title: Final Fantasy VI

text: Most of the main characters in the game hold a significant grudge against the Empire and, in particular, Kefka Palazzo, who serves as one of the game's main antagonists along with Emperor Gestahl. The clownish Kefka became the first experimental prototype of a line of magically empowered soldiers called Magitek Knights, rendering him insane; his actions throughout the game reflect his demented nature. The supporting character Ultros serves as a recurring villain and comic relief. A handful of characters have reappeared in later games. "Final Fantasy SGI", a short tech demo produced for the Silicon Graphics Onyx workstation, featured polygon-based 3D renderings of Locke, Terra, and Shadow.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: In the town of Narshe, Terra participates in an Imperial mission to seize a powerful Esper encased in ice. Upon locating it, a magical reaction occurs between Terra and the Esper; as a result, the soldiers accompanying Terra are killed and Terra is knocked unconscious. Upon awakening, Terra is informed that the Empire had been using a device called a "slave crown" to control her actions. With the crown now removed, Terra cannot remember anything more than her name and her rare ability to use magic unaided. Terra is then introduced to an organization known as the "Returners", who she agrees to help in their revolution against the Empire. The Returners learn that Imperial soldiers, led by Kefka, are planning another attempt to seize the frozen Esper. After repelling Kefka's attack, Terra experiences another magical reaction with the frozen Esper; she transforms into a creature resembling an Esper and flies to another continent. Upon locating Terra, the party is confronted by an Esper named Ramuh, who informs the group that Terra may require the assistance of another Esper imprisoned in the Imperial capital city of Vector.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: At Vector, the party attempts to rescue several Espers; however, the Espers are already dying from Magitek experiments and choose instead to offer their lives to the party by transforming into magicite. The group returns to Terra and observes a reaction between her and the magicite "Maduin". The reaction calms Terra and restores her memory; she reveals that she is the half-human, half-Esper child of Maduin and a human woman. With this revelation, the Returners ask Terra to convince the Espers to join their cause. To do this, she travels to the sealed gate between the human and Esper worlds. However, unbeknownst to the party, the Empire also uses Terra to gain access to the Esper world. There, Emperor Gestahl and Kefka retrieve the statues of the Warring Triad, raising a landmass called the Floating Continent. The group confronts Emperor Gestahl and Kefka at the Floating Continent, whereupon Kefka, whose mental state has progressively declined over the course of the story, usurps and murders Gestahl. Kefka then tampers with the alignment of the statues, which upsets the balance of magic and destroys most of the surface of the world.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: One year later, Celes awakens on a deserted island. She learns that Kefka is using the Warring Triad to rule the world in a tyrannical god-like manner, destroying whole villages who oppose him and causing all life to slowly wither away. After Celes escapes the island, she searches for her lost comrades, who are found scattered throughout the ruined world. They come to terms with their situation and resolve to confront Kefka and end his reign, with Terra additionally accepting her half-Esper heritage and finding a new purpose in life in fighting for a better future. The group infiltrates Kefka's tower and destroys the Warring Triad before confronting Kefka himself, who has descended into nihilism as a result of his madness and plans to destroy all of existence as a means of self-validation. However, the group successfully destroys Kefka in battle, at which point magic and Espers disappear from the world; despite this, Terra is able to survive by hanging onto the human half of her existence. The group escapes from Kefka's tower as it collapses and flies away while watching as the world rejuvenates itself.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: "Final Fantasy VI" entered development after the release of its predecessor "Final Fantasy V" in December 1992. The development of the game took just one year to complete. Series creator and director Hironobu Sakaguchi could not be as intimately involved as in previous installments due to his other projects and his promotion to Executive Vice President of the company in 1991. For that reason, he became the producer and split director responsibilities for "Final Fantasy VI" up between Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Ito: Kitase was in charge of event production and the scenario, while Ito handled all battle aspects. Sakaguchi supervised Kitase's cutscene direction and ensured that the project would coalesce as a whole. The idea behind the story of "Final Fantasy VI" was that every character is the protagonist. All members of the development team contributed ideas for characters and their "episodes" for the overall plot in what Kitase described as a "hybrid process". Consequently, Terra and Locke were conceived by Sakaguchi; Celes and Gau by Kitase; Shadow and Setzer by graphic director Tetsuya Nomura; and Edgar and Sabin by field graphic designer Kaori Tanaka. Then it was Kitase's task to unite the story premise provided by Sakaguchi with all the individual ideas for character episodes to create a cohesive narrative. The scenario of "Final Fantasy VI" was written by a group of four or five people, among them Kitase who provided key elements of the story, such as the opera scene and Celes' suicide attempt, as well as all of Kefka's appearances.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: Regular series character designer Yoshitaka Amano's concept art became the basis for the models in the full motion videos produced for the game's PlayStation re-release. Tetsuya Takahashi, one of the graphic directors, drew the imperial Magitek Armors seen in the opening scene. By doing so, he disregarded Sakaguchi's intention to reuse the regular designs from elsewhere in the game. The sprite art for the characters' in-game appearance was drawn by Kazuko Shibuya. While in the earlier installments, the sprites were less detailed on the map than in battle, "Final Fantasy VI" had an equally high resolution regardless of the screen. This enabled the use of animations depicting a variety of movements and facial expressions. Though it was not the first game to utilize the Super NES' Mode 7 graphics, "Final Fantasy VI" made more extensive use of them than its predecessors. For instance, unlike both "Final Fantasy IV" and "Final Fantasy V", the world map is rendered in Mode 7, which lends a somewhat three-dimensional perspective to an otherwise two-dimensional game.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: The original North American localization and release of "Final Fantasy VI" by Square for the Super NES featured several changes from the original Japanese version. The most obvious of these is the change of the game's title from "Final Fantasy VI" to "Final Fantasy III"; because only two games of the series had been localized in North America at the time, "Final Fantasy VI" was distributed as "Final Fantasy III" to maintain naming continuity. Unlike "Final Fantasy IV" (which was first released in North America as "Final Fantasy II"), there are no major changes to gameplay, though several changes of contents and editorial adjustments exist in the English script. In a January 1995 interview with "Super Play" magazine, translator Ted Woolsey explained that "there's a certain level of playfulness and ... sexuality in Japanese games that just doesn't exist here [in the USA], basically because of Nintendo of America's rules and guidelines". Consequently, objectionable graphics (e.g. nudity) were censored and building signs in towns were changed (such as Bar being changed to Café), as well as religious allusions (e.g. the spell "Holy" was renamed "Pearl").


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: Also, some direct allusions to death, killing actions, and violent expressions, as well as offensive words have been replaced by softer expressions. For example, after Edgar, Locke and Terra flee on chocobos from Figaro Castle, Kefka orders two Magitek Armored soldiers to chase them by shouting "Go! KILL THEM!", in the Japanese version. It was translated as "Go! Get them!" Also, when Imperial Troopers burn Figaro Castle, and Edgar claims Terra is not hidden inside the castle, Kefka replies "then you can burn to death" in the Japanese version, which was replaced in the English version by "Then welcome to my barbecue!". Similarly, as Magitek soldiers watch Edgar and his guests escape on Chocobos, Kefka swears in Japanese, which was translated by Ted Woolsey as "Son of a submariner!". The localization also featured changes to several names, such as "Tina" being changed to "Terra". Finally, dialogue text files had to be shortened due to the limited data storage space available on the game cartridge's read-only memory. As a result, additional changes were rendered to dialogue in order to compress it into the available space.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: The PlayStation re-release featured only minor changes to the English localization. The title of the game was reverted to "Final Fantasy VI" from "Final Fantasy III", to unify the numbering scheme of the series in North America and Japan with the earlier release of "Final Fantasy VII". A few item and character names were adjusted, as in the expansion of "Fenix Down" to "Phoenix Down". Unlike the PlayStation re-release of "Final Fantasy IV" included in the later "Final Fantasy Chronicles" compilation, the script was left essentially unchanged. The Game Boy Advance re-release featured a new translation by a different translator, Tom Slattery. This translation preserved most of the character names, location names, and terminology from the Woolsey translation, but changed item and spell names to match the conventions used in more recent titles in the series. The revised script preserved certain quirky lines from the original while changing or editing others, and it cleared up certain points of confusion in the original translation. The Wii Virtual Console release used the "Final Fantasy III" name of the Super NES game.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: The soundtrack for "Final Fantasy VI" was composed by long-time series contributor Nobuo Uematsu. The score consists of themes for each major character and location, as well as music for standard battles, fights with boss enemies and for special cutscenes. The extensive use of leitmotif is one of the defining points of the audio tracks. The "Aria di Mezzo Carattere" is one of the latter tracks, played during a cutscene involving an opera performance. This track features an unintelligible synthesized "voice" that harmonizes with the melody, as technical limitations for the SPC700 sound format chip prevented the use of an actual vocal track (although some developers eventually figured out how to overcome the limitation a few years later, and in the "Pixel Remaster", it is voiced by opera singers.). The orchestral album "Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale" features an arranged version of the aria, using Italian lyrics performed by Svetla Krasteva with an orchestral accompaniment. This version is also found in the ending full motion video of the game's Sony PlayStation re-release, with the same lyrics but a different musical arrangement. In addition, the album "Orchestral Game Concert 4" includes an extended version of the opera arranged and conducted by Kōsuke Onozaki and performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, featuring Wakako Aokimi, Tetsuya Ōno, and Hiroshi Kuroda on vocals. It was also performed at the "More Friends" concert at the Gibson Amphitheatre in 2005 using a new English translation of the lyrics, an album of which is now available. "Dancing Mad", accompanying the game's final battle with Kefka, is 17 minutes long and contains an organ cadenza, with variations on Kefka's theme. The "Ending Theme" combines every playable character theme into one composition lasting over 21 minutes.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: The original score was released on three Compact Discs in Japan as "Final Fantasy VI: Original Sound Version". A version of this album was later released in North America as "Final Fantasy III: Kefka's Domain", this version of the album is the same as its Japanese counterpart, except for different packaging and small differences in the translation of some track names between the album and newer releases. Additionally, "Final Fantasy VI: Grand Finale" features eleven tracks from the game, arranged by Shirō Sagisu and Tsuneyoshi Saito and performed by the Ensemble Archi Della Scala and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano (Milan Symphony Orchestra). "", a second arranged album, features thirteen tracks from the game, performed for piano by Reiko Nomura. More recently, "Dancing Mad", the final boss theme from "Final Fantasy VI", has been performed at Play! A Video Game Symphony in Stockholm, Sweden on June 2, 2007, by the group Machinae Supremacy.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: Nobuo Uematsu's former rock band, The Black Mages, released a progressive metal version of Dancing Mad on their eponymous first album in 2003. Their third album, subtitled "", is so named after its premiere track: a rock opera version of the entire opera from FFVI, including the Aria di Mezzo Carattere performed by Etsuyo Ota.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: In 2012, a Kickstarter campaign for OverClocked ReMix was funded at $153,633 for the creation of a multiple CD album of remixes of the music from "Final Fantasy VI". Andrew Aversa directed the creation of the album, "Balance and Ruin", which contains 74 tracks from 74 artists, each with its own unique style. The album is free and available at the OverClocked ReMix website. Video Games Live composer Jillian Aversa, Andrew Aversa's wife, created a music video tribute to Aria di Mezzo Carattere, together with cellist Tina Guo, expanding on the arrangement from "Balance and Ruin".


