title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: However, Zia failed to deliver timely elections and distanced himself from the JI. When Zia banned student unions, Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba and pro-JI labour unions protested. However, JI did not participate in the Pakistan Peoples Party's Movement for the Restoration of Democracy. JI also supported Zia's Jihad against the Soviet–Afghan War and its sister party Jamiat-e Islami led by Burhanuddin Rabbani became part of the Peshawar Seven that received aid from Saudi Arabia, United States and other jihad supporters. Such conundrums caused tension in JI based on conflict between ideology and politics.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: In 1987, Mian Tufail declined further service as head of JI for health reasons and Qazi Hussain Ahmad was elected.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: In 1987, when Zia died, the Pakistan Muslim League formed the right-wing alliance, Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI). In 1990 when Nawaz Sharif came to power, JI boycotted the cabinet on the basis that the Pakistan Peoples' Party and the Pakistan Muslim League were problematic to equal degrees.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: In the election of 1993, JI won three seats. In this year, JI was a member of the newly formed All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) which promotes the independence of Jammu and Kashmir from India. Prior to this, JI had allegedly set up the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, a Kashmir liberation militia to oppose the Kashmir Liberation Front which fights for the complete independence of the Kashmir region.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: On 20 July 1996, Qazi Hussain Ahmed announced to start protests against government alleging corruption. Qazi Hussain resigned from the Senate on 27 September and announced the start of a long march against Benazir Bhutto's government. The protest started on 27 October 1996 by Jamaat-e-Islami and opposition parties. On 4 November 1996, Bhutto's government was dismissed by President Leghari primarily because of corruption. JI then boycotted the 1997 election, and therefore, lost representation in Parliament. However, the party remained politically active, for example, protesting the arrival of the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in Lahore.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: In 1999, Pervez Musharraf took power in a military coup. JI, at first, welcomed the general but then objected when Musharraf began to make secular reforms and then again in 2001, when Pakistan joined the war on terror, alleging Musharraf had betrayed the Taliban. JI condemned the events of 11 September 2001, but equally condemned the US when Afghanistan was invaded. Some members of Al-Qaeda, for example, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were arrested in Pakistan.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: In the 2002 election, JI made an alliance of religious parties called Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) () and won 53 seats, including most of those representing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. JI continued its opposition to the War on terrorism, particularly the presence of American troops and agencies in Pakistan. JI also called for restoration of judiciary.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: In 2006, JI opposed the Women's Protection Bill saying it did not need to be scrapped but instead, be applied in a fairer way and more and be more clearly understood by judges. Ahmed said,


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: At least during the time of Ahmad, the position of JI on revolutionary action was that it was not ready to turn to extra-legal action but that its objectives are definite ("qat'i") but its methods are "open to interpretation and adaptation ("ijtihadi")" based on the "exigencies of the moment".


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: On 23 July 2007, Qazi Hussain Ahmad tendered his resignation from the National Assembly to protest against the Army operation at Lal Masjid.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: In 2008, JI and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf again boycotted the elections. Ahmad declined to stand for re-election due to health issues, and Syed Munawar Hassan was elected as the ameer.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: On 30 March 2014, Siraj-ul-Haq, serving as senior minister in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the party's deputy chief, was elected as the new ameer. He defeated the incumbent Munawer Hasan and the party's general secretary, Liaqat Baloch. 25,533 office bearers of the party out of a total of 31,311 voted in these elections. It was the first time that the party had voted out an ameer after just one term. He, therefore, resigned from his role as senior minister. This coincided with a drone attack on a madrassa in Bajaur Agency.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: JI provides unions for doctors, teachers, lawyers, farmers, workers and women, for example, Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT), Jamiat Talaba Arabia and Islami Jamaat-e-Talibaat (its female branch) a Students' union and JI Youth Pakistan, a youth group.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: The party has a number of publications from affiliated agencies such as Idara Marif-e-Islami, Lahore, the Islamic Research Academy, Karachi, Idara Taleemi Tehqeeq, Lahore, the Mehran Academy, and the Institute of Regional Studies. Its print media publications number 22, including the daily "Jasarat", weekly "Friday Special", weekly "Asia", monthly "Tarjumanul Quran" and fortnightly "Jihad-e-Kashmir", with "Jasarat" in particular having a circulation of 50,000.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: The Islami Nizamat-e-Taleem, led by Abdul Ghafoor Ahmed, is an educational body that includes 63 Baithak schools. "Rabita-ul-Madaris Al-Islamia" supports 164 JI madrasas. JI also operates the Hira Schools (Pakistan) Project and Al Ghazali Trust. The foundation administers schools, women's vocational centres, adult literacy programs, hospitals and mobile chemists and other welfare programs. In this respect, JI interacts with the general market.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: In total, there are around 1000 registered madrasas affiliated with the JeI in Pakistan, the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa having most of them, with some 245 or nearly a quarter of the total.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: An independent wing of Jamaat-e-Islami in Azad Kashmir was started in 1974. According to journalist Arif Jamal, it was done to slow the spread of secular ideas in Azad Kashmir. It had its own "amir", Maulana Abdul Bari, who had previously participated in the First Kashmir War (1947) as well as the Operation Gibraltar (1965).


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: The main activity of the Azad Kashmir wing is noted as the sponsorship of jihad in Indian-administered Kashmir. Bari said that he was called for a meeting with President Zia ul-Haq in 1980, and asked to make preparations. He travelled to the Kashmir Valley and eventually persuaded the leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir. However, despite having several groups of Islamist youth trained in militancy, the Kashmiri Jamaat was hesitant to take the plunge. Pakistan's ISI then used the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) to initiate operations in July 1988.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: A year later, Jamaat-e-Islami Azad Kashmir sent operatives to Indian-administered Kashmir to bring all the Islamist groups under an umbrella group called Hizbul Mujahideen as a counter to the JKLF. Jointly with Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, it also persuaded the Kashmiri Jamaat to take charge of Hizbul Mujahideen by June 1990, and a Jamaat leader called Syed Salahuddin was appointed as its chief.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: Jamaat-e-Islami Azad Kashmir also has a student wing called Islami Jamiat-i-Tulaba (IJT). It gained popularity after the founding of Hizbul Mujahideen. Many of its members are said to join the ranks of Hizbul Mujahideen in due course.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: Jama'ati was said to had close links to many banned outfits of Pakistan. The most notable connection was with the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi. This militant organisation grew as an offshoot of Jammat e Islami and was founded by Sufi Muhammad in 1992 after he left Jamaat-e-Islami.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: When the founder was imprisoned on 15 January 2002, Maulana Fazlullah, his son-in-law, assumed leadership of the group. In the aftermath of the 2007 siege of Lal Masjid, Fazlullah's forces and Baitullah Mehsud's Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) formed an alliance. Fazlullah and his army reportedly received orders from Mehsud.


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: After the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone attack, Fazlullah was appointed as the new "Amir" (Chief) of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan on 7 November 2013. In a May 2010 interview, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus described the TTP's relationship with other militant groups as difficult to decipher: "There is clearly a symbiotic relationship between all of these different organizations: al-Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban, the Afghan Taliban, TNSM [Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi]. And it's very difficult to parse and to try to distinguish between them. They support each other, they coordinate with each other, sometimes they compete with each other, [and] sometimes they even fight each other. But at the end of the day, there is quite a relationship between them."


