title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Navy Federal Credit Union (or Navy Federal) is a global credit union headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, chartered and regulated under the authority of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Navy Federal is the largest natural member (or retail) credit union in the United States, both in asset size and in membership. As of October 2022, Navy Federal has $156.7 billion USD in assets and has 12.1 million members.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Navy Federal was originally incorporated on 17 January 1933 as the Navy Department Employees' Credit Union of the District of Columbia (NDCU). Only Navy Department employees who were members of the federal employees' labor union and members of their families were eligible to join. The next year, President Roosevelt signed into law the Federal Credit Union Act, which would eventually become the basis of business for the credit union. On July 17, 1947, the credit union was granted a Federal Charter as a credit union, named Navy Department Employees Federal Credit Union (NDEFCU). It also expanded membership to include all Navy personnel in the Washington, DC area, both military and civilian.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: In 1954, the credit union changed its charter again to open membership to Navy and Marine Corp officers everywhere, regardless of geographic location, and changed its name to Navy Federal Credit Union. Eventually, membership was opened to enlisted personnel as well. By April 1962, the credit union reached a milestone, becoming the biggest credit union in the world, a distinction which it still holds today. In 1977, the credit union moved into its current headquarters in Vienna, Virginia, eventually undergoing several major expansions of its facility there.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: In 2003, the credit union opened its membership further, to include Navy contractors. There have also been several times in the credit union's history that NCUA has asked Navy Federal to merge with or absorb other credit unions that were experiencing financial or other difficulties. Members of these prior credit unions remained members of Navy Federal after the merger (following NCUA's policy of "once a member, always a member"). In September 2010, Navy Federal Credit Union announced plans to absorb/merge with USA Fed, stating that joint operations would begin 4 October 2010 under the Navy Federal banner.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: In May 2008, Navy Federal Credit Union widened its membership to include the entire Department of Defense, which made eligible all active duty, retired, and reserve Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force personnel, as well as contractor and civilian personnel within the Department of Defense. In March 2013, Navy Federal Credit Union further widened its membership to include all Coast Guard members and employees as well. In 2020, Navy Federal Credit Union also expanded its membership to include Space Force members. In 2014, Navy Federal expanded its Vienna headquarters. As of October 2022, 4,200 employees work at the Vienna location.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: An increase in membership also led to two expansions: one at the credit union's Pensacola location in 2015, where Navy Federal has 8,300 employees and one at the Winchester Operations location in 2019 where Navy Federal has 2,200 employees.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: As of 2021, Navy Federal is by far the largest credit union in the United States, with total assets nearly three times that of the second-largest US credit union.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: In 2017, Navy Federal Credit Union settled a class action lawsuit over millions of unwanted phone calls, many of which had gone to individuals who were not credit union members and specifically asked not to be contacted. NFCU settled a similar class action lawsuit in 2020 over unwanted text messages, paying out $9.25 million.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: In 2021, Navy Federal Credit Union settled another class action lawsuit over a non-sufficient funds fee lawsuit over breached member agreements where over 700,000 members were charged multiple insufficient funds fees.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Navy Federal's field of membership is set by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). As with all federally-chartered credit unions, membership in Navy Federal is limited to individuals sharing the common bond defined in its credit union charter. Membership in Navy Federal is limited to:


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Navy Federal is chartered with NCUA as a single-sponsor credit union, with its sponsor being the Department of Defense. Like all credit unions, Navy Federal is governed by a board of volunteers, elected by and from its membership. Navy Federal also has a separate subsidiary, named Navy Federal Financial Group, which operates as a credit union service organization (CUSO). CUSOs were established by NCUA as a way for credit unions to pursue product offerings that would normally be outside of the purview of a credit union.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: As of October 2022, the credit union had over 22,300 employees worldwide. Navy Federal, founded in 1933, has never had a layoff, choosing instead to move employees to other departments to avoid layoffs. It was ranked number 78 on the 2008 "Fortune's" 100 Best Companies to Work For list, which is produced by the Great Place to Work Institute. They were 95th in 2012, rose to 56th in 2013, 96th in 2014, 72nd in 2015, 44th in 2016, 29th in 2019 19th in 2020, 59th 2021 and 76th in 2022.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Navy Federal offers the typical suite of account services offered by most financial institutions, including savings accounts, checking accounts, debit cards, IRA accounts, home equity lines of credit, and certificates. The savings product is named "Share Savings" to reflect the fact that a member's initial savings deposit ($5.00) literally represents their share of ownership in the credit union. Navy Federal also offers members consumer loans (including personal loans, auto loans, and student loans), credit cards, mortgages and home equity lines of credit, and digital banking as well as some small business services, such as PPP loans. Navy Federal's CUSO, Navy Federal Financial Group, offers more extensive investment services and related supports, financial planning, and insurance.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Due to the nature of its membership, which includes actively deployed military personnel in every time zone, Navy Federal maintains 24×7 operations at its three contact centers in Vienna, Virginia, Winchester, Virginia, and Pensacola, Florida, its largest contact center, as well as round-the-clock online banking services.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Navy Federal Investment Services, a subsidiary of Navy Federal Financial Group, launched an online investing tool called Digital Investor in January of 2022.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Unlike most U.S. credit unions which generally only operate physical branches in one or a few metropolitan areas or only in a single state, Navy Federal operates branches in many U.S. metro areas as well as in some overseas locations, comprising a total of 356 branches worldwide as of October 2022. In addition, members can make transactions through the CO-OP network of more than 30,000 ATMs in the U.S. and Canada without incurring surcharges or fees.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Major banking competitors include Bank of America-Military Bank, Pentagon Federal Credit Union, and USAA.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Navy Federal Credit Union engages in multiple charitable partnerships, including a decades-long relationship with Toys for Tots, dedicated to helping families surrounding the Vienna, Virginia headquarters, and a partnership with the National Hockey League's Stick Tap for Service Program. Navy Federal has also made multiple disaster relief donations, most recently a $100,000 donation to United Way of West Florida, to assist communities near their Pensacola, Florida offices that were adversely affected by Hurricane Sally in October 2020.


title: Navy Federal Credit Union

text: Navy Federal recently donated $100,000 through its Dollars for Doers program which, based on nominations from the credit union’s employees, awards 100 nonprofits with grants. Navy Federal donated to U.S. Vets in November of 2021 in honor of Veteran’s Month. During Navy Federal’s annual drive for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation in the 2021 holiday season, members and employees donated over $20,000 and 20,000 toys to families in need.


title: Godzilla (Eminem song)

text: "Godzilla" is a song by American rapper Eminem featuring fellow American rapper and singer Juice Wrld, released as a single on January 28, 2020, from the former's eleventh studio album "Music to Be Murdered By" (2020). The song was Juice Wrld's first posthumous release following his death the previous month in December 2019.


title: Godzilla (Eminem song)

text: American rapper Juice Wrld's feature on the track marked his first posthumous release following his fatal seizure resulting from a drug overdose on December 8, 2019. Eminem's third verse on the track holds the record for his fastest rap verse, rapping 10.65 syllables per second, or 300 words in 30 seconds. Eminem surpassed his own records held by his feature on Nicki Minaj and Labrinth's 2018 song "Majesty", where he rapped 10.3 syllables per second, and his 2013 song "Rap God", where he rapped 9.6 syllables per second.


title: Godzilla (Eminem song)

text: On March 4, 2020, a lyric video for the single was released. On March 6, Eminem released a snippet of the music video, partnered with Lyrical Lemonade. The music video, directed by Cole Bennett, released on March 9, featuring appearances by Mike Tyson, Dr. Dre, and a dedication to Juice WRLD at the end. As of December 2022, the song has over 534 million views on YouTube.


title: Godzilla (Eminem song)

text: "Godzilla" was a success in the United States and Europe. It debuted at number one in Finland and on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Chart, becoming Eminem's tenth and ninth number-one single in the UK and Ireland, respectively, as well as the first for Juice Wrld posthumously and in total in both countries. It also went to number two in Flanders, the Czech Republic, Hungary, New Zealand, and Slovakia. It went to number three in both artists' homeland, the United States, and went top ten in 20 regions. Outside Europe, it saw moderate success in Lebanon and Singapore, peaking inside the top 20 in those regions. As of November 3, the song has sold more than 3 million units in the US and became eligible for 3 times platinum. As of August 8, 2021, the song has sold more than 5 million copies, being eligible for 5 times platinum in the U.S.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: William Joseph "Joey" Dunlop (25 February 1952 – 2 July 2000) was a Northern Irish motorcyclist from Ballymoney.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: He won his third hat trick at the Isle of Man TT in 2000 and set his fastest lap on the course of 123.87 mph in the Senior race, which he finished third. In 2016 he was voted through "Motorcycle News" as the fifth greatest motorcycling icon ever, behind Valentino Rossi. His achievements include three hat-tricks at the Isle of Man TT meeting (1985, 1988 and 2000), where he won a record 26 races in total. A curve at the 26th milestone on the Isle of Man was named in his honour.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: During his career he won the Ulster Grand Prix 24 times. In 1986, he won a fifth consecutive TT Formula One world title; initially based on one race at the Isle of Man TT after the loss of World Championship status from 1977-onwards and organised by the Auto-Cycle Union, the title was eventually expanded to take in more rounds in other countries.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: He was awarded the MBE in 1986 for his services to the sport, and in 1996 he was awarded the OBE for his humanitarian work for children in Romanian orphanages, to which he had delivered clothing and food. Dunlop has featured in documentary films regarding his career: "V Four Victory" (1983), "Joey – The Man Who Conquered the TT" (2013) and "Road" (2014).