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: "Final Fantasy VI" was ported to the PlayStation by Tose and re-released in Japan and North America in 1999. In Japan, it was available in both a standalone release and as part of "Final Fantasy Collection," while in North America it was available only as part of "Final Fantasy Anthology." In Europe it was sold only as a standalone release. Fifty thousand limited-edition copies were also released in Japan and included a "Final Fantasy"-themed alarm clock.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: "Final Fantasy VI"s PlayStation port is very similar to the original Japanese Super Famicom release. With the exception of the addition of two full motion video opening and ending sequences and new screen-transition effects used for the start and end of battles, the graphics, music and sound are left unchanged from the original version. The only notable changes to gameplay (in addition to loading times not present in the cartridge versions) involve the correction of a few software bugs from the original and the addition of a new "memo save" feature, allowing players to quickly save their progress to the PlayStation's RAM. The re-release included other special features, such as a bestiary and an artwork gallery. On December 18, 2012, the port was re-released as part of the "Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box" package in Japan.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: "Final Fantasy VI" was re-released as a PSone Classic in Japan on April 20, 2011, and in PAL territories on June 2, 2011. It was released in North America on December 6, 2011.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: The "Pixel Remaster" series version of "Final Fantasy VI" will be released for PlayStation 4 in early 2023.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: After the PlayStation, Tose then ported the game to the Game Boy Advance, on which it was released as "Final Fantasy VI Advance." It was released in Japan by Square Enix on November 30, 2006, with Nintendo handling publishing in North America on February 5, 2007, and in Europe on July 6. It was the last game to be released on the Game Boy Advance in Asia, as well as the last one to be published by Nintendo on the system. It includes additional gameplay features, slightly improved visuals, and a new translation that follows Japanese naming conventions for the spells and monsters. It does not, however, have the full-motion videos from the PlayStation version of the game. Four new espers appear in "Advance": Leviathan, Gilgamesh, Cactuar, and Diabolos. Two new areas include the Dragons' Den dungeon, which includes the Kaiser Dragon, a monster coded, but not included, in the original, and a "Soul Shrine", a place where the player can fight monsters continuously. Three new spells also appear, and several bugs from the original are fixed. In addition, similarly to the other handheld "Final Fantasy" re-releases, a bestiary and a music player are included. Even in the Japanese version, the music player is in English and uses the American names, e.g. "Strago" over "Stragus". The package features new artwork by series veteran and original character and image designer Yoshitaka Amano.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: The original Super Famicom version was released for the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on March 15, 2011, in PAL territories (Europe and Australia) on March 18, 2011, and in North America on June 30, 2011. The game was released in the West with its original North American title of "Final Fantasy III". The Super Famicom version was later released on the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan. On December 22, 2015, Square Enix released the Game Boy Advance version on the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: Nintendo re-released "Final Fantasy VI" worldwide in September 2017 as part of the company's Super NES/Super Famicom Classic Edition.WIL


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: The "Pixel Remaster" series version of "Final Fantasy VI" will be released worldwide for Nintendo Switch in early 2023.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: Ports of "Final Fantasy VI" for Android and iOS mobile operating systems were announced in 2013. The mobile-optimized versions of the game were released on Android on January 15, 2014, and iOS on February 6, 2014 with mobile-adapted controls and save features, but redrawn, slightly blurry graphics.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: A Windows PC port, itself a port of the Android version, was released for Windows PC via Steam on December 16, 2015. Another port from the "Pixel Remaster" line was released on Steam on February 23, 2022. The "Pixel Remaster" series features new 16-bit sprites, new soundtracks, and a return to the game's originally released content. No added content from any of the ported versions appears in any of the "Pixel Remasters".


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: "Final Fantasy VI" received critical acclaim and was commercially successful in Japan upon release. In mid-1994, Square's publicity department reported that the game had sold copies in Japan, where it became the best-selling video game of 1994. In the United States, where it went on sale in the last quarter of 1994, it was the top-selling Super NES game in October and became the year's eighth best-selling Super NES cartridge. Despite this, it was not a commercial success in that region, according to Sakaguchi. As of March 31, 2003, the game had shipped 3.48 million copies worldwide, with 2.62 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 860,000 abroad. "Final Fantasy Collection" sold over 400,000 copies in 1999, making it the 31st-best-selling release of that year in Japan. "Final Fantasy Anthology" has sold approximately 364,000 copies in North America. "Final Fantasy VI Advance" sold over 223,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2006, one month after release.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: "GamePro" rated it 4.5 out of 5 in graphics and a perfect 5.0 in sound, control, and fun factor, stating that "characters, plotlines, and multiple-choice scenarios all combine to form one fantastic game!" The four reviewers of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" each granted it a unanimous score of 9 out of 10 (36 out of 40) and their "Game of the Month" award, commenting that it had set the new standard for excellence in RPGs. They particularly praised the graphics, music, and the strong emotional involvement of the story. It won several awards from "Electronic Gaming Monthly" in their 1994 video game awards, including Best Role-Playing Game, Best Japanese Role-Playing Game, and Best Music for a Cartridge-Based Game. Additionally, they ranked the game ninth in their 1997 list of the 100 greatest console games of all time. "Famitsu" scored it 37 out of 40, making it one of their two highest-rated games of 1994 (along with "Ridge Racer"). For their part, "Nintendo Power" declared the game "the RPG hit of the decade", noting its improved sound and graphics over its predecessors, and the game's broadened thematic scope. Moreover, they suggested that "with so much story and variation of play ... fans may become lost in the world for months at a time". "Nintendo Power" also opined that the game plot was "not particularly inventive" and the "story is often sappy–not written for an American audience".


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: In 1997, "Nintendo Power" ranked it as the eighth greatest Nintendo game, saying it "had everything you could want—heroes, world-shattering events, magic, mindless evil—plus Interceptor the wonder dog!" The same year, "GamePro" said it "still remains one of the most fun, innovative, and challenging RPGs to date." In 1996, "Next Generation" said the scene in which Terra cares for a village of orphaned children "can perhaps be safely named as the series' finest hour ... no other game series has tackled such big issues, or reached such a level of emotional depth and complexity."


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: "Final Fantasy Collection" received 54 out of 60 points from "Weekly Famitsu", scored by a panel of six reviewers. "IGN" described the graphics of the PlayStation re-release as "beautiful and stunning", reflecting that, at the time of its release, ""Final Fantasy III"... represented everything an RPG should be", inspiring statistic growth systems that would later influence titles like "Wild Arms" and "Suikoden". Moreover, they praised its gameplay and storyline, claiming that these aspects took "all ... preceding RPG concepts and either came up with something completely new or refined them enough to make them its own", creating an atmosphere in which "[players] won't find it difficult to get past the simplistic graphics or seemingly out-dated gameplay conventions and become involved". RPGamer gave a perfect rating to both the original game and its PlayStation re-release, citing its gameplay as "self-explanatory enough that most any player could pick up the game and customize their characters' equipment", while praising its music as "a 16-bit masterpiece".


