title: Arch bridge

text: The corbel arch bridge is a masonry, or stone, bridge where each successively higher course (layer) cantilevers slightly more than the previous course. The steps of the masonry may be trimmed to make the arch have a rounded shape. The corbel arch does not produce thrust, or outward pressure at the bottom of the arch, and is not considered a true arch. It is more stable than a true arch because it does not have this thrust. The disadvantage is that this type of arch is not suitable for large spans.


title: Arch bridge

text: In some locations it is necessary to span a wide gap at a relatively high elevation, such as when a canal or water supply must span a valley. Rather than building extremely large arches, or very tall supporting columns (difficult using stone), a series of arched structures are built one atop another, with wider structures at the base. Roman civil engineers developed the design and constructed highly refined structures using only simple materials, equipment, and mathematics. This type is still used in canal viaducts and roadways as it has a pleasing shape, particularly when spanning water, as the reflections of the arches form a visual impression of circles or ellipses.


title: Arch bridge

text: This type of bridge comprises an arch where the deck is completely above the arch. The area between the arch and the deck is known as the spandrel. If the spandrel is solid, usually the case in a masonry or stone arch bridge, the bridge is called a "closed-spandrel deck arch bridge". If the deck is supported by a number of vertical columns rising from the arch, the bridge is known as an "open-spandrel deck arch bridge". The Alexander Hamilton Bridge is an example of an open-spandrel arch bridge. Finally, if the arch supports the deck only at the top of the arch, the bridge is called a cathedral arch bridge.


title: Arch bridge

text: This type of bridge has an arch whose base is at or below the deck, but whose top rises above it, so the deck passes through the arch. The central part of the deck is supported by the arch via suspension cables or tie bars, as with a tied-arch bridge. The ends of the bridge may be supported from below, as with a deck arch bridge. Any part supported from arch below may have spandrels that are closed or open.


title: Arch bridge

text: The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Bayonne Bridge are a through arch bridge which uses a truss type arch.


title: Arch bridge

text: Also known as a bowstring arch, this type of arch bridge incorporates a tie between two opposite ends of the arch. The tie is usually the deck and is capable of withstanding the horizontal thrust forces which would normally be exerted on the abutments of an arch bridge.


title: Arch bridge

text: The deck is suspended from the arch. The arch is in compression, in contrast to a suspension bridge where the catenary is in tension. A tied-arch bridge can also be a through arch bridge.


title: Arch bridge

text: An arch bridge with hinges incorporated to allow movement between structural elements. A single-hinged bridge has a hinge at the crown of the arch, a two-hinged bridge has hinges at both springing points and a three-hinged bridge has hinged in all three locations.


title: Arch bridge

text: Most modern arch bridges are made from reinforced concrete. This type of bridge is suitable where a temporary centring may be erected to support the forms, reinforcing steel, and uncured concrete. When the concrete is sufficiently set the forms and falseworks are then removed. It is also possible to construct a reinforced concrete arch from precast concrete, where the arch is built in two halves which are then leaned against each other.


title: Arch bridge

text: Many modern bridges, made of steel or reinforced concrete, often bear some of their load by tension within their structure. This reduces or eliminates the horizontal thrust against the abutments and allows their construction on weaker ground. Structurally and analytically they are not true arches but rather a beam with the shape of an arch. See truss arch bridge for more on this type.


title: Arch bridge

text: A modern evolution of the arch bridge is the long-span through arch bridge. This has been made possible by the use of light materials that are strong in tension such as steel and prestressed concrete.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: The PPS (Russian: ППС – "Пистолет-пулемёт Судаева" or "Pistolet-pulemyot Sudayeva", in English: "Sudayev's submachine-gun") is a family of Soviet submachine guns chambered in 7.62×25mm Tokarev, developed by Alexei Sudayev as a low-cost personal defense weapon for reconnaissance units, vehicle crews and support service personnel.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: The PPS and its variants were used extensively by the Red Army during World War II and were later adopted by the armed forces of several countries of the former Warsaw Pact as well as its many African and Asian allies.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: The PPS was created in response to a Red Army requirement for a compact and lightweight weapon with similar accuracy and projectile energy to the Soviet PPSh-41 submachine gun widely deployed at the time, with reduced rate of fire, produced at lower material cost and requiring fewer man-hours, particularly skilled labour.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: Sudayev was ordered by the State Commission for Armaments to perfect for large-scale production the sub-machine gun design of Lieutenant I.K. Bezruchko-Vysotsky from the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy, who had created two prototypes in 1942; the second of these was the basis of Sudayev's gun.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: During design, emphasis was placed on simplifying production and eliminating most machining operations; most of the weapon's parts were sheet-steel stamped.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: These measures reduced the number of machined components to a bare minimum, cutting down machining time by more than half, to 2.7 hours of machining instead of 7.3 hours for the PPSh-41. There were also savings of over 50% in raw steel usage, down to 6.2 kg instead of 13.9 kg, and fewer workers were required to manufacture and assemble the parts. Thanks to the improvements in production efficiency, the Soviet planners estimated that the new gun would have allowed an increase in monthly submachine gun output from 135,000 units to 350,000 weapons.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: Prototypes were field tested between 26 April and 12 May 1942; the evaluation commission's report was largely favorable, but still proposed some minor improvements mostly aimed at strengthening the gun's structure. By July, Shpagin had finished his own improved model (PPSh-2), and it was pitted in field trials against the PPS, which was found superior in most respects: accuracy, reliability, maneuverability. (This was apparently a large scale contest, in which 20 designs participated. On July 28, 1942, GAU head N.D. Yakovlev and his aide Ivan Novikov presented Sudayev's gun to the State Defense Committee for approval. The firearm was accepted into service as the PPS-42 (Russian: Пистолет-пулемёт Судаева—ППС or "Pistolet Pulemyot Sudayeva" model of 1942). The weapon was put into small-scale production during the Siege of Leningrad; mass production did not commence until early 1943 at the Sestroretsk Arsenal (over 45,000 weapons were produced before being replaced by the improved PPS-43). The factory in charge for the pilot production starting in December 1942 was the Sestroretsk Tool Factory (Russian: .) The first series guns were presented for personal inspection to Andrei Zhdanov and Leonid Govorov in the same month. The full-scale production began in 1943, and the official count of PPS-42 guns produced was 46,572. Most were used during the military trials by the soldiers of the Leningrad Front. The military trials officially took place between January and April 1943.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: Due to the massive investment already made in machinery for PPSh-41 production, which was already being produced in more than a million pieces per year, it turned out it would have been uneconomical to completely abandon its production in favor of the PPS. By end of the war some two million PPS-43 submachine guns were made. Due to the oversupply of the Soviet army with submachine guns after the war, production of the PPS in the Soviet Union ceased in 1946.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: In the last two years of the war, Sudayev continued to experiment with improvements for his submachine gun. Six of his later prototype models, made in 1944 and 1945, are found in the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps. These have variations in bolt shape and weight, as well as more obvious outward differences like a wooden, non-folding stock or a folding bayonet.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: The PPS remained in service with some Soviet forces until the mid-1950s. Among the last to relinquish it were crews of armored vehicles and the Naval Infantry. Some World War II-era weapons found their way to the Chinese People's Liberation Army and were subsequently captured by UN forces in the Korean War.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: The PPS is an automatic blowback-operated weapon that fires from an open bolt. The bolt is cylindrical in shape and contains a spring-loaded claw extractor, which pulls the empty case out of the chamber to be ejected. The ejector is mounted at the head of the recoil spring guide rod, which runs through a hole in the bolt. The charging handle is integral to the bolt and is located on the right side; it reciprocates during firing. Early versions of the PPS had a fixed but replaceable firing pin, held in place by the extractor spring. Pulling the trigger releases the bolt, which moves forward, stripping a round from the magazine, chambering it and striking the primer in one motion.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: The PPS has a trigger mechanism that allows only fully automatic fire and a manual safety that secured them against accidental discharges. When in the "safe" position (engaged by sliding a metal bar forward of the trigger guard), both the bolt and trigger are disabled.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: The weapon is fed from curved 35-round box magazines. They are not interchangeable with magazines used in the PPSh-41, nor can the gun use drum magazines. The PPS-43 magazine was significantly improved over the magazine from the PPSh-41, which contributed to greater reliability. The largest change being the transition to a "Double-Feed" design, so the double-stacked rounds are not bottle-necked into a single-stack at the feed lips. Like the PPSh-41, it is chambered for the 7.62×25mm Tokarev M1930 pistol cartridge.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: The submachine gun's rifled barrel (with 4 right-hand grooves) is mounted in a perforated sheet metal heat guard and is equipped with a crude muzzle brake, consisting of a strip of steel bent into a U-shape that deflects exiting muzzle gases to the sides and backwards, thus compensating for recoil.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: A folding stock is attached to the receiver with a spring-loaded catch button on the top. The stock folds up and over the receiver top cover and the weapon can be fired in this arrangement. The submachine gun also has a pistol grip but was not provided with a forward grip as the magazine well was intended to fulfill this role. The PPS was usually supplied with two magazine pouches, an oil bottle, bore brush and sling.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: The PPS-43 was highly cost effective and easy to manufacture due to its efficient and simple, largely sheet metal design. And despite its crudeness, has been described as functional, practical, controllable, and reliable.


title: PPS submachine gun

text: The PPS is fitted with a set of open-type iron sights consisting of a fixed front post protected from impact by two sheet metal plates and a flip rear sight with two pivoting notches, for firing at 100 and 200 m.


title: Compass Group

text: Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including offices and factories, schools, universities, hospitals, major sports and cultural venues, mining camps, correctional facilities and offshore oil platforms. Compass Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It is also a Fortune Global 500 company.


