title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Eventually, however, something close to the Hudson design was chosen for the 1958 Rambler Ambassador. Hudson brand enthusiasts will note the triangular grille guard and 1957-like fender "gun sights" and the fast-selling 1958 Rambler Customs wore 1957 Hudson-styled front-fender trim.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Hudson, Essex, and Terraplane vehicles were either exported as complete cars or locally-built from knock-down kits in many countries making the Hudson marque well known internationally as well as domestically. In its 1929 report, the banking house Garden Detroit Company reported that in 1928 Hudson shipped 50,587 vehicles overseas, or 17.9% of total production. By March 1929 Hudson had topped all previous production figures having exported 44,295 cars in March alone, bringing the total of shipments for the first quarter of 1929 to an all-time high of 108,298.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: In 1915 the Sydney branch of Dalgety & Co. Ltd became the distributor of Hudson and Essex vehicles for New South Wales. The company was also the agent for Wolseley, Daimler, and Buick passenger vehicles as well as Lacre and Halley commercial vehicles. Motor bodies were produced by Messrs Henderson, Boulton, and Kirkham in Regent Street, Sydney. The company also did trimming, fitting, painting, mechanical work, and repairs.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Established in 1922, Sydney company Smith & Waddington set up motor vehicle body building operations for NSW and Queensland at premises on Parramatta Road, Camperdown. The company built "custom" car bodies which, by the terminology of the day, meant "built to an individual order and to a special design." In addition to assembling Hudson and Essex for Dalgety, the company also built vehicle bodies for Rolls-Royce, Wolseley, Dort, Benz, Fiat, and Turkat Méry. After a slump in the economy which caused operations to cease in November 1927, Smith & Waddington resumed production in June 1928, again building Hudson and Essex vehicles for NSW and Queensland, and further adding Dodge, Chrysler, Erskine, and Studebaker for the whole of Australia. Additionally, Sydney coach builder G.H Olding & Sons are known to have built 6 Terraplane phaetons for Dalgety in 1934.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: In 1926 a new company, Leader Motors Limited was formed to be the exclusive distributor of Hudson and Essex motor vehicles in Queensland. The bodies were made by South Australian company Holden's Motor Body Builders in Brisbane. In its main facility of Adelaide, Holden also made motor bodies for Austin, Buick, Chevrolet, Cleveland, Dodge, Fiat, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Overland, Reo, Studebaker, and Willys Knight.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Hudson and Essex assembly began in Victoria by Neal's Motors of Port Melbourne in 1927. The contract to build the bodies was initially given to TJ Richards & Sons of Keswick, Adelaide to supply for Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania as well as acting as a second source of supply for New South Wales and Queensland. Holden's Motor Body Builders also built bodies. Holden's records show that for 1927 the Adelaide plant built 1,641 Essex vehicles and 8 Hudsons, and for 1928 a total of 1,931 Essex vehicles and 59 Hudsons were assembled. Holden's final year for Hudson and Essex production was in 1928 and in 1931 the company was bought out by General Motors.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: In February 1934 Ruskins Body Works of West Melbourne secured the contract to build Hudson and Terraplane bodies for the whole of Australia. In June 1937, Neal's Motors celebrated assembling its 30,000th automobile: a 1937 Hudson Terraplane.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: In 1939 Dalgety sold their automotive business to agent for Packard motor vehicles, Ira L. & A.C Berk in Sydney, which thereafter became the distributors for Hudson in NSW and QLD. The company opened a manufacturing plant in Belmore, Sydney in February 1949.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: After the end of World War II, Australia legislated to restrict the use of U.S. dollars which were in desperately short supply. The use of U.S. dollars to import cars thereafter required a government permit restricting the purchase of American cars only to those with access to U.S. funds held overseas such as consular staff and visiting entertainers. Despite this, Australian distributors of Hudson, Nash, Packard, and Studebaker were able to bring in limited numbers of US-built, factory right-hand-drive vehicles from 1946.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Dunlop reported about Australian car sales from 1932 until 1949 noting Hudson vehicles (including Essex and Terraplane) totaled 10,424 units during the 17-years, coming in at 13th place overall. It was noted in the report generally that all marques in Australia experienced the greatest number of sales before World War II.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: In 1960, six years after the merger of Hudson and Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation, Australian Motor Industries (AMI) of Port Melbourne would form an agreement with AMC to assemble Ramblers in Australia.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Canadian assembly of Hudson vehicles commenced in 1932 by Hudson Motors of Canada in Tilbury, Ontario. The factory building was owned by Canadian Top & Body Co. which built the motor bodies for the vehicles. The first models assembled were a series of Hudson Eights. World War II interrupted operations and production ceased in 1941. Post-war operations resumed in 1950, with Hudsons being assembled by Chatco Steel Products in Tilbury, Ontario. Operations ceased in 1954 following the Nash-Hudson merger that led to the formation of American Motors Corporation. Toronto-based Nash Motors of Canada Ltd. became American Motors (Canada) Ltd. and all subsequent AMC operations continued in Toronto until its closure in 1957. Local production of Ramblers resumed after AMC's Brampton, Ontario plant opened in December 1960.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Hudson and Essex vehicles were assembled in Berlin, Germany, during the 1920s by Hudson Essex Motors Company m.b.H Berlin-Spandau. The cars were built with the speedometer in kilometers, while the fuel, oil, and temperature gauges remained in their original non-metric units.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Hudson and Essex vehicles were imported into New Zealand by Dominion Motors of Wellington which began operations in 1912. Dominion Motors amalgamated with Universal Motor Company of Christchurch in 1919 forming an assembly operation for Hudson and Essex as well as Oldsmobile, Crossley, Chevrolet, Stutz, Rolls-Royce, and (pre-GM) Vauxhall. Vehicles were assembled and finished in-house from partial knock-down kits.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: For South Island, Hudson and Essex vehicles were imported by W.G. Vining Limited of Nelson, beginning in 1912. Vining had built a garage in 1908 which was the largest garage in New Zealand at the time. A car assembly plant was established at the premises and shortly thereafter Vinings obtained licenses to import and assemble Cadillac, Maxwell, Haynes, and Ford vehicles from the United States; Bean cars from the United Kingdom; and Darracq and Unic vehicles from France. Along with Hudson and Essex, the plant later assembled Chevrolet and Rover vehicles. The business ceased when it was sold on 30 September 1927 upon W.G. Vining's retirement. Vining's son formed a new business, P. Vining & Scott, and continued the Hudson and Essex franchise, adding Morris in 1932.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: New Zealand car sales for the first nine months of 1927 saw Essex in third place with 898 vehicles sold, behind Chevrolet in second place with 1,100 vehicles sold, and Ford in first place with 1651 vehicles sold. Hudson made 12th place with 206 sales.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: From 1935, Hudson vehicles (along with Nash, Studebaker, and Standard) were assembled by Christchurch company Motor Assemblies Limited. Production ended when the company was acquired by Standard-Triumph International in 1954. Hudson production then went to Motor Holdings Ltd which had been founded in 1936 as the Zealand franchise of Jowett Motors. After Jowett's closure in the United Kingdom in 1954, Motor Holdings won the Volkswagen franchise and its Auckland operation was renamed VW Motors for the production of VWs in New Zealand. VW Motors assembled Hudsons as a secondary line. Some were fully imported as special orders.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: After the Hudson and Nash marques were discontinued by American Motors Corporation, VW Motors assembled AMC's new Rambler motor vehicles at its new Otahuhu Volkswagen plant from 1958 until 1962. AMC formed an agreement in 1963 with Campbell Motor Industries (CMI) of Thames to assemble Ramblers, production of which ran from 1964 until 1971.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Beginning in the 1920s, Hudson and Willys motor vehicles were assembled in South Africa from right-hand-drive complete knock-down (CKD) kits sourced from Canada by Stanley Motors at their plant, National Motor Assemblers (NMA), in Natalspruit (Gauteng). After World War II, NMA built Austin, Standard, and Triumph vehicles at different times.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: After the formation of American Motors Corporation in 1954, NMA continued to assemble AMC Ramblers until 1967.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Hudsons were introduced to the United Kingdom in 1911. No shipments were possible during the First World War but as soon as the Armistice was signed exports resumed to the U.K. Hudsons and Essex vehicles were sold through ten concessionaires.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: In 1922 Hudson-Essex Motors of Great Britain Limited was formed, with new premises on Dordrecht Road, in Acton Vale. Over 100 agents were appointed to sell the vehicles resulting in 2,000 sales in the next 12 months.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: In 1926 a factory was built on a property next to the recently opened Great West Road in Brentford. The plant opened in 1927 and a year later a three-story building was built as a service department for Hudson and Essex vehicles. The factory-assembled the vehicle chassis locally, but the bodies were imported as complete units from Detroit.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: From 1932, the bodies came over from the United States in sections to be assembled at the Great West Road factory. After the Essex marque was retired in 1932 the British company was renamed Hudson Motors Ltd.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: Hudson's new Terraplane model was equally as popular in the U.K as it was in the United States. English-designed and built bodies were built on the Terraplane frames and the cars were entered in many automobile races including the Monte Carlo Rally. Some of the cars entered were driven by personnel from the Great West Road factory. A Hudson Pacemaker won first place in the 1931 Scottish Rally and another Pacemaker took 7th place in the 1932 Torquay Rally. The Team Award was won by two Terraplane tourers and a Terraplane saloon in the 1933 Scottish Rally.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: A triangular site from the railway was developed in 1926 for Hudson-Essex factory. This was the first major industrial facility and became a major employer along the Great West Road. Other firms followed to establish what became known as the "Golden Mile." The Chiswick Roundabout (the junction of Chiswick High Road, North Circular Road, South Circular Road, and the A4 Great West Road) also became known as "Hudson's Corner." After World War II, the property was used by the Kelvinator Refrigerator Company.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: After the Hudson and Nash merger, the British company became a subsidiary of American Motors Corporation and was renamed Rambler Motors (A.M.C.) Limited in 1961, taking over from Nash Concessionaires Ltd. as the importer of AMC's new Rambler vehicles. The company imported AMC vehicles, many in factory right-hand-drive, well into the 1970s.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: For the 1970 model year, American Motors revived the "Hornet" model name for its new series of compact cars (the AMC Hornet). AMC was later purchased by Chrysler, which at one time considered reintroducing the Hornet name in the Dodge model line.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: The last Hudson dealership was Miller Motors in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which is now part of the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: The Hostetler Hudson Auto Museum in Shipshewana, Indiana, features a collection of restored Hudsons. Eldon Hostetler was an inventor who owned a Hudson as a teenager and later purchased Hudson cars and restored them.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: A restored Hudson Dealership sign still occupies its original site on Highway 32 in Chico, California.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: The 2006 film, Disney/Pixar's "Cars", features a character named Doc Hudson, represented as a 1951 Hudson Hornet.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: The 2011 racing video game "Forza Motorsport 4" and 2018 racing video game "Forza Horizon 4" features a 1952 Hudson Hornet.