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: The game's release for the Game Boy Advance also garnered praise. the Game Boy Advance re-release was named eighth best Game Boy Advance game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the Game Boy Advance's long lifespan. "Official Nintendo Magazine" ranked the GBA version of the game 32nd on a list of greatest Nintendo games in 2009. "Final Fantasy VI" is often regarded as one of the best titles in the series and one of the best role-playing video games ever created according to multiple websites. Readers of the Japanese magazine "Famitsu" voted it as the 25th best game of all time. In an updated version of the "Top 100" list in 2007, "IGN" ranked "Final Fantasy VI" as the ninth top game of all time, above all other "Final Fantasy" games in the series. They continued to cite the game's character development, and especially noted Kefka as "one of the most memorable bad guys in RPG history." "Nintendo Power" listed the ending to "Final Fantasy VI" as one of the best finales, citing the narrative and cast variety.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: Following "Final Fantasy VI", Square began testing for its next entry "Final Fantasy VII" on the N64, but technical issues, escalating cartridge costs and the higher storage capacity of CD technology persuaded Square to move "Final Fantasy VII" and all their subsequent titles onto the PlayStation. During early testing on 3D development software, the team rendered a battle involving "Final Fantasy VI" characters Terra, Locke and Shadow. The decision to move to PlayStation soured the relations between Square and Nintendo. Due to this, "Final Fantasy VI" was the last series title to release on a Nintendo platform until "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles" came out on the Nintendo GameCube in 2003. It was also the last new mainline "Final Fantasy" game to come to a Nintendo platform until 2018 when the abridged "" released on Nintendo Switch, followed by the subsequent releases of "Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, X", "X-2" and "" the following year. "Final Fantasy VI" was included in the Super NES Classic Edition under its original titling as "Final Fantasy III" for the North American and European release on September 29, 2017.


title: Final Fantasy VI

text: In 2010, Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto stated that the development of a remake of "Final Fantasy VI" for the Nintendo DS was "undecided" due to "technical issues". Later, however, Square discussed remaking "VI" as well as "V" for the Nintendo 3DS. In 2015, Tetsuya Nomura, then directing "Final Fantasy VII Remake", expressed interest in remaking "Final Fantasy V" and "VI".


title: Public Enemy

text: Public Enemy is an American hip hop group formed by Chuck D and Flavor Flav in Long Island, New York, in 1985. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as American racism and the American media. Their debut album, "Yo! Bum Rush the Show", was released in 1987 to critical acclaim, and their second album, "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" (1988), was the first hip hop album to top "The Village Voice"s Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Their next three albums, "Fear of a Black Planet" (1990), "Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black" (1991) and "Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age" (1994), were also well received. The group has since released twelve more studio albums, including the soundtrack to the 1998 sports-drama film "He Got Game" and a collaborative album with Paris, "Rebirth of a Nation" (2006).


title: Public Enemy

text: Public Enemy has gone through many lineup changes over the years, with Chuck D and Flavor Flav remaining the only constant members. Co-founder Professor Griff left in 1989 but rejoined in 1998, before parting ways again some years later. DJ Lord also joined Public Enemy in 1998 as the replacement of the group's original DJ Terminator X. In 2020, it was announced that Flavor Flav had been fired from the group. His firing was later revealed to be a publicity stunt that was called an April Fools' Day prank. Public Enemy, without Flavor Flav, would also tour and record music under the name of Public Enemy Radio which consists of the lineup of Chuck D, Jahi, DJ Lord and the S1Ws.


title: Public Enemy

text: Public Enemy's first four albums during the late 1980s and early 1990s were all certified either gold or platinum and were, according to music critic Robert Hilburn in 1998, "the most acclaimed body of work ever by a hip hop act". Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine called them "the most influential and radical band of their time". They were inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. They were honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at the 62nd Grammy Awards.


title: Public Enemy

text: Public Enemy was formed in 1985 by Carlton Ridenhour (Chuck D) and William Drayton (Flavor Flav), who met at Long Island's Adelphi University in the mid-1980s. Developing his talents as an MC with Flav while delivering furniture for his father's business, Chuck D and Spectrum City, as the group was called, released the record "Check Out the Radio", backed by "Lies", a social commentary—both of which would influence RUSH Productions' Run–D.M.C. and Beastie Boys. Chuck D put out a tape to promote WBAU (the radio station where he was working at the time) and to fend off a local MC who wanted to battle him. He called the tape "Public Enemy #1" because he felt like he was being persecuted by people in the local scene. This was the first reference to the notion of a public enemy in any of Chuck D's songs. The single was created by Chuck D with a contribution by Flavor Flav, though this was before the group "Public Enemy" was officially assembled. Around 1986, Bill Stephney, the former Program Director at WBAU, was approached by Sam Mulderrig, who offered Stephney a position with the label. Stephney accepted, and his first assignment was to help fledgling producer Rick Rubin sign Chuck D, whose song "Public Enemy Number One" Rubin had heard from Andre "Doctor Dré" Brown.


title: Public Enemy

text: According to the book "The History of Rap Music" by Cookie Lommel, "Stephney thought it was time to mesh the hard-hitting style of Run DMC with politics that addressed black youth. Chuck recruited Spectrum City, which included Hank Shocklee, his brother Keith Shocklee, and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, collectively known as the Bomb Squad, to be his production team and added another Spectrum City partner, Professor Griff, to become the group's Minister of Information. With the addition of Flavor Flav and another local mobile DJ named Terminator X, the group Public Enemy was born". According to Chuck, The S1W, which stands for Security of the First World, "represents that the black man can be just as intelligent as he is strong. It stands for the fact that we're not third-world people, we're first-world people; we're the original people". Hank Shocklee came up with the name Public Enemy based on "underdog love and their developing politics" and the idea from Def Jam staffer Bill Stephney following the Howard Beach racial incident, Bernhard Goetz, and the death of Michael Stewart: "The Black man is definitely the public enemy."


title: Public Enemy

text: Public Enemy started out as opening act for the Beastie Boys during the latter's "Licensed to Ill" popularity, and in 1987 released their debut album "Yo! Bum Rush the Show".


title: Public Enemy

text: The group's debut album, "Yo! Bum Rush the Show", was released in 1987 to critical acclaim. In October 1987, music critic Simon Reynolds dubbed Public Enemy "a superlative "rock" band". They released their second album, "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back", in 1988, which performed better in the charts than their previous release, and included the hit single "Don't Believe the Hype" in addition to "Bring the Noise". It was the first hip hop album to be voted album of the year in "The Village Voice"s influential Pazz & Jop critics' poll.


title: Public Enemy

text: In 1989, the group returned to the studio to record their third album, "Fear of a Black Planet", which continued their politically charged themes. The album was supposed to be released in late 1989, but was pushed back to April 1990. It was the most successful of any of their albums and, in 2005, was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry. It included the singles "Welcome to the Terrordome", written after the band was criticized by Jews for Professor Griff's anti-semitic comments, "911 Is a Joke", which criticized emergency response units for taking longer to arrive at emergencies in the black community than those in the white community, and "Fight the Power". "Fight the Power" is regarded as one of the most popular and influential songs in hip hop history. It was the theme song of Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing".


title: Public Enemy

text: The group's fourth album, "Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black", continued this trend, with songs like "Can't Truss It", which addressed the history of slavery and how the black community can fight back against oppression; "I Don't Wanna be Called Yo Nigga", a track that takes issue with the use of the word "nigga" outside of its original derogatory context. The album also included the controversial song and video "By the Time I Get to Arizona", which chronicled the black community's frustration that some US states did not recognize Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday. The video featured members of Public Enemy taking out their frustrations on politicians in the states not recognizing the holiday.


title: Public Enemy

text: In 1992, the group was one of the first rap acts to perform at the Reading Festival in the UK, headlining the second day of the three-day festival.


title: Public Enemy

text: After a 1994 motorcycle accident shattered his left leg and kept him in the hospital for a full month, Terminator X relocated to his 15-acre farm in Vance County, North Carolina. By 1998, he was ready to retire from the group and focus full-time on raising African black ostriches on his farm. In late 1998, the group started looking for Terminator X's permanent replacement. Following several months of searching for a DJ, Professor Griff saw DJ Lord at a Vestax Battle and approached him about becoming the DJ for Public Enemy. DJ Lord joined as the group's full-time DJ just in time for Public Enemy's 40th World Tour. Since 1999, he has been the official DJ for Public Enemy on albums and world tours while winning numerous turntablist competitions, including multiple DMC finals.


title: Public Enemy

text: In 2007, the group released an album entitled "How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?". Public Enemy's single from the album was "Harder Than You Think". Four years after "How You Sell Soul ... ", in January 2011, Public Enemy released the album "Beats and Places", a compilation of remixes and "lost" tracks. On July 13, 2012, "Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp" was released and was exclusively available on iTunes. In July 2012, on UK television an advert for the London 2012 Summer Paralympics featured a short remix of the song "Harder Than You Think". The advert caused the song to reach No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart on September 2, 2012. On July 30, 2012, Public Enemy performed a free concert with Salt-N-Pepa and Kid 'n Play at Wingate Park in Brooklyn, New York as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series. On August 26, 2012, Public Enemy performed at South West Four music festival in Clapham Common in London. On October 1, 2012 "The Evil Empire of Everything" was released. On June 29, 2013, they performed at Glastonbury Festival 2013. On September 14, 2013, they performed at Riot Fest & Carnival 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. On September 20, 2013, they performed at Riot Fest & Side Show in Byers, Colorado.


title: Public Enemy

text: In 2014, Chuck D launched PE 2.0 with Oakland rapper Jahi as a spiritual successor and "next generation" of Public Enemy. Jahi met Chuck D backstage during a soundcheck at the 1999 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and later appeared as a support act on Public Enemy's 20th Anniversary Tour in 2007. PE 2.0's task is twofold, Jahi says, to "take select songs from the PE catalog and cover or revisit them" as well as new material with members of the original Public Enemy including DJ Lord, Davy DMX, Professor Griff and Chuck D. PE 2.0's first album "People Get Ready" was released on October 7, 2014. "InsPirEd" PE 2.0's second album and part two of a proposed trilogy was released a year later on October 11, 2015.


title: Public Enemy

text: "Man Plans God Laughs", Public Enemy's thirteenth album, was released in July 2015. On June 29, 2017, Public Enemy released their fourteenth album, "Nothing Is Quick in the Desert". The album was available for free download through Bandcamp until July 4, 2017.


