title: Catholic theology

text: According to the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin Mary. Little of Jesus' childhood is recorded in the canonical gospels, although infancy gospels were popular in antiquity. In comparison, his adulthood, especially the week before his death, are well documented in the gospels contained within the New Testament. The biblical accounts of Jesus' ministry include: his baptism, healings, teaching, and "going about doing good".


title: Catholic theology

text: Jesus told his apostles that after his death and resurrection he would send them the "Advocate" (; ), the "Holy Spirit", who "will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you". In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells his disciples "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" The Nicene Creed states that the Holy Spirit is one with God the Father and God the Son (Jesus); thus, for Catholics, receiving the Holy Spirit is receiving God, the source of all that is good. Catholics formally ask for and receive the Holy Spirit through the sacrament of Confirmation (Chrismation). Sometimes called the sacrament of Christian maturity, Confirmation is believed to bring an increase and deepening of the grace received at Baptism, to which it was cojoined in the early church. Spiritual graces or gifts of the Holy Spirit can include wisdom to see and follow God's plan, right judgment, love for others, boldness in witnessing the faith, and rejoicing in the presence of God. The corresponding fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To be validly confirmed, a person must be in a state of grace, which means that they cannot be conscious of having committed a mortal sin. They must also have prepared spiritually for the sacrament, chosen a sponsor or godparent for spiritual support, and selected a saint to be their special patron.


title: Catholic theology

text: Soteriology is the branch of doctrinal theology that deals with salvation through Christ. Eternal life, divine life, cannot be merited but is a free gift of God. The crucifixion of Jesus is explained as an atoning sacrifice, which, in the words of the Gospel of John, "takes away the sins of the world." One's reception of salvation is related to justification.


title: Catholic theology

text: According to church teaching, in an event known as the "fall of the angels", a number of angels chose to rebel against God and his reign. The leader of this rebellion has been given many names including "Lucifer" (meaning "light bearer" in Latin), "Satan", and the devil. The sin of pride, considered one of seven deadly sins, is attributed to Satan for desiring to be God's equal. According to Genesis, a fallen angel tempted the first humans, Adam and Eve, who then sinned, bringing suffering and death into the world. The "Catechism" states:


title: Catholic theology

text: Christians classify certain behaviors and acts to be "sinful," which means that these certain acts are a violation of conscience or divine law. Catholics make a distinction between two types of sin. Mortal sin is a "grave violation of God's law" that "turns man away from God", and if it is not redeemed by repentance it can cause exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell.


title: Catholic theology

text: In contrast, venial sin (meaning "forgivable" sin) "does not set us in direct opposition to the will and friendship of God" and, although still "constituting a moral disorder", does not deprive the sinner of friendship with God, and consequently the eternal happiness of heaven.


title: Catholic theology

text: In the Old Testament, God promised to send his people a savior. The church believes that this savior was Jesus whom John the Baptist called "the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world". The Nicene Creed refers to Jesus as "the only begotten son of God, … begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father. Through him all things were made." In a supernatural event called the Incarnation, Catholics believe God came down from heaven for our salvation, became man through the power of the Holy Spirit and was born of a virgin Jewish girl named Mary. They believe Jesus' mission on earth included giving people his word and example to follow, as recorded in the four Gospels. The church teaches that following the example of Jesus helps believers to grow more like him, and therefore to true love, freedom, and the fullness of life.


title: Catholic theology

text: The focus of a Christian's life is a firm belief in Jesus as the Son of God and the "Messiah" or "Christ". The title "Messiah" comes from the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ ("māšiáħ") meaning "anointed one". The Greek translation ("Christos") is the source of the English word "Christ".


title: Catholic theology

text: Christians believe that, as the Messiah, Jesus was anointed by God as ruler and savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus' coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept. The core Christian belief is that, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, sinful humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life in heaven.


title: Catholic theology

text: Catholics believe in the resurrection of Jesus. According to the New Testament, Jesus, the central figure of Christianity, was crucified, died, buried within a tomb, and resurrected three days later. The New Testament mentions several resurrection appearances of Jesus on different occasions to his twelve apostles and disciples, including "more than five hundred brethren at once", before Jesus' Ascension. Jesus's death and resurrection are the essential doctrines of the Christian faith, and are commemorated by Christians during Good Friday and Easter, as well as on each Sunday and in each celebration of the Eucharist, the Paschal feast. Arguments over death and resurrection claims occur at many religious debates and interfaith dialogues.


title: Catholic theology

text: As Paul the Apostle, an early Christian convert, wrote, "If Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless". The death and resurrection of Jesus are the most important events in Christian Theology, as they form the point in scripture where Jesus gives his ultimate demonstration that he has power over life and death and thus the ability to give people eternal life.


title: Catholic theology

text: Generally, Christian churches accept and teach the New Testament account of the resurrection of Jesus. Some modern scholars use the belief of Jesus' followers in the resurrection as a point of departure for establishing the continuity of the historical Jesus and the proclamation of the early church. Some liberal Christians do not accept a literal bodily resurrection, but hold to a convincing interior experience of Jesus' Spirit in members of the early church.


title: Catholic theology

text: The church teaches that as signified by the passion of Jesus and his crucifixion, all people have an opportunity for forgiveness and freedom from sin, and so can be reconciled to God.


title: Catholic theology

text: Sinning according to the Greek word in scripture, "amartia", "falling short of the mark", succumbing to our imperfection: we always remain on the road to perfection in this life. People can sin by failing to obey the Ten Commandments, failing to love God, and failing to love other people. Some sins are more serious than others, ranging from lesser, venial sins, to grave, mortal sins that sever a person's relationship with God.


title: Catholic theology

text: The operation and effects of grace are understood differently by different traditions. Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy teach the necessity of the free will to cooperate with grace. This does not mean we can come to God on our own and then cooperate with grace, as Semipelagianism, an early church heresy, postulates. Human nature is not evil, since God creates no evil thing, but we continue in or are inclined to sin (concupiscence). We need grace from God to be able to "repent and believe in the gospel." Reformed theology, by contrast, teaches that people are completely incapable of self-redemption to the point human nature itself is evil, but the grace of God overcomes even the unwilling heart. Arminianism takes a synergistic approach while Lutheran doctrine teaches justification by grace alone through faith alone, though "a common understanding of the doctrine of justification" has been reached with some Lutheran theologians.


title: Catholic theology

text: According to Catholicism, forgiveness of sins and purification can occur during life – for example, in the sacraments of Baptism and Reconciliation. However, if this purification is not achieved in life, venial sins can still be purified after death.


title: Catholic theology

text: The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is performed only by a priest, since it involves elements of forgiveness of sin. The priest anoints with oil the head and hands of the ill person while saying the prayers of the church.


