title: West Hollywood, California

text: Jewel-Thais Williams, who owned the bar Jewel's Catch One, originally opened the bar in 1973 because she experienced discrimination in both heterosexual bars and gay bars because she was both black and a woman.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: A resident drew national attention during the 2008 presidential campaign by including a Sarah Palin mannequin hung in effigy in a Halloween display. The home's decorations also featured a doll of John McCain surrounded by decorative flames in the chimney. Some residents complained about the display as a hate crime, but the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department concluded the display did not violate any laws.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: In March 2006, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Secret Service seized 250 fake denomination notes, each bearing a denomination of $1 billion, from a West Hollywood apartment.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: In 1961, comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested on obscenity charges at The Troubadour in then-unincorporated West Hollywood. The arresting officer was a young deputy named Sherman Block, who would later become the sheriff of Los Angeles County.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: In 1982, John Belushi died of a drug overdose at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood, adjacent to WeHo. On the night of his death, he was visited separately by friends Robin Williams (at the height of his own drug exploits) and Robert De Niro, each of whom left the premises, leaving Belushi in the company of assorted others, including Cathy Smith. This is just one of many notable sordid events at the location. A 1930s movie executive reportedly said, "If you must get into trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont".


title: West Hollywood, California

text: In 1989, actor Christian Slater was arrested in West Hollywood for leading the police on a drunken car chase that ended when Slater crashed his car into a telephone pole.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: On Halloween night in 1993, actor River Phoenix died at age 23 of a drug overdose at the Viper Room, a club that was opened that year and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: On January 8, 2006, New Zealand film director Lee Tamahori, dressed as a woman, was arrested for allegedly offering an undercover police officer oral sex on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Lodi Place. He was convicted only of criminal trespass, having pleaded no contest in exchange for other charges being dropped.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: On November 17, 2006, during a performance at the Laugh Factory, a cell phone video captured Michael Richards shouting "Shut up" to a heckler in the audience, followed by repeated shouts of "He's a nigger!" to the rest of the audience (using the word six times altogether), and also making a reference to lynching.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: In 1985, West Hollywood was the first city to create a same-gender domestic partnership registration for its residents, as well as to offer same-gender domestic partner benefits for city employees. West Hollywood's comprehensive Domestic Partnership Ordinance allows those couples that are prohibited from marrying (same-sex) and those who can marry but choose not to (heterosexual), to register their union with the city. These unions are treated on an equal basis with legal marriages with respect to city-level benefits and services. In California as a whole, same-sex couples may enter domestic partnerships which offer them all of the state rights of marriage.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: West Hollywood has inclusionary zoning laws governing development. The city established the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in 1986 requiring developers to either provide affordable housing in new projects or pay a fee in-lieu to the city which it directs towards other affordable housing projects.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: In 1993 the West Hollywood City Council voted for West Hollywood to become the first official pro-choice city in America.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: In 2006, the City Council passed a medicinal marijuana resolution, by a vote of 4–0, making it the first city in Southern California to adopt a lowest law enforcement priority law for cannabis offenses. The resolution stated, "it is not the policy of the City or its law enforcement agency to target possession of small amounts of cannabis and the consumption of non-medical cannabis in private by adults".


title: West Hollywood, California

text: West Hollywood adopted one of the nation's first mandatory green building ordinances on October 1, 2007.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: The city designed a law that pets are to be called "companions" and their owners "guardians" and was the first city in the country to outlaw the de-clawing of cats. In 2011, West Hollywood became the first city in the United States to ban the sale of clothing with real animal fur; the ban took effect on September 21, 2013. In May 2014, the ordinance was upheld by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, after a local business had challenged the prohibition as unconstitutional.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: Legislation prohibiting discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation is widely recognized as the toughest in the nation. The city is one of 225 jurisdictions in the country where it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity or expression.


title: West Hollywood, California

text: City legislation bans the sale of handguns, prohibits smoking in public places, and restricts the city from doing business directly or indirectly (via vendors) with any country known to violate human rights. The city has banned the use of gas-powered leaf blowers.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Catherine Roseanne Dennis (born 25 March 1969) is a British singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. She was the vocalist for D Mob, which had the successful hit single "C'mon and Get My Love". After a successful international solo career, Dennis later achieved great success as a writer of pop songs, scoring eight UK number ones and winning six Ivor Novello Awards. Notably, she co-wrote "Can't Get You Out of My Head" (recorded by Kylie Minogue), the Britney Spears song "Toxic", and Katy Perry's hit "I Kissed a Girl".


title: Cathy Dennis

text: In 2004, Dennis was listed 66th in the "Q Magazine" list of the top 100 most influential people in music and in 2006, she won the UK music industry's Woman of the Year Award.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Educated at Taverham High School, as a teenager she was spotted recording Stevie Wonder-influenced demos at The Kitchen in Norwich with her father (himself an experienced musician and local restaurateur) on piano. At the time she was working for Norwich Union. In 1986, Simon Fuller signed Dennis when she was only 17 to his 19 Management company and to label Polydor, and this began a career-long association with the impresario, that has seen Dennis provide songs for many Fuller-related artists and projects.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Dennis achieved her first success as a vocalist with D Mob, when their single "C'mon and Get My Love" (which was credited as "introducing" Dennis) reached No. 15 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 10 in the "Billboard" Hot 100 in 1989. It is regarded as an underground classic in the dance music field, and a second collaboration with D Mob, "That's the Way of the World", was also a hit. It was followed by Dennis's debut album, "Move to This". She subsequently scored three solo hits, all of which reached the UK Top 20 and the US Top 10. She enjoyed considerable success in Japan in the early 1990s. The three solo hits were: "Just Another Dream" (UK No. 13, US No. 9, Australia No. 14), which featured D Mob on backing vocals; a cover of the Wish and Fonda Rae 1984 club hit "Touch Me (All Night Long)" (UK No. 5, US No. 2, Australia No. 16), which is probably her most remembered hit to date; and "Too Many Walls" (UK No. 17, US No. 8, Australia No. 57).


title: Cathy Dennis

text: "Touch Me (All Night Long)" stayed at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, and was kept out of the No. 1 spot by Hi-Five's "I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)" in the first week, and Mariah Carey's "I Don't Wanna Cry" in the second week. The song was a cover and lyrical reworking of a 1984 single by Wish featuring Fonda Rae, which had peaked at No. 70 on the US R&B chart that year. "Touch Me (All Night Long)" reached No. 1 on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, and its follow-up, "Too Many Walls", which Dennis co-wrote with Anne Dudley of Art of Noise (who also co-wrote the ABC track "All of My Heart"), was a No. 1 Adult Contemporary hit in the United States. It was around this time Dennis agreed to join Club MTV's first tour, booked for six weeks. She dropped out on the third date, later publicly accusing one of Milli Vanilli's members (the tour's headline act) of sexual harassment. During this period, she recorded a song called "Find the Key to Your Life" with David Morales, for the soundtrack to the movie "". Subsequent releases were only minor hits.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Dennis released her second album, "Into the Skyline", in September 1992, written with a focus toward the US market. The album featured the singles "You Lied to Me", "Irresistible", "Moments of Love", "Falling", and "Why" – the latter was credited to D Mob with Dennis. The album got to No. 8 in the UK Albums Chart, whilst in the US Billboard Hot 100, "You Lied to Me" was a Top 40 hit - her final American Top 40 single as a performer - and "Irresistible" made the Adult Contemporary Top 10; however, the album descended the chart rapidly. Dennis experienced a brief peak of fame, making a cameo in "Beverly Hills, 90210" singing the songs "Moments of Love" (a minor US Adult Contemporary chart hit), "Why" (in the episode, not to feature D Mob) and "Touch Me (All Night Long)". In Japan, the album was called "Into the Skyline +1", and featured three extra tracks: "Nothing Moves Me", a previous B-side, and two tracks that were both released as singles, "It's My Style", and "Love's a Cradle". She also provided background vocals on PM Dawn's US Top 10 and UK Top 20 hit "Looking through Patient Eyes", released in 1993. In that same year, she sang a duet with Lance Ellington on the soundtrack of ""


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Dennis began to record a third album, "Inspiration". The title track was recorded with Todd Terry, along with another song "Is There Life After You". Only one song from the recording sessions was ever released, "S.O.S.", which can be found on the "Beverly Hills 90210: The College Years" soundtrack. She wrote her first song for another artist by writing a song for Dannii Minogue called "Love's on Every Corner".


title: Cathy Dennis

text: In 1996, Dennis changed her musical style: away from the dance-pop sound of previous releases, to a more traditional singer-songwriter approach. The resulting album, "Am I the Kinda Girl?", was more in keeping with the Britpop sound of bands such as Blur and performers such as Stephen Duffy, and featured collaborations with Guy Chambers of The Lemon Trees and Andy Partridge of XTC. Three singles from the album were released: "West End Pad" (UK No. 25), "Waterloo Sunset" - a cover of The Kinks' song (UK No. 11), and her last solo single, "When Your Dreams Turn to Dust" (UK No. 43).