title: Public Enemy

text: In late February 2020, it was announced that Public Enemy (billed as Public Enemy Radio) would perform at a campaign rally in Los Angeles on March 1, 2020 for Bernie Sanders, who was campaigning to be the nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2020 presidential election. Days following the announcement, Flavor Flav's lawyer Matthew Friedman issued a cease-and desist letter asking the campaign to not use the group's name or logo, stating: "While Chuck is certainly free to express his political views as he sees fit — his voice alone does not speak for Public Enemy". Chuck D responded to the statement by saying: "Flavor chooses to dance for his money and not do benevolent work like this. He has a year to get his act together and get himself straight or he's out". A lawyer for Chuck D added: "Chuck could perform as Public Enemy if he ever wanted to; he is the sole owner of the Public Enemy trademark. He originally drew the logo himself in the mid-80s, is also the creative visionary and the group's primary songwriter, having written Flavor's most memorable lines".


title: Public Enemy

text: On March 1, 2020, before the group's performance at the Sanders rally, Chuck D, DJ Lord, Jahi, James Bomb and Pop Diesel issued a joint statement announcing that Flavor Flav had been fired from the group, stating: "Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav. We thank him for his years of service and wish him well". The statement also claimed: "Flavor Flav has been on suspension since 2016 when he was MIA from the Harry Belafonte benefit in Atlanta, Georgia. That was the last straw for the group. He had previously missed numerous live gigs from Glastonbury to Canada, album recording sessions and photo shoots. He always chose to party over work". On March 2, 2020, it was announced that Public Enemy Radio would be releasing the album "Loud Is Not Enough", which was due for release in April 2020. The album was to feature the lineup of Chuck D, DJ Lord, Jahi and the S1Ws and according to a statement from the group it will be "taking it back to hip hop’s original DJ-and-turntablist foundation".


title: Public Enemy

text: On April 1, 2020, it was revealed Flavor Flav's firing was a publicity stunt to gain attention and provide a commentary on disinformation, and Reuters claimed that Chuck D and Flavor Flav "concocted a fake split to grab attention and highlight media bias towards reporting bad news about hip hop". In an interview with rapper Talib Kweli, Chuck D stated that the stunt was inspired by Orson Welles' 1938 radio drama "The War of the Worlds". In response, Flavor Flav tweeted: "I am not a part of your hoax" and: "There are more serious things in the world right now than April Fool's jokes and dropping records. The world needs better than this...you say we are leaders so act like one".


title: Public Enemy

text: On June 19, 2020, Public Enemy (with Flavor Flav), released the single and music video for their anti-Donald Trump song "State of the Union (STFU)". Chuck D stated, "Our collective voices keep getting louder. The rest of the planet is on our side. But it's not enough to talk about change. You have to show up and demand change. Folks gotta vote like their lives depend on it, cause it does". In 2020, the group returned to Def Jam and released their studio album "What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?" on September 25, 2020.


title: Public Enemy

text: Public Enemy made contributions to the hip-hop world with sonic experimentation as well as political and cultural consciousness, which infused itself into skilled and poetic rhymes. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "PE brought in elements of free jazz, hard funk, even musique concrète, via [its] producing team the Bomb Squad, creating a dense, ferocious sound unlike anything that came before."


title: Public Enemy

text: Public Enemy held a strong, pro-black, political stance. Before PE, politically motivated hip-hop was defined by a few tracks by Ice-T, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow and Boogie Down Productions. Other politically motivated opinions were shared by prototypical artists Gil Scott-Heron and the Last Poets. PE was a revolutionary hip-hop act whose entire image rested on a specified political stance. With the successes of Public Enemy, many hip-hop artists began to celebrate Afrocentric themes, such as Kool Moe Dee, Gang Starr, X Clan, Eric B. & Rakim, Queen Latifah, the Jungle Brothers, and A Tribe Called Quest.


title: Public Enemy

text: Public Enemy was one of the first hip-hop groups to do well internationally. PE changed the Internet's music distribution capability by being one of the first groups to release MP3-only albums, a format virtually unknown at the time.


title: Public Enemy

text: Public Enemy helped to create and define "rap metal" by collaborating with Living Colour in 1988 ("Funny Vibe"), with Sonic Youth on the 1990 song "Kool Thing", and with New York thrash metal outfit Anthrax in 1991. The single "Bring the Noise" was a mix of semi-militant black power lyrics, grinding guitars, and sporadic humor. The two bands, cemented by a mutual respect and the personal friendship between Chuck D and Anthrax's Scott Ian, introduced a hitherto alien genre to rock fans, and the two seemingly disparate groups toured together. Flavor Flav's pronouncement on stage that "They said this tour would never happen" (as heard on Anthrax's "" CD) has become a legendary comment in both rock and hip-hop circles. Metal guitarist Vernon Reid (of Living Colour) contributed to Public Enemy's recordings, and PE sampled Slayer's "Angel of Death" half-time riff on "She Watch Channel Zero?!"


title: Public Enemy

text: Members of the Bomb Squad produced or remixed works for other acts, like Bell Biv DeVoe, Ice Cube, Vanessa Williams, Sinéad O'Connor, Blue Magic, Peter Gabriel, L.L. Cool J, Paula Abdul, Jasmine Guy, Jody Watley, Eric B & Rakim, Third Bass, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, and Chaka Khan. According to Chuck D, "We had tight dealings with MCA Records and were talking about taking three guys that were left over from New Edition and coming up with an album for them. The three happened to be Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe, later to become Bell Biv DeVoe. Ralph Tresvant had been slated to do a solo album for years, Bobby Brown had left New Edition and experienced some solo success beginning in 1988, and Johnny Gill had just been recruited to come in, but [he] had come off a solo career and could always go back to that. At MCA, Hiram Hicks, who was their manager, and Louil Silas, who was running the show, were like, 'Yo, these kids were left out in the cold. Can y'all come up with something for them?' It was a task that Hank, Keith, Eric, and I took on to try to put some kind of hip-hop-flavored R&B shit down for them. Subsequently, what happened in the four weeks of December [1989] was that the Bomb Squad knocked out a large piece of the production and arrangement on Bell Biv DeVoe's three-million selling album "Poison". In January [1990], they knocked out "Fear of a Black Planet" in four weeks, and PE knocked out Ice Cube's album "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" in four to five weeks in February." They have also produced local talent such as Son of Bazerk, Young Black Teenagers, Leaders of the New School, Kings of Pressure, and True Mathematics—and gave producer Kip Collins his start in the business.


title: Public Enemy

text: Poet and hip-hop artist Saul Williams uses a sample from Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome" in his song "Tr[n]igger" on the "Niggy Tardust" album. He also used a line from the song in his poem, "amethyst rocks".


title: Public Enemy

text: The Manic Street Preachers track "Repeat (Stars And Stripes)" is a remix of the band's own anti-monarchy tirade by Public Enemy production team The Bomb Squad of whom James Dean Bradfield and Richey Edwards were big fans. The song samples "Countdown to Armageddon" from "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back". The band had previously sampled Public Enemy on their 1991 single Motown Junk.


title: Public Enemy

text: The revolutionary influence of the band is seen throughout hip-hop and is recognized in society and politics. The band "rewrote the rules of hip-hop", changing the image, sound and message forever. Pro-black lyrics brought political and social themes to hardcore hip hop, with stirring ideas of racial equality, and retribution against police brutality, aimed at disenfranchised blacks, but appealing to all the poor and underrepresented. Before Public Enemy, hip hop music was seen as "throwaway entertainment", with trite sexist and homophobic lyrics. Public Enemy brought social relevance and strength to hip hop. They also brought black activist Louis Farrakhan to greater popularity, and they gave impetus to the Million Man March in 1995.


title: Public Enemy

text: The influence of the band goes also beyond hip-hop in a unique way, indeed the group was cited as an influence by artists as diverse as Autechre (selected in the All Tomorrow's Parties in 2003), Nirvana (It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back being cited by Kurt Cobain among his favorite albums), Moby (also selected "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" as one of his favourite albums), Nine Inch Nails (mentioned the band in Pretty Hate Machine credits), Björk (included Rebel Without a Pause in her The Breezeblock Mix in July 2007), Tricky (did a cover of Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos and appears in Do You Wanna Go Our Way ??? video), The Prodigy (included Public Enemy No. 1 in The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One), Ben Harper, Underground Resistance (cited by both Mad Mike and Jeff Mills), Orlando Voorn, M.I.A., Amon Tobin, Mathew Jonson, Aphex Twin (Welcome To The Terrordome being the first track played after the introduction at the Coachella Festival in April 2008), Rage Against the Machine (sampling the track in their song "Renegades of Funk"), Porcupine Tree's "Fear of a Blank Planet", and My Bloody Valentine who was influenced by the Bomb Squad's production for their sound.


title: Public Enemy

text: In 1989, in an interview with Public Enemy for the "Washington Times", the interviewing journalist, David Mills, lifted some quotations from a UK magazine in which the band were asked their opinion on the Arab–Israeli conflict. Professor Griff commented that "Jews are responsible for the majority of the wickedness in the world" (p. 177), a quote from "The International Jew". Shortly after, Chuck D expressed an apology on his behalf. At a June 21, 1989, press conference, Chuck D announced Griff's dismissal from the group, and a June 28 statement by Russell Simmons, president of Def Jam Recordings and Rush Artists Management, stated that Chuck D. had disbanded Public Enemy "for an indefinite period of time". By August 10, however, Chuck D denied that he had disbanded the group, and stated that Griff had been re-hired as "Supreme Allied Chief of Community Relations" (in contrast to his previous position with the group as Minister of Information). Griff later denied holding anti-Semitic views and apologized for the remarks. Several people who had worked with Public Enemy expressed concern about Chuck D's leadership abilities and role as a social spokesman.


