title: Leah

text: Prior to her and Rachel's mentioning, the Book of Genesis details how their first cousin and future husband, Jacob, with the help of his mother, Rebecca, willfully deceives his dying father, Isaac, into giving him his twin brother Esau's birthright. Fearful of his brother's wrath, Jacob flees his homeland for Haran, where he meets his maternal family, including Laban and his daughters. Biblical passages are dismissive of Leah and favorable of Rachel, with Rachel said to be beautiful and of Leah, only that she had "weary", "tired" or "tender" eyes. Jacob is eager to marry Rachel and agrees to provide seven years' labor to her father if he can marry her. Laban initially agrees but, on the night of what would've been Jacob and Rachel's wedding, Laban reneges; he insists Jacob marry Leah instead, as she is older. Jacob is ultimately allowed to marry Rachel, which he does immediately after the festivities related to his wedding to Leah end, in exchange for another seven years' labor.


title: Leah

text: Leah's life as Jacob's wife was distressful. So lonely was she that even the Lord took notice of it and blessed her with many children as consolation. Due to the extreme emotional distress suffered by both Leah (and Rachel) during the marriage, Yahweh later strictly clarified his opposition to uncovering the nakedness of a woman and her sister while both were still living (Genesis 30:1, Leviticus 18:18).


title: Leah

text: Despite Rachel's infertility, Jacob still favored Rachel over her. He also favored Rachel's sons, Joseph and Benjamin, over Leah's, and made no attempts to hide that from her or his other children. According to 1 Chronicles 5:1, Jacob took the firstborn's birthright, which entitles a firstborn to a larger inheritance in Jewish law, from Reuben, his oldest son, to Joseph, who was his second-youngest son, and, in Genesis 33:2, when he is confronted by Esau, puts Leah, along with Zilpah and Bilhah and all of their sons, in front of himself, Rachel, and Joseph, to be used as something of a buffer or a shield to protect himself in the event the confrontation turned violent. Even after Rachel's death, Leah's situation did not improve, as Jacob took Bilhah, Rachel's handmaiden, as his primary partner.


title: Leah

text: The Torah introduces Leah by describing her with the phrase, "Leah had tender eyes" () (Genesis 29:17). It is argued as to whether the adjective "tender" () should be taken to mean "delicate and soft" or "weary".


title: Leah

text: The commentary of Rashi cites a Rabbinic interpretation of how Leah's eyes became weak. According to this story, Leah was destined to marry Jacob's older twin brother, Esau. In the Rabbinic mind, the two brothers are polar opposites; Jacob being a God-fearing scholar and Esau being a hunter who also indulges in idolatry and adultery. But people were saying, "Laban has two daughters and his sister, Rebekah, has two sons. The older daughter (Leah) will marry the older son (Esau), and the younger daughter (Rachel) will marry the younger son (Jacob)." Hearing this, Leah spent most of her time weeping and praying to God to change her destined mate. Thus the Torah describes her eyes as "soft" from weeping. God hearkens to Leah's tears and prayers and allows her to marry Jacob even before Rachel does.


title: Leah

text: Leah becomes Jacob's wife through a deception on the part of her father, Laban. In the Biblical account, Jacob is dispatched to the hometown of Labanthe brother of his mother Rebekahto avoid being killed by his brother Esau, and to find a wife. Out by the well, he encounters Laban's younger daughter Rachel tending her father's sheep, and decides to marry her. Laban is willing to give Rachel's hand to Jacob as long as he works seven years for her.


title: Leah

text: On the wedding night, however, Laban switches Leah for Rachel. Later Laban claims that it is uncustomary to give the younger daughter away in marriage before the older one (Genesis 29:16–30). Laban offers to give Rachel to Jacob in marriage in return for another seven years of work (Genesis 29:27). Jacob accepts the offer and marries Rachel after the week-long celebration of his marriage to Leah.


title: Leah

text: Leah was the mother of six of Jacob's sons, including his first four (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah), and later two more (Issachar and Zebulun), and a daughter (Dinah). According to the scriptures, God saw that Leah was "unloved" and opened her womb as consolation. Through her sons Levi and Judah, she is thus the matriarch of both the priestly (Levite) and royal (Judahite) tribes in Israel.


title: Leah

text: Seeing that she was unable to conceive, Rachel offered her handmaid Bilhah to Jacob, and named and raised the two sons (Dan and Naphtali) that Bilhah gave birth to. Leah responded by offering her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob, and named and raised the two sons (Gad and Asher) that Zilpah gave birth to. According to some commentaries, Bilhah and Zilpah are actually half-sisters of Leah and Rachel.


title: Leah

text: One day, Leah's firstborn son Reuben returned from the field with mandrakes for his mother. Leah had not conceived for a while, and the plant, whose roots resemble the human body, was thought to be an aid to fertility. Frustrated that she was not able to conceive at all, Rachel offered to trade her night with their husband with Leah in return for the mandrakes. Leah agreed, and that night she slept with Jacob and conceived Issachar. Afterwards she gave birth to Zebulun and to a daughter, Dinah. After that, God remembered Rachel and gave her two sons, Joseph and Benjamin.


title: Leah

text: On a homiletical level, the classic Chassidic texts explain the sisters' rivalry as more than marital jealousy. Each woman desired to grow spiritually in her (service of God), and therefore sought closeness to the (Jacob) who is God's personal emissary in this world. By marrying Jacob and bearing his sons, who would be raised in the 's home and continue his mission into the next generation (indeed, all 12 sons became in their own right and formed the foundation of the Nation of Israel), they would develop an even closer relationship to God. Therefore, Leah and Rachel each wanted to have as many of those sons as possible, going so far as to offer their handmaids as proxies to Jacob so they could have a share in the upbringing of their handmaids' sons, too.


title: Leah

text: Each woman also continually questioned whether she was doing enough in her personal efforts toward increased spirituality, and would use the other's example to spur herself on. Rachel envied Leah's tearful prayers, by which she merited to marry the and bear six of his twelve sons. The Talmud ("Megillah" 13b) says that Rachel revealed to Leah the secret signs which she and Jacob had devised to identify the veiled bride, because they both suspected Laban would pull such a trick.


title: Leah

text: Leah died some time before Jacob (according to Genesis 49:31). She is thought to be buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron alongside Jacob. This cave also houses the graves of Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebekah.


title: Leah

text: In medieval Christian symbolism, Rachel was taken as a symbol of the contemplative (monastic) Christian life, and Leah as a symbol of the active (non-monastic) life. Dante Alighieri's "Purgatorio" includes a dream of Rachel and Leah, which inspired illustrations by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others:


title: Jessie T. Usher

text: Jessie T. Usher Jr. (born February 29, 1992) is an American actor. Known for playing Lyle on the Cartoon Network series "Level Up", Cam Calloway on the Starz television series "Survivor's Remorse", and Reggie Franklin / A-Train in the Amazon Prime Video series "The Boys". His film appearances include "When the Game Stands Tall" (2014), "Teenage" (2014), "" (2016), "Shaft" (2019), and "Smile" (2022).


title: Jessie T. Usher

text: Usher was born the son of Jessie T. and Judith Usher in Silver Spring, Maryland. Usher showed an interest in acting at the age of five after his sister Jesstia booked a TV commercial. His first acting job was an Oscar Mayer commercial. In 2003, the family relocated to Los Angeles to help further Usher's career. He graduated from high school at the age of 15. Usher joined Alpha Gamma Sigma and studied culinary arts in community college.


title: Jessie T. Usher

text: Usher's first professional acting job was in an episode of CBS's "Without a Trace" in 2005. In 2007, he appeared in an episode of the Disney Channel original series "Hannah Montana". In 2011, Usher starred in the Cartoon Network television film "Level Up". The film spawned a television series in which Usher would reprise his role as Lyle Hugginson which lasted two seasons. He later voiced American Boy in the 2013 documentary "Teenage". In 2014, Usher appeared in the film "When the Game Stands Tall". In March 2014, Usher was cast as the lead in "Survivor's Remorse", executive produced by NBA superstar LeBron James. The series premiered in October 2014.


title: Jessie T. Usher

text: In 2016, Usher appeared in "". Later that year, Usher co-starred in the Christmas themed comedy-drama "Almost Christmas" opposite Danny Glover and Kimberly Elise. In 2019, Usher played the lead in a sequel to the 1971 film "Shaft", starring as the son of Samuel L. Jackson's character from the 2000 film, and the grandson of the original Shaft, played by Richard Roundtree.


title: Jessie T. Usher

text: In January 2018, it was announced that Usher has been cast as A-Train in the Amazon Studios series "The Boys", which is based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic book with the same name.


