title: Phytochemical

text: As a term, "phytochemicals" is generally used to describe plant compounds that are under research with unestablished effects on health, and are not scientifically defined as essential nutrients. Regulatory agencies governing food labeling in Europe and the United States have provided guidance for industry to limit or prevent health claims about phytochemicals on food product or nutrition labels.


title: Phytochemical

text: Phytochemicals are chemicals of plant origin. Phytochemicals (from Greek "phyto", meaning "plant") are chemicals produced by plants through primary or secondary metabolism. They generally have biological activity in the plant host and play a role in plant growth or defense against competitors, pathogens, or predators.


title: Phytochemical

text: Phytochemicals are generally regarded as research compounds rather than essential nutrients because proof of their possible health effects has not been established yet. Phytochemicals under research can be classified into major categories, such as carotenoids and polyphenols, which include phenolic acids, flavonoids, stilbenes or lignans. Flavonoids can be further divided into groups based on their similar chemical structure, such as anthocyanins, flavones, flavanones, isoflavones, and flavanols. Flavanols are further classified as catechins, epicatechins, and proanthocyanidins. In total, between 50,000 and 130,000 phytochemicals have been discovered.


title: Phytochemical

text: Phytochemists study phytochemicals by first extracting and isolating compounds from the origin plant, followed by defining their structure or testing in laboratory model systems, such as "in vitro" studies using cell lines or "in vivo" studies using laboratory animals. Challenges in that field include isolating specific compounds and determining their structures, which are often complex, and identifying what specific phytochemical is primarily responsible for any given biological activity.


title: Phytochemical

text: Without specific knowledge of their cellular actions or mechanisms, phytochemicals have been used as poison and in traditional medicine. For example, salicin, having anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, was originally extracted from the bark of the white willow tree and later synthetically produced to become the common, over-the-counter drug, aspirin. The tropane alkaloids of "Atropa belladonna" were used as poisons, and early humans made poisonous arrows from the plant. In Ancient Rome, it was used as a poison by Agrippina the Younger, wife of Emperor Claudius on advice of Locusta, a lady specialized in poisons, and Livia, who is rumored to have used it to kill her husband Emperor Augustus. Other uses include perfumes, such as the sequiterpene santolols, from sandalwood.


title: Phytochemical

text: The English yew tree was long known to be extremely and immediately toxic to animals that grazed on its leaves or children who ate its berries; however, in 1971, paclitaxel was isolated from it, subsequently becoming an important cancer drug.


title: Phytochemical

text: As of 2017, the biological activities for most phytochemicals are unknown or poorly understood, in isolation or as part of foods. Phytochemicals with established roles in the body are classified as essential nutrients.


title: Phytochemical

text: The phytochemical category includes compounds recognized as essential nutrients, which are naturally contained in plants and are required for normal physiological functions, so must be obtained from the diet in humans.


title: Phytochemical

text: Some phytochemicals are known phytotoxins that are toxic to humans; for example aristolochic acid is carcinogenic at low doses. Some phytochemicals are antinutrients that interfere with the absorption of nutrients. Others, such as some polyphenols and flavonoids, may be pro-oxidants in high ingested amounts.


title: Phytochemical

text: Non-digestible dietary fibers from plant foods, often considered as a phytochemical, are now generally regarded as a nutrient group having approved health claims for reducing the risk of some types of cancer and coronary heart disease.


title: Phytochemical

text: Eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and plant-based beverages has long-term health benefits, but there is no evidence that taking dietary supplements of non-nutrient phytochemicals extracted from plants similarly benefits health. Phytochemical supplements are neither recommended by health authorities for improving health nor approved by regulatory agencies for health claims on product labels.


title: Phytochemical

text: While health authorities encourage consumers to eat diets rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts to improve and maintain health, evidence that such effects result from specific, non-nutrient phytochemicals is limited or absent. For example, systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses indicate weak or no evidence for phytochemicals from plant food consumption having an effect on breast, lung, or bladder cancers. Further, in the United States, regulations exist to limit the language on product labels for how plant food consumption may affect cancers, excluding mention of any phytochemical except for those with established health benefits against cancer, such as dietary fiber, vitamin A, and vitamin C.


title: Phytochemical

text: Phytochemicals, such as polyphenols, have been specifically discouraged from food labeling in Europe and the United States because there is no evidence for a cause-and-effect relationship between dietary polyphenols and inhibition or prevention of any disease.


title: Phytochemical

text: Among carotenoids such as the tomato phytochemical, lycopene, the US Food and Drug Administration found insufficient evidence for its effects on any of several cancer types, resulting in limited language for how products containing lycopene can be described on labels.


title: Phytochemical

text: Phytochemicals in freshly harvested plant foods may be degraded by processing techniques, including cooking. The main cause of phytochemical loss from cooking is thermal decomposition.


title: Phytochemical

text: A converse exists in the case of carotenoids, such as lycopene present in tomatoes, which may remain stable or increase in content from cooking due to liberation from cellular membranes in the cooked food. Food processing techniques like mechanical processing can also free carotenoids and other phytochemicals from the food matrix, increasing dietary intake.


title: Phytochemical

text: In some cases, processing of food is necessary to remove phytotoxins or antinutrients; for example societies that use cassava as a staple have traditional practices that involve some processing (soaking, cooking, fermentation, etc.), which are necessary to avoid getting sick from cyanogenic glycosides present in unprocessed cassava.


title: Leonard Whiting

text: Leonard Whiting (born 30 June 1950) is a British retired actor and singer widely known for his role as Romeo in the 1968 Zeffirelli film version of "Romeo and Juliet", a role which earned him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor.


title: Leonard Whiting

text: Whiting was born on 30 June 1950, in Wood Green, moving with his two sisters to Holloway, another area of North London, England. The only son of Peggy Joyce (O'Sullivan) and Arthur Leonard Whiting, he has English, Irish and some Romani ancestry. Whiting's love of performing was encouraged at his local Church and Primary School, St Josephs R.C Highgate, where he and sister Linda acted in the school's nativity plays. Leonard went on to attend St. Richard of Chichester School, Camden Town, leaving just a week or two before beginning work on "Romeo and Juliet" (1968).


title: Leonard Whiting

text: Whiting had some success as a child singer, almost winning a Butlin's Talent Contest (he came second) hosted in the holiday camp's packed out Gaiety Theatre. Whiting was later spotted by a theatrical agent at the Connaught Rooms Holborn, where he was performing at a Jewish wedding at the age of 12. He only sang one song ("Summertime") which he had rehearsed as a one-off song with the group Teal Lewis and the , who provided the evening entertainment. This was set up by his father to get him noticed. After hearing him sing, the agent suggested he try out for Lionel Bart's "Oliver!" which constantly needed replacements for its child performers. Whiting played the Artful Dodger in the long-running London musical for 15 months, and for 13 months in 1965–1966 appeared at Laurence Olivier's National Theatre in the production of William Congreve's "Love for Love" opposite Olivier, which toured Moscow and Berlin.


title: Leonard Whiting

text: Director Franco Zeffirelli described his discovery, from 300 youngsters who auditioned over a period of more than three months: "He has a magnificent face, gentle melancholy, sweet, the kind of idealistic young man Romeo ought to be."


title: Leonard Whiting

text: In the mid-1970s, his voice caught the attention of "Abbey Road" and "The Dark Side of the Moon" engineer Alan Parsons, who was in the process of recording what was to be the first album by the Alan Parsons Project, "Tales of Mystery and Imagination". Whiting performed lead vocals on the song "The Raven" and he also narrated the introduction of the five part musical rendition of "The Fall of the House of Usher" on the original 1976 album, which was then replaced by Orson Welles on the 1987 remixed version.


title: Leonard Whiting

text: Whiting was cast as the Pharaoh in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in London's Westminster Theatre between 27 November 1978 and 17 January 1979. This was a Ken Hill production with the Pharaoh played by Whiting in the style of Elvis Presley.


title: Leonard Whiting

text: In 1990, Whiting provided the voice of the Urpney scientist Urpgor in the children's animated television series "The Dreamstone". After voicing the character for three seasons, he was replaced by Colin Marsh for the fourth and final season.


title: Leonard Whiting

text: In 2014, he reunited with Olivia Hussey for the film "Social Suicide" (2015), their first work together in the 46 years since "Romeo and Juliet".


title: Leonard Whiting

text: In 1971, Whiting married model Cathee Dahmen. In 1972 they had a daughter, Sarah Beth Whiting, who died in 2014 from cervical cancer. Following his divorce from Dahmen in 1977, Whiting had a relationship with Valerie Tobin, who gave birth to their daughter Charlotte. Charlotte has said publicly that she did not meet her father until she was 12, by which time she had taken her step-father's surname Westenra, whom her mother had married in 1982. Charlotte Westenra became a theatre director. In 1995, Whiting married his assistant, Lynn Presser.


title: Leonard Whiting

text: Whiting ended his film career, for the most part, in the mid 1970s and subsequently focused on his theatrical career as an actor and writer. He and his wife live in Steele's Village in Haverstock, north London.


title: Boeing 747 hull losses

text: As of July 2020, a total of 61 Boeing 747 aircraft, or just under 4% of the total number of 747s built, first flown commercially in 1970, have been involved in accidents and incidents resulting in a hull loss, meaning that the aircraft was either destroyed or damaged beyond economical repair. Of the 61 Boeing 747 aircraft losses, 32 resulted in no loss of life; in one, a hostage was murdered; and in one, a terrorist died. Some of the aircraft that were declared damaged beyond economical repair were older 747s that sustained relatively minor damage. Had these planes been newer, repairing them might have been economically viable, although with the 747's increasing obsolescence, this is becoming less common. Some 747s have been involved in accidents resulting in the highest death toll of any civil aviation accident, the highest death toll of any single airplane accident, and the highest death toll of a midair collision. As with most airliner accidents, the root of cause(s) in these incidents involved a confluence of multiple factors that rarely could be ascribed to flaws with the 747's design or its flying characteristics.