title: Public Enemy

text: In his 2009 book, entitled "Analytixz", Griff criticized his 1989 statement: "to say the Jews are responsible for the majority of wickedness that went on around the globe I would have to know about the majority of wickedness that went on around the globe, which is impossible ... I'm not the best knower. Then, not only knowing that, I would have to know who is at the crux of all of the problems in the world and then blame Jewish people, which is not correct." Griff also said that not only were his words taken out of context, but that the recording has never been released to the public for an unbiased listen.


title: Public Enemy

text: The controversy and apologies on behalf of Griff spurred Chuck D to reference the negative press they were receiving. In 1990, Public Enemy issued the single "Welcome to the Terrordome", which contains the lyrics: "Crucifixion ain't no fiction / So-called chosen frozen / Apologies made to whoever pleases / Still they got me like Jesus". These lyrics have been cited by some in the media as anti-Semitic, making supposed references to the concept of the "chosen people" with the lyric "so-called chosen" and Jewish deicide with the last line.


title: Public Enemy

text: In 1999 the group released an album entitled "There's a Poison Goin' On". The title of the last song on the album is called "Swindler's Lust". The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) claimed that the title of the song was a word play on the title of the Steven Spielberg movie "Schindler's List" about the genocide of Jews in World War II. Similarly in 2000 a Public Enemy spin off group under the name Confrontation Camp, a name according to the ADL, that is a pun on the term concentration camp, released an album. The group consisted of Kyle Jason, Chuck D (under the name Mistachuck) and Professor Griff.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The 2011–12 UEFA Champions League was the 57th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. As part of a trial that started in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, two extra officials – one behind each goal – were used in all matches of the competition from the play-off round.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The final was held at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. Chelsea's caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo led the club to win their first Champions League title after beating Bayern Munich 4–3 on penalties in the final. As tenants of the Allianz Arena (known as Fußball Arena München for the final), this meant that Bayern were the first finalists to have home advantage since 1984. By winning the tournament, Chelsea earned a berth at the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup and 2012 UEFA Super Cup. Barcelona were the defending champions, but were eliminated by the eventual winners Chelsea in the semi-finals.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: A total of 76 teams participated in the 2011–12 Champions League from 52 UEFA associations (Liechtenstein organises no domestic league competition). Associations are allocated places according to their 2010 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2005–06 to 2009–10.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: Since the winners of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League, Barcelona, obtained a place in the group stage through their domestic league placing, the reserved title holder spot in the group stage was effectively vacated. To compensate:


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2011 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds was held on 20 June 2011. The first legs were played on 28 June, and the second legs were played on 5 and 6 July 2011.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The first legs were played on 12 and 13 July, and the second legs were played on 19 and 20 July 2011.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: HJK's 10–0 win over Bangor City in the second leg broke the record for the largest margin of victory in the largest margin of victory in the current Champions League format.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 15 July 2011. The first legs were played on 26 and 27 July, and the second legs were played on 2 and 3 August 2011.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: one for champions (called the Champions Route) and one for non-champions (called the League Route). The losing teams in both sections entered the play-off round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The draw for the play-off round was held on 5 August 2011. The first legs were played on 16 and 17 August, and the second legs were played on 23 and 24 August 2011.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The play-off round was split into two separate sections: one for champions (called the Champions Route) and one for non-champions (called the League Route). The losing teams in both sections entered the group stage of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The group stage features 32 teams, which were allocated into pots based on their 2011 UEFA club coefficients (except the title holders, Barcelona, who were placed in Pot 1 automatically), and then drawn into eight groups of four. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. The draw was held on 25 August 2011 in Monaco.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays are 13–14 September, 27–28 September, 18–19 October, 1–2 November, 22–23 November, and 6–7 December 2011. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams entered the round of 32 of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings (in descending order):


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The 32 teams comprise 11 former winners of the European Cup/Champions League (40 titles combined), and five teams (Manchester City, Napoli, Trabzonspor, Viktoria Plzeň and Oțelul Galați) making their debut appearance in the group stage. Eighteen UEFA member associations are represented in this group stage: England and Spain by four clubs, Italy, Germany and France by three, Russia and Portugal by two, while eleven associations are represented by one club, which are all domestic champions except Trabzonspor, which replaced Fenerbahçe due to match-fixing allegations.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The draw for the round of 16 was held on 16 December 2011. The draws for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final (to determine the "home" team) were held on 16 March 2012. Both draws were assisted by German footballer Paul Breitner, the ambassador for the 2012 final.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners were seeded, and the eight group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded team hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association could not be drawn against each other. In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there are no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association may be drawn with each other.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The first legs were played on 14, 15, 21 and 22 February, and the second legs were played on 6, 7, 13 and 14 March 2012.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The first legs were played on 27 and 28 March, and the second legs were played on 3 and 4 April 2012.


title: 2011–12 UEFA Champions League

text: The first legs were played on 17 and 18 April, and the second legs were played on 24 and 25 April 2012.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: James Howard Marshall II (January 24, 1905 – August 4, 1995) was an American billionaire businessman, academic, and government official. He was involved with and invested in the petroleum industry via academic, government and commercial endeavors. He owned 16% of Koch Industries. Marshall was married to model and celebrity Anna Nicole Smith during the last 14 months of his life. His estate became the subject of protracted litigation, which was reviewed by the Supreme Court in "Marshall v. Marshall" and "Stern v. Marshall". The court kept the will and testament intact and substantially all of the assets in Marshall's estate wound up in trusts for the benefit of his daughter-in-law, Elaine Tettemer Marshall, and her family.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: Born in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised a Quaker, J. Howard Marshall II attended George School, a private high school in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and then studied liberal arts at Haverford College, both Quaker institutions, graduating in 1926. While at George School and Haverford, he edited the school newspapers, captained the debate teams, was an All American soccer player, and played competitive tennis under the instruction of professional Bill Tilden. He graduated "magna cum laude" from Yale Law School in 1931. At Yale, he was case editor of the "Yale Law Journal" and studied with law and economics pioneer Walton Hale Hamilton.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: Upon graduation, from 1931 to 1933, he served as an Assistant Dean at Yale Law School and instructed courses in business, finance and procedure, while also publishing articles as a member of the influential legal realism school of thought. He worked with future Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas on an article titled "A Factual Study of Bankruptcy Administration and Some Suggestions", published in 1932. Along with Norman Meyers, he published two articles titled "Legal Planning of Petroleum Production" in 1931. These studies offered an alternative to the then-prevailing practices of controlled production in the petroleum industry, which were leading to dramatic boom-bust cycles. They gained the interest of the government, as many of the supporters of the New Deal were supporters of legal realism.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: In 1933, Marshall left Yale to become the Assistant Solicitor at the Department of the Interior under Harold L. Ickes. He authored the Code of Fair Competition for the Petroleum Industry (1933), and the Connally Hot Oil Act of 1935 after the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the National Industrial Recovery Act. It revived legislation that regulated the flow of oil between states to protect the industry from "contraband oil" in order to stabilize falling prices. While Ickes originally considered having the government set a price floor for oil, Marshall got Ickes to sign off on a plan to require certificates of clearance for legally produced oil shipped in interstate commerce.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: In 1935, he left government service to become the special counsel to Kenneth R. Kingsbury, the president of Standard Oil of California (now Chevron Corporation) in San Francisco. In 1937, he became a partner at Pillsbury Madison Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman), which was the company's outside counsel. In 1941, he was called back to Washington, D.C. during World War II as Solicitor of the Petroleum Administration for War, helping develop U.S. energy policy during the war, including the Cole Pipeline Act of 1941, and later as a member of the Committee on Reparations and the American Petroleum Institute. In 1944, after developing a relationship with Paul G. Blazer, he moved to Ashland, Kentucky and became Vice Chairman and President of Ashland Oil and Refining Co. (now Ashland Inc.).


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: In 1946, he drafted the executive order creating the National Petroleum Council (US). In 1952, he became Executive Vice President at Signal Oil & Gas under Samuel B. Mosher. In 1961, he became President of Union Texas Petroleum and moved to Houston. In 1967, he became Executive Vice President of Allied Chemical (now Honeywell). He was also a director of Coastal Corporation. In 1984, he formed Marshall Petroleum, which was primarily a holding company for his interest in Koch Industries.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: In 1952, Marshall co-founded Great Northern Oil, which, in 1955, built an oil refinery in Rosemount, Minnesota that could refine heavy, sour Canadian crude oil. In 1959, Fred Koch acquired a 35% interest in Great Northern Oil for $5 million. Union Oil acquired a majority interest in Great Northern and attempted to take over the company, but Marshall and Koch, who wanted to keep their assets in private hands, blocked the takeover. In 1969, after buying out Union Oil, Charles Koch, who shared a similar business philosophy with Marshall, swapped a stake in Koch Industries for the rest of Marshall's shares in Great Northern Oil.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: Marshall married Eleanor Pierce in 1931 and divorced in 1961. They had two sons together: J. Howard Marshall III (born February 6, 1936) and E. Pierce Marshall (January 12, 1939 – June 20, 2006). His second marriage, to Bettye Bohannon, lasted from 1961 until her death from Alzheimer's disease in 1991.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: In 1982, he met "Lady" Diane Walker at a strip club and offered to marry her if his wife Betty, who had Alzheimer's disease, were to die. Over several years, Marshall gave Walker $15 million worth of jewelry and other gifts. Walker died in 1991 at age 51 due to complications from facelift surgery. The gifts became subject to scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service since gift taxes were not paid; Marshall claimed that the gifts were instead "consulting fees".