title: Cathy Dennis

text: In 2001, Kylie Minogue had a worldwide hit with the Dennis and Rob Davis penned song "Can't Get You Out of My Head". The following year Dennis won the Best Dance Recording Grammy for writing "Come into My World". She followed that up with Britney Spears's hit song "Toxic" which also won the Grammy for Best Dance Recording. Dennis had a string of hits with S Club 7; she wrote almost all their hit singles such as "Never Had a Dream Come True", and also worked on the singles for the spin-off group S Club Juniors which was a younger version of S Club 7. Dennis wrote hit songs for Céline Dion, Delta Goodrem, and for Hear’Say and Bardot. She also wrote the fastest selling debut single in UK history for recording artist Will Young, the winner of the British music competition reality show "Pop Idol", and his runner-up Gareth Gates. Dennis wrote the theme song to the television series "American Idol". She wrote several songs for former S Club 7 member Rachel Stevens including "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex", and also two songs for Phil Roy, one of which was on the soundtrack for the film "As Good as It Gets" starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: According to news reports, Dennis was working on a new album under the name Sexcassettes, which she planned to release in 2008. She has collaborated with Mark Ronson on his album, "The Business".


title: Cathy Dennis

text: As of 2015, Dennis became a vocal affiliate with Galantis by first performing, uncredited, on their debut album "Pharmacy" on the tracks "Runaway (U & I)" and "Louder, Harder, Better". She later co-wrote their song "Love on Me" from their second album "The Aviary" and sang on five songs from their 2019 album "Church".


title: Cathy Dennis

text: In 2019, Dennis returned to performing. She celebrated her 30th anniversary in the music business with a performance at London's Mighty Hoopla Festival.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: In 2020 and 2021, Dennis wrote for Now United and collaborated with composer Will Gregory on the soundtrack for the BBC/Discovery Channel docuseries, "Serengeti".


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Dennis has written a number of award-winning songs and international hit singles. Her first success was with "Bumper to Bumper", the B-side to the Spice Girls' hit "Wannabe".


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Dennis continued this success by co-writing the "Pop Idol" theme (re-used for numerous international remakes of the show, including "American Idol"), and writing for Idol contestants, including Kelly Clarkson, Will Young, Gareth Gates, and Clay Aiken. Clarkson's single "Before Your Love" (a double a-side with "A Moment Like This") was Dennis's first US No. 1.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Dennis's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" (recorded by Kylie Minogue) spent four weeks at number one in Britain, while also rekindling interest in Minogue in America, where it hit no. 7 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. With over three million copies sold worldwide, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" became the second highest selling single in 2001.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Dennis also co-wrote the international hit "Toxic" by Britney Spears, which went to number one in the UK and worldwide.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Dennis's biggest success came in 2008 with Katy Perry's smash hit "I Kissed a Girl" co-written alongside Katy Perry, Max Martin and Dr Luke, which ranks among the best-selling digital singles in history.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Dennis co-wrote three tracks on the Galantis album "Pharmacy", one of which, "Runaway (U & I)", reached No. 1 in the UK Dance Chart, No. 9 in the US Dance Chart, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Most recently Dennis has written with KT Tunstall, Black honey and Sigala.


title: Cathy Dennis

text: Dennis dated Noel Fitzpatrick, and the relationship ended during the year that the Britney Spears song "Toxic", co-written by Dennis, was recorded. A 2019 article published in "The Irish Times" speculated that Fitzpatrick may be the subject of the song.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: "Friday" is a song performed by American singer Rebecca Black, written and produced by Los Angeles record producers Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson. Black's debut single, the song was released as a music video single on February 10, 2011; it was officially premiered as a single on iTunes on March 14, 2011. The song features a rap verse from Wilson, which was uncredited on the single. Its music video caught a sudden surge of hits after "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and RiffTrax comedian Michael J. Nelson called it "the worst video ever made" on Twitter and the song was featured on the "Tosh.0" blog. The song's reception was highly negative, and it was parodied by numerous artists and comedians.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: The original music video was removed from YouTube on June 16, 2011, due to legal disputes between ARK Music and Black. By then, it had already amassed more than 167 million views. The video was later re-uploaded to YouTube on September 16, 2011. Since the growth in popularity of the song and video, there have been numerous parody videos and remixes. "Forbes" stated that the notoriety of the song is another sign of the power of social media—specifically Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, in this instance—in the ability to create "overnight sensations".


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: On February 10, 2021, to commemorate the song's tenth anniversary, Black released an official hyperpop remix produced by Dylan Brady of 100 Gecs featuring 3OH!3, Big Freedia and Dorian Electra to more positive reviews.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: Friday co-writer Patrice Wilson, a co-founder of ARK Music Factory, explained that he "wrote the lyrics on a Thursday night going into a Friday. I was writing different songs all night and was like, 'Wow, I've been up a long time and it's Friday.' And I was like, wow, it is Friday!"


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: An ARK Music Factory client told Black's mother about the company's production services in late 2010; Black was 13 at the time, and living in the Anaheim Hills planned community in Anaheim, California. Black's mother, Georgina Kelly, paid ARK Music $4,000 for a song and accompanying video that included a choice of two pre-written songs "Super Woman" and "Friday". According to Kelly, the payment covered one half or less of the production costs of the music video, and Black's family could have paid nothing in exchange for giving up all rights to the song. Black chose "Friday", as "Super Woman" "was about adult love–I haven't experienced that yet". "I felt like it was my personality in that song". ARK Music extensively used the pitch-correcting software Auto-Tune. Although Kelly had some doubts over the quality of the lyrics, Black assured her that "she sang it as they wrote it."


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: Friday uses the '50s progression, a I–vi–IV–V chord progression that many popular songs have used such as "Heart and Soul" and "Unchained Melody". It is performed in the key of B major at a tempo of 112 beats per minute. According to Randy Lewis of the "Los Angeles Times", the familiar structure contributes to the song's catchiness, making it what others have called an earworm. The song also sees Black on a harmony track. In a review for "Rolling Stone", writer Matthew Perpetua described the vocals as having "a peculiar tonality that inadvertently highlights the absurdity of boilerplate pop lyrics", adding that the tone in the refrain "sounds unlike anything else in pop music". He noted the sound as being not entirely agreeable to listen to, but stated that Black ultimately ends up "sounding like a distinct singer with an alluring sort of anti-charisma". The lyrics of the song speak about "hanging out with friends and having fun". The lyrics reflect the happenings of a day, in the life of a teenager like Black, like eating breakfast and going to school. "She's excited 'cause it's Friday. Which means a weekend full of possibility awaits", a "Plugged In" reviewer concluded.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: The song has received universally negative reviews from music critics, for its songwriting, instrumentation, Black's vocals, and the video choreography. Lyndsey Parker of "Yahoo! Music" asked if it could be "the worst song ever". On March 29, 2011, it surpassed Justin Bieber's "Baby" as the most disliked YouTube video, with 1.17 million dislikes, and once had over 3 million "dislikes", accounting for 88% of the total ratings of the video. The video was later removed, although it has since been officially re-uploaded. The co-writer and producer of "Friday", Clarence Jey, said about the song that "the concept we feel seems to have crossed a lot of boundaries, for the better or worse". Observers have called it "bizarre", "inept", and "hilariously dreadful". The song and Black herself were "savaged" on social networks across the Internet, while being seen as a "YouTube laughing stock". On YouTube, the video was met with negative comments and video responses, including comments interpreted as "violent". Kevin Rutherford, a columnist for "Billboard" magazine, wrote, "Black's video for 'Friday' is one of those rare occurrences where even the most seasoned critics of Internet culture don't know where to begin. From the singing straight out of Auto-Tuned hell to lyrics such as 'Tomorrow is Saturday/And Sunday comes afterwards/I don't want this weekend to end' and a hilariously bad rap about passing school buses, 'Friday' is something that simply must be seen and heard to be fully appreciated." Many other reviewers also singled out the lyrics in particular for criticism, which were described as "overly simple and repetitive" by "TNT" magazine. Jim Edwards of BNET and Doug Gross of CNN both noted that the rap break from the considerably older rapper was "creepy". "Time" magazine ranked it number two on a list of "Top 10 Songs with Silly Lyrics".


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: Despite the overwhelmingly negative reviews, a few reviewers had positive things to say about the song and video. "Entertainment Weekly" writer Joseph Lynch noted that there was "something sickeningly catchy about this tune that keeps you coming back for more." "Rolling Stone"'s Perpetua stated, "When you see this video, you immediately notice everything that it does wrong, but it actually gets a lot of things about pop music right, if just by accident." "OK!" Magazine also noted that "some are calling the 13-year-old signed singer the next Justin Bieber." After watching the video, singer Chris Brown said "Honest opinion? It was great. I'll be jammin to it on "Friday", "Friday"." Fellow teenage singer Miley Cyrus denied that she had criticized Black, saying "I "am" a fan" and that she sang Friday while driving. Simon Cowell praised Black, saying "'I love her [and] the fact that she's got so much publicity...People are so upset about the song, but I think it's hysterical...Anyone who can create this much controversy within a week, I want to meet. I love people like that.'" He observed that "Any song to do with the weekend annoys you. It reminds me of 'Saturday Night'... It's what we call a 'hair-dryer song,' a song girls sing into their hair dryers as they're getting ready to go out. But the fact that it's making people so angry is "brilliant"." Cowell advised Black not to "listen to anyone over the age of 18. I'm being deadly serious. Whatever she's done has worked. Whether you like her or not, she's the most talked-about artist in America right now. Nobody over the age of 18 should understand her or like her. So she should just do it her way."


