title: Wannabe

text: "Wannabe" has been hailed as an "iconic girl power anthem". In 2016, the United Nations' Global Goals "#WhatIReallyReallyWant" campaign filmed a global remake of the original music video to highlight gender inequality issues faced by women across the world. The video, which was launched on YouTube and ran in movie theatres internationally, featured British girl group M.O, Canadian "viral sensation" Taylor Hatala, Nigerian-British singer Seyi Shay and Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez lip-syncing to the song in various locations around the world, including a set of stairs reminiscent of the Midland Grand Hotel steps from the original music video. The campaign also encouraged people from all over the world to use the hashtag "#WhatIReallyReallyWant", taken from the song's lyrics, to share what they wanted for girls and women by 2030. In response to the campaign, Beckham said, "How fabulous is it that after 20 years the legacy of the Spice Girls’ girl power is being used to encourage and empower a whole new generation?"


title: Wannabe

text: In 2014, a study at the University of Amsterdam with the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, found that "Wannabe" is the most recognisable and catchiest pop song of the last 60 years. The study found that "Wannabe"’s simple and relentless melody was the key to its success, with lead musicologist Dr John Ashley Burgoyne concluding, "I would describe the song as truly relentlessly catchy. It's not that it has this one hook per se. It's quite ingeniously composed." On Spotify, "Wannabe" was the most-streamed 1990s song by a female artist in 2020.


title: Wannabe

text: Cover versions of "Wannabe" have been included in the albums of various musical artists. In 1998 American retro-satirist duo the Lounge-O-Leers did a kitschy, lounge-inspired rendition of "Wannabe" for their debut album, "Experiment in Terror". British intelligent dance music producer µ-Ziq recorded a cover for his fourth album, "Lunatic Harness". The London Double Bass Sound recorded an instrumental version in 1999, a dance remix was recorded by Jan Stevens, Denise Nejame, and Sybersound for the 1997 album "Sybersound Dance Mixes, Vol. 2", while an electronic version was recorded by the Street Girls for the 2005 album "The World of Hits of the 80's". In 1999 the song was used in "Weird Al" Yankovic's polka medley, "Polka Power!", for his tenth album, "Running with Scissors". Covers of the song in a punk style include a thrash parody version by British punk rock band Snuff for their 1998 EP, "Schminkie Minkie Pinkie", a punk rock version by Dutch band Heideroosjes for their 1999 album, "Schizo", and a pop punk cover by Zebrahead for their 2004 EP, "Waste of MFZB". In 2013, Brazilian funk carioca singers , MC Mercenária, MC Baby Liss and DZ MC released a version of the song, called "Mereço Muito Mais" (en: "I Deserve More"), and a music video inspired by the original. The 2019 single "Spicy", by Diplo, Herve Pagez and Charli XCX, is a reworking of "Wannabe".


title: Wannabe

text: "Wannabe" has also been covered in live concert sets by numerous musical artists, including Australian duo the Veronicas, American rock band the Foo Fighters, Filipina superstar Regine Velasquez and American pop rock band DNCE. K-pop girl group Girls' Generation covered the song on the popular South Korean radio program Super Junior Kiss the Radio in 2009 and did a live performance of the song on the South Korean television music program Kim Jung-eun's Chocolate in 2010. In 2013, American girl group Fifth Harmony dressed up as the Spice Girls for Halloween and performed "Wannabe" at their New York show. The performance was also uploaded on their official YouTube channel. In April 2017, indie punk band the Tuts recorded and filmed a music video for their cover of "Wannabe".


title: Wannabe

text: "Wannabe" has also been performed by the characters of various films. The cover versions of the song were included in the official soundtracks of Disney's 2005 animated film "Chicken Little", DreamWorks Animation's 2012 animated film "" and the 2004 American teen film "Sleepover".


title: Wannabe

text: "Wannabe" has also been covered in numerous TV shows. The characters Brittany (Heather Morris), Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz), Marley (Melissa Benoist), Kitty (Becca Tobin) and Unique (Alex Newell) dressed up as the Spice Girls and performed the song on the 17th episode of the fourth season of "Glee". In 2015, the song was sung by Ed Helms and the Muppets in the fourth episode of the first season of "The Muppets" TV series. The song was also performed by Peter Griffin in the "Family Guy" episode "The New Adventures of Old Tom", and used in the ITV2 TV adverts for the programme's 14th season. The cast of Netflix's "Fuller House" also performed the song in the season one finale "Love Is in the Air". "Wannabe" was performed, along with another Spice Girls song, "Say You'll Be There", with revised lyrics, in the second episode of the 41st season of Saturday Night Live by host Amy Schumer and cast members Cecily Strong and Taran Killam. "Wannabe" has also been used in three episodes of Fox animated series "The Simpsons;" the song was sung by Homer Simpson in the episodes "Maximum Homerdrive" and "Fraudcast News", and sung by Ralph Wiggum in the episode "How the Test Was Won". The 2007 season four finale of "One Tree Hill" featured the female characters dancing as a group to the song. It was also used in the trailer for the film "Excess Baggage" (1997). On 3 October 2012, Geri Halliwell performed the song as a solo during a breast-cancer care show. (She had resigned from Spice Girls as a result of a breast-cancer scare, as noted above.) Her solo version was an acoustic ballad with several lyrics changed, such as "you've gotta get with my friends" being changed to "you've gotta be my best friend".


title: Wannabe

text: In 2016, American actress Eva Longoria performed a comedic dramatic reading of "Wannabe" in honour of the 20th anniversary of the album "Spice". For the 21st anniversary of the song in July 2017, "W magazine" had various celebrities perform "Wannabe", including Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Riz Ahmed, Milo Ventimiglia, Millie Bobby Brown and Keri Russell.


title: Cambyses II

text: Cambyses II ( "Kabūjiya") was the second King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 530 to 522 BC. He was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great () and his mother was Cassandane.


title: Cambyses II

text: Before his accession, Cambyses had briefly served as the governor of northern Babylonia under his father from April to December 538 BC. Afterwards, he resided in the Babylonian cities of Babylon and Sippar, before being appointed by his father as co-ruler in 530 BC. His father then set off on an expedition against the Massagetae of Central Asia, where he met his end. Cambyses thus became the sole ruler of the vast Achaemenid Empire, facing no reported opposition.


title: Cambyses II

text: His relatively brief reign was marked by his conquests in North Africa, notably Egypt, which he conquered after his victory over the Egyptian pharaoh Psamtik III () at the battle of Pelusium in 525 BC. After having established himself in Egypt, he expanded the empire's holdings in Africa, including the conquest of Cyrenaica. In the spring of 522 BC, Cambyses hurriedly left Egypt to deal with a rebellion in Persia.


title: Cambyses II

text: While en route in Syria (Eber-Nari), he received a wound to the thigh, which was soon affected by gangrene. Cambyses died three weeks later at a location called Agbatana, which is most likely the modern city of Hama. He died childless, and was thus succeeded by his younger brother Bardiya, who ruled for a short period before being overthrown by Darius the Great (), who went on to increase the power of the Achaemenids even further.


title: Cambyses II

text: The origins of the name of "Cambyses" ( "Kabūjiya") is disputed in scholarship; according to some scholars, the name is of Elamite origin, whilst others associate it with Kambojas, an Iranian people who inhabited northwestern India. The name of Cambyses is known in other languages as: Elamite "Kanbuziya"; Akkadian "Kambuziya"; Aramaic "Kanbūzī".


title: Cambyses II

text: Cambyses was the eldest son of Cyrus the Great () and Cassandane. Cambyses had a younger brother named Bardiya, and three sisters named Artystone, Atossa and Roxanne. Cambyses' paternal grandfather was his namesake Cambyses I, the king of Persis from 600 to 559 BC. The family was descended from a line of rulers of Persian tribes, who starting with Cyrus, expanded their reach over Persis, subjugating the Median Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Lydia and Central Asia, thus establishing the Achaemenid Empire.


title: Cambyses II

text: In April 538 BC, Cambyses was appointed by his father as the governor of the northern part of Babylonia, including its city Babylon, whilst the central and southern part continued to be directly supervised by Cyrus and his bureaucrats. Before his appointment, Cambyses had taken part in a ritual at the regular New Year festival on 27 March 538 BC, where he received the royal sceptre in Esagila, a temple dedicated to the god Marduk. His governorship, however, lasted only nine months; Cyrus dismissed him from the post in December 538 BC for unknown reasons. After his dismissal, Cambyses continued to mostly reside in the Babylonian cities of Babylon and Sippar.


title: Cambyses II

text: According to Babylonian records, both Cambyses and Cyrus carried the title of "King of Babylon, King of the Lands" in 538/7 BC, which indicates that Cyrus had appointed him as co-ruler some years before his campaign against the Massagetae. Cyrus' younger son, Bardiya, was given his own realm in Central Asia, which was exempted from paying tribute. Cambyses reportedly took part in the expedition against the Massagetae, but, due to his being the heir to the throne, he was sent back to Persia, before Cyrus fell to the Massagetae. Cambyses had his father's body carried to Pasargadae in Persis, where he was buried in a tomb that had been prepared for him earlier.


title: Cambyses II

text: Cambyses' accession to the Achaemenid throne was relatively smooth. Ruling over a vast but young empire, Cambyses preserved his authority over the subjugated lands, but also expanded his dominion over Egypt, the last prominent power in the Near East. According to the French Iranologist Pierre Briant, "this must not be seen as a more or less irrational and uncontrollable desire to take over the entire inhabited world". On the contrary, Cambyses' action had already been planned by his father, who wanted to unify Babylonia with the lands of the Trans-Euphrates (an area that stretched from Posideium to Egypt). This would eventually require conquering the lands situated between the Euphrates and Nile rivers, and therefore necessitated conflict with Egypt, which had previously and more recently shown interest in the area.


title: Cambyses II

text: The incumbent pharaoh of Egypt was Amasis II, who had been ruling since 570. His ally, Polycrates, a Greek ruler of Samos, posed a considerable threat to the Achaemenids, launching several raids that jeopardised Achaemenid authority. However, Polycrates eventually forsook his Egyptian allies, and reached out to Cambyses, whose plans he was well acquainted with. His sudden change of alliances was undoubtedly due to his uneasy position, with the Spartans raising a force against him, and the rising hostility of some of the Samian aristocrats, who preferred partnership with Egypt. Another former ally of Amasis II, the Carian military leader Phanes of Halicarnassus, had also joined Cambyses after escaping assassins sent by the pharaoh. Cambyses, before starting his expedition into Egypt, had seized Cyprus from Amasis II, which was reportedly a heavy blow to the latter.


