title: Dulce et Decorum est

text: 2. The Italianate or Ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation, used in Owen’s day in both the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, and in continued use today in the Catholic Church (“dool-chay et decorum est, pro patria mor-ee”).


title: Dulce et Decorum est

text: 3. The Classical Latin pronunciation reconstructed by scholars in the nineteenth century and generally taught in schools since the early 1900s (“dool-kay et decorum est, pro patria mor-ee”).


title: Dulce et Decorum est

text: Owen’s own schooling took place at a time when the teaching of Latin pronunciation was in transition and therefore – without knowing how he himself would have pronounced the phrase – any of the three versions can be considered acceptable.


title: Dulce et Decorum est

text: The style of "Dulce et Decorum est" is similar to the French ballade poetic form. By referencing this formal poetic form and then breaking the conventions of pattern and rhyming, Owen accentuates the disruptive and chaotic events being told. Each of the stanzas has a traditional rhyming scheme, using two quatrains of rhymed iambic pentameter with several spondaic substitutions. These make the poem's reading experience seem close to a casual talking speed and clarity.


title: Dulce et Decorum est

text: The poem is in two parts, each of 14 lines. The first part of the poem (the first 8 line and the second 6 line stanzas) is written in the present as the action happens and everyone is reacting to the events around them. In the second part (the third 2 line and the last 12 line stanzas), the narrator writes as though at a distance from the horror: he refers to what is happening twice as if in a "dream", as though standing back watching the events or even recalling them. Another interpretation is to read the lines literally. "In all my dreams" may mean this sufferer of shell shock is haunted by a friend drowning in his own blood, and cannot sleep without revisiting the horror nightly. The second part looks back to draw a lesson from what happened at the start. The two 14 line parts of the poem echo a formal poetic style, the sonnet, but a broken and unsettling version of this form. This poem is considered by many as one of the best war poems ever written.


title: Dulce et Decorum est

text: Studying the two parts of the poem reveals a change in the use of language from visual impressions outside the body, to sounds produced by the body – or a movement from the visual to the visceral. In the opening lines, the scene is set with visual phrases such as "haunting flares", but after the gas attack the poem has sounds produced by the victim – "guttering", "choking", "gargling". In this way, Owen evokes the terrible effects of chlorine gas corroding the body from inside.


title: Dulce et Decorum est

text: In May 1917 Owen was diagnosed with neurasthenia (shell-shock) and sent to Craiglockhart hospital near Edinburgh to recover. Whilst receiving treatment at the hospital, Owen became the editor of the hospital magazine, "The Hydra", and met the poet Siegfried Sassoon, who was to have a major impact upon his life and work and to play a crucial role in the dissemination of Owen’s poetry following his untimely death in 1918, aged 25. Owen wrote a number of his most famous poems at Craiglockhart, including several drafts of "Dulce et Decorum est", "Soldier's Dream", and "Anthem for Doomed Youth". Sassoon advised and encouraged Owen, and this is evident in a number of drafts which include Sassoon’s annotations.


title: Dulce et Decorum est

text: Only five of Owen's poems were published in his lifetime. However, after his death, his heavily-worked manuscript drafts were brought together and published in two different editions by Siegfried Sassoon with the assistance of Edith Sitwell (in 1920) and Edmund Blunden (in 1931).


title: Greg Vaughan

text: James Gregory Vaughan Jr. (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor and former fashion model, known for his roles in the soap operas "The Young and the Restless" (2002–03), "General Hospital" (2003–09), and "Days of Our Lives" (2012–21). Vaughan also starred as Dan Gordon on the second season of the supernatural series "Charmed" (1999-2000). In 2016, Vaughan began starring in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series "Queen Sugar" as Detective Calvin.


title: Greg Vaughan

text: The actor and former male fashion model has starred in soap operas such as "The Young and the Restless" and "General Hospital". To date, his best-known role is that of Lucky Spencer in the latter, which he played from 2003 to 2009.


title: Greg Vaughan

text: At age 16, while getting a haircut, he learned of a "Back to School" modeling competition, and sent in some snapshots. He was selected as a finalist but did not win. However, the winner encouraged Vaughan to pursue modeling, and Vaughan signed up with a modeling agency.


title: Greg Vaughan

text: Shortly after graduating from Mesquite High School, he was invited to Milan, Italy, where he modeled for designer Giorgio Armani for two and a half months. More campaigns followed, with designers such as Gianni Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, Banana Republic, and Ralph Lauren.


title: Greg Vaughan

text: While modeling in Miami, Vaughan started to become dissatisfied with the modeling life, and decided to relocate to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, he then moved to Los Angeles. His first role was on "Baywatch", as well as on the pilot for a 1996 Aaron Spelling series, "Malibu Shores", that lead to his future appearances on "Beverly Hills, 90210" and was a cast regular for the second season of "Charmed".


title: Greg Vaughan

text: His next major role was from 2002 to 2003 as Diego Guittierez in the daytime drama "The Young and the Restless". When the character was written off the show, Vaughan got a call from the producers of "General Hospital", who were seeking a new actor for the character of Lucky Spencer, son of the famous soap opera couple Luke and Laura. Vaughan was the first actor to portray Lucky as a full-fledged adult, with the part having been played by Jonathan Jackson and Jacob Young.


title: Greg Vaughan

text: On June 7, 2006, Vaughan won the role of the new spokesperson for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter in a ceremony in New York. The contest was created to replace Fabio.


title: Greg Vaughan

text: On September 28, 2009, Vaughan announced that he would exit the role of Lucky Spencer on "General Hospital"; he last aired on October 20, with original portrayer Jonathan Jackson re-assuming the role on October 27.


title: Greg Vaughan

text: In the July 16, 2012 edition of "Soap Opera Digest", it was announced that Vaughan would join the NBC soap opera "Days of Our Lives" as Eric Brady, who was ordained as a priest before returning to Salem. He first aired on November 13.


title: Greg Vaughan

text: In July 2013, Vaughan appeared in "Second Chances", a Hallmark Original Movie, alongside "Days" co-star Alison Sweeney. The movie was filmed before Sweeney and Vaughn became siblings on "Days of Our Lives".


title: Greg Vaughan

text: Vaughan married Dutch model and actress Touriya Haoud on June 4, 2006. The couple has three sons. During their marriage, they lived in Los Angeles, California and Charlotte, North Carolina. On April 14, 2014, Haoud and Vaughan announced their separation. Their children live with Vaughan in the United States and Haoud moved back to the Netherlands following their divorce.


title: Down (band)

text: Down is an American heavy metal supergroup that formed in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1991. The current lineup consists of vocalist Phil Anselmo (Pantera and Superjoint Ritual), drummer Jimmy Bower (Crowbar, Eyehategod, Superjoint Ritual), guitarists Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity) and Kirk Windstein (Crowbar), and bassist Pat Bruders (Goatwhore).


title: Down (band)

text: Since their formation, Down has gone on hiatus twice and has released five studio albums. The first three were LPs entitled "NOLA" (1995), "" (2002), and "" (2007). In 2008, the band began working on additional material, which resulted in two EPs entitled "Down IV – Part I", released in September 2012, and "Down IV – Part II", released in May 2014.


title: Down (band)

text: Down formed in 1991 with vocalist Phil Anselmo of Pantera, drummer Jimmy Bower of Eyehategod, guitarists Pepper Keenan of Corrosion of Conformity and Kirk Windstein of Crowbar and bassist Todd Strange, also of Crowbar. All of the band members were longtime friends, and shared interest in bands such as Black Sabbath, Trouble, and Saint Vitus, which would significantly influence the music they made. The band made a three-track demo for underground trading. In an effort to build a fan base, Anselmo and Keenan would ask heavy metal fans if they had ever "heard of this band, Down" and hand them copies of the tape without telling the person that they were in the band. Eventually, the tape was distributed throughout the United States and Down played a small concert in its hometown. A record executive from Elektra Records was attending the show. When he found out who the members of the band were, he signed Down to a recording contract.


title: Down (band)

text: Down released its debut album, "NOLA", on September 19, 1995, debuting at number 55 on the "Billboard" 200. AllMusic reviewer David Reamer gave the album a nearly perfect 4.5 out of 5 stars, praising the songs "Temptations Wings", "Stone the Crow", and "Bury Me in Smoke". Reamer stated that "this is a landmark album that combines the talents of dedicated rock musicians, and should be included in any collection of heavy metal music." "NOLA" was supported by a 13-date tour, and afterward the band went on hiatus in order to return to their respective bands.


title: Down (band)

text: In 1999, while Down was on hiatus, Strange left the band and was replaced by Pantera bassist Rex Brown. In late November 2001, Down came back from hiatus to make another record. The band wrote and recorded "" in 28 "drug and booze induced" days in Phil Anselmo's barn called "Nödferatu's Lair." The album was released on March 26, 2002, but was not received with the same positive reviews as "NOLA." Blabbermouth.net reviewer Borivoj Krgin stated, ""Down II" appears to have been thrown together more haphazardly, with much of the material falling short of the standard set by the Down's classic debut offering." Despite mixed reviews, the album debuted at number 44 on the "Billboard" 200. To support the album, Down toured on the second stage of Ozzfest in 2002. Afterward, the band once again entered an indefinite hiatus to focus on their respective bands.


title: Down (band)

text: Newly signed to Warner Bros. Records, Down once again reformed in 2006. The band wrote an album over the course of a year. The lyrical content of "" covers subjects such as the breakup of Pantera, the murder of ex-Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, the band's anger at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and Anselmo's recovery from back surgery and drug addiction. Debuting at number 26 on the "Billboard" 200, the album was released on September 25, 2007, and received generally positive reviews. Kirk Miller of "Decibel Magazine" said of the album, "for almost an hour, it's like the metal world was set right again."


title: Down (band)

text: The release of "Over the Under" was preceded by a tour with Heaven & Hell and Megadeth. To further support their album, Down headlined a tour starting at the end of September 2007.