The 2022 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine was a multi-event, Formula Regional open-wheel single seater motor racing championship held across Europe. The championship featured a mix of professional and amateur drivers, competing in Formula Regional cars that conform to the FIA Formula Regional regulations for the championship. This was the fourth season of the championship and the second after a merger with Formula Renault Eurocup which resulted to the change of the engine supplier to Alpine. The season commenced on 22 April at Autodromo Nazionale Monza and concluded on 23 October at Mugello Circuit, after ten rounds.


title: 2022 Formula Regional European Championship

text: Prema Racing won their third teams' championship at Barcelona, with two races to spare. Their driver Dino Beganovic won the drivers' championship, with one race to spare. Leonardo Fornaroli, driving for Trident, won the rookie title.


text: Twelve teams were pre-selected on 12 November 2021; JD Motorsport's entry and assets were taken over by Trident. On 23 February 2022, new team Race Performance Motorsport was announced to have taken over DR Formula's entry.


text: The fourth season of the championship began in late April at Monza with Dino Beganovic on pole for the wet season opener. He kept the lead at the start, while Lorenzo Fluxá next to him dropped back behind Gabriele Minì and Michael Belov, before repassing the Russian. A collision in turn one resulted in the first safety car. On the restart, Belov got Fluxá back while Minì collided with Beganovic, destroying his front wing and with it his chances for a points finish. The top three remained unchanged for the rest of the race, untroubled by two further safety car periods. Paul Aron claimed pole for the second race, and led from the start ahead of Minì, who was overtaken by Beganovic at the start. Aron's lead remained steady, he mastered two safety cars, one mid-race and one close to the end. Beganovic kept close to Aron, but was not able to challenge the leader. Still, his second place together with his win the day before meant he took the championship lead, 15 points ahead of Belov. Sebastián Montoya led the rookie standings.


text: The championship stayed in Italy, visiting Imola next, where Minì won pole for race one. He kept the lead all throughout a disrupted race: first, the race was stopped for Sami Meguetounif, who crashed heavy and had to be taken to hospital. On the restart, Beganovic claimed second place from Mari Boya, while leader Minì was handed a ten-second time penalty for a false start. Two more safety cars and another red flag, this time for Axel Gnos, saw the race to its end, promoting Beganovic to the win and Aron to the podium. Minì bounced back the day after to take another pole position. A safety car start for damp conditions saw him control the start ahead of Tim Tramnitz in second, before the German was passed by Beganovic, and then by Kas Haverkort, who would later lose his podium to Gabriel Bortoleto after a penalty for a technical fault. A sudden thunderstorm caused a three-car crash and a red flag, and Minì controlled the restart to claim the win. Beganovic's championship advantage rose to 38 points from Aron.


text: Round three supported the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix, and one qualifying session was held, where Hadrien David and Beganovic claimed pole for the two races. David held the lead in race one, and there were little changes to the order before the red flag was thrown when the track was blocked by Esteban Masson at the Fairmont Hairpin. When the race restarted, passing remained tricky, so Beganovic could do nothing but follow David to the finish to grab his fifth top-two finish in a row. Haverkort came third, having held back Minì all race long. Race two saw the top pair reversed, with Beganovic leading David, before two separate crashes for Roman Bilinski and Macéo Capietto brought out the safety car. There were a few little fights with slight contact further down the field, but almost no passes were made, and the top trio of Beganovic, David and Minì held position until the finish. David's great weekend saw him grab second in the standings, but Beganovic's lead now stood at 55 points over the rest of the field.


text: A week later, Paul Ricard hosted the next round, and Beganovic started the first race on pole. He kept Bortoleto behind at the start, before Joshua Dufek crashed and caused a safety car. On the restart, Aron in third managed to pass Bortoleto. The Prema pair gapped the field fighting for the win, and eventually Aron was able to pass his teammate. On the last lap, Bortoleto in third had to relinquish his podium to Belov. Race two saw Minì on pole, surviving another first-lap safety car ahead of Beganovic, who had already passed Bortoleto. The lead group was close together all race, before another safety car neutralised the race, leaving a short dash to the finish. Beganovic pressured the leader, but was not able to make a move, so came second behind Minì and ahead of Haverkort. His run of now eight top-two finishes was brought to an end however, as his car was found to be non-compliant and he was excluded from race two. This gifted Aron a podium, but Beganovic's championship lead was still 45 points over Minì.


text: The first half of the season concluded at Zandvoort with Aron winning the first qualifying. He held David back at the start and kept a consistent gap to the Frenchman, before coming under attack in the latter stages of the race. Keith Donegan had an incident in turn two that resulted in a late safety car, but David was not able to make a move on the leader during the restart. Behind the pair, Haverkort held back Minì to complete the podium. David later lost his podium when he was penalized for misuse of the push-to-pass system. Qualifying for race two again saw Aron come out on top. He was once again strong in the race, holding the lead from Beganovic as Minì jumped from fifth to third before a red flag was thrown when Pietro Delli Guanti's car flew over the barrier at Hugenholtzbocht. Through the rest of the race, Minì passed Beganovic for second, but Aron's lead was uncontested. He completed a perfect weekend, his two wins earned him second in the standings and cut Beganovic's lead down to 36 points.


text: Next, the series travelled to the Hungaroring, where Haverkort picked up his maiden pole position in first qualifying. He controlled the start, as Aron in second got overtaken by Minì, before he got pushed off by Dufek and fell down the order. Dufek was then passed himself by Roman Bilinski and Leonardo Fornaroli. This order then settled down and remained the same until the end, earning Haverkort his maiden win in the series. Race two began with David on pole alongside Minì, with the Italian getting overtaken by Bortoleto around turn one, who then tried to pass David for the lead, but failed. This order remained until Joshua Dürksen crashed, bringing out a safety car and setting the field up for a late restart. This was where Minì quickly passed Bortoleto for second before the safety car was called again and the race ended behind it. Beganovic had a rare off-day, qualifying twelfth, then having a troubled race and finishing 16th. This coupled with two second places for Minì meant his lead was slashed to only nine points.


text: Spa-Francorchamps played host to round six of the championship, and Beganovic was back on form, taking pole for race one. He held off pressure from Minì in second at the start, and had no pressure from then on. Shortly before the end, Minì had a puncture that ended his race. He would have lost his second place, were it not for a timely red flag called two laps later, with the results declared from lap 12 and Minì in second. Third was Meguetounif, fighting with Aron all race. After the race, Minì was disqualified on technical grounds, promoting Eduardo Barrichello to his maiden podium. Race two saw Aron on pole, before getting passed by David, Bortoleto and Beganovic. David was first over the line, but the stewards judged his pass for the lead to be made under yellow flags, handing him a penalty and thereby giving Bortoleto the win. A win and a podium meant Beganovic could overturn his recent negative trend and grow his points margin to 23 ahead of Minì. The rookie standings were now led by Fornaroli.


text: After the summer break, racing returned at Spielberg with Aron on pole for race one. Heavy rain disrupted the race start and caused a stoppage. On the restart, many drivers, including the lead group, soon pitted for dry tires. This left Barrichello in the lead, before getting passed by returnee Pierre-Louis Chovet, while Haverkort had moved up from 12th on the grid to second. A safety car was then brought out when Aron and Montoya collided after pitting. While slick tires initially were faster than rain tires, returning rain meant the advantage of the dry tires was gone. On the restart Haverkort and Dufek went past Chovet to finish first and second. The second race also was not very straightforward, disrupted by three safety car periods. David was still able to keep his competition behind, leading from pole until the end and leaving Beganovic and Dufek to fight each other behind, the pair eventually finishing in that same order. Two podiums for Beganovic to none for Minì meant the Swede built up his points gap to 53.


text: The penultimate round of the season was held at Barcelona, and Aron was once again on pole for the first race. He held off Dilano van 't Hoff at the start, who had to defend from Barrichello and David. Over the race, David was able to dispatch third and second place and began closing in on Aron. Through the last three laps, Aron repeatedly came under attack from David, but was able to keep the frenchman behind and win the race. Qualifying for race two saw Bortoleto grab his maiden pole. David started third and was able to get by Chovet straight away, but his attempt to gain the race lead was interrupted by the safety car being called. On the restart, Bortoleto initially gapped David, but the latter managed to close the gap again, with the pair fighting for a few laps until another safety car was called late in the race and the race ended under yellow flag conditions. Beganovic had a mediocre weekend, with only one points finish, so his gap to Minì dropped to 38 points, leaving the championship to be decided at Mugello.


text: The championship decider at Mugello began with Aron on pole for race one and Beganovic needing at least fourth place to seal the title. Aron ran a flawless lights-to-flag race to get maximum points, but was not able to deny Beganovic his championship. The Swede started third and drove with his championship in mind, not attacking Victor Bernier in second all too aggressively. He held on to fourth after Dufek passed him on a late safety car restart, thereby clinching his first single-seater title. Bortoleto was on pole for the final race of the season. Minì started third and had to win with Aron not scoring to secure second in the championship. He dispatched Dufek right at the start and gained the lead after the first third of the race. From then on, he controlled the race, while Aron started 16th and came home pointless, ceding second in the standings to Minì by a single point. Dufek in fourth was on course to win the rookie title, before an error on a safety car restart saw him drop to seventh, giving Fornaroli in eighth the title.


text: Beganovic's consistency was the key for his championship, only failing to score points on three occasions, as well as his very strong start to the season that saw him finish in the top two for the first seven races in a row. Minì and Aron both had stretches where they seemed able to close up to Beganovic, but his early advantage meant he led the standings from the first race until the end. In the fight for the rookie title, Montoya had the strongest start, but a run of eight pointless races in the end saw him drop to third. Entry numbers never dropped below 35, showing continually high interest in the championship. The introduction of a push-to-pass system proved to better competition, although still held back somewhat by the heavy Tatuus chassis.


text: For teams entering more than two cars only the two best-finishing cars were eligible to score points in the teams' championship.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the 8th-largest state in Germany by area and the 11th-largest by population. Its capital is Magdeburg and its largest city is Halle (Saale).


