title: Foreign relations of China

text: In June 2008, Samoa announced it would be opening diplomatic missions in China and Japan - the country's first diplomatic offices in Asia. In September, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement indicating that China and Samoa have always "conducted fruitful cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, agriculture, sports, culture, education and health, as well as international affairs", and that China intended to "make more tangible efforts to support Samoa's economic and social development".


title: Foreign relations of China

text: In 2010, the Chinese government-funded China-Samoa Agricultural Demonstration Farm was established in Nu'u with an aim "to train the Samoan farmers on voluntary basis through Chinese agricultural planting techniques". About 500 Samoan farmers received training from Chinese agricultural experts.


title: Foreign relations of China

text: Relations with Tonga were first established in 1998. In 2000, noble Tuʻivakano of Nukunuku (later to become Prime Minister) banned all Chinese stores from his Nukunuku District. This followed alleged complaints from other shopkeepers regarding competition from local Chinese. In 2001, Tonga's Chinese community (of about three or four thousand people) was hit by a wave of about a hundred racist assaults. The Tongan government decided not to renew the work permits of over 600 Chinese storekeepers, and admitted the decision was in response to "widespread anger at the growing presence of the storekeepers".


title: Foreign relations of China

text: That same year, however, Tonga and China decided to strengthen their "military relations". In 2008, China provided Tonga with military supplies worth over €340,000.


title: Foreign relations of China

text: In April 2008, Tongan King George Tupou V visited China, reaffirmed his country's adherence to the "One China" policy, and, according to the Chinese State news agency Xinhua, "supported the measures adopted to handle the incident in Lhasa". King Tupou V also met Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie to "enhance exchange and cooperation between the two militaries". Xinhua stated that China and Tonga have "fruitful cooperation in politics, economy, trade, agriculture and education, and kept a sound coordination in regional and international affairs".


title: Foreign relations of China

text: In early 2010, Chinese aid to Tonga included assistance in the reconstruction of Nuku'alofa's central business district; "an agricultural project in Vaini"; health clinics set up in Vavaʻu and Vaini; the provision of seven Chinese doctors for a two-year period; and an allocation of €2.2 million "for social and economic development", including "soft loans and interest free loans to the Tonga Government".


title: Foreign relations of China

text: In April 2011, the Lowy Institute reported that, of all Pacific countries, Tonga was carrying the highest burden of debt from Chinese loans, amounting to 32% of Tonga's GDP. Simultaneously, the International Monetary Fund warned Tonga was "facing debt distress", a "very high possibility that Tonga [would] be unable to service its debts in the future".


title: Foreign relations of China

text: In 2006, Vanuatu signed an economic cooperation agreement with China, whereby the latter was to assist Vanuatu's economic development, and remove tariffs on imports from Vanuatu. China also added Vanuatu to its list of approved tourism destinations for Chinese tourists. Ni-Vanuatu trade minister James Bule said his country had also requested China's assistance "in supplying machines so we can establish a plant in Vanuatu to produce bio fuel". By contrast, Opposition leader Serge Vohor has said China is exerting too much influence on the ni-Vanuatu government's policy.


title: Foreign relations of China

text: In May 2009, Vanuatu appointed its first ever ambassador to China, former Minister of Finance Willie Jimmy. Jimmy "call[ed] [...] for China to have a foot firmly planted in the Pacific through Port Vila", which -the "Vanuatu Daily Post" remarked- "no doubt caused ruffled feathers among other foreign diplomatic partners".


title: Foreign relations of China

text: In July 2010, Chinese Ambassador Cheng Shuping announced that China would fund a number of projects in Vanuatu, "including the National Convention Centre and the expansion of Prime Minister’s Offices", as well as "the design and reconstruction of the Francophone Wing of the University of the South Pacific Emalus Campus".


title: Foreign relations of China

text: China recognizes all 193 UN member states, the Holy See and Palestine as sovereign states. However, it does not have diplomatic relations with 13 UN member states, nor with the Holy See. These sovereign entities recognize the Republic of China as the sole legitimate Chinese state.


title: Foreign relations of China

text: The following countries do not recognize the People's Republic of China. Instead, these countries recognize the Republic of China.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into it. Most populations are anadromous, hatching in streams and rivers but moving out to sea as they grow where they mature, after which the adults seasonally move upstream again to spawn.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: When the mature fish re-enter rivers to spawn, they change in colour and appearance. Some populations of this fish only migrate to large lakes, and are "landlocked", spending their entire lives in freshwater. Such populations are found throughout the range of the species. Unlike Pacific species of salmon, "S. salar" is iteroparous, which means it can survive spawning and return to sea to repeat the process again in another year. Such individuals can grow to extremely large sizes, although they are rare. The different life stages of the fish are known by many different names in English: alevin, fry, parr and smolt.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Atlantic salmon is considered a very healthy food and one of the fish with a more refined taste in many cultures. As such it features in numerous popular traditional cuisines and can fetch a higher price than some other fish. It has thus long been the target of recreational and commercial fishing, and this, as well as habitat destruction, has impacted the population in some areas. As a result, the species is the subject of conservation efforts in several countries, which appear to have been somewhat successful since the 2000s. Techniques to farm this species using aquacultural methods have also been developed, and at present it is farmed in great numbers in many places around the world. Although this is now a viable alternative to wild-caught fish, farming methods have attracted criticism from environmentalists.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The Atlantic salmon was given its scientific binomial name by Swedish zoologist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The name, "Salmo salar", derives from the Latin "salmo", meaning salmon, and "salar", meaning leaper, according to M. Barton, but more likely meaning "resident of salt water" . Lewis and Short's Latin Dictionary (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1879) translates "salar" as a kind of trout from its use in the "Idylls" of the poet Ausonius (4th century CE). Later, the differently coloured smolts were found to be the same species.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Other names used for the Atlantic salmon are: bay salmon, black salmon, caplin-scull salmon, fiddler, sebago salmon, silver salmon, outside salmon and winnish. At different points in their maturation and life cycle, they are known as parr, smolt, grilse, grilt, kelt, slink, and spring salmon. Atlantic salmon that do not journey to sea are known as landlocked salmon (or in North America).


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Atlantic salmon are the largest species in their genus, "Salmo". After two years at sea, the fish average in length and in weight. But specimens that spend four or more winters feeding at sea can be much larger. An Atlantic salmon netted in 1960 in Scotland, in the estuary of the river Hope, weighed , the heaviest recorded in all available literature. Another netted in 1925 in Norway measured in length, the longest Atlantic salmon on record.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The colouration of young Atlantic salmon does not resemble the adult stage. While they live in fresh water, they have blue and red spots. At maturity, they take on a silver-blue sheen. The easiest way of identifying them as an adult is by the black spots predominantly above the lateral line, though the caudal fin is usually unspotted. When they reproduce, males take on a slight green or red colouration. The salmon has a fusiform body, and well-developed teeth. All fins, except the adipose fin, are bordered with black.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The natural breeding grounds of Atlantic salmon are rivers in Europe and the northeastern coast of North America. In Europe, Atlantic salmon are still found as far south as Spain, and as far north as Russia. Because of sport-fishing, some of the species' southern populations in northern Spain are growing smaller. The species distribution is easily influenced by changes in freshwater habitat and climate. Atlantic salmon are a cold-water fish species and are particularly sensitive to changes in water temperature.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The Housatonic River, and its Naugatuck River tributary, hosted the southernmost Atlantic salmon spawning runs in the United States. However, there is a 1609 account by Henry Hudson that Atlantic salmon once ran up the Hudson River. In addition, fish scale evidence dating to 10,000 years BP places Atlantic salmon in a coastal New Jersey pond.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Two publications from 1988 and 1996 questioned the notion that Atlantic salmon were prehistorically plentiful in New England, when the climate was warmer as it is now. This argument was primarily based on a paucity of bone data in archaeological sites relative to other fish species, and the assertion that historical claims of abundance may have been exaggerated. This argument was later challenged in another paper which claimed that lack of archaeological bone fragments could be explained by salmon bones being rare at sites that still have large salmon runs and that salmonid bones in general are poorly recovered relative to other fish species.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Atlantic salmon populations were significantly reduced in the United States following European settlement. The fur trade, timber harvesting, dams and mills and agriculture degraded freshwater habitats and lowered the carrying capacity of most North American streams. Beaver populations were trapped to near-extinction by 1800, and log drives and clear-cutting further exacerbated stream erosion and habitat loss. As timber and fur gave way to agriculture, freshwater Atlantic salmon habitat was further compromised. According to historian D.W. Dunfield (1985) "over half of the historical Atlantic salmon runs had been lost in North America by 1850". As early as 1798, a bill for the preservation of Atlantic Salmon was introduced in Canadian Parliament, to protect populations in Lake Ontario. In the Gulf Region of Nova Scotia it was reported that 31 of the 33 Atlantic salmon streams were blocked off by lumber dams, leading to the extirpation of early-run fish in many watersheds. The inshore Atlantic salmon fishery became a major export of the New World, with major fishing operations establishing along the shores of major river systems. The southernmost populations were the first to disappear.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Young salmon spend one to four years in their natal river. When they are large enough (c. ), they smoltify, changing camouflage from stream-adapted with large, gray spots to sea-adapted with shiny sides. They also undergo some endocrinological changes to adapt to osmotic differences between fresh water and seawater habitat. When smoltification is complete, the parr (young fish) now begin to swim with the current instead of against it. With this behavioral change, the fish are now referred to as smolt. When the smolt reach the sea, they follow sea surface currents and feed on plankton or fry from other fish species such as herring. During their time at sea, they can sense the change in the Earth magnetic field through iron in their lateral line.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: When they have had a year of good growth, they will move to the sea surface currents that transport them back to their natal river. It is a major misconception that salmon swim thousands of kilometres at sea; instead they surf through sea surface currents. It is possible they find their natal river by smell, although this is not confirmed; only 5% of Atlantic salmon go up the wrong river. The range of an individual Atlantic salmon can thus be the river where they are born and the sea surface currents that are connected to that river in a circular path.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Wild salmon continued to disappear from many rivers during the twentieth century due to overfishing and habitat change.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Young salmon begin a feeding response within a few days. After the yolk sac is absorbed by the body, they begin to hunt. Juveniles start with tiny invertebrates, but as they mature, they may occasionally eat small fish. During this time, they hunt both in the substrate and in the current. Some have been known to eat salmon eggs. Plankton such as euphausiids are important food for pre-grilse but amphipods and decapods are also consumed. The most commonly eaten foods include caddisflies, blackflies, mayflies, stoneflies, and chironomids, as well as terrestrial insects.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: As adults, the salmon prefer capelin as their meal of choice. Capelin are elongated silvery fish that grow up to long. Other fish consumed include herring, alewives, smelts, scomberids, sand lance, and small cod.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Fry and parr have been said to be territorial, but evidence showing them to guard territories is inconclusive. While they may occasionally be aggressive towards each other, the social hierarchy is still unclear. Many have been found to school, especially when leaving the estuary.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Adult Atlantic salmon are considered much more aggressive than other salmon, and are more likely to attack other fish than others.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Most Atlantic salmon follow an anadromous migration pattern, in that they undergo their greatest feeding and growth in saltwater; however, adults return to spawn in native freshwater streams where the eggs hatch and juveniles grow through several distinct stages.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Atlantic salmon do not require saltwater. Numerous examples of fully freshwater (i.e., "landlocked") populations of the species exist throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including a now extinct population in Lake Ontario, which have been shown in recent studies to have spent their entire life cycle in watershed of the lake. In North America, the landlocked strains are frequently known as "ouananiche".