title: Down (band)

text: On April 22, 2008, the BBC Radio 1 Rockshow broadcast a new session of Down recordings featuring alternate versions of "N.O.D.", "Beneath the Tides", and "Jail", along with a cover of "When the Levee Breaks" (written by Kansas Joe McCoy and his wife Memphis Minnie, and famously covered by Led Zeppelin).


title: Down (band)

text: On July 24, 2008, frontman Phil Anselmo mentioned in a post on the band's Myspace blog that Down had been "fucking around with some new material" and had "enough material already recorded"—at least six new songs in addition to those that did not make the final cut on "Down III: Over the Under". What or how much will be included on the tentative "Down IV" is uncertain, but according to Anselmo, there is "definitely enough for an awesome EP, with some surprises within."


title: Down (band)

text: Asked in November 2008 what the current status of the new album was, bassist Rex Brown told Billboard.com that Down had been "writing constantly on the road. We still have all these ideas, and we play a lot of new stuff at sound check, just to feel it out. Hopefully, we can get back in the studio in the fall and work on something."


title: Down (band)

text: On February 18, 2009, Down was announced in the lineup for the 2009 Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Following these live dates, the band toured the United States and Canada during August and September 2009. On March 30, 2009, Down posted a statement on their message board indicating that they will be back in the studio from October through November writing and recording what will eventually become "Down IV". In the summer of 2009, Down began a US tour without Rex on bass, who had developed acute pancreatitis.


title: Down (band)

text: On January 27, 2010, it was announced that Brown had nearly fully recuperated from his fight with pancreatitis. Down had discussed reconvening in New Orleans sometime after the 2010 Super Bowl to begin work on a new album. With a release date yet to be announced, the new album will be the band's fourth studio offering. After legal issues with Warner Brothers Records regarding the rights to the music, Down released the live album "" on October 5, 2010, via Roadrunner Records. The title is a reference to "Diary of a Madman", an Ozzy Osbourne album.


title: Down (band)

text: In 2011, Phil Anselmo commented on the future of Down, stating: "Man, there will be a time for Down. Matter of fact we had a meeting this past week, and I know Jimmy's gotta go do an Eyehategod tour in February. But after that, I think we're looking to do some shows starting in March. Maybe local around here, maybe even some Mardi Gras gigs. But yeah, last week we sat around and they played me some new stuff they're working on, and it sounds good. Sounds like it's got a lot of promise, and really they just need me in the fuckin' practice room. So all this is going to happen this year. It has to happen. I know there's a responsibility here. Down has a fanbase and they are very very very loyal. So I don't want to let those people down. They deserve some new music, we have it. We've demoed other songs, there's songs that haven't even been released that people have never heard, so there's always Down there. For all you people out there, don't you stress. We got the Down coming."


title: Down (band)

text: On May 11, 2011, Down announced on their Facebook page that they "demoed a brand new tune." Down played at Download Festival on Saturday June 11, 2011. They played alongside System of a Down, Avenged Sevenfold and Alice Cooper. Rex did not tour with Down during their spring 2011 shows. Crowbar bassist Pat Bruders filled in for Rex during those shows. "Rex is not gonna be with us," said Keenan. "He's got things he needs to deal with, and we gave him an ultimatum and he's trying to work things out. We've got Pat (Bruders) from Crowbar playing bass, and he's ass-kickin' in the same way. He plays with his fingers—which is really cool; he's got the whole Geezer Butler thing going on." When asked whether or not Brown was still considered a part of the band, Keenan was hopeful but hesitant: "I don't know what to really say on that; he's not out of the band, but he's not playing with us live." On June 22, 2011, Jimmy Bower announced that Rex Brown would not be returning to Down, and that Pat Bruders is his replacement.


title: Down (band)

text: The band spoke on their Facebook page and said they started recording new material on October 20. On January 16, 2012, they revealed track names for the new EP on Facebook. Initially, rumors spread about the possibility of Down releasing four EPs, instead of an album. However, when asked about it in an interview with Scuzz TV, Anselmo said that "It would be too pretentious, we try not to think as far ahead as that, and just go with what we feel at the time." In the summer of 2013, Kirk Windstein quit the band and was replaced by Bobby Landgraf. "Down IV – Part II" was released on May 13, 2014.


title: Down (band)

text: Following Anselmo's white power and Nazi salute controversy during the Dimebash event in the United States, the organizers of FortaRock Festival decided to cancel the appearance of the band for the 2016 event.


title: Down (band)

text: When speaking to Max Morin of Bucketlist Music Reviews in January 2018, Anselmo said about the follow-up album to 2007's "Over the Under":


title: Down (band)

text: In November 2019, Down announced they would be reuniting for a series of shows in 2020, including Graspop Metal Meeting, set to take place June 18–21, 2020 in Dessel, Belgium. In anticipation of the 25th anniversary of Down's first album "NOLA", founding member Kirk Windstein confirmed he was returning to the band. During a December 2019 interview with BraveWorlds, Windstein said "anything Down does from here forward, whether it’s a full tour or one show, I'm 99.9% sure that I'm a part of it."


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: In computer networking, Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) is a data link layer (layer 2) communication protocol between two routers directly without any host or any other networking in between. It can provide loop connection authentication, transmission encryption, and data compression.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: PPP is used over many types of physical networks, including serial cable, phone line, trunk line, cellular telephone, specialized radio links, ISDN, and fiber optic links such as SONET. Since IP packets cannot be transmitted over a modem line on their own without some data link protocol that can identify where the transmitted frame starts and where it ends, Internet service providers (ISPs) have used PPP for customer dial-up access to the Internet.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: Two derivatives of PPP, Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) and Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM (PPPoA), are used most commonly by ISPs to establish a digital subscriber line (DSL) Internet service LP connection with customers.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: PPP is commonly used as a data link layer protocol for connection over synchronous and asynchronous circuits, where it has largely superseded the older Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) and telephone company mandated standards (such as Link Access Protocol, Balanced (LAPB) in the X.25 protocol suite). The only requirement for PPP is that the circuit provided be duplex. PPP was designed to work with numerous network layer protocols, including Internet Protocol (IP), TRILL, Novell's Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX), NBF, DECnet and AppleTalk. Like SLIP, this is a full Internet connection over telephone lines via modem. It is more reliable than SLIP because it double checks to make sure that Internet packets arrive intact. It resends any damaged packets.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: PPP was designed somewhat after the original HDLC specifications. The designers of PPP included many additional features that had been seen only in proprietary data-link protocols up to that time. PPP is specified in RFC 1661.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: RFC 2516 describes Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) as a method for transmitting PPP over Ethernet that is sometimes used with DSL. RFC 2364 describes Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM (PPPoA) as a method for transmitting PPP over ATM Adaptation Layer 5 (AAL5), which is also a common alternative to PPPoE used with DSL.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: LCP initiates and terminates connections gracefully, allowing hosts to negotiate connection options. It is an integral part of PPP, and is defined in the same standard specification. LCP provides automatic configuration of the interfaces at each end (such as setting datagram size, escaped characters, and magic numbers) and for selecting optional authentication. The LCP protocol runs on top of PPP (with PPP protocol number 0xC021) and therefore a basic PPP connection has to be established before LCP is able to configure it.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: RFC 1994 describes Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP), which is preferred for establishing dial-up connections with ISPs.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: Another option for authentication over PPP is Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) described in RFC 2284.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: After the link has been established, additional network (layer 3) configuration may take place. Most commonly, the Internet Protocol Control Protocol (IPCP) is used, although Internetwork Packet Exchange Control Protocol (IPXCP) and AppleTalk Control Protocol (ATCP) were once popular. Internet Protocol Version 6 Control Protocol (IPv6CP) will see extended use in the future, when IPv6 replaces IPv4 as the dominant layer-3 protocol.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: PPP permits multiple network layer protocols to operate on the same communication link. For every network layer protocol used, a separate Network Control Protocol (NCP) is provided in order to encapsulate and negotiate options for the multiple network layer protocols. It negotiates network-layer information, e.g. network address or compression options, after the connection has been established.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: For example, IP uses IPCP, and Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) uses the Novell IPX Control Protocol (IPX/SPX). NCPs include fields containing standardized codes to indicate the network layer protocol type that the PPP connection encapsulates.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: PPP detects looped links using a feature involving magic numbers. When the node sends PPP LCP messages, these messages may include a magic number. If a line is looped, the node receives an LCP message with its own magic number, instead of getting a message with the peer's magic number.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: The previous section introduced the use of LCP options to meet specific WAN connection requirements. PPP may include the following LCP options:


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: If both peers agree to Address field and Control field compression during LCP, then those fields are omitted. Likewise if both peers agree to Protocol field compression, then the 0x00 byte can be omitted.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: The Protocol field indicates the type of payload packet: 0xC021 for LCP, 0x80xy for various NCPs, 0x0021 for IP, 0x0029 AppleTalk, 0x002B for IPX, 0x003D for Multilink, 0x003F for NetBIOS, 0x00FD for MPPC and MPPE, etc. PPP is limited, and cannot contain general Layer 3 data, unlike EtherType.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: The Information field contains the PPP payload; it has a variable length with a negotiated maximum called the Maximum Transmission Unit. By default, the maximum is 1500 octets. It might be padded on transmission; if the information for a particular protocol can be padded, that protocol must allow information to be distinguished from padding.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: PPP frames are encapsulated in a lower-layer protocol that provides framing and may provide other functions such as a checksum to detect transmission errors. PPP on serial links is usually encapsulated in a framing similar to HDLC, described by IETF RFC 1662.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: The Address and Control fields always have the value hex FF (for "all stations") and hex 03 (for "unnumbered information"), and can be omitted whenever PPP LCP Address-and-Control-Field-Compression (ACFC) is negotiated.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: The frame check sequence (FCS) field is used for determining whether an individual frame has an error. It contains a checksum computed over the frame to provide basic protection against errors in transmission. This is a CRC code similar to the one used for other layer two protocol error protection schemes such as the one used in Ethernet. According to RFC 1662, it can be either 16 bits (2 bytes) or 32 bits (4 bytes) in size (default is 16 bits - Polynomial "x" + "x" + "x" + 1).