title: Cambyses II

text: By 526 BC, Amasis II had died, and his son Psamtik III had succeeded him, thus weakening Egypt's position. In the meantime, Cambyses had made substantial preparations for his army. He had essentially laid the foundations for the Persian navy, which was crucial to his ambitions to conquer Egypt. The navy was created using men and equipment from Phoenicia and Asia Minor. During his march to Egypt, Cambyses made a treaty with the Arabs, who controlled the desert area between Gaza and the Egyptian frontier. This treaty granted Cambyses sufficient water for his forces to reach the Nile. This also paved the way for Cambyses to extend his authority over the unsubdued lands between Egypt and Persia, including Gaza, a prominent commercial region, which equalled that of Sardis in Lydia. The region served as the headquarters for the Persian expedition into Egypt.


title: Cambyses II

text: In 525 BC, Cambyses finally invaded Egypt. In the spring of that year, the Persian and Egyptian forces clashed at Pelusium, where the Persians emerged victorious. According to one author, Cambyses was able defeat the Egyptians by putting cats, sheep, dogs and other animals that the Egyptians considered sacred in the front lines. This led the Egyptians to cease using their war engines for fear of killing an animal and angering the gods. The forces of Cambyses then laid siege to Memphis, where Psamtik III and his men had fortified themselves. Despite the considerable resistance by the pharaoh's forces, Cambyses captured Memphis and established a Persian-Egyptian garrison there. The length of the siege is not specified by the 5th-century BC Greek historian Herodotus. Regardless, by summer, all of Egypt was under Persian suzerainty. Cambyses now adopted the aspirations of the last pharaohs in seeking to control the neighbouring lands towards the west (Libya and Cyrenaica) and south (Nubia).


title: Cambyses II

text: The Libyans, and soon the Greeks of Cyrene and Barca, willingly acknowledged the authority of Cambyses, and as proof of their submission, sent offerings to Cambyses. As a demonstration of his generosity, Cambyses had Amasis II's Greek widow, Ladice, returned to Cyrene. Cambyses originally intended to make an expedition against the Phoenician state of Carthage, but it was ultimately called off due to his Phoenician subjects' reluctance to make war against their own people. In the south, Cambyses, followed the same policy of the last pharaohs to keep the Kingdom of Kush in check, and had a garrison established at Elephantine.


title: Cambyses II

text: According to Herodotus, Cambyses' campaigns against Ammon in the Siwa Oasis and Ethiopia ended catastrophically. He states that the reason behind this defeat was the "madness" of Cambyses, who "at once began his march against Ethiopia, without any orders for the provision of supplies, and without for a moment considering the fact that he was to take his men to the ends of the earth". However, according to Briant, "the deliberate bias against Cambyses raises doubts about the accuracy of Herodotus's version." Herodotus' statement is contradicted by other sources that does not suggest a catastrophe for his forces, even though the obstacles of the campaign possibly compelled Cambyses to withdraw. Archaeological proof indicates that the Achaemenids made use of the stronghold of Dorginarti (south of Buhen) during the time they controlled of Egypt.


title: Cambyses II

text: In accordance with the traditional Egyptian royal custom, Cambyses took the titles of "king of Upper and Lower Egypt" and "descendant of (the gods) Ra, Horus, Osiris," used by the previous Egyptian pharaohs. Cambyses used propaganda to show his Egyptian conquest as a legitimate unification with the native Egyptians, and that he was himself of Egyptian descent, claiming to be the son of Princess Nitetis, a daughter of the pharaoh Apries. At Sais, Cambyses had himself crowned in the temple of the goddess Neith as part of a religious ritual, during which he made sacrifices to the Egyptian gods.


title: Cambyses II

text: According to ancient historians, Cambyses' rule of Egypt was marked by brutality, looting temples, ridiculing the local gods, and defilement of the royal tombs. Historians such as Herodotus put an emphasis on Cambyses' supposed killing of the Egyptian sacred bull Apis. However, no looting of temples has been reported by contemporary Egyptian sources. In addition, Cambyses is said to have ordered the burial of an Apis in a sarcophagus. The successor of the Apis died in 518 BC, four years after Cambyses had already died.


title: Cambyses II

text: This thus debunks Cambyses' supposed killing of the Apis, and according to Briant, proves that Herodotus documented bogus reports. Rather, Cambyses took part in the preservation and burial ceremony of an Apis. Other similar sources also make mention of Cambyses' careful treatment towards Egyptian culture and religion. According to the Egyptian Demotic Chronicle, Cambyses decreased the immense income that the Egyptian temples received from the Egyptian pharaohs. Only the three main temples were given permission to maintain all their entitlements. In response to this action, Egyptian priests who had lost their entitlements circulated spurious stories about Cambyses. The issue with the temples dated back to the earlier pharaohs, who had also tried to reduce the economic power of the temples. This issue would continue until the demise of ancient Egypt. Like Cyrus in Babylon, Cambyses allowed the Egyptian nobility to maintain their jurisdictions.


title: Cambyses II

text: Although a tax system existed during the reigns of Cyrus and Cambyses, it was not a systematic one, and thus the subjects of the king were either obligated to give gifts, or pay taxes. As was the case during his father's reign, Cambyses' satraps were all of Persian stock: Gubaru in Babylonia-Trans-Euphrates: Aryandes in Egypt: Oroetes in Sardis, Mitrobates in Dascylium, Dadarsi in Bactria, and Vivana in Arachosia. Likewise, the imperial treasurer in Babylon, Mithradata, was also from a Persian family. Indeed, the senior officials and officers accompanying Cambyses in Egypt were composed solely of Persians. The most notable of these Persians were relatives of the king, such as his cousin Darius, who occupied high offices under Cyrus and Cambyses, and serving as a spear-bearer under the latter. Darius' father, Hystaspes, served as the governor of Parthia and Hyrcania, or at least held a prominent role there. Important offices centred around the king was also occupied by the Persians, as in the case of Prexaspes, who served as the "message-bearer" of Cambyses, and Sisamnes, who was the royal judge but later executed by Cambyses.


title: Cambyses II

text: According to Herodotus, Cambyses was labelled a "despot" by the Persians due to his being "half-mad, cruel, and insolent". However, this would seem to be part of later Persian and Egyptian propaganda critical of Cambyses. Indeed, due to Cambyses' willingness to consolidate authority to himself, the Persian tribal nobility were increasingly antagonistic towards him.


title: Cambyses II

text: In Achaemenid Persia, marriages between family members, such as half-siblings, nieces and cousins took place but were not seen as incestuous. However, Greek sources state that brother-sister and father-daughter marriages allegedly took place inside the royal family, yet it remains problematic to determine the reliability of these accounts. According to Herodotus, Cambyses supposedly married two of his sisters, Atossa and Roxane. This would have been regarded as illegal. However, Herodotus also states that Cambyses married Otanes' daughter Phaidyme, whilst his contemporary Ctesias names Roxane as Cambyses' wife, but she is not referred to as his sister.


title: Cambyses II

text: The accusations against Cambyses of committing incest are mentioned as part of his "blasphemous actions", which were designed to illustrate his "madness and vanity". These reports all derive from the same Egyptian source that was antagonistic towards Cambyses, and some of these allegations of "crimes", such as the killing of the Apis bull, have been confirmed as false, which means that the report of Cambyses' supposed incestuous acts is questionable.


title: Cambyses II

text: In the spring of 522 BC, Cambyses hurriedly left Egypt to deal with a rebellion in Persia. Before he left the country, he made Egypt into a satrapy under the governorship of the Persian Aryandes.


title: Cambyses II

text: However Cambyses died shortly after under disputed circumstances. By most accounts, while Cambyses was on his way through Syria (Eber-Nari), he received a wound to the thigh, which soon became gangrenous. Cambyses died three weeks later (in July) at a location called Agbatana, which is most likely the modern city of Hama. He died childless, and was succeeded by his younger brother Bardiya.


title: Cambyses II

text: According to Darius, who was Cambyses' lance-bearer at the time, Bardiya decided that he could not succeed as King of Kings and died by his own hand in 522 BC. Herodotus and Ctesias ascribe his death to an accident.


title: Cambyses II

text: Ctesias writes that Cambyses, despondent from the loss of family members, stabbed himself in the thigh while working with a piece of wood, and died eleven days later from the wound. Herodotus' story is that while mounting his horse, the tip of Cambyses' scabbard broke and his sword pierced his thigh. Some modern historians suspect that Cambyses was assassinated, either by Darius as the first step to usurping the empire for himself, or by supporters of Bardiya.


title: Cambyses II

text: Cambyses was buried in Neyriz in southeastern Persis. As reported in the Persepolis Administrative Archives, sacrifices were offered in his name. At the time of Cambyses' death, the Achaemenid Empire was stronger than ever, reaching from Cyrenaica to the Hindu Kush, and from the Syr Darya to the Persian Gulf.


title: MapleStory

text: MapleStory () is a free-to-play, 2D, side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game, developed by South Korean company Wizet. Several versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions, published by various companies (such as Nexon).


title: MapleStory

text: In the game, players travel the "Maple World", defeating monsters and developing their characters' skills and abilities as is typical in role-playing games. Players can interact with others in many ways, including chatting and trading. Groups of players can band together in parties to hunt monsters and share rewards, and can also form guilds to interact more easily with each other. Players additionally have the option to visit the in-game "Cash Shop" to purchase a variety of character appearances or gameplay enhancements with real money.


title: MapleStory

text: In July 2010, the Korean version of the game was completely revised in a patch named the "Big Bang". Other versions followed suit and have since received the Big Bang update. Later in the year, the Korean version received the Chaos update which introduced PvP (player-versus-player) and professions to the game. Its sequel, "MapleStory 2," was released in July 2015 and features updated 3D graphics and a similar storyline. , MapleStory has reached over registered users worldwide and grossed over in lifetime revenue.