title: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

text: According to another source, TNSM and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) seem to have been locked in a turf war in the Malakand District of Pakistan, and the Jamaat-Ulema-e-Islam, JI, and TNSM are in conflict with each other in the tribal areas for power and influence.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: "gamma-"Butyrolactone, γ-Butyrolactone (GBL) is a hygroscopic colorless, water-miscible liquid with a weak characteristic odor. It is the simplest 4-carbon lactone. It is mainly used as an intermediate in the production of other chemicals, e.g. methyl-2-pyrrolidone. In humans GBL acts as a prodrug for "gamma"-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), and it is used as a recreational CNS depressant with effects similar to those of barbiturates.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: GBL has been found in extracts from samples of unadulterated wines. This finding indicates that GBL is a naturally occurring component in some wines and may be present in similar products. The concentration detected was approximately 5 μg/mL and was easily observed using a simple extraction technique followed by GC/MS analysis. GBL can be found in cheese flavorings but typically results in a content of 0.0002% GBL in the final foodstuff.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: γ-Butyrolactone is produced industrially by dehydrogenation of 1,4-butanediol at a temperature of 180–300 °C and atmospheric pressure in the presence of a copper catalyst.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: The yield of this process is approximately 95%. The purification takes place with a liquid-gas-phase extraction.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: In the laboratory, it may also be obtained via the oxidation of tetrahydrofuran (THF), for example with aqueous sodium bromate. An alternative route proceeds from GABA via a diazonium intermediate.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: As a lactone, GBL is hydrolyzed under basic conditions, for example in a sodium hydroxide solution into sodium "gamma"-hydroxybutyrate, the sodium salt of "gamma"-hydroxybutyric acid. In acidic water, a mixture of the lactone and acid forms exists in an equilibrium. These compounds then may go on to form the polymer poly(4-hydroxybutyrate) as well as the dimer 1,6-Dioxecane-2,7-dione. When treated with a non-nucleophilic base, such as lithium diisopropylamide, GBL undergoes deprotonation alpha to the carbonyl. The related compound caprolactone can be used to make a polyester in this manner.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: The ring-opening polymerization of butyrolactone gives polybutyrolactone. The resulting reverts to the monomer by thermal cracking. It is claimed that poly(GBL) is competitive with commercial biomaterial poly(4-hydroxybutyrate), or P4HB. It is further claimed that poly(GBL) is cheaper to make than P4HB, although both are bio-derived.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Butyrolactone is principally a precursor to other chemicals. Reaction with methylamine gives NMP, and with ammonia gives pyrrolidone. It is also used as a solvent in lotions and some polymers.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Butyrolactone, with its wide liquid range, chemical stability, and high dielectric constant, is used in electrolytic capacitors as the organic solvent. It is frequently mixed with a small ratio of ethylene glycol, "9:1" being common, to vary internal resistivity.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: It has been used as a solvent in various laboratory experiments, e.g., the preparation of methylammonium lead halide.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: GBL is not active in its own right; its mechanism of action stems from its identity as a prodrug of GHB.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: GBL is rapidly converted into GHB by paraoxonase (lactonase) enzymes, found in the blood. Animals which lack these enzymes exhibit no effect from GBL. GBL is more lipophilic (fat soluble) than GHB, and so is absorbed faster and has higher bioavailability. Because of these pharmacokinetic differences, GBL tends to be more potent and faster-acting than GHB, but has a shorter duration; whereas the related compound 1,4-butanediol (1,4-B) tends to be slightly less potent and slower to take effect but longer-acting than GHB.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Due to its property of being a prodrug of GHB which increases sleep related growth hormone (GH) secretion, GBL was sold as a nutritional supplement after the scheduling of GHB, under the names "Revivarant" and "Renewtrient", until they were banned by the FDA.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: GBL is a prodrug of GHB and its recreational use comes entirely as a result of this. GBL overdose can cause irrational behaviour, severe sickness, coma and death.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: To bypass GHB restriction laws, home synthesis kits were introduced to transform GBL and/or 1,4-B into GHB.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: GBL has a distinctive taste and odour, described as being comparable to stale water, synthetic melon aroma or burnt plastic. This differs significantly from GHB, which is described as having a decidedly "salty" taste.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Due to the fact that those with limited chemistry knowledge can make GBL with easy-to-get precursors, it has become quite popular among young people in French nightclubs.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: If taken undiluted by mouth, GBL can cause esophageal and gastro-intestinal irritation. It is possible for oral ingestion of GBL to cause nausea and other similar problems, possibly more so than with GHB.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: GHB has biphasic effects, an euphoric effect at low doses (the reason for the term "liquid ecstasy"), and a sedative effect at higher doses. As a result of this sedation it can cause unconsciousness. When combined with alcohol the increased sedation and risk of vomiting results in a high risk of fatality. Many harm reduction organisations suggest never mixing the two drugs as a result.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: There have been news reports of several deaths associated with GBL, usually in combination with alcohol or other depressants.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Frequent use of GHB or GBL, even when taken long-term and in moderate doses, does not appear to cause significant physical dependency in the majority of its users. In many people, quitting or temporarily abstaining from use of the drugs is achieved with minimal or no difficulty. However, when consumed in excessive amounts with a high frequency of dosing, physical and psychological dependence can develop. Management of GBL dependence involves considering the person's age, comorbidity and the pharmacological pathways of GBL.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: GHB and GBL users can adopt a '24/7' dosing regime. This is where the user has become tolerant to the effects of the drug, increasing the dosage and frequency of dosage simply to avoid withdrawal symptoms.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: For those users who do report withdrawal symptoms upon quitting the use of GHB or GBL, symptoms seem to depend on the dosage and the length of time the drug was used. Light to moderate users often experience insomnia and sleep-related problems, whereas heavy, prolonged use can cause severe withdrawal symptoms similar to Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome (BWS).


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: A milliliter of pure GBL metabolizes to the equivalent 1.65 g of NaGHB, the common form, so doses are measured in the single milliliter range, either taken all at once or sipped over the course of a night.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Australia: GBL is not classified as a drug but as a health-endangering substance. Although legislation to enter into force on 1 April 2011 will make it possible to handle narcotics for industrial purposes will enable GBL and 1,4-Butanediol to be classified as controlled substances.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Canada: GBL is a Controlled Substance under Schedule VI of the "Controlled Drugs and Substances Act" in Canada. Schedule VI of the "Controlled Drugs and Substances Act" requires vendors to collect information regarding purchases of GBL. The Act also prohibits the import and export of GBL into or out of Canada classifying it as either an indictable offense punishable with up to 10 years in prison or an offense punishable on summary conviction liable to imprisonment for up to eighteen months. It is not illegal for an individual to possess GBL in Canada.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Germany: GBL is not listed in the narcotics law, but its distribution is controlled. Possession is not illegal, but may be punished according to the Medicines Act, when intended to be sold for human consumption or synthesis of GHB. In recent years, an increase of GBL consumption has been observed due to the prohibition of GHB.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Hong Kong SAR: GBL is a dangerous drug controlled under Schedule 1 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap.134 (with exemption clause at Paragraph 16D). Any person who is found to have in his possession of it not in accordance with this Ordinance can be liable, on conviction upon indictment, a fine of HK$1,000,000 and to imprisonment for 7 years.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Netherlands: GBL is unlike GHB not listed in the narcotics law, but its distribution is controlled. Possession is not illegal but may be punished according to the Medicines Act, when intended to be sold for human consumption or synthesis of GHB.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Poland: GBL is classified as a drug. A license is mandatory for the manufacture, processing, reworking, importing, distribution of GBL.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Russia: GBL has been classified as a psychotropic substance since 22 February 2012. Its trafficking is limited, and non-licensed selling, buying or any other use is punishable by imprisonment up to 20 years.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: Sweden: GBL is not classified as a drug but as a health-endangering substance. Although recently passed legislation to enter into force on 1 April 2011 will make it possible to handle narcotics for industrial purposes will enable GBL and 1,4-Butanediol to be classified as controlled substances.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: United Kingdom: Because of their legitimate uses, regulation 4B of the 2001 regulations makes it lawful to import, export, produce, supply, offer to supply or possess GBL and 1,4-BD, except where a person does so knowing or believing that they will be used for the purpose of human ingestion.


title: Gamma-Butyrolactone

text: United States: GBL is regulated as a List I controlled chemical. As a GHB analog, it is also treated as a controlled substance under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act if intended for human consumption. Sales and distribution of this product for industrial use is tightly regulated and requires quantity tracing, lock and key storage and 24 hour surveillance and is limited to a very few suppliers who have appropriate DEA registrations and as of 2021 included only Ashland, BASF, and Miami Chemical. Lyondell reportedly stopped commercial sales of this product due to increasingly tight regulations and liabilities but still makes it for internal and downstream production use. To purchase this chemical requires special DEA license and end use certificate approved and a site audit by DEA.


title: Li Wenliang

text: Li Wenliang (; 12 October 1986 – 7 February 2020) was a Chinese ophthalmologist who warned his colleagues about early COVID-19 infections in Wuhan. On 30 December 2019, Wuhan CDC issued emergency warnings to local hospitals about a number of mysterious "pneumonia" cases discovered in the city in the previous week. On the same day, Li, who worked at the Central Hospital of Wuhan, received an internal diagnostic report of a suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patient from other doctors which he in turn shared with his Wuhan University alumni through a WeChat group. He was dubbed a whistleblower when that shared report later circulated publicly despite his requesting confidentiality from those with whom he shared the information. Rumors of a deadly SARS outbreak subsequently spread on Chinese social media platforms; Wuhan police summoned and admonished him and seven other doctors on 3 January for "making false comments on the Internet about unconfirmed SARS outbreak."


title: Li Wenliang

text: The outbreak was later confirmed not to be SARS, but rather a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Li returned to work and later contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, from a patient who was not known to be infected. He died from the disease on 7 February 2020, at age 33. A subsequent Chinese official inquiry exonerated him; Wuhan police formally apologized to his family and revoked his admonishment on 19 March. In April 2020, Li was posthumously awarded the May Fourth Medal by the government. By early June 2020, five more doctors from the Wuhan hospital had died from COVID-19.


title: Li Wenliang

text: Li Wenliang was born on 12 October 1986 in a Manchu family in Beizhen, Jinzhou, Liaoning. His parents were former state enterprise workers and both lost their jobs in the 'wave of laid-offs' in the 1990s. He attended Beizhen High School () and graduated in 2004 with an excellent academic record. He attended Wuhan University School of Medicine as a clinical medicine student in a seven-year combined bachelor's and master's degree program. He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in his second year. His mentor praised him as a diligent and honest student. His college classmates said he was a basketball fan.


title: Li Wenliang

text: After graduation in 2011, Li worked at the Xiamen Eye Center of Xiamen University for three years. In 2014, Li became an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital in Wuhan.


title: Li Wenliang

text: In late December, doctors in Wuhan were puzzled by many "pneumonia" cases of unknown cause. On 30 December 2019, the Wuhan CDC sent out an internal memo to all Wuhan hospitals to be alerted and started an investigation into the exact cause of the pneumonia. The alert and subsequent news reports were immediately published on ProMED (a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases). On the same day, Li saw a patient's report which showed a positive result with a high confidence level for SARS coronavirus tests. The report had originated from Ai Fen, director of the emergency department at Wuhan Central hospital, who became alarmed after receiving laboratory results of a patient whom she had examined who exhibited symptoms akin to influenza resistant to conventional treatment methods. The report contained the phrase "SARS coronavirus." Ai had circled the word "SARS" and sent it to a doctor at another hospital in Wuhan. From there it spread throughout medical circles in the city, where it reached Li. At 17:43, he wrote in a private WeChat group of his medical school classmates: "7 confirmed cases of SARS were reported [to hospital] from Huanan Seafood Market." He also posted the patient's examination report and CT scan image. At 18:42, he added "the latest news is, it has been confirmed that they are coronavirus infections, but the exact virus strain is being subtyped." Li asked the WeChat group members to inform their families and friends to take protective measures whilst requesting discretion from those he shared the information with; he was upset when the discussion gained a wider audience than he had hoped.


