title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: On 23 January 2015 it was announced that King Salman had appointed Muhammad bin Nayef as deputy crown prince. The announcement reportedly helped calm fears of dynastic instability over the line of succession. Thus, Prince Muhammad became the first of his generation to be officially in line for the throne. In addition to his other posts Prince Muhammad was named the chair of the Council for Political and Security Affairs which was established on 29 January 2015.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: As chair of the Council for Political and Security Affairs, the Prince was a leading commander of Operation Decisive Storm, the first major Saudi military operation of the 21st century.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: On 29 April 2015, Muhammad bin Nayef was named Crown Prince, replacing Muqrin bin Abdulaziz in the post.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: Muhammad bin Nayef was deposed by royal decree on 21 June 2017, and the king's son Mohammed bin Salman was made heir presumptive to the throne. He was also relieved of all positions by royal decree. Abdulaziz bin Saud Al Saud replaced Prince Muhammad as minister of interior. The change of succession had been predicted in December 2015 by an unusually blunt and public memo published by the German Federal Intelligence Service, for which it was subsequently rebuked by the German government.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: According to the "New York Times", reports of "current and former United States officials and associates of the royal family" speaking on condition of anonymity, state that the ousting of Muhammad bin Nayef and his replacement by Mohammed bin Salman in late June 2017 was not "seamless", but involved Muhammad bin Nayef being "held against his will and pressured for hours to give up his claim to the throne". He was still being confined to his palace as of 19 July 2017. In addition, his bank accounts were blocked in late fall 2017. In reply, a Saudi official dismissed these reports as "unfounded and untrue in addition to being nonsense" and a "complete fantasy worthy of Hollywood," according to Reuters news agency. Following his removal his wife and daughters were forbidden from leaving Saudi Arabia.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: Muhammad bin Nayef, his half-brother Nawwaf bin Nayef and his uncle Ahmed bin Abdulaziz were arrested and charged with treason on 6 March 2020.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: On 25 August 2020, the legal representatives of Muhammad bin Nayef raised concerns over his well-being, alleging that Saudi Arabian authorities have not allowed his doctor or his family members to visit him since his arrest five months earlier.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: Muhammad bin Nayef, unlike most of the royal family, actively talks to the media. Concerning the struggle against terrorism, he adopts a policy of the iron fist like his father, Prince Nayef. He, and other decision-making elites, have asserted that terrorism must be treated as a form of crime and fought with ruthless policing methods. Walid Jumblatt described Muhammad bin Nayef as the Saudi equivalent of General Ashraf Rifi, former director-general of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: Muhammad bin Nayef was commended by Western intelligence agencies for Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism programs. He called for a "security channel" with the United States to facilitate information exchange. He firmly supported U.S. President Barack Obama in his opposition to the release of detainee interrogation photographs. He thought that Yemen was a "dangerous failed state" and becoming a serious threat to Saudi Arabia. He further believed that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was losing control. He suggested a strategy of directly working with Yemeni tribes, condemning terrorism.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: He praised General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan, as a "good man". He voiced his concerns regarding Iran's nuclear program. He defers foreign policy issues to the King. After his appointment as interior minister, U.S. diplomats argued that he is "the most pro-American minister in the Saudi Cabinet".


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: In 2011 "The Economist" described Prince Muhammad as energetic and low-key, and stated that he was one of the candidates for the throne when the line of succession passes to the grandsons of King Abdulaziz. He was also considered to be one of the possible contenders after his father's death in June 2012. In 2011, Michael Hayden reported that Prince Muhammad was the world's fifth most powerful defender. In April 2016, Prince Muhammad was named by "Time" as one of the 100 Most Influential People.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: On 21 June 2017, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef was replaced as the heir to the Saudi Kingdom by Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a move considered to be "upending decades of royal custom and profoundly reordering the kingdom’s inner power structure." He also lost his position as interior minister. Over the last 15 years, Muhammad bin Nayef had been considered Saudi Arabia's most influential security official, maintaining close connections with American and British intelligence communities.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: Muhammad bin Nayef has escaped four assassination attempts. He was injured in the third attempt, and unhurt in the others.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: The third attempt was on 27 August 2009. Muhammad bin Nayef was injured by Abdullah al-Asiri, a suicide bomber linked to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Asiri spoke to Muhammad bin Nayef a few days prior to the bombing, and expressed a desire to surrender himself to the authorities as part of the country's terrorist rehabilitation program. This was apparently a plot to get admitted to the Prince's palace. Al-Asiri is believed to have traveled to Jeddah from the Yemeni province of Marib. During Ramadan, al-Asiri waited in line at the Prince's palace as a "well-wisher". He exploded a suicide bomb, killing himself, but apparently only slightly injuring Muhammad bin Nayef, who was protected from the full force of the blast by al-Asiri's body. The explosive device was hidden inside al-Asiri's rectum and anal canal, which security experts described as a novel technique. Such a device has since come to be known as a surgically implanted improvised explosive device (SIIED), or body cavity bomb (BCB). Muhammad bin Nayef appeared on state television with a bandage around two of his fingers on his left hand. He stated, "I did not want him to be searched, but he surprised me by blowing himself up."


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: According to Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and director of the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institution, "the weight of the evidence I have seen is that [bin Nayef] was more injured in the assassination attempt than was admitted." To treat his injuries the prince "got onto a pain killer routine that was very addictive. I think that problem got progressively worse." According to "The New York Times," citing "an associate of the royal family", the prince's alleged addiction was cited to "strengthen support for the sudden change in the line of succession" that removed bin Nayef from office.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: This was the first assassination attempt against a royal family member since 2003, when Saudi Arabia faced a sharp uptick in Al Qaeda-linked attacks. The last assassination attempt against Prince Muhammad was in August 2010.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: Muhammad bin Nayef is a son-in-law of Sultan bin Abdulaziz. His wife is Princess Reema bint Sultan Al Saud, and they have two daughters, Princess Sarah and Princess Lulua.


title: Muhammad bin Nayef

text: On 4 March 2016 when he was crown prince he was awarded Légion d’honneur by then French president François Hollande citing his efforts in combating terrorism in the region.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: Daniel (Aramaic and ; ; ) is the main character of the Book of Daniel. According to the Hebrew Bible, Daniel was a noble Jewish youth of Jerusalem taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, serving the king and his successors with loyalty and ability until the time of the Persian conqueror Cyrus, all the while remaining true to the God of Israel. The consensus of most modern scholars is that Daniel is not a historical figure and that the book is a cryptic allusion to the reign of the 2nd century BCE Hellenistic king Antiochus IV Epiphanes.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: Six cities claim the Tomb of Daniel, the most famous being that in Susa, in southern Iran, at a site known as Shush-e Daniyal. He is not a prophet in Judaism, but the rabbis reckoned him to be the most distinguished member of the Babylonian diaspora, unsurpassed in piety and good deeds, firm in his adherence to the Law despite being surrounded by enemies who sought his ruin, and in the first few centuries CE they wrote down the many legends that had grown up around his name. He is considered a prophet in Christianity, and although he is not mentioned in the Quran, Muslim sources describe him as a prophet.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: Daniel's name means "God (El) is my judge". While the best known Daniel is the hero of the Book of Daniel who interprets dreams and receives apocalyptic visions, the Bible also briefly mentions three other individuals of this name:


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: Daniel (Dn'il, or Danel) is also the name of a figure in the Aqhat legend from Ugarit. (Ugarit was a Canaanite city destroyed around 1200 BCE – the tablet containing the story is dated c. 1360 BCE.) This legendary Daniel is known for his righteousness and wisdom and a follower of the god El (hence his name), who made his will known through dreams and visions. It is unlikely that Ezekiel knew the far older Canaanite legend, but it seems reasonable to suppose that some connection exists between the two. The authors of the tales in the first half of the Book of Daniel were likely also unaware of the Ugaritic Daniel and probably took the name of their hero from Ezekiel; the author of the visions in the second half in turn took his hero's name from the tales.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: The Book of Daniel begins with an introduction telling how Daniel and his companions came to be in Babylon, followed by a set of tales set in the Babylonian and Persian courts in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE, followed in turn by a set of visions in which Daniel sees the remote future of the world and of Israel. The tales in chapters 1–6 can be dated to the 3rd or early 2nd centuries BCE; it is generally accepted that these were expanded by the addition of the visions in chapters 8–12 between 167 and 164 BCE.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The four are chosen for their intellect and beauty to be trained in the Babylonian court, and are given new names. Daniel is given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar (, written as ), while his companions are given the Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel and his friends refuse the food and wine provided by the king of Babylon to avoid becoming defiled. They receive wisdom from God and surpass "all the magicians and enchanters of the kingdom." Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a giant statue made of four metals with feet of mingled iron and clay, smashed by a stone from heaven. Only Daniel is able to interpret it: the dream signifies four kingdoms, of which Babylon is the first, but God will destroy them and replace them with his own kingdom.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a great tree that shelters all the world and of a heavenly figure who decrees that the tree will be destroyed; again, only Daniel can interpret the dream, which concerns the sovereignty of God over the kings of the earth. When Nebuchadnezzar's son King Belshazzar uses the vessels from the Jewish temple for his feast, a hand appears and writes a mysterious message on the wall, which only Daniel can interpret; it tells the king that his kingdom will be given to the Medes and Persians, because Belshazzar, unlike Nebuchadnezzar, has not acknowledged the sovereignty of the God of Daniel. The Medes and Persians overthrow Nebuchadnezzar and the new king, Darius the Mede, appoints Daniel to high authority. Jealous rivals attempt to destroy Daniel with an accusation that he worships God instead of the king, and Daniel is thrown into a den of lions, but an angel saves him, his accusers are destroyed, and Daniel is restored to his position.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: In the third year of Darius, Daniel has a series of visions. In the first, four beasts come out of the sea, the last with ten horns, and an eleventh horn grows and achieves dominion over the Earth and the "Ancient of Days" (God) gives dominion to "one like a son of man". An angel interprets the vision. In the second, a ram with two horns is attacked by a goat with one horn; the one horn breaks and is replaced by four. A little horn arises and attacks the people of God and the temple, and Daniel is informed how long the little horn's dominion will endure. In the third, Daniel is troubled to read in holy scripture (the book is not named but appears to be Jeremiah) that Jerusalem would be desolate for 70 years. Daniel repents on behalf of the Jews and requests that Jerusalem and its people be restored. An angel refers to a period of 70 "sevens" (or weeks) of years. In the final vision, Daniel sees a period of history culminating in a struggle between the "king of the north" and the "king of the south" in which God's people suffer terribly; an angel explains that in the end the righteous will be vindicated and God's kingdom will be established on Earth.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: The Greek text of Daniel contains three additional tales, two of which feature Daniel (the third is an expansion of the tale of the fiery furnace).