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: Patrice Wilson released his sequel to the song on May 6, 2012, titled "Happy", focusing on Saturdays. Black released her own follow-up to the song, entitled "Saturday", in December 2013.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: By March 21, 2011, the "Friday" music video had been viewed more than 30 million times on YouTube. "Forbes" estimated that as of that date, Black and ARK Music had earned $20,000 from YouTube's revenue-sharing program, and "Billboard" estimated iTunes sales of approximately 43,000 copies, roughly equivalent to $26,700 in royalties. Within a week after being released on iTunes, it had jumped to 19 on their sales chart, on March 19, 2011. "Friday" debuted on the US Hot Digital Songs chart at number 57 and went on to peak at number 38. As of 2021, the song has sold more than 500,000 copies in the United States; consequently it was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: "Friday" debuted on the New Zealand Singles Chart at number 33 on March 21, 2011. The song entered the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 72 and rose to 58 the next week. It sold 87,000 copies in the United States over its first two weeks and has gone on to sell 442,000 copies, as of December 2013. The song also received airplay in Sweden. In the United States, it was played 12 times from March 16 to 22, considered low for a Hot 100 song. Despite the song's strong performance elsewhere, Georgina Kelly claimed in late March 2011 that her daughter had not received any money from the song's sales to that point in time, saying "We haven't received a dime from anywhere".


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: The concept for the music video is based on the lyrics and presented as a typical Friday for Black. She wakes up and goes to school, meeting her friends on the way. In the evening, after debating whether to sit in the front or back of a convertible, Black and her friends ride the car to a party at 7:45 pm. Patrice Wilson appears near the end of the song to deliver a short rap. The video was shot on January 6, 2011 at Black's father's house with friends and family as extras, and requiring multiple takes over 12 hours. ARK Music, according to Black's parents, cautioned them and her that they should not expect her to become famous. Black hoped that her friends and family would enjoy watching the video on YouTube and that it would perhaps help her to later begin a singing career.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: The music video was first posted on February 10, 2011. Following its original release, it received 4,000 views, enough to please Black, before comedian Michael J. Nelson's Twitter account and a "Tosh.0" blog post, Songwriting Isn't for Everyone, drew attention to it on March 11, 2011, turning the video into a viral hit. Criticism of the song's lyrics, the use of Auto-Tune on Black's vocals, and the content of the video also caused it to become viral. On May 9, 2011, comments became subject to prior approval for posting. Two days later, commenting was disabled altogether and archives removed. By June 15, 2011, the video had more than 166 million views, and 3.2 million dislikes from YouTube users against just 454,000 likes. It also peaked in the top 20 most watched YouTube videos of all time.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: After reading the harsh reviews of "Friday", Black said that "those hurtful comments really shocked me." ARK Music offered to take the video down from YouTube, but Black refused the offer, saying that she did not wish to "give the haters the satisfaction that they got me so bad I gave up." Black's father has accompanied her in public to guard against potential accosters. In response to criticism over the song's significant use of Auto-Tune, Black performed an acoustic version during an interview with ABC News, which earned over 180,000 dislikes on YouTube (84% of total ratings) by November 2011. Later in the interview Black's mother, Kelly, stated that she was angry and upset after Black was brought to tears by comments, such as "I hope you go cut yourself and die" and "I hope you cut yourself and get an eating disorder so you'll look pretty." Black said, however, that soon she was able to ignore such comments, and asked Justin Bieber, her idol, to perform a duet with her. Although Bieber did not release an official announcement regarding the offer, he posted on Twitter, "sunday comes after saturday? weird." Bieber later sang part of the chorus at one of his concerts. "Rolling Stone"s Perpetua again praised Black after the interview and said, She is actually a pretty decent singer. She is a total sweetheart. Black comes off as a well-adjusted, happy and grateful kid. He also pointed out Black's intention to donate part of the profits from the song to school arts programs and relief efforts in Japan following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Benni Cinkle, who became known as "that girl in pink" and appears during the second verse of the video, released her own song entitled "Can You See Me Now" and created an anti-bullying organization That Girl in Pink Foundation due to the negative response she got from "Friday".


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: Not long after the "Friday" video went viral on YouTube, Black and her mother, Georgina Kelly, got into legal issues with ARK Music over rights to the song. In a March 29, 2011, letter from Kelly's lawyer to ARK Music, it was alleged that ARK Music failed to fulfill the terms of their November 2010 agreement by not giving her the song and video's master recordings, by claiming Black as exclusively signed to the label, and by exploiting the song without permission for example, selling a "Friday" ringtone. While Wilson stated that Kelly "will get the masters and the song they can have it all", and agreed that Black was not exclusive to ARK, his attorney claimed that ARK owns the copyright for the song and the November agreement is invalid. In June 2011, ARK Music Factory started charging $2.99 to watch the music video on YouTube. Black's initial response was through a message through her Twitter account saying: "Thanks for all the messages regarding the $2.99 fee added to Friday video, I have "nothing" to do with this!!"


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: On June 16, 2011, YouTube took down the official music video for "Friday". Instead, a message in place of the video read: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black. Sorry about that." A spokesman for Rebecca Black said her legal team had asked YouTube to take the video down because of an ongoing legal dispute with the song's producers ARK Music Factory. ARK Music Factory responded by saying it was disappointed that Black decided to have the video pulled from YouTube despite the two parties being in "good faith negotiations". It added: "There's been an ongoing, open dialogue with our company. So we were blindsided to get a 'Take Down Notice' alleging copyright infringement instead of a call or e-mail from Rebecca's representatives. Our use of the video has fully been authorized (as evidenced by four uninterrupted months and 160 million-plus viewings without objection) by both Ms. Black and the copyright holder. Regardless, we are going to continue to take the high road and work out the complaint as soon as possible, so that the million-plus people who watch Friday for free each day can continue to enjoy the video." On September 16, 2011, the music video was restored to YouTube, on Black's official channel.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: On February 8, 2021, Rebecca Black teased a 10-year anniversary remix of "Friday" featuring "some iconic people" on Twitter. The remix was released on February 10, 2021, and features vocals from crunkcore duo 3OH!3, New Orleans's "queen of bounce" Big Freedia, and alt-pop musician Dorian Electra, alongside production from Dylan Brady of 100 Gecs. Of her choice of collaborators for the remix, Black explained: "I’d had the idea to do this remix of 'Friday' for years leading up to now, but honestly it was also mildly insane for me to think anyone else would want to be a part of it".


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: Opposed to the original's bubblegum style, this new "maximalist makeover", "morphs the original's simple pop aesthetic into a hyperpop overload." Black's chiptune vocals are "glitched-out" and distorted to the point of being unrecognizable, accompanied by "a pounding bass kick and pixellated synth line" from Brady. Electra's verse tells the story of the song from the perspective of another person in the car, while 3OH!3 turns the track into "an ethereal, synth-filled chorale" and Freedia "rips the song back into a thrumming dance rhythm".


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: Ben Jolley rated the remix four stars out of five in his review for "NME", calling it a "serotonin-boosting rollercoaster ride" with "endless replay value". Writing for "Billboard", Stephen Daw praised Brady's production for "[giving] it a fresh, modern refurbishing". Similarly, Jon Blistein of "Rolling Stone" considered that it had "[warped] the sanitized mall pop into something delightfully delirious".


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: A cover version of "Friday" was released by the cast of season two of the television series "Glee". The cast performed it on the show as well. The official release features cast members Puck (Mark Salling), Artie (Kevin McHale), and Sam (Chord Overstreet) on vocals, as part of the prom festivities on the "Prom Queen" episode that aired on May 10, 2011. Series co-creator Ryan Murphy explained to "The Hollywood Reporter" the use of the viral hit as a tribute to popular culture. He said: "There’s a rule for it that's explained in the show. The Glee Club is hired to perform songs for the prom and they were told by the principal to please do popular songs that the kids know." Murphy noted that "Glee"s "Friday" cover offers a different take since it's sung by males for other 17-year-olds: "The show pays tribute to pop culture and, love it or hate it, that song is pop culture."


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: On April 1, 2011, "Friday" was performed by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Taylor Hicks, and the Roots on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon". The New York Knicks City Dancers joined in. Jimmy Fallon released "Friday" as part of his 2012 Warner Records album, "Blow Your Pants Off", which featured high-profile acts such as Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen. The album won Best Comedy Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: U.S.-born Chinese artist Dawen Wang () made a popular Mandarin cover of Rebecca Black's "Friday", which become a viral runaway hit in 2011.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: The song has also been covered in a recording by Richard Cheese, and live in concerts by Todd Rundgren, Odd Future, Nick Jonas, and Justin Bieber. Singer Katy Perry performed the song on selected dates during her California Dreams Tour, including at the Rod Laver Arena, Newcastle Entertainment Centre, TD Garden, Air Canada Centre and the 1stBank Center. During the concert of August 5 at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, Rebecca Black joined Perry onstage, performing the song as a duet.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: Numerous parodies of "Friday" have been uploaded to YouTube and have become viral in their own right. Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter also made a joint parody entitled "Thursday" on the "Conan" show on TBS. The YouTube phenomenon Bad Lip Reading was launched when an anonymous music and video producer replaced the audio to the "Friday" video with new music and lyrics about gang fighting. Gang Fight", released in March 2011, earned Bad Lip Reading a million hits and thousands of subscribers, with many spoofs soon following.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: Black appears as herself in the music video of Katy Perry's single "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". She appears as the host of a party in the house next door to that of "Kathy Beth Terry". At the end of the video, "Terry" attempts to blame the excesses of the party (which had subsequently moved to her own house) on Black, only for her parents (Corey Feldman and Debbie Gibson) to disbelieve her.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: ARK Music Factory launched its "Ark's TGI Friday Covers" project, showcasing cover versions of "Friday" by well-known artists alongside other user-submitted tributes, re-works, and parodies of the song/video and inviting users to submit their versions for relaying through ARK Music Factory's site. In November 2012, multiple outlets suggested that Nicole Westbrook was "the new Rebecca Black", on release of Patrice Wilson's "It's Thanksgiving". Kohl's Department Stores used a modified version of the song as its 2011 Black Friday advertising jingle. The hook "It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday" was changed to "It's Black Friday, Black Friday, Gotta go to Kohl's on Black Friday".