title: Joey Dunlop

text: Dunlop helped orphans in the Balkans, driving a van loaded with supplies to orphanages in Romania, Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina before the annual racing season began. In 1996, he received an OBE for his humanitarian work.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: After Dunlop's death, the "Joey Dunlop Foundation" was initiated, a charity that provides appropriate accommodation for disabled visitors to the Isle of Man.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: On 30 January 2015, Dunlop was voted Northern Ireland's greatest sports star by readers of the "Belfast Telegraph" newspaper.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: On the night of 23 May 1985, Dunlop was travelling from Northern Ireland to the Isle of Man for the annual TT races by sea, onboard the "Tornamona", a former fishing boat. The vessel had departed from Strangford, County Down with Dunlop, other riders, racing bikes and equipment onboard. Strong currents into Strangford Lough pushed the "Tornamona" onto St Patrick's Rock where her rudder broke off in a crevice. The boat sank and all 13 passengers and crew were rescued by the Portaferry Lifeboat. The bikes were later recovered by divers.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: Dunlop married on 22 September 1972 at Ballymoney register office. He was the proprietor of a pub in Ballymoney, and was highly superstitious, always wearing a red T-shirt and his yellow crash helmet when racing. Dunlop was presented with the Freedom of the Borough by Ballymoney Council in 1993.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: Dunlop died on 2 July 2000 in Tallinn, Estonia, while leading a 125cc race (he had already won the 750cc and 600cc events) on Pirita-Kose-Kloostrimetsa Circuit. He appeared to lose control of his bike in the wet conditions and died instantly on impact with trees. As a mark of respect, the Estonian government's official website was replaced with a tribute to Dunlop within hours of his death. Northern Ireland television carried live coverage of his funeral. Fifty thousand mourners, including bikers from all parts of Britain and Ireland and people from all backgrounds in Northern Ireland, attended the funeral procession to Garryduff Presbyterian church and his burial in the adjoining graveyard.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: The most successful overall rider at the annual TT races is awarded the "Joey Dunlop Cup". A memorial statue was erected in his home town of Ballymoney. On the Isle of Man, a statue of Dunlop astride a Honda overlooks the Bungalow Bend at Snaefell and the 26th Milestone area of the TT course was named "Joey's". A memorial stone was installed at the crash site in Tallinn as well. Irish publishers "The O'Brien Press" produced a full-colour pictorial tribute to Dunlop following his death. Northern Ireland band Therapy? recorded a song in memory of Dunlop, called "Joey"; it appeared on the album "Shameless", released in 2001.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: Following his death, the Leisure Centre in his hometown of Ballymoney was renamed from the Riada Centre to the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre. In 2001, the Joey Dunlop Memorial Garden was established in the Dunlop family's hometown, and in 2010 the tribute was extended to include the Robert Dunlop Memorial Garden to honour Joey's late brother, Robert Dunlop.


title: Joey Dunlop

text: On 26 February 2022, a statue of William Dunlop, son of Robert and nephew of Joey, was added to the Memorial Garden. William died while racing at the Skerries 100 event in 2018.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The Cortes Generales (; ) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house).


title: Cortes Generales

text: The Congress of Deputies meets in the Palacio de las Cortes. The Senate meets in the Palacio del Senado. Both are in Madrid. The Cortes are elected through universal, free, equal, direct and secret suffrage, with the exception of some senatorial seats, which are elected indirectly by the legislatures of the autonomous communities. The Cortes Generales are composed of 615 members: 350 Deputies and 265 Senators.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The members of the Cortes Generales serve four-year terms, and they are representatives of the Spanish people. In both chambers, the seats are divided by constituencies that correspond with the fifty provinces of Spain, plus Ceuta and Melilla. However, the Canary and Balearic islands form different constituencies in the Senate.


title: Cortes Generales

text: As a parliamentary system, the Cortes confirm and dismiss the Prime Minister of Spain and his or her government; specifically, the candidate for Prime Minister has to be invested by the Congress with a majority of affirmative votes. The Congress can also dismiss the Prime Minister through a vote of no confidence. The Cortes also hold the power to enact a constitutional reform.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The modern Cortes Generales were created by the 1978 Constitution of Spain, but the institution has a long history.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The system of "Cortes" arose in The Middle Ages as part of feudalism. A "Corte" was an advisory council made up of the most powerful feudal lords closest to the king. The Cortes of León was the first parliamentary body in Western Europe. From 1230, the Cortes of Leon and Castile were merged, though the Cortes' power was decreasing. Prelates, nobles and commoners remained separated in the three estates within the Cortes. The king had the ability to call and dismiss the Cortes, but, as the lords of the Cortes headed the army and controlled the purse, the King usually signed treaties with them to pass bills for war at the cost of concessions to the lords and the Cortes.


title: Cortes Generales

text: With the reappearance of the cities near the 12th century, a new social class started to grow: people living in the cities were "neither" vassals (servants of feudal lords) "nor" nobles themselves. Furthermore, the nobles were experiencing very hard economic times due to the Reconquista; so now the bourgeoisie (Spanish "", from "burgo", city) had the money and thus the power. So the King started admitting representatives from the cities to the Cortes in order to get more money for the Reconquista. The frequent payoffs were the "Fueros", grants of autonomy to the cities and their inhabitants. At this time the Cortes already had the power to oppose the King's decisions, thus effectively vetoing them. In addition, some representatives (elected from the Cortes members by itself) were permanent advisors to the King, even when the Cortes were not.


title: Cortes Generales

text: Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Catholic Monarchs, started a specific policy to diminish the power of the bourgeoisie and nobility. They greatly reduced the powers of the Cortes to the point where they simply rubberstamped the monarch's acts, and brought the nobility to their side. One of the major points of friction between the Cortes and the monarchs was the power of raising and lowering taxes. It was the only matter that the Cortes had under some direct control; when Queen Isabella wanted to fund Voyages of Christopher Columbus, she had a hard time battling with the bourgeoisie to get the Cortes' approval.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The role of the Cortes during the Spanish Empire was mainly to rubberstamp the decisions of the ruling monarch. However, they had some power over economic and American affairs, especially taxes. The "Siglo de oro", the Spanish Golden Age of arts and literature, was a dark age in Spanish politics: the Netherlands declared itself independent and started a war, while some of the last Habsburg monarchs did not rule the country, leaving this task in the hands of prime ministers governing in their name, the most famous being the Count-Duke of Olivares, Philip IV's deputy. This allowed the Cortes to become more influential, even when they did not directly oppose the King's decisions (or prime minister' decisions in the name of the King).


title: Cortes Generales

text: The institutions in charge of enforcing the decisions of the Imperial Cortes was the "Diputación General de Cortes", a body of representatives elected by the different estates of the realm. The "Diputación" dealt with the implementetion of previous agreements and the collection of taxes. This was established after the comunero rebellion to improve the relationship between the king and the local assemblies. There were also Diputaciones in the Kingdoms of Aragon and Navarre.


title: Cortes Generales

text: Some lands of the Crown of Aragon (Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia) and the Kingdom of Navarre were self-governing entities until the Nueva Planta Decrees of 1716 abolished their autonomy and united Aragon with Castile in a centralised Spanish state. The abolition in the realms of Aragon was completed by 1716, whilst Navarre retained its autonomy until the 1833 territorial division of Spain. It is the only one of the Spanish territories whose current status in the Spanish state is legally linked with the old Fueros: its Statute of Autonomy specifically cites them and recognizes their special status, while also recognizing the supremacy of the Spanish Constitution.


title: Cortes Generales

text: Cortes (or "Corts" in Catalonia and Valencia) existed in each of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and Navarre. It is thought that these legislatures exercised more real power over local affairs than the Castilian Cortes did. Executive councils also existed in each of these realms, which were initially tasked with overseeing the implementation of decisions made by the Cortes.


title: Cortes Generales

text: Cortes of Cádiz operated as a government in exile. France under Napoleon had taken control of most of Spain during the Peninsular War after 1808. The Cortes found refuge in the fortified, coastal city of Cádiz. General Cortes were assembled in Cádiz, but since many provinces could not send representatives due to the French occupation, substitutes were chosen among the people of the city. Liberal factions dominated the body and pushed through the Spanish Constitution of 1812. Ferdinand VII, however, tossed it aside upon his restoration in 1814 and pursued conservative policies, making the constitution an icon for liberal movements in Spain. Many military coups were attempted, and finally Col. Rafael del Riego's one succeeded and forced the King to accept the liberal constitution, which resulted in the Three Liberal Years (Trienio Liberal). The monarch not only did everything he could to obstruct the Government (vetoing nearly every law, for instance), but also asked many powers, including the Holy Alliance, to invade his own country and restore his absolutist powers. He finally received a French army (The Hundred Thousand Sons of St. Louis) which only met resistance in the liberal cities, but easily crushed the National Militia and forced many liberals to exile to, ironically, France. In his second absolutist period up to his death in 1833, Ferdinand VII was more cautious and did not try a full restoration of the Ancien Régime.