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: The last mention of Daniel in the Book of Daniel is in the third year of Cyrus (). Rabbinic sources suppose that he was still alive during the reign of the Persian king Ahasuerus (better known as Artaxerxes – Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 15a, based on the Book of Esther 4, 5), but he was killed by Haman, the wicked prime minister of Ahasuerus (Targum Sheini on Esther, 4, 11).


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: The 1st century Jewish writer Josephus reported that Daniel's body lay in a tower in Ecbatana in Parthia, alongside the bodies of the kings of the Medes and Persians; later Jewish authorities said he was buried in Susa, and that near his house were hidden the vessels from the Temple of Solomon. Muslim sources reported that the Muslims had discovered his body, or possibly only a box containing his nerves and veins, together with a book, a jar of fat, and a signet ring engraved with the image of a man being licked by two lions. The corpse was reburied, and those who buried it were decapitated to prevent them from revealing the spot.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: Today six cities claim Daniel's Tomb: Babylon, Kirkuk and Muqdadiyah in Iraq, Susa and Malamir in Iran, and Samarkand in Uzbekistan. The most famous is that in Susa, (Shush, in southern Iran), at a site known as Shush-e Daniyal. According to Jewish tradition the rich and poor of the city quarreled over possession of the body, and the bier was therefore suspended from a chain over the centre of the river. A house of prayer open to all who believed in God was built nearby, and fishing was prohibited for a certain distance up and down the river; fish that swam in that section of the river had heads that glinted like gold, and ungodly persons who entered the sacred precinct would miraculously drown in the river. To this day the tomb is a popular site of pilgrimage.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: Daniel is not a prophet in Judaism: prophecy is reckoned to have ended with Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. In the Hebrew Bible his book is not included under the Prophets (the Hebrew Bible has three sections, Torah, Prophets and Writings), perhaps because its content does not match the prophetic books; but nevertheless the eight copies found among the Dead Sea Scrolls and the additional tales of the Greek text are a testament to Daniel's popularity in ancient times.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: The Jewish rabbis of the first millennium CE reckoned Daniel to be the most distinguished member of the Babylonian diaspora, unsurpassed in piety and good deeds, firm in his adherence to the Law despite being surrounded by enemies who sought his ruin, and in the first few centuries CE they wrote down the legends that had grown up around his name. His captivity was foretold by the prophet Isaiah to King Hezekiah in these words, "they (Hezekiah's descendants) shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." This misfortune was turned to a blessing when Daniel and his three companions were able to show their mutilated bodies to Nebuchadnezzar and so prove their innocence of charges of leading an unchaste life.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: Daniel kept the welfare of Nebuchadnezzar in mind continually, and when the king was condemned by God to live as a beast for a certain period Daniel prayed that the period of punishment should be shortened, and his prayer was granted. When Nebuchadnezzar was dying he wished to include Daniel among his heirs, but Daniel refused the honour, saying that he could not leave the inheritance of his forefathers for that of the uncircumcised. Daniel also restored the sight of king Darius, who had wrongly thrown the pious Daniel into prison on false charges, upon which many converted to Judaism.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: The New Testament makes a reference to Daniel at Matthew 24:15, in reference to the abomination of desolation. He is commemorated in the Coptic Church on the 23rd day of the Coptic month of Baramhat. On the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, the feast days celebrating St. Daniel the Prophet together with the Three Young Men, falls on December 17 (during the Nativity Fast), on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (the Sunday which falls between 11 and 17 December), and on the Sunday before Nativity. Daniel's prophecy regarding the stone which smashed the idol () is often used in Orthodox hymns as a metaphor for the Incarnation: the "stone cut out" being symbolic of the Logos (Christ), and the fact that it was cut "without hands" being symbolic of the virgin birth. Thus the hymns will refer to the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) as the "uncut mountain".


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: The Roman Catholic Church commemorates St. Daniel in the Roman Martyrology on July 21. Some local liturgical calendars of dioceses also list his feast, sometimes on July 21 and sometimes on another day. For example, the archdiocese of Gorizia celebrates the feast of St. Daniel, prophet and confessor, on September 11. The reading of the Mass is taken from the Book of Daniel, chapter 14; the Gradual from Psalm 91; the Alleluia verse from the Epistle of James 1; and the Gospel from Matthew 24. The Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod commemorates Daniel, together with the Three Young Men (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), on December 17.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: Daniel (Arabic: دانيال, "Dānyāl") is not mentioned by name in the Qur'an, but there are accounts of his prophet-hood in later Muslim literature, which tells how he was rescued from lions with the aid of the prophet Jeremiah (in Bel and the Dragon it is the prophet Habakkuk who plays this role) and interpreted the king's dream of a statue made of four metals destroyed by a rock from heaven, as having interpreted the writing on the wall, investigation, etc. All sources, both classical and modern, describe him as a saintly and righteous man. Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1872–1953) in his Qur'anic commentary says:


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: In Kitab al-Kafi, Imam Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin asserts that Allah revealed to Daniel that, "The most hated among my creatures are the ignorant ones who disrespect the scholars and do not follow them. The Most beloved to Me in My servants are the pious ones who work hard to become entitled for greater rewards, who always stay close to the scholars, follow the fore-bearing people and accept (the advice of) people of wisdom". Shiʾa hadith affirm Daniel as a prophet of God, and affirm the events aligning to the biblical narrative of Daniel as well.


title: Daniel (biblical figure)

text: Daniel is considered a minor prophet in the teachings of the Baháʼí Faith. Some Baháʼí converts introduced the principle of reincarnation, specifically that of Daniel and John.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledged American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The doctrine originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It was announced to Congress by President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, and further developed on July 4, 1948, when he pledged to contain the communist uprisings in Greece and Turkey. Direct American military force was usually not involved, but Congress appropriated financial aid to support the economies and militaries of Greece and Turkey. More generally, the Truman Doctrine implied American support for other nations thought to be threatened by Soviet communism. The Truman Doctrine became the foundation of American foreign policy, and led, in 1949, to the formation of NATO, a military alliance that still exists. Historians often use Truman's speech to date the start of the Cold War.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: Truman told Congress that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Truman contended that because totalitarian regimes coerced free peoples, they automatically represented a threat to international peace and the national security of the United States. Truman made the plea in the midst of the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). He argued that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid, they would inevitably fall to communism with grave consequences throughout the region. Because Turkey and Greece were historic rivals, it was considered necessary to help both equally even though the crisis in Greece was far more intense.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: Historian Eric Foner writes that the Doctrine "set a precedent for American assistance to anticommunist regimes throughout the world, no matter how undemocratic, and for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed against the Soviet Union."


title: Truman Doctrine

text: For years, the United Kingdom had supported Greece, but was now near bankruptcy and was forced to radically reduce its involvement. In February 1947, Britain formally requested for the United States to take over its role in supporting the royalist Greek government. The policy won the support of Congress and involved sending $400 million in American money but no military forces to the region. The effect was to end the Greek revolt, and in 1952, both Greece and Turkey joined NATO to guarantee their stability.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: The Truman Doctrine was informally extended to become the basis of American Cold War policy throughout Europe and around the world. It shifted American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union from an anti-fascist alliance to a policy of containment of Soviet expansion as advocated by diplomat George Kennan. It was distinguished from rollback by implicitly tolerating the previous Soviet takeovers in Eastern Europe.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: At the conclusion of World War II, Turkey was pressured by the Soviet government to allow Russian shipping to flow freely through the Turkish Straits, which connected the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. As the Turkish government would not submit to the Soviet Union's requests, tensions arose in the region, leading to a show of naval force on the site of the Straits. Since British assistance to Turkey had ended in 1947, the U.S. dispatched military aid to ensure that Turkey would retain chief control of the passage. Turkey received $100 million in economic and military aid and the U.S. Navy sent the "Midway"-class aircraft carrier "USS Franklin D. Roosevelt".