title: Exposé (group)

text: Exposé is an American Latin freestyle vocal group formed in 1984 in Miami, Florida. Primarily consisting of lead vocalists Jeanette Jurado, Ann Curless, and Gioia Bruno, the group achieved much of their success between 1984 and 1993. They became the first group to attain four top-10 entries on the "Billboard" Hot 100 since their debut album, including 1988 number-one single "Seasons Change." In March 2015, "Billboard" magazine named the group the eighth most-successful girl group of all-time.


title: Exposé (group)

text: The group was popular in dance clubs, mainstream Top 40, and adult contemporary charts in the United States. They actively toured and recorded music from 1984 to 1995, then retired from recording and public performances for 8 years until 2003. They currently tour today.


title: Exposé (group)

text: Exposé was formed in 1984 when Lewis Martineé, a Miami disc jockey and producer, decided to form a dance-based group. Working with his partners Ismael Garcia and Frank Diaz at Pantera Productions, talent scouts hired Sandra Casañas (Sandeé), Alejandra Lorenzo (Alé), and Laurie Miller as the group's lineup, under the name X-Posed, which later became Exposé. The next year, the trio recorded "Point of No Return" for Pantera Records as both a 7-inch and a 12-inch vinyl single. The latter became a #1 hit on the "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play chart. The song helped introduce a still-popular genre of music that became known as freestyle, which often features keyboard riffs, a sing-along chorus, and electro funk drum-machine patterns in the music arrangement. The success of "Point of No Return" on the dance charts caught the attention of major labels and Expose signed with Arista Records, which promptly assumed distribution of the 12-inch vinyl single. A year later, Exposé recorded and released their second club-dance freestyle 12-inch single entitled "Exposed to Love". These songs were released during the period when radio began airing continuous mixes of House/Club/Dance songs in major markets. As such, Exposé realized continued success, including a club tour to key cities. Impressed with the performance of the two singles on the dance charts, Arista granted approval for the group to record a full-length album.


title: Exposé (group)

text: During the recording of the group's first studio album "Exposure", the personnel of the group changed. Reports vary based on the source. According to "People" magazine, two of the original singers quit while one of the girls was fired midway through the recording of the first album, but according to "Billboard", all three were fired. Arista records felt the three original singers lacked star potential. While Martinee states he made the decision himself to replace the three girls, Miller maintains it was all their choice and Jurado confirms that Lorenzo wanted to leave. Shortly thereafter, Casañas pursued a solo career and Lorenzo pursued other ambitions; they were replaced by Jeanette Jurado and Gioia Bruno. Miller began a solo career; she was replaced by Ann Curless.


title: Exposé (group)

text: Lorenzo returned to the dance charts with the Vendetta Records releases "I Wanna Know" in 1988, and "Stop Me if I Fall in Love" in 1990, while Laurie Miller released the 12" single "Parallels" on Atlantic Records and a second single "Love is a Natural Magical Thing" on Meet Me In Miami Records. Laurie evolved into a headline performer frequently showcasing her talents on cruises with a more intimate jazz style, and formed her own entertainment company called Xica productions.


title: Exposé (group)

text: Casañas later resurfaced as a solo artist (Sandeé) and released a solo album, "Only Time Will Tell", which garnered the club hits "You're The One", "Love Desire", and the Clivilles & Cole-produced bassline-heavy hit "Notice Me". She continued to tour actively in dance clubs and freestyle shows, until her death on December 15, 2008, of a seizure at the age of 46. All three original members -Casañas, Lorenzo and Miller- later contributed vocals on songs on the eponymous 1988 debut album of the Miami group Will to Power. Gioia Bruno also provided lead vocals on Will to Power's 2004 album, "Spirit Warrior".


title: Exposé (group)

text: In March 1987, the new lineup of Exposé released its debut album "Exposure" on Arista Records, led by the pop/dance hit "Come Go with Me" which reached #5 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. During the summer of 1987, a re-recorded version of "Point of No Return" was released, with Jurado now performing lead vocals. It too topped out at #5 on the US Hot 100. While the initial distribution of "Exposure" to suppliers contained the original 1984 version of that song, subsequent pressings contained the new version. "Let Me Be the One", a mid-tempo R&B song with Bruno on lead vocal, became yet another hit reaching #7 on the US Hot 100 and also garnering significant R&B radio airplay. The group's highest charting hit occurred in February 1988 with the #1 US hit ballad "Seasons Change". Along with that came a Soul Train Award nomination for Best New Artist; television appearances on "American Bandstand", "Solid Gold", "Showtime at the Apollo", and "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers"; and the group was tapped to be the opening act for Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam during its national tour.


title: Exposé (group)

text: Exposé also performed backing vocals on Kashif's 1987 Arista/BMG Records album "Love Changes", on the song "Who's Getting Serious?".


title: Exposé (group)

text: During Exposé's peak, the group endured legal issues behind the scenes. The members had a restrictive contract and there were reports in the media of backstage battles. According to Bruno, they were only paid $200 per show. Reportedly, the record label had to intervene to try to keep the peace between the members and their producers. Despite this intervention, the members filed a lawsuit and ultimately settled their legal case for a renegotiated contract.


title: Exposé (group)

text: Although not as strong a seller as its predecessor, the group's second album, "What You Don't Know" (1989), performed very well and was certified gold in the US for sales over 500,000. The success of Exposé led to similar girl groups being created by producers and existing ones being signed to major labels, such as Company B, The Cover Girls, Sweet Sensation, and Seduction. The first single, "What You Don't Know", peaked at #8; and the second single "When I Looked at Him" rose to #10 on the US Hot 100. As an all-female group, the next single "Tell Me Why" (#9) gave Expose seven consecutive Top 10 hits on the US Hot 100, behind The Supremes nine consecutive Top 10 hits. "Tell Me Why" addressed the issue of street gangs and youth and rewarded the group with additional praise for its socially conscious lyrics. "Your Baby Never Looked Good in Blue" (#9 U.S. Adult Contemporary / #17 Pop) and "Stop, Listen, Look & Think" (only released as a promotional 12" single) followed soon afterwards. "Stop, Listen, Look & Think" was also included in the movie "The Forbidden Dance" (1990), a theatrical film released during the Lambada dance craze of that period.


title: Exposé (group)

text: Exposé did their first headlining tour and continued television appearances on "Soul Train", "The Pat Sajak Show", "The Byron Allen Show", and the "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" broadcast on December 31, 1989, among others.


title: Exposé (group)

text: The popularity of the group also increased overseas to countries such as Japan, where the members appeared in a few music video-style television commercials in 1989 for Takara CAN Chuhai, a Japanese alcoholic beverage. The music used in the Japanese commercials was the song "What You Don't Know" with slightly different lyrics in the chorus than the regular version.


title: Exposé (group)

text: With the success of Exposé's first two albums, Arista Records released the music-video compilation, "Video Exposure", on VHS and laser disc formats in 1990. It contained music videos for the first eight singles released by Bruno, Curless and Jurado—from "Come Go with Me" through "Your Baby Never Looked Good in Blue."


title: Exposé (group)

text: Exposé performed backing vocals on Barry Manilow's 1990 Arista album "Because It's Christmas" on the track "Jingle Bells" and also appeared in Manilow's long-form music video of "Because It's Christmas." This version of "Jingle Bells" was patterned after the 1943 Bing Crosby/Andrews Sisters version.


title: Exposé (group)

text: In August 1990, while touring with Exposé, Bruno began having throat problems—later linked to a benign tumor on her vocal cords—which caused the group to cut the tour short. The group took time off from their schedule in hopes that she would recover. Ultimately, Bruno lost her voice, and could not sing at all for several years—she also had to keep talking to a minimum. She was replaced by Kelly Moneymaker in 1992.


title: Exposé (group)

text: After Kelly Moneymaker joined Exposé, the group released their self-titled, third album "Exposé", which integrated more mature material in addition to their established freestyle, house, R&B, pop, and love-ballad repertoire. It was also the first album to use producers besides Martineé, with Clive Davis taking over as executive producer and Martineé only contributing production to four songs. The album was aimed to demonstrate musical growth for the group and to compete with the success of Wilson Phillips, which had great success in 1990 with their debut album.


title: Exposé (group)

text: The third album was not as commercially successful as their previous two, but it still achieved gold status, and several singles fared better on the adult-contemporary charts. The group, however, did manage to crack the U.S. Top 40 pop chart with "I Wish the Phone Would Ring" and "I'll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me", a top-ten pop single which also reached #1 on the adult contemporary chart. Subsequent releases "As Long as I Can Dream" and "In Walked Love" featured Curless in the lead-vocal spotlight. A final, club-marketed single in 1995 saw the release of the group's first remake. "I Specialize in Love" featured Curless and Jurado on lead with Moneymaker supporting lead vocals toward the song's conclusion. The original version was performed by Sharon Brown and was a top ten hit on the "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1982. Among the group's television appearances during this period include "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee", "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "The Les Brown Show", and the Brazilian actress-singer children's show "Xuxa".


title: Exposé (group)

text: In 1995, Exposé recorded the Diane Warren-penned song "I'll Say Good-Bye for the Two of Us", which appeared on the soundtrack of the film "" with Jurado performing lead vocals; that same year, the song was issued on their "Greatest Hits". The song is distinctive for the group as Jurado performs solo without backing vocals.


title: Exposé (group)

text: Toward the end of 1995, Arista dropped the group, and the members disbanded at the beginning of 1996 to pursue their own projects. However, over time, labels licensing music from Sony Music Entertainment, the current owners of Arista, have released two other variations of greatest hits collections, as well as a collection of popular remixes from the group's 12-inch singles, including the extended version of the original 1985 "Point of No Return."


