title: Emergency medicine

text: American health payment systems are undergoing significant reform efforts, Which include compensating emergency physicians through "Pay for Performance" incentives and penalty measures under commercial and public health programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. This payment reform aims to improve the quality of care and control costs, despite the differing opinions on the existing evidence to show that this payment approach is effective in emergency medicine. Initially, these incentives would only target primary care providers (PCPs), but some would argue that emergency medicine is primary care, as no one refers patients to the ED. In one such program, two specific conditions listed were directly tied to patients frequently seen by emergency medical providers: acute myocardial infarction and pneumonia.(See: Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration.)


title: Emergency medicine

text: There are some challenges with implementing these quality-based incentives in emergency medicine in that patients are often not given a definitive diagnosis in the ED, making it challenging to allocate payments through coding. Additionally, adjustments based on patient risk-level and multiple co-morbidities for complex patients further complicate attribution of positive or negative health outcomes. It is not easy to assess whether much of the costs directly result from the emergent condition treated in acutely care settings. It is also difficult to quantify the savings due to preventive care during emergency treatment (i.e. workup, stabilizing treatments, coordination of care and discharge, rather than a hospital admission). Thus, ED providers tend to support a modified fee-for-service model over other payment systems.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Some patients without health insurance utilize EDs as their primary form of medical care. Because these patients do not utilize insurance or primary care, emergency medical providers often face overutilization and financial loss, especially since many patients cannot pay for their care (see below). ED overuse produces $38 billion in wasteful spending each year (i.e. care delivery and coordination failures, over-treatment, administrative complexity, pricing failures, and fraud), Moreover, it unnecessarily drains departmental resources, reducing the quality of care across all patients. While overuse is not limited to the uninsured, the uninsured constitute a growing proportion of non-urgent ED visits. – insurance coverage can help mitigate overutilization by improving access to alternative forms of care and lowering the need for emergency visits.


title: Emergency medicine

text: A common misconception pegs frequent ED visitors as a significant factor in wasteful spending. However, frequent ED users make up a small portion of those contributing to overutilization and are often insured.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Injury and illness are often unforeseen, and patients of lower socioeconomic status are especially susceptible to being suddenly burdened with the cost of a necessary ED visit. For example, in the event that a patient is unable to pay for medical care received, the hospital, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), is obligated to treat emergency conditions regardless of a patient's ability to pay and therefore faces an economic loss for this uncompensated care. Estimates suggest that over half (approximately 55%) of all quantifiable emergency care is uncompensated and inadequate reimbursement has led to the closure of many EDs. Policy changes (such as the Affordable Care Act) are expected to decrease the number of uninsured people and thereby reduce uncompensated care.


title: Emergency medicine

text: In addition to decreasing the uninsured rate, ED overutilization might reduce by improving patient access to primary care and increasing patient flow to alternative care centres for non-life-threatening injuries. Financial disincentives, patient education, and improved management for patients with chronic diseases can also reduce overutilization and help manage costs of care. Moreover, physician knowledge of prices for treatment and analyses, discussions on costs with their patients, and a changing culture away from defensive medicine can improve cost-effective use. A transition towards more value-based care in the ED is an avenue by which providers can contain costs.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Doctors that work in the EDs of hospitals receiving Medicare funding are subject to the provisions of EMTALA. The US Congress enacted EMTALA in 1986 to curtail "patient dumping", a practice whereby patients were refused medical care for economic or other non-medical reasons. Since its enactment, ED visits have substantially increased, with one study showing a rise in visits of 26% (which is more than double the increase in population over the same period). While more individuals are receiving care, a lack of funding and ED overcrowding may be affecting quality. To comply with the provisions of EMTALA, hospitals, through their ED physicians, must provide medical screening and stabilize the emergency medical conditions of anyone that presents themselves at a hospital ED with patient capacity. EMTALA holds both the hospital and the responsible ED physician liable for civil penalties of up to $50,000 if there is no help for those in need. . While both the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) and private citizens can bring an action under EMTALA, courts have uniformly held that ED physicians can only be held liable if the case is prosecuted by OIG (whereas hospitals are subject to penalties regardless of who brings the suit). Additionally, the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) can discontinue provider status under Medicare for physicians that do not comply with EMTALA. Liability also extends to on-call physicians that fail to respond to an ED request to come to the hospital to provide service. While the goals of EMTALA are laudable, commentators have noted that it appears to have created a substantial unfunded burden on the resources of hospitals and emergency physicians. As a result of financial difficulty, between the period of 1991–2011, 12.6% of EDs in the US closed.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Despite the practice emerging over the past few decades, the delivery of emergency medicine has significantly increased and evolved across diverse settings related to cost, provider availability and overall usage. Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA), emergency medicine was leveraged primarily by "uninsured or underinsured patients, women, children, and minorities, all of whom frequently face barriers to accessing primary care". While this still exists today, as mentioned above, it is critical to consider the location in which care is delivered to understand the population and system challenges related to overutilization and high cost. In rural communities where provider and ambulatory facility shortages exist, a primary care physician (PCP) in the ED with general knowledge is likely to be the only source of health care for a population, as specialists and other health resources are generally unavailable due to lack of funding and desire to serve in these areas. As a result, the incidence of complex co-morbidities not managed by the appropriate provider results in worse health outcomes and eventually costlier care that extends beyond rural communities. Though typically quite separated, PCPs in rural areas must partner with larger health systems to comprehensively address the complex needs of their community, improve population health, and implement strategies such as telemedicine to improve health outcomes and reduce ED utilization for preventable illnesses. (See: Rural health.)


title: Emergency medicine

text: Alternatively, emergency medicine in urban areas consists of diverse provider groups, including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and registered nurses who coordinate with specialists in both inpatient and outpatient facilities to address patients' needs, more specifically in the ED. For all systems, regardless of funding source, EMTALA mandates EDs to conduct a medical examination for anyone that presents at the department, irrespective of paying ability. Non-profit hospitals and health systems – as required by the ACA – must provide a certain threshold of charity care "by actively ensuring that those who qualify for financial assistance get it, by charging reasonable rates to uninsured patients and by avoiding extraordinary collection practices." While there are limitations, this mandate provides support to many in need. That said, despite policy efforts and increased funding and federal reimbursement in urban areas, the triple aim (of improving patient experience, enhancing population health, and reducing the per-capita cost of care) remains a challenge without providers' and payers' collaboration to increase access to preventive care and decrease in ED usage. As a result, many experts support the notion that emergency medical services should only serve immediate risks in urban and rural areas.


title: Emergency medicine

text: As stated above, EMTALA includes provisions that protect patients from being turned away or transferred before adequate stabilisation. Upon making contact with a patient, EMS providers are responsible for diagnosing and stabilising a patient's condition without regard for the ability to pay. In the pre-hospital setting, providers must exercise appropriate judgement in choosing a suitable hospital for transport. Hospitals can only turn away incoming ambulances if they are on diversion and incapable of providing adequate care. However, once a patient has arrived on hospital property, care must be provided. At the hospital, a triage nurse first contacts the patient, who determines the appropriate level of care needed.


title: Emergency medicine

text: According to the Mead v. Legacy Health System, a patient-physician relationship is established when "the physician takes an affirmative action concerning the patientcare". Initiating such a relationship forms a legal contract in which the physician must continue to provide treatment or adequately terminate the relationship. This legal responsibility can extend to physician consultations and on-call physicians even without direct patient contact. In emergency medicine, termination of the patient–provider relationship prior to stabilization or without handoff to another qualified provider is considered abandonment. In order to initiate an outside transfer, a physician must verify that the next hospital can provide a similar or higher level of care. Hospitals and physicians must also ensure that the patient's condition will not be further aggravated by the transfer process.


title: Emergency medicine

text: The unique setting of emergency medicine practice presents a challenge for delivering high quality, patient-centered care. Clear, effective communication can be particularly difficult due to noise, frequent interruptions, and high patient turnover. The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine has identified five essential tasks for patient-physician communication: establishing rapport, gathering information, giving information, providing comfort, and collaboration. The miscommunication of patient information is a crucial source of medical error; minimising shortcoming in communication remains a topic of current and future research.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Many circumstances, including the regular transfer of patients in emergency treatment and crowded, noisy and chaotic ED environments, make emergency medicine particularly susceptible to medical error and near misses. One study identified an error rate of 18 per 100 registered patients in one particular academic ED. Another study found that where a lack of teamwork (i.e. poor communication, lack of team structure, lack of cross-monitoring) was implicated in a particular incident of ED medical error, "an average of 8.8 teamwork failures occurred per case [and] more than half of the deaths and permanent disabilities that occurred were judged avoidable." Unfortunately, particular cultural (i.e. "a focus on the errors of others and a ‘blame-and-shame’ culture") and structural (i.e. lack of standardisation and equipment incompatibilities) aspects of emergency medicine often result in a lack of disclosure of medical error and near misses to patients and other caregivers. While concerns about malpractice liability are one reason why disclosure of medical errors is not made, some have noted that disclosing the error and providing an apology can mitigate malpractice risk. Ethicists uniformly agree that the disclosure of a medical error that causes harm is a care provider's duty. The critical components of the disclosure include "honesty, explanation, empathy, apology, and the chance to lessen the chance of future errors" (represented by the mnemonic HEEAL). The nature of emergency medicine is such that error will likely always be a substantial risk of emergency care. However, maintaining public trust through open communication regarding a harmful error can help patients and physicians constructively address problems when they occur.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Emergency Medicine is a primary or first-contact point of care for patients requiring the use of the health care system. Specialists in Emergency Medicine are required to possess specialist skills in acute illness diagnosis and resuscitation. Emergency physicians are responsible for providing immediate recognition, evaluation, care, and stabilisation to adult and pediatric patients in response to acute illness and injury.