title: Cortes Generales

text: When the monarchy was overthrown in 1873, the King of Spain was forced into exile. The Senate was abolished because of its royally appointed nature. A republic was proclaimed and the Congress of Deputies members started writing a Constitution, supposedly that of a federal republic, with the power of Parliament being nearly supreme (see parliamentary supremacy, although Spain did not use the Westminster system). However, due to numerous issues Spain was not poised to become a republic; after several crises the republic collapsed, and the monarchy was restored in 1874.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The regime just after the First Republic is called the Bourbon Restoration. It was formally a constitutional monarchy, with the monarch as a rubberstamp to the Cortes' acts but with some reserve powers, such as appointing and dismissing the Prime Minister and appointing senators for the new Senate, remade as an elected House.


title: Cortes Generales

text: Soon after the Soviet revolution (1917), the Spanish political parties started polarizing, and the left-wing Communist Party (PCE) and Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) blamed the Government for supposed election fraud in small towns ("caciquismo"), which was incorrectly supposed to have been wiped out in the 1900s by the failed "regenerationist" movement. In the meantime, spiralling violence started with the murders of many leaders by both sides. Deprived of those leaders, the regime entered a general crisis, with extreme police measures which led to a dictatorship (1921–1930) during which the Senate was again abolished.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The dictatorship, now ruled by Admiral Aznar-Cabañas, called for local elections. The results were overwhelmingly favorable to the monarchist cause nationally, but most provincial capitals and other sizable cities sided heavily with the republicans. This was interpreted as a victory, as the rural results were under the always-present suspicion of "caciquismo" and other irregularities while the urban results were harder to influence. The King left Spain, and a Republic was declared on April 14, 1931.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The Second Spanish Republic was established as a presidential republic, with a unicameral Parliament and a President of the Republic as the Head of State. Among his powers were the appointment and dismissal of the Prime Minister, either on the advice of Parliament or just having consulted it before, and a limited power to dissolve the Parliament and call for new elections.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The first term was the constituent term charged with creating the new Constitution, with the ex-monarchist leader Niceto Alcalá Zamora as President of the Republic and the left-wing leader Manuel Azaña as Prime Minister. The election gave a majority in the Cortes and thus, the Government, to a coalition between Azaña's party and the PSOE. A remarkable deed is universal suffrage, allowing women to vote, a provision highly criticized by Socialist leader Indalecio Prieto, who said the Republic had been backstabbed. Also, for the second time in Spanish history, some regions were granted autonomous governments within the unitary state. Many on the extreme right rose up with General José Sanjurjo in 1932 against the Government's social policies, but the coup was quickly defeated.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The elections for the second term were held in 1933 and won by the coalition between the Radical Party (center) and the Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA) (right). Initially, only the Radical Party entered the Government, with the parliamentary support of the CEDA. However, in the middle of the term, several corruption scandals (among them the Straperlo affair) sunk the Radical Party and the CEDA entered the Government in 1934. This led to uprisings by some leftist parties that were quickly suffocated. In one of them, the left wing government of Catalonia, which had been granted home rule, formally rebelled against the central government, denying its power. This provoked the dissolution of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the imprisonment of their leaders. The leftist minority in the Cortes then pressed Alcalá Zamora for a dissolution, arguing that the uprising were the consequence of social rejection of the right-wing government. The President, a former monarchist Minister wary of the authoritarism of the right, dissolved Parliament.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The next election was held in 1936. It was hotly contested, with all parties converging into three coalitions: the leftist Popular Front, the right-winged and a Centre coalition. In the end, the Popular Front won with a small edge in votes over the runner-up National Front, but achieved a solid majority due to the new electoral system introduced by the CEDA government hoping that "they" would get the edge in votes. The new Parliament then dismissed Alcalá-Zamora and installed Manuel Azaña in his place. During the third term, the extreme polarisation of the Spanish society was more evident than ever in Parliament, with confrontation reaching the level of death threats. The already bad political and social climate created by the long term left-right confrontation worsened, and many right-wing rebellions were started. Then, in 1936, the Army's failed coup degenerated into the Spanish Civil War, putting an end to the Second Republic.


title: Cortes Generales

text: From November 1936 to October 1937, the Cortes were held at Valencia City Hall, which was still being used for its local purposes at the same time. The building was a target for the Italian Air Force in service of the Nationalist faction, resulting in a bombing in May 1937.


title: Cortes Generales

text: Francisco Franco did not have the creation of a consultative or legislative type of assembly as priority. In 1942, following the first symptoms of change in the international panorama in favour of the Allied Powers, a law established the Cortes Españolas (Spanish Cortes), a non-democratic chamber made up of more than 400 "procuradores" (singular "procurador"). Both the Cortes' founding law and the subsequent regulations were based on the principles of rejection of parliamentarism and political pluralism. Members of the Cortes were not elected and exercised only symbolic power. It had no power over government spending, and the cabinet, appointed and dismissed by Franco alone, retained real legislative authority. In 1967, with the enaction of the Organic Law of the State, the accommodation of "two family representatives per province, elected by those on the electoral roll of family heads and married women" (the so-called "tercio familiar") ensued, opening a fraction of the Cortes' composition to some mechanisms of individual participation.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The Cortes are a bicameral parliament composed of a lower house (Congreso de los Diputados, "congress of deputies") and an upper house (Senado, "senate"). Although they share legislative power, the Congress holds the power to ultimately override any decision of the Senate by a sufficient majority (usually an absolute majority or three-fifths majority).


title: Cortes Generales

text: The Congress is composed of 350 deputies (but that figure may change in the future as the constitution establishes a maximum of 400 and a minimum of 300) directly elected by universal suffrage approximately every four years.


title: Cortes Generales

text: The Senate is partly directly elected in that four senators per province are elected as a general rule and partly appointed by the legislative assemblies of the autonomous communities, one for each community and another one for every million inhabitants in their territory. Although the Senate was conceived as a territorial upper house, it has been argued by nationalist parties and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party that it does not accomplish such a task because 208 out of 265 members of the Senate are elected by popular vote in each province, and only 58 are representatives appointed by the regional legislatures of autonomous communities. Proposals to reform the Senate have been discussed for at least ten years as of November 2007. One of the main themes of reform is to move towards a higher level of federalization and make the Senate a thorough representation of autonomous communities instead of the current system, which tries to incorporate the interests of province and autonomous communities at the same time.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices. Editions of Windows Media Player were also released for classic Mac OS, and Solaris but development of these has since been discontinued.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player was eventually replaced in Windows 8 with Groove Music. Groove Music persisted in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, before being replaced in turn with the Media Player in Windows 11.


title: Windows Media Player

text: In addition to being a media player, the application has the ability to rip audio file from and copy to compact discs, burn recordable discs in Audio CD format or as data discs with playlists such as an MP3 CD, synchronize content with a digital audio player (MP3 player) or other mobile devices, and enable users to purchase or rent music from a number of online music stores.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player 11 was made available for Windows XP and included in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. The default file formats are Windows Media Video (WMV), Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Advanced Systems Format (ASF), and its own XML based playlist format called Windows Playlist (WPL). The player is also able to utilize a digital rights management service in the form of Windows Media DRM.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player 12 is the most recent version of Windows Media Player prior to Windows 11. It was released on October 22, 2009, along with Windows 7 and has not been made available for previous versions of Windows nor has it been updated since for Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11. Windows 8 and later instead use Groove Music (for audio) and Microsoft Movies & TV (for video) as the default playback applications for most media; As of October 2021, Windows Media Player is still included as a Windows component. Windows RT does not run Windows Media Player.


title: Windows Media Player

text: On November 16, 2021, Microsoft announced that it would replace Groove Music with the new Media Player application, though the legacy Windows Media Player will continue to be optionally available with Windows 11.


title: Windows Media Player

text: The first version of Windows Media Player appeared in 1991, when Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions was released. Originally called Media Player, this component was included with "Multimedia PC"-compatible machines but not available for retail sale. It was capable of playing codice_1 animation files, and could be extended to support other formats. It used MCI to handle media files. Being a component of Windows, Media Player shows the same version number as that of the version Windows with which it was included.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Microsoft continually produced new programs to play media files. In November of the following year, Video for Windows was introduced with the ability to play digital video files in an AVI container format, with codec support for RLE and Video1, and support for playing uncompressed files. Indeo 3.2 was added in a later release. Video for Windows was first available as a free add-on to Windows 3.1, and later integrated into Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. In 1995, Microsoft released ActiveMovie with DirectX Media SDK. ActiveMovie incorporates a new way of dealing with media files, and adds support for streaming media (which the original Media Player could not handle). In 1996, ActiveMovie was renamed DirectShow. However, Media Player continued to come with Windows until Windows XP, in which it was officially renamed Windows Media Player v5.1. ("v5.1" is the version number of Windows XP.)


title: Windows Media Player

text: In 1999, Windows Media Player's versioning broke away from that of Windows itself. Windows Media Player 6.4 came as an out-of-band update for Windows 95-98 and Windows NT 4.0 that co-existed with Media Player and became a built-in component of Windows 2000, Windows ME and Windows XP with an "mplayer2.exe" stub allowing to use this built-in instead of newer versions. Windows Media Player 7.0 and its successors also came in the same fashion, replacing each other but leaving Media Player and Windows Media Player 6.4 intact. Windows XP is the only operating system to have three different versions of Windows Media Player (v5.1, v6.4 and v8) side by side. All versions branded Windows Media Player (instead of simply Media Player) support DirectShow codecs. Windows Media Player version 7 was a large revamp, with a new user interface, visualizations and increased functionality. Windows Vista, however, dropped older versions of Windows Media Player in favor of v11, which included the removal of the Windows Media Source Filter (DirectShow codec).


