title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: About 35 monuments from the Mamluk city have survived to the present day, including mosques, madrasas, khanqahs, hammams, and caravanserais, many of them built by local Mamluk amirs. Major buildings in Mamluk Tripoli included six congregational mosques (the Mansouri Great Mosque, al-Aattar, Taynal, al-Uwaysiyat, al-Burtasi, and al-Tawbat Mosques). Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil (r. 1290–93) founded the city's first congregational mosque in memory of his father (Qalawun), in either late 1293 or 1294 (693 AH). Six madrasas were later built around the mosque. The Mamluks did not fortify the city with walls but restored and reused a Crusader citadel on the site. In addition, there were two quarter mosques (Abd al-Wahed and Arghoun Shah), and two mosques that were built on empty land (al-Burtasi and al-Uwaysiyat). Other mosques incorporated earlier structures (churches, khans, and shops). Mamluk Tripoli also included 16 madrasas of which four no longer exist (al-Zurayqiyat, al-Aattar, al-Rifaiyah, and al-Umariyat). Six of the madrasas concentrated around the Grand Mosque. Tripoli also included a Khanqah, many secular buildings, five Khans, three hammams (Turkish baths) that are noted for their cupolas. Hammams were luxuriously decorated and the light streaming down from their domes enhances the inner atmosphere of the place.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: During the Ottoman period, Tripoli became the provincial capital and chief town of the Eyalet of Tripoli, encompassing the coastal territory from Byblos to Tarsus and the inland Syrian towns of Homs and Hama; the two other eyalets were Aleppo Eyalet, and Şam Eyalet. Until 1612, Tripoli was considered as the port of Aleppo. It also depended on Syrian interior trade and tax collection from mountainous hinterland. Tripoli witnessed a strong presence of French merchants during the 17th and 18th centuries and became under intense inter-European competition for trade. Tripoli was reduced to a sanjak centre in the Vilayet of Beirut in 19th century and retained her status until 1918 when it was captured by British forces.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Public works in Ottoman Tripoli included the restoration of the Citadel of Tripoli by Suleiman I, the Magnificent. Later governors brought further modifications to the original Crusader structure used as garrison center and prison. Khan al-Saboun (originally a military barrack) was constructed in the center of the city to control any uprising. Ottoman Tripoli also witnessed the development of the southern entrance of the city and many buildings, such as the al-Muallaq or "hanging" Mosque (1559), al-Tahhan Mosque (early 17th century), and al-Tawbah mosque (Mamluk construction, destroyed by 1612 flood and restored during early Ottoman Period). It also included several secular buildings, such as Khan al-Saboun (early 17th century) and Hammam al-Jadid (1740).


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Since the end of Ottoman rule in 1918, Tripoli has been mired in a period of extended economic and political decline. Beirut's rise as Lebanon's dominant port deprived Tripoli of its former preeminence as a trade hub, and globalization eroded the city's ability to compete in manufacturing. Lebanon's civil war, from 1975 to 1990, hit Tripoli hard. On 15 September 1985 intense fighting broke out between Tawheed al-Islami, a Sunni militia which controlled the harbour and was backed by the PLO, and the Alawite Arab Democratic Party’s militia. The ADP were backed by the communist Red Knights as well as Syrian special forces. After a week of fighting which saw around 150 killed, 4-500 wounded and 200,000 people leaving their homes, the Syrians brokered a truce which involved the Syrian army occupying five key positions and the removal of heavy weapons. The truce broke down on 27 September and Tahweed al-Islami positions where bombarded from SSNP and Syrian artillery positions in the surrounding hills. On 1 October, following an Iranian diplomatic intervention, Tahweed agreed to surrender their heavy weapons and Syrian troops, on 6 October, were deployed throughout the city. A further 350 people had been killed and hundreds more wounded.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: The Syrian army remained in the city for almost three decades until 2005:As a majority Sunni city with a growing strain of indigenous Islamist militancy, Tripoli suffered some of the Syrians’ cruelest predations at a time when then-President Hafez al-Assad was engaged in the brutal suppression of Syria’s own Muslim Brotherhood.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Wartime violence and instability triggered waves of emigration and capital flight. It also left Tripoli increasingly isolated, not least due to the dismantling of Lebanon's rail network and the abandonment of the Tripoli railway station. The city, moreover, saw little of the post-war reconstruction funding that Prime Minister Rafic Hariri ushered into Lebanon, with an overwhelming focus on the capital.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: In the years since, living conditions in Tripoli have continued to decline. In 2016, the United Nation's Human Settlements Program estimated that 58% of Tripoli's Lebanese residents lived in poverty. That already high figure preceded Lebanon's 2019 financial crisis, which has ratcheted up poverty and food insecurity.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Tripoli's stagnation is attributable, in part, to the city's dysfunctional politics, in which a fragmented array of Sunni political figures (such as Saad Hariri, Najib Mikati, Faisal Karami, and Ashraf Rifi) vie for influence through competing networks of patronage: "No single leader has been able to assert dominance, leaving city politics to devolve into chaos."


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Tripoli has a majority of Sunni Muslims. Lebanon's small Alawite community is concentrated in the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood. Christians constitute today less than 5 percent of the population of the city.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Tripoli has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ("Csa") with mild wet winters and very dry, hot summers. Temperatures are moderated throughout the year due to the warm Mediterranean current coming from Western Europe. Therefore, temperatures are warmer in the winter by around 10 °C (18 °F) and cooler in the summer by around 7 °C (13 °F) compared to the interior of Lebanon. Although snow is an extremely rare event that only occurs around once every ten years, hail is common and occurs fairly regularly in the winter. Rainfall is concentrated in the winter months, with the summer typically being very dry.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Tripoli has many offshore islands. The Palm Islands Nature Reserve, or the Rabbits' Island, is the largest of the islands with an area of . The name "Araneb" or Rabbits comes from the great numbers of rabbits that were grown on the island during the time of the French mandate early in the 20th century. It is now a nature reserve for green turtles, rare birds and rabbits. Declared as a protected area by UNESCO in 1992, camping, fire building or other depredation is forbidden. In addition to its scenic landscape, the Palm Island is also a cultural heritage site. Evidence for human occupation, dated back to the Crusader period, was uncovered during 1973 excavations by the General Directorate of Antiquities. The Bakar Islands, also known as Abdulwahab Island, were leased to Adel and Khiereddine Abdulwahab as a shipyard, since the Ottoman rule and until this day a well known ship and marine contractor. It was also known as St Thomas Island during the Crusades. It is the closest to the shore and can be accessed via a bridge that was built in 1998. Bellan Island's name comes from a plant found on the island and used to make brooms. Some people claim that the name comes from the word "blue whale" (Baleine in French) that appeared next to the island in early 20th century. Fanar Island is long and is the home of a light-house built during the 1960s.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: The opposite of Palms Island, which is a large flat sandy beach, is Ramkin Island. This island is largely made up of cliffs and rocks. Anyone who enjoys adventure, cliff leaping, free diving, spear fishing, and snorkeling will enjoy this location.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: the citadel takes its name from Raymond de Saint-Gilles, who dominated the city in 1102 and commanded a fortress to be built in which he named Mont Pelerin (Mt Pilgrim). The original castle was burnt down in 1289, and rebuilt again on numerous occasions and was rebuilt in 1307–08 by Emir Essendemir Kurgi.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Later the citadel was rebuilt in part by the Ottoman Empire which can be seen today, with its massive Ottoman gateway, over which is an engraving from Süleyman the Magnificent who had ordered the restoration. In the early 19th century, the Citadel was extensively restored by the Ottoman Governor of Tripoli Mustafa Agha Barbar.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: The Clock tower is one of the most iconic monuments in Tripoli. The tower is located in Al-Tell square, and was gifted to the city by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II. It was erected in 1906 to celebrate the 30th year of Abdulhamid II of the Ottoman Empire, like the Jaffa Clock Tower and many others throughout the Empire.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: The Clock tower underwent a complete renovation in 1992 with personal funding from the honorary Turkish consul of Northern Lebanon, Sobhi Akkari, and the second at February 2016 as a gift from the Turkish prime minister in cooperation with the Committee of Antiquities and Heritage in the municipality of Tripoli, and now the clock tower is again operational. "Al Manshieh" which is one of the oldest parks in Tripoli, is located next to the clock tower.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: When Tripoli was visited by Ibn Batutah in 1355, he described the newly founded Mamluk city. "Traversed by water-channels and full of’ gardens", he writes, "the houses are newly built. The sea lies two leagues distant, and the ruins of the old town are seen on the sea-shore. It was taken by the Franks, but al-Malik ath-Tháhir (Qala’un) retook it from them, and then laid the place in ruins and built the present town. There are fine baths here.’’


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Indeed, the hammams built in Tripoli by the early Mamluk governors were splendid edifices and many of them are still present until today. Some of the more known are:


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: The International Fair of Tripoli site, formally known as the Rachid Karami International Exhibition Center, is a complex of buildings designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer who was commissioned for the project in 1962. The site was built for a World's Fair event to be held in the city, but construction was halted in 1975 due to the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war, and never resumed. The site contains 15 semi-completed Niemeyer buildings within an approximate 756.000 sqm area near Tripoli's southern entrance. "More recent years have seen the fairground undermined by a mixture of periodic instability and nonsensical administrative procedures that make it virtually impossible to put the facility to use. If the city needed any more physical metaphors for decay, the fairground is flanked by a Quality Inn that is literally falling apart, and whose ownership is years overdue on payment to the site’s administrators."