title: Catholic theology

text: People can be cleansed from all personal sins through Baptism. This sacramental act of cleansing admits one as a full member of the church and is only conferred once in a person's lifetime.


title: Catholic theology

text: The Catholic Church considers baptism so important "parents are obliged to see that their infants are baptised within the first few weeks" and, "if the infant is in danger of death, it is to be baptised without any delay." It declares: "The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole 'households' received baptism, infants may also have been baptized."


title: Catholic theology

text: At the Council of Trent, on 15 November 1551, the necessity of a second conversion after baptism was delineated:


title: Catholic theology

text: David MacDonald, a Catholic apologist, has written in regard to paragraph 1428, that "this endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of a "contrite heart," drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first."


title: Catholic theology

text: Since Baptism can only be received once, the sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation is the principal means by which Catholics obtain forgiveness for subsequent sin and receive God's grace and assistance not to sin again. This is based on Jesus' words to his disciples in the "Gospel of John" 20:21–23. A penitent confesses his sins to a priest who may then offer advice or impose a particular penance to be performed. The penitent then prays an act of contrition and the priest administers absolution, formally forgiving the person's sins. A priest is forbidden under penalty of excommunication to reveal any matter heard under the seal of the confessional. Penance helps prepare Catholics before they can validly receive the Holy Spirit in the sacraments of Confirmation (Chrismation) and the Eucharist.


title: Catholic theology

text: The Nicene Creed ends with, "We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come." Accordingly, the church teaches each person will appear before the judgment seat of Christ immediately after death and receive a particular judgment based on the deeds of their earthly life. Chapter 25:35–46 of the "Gospel of Matthew" underpins the Catholic belief that a day will also come when Jesus will sit in a universal judgment of all humankind. The final judgment will bring an end to human history. It will also mark the beginning of a new heaven and earth in which righteousness dwells and God will reign forever.


title: Catholic theology

text: There are three states of afterlife in Catholic belief. Heaven is a time of glorious union with God and a life of unspeakable joy that lasts forever. Purgatory is a temporary state of purification for those who, although saved, are not free enough from sin to enter directly into heaven. It is a state requiring purgation of sin through God's mercy aided by the prayers of others. Finally, those who freely chose a life of sin and selfishness, were not sorry for their sins, and had no intention of changing their ways go to hell, an everlasting separation from God. The church teaches no one is condemned to hell without freely deciding to reject God's love. God predestines no one to hell and no one can determine whether anyone else has been condemned. Catholicism teaches that God's mercy is such that a person can repent even at the point of death and be saved, like the good thief who was crucified next to Jesus.


title: Catholic theology

text: At the second coming of Christ at the end of time, all who have died will be resurrected bodily from the dead for the Last Judgment, whereupon Jesus will fully establish the Kingdom of God in fulfillment of scriptural prophecies.


title: Catholic theology

text: The Catholic Church teaches that the fate of those in purgatory can be affected by the actions of the living.


title: Catholic theology

text: In the same context there is mention of the practice of indulgences. An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven. Indulgences may be obtained for oneself, or on behalf of Christians who have died.


title: Catholic theology

text: Prayers for the dead and indulgences have been envisioned as decreasing the "duration" of time the dead would spend in purgatory. Traditionally, most indulgences were measured in term of days, "quarantines" (i.e. 40-day periods as for Lent), or years, meaning that they were equivalent to that length of canonical penance on the part of a living Christian. When the imposition of such canonical penances of a determinate duration fell into desuetude these expressions were sometimes popularly misinterpreted as reduction of that much time of a person's stay in purgatory. (The concept of time, like that of space, is of doubtful applicability to purgatory.) In Pope Paul VI's revision of the rules concerning indulgences, these expressions were dropped, and replaced by the expression "partial indulgence", indicating that the person who gained such an indulgence for a pious action is granted, "in addition to the remission of temporal punishment acquired by the action itself, an equal remission of punishment through the intervention of the Church."


title: Catholic theology

text: Historically, the practice of granting indulgences and the widespread associated abuses, which led to their being seen as increasingly bound up with money, with criticisms being directed against the "sale" of indulgences, were a source of controversy that was the immediate occasion of the Protestant Reformation in Germany and Switzerland.


title: Catholic theology

text: The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church founded by Jesus. Concerning non-Catholics, the "Catechism of the Catholic Church," drawing on the document "Lumen gentium" from Vatican II, explains the statement "Outside the Church there is no salvation":Reformulated positively, this statement means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body.


title: Catholic theology

text: Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.


title: Catholic theology

text: This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church ... but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation.


title: Catholic theology

text: Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.


title: Catholic theology

text: Catholics believe the Catholic Church is the continuing presence of Jesus on earth. Jesus told his disciples "Abide in me, and I in you. … I am the vine, you are the branches". Thus, for Catholics, the term "Church" refers not merely to a building or exclusively to the ecclesiastical hierarchy, but first and foremost to the people of God who abide in Jesus and form the different parts of his spiritual body, which together composes the worldwide Christian community.


title: Catholic theology

text: Catholics believe the church exists simultaneously on earth (Church militant), in Purgatory (Church suffering), and in Heaven (Church triumphant); thus Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the other saints are alive and part of the living church. This unity of the church in heaven and on earth is called the "communion of saints".


title: Catholic theology

text: Section 8 of the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, "Lumen gentium," states "this Church constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him, although many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of its visible structure. These elements, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling toward catholic unity."


title: Catholic theology

text: Faith of the Church (Latin: "fides ecclesiae") is a basic concept of Catholic theology which implies that not the faithful individual but the Catholic Church as a whole is considered to be the primary carrier of Christian faith. This refers to the act of believing ("fides qua creditur") as well as to the matters of doctrine ("fides quae creditur").


title: Catholic theology

text: According to Catholic teaching, the church has received the complete faith by Jesus Christ through the apostles ("depositum fidei"). Led by the Holy Spirit, as promised by Christ (John 16:12-14), the church progressively during the times "unpacks" and displays the germ of the creed, such keeping it actual and alive. May there be reductions or unbalances in single ages or regions, the church as a whole, however, is trusted to be sustained in the truth and to maturate towards its complete understanding.


title: Catholic theology

text: Equally, in this concept, the act of believing, the personal devotion to the holy and inconceivable God, for the individual is participation in the devotion of the church, which means in the devotion of Christ himself to the Father in the Holy Spirit.


title: Catholic theology

text: The single faithful, in consequence, is invited to acquire the faith of the church, as assiduously as possible, into his personal possession, nevertheless being aware of the insufficiency of isolated cogitation and listening to the common voice of the church.