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The freshwater phases of Atlantic salmon vary between two and eight years, according to river location. While the young in southern rivers, such as those to the English Channel, are only one year old when they leave, those further north, such as in Scottish rivers, can be over four years old, and in Ungava Bay, northern Quebec, smolts as old as eight years have been encountered.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The first phase is the alevin stage, when the fish stay in the breeding ground and use the remaining nutrients in their yolk sacs. During this developmental stage, their young gills develop and they become active hunters. Next is the fry stage, where the fish grow and subsequently leave the breeding ground in search of food. During this time, they move to areas with higher prey concentration. The final freshwater stage is when they develop into parr, in which they prepare for the trek to the Atlantic Ocean.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: During these times, the Atlantic salmon are very susceptible to predation. Nearly 40% are eaten by trout alone. Other predators include other fish and birds. Egg and juvenile survival is dependent on habitat quality as Atlantic salmon are sensitive to ecological change.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: When parr develop into smolt, they begin the trip to the ocean, which predominantly happens between March and June. Migration allows acclimation to the changing salinity. Once ready, young smolt leave, preferring an ebb tide.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Having left their natal streams, they experience a period of rapid growth during the one to four years they live in the ocean. Typically, Atlantic salmon migrate from their home streams to an area on the continental plate off West Greenland. During this time, they face predation from humans, seals, Greenland sharks, skate, cod, and halibut. Some dolphins have been noticed playing with dead salmon, but it is still unclear whether they consume them.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Once large enough, Atlantic salmon change into the grilse phase, when they become ready to return to the same freshwater tributary they departed from as smolts. After returning to their natal streams, the salmon will cease eating altogether prior to spawning. Although largely unknown, odor – the exact chemical signature of that stream – may play an important role in how salmon return to the area where they hatched. Once heavier than about 250 g, the fish no longer become prey for birds and many fish, although seals do prey upon them. Grey and common seals commonly eat Atlantic salmon. Survivability to this stage has been estimated at between 14 and 53%.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Atlantic salmon breed in the rivers of Western Europe from northern Portugal north to Norway, Iceland, and Greenland, and the east coast of North America from Connecticut in the United States north to northern Labrador and Arctic Canada.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The species constructs a nest or "redd" in the gravel bed of a stream. The female creates a powerful downdraught of water with her tail near the gravel to excavate a depression. After she and a male fish have eggs and milt (sperm), respectively, upstream of the depression, the female again uses her tail, this time to shift gravel to cover the eggs and milt which have lodged in the depression.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Unlike the various Pacific salmon species which die after spawning (semelparous), the Atlantic salmon is iteroparous, which means the fish may recondition themselves and return to the sea to repeat the migration and spawning pattern several times, although most spawn only once or twice. Migration and spawning exact an enormous physiological toll on individuals, such that repeat spawners are the exception rather than the norm. Atlantic salmon show high diversity in age of maturity and may mature as parr, one- to five-sea-winter fish, and in rare instances, at older sea ages. This variety of ages can occur in the same population, constituting a 'bet hedging' strategy against variation in stream flows. So in a drought year, some fish of a given age will not return to spawn, allowing that generation other, wetter years in which to spawn.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: When in shared breeding habitats, Atlantic salmon will hybridize with brown trout ("Salmo trutta"). Hybrids between Atlantic salmon and brown trout were detected in two of four watersheds studied in northern Spain. The proportions of hybrids in samples of salmon ranged from 0 to 7-7% but these proportions were not significantly homogeneous among locations, resulting in a mean hybridization rate of 2-3%. This is the highest rate of natural hybridization so far reported and is significantly greater than rates observed elsewhere in Europe.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The decline in anadromous salmonid species over the last two to three centuries is correlated with the decline in the North American beaver and European beaver, although some fish and game departments continue to advocate removal of beaver dams as potential barriers to spawning runs. Migration of adult Atlantic salmon may be limited by beaver dams during periods of low stream flows, but the presence of juvenile salmon upstream of the dams suggests they are penetrated by parr. Downstream migration of Atlantic salmon smolts was similarly unaffected by beaver dams, even in periods of low flows.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: In a 2003 study, Atlantic salmon and sea-run brown trout spawning in the Numedalslågen River and 51 of its tributaries in southeastern Norway was unhindered by beavers. In a restored, third-order stream in northern Nova Scotia, beaver dams generally posed no barrier to Atlantic salmon migration except in the smallest upstream reaches in years of low flow where pools were not deep enough to enable the fish to leap the dam or without a column of water over-topping the dam for the fish to swim up.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The importance of winter habitat to salmonids afforded by beaver ponds may be especially important in streams of northerly latitudes without deep pools where ice cover makes contact with the bottom of shallow streams. In addition, the up to eight-year-long residence time of juveniles in freshwater may make beaver-created permanent summer pools a crucial success factor for Atlantic salmon populations. In fact, two-year-old Atlantic salmon parr in beaver ponds in eastern Canada showed faster summer growth in length and mass and were in better condition than parr upstream or downstream from the pond.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Atlantic salmon is a popular fish for human consumption and is commonly sold fresh, canned, or frozen.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Wood and stone weirs along streams and ponds were used for millennia to harvest salmon in the rivers of New England. European fishermen gillnetted for Atlantic salmon in rivers using hand-made nets for many centuries and gillnetting was also used in early colonial America.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: In its natal streams, Atlantic salmon are considered prized recreational fish, pursued by fly anglers during its annual runs. At one time, the species supported an important commercial fishery, but having become endangered throughout its range globally, wild-caught Atlantic salmon are now virtually absent from the market. Instead, nearly all are from aquaculture farms, predominantly in Norway, Chile, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Faroe Islands, Russia and Tasmania in Australia.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Adult male and female fish are anaesthetised; their eggs and sperm are "stripped" after the fish are cleaned and cloth dried. Sperm and eggs are mixed, washed, and placed into freshwater. Adults recover in flowing, clean, well-aerated water. Some researchers have even studied cryopreservation of their eggs.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Fry are generally reared in large freshwater tanks for 12 to 20 months. Once the fish have reached the smolt phase, they are taken out to sea, where they are held for up to two years. During this time, the fish grow and mature in large cages off the coasts of Canada, the US, or parts of Europe.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: There are many different commercially available cage designs built to operate in a wide variety of aquatic conditions. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) cages are widely used, with HDPE pipes forming a floating collar ring onto which the fish net pen is secured and suspended in the water below.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Advancements in cage technologies have allowed for reduction in fish escapes, improvement in growing conditions, and maximization of aquaculture production volume per unit area of growing space.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Farmed Atlantic salmon are known to occasionally escape from cages and enter the habitat of wild populations. Interbreeding between escaped farm fish and wild fish decreases genetic diversity and introduces "the potential to genetically alter native populations, reduce local adaptation and negatively affect population viability and character". A study in 2000 demonstrated that the genes of farmed Atlantic salmon intrude wild populations mainly through wild males breeding with farmed females, though farmed specimens showed reduced capacity for breeding success overall compared to their wild counterparts. Further study in 2018 discovered extensive cross-breeding of wild and farmed Atlantic salmon in the Northwest Atlantic, showing that 27.1% of fish in 17 out of 18 rivers examined are artificially stocked or hybrids. Farming of Atlantic salmon in open cages at sea has also been linked, at least in part, to a decline in wild stocks attributed to the passing of parasites from farmed to wild individuals.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: On the west coast of the United States and Canada, aquaculturists are generally under scrutiny to ensure that non-native Atlantic salmon cannot escape from their open-net pens, however occasional incidents of escape have been documented. During one incident in 2017, for example, up to 300,000 potentially invasive Atlantic salmon escaped a farm among the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound, Washington. Washington went on in 2019 to implement a gradual phase out of salmon farming to be completed by 2025.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Despite being the source of considerable controversy, the likelihood of escaped Atlantic salmon establishing an invasive presence in the Pacific Northwest is considered minimal, largely because a number of 20th century efforts aimed at deliberately introducing them to the region were ultimately unsuccessful. From 1905 until 1935, for example, in excess of 8.6 million Atlantic salmon of various life stages (predominantly advanced fry) were intentionally introduced to more than 60 individual British Columbia lakes and streams. Historical records indicate, in a few instances, mature sea-run Atlantic salmon were captured in the Cowichan River; however, a self-sustaining population never materialized. Similarly unsuccessful results were realized after deliberate attempts at introduction by Washington as late as the 1980s. Consequently, environmental assessments by the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the BC Environmental Assessment Office have concluded the potential risk of Atlantic salmon colonization in the Pacific Northwest is low.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: A study of Næve et al. (2022) estimated the impact of 50 years of genetic selection and tried to predict the impact it could have until 2050. In order to do this, a common garden experiment was used to model and simulate past and future effects for 11 generations of genetic selection of increased growth rate in Atlantic salmon. To model the contribution that breeding has made in the industry from generation 0 (harvested in 1975– 1978) to generation 11 (harvested in 2017 – 2019), and to simulate growth until 2050 (generation 24), the Norwegian salmon aquaculture production between 2016 and 2019 was used as a base case. The simulation of the expected growth until 2050 (generation 24) gave five different scenarios : Historical (H1), Forecast 1 (F1), Forecast 2 (F2), Forecast 3 (F3) and Forecast 4 (F4). Changes in thermal growth coefficient (TGC) per generation were used in the model to simulate the differences in the five scenarios. The genetic data, H1, and the most conservative forecast scenario, F1, simulate what can be expected in 2050 if the trend from generation 0 through 11 is maintained. The following forecast scenarios assume a greater increase in genetic growth with a larger increase in the TGC in the generations to come. In the next two generations, more advanced selection methods such as marker assisted selection (from generation 10) and genomic selection (from generation 11) were implemented. This resulted in increased gain in selection for growth and simulated F2 and F3. The most progressive scenario, F4, aimed at exploring the effect in the industry when the full genetic potential is utilized. This assumes a further development of advanced techniques in the years to come.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The authors of the article found that the daily yield of the biomass increased with increasing generations in the historic and forecast scenarios. Further, the production time in seawater to reach the harvest weight of 5100 g is expected to be reduced by 53% in 2050. When production time can be reduced, this will also reduce e.g. time at risk of diseases. In the most progressive scenario, mortality in seawater was expected to be reduced by up to 50%. Further, the authors found that production per license can increase by up to 121%. Additionally, 77% of the new volume needed to achieve five million tonnes in 2050, may be provided by genomic selection. However, one should keep in mind that this article was published by the firm Aquagen, and can possibly be biased and too optimistic.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The IUCN rates this as a common species with a conservation status of "least concern", however it has been 25 years since the IUCN has released this status. A more recent regional assessment revealed that the European population of this species is vulnerable, and this might be the same or a similar status globally. Location-specific assessments have shown population declines across parts of the Atlantic Salmon's natural range, with populations along the coast of Maine and the Inner Bay of Fundy now listed as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act, and the Canadian Species at Risk Act, respectively.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Human activities have impacted salmon populations across parts of its range. The major threats are from overfishing and habitat change. Salmon decline in Lake Ontario goes back to the 18th–19th centuries, due to logging and soil erosion, as well as dam and mill construction. By 1896, the species was declared extirpated from the lake.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: In the 1950s, salmon from rivers in the United States and Canada, as well as from Europe, were discovered to gather in the sea around Greenland and the Faroe Islands. A commercial fishing industry was established, taking salmon using drift nets. After an initial series of record annual catches, the numbers crashed; between 1979 and 1990, catches fell from four million to 700,000.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Beginning around 1990, the rates of Atlantic salmon mortality at sea more than doubled in the western Atlantic. Rivers of the coast of Maine, southern New Brunswick and much of mainland Nova Scotia saw runs drop precipitously, and even disappear. An international effort to study the increased mortality rate was organized by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization. In 2000 the numbers of Atlantic salmon dropped to very low levels in Newfoundland, Canada. In 2007 at least one sport fishing organization from Iceland and Scandinavia blamed less fish caught by recreational anglers on overfishing at sea, and thus created the North Atlantic Salmon Fund to buy commercial quotas in the Atlantic from commercial fishermen in an effort to preserve wild "Salmo salar" stocks.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Possibly because of improvements in ocean feeding grounds, returns in 2008 were very positive. On the Penobscot River in Maine, returns were about 940 in 2007, and by mid-July 2008, the return was 1,938. Similar stories were reported in rivers from Newfoundland to Quebec. In 2011, more than 3,100 salmon returned to the Penobscot, the most since 1986, and nearly 200 ascended the Narraguagus River, up from the low two digits just a decade before.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Recreational fishing of Atlantic salmon is now authorized in much of the US and Canada where it occurs in large numbers, but this is subject to regulations in many states or provinces which are designed to maintain the continuity of the species. Strict catch limits, catch and release practices and forced fly fishing are examples of those regulations. However, catch and release angling can be an additional stressor on Atlantic salmon populations, especially when its impacts are combined with the existing pressures of climate change, overfishing, and predation.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Around the North Atlantic, efforts to restore salmon to their native habitats are underway, with slow progress. Habitat restoration and protection are key to this process, but issues of excessive harvest and competition with farmed and escaped salmon are also primary considerations. In the Great Lakes, Atlantic salmon have been reintroduced, but the percentage of salmon reproducing naturally is very low. Most areas are re-stocked annually. Since the extirpation of Atlantic salmon from Lake Ontario in the late 19th century, the state of New York has stocked its adjoining rivers and tributaries, and in many cases does not allow active fishing.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The province of Ontario started the Atlantic Salmon Restoration Program in 2006, which is one of the largest freshwater conservation programs in North America. It has since stocked Lake Ontario and surrounding tributaries with upwards of 6,000,000 young Atlantic salmon, with efforts growing each year. In New England, many efforts are underway to restore salmon to the region by knocking down obsolete dams and updating others with fish ladders and other techniques that have proven effective in the West with Pacific salmon. There is some success thus far, with populations growing in the Penobscot and Connecticut Rivers. Lake Champlain now has Atlantic salmon. The Atlantic Salmon Federation is involved in restoration efforts along the eastern United States and Canada, where their projects are focused on removing barriers to fish passage and eradicating invasive species.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization is an international council made up of Canada, the European Union, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, and the United States, with its headquarters in Edinburgh. It was established in 1983 to help protect Atlantic salmon stocks, through the cooperation between nations. They work to restore habitat and promote conservation of the salmon. In December 2021, NASCO published an updated interactive map of their Rivers Database, showing the stock status of wild Atlantic salmon populations across the species range.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Edward I instituted a penalty for collecting salmon during certain times of the year. His son Edward II continued, regulating the construction of weirs. Enforcement was overseen by those appointed by the justices of the peace. Because of confusing laws and the appointed conservators having little power, most laws were barely enforced.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Based on this, a royal commission was appointed in 1860 to thoroughly investigate the Atlantic salmon and the laws governing the species, resulting in the 1861 Salmon Fisheries Act. The act placed enforcement of the laws under the Home Office's control, but it was later transferred to the Board of Trade, and then later to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Another act passed in 1865 imposed charges to fish and catch limits. It also caused the formation of local boards having jurisdiction over a certain river. The next significant act, passed in 1907, allowed the board to charge 'duties' to catch other freshwater fish, including trout.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Despite legislation, board effects decreased until, in 1948, the River Boards Act gave authority of all freshwater fish and the prevention of pollution to one board per river. In total, it created 32 boards. In 1974, the 32 boards, which by then were integrated into regional river authorities, were reduced to 10 regional water authorities (RWAs). Although only the Northumbrian Water Authority, Welsh National Water Development Authority, Northwest Water Authority and Southwest Water Authority had significant salmon populations, all ten also regulated and conserved trout and freshwater eel fisheries