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Many churches in Tripoli are a reminder of the history of the city. These churches also show the diversity of Christians in Lebanon and particularly in Tripoli:


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Tripoli is a very rich city containing many mosques that are spread all over the city. In every district of the city there is a mosque. During the Mamluk era, a lot of mosques were built and many still remain until today.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Tripoli has a large number of schools of all levels, public and private. It is also served by several universities within the city limits as well as in its metro area.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Tripoli, while once economically comparable to Beirut, has declined in recent decades. Organizations such as the Business Incubation Association in Tripoli (BIAT) are currently trying to revive traditional export businesses such as furniture production, artisanal copper goods, soaps, as well as expand new industries such as ICT offshoring and new technological invention.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: The Tripoli Special Economic Zone (TSEZ) was established in 2008 to provide exemptions from many taxes and duties for investment projects that have more than $300,000 of capital and more than half their workers from Lebanon. It is a 55-hectare site adjacent to the Port of Tripoli.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Recently, a Tripoli development plan called "Tripoli Vision 2020" has been formulated and supported by a number of advisory councils including influential key government officials and prominent businessmen in the city. The goal of the project is to provides a comprehensive framework consisting of promoting investment, investing, training, re-skilling, talent placement and output promotion to reinvigorate the city's economy. The Tripoli Vision 2020 was sponsored by the Prime Minister Saad Hariri Office and the Tripoli MPs Joint Office with the comprehensive study conducted by Samir Chreim of SCAS Inc.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Tripoli embodies Lebanon's extreme wealth inequality: Although it is one of the country's most concentrated centers of poverty, it is also the hometown of several extravagantly wealthy politicians, notably including Najib Mikati, Taha Mikati and Mohammad Safadi who are accused of accumulating their wealth by embezzling government funds.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: The khan, built around a square courtyard decorated with a fountain, houses soap making workshops and shops.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: At the end of the 15th century, the governor of Tripoli Yusuf Sayfa Pasha established Khan Al Saboun (the hotel of soap traders). This market was finished at the beginning of the 16th century, the last days of the Mamluk rule. The manufacture of soap was very popular in Tripoli. There, the market became a trade center where soap was produced and sold. Afterwards, traders of Tripoli began to export their soap to Europe.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Initially, perfumed soaps were offered as gifts in Europe and as a result, handiwork developed in Tripoli. Due to the ongoing increase of the demand, craftsmen started to consider soap making as a real profession and real art which led to an increased demand for Tripoli soap in various Arab and Asian countries. Currently, many varieties of soap are manufactured and sold in Tripoli such as anti-acne soaps, moisturizing soaps, slimming soaps, etc. which has increased an exportation of these soap products.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: The raw material used for these kinds of soap is olive oil. The Tripoli soap is also composed of: honey, essential oils, and natural aromatic raw materials like flowers, petals, and herbs. The soaps are dried in the sun, in a dry atmosphere, allowing the evaporation of the water that served to mix the different ingredients. The drying operation lasts for almost three months. As the water evaporates, a thin white layer appears on the soap surface, from the soda that comes from the sea salts. The craftsman brushes the soap very carefully with his hand until the powder trace is eliminated.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Unlike other khans built around a square courtyard, el-Khayyatin, built in the 14th century, is a 60 meter long passage with arches on each side.


title: Tripoli, Lebanon

text: Tripoli is regionally known for its Arabic sweets where people consider it as one of the main attractions and reasons to visit the city. Some sweetshops have even built a regionally and even internationally recognized brand name like Abdul Rahman & Rafaat Al Hallab, who both became so popular, opening shops outside Tripoli and shipping sweets boxes worldwide.


title: Anand Deverakonda

text: Anand Deverakonda (born 16 March 1992) is an Indian actor who appears in Telugu films. Younger brother of actor Vijay Deverakonda, his films include "Dorasaani", "Middle Class Melodies" and "Pushpaka Vimanam".


title: Anand Deverakonda

text: Deverakonda was born in Hyderabad of present-day Telangana, India to Govardhan Rao and his wife Madhavi. Govardhan Rao was a TV serial director while Madhavi was a soft-skills tutor. His brother Vijay Deverakonda is also an actor in Telugu films. Anand Deverakonda completed his engineering and was placed in Deloitte. He worked in US for a while and returned to India to pursue a full time career in films.


title: Anand Deverakonda

text: Deverakonda made his film debut in 2019 with "Dorasaani", a periodic love story directed by KVR Mahendra and starring Shivatmika Rajashekar. Although the film didn't do well commercially, Deverakonda went onto win Best Debut Male award at Zee Cine Awards Telugu 2020.


title: Anand Deverakonda

text: Deverakonda's second feature film, "Middle Class Melodies" premiered directly on Amazon Prime Video in 2020. Later in 2021, he starred in "Pushpaka Vimanam". His next film "Highway," directed by K. V. Guhan, premiered on Aha on19 August 2022.


title: Be My Baby

text: "Be My Baby" is a song by American girl group the Ronettes that was released as a single on Philles Records in August 1963. Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, the song was the Ronettes' biggest hit, reaching number 2 in the U.S. and number 4 in the UK. It is often ranked as among the best songs of the 1960s, and it is regarded by some as one of the greatest songs of all time.


title: Be My Baby

text: Spector produced "Be My Baby" at Gold Star Studios with his "de facto" house band, later known as "the Wrecking Crew". It marked the first time that he recorded with a full orchestra, and the song is regarded as the quintessential example of his Wall of Sound recording technique. Ronnie Spector (then known as Veronica Bennett) is the only Ronette that appears on the track. In 1964, it appeared on the album "Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes".


title: Be My Baby

text: In the decades since its release, "Be My Baby" has been played on radio and television over 3 million times. The song has influenced many artists, most notably the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, who wrote the 1964 hit "Don't Worry Baby" as a response to "Be My Baby". Many others have replicated or recreated the drum phrase—one of the most recognizable in pop music. The song has returned to the U.S. top 40 via cover versions by Andy Kim and Jody Miller. In 2006, the Library of Congress inducted the Ronettes' recording into the United States National Recording Registry.


title: Be My Baby

text: "Be My Baby" was written by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich at Spector's office in Los Angeles. Early in 1963, Spector auditioned a vocal group trio – composed of sisters Veronica (also known as "Ronnie") and Estelle Bennett with their cousin Nedra Talley – who were performing under the names "Ronnie and the Relatives" and "the Ronettes". Impressed by Ronnie's lead on an impromptu performance of the 1956 hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", Spector offered an original song for the group to record, "Why Don't They Let Us Fall in Love". They recorded the song at Gold Star Studios, but Spector withheld its release, as he had felt that the group needed more time to refine their stage act.


title: Be My Baby

text: Spector, who had been struggling with marital issues, developed a romantic fixation on Ronnie at this time. Biographer Mick Brown surmised that Spector may have "intended 'Be My Baby' as an explicit declaration of his growing feelings for Ronnie", and that the song, in retrospect, served as a foreshadowing of their marriage, which lasted from the late 1960s through the early 1970s. Singer Darlene Love, who had recorded with Spector, said that "Be My Baby" was effectively a means for Spector to declare his love to Ronnie.


title: Be My Baby

text: "Be My Baby" is in the key of E major. The verse chord progression runs through an E–F#m–B change twice, followed by G#7–C#7–F#–B7. The chorus is a standard I–vi–IV–V doo-wop progression.


title: Be My Baby

text: Music journalist Marc Spitz wrote of the song's subject matter, "At its heart, 'Be My Baby' is as much about power and control as it is about romance. Lyrically it also marks a bold moment in pop music, when a woman makes a play for a man while infantilizing him. Usually the reverse was the norm."


title: Be My Baby

text: On July 29, 1963, Spector produced "Be My Baby" at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles with his "de facto" house band, later known as "the Wrecking Crew". The session marked the first occasion that Spector recorded with a full orchestra at Gold Star. According to Brown, Spector was "determined to make his most towering production yet" and summoned "the full complement of his troops in Gold Star — battalions of pianos and guitars, brass, strings, the full regiment of backing singers". The song was arranged by Spector regular Jack Nitzsche and engineered by Larry Levine.


title: Be My Baby

text: The instrumentation on "Be My Baby" features piano, guitars, brass, shakers, castanets, bass, handclaps, strings, and drums. Levine remarked, "I love those strings, particularly at the end. They made me cry when I was mixing." Guitars on the session were played by Tommy Tedesco and Bill Pitman, after whom the instrumental "Tedesco and Pitman" on the B-side of the single was named.


title: Be My Baby

text: According to Brown, the opening drum beat, played by Hal Blaine, was suggested by Nitzsche. However, Blaine himself stated, "That famous drum intro was an accident. I was supposed to play the snare on the second beat as well as the fourth, but I dropped a stick. Being the faker I was in those days, I left the mistake in and it became: 'Bum-ba-bum-BOOM!' And soon everyone wanted that beat."


title: Be My Baby

text: Owing to Spector's perfectionism, the band rehearsed the song for four hours in the studio before the tape recorders were turned on. One of the four keyboard players, Michael Spencer, recalled, "That session took three and a half hours. There's this pause towards the end of the song where the drums go boom-ba-boom-boom before the song picks up again. I remember that by the fortieth or forty-first take I was so punchy, I played right through it, and we had to do it again. And that subsequent take was the one Phil used."


title: Be My Baby

text: Ronnie – the only Ronette who appears on the record – overdubbed her lead vocal within a day after the backing track had been completed. She spent the previous three days preparing for the session. Ronnie remembered, "I was so shy that I'd do all my vocal rehearsals in the studio's ladies' room, because I loved the sound I got in there. People talk about how great the echo chamber was at Gold Star, but they never heard the sound in that ladies' room... That's where all the little 'whoa-ohs' and 'oh-oh-oh-ohs' you hear on my records were born." She said that when she sang the song at the session, "the band went nuts. I was 18 years old, 3,000 miles from home, and had all these guys saying I was the next Billie Holiday."


title: Be My Baby

text: Nitzsche praised Ronnie's vibrato, saying, "That was her strong point. when that tune was finished, the speakers were turned up so high in the booth that people had to leave the room." Levine said, "We didn't have to work hard to get Ronnie's performance, but we had to work hard to satisfy Phil. He'd spend an inordinate amount of time working on each section and playing it back before moving on to the next one, and that was very hard for the singers." In his book "Classic Tracks", author Rikky Rooksby writes, "Notice Ronnie Spector's voice is kept quite dry and upfront; her vocal, and those carefully rehearsed wha-ah-oh-ohs, along with the vast sound, make the record what it is."