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: The FCS is calculated over the Address, Control, Protocol, Information and Padding fields after the message has been encapsulated.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: Multilink PPP (also referred to as MLPPP, MP, MPPP, MLP, or Multilink) provides a method for spreading traffic across multiple distinct PPP connections. It is defined in RFC 1990. It can be used, for example, to connect a home computer to an Internet Service Provider using two traditional 56k modems, or to connect a company through two leased lines.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: On a single PPP line frames cannot arrive out of order, but this is possible when the frames are divided among multiple PPP connections. Therefore, Multilink PPP must number the fragments so they can be put in the right order again when they arrive.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: Multilink PPP is an example of a link aggregation technology. Cisco IOS Release 11.1 and later supports Multilink PPP.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: That's not possible with Multilink PPP either. Multilink PPP uses contiguous numbers for all the fragments of a packet, and as a consequence it is not possible to suspend the sending of a sequence of fragments of one packet in order to send another packet. This prevents from running Multilink PPP multiple times on the same links.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: Multiclass PPP is a kind of Multilink PPP where each "class" of traffic uses a separate sequence number space and reassembly buffer. Multiclass PPP is defined in RFC 2686


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) is a form of PPP between two hosts via GRE using encryption (MPPE) and compression (MPPC).


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: Many protocols can be used to tunnel data over IP networks. Some of them, like SSL, SSH, or L2TP create virtual network interfaces and give the impression of direct physical connections between the tunnel endpoints. On a Linux host for example, these interfaces would be called tun0 or ppp0.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: As there are only two endpoints on a tunnel, the tunnel is a point-to-point connection and PPP is a natural choice as a data link layer protocol between the virtual network interfaces. PPP can assign IP addresses to these virtual interfaces, and these IP addresses can be used, for example, to route between the networks on both sides of the tunnel.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: IPsec in tunneling mode does not create virtual physical interfaces at the end of the tunnel, since the tunnel is handled directly by the TCP/IP stack. L2TP can be used to provide these interfaces, this technique is called L2TP/IPsec. In this case too, PPP provides IP addresses to the extremities of the tunnel.


title: Point-to-Point Protocol

text: PPP is defined in RFC 1661 (The Point-to-Point Protocol, July 1994). RFC 1547 (Requirements for an Internet Standard Point-to-Point Protocol, December 1993) provides historical information about the need for PPP and its development. A series of related RFCs have been written to define how a variety of network control protocols-including TCP/IP, DECnet, AppleTalk, IPX, and others-work with PPP.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: The Wirecard scandal was a series of corrupt business practices and fraudulent financial reporting that led to the insolvency of Wirecard, a payment processor and financial services provider, headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company was part of the DAX index. They offered customers electronic payment transaction and risk management services, as well as the issuance and processing of physical cards. The subsidiary, Wirecard Bank AG, held a banking license and had contracts with multiple international financial services companies.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Allegations of accounting malpractices have trailed the company since the early days of its incorporation, reaching a peak in 2019 after the "Financial Times" published a series of investigations along with whistleblower complaints and internal documents. On 25 June 2020, Wirecard filed for insolvency after revealing that €1.9 billion was "missing", and the termination and arrest of its CEO Markus Braun. Questions have been raised about regulatory failure on the part of Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Germany's top financial watchdog, and possible malpractice of Wirecard's long time auditor Ernst & Young.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: The company was founded in 1999. After Markus Braun joined as CEO in 2002, the company focused on online payment services, starting with porn and gambling websites as clients. By taking over the listing of InfoGenie AG, a defunct call centre group, Wirecard entered "Neuer Markt" stock market segment, an action that has been criticised as avoidance of proper scrutiny during an initial public offering. This was achieved through a decision in an InfoGenie general meeting to transfer the non-listed Wirecard to InfoGenie AG by way of a capital increase against investment in kind, making Wirecard a stock corporation listed in the Prime Standard stock market segment through a reverse IPO. A clean audit from EY in 2007 allayed investors concerns. Wirecard was included in the TecDAX since 2006 and in the DAX since 2018. In 2018, Wirecard shares reached a peak, valuing the company at €24bn.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Wirecard attributed its fast growth to fast international expansion achieved through acquisition of local businesses, resulting in its revenue growth often outpacing general industry trends. In March 2017, Wirecard acquired Citi Prepaid Card Services and created Wirecard North America, entering the US market. Also in 2007, Wirecard expanded into banking by purchasing XCOM Bank AG, allowing it to issue credit and debit cards through licensing agreements with both Visa and Mastercard. In November 2019, Wirecard entered the Chinese market by acquiring Beijing-based AllScore Payment Services.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Wirecard is suspected to have engaged in a series of fraudulent accounting activities to inflate its profit. Despite the allegations, BaFin ultimately took little action against the company before its eventual collapse, opting instead to file complaints against critics of the company and short sellers of the company's stock.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Wirecard's combined banking (through its subsidiary Wirecard Bank) and non-banking (mainly payment processing) operations make its financial results harder to compare with peers, so investors had to rely on adjusted versions of the financial statements of the company. The "adjusted" accounts, unlike the reporting adhering to International Financial Reporting Standards, resulted in inflated earnings and cash flow figures.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Red flags were raised as early as 2008 when the head of a German shareholder association attacked Wirecard's balance sheet irregularities. After EY conducted a special audit in response to the criticisms, it took over as the main auditor for Wirecard and would remain so for the rest of the company's history. As a response, German authorities prosecuted two persons due to insufficient disclosure of holding Wirecard's stock.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: In 2015, the "Financial Times" reported what it saw as a significant gap between the short-term assets and liabilities in Wirecard's payment business. This was a result of Wirecard's taking only a small commission from its payment processing volume, and the transient payment flow through Wirecard's accounts was adjusted to reflect Wirecard's small cut. In response, Wirecard retained the services of Schillings, a UK law firm, and FTI Consulting's public relations agency in London. Later in 2015, J Capital Research published a report that recommended shorting Wirecard's stock, as it saw the company's Asian operations to be much smaller than claimed. In 2016, a critical report published by a previously unknown entity named Zatarra Research led to share price crashes, prompting BaFin to launch an investigation into possible market manipulation.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: In July 2021, Wirecard hired corporate investigations firm Alix Partners to perform a forensic investigation of the accounting practices that led to its insolvency.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Critics point to Wirecard's global acquisitions as a means to mask trouble with organic growth by adding revenues from external sources, a tactic referred to as a rollup. Early criticisms were directed towards Wirecard's purchases of smaller businesses at significantly above market value. In 2015, Wirecard purchased an Indian payments group for €340m, despite the founders of those businesses failing to raise funding while valuing their key assets at €46m. Wirecard responded to the reports by claiming that its payment technologies were superior and arguing that the rapid growth of the cashless fintech industry justified such valuations. A series of deals involving Wirecard's “buy and build” strategy, which intended to buy customers for the company's payment services, were criticized as being structured in an unusual manner, resulting in difficulty in verifying €670m of intangible assets.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: In 2018, the Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation (now the Foundation for Financial Journalism) concluded after a seven-month investigation that according to documents filed, at least €175m from Wirecard's €340m purchase of an India-based payment processor in October 2015 were not transferred to the seller.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: In January 2019, "Financial Times" reported on irregularities uncovered by Wirecard's Singapore investigation, which began in March 2018 internally but a whistleblower feared was being squashed. Edo Kurniawan, head of accounting for Wirecard's Asian-Pacific operations, was accused of creating forged and backdated contracts in order to artificially inflate profit, creating questions about the reliability of Wirecard's accounts. In one instance, €37m was moved between Wirecard subsidiaries and external businesses, in a practice known as round-tripping. A preliminary report commissioned by Rajah & Tann and seen by "FT" pointed to several years of book-padding across Wirecard's Asian operations, with some degree of knowledge by Wirecard's Munich operation teams.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Despite the report, no actions were taken against key personnel named in the report. Singaporean authorities raided Wirecard as part of an ongoing investigation in February 2019. BaFin banned short selling of Wirecard's stock for two months citing falling investor confidence.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Third-party acquirers are local companies who processed client transactions on behalf of Wirecard in exchange for a portion of the processing fees. According to Wirecard, they are used in transactions where Wirecard does not hold the necessary license, or when the nature of the transaction is unsuitable for direct processing on the part of Wirecard. According to internal whistleblowers, as of 2018, transactions originating from third-party acquirers accounted for half of global transaction volumes reported by Wirecard. Due to Wirecard's singular approach to counting its cash reserves, the cash held in trustee accounts of its third-party acquirers was counted in Wirecard's balance sheets. In 2019, it was reported that half of Wirecard's worldwide revenue and almost all of its profit were processed through three opaque and poorly audited third-party processors.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Wirecard announced lawsuits against the Singaporean authorities and the "Financial Times" in response to the allegations.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Wirecard had a pattern of unusually aggressive tactics towards those who raised questions about the company's business operations or accounting. In 2019, the company hired former head of Libyan foreign intelligence Rami El Obeidi to conduct sting operations against journalists and public short sellers. El Obeidi presented evidence that the "Financial Times" colluded with short sellers, which the newspaper rejected after an investigation by an external law firm.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: BaFin conducted multiple investigations against journalists and short sellers because of alleged market manipulation, in response to negative media reporting about Wirecard. BaFin lacked the authority to investigate Wirecard's core business or its accounting practices, and in fact, only had authority over Wirecard's bank business subsidiary.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: As revealed by KPMG's special audit, Wirecard's long time auditor EY failed to verify the existence of cash reserves in what appeared to be fraudulent bank statements. KPMG was unable to verify the majority of Wirecard profits from 2016 to 2018 as part of its audit due to a lack of cooperation from Wirecard and its partners. During the special audit, Wirecard made misleading statements to investors, resulting in a criminal investigation after a complaint was referred to prosecutors by BaFin.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Sell side analysts were almost universally positive about Wirecard until as late as February 2020. Analysts at Goldman Sachs had a "Conviction Buy" rating until as late as September 2019. Commerzbank analysts who were positive on the shares even dubbed "FT" articles questioning the company "fake news". Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch were among the very few skeptics. In 2018, they questioned Wirecard's poor positioning within the German e-commerce payments market and raised concerns related to financial controls.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: On 20 May 2021, Pavandeep (Pav) Gill, Wirecard's senior legal counsel based in Singapore who looked after all legal aspects of Wirecard's business and operations in the Asia-Pacific region, revealed himself to be the whistleblower who provided documents exposing the fraud to the "Financial Times".