title: Hudson Motor Car Company

text: The "Hermes", a recurring car model featured in Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto" video game series, is based on the 1951 Hudson Hornet and 1947 Hudson Super Six.


title: L.L.Bean

text: L.L.Bean is an American privately-held retail company that was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean. The company, headquartered in the place in which it was founded, in Freeport, Maine, specializes in clothing and outdoor recreation equipment.


title: L.L.Bean

text: L.L.Bean was founded in 1912 by its namesake, hunter and fisherman Leon Leonwood Bean, in Freeport, Maine. The company began as a one-room operation selling a single product, the Maine Hunting Shoe, also known as duck boots and later as Bean Boots. Bean had developed a waterproof boot, which is a combination of lightweight leather uppers and rubber bottoms, that he sold to hunters. He obtained a list of nonresident Maine hunting license holders, prepared a descriptive mail order circular, set up a shop in his brother's basement in Freeport and started a nationwide mail-order business. By 1912, he was selling the Bean Boot through a four-page mail-order catalog, and the boot remains a staple of the company's outdoor image. Defects in the initial design led to 90 percent of the original production run being returned: Bean honored his money-back guarantee, corrected the design, and continued selling them.


title: L.L.Bean

text: According to Bean, relating the incorporation of the company, "officers elected Nov. 16, 1934...L.L. Bean, President and Treasurer; Carl Bean Vice President and Assistant Treasurer; Jack Gorman, my son-in-law, Vice President and Clothing Buyer; and Warren Bean, my son, Clerk." Gross sales for his company amounted to $1 million in 1946, increasing to $3.8 million in 1966, $20.4 million in 1974, and $237.4 million in 1984.


title: L.L.Bean

text: Leon L. Bean died on February 5, 1967, in Pompano Beach, Florida. He is buried in Freeport's Webster Cemetery. The company passed into the directorship of Bean's grandson, Leon Gorman, from that time until 2001, when Gorman decided to take the position of chairman, leaving the position of CEO to Christopher McCormick, the first non-family member to assume the title. On May 19, 2013, Shawn Gorman, 47, a great-grandson of the company's founder, was elected L.L.Bean's chairman. The company announced a US$125,000 donation to a new scholarship fund upon Leon Gorman's death in 2015, representing about 2.5 years of tuition at his alma mater, Bowdoin College.


title: L.L.Bean

text: Stephen Smith was named CEO in November 2015, the first time in the company's 103-year history that a CEO had been hired from outside the company.


title: L.L.Bean

text: The company sells a variety of hiking, weather, and other utility boots, along with other outdoor equipment such as firearms, backpacks, and tents, and produces a full line of clothing, which is now its mainstay.


title: L.L.Bean

text: L.L.Bean sources its products from the US and across the globe. As of 2016, its Brunswick, Maine factory employed more than 450 people who made the company's products by hand, such as the Maine Hunting Shoe, L.L.Bean Boot, Boat and Totes, dog beds, leather goods, and backpacks.


title: L.L.Bean

text: In 2000, L.L.Bean partnered with Japanese automaker Subaru, making L.L.Bean the official outfitter of Subaru, spawning the L.L.Bean edition Subaru Outback and Subaru Forester for the US market. The L.L.Bean trim levels were top-spec versions, with most available options included as standard equipment. This relationship with Subaru ended June 28, 2008.


title: L.L.Bean

text: In 2010, L.L.Bean created a contemporary sub-brand called L.L.Bean Signature. The Signature line is a modern interpretation of L.L.Bean's previous products with modern fits.


title: L.L.Bean

text: Along with a number of retail and outlet stores, the company maintains its flagship store on Main Street in Freeport, Maine. This branch, originally opened in 1917, has been open 24 hours a day since 1951, with the exception of two Sundays in 1962 when Maine changed its blue laws; a town vote later reinstated the store's open-door policy. The flagship has closed to honor the death of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1963, as well as the deaths of founder Leon Bean in 1967 and his grandson Leon Gorman in 2015. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, all L.L.Bean stores were closed indefinitely starting on March 17, 2020, at midnight. It became the fifth time in the company's history that the flagship closed, and the first time it has ever closed for more than 24 hours. The company began to reopen stores in May 2020.


title: L.L.Bean

text: L.L.Bean has invested heavily in activities for both visitors and residents in Freeport, including its Outdoor Discovery Schools, Christmas light displays, and its Summer Concert Series, which has attracted artists such as Grace Potter, Lake Street Dive, Edwin McCain, Great Big Sea, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Rockapella.


title: L.L.Bean

text: L.L.Bean opened its first outlet store in North Conway, New Hampshire, in 1988. The company operates 30 retail stores and 10 factory outlets in the US, and 25 retail stores in Japan, in addition to its catalog and online sales operations.


title: L.L.Bean

text: The L.L.Bean Bootmobile travels the United States and serves as a mobile store during its college tour with a limited selection of products.


title: L.L.Bean

text: In March 2018, L.L.Bean opened their first urban location in Boston's Seaport District. The store will be the model for further expansion in urban areas and carry a selection of merchandise selected to fit the surrounding community.


title: L.L.Bean

text: From its founding, L.L.Bean had an unlimited return policy, which allowed customers to return items with which they were dissatisfied at any time, even without a purchase receipt. On February 9, 2018, the company announced it would be limiting returns to within one year of purchase, and only with a receipt or other proof of purchase. L.L.Bean said that some customers had been abusing the policy by returning items that had been purchased from yard sales and third parties or used the policy as a lifetime replacement program for items with normal wear and tear. L.L.Bean has also stated it reserves the right to deny returns to those who regularly return items.


title: L.L.Bean

text: L.L. Bean has ventured into international markets notably Japan and Canada, starting with Japan in 1976 with L.L. Bean bags debuting at "American Life Shop BEAMS" in Tokyo's Harajuku district in 1976, then opening the first outlet in November 1992, then expanding to 28 stores by November 2018. The company then officially ventured into the Canadian market with the launch of an e-commerce site in 2018, under licensing by Toronto-based Jaytex Group and expansion directed under Brokerage Oberfeld Snowcap , officially opening its first outlet in 2019 in Oakville, Ontario, with at least 8 opened by the end of 2021 with plans to operate at least 20. 2020 saw outlet expansions entirely in Ontario include one at Ottawa Train Yards, one at the Georgian Mall in Barrie and one at Vaughan Mills. 2021 saw outlet openings of one at Toronto's Shops at Don Mills, one at Halifax, Nova Scotia's Dartmouth Crossing, two in British Columbia, one in Victoria's Mayfair Mall and one at Burnaby's The Amazing Brentwood, one at Calgary Alberta's Deerfoot Meadows retail centre. 2022 saw the Ontaro openings of one at Kitchener's The Boardwalk, Kingston's Cataraqui Mall, and one at Moncton, New Brunswick's Champlain Place, with one planned at Niagara Falls and one at Edmonton, Alberta later this year.


title: L.L.Bean

text: In January 2017, there was a call from a group of political activists to boycott L.L.Bean after it was disclosed that Linda Bean, one of the descendants of founder Leon Leonwood Bean who sits on the board of directors, had donated US$60,000 to a political action committee that supported Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. There were assertions that the contribution may be illegal. Trump posted on Twitter, in support of Linda Bean after calls for the boycott, "Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L.Bean for your great support and courage. People will support you even more now. Buy L.L.Bean." The company said it had not donated to Trump, nor have any of the other directors or any of the 50 other Bean heirs. It was unclear if the publicity hurt business, since sales were flat prior and for a second straight year in 2016.


title: L.L.Bean

text: L.L.Bean has education programs connected to many of its retail outlets to support the outdoor interests of its customers. Customers can sign up to participate in a number of outdoor activities; all equipment and instruction are provided. Activities include archery, clay shooting, fly casting, and sea kayaking. More advanced classes are conducted as well, and must be reserved in advance. Snowshoeing and cross country skiing are available December to March. All other retail stores offer fly casting and kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 1964, running between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka, it is Japan's first high-speed rail line. Along with being the world's oldest high-speed rail line, it is also one of the most heavily used. Since 1987 it has been operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), prior to that by Japanese National Railways (JNR).