title: Exposé (group)

text: After the group broke up, Jurado performed in the stage play "Mad Hattan" and supplied vocals for contemporary jazz guitarist Nils and Safe Sax; Moneymaker married soap opera actor Peter Reckell and released four solo albums ("Like a Blackbird", "Through These Basement Walls", "Race Against the Sky", and "Stone"). Moneymaker wrote and produced the "Love Songs" LP for NBC's Days of Our Lives and has had original songs placed in over 25 film, TV and game productions including "Guitar Hero", "Hawaii 5-0", "CSI", etc; Curless engaged in songwriting, supplying vocals to several club-dance projects, and also provided academic instruction on music and the music business. Eventually, both Jurado and Curless married and had children, temporarily retiring from performing.


title: Exposé (group)

text: In 1997, Bruno fully recovered from her throat tumor and began singing again. After a small stint with the band Wet, she worked on a solo career focused mostly on dance-oriented material. Her first album, "Expose This", was released in the spring of 2004.


title: Exposé (group)

text: After a long hiatus, on August 1, 2003, the lineup of Curless, Jurado, and Moneymaker, reunited briefly for a reunion concert at the Mid State Fair in Paso Robles, California. Members of Safe Sax, including music director/guitarist Steve Fansler, were part of the live band Exposé used. While there was a desire to do more shows, according to Moneymaker they were unable to get things active at that time.


title: Exposé (group)

text: In 2006, Jurado announced on MySpace they had signed with a major booking agency, and Bruno announced she was back with Exposé for the first time in 15 years. Moneymaker remains an honorary member of the group and has stated she would fill in for any member who may not be available, or to appear with the full lineup on special occasions.


title: Exposé (group)

text: On October 21, 2006, Exposé kicked off its tour at the American Airlines Arena in Miami for the Freestyle Explosion concert, with the lineup of Curless, Jurado, and Bruno. On November 29, 2006, at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino Northern Lights Theater in Milwaukee, Exposé performed a 16-song show with a full band led by Steve Fansler, marking their first full concert together with Bruno since 1990. The group performed sets at freestyle concerts and gay pride events throughout the country. The group continues to perform at special events throughout the United States, including venues such as Epcot and Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den.


title: Exposé (group)

text: In 2010, Exposé informed fans on Facebook that they are recording a new album. Exposé recorded a 2011 version of their hit "Point Of No Return" working with dance producer Giuseppe D. and Chris Cox. The cd single was released on June 20, 2011. The group released a single for Christmas called "I Believe In Christmas (Like It Used To Be)" in December, 2011 co-written by Adam Gorgoni, Jeanette Jurado and Shelly Peiken. Proceeds of the single went to the Wounded Warrior Project. In August 2012, the group independently released the single "Shine On," co-written by Ann Curless. Curless also sings lead vocals on the track.


title: Exposé (group)

text: In December 2007, Jurado, Bruno, Curless, Moneymaker, Paradise Artists, and Walking Distance Entertainment were named as defendants in a lawsuit by Crystal Entertainment & Filmworks (I & II). At issue was the trademark licensing agreement for the rights to use the name Exposé. The first case was dismissed without prejudice. The second one went to trial. During the process, both Paradise Artists and Moneymaker were dismissed as defendants, and a counter suit was filed against the plaintiffs. On May 26, 2009, the court ruled in favor of the defendants on most counts, finding them only guilty of a contractual breach with the plaintiffs. The court also ruled that the plaintiffs did not prove ownership of the mark, and established that due to the line-up being the same since 1986 (with Moneymaker only replacing Bruno because of her illness) and clear identification of the group members on the albums and with touring, the defendants showed common-law proof of ownership and the "[consumer] goodwill associated with Exposé was with the members". The court awarded Jurado, Bruno, and Curless exclusive rights to the name Exposé as a trademark.


title: Exposé (group)

text: Exposé mentioned this victory, and performed for the first time with Moneymaker as a guest at the LA Gay Pride Festival on June 14, 2009, making it the first time all four core members, Jurado, Bruno, Curless, and Moneymaker, appeared on stage together. The plaintiffs appealed in The Eleventh Circuit court, and the judgment was affirmed in a published opinion by the district court on June 21, 2011.


title: Exposé (group)

text: In January 2015, Cherry Pop Records re-issued the group's debut album. Comprising two discs, this re-issue came with an extensive booklet, which detailed the history of Exposé, the story behind the songs, as well as the lyrics to all the tracks.


title: Exposé (group)

text: Disc One contains the full album, along with numerous bonus tracks including the radio versions of 'Come Go With Me', 'Point Of No Return', 'Seasons Change', & 'Let Me Be The One', as well as 'December' and 'Exposed To Love'. Disc Two consists of extended versions, along with the crossover mixes, often featured on the 12" & CD Singles.


title: Priya Gill

text: Priya Gill is a former Indian actress. She appeared mainly in Hindi films, along with a film each in Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, Bhojpuri and movies in Telugu. She was the second runner-up in Miss India 1995.


title: Priya Gill

text: Gill began her Bollywood career with the ABCL production "Tere Mere Sapne" (1996) along with Arshad Warsi and Chandrachur Singh. Other film appearances include the hit films "Sirf Tum" (1999), "Josh" (2000) and Red (2002). After appearing in some Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi films, she left acting in 2006.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The politics of Saudi Arabia takes place in the context of a unitary absolute monarchy along Islamic lines, where the King is both the head of state and government. Decisions are, to a large extent, made on the basis of consultation among the King, the Council of Ministers, and the country's traditional elites. Most critics regard the Saudi government as a totalitarian state.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The Basic Law of Saudi Arabia contains many characteristics of what might be called a constitution in other countries. However, The Qur'an is declared to be the official constitution of the country which is governed on the basis of Islamic law (Shari'a). The Allegiance Council is responsible to determine the new King and the new Crown Prince. All citizens of full age have a right to attend, meet, and petition the king directly through the traditional tribal meeting known as the majlis.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The government is dominated by the vast royal family, the Al Saud, which has often been divided by internal disputes and into factions. The members of the family are the principal political actors allowed by the government. Political participation outside the royal family is limited. Saudi Arabia is one of only two countries (the other being Vatican City) that does not have a separate legislative body.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, although, according to the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia's de facto constitution, adopted by royal decree in 1992, the king must comply with Sharia (that is, Islamic law) and the Qur'an. The Qur'an and the Sunnah are declared to be the de jure country's constitution. There is no legally binding written constitution and the Qur'an and the Sunna remain subject to interpretation. This is carried out by the Council of Senior Scholars, the Saudi religious establishment, although the power of the religious establishment has been significantly eroded in the 2010s.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The government of Saudi Arabia is led by the monarch, King Salman, who acceded to the throne on 23 January 2015. No political parties or national elections are permitted, and according to "The Economist"s 2010 Democracy Index, the Saudi government was the seventh-most authoritarian regime among the 167 countries rated. Government is dominated by the royal family.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The Basic Law specifies that the king must be chosen from among the sons of the first king, Abdul Aziz Al Saud, and their male descendants subject to the subsequent approval of leaders (the ulama). In 2007, an "Allegiance Council" was created, comprising King Abdulaziz's surviving sons plus a son of each of his deceased sons, to determine who will be the heir apparent (the Crown Prince) after the previous heir apparent dies or accedes to the throne. Prince Mohammad bin Salman is the current Crown Prince, and is widely regarded as the country's "de facto" ruler.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The king combines legislative, executive, and judicial functions and royal decrees form the basis of the country's legislation. The king is also the prime minister and presides over the Council of Ministers (Majlis al-Wuzarāʾ), which comprises the first and second deputy prime ministers (usually the first and second in line to the throne respectively), 23 ministers with portfolio, and five ministers of state. The king makes appointments to and dismissals from the council, which is responsible for such executive and administrative matters as foreign and domestic policy, defense, finance, health, and education, administered through numerous separate agencies. There is also a 150-member Consultative Assembly, appointed by the King, which can propose legislation to the King but has no legislative powers itself, including no role in budget formation. The government budget itself is not fully disclosed to the public. "Fully 40%" ... is labeled 'Other sectors' (including defense, security, intelligence, direct investment of the kingdom's revenues outside the country, and how much goes directly to the royal family).