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: In 1994, at the age of 89, he married 26-year-old model Anna Nicole Smith. Their marriage lasted until his death 14 months later.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: In 1980, when Marshall's eldest son, J. Howard Marshall III, sided with Bill Koch, Frederick R. Koch and other collateral family members in dispute with Charles Koch and David H. Koch over making Koch Industries a public company and paying dividends, Marshall purchased back company stock from his son, given previously as a gift, for $8 million, considered to be a premium price, and removed the eldest son from his will and testament. Conversely, during the same dispute, his youngest son E. Pierce Marshall sided with his father, Charles Koch and David Koch, and that son received substantially all of Marshall's estate, valued at $1.6 billion at the time of his death.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: On August 4, 1995, Marshall died of pneumonia at age 90 in Houston, Texas. Following Marshall's death, Anna Nicole Smith (who died on February 8, 2007) became involved in a court battle with her former stepson, E. Pierce Marshall (who died on June 20, 2006). J. Howard's will and trust did not include Anna Nicole or J. Howard's other son, J. Howard Marshall III. Anna Nicole and J. Howard III both sought to overturn the will and trust. In 2001, they both lost their cases during a six-month Texas state court jury trial.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: During the probate proceedings, Smith declared bankruptcy in California and was awarded $474 million as a sanction for E. Pierce Marshall’s alleged misconduct in discovery. In 2002, the bankruptcy judgment was vacated and Smith’s award was reduced to $88 million in a United States district court in California. In December 2004, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the District Court decision under the probate exception, ruling that the federal courts lacked subject matter jurisdiction over state probate matters. The Ninth Circuit decision also affirmed the primacy of Texas Probate decision which determined that no misconduct had taken place and that Smith was not one of J. Howard Marshall's heirs. However, on May 1, 2006, the Supreme Court of the United States in "Marshall v. Marshall" reversed the Ninth Circuit's decision regarding the probate exception, allowing Smith another opportunity to pursue her claims in federal court. The case was remanded to the Ninth Circuit for adjudication of the remaining appellate issues. On June 25, 2009, the same three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments on the remaining appellate issues. On March 19, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its second opinion on remand, finding in favor of E. Pierce Marshall, that the California Bankruptcy Court did not have jurisdiction and the California Federal District Court was precluded from reviewing matters already decided in the Texas Probate Court.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: On September 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court again agreed to hear the case. On June 23, 2011, the United States Supreme court decided the case in a 5–4 decision in favor of the Marshall family (now styled "Stern v. Marshall" 10-179). The majority of the Court decided Congress cannot constitutionally authorize non-Article III bankruptcy judges final order jurisdiction on state law based counterclaims to proofs of claim which are not necessary to resolve the claim itself.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: Marshall's eldest son, J. Howard Marshall III, lost his case in Texas probate court and also lost a counterclaim against him for fraud with malice. The jury originally awarded E. Pierce Marshall $35 million in damages but the probate court reduced that amount to $10 million. J. Howard Marshall III then filed for bankruptcy in California and was discharged by the same bankruptcy judge that had administered Smith's bankruptcy. This decision was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.


title: J. Howard Marshall

text: In 1976, Marshall pledged $4 million to his alma mater, Haverford College. However, by the time of his death in 1995, Marshall had only contributed $2 million. Haverford sued his estate in a Houston probate court; in April 2003, a jury found that Haverford hadn't been injured because it hadn't relied on Marshall's pledges.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Ivan Rakitić (; born 10 March 1988) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a central or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Sevilla.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić started his professional career at Basel and spent two seasons with them before he was signed by Schalke 04. After spending three-and-a-half seasons in the Bundesliga, he was signed by Sevilla in January 2011. Two years later, Rakitić was confirmed as the club captain and captained the team to UEFA Europa League triumph. In June 2014, Barcelona and Sevilla reached an agreement on the transfer of Rakitić. In his first season with Barça, he won the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. He scored the first goal of the 2015 Champions League Final and became the first player ever to win the Champions League a year after winning the Europa League while playing for two clubs. After appearing in 310 games and winning ten more trophies with Barcelona, Rakitić returned to Sevilla in 2020.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Born in Switzerland to parents from Croatia Rakitić played for Switzerland at youth level, but decided to represent Croatia at senior level. He made his debut for the Croatia national team in 2007 and has since represented the country at UEFA Euro 2008, 2012 and 2016, and the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup, reaching the final of the latter. He retired from international duty in September 2020, having made 106 appearances. At the time of his retirement, he was the fourth most capped player in the history of Croatia.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić was born in Rheinfelden in the Swiss canton of Aargau to Croat parents. His father Luka Rakitić is a Šokac from Sikirevci in Croatia, while his mother Kata () is a Bosnian Croat from Ponijevo near Žepče. He grew up in Möhlin, canton of Aargau. He has a brother, Dejan, and a sister, Nikol. Rakitić has a tattoo bearing his brother's name on his right arm. Rakitić spent his childhood and early career in Switzerland. His father and older brother were also footballers. At age 16, his potential was noticed by top European scouts, but he and his family decided to stay at Basel to allow him to play more regularly in a smaller league instead.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: After spending some short time in the youth teams, Rakitić went on to make his first-team debut for Basel on 29 September 2005 during the UEFA Cup away match at Široki Brijeg. He made his first Swiss Super League appearance on 15 April 2006 in Basel's away match against Neuchâtel Xamax. Although these two matches were the only ones he played during his first professional season with Basel, he went on to establish himself as a regular contributor in his second season, scoring 11 goals in 33 Super League appearances. Also making nine UEFA cup appearances during this time, he was named the best young player of the 2006–07 Super League season along with receiving the Swiss "Goal of the Year" award for an impressive goal he scored against St. Gallen on 22 October 2006.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: After an impressive showing as a teenager, Rakitić was again sought by large European clubs. Subject to such, he was eventually signed by German side Schalke 04 on 22 June 2007, for €5 million.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić made his debut for Schalke on 21 July 2007 in the Premiere Ligapokal fixture against Karlsruher SC and eventually appeared in the remaining two matches as Schalke finished as league runners-up. On 5 August 2007, Rakitić scored his first competitive goal for his new club in their 0–9 away win over Eintracht Trier in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 10 August 2007, the new Bundesliga season was commenced with a clash between champions VfB Stuttgart and Schalke. Rakitić came on as a second-half substitute and scored his first Bundesliga goal within just seven minutes on the field as his side played out a 2–2 draw. On 15 September 2007, he managed to make impressions again by scoring the only goal for Schalke in their 1–1 away draw at Bayern Munich. Three days later, Rakitić made his UEFA Champions League debut in the 0–1 home defeat to Valencia. He then went on to make a total of seven appearances in the 2007–08 Champions League season, including a strong and very impressive midfield role in Schalke's home fixture against Chelsea in the group stage. He and former teammate Mladen Krstajić were temporarily cut from the squad the night before Schalke's next fixture against Rosenborg due to being caught skipping training and taking part in a late-night partying. Helping his side prevail in the penalty shootout against Porto to reach the quarter-finals for the first time, Rakitić had to miss both the fixtures of such against Chelsea due to an ankle injury sustained in training. He was kept out of action for a month as Schalke were eliminated from the tournament without him.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Shortly upon his returning from injury, Rakitić discovered top form as he scored a goal and assisted another two in the vital 0–3 victory at VfL Bochum, which made sure Schalke finished at least third in league table and secured a place in the next Champions League. He continued such form in the next fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt, assisting Mladen Krstajić for the only goal of the match to conclude with Schalke a positive home season. In total, he finished his first Bundesliga season with 3 goals and 10 assists in 29 appearances. In the subsequent season, Rakitić played in Schalke's 3–0 victory over Hannover 96, assisting two goals in the opening Bundesliga fixture.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 28 January 2011, Rakitić signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Spanish La Liga club Sevilla for a transfer fee of €2.5 million. Upon his arrival, Rakitić was immediately included in the starting XI of the team, making his debut on 6 February 2011 against Málaga. In next game, against Racing de Santander, he scored an own-goal but managed to get back on track and scored his first goal for Sevilla in the match against Hércules in the next matchday. Due to a fractured foot, Rakitić was forced to miss the last four La Liga fixtures. He scored five goals in his first half-season with Sevilla in 2010–11, starting in all 13 matches after his arrival and before the foot injury.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: During the 2011–12 season, Rakitić continued to be a first team regular and a key component of the squad. Due to managerial changes and new tactical schemes introduced by new coach Marcelino, who was later replaced by Míchel, Rakitić was given a different role on the pitch than the one he had the previous season, when he was used as central midfielder under coach Gregorio Manzano; during the course of the season, he was mostly deployed as a defensive midfielder. By the end of the season, he made total of 39 appearances for the club, provided six assists and scored one goal in the 2011–12 Copa del Rey. This turned out to be his only goalless Liga season while playing for Sevilla.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić began the 2012–13 La Liga season by providing an assist in the opening match against Getafe. On 12 September, he provided another assist for Piotr Trochowski at home in a 1–0 win over Real Madrid. He scored his first goal of the season on Matchday 5 against Deportivo de La Coruña. Rakitić scored two goals in the opening 20 minutes of the second Seville derby of the season against cross-city rivals Real Betis. This was his third goal of the season against Sevilla's city rivals, given the fact that he had also scored in the first Seville derby of the season, when Sevilla celebrated a 5–1 victory. During the match against Real Sociedad, Rakitić added two goals to his tally, however, the second one was an own goal, tying the match at 1–1 after he scored the first goal to give his club a 1–0 lead. Until the end of the season, he made total of 42 appearances for the club and scored 12 goals for the team, three coming in the Copa del Rey. He also finished the season providing ten league assists. Statistics showed that Rakitić created 100 chances in total, a sum ranking fourth across all players in Europe that season.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: At the beginning of the 2013–14 La Liga season, coach Unai Emery named Rakitić as the new Sevilla captain. Since the beginning of the season, he was one of the most prominent players of the league, scoring the first goal and assisting for the second in a 3–2 away loss against Barcelona on 14 September. In the two last games of September, he scored two goals in a 1–4 away win over Rayo Vallecano, and assisted for the draw 1–1 goal against Real Sociedad. In the final three games of October, Rakitić scored a goal in a 2–0 home win against SC Freiburg, a 2–1 home win over Almería and two goals in a 7–3 loss at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium against Real Madrid. In the third and fourth games of November, he contributed an assist in away 1–3 win against Espanyol, and two more respectively in a 4–0 home win against Sevilla rivals Betis. In the last game of December, he assisted in a 1–2 away win against Villarreal, helping Sevilla reach a top ten position after a disappointing start of the season, as well attracting attention from other international clubs. In the first game of the 2014 calendar year, he scored in a 3–0 home win against Getafe. In January, he scored two more La Liga goals for Sevilla against Atlético Madrid and Levante, respectively, while also missing a penalty kick in the latter fixture. These performances earned him a La Liga Player of the Month award.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić's impressive form continued in the season, with several assists and goals from February to May, including two assists in the Europa League 2–2 away draw against Maribor, an assist in the 2–1 home win over Real Madrid and a goal against Porto in a 4–1 home win. He also assisted in the semi-final first leg 2–0 win over Valencia, which they won on aggregate (3–3), thus qualifying for the Europa League Final. He was man of the match as Sevilla won the Final 4–2 on penalties over Benfica at Juventus Stadium in Turin. He was the first player to captain a team to victory in the UEFA Europa League Final and also pick up the official man of the match award. He was included in the UEFA Europa League Team of the Season. By the Spanish national football league association, Rakitić was chosen in La Liga first XI in both first round, and team of the season. He finished the season scoring 15 goals, and recording 17 assists. At the season's LFP Awards, Rakitić won the Fair Play Award and was nominated for Best Midfielder, an award ultimately given to Barcelona's Andrés Iniesta.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 16 June 2014, Barcelona signed Rakitić on a five-year contract effective 1 July. Upon his arrival, Rakitić was given the squad shirt number 4. He made his debut for the team in a pre-season friendly match against French club Nice on 2 August, when he came on as a second-half substitute for Sergi Roberto.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: During a pre-season friendly against HJK Helsinki, Rakitić provided his first assists for Barça, assisting twice in 6–0 victory. His official debut for Barcelona came on 24 August in the opening match of the new Liga season, against Elche. Just moments after half-time, Rakitić played a long ball over-top of Elche's defence towards forward Munir, who flicked the ball it into the far corner of the net to make it 2–0 for Barcelona.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić's first goal for Barcelona came from outside of the penalty area in a 0–5 away win against Levante on 21 September 2014. In the next week's game, against Granada, Rakitić headed in Lionel Messi's cross for his second goal of the season in a 6–0 victory at Camp Nou. On 18 March 2015, Rakitić scored the first Champions League goal of his career in a 1–0 win against English champions Manchester City in the round of 16 second leg at Camp Nou.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 6 June 2015, Rakitić scored the opening goal in a 3–1 win against Italian champions Juventus in the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final at Berlin's Olympiastadion, becoming the second Croat ever to score in a Champions League final (after Mario Mandžukić in 2013). This made Barcelona the first club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice. Rakitić, for the second year in a row, was included in the La Liga and European (Champions League) team of the season.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 11 August 2015, Rakitić played the full 120 minutes as Barcelona defeated his former club Sevilla 5–4 to win the 2015 UEFA Super Cup in Tbilisi. In October, he was announced Croatian Footballer of the Year 2015. As an 18th-minute substitute for Sergi Roberto, on 20 October he scored both goals from Neymar assists as Barcelona won 2–0 at BATE Borisov in the Champions League group stage. In December, he was named Croatian Sportsman of the Year 2015. On 30 April 2016, Rakitić scored the opener against Betis as Barcelona won 0–2 to stay top of the Liga table.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 23 April 2017, Rakitić scored the second goal in a 3–2 away victory against Real Madrid in El Clásico.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 12 September 2017, Rakitić netted a goal against Juventus in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, as Barcelona defeated the previous season's Italian champions 3–0 at home.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 3 December 2018, in a Champions League group stage game against Tottenham Hotspur, he scored the second Barça's goal in the 4–2 triumph. The strike was later named the Goal of the Group Stage by fans.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 2 March 2019, Rakitić scored the only goal of the match against Real Madrid; after which José Mourinho identified him as "one of the most underrated players in the world".