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act was passed in 1975. Among other things, it regulated fishing licences, seasons, and size limits, and banned obstructing the salmon's migratory paths.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Salmon was greatly valued in medieval Scotland, and various fishing methods, including the use of weirs, cruives, and nets, were used to catch the fish. Fishing for salmon was heavily regulated in order to conserve the resource. In 1318, King Robert I enacted legislation setting a minimum size for cruives, "so that no fry of fish are impeded from ascending and descending..." Laws on catching fish upon royal lands were frequently updated, demonstrating their importance. Because the fish were held in such high regard, poachers were severely punished; a person twice convicted of poaching salmon on a royal estate could be sentenced to death. The export of salmon was economically important in Aberdeen; beginning in the 15th century, the fish could be preserved through salting and barreling, allowing them to be exported abroad, including as far away as the Baltic. The volume of the early Scottish salmon trade is impossible to determine, since surviving custom records date only from the 1420 onward, and since Aberdeen burgesses enjoyed an exemption on salmon customs until the 1530s.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: During the 15th century, many laws were passed; many regulated fishing times, and worked to ensure smolts could safely pass downstream. James III even closed a meal mill because of its history of killing fish attracted to the wheel.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: More recent legislation has established commissioners who manage districts. Furthermore, the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act in 1951 required the Secretary of State be given data about the catches of salmon and trout to help establish catch limits.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Commercial and recreational fishing of wild Atlantic salmon is prohibited in the United States. Several populations of Atlantic salmon are in serious decline, and are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Currently, runs of 11 rivers in Maine are on the list – Kennebec, Androscoggin, Penobscot, Sheepscot, Ducktrap, Cove Brook, Pleasant, Narraguagus, Machias, East Machias and Dennys. The Penobscot River is the "anchor river" for Atlantic salmon populations in the US. Returning fish in 2008 were around 2,000, more than double the 2007 return of 940.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Section 9 of the ESA makes it illegal to take an endangered species of fish or wildlife. The definition of "take" is to "harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct".