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: The state of Saxony-Anhalt was formed in July 1945 after World War II, when the Soviet army administration in Allied-occupied Germany formed it from the former Prussian Province of Saxony and the Free State of Anhalt. Saxony-Anhalt became part of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, but was dissolved in 1952 during administrative reforms and its territory divided into the districts of Halle and Magdeburg. Following German reunification the state of Saxony-Anhalt was re-established in 1990 and became one of the new states of the Federal Republic of Germany.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: Saxony-Anhalt is renowned for its rich cultural heritage and possesses the highest concentration of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Germany.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: Saxony-Anhalt is one of 16 constituent states of Germany. It is located in the western part of eastern Germany. By size, it is the 8th largest state in Germany and by population, it is the 11th largest.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: It borders four other states: Brandenburg to the north-east, Saxony to the south-east, Thuringia to the south-west and Lower Saxony to the north-west.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: In the north, the Saxony-Anhalt landscape is dominated by the flat expanse of the North German Plain. The old Hanseatic towns Salzwedel, Gardelegen, Stendal and Tangermünde are located in the sparsely populated Altmark. The Colbitz-Letzlingen Heath and the Drömling near Wolfsburg mark the transition between the Altmark region and the Elbe-Börde-Heath region with its fertile, sparsely wooded Magdeburg Börde. Notable towns in the Magdeburg Börde are Haldensleben, Oschersleben (Bode), Wanzleben, Schönebeck (Elbe), Aschersleben and the capital Magdeburg, from which the Börde derives its name.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: The Harz mountains are located in the south-west, comprising the Harz National Park, the Harz Foreland and Mansfeld Land. The highest mountain of the Harz (and of Northern Germany) is Brocken, with an elevation of 1,141 meters (3,735 ft). In this area, one can find the towns of Halberstadt, Wernigerode, Thale, Eisleben and Quedlinburg.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: The wine-growing area Saale-Unstrut and the towns of Zeitz, Naumburg (Saale), Weißenfels and Freyburg (Unstrut) are located on the rivers Saale and Unstrut in the south of the state.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: The metropolitan area of Halle (Saale) forms an agglomeration with Leipzig in Saxony. This area is known for its highly developed chemical industry (the "Chemiedreieck" – chemical triangle), with major production plants at Leuna, Schkopau ("Buna-Werke") and Bitterfeld. Finally, in the east, Dessau-Roßlau and Wittenberg are situated on the Elbe (as is the capital Magdeburg) in the Anhalt-Wittenberg region.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: The capital of Saxony-Anhalt is Magdeburg. It is the second-largest city in the state, closely after Halle (Saale). From 1994 to 2003, the state was divided into three regions ("Regierungsbezirke"), Dessau, Halle and Magdeburg and, below the regional level, 21 districts ("Landkreise"). Since 2004, however, this system has been replaced by 11 rural districts and three urban districts.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: Saxony-Anhalt is a federal state with a relatively short history, if compared to other German federal states. It was formed in 1945 out of former Prussian territories and mainly consists of three distinct historical regions: the area around Magdeburg, the formerly independent Anhalt and a southern part which once was part of Saxony but had been annexed by Prussia in the 19th century. This historical origin can still be seen in the coat of arms of the federal state.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: In April 1945 the US Army took control of most of the western and northern area of the future Saxony-Anhalt. The "U.S. Group Control Council, Germany" (a precursor of the OMGUS) appointed the first non-Nazi officials in leading positions in the area. Erhard Hübener, put on leave by the Nazis, was reappointed Landeshauptmann (state governor). By early July the US Army withdrew from the former Prussian Province of Saxony to make way for the Red Army to take it as part of the Soviet occupation zone, as agreed by the London Protocol in 1944.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: On 9 July the Soviet SVAG ordered the merger of the Free State of Anhalt, Halle-Merseburg, the governorate of Magdeburg (in its then borders), Allstedt (before Thuringia) and some Brunswickian eastern exclaves and salients (Calvörde and the eastern part of the former Blankenburg district) with the Province of Saxony. The previously Saxon Erfurt governorate had become a part of Thuringia.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: "Anhalt" takes its name from Anhalt Castle near Harzgerode; the origin of the name of the castle remains unknown. Anhalt was once an independent German federal state dating back for centuries.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: The SVAG appointed Hübener as president of the provincial Saxon administration, a newly created function. The administration was seated in Halle an der Saale, which became the capital, also of later Saxony-Anhalt until 1952. On 3 September 1945 the new administration enacted by Soviet-inspired ordinance the mass expropriations, mostly hitting holders of large real estates, often of noble descent.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: On the occasion of the first (and one and only) election in the Soviet zone, allowing parties truly to compete for seats in provincial and state parliaments, on 20 October 1946, the Province of Saxony was renamed as the Province of Saxony-Anhalt (""), taking the prior merger into account. On 3 December 1946 the members of the new provincial parliament elected Hübener the first minister-president of Saxony-Anhalt with the votes of CDU and Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD). Thus he became the only governor in the Soviet zone, who was not a member of the communist Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). He was an inconvenient governor for the Soviet rulers.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: After the official Allied decision to dissolve the Free State of Prussia, which had remained in limbo since the Prussian coup of 1932, its former provinces, in as far as they still existed, achieved statehood, thus the province emerged into the "State of Saxony-Anhalt" on 6 October 1947. It became part of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in 1949. From 1952 on the East German states were dissolved, and Saxony-Anhalt's territory was divided into the East German districts of Halle and Magdeburg, except that the territory around Torgau was assigned to Leipzig. In 1990, in the course of German reunification, the districts were reintegrated as a state. But, territory around Torgau did not return to the state and joined Saxony. Now, Torgau is the centre of Nordsachsen district (since 2008).


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: In 2015 the skeletal remains of an ancient inhabitant of Karsdorf dated from the Early Neolithic (7200 BP) were analysed; he turned out to belong to the paternal T1a-M70 lineage and maternal lineage H1.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: Since German reunification, there has been a continuous downward trend in the population of Saxony-Anhalt. This is partly due to outward migration and partly because the death rate exceeds the birth rate. Although the birth rate has been steady since 1994, the net reproduction rate is only approximately 70%. However, the total fertility rate reached 1.50 in 2014, the highest value since 1990.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: The region has historically been associated with the Lutheran faith, but under Communist rule, church membership was strongly discouraged and much of the population disassociated itself from any religious body. Saxony-Anhalt contains many sites tied to Martin Luther's life, including Lutherstadt Eisleben and Lutherstadt Wittenberg.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: In 2018, the majority of citizens in Saxony-Anhalt were irreligious and more were leaving the churches than entering them – in fact, Saxony-Anhalt is the most irreligious state in Germany. Of the Saxon-Anhaltish, 15.2% adhered to the major denominations of Christianity (11.9% were members of the Evangelical Church in Germany and 3.3% were Catholics), 2% were members of other religions (mostly Islam, Judaism, the New Apostolic Church and Mandeism). Of the citizens of Saxony-Anhalt, 82.8% were religiously unaffiliated. As of July 2019 there were 1,892 Jehovah's Witnesses (publishers) in Sachsen-Anhalt. Originally their branch office for Germany was in Magdeburg. When World War II ended in 1945, the property in Magdeburg, then part of East Germany, was returned and the branch was reestablished. But on 30 August 1950 Communist police stormed the facilities and arrested the workers, and the Jehovah's Witnesses in the German Democratic Republic (DDR) were banned.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: The percentage of foreigners in Saxony-Anhalt was 4.9 percent by 31 December 2018, the third lowest among the 16 states of Germany (together with Saxony and Thuringia).


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: Minister-president Reiner Haseloff (CDU) retained his position in a coalition with former partner SPD and newly the FDP. Before the election the coalition had consisted of the CDU, SPD and Greens.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: The gross domestic product (GDP) of the state was 62.7 billion euros in 2018, which accounts for 1.9% of Germany's total economic output and ranks 13th among the 16 German states. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 26,000 euros or 86% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 88% of the EU average. The GDP per capita was the second lowest of all German states.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: Saxony-Anhalt was part of the communist German Democratic Republic. After the breakdown of communism and the German reunification in 1990, the collapse of non-competitive former GDR industries temporarily caused severe economic problems. In 2000, Saxony-Anhalt had the highest unemployment rate of all German states, at 20.2%.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: However, the process of economic transformation towards a modern market economy seems to be completed. Massive investments in modern infrastructure have taken place since 1990, and the remaining and newly created businesses are highly competitive. For example, the industry has doubled its share of international revenue from 13 percent in 1995 to 26 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has fallen considerably. By 2010 the GDP of Saxony-Anhalt was almost two and a half times higher than it was in 1991.


title: Saxony-Anhalt

text: Even though part of this recovery was induced by the quite good performance of the Germany economy, Saxony-Anhalt did not only follow the national trend, but clearly outperformed other German states. For example, it got ahead of three German states in terms of unemployment (10.8%, as of September 2011): the German capital and city-state of Berlin (12.7%), the city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (11.3%) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (11%).


title: Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll

text: Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll, (28 August 1937 – 21 April 2001), styled Marquess of Lorne between 1949 and 1973, was a Scottish peer and Chief of Clan Campbell. He was the 12th Duke of Argyll in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and Lord Lieutenant of Argyll and Bute.


title: Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll

text: In 1953, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, earning the rank of captain. Following his military service he worked in banking, then spent four years as a sales executive with Rank Xerox Export, regularly travelling behind the Iron Curtain. In 1968 he took over running the dukedom's Inveraray Castle estate for his father.


title: Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll

text: The Campbell family descends from Gillespic Cambel, who some nine centuries ago acquired lands in the barony of Lochow, Co Argyll, by marriage to his cousin Aife, daughter and heir of Paul an Sporran, Royal Treasurer and last of the Clan O'Duin, descended of Diarmid. From the 13th century the Lochow Campbells held the title of Mac Cailein Mhor, Chief of Clan Campbell.


title: Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll

text: In 1291, Sir Colin Campbell, of Lochow, was one of the nominees, on the part of Robert the Bruce, in the contest for the Crown of Scotland. Sir Duncan Campbell, of Lochow, became a Lord of Parliament as Lord Campbell under James II in 1445. His son Colin, the 2nd Lord Campbell, was created Earl of Argyll in 1457. The 10th Earl was advanced to the rank of Duke in the peerage of Scotland in 1701. Argyll was the son of Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, and his second wife, Louise Hollingsworth Morris Clews.