title: Be My Baby

text: Sonny Bono and Cher were among the backing vocalists. Cher stated in a television interview, "I was just hanging out with Son [Bono], and one night Darlene [Love] didn't show up, and Philip looked at me and he was getting really cranky, y'know. Philip was not one to be kept waiting. And he said, 'Sonny said you can sing?' And so, as I was trying to qualify what I felt my... 'expertise' was, he said, 'Look I just need noise – get out there!' I started as noise, and that was 'Be My Baby'."


title: Be My Baby

text: "Be My Baby" (backed with "Tedesco and Pitman") was released by Philles Records in August 1963 and reached number 2 on the "Billboard" Pop Singles Chart by the end of the summer. In the UK, it was issued by London Recordings in October and peaked at number 4 on "Record Retailer". By the end of the year, the single had sold more than two million copies.


title: Be My Baby

text: The Ronettes' first royalty cheque for the song totaled $14,000 (equivalent to $ in ). In her 1991 memoir, Ronnie wrote that the group subsequently had dinner with Spector to celebrate their success; at the end of the meal, however, he asked them to cover the bill. Ronnie remarked, "For a millionaire, he sure could be cheap."


title: Be My Baby

text: In her autobiography, Ronnie relates that she was on tour with Joey Dee and the Starlighters when "Be My Baby" was introduced by Dick Clark on American Bandstand as the "Record of the Century." It remains the Ronettes' most successful song; although the group enjoyed several more top 40 hits, they sold at underwhelming volumes compared to "Be My Baby". In a 1999 interview, Ronnie cited "Be My Baby" as one of her top five favorite songs in her catalog.


title: Be My Baby

text: A live rendition of "Be My Baby" was performed by the Ronettes on the 1966 rock concert film "The Big TNT Show", for which Spector was the musical director and associate producer.


title: Be My Baby

text: "Be My Baby" was a major influence on artists such as the Beatles and the Beach Boys, who went on to innovate with their own studio productions. Producer Steve Levine compared the track's groundbreaking quality to the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" (1966), 10cc's "I'm Not in Love" (1975), and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975). Many subsequent popular songs have replicated or recreated the drum phrase—one of the most recognizable in popular music. Producer Rick Nowels, who lifted the drum beat for a Lana Del Rey song, said, "'Be My Baby,' for me, is Ground Zero for the modern pop era. it was a line in the sand that left everything that came before in the rear view mirror. It was the beginning of pop music being a serious American art form."


title: Be My Baby

text: AllMusic's Jason Ankeny noted in his review of the song, "No less an authority than Brian Wilson has declared 'Be My Baby' the greatest pop record ever made—no arguments here." In his 2004 book "Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings", David Howard writes that many regard ""Be My Baby" as "Spector's greatest achievement—two and a half sweaty minutes of sexual pop perfection."


title: Be My Baby

text: In 2016, Barbara Cane, vice president and general manager of writer-publisher relations for the songwriters' agency BMI, estimated that the song has been played in 3.9 million feature presentations on radio and television since 1963. "That means it's been played for the equivalent of 17 years back to back."


title: Be My Baby

text: "Be My Baby" had a profound lifelong impact on the Beach Boys' founder Brian Wilson. His biographer Peter Ames Carlin describes the song as becoming "a spiritual touchstone" for Wilson, while music historian Luis Sanchez states that it formed an enduring part of Wilson's mythology, being the Spector record that "etched itself the deepest into Brian's mind... it comes up again and again in interviews and biographies, variably calling up themes of deep admiration, a source of consolation, and a baleful haunting of the spirit." Sanchez goes on to write,


title: Be My Baby

text: Wilson first heard "Be My Baby" while driving and listening to the radio; he became so enthralled by the song that he felt compelled to pull over to the side of the road and analyze the chorus. Wilson immediately concluded that it was the greatest record he had ever heard. He bought the single and kept it on his living room jukebox, listening to it whenever the mood struck him. Copies of the song were located everywhere inside his home, as well as inside his car and in the studio.


title: Be My Baby

text: As a response to "Be My Baby", Wilson conceived the song "Don't Worry Baby". He originally submitted "Don't Worry Baby" for the Ronettes' consideration, but this motion was halted by Spector, who had a policy against producing records that he himself did not write. Spector was aware of Wilson's obsession with "Be My Baby" and later remarked that he would "like to have a nickel for every joint [Brian] smoked" trying to figure out the record's sound.


title: Be My Baby

text: Among the many other documented anecdotes related to Wilson's fixation on "Be My Baby", his bandmate and cousin Mike Love remembered him comparing the song to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Similarly, music journalist David Dalton, who visited Wilson's home in 1967, said that Wilson had analyzed "Be My Baby" "like an adept memorizing the Koran." Dalton later wrote about a box of tapes he had discovered in Wilson's bedroom:


title: Be My Baby

text: Wilson's daughter Carnie (born 1968) stated that, during her childhood, she "woke up every morning to "boom boom-boom pow! Boom boom-boom pow!" Every day." In the early 1970s, Wilson instructed his engineer Stephen Desper to create a tape loop consisting only of the final chorus in "Be My Baby". Wilson listened to the loop for several hours in what Desper saw as "some kind of a trance." The Beach Boys' 1977 song "Mona", written by Wilson, ends with the lines "Listen to 'Be My Baby' / I know you're going to love Phil Spector".


title: Be My Baby

text: During a 1980 appearance on "Good Morning America", host Joan Lunden inquired Wilson for his musical tastes, to which Wilson replied simply with "I listen to a song called 'Be My Baby' by the Ronettes." Wilson told "The New York Times" in 2013 that he had listened to the song at least 1,000 times. Beach Boy Bruce Johnston gave a higher estimation: "Brian must have played 'Be My Baby' ten million times. He never seemed to get tired of it." In Wilson's 2016 memoir, "I Am Brian Wilson", he recalled once playing the song's drum intro "ten times until everyone in the room told me to stop, and then I played it ten more times."


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer ( McCorquodale; 9 September 1929 – 21 October 2016) was a British socialite and local politician. She was the daughter of Alexander McCorquodale and the romantic novelist and socialite Barbara Cartland and the stepmother of Diana, Princess of Wales.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: Raine McCorquodale was the only child of novelist Barbara Cartland and Alexander George McCorquodale of Speen in Berkshire, an Army officer who was heir to an old printing fortune. Her parents divorced in 1936, and her mother promptly married Alexander's cousin, Hugh McCorquodale, by whom she had two sons, Ian and Glen.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: In 1947, 18-year-old Raine McCorquodale was launched as a debutante into London high society. She had a successful season, not only being named debutante of the year, but becoming engaged to be married to the heir to an earldom, the Hon. Gerald Humphry Legge. She and Legge married on 21 July 1948. He succeeded to the courtesy title Viscount Lewisham in 1958 and became the 9th Earl of Dartmouth in 1962. The couple had four children:


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: Following her marriage, Lady Dartmouth began to take a strong interest in politics. At age 23, she became the youngest member of Westminster City Council as a Conservative. As Lady Lewisham, and later Lady Dartmouth, she remained in local government for the following 17 years. She sat on Westminster's town planning, parks and personnel committees, and was later elected to represent Lewisham South on the London County Council, then Richmond on the Greater London Council. In this capacity she took a special interest in environmental planning and ancient buildings. She chaired the Covent Garden Development Committee and the government working party for the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: In 1973 she began a relationship with John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, her colleague on an architectural heritage committee. The Earl and Countess of Dartmouth were consequently divorced in 1976.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: Viscount Althorp succeeded his father as the 8th Earl Spencer on 9 June 1975. The Earl Spencer and Raine, Countess of Dartmouth were married at Caxton Hall, London, on 14 July 1976. As Countess Spencer, Raine was unpopular with her stepdaughter Lady Diana Spencer and her siblings, who referred to their stepmother as "Acid Raine".


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: In 1978 Lord Spencer suffered a brain haemorrhage; his wife nursed him, and his recovery is credited to her care and devotion coupled with the use of an untested drug. Following her husband's illness, Lady Spencer was widely criticised by the press and conservationists for her redecoration of Althorp, the Spencer family seat; it was felt that the heavy use of new gilding and wallpapers failed to compensate for the missing treasures which included, besides properties and land, works by Sir Anthony van Dyck and Thomas Gainsborough, furniture, china, porcelain, silver, gold, and family documents sold to fund the project and necessary restoration of the house.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: The Earl fully endorsed and assisted in his wife's alteration to Althorp and fund-raising activities. However, this was not enough to stop Earl Spencer's son and heir, Charles, Viscount Althorp (later the ninth Earl) from describing his stepmother's taste in decoration as having "the wedding cake vulgarity of a five-star hotel in Monaco."