title: Compass Group

text: Compass Group has its origins in a company which was founded by Jack Bateman in 1941 as Factory Canteens Limited and which subsequently became known as Bateman Catering. Bateman Catering and Midland Catering were acquired by conglomerate Grand Metropolitan in 1967 and 1968 respectively and a management buy-out from Grand Metropolitan followed in 1987 when the Compass Group was formed.


title: Compass Group

text: Compass Group was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1988. Eurest, one of the company's US subsidiaries, was launched in the United States in 1996 to provide dining services to local, regional and national companies within the business and industry markets, including employee dining centers, on-site catering, vending, executive dining, and other services.


title: Compass Group

text: Compass Group purchased Morrison Management Specialists and then merged with Granada plc as part of a planned strategy to separate the media and catering interests of the latter. The two companies demerged in February 2001 to form Compass plc and Granada Media. It had become the world's biggest catering firm by 2005.


title: Compass Group

text: Compass Group then sold its roadside and travel catering businesses for a combined £1.82 billion in April 2006. The transaction included the sale of 43 Moto motorway service areas to Australia's Macquarie Bank for an estimated £600 million. Compass's Select Service Partners (SSP) travel concessions business was sold to companies controlled by private equity firm EQT Partners, for an estimated £1.2 billion.


title: Compass Group

text: Compass Group PLC made further acquisitions in 2009, including Kimco in the US and Plural in Germany.


title: Compass Group

text: In June 2019, Compass Group PLC announces that it has signed an agreement with Fazer Group, an international family-owned FMCG and direct to consumer group, to acquire Fazer Food Services.


title: Compass Group

text: Compass Group's subsidiary ESS became a UN-registered food vendor in 2000 and then won contracts to supply UN peace-keepers operating in Sudan, East Timor, Liberia, Burundi, Eritrea, Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria.


title: Compass Group

text: ESS was contracted by the U.S. Marine Corps, the 82nd Airborne Division, the British Ministry of Defence, the Coalition Provisional Authority, along with the major defense contractors Fluor, RMS, Bechtel, and most notably KBR (a subsidiary of Halliburton) under the U.S. Army troop support contract called LOGCAP III to provide dining and construction services at desert bases and encampments in Kuwait and Iraq from the start of operations in 2003 to 2006.


title: Compass Group

text: In 2011, Morrison Management Specialist was re-organised into three sectors (Morrison Healthcare, Morrison Living, Touchpoint Support Services). Then in 2013 the Czech branch of Eurest was listed as one of the "100 Best Czech Companies" in 2013. The company also acquired Integrated Cleaning Management in 2013.


title: Compass Group

text: On 31 December 2017, CEO of the company at the time Richard Cousins was killed in a seaplane accident at Cottage Point near the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, Australia. The aircraft was a six-seat de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver seaplane. Cousins planned to retire in 2018, with the intention that he would be succeeded as CEO by Dominic Blakemore on 1 April; the succession was brought forward to 1 January 2018.


title: Compass Group

text: The acquisition of Unidine, which has annual revenues of around $220m and margins broadly in line with Compass North America, was completed on 31 December 2017. Unidine is one of the largest, pure-play food service providers in the rapidly growing healthcare and seniors market in the United States.


title: Compass Group

text: In 2020, Feedr was acquired by Compass Group for $24m. Compass Group acquired Feedr just before the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed the company to use Feedr's online technology to support both the business and people as it was able to send free meals to those in need using Feedr's technology.


title: Compass Group

text: It also does cleaning, housekeeping, waste management, building operations, maintenance, gardening and outdoor services for schools and educational facilities.


title: Compass Group

text: Compass Group operates several owned brands including Trattoria Pizza, Mondo Subs, (UK & USA) Grab&Co Food to go and Spice of Life (UK Hospitals) as well as operating Costa Coffee, Subway, Papa John's Pizza, Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks under license. Compass Group also operates several owned service systems including Steamplicity, and Trim Trax.


title: Compass Group

text: Eurest Support Services (ESS) is the subsidiary specializing in harsh-environment/large-scale food service and facilities management. Its primary clients are military forces and other security services, UN conferences and some Blue Beret army rations, major defense contractors, and construction, mining, the UN and oil exploration and production facilities worldwide.


title: Compass Group

text: Foodbuy is a foodservice procurement organization which operates in both North America and Europe. In the UK, Foodbuy UK was created after the acquisition of Acquire Services in 2015. It was awarded a contract by the Department of Health and Social Care in 2018 to buy food on behalf of the National Health Service. About 10 staff are transferred from NHS Supply Chain.


title: Compass Group

text: Integrated Cleaning Management is a major UK and Irish retail, leisure, health club industry, hotel and commercial cleaning firm with 10,000 staff and 5,000 contracts as of 2014. It sponsors the U.K.'s Springboard Charity Event.


title: Compass Group

text: Medirest operates in the UK and provides services in retail and medical places. Medirest Retail Shops and Cafes runs In-shop Cafes. It has several NHS contracts weld by A+ NHS cleaners clean hospitals, Pulse Hospital porters, who are NHS Hospital porters and Medirest Health Sector which do other tasks such as disposing of surgical waste, catering and cleaning.


title: Compass Group

text: A summary of Compass scandals was compiled by Corporate Watch in June 2022 for cleaners affiliated to the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain who were campaigning for PPE, fair treatment, and higher pay.


title: Compass Group

text: ESS became a UN-registered food vendor in 2000 and then went on to win contracts to supply UN peacekeepers operating in Sudan, East Timor, Liberia, Burundi, Eritrea, Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria.


title: Compass Group

text: In 2005, subsidiary Eurest Support Services won contracts to provide food to UN peacekeepers in Liberia, valued at $237 million.


title: Compass Group

text: The UN suspended Compass in October 2005 after allegations of contract bidding irregularities. It was alleged that ESS may have improperly obtained confidential information concerning a three-year contract to supply food and water to UN peacekeepers in Liberia. ESS's poor performance on a food contract to provide rations to peacekeepers in Burundi was also looked into before it lost the contract. The scandal broke after former HIC official and former procurement officer Alexander Yakovlev was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and related issues. The Russian official Alexander Yakovlev, the UN procurement officer, and Vladimir Kuznetsov, head of the UN Committee for Administrative and Budgetary Issues, were arrested and indicted after taking nearly $1 million in bribes from companies doing business with the UN.


title: Compass Group

text: In November 2005, Compass sacked the head of its UK division and two other employees as the investigation continued. Compass said staff members had been dismissed but did not officially say how many. The investigation was conducted by law firm Freshfields and accountants Ernst & Young and overseen and ultimately by the chairman of Compass' audit committee, Steve Lucas.


title: Compass Group

text: In a separate UN investigation into the oil-for-food program hand found that Yakovlev was guilty of fraudulent conduct. He subsequently pleaded guilty to criminal charges of both wire fraud and money laundering relating to claims he had taken $1 million in bribes from companies doing business with the UN.


title: Compass Group

text: The rivals firms who made the allegations of bribery were Es-Ko and Switzerland's Supreme Foodservice AG (Supreme was later investigated, fined and blacklisted by the US DoJ for 'price fixing' on US DoD contracts in Afghanistan). Officials initiated lawsuits claiming violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, the Sherman Antitrust Act and New York State's Donnelly Act regulating free trade. Federal investigations were held and the case was referred to the Serious Fraud Office (UK). The lawsuits, in which the two competitors who claimed a total of £600m in damages against Compass, alleged that Compass had tried to rig the awarding of UN contracts worth in excess of $350m (£188m) for United Nations peace keepers across the world. The long-running dispute centred on allegations that five senior executives at a Compass subsidiary, Eurest Support Services (ESS), bribed a UN official to win the contracts.


title: Compass Group

text: After its own £5 million, three-month internal investigation, Compass had declared it had discovered "serious irregularities" in its UN business, but that these were limited to "only a few individuals" who were dismissed: Peter R. Harris, Andy Seiwert and Doug Kerr. Mr Harris, who by then was the head of the group's British, Middle East and African division at this point. While Compass refused to make public its investigation, CEO Michael Bailey stepped down in June 2006. The subsidiary Eurest Support Services was soon restructured and reformed along a new business model.


title: Compass Group

text: The corruption allegations were also referred to the UK's Serious Fraud Office a criminal investigation by US federal prosecutors and wider investigations into UN procurement by both the Southern District Court of New York, the US Congress and the UN. Compass had agreed by October 2006 to pay to up to £40m to settle two lawsuits brought against it for allegedly bribing a UN official to win catering contracts. Compass Group did not admit any legal liability and paid a confidential settlement in the region of £40m.


title: Compass Group

text: Then chief executive of Compass Group, Richard Cousins, was quoted as saying: "We believe it is in the best interests of the business and shareholders, and good management, to avoid the uncertainties and costs associated with prolonged litigation. My focus is on the future and this settlement is a major step in putting the matter behind us."


title: Compass Group

text: The supplier of food to seven of Ontario's correctional facilities, Eurest Dining Services, informed the Halton Regional Health Department that some samples taken during routine surveillance had tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes on 21 November 2008. Dr. David Williams, Ontario's acting chief medical officer of health later commented on the issue.


title: Compass Group

text: In February 2013, it was discovered that some meat products sold in the UK, Ireland and elsewhere contained horse meat without proper declaration or official scrutiny. As part of this Compass Group discovered, through testing, that it had unknowingly supplied concealed horse meat in burgers from Rangeland Foods supplied to a "small number" of schools in Ireland and Northern Ireland.


title: Compass Group

text: In 2016, the Southern DHB (District Health Board) in New Zealand received numerous complaints about the quality of the food being served at Dunedin Hospital, where a 15-year contract was controversially awarded to Compass Group in 2015.