title: Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll

text: On the death of his father in 1973, Argyll became a member of the board of directors of three distilleries and in 1977 became Chairman of Beinn Bhuidhe Holdings Ltd. in 1977. He was invested as a Knight of the Order of St. John in 1975. Married in 1964 to Iona Mary Colquhoun, daughter of Sir Ivar Colquhoun, 8th Baronet, the couple had a son Torquhil Ian Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll and a daughter Lady Louise Iona Campbell, now Lady Louise Burrell. They lived at Inveraray Castle in Argyll. While most Dukes and Duchesses of Argyll are buried at Kilmun Parish Church, the 12th Duke and his father, the 11th Duke, both chose to be buried on the island of Inishail in Loch Awe. Iona, Duchess of Argyll, and her daughter Lady Louise are both Patronesses of the Royal Caledonian Ball.


title: Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll

text: He was brought up in Portugal and France, educated at Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland and Glenalmond College in Scotland before going on to McGill University in Canada where he studied engineering.


title: Kilometre

text: The kilometre (SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for expressing distances between geographical places on land in most of the world; notable exceptions are the United States and the United Kingdom where the statute mile is the unit used.


title: Kilometre

text: The abbreviations k or K (pronounced ) are commonly used to represent kilometre, but are not recommended by the BIPM. A slang term for the kilometre in the US, UK, and Canadian militaries is "klick".


title: Kilometre

text: The first pronunciation follows a pattern in English whereby metric units are pronounced with the stress on the first syllable (as in kilogram, kilojoule and kilohertz) and the pronunciation of the actual base unit does not change irrespective of the prefix (as in centimetre, millimetre, nanometre and so on). It is generally preferred by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).


title: Kilometre

text: Many other users, particularly in countries where the metric system is not widely used, use the second pronunciation with stress on the second syllable. The second pronunciation follows the stress pattern used for the names of measuring instruments (such as "micrometer", "barometer", "thermometer", "tachometer" and "speedometer"). The contrast is even more obvious in countries which use the Commonwealth spelling rather than American spelling of the word "metre". This pronunciation is irregular because this makes the kilometre the only SI unit in which the stress is on the second syllable.


title: Kilometre

text: When Australia introduced the metric system in 1975, the first pronunciation was declared official by the government's Metric Conversion Board. However, the Australian prime minister at the time, Gough Whitlam, insisted that the second pronunciation was the correct one because of the Greek origins of the two parts of the word.


title: Kilometre

text: By a decree of 8 May 1790, the French National Constituent Assembly ordered the French Academy of Sciences to develop a new measurement system. In August 1793, the French National Convention decreed the metre as the sole length measurement system in the French Republic and it was based on millionth of the distance from the orbital poles (either North or South) to the Equator, this being a truly internationally based unit. The first name of the kilometre was "Millaire".


title: Kilometre

text: Although the metre was formally defined in 1799, the myriametre ( metres) was preferred to the "kilometre" for everyday use. The term ""myriamètre"" appeared a number of times in the text of Develey's book "Physique d'Emile: ou, Principes de la science de la nature", (published in 1802), while the term "kilometre" only appeared in an appendix. French maps published in 1835 had scales showing "myriametres" and ""lieues de Poste" (Postal leagues of about  metres).


title: Kilometre

text: The Dutch, on the other hand, adopted the kilometre in 1817 but gave it the local name of the "mijl". It was only in 1867 that the term ""kilometer" became the only official unit of measure in the Netherlands to represent  metres.


title: Kilometre

text: Two German textbooks dated 1842 and 1848 respectively give a snapshot of the use of the kilometre across Europe: the kilometre was in use in the Netherlands and in Italy, and the myriametre was in use in France.


title: Kilometre

text: In 1935, the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) officially abolished the prefix "myria-" and with it the "myriametre", leaving the kilometre as the recognised unit of length for measurements of that magnitude.


title: Kilometre

text: Some sporting disciplines feature (one-kilometre) races in major events (such as the Olympic Games). In some disciplines—although world records are catalogued—one-kilometre events remain a minority.


title: Hart to Hart

text: Hart to Hart is an American mystery television series that premiered on August 25, 1979, on ABC. The show stars Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, respectively, a wealthy couple who lead a glamorous jetset lifestyle and regularly find themselves working as unpaid detectives in order to solve crimes in which they become embroiled. The series was created by novelist and television writer Sidney Sheldon. The series ended after five seasons on May 22, 1984, but was followed by eight made-for-television movies, from 1993 to 1996.


title: Hart to Hart

text: The premise of the show is summed up in the opening credits sequence, narrated by Max, the Harts' majordomo (Lionel Stander), as he introduces the characters:


title: Hart to Hart

text: Jonathan Hart (Robert Wagner) is the CEO of Hart Industries, a global conglomerate based in Los Angeles. His wife Jennifer (Stefanie Powers) is a freelance journalist. Living the jetset lifestyle, the Harts often find themselves involved in cases of smuggling, theft, corporate and international espionage and, most commonly, murder. At their opulent Bel Air estate, they are assisted by Max (Lionel Stander), their shared mansion's loyal, gravel-voiced majordomo, who also helps with their cases. The Harts's beloved pet dog is a Löwchen called Freeway, so named because he was a stray that they found wandering on the freeway. The Harts own a Mercedes-Benz 300 TD diesel wagon, a dark green Rolls Royce Corniche convertible (replacing the Series III Bentley custom cabriolet in the first season), and a yellow Mercedes-Benz SL roadster (1979 450 SL, replaced by a 1981 380 SL) with personalized California vanity plates "3 HARTs", "2 HARTs", and "1 HART" respectively. The opening credits sequence (stock footage drawn from the series pilot) also shows Jonathan Hart driving a red Dino 246 GTS. They also own a Grumman Gulfstream II private jet, which is featured at the start of the opening credits.


title: Hart to Hart

text: Critics have long noted that the premise of "Hart to Hart" strongly resembles that of "The Thin Man" series of 1930s and 1940s films and 1950s "The Thin Man" television series, which also depicted a wealthy and glamorous crime-fighting couple that had a dog, but no children.


title: Hart to Hart

text: Screenwriter and novelist Sidney Sheldon had originally written a script for CBS, titled "Double Twist," in the early 1970s; it was about a married couple who were also both spies. The script remained unfilmed for several years before producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg decided to update the idea for a potential television series. They offered the script to screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, who had by that time written several screenplays, including three of the James Bond films.


title: Hart to Hart

text: Their instruction to Mankiewicz was to update the script to make it more contemporary and viable for a potential weekly series. They also told Mankiewicz that if his draft was successful, he would also be able to direct the pilot episode himself. Mankiewicz reworked Sheldon's original script and it was renamed "Hart to Hart", emphasizing the romantic aspect of the couple. Mankiewicz also made his directorial debut with the pilot episode as planned, and remained a creative consultant to the series afterwards. The first ten episodes were developed by Mankiewicz and the series's original story editor, Bob Shayne.


title: Hart to Hart

text: Spelling's and Goldberg's initial choice for the role of Jonathan Hart was Cary Grant. However, Grant (seventy-five years old at the time) had effectively retired from acting some years earlier; his last film, "Walk, Don't Run," had been released in 1966. They then decided to find a younger actor who might embody the same style, zest and persona that Grant was famous for, and offered the role to Robert Wagner. No one else was seriously considered for the role; George Hamilton had a high profile at the time and was suggested, but Aaron Spelling said that if he was signed for the role, "the audience will resent him as Hart for being that rich. But no one will begrudge RJ [Wagner] a nickel."


title: Hart to Hart

text: ABC wanted Wagner's then-real life wife Natalie Wood to co-star with him as Jennifer Hart, but Wagner did not think it was a good idea. (Wood did make a cameo appearance in the pilot, as an actress playing Scarlett O'Hara.) Initial choices for the role of Jennifer Hart included Suzanne Pleshette, Kate Jackson (months removed from ending a three-year turn starring as detective Sabrina Duncan on "Charlie's Angels") and Lindsay Wagner (no relation), but Wagner suggested Stefanie Powers, who had previously worked with him when she made a guest appearance in an episode of his action-adventure series "It Takes a Thief" in 1970.


title: Hart to Hart

text: Wagner wanted Sugar Ray Robinson to portray Max, but ABC-TV executives were worried about a black man as majordomo for a rich white couple. Eventually they signed Lionel Stander, who had also worked with Wagner in an episode of "It Takes a Thief." In that episode, "King of Thieves," he had also played a character named Max, who was likewise a lifelong friend.


title: Hart to Hart

text: Fashion and jewelry designer Nolan Miller, who later designed the clothes for "Dynasty," was the costume designer for the show.


title: Hart to Hart

text: The ranch-style house used for exterior filming had previously belonged to actors Dick Powell and his wife, June Allyson. Powell was an old friend of both Robert Wagner and Aaron Spelling. The actual estate, known as Amber Hills, is situated on in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles. In the series, the Harts's address is given as 3100 Willow Pond Road, Bel Air: the real address of the house is 3100 Mandeville Canyon Road.


title: Hart to Hart

text: As with most of the Spelling library series under the control of Sony Pictures Television, the series was remastered from the original masters in the 2000s for widescreen high definition presentation. This version of the series is currently a regular part of the schedule for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.


title: Hart to Hart

text: In 1993, almost a decade after the series ended, Wagner and Powers reunited for a series of "Hart to Hart" TV movies. Eight 90-minute telemovies were made in total between 1993 and 1996. The first five aired on NBC; the final three were broadcast on The Family Channel:


title: Hart to Hart

text: Lionel Stander reprised his role as Max in five of the movies before his death from lung cancer on November 30, 1994. His last screen appearance was in "Secrets of the Hart," which aired in March 1995.