title: Emergency medicine

text: There are a variety of international models for emergency medicine training. There are two different models among those with well-developed training programs: a "specialist" model or "a multidisciplinary model". Additionally, in some countries, the emergency medicine specialist rides in the ambulance. For example, in France and Germany, the physician, often an anesthesiologist, rides in the ambulance and provides stabilising care at the scene. The patient is directed to the appropriate hospital department, so emergency care is much more multidisciplinary than the Anglo-American model.


title: Emergency medicine

text: In countries such as the US, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, ambulances crewed by paramedics and emergency medical technicians respond to out-of-hospital emergencies and transport patients to emergency departments, meaning there is more dependence on these healthcare providers and there is more dependence on paramedics and EMTs for on-scene care. Emergency physicians are therefore more "specialists" since all patients are taken to the emergency department. Most developing countries follow the Anglo-American model: the gold standard is three or 4-year independent residency training programs in emergency medicine. Some countries develop training programs based on a primary care foundation with additional emergency medicine training. In developing countries, there is an awareness that Western models may not be applicable and may not be the best use of limited health care resources. For example, speciality training and pre-hospital care in developed countries are too expensive and impractical for use in many developing countries with limited health care resources. International emergency medicine provides a critical global perspective and hope for improvement in these areas.


title: Emergency medicine

text: In Argentina, the SAE (Sociedad Argentina de Emergencias) is the leading organisation of Emergency Medicine. There are many residency programs. Also, it is possible to reach the certification with a two-year postgraduate university course after a few years of ED background.


title: Emergency medicine

text: The specialist medical college responsible for Emergency Medicine in Australia and New Zealand is the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM). The training program is nominally seven years in duration, after which the trainee is awarded a Fellowship of ACEM, conditional upon passing all necessary assessments.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Dual fellowship programs also exist for Paediatric Medicine (in conjunction with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians) and Intensive Care Medicine (in conjunction with the College of Intensive Care Medicine). These programs nominally add one or more years to the ACEM training program.


title: Emergency medicine

text: For medical doctors not (and not wishing to be) specialists in Emergency Medicine but have a significant interest or workload in emergency departments, the ACEM provides non-specialist certificates and diplomas.


title: Emergency medicine

text: In Belgium, there are three recognised ways to practice Emergency Medicine. Until 2005 there was no accredited Emergency Medicine program. Emergency Medicine was performed by General Practitioners (having followed a 240h course, 'Acute Medicine') or by specialists (surgeon, internal medicine, neurologist, anesthesiologist) with or without supra-speciality training in Emergency Medicine.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Since 2005 residency training exists for Acute Medicine (3y) or Emergency Medicine (6y). At least 50% of the training is in the Emergency Department; the other part is a rotation between disciplines like Pediatrics, Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Alternative an attending physician with one of following specialities (Anesthesiology, Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Gastro-Enterology, Pneumology, Rheumatology, Urology, General Surgery, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Pediatrics) can follow a supra-speciality program of 2 years to become an Emergency Medicine specialist.


title: Emergency medicine

text: In Chile, Emergency Medicine begins its journey in Chile with the first speciality program at the beginning of the 90s, at the University of Chile and the University of Santiago of Chile. Currently, it is a primary speciality legally recognised by the Ministry of Health since 2013. It has multiple training programs for specialists, notably the University of Chile, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Clínica Alemana - Universidad del Desarrollo, San Sebastian University - MUE and University of Santiago of Chile (USACH). Currently, and intending to strengthen the speciality at the country level, FOAMed initiatives have emerged (free open access medical education in emergency medicine) and the #ChileEM initiative that brings together the programs of the Universidad San Sebastián / MUE, Universidad Católica de Chile and Universidad de Chile, intend to hold joint clinical meetings between the leading training programs, regularly and open to all the health team working in the field of urgency. The specialists already trained are grouped in the Chilean Society of Emergency Medicine (SOCHIMU).


title: Emergency medicine

text: CCFP(EM) emergency physicians outnumber FRCP(EM) physicians by a ratio of about 3 to 1, and they tend to work primarily as clinicians with a minor focus on academic activities such as teaching and research. FRCP(EM) Emergency Medicine Board specialists tend to congregate in academic centres and have more academically oriented careers, which emphasize administration, research, critical care, disaster medicine, and teaching. They also tend to sub-specialize in toxicology, critical care, pediatric emergency medicine, and sports medicine. Furthermore, the FRCP(EM) residency length allows more time for formal training in these areas.


title: Emergency medicine

text: The current post-graduate Emergency Medicine training process is highly complex in China. The first EM post-graduate training took place in 1984 at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Because speciality certification in EM has not been established, formal training is not required to practice Emergency Medicine in China.


title: Emergency medicine

text: About a decade ago, Emergency Medicine residency training was centralized at the municipal levels, following the Ministry of Public Health guidelines. Residency programs in all hospitals are called residency training bases, which have to be approved by local health governments. These bases are hospital-based, but the residents are selected and managed by the municipal associations of medical education. These associations are also the authoritative body of setting up their residents' training curriculum. All medical school graduates who want to practice medicine have to undergo five years of residency training at designated training bases, the first three years of general rotation followed by two more years of speciality-centred training.


title: Emergency medicine

text: In Germany, emergency medicine is not handled as a specialization (Facharztrichtung), but any licensed physician can acquire an additional qualification in emergency medicine through an 80-hour course monitored by the respective ""Ärztekammer"" (medical association, responsible for licensing of physicians). Service as an emergency physician in an ambulance service is part of the specialization training of anaesthesiology. Emergency physicians usually work on a volunteering basis and are often anesthesiologists but maybe specialists of any kind. Especially there is a specialization training in pediatric intensive care.


title: Emergency medicine

text: India is an example of how family medicine can be a foundation for emergency medicine training. Many private hospitals and institutes have been providing Emergency Medicine training for doctors, nurses & paramedics since 1994, with certification programs varying from 6 months to 3 years. However, emergency medicine was only recognized as a separate speciality by the Medical Council of India in July 2009.


title: Emergency medicine

text: There are three universities (Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, & Universiti Malaya) that offer master's degrees in emergency medicine – postgraduate training programs of four years in duration with clinical rotations, examinations and a dissertation. The first cohort of locally trained emergency physicians graduated in 2002.


title: Emergency medicine

text: In Saudi Arabia, the Certification of Emergency Medicine takes the 4-year Saudi Board of Emergency Medicine (SBEM), which the Saudi Council accredits for Health Specialties (SCFHS). It requires passing the two-part exam: first and final part (written and oral) to obtain the SBEM certificate, equivalent to a doctorate.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Emergency Medicine is still not recognised as a fully-fledged speciality in a country that has only recently grasped the importance of having an organised acute medical speciality (during the CoVid-19 outbreak). Many attempts to organise the speciality have resulted in a subspecialists training pathway, but to this day, Internal Medicine, Anesthesiology and Surgery are still vocally opposed to an Emergency Medicine specialist title.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Most programs are three years in duration, but some programs are four years long. There are several combined residencies offered with other programs, including family medicine, internal medicine and paediatrics. The US is well known for its excellence in emergency medicine residency programs, leading to some controversy about speciality certification.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Several ABMS fellowships are available for Emergency Medicine graduates, including pre-hospital medicine (emergency medical services), international medicine, advanced resuscitation, hospice and palliative care, research, undersea and hyperbaric medicine, sports medicine, pain medicine, ultrasound, pediatric Emergency Medicine, disaster medicine, wilderness medicine, toxicology, and critical care medicine.


title: Emergency medicine

text: In recent years, workforce data has led to a recognition of the need for additional training for primary care physicians who provide emergency care. It has led to several supplemental training programs in first-hour emergency care and a few fellowships for family physicians in emergency medicine., and few fellowships for family physicians in emergency medicine.


title: Emergency medicine

text: "In 2010, there were 157 allopathic and 37 osteopathic emergency medicine residency programs, which collectively accept about 2,000 new residents each year. Studies have shown that attending emergency physician supervision of residents correlates to higher quality and more cost-effective practice, primarily when an emergency medicine residency exists." Medical education is primarily funded through the Medicare program; payments are given to hospitals for each resident. "Fifty-five per cent of ED payments come from Medicare, fifteen per cent from Medicaid, five per cent from private payment and twenty-five per cent from commercially insured patients." However, choices of physician specialities are not mandated by any agency or program, so even though emergency departments see many Medicare/Medicaid patients and thus receive much funding for training from these programs, there is still concern over a shortage of speciality-trained Emergency Medicine providers.


title: Emergency medicine

text: In the United Kingdom, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has a role in setting professional standards and assessing trainees. Emergency medical trainees enter speciality training after five or six years of Medical school followed by two years of foundation training. Speciality training takes six years to complete, and success in the assessments and a set of five examinations results in the award of Fellowship of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (FRCEM).