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: There are three types of services on the line: from fastest to slowest, they are the limited-stop "Nozomi", the semi-fast "Hikari", and the all-stop "Kodama". Many "Nozomi" and "Hikari" trains continue onward to the San'yō Shinkansen, going as far as Fukuoka's Hakata Station.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: The line was named a joint Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and IEEE Milestone by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2000.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: The predecessor for the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines was originally conceived at the end of the 1930s as a standard-gauge "dangan ressha" (bullet train) between Tokyo and Shimonoseki, which would have taken nine hours to cover the nearly 1,000 kilometer distance between the two cities. This project was planned as the first part of an East Asian rail network serving Japan's overseas territories. The beginning of World War II stalled the project in its early planning stages, although three tunnels were dug that were later used in the Shinkansen route.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: By 1955, the original Tokaido line between Tokyo and Osaka was congested. Even after its electrification the next year, the line was still the busiest in Japan's railway network by a long margin, with demand being around double the then capacity. In 1957, a public forum was organized to discuss “The Possibility of a Three-hour Rail Trip Between Tokyo and Osaka.” After substantial debate, the Japanese National Railways (JNR) decided to build a new standard gauge line alongside the original narrow gauge one to supplement it. The president of JNR at the time, Shinji Sogō, started attempting to persuade politicians to back the project. Realizing the high expenses of the project early on due to the use of new, unfamiliar technologies and the high concentration of tunnels and viaducts, Sogō settled for less government funding than what was needed.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: The Diet approved the plan in December 1958, agreeing to fund out of the required over a five-year construction period. Then-finance minister Eisaku Satō recommended that the rest of the funds should be taken from non-governmental sources so that political changes would not cause funding issues. Construction of the line began on 20 April 1959 under Sogō and chief engineer Hideo Shima. In 1960, Shima and Sogō were sent to the United States to borrow money from the World Bank. Although the original request was for US$200 million, they came back with only $80 million, enough to fund 15% of the project, and could not use the loan for "experimental technology". Severe cost overruns during construction forced both of them to resign. The opening was timed to coincide with the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which had already brought international attention to the country. Originally, the line was called the "New Tokaido Line" in English. Just like the original railway line, it is named after the Tokaido road that has been used for centuries.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: Initially, there were two services: the faster "Hikari" (also called the "Super Express") made the journey between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka in four hours, while the slower "Kodama" (or the "limited express") made more stops and took five hours to travel the same route. A test run was conducted August 25, 1964, simulating a "Hikari" service. The run, which was deemed "very successful" by then-JNR president Reisuke Ishida, was also broadcast on television by NHK. On October 1 that same year, the line was officially opened, with the first train, "Hikari 1", traveling from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka with a top speed of . In November 1965, both services were sped up by an hour to achieve their current times of 3 hours for the "Hikari" and 4 hours for the "Kodama".


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: The 1970s were a difficult time for the JNR as local lines built up deficit. Profits from the Tokaido Shinkansen were used to offset the lines which were running at a loss which resulted in a lack of development and faster service over a 15-year period. Labour issues during that time steered away any attention from JNR executives, further complicating the possibility for research initiatives. Despite the deep financial situation throughout the 1970s, the loan from the World Bank made in 1959 was paid back in 1981.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: In 1988, one year after the privatization of JNR, the new operating company, JR Central, initiated a project to increase operating speeds through infrastructure improvement and a new train design. This resulted in the debut of the 300 Series and the "Nozomi", the line's fastest service which took two and a half hours to traverse the route with a top speed of , on March 14, 1992.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: New platforms for Shinkansen services at Shinagawa Station opened in October 2003, accompanied by a major timetable change which increased the number of daily "Nozomi" services, which was now larger than the number of "Hikari" trains. Initially, certain "Nozomi" and "Hikari" services did not stop at the station, with some skipping either Shinagawa or Shin-Yokohama, and the plurality of services stopping at both. From March 2008 onward, all services stop at both stations. Another station was planned to open in 2012 to serve Rittō, a city between Maibara and Kyoto. Construction started in May 2006, but the project was cancelled the next year due to political opposition from the government of the surrounding Shiga Prefecture and the Supreme Court of Japan ruling the bond that the city had issued to fund construction was illegal and had to be cancelled.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: The next speedup, which raised the top speed to its current through the use of improved braking technology, was announced in 2014 and introduced on March 14, 2015, the 23rd anniversary of the last speed raise. Initially, just one service per hour would run at this new speed. After the replacement of the older, slower 700 series with the N700 series in March 2020, a new timetable taking advantage of the speed increase with more services was planned. However, the COVID-19 pandemic further delayed these plans as service was temporarily cut.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: The last services operated by 700 series sets took place on March 1, 2020, after which all Tokaido Shinkansen services are scheduled to be operated by N700A series or N700S series sets. N700S series sets were then introduced on Tokaido Shinkansen services from July 1, 2020.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: All Tokaido Shinkansen trains feature two classes. Green Cars (First Class) offer 2+2 configured seating in all reserved carriages. Ordinary Car features 2+3 configured seating in both reserved and unreserved carriages. On all Shinkansen services vending machines with a limited offering of snacks and drinks are available in certain carriages and a trolley service, offering a more extensive but still limited selection, passes through each car a number of times on each journey. It is common practice in Japan to purchase food prior to boarding trains. Almost all stations sell Bento Boxes (complete meals conveniently boxed) for consumption onboard trains.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: The Japan Rail Pass is an option for foreign visitors to Japan. Passes are valid on Kodama and Hikari trains. Hikari trains are identical to Nozomi services other than for their stopping patterns (both operate at the same speed on the mainline - Hikari trains stop at additional stations en-route extending journey times).


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: From 1964 to 2012, the Tokaido Shinkansen line alone carried some 5.3 billion passengers. Ridership increased from 61,000 per day in 1964 to 391,000 per day in 2012. By 2016, the route was carrying 452,000 passengers per day on 365 daily services making it one of the busiest high speed lines in the world.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: It was announced in June 2010 that a new shinkansen station in Samukawa, Kanagawa Prefecture was under consideration by JR Central. If constructed, the station would open after the new maglev service begins operations.


title: Tokaido Shinkansen

text: Shizuoka Prefecture has long lobbied JR Central for the construction of a station at Shizuoka Airport, which the line passes directly beneath. The railway has so far refused, citing the close distance to the neighbouring Shin-Fuji and Shizuoka stations. If constructed, travel time from the center of Tokyo to the airport would be comparable to that for Tokyo Narita Airport, enabling it to act as a third hub airport for the capital. As the station would be built underneath an active airport, it is expected to open after the new maglev line.


title: 2022 British Touring Car Championship

text: The 2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship (commonly abbreviated as BTCC) was a motor racing championship for production-based touring cars held across England and Scotland. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded amateur drivers competing in highly modified versions of family cars which are sold to the general public and conform to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2022 season was the 65th British Touring Car Championship season and the twelfth season for cars conforming to the Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) technical specification.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: Isidore Newman School is a private, nondenominational, co-educational college preparatory school located on an campus in the uptown section of New Orleans, Louisiana.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: Jeré Longman of "The New York Times" described Isidore Newman as "one of Louisiana’s elite private schools."


title: Isidore Newman School

text: Isidore Newman School was founded in 1903 by Isidore Newman, a New Orleans philanthropist and founder of the Maison Blanche department store chain. It opened its doors the following year as the Isidore Newman Manual Training School (the name was changed in 1931), and it was initially intended for Jewish orphans. Historically, Jewish charities supported the school.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: The school buildings suffered damage due to wind and flooding caused by 2005's Hurricane Katrina and was closed for two months. It reopened in January 2006, and by October 2006 enrollment fully recovered.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: The school is currently the target of a sealed federal civil rights lawsuit, filed in 2018, related to Title IX violations in connection with a separate lawsuit against a student convicted of sexual battery.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: Newman offers comprehensive education for students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, organized into Lower, Middle and Upper schools.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: Eli N. Evans wrote in the 2005 book "The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South" that Newman is "highly oriented to college admission."


title: Isidore Newman School

text: The school is a member of the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest and the National Association of Independent Schools.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: The school also offers four foreign languages, including Honors and/or AP classes in each language: French I-VII, Spanish I-VII, and Chinese I-IV.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: In order to be on the honor roll, students must maintain a 3.67 GPA. This includes a one GPA point addition for both honors and AP courses.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: The school fields teams on a number of sports, including baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and volleyball.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning attended the high school, leading their football team to a 34–5 record during his three seasons as its starter. He was named Gatorade Circle of Champions National Player-of-the-Year and Columbus (Ohio) Touchdown Club National Offensive Player-of-the-Year in 1993. While at Newman, he began wearing the #18 jersey in honor of his older brother Cooper, who was forced to give up football due to spinal stenosis. Younger brother Eli also wore the number when he became starting quarterback. Newman has since retired the #18 jersey and it can be seen hanging in the school gym. Peyton was among the most sought after high school players in the country and was recruited by 60 colleges. Cooper's son Arch, the current Newman quarterback, has been touted as one of the top players in the college recruiting class of 2023.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: Billy Fitzgerald, veteran science teacher and baseball and basketball coach at Newman and the school's athletic director, was the subject of a profile by alumnus Michael Lewis entitled "Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life" (2005; ).


title: Isidore Newman School

text: Jeremy Bleich, later selected in the First Round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees, played baseball for the school, graduating in 2005. In high school by his junior year he had what author Michael Lewis described as "a decent fastball, great command, a big-league change-up and charm to burn," and had over 40 colleges recruiting him. Bleich was named a 2005 first-team All-American by "Collegiate Baseball" (Louisville Slugger), a third-team All American by "Baseball America", and the 2005 All-Metro Player of the Year. He was named All-State in Louisiana twice, was the 2004 and 2005 District Most Valuable Player, and in 2003-2005 was named a three-time All-District, All-Metro, and All-Orleans teams player.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: In May 2010, ESPN.com ranked Newman at the top of a survey of which high schools produce the best NFL players — even though the school had at the time only produced three NFL players: Omar Douglas and the Manning brothers.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: Newman has a student body of 1,055 and a faculty of 208, with an average class size of 15 students per class. Newman has 434 students in its lower school, 253 in its middle school, and 368 in its upper school.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: Circa 2005 about 40% of the students were Jewish. Evans wrote that circa 2005 there was social distance between Jewish and non-Jewish students that began with private dances held by non-Jewish students.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: The average cost of tuition per student per year is $22,466 for grades Pre-K through 5th and $27,235 for grades 6th through 12th.