title: Truman Doctrine

text: Seven weeks after the Axis powers abandoned Greece in October 1944, the British helped retake Athens from the victorious National Liberation Front (EAM), controlled effectively by the Greek Communist Party (KKE). This began with a mass killing of largely unarmed EAM supporters known as the Dekemvriana on December 3. The left-wing attempted to retaliate, but were outgunned by the British-backed government and subjected to the White Terror. With the full outbreak of civil war (1946–49), guerrilla forces controlled by the Greek Communist Party sustained a revolt against the internationally recognized Greek government which was formed after 1946 elections boycotted by the KKE. The British realized that the KKE were being directly funded by Josip Broz Tito in neighboring Yugoslavia. In line with the Churchill-Stalin "percentages agreement", the Greek communists received no help from the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia provided them support and sanctuary against Stalin's wishes. By late 1946, Britain informed the United States that due to its own weakening economy, it could no longer continue to provide military and economic support to royalist Greece.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: In 1946–47, the United States and the Soviet Union moved from being wartime allies to Cold War adversaries. The breakdown of Allied cooperation in Germany provided a backdrop of escalating tensions for the Truman Doctrine. To Truman, the growing unrest in Greece began to look like a pincer movement against the oil-rich areas of the Middle East and the warm-water ports of the Mediterranean.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: In February 1946, Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow, sent his famed "Long Telegram", which predicted the Soviets would only respond to force and that the best way to handle them would be through a long-term strategy of containment; that is, stopping their geographical expansion. After the British warned that they could no longer help Greece, and following Prime Minister Konstantinos Tsaldaris's visit to Washington in December 1946 to ask for American assistance, the U.S. State Department formulated a plan. Aid would be given to both Greece and Turkey, to help cool the long-standing rivalry between them.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: American policy makers recognized the instability of the region, fearing that if Greece was lost to communism, Turkey would not last long. Similarly, if Turkey yielded to Soviet demands, the position of Greece would be endangered. A regional domino effect threat therefore guided the American decision. Greece and Turkey were strategic allies important for geographical reasons as well, for the fall of Greece would put the Soviets on a particularly dangerous flank for the Turks, and strengthen the Soviet Union's ability to cut off allied supply lines in the event of war.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: To pass any legislation Truman needed the support of the Republicans, who controlled both houses of Congress. The chief Republican spokesman Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg strongly supported Truman and overcame the doubts of isolationists such as Senator Robert A. Taft. Truman laid the groundwork for his request by having key congressional leaders meet with himself, Secretary of State George Marshall, and Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson. Acheson laid out the "domino theory" in the starkest terms, comparing a communist state to a rotten apple that could spread its infection to an entire barrel. Vandenberg was impressed, and advised Truman to appear before Congress and "scare the hell out of the American people." On March 7, Acheson warned Truman that Greece could fall to the communists within weeks without outside aid.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: When a draft for Truman's address was circulated to policymakers, Marshall, Kennan, and others criticized it for containing excess "rhetoric." Truman responded that, as Vandenberg had suggested, his request would only be approved if he played up the threat.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: On March 12, 1947, Truman appeared before a joint session of Congress. In his eighteen-minute speech, he stated:


title: Truman Doctrine

text: The reaction to Truman's speech was broadly positive, though there were dissenters. Anti-communists in both parties supported both Truman's proposed aid package and the doctrine behind it, and "Collier's" described it as a "popularity jackpot" for the President. Influential columnist Walter Lippmann was more skeptical, noting the open-ended nature of Truman's pledge; he felt so strongly that he almost came to blows while arguing with Acheson over the doctrine. Others argued that the Greek monarchy Truman proposed to defend was itself a repressive government, rather than a democracy.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: Despite these objections, the fear of the growing communist threat almost guaranteed the bill's passage. In May 1947, two months after Truman's request, a large majority of Congress approved $400 million in military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey. Increased American aid helped defeat the KKE, after interim defeats for government forces from 1946 to 1948. The Truman Doctrine was the first in a series of containment moves by the United States, followed by economic restoration of Western Europe through the Marshall Plan and military containment by the creation of NATO in 1949.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: The Truman Doctrine underpinned American Cold War policy in Europe and around the world. In the words of historian James T. Patterson:The Truman Doctrine was a highly publicized commitment of a sort the administration had not previously undertaken. Its sweeping rhetoric, promising that the United States should aid all 'free people' being subjugated, set the stage for innumerable later ventures that led to globalisation commitments. It was in these ways a major step.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: The doctrine endured, historian Dennis Merill argues, because it addressed broader cultural insecurity regarding modern life in a globalized world. It dealt with Washington's concern over communism's domino effect, it enabled a media-sensitive presentation of the doctrine that won bipartisan support, and it mobilized American economic power to modernize and stabilize unstable regions without direct military intervention. It brought nation-building activities and modernization programs to the forefront of foreign policy.


title: Truman Doctrine

text: The Truman Doctrine became a metaphor for aid to keep a nation from communist influence. Truman used disease imagery not only to communicate a sense of impending disaster in the spread of communism but also to create a "rhetorical vision" of containing it by extending a protective shield around non-communist countries throughout the world. It echoed the "quarantine the aggressor" policy Truman's predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, had sought to impose to contain German and Japanese expansion in 1937 ("quarantine" suggested the role of public health officials handling an infectious disease). The medical metaphor extended beyond the immediate aims of the Truman Doctrine in that the imagery combined with fire and flood imagery evocative of disaster provided the United States with an easy transition to direct military confrontation in later years with the Korean War and the Vietnam War. By framing ideological differences in life or death terms, Truman was able to garner support for this communism-containing policy.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( "Fahd ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Suʿūd", ; 1920, 1921 or 1923 – 1 August 2005) was a Saudi Arabian politician who was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 13 June 1982 until his death in 2005. Prior to his ascension, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 25 March 1975 to 13 June 1982. He was the eighth son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Fahd was the eldest of the Sudairi Seven, the sons of King Abdulaziz by Hassa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi. He served as minister of education from 1953 to 1962 during the reign of King Saud. Afterwards he was minister of interior from 1962 to 1975, at the end of King Saud's reign and throughout King Faisal's reign. He was appointed crown prince when his half-brother Khalid became king following the assassination of King Faisal in 1975. Fahd was viewed as the "de facto" leader of the country during King Khalid's reign in part due to the latter's ill health.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Upon the death of King Khalid in 1982, Fahd ascended to the throne. He is credited for having introduced the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia in 1992. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 1995, after which he was unable to continue performing his full official duties. His half-brother Crown Prince Abdullah served as "de facto" regent of the kingdom and succeeded Fahd as king upon his death in 2005. With a reign of 23 years, Fahd remains the longest-reigning Saudi king.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Fahd bin Abdulaziz was born in Riyadh in 1920, 1921 or 1923. He was the eighth son of King Abdulaziz, and his eldest son by Hassa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi. Fahd and his six full brothers are known as the Sudairi Seven. Fahd was Hassa's second son; his elder half-brother Abdullah bin Muhammad was his mother's only son from her previous marriage to Prince Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman, Fahd's uncle.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Fahd's education took place at the Princes' School in Riyadh, a school established by King Abdulaziz specifically for the education of members of the House of Saud. He received education for four years as a result of his mother's urging. While at the Princes' School, Fahd studied under tutors including Sheikh Abdul Ghani Khayat. He then went on to receive education at the Religious Knowledge Institute in Mecca.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Prince Fahd was made a member of the royal advisory board at his mother's urging. In 1945, he traveled on his first state visit to San Francisco for the signing of the UN charter. On this trip he served under Prince Faisal who was at the time Saudi Arabia's foreign minister. Fahd led his first official state visit in 1953, attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of the House of Saud. On 24 December 1953, he was appointed as Saudi Arabia's first education minister.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Prince Fahd led the Saudi delegation to the League of Arab States in 1959, signifying his increasing prominence in the House of Saud and his being groomed for a more significant role. In 1962, he was given the important post of interior minister. As interior minister he headed the Saudi delegation at a meeting of Arab Heads of State in Egypt in 1965. At the beginning of King Faisal's reign Prince Fahd became a member of the council which had been established by the king to guide the succession issues.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: On 2 January 1967 Prince Fahd survived an assassination attempt when an explosion occurred in his private office at the ministry. He was not there during the incident, but the explosion injured nearly 40 staff of the ministry.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Prince Fahd was named second deputy prime minister in 1967 when King Faisal established the office. The post was created upon the request of Crown Prince Khalid due to the fact that he himself did not want to continue to preside over the council of ministers. King Faisal was not very enthusiastic about the appointment of Prince Fahd to the post. Between October 1969 and May 1970 Prince Fahd was on leave which was regarded by Nadav Safran as an indication of major confrontation in the government. During his absence which was reported by the officials as a medical leave Prince Fahd stayed in London and then, in Spain where he spent the time on gambling and leisure. King Faisal sent him both Omar Al Saqqaf, his envoy, and several letters asking him to return to the country, but Prince Fahd did not follow his request.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Prince Fahd was made the head of the Supreme Council on Petroleum in March 1973 when it was established by King Faisal.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: After the murder of King Faisal in 1975 and the accession of King Khalid, Fahd was named first deputy prime minister and concurrently crown prince. Besides King Khalid, Prince Fahd had three elder half-brothers living at that time: Muhammad, Nasser and Saad. However, Prince Muhammad had denied appointment by King Faisal as crown prince a decade prior, while Princes Nasser and Saad were both considered unsuitable candidates. By contrast, Prince Fahd had served as minister of education from 1954 to 1962 and minister of interior from 1962 to 1975.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: The appointment of Prince Fahd as both crown prince and first deputy prime minister made him a much more powerful figure in contrast to the status of King Khalid when he had been crown prince during King Faisal's reign. However, King Khalid had an influence over Fahd's activities and limited his powers, probably due to Fahd's very clear pro-Western views and hostile approach against Iran and Shia population of Saudi Arabia. During this period Crown Prince Fahd was one of the members of the inner family council led by King Khalid, which included Fahd's brothers Muhammad, Abdullah, Sultan and Abdul Muhsin and his uncles Ahmed and Musaid.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: When King Khalid died on 13 June 1982, Fahd succeeded to the throne being the fifth king of Saudi Arabia. However, the most active period of his life was not his reign, but when he was Crown Prince. King Fahd adopted the title "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" in 1986, replacing "His Majesty", to signify an Islamic rather than secular authority.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Unlike the reigns of King Faisal and King Khalid his reign witnessed significant decrease in the oil price which sharply reduced the oil revenues of Saudi Arabia. Due to this Madawi Al Rasheed described the reign of King Fahd as the era of austerity in contrast to the period of affluence experienced in his two predecessors.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Fearing that 1979 Revolution in Iran could lead to similar Islamic upheaval in Saudi Arabia, Fahd spent considerable sums, after ascending the throne in 1982, to support Saddam Hussein's Baathist Iraq in its war with Iran. In fact, according to United States Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Fahd told Haig in April 1981 that he had been used as an intermediary by President Jimmy Carter to convey an official U.S. "green light to launch the war against Iran" to Iraq, although there is considerable skepticism about this claim.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Fahd was a supporter of the United Nations. He supported foreign aid and gave 5.5% of Saudi Arabia's national income through various funds especially the Saudi Fund for Development and the OPEC Fund for International Development. He also gave aid to foreign groups such as the Bosnian Muslims in the Yugoslav Wars, as well as the Nicaraguan Contras, providing "a million dollars per month from May to December 1984". King Fahd was also a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and an opponent of the State of Israel. Towards the beginning of Fahd's reign, he was a staunch ally of the United States However, Fahd distanced himself from the US throughout parts of his reign, declining to allow the US to use Saudi air bases to protect naval convoys after the attack on the USS Stark, and in 1988 agreed to buy between fifty and sixty nuclear-payload-capable CSS-2 intermediate-range ballistic missiles.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: King Fahd developed a peace plan in order to resolve Arab differences particularly between Algeria and Morocco. He also actively contributed to the Taif accord in 1989 that ended conflict in Lebanon. In addition, he led the Arab world against the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. He developed a special bond with both Syrian President Hafez Assad and Egyptian President Hosni Mobarak during his reign. Due to the King Fahd's support to Hafez Assad Arab countries did not manage to realize their decision to end Syrian presence in Lebanon in the summit of the Arab League held in Casablanca, Morocco, in May 1989.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: He took steps to support the conservative Saudi religious establishment, including spending millions of dollars on religious education, strengthened separation of the sexes and power of the religious police, publicly endorsed Sheikh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz's warning to young Saudis to avoid the path of evil by not traveling to Europe and the United States. This further distanced him from his inconvenient past.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: In 1990, Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, placing the Iraqi army (then the largest in the Middle East) on the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. King Fahd agreed to host American-led coalition troops in his Kingdom and later allowed American troops to be based there. This decision brought him considerable criticism and opposition from many Saudi citizens, who objected to the presence of foreign troops on Saudi soil; this was a casus belli against the Saudi royal family prominently cited by Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. His decision was also objected to by his full brothers or the Sudairi Seven. Another cause for criticism came when during an event with the British Royal Family, King Fahd was seen wearing a white decoration in the shape of a cross; in 1994 Bin Laden cited this as "abomination" and "clearly infidelity".


