title: Five Points Gang

text: Paul Kelly, born Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli, was an Italian American who founded the Five Points Gang. It included some who later became prominent criminals in their own right, including Johnny Torrio, Al Capone and Lucky Luciano.


title: Five Points Gang

text: The area of Manhattan where four streets – Anthony (now Worth), Cross (now Mosco), Orange (now Baxter), and Little Water (now nonexistent) – converged was known as "The Five Points". Mulberry, notorious for slum tenements, was one street down from the Five Points. This area, now the present-day location of Chinatown, lay between Broadway and the Bowery. By the 1820s, this district had been a center of settlement for poor immigrants and was considered a slum area of run-down wood frame and brick dwellings, warehouses and commercial enterprises dating from the late 18th century and early 19th century, populated by mostly poor English and Scots-Irish with increasing waves of German, Welsh and Irish refugees by the 1840s.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Gambling dens and brothels were numerous in the Five Points area, which was considered a dangerous destination, where many people had been mugged, particularly at night. In 1842, famous British author Charles Dickens visited the area and was appalled at the poor living conditions and substandard housing.


title: Five Points Gang

text: In the pre-civil war era, Catholic immigrants often dealt with ethnic prejudice and class discrimination from Nativist White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. As a result, many Irish immigrants formed local street gangs such as the Kerryonians, the Forty Thieves, the Shirt Tails, and the Chichesters, to rebel against their low social status. These street gang members soon turned to crime.


title: Five Points Gang

text: The 2002 film "Gangs of New York" is set in Five Points based on Herbert Asbury's historical novel portraying the strife between old line Americanized Protestant English and Scots-Irish immigrants and newly arrived persecuted Roman Catholic Irish from the 1840s to the Civil War draft riots of 1863, with riots, crime, poverty and exploitation by political machines such as Tammany Hall.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Shortly before the American Civil War, these gangs began to dissipate, with remaining members joining powerful gangs such as the Dead Rabbits and the Whyos. Eventually the influence and numbers of these Irish gangs started to wane.


title: Five Points Gang

text: By the 1870s a new wave of Italian and Eastern European Jewish immigrants were settling into the area. Criminal gangs of Irish, Jewish and Italian criminals began competing for control of the territory, rackets and revenue to be made from illicit activities. Monk Eastman's Eastman Coin Collectors originally had many Irish members before becoming predominantly Jewish.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Italian American Paul Kelly (born Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli), formed the Five Points Gang, then made up mostly of Italians. The Five Points Gang had a reputation for brutality and in battles with rival gangs they often fought to the death. The gang would then gain more power and members when Kelly recruited the remaining members of other Five Points gangs, such as the Dead Rabbits and Whyos, into his growing gang.


title: Five Points Gang

text: As time went on, Jewish, Polish and Eastern European immigrants would also be brought within the ranks of the Five Points Gang, making them even more powerful and influential. Al Capone came from the James Street gang and would later lead the Chicago Outfit. Charles "Lucky" Luciano also joined the Five Points Gang in his younger years and was later considered the most powerful criminal in the country.


title: Five Points Gang

text: As the Five Points Gang became more experienced, Kelly and his lieutenants saw the money to be made by supporting corrupt politicians in their election bids. By threatening voters, falsifying voter lists and stuffing ballot boxes, the gang aided city officials of the Democratic Party political machine Tammany Hall to retain power. At the turn of the 20th century, the only competitors to the Five Pointers were from Monk Eastman's gang.


title: Five Points Gang

text: The rivals disputed claims to a strip of territory of the Lower East Side in Manhattan. In 1901, a Five Pointer shot Eastman in the stomach, but he survived. Soon after, one of his crew killed a Five Pointer in retaliation. By 1903 the feud escalated, and the two gangs openly engaged in warfare. In one incident, Kelly, Torrio and 50 Five Pointers were in a gun battle with a similarly sized force of Eastman's gang. City Police called to the scene had to retreat from the battle, which lasted several hours. Three men were killed, and many were wounded in the battle. When the police finally gained control of the situation, they arrested Eastman, but he spent only a few hours in jail. A Tammany-controlled judge released him after Eastman swore that he was innocent.


title: Five Points Gang

text: The general public was angered about warfare in the streets. A Tammany Hall deputy named Tom Foley brought Kelly and Eastman together and told them that neither would receive any political protection if they did not resolve the border dispute. They restored peace for a short time, but within two months, violence had risen again. Officials brought together the two leaders, but asked them to take on each other in a boxing match with the winner's gang to take the disputed territory.


title: Five Points Gang

text: On the appointed day, hundreds of men from both sides met at an abandoned house in the Bronx. Eastman and Kelly fought each other viciously. Kelly had been a boxer in his younger days, and was said to make a better showing in the earlier rounds, but Eastman was a larger man and fought ferociously. The fight lasted two hours and by the end of the match, both had suffered heavy punishment, but neither man had been knocked out and the match was declared a draw. The gang leaders told their men that they were still at war.


title: Five Points Gang

text: At this point, the Tammany Hall bosses decided to back the Five Points crew and to withdraw any legal or political help for Eastman and his gang. In 1904 Eastman was beaten unconscious by a policeman who had foiled a robbery in progress. Eastman was convicted of the crime and sentenced to a 10-year term in Sing Sing prison (Ossining Correctional Facility) in Ossining, New York.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Eastman's imprisonment meant the Five Points Gang had no effective rival for control of organized crime activities in the Lower East Side. During that time, Kelly's organization expanded into other parts of Manhattan and parts of New Jersey. The Eastman crew was largely eclipsed when Eastman's successor Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach, a former member of the Five Points Gang until he defected to the Eastman Gang, was murdered in 1908 by hitmen of the Five Points Gang, allegedly at the behest of Paul Kelly.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Kelly brought a more businesslike approach to his gang activities. He opened the New Brighton Athletic Club, a two-story cafe and dance hall at 57 Great Jones Street (between Lafayette and Bowery), where he charmed socialites and other prominent citizens who frequented his club. Always well dressed, Kelly spoke French, Italian, and Spanish fluently, and appreciated fine art and classical music. His educated and sophisticated persona impressed many of New York's elite.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Paolo Vaccarelli/Paul Kelly survived an attempt on his life, after being shot three times by two of his former lieutenants, James T. "Biff" Ellison and Pat "Razor" Riley, in a gun battle inside the New Brighton in 1905. Tammany Hall pressure made him keep a lower profile after this incident, while New York Police Commissioner William McAdoo closed the New Brighton for the protection of its socialite regulars. This failed assassination began the decline of Kelly's dominance in the New York underworld.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Kelly and his gang did not, however, disappear. After Kelly closed the New Brighton, he moved operations to the Italian immigrant communities in Harlem and Brooklyn, while also retaining ties to his old neighborhood, becoming a vice president of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) under his Americanized birth name of Paul Vaccarelli. He was based in the Chelsea area.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Kelly/Vaccarelli was expelled from the ILA in 1919, but returned to it later that year. He took leadership of a spontaneous port-wide strike begun in protest against a wage increase of only five cents an hour, which management had agreed to. With the support of Mayor John F. Hylan, Kelly was appointed to a commission to resolve the strike. He ended it but did not achieve any concessions for the strikers.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Kelly subsequently became a labor racketeer, providing muscle in labor disputes during the 1920s. Kelly died of natural causes in 1936.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Gradually the Mafia gangs took over the rackets and criminal activities formerly controlled by the Five Points Gang. Former Five Pointers such as Torrio, Capone, Lansky and Luciano became the leaders of the new groups and, with mentoring from influential businessman and criminal genius Arnold Rothstein, expanded their operations on a national and international basis. With the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act establishing Prohibition in 1920, profits from bootlegged liquor became a huge source of revenue for the Mafia families.


title: Five Points Gang

text: Kelly's second-in-command John Torrio was the first to establish his style of racketeering in Chicago, recruiting Capone to join him there. Torrio later helped form a National Crime Syndicate in the United States, following the demise of the Five Points Gang and after Capone replaced him in Chicago, in coordination with Luciano and Lansky.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: R v Dudley and Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273, DC is a leading English criminal case which established a precedent throughout the common law world that necessity is not a defence to a charge of murder. It concerned survival cannibalism following a shipwreck and its purported justification on the basis of a custom of the sea. The case marked the culmination of a long history of attempts by the law, in the face of a bank of public opinion sympathetic to famished castaways, to outlaw the custom (cases of which were little-publicised until after the death of perpetrators) and it became a legal "cause célèbre" in late 19th century Britain, particularly among mariners.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Dudley and Stephens were shipwrecked along with two other men. When one of them, the cabin boy Richard Parker, fell into a coma, Dudley and Stephens decided to kill him for food.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The yacht "Mignonette" was a 19.43 net t., cruiser built in 1867. It was an inshore boat, not made for long voyages. Australian lawyer Jack Want purchased it in 1883 for leisure. The vessel could at decent cost be transported to Australia by sailing, but its size and the 15,000-mile (24,000-km) voyage daunted attempts that year to find a suitable crew. It was sailed to Sydney from Southampton on 19 May 1884 with a crew of:


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: On 5 July, "Mignonette" was running before a gale, around northwest of the Cape of Good Hope. The vessel was not struggling and Dudley gave the order to heave to so that the crew could enjoy a good night's sleep. As the manoeuvre was completed, and Parker was sent below to prepare tea, a wave struck and washed away the lee bulwark.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Dudley instantly realized that the yacht was doomed and ordered the single lifeboat to be lowered. The lifeboat was of flimsy construction, with boards only thick and was holed in the haste to get it away. "Mignonette" sank within five minutes of being struck and the crew abandoned ship for the lifeboat, managing only to salvage vital navigational instruments along with two tins of turnips and no fresh water. Theories abound of the structural inadequacies of "Mignonette" that could not withstand the onslaught of a gale.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Dudley managed to improvise a sea anchor to keep the lifeboat headed into the waves and maintain her stability. Over the first night, the crew had to fight off a shark with their oars. They were around from the nearest land, Saint Helena or Tristan da Cunha. Dudley kept the first tin of turnips until 7 July when its five pieces were shared among the men to last two days. On or around 9 July, Brooks spotted a sea turtle which Stephens dragged on board. This yielded about three pounds (1.4 kg) of meat each plus the bones which, along with the second tin of turnips, lasted until 15 or 17 July. They were unable to drink its blood after it became contaminated with seawater. The crew failed to catch any rainwater and by 13 July, with no other viable source of liquid, they began to drink their own urine. It was probably on 20 July that Parker became ill through drinking seawater. Stephens also became unwell, possibly from the same cause.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Drawing lots to choose a victim who would die to feed the others was possibly first discussed on 16 or 17 July, and debate seems to have intensified on 21 July but without resolution. On 23 or 24 July, with Parker probably in a coma, Dudley told the others that it was better that one of them die so that the others survive and that they should draw lots. Brooks refused. That night, Dudley again raised the matter with Stephens pointing out that Parker was probably dying and that he and Stephens had wives and families. They agreed to leave the matter until the morning.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The following day, with no prospect of rescue in sight, Dudley and Stephens silently signalled to each other that Parker would be killed. Killing Parker before his natural death would mean blood to drink. Brooks, who had not been party to the earlier discussion, claimed to have signalled neither assent nor protest; Dudley always insisted that Brooks had assented. Dudley said a prayer and, with Stephens standing by to hold the youth's legs if he struggled, pushed his penknife into Parker's jugular vein, killing him.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: In some of the varying and confused later accounts of the killing, Parker murmured, "What me?" as he was slain. The three fed on Parker's body, with Dudley and Brooks consuming the most and Stephens very little. The crew even finally managed to catch some rainwater. Dudley later described the scene, "I can assure you I shall never forget the sight of my two unfortunate companions over that ghastly meal. We all was like mad wolfs who should get the most, and for men—fathers of children—to commit such a deed, we could not have our right reason." The crew sighted a sail on 29 July.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Dudley, Stephens and Brooks were picked up by the German sailing barque "Montezuma" which returned the men to Falmouth, Cornwall, England, on 6 September "en route" to its destination in Hamburg. On arrival in Falmouth, the survivors attended the customs house and Dudley and Stephens entered statutory statements under the Merchant Shipping Acts, required in the event of a shipping loss. All three were candid, Dudley and Stephens believing themselves to be protected by a custom of the sea.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The duty police sergeant of the Falmouth Harbour Police, James Laverty, was nearby the depositions and overheard the statement given to the customs officer. He later questioned Dudley about the means by which he had killed Parker, taking custody of the knife and promising to return it. The depositions were telegraphed to the Board of Trade and to the Registrar General of Shipping in Basinghall Street in London. While the survivors were making arrangements to rejoin their families, Basinghall Street advised the men be detained. The Board of Trade gave conflicting advice to take no action but informed the Home Office, which was closed for the weekend. Laverty sought warrants for the men's arrest for murder on the high seas, which he obtained later that day from the mayor, Henry Liddicoat.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Dudley, Stephens and Brooks were held in the police station until appearance before magistrates on 8 September. Dudley appears to have been confident that the magistrates would dismiss the charges. Liddicoat visited the men to apologise for inconvenience but all magistrates had recently been instructed to seek advice of the Treasury Solicitor in all murder cases and the clerk probably prompted Laverty to ask for a remand in custody and adjournment while advice was sought. Local solicitor Harry Tilly appeared for the men and requested bail but after the magistrates, including Liddicoat, had consulted, they were returned to the police cells until Friday.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: By Wednesday, the file was passed to Home Secretary Sir William Harcourt. That day Harcourt consulted with Attorney General Sir Henry James and Solicitor General Sir Farrer Herschell. Harcourt took the decision to prosecute, the system having not clarified the law given the events of James Archer (see below).


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: By the time of bench appearance on Friday, public opinion in Falmouth had swung behind the defendants, especially after Parker's brother Daniel, also a seaman, appeared in court and shook hands with the three. The case was re-adjourned until 18 September, granting bail, the Home Office having hinted that this would be appropriate. The three men returned to their homes while the case began to appear across the British and international press. It soon became clear that consensus lay on the side of the defence. Harcourt was disgusted by the public's sentiment and became even more intent on a conviction.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: William Otto Adolph Julius Danckwerts, a barrister of only six years' call but a specialist in wreck inquiries, was briefed for the prosecution but soon realised that public sentiment and the lack of evidence posed formidable difficulties. The only witnesses were the three defendants themselves and their right to silence would impede any formal proceedings. A confession was only admissible against the person making it, not his co-defendants and the contents of the depositions were probably inadequate to convict.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: When the case was heard by the magistrates on 18 September, Danckwerts told the court that he intended to offer no evidence against Brooks and requested that he be discharged so that he could be called as a witness for the prosecution. There is no evidence that Brooks had been canvassed about this and the magistrates agreed. Danckwerts opened the prosecution case and called as witnesses those who had heard the survivors' stories and Brooks. The magistrates committed Dudley and Stephens for trial at the winter days of assizes in Exeter but extended their bail.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Morality, ethics and legality of the taking of another's life to increase one's chance of survival have been discussed in thought experiments from the Plank of Carneades to The Case of the Speluncean Explorers. In a few legal cases across the British jurisdictions the question had arisen.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: In the early 17th century, seven Englishmen in the Caribbean embarked on an overnight voyage from Saint Christopher Island but were blown out to sea and lost for seventeen days. During this time, starving, they cast lots to see who would sacrifice his own life for the others. The lot fell to the man who had suggested the scheme, and he consented to his subsequent killing. His body sustained the rest until they made their way to Saint Martin. They were returned to Saint Christopher where they were put on trial for homicide. The judge pardoned them, their crime being "washed away" by "inevitable necessity".


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: This case was cited in the defence. Its first detailed summary in high-brow British publications was in a post-1884 medical work, not in any law reports.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: In 1820 the surviving crew of the whaleship "Essex" consumed the bodies of seven of their shipmates to stay alive; six died of starvation and exposure except for Owen Coffin, who 'lost' the lottery and was shot and eaten. The captain volunteered to take Coffin's place but he refused, saying it was his 'right' to do so that the others might live.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: In 1841, the U.S. ship "William Brown" sank after hitting an iceberg. Crewmen, including seaman Alexander Holmes, believed that their overloaded lifeboat was in danger of itself sinking and put fourteen or sixteen passengers overboard far offshore in the frigid water. On his return to Philadelphia, Holmes was arrested and charged with murder. The grand jury rejected the indictment and substituted manslaughter. The judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania instructed the jury that necessity might be a complete defence but that "before the protection of the law of necessity can be invoked, a case of necessity must exist, the slayer must be faultless, he must owe no duty to the victim." The jury convicted Holmes and the principle of necessity was not tested by any higher court. He was sentenced to six months and a $20 fine. The defence also cited this case.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: On 9 August 1874, the collier "Euxine" was lost, and its second mate James Archer took charge of one of the lifeboats with seven other survivors. Archer and four survivors were picked up on 31 August, and he was candid that he and August Muller had killed and butchered Francis Shufus, by all drawing lots. They were ultimately landed at Batavia Road where the acting British consul William J. Fraser took their surprisingly honest depositions.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The men were then shipped to Singapore, with Fraser's depositions, to shipping master Henry Ellis, a character fictionalised in Joseph Conrad's novella "The Shadow Line". Ellis consulted Attorney General of Singapore Thomas Braddell but then wrote to the Board of Trade in London that no further action was necessary and the men were free to find another ship to serve. Singapore Governor Sir Andrew Clarke had ordered the men arrested and when he informed the Colonial Office, they insisted that he hold a judicial enquiry. Prosecution was started in Singapore but ultimately dropped after extended procedural wrangles as to whether Singapore or England was the most appropriate jurisdiction.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The Criminal Law commissioners, who were attempting to define an English Criminal Code, considered the matter several times:


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: In 1874, James Fitzjames Stephen introduced a Homicide Law Amendment Bill that included a defence of necessity. The bill was lost and Stephen had changed his mind by 1884.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The trial opened in Exeter on 3 November before Baron Huddleston. Arthur Charles QC led for the prosecution and Arthur J. H. Collins QC for the defence, paid for out of a defence fund that had been established by public subscription. Huddleston was well aware of the passion of the local jury, probably aware of the failed prosecution in "Archer". Sir William Robert Grove had initially been listed to take the assizes that session, prompting speculation that Huddleston was substituted to ensure a "safe pair of hands", with his by-reputation opiniative direction of trials.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The jury was empanelled and sworn, being composed of almost the same jurors as had sat with the judge the previous day in a murder case that had resulted in the death penalty. Dudley and Stephens pleaded not guilty; Charles opened for the prosecution, outlining the legal arguments and dismissing the defence of necessity. He also dismissed the insanity defence; it was clear from the depositions and Dudley's prayer that they were aware of the gravity of their actions. Charles did not suppress the dreadful conditions on the boat and suggested an ultimate appeal to (royal) clemency.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Words followed between the judge and Collins which showed the former had made up his mind on the law and was not interested in hearing any submissions from the defence. Huddleston had already planned how he would ensure a guilty verdict and settle the law on necessity once and for all. He would invite, in robust terms, the jury to return a special verdict, stating only the facts of the case as they found them but giving no opinion on guilt or otherwise. It would then be for the judge to decide whether the facts found amounted to guilt. Though special verdicts had once been common, none had been returned since 1785 and the jury in any case retained the right to return a general verdict.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Huddleston was further determined that the legal question would be settled by a reserved bench for authority. Hence, he planned to adjourn the trial after the special verdict and reconvene with fellow judges to pronounce guilt. Collins would have his opportunity to argue the law in front of the expanded bench.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Charles produced the various accounts and depositions written by the defendants and the evidence that "Mignonette" was registered in Britain for jurisdiction under 267 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1854. He then called evidence from the various people who had spoken to the defendants on their arrival in Falmouth before calling Brooks. Brooks provided a compelling account of Dudley and Stephens' actions and his distancing. In cross-examination, Collins did not challenge his account, but made him confirm the appalling conditions on the boat, Brooks' own cannibalism, their inevitable death without recourse to Parker's body and the belief that Parker would have died first.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Collins addressed the jury on necessity in his closing speech. The judge gave them a binary decision: accept his direction to find the men guilty of murder or return a special verdict. Without waiting for a decision, the judge produced a special verdict he had written the night before and invited the jury to indicate their assent to each paragraph as he read it out. It read that the men probably would have died within four days otherwise, and that Parker probably would have died before the men, and that at the time of the killing there was every probability that all four would have died unless one of them was killed and eaten. Silence was sufficient. Though the jury finally tried to add some facts to the verdict, the judge insisted, perhaps not entirely truthfully, that their observations were already incorporated. The final words of the verdict were, "But whether upon the whole matter, the prisoners were and are guilty of murder the jury are ignorant and refer to the Court." The judge then renewed the defendants' bail and adjourned the assizes to his rooms in the Royal Courts of Justice in London for 25 November.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: At some point after the trial, but before the special verdict was copied for the London review, Huddleston realised that he had made a potentially serious error. In his original draft, he had described "Mignonette" as an "English Merchant vessel" but had altered this to read "yacht". Further, he had described the lifeboat as "an open boat" and not asserted its provenance on "Mignonette". He now realised that he had omitted the critical finding necessary to give the court jurisdiction over Dudley and Stephens. Huddleston's solution was simply to alter his record of the verdict.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: On 25 November, the circuit sitting (assize) reconvened at No. 2 Court, the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Attorney General, James, appeared for the prosecution and immediately pointed out a problem. The Divisional Court of the Queen's Bench had an established authority to decide a matter of law with a panel of judges after referral from an inferior court, only by statute, after a conviction, and there had been none. James suggested that an alternative was to hear the case at the Cornwall and Devon assizes, albeit at an unusual venue, but to add further judges to the bench as all High Court judges had authority to hear assize cases. Huddleston expressed his scepticism that judges could be added to a trial once it had begun. Moreover, he had been looking for affirmation from a superior court. By this time Collins had become suspicious of Huddleston's tampering with the trial record and requested the shorthand notes of the hearing. With the proceedings now in shambles, the case was listed for 4 December, and the defendants were ordered to attend in London, though on what authority is unclear.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: At a further hearing on 2 December, James withdrew his suggestion of an augmented assize court and opined that the court should sit as the Queen's Bench Divisional Court; this should only have allowed two or three judges, not the five who eventually sat. Collins seems not to have taken the opportunity to challenge the jurisdiction or constitution of the court, possibly because of some agreement with the prosecution and promise of clemency.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The Queen's Bench Division sat on 4 December under Lord Chief Justice Lord Coleridge. James appeared for the prosecution, leading Charles and Danckwerts. At the beginning of the hearing, the report of the Exeter trial was read out, at some length, in its entirety. This allowed Collins to submit that the special verdict had been altered. As much was ultimately admitted and it was eventually agreed that it was best that the special verdict be restored to the version agreed by the jury. The resultant attempt to challenge the jurisdiction was rejected by the judges.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Collins submitted the court was not competent to return a verdict as the Exeter jury had not given a conditional verdict, openly stating that the jury would find in accordance with the court's ruling on the law. This troubled the judges, especially Grove, but was dismissed as one of form — judges alone overturn verdicts on the basis of law. James submitted that there was no common law authority to support the proposition that necessity was a defence to murder. The Saint Christopher case was rejected as a precedent because it had not been formally recorded in the law reports.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Before Collins started his submissions, Lord Coleridge instructed him to confine his remarks to murder to dismiss the idea of necessity as a partial defence leading to a conviction for manslaughter by analogy with the partial defence of provocation. Collins responded by citing "United States v. Holmes" (1842) and discussing the various theoretical and ethical arguments in favour of a necessity defence.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: At the end of his submissions, the judges withdrew. They returned after a few moments and Lord Coleridge declared, "We are all of the opinion that the conviction should be affirmed but we will put our reasons in writing and give them on Saturday next." After some technical legal discussion, Lord Coleridge committed Dudley and Stephens to Holloway Prison, until Tuesday, 9 December, when the court would deliver its reasons and its sentence.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Further, the judges questioned who was qualified to make the decision of who should live and who should die, were the principle to be allowed. They further observed that such a principle might be the "legal cloak for unbridled passion and atrocious crime". They were sensible of the men's awful predicament.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Collins still had the option of moving a writ of error to raise the very arguable issues of jurisdiction and constitution of the court but he knew that the verdict in such an important case had been decided in advance and Dudley and Stephens still anticipated an immediate release. By 11 December, there was still no announcement and it seemed that, their having been convicted, public opinion was moving against the men. Any exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy would be exercised by Queen Victoria on the advice of the Home Secretary Harcourt.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: Though Harcourt was personally in favour of abolition of the death penalty, he was conscientious in his official duties. He took the judgment of the court seriously that the men were guilty of murder and feared that commuting the sentence to anything other than life imprisonment would mock the law. The Attorney-General felt that a life sentence would not resist the attack of public consensus. He noted that the court had withheld a finding of manslaughter from the jury which, had it been available, would have been the jury's verdict and "no judge would have inflicted more than three months' imprisonment". The Solicitor-General concurred. Based on James's and Herschell's advice, on 12 December, Harcourt decided on six months' imprisonment. Dudley and Stephens were advised the next day but were somewhat disappointed at being held so long in custody. Dudley never accepted the justice of his conviction. The two were released around 7:00 on 20 May 1885.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The case is one of a few criminal cases taught to all law students in England and Wales and in many, though not all, former British territories and has long been so. After 1901, Dudley and Stephens faded in public discussion behind other, more culpable, criminals of previous decades.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The crew's ordeal inspired a key Monty Python sketch: "Lifeboat (Cannibalism)/Still no Sign of Land". Five sailors are on a lifeboat after a shipwreck. Their means to survive is cannibalism. Once they decide whom to eat — and which body parts — a waitress is called over to take their orders, complete with vegetables. In "Monty Python's Flying Circus", this is followed by the controversial "Undertakers sketch", which also features cannibalism.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: In 2004, American folk rock band The Avett Brothers named their album "Mignonette" after the involved yacht. In early 2022, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California, premiered the musical "Swept Away", based on the album and involving a different, fictional shipwreck.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: In 2017, Canadian author Peter Staadecker published "The Twelve Man Bilbo Choir", a novel inspired in part by the "Mignonette" incident.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: In 2022 Edgar Award-winning mystery author Elizabeth C. Bunce released the fourth volume of her Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery series, "In Myrtle Peril", in which the ordeal of the crew of the fictional ship "Persephone" was inspired by details from the "Mignonette" account.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: The Case of the Speluncean Explorers is a famous hypothetical case created in 1949 by legal theorist Lon L. Fuller to illustrate divergent theories of law and morality in the context of facts heavily based around those of the crew.


title: R v Dudley and Stephens

text: A memorial stone commemorating Parker is in the churchyard of Jesus Chapel on Peartree Green in Southampton, near the site of Itchen Ferry village whence he came.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: 5-Minute Crafts is a DIY-style YouTube channel owned by TheSoul Publishing. , it is the 13th most-subscribed channel on the platform. The channel is also the 5th most-followed Facebook pages. It is based in Limassol, Cyprus.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: 5-Minute Crafts' YouTube videos are compilations of videos previously posted on Instagram or Facebook. The channel's content consists largely of videos relating to crafts and life hacks, styled in how-to formats, and occasionally, science experiments. The channel's videos employ a style where the camera is focused on a table with objects while only a person's hands appear in the frame, making content with aid of these objects, usually food and DIY ingredients and tools.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: Tubefilter described the channel as a "kid-friendly purveyor of DIY videos". In November 2022, it was announced that 5-Minute Crafts will be available to stream on Samsung TV+ in Sweden, Spain and Benelux and Kidoodle.TV in English and Spanish.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: TheSoul Publishing was founded by Russia-based entrepreneurs Pavel Radaev and Marat Mukhametov, a team with backgrounds in social media content creation, who launched AdMe. In March 2017, the company founded the YouTube channel, Bright Side. On November 15, 2016, 5-Minute Crafts was registered on YouTube by TheSoul Publishing. The channel's first video, "5 essential DIY hacks that you need to know" was uploaded the following day.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: In 2017, the channel's subscriber and video view counts started to grow rapidly. In an article published by Mic in June 2017, 5-Minute Crafts was noted to have accumulated over 4 million subscribers.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: In April 2018, "Tubefilter" covered a trend regarding springtime cleaning videos on YouTube, noting 5-Minute Crafts' participation. By November, "Vox" wrote that 5-Minute Crafts was a "wildly successful" channel, citing its then over 10 billion video views and its ranking as the fifth most-subscribed channel on YouTube, having nearly 40 million subscribers at the time. During one week in December 2018, the channel received over 238 million video views.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: In July 2020, 5-Minute Crafts collaborated with Mattel for a custom brand campaign that included multiple DIY videos focused on family-friendly crafts and at-home activities.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: In November, 2021, the channel celebrated its 5th anniversary on YouTube, with more than 1.7 billion hours watched and 21 billion views.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: That same month on November 18th 2021, Variety commented that the 5-minute Crafts Family had the highest-performing YouTube Short to date with nearly 433 million views.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: As of January, 2022, the channel has 75.4 million subscribers, ranking it as the eleventh most-subscribed channel not operated by YouTube.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: With a focus on DIY content, 5-Minute Crafts began to adapt its content for distribution on Pinterest. The activity began by establishing 5-Minute Crafts in Portuguese (Ideas Incriveis) and Spanish (Ideas en 5 Minutos). This collaboration with Pinterest was recognised by The Drum Awards for the Digital Industries 2021, winning the "Best use of Pinterest" award.