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić's playing time was severely reduced during the 2019–20 season and his role in the team decreased following the arrival of Frenkie de Jong. In October 2019 the player stated: "I want to play, and not just enjoy walking around Barcelona and the sea. I talked to the people in the club, everyone knew about the other options I had, it was no secret."


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 13 June 2020, in Barcelona's first game after the COVID-19 pandemic, Rakitić celebrated his 300th official game in Barcelona's jersey as the club defeated Mallorca 4–0. On 23 June, he scored his first goal of the season in a 1–0 victory over Athletic Bilbao, securing important three points in the title race. After Barcelona lost 8–2 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final on 14 August and coach Quique Setién was sacked, newly appointed coach Ronald Koeman informed Rakitić that he was not part of his plans for the upcoming season, alongside teammates Luis Suárez, Arturo Vidal and Samuel Umtiti. At the time of his departure from the club, Rakitić had more appearances for the club than any other European non-Spanish player in its history.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 1 September 2020, Rakitić signed for Sevilla on a four-year contract, returning to the club after six years for a nominal €1.5m fee.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 24 September, he played his first game for Sevilla after coming back, against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup in Budapest. He won a penalty after being tackled by David Alaba, which Lucas Ocampos successfully converted; however, Bayern came from behind to win the game 2–1 after extra time. Three days later, he scored his first goal since his return as Sevilla defeated Cádiz 3–1. On 10 February 2021, he scored a goal in the Copa del Rey semi-final to seal a 2–0 victory over his former club Barcelona.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić's first international experience came at youth level with the Switzerland under-17, under-19 and under-21 national teams, but decided to accept the call-up by Croatia national team coach Slaven Bilić and play for the nation's senior team. He made his full international debut for Croatia on 8 September 2007 in their UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia in Zagreb, highly praised by the fans as he was entering the game as a substitute. In Croatia's following qualifier, a 0–6 away win over Andorra on 12 September 2007, he scored his first international goal for Croatia in only his second appearance for the team. He finished the year 2007 with five senior international caps to his name, four of which were in the successful Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: In early May 2008, he joined Croatia's squad for the Euro 2008 tournament in Austria and Switzerland, where he was the second-youngest player in the tournament. He made his first appearance at the tournament as a starter against Germany, and eventually provided a shot which ricocheted off the post and allowed teammate Ivica Olić to score the second goal in their 2–1 victory. He formed a praised trio of Croatian attacking midfielders with his teammates Luka Modrić and Niko Kranjčar. Though playing a strong role against Turkey in the quarter-finals of the tournament, Rakitić went on to miss one of the three unsuccessful penalties in the shootout, thus leading to a victory for Turkey.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić continued to appear regularly for Croatia during their unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, making a total of ten appearances and scoring three goals in the competition. On 15 October 2008, he scored a brace in a 4–0 win at home to Andorra. On 5 September 2009, he scored the match-winning goal in a 1–0 win at home to Belarus. Croatia failed to qualify for the finals after finishing third in their group.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: After appearing in all of their Euro 2012 qualifiers, he was selected to be part of the Croatian squad at the Euro finals in Poland and Ukraine. Croatia were drawn in Group C together with Spain, Italy and the Republic of Ireland. Rakitić started in all three of Croatia group stage matches. After two matches played, Croatia had four points and were facing defending champions Spain in Gdańsk. With the game goalless and entering the final half-hour, Rakitić burst into the Spanish penalty area but could not direct his header past goalkeeper Iker Casillas after being picked out by a wonderful Luka Modrić pass. It proved to be a costly miss, with Spain's Jesús Navas later scoring an 88th-minute winner to send the Croatians crashing out.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: In the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, on 12 October 2012 Rakitić scored a goal from a free-kick against Macedonia at Philip II National Arena to help secure a 1–2 victory for Croatia. Eventually, after the playoffs, the team qualified for the World Cup final stages. They were drawn into Group A alongside Brazil, Mexico and Cameroon. Croatia played the opening match against Brazil, which they lost 3–1. In the second match, Croatia won 4–0 against Cameroon, but did not progress as they lost 1–3 against Mexico, with Rakitić providing the assist for the only Croatian goal.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić scored his first and only goal in the Euro 2016 qualifiers against Bulgaria. He was selected to be part of the Croatian squad at Euro in France. Croatia were drawn in Group D along with Spain, Czech Republic and Turkey. Rakitić started Croatia's opening game where they secured a narrow victory by one goal against Turkey. On 17 June 2016, Rakitić scored a goal to double Croatia's lead against the Czech Republic, but later the game was turned around when the play was halted briefly after Croatian fans threw flares onto the pitch. Shortly after the restart, the referee rewarded Czech Republic a penalty and the game ended in a 2–2 draw.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: After a 2–1 win over defending champions Spain, Croatia topped Group D and went on to face Portugal in the next round. Croatia, however, lost 1–0 after Portugal's Ricardo Quaresma scored a 117th-minute, extra-time winner to send Croatia out of the tournament. Rakitić later stated that "Croatia did not deserve to go out and the best team were going home". Rakitić appeared in all of Croatia's matches and ended the tournament by scoring one goal.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 4 June 2018, Rakitić was named in Croatia's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. On 21 June 2018, Rakitić scored Croatia's third goal in a 3–0 victory over Argentina in their second group stage match of the tournament.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 1 July, Rakitić scored the winning penalty kick in the penalty shoot-out against Denmark, as Croatia progressed to the quarter-final. One week later, on 7 July, Rakitić again scored the winning penalty kick in the penalty shoot-out against Russia, as Croatia progressed to the semi-final. Croatia reached the final of the tournament, where they were defeated 4–2 by France on 15 July.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: For the inaugural edition of the UEFA Nations League, Croatia was drawn in the group with Spain and England.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić took part in three out of four matches, celebrating his 100th international cap in the historical 0–6 loss to Spain in Elche. He missed the deciding fixture against England at the Wembley Stadium, that saw the winner go through to the finals, due to a hamstring injury, as Croatia lost 1–2 and finished at the bottom of the group.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: During Euro 2020 qualifying, Rakitić took part in only four out of eight games due to injuries and complicated club situation.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: On 21 September 2020, the Croatian Football Federation unexpectedly announced that Rakitić retired from the international duty. At the time of his retirement, he had made 106 appearances and scored 15 goals, making him fourth most capped player (after Darijo Srna, Luka Modrić and Stipe Pletikosa) and ninth joint top goalscorer in the history of the national team. He stated:


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Saying goodbye to the Croatian national team is the most difficult decision in my career, but I felt that this was the moment when I had to break away and make that decision. I enjoyed every game I played for my homeland, and unforgettable moments from the World Cup will remain among my favourites. I am convinced that we still have a great team with a bright future ahead. I wish my friends and teammates all the luck in the world for the upcoming challenges, and in me they will have the biggest fan.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: A talented, intelligent, and hard-working midfielder, Rakitić is known in the media as a well-rounded playmaker, with good stamina and defensive skills, as well as excellent technique, close control, vision, passing, and an ability to read the game, which enables him to dictate play in midfield and create chances for teammates after winning back possession, despite his lack of pace. As such, he is capable of both breaking down opposing plays and subsequently transitioning the ball forward to start attacks; he is also capable of scoring goals himself, courtesy of his striking ability from distance, as well as his ability to find and exploit spaces with his movement off the ball and make attacking runs into the box. A versatile player, he is capable of playing in several midfield positions, and has been deployed as a winger on either side of the pitch, as a central midfielder, as an attacking midfielder, as a defensive midfielder, in a box-to-box role, or even as a deep-lying playmaker. In 2019, in an interview with BeIN Sports, manager José Mourinho described Rakitić as "one of the most underrated players in the world." He later added: "He is fantastic on all levels; he defends, he compensates for [Lionel] Messi, he runs and he's sensible with the ball at his feet."


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: Rakitić married Raquel Mauri in April 2013 in Seville after two years of dating. Rakitić initially met her on the first night he arrived in Seville in the summer of 2011, at a hotel bar, and attributed his fluent learning of Spanish, to his repeated attempts to take her out on a date. In July 2013, their daughter Althea was born. In May 2016, their second daughter, Adara, was born.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: In late June 2016, Rakitić rented a villa on the island of Ugljan, where he arrived on vacation with his family. On 1 July, the house was allegedly attacked by a group of six men who threw rocks at it, breaking several windows and forcing Rakitić and his family to literally flee the island on a speedboat. However, "Slobodna Dalmacija" reporters investigated the event and discovered that only one window was broken by an unknown perpetrator, and that Rakitić rather calmly left the island hours later, giving autographs to the local fans.


title: Ivan Rakitić

text: As Rakitić was born and raised in Switzerland, Rakitić also possesses Swiss citizenship, along with Croatian citizenship by descent, as such Rakitić possesses dual citizenship. Most notably, he represented Switzerland at the Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 teams. In 2007, when he was 19, various people in Switzerland were outraged at his decision to represent Croatia in senior international football. Rakitić said in an interview with Swiss newspaper "Le Temps", prior to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, that he was proud to play for Switzerland at youth level, as he grew up in Switzerland and that he knew where he came from. Rakitić also remarked in the same interview that he was in favour of representing Croatia in senior international football and was not against Switzerland, and initially called and informed the then-Swiss coach Köbi Kuhn of his decision to select Croatia, before contacting the then-Croatia boss Slaven Bilić.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: , born , was the founder and leader of the Japanese doomsday cult known as Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, and was also involved in several other crimes. Asahara was sentenced to death in 2004, and his final appeal failed in 2011. In June 2012, his execution was postponed due to further arrests of Aum members. He was ultimately executed on July 6, 2018.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: Shoko Asahara was born as Chizuo Matsumoto on March 2, 1955, into a large, poor family of tatami-mat-makers in Kumamoto Prefecture. He had infantile glaucoma from birth, which made him lose all sight in his left eye and go partially blind in his right eye at a young age, and was thus enrolled in a school for the blind. Asahara was known to be a bully at the school, taking advantage of the other students by beating them and extorting money from them. He graduated in 1977 and turned to the study of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, which were common careers for the blind in Japan. He married the following year and eventually fathered 6 children, the eldest of whom was born in 1978.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: In 1981, Asahara was convicted of practicing pharmacy without a license and selling unregulated drugs, for which he was fined .


title: Shoko Asahara

text: Asahara's interest in religion reportedly started at this time. Having been recently married, he worked to support his large and growing family. He dedicated his free time to the study of various religious concepts, starting with Chinese astrology and Taoism.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: Later, Asahara practiced Western esotericism, yoga, meditation, esoteric Buddhism, and esoteric Christianity.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: In 1984, Asahara formed Aum Shinsen no Kai (オウム神仙の会). He changed his name from Chizuo Matsumoto to Shoko Asahara and renamed his group Aum Shinrikyo in 1987. Asahara applied for government registration and, against the advice of cult experts and government officials, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government granted it legal recognition as a religious corporation in 1989.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: After this, a monastic order was established, and many lay followers joined. Asahara gained credibility by appearing on TV and on magazine covers. He gradually attained a following of believers and began being invited to lecture-meeting at universities. Asahara also wrote several religious books, including "Beyond Life and Death" and "Supreme Initiation".


title: Shoko Asahara

text: The doctrine of Aum Shinrikyo is based on the Vajrayana scriptures, the Bible, and other texts. In 1992 Asahara published "Declaring Myself the Christ", within which he declared himself Christ, Japan's only fully enlightened master, and identified with the Lamb of God.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: His purported mission was to take others' sins upon himself, and he claimed he could transfer spiritual power to his followers. He saw dark conspiracies everywhere, promulgated by the Jews, the Freemasons, the Dutch, the British Royal Family, and rival Japanese religions.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: He outlined a doomsday prophecy, which included a third World War, and described a final conflict culminating in a nuclear "Armageddon", borrowing the term from the Book of Revelation .


title: Shoko Asahara

text: Asahara often preached the necessity of Armageddon for "human relief." He eventually declared, "Put tantra Vajrayana into practice in accordance with the doctrines of Mahamudra," and he led a series of terrorist attacks using a secret organization hidden from ordinary believers.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: On March 20, 1995, members of Aum Shinrikyo attacked the Tokyo subway with the nerve agent sarin. Thirteen people died and thousands more suffered ill effects. After finding sufficient evidence, authorities accused Aum Shinrikyo of complicity in the attack, as well as in a number of smaller-scale incidents. Dozens of disciples were arrested, Aum's facilities were raided, and the court issued an order for Asahara's arrest. In the following months, a general attitude to perceive new religions and cults as a potential danger for the whole society spread among the Japanese people.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: On May 16, 1995, the police investigated the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo. Asahara was discovered in a very small, isolated room in one of the facilities.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: Wary of possible Aum military power, the First Airborne Brigade of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force was stationed nearby to support the police if needed.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: Asahara faced 27 counts of murder in 13 separate indictments. The prosecution argued that Asahara gave orders to attack the Tokyo Subway to "overthrow the government and install himself in the position of Emperor of Japan".


title: Shoko Asahara

text: Later, during the trial which took more than seven years to conclude, the prosecution forwarded an additional theory that the attacks were ordered to divert police attention away from Aum. The prosecution also accused Asahara of masterminding the Matsumoto incident (another sarin attack nine months earlier that killed eight people) and the Sakamoto family murder. According to Asahara's defense team, a group of senior followers initiated the atrocities and kept them a secret from Asahara.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: During the trials, some of the disciples testified against Asahara, and he was found guilty on 13 of 17 charges, including the Sakamoto family murder; four charges were dropped. On February 27, 2004, he was sentenced to death. The trial was called the "trial of the century" by the Japanese media.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: The defence appealed Asahara's sentencing on the grounds that he was mentally unfit and psychiatric examinations were undertaken. During much of the trials, Asahara remained silent or only muttered to himself. However, he communicated with the staff at his detention facility, which convinced the examiner that Asahara was maintaining his silence out of free will. Owing to his lawyers' failure to submit the statement of reason for appeal, the Tokyo High Court decided on March 27, 2006, not to grant them leave to appeal. This decision was upheld by the Supreme Court of Japan on September 15, 2006.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: Two re-trial appeals were declined by the appellate court. In June 2012, Asahara's execution was postponed due to arrests of several fugitive Aum Shinrikyo members.


title: Shoko Asahara

text: Asahara was executed by hanging at the Tokyo Detention House on July 6, 2018, 23 years after the sarin gas attack, along with six other cult members. Relatives of victims said they approved the execution. Asahara's final words, as reported by officials, assigned his remains to his fourth daughter, who was unsympathetic to the cult and stated she planned to dispose of the ashes at sea; this was contested by Asahara's wife, third daughter, and other family members, who were suspected of wanting to enshrine the ashes where believers can honor them. As of March 2020, the ashes were still at the Tokyo Detention House.