title: Wirecard scandal

text: With respect to criticisms against Wirecard, a set of smaller investors has long been supportive of the company by joining in both the company's and regulator's accusations against short sellers and market manipulation. Critics cite the German regulator, press and investor community's tendency to rally around Wirecard against what they perceive as unfair attack. Softbank invested in Wirecard with a €900m cash injection in 2019. After the company's failure was made public, Softbank's executives blamed what they saw as failures on the auditor's part and announced plans to sue EY for damages, joining other efforts to launch legal actions against the auditor.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: After initially defending BaFin's actions, its president Felix Hufeld later admitted the Wirecard scandal was a "complete disaster". In response, the European Commission called for an investigation into whether BaFin broke EU rules on financial reporting. Berlin announced plans to strengthen accounting regulations, beginning by severing ties with the Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP), a quasi-official accounting watchdog, and transferring its duties to BaFin. "FT" noted that FREP only had 15 employees and an annual budget of €6m. FREP was thought to be too under-resourced to adequately audit Wirecard, and only concluded that the published accounts were inadequate after the company became insolvent. Investors joined calls for union-wide regulation of market rules and for an EU body in charge of regulatory actions.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: On 1 September 2020, the German parliament announced that it would organise an inquiry in order to fully investigate the reasons why the government failed to prevent corporate fraud. The scandal has highlighted the close ties between German politicians and Wirecard. On 29 January 2021, Hufeld and deputy Elisabeth Roegele left BaFin as part of a plan to reform the agency.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun was arrested shortly after his resignation. Former COO Jan Marsalek disappeared shortly after he was fired from the company and was later found to have fled to Belarus. He is a fugitive wanted by the German police, he is listed on Europol's list of Europe's most wanted fugitives, and Interpol issued a Red Notice against him. Christopher Bauer, the company's former Asia manager and son of Paul Bauer-Schlichtegroll, former chairman of the advisory board, died in Manila, Philippines. Bauer was very close to Marsalek.


title: Wirecard scandal

text: In June 2022, Financial Times investigative reporter Dan McCrum released a book, "Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth", based on his and his colleagues’ investigation into the scandal. The Economist called it “required reading for investors and financial regulators.”


title: Combined Charging System

text: The Combined Charging System (CCS) is a standard for charging electric vehicles. It can use ' or ' connectors to provide power at up to . These two connectors are extensions of the IEC 62196 Type 1 and Type 2 connectors, with two additional direct current (DC) contacts to allow high-power DC fast charging.


title: Combined Charging System

text: The Combined Charging System allows AC charging using the Type 1 and Type 2 connector depending on the geographical region. This charging environment encompasses charging couplers, charging communication, charging stations, the electric vehicle and various functions for the charging process such as load balancing and charge authorization.


title: Combined Charging System

text: Electric vehicles or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) are CCS-capable if they support either AC or DC charging according to the standards listed by the CCS. Automobile manufacturers that support CCS include BMW, Daimler, FCA, Ford, Jaguar, General Motors, Groupe PSA, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, MG, Polestar, Renault, Rivian, Tesla, Mahindra, Tata Motors and Volkswagen Group.


title: Combined Charging System

text: Competing charging systems for high-power DC charging include CHAdeMO (Japanese), Guobiao recommended-standard 20234 (Chinese), and NACS (Tesla).


title: Combined Charging System

text: The spurred deployment of charging stations. Initially, these accessed the abundant AC mains electricity using a variety of plugs around the world. The standardization in IEC 62196 for higher-current charging connectors brought about various systems: Type 1 was used primarily in North America and Japan, and Type 2 variants elsewhere. For DC charging, the SAE and European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) made a plan to add common DC wires to the existing AC connector types such that there would be only one "global envelope" that fitted all DC charging stations.


title: Combined Charging System

text: The proposal for a "Combined Charging System" (CCS) was published at the 15th International VDI-Congress (Association of German Engineers) on 12 October 2011 in Baden-Baden. CCS defines a single connector pattern on the vehicle side that offers enough space for a Type 1 or Type 2 connector, along with space for a two-pin DC connector allowing charging at up to 200amps. Seven car makers (Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen) agreed in late 2011 to introduce CCS in mid-2012. In May 2012, ACEA endorsed the standardization of the Combo 2 connector across the European Union. ACEA were joined later that month by the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) and The Union of the Electricity Industry (EURELECTRIC). Also that month, prototype implementations for up to 100 kW were shown at EVS26 in Los Angeles. DC charging specifications in the IEC 62196-3 draft give a range up to 125 A at up to 850 V.


title: Combined Charging System

text: The seven auto makers also agreed to use HomePlug GreenPHY as the communication protocol. The prototype for the matching plug was developed by Phoenix Contact with the goal to withstand 10,000 connect cycles. The standardization proposal was sent to the IEC in January 2011. The request to use a PLC protocol for the Vehicle2Grid communication was made in September 2009 in a joint presentation of BMW, Daimler and VW at a California Air Resources Board ZEV Technology Symposium. This competed with the CAN bus proposal from Japan (including CHAdeMO) and China (GB/T 20234.3, a separate DC connector standard), and none of their car manufacturers has signed up to CCS. However, China had been involved in early stages of the development of the extra DC pins.


title: Combined Charging System

text: Volkswagen built the first public CCS quick-charge station providing 50 kW DC in Wolfsburg in June 2013 to test drive the VW E-Up that was to be delivered with a DC rapid charger connector for CCS. Two weeks later, BMW opened its first CCS rapid charge station to support the BMW i3. Since at least the second EV World Summit in June 2013, the CHAdeMO association, Volkswagen and Nissan all advocate multi-standard DC chargers, as the additional cost of a dual-protocol station is only 5%.


title: Combined Charging System

text: Since 2014 the European Union has required the provision of or within the European electric vehicle charging network.


title: Combined Charging System

text: In Germany, the Charging Interface Initiative e. V. (CharIN) was founded by car makers and suppliers (Audi, BMW, Daimler, Mennekes, Opel, Phoenix Contact, Porsche, TÜV SÜD and Volkswagen) to promote the adoption of CCS. They noted in a press release that most cars cannot charge faster than 50 kW, so that was the first common power output of CCS stations to be built during 2015. The next step was the standardization of stations with 150 kW output that they showed in October 2015, looking to a future system with 350 kW output. Volvo joined CharIN in 2016; Tesla in March 2016; Lucid Motors (previously Atieva) June 2016; Faraday Future June 2016; Toyota in March 2017.


title: Combined Charging System

text: In the United States, BMW and VW claimed in April 2016 that the East Coast and West Coast corridors had "complete" CCS networks. As part of the 2016 settlement of the Volkswagen emissions scandal, VW committed to spend US$2 billion in the United States over the following 10 years on CCS and other charging infrastructure through subsidiary company Electrify America. In this effort, charging stations would be built with up to 150 kW at community-based locations and with up to 350 kW at highway locations. Besides CCS, CHAdeMO charging stations were to be constructed.


title: Combined Charging System

text: In November 2016, Ford, Mercedes, Audi, Porsche and BMW announced they would build a 350 kW (up to 500 A and 920 V) charge network (IONITY) with 400 stations in Europe, at a cost of €200,000 ($220,000) each.


title: Combined Charging System

text: The Combined Charging System is meant to develop with the needs of the customer. Version 1.0 covered the currently common features of AC and DC charging, and version 2.0 addressed the near to midterm future. The specifications and underlying standards for CCS 1.0 and CCS 2.0 are described for DC charging in Table 1 and for AC charging in Table 2.


title: Combined Charging System

text: The automotive manufacturers supporting CCS committed themselves to migrate to CCS 2.0 in 2018. Thus it is recommended for charging station manufacturers to also support CCS 2.0 from 2018 onwards.


title: Combined Charging System

text: The specifications of CCS 3.0 were not yet precisely defined. All features of previous versions shall be preserved to ensure backward compatibility. Potential additional features include:


title: Combined Charging System

text: Unlike the connector and inlet, which depend on the geographical location, the charging communication is the same around the globe. Generally two types of communication can be differentiated.


title: Combined Charging System

text: The vehicle coupler is composed of the vehicle connector, which is mounted at the end of a flexible cable, and the vehicle inlet, the counterpart of the connector, which is located within the vehicle. The CCS couplers were based on the Type 1 coupler, the North American standard, and Type 2 coupler, the European standard, as described in IEC 62196-2. One of the challenges of the Combined Charging System was to develop a vehicle inlet which is compatible with both the existing AC vehicle connectors and additional DC contacts. For both Type 1 and Type 2 this has been accomplished by extending the inlet with two additional DC contacts below the existing AC and communication contacts. The resulting new configurations are commonly known as Combo 1 and Combo 2.


title: Combined Charging System

text: For the DC vehicle connector, the implementation varies slightly between Combo 1 and Combo 2. In the case of Combo 1 the connector is extended by two DC contacts, while the Type 1 portion of the connector remains the same with the AC contacts (L1 & N) being unused. For Combo 2 the AC contacts (L1, L2, L3 & N) are completely removed from the connector and therefore the Type 2 portion of the connector has only three contacts remaining – two communication contacts and a protective earth. The vehicle inlet may retain AC contacts to allow non-CCS AC charging.


title: Combined Charging System

text: In both cases, communication and protective earth functions are covered by the original Type 1 or 2 portion of the connector. The Type 1 and Type 2 connectors are described in IEC 62196-2, while the Combo 1 and Combo 2 connectors are described in IEC 62196-3 as Configurations EE and FF.