title: Hart to Hart

text: In 2002, Alan Cumming was attached to star in a series being developed for ABC that was being touted as a "gay "Hart to Hart."" Titled "Mr and Mr Nash," the planned series featured a gay couple, both interior designers, who "stumble upon a murder each week," but it never went into production. In September of 2015, "Deadline Hollywood" reported that NBC had made a script commitment to a "Hart to Hart" remake series featuring a gay male couple. Written by Christopher Fife and produced by Carol Mendelsohn and Julie Weitz, the new series was described as "a modern and sexy retelling of the classic series that focuses on by-the-book attorney Jonathan Hart and free-spirited investigator Dan Hartman, who must balance the two sides of their life: action-packed crime-solving in the midst of newly found domesticity." But as of late September of 2020, that series was not known to be in production either.


title: Hart to Hart

text: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first two seasons of "Hart to Hart" on DVD in Regions 1 & 2 in 2005/2006.


title: Hart to Hart

text: In 2010/2011, Sony Pictures released all eight TV movies on DVD individually via the Warner Archive Collection. These were Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) releases and are available exclusively through WBShop.com and Amazon.com. On October 2, 2012, Sony released all eight TV movies in two volume collections titled "Hart to Hart: TV Movie Collection, Volume 1" and "Hart to Hart: TV Movie Collection, Volume 2". These are also manufacture-on-demand (MOD) releases, available via Amazon.com, and are part of the Sony Choice Collection.


title: Hart to Hart

text: On September 4, 2014, it was announced that Shout! Factory had acquired the rights to the series for Region 1. They released Season 3 in December 2014, Season 4 in February 2015, the fifth and final season in June 2015, and The Complete Series on May 30, 2017.


title: Hart to Hart

text: On June 6, 2013 (June 7 in the Eastern Time Zone), Adult Swim aired an edition of "The Greatest Event in Television History." Hosted by Jeff Probst, the program went behind the scenes during the making of a shot-for-shot remake of the "Hart to Hart" opening sequence, with Adam Scott and Amy Poehler respectively in the roles of Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, and Horatio Sanz as Max. The remake followed a similar effort in the fall of 2012, adapting the opening credit sequence of "Simon & Simon."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: Voltron: Legendary Defender is an animated mecha series produced by American companies DreamWorks Animation Television and World Events Productions and animated by South Korean studio Mir for Netflix. It is a reboot of the "Voltron" franchise and the Japanese anime series "Beast King GoLion", and its animation is a mix of anime-influenced traditional animation for characters and backgrounds and CGI for Voltron action sequences. "Voltron: Legendary Defender" is set in a science fiction universe where planetary energy called "quintessence" can be used to power vehicles and magic. The series follows the adventures of the Paladins of Voltron who must learn to work together to form the giant robot Voltron and use it to defeat the evil Galra Empire. The series ran from to , having released 78 episodes over 8 seasons.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: "Voltron: Legendary Defender" received generally positive reviews from critics, highlighting the series' writing and visuals. However, the series was involved in various controversies surrounding LGBT representation. The series' success has spawned several comics, action figures, and other toys from Playmates Toys.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: For millennia, the Galra Empire has plagued the universe by destroying civilizations and enslaving various races. The only threat to the empire is the legendary "Defender of the Universe" Voltron, a 328-foot tall robot warrior composed of five lion robots whose pilots are known as Paladins. At the crux of the war that ended with the destruction of planet Altea, King Alfor separated Voltron to protect it from falling into the evil Galra Emperor Zarkon's possession. Alfor bonded the five lions' energies to his daughter Allura's life force and sent them across the universe to different locations until the time for the next generation of Paladins to appear and pilot Voltron arrived. Princess Allura, her royal adviser Coran, and the Altean Castle of Lions were hidden on planet Arus along with the Black Lion.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: In the present, the Galra Empire's path of conquest and search for Voltron has led them to Earth's solar system. A group of space pilots—Shiro, Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk—discover the Blue Lion and immediately get swept up into the Galran War. They meet Princess Allura, become the new Paladins, and reunite the five Lions to form Voltron, beginning their fight to liberate the universe from the Galra Empire.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: On January 5, 2016, Netflix and DreamWorks Animation announced a new original animated "Voltron" series to debut in 2016 as a reboot similar to that of Disney's "Ducktales" reboot, the expansion of their existing multi-year agreement. "Voltron" was one of several series planned for initial development and debut in 2016, including Guillermo del Toro's animated "". Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos, both known for their work on the "" and its sequel "The Legend of Korra", served as showrunners, while fellow crew member Tim Hedrick served as head writer. On March 25, 2016, at WonderCon, it was announced that the voice cast would consist of Steven Yeun as Keith, Jeremy Shada as Lance, Bex Taylor-Klaus as Pidge, Josh Keaton as Shiro, Tyler Labine as Hunk, Kimberly Brooks as Princess Allura, Rhys Darby as Coran, and Neil Kaplan as Emperor Zarkon. Cree Summer later confirmed that she would be voicing Witch Haggar. The first season premiered on June 10, 2016, and consisted of 13 episodes.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: It was announced at San Diego Comic-Con that season two will premiere on Netflix in late 2016. A few months later, at New York Comic Con, it was announced that the second season will premiere on January 20, 2017. The second season saw a special premiere at the New York Comic Con on October 7, 2016, where an episode was shown at the "Voltron" panel. The second season premiered on Netflix on January 20, 2017, and consisted of 13 episodes.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: The third season premiered on Netflix on August 4, 2017, and consisted of 7 episodes. The fourth season premiered in October 2017, and consisted of 6 episodes. The series was revealed at WonderCon 2017 to have a 78-episode commitment from Netflix.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: "Voltron: Legendary Defender" has received widespread critical acclaim throughout its eight-season run. Reviewers and a number of fans have lauded the series’ plot and story arc. Some critics and fans criticized the series for its handling of its LGBT representation. Additionally for most of its run, the series was plagued by poor behavior by a subset of its fans, with a number of fans issuing death threats to both the cast and crew, including Dos Santos and Montgomery, over decisions and reactions related to representation and "shipping" interests.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval with an average rating of 8.15 for the first season, based on 11 reviews, with Critic Consensus being that ""Voltron: Legendary Defender" honors its source material with beautifully expressive animation and impactful action."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: In reviewing the first season, Max Nicholson of "IGN" wrote, "DreamWork’s "Voltron: Legendary Defender" delivers exactly the kind of show you’ve come to expect from the amazing creative team behind "The Legend of Korra"." He rated the series an 8.9 out of 10. Sarah Moran of "ScreenRant" similarly gave the series a positive review, writing, "It isn’t trying to reinvent or really improve on the original conceit of "Voltron", but "Legendary Defender" is certainly a welcomed take on a classic cartoon; one that should appeal to fans both new and old." Shamus Kelly from Den of Geek gave the series a perfect score, writing, "Seriously, you won’t be disappointed. It’s something special that doesn’t come around often in television."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: In reviewing the final season, Jesse Schedeen of "IGN" wrote, "Minor storytelling quibbles aside, the final season of Voltron: Legendary Defender captures pretty much everything that has made this series great. The action scenes are fantastic. The story combines humor and character drama better than any season before it. These 13 episodes tie up nearly every loose end on a satisfying note and raise the stakes of the show higher than ever." He rated the season 9.1 out of 10, though he admits, "That said, it would be far more effective to see one of these animated shows acknowledge their LGBT heroes from the very beginning and not save moments like these for the literal last minute; with that rushed reveal (after spending no time establishing Shiro's new relationship or even hinting at it), Voltron relies too much on the audience's affection for Shiro to give the moment resonance, rather than earning an emotional response from its storytelling."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: Dave Trumbore of "Collider" gave the season a perfect score, writing, "The final season of Voltron: Legendary Defender rarely stumbles; the same can be said of the series’ story overall. Honestly the only shortcoming in the storytelling has to do with the way the narrative has handled romantic relationships; that trend continues here. Overall, Season 8 manages to do the seemingly impossible by ramping up the stakes to the utmost, delivering the most powerful emotional resonance between our heroes and villains yet, and wrapping everything up in a tearful, bittersweet, and fully satisfying way. It's not perfect, but it's as close to perfection as we’re going to get in this reality." Shamus Kelly from Den of Geek gave the season a 4 out 5 stars, writing, "The biggest strength of the season is how nearly everyone comes back to play some part in the final season."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: Palmer Haasch of Polygon had praised the series, though she criticized the series' LGBT representation. She noted, "The final sequence of the series, like any button on a series finale, was a mixed bag. It was a relief to see Lance reunited with his family; Hunk’s establishing a diplomatic culinary empire is nothing short of a perfect arc" concluding, "Ultimately, "Voltron", the vision and artistic pursuit of its creators, was never going to quell the concerns of its fanbase. But taken on its own storytelling merits, the final season remained true to the ideas of found family, collective spirit, and empathetic connection. "Voltron: Legendary Defender" was an honor to follow, and it’s certain that the series will be remembered both for its compelling narrative and spirited fandom for years to come."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: In reviewing the series as a whole, Jacob Oller of Paste Magazine wrote, “Empathy is Voltron’s quintessence, its driving fuel and its prime directive. And now that it’s over, those moving on can list the series alongside Korra and as one of the most impressive of its time.”