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Although in theory, the country is an absolute monarchy, in practice major policy decisions are made outside these formal governmental structures and not solely by the king. Decisions are made by establishing a consensus within the royal family (comprising the numerous descendants of the kingdom's founder, King Abdulaziz). Also, the views of important members of Saudi society, including the ulama (religious scholars), leading tribal sheiks, and heads of prominent commercial families are considered.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: As an absolute monarchy, the personality and capabilities of the reigning monarch influence the politics and national policies of the country. King Saud (1953–1964) was considered incompetent and extravagant and his reign led to an economic and political crisis that resulted in his forced abdication. King Faisal (1964–1975) was a "modernist" who favored economic, technological and governmental progress but was also politically and religiously conservative. He directed the country's rapid economic and bureaucratic development of the early 1970s, but also made concessions to the religious establishment, and abandoned plans to broaden political participation. King Khalid (1975–1982) left government largely to his Crown Prince, Fahd, who succeeded him as King (1982–2005). Prince Fahd was a talented administrator who initiated significant industrial development in the Kingdom. He was regarded by many as the "father of the country's modernization". However, during the last 10 years of his reign, ill-health prevented him from fully functioning. In the absence of a king who could provide strong central leadership, the state structure began to fragment and the country stagnated. King Abdullah, who came to the throne in 2005, was seen as a reformer and has introduced economic reforms (limited deregulation, encouragement of foreign investment, and privatization) and made modernizing changes to the judiciary and government ministries.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The royal family dominates the political system. The family's vast numbers allow it to hold most of the kingdom's important posts and to have an involvement and presence at all levels of government.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The number of princes is estimated to be anything from 7,000 upwards, with the most power and influence being wielded by the 200 or so male descendants of King Abdulaziz.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The key ministries have historically been reserved for the royal family, as are the thirteen regional governorships. With the large number of family members seeking well-paying jobs, critics complain that even "middle management" jobs in the Kingdom are out of reach for non-royal Saudis, limiting upward mobility and incentive for commoners to excel.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The one exception to this rule was Khaled al-Tuwaijri, Secretary-General of the Court and King Abdullah's "éminence grise". He was a commoner and immensely powerful, which meant he was despised by most royals, especially the Sideris, who sacked him as soon as the old king died.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Long term political and government appointments result in the creation of "power fiefdoms" for senior princes.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Examples include: King Abdullah, who was the Commander of the National Guard from 1963 until 2010, when he then appointed his son to replace him;


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Crown Prince Sultan, was Minister of Defense and Aviation from 1962 to 2011; Prince Nayef was the Minister of Interior from 1975 until his death in 2012; Prince Saud had been Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1975 to just before his death in 2015;


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In the absence of national elections and political parties, politics in Saudi Arabia takes place in two distinct arenas: within the royal family, the Al Saud, and between the royal family and the rest of Saudi society. The royal family is politically divided by factions based on clan loyalties, personal ambitions and ideological differences. The most powerful clan faction is known as the 'Sudairi Seven', comprising the late King Fahd and his full brothers and their descendants. Ideological divisions include issues over the speed and direction of reform, and whether the role of the ulama should be increased or reduced. There were also divisions within the family over who should succeed Crown Prince Sultan.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Leading figures in the royal family with differing ideological orientations included Prince Nayef, the late Interior Minister, and Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister. Prince Nayef was personally committed to maintaining Saudi Arabia's conservative Wahhabi values. Of the senior princes, he was probably the least comfortable with King Abdullah's desire for reform. Following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, perpetrated mostly by Saudi nationals, Prince Nayef was strongly criticized by the U.S. for his reaction. It also took pressure from within the royal family for him to launch a hunt for Islamist militants who had attacked Western targets in Saudi Arabia. By contrast, Prince Saud Al Faisal is one of the strongest supporters of political and social reform. For example, he (as well as King Abdullah) has spoken in favor of women having the right to vote, to follow the career path they wish and to be able to drive a car. Women would be able to vote in municipal elections beginning in 2012.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The significance of the ulama (the body of Islamic religious leaders and jurists) is derived from the central role of religion in Saudi society. It has been said that Islam is more than a religion, it is a way of life in Saudi Arabia, and, as a result, the influence of the ulama is pervasive. Saudi Arabia is almost unique in giving the ulama a direct role in government, the only other example being Iran. Prior to 1971, a council of senior ulama advising the king was headed by the Grand Mufti and met informally. In that year, the council was formalized in a Council of Senior Scholars, appointed by the king and with salaries paid by the government.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Not only is royal succession subject to the approval of the ulama, so are all new laws (royal decrees). The ulama have also influenced major executive decisions, for example the imposition of the oil embargo in 1973 and the invitation of foreign troops to Saudi Arabia in 1990. It plays a major role in the judicial and education systems and has a monopoly of authority in the sphere of religious and social morals.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: By the 1970s, as a result of oil wealth and the modernization of the country initiated by King Faisal, important changes to Saudi society were under way and the power of the ulama was in decline. However, this changed following the seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979 by Islamist radicals. The government's response to the crisis included strengthening the ulama's powers and increasing their financial support: in particular, they were given greater control over the education system and allowed to enforce stricter observance of Wahhabi rules of moral and social behaviour. Following his accession to the throne in 2005, King Abdullah took steps to rein back the powers of the ulama, for instance transferring their control over girls' education to the Ministry of Education.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The ulama have historically been led by the Al ash-Sheikh, the country's leading religious family. The Al ash-Sheikh are the descendants of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the 18th century founder of the Wahhabi form of Sunni Islam which is today dominant in Saudi Arabia. The family is second in prestige only to the Al Saud (the royal family) with whom they formed a "mutual support pact" and power-sharing arrangement nearly 300 years ago. The pact, which persists to this day, is based on the Al Saud maintaining the Al ash-Sheikh's authority in religious matters and upholding and propagating Wahhabi doctrine. In return, the Al ash-Sheikh support the Al Saud's political authority thereby using its religious-moral authority to legitimize the royal family's rule. Although the Al ash Sheikh's domination of the ulama has diminished in recent decades, they still hold the most important religious posts and are closely linked to the Al Saud by a high degree of intermarriage.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Corruption is widespread in Saudi Arabia, most prevalent in the form of nepotism, the use of middlemen, ‘wasta’, to do business as well as patronage systems.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The Saudi government and the royal family have often, and over many years, been accused of corruption. In a country that is said to "belong" to the royal family and is named after it, the lines between state assets and the personal wealth of senior princes are blurred. The corruption has been described as systemic and endemic, and its existence was acknowledged and defended by Prince Bandar bin Sultan (a senior member of the royal family) in an interview in 2001.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Although corruption allegations have often been limited to broad undocumented accusations, specific allegations were made in 2007, when it was claimed that the British defence contractor BAE Systems had paid Prince Bandar US$2 billion in bribes relating to the Al-Yamamah arms deal. Prince Bandar denied the allegations. Investigations by both US and UK authorities resulted, in 2010, in plea bargain agreements with the company, by which it paid $447 million in fines but did not admit to bribery. Transparency International in its annual Corruption Perceptions Index for 2012 gave Saudi Arabia a score of 4.4 (on a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is "highly corrupt" and 10 is "highly clean").


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: On 5 November 2017 Saudi Arabian anti-corruption arrests, 11 princes and dozens of former ministers were detained in a new anti-corruption probe in Saudi Arabia. Among those detained include prominent billionaire investor Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, National Guard Minister Miteb bin Abdullah and Economy and Planning Minister Adel Fakeih. The official line is that the purge was in response to corrupt practices by the accused and that the anti-corruption committee has the right to issue arrest warrants, impose travel restrictions and freeze bank accounts. It is also empowered to investigate financials and freeze assets until cases are decided on. The Royal proclamation further said, "due to the propensity of some people for abuse, putting their interest above public interest, and stealing public funds."


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2018, Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi was kidnapped and killed after he criticized the Saudi government.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: On 6 March 2020, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman detained three senior royal members, including the King Salman's brother Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, the former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and his younger brother, to eliminate the risk of potential successors of the throne.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: On 15 March 2020, Saudi Arabia conducted another mass-detention campaign and arrested 298 government employees out of the 674 people investigated on suspicion of corruption. The detainees included current and retired military officers, security officers under the Interior Ministry, health officials and judges. The mass-detention raised human rights concerns, where the Human Rights Watch called for the revelation of the legal and evidentiary basis for each person's detention.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: On 6 August 2020, former top Saudi Intelligence official Saad AlJabri, who self-exiled in Canada, filed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and other high-ranking officials. The lawsuit was filed at the Washington, D.C. court under the Torture Victim Protection Act, accusing the crown prince of sending a hit squad, dubbed “Tiger Squad”, in October 2018 for his extrajudicial killing.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In March 2021, more than 240 people were arrested in Saudi Arabia for corruption. Employees from the ministries of interior, health, municipal and rural affairs and housing, education, and human resources and social development, customs and the postal story were arrested.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, there has been mounting pressure to reform and modernize the royal family's rule, an agenda championed by King Abdullah both before and after his accession in 2005. The creation of the Consultative Council in the early 1990s did not satisfy demands for political participation, and, in 2003, an annual "National Dialogue Forum" was announced that would allow selected professionals and intellectuals to publicly debate current national issues, within certain prescribed parameters. In 2005, the first municipal elections were held. In 2007, the Allegiance Council was created to regulate the succession. In 2009, the king made significant personnel changes to the government by appointing reformers to key positions and the first woman to a ministerial post. However, the changes have been criticized as being too slow or merely cosmetic, and the royal family is reportedly divided on the speed and direction of reform.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Politics in Saudi Arabia, outside the royal family, can be examined in three contexts: the extent to which the royal family allows political participation by the wider Saudi society, opposition to the regime, and Islamist terrorism.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Outside the House of Al Saud, participation in the political process is limited to a relatively small segment of the population and takes the form of the royal family consulting with the ulama, tribal sheiks and members of important commercial families on major decisions. This process is not reported by the Saudi media. In theory, all males of the age of majority have a right to petition the king directly through the traditional tribal meeting known as the "majlis". In many ways, the approach to government differs little from the traditional system of tribal rule. Tribal identity remains strong and, outside the royal family, political influence is frequently determined by tribal affiliation, with tribal sheiks maintaining a considerable degree of influence over local and national events. In recent years there have been limited steps to widen political participation, such as the establishment of the Consultative Council in the early 1990s and the National Dialogue Forum in 2003.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The rule of the Al Saud faces political opposition from four sources: Sunni Islamist activism, liberal critics, including an underground green party, the Shia minority – particularly in the Eastern Province; and long-standing tribal and regional particularistic opponents (for example in the Hejaz). Of these, the Islamic activists have been the most prominent threat to the regime and have in recent years perpetrated a number of violent or terrorist acts in the country. However, open protest against the government, even if peaceful, is not tolerated. On 29 January 2011, hundreds of protesters gathered in the city of Jeddah in a rare display of protest against the city's poor infrastructure after deadly floods swept through the city, killing eleven people. Police stopped the demonstration after about 15 minutes and arrested 30 to 50 people.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In March 2018, the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman faced severe criticism from British opposition figures during his visit to the United Kingdom. Salman was accused of funding extremism in the UK, committing human rights abuses domestically, and breaching international humanitarian law in Yemen with the on-going war, where millions are on the verge of famine. Later that year, he was criticized by many other countries after Saudi American journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: On 24 September 2020, a group of dissidents from Saudi Arabia announced the launch of a political party in opposition to King Salman's rule. The National Assembly Party members were exiled in the US, Britain, and elsewhere at the time of the party's launch from London. The opposition party aims to bring democracy as a form of government in the absolute monarchy and oust the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. The NAP is the first formalized political opposition in King Salman's rule. The country's Basic Law bans the formation of political parties and sanctions sedition and condemnation of the king with long jail terms. The founding members of the National Assembly Party are Activist Yahya Assiri, comedian Omar Abdulaziz, Professor Madawi al-Rasheed, and scholar Abdullah al-Aoudh.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Osama bin Laden and 15 out of the 19 9/11 hijackers (alleged) were Saudi nationals or used to be Saudi nationals and former CIA director James Woolsey described Saudi Arabian Wahhabism as "the soil in which Al-Qaeda and its sister terrorist organizations are flourishing."