title: Combined Charging System

text: As vehicle couplers for DC charging according to IEC 62196-3:2014 Ed.1 allow DC charging only with currents up to 200 A, they do not sufficiently cover the needs of the future charging infrastructure. Consequently, a later edition of the standard supports currents of up to 500 A. Such high currents, however, either require large cable cross-sections, leading to heavy and stiff cables, or require cooling if thinner cables are desired. In addition, contact resistance leads to more heat dissipation. To cope with these technical issues, the standard IEC TS 62196-3-1 describes the requirements for high-power DC couplers including thermal sensing, cooling and silver-plating of contacts. CharIN are investigating versions over 2 MW for electric trucks, and equipment is being tested.


title: Combined Charging System

text: The Combined Charging System is primarily driven by European and North American car manufacturers. Type 1 and Combo 1 chargers are primarily found in North and Central America, Korea and Taiwan, while Type 2 and Combo 2 can be found in Europe, South America, South Africa, Arabia, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Oceania and Australia. For DC charging the competing standard GB/T 20234-2015 is used in China, while Japan uses CHAdeMO.


title: Combined Charging System

text: In the European Union, according to Directive 2014/94/EU all high-power DC charging points installed after November 18, 2017 were to be equipped for interoperability purposes at least with Combo 2 connectors. However, this does not prohibit the provision of other charging points using e.g. CHAdeMO or AC Rapid.


title: Combined Charging System

text: The majority of EVs sold in the United States are made by Tesla and therefore do not natively support CCS charging, but instead used the proprietary Tesla connector from the early-2010s through 2022, though newer Tesla cars also support CCS with a separately sold adapter. In many remaining countries no standard is preferred yet, although CharIN recommended Combo 1 and Combo 2 in 2018. In November 2022, Tesla renamed its previously proprietary charging connector to the North American Charging Standard (NACS), making the specifications available to other EV manufacturers as an alternative to the CCS standard that is used by most competitors in North America.


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: Baby is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language spy action thriller film written and directed by Neeraj Pandey. The film stars Akshay Kumar in the lead role, along with Taapsee Pannu, Rana Daggubati, Danny Denzongpa, Anupam Kher, Mikaal Zulfiqar, Kay Kay Menon, Madhurima Tuli and Rasheed Naz in supporting roles. Plot follows an elite team of the Indian intelligence system perpetually strives to detect and eliminate terrorists and their plots. Officer Ajay (Kumar) leads a team to destroy one such potentially lethal operation. It was second collaboration between Kumar and Pandey after "Special 26".


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: Filming began on 4 September 2014, in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It was shot on many locations including Gautam Buddha University, Nepal, Abu Dhabi and Istanbul. The film was one of the most anticipated film of the year, theatrical trailer was released on 4th December 2014.


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: The film released on 23 January 2015. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who particularly praised the Pandey's writing, direction and hailed action sequences and Kumar's performance. The film became a commercial success grossing , made on a budget of .


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: A prequel titled "Naam Shabana" was released on 31 March 2017. The film features Tapsee Pannu as Shabana Khan in the lead and Kumar in an extended cameo role.


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: "BABY" is a temporary task force headed by Feroz Ali Khan is formed in response to the 26/11 attacks in India, their job is to find and eliminate terrorists planning attacks in India. While attempting to rescue a fellow secret agent in Turkey, Ajay Singh Rajput captures a former colleague-turned-traitor, Jamal. Ajay threatens to have his family killed unless provides the information about a terror attack plan. Jamaal tells Ajay about a plot to carry out a bomb blast in a Delhi shopping mall, which Ajay is able to prevent with help from Jai. Jamaal then taunts Ajay saying that this was only the first of a series of massive attacks that the terrorists had planned and commits suicide.


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: Pakistan-based terrorist mastermind, Maulana Mohammed Abdul Rehman, is causing trouble near the India-Pakistan border. He plans an escape plan for Bilal Khan, a dangerous terrorist lodged in a prison in Mumbai. For this purpose, Bilal assigns another terrorist Javed Ali Khan who arrives in Mumbai via Dubai. Soon after, Bilal escapes from police custody and flees the country. The Indian agencies are alerted to Javed's arrival and a team of ATS officers, led by Ajay, is dispatched to interrogate Taufiq, an ISI agent posing as a local Muslim leader. Ajay manages to get information on Javed after torturing Taufiq and raids Javed's hideout. However, things go haywire when all the officers except Ajay get killed along with Javed after the latter triggers a suicide explosion.


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: The agency is able to retrieve the remains of Javed's laptop and find a name from the hard drive: Wasim Khan/Wasim Sheikh, a logistics planner for the terrorist groups living in Nepal under the name of Abdul Haq. Ajay and Shabana Khan travel to Nepal pretending to be a married couple. Their plan to capture Wasim goes awry when he finds out that Shabana is a covert operative. However, Shabana fights with him and knocks him unconscious and the duo bring Wasim back to India. Afraid of the torture that he might face, Wasim reveals all the information that the agency wants. He tells them that Bilal is in Al-Dirah in Saudi Arabia and will travel to Karachi to launch a lethal attack on numerous locations in India.


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: Feroz sends Ajay, Jai, and Shukla to meet their deep asset, Ashfaq, in Al-Dirah. Bilal is holding meetings in Al-Dirah to discuss the funding and execution of the terrorist attacks. With Shukla's help, Ajay and Jai break into Bilal's room and kill him. As they are about to return, they find that Maulana is also present at the suite. Jai knocks him out. They decide to bring him back to India, under the pretext that he is Ashfaq's uncle who needs to visit India for an urgent liver transplant. They manage to get a visa from the local authorities for Maulana (being shown as Ashfaq's ill uncle), but the hotel security discovers Bilal's corpse. The Police Chief Hani Mohammad starts investigating Bilal's death. He quickly identifies Ajay and his team as Indian agents.


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: Rehman regains consciousness and suddenly attacks and wounds Ajay, who manages to subdue him. Ajay and his team then board the plane, but Hani contacts the ATC and asks them to stop the aircraft. However, when he sees a newspaper that reveals that Maulana and Bilal are wanted terrorists with an international bounty on their heads, he smiles and lets the plane take off without any further hindrance. Maulana is brought to India, but his capture was kept a secret. After 6 weeks of interrogation, Maulana's required information is extracted, where he is handed over to the Indian Army and taken to Srinagar. Maulana is given the same treatment by the army as given to militants (implying that he was eliminated). The trial run is successful, and BABY is given permanent status where the agents celebrate their victory.


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: "Baby" was produced under T-Series along with Crouching Tiger, Friday Filmworks and Cape of Good Films. The filming began on 4 September 2014, in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Some filming was done in Gautam Buddha University, at Meditation Hall, Shanti Sarover and Library, at Greater Noida. The second part was shot in Nepal and the team completed their final schedule in Abu Dhabi in October. Some parts were also shot in Istanbul. Sajjad Delafrooz was hired to play the role of the Saudi doctor.


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: The songs for the film features songs composed by MM Keeravani and Meet Bros Anjjan. Lyrics were written by Manoj Muntashir.


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: Subhash K. Jha gave the film 4.5 stars out of 5 and stated,""Baby" is one helluva roller-coaster ride. Miss it at your own risk." Sarita A Tanwar of "Daily News and Analysis" gave the movie 4 stars, describing Akshay Kumar's performance in the movie as his career-best. Anuj Kumar of "The Hindu" summarized the film as "A gripping espionage thriller that eschews drama and jingoism". Srijana Mitra Das of "The Times of India" also gave it 4 stars out of 5 and said, "Akshay Kumar is terrific as Ajay whose core of steel you can almost feel". "Hindustan Times" gave the movie 4 stars out of 5 too, calling the film "sleek, well-timed and engaging." Yahoo Movies gave the film 4 stars and wrote, "The film deals with a definite conflict, backs it up with a coherent plot trajectory and delivers a compelling resolution." Anupama Chopra gave the film 3.5 stars and stating that the movie will make the viewers forget Akshay's cinematic misdemeanours. Rajeev Masand gave the film 3 stars, hailing its action sequences and performance of the cast. Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" gave the film 2 stars. However, Gupta praised Akshay Kumar's performance. Devesh Sharma of Filmfare praised the breathtaking action of the movie and gave it 3 stars. Ritika Handoo of Zee News hailed the movie as an entertaining movie which is a must-watch. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the movie two stars calling the movie as politically dodgy in spite of being a smartly-packaged, competently shot espionage thriller. Shubha Shetty-Saha of Mid-Day gave the movie 4 stars, calling it a must-watch movie. Mihir Fadnavis of Firstpost didn't give positive reviews to the plot but praised the movie as entertaining and fast-paced. Mayank Shekhar of ABP News gave 3 stars and wrote that the film manages to hold viewers attention. Abhishek Gupta of India TV said the film is "fast-paced and entertaining" and that it "goads by making a point that while America executed their plan to kill the 9/11 mastermind in Abbottabad, here, our politicians could just make loud promises " about the 26/11 attacks. "Bollywood Hungama" praised the "exceptional" cinematography; the "extremely gripping" storyline, which makes appropriate use of the actors; the score, which "instills the necessary emotions"; and Kumar's performance. It concluded, "On the whole, "Baby" is one of the finest films ever made in the history of Indian cinema" and gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. R. M. Vijayakar of "The New Indian Express" gave 3.5 ratings calling it "that near-perfect textbook espionage thriller we have been dying to see: straight and business-like, fast-paced, without frills, and immaculately detailed to the point of occasional verbosity"


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: "Baby" was banned in Pakistan by the censor boards in Islamabad and Karachi, which said that "it portrays a negative image of Muslims and the negative characters in the film also have Muslim names".