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: There were a number of negative reviews, mostly revolving around Shiro's wedding scene and for killing off Allura. The Geekiary's Jamie Sugah stated in her official series finale, "On the whole, though, this is a lackluster ending for what had up until now been a well-written show with strong, well-developed characters. Voltron season 8 felt very rushed and out of character, with a poorly thought out and clearly tacked on ending."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: The Official Voltron Podcast, Let's Voltron, stated, "Allura's death, as I saw it for a long time, really, really bothered me. I've got to be frank about it. As a father of a seven year daughter, for a TV-Y7/FV show, to kill off one of the few female prominent characters? I mean we've got a lot of strong secondary characters, but among the paladins it's Allura and Pidge and that's it, it bothered me a lot. To me it's a difficult pill to swallow. To me it came entirely out of left field. I kept me trap shut on social media, but I was bothered by it a lot." When speaking of Lotor's death, "I think it was little rough for children. I literally rechecked the ratings of the series when I saw that happen, and it's TV-Y7/FV... but seeing his body there—it's just. We didn't have to see it there, did we?" In regards to Shiro's wedding, "We were told that any kind of relationship developed, it was gonna happen naturally and stuff like that, and obviously this didn't really happen naturally."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: While the series was generally positively received by critics, reception of the show's LGBT representation was decidedly more mixed. Much of the show's controversy and poor fan behavior swirled around LGBT-related issues.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: While the show had at least five confirmed LGBTQ characters, controversy swirled around its LGBTQ representation. Specifically, it featured three gay characters, Shiro and Adam, who broke up, with Adam dying several years later, but at the end of eighth and final season, Shiro is married to Curtis, a background character introduced in Season 7. The series was criticized for its LGBTQ representation. The show was criticized for killing off a gay character, with some saying the show was following a stereotype known as "burying your gays", leading showrunner Joaquim Dos Santos to apologize to fans. Some reviewers opined that "not all queer presentation" was created equal with one scholar noting that representation of bisexual and transgender characters lags behind lesbian and gay men in some respects, with this representation important in the U.S. political climate while GLAAD called for Hollywood to produce more characters with LGBTQ+ characters. Renaldo Metadeen of CBR gave his own take, criticizing the marriage between Shiro and Curtis, calling it "cheap and tacked on," while stating that making a "five-second blip of the wedding...come[s] off as a publicity stunt."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: On October 22, 2018, a series of leaks of the final episode appeared online of the wedding, in which a different character was seen marrying Shiro. With the release of the final episode it is shown as true.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: Further controversy followed with the release of the final season, where Shiro is married to Curtis. In the English audio description, Curtis is referred to as Adam though he is once mentioned to be Curtis in the closed captions of a different episode. The error has since been corrected, but a number of fans have noted this as "evidence" of the "tacked-on" nature of the epilogue.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: The supervising producer, episode director, storyboard artist, and animator Kihyun Ryu posted on his Instagram on September 12 a piece of Shiro material, weeks before the season was sent to be dubbed into other languages. In the comments, the show runners tell him to "make it beautiful."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: Controversy in Season 8 also swirled around Ezor, a female character who was confirmed to be in a same-sex relationship with fellow general Zethrid. The character's single line of dialogue was pulled from Kimberly Brooks in a previous season, No audio description ever mentions Ezor's survival within "The Grudge" or its following episode. The lack of movement of the character, only blinking and materializing out of thin air, suggests that the character was meant to remain dead and was added back in at the last minute to appease some negativity.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: Carli Squitieri, the storyboard revisionist on "The Grudge", stated on social media after the release of Season 7, "Ezor should have lived, but that's another story I'm not under the authority to speak about."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: Fans began a petition for the alleged original season (the version that supposedly existed prior to severe editing), to be released. The petition has garnered over 30,000 signatures.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: Speaking in an interview with the "Let's Voltron" podcast Joaquim Dos Santos denied the existence of an alternate cut of season eight.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: The poor behavior of a number of the show's fans was particularly notable. In 2019, it was reported that death threats were issued to many within the "Voltron" cast and crew, particularly to the showrunners Dos Santos and Montgomery and voice actors Josh Keaton and Bex Taylor-Klaus. Almost all of the negative behavior centered on either LGBT representation or "shipping." In 2019, a fan attempted to blackmail the showrunners, threatening to publicly post private internal documents related to the show if the male characters Keith and Lance were not written to be romantically involved with one another.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: In defense of the executive producers, Tyler Labine, the voice actor for Hunk, stated on his personal Instagram account that "what is not real and what will all fall by the wayside in due time is all the unwarranted hate and vitriol that the dark side of this fandom has let seep into this precious world. THAT is all just noise and I refuse to listen." He also said, in regard to Shiro's epilogue in Season 8, that the "powers that be and people in control aren’t always free to do things the way they want. There is always someone more powerful with lore control keep the gates shut. Just remember that next time you decide that the creators of this show didn’t care about the fandom. I assure they cared more than anybody."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: Three comic series detailing events happening in between episodes were announced in January 2016. Taking story ideas that were deemed too outlandish and too epic to be contained in a 23-minute episode from the animated series, these comic series bridges the time lapse between seasons.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: Despite original statements of continuing into Volume 4, LionForge opted to cancel its contract. Its only response in regards to the matter was a brief tweet of an article from Geekdad.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: The first miniseries consisted of five issues, published by Lion Forge Comics. It was written by show head writer Tim Hedrick and Mitch Iverson, and illustrated by Digital Art Chefs. A special cover variant of issue #1 was available at San Diego Comic-Con in 2016, with a limited release of 250 copies. Issue #2 was released on August 2, 2016, followed by issue #3 on October 5, 2016, issue #4 on November 9, 2016, and issue #5 on November 20, 2016. The whole series will be collected in a graphic novel and was initially scheduled for a December 2016 release, but got pushed back to January 3, 2017, then was finally released January 25, 2017, according to Lion Forge. The second series will be announced after the release of the graphic novel. A motion comic of issue 1 with full voice acting by the series cast was released on June 15, 2017, at the DreamWorksTV YouTube channel. The story takes place in between the episodes "Rebirth" and "Crystal Venom."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: During the "Voltron: Legendary Defender" panel at WonderCon 2017, it was announced that the second series of five issues would debut in May 2017. The date was pushed back to late June due to production delays., however the date was pushed back on October 4, 2017 where was published where issue 2 and 3 was published on the same day, November 1, 2017 and issue 4 was published on November 15, 2017, issue 5 was published on December 13, 2017, the Vol. 2 Trade Paperback was published on January 31, 2018. The story takes place in between the episodes "Shiro's Escape" and "Greening the Cube."


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: The first two seasons were released on DVD in Region 1 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on June 12, 2018, The first two seasons were also released in Australia on October 17, 2018. The series was also releasesd on DVD in the UK, Italy, and Germany.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: To promote the series in between the release of season 1 and 2, a Robeast fanart contest was announced via social media on October 18, 2016. The winner was announced on December 27, 2016 on social media under the username "Zilla B". Several promotional events were run with the online social game platform Roblox.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: A virtual-reality video game based on the series, known as "Voltron VR Chronicles", was released for Steam, Oculus and PlayStation 4 via PlayStation Network.


title: Voltron: Legendary Defender

text: A real-time strategy video game based on the series, called "Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion", created by indie developer Gbanga, was entered into and won the 2018 Universal GameDev Challenge. The game was released on Steam Early Access on 29 August 2019. On the 19th September 2019 NBCUniversal shutdown its game publishing division. Three months later on the 19th December "Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion" was briefly removed from the Steam store, but reactivated in June 2020. In the game, players compete in real-time player vs player (PvP) game battles by placing own and destroying opponent blocks with different features in a game board with a grid.


title: MasterChef

text: MasterChef is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John Silver with series producer Karen Ross.


title: MasterChef

text: The revived format is sold internationally by Banijay. Its first international adaptation was "MasterChef Australia", which began in 2009. The show has since been adapted in several other countries.


title: MasterChef

text: The show's format has been exported around the world under the same "MasterChef" logo, and is now produced in more than 40 countries and airs in over 200 territories.


title: MasterChef

text: The format has appeared most often in four major versions: the main "MasterChef" series, "" for professional working chefs, "Celebrity MasterChef" featuring well known celebrities as the contestants, and "Junior MasterChef", a version created and adapted for children, which was first developed in 1994 and has also expanded to other countries in recent years.


title: MasterChef

text: Despite the four major versions, in 2012, Australia created the fifth version called "MasterChef All-Stars", for former contestants to raise money for charity. In 2018, Ukraine created "MasterChef Teens", for teenage contestants. In 2019, Brazil created "MasterChef: Para Tudo" ("MasterChef: Stop Everything"), a TV show featuring interviews with judges and former contestants, plus recipes and memes, presented by Ana Paula Padrão. In Brazil, MasterChef All-Stars was titled "MasterChef: A Revanche" ("MasterChef: The Rematch"), being released in 2019 and featuring former contestants who did not win the competition before. In 2022, Brazil created "MasterChef +", for seniors over 60 years old contestants.


title: MasterChef

text: "MasterChef Australia" is the most watched television series in Australia, with the season 2 finale being the third most watched show in Australian television history. "MasterChef Australia" also won the award for 'Most Popular Reality Program' at the 2010 Logie Awards. Many other countries also broadcast the Australian version, either dubbed or with subtitles in the local language.


title: MasterChef

text: In 2018 mobile game developer Animoca secured the licence to "MasterChef" to make games based on the hit reality television series.


title: MasterChef

text: "MasterChef: Dream Plate" allows players to play as a "MasterChef" TV show contestant who cooks and presents dishes in competition with other contestants, using challenging ingredients and recipes. The dishes are judged by fellow players in real-time.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty (), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence. It provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State within a year as a self-governing dominion within the "community of nations known as the British Empire", a status "the same as that of the Dominion of Canada". It also provided Northern Ireland, which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, an option to opt out of the Irish Free State (Article 12), which the Parliament of Northern Ireland exercised.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The agreement was signed in London on 6 December 1921, by representatives of the British government (which included Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who was head of the British delegates) and by representatives of the Irish Republic including Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith. The Irish representatives had plenipotentiary status (negotiators empowered to sign a treaty without reference back to their superiors) acting on behalf of the Irish Republic, though the British government declined to recognise that status. As required by its terms, the agreement was approved by "a meeting" of the members elected to sit in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and [separately] by the British Parliament. In reality, Dáil Éireann (the legislative assembly for the "de facto" Irish Republic) first debated then approved the treaty; members then went ahead with the "meeting". Though the treaty was narrowly approved, the split led to the Irish Civil War, which was won by the pro-treaty side.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The Irish Free State as contemplated by the treaty came into existence when its constitution became law on 6 December 1922 by a royal proclamation.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Winston Churchill held two different roles in the British cabinet during the process of Irish independence: until February 1921 he had been Secretary of State for War (minister for the Army) hoping to end the Irish War of Independence; from then on, as Secretary of State for the Colonies (which included dominion affairs), he was charged with implementing the treaty and conducting relations with the new state.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Erskine Childers, the author of "The Riddle of the Sands" and former Clerk of the British House of Commons, served as one of the secretaries of the Irish delegation. Thomas Jones was one of Lloyd George's principal assistants, and described the negotiations in his book "Whitehall Diary".