title: Li Wenliang

text: After screenshots of his WeChat messages were shared on Chinese Internet and gained more attention, the supervision department of his hospital summoned him for a talk, blaming him for leaking the information. On 3 January 2020, police from the Wuhan Public Security Bureau investigating the case interrogated Li, issued a formal written warning and censuring him for "publishing untrue statements about seven confirmed SARS cases at the Huanan Seafood Market." He was made to sign a letter of admonition promising not to do it again. The police warned him that any recalcitrant behavior would result in a prosecution.


title: Li Wenliang

text: Li returned to work at the hospital and contracted the virus on 8 January. On 31 January, he published his experience in the police station with the letter of admonition on social media. His post went viral and users questioned why the doctors who gave earlier warnings were silenced by the authorities.


title: Li Wenliang

text: The existence of Li's personal blog where he documented his discoveries was reported by the Italian newspaper La Stampa on 1 February. Li later responded that he did not know whether he was one of the so-called "rumor mongers," but that he had been admonished for claiming a SARS outbreak, which at that time was unconfirmed. The police punishment of Li for "rumor mongering" was aired on China Central Television, signaling central government endorsement for the reprimand, according to two reporters for the "South China Morning Post".


title: Li Wenliang

text: On 4 February, the Chinese Supreme People's Court said that the eight Wuhan citizens should not have been punished as what they said was not entirely false. It wrote on social media: "It might have been a fortunate thing if the public had believed the 'rumors' then and started to wear masks and carry out sanitization measures, and avoid the wild animal market."


title: Li Wenliang

text: Li told "Caixin" that he had been worried the hospital would punish him for "spreading rumors," but felt relieved after the top court publicly criticized the police, and said, "I think there should be more than one voice in a healthy society, and I don't approve of using public power for excessive interference."


title: Li Wenliang

text: On December 31, 2019, Yijun Luo, then deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan, was browsing the Internet when he discovered that an Internet user had posted a warning message from Dr. Wenliang Li about a new SARS-like virus, which alerted him. After researching the message, Luo Yijun considered it highly credible and initiated a series of epidemic prevention procedures, and at a press conference on April 16, 2020, Luo Yijun expressed his gratitude to Dr. Li Wenliang.


title: Li Wenliang

text: On 8 January, Li contracted COVID-19 unwittingly while treating an infected patient at his hospital. The patient suffered from acute angle-closure glaucoma and developed a fever the next day that Li then suspected was coronavirus-related. Li developed a fever and cough two days later which soon became severe. Doctor Yu Chengbo, a Zhejiang medical expert sent to Wuhan, told media that the glaucoma patient whom Li saw on 8 January was a storekeeper at Huanan Seafood Market with a high viral load, which could have exacerbated Li's infection.


title: Li Wenliang

text: On 12 January, Li was admitted to intensive care at Houhu Hospital District, Wuhan Central Hospital, where he was quarantined and treated. He tested positive for the virus on 30 January and formally diagnosed with the virus infection on 1 February. While hospitalized, Li posted a message online vowing to return to the front lines after his recovery.


title: Li Wenliang

text: On 6 February, while Li was on the phone with a friend, he told the friend that his oxygen saturation had dropped to 85%. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was reportedly used to keep him alive. According to "China Newsweek", his heartbeat stopped at 21:30. In social media posts, the Chinese state media reported that Li had died, but the posts were soon deleted. Later, Wuhan Central Hospital released a statement contradicting reports of his death: "In the process of fighting the coronavirus, the eye doctor from our hospital Li Wenliang was unfortunately infected. He is now in critical condition and we are doing our best to rescue him." The hospital formally announced that Li had died at 2:58 a.m. on 7 February 2020. During the confusion, more than 17 million people were watching the live stream for updates on his status.


title: Li Wenliang

text: By early June 2020, five other doctors had died from COVID-19 in the Wuhan hospital, now called "whistleblower hospital". Hu Weifeng, a urologist and a coworker of Li, was the sixth doctor of the hospital to die from the virus on 2 June 2020, after four months of hospitalization. The hashtag #WeWantFreedomOfSpeech () gained over 2 million views and over 5,500 posts within 5 hours before it was removed by censors, as were other related hashtags and posts. Wuhan citizens placed flowers and blew whistles at Wuhan Central Hospital, where Li worked and died, as a tribute to him. On the Internet, people spontaneously launched the activity themed "I blew a whistle for Wuhan tonight," where everyone kept all the lights off in their homes for five minutes, and later blew whistles and waved glitter outside of their windows for five minutes to mourn Li. Many people left messages in response to Li's last post on Sina Weibo, some lamenting his death and expressing anger at the authorities. He was also proclaimed an "ordinary hero." The World Health Organization posted on Twitter saying that it was "deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Li Wenliang" and "we all need to celebrate work that he did on #2019nCoV."


title: Li Wenliang

text: Although there was no official apology from the city of Wuhan for reprimanding Li, the Wuhan municipal government and the Health Commission of Hubei made statements of tribute to Li and condolences to his family. Beyond Wuhan, the National Health Commission did likewise. China's highest anti-corruption body, the National Supervisory Commission, has initiated a "comprehensive investigation" into the issues involving Li. Qin Qianhong, a law professor at Wuhan University expressed his concern that, unless properly managed, public anger over Li's death could explode in a similar way as the death of Hu Yaobang.


title: Li Wenliang

text: A group of Chinese academics, led by Tang Yiming – head of the school of Chinese classics at Central China Normal University in Wuhan – published an open letter urging the government to both protect free speech and apologize for Li's death. The letter emphasized the right to free speech, ostensibly guaranteed by the Chinese constitution. Tang said that the viral outbreak was a man-made disaster, and that China ought to learn from Li Wenliang. Tang also wrote he felt that senior intellectuals and academics must speak up for the Chinese people and for their own consciences. "We all should reflect on ourselves," he wrote, "and the officials should rue their mistakes even more." The letter alleges that Li Wenliang "is also a victim of speech suppression." Jie Qiao, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Peking University Third Hospital in Beijing called Li a "whistle-blower dedicating his young life in the front line."


title: Li Wenliang

text: On 7 February 2020, Taiwanese author Yan Zeya () expressed doubt on the "Liberty Times" about whether Li should be called a whistleblower, citing his lack of general objection to the government and lack of willingness to expose its dark side.


title: Li Wenliang

text: On 9 February 2020, hundreds of people in New York commemorated Li in a tribute at Central Park. The U.S. Senate honored Li by passing a resolution calling for transparency and cooperation from the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Communist Party of China.


title: Li Wenliang

text: In April, Li was officially honored by the Chinese government as a "martyr," which is the highest honor the government can bestow on a citizen who dies serving China. According to the state-run Xinhua News Agency, he was honored together with 13 other "martyrs," mostly physicians, who died from COVID-19. Chinese Internet users have left more than 870,000 comments under Li's last post on social website Sina Weibo since his death.


title: Li Wenliang

text: On 3 March, "International Journal of Infectious Diseases" published an article, wrote "Dr Li Wenliang's example as an astute clinician should inspire all of us to be vigilant, bold and courageous in reporting unusual clinical presentations." Italian author Francesca Cavallo wrote a children's book titled "Dr. Li and the crown-wearing virus", featuring Li's story, to help educate children on COVID-19. "Fortune" magazine ranked Li as No.1 of the "World's 25 Greatest Leaders: Heroes of the pandemic." On 4 May, Matt Pottinger, deputy national security adviser of US, hailed Li during a speech in Mandarin.


title: Li Wenliang

text: When Li began showing symptoms of COVID-19, he booked a hotel room to avoid the possibility of infecting his family, before being hospitalized on 12 January. Despite this precaution, his parents became infected with SARS-CoV-2, but later recovered.


title: Li Wenliang

text: Li and his wife, Fu Xuejie (), had one son, and were expecting their second child at the time of his death. In June 2020, his widow gave birth to a second son.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: The Malaysian Armed Forces (: MAF; ; Jawi: ), are the armed forces of Malaysia, consists of three branches; the Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The number of MAF active personnel is 113,000 along with the reserve forces at 51,600. The Supreme Commander of the Malaysian Armed Forces is the "Yang di-Pertuan Agong;" the King of Malaysia.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: Malaysia's armed forces were created from the unification of military forces which arose during the first half of the 20th century when Malaya and Singapore were the subjects of British colonial rule, before Malaya achieved independence in 1957. The primary objective of the armed forces in Malaysia is to defend the country's sovereignty and protect it from any and all types of threats.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: It is responsible for assisting civilian authorities to overcome all international threats, preserve public order, assist in natural disasters and participate in national development programs. It is also sustaining and upgrading its capabilities in the international sphere to uphold the national foreign policy of being involved under the guidance of the United Nations (UN).