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: Black made her national television debut by performing a mash-up of the song along with her second single, "My Moment", during "America's Got Talent"s result night for the YouTube Special round on August 10, 2011, featuring various acts who had auditioned via YouTube. Black sang an acoustic version of the song on "Good Morning America". Rebecca performed "Friday" along with "My Moment", live in Suncorp Place, Sydney as a part of Telstra's 4G LTE network launch. She also sang "Friday" live on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno".


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: In 2018, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds included a cover version of the song in his studio album "Sweet Memories". His version is based on an earlier the Byrds live performance version of the song being a track written by Bob Dylan.


title: Friday (Rebecca Black song)

text: On National French Fry Day 2018, YouTube personality Miranda Sings, in collaboration with Dunkin' Donuts, released an adapted version of "Friday", as part of the Donut Fries marketing strategy.


title: Dhyan Sreenivasan

text: Dhyan Sreenivasan (born 20 December 1988) is an Indian actor, and film director who works in Malayalam films. He made his acting debut with "Thira" (2013), directed by his elder brother Vineeth Sreenivasan.


title: Dhyan Sreenivasan

text: Dhyan is the younger son of noted actor and screenwriter Sreenivasan. His brother Vineeth Sreenivasan is a singer, actor and director who also works in Malayalam cinema. Dhyan married his longtime girlfriend Arpita Sebastian on 7 April 2017.


title: Dhyan Sreenivasan

text: He made his film debut with the Malayalam film "Thira" which has Shobana in main lead role. In the film, he did a supporting role along with two-time National Award winning actress Shobana. His performance in the film was generally well-received by critics and the audience.


title: Territorial waters

text: The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf. In a narrower sense, the term is used as a synonym for the territorial sea.


title: Territorial waters

text: Normally, the baseline from which the territorial sea is measured is the low-water line along the coast as marked on large-scale charts officially recognized by the coastal state. This is either the low-water mark closest to the shore, or alternatively it may be an unlimited distance from permanently exposed land, provided that some portion of elevations exposed at low tide but covered at high tide (like mud flats) is within of permanently exposed land. Straight baselines can alternatively be defined connecting fringing islands along a coast, across the mouths of rivers, or with certain restrictions across the mouths of bays. In this case, a bay is defined as "a well-marked indentation whose penetration is in such proportion to the width of its mouth as to contain land-locked waters and constitute more than a mere curvature of the coast. An indentation is not, however, regarded as a bay unless its area is as large as, or larger than, that of the semi-circle whose diameter is a line drawn across the mouth of that indentation". The baseline across the bay must also be no more than in length.


title: Territorial waters

text: Waters landward of the baseline are defined as internal waters, over which the state has complete sovereignty: not even innocent passage is allowed without explicit permission from said state. Lakes and rivers are considered internal waters. All "archipelagic waters" within the outermost islands of an archipelagic state such as Indonesia or the Philippines are also considered internal waters, and are treated the same with the exception that innocent passage through them must be allowed. However, archipelagic states may limit innocent passage to designated sea lanes within these waters.


title: Territorial waters

text: Territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, although foreign ships (military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it, or transit passage for straits; this sovereignty also extends to the airspace over and seabed below. Adjustment of these boundaries is called, in international law, maritime delimitation.


title: Territorial waters

text: A state's territorial sea extends up to from its baseline. If this would overlap with another state's territorial sea, the border is taken as the median point between the states' baselines, unless the states in question agree otherwise. A state can also choose to claim a smaller territorial sea.


title: Territorial waters

text: Conflicts have occurred whenever a coastal nation claims an entire gulf as its territorial waters while other nations only recognize the more restrictive definitions of the UN convention. Claims which draw baseline in excess of 24 nautical miles (two 12 NM limits) are judged excessive by the U.S. Two conflicts occurred in the Gulf of Sidra where Libya drew a line in excess of and claimed the entire enclosed gulf as its territorial waters. The U.S. exercised freedom of navigation rights, resulting in the 1981 and 1989 Gulf of Sidra incidents.


title: Territorial waters

text: The contiguous zone is a band of water extending farther from the outer edge of the territorial sea to up to from the baseline, within which a state can exert limited control for the purpose of preventing or punishing "infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea". This will typically be wide, but could be more (if a state has chosen to claim a territorial sea of less than 12 nautical miles), or less, if it would otherwise overlap another state's contiguous zone. However, unlike the territorial sea, there is no standard rule for resolving such conflicts and the states in question must negotiate their own compromise. The United States invoked a contiguous zone out to 24 nmi from the baseline on 29 September 1999.


title: Territorial waters

text: An exclusive economic zone extends from the baseline to a maximum of , thus it includes the contiguous zone. A coastal nation has control of all economic resources within its exclusive economic zone, including fishing, mining, oil exploration, and any pollution of those resources. However, it cannot prohibit passage or loitering above, on, or under the surface of the sea that is in compliance with the laws and regulations adopted by the coastal State in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention, within that portion of its exclusive economic zone beyond its territorial sea. Before the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982, coastal nations arbitrarily extended their territorial waters in an effort to control activities which are now regulated by the exclusive economic zone, such as offshore oil exploration or fishing rights (see Cod Wars). Indeed, the exclusive economic zone is still popularly, though erroneously, called a coastal nation's territorial waters.


title: Territorial waters

text: Article 76 gives the legal definition of continental shelf of coastal countries. For the physical geography definition, see the article continental shelf.


title: Territorial waters

text: The continental shelf of a coastal nation extends out to the outer edge of the continental margin but at least from the baselines of the territorial sea if the continental margin does not stretch that far. Coastal states have the right of exploration and exploitation of the seabed and the natural resources that lie on or beneath it, however other states may lay cables and pipelines if they are authorised by the coastal state. The outer limit of a country's continental shelf shall not stretch beyond of the baseline, or beyond from the isobath, which is a line connecting the depths of the seabed at 2,500 meters.


title: Territorial waters

text: The foot of the continental slope is determined as the point of maximum change in the gradient at its base.


title: Territorial waters

text: The portion of the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile limit is also known as the extended continental shelf. Countries wishing to delimit their outer continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles have to submit scientific information for the basis of their claim to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The Commission then validates or makes recommendations on the scientific basis for the extended continental shelf claim. The scientific judgement of the Commission shall be final and binding. Validated extended continental shelf claims overlapping any demarcation between two or more parties are decided by bilateral or multilateral negotiation, not by the commission.


title: Territorial waters

text: Countries have ten years after ratifying UNCLOS to lodge their submissions to extend their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, or by 13 May 2009 for countries where the convention was ratified before 13 May 1999. As of 1 June 2009, 51 submissions have been lodged with the commission, of which eight have been deliberated by the commission and have had recommendations issued. The eight are (in the order of date of submission): Russian Federation; Brazil; Australia; Ireland; New Zealand; the joint submission by France, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom; Norway and Mexico.


title: Territorial waters

text: A coastal nation has control of all resources on or under its continental shelf, living or not, but no control over any living organisms above the shelf that are beyond its exclusive economic zone. This gives it the right to conduct hydrocarbon exploration and drilling works.


title: Territorial waters

text: From the eighteenth century until the mid twentieth century, the territorial waters of the British Empire, the United States, France and many other nations were three nautical miles (5.6 km) wide. Originally, this was the distance of a cannon shot, hence the portion of an ocean that a sovereign state could defend from shore. However, Iceland claimed , Norway and Sweden claimed , and Spain claimed during this period. During incidents such as nuclear weapons testing and fisheries disputes some nations arbitrarily extended their maritime claims to as much as or even . Since the late 20th century the "12 mile limit" has become almost universally accepted. The United Kingdom extended its territorial waters from in 1987.


title: Territorial waters

text: During the League of Nations Codification Conference in 1930, the issue of establishing international legislation on territorial waters was raised, but no agreement was reached.


title: Territorial waters

text: Claims by legislation to the adjacent continental shelf and fishing was first made by the United States government immediately following the Second World War. On September 28, 1945, US President Harry S. Truman issued two proclamations that established government control of natural resources in areas adjacent to the coastline. One of these proclamation was titled "Policy of the United States With Respect to the Natural Resources of the Subsoil and


title: Territorial waters

text: the Government of the United States regards the natural resources of the subsoil and sea bed of the continental shelf beneath the high seas but contiguous to the coasts of the United States as appertaining to the United States, subject to its jurisdiction and control.


title: Territorial waters

text: The second proclamation was titled "Policy of the United States With Respect to Coastal Fisheries in Certain Areas of the High Seas", and stated in its operative clause:


title: Territorial waters

text: the Government of the United States regards it as proper to establish conservation zones in those areas of the high seas contiguous to the coasts of the United States wherein fishing activities have been or in the future may be developed and maintained on a substantial scale.