title: Atlantic salmon

text: The federal government has prime responsibility for protecting the Atlantic salmon, but over the last generation, effort has continued to shift management as much as possible to provincial authorities through memoranda of understanding, for example. A new Atlantic salmon policy is in the works, and in the past three years, the government has attempted to pass a new version of the century-old Fisheries Act through Parliament.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Federal legislation regarding at-risk populations is weak. Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon runs were declared endangered in 2000. A recovery and action plan is in place.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: Nongovernmental organizations, such as the Atlantic Salmon Federation, constantly demand for improvements in management, and for initiatives to be considered. For example, the ASF and the Nova Scotia Salmon Association desire the use of technology for mitigation of acid rain-affected rivers such as used in Norway is in 54 Nova Scotia rivers and managed to raise the funds to get a project in place in one river.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: In Quebec, the daily catch limit for Atlantic salmon is dependent on the individual river. Some rivers are strictly catch and release with a limit of 3 released fish. Each catch must be declared. Some rivers allow you to keep between 1 or 2 grilse (30 cm to 63 cm), while some of the more prolific rivers (mainly on the north coast) will allow you to keep 1 salmon over 63 cm. The annual catch limit is 4 Atlantic salmon of small size and only 1 of those may be bigger than 63 cm.


title: Atlantic salmon

text: In Lake Ontario, the historic populations of Atlantic salmon became extinct, and cross-national efforts have been under way to reintroduce the species, with some areas already having restocked naturally reproducing populations.


title: Nardo Wick

text: Horace Bernard Walls III (born December 30, 2001), known professionally as Nardo Wick, is an American rapper from Jacksonville, Florida. Signed to Flawless Entertainment and RCA Records, he is best known for his 2021 single "Who Want Smoke?", which has a remix which features fellow rappers G Herbo, Lil Durk, and 21 Savage that propelled it to debut at number 17 on the US " Billboard" Hot 100 and earn platinum certification by the RIAA. Wick released his debut studio album, "Who Is Nardo Wick?", that same year.


title: Nardo Wick

text: Wick released his debut single, "Lolli". He then released the single "Slide". He then released the single "Came Up" as the final release of the year. Starting off 2021, he released the single "Who Want Smoke?" on January 22, 2021. Wick then released the single "Shhh" on April 23, 2021. It serves as the lead single to his debut studio album, "Who Is Nardo Wick?". On August 27, 2021


title: Nardo Wick

text: , Wick was featured on fellow American rapper 42 Dugg's song, "Opp Pack", from the deluxe edition of the latter's commercial mixtape "Free Dem Boyz". The song served as Wick's first time being featured on a song by another artist. On October 8, 2021, Wick released another version of "Who Want Smoke?", which features fellow rappers G Herbo, Lil Durk, and 21 Savage. The song serves as the second single to "Who Is Nardo Wick?" and was released alongside an accompanying music video that was directed by Cole Bennett in association with Lyrical Lemonade. The new version boosted the popularity of the song alongside a dance to it that was created on video-sharing app TikTok, which debuted at number 17 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the RIAA, which gave Wick both his first charting song and his first song that received a certification, respectively. Two days later, Wick was featured on rapper Katana 10400's single, "She Want Me Dead!", which served as Wick's second feature and first time being featured on a single. Wick released the single "Me or Sum", which features fellow rappers Future and Lil Baby, on November 29, 2021. It serve as the second single of "Who Is Nardo Wick?" The album was released four days later, on December 3, 2021. It features new guest appearances from Hit-Boy, Big30, and Lakeyah. On July 22, 2022, Wick released the deluxe version "Who Is Nardo Wick? 2" with additional guest features from The Kid Laroi and Latto.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: Queen is the fourth studio album by rapper Nicki Minaj. It was released on August 10, 2018, through Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Republic Records. It is Minaj's first album in nearly four years, following "The Pinkprint" (2014). She started recording the album in late 2016 and finished in August 2018 and collaborated with a handful of producers to reach her desired sound. It features guest appearances by rappers Eminem, Foxy Brown, Future, Swae Lee, and Lil Wayne; and singers Ariana Grande, Labrinth, and the Weeknd.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: The album's release date was delayed before ultimately being released a week ahead of schedule. It was supported by the singles: "Chun-Li", "Bed", "Barbie Dreams" and a remix of "Good Form". To further promote the album's release, Minaj launched her own radio show, titled Queen Radio, which aired on Beats 1, made several television appearances and live performances, and began The Nicki Wrld Tour in February 2019.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: "Queen" received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised the production but derided the album's length and lack of direction. It debuted at number two on the US "Billboard" 200 with 185,000 album-equivalent units, of which 78,000 came from pure album sales. It charted within the top ten in other music markets, such as Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA in January 2019.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: Following the release of her third studio album "The Pinkprint" in 2014 and the end of The Pinkprint Tour in August 2015, Minaj went into Hot 97's "Ebro in the Morning" in October 2016, where she was asked for details about her upcoming album, responding, "The album is so freaking epic, but it's a journey right. Before my first album came out, I was on everybody's song; I had my own campaign without realizing it. Right now, I have to complete a few things for other people." During following interviews Minaj claimed her fourth studio album would be her "best body of work", "a classic hip-hop album that people will never forget," and an era "a billion times more epic than anything 'Anaconda' could have delivered."


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: In October 2017, Minaj opened up for "T Magazine" about her vision for the album. "Sonically, I know what the album's about to sound like," she said, "I know what this album is gonna mean to my fans. This album is everything in my life coming full circle. [...] Now, I can tell you guys what happened for the last two years of my life. I know who I am. I am getting Nicki Minaj figured out with this album and I'm loving her."


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: "Queen" is a hip hop album that also contains elements of trap, dancehall, reggae, pop, and R&B. The opening track "Ganja Burn" is a reggae-inspired island-pop song, in which Minaj defends her position in the music industry. The following track "Majesty", with Labrinth featuring Eminem, is a pop-rap song that "sinks under dated piano chords, melodramatic string swells and a grating vocal hook." The third track, "Barbie Dreams", samples the Notorious B.I.G.'s 1994 song "Just Playing (Dreams)". While the Notorious B.I.G. rapped about his sexual desire for popular R&B singers, Minaj roasts male artists, including Drake, ex-boyfriend Meek Mill, Eminem, DJ Khaled, 50 Cent, Young Thug, Swae Lee, Lil Uzi Vert, Fetty Wap, Quavo, Desiigner, Future, and YG. Minaj clarified that the track only targets individuals she loves, and claimed it is not actually a diss track.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: "Rich Sex", featuring Lil Wayne, is a trap song, in contrast to R&B song "Thought I Knew You" which "sports some of "Queen"s lushest production". In "Thought I Knew You", the Weeknd, a featured artist on the track, contribute to the lament over estranged lovers with Weeknd's "buttery tenor serving as the perfect counterpoint to [Minaj's] clipped, Auto-Tuned raps and distorted vocals." Swae Lee, of hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd, is also featured on the album. Brendan Klinkenberg of "Rolling Stone" opines that Lee steals the spotlight on this track with his "delicate falsetto" with Minaj "deploying clearly demarcated, darting verses." Minaj named their song "Chun Swae" after her collaborator. At the end of this track, Minaj boasts to her listeners "You're in the middle of "Queen" right now, thinking/I see why she called this shit "Queen"/This bitch is really the fucking queen—ahh!" before bursting into a maniacal laugh.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: The album's lead single, "Chun-Li" follows immediately. "Sir", featuring Future, was one of two tracks added after the other 17 songs in the album. "Variety" described "Come See About Me" as "a soft, sculpted ballad that allows Minaj's rap-singing romanticism to nestle in a richly opulent setting." Foxy Brown is featured in the track "Coco Chanel". Andree Gee from "Uproxx" asserted that their collaboration in the "swaggering" track remained "true to both rapper's Trini roots, with dancehall inspired drums fused over ominous keys." The song continues into the closing track "Inspirations Outro".