title: Emergency medicine

text: Historically, emergency specialists were drawn from anaesthesia, medicine, and surgery. Many established EM consultants were surgically trained; some hold the Fellowship of Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Accident and Emergency — FRCSEd(A&E). Trainees in Emergency Medicine may dual accredit in Intensive care medicine or seek sub-specialisation in Paediatric Emergency Medicine.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Emergency Medicine residency lasts for four years in Turkey. These physicians have a 2-year Obligatory Service in Turkey to be qualified to have their diploma. After this period, EM specialists can choose to work in private or governmental ED's.


title: Emergency medicine

text: The college of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan accredited the training in Emergency Medicine in 2010. Emergency Medicine training in Pakistan lasts for five years. The initial two years involve trainees being sent to three major areas: medicine and allied, surgery, and Allied and critical care. It is divided into six months each, and the rest six months out of the first two years are spent in the emergency department. In the last three years, trainee residents spend most of their time in the emergency room as senior residents. Certificate courses include ACLS, PALS, ATLS, and research and dissertations are required to complete the training successfully. At the end of 5 years, candidates become eligible for sitting for FCPS part II exam. After fulfilling the requirement, they become fellows of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan in Emergency Medicine ().


title: Emergency medicine

text: Institutions providing this training include Shifa International Hospitals Islamabad, Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, POF hospital Wah, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, Indus Hospital Karachi and Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center Karachi, Mayo Hospital, Lahore


title: Emergency medicine

text: The first residency program in Iran started in 2002 at Iran University of Medical Sciences, and there are now three-year standard residency programs running in Tehran, Tabriz, Mashhad, Isfahan, and some other universities. All these programs work under the supervision of the Emergency Medicine speciality board committee. There are now more than 200 (and increasing) board-certified Emergency Physicians in Iran.


title: Emergency medicine

text: Ethical and medico-legal issues are embedded within the nature of Emergency Medicine. Issues surrounding competence, end of life care, and the right to refuse care are encountered daily within the Emergency Department. Of growing significance is the ethical issues and legal obligations that surround the Mental Health Act, as increasing numbers of suicide attempts and self-harm are seen in the Emergency Department. The Wooltorton case of 2007, in which a patient arrived at the Emergency Department post overdose with a note specifying her request for no interventions, highlights the dichotomy that often exists between a physicians ethical obligation to 'do no harm' and the legality of a patients right to refuse.


This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. In early Primetime Emmy Award ceremonies, the supporting categories were not always genre-, or even gender-, specific. Beginning with the 22nd Primetime Emmy Awards, supporting actresses in comedy have competed alone. However, these comedic performances often included actors from miniseries, telefilms, and guest performers competing against main cast competitors. Such instances are marked below:


title: KK Mega Basket

text: Košarkaški klub Mega Basket (), commonly referred to as KK Mega Basket or as Mega MIS due to sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional basketball club based in Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association. The club is "de facto" controlled by Serbian sports agent Miško Ražnatović.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: In addition to Belgrade, the club also played its home games in Kruševac (2012–13 season), Smederevo (2013–14 season), and Sremska Mitrovica (2014–2019). The club participates in the KLS and the ABA League.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: KK Avala Ada () was established on 23 December 1998 by a group of basketball enthusiasts, all employed at the Avala Ada packaging factory located in the Viline Vode neighbourhood on the outskirts of Belgrade. Though implemented in late 1998, the idea of launching a full-fledged basketball club within the state-owned factory's legal framework had been present since summer 1995 on the heels of yet another participation of Avala Ada employees in basketball competitions at the Workers' Sporting Games ("Radničke sportske igre"; state-funded excursionary social, leisure, and team building gatherings featuring semi-formal sporting competitions for employees within various industries). Even before 1995, Avala Ada employees had participated regularly at the Workers' Sporting Games, continually placing high against basketball select squads of other factories/companies within the packaging industry in FR Yugoslavia and even prior in SFR Yugoslavia. Though the idea of launching a more formal and permanent basketball program within the factory had been bandied around since 1995, the immediate catalyst for its late 1998 formation turned out to be the factory basketball team's notable showing at the 1998 Workers' Sporting Games in Divčibare several months earlier during summer 1998. Furthermore, having already secured a steady revenue and regular customer base allowed the company to financially support such a venture outside of its regular business activity. Within months, Košarkaški klub Avala Ada (Avala Ada Basketball Club) was established as a legal entity within the Avala Ada sports society that was formed simultaneously.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: With KK Avala Ada's club management appointed from the factory employee ranks—club president Veljko Grujić and sporting director Velimir Mihailović—coaching hires were made from outside the factory: young head coach Miodrag "Miša" Perišić and his assistant Rade Orlović. Players on the roster were also a mix of factory's employees and outside acquisitions: the team's first captain was the factory's commercial director Bratislav Gajić.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: The newly-established club started out in the lowest rank of the FR Yugoslavia basketball system: Belgrade Municipal League, the so-called "Concrete League" ("Beton liga"), fifth tier of competition in the country. In the early summer of 1999, the club won the Belgrade Municipal League (played outdoors only during summer), thus qualifying for the Serbian Second League (4th-tier competition on the FR Yugoslavia basketball pyramid). Playing the 1999–2000 season in the fourth-tier Serbian Second League, the Perišić-coached club set an ambitious goal of gaining promotion on its first try and succeeded.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: The 2000–01 season was played in the third-tier Serbian First League, finishing third and barely missing out on promotion. Head coach Miša Perišić left the club after eventful two and a half years, taking the offer from the Serbian First League rivals KK Nova Pazova. The following 2001–02 season, Avala Ada finished third again, failing to gain promotion to the higher rank.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: In the 2002–03 season, with Miša Perišić returning to the club as head coach, the club again missed promotion based on the league standing, however, it managed to qualify to the federal First B League through playoffs in Novi Bečej, beating Vrbas and KK Zeta.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: Playing its first season, 2003–04, in the country-wide federal rank in the second-tier First B League (Serbian group), Avala Ada finished third thus missing promotion to the top league. Also, in 2003, Avala Ada packaging factory (founded in 1946) was privatized after 57 years of public ownership. Its new private owner Nebojša Šaranović was entirely not keen on continuing the financial support of a basketball club within his newly-acquired packaging factory asset and thus set about carving KK Avala Ada out of the factory's structure with the intention of selling it.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: Before the start of the 2004–05 season, the most significant development in club's short history occurred—it was taken over by the Miško Ražnatović-owned BeoBasket sports agency.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: Based on its performance in the 2004–05 season, Avala Ada managed to gain promotion to the Serbia-Montenegro top-tier league. During the 2005–06 campaign, playing its very first top flight season, the club changed its name to KK Mega Basket on 19 December 2005. At the same time, it signed a sponsorship deal with the Smederevo-based Ishrana food company, leading to the club competing as Mega Ishrana until 2007. The team got relegated at the end of the 2005–06 season, however, the May 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum that meant that Montenegro would become a fully independent state also resulted in the basketball league being re-organized and Mega Ishrana remaining in Serbia's top-tier basketball league.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: Later, also via a naming-rights sponsorship deal, the club was called Mega Aqua Monta for the 2007–08 season, and Mega Hypo Leasing in the 2008–09 season.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: In August 2009, before the start of the 2009–10 season, another Belgrade-based club KK Vizura merged into KK Mega Hypo Leasing, and the club was renamed KK Mega Vizura. In November 2014, the club changed its name to Mega Leks due to sponsorship reasons. In 2016, Mega Leks won its first trophy ever when it beat KK Partizan 86–80 in the Serbian Cup Final. In 2017, the club changed its name to Mega Bemax due to sponsorship reasons.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: On June 14, 2018, the club signed a contract on sports and technical cooperation with OKK Beograd. Later that summer, on August 11, 2018, the club played a pre-season preparation game under NCAA basketball rules against the most recent NCAA tournament Southern Regional semifinalist University of Kentucky men's basketball team at the Imperial Arena on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, losing heavily 100–64. Some ten days later, on August 23, 2018, Mega played the University of Michigan men's basketball team, recent NCAA tournament runner-up, this time under FIBA rules, in Sant Julià de Vilatorta, Spain and winning 81–73.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: As an organization focused primarily on showcasing its roster and providing a springboard platform for player transfers to bigger clubs in Europe and the NBA, in summer 2019, Mega continued the pre-season practice of travelling to the Bahamas to face off against top U.S. collegiate teams in preparatory games. This time, it was two games against the Texas Tech University basketball team, most recently the NCAA tournament runner-up; Texas Tech won the first contest 94–92 on August 16, 2019 at Imperial Arena on Paradise Island while Mega won 73–76 four days later at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: On September 15, 2020, the club changed its name to Mega Soccerbet for the 2020–21 season due to sponsorship reasons. On October 28, 2021, the club changed its name to Mega Mozzart for the 2021–22 season due to sponsorship reasons. In July 2022, the club changed its name to Mega MIS for the 2022–23 season due to sponsorship reasons.