title: Isidore Newman School

text: According to Isidore Newman School, "for the 2020-21 school year, 22% of the student body received aid totaling approximately $2.8 million."


title: Islam in Albania

text: Islam in Albania mainly arrived during the Ottoman period when the majority of Albanians over time converted to Islam. Following the Albanian National Awakening (Rilindja) tenets and the deemphasizing of religion during the 20th century, the democratic, monarchic, and later the communist governments followed a systematic dereligionization of the Albanian nation and national culture. Due to this policy, Islam, as with all other faiths in the country, underwent radical changes. Decades of state atheism, which ended in 1991, brought a decline in the religious practice of all traditions. The post-communist period and the lifting of legal and other government restrictions on religion allowed Islam to revive through institutions that generated new infrastructure, literature, educational facilities, international transnational links and other social activities. According to a 2011 census, 70% of Albania's population adheres to Islam, making it the largest religion in the country. For contemporary Muslims in Albania, Muslim religious practices tend to be minimal. The remaining population belongs either to Christianity, which is the second largest religion in the country practiced by 16.99% of the population, or are irreligious.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Albania first came into contact with Islam in the middle of the 9th century when Arab Muslim sailors raided on the eastern shores of the Adriatic. All contacts between Balkan people and Muslims before 1352 had been spontaneous, isolated occurrences without any lasting religious influence on the locals.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Albania came into contact with Islam in the 13th century when Angevin expansion into Albania during the reign of Charles I Anjou was made possible in part by Muslim involvement. Lucera is located only about 240 km northwest of Brindisi, which was the main port of disembarkation. Charles claimed rights in Albania, as Manfred's successor, since 1267 when the Treaty of Viterbo was drawn up. During the winter of 1271, the Angevin forces took Durrës. Within a year, Charles began to use the title "rex Albaniae", a title that was later recognized by the king of Serbia and the tsar of Bulgaria.


title: Islam in Albania

text: In 1273 both Muslim and Christian contingents sailed across the Adriatic. In April 1273, a Muslim from Lucera named Leone was appointed captain of the Muslim forces in Durrës. A month later, Musa took Leone's place as commander of 200 Muslims stationed "in partibus Romaniae".


title: Islam in Albania

text: Although relations between the Church of Rome and Byzantium improved, Charles I of Anjou continued to send Muslim and Christian military forces to the east, towards Albania. The Muslim knight Salem, a regular army officer, led 300 Lucerians - archers and lancers - to Vlora, in 1275. In September of that year, Ibrahim became the captain of the Muslims of Durrës, who took the place of Musa.


title: Islam in Albania

text: On 19 April 1279, Charles I ordered 53 of the best Muslim archers from Lucera to be selected by the Capitanata's justiciary, Guy d'Allemagne, to go to Durrës. As usually happens in the recruitment process, the advice of Muslim military leaders was sought. Ibrahim had to approve the selections. Orders were given that Ibrahim could take four horses with him as he crossed from Brindisi to Durrës. Ibrahim served in Durrës again in the early 1280s, as did a man from Lucera, named Pietro Cristiano. One source identifies him as "de... terra Lucerie Saracenorum", most likely a Christian convert from Islam.


title: Islam in Albania

text: The demand for Muslim carpenters and blacksmiths to build war machines in Albania was so great during the summer of 1280 that it threatened to exhaust the skilled workers' pool for the construction of forts on the Italian coast. In June 1280, the king ordered the archers of the Capitanata and the Land of Bari to send 60 Muslim archers, as well as carpenters, stonemasons and blacksmiths to Albania. The archers had to report to Hugues le Rousseau de Sully in Berat.


title: Islam in Albania

text: In the fall of the same year, 200 archers from Lucera were sent to Vlora. At the beginning of December, 300 archers were stationed in Durrës. Angevin forces took part in the unsuccessful siege of Berat castle, and were repulsed by Byzantine forces.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Islam was first introduced to Albania in the 15th century after the Ottoman conquest of the area. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Albanians in large numbers converted to Islam, often to escape higher taxes levied on Christian subjects. As Muslims, some Albanians attained important political and military positions within the Ottoman Empire and culturally contributed to the wider Muslim world.


title: Islam in Albania

text: By the 19th century Albanians were divided into three religious groups. Catholic Albanians who had some Albanian ethno-linguistic expression in schooling and church due to Austro-Hungarian protection and Italian clerical patronage. Orthodox Albanians under the Patriarchate of Constantinople had liturgy and schooling in Greek and toward the late Ottoman period mainly identified with Greek national aspirations. Muslim Albanians during this period formed around 70% of the overall Balkan Albanian population in the Ottoman Empire with an estimated population of more than a million. With the rise of the Eastern Crisis, Muslim Albanians became torn between loyalties to the Ottoman state and the emerging Albanian nationalist movement. Islam, the Sultan and the Ottoman Empire were traditionally seen as synonymous in belonging to the wider Muslim community. the Albanian nationalist movement advocated self-determination and strived to achieve socio-political recognition of Albanians as a separate people and language within the state.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Wars and socio-political instability resulting in increasing identification with the Ottoman Empire amongst some Muslims within the Balkans during the late Ottoman period made the terms "Muslim" and "Turk" synonymous. In this context, Muslim Albanians of the era were conferred and received the term "Turk", despite preferring to distance themselves from ethnic Turks. This practice has somewhat continued amongst Balkan Christian peoples in contemporary times who still refer to Muslim Albanians as "Turks", "Turco-Albanians", with often pejorative connotations and historic negative socio-political repercussions. These geo-political events nonetheless pushed Albanian nationalists, many Muslim, to distance themselves from the Ottomans, Islam and the then emerging pan-Islamic Ottomanism of Sultan Abdulhamid II. Another factor overlaying these concerns during the Albanian National Awakening (Rilindja) period were thoughts that Western powers would only favour Christian Balkan states and peoples in the "anti Ottoman struggle". During this time Albanian nationalists conceived of Albanians as a European people who under Skanderbeg resisted the Ottoman Turks that later subjugated and cut the Albanians off from Western European civilisation. Albanian nationalism overall was a reaction to the gradual breakup of the Ottoman Empire and a response to Balkan and Christian national movements that posed a threat to an Albanian population that was mainly Muslim. Muslim (Bektashi) Albanians were heavily involved with the Albanian National Awakening producing many figures like Faik Konitza, Ismail Qemali, Midhat Frashëri, Shahin Kolonja and others advocating for Albanian interests and self-determination.


title: Islam in Albania

text: During the late Ottoman period, Muslims inhabited compactly the entire mountainous and hilly hinterland located north of the Himarë, Tepelenë, Këlcyrë and Frashëri line that encompasses most of the Vlorë, Tepelenë, Mallakastër, Skrapar, Tomorr and Dishnicë regions. There were intervening areas where Muslims lived alongside Albanian speaking Christians in mixed villages, towns and cities with either community forming a majority or minority of the population. In urban settlements Muslims were almost completely a majority in Tepelenë and Vlorë, a majority in Gjirokastër with a Christian minority, whereas Berat, Përmet and Delvinë had a Muslim majority with a large Christian minority. A Muslim population was also located in Konispol and some villages around the town. The Ottoman administrative sancaks or districts of Korçë and Gjirokastër in 1908 contained a Muslim population that numbered 95,000 in contrast to 128,000 Orthodox inhabitants. Apart from small and spread out numbers of Muslim Romani, Muslims in these areas that eventually came to constitute contemporary southern Albania were all Albanian speaking Muslims. In southern Albania during the late Ottoman period being Albanian was increasingly associated with Islam, while from the 1880s the emerging Albanian National Movement was viewed as an obstacle to Hellenism within the region. Some Orthodox Albanians began to affiliate with the Albanian National movement causing concern for Greece and they worked together with Muslim Albanians regarding shared social and geo-political Albanian interests and aims. In central and southern Albania, Muslim Albanian society was integrated into the Ottoman state. It was organised into a small elite class owning big feudal estates worked by a large peasant class, both Christian and Muslim though few other individuals were also employed in the military, business, as artisans and in other professions. While northern Albanian society was little integrated into the Ottoman world, it was instead organised through a tribal structure of clans ("fis") of whom many were Catholic with others being Muslim residing in mountainous terrain that Ottomans often had difficulty in maintaining authority and control. When religious conflict occurred it was between clans of opposing faiths, while within the scope of clan affiliation, religious divisions were sidelined. Shkodër was inhabited by a Muslim majority with a sizable Catholic minority.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Realising that the collapse of Ottoman rule through military defeat in the Balkans was imminent, Albanians represented by Ismail Qemali declared Independence from the Ottoman Empire on 28 November 1912 in Vlorë. International recognition of Albanian independence entailed the imposition of a Christian monarch which alongside internal political power struggles generated a failed Muslim uprising (1914) in central Albania that sought to restore Ottoman rule. During World War one, northern, central and south-central Albania came under Austro-Hungarian occupation. In the census of 1916–18 conducted by Austro-Hungarian authorities, the results showed that Muslims in the regions of Dibër, Lumë and Gorë were over 80% of the population. In the western part of the mountainous areas, Shkodër and in the mountains east of the lake were areas that contained a large Muslim population. In central Albania, the area from the Mat region to the Shkumbini river mouth toward Kavajë encompassing the districts of Tiranë, Peqin, Kavajë and Elbasan the population was mainly Muslim. In the area of Berat Muslims were a majority population with an Orthodox minority, while south of Elbasan Muslims were a plurality alongside a significant Orthodox population. In the region of Gramsh Muslims were a majority except for two people and in the southern Peqin area only Muslims were present. Muslims also were a majority population in the Mallakastër region alongside a small Orthodox minority. The experience of World War One, concerns over being partitioned and loss of power made the Muslim Albanian population support Albanian nationalism and the territorial integrity of Albania. An understanding emerged between most Sunni and Bektashi Albanians that religious differences needed to be sidelined for national cohesiveness. Whereas an abandonment of pan-Muslim links abroad was viewed in the context of securing support internationally for and maintaining independence, though some Muslim Albanian clergy were against disavowing ties with the wider Muslim world.