title: Windows Media Player

text: In 2004 Microsoft launched digital music store MSN Music for new Windows Media Player 10 to compete with Apple iTunes.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Beginning with Windows Vista, Windows Media Player supports the Media Foundation framework besides DirectShow; as such it plays certain types of media using Media Foundation as well as some types of media using DirectShow. Windows Media Player 12 was released with Windows 7. It included support for more media formats and added new features. With Windows 8, however, the player did not receive an upgrade.


title: Windows Media Player

text: On April 16, 2012, Microsoft announced that Windows Media Player would not be included in Windows RT, the line of Windows designed to run on ARM-based devices.


title: Windows Media Player

text: A different app called Media Player is the successor to Groove Music for Windows 10 (previously Xbox Music) and Windows Media Player. Media Player started to be offered to all Windows 11 users on February 15, 2022.


title: Windows Media Player

text: The new Media Player can also play video, as part of Groove's rebranding from a music streaming service to a media player. Other changes include the album cover view being in fullscreen, and a refresh to the mini player. Accessibility has also been optimized, with some improved keyboard shortcuts and hotkey support for keyboard users and with other assistive technologies.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player supports playback of audio, video and pictures, along with fast forward, reverse, file markers (if present) and variable playback speed (seek & time compression/dilation introduced in WMP 9 Series). It supports local playback, streaming playback with multicast streams and progressive downloads. Items in a playlist can be skipped over temporarily at playback time without removing them from the playlist. Full keyboard-based operation is possible in the player.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player supports full media management, via the integrated media library introduced first in version 7, which offers cataloguing and searching of media and viewing media metadata. Media can be arranged according to album, artist, genre, date "et al." Windows Media Player 9 Series introduced Quick Access Panel to browse and navigate the entire library through a menu. The Quick Access Panel was also added to the mini mode in version 10 but was entirely removed in version 11. WMP 9 Series also introduced ratings and Auto Ratings. Windows Media Player 10 introduced support for aggregating pictures, Recorded TV shows, and other media into the library. A fully featured tag editor was featured in versions 9-11 of WMP, called the Advanced Tag Editor. However, the feature was removed in Windows Media Player 12. Since WMP 9 Series, the player features dynamically updated "Auto Playlists" based on criteria. Auto Playlists are updated every time users open them. WMP 9 Series and later also supports "Auto Ratings" which automatically assigns ratings based on the number of times a song is played. Pre-populated auto playlists are included in Windows Media Player 9 Series. Custom Auto Playlists can be created only on Windows XP and later.


title: Windows Media Player

text: In Windows Media Player 11, the "Quick Access Panel" was removed and replaced with an Explorer-style navigation pane on the left which can be customized for each library to show the user selected media or metadata categories, with contents appearing on the right, in a graphical manner with thumbnails featuring album art or other art depicting the item. Missing album art can be added directly to the placeholders in the Library itself (though the program re-renders all album art imported this way into 1x1 pixel ratio, 200x200 resolution jpegs). There are separate "Tiles", "Icons", "Details" or "Extended Tiles" views for "Music", "Pictures", "Video" and "Recorded TV" which can be set individually from the navigation bar. Entries for "Pictures" and "Video" show their thumbnails. Version 11 also introduced the ability to search and display results on-the-fly as characters are being entered, without waiting for "Enter" key to be hit. Incremental search results are refined based on further characters that are typed. "Stacking" allows graphical representations of how many albums there are in a specific category or folder. The pile appears larger as the category contains more albums. The List pane includes an option to prompt the user to remove items skipped in a playlist upon save or skip them only during playback.


title: Windows Media Player

text: While playing music, Windows Media Player can show visualizations. The current three visualizations are Alchemy, which was first introduced in version 9, Bars and Waves, which has been used since version 7, and Battery, introduced version 8. "Musical Colors" was removed starting with version 9, but is retained if Windows Media Player was upgraded from version 7 or 8. Version 11 and above refrains from having the former "Ambience", "Particle", "Plenoptic", and "Spikes" visualizations. The "Battery" visualization was similarly removed in later editions of version 12. The reason for their removal was that the visualizations do not support full screen controls (either the visualization gets shifted to the left while there is a thick black bar to the right side of the screen, that there are no full screen controls, or that the visualization have DXE Problems). More visualizations such as "BlazingColors", "ColorCubes", "Softie the Snowman," and "Yule Log" used to be downloadable however, the downloads from Microsoft's website have mostly been taken down and it's available on the WMP Goodies site.


title: Windows Media Player

text: The player includes intrinsic support for Windows Media codecs and also WAV and MP3 media formats. On Windows XP and above with WMP 9 Series and later, the Windows Media Audio Professional codec is included which supports multichannel audio at up to 24-bit 192 kHz resolution. Windows Media Player 11 includes the Windows Media Format 11 runtime which adds low bitrate support (below 128 kbit/s for WMA Pro), support for ripping music to "WMA Pro 10" and updates the original WMA to version 9.2.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Support for any media codec and container format can be added using specific DirectShow filters or Media Foundation codecs (Media Foundation codecs only in Windows Vista and later). The player will not play MP3 files that contain compressed ID3 headers ("tags"); trying to do so results in a "The input media file is invalid" error message. MP3 playback support was built-in beginning with version 6.1 and audio CD playback was natively supported with version 7.


title: Windows Media Player

text: DVD playback features minus the necessary decoders were integrated into Windows Media Player 8 for Windows XP. The player activates DVD and Blu-ray playback functionality with support for menus, titles and chapters, parental controls and audio track language selection if compatible decoders are installed. MPEG-2 and Dolby Digital (AC-3) decoders were included beginning with Windows Media Player 11 on Windows Vista (Home Premium and Ultimate editions only) and Windows 7 (Home Premium, Ultimate, or Enterprise editions) to allow DVD playback without additional software. However, the decoders were subsequently removed in Windows 8 and Windows 10 due to licensing costs.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player 12 adds native support for H.264 and MPEG-4 Part 2 video formats, ALAC, AAC audio and 3GP, MP4 and MOV container formats. Windows Media Player 12 is also able to play AVCHD formats (".M2TS" and ".mts").


title: Windows Media Player

text: As of Windows 10 version 1507, Windows Media Player 12 can play FLAC, HEVC, and SubRip subtitle, and Matroska container formats. Although the WebM file type is not officially associated with Windows Media Player 12 (the default player is Microsoft Movies & TV), playback of VP9 video in WebM container is possible on Windows 10 version 1809 and later.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player Mobile 10 on Windows Mobile 6.5 supports MP3, ASF, WMA and WMV using WMV or MPEG-4 codecs.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player features integrated Audio CD-burning support since version 7 as well as data CD burning support since Windows Media Player 9 Series on Windows XP and later. Data CDs can have any of the media formats supported by the player. While burning Data CDs, the media can, optionally, be transcoded into WMA format and playlists can be added to the CD as well. Starting with WMP 9 Series, audio CDs can be burnt with volume leveling.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Audio CDs can be ripped as WMA or WMA 10 Pro (WMA 10 Pro in WMP 11 and later) at 48, 64, 96, 128, 160 and 192 kbit/s, WMA lossless (470 to 940 kbit/s) (9 Series on XP and later), WMA variable bitrate (from 40 to 75 kbit/s up to 240-355 kbit/s), MP3 at 128, 192, 256 and 320 kbit/s, or uncompressed WAV (WAV ripping in WMP 11 and later). Since WMP 9 Series, 20 bit high-resolution CDs (HDCDs) are also supported, if capable audio hardware is present. Audio can be ripped using error correction and ripped audio can be protected with Windows Media DRM. Ripping to MP3 is supported only in Windows Media Player 8 for Windows XP and later if a compatible MP3 encoder is installed. Windows Media Player 10 included the Fraunhofer MP3 Professional encoder. Information on CDs such as album name, artist and track listings can optionally be automatically downloaded from the online Windows Media database when the CD is inserted. Version 11 added support for ripping audio CDs to WAV and WMA 10 Pro formats. With their 2015 implementation in Windows 10, Version 12 also added lossless FLAC and ALAC formats for ripping and playback. For burning, version 11 shows a graphical bar indicating how much space will be used on the disc and introduced "Disc spanning" which splits a burn list onto multiple discs in case the content does not fit on one disc.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player allows the user to connect, share and sync data with portable handheld devices and game consoles since version 7. Media can be optionally transcoded to a format better suited for the target device, automatically, when synchronizing. When deleting playlists from devices, Windows Media Player can automatically remove their contents. Devices can be formatted using Windows Media Player 9 Series and later. Version 10 and later support the Media Transfer Protocol and Auto Sync. Auto Sync allows users to specify criteria such as recently added music or highest rated songs, by which media will be automatically synchronized with the portable device and other advanced features like setting the clock on the portable device automatically, communicating with the device to retrieve the user's preferences. Windows Media Player 10 also introduced the UMDF-based "Windows Portable Devices" API.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Version 11 has improved synchronization features for loading content onto PlaysForSure-compatible portable players. WMP 11 supports reverse-synchronization, by which media present on the portable device can be replicated back to the PC. "Shuffle Sync" can be used to randomize content synced with the portable device, "Multi PC Sync" to synchronize portable device content across multiple PCs and "Guest Sync" to synchronize different content from multiple PCs with the portable device. Portable devices appear in the navigation pane of the library where their content can be browsed and searched.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player's 'Sync' function has options that allow it to be set to automatically down-convert (transcode) high bit-rate song files to a lower bit-rate. This down-conversion function is switched on by default. This is useful for providing low bit-rate files to those portable devices that need them, and to save space on portable devices with smaller storage capacities. For high bit-rate capable devices with sufficient storage capabilities, the down conversion process can be omitted.