title: KK Mega Basket

text: Mega Basket plays their ABA League domestic home games at the Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall, located in the Belgrade municipality of New Belgrade. The arena, then named New Belgrade Sports Hall, was built in 1968. It has a seating capacity of 5,000. Mega Basket plays their BLS home matches at the Mega Factory Hall.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Members of the Markle family have been related by marriage to the British royal family since the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in May 2018, when she became the Duchess of Sussex. The couple has two children, Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor. The Markle (formerly spelt Merckel) family is of German descent and originates in Alsace on the modern French–German border, and Meghan's paternal ancestors moved to the United States in the 17th century; among her father's other ancestors are American settlers of English, Dutch, and Irish descent. The Ragland family is of African American descent.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Thomas Wayne Markle Sr. is the father of the Duchess of Sussex. He is a retired American television lighting director, born in 1944. Markle was raised in Newport, Pennsylvania, the son of Doris May Rita ("née" Sanders; 1920–2011) and Gordon Arnold Markle (1918–1979). His mother's family was from New Hampshire. His family is of German, English and Irish descent. He has two brothers, Michael (1939–2021) and Frederick (also known as Dismas F. Markle; born 1942). He was previously married to Roslyn Markle ("née" Loveless), with whom he had Thomas Markle Jr. and Samantha Markle (born Yvonne Marie Markle). He was a co-recipient of two Daytime Emmy Awards for work on the television medical drama "General Hospital" (in 1982 and 2011) and received a Chicago / Midwest Emmy Award for work on the television program "Made in Chicago" (in 1975). He also won $750,000 in the California State Lottery in 1990, although he later declared personal bankruptcy (in 2016). , he resides in Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico. He had planned to walk Meghan down the aisle for her wedding, but did not. He said his absence was due to his health problems, as he was recovering from a heart attack and had undergone heart surgery.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Doria Loyce Ragland (formerly Markle) is the mother of the Duchess of Sussex. She was born in 1956 to Jeanette Arnold (1929–2000) and her second husband Alvin Ragland (1929–2011). She has two older maternal half-siblings, Joseph (known as "JJ"; 1949–2021) and Saundra Johnson (born 1952), and a younger paternal half-brother, Joffrey Ragland. She was a makeup artist when she met Meghan's father, and later worked as a travel agent. In the early to mid 2000s, she was a small business owner, operating a boutique out of a rented space in a strip mall before filing for bankruptcy and choosing to pursue her education. She firstly completed a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and worked as an Associate Clinical Social Worker (ASW) after Postgraduate studies. She later earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Southern California, which she completed in 2011. In May 2018, a few days before the royal wedding, she resigned from her position at a mental health clinic to enter private practice working with elderly patients.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: She has a close relationship with her daughter and was the only member of the Duchess's family who was present at the royal wedding.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Samantha Markle, also known as Samantha Grant (born Yvonne Marie Markle, nicknamed "Babe"), is the older paternal half-sister of the Duchess of Sussex, and the daughter of Thomas Markle Sr. and Roslyn Markle ("née" Loveless). She was born on 24 November 1964 in Los Angeles and as of 2018 was living in Belleview, Florida with her then-boyfriend Mark Phillips. She suffered injuries after a fall from a rope swing that caused paralysis on her left side and blindness in one eye. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008 and has been using a wheelchair since then. She has a master's degree in mental health and vocational rehabilitation counseling and worked as a mental health counselor. Markle has been divorced twice and has been through personal bankruptcy. She has three children: Ashleigh and Christopher Hale with her first husband Earl Hale, and Noelle Rasmussen with her second husband Scott Rasmussen (div. 2003). Ashleigh and Christopher were raised and later adopted by their paternal grandparents. Markle is reported to have strained relationships with her children, her mother, her brother, and her half-sister, the Duchess of Sussex. She maintains that the last time she spoke to Meghan was "2014, almost 2015". At the time of the royal wedding, she and Meghan were not on speaking terms.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: She was not invited to the wedding of Prince Harry and her half-sister and had not attended her half-sister's first wedding either, though invited. She appeared on the TLC special program "When Harry Met Meghan: A Royal Engagement" to discuss her half-sister and her upcoming book, "The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister". In October 2017, Markle insisted that it will not be a tell-all book, but will merely be about "some of the beautiful nuances of our lives". In an interview with "The Sun", Markle called her half-sister a "shallow social climber" whose behavior was not "befitting of a royal family member".


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: In May 2018, Markle told the media that she had suffered a broken ankle and fractured knee after her boyfriend crashed a car into a concrete barrier while driving with her and trying to avoid being photographed by a member of the paparazzi, although Florida police said no report of such an incident had been filed and they had "no evidence" that it had taken place. Since the royal wedding, Markle has habitually criticized her half-sister and brother-in-law on Twitter. When asked whether she was making money through speaking out about her relatives, Markle replied: "I've worked in media most of my life and in broadcasting. So because my sister is suddenly royal isn't grounds for me to stop doing all of that."


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: In late 2018, the media reported that Markle had been placed on a watch list maintained by the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre of persons exhibiting signs of obsession with members of the Royal Family. Markle responded to the news by denying that she was obsessed with the Duchess of Sussex and tweeting that the purported listing was "a British media attempt at silencing me". In August 2019, her Twitter account was suspended. Later in October, it was reported that she was under investigation by the Polk County Sheriff's Department following multiple allegations of cyberbullying. The first part of Markle's memoir, titled "The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister Part 1", was published in 2021.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: In March 2022, she sued Meghan by filing a defamation lawsuit in Florida, accusing her of lying in her Oprah interview and seeking damages in excess of $75,000. Meghan's lawyers described the lawsuit as "a continuation of a pattern of disturbing behavior."


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Thomas Wayne Markle Jr. (also known as Tom Markle Jr.) is the older paternal half-brother of the Duchess of Sussex, and the son of Thomas Markle Sr. and Roslyn Markle ("née" Loveless). He was born on 17 September 1966 in Los Angeles, and as of 2018 lived in Grants Pass, Oregon, with his fiancée Darlene Blount. He was married to Tracy Dooley until their divorce in 2001 and then to Johannes Rawha until their divorce in 2009. He and Tracy Dooley have two sons, Thomas and Tyler Dooley. He works as a window fitter. He was arrested in January 2017 after threateningly holding a gun to Blount's head during an argument while he was under the influence of alcohol. Later in 2018, following another incident, Blount claimed in a police call that "Markle was beating himself up" and "drinking", saying that he "was not mentally fit". Blount was arrested by the police on assault charges, but was later released. The couple was involved in another domestic violence incident in July 2018 after which Blount was arrested again and released "after posting bail".


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Thomas Markle Jr. was not invited to the wedding of Prince Harry and his half-sister, and at the time of the wedding, he had not seen her for about seven years. In an interview with the "Daily Mirror" in April 2018, Markle called his half-sister a "phony" who had "turned into a different person" and "forgotten her roots and her family" since becoming famous. He then sent Prince Harry a letter, asking him to call off the wedding – saying the forthcoming wedding would be "the biggest mistake in Royal Wedding History", criticizing his half-sister's treatment of Thomas Markle Sr. by saying she had been "using her own father until he's bankrupt", and calling her "a jaded, shallow, conceited woman". However, Markle later wrote another letter in which he told his half-sister he was "sorry for venting my frustrations" after not being invited to the wedding and that he was "very proud" of her and wanted her "to have a great wedding and a long future with Prince Harry". After their father's relationship with Meghan soured following his multiple paid interviews, Markle Jr. said on "Daily Mirror" that "she is abusing his love for her, ... It's selfish, cruel even".


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: In August 2021, it was confirmed that Markle Jr. would star in the Australian reality television series "Big Brother VIP".


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Tyler Scott Markle (born July 15, 1992), known professionally as Tyler Dooley, is a half-nephew of the Duchess of Sussex, the son of her half-brother Thomas and his ex-wife Tracy Dooley. He was born in Los Angeles, California, and co-owns a legal cannabis business with his mother. He created a cannabis product called "Markle Sparkle", reportedly to honor his aunt for her marriage to Prince Harry. In an interview with "Inside Edition", he released a video of him being held by the now Duchess of Sussex as a child.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Dooley appeared in the MTV International television show "The Royal World" as the only American cast member. The show featured cast members at a country estate where they were to be treated like royalty. It premiered on November 7, 2018. , Dooley lives in Oregon.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Ashleigh Hale (born ) is the half-niece of the Duchess of Sussex, the daughter of her half-sister Samantha. She was adopted and raised by her paternal grandparents. In 2007, she reconnected with Meghan. She completed a bachelor's degree at Hollins University from 2003 to 2007. She earned a J.D. from the Charleston School of Law in 2010 and a Master of Laws from the George Washington University Law School in 2011. As of 2022, she is an immigration lawyer and an associate at Fragomen in San Francisco.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Thomas Markle is descended from German, English, and Irish immigrants. His forefather Heinrich Martin Merckel emigrated to the United States from Lampertsloch, a historically German-speaking town in modern-day France near the French–German border, and later changed the spelling of his name to Markle. Among Meghan's distant ancestors is her paternal great-great-great-grandmother, New Hampshire landowner Mary Hussey Smith (died 1908), herself a descendant of an American colonial family whose line can be traced to Captain


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Christopher Hussey (died 1686), a founder of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Other distant ancestors include King Robert I of Scotland, Sir Philip Wentworth and his wife, Mary Clifford, daughter of John Clifford, 7th Baron de Clifford, and a descendant of King Edward III of England.


title: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

text: Doria Ragland is descended from African American enslaved persons in Georgia. According to information passed down (much of it verbally) from earlier generations the Ragland name came from slave-owner William Ragland, a Methodist planter and land speculator who had emigrated during the eighteenth century from Cornwall, England to North America, settling successively in Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. It is inferred by family members that Doria Ragland's first identifiable African American Ragland ancestor was Richard Ragland (her great-great-great-great-grandfather), born into slavery in Jonesboro, Georgia, in 1830; he died a free man, after the abolition of slavery in 1865.


title: Illinois State University

text: Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of the top ten largest producers of teachers in the US according to the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".