title: MapleStory

text: The plot of "MapleStory" takes place across several different worlds, such as Maple World and Grandis. Created by these people with powers called the Overseers, they assigned each world with three guardians to look over both worlds: the Transcendent of Time, Transcendent of Life and the Transcendent of Light. The first major arc revolves around the antagonist of Maple World, the Black Mage. The Black Mage was once the Transcendent of Light and was called the White Mage until an experiment went wrong and his pure light core was corrupted. The six heroes managed to seal the Black Mage for the next few centuries at the cost of being sealed away themselves. In the present day, the Black Mage's forces called the Black Wings, began resurfacing and attempted to revive him. Fearing his resurrection, Empress Cygnus created the Cygnus Knights in order to stop the Black Wings and the Black Mage's Commanders. As the seal on the Black Mage began weakening, the heroes of legend began returning as well. After the Black Mage broke free of his seal, Cygnus created the Maple Alliance, which banded together the free-spirited Explorers, the Cygnus Knights, the Resistance against the Black Wings, the six Heroes of Maple, and several brave adventurers from other worlds.


title: MapleStory

text: The Alliance continued fighting the Black Wings and won a decisive victory in the battle of Black Heaven, during which time, a hero of the Alliance awakened as the Adversary, a champion imbued with divine energy. Soon after, the Black Mage created a dimension called the Arcane River in an attempt to destroy the world and recreate it in his image. The Adversary journeyed through the Arcane River and battled the last of the Black Mage's Commanders before the Alliance launched a final offensive to stop the Black Mage from ending their world. The Adversary successfully killed the Black Mage and saved Maple World from annihilation.


title: MapleStory

text: With the Black Mage's death, the second major arc began in the realm of Grandis, which had slowly fused with Maple World due to the Black Mage's machinations. The antagonist of Grandis, Gerand Darmoor, believed that his race, the High Flora, were superior to all others, and so he sought to remake all life in his image. In order to stop him, several factions of Grandis had joined the Maple Alliance. After the Black Mage's death, the Alliance sent its forces to battle Darmoor and his Apostles.


title: MapleStory

text: "MapleStory" is a 2D scrolling platform game. The controls for the game are executed using the keyboard and mouse. The keyboard is used for many game functions, and much of it can be rearranged to suit users' needs. The mouse is mainly used to trigger NPCs and manipulate items. Like most MMORPGs, gameplay centers on venturing into dungeons and combating monsters in real-time. The players combat monsters and complete quests, in the process acquiring in-game currency called "Mesos", experience points, and various items. Players are able to acquire in-game professions, allowing them to craft equipment, accessories or potions.


title: MapleStory

text: Players have a variety of options when interacting with others online: They can form parties where loot and experience are distributed from a monster; in-game marriages where the game will recognize the two players as a heterosexual couple; guilds which is indicated with a guild's name listed under their character name; or families, an architecture gathering of juniors and seniors. Players are also able to raise or lower the in-game popularity stat entitled Fame of other players and compete with other players in minigames, such as Gomoku or Concentration. They may also engage in trading activities for "Mesos" or other in-game items.


title: MapleStory

text: "MapleStory" characters exist in worlds or servers. Players are able to create multiple characters in each world, though the characters in different worlds can not interact with each other. Each world is similar in content with each other. The worlds are divided into channels, among which characters are allowed to freely switch. The ability to transfer entire characters between worlds was added in December 2007 to Global "MapleStory", with restrictions placed on items. In May 2012, this option was removed as it caused a negative impact on character gameplay.


title: MapleStory

text: When creating a new character, there are eight branches of classes currently available to choose from with three classes that have no specific branches currently: Explorers, Cygnus Knights, Heroes, Resistance, Sengoku, Nova, Flora, and Anima. Beast Tamer, Child of God and Kinesis are classes that currently have no specific branches. Some classes are currently not available in other regions while others are only available at certain times of year.


title: MapleStory

text: Explorer characters start on Maple Island and begin as a Beginner class. The Beginner is able to advance into one of the five classes: Warrior, Bowmen, Magician, Thief, and Pirate. After choosing their class, further class progression is only allowed within the scope of the first class advancement with advancements at level 30, 60, 100, and 200. Three separate classes, under the adventurer branch, are created differently from normal Adventurers: Dual Blade (Thief), Kinesis (Magician) and Cannoneers (Pirate).


title: MapleStory

text: Cygnus Knight characters begin as Noblesse class and begin their journey on Ereve. At level 10, they are allowed to class advance into five Cygnus Knight classes, each one parallels to the Explorer class. Upon reaching the level limit of 120, Cygnus Knights are able to change into a level 50 explorer with benefits.


title: MapleStory

text: Six Hero classes are currently available: Aran, Evan, Mercedes, Phantom, Luminous and Shade. The Hero classes are characters with background stories related to the antagonist of the game, the Black Mage. Aran has the Combo System, a unique feature to the class, allowing them to generate combo counts by hitting monsters, giving them buffs and allowing them to cast combo-consuming skills. Evan is similar to Magicians, but uses a dragon, which fights alongside them. Mercedes is an elven archer who uses Dual Bowguns. Phantom is a Thief character with the ability to mimic skills from Adventurer characters. Luminous is a magician of light who can also use dark magic which they absorbed from the Black Mage. Shade is the sixth and forgotten hero, whose existence was erased during the sealing of the Black Mage. They use spirits to aid them in battle.


title: MapleStory

text: Resistance characters begin in Edelstein, a town taken over by the Black Mage's followers; the Black Wings. The characters created under the Resistance branch begin as Citizens and have four available job advancements: Battle Mage, Wild Hunter, Blaster and Mechanic. A Battle Mage uses a staff for physical attacks, a Wild Hunter rides a jaguar while wielding a crossbow, a Blaster uses an arm cannon and a Mechanic uses a robotic suit to fight. Demon, a separate class, under the resistance branch, is created differently from the normal Resistance. A Demon character can become a Demon Slayer, who uses one-handed blunt weapons and axes, or the Demon Avenger, who uses a specialised weapon called the Desperado. Xenon, another separate resistance character, is a human-turned-cyborg who escaped from the Black Wings' laboratories who uses Whip Blades in combat.


title: MapleStory

text: There are three main continents common to all versions in the "MapleStory" world: Maple Island, Victoria Island, and Ossyria. Maple Island is where adventurers start off their characters. Victoria Island contains eight cities, and is where most classes begin. Ossyria features seven distinct regions with varying environments: El Nath Mountains, Ludus Lake, Aqua Road, Minar Forest, Mu Lung Garden, Nihal Desert, and Temple of Time. Ereve and Rien are separated from another land which is the beginning of another job of the game.


title: MapleStory

text: The Cash Shop is an in-game shop where players use real-life currency to purchase unique virtual goods such as avatars, digital pets and other in-game items. Most Cash Shop items expire after a period of time. The Cash Shop also offers a shop permit, allowing players to set up a store in the in-game market location called the Free Market.


title: MapleStory

text: "MapleStory" was developed and released in South Korea and was localized to ten different regions as of 2010. As other publishers license the game for their region, proxy blocks are put in place (excluding the Korean version, it requires a KSSN), forcing players to play their localized version. On July 7, 2011, LevelUp! Games announced that they will not be renewing the contract for localization in Brazil.


title: MapleStory

text: An update entitled "Big Bang" was released in Korean "MapleStory" in July 2010 with other regional servers following suit soon after. Big Bang changed the game's core coding, and changed many aspects of the game. An update entitled "Chaos" features the introduction of professions, and PvP.


title: MapleStory

text: On March 4, 2015, Nexon announced a new update for MapleStory's North American server, entitled Black Heaven. Players that registered prior to the update and before March 9 received a free Ignition Pack if they logged in before March 14 and after the update went live. Black Heaven was released on March 11, 2015.


title: MapleStory

text: On December 1, 2015, Nexon released the MapleStory Reboot update for its North American server, which allows access to the Reboot world. This world has disabled trading, increased Meso drop rates, and weapon/equipment drops that are specific to the player's class. Reboot has the same monsters as other worlds, but with increased stats and experience points awarded.


title: MapleStory

text: On December 14, 2016, Maplestory announced their latest update to the game, the 5th Job Advancement. When players reach Level 200 in the game, they would need to complete their job advancement quests before they are able to fully access their 5th Job skills. Different from the first four Job skills, the 5th Job skills come in three types of skills. The first one called the Shared Skills are skills that all characters share and have that they are able to use. The second one is called the Class-Specific, which are skills that only specific classes can use and the third one called the Job Skills which are skills that only that specific Job can use.


title: MapleStory

text: On July 20, 2022, Nexon released the Destiny: Remastered update for its North American server. This update revamped all the Explorer classes (excluding the newest Explorer class, Pathfinder) by updating their skills and adding new storyline content for them while streamlining their original storylines. A new boss, Kalos, was also added to the game.


title: MapleStory

text: In Global "MapleStory" (GMS), more than a million players bought items in the Cash Shop, by 2010. In 2006, Nexon announced "MapleStory" had a combined total of 39 million user accounts worldwide. "MapleStory" Global had over 8 million users by 2011. As of 2014, it was among the top ten MMOs by worldwide revenue. , the game has reached over registered users worldwide.


title: MapleStory

text: Up until 2011, the game grossed $1.8billion. Between 2013 and 2017, the game grossed $1.181billion, including $326million in 2013, $240million in 2014, $253million in 2015, $83million in 2016, and $279million in 2017. , the game has grossed over worldwide in lifetime revenue.


title: MapleStory

text: "MapleStory DS" is a game based on "MapleStory" and features a single-player experience. The game was released for the Nintendo DS on April 15, 2010 in Korea.


title: MapleStory

text: "MapleStory M" is a mobile game released for iOS and Android, in South Korea during October 2016 and then overseas on May 28, 2018.


title: MapleStory

text: The sequel, "MapleStory 2", was released in Korea on July 7, 2015. Unlike its predecessor, "MapleStory 2" takes place on a 3D voxel-based plane at an often isometric angle.


title: MapleStory

text: The Japanese anime entitled was adapted of the game and produced by Madhouse. It was aired on TV Tokyo between October 7, 2007 and March 30, 2008, spanning 25 episodes. The plot revolves around a warrior as he journeys to revive the world tree.


title: MapleStory

text: The North American publisher of Nexon released a "MapleStory" trading card game on November 6, 2007. Nexon Korea and Japan have since released similar trading card games, while Nexon North America has discontinued this service.


title: MapleStory

text: Two adaptations of "MapleStory" have been released for iOS by Nexon Mobile: "MapleStory: Thief Edition" and "MapleStory: Cygnus Knights Edition". The "Thief Edition" has only one job, Thief, while the other edition features two jobs: a Soul Master and a Fire Wizard. The games do not have multiplayer.