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: Lord and Lady Spencer led an opulent lifestyle, entertaining frequently and generously, and travelling greatly. In February 1981, they became globally known following the engagement of Lady Spencer's stepdaughter Diana to Charles, Prince of Wales. The Countess attended their wedding in 1981, but was not seated with her husband: while the Earl and Mrs Shand Kydd and their other children sat opposite the Royal Family, the Countess and Mr Shand Kydd, the bride's step-father, were both seated in the congregation. Countess Spencer did not appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the ceremony.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: When Lord Spencer died on 29 March 1992, the dowager Countess and her former stepchildren had a poor relationship. Just two days later, on 31 March 1992, her former stepson – the new Earl Spencer – threw Raine out of the manor house on Althorp. Raine was not allowed to take a single item unless she could prove that the item belonged to her and all of her staff were fired without notice. Diana stood guard in person in the Spencer bedroom and watched as maid Pauline Shaw put the Countess's extensive clothing in four Louis Vuitton suitcases.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: When Diana discovered the embossed capital letter "S" on the suitcases, she decided that these suitcases also belonged to the Spencers. At Diana's instruction, the maid hastily unpacked the multi-piece designer wardrobe and instead stowed it in black garbage bags. The young earl kicked all of the sacks down the stairs. She received a £4 million inheritance and a townhouse in London's Mayfair from her husband.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: During Diana's divorce from Prince Charles, she and Raine reportedly reconciled and grew closer, and the two were frequently photographed meeting for lunch. Diana's relationship with her mother Frances Shand Kydd had been strained; Diana and her mother had not communicated for several months before Diana died.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: In July 1993, Raine Spencer married a third husband, Count Jean-François Pineton de Chambrun (a descendant of the Marquis de La Fayette and a member of a prominent French family related to the American Roosevelt family), after a 33-day courtship. They married in a civil ceremony in London.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: The Count, a younger son of Jean-Pierre Pineton de Chambrun, Marquis de Chambrun (a deaf biochemist-artist), was previously married to an American, Josalee Douglas, a niece of US Ambassador to the United Kingdom Lewis Williams Douglas. The Countess again attracted charges of vulgarity in Britain when it was discovered that pictures of the wedding had been sold to "Hello" magazine for a reputed £70,000. Diana and her siblings did not attend the wedding ceremony. It was at this time that, while none of her former Spencer stepchildren attended this wedding, it was claimed that there was a "rapprochement" between her and the Princess of Wales.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: The de Chambruns' marriage was short-lived and the couple were divorced in 1995. Styled since the marriage as Comtesse Jean-François Pineton de Chambrun, Raine chose to revert to her previous surname and style of Raine, Countess Spencer, despite this being against convention.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: In December 2007, Spencer was again featured in the news, giving evidence at the London inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Making a rare public comment on her relationship with her stepdaughter, she said: "[Diana] always said I had no hidden agenda. So many people, because she was so popular and so world famous, wanted something out of her. It was a very draining life." Later she told the court, "Well, we all want the dark handsome gentleman to walk through the door."


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: Latterly, Spencer was a member of the board of directors of Harrods, and occasionally worked in the store, although as she told the inquest "Ironically, I never went shopping in Harrods. It was my husband [Earl Spencer] who practically lived there." Her principal home was in Mayfair, London.


title: Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer

text: Spencer died at age 87, following a short illness, on 21 October 2016. No members of the Spencer family attended her funeral. Several months after her death, a selection of her belongings were auctioned off by Christie's, the auction generated £1,905,938 for her family.


title: Cannula

text: A cannula (; Latin meaning 'little reed'; plural or ) is a tube that can be inserted into the body, often for the delivery or removal of fluid or for the gathering of samples. In simple terms, a cannula can surround the inner or outer surfaces of a trocar needle thus extending the effective needle length by at least half the length of the original needle. Its size mainly ranges from 14 to 24 gauge. Different-sized cannula have different colours as coded.


title: Cannula

text: Decannulation is the permanent removal of a cannula (extubation), especially of a tracheostomy cannula, once a physician determines it is no longer needed for breathing.


title: Cannula

text: Cannulas normally come with a trocar inside. The trocar is a needle, which punctures the body in order to get into the intended space. Many types of cannulas exist:


title: Cannula

text: Intravenous cannulas are the most common in hospital use. A variety of cannulas are used to establish cardiopulmonary bypass in cardiac surgery. A nasal cannula is a piece of plastic tubing that runs under the nose and is used to administer oxygen.


title: Cannula

text: A venous cannula is inserted into a vein, primarily for the administration of intravenous fluids, for obtaining blood samples and for administering medicines. An arterial cannula is inserted into an artery, commonly the radial artery, and is used during major operations and in critical care areas to measure beat-to-beat blood pressure and to draw repeated blood samples. Insertion of the venous cannula is a painful procedure that can lead to anxiety and stress. Use of a vapocoolant (cold spray) immediately before cannulation reduces pain during the procedure, without increasing the difficulty of cannulation.


title: Cannula

text: Complications may arise in the vein as a result of the cannulation procedure, the four main groups of complication are:


title: Cannula

text: A nasal cannula or an oral–nasal cannula consists of a flexible tube, usually with multiple short, open-ended branches for comfortable insertion into the nostrils and/or mouth, and may be used for the delivery of a gas (such as pure oxygen), a gas mixture (as, for example, during anesthesia), or to measure airflow into and out of the nose and/or mouth.


title: Cannula

text: A cannula is used in an emergency procedure to relieve pressure and bloating in cattle and sheep with ruminal tympany, due most commonly to their accidentally grazing wilted legume or legume-dominant pastures, particularly alfalfa, ladino, and red and white clover.


title: Cannula

text: In aesthetic medicine, a blunt-tip cannula or microcannula (also called smooth tip microcannula, blunt tipped cannula, or simply microcannula) is a small tube with an edge that is not sharp and an extrusion port or pore near the tip which is designed for atraumatic subdermal injections of fluids or gels.


title: Cannula

text: Depending on the size of the internal diameter, it can be used either for the injection of cosmetic wrinkle fillers like hyaluronic acid, collagen, poly-L-lactic acid, CaHA, etc., or for fat transfer (Liposuction). The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic surgery notes additional soft tissue fillers like calcium hydroxy-apatite and polymethylmethacrylate. The advantage of using these is that they are less painful, have less risk of bruising, have less swelling, and a better safety profile. Accidental intravascular injections are more difficult with blunt-tip microcannulas, reducing the risk of skin necrosis, ulcers, and embolization to the retinal artery which can result in blindness. Indeed, in May 2015, the USA issued a warning of these risks as an FDA Safety Communication on the "Unintentional Injection of Soft Tissue Filler Into Blood Vessels In the Face".


title: Cannula

text: In January 2012, the "Dermasculpt" microcannula was approved by the FDA for use in the United States for use with soft tissue fillers followed by the "Magic Needle", "Softfil", "TSK STERiGLIDE™ by Air-Tite Products", and "Sculpt-face". The primary structural differences between microcannulas is the distance of the extrusion port or pore from the tip (closer is more precise), the bluntness of the tip (tapered blunt tip is easier for entry), and the flexibility of the shaft (enough flexibility to move around sensitive structures but enough rigidity for precise placement).


title: Cannula

text: Since microcannula tips are blunt, a Pilot or Introducer needle is required for entry through the skin and the technique is to thread the microcannula through this tiny opening. Microcannula cosmetic injection techniques have been developed on how to best place cosmetic wrinkle fillers such as the Long MicroCannula Double Cross-Hatched Fan and the Wiggle Progression techniques.


title: Cannula

text: In April 2016, the concept of the use of microcannula to inject more than cosmetic fillers was first published. The technique of Microcannula Injected Local Anesthesia (MILA) was described on the use of microcannula to inject local anesthesia with less pain, bruising, and swelling. Also introduced were Accelerated Healing After Platelet-Rich Plasma (AHA-PRP), Accelerated Healing After Platelet-Rich Fibrin Matrix (AHA-PRFM), and the use of microcannula to dissolve Sculptra nodules.


title: Cannula

text: Cannulas are used in body piercing when using a standard IV needle (usually between 18GA and 12GA, although may be as large as 0GA, in which case the procedure is known as dermal punching and uses a biopsy punch without a cannula), and for inserting hooks for suspensions.


title: Cannula

text: During piercing, the fistula is created by inserting the needle. The needle is then removed, leaving the cannula in place, which is sometimes trimmed down. The cannula is then removed and sterile jewelry is inserted into the fistula simultaneously, in order to minimise trauma to the fresh fistula caused by insertion of blunt-ended jewelry.


title: Cannula

text: In biological research, a push-pull cannula, which both withdraws and injects fluid, can be used to determine the effect of a certain chemical on a specific cell. The push part of the cannula is filled with a physiological solution plus the chemical of interest and is then injected slowly into the local cellular environment of a cell. The pull cannula then draws liquid from the extracellular medium, thus measuring the cellular response to the chemical of interest. This technique is especially used for neuroscience.


title: Cannula

text: In general aviation, a cannula refers to a piece of plastic tubing that runs under the nose and is used to administer oxygen in non-pressurized aircraft flying 10,000 feet above sea level.


title: Cannula

text: In synthetic chemistry, a cannula refers to a piece of stainless steel or plastic tubing used to transfer liquids or gases from one vessel to another without exposure to air. See more at Cannula transfer.


title: White Nile

text: The White Nile ( "") is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color.


title: White Nile

text: In the strict meaning, "White Nile" refers to the river formed at Lake No, at the confluence of the Bahr al Jabal and Bahr el Ghazal Rivers. In the wider sense, "White Nile" refers to all the stretches of river draining from Lake Victoria through to the merger with the Blue Nile; the "Victoria Nile" from Lake Victoria via Lake Kyoga to Lake Albert, then the "Albert Nile" to the South Sudan border, and then the "Mountain Nile" or "Bahr-al-Jabal" down to Lake No. "White Nile" may sometimes include the headwaters of Lake Victoria, the most remote of which being from the Blue Nile.


title: White Nile

text: The 19th-century search by Europeans for the source of the Nile was mainly focused on the White Nile, which disappeared into the depths of what was then known as "Darkest Africa".


title: White Nile

text: The Kagera River, which flows into Lake Victoria near the Tanzanian town of Bukoba, is the longest feeder river for Lake Victoria, although sources do not agree on which is the longest tributary of the Kagera, and hence the most distant source of the Nile. The source of the Nile can be considered to be either the Ruvyironza, which emerges in Bururi Province, Burundi, near Bukirasaz or the Nyabarongo, which flows from Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda.


title: White Nile

text: These two feeder rivers meet near Rusumo Falls on the border between Rwanda and Tanzania. These waterfalls are known for an event on 28–29 April 1994, when 250,000 Rwandans crossed the bridge at Rusumo Falls into Ngara, Tanzania, in 24 hours, in what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called "the largest and fastest refugee exodus in modern times". The Kagera forms part of the Rwanda–Tanzania and Tanzania–Uganda borders before flowing into Lake Victoria.


title: White Nile

text: The White Nile in Uganda goes under the name of "Victoria Nile" from Lake Victoria via Lake Kyoga to Lake Albert, and then as the "Albert Nile" from there to the border with South Sudan.