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: The main theaters of operations were within Malaysian borders, primarily to fight an insurgency led by the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) in what was known as the Emergency. The only foreign incursion of Malaysian territory in modern times were in World War II by Japan (Malaya was then not a unified political entity and consisted of the British Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements, and the British protected Federated Malay States and Unfederated Malay States) and during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation by Indonesia under the leadership of President Sukarno. Operations on foreign soil have mainly been peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the United Nations.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: Other limited participation under UNPKO are United Nations International Police Force (UNIPTF) since December 1995; United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) since June 1999; United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) since October 1999; United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) since September 1999 and United Nations Organisation Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) since February 2000. 18 Malaysian Armed Forces personnel have been killed during UN peacekeeping operations.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: Malaysian defence requirements are assigned to the Malaysian Armed Forces (Angkatan Tentera Malaysia – ATM). The armed forces has three branches, the Malaysian Army (Tentera Darat Malaysia – TDM), Royal Malaysian Navy (Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia – TLDM) and the Royal Malaysian Air Force (Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia – TUDM). Malaysia does not have conscription, and the required minimum age for voluntary military service is 18.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: In the early 1990s, Malaysia undertook a major program to expand and modernise its armed forces. However, budgetary constraints imposed by the 1997 Asian financial crisis held back many of its procurements. The recent economic recovery may lead to a relaxation of budgetary constraints and a resumption of major weapons purchases. In October 2000, the Defence Minister also announced a review of national defence and security policy to bring it up to date. The review addressed new security threats that have emerged in the form of low intensity conflicts, such as the kidnapping of Malaysians and foreigners from resort islands located off the east coast of the state of Sabah and the rising risk of territory disputes with several neighbouring countries. Currently, 1.4% of Malaysia's GDP is spent on the military, and employing 1.23% of Malaysia's manpower. Dr Kogila Balakrishnan is the head of the Defence Industry.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: Since the recovery from the 1997 economic crisis, the army's modernisation programme has gained momentum. The acquisition of Main Battle Tanks (MBT), Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV) and modern artillery make the Malaysian army one of the most potent powers in the region.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: Following the completion of the New Generation Patrol Vessel (NGPV) program, Malaysia has moved on to its next program called the Second Generation Patrol Vessel (SGPV). Malaysia is also looking to purchase more submarines as well as a batch of Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) and Multi Role Support Ship (MRSS). In addition to this, an upgrade programme and Service Life Extension Programme (SLEP) for the aging navy's ships will keep the fleet modern with the latest technologies needed.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: The RMAF has traditionally looked to the West for its purchases, primarily to the United States and Europe. However, limitations imposed by the United States on "new technology" to the region made the RMAF consider purchases from Russia and other non-traditional sources. Currently, the RMAF operates a unique mix of American, European and Russian-made aircraft.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: Defence Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said in a statement on 10 October 2013, that Malaysia is planning on establishing a marine corps for amphibious operations. The marine corps will be drawn from all three services. The bulk of it being from one of the three parachute battalions of the 10th Parachute Brigade which will consequently be re-designated as a marine battalion. The 9th Royal Malay Regiment (Airborne) and 8th Royal Ranger Regiment (Airborne) have both conducted amphibious warfare training as a secondary mission such as the CARAT exercise with the US Marine Corps (USMC) and other amphibious exercises also conducted with foreign armed forces.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: After independence, Malaysia moved forward by establishing and developing its own defence industry. Malaysia has improved its defence industry through its defence companies by locally manufacturing and producing weapons, such as ammunition, rifles, armoured cars, warships and light aircraft including unmanned aerial vehicles for the armed forces. DefTech, Mildef International Technologies and Weststar Defence Industries are among the local companies that emphasize on the maintenance and manufacturing of military land vehicles and the automotive sector. While the Sapura company focuses more on military electronics and systems integration such as; communication systems, tactical systems, command and control systems, training and simulation systems and surveillance systems. In January 2021, Mildef International Technologies has launched its new Mildef Tarantula HMAV intended for the local market and export. At the Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2022, Mildef International Technologies has launched its second armoured vehicle called the Mildef Rentaka 4x4. Another local company, Cendana Auto also introduced its new Cendana Auto Rover which is ready to deliver to the Malaysian Army.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: As a country with vast maritime area, Malaysia has long had a great shipbuilding industry since the Malacca Sultanate. During which, the country had been the main shipbuilders in the region. Nowadays, Malaysia houses many shipbuilding companies, giving it its reputation as a country with great maritime expertise and facilities. Through local companies such as Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation, Destini Berhad, TH Heavy Engineering and Gading Marine, Malaysia was able to locally build their own major surface combatants and combat boats with the latest state of the art technology. In addition to this, local companies such as Labuan Shipyard and Engineering, Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering and others were also able to execute minor and major maintenance and overhaul to the naval grade vessels locally, without needing to send them abroad. Some of these great achievements were put on display when Malaysia succeeded in completing major overhaul of its Scorpene-class submarines. The upgrade program was done locally by Boustead at the RMN submarine base in Labuan, Sabah. Malaysia also already exports their naval vessels foreign navies such as the Shin Yang-made Al-Quwaisat-class LST to the United Arab Emirates navy and Northern Shipyard-made Manta MkII-class fast interdiction combat boat to the Nigerian navy. This particular combat boat was marketed under the Singapore-based company, Suncraft Private Limited.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: In the aerospace sector, it is no doubt that Malaysia is one of the aerospace hubs in the region. AIROD is one of the only companies to have received a certificate from the United States (US) based defence company, Lockheed Martin as a C-130 MRO centre outside the US. In 2015, the United States Marine Corps awarded AIROD for MRO operations on its 13 units of C-130 aircraft that were based in Japan. Besides the C-130, AIROD also had an expertise in servicing other types of commercial and military aircraft and had served other customers across the region. Like AIROD, another local aerospace company named ATSC has also played an important role in the aerospace industry in Malaysia. This company focuses more on MRO services for Russian-built aircraft such as the Sukhoi Su-30, MiG-29 and Mil Mi-17. In 2017, ATSC was awarded a contract to do a major overhaul and upgrade on the RMAF Sukhoi Su-30 MKM fleet. Since the 1990s, Malaysia, through SME Aerospace and CTRM has been manufacturing aircraft components such as wing parts, nacelles, composites structures and helicopter parts for the Airbus company. These include parts for the A320, A330, A350, A380, A400 and Airbus helicopters. Other than that, SME Aerospace also manufactures pylons for the BAE Systems Hawk AJT for worldwide customers. Although Malaysia does not build major aircraft locally or through any partnerships, Malaysia already has experience in building light aircraft such as the SME Aero Tiga and CTRM Eagle Aircraft Eagle 150. In addition to this, CTRM also builds their indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle called the CTRM Aludra.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: In 1969, Malaysia set up a firearms manufacturing company, SME Ordnance. Starting out by manufacturing ammunition locally, now SME Ordnance are also able to manufacture high-tech firearms. In 1991, SME Ordnance acquired a licence to manufacture Austria-made Steyr AUG rifles locally. By 2001, SME Ordnance moving forward by acquiring a licence to manufacture US-made M4 Carbine rifles locally. Both locally manufactured Steyr and M4 rifles are currently used by the Malaysian Armed Forces and other government agencies. Besides that, SME Ordnance also provides a wide range of NATO standard ammunitions starting from 5.56 mm to 155 mm calibre, mines, explosions and rockets. Another local firearms company; Aegis Malinnov also developed indigenous pistols called the Malinnov M1P intended to be used by Malaysian government agencies.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: Malaysia also has its own defence technology research statutory board. The Science Technology Research Institute for Defence (STRIDE) is the statutory board under the Ministry of Defence (Malaysia) and is responsible for performing research and development related to defence technologies for the Malaysian Ministry of Defence and Malaysian Armed Forces.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: The Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA) between Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom is a regional security initiative which has been in place for more than 45 years. It involves joint military exercises held between the five countries.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: Malaysia also actively takes part in international exercises such as CARAT, RIMPAC and COPE. Joint exercises and war games also have been held with Brunei,Indonesia,France and the United States. Besides that, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam have agreed to host joint security force exercises to secure their maritime borders and tackle issues such as illegal immigration, piracy and smuggling.


title: Malaysian Armed Forces

text: Previously, there were fears that extremist militants activities in the Muslim areas of the southern Philippines and southern Thailand could spill over into Malaysia. In response, Malaysia began to strengthen its border security.


title: Topfreedom

text: Topfreedom is a cultural and political movement seeking changes in laws to allow women to be topless in public places where men are permitted to be barechested, as a form of gender equality. Specifically, the movement seeks the repeal or overturning of laws which restrict a woman's right not to have her chest covered at all times in public.


title: Topfreedom

text: Many societies consider women who expose their nipples and areolae as immodest and contrary to social norms. In many jurisdictions a topless woman may be socially or officially harassed or cited for public lewdness, indecent exposure, public indecency or disorderly conduct. Topfreedom advocates seek to change community attitudes to breasts as sex objects or indecent.


title: Topfreedom

text: Several countries in Europe have decriminalised non-sexual toplessness. Topless swimming and sunbathing on beaches has become acceptable in many parts of Europe, though the practice remains controversial in many places, and not common in most places. Many public swimming pools in Europe are owned by municipalities, which are treated as private organisations and allowed to set their dress codes.


title: Topfreedom

text: In many countries around the world, breastfeeding in public is not unusual. During 2006–2010 and earlier, a number of news reports in the United States cited incidents where women were refused service or harassed for breastfeeding in public. In response, a majority of U.S. states have passed laws explicitly permitting nursing in public. The United States federal government enacted a law in 1999 which specifically provides that "a woman may breastfeed her child at any location in a Federal building or on Federal property, if the woman and her child are otherwise authorized to be present at the location." However, these laws generally do not apply to rules imposed by private organizations or on private property, such as restaurants, airlines, or shopping malls.


title: Topfreedom

text: In support of Icelandic student 's FreeTheNipple act in public cyberspace, young women uploaded their topless photos to Facebook and protested against its Community Standards of considering women's breasts as sexual materials. Those photos and related news articles were blocked initially, but Facebook considered those photos did not violate Community Standards.


title: Topfreedom

text: Bathing and sunbathing in the nude (including topless) is legal on Danish beaches. Nudity and toplessness in other public outdoor places is generally also legal, unless it involves "offensive conduct" or is likely to cause public outrage. The public outrage law is rarely used in practice, but in 1972 audience members were convicted of being nude in the Royal Danish Theatre. In December 2007, a group of women and men calling themselves Topless Front swam topless in public swim baths to promote topless equality. In March 2008, after a campaign by the group, Copenhagen's Culture and Leisure Committee voted to allow topless bathing in its swimming pools. After the Committee had voted, it was revealed that no laws had existed against topless bathing, effectively making the vote unnecessary. However, some public baths had (and have) restricted it themselves. Public breastfeeding is supported by the vast majority of both sexes in Denmark, is entirely legal and accepted in almost all places, except for a few private cafés and restaurants that have restricted it.