title: Illinois State University

text: The university's athletic teams are members of the Missouri Valley Conference and the Missouri Valley Football Conference and are known as the "Redbirds," in reference to the state bird, the cardinal.


title: Illinois State University

text: ISU was founded as a training school for teachers in 1857, the same year Illinois' first Board of Education was convened and two years after the Free School Act was passed by the state legislature. Among its supporters were judge and future Supreme Court Justice, David Davis and local businessman and land holder Jesse W. Fell whose friend, Abraham Lincoln, was the attorney hired by the board of education to draw up legal documents to secure the school's funding. Founded as Illinois State Normal University, its name was reflective of its primary mission as a normal school. Classes were initially held in downtown Bloomington, occupying space in Major's Hall, which was previously the site of Lincoln's "Lost Speech." With the completion of Old Main in 1860, the school moved to its current campus in what was then the village of North Bloomington, which was chartered as "Normal" in 1865. The new town had named itself after the university.


title: Illinois State University

text: On January 1, 1964, the institution's name was changed to Illinois State University at Normal, and then again in 1967 to the current Illinois State University.


title: Illinois State University

text: In accordance with its mission, the school's motto was originally "and gladly wold he lerne and gladly teche," in the Middle English spelling of Geoffrey Chaucer which has since been updated to modern English in the gender-neutral form "Gladly we Learn and Teach."


title: Illinois State University

text: Founded as a teachers' college, the university now offers a range of programs at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels. Illinois State is accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. The teacher preparation programs are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and certified by the Illinois State Board of Education. In addition, 22 programs hold discipline-based accreditation.


title: Illinois State University

text: In the 2023 rankings, "U.S. News & World Report" ranked Illinois State University (tied for) 219 among a combined list of America's best 440 private and public "national universities" and (tied for) 112 among 227 public "national universities" in the United States that qualified for the list.


title: Illinois State University

text: As of the fall of 2021, total on-campus enrollment was 20,233, with 17,674 undergraduate students and 2,559 graduate students. As of 2019 56.6 percent of students are female, while 43.4 percent are male. About 28.8% of all students were from minority groups. Of the 558 international students 422 are graduate students. International students come from 69 countries. The average new freshman student had an ACT score near 24 and a gpa of 3.6 out of 4.0.


title: Illinois State University

text: Initially designed by William Saunders, the Illinois State University campus quadrangle (commonly known as The Quad), is a popular outdoor venue for students and the local community. Lined with benches and shady trees, the site is a popular spot for students to relax, study, and play informal games of sports. Outdoor events such as the annual RSO showcase, Festival ISU and Concerts on the Quad are popular in the campus community.


title: Illinois State University

text: The ISU Quad is also host to the Fell Arboretum, which is part of a 490-acre site that represents over 154 species of trees from the state of Illinois. Trees on the north side of the quad are from Northern Illinois, and those on the south side of the quad from southern parts of the state. The Fell Arboretum is part of the Arbor Day Foundation's Tree Campus Higher Education Institution.


title: Illinois State University

text: Milner Library has a collection of more than 1.63 million volumes and an ever-increasing number of electronic materials accessible by the Internet to students and faculty. The library's collection is distinguished by materials related to educational theory and policy, curriculum development, and issues related to special education and assistive technology. The Special Collections include extensive Circus and Allied Arts materials and a children's literature collection that features more than 100 first edition volumes signed by author Lois Lenski. Milner Library is also a selective federal depository for government information. Combined Milner's collections contribute to the university's relatively high standing in regional, national, and world rankings. In 2007, the library received the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award, an award given to only seven libraries nationwide.


title: Illinois State University

text: Milner Library administers the Dr. Jo Ann Rayfield University Archives, which houses selected official records from university departments and organizations, faculty papers, and memorabilia and ephemera on student life. The archives also hosts a branch of the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD). In addition to making physical collections available for in-person use, the Rayfield Archives has made many of the university's official publications freely available for online research use.


title: Illinois State University

text: Additional library facilities include book storage both on and off-site as well as a preservation department.


title: Illinois State University

text: The Milner Library was named for Angeline "Ange" Vernon Milner (1856–1928), a Bloomington-Normal native and the first full-time librarian of Illinois State Normal University. Milner is credited with organizing the university's initial collection of more than 40,000 items and was a prolific author of more than seventy articles and short monographs in library and education journals during her tenure as University Librarian from 1890 to 1927.


title: Illinois State University

text: The current library building, opened in 1976, is the second facility constructed to be a dedicated library. The university library has resided in five campus locations: Old Main (demolished 1958), John W. Cook Hall, North Hall (demolished 1965), Williams Hall (first known as Milner Library), and the current Milner Library.


title: Illinois State University

text: Illinois State University has six residence halls, one apartment complex, and dedicated apartments for upper class and graduate students. Facilities are administered by the ISU's University Housing Services.


title: Illinois State University

text: Watterson Towers is not only the largest residence hall on campus, it is also one of the world's tallest student residence halls, and provides the highest vantage point in Illinois between Chicago and St. Louis. Watterson features areas for wellness, quiet, substance-free, and restricted visitation. Built between 1968 and 1970, the facility is named for Arthur W. Watterson, a geography faculty member and chair. Watterson went through a massive renovation from March 2010 through August 2012.


title: Illinois State University

text: Watterson's twin towers have five "houses" apiece. Each "house" has five floors with each floor divided into four suites. Each of the 10 houses was named after a former United States Secretary of State. In 2020, the houses were renamed due to 8 of the 10 secretaries having had slaves.


title: Illinois State University

text: Hewett and Manchester Hall are in East Campus. Built in 1966, they were named after Edwin C. Hewett, the third University president, and Orson L. Manchester, Illinois State Normal University dean from 1911 to 1928.


title: Illinois State University

text: Both are for the most part coed, with specialty floors designated as all male or all female. Until recently, Hewett was all-female. Between both Hewett and Manchester, there are floors dedicated to students majoring in art, business, communication, co-sciences, curriculum and instruction, Geo-Environmental, Honors, Information Technology, Math, and Music. Other floors are dedicated to students with interests and preferences such as service and leadership, substance-free, quiet, and international house.


title: Illinois State University

text: These residence halls were renovated in 2008–09. During this renovation, the dining center in the basement between each hall was transformed into the Julia N. Visor Center which is dedicated to helping students achieve academic success through free tutoring and other services.


title: Illinois State University

text: Haynie, Wilkins, and Wright Hall are in West Campus, next to Redbird Arena and Hancock Stadium. Also known as "The Tri Towers", they feature floors for ROTC, Wellness, Substance-Free, and Quiet. These halls are the most remote residence facilities on campus and are known for housing a majority of athletes because of their proximity to practice areas. They were built in 1962 and named for Martha D.L. Haynie, the first female Illinois State Normal University professor, Daniel Wilkins, principal of the Female School Institute of Bloomington in the 1850s, and Simeon Wright, one of the university's founders.


title: Illinois State University

text: In 2012, the university opened the new Cardinal Court Apartments to replace a complex by the same name and on the same site built in 1959. Much like the old Cardinal Court, the new Cardinal Court provides apartment-style living combined with the benefits of university housing. Besides simply being more modern, the primary difference is that the old Cardinal Court had been reserved for married couples and graduate students.


title: Illinois State University

text: Until recently, there were several residence halls in what has been known as "South Campus". There are no longer any students housed in the area now, and the buildings were demolished in the summer of 2016.


title: Illinois State University

text: Hamilton and Whitten Hall (aka "Ham-Whit) shared a joint entrance and front desk. They featured lifestyle floors such as Upper-class and Graduate, Student Nursing, and Speech Pathology and Audiology. Constructed in 1959, the facility was named for Alma H. Hamilton, the first recipient of an Illinois State Normal University bachelor's degree, and Jennie Whitten, the former head of the Foreign Language Department.


title: Illinois State University

text: Atkin and Colby Hall, though built later than "Ham-Whit", were essentially a mirror image of the former, and shared a dining center with the same. Built in 1962 as female-only dorms, they were converted to co-ed. They were named for Edith Irene Atkin, Illinois State Normal University mathematics professor from 1909 to 1940 and June Rose Colby, English professor from 1892 to 1932.


title: Illinois State University

text: Three residence halls, Dunn, Barton, and Walker Hall, were demolished in 2008 to provide space for the Student Fitness, Kinesiology and Recreation Center.


title: Illinois State University

text: The school newspaper, "The Vidette" first published in 1888 as a subscription-based newspaper serving both the university and Town of Normal. In 1915, the paper received funding from the university and dropped its subscription model. In 2021, "The Vidette" ceased printing newspapers and became an entirely online news source.


title: Illinois State University

text: ISU owns a public radio station WGLT ("News, Blues and All That Jazz"), which broadcasts on 89.1 in Normal, 103.5 in Peoria, and by streaming audio. The call letters are from keywords of the school's motto: "Gladly-Learn-Teach." The university also maintains a student radio station, WZND. On January 20, 2010, WZND changed its format from a dual format (Rock and Jamz) to a college shuffle format. The station broadcasts on 103.3 FM, channels 4 & 5 in the residence halls and on the web. TV-10, a part of the School of Communication, provides the only live local television newscast produced entirely in Bloomington-Normal.


title: Illinois State University

text: ISU has over 400 registered student organizations (RSO) and several university groups that sponsor student-focused events. The Multicultural Center is home to student diversity advocacy organizations such as the Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC), the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), Black Student Union (BSU), and Pride.


