said. "In fact he did not know much about Islam or its tenets," according to a police source.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: On 9 August 2012, Kasab was brought face-to-face with Abu Jundal, the handler of Mumbai attacks, at the Arthur Road jail where they identified each other. Kasab also admitted that Jundal had taught him Hindi.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: In a press conference, the Mumbai city police commissioner said "The person we have caught alive is certainly a Pakistani. They were all trained by ex-army officers, some for a year, some for more than a year". On 23 November 2008, they set sail from Karachi unarmed to be picked up by a larger vessel. They hijacked the Indian fishing trawler "Kuber" and set sail for Mumbai.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: "The Times" reported on 3 December 2008 that Indian police were going to submit Kasab to a narco analysis test to definitively determine his nationality.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: According to "DNA India", Kasab began reading the autobiography of India's non-violent leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in early March 2009, in response to coaxing by prison guards.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Several Indian lawyers refused to represent Kasab citing ethical concerns. A resolution was passed unanimously by the Bombay Metropolitan Magistrate Court's Bar Association, which has more than 1,000 members, saying that none of its members would defend any of the accused of the terror attacks. Other bar associations passed similar resolutions. The Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena threatened lawyers against representing him. When one attorney, Ashok Sarogi, hinted that he would be willing to represent Kasab, Shiv Shena members protested outside his home and pelted it with stones, forcing him to retract. In December 2008, the Indian Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan said that for a fair trial, Kasab needed a lawyer.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: An eight-member commission from Pakistan, comprising defence lawyers, prosecutors and a court official was allowed to travel to India on 15 March to gather evidences for the prosecution of seven suspects linked to the 2008 Mumbai attacks. However, the defence lawyers were barred from cross-examining the four prosecution witnesses in the case including Ajmal Kasab.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: Kasab wrote to the Pakistani High Commission in India requesting help and legal aid. In the letter, he confirmed he and the nine slain terrorists were Pakistani. He asked the Pakistani High Commission to take custody of the body of fellow terrorist Ismail Khan. Pakistani officials confirmed the receipt of the letter and were reported to be studying it. No further updates were given.


title: Ajmal Kasab

text: On 1 April 2009, Senior Advocate Anjali Waghmare agreed to represent Kasab, despite Shiv Sena activists having protested and stoned her home.