title: Windows Media Player

text: In versions 11 (2006) and 12 (2009), the Quality settings that the user has selected in the Windows Media Player settings for Sync, for that specific portable device, are used to control the quality (bit-rate) of files that are copied to the portable device. Leaving the Quality settings to Automatic will often result in 192kbs files being copied to the portable device. Manual settings can also be made. 192kbs is the highest quality down-conversion bit-rate that can be manually selected when the Sync function's down-conversion function is turned on. Lower bit-rates can also be selected.


title: Windows Media Player

text: For portable devices that can handle high bit-rate files, the best quality files are obtained by leaving the down-conversion process switched off (unchecked) for that specific device. In Windows Media Player Version 11, switching off the down-conversion function is done in the Quality tab of the Advanced Options of the Sync settings for the device. In Windows Media Player Version 12, switching off the down-conversion function is done in the Quality tab of the Properties for the device in the Select Settings for the device in the Sync Options menu.


title: Windows Media Player

text: When set up in such a way, Windows Media Player's 'Sync' function can be used to sync unchanged high bit-rate song files to suitable portable devices (i.e. those capable of using file formats such as WMA Lossless, mp3-360kbs, etc.). For example, some users have created large song libraries on their PCs containing .wma formatted song files using the high bit-rate WMA Lossless (WMA-LL) protocol, or using other high bit-rate song file formats. The WMA-LL protocol is selectable in Windows Media Player as an option when ripping songs from CDs. The resulting bit-rates seen on ripped WMA-LL files are often 3 to 6 times higher than 192kbs, and can typically fall anywhere in the range of 600kbs to 1200kbs, depending on the quality of the source file that was present on the CD in the first place. The sound quality is much improved over the default rate, although the file size is larger.


title: Windows Media Player

text: At the time that Versions 11 and 12 were released, the capabilities and capacities of portable devices typically required down-conversion of the bit-rates of the files placed on the portable devices. Thus, Sync down-conversion was turned on by default. This was to ensure playability of the files and to ensure that the file sizes were small enough to efficiently fit a reasonably large selection of songs on the portable device.


title: Windows Media Player

text: In recent years (circa 2012), portable devices became available that could natively play these Windows Media Player produced high bit-rate WMA-LL files (and others), and that have storage capacities suitable for large collections of high bit-rate song files. This made it much more practicable and desirable to use software programs such as Windows Media Player to synchronize previously PC-bound libraries of high bit-rate songs to these new portable devices.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player features universal brightness, contrast, saturation and hue adjustments and pixel aspect ratio for supported video formats. It also includes a 10-band graphic equalizer with presets and SRS WOW audio post-processing system. Windows Media Player can also have attached audio and video DSP plug-ins which process the output audio or video data. "Video Smoothing" was introduced in WMP 9 Series (Windows XP and later only) which upscales frame-rate by interpolating added frames, in effect giving a smoother playback on low-framerate videos. The player supports subtitles and closed-captioning for local media, video on demand streaming or live streaming scenarios. Typically Windows Media captions support the SAMI file format but can also carry embedded closed caption data.


title: Windows Media Player

text: The player can use video overlays or VMR (Video Mixing Renderer) surfaces, if the video card supports them. In Windows XP, it uses VMR7 by default, but can also be made to use the more advanced YUV mixing mode by enabling the "Use high quality mode" option in Advanced Performance settings. This turns on deinterlacing, scaling and improved color accuracy. WMP 9 Series introduced native playback for deinterlacing for TV output. Version 9 introduced DXVA accelerated playback. Version 11 introduced improved support for DirectX accelerated decoding of WMV video (DXVA decoding). Up to version 11, it supported static lyrics and "Synchronized Lyrics", by which different lines of lyrics can be time-stamped, so that they display only at those times. Synchronized Lyrics also were accessible through the Advanced Tag Editor which was removed in version 12.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Since Windows Media Player 9 Series, the player supports crossfading, audio dynamic range (Quiet Mode) for WMA Pro and WMA Lossless, and auto volume leveling for certain media which includes volume level/gain information such as MP3 or Windows Media. The player also supports extensive configurable privacy and security settings.


title: Windows Media Player

text: The player has Windows Explorer shell integration to add files and playlist to the "Now Playing" pane and other playlists can be controlled from the Windows Explorer shell itself, via right-click menu. The My Music folder also includes a separate "My Playlists" folder where playlists are maintained. When the player is closed and reopened, simply clicking the play button restores the last playlist even if it was not saved. Starting with Windows Media Player 10, the playlist pane is also visible from the Library view. AutoPlay handlers in Windows expose various Windows Media Player tasks.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Up to version 11, it featured a taskbar-mounted "Mini mode" in which the most common media control buttons are presented as a toolbar on the Windows taskbar. Flyout windows can display media information, the active visualization or the video being played back. Mini-mode was introduced as a shell player powertoy for Windows Media Player 8 in Windows XP and integrated later into WMP 9 Series. Mini-mode has been removed in Windows Media Player 12 in favor of controls in the taskbar's interactive thumbnail preview which lacks volume control, a progress bar and information displayed whenever a new song is played.


title: Windows Media Player

text: The user interface has been redesigned in Windows Media Player 12 such that the "Now Playing" view plays media in a separate minimalist window with floating playback controls, and also gives access to the current playlist, visualizations, and enhancements. Enhancements are housed in individual undocked windows. The library view includes the rest of the media management functions. It also can preview songs from the library when users hover over the media file and click the Preview button. Windows Media Player 12 can play unprotected songs from the iTunes library. The taskbar-integrated Mini-player has been replaced with controls in the taskbar's interactive thumbnail preview (called the "Thumbnail Toolbar"), albeit minus the volume control function, track and album information shown whenever a new song is played and the progress bar. The taskbar icon also supports jump lists introduced in Windows 7.


title: Windows Media Player

text: The player has had skinning support since Windows Media Player (WMP) 7 and includes a color chooser since the WMP 9 Series. Not all functions are usually exposed in skin mode. Windows Media Player 10 allows setting the video border color. Color chooser has been removed in WMP 12. It supports visualizations and "Info Center View" (Info Center View in WMP 9 Series and later) which displays media metadata fetched from the internet. Full screen visualizations are supported in WMP 9 Series and later. It supports Background plug-ins, window plug-ins and "Now Playing" plug-ins to control media playback besides DSP and renderer plug-ins. Plug-in support was introduced in WMP 9 Series.


title: Windows Media Player

text: The player integrates web-browsing support to browse online music stores, shop for music and tune to internet radio stations since version 7. It provides an embeddable ActiveX control for Internet Explorer so that developers can play Windows Media on web pages. Windows Media Player 10 and later feature integration with a large number of online music stores and selecting a music store switches the Info Center view, radio and other online features to use services from that store. Purchased music from a particular store appears in a separate library node under the respective category.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Previously, Microsoft had released Windows Media Connect for Windows XP to stream media content with its built-in UPnP media server. With version 11 of Windows Media Player, Media Sharing was integrated and allows content (Music, Pictures, Video) to be streamed to and from Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) AV enabled devices such as the PS3, Xbox 360, and Roku SoundBridge. This includes DRM protected PlaysForSure content. WMP 11 on Windows Vista can also act as a client to connect to remote media libraries using this feature; this is not available on the Windows XP version.


title: Windows Media Player

text: With version 12, media streaming was further improved. While previous versions streamed media to UPnP compliant devices (Digital Media Server role) and could play media by fetching it from a network share (Digital Media Player role), Windows Media Player 12 can access media from the shared media libraries on the network or HomeGroup, stream media to DLNA 1.5 compliant devices and allows itself (once the remote control option is turned on) to be remotely controlled by Digital Media Controller devices which stream media (Digital Media Renderer role). Similarly, the "Play To" feature once enabled for remote PCs, by turning on remote control of the player, allows compliant devices and computers to be discovered and controlled remotely from a computer running Windows Media Player 12 (Digital Media Controller role). If the devices do not support the streamed format, Windows Media Player 12 transcodes the format on-the-fly. Media from a home network can also be streamed over the internet using an "Online ID Provider" service, which handles discovery of the computer's IP address, authorization, security, connectivity and Quality of Service issues.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player also features skins. Currently, Windows Media Player has two default skins: "Corporate", which was first introduced in version 8, and "Revert", which first shipped with version 9. In versions 7 and 8, there were many unusual skins such as "Heart", "Headspace", "Canvas", "Goo", and "Atomic", which were removed starting with version 9, but are retained if the player is upgraded, although some can still be downloaded from an archive of the Microsoft website. In versions 7, 8, 9 and 10 there were many usual skins such as "9SeriesDefault", "Atomic", "Bluesky", "Canvas", "Classic", "Compact", "goo", "Headspace", "heart", "iconic", "Miniplayer", "Optic", "Pyrite", "QuickSilver", "Radio", "Roundlet", "Rusty", "splat", "Toothy", "Windows Classic", and "Windows XP", which were removed starting with version 11. This Corporate skin is not deletable.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Microsoft Windows Media Runtime in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server contained a bug that permitted "remote code execution if a user opened a specially crafted media file". Such a file would allow the attacker to "then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights", if the account on which the file was played had administrator privileges. The problem was addressed in a critical update issued on September 8, 2009.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Microsoft has also released versions of Windows Media Player for other platforms including Windows Mobile, classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, Palm-size PC, Handheld PC, and Solaris. Of these, only the Windows Mobile edition continues to be actively developed and supported by Microsoft. Version 1 of the Zune software was also based on Windows Media Player; later versions are not.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Media Player for Pocket PC was first announced on January 6, 2000, and has been revised on a schedule roughly similar to that of the Windows version. Currently known as "Media Player 10 Mobile", this edition (released in October 2004) closely resembles the capabilities of the Windows version of WMP 10, including playlist capabilities, a media library, album art, WMA Lossless playback, support for DRM-protected media, video playback at 640×480 with stereo sound, and the same Energy Blue interface aesthetics also seen in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. It also supports synchronization with the desktop version of WMP 10, and additionally supports synchronizing and transcoding of recorded television shows from Media Center. Media Player 10 Mobile is not available as a download from Microsoft; distribution is done solely through OEM partners, and is typically included on devices based on Windows Mobile.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Windows Mobile 6 includes a copy of Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, but with a similar (but not quite identical) theme as Windows Media Player 11.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Version 9 was the final version of Windows Media Player to be released for Mac OS X before development was canceled by Microsoft. It was developed by the Windows Media team at Microsoft instead of the Macintosh Business Unit and released in 2003. On release the application lacked many basic features that were found in other media players such as Apple's iTunes and QuickTime. It also lacked support for many media formats that version 9 of the Windows counterpart supported on release 10 months earlier.


