title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: In September 2015, Switzerland began investigating a payment Blatter authorised in 2011 to the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Michel Platini for work done between 1999 and 2002. They also launched an investigation of possible "criminal mismanagement" by Blatter in a 2005 TV rights deal he signed with Jack Warner. In March 2017, FIFA submitted 1300 pages of reports to the Swiss Attorney General's office. After investigation, in November 2021 Blatter and Platini were charged with fraud in relation to the 2 million Swiss franc payment made from FIFA funds to Platini in 2011.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: In September 2015, Swiss public television channel SRF published that Blatter would have sold the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup rights in North America for US$600,000, a small fraction of their market value.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: Torneos & Traffic (T&T) is a subsidiary of Fox International Channels since 2005 (with investments since 2002) is the same company involved in corrupt practices in the acquisition of rights to major South American football tournaments.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: A total of 18 individuals and two corporations have been indicted, including nine FIFA officials and five businessmen.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: In 2001, FIFA affiliate International Sports and Leisure went bankrupt in what were viewed in some circles as suspicious circumstances. In 2002 a FIFA whistleblower contacted British journalist Andrew Jennings relating to alleged corruption within FIFA itself.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: Following investigations Swiss magistrate Thomas Hildbrand seized documents from FIFA offices in 2005 and in 2007 Jennings published a book – "Foul" – and broadcast the BBC "Panorama" documentary "The Beautiful Bung: Corruption and the World Cup". "Panorama" later aired the "Fifa and Co" documentary in 2007, which contained an allegation of soliciting a bribe against Jack Warner and a court judgement that Jérôme Valcke had lied in FIFA business dealings. These reports led the FBI to contact Jennings in 2009.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 29 November 2010 the BBC broadcast "FIFA's Dirty Secrets", a second documentary by Jennings. This was aired just days before the results of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids in Zurich, Switzerland. Following the bidding process, FIFA announced that Russia and Qatar had won the rights to stage the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively. The result immediately caused controversies, as Russia is accused of a high level of racism in football and because of its involvement in the 2014 Ukrainian crisis. After it was announced that Russia would host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Dr Rafał Pankowski, a head of UEFA FARE Monitoring Centre, accused the Russian Football Union of downplaying racist chants in stadiums.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 led to several British and American politicians calling on FIFA to overturn its decision of hosting the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Criticism from a number of media outlets, sporting experts, and human rights groups also highlighted problems such as Qatar's limited football history, the high expected cost, the local climate, and Qatar's human rights record. Since in summer temperature will reach more than 50 °C (122 °F) in Qatar, it was announced on 24 February 2015 that a winter world cup would go ahead in favour of the traditional summertime event.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: In 2011, former MI6 spy Christopher Steele began providing information and sources to the FBI, which helped advance the investigation.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: In May 2011 a whistleblower later revealed to be Phaedra Almajid who was a member of the Qatari bid team for the 2022 World Cup, claimed that money was paid to FIFA's executive committee in order to buy votes. However, she retracted these claims in July 2011, later claiming that she had been coerced into making these retractions.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: In May 2013, former CONCACAF executive Chuck Blazer was arrested (and later indicted) on bribery charges. Jack Warner and Blazer were suspended from FIFA at around the same time. Then on 17 October 2014 FIFA announced that the Garcia Report into alleged bribery during the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids could not be released in full for legal reasons. Garcia later claimed that a summary of the report that "was" released misrepresents his findings.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On the morning of 27 May 2015, seven FIFA officials were arrested just before the start of the 65th FIFA Congress. Two days later Sepp Blatter comfortably defeated Prince Ali bin Hussein to remain as President of FIFA. David Gill threatened to resign his newly elected role as FIFA Vice-president and member of the FIFA Executive Committee. 41 arrests in total had been made with both organizations and individuals being arrested


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: Within these arrests, 14 people have been convicted. Out of these 14, there are 12 individuals and 2 organisations. They were all charged with things like "racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracies". The investigations continued with the chance of more arrests remaining likely, on which US Attorney General Loretta Lynch stated that the Department of Justice was aware that there are more corrupt officials and organizations, and expressed its commitment to catch all who were involved.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 27 May 2015, during the FIFA annual meeting at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, authorities charged 14 officials, including nine current or former FIFA executives, including FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb. All faced extradition to the United States. On the same day, the Swiss attorney general's office said that other FIFA executives were being questioned on suspicion of "criminal mismanagement" and money laundering.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 2 June 2015 a letter was published, claiming that Jérôme Valcke was party to a potential bribe paid to former FIFA executive Jack Warner in relation to votes for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Despite his win just four days previously, Sepp Blatter announced his resignation as FIFA President.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: The following day, South Africa sports minister Fikile Mbalula denied the $10 million payment to Warner was a bribe.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: Later that day, the FBI unsealed the transcript of the allocution made by former FIFA member and head of CONCACAF, Chuck Blazer which he had made when he pleaded guilty in 2013 to various charges as part of an apparent plea bargain. In Blazer's partially-redacted allocution, he claimed that he "and others, while acting in our official capacities, agreed to participate in a scheme to defraud FIFA and CONCACAF of the right to honest services by taking undisclosed bribes" and that he had "agreed with others in or around 1992 to facilitate the acceptance of a bribe in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup. I and others on the FIFA executive committee agreed to accept bribes in conjunction with the selection of South Africa as the host nation for the 2010 World Cup".


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 6 June, Phaedra Almajid, who had been placed under the protective custody of the FBI, claimed that FIFA would be forced to strip Qatar from hosting the 2022 World Cup.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 9 June, Italian-Argentinian Alejandro Burzaco was arrested in Italy. The two remaining Argentinian businessmen indicted, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis, surrendered to a court in Buenos Aires on 18 June.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 17 September 2015, FIFA stated that Jérôme Valcke had been put on leave and released from his duties until further notice. The decision was made by the FIFA Emergency Committee after a series of allegations implicated Valcke of selling World Cup tickets for above face value.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 25 September, criminal proceedings were started against Blatter by Swiss prosecutors on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation. Blatter denied any wrongdoing.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 8 October 2015, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, Secretary General Jerome Valcke and UEFA President Michel Platini were suspended for 80 days by FIFA's Ethics Committee. Blatter appealed the suspension but lost the appeal on 18 November 2015.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: German police searched the headquarters of the German Football Association over allegations of illegal deals before the 2006 World Cup. The head of president of the German Football Association, Wolfgang Niersbach, resigned. Marco Polo del Nero of Brazil, president of the Brazilian football federation announced his resignation from FIFA Executive Committee on 26 November 2015.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 3 December 2015, FIFA vice-presidents Alfredo Hawit and Juan Angel Napout were arrested on suspicion of bribery in the same Zurich hotel where seven FIFA officials had been arrested in May 2015. Hours later, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed an additional 16 indictments for criminal schemes; as well, former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb pleaded guilty to money laundering, wire fraud and racketeering.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 21 December, the FIFA Ethics Committee banned both Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini for eight years from all football-related activity organised by FIFA after being found guilty of a £1.3 million ($2 million) "disloyal payment" made to Platini in 2011. Blatter said he would appeal the verdict.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 9 January 2016, the FIFA Emergency Committee decided to dismiss Jérôme Valcke as FIFA Secretary General and to terminate his employment relationship.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 26 February 2016, an extraordinary FIFA Congress was held and elected UEFA Secretary General Gianni Infantino as the new president of FIFA while also passing a major reform package.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 29 May 2015, Sepp Blatter won re-election to the FIFA presidency at the 65th FIFA Congress in Zurich amid growing criticism over his position. Four days later, however, he announced that he would continue as president only until a new election would be conducted at a 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress on 26 February 2016. Blatter said that he would not be a candidate for election at that time. Blatter maintained "I did not resign, I put myself and my office in the hands of the FIFA congress."


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: Upon the decision of the FIFA Adjudicatory Chamber of the Independent Ethics Committee to provisionally ban Blatter, FIFA recognised Issa Hayatou as the interim president of FIFA in accordance with article 32 (6) of the FIFA Statutes.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 10 June 2015, FIFA announced that they would be delaying the 2026 FIFA World Cup bidding process, amidst allegations surrounding bribery in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding processes. Secretary-general Valcke stated that "Due to the situation, I think it's nonsense to start any bidding process for the time being." Furthermore, FIFA announced the host selection for the 2026 World Cup would be postponed until 2020.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: According to the US Department of Justice web site, the following defendants previously pleaded guilty under seal and agreed to forfeit more than $40 million.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: In October 2015, four major FIFA sponsors, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Visa and Budweiser, called for Blatter to stand down immediately as FIFA president.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: On 12 June 2015, an international law enforcement agency Interpol announced it was suspending a 20 million euro donation by FIFA to fund an anti-gambling and match-fixing program. Four million euros were spent in the first two years on prevention and education and another 1.5 million euros was set to be spent in the remaining eight years.