title: Territorial waters

text: Following the US presidential proclamation, the issue of legally determining territorial waters by international agreement was raised, and in its first session in 1949, the International Law Commission of the United Nations added the subject to its agenda.


title: Territorial waters

text: The important issue of the breadth of territorial waters could not be resolved at either the UNCLOS I (1956-1958) or UNCLOS II (1960) conferences, with neither the two major contenders of a 3-mile or 12-mile limit reaching the required two-thirds support. This lack of agreement had the potential to lead to serious international disputes. It was only at the UNCLOS III (1973-1982) conference, whose provisions did not come into force until 1994, that this issue was resolved at twelve nautical miles.


title: Territorial waters

text: Pirate radio broadcasting from artificial marine fixtures or anchored ships can be controlled by the affected coastal nation or other nations wherever that broadcast may originate, whether in the territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf or even on the high seas.


title: Territorial waters

text: Thus a coastal nation has total control over its internal waters, slightly less control over territorial waters, and ostensibly even less control over waters within the contiguous zones. However, it has total control of economic resources within its exclusive economic zone as well as those on or under its continental shelf.


title: Territorial waters

text: Throughout this article, distances measured in nautical miles are exact legal definitions, while those in kilometres are approximate conversions that are not stated in any law or treaty.


title: Territorial waters

text: Federal nations, such as the United States, divide control over certain waters between the federal government and the individual states. (See tidelands.)


title: Territorial waters

text: Maritime controversies involve two dimensions: (a) territorial sovereignty, which are a legacy of history; and (b) relevant jurisdictional rights and interests in maritime boundaries, which are mainly due to differing interpretations of the law of the sea.


title: Territorial waters

text: As of 13 May 2009, 51 submissions by 44 countries have been lodged for claims over their extended continental shelf. Some countries have multiple submissions and joint submissions with other countries. Recommendations have been given for 8 of the submissions.


title: Territorial waters

text: List with date of submission and adoption of recommendation by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others. The driver was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian living in France. The attack ended following an exchange of gunfire, during which Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was shot and killed by police.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Lahouaiej-Bouhlel answered its "calls to target citizens of coalition nations that fight the Islamic State". On 15 July, François Molins, the prosecutor for the Public Ministry, which is overseeing the investigation, said the attack bore the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 15 July, French President François Hollande called the attack an act of Islamic terrorism, announced an extension of the state of emergency (which had been declared following the November 2015 Paris attacks) for a further three months, and announced an intensification of French airstrikes on ISIL in Syria and Iraq. France later extended the state of emergency until 26 January 2017. The French government declared three days of national mourning starting on 16 July. Thousands of extra police and soldiers were deployed while the government called on citizens to join the reserve forces.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 21 July, prosecutor François Molins said that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel planned the attack for months and had help from accomplices. By 1 August, six suspects had been taken into custody on charges of "criminal terrorist conspiracy", three of whom were also charged for complicity in murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise. On 16 December three further suspects, allegedly involved in the supply of illegal weapons to Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, were charged. The attack has been classified as jihadist terrorism by Europol.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On the morning before the attack, French President François Hollande said the national state of emergency, put in place after the November 2015 Paris attacks, would end after the 2016 Tour de France finished on 26 July 2016. France had just finished hosting the Euro 2016 football tournament, during which the country had extensive security measures in place. Some matches were played in Nice, ending with the England–Iceland match on 27 June.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On the evening of 14 July in Nice, the Bastille Day celebrations on the waterfront Promenade des Anglais, dubbed "Prom'Party" by the city of Nice, drew crowds of 30,000 and included an aerial display by the French Air Force.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: The Promenade des Anglais had been closed to traffic and, as in preceding years, a long section including the large hotels had been converted into a pedestrian zone. The customary Bastille Day fireworks display took place between 22:00 and 22:20.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 14 July in Nice, at approximately 22:30, just after the end of the Bastille Day fireworks display, a white 19 tonne Renault Midlum cargo truck emerged from the Magnan quarter of Nice turning eastward on to the Promenade des Anglais, then closed to traffic, near the Fondation Lenval Children's Hospital.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Travelling at close to and mounting onto the pavement as if out of control, it hit and killed numerous bystanders before passing the Centre Universitaire Méditerranéen, where it was first reported by municipal police. from the children's hospital, at the intersection with Boulevard Gambetta, the truck accelerated and mounted on to the kerb to force its way through the police barriers—a police car, a crowd control barrier and lane separators—marking the beginning of the pedestrianised zone.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Having broken through the barrier, the truck, driving in a zigzag fashion, knocked down random members of the crowd milling about on the pavement and in the three traffic lanes on the seaward side of the Promenade. The driver tried to stay on the pavement—returning to the traffic lanes only when blocked by a bus shelter or pavilion—thus increasing the number of deaths. After reaching the Hotel Negresco, the progress of the truck, already travelling more slowly, was further slowed down by a passing cyclist, whose attempts to open the cabin door were abandoned after being threatened with a gun through the window. This was followed by a motorcyclist, in pursuit from the Centre Universitaire Méditerranéen, who threw his scooter under the front wheels of the truck at the intersection with rue Meyerbeer, mounted the truck and struck blows at the driver from the running board before being hit with the butt of the driver's gun, suffering moderate injuries as he fell off the truck's side. The driver fired several shots at police from his 7.65 mm firearm, close to the Hotel Negresco, as police arrived; they returned fire with their 9mm Sig Sauer handguns, gave chase to the vehicle and attempted to disable it.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: The truck travelled a further until, in a badly damaged state, it came to halt at 22:35 next to the Palais de la Méditerranée approximately five minutes after the start of the attack. There, two national police officers shot and killed the driver.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Multiple bullet holes were seen in the windscreen and cab of the truck. The entire attack took place over a distance of , between numbers 11 and 147 of the Promenade des Anglais, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and creating high levels of panic in the crowds. Some were injured as a result of jumping onto the pebbled beach several metres below the Promenade.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: In addition to the firearm used during the attack, an ammunition magazine, a fake Beretta pistol, a dummy grenade, a replica Kalashnikov rifle, and a replica M16 rifle were found in the cabin of the truck. Also recovered were a mobile phone and personal documents, including an identity card, a driver's licence, and credit cards. There were several pallets and a bicycle in the rear of the truck.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: French police identified the perpetrator as Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old man of Tunisian nationality, born in Tunisia, with a French residency permit and living in Nice. His parents live in Tunisia and rarely heard from him since he moved to France in 2005. His father said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel underwent psychiatric treatment before he moved to France. He married a French-Tunisian cousin, living in Nice, with whom he had three children. According to his wife's lawyer, he was repeatedly reported for domestic violence and the couple separated.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: After this separation, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had a wild sex life according to the prosecutor, and had engaged in sexual relations with both men and women, according to an unnamed source. He was known to French police for five prior criminal offences; notably for threatening behaviour, violence, and petty theft. Neighbours reported that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel rarely spoke to them.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: François Molins, the prosecutor leading the inquiry into the possible involvement of organised Islamist terrorism, announced on 18 July that information gathered since the attack suggested that, except for a short period leading up to the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was "a young man completely uninvolved in religious issues and not a practising Muslim, who ate pork, drank alcohol, took drugs and had an unbridled sex life."


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Lahouaiej-Bouhlel sent small sums of money regularly to his family in Tunisia, according to his brother. However, days before the attack, in a surprising move, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel persuaded some friends to smuggle bundles of cash worth 100,000 euros illegally to his family.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: The investigation suggested that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel became radicalised shortly before the attack. Prosecutor Molins said that Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had a "clear, recent interest in the radical jihadist movement". Newspapers reported, on the authority of investigators, that evidence found on Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's cellphone showed he may have been in contact with individuals in his neighborhood who were known to the French intelligence agencies as Islamic radicals. However, an intelligence source cautioned that this "could just be a coincidence, given the neighbourhood where he lived. Everyone knows everyone there. He seems to have known people who knew Omar Diaby", a known local Islamist believed to be linked with Al Nusra Front.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's computer showed he had carried out Internet searches on the topics "terrible fatal accidents", "horrible fatal accidents", and "shocking video, not for sensitive people" and consulted news articles on fatal accidents, including on 1 January 2016 an article or a photo from a local newspaper about a car crash with the caption: "He deliberately crashes onto the terrace of a restaurant".


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: According to French authorities, friends of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel said he began attending a mosque in April 2016. Prosecutor Molins said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had expressed admiration for ISIL to one of the now-interrogated suspects. A few months before the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had shown friends an ISIL beheading video on his phone, and had said to one of the now-arrested suspects, "I'm used to seeing that". Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's computer contained photos of ISIL fighters and ISIL beheadings, of dead bodies, of Osama bin Laden, Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the Islamic State flag, a cover of "Charlie Hebdo", and images linked to radical Islamism.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: In the weeks before the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel consulted many websites with treatises on Quranic Surahs, sites with Islamic religious chants, and sites of ISIL propaganda. He also expressed extremist views, friends told the police. An uncle of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel in Tunisia said that his nephew had been indoctrinated about ten days before the attack by an Algerian ISIL member in Nice. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel grew a beard only eight days before the attack, which he told friends was for religious reasons. An eyewitness interviewed by the newspaper "Nice-Matin" recounted hearing, from his balcony, ""Allahu Akbar"" being shouted three times during the attack; similar claims were circulated on social media and in the press. Officials have not confirmed the shouting of ""Allahu Akbar"", while the BBC reported that the rumours about it on social media were "fake".