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: "Bollywood Hungama" estimated the opening day at . "International Business Times" said the film had "tremendous growth" over the weekend and that its first weekend total was .


title: Baby (2015 Hindi film)

text: A prequel titled "Naam Shabana" was released on 31 March 2017. The film features Tapsee Pannu as Shabana Khan in the lead and Akshay Kumar in an extended cameo role. Neeraj Pandey is planning four more spin-offs based on different characters from the film.


title: Darker than Black

text: , is a Japanese anime television series created and directed by Tensai Okamura and animated by studio Bones. Twenty-five episodes were broadcast on MBS, TBS and their affiliated stations from April to September 2007. The series is set in a world where a spatial anomaly identified as "Heaven's Gate" appeared in South America and was followed by "Hell's Gate" in Tokyo, altering the sky and wreaking havoc on the landscapes. People with special abilities labeled as Contractors emerged shortly afterwards. The series follows agent Hei and his comrades in the Syndicate organization, operating in an vastly altered version of contemporary Tokyo to uncover the mysteries of Hell's Gate.


title: Darker than Black

text: The series was adapted into two manga series, which were serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's "Monthly Asuka" and Square Enix's "Young Gangan", respectively. A sequel to the anime series, "", was broadcast for twelve episodes from October to December 2009. In the sequel, Hei trains new Contractor Suo Pavlichenko and searches for his former ally Yin. DVDs of the series included original video animations titled "" exploring Hei and Yin's relationship between the first and second seasons. In North America, "Darker than Black" was licensed by Funimation.


title: Darker than Black

text: The series was created by Okamura, who was inspired by ninja and spy stories based on ideas he had after creating "Wolf's Rain". In contrast to "Wolf's Rain" heroic cast, Okamura wanted flawed and violent heroes such as the Contractors. While Okamura penned most of the series' contents, he left freedom to other writers, most notably Shōtarō Suga who takes over the work of main writer in the second half. Critical response to "Darker than Black" was generally positive for its handling of Hei and the other Contractors who fight each other though there was expressure of confusion in regards to the setting and ending.


title: Darker than Black

text: Ten years ago before the events of the series, a spatial anomaly which became known as "Heaven's Gate" appeared in South America. It was followed by the opening of "Hell's Gate" in Tokyo, altering the sky and wreaking havoc on the landscape. At that time, "Contractors", people with special abilities, capable of supernatural feats, emerged. Kept secret from the public, Contractors murder in cold blood and block their emotions with logic and reason. Their abilities are acquired at the cost of their humanity, and their name derives from the requirement to "pay the price" each time their powers are used. Nations and organizations around the world train and use Contractors as spies and assassins, resulting in violent battles for valuable objects and information.


title: Darker than Black

text: After the 'Heaven's War', the United States loses its position as a superpower to a mysterious organization known as the Syndicate. "Darker Than Black" follows a Chinese Contractor code-named "Hei" as he undertakes espionage and assassination missions in Tokyo directed by the Syndicate. In his false civilian life, where he is known as shy a student under the alias Li Shenshun, Hei is assisted by Yin, an artificial human known as Doll and Mao, a Contractor trapped in a cat's body and overseen by former police officer Huang. The series has a villain-of-the-week format, with a variety of characters such as a Japanese Public Security Bureau who oversee the activities of dangerous people with supernatural powers.


title: Darker than Black

text: Early in the series Hei is revealed as a former fighter in the Heaven's War, searching for his missing sister Bai; he believes that a woman known as Amber is responsible for Bai's disappearance after escaping from the Syndicate. Amber leads Evening Primrose, a group of Contractors targeted by the Syndicate who claim they are terrorists. Pandora, another group, investigates Hell's Gate; the Syndicate is using Pandora and its Saturn Ring weapon to attack Hell's Gate and annihilate the Contractors. This creates mayhem as multiple Syndicate agents target Huang who ultimately commits suicide. Hei and Yin meet Amber while Mao escapes from them. Upon meeting Amber, Hei is revealed to be an ordinary human who became able to use Bai's power after his sister placed his body onto his flesh through her powers. When Saturn Ring is activated, all Contractors except Hei are killed. Hei has a vision where he meets Bai and decides to betray the Syndicate. Amber uses her Contract powers to revert time long enough to enable Hei to destroy Saturn Ring, and Hei and Yin escape from the Syndicate.


title: Darker than Black

text: "Darker than Black" was first announced in December 2006, and its first trailer was released in March 2007. It was created and directed by Tensai Okamura. Since "Darker than Black" has an original screenplay, Okamura often considered changing the plot, something impossible with manga adaptations, due to the need for consistency with the source material. Okamura originally wanted the series to be called "BK201", a code name, but the anime staff considered it weak and "Darker Than Black" was suggested by an MBS TV employee.


title: Darker than Black

text: The idea for "Darker Than Black" came to Okamura while he was creating the anime "Wolf's Rain", and was based on his handling of protagonists. The main characters in "Wolf's Rain" are heroic, unlike the violent protagonists in "Darker than Black"; Okamura wanted the latter's characters to be flawed, in contrast to those in "Wolf's Rain". "Darker than Black" was the first anime series created by Okamura, who said that it took him several years. As a child he read mangas about ninjas, spies and superheroes, and was particularly influenced by a Shirato Sampei manga about ninjas which helped young readers learn the art of ninja; "the spirit and the atmosphere of the spy series that rocked my childhood", such as "The Fugitive", were other influences on Okamura's series. In particular, Okamura wanted a series of ninja to be centered around modern Tokyo. The handling of the two Gates prominent in the series' world building was inspired by "Roadside Picnic", a novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.


title: Darker than Black

text: The bi-episodic structure is based on the experience when Okamura worked as storyboarder in the anime "Cowboy Bebop". They have space to dig more on the new characters of each new arc. The series compositor of the first half is Okamura himself, leaving a lot freedom to the writers. The second half, since this original show needs to be put into an end, it is Shōtarō Suga handling the role as his first time being a series compositor. The writer team consists of Shinsuke Onishi, Yuichi Nomura, Suga, Kurasumi Sunayama, and Okamura himself. Okamura wrote first two episodes as the first arc. He wrote them in advance to start off the series. Ohnishi was Okamura's acquaintance in previous works, the latter describes him: offering interesting script without speaking a word. Ohnishi is the most "Darker than Black" spiritual writer. Every episode with detective comedy is handled by him which is Okamura's original wish to make a 1980s-like Japanese detective story. His stories usually contains a clear theme structured by a thematic line and a complementary line.


title: Darker than Black

text: Nomura is the writer that conceived the character of Amber and was credited at being really good at depicting beauty of humanity with cruelty. Nomura wrote multiple episodes focused on relationships as well as the final parts involving Amber, giving her a tragic ending despite the character staying on Hei's side until her death. Sunayama handles all the gang related stories, including the Hong Kong mafia, and Japanese yakuza. In his story, the desires of the characters are extracted and deferred. In his writing, Nomura finds Hei as funny from time to time, as he is trying to pretend innocent and naive as a Chinese international student while his strength as a spy just overflows. Then Suga, the most important writer in the "Darker than Black" series, handles high concept and main plot related arcs, with Hei on the spotlight.


title: Darker than Black

text: The Havoc arc first reveals to audience the possibility that Hei is not a Contractor. And then comes the inside-the-Gate episodes is the first time change really takes place for Hei's character arc after meeting a man who shares the same dreams as him. Suga is the one closest to Okamura's worldview, since they kept doing the throw and catch, he asked Okamura about the settings, and helped him extract what and how he wanted to express. With Suga's control of the last few arcs, take the doll selling as example, the stories starts to converge, and the ending is designed by Suga.


title: Darker than Black

text: Character designer Yūji Iwahara inspired Okamura to work on "Darker than Black", based on his work on the video game "Koudelka" and its manga version. The narrative was inspired by Japanese dramas which divide stories into two consecutive episodes. As a result, every story of "Darker than Black" takes two episodes to finish. Okamura wanted to give his audience comic and dark stories for variety. Actual locations, including Shinjuku and a police station, were photographed to make the series more realistic. According to Iwahara, Hei was the most difficult character to draw; he struggled for a subtle balance when designing the character. Hei's black eyes were smaller, creating a cold impression, later becoming more expressive. Li, his civilian persona, was originally gentle-looking. Iwahara accepted the offer because he was interested in the project, and wanted to do something different after his previous serialized manga. Although he found the character sheets easy to do, he was daunted by the number of characters he had to create.


title: Darker than Black

text: The team was tasked with depicting super-powered individuals fighting against a Tokyo backdrop, which was complicated. Okamura found early designs unacceptable; until his image of the characters matched Iwahara's, the pictures were redrawn many times. Iwahara found his work on the anime more challenging than his manga, since he had to keep up with staff requests and had little artistic freedom. Takahiro Komori adapted Iwahara's work for animation, retaining the essence of the original designs and making the animators' work easier; Huang's hat and Yutaka Kouno's and Mayu Ootsuka's clothing were changed. Colour designer Nobuko Mizuta was disappointed because much of the series is set at night and the main characters' clothing is generally dark-coloured, but she gave the guest characters brightly-coloured clothes. Komori said that when he draws female characters, he pays special attention to the line connecting her buttocks and legs. The series' first opening scene has a silhouetted nude woman following Hei, which had to be corrected in subsequent episodes. The artist had mixed emotions about sexualizing female characters but in the end decided to sexualize them to appeal to the audience.


title: Darker than Black

text: The series' soundtrack was composed by Yoko Kanno in 2007. The series uses four pieces of theme music: two opening themes and two ending themes. "Howling" by Abingdon Boys School was used as the opening theme for the first 14 episodes while "Kakusei Heroism (The Hero Without a "Name")" by An Cafe was used as the second opening theme from episodes 15 onwards. by Rie fu was used as the ending theme for the first 14 episodes while "Dreams" by High and Mighty Color was used as the second ending theme from episodes 15 onwards. The lyrics of "Howling" focus on Hei's characterization with Okamura commenting that parts of it delve into elements the character briefly saw.