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: An Interpol spokesman said, "The agreement with FIFA includes a clause which states that 'the Funding Party declares notably that its activities are compatible with the principles, aims and activities of Interpol'. All external partners, whether public or private, must share the fundamental values and principles of the organisation, as well as the wider law enforcement community."


title: 2015 FIFA corruption case

text: The donation for the 10-year Integrity in Sport program was originally accepted in 2011 by former Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble.


title: Gisele Yashar

text: Gisele Yashar is a fictional character portrayed by Gal Gadot who appears in "The Fast and The Furious" franchise. Introduced in the 2009 film "Fast & Furious", she helps Dominic Toretto's team while forming a romantic relationship with team member Han Lue. The character is presumably killed in the 2013 film "Fast & Furious 6". Gisele was Gadot's first major film role, and American director Justin Lin hired her due to her past military experience. Gadot performed her own stunts while shooting the films.


title: Gisele Yashar

text: Media outlets characterized Gisele through her sexuality. Reactions to the character were mixed: some critics praised the representation of Gisele's sexuality and her relationship with Han while others felt her character was either unrealistic or represented a part of the franchise's poor treatment of women. Gadot's performance received positive feedback, and several commentators requested she reprise the role in a future film.


title: Gisele Yashar

text: In "Fast & Furious" (2009), Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot) is introduced as a liaison for drug trafficker Arturo Braga (John Ortiz). She develops romantic feelings for Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), but he rejects her advances. She advises him about the dangers involved in smuggling heroin across the Mexico–United States border to complete a deal with Braga. The drug exchange results in an ambush instigated by Braga, with Toretto protecting Gisele. She helps Toretto by providing him with the location of Braga's hideout in Mexico.


title: Gisele Yashar

text: Gisele becomes part of Toretto's team as a weapons expert in the 2011 film "Fast Five". She is later revealed to be an ex-Mossad agent. She helps the team with a heist, during which she works closely with Han Lue (Sung Kang), and the two develop a romantic relationship. Following the completion of the mission, Gisele and Han are last shown speeding down the Autobahn, with Gisele sitting in his lap in a Lexus LFA.


title: Gisele Yashar

text: At the start of "Fast & Furious 6" (2013), Gisele and Han are living together in Hong Kong. Toretto recruits the couple to prevent a heist planned by Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), which could potentially kill millions of people. For the mission Gisele draws on her Mossad experience with interrogation, weapons, and retrieval. While attempting to stop a plane, she is left hanging from the back of a Range Rover. Han attempts to rescue her, but Adolfson (Benjamin Davies), a member of Shaw's gang, uses the opportunity to try and kill him. Gisele lets go of Han's hand to shoot Adolfson, and she falls to her death. Han later kills Adolfson in revenge for Gisele's death. At the end of the film, Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) says a blessing in Gisele's honor during grace.


title: Gisele Yashar

text: In the 2015 film "Furious 7", a photo of Gisele is shown in Han's personal belongings, and it is later placed in his coffin as part of his memorial service. A deleted scene revealed Gisele had found Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) after she was nearly killed by Fenix Calderon (Laz Alonso) and took her to the hospital. Letty asked Gisele why she saved her, and Gisele responded: "Maybe you are the one saving me."


title: Gisele Yashar

text: The 2021 film "F9" reveals that Gisele had worked with the team's 'future' government contact 'Mr Nobody' (Kurt Russell) during his time running drug operations for the CIA in South America. After her death, Nobody tracked down Han in Tokyo to ask for his help with a vital mission, reasoning that Gisele's faith in Han was enough for Nobody to be assured that Han could be trusted in turn.


title: Gisele Yashar

text: Gisele Yashar was Gal Gadot's first major film role, and the actress felt that it had a major impact on her career. She said that her unsuccessful experiences when trying out for Bond girl Camille Montes in the 22nd James Bond film "Quantum of Solace" (2008) had led to other auditions, specifically the one for Gisele. Gadot was cast by American director Justin Lin. The actress said that her background in the military helped with the audition, explaining: "I think the main reason was that Justin really liked that I was in the Israeli military, and he wanted to use my knowledge of weapons." In 2017, Gadot also thanked Vin Diesel for his input over her selection for the role. "Vanity Fair's" Yohana Desta identified Gisele as "a breakthrough part that gave Gadot some mainstream recognition".


title: Gisele Yashar

text: When discussing her initial response to "The Fast and The Furious" franchise, Gadot said: "We don't do those kind of movies [in Israel], with those kind of standards". She performed her own stunts during the films, saying: "The adrenaline was just incredible and I enjoyed being able to do the stuff that in real life you can't." Gadot explained that she wanted to feel like a "tough girl" while shooting her scenes. For the character's return in "Fast & Furious 6", Gadot told Lin that she wanted Gisele to "be more of a badass", and was given more stunt work for the film. Some of the stunts involved jumping from a moving motorcycle onto a Jeep, being suspended in a harness, and riding a Ducati Monster motorcycle. Media outlets also characterized Gisele through her sexuality; Fuse's Bianca Gracie referred to her as "sensual and intimidating", and "The Stranger"'s Erik Henriksen called her a "villainous seductress".


title: Gisele Yashar

text: Gisele Yashar has received a mixed response from film critics. Decider's Meghan O'Keefe praised Gisele as a new type of female character for "The Fast and The Furious" franchise, writing that she provided a more "sophisticated, and unapologetically femme vibe" when compared to the rougher Ortiz. O'Keefe responded positively to Gisele's use of her sexuality and femininity as a tactic to manipulate men, as well as to her romance and partnership with Han. Nerdist News's Sydney Bucksbaum also identified the character's relationship with Han as a highlight, writing that they became "one of the most iconic couples from all the movies". Some commentators had a more negative response to the character. "The A.V. Club"'s Tom Breihan felt that Gisele's transformation from "a drug lord's envoy to a former Mossad agent and a badass killer" was part of how the franchise gave "implausible makeovers" to certain characters. IndieWire's Kate Erbland included Gisele's death as an example of the franchise's poor treatment of women; she explained that female characters, such as Gisele, "primarily exist to round out the storylines of the films' male characters, often as love interests" and are rarely brought into focus as individuals.


title: Gisele Yashar

text: Gadot's performance received positive feedback from critics. In a 2017 article, Heavy.com's Brendan Marrow listed Gisele as one of Gadot's best performances prior to her starring role as Wonder Woman in the 2017 film of the same name. O’Keefe of Decider described Gadot and her character as the "secret weapon" of "The Fast and The Furious" franchise, praising the actress for her "totally kickass contribution to the bonkers, high-octane, super-charged [films]". O'Keefe described Gadot's performance as "balanc[ing] unbridled badassery with unabashedly feminine charm". Joe Reid, also writing for Decider, recommended that Gisele should be revived for future installments of the franchise, but questioned if the producers could afford to have Gadot return for another film. Bucksbaum campaigned for the character's return, and wrote that she could likely be featured in a future film through a flashback sequence.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: The Apostolic Palace (; ) is the official residence of the pope, the head of the Catholic Church, located in Vatican City. It is also known as the Papal Palace, the Palace of the Vatican and the Vatican Palace. The Vatican itself refers to the building as the Palace of Sixtus V, in honor of Pope Sixtus V, who built most of the present form of the palace.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: The building contains the papal apartments, various offices of the Catholic Church and the Holy See, private and public chapels, Vatican Museums, and the Vatican Library, including the Sistine Chapel, Raphael Rooms, and Borgia Apartment. The modern tourist can see these last and other parts of the palace, but other parts, such as the Sala Regia (Regal Room) and Cappella Paolina, had long been closed to tourists, though the Sala Regia allowed occasional tourism by 2019. The Scala Regia (Regal Staircase) can be viewed from one end and used to enter the Sala Regia. The Cappella Paolina remains closed to tourists.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: In the 5th century, Pope Symmachus built a papal palace close to the Old St. Peter's Basilica which served an alternative residence to the Lateran Palace. The construction of a second fortified palace was sponsored by Pope Eugene III and extensively modified under Pope Innocent III in the twelfth century.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: Upon returning to Rome in 1377 after the interlude of the Avignon Papacy, which saw Rome subject to civil unrest and the abandonment of several Christian monuments, the popes chose to reside first at Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere and then at Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. The Vatican Palace had fallen into disrepair from lack of upkeep, and the Lateran Palace underwent two destructive fires, in 1307 and 1361, which resulted in irreparable harm. In 1447, Pope Nicholas V razed the ancient fortified palace of Eugene III to erect a new building, the current Apostolic Palace.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: In the 15th century, the palace was placed under the authority of a prefect. This position of Apostolic Prefect lasted from the 15th century until the 1800s, when the Papal States fell into economic difficulties. In 1884, when this post was reviewed in light of saving money, Pope Leo XIII created a committee to administer the palace.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: The major additions and decorations of the palace are the work of the following popes for 150 years. Construction of the current version of the palace began on 30 April 1589 under Pope Sixtus V and its various intrinsic parts were completed by later successors, Pope Urban VII, Pope Innocent XI and Pope Clement VIII. In the 20th century, Pope Pius XI built a monumental art gallery and museum entrance.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: Construction of the Papal Palace (also known as the Apostolic Palace or Vatican Palace) at the Vatican in Vatican City, took place mainly between 1471 and 1605. Covering 162,000 square metres (1,743,753 square feet), it contains the papal apartments, offices of the Roman Catholic Church and Holy See, chapels, Vatican Library, museums and art galleries.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: The Apostolic Palace is run by the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household. The "palace" is more accurately a series of self-contained buildings within the well-recognized outer structure which is arranged around the Courtyard of Sixtus V (Cortile di Sisto V). It is located northeast of St Peter's Basilica and adjacent to the Bastion of Nicholas V and Palace of Gregory XIII.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: The Apostolic Palace houses both residential and support offices of various functions as well as administrative offices not focused on the life and functions of the pope himself.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: Perhaps the best known of the palace chapels is the Sistine Chapel named in honor of Sixtus IV (Francesco della Rovere). It is famous for its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and others.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: One of the primary functions of the chapel is as a venue for the election of each successive pope in a conclave of the College of Cardinals. In this closed-door election, the cardinals choose a successor to the traditionally first pope, St. Peter, who is traditionally buried in the crypts of nearby St. Peter's Church.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: This suite of rooms is famous for its frescos by a large team of artists working under Raphael. They were originally intended as a suite of apartments for Pope Julius II. He commissioned Raphael, then a relatively young artist from Urbino, and his studio in 1508 or 1509 to redecorate the existing interiors of the rooms entirely. It was possibly Julius' intent to outshine the apartments of his predecessor (and rival) Pope Alexander VI, as the "Stanze" are directly above Alexander's Borgia Apartments. They are on the third floor, overlooking the south side of the Belvedere Courtyard.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: From east to west, as a visitor would have entered the apartment, but reversing the sequence in which the "Stanze" were frescoed, and also the route of the modern visitor, the rooms are the Sala di Constantino ("Hall of Constantine"), the Stanza di Eliodoro ("Room of Heliodorus"), the Stanza della Segnatura (the earliest and the most admired) ("Room of the Signature") and the Stanza dell'Incendio del Borgo ("The Room of the "Fire in the Borgo"").