title: Compass Group

text: In 2019 Chartwells Higher Education, a Compass Group subsidiary, ended its relationship with Cenikor, a drug rehabilitation organization that had been providing labor for Louisiana State University's cafeterias. This followed the publication of allegations that Cenikor was supplying unfree labor (a type of slave labor) as contract labor and the opening of federal and state investigations into labor law violations. Courts in Louisiana often sentence defendants to terms at Cenikor as an alternative to prison or jail.


title: Compass Group

text: The UK went into its third national lockdown in January 2021. Images emerged on social media showing small or poor quality school meals for children. Chartwells, a Compass Group subsidiary, was criticized, and the company issued an apology.


title: Compass Group

text: Unite the Union branded Compass Group subsidiary ESS as "Britain's most heartless employer" in a dispute where outsourced cleaners and catering staff at the Ministry of Defence faced redundancy in a "fire and rehire" manoeuvre.


title: Compass Group

text: Corporate Watch's profile on Compass Group listed campaigns by Unison and GMB members against second class working conditions in NHS hospitals between 2011 and 2019.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Fiji Hindi (Devanagari: ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by Indo-Fijians. It is an Eastern Hindi language, considered to be a dialect of Awadhi that has also been subject to considerable influence by Bhojpuri, other Bihari dialects, and Hindustani. It has also borrowed some words from the English and Fijian languages. Many words unique to Fiji Hindi have been created to cater for the new environment that Indo-Fijians now live in. First-generation Indians in Fiji, who used the language as a "lingua franca" in Fiji, referred to it as "Fiji Baat", "Fiji talk". It is closely related to Caribbean Hindustani and the Bhojpuri-Hindustani language spoken in Mauritius and South Africa. It is largely mutually intellegible with the languages of Awadhi, Bhojpuri, etc. of Bihar and the dialects of Hindi of eastern Uttar Pradesh, but differs in phonetics and vocabulary with Modern Standard Hindi.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: These are the percentages of each language and dialect spoken by indentured labourers who came to Fiji.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Indian indentured labourers mainly spoke dialects from the Hindi Belt. Initially, the majority of labourers came to Fiji from districts of central and eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, while a small percentage hailed from North-West Frontier and South India such as Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Over time, a distinct Indo-Aryan language with an Eastern Hindi substratum developed in Fiji, combining elements of the Hindi languages spoken in these areas with some native Fijian and English. The development of Fiji Hindi was accelerated by the need for labourers speaking different languages to work together and by the practice of leaving young children in early versions of day-care centers during working hours. Percy Wright, who lived in Fiji during the indenture period, wrote:


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Other writers, including Burton (1914) and Lenwood (1917), made similar observations. By the late 1920s all Fiji Indian children born in Fiji learned Fiji Hindi, which became the common language in Fiji of North and South Indians alike.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Later, approximately 15,000 Indian indentured labourers, who were mainly speakers of Dravidian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam), were brought from South India. By this time Fiji Hindi was well established as the lingua franca of Indo-Fijians and the Southern Indian labourers had to learn it to communicate with the more numerous Northern Indians and their European overseers. After the end of the indenture system, Indians who spoke Gujarati and Punjabi arrived in Fiji as free immigrants. A few Indo-Fijians speak Tamil, Telugu, and Gujarati at home, but all are fluently conversant and able to communicate using Fiji Hindi. The census reports of 1956 and 1966 shows the extent to which Fiji Hindi (referred to as 'Hindustani' in the census) was being spoken in Indo-Fijian households. Hindu schools teach the Devanagari script while the Muslim schools teach the Nastaliq script.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Fiji Hindi is also understood and even spoken by Indigenous Fijians in areas of Fiji where there are large Indo-Fijian communities. A pidgin form of the language is used by rural ethnic Fijians, as well as Chinese on the islands, while Pidgin Fijian is spoken by Indo-Fijians.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Following the recent political upheaval in Fiji, many Indo-Fijians have emigrated to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, where they have largely maintained their traditional Indo-Fijian culture, language, and religion.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Some writers have begun to use Fiji Hindi, until very recently a spoken language only, as a literary language. The Bible has now been translated into Fiji Hindi, and the University of the South Pacific has recently begun offering courses in the language. It is usually written in the Latin script though Devanāgarī has also been used.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: A Fiji Hindi movie has also been produced depicting Indo-Fijian life and is based on a play by local playwright, Raymond Pillai.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: The phonemes of Fiji Hindi are very similar to Standard Hindi, but there are some important distinctions. As in the Bhojpuri and Awadhi dialects of the Hindi Belt spoken in rural India, mainly Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh — the consonant is replaced with (for example, "saadi" instead of "shaadi") and replaced with (for example, "bid-es" instead of "videsh"). There is also a tendency to ignore the differences between the consonants and (In Fiji Hindi a fruit is "fal" instead of "phal") and between and (in Fiji Hindi land is "jameen" instead of "zameen"). The consonant is used in Fiji Hindi for the nasal sounds , and in Standard Hindi. These features are common in the Eastern Hindi dialects.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: In Fiji Hindi verb forms have been influenced by a number of Hindi dialects in India. First and second person forms of verbs in Fiji Hindi are the same, there is no gender distinction and number distinction is only in the third person past tense. Although, gender is used in third person past tense by the usage of "raha" for a male versus "rahi" for a female.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Example: तुम मन्दिर जाता हैं / तुम मन्दिर जात हैं। "tum Mandir jaata hai/tum Mandir jaat hai." (You are going to the Temple).


title: Fiji Hindi

text: The third person perfective suffixes (for transitive verbs) "-is" and "-in" are also derived from Awadhi.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: पण्डित लोगन रामायण पढ़ीन रहा/पण्डित लोगन रामायण पढ़े रहीन। "Pandit logan Ramayan padheen raha/padhe raheen." (The priests read the Ramayana).


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Example: प्रधानमंत्री हमलोग के पैसा दई। "Pradhanamantri humlog ke paisa daii" (The prime minister will give us money).


title: Fiji Hindi

text: The influence of Hindustani is evident in the first and second person perfective suffix "-aa" and the first and second person future suffix "-ega".


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Example: तुम अपन मुह खोलो। "Tum apan muh khulo." (You open your mouth). Spoken in the Gaya and Patna districts, which provided a sizeable proportion of the first indentured labourers from Northern India to Fiji.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Example: ई लोगन पानी काहे नहीं पीत हैं। "Ee logan paani kahey nahi peet hai." (Why aren't these people drinking water?),


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Fiji Hindi tenses are relatively similar to tenses in Standard Hindi. Bhojpuri and Awadhi influence the Fiji Hindi tenses.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Indo-Fijians now use native Fijian words for those things that were not found in their ancestral India but which existed in Fiji. These include most fish names and root crops. For example, "kanade" for mullet (fish) and "kumaala" for sweet potato or yam. Other examples are:


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Many English words have also been borrowed into Fiji Hindi with sound changes to fit the Indo-Fijian pronunciation. For example, "" in Fiji Hindi is borrowed from hotel in English. Some words borrowed from English have a specialised meaning, for example, "" in Fiji Hindi means a playing field, "" in Fiji Hindi means a "work gang", particularly a cane-cutting gang in the sugar cane growing districts and "" in Fiji Hindi specifically means a female teacher. There are also unique Fijian Hindi words created from English words, for example, "" taken from cane-top means slap or associated with beating.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Many words of Hindustani origin have shifted meaning in Fiji Hindi. These are due to either innovations in Fiji or continued use of the old meaning in Fiji Hindi when the word is either not used in Standard Hindi anymore or has evolved a different meaning altogether. Some examples are:


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Though broadly based on standard Hindi, counting in Fiji Hindi reflects a number of cross-language and dialectal influences acquired in the past 125 years.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: The pronunciation for numbers between one and ten show slight inflections, seemingly inspired by Eastern Hindi dialects such as Bhojpuri. The number two, consequently, is () in standard Hindi, while in Fiji Hindi it is "dui" (), just as it is in Bhojpuri.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Words for numbers between 10 and 99 present a significant difference between standard and Fiji Hindi. While, as in other north Indian languages, words for are formed by mentioning units first and then multiples of ten, Fiji Hindi reverses the order and mentions the tens multiple first and the units next, as is the practice in many European and South-Indian languages. That is to say, while "twenty-one" in Standard Hindi is (), an internal sandhi of "ek aur biis", or "one-and-twenty", in Fiji Hindi the order would be reversed, and simply be "biis aur ek" (), without any additional morpho-phonological alteration. Similarly, while the number thirty-seven in standard Hindi is (), for "saat aur tiis" or "seven-and-thirty", the number would be "tiis aur saat" (), or 'thirty-and-seven' in Fiji Hindi.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: Additionally, powers of ten beyond ten thousand, such as "lakh" (100,000) and "crore" (10 million), are not used in Fiji Hindi.


title: Fiji Hindi

text: With political upheavals in Fiji, beginning with the first military coup in 1987, large numbers of Indo-Fijians have since migrated overseas and at present there are significant communities of Indo-Fijian expatriates in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Smaller communities also reside on other Pacific Islands and Britain. The last census in each of the countries where Fiji Hindi is spoken (counting Indo-Fijians who were born in Fiji) provides the following figures:


title: Sungkyunkwan Scandal

text: Sungkyunkwan Scandal () is a South Korean historical drama starring Park Yoo-chun, Park Min-young, Song Joong-ki, and Yoo Ah-in. Directed by Kim Won-seok and written by Kim Tae-hee, it is based on Jung Eun-gwol's bestselling 2007 novel "". It aired on KBS2 from August 30 to November 2, 2010 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.