title: Darker than Black

text: The soundtrack has 20 tracks, including the opening and closing themes performed by Abingdon Boys School and Rie fu. Other non-instrumental songs were written by Tim Jensen and performed by Mai Yamane (tracks eight and 10) and James Wendt (tracks 14 and 19). It peaked at number 57 on the Oricon albums chart. Tensai Okamura wanted 1970s-type folk music which would convey the impression of darkness.


title: Darker than Black

text: When approached by Okamura, Kanno recalled being given ideas about a detective series to give her music a distinctive style. When she began composing the soundtrack, she did not have a scenario or setting in mind when she met Okamura again. Some of the background music is typical Kanno as heard in "", but other tracks are livelier; she wanted to write glamorous songs. Kanno cited sophisticated French films as inspiring the music of "Darker than Black", wanting it to embody the series' cold characters; Latin music was another influence, and she appreciated sound director Kazuhiro Wakabayashi's assistance with the soundtrack.


title: Darker than Black

text: "Darker than Black" was conceived by Tensai Okamura and produced by Bones and Aniplex. The series was broadcast on MBS and TBS from April 6 to September 28, 2007. The series was also streamed on Nifty during its broadcast run. Aniplex collected the episodes on nine DVD sets which were released from July 25, 2007, to March 26, 2008. The ninth and final set included an additional episode, , which explored the characters' romantic relationships. A Blu-ray box set, which included a guidebook and several unreleased musical tracks not available on the original soundtrack, was released in Japan on September 30, 2009.


title: Darker than Black

text: On July 1, 2007, Funimation announced at Anime Expo that they had licensed the series. Funimation began streaming the series, with an English dub, in September 2008. They collected the series on six DVD sets, which were released from November 25, 2008, to August 11, 2009. "Darker Than Black" began airing on the Funimation Channel in September 2010. Funimation released the season on Blu-ray on May 12, 2015. In January 2016, the company said that their rights to the series had expired. Manga Entertainment released the series in the United Kingdom as a compilation, and Madman Entertainment licensed it in Australia.


title: Darker than Black

text: A second season, , was broadcast on MBS and TBS from October 9 to December 25, 2009. Aniplex collected the episodes in nine DVD/Blu-ray sets, which were released from December 23, 2009, to July 21, 2010.


title: Darker than Black

text: On July 2, 2010, Funimation announced at Anime Expo that they had licensed the second season. Funimation released the series on DVD and Blu-ray on November 8, 2011. Their rights to the second season expired in 2018. Manga Entertainment released the series in the United Kingdom as a compilation, and Madman Entertainment licensed it in Australia.


title: Darker than Black

text: A four-episode original video animation (OVA), , was included on the second, fourth, sixth and eighth collected Blu-ray and DVD sets of "Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor" released from January 27 to July 21, 2010. The OVAs are set in the time between the two seasons. Hei and Yin have left Tokyo and are on the run from the Syndicate. They are attacked by Contractors, and Hei notices Yin's alter ego Izanami (who would bring about the end of the world). Yin asks Hei to kill her; the Contractor cannot, and they are caught up in an explosion. Hei becomes depressed after Yin's apparent death; a CIA agent tells him that Yin is still alive, setting up the events of "Gemini of Meteor". The closing theme is "Darker Than Black" by Yasushi Ishii. For the English-language release, the OVAs were included in the "Gemini of the Meteor" compilation.


title: Darker than Black

text: A manga adaptation, illustrated by Nokiya, was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's "shōjo" manga magazine "Monthly Asuka" from March 24 to November 24, 2007. Its chapters were collected in two "tankōbon" volumes on August 8, 2007, and January 26, 2008, respectively. The series was licensed for English release in North America by Yen Press, which released both volumes in an omnibus edition on June 15, 2010.


title: Darker than Black

text: A second manga adaptation, illustrated by Yuji Iwahara, the anime series' character designer, was serialized in Square Enix's "seinen" manga magazine "Young Gangan" from May 15, 2009, to January 21, 2011. The manga is set one year after the events of season one, and focuses on Hei on a mission to stop one Contractor from giving civilians the chance to become like him. Square Enix collected its chapters in four "tankōbon" volumes which were released from October 24, 2009, to March 25, 2011.


title: Darker than Black

text: Two fanbooks, and , were published by Square Enix on October 24, 2009, and September 25, 2010, respectively. The characters Hei and Suo also appear in "Heroes Phantasia", a 2012 role-playing game by Witchcraft.


title: Darker than Black

text: The series was a jury recommendation in the "Animation Division/Long Animation" category of the 2007 Japan Media Arts Festival. At the 2008 Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation awards, Hei was the second "best male anime character"; Kazuhiro Wakabayashi was the best casting director, "Darker than Black" was the second-best television series, with the second-best original score, and Okamura placed fifth in the best-director category. Hei is a popular character in Japan, finishing seventh in the "Best Male Character" category of "Animage"s 2010 Anime Grand Prix. In a "Newtype" poll, he was the 10th-most-popular male anime character from the 2000s. The home-media releases of both seasons were successful in Japan, including the Blu-ray box. In the United Kingdom, the series was nominated for the 2009 NEO Award for Best Anime. It was the winner of the "Best Original Anime" award by Japanese magazine "GoGoplex". "Japanator" named "Darker than Black" one of best anime of the 2000s, calling it a "beautifully animated show by BONES is sure to please anyone looking for a dark and serious show".


title: Darker than Black

text: Critical response to the series was generally positive. An Anime News Network reviewer, Theron Martin, wrote that although the setting was unclear, its narrative and cast were appealing. Hei has a dual personality in the early episodes: the assassin Hei and the transfer student Li. A Nihon Review review said that although it was difficult to become attached to the series' coldblooded characters, Hei is more likable as Li. The fight scenes and the handling of the Contractors contrasted with the more-lighthearted parts of the narrative. The series' final episodes received mixed reviews; Hei's character arc and his relationship with Amber and Yin were praised, but the ending was considered rushed. According to an Active Anime reviewer, most of the characters were generally three-dimensional and the narrative was compelling. In the book "Magic as Metaphor in Anime: A Critical Study", "Darker than Black" is a mixture of supernatural powers and technology with "arguably unmatched poignance"; the Contractors, on the other hand, are unemotional. A retrospective Fandom Post reviewer said that the series subverted viewer expectations because it aired in the same time slot as the popular "Code Geass" with appealing characters and fight scenes. Fans were disappointed by the ending's lack of resolution, to which character designer Iwahara responded with his manga "Dimension W". An AnimeNation reviewer said that the series was less popular in Japan than the West, and the Japanese audience was surprised by a sequel. The series has been compared to "X-Men" comics for its handling of supernatural fighters, and to "Cowboy Bebop" for Hei's enigmatic characterization and stylishness.


title: Darker than Black

text: The series' Japanese and English voice acting was praised, although Fandom Post suggested that deliveries were better executed in later episodes, while DVDTalk suggested the English dub for better immersion into the narrative. Tomoko Kawakami's performance as Amber, the actress' final work before her death, was called "solid"; Jason Liebrecht's Hei was described as "a schizophrenic variation" of from "". Anime News Network said that the Japanese and English voice actors synched well with the video. "Howling" by Abingdon Boys School and "Tsukiakari" by Rie fu were good contrasting themes in the series. The second opening theme, "Kakusei Heroism" by An Cafe, was praised; "Dreams" by High and Mighty Color was said to lack the appeal of the first ending, "Tsukiaraki". Koinya preferred "Kakusei Heroism ~The Hero Without A Name~" over "Howling" despite enjoying both themes. Yoko Kanno's score was described as "unintrusive" by Ain't it Cool News for the variety of instruments used for background music while Anime News Network commented it "achieve[d] a sort of synergy, pouring their considerable skills into a sequence of silent beauty and power".