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: King Fahd showed little tolerance for reformists. In 1992, a group of reformists and prominent Saudi intellectuals petitioned King Fahd for wide-ranging reforms, including widening political representation and curbing the royal family's wasteful spending. King Fahd first responded by ignoring their requests and when they persisted, reformists were harshly persecuted, imprisoned, and fired from their jobs.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: During King Fahd's rule, the royal family's lavish spending of the country's wealth reached its height. In addition, the biggest and most controversial military contract of the century, the Al-Yamamah arms deal was signed on his watch. The contract has cost the Saudi treasury more than $90 billion. These funds were originally allocated to building hospitals, schools, universities, and roads. As a result, Saudi Arabia endured a stagnation in infrastructure development from 1986 until 2005 when the new King, Abdullah, fully came into power.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Like all the countries bordering the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia under King Fahd focused its industrial development on hydrocarbon installations. Up to this day, the country is reliant on imports for nearly all its light and heavy machinery.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: King Fahd established a Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs directed by senior family members and technocrats in 1994. The council was planned to function as an ombudsman of Islamic activity concerning educational, economic, and foreign policy matters. The chairman of the council was Prince Sultan. Prince Nayef, Prince Saud Al Faisal and technocrat Mohammed bin Ali Aba Al Khail were appointed to the newly established council. One of the covert purposes of the council was thought to be to reduce the power of the Ulemas Council had been increasing its power.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: In an effort to institutionalize succession King Fahd issued a decree on 1 March 1992. The decree expanded the criteria for succession, which had been only seniority and family consensus, and led to speculations. The most significant change by the edict was that the King did acquire the right to appoint or dismiss his heir apparent based on suitability rather than seniority and that the grandsons of Abdulaziz became eligible for the throne.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: King Fahd was a heavy smoker, overweight for much of his adult life, and in his sixties began to suffer from arthritis and severe diabetes. He suffered a debilitating stroke on 29 November 1995 and became noticeably frail, and decided to delegate the running of the Kingdom to Crown Prince Abdullah on 2 January 1996. On 21 February, King Fahd resumed official duties.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: After his stroke, King Fahd was partly inactive and had to use a cane and then a wheelchair, though he still attended meetings and received selected visitors. In November 2003, according to government media, King Fahd was quoted as saying to "strike with an iron fist" at terrorists after deadly bombings in Saudi Arabia, although he could hardly utter a word because of his deteriorating health. However, it was Crown Prince Abdullah who took official trips; when King Fahd traveled, it was for vacations, and he was sometimes absent from Saudi Arabia for months at a time. When his oldest son and International Olympic Committee member Prince Faisal bin Fahd died in 1999, the King was in Spain and did not return for the funeral.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: In a speech to an Islamic conference on 30 August 2003, King Fahd condemned terrorism and exhorted Muslim clerics to emphasize peace, security, cooperation, justice, and tolerance in their sermons.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: "Fortune Magazine" reported his wealth in 1988 at $18 billion (making him the second-richest person in the world at that time). "Forbes" estimated Fahd's wealth to be $25 billion in 2002. In addition to residences in Saudi Arabia, he had a palace on Spain's Costa del Sol which made Marbella a famous place.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: King Fahd was known to enjoy luxurious living abroad and a lavish lifestyle. He visited the ports of the French Riviera in his yacht, the US$100 million Prince Abdulaziz. The ship featured two swimming pools, a ballroom, a gym, a theatre, a portable garden, a hospital with an intensive-care unit and two operating rooms, and four American Stinger missiles. The king also had a personal $US150 million Boeing 747 jet, equipped with his own fountain. In Fahd's younger years, he used to engage in activities considered un-Islamic, such as drinking and gambling. Fahd reportedly lost millions of dollars in casinos and started using illegal methods to regain the same amount. When Fahd's brothers found out about his habits which were considered a disgrace to the House of Saud, he was immediately summoned to King Faisal's palace. Upon arrival, King Faisal slapped him across the face. From then on, Fahd was more circumspect and put a stop to his un-Islamic habits.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: One of his daughters, Latifa bint Fahd, died at age 54 in Geneva in late December 2013. Another daughter, Al Jawhara bint Fahd, was the wife of Turki bin Mohammad bin Saud Al Kabeer and died in June 2016.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: King Fahd was admitted to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh on 27 May 2005 for unspecified medical tests. An official (who insisted on anonymity) told the Associated Press unofficially that the king had died at 07:30 on 1 August 2005 at age 84. Official statement was announced on state television at 10:00 by Information Minister Iyad Madani.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: King Fahd was buried in the last "thawb" (traditional Arab robe) he wore. Fahd's body was carried to Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque, and funeral prayers were held at around 15:30 local time (12:30 GMT) on 2 August. The prayers for the late monarch were led by the Kingdom's grand mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: The King's son Abdulaziz carried the body to the mosque and to the Al Oud cemetery, Riyadh, some two kilometres away, a public cemetery where Fahd's four predecessors and other members of the Al Saud ruling family are buried.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Arab and Muslim dignitaries who attended the funeral were not present at the burial. Only ruling family members and Saudi citizens were on hand as the body was lowered into the grave.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: Muslim leaders offered condolences at the mosque, while other foreign dignitaries and leaders who came after the funeral paid their respects at the royal court.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: In accordance with regulations and social traditions, Saudi Arabia declared a national mourning period of three days during which all offices were closed. Government offices remained closed for the rest of the week. The state flag was not lowered (since the flag of Saudi Arabia bears the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith, the flag's protocol requires the flag not to be lowered).