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: The channel has drawn criticism for its unusual and potentially dangerous life hacks and its reliance on clickbait. "Vox" characterized 5-Minute Crafts as "bizarre", describing its content as "do-it-yourself-how-to's that no person could or should ever replicate", and criticizing the channel's heavy use of clickbait thumbnails. "Mashable" described the channel's videos as "nonsensical" and possibly a form of trolling, singling out a video which claimed to demonstrate how soaking an egg in vinegar and then maple syrup will make it "bigger than before".


title: 5-Minute Crafts

text: BBC's "Click" criticized 5-Minute Crafts for its "fake kitchen hacks": when following the instructions of a video in which a fresh corncob produced popcorn when microwaved, the presenter found the cob was only warmed up. Ann Reardon of How to Cook That described clickbait recipe channels including 5-Minute Crafts as the "fake news of the baking world", and fact-checked several of their videos on her channel. In particular, she criticized a clip in which a strawberry was soaked in bleach to produce a "white strawberry", saying it would be dangerous if a child were to replicate it and eat the result.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: The Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF–I), often referred to as the Coalition forces, was a military command during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and much of the ensuing Iraq War, led by the United States of America (Operation Iraqi Freedom), United Kingdom (Operation Telic), Australia, Italy (Operation Ancient Babylon), Spain and Poland, responsible for conducting and handling military operations.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: The MNF-I replaced the previous force, Combined Joint Task Force 7, on 15 May 2004, and was later itself reorganized into its successor, United States Forces – Iraq, on 1 January 2010. The Force was significantly reinforced during the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. As of May 2011, all non-U.S. coalition members had withdrawn from Iraq, with the U.S. military withdrawing from the country on December 18, 2011, thus, bringing about an end to the Iraq War.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, which does humanitarian work and has a number of guards and military observers, has also operated in Iraq since 2003. The U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq was not a part of the MNF-I, but a separate entity. The NATO Training Mission – Iraq, was in Iraq from 2004 to December 2011, where it trained the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: The news media in the United States generally used the term "U.S.-led coalition" to describe Multi-National Force – Iraq, as the vast majority of military forces in MNF-I were contributed from the United States. The majority of countries that deployed military forces to Iraq as part of the MNF-I generally confined them to their respective military installations, due to widespread violence throughout the country.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: The MNF-I's objectives, as expressed in an annex to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546, a June 2004 letter from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to the U.N. Security Council, were stated to be:


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: The government of Iraq enjoyed broad international recognition, including from constituent countries of the Arab League. Jordan assisted in training of Iraqi security forces, and the United Arab Emirates donated military equipment, though purchased from Switzerland.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: In November 2006, the United Nations Security Council voted to extend the mandate of the multinational force in Iraq until the end of 2007. The move was requested by the Iraqi government, which said the troops were needed for another year while it built up its own security forces. In December 2007, the Security Council unanimously approved resolution 1790, which extended the mandate until December 31, 2008.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: In December 2008, the American and Iraqi governments signed the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which covered only American troops. It allowed them to remain in the country until 2011, but changed the status on several issues. Iraq regains sovereignty of its airspace, gains sovereignty over American contractors U.S. forces who commit crimes, if they are both off-duty and off base. The U.S. were given until July 31, 2009 to withdraw from Iraqi cities and the whole agreement was subject to a referendum of Iraqi voters held prior to June 30, 2009. If the referendum failed to approve the agreement, the Iraqi government would have given the U.S. until July 31, 2010 to withdraw completely.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: On December 18, 2008 the Iraqi government published a law that covered the status of non-U.S. foreign forces in the country from the end of the U.N.'s mandate on December 31, 2008 through to their withdrawal on July 31, 2009. The Iraqi parliament voted on Saturday December 20, 2008, after a second reading of this law, to reject it and send it back to the Iraqi cabinet. The majority of Iraqi parliamentarians wanted it to be made into a binding international agreement rather than simply presenting it as a local Iraqi law. A compromise was reached and the law passed on December 23, 2008, with the Iraqi government agreeing to then sign bilateral agreements with the affected countries.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: Norway contributed with ARTHUR counter-battery radar systems, which pointed out 1,500 bombing targets during" the first days of the war (the British minister of defence, Geoff Hoon, thanked Norway for its "robust" contribution).


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: In early March 2007, Multi-National Force – Iraq announced that it had launched an official YouTube channel for the first time. The channel's videos have over eight million views.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: The stated purpose of the YouTube channel is to "document action as it appeared to personnel on the ground and in the air as it was shot." The video clips posted to the site are edited for "time, security reasons, and/or overly disturbing or offensive images."


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: Critics of the war have argued that, in addition to direct incentives, the involvement of other members of the coalition was in response for indirect benefits, such as support for North Atlantic Treaty Organization membership or other military and financial aid. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, stated in April 2006, that Estonian military forces were to remain in Iraq due to Estonia's "important partnership" with the United States.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: Many MNF-I member countries had received monetary gain, among other incentives from the United States, in return for their sending of military forces to Iraq, or otherwise supporting coalition forces during the Iraq War.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: Georgia, is believed to have sent soldiers to Iraq as an act of repayment for U.S. training of security forces that could potentially be deployed to the break-away regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Indeed, Georgian troops that were sent to Iraq have all undergone these training programs.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: Turkey was offered approximately $8.5 billion in loans in exchange for sending 10,000 peacekeeping troops in 2003. Even though the United States did say the loans and the sending of troops to Iraq were not directly linked, it also said the loans are contingent upon "cooperation" on Iraq. The Turkish government swiftly rejected all offers of financial aid, and on March 1, 2003, the Turkish Grand National Assembly rejected sending military forces to help participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The decision of the Turkish parliament to do so, at the time, was seen as both a response against American interests in the Middle East, and a desire to keep Turkey out of the Iraq War. The Turkish government, however, allowed all humanitarian flights into and out of Turkey, such as the airlifting of wounded coalition forces.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: In March 2006, British newspaper, "The Independent", reported that companies based within the United Kingdom had received at least £1.1bn in contracts for reconstruction work in post-invasion Iraq.


title: Multi-National Force – Iraq

text: When U.S. forces withdrew in December 2011, 4,804 coalition military personnel had been killed in Iraq. This list, which includes withdrawn countries, lists those deaths.


title: Pitcher

text: In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important player on the defensive side of the game, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum. There are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, lefty specialist, setup man, and the closer.


title: Pitcher

text: Traditionally, the pitcher also bats. Starting in 1973 with the American League(and later the National League) and spreading to further leagues throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the hitting duties of the pitcher have generally been given over to the position of designated hitter, a cause of some controversy. The Japanese Central League has not adopted the designated hitter position.


title: Pitcher

text: In most cases, the objective of the pitcher is to deliver the pitch to the catcher without allowing the batter to hit the ball with the bat. A successful pitch is delivered in such a way that the batter either allows the pitch to pass through the strike zone, swings the bat at the ball and misses it, or hits the ball poorly (resulting in a pop fly or ground out). If the batter elects not to swing at the pitch, it is called a "strike" if any part of the ball passes through the strike zone and a "ball" when no part of the ball passes through the strike zone. A check swing is when the batter begins to swing, but then stops the swing short. If the batter successfully checks the swing and the pitch is out of the strike zone, it is called a ball.


title: Pitcher

text: There are two legal pitching positions, the "windup" and the set position or "stretch". Either position may be used at any time; typically, the windup is used when the bases are empty, while the set position is used when at least one runner is on base. Each position has certain procedures that must be followed. A balk can be called on a pitcher from either position. A power pitcher is one who relies on the velocity of his pitches to succeed. Generally, power pitchers record a high percentage of strikeouts. A control pitcher succeeds by throwing accurate pitches and thus records few walks.


title: Pitcher

text: Nearly all action during a game is centered on the pitcher for the defensive team. A pitcher's particular style, time taken between pitches, and skill heavily influence the dynamics of the game and can often determine the victor. Starting with the pivot foot on the "pitcher's rubber" at the center of the pitcher's mound, which is from "home plate", the pitcher throws the baseball to the catcher, who is positioned behind home plate and catches the ball. Meanwhile, a batter stands in the batter's box at one side of the plate, and attempts to bat the ball safely into fair play.


title: Pitcher

text: The type and sequence of pitches chosen depend upon the particular situation in a game. Because pitchers and catchers must coordinate each pitch, a system of hand signals is used by the catcher to communicate choices to the pitcher, who either vetoes or accepts by shaking his head or nodding. The relationship between pitcher and catcher is so important that some teams select the starting catcher for a particular game based on the starting pitcher. Together, the pitcher and catcher are known as the "battery".


title: Pitcher

text: Although the object and mechanics of pitching remain the same, pitchers may be classified according to their roles and effectiveness. The starting pitcher begins the game, and he may be followed by various relief pitchers, such as the long reliever, the left-handed specialist, the middle reliever, the setup man, and/or the closer.