title: Catholic theology

text: Catholics believe that the church (community of Christians) exists both on earth and in heaven simultaneously, and thus the Virgin Mary and the Saints are alive and part of the living church. Prayers and devotions to Mary and the saints are common practices in Catholic life. These devotions are not worship, since only God is worshiped. The church teaches the Saints "do not cease to intercede with the Father for us. ... So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped."


title: Catholic theology

text: Catholics venerate Mary with many titles such as "Blessed Virgin", "Mother of God", "Help of Christians", "Mother of the Faithful". She is given special honor and devotion above all other saints but this honor and devotion differs essentially from the adoration given to God. Catholics do not worship Mary but honor her as mother of God, mother of the church, and as a spiritual mother to each believer in Christ. She is called the greatest of the saints, the first disciple, and Queen of Heaven (Rev. 12:1). Catholic belief encourages following her example of holiness. Prayers and devotions asking for her intercession, such as the Rosary, the Hail Mary, and the Memorare are common Catholic practice. The church devotes several liturgical feasts to Mary, mainly the Immaculate Conception, Mary, Mother of God, the Visitation, the Assumption, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and in the Americas the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Pilgrimages to Marian shrines like Lourdes, France, and Fátima, Portugal, are also a common form of devotion and prayer.


title: Catholic theology

text: Men become bishops, priests or deacons through the sacrament of Holy Orders. Candidates to the priesthood must have a college degree in addition to another four years of theological training, including pastoral theology. The Catholic Church, following the example of Christ and Apostolic tradition, ordains only males. The church teaches that, apart from ministry reserved for priests, women should participate in all aspects in the church's life and leadership


title: Catholic theology

text: The bishops are believed to possess the fullness of Catholic priesthood; priests and deacons participate in the ministry of the bishop. As a body, the College of Bishops are considered the successors of the Apostles. The pope, cardinals, patriarchs, primates, archbishops and metropolitans are all bishops and members of the Catholic Church episcopate or College of Bishops. Only bishops can perform the sacrament of holy orders.


title: Catholic theology

text: Many bishops head a diocese, which is divided into parishes. A parish is usually staffed by at least one priest. Beyond their pastoral activity, a priest may perform other functions, including study, research, teaching or office work. They may also be rectors or chaplains. Other titles or functions held by priests include those of Archimandrite, Canon Secular or Regular, Chancellor, Chorbishop, Confessor, Dean of a Cathedral Chapter, Hieromonk, Prebendary, Precentor, etc.


title: Catholic theology

text: Permanent deacons, those who do not seek priestly ordination, preach and teach. They may also baptize, lead the faithful in prayer, witness marriages, and conduct wake and funeral services. Candidates for the diaconate go through a diaconate formation program and must meet minimum standards set by the bishops' conference in their home country. Upon completion of their formation program and acceptance by their local bishop, candidates receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. In August 2016 Pope Francis established the Study Commission on the Women's Diaconate, to determine whether ordaining women as deacons should be revived. This would include the deacon's role of preaching at the Eucharist.


title: Catholic theology

text: While deacons may be married, only celibate men are ordained as priests in the Latin Church. Protestant clergy who have converted to the Catholic Church are sometimes excepted from this rule. The Eastern Catholic Churches ordain both celibate and married men. Within the lands of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the largest Eastern Catholic Church, where 90% of the diocesan priests in Ukraine are married, priests' children often became priests and married within their social group, establishing a tightly knit hereditary caste. All rites of the Catholic Church maintain the ancient tradition that, after ordination, marriage is not allowed. A married priest whose wife dies may not remarry. Men with "transitory" homosexual leanings may be ordained deacons following three years of prayer and chastity, but men with "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies" who are sexually active cannot be ordained.


title: Catholic theology

text: Apostolic succession is the belief that the pope and Catholic bishops are the spiritual successors of the original twelve apostles, through the historically unbroken chain of consecration (see: Holy orders). The pope is the spiritual head and leader of the Catholic Church who makes use of the Roman Curia to assist him in governing. He is elected by the College of Cardinals who may choose from any male member of the church but who must be ordained a bishop before taking office. Since the 15th century, a current cardinal has always been elected.


title: Catholic theology

text: The New Testament contains warnings against teachings considered to be only masquerading as Christianity, and shows how reference was made to the leaders of the Church to decide what was true doctrine. The Catholic Church believes it is the continuation of those who remained faithful to the apostolic leadership and rejected false teachings. Catholic belief is that the Church will never defect from the truth, and bases this on Jesus' telling Peter "the gates of hell will not prevail against" the Church. In the "Gospel of John", Jesus states, "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth".


title: Catholic theology

text: The Catholic Church's discipline of mandatory celibacy for priests within the Latin Church (while allowing very limited individual exceptions) has been criticized for not following either the Protestant Reformation practice, which rejects mandatory celibacy, or the Eastern Catholic Churches's and Eastern Orthodox Churches's practice, which requires celibacy for bishops and priestmonks and excludes marriage by priests after ordination, but does allow married men to be ordained to the priesthood.


title: Catholic theology

text: In July 2006, Bishop Emmanuel Milingo created the organization Married Priests Now! Responding to Milingo's November 2006 consecration of bishops, the Vatican stated "The value of the choice of priestly celibacy... has been reaffirmed."


title: Catholic theology

text: Conversely, some young men in the United States are increasingly entering formation for the priesthood because of the long-held, traditional teaching on priestly celibacy.


title: Catholic theology

text: Catholic social teaching is based on the teaching of Jesus and commits Catholics to the welfare of all others. Although the Catholic Church operates numerous social ministries throughout the world, individual Catholics are also required to practice spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Corporal works of mercy include feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, immigrants or refugees, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick and visiting those in prison. Spiritual works require Catholics to share their knowledge with others, comfort those who suffer, have patience, forgive those who hurt them, give advice and correction to those who need it, and pray for the living and the dead.


title: Catholic theology

text: Today, the church's official position remains a focus of controversy and is non-specific, stating only that faith and scientific findings regarding human evolution are not in conflict, specifically: the church allows for the possibility that the human body developed from previous biological forms but it was by God's special providence that the immortal soul was given to humankind.


title: Catholic theology

text: This view falls into the spectrum of viewpoints that are grouped under the concept of "theistic evolution" (which is itself opposed by several other significant points-of-view; see Creation–evolution controversy for further discussion).


title: Catholic theology

text: The Eastern Catholic Churches have as their theological, spiritual, and liturgical patrimony the traditions of Eastern Christianity. Thus, there are differences in emphasis, tone, and articulation of various aspects of Catholic theology between the Eastern and Latin churches, as in Mariology. Likewise, medieval Western scholasticism, that of Thomas Aquinas in particular, has had little reception in the East.