title: White Nile

text: The Victoria Nile starts at the outlet of Lake Victoria, at Jinja, Uganda, on the northern shore of the lake. Downstream from the Nalubaale Power Station and the Kiira Power Station at the outlet of the lake, the river goes over Bujagali Falls (the location of the Bujagali Power Station) about downstream from Jinja. The river then flows northwest through Uganda to Lake Kyoga in the centre of the country, thence west to Lake Albert.


title: White Nile

text: At Karuma Falls, the river flows under Karuma Bridge () at the southeastern corner of Murchison Falls National Park. During much of the insurgency of the Lord's Resistance Army, Karuma Bridge, built in 1963 to help the cotton industry, was the key stop on the way to Gulu, where vehicles gathered in convoys before being provided with a military escort for the final run north. In 2009, the government of Uganda announced plans to construct a 750-megawatt hydropower project several kilometres north of the bridge, which was scheduled for completion in 2016. The World Bank had approved funding a smaller 200-megawatt power plant, but Uganda opted for a larger project, which the Ugandans will fund internally if necessary.


title: White Nile

text: Just before entering Lake Albert, the river is compressed into a passage just seven meters wide at Murchison Falls, marking its entry into the western branch of the East African Rift. The river then flows into Lake Albert opposite the Blue Mountains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


title: White Nile

text: The river draining from Lake Albert to the north is called the "Albert Nile". It separates the West Nile sub-region of Uganda from the rest of the country. A bridge passes over the Albert Nile near its inlet in Nebbi District, but no other bridge over this section has been built. A ferry connects the roads between Adjumani and Moyo, and navigation of the river is otherwise done by small boat or canoe.


title: White Nile

text: From the point at which the river enters South Sudan from Uganda, the river goes under the name of "Mountain Nile". From Lake No in South Sudan the river becomes the "White Nile" in its strictest sense, and so continues northwards into Sudan where it ends at its confluence with the Blue Nile.


title: White Nile

text: From Nimule in South Sudan, close to the border with Uganda, the river becomes known as the "Mountain Nile" or "Baḥr al-Jabal" (also "Baḥr el-Jebel", ), literally Mountain River" or "River of the Mountain". The Southern Sudanese state of Central Equatoria through which the river flows was known as "Bahr al-Jabal" until 2006.


title: White Nile

text: The southern stretch of the river encounters several rapids before reaching the Sudan plain and the vast swamp of the Sudd. It makes its way to Lake No, where it merges with the Bahr el Ghazal and there forms the White Nile. An anabranch river called Bahr el Zeraf flows out of the Bahr al-Jabal at and flows through the Sudd, to eventually join the White Nile. The Mountain Nile cascades through narrow gorges and over a series of rapids that includes the Fula (Fola) Rapids.


title: White Nile

text: To some people, the White Nile starts at the confluence of the Mountain Nile with the Bahr el Ghazal at Lake No.


title: White Nile

text: The 120 kilometers of White Nile that flow east from Lake No to the mouth of the Sobat are very gently sloping and hold many swamps and lagoons. When in flood, the Sobat River tributary carries a large amount of sediment, adding greatly to the White Nile's pale color. From South Sudan's second city Malakal, the river runs slowly but swamp-free into Sudan and north to Khartoum. Downstream from Malakal lies Kodok, the site of the 1898 Fashoda Incident that marked an end to the Scramble for Africa.


title: White Nile

text: In Sudan the river lends its name to the Sudanese state of White Nile, before merging with the larger Blue Nile at Khartoum and forming the River Nile.


title: White Nile

text: The White Nile is a navigable waterway from the Lake Albert to Khartoum through Jebel Aulia Dam, only between Juba and Uganda requires the river upgrade or channel to make it navigable.


title: Islamic republic

text: The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been used for a sovereign state taking a


title: Islamic republic

text: compromise position between a purely Islamic caliphate and a secular, nationalist republic -- neither an Islamic monarchy nor secular republic. In other cases it is used merely as a symbol of cultural identity.


title: Islamic republic

text: There are also a number of states where Islam is the state religion and that are (at least partly) ruled by Islamic laws, but carry only "republic" in their official names, not "Islamic republic" — examples include Iraq, Yemen and Maldives. Other supporters of strict sharia law, (such as the Taliban), prefer the title "Islamic emirate", as emirates were common throughout Islamic history and "republic" has a Western origin -- coming from the Roman () indicating that the "supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives", with no mention of obedience to Allah or sharia law.


title: Islamic republic

text: Currently, (as of 2022), the name is used in the official title of three states -- the Islamic Republics of Iran, Pakistan, and Mauritania. Pakistan first adopted the title under the constitution of 1956. Mauritania adopted it on 28 November 1958. Iran adopted it after the 1979 Iranian Revolution that overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty. Despite having similar names, the countries differ greatly in their governments and laws.


title: Islamic republic

text: Of the three, two of which, Iran and Mauritania are religious theocratic states. When Pakistan adopted the name in 1956, Islam was yet to be declared the state religion since gaining independence in 1947; they did so upon adopting a new constitution in 1973.


title: Islamic republic

text: Iran officially uses the full title in all governance names referring to the country (e.g. the Islamic Republic of Iran Army or the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting); as opposed to its equivalents in Pakistan which are called the Pakistan Armed Forces and the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation. Also unlike the other countries, Iran uses the IRI acronym (Islamic Republic of Iran) as part of official acronyms.


title: Islamic republic

text: The creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran was a dramatic, historical event, following the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979 by the Islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. "Islamic" in the country's title was not a symbol of cultural identity, but indicated specific governmental system based on rule by Islamic jurists enforcing Islamic law. The system was based on "The Jurist's Guardianship: Islamic Government", a work of the revolution's leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, written before Khomeini came to power, and known by Khomeini's followers but not by the general public. It argued that rather than elections and legislators, Islam required traditional Islamic law ("sharia"), and proper enforcement of sharia required a leading Islamic jurist ("faqih") (such as Khomeini himself, who served as the first "faqih" "guardian" or Supreme Leader of Iran) to provide political "guardianship" ("wilayat" or "velayat") over the people and nation (wilayat al-faqih). All the Muslim world should be united in such a state. With it, the entire non-Muslim world will evidentially "capitulate" to its courage and vigour; without it, Islam would fall victim to heresy, "obsolescence and decay".


title: Islamic republic

text: The new government held a referendum for public approval to change Iran from a monarchy to an Islamic republic in March 1979, two months after the Islamic Revolution took power. While some political groups had suggested various names for the ideology of the Iranian revolution such as the Republic (without specifying Islam) or the Democratic Republic; Khomeini called for Iranians to vote for the name Islamic Republic, "not a word more and not a word less". When an Iranian journalist asked Khomeini what exactly Islamic Republic meant, Khomeini stated that the term republic has the same sense as other uses and Islamic republic has considered both Islamic ideology and the choice of people.


title: Islamic republic

text: The day after the vote was complete, it was announced that 98.2% of the Iranian voters had voted to approve the new name.


title: Islamic republic

text: Unlike Khomeini's original vision, the Islamic Republic is a "republic" with elections (Khomeini had originally described his "Islamic government" as "not ... based on the approval of laws in accordance with the opinion of the majority"); it has a The Islamic Republic also contains many trapings of a modern state -- a president, cabinet and legislature (Khomeini mentioned none of these except for the legislature, which his government would not have because "no one has the right to legislate ... except ... the Divine Legislator"). Some, however, have argued that the legislature (and president, etc.) has been kept in a subordinate position in keeping with Khomeini's idea of government being a guardianship by jurists.


title: Islamic republic

text: According to the constitution, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a system based on the following beliefs:


title: Islamic republic

text: The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb region of western North Africa. Mauritania was declared an independent state as the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, on November 28, 1960. Its legal system is "a mix of French civil law and Sharia Law", and its Penal Code punishes crimes against religion and “good morals” with "harsh sentences". "Heresy or apostasy (including in print) are "punishable by death".


title: Islamic republic

text: Pakistan was created as a homeland for the Muslims of British India, when British India was given independence, making Islam its raison d'être. It was the first country to adopt the adjective Islamic to modify its republican status under its otherwise secular constitution in 1956. Despite this definition, the country did not have a state religion until 1973, when a new constitution, more democratic and less secular, was adopted. Pakistan only uses the Islamic name on its passports, visas and coins. Although Islamic Republic is specifically mentioned in the constitution of 1973, all government documents are prepared under the name of the Government of Pakistan. The Constitution of Pakistan, Part IX, Article 227 states: "All existing laws shall be brought in conformity with the Injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah,in this Part referred to as the Injunctions of Islam, and no law shall be enacted which is repugnant to such Injunctions".


title: Islamic republic

text: The Turkic Uyghur- and Kirghiz-controlled Turkish Islamic Republic of East Turkestan was declared in 1933 as an independent Islamic republic by Sabit Damulla Abdulbaki and Muhammad Amin Bughra. However, the Chinese Muslim 36th Division of the National Revolutionary Army defeated their armies and destroyed the republic during the Battles of Kashgar, Yangi Hissar and Yarkand. The Chinese Muslim Generals Ma Fuyuan and Ma Zhancang declared the destruction of the rebel forces and the return of the area to the control of the Republic of China in 1934, followed by the executions of the Turkic Muslim Emirs Abdullah Bughra and Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra. The Chinese Muslim General Ma Zhongying then entered the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar and lectured the Turkic Muslims on being loyal to the Nationalist Government.


title: Islamic republic

text: Afghanistan was an Islamic republic from 1990 to 1996, and from 2001 to 2021. The 1990 constitution was imposed by the Mohammad Najibullah government and eliminated communism.


title: Islamic republic

text: The constitution formed in 2004 was very similar to the 1964 Constitution of Afghanistan, created when Afghanistan was a constitutional Islamic monarchy. It consisted of three branches, the executive, the legislative and the judicial. The National Assembly was the legislature, a bicameral body having two chambers, the House of the People and the House of Elders. The Islamic prefix to Republic was considered symbolic as it was a name supported by pro-Mujahideen delegates during the assembly of forming the constitution.