title: Apostolic Palace

text: After the death of Julius in 1513, with two rooms frescoed, Pope Leo X continued the program. Following Raphael's death in 1520, his assistants Gianfrancesco Penni, Giulio Romano and Raffaellino del Colle finished the project with the frescoes in the "Sala di Costantino".


title: Apostolic Palace

text: The Borgia Apartments is a suite of rooms in the palace adapted for personal use by Pope Alexander VI (Rodrígo de Borgia). He commissioned the Italian painter Pinturicchio to lavishly decorate the apartments with frescoes.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: The paintings and frescoes, which were executed between 1492 and 1494, drew on a complex iconographic program that used themes from medieval encyclopedias, adding an eschatological layer of meaning and celebrating the supposedly divine origins of the Borgias.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: The rooms are variously considered a part of the Vatican Library and Vatican Museums. Some of the rooms are now used for the Vatican Collection of Modern Religious Art, inaugurated by Pope Paul VI in 1973.


title: Apostolic Palace

text: The Clementine Hall was established in the 16th century by Pope Clement VIII in honor of Pope Clement I, the third pope. Like other chapels and apartments in the palace, the hall is notable for its large collection of frescos and other art.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Bryce Canyon National Park () is an American national park located in southwestern Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce Canyon National Park is much smaller and sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from .


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The Bryce Canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1874. The area around Bryce Canyon was originally designated as a national monument by President Warren G. Harding in 1923 and was redesignated as a national park by Congress in 1928. The park covers and receives substantially fewer visitors than Zion National Park (nearly 4.3 million in 2016) or Grand Canyon National Park (nearly 6 million in 2016), largely due to Bryce's more remote location. In 2018, Bryce Canyon received 2,679,478 recreational visitors, which was an increase of 107,794 visitors from the prior year.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Bryce Canyon National Park lies within the Colorado Plateau geographic province of North America and straddles the southeastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau west of the Paunsaugunt Faults ("Paunsaugunt" is Paiute for "home of the beaver"). Park visitors arrive from the plateau part of the park and look over the plateau's edge toward a valley containing the fault and the Paria River just beyond it ("Paria" is Paiute for "muddy or elk water"). The edge of the Kaiparowits Plateau bounds the opposite side of the valley.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Bryce Canyon was not formed from erosion initiated from a central stream, meaning it technically is not a canyon. Instead headward erosion has excavated large amphitheater-shaped features in the Cenozoic-aged rocks of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. This erosion resulted in delicate and colorful pinnacles called hoodoos that are up to high. A series of amphitheaters extends more than north-to-south within the park. The largest is Bryce Amphitheater, which is long, wide and deep. A nearby example of amphitheaters with hoodoos in the same formation but at a higher elevation is in Cedar Breaks National Monument, which is to the west on the Markagunt Plateau.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Rainbow Point, the highest part of the park at , is at the end of the scenic drive. From there, Aquarius Plateau, Bryce Amphitheater, the Henry Mountains, the Vermilion Cliffs and the White Cliffs can be seen. Yellow Creek, where it exits the park in the north-east section, is the lowest part of the park at .


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: According to the Köppen climate classification system, Bryce Canyon National Park has a continental climate with warm, dry summers ("Dsb"). Dsb climates are defined by their coldest month having an average mean temperature below , all months with an average mean temperature below , at least four months with an average mean temperature above , and three times as much precipitation in the wettest winter month compared to the driest summer month. The plant hardiness zone at the visitor center is 5b with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of .


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The national park is located in southwestern Utah about northeast of and higher than Zion National Park. The weather in Bryce Canyon is therefore cooler, and the park receives more precipitation: a total of per year. Yearly temperatures vary from an average minimum of in January to an average maximum of in July, but extreme temperatures can range from . The record high temperature in the park was on July 14, 2002. The record low temperature was on February 6, 1989, and January 13, 1963.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Little is known about early human habitation in the Bryce Canyon area. Archaeological surveys of Bryce Canyon National Park and the Paunsaugunt Plateau show that people have been in the area for at least 10,000 years. Basketmaker Anasazi artifacts several thousand years old have been found south of the park. Other artifacts from the Pueblo-period Anasazi and the Fremont culture (up to the mid-12th century) have also been found.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The Paiute Native Americans moved into the surrounding valleys and plateaus in the area around the same time that the other cultures left. These Native Americans hunted and gathered for most of their food, but also supplemented their diet with some cultivated products. The Paiute in the area developed a mythology surrounding the hoodoos (pinnacles) in Bryce Canyon. They believed that hoodoos were the Legend People whom the trickster Coyote turned to stone. At least one older Paiute said his culture called the hoodoos "Anka-ku-was-a-wits", which is Paiute for "red painted faces".


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: It was not until the late 18th and the early 19th century that the first European Americans explored the remote and hard-to-reach area. Mormon scouts visited the area in the 1850s to gauge its potential for agricultural development, use for grazing, and settlement.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The first major scientific expedition to the area was led by U.S. Army Major John Wesley Powell in 1872. Powell, along with a team of mapmakers and geologists, surveyed the Sevier and Virgin River area as part of a larger survey of the Colorado Plateaus. His mapmakers kept many of the Paiute place names.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Small groups of Mormon pioneers followed and attempted to settle east of Bryce Canyon along the Paria River. In 1873, the Kanarra Cattle Company started to use the area for cattle grazing.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent Scottish immigrant Ebenezer Bryce and his wife Mary to settle land in the Paria Valley because they thought his carpentry skills would be useful in the area. The Bryce family chose to live right below Bryce Amphitheater—the main collection of hoodoos in the park. Bryce grazed his cattle inside what are now park borders, and reputedly thought that the amphitheaters were a "helluva place to lose a cow." He also built a road to the plateau to retrieve firewood and timber, and a canal to irrigate his crops and water his animals. Other settlers soon started to call the unusual place "Bryce's canyon", which was later formalized into Bryce Canyon.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: A combination of drought, overgrazing and flooding eventually drove the remaining Paiutes from the area and prompted the settlers to attempt construction of a water diversion channel from the Sevier River drainage. When that effort failed, most of the settlers, including the Bryce family, left the area. Bryce moved his family to Arizona in 1880. The remaining settlers dug a ditch from the Sevier's east fork into Tropic Valley.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: These scenic areas were first described for the public in magazine articles published by Union Pacific and Santa Fe railroads in 1916. People like Forest Supervisor J. W. Humphrey promoted the scenic wonders of Bryce Canyon's amphitheaters, and by 1918 nationally distributed articles also helped to spark interest. However, poor access to the remote area and the lack of accommodations kept visitation to a bare minimum.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Ruby Syrett, Harold Bowman and the Perry brothers later built modest lodging, and set up "touring services" in the area. Syrett later served as the first postmaster of Bryce Canyon. Visitation steadily increased, and by the early 1920s the Union Pacific Railroad became interested in expanding rail service into southwestern Utah to accommodate more tourists.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: At the same time, conservationists became alarmed by the damage overgrazing, logging, and unregulated visitation were having on the fragile features of Bryce Canyon. A movement to have the area protected was soon started, and National Park Service Director Stephen Mather responded by proposing that Bryce Canyon be made into a state park. The governor of Utah and the Utah State Legislature, however, lobbied for national protection of the area. Mather relented and sent his recommendation to President Warren G. Harding, who on June 8, 1923, declared Bryce Canyon a national monument.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: A road was built the same year on the plateau to provide easy access to outlooks over the amphitheaters. From 1924 to 1925, Bryce Canyon Lodge was built from local timber and stone.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Members of the United States Congress started work in 1924 on upgrading Bryce Canyon's protection status from a national monument to a national park in order to establish Utah National Park. A process led by the Utah Parks Company for transferring ownership of private and state-held land in the monument to the federal government started in 1923. The last of the land in the proposed park's borders was sold to the federal government four years later, and on February 25, 1928, the renamed Bryce Canyon National Park was established.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: In 1931, President Herbert Hoover annexed an adjoining area south of the park, and in 1942 an additional was added. This brought the park's total area to the current figure of . Rim Road, the scenic drive that is still used today, was completed in 1934 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Administration of the park was conducted from neighboring Zion National Park until 1956, when Bryce Canyon's first superintendent started work.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The USS "Bryce Canyon", which was named for the park, served as a supply and repair ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet from September 15, 1950, to June 30, 1981.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Bryce Canyon Natural History Association (BCNHA) was established in 1961. It runs the bookstore inside the park visitor center and is a non-profit organization created to aid the interpretive, educational and scientific activities of the National Park Service at Bryce Canyon National Park. A portion of the profits from all bookstore sales are donated to public land units.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Responding to increased visitation and traffic congestion, the National Park Service implemented a voluntary, summer-only, in-park shuttle system in June 2000. In 2004, reconstruction began on the aging and inadequate road system in the park.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The Bryce Canyon area shows a record of deposition that spans from the last part of the Cretaceous period and the first half of the Cenozoic era. The ancient depositional environment of the region around what is now the park varied. The Dakota Sandstone and the Tropic Shale were deposited in the warm, shallow waters of the advancing and retreating Cretaceous Seaway (outcrops of these rocks are found just outside park borders). The colorful Claron Formation, from which the park's delicate hoodoos are carved, was laid down as sediments in a system of cool streams and lakes that existed from 63 to about 40 million years ago (from the Paleocene to the Eocene epochs). Different sediment types were laid down as the lakes deepened and became shallow and as the shoreline and river deltas migrated.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Several other formations were also created but were mostly eroded away following two major periods of uplift. The Laramide orogeny affected the entire western part of what would become North America starting about 70 million to 50 million years ago. This event helped to build the Rocky Mountains and in the process closed the Cretaceous Seaway. The Straight Cliffs, Wahweap, and Kaiparowits formations were victims of this uplift. The Colorado Plateaus were uplifted 16 million years ago and were segmented into different plateaus, each separated from its neighbors by faults and each having its own uplift rate. The Boat Mesa Conglomerate and the Sevier River Formation were removed by erosion following this uplift.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: This uplift created vertical joints, which over time were preferentially eroded. The soft Pink Cliffs of the Claron Formation were eroded to form freestanding pinnacles in badlands called hoodoos, while the more resistant White Cliffs formed monoliths. The brown, pink and red colors are from hematite (iron oxide; ); the yellows from limonite (); and the purples are from pyrolusite (). Also created were arches, natural bridges, walls, and windows. Hoodoos are composed of soft sedimentary rock and are topped by a piece of harder, less easily eroded stone that protects the column from the elements. Bryce Canyon has one of the highest concentrations of hoodoos of any place on Earth.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The formations exposed in the area of the park are part of the Grand Staircase. The oldest members of this supersequence of rock units are exposed in the Grand Canyon, the intermediate ones in Zion National Park, and its youngest parts are laid bare in Bryce Canyon area. A small amount of overlap occurs in and around each park.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: More than 400 native plant species live in the park. There are three life zones in the park based on elevation: the lowest areas of the park are dominated by dwarf forests of pinyon pine and juniper with manzanita, serviceberry, and antelope bitterbrush in between. Aspen, cottonwood, water birch, and willow grow along streams. Ponderosa pine forests cover the mid-elevations with blue spruce and Douglas fir in water-rich areas and manzanita and bitterbrush as underbrush. Douglas fir and white fir, along with aspen and Engelmann spruce, make up the forests on the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The harshest areas have limber pine and ancient Great Basin bristlecone pine, some more than 1,600 years old, holding on.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The forests and meadows of Bryce Canyon provide the habitat to support diverse animal life including foxes, badgers, porcupines, elk, skunks, black bears, bobcats, and woodpeckers. Mule deer are the most common large mammals in the park. Elk and pronghorn, which have been reintroduced nearby, sometimes venture into the park.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Bryce Canyon National Park forms part of the habitat of three wildlife species that are listed under the Endangered Species Act: the Utah prairie dog, the California condor, and the southwestern willow flycatcher. The Utah prairie dog is a threatened species that was reintroduced to the park for conservation, and the largest protected population is found within the park's boundaries.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: About 170 species of birds visit the park each year, including swifts and swallows. Most species migrate to warmer regions in winter, although jays, ravens, nuthatches, eagles, and owls stay. In winter, the mule deer, cougars, and coyotes migrate to lower elevations. Ground squirrels and marmots pass the winter in hibernation.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Eleven species of reptiles and four species of amphibians have been found in the park. Reptiles include the Great Basin rattlesnake, short-horned lizard, side-blotched lizard, striped whipsnake, and amphibians include the tiger salamander.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Also in the park are the black, lumpy, very slow-growing colonies of cryptobiotic soil, which are a mix of lichens, algae, fungi, and cyanobacteria. Together these organisms slow erosion, add nitrogen to soil, and help it to retain moisture.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: Most park visitors sightsee using the scenic drive, which provides access to 13 viewpoints over the amphitheaters. Bryce Canyon has eight marked and maintained hiking trails that can be hiked in less than a day. The following list includes round trip time and trailhead for each in parentheses:


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The park also has two trails designated for overnight hiking: the Riggs Spring Loop Trail and the Under-the-Rim Trail. Both require a backcountry camping permit. In total there are of trails in the park.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: More than of marked but ungroomed skiing trails are available off of Fairyland, Paria, and Rim trails in the park. Twenty miles (32 km) of connecting groomed ski trails are in nearby Dixie National Forest and Ruby's Inn.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The air in the area is so clear that on most days from Yovimpa and Rainbow points, Navajo Mountain and the Kaibab Plateau can be seen away in Arizona. On extremely clear days, the Black Mesas of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico can be seen some away.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: The park also has a 7.4 magnitude night sky, making it one of the darkest in North America. Stargazers can, therefore, see 7,500 stars with the naked eye, while in most places fewer than 2,000 can be seen due to light pollution, and in many large cities only a few dozen can be seen. Park rangers host public stargazing events and evening programs on astronomy, nocturnal animals, and night sky protection. The Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival, typically held in June, attracts thousands of visitors. In honor of this astronomy festival, was named after the national park.


title: Bryce Canyon National Park

text: There are two campgrounds in the park: North Campground and Sunset Campground. Loop A in North Campground is open year-round. Additional loops and Sunset Campground are open from late spring to early autumn. The 114-room Bryce Canyon Lodge is another way to stay overnight in the park.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: Cyclone (Maxine Hunkel) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She is the granddaughter of the original Red Tornado and a member of the Justice Society of America.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: The character made her live-action debut in the DC Extended Universe film "Black Adam" (2022), played by Quintessa Swindell.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: Although not named as such at the time, the character who would eventually become known as Maxine Hunkel first appeared (as a new Red Tornado) in "Kingdom Come" #2 (June 1996) by writer Mark Waid and artist Alex Ross.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: A decade later, prior to the relaunch of the "Justice Society of America" series, writer Geoff Johns created Maxine Hunkel, a hero who would follow the legacy of the Red Tornado. Remembering the character he designed for "Kingdom Come", cover artist Alex Ross based his design for Maxine on the earlier character, retroactively making them one and the same.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: Maxine made her debut in the DC Universe in "Justice Society of America" (vol. 2) #1 (February 2007).


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: Maxine Hunkel is the granddaughter of the original Red Tornado, Abigail ""Ma"" Hunkel, an honorary member of the Justice Society and current caretaker of their headquarters. Maxine grew up idolizing her grandmother's allies in the JSA.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: As a 6-year-old, Maxine was once kidnapped by T.O. Morrow, the mad scientist who created the second Red Tornado, a powerful android. Morrow infects Maxine with "nanobytes" that are the apparent source of her powers.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: Cheerful, bubbly, and extremely intelligent ("4.0 GPA and a 1300 SAT score in high school"), Maxine is a 19-year-old student at Harvard University and an avid fan of the works of L. Frank Baum, particularly "The Wizard of Oz", and linked works such as the musical "Wicked". However, her talkative nature and know-it-all personality often alienates her peers and leave the young woman isolated. Her outcast status causes her to suffer from atypical depression.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: As she reached adulthood, she began to manifest unusual superhuman abilities. A sneeze demolishes her grandmother's garage and, the next day, she awoke inside a tornado five hundred feet off the ground. The young woman soon realizes that she has the power to manipulate wind.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: When the Justice Society decides to expand its ranks and provide training to new heroes, Maxine is one of the first on their list. She is invited to join the team by Power Girl and Mr. Terrific and accepts through extreme amounts of excitement (her motormouth response nearly causes them to revoke the offer). Shortly afterwards, she is introduced to the rest of the JSA and her fangirl personality becomes evident in her bubbling reaction to meeting her heroes, particularly fellow teen Stargirl. During the first meeting of the group, the current holder of the Mr. America mantle literally falls into their midst and perishes. As a way to help her deal, fellow member Stargirl distracts her into building a superhero outfit.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: Maxine officially debuts as Cyclone in "Justice Society of America" (vol. 2) #3, honoring both the Red Tornado and her former sidekicks, the Cyclone Kids (Maxine's aunt and uncle Amelia "Sisty" Hunkel and Mortimer "Dinky" Jibbet). During this time, she also gains a pet monkey named "Frankie", whom she dresses up to look like one of the winged monkeys from "The Wizard of Oz" (she also wears a green pointed hat from time to time, causing her to resemble both the Enchantress (who wore an identical hat) and the Wicked Witch of the West). She undergoes a brief crush on teammate Damage when he is made incredibly handsome temporarily, and slowly starts learning to become less of a motormouth.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: Maxine is seen as part of the superhero army drafted by Alan Scott to defend various Earth interests from the conquering forces of Darkseid.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: After the JSA suffers a massive supervillain attack, the team divides into two. Cyclone joins the newly formed "JSA All-Stars" team, and soon after finds herself becoming attracted to her teammate King Chimera.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: In the "Watchmen" sequel "Doomsday Clock", Cyclone returns alongside many other superheroes to the DC Universe when Doctor Manhattan, inspired by Superman, undoes the changes that he made to the timeline that erased the Justice Society of America and the Legion of Super-Heroes.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: Maxine possesses the power of wind manipulation. She is able to mentally summon cyclones and whirlwinds, project powerful bursts of air, and fly through the air by riding wind currents.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: Prior to her mainstream debut, Cyclone was featured in "Kingdom Come" as an ally of Superman. She originally fought Superman's Justice League after his return until she decided to side with him. Cyclone accompanies the Justice League to the Gulag to deal with the prisoner revolt. When Captain Marvel under the control of Lex Luthor arrives at the Gulag and blasts it, the prisoners are freed as they attack the Justice League.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: An alternate-reality version of Cyclone is seen in the "Trinity" series, as a member of the time-altered Justice Society International. She is killed in that timeline when she is sniped down while riding one of her cyclones.