title: Catholic theology

text: While Eastern Catholics respect papal authority, and largely hold the same theological beliefs as Latin Catholics, Eastern theology differs on specific Marian beliefs. The traditional Eastern expression of the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary, for instance, is the Dormition of the Theotokos, which emphasizes her falling asleep to be later assumed into heaven.


title: Catholic theology

text: The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is a teaching of Eastern origin, but is expressed in the terminology of the Western Church. Eastern Catholics, though they do not observe the Western Feast of the Immaculate Conception, have no difficulty affirming it or even dedicating their churches to the Virgin Mary under this title.


title: Catholic theology

text: The beliefs of other Christian denominations differ from those of Catholics to varying degrees. Eastern Orthodox belief differs mainly with regard to papal infallibility, the filioque clause, and the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, but is otherwise quite similar. Protestant churches vary in beliefs, but generally differ from Catholics regarding the authority of the pope and church tradition, as well as the role of Mary and the saints, the role of the priesthood, and issues pertaining to grace, good works, and salvation. The five solas were one attempt to express these differences.


title: 3rd Special Forces Group (United States)

text: The 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) – abbreviated 3rd SFG(A) and often simply called 3rd Group – is an active duty United States Army Special Forces (SF) group which was active in the Vietnam Era (1963–69), deactivated, and then reactivated in 1990. 3rd Group is designed to deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, counter-insurgency, special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, information operations, counterproliferation of weapon of mass destruction, and security force assistance. The 3rd SFG(A) was primarily responsible for operations within the AFRICOM area of responsibility, as part of the Special Operations Command, Africa (SOCAFRICA). Its primary area of operations (AO) is now Africa as part of a 2015 SOCOM directive but 3rd Group has also been involved in the Caribbean and the Greater Middle East. The 3rd SFG(A) has seen extensive action in the War on Terror and its members have distinguished themselves on the battlefield in Afghanistan.


text: 3rd Group was first activated on 5 December 1963 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The four colors of the quadrants of 3rd Group's beret flash are derived from the flashes of the pre-existing SF units from which 3rd Group's members were initially drawn (hence its original motto: "From the Rest Comes the Best"). These colors are: yellow (1st SFG (A)), red (7th SFG (A)), black (5th SFG (A)), and white (Special Forces Training Group (A)). 3rd Group was originally oriented towards the Middle East and Africa during the 1960s. The unit trained the armed forces of Mali, Iraq, Ethiopia, the Congo, and Jordan – in addition to supporting the Gemini 6 and 7 space launches in 1965. 3rd Group also worked with the 5th SFG(A) in Vietnam. In 1966, 3rd Group transferred assumed control of the 403rd Army Security Agency Special Operations Detachment and the 19th PSYOP Company over to 5th Group. With the "Vietnamization" of the conflict, the 3rd SFG(A) was inactivated in 1969 and its members were transferred back to the other Special Forces Groups. One 3rd group officer who stayed on in South Vietnam—Major George W. Petrie—was first man on the ground in the Son Tay Raid (1970) and subsequently helped plan the Saigon evacuation (30 April 1975), becoming the last SF soldier to leave the country.


text: The 3rd Special Forces Group was reactivated in 1990. Its AO initially consisted of the Caribbean and West Africa. New group members were drawn primarily from the 5th SFG(A). At the outbreak of the Gulf War, 3rd Group's only functioning battalion (1st BN) was deployed to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, for three months. Its A-Teams carried out reconnaissance and sabotage missions into denied areas of Iraq and Kuwait. In February 1991, 3rd Group was tasked with the mission of securing and occupying the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City. The 2nd BN and 3rd BN of 3rd Group were reactivated in 1991 and 1992, respectively. 3rd Group also took part in the restoration of democracy in Haiti in 1994. In the late '90s, 3rd Group helped train forces in Senegal, Uganda, Malawi, Mali, Ethiopia, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others.


text: In the fall of 2000, the 3rd SFG(A) was involved in training and stabilization efforts in West Africa, dubbed "Operation Focus Relief" by the State Department; the training mission was geared towards combating the Revolutionary United Front.


text: Since 9/11, the 3rd SFG(A) has been heavily involved in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Two of 3rd Group's battalions spend roughly six months out of every twelve deployed to Afghanistan as part of Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan. In 2008, ten members of ODA 3336 were awarded Silver Stars for combat action during the Battle of Shok Valley. It was the largest set of citations for a single battle since the Vietnam War. After the citations were read then-commander of United States Army Special Operations Command, Lieutenant General John F. Mulholland, Jr., stated:


text: Members of the 3rd SFG were involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 26 soldiers from 3rd Group were given the task of securing a key crossroads near Debecka in Northern Iraq between the cities of Irbil and Kirkuk. If they succeeded, they would cut Highway 2, preventing the Iraqi army moving north into Kurdistan, and allow friendly forces to take the crucial Kirkuk oilfields. The 26 Green Berets were divided into two A-teams; ODA 391 and ODA 392, they were equipped with GMVs (Ground Mobility Vehicles), modified Humvees with M2 .50-caliber machine guns and Mark 19 Grenade launchers, that could travel a thousand miles without resupply. The ODAs conducted battle training in Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Fort Pickett, Virginia between October and December 2002. On 8 March 2003, the ODAs flew from Pope Air Force Base to Romania and on 26 March 2003 they infiltrated northern Iraq via a MC-130 Combat Talon landing at Al-Sulaymaniya, some 60 miles east of Kirkuk. In their first few days in Iraq they participated in Operation Viking Hammer and then on 1 April 2003, they moved to Irbil and onto a staging area where they linked up with ODA 044, 10th SFG and their Peshmerga allies. On 4 April 2003, they were given a new mission, code-named Northern Safari, which directed them to seize the Debecka intersection until relieved by the 173rd Airborne Brigade's artillery component, On 5 April, they moved into position to seize the intersection and then on 6 April they ran into Iraqi Army forces and the Battle of Debecka Pass ensued, resulting in an American and Peshmerga victory. The Special Forces secured the crossroads and endured two days of Iraqi artillery fire before moving into Kirkuk to secure the oil facilities to prevent their destruction by Iraqi forces.


text: In October 2010, Staff Sergeant Robert James Miller was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. On 25 January 2008, Miller's team was ambushed during a combat reconnaissance patrol in Kunar Province near the Pakistan border. Miller's commander was seriously wounded within the first minutes of the attack. Wounded and under intense enemy fire, Miller pushed forward and laid down suppressive fire on multiple insurgent positions, which allowed his wounded commander to be pulled out of the line of fire and his teammates to safely reach cover. Miller single-handedly eliminated multiple insurgents before succumbing to his wounds.