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: On May 7, 2018, during an interview at the Met Gala, Minaj announced the album's title and original release date, which was then delayed. It was initially scheduled for a June 15 release, but was later pushed back to August 10, and then to August 17, before ultimately being released a week ahead of schedule.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: To accompany the album's release, Minaj launched her own radio show titled Queen Radio, which aired on Beats 1. The radio show started August 9, 2018 and the most recent show aired on February 10, 2020. The show featured celebrity guest appearances by Ariana Grande, Alicia Keys, Winnie Harlow, Kim Kardashian, Kelly Rowland, Swae Lee, Little Mix, Lil Wayne, Nene Leakes, Normani, Kandi Burruss, Lauren London, Kehlani, Tyga, Trina, Asian Doll, Cassie, Soulja Boy, Blac Chyna, Big Fendi, Joe Budden and Ts Madison. The show usually began with Minaj reading fans' tweets. Throughout the show, Minaj played a mixture of songs from her own playlist as well as some tracks from the album. Additionally, Minaj gave advice to callers about their sex lives.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: Minaj made several television appearances and live performances in support of the album. On May 13, 2018, Minaj performed "Chun-Li" live during Future's set at Rolling Loud Festival in Miami. She also performed the song during her "Saturday Night Live" season finale appearance on May 19, 2018. On June 23, 2018, she performed a medley of "Chun-Li" and "Rich Sex" at the BET Awards. On August 13, 2018, she appeared as a guest on "The Late Show", and freestyled a personalized verse from "Barbie Dreams" dedicated to Stephen Colbert. On August 20, 2018, she performed a medley of "Majesty", "Barbie Dreams", "Ganja Burn", and "Fefe" live from the PATH World Trade Center station at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards. On November 4, 2018, Minaj performed her song "Good Form" and "Woman Like Me" with Little Mix in Spain at the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards. On November 11, 2018, Minaj performed "Good Form" and "Dip" with Tyga at the 44th People's Choice Awards where "Queen" won the fan-voted award for the Album of 2018.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: Merchandise and tour bundles were sold with the album. Further promotion included a co-headlining NickiHndrxx Tour with American rapper Future. However, it was announced on December 21, 2018 that Future was no longer part of the tour and Minaj would tour with late American rapper Juice Wrld instead; The Nicki Wrld Tour commenced in February 2019 in Europe.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: On June 7, 2018, Minaj released the cover art for the album on Twitter, shot by Mert and Marcus during the "Ganja Burn" music video shoot, which featured Minaj topless, sitting on a log. She wears pasties and a head-dress inspired by the ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: "Chun-Li" was released on April 12, 2018 as the first single alongside "Barbie Tingz". As the lead single from the album, a vertical music video was released on April 13, while the official video, directed by Steven Klein, was uploaded onto Minaj's YouTube and Vevo accounts on May 4. It peaked at number ten on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and number six on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart; and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Bed", featuring American singer Ariana Grande, was released as the album's second single on June 14 along with the album pre-order, and was later serviced to contemporary hit radio and rhythmic contemporary radio in the United States on June 19. Its music video, directed by Hype Williams, premiered on July 6 on Minaj's YouTube and Vevo accounts. The song peaked at number 42 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number 19 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and was certified gold by the RIAA.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: "Barbie Dreams" was released as the album's third single and serviced to rhythmic contemporary radio in the United States on August 14. The music video for the song was released on September 11 and was directed by Hype Williams. It peaked at number 18 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number 13 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and was certified gold by the RIAA. "Majesty", featuring Eminem and Labrinth, and "Good Form" were scheduled to be serviced to radio as singles on October 16 and November 13, respectively. Only the latter was released, with a remix featuring American rapper Lil Wayne, being serviced as the album's fourth single with an accompanying music video, directed by Colin Tilley, on November 29. It peaked at number 60 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number 29 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: "Rich Sex" featuring American rapper Lil Wayne was released on June 11, 2018 as a promotional single from the album. It peaked at number 56 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number 24 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: "Barbie Tingz" was released on April 12, 2018, alongside "Chun-Li". It was originally intended to be included on "Queen" but did not make the standard cut, and instead is present on the Target Exclusive edition of the album. Its music video, directed by Giovanni Bianco, was uploaded to Minaj's YouTube and Vevo accounts on May 4. The song peaked at number 25 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number 17 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. "Ganja Burn", the opening track of the album, was supported by a music video directed by Mert and Marcus, released on August 13. The song peaked at number 60 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number 27 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Hard White" was also supported by a music video released on February 1, 2019. Minaj announced the release of the video a day earlier on Instagram along with the announcement of her Queen Fragrance.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: "Fefe" by American rapper 6ix9ine featuring Minaj and Murda Beatz was released on July 22, along with its accompanying music video, directed by TrifeDrew and William Asher. It peaked at number three on both "Billboard" Hot 100 and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and was certified 8× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. "Fefe" was added to the tracklist days after the album release as track number 20, and only appears in the standard digital edition.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: "Queen" was met with generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the production but derided the length and general lack of direction. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 70, based on 22 reviews.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: In a positive review, Ella Jukwey of "The Independent" wrote that "Queen" is "the most important album of Minaj's career so far. It's the first time in her career that she has faced real opposition, and this latest record suggests that competition brings out the best in her. It may lack cohesion at certain points, but one thing is never in doubt: Minaj is still one of the best in her field." Reviewing for "Vice", Robert Christgau said Minaj's album and Eminem's 2018 "Kamikaze" record are "quick-lipped, sharp-tongued arguments for the hip-hop they and I came up on and the endangered kind of flow both excel at. And both are funny, outrageous, self-confident announcements that neither artist has any intention of going away."


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: For "Billboard", Kathy Iandoli stated that "Queen" "exists to exemplify Nicki's proven longevity, which is enough of a rarity to finally declare her as well-deserved rap royalty", although was critical of the album's length. Briana Younger of "Pitchfork" gave the album a positive review, stating "the connections between past and present, between style and form, make "Queen" feel like her most creatively honest album." Erin Lowers from "Exclaim!" gave the album a positive review, saying it highlighted the rapper's "ability to adapt to an ever-changing sonic landscape" and concluding that Minaj wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. "The A.V. Club" gave it a B+, stating in their review, "Musically, she avoids flavor-of-the-moment trend-hopping in favor of lusher, more broadly poppy production [...] it's a lot of fun, but not quite the instant classic for which Minaj seems to have been aiming."


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: In a mixed review, Bryan Rolli of "Forbes" concluded that "Queen" is "a great 10-song album hiding inside a messy 19-song album", though complimented Minaj's lyricism, and said the album "gives fans plenty to sink their teeth into." Mikael Wood of the "Los Angeles Times", felt that Minaj "spends so much time describing her dominance that a clear conclusion is that she fears it's beginning to erode [...] all the back-in-my-day stuff suggests a lack of confidence in her unique perspective." For "The Washington Post", Chris Richards said, ""Queen" only feels connected to the current rap zeitgeist in the saddest way, as another portrait of a visionary rapper in decline." Carl Anka of "NME" wrote, "Unfortunately, in trying to take on all comers at once, there are parts of "Queen" that feel like an overreach. There is a better ten track effort hiding in "Queen", but you get the impression Nicki kept tracks like 'Miami' to hedge her bets in a bid for streaming success." Mosi Reeves of "Rolling Stone" wrote that "Queen" brings a new Nicki Minaj character: "the regal, haughty monarch, a woman who insists on sword-sharpened rhymes as a prerogative for excellence" but taking note of the "flabby, meandering mid-section."


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: In an unfavorable review, "The Hollywood Reporter"s Jonny Coleman deemed the album "[a] joyless mess" and summarized, "Minaj doesn't really investigate any of her issues with herself or others in any meaningful way on the new album. When all is said and done, it's just another playlist of disconnected mish-mash bangers that we'll probably forget in two weeks." "The Atlantic"s Spencer Kornhaber criticized the lyrical content of "Hard White", describing it as sexist and undermining Minaj's feminist position. Online hip hop publication "HipHopDX" criticised the album for a lack of depth and its run time, saying: "There are no deep layers to be uncovered on "Queen"."


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: In the United States, the album debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200 with 185,000 album-equivalent units, of which 78,000 were from pure album sales. The album debuted behind "Astroworld" by American rapper Travis Scott, which spent a second week on top. The album dropped one place to number three in its second week, earning an additional 95,000 album-equivalent units. The album dropped to the number five position on the "Billboard" chart in the third week, moving 64,000 equivalent units. In the fourth week, "Queen" slipped from the number five to seven position on the Billboard charts, moving 47,000 equivalent-units. In January 2019, "Queen" was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for 1 million equivalent units in the US.


title: Queen (Nicki Minaj album)

text: In Australia, "Queen" opened at number four on the ARIA Albums Chart, becoming Minaj's highest charting album in the country. In Canada, the album debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart, behind Scott's "Astroworld". It serves as Minaj's fourth consecutive top-ten album in the country. In the United Kingdom, "Queen" debuted at number five on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the rapper's second top-ten album on the chart. The album also reached the top ten in other music markets, such as Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and Wallonia. "Queen" is also Minaj's highest peaking album in France and Germany, where it debuted at number seven and eighteen respectively.


title: Casey Jones (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

text: Arnold Bernid "Casey" Jones is a fictional character that appears in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" comics and related media. Created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, he first appeared in the one-shot, "Raphael: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" (April 1985). Like the turtles, Casey Jones is a vigilante, and was created as a parody of vigilante characters that were popular in comics at the time. Casey usually has long dark hair, wears an ice hockey mask and cut-off biking gloves, and carries his weapons in a golf bag over his shoulder.


text: His weapons include various sports equipment, such as baseball bats, ice hockey sticks, golf clubs, cricket bats, and tennis rackets. He becomes a love interest of April O'Neil.


text: The character has been featured in various adaptations, and has been portrayed by several actors. He was first voiced by Pat Fraley in the 1987 series, Marc Thompson in the 2003 series, Chris Evans in the 2007 film, Josh Peck in the 2012 series, Zelda Williams as a female version in the 2018 series, Haley Joel Osment in a of the 2018 series, and has been portrayed in live action by Elias Koteas in the 1990 and 1993 films and by Stephen Amell in the .


text: In the original Mirage series, Casey first appeared in the "Raphael" one-shot, by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Casey was introduced as a violent, hot-tempered vigilante whose anger concerned even Raphael. The turtle stopped Casey from killing some muggers, causing an initial conflict between the two. This clash was quickly resolved, and Casey and Raphael became fast friends. Later, Casey came to the turtles' aid when they are attacked by the Shredder in April O'Neil's home. The vigilante even took the turtles to his grandmother's old farmhouse in Northampton, cementing his place with the group.