title: Sungkyunkwan Scandal

text: Set during an era when society does not allow females to be educated nor employed, Kim Yoon-hee (Park Min-young) disguises herself as her brother, Kim Yoon-shik, in order to make ends meet for her family. She goes through a series of odd jobs, mainly at a local bookstore, before she gets offered a chance to increase her earnings by becoming a substitute test-taker (an illegal act) for the upcoming entrance examination in the prestigious Sungkyunkwan, the Joseon Dynasty's highest educational institute. She gets caught by the upright Lee Sun-joon (Park Yoo-chun), who later acknowledges Yoon-hee's talents, and even encourages her to enroll in the university. There, she must bear with the endless mischief of upperclassman Gu Yong-ha (Song Joong-ki), put up with the constant mood swings of roommate Moon Jae-shin (Yoo Ah-in), avoid getting in trouble with the strict student body president Ha In-soo (Jun Tae-soo), and keep her secret from being discovered, all the while trying to hold her growing feelings for Lee Sun-joon at bay.


title: Sungkyunkwan Scandal

text: The series attracted a fervent fanbase that belied its modest mid-teen ratings. Its cult popularity was manifested in the very high online activity on the message boards of its official website and in popular portal DC Inside, the number of episode viewings on the KBS website, as well as units of DVDs and OST albums sold. The original soundtrack, which featured Park Yoo-chun's band JYJ, sold 110,000 copies in a couple of weeks. The old campus of Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) was the setting for the fusion historical drama, which also starred alumnus Song Joong-ki, resulting in increased interest in SKKU from international audiences who watched the drama.


title: Sungkyunkwan Scandal

text: The series was edited into a theatrical version which screened in Japanese cinemas from May 6–19, 2011 as part of the "Dokimeki☆Ikemen Festival."


title: Sungkyunkwan Scandal

text: For the drama's first anniversary, Korean cable channel QTV (a joint venture between Turner Broadcasting System and JoongAng Ilbo's affiliate, IS Plus) re-edited the series into a two-hour TV movie which aired on September 10, 2011.


title: Château de la Motte-Husson

text: The Château de la Motte-Husson is a Neo-Renaissance style . It is located in the small market town of Martigné-sur-Mayenne, in the Mayenne of France. The is currently owned by Dick Strawbridge and his wife Angel. It is the setting for the Channel 4 programme "Escape to the Chateau".


title: Château de la Motte-Husson

text: From the 12th to 14th centuries, the site of the was located within the parish of La Motte and was a fortified stronghold. Henri de Husson received the land as concession from Jeanne "La Voyère d'Aron" in 1394. The Husson family, (lords) of Montgiroux around 1406, gave their name to the , or Husson Castle.


title: Château de la Motte-Husson

text: The Baglion de la Dufferie family (a French branch of the Baglioni family of Perugia) acquired the estate in 1600. The castle was rebuilt in the enclosure of the old square moat. It consisted of a kitchen, cellar, 4 or 5 bedrooms per top, attic above, a chapel, a portal for a drawbridge, a bedroom on the said portal, a dovecote, on the whole, covered with slates, behind a small courtyard, ditches and moats around the courtyards, a kennel near the gate.


title: Château de la Motte-Husson

text: As of 1824, land records show the structures, referred to as , still being intact, with the moat surrounding the fort.


title: Château de la Motte-Husson

text: The current façade is reflective of the efforts of Countess Louise-Dorothée de Baglion de la Dufferie (1826–1902), who told her husband that she wanted a grand residence built on the site of the fort. The new structure would be flanked by two large towers, known as 'pepper shakers', and with a double-ramped staircase, five floors and 47 rooms with separate private suites for Master and Lady, with servant quarters on the second floor and attic space. The is surrounded by the old square moat, with a walled garden, stable-block, an orangery, and of parkland. The original plans and invoices for the building still exist and are on display within the ; adjusting for inflation, the original build was around £1m.


title: Château de la Motte-Husson

text: Countess Louise-Dorothée de Baglion de la Dufferie's main residence was near Nantes, about 160 km (100 miles) to the southwest, and the family decided to spend winters in the milder maritime climate, with the château serving as a summer retreat for the family. It had been passed down through generations of the Baglion family. Latterly, Guy de Baglion de la Dufferie had received the title to it in 1954 from Xavier Marie Octave, Count de Baglion de la Dufferie and his wife, Elisabeth Marie Joseph Marthe Charlotte Treton de Vaujuas de Langan, as a part of a dowry. At his death in 1999, it passed to his wife and children. The remained unoccupied for nearly 40 years when it was put up for sale in 2015.


title: Château de la Motte-Husson

text: In 2015, the estate was sold by the Baglion de la Dufferie family to British television presenter Dick Strawbridge and his partner Angela for £280,000. At the time of sale, the had no basic electricity, sewerage, or heating.


title: Château de la Motte-Husson

text: Over the following five years, the couple, along with their children and Angela's parents, restored the property and the outlying buildings with the help of friends, family, and numerous fans of the show who have paid up to £75 a head to help with renovations. Additional funding for the project has come from a television series called "Escape to the Chateau", broadcast on the British channel Channel 4 and devoted to recording the renovation, reuse, and upgrading of the into a home and family business.


title: Château de la Motte-Husson

text: Legend has it that the region's last wolf was shot from a window of the . For many years a stuffed wolf sat at the top of the staircase. It was removed before the sale of the , and its current location is unclear. In 2015, Angel secretly designed and ordered a new replica taxidermy-like wolf as wedding gift for her husband that would add to the character of the and bring that tale to life. It has pride of place on the landing at the top of the stairs.


title: Favourite

text: A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler. It was especially a phenomenon of the 16th and 17th centuries, when government had become too complex for many hereditary rulers with no great interest in or talent for it, and political institutions were still evolving. From 1600 to 1660 there were particular successions of all-powerful minister-favourites in much of Europe, particularly in Spain, England, France and Sweden.


title: Favourite

text: The term is also sometimes employed by writers who want to avoid terms such as "royal mistress", "friend", "companion", or "lover" (of any gender). Several favourites had sexual relations with the monarch (or the monarch's spouse), but the feelings of the monarch for the favourite ran the gamut from simple faith in the favourite's abilities to various degrees of emotional affection and dependence, and sometimes even encompassed sexual infatuation.


title: Favourite

text: The term has an inbuilt element of disapproval and is defined by the "Oxford English Dictionary" as "One who stands unduly high in the favour of a prince", citing Shakespeare: "Like favourites/ Made proud by Princes" ("Much Ado about Nothing", 3.1.9).


title: Favourite

text: Favourites inevitably tended to incur the envy and loathing of the rest of the nobility, and monarchs were sometimes obliged by political pressure to dismiss or execute them; in the Middle Ages nobles often rebelled in order to seize and kill a favourite. Too close a relationship between monarch and favourite was seen as a breach of the natural order and hierarchy of society. Since many favourites had flamboyant "over-reaching" personalities, they often led the way to their own downfall with their rash behaviour. As the opinions of the gentry and bourgeoisie grew in importance, they too often strongly disliked favourites. Dislike from all classes could be especially intense in the case of favourites who were elevated from humble, or at least minor, backgrounds by royal favour. Titles and estates were usually given lavishly to favourites, who were compared to mushrooms because they sprang up suddenly overnight, from a bed of excrement. The King's favourite Piers Gaveston is a "night-grown mushrump" (mushroom) to his enemies in Christopher Marlowe's "Edward II".


title: Favourite

text: Their falls could be even more sudden, but after about 1650, executions tended to give way to quiet retirement. Favourites who came from the higher nobility, such as Leicester, Lerma, Olivares, and Oxenstierna, were often less resented and lasted longer. Successful minister-favourites also usually needed networks of their own favourites and relatives to help them carry out the work of government – Richelieu had his "créatures" and Olivares his "hechuras". Oxenstierna and William Cecil, who both died in office, successfully trained their sons to succeed them.


title: Favourite

text: The favourite can often not be easily distinguished from the successful royal administrator, who at the top of the tree certainly needed the favour of the monarch, but the term is generally used of those who first came into contact with the monarch through the social life of the court, rather than the business of politics or administration. Figures like William Cecil and Jean-Baptiste Colbert, whose accelerated rise through the administrative ranks owed much to their personal relations with the monarch, but who did not attempt to behave like grandees of the nobility, were also often successful. Elizabeth I had Cecil as Secretary of State and later Lord High Treasurer from the time she ascended the throne in 1558 until his death 40 years later. She had more colourful relationships with several courtiers; the most lasting and intimate one was with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who was also a leading politician. Only in her last decade was the position of the Cecils, father and son, challenged by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, when he fatally attempted a coup against the younger Cecil.


title: Favourite

text: Cardinal Wolsey was one figure who rose through the administrative hierarchy, but then lived extremely ostentatiously, before falling suddenly from power. In the Middle Ages in particular, many royal favourites were promoted in the church, English examples including Saints Dunstan and Thomas Becket; Bishops William Waynflete, Robert Burnell and Walter Reynolds. Cardinal Granvelle, like his father, was a trusted Habsburg minister who lived grandly, but he was not really a favourite, partly because most of his career was spent away from the monarch.


title: Favourite

text: Some favourites came from very humble backgrounds: Archibald Armstrong, jester to James I of England infuriated everyone else at court but managed to retire a wealthy man; unlike Robert Cochrane, a stonemason (probably a senior one, more like an architect than an artisan) who became Earl of Mar before the Scottish nobles revolted against him and hanged him and other low-born favourites of James III of Scotland. Olivier le Daim, the barber of Louis XI, acquired a title and important military commands before he was executed on vague charges brought by nobles shortly after his master died, without the knowledge of the new king. It has been claimed that le Daim's career was the origin of the term, as "favori" (the French word) first appeared around the time of his death in 1484. "Privado" in Spanish was older, but was later partly replaced by the term "valido"; in Spanish, both terms were less derogatory than in French and English. Spain had a succession of "validos" during the reigns of Philip II, Philip III, and Philip IV.