title: MapleStory

text: On July 27, 2011, Nexon released a public beta of a "MapleStory Adventures" as an adaptation for Facebook gaming format. The game consist of mainly single-player, but incorporates the main goals and themes of the full "MapleStory" game, which includes creating an avatar, fighting monsters and completing quests. This version has been discontinued as of July 31, 2013.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Black Rain is a 1989 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Craig Bolotin and Warren Lewis. It stars Michael Douglas, Andy García, Ken Takakura, and Kate Capshaw and features Yūsaku Matsuda (in his final film role before his death that year) and Shigeru Kōyama. The film focuses on two NYPD officers who arrest a member of the Yakuza and must escort him back to Japan. Once there, he escapes, and the two officers find themselves dragged deeper and deeper into the Japanese underworld.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: "Black Rain" was released by Paramount Pictures on September 22, 1989. It received much publicity beforehand as it was Douglas's first film in two years and the first since his Oscar winning role in the film "Wall Street". Upon release, the film received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics, which praised the performances, action sequences, Hans Zimmer's musical score, direction and editing but criticized the screenwriting, clichéd story and lack of character development. In the years since, the film has become a major cult film and has been widely praised.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: "Black Rain" was also a huge box office hit with grossing over $134 million worldwide in front of a production budget of $30 million, and was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Sound and Best Sound Editing.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Nick Conklin is a New York City police officer facing possible criminal charges; Internal Affairs believes Nick was involved with his former partner, who was caught taking criminal money, in a corruption scandal. Nick, who has financial difficulties, is divorced from his wife, who has custody of their two children.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: At a restaurant, Nick and his current partner Charlie Vincent observe two Japanese men meeting with Mafia gangsters. Nick's suspicions are validated when another Japanese man, Sato, enters the restaurant, seizes a small package at gunpoint, kills two people, and leaves. Nick and Charlie chase and arrest the suspect after he nearly kills Nick. Sato is to be extradited to Osaka and given to the police there. Though angered that he will not be prosecuted in the US, Nick agrees to escort him. Nick's captain believes it will keep Nick from causing more trouble and exacerbating the already biased Internal Affairs investigation.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Nick and Charlie fly to Osaka and surrender Sato to the Japanese police, only to realize they were impostors. Nick convinces the real Osaka police to allow them to observe the investigation, though their weapons are confiscated. They are assigned to Masahiro Matsumoto. Nick behaves rudely and offends Matsumoto, while Charlie attempts to be more polite. Nick also makes contact with an American nightclub hostess, Joyce, who explains that he and Charlie represent American inefficiency and stupidity to the Japanese. Through her, Nick discovers Sato is fighting a gang war with a notorious crime boss, Sugai, and traveled to New York to disrupt Sugai's counterfeiting scheme.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Nick joins a police raid without permission and takes a few $100 bills from the crime scene. The next day, Matsumoto explains they have dishonored themselves, him, and the police force by his theft, which has been reported in America; Nick calls him a snitch and demonstrates the money is counterfeit by burning one of the bills. That night, Nick and Charlie walk back to their hotel drunk and unescorted, despite warnings about their safety. In an apparent prank, a young motorcyclist steals Charlie's coat and leads him to an underground parking garage. The motorcyclist turns out to be one of Sato's henchmen. Separated from Charlie, Nick watches in horror as Sato and several others briefly torture Charlie before Sato beheads him. Joyce comforts the distraught Nick at her apartment. Later, Matsumoto hands him Charlie's service revolver.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: As Matsumoto and Nick trail one of Sato's operatives, Nick admits he stole money in New York. The operative retrieves a sample counterfeit note, which she passes to a gangster. Nick and Matsumoto tail him to a steel foundry, where they find Sato is meeting Sugai, and the package from New York is a printing plate for American $100 bills. Nick confronts Sato, who escapes when swarming police arrest Nick for waving a gun in public. Though deported, Nick sneaks off the plane to pursue Sato on his own, as Matsumoto has been suspended and demoted. Joyce helps him meet Sugai, who explains that making counterfeit US currency is his revenge for the "black rain", or nuclear fallout, after the bombing of Hiroshima. Nick suggests a deal where Sugai can use Nick to retrieve the stolen plate from Sato, leaving Sugai's reputation and hands clean.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Sugai drops Nick at a remote farm with a shotgun. Matsumoto arrives, and they deduce Sato plans a massacre. During a meeting with Sugai, Sato cuts off one of his fingers in atonement, stabs Sugai, and escapes with the plates, prompting a gunfight between Sugai's and Sato's men. Sato escapes the fight on a dirt bike, Nick pursues, and the two fight briefly. Nick gains the advantage and, having Sato at his mercy, has the choice of whether or not to kill Sato for Charlie and all the humiliation he has suffered. Matsumoto and Nick walk a handcuffed Sato into police headquarters to the amazement of everyone and later receive commendations, which Nick accepts gratefully.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Before boarding his flight home, Nick thanks Matsumoto for his assistance and friendship, and gives him a dress shirt in a gift box. Underneath it, Matsumoto finds the counterfeit printing plates.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan was originally approached to play the role of Sato, but instead turned it down as he felt audiences did not want to see him play a "bad" character. Harrison Ford and Kurt Russell were strongly considered for the role of Nick Conklin, before Michael Douglas was cast due to his favorable relationship with producers Sherry Lansing and Stanley R. Jaffe.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Director Paul Verhoeven was originally attached to direct, but, after a slow development process, left to helm "Total Recall" (1990). He would later collaborate with Douglas on "Basic Instinct" (1992).


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: The film began shooting in November 1988 and ended in March 1989. Japanese actor Yūsaku Matsuda, who played Sato, died of bladder cancer shortly after the film's completion. Director Ridley Scott dedicated the film to his memory.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: The high cost and red tape involved in filming in Japan prompted director Scott to declare that he would never film in that country again. Scott was eventually forced to leave the country and complete the final climactic scene (which included American character actor Al Leong) in Napa Valley, California.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: This film marks the first collaboration between Hans Zimmer and Ridley Scott. He would go on to score several more films for Scott, including "Thelma and Louise", "Hannibal", "Gladiator," "Black Hawk Down" and "Matchstick Men".


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Large parts of "Black Rain" were filmed in Osaka, although some of the locations have changed somewhat since the late 1980s when production took place. The original intention of Ridley Scott was to film in the Kabukicho nightlife district of Shinjuku, Tokyo. However, the Osaka authorities were more receptive towards film permits so the similarly futuristic neon-infused Dōtonbori in Namba was chosen as the principal filming location in Japan.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: An aerial shot of Osaka bay at sunset with the estuaries of the Yodogawa, Kanzakigawa and Ajigawa rivers frames the opening sequence of the arrival into Japan.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: The main filming location in Osaka is by the Ebisubashi bridge. The futurist Kirin Plaza building (architect Shin Takamatsu, built 1987), the Ebisubashi and the famous neon wall overlooking the Dōtonbori canal creates the "Blade Runner"-esque mise-en-scène.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Umeda, Osaka's northern centre, is represented by the first floor shopping mall concourse of Hankyu Umeda station Terminal Building. Resembling a futuristic neo-gothic nave from a cathedral, this is where Charlie Vincent's (Andy Garcia) jacket is stolen by a bosozoku biker. Because the production could not finish the segment in Japan, Charlie's demise, the subsequent escalator chase and car park scenes, replete with appropriate Japanese signs, were shot in downtown Los Angeles.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: The now removed Shinsaibashi bridge (dismantled in 1995), Osaka Municipal Central Wholesale Market, Nippon Steel Works in Sakai City (south Osaka), Kyobashi, the elevated Hanshin Expressway, Osaka Castle and Nanko Port Town also feature briefly, as well as the Motomachi shopping district of neighbouring Kobe.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: In New York City, the 1964 World Expo's Unisphere opens the film, followed by Nick Conklin (Michael Douglas) riding over the Queensboro Bridge. The illegal bike race between Nick and an anonymous challenger took place from underneath the west underside of the Brooklyn Bridge north to the Manhattan Bridge.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: The house of the mob chief is Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Ennis House, 2607 Glendower Avenue, Los Feliz, on the slopes below the Griffith Park Observatory. It had already been used by Ridley Scott as Deckard’s apartment block in Blade Runner.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: The soundtrack had various artists with the score composed by Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack was originally released as a 7-track album in 1989 by Virgin Movie Music on cassette, vinyl and compact disc. However, it was re-released in 2012 by La-La Land Records in limited edition as a two-disc package.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: "Black Rain" was released in the United States on September 22, 1989, and in the Philippines on February 1, 1990. It was screened as the opening film at the 3rd Tokyo International Film Festival in October 1989 and shown as the Special Invitational Screening film. Ken Takakura attended the event. It was later screened at the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: "Black Rain" was first released in the U.S. on Blu-ray Special Collector's Edition in 2007 by Paramount Pictures with six extra features including audio commentary by director Ridley Scott, a two-part "Making of "Black Rain"" documentary, a 20-minute featurette about the script and cast and a 12-minute segment looking at the post-production. It was first released in the UK in 2008. The same edition was re-released by Warner Bros. in 2013.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: In its opening weekend, "Black Rain" grossed $9.6 million in 1,610 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #1 at the box office. It stayed at the #1 spot for two more weeks. At the Japanese box office, "Black Rain" was the fifth top-grossing foreign film of 1989, earning in distributor rentals. The film grossed a total of $46.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $88 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $134.2 million.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" wrote that the film "plays as if it had been written in the course of production. There seems to have been more desperation off the screen than ever gets into the movie. As bad movies go, however. the American 'Black Rain' is easy to sit through, mostly because of the way Mr. Scott and his production associates capture the singular look of contemporary urban Japan." Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four and stated, "Even given all of its inconsistencies, implausibilities and recycled cliches, "Black Rain" might have been entertaining if the filmmakers had found the right note for the material. But this is a designer movie, all look and no heart, and the Douglas character is curiously unsympathetic." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" awarded the same two-star grade and wrote, "The crosscultural action picture might have worked if the filmmakers had come up with a script in which Douglas' character had been rendered weak and confused by being a fish trying to swim in strange waters. But instead he is presented as a traditional action hero dominating everyone in sight. The cultural imperialism of that decision makes for a routine and frequently offensive story full of Asian stereotypes."