text: The 1st Battalion, 3rd SFG(A) were awarded the Canadian Commander-in-Chief Unit Commendation on 23 May 2012, for their actions during Operation Medusa in 2006. The ceremony was presided by Major-General Charles Cleveland, the commander of USASOC, and the award presented by CEFCOM Commander Lieutenant-General Stuart Beare, on behalf of the Governor General of Canada. The 1st Battalion, 3rd SFG(A) is the first non-Canadian unit, and seventh overall, to receive this honour. The citation read:


text: On 4 October 2017, 12 soldiers from the 3rd SFG and 30 Nigerien soldiers were ambushed in the Nigerien village of Tongo Tongo by forces of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. During the battle, four Americans and four Nigeriens were killed.


title: Political groups of the European Parliament

text: The political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognised political groups consisting of legislators of aligned ideologies in the European Parliament.


text: The European Parliament is unique among supranational assemblies in that its members (MEPs) organise themselves into ideological groups, rather than national cleavages. Each political group is assumed to have a set of core principles, and political groups that cannot demonstrate this may be disbanded (see below).


text: A political group of the EP usually constitutes the formal parliamentary representation of one or more European political parties (Europarty), national political parties and independent politicians. In contrast to European political parties, it is strictly forbidden for political groups to organise or finance the political campaign during the European elections since this is the exclusive responsibility of the parties.


text: Working together in Groups benefits European political parties: for example, the European Free Alliance (5 MEPs in sixth Parliament) and the European Green Party (37 MEPs in sixth Parliament) have more power by working together in the European Greens–European Free Alliance Group (42 MEPs) than they would have as stand-alone parties, bringing their causes much-needed additional support. Further incentives for co-operating in Groups include financial subsidies from the Parliament and guaranteed seats on committees which are not afforded to Independent MEPs.


text: For a Group to be formally recognised in the Parliament, it must fulfil the conditions laid down in the relevant European Parliament Rule of Procedure. That Rule lays down the minimum criteria a Group must meet to qualify as a Group. Provided those criteria are met, MEPs can theoretically create any Group they like. This was put to the test when MEPs attempted to create a far-right Group called "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty" (ITS). This generated controversy and there were concerns about public funds going towards a far-right Group. Attempts to block the formation of ITS were unsuccessful, but ITS were blocked from leading positions on committees, a privilege usually afforded to all Groups.


text: These events spurred MEPs, mainly from the largest two groups, to approve a rise in the threshold for groups for the 2009–2014 term to a minimum of 25 MEPs from at least seven states. This was opposed by many MEPs, including the Liberal group, for being detrimental to democracy and the two other smallest groups in Parliament, whilst supporters argued that the change made it harder for the far right to claim EU funds whilst still enabling 2.5% of MEPs to form a group.


text: Groups may be based around a single European political party (e.g. the European People's Party, the Party of European Socialists) or they can include more than one European party as well as national parties and independents (e.g. the Liberal Group).


text: Each Group appoints a leader, referred to as a "president", "co-ordinator" or "chair". The chairs of each Group meet in the Conference of Presidents to decide what issues will be dealt with at the plenary session of the European Parliament. Groups can table motions for resolutions and table amendments to reports.


text: EUL/NGL and G/EFA were the most left-wing groups, UEN and EDD the most right-wing, and that was mirrored in their attitudes towards taxation, homosexual equality, abortion, euthanasia and controlling migration into the EU. The groups fell into two distinct camps regarding further development of EU authority, with UEN and EDD definitely against and the rest broadly in favor. Opinion was wider on the CFSP, with only PES, ELDR and EPP-ED in favor and the others against. Unsurprisingly, G/EFA was far more in favor of Green issues compared to the other groups.


text: Table 1 of an April 2008 discussion paper from the Centre for European Economic Research by Heinemann et al. analysed each Group's stance on a hypothetical generalised EU tax. The results for each Group are given in the adjacent diagram with the horizontal scale scaled so that −100% = totally against and 100% = totally for. The results are also given in the table below, rescaled so that 0% = totally against, 100% = totally for.


text: G/EFA and PES were in favor of such a tax, IND/DEM and the Independents were definitely against, the others had no clear position.


text: National media focus on the MEPs and national parties of their own member state, neglecting the group's activities and poorly understanding their structure or even existence. Transnational media coverage of the groups "per se" is limited to those organs such as the Parliament itself, or those news media (e.g. EUObserver or theParliament.com) that specialise in the Parliament. These organs cover the groups in detail but with little overarching analysis. So although such organs make it easy to find out how a group acted on a specific vote, they provide little information on the voting patterns of a specific group. As a result, the only bodies providing analysis of the voting patterns and "Weltanschauung" of the groups are academics. Academics analysing the European political groups include Simon Hix (London School of Economics and Political Science), Amie Kreppel University of Florida, Abdul Noury (Free University of Brussels), Gérard Roland, (University of California, Berkeley), Gail McElroy (Trinity College Dublin, Department of Political Science), Kenneth Benoit (Trinity College Dublin – Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS)), Friedrich Heinemann, Philipp Mohl, and Steffen Osterloh (University of Mannheim – Centre for European Economic Research).


text: "Cohesion" is the term used to define whether a Group is united or divided amongst itself. Figure 1 of a 2002 paper from European Integration online Papers (EIoP) by Thorsten Faas analysed the Groups as they stood in 2002.


text: The results for each Group are given in the adjacent diagram with the horizontal scale scaled so that 0% = totally split, 100% = totally united. The results are also given in the table below.


text: The March 2006 edition of "Social Europe: the journal of the European Left" included a chapter called "Women and Social Democratic Politics" by Wendy Stokes. That chapter gave the proportion of female MEPs in each Group in the European Parliament. The results for each Group are given in the adjacent diagram. The horizontal scale denotes gender balance (0% = totally male, 100% = totally female, but no Group has a female majority, so the scale stops at 50%). The results are also given in the table below.


text: G/EFA, PES and ALDE were the most balanced groups in terms of gender, with IND/DEM the most unbalanced.


text: The Parliament does not form a government in the traditional sense and its politics have developed over consensual rather than adversarial lines as a form of consociationalism. No single group has ever held a majority in Parliament. Historically, the two largest parliamentary formations have been the EPP Group and the PES Group, which are affiliated to their respective European political parties, the European People's Party (EPP) and the Party of European Socialists (PES). These two Groups have dominated the Parliament for much of its life, continuously holding between 50 and 70 percent of the seats together. The PES were the largest single party grouping up to 1999, when they were overtaken by the centre-right EPP.