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Éamon de Valera sent the Irish plenipotentiaries to the 1921 negotiations in London with several draft treaties and secret instructions from his cabinet. Pointedly the British side never asked to see their formal accreditation with the full status of plenipotentiaries, but considered that it had invited them as elected MPs "to ascertain how the association of Ireland with the community of nations known as the British Empire can best be reconciled with Irish national aspirations". This invitation in August 1921 had been delayed for over a month by a correspondence in which de Valera argued that Britain was now negotiating with a sovereign state, a position Lloyd George continually denied.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: In the meantime, de Valera had been elevated to President of the Republic on 26 August, primarily to be able to accredit plenipotentiaries for the negotiations, as is usual between sovereign states. On 14 September all the Dáil speakers unanimously commented that the plenipotentiaries were being sent to represent the sovereign Irish Republic, and accepted de Valera's nominations without dissent, although some argued that de Valera himself should attend the conference.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: On 29 September Lloyd George reiterated to de Valera that recognition of the Irish republic was "a recognition which no British Government can accord", and he repeated his invitation for talks on "ascertaining how the association of Ireland with the community of nations known as the British Empire may best be reconciled with Irish national aspirations", to start in London on 11 October, which was tacitly accepted by the Irish side. On 7 October de Valera signed a letter of accreditation as "President" on behalf of the "Government of the Republic of Ireland", but the letter was never requested by the British side. Both the Irish and British sides knew that, in the event of failure, the truce agreed in July 1921 would end and the war would inevitably resume, a war that neither side wanted. Three months had passed by with nothing agreed.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The ambiguous status of the plenipotentiaries was to have unforeseeable consequences within the Nationalist movement when it divided over the treaty's contents in 1921–22. Plenipotentiaries usually have full powers to handle negotiations as they see fit, but de Valera had given them instructions to refer back to his cabinet on any "main question" and with "the complete text of the draft treaty about to be signed", which created difficulties. Subsequently, the anti-treaty side felt that the plenipotentiaries from the existing sovereign republic had somehow been persuaded to agree to accept much less. The pro-treaty side was to argue that after 11 October the negotiations had been conducted on the understanding that, even though the British were not negotiating with a sovereign state, the agreement was a significant first step towards Irish sovereignty.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Days after the truce that ended the Anglo-Irish War, de Valera met Lloyd George in London four times in the week starting 14 July. Lloyd George sent his initial proposals on 20 July that were very roughly in line with the treaty that was eventually signed. This was followed by months of delay until October, when the Irish delegates set up headquarters in 22 Hans Place, Knightsbridge.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The first two weeks of the negotiations were spent in formal sessions. Upon the request of Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, the two delegations began informal negotiations, in which only two members of each negotiating team were allowed to attend. On the Irish side, these members were always Collins and Griffith, while on the British side, Austen Chamberlain always attended, though the second British negotiator would vary from day to day. In late November, the Irish delegation returned to Dublin to consult the cabinet according to their instructions, and again on 3 December. Many points still had to be resolved, mainly surrounding the form of an oath to the monarch, but it was clear to all the politicians involved by this stage that a unitary 32-county Irish Republic was not on offer.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: When they returned, Collins and Griffith hammered out the final details of the treaty, which included British concessions on the wording of the oath and the defence and trade clauses, along with the addition of a boundary commission to the treaty and a clause upholding Irish unity. Collins and Griffith in turn convinced the other plenipotentiaries to sign the treaty. The final decisions to sign the treaty was made in private discussions at 22 Hans Place at 11:15am on 5 December 1921. The Treaty was signed soon after 2 in the morning on 6 December, in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing St.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Michael Collins later claimed that at the last minute Lloyd George threatened the Irish delegates with a renewal of "terrible and immediate war" if the Treaty was not signed at once. This was not specifically called "a threat" in an Irish memorandum about the close of negotiations. Barton noted that:


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Éamon de Valera called a cabinet meeting to discuss the treaty on 8 December, where he came out against the treaty as signed. The cabinet decided by four votes to three to recommend the treaty to the Dáil on 14 December.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The contents of the treaty divided the Irish Republic's leadership, with the President of the Republic, Éamon de Valera, leading the anti-treaty minority. The Treaty Debates were difficult but also comprised a wider and robust stock-taking of the position by the contending parties. Their differing views of the past and their hopes for the future were made public. The focus had to be on the constitutional options, but little mention was made of the economy, nor of how life would now be improved for the majority of the population. Though Sinn Féin had also campaigned to preserve the Irish language, very little use was made of it in the debates. Some of the female TDs were notably in favour of continuing the war until a 32-county state was established. Much mention was made of "700 years" of British occupation. Personal bitterness developed; Arthur Griffith said of Erskine Childers: "I will not reply to any damned Englishman in this Assembly", and Cathal Brugha reminded everyone that the position of Michael Collins in the IRA was technically inferior to his.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The main dispute was centred on the status as a dominion (as represented by the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity) rather than as an independent republic, but partition was a significant matter for dissent. Ulstermen like Seán MacEntee spoke strongly against the partition clause. The Dáil voted to approve the treaty but the objectors refused to accept it, leading eventually to the Irish Civil War. MacEntee was among their leaders.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The British House of Commons approved the treaty on 16 December 1921 by a vote of 401 to 58. On the same day the House of Lords voted in favour by 166 to 47.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The Dáil approved the new treaty after nine days of public debate on 7 January 1922, by a vote of 64 to 57, but it was not the assembly specified in the treaty. Therefore, its approval of the treaty was not enough to satisfy the requirements of the treaty. The "meeting" required under the terms of the treaty was therefore convened. It formally approved the treaty on 14 January 1922. The "meeting" itself had a somewhat ambiguous status, not being convened or conducted in accordance with the procedures established for the House of Commons, nor being declared a session of Dáil Éireann. Anti-treaty members of the Dáil stayed away, meaning only pro-treaty members and the four elected unionists (who had never sat in Dáil Éireann) attended the meeting. Those assembled overwhelmingly approved the treaty, nominated Michael Collins for appointment as chairman of the provisional government and immediately dispersed with no parliamentary business taking place. This was the nearest that the House of Commons of Southern Ireland ever came to functioning; no other meeting ever took place, but the vote on 14 January, in strict compliance with the treaty wording, allowed the British authorities to maintain that the legal niceties had been observed.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: In terms of the ratification of the treaty, the treaty required that "necessary legislation" be enacted to ratify it. The legislation required was enacted solely by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The legislation enacted to do so was the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 which became law on 31 March 1922.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The Dáil debates lasted much longer and exposed the diversity of opinion in Ireland. Opening the debate on 14 December, President de Valera stated his view on procedure:


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: However, when the treaty was ratified by the Dáil on 7 January, he refused to accept the vote as final, saying on 10 January that:


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Secret sessions were held on 14 to 17 December, and on the morning of 6 January, to keep the discord out of the press and the public arena. During the first of these, de Valera also produced his ideal redraft, which was not in most respects radically different from the signed agreement, but which was probably not acceptable to the British side as the differing points had already been explored.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: On 15 December, Robert Barton was questioned by Kevin O'Higgins about his notes on Lloyd George's statement about signing the agreement or facing a renewal of war: "Did Mr Lloyd George single Mr Barton out as the left wing of the delegation and did he say, 'The man who is against peace may bear now and forever the responsibility for terrible and immediate war? Barton replied: "What he did say was that the signature and the recommendation of every member of the delegation was necessary, or war would follow immediately and that the responsibility for that war must rest directly upon those who refused to sign the Treaty". This was seized upon by opponents of the treaty as a convenient proof that the Irish delegates had been subjected to duress at the last minute, and "terrible and immediate war" became a catch-phrase in the debates that followed. The next day, de Valera took up this point: "therefore what happened was that over there a threat of immediate force upon our people was made. I believe that that document was signed under duress and, though I have a moral feeling that any agreement entered into ought to be faithfully carried out, I have no hesitation in saying that I would not regard it as binding on the Irish nation."


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The crucial private Dáil session on 6 January was informed that it could not be told about a private conference of nine TDs that had reached a compromise agreement on almost all points the night before. Most TDs wanted at least to be told what matters were still not agreed on, and from this point onwards the pro-treaty members insisted that all sessions should be held in public.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The public sessions lasted nine days from 19 December to 7 January. On 19 December Arthur Griffith moved:


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: "That Dáil Éireann approves of the Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland, signed in London on 6 December 1921."


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: By 6 January, the day before the final vote, de Valera acknowledged the deep division within his cabinet: "When these Articles of Agreement were signed, the body in which the executive authority of this assembly, and of the State, is vested became as completely split as it was possible for it to become. Irrevocably, not on personalities or anything of that kind or matter, but on absolute fundamentals."


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The Second Dáil ratified the treaty on 7 January 1922 by a vote of 64 to 57. De Valera resigned as president on 9 January and was replaced by Arthur Griffith, on a vote of 60 to 58. On 10 January, de Valera published his second redraft, known generally as "Document No. 2".