title: Topfreedom

text: In Finland, toplessness is not illegal, yet topless women have been removed from beaches. and criticized this and organized Finland's first event demanding topless equality, called Tissiflashmob (Breast flash mob). On Finland's Independence day, 6 December 2019, both Marins and Vallarén showed their breasts on live TV and it sparked a lot of conversation. Tissiflashmob 2020 was bigger than the previous one, now organized at the same time in eight different cities.


title: Topfreedom

text: In France, the feminist collective Les TumulTueuses organized a topfree protest in Paris in May 2009. It is legal to sunbathe topless in France, although local regulations may ban the practice with directives about clothing. In 2020, after a police incident, topless sunbathing was defended by the French interior minister.


title: Topfreedom

text: Female toplessness has been officially legalized (in a nonsexual context) in all public beaches and swimming pools throughout the country (unless otherwise specified by region, province or municipality by-laws) on 20 March 2000, when the Supreme Court of Cassation (through sentence No. 3557) determined that the exposure of the nude female breast, after several decades, is now considered a "commonly accepted behavior", and therefore, has "entered into the social costume".


title: Topfreedom

text: In Poland in 2008–2009, two women from Szczecin including glamour model Dorota Krzysztofek, won a court battle that reasserted the women's right to sunbathe topless on public beaches. Krzysztofek, along with her female companion, were fined by local municipal officials for topless sunbathing at a public recreation area. The women refused to pay the fine and took the matter to Civil Court. Their first hearing had to be postponed due to remarkable media interest.


title: Topfreedom

text: On November 7, 2008, judge Szczepańska upheld the city staff decision, and charged the women with indecent exposure, explaining that their personal freedoms cannot encroach on the freedoms of families with children who frequent the same recreation spot. Although topless sunbathing is not prohibited in Poland, the judge sentenced them to pay a fine of 230 zlotys (150 zlotys by different source, or €40, $55) for breaking the rules of conduct. In her rationale, the judge also said that it is not up to the defendants to teach youngsters human anatomy; however, her decision was appealed by Krzysztofek's female friend soon afterwards, with the plea of not guilty.


title: Topfreedom

text: In 2009, the appellate court declared both women to be innocent, because the city staff were unable to prove that anyone at the beach was indignant or scandalized by their toplessness, and no complaint was ever reported. On the contrary, some visitors stood up to their defense. There were no signs at the recreation area against what is otherwise legal. The appellate court's decision was binding, but it also created an aura of ambivalence, with topless sunbathing in public declared acceptable only if nobody else including families with children formally objects to it.


title: Topfreedom

text: There are no laws in Spain that officially prohibit public nudity (in a non-sexual context), and because of this, both topless sunbathing and naturism (the latter on a smaller scale) are frequently practiced without any issues in all beaches throughout the country, while the amount of partakers may vary depending on the location and the day. It is very common in the Balearic Islands, Canaries, Costa Brava and Costa del Sol (even though a few municipalities, such as Barcelona, have created by-laws to forbid public nudity, including female toplessness, on their streets -not on the beach-). Due to the widespread practice of topless sunbathing, the municipalities of Galdakao and L'Ametlla del Vallès decided to legalize female toplessness on their public pools (in March 2016 and June 2018, respectively), and it is tolerated in many others, like in Madrid (without the need of a specific rule). It is less common on private or condominium pools, and a few have by-laws to ban it. Moreover, there are some surveys indicating that more than 40% of the Spanish women who were interviewed (aged 18 or older) reported to have been topless on a beach at least once.


title: Topfreedom

text: In Sweden, toplessness is not illegal. It is a little unclear, because the law usually used against nudity about "annoying behaviour" does not say anything about how undressed one can be, so it's a matter of legal tradition, although there is a law against gender discrimination. However, private or public establishments are permitted to establish dress codes which may require women to wear tops, and deny access or remove individuals who breach these standards. In September 2007, "Bara Bröst" (a pun meaning both "Just Breasts" and "Bare Breasts") appeared to promote topless equality in these semi-public facilities. The group staged several events in public swim baths in September and October 2007, starting in Uppsala from which they were evicted several times, before succeeding in Sundsvall.


title: Topfreedom

text: The group scored a victory in June 2009 when the Malmö city's sports and recreation committee approved new rules that, while requiring everybody to wear bathing suits at indoor public swimming pools, did not require women to cover their breasts. "We don't define what bathing suits men should wear so it doesn't make much sense to do it for women. And besides, it's not unusual for men to have large breasts that resemble women's breasts", said a council spokesman.


title: Topfreedom

text: In 1991 toplessness as an indecent act was challenged by Gwen Jacob in Guelph, Ontario, who removed her shirt and was charged with indecency. Part of her defense was the double standards between men and women. Although she was convicted, this was overturned by the Court of Appeal. This case determined that being topless is not indecent under the meaning of the Criminal Code. However it did not establish any constitutional right of equality. This case subsequently led to the acquittal of women in British Columbia and Saskatchewan who faced similar charges. Although each province and territory technically reserves its right to interpret the law as it pleases, the Ontario case has proven influential. Since the matter has not been determined by the Supreme Court of Canada, it is still possible that a woman could be convicted elsewhere in Canada, but interpretation of moral law in Canada has become increasingly liberalized. There do not appear to have been any further women charged in Canada since these cases were determined.


title: Topfreedom

text: The only public place in Mexico that officially allows female toplessness is Playa Zipolite (a nude beach located in the state of Oaxaca), where the practice of naturism was legalized in 2016. However, the practice of topless sunbathing (as well as naturism in some cases) is commonly tolerated on a few beaches in the state of Quintana Roo, more precisely in the Riviera Maya region (especially between the cities of Playa del Carmen and Tulum); furthermore, there are a few clothing-optional resorts made for adults only (also located in the Riviera Maya) where all men and women aged 18 (or older) can frequent the facilities without the need to wear clothes (if so they wish).


title: Topfreedom

text: In the United States, states have primary jurisdiction in matters of public morality. The topfreedom movement has claimed success in a few instances in persuading some state and federal courts to overturn some state laws on the basis of sex discrimination or equal protection, arguing that a woman should be free to expose her chest in any context in which a man can expose his. Other successful cases have been on the basis of freedom of expression in protest, or simply that exposure of breasts is not indecent (or similar terminology).


title: Topfreedom

text: Laws and ordinances barring female toplessness are being challenged in federal courts around the nation. Each lawsuit, if it prevails at the appellate level, will legalize topfreedom in the following U.S. circuits of appeal (from west to east): 9 (California), 8 (Missouri) and 1 (Maryland). A federal lawsuit in the 7th Circuit (Illinois), was lost at the appellate level and the petition for review by the U.S. Supreme Court was denied. A preliminary injunction in a federal lawsuit in the 10th Circuit (Colorado), was won at the appellate level. In September 2019, after spending over $300,000, Fort Collins decided to stop defending their ordinance and repeal it. That effectively gave females of all ages the right to go topless wherever males can in the jurisdiction of the 10th Circuit (Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas and Oklahoma states as well as all counties and cities therein).


title: Topfreedom

text: In Australia, indecent exposure laws only refer to the genital area, so technically both male and female toplessness is legal. However, many local councils impose their own rules, and have the power to ask topless people to leave an area. Additionally, women who go topless are sometimes slapped with more vague charges such as being a public nuisance, or offensive behaviour.


title: Topfreedom

text: On public beaches, local bylaws are not heavily enforced, and women can often sunbathe topless without legal repercussions.


title: Topfreedom

text: Breastfeeding in public places is a legal right in Australia. Under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, no business or service provider can discriminate against a breastfeeding woman. Women can still breastfeed even if no other food/drink is allowed in the area. If a special baby care room is available for breastfeeding, women are not required to use it unless they wish to. If someone abuses a breastfeeding woman or forces her to leave, this may come under state/territory harassment laws. These protections also include women who are expressing breast milk for their baby.


title: Topfreedom

text: In New Zealand, there is no specific law prohibiting nudity in public places. If a person is nude "and" also exhibiting lewd and lascivious, or obscene behaviour, then they may fall afoul of laws.


title: Topfreedom

text: The High Court of New Zealand has upheld a conviction of disorderly conduct for nudity in the street, because it was not a place where nudity was known to occur or commonplace. Being nude in the street is likely to incur a small fine if a complaint is made against the person, or if the person ignores a police order to cover themselves. However, in practice, the likelihood of being prosecuted for nudity on a public beach is low, providing the person keeps to themselves.


title: Topfreedom

text: In 2012, a woman swam topless on Ōpunake beach. The police were called, but informed the callers that toplessness was not an offence.


title: Topfreedom

text: In 2017, nudists used the beach at Tauranga, which caused consternation among some residents. However, the local council said there were no bylaws dealing with the issue, and that nudity was not an offence.


title: Topfreedom

text: Female toplessness is allowed in the official nude beaches of Puerto Escondido, located near Miramar, and Playa Querandí, located in Villa Gesell, as well as in some private naturist resorts.


title: Topfreedom

text: On 7 February 2017, hundreds of topless women protested in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mar del Plata and Rosario, among other cities throughout the country. The protest was called in Spanish "tetazo" (a portmanteau of the Spanish word "tetas", meaning "tits", and the Spanish suffix "-azo", which denotes a hitting action). The protestors objected against the "objectification" of the female body, and also disapproved the decision made by 20 police officers, who days before, had expelled from a beach located in Necochea 3 women who were topless sunbathing there.