title: Illinois State University

text: Illinois State is home to over 400 registered student organizations or "RSOs". These organizations can range from intramural sports to branches of nationally recognized student organizations. Every year RSOs are able to advertise themselves to students during Festival ISU where RSOs can reserve a booth on the quad where they can meet passing students looking to join an organization.


title: Illinois State University

text: Illinois State University also boasts one of the largest student spirit organizations in the United States, RED ALERT. This registered student organization has over 4,100 members, roughly one fourth of the student body. The group was founded in 2006 to promote student involvement in university athletics and has grown exponentially.


title: Illinois State University

text: ISU is also the home of the Gamma Phi Circus, the oldest collegiate circus in the world, founded in 1929. It is one of two collegiate circuses in the US; the other is run by Florida State University.


title: Illinois State University

text: The Student Government Association at Illinois State University is a unique governing body for the ISU Student Body. It is unique in that it sends 21 voting student members to serve on the Academic Senate which is composed of student, faculty, staff, and administrators. This place in the shared governance of the university is rare among universities giving ISU Students a major voice on campus.


title: Illinois State University

text: The Illinois State University Greek community was established in 1967. Currently about 14% of the student population are active members of Greek Life. Greek organizations provide students with a wide range of academic, social, and leadership opportunities. In the 2015–2016 academic year fraternity and sorority members collectively raised $175,054 for charities and volunteered 44,864 hours of community service. Fraternity and Sorority members had an average GPA of 3.02 in 2016.


title: Illinois State University

text: Social: Acacia (fraternity), Alpha Sigma Phi, FarmHouse, Phi Kappa Psi, Pi Kappa Phi, Phi Gamma Delta, Sigma Nu, Kappa Sigma, Phi Mu Alpha, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Tau Omega, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Rho Eta, Sigma Alpha Mu, Sigma Chi, Sigma Pi


title: Illinois State University

text: Social/Cultural: Kappa Alpha Psi, Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Psi Lambda, Iota Phi Theta, Sigma Lambda Beta, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, Lambda Theta Phi


title: Illinois State University

text: Professional/Music: Delta Omicron, Pi Sigma Epsilon, Alpha Kappa Psi, Delta Sigma Pi, Gamma Iota Sigma, Phi Beta Lambda, Phi Sigma Pi, Phi Gamma Nu


title: Illinois State University

text: Social: Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Delta Pi, Sigma Sigma Sigma, Gamma Phi Beta, Phi Sigma Sigma, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Zeta, Zeta Tau Alpha, Sigma Alpha, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Zeta Theta Pi


title: Illinois State University

text: Social/Cultural: Delta Phi Lambda, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho, Gamma Phi Omega, Omega Phi Beta, Sigma Lambda Gamma


title: Illinois State University

text: The ISU Forensics Individual Events team is one of the most successful forensics individual events teams in the country. In 1995, 1999, and 2000 it won the National Forensic Association team championship and in 2005 its team won the American Forensic Association team championship. Illinois State has been selected as the host of the 2011 NFA National Championship. Famous alumni include Nelsan Ellis of HBO's "True Blood".


title: Illinois State University

text: In recent years the Illinois State football team has been consistently ranked at the NCAA Division I FCS level.


title: Illinois State University

text: The Illinois state co-ed cheerleading team has competed at both NCA and UCA nationals in co-ed Division 1. In 2002 they placed 2nd in the nation in co-ed Division 1 at UCA nationals in Orlando, FL. In 2001 they placed 3rd in the nation in co-ed division 1 at UCA nationals in Orlando, FL. They have appeared on ESPN and in American Cheerleader Magazine.


title: Illinois State University

text: The Illinois State Club Baseball team was ranked No. 18 in the country in the spring of 2010 for much of the year, but ultimately finished second in the Great Lakes South Conference behind the University of Illinois. The Redbirds compiled a 15–5 overall record, including 9–4 in conference.


title: Illinois State University

text: The Illinois State University Mock Trial Team has enjoyed continue success since its inception in 1987. The team competes in intercollegiate tournaments sponsored by AMTA (American Mock Trial Association). In 2004, they won the National Championship after defeating Gonzaga University in the final round. The team is consistently ranked as a top 5 team in the Midwest.


title: Illinois State University

text: The ISU Solar Car Team was founded in 2005 and has earned two 2nd place (2011, 2013) a 3rd place (2015) a 4th place (2012) and a 5th place (2009) finish in the Formula Sun Grand Prix.


title: Illinois State University

text: The school's fight song is "Go, You Redbirds," a song written specifically for ISU and frequently played at sporting events. The Alma Mater song, also played at sporting events from time to time, is "Glory Hast Thou," written to the tune of Haydn's "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser," and better known as the tune used for "Deutschlandlied," the German national anthem. The Grossinger Motors Arena located in downtown Bloomington is home to the universities 3 club ice hockey teams which compete in ACHA Divisions 1, 2, and 3. The Ice Hockey club is also the oldest registered student organization on campus.


title: Illinois State University

text: The ghost of Angeline Vernon Milner, the university's first librarian, is said to haunt the former library building, now called Williams Hall. Built in 1940, the building was named in honor of Milner who served as University Librarian from 1890 until her retirement in 1927. Beginning in the 1990s, personnel working in the book storage and archives facilities formerly housed in Williams Hall reported encounters with what they believe to be the ghost of Milner.


title: Illinois State University

text: The university has two laboratory schools: University High School and Thomas Metcalf Laboratory School.


title: Illinois State University

text: Bloomington/Normal Japanese Saturday School (ブルーミントン・ノーマル補習授業校 "Burūminton Nōmaru Hoshū Jugyō Kō"), a Japanese weekend school, was established in 1986 and held at the Thomas Metcalf School. It has a separate office in Normal


title: Illinois State University

text: The Illinois State University Alumni Center, located at 1101 N. Main in Normal, is designed to serve over 215,000 alumni of Illinois State University, as well as current students, faculty/staff, and the Bloomington/Normal community.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! is a British reality TV series in which a number of celebrities live together in a jungle environment for a number of weeks, competing to be crowned "King" or "Queen of the Jungle".


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: The show was originally created in the United Kingdom by Granada Television and produced by its subsidiary, ITV's then London franchise London Weekend Television (LWT) and developed by a team including James Allen, Natalka Znak, Brent Baker and Stewart Morris. The first episode aired on 25 August 2002 hosted by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, also known as Ant and Dec. It is now produced by ITV Studios and has been licensed globally to countries including the United States, Germany, France, Hungary, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Romania, Russia, Australia and India.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: The UK, German and the 2003 US versions of the series take place in New South Wales, Australia, at a permanently-built up camp and filming studios on a disused banana plantation facility called Dungay Creek in Dungay near Murwillumbah. However the first UK series of the show (aired in 2002) was filmed on a smaller site close to King Ranch (officially El Rancho del Rey) in Kooroomool, near Tully, Queensland, in Australia.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: The leaseholder of the privately owned Dungay site is the British production company ITV Studios, formerly Granada Television, which extensively redesigned and built on the previously open site and equipped it with camera and sound technology for TV broadcasting. About 600 mostly Australian crew members, including 136 from the UK, are involved in the yearly production and in excess of 100 cameras are used. Inside the entrance to the filming location is an open area allocated to buildings which accommodate on-site medical facilities, containers for the storage of props, and other backstage facilities. Families and friends of the celebrities are housed here each morning during evictions. From this area, a restricted access road climbs to the site of the studios. The road then heads down into a valley via four-wheel drive access to the set of the show.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: In August 2020, it was confirmed that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions, the 20th UK series would be filmed in Gwrych Castle in Abergele, North Wales. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 15th season of the German version, was originally planned for 2021 to take place for the first time in the history of the show not in Australia, but in North Wales, at Gwrych Castle. On 22 October 2020, it was announced that production in Wales was cancelled and that broadcaster RTL was working on a new concept. On 2 August 2021, it was announced that, due to Australia's border remaining closed amid COVID-19 restrictions in the country, filming for the UK version would again be taking place at Gwrych Castle in Abergele, Wales. As part of the agreement with Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust, ITV announced it would continue to help support the ongoing restoration project of the site.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: The Australian series is usually filmed in Blyde River Canyon near Hoedspruit and Kruger National Park, in South Africa. The seventh season however was pre-recorded in Australia during late 2020 at the site used by the British and German versions since 2003. On 18 October 2021, it was announced by RTL that the German version would now be filmed at the same location in South Africa instead of its usual home in Australia, taking the filming slot previously occupied by the Australian version. In September 2022, it was confirmed that ITV would pre-record a special "All-Stars" series in South Africa, featuring former campmates and scheduled to air in 2023.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: Other versions of the show have been filmed in Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, Indonesia and Malaysia.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: This series has been criticised by Tessa Jowell, at the time the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. In an interview with the "Financial Times" during the second UK series, she said, "If they weren't mostly – save their blushes – has-been celebrities, there might be more interest ... I think that if we saw many more programming hours taken over by reality TV, I hope you'd begin to see a viewers' revolt."