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: A review in "Variety" stated, "Since this is a Ridley Scott film, 'Black Rain' is about 90% atmosphere and 10% story. But what atmosphere! This gripping crime thriller about hardboiled N.Y. cop Michael Douglas tracking a yakuza hood in Osaka, Japan, boasts magnificent lensing by Jan DeBont and powerfully baroque production design by Norris Spencer." Michael Wilmington of the "Los Angeles Times" described the plot as "standard '80s schtick" but called the visuals "hellaciously gorgeous" and concluded that "action movies are one genre where clichés can be transcended and execution can triumph over content. That's what happens here." Rita Kempley of "The Washington Post" wrote that Scott "approaches this prickly action thriller with the gusto of a sushi chef in a fish storm. Unfortunately and typically, he loses sight of his story in this artistic barrage of blood and guts. It's a gorgeous, erratic movie most definitely not for those with an aversion to cutlery."


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: The film holds a 52% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews. On Metacritic it has a score of 56% based on reviews from 18 critics.


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: In retrospect, Michael Douglas said: "It was hard to know who to root for. And people here were uncomfortable with race stuff and talking about the bomb. There was a critic, who'll remain nameless, who called it a racist film. I called him up and asked, "Have you ever been to Japan?". He said, "No", and I said, "Then what the hell are you talking about?". The Japanese loved it. I loved it—I thought it rocked from top to bottom."


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: During an interview on the podcast "WTF with Marc Maron" in November 2021, Scott called the film "f*cking great".


title: Black Rain (1989 American film)

text: "Black Rain" was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Sound (Donald O. Mitchell, Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Keith A. Wester) and Best Sound Effects Editing. (Milton Burrow and William Manger)


title: American Auto

text: American Auto is an American television sitcom created by Justin Spitzer that premiered on NBC on December 13, 2021. In May 2022, the series was renewed for a second season which is set to premiere on January 24, 2023.


title: American Auto

text: The series follows the employees of Detroit-based Payne Motors. The company's struggles after a new CEO who knows little about cars is hired from the pharmaceutical industry.


title: American Auto

text: "American Auto" has been in development since August 2013. TV writer Justin Spitzer, fresh off the success of "The Office", wanted to produce a workplace comedy of his own, but would instead be set in the upper-management world. Spitzer sold his pitch to NBC, who put the idea as a put-pilot. The script did not go forward as a pilot, and Spitzer instead went to work on "Superstore". After stepping down as showrunner of "Superstore" in April 2019 and signing an overall deal with Universal Television, Spitzer went back and redeveloped the "American Auto" script.


title: American Auto

text: On January 23, 2020, it was given a pilot order by NBC. The pilot was directed by Jeffrey Blitz and written by Spitzer who was expected to executive produce alongside Aaron Kaplan and Dana Honor. Production companies involved with the series include Spitzer Holding Company, Kapital Entertainment and Universal Television. On January 12, 2021, it was announced that NBC had ordered the series. On May 12, 2022, NBC renewed the series for a second season.


title: American Auto

text: In February 2020, "Deadline" reported Harriet Dyer had joined the cast as Sadie and later that Ana Gasteyer had also joined the cast as Katherine Hastings. In March, X Mayo joined the cast as Dori. In July, Tye White joined the cast as Jack, Michael B. Washington joined the cast as Cyrus, Humphrey Ker joined the cast as Elliot, and Jon Barinholtz joined the cast as Wesley.


title: American Auto

text: The series premiered on December 13, 2021, at 10 p.m., with two "sneak [peek] episodes" and returned on January 4, 2022, in its regular time slot at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays. The second season is scheduled to premiere on January 24, 2023.


title: American Auto

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 6.1/10, based on 11 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While "American Auto"s hijinks don't bode well for the future of Payne Motors, they promise a hilarious sitcom with a solid foundation." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe (born 28 January 1962) is a South African mining billionaire businessman. Since 12 March 2021, he has been serving as the President of the Confederation of African Football. He is the founder and executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, which has interests in gold, ferrous metals, base metals, and platinum. He sits on several company boards, including being the non-executive chairman of Harmony Gold, the world's 12th largest gold mining company, and the deputy chairman of Sanlam. In 2012, Motsepe was named South Africa's richest man, topping the Sunday Times' annual Rich List with an estimated fortune of R20.07 billion ($1 billion).


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: Kgosi Augustine Motsepe, a chief of the Mmakau branch of the Tswana people, who had previously been a schoolteacher and who was later a small businessman as the owner of a Spaza shop which was popular with mine workers. It was from this shop that Motsepe learned basic business principles from his father, as well as first-hand exposure to mining.


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Swaziland and a law degree from the University of the Witwatersrand. He specialised in mining and business law.


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: In 1994, he became the first black partner in the law firm Bowman Gilfillan—the same year that Nelson Mandela was elected as the country's first black president. While the new government began promoting black empowerment and entrepreneurship; Motsepe founded Future Mining, which provided contract mining services that included the cleaning of gold dust from inside mine shafts for the Vaal Reefs Gold mine, and implemented a system of worker remuneration that combined a low base salary with a profit-sharing bonus.


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: In 1997, with gold prices at a low, he purchased marginal gold mines from AngloGold under favourable finance terms. AngloGold sold Motsepe six gold mine shafts for $7.7 million allowing him to repay the debt out of the future earnings of the company now known as African Rainbow Minerals.


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: This was repeated in a string of deals and Motsepe set up a firm to begin buying the operating mines that would become the source of his wealth. In 1999 he teamed up with two of his associates to form Greene and Partners Investments.


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: The Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws introduced after the 1994 elections have been instrumental in cementing Motsepe's position in the mining industry in South Africa. A business must have a minimum of 26% black ownership to be considered for a mining license.


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: In 2002 when it was listed on the JSE Security Exchange, African Rainbow Minerals joined with Harmony Gold Mining Ltd. and the company's name changed to ARMgold. Motsepe is also the founder of African Rainbow Minerals Platinum (Proprietary) Limited and ARM Consortium Limited, which later equally split ownership with Anglo American Platinum Corp Ltd. From 2005, Motsepe was Chairman of Teal Exploration and Mining Incorporated. Motsepe is also chairman of Ubuntu-Botho Investments, Non-Executive chairman of Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd. and deputy Chairman of Sanlam Ltd. Motsepe has been president of South Africa's Chamber of Commerce and Industry.


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: In 2003, Motsepe created Ubuntu-Botho Investments (UBI) (and in 2019 he owned 55% of it). In 2004 UBI entered into a BEE deal with insurance and financial services company Sanlam. That deal ended in 2014 when the debt had been paid and UBI acquired 13.5% of Sanlam but UBI has a 18.1% voting stake in Sanlam as its BEE partner. UBI then started African Rainbow Capital (ARC), a wholly owned subsidiary of UBI. ARC's joint chief executive is Johan van Zyl, former executive of Sanlam. ARC has holdings in more than 40 companies, including TymeBank, industrial group Afrimat, agricultural company BKB, telecommunications company Rain, luxury property estate Val de Vie, and a minority stake in Alexander Forbes, the pension fund administrator.


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: Motsepe is the owner of Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. a Premier soccer league club. In November 2019, Motsepe bought a 37% stake in the Blue Bulls Co. The other major shareholders are Remgro (37%) and Blue Bulls Rugby Union (26%).


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: In November 2020, Motsepe announced that he would become a candidate to become CAF's president. Quickly accused of being actively supported by FIFA - despite its duty of reserve and neutrality - and its President Gianni Infantino, who would seek to obtain the votes of Africa for future re-election, Motsepe was elected on 12 March 2021, after that all four other candidates had withdrawn their candidacies. His son Thlopie Motsepe took over as Mamelodi Sundowns new chairman after he became a new president of CAF.


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: In 2011, he was named the interim chairman of the Black Business Council, and is a founding member and former president of one of South Africa's most influential business advocacy and lobby group Business Unity SA (BUSA).


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: In 2004, he was voted 39th among the South African Broadcasting Corporation's Great South Africans. In 2008, he was reported as the 503rd-richest person in the world, according to the "Forbes" 2019 list of The World's Billionaires, then ranked as the 962nd-wealthiest person in the world, and the third-wealthiest South African for 2019. In 2020, Motsepe was ranked as the 1,307th-wealthiest person in the world by "Forbes", with a reported fortune of US$2.1 billion.


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: In January 2020, at a World Economic Forum dinner in Davos, Patrice Motsepe publicly told US President Donald Trump that "Africa loves him". Faced with the indignant reactions that this statement provoked throughout the African continent, the billionaire apologised, explaining "I do not have the right to speak on behalf of anybody except myself".


title: Patrice Motsepe

text: Motsepe is married to Dr. Precious Moloi, a physician and fashion entrepreneur. They have three children. He is the brother of Tshepo Motsepe and Bridgette Radebe, and the brother-in-law of both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister Jeff Radebe.


title: Rebecca Pidgeon

text: Rebecca Pidgeon (born October 10, 1965) is an American actress who has appeared on stage and in feature films, and a singer, songwriter and recording artist. She is married to American playwright David Mamet.


title: Rebecca Pidgeon

text: Pidgeon was born to English parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while her father, Carl R. Pidgeon, was a visiting professor at MIT. Her mother, Elaine, is a yoga teacher. Her paternal grandmother, Monica Pidgeon, the editor of "Architectural Design", was the sister of artist Olga Lehmann and academic Andrew George Lehmann.


title: Rebecca Pidgeon

text: Pidgeon moved to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1970 with her parents. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London with classmates Clive Owen and Liza Tarbuck.


title: Rebecca Pidgeon

text: From 1986 to 1990, Pidgeon was the lead singer of the British folk/pop band Ruby Blue. She left the group shortly after they signed to a major record label.


title: Rebecca Pidgeon

text: She appeared in her first feature film, "The Dawning," in 1988; then starred in David Mamet's plays and films, beginning with the movie "Homicide" and the play "Oleanna", a part Mamet wrote for her. She composed the music for the film version, which starred Debra Eisenstadt in her role.


title: Rebecca Pidgeon

text: She released the album "The Raven" in 1994, followed by "The New York Girls' Club" (1996), and "The Four Marys" (1998), a collection of traditional Celtic folk songs. "Tough on Crime" (2005) featured Walter Becker of Steely Dan on guitar and Billy Preston on keyboards. "" (2008) included a cover version of the Beach Boys song "Wouldn't It Be Nice". "Slingshot" was released in 2012.