title: Favourite

text: Such rises from menial positions became progressively harder as the centuries progressed; one of the last families able to jump the widening chasm between servants and nobility was that of Louis XIV's valet, Alexandre Bontemps, whose descendants, holding the office for a further three generations, married into many great families, even eventually including the extended royal family itself. Queen Victoria's John Brown came much too late; the devotion of the monarch and ability to terrorize her household led to hardly any rise in social or economic position.


title: Favourite

text: In England, the scope for giving political power to a favourite was reduced by the growing importance of Parliament. After the "mushroom" Buckingham was assassinated by John Felton in 1628, Charles I turned to Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who had been a leader of Parliamentary opposition to Buckingham and the King, but had become his supporter after Charles made concessions. Strafford can therefore hardly be called a favourite in the usual sense even though his relationship with Charles became very close. He was also from a well-established family, with powerful relations. After several years in power, Strafford was impeached by a Parliament now very hostile to him. When that process failed, it passed a bill of attainder for his execution without trial, and it put enough pressure on Charles that to his subsequent regret, Charles signed it, and Strafford was executed in 1641. There were later minister-favourites in England, but they knew that the favour of the monarch alone was not sufficient to rule, and most also had careers in Parliament.


title: Favourite

text: In France, the movement was in the opposite direction. On the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, the 23-year-old Louis XIV determined that he would rule himself, and he did not allow the delegation of power to ministers that had marked the previous 40 years. The absolute monarchy pioneered by Cardinal Richelieu, Mazarin's predecessor, was to be led by the monarch himself. Louis had many powerful ministers, notably Jean-Baptiste Colbert, in finances, and François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, the army, but the overall direction was never delegated, and no subsequent French minister ever equalled the power of the two cardinals.


title: Favourite

text: The Spanish Habsburgs were not capable of so much energy, but when Olivares was succeeded by his nephew, Luis Méndez de Haro, the last real "valido", the control of government into a single pair of hands had already been weakened.


title: Favourite

text: Favourites were the subject of much contemporary debate, some of it involving a certain amount of danger for the participants. There were a large number of English plays on the subject, amongst the best known to be Marlowe's "Edward II" in which Piers Gaveston is a leading character, and "Sejanus His Fall" (1603), for which Ben Jonson was called before the Privy Council, accused of "Popery and treason", as the play was claimed by his enemies to contain allusions to the contemporary court of James I of England. Sejanus, whose career under Tiberius was vividly described by Tacitus, was the subject of numerous works all around Europe. Shakespeare was more cautious, and with the exceptions of Falstaff, badly disappointed in his hopes of becoming a favourite, and Cardinal Wolsey in "Henry VIII", he gives no major parts to favourites.


title: Favourite

text: Francis Bacon, almost a favourite himself, devoted much of his essay "On Friendship" to the subject, writing as a rising politician under Elizabeth I:


title: Favourite

text: It is a strange thing to observe, how high a rate great kings and monarchs do set upon this fruit of friendship, whereof we speak: So great, as they purchase it, many times, at the hazard of their own safety and greatness. For princes, in regard of the distance of their fortune from that of their subjects and servants, cannot gather this fruit, except (to make themselves capable thereof) they raise some persons to be, as it were, companions and almost equals to themselves, which many times sorteth to inconvenience. The modern languages give unto such persons the name of "favorites", or privadoes ... . And we see plainly that this hath been done, not by weak and passionate princes only, but by the wisest and most politic that ever reigned; who have oftentimes joined to themselves some of their servants; whom both themselves have called friends, and allowed other likewise to call them in the same manner; using the word which is received between private men.


title: Favourite

text: Lord Macaulay wrote in 1844 of George III's old tutor, John Stuart, who became Prime Minister: "He was a favourite, and favourites have always been odious in this country. No mere favourite had been at the head of the government since the dagger of Felton had reached the heart of the Duke of Buckingham".


title: Favourite

text: In 1974 Jean Bérenger published "Pour une enquête européenne, l’histoire du ministeriat au XVIIe siècle" in "Annales", a seminal study on the subject. According to Bérenger, the simultaneous success of minister-favorites in several monarchies of the 17th-century was not coincidental, but reflected some change that was taking place at the time. J.H. Elliott and Laurence Brockliss's work (that resulted in the collection of essays "The World of the Favourite"), undertaken to explore the matter put forward by Bérenger, became the most important comparative treatment of this subject.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: Victoria Spartz ( Kulheyko; ; born October 6, 1978) is a Ukrainian-born American politician and businesswoman who is the U.S. representative for . A member of the Republican Party, she previously represented the 20th district in the Indiana Senate.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: Victoria Kulheyko was born in Nosivka, Ukraine, which at the time was part of the USSR. Before moving to the U.S., she earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kyiv National Economic University.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: Spartz immigrated to the United States in 2000 at the age of 22 and became a U.S. citizen in 2006. She earned a Master of Accountancy from the Kelley School of Business of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: Spartz held a certified public accountant license from 2010 to 2021 and a real estate broker license from 2003 to 2020, both from the State of Indiana.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: Spartz was a founding member of the Hamilton County, Indiana, Tea Party. Before her appointment to the Indiana Senate, she served as CFO in the Indiana Attorney General's office. She was also an adjunct faculty member at the Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis, and has owned real estate and farming businesses.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: In 2017, Spartz was appointed to the Indiana Senate from the 20th district after Luke Kenley resigned.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: After incumbent Republican Susan Brooks announced in June 2019 that she would not seek reelection, Spartz announced her candidacy for Indiana's 5th congressional district. She won the Republican primary on June 2, 2020. The district had historically been a bastion of suburban conservatism, but had been heavily targeted by Democrats in the wake of Brooks's retirement and Donald Trump's growing unpopularity in suburban areas. The Cook Political Report rated the race a toss-up.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: Spartz won the November general election, defeating former state representative Christina Hale, the Democratic nominee, by four percent. This was the closest race in the district since it was reconfigured as a northern suburban district in 1983 (it had been numbered the 6th until 2003), and only the second time in that period that a Democrat had received at least 40% of the vote. Spartz prevailed by winning her home county of Hamilton, the most populous county entirely within the district, by 20,100 votes, more than her district-wide margin of just under 17,000 votes. She ran just behind Trump, who won the district with 50.1% of the vote.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: Spartz is the first Ukrainian-born female member of Congress and the first member born in a former Soviet republic. At least two past members of Congress were born in the then-Russian Empire, Herman Kopplemann and Herman Toll.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: In late 2020, Spartz was identified as a participant in the Freedom Force, a group of incoming Republican members of the House of Representatives who "say they're fighting against socialism in America".


title: Victoria Spartz

text: Spartz's tenure has been marked by high staff turnover. Congressional watchdog Legistorm measured her turnover in 2021 at three and half times the average of offices of House members, the highest turnover for a non-retiring member. In May 2022, "Politico" reported on a toxic environment within her office, with Spartz's temper quickly jumping from tepid to boiling, and reported that "aides who have left after a couple of months did so because the work environment became untenable." Examples of the office environment included Spartz ordering staff to record her direction to staff and later denying the previously expressed instructions, despite the recordings. One former aide said, "the common theme: Staffers do their job, and then Victoria comes in saying that they have no idea what they’re doing, that they are 'morons,' calling them 'idiots.'" Spartz responded that her working style is "not for everyone" and that her critics "need to 'toughen up'".


title: Victoria Spartz

text: In September 2022, "Politico" reported that Spartz is planning to run for the United States Senate in 2024; incumbent Senator Mike Braun is planning to run for governor of Indiana that year, leaving the seat open.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: Spartz called the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine "a genocide of the Ukrainian people by a crazy man." Spartz was one of the first US officials to call Russian actions "war crimes." At the time of the invasion, Spartz had family still living in Ukraine, including her grandmother, who was living in Chernihiv, which was under siege by Russia.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: During the ongoing invasion, Spartz traveled to Ukraine twice in April 2022. The first time was an unannounced visit to Bucha with U.S. Senator Steve Daines. Spartz and Daines were the first two U.S officials to visit Ukraine since the war started. The second trip was to Lviv, Kyiv, and Odesa with Representative Tim Walberg. During the trip, Spartz met with Metropolitan Epifaniy. Spartz has been critical of the speed and effectiveness of international humanitarian aid efforts.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: In July 2022, Spartz criticized Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accusing him of "playing politics and theater" and not governing seriously. In an interview with Ukrainian press, she accused the country's leaders of not preparing for war and not understanding the war's importance. She alleged that weapons sent to Ukraine may have ended up in Syria or Russia. She asserts that there is insufficient monitoring of U.S.-provided weaponry, and that Congress needs to take control in this area.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: Also in July, Spartz enumerated six allegations of misbehavior against Andrii Yermak, a top official in Ukraine's government. Spartz asked the White House to investigate the allegations and report to a Congressional oversight committee. Among the allegations are that Yermak leaked war information to Russia, in several specific ways delayed or damaged Ukraine's military war efforts, and through his deputy Oleg Tatarov delayed the appointment of an anti-corruption prosecutor. Yermak had earlier been accused in a scandal involving selling government jobs, and Tatarov's qualification to serve in a government capacity was in question.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine responded that Spartz's allegations were "baseless speculation." Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, who has been working with Yermak on sanctions policy, said that Yermak has been strongly anti-Russia and has proposed creative and novel sanctions. Some Republican representatives and senators disagreed with Spartz's accusations. Senator Lindsey Graham said "I don’t share her criticisms" and “I believe that the Zelenskyy government and the Ukrainian people have risen to the moment. It is in our national security interest to stand with the Ukrainian people and their elected leadership." Some Republicans also believe the accusations could hurt the war effort and damage U.S. relations with Ukraine, while boosting GOP elements who opposed aid to Ukraine.


title: Victoria Spartz

text: While Spartz was in college, she met her future husband, Jason Spartz, on a train in Europe. They married in 2000. They have two daughters and live in Noblesville, Indiana. Jason is a Noblesville native whose father met his mother, a German citizen, while he was stationed in Germany after World War II. Spartz is Eastern Orthodox.