title: Windows Media Player

text: The Mac version supported only Windows Media encoded media (up to version 9) enclosed in the ASF format, lacking support for all other formats such as MP4, MPEG, and Microsoft's own AVI format. On the user interface front, it did not prevent screensavers from running during playback, it did not support file drag-and-drop, nor did it support playlists. While Windows Media Player 9 had added support for some files that use the WMV9 codec (also known as the WMV3 codec by the FourCC), in other aspects it was seen as having degraded in features from previous versions.


title: Windows Media Player

text: On January 12, 2006, Microsoft announced it had ceased development of Windows Media Player for Mac. Microsoft now distributes a third-party plugin called WMV Player (produced and maintained by Flip4Mac) which allows some forms of Windows Media to be played within Apple's QuickTime Player and other QuickTime-aware applications.


title: Windows Media Player

text: In March 2004, the European Commission in the European Union Microsoft antitrust case fined Microsoft €497 million and ordered the company to provide a version of Windows without Windows Media Player, claiming Microsoft "broke European Union competition law by leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the markets for work group server operating systems and for media players". The company has made available a compliant version of its flagship operating system under the negotiated name "Windows XP N", though the product has not been very successful. Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 are also available in "N" editions. However, it is possible to either install Windows Media Player (XP/Vista) or the Media Restore Pack through Windows Update (Vista) to add the media player.


title: Windows Media Player

text: Prior to the release of Windows Media Player in Windows 98 Second Edition, separate programs, CD Player, Deluxe CD Player, DVD Player and Media Player, were included in old versions of Microsoft Windows for playback of media files.


title: Crescent City, California

text: Crescent City (Tolowa: "Taa-’at-dvn"; Yurok: "Kohpey"; Wiyot: "Daluwagh") is the only incorporated city in Del Norte County, California; it is also the county seat. Named for the crescent-shaped stretch of sandy beach south of the city, Crescent City had a total population of 6,673 in the 2020 census, down from 7,643 in the 2010 census. The population includes inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison, also within the city limits, and the former census-designated place Crescent City North annexed to the city. The city is also the site of the Redwood National Park headquarters, as well as the historic Battery Point Light. Due to the richness of the local Pacific Ocean waters and the related catch, and ease of access, Crescent City Harbor serves as home port for numerous commercial fishing vessels.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The city is on the Pacific coast in the upper northwestern part of California, about south of the Oregon border. Crescent City's offshore geography makes it unusually susceptible to tsunamis. Much of the city was destroyed by four tsunami waves generated by the Great Alaskan earthquake off Anchorage, Alaska in 1964. More recently, the city's harbor suffered extensive damage and destruction from tsunamis generated by the March 11, 2011 earthquake off Sendai, Japan. Several dozen vessels and many of the docks they were moored to were destroyed as wave cycles related to the tsunamis exceeded .


title: Crescent City, California

text: The climate of Crescent City is moderate, with cool summers for its latitude as a result of intense maritime moderation. Nearby inland areas behind the mountains have significantly warmer summer temperatures.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The area that is now known as Del Norte County was and still is inhabited by the Yurok (Klamath River Indians) and Tolowa Nations of indigenous peoples. The first European American to explore this land was pioneer Jedediah Smith in the early 19th century. He was the first European American to reach the area overland on foot in a time before the European Americans knew anything about such a distant territory. For him it was literally "Land's End" — where the American continent ended at the Pacific Ocean. In 1855, the U.S. Congress authorized the building of a lighthouse at "the battery point" (a high tide island on the coast of Crescent City) which is still functioning as a historical landmark.


title: Crescent City, California

text: European explorers first visited the area by ship in the late 1820s. Europeans began moving to the area in the 1850s. Crescent City was incorporated as a city in 1854.


title: Crescent City, California

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which (81.3%) is land and (18.7%) is water. Fishing and crabbing, tourism, and timber are the major sources of income in Del Norte County. Elk Creek flows into the Pacific Ocean at Crescent City. Its nearest Californian place of any size to its interior is Happy Camp separated by roughly by air, but, due to the unsuitable terrain, it is much farther by road. The nearest city is fellow coastal city Brookings, Oregon, around to its north. The Humboldt Bay area encompassing Eureka and Arcata is more than to its south. Crescent City is as far north in latitude as Chicago, Middle Island in Ontario, Canada, as well as New England on the Atlantic side. It is as much as nine degrees latitude north of San Diego at the southern tip of the state. Crescent City is closer to Vancouver, Canada () than to Los Angeles ().


title: Crescent City, California

text: Crescent City has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen "Csb"), with moderation similar to an oceanic climate (Cfb). The wettest months are from October to March; the wettest month is December with and the driest month is July with . The average high and low temperatures in December are and . The average high and low temperatures in August are and . On average, four mornings each winter fall below .


title: Crescent City, California

text: The highest temperature recorded in Crescent City was on September 20, 1989 and September 21, 1939. The lowest temperature on record was on January 20, 1937 and December 21, 1990. The maximum monthly precipitation was in November 1973. The wettest year was 1904 when fell and the driest year was 2013 with . The maximum 24-hour precipitation was on January 9, 1995. The highest snowfall recorded for any period in 24 hours was on January 26, 1972. The 30-year average annual precipitation in Crescent City has decreased from in the 1980–2010 period to about over the 1990–2020 period.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The warmest ever overnight low was in 1929 and the mean between 1991 and 2020 was at the modest . Cold winter days are also rare. The coldest daytime temperature was in 1924, which remains the last time Crescent City did not climb above the freezing point for 24 hours. Between 1991 and 2020, the coldest maximum temperature averaged .


title: Crescent City, California

text: The topography of the sea floor surrounding Crescent City has the effect of focusing tsunamis. According to researchers at Humboldt State University and the University of Southern California, the city experienced tsunami conditions 31 times between the years 1933 and 2008. Although many of these incidents were barely perceptible, eleven events included wave measurements exceeding one meter, four events caused damage, and one event in particular is commonly cited as "the largest and most destructive recorded tsunami to strike the United States Pacific Coast."


title: Crescent City, California

text: On March 27, 1964, the Great Alaskan earthquake off Anchorage, Alaska, set in motion local landslide tsunamis, as well as a trans-Pacific wave. The tsunami wave travel time to Crescent City was 4.1 hours after the earthquake, but it only produced localized flooding. The second and third waves to hit Crescent City were smaller, but the fourth wave struck with a height of approximately after having drawn the harbor out nearly dry. The next morning the damage was counted: 289 buildings and businesses had been destroyed; 1,000 cars and 25 large fishing vessels had been crushed; 12 people were confirmed dead, over 100 were injured, and more were missing; and 60 blocks had been inundated, with 30 city blocks destroyed. Although most of the missing were later accounted for, not all were tracked down. Insurance adjusters estimated that the city received more damage from the tsunami on a block-by-block basis than did Anchorage from the initial earthquake.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The tsunami raced down the West Coast with more deaths and destruction, but no other location was hit as hard. Crescent City bore the brunt, due to its offshore geography, position relative to the earthquake's strike-line, underwater contours such as the Cobb Seamount, and the position of rivers near the city. Although houses, buildings, and infrastructure were later rebuilt, years passed before the city recovered from the devastation to lives, property, and its economy. Since the 1980s, the breakwater has been protected from normal storm waves by hundreds of Dolos armor units, 38 ton concrete shapes.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The city is deemed to be tsunami-ready today. Its preparedness was tested on June 14, 2005, when the 2005 Eureka earthquake measuring 7.2 on the moment magnitude scale hit offshore; much of the city (an estimated 6,000 people) was evacuated when a tsunami warning was issued, and a tsunami wave hit the area.