text: In the Mirage series, Casey is extremely violent, even more so than Raphael, but he mellows throughout the course of the series. In "Shades of Gray", Casey accidentally kills a teenager who tried to mug him. The incident sent him into a drunken spiral, damaging his relationship with April O'Neil. His initial homicidal tendencies are especially present in his first appearance, although he never actually murders anyone in that instance.


text: During the three-part episode "City at War", Casey leaves the farmhouse and begins to drive to Los Angeles, planning to find April, but instead meets a pregnant woman named Gabrielle with whom he falls in love and marries. Gabrielle dies during childbirth and Casey is left to take care of her daughter, whom he names Shadow. After spreading Gabrielle's ashes, Casey returns to New York with Shadow to stay with his mother. In a chance encounter, Casey is reunited with April when she comes to buy the apartment building owned by Casey's mother. During this meeting it is revealed that Casey's real name is Arnold but prefers to use his middle name only.


text: Casey repairs his relationship with April and they begin dating. By volume four, he and April are married, raising Shadow as their daughter and trying to have a child of their own. April eventually leaves Casey and Shadow when she learns that she is not human and is a product of the Kirby warp pen. As April comes to terms within herself in Alaska, Casey takes to the nightclubs to drown his sorrows. He meets up with the Foot Clan leader Karai at one of these clubs and, after a few drinks, awakens at Karai's retreat with no memory of the night before, although Karai knows something of what had happened. This plotline was left unresolved as the fourth volume came to an abrupt end.


text: Although mentioned, Casey Jones never appears in the Archie Comics "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures".


text: The fourth issue of the Dreamwave Productions series (based on the 2003 animated series) focused entirely on Casey Jones. When Casey was a little kid, he was worried that his dad should give into the Purple Dragons and their protection racket, lest something bad happen. Mr. Jones becomes violent and tells Casey that he is playing on his team and that a Jones never gives in (nearly punching Casey in a violent rage). Mr. Jones hears something and figures it is the Purple Dragons breaking into his store. Casey watches as his father's store burns to the ground. The Purple Dragon leader, Hun, then smacks Casey aside with the encouragement that his father pay up. Casey breaks a bottle and stabs Hun in the leg with it. Furious, Hun has his thugs beat Casey to a pulp. Before being thrown out of the hospital because he lacked insurance, Casey is diagnosed with brain damage from the beating. Shortly after that, Mr. Jones goes searching for Hun to get revenge and vanishes. Casey's mom then goes searching for her husband and vanishes, too. Casey drifts off into a delusional state, reassuring himself that his father and mother are still alive, just waiting for Casey to clean the streets of all the Purple Dragons before they can return.


text: In the "TMNT" series released by IDW Publishing, Casey is a young college scholarship holder. Upon his mother's death by cancer, his father became an alcoholic thug who would vent his daily frustration on his son. On one such occasion, Casey was saved from another violent beating by Raphael, who had at that time lived a solitary life as a street vagrant following his mutation (unaware that he had a family searching for him), and the two quickly became fast friends and fellow vigilantes until Raphael was reunited with his family, at which point Casey was introduced to and befriended the other three turtles as well.


text: In the 1987 animated series, Casey Jones is a crazed vigilante with a "Dirty Harry" like persona, who goes after all sorts of criminals, from robbers to litterers. He never takes off his mask on screen, even when once going undercover in a business suit.


text: Appearing in only five episodes of the series, this version of Casey does not play a role as central as his comic book counterpart: He does not have a friendship with Raphael, nor a relationship with April – he does not even encounter her until season 5's "Leonardo Cuts Loose", though later they do team up in episodes "Night of the Rogues" and "Cyber-Turtles". Casey was voiced by Pat Fraley. In the Japanese version, he was voiced by Issei Futamata and Akio Ōtsuka (NHK-BS2 Version).


text: In the 2003 animated series, Jones has a much more important role. He speaks in a Brooklyn accent, voiced by Marc Thompson in English and Tokuyoshi Kawashima in Japanese. This incarnation's personality is on par with Raphael's. Raphael first meets Casey while the vigilante tries to stop a mugging by the Purple Dragons. Seeing a lot of himself in Casey, Raphael tries to reason with him and prevent him from letting his anger get the best of him (Raphael himself had just almost severely injured Michelangelo and was overwhelmed by guilt). Though initially uninterested in what he has to say, Casey eventually bonds with Raphael after he loses to Raph in a bike race and begins listening to his lessons. Casey, Raphael, and the other turtles proceed to team up and defeat a gang of Purple Dragons. From this point on, Casey becomes a valuable ally of the Turtles, and has a closer friendship with Raphael than in any other incarnation.


text: Casey's backstory is fleshed out over the course of the series. When he was a child, his father's shop was burned down by Hun and the Purple Dragons for being denied protection money. Despite being threatened not to, his father (Arnold Casey Jones Sr.) later went to the police over it. It is implied that he was killed for doing so. This gave Casey his hatred for crime and an essential lifelong vendetta against the Purple Dragons. This backstory was later expanded upon in the Dreamwave comics and adopted into the Mirage series.


text: It is revealed in episode "The Lesson" that he and the Turtles had met when they were kids, although neither the Turtles nor Casey are aware of the truth. During a trip to the surface, the young Turtles witness bullies picking on young "Arnie". Disguising themselves as a human child, they attempt to teach him self-defense. However, their unique perspectives and attitudes resulted in more trouble than help. In the end, however, young Casey angrily jumps to the defense of a friend against the bullies, proclaiming they were no match for "Arnold Casey Jones!" In a bit of foreshadowing, he uses a bully's hockey stick against them.


text: His main catchphrase is the battle cry "Goongala!". It is also revealed in "The Lesson" that this came from a young Casey being unable to pronounce "-sama", a battle cry literally meaning "Mr. Thunder", that young Michelangelo kept trying to teach him. "Goongala" was the best he could come up with.


text: Despite his lack of intelligence and apparent incompetence, he was early on in the series referred to by Hun as "Our (the Purple Dragon's) greatest enemy", and a fighting tournament was held to see which Dragon would have the honor of killing him, indicating how serious a threat the criminal underworld views him as.


text: In the series, Casey has a good heart, but is easily enraged and occasionally bumbling. He loves motorcycles. In a symbolic way, he sees the Turtles as the little brothers he never had. As such, he often comes to their aid against the Shredder, the Foot Clan, or other enemies.


text: Early on, Casey meets April and there is an initial attraction. However, their conflicting personalities lead to frequent arguments at first. Over time, however, they start dating and a serious relationship develops. In the "Back to the Sewers" (seventh) season, Casey proposes marriage to her. In the finale "Wedding Bells and Bytes", they are married, with Raphael serving as the best man and Michelangelo as the maid of honor. Many recurring characters were in attendance and the ceremony performed by the Fugitoid. In the "Fast Forward" (sixth) season, the Turtles and Splinter are transported to 2105, where they meet April and Casey's great grandson, Cody Jones, the heir to O'Neil Tech, a company created by April, Casey and Donatello after the turtles return to their own time. One of Cody's inventions, the Turtle X armor, resembles Casey's hockey mask.


text: Casey Jones appeared for the first time in the second season of the 2012 animated series. In the tie-in prequel comic on the official website, Raphael spots some graffiti on a sewer wall that says, "Jones is everywhere!", which also had his iconic hockey mask painted beside it. In a new trailer from IGN, it is shown that Casey thinks he is the "Last Hope" for New York City. He seems to know about mutants, which is seen when he rescues April from Mutagen Man and is shown to be able to defeat him on his own.


text: He is introduced in the episode "Mutagen Man Unleashed" as a hockey player who April tutors in school.


text: He later becomes a vigilante who hunts criminals, mutants and anything that he thinks threatens "his" city in season two's episode "The Good, The Bad and Casey Jones" and becomes an ally to the turtles, specifically Raphael who becomes his best friend. He also has rivalry with Donatello due to their mutual feelings for April. Casey also has a penchant for speaking in third-person and has a fear of rats, which includes Splinter to an extent.


text: As the series progresses, his rivalry with Donatello is lessened, and he becomes closer to the whole team in general. In season three's "Casey Jones VS. The Underworld" Casey decides to start hunting crime on his own and eventually meets his new own archenemy, Hun, the new leader of the Purple Dragons. He is defeated, at first, but later defeats Hun and prolongs Shredder's plans. He is later one of only six inhabitants of Earth-the others being April and the Turtles-to be rescued before the planet is consumed by an artificial black hole.


text: In the Season 4 finale, "Owari" Casey assists the Turtles in avenging the death of Splinter. When the Turtles gear up for a mission, Casey gets a new mask that bears a strong resemblance to his comic counterpart.


text: In the alternate future seen in "Raphael: Mutant Apocalypse", Casey was one of the many humans that died as a result of a giant Mutagen bomb hitting the planet. Raphael kept his skull and helmet, which was attached to a bomb that he used to take down Maximus Kong's vehicle.


text: In the "Monstrous Tales" saga, Casey turns into a vampire, along with April, Donatello and Raphael, until he returns to normal, due to Mikey defeating Dracula.


text: In the "Crossover Tales" saga, Casey assists the Turtles and their 1980s counterparts in stopping Krang and the 1980s counterpart of the Shredder. He and April enlists Karai and Shinigami to hunt down Bebop and Rocksteady in "The Foot Walks Again". Later, Casey teams up with the Turtles and the Mighty Mutanimals to put an end to Zeck and Steranko in "The Big Blowout".


text: In "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", the series introduced a female incarnation of the character named Cassandra "Casey" Jones who is voiced by Zelda Williams. Before her identity was revealed, she was originally known as the Foot Recruit of the Foot Clan who debuted in "Hot Soup: The Game."