title: Islamic republic

text: From 1996 to the re-establishment of the Islamic republic in 2001, Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban, a militant group based in Kandahar, who governed Afghanistan as an Islamic theocracy officially known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In 2021, the Taliban initiated a month-long insurgency to effectively end the Islamic republic and ultimately, re-establish the Islamic Emirate in August 2021. The Islamic Republic continued to be recognized by the United Nations as the legitimate government of Afghanistan both from 1996 to 2001 and from 2021 onwards.


title: Islamic republic

text: In December 2015, the then-president Yahya Jammeh declared The Gambia to be an Islamic republic. Jammeh said that the move was designed to distance the West African state from its colonial past, that no dress code would be imposed and that citizens of other faiths would be allowed to practice freely. However, he later ordered all female government employees to wear headscarves before rescinding the decision shortly after. The announcement of an Islamic republic has been criticized as unconstitutional by at least one opposition group. After the removal of Jammeh in 2017, his successor Adama Barrow said the Gambia would no longer be an Islamic republic.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Milo Đukanović (, ; born 15 February 1962) is a Montenegrin politician serving as the President of Montenegro since 2018, previously serving in the role from 1998 to 2003. He also served as the Prime Minister of Montenegro (1991–1998, 2003–2006, 2008–2010 and 2012–2016) and is the long-term president of the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro, originally the Montenegrin branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, which governed Montenegro alone or in a coalition from the introduction of multi-party politics in the early 1990s until its defeat in the 2020 parliamentary election. He is one of the longest ruling politicians in Europe who holds key positions in the country for over 32 years.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: When Đukanović first emerged on the political scene, he was a close ally of Slobodan Milošević during the anti-bureaucratic revolution (1988–1989) and the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia (1991–1992). His cabinet actively participated in the siege of Dubrovnik (1991–1992). Đukanović supported Momir Bulatović's agreement on Lord Carrington's terms, which resulted in the 1992 Montenegrin independence referendum, where voters decided to remain in FR Yugoslavia. In 1996, however, Đukanović distanced himself from Milošević and the federal government, abandoning the traditional joint Serbian and Montenegrin vision in favour of Montenegrin nationalism, which supported the state independence and a separate Montenegrin identity. That led to the division of the party and the split of the Bulatović's pro-unionist faction. Shortly afterward, Đukanović defeated Bulatović in the 1997 presidential election by a thin margin. In 1999, he negotiated with western countries in an attempt to limit airstrikes in Montenegro during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, while later Đukanović oversaw the implementation of the Deutsche Mark as the new currency in Montenegro, replacing the Yugoslav dinar.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Following the overthrow of Milošević (2000), he signed an agreement with the new Serbian government that led to the Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro (2003), which allowed for Montenegrin independence. Three years later, the 2006 independence referendum led to a formal separation from the state union and the proclamation of the new Constitution of Montenegro (2007). Đukanović has pursued NATO and EU accession policy, resulting in Montenegro's NATO membership in 2017. Over the course of his premiership and presidency, he oversaw the privatization of public companies to foreign investors and firms. Several corruption scandals of the ruling party triggered 2019 anti-government protests, while a controversial religion law sparked another wave of protests. For the first time in three decades, in the 2020 parliamentary election, the opposition won more votes than Đukanović's ruling party and its partners.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Some observers have described Đukanović's rule as authoritarian or autocratic, as well as a kleptocracy. In 2020, the Freedom House classified Montenegro as a hybrid regime rather than a democracy, mentioning the years of increasing state capture, abuse of power, and strongman tactics employed by Đukanović. He is often described as having strong links to the Montenegrin mafia. Đukanović was listed among the twenty richest world leaders according to the British newspaper "The Independent" in May 2010, which described the source of his estimated £10 million wealth as "mysterious". In October 2021, Đukanović and his son Blažo were mentioned in Pandora Papers, linking them to two trusts on British Virgin Islands.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Milo Đukanović was born in Nikšić on 15 February 1962, to Radovan and Stana Đukanović (). His given name is derived from that of a paternal relative who had fought alongside Đukanović's grandfather Blažo during World War I; the name was selected by Đukanović's paternal grandmother. Đukanović's paternal ancestors, members of the Ozrinići tribe who hailed from the village of Čevo, had settled in the Nikšić area following the Battle of Vučji Do in 1876. Prior to the birth of Đukanović's older sister Ana in 1960, Đukanović's father had worked as a judge in Bosnia and Herzegovina, before relocating to Nikšić with his family and taking up residence in the Đukanović family's ancestral village, Rastovac. Đukanović's mother was a nurse. His younger brother Aleksandar (Aco) was born in 1965. Đukanović completed his primary and secondary education in Nikšić, before relocating to Titograd to attend Veljko Vlahović University's Faculty of Economics. He graduated in 1986 with a diploma in tourism studies. Đukanović was an avid basketball player in his youth.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: In 1979, while still in high school, Đukanović joined the Yugoslav Communist League (SKJ), the only political party allowed by law in the Yugoslavian one-party political system. His father Radovan was already an influential member within the party's Montenegrin branch, which initially opened many doors for him. By 1986, he was a presidency member of Socialist Youth Alliance's (SSO) Montenegrin branch as well as the presidency member of its federal-level parent organization.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: As a member of the party's various youth bodies he quickly stood out from the pack, earning a nickname "Britva" ('Straight razor') for his direct and forceful rhetoric. Progressing steadily up the party ladder, by 1988 Đukanović became a member of the League's highest decision-making body, the Central Committee (CK SKJ). It turned out to be the committee's last sitting and he became its youngest member ever.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Within days in January 1989, the trio ousted Miljan Radović, the chairman of the Montenegrin Communist League and Božina Ivanović, the Presidents of the Presidency of Montenegro, replacing them with politically obedient confidants Veselin Vukotić and Branko Kostić, respectively. President of the Executive Council Vuko Vukadinović initially survived the coup d'etat, but within months he was on his way out as well, to be replaced with Radoje Kontić. Đukanović and the others galvanized public opinion within the republic by organizing workers and bussing them to the capital Titograd to protest in front of the Assembly.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: The 1990 Montenegrin parliamentary election in early December resulted in a remarkable victory for the League of Communists of Montenegro, who won 83 parliament seats out of the total 125. On 15 February 1991, Đukanović was, somewhat surprisingly, appointed Prime Minister of the first democratically elected government by President Momir Bulatović and with the blessing of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Later in 1991, the Montenegrin Communist League finished its transformation into the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS). Đukanović's office was secured after the 1992 parliamentary election. Held in December, they were called early due to the disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the formation of a new state entity, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In the elections, the DPS won an absolute majority, 46 seats out of the total 85.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Đukanović's government sent troops to fight seceding Croatia as he opposed the fallout of Yugoslavia caused by Slovenian independence and rebellions in other areas. Đukanović's cabinet actively participated in the siege of Dubrovnik from the autumn of 1991 until spring 1992, which resulted in the city suffering heavy structural damage. The surrounding area of Konavli also suffered due to looting raids. During this period Đukanović was one of the most vociferous hawks in the Montenegrin government. Some of his notable statements from this period include a proclamation about "starting to hate chess because of the šahovnica (the chequerboard Croatian coat-of-arms)".


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Đukanović campaigned for the modification of the internal borders of the ex-Yugoslav republics saying: "it's time to once and for all establish the firmest border possible with Croatia, but it will be a border a lot more just and realistic than the existing one that was drawn-up by Bolshevik map makers".


title: Milo Đukanović

text: On the domestic political front in 1992, Đukanović became involved in a fierce political clash with the pro-Croatian Montenegrin artist and activist, Jevrem Brković, which resulted in Brković's exile to Croatia, which lasted until 1998. On this occasion, Đukanović stated: "Every smart Montenegrin and every honest man in this land mentions the name of the traitor Jevrem Brković with hatred, who in pure vanity betrayed his people and knowingly spreads anti-Yugoslav speeches across Zagreb, while the Ustašas, again like in 1941, bleed the defenseless Serbian civilians."


title: Milo Đukanović

text: The siege of Dubrovnik had enormous consequences for Yugoslavia's international standing. The European Economic Community invited Lord Carrington and representatives from Yugoslavia to negotiate the Carrington plan on 19 October 1991, in The Hague. Milošević rejected the proposal of a "loose federation of independent states", and preferred a centralized Yugoslavia with institutional powers in Belgrade. However, in open defiance to Milošević, Đukanović supported Momir Bulatović's agreement on Carrington's terms. Yet in a sharp turn, the Narodna Stranka (People's Party) called for an emergency session in the Montenegrin parliament, during which Bulatović was accused of treason. Đukanović defended Bulatović in the parliamentary hearing. As Bulatović's deputy, Đukanović was invited to negotiations with Milošević and Borisav Jović, after which a clause was added to the Carrington proposal such that a republic could decide to stay in Yugoslavia through a referendum. This resulted in the referendum on 1 March 1992, where voters in Montenegro decided to remain in Yugoslavia.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: On 6 August 1992, a local warlord named Milika "Čeko" Dačević occupied police headquarters in Pljevlja after a vehicle used by his personal envoy was seized. In what quickly developed into an emergency, over half of the city's police surrendered to Dačević. As a result, Đukanović and Bulatović participated in negotiations with Dobrica Ćosić and Života Panić. One of Dačević's accomplices from Čajniče, Duško Kornjača, threatened to kill all of the Muslims in Pljevlja unless Dačević was released. During the meeting, Đukanović asked whether Montenegro could rely on the Army of Yugoslavia to protect the Muslims in Pljevlja. Đukanović and Bulatović ultimately negotiated the disarmament of Dačević's men. However, Pljevlja's Muslims were subject to multiple incidents up to 1995, particularly in the village of Bukovica where 6 Muslim inhabitants were killed from 1992.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: In November 1995, Đukanović and Svetozar Marović visited the Pentagon at the invitation of the United States, where they allegedly offered the Port of Bar as a logistics venue for international peacekeeping in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The meeting at the Pentagon was criticized by Yugoslavia's ruling parties at the time. The vice-chairman of the Serbian Radical Party, Milinko Gazdić, claimed that his party had proof that Đukanović and Marović were appealing to the United States for Montenegro's eventual secession from Yugoslavia. This did not deter Đukanović from visiting Bill Clinton during his re-election campaign for the 1996 presidential elections in the United States. Some of Đukanović's critics claimed that he discussed donating to Clinton's campaign that year.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Đukanović's communication with Milošević began to deteriorate after a disagreement on how to address the hyperinflation of the Yugoslav dinar in 1993. He then expressed opposition to the Dayton Agreement, which he criticized as being anti-Serb. In what was his most open criticism to date, he publicly blasted Milošević in an interview with the Belgrade weekly "Vreme", calling him "a man of obsolete political ideas".