title: Crescent City, California

text: On November 15, 2006, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck off Simushir Island in the Kuril Islands in the western Pacific. A tsunami warning was issued but rescinded hours later. However, a surge from that quake did hit the harbor at Crescent City causing damage to three docks and several boats. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a county state of emergency. Upon that declaration, the area affected was eligible for federal emergency relief funding to repair the damage.


title: Crescent City, California

text: Parts of the city were evacuated on March 11, 2011, after a 9.0 earthquake struck Japan. Thirty-five boats were destroyed, and the harbor suffered major damage. The reported peak surge was over by 9:50am. Five were swept out to sea, and one person was killed.


title: Crescent City, California

text: As of the 2003 Population Estimate from the Census Bureau, there were 7,319 people living in the city. Census data from the year 2000 indicate that the population density was 2,252.2/sqmi (868.9/km). There were 1,754 housing units at an average density of 986.1/sqmi (380.5/km). The racial makeup of the city was 78.3% White, 0.5% Black or African American, 6.1% Native American, 4.6% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 4.3% from other races, and 6.0% from two or more races. 11.0% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Crescent City, California

text: There were 1,578 households, out of which 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.4% were married couples living together, 20.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.7% were non-families. 35.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.12.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The city population contained 30.1% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.4 males.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The median income for a household in the city was $20,133, and the median income for a family was $22,058. Males had a median income of $36,667 versus $19,922 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,833. 34.6% of the population and 33.7% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 46.6% of those under the age of 18 and 4.8% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The 2010 United States Census reported that Crescent City had a population of 7,643. The population density was 3,164.9/sqmi (1,222.0/km). The racial makeup of Crescent City was 5,052 (66.1%) White, 910 (11.9%) African American, 370 (4.8%) Native American, 333 (4.4%) Asian, 7 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 696 (9.1%) from other races, and 275 (3.6%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2,342 persons (30.6%).


title: Crescent City, California

text: The Census reported that 4,063 people (53.2% of the population) lived in households, 28 (0.4%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 3,552 (46.5%) were institutionalized. The very high institutionalized percentage is a result of the presence of Pelican Bay State Prison, which was annexed into the city limits in the 1990s.


title: Crescent City, California

text: There were 1,707 households, out of which 559 (32.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 512 (30.0%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 314 (18.4%) had a female householder with no husband present, 114 (6.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 170 (10.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 7 (0.4%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 614 households (36.0%) were made up of individuals, and 229 (13.4%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38. There were 940 families (55.1% of all households); the average family size was 3.13.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The city population contained 1,107 people (14.5%) under the age of 18, 934 people (12.2%) aged 18 to 24, 3,292 people (43.1%) aged 25 to 44, 1,725 people (22.6%) aged 45 to 64, and 585 people (7.7%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 250.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 298.5 males.


title: Crescent City, California

text: There were 1,906 housing units at an average density of 789.2/sqmi (304.7/km), of which 1,707 were occupied, of which 532 (31.2%) were owner-occupied, and 1,175 (68.8%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 7.7%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.8%. 1,203 people (15.7% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 2,860 people (37.4%) lived in rental housing units.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The public schools of Crescent City are part of the Del Norte County Unified School District, which encompasses all of the public schools in Del Norte County. The following are schools within Crescent City or its immediate vicinity.


title: Crescent City, California

text: Highway access is provided by U.S. Route 101, which runs directly through the city, connecting the Oregon Coast to the north and Eureka to the south. U.S. Route 199 begins north of Crescent City and runs northeast to Grants Pass, Oregon. The junction of U.S. Routes 101 and 199 is one of only two junctions of two U.S. Routes in California, the other being the junction of U.S. Routes 6 and 395 in Bishop.


title: Crescent City, California

text: SkyWest Airlines formerly served Del Norte County Airport (also known as Jack McNamara Field) as United Express until April 7, 2015. Most flights connected to San Francisco International Airport. PenAir contracted to begin serving the airport with Saab 340 turboprop aircraft beginning September 15, 2015.


title: Crescent City, California

text: Contour Airlines currently operates flights from Crescent City (CEC) to the Oakland International Airport (OAK).


title: Crescent City, California

text: Local public transit is provided by Redwood Coast Transit and by various taxi companies. Crescent City is also served by Curry Public Transit, and POINT.


title: Crescent City, California

text: The Crescent City Harbor serves as a commercial fishing port for salmon, shrimp, tuna, cod, and dungeness crab commercial fishing vessels. The Harbor is also home to multiple fishing and non-fishing related businesses and harbor governmental offices. The Crescent City Harbor also has several pleasure boat docks.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Samantha "Sam" Mitchell (also Butcher and Hunter) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera "EastEnders". The third member of the Mitchell family to appear on the soap, Sam was introduced as a 15-year-old schoolgirl in July 1990, originally played by Danniella Westbrook. The actress quit in 1993, but Sam reappeared from 1995 to 1996 and from 1999 to 2000. In both her 1996 and 2000 exits, Sam was written out earlier than the producers intended due to off-screen controversies surrounding Westbrook. In early 2002, the character was introduced for a fourth time, but the role was recast to another actress, Kim Medcalf, who stayed in the role until late 2005. Diederick Santer later decided to reintroduce the character for a brief stint in 2009 and he opted to bring Westbrook back for a short storyline later that year. She reprised the role for a four-month stint between September 2009 and January 2010, before then reappearing for another short stint from August until September of that year. In 2016, Westbrook agreed to briefly reprise the role once again, in the events that surrounded the funeral of her on-screen mother Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor); this started on 30 June and concluded after four episodes on 8 July. In January 2022, it was announced that Sam would be returning to the show, this time played by Medcalf again.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Medcalf returned to filming in February and Sam’s return scenes aired on 18 April 2022. A younger version of Sam, played by Laila Murphy, appeared in a flashback episode broadcast on 5 September 2022 which focuses on the Mitchell family in the 1970s.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: The character of Sam Mitchell was initially portrayed as a young, naïve girl who had initially relied less upon her mother Peggy (Jo Warne/Barbara Windsor) than her two older brothers Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant (Ross Kemp) - although she gradually evolved into becoming more flirty, headstrong, and charismatic, with a determination to be taken more seriously. During her time in the soap, Sam established a teen elopement with her first husband Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen); repeatedly clashed with his future spouse Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) in light of the couple's divorce, and Sam thereafter sleeping with Bianca's father David Wicks (Michael French); had an unsuccessful relationship with Grant's nemesis Beppe di Marco (Michael Greco); slept with Phil's archenemy Steve Owen (Martin Kemp) without knowing that it was part of his intent to make his wife, Mel (Tamzin Outhwaite) jealous; briefly dated Peggy's barman, Trevor Morgan (Alex Ferns), until she learned that he had been using this to antagonize her cousin Billy (Perry Fenwick); temporarily worked for her brothers' estranged lover Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and had a fling with Sharon’s adoptive half-brother Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman); feuded with Phil's ex-wife Kate Morton (Jill Halfpenny) over her loyalty to the Mitchell family; embarked on an ill-fated marriage with her community's gangland kingpin Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs); developed a conflict with the Watts family, after Den (Leslie Grantham) blackmailed her lawyer Marcus Christie (Stephen Churchett) into conning the Mitchells from their ownership of The Queen Victoria public house; feuded with Den's widow Chrissie (Tracy-Ann Oberman) after she incriminated both Sam and Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) for Den's murder; was manipulated by her uncle Archie (Larry Lamb) into unknowingly causing their family to lose their pub for a second time; got framed by her own family for Archie's murder; sparked a rivalry with his two daughters, Ronnie (Samantha Janus) and Roxy (Rita Simons), over the trio's separate romances with local resident Jack Branning (Scott Maslen); struggled to cope with motherhood after giving birth to Jack's son, Ricky (Henri Charles/Frankie Day); suffered with bereavement after Peggy took her own life due to cancer.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Following her 2022 return, Sam takes control of the Mitchell empire for a second time; has a difficult reconciliation with her son Ricky; begins a feud with Sharon, Phil’s fiancée Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) and Jack’s civil partner Denise Fox (Diane Parish); a failed attempt to bring down Phil with his nemesis Jonah Tyler (Mark Mooney); and a fling with Sharon’s half-brother Zack Hudson (James Farrar).