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: In 2002, CBS, broadcaster of the popular American reality show "Survivor", unsuccessfully sued ABC and Granada TV over a planned American version of "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!", alleging similarities.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: The show's use of live insects and other living creatures in the bushtucker trials has led to some public criticism of the show and its producers and those involved in the programming. This issue was highlighted during the 2009 UK series, where celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo killed, cooked and ate a rat. The RSPCA Australia investigated the incident and sought to prosecute D'Acampo and actor Stuart Manning for animal cruelty after this episode of the show was aired. ITV was fined but the two celebrities involved were not prosecuted for animal cruelty despite being charged with the offence by the New South Wales Police. This incident did, however, highlight among certain groups such as Buglife, a British charity for the conservation of insects, and the RSPCA, the controversy surrounding the killing of living creatures for human entertainment.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: There has been criticism that the producers present the celebrities as living in a "dangerous" jungle, despite the fact that they are actually kept in a controlled environment, with some of the scenery being artificial, e.g. a pond and a small waterfall.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: In November 2014, TV presenter Chris Packham wrote an open letter to Ant & Dec asking them and ITV to end the "abuse of animals" in "I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!". He described the trials as "out of date" and "silly". Packham again requested that the programme end its perceived animal abuse on stage during the 2019 TV Choice Awards, whilst imploring celebrities and those in the television industry to be more conscious of the environment.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: In January 2021, the Australian version of the reality show received criticism for its "sick', "traumatic" and "unnecessary" content when a contestant was bitten by a snake in an episode.


title: I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

text: In November 2022, the British ITV show returned to its original jungle setting in Australia, from Wales (2021) where both ITV and one of the contestants Matt Hancock, a serving MP (the former Health Secretary who was forced to resign his Cabinet Post) was criticised over his inclusion in the reality programme, with viewers reportedly complaining to Ofcom that the MP should be at work in Westminster and his Constituency in Suffolk, instead of gaining financial rewards after past indiscretions and breaking Covid-19 guidelines, ITV reportedly paid Hancock £400,000 to participate.


title: Harris Wittels

text: Harris Lee Wittels (April 20, 1984 – February 19, 2015) was an American comedian. He was a writer for "The Sarah Silverman Program", a writer and executive producer for "Parks and Recreation", and a recurring guest on "Comedy Bang! Bang!"


title: Harris Wittels

text: Wittels was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, US, the son of Ellison Wittels and Maureen (née Davidson) Wittels. He was raised in Houston, Texas, in the Jewish faith. He celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Emanu-El, across the street from Rice University.


title: Harris Wittels

text: His elder sister is writer and anime voice-over actress Stephanie Wittels. He described his father as "the funniest dude alive".


title: Harris Wittels

text: Wittels attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. In 2006, he graduated from Emerson College, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, with a degree in television and video production.


title: Harris Wittels

text: After performing stand-up comedy in Los Angeles, Wittels met Sarah Silverman and became a writer on "The Sarah Silverman Program" in 2007. He also wrote for the 2007 and 2008 MTV Movie Awards. When "The Sarah Silverman Program" ended in 2010, Wittels became a staff writer and executive story editor for "Parks and Recreation" during the show's second season, then later co-producer during the third season and executive producer during the fourth. His writing credits included the episodes "Media Blitz", "94 Meetings" and "Dave Returns". He also appeared on the show as Harris, a dim-witted animal control employee. He wrote for "Secret Girlfriend" and "Eastbound and Down".


title: Harris Wittels

text: In 2012, Wittels was cast as a co-star in Sarah Silverman's NBC pilot "Susan 313" along with June Diane Raphael and Tig Notaro, which was not picked up. In 2012, Wittels was hired as a consulting producer for the TV series "Eastbound & Down" during its third season. He consulted throughout the season, as well as co-writing two episodes.


title: Harris Wittels

text: Wittels was a frequent guest on the Earwolf podcast "Comedy Bang! Bang!" and was known for the recurring segment "Harris' Foam Corner" (originally titled "Harris' Phone Corner", which debuted on Episode 31 of "CBB"), during which he read jokes and observations saved on his phone that were deemed to be not good enough for his act. The jokes were typically lambasted by host Scott Aukerman. Also on the Earwolf network, Wittels hosted the "Analyze Phish" podcast, where he attempted to convince friends to enjoy the band Phish. He was also part of the popular series of "CBB" episodes entitled "Farts and Procreation" along with fellow "Parks and Recreation" alumni Adam Scott and Chelsea Peretti. The episodes would usually devolve into nonsensical improv sessions. There were four "Farts and Pro" episodes, the final one being recorded very shortly before Harris' death and released days later, posthumously.


title: Harris Wittels

text: Wittels was a member of the band Don't Stop or We'll Die, along with comedians Paul Rust and Michael Cassady. He was the band's drummer and provided backing vocals. DSOWD performed a number of times on "Comedy Bang! Bang" and played Los Angeles venues such as Largo and writer/director Rob Schrab's wedding. Notable songs include "Lisa," "Once in Awhile," and "She Got Titties (In All The Right Places)". In 2010, Wittels coined the phrase "humblebrag" on Twitter. He wrote for Grantland on the subject of notable "humblebrags", the act of boasting about one's life and then downplaying it. The popularity of the feed led to a book, "Humblebrag: The Art of False Modesty", published in 2012. Humblebrag was designated the "most useful" word of 2011 by the American Dialect Society.


title: Harris Wittels

text: In August 2013, NBC picked up an untitled Wittels sitcom, about a slacker still living with his parents while dealing with his whiz kid younger brother, a multi-millionaire entrepreneur in high school.


title: Harris Wittels

text: Wittels was a dedicated fan of the band Phish. His mother Maureen estimated that he saw the band in concert over 300 times in his lifetime, and his contract for "The Sarah Silverman Program" was reportedly written to include time off so he could follow the band on tour. According to the first episode of "Analyze Phish", Wittels became a fan of Phish while he was in high school, after he and his friends spontaneously decided to see the band's concert on September 25, 1999, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, Texas. Wittels described the show's impact on him in an interview with "Relix", recalling "I was literally a fan since that night. It was the most amazing concert experience of my life. It wasn't even that great of a show, but even a regular Phish show, especially , is gonna be better than anything else you see." Wittels often appeared on "Parks and Recreation" as the character Harris, who habitually wore Phish t-shirts. "Analyze Phish" podcast inspired Phish's lyricist Tom Marshall to start his own podcast about the band, "Under the Scales", in 2016.


title: Harris Wittels

text: In a November 19, 2014 interview on the podcast "You Made It Weird", Wittels openly discussed his personal life and history of drug addiction with host Pete Holmes. He said he had done drugs recreationally since he was 12. He said his drug usage got "out of hand" because of a breakup with a woman he felt was "perfect" for him in every way, except that she and her family were Scientologists, which he described as a "deal-breaker." He said he began to rely on oxycodone to deal with his stress over the relationship, his work on various television pilots, and writing the "Humblebrag" book. "It was easier just to take drugs and do it all. I wrote that entire book on so much drugs," Wittels said. "That's a humblebrag." He said he had gone to rehab for a second time after becoming addicted to heroin, and had just gotten out a month earlier; "Sobriety is still fresh. I haven't figured it all out."


title: Harris Wittels

text: Wittels addressed his struggles with addiction on "Analyze Phish", citing his second stay in rehab as one of the reasons for the delays in releasing the episode where cohost Scott Aukerman went to Phish's 2013 live show at the Hollywood Bowl. During the episode, which was released nearly a year after the show, Wittels touched on the impact his addiction had on his personal and professional life, as well as the use of recreational drugs as part of his Phish fandom.


title: Harris Wittels

text: On February 19, 2015, Wittels was found dead in his Los Angeles home. It was later confirmed to be due to a heroin overdose. On February 18, during his stand-up set at The Meltdown, he had talked about living sober and said he was in "a good place".


title: Harris Wittels

text: Following news of his death, Wittels' friends and colleagues—including Aziz Ansari, Amy Poehler, Dan Harmon, Sarah Silverman, Doug Benson, and Scott Aukerman—paid tribute to him. Ansari wrote on his blog that the two had been planning to move to New York City together in March, and he shared his favorite memory of Wittels during an appearance on "Conan".


title: Harris Wittels

text: The final episode of "Parks and Recreation", "One Last Ride", aired on February 24, five days after Wittels' death. It included a final frame with the message "We love you, Harris."


title: Harris Wittels

text: Similarly, a frame, "Dedicated to the Memory of Harris Wittels", appears before the closing credits on the "" comedy special that was released March 6, 2015, on Netflix. In the first-season finale of Ansari and Alan Yang's show "Master of None", on which Wittels was a writer, an intertitle states "This series is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend. Harris Wittels 1984–2015".