title: Cyclone (DC Comics)

text: Cyclone appears in the DC Extended Universe film "Black Adam", portrayed by Quintessa Swindell. Like her comics counterpart, she is a member of the Justice Society.


title: A Bathing Ape

text: A Bathing Ape (or BAPE) is a Japanese fashion brand founded by Nigo (Tomoaki Nagao) in Ura-Harajuku in 1993. The brand specializes in men's, women's and children's lifestyle and street wear, running 19 stores in Japan, including Bape Stores, Bape Pirate Stores, Bape Kids Stores, Bapexclusive Aoyama, and Bapexclusive Kyoto. The Kyoto store also includes Bape Gallery, a space used for various events and art shows sponsored by Bape. There are also stores located in Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Qingdao, Shenyang, Seoul, Jakarta, Dubai, New York City, Kuala Lumpur, London, Paris, Miami and Los Angeles.


title: A Bathing Ape

text: The company previously operated (Busy Work Shop), Bape Cuts hair salon, Bape Café, BABY MILO and The cay Soldier. Nigo also founded the secondary lines AAPE (by A Bathing Ape) and BAPY (Busy Working Lady). In 2011, the company was sold to Hong Kong fashion conglomerate I.T Group for about $2.8 Million. Nigo left the brand in 2013.


title: A Bathing Ape

text: Nigo, founder and former owner, cites his mother and father, who were a nurse and a billboard maker respectively, as major influences in the development of his character, though because they both worked, he spent a lot of time alone with toys. He also credits DJ/fashion guru Hiroshi Fujiwara as his business model. His nickname means "number two" in Japanese; the MD of Astoarobot, the fashion store, coined the moniker when he noted the physical resemblance to Fujiwara. Nigo cites his early influences as Elvis, The Beatles and hip-hop acts such as Beastie Boys and Run–D.M.C.


title: A Bathing Ape

text: After studying fashion editing at Bunka Fashion college, he worked as an editor and a stylist for "Popeye" magazine. After borrowing four million yen from an acquaintance, who also let him use his shop, he opened "Nowhere", his first store, along with Jun Takahashi of Undercover, on April 1, 1993, in Ura-Harajuku. Deciding to start his own brand, he named it after the 1968 film "Planet of the Apes". According to Nigo, the name "BAPE" is a reference to "A Bathing Ape in Lukewarm Water". Japanese people typically have daily baths in water at temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 °F). As such, to bathe in lukewarm water is to complacently overindulge as it implies you have stayed in the bath for so long the water has become cold. This is an ironic reference to the lazy opulence of the younger generation of Japanese, the brand's own customers. To expose the brand he gave T-shirts to the musician Cornelius who wore them when performing. For two years he produced 30 to 50 shirts a week, selling half and giving half to friends. In 1997, Nigo released his debut album "Ape Sounds" under Mo'Wax, with DJ/Producer James Lavelle of UNKLE. Nigo is also co-owner and head designer of Pharrell Williams' clothes brands Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream.


title: A Bathing Ape

text: On February 1, 2011, it was announced that A Bathing Ape had been sold to Hong Kong fashion conglomerate I.T Group. I.T purchased a 90.27% stake in A Bathing Ape. In a transaction encompassing HK$21,850,000 (approx. US$2.8 million), I.T purchased a total of 668 shares. Exact details regarding the creative future and expansion of A Bathing Ape are unknown; however, A Bathing Ape founder Nigo remained on board as the Creative Director for the next two years.


title: A Bathing Ape

text: Bape is a popular Japanese street fashion brand and with many celebrities appearing in magazines and catalogs wearing Bape's clothing.


title: A Bathing Ape

text: Bape frequently collaborates with other brands and features characters from popular media such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Marvel comics characters, Nintendo, DC Comics, and Hello Kitty and the Sanrio Family. These designs are used throughout the Bathing Ape range, on goodies, accessories, hoodies, jackets, T-shirts and shoes. A Bathing Ape has also collaborated with many other famous brands such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Rimowa, M*A*C, Comme des Garçons, mastermind Japan, Undercover, Supreme, Stüssy, Carhartt, Casio, Adidas, Timberland and artists such as Biggie Smalls, Wiz Khalifa, Beastie Boys, The Weeknd, Soulja Boy, Pharrell, UNKLE, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, Westside Gunn, Kid Cudi, Juelz Santana, Pusha T, KAWS, Kreayshawn, Linkin Park, Gary Panter, Big Sean, Josip On Deck, Lil' Wayne, Chris Brown, Flatbush Zombies, Travis Scott, Domo Genesis, Damian Lillard, and Keith Ape.


title: A Bathing Ape

text: In late 2018, the firm announced that it will produce a tie-in fashion line based on the Disney animated film "Ralph Breaks the Internet", marking this as the first time BAPE has directly partnered with Disney.


title: United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade

text: On May 7, 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia (Operation Allied Force), five U.S. Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs hit the People's Republic of China embassy in the Belgrade district of New Belgrade, killing three Chinese state media journalists and outraging the Chinese public. According to the U.S. government, the intention had been to bomb the nearby Yugoslav Federal Directorate for Supply and Procurement (FDSP). President Bill Clinton apologized for the bombing, stating it was an accident. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet testified before a congressional committee that the bombing was the only one in the campaign organized and directed by his agency, and that the CIA had identified the wrong coordinates for a Yugoslav military target on the same street. The Chinese government issued a statement on the day of the bombing, stating that it was a "barbarian act".


text: In October 1999, five months after the bombing, "The Observer" of London along with "Politiken" of Copenhagen, published the results of an investigation citing anonymous sources which said that the bombing had actually been deliberate as the Embassy was being used to transmit Yugoslav army communications. The governments of both the U.S. and the U.K. emphatically denied it was deliberate, with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright calling the story "balderdash" and British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook saying there was "not a single shred of evidence" to support it. In April 2000, "The New York Times" published the results of its own investigation for which, "the investigation produced no evidence that the bombing of the embassy had been a deliberate act."


text: Right after the bombing, most Chinese believed it was deliberate, and many continue to believe that it was deliberate.


text: On the other hand, according to structured interviews conducted in 2002 of the 57% of Chinese Sino-American relations experts who believed that the bombing was deliberate, 87.5% did not suspect President Clinton's involvement.


text: In August 1999, the United States agreed to compensate the victims of the bombing and their families. In December 1999, the United States agreed to pay China for the damage to the embassy and China agreed to compensation to the United States for damage to U.S. property that occurred during the demonstrations.


text: In May 2000, a major U.S.-China trade bill passed the United States House of Representatives which became the United States–China Relations Act of 2000 integrating with China's entry into the World Trade Organization. By June 2000, during a visit to China by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, both sides said that relations between them had improved.


text: In the days before the bombing, an attack folder labelled "Belgrade Warehouse 1" was circulated for command approval. The folder originated within the CIA and described the target as a warehouse for a Yugoslav government agency suspected of arms proliferation activities. In this form, the strike was approved by President Clinton.


text: It is unclear whether other NATO leaders approved the strike. A report by the French Ministry of Defense after the war said that "part of the military operations were conducted by the United States outside the strict framework of NATO" and that a dual-track command structure existed. NATO had no authority to use any B-2 stealth bomber which was used to carry out the strike. That the United States was running missions outside of NATO's joint command structure was a source of some contention between the U.S. and other members of NATO, especially France.


text: According to officials interviewed by "The New York Times", the target was checked against a "no-strike" database of locations such as hospitals, churches, and embassies, but this raised no alarm as the embassy was listed at its old address. Officials said a similar list in the U.K. also had the same error. However, the joint "Observer"/"Politiken" investigation reported that a NATO flight controller in Naples said that on this "don't hit" map the Chinese embassy was listed at its correct location. The investigation also reported that the coordinates of the Chinese embassy were correctly listed in a NATO computer.


text: On the night of May 7–8, the strike was carried out by a single B-2 bomber with a crew of two of the United States Air Force's 509th Bomb Wing flying directly out of Whiteman AFB, Missouri. The bomber was armed with JDAM GPS-guided precision bombs accurate to . However, the geographic coordinates provided by the CIA and programmed into the bombs were those of the Chinese embassy away. At around midnight local time, five bombs landed at different points on the embassy complex. The embassy had taken precautionary measures in view of the ongoing bombing campaign, sending staff home and housing others in the basement, but the attack still resulted in three fatalities, Shao Yunhuan (邵云环) who worked for the "Xinhua News Agency", Xu Xinghu (许杏虎) and his wife Zhu Ying (朱颖) who worked for "Guangming Daily", both Chinese state media, as well as at least 20 people injured. American officials said that some or all of the three who were killed were actually intelligence agents, but the Chinese denied the claim.


text: The raid caused a dramatic rise in tension between China and the United States. An official statement on Chinese television denounced what it called a "barbaric attack and a gross violation of Chinese sovereignty". China's ambassador to the UN described what he called "NATO's barbarian act" as "a gross violation of the United Nations charter, international law and the norms governing international relations" and "a violation of the Geneva convention". On May 12, 1999, the Hong Kong Legislative Council passed the "Condemnation of NATO" motion by a rare bipartisan vote of 54-0.


text: Large demonstrations erupted at consular offices of the United States and other NATO countries in China in reaction to news of the bombing. On May 9, 1999, then-Vice President Hu Jintao delivered a national televised speech calling the act both "criminal" and "barbaric" and that it "has greatly infuriated the Chinese people." He said the unauthorized demonstrations in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenyang reflected the anger and patriotism of the Chinese people, and which the Chinese government fully supported, but urged against extreme and illegal conduct.