title: Rebecca Pidgeon

text: Pidgeon has had roles in additional Mamet films, including "The Spanish Prisoner" (1997), "The Winslow Boy" (1999), "State and Main" (2000), "Heist" (2001) and "Redbelt" (2008). She had a supporting role in "Red" (2010). In the 2013 television movie "Phil Spector", she played a supporting role and also sang "Spanish Harlem" over the closing credits. She appeared in the U.S. television series "The Unit as" Charlotte Ryan, and in the 2007 television film "" as Leeann Lewis, a murder/bank robbery suspect.


title: Rebecca Pidgeon

text: Pidgeon is married to American writer and director David Mamet, whom she met while appearing in his play "Speed-the-Plow" at the National Theatre, London. Mamet was married to actress Lindsay Crouse at the time. After beginning a relationship with Pidgeon, Mamet divorced Crouse in 1990 and married Pidgeon in 1991.


title: Rebecca Pidgeon

text: Pidgeon and Mamet have two children, actress Clara and Noah, in addition to Mamet's two older children, Willa and Zosia. Pidgeon, who was born to a non-practising Christian family, has converted to Mamet's Jewish faith.


title: Chris Geere

text: Christopher William Geere (born 18 March 1981) is an English actor. He is known for playing the lead role of Jimmy Shive-Overly in the FX and FXX dark comedy series "You're the Worst" and Roger Clifford in the 2019 film "Detective Pikachu".


title: Chris Geere

text: Geere graduated from Guildford School of Acting and began his career on stage opposite Dame Judi Dench in Royal Shakespeare Company’s "All’s Well That Ends Well".


title: Chris Geere

text: Geere portrayed the character of Music and Drama teacher Matt Wilding in the BBC One school-based drama series "Waterloo Road". In January 2009, just as the fourth series of "Waterloo Road" began airing, Geere said that he would not be returning for the fifth series.


title: Chris Geere

text: Geere broke out to American audiences as Jimmy Shive-Overly, one half of the toxic and self-destructive couple at the heart of Stephen Falk’s critically acclaimed comedy "You're the Worst" for FX and FXX which received 4 Critic’s Choice nominations including Best Comedy. "You're the Worst" ran for five seasons from 2014 to 2019.


title: Chris Geere

text: In 2019 Geere joined the global Pokémon universe as Roger Clifford in Legendary Entertainment/Universal Pictures live-action film "Pokémon Detective Pikachu" alongside Bill Nighy, Justice Smith and Ryan Reynolds.


title: Chris Geere

text: Geere recurred on ABC’s "Modern Family" as Haley & then Alex’s love interest Professor Arvin Fennerman; as Joel, the well-meaning but hilariously toxic lead in BBC & Showtime’s dark comedic limited series, "Ill Behaviour (TV series)", opposite Tom Riley and Lizzy Caplan; Channel 4’s "This Way Up (TV series)" starring Sharon Horgan and Aisling Bea; "The First Team (TV series)" with Will Arnett; and on "A Million Little Things" as Allison Miller’s new roommate/love interest Jamie.


title: Chris Geere

text: After recurring in season 5, Geere joined the cast of "This Is Us" as a series regular for their sixth and final season.


title: Chris Geere

text: Geere was born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. He married Jennifer Sawdon, a singer-songwriter and pianist, in 2010. Their son was born in 2012.


title: Iași

text: Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life. The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1564 to 1859, then of the United Principalities from 1859 to 1862, and the capital of Romania from 1916 to 1918.


title: Iași

text: Known as the Cultural Capital of Romania, Iași is a symbol of Romanian history. Historian Nicolae Iorga stated that "there should be no Romanian who does not know of it". Still referred to as "The Moldavian Capital", Iași is the main economic and business centre of Romania's Moldavian region. In December 2018, Iași was officially declared the Historical Capital of Romania.


title: Iași

text: At the 2011 census, the city-proper had a population of 290,422 (making it the fourth most populous in Romania at the time). Counting 500,668 residents as of 2018, the Iași urban area is the second most populous in Romania after Bucharest, whereas more than 500,000 people live within its peri-urban area.


title: Iași

text: Home to the oldest Romanian university and to the first engineering school, Iași is one of the most important education and research centres of the country, accommodating over 60,000 students in five public universities. The social and cultural life revolves around the Vasile Alecsandri National Theatre (the oldest in Romania), the Moldova State Philharmonic, the Opera House, the Iași Athenaeum, the Botanical Garden (the oldest and largest in Romania), the Central University Library (the oldest in Romania), the cultural centres and festivals, an array of museums, memorial houses, religious and historical monuments. The city is also known as the site of the largest Romanian pilgrimage which takes place every year, in October.


title: Iași

text: Scholars have different theories on the origin of the name "Iași". Some argue that the name originates with the Sarmatian tribe Iazyges (of Iranian origin), one mentioned by Ovid as .


title: Iași

text: A now lost inscription on a Roman milestone found near Osijek, Croatia by Matija Petar Katančić in the 18th century, mentions the existence of a Jassiorum municipium, or "Municipium Dacorum-Iassiorum" from other sources.


title: Iași

text: Other explanations show that the name originated from the Iranian Alanic tribe of Jassi, having the same origin with the Yazyges tribes Jassic people. In medieval times the Prut river was known as "Alanus fluvius" and the city as "Forum Philistinorum". From this population derived the plural of the town name, "Iașii".


title: Iași

text: Another historian wrote that the Iasians lived among the Cumans and that they left the Caucasus after the first Mongolian campaign in the West, settling temporarily near the Prut. He asserts that the ethnic name of Jasz which is given to the Iasians by the Hungarians has been erroneously identified with the Jazyges; also he shows that the word "jasz" is a Slavic loan word. The Hungarian name of the city ("Jászvásár") literally means "Jassic Market"; the antiquated Romanian name, "Târgul Ieșilor" (and the once-favoured "Iașii"), and the German "Jassenmarkt", may indicate the same meaning.


title: Iași

text: Archaeological investigations attest to the presence of human communities on the present territory of the city and around it as far back as the prehistoric age. Later settlements included those of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, a late Neolithic archaeological culture.


title: Iași

text: There is archaeological evidence of human settlements in the area of Iași dating from the 6th to 7th centuries (Curtea Domnească) and 7th to 10th centuries; these settlements contained rectangular houses with semicircular ovens. Also, many of the vessels (9th–11th centuries) found in Iași had a cross, potentially indicating that the inhabitants were Christians.


title: Iași

text: In 1396, Iași is mentioned by the German crusader Johann Schiltberger (a participant in the Battle of Nicopolis). The name of the city is first found in an official document in 1408. This is a grant of certain commercial privileges by the Moldavian Prince Alexander to the Polish merchants of Lvov. However, as buildings older than 1408 still exist, e.g. the Armenian Church believed to be originally built in 1395, it is certain that the city existed before its first surviving written mention.


title: Iași

text: Around 1564, Prince Alexandru Lăpușneanu moved the Moldavian capital from Suceava to Iași. Between 1561 and 1563, a school and a Lutheran church were founded by the Greek adventurer Prince, Ioan Iacob Heraclid.


title: Iași

text: In 1640, Vasile Lupu established the first school in which the Romanian language replaced Greek, and set up a printing press in the Byzantine Trei Ierarhi Monastery ("Monastery of the Three Hierarchs"; built 1635–39). Between 15 September – 27 October 1642, the city hosted the Synod of Iași (also referred to as the Synod of Jassy). In 1643, the first volume ever printed in Moldavia was published in Iași.


title: Iași

text: The city was often burned down and looted by the Tatars (in 1513, 1574, 1577, 1593), by the Ottomans in 1538, the Cossacks and Tartars (1650), or the Poles (1620, 1686). In 1734, it was hit by the plague. The city was also affected by famine (1575, 1724, 1739–1740), or large local fires (1725, 1735, 1753, 1766, 1785), propagated by many buildings that were built on wooden structures.


title: Iași

text: It was through the Treaty of Jassy that the sixth Russo-Turkish War was brought to a close in 1792. A Greek revolutionary manoeuvre and occupation under Alexander Ypsilanti (Αλέξανδρος Υψηλάντης) and the Filiki Eteria (Φιλική Εταιρία) (1821, at the beginning of the Greek War of Independence) led to the storming of the city by the Turks in 1822. In 1844 a severe fire affected much of the city.


title: Iași

text: Between 1564 and 1859, the city was the capital of Moldavia; then, between 1859 and 1862, both Iași and Bucharest were de facto capitals of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. In 1862, when the union of the two principalities was recognised under the name of "Romania", the national capital was established in Bucharest. For the loss caused to the city in 1861 by the removal of the seat of government to Bucharest the constituent assembly voted 148,150 lei to be paid in ten annual instalments, but no payment was ever made.


title: Iași

text: During World War I, Iași was the capital of a much reduced Romania for two years, following the Central Powers' occupation of Bucharest on 6 December 1916. The capital was returned to Bucharest after the defeat of Imperial Germany and its allies in November 1918. In November–December 1918 Iași hosted the Iași Conference.


title: Iași

text: Iași also figures prominently in Jewish history, with the first documented presence of Sephardi Jews from the late 16th century. The oldest tomb inscription in the local cemetery probably dates to 1610. By the mid-19th century, owing to widespread Russian Jewish and Galician Jewish immigration into Moldavia, the city was at least one-third Jewish, growing to 50% Jewish by 1899 according to the "Great Geographic Dictionary of Romania" cited by JewishGen. The Podu Roș Synagogue was built in Iași, circa 1810, by Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta, but the synagogue became mostly Misnagdic not long thereafter.


title: Iași

text: In 1855, Iași was the home of the first-ever Yiddish-language newspaper, "Korot Haitim", and, in 1876, the site of what was arguably the first-ever professional Yiddish theatre performance, established by Avraham Goldfaden. The words of HaTikvah, the national anthem of Israel, were written in Iași by Naftali Herz Imber. Jewish musicians in Iași played an important role as preservers of Yiddish folklore, as performers and composers.


title: Iași

text: The first Zionist Hebrew language newspaper in Romania, "Emek Israel", was published in Iași in 1882. Zionist sports clubs, student associations and discussion groups were established in the city, most of which later merged into the Organizația Sionistă. The Hachshara Farms in Iași were a type of training farms to prepare young people for resettlement in the Palestine region.


title: Iași

text: According to the 1930 census, with a population of 34,662 (some 34% of the city's population), Jews were the second largest ethnic group in Iași. There were over 127 synagogues.


title: Iași

text: After World War II, in 1947, there were about 38,000 Jews living in Iași. Because of massive emigration to Israel, in 1975 there were about 3,000 Jews living in Iași and four synagogues were active.