title: Darker than Black

text: In the two manga, Hei played in the other manga spin-off by Nokiya was criticized by MangaLife as "flat". The illustrations and characterization in Fujiwara's "Shikkoku no Hana" manga series were praised by "Manga News" and "Manga Sanctuary" in particular for Hei and Yin complex; the villain, Harverst, suffered by comparison. "Shikkoku no Hana" was also commercially successful in Japan, often appearing in best-selling manga rankings.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: Maine was a United States Navy ship that sank in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, contributing to the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April. U.S. newspapers, engaging in yellow journalism to boost circulation, claimed that the Spanish were responsible for the ship's destruction. The phrase, "Remember the "Maine!" To hell with Spain!" became a rallying cry for action. Although the "Maine" explosion was not a direct cause, it served as a catalyst that accelerated the events leading up to the war.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: "Maine" is described as an armored cruiser or second-class battleship, depending on the source. Commissioned in 1895, she was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after the state of Maine. "Maine" and the similar battleship were both represented as an advance in American warship design, reflecting the latest European naval developments. Both ships had two gun turrets staggered "en échelon", and full sailing masts were omitted due to the increased reliability of steam engines. Due to a protracted 9-year construction period, "Maine" and "Texas" were obsolete by the time of completion. Far more advanced vessels were either in service or nearing completion that year.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: "Maine" was sent to Havana Harbor to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban War of Independence. She exploded and sank on the evening of 15 February 1898, killing 268 sailors, or three-quarters of her crew. In 1898, a U.S. Navy board of inquiry ruled that the ship had been sunk by an external explosion from a mine. However, some U.S. Navy officers disagreed with the board, suggesting that the ship's magazines had been ignited by a spontaneous fire in a coal bunker. The coal used in "Maine" was bituminous, which is known for releasing firedamp, a mixture of gases composed primarily of flammable methane that is prone to spontaneous explosions. An investigation by Admiral Hyman Rickover in 1974 agreed with the coal fire hypothesis. The cause of her sinking remains a subject of debate.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: The ship lay at the bottom of the harbor until 1911, when a cofferdam was built around it. The hull was patched up until the ship was afloat, then she was towed to sea and sunk. "Maine" now lies on the sea-bed below the surface. The ship's main mast is now a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: In response to the delivery of the in 1883 and the acquisition of other modern armored warships from Europe by Brazil, Argentina and Chile, the head of the House Naval Affairs Committee, Hilary A. Herbert, stated to Congress: "if all this old navy of ours were drawn up in battle array in mid-ocean and confronted by "Riachuelo" it is doubtful whether a single vessel bearing the American flag would get into port." These developments helped bring to a head a series of discussions that had been taking place at the Naval Advisory Board since 1881. The board knew at that time that the U.S. Navy could not challenge any major European fleet; at best, it could wear down an opponent's merchant fleet and hope to make some progress through general attrition there. Moreover, projecting naval force abroad through the use of battleships ran counter to the government policy of isolationism. While some on the board supported a strict policy of commerce raiding, others argued it would be ineffective against the potential threat of enemy battleships stationed near the American coast. The two sides remained essentially deadlocked until "Riachuelo" manifested.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: The board, now confronted with the concrete possibility of hostile warships operating off the American coast, began planning for ships to protect it in 1884. The ships had to fit within existing docks and had to have a shallow draft to enable them to use all the major American ports and bases. The maximum beam was similarly fixed, and the board concluded that at a length of about , the maximum displacement would be about 7,000 tons. A year later the Bureau of Construction and Repair (C & R) presented two designs to Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney, one for a 7,500-ton battleship and one for a 5,000-ton armored cruiser. Whitney decided instead to ask Congress for two 6,000-ton warships, and they were authorized in August 1886. A design contest was held, asking naval architects to submit designs for the two ships: armored cruiser "Maine" and battleship . It was specified that "Maine" had to have a speed of , a ram bow, and a double bottom, and be able to carry two torpedo boats. Her armament was specified as: four guns, six guns, various light weapons, and four torpedo tubes. It was specifically stated that the main guns "must afford heavy bow and stern fire." Armor thickness and many details were also defined. Specifications for "Texas" were similar, but demanded a main battery of two guns and slightly thicker armor.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: The winning design for "Maine" was from Theodore D. Wilson, who served as chief constructor for C & R and was a member on the Naval Advisory Board in 1881. He had designed a number of other warships for the navy. The winning design for "Texas" was from a British designer, William John, who was working for the Barrow Shipbuilding Company at that time. Both designs resembled the Brazilian battleship "Riachuelo", having the main gun turrets sponsoned out over the sides of the ship and echeloned. The winning design for "Maine", though conservative and inferior to other contenders, may have received special consideration due to a requirement that one of the two new ships be American–designed.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: Congress authorized construction of "Maine" on 3 August 1886, and her keel was laid down on 17 October 1888, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She was the largest vessel built in a U.S. Navy yard up to that time.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: "Maine"s building time of nine years was unusually protracted, due to the limits of U.S. industry at the time. (The delivery of her armored plating took three years and a fire in the drafting room of the building yard, where "Maine"s working set of blueprints were stored, caused further delay.) In the nine years between her being laid down and her completion, naval tactics and technology changed radically and left "Maine"s role in the navy ill-defined. At the time she was laid down, armored cruisers such as "Maine" were intended to serve as small battleships on overseas service and were built with heavy belt armor. Great Britain, France and Russia had constructed such ships to serve this purpose and sold others of this type, including "Riachuelo", to second-rate navies. Within a decade, this role had changed to commerce raiding, for which fast, long-range vessels, with only limited armor protection, were needed. The advent of lightweight armor, such as Harvey steel, made this transformation possible.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: As a result of these changing priorities, "Maine" was caught between two separate positions and could not perform either one adequately. She lacked both the armor and firepower to serve as a ship-of-the-line against enemy battleships and the speed to serve as a cruiser. Nevertheless, she was expected to fulfill more than one tactical function. In addition, because of the potential of a warship sustaining blast damage to herself from cross-deck and end-on fire, "Maine"s main-gun arrangement was obsolete by the time she entered service.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: "Maine" was long overall, with a beam of , a maximum draft of and a displacement of . She was divided into 214 watertight compartments. A centerline longitudinal watertight bulkhead separated the engines and a double bottom covered the hull only from the foremast to the aft end of the armored citadel, a distance of . She had a metacentric height of as designed and was fitted with a ram bow.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: "Maine"s hull was long and narrow, more like a cruiser than that of "Texas", which was wide-beamed. Normally, this would have made "Maine" the faster ship of the two. "Maine"s weight distribution was ill-balanced, which slowed her considerably. Her main turrets, awkwardly situated on a cut-away gundeck, were nearly awash in bad weather. Because they were mounted toward the ends of the ship, away from its center of gravity, "Maine" was also prone to greater motion in heavy seas. While she and "Texas" were both considered seaworthy, the latter's high hull and guns mounted on her main deck made her the drier ship.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: The two main gun turrets were sponsoned out over the sides of the ship and echeloned to allow both to fire fore and aft. The practice of "en echelon" mounting had begun with Italian battleships designed in the 1870s by Benedetto Brin and followed by the British Navy with , which was laid down in 1874 but not commissioned until October 1881. This gun arrangement met the design demand for heavy end-on fire in a ship-to-ship encounter, tactics which involved ramming the enemy vessel. The wisdom of this tactic was largely theoretical at the time it was implemented. A drawback of an "en echelon" layout limited the ability for a ship to fire broadside, a key factor when employed in a line of battle. To allow for at least partial broadside fire, "Maine"s superstructure was separated into three structures. This technically allowed both turrets to fire across the ship's deck (cross-deck fire), between the sections. This ability was limited as the superstructure restricted each turret's arc of fire.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: This plan and profile view show "Maine" with eight six-pounder guns (one is not seen on the port part of the bridge but that is due to the bridge being cut away in the drawing). Another early published plan shows the same. In both cases the photographs show a single extreme bow mounted six-pounder. Careful examination of "Maine" photographs confirms that she did not carry that gun. "Maine"s armament set up in the bow was not identical to the stern which had a single six-pounder mounted at extreme aft of the vessel. "Maine" carried two six-pounders forward, two on the bridge and three on the stern section, all one level above the abbreviated gun deck that permitted the ten-inch guns to fire across the deck. The six-pounders located in the bow were positioned more forward than the pair mounted aft which necessitated the far aft single six-pounder.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: "Maine" was the first U.S. capital ship to have its power plant given as high a priority as its fighting strength. Her machinery, built by the N. F. Palmer Jr. & Company's Quintard Iron Works of New York, was the first designed for a major ship under the direct supervision of Arctic explorer and soon-to-be commodore, George Wallace Melville. She had two inverted vertical triple-expansion steam engines, mounted in watertight compartments and separated by a fore-to-aft bulkhead, with a total designed output of . Cylinder diameters were (high-pressure), (intermediate-pressure) and (low-pressure). Stroke for all three pistons was .


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: Melville mounted "Maine"s engines with the cylinders in vertical mode, a departure from conventional practice. Previous ships had had their engines mounted in horizontal mode, so that they would be completely protected below the waterline. Melville believed a ship's engines needed ample room to operate and that any exposed parts could be protected by an armored deck. He therefore opted for the greater efficiency, lower maintenance costs and higher speeds offered by the vertical mode. Also, the engines were constructed with the high-pressure cylinder aft and the low-pressure cylinder forward. This was done, according to the ship's chief engineer, A. W. Morley, so the low-pressure cylinder could be disconnected when the ship was under low power. This allowed the high and intermediate-power cylinders to be run together as a compound engine for economical running.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: Eight single-ended Scotch marine boilers provided steam to the engines at a working pressure of at a temperature . On trials, she reached a speed of , failing to meet her contract speed of . She carried a maximum load of of coal in 20 bunkers, 10 on each side, which extended below the protective deck. Wing bunkers at each end of each fire room extended inboard to the front of the boilers. This was a very low capacity for a ship of "Maine"s rating, which limited her time at sea and her ability to run at flank speed, when coal consumption increased dramatically. "Maine"s overhanging main turrets also prevented coaling at sea, except in the calmest of waters; otherwise, the potential for damage to a collier, herself or both vessels was extremely great.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: "Maine" was designed initially with a three-mast barque rig for auxiliary propulsion, in case of engine failure and to aid long-range cruising. This arrangement was limited to "two-thirds" of full sail power, determined by the ship's tonnage and immersed cross-section. The mizzen mast was removed in 1892, after the ship had been launched, but before her completion. "Maine" was completed with a two-mast military rig and the ship never spread any canvas.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: "Maine"s main armament consisted of four /30 caliber Mark II guns, which had a maximum elevation of 15° and could depress to −3°. Ninety rounds per gun were carried. The ten-inch guns fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of to a range of at maximum elevation. These guns were mounted in twin hydraulically powered Mark 3 turrets, the fore turret sponsoned to starboard and the aft turret sponsoned to port.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: The 10" guns were initially to be mounted in open barbettes (the C & R proposal blueprint shows them as such). During "Maine"s extended construction, the development of rapid-fire intermediate-caliber guns, which could fire high-explosive shells, became a serious threat and the navy redesigned "Maine" with enclosed turrets. Because of the corresponding weight increase, the turrets were mounted one deck lower than planned originally. Even with this modification, the main guns were high enough to fire unobstructed for 180° on one side and 64° on the other side. They could also be loaded at any angle of train; initially the main guns of "Texas", by comparison, with external rammers, could be loaded only when trained on the centerline or directly abeam, a common feature in battleships built before 1890. By 1897, "Texas" turrets had been modified with internal rammers to permit much faster reloading.


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: The "en echelon" arrangement proved problematic. Because "Maine"s turrets were not counterbalanced, she heeled over if both were pointed in the same direction, which reduced the range of the guns. Also, cross-deck firing damaged her deck and superstructure significantly due to the vacuum from passing shells. Because of this, and the potential for undue hull stress if the main guns were fired end-on, the "en echelon" arrangement was not used in U.S. Navy designs after "Maine" and "Texas".


title: USS Maine (1889)

text: The six /30 caliber Mark 3 guns were mounted in casemates in the hull, two each at the bow and stern and the last two amidships. Data is lacking, but they could probably depress to −7° and elevate to +12°. They fired shells that weighed with a muzzle velocity of about . They had a maximum range of at full elevation.