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Griffith, as President of the Dáil, worked with Michael Collins, who chaired the new Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, theoretically answerable to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, as the treaty laid down. On 25 October 1922, a new Irish constitution was enacted by the Third Dáil, sitting as a constituent assembly; the British Parliament confirmed the enactment on 5 December 1922. This parallel enactment provided the legal basis for the Irish Free State.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The Treaty Debates were held in private, and not published until 1972, "in all their aggression and rawness". They comprise a vital resource on the psychology of the Irish War of Independence and show the varying ideals that sustained the Sinn Féin deputies. Definitions of their understanding of their mandate in 1918 and 1921, and of the Republic itself, are interspersed with the practicalities of devolving power from London to Dublin. The narrow division led to the outbreak of the Irish Civil War on 28 June 1922.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The split over the treaty led to the Irish Civil War (1922–23). In 1922, its two main Irish signatories, Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, both died. Birkenhead reportedly said on signing the treaty: "Mr Collins, in signing this Treaty I'm signing my political death warrant", to which Collins is said to have replied, "Lord Birkenhead, I'm signing my actual death warrant." Collins was killed by anti-treaty republicans in an ambush at Béal na Bláth in August 1922, ten days after Griffith's death from heart failure which was ascribed to exhaustion. Both men were replaced in their posts by W. T. Cosgrave. Two of the other members of the delegation, Robert Barton and Erskine Childers, sided against the treaty in the civil war. Childers, head of anti-treaty propaganda in the conflict, was executed by the free state for possession of a pistol in November 1922.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The treaty's provisions relating to the monarch, the governor-general, and the treaty's own superiority in law were all deleted from the Constitution of the Irish Free State in 1932, following the enactment of the Statute of Westminster by the British Parliament. By this statute, the British Parliament had voluntarily relinquished its ability to legislate on behalf of dominions without their consent. Thus, the Government of the Irish Free State was free to change any laws previously passed by the British Parliament on their behalf.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Nearly 10 years earlier, Michael Collins had argued that the treaty would give "the freedom to achieve freedom". De Valera himself acknowledged the accuracy of this claim both in his actions in the 1930s but also in words he used to describe his opponents and their securing of independence during the 1920s. "They were magnificent", he told his son in 1932, just after he had entered government and read the files left by Cosgrave's Cumann na nGaedheal Executive Council.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Although the British Government of the day had, since 1914, desired home rule for the whole of Ireland, the British Parliament believed that it could not possibly grant complete independence to all of Ireland in 1921 without provoking huge sectarian violence between overwhelmingly Protestant Irish Unionists and overwhelmingly Catholic Irish Nationalists. At the time, although there were Unionists throughout the country, they were concentrated in the north-east and their parliament first sat on 7 June 1921. An uprising by them against home rule would have been an insurrection against the "mother county" as well as a civil war in Ireland. (See Ulster Volunteers.) Dominion status for 26 counties, with partition for the six counties that the Unionists felt they could comfortably control, seemed the best compromise possible at the time.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: In fact, what Ireland received in dominion status, on par with that enjoyed by Canada, New Zealand and Australia, was far more than the Home Rule Act 1914, and certainly a considerable advance on the home rule once offered to Charles Stewart Parnell in the nineteenth century albeit at the cost of the exclusion of Northern Ireland. Even de Valera's proposals made in secret during the Treaty Debates differed very little in essential matters from the accepted text, and were far short of the autonomous 32-county republic that he publicly claimed to pursue.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: The solution that was agreed had also been on Lloyd George's mind for years. He met Tim Healy, a senior barrister and former nationalist MP, in late 1919 to consider his options. Healy wrote to his brother on 11 December 1919: "Lloyd George said that, if he could get support for a plan whereby the six counties would be left as they are, he would be ready to give the rest of the country Dominion Home Rule, free from Imperial taxation, and with control of the Customs and Excise." Healy considered that the idea had foundered on de Valera's insistence on having an all-Ireland republic, months before the war of independence became seriously violent in mid-1920.


title: Anglo-Irish Treaty

text: Lloyd George had supported the 1893 Home Rule Bill and the slow process of the 1914 Home Rule Act, and liaised with the Irish Convention members in 1917–18. By 1921 his coalition government depended on a large Conservative majority, and collapsed during the Chanak crisis in October 1922.


title: MLS Cup

text: The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference Final. The MLS Cup winner is awarded the title of league champion.


title: MLS Cup

text: MLS uses a playoff tournament following the regular season to determine its annual league champion, a method common to every other major North American sports league. This format differs from most soccer leagues around the world, which consider the club with the most points at the end of the season to be the champion; MLS honors that achievement with the Supporters' Shield.


title: MLS Cup

text: A U.S.-based team that wins the MLS Cup is awarded one of the country's four berths in the following season's CONCACAF Champions League. The three Canadian teams of MLS can only qualify for the Champions League through the Canadian Championship—if any of them should win the MLS Cup, the Champions League berth tied to game is passed on to the highest-placed U.S.-based team in the overall regular season table that did not already qualify.


title: MLS Cup

text: The inaugural MLS Cup was held on October 20, 1996, in which D.C. United defeated the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy are the most successful team in MLS Cup history, winning a record fifth title in 2014.


title: MLS Cup

text: Three trophy designs have been used for the MLS Cup: the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy from 1996 through 1998, a redesigned Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy from 1999 through 2007, and the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy since 2008.


title: MLS Cup

text: The MLS Cup's roots trace back to the foundation of Major League Soccer, when the league decided to hold a championship format similar to its contemporary North American sports leagues. The first few editions of the game were dominated by D.C. United, who appeared in the first four MLS Cup finals, winning three.


title: MLS Cup

text: The inaugural MLS Cup in 1996 featured D.C. United and LA Galaxy. The Galaxy went ahead 2–0 early in the second half, but their lead was relinquished towards the end of the match when Tony Sanneh pulled one back in the 72nd minute. Nine minutes later, Shawn Medved tied the match at two, resulting in overtime between the two sides. Four minutes into overtime, Eddie Pope gave United the golden goal victory.


title: MLS Cup

text: In 1997, the second league cup final was contested at RFK Stadium, where United won back-to-back titles, a feat that would not be accomplished for another decade (when the Houston Dynamo won the 2006 and 2007 finals). The game ended 2–1 in United's favor over the Colorado Rapids, who would not win a championship until 2010. Jaime Moreno was declared Man of the Match for his goal in the 37th minute of play. This season was also the first time in league history any MLS team won the regular season (Supporters' Shield) and postseason title in the same season.


title: MLS Cup

text: D.C. United's run ended the third year, when they made a third run to the MLS Cup finals, only to lose to the expansion side Chicago Fire by 2–0. However the following year, United repeated their "double" of winning both the Supporters Shield and MLS Cup the same season. This time, it was a 2–0 win over the Galaxy in the 1999 MLS Cup final.


title: MLS Cup

text: For the first time since 1997, the 2000 MLS Cup final saw a new club reach the finals along with the Fire. This time the Kansas City Wizards, now known as Sporting Kansas City, won their first MLS Cup with a 1–0 victory over the Fire.


title: MLS Cup

text: From 2001 through 2005, the MLS Cup finals saw a rising of the California Clásico when intra-state rivals L.A. Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes clashed in the 2001 final. The match also saw the rise of U.S. national Landon Donovan who won a Newcomer of the Year award and tallied the equalizer in the Earthquakes 2–1 championship victory over the Galaxy.


title: MLS Cup

text: With the largest crowd in MLS Cup history at hand, the New England Revolution took on the Galaxy in the 2002 finals. For the match, over 61,000 fans were in attendance at Gillette Stadium to witness the final. In the second period of sudden-death overtime, the Galaxy nabbed their first MLS Cup title, and sparked the start of a string of MLS Cup losses for the Revolution.


title: MLS Cup

text: The 2003 final saw the league leaders for that season go head-to-head. Two clubs that had MLS Cup experience, the Fire and Earthquakes, played for the final that year. The two clubs had successful regular season campaigns with the Fire winning their first Supporters' Shield, and the Earthquakes being the Western Conference regular season and post-season champions as well as having the second best overall regular season record. In a hotly contested match, the Earthquakes won with their second MLS Cup title with a 4–2 score making it the highest scoring MLS Cup final in league history (six goals).


title: MLS Cup

text: After a four-year absence, United made their fifth trip to the MLS Cup final, playing against the Wizards for MLS Cup 2004. The match had four goals scored in the first 25 minutes, with United rallying for a 3–1 lead. Midway through the second half, United had relinquished a penalty kick. Josh Wolff scored for Kansas City, bringing the game within a goal. D.C. United was able to retain the lead, by winning their fourth MLS Cup title, by a score of 3–2.


title: MLS Cup

text: For the 2005 season, the Earthquakes, as the Supporters' Shield winners, fell to the Galaxy in the Playoffs. The Galaxy went on to win the MLS Cup, matching the Earthquakes at two.


title: MLS Cup

text: Until 2005, the MLS Cup championship games had been dominated by clubs that had either won or had come close to winning the Supporters Shield. In the 2005 MLS Cup championship, the match was won by the Los Angeles Galaxy, who won the league title by having a 9th-place overall record. Consequently, the Wizards had a better record, but did not qualify for the playoffs because they finished 5th in the Eastern Conference, in spite of an 8th-place overall record. The result prompted MLS to create new wild-cards that were used starting in 2006, where only a certain number of clubs per conference could qualify, and the next best overall teams regardless of conference would also qualify. That in itself prompted debates about the league switching to a single table and a balanced schedule. The single table has yet been instituted, but in 2010 the league instituted a balanced schedule. During the 2012 season, the league resumed an unbalanced schedule.