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's mobile phone, found in the truck after he was shot by police, gave police information about his preparations. On 12 and 13 July 2016, Bouhlel returned several times to the Promenade des Anglais, the site of the attack, surveying the area in the rented truck. On 12 July, he took some selfies on the Promenade, as Molins confirmed on 18 July. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's brother said he received images of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel laughing among the holiday crowds in Nice hours before the attack.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: The attacker killed 84 people and injured 434, 52 critically; 25 remained on life support the next day; an 85th person died from injuries three weeks after the attack, and an 86th just over a month after the attack. On 17 July 65 injured were still in hospital, 18 in critical condition. Fourteen of the dead were children. The figure of 434 indicates the total number of people admitted into hospital with injuries due to the attack; some of whom were not admitted immediately. Of the 86 dead, 43 were French nationals and the remaining 43 were foreign nationals of eighteen countries. A regional Islamic association claimed "more than one third" of the victims were Muslims.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: By 19 July, French authorities had formally identified the then 84 victims, with detailed lists published by Agence France-Presse. Two days later, the Hôtel de Ville in Nice was draped with two long black banners recording the names of these 84 victims.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Late on 14 July, the "ministère public" of Paris, which has national responsibility for combating terrorism, opened an inquiry into "murder and attempted murder by an organised gang connected to a terrorist organisation" and "criminal terrorist conspiracy". The investigations for the inquiry were assigned to the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) and the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI).


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's estranged wife was arrested on 15 July, but was then released two days later. Also, a man was arrested on 15 July. On 16 July, three more men were arrested. On 17 July, a man and a woman, both Albanians, were arrested in Nice following a police raid the previous day.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 25 July, two more men were arrested after photographs of them were found on Lahouaiej-Bouhlel's mobile phone. One was released after five days, while the other was charged with conspiracy in relation to a terrorist enterprise, just like five of the people arrested on 15–17 July.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: By 21 July, three men with Tunisian origins and an Albanian couple, all previously unknown to the French intelligence agencies, had been charged by the "ministère public" with "criminal conspiracy in relation to a terrorist enterprise". The three men were also charged with complicity in murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise. A sixth male suspect was later charged with conspiracy in relation to a terrorist enterprise.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: French President François Hollande said that he had consulted his Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve, and was returning to Paris from Avignon, expecting to arrive in the French capital at 01:15h to have an emergency Interior Ministry meeting regarding the attacks.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: At 03:47h, Hollande addressed the French nation in a televised broadcast from Paris. He assessed that "the terrorist nature of this attack can't be denied" and linked the attack to Islamic terrorism: "all of France is being menaced by fundamentalist Islamic terrorism". He announced a three-month extension of the state of emergency, previously due to end on 26 July, announced an intensification of the French military attacks on ISIL in Syria and Iraq, and announced that more security personnel would be deployed.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Valls said in the France 2 television's evening news programme at 8:00 p.m. on 15 July, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was "probably linked to radical Islam one way or another". Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said, on the coinciding television news of TF1: "We have an individual who was not known to intelligence services for activities linked to radical Islam", when asked whether he could confirm the attacker's motives were linked to jihadism he replied: "No".


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 16 July French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said: "I remind you that Daesh's ideologue, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, has for several weeks repeated calls to attack directly, even individually, Frenchmen, in particular, or Americans, wherever they are, by any means necessary ... It is murder, and Daesh's claim of responsibility comes later, as has happened in other recent events".


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Bernard Cazeneuve on 16 July, after ISIL had claimed the attacker as one of its soldiers, said: if Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was radicalised, "It seems that he was radicalised very quickly — in any case these are the elements that have come up from the testimony of the people around him."


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Cazeneuve on 16 or 17 July announced plans to increase security in response to the attack by calling 12,000 police reservists to add to the 120,000 person force. He urged "all patriotic citizens" to join the reserve forces to boost security following the attacks.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 18 July, France observed a one-minute silence in remembrance of those killed in the attack. In Nice, as the Prime Minister arrived to observe the silence, the crowd booed him and some shouted for his resignation, with some calling him a murderer. President Hollande was similarly booed by crowds when visiting Nice the day after the attack. The booing was described by BBC as "unprecedented", who commented that it was "a stark warning of how the mood in the country has changed" in comparison to public responses after other recent major terrorist attacks in France.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: A week after the attack, the anti-terror directorate of the National Police (SDAT) requested that the local authorities in Nice destroy CCTV footage of the attack, arguing that leaked images would compromise the dignity of victims and could be used as propaganda by terrorist organizations. The request has been refused by local authorities who have argued that the CCTV footage might provide evidence that the National Police had placed inadequate security measures on the Promenade des Anglais on 14 July.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 26 July 2016, three Nice residents who had chased the truck during the attack were presented with medals for bravery by the local authorities in Nice.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 14 July 2017, president Macron said during a remembrance ceremony in Nice "This rage, I know, many of you still carry it in the pit of your stomach, ... Everything will be done in order for the republic, the state and public authorities to regain your trust.”


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: François Molins, prosecutor of the "ministère public" ("le parquet") in Paris – the authority ('public ministry') responsible for defending French society with regard to terrorism – stated on 15 July that the Nice attack bore the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism. On 18 July, Molins said the attack could be described as "terrorism" as defined by French law.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 15 July, Alain Juppé, former prime minister of France and one of the final two candidates to become the Republican candidate for the April–May 2017 presidential election; and Christian Estrosi, former Nice mayor, raised the question of whether more could have been done to prevent the attack.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: In September 2016, François Fillon, the other Republican candidate in the French presidential election, published a book titled "Defeating Islamic Totalitarianism" "(Vaincre le totalitarisme islamique)", in which he advocated a stricter state surveillance on the Muslim community and more attention to the French identity. He also wrote that France was "at war" with radical Islam.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Marine Le Pen, president of the National Front party and candidate for the April–May 2017 presidential election, said in a "Le Figaro" interview, "I'm furious, because I hear the same words, notice the same reflexes in the political class, but see no action that contributes one ounce of supplemental security". She judged it "urgent to attack the ideology that is the basis of this terrorism" and regretted that "nothing" was decided for the closing down of the salafist mosques.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Leaderships of 49 countries and five supranational bodies expressed abhorrence of the attack and condolences for families and for France. US President Barack Obama labelled the attack as possible terrorism, as did German Chancellor Angela Merkel.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 16 July, the Amaq News Agency, called Lahouaiej-Bouhlel "a soldier of the Islamic State." It cited an "insider source" which said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel "executed the operation in response to calls to target citizens of coalition nations, which fight the Islamic State".


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Later that same day, ISIL's official al-Bayan radio station said the attacker executed a "new, special operation using a truck" and "the crusader countries know that no matter how much they enforce their security measures and procedures, it will not stop the mujahideen from striking."


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: The first Islamic funeral ceremony of victims of the attack took place on 19 July in the "Ar-Rahma" ("The Mercifulness") mosque, the oldest in Nice and the largest in Alpes-Maritimes. Last honours of the Islamic community were rendered to a 23-year-old Tunisian woman, her 4-year-old child, and a young man. Rector and imam Otmane Aïssaoui said in his sermon, "The sole frontier for which one should halt is this: the respect for a man, for a woman, irrespective of their colour of skin, their origin. A truth one can find in the Gospel, in the Torah, even in Buddhism!" Citing a Quranic verse, he said, "At the Last Judgment, [Lahouaiej-Bouhlel] will be asked: 'why did you kill that little child of four years old?'"


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Also invited to speak was the priest of the nearby Catholic church Saint-Pierre d'Ariane. Father Patrick Bruzzone said, "My brothers ... I say 'my brothers' because, today more than ever, when one man is hurt, the whole of humanity is hurt."


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 21 July, a commemoration was held for "people of all religions and even beyond that" in Catholic church Saint-Pierre d'Arène, located near the area where the attack had taken place. The priest and the vicar called for "the calming down, necessary for taking at hand our common future in this torn city and in the whole country. To contemplate together, in order to solidly reconstruct the social ties that now are increasingly crumbled and largely ruined".


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Immediately after the attack, while it still remained unclear whether the threat had ended, people used social media, particularly Twitter, to help others find shelter, using the hashtag "#PortesOuvertesNice" (Open Doors Nice), a variation of a hashtag used in other recent attacks in France.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 14 and 15 July, the French government urged social media users to only share reliable information from official sources, while false rumours circulated that hostages had been taken, that the Eiffel Tower had been attacked and set on fire, and that Cannes had also been attacked.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Organisers of the 20th Nice Jazz Festival, scheduled to begin on 16 July, cancelled the event in the wake of the attack. Rihanna cancelled a concert scheduled as a part of her Anti World Tour for 15 July at Nice's Allianz Riviera. At London's Royal Albert Hall on 15 July, the opening night of the 2016 Proms Festival paid tribute to the people of Nice, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra performing a rendition of "La Marseillaise". In December 2016, an American musician faSade, who witnessed the attack, published a music video of a song that paid tribute to the victims, featuring images of the attack's aftermath.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: In August, the European Cycling Union decided to move the 2016 European Road Championships, which were to be hosted on 14–18 September in Nice, to Plumelec in the northwest of France, due to security concerns in Nice after the 14 July attack.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: European stocks opened lower and then closed mixed on Friday 15 July (the day after the attacks) as investor sentiment was dampened by the attack in France. The pan-European STOXX 600 was down by 0.38%, the French CAC 40 by 0.4%, and German DAX by 0.4%. The British FTSE 100 fell by 0.2% before closing up by 0.22%, down at 0.32% in STOXX 600, 0.6% in CAC 40, and 0.01% in DAX. Airlines, along with other travel share, were some of the hardest hit companies, with Flybe and EasyJet down by around 3.7 per cent and three per cent respectively.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Cancellations and last-minute changes to European holidays rose in the summer, with travellers increasingly concerned about the threat of terrorism. Other terrorist attacks in Belgium and Turkey prompted holidaymakers to cancel their bookings or seek out other destinations perceived to be safe. The Nice attack, along with the recent failed coup in Turkey, were expected to add to the pressure. "This is not going to be a good year," European Tour Operators Association chief executive Tom Jenkins said. "There is a real suppression of demand for destinations like Belgium and France."