title: Topfreedom

text: The Article 233 of the Chapter VI of the Title VI of the Penal Code asserts that indecent exposure (known in Portuguese as "ato obsceno", meaning "obscene act") is a wrongdoing act punished with imprisonment or fine, but does not specify what are the nude parts of the human body which could be fitted on this misdemeanor. Despite this vagueness, female toplessness tends to be considered an "obscene act" by the Brazilian authorities, and the practice has been frequently repressed, including some arrests made by the police throughout the years.


title: Topfreedom

text: Generally, the practice of topless sunbathing by women has been accepted only in official nude beaches and in some private naturist clubs. However, for many years, there has been one notable exception: the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. During the famous two-night parades yearly held by 12 samba schools (6 on each day) at the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí, the official policy is that only the genital area cannot be publicly shown (in this case all nude men and women must wear a merkin, which is known in Portuguese as "tapa-sexo", roughly translated as "sex cover"). Thus, both men and women can openly expose their bare breasts and buttocks to the public during the marches without any problem.


title: Topfreedom

text: Since the early 2010s, there are reports of some small and sporadic protests, especially in some beaches located in Rio de Janeiro. These protests are called in Portuguese "toplessaços" (a portmanteau of the English word "toplessness" and the Portuguese suffix "-aço", translated from the Spanish "-azo", which denotes a hitting action). In each protest, a group of women, soon after being reunited, decide to quickly take off all clothes they were wearing above the waist (including bras, bikinis or any other tops), culminating in a state of public "breast-flashing" for a few minutes before putting on their clothes again. This way, these are considered a kind of topless flash mob protests. The purpose of these protests is to claim for the official legalization of female toplessness in Brazil under the principle of gender equality.


title: Topfreedom

text: Exposing the breasts in public is not a crime, although it is an offense applicable according to the Article 373 of the Penal Code to those who "in any way offend modesty or good customs". Similarly, the Article 495 says: "Shall be punished with a fine of one monthly tax unit (first paragraph) whoever contravenes the rules that the authority dictates to preserve public order or prevent it from being altered, unless the act constitutes a crime or simple offense".


title: Topfreedom

text: Faced with so much inconvenience, a group of women together with the photographer and pioneer of naturism in Chile, René Rojas, managed to create the first nude beach in the country in 2000, called Playa Luna, as well as the unofficial restricted areas that were created in Playa Luna Norte (Tarapacá), Playa Luna Sur (Coliumo), Playa Escondida (Antofagasta), Playa Blanca (Tongoy) and Pichilemu, where it is possible to completely undress with total normality.


title: Topfreedom

text: The practice of female toplessness is allowed in the official nude beaches of Chihuahua, located in the resort of the same name, and La Sirena, located in the resort of Aguas Dulces.


title: Quercus alba

text: Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the preeminent hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, and southern Maine south as far as northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been documented to be over 450 years old.


title: Quercus alba

text: Although called a white oak, it is very unusual to find an individual specimen with white bark; the usual colour is a light grey. The name comes from the colour of the finished wood. In the forest it can reach a magnificent height and in the open it develops into a massive broad-topped tree with large branches striking out at wide angles.


title: Quercus alba

text: "Quercus alba" typically reaches heights of at maturity, and its canopy can become quite massive as its lower branches are apt to extend far out laterally, parallel to the ground. Trees growing in a forest will become much taller than ones in an open area which develop to be short and massive. The Mingo Oak was the tallest known white oak at over two hundred feet with a trunk height of before it was felled in 1938. It is not unusual for a white oak tree to be as wide as it is tall, but specimens growing at high altitudes may only become small shrubs.


title: Quercus alba

text: White oak may live 200 to 300 years, with some even older specimens known. The Wye Oak in Wye Mills, Maryland was estimated to be over 450 years old when it finally fell in a thunderstorm in 2002.


title: Quercus alba

text: Another noted white oak was the Great White Oak in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, estimated to have been over 600 years old when it died in 2016. The tree measured in circumference at the base and in circumference above the ground. The tree was tall, and its branches spread over from tip to tip. The oak, claimed to be the oldest in the United States, began showing signs of poor health in the mid-2010s. The tree was taken down in 2017.


title: Quercus alba

text: Sexual maturity begins at around 20 years, but the tree does not produce large crops of acorns until its 50th year and the amount varies from year to year. Acorns deteriorate quickly after ripening, the germination rate being only 10% for six-month-old seeds. As the acorns are prime food for insects and other animals, all may be consumed in years of small crops, leaving none that would become new trees. The acorns are usually sessile, and grow to in length, falling in early October.


title: Quercus alba

text: In spring, the young leaves are delicate, silvery pink, and covered with a soft blanket-like down. The petioles are short, and the clustered leaves close to the ends of the shoots are pale green and downy, resulting in the entire tree having a misty, frosty look. This condition continues for several days, passing through the opalescent changes of soft pink, silvery white, and finally, yellow green.


title: Quercus alba

text: The leaves grow to be long and wide and have a deep glossy green upper surface. They usually turn red or brown in autumn, but depending on climate, site, and individual tree genetics, some trees are nearly always red, or even purple in autumn. Some dead leaves may remain on the tree throughout winter until very early spring. The lobes can be shallow, extending less than halfway to the midrib, or deep and somewhat branching.


title: Quercus alba

text: "Quercus alba" is sometimes confused with the swamp white oak, a closely related species, and the bur oak. The white oak hybridizes freely with the bur oak, the post oak, and the chestnut oak.


title: Quercus alba

text: Grandinin/roburin E, castalagin/vescalagin, gallic acid, monogalloyl glucose (glucogallin) and valoneic acid dilactone, monogalloyl glucose, digalloyl glucose, trigalloyl glucose, ellagic acid rhamnose, quercitrin and ellagic acid are phenolic compounds found in "Q. alba".


title: Quercus alba

text: "Quercus alba" is fairly tolerant of a variety of habitats, and may be found on ridges, in valleys, and in between, in dry and moist habitats, and in moderately acid and alkaline soils. It is mainly a lowland tree, but reaches altitudes of 1,600 m (5,249 ft) in the Appalachian Mountains. It is often a component of the forest canopy in an oak-heath forest.


title: Quercus alba

text: Frequent fires in the Central Plains region of the United States prevented oak forests, including "Q. alba", from expanding into the Midwest. However, a decrease in the frequency of these natural fires after European settlement caused rapid expansion of oak forests into the Great Plains, negatively affecting the natural prairie vegetation.


title: Quercus alba

text: "Quercus alba" is cultivated as an ornamental tree somewhat infrequently due to its slow growth and ultimately huge size. It is not tolerant of urban pollution and road salt and due to its large taproot, is unsuited for a street tree or parking strips/islands.


title: Quercus alba

text: The acorns are much less bitter than the acorns of red oaks, but are small relative to most oaks. They can be eaten by humans but, if bitter, may need to have the tannins leached. They are also a valuable wildlife food, notably for turkeys, wood ducks, pheasants, grackles, jays, nuthatches, thrushes, woodpeckers, rabbits, squirrels, and deer. The white oak is the only known food plant of the "Bucculatrix luteella" and "Bucculatrix ochrisuffusa" caterpillars.


title: Quercus alba

text: The young shoots of many eastern oak species are readily eaten by deer. Dried oak leaves are also occasionally eaten by white-tailed deer in the fall or winter. Rabbits often browse twigs and can girdle stems.


title: Quercus alba

text: White oak has tyloses that give the wood a closed cellular structure, making it water- and rot-resistant. Because of this characteristic, white oak is used by coopers to make wine and whiskey barrels as the wood resists leaking. It has also been used in construction, shipbuilding, agricultural implements, and in the interior finishing of houses.


title: Quercus alba

text: White oak logs feature prominent medullary rays which produce a distinctive, decorative ray and fleck pattern when the wood is quarter sawn. Quarter sawn white oak was a signature wood used in mission style oak furniture by Gustav Stickley in the Craftsman style of the Arts and Crafts movement.


title: Quercus alba

text: White oak is used extensively in Japanese martial arts for some weapons, such as the bokken and jo. It is valued for its density, strength, resiliency and relatively low chance of splintering if broken by impact, relative to the substantially cheaper red oak.


title: Quercus alba

text: Deering Banjo Company have made several 5-string banjos using white oak - including members of the Vega series, the White Lotus, and the limited edition 40th anniversary model. White Oak has a mellower timbre than more traditionally used maple, and yet still has enough power and projection to not require a metal tone ring.


title: Quercus alba

text: Barrels made of American white oak are commonly used for oak aging of wine, in which the wood is noted for imparting strong flavors. Also, by federal regulation, bourbon whiskey must be aged in charred new oak (generally understood to mean specifically American white oak) barrels.


title: Quercus alba

text: White oak has served as the official state tree of Illinois after selection by a vote of school children. There are two "official" white oaks serving as state trees, one located on the grounds of the governor's mansion, and the other in a schoolyard in the town of Rochelle. The white oak is also the state tree of Connecticut and Maryland. The Wye Oak, probably the oldest living white oak until it fell because of a thunderstorm on June 6, 2002, was the honorary state tree of Maryland.


title: Quercus alba

text: Being the subject of a legend as old as the colony itself, the Charter Oak of Hartford, Connecticut is one of the most famous white oaks in America. An image of the tree now adorns the reverse side of the Connecticut state quarter.


title: Quercus alba

text: The white oak from the movie "The Shawshank Redemption", known as the "Shawshank tree" and the "Tree of Hope", was estimated to be more than 200 years old when it fell. The tree is seen during the last ten minutes of the movie. As the movie gained fame, the tree became popular as well, and used to attract tens of thousands of movie fans and tourists every year. A portion of the tree came down on July 29, 2011, when the tree was split by lightning during a storm. The remaining half of the tree fell during heavy winds just short of five years later, on July 22, 2016.