title: Milo Đukanović

text: As a war of words erupted with Milošević and his wife Mira, Đukanović wrote a letter of support to the students demonstrating in the 1996–97 protests in Serbia. In a stark contrast, Momir Bulatović refused to attack Milošević. This set the stage for the split between Đukanović and Bulatović, whose partnership had stood remarkably strong up to that point. In spite of the initial disconnect in the DPS leadership, the party overwhelmingly won the 1996 parliamentary election.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: On 10 March 1997, after a trip to Washington, D.C. for Montenegro's Trade Mission by the initiative of Ratko Knežević, "The Washington Times" published a letter allegedly written by Đukanović to congressmen Nick Rahall and Bruce Vento. Congressmen Rahall and Vento had traveled to Belgrade during the student protests, even appearing in a "Zajedno" opposition meeting. A week after "The Washington Times" publication, "Politika" ran the letter on its front page on 18 March, adding the title: "Milo Đukanovic continues endeavoring to break up FR Yugoslavia and Serbia." Even though the letter did not actually mention Montenegrin secession, Đukanović denied writing the letter and said it was a forgery.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Another development which further distanced Đukanović from Milošević and Bulatović was his friendship with Vukašin Maraš, with whom he worked in the Automotive Association of Yugoslavia as a secondary job. On 28 July 1994, customs inspector Pavle Zelić informed the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia that approximately 4–5 million DM was found in boxes in AMSJ's office, and that he was not given a chance to count the money. In 1997, "DT Magazin" published a story reporting that the money was a part of a laundering operation involving the importing of cigarettes, whisky, oil, and other scarce goods during the sanctions against Yugoslavia, although most of the report could not be proven with the exception of the fact that the customs had been terminated after an agreement with Montenegrin customs chief Radosav Sekulić, Maraš, Đukanović, and Ana Begović. The AMSJ affair was one of the early points in the breakup of Đukanović's affair with Bulatović.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: In a more serious affair, in January 1996, Đukanović and Maraš met with MI6 agent Joseph "Joe" Busby in Hotel Yugoslavia in Belgrade, where the idea of Montenegro declaring independence from the state union with Serbia was first mentioned to a foreign representative.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: On at least two occasions, in 1996 and in May 1997, Bulatović requested the resignation of Maraš. Instead, Đukanović kept Maraš as a security assistant to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Maraš initiated Operation Ljubović, an overnight raid of the "Ljubović" hotel in Podgorica five days before the 1997 election in which Đukanović ran, incriminating Bulatović's campaign of recruiting racketeers. Those arrested were released after the election and relieved of all charges by 2002.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Bulatović's actual departure from the DPS took place on 11 July 1997, when the DPS GO (""Glavni odbor"") committee held a closed doors session, selecting Milica Pejanović-Đurišić to replace Bulatović as the party president. The party split had enormous implications, ultimately setting the stage for a confrontation between Đukanović and Bulatović inevitable. This manifested in the 1997 Montenegrin presidential election held in October, which Đukanović won by a thin margin. Clinton envoy Robert Gelbard testified about meeting Đukanović before and after the election in front of the U.S. Senate during the ""Prospects for Democracy in Yugoslavia"" hearings on 29 July 1999. Initially demanding greater autonomy, Đukanović and his supporters advocated Montenegrin nationalism, which supported independence and a separate Montenegrin identity. The key point for an active change of policy towards independence is the deprivation of Montenegro's federal rights by the Milošević federal regime.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Shortly after his inauguration in 1998, Đukanović told Gelbard and some foreign ambassadors about his vision of an independent Montenegro in the "Gorica" villa. Đukanović said that Gelbard and the ambassadors disagreed with him at the time, as they preferred Đukanović to work with the opposition in Belgrade.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: On 24 March 1999, NATO began bombing Yugoslavia. During the bombings, Jean-David Levitte claimed that Đukanović asked Bill Clinton for airstrikes to remove Milošević. Curious about Levitte's claim, Jacques Chirac called Đukanović to ask if the Clinton requests were true. Đukanović told Chirac that "every bomb that fell in Montenegro threatened to weaken my government." Chirac subsequently contacted Clinton and arranged limitations on airstrikes in Montenegro. Shortly after the bombings ceased, Đukanović oversaw the implementation of the Deutsche Mark as the new currency in Montenegro, replacing the Yugoslav Dinar.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: In a speech in June 2016, Đukanović told an audience that "1999 was a year of critical importance for the choice of an independent Montenegrin way. That meaning the rejection of the self-destructive war with NATO, and secondly, the implementation of the Deutsche Mark a few months later."


title: Milo Đukanović

text: In June 2000, he apologised to Croatia for the Montenegrin participation in the siege of Dubrovnik, saying: "On my own behalf and on behalf of all the citizens of Montenegro I want to apologise to all citizens of Croatia, particularly in Konavli and Dubrovnik for all the pain and material damage inflicted by any member of the Montenegrin people."


title: Milo Đukanović

text: After the overthrow of Milošević, Đukanović faced a dilemma as he no longer could use Milošević's international standing to argue for Montenegro's independence from Yugoslavia. In early 2002, Đukanović was subject to an investigation on international cigarette trafficking by the public prosecutor Giuseppe Scelsi of Bari. Simultaneously, he was involved in negotiations ahead of the Belgrade agreement, and Javier Solana tried persuading him to abstain from independence at least temporarily and that Montenegro should remain in Yugoslavia. After the meetings with Solana, Đukanović signed the Belgrade Agreement on 14 March 2002, in addition to the signatures of Filip Vujanović, Zoran Đinđić, Vojislav Koštunica, and Miroljub Labus. The agreement led to the Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro. It mandated that after a period of three years, Montenegro could hold a referendum on the question of independence. In a bid to prolong his executive powers, Đukanović and Prime Minister Vujanović agreed a job-swap that same year. Đukanović did not run for president in the 2002 election and Vujanović replaced him as the DPS candidate. On 25 November 2002, Đukanović resigned as president, several months before the end of his term, in order to become Prime Minister again. Vujanović, who had resigned as prime minister at the start of the month to become Speaker of the Montenegrin Parliament, was sworn in as acting president. Đukanović took office as prime minister on 8 January 2003. Vujanović succeeded him as president on 22 May 2003.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: The 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum resulted in Montenegro declaring independence from the state union with Serbia. After the declaration of independence, Montenegro's Parliament appointed Đukanović as the first Minister of Defense. Đukanović also acted as the president of the National Council for Sustainable Growth, a member of the Council for European Integration, and the president of the Agency for Promotion of Foreign Investment's managing board. After independence had been achieved, Đukanović's brand of Montenegrin nationalism was no longer useful.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: On 3 October 2006, it was announced that Đukanović was stepping down as prime minister, despite the victory of his Coalition for a European Montenegro in the September 2006 parliamentary election, although he would remain leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists. On 4 October, he endorsed Željko Šturanović as his successor. The choice of Šturanović was considered a compromise between Đukanović and Svetozar Marović, as Đukanović's first candidate was Igor Lukšić, the Minister of Finance.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Đukanović formally ceased to be the Prime Minister on 10 November 2006, as the new Government was elected by Parliament of Montenegro. He cited his reasons for stepping down as "being tired of politics", and wishing to try himself out as a businessman. Đukanović served as a member of Parliament from October 2006 to February 2008. He announced that he might be willing to run in the April 2008 presidential election but eventually decided against it, allowing Vujanović to easily win a second term.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Đukanović headed the proclamation of the new Constitution of Montenegro on 22 October 2007. He received support from almost all DPS municipal boards and committees. Since 2006, Đukanović has opened five private businesses, the latest called Global Montenegro on 25 February 2008, and bought actions in his brother's bank, altogether amassing property worth millions of euros. His other four companies are: Universitas, Capital Invest, Primary Invest, and Select Investments.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: On 20 February 2008, President Vujanović nominated Đukanović as prime minister after Šturanović resigned due to illness. He was accordingly elected as prime minister on 29 February 2008. His party won the 2009 parliamentary election.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: From 2008, Đukanović's time in the office was marked with advancing EU and NATO integration processes, in which Montenegro mostly went ahead of its neighbors. In the meantime, on 9 October 2008, Montenegro recognized Kosovo's independence, becoming the fourth former Yugoslav republic to recognize Kosovo. In the 2009 parliamentary election, Đukanović's coalition again won a majority of seats.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Montenegro submitted its application for EU membership in December 2008. On 22 July 2009, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn handed over the commission's Questionnaire to Đukanović in Podgorica and on 9 December 2009, Đukanović delivered to Rehn Montenegro's replies to the commission's Questionnaire in Brussels. Later that year Montenegro achieved visa liberalisation with the EU. On 1 May 2010, the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) entered into force. On 17 December 2010, Montenegro became an official EU candidate. As for Montenegro's NATO accession bid, the Allies decided to grant its request to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP) in December 2009.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: After giving indications he would step down once the European Union granted official candidate status to Montenegro's membership application, which it did on 17 December 2010, Đukanović resigned as prime minister on 21 December 2010. His party's leadership proposed Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Igor Lukšić to lead the new government. Lukšić was confirmed as the new prime minister by the Parliament of Montenegro on 29 December 2010.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Just like when he stepped down last time, Đukanović again retained the DPS party chairmanship. Furthermore, he did not rule out possible future campaigns for public office, including a 2013 run for President of Montenegro or a run for another tenure as prime minister.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: After the parliamentary election on 14 October 2012, Đukanović informed President Vujanović that he was capable of forming a government. His cabinet was approved by Parliament on 4 December 2012 and Đukanović returned to the office of Prime Minister on the same day. Together with Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Đukanović was a runner-up to Vladimir Putin for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project's 2014 "Person of the Year in Organized Crime" award, recognizing "the person who does the most to enable and promote organized criminal activity." He later won the award in 2015.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: In 2016, following 2016 Montenegrin parliamentary election, Đukanović retired for a third time and stepped down as Prime Minister. However, he still remained the leader of DPS.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: In 2018, it was announced Đukanović would be his party's candidate for the 2018 presidential election. It was the second time Đukanović ran for president, the last time having been in the controversial 1997 election. He won the election by a large margin, as opposition parties by and large campaigned for independent campaign Mladen Bojanić.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: In 2020, the Freedom House reported that years of increasing state capture, abuse of power, and strongman tactics employed by Đukanović have tipped his country over the edge – for the first time since 2003, Montenegro is no longer categorized as a democracy and became a hybrid regime.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: For the first time in three decades and for the first time since the introduction of multi-party politics in Montenegro, the opposition won more votes than Đukanović's ruling Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro. The OSCE and the ODIHR announced in preliminary findings that the 2020 elections were competitive and held in a highly polarized atmosphere especially regarding issues of church and national identity. They further concluded the election date had not been held in accordance with the Constitution, there had been no independent campaign coverage, and the ruling party had profited unjustifiably through widespread abuse of office and state resources.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: On 1 September 2020, Đukanović accused Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Belgrade-based media of interfering in the internal politics of Montenegro, as well of alleged trying to revive a "Greater Serbia policy".