title: Islam in Albania

text: From the early days of interwar Albania and due to Albania's heterogeneous religious makeup, Albania's political leadership defined Albania as without an official religion. Muslim Albanians at that time formed around 70% of the total population of 800,000 and Albania was the only Muslim country in Europe. In the former Ottoman districts of Korçë and Gjirokastër forming southern Albania, the share of the Muslim population increased in 1923 to 109,000 in contrast to 114,000 Orthodox and by 1927 Muslims were 116,000 to 112,000 Orthodox. From 1920 until 1925 a four-member governing regency council from the four religious denominations (Sunni, Bektashi, Catholic, Orthodox) was appointed. Albanian secularist elites pushed for a "reform of Islam" as the process of Islamic religious institutions were nationalised and the state increasingly imposed its will upon them. At the first Islamic National Congress (1923) the criteria for delegates attending was that being a cleric was unimportant and instead "patriots" with a liberal outlook were favoured alongside some delegates being selected by the state. Government representatives were present at the congress. Following the government program of reforms, the Albanian Islamic congress in Tirana decided to deliberate and "reform" some Islamic traditional practices adopted from the Ottoman period with the reasoning of allowing Albanian society the opportunity to thrive. The measures adopted by the congress was a break with the Ottoman Caliphate and to establish local Muslim structures loyal to Albania, banning polygamy (most of the Muslim Albanian population was monogamous) and the mandatory wearing of veil (hijab) by women in public. A new form of prayer was also implemented (standing, instead of the traditional salat ritual).


title: Islam in Albania

text: As with the congress, the attitudes of Muslim clerics were during the interwar period monitored by the state who at times appointed and dismissed them at will. Amongst those were the abolition of Sharia law and replacement with Western law that made Muslims in Albania come under government control while the Quran was translated into Albanian and criticized for its inaccuracies. After prolonged debate amongst Albanian elites during the interwar era and increasing restrictions, the wearing of the veil in 1937 was banned in legislation by Zog. Throughout the interwar period, the Albanian intellectual elite often undermined and depreciated Sunni Islam, whereas Sufi Islam and its various orders experienced an important period of promising growth. After independence, ties amongst the wider Sufi Bektashi community in former Ottoman lands waned. The Bektashi order in 1922 at an assembly of 500 delegates renounced ties with Turkey. In 1925 the Bektashi Order whose headquarters were in Turkey moved to Tiranë to escape Atatürk's secularising reforms and Albania would become the center of Bektashism where there were 260 tekes present. In 1929, the Bektashi order severed its ties with Sunnism and by 1937 Bektashi adherents formed around 27% of the Muslim population in Albania. Apart from Bektashis, there were other main Sufi orders present in Albania during the interwar period such as the Halvetis, Qadiris, Rufais and Tijaniyyah.


title: Islam in Albania

text: On 7 April 1939, Italy headed by Benito Mussolini after prolonged interest and overarching sphere of influence during the interwar period invaded Albania. Of the Muslim Albanian population, the Italians attempted to gain their sympathies by proposing to build a large mosque in Rome, though the Vatican opposed this measure and nothing came of it in the end. The Italian occupiers also won Muslim Albanian sympathies by causing their working wages to rise. Mussolini's son in law Count Ciano also replaced the leadership of the Sunni Muslim community, which had recognized the Italian regime in Albania with clergy that aligned with Italian interests, with an easily controlled "Moslem Committee" organization, and Fischer notes that "the Moslem community at large accepted this change with little complaint". Most of the Bektashi order and its leadership were against the Italian occupation and remained an opposition group. Fischer suspects that the Italians eventually tired of the opposition of the Bektashi Order, and had its head, Nijaz Deda, murdered.


title: Islam in Albania

text: In the aftermath of World War Two, the communist regime came to power and Muslims, most from southern Albania, were represented from early on within the communist leadership group, such as leader Enver Hoxha (1908–1985), his deputy Mehmet Shehu (1913–1981) and others.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Inspired by Pashko Vasa's late 19th century poem for the need to overcome religious differences through Albanian unity, Hoxha took the stanza "the faith of the Albanians is Albanianism" and implemented it literally as state policy. In 1967 therefore the communist regime declared Albania the only non-religious country in the world, banning all forms of religious practice in public. The Muslim Sunni and Bektashi clergy alongside their Catholic and Orthodox counterparts suffered severe persecution and to prevent a decentralisation of authority in Albania, many of their leaders were killed. Jumu'ah or communal Friday prayers in a mosque that involves a sermon afterwards were banned in Albania due to their revolutionary associations that posed a threat to the communist regime. People who still performed religious practices did so in secret, while others found out were persecuted and personal possession of religious literature such as the Quran forbidden. Amongst Bektashi adherents transmission of knowledge became limited to within few family circles that mainly resided in the countryside. Mosques became a target for Albanian communists who saw their continued existence as exerting an ideological presence in the minds of people. Through the demise of mosques and religion in general within Albania, the regime sought to alter and sever the social basis of religion that lay with traditional religious structures amongst the people and replace it with communism. Islamic buildings were hence appropriated by the communist state who often turned into them into gathering places, sports halls, warehouses, barns, restaurants, cultural centres and cinemas in an attempt to erase those links between religious buildings and people. In 1967 within the space of seven months the communist regime destroyed 2,169 religious buildings and other monuments. Of those were some 530 tekes, turbes and dergah saint shrines that belonged mainly to the Bektashi order. 740 mosques were destroyed, some of which were prominent and architecturally important like the Kubelie Mosque in Kavajë, the Clock Mosque in Peqin and the two domed mosques in Elbasan dating from the 17th century. Of the roughly 1,127 Islamic buildings existing in Albania prior to the communists coming to power, only 50 mosques remained thereafter with most being in a state of disrepair.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Following the wider trends for socio-political pluralism and freedom in Eastern Europe from communism, a series of fierce protests by Albanian society culminated with the communist regime collapsing after allowing two elections in 1991 and then 1992. Toward the end of the regime's collapse, it had reluctantly allowed for limited religious expression to reemerge. In 1990 along with a Catholic church, the Lead mosque in Shkodër were both the first religious buildings reopened in Albania. Muslims, this time mainly from northern Albania such as Azem Hajdari (1963–1998) and Sali Berisha, who later served multiple terms as president and prime minister were prominent leaders in the movement for democratic change and between 1992 and 1997 people part of the Albanian government were mostly of a Muslim background. Areas that had been traditionally Muslim in Albania prior to 1967 reemerged in a post-communist context once again mainly as Muslim with its various internal complexities. Due in part to the deprivation and persecution experienced during the communist period, Muslims within Albania have showed strong support for democracy and its institutions including official Muslim religious organisations. Within this context Muslim Albanians have also supported the separation of religion from the state with faith being considered as a personal private matter. Today Albania is a parliamentary secular state and with no official religion.


title: Islam in Albania

text: In the 1990s, Muslim Albanians placed their focus on restoring institutions, religious buildings and Islam as a faith in Albania that had overall been decimated by the communists. Hafiz Sabri Koçi, (1921–2004) an imam imprisoned by the communist regime and who led the first prayer service in Shkodër 1990 became the grand mufti of the Muslim Community of Albania. During this time the restoration of Islam in Albania appealed to older generations of Muslim Albanian adherents, those families with traditional clerical heredity and limited numbers of young school age people who wished to qualify and study abroad in Muslim countries. Most mosques and some madrassas destroyed and damaged during the communist era had by 1996 been either reconstructed or restored in former locations where they once stood before 1967 and in contemporary times there are 555 mosques. Muslim religious teachers and prayer leaders were also retrained abroad in Muslim states or in Albania. The Muslim Community of Albania is the main organisation overseeing Sunni Islam in Albania and during the 1990s it received funding and technical support from abroad to reconstitute its influence within the country. Due to interwar and communist era legacies of weakening Islam within Albania and secularisation of the population, the revival of the faith has been somewhat difficult due to people in Albania knowing little about Islam and other religions. Emigration in a post-communist environment of Albanians, many Muslim, has also hindered the recovery of religion, its socio-religious structures and organisation in Albania. In contemporary times the Muslim community has found itself being a majority population that is within a socio-political and intellectual "minority" position with often being on the defensive. Political links also emerged in the 1990s from parts of the Sunni Albanian community with the then new Albanian political establishment of whom some themselves were Muslim Albanians. The Sunni community is recognised by the Albanian state and it administers most of the mosques while also viewed as the main representative of Muslims in the country. As such it interprets its position as safeguarding an Albanian specific version of Islam which follows on institutional and ideological models established during the post-Ottoman state-building period and have gradually gained the status of an Albanian tradition. There are a few prayer houses located throughout Albania and one mosque run by the Sufi Rifai order.


title: Islam in Albania

text: The Albanian Sunni Community has over time established links with overseas Muslims. Due to funding shortages in Albania these ties have been locally beneficial as they have mobilised resources of several well funded international Muslim organisations like the OIC which has allowed for the reestablishment of Muslim ritual and spiritual practices in Albania. Particular efforts have been directed toward spreading information about Islam in Albania through media, education and local community centres. Around 90% of the budget of the Albanian Muslim community came from foreign sources in the 1990s, though from 2009 after the signing of agreements the Albanian government allocates funding from the state budget to the four main religions to cover administrative and other costs. Some of these oversees Muslim organisations and charities coming from Arab countries, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, and also the Muslim diaspora in Europe and America have at times exerted sway over the Muslim Albanian community resulting in competition between groups.