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: Unhappily Ever After is an American sitcom television series that aired for 100 episodes on The WB from January 11, 1995, to May 23, 1999, for a total of five seasons. The series was produced by Touchstone Television.


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: The series follows the Malloy family of Los Angeles, California: father Jack (Geoff Pierson); mother Jennie (Stephanie Hodge); dim-witted eldest son Ryan (Kevin Connolly); daughter Tiffany (Nikki Cox); and "forgotten" son Ross (Justin Berfield). In the first two seasons, storylines featured Jennie's pill-popping mother Maureen Slattery (Joyce Van Patten).


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: The series was initially written as a starring vehicle for Hodge, whose character Jennie was the focus of the first few episodes. However, the series soon turned its focus to Jack, a schizophrenic who had been kicked out of the house in the pilot episode and was living in an apartment with his only "friend": his son's talking toy rabbit, Mr. Floppy (Bobcat Goldthwait). By the show's third season, Tiffany had become a breakout character, and Cox became the de facto co-star of the show along with Pierson. Stories began focusing more on Tiffany and Ryan's escapades at high school, and later community college.


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: In the fourth season, producers tried to kill off Jennie's increasingly unnecessary character and return her as a ghost; negative audience reaction made them quickly reverse this action. The character was brought back to life in a deliberately bizarre sequence in which a network executive wandered onto the set and announced that she was no longer dead. Nevertheless, Hodge decided to leave the show, and several episodes after Jennie's bizarre reappearance, she abandoned her family for a lesbian lover and was never seen again.


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: The final season focused more on Tiffany, with her rival Barbara Caufield (Wendy Benson) joining the cast. The series wrapped up with a final episode in which Jack finally made enough money to send Tiffany to Harvard University. Once Jack started making money, he no longer needed Floppy, with his schizophrenia seemingly "cured", and Floppy returned to being just a stuffed animal. However, Jack's return to drinking brought Floppy "back from the dead."


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: The series was created by Ron Leavitt and Arthur Silver, who also worked on "Married... with Children". "Unhappily" was often compared to "Married... with Children" as both series had similar themes.


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: "Unhappily Ever After" was one of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour lineup that helped launch The WB network (along with "The Wayans Bros.", "The Parent 'Hood" and the short-lived "Muscle").


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: When the show first began its run, the original opening started with the "wedding photo" (even though they are moving in it) of the Malloys, with their smiles fading, and showed clips of the father leaving and walking through the slum to his new place. While walking, a man runs by him holding a TV, chased by another man who stops, takes a shooting stance, and fires a gun at the thief. The next clip shows the father as he walks past the first man lying face down, TV near his hands, as he enters his apartment. The theme song played over the opening was Bobcat Goldthwait (and possibly others) singing "We married young, because of cupid. And had three kids, but we were stupid. She kicked me out, she's not my honey. But she still wants me, when she needs money. Now I'm alone, come rain or sunny. But who needs love? I've got my bunny." In the final scene of the final episode, this is the song Jack sings with Mr. Floppy, but with slightly modified lyrics. "I married young, because of cupid. And had three kids, but you were stupid. I could've been rich, instead I'm a loser. But at least we're happy, 'cause you're a boozer. Now I'm alone, come rain or sunny. But who needs love? I've got my bunny."


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: Beginning with the second season, the series' theme song was "Hit the Road Jack" by Ray Charles; the song is a reference to Jennie kicking Jack out of the house. The opening is a sequence of bizarre events from the first season and the male vocals are lip-synced by Floppy while the female vocals are lip-synced by Jennie, Tiffany and Maureen for Seasons 1 & 2, Jennie and Tiffany for Seasons 3 & 4, and Tiffany, Jack, Ryan and Ross for Season 5. In reruns and syndication, the Season 1 opening was replaced with the "Hit The Road Jack" opening with clips from the show.


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: The show was sold into syndication for the 1999–2000 and the 2000–01 seasons, but was not re-offered the following fall due to lackluster clearance rates and low ratings. It has been off the air in America ever since. As of January 2022, the show is not available on any streaming service in the United States. It has also never received a release on physical media.


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: As of October 2007, it airs on the TV3 network in Estonia as "Armastuseta sinu" ("Yours Without Love").


title: Unhappily Ever After

text: In Germany, the show first aired on RTL Television in November 1997, was since rerun on RTL II and currently (as of June 2007) airs on Comedy Central on a daily basis. It is titled "" ("For worse and ever"), a pun on the phrase "Auf immer und ewig" ("Forever and ever").


title: Café racer

text: A café racer is a genre of sport motorcycles that originated among British motorcycle enthusiasts of the early 1960s in London. Café racers were standard production bikes that were modified by their owners and optimized for speed and handling for quick rides over short distances. Café racers have since become popular around the world, and some manufacturers produce factory-made models that are available in the showrooms.


title: Café racer

text: Noted for its visual minimalism, a 1960s café racer would typically be an English parallel twin motorcycle with low-mounted clip-on or "Ace" handlebars with rear-set footrests. Items considered "non-essential" such as side panels, rear chain enclosures,and voluminous mudguards (fenders) were replaced by lighter items, or dispensed with altogether.


title: Café racer

text: Café racers were particularly associated with the urban Rocker or "Ton-Up Boys" youth subculture, where the bikes were used for short, quick rides between popular cafés, such as London's Ace Café on the North Circular ring road, and Watford's Busy Bee café. In post-war Britain, car ownership was still uncommon, but as rationing and austerity diminished, by the late 1950s young men could for the first time afford a motorcycle. Previously, motorcyles (often with voluminous sidecars) provided family transport, but the growing economy enabled such families to afford a car and dispense with a motorcycle at last. Young men were eager to buy such cast-off motorcycles and modify them into café racers, which for them represented speed, status, and rebellion, rather than mere inability to afford a car.


title: Café racer

text: The café racer idea caught on in the US, which was already a major market for British motorcycles. In 2014, journalist Ben Stewart recognised the café racer as a European style that would be appreciated in America. Writing in 1973, Wallace Wyss claimed that the term "café racer" was originally used in Europe to describe a "motorcyclist who played at being an Isle of Man road racer".


title: Café racer

text: "Rockers" were a young and rebellious rock and roll subculture who wanted to escape the crushing convention of dreary 1950s UK culture. Owning a fast, personalised, and distinctive café racer gave them status and allowed them to ride between transport cafés in and around British towns and cities. Biker lore has it that one goal was to reach "the ton", (), along a route where the rider would leave from a café, race to a predetermined point, and return to the café before a single song could play on the jukebox, called record-racing. However, author Mike Seate contends that record-racing is a myth, the story having originated in an episode of the BBC "Dixon of Dock Green" television show. Café racers are remembered as being especially fond of rockabilly music and their image is now embedded in today's rockabilly culture.


title: Café racer

text: The café racer subculture has created a separate look and identity with modern café racers taking style elements from American greasers, British rockers, 70s bikers, and modern motorcycle riders to create a global style of their own.


title: Café racer

text: Café racer riders would often lighten their bikes, and tune their engine, typically fitting "clip-ons" (or dropped handlebars) and rear-set footrests, which enabled the rider to "tuck in", reducing wind resistance and improving control. Occasionally, café racers might be fitted with half- or even full-race-style fairings. Some bikes had swept-back pipes, reverse cone megaphone mufflers, TT100 Dunlop tires, and larger carburetors (often with inlet trumpet rather than air filters). Occasionally the standard dual seat would be replaced by a solo saddle.


title: Café racer

text: As owners became more experimental, they would fit engines in different frames. A typical example was the "Triton", a homemade combination of a Triumph Bonneville engine in a Norton Featherbed frame. A less common hybrid was the "Tribsa", which had a Triumph engine in a BSA duplex frame. Other hybrids included the "NorVin" (a Vincent V-Twin engine in a Featherbed frame), and bikes with racing frames by Rickman or Seeley.


title: Café racer

text: Café-racer styling evolved throughout the time of their popularity. By the mid-1970s, Japanese bikes had overtaken British bikes in the marketplace, and the look of real Grand Prix racing bikes had changed. The hand-made, frequently unpainted aluminium racing fuel tanks of the 1960s had evolved into square, narrow, fibreglass tanks. Increasingly, three-cylinder Kawasaki two-strokes, four-cylinder four-stroke Kawasaki Z1, and four-cylinder Honda engines were the basis for café racer conversions. By 1977, a number of manufacturers had taken notice of the café racer boom and were producing factory café racers, such as the well-received Moto Guzzi Le Mans and the Harley-Davidson XLCR. The Japanese domestic market started making cafe racer replicas in the early 1980s, first Honda with the GB250 in 1983, then GB400 and GB500 versions in 1985. The GB400TTMKII has a frame mounted fairing and single seat with cowl. The Honda GB500 TT, sought to emulate BSA and Norton café racers of the 1960s. Markets outside got the XBR500 in 1985, with more angular modern styling to compete with the Yamaha SRX600, until Honda USA released a version of the GB500 in 1989.