title: Quercus alba

text: The Bedford Oak is a 500-year-old white oak tree that sits in the town of Bedford in New York. It is the mascot of the town. It sits at the corner of the Hook Road and the old Bedford Road (now Cantitoe Street). The ground the tree stands on was deeded to the Town of Bedford in 1942 by Harold Whitman in memory of his wife, Georgia Squires Whitman. It has seen Westchester history from Native American settlements to the Revolutionary War to modern times.


title: Split pea

text: Split peas are an agricultural or culinary preparation consisting of the dried, peeled and split seeds of "Pisum sativum", the pea.


title: Split pea

text: The peas are spherical when harvested, with an outer skin. The peas are dried and the dull-coloured outer skin of the pea removed, then split in half by hand or by machine at the natural split in the seed's cotyledon.


title: Split pea

text: There are green and yellow varieties of split pea. Gregor Mendel studied the inheritance of seed colour in peas; the green phenotype is recessive to the yellow one. Traditionally, the genotype of purebred yellow is "YY" and that of green is "yy", and hybrids of the two, "Yy", have a yellow (dominant) phenotype.


title: Split pea

text: Split peas are high in protein and low in fat, with one gram of fat per serving. Most of the calories come from protein and complex carbohydrates. The split pea is known to be a natural food source that contains some of the highest amounts of dietary fibre, containing 26 grams of fibre per 100 gram portion (104% DV based on a diet).


title: Split pea

text: The Indian "toor dal" (split pigeon peas) and "chana dal" (split yellow gram, desi chickpeas) are commonly also referred to as peas, although from other legume species than "Pisum sativum".


title: Split pea

text: Green and yellow split peas are commonly used to make pea soup or "split pea soup", and sometimes pease pudding, which was commonly prepared in medieval Europe.


title: Split pea

text: in western Asia and particularly in Iran. It is the main ingredient of the Iranian food "khoresh gheymeh", which is served on the side of white rice in Iranian cuisine. It is also an important ingredient in "Təbriz küftəsi", a kofta speciality from northern Iran.


title: Split pea

text: In north India, they are generally known as "matar ki daal", sometimes used as a cheaper variation for "chhole" on stalls offering it.


title: Split pea

text: Yellow split peas are most often used to prepare "dal" in Guyana, Suriname, Mauritius, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Fiji. Referred to as simply "dal", it is prepared similarly to "dals" found in India, but also may be used in other recipes.


title: Split pea

text: Yellow split peas are used to make a sweet snack in Beijing cuisine. "Wandouhuang" (豌豆黄) is a sweetened and chilled pease pudding, sometimes flavored with osmanthus blossoms and dates.


title: Split pea

text: In Europe, the Greek "fáva" is a dish made with yellow split peas pureed to create an appetizer or meze, often topped with capers.


title: Split pea

text: In the winter the Dutch serve a dish called "erwtensoep" which is primarily made from green split peas.


title: Split pea

text: Moroccan Berber cuisine has “tamaraqt” or yellow split pea soup with olive oil and cumin added. Salt, garlic and onion can be added to taste. It is eaten with bread.


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: Singlish is the English-based creole or patois spoken colloquially in Singapore. English is one of Singapore's official languages, along with Malay (which is also the National Language), Mandarin, and Tamil. Although English is the lexifier language, Singlish has its unique slang and syntax, which are more pronounced in informal speech. It is usually a mixture of English, Mandarin, Tamil, Malay, and other local dialects like Hokkien, Cantonese or Teochew. There are a few loan words from these languages i.e. is often taken as being annoyed or frustrated and originate from the Hokkien dialect. It is used in casual contexts between Singaporeans, but is avoided in formal events when certain Singlish phrases may be considered unedifying. Singapore English can be broken into two subcategories. Standard Singapore English (SSE) and Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) or Singlish as many locals call it. The relationship between SSE and Singlish is viewed as a diglossia, in which SSE is restricted to be used in situations of formality where Singlish/CSE is used in most other circumstances.


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: Some of the most popular Singlish terms have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2000, including "wah", "sabo", "lepak", "shiok" and "hawker centre". On 11 February 2015, "kiasu" was chosen as OED's Word of the Day.


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: Singlish vocabulary formally takes after British English (in terms of spelling and abbreviations), although naming conventions are in a mix of American and British ones (with American ones on the rise). For instance, local media have "" (' in British English) and "" (soccer—originally slang for "association football"—while used in Britain, is more usually called just '). Singlish also uses many words borrowed from Hokkien, the non-Mandarin Chinese language native to more than 75% of the Chinese in Singapore, and from Malay. In many cases, English words take on the meaning of their Chinese counterparts, resulting in a shift in meaning. Vocabulary is also taken from Indian words such as meaning 'hey', meaning 'fat', etc. This is most obvious in such cases as /, which are functionally equivalent in Singlish and mapped to the same Mandarin word, (), which can mean to lend or to borrow. For example: "" / "Hey, can you lend me your calculator?"


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: There have been several efforts to compile lexicons of Singlish, some for scholarly purposes, but most for entertainment. Two early humorous works were Sylvia Toh Paik Choo's "Eh, Goondu!" (1982) and "Lagi Goondu!" (1986). In 1997 the second edition of the "Times-Chambers Essential English Dictionary" was published. To date, this is the only formal dictionary containing a substantial number of Singaporean English terms. Such entries and sub-entries are arranged alphabetically amongst the standard English entries. A list of common words borrowed from local languages such as Hokkien and Malay appears in an appendix. It appears that no subsequent editions have been published.


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: 2002 saw the publication of the "Coxford Singlish Dictionary", a light-hearted lexicon which was developed from material posted on the website Talkingcock.com. In 2004 a website, "A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English", was launched to document the actual usage of Singlish and Singapore English in published material, in the way that the Oxford English Dictionary does for standard English. Compiled by an amateur lexicographer, the "Dictionary" appears to be one of the more comprehensive and professionally written dictionaries dealing exclusively with Singlish and Singapore English available so far.


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: The Singapore Tourism Board and tourism-related businesses have also produced short lists of commonly used Singlish terms, ostensibly to allow foreigners visiting Singapore to comprehend the local language better. Such lists have been printed in brochures or booklets, and also published on websites.


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: The lack of an officially printed version of a Singlish dictionary is due to the fact that the Singapore government frowns upon the use of Singlish, their official stance being that the speaking of Singlish will make Singaporeans difficult to understand when communicating with foreigners who are not familiar with Singlish. Thus, the government has made an effort to quash the use of Singlish and to promote the use of standard English through the Speak Good English Movement over the past few years. Though failing to discourage the use of Singlish, it has resulted in Singlish having a bad reputation in recent years, further stalling efforts to document actual Singlish usage.


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: Letters contributed to the forum of "The Straits Times", the main local newspaper, by readers have called for Singlish to be kept alive in Singapore. Community efforts to do so include the aptly named "Speak Good Singlish Movement". The idea of promoting Singlish was raised as part of a larger debate on creating a uniquely Singaporean identity. However, the government has yet to officially change its stand regarding Singlish.


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: A list of Singlish terms and expressions widely used in Singapore is set out below. It is not exhaustive and is meant to provide some representative examples of Singlish usage in Singapore. The origins of the Singlish terms are indicated where possible, and literal translations are provided where necessary.


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: Singlish is prominently used in local coffee shops, or "kopitiams" (the word is obtained by combining the Malay word for coffee and the Hokkien word for 'shop'), and other eateries. Local names of many food and drink items have become Singlish and consist of words from different languages and are indicative of the multi-racial society in Singapore. For example, "teh" is the Malay word for 'tea' which itself originated from Hokkien, "peng" is the Hokkien word for 'ice', "kosong" is the Malay word for 'zero' to indicate no sugar, and "C" refers to 'Carnation', a brand of evaporated milk.


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: Names of common local dishes in Singapore hawker centres are usually referred to in local dialect or language. However, as there are no English words for certain food items, the dialect terms used for them have slowly evolved into part of the Singlish vocabulary. Ordering in Singlish is widely understood by the hawkers. Some examples of food items which have become part of Singlish:


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: These terms can be combined together. For example, strong iced coffee with evaporated milk and sugar would be called “kopi-c gau peng.”


title: Singlish vocabulary

text: The above list is not complete; for example, one can add the "-peng" suffix (meaning "iced") to form other variations such as "Teh-C-peng" (tea with evaporated milk and ice) which is a popular drink considering Singapore's warm weather.


title: 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B

text: The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B was the second division of the 2022–23 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the third season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA.


title: 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B

text: League B consisted of 16 UEFA members ranked from 17–32 in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League access list, split into four groups of four. Each team played six matches within their group, using the home-and-away round-robin format in June (quadruple matchdays) and September 2022 (double matchdays). The winners of each group were promoted to the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A, and the fourth-placed team of each group were relegated to the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League C.


title: 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B

text: In the 2022–23 access list, UEFA ranked teams based on the 2020–21 Nations League overall ranking. The seeding pots for the league phase were confirmed on 22 September 2021, and were based on the access list ranking.


title: 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B

text: The draw for the league phase took place at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 16 December 2021, 18:00 CET. Each group contained one team from each pot. For political reasons, Russia and Ukraine (due to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine) could not be drawn in the same group. Due to restrictions of excessive travel, Armenia, Israel and Iceland could not all be in the same group.


title: 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B

text: The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 17 December 2021, the day following the draw. The fixture list for Group 1 was amended due to the postponement of Path A of UEFA qualifying for the World Cup.