text: On May 12, 1999, in his first public statement since the embassy bombing, Premier of China Zhu Rongji called NATO 'hypocrites' and stated that the "idea of safeguarding human rights and democracy, as well as opposing ethnic cleansing which they [NATO] are chanting loudly, is only a fig leaf." He also called on the United States and NATO "to make an open and official apology to the Chinese government and the Chinese people."


text: The protests continued for several days, during which tens of thousands of rock-throwing protesters kept U.S. Ambassador James Sasser and other staff trapped in the Beijing embassy. The residence of the U.S. Consul in Chengdu was damaged by fire and protestors tried to burn the consulate in Guangzhou. There were no reported injuries.


text: President Clinton's apologies and those of the U.S. State Department were not initially broadcast by Chinese state-run media outlets. The demonstrations continued for four days before the Chinese government called a halt, eventually broadcasting President Clinton's apology on television and ordering the police to restrain the demonstrators.


text: For a week, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin declined phone calls from President Bill Clinton, eventually accepting a 30-minute apology call on Friday, May 14, in which Clinton expressed "regret" over the incident. Jiang had chosen to leave U.S.-China leadership communications channels unused as he waited for the Politburo Standing Committee to reach a consensus. The time it took for the Politburo to gather necessary information and reach a decision about China's responses motivated Party leadership to revisit a proposal to establish a centralized National Security Commission, although this was ultimately not implemented at the time.


text: By the end of 1999, relations began to gradually improve. In August, the U.S. government made a "voluntary humanitarian payment" of $4.5 million to the families of the three Chinese nationals who were killed and to those who were injured. On December 16, 1999, the two governments reached a settlement under which the United States agreed to pay $28 million in compensation for damage to the Chinese Embassy facility, and China agreed to pay $2.87 million in compensation for damage inflicted to the U.S. Embassy and other diplomatic facilities in China.


text: Technically, although the $4.5 million paid to the victims and their families came from Department of Defense discretionary funds, the $28 million for the damage to the embassy needed to be appropriated by the United States Congress; however, China did receive the payment.


text: Late on May 8, U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and George Tenet issued a joint press release stating neither the aircrew involved nor the equipment were to blame for the incident. The first attempt to explain the bombing came on May 10. William Cohen told reporters "In simple terms, one of our planes attacked the wrong target because the bombing instructions were based on an outdated map". The statement made no mention of the CIA. It was subsequently revealed that the CIA possessed maps showing the embassy.


text: While U.S. officials then began, on the record, to deflect questions pending the outcome of further enquiries, they continued to brief journalists off the record. For example, also on May 10, Eric Schmitt published an account with most of the elements that were to feature in Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Tenet's later admissions. Schmitt reported that from the grainy aerial photographs that were used the two buildings looked very similar in terms of size, shape and height, and that the distance between them is about .


text: Media criticism focused on the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) which made an announcement stating that "recent news reports regarding the accuracy of NIMA maps have been inaccurate or incomplete" and that "a hard-copy map is neither intended, nor used, as the sole source for target identification and approval." CIA Director George Tenet later acknowledged that the map used should never have been used for aerial bombing target selection.


text: In June, Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering led a delegation to China to present the U.S. version of events.


text: According to the official account, CIA analysts knew the address of the Yugoimport office to be Bulevar Umetnosti 2 (2 Boulevard of the Arts). Using this information, they attempted to pinpoint its geographic location by using the known locations and addresses of other buildings on parallel streets as reference points. ("The New York Times" reported that some referred to what was done as "resection and intersection" although Pickering did not use those terms in the statement.)


text: Parallel lines were drawn from known addresses and locations on a parallel street. With this information it was attempted to reconstruct the pattern of street addresses on Bulevar Umetnosti, which was information unknown to the targeters. The pattern of street addresses on Bulevar Umetnosti was not as expected, and the targeter erroneously pinpointed the embassy "located on a small side street at some distance on Bulevar Umetnosti" from the intended target.


text: Multiple checks designed to prevent attacks on sensitive targets each failed as the location of the embassy had not been updated since the embassy moved to New Belgrade three years earlier. As a result, the bombers took to the air with the coordinates of the Chinese embassy programmed into the bombs on board.


text: Pickering said that they found no evidence that the embassy was being used to assist Serbian forces, and said that it is not conceivable that any rogue group within the U.S. would have done such a thing. He said that, "Science has taught us that a direct explanation, backed up by full knowledge of facts obtained through a careful investigation, is always preferable to speculation and far fetched, convoluted or contrived theories with little or no factual backing."


text: On July 22, George Tenet made a statement before a public hearing of the House Intelligence Committee. Covering the same ground as Under Sec. Pickering's statement in China, he additionally acknowledged the target package originated within the CIA and that it was the sole CIA-directed strike of the war, stated that he had been personally unaware that the CIA was circulating strike requests and recognised that the CIA possessed maps correctly displaying the embassy. Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre, giving evidence the same day, stated that "NIMA is not at fault".


text: Few Chinese politicians believed the U.S. version of events, believing instead that the strike had been deliberate.


text: Former Ambassador Li Daoyu stated "we don't say it was a decision of Clinton or the White House", but the Chinese government describes the U.S. explanation for "the so-called mistaken bombing" as "anything but convincing" and has never accepted the U.S. version of events.


text: The incident left a toxic legacy on China-NATO relations and kept them frozen for years. In a 2011 meeting with U.S. officials in the aftermath of the 2011 NATO attack in Pakistan, Chinese general Ma Xiaotian directly referred to the embassy bombing by asking "Were you using the wrong maps again?" Observers immediately noted the "cutting" nature of the remark, describing it as "jibing" and "priceless".


text: On Sunday, October 17, 1999, "The Observer" published an article by John Sweeney, Jens Holsoe and Ed Vulliamy stating that the bombing was deliberate. On the same day the Copenhagen-based publication "Politiken" published a similar story in Danish saying that the bombing was deliberate, claiming the Chinese were helping the Yugoslavian forces who were engaged in ethnic cleansing and war crimes in Kosovo.


text: On Sunday, November 28, 1999, "The Observer" published a follow-up piece stating that the Americans bombed the embassy due to allegations that the Chinese were helping Željko Ražnatović, a Serbian mobster, paramilitary leader, and indicted war criminal.


text: In the "Politiken" story, a source within the British Ministry of Defense is quoted as saying that the Chinese gave permission to the Yugoslavian army to use the embassy as a communications base. The British source stated the normal practice in this case would be to contact the Chinese and to ask them to stop the activity due to its violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and that they assumed that happened but did not have specific knowledge on it. "Politiken" also reported that British sources surmised that the Chinese did not believe NATO would dare strike the embassy.


text: The stories drew from anonymous sources, although in instances overall position in the hierarchy, role, and location was mentioned. One non-anonymous source was Dusan Janjic, an academic and advocate for ethnic reconciliation in Yugoslavia who testified that the military attaché at the embassy, Ren Baokai, openly spoke to him about how China was spying on the U.S.


text: Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State at the time, called the story that the bombing was deliberate "balderdash", and Robin Cook, British Foreign Secretary at the time, said, "I know not a single shred of evidence to support this rather wild story." The Chinese ambassador to Yugoslavia at the time, Pan Zhanlin, denied in a book that the embassy was being used for rebroadcasting by Yugoslavian forces.


text: On October 22, 1999, media critique group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) posted on the lack of U.S. media coverage of "The Observer"/"Politiken" report and called on its supporters to contact major newspapers to ask why it was not being covered.


text: Andrew Rosenthal of "The New York Times" responded along with Douglas Stanglin of "USA Today", and FAIR summarized the exchanges in a post on November 3, 1999. Rosenthal agreed that coverage should not have referred to the bombing as accidental when this was disputed; however, he said that the stories were not well sourced by their standards. He said that reporters were assigned to look into the matter, but that they were not yet ready to publish (about six months later, in April 2000, they did publish the results of an investigation, and it found no evidence that the bombing was deliberate). In the post, and in response to Rosenthal, FAIR listed the various anonymous sources in terms of general position in the command hierarchy, location, and role and said that if they had come forward publicly they could have been court martialed. FAIR also argued that the report is consistent with other information known about the bombing such as where the bombs hit the embassy, and also pointed out that "The Observer"/"Politiken" report was more widely covered internationally than in the U.S.


text: A 2000 "Salon" article by Laura Rozen featured an interview of "Washington Post" columnist and former intelligence officer William M. Arkin, who stated his belief that the bombing was accidental. Rozen reported that the Chinese embassy and the Hotel Yugoslavia are across the street from each other, and that in the Hotel Yugoslavia, Željko Ražnatović owned a casino and had a headquarters. Both the Hotel Yugoslavia and the Chinese embassy were bombed the same night of May 7.


text: Arkin told Rozen his belief that certain people at NATO erroneously believed that signals coming from the Hotel Yugoslavia were actually coming from the Chinese embassy saying, "I think there were communications emanating from the Hotel Yugoslavia across the street. And I think that stupid people who are leaking rumors to "The Observer" have made that mistake."


text: The article from "The Observer" in October 1999 reported that a stealth fighter had been shot down early in the air campaign and that since China lacked stealth technology, they may have been glad to trade with the Yugoslav forces.


text: In January 2011, the "Associated Press" via "Fox News" reported that the unveiled Chinese J-20 may have been developed in part by reverse engineering the U.S. F-117 from parts of the wreckage that were recovered.


text: In May 2019, "BBC News" reported that, "It's widely assumed that China did get hold of pieces of the plane to study its technology."


text: In February 2011, "The Sunday Times" published an article stating that an unpublished memoir by former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin recounts how Serbian forces were allowed to use the Chinese embassy, and that privately, the U.S. showed evidence of this activity to the Chinese.