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Since 2011, Saudi Arabia has been affected by its own Arab Spring protests. In response, King Abdullah announced on 22 February 2011 a series of benefits for citizens amounting to $36 billion, of which $10.7 billion was earmarked for housing. No political reforms were announced as part of the package, though some prisoners indicted for financial crimes were pardoned. On 18 March the same year, King Abdullah announced a package of $93 billion, which included 500,000 new homes to a cost of $67 billion, in addition to creating 60,000 new security jobs.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The lack of critical thought in the education system has been cited by some as the reason why fewer protests occurred in the Kingdom.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries also sent some Police men to Bahrain to assist police clampdown on protesters within Bahrain.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The kingdom is divided into 13 regions ("manāṭiq"), which in turn are divided into numerous districts. Regional governors are appointed, usually from the royal family, and preside over one or more municipal councils, half of whose members are appointed and half elected. The governors are responsible for such functions as finance, health, education, agriculture, and municipalities. The consultative principle operates at all levels of government, including the government of villages and tribes. The governors act as regional "mini-kings", sitting in majlises, hearing grievances and settling disputes.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In February 2005, the first elections in Saudi Arabian history were held. The elections for "virtually powerless" municipal councils were for half the seats (half of each council's seats were appointed). Women were not allowed to stand for office or to vote.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In Riyadh, the number of registered voters did not exceed 18% of those eligible to vote, representing only 2% of the city's population. There was evidence of much greater interest in the Shia community of the Eastern Province. Women will be allowed to vote beginning in 2012, as King Abdullah announced in the opening speech of the new term of the Shura Council.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2005, candidates tended to be local businessmen, activists, and professionals. Although political parties were not permitted, it was possible to identify candidates as having an Islamist orientation, a liberal agenda or reliant on tribal status. The Islamist candidates tended to be backed by public figures and the religious establishment and won most of the seats in the Saudi cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina, Tabuk and Taif. Candidates with "Western sympathies or any suspicion of secularism" lost out heavily to "hardline conservatives who were endorsed by the local religious establishment." This demonstrated to some that rather than being a conservative force holding back the country, the royal family was more progressive than the Saudi population as a whole.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2007, a Saudi commentator noted that the municipal councils were proving to be powerless. Nevertheless, the elections represented an important step in modernizing the regime.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Although male-only municipal elections were held again on 29 September 2011, Abdullah announced that women will be able to vote and be elected in the 2015 municipal elections.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In March 1992, King Fahd issued several decrees outlining the basic statutes of government and codifying royal succession for the first time. The King's political reform program also provided for the establishment of a national Consultative Council, with appointed members having advisory powers to review and give advice on issues of public interest. It also outlined a framework for councils at the provincial or emirate level.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In September 1993, King Fahd issued additional reform decrees, appointing the members of the National Consultative Council and spelling out procedures for the new council's operations. He announced reforms to the Council of Ministers, including term limitations of 4 years and regulations to prohibit conflict of interest for ministers and other high-level officials. The members of 13 provincial councils and the councils' operating regulations were also announced.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: The membership of the Consultative Council was expanded from 60 to 90 members in July 1997, to 120 in May 2001, and to 150 members in 2005. Membership has changed significantly during each expansion of the council, as many members have not been reappointed. The role of the council is gradually expanding as it gains experience.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Municipal elections took place in 2005 and some journalists saw this as a first tentative step towards the introduction of democratic processes in the Kingdom, including the legalization of political parties. Other analysts of the Saudi political scene were more skeptical. Islamist candidates, often businessmen, did well, but in practice had little real power. In 2009, promised new elections and hopes for female suffrage in them were postponed for at least two years.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: On 15 February 2009, in a reshuffle King Abdullah removed Sheikh Ibrahim Bin Abdullah Al-Ghaith from his position as President of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. He also removed Sheikh Saleh al-Luhaidan as head of the Supreme Judicial Council and appointed the first female minister.


title: Politics of Saudi Arabia

text: In his first act as King, Salman removed Khaled al-Tuwaijri, Abdullah's "de facto" Prime Minister and "éminence grise", replacing him with Mohammed bin Nayef.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Jamaal RaShaad Jones Charles (born December 27, 1986) is a former American football running back. He played college football for the University of Texas, where he won the 2006 Rose Bowl, and was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles's first year as a Chief was hardly in the spotlight; as a backup to halfback Larry Johnson, Charles rushed only 67 times for 357 yards. His breakout season came the following year in 2009. In his second year, Charles rushed 190 times for 1,120 yards, despite only starting 10 games after Johnson was suspended. Shortly thereafter, Johnson was released, leaving Charles as Kansas City's starting halfback. Over the next several seasons he would make four Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams, and would lead the league in rushing touchdowns in 2013. However, injuries would take their toll and lead to him appearing in just five games in 2015 and 2016, and he was eventually released by the team.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles then briefly played for the Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars. He is the all-time leader in yards per carry among players with at least 1,000 carries with 5.38 yards per carry.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles has reported being diagnosed with a learning disability as a child, having difficulty reading, and being mocked and teased. In 2015, he shared his experience including being invited to participate in the Special Olympics: "[...] I was afraid. I was lost. When I was a boy, I had trouble reading. I found out I had a learning disability. People made fun of me. They said I would never go anywhere. But I learned I can fly. When I was 10 years old, I had a chance to compete in the Special Olympics. That's right, the Special Olympics gave me my first chance to discover the talent I did not know that I had. When I competed in the Special Olympics, I found out just how fast I was. I stood high on the podium, getting the gold medal in track and field."


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles attended and played high school football for Memorial High School of Port Arthur, Texas. As a junior, he ran for 2,051 yards and 25 touchdowns while leading Memorial to the 5A Division II quarterfinals. He was named first-team all-state by the Texas Sports Writers Association and second-team all-state by the Associated Press.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles followed up his stellar junior season by rushing for 2,056 yards and 25 touchdowns during his senior year with the Titans. The Associated Press named him to their first-team all-state squad and he was declared the "Houston Chronicle" area offensive MVP. Charles was also named to the 2005 "Parade" All-America Football Team and was the District 22-5A Player of the Year both his junior and senior year. Charles participated in the 2005 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles is a two-time recipient of the Willie Ray Smith Award, which is given to the southeast Texas offensive MVP.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles was a standout track athlete at Port Arthur (TX) Memorial. In the summer between his sophomore and junior years, Charles won the bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics. He went on to win the 110m hurdles and 300m hurdles Texas 5A state championships with times of 13.69 and 36.03 seconds, respectively, his senior year.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: On March 11, 2006, Charles placed fourth in the NCAA 60-meter indoor track and field championship finals. On May 14, 2006, Charles captured his first conference title and the third Big 12 100-meter title for Texas by winning the event in 10.23 at the Big 12 outdoor meet. He led the 200 meter race after the preliminary round but elected not to participate in the final, as Texas had the Big 12 team title well in hand. On June 10, at the NCAA outdoor competition, Charles took fifth place in the 100 meter finals, edging out UTEP's stand-out sprinter Churandy Martina (sixth place), who earlier in the year ran a 9.76 (wind-aided) 100-meters. Charles also placed seventh in the 200 meter finals, and ran the third leg of the 4 × 100 Texas Longhorn relay team, earning a fifth place in the finals. Charles's efforts helped the Longhorns earn a third place showing for the men's track and field team, the highest since a second-place finish at the 1997 NCAA finals. Thus, Charles completed his first collegiate track season as a four-time All-American (60m indoor, 100m outdoor, 200m outdoor, 4 × 100 m relay outdoor).