title: Pitcher

text: In abbreviating baseball positions, P is used as a general designation for pitchers. SP and RP are sometimes used to differentiate starting and relief pitchers, respectively, while LHP and RHP are sometimes used to indicate if a pitcher is left-handed or right-handed, respectively.


title: Pitcher

text: In Major League Baseball, baseball rubbing mud is used to condition game balls before pitchers use them.


title: Pitcher

text: A skilled pitcher often throws a variety of different pitches to prevent the batter from hitting the ball well. The most basic pitch is a fastball, where the pitcher throws the ball as hard as he can. Some pitchers are able to throw a fastball at a speed over , ex., Aroldis Chapman. Other common types of pitches are the curveball, slider, changeup, cutter, sinker, screwball, forkball, split-fingered fastball, slurve, knuckleball, and vulcan. These generally are intended to have unusual movement or to deceive the batter as to the rotation or velocity of the ball, making it more difficult to hit. Very few pitchers throw all of these pitches, but most use a subset or blend of the basic types. Some pitchers also release pitches from different arm angles, making it harder for the batter to pick up the flight of the ball. (See List of baseball pitches.) A pitcher who is throwing well on a particular day is said to have brought his "good stuff."


title: Pitcher

text: There are a number of distinct throwing styles used by pitchers. The most common style is a three-quarters delivery in which the pitcher's arm snaps downward with the release of the ball. Some pitchers use a sidearm delivery in which the arm arcs laterally to the torso. Some pitchers use a submarine style in which the pitcher's body tilts sharply downward on delivery, creating an exaggerated sidearm motion in which the pitcher's knuckles come very close to the mound.


title: Pitcher

text: Effective pitching is vitally important in baseball. In baseball statistics, for each game, one pitcher will be credited with winning the game, and one pitcher will be charged with losing it. This is not necessarily the starting pitchers for each team, however, as a reliever can get a win and the starter would then get a no-decision.


title: Pitcher

text: Pitching is physically demanding, especially if the pitcher is throwing with maximum effort. A full game usually involves 120–170 pitches thrown by each team, and most pitchers begin to tire before they reach this point. As a result, the pitcher who starts a game often will not be the one who finishes it, and he may not be recovered enough to pitch again for a few days. The act of throwing a baseball at high speed is very unnatural to the body and somewhat damaging to human muscles; thus pitchers are very susceptible to injuries, soreness, and general pain.


title: Pitcher

text: Baseball teams use two strategies to address this problem: rotation and specialization. To accommodate playing nearly every day, a team will include a group of pitchers who start games and rotate between them, allowing each pitcher to rest for a few days between starts. A team's roster of starting pitchers are usually not even in terms of skill. Exceptional pitchers are highly sought after and in the professional ranks draw large salaries, thus teams can seldom stock each slot in the rotation with top-quality pitchers.


title: Pitcher

text: The best starter in the team's rotation is called the ace. He is usually followed in the rotation by 3 or 4 other starters before he would be due to pitch again. Barring injury or exceptional circumstances, the ace is usually the pitcher that starts on Opening Day. Aces are also preferred to start crucial games late in the season and in the playoffs; sometimes they are asked to pitch on shorter rest if the team feels he would be more effective than the 4th or 5th starter. Typically, the further down in the rotation a starting pitcher is, the weaker he is compared with the others on the staff. The "5th starter" is seen as the cut-off between the starting staff and the "bullpen". A team may have a designated 5th starter, sometimes known as a spot starter or that role may shift cycle to cycle between members of the bullpen or Triple-A starters. Differences in rotation setup could also have tactical considerations as well, such as alternating right- or left-handed pitchers, in order to throw off the other team's hitting game-to-game in a series.


title: Pitcher

text: Teams have additional pitchers reserved to replace that game's starting pitcher if he tires or proves ineffective. These players are called "relief pitchers", "relievers", or collectively the "bullpen". Once a starter begins to tire or is starting to give up hits and runs a call is made to the bullpen to have a reliever start to warm up. This involves the reliever starting to throw practice balls to a coach in the bullpen so as to be ready to come in and pitch whenever the manager wishes to pull the current pitcher. Having a reliever warm up does not always mean he will be used; the current pitcher may regain his composure and retire the side, or the manager may choose to go with another reliever if strategy dictates. Commonly, pitching changes will occur as a result of a pinch hitter being used in the late innings of a game, especially if the pitcher is in the batting lineup due to not having the designated hitter. A reliever would then come out of the bullpen to pitch the next inning.


title: Pitcher

text: When making a pitching change a manager will come out to the mound. He will then call in a pitcher by the tap of the arm which the next pitcher throws with. The manager or pitching coach may also come out to discuss strategy with the pitcher, but on his second trip to the mound with the same pitcher in the same inning, the pitcher has to come out. It is considered proper etiquette for the pitcher to wait on the mound until the manager arrives, whereby he then hands the manager the ball, and only then he is allowed to leave the field. Relief pitchers often have even more specialized roles, and the particular reliever used depends on the situation. Many teams designate one pitcher as the "closer", a relief pitcher specifically reserved to pitch the final inning or innings of a game when his team has a narrow lead, in order to preserve the victory. More recently, teams began experimenting with an "opener", a relief pitcher who starts a game but only pitches at least the first inning. Other relief roles include set-up men, middle relievers, left-handed specialists, and long relievers. Generally, relievers pitch fewer innings and throw fewer pitches than starters, but they can usually pitch more frequently without the need for several days of rest between appearances. Relief pitchers are typically pitchers with "special stuff", meaning that they have very effective pitches or a very different style of delivery. This makes the batter see a very different way of pitching in attempt to get them out. One example is a sidearm or submarine pitcher.


title: Pitcher

text: Position players are eligible to pitch in a game as well, this however is rare as these players are not truly trained as pitchers and risk injury. (For instance, in a 1993 game, Jose Canseco suffered a season ending arm injury after pitching 2 innings.) Plus, they tend to throw with less velocity and skill. For these reasons, managers will typically only use a position player as a pitcher in a blowout loss, or if they have run out of available pitchers in order to avoid a forfeit (the latter typically only happens in extra-inning games). Cliff Pennington of the Toronto Blue Jays, who pitched of an inning in game 4 of the 2015 American League Championship Series en route to a 14–2 loss, was the only documented position player to pitch during the postseason, until Austin Romine of the New York Yankees pitched the ninth inning of Game 3 in a 16–1 loss against the Boston Red Sox in the 2018 American League Division Series. The only regulation game in which "both" pitchers of record were position players occurred on May 6, 2012, when the Baltimore Orioles' designated hitter Chris Davis was the winner in a 16-inning game against Boston while Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald took the loss.


title: Pitcher

text: The pitcher's duty does not cease after he pitches the ball. Unlike the other fielders, a pitcher and catcher must start every play in a designated area. The pitcher must be on the pitcher's mound, with one foot in contact with the pitcher's rubber, and the catcher must be behind home plate in the catcher's box. Once the ball is in play, however, the pitcher and catcher, like the other fielders, can respond to any part of the field necessary to make or assist in a defensive play. At that point, the pitcher has several standard roles. The pitcher must attempt to field any balls coming up the middle, and in fact a Gold Glove Award is reserved for the pitcher with the best fielding ability. He must head over to first base, to be available to cover it, on balls hit to the right side, since the first baseman might be fielding them too far to the baseman's right to reach first base before the batter-runner can. Except for the first baseman, the pitcher ordinarily has the shortest run to first base of anyone, and is the second-most-likely person to make a putout at first base by retrieving a fielded ball thrown by an infielder (typically a first baseman). On passed balls and wild pitches, he covers home-plate when there are runners on. Also, he generally backs up throws to home plate. When there is a throw from the outfield to third base, he has to back up the play to third base as well.


title: Pitcher

text: The physical act of overhand pitching is complex and unnatural to the human anatomy. Most major league pitchers throw at speeds of , putting high amounts of stress on the pitching arm. Pitchers are by far the most frequently injured players and many professional pitchers will have multiple surgeries to repair damage in the elbow and shoulder by the end of their careers.


title: Pitcher

text: As such, the biomechanics of pitching are closely studied and taught by coaches at all levels and are an important field in sports medicine. Glenn Fleisig, a biomechanist who specializes in the analysis of baseball movements, says that pitching is "the most violent human motion ever measured." He claims that the pelvis can rotate at 515–667°/sec, the trunk can rotate at 1,068–1,224°/s, the elbow can reach a maximal angular velocity of 2,200–2,700°/s and the force pulling the pitcher's throwing arm away from the shoulder at ball release is approximately .


title: Pitcher

text: The overhead throwing motion can be divided into phases which include windup, early cocking, late cocking, early acceleration, late acceleration, deceleration, and follow-through. Training for pitchers often includes targeting one or several of these phases. Biomechanical evaluations are sometimes done on individual pitchers to help determine points of inefficiency. Mechanical measurements that are assessed include, but are not limited to, foot position at stride foot contact (SFC), elbow flexion during arm cocking and acceleration phases, maximal external rotation during arm cocking, horizontal abduction at SFC, arm abduction, lead knee position during arm cocking, trunk tilt, peak angular velocity of throwing arm and angle of wrist.


title: Pitcher

text: Some players begin intense mechanical training at a young age, a practice that has been criticized by many coaches and doctors, with some citing an increase in Tommy John surgeries in recent years. Fleisig lists nine recommendations for preventative care of children's arms. 1) Watch and respond to signs of fatigue. 2) Youth pitchers should not pitch competitively in more than 8 months in any 12-month period. 3) Follow limits for pitch counts and days of rest. 4) Youth pitchers should avoid pitching on multiple teams with overlapping seasons. 5) Youth pitchers should learn good throwing mechanics as soon as possible: basic throwing, fastball pitching and change-up pitching. 6) Avoid using radar guns. 7) A pitcher should not also be a catcher for his/her team. The pitcher catcher combination results in many throws and may increase the risk of injury. 8) If a pitcher complains of pain in his/her elbow, get an evaluation from a sports medicine physician. 9) Inspire youth to have fun playing baseball and other sports. Participation and enjoyment of various activities will increase the youth's athleticism and interest in sports.