text: A report conducted by the ICTY entitled "Final Report to the Prosecutor by the Committee Established to Review the NATO Bombing Campaign Against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" after the Kosovo War examined the attack on the Chinese embassy specifically and came to the conclusion that the Office of the Prosecutor should not undertake an investigation concerning the bombing. In reaching its decision, it provided the following observations:


text: Amnesty International examined the NATO air campaign and assessed the legality of its actions. In the case of the embassy bombing, Amnesty reported both on the official explanation and to the "Observer"/"Politiken" investigation without arbitrating as to which was true. NATO was criticised for continuing its bombing campaign uninterrupted when its safeguards to protect civilians were known to be faulty. A genuinely accidental attack would not imply legal responsibility, but the report stated that "the very basic information needed to prevent this mistake was publicly and widely available at the time" and that, "It would appear that NATO failed to take the necessary precautions required by Article 57(2) of Protocol I." Article 57(2) of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions says that an attacker shall, "do everything feasible to verify that the objectives to be attacked are neither civilians nor civilian objects."


text: Marking the 10th anniversary of the bombing on May 7, 2009, Belgrade Mayor Dragan Đilas and Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Wei Jinghua dedicated a commemorative plaque at the location. The author of the plaque was Nikola Kolja Milunović. Wreaths were laid at the plaque on May 7, 2017, and also in September 2019.


text: During the visit of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping to Serbia in June 2016, he and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić visited the location, declared the nearby turnaround a Square of Serbian-Chinese Friendship and announced the construction of the Chinese Cultural Center on the location of the former embassy. The construction of the center began on July 20, 2017, in the presence of Mayor Siniša Mali and Chinese Ambassador Li Manchang. The center will have ten floors, two below ground and eight above, with a total floor area measuring . The project will cost 45 million euros.


text: In 2020, the Milunović plaque was replaced by a new, "modest" square memorial. While the inscription on the original plaque explained why it had been placed there and included the date of the bombing and number of victims, the new one has a generic text in Serbian and Chinese: "As a token of gratitude to PR China for support and friendship in hardest moments for the people of the Republic of Serbia, and in memory of the killed". This sparked objections by the Belgraders, who called the new memorial "a shame" and a "table which says nothing", asking for the reinstatement of the old plaque.


text: Within the United Nations, both China and Russia opposed military action against Yugoslavia. Strong cultural ties exist between Russia and Serbia, and the bombing campaign, along with the bombing of the Chinese embassy, led to an increase in anti-Western sentiment in both countries and a warming of China-Russia relations.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: The Toyota AZ engine family is a straight-4 piston engine series. The AZ series uses an aluminium engine block with cast iron cylinder liners and aluminium DOHC cylinder head. The engine series features many advanced technologies including slant-squish combustion chambers, offset cylinder and crank centers, and the VVT-i continuously variable intake valve timing system. The aluminium engine measures long, wide, and tall.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: The cylinder block is an open-deck, midi-skirt die-cast aluminium type with cast-in iron liners and a die-cast aluminium lower crankcase and a stamped oil pan. The forged steel crankshaft is fully balanced with eight counterweights and supported by five main bearings. A helical gear pressed in No. 3 counterweight drives twin contra-rotating balance shafts in the shaft housing within the lower crankcase.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: The dual overhead camshafts are driven by a single-stage roller chain of pitch, enabling a narrow included valve angle of 27.5°. The camshafts act on four valves per cylinder via bucket tappets. As in the recent Toyota engine practice, no clearance adjusting shim is employed. Valve diameters are for intake and for exhaust, with lift for both intake and exhaust. The four-vane VVT-i device is fitted on the intake camshaft, altering timing by 50°. The valve cover is made of magnesium to save weight.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: Fuel is injected sequentially via an ultra-fine-atomization injector with twelve small injection holes, each in diameter. As in the smaller NZ engine, the new AZ adopts a plastic, built-up, and vibration-welded intake manifold integrating a large volume plenum chamber ( volume including a resonator). Exhaust manifolds are of tubular construction with integrated catalytic converters.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: The 2AZ-FE engine in the 2007-2009 Camry and 2006-2009 Rav4 may burn excessive oil and is involved in this lawsuit. Other engines are also affected. If this Toyota engine is burning more than of oil in , has less than , is less than 10 years old, and is located in the U.S., Toyota service will perform a free oil consumption test to determine if the engine is affected. There are approximately 1,715,200 vehicles covered by this Warranty Enhancement Program.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: The 1AZ-FE is a version. Output is at 6000 rpm with of torque at 4000 rpm for the Camry Aurion version. Rav4 and Ipsum engines were rated at at 6000 rpm and of torque at 4000 rpm.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: The 1AZ-FSE is a version. Bore and stroke is , and a compression ratio of 11.0:1. Output is at 5700 rpm with of torque at 4000 rpm. The 1AZ-FSE features Toyota's D-4 direct injection system.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: The 2AZ-FE is a version built in Japan (Kamigo Plant and by Toyota Industries Corporation), at TMMK in the USA and also built in China for select Scion xB models, and also in Australia, obtains a total displacement of with bore and stroke, with a compression ratio of 9.6:1. Output is at 5600 rpm; of torque at 4000 rpm.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: Later versions of the 2AZ-FE engine were upgraded with 9.8:1 compression ratio, a slightly more aggressive intake cam profile, 6500 rpm redline, and piston oil squirters. These later versions are rated at in the Scion tC, in the RAV4, and in the Camry, Corolla XRS, Scion xB, and for the Previa/Estima/Alphard.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: Japan-made Toyota vehicles with the 2AZ-FE engine were equipped with the K112 transmission also referred to as 7-speed Super CVT-i automatic (Seven-speed Sequential Shiftmatic) from October 2005.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: However, these later 2AZ-FE models were the first to be rated under the new SAE J1349 standard. The new standard usually produces more conservative numbers, though no definitive comparison is available since the two versions were never tested by the same standard. The RAV4 uses a different timing chain cover from the Camry, they can however be interchanged.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: There have been complaints of this engine "burning oil" in North America, with the issue starting after , though mostly after . Piston ring design has been identified as a potential problem. Toyota has issued a TSB (Technical service bulletin) TSB #0094-11 in August 2011 but has not issued a recall. Alternative theories point to a head gasket problem: the 2AZ-FE aluminum block threads may wear out on the back three middle bolts (closest to firewall). Check TSB SB-0015-11.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: There are several class-action lawsuits underway regarding this issue. In January 2015, Toyota North America issued extended warranty notification (ZE7) for this issue for Toyota North America vehicles only.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: The 2AZ-FSE is a version. Bore and stroke is , and a compression ratio of 11.0:1. Output is at 5800 rpm with of torque at 3800 rpm. The 2AZ-FSE features Toyota's D-4 direct injection system.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: The 2AZ-FXE is an Atkinson cycle variant of the 2AZ-FE. It has the same bore and stroke, but the intake cam and pistons are unique. It has a physical compression ratio of 12.5:1.


title: Toyota AZ engine

text: The large valve overlap leads to a reduction in cylinder charge and reduced torque and power output, but efficiency is increased. This combination makes the 2AZ-FXE suitable for use only in hybrid vehicles, where peak torque and power demands can be met by the electric motor and battery.


title: Gallienus

text: Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; c. 218 – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He won numerous military victories against usurpers and Germanic tribes, but was unable to prevent the secession of important provinces. His 15-year reign was the longest in half a century.


title: Gallienus

text: Born into a wealthy and traditional senatorial family, Gallienus was the son of Valerian and Mariniana. Valerian became Emperor in September 253 and had the Roman Senate elevate Gallienus to the ranks of "Caesar" and "Augustus". Valerian divided the empire between him and his son, with Valerian ruling the east and his son the west. Gallienus defeated the usurper Ingenuus in 258 and destroyed an Alemanni army at Mediolanum in 259.


title: Gallienus

text: The defeat and capture of Valerian at Edessa in 260 by the Sasanian Empire threw the Roman Empire into the chaos of civil war. Control of the whole empire passed to Gallienus. He defeated the eastern usurpers Macrianus Major and Lucius Mussius Aemilianus in 261–262 but failed to stop the formation of the breakaway Gallic Empire under general Postumus. Aureolus, another usurper, proclaimed himself emperor in Mediolanum in 268 but was defeated outside the city by Gallienus and besieged inside. While the siege was ongoing, Gallienus was assassinated, stabbed to death by the officer Cecropius, as part of a conspiracy.


title: Gallienus

text: The exact birth date of Gallienus is unknown. The 6th-century Greek chronicler John Malalas and the "Epitome de Caesaribus" report that he was about 50 years old at the time of his death, meaning he was born around 218. He was the son of Emperor Valerian and Mariniana, who may have been of senatorial rank, possibly the daughter of Egnatius Victor Marinianus, and his brother was Valerianus Minor. Inscriptions on coins connect him with Falerii in Etruria, which may have been his birthplace; it has yielded many inscriptions relating to his mother's family, the Egnatii. Gallienus married Cornelia Salonina about ten years before his accession to the throne. She was the mother of three princes: Valerian II, who died in 258; Saloninus, who was named co-emperor but was murdered in 260 by the army of general Postumus; and Marinianus, who was killed in 268, shortly after his father was assassinated.


title: Gallienus

text: When Valerian was proclaimed emperor in September 253, he asked the Senate to ratify the elevation of Gallienus to "Caesar" and "Augustus". He was also designated consul ordinarius for 254. As Marcus Aurelius and his adopted brother Lucius Verus had done a century earlier, Gallienus and his father divided the Empire. Valerian left for the East to stem the Persian threat, and Gallienus remained in Italy to repel the Germanic tribes on the Rhine and Danube. Division of the empire had become necessary due to its sheer size and the numerous threats it faced, and it facilitated negotiations with enemies who demanded to communicate directly with the emperor.