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Sam is the youngest child and only daughter of Peggy (Jo Warne/Barbara Windsor) and Eric Mitchell (George Russo). Eric spoiled Sam and treated her like a princess, whilst Sam idolised her brothers Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant (Ross Kemp). By the time Eric died when Sam was ten, she was subsequently on the receiving end of her two older brothers’ heavy-handed paternalism.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Fifteen-year-old Sam follows her brothers to Walford, unhappy at home because she dislikes their mother's boyfriend, Kevin Masters (Colin McCormack). She becomes friends with Hattie Tavernier (Michelle Gayle) and dates Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen). Sam's family disapproves of the relationship, so Ricky and Sam decide to elope to Gretna Green; they marry despite the Mitchells trying to stop the nuptials. Peggy admits defeat and attends their more formal blessing in Walford a month later. Sam fails to earn schooling qualifications and starts to believe that she can have a career in modelling, but when she attempts to get a portfolio done by a professional photographer, he persuades her to do a topless shoot and the photos are then published in a pornographic magazine. This causes problems in Ricky and Sam's relationship, and after just a year of marriage, Sam grows bored and begins lusting after a playboy named Clive (Sean Gallagher) whom she meets at a New Year's Eve party with her friend Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton). After having a brief affair, Sam thinks she has fallen in love with Clive, but he makes it clear that he is only interested in sex when he tries to coax her into having a threesome. Realising that her marriage with Ricky is over, Sam leaves her husband and Walford.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Sam returns after her brothers, on a boy's holiday in Spain, catch her in bed with David Wicks (Michael French), and force her to return. Fearful of being alone, Sam tries to come between Ricky and his girlfriend, Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer). Initially, Ricky thinks he still has feelings for Sam and delays divorcing her, but eventually realises he is better off with Bianca. Soon after, she meets a Spanish man named Guillermo (Robert Reina), who is holidaying in England. When he invites her to join him in the Spanish costas she leaves Walford again.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Sam returns for a fleeting visit but decides that she wants to settle down in Walford once more. During this time, she embarks on a relationship with Beppe di Marco (Michael Greco). However, Sam takes things more seriously than Beppe does. After he ends the relationship, Sam looks for comfort elsewhere, turning to local club owner and Phil's adversary Steve Owen (Martin Kemp) for support. They have a one-night stand, but he is only using her to make his fling Mel Beale (Tamzin Outhwaite) jealous. When Beppe also makes it clear that he is not interested in taking her back, a hurt Sam leaves Walford once again.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Peggy finds Sam, working in a lap-dancing club in Spain; ashamed and penniless, Sam returns to Walford with her mother. Sam has another brief relationship with Steve Owen, however, he is using her again as a final act of revenge against Phil. Following Steve’s untimely death, Phil then humiliates Sam by revealing the affair in front of Steve's widow Mel and Phil’s ex Lisa Shaw (Lucy Benjamin). Sam then proceeds to have flings with Trevor Morgan (Alex Ferns) and Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), respectively – as well as briefly having a relationship with her ex-lover Beppe. Sam moves in with Ricky and she redevelops feelings for him. When he ends his relationship with Natalie Evans (Lucy Speed), they have sex. She is left embarrassed when her feelings are not reciprocated by Ricky, who returns to Natalie. Sam begins a fling with Dennis’s father Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) but is left humiliated after he sacks her from her job at his family's club.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: When her brother Phil goes on the run after escaping prison for an armed robbery, for which he has been set up for by Den, Sam avenges him by attempting to outbuy his former wife Kate Mitchell (Jill Halfpenny) out of her business in an attempt to leave her penniless. She hires Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi) to smash up the salon as revenge on Kate for giving up Phil's daughter Louise (Rachel Cox) to her unstable mother Lisa, and later persuades Billy to torch Phil's snooker club in an insurance scam, an act that results in Den's club burning down and his daughter Vicki Fowler (Scarlett Johnson) nearly perishing in the fire. She clashes with Den's adopted daughter Sharon (Letitia Dean) over the insurance of the club and Dennis vows revenge, and he is only warned off when his friend Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs), the Square's gangland kingpin, begins a relationship with Sam. She falls in love with Andy and he manages to turn her against her allies. Sam is unaware of Andy’s true colours and she disowns Billy when he tries to warn her about Andy's devious intentions and his affair with Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace). They marry, and soon after the wedding, Sam's world crumbles when she discovers that Paul Trueman (Gary Beadle) has been secretly selling drugs for Andy. Sam also finds out that Andy had beaten up Minty for trying to stop their wedding. Despite this, she takes him back when he promises to change. Andy later fools Sam into signing over control of Phil's house, and she is then conned out of all the Mitchell businesses by family lawyer Marcus Christie (Stephen Churchett) and Den. Andy, realising Sam is no use to him, throws her out of their house – leaving her penniless. A destitute Sam is later taken in by Minty.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Whilst trying to move on from her marriage with Andy, she has a brief relationship with Andy's rival Danny Moon (Jake Maskall). Sam becomes determined to get revenge on Den; she teams up with his wife Chrissie (Tracy-Ann Oberman) and Kat’s daughter Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) - who herself had become a victim of Den as a result of her relationship with Dennis - to carry out their vengeful plot against Den. On the night of Den's wedding anniversary to his late wife Angie (Anita Dobson), the three women confront him at the Queen Vic shortly after he closes up. Zoe hits him over the head with Pauline Fowler's (Wendy Richard) iron doorstop and this is thought to have killed him; however, when Zoe and Sam leave the room, Den grabs Chrissie's ankle and she responds by hitting him on the head a second time – finally killing him. In the moment where Chrissie kills Den, however, Sam secretly witnesses this, and she later grows appalled when Chrissie allows Zoe to believe that her blow killed Den. As Chrissie has possession of the Queen Vic following Den's death, Sam blackmails her – threatening to unveil Chrissie as Den's killer unless she gives her money and later the pub. Chrissie and Sam, both complicit in Den's murder, decide to call a truce to avoid going to prison. They decide to co-run the Queen Vic, but this lasts briefly as Sam cannot trust Chrissie, leading to her being sacked.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: On the day after Den's murder, to which the Square is unaware of yet, Sam is surprised to learn that Andy had died on the same night; Andy was murdered by his gangland rival Johnny Allen (Billy Murray). In the events of Andy's funeral, Sam smugly attends his will meeting; she is shocked to learn that he has left his and Sam's money to a dog's trust. She is further horrified when he leaves her nothing but a wedding ring. As she struggles to move on from Andy and their turbulent marriage, Sam learns that Chrissie is attempting to sell the pub and leave Walford. She soon begins drinking heavily and, determined to expose Chrissie as Den's killer, smashes up Den's resting place in the Vic cellar and tries to dig him up. The plan backfires; all evidence points to Sam when Zoe’s relative Stacey (Lacey Turner) gives Chrissie and Zoe a false alibi; telling the police that they were both with her the night Den was killed. Sam is then charged with murder, and when Peggy returns to the Square and learns about Sam's recent troubles, she visits her and Sam tells Peggy that Chrissie was the one who killed Den. Believing Sam, an outraged Peggy vows to prove her innocence. The Mitchells pay a visit to the Slaters and desperately try to pressure Stacey into dropping her story for Chrissie so that Sam can be released, but to no avail, due to interference from Kat, who is trying to protect Zoe. Eventually, with help from Sharon and Dennis – who end up learning the truth about their father's murder – the Mitchells are finally able to prevent Johnny from destroying a secret videotape of Chrissie confessing Den's murder to her boyfriend and Danny’s brother, Jake (Joel Beckett). The police are given the tape and they trace Chrissie to the airport, where they arrest her for Den's murder. Sam is later released from custody but still faces a charge of perverting the course of justice and a prison sentence of up to four years. This prospect is too daunting for Sam, and with the help of Phil, she decides to flee the country while on bail. After an emotional farewell with her family, Sam leaves for Brazil.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Phil sends Ricky to Brazil on an errand where he meets Sam, and she returns with him to London, using a fake passport. She immediately causes a stir by drawing attention to herself and reignites her old feud with Bianca. The Mitchells try to keep her hidden, but Bianca, jealous of Ricky's renewed feelings for Sam, calls the police and informs them that Sam is back in the country. Sam is eventually arrested while trying to flee but is later released on bail when her cousin Ronnie (Samantha Janus) pays the surety. Sam and Ricky get engaged, but Sam has an affair with Ronnie's fiancée Jack Branning (Scott Maslen). Her uncle Archie (Larry Lamb) tells Bianca about Sam and Jack's affair, who tells Ricky, and after a showdown, Ricky ends the engagement. With Jack also deserting her, Sam takes Archie's money and flees, causing the Mitchells to lose the pub. She returns to Walford on Christmas Day, hoping to make amends. On that same day, Archie is murdered and Sam becomes one of the suspects after a confrontation with Archie prior to his death. Phil, Peggy and Ronnie also have motives, and in order to stop the police from framing them, they decide Sam should take the blame and leave the country. Sam overhears their plan and in a rage turns herself in, implicating Peggy for Archie's murder as revenge. Sam is then arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in Den’s death, five years earlier. When Peggy attempts to visit, Sam is hostile and rejects her mother - as well as dismissing the Mitchell name.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Seven months later, Peggy visits Sam in prison and discovers she is heavily pregnant. Sam does not know if Ricky or Jack is the father and she refuses to reconcile with Peggy; however, when she is hospitalised and goes into labour, she reconsiders, requesting Peggy's help. Sam gives birth to a boy, Richard, but announces that she is giving him up for adoption. She only reconsiders as a means to reconcile with Ricky; she returns to Walford having been released from prison early, but struggles with motherhood after Peggy decides to move away from the square. Ricky and Jack pester Sam to get a paternity test, and she lies about the results, claiming Ricky is the father; however, Bianca discovers the truth and Sam confesses that she had lied because Ronnie asked her to. Ronnie does not want Sam or Richard near Jack and manipulates her into leaving Walford and offers Sam money to do so. Sam decides to leave but, fearful of bringing up her baby alone, she seduces Minty into leaving with her. He soon realises Sam is using him and turns her down. Sam departs with Richard, alone, moving to Portugal to live with Grant.


title: Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)

text: Almost six years later, Sam briefly returns to Walford alongside Richard, now nicknamed Ricky (Henri Charles), to attend Peggy's funeral. Jack decides that he wants to meet Ricky, so Sam allows this to happen. She then reveals to her cousin Roxy (Rita Simons) that she has been struggling to look after Ricky in Portugal and that he is better off with Jack. Sam secretly abandons Ricky at Jack and Ronnie’s house and leaves in the back of a taxi, returning to Portugal.