text: By the four part episode "Finale," Shredder regained his power of speech and made the Foot Recruit his new general after the Foot Lieutenant and the Foot Brute were trapped upon the collapse of Baron Draxum's laboratory. When at the Crying Titan, Shredder had the Foot Recruit prepare the ritual where it combined with the Empyrean within the Crying Titan which would enable him to drain Splinter's essence. During the Turtles and April's fight with Shredder, Casey defected to their side and helped them, Baron Draxum, and the spirits of the Hamato Clan's ancestors defeat the Shredder while returning Oroku Saki's spirit to them.


text: A second, more traditional version of Casey appears in "", voiced by Haley Joel Osment. This Casey hails from the year 2044, and travels back in time to warn the Turtles of an impending alien invasion by the Krang, helping them defeat the aliens after the invasion begins. After the Krang's defeat, it is revealed that Cassandra was also fighting the invaders on her own, and Casey reveals that he is her son.


text: Casey Jones has lead roles in four of the six "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" films. In the first film, he is portrayed by Elias Koteas. He is a former professional ice hockey player who had turned vigilante after his career ended early due to an injury. He encounters Raphael while attacking some purse-snatchers. Raphael stops Casey from harming the thieves, whereupon Casey turns his aggression on Raphael.


text: Casey later sees Raphael alone on a rooftop surrounded by Foot soldiers and comes to the Turtles' aid in the subsequent attack. He is referred to by Michelangelo as "Wayne Gretzky on steroids." Casey Jones joins the Turtles to assist them against the Shredder and the Foot, mentions to April that he was a professional ice hockey player until he got injured, and ultimately rescues Splinter from the Foot's headquarters and crushes the Shredder in a garbage truck. He also falls in love with April in the process.


text: In the third film, Casey (once again portrayed by Elias Koteas) returns at the Turtles' request to assist Splinter in watching over the four honor guards that were transported to the present when the Turtles would take their place in feudal Japan. Koteas also appears as an ancestor of Jones named Whit who, like his descendant, ends up helping the Turtles despite anti-heroic tendencies. He also shows a romantic interest in April, as Casey does. It is implied that Casey had gone away for a while, explaining his absence in the second film.


text: Casey appears in the 2007 "TMNT" film, and is voiced by Chris Evans. By the time the film takes place, Casey is now in a relationship with April and he works for her shipping company as a delivery man, spending his nights continuing his vigilante activities. Through this, he meets Raphael as the Nightwatcher, becoming his sidekick - though he claims Raphael is the sidekick. At the beginning of the film, he is the only character to know that Raphael is the Nightwatcher. When he meets Raphael in costume, the latter is at first confused as to how he was able to figure it out, where Casey responds, "Wasn't that hard, man. Y'know, you look like a big metal turtle," and Raphael says, rather despondently, "It's that obvious, huh?"


text: Jones appears in "", the sequel to the 2014 film, played by Stephen Amell. Here, Jones is portrayed as a hot-headed prison guard who dreams of being a NYC Detective. After the Shredder escapes from custody and Bebop and Rocksteady beat him up and steal his armored vehicle Casey decides to hunt the two criminals on his own. Tracking them to the TCRI building, Jones notices April being pursued by the Foot and grabs from his trunk his hockey stick and mask, which he uses to fight the Foot Clan. He is quickly introduced to the turtles and becomes a butt of their jokes, with Raph and Mikey mocking his hockey mask and later tricking him into attacking Master Splinter (which results in Casey getting easily defeated). However, within a day Raph and Mikey warm up to Casey and convince him to help them steal the Purple Ooze from police headquarters. When the turtles are threatened by the police Casey and April place themselves in the line of fire to buy the turtles time to escape. Later, after Casey and April are freed, Casey assists in the final battle by taking on Bebop and Rocksteady. He makes a pair of homemade roller blades and uses a lead pipe like a hockey stick to defeat them. This Casey is shown to be a good man who only fights crime on his own when he feels like he has no choice. He does not use a wide array of weapons, opting for just his hockey stick and later a lead pipe. The film ends with Casey and April arranging to go on a date.


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: The romanization of Arabic is the systematic rendering of written and spoken Arabic in the Latin script. Romanized Arabic is used for various purposes, among them transcription of names and titles, cataloging Arabic language works, language education when used instead of or alongside the Arabic script, and representation of the language in scientific publications by linguists. These formal systems, which often make use of diacritics and non-standard Latin characters and are used in academic settings or for the benefit of non-speakers, contrast with informal means of written communication used by speakers such as the Latin-based Arabic chat alphabet.


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: Different systems and strategies have been developed to address the inherent problems of rendering various Arabic varieties in the Latin script. Examples of such problems are the symbols for Arabic phonemes that do not exist in English or other European languages; the means of representing the Arabic definite article, which is always spelled the same way in written Arabic but has numerous pronunciations in the spoken language depending on context; and the representation of short vowels (usually "i u" or "e o", accounting for variations such as "Muslim/Moslem" or "Mohammed/Muhammad/Mohamed").


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: Romanization is often termed "transliteration", but this is not technically correct. "Transliteration" is the direct representation of foreign "letters" using Latin symbols, while most systems for romanizing Arabic are actually "transcription" systems, which represent the "sound" of the language, since short vowels and geminate consonants, for example, does not usually appear in Arabic writing. As an example, the above rendering ' of the is a transcription, indicating the pronunciation; an example transliteration would be '.


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: Early Romanization of the Arabic language was standardized in the various bilingual Arabic-European dictionaries of the 17–19th centuries:


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: Any romanization system has to make a number of decisions which are dependent on its intended field of application.


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: One basic problem is that written Arabic is normally unvocalized; i.e., many of the vowels are not written out, and must be supplied by a reader familiar with the language. Hence unvocalized Arabic writing does not give a reader unfamiliar with the language sufficient information for accurate pronunciation. As a result, a pure transliteration, e.g., rendering as ', is meaningless to an untrained reader. For this reason, transcriptions are generally used that add vowels, e.g. '. However, unvocalized systems match exactly to written Arabic, unlike vocalized systems such as Arabic chat, which some claim detracts from one's ability to spell.


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: Most uses of romanization call for transcription rather than transliteration: Instead of transliterating each written letter, they try to reproduce the sound of the words according to the orthography rules of the target language: "Qaṭar". This applies equally to scientific and popular applications. A pure transliteration would need to omit vowels (e.g. "qṭr"), making the result difficult to interpret except for a subset of trained readers fluent in Arabic. Even if vowels are added, a transliteration system would still need to distinguish between multiple ways of spelling the same sound in the Arabic script, e.g. ' vs. ' for the sound ', and the six different ways () of writing the glottal stop (hamza, usually transcribed '). This sort of detail is needlessly confusing, except in a very few situations (e.g., typesetting text in the Arabic script).


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: Most issues related to the romanization of Arabic are about transliterating vs. transcribing; others, about what should be romanized:


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: A transcription may reflect the language as spoken, typically rendering names, for example, by the people of Baghdad (Baghdad Arabic), or the official standard (Literary Arabic) as spoken by a preacher in the mosque or a TV newsreader. A transcription is free to add phonological (such as vowels) or morphological (such as word boundaries) information. Transcriptions will also vary depending on the writing conventions of the target language; compare English "Omar Khayyam" with German "Omar Chajjam", both for , (unvocalized ', vocalized ').


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: A transliteration is ideally fully reversible: a machine should be able to transliterate it back into Arabic. A transliteration can be considered as flawed for any one of the following reasons:


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: A fully accurate transcription may not be necessary for native Arabic speakers, as they would be able to pronounce names and sentences correctly anyway, but it can be very useful for those not fully familiar with spoken Arabic and who are familiar with the Roman alphabet. An accurate transliteration serves as a valuable stepping stone for learning, pronouncing correctly, and distinguishing phonemes. It is a useful tool for anyone who is familiar with the sounds of Arabic but not fully conversant in the language.


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: One criticism is that a fully accurate system would require special learning that most do not have to actually pronounce names correctly, and that with a lack of a universal romanization system they will not be pronounced correctly by non-native speakers anyway. The precision will be lost if special characters are not replicated and if a reader is not familiar with Arabic pronunciation.


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: There have been many instances of national movements to convert Arabic script into Latin script or to romanize the language.


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: A Beirut newspaper, "La Syrie", pushed for the change from Arabic script to Latin script in 1922. The major head of this movement was Louis Massignon, a French Orientalist, who brought his concern before the Arabic Language Academy in Damascus in 1928. Massignon's attempt at romanization failed as the Academy and the population viewed the proposal as an attempt from the Western world to take over their country. Sa'id Afghani, a member of the Academy, asserted that the movement to romanize the script was a Zionist plan to dominate Lebanon.


title: Romanization of Arabic

text: After the period of colonialism in Egypt, Egyptians were looking for a way to reclaim and reemphasize Egyptian culture. As a result, some Egyptians pushed for an Egyptianization of the Arabic language in which the formal Arabic and the colloquial Arabic would be combined into one language and the Latin alphabet would be used. There was also the idea of finding a way to use hieroglyphics instead of the Latin alphabet. A scholar, Salama Musa, agreed with the idea of applying a Latin alphabet to Egyptian Arabic, as he believed that would allow Egypt to have a closer relationship with the West. He also believed that Latin script was key to the success of Egypt as it would allow for more advances in science and technology. This change in script, he believed, would solve the problems inherent with Arabic, such as a lack of written vowels and difficulties writing foreign words. Ahmad Lutfi As Sayid and Muhammad Azmi, two Egyptian intellectuals, agreed with Musa and supported the push for romanization. The idea that romanization was necessary for modernization and growth in Egypt continued with Abd Al Aziz Fahmi in 1944. He was the chairman for the Writing and Grammar Committee for the Arabic Language Academy of Cairo. He believed and desired to implement romanization in a way that allowed words and spellings to remain somewhat familiar to the Egyptian people. However, this effort failed as the Egyptian people felt a strong cultural tie to the Arabic alphabet, particularly the older generation.