text: In 1987 the Single European Act came into force and, under the new cooperation procedure, the Parliament needed to obtain large majorities to make the most impact. So the EPP and PES came to an agreement to co-operate in the Parliament. This agreement became known as the "grand coalition" and, aside from a break in the fifth Parliament, it has dominated the Parliament for much of its life, regardless of necessity. The grand coalition is visible in the agreement between the two Groups to divide the five-year term of the President of the European Parliament equally between them, with an EPP president for half the term and a PES president for the other half, regardless of the actual election result.


text: Table 3 of 21 August 2008 version of working paper by Hix and Noury gave figures for the level of cooperation between each group (how many times they vote with a group, and how many times they vote against) for the Fifth and Sixth Parliaments. The results are given in the tables below, where 0% = never votes with, 100% = always votes with.


text: EUL/NGL and G/EFA voted closely together, as did PES and ALDE, and EPP-ED and UEN. Surprisingly, given that PES and EPP-ED are partners in the Grand Coalition, they were not each other's closest allies, although they did vote with each other about two-thirds of the time. IND/DEM did not have close allies within the political groups, preferring instead to cooperate most closely with the Non-Inscrits.


text: During the fifth term the ELDR Group were involved in a break in the grand coalition when they entered into an alliance with the European People's Party, to the exclusion of the Party of European Socialists. This was reflected in the Presidency of the Parliament with the terms being shared between the EPP and the ELDR, rather than the EPP and PES as before.


text: However ELDR intervention was not the only cause for a break in the grand coalition. There have been specific occasions where real left-right party politics have emerged, notably the resignation of the Santer Commission. When the initial allegations against the Commission Budget emerged, they were directed primarily against the PES Édith Cresson and Manuel Marín. PES supported the commission and saw the issue as an attempt by the EPP to discredit their party ahead of the 1999 elections. EPP disagreed. Whilst the Parliament was considering rejecting the Community budget, President Jacques Santer argued that a "No" vote would be tantamount to a vote of no confidence. PES leader Pauline Green MEP attempted a vote of confidence and the EPP put forward counter motions. During this period the two Groups adopted a government-opposition dynamic, with PES supporting the executive and EPP renouncing its previous coalition support and voting it down.


text: In 2004 there was another notable break in the grand coalition. It occurred over the nomination of Rocco Buttiglione as European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security. The EPP supported the appointment of Buttiglione, while the PES, who were also critics of the President-designate Jose Manuel Barroso, led the parties seeking Buttiglione's removal following his rejection (the first in EU history) by a Parliamentary committee. Barroso initially stood by his team and offered only small concessions, which were rejected by the PES. The EPP demanded that if Buttiglione were to go, then a PES commissioner must also be sacrificed for balance. In the end, Italy withdrew Buttiglione and put forward Franco Frattini instead. Frattini won the support of the PES and the Barroso Commission was finally approved, albeit behind schedule. Politicisation such as the above has been increasing, with Simon Hix of the London School of Economics noting in 2007 that


text: Party group switching in the European Parliament is the phenomenon where parliamentarians individually or collectively switch from one party group to the other. The phenomenon of EP party group switching is a well-known contributor to the volatility of the EP party system and highlights the fluidity that characterizes the composition of European political groups. On average 9% of MEPs switch during legislative terms. Party group switching is a phenomenon that gained force especially in the legislatures during the 1990s, up to a maximum of 18% for the 1989–1994 term, with strong prevalence among representatives from France and Italy, though by no means limited to those two countries. There is a clear tendency of party group switches from the ideological extremes, both left and right, toward the center. Most switching takes place at the outset of legislative terms, with another peak around the half-term moment, when responsibilities rotate within the EP hierarchy.


text: The political groups of the European Parliament have been around in one form or another since September 1952 and the first meeting of the Parliament's predecessor, the Common Assembly. The groups are coalitions of MEPs and the European parties and national parties that those MEPs belong to. The groups have coalesced into representations of the dominant schools of European political thought and are the primary actors in the Parliament.


text: The first three Groups were established in the earliest days of the Parliament. They were the "Socialist Group" (which eventually became the S&D group), the "Christian Democrat Group" (later EPP group) and the "Liberals and Allies Group" (later ALDE group).


text: As the Parliament developed, other Groups emerged. Gaullists from France founded the European Democratic Union Group. When Conservatives from Denmark and the United Kingdom joined, they created the European Conservatives Group, which (after some name changes) eventually merged with the Group of the European People's Party.


text: The 1979 first direct election established further groups and the establishment of European political parties such as the European People's Party.


text: The mandate of previous European Parliament ran from 2004 and 2009. It was composed of the following political groups.


text: Table 3 of the 3 January 2008 version of a working paper from the London School of Economics/Free University of Brussels by Hix and Noury considered the positions of the groups in the Sixth Parliament (2004–2009) by analysing their roll-call votes. The results for each group are shown in the adjacent diagram. The vertical scale is anti-pro Europe spectrum, (0% = extremely anti-Europe, 100% = extremely pro), and the horizontal scale is economic left-right spectrum, (0% = extremely economically left-wing, 100% = extremely economically right-wing). The results are also shown in the table below.


text: Two of the groups (EPP-ED and IND/DEM) were split. EPP-ED are split on Euroscepticism: the EPP subgroup ( ) were centre-right Europhiles, whereas the ED subgroup ( ) were right-wing Eurosceptics.


text: IND/DEM was also split along its subgroups: the reformist subgroup ( , bottom-center) voted as centrist Eurosceptics, and the secessionist subgroup ( , middle-right) voted as right-wing Euroneutrals. The reformist subgroup was able to pursue a reformist agenda via the Parliament. The secessionist subgroup was unable to pursue a secessionist agenda there (it's out of the Parliament's purview) and pursued a right-wing agenda instead. This resulted in the secessionist subgroup being "less" eurosceptic in terms of roll-call votes than other, non-eurosceptic parties. UKIP (the major component of the secessionist subgroup) was criticised for this seeming abandonment of its Eurosceptic core principles.


text: Table 2 of a 2005 discussion paper from the Institute for International Integration Studies by Gail McElroy and Kenneth Benoit analysed the group positions between April and June 2004, at the end of the Fifth Parliament and immediately before the 2004 elections. The results are given below, with 0% = extremely against, 100% = extremely for (except for the left-right spectrum, where 0% = extremely left-wing, 100% = extremely right-wing)


text: Some of the groups (such as the PES and S&D Group) have become homogeneous units coterminous with their European political party, some (such as IND/DEM) have not. But they are still coalitions, not parties in their own right, and do not issue manifestos of their own. It may therefore be difficult to discern how the groups intend to vote without first inspecting the party platforms of their constituent parties, and then with limited certainty.