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles attended and played college football for the University of Texas from 2005 to 2007 under head coach Mack Brown.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: In his true freshman season with the Longhorns, Charles was an instant contributor in a crowded backfield that included Vince Young as a dual-threat quarterback. In his collegiate debut against Louisiana-Lafayette, he had 14 carries for 135 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 60–3 victory. Two weeks later, against Rice, he had 16 carries for 189 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in the 51–10 victory. On October 8, in the Red River Showdown against Oklahoma, he had nine carries 116 rushing yards and a touchdown in the 45–12 victory. Texas ended up going 11–0 in the regular season to earn a berth in the Big 12 Championship Game against Colorado. Against the Buffaloes, he had seven carries for 62 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 70–3 victory. The victory put Texas in the National Championship Game in the Rose Bowl against the USC Trojans. He had five carries for 34 rushing yards in the 41–38 victory as Texas claimed a perfect season and National Championship.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Overall, Charles rushed 119 times for 878 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging 7.4 yards per carry. He finished second on the team in rushing attempts and rushing yards and third in rushing touchdowns.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: In the 2006 season, the Longhorns' rushing offense dropped significantly from the prior year going from 274.9 yards per game to 162.6 yards per game. Despite the down year for the rushing offense and sharing the backfield with Selvin Young, Charles's production remained consistent compared to his freshman year. He went over 100 rushing yards once, which was against in-state rival Rice in the Longhorns' third game, a 52–7 victory. He found the endzone on the ground twice on November 11 against Kansas State in a 45–42 loss. He had a 72-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Colt McCoy in the 2006 Alamo Bowl 26–24 victory over Iowa. Overall, he finished with 831 rushing yards, seven rushing touchdowns, 18 receptions, 183 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: In the summer prior to the 2007 season, some observers believed he was the fastest college running back in the upcoming season. CBS SportsLine said, "Track star Jamaal Charles has the potential at running back to enjoy a break-out season and possesses the kind of breakaway speed that lead to an 80-yard rush and a 70-yard catch last season." "Athlon Sports" remarked, "Over the last two years, running back Jamaal Charles has run for 1,702 yards at 6.2 yards per carry with 18 touchdowns despite starting only four games. He has the job to himself and should have a breakout year."


title: Jamaal Charles

text: In 2007, Charles rushed for 1,619 yards, with an average of 6.3 yards per carry. Charles started the season with 27 carries for 112 rushing yards and a touchdown in a 21–13 victory over Arkansas State. In the next game, a 34–13 victory over rival TCU, he had


title: Jamaal Charles

text: 22 carries for 134 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. In the next game, a 35–32 away victory at Central Florida, he had 22 carries for 153 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, which put the Longhorns up by two possessions late in the game. In the next game, he had 14 carries for 72 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in a 58–14 victory over Rice. Despite his successes early in the season, Mack Brown and Greg Davis hinted that Charles could face less playing time as a result of his fumbling problems. Charles said that he felt a deep remorse over his fumbles and felt that he is the biggest reason the team lost to the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2007 Red River Shootout. Texas running backs coach Ken Rucker and former Longhorn running back Earl Campbell both worked with Charles on his ball handling. Greg Davis said he wanted to get the ball to Charles "in space", on pitches and passes, instead of in heavy traffic up the center.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: On October 28, 2007, Charles rushed 33 times for 290 yards in the 28–25 victory, the most ever against the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the fourth-highest total in Texas Longhorns history. His 216 yards in the fourth quarter were just six shy of the NCAA record for a single quarter set by the University of Washington Huskies's Corey Dillon in 1996. For these accomplishments, Charles won a fan vote for AT&T All-America Player of the Week. He followed that up with 16 carries for 180 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in a 38–35 victory over Oklahoma State. On November 10, against rival Texas Tech, he had 23 carries for 174 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 59–43 victory. In the Holiday Bowl against Arizona State, he had 27 carries for 161 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 52–34 victory.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles decided to forgo his senior season with Texas in favor of joining the NFL as a professional football player in the 2008 NFL Draft. This decision came after earlier statements that he would stay with Texas. In November, Charles said he would return for his senior season rather than enter professional football in the NFL. Sources reported in December 2007 that Charles and fellow Longhorn Jermichael Finley had filed paperwork with the NFL to evaluate how high they might be drafted if they decided enter professional football in the NFL Draft instead of returning for their senior season. Mack Brown did not comment about specific players but said, "We always try to help our guys get as much information as possible when it comes to the NFL. We encourage and help them go through the process... All of our underclassmen have told us they will be coming back, but if you're playing well enough to be considered an NFL prospect, going through the process can only help you better understand it and realize what you need to work on to improve your status." Charles said he would not go pro unless he was predicted to be chosen in the first round of the draft. After the Holiday Bowl, Charles said, "Right now, I'm probably coming back. I didn't think I did that good in the game. Next year maybe I'll be up for the Heisman. I will come back." From 2000–2007, the Longhorns have had seven players taken in the Top 10 draft picks by the NFL, more than any other school. On January 2, Charles announced he received and was happy with the results of his draft evaluation and that he would declare for the draft.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Despite skipping his senior year, Charles ranked fourth in the list of total-rushing yards by a Texas player, behind Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson, and Earl Campbell, with 3,328 yards. Williams and Campbell each won the Heisman Trophy in their senior season.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: The Kansas City Chiefs selected Charles in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft with the 73rd overall pick, acquired from the Minnesota Vikings in the Jared Allen trade. He was the ninth running back to be selected that year. Charles thought he would go early in the second round but said he had no regrets about leaving college early. Charles was expected to begin his career as the Chiefs' No. 3 back behind Larry Johnson and Kolby Smith.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: In his NFL debut, Charles started the game and rushed for 28 yards on five carries and had two receptions for six yards in the 17–10 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 1. In Week 9, with Larry Johnson out, Charles had 18 carries for 106 rushing yards in a 30–27 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Week 12, against the Buffalo Bills, Charles had his first professional touchdown on a 36-yard reception from quarterback Tyler Thigpen in the 54–31 loss. In Week 16, Charles had three catches for 102 receiving yards, including a 75-yard reception to help set up a Larry Johnson rushing touchdown, against the Miami Dolphins in the 38–31 loss. In Charles's rookie season, he ended with 67 carries for 357 rushing yards for a 5.3 yards per carry average. In addition, he had 27 receptions for 272 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: In the first six games of the 2009 season, Charles saw a limited role with 23 carries for 116 rushing yards and 14 receptions for 120 receiving yards to go along with kick return duties. During Week 9 of the 2009 NFL season, Larry Johnson was released and Charles was promoted to first-string but split carries with Kolby Smith. In limited action against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9, Charles managed 36 yards on only six carries for a six-yard per carry average. During Week 10, against the Oakland Raiders, Charles ran for 103 yards on 18 carries including a 44-yard touchdown run, the Chiefs first rushing touchdown of the year and the first rushing touchdown of Charles's professional career, in the 16–10 victory. In Week 11, in a 27–24 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Charles returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. He went on to have 17 carries for 58 rushing yards and had a two-yard reception for a touchdown. Charles became the fourth player in franchise history to have a receiving touchdown and a kickoff return touchdown in the same game. Charles was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. In Week 14, against the Buffalo Bills, Charles ran for a 76-yard touchdown, one of the longest runs in Chiefs history, as part of a 20-carry, 143-rushing yard performance. In Week 15, against the Cleveland Browns, he had 25 carries for 154 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown in the 41–34 loss. In Week 16, in a 17–10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, he had 24 carries for 102 rushing yards. In Week 17, on the road against the Denver Broncos, Charles rushed for a career-high 259 yards on 25 carries, scoring two rushing touchdowns and breaking the Chiefs' single-game rushing record, in the 44–24 victory. Charles became only the fourth player in NFL history to run for over 250 yards in a single game while averaging over 10 yards a carry. On the season, he became the only player in NFL history to rush for 1,100 or more yards in 200 or fewer carries.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: In the 2010 season, Charles shared the majority of backfield carries with Thomas Jones. The Chiefs opened up the 2010 season with a 21–14 win over their division rival, the San Diego Chargers. In that game, Charles played a pivotal role, including a 56-yard rushing score. On October 31, against the Buffalo Bills, he had 22 carries for 177 rushing yards in the 13–10 victory. On November 28, against the Seattle Seahawks, he had 22 carries for 173 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 42–24 victory. In the following game, he had 136 scrimmage yards in the 10–6 victory over the Denver Broncos. In Week 15, against the St. Louis Rams, he had 153 scrimmage yards and a rushing touchdown in the 27–13 victory. Charles finished the season with 1,467 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns on only 230 carries. In addition, he had 45 receptions for 468 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns. He was voted to his first career Pro Bowl. His 6.38 yards per carry average for the season was the second-highest average in NFL history, second only to Hall of Famer Jim Brown, only two one-hundredths of a yard off of the record pace set by the Browns legend.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: On December 11, 2010, the Chiefs reached an agreement with Charles on a five-year, $32.5 million deal that included $13 million guaranteed. Charles made his postseason debut in the against the Baltimore Ravens. He had nine carries for 82 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 30–7 loss. In the 2011 Pro Bowl, Charles rushed for 72-yards on 10 carries and scored one touchdown. Charles was honored for his performance in the 2010 season by being selected to his first AP All-Pro team. On the NFL Network's Top 100 Players of 2011, Charles was ranked the 33rd by his fellow players and was also one of the youngest players on the list.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles's 2011 season was short lived. In Week 2, against the Detroit Lions, he suffered an ACL injury. Chiefs head coach Todd Haley confirmed the next day that Charles would miss the remainder of the 2011 season. He was officially placed on injured reserve on September 19.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Coming off of an ACL injury in 2011, Charles had an All-Pro caliber season, running for 1,509 yards and five touchdowns. Once again, Charles proved to be very efficient running the ball as he managed a 5.3 yard per carry average on the year. In the season opening 40–24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, he had 87 rushing yards on 16 carries in his first action back from injury.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: In Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints, Charles ran a career-high 33 times for 233 rushing yards, scored a rushing touchdown, and caught six passes for 55 yards to earn his first AFC Offensive Player of the Week nod. Charles became the first player in franchise history to rush for at least 200 rushing yards and have at least 50 receiving yards in the same game. His 91-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter was the longest rushing play in franchise history, a feat later tied by Damien Williams in the 2019 season.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: In Week 5 against Baltimore Ravens, Charles had 31 carries for 140 rushing yards in the 9–6 loss. However, in Week 8, Charles carried the ball only five times for four rushing yards in a 26–16 loss to the Oakland Raiders. When asked the reason why, head coach Romeo Crennel said "Now, that I'm not exactly sure, either."