title: Café racer

text: In the mid-1970s, riders continued to modify standard production motorcycles into so-called "café racers" by simply equipping them with clubman bars and a small fairing around the headlight. A number of European manufacturers, including Benelli, BMW, Bultaco, and Derbi produced factory "café" variants of their standard motorcycles in this manner, without any modifications made to make them faster or more powerful, a trend that continues today.


title: Café racer

text: Although many riders of four-strokes associate cafe racers with four-stroke motors and British marques, and with an era prior to the onslaught of mostly-Japanese two-strokes, owners of two-stroke standard motorcycles have also been as enthusiastic at modifying their motorcycles into cafe racers, although the riders are less likely to ape 1950s clothing and hair fashions. During the course of the 1980s, manufacturers mostly phased out two-stroke standard motorcycles, replacing them with race replicas. Many obsolete standard designs continued to be manufactured or distributed from remaining stocks, especially in less wealthy countries. 1970s Yamaha and Honda designs, by example, were distributed or manufactured in India and elsewhere through partnerships with Indian manufacturers such as Escorts (partnered with Yamaha) and Hero Cycles (Hero Honda). Owners of these machines in countries where they are still available, such as India, Malaysia, and the Philippines have continued to modify these two-stroke standard motorcycles into cafe racers. Manufacturers of newer two-stroke designs also produce cafe racer inspired models, including the British 250cc Langen cafe racer announced in 2020.


title: Café racer

text: Major manufacturers, such as BMW, Norton, Ducati and Yamaha, have responded to consumer interest in ready-to-ride café racers and have exploited this niche market. Triumph produced a turn-key retro motorcycle with their Thruxton R. Another modern cafe racer is the Ducati SportClassic, made from 2006 till 2009.


title: Café racer

text: The café racer influence is apparent in the design of some electric motorcycles, for example, the TC model of Super Soco is commonly referred to as a café racer.


title: Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

text: "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" is a song by French house duo Modjo, written and performed by vocalist Yann Destagnol and producer Romain Tranchart. It was released on 19 June 2000 as the lead single from the duo's self-titled debut studio album (2001). It became a major worldwide success, topping at least 10 music charts, including the national charts of Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It also topped the US "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Songs chart in January 2001.


title: Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

text: "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" is written in the key of D-flat major and proceeds at a moderately fast tempo of 128 beats per minute, in common time. It features a guitar sample of "Soup for One" performed by Chic, as written by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. In 2011, Chic added the song to their concert setlist, which is performed as a mash-up song with "Soup for One".


title: Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

text: The single includes the original version of the track, plus an acoustic version, both performed by Modjo. Remixes have been provided by Harry Romero, Roy Davis, Jr. and Danny Tenaglia.


title: Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

text: The song debuted at number one in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2000, where it stayed for two weeks to become the sixteenth-best-selling single of 2000. It also reached number one in seven other European countries and became a top-ten hit in several others, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In the United States, the song peaked at number 81 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. As of 2017, the single has sold two million copies worldwide.


title: Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

text: A reviewer from "Daily Record" wrote that it is a "brilliant" house track. Australian music channel Max placed the song at number 790 in their list of the "1000 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2012. "Mixmag" included "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" in their list of "The 30 Best Vocal House Anthems Ever" in 2018. "Insider" put the song on their list of the "102 Songs Everyone Should Listen to in Their Lifetime" in 2019.


title: Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

text: The accompanying music video for the song was directed by François Nemeta and was filmed in June 2000 in various locations in Quebec, Canada.


title: Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

text: The video starts off with a teenager with a shaved head who walks into a restaurant where his friends, a teenage couple, are waiting for him. The three pool all their money together, take it to a used car dealership, buy a car and drive it to a country fair. The three watch a band playing in a bar and then grab their instruments during a break. Their efforts aren't appreciated, and the teenager with the shaved head is hit with a bottle thrown from the crowd, after which they are chased out. They then sneak into a motel, where they proceed shower and sleep. It is clear that the boy with the shaved head is in love with his friend's girlfriend. The next morning, they are chased out by the hotel manager, and drive until their car breaks down. The girl leads the boys into the woods, and they come across a cliff with a view of a city, which they gaze at in awe as the sun sets.


title: Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

text: "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" was covered by American singer Austin Mahone featuring rapper Pitbull under the shortened title "Lady". It was released on 10 February 2017 along with its lyrics video.


title: Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

text: The song peaked at number one on the "Billboard" Dance Club Songs. This earned Mahone's first number one single in the US. On New Year's Eve, Mahone performed "Lady" on Pitbull's New Year's Revolution.


title: North London

text: North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.


title: North London

text: The term "north London" is used to differentiate the area from south London, east London and west London. Some parts of north London are also part of Central London. There is a Northern postal area, but this includes some areas not normally described as part of north London, while excluding many others that are.


title: North London

text: The first northern suburb developed in the Soke of Cripplegate in the early twelfth century, but London's growth beyond its Roman northern gates was slower than in other directions, partly because of the marshy ground north of the wall and also because the roads through those gates were less well connected than elsewhere. The parishes that would become north London were almost entirely rural until the Victorian period. Many of these parishes were grouped into an area called the Finsbury division.


title: North London

text: In the early 19th century, the arrival of the Regent's Canal in Islington and St Pancras stimulated London's northerly expansion, continuing when the development of the railway network accelerated urbanisation, promoting economic growth in the capital and allowing for the establishment of commuter suburbs.


title: North London

text: This trend continued in the twentieth century and was reinforced by motorcar-based commuting until the establishment of the Metropolitan Green Belt, shortly after the Second World War, prevented London from expanding any further.


title: North London

text: The 2011 iteration of the London Plan included an altered 'North' sub-region, to be used for planning, engagement, resource allocation and progress reporting purposes. It consists of the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Enfield.


title: North London

text: In 2017, the government asked the Boundary Commission for England to reconsider the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies. The Commission's approach was to start with existing regions of England (in this case London) and then group the local authorities within that area into sub-regions for further sub-division.


title: North London

text: The "North Thames" sub-region includes all parts of London lying north of the river; the 19 boroughs which lie wholly north of the river, plus parts of cross-river Richmond upon Thames.


title: North London

text: An earlier 2013 study, whose recommendations were not adopted, took a different approach by assigning all of Richmond to the south.


title: North London

text: In English football, the teams Arsenal and Spurs are considered the two North London teams and the games against each other are known as North London Derbies.


title: North London

text: It has been described as "one of the fiercest derbies in English football and one that separates families in north London."


title: North London

text: The League matches in the English Premier League and formerly the Football League are known formally as "the" North London Derby. To date, 167 have been contested with 66 wins for Arsenal, 54 wins for Spurs and 47 draws. In other matches, simply referred to generically as North London Derbies, the 6 FA cup contests resulted in 4 Arsenal victories to Spurs' 2 with no draws, while the 14 League Cup matches have ended with 7 wins for the Arsenal against 4 for Spurs with 3 draws. In the sole Charity Shield between the two clubs, then exclusively between the previous season's league champions and the FA Cup winners, the contest in 1991 was drawn with the Shield shared. Spurs had won the FA cup final in 1991 after beating Arsenal 3-1 in the semi-final, the first FA cup semi-final and the first of five North London Derbies to be held at Wembley Stadium. The 1991 Charity Shield is the sole occasion so far in which a trophy has been at stake, though in 1971 (0-1) and 2004 (2-2) Arsenal were crowned league champions at the final whistle of the North London Derby in Tottenham.


title: North London

text: North London has, like other parts of London and the UK in general, a temperate maritime climate according to the Köppen climate classification system. Long term climate observations dating back to 1910 are available for Hampstead, which is also the most elevated Weather Station in the London area, at 137m. This both hilltop and urban position means severe frosts are rare.


title: North London

text: Temperatures increase towards the Thames, firstly because of the urban warming effect of the surrounding area, but secondly due to altitude decreasing towards the river, meaning some of the hillier northern margins of North London are often a degree or so cooler than those areas adjacent to the Thames. Occasionally snow can be seen to lie towards the Chilterns while central London is snow-free.


title: North London

text: Typically the warmest day of the year at Hampstead will average with around 14 days in total achieving a value of or higher.


title: North London

text: The average coldest night should fall to . On average 35.8 nights will report an air frost, some 119 days of the year will register at least 1mm of precipitation, and on 7.4 days a cover of snow will be observed. All annual averages refer to the observation period 1971–2000.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Traditional Sunni and Shia Islamic marital jurisprudence allows Muslim men to be married to multiple women (a practice known as polygyny).


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: The verse most commonly referred to with the topic of polygamy is Verse 3 of Surah 4 An-Nisa (Women). A translation by Yusuf Ali is shown below:


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: It is believed these Verses were revealed after the Battle of Uhud, in which many Muslim men were killed, leaving widows and orphans. Thus, many argue that these Verses have been revealed "because of Allah's concern for the welfare of women and orphans who were left without husbands and fathers who died fighting for the Prophet and for Islam. It is a verse about compassion towards women and their children; it is not about men or their sexuality."


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: In the second part of Verse 4:3, the Qu’ran states "but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice." If a man cannot deal justly with more than one wife, then he must marry only one. It is clear that this quote was revealed out of compassion towards women, and not as a means to please male sexuality, which is a common modern interpretation of such verses.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Putting the verses regarding polygyny into the broader Qur'anic context by examining the nature of marriage in Islam helps understanding them. The Quran [4:21- "And how could ye take it when ye have gone in unto each other, and they have Taken from you a solemn covenant?"] refers to marriage as a mithaq, i.e. a solemn covenant or agreement between husband and wife, and enjoins that it be put down in writing (4:21). Marriage is more than just a "solemn covenant" however, with Surah 30 verse 21 stating "And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect." Love and mercy are very much a part of marriage as described in the Qur'an. Although the Qur'an may prescribe different roles for males (husbands often seen as the provider), the equality between husband and wife is promoted when it is dictated in Surah 2 verse 187 that "They (your wives) are as a garment to you, and you are as a garment to them."