title: Harris Wittels

text: Harris' sister, Stephanie Wittels Wachs, used funds her brother left her in his will to set up a multi-discipline performance and communal space for creative people in Houston. Called the Rec Room, the 82-seat theater and adjoining bar opened in June 2016 near Minute Maid Park. On April 20, 2017, the first 420-themed "Harris Phest" was held, with comedy, "Parks and Rec" sketches, and a Phish cover band to mark what would have been his 33rd birthday. The Harris Phest benefits the Harris Wittels Scholarship Fund, which provides grants to students at his alma mater, Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Akhtar Mohammad Mansour (1960s21 May 2016) was the second supreme leader of the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan. Succeeding the founding leader, Mullah Omar, he was the supreme leader from July 2015 to May 2016, when he was killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan, Pakistan.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: United States president Barack Obama stated that Mansour was killed because he was planning attacks on US targets in Kabul. Obama hoped Mansour's death would lead to the Taliban joining a peace process.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Mansour was born sometime during either 1960, 1963, 1965 or 1968. According to the Taliban, he is thought to have been born either in a village named Kariz or another village named Band-i-Taimoor, both of which are situated within the Maiwand District of Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan. The biography released by the Taliban website showed his date of birth as 1347 in the solar Hijri calendar, which corresponds to 1968. This year is corroborated by S. Mehsud, of the C.T.C. West Point. According to Ahmed Rashid, Mansour belonged to the Alizai tribe, but other sources claim that he was of the Ishaqzai tribe, in any case, both the Alizai and the Ishaqzai are of the Durrani line of Pashtuns. According to the Taliban, Mansoor was educated at a village mosque and joined primary school at about the age of seven.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Mansour is alleged to have owned a cell-phone company, among other investments, and is claimed to have been wealthy as a result of his profiting from the dealings of Ishaqzai drug dealers. According to Richard Spencer of "The Daily Telegraph", Mansour performed his business operations via a residence located in Dubai.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: An undamaged Pakistani passport in the name of "Wali Muhammad" was recovered near the burned-out car at the scene of the drone attack that killed him; the passport is believed to have belonged to Mansour.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Sometime in 1985, he joined the jihadi war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, participating in the Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi group. During the same time Mohammad Omar was a commander of an organization within Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi. Mansour participated in the war against the Soviet military within Maiwand, Sang-e-Hessar, Zangawat and other parts of the city, and the Pashmul area of the Panjwai district, under the command of Mohammad Hassan Akhond, apparently commanded by him at least while fighting at the last location. During 1987 he was apparently injured, sustaining 13 separate wounds while stationed at Sanzary area of Panjwai district in Kandahar, according to the Taliban. Known as one of the prominent warriors, Mansour joined the Maulvi Obaidullah Ishaqzai group in 1987 but later Ishaqzai surrendered to Nur ul-Haq Ulumi, now the interior minister. Soon afterwards, he migrated to Quetta in Pakistan.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: After the war, Mansour resumed his religious education in different seminaries and later shifted to Peshawar, Pakistan, where he joined Jamia Mohammadia at the Jalozai Refugee camp. He was a student at Darul Uloom Haqqania madrassa. He was apparently a popular student, during his time at the madrassa from 1994 to 1995, located within the Jalozai refugee camp for Afghans near Peshawar, according to Afghan journalist Sami Yousafzai, who met him during that time.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: After the capture of Kandahar airport he was appointed as director general, or otherwise termed, security officer in charge, of the Kandahar airport, a role which encompassed both the air force and air-defence systems of Kandahar. After the taking of Kabul during 1996 he was made director of Ariana airlines, and additionally Minister of the Emirate for aviation and tourism, by Mohammed Omar, within the Talebani Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, together with his overseeing the Emirates' air force and air-defence systems, from his additional appointment as head of these within the ministry of defence. Notably, while minister, Mansour organized a 24-hour flights services within Afghanistan, thereby organizing the provision of facilities for Muslims to go to Mecca as Hajj via air-flight. During 1996 the Mullah appointed the individual Farid Ahmed to station manager of Ariana airlines.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: During 1997, when the Taliban tried unsuccessfully to capture the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, Mansour was captured by an Uzbek warlord. For two months he remained there as a prisoner of war before Mohammed Omar traded him out.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: During 1998, the Mullah visited Frankfurt, Germany, and Prague, Czech Republic, during a 25-day trip visit to the unofficial envoy to Europe at the time, Mullah Nek Muhammad:


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: After the conclusion of the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814, Mansour was reported, by Anand Arni, a former officer with the Indian organisation Research & Analysis Wing, as being seen embracing Maulana Masood Azhar, the then leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: In 2001, he surrendered to the Afghan President Hamid Karzai to ask for amnesty. He was forgiven after which he returned to his home district. However, American forces, refusing to believe he and other senior Taliban commanders had given up fighting, conducted a series of night raids to capture him after which he fled to Pakistan, where he helped to shape the Taliban as an insurgent organisation.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Mullah Mansour was appointed as shadow governor of Kandahar, from sometime after 2001, until May 2007.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: In a previously secret state communication of the U.S. government in 2006, Akhtar Mansour was listed as the 23rd member of the Taliban (with the late Mohammed Omar as the first member).


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: According to leaked material, Mansour attended a meeting dated 24 August 2007 with other senior Taliban officials, so that he and those others present might discuss and organize a potential suicide bombing and bombing campaign upon the areas of Kandahar and the Helmand Province, and also particularly focused on killing Ahmad Wali Karzai and Hamid Karzai.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: The council of the Taliban appointed him as deputy to the newly appointed Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar during 2007, the Indian Express reported Akthar Mansour as appointed to the Taliban's Quetta Shura (council for political and military matters and affairs), sometime during 2007, while within Quetta. One source gives Mansour as being appointed deputy to Mohammed Omar during 2010; another source states him to have been "by some accounts" the second most senior member of the Taliban behind Mohammed Omar, during 2010. A contradictory report states his appointment occurred during 2013 after Abdul Ghani Baradar, the then deputy, was jailed. A source claims to know of Akther Mansour having a "direct influence" over military units operating within Khost, Paktia and Paktika, at a time after his appointment to the Council of the Taliban.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: In a communique published 29 November 2011, the Mullah was identified with the reference number TI.M.11.01. as an individual associated with the Taliban and accordingly was made pursuant to sanctions, as of 25 January 2001, and those sanctioned were to have any available assets frozen, to be banned from traveling and to be subject to an arms embargo.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: According to a 2014 report, Mansour, together with Abdul Qayum Zakir and Gul Agha Ishakzai, were involved in fighting over control of a major opium-producing area (land of Maiwand District) against a co-founder of the Taliban movement, Abdul Ghani Baradar.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: An article published on 12 March 2015 said Mansour and Abdul Qayum Zakir, who were long-term rivals, had met together in order to find an agreement and at the meeting had slaughtered sheep for a feast. The article stated Mansour was in favour of initiating so-called talks with Afghani government officials at the time, but was unable to make any progress in his own direction due to opposition from Zakir to the opening of a dialogue with the Afghan government.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: According to one report, dated 17 March 2015, Mansour was at that time deputy "amir ul-momenin", military leader and head of the shura of Quetta.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Mansour wrote a letter to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on behalf of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, released on 16 June 2015, to express his concerns of the potential for a negative influence of ISIS upon Afghan Talibans' progress, since ISIS activities might pose a risk of causing "multiplicity" within forces of the jihad of Afghanistan. The letter, appealing to the unity of "religious brotherhood", requests al-Baghdadi might extend "goodwill" to the Taliban, which "doesn't want to see interference in its affairs". The letter was written in Pashto and released within the Voice of Jihad site.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Additionally, the letter shows Mansour considered the late (Sheikhs) Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden, the late Abu Musab al Zarqawi and Ibn al-Khattab, to be heroes. In addition the letter expresses recognition of the support to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, of "famous religious scholars", of these he provides (Sheikh) Hamud bin Uqla al Shuaybi as an example.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Akhtar Mansour was elected leader of the Taliban organisation on 29 July 2015. The results were announced on Thursday 30 July.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Taliban splinter group Fidai Mahaz claimed Mohammed Omar was assassinated in a coup led by Akhtar Mansour and Gul Agha. Mansoor Dadullah, a Taliban commander and the brother of former senior commander Dadullah, also claimed that Omar had been assassinated. Mohammad Yaqoob, Omar's eldest son, denied that his father had been killed, insisting that he died of natural causes. A Taliban communique published 30 July 2015 said that Omar had died in hospital.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Mullah Mansour is said to have "closely kept the secret that Mullah Omar had been dead" despite the leaking of a report of Omar's death in 2013.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Some Taliban members considered Mansour's selection as leader to be invalid because not all Taliban were involved in the decision. Other senior Taliban commanders and officials wanted Omar's son Yaqoob as leader. Yaqoob was said to have been supported by his father's younger brother Abdul Manan, and former Taliban military chief Abdul Qayyum Zakir. The head of the Talibans' political office in Qatar, Tayyab Agha, also opposed the selection of Mansour as leader. However, a statement allegedly from Zakir denied he had any conflict with Mansour. Yaqoob is known to have publicly rejected the appointment of Mansour.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: On 13 August 2015, al-Qaeda's media wing As-Sahab issued a pledge of allegiance from Ayman al-Zawahiri to Mansour.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Sometime in August, Mansour sent a delegation to meetings with officials of the Afghan government, which was subsequently "hailed as a breakthrough".


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: A Security Council report, dated to the immediate September after Mansour's inauguration, showed he, as the new leader, was unwilling to engage in negotiations for the purposes of assuring peace.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: The Brookings Institution reported that Mansour referred to his own leadership as "Commander of the faithful", a translation of Amir al-Mu'minin. A separate source states Mansour used this particular title to refer to his role as leader of jihad. Mansour was, according to RAND corporation, and elsewhere, leading a jihad (i.e. an "insurgent force") limited to concerns orientated only to within Afghanistan, and not elsewhere.


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: According to a report published on 5 November 2015, Mansour stated his opinion that modern education was a "necessity".


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Mansour released his first communication as leader of the Taliban on 1 August 2015 as part of a 30-minute (or 33-minute, according to Al Jazeera) video release:


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: Mansour stated his position with regards to peace talks; the suggestion of his being willing to engage in peace talks as "enemy propaganda".


title: Akhtar Mansour

text: The website of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan published a biography of Mansour when he became Emir.