title: Islam in Albania

text: The Gülen movement based on Muslim values of Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen also is present from 1992 onward and its institutions are viewed as a counterweight to more conservative Muslim organisations from Arab countries in Albania, especially in the early 1990s. Some 7 madrasas (Muslim colleges containing complementary religious instruction) were opened up in Albania by Arab NGO's, although now 2 are administered by the Muslim Community and the Gülen movement runs 5 madrassas and other schools that are known for their high quality and mainly secular education based on Islamic ethics and principles. In April 2011, Bedër University, Albania's first Muslim university was opened in Tiranë and is administered by the Gülen movement. The presence and influence of the Gülen movement in Albania has recently been a source of tension with the Turkish government headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan since it has blamed the movement for attempting to destabilize Turkey. The main state run Turkish Muslim organisation Diyanet has funded and started construction of the Great Mosque of Tiranë in 2015. The mosque will be the Balkans largest with minarets 50 meters high and a dome of 30 meters built on a 10,000-square-meter parcel of land near Albania's parliament building able to accommodate up to 4,500 worshipers. International assistance from oversees organisations such as the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) have also helped finance the restoration of Ottoman era mosques, of which only nine survived the communist dictatorship. In a post-communist environment the Muslim Community of Albania has been seeking from successive Albanian governments a return and restitution of properties and land confiscated by the communist regime though without much progress.


title: Islam in Albania

text: The Muslim Community of Albania in its statutes claims authority over all Muslim groups in Albania. The Bektashi however have reaffirmed in their statutes and kept their post-communist era independence as a separate Muslim movement of a worldwide Sufi order. A traditional reliance on hierarchy and internal structures the restoration of Sufi Islam, akin to Sunni Islam, has faced organisational problems in reestablishing and stabilising former systems of authority. That stood in contrast with the activities of local people who were quick to rebuild the destroyed tyrbes and other mausoleums of Sufi saints by the end of 1991. As Albanian migrants went abroad financial resources were sent back to fund other reconstruction projects of various Sufi shrines and tekkes. The Bektashi order in the 1990s was only able to reopen 6 of its tekkes. Other Sufi orders are also present in Albania such as the Rifais, Saidis, Halvetis, Qadiris and the Tijaniyah and combined they have 384 turbes, tekes, maqams and zawiyas. In post communist Albania competition between the Sufi orders has reemerged, though the Bektashi remain the largest, most dominant, have 138 tekes and have on occasion laid claims to Sufi shrines of other orders. The Bektashi as the main Sufi order within Albania have attempted to appeal to a younger, urban and also intellectual demographic and placing itself within the wider socio-political space.


title: Islam in Albania

text: The Bektashi order in Albania views themselves as the centre of a worldwide movement and have reconnected with various Turkish educational and Iran religious organisations emphasising their common links, something that other Sufi orders in Albania have done. Prominent among these have been Iranian Saadi Shriazi foundation who has funded numerous Bektashi cultural programs, while dervishes from the Bektashi have received educational training at the Theological faculty in Qom. The Bektashi though are selective of outside influence, with sometimes for example editing texts of Iranian Shia thinkers in Bektashi literature or borrowing from others. The Bektashi during most of the 1990s had no privileged links with the political establishment until 1997 when the Socialists came to power. Members from the then Albanian government, some with Bektashi heritage in the late 1990s onward have favoured Bektashism as a milder form of Islam for Albanian Islam and it playing a role as a conduit between Islam and Christianity. Bektashis also highlight and celebrate figures such as Naim Frashëri who was made an honorary "baba" because he was involved in the Albanian National Awakening and often referred to his Bektashi roots. Bektashis also use Shiite related iconography of Ali, the Battle of Karbala and other revered Muslim figures of the prophet Muhammad's family that adorn the interiors of turbes and tekkes. The Bektashis have a few clerical training centres though no schools for religious instruction. The Ahmadiyya movement has also established recently a presence in Albania and owns one mosque in Tiranë, the Bejtyl Evel Mosque.


title: Islam in Albania

text: In 2011, a Pew Research Center population estimate in a global study based on growth rates put the percentage of Muslims in Albania at 82.1% (estimated number 2,601,000) However, a Gallup poll gave percentages of religious affiliations with only 43% Muslim, 19% Eastern Orthodox, 15% Catholic and 23% atheist or nonreligious. In the 2011 census the declared religious affiliation of the population was: 56.70% (1,587,608) Sunni Muslims, 2.09% (58,628) Bektashis, 10.03% (280,921) Catholics, 6.75% (188,992) Orthodox, 0.14% (3,797) Evangelists, 0.07% (1,919) other Christians, 5.49% (153,630) believers without denomination, 2.05% (69,995) Atheists, 13.79% (386,024) undeclared. Controversies surrounded the Albanian census (2011) over whether a religious affiliation option should be part of the count as people like some intellectuals in Albania feared that the results may make Albania appear "too Muslim" to Europe. From previous pre-communist highs of 69.3% (1937) and 72% (1947) the official census of 2011 was the first to count religious affiliation after an absence of many decades that showed the Albanian Muslim population to have decreased to 56.70%. The Muslim community of Albania objected to having the generic Muslim option split according to internal differentiation into categories such as Bektashi. The census results overall have been criticized by the Muslim community of Albania and they have estimated the number of all Muslims in Albania to be 70%. Owing to the large number of people in Albania not having declared a religion the census figures leave scope for other explanations and analyses of what is the actual religious composition of Albania.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Most Muslims in Albania are ethnic Albanians. There are however small though significant clusters of non-Albanian (speaking) Muslims in the country. The Romani minority in Albania are mostly Muslims and estimated to number some 50,000 to 95,000 located throughout Albania and often residing in major urban centres forming a significant minority population. The Romani community is often economically disadvantaged with at times facing socio-political discrimination and distance from wider Albanian society like for example little intermarriage or neighbourhood segregation. Within the Romani community there exist two main divisions: the Gabels who speak the Romani language and those who self identify as Jevgs that consider themselves separate from the Romani, speak Albanian and are somewhat integrated in Albania. The Romani in Albania were and are still known to be religiously syncretic often combining other elements of religions and nature in Islamic practices and pilgrimages to holy sites.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Other Muslim communities are of a Slavic linguistic background. In the north-eastern borderland region of Gorë, the Gorani community inhabits the villages of Zapod, Pakisht, Orçikël, Kosharisht, Cernalevë, Orgjost, Orshekë, Borje, Novosej and Shishtavec. In the central-eastern borderland region of Gollobordë, a Muslim Macedonian speaking community known as "Gollobordas" inhabits the villages of Ostren i Madh, Kojavec, Lejçan, Lladomericë, Ostren i Vogël, Orzhanovë, Radovesh, Tuçep, Pasinkë, Trebisht, Gjinovec, Klenjë, Vërnicë, Steblevë and three families in Sebisht. In Albania people from the Gollobordas community are considered Albanians instead of Macedonians, even by the Albanian state, and they are known to intermarry with Muslim Albanians and not with Orthodox Macedonians. Until the 1990s an Orthodox Macedonian minority who have since migrated used to live in some villages alongside the Gollobordas and the latter community in recent times numbers some roughly 3,000 people. The Bosniak community of the Shijak area whose presence dates back to 1875 inhabits almost entirely the village of Borakaj and in the neighbouring village Koxhas they live alongside Albanians and form a minority. Bosniaks from these settlements have also settled in Durrës, Shijak and in 1924 some went and settled in the village of Libofshë where they have mostly become linguistically assimilated. There is a small Muslim Montenegrin speaking community near Shkodër whose presence dates back to 1878 and are known as "Podgoriçani", due to their origins from Podgorica in Montenegro. Podgoriçani inhabit the villages of Boriç i Madh were they form a majority alongside a few Orthodox Montenegrins and some Albanians, while they live compactly in both Shtoj i Vjetër with 30 families and in Shtoj i Ri with 17 families and some families in Shkodër city.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Throughout the duration of the Communist regime, national Albanian identity was constructed as being irreligious and based upon a common unitary Albanian nationality. This widely spread ideal is still present, though challenged by religious differentiation between Muslim Albanians and Christians which exists at a local level. In a post communist environment, religious affiliation to either Muslim and Christian groups is viewed within the context of historical belonging (mainly patrilineal) and contemporary social organisation as cultural communities with religious practice playing a somewhat secondary to limited role. Some contemporary Muslim Albanians in Albania see themselves as being the "purest" Albanians. This view is based on the large contribution Muslim Albanians made to the National Awakening (Rilindja) and resistance to the geo-political aims of the Serbs. Some Muslim Albanians, meanwhile, view Islam as a force that maintained Albanian independence from Christian countries like Greece, Serbia and Italy, and united Albanians. Some Albanian Muslims also hold the view that unlike them, Christian Albanian communities of the Orthodox historically identified with the Greeks. Some Muslim Albanians often refer to Orthodox Albanians as "Greeks" and attribute to them pro-Greek sentiments, while Orthodox Albanians view Muslim Albanians as having historically collaborated and identified with the Ottomans thereby earning the epithet "Turk". Some Muslim Albanians hold and have expressed negative views of Catholic Albanians, while some Catholic Albanians resent past political dominance held by Muslims in Albania and have expressed dislike of Islam and what they have interpreted to be its tenets, mores and values.


title: Islam in Albania

text: In rural areas in northern Albania and southern Albania, relations between Muslim Albanians and Catholic Albanians or Muslim Albanians with Orthodox Albanians vary and are often distant with both Muslim and Christian communities traditionally living in separate villages and or neighbourhoods, even within cities. Various pejoratives are in use today for different religious groups in Albanian, some based on the Ottoman system of classification: "turk", "tourko-alvanoi/Turco-Albanians" (in Greek), "muhamedan/followers of Muhammad" for Muslim Albanians, "kaur/infidel", "kaur i derit/infidel pigs", for Orthodox Albanians, Catholic Albanians, Greeks, Vlachs and Orthodox Macedonians. Among Muslims in Albania the term used for their religious community is "myslyman" and the word "turk" is also used in a strictly religious sense to connote Muslim and not ethnic affiliation, while Christians also use the word "kaur" to at times refer to themselves. During the Albanian socio-political and economic crisis of 1997, religious differences did not play a role in the civil unrest that occurred, though the Orthodox Church in Albania at the time privately supported the downfall of the Berisha government made up mainly of Muslims. Over the years minor incidents between Muslim Albanians with Christian Albanians have occurred such as pig heads thrown into mosque courtyards, Catholic tombstones being knocked down, an Orthodox church in Shkodër being bombed and damage done to frescoes in a church in Voskopojë. An interreligious organisation called the "Interreligious Council of Albania" was created in 2009 by the four main faiths to foster religious coexistence in Albania.