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: After Fahd's death, many Arab countries declared mourning periods. Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Yemen, the Arab League in Cairo, and the Palestinian Authority all declared three-day mourning periods. Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates declared a seven-day mourning period and ordered all flags flown at half-staff. In Jordan, a national three-day mourning period was declared and a 40-day mourning period was decreed at the Royal Court.


title: Fahd of Saudi Arabia

text: In 1984, King Fahd received the Faisal Prize for Service to Islam awarded by the King Faisal Foundation.


title: Arif Alvi

text: Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi (; born 29 July 1949) is a Pakistani dentist and politician currently serving as the 13th President of Pakistan, in office since 9 September 2018. He was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from June 2013 to May 2018 and again from August to September 2018. A founding member of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Alvi was elected as President of Pakistan on 4 September 2018 following the presidential elections.


title: Arif Alvi

text: Alvi was a dentist before entering politics in 1979, when he joined Jamaat-e-Islami but he later on resigned from the party and founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf with former Pakistan cricket team captain and cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan in 1996.


title: Arif Alvi

text: Alvi was elected to the National Assembly, from a seat of Karachi in 2013 and was re-elected in 2018 and was nominated as a candidate for presidential election and was elected as the 13th President of Pakistan after defeating Fazal-ur-Rehman and Aitzaz Ahsan, he resigned from the National Assembly and was sworn into office on 9th September 2018, succeeding Mamnoon Hussain.


title: Arif Alvi

text: His father, Habib-ur-Rehman Elahi Alvi, was a dentist in British India who migrated to Karachi after the establishment of Pakistan, and opened a dental clinic in Saddar Town.<ref name="economictimes/4sept2018"></ref> His father became politically affiliated with Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan.<ref name="nawaiwaqt/3sept2018"></ref> According to the website of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Alvi's father was a dentist of Jawaharlal Nehru.<ref name="geo/5sept2018"></ref>


title: Arif Alvi

text: After his father started a campaign against compulsory Bible classes, he was expelled from Karachi Grammar School. He completed his early education in Karachi,<ref name="ary/4sept2018"></ref> and moved to Lahore in 1967 for education in dentistry. Alvi received a Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree from De'Montmorency College of Dentistry. He completed his master's degree in prosthodontics from the University of Michigan in 1975. Alvi received a master's degree in orthodontics in 1984 from the University of the Pacific in San Francisco, California.<ref name="dunyanews/4sept2018"></ref> After returning to Pakistan, he started practicing dentistry and set up Alvi Dental Hospital.


title: Arif Alvi

text: Alvi is married to Samina Alvi. The couple has four married children.<ref name="dunyanews/4sept2018-1"></ref>


title: Arif Alvi

text: In March 2021, he tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after having received the first dose of a vaccine, which was later confirmed to have been a vaccine from Sinopharm. In January 2022, he contracted Covid-19 again amidst the Omicron wave.


title: Arif Alvi

text: In 1981, Alvi was Chairman of the first Pakistan International Dental Conference. In 1987, he became Chairman of the Third Pakistan International Dental Conference. He became Patron of the Fifth Pakistan International Dental Conference.<ref name="thenews/9sept2018"></ref> In 1997, Alvi became a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics. He prepared the constitution of the Pakistan Dental Association and went on to become its president. He also served as Chairman of the 28th Asia Pacific Dental Congress.<ref name="pakistantoday/5sept2018"></ref>


title: Arif Alvi

text: He served as Dean of the Faculty of Orthodontics of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan. In 2006, he was elected as the President of Asia Pacific Dental Federation. The next year, he was elected as a Councillor of the FDI World Dental Federation.


title: Arif Alvi

text: Alvi began his political career as a polling agent, and joined a religious party.<ref name="tribune/25june2015"></ref>


title: Arif Alvi

text: While studying at De'Montmorency College of Dentistry, he became an active member of the student unions. He became politically affiliated with Islami Jamiat Talaba, a student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) and went on to become president of the student union. During his early days, he was a critic of the Ayub Khan regime and was shot twice while participating in a protest in 1969 at The Mall, Lahore; a bullet still remains lodged in his body.


title: Arif Alvi

text: He became politically active after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announced the 1977 Pakistani general election.


title: Arif Alvi

text: He ran for a seat on the Provincial Assembly of Sindh as a candidate of the JI from a constituency in Karachi in 1979<ref name="geo/4sept2018"></ref> but was unsuccessful. In 1988, he quit JI and left politics. According to Alvi, he left the party because he had become disillusioned with their narrow focus on politics and had "always felt honest leadership is the real solution to Pakistan’s problems".


title: Arif Alvi

text: After getting inspired by Imran Khan, he joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 1996 and became one of the founding members of the party. He participated in preparing the party constitution of PTI.


title: Arif Alvi

text: He remained a member of the PTI central executive council for a year before becoming president of PTI's Sindh chapter in 1997.<ref name="dawn/19aug2018"></ref>


title: Arif Alvi

text: Alvi ran for the seat of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh as a candidate of PTI from Constituency PS-89 (Karachi South-V) in the 1997 Pakistani general election, but was unsuccessful. He came in third receiving 2,200 votes and lost the seat to Saleem Zia.<ref name="ecp/pas-88-97"></ref><ref name="thenews/5sept2018"></ref>


title: Arif Alvi

text: He ran for the seat of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh as a candidate of PTI from Constituency PS-90 (Karachi-II) in the 2002 Pakistani general election, but was unsuccessful. He came in at sixth place securing 1,276 votes and lost the seat to Umer Sadiq, a candidate of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).


title: Arif Alvi

text: He was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-250 (Karachi-XII) in the 2013 Pakistani general election. He received 77,659 votes and defeated Khushbakht Shujaat. Upon his successful election, he became the only PTI member to win a National Assembly seat from Sindh in the 2013 general elections.


title: Arif Alvi

text: He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-247 (Karachi South-II) in the 2018 Pakistani general election. He received 91,020 votes and defeated Syed Zaman Ali Jaffery, a candidate of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan.


title: Arif Alvi

text: On 18 August 2018, he was nominated by PTI as its candidate for the office of President of Pakistan. On 4 September 2018, he was elected as 13th President of Pakistan in the 2018 Pakistani presidential election. He received 352 electoral votes and defeated Fazal-ur-Rehman and Aitzaz Ahsan who secured 184 and 124 votes, respectively. Upon getting elected as the President, Alvi thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan, and the government coalition for their support. He is the third President of Pakistan whose family migrated to Pakistan from India after the Partition of India. On 5 September 2018, he relinquished his National Assembly seat. On 9 September, he replaced Mamnoon Hussain and was sworn in as 13th President of Pakistan. On 17 September, he addressed the National Assembly for the first time in his capacity as president.


title: Arif Alvi

text: On 3 April 2022, he dissolved the National Assembly of Pakistan on the advice of Prime Minister Imran Khan, in order to prevent the moving of the scheduled no-confidence motion that intended to remove Khan from the office of PM. The dissolution was appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which declared the move as unconstitutional and restored the National Assembly on 7 April, which then proceeded to carry out the no-confidence motion on the night of 9 April. The motion was successful after 174 MNAs voted in its favour (172 were needed), thus ending Imran Khan's term as Prime Minister.


title: Arif Alvi

text: The privately funded not-for-profit educational initiative is launched to help promote education, research and business opportunities in Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Cloud Native computing and Internet of Things. He believes that the world is on the verge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) that would change the overall outlook of the industrial working.


title: Arif Alvi

text: The initiative is being run with the help of public-private partnerships with non-profit and for-profit organizations.


title: Arif Alvi

text: The program has been launched in the city of Karachi where as many as 12,000 students are enrolled in the 4 disciplines being offered and registration is underway to offer it in Islamabad, and Faisalabad. The program is expected to expand to Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta in the near future.


title: Arif Alvi

text: One of the most important goals of the PIAIC was to provide a conduit for women to seek and find quality and affordable high tech training in most cities of Pakistan.  This has resulted in the creation of "Women's Inclusion in Technology", a women's empowerment division in the PIAIC.  The division is led by Hira Khan, who is also the COO of Panacloud (Pvt.), Ltd. and a well-seasoned IT trainer and software engineer. She has championed women's empowerment and especially their economic empowerment in Pakistan.


title: Arif Alvi

text: Alvi's first ever visit to a federal ministry as president was in June 2020 when he visited the headquarters of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs. Alvi launched the Ministry's official website on the occasion of World Oceans Day and was briefed by Maritime Minister Ali Haider Zaidi and Federal Secretary Rizwan Ahmed about the ministry's role and achievements.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board was an experiment towards inter-state integration and cooperation in the sphere of secondary education. There are more than 27,000 schools in India and 240 schools in 28 foreign countries affiliated to the CBSE. All schools affiliated to CBSE follow the NCERT curriculum especially from class 9 to 12. The current Chairperson of CBSE is Nidhi Chibber, IAS.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: The constitution of the Board was amended in 1952 to give its present name, the Central Board of Secondary Education. The Board was reconstituted on 1 July 1962 so as to make its services available to students and various educational institutions in the entire country.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: The first education board to be set up in India was the Uttar Pradesh Board of High School and Intermediate Education in 1921, which was under jurisdiction of Rajputana, Central India and Gwalior. In 1929, the government of India set up a joint Board named Board of High School and Intermediate Education. This included Ajmer, Merwara, Central India, and Gwalior. Later it was confined to Ajmer, Bhopal and Vindhya Pradesh. In 1952, it became the Central Board of Secondary Education.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: CBSE affiliates all Kendriya Vidyalayas, all Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, private schools, and most of the schools approved by central government of India. There are 1,138 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 3,011 Government Schools, 16,741 Independent Schools, 595 Jawahar Novodaya Vidyalayas and 14 Central Tibetan Schools.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: CBSE conducts the final examinations for Class 10 and Class 12 every year in the month of March. The results are announced by the end of May. The board earlier conducted the AIEEE Examination for admission to undergraduate courses in engineering and architecture in colleges across India, however the AIEEE exam was merged with the IIT-Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) in 2013. The common examination is now called JEE (Main) and is henceforth conducted by National Testing Agency.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: CBSE also conducted AIPMT (All India Pre Medical Test) for admission to major medical colleges in India. In 2014, the conduct of the National Eligibility Test for grant of junior research fellowship and eligibility for assistant professor in institutions of higher learning was outsourced to CBSE.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: Apart from these tests, CBSE also conducts the Central Teacher Eligibility Test and the Class X optional proficiency test.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: On 10 November 2017, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared a proposal for creation of a National Testing Agency (NTA) serving as the premier autonomous body for conducting entrance examinations in the country. Beginning in 2018 various exams previously conducted by the CBSE were transferred to the NTA including National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate), Joint Entrance Examination – Main, National Eligibility Test, Central Universities Common Entrance Test and others.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: For promotion from Secondary level (Class IX-X) to Senior Secondary level (Class XI-XII), a student must obtain, for all subjects (or best 5 if 6 subjects are taken), 33% overall, without any minimum theory mark requirement. Originally, the passing criteria was set such that a student had to get 33% in "both" the theory and practical components. However, an exemption was initially granted for students writing the exam in 2018 as they went through the old CCE system in the previous year. However, CBSE later extended this relief for students writing the exam from 2019 and later as well. Students who do not manage to pass up to two subjects can write the compartment in those subjects in July. Those who fail the compartment, or fail in three subjects or more, must rewrite all the subjects taken in the next year.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: For class 12 students the promotion criteria is 33% overall, with 33% in "both" theory and practical examinations (if applicable). Students who do not manage to pass in exactly one subject can write the compartment for that subject in July. Those who fail the compartment, or those who fail in two subjects or more, must rewrite all the subjects taken in the next year.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: For the Class 10 and Class 12 exams, CBSE (along with the marks obtained) includes the "positional" grade obtained by the student, which is dependent on the average performance of the students in that subject. Consequently, the cutoffs required to obtain a particular grade vary every year.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: During 2010–2017, when CBSE implemented a CCE (Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation) for Class X students, only the grades obtained by the student were mentioned in the report card in a 9-point grading scale, which translates as below:


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: It is the practice adopted by CBSE of "tweaking" candidates' marks to account for paper difficulties and variations. This has been criticized in the past for inflating students' marks in a hyper-competitive society where even one mark counts, and CBSE is in the process of ending it. In 2017, CBSE informed that it would end moderation entirely, but its decision was challenged by a court case at the Delhi High Court, which ruled that moderation should continue for that year.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: With the exception of 2018, moderation was applied to account for variations in region sets (as then students in different regions would be answering different question papers). In 2018, when everyone around the world answered the same questions, this practice was renamed as "standardisation," with the CBSE gradually phasing out the practice with the reduction on subjects which were given the offset.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: In 2018, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Accountancy were given offset of +9, Business Studies given +6, and English given a +3 offset. In 2019, moderation took the effect of giving up to 11 extra marks:


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: The total mark obtained by a student through moderation cannot exceed 95; if so, it is "capped" at 95 unless the student's actual mark is 96 or more. This is the reason a mark of 95 is relatively common for such subjects, and why it is "much" tougher to get 96 than to get a 95.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: Moderation was also applied in the infamous CBSE Class 12 mathematics papers of 2015 and 2016, wherein the paper created a huge furore as students and teachers complained that the paper was too tough. Despite a reportedly heavy offset of +16 (+15 for Delhi), students' marks reduced (especially for 2016), as while the A1 cutoff was stable (90), the A2 cutoff reduced to 77, with other grades also experiencing a dip in cutoff.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: Moderation can also take the form of giving "grace" marks to enable students who have scored near the pass mark to pass. This is the reason marks between 25 and 33 are unheard of in subjects like Mathematics, and also explains why the difference between D1 and D2 cutoff is sometimes very small.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: The CBSE has decided that vocational exams (which very few students take) are to be held earlier – in mid/late February compared to March for most other exams. This is to ensure the exams finish earlier.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: For many core subjects, the number of internal choices (wherein students pick one to answer out of two) has increased.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will now conduct two separate examinations for Mathematics in class 10 board examination starting from 2020 session. The current Mathematics exam is termed as Mathematics (Standard), and an easier version of Mathematics has been introduced, called as Mathematics (Basic). Students taking the latter version may not study Mathematics to any further level.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: The option of choosing mathematics will be mentioned in the registration form for class 10 CBSE board examination. Candidates will be required to select their choice of test while filling the registration form for CBSE Class 10 board examination 2020.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: Minister of Education, MoE (previously Minister of Human Resource Department, HRD) amid the coronavirus outbreak had ordered rescheduling of pending examinations. The exams rescheduled were to be conducted between 1 and 15 July. On 26 June, CBSE released as circular which cancelled the remaining exams and give scores based on the scores of the exams already taken by students. For some students of Delhi, who were able to give 3 or less exams were scored as per their performance in internal exams. This decision came after a judicial ruling.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: Due to rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in country, CBSE cancelled the board exams of 10th class & postponed the 12th class exams.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: Like 10th, Class 12th Board Exam 2021 has also been cancelled. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a decision on this after a long meeting on 1 June 2021.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: Later, in a letter dated 5 July 2021, CBSE announced a special scheme of assessment for board examination of classes X and XII for the session 2021–22 in which the academic year was divided into 2 terms with approximately 50% syllabus in each term to increase the probability of boards being conducted by CBSE and to avoid depending on schools for declaring results.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: The Term 1 examination was successfully conducted by CBSE in objective mode from 22 November to 12 December 2021 for Class 10 and from 16 November to 30 December 2021 for Class 12. However, the Term-I examination was criticised by many for having wrong answer keys, tough question papers and wrong or controversial questions with a question being dropped in Sociology exam of class 12 and a paragraph in English Language and Literature exam for class 10 by CBSE following which CBSE dropped the experts who set the Sociology and English paper from paper-setting panels. The Term 2 examination will be conducted from 26 April 2022 for both Class 10 and 12 and will end on 24 May for Class 10 and 15 June for Class 12.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: In March 2018, there were reports that CBSE Class 10 mathematics and Class 12 economics question papers were leaked. In response, CBSE announced that these exams will be cancelled and re-exams will be conducted. However, CBSE later announced that there will be no re-exam for Class 10 mathematics paper because the paper leak may have been confined to a few alleged beneficiaries.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: On 7 April 2018, economics teacher Rakesh Kumar and two other employees of a private school in Una, Himachal Pradesh were arrested for leaking the Class 12 economics paper. According to the police, Rakesh Kumar had gone inside the strong room of a bank to pick up packets of computer science question papers but also picked up a packet of economics question paper. He asked a student to make a handwritten copy of the question paper (to avoid being traced from the handwriting). He then sent photos of the handwritten copy of the paper on WhatsApp to a relative in Punjab. This relative shared the photos with her son and nephew, who shared them with their friends on WhatsApp groups, from where it was forwarded to other Whatsapp groups. On 12 April 2018, the police said that Rakesh Kumar, who leaked the class 12 economics paper, had leaked class 10 mathematics paper also. Consequently, the Central Board of Secondary Education has put in place a system of "encrypted" question papers, which are supposed to be printed by the schools half an hour before the exam starts.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: According to the official website of CBSE, there are 28 government as well as private affiliated schools in different countries outside India. The reason of their establishment is largely serving the Indian community abroad, or at least, children or relative of Indian diplomats.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: For countries where the population of Indian nationals even surpasses the country's native population or in countries where they form a substantial share of the population, like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, etc., Indian embassies have set up CBSE schools and have allowed Indians or locals to set up private CBSE schools serving the needs of Indians in that particular country.


title: Central Board of Secondary Education

text: But, however, in countries where Indians do not reside, the Indian diplomatic missions have set up schools in countries like Russia and Iran which mainly serves children of diplomats.


title: Darci Lynne

text: Darci Lynne Farmer (born October 12, 2004) is an American ventriloquist, singer and actress. Lynne has been credited with the revival of ventriloquism, earning praise and numerous accolades for her work.


title: Darci Lynne

text: Born in Oklahoma, Lynne developed an interest in singing from a young age, but was held back by her shyness before audiences. Inspired by performances by ventriloquists including Terry Fator, she developed a talent for ventriloquism (combining this with her skill at singing), when performing in a local talent competition with her first puppet in 2014. Her success led to her receiving coaching and assistance in developing her talent, allowing her to win additional talent competitions over the next two years.


title: Darci Lynne

text: Lynne came to national prominence when she appeared on "Little Big Shots" in 2016, but gained greater recognition and acclaim when she won the twelfth season of "America's Got Talent" the following year. Her success in that competition fully established her career in ventriloquism, with a number of experts deeming her performance and eventual success in the competition as an inspiration for future would-be ventriloquists. After "AGT", Lynne made numerous appearances on other television shows, and she has held several tours with her puppet characters.


title: Darci Lynne

text: Darci Lynne Farmer was born on October 12, 2004. She is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Lynne's parents are Clarke and Misty Farmer, and her three brothers are Nate, Dalton and Nick. Growing up, Lynne loved to sing, but she was shy and was afraid to perform in front of an audience. Her parents encouraged her to overcome her shyness by participating in the 2014 International Cinderella Scholarship Program, where she was crowned International Mini Miss. At that pageant, she also met International Teen titleholder Laryssa Bonacquisti, a young ventriloquist who inspired her to try ventriloquism herself.


title: Darci Lynne

text: In 2014, Lynne entered "Edmond's Got Talent" where she won first prize after a month's preparation on Bonacquisti's tips. She was soon brought to the attention of ventriloquy coach Gary Owen, who was so impressed by Lynne's skill that he agreed to be her coach and business manager. Since then she has worked with Owen and vocal teacher Tiana Plemons. In 2015, she won first place in both the junior division at "Oklahoma's Got Talent" and "Oklahoma Kids". She also won Broadway, Specialty Acts, and overall Entertainer of the Year at "American Kids" in Branson, Missouri.