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Starting In Week 10 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Charles reeled off a stretch where he had over 100 scrimmage yards, including 165 rushing yards against the Cleveland Browns, in five consecutive games. In a 20–13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 16, Charles carried the ball 22 times for 226 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. He became the second player in franchise history, joining Larry Johnson, to record two games with at least 200 rushing yards in a single season. Charles's performance was his second career game with over 200 rushing yards while averaging more than ten yards a carry. He became only the second player in NFL history to accomplish the feat, after Adrian Peterson, who accomplished his feat in the 2012 season as well. Charles carried the ball at least 20 times in six games, and in each of those games managed at least 100 yards. This has been a trend throughout his entire career, in every game he has carried the ball 20 times, he has gained at least 100 yards. On December 23, 2012, following his qualifying 750th career carry, Charles broke NFL legend Jim Brown's 47-year-old all-time average yards per carry record of 5.22 with an average of 5.82. He was named to his second Pro Bowl as a result of his successful season. On the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013, he was ranked 20th by his peers


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles started the 2013 season with scoring at least one touchdown in each of the first seven games. In Weeks 12 and 14, he went over 150 scrimmage yards and scored two touchdowns in both games against the San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: On December 15, in the second divisional game against the Oakland Raiders in Week 15, Charles had eight receptions for 195 receiving yards, eight carries for 20 rushing yards, and five total touchdowns (four receiving, one rushing) in a 56–31 Chiefs victory. Charles's performance made him the first Chiefs player to score five touchdowns in a game since Abner Haynes accomplished the feat for the Dallas Texans in 1961. He became the first player in NFL history to have four touchdown receptions and one rushing touchdown in a single game. He scored 30 total fantasy points in the game, which was tied with for the most by any player in a single game in the 2013 season, and earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Charles's performance was only the 11th game in NFL history where a player accounted for at least 30 points, the first since Clinton Portis accomplished the feat against the Chiefs in 2003. His 195 receiving yards were the fourth-most for a running back in a single game in NFL history and the most since Marshall Faulk had 204 against the Chicago Bears in 1999.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Overall, Charles finished the 2013 season with 259 carries for 1,287 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns to go along with 70 receptions for 693 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns. Charles ended up leading the team in targets, receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. His 12 rushing touchdowns tied with Marshawn Lynch for the league lead. In the Chiefs' game against the Indianapolis Colts, Charles recorded three carries for 18 rushing yards before having to leave the 45–44 loss with a concussion in the first quarter.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles earned First-team All-Pro honors for the second time in his career. He was named to his second consecutive and third career Pro Bowl. He was ranked as the eighth best player in the NFL on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: On July 23, 2014, one day after threatening to hold out of training camp, Charles agreed to a two-year, $18.1 million extension making him one of the top five highest paid running backs in the NFL. On September 14, 2014, Charles suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 2 against the Denver Broncos. On September 29, against the New England Patriots, he had 18 carries for 92 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 41–14 victory to earn AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. On October 19, against the San Diego Chargers, Charles passed Priest Holmes's mark of 6,070 rushing yards to become the all-time leading rusher for the Chiefs. In the next game, he had 67 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 34–7 victory over the St. Louis Rams. On November 16, against the Seattle Seahawks, he had 159 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 24–20 victory. On December 7, against the Arizona Cardinals, he had 111 scrimmage yards and two total touchdowns in the 17–14 loss. Overall, he finished the 2014 season with 1,033 rushing yards, nine rushing touchdowns, 40 receptions, 291 receiving yards, and five receiving touchdowns. He tied for the team lead in receiving touchdowns, with Travis Kelce, for the second time in his career. He was named to his third consecutive Pro Bowl for the 2014 season. He was ranked 12th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2015.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: In the season opener against the Houston Texans, Charles had recorded 103 scrimmage yards and a receiving touchdown in the 27–20 victory. Four days later, against the Denver Broncos, he had 125 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 24–31 loss. In the loss, he had a key fumble late in the game that was returned for a touchdown by Bradley Roby and gave the Broncos the winning points. In the next game, a 28–38 loss to the Green Bay Packers, he had 11 carries for 49 rushing yards and a career-high three rushing touchdowns. On October 11, Charles tore his ACL in his right knee in a Week 5 game against the Chicago Bears. He was placed on injured reserve ending his season. Despite the injury, Charles was still ranked 75th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Heading into the 2016 season, Charles never fully recovered from his torn ACL suffered the previous season. He returned to the field in Week 5 and played in three games, recording 40 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown along with two receptions for 14 yards. He suffered a setback with his knee prior to Week 8 and needed a second knee surgery to trim his meniscus. He was placed on injured reserve on November 1, 2016.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: On May 2, 2017, Charles signed a one-year, $3.75 million contract with the Denver Broncos. He was part of a backfield rotation that was shared with C. J. Anderson and Devontae Booker. In the season opener against the Los Angeles Chargers, Charles had 10 rushes for 40 yards but lost a fumble in the 24–21 victory. In Week 3, in a 26–16 loss to the Buffalo Bills, he scored his lone rushing touchdown of the season. In 14 games, he had 296 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown, 23 receptions, and 129 receiving yards.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: Charles signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars on October 9, 2018. He was released on October 22, 2018. He played in two games with the Jaguars in the 2018 season and only totaled six carries for seven rushing yards and two receptions for seven receiving yards.


title: Jamaal Charles

text: On May 1, 2019, Charles retired after signing a one-day contract with the Chiefs. After signing the ceremonial contract, he went to the practice field for a ceremonial "last carry", which he took from Patrick Mahomes.


title: Clive Russell

text: Clive Russell (born 7 December 1945) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline in "Ripper Street", Angus O'Connor in "Happiness" and Brynden Tully in the HBO series "Game of Thrones".


title: Clive Russell

text: He also appeared in the Scottish sitcoms "Still Game" and "Rab C Nesbitt" as Big Innes and in teen drama "Hollyoaks" as Jack Osborne's brother Billy Brodie.


title: Clive Russell

text: Russell first performed before an audience in 1960 on "The Shari Lewis Show", but it was not until 1980 that he had his first real acting job – performing on the London stage as the superintendent in Nobel Prize-winner Dario Fo's satire "Accidental Death of an Anarchist", about police corruption in Italy. The reviews were good, and he reprised that role for television in 1983. After further honing his skills in various British TV productions and a handful of films – including "Jute City", "The Power of One", "The Hawk" and "Seconds Out" – Russell received exposure before international audiences as Caleb Garth in the celebrated BBC miniseries "Middlemarch", based on the George Eliot novel of the same name. A year later, he fell in love on the movie screen with Helena Bonham Carter in "Margaret's Museum", for which he earned a Genie nomination at the 16th Genie Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. After more TV roles and another film, Russell played Ralph Fiennes' father in another critically acclaimed film, "Oscar and Lucinda". Growing recognition of his acting skills then brought him major roles in four major TV miniseries: "Great Expectations", "Oliver Twist", "The Railway Children" and "The Mists of Avalon".


title: Clive Russell

text: Standing 6' 6", Russell is a familiar and unforgettable face on British television and has appeared in numerous television series including "Boys from the Blackstuff", "Hope and Glory", "Neverwhere", "Great Expectations", "The Mists of Avalon", "Heartburn Hotel", "Roughnecks", "Monarch of the Glen", "Midsomer Murders", "Waking the Dead", "Silent Witness", "Rockface", and "Spaced". Russell has also made appearances in "Still Game", "Happiness", "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet", "Cracker" and "The Railway Children". From 2005 to 2006, Russell played Phil Nail in ITV's "Coronation Street". Russell made an appearance in "Waterloo Road" as Lisa and Lenny Brown's grandfather for one episode, also playing Billy Wilson for two in Shameless.


title: Clive Russell

text: He has appeared as Jock in the third series of the BBC's "Jam and Jerusalem", as "Bayard, King of Mercia" in "Merlin" and in "Hotel Babylon" as an artist forced to fake his own death when he is in debt. In 2012, he joined the cast of the HBO fantasy drama "Game of Thrones" as Brynden "The Blackfish" Tully.


title: Clive Russell

text: In January 2017 he had a small role in the BBC Three comedy "Uncle", portraying Sam and Andy's father and later in the year appeared in "Doc Martin". He played Ken Hollister.


title: Clive Russell

text: In 2020, he appeared as Wroth, Chief of a Fey tribe called the Tusks, a recurring character for 5 episodes in the Netflix series "Cursed".


title: Clive Russell

text: In "Margaret's Museum", he starred opposite Helena Bonham Carter as the Gaelic-speaking Neil Currie. Russell's other film credits include "Festival", "Ladies in Lavender", "King Arthur", "Made of Honour", "Lecture 21", "The 13th Warrior" and "The Wolfman".


title: Clive Russell

text: He made an appearance in the 2009 film "Sherlock Holmes" as Captain Tanner, and reprised the role in the film's 2011 sequel, "". He appeared in the 2010 film "The Wolfman" as MacQueen. Russell also appeared in Robin Hardy's "The Wicker Tree" which was released in the first quarter of 2012, playing the character of Beame alongside the "Hobbit" star Graham McTavish.


title: Clive Russell

text: He played Inspector Frederick Abberline in BBC One's "Ripper Street". He played Tyr in the live-action film "" (2013).


title: Metahuman

text: In DC Comics' DC Universe, a metahuman is a human with superpowers. The term is roughly synonymous with both "mutant" and "" in the Marvel Universe and "posthuman" in the Wildstorm and Ultimate Marvel Universes. In DC Comics, the term is used loosely in most instances to refer to any human-like being with extranormal powers and abilities, either cosmic, mutant, science, mystic, skill or tech in nature. A significant portion of these are normal human beings born with a genetic variant called the "metagene", which causes them to gain powers and abilities during freak accidents or times of intense psychological distress.