title: Gallienus

text: Gallienus spent most of his time in the provinces of the Rhine area (Germania Inferior, Germania Superior, Raetia, and Noricum), though he almost certainly visited the Danube area and Illyricum in the years from 253 to 258. According to Eutropius and Aurelius Victor, he was particularly energetic and successful in preventing invaders from attacking the German provinces and Gaul, despite the weakness caused by Valerian's march on Italy against Aemilianus in 253. According to numismatic evidence, he seems to have won many victories there, and a victory in Roman Dacia might also be dated to that period. Even the hostile Latin tradition attributes success to him at this time.


title: Gallienus

text: In 255 or 257, Gallienus was made consul again, suggesting that he briefly visited Rome on those occasions, although no record survives. During his Danube sojourn (Drinkwater suggests in 255 or 256), he proclaimed his elder son Valerian II Caesar and thus official heir to himself and Valerian I; the boy probably joined Gallienus on campaign at that time, and when Gallienus moved west to the Rhine provinces in 257, he remained behind on the Danube as the personification of Imperial authority.


title: Gallienus

text: Sometime between 258 and 260 (the exact date is unclear), while Valerian was distracted with the ongoing invasion of Shapur I in the East, and Gallienus was preoccupied with his problems in the West, Ingenuus, governor of at least one of the Pannonian provinces, took advantage and declared himself emperor. Valerian II had apparently died on the Danube, most likely in 258. Ingenuus may have been responsible for Valerian II's death. Alternatively, the defeat and capture of Valerian at the battle of Edessa may have been the trigger for the subsequent revolts of Ingenuus, Regalianus, and Postumus. In any case, Gallienus reacted with great speed. He left his son Saloninus as Caesar at Cologne, under the supervision of Albanus (or Silvanus) and the military leadership of Postumus. He then hastily crossed the Balkans, taking with him the new cavalry corps ("comitatus") under the command of Aureolus and defeated Ingenuus at Mursa or Sirmium. Ingenuus was killed by his own guards or committed suicide by drowning himself after the fall of his capital, Sirmium.


title: Gallienus

text: A major invasion by the Alemanni and other Germanic tribes occurred between 258 and 260 (it is hard to fix the precise date of these events), probably due to the vacuum left by the withdrawal of troops supporting Gallienus in the campaign against Ingenuus. Franks broke through the lower Rhine, invading Gaul, some reaching as far as southern Spain, sacking Tarraco (modern Tarragona). The Alemanni invaded, probably through Agri Decumates (an area between the upper Rhine and the upper Danube), likely followed by the Juthungi. After devastating Germania Superior and Raetia (parts of southern France and Switzerland), they entered Italy, the first invasion of the Italian peninsula, aside from its most remote northern regions, since Hannibal 500 years before. When invaders reached the outskirts of Rome, they were repelled by an improvised army assembled by the Senate, consisting of local troops (probably praetorian guards) and the strongest of the civilian population. On their retreat through northern Italy, they were intercepted and defeated in the battle of Mediolanum (near present-day Milan) by Gallienus' army, which had advanced from Gaul, or from the Balkans after dealing with the Franks. The battle of Mediolanum was decisive, and the Alemanni did not bother the empire for the next ten years. The Juthungi managed to cross the Alps with their valuables and captives from Italy. A historian in the 19th century suggested that the initiative of the Senate gave rise to jealousy and suspicion by Gallienus, thus contributing to his exclusion of senators from military commands.


title: Gallienus

text: Around the same time, Regalianus, who held some command in the Balkans, was proclaimed emperor. The reasons for this are unclear, and the "Historia Augusta" (almost the sole resource for these events) does not provide a credible story. It is possible the seizure can be attributed to the discontent of the civilian and military provincials, who felt the defense of the province was being neglected.


title: Gallienus

text: Regalianus held power for some six months and issued coins bearing his image. After some success against the Sarmatians, his revolt ended when the Roxolani invaded Pannonia and killed Regalianus in taking the city of Sirmium. There is a suggestion that Gallienus invited the Roxolani to attack Regalianus, but other historians dismiss the accusation. It is also suggested that the invasion was finally checked by Gallienus near Verona and that he directed the restoration of the province, probably in person.


title: Gallienus

text: In the East, Valerian was confronted with serious troubles. Bands of "Scythai" began a naval raid of Pontus, in the northern part of Asia Minor. After ravaging the province, they moved south into Cappadocia. A Roman army from Antioch, under Valerian, tried to intercept them but failed. According to Zosimus, this army was infected by a plague that gravely weakened it. In that condition, this army had to repel a new invasion of the province of Mesopotamia by Shapur I, ruler of the Sassanid Empire. The invasion occurred probably in the early spring of 260. The Roman army was defeated at the Battle of Edessa, and Valerian was taken prisoner. Shapur's army raided Cilicia and Cappadocia (in present-day Turkey), sacking, as Shapur's inscriptions claim, 36 cities.


title: Gallienus

text: It took a rally by an officer named Callistus (Balista), a fiscal official named Fulvius Macrianus, the remnants of the Roman army in the east, and Odenathus and his Palmyrene horsemen to turn the tide against Shapur. The Sassanids were driven back, but Macrianus proclaimed his two sons Quietus and Macrianus (sometimes misspelled Macrinus) as emperors. Coins struck for them in major cities of the East indicate acknowledgement of the usurpation. The two Macriani left Quietus, Ballista, and, presumably, Odenathus to deal with the Persians while they invaded Europe with an army of 30,000 men, according to the "Historia Augusta". At first they met no opposition.


title: Gallienus

text: The Pannonian legions joined the invaders, being resentful of the absence of Gallienus. He sent his successful commander Aureolus against the rebels, however, and the decisive battle was fought in the spring or early summer of 261, most likely in Illyricum, although Zonaras locates it in Pannonia. In any case, the army of the usurpers was defeated and surrendered, and their two leaders were killed.


title: Gallienus

text: In the aftermath of the battle, the rebellion of Postumus had already started, so Gallienus had no time to deal with the rest of the usurpers, namely Balista and Quietus. He came to an agreement with Odenathus, who had just returned from his victorious Persian expedition. Odenathus received the title of "dux Romanorum" and besieged the usurpers, who were based at Emesa. Eventually, the people of Emesa killed Quietus, and Odenathus arrested and executed Balista about November 261.


title: Gallienus

text: After the defeat at Edessa, Gallienus lost control over the provinces of Britain, Spain, parts of Germania, and a large part of Gaul when another general, Postumus, declared his own realm (usually known today as the Gallic Empire). The revolt partially coincided with that of Macrianus in the East. Gallienus had installed his son Saloninus and his guardian, Silvanus, in Cologne in 258. Postumus, a general in command of troops on the banks of the Rhine, defeated some raiders and took possession of their spoils. Instead of returning it to the original owners, he preferred to distribute it amongst his soldiers. When news of this reached Silvanus, he demanded the spoils be sent to him. Postumus made a show of submission, but his soldiers mutinied and proclaimed him emperor. Under his command, they besieged Cologne, and after some weeks the defenders of the city opened the gates and handed Saloninus and Silvanus to Postumus, who had them killed. The dating of these events was long uncertain, but an inscription discovered in 1992 at Augsburg indicates that Postumus had been proclaimed emperor by September 260. Postumus claimed the consulship for himself and one of his associates, Honoratianus, but according to D.S. Potter, he never tried to unseat Gallienus or invade Italy.


title: Gallienus

text: Upon receiving news of the murder of his son, Gallienus began gathering forces to face Postumus. The invasion of the Macriani forced him to dispatch Aureolus with a large force to oppose them, however, leaving him with insufficient troops to battle Postumus. After some initial defeats, the army of Aureolus, having defeated the Macriani, rejoined him, and Postumus was expelled. Aureolus was entrusted with the pursuit and deliberately allowed Postumus to escape and gather new forces. Gallienus returned in 263 or 265 and surrounded Postumus in an unnamed Gallic city. During the siege, Gallienus was severely wounded by an arrow and had to flee. The standstill persisted until his later death, and the Gallic Empire remained independent until 274.


title: Gallienus

text: In 262, the mint in Alexandria started to again issue coins for Gallienus, demonstrating that Egypt had returned to his control after suppressing the revolt of the Macriani. In spring of 262, the city was wrenched by civil unrest as a result of a new revolt. The rebel this time was the prefect of Egypt, Lucius Mussius Aemilianus, who had already given support to the revolt of the Macriani. The correspondence of bishop Dionysius of Alexandria provides a commentary on the background of invasion, civil war, plague, and famine that characterized this age.


title: Gallienus

text: Knowing he could not afford to lose control of the vital Egyptian granaries, Gallienus sent his general Theodotus against Aemilianus, probably by a naval expedition. The decisive battle probably took place near Thebes, and the result was a clear defeat of Aemilianus. In the aftermath, Gallienus became Consul three more times in 262, 264, and 266.


title: Gallienus

text: In the years 267–269, Goths and other barbarians invaded the empire in great numbers. Sources are extremely confused on the dating of these invasions, the participants, and their targets. Modern historians are not even able to discern with certainty whether there were two or more of these invasions or a single prolonged one. It seems that, at first, a major naval expedition was led by the Heruli starting from north of the Black Sea and leading to the ravaging of many cities of Greece (among them, Athens and Sparta). Then another, even more numerous army of invaders started a second naval invasion of the empire. The Romans defeated the barbarians on sea first. Gallienus' army then won a battle in Thrace, and the emperor pursued the invaders. According to some historians, he was the leader of the army who won the great Battle of Naissus, while the majority believes that the victory must be attributed to his successor, Claudius II.