title: Darci Lynne

text: Until eighth grade when she began homeschooling, Lynne attended Deer Creek Middle School near her home in Edmond, Oklahoma. She missed the first day of seventh grade due to appearing live on "America's Got Talent".


title: Darci Lynne

text: In March 2016, Lynne made an appearance on "Little Big Shots". She performed "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" with her puppet Katie, the singing cowgirl. In July 2016, she became the first child ventriloquist to perform at an evening show in the 40-year history of the "Vent Haven International Ventriloquists' ConVENTion", where she fronted for celebrity ventriloquists Kevin Johnson and Todd Oliver. In March 2017, she appeared on the British version of "Little Big Shots", again performing "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" with Katie.


title: Darci Lynne

text: Lynne competed in the twelfth season of "America's Got Talent" in mid-2017. During the first episode broadcast on May 30, Lynne and her puppet Petunia (a sweet, girly bunny), performed "Summertime" from "Porgy and Bess". The comedy–singing act featured Petunia cutting off Lynne, so Petunia could continue singing instead. Judge Mel B praised the act and pressed her Golden Buzzer, allowing Lynne to bypass the judge cuts and go straight to the quarterfinals. The video of this performance became the most viewed in the show's history, within 30 hours of broadcast, and later placed fourth on YouTube's list of Top 10 trending videos in 2017.


title: Darci Lynne

text: For Lynne's first live presentation after her Golden Buzzer performance, she serenaded Mel B with her shy and stuttering Motown mouse puppet Oscar, performing "Who's Lovin' You". Judges Howie Mandel, Mel B, Heidi Klum and Simon Cowell gave Lynne standing ovations. For this performance, Lynne received enough viewer votes to move on to the semifinals, where she sang "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" with her puppet Edna Doorknocker. She stood next to the judges' table so Edna could flirt with Cowell. Again, all four judges gave Lynne a standing ovation. Viewers voted Lynne through to the finals.


title: Darci Lynne

text: For her final competition appearance, Lynne performed "With a Little Help from My Friends", with Petunia and Oscar interacting for comedic effect. Again, she earned standing ovations and the judges' praise. Cowell predicted: "I think you're going to win." For the finale in episode 22, Lynne fulfilled her dream by performing "Anything You Can Do" with her exemplar Terry Fator, with Lynne singing as Petunia and Fator singing as Winston the Impersonating Turtle. After tripping over the first line of the song, she recovered and the act continued. The field was cut to the top five, and then to the top two finalists, Lynne and Angelica Hale. Host Tyra Banks then announced Lynne was the winner of the season, having received the most votes out of the 52 million votes cast. With the win, Lynne received the million dollar prize, and a headline gig at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas. Originally set for November 3 and 4, two additional shows were added on November 2 and 5, after the first two dates sold out. The Las Vegas shows also featured Angelica Hale, Preacher Lawson and Light Balance.


title: Darci Lynne

text: Lynne was a guest on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in September 2017. She appeared in Jeff Dunham's video, "The Haunted House on Dunham Hill", in which she takes three of her puppets (Petunia, Oscar and Edna) trick-or-treating at Dunham's home, where they encounter him and some of his puppets (Walter, Achmed, Peanut, and Bubba J). In November 2017, she made a guest appearance during a Terry Fator performance at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa. Also in November, she appeared in "A Very Pentatonix Christmas" performing "O Easter Egg" (an Easter-themed parody of "O Christmas Tree") with Petunia.


title: Darci Lynne

text: In November 2017, a national tour was announced, "Darci Lynne and Friends Live". Starting with five locations that took place in January and February 2018, it was later expanded to 52 dates taking place between January 2018 and January 2019, including nine Christmas performances in November and December called "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree with Darci Lynne and Friends". In December 2017, Lynne appeared as part of the charity event "One Night with the Stars" at Madison Square Garden. Her December 16 homecoming show, "iHeartMedia and KJ103 Present Darci Lynne", sold out within six minutes of the tickets going on sale. As a result, a matinee show earlier the same day and then later another two shows on December 17 were added. On December 31, she performed at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas along with Fergie as part of a New Year's Eve event.


title: Darci Lynne

text: In January 2018, Lynne appeared on "Today" with Oscar, performing "Who's Lovin' You". In March 2018, she appeared on the "Grand Ole Opry" and made a cameo appearance on the "Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards". She returned to "Little Big Shots" in April 2018, as "a Little Big Shots legend", where she performed "Shout" by the Isley Brothers with Oscar. In May 2018, Lynne appeared as a guest on "Pickler & Ben". In July 2018, she participated in the 2018 Starkey Hearing Foundation gala. In August 2018, she returned to "AGT" as a guest performer, singing "Show Off" from "The Drowsy Chaperone" with Petunia. In September, she appeared as a guest in an episode of "Kids Baking Championship". In November 2018, she was a guest on "Steve", where she performed "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with Petunia, and later sang "Jingle Bell Rock" with Petunia during NBC's "Christmas in Rockefeller Center" telecast.


title: Darci Lynne

text: In December 2018, Lynne returned to both the "Grand Ole Opry" and "Pickler & Ben", and voiced Daisy in an episode of "Fancy Nancy". Later in December 2018, Lynne starred in and hosted "Darci Lynne: My Hometown Christmas". The NBC holiday TV special included both ventriloquial singing with her four main puppets (Petunia, Oscar, Edna and Katie) and non-ventriloquial singing. Duets were performed with Lindsey Stirling, Toby Keith, Kristin Chenoweth, and guest performances by Pentatonix and Hunter Hayes. Also included was a sketch with the four "America's Got Talent" judges: Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Mel B. Lonnie Chavis, from "This Is Us", was the announcer for the special.


title: Darci Lynne

text: In January 2019, Lynne was a guest in another Food Network show, "Winner Cake All". Also in January, she returned to "America's Got Talent" as a contestant on "". In the preliminaries, she performed a medley of "Nutbush City Limits" and "Proud Mary" with Oscar. Although she was voted in the top three, she did not receive enough votes to continue to the next round. However, she was brought back as a wild card act, and performed "O mio babbino caro" with Petunia in the finals. During the results show, she and Bill Barretta performed "Can't Smile Without You" as Edna and Rowlf from The Muppets. She ended up as runner-up behind her "AGT" successor, magician Shin Lim.


title: Darci Lynne

text: Announced in October 2018, Lynne began a second tour in February 2019, called "Darci Lynne and Friends: Fresh Out of the Box". In March 2019, Lynne appeared as a guest for two stops of the Barbie Be Anything Tour. In April 2019, she appeared in a WE Day event in Washington. In September 2019, Lynne returned to "AGT" as a guest performer again, along with fellow season 12 finalist Preacher Lawson where she performed "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" with Petunia. In November 2019, Lynne appeared as a guest on an episode of the sketch-comedy series "All That" with her puppet Petunia, and also appeared in a WE Day event in Vancouver.


title: Darci Lynne

text: In February 2020, Lynne appeared as a guest on "The Kelly Clarkson Show", performing "Something's Got a Hold on Me" with Oscar. This was followed by another appearance on the show in April. In July 2020, Lynne became a panelist on "Nickelodeon's Unfiltered", hosted by Jay Pharaoh. Also in July, she made a second appearance on "All That" as the musical guest, performing "Something's Got a Hold on Me" with Oscar.


title: Darci Lynne

text: In August 2020, Lynne returned to "America's Got Talent" as a guest performer again, where she introduced Ivan. In April 2021, Lynne appeared in the "Side Hustle" episode "Make-A-Mutt" as The Wombat. In June, she appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" again. In July 2021, Lynne started a new tour, called "My Lips Are Sealed (Except When They’re Not)", running until November 2022. In August 2021, Lynne returned to "AGT" as a guest for a fourth time, and performed "Let the Good Times Roll" by Louis Jordan with Oscar. In July 2022, Simon Cowell ranked his favorite Top 15 Golden Buzzer moments in "AGT" history during season 17, which Lynn placed 2nd. In September 2022, Lynne, along with Terry Fator, made a guest appearance during "AGT"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s seventeenth-season finale, performing "Over the Rainbow" alongside Celia Muñoz, another singing ventriloquist.


title: Darci Lynne

text: Lynne's success on "America's Got Talent" has been credited with helping bring ventriloquism back to the general public's attention. Bill King of BuddyTV described Lynne's final "AGT" performance as "so seamless you need to be reminded of its difficulty".


title: Darci Lynne

text: Talking to "USA Today", Terry Fator said of Lynne that "she is, at 12 years old, one of the most unbelievable, perfect ventriloquists I've ever seen, and she'll only get better". He also called her "one of the most talented human beings on the planet" in an interview with "Billboard".


title: Darci Lynne

text: Professional ventriloquist Sammy King said in an interview with "The Fountain Hills Times" that "she is very gifted, a great singer and has tremendous comedic timing". Jay Johnson described her on his personal blog as "a wonderfully talented girl" with "near perfect" ventriloquism technique and "singing chops [that] could stand alone without the puppet assistance", whose "dedication to the art and ... young spirit will influence a generation of belly talkers to come".


title: Darci Lynne

text: In August 2020, the Edmond Historical Society and Museum opened an exhibit, titled "Darci Lynne's Got Talent". Dedicated to Lynne, it includes clothing from her television performances, her first practice puppets, tour posters and scripts.