title: Iași

text: Currently, Iași has a dwindling Jewish population of ca. 300 to 600 members and two working synagogues, one of which, the 1671 Great Synagogue, is the oldest surviving synagogue in Romania and among the oldest synagogues still active in Europe. A 10-year restoration project funded by UNESCO, the Romanian Ministry of Culture and the local authorities of Iași restored it to its former glory, opening in time for Hanukkah on 4 December 2018.


title: Iași

text: During the war, while the full scale of the Holocaust remained generally unknown to the Allied Powers, the Iași pogrom stood as one of the known examples of Axis brutality toward the Jews. The pogrom lasted from 29 June to 6 July 1941, and over 13,266 people, or one third of the Jewish population, were massacred in the pogrom itself or in its aftermath, and many were deported. Particularly brutal was the massacre of Jews who were forced on sealed trains in the brutal summer heat. Over half of the occupants perished in these trains, which were aimlessly driven throughout the countryside with no particular destination.


title: Iași

text: In May 1944, the Iași area became the scene of ferocious fighting between Romanian-German forces and the advancing Soviet Red Army and the city was partially destroyed. The German Panzergrenadier Division "Großdeutschland" won a defensive victory at the Battle of Târgu Frumos, near Iași, which was the object of several NATO studies during the Cold War. By 20 August, Iași had been taken by Soviet forces.


title: Iași

text: Iași suffered heavy damage due to Soviet (June–July 1941, June 1944) and American (June 1944) airstrikes, respectively. The bombing of Soviet aviation and artillery on 20 August 1944, resulted in more than 5,000 civilian deaths and the destruction of two-thirds of the city.


title: Iași

text: Iași experienced a major wave of industrialisation, in 1955–1989. During this period of time, it received numerous migrants from rural regions, and the urban area expanded. In the communist era, Iași saw a growth of 235% in population and 69% in area. The local systematization plans of the old city started in 1960 and continued in the 1970s and 1980s as part of the larger national systematization program; however, the urban planning was sometimes arbitrary and followed by dysfunctions. By 1989, Iași had become highly industrialised, with 108,000 employees (representing 47% of the total workforce) active in 46 large state-owned enterprises, in various industries: machine building and heavy equipment, chemical, textile, pharmaceutical, metallurgical, electronics, food, energy, building materials, furniture.


title: Iași

text: After the end of communist rule and the transition to a free market economy, the private sector has grown steadily, while much of the old industry gradually decayed.


title: Iași

text: Located in the North-East of Romania, at the contact between the Jijia Plain and the Bârlad Plateau, Iași used to be the crossroads place of the historic trade routes that passed through Moldavia coming from the Kingdom of Poland, Habsburg monarchy, Tsardom of Russia, and Constantinople.


title: Iași

text: The city lies on the Bahlui River valley, a tributary of the Jijia River (tributary of the Prut River). The surrounding country is one of uplands and woods, featuring monasteries and parks. Iași itself stands amid vineyards and gardens, partly on hills, partly in the in-between valley.


title: Iași

text: The central part of the city is located on the fluvial terrace of the Bahlui River (the so-called Palat Terrace). From this nucleus, the city evolved after the medieval times toward south and north on the Bahlui River floodplain and on the adjacent hills. The southern part of the city lies on the Iași Ridge () (the northernmost hill of the Bârlad Plateau). Considering the present day extension of the administrative boundaries, the city territory has an altitudinal extension of , between the 34.5 m a.s.l. (113.19 ft) in the Bahlui River floodplain, at the Holboca bridge, and 354.77 m a.s.l. (1,163.94 ft), at the edge of the Repedea Hill.


title: Iași

text: It is a common belief that Iași is built on seven hills (): Breazu, Bucium, Cetățuia, Copou, Galata, Repedea and Șorogari, thus triggering comparisons with Rome.


title: Iași

text: Under the Köppen climate classification, Iaşi falls within either a warm-summer humid continental climate ("Dfb") if the isotherm is used or an oceanic climate ("Cfb") if the isotherm is used. Iași experiences four distinct seasons. Summers are warm with temperatures sometimes exceeding while winters are cold and windy with moderate snowfall and temperatures at night sometimes dropping below . Average monthly precipitation ranges from about in October to in June.


title: Iași

text: Iași features historical monuments, 500-year-old churches and monasteries, contemporary architecture, many of them listed on the National Register of Historic Monuments. Notable architecture includes the Trei Ierarhi Monastery, part of the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Site, or the neo-Gothic Palace of Culture, built on the old ruins of the mediaeval Princely Court of Moldavia.


title: Iași

text: During World War II and the Communist era many historical buildings in the old city centre (around Union Square area) were destroyed or demolished, and replaced by International style buildings and also a new mainly Mid-Century modern style Civic Centre was built around the Old Market Square (The Central Hall).


title: Iași

text: The mid-1990s to early-2000s brought the first non-industrial glass curtain walled buildings (Romtelecom, Hotel Europa), while in 2012, in close proximity to the Palace of Culture, the Palas shopping mall and office complex was inaugurated.


title: Iași

text: Iași is the seat of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina, and of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Iași. The city and the surrounding area house more than 10 monasteries and 100 historical churches. Among the oldest is Princely Saint Nicholas (1491), dating from the reign of Stephen the Great, and the Metropolitan Cathedral is the largest of its kind in Romania. The Trei Ierarhi Monastery, a unique monument, considered to be an architectural masterpiece, was erected in 1635–1639 by Vasile Lupu, and adorned with gilded carvings on its outer walls and twin towers.


title: Iași

text: Other examples of historic churches and monasteries (some of them surrounded by defence walls and towers) include: Socola (1562), Galata (1582), Saint Sava (1583), Hlincea (1587), (1594), Bârnova (1603), Barnovschi (1627), Golia (1650), Cetățuia (1668), Frumoasa (1726), Saint Spiridon (1747), (1761), Bărboi (1843 with 18th-century bell tower), Bucium (1853).


title: Iași

text: The city has become a major Christian pilgrimage site since the early modern period. In 1641, the relics of Saint Parascheva were brought to Iași. Each year, around 14 October, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gather to commemorate Saint Parascheva, while the city itself established its Celebration Days at the same time. The October pilgrimage is one of the largest in Europe, drawing people all over Romania as well as from neighboring Orthodox countries.


title: Iași

text: During the entire year, pilgrimages to Iași can also involve visits to a large number of religious sites, both within and around the city.


title: Iași

text: Begun in 1833, at the time when Iași was the capital of Moldavia, by Prince Mihail Sturdza and under the plans of Gheorghe Asachi and Mihail Singurov, Copou Park was integrated into the city and marks one of the first Romanian coordinated public parks. The oldest monument in Romania stands in the middle of the park, the (1834), a tall obelisk, dedicated to the "Regulamentul Organic", the first law on political, administrative and juridical organisation in Romanian Principalities.


title: Iași

text: Founded in 1856, the Botanical Garden of Iași, the first botanical garden in Romania, has an area of over 100 hectares, and more than 10,000 species of plants.


title: Iași

text: Iași Exhibition Park was opened in 1923 and built under the co-ordination of the architect N. Ghica Budești.


title: Iași

text: Eminescu's Linden Tree () is a 500-year-old silver linden ("Tilia tomentosa Moench") situated in Copou Park. Mihai Eminescu reportedly wrote some of his best works underneath this linden tree, rendering it one of Romania's most important natural monuments and a notable Iași landmark. The , in Bucium neighbourhood, is another spot where Mihai Eminescu sought inspiration (the poem "Down Where the Lonely Poplars Grow"). In 1973, the 15 white poplars still left (with the age ranges between 233 and 371 years) were declared natural monuments.


title: Iași

text: Iași County has 387 centuries-old trees, of which 224 were declared monument trees and 160 got the Romanian Academy's approval and are proposed for such a classification. Most of them are oak or linden trees. The oldest tree in the county is the 675-year-old hybrid linden ("Tilia") tree located in the courtyard of Bârnova Monastery, in the vicinity of Iași. When the linden was about 57 years old and about in diameter, Iași was mentioned as an urban settlement, during the reign of Prince Alexander the Good (1408).


title: Iași

text: , Iași is the country's second most populous city after Bucharest with 378,954 residents registered within the city limits, and with a population of 500,668 residents, the Iași urban area is also the second largest in Romania.


title: Iași

text: At the 2011 census, Iași was the fourth most populous Romanian city with a population of 290,422. The metropolitan area association (which includes Iași and 19 other nearby communities) had a population of 403,572, while Iași County, with its 772,348 inhabitants, was the most populous county in Romania (after the Municipality of Bucharest). Additionally there were 60,000 more residents (mostly students) and thousands of daily commuters.


title: Iași

text: According to the 2002 census, in Iași there were 109,357 housing units and 320,888 people living within the city proper. Of this population, 98.5% were ethnic Romanians, while 0.59% were ethnic Romani, 0.13% Jews, 0.13% Greeks, 0.13% Lipovans, 0.08% Hungarians, 0.05% Germans and 0.39% others. In terms of religion, 92.5% of the population were Christian Orthodox, 4.9% Roman Catholic, other religious groups 2.6%. There are currently almost 10,000 Roman Catholics living in Iași. There is a debate between historians as to whether the Catholics are originally of Romanian or Hungarian descent.


title: Iași

text: Iași is an important economic centre in Romania. The local and regional economy relies on industry and service sector institutions and establishments. The most important service sectors are related to education, health care, banking, research, culture, government and tourism.


title: Iași

text: The city is an important information technology sector centre, with the presence of several large multinational companies (Amazon, Oracle, Continental, Conduent, Xerox, Accenture, Capgemini, SCC) and many other local and foreign companies such as Bentley Systems, Bitdefender, Comodo, Endava, Ness, Pentalog, or TiVo (to name a few), as well as two universities which offer specific degree programs. Industry forecasts expect the Iași ITC workforce to grow from the current 16,000 (end of 2016) employees to more than 33,000, by 2030.


title: Iași

text: An estimated workforce of more than 35,000 employees is active in Iași's industrial manufacturing sector, particularly in automotive (Delphi, Lear, Conex Distribution), pharmaceutical industry (Antibiotice Iași, Fiterman Pharma, Ircon SRL), metallurgical production (ArcelorMittal, Technosteel LBR), aerospace (BMT Aerospace), industrial equipment (Agmus, ASAM, Fortus), energy (E.ON Moldova Distribuție, Veolia Energie), textiles and clothing (Benetton, Iași Conf, Iașitex), home appliances (Tehnoton), building materials (Brikston, Build Corp), food (Compan, Panifcom, Zeelandia).