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On the week after 14 July, some Nice inhabitants noticed and deplored increasing anti-Muslim and racist rhetoric in their quarters. Some non-Muslims said that their view on Muslims had changed. "We're in Europe and I think some of the oriental rites are somehow incompatible," a local man said.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: Before the attack, on 8 June, the carcass of a pig had been found in front of a mosque in Nice. Two suspected men were charged and the court's judgement was expected to be filed on 12 October. On the morning of 11 October, the imam of that same mosque found the head and pelt of a pig mounted before the mosque's entrance.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: As of August 2016, under the state of emergency put in force since November 2015 and extended after the Nice attack, around 3,600 houses had been raided. The raids resulted in six terrorism-related inquiries, only one of which led to prosecution. Most raids were reportedly connected with narcotics, not with terrorism, implying misuse of the new powers of emergency. Previously, as of May 2016, under the emergency law, house arrest had been imposed on 404 people, mostly Muslims of North African descent. Many French citizens that were placed under house arrest allegedly lost jobs or employment opportunities as a result. By mid-November 2016, some people had been under house arrest for nearly a year during which no judicial inquiry against them had been started.


title: 2016 Nice truck attack

text: On 15 November, President Hollande announced his intention to prolong the state of emergency until the


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: Circles is the sixth and final studio album by American rapper and singer Mac Miller. It was released posthumously on January 17, 2020, by REMember Music and Warner Records, and was being worked on by Miller before his death in September 2018. Production was completed by Jon Brion.


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: "Circles" was supported by two singles: "Good News" and "Blue World". The album received widespread acclaim from critics and debuted at number three on the US "Billboard" 200, earning 164,000 album-equivalent units during its first week, making it Miller's biggest week for an album.


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: "Swimming", the fifth studio album by American hip hop artist Mac Miller, was released on August 3, 2018, by REMember Music and Warner Records. Miller intended the album as a cohesive work meant to mark a certain era of his life, a trend that he began on 2016's "The Divine Feminine". Inspired by his work on the film score for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", Miller hired Jon Brion as a producer for "Swimming". "Swimming" received positive reviews from music critics, with Mosi Reeves of "Rolling Stone" saying that Miller "has finally abandoned his frat-rap reputation for good".


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: On September 7, 2018, while preparing to embark on a promotional tour for "Swimming", Miller was found dead in his Los Angeles home of a suspected drug overdose. A later toxicology report from the Los Angeles County Coroners Office determined the cause of death to be "mixed drug toxicity" caused by a combination of alcohol, cocaine, and fentanyl. Miller's estate began giving permission for his collaborators to release his remaining music posthumously in June 2019. These first releases were "Time", a collaboration with Free Nationals and Kali Uchis, and "That's Life", an 88-Keys song with vocal features from Miller and Sia.


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: At the time of his death, Miller was "well into" the recording process of "Circles". It was intended to be a companion album to "Swimming", with "two different styles complementing each other, completing a circle" and the concept being "swimming in circles". Brion, who worked with Miller on the album, completed production "based on his time and conversations" with Miller. "Swimming" and "Circles" were planned to be the first two installments in a trilogy of albums, where the last piece would have been "a pure hip-hop record", as described by Brion.


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: Critics have described the album as a hip hop, funk, and emo rap album with elements of soft rock, pop, R&B, lo-fi, indie folk, and synth-pop. "Pitchfork" said the album was difficult to categorize, having so many different aspects.


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: The track "Blue World" includes production assistance from Guy Lawrence, one half of UK-based house production duo Disclosure. The track "Everybody" is a cover of American singer-songwriter Arthur Lee's "Everybody's Gotta Live", from his 1972 debut album "Vindicator".


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: "Circles" was announced by Miller's family via a note on his Instagram account on January 8, 2020. It was released by Warner Records on January 17, 2020.


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: The lead single, "Good News", was released on January 9, 2020, alongside an accompanying music video directed by Anthony Gaddis and Eric Tilford. The video features imagery of Miller in an abstract world with colorful animated landscapes. The remaining tracks on the album were also released with music videos of a similar style on January 17, 2020. "Good News" debuted at number 17 on US "Billboard" Hot 100, surpassing "Self Care" (2018; number 33) as his highest-charting song as lead artist. "Blue World" was sent to US rhythmic contemporary radio on February 4, 2020, as the album's second single.


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: "Circles" was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 83, based on 14 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: In her review for "The Independent", Roisin O'Connor praised the album, writing, "Through the album there's a mesmerising rhythm, a kind of rocking horse motion that spurs you on to the next track. ... On "Swimming" he was adrift, searching for a lighthouse beam that would bring him back to "a place of comfort". On "Circles", it sounds as though – if only for the briefest of moments – he found it". Sputnikmusic critic Rowan5215 said, "Where "Circles" succeeds, where it becomes a graceful and elegant piece of art rather than an experimental excursion, is in finding the perfect subject matter for its laidback meanderings. Quite simply, these songs are dispatches from a day in the life of Mac Miller". Writing for "Exclaim!", A. Harmony stated, "His gruff vocals hold pain and weariness as he reflects on his struggles and challenges. Yet, however difficult it might be to ingest his candour, there is also a maturity about Miller in which to take solace. There's a sense of growth and lessons learned. These are the marks of a life well-lived, however short". David Brake of "HipHopDX" wrote, "He finds beauty and peace in allowing himself to experience his own emotions. It's an honest, matter-of-fact account of the grey areas of his life and mind. On "Circles", Mac shows the unexpected joy that can be found in the darkest of times".


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: Kitty Empire of "The Observer" saying "If "Swimming" felt contemplative, "Circles" feels even more like a singer-songwriter album than a hip-hop joint – a tendency most likely amplified by Brion's treatments". Will Lavin of "NME" gave a positive review, stating "It's a high-quality project, but we lost Mac way too soon, and that's hard to accept. So while it's hard to listen to him talking about self-deterioration and how he spends far too much time in his own head, it's a privilege to hear him share his inner most thoughts over a bed of sweeping, inventive sonics. This is the album Mac Miller was born to make". Rachel Aroesti from "The Guardian" enjoyed the album, saying, "Miller's lyrics possess a plainness that occasionally yields moments of heart-rending simplicity, but frequently wither into triteness and banality. Yet when his words fail him, his voice is able to communicate the pain more effectively".


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: In the United States, "Circles" debuted at number three on the "Billboard" 200, behind the debuts of Eminem's "Music to Be Murdered By" and Halsey's "Manic", earning 164,000 album-equivalent units during its first week, of which 61,000 were traditional album sales. It was Miller's biggest week for an album. Ten tracks from "Circles" simultaneously charted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in its first week, topped by "Good News" at number 18 and "Blue World" at number 38. In its second week, the album dropped to number six on the chart, with 45,000 units.


title: Circles (Mac Miller album)