text: In European politics, the centre-right is usually occupied by Christian democrats and conservatives. These two ideological strands have had a tangled relationship in the Parliament. The first Christian Democrat Group was founded in 1953 and stayed with that name for a quarter of a century. Meanwhile, outside the Parliament, local Christian-democratic parties were organising and eventually formed the pan-national political party called the "European People's Party" on 29 April 1976. Since all the Christian-democratic MEPs were members of this pan-European party, the Group's name was changed to indicate this: first to the "Christian-Democratic Group (Group of the European People's Party)" on 14 March 1978, then to "Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)" on 17 July 1979. Meanwhile, on 16 January 1973, the "European Conservative Group" was formed by the British and Danish Conservative parties, which had recently joined the EEC. This group was renamed to the "European Democratic Group" on 17 July 1979. The EPP Group grew during the 1980s, with conservative parties such as New Democracy of Greece and the People's Party of Spain joining the Group. In contrast, the number of MEPs in the European Democratic Group fell over the same period and it eventually merged with the EPP Group on 1 May 1992. This consolidation of the centre-right continued during the 1990s, with MEPs from the Italian centre-right party Forza Italia being admitted into the EPP Group on 15 June 1998, after spending nearly a year (19 July 1994 to 6 July 1995) in their own Group, self-referentially called "Forza Europa", and nearly three years (6 July 1995 to 15 June 1998) in the national-conservative Group called "Union for Europe". But the Conservatives were growing restless and on 20 July 1999 the EPP Group was renamed to the "Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats" (EPP-ED) to identify the Conservative parties within the Group. The Group remained under that name until after the 2009 European elections, when it reverted to the title "Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)" upon the exit of the European Democrats subgroup and the formation of the "European Conservatives and Reformists" group in June 2009.


text: In western Europe, social-democratic parties have been the dominant centre-left force since the dawn of modern European cooperation. The Socialist Group was one of the first Groups to be founded when it was created on 23 June 1953 in the European Parliament's predecessor, the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community, and continued through the creation of the appointed Parliament in 1958 and the elected Parliament in 1979. Meanwhile, the national parties making up the Group were also organising themselves on a European level "outside" the Parliament, with the parties creating the "Confederation of Socialist Parties of the European Community" in 1974 and its successor, the "Party of European Socialists", in 1992. As a result, the Group (which had kept its "Socialist Group" name all along) was renamed to the "Group of the Party of European Socialists" on 21 April 1993 and it became difficult to distinguish between the Party of European Socialists party and the political group. The Group reverted to (approximately) its former name of the "Socialist Group in the European Parliament". on 20 July 2004 Despite all this, the Group was still universally referred to as "PES", notwithstanding the 2009 name change to the "Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats" to accommodate the Democratic Party of Italy.


text: In European politics, liberalism tends to be associated with ideas inspired by classical and economic liberalism, which advocates limited government intervention in society. However, the Liberal Group contains diverse parties, including conservative-liberal, social-liberal and Nordic agrarian parties. It has previously been home to parties such as the minor French Gaullist party Union for the New Republic and the Social Democratic Party of Portugal, which were not explicitly liberal parties, but who were not aligned with either the Socialist or the Christian Democratic Groups. The Liberal Group was founded on 23 June 1953 under the name of the "Group of Liberals and Allies". As the Parliament grew, it changed its name to the "Liberal and Democratic Group" (1976), then to the "Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group" (13 December 1985), then to the "Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party" (19 July 1994) before settling on the name of the "Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe" on 20 July 2004, when the Group was joined by the centrist parties that formed the European Democratic Party.


text: ELDR Group leader Graham Watson MEP denounced the grand coalition in 2007 and expressed a desire to ensure that the posts of Commission President, Council President, Parliament President and High Representative were not divided based on agreement between the two largest groups to the exclusion of third parties.


text: Between 1994 and 1999 there was a separate "European Radical Alliance", which consisted of MEPs of the French "Energie Radicale", the Italian Bonino List, and regionalists aligned with the European Free Alliance.


text: Parties from certain European countries have been unwilling to join the centre-right European People's Party Group. These parties generally have a liberal conservative but eurosceptic agenda. The first such Group was formed when the French Gaullists split from the Liberal Group on 21 January 1965 and created a new Group called the "European Democratic Union" ("not" to be confused with the association of conservative and Christian-democratic parties founded in 1978 called the European Democrat Union nor the Conservative Group called the "European Democratic Group" founded in 1979). The Group was renamed on 16 January 1973 to the "Group of European Progressive Democrats" when the Gaullists were joined by the Irish Fianna Fáil and Scottish National Party, and renamed itself again on 24 July 1984 to the "Group of the European Democratic Alliance". The European Democratic Alliance joined with MEPs from Forza Italia to become the "Union for Europe" on 6 July 1995, but it didn't last and the Forza Italia MEPs left on 15 June 1998 to join the EPP, leaving Union for Europe to struggle on until it split on 20 July 1999. The French Rally for the Republic members joined the EPP, but Fianna Fáil and the Portuguese CDS–PP members joined a new group called the "Union for Europe of the Nations". After the 2009 Parliament elections the Union for Europe of Nations was disbanded due to a lack of members, with the remaining members splitting into factions, with some joining with the remaining members of Independence/Democracy to form Europe of Freedom and Democracy, a new Eurosceptic group, and the remaining members joining with the former members of the European Democrat subgroup of the EPP-ED to form the European Conservatives and Reformists.


text: In European politics, there has been a coalition between the greens and the stateless nationalists or regionalists (who also support devolution). In 1984 Greens and regionalists gathered into the "Rainbow Group", a coalition of Greens, regionalists and other parties of the left unaffiliated with any of the international organisations. In 1989, the group split: the Greens went off to form the "Green Group", whilst the regionalists stayed in Rainbow. Rainbow collapsed in 1994 and its members joined the "European Radical Alliance" under the French "Energie Radicale". The Greens and regionalists stayed separate until 1999, when they reunited under the "Greens/European Free Alliance" banner.


text: The first communist group in the European Parliament was the "Communist and Allies Group" founded on 16 October 1973. It stayed together until 25 July 1989 when it split into two groups, the "Left Unity" Group with 14 members and the "Group of the European United Left" (EUL) with 28 members. EUL collapsed in January 1993 after the Italian Communist Party became the Democratic Party of the Left and its MEPs joined the PES Group, leaving Left Unity as the only leftist group before the 1994 elections. The name was resurrected immediately after the elections when the "Confederal Group of the European United Left" was formed on 19 July 1994. On 6 January 1995, when parties from Sweden and Finland joined, the Group was further renamed to the "Confederal Group of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left" and it has stayed that way to the present.