title: 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B

text: The 16 League B teams were ranked 17th to 32nd overall in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League according to the following rules:


title: 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B

text: The four best teams in League B according to the overall ranking that do not qualify for UEFA Euro 2024 through the qualifying group stage will compete in the play-offs, with the winners qualifying for the final tournament.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: Libra is a constellation of the zodiac and is located in the Southern celestial hemisphere. Its name is Latin for weighing scales. Its old astronomical symbol is (♎). It is fairly faint, with no first magnitude stars, and lies between Virgo to the west and Scorpius to the east. Beta Librae, also known as Zubeneschamali, is the brightest star in the constellation. Three star systems are known to have planets.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: Overall, there are 83 stars within the constellation's borders brighter than or equal to apparent magnitude 6.5.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: The brightest stars in Libra form a quadrangle that distinguishes it for the unaided observer. Traditionally, Alpha and Beta Librae are considered to represent the scales' balance beam, while Gamma and Sigma are the weighing pans.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: Alpha Librae, called Zubenelgenubi, is a multiple star system divisible into two stars when seen through binoculars, The primary (Alpha Librae) is a blue-white star of magnitude 2.7 and the secondary (Alpha Librae) is a white star of magnitude 5.2 and spectral type F3V that is 74.9 ± 0.7 light-years from Earth. Its traditional name means "the southern claw". Zubeneschamali (Beta Librae) is the corresponding "northern claw" to Zubenelgenubi. The brightest star in Libra, it is a green-tinged star of magnitude 2.6, 160 light-years from Earth. Gamma Librae is called Zubenelakrab, which means "the scorpion's claw", completing the suite of names referring to Libra's archaic status. It is an orange giant of magnitude 3.9, 152 light-years from Earth.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: Iota Librae is a complex multiple star, 377 light-years from Earth, with both optical and true binary components. The primary appears as a blue-white star of magnitude 4.5; it is a binary star indivisible in even the largest amateur instruments with a period of 23 years. The secondary, visible in small telescopes as a star of magnitude 9.4, is a binary with two components, magnitudes 10 and 11. There is an optical companion to Iota Librae; 25 Librae is a star of magnitude 6.1, 219 light-years from Earth and visible in binoculars. Mu Librae is a binary star divisible in medium-aperture amateur telescopes, 235 light-years from Earth. The primary is of magnitude 5.7 and the secondary is of magnitude 6.8.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: Delta Librae is an Algol-type eclipsing variable star, 304 lightyears from Earth. It has a period of 2 days, 8 hours; its minimum magnitude of 5.9 and its maximum magnitude is 4.9. FX Librae, designated 48 Librae, is a shell star of magnitude 4.9. Shell stars, like Pleione and Gamma Cassiopeiae, are blue supergiants with irregular variations caused by their abnormally high speed of rotation. This ejects gas from the star's equator.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: Sigma Librae (the proper name is Brachium) was formerly known as Gamma Scorpii despite being well inside the boundaries of Libra. It was not redesignated as Sigma Librae until 1851 by Benjamin A. Gould.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: Libra was known in Babylonian astronomy as "MUL Zibanu" (the "scales" or "balance"), or alternatively as the Claws of the Scorpion. The scales were held sacred to the sun god Shamash, who was also the patron of truth and justice.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: It was also seen as the Scorpion's Claws in ancient Greece. Since these times, Libra has been associated with law, fairness and civility. In Arabic "zubānā" means "scorpion's claws", and likely similarly in other Semitic languages: this resemblance of words may be why the Scorpion's claws became the Scales. Indeed, Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali, the names of the constellation's two main stars, in Arabic mean "southern claw" and "northern claw" respectively. It has also been suggested that the scales are an allusion to the fact that when the sun entered this part of the ecliptic at the autumnal equinox, the days and nights are equal. Libra's status as the location of the equinox earned the equinox the name "First Point of Libra", though this location ceased to coincide with the constellation in 730 BC because of the precession of the equinoxes.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: In ancient Egypt the three brightest stars of Libra (α, β, and σ Librae) formed a constellation that was viewed as a boat. Libra is a constellation not mentioned by Eudoxus or Aratus. Libra is mentioned by Manetho (3rd century B.C.) and Geminus (1st century B.C.), and included by Ptolemy in his 48 asterisms. Ptolemy catalogued 17 stars, Tycho Brahe 10, and Johannes Hevelius 20. It only became a constellation in ancient Rome, when it began to represent the scales held by Astraea, the goddess of justice, associated with Virgo in the Greek mythology.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: Libra is bordered by the head of Serpens to the north, Virgo to the northwest, Hydra to the southwest, the corner of Centaurus to the southwest, Lupus to the south, Scorpius to the east and Ophiuchus to the northeast. Covering 538.1 square degrees and 1.304% of the night sky, it ranks 29th of the 88 constellations in size. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "Lib". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 12 segments ("illustrated in infobox"). In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between −0.47° and −30.00°. The whole constellation is visible to observers south of latitude 60°N.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: Libra is home to the Gliese 581 planetary system, which consists of the star Gliese 581, three confirmed planets, and two unconfirmed planets. Both Gliese 581d, and Gliese 581g are debatably the most promising candidates for life, although Gliese 581g's existences has been disputed and has not been entirely confirmed or agreed on in the scientific community. Gliese 581c is considered to be the first Earth-like extrasolar planet to be found within its parent star's habitable zone. Gliese 581e is possibly the smallest mass exoplanet orbiting a normal star found to date All of these exoplanets are of significance for establishing the likelihood of life outside of the Solar System.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: The family of candidate habitable planets was extended in late September 2010 to include exoplanets around red dwarf stars because of Gliese 581g, which is a tidally locked planet in the middle of the habitable zone. Weather studies show that tidally locked planets may still have the ability to support life.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: Libra is home to one bright globular cluster, NGC 5897. It is a loose cluster, 50,000 light-years from Earth; it is fairly large and has an integrated magnitude of 9. IC 1059 is a galaxy in the constellation Libra.


title: Libra (constellation)

text: , the Sun appears in the constellation Libra from October 31 to November 22. In tropical astrology, the Sun is considered to be in the sign Libra from the northern autumnal equinox (c. September 23) to on or about October 23, and in sidereal astrology, from October 16 to November 15.


title: UCLA Bruins football

text: The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles, in college football as members of the Pac-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The Bruins play their home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.


title: UCLA Bruins football

text: The Bruins have enjoyed several periods of success in their history, having been ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll at least once in every decade since the poll began in the 1930s. Their first major period of success came in the 1950s, under head coach Red Sanders. Sanders led the Bruins to the Coaches' Poll national championship in 1954, three conference championships, and an overall record of 66–19–1 in nine years. In the 1980s and 1990s, during the tenure of Terry Donahue, the Bruins compiled a 151–74–8 record, including 13 bowl games and an NCAA record eight straight bowl wins. Recent success has evaded them, though, landing them with a 16-19 overall bowl game record. The program has produced 28 first round picks in the NFL Draft, 30 consensus All-Americans, and multiple major award winners, including Heisman winner Gary Beban. The UCLA Bruins' main rival is the USC Trojans. Chip Kelly became head coach in 2018.


title: UCLA Bruins football

text: The Bruins were the Pac-12 Conference South Division champions for two years and played Pac-12 Football Championship Games in both 2011 and 2012.


title: UCLA Bruins football

text: The first football team fielded by UCLA took the field in 1919. The team was coached by Fred Cozens, and compiled a 2–6 record. UCLA did not participate in an athletic conference until 1920, so the 1919 football team played a schedule full of local high schools and other assorted teams. Cozens was UCLA's athletics director from 1919 to 1942. Harry Trotter took over the young UCLA football program after Cozens stepped down after guiding the Bruins in their first season. UCLA began to play in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) in 1920, and competed against Occidental College, California Institute of Technology, University of Redlands, Whittier College, and Pomona College. Coach Trotter's two wins were against Redlands and San Diego State, which did not join the SCIAC until 1926. Trotter left UCLA with a 2–13–1 record in three seasons (1920–1922). James J. Cline took over the Bruins football program as its third head coach in 1923. Coach Cline's two wins were against Loyola University and San Diego State. Cline was replaced after two seasons and a 2–10–3 record.


title: UCLA Bruins football

text: William H. Spaulding came to UCLA from Minnesota in 1925. As the Bruins head coach, his overall record in 14 seasons was 72–51–8. During his tenure in Los Angeles, Spaulding led the Bruins to their first bowl appearance and victory, the 1938 Poi Bowl. Also during Spaulding's tenure, the Bruins left the SCIAC and joined the Pacific Coast Conference beginning in 1928. Spaulding's 72 wins rank him among the best in head coaching victories in Bruin football history. He retired after a successful fourteen-season tenure ended after the 1938 season. Edwin C. Horrell was promoted to head coach following Spaulding's retirement. His 1942 UCLA Bruins team lost to Georgia in the 1943 Rose Bowl. He was the first coach to lead a UCLA team to defeat rival USC. It was the first football victory in the UCLA–USC rivalry. The most notable player who played for Horrell at UCLA was Jackie Robinson, who went on to a Hall of Fame career in professional baseball. Horrell's 1939 team compiled a 6–0–4 and his 1941 team posted a 5–5–1 record. With the exception of the 1942 season, the combined record of the Bruins during Horrell's tenure outside the aforementioned seasons was 6–22–1. These struggles led to Horrell's firing after six seasons at the helm of UCLA football. coach Bert LaBrucherie was hired by his alma mater to replace Horrell. LaBrucherie's overall record at UCLA was 23–16. In his second year as head coach, the Bruins were Pacific Coast Conference champions, but lost to Illinois in the 1947 Rose Bowl. LaBrucherie's Bruins only posted one losing season during his four seasons, a 3–7 1948 season in what turned out to be his final season. LaBrucherie accepted the position of head football coach at California Institute of Technology after the 1948 season, departing UCLA.