text: "Circles" reached Miller's highest peaks in Australia at number three on the ARIA Charts, in Canada at number three on the Canadian Albums Chart, and in the United Kingdom at number eight on the UK Albums Chart.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: The Douglas AC-47 Spooky (also nicknamed "Puff, the Magic Dragon") was the first in a series of fixed-wing gunships developed by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. It was designed to provide more firepower than light and medium ground-attack aircraft in certain situations when ground forces called for close air support.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: The AC-47 was a United States Air Force (USAF) C-47, (the military version of the DC-3) that had been modified by mounting three 7.62 mm General Electric miniguns to fire through two rear window openings and the side cargo door, all on the left (pilot's) side of the aircraft, to provide close air support for ground troops. Other armament configurations could also be found on similar C-47-based aircraft around the world. The guns were actuated by a control on the pilot's yoke whereby he could control the guns either individually or together, although gunners were also among the crew to assist with gun failures and similar issues. It could orbit the target for hours, providing suppressing fire over an elliptical area about 52 yd (47.5 m) in diameter, placing a round every 2.4 yd (2.2 m) during a three-second burst. The aircraft also carried flares it could drop to illuminate the battleground.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: The AC-47 had no previous design to gauge how successful it would be, because it was the first of its kind. The USAF found itself in a precarious situation when requests for additional gunships began to come in because it simply lacked miniguns to fit additional aircraft after the first two conversions. The next four aircraft were equipped with ten .30 caliber AN/M2 machine guns. These weapons, using World War II and Korean War ammunition stocks, were quickly discovered to jam easily, produce large amounts of gases from firing, and, even in ten-gun groups, provide the density of fire of only a single minigun. All four of these aircraft were retrofitted to the standard armament configuration when additional miniguns arrived.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: The AC-47 initially used SUU-11/A gun pods that were installed on locally fabricated mounts for the gunship application. Emerson Electric eventually developed the MXU-470/A to replace the gun pods, which were also used on later gunships.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: In August 1964, years of fixed-wing gunship experimentation reached a new peak with "Project Tailchaser" under the direction of Captain John C. Simons. This test involved the conversion of a single Convair C-131B to be capable of firing a single GAU-2/A Minigun at a downward angle out of the left side of the aircraft. Even crude grease pencil crosshairs were quickly discovered to enable a pilot flying in a pylon turn to hit a stationary area target with relative accuracy and ease. The Armament Development and Test Center tested the craft at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, but lack of funding soon suspended the tests. In 1964, Captain Ron W. Terry returned from temporary duty in South Vietnam as part of an Air Force Systems Command team reviewing all aspects of air operations in counter-insurgency warfare, where he had noted the usefulness of C-47s and C-123s orbiting as flare ships during night attacks on fortified hamlets. He received permission to conduct a live-fire test using the C-131 and revived the side-firing gunship program.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: By October, Terry's team under "Project Gunship" provided a C-47D, which was converted to a similar standard as the "Project Tailchaser" aircraft and armed with three miniguns, which were initially mounted on locally fabricated mounts—essentially strapped gun pods intended for fixed-wing aircraft (SUU-11/A) onto a mount allowing them to be fired remotely out the port side. Terry and a testing team arrived at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, on 2 December 1964, with equipment needed to modify two C-47s. The first test aircraft (43-48579, a C-47B-5-DK mail courier converted to C-47D standard by removal of its superchargers) was ready by 11 December, the second by 15 December, and both were allocated to the 1st Air Commando Squadron for combat testing. The newly dubbed "FC-47" often operated under the radio call sign "Puff". Its primary mission involved protecting villages, hamlets, and personnel from mass attacks by Vietcong (VC) guerrilla units.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: Puff's first significant success occurred on the night of 23–24 December 1964. An FC-47 arrived over the Special Forces outpost at Tranh Yend in the Mekong Delta just 37 minutes after an air support request, fired 4,500 rounds of ammunition, and broke the VC attack. The FC-47 was then called to support a second outpost at Trung Hung, about away. The aircraft again blunted the VC attack and forced a retreat. Between 15 and 26 December, all the FC-47's 16 combat sorties were successful. On 8 February 1965, an FC-47 flying over the Bồng Sơn area demonstrated its capabilities in the process of blunting a VC offensive. For over four hours, it fired 20,500 rounds into a VC hilltop position, killing an estimated 300 VC troops.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: The early gunship trials were so successful, the second aircraft was returned to the United States early in 1965 to provide crew training. In July 1965, Headquarters USAF ordered TAC to establish an AC-47 squadron. By November 1965, a total of five aircraft were operating with the 4th Air Commando Squadron, activated in August as the first operational unit, and by the end of 1965, a total of 26 had been converted. Training Detachment 8, 1st Air Commando Wing, was subsequently established at Forbes AFB, Kansas. In "Operation Big Shoot", the 4th ACS in Vietnam grew to 20 AC-47s (16 aircraft plus four reserves for attrition).


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: The 4th ACS deployed to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam, on 14 November 1965. Now using the call sign "Spooky", each of its three 7.62 mm miniguns could selectively fire either 50 or 100 rounds per second. Cruising in an overhead left-hand orbit at 120 knots air speed at an altitude of , the gunship could put a bullet or glowing red tracer bullet (every fifth round) into every square yard of a football field-sized target in potentially less than 10 seconds. As long as its 45-flare and 24,000-round basic load of ammunition held out, it could do this intermittently while loitering over the target for hours.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: In May 1966, the squadron moved north to Nha Trang Air Base to join the newly activated 14th Air Commando Wing. The 3rd Air Commando Squadron was activated at Nha Trang on 5 April 1968 as a second AC-47 squadron, with both squadrons redesignated as Special Operations Squadrons on 1 August 1968. Flights of both squadrons were stationed at bases throughout South Vietnam, and one flight of the 4th SOS served at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base with the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. The work of the two AC-47 squadrons, each with 16 AC-47s flown by aircrews younger than the aircraft they flew, was undoubtedly a key contributor to the award of the Presidential Unit Citation to the 14th Air Commando Wing in June 1968.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: One of the most publicized battles of the Vietnam War was the Battle of Khe Sanh in early 1968. More than 24,000 tactical and 2,700 B-52 strikes dropped 110,000 tons of ordnance in attacks that averaged over 300 sorties per day. During the two and a half months of combat, fighters were in the air day and night. At night, AC-47 gunships kept up constant fire against enemy troops and provided illumination for the base.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: The AC-47D gunship should not be confused with a small number of C-47s that were fitted with electronic equipment in the 1950s. Prior to 1962, these aircraft were designated AC-47D. When a new designation system was adopted in 1962, these became EC-47Ds. The original gunships had been designated FC-47D by the USAF, but with protests from fighter pilots, this designation was changed to AC-47D during 1965. Of the 53 aircraft converted to AC-47 configuration, 41 served in Vietnam and 19 were lost to all causes, 12 in combat. Combat reports indicate that no village or hamlet under "Spooky" protection was ever lost, and a plethora of reports from civilians and military personnel were made about AC-47s coming to the rescue and saving their lives.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: As the United States began "Project Gunship II" and "Project Gunship III", many of the remaining AC-47Ds were transferred to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force, the Royal Lao Air Force, and Cambodia's Khmer Air Force, after Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed in a coup by General Lon Nol.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: Airman First Class John L. Levitow, an AC-47 loadmaster with the 3rd SOS, received the Medal of Honor for saving his aircraft, "Spooky 71", from destruction on 24 February 1969 during a fire-support mission at Long Binh. The aircraft was struck by an 82-mm mortar round that inflicted 3,500 shrapnel holes, wounding Levitow 40 times, but he used his body to jettison an armed magnesium flare, which ignited shortly after Levitow ejected it from the aircraft, allowing the AC-47 to return to base.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: By the end of 1969 most AC-47Ds were transferred to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force. the RVNAF kept using them until 1975. most of them were destroyed or captured by North Vietnam at the end of the war.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: In 1969, Laos received its first AC-47 armed with SUU-11/A minigun pods. These pods ended up being unsatisfactory so later RLAF AC-47s were equipped with .50 cal machine guns or the MXU-470/A minigun modules.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: The Khmer Air Force received some AC-47Ds from the USAF between 1973 and 1974 and also converted some with .50 cal machine guns. Several of them were given to Thailand after the end of the Cambodian Civil War.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: In December 1984 and January 1985, the United States supplied two AC-47D gunships to the El Salvador Air Force (FAS) and trained aircrews to operate the system. The AC-47 gunship carried three .50 cal machine guns and could loiter and provide heavy firepower for army operations. As the FAS had long operated C-47s, training pilots and crew to operate the aircraft as a weapons platform was easy for the United States. By all accounts, the AC-47 soon became probably the most effective weapon in the FAS arsenal.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: In 2006, Colombia started operating five armed Basler BT-67 (Colombian Air Force designation : AC-47T), known by civilians as "avion fantasma" (ghost plane), on counter-insurgency operations in conjunction with Sikorsky AH-60 Arpia armed helicopters and Cessna A-37 Dragonflys against local illegally armed groups. The BT-67s are armed with .50 cal (12.7 mm) GAU-19/A machine guns slaved to a forward looking infrared system. They also have the ability to carry bombs. At least one has been seen fitted with one GAU-19/A and a 20 mm cannon, most likely a French-made M621. The BT-67s are C-47/DC-3s modified by the Basler Corporation of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and are not variants of the Douglas AC-47.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: In 1970, the Indonesian Air Force converted a former civilian DC-3. The converted aircraft was armed with three .50 cal machine guns. During 1975, the Indonesian Air Force used its "AC-47" in the Indonesian invasion of East Timor to attack the city of Dili. Later, the aircraft was used in Indonesian military close air support missions in East Timor. Its retirement date is unknown.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: South Africa converted some C-47s to gunships by installing gun mounts on a rotating platform on the rear of the aircraft and used them similarly to a helicopter gunner. South African "Dragon Daks" were known to fit 20 mm cannons


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: Between 1980 and 1981 Uruguay converted C-47 T-508 into a gunship for COIN missions by installing three .50 cal machine guns to the last two rear windows.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: The Philippines also converted some C-47s by mounting .50 cal machine guns and used them against Muslim guerrillas in the Battle of Jolo in 1974


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: In 1967, Thailand converted its first AC-47D installing it the SUU-11/A minigun pods. It kept converting a few more airframes and also received some former Khmer Air Force AC-47Ds from Cambodia in late 1975. Thai AC-47s also were equipped with a combination of two .50 cal machine guns and an M197 20mm Electric cannon.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: Aircraft painted to represent AC-47s are on static display at the Air Commando Park at Hurlburt Field and the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin Air Force Base. These airframes never were AC-47s and were actually regular unarmed C-47s.


title: Douglas AC-47 Spooky

text: 13. On their 1989 album "Agent Orange", Thrash metal band Sodom made a song about the AC-47 called "Magic Dragon". The album's cover art shows the inside of an AC-47, and the inner sleeve shows AC-47's encircling a VC camp.


title: Skeeter Davis

text: Skeeter Davis (born Mary Frances Penick; December 30, 1931September 19, 2004) was an American country music singer and songwriter who sang crossover pop music songs including 1962's "The End of the World". She started out as part of the Davis Sisters as a teenager in the late 1940s, eventually landing on RCA Victor. In the late 1950s, she became a solo star.