title: Islam in Albania

text: In southern Albania, urban centres of central Albania and partially in northern Albania, the status of Christianity dominates in contrast to Islam which is viewed by some Muslim Albanians as a "historic accident". A rejection of Islam has also been attributed to a divide that has opened up between older city dwellers and rural Muslim Albanian and somewhat conservative newcomers from the north-east to cities like Tiranë, where the latter are referred to pejoratively as "Chechens". Some young Muslim Albanians educated in Islamic Universities abroad have viewed their role as defending Islam in the public sphere over issues such as wearing of the veil, organising themselves socially and criticised the Muslim Albanian establishment. Following the lead mainly of Albanian Christians obtaining visas for work into Greece there have been instances where Muslim Albanian migrants in Greece converted to Orthodoxy and changed their names into Christian Greek forms in order to be accepted into Greek society. Some other Muslim Albanians when emigrating have also converted to Catholicism and conversions in general to Christianity within Albania are associated with belonging and interpreted as being part of the West, its values and culture. A 2015 study estimated some 13,000 Christians exist in Albania who had converted from a Muslim background, though it is not clear to which Christian churches these people were affiliated. Among Albanians and in particular the young, religion is increasingly not seen as important. In a Pew research centre survey of Muslim Albanians in 2012, religion was important for only 15%, while 7% prayed, around 5% went to a mosque, 43% gave zakat (alms), 44% fasted during Ramadan and 72% expressed a belief in God and Muhammad. The same Pew survey also estimated that 65% of Albanian Muslims are non-denominational Muslims.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Despite occasional issues, Albania's "religious tolerance" ("tolerance fetare") and "religious harmony" ("harmonia fetare") are viewed as part of a set of distinctly Albanian national ideals, and said to serve an important part in Albania's civic framework where sectarian communities ideally set aside their difference and work together in the pursuit of national interest. Although considered a "national myth" by some, the "Albanian example" of interfaith tolerance and of tolerant laicism has been advocated as a model for the rest of the world by both Albanians and Western European and American commentators, including Pope Francis who praised Albania as a "model for a world witnessing conflict in God's name" and Prime Minister Edi Rama, who marched with Christian and Muslim clergy on either side in a demonstration in response to religious motivated violence in Paris. Meanwhile, Albania's "example" has also drawn interest recently in the West, where it has been used to argue that "religious freedom and Islamic values not only can co-exist, but also can flourish together", and is seen as a positive argument in favor of accelerating Albania's accession to the EU.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Interfaith marriages between Muslims and Christians are held to be "common" and "unremarkable" in Albania with little social repercussion, although there is little statistical data on their prevalence. During the communist period, it is known that during the period of 1950–1968, the rates of mixed marriages ranged from 1.6% in Shkodër, 4.3% in Gjirokastër to 15.5% among the textile workers in Tiranë. In the district of Shkodër they reached 5% in the year 1980.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Most Albanian Muslims nowadays approve of mixed marriages, with 77% approving of a son marrying outside of the faith, and 75% for a daughter, the highest rates of all Muslim nationalities surveyed by Pew at the time. Meanwhile, 12% of Albanian Muslims agreed that "religious conflict is a big problem in Albania", though only 2% thought Christians were "hostile" to Muslims and 4% admitted that they thought Muslims were "hostile" to Christians. 79% of Albanian Muslims said all their close friends were also Muslim, the second lowest number (after Russia) in the survey.


title: Islam in Albania

text: In Albania a series of religious celebrations are held by the Muslim community. Two recognised by the state as official holidays are:


title: Islam in Albania

text: Bajrami i Madh (Big Bayram, "Eid al-Fitr") celebrated at the conclusion of Ramadan and Kurban Bajram (Bayram of the sacrifice) or Bajrami i Vogël (Small Bayram, "Eid al-Adha") celebrated on 10 Dhu al-Hijjah. During the month of Ramadan practicing Sunni Muslims in Albania fast and 5 nights are held sacred and celebrated. These dates change per year as they follow the Muslim lunar calendar. In recent times during April the prophet Muhammad's birthday is commemorated and the Muslim Community of Albania holds a concert in Tiranë. It is attended by Albanian political and Muslim religious establishment representatives alongside Albanian citizens, many non-practising Muslims. Other than the Sunni related celebrations, the Sufis such as the Bektashi have a series of holidays and observances. The Day of Sultan Novruz ("Nowruz") on 22 March is an official holiday that celebrates the birth of Imam Ali. Ashura, a day commemorating the massacre at Karbala is also held and multiple local festivals in various areas, some also observed as pilgrimages are held throughout the year at Sufi saints tombs and shrines like that of Sari Salltëk in Krujë. Most prominent of these is the pilgrimage on 20–25 August to Mount Tomorr to commemorate and celebrate the Shi'ite saint Abbas Ali.


title: Islam in Albania

text: In Albania Halal slaughter of animals and food is permitted, mainly available in the eateries of large urban centres and becoming popular among people who are practicing Sunni Muslims. No centralised organisation exists for Halal certification of food which is unavailable in Albanian state institutions like schools, army, hospitals and so on and people requesting Halal food in those places are usually sidelined. Muslim dress is not prohibited in Albania in public areas. Unofficial restrictions and regulations on religious clothing worn within public institutions in order to maintain the "secular" status of the state were upheld by principals of schools and others. Examples included within schools and universities whereby some young women wearing the hijab were expelled or told to remove it. These have eased especially after the Albanian government in 2011 backed away from proposed legislation that would have officially banned displays of religious symbols in schools. Religious Muslim law as with other religious law is not recognised by the Albanian courts. The Sunni Muslim Community of Albania however recognises "nikah" or religious Muslim marriage although not many people undertake marriage in this form. While chaplaincy though not officially recognised within state institutions, access to, religious advice and preaching in prisons is allowed to inmates while chaplains are banned in state schools. During the communist period Muslim Albanians were buried alongside Albanians of other faiths and due to that legacy in contemporary times separate Muslim graveyards are uncommon.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Within the Balkans apart from the ethno-linguistic component of Albanian identity, Albania's Orthodox neighbours also view it through religious terms. They refer to Albanians as a "Muslim" nation and as "Muslim fundamentalists", which has placed the secular part of Albanian identity under strain.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Among Albanian intellectuals and other notable Albanians, many Muslim, this has generated much discussion and at times debates about Islam and its role within Albania and amongst Albanians as a whole in the Balkans. Within these discourses, controversial Orientalist and biological terminology has been used by some Albanian intellectuals when discussing Islam and Albanians.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Prominent in those discussions were written exchanges in newspaper articles and books between novelist Ismail Kadare of Gjirokastër and literary critic Rexhep Qosja, an Albanian from Kosovo in the mid-2000s. Kadare asserted that Albania's future lay with Europe due to its ancient European roots, Christian traditions, and being a white people, while Qosja contended that Albanian identity was both a blend of Western (Christian) and Eastern (Islam) cultures and often adaptable to historical contexts. In a 2005 speech given in Britain by president Alfred Moisiu of Orthodox heritage, he referred to Islam in Albania as having a "European face", it being "shallow" and that "if you dig a bit in every Albanian, he can discover his Christian core". The Muslim Forum of Albania called those and Kadare's comments "racist", and charged that they contained "Islamophobia" and were "deeply offensive". Following trends dating back from the Communist regime, the post-Communist Albanian political establishment continues to approach Islam as the faith of the Ottoman invader.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Islam and the Ottoman legacy has also been a topic of conversation among wider Albanian society. Islam and the Ottomans are viewed by many Albanians as the outcome of warfare, and Turkification and within those discourses Albania's sociopolitical problems are attributed as the outcome of that legacy. In debates over Albanian school textbooks where some historians have asked for offensive content regarding Turks to be removed, some Christian Albanian historians countered angrily by referring to negative experiences of the Ottoman period and wanting Turkey to seek redress for the invasion of Albania and Islamisation of Albanians. Some members of the Muslim community, while deemphasizing the Ottoman past, have responded to these views by criticizing what they say is prejudice toward Islam. Others, like academic Olsi Jazexhi, have added that contemporary Albanian politicians akin to the Communists perceive "Modernisation" to mean "De-Islamisation", making Muslim Albanians feel alienated from their Muslim traditions instead of celebrating them and embracing their Ottoman heritage. These views, however, are rare and often depicted as extremist in Albanian society.


title: Islam in Albania

text: Other debates, often in the media and occasionally heated, have been about public displays of Muslim practices, mosque construction in Albania, or local and international violent incidents and their relationship to Islam. Issues have also arisen over school textbooks and their inaccurate references of Islam such as describing the prophet Muhammad as God's "son", while other matters have been concerns over administrative delays for mosque construction and so on. Catholic and Orthodox Albanians hold concerns that any possible unification of Balkan areas populated by sizable numbers of Albanian Muslims to the country would lead to an increasing "Muslimization" of Albania. Muslim Albanians deemphasize the (Christian) religious heritage of two famous Albanian figures by viewing Skanderbeg as a defender of the nation, while Mother Teresa is acknowledged for her charitable works and both individuals are promoted as Albanian symbols of Europe and the West.