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Whilst traditional Islamic scholarship upholds the notion that Islamic law permits polygyny and furthermore enforces the divine command to "marry only one" where the man fears being unable to fulfil the rights of two in a fair manner, a substantial segment of the Islamic scholarship elaborates further on the ruling regarding men who are able to ensure complete equality amongst the multiple wives.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Their opinion was derived from performing ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) which determined their belief that it is to be deemed preferable (even for the male individual who is capable of delivering justice to the multiple families) to refrain from joining more than one wife in the marital bond.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: This opinion has been codified into the official positions of the Hanbali and Shaafi’i schools of jurisprudence which assert that it is held recommended for a Muslim male to have only one wife, even if he may act equitably with more than one woman.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Ash-Shirbeeni from the Shaafi’i School of jurisprudence, said: "It is a Sunnah not to marry more than one wife if there is no apparent need." [Mughni al-Muhtaj 4/207].


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Al-Maawardi, from the Shaafi’i School of jurisprudence, said: "Allaah has permitted a man to marry up to four wives, saying: {…two or three or four…}, but Allah advised that it is desirable for man to marry only one wife, saying: {…But if you fear that you will not be just, then [marry only] one}" [al-Hawi al-Kabir 11/417].


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Ibn Qudaamah from the Hanbali School of jurisprudence, said in Ash-Sharh Al-Kabeer: "It is more appropriate to marry only one wife. The author of Al-Muharrar [i.e. Abul Barakaat Al-Majd ibn Taymiyyah] said this, based on the saying of Allaah (which means) {…But if you fear that you will not be just, then [marry only] one}." [Ash-Sharh Al-Kabeer authored by Shams-ud-deen Ibn Qudaamah].


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Imam Ahmed ibn Naqib al Masri, from the Shaafi’i School of jurisprudence, said ‘’It is fitter to confine oneself to just one’’ [Umdatu Salik].


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Imam Ghazali, from the Shaafi’i School of jurisprudence, stated: "It does not call for two wives, [since] plurality may render life miserable and disrupt the affairs of the home." [Kitab al Nikah, Ihya Uloom ud Din].


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Imam Shaafi’i offered an additional exegesis for the final clause of the pivotal verse discussing the divine legislation of polygyny and the divine limitations imposed upon this ancient institution.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: He espoused that the closing clause of verse 4:3, usually interpreted as ‘that is more suitable that you may not incline to injustice’ should be understood as ‘that is more suitable that you may not be financially strained by numerous children’.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Imam Shaafi’i reasoned that divine decree had already listed fear of committing injustice as a reason to not wed more than once, hence it was pointless for the same reason (for not wedding more than once) to be expounded twice in the same verse.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: His alternative interpretation pursued the perception which held that the presence of a plurality of women in a man's conjugal life would produce undesirably large numbers of offspring, which could be a potential cause of financial hardship and poverty in the future.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Given the emphasis that Islamic law stipulates on the welfare of children and nurturing children with permitted means of income, Imam Shaafi’i opined that it was legislated for a man to marry just once as an increase in the population of a family due to multiple marriages could potentially harbour harmful monetary consequences for the man who marries more than once.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Ash-Shaafi’i is of the view that it is desirable to confine oneself to marrying only one although it is permissible for him to marry more than one. This is to avoid being unfair by being more inclined to some of them than others, or being unable to financially support them. [al-Hawi al-Kabir 11/417].


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Prior to the emergence of Islam, the Arabian Peninsula was characterized by a wide range of marriage practices—both polygynous and polyandrous alike, as well as monogamous. As Leila Ahmed states in her work, "Women and Gender in Islam", "evidence suggests that among the types of marriage practiced was matrilineal, uxorilocal marriage, found in Arabia, including Mecca, about the time of the birth of Muhammad (circa 570)--the woman remaining with her tribe, where the man could visit or reside with her, and the children belonging to the mother's tribe--as well as polyandrous and polygamous marriages." Thus, it is widely accepted that polygyny was not the only type of matrimony practiced during the jahiliyya (pre-Islamic era), but one part of a highly variegated and diverse pool of matrimony types.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Noteworthy was the fact that it was customary for men to marry women without limit, a practice that ended with the advent of the Qur'an and its divine revelation. It was common in jahiliyya Arabia for there to be no restriction on the number of wives a man could have. Often, tribal leadership tended toward polygynous marriages with the express purpose of establishing relationships with other powerful families, effectively injecting the practice of marriage with a political purpose. Further, it is important to note that marriages in this era, including polygynous ones, were not sacramental in nature, but purely contractual. It was not until Islam, one could say, standardized marriage and therefore what it constituted, that matrimony assumed a different set of characteristics beyond those of the purely contractual.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: To amplify the context within which polygyny occupies an Islamic relevance, one should look to the current debates surrounding polygyny in Islam, and more broadly, polygamy, and the implications that emerged from their contextual transition from the jahiliyya to the Islamic era. Two highly dichotomous views on the social significance of the institutionalization of polygyny by Islam are provided by Leila Ahmed and Asghar Ali Engineer, and their views differ on the question of women. How did the establishment of polygyny in Islam as the only alternative to monogamy change the social condition of women? One verse that is often cited in these arguments is that which was quoted earlier — verse 3 of Surah 4.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Some, like Ali, argue that the overall condition of women who lived in the jahiliyya improved with the advent of Islam. These scholars cite a general establishment of order and protection provided by the Qur'anic verses, espousing the view that "the position of women was ameliorated to a greater degree by the mission of Muhammad." Nefarious practices of infanticide-particularly that of female newborns-capricious divorces, and unlimited license of polygyny all were social phenomena eradicated by the revelation of Qur'anic verses relating to the question of polygyny. Moulavi Chiragh Ali summarizes this view, stating, "The Qur’an gradually improved and elevated the degraded condition of women [in the jahiliyya] by curtailing, in the first place, the unlimited number of wives to four...and, in the second place, declaring it impossible to deal equitably with more than one wife even if men ‘would fain to do so,’ and thus virtually abolishing polygamy." Conversely, those of Ahmed's perspective would argue that with the arrival of Qur’anic law came the loss of sexual autonomy for women. In this view, jahiliyya marriage practices, including that of pre-Islamic polygyny, correlated with women's being "active participants, even leaders, in a wide range of community activities...their autonomy and participation were curtailed with the establishment of Islam, its institution of patrilineal, patriarchal marriage as solely legitimiate, and the social transformation that ensued." An extended discussion of the intersection of feminism and polygyny can be found in later sections of this article; "see" Muslim Feminism and Polygyny.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Most modern Muslims view the practice of polygyny as allowed, but unusual and not recommended. The practice of polygyny is often viewed in its historical context, as the marriage was the only way for a woman to be provided for during the time of Muhammad. Many countries today either outlaw the practice of polygyny or place restrictions on it.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: In Indonesia, a majority-Muslim secular nation, polygyny is rare. In 2018, it was practiced by approximately 1% of the population.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Polygamy has always been rare among South Asian Muslims. In medieval India and Punjab, most ordinary Muslim men only had one wife. Polygamy was rare outside the wealthy class, unless in case of infertility of the first wife. It was rare for a lower or middle class woman to have a rival.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Most men in the Ottoman Empire were monogamous while only a small minority were polygamous. Salomon Schweigger who travelled in the Ottoman Empire wrote in the late 16th century that polygamy was absent. In the 1700s wealthy families in Istanbul looked down on elite men who married more than once. High level officials were required to leave their wives and concubines if they were to marry an Ottoman princess. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu visited the Ottoman Empire in 1717 and noticed that while Muslims were allowed four wives no "man of quality" used this right. Of all the top Ottoman men at court, the author only found one who had female slaves.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Turkey was the first Muslim-majority country to legally ban polygyny in 1926. This decision was not based on religious reasons, but rather was an entirely secular ban. Tunisia was the next country to ban polygyny through legislation passed in 1956 and restated in 1964. Unlike Turkey, Tunisia banned polygyny on religious grounds, citing two main reasons. First, the Quran limited the practice of polygyny, thus it did not support the practice and clearly intended for the practice to be eliminated over time. Second, the Quran demands equal treatment of all wives in a polygynous marriage, which was deemed impossible, thus making the practice illegal. Finally, Israel banned polygyny as well by 1978.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Some countries, including India, Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh, Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan, and Kuwait, allow women to include a clause prohibiting polygyny in marriage contracts. Other countries, such as Iran and Pakistan, require that a man get permission to take a second wife from his first wife, and then show the court proof of his first wife's consent. Finally, countries such as Malaysia state that a man must get permission from both his wife and from the governmental religious authority in order to take a second.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Although many countries have laws restricting or banning polygyny, it is still practiced illegally. It is difficult to enforce anti-polygyny laws and restrictions in countries with large rural populations. Furthermore, illegal polygyny often occurs in countries with poor social services as women rely on husbands to support them in these situations.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: One way that polygyny is still legally practiced in Iran today is through the practice of "mut'a", a temporary contractual relationship based on the mutual consent of a man and a woman. Throughout the contracted time, the woman must remain exclusively faithful to the man, and in return he must provide for her financially. Although this practice is technically legal, it is very highly disputed.


title: Polygyny in Islam

text: Muslim feminism is a fairly new movement, even though women's rights issues have been at the forefront of social reform for a while.