title: Pitcher

text: To counteract shoulder and elbow injury, coaches and trainers have begun utilizing "jobe" exercises, named for Dr. Frank Jobe, the pioneer of the Tommy John procedure. Jobes are exercises that have been developed to isolate, strengthen and stabilize the rotator cuff muscles. Jobes can be done using either resistance bands or lightweight dumbbells. Common jobe exercises include shoulder external rotation, shoulder flexion, horizontal abduction, prone abduction and scaption (at 45°, 90° and inverse 45°).


title: Pitcher

text: In addition to the Jobes exercises, many pitching coaches are creating lifting routines that are specialized for pitchers. Pitchers should avoid exercises that deal with a barbell. The emphasis on the workout should be on the legs and the core. Other body parts should be worked on but using lighter weights. Over lifting muscles, especially while throwing usually ends up in a strain muscle or possible a tear.


title: Pitcher

text: Other than the catcher, pitchers and other fielders wear very few pieces of equipment. In general the ball cap, baseball glove and cleats are equipment used. Pitchers may also keep with them at the mound a bag of powdered rosin. Handling the bag applies a small layer of the rosin to the pitcher's fingers in order to increase his grip on the ball.


title: Pitcher

text: Currently there is a new trend of introducing a pitcher helmet to provide head protection from batters hitting line drives back to the pitcher. , MLB approved a protective pitchers cap which can be worn by any pitcher if they choose. San Diego Padres relief pitcher, Alex Torres was the first player in MLB to wear the protective cap.


title: Pitcher

text: In softball, a full face helmet is available to all players including pitchers. These fielder's masks are becoming increasingly popular in younger fast pitch leagues, some leagues even requiring them.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Kellen Boswell Winslow II (born July 21, 1983) is an American former professional football player and a convicted sex offender. He was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL) and played college football at the University of Miami, where he earned unanimous All-American honors, was recognized as the top college tight end and won the 2001 BCS national championship. Winslow was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the sixth overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. Winslow played four seasons for the Browns and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2007. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots and New York Jets.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow last played in the NFL in 2013, but attempted comebacks in 2017 and 2018, before being convicted of rape and sexual battery in 2019.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow was born in San Diego, California, the son of San Diego Chargers tight end Kellen Winslow, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He attended Patrick Henry High School, in San Diego, for his freshmen and sophomore years of high school and Scripps Ranch High School for his junior and senior years.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow enrolled at the University of Miami, where he played for coach Larry Coker's Miami Hurricanes football team from 2001 to 2003.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: During his freshman season, he backed up All-American tight end Jeremy Shockey and played largely on special teams, and was one of four true freshmen to play during the Hurricanes' 2001 run to the BCS National Championship, the others being future NFL stars Frank Gore, Antrel Rolle, and Sean Taylor.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: After Shockey's departure for the 2002 NFL Draft, Winslow became the starter at tight end and was named a finalist for the Mackey Award and named a first-team All-American by CNNSI.com, setting Miami records for a tight end with 57 receptions for 726 yards and 8 touchdowns. His best game came during the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, which was the site of the BCS National Championship game that year, in which Winslow caught 11 passes for 122 yards and one touchdown. The Hurricanes fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes, 31–24.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Despite a slight drop in production during his junior season, in which Winslow caught 60 passes for 605 yards and 1 touchdown, he won the John Mackey Award as the nation's best collegiate tight end, and he was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American, after receiving first-team honors from the Associated Press and other national selector organizations. After the season, Winslow decided to forgo his senior season and declared himself eligible for the 2004 NFL Draft.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow received national attention following a 2003 University of Miami game with the Tennessee Volunteers. Eighteenth-ranked Tennessee defeated #6 Miami on the Hurricanes home field by a score of 10–6. During a sweep play for Miami wide receiver/cornerback Devin Hester, Winslow blocked two Volunteers, effectively taking both defenders out of the play. When questioned during the media session following the game, Winslow referred to himself as "a soldier", despite never serving in the military. He later apologized for the remarks that garnered national attention.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the sixth pick in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft, making him the highest-selected tight end in more than 30 years. Cleveland head coach Butch Davis was also the coach who recruited Winslow to the University of Miami before leaving for the NFL prior to ever coaching Winslow in college.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow would eventually choose sports agents Carl and Kevin Poston of Professional Sports Planning Inc. (PSP) to represent him at the negotiating table. The Poston brothers - whose clients at the time also included Orlando Pace and Charles Woodson - seemed an odd choice. Although respected in many circles for their ability to secure hefty contracts for their clients, the pair had developed difficult working relationships with several teams, league executives, and the NFL Players' Association. In March 2006, Carl Poston was suspended for two years by the NFLPA disciplinary committee after admitting that he had not read the contract of Washington Redskins' linebacker LaVar Arrington, which did not include an agreed upon $6.5 million bonus. Eventually, the Postons secured a six-year $40 million deal for Winslow, including a $16.5 million signing bonus.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow was expected to give the Cleveland offense an immediate boost. Two games into his rookie season, however, he suffered a broken right fibula, which cost him $5.3 million in incentive bonuses. The injury kept him on the sidelines for the remainder of the year after having only recorded five catches for 50 yards. After two operations on the injured leg, Winslow made a complete recovery.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: On May 1, 2005, Winslow suffered another leg injury when he was thrown from his Suzuki GSX-R750 motorcycle while riding in the Cleveland suburb of Westlake. Winslow sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and was placed on the "Physically Unable-to-Perform (Non Football Injury)" list for the 2005 season. Winslow later had a six-week staph infection that resulted from the injury.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow attended the Browns' 2006 training camp and pronounced himself ready to play. The Associated Press reported in August 2006 that Winslow said that, even at 90 percent, he was superior to every other NFL tight end. "I hate to be brash", Winslow said. "But I think my 90 percent is still better than every tight end out there."


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: In the opening game of the 2006 NFL season against the New Orleans Saints, Winslow recorded his first NFL touchdown, scoring on an 18-yard pass from quarterback Charlie Frye. Winslow emerged as a reliable target for Cleveland, finishing the year with 89 receptions, the most at his position on the season, which also tied Ozzie Newsome's all-time franchise record for receptions in a season. Winslow underwent microfracture surgery on his right knee January 31, 2007, at the Cleveland Clinic in an attempt to further repair cartilage damage sustained in the motorcycle accident in 2005.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow had a successful season and finished with 82 receptions for 1,106 yards and five touchdowns. On December 18, Winslow was named as a first alternate for the 2008 Pro Bowl. On February 4, Antonio Gates of the San Diego Chargers announced he would not be attending the Pro Bowl due to injury. This paved the way for Winslow to make his first trip to the Pro Bowl. Winslow was one of 6 Browns selected for the Pro Bowl that season.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: The Browns also had their most successful season in recent memory. For the first time since 1994, Cleveland had double-digit wins with a 10–6 record. The Browns narrowly missed 2007–08 NFL playoffs and were the only 9+ win team not to qualify for the NFL's postseason tournament.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: During the 2008 season, Winslow was hospitalized with a staph infection. Winslow then openly criticized former GM Phil Savage about not fixing the infection problem (the Browns had seven cases of staph infection in the last few years), and trying to hide the injury. Savage responded by suspending him for a week; owner Randy Lerner later apologized to Winslow and rescinded the suspension.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on February 27, 2009, for their 2nd-round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft and their 5th-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. He received the biggest contract for a tight end in NFL history with a 6-year, $36 million deal.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow went on to a record-breaking season with the Buccaneers in his first year with the team, including single-season franchise records for a tight end in receptions (77) and receiving yards (884). His 77 catches led the team that season.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: In his second year with the Buccaneers, he led the team in receptions with 66, for 730 yards and scored 5 touchdowns. The Bucs finished 10–6 in a rugged NFC South that included the Atlanta Falcons, who finished 13–3, and the New Orleans Saints, who finished 11–5. The division was the only one in the NFL to have three teams post double-digit wins in 2010. However, the Bucs narrowly missed the 2010–11 NFL playoffs. The Green Bay Packers, who had an identical 10–6 record, went on to win the Super Bowl that year.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Once again Winslow led the team in receptions in his third season with the Buccaneers, recording 75 receptions for 763 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: On May 21, 2012, Winslow announced that the Buccaneers had informed him that he would either be traded or released. It was also reported that Winslow had been directed not to attend organized team activities ('OTAs') while a trade was pursued, contradicting earlier reports that Winslow refused to participate in OTAs.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow was traded to the Seattle Seahawks on May 22, 2012. On September 1, 2012, he was released by the Seahawks after declining to reduce his salary.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow signed with the New England Patriots on September 18, 2012. He then asked for his release and was granted it on September 27, 2012, after only playing in one game.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: Winslow was invited to attend the New York Jets' mini-camp for a three-day tryout. Winslow subsequently signed a one-year contract on June 14, 2013, after general manager John Idzik and head coach Rex Ryan praised Winslow's performance. On October 11, 2013, Winslow was suspended for four games for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: In 2016, Winslow attempted a comeback after sitting out for over two years. He had a workout with the Green Bay Packers in August but was not offered a contract. Winslow participated in The Spring League in 2017 and 2018.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: He was married on June 15, 2006, to Janelle Winslow. The couple welcomed their first son Jalen in February 2011, and a daughter, Juliana, in August 2013. In August 2019, Janelle filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: On October 17, 2006, Kellen's half-brother Justin Winslow died, although no cause of death was reported; he was 23 years of age and was found unconscious by his mother. Kellen II and Justin are the only sons of Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: On June 7, 2018, Winslow was arrested fleeing a mobile home park in Encinitas, California. He was charged with felony first degree burglary and held on $50,000 bond. Winslow was arrested on June 14, 2018, on charges of kidnapping and rape. In July, a judge ordered Winslow to stand trial for kidnapping and raping two women. Winslow was placed on house arrest with GPS monitoring after posting $2 million bail. In a separate case that month, he was also charged with raping an unconscious 17-year-old girl in 2003, when he was 19.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: On March 4, 2019, Winslow's bail was revoked, and he was jailed after being arraigned on two new counts of lewd conduct, and one count each of battery of an elder and willful cruelty to an elder, all misdemeanors, that he allegedly committed in Carlsbad, California, in February 2019. He was convicted of rape, a lewd act in public conduct and indecent exposure on June 10, 2019. He was also acquitted on another lewd act in public charge, and the judge sent the jury back to consider verdicts on all of the other charges. The following day, a mistrial was declared on the remaining eight charges. Prosecutors announced on June 14 that Winslow would be retried on the eight charges, with his second trial set to begin on September 30.