title: Iași

text: Located in an area recognised for its vineyards and wines, Iași is part of a traditional wine region with viticultural centres surrounding the city: Copou, Bucium, Uricani, Comarna, Plugari, and Probota. Iași County is also home to renowned Cotnari and Bohotin vineyards.


title: Iași

text: With large shopping malls and commercial centres located in the area, Iași also has a well-developed retail business.


title: Iași

text: The city's current local council has the following multi-party political composition, based on the results of the ballots cast at the 2020 Romanian local elections:


title: Iași

text: Major events in the political and cultural history of Moldavia are connected with the name of the city of Iași. The great scholars of the 17th century, Grigore Ureche, Miron Costin and later Ion Neculce, wrote most of their works in the city or not far from it and the famous scholar Dimitrie Cantemir known throughout all Europe also linked his name to the capital of Moldavia.


title: Iași

text: The first newspaper in Romanian language was published in 1829 in Iași and it is in Iași where, in 1867, appeared under literary society Junimea, the Convorbiri Literare review in which Ion Creangă’s Childhood Memories and the best poems by Mihai Eminescu were published. The reviews Contemporanul and Viața Românească appeared in 1871, respectively in 1906 with great contributions to promoting Romanian national cultural values.


title: Iași

text: Many great personalities of Romanian culture are connected to Iași: the chronicler Nicolae Milescu, the historians and politicians Mihail Kogălniceanu and Simion Bărnuțiu, the poets Vasile Alecsandri and George Topârceanu, the writers Mihail Sadoveanu, Alecu Russo, and Ionel Teodoreanu, the literary critic Titu Maiorescu, the historian A.D. Xenopol, the philosophers Vasile Conta and Petre Andrei, the sociologist Dimitrie Gusti, the geographer Emil Racoviță and the painter Octav Băncilă, only to name a few.


title: Iași

text: The Vasile Alecsandri National Theatre, opened in 1840, is the first National Theatre in Romania. The building, designed according to the plans of the Viennese architects Hermann Helmer and Ferdinand Fellner, was raised between 1894 and 1896, and also hosts, starting 1956, the Iași Romanian National Opera.


title: Iași

text: First memorial museum from Romania opened in Iași in 1918, as the Ion Creangă Memorial House, and today the Iași National Museum of Romanian Literature owns several memorial houses and museums. The Mihai Eminescu Museum, situated in Copou Park, is dedicated to the great poet's life and creation; other museums are dedicated to: Dosoftei, Mihail Kogălniceanu, Vasile Alecsandri, Mihai Codreanu, Vasile Pogor, Otilia Cazimir, Mihail Sadoveanu, George Topîrceanu, Nicolae Gane, Constantin Negruzzi, Garabet Ibrăileanu, Ionel Teodoreanu, Petru Poni, , Cezar Petrescu, Dimitrie Anghel.


title: Iași

text: The , opened in 1976 at the celebration of 160 years since the first theatrical performance in Romanian, illustrates the development of the theatrical phenomenon since the beginning, important moments of the history of Iași National Theatre, the foundation, in 1840, of the Philharmonic-dramatic Conservatoire, prestigious figures that have contributed to the development of the Romanian theatre.


title: Iași

text: The , founded on 4 February 1834, is the first museum of this kind in Romania with over 300,000 items, the most valuable being the collections of insects, mollusc, amphibians, reptiles, birds, plants and minerals.


title: Iași

text: Four other museums are located in the Palace of Culture: with its roots dating back to 1860, the "Iași Art Museum" is the oldest of its kind in Romania, and, with more than 8,700 works (many of them belonging to the universal patrimony), has the largest art collection in the country; the "Moldavia's History Museum", offers more than 48,000 objects from various fields, archaeology, numismatics, decorative art, ancient books, documents; the "Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia" owns more than 13,000 objects depicting the Romanian advance through the ages; the "Science and Technology Museum's" collection has more than 11,200 objects in five distinct sections and one memorial house.


title: Iași

text: In May 2016, the was re-established, while in July 2021 four new museums, located in the House of Museums, were opened to the public: the Museum of Iași Pogrom, the Museum of the Jewish Theatre in Romania, the Museum of Poetry, and the Museum of Childhood under Communism.


title: Iași

text: Iași hosts six cultural centres: French, German, British, Latin American & Caribbean, Hellenic, and Arab.


title: Iași

text: Live music and different other artistic events (poetry nights, readings) are a habitual occurrence in the various bars and coffee shops the city has to offer.


title: Iași

text: The first institute of higher learning that functioned on the territory of Romania was Academia Vasiliană (1640) founded by Prince Vasile Lupu as a "higher school for Latin and Slavonic languages", followed by the Princely Academy in 1707.


title: Iași

text: The first high education structure in Romanian language was established in the autumn of 1813, when engineer Gheorghe Asachi laid the foundations of a class of engineers, its activities taking place within the Greek Princely Academy.


title: Iași

text: After 1813, other moments marked the development of higher education in Romanian language, regarding both humanities and the technical science. In 1835, Academia Mihăileană founded by Prince Mihail Sturdza is considered first Romanian superior institute in the country.


title: Iași

text: In 1860, three faculties part of the Academia Mihăileană formed the nucleus for the newly established University of Iași, the first Romanian university.


title: Iași

text: The , founded in Iași, has existed since the early part of the 19th century, and a number of periodicals are published. One of the oldest medical universities in Romania, founded in 1879, is located in Iași. It is now known as the Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy.


title: Iași

text: In 1937, the two applied science sections of the University of Iași became departments of the newly created Gheorghe Asachi Polytechnic School. In the period before and after World War II, the later (renamed "Polytechnic Institute" in 1948) extended its domain of activity, especially in the field of engineering, and became known as Gheorghe Asachi Technical University in 1993.


title: Iași

text: There are also some private higher education institutions including Petre Andrei University, the largest private university in the historical region of Moldavia.


title: Iași

text: The Central University Library of Iași, where the chief records of Romanian history are preserved, is the oldest and the second largest in Romania.


title: Iași

text: , Iași has 74 public schools, coordinated by the Iași County School Inspectorate. The city is also home to 19 private schools.


title: Iași

text: Iași Science Festival is a week long festival organised every year in April (starting 2013) for high school and grade school students to get be able to observe and take part in scientific experiments and be given detailed tours of the scientific and technical universities and research labs in Iași. Over 200 experiments were performed and over 10,000 students took part in the 2014 edition, from throughout the Moldavia region.


title: Iași

text: Iași's public transportation system is served by the CTP Iași (former RATP), which operates an extensive network using 126 trams (electric trams began operating in Iași in 1900) and 150 buses. In 2014, CTP carried 50,358,000 passengers, an average of 140,000 passengers per day.


title: Iași

text: Iași is served by the Iași International Airport (IAS) located east of the city centre. The airport is the 4th busiest in Romania and offers direct domestic, European, and Middle Eastern scheduled or charter connections. After extensive modernisation works, the number of connections and traffic volumes have seen a significant increase, in 2015.


title: Iași

text: Iași-Pașcani railway was opened on , Iași-Ungheni on 1 August 1874 and Iași-Chișinău railway was opened on 1 June 1875 by the Russian Empire in preparation for the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878).


title: Iași

text: Nowadays, three railway stations, Grand Railway Station, and serve the city and are operated by Romanian Railways (CFR). Moldovan railway also serves these stations for travel into Moldova.


title: Iași

text: The Grand Railway Station, located about from the city centre, provides direct rail connections to all the major Romanian cities and to Chișinău, Moldova. The rail stations are very well connected to all the parts of the city by the trams and buses of the local public transport companies.


title: Iași

text: Iași is connected by European routes E583/E85 with Bucharest through a four lane road, by European route E58 with Central Europe and Chișinău in Moldova, and by DN National Roads with all major cities of Romania. A planned East–West freeway would connect the city to the A3 Transylvania Motorway and A7 Moldavia Motorway.


title: Iași

text: The Iași Coach Station is used by several private transport companies to provide coach connections from Iași to a large number of locations from all over the country.


title: Iași

text: Iași is home to 14 public hospitals, including the , the second largest and one of the oldest in Romania (1755), St. Maria Clinic Children's Hospital (one of the largest children's hospitals in the country), Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Regional Oncology Institute, and (1905 – first psychiatric hospital in Romania). The public system is complemented by numerous private clinics.


title: Iași

text: In December 2021, the Ministry of Health signed the contract for the design of a new hospital that will serve the entire North-East region. The total investment in the construction of the Iași Regional Emergency Hospital (), with a completion date of 2027, is estimated at over 500 million euros.


title: Iași

text: In 2014, the European Commission started environmental law infringement procedures against Romania, citing Bucharest, Iași, and Brașov cases as examples. In 2015, while the atmospheric particulate matter has repeatedly reached and exceeded legal thresholds for PM, Iași came to be regarded as the city with the second worst air quality in Romania, after Bucharest. Pollution from vehicular traffic, construction works, and a lack of green spaces (the city only has about of public green spaces per capita) make up some of the reasons behind these problems.


title: Renaissance Center

text: The Renaissance Center (also known as the GM Renaissance Center and nicknamed the RenCen) is a group of seven connected skyscrapers in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. The Renaissance Center complex is on the Detroit International Riverfront and is owned by General Motors as its world headquarters. The central tower has been the tallest building in Michigan since it was erected in 1977.


title: Renaissance Center

text: John Portman was the principal architect for the original design. The first phase consisted of a five-tower rosette rising from a common base. Four 39-story office towers surround the 73-story hotel rising from a square podium which includes a shopping center, restaurants, brokers, and banks. The first phase officially opened in March 1977. Portman's design brought renewed attention to city architecture, since it resulted in construction of the world's tallest hotel at the time. Two additional 21-story office towers (known as Tower 500 and Tower 600) opened in 1981. This type of complex has been termed a "city within a city."


title: Renaissance Center

text: In 2004, General Motors completed a US$500 million renovation of the Class-A center as its world headquarters, which it had purchased in 1996. The renovation included the addition of the five-story Wintergarden atrium, which provides access to the International Riverfront. Architects for the renovation included Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Gensler, SmithGroup, and Ghafari Associates. Work continued in and around the complex until 2005. Renaissance Center totals making it one of the world's largest commercial complexes.