title: Islam in Albania

text: The school curriculum of Shkodra in northern Albania was criticized for diminishing the role of Muslims in the history of Albania. For example, "out of over 30 famous writers, historical gures, actors named in [a] textbook, there is only one Muslim in the entire list." Similarly, in 2014, Professor of Sociology at the University of Tirana Enis Sulstarova performed a comparative study of school textbooks finding that tenets of the Christian faith were often presented as a historical fact, while aspects of the Muslim faith were rendered a 'superstition.' The Deputy Chairman of the Albanian Muslim Community has accused the media in Albania of anti-Muslim bias, frequently calling individuals arrested as 'jihadists' and 'terrorists' before they have been sentenced and perpetuating a "clash of civilizations" narrative between Muslim Albanians and the rest of Europe. Legal experts noted a "violation of legal procedures, and the application of psychological pressure on [detainees] and family members with medical conditions" following the arrests of 150 people suspected of perpetrating the 2016 Balkans terrorism plot. The majority of those arrested had no connection to the incident and were promptly released, but authorities at the time "did not present arrest warrants" and questioned suspects without the presence of an attorney. On 7 August 2016, a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf was beaten on a bus and called a "terrorist."


title: Islam in Albania

text: The official religious Christian and Muslim establishments and their clergy hold diverging views of the Ottoman period and conversion of Islam by Albanians. Both Catholic and the Orthodox clergy interpret the Ottoman era as a repressive one that contained anti-Christian discrimination and violence, while Islam is viewed as "foreign" challenging Albanian tradition and cohesion. The conversion to Islam by Albanians is viewed by both Catholic and Orthodox clergy as "falsification" of Albanian identity, though Albanian Muslims are interpreted as "innocent victims" of Islamisation. Albanian Sunni Muslim clergy however views the conversion of Albanians as a "voluntary" process, while sidelining religious controversies associated with the Ottoman era. Sufi Islam in Albania interprets the Ottoman era as promoting a distorted form of Islam that was corrupted within a Sunni Ottoman polity that persecuted them. Christian clergy consider Muslim Albanians as part of the wider Albanian nation and Muslim clergy do not express derision to people who did not become Muslim in Albania. Christian identities in Albania have been forged on being in a minority position, at times with experiences of discrimination they have had historically in relation to the Muslim majority. Meanwhile, Muslim clergy in Albania highlight the change of fortune the demise of the Ottoman Empire brought with the political empowerment of Balkan Christians making Muslims a religious minority in contemporary times within the Balkans.


title: Islam in Albania

text: The Muslim Albanian community has also contended with increasing numbers of Christian charities and missionaries proselytizing (especially those of the Orthodox working often in tandem with official Greek policies) which has made a part of the Sunni Albanian leadership become more assertive and calling for Islam to be declared the official religion of Albania. These calls within the scope of political Islam have greatly waned after non-Muslim Albanians objected to those suggestions. The Muslim Community of Albania opposes the legalisation of same-sex marriages for LGBT communities in Albania, as do the Orthodox and Catholic Church leaders of the country too. Muslim fundamentalism has though become a concern for Albania and its backers amongst the international community. In the 1990s, small groups of militant Muslims took advantage of dysfunctional government, porous borders, corruption, weak laws and illegal activities occurring during Albania's transition to democracy. These Muslim militants used Albania as a base for money laundering and as a transit route into the West with at times the assistance of corrupt government employees. There were claims by critics of the Albanian government that high-profile militants like Osama Bin Laden passed through Albania while president Sali Berisha and head of Albanian intelligence Bashkim Gazidede had knowledge and assisted militants, though no credible evidence has emerged. Salafi and Wahhabi forms of Islam have also entered Albania and adherents have come mainly from among the young. As of March 2016, some 100 or so Albanians so far have left Albania to become foreign fighters by joining various fundamentalist Salafi jihadist groups involved in the ongoing civil wars of Syria and Iraq; 18 have died. In response to these events the Albanian government has cracked down with arrests of people associated with the few mosques suspected of radicalisation and recruitment.


title: Islam in Albania

text: With the collapse of the isolationist communist regime, Albania's geopolitical orientation between West and East and the role of Christianity and Islam became debated among Albanian intellectuals and its politicians. Within the context of nationalist discourses during the 1990s the governing Albanian democratic party regarding European aspirations stressed aspects of Catholicism and as some government members were Muslims made overtures to Islam to join international organisations like the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). In 1992 Albania became the only entirely European member of the OIC, generating intense controversy within Albania due to concerns that Albania might drift from a secular European future. The Albanian government viewed membership in the OIC as being a bridge between the Muslim-Christian worlds and also as having a "civilising mission" role within the Islamic world due to the Western orientation of Albania. The government of Sali Berisha in the 1990s generated a Muslim network in Albania which was dismantled by the incoming Socialist government in 1997. By 1998–99 Albania's OIC membership was suspended and temporarily withdrawn by prime-minister Fatos Nano who viewed it as inhibiting Albania's European aspirations. In the post communist period different socio-political reactions have occurred by regional neighbours and international powers toward Albania and Muslim Albanians. For example, in the 1990s, Greece preferred and assisted Orthodox Albanian leaders like Fatos Nano in Albania over Muslim Albanian ones like Sali Berisha as they were seen as being friendlier to Greek interests. During the Kosovo crisis (1998–1999), the Albanian political establishment was concerned with Western public opinion viewing Albanians as "Islamic" due to Serbian government claims portraying the "Kosovo Liberation Army" (KLA) as interested in creating a Balkan Islamic state.


title: Islam in Albania

text: In a post-communist environment, Albania emerged as being generally supportive of the US. During the Kosovo War (1999) and ethnic cleansing of mostly Muslim Albanians by Orthodox Serbs alongside the subsequent refugee influx into the country, Albania's status as an ally of the US was confirmed. Support for the USA has remained high at 95% in Muslim majority Albania in contrast to the rest of the Islamic world. Albania joined the NATO military alliance in 2009 which remains popular in the country especially due to its intervention in the Kosovo war and Albania has contributed troops to NATO led operations in Afghanistan. Within the wider Balkans Albania is considered to be the most pro-EU and pro-Western country in the region and, unlike its neighbours (except Kosovo), it has little to negligible support for Russia. Albania is an aspirant for European Union membership after formally submitting its application to join in 2009. Sentiments among the EU exist of viewing Albania as a mainly Muslim country cause concerns for the Albanian political establishment who promote an image of Western orientation for Euro-Atlantic integration, especially when overt displays of Muslim practice arise such as dress or rituals. State relations of Albania with Turkey are friendly and close, due to maintenance of close links with the Albanian diaspora in Turkey and strong Turkish sociopolitical, cultural, economic and military ties with Albania. Turkey has been supportive of Albanian geopolitical interests within the Balkans. In Gallup polls conducted in recent times Turkey is viewed as a "friendly country" by 73% of people in Albania. Albania has established political and economic ties with Arab countries, in particular with Arab Persian Gulf states who have heavily invested in religious, transport and other infrastructure alongside other facets of the economy in addition to the somewhat limited societal links they share. Albania is also working to develop socio-political and economic ties with Israel.


title: Harry Richardson (actor)

text: Harry Richardson (born 3 March 1993) is an Australian actor, best known for his roles as Drake Carne in "Poldark" and Frank Gresham in "Doctor Thorne". He currently portrays Larry Russell in HBO's "The Gilded Age.


title: Harry Richardson (actor)

text: Richardson was born in Sydney, Australia, before moving to London at the age of two. At the age of 12, he then went back to Australia for high school at Sydney Grammar School, where he discovered his love for acting, and then returned to the UK when he was 18. He then did a short course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, before enrolling at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth in 2012 Before graduating from WAAPA in 2014, Richardson took a course with Ivana Chubbuck at the 16th Street Acting School in Melbourne.


title: Harry Richardson (actor)

text: Richardson's first film was "Looking for Grace" in which he stars as Jamie. He auditioned for the role of Frank Gresham in the TV series "Doctor Thorne" when visiting family in London and attended "an audition in the morning before [his] flight back to Australia". He then starred in "Poldark", from the third season onward, as Drake Carne. Richardson dated fellow "Poldark" actor Eleanor Tomlinson for around one year, until they broke up in June 2018. He appeared in the 2017 film "Dunkirk" "for a second", but described the experience as a "teaser to a dream that I want to actualize". In 2019, he starred in the Australian TV series "Total Control" as Senator Irving's Adviser Jonathan Cosgrove. He currently portrays Larry Russell in HBO's "The Gilded Age.


title: Christopher Robin

text: Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and "Winnie-the-Pooh" stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney adaptations of the Pooh stories.


title: Christopher Robin

text: Christopher Robin appears in Milne's poems and in the two books: "Winnie-the-Pooh" (1926) and "The House at Pooh Corner" (1928). In the books he is a young boy and one of Winnie-the-Pooh's best friends. His other friends are Eeyore, Kanga, and Roo, Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, and Tigger. In the second book, there are hints that Christopher Robin is growing up. In the final chapter, the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood throw him a farewell party after learning he must leave them soon. It is implied that he will attend boarding school; Christopher Robin Milne, for whom the stories were originally developed, left home to attend Stowe School at age 9.


title: Christopher Robin

text: In addition to both Pooh books, the character was immortalized in other works by A. A. Milne including two books of poems: "When We Were Very Young" (1924) and "Now We Are Six" (1927). An arrangement of one of the poems, "Buckingham Palace", was first recorded by Ann Stephens in July 1941. Petula Clark released a recording of it in 1953 to coincide with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and despite neither making the charts, both versions were popular on BBC radio's "Children's Favourites" programme.


title: Christopher Robin

text: According to David Benedictus's 2009 sequel "Return to the Hundred Acre Wood", Christopher Robin was at school, but during the summer break he returns to the forest for a visit with a lot of knowledge to share. Though slightly older, he is still the same person as before and is happy to share more good times with his friends all summer. At the end of the summer, he has to leave again for another school year, but the animals know they will see him again.