title: Fast Car

text: "Fast Car" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman. It was released on April 6, 1988, as the lead single from her 1988 self-titled debut studio album. Chapman's appearance on the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute helped the song become a top-ten hit in the United States, reaching number six on the "Billboard" Hot 100. In the United Kingdom, it reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. "Fast Car" received three Grammy Award nominations; Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, the latter of which it won. It also received a MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Female Video in 1989.


title: Fast Car

text: According to "Metro Weekly" critic Chris Gerard, "Fast Car" tells a grittily realistic story of a working poor woman trying to escape the cycle of poverty, set to folk rock music. The song's arrangement was described by "Orlando Sentinel" writer Thom Duffy as "subtle folk-rock", while "Billboard" magazine's Gary Trust deemed the record a "folk/pop" song. Dave Marsh said it was perhaps an "optimistic folk-rock narrative", whose characters are in a homeless shelter.


title: Fast Car

text: Elektra Records released "Fast Car" on April 6, 1988, one day after the parent album, "Tracy Chapman". That July, Chapman appeared at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert, where she was initially scheduled to sing three songs. Just before surprise guest Stevie Wonder walked onstage, he learned that his keyboard's hard disk had gone missing. He left in a panic, forcing the event organizers to usher Chapman back to the stage with nothing but a microphone and her guitar. As the organizers readied the stage for the following act, Chapman performed "Fast Car" and "Across the Lines". This performance brought attention to Chapman's music, with sales for "Tracy Chapman" increasing greatly, enough for it to top the "Billboard" 200 chart on August 27, 1988. "Fast Car" itself would reach number six on the "Billboard" Hot 100 the same week.


title: Fast Car

text: "Rolling Stone" ranked "Fast Car" number 167 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is Chapman's only song on the list, and the highest ranking song performed and solely written by a female artist. When "Rolling Stone" updated the list in 2021, "Fast Car" was promoted to the 71st spot. "Pitchfork" named it the 86th best song of the 1980s.


title: Fast Car

text: In April 2011, "Fast Car" entered the UK top ten for the second time at number four after Michael Collings performed it on "Britain's Got Talent". The single was certified triple platinum in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2022, based on downloads and streaming. By 2016, it had sold 661,500 copies in the United Kingdom.


title: Fast Car

text: In 2015, a tropical house version was released by Swedish record producer Tobtok, featuring vocals from British singer River. Tobtok's version was published on SoundCloud on October 30, 2015, and released commercially on November 27, 2015 through Good Soldier Records, and subsequently licensed to Neon Records in Australia and in the United States. Tobtok also released an accompanying music video. Although the Jonas Blue version released shortly after was far more successful, Tobtok's version also charted in a number of charts, notably Australia, where it received significant airplay (some stations like 2Day FM played it over the Jonas Blue version) and reached number 19 on the ARIA Singles Chart in January 2016, while Jonas Blue's version was at number 2. The Tobtok version also charted in the Norwegian VG-lista, Irish IRMA and Danish Tracklisten official charts.


title: Fast Car

text: In 2015, a tropical house cover of "Fast Car" was released by British record producer Jonas Blue. It is Blue's debut single and features the vocals from British singer Dakota. It is the lead single of Blue's debut album "Blue" (2018). The Club Mix was included on Blue's compilation, "".


title: Fast Car

text: In an interview with iHeartRadio, Blue stated Chapman's original 1988 hit is a favorite of Blue's mother's, who would often play it in the car. "It was a good song in London [during] that time when I was growing up, so it was always on the radio," he went on to say. "And it just kind of stuck with me. It was that song on the long journeys, and I loved it."


title: Fast Car

text: Regarding Dakota, who provides vocals on the song, Blue said, "... she [said], 'Oh, I've never done dance music before or anything like that so, I'm not kind of sure.' And I was like, 'Listen, you'd be great.' And she came the next day to record it, and what you hear on the radio is her coming in the next day after her show to record it." Blue also admitted that he wanted to create a Swedish-esque sound on the record: "I think with things like the synth lead lines in it, giving it that second hook, I was kind of going for a very kind of Swedish-y kind of sound. That's kind of the influence behind that kind of lead synth line, and that was something which I don't think people have picked up on yet, but they just like the song because of what it is."


title: Fast Car

text: The Jonas Blue version peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, behind Zayn Malik's "Pillowtalk". Its UK peak meant it charted higher than Chapman's original, which peaked at number five on the chart in May 1988 and a position higher upon a re-release in April 2011.


title: Fast Car

text: Outside the United Kingdom, the Jonas Blue version reached number one in Australia. and Hungary, whilst also peaking within the top ten in Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand and Sweden. In the United States, the Jonas Blue version went to number one on the Dance Club Songs chart.


title: Fast Car

text: The song has been covered many times, and it was parodied as "I Write a Fast Song" in the "In Living Color" sketch "Making of a Tracy Chapman Song", in which Chapman (portrayed by Kim Wayans) writes a song by looking out her window and witnessing events such as an old man getting hit by a bus and a domestic dispute.


title: Fast Car

text: In April 2011, Michael Collings auditioned on "Britain's Got Talent" by singing his version of "Fast Car". As a result, the song peaked on number four in the UK Singles Chart in the United Kingdom, a position higher than its original peak in the country 23 years prior.


title: Fast Car

text: In September 2014, Sam Smith covered the song on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, as did British singer Birdy in April 2016, Khalid in March 2018, and Justin Bieber in September 2018.


title: Screenplay

text: A screenplay, or script, is a written work by screenwriters for a film, television show, or video game (as opposed to a stage play). A screenplay written for television is also known as a "teleplay". Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A screenplay is a form of narration in which the movements, actions, expressions and dialogue of the characters are described in a certain format. Visual or cinematographic cues may be given, as well as scene descriptions and scene changes.


title: Screenplay

text: In the early silent era, before the turn of the 20th century, "scripts" for films in the United States were usually a synopsis of a film of around one paragraph and sometimes as short as one sentence. Shortly thereafter, as films grew in length and complexity, film scenarios (also called "treatments" or "synopses") were written to provide narrative coherence that had previously been improvised. Films such as "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) and "The Great Train Robbery" (1903) had scenarios consisting respectively of a list of scene headings or scene headings with a detailed explication of the action in each scene. At this time, scripts had yet to include individual shots or dialogue.


title: Screenplay

text: These scenario scripts evolved into continuity scripts, which listed a number of shots within each scene, thus providing continuity to streamline the filmmaking process. While some productions, notably D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (1915), were made without a script, preapproved "continuities" allowed the increasingly powerful studio executives to more accurately budget for film productions. Movie industry revolutionary Thomas H. Ince, a screenwriter himself, invented movie production by introducing an "assembly line" system of filmmaking that utilized far more detailed written materials, clearly dedicated to "separating conception from execution". Film researcher Andrew Kenneth Gay posits that, "The process of scripting for the screen did not so much emerge naturally from other literary forms such as the play script, the novel, or poetry nor to meet the artistic needs of filmmakers but developed primarily to address the manufacturing needs of industrial production."


title: Screenplay

text: With the advent of sound film, dialogue quickly dominated scripts, with what had been specific instructions for the filmmaker initially regressed to a list of master shots. However, screenwriters soon began to add the shot-by-shot details that characterized continuities of the films of the later silent era. "Casablanca" (1942), is written in this style, with detailed technical instructions interwoven with dialogue. The first use of the term "screenplay" dates to this era; the term "screen play" (two words) was used as early as 1916 in the silent era to refer to the film itself, i.e. a play shown on a screen.


title: Screenplay

text: With the end of the studio system in the 1950s and 1960s, these continuities were gradually split into a master-scene script, which includes all dialogue but only rudimentary scene descriptions and a shooting script devised by the director after a film is approved for production. While studio era productions required the explicit visual continuity and strict adherence to a budget that continuity scripts afforded, the master-scene script was more readable, which is of importance to an independent producer seeking financing for a project. By the production of "Chinatown" (1974), this change was complete. Andrew Kenneth Gay argues that this shift has raised the status of directors as auteurs and lowered the profile of screenwriters. However, he also notes that since the screenplay is no longer a technical document, screenwriting is more of a literary endeavour.


title: Screenplay

text: The format is structured so that (as a ballpark estimate) "one page" equates to roughly "one minute" of screen time, though this often bears little resemblance to the runtime of the final production. The standard font is 12 point, 10 pitch Courier typeface. Wide margins of at least one inch are employed (usually larger for the left to accommodate hole punches).


title: Screenplay

text: The major components are action (sometimes called "screen direction") and dialogue. The action is written in the present tense and is limited to what can be heard or seen by the audience, for example descriptions of settings, character movements, or sound effects. The dialogue is the words the characters speak, and is written in a center column.


title: Screenplay

text: Unique to the screenplay (as opposed to a stage play) is the use of "slug lines". A "slug line", also called a "master scene heading", occurs at the start of each scene and typically contains 3 pieces of information: whether the scene is set inside or outside (INT. or EXT.; interior or exterior), the specific location, and the time of day. Each slug line begins a new scene. In a "shooting script" the slug lines are numbered consecutively for ease of reference.


title: Screenplay

text: American screenplays are printed single-sided on three-hole-punched paper using the standard American letter size (8.5 x 11 inch). They are then held together with two brass brads in the top and bottom hole. The middle hole is left empty as it would otherwise make it harder to quickly read the script.