title: Avalanche Software

text: Avalanche Software is an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It was founded in October 1995 by four programmers formerly of Sculptured Software, including John Blackburn, who serves as chief executive officer. The studio was acquired by the games arm of The Walt Disney Company in May 2005, and spent the next ten years developing Disney-related titles, including the toys-to-life game "Disney Infinity" (2013). In May 2016, due to a declining toys-to-life games market, Disney decided to close the games arm, including Avalanche. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment acquired the studio and re-opened it in January 2017.


title: Avalanche Software

text: Avalanche Software was founded by four programmers formerly of Sculptured Software, including John Blackburn. After Sculptured Software had been acquired by Acclaim Entertainment, the four had been in contact with another former Sculptured Software staffer who left the year prior for Saffire. The four were interested in joining Saffire, which was seeking programmers for an upcoming project, but did not want to commute to the company's offices in Pleasant Grove. Instead, Saffire's owner convinced them to start their own company. Subsequently, Blackburn and his acquaintances established Avalanche in October 1995, with Blackburn becoming the company's president.


title: Avalanche Software

text: On April 19, 2005, Buena Vista Games (later called Disney Interactive Studios), the video game publishing arm of The Walt Disney Company, announced that it had acquired Avalanche for an undisclosed price. Buena Vista Games established a sister studio to Avalanche, Fall Line Studio, in November 2006. The studio was merged into Avalanche in January 2009. In January 2013, Avalanche unveiled the toys-to-life cross-platform game "Disney Infinity". On May 10, 2016, due to a lack of growth in the toys-to-life market and increasing development costs, Disney discontinued "Disney Infinity" and closed down Disney Interactive Studios, including Avalanche. Many former Avalanche workers were hired by castAR to create a new studio in Salt Lake City.


title: Avalanche Software

text: On January 24, 2017, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced that it had acquired and re-opened the studio, with Blackburn returning as its chief executive officer. The studio's first title under the new ownership was "". It is set to release its first independent title since 25 to Life and after the acquisition, "Hogwarts Legacy", in 2023, which was announced at the PlayStation 5 event in September 2020. It will be released for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.


title: Avalanche Software

text: Hogwarts Legacy is scheduled to be released in 2023 as Avalanche's first independent game since it was acquired by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The open-world action role-playing game is to be published by the publisher Portkey Games, which also belongs to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game was officially announced as part of the PlayStation 5 Showcase on September 16, 2020 and was subsequently named "Star of the Evening" by the daily newspaper Die Welt.


title: The Garden of Words

text: The film focuses on Takao Akizuki, an aspiring 15-year-old shoemaker, and Yukari Yukino, a mysterious 27-year-old woman he keeps meeting at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden on rainy mornings. While Takao is skipping his morning class to design shoes, Yukari is avoiding work due to personal problems in her professional life. Yukari tells Takao nothing about herself, including her name, while Takao opens up to her, sharing his passion for shoes by offering to make a pair for her. When Takao learns Yukari's identity, emotions come to a head as both learn that they have been teaching each other "how to walk". Shinkai wrote the story as a tale of "lonely sadness", based on the meaning of the traditional Japanese word for "love", and uses shoes as a metaphor for life. The story's motifs include rain, "Man'yōshū" poetry, and the Japanese garden. The age difference between the two main characters and their character traits demonstrate how awkwardly and disjointedly people mature, where even adults sometimes feel no more mature than teenagers, according to Shinkai.


title: The Garden of Words

text: "The Garden of Words" premiered at the Gold Coast Film Festival in Australia on April 28, 2013 and had its general release on May 31, 2013 in Japan. For the Japanese premiere, the film was screened with an animated short called , also directed by Shinkai. "The Garden of Words" had an unusual release schedule since it was released digitally on iTunes the same day as the Japanese theatrical premier, and its DVD and Blu-ray were released while the film was still in theaters, on June 21. The film has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America, Anime Limited in the UK, and Madman Entertainment in Australia. The film performed well in theaters for an extended period of time and was hosted at many local and international film events. It ranked highly on iTunes Store during 2013 and was selected as the Year's Best Animation in iTunes' Best of 2013. It won the 2013 Kobe Theatrical Film Award and awards at the Fantasia International Film Festival and the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film. Online reviews were generally favorable with universal praise of the art, though opinions were mixed regarding the story's length, plot and emotional climax.


title: The Garden of Words

text: "The Garden of Words" opens at the start of the rainy season in Tokyo with , a 15-year-old student and aspiring shoemaker, opting to skip his first class and sketch shoe designs in the garden at Shinjuku Gyoen. There, he encounters , a 27-year-old woman who is skipping work. Yukari bids him farewell with a tanka (a form of Japanese poetry), leaving Takao puzzled as to its origin and meaning. The two continue to encounter each other and socialize in the park on rainy mornings, but never formally introduce themselves. Takao decides to make a pair of shoes in her size. With the end of the rainy season, he stops visiting the park and focuses on his work.


title: The Garden of Words

text: Following summer break, Takao returns to school and spots Yukari, discovering that she is a literature teacher and had been the target of gossip and bullying. To avoid further confrontation, Yukari opted to avoid work and retreat to the park, hoping she would learn to overcome her fears. However, she quits her job and leaves the school. That afternoon, Takao meets Yukari at the park and greets her by reciting the 2,514th poem from the Man'yōshū Japanese poetry collection, the correct response to her tanka, which he found in a classic Japanese literature textbook. After getting soaked by a sudden thunderstorm, both head to Yukari's apartment and spend the afternoon together. When Takao confesses his love, Yukari is moved, but reminds him that she is a teacher and that she is moving back to her hometown on Shikoku. After Takao excuses himself, Yukari realizes her mistake and runs after him. Still upset, Takao angrily takes back what he had said and criticizes her for being so secretive and never opening up to him. Yukari embraces him and the two cry while she explains that their time together in the park had saved her.


title: The Garden of Words

text: The credits show Takao barely passing his final exams, but still working towards his goals, while Yukari moves back to Shikoku and resumes her teaching career. In a post-credits scene, Takao revisits the park that winter, reads a letter from Yukari, places her finished shoes on the bench, then vows that he will find her after he has made progress with his career.


title: The Garden of Words

text: Both the manga and serial novels share differences from the anime-film. In the manga illustrated by Midori Motohashi, scenes were either added or slightly modified from the anime version. For example, after the conclusion of the rainy season, Takao was unable to visit the park during the only rainy morning that summer because he had scheduled to visit the footwear college he wanted to attend, disappointing Yukari who had hoped to see him. At the conclusion of the story, Yukari is seen wearing the shoes Takao had made for her. In the novel, Takao prepared to study abroad in Italy for his cobbling, and had a party with his family. Before he was in Italy, he exchanged letters with Yukari every month or so, and ended up leaving his email address in one of them. Now with each others' email addresses, every message they sent avoided discussing personal issues such as if they were seeing anyone. In May 2018, he had some days off and decided to return to Tokyo, in which he reunited with Yukari at the garden and delivered his promised shoes.


title: The Garden of Words

text: "The Garden of Words" was directed by Makoto Shinkai, who also wrote the original story and screenplay. He was responsible for the storyboards, animation composite, key animation, and editing. According to Shinkai, his numerous roles in the production of his works is due to the small size of the company, and in this film, it allowed him to tailor many elements of the film to more accurately portray his ideas.


title: The Garden of Words

text: The animated film was produced by Shinkai Creative, CoMix Wave Films, and the producer was Noritaka Kawaguchi. Kenichi Tsuchiya was the animation director and was responsible for character design, while Hiroshi Takiguchi was the art director. Planning for the film began in the spring of 2012 and was announced on December 24 of that year. The Japanese release was initially slated for the first half of 2013. Production took only six months, starting with location scouting by Shinkai around Shinjuku. Production officially started after he had created storyboards based on the photos he took.


title: The Garden of Words

text: Shinkai was approached in early 2013 about adapting the material into a manga, which was then done by Midori Motohashi. In April, Shinkai stated that he was not contributing to the adaptation, leaving the work entirely to the manga artist. However, he did express interest in seeing the finished product.


title: The Garden of Words

text: According to Shinkai's announcement of the film early during its production, "The Garden of Words" was his first attempt at making a love story using the traditional Japanese meaning of "love". During the era of the Man'yōshū, the native Japanese words today known as were starting to be written using kanji, and the word for "love", "koi" (today written 恋) was written as 孤悲, or "lonely sadness". As noted by Shinkai, a more modern concept of "romance", represented by , came about by Western influence. "The Garden of Words" emphasizes the original meaning of "koi"—a "longing for someone in solitude"—but in a modern setting. Loneliness is the central element of the film, according to Shinkai. In an interview, he said he created the film with the hope of cheering up people who feel lonely or incomplete in their social relations. However, he made a point that "this movie doesn't treat loneliness as something that must be fixed."


title: The Garden of Words

text: Although the story's central theme is loneliness, it uses shoes and rain as motifs, along with Man'yōshū poetry and the Japanese garden in which it is set. Although rain is typically seen as sad and gloomy, in "The Garden of Words" it makes the world more vivid and protects the two main characters from the reality of their lives and the limitations imposed by society. Shinkai also noted a parallel between love and rain—that neither can be controlled or stopped.


title: The Garden of Words

text: According to Shinkai, shoes were a metaphor for life as Yukari learned to walk again, while Takao's shoe-making typified their relationship. Similarly, Yukari's choice of food and beverages—initially beer and chocolate, due to a stress-induced taste disorder—was a metaphor for her emotional health.