title: Milo Đukanović

text: The chart below shows a timeline of the offices held by Đukanović and the Montenegro status. The left bar shows president and all prime ministers terms of Đukanović, and the right bar shows the country status of Montenegro at that time.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: In July 2003, the prosecutor's office in Naples linked Đukanović with an organised crime racket worth billions of euros. Đukanović called a press conference in Podgorica to deny the allegations as a "loathsome political trick", aimed at criminalising him and his country. Djukanovic has long been dogged by suspicions that he was involved in tobacco smuggling in Italy.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: On 16 April 2003, the Judge for Preliminary Inquiries in Naples rejected the Antimafia Commission's request for a warrant for Đukanović's arrest, claiming him to be immune from arrest as Prime Minister of Montenegro. The commission had been investigating him for some time, since at least May 2002 and had further requested his arrest as a precautionary measure.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: The case was appealed to the Naples Court of Review, which ruled in Đukanović's favor. Besides claiming his immunity, he was described as not socially dangerous as well as ignorant that he was committing crimes. The case was then once again appealed, to the Court of Cassation (Corte di Cassazione). On 28 December 2004, this court ruled in favor of the Antimafia Commission. It argued that as Montenegro was not a sovereign state, Đukanović had no diplomatic immunity.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: After the independence referendum, Đukanović's lawyer, Enrico Tuccillo, said that "The referendum has confirmed the premise of the Prime Minister, Milo Đukanović, about the sovereignty of Montenegro: therefore no doubt can now remain about the immunity, granted to heads of state and of government, which Đukanović enjoyed and enjoys."


title: Milo Đukanović

text: On 27 March 2008, Đukanović made a low-profile visit to the prosecutor's office in Bari. He was questioned for six-and-a-half hours and answered about 80 prosecutor's questions regarding the accusations against him. On this occasion, Đukanović's lawyer said that he had written evidence proving that, at the time when his client submitted the request to give a statement to the Italian prosecution authorities in Bari, he did not occupy any public office whatsoever and, therefore, had no intention of hiding behind immunity in the first place. In April 2009, the prosecution authorities finally dropped the case against Đukanović.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: According to court documents, "Montenegro has been a haven for illegal trafficking, where criminals acted with impunity, while the ports of Bar and Kotor were used as logistic bases for motor boats, with protection which was guaranteed by the government." In December 2009, Francesco Forgione, a former Italian MP who led the Italian Parliament's Anti-Mafia Commission from 2006 to 2008, published a book titled "Mafia Export" which cited the Montenegrin mafia and Djukanovic as one of the organisers of international cigarette smuggling between 1994 and 2000. By 2000, the illegal trade was worth several billion dollars annually, according to EU and US agencies.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Đukanović was featured in the Pandora Papers, a leak of financial documents which were published in early October 2021. It was reported that Đukanović and his son Blažo have been passing money to offshore accounts since 2012, when they established secret asset management agreements behind a network of companies in more than five countries. He and his son established two trusts namely the Victoria Trust and Capecastel Trust. Đukanović admitted that he founded Victoria Trust while he was not a public office holder, that he had no business transactions or open bank accounts, and he claimed that at the end of the year, he transferred the ownership of his trust to Blažo. Đukanović's cabinet also stated that this leak is "a part of series of attempts to discredit Đukanović and his family members" and that the trusts only existed "on paper". Similar to this case, Đukanović previously denied owning businesses in other countries.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić called for investigation of Đukanović's family, while the Foreign Affairs Minister Đorđe Radulović commented on this situation by saying that "Đukanović misused his diplomatic passport when opening his private companies". Đukanović was also mentioned in an money laundering affair in which Rezart Taçi intervened with Đukanović for a transfer from the "president's bank".


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Đukanović has a track record of attacking critical journalists and media outlets, smearing them as a "media mafia", claiming they are linked to organised crime, and calling them "rats", "monsters", "enemies of the state".


title: Milo Đukanović

text: In 2015, the investigative journalists' network OCCRP has named Milo Đukanović 'Person of the Year in Organized Crime'. The extent of Đukanović's corruption led to street demonstrations and calls for his removal.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Several thousand protesters demanding the resignation of Milo Đukanović and the formation of an interim government marched in the centre of the capital Podgorica on the evening of 25 October 2015. Montenegrin police fired tear gas at opposition supporters, while chasing away the demonstrators with armored vehicles.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Muamer Zukorlić stated that Milo Đukanović previously promised that Bosniaks will have their autonomy within Montenegro, but that he went on to break their deal and that therefore his "conscience is not clear".


title: Milo Đukanović

text: As of December 2019 Montenegrin parliament proclaimed a controversial religion law which de jure transfers the ownership of church buildings and estates from the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro to the Montenegrin state. In February 2020 Đukanović called the citizens protesting against the newly proclaimed religion law "a lunatic movement". The religion law is seen as a major factor in Đukanović and the DPS' defeat during the 2020 elections.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: After it was announced that the enthronement ceremony of Joanikije Mićović of the Serbian Orthodox Church as the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral would be held in Cetinje, the Church's ecclesiastical seat, on 5 September 2021, Đukanović called for the ceremony to be held elsewhere and stated that he would be present at the protest that day unless this was done. On 26 August, he chaired a session of the Defence and Security Council with all top officials of Montenegro attending. The Council session addressed the "security challenges caused by the announced enthronement of the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral" and urged "all socio-political actors" to keep peace and respect the Constitution and laws. On 4 September, on the eve of the scheduled enthronement, Đukanović arrived in the town of Cetinje along with some of his DPS colleagues. Both the Metropolitan and the Patriarch were flown to Cetinje by helicopter and then led into the monastery by heavily armed riot police holding bulletproof vests over their bodies to protect them, as riot police used tear gas to disperse protesters who hurled rocks and bottles at them and fired guns into the air. No fewer than 20 people were injured and police arrested more than a dozen people, including the security advisor to Đukanović, Veselin Veljović.


title: Milo Đukanović

text: Following the enthronement, Đukanović, called it the government's Pyrrhic victory and "a great embarrassment of the Serbian Church and the government of Montenegro"; he later elaborated saying that the enthronement came as another one in a series of episodes in the renewed offensive of Serbian nationalism on Montenegro, the Krivokapić administration being "in the service of the Church of Serbia, which is an instrument for implementing the "Greater Serbia project", the official state policy of Belgrade". Montenegrin officials accused Đukanović and his party of an "attempted coup" following the riots. On 22 September, the Montenegrin parliament launched an inquiry to the Constitutional Court to rule if Đukanović had violated constitutional articles by backing the protesters. The Constitutional Court ultimately judged him not guilty on 4 February 2022.


title: Finite difference method

text: In numerical analysis, finite-difference methods (FDM) are a class of numerical techniques for solving differential equations by approximating derivatives with finite differences. Both the spatial domain and time interval (if applicable) are discretized, or broken into a finite number of steps, and the value of the solution at these discrete points is approximated by solving algebraic equations containing finite differences and values from nearby points.


title: Finite difference method

text: Finite difference methods convert ordinary differential equations (ODE) or partial differential equations (PDE), which may be nonlinear, into a system of linear equations that can be solved by matrix algebra techniques. Modern computers can perform these linear algebra computations efficiently which, along with their relative ease of implementation, has led to the widespread use of FDM in modern numerical analysis.


title: Finite difference method

text: Today, FDM are one of the most common approaches to the numerical solution of PDE, along with finite element methods.


title: Finite difference method

text: First, assuming the function whose derivatives are to be approximated is properly behaved, by Taylor's theorem, we can create a Taylor series expansion


title: Finite difference method

text: where "n"! denotes the factorial of "n", and "R"("x") is a remainder term, denoting the difference between the Taylor polynomial of degree "n" and the original function. We will derive an approximation for the first derivative of the function "f" by first truncating the Taylor polynomial:


title: Finite difference method

text: The error in a method's solution is defined as the difference between the approximation and the exact analytical solution. The two sources of error in finite difference methods are round-off error, the loss of precision due to computer rounding of decimal quantities, and truncation error or discretization error, the difference between the exact solution of the original differential equation and the exact quantity assuming perfect arithmetic (that is, assuming no round-off).