title: Kellen Winslow II

text: On November 4, 2019, Winslow pleaded guilty to the rape of an unconscious teen and sexual battery on a 54-year-old hitchhiker as part of a plea deal. In exchange for his guilty plea at San Diego County Superior Court, the court agreed to sentence him to between 12 and 18 years in prison, rather than life imprisonment if he was convicted in the retrial. As part of the agreement, he will automatically be on lifetime parole immediately upon release, and he waived his right to ever appeal any conviction or verdict in either trial. Winslow's defense attorney said that his client suffered from frontal lobe damage and possible chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). While CTE could not be used as a defense in the trial, brain trauma was cited by his attorneys in requesting the minimum 12-year sentence. A clinical psychologist stated that Winslow had symptoms that were consistent with CTE. His sentencing was scheduled for March 18, 2020 but was postponed indefinitely due to concerns over the coronavirus. On February 19, 2021, Winslow agreed and accepted a 14-year prison sentence for one count of rape and two counts of assault, and was sentenced on March 3, 2021.


title: Ayan (film)

text: Ayan () is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language action crime thriller film co-written and directed by K. V. Anand. The film, starring Suriya, Prabhu, Tamannaah, Akashdeep Saighal, Jagan, and Karunas, was produced by M. Saravanan, M. S. Guhan, Aruna Guhan and Aparna Guhan and distributed by Sun Pictures. The film score and soundtrack was composed by Harris Jayaraj, edited by Anthony Gonsalvez, the film was filmed by M. S. Prabhu.


title: Ayan (film)

text: The film was launched in Chennai, while filming also took place in various locations out of India, including Namibia, Malaysia, Zanzibar and South Africa. It released on 3 April 2009 worldwide to positive reviews. "Ayan" was declared as the solo blockbuster of 2009 in Tamil cinema, collecting about worldwide. The film was also successful in Kerala.


title: Ayan (film)

text: Deva is a post-graduate Computer Science student in Chennai, who works with Dass by smuggling pre-release unlicensed movies on DVD and other small contrabands mainly through the air. Deva's widowed mother Kaveri does not appreciate his choice of career. Their former business associate Nemichand Seth's son Kamalesh tries to foil their Diwali film piracy operations, as a means of taking over that smuggling deal for himself through police-backed channels. After the raid on their hideout orchestrated by Kamalesh, Dass is offered a deal by the inspector that one of his men should take the blame for the crimes. Deva attempts to do so, but another man, Chitti Babu, who had no affiliation with the gang, takes the blame.


title: Ayan (film)

text: Later, Chitti joins Dass's group and befriends Deva, and Deva completes his education. Chitti and Deva run a variety of smuggling jobs for Dass for months, often on international routes. Chitti learns of all the means and modes of operations. Meanwhile. Deva meets Chitti's younger sister Yamuna inadvertently, and they soon fall in love. On Deva's birthday, he and Chitti smuggle out gold bars worth $150 million from a tanked ship in Chennai port. When Dass learns of Deva's birthday, he gives him the day off to enjoy, while the others will trade the gold. Deva is called for a temple worship by his mother where trouble ensues when he learns that, in the midst of a major smuggling operation, the customs authorities have been tipped off to the hideout, but the others have narrowly escaped with the goods. He finds out that Chitti has been working for Kamalesh all this while.


title: Ayan (film)

text: Chitti goes on to work as a drug mule for Kamalesh, ingesting heroin capsules and transporting them to Malaysia. He meets Deva on the flight. While disembarking, Chitti falls ill and Deva fends off Kamalesh's gang to help Chitti even though they were estranged. Chitti confesses that although he worked for Kamalesh, his friendship with Deva was genuine. In a tragic turn of events, Chitti is kidnapped by Kamalesh's gang before Deva can save him, and they cut him up to recover the drugs. Deva fends off the thugs and tries to save Chitti. In his final moments, Chitti requests Deva to burn him so that his family never learn of his death. Deva burns Chitti, along with the drugs and returns to India with Chitti's belongings, but Kamalesh tips off the authorities about Chitti's death, and Yamuna herself files a case against Deva.


title: Ayan (film)

text: However, Yamuna finds Chitti's phone, in which Chitti had recorded the circumstances of his death. Deva is let off, and Yamuna reunites with him. Deva plans to stay away from the smuggling business for a while, but Kamalesh has his people plant drugs at the airport and blames it on Deva where he tips off the customs officer Parthiban. Deva, in turn informs Parthiban about the drug mules working for Kamalesh in exchange for his freedom. Deva works with Parthiban to monitor Kamalesh's calls with his clients, busting many illegal consignments. Kamalesh eventually discovers the bug and tries to eliminate Deva and Parthiban. However, they both escape and secure a massive cocaine shipment from Kamalesh. Despite this, they trace the shipment to Kamalesh's accountant, who agrees to become a witness.


title: Ayan (film)

text: Kamalesh has the accountant killed before the court hearing and is let off for lack of evidence. Kamalesh tries to kill Deva and his mother, but they have a narrow escape. He then plans a hit on Dass and Deva to take control of their diamond smuggling operation. Dass saves Deva but is killed in the process. Deva heads to Congo where he kills Kamalesh and retrieves the diamonds. When he returns to India, Parthiban searches him again, admitting that Deva's mother had exposed him to get Deva out of his illegal activities. Deva surrenders the diamonds, and Parthiban reveals that he can now enlist Deva to work as a customs official. Deva accepts the job and walks out with his mother and Yamuna.


title: Ayan (film)

text: Three years after the release of his debut venture "Kana Kandaen" starring Srikanth and Gopika, cinematographer K. V. Anand expressed his desire to commence his second film as director. He and Subha discussed several plots and settled for "Ayan" because "it was not only different but had scope for entertainment". It was later announced that Anand would be directing his next film, produced under the AVM Production banner, titled "Ayan". The film was inaugurated at AVM Studios on 24 March 2008 with the presence of most of the unit members. On the occasion, Anand announced the film's genre to be an action thriller interlaced with romance and comedy. He also suggested "Ayan" meant "outstanding", excellence" or can be the name for sun rays in five different languages. However, this was later doubted by a few critics, raising a point saying "Ayan" was not necessarily a Tamil language word. Despite the film's lyricist Vairamuthu's calls for the word to be a Tamil word, it was argued that "Ayan" was a nickname for the Hindu deity Lord Brahma. Since the word was then touted to be borrowed from the Sanskrit language, the film was prone to a title change, in light of Tamil Nadu's Entertainment Tax Exemption Act, which was passed in 2006. A similar problem was faced by the producers of "Aegan", which was also under production at the time. The controversy was later dropped. "Ayan" was announced to be predominantly set in various locations of both South Asia and Africa. It was made at a production cost of 200 million.


title: Ayan (film)

text: K. V. Anand announced the film with both Suriya and Tamannaah to play the lead roles in the film. Surya was initially expected to play the lead role in Anand's earlier film but was not able to do so. Anand expressed his thoughts during the film's inauguration that "Surya was apt for the title role" since the film's title meant "sun rays" and the name "Surya" refers to the sun. "Ayan" would also make Surya's second film with AVM Productions, after their previous partnership in "Perazhagan". Furthermore, Surya had worked with Anand since Surya's debut in the 1997 film "Nerukku Ner" for which Anand was the film's photographer. Surya's physique was key for his character, as he would be acting as a powerful and active youngster. During the film's launch, he announced that he would give the film his best, understanding the nature of the producers, who previously presented the big-budget film "Sivaji". Tamanna, after starring in the Tamil films "Kalloori" (for which she was nominated for a Filmfare Award) and "Padikathavan", was cast in "Ayan". Prabhu was consecutively cast in "Ayan" in a pivotal role, as per his previous films, in which he played important supporting characters. It was later announced that Anand would introduce a new actor to Tamil cinema in the film, who will be playing a negative role, which was later known to be Akashdeep Saighal, who predominantly works in Bollywood films.


title: Ayan (film)

text: Apart from the film's cast, the film's crew consisted of Harris Jayaraj as the composer along with Vairamuthu, Pa. Vijay and Na. Muthukumar as the lyricists. M. S. Prabhu was chosen as the film's cinematographer, who is a friend of Anand and worked with him under the guidance of P. C. Sriram.


title: Ayan (film)

text: Nenje Nenje’ song was shot on the sand dunes of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, Dune 7 and Dead Vlei in Namibia, in freezing temperature. Songs were composed in Mauritius, where William Honk choreographed the car chase shots. The stunt sequences were shot at Binny Mills with a huge set resembling an airport while another fight was shot at Cape Town, Africa. The filming was also held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zanzibar.