title: Metahuman

text: The term was first used as a reference to superheroes in 1986 by author George R. R. Martin, first in the "Superworld" role playing system, and then later in his "Wild Cards" series of novels.


title: Metahuman

text: The term was first used by a fictitious race of extraterrestrials known as the Dominators when they appeared in DC Comics' "Invasion!" mini-series in 1988. The Dominators use this term to refer to any human native of the planet Earth with "fictional superhuman abilities". The prefix ""meta-"" simply means ""beyond"", denoting powers and abilities beyond human limits. Metahuman may also relate to an individual who has exceeded what is known as "The Current Potential", meaning one's ability to move matter with mind. (See Telekinesis).


title: Metahuman

text: Before the White Martians arrived on Earth, Lord Vimana, the Vimanian overlord from the Xenobrood mini-series, claimed credit for the creation of the human race both normal and metahuman, due to their introduction of superpowered alien genetic matter into human germline DNA. The Vimanians in the series forced their super powered worker drones to mate with humanity's ancestors "Australopithecus afarensis" (3 million years ago), and later "Homo erectus" (1.5 million years ago) in order to create a race of superpowered slaves.


title: Metahuman

text: The "Invasion!" miniseries provided a concept for why humans in the DC Universe would survive catastrophic events and develop superpowers. One of the Dominators discovered that select members of the human race had a "biological variant," which he called the metagene (also spelled "meta-gene"). This gene often lay dormant until an instant of extraordinary physical and emotional stress activates it. A "spontaneous chromosomal combustion" then takes place, as the metagene takes the source of the biostress – be it chemical, radioactive or whatever – and turns the potential catastrophe into a catalyst for "genetic change," resulting in metahuman abilities. DC does not use the "metagene concept" as a solid editorial rule, and few writers explicitly reference the metagene when explaining a character's origin.


title: Metahuman

text: DC also has characters born with superhuman abilities, suggesting the metagene can activate spontaneously and without any prior appearance in the ancestry. One well-known example involves Dinah Laurel Lance, the second Black Canary. Although her mother (Dinah Drake Lance, the original Black Canary) was a superhero, neither she nor her husband Larry Lance were born with any known metagenes. However, Dinah Laurel "was" born with a metagene, the infamous ultrasonic scream known as the Canary Cry.


title: Metahuman

text: The prefix "meta-", in this context, simply means "beyond"—as in "metastable", which is beyond regular stability and ready to collapse at the slightest disruption, or "metamorphosis", which is the state of going beyond a single shape. In the DC comic miniseries "Invasion!", the Dominators point out that the metagene is contained inside every cell of the human body.


title: Metahuman

text: In the DC Comics universe, metahuman criminals are incarcerated in special metahuman prisons, like the prison built on Alcatraz Island, which is outfitted not only with provisions to hold criminals whose powers are science- and technology-based, but even mystical dampeners to hold villains (including "Homo magi") whose powers are magic-based. Prisoners in this facility are tagged with nanobyte tracers injected into their bloodstream that allow them to be located wherever they are.


title: Metahuman

text: It is possible for individuals skilled in science and biology to manipulate, dampen or modify the activities of the metagene. During the Final Crisis, while the Dominators were devised a "Gene Bomb" able to accelerate the metagene activity to the point of cellular and physical instabilities, an "anti-metagene virus" was spread as a last-ditch weapon in the invaded Checkmate quarters. This "metavirus" has the opposite effects of the Gene Bomb, curbing and shutting down the metagene and stripping the metahumans of their powers for an unspecified amount of time.


title: Metahuman

text: The genetic potential for a future metagene was discovered in ancient "Homo sapiens"' DNA (500,000 - 250,000 years ago) by the White Martian race. The White Martians performed experiments on these primitive humans, changing how the metahuman phenotype was expressed by the metagene.


title: Metahuman

text: Due to their experiments, they altered the destiny of the human race. Whereas before, evolution would have eventually made mankind into a race of superhumans similar to the Daxamites and Kryptonians, now only a select few humans would develop metahuman powers. As punishment for this, the group of renegades known as the Hyperclan was exiled to the "Still Zone", a version of the Phantom Zone.


title: Metahuman

text: The White Martians also created a metavirus, a metagene that could be passed from host to host via touch. This metavirus was responsible for the empowerment of the very first Son of Vulcan. From that time onwards, the Sons of Vulcan passed the metavirus down in an unbroken line, sworn to hunt and kill the White Martians.


title: Metahuman

text: The terms "meta" and "metahuman" do not refer only to humans born with biological variants. Superman and the Martian Manhunter (aliens) as well as Wonder Woman (a near-goddess) and Aquaman (an Atlantean) are referred to in many instances as "metahumans." It can refer to anyone with extraordinary powers, no matter the origins and including those not born with such power. According to "Countdown to Infinite Crisis", roughly 1.3 million metahumans live on Earth, 99.5% of whom are considered "nuisance-level" (such as kids who can bend spoons with their minds and the old lady "who keeps hitting at Powerball"). The other 0.5% are what Checkmate and the OMACs consider alpha-, beta- and gamma-level threats. For example, Superman and Wonder Woman are categorized as alpha-level, while Metamorpho is considered a beta-level and the Ratcatcher is considered a gamma-level. However, since the destruction of the Source Wall, the number of Alpha and Beta level metahumans, as well as the general metahuman population, were sharply increased by the new cosmic radiations affecting the universe.


title: Metahuman

text: The "52" miniseries introduced a toxic mutagen called the Exo-gene (also referred to as the Exogene). It is a toxic gene therapy treatment created by LexCorp for the Everyman Project, which creates metahuman abilities in compatible non-metahumans. It first appeared in "52" #4, with the first announcement of the Everyman Project in "52" #8. The project was controversial, creating unstable heroes that gave Luthor an "off switch" for their powers, creating countless mid-flight deaths.


title: Metahuman

text: In "Road to Dark Nights: Metal", the Joker revealed to Duke Thomas that the term "meta" originated from a rudimentary hospital program used to automatically flag Nth metal toxicity found in a person's bloodstream, similar to iron or zinc, the “meta” being short for the "metal" it detected. This natural toxicity is the "variant" that changes the individual's DNA results in the metagene and its various heightened abilities and powers.


title: Metahuman

text: The lineage of metahumans and their origins can be traced by this Nth Metal connection, dating all the way back to three tribes from the earliest known era of humanity; the Bird Tribe, the Wolf Tribe and the Bear Tribe.


title: Metahuman

text: When the Totality crashed to Earth and introduced the various forms of Heavy Metal and other mysterious forces into the world, The Bear tribe and Vandar Adg of the Wolf Tribe were the first ones to encounter the Totality. They were all mutated by the radiation of the Totality, granting them immortality and making them the world's earliest iteration of metahumans.


title: Metahuman

text: The word "metahuman" is often attributed to the DC Universe, while superhuman beings in the Marvel Universe are referred to as either mutants or mutates. However, both DC and Marvel Comics have made use of the term "metahuman" and "mutant" in their universes. The first use of the term 'metahuman' in the Marvel Universe occurred in "New Mutants Annual" #3, written by Chris Claremont, published in 1987, in which a Russian security officer describes the protagonists as "metahuman terrorists".


title: Metahuman

text: In the short-lived DC/Marvel Comics "Amalgam Comics" crossover event, in "JLX" #1 (April 1996) (combining DC's "Justice League" and Marvel's "X-Men"), metahumans are replaced with metamutants (a portmanteau of DC's metahumans and Marvel's mutants) who are said to carry a 'metamutant gene'.


title: Metahuman

text: In the animated version of the DC universe, the term metahuman is used in the animated TV series "Static Shock".


title: Metahuman

text: On the television series "Birds of Prey", metahumans included heroines the Huntress and Dinah Lance. New Gotham has a thriving metahuman underground, mostly made of metahumans who are trying to live their own lives, although a self-hating metahuman, Claude Morton (Joe Flanigan), tries to convince the police that all metahumans are evil. In "Birds of Prey", metahumans are treated seemingly as a race or species; the Huntress is described as being "half-metahuman" on her mother's side.


title: Metahuman

text: On the television series "Smallville", metahumans can occur naturally. However, the majority are the result of exposure to kryptonite, which in the "Smallville" universe can turn people into superpowered "meteor freaks", often with psychotic side effects. For many seasons of "Smallville", all superpowered people other than Kryptonians were so-called meteor freaks, but as the show went on, it began to explore further corners of the DC Universe. Non-kryptonite metahumans include the "Smallville" versions of Aquaman, the Flash, the Black Canary, and Zatanna.


title: Metahuman

text: On the animated series "Young Justice", the aliens known as the Kroloteans have frequently used the term and have even researched into the discovery of a "metagene" by abducting and testing on random humans. The alien reach conduct similar experiments and kidnap a cadre of teen runaways to test for the metagene, leading several of these individuals to develop superpowers. In the episode "Runaways," a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist surmises that the gene is "opportunistic" in as much as it causes its user to develop powers seemingly based on their personal experiences or surrounding depending on circumstances. In the a recurring plot-point is the trafficking of metahumans after humans learn to detect and activate metagene after the Reach invasion. In some cases, the metagene in some families is shown to be the source of similar abilities, as with Terra, Geo-Force, and their maternal uncle Baron Bedlam. In "Evolution", it is revealed Vandal Savage was the first metahuman because of the fallen meteor which bestowed him a healing factor and super-intelligence on Mongolia during the Pleistocene. Earth's metahumans, many Atlanteans, and all homo magi in "Young Justice" all trace their lineage to Savage.


title: Metahuman

text: In the Arrowverse family of live-action shows, "metahuman" is used more narrowly than in the comics, typically referring to a human being who becomes transhuman and has uncanny abilities, often acquired following some kind of strange accident.