title: Ayan (film)

text: The film dealt with the concept of smuggling and custom officers. In order to prepare the script, Anand did a lot of research and is said to have spoken to a lot of custom officers to understand the modus operandi of smuggling.


title: Ayan (film)

text: The film's soundtrack is composed by Harris Jayaraj, in his fourth collaboration with Suriya, after "Kaakha Kaakha", "Ghajini" and "Vaaranam Aayiram", and his first collaboration with director K. V. Anand. Harris composed all the songs in Mauritius. The film's audio launch took place on 19 January 2009, at the office of Sun TV Network in Chennai, with the presence of the film's cast and crew. The audio launch had a live telecast on Sun Music. The film features six tracks, with lyrics written by Na. Muthukumar, Vairamuthu and Pa. Vijay.


title: Ayan (film)

text: The film was dubbed into Telugu as "Veedokkade", and its soundtrack was released on 22 February 2009.


title: Ayan (film)

text: The soundtrack album received mostly positive reviews from music critics as well as listeners. Behindwoods gave the album 3 out of 5 stating, "Harris Jayaraj’s crafting is elegant as ever. But what disappoints us here slightly is that the songs have influences of his earlier albums here and there, which could have been avoided. Harris does have it in him to give us many more ‘wah wah’ numbers." Indiaglitz gave the album 2.75 out of 5 and stated, "'Ayan' has a whole lot of mix in spellbinding melodies and mind-boggling peppy numbers. Undoubtedly, Harris is there over the top with the prodigious score for his ducky actor Surya." Rediff gave the album 2.5 out of 5 stating, "Harris Jeyaraj wants to break away from his usual melodies and try something new. And he has succeeded, to a certain extent. Barring one or two numbers, this effort doesn't seem to sustain itself after the first few lines, but perhaps, with repeated listening, its appeal might increase."


title: Ayan (film)

text: The satellite rights of the film were secured by Sun TV. The film was given a "U/A" certificate by the Indian Censor Board. AVM Productions sold the film's distribution rights for Tamil Nadu to Sun Pictures for 200 million.


title: Ayan (film)

text: Malathi Rangarajan of "The Hindu" wrote: "Ayan is Suriya’s show all the way. He bears the onus with a smile and the death-defying stunts add to the robust image he aims to project".


title: Ayan (film)

text: Behindwoods wrote: "Ayan is fun. Just buy a huge bag of popcorn, a can of cola, and have a blast! But do remember the first step about the logic". Indiaglitz wrote: "Though the storyline is familiar and oft-seen in the past, the pacy narration and captivating visuals provide the necessary pep to the film". Sify rated 3 out of 5 stars stating "Paisa Vasool" (). Rediff rated 3.5 out of 5 stars stating "Ayan is definitely a must-watch."


title: Ayan (film)

text: In Chennai alone, box office totals were reported as in theatrical revenue. International distribution rights were sold to Ayngaran International. Ayan's revenue was in Malaysia and in the UK. The film's Telugu dubbed version, "Veedokkade", was sold to Hyderabad based producer, Bellamkonda Suresh.


title: Ayan (film)

text: "Ayan" received the most nominations at the 57th Filmfare Awards South (12) and the 4th Annual Vijay Awards (18).


title: Mohammed Kudus

text: Mohammed Kudus (born 2 August 2000) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Eredivisie club Ajax and the Ghana national team.


title: Mohammed Kudus

text: Kudus arrived at Danish club Nordsjælland from the Ghanaian Right to Dream Academy, which he joined at the age of 10, in January 2018 together with two teammates, Ibrahim Sadiq and Gideon Mensah.


title: Mohammed Kudus

text: Kudus made his official debut for Nordsjælland only three days after his 18th birthday, in a 2–0 defeat against Brøndby IF. He played from the first minute as a striker, but was replaced in the half-time. With his debut, he became the ninth youngest to make his debut in the history of the club.


title: Mohammed Kudus

text: On 16 July 2020, Kudus signed for Eredivisie club Ajax for €9 million, on a five-year contract. He made his official debut for the club on 20 September in a league match against RKC Waalwijk. Head coach Erik ten Hag subsequently called Kudus as a player with "incredible potential". He continued his strong performances, scoring one goal and providing three assists in his first three appearances. His debut in the UEFA Champions League for the home match against Liverpool on 21 October 2020, however, it was unfortunate. Kudus was subbed out after only six minutes, as he suffered a meniscus injury, keeping him out for several months.


title: Mohammed Kudus

text: Since 2019, he has been a part of the Ghana national team and scored several goals. His biggest moment came in the 2022 FIFA World Cup match against South Korea, where he scored 2 goals, cementing a 3–2 win over the opposing team.


title: 2015–16 Liverpool F.C. season

text: The 2015–16 season was Liverpool Football Club's 124th season in existence and their 54th consecutive season in the top flight of English football. It was also the club's 24th consecutive season in the Premier League. Along with the Premier League, Liverpool competed in the FA Cup, Football League Cup and UEFA Europa League. The season covered the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016. It started with a 1–0 away win against Stoke City in the league and ended with a 1–3 defeat to Sevilla in the UEFA Europa League Final.


title: 2015–16 Liverpool F.C. season

text: The season was the first since 1997–98 without former captain Steven Gerrard, who departed to LA Galaxy.


title: 2015–16 Liverpool F.C. season

text: On 10 July 2015, Jordan Henderson was announced as the new captain of Liverpool following the departure of Steven Gerrard. The next day, Liverpool travelled to Asia for four pre-season matches with a 30-man squad. They played their first match of the pre-season on 14 July against Thai Premier League XI and won the match comfortably with the score of 4–0 in which Lazar Marković, Mamadou Sakho, Adam Lallana and Divock Origi scored a goal each. On 17 July, Adam Lallana and James Milner scored a goal apiece in a 2–1 win over Brisbane Roar. On 20 July, Liverpool won 2–0 against Adelaide United with goals from James Milner and Danny Ings.


title: 2015–16 Liverpool F.C. season

text: For the fourth game, Liverpool travelled to Malaysia to face Malaysia XI and the match finished a goal apiece with goals from Patrick Wleh and Jordon Ibe. On 1 August, Liverpool played against the Finnish side HJK Helsinki and won the match 2–0 with goals from Divock Origi and Philippe Coutinho. Liverpool played their last match of the pre-season against Swindon Town and won the game 2–1 with goals from debutant Christian Benteke and youngster Sheyi Ojo, who scored the winning goal.


title: 2015–16 Liverpool F.C. season

text: On 7 August, James Milner was appointed the vice captain of Liverpool FC. On 9 August 2015, Liverpool won their opening match against Stoke City in the Premier League. Philippe Coutinho scored the winning goal in the 86th minute with a long-range effort which ultimately gave Liverpool a 1–0 win. This victory came at the site of their biggest defeat, when Stoke won 6–1 that May. On 17 August, Liverpool played the second match of the league season at Anfield against AFC Bournemouth in a 1–0 win for Liverpool, in which Christian Benteke scored his first competitive goal for the club. On 24 August, Liverpool played a 0–0 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. On 29 August 2015, Liverpool lost the first match of the season against West Ham United in a 3–0 win for the away side. This was West Ham's first victory at Anfield since 1963.


title: 2015–16 Liverpool F.C. season

text: On 13 September, Liverpool travelled to Manchester to play against Manchester United and suffered a 3–1 defeat in the latest instalment of their rivalry. On 17 September, Liverpool began their UEFA Europa League campaign with a 1–1 draw away against Bordeaux. On 21 September, Liverpool played a 1–1 draw with Norwich City at home, with Danny Ings scoring the goal for Liverpool. On 24 September, Liverpool won the third round match of the League Cup via penalties after 1–1 draw in 120 minutes against Carlisle United. Liverpool registered a 3–2 victory over Aston Villa on 27 September with James Milner scoring in the second minute of play and Daniel Sturridge scoring a brace.


title: 2015–16 Liverpool F.C. season

text: Liverpool began the first match of the month on 1 October, with yet another 1–1 draw in the Europa league group stage game against Sion, where Adam Lallana scored his second goal in a row in the competition. On 4 October, Liverpool played their 225th Merseyside Derby against Everton with the game ending again in a 1–1 draw, Liverpool's goal coming from Danny Ings. This was the fifth time in Liverpool's previous six games that they had taken a 1–0 lead only to have the game end in a 1–1 draw; they had just one win in their previous nine games.


title: 2015–16 Liverpool F.C. season

text: Just one hour after the game, manager Brendan Rodgers was sacked following the result which left Liverpool in tenth place after eight games. Later, it was known that the decision to sack him had already been made prior to the match against Everton. The following day, Rodgers released a statement through the League Managers Association, stating, "I am, of course incredibly disappointed to be leaving... [but] it has been both an honour and a privilege to manage one of the game's great clubs." On 8 October 2015, former Borussia Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp agreed a three-year deal to become Liverpool manager, replacing Rodgers. Klopp's debut game was a 0–0 away draw with Tottenham Hotspur on 17 October 2015.


title: 2015–16 Liverpool F.C. season

text: On 22 October, Liverpool settled for a 1–1 score resulting yet another draw, but this time in the Europa League against Rubin Kazan. Liverpool played second consecutive 1–1 draw and third consecutive draw in all competitions on 25 October against Southampton. On 28 October, Liverpool finally ended three consecutive draw spree to win 1–0 against AFC Bournemouth in the fourth round and entered the quarter-finals of the League Cup. Klopp won his first league game against Chelsea on 31 October in a 3–1 win, with a brace from Philippe Coutinho and a goal from Christian Benteke.