text: In European politics, a grouping of nationalists has thus far found it difficult to cohere in a continuous Group. The first nationalist Group was founded by the French National Front and the Italian Social Movement in 1984 under the name of the "Group of the European Right", and it lasted until 1989. Its successor, the "Technical Group of the European Right", existed from 1989 to 1994. There was then a gap of thirteen years until "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty" was founded on 15 January 2007, which lasted for nearly eleven months until it fell apart on 14 November 2007 due to in-fighting.


text: A new radical right group was formed during the 8th parliament on 16 June 2015 under the name "Europe of Nations and Freedom".


text: The school of political thought that states that the competences of the European Union should be reduced or prevented from expanding further, is represented in the European Parliament by the eurosceptics. The first Eurosceptic group in the European Parliament was founded on 19 July 1994. It was called the "European Nations Group" and it lasted until 10 November 1996. Its successor was the "Group of Independents for a Europe of Nations", founded on 20 December 1996. Following the 1999 European elections, the Group was reorganised into the "Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities" on 20 July 1999, and similarly reorganised after the 2004 election into the "Independence/Democracy Group" on 20 July 2004. The group's leaders were Nigel Farage (UKIP) and Kathy Sinnott (Independent, Ireland). After the 2009 European elections a significant proportion of the IND/DEM members joined the "Europe of Freedom and Democracy", which included parties formerly part of the Union for a Europe of Nations. The EFD group's leaders were Farage and Francesco Speroni of the Lega Nord (Italy). With significant changes in membership after the 2014 European elections, the group was re-formed as "Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy", led by Farage and David Borrelli (Five Star Movement, Italy).


text: A Group is assumed to have a set of core principles ("affinities" or "complexion") to which the full members are expected to adhere. This throws up an anomaly: Groups get money and seats on Committees which Independent members do not get, but the total number of Independent members may be greater than the members of the smaller Groups. In 1979, MEPs got round this by forming a technical group (formally called the "Group for the Technical Coordination and Defence of Independent Groups and Members", or "CDI" for short) as a coalition of parties ranging from centre-left to far-left, which were not aligned with any of the major international organizations. CDI lasted until 1984. On 20 July 1999, another technical group was formed, (formally called the "Technical Group of Independent Members – mixed group" or "TGI" for short). Since it contained far-right MEPs and centre-left MEPs, it could not possibly be depicted as having a common outlook. The Committee on Constitutional Affairs ruled that TGI did not have a coherent political complexion, Parliament upheld (412 to 56 with 36 abstentions) the ruling, and TGI was thus disbanded on 13 September 1999, the first Group to be forcibly dissolved. However, the ruling was appealed to the European Court of First Instance and the Group was temporarily resurrected on 1 December 1999 until the Court came to a decision. On 3 October 2001, president Fontaine announced that the Court of First Instance had declared against the appeal and that the disbandment was back in effect from 2 October 2001, the date of the declaration. TGI appeared on the list of Political Groups in the European Parliament for the last time on 4 October 2001. Since then the requirement that Groups have a coherent political complexion has been enforced (as ITS later found out), and "mixed" Groups are not expected to appear again.


text: Independent MEPs that are not in a Group are categorised as "Non-Inscrits" (the French term is universally used, even in English translations). This non-Group has no Group privileges or funding, and is included here solely for completeness.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Ingrida Šimonytė (; born 15 November 1974) is a Lithuanian politician and economist who is the Prime Minister of Lithuania since 11 December 2020. She has been a Member of the Seimas of Antakalnis constituency since 2016 and was Minister of Finance in the second Kubilius cabinet from 2009 until 2012. Šimonytė was a candidate in the 2019 presidential election, but lost in the second round runoff to Gitanas Nausėda. She is a member of Homeland Union. She is considered one of strongest politicians in modern Lithuania.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Born in Vilnius, Šimonytė graduated from Vilnius University with a degree in business in 1996, later receiving a master's degree in 1998. She began her career as an economist and public servant, working as chief of the tax division within the Ministry of Finance until 2004. She remained in the tax division until nominated to serve as finance minister in 2009, tasked with stimulating the Lithuanian economy in the aftermath of the Great Recession. She resigned from the position in 2012, and was appointed deputy chairperson of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, and chairperson of Vilnius University Council, a professor of economics at the Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, and of public finance at ISM University of Management and Economics.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Šimonytė returned to politics in 2016, when she ran as an independent candidate in the 2016 parliamentary election to represent Antakalnis constituency in Vilnius, ultimately winning a seat in parliament. In 2018, Šimonytė announced her campaign in the 2019 presidential election; she won the nomination of the Homeland Union. She narrowly won the first round of the election on 12 May 2019, before placing second behind fellow independent Gitanas Nausėda in the runoff on 26 May.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: She was reelected to Parliament in the 2020 parliamentary election, where the Homeland Union won a plurality of seats. Following the certification of the election results, Šimonytė was proposed as the prime ministerial candidate by a coalition consisting of the Homeland Union, Liberal Movement and Freedom Party; she took office on 11 December, along with the appointment of her cabinet.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Šimonytė was born 15 November 1974 in Vilnius to a father who worked as a civil engineer, and a mother, Danutė Šimonienė, who worked as an economist. She moved to the Antakalnis district of Vilnius with her parents in 1984, where she spent most of her childhood and formative years. In 1992, Šimonytė graduated from the Vilnius Žirmūnai Gymnasium, where she was recognised and awarded for her academic skills in mathematics.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: After graduating, she enrolled in the Faculty of Economics at Vilnius University, graduating with a degree in business administration in 1996. She subsequently returned to the institution, and received a master's degree in economics in 1998.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: In 1997, Šimonytė first began working professionally as an economist and public servant, after being hired at the Ministry of Finance within its tax division. Between 1998 and 2001, Šimonytė worked as an economist in the ministry's tax and sales division, and later was promoted to head of the ministry's direct taxation division, a position she remained in until 2004, when she became chancellor of the ministry, and later deputy finance minister. She resigned from this position in 2009, to take office as finance minister.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: In 2009, Šimonytė was nominated to serve as finance minister in the second cabinet of prime minister Andrius Kubilius, replacing Algirdas Šemeta who had stepped down to become European Commissioner for Budget and Administration. Following her nomination, she was appointed by President Valdas Adamkus to serve in the office. Upon taking office, Šimonytė was tasked with recovering the Lithuanian economy in the aftermath of the Great Recession, with Lithuania's gross domestic product (GDP) having dipped 14.7% in 2009. While in the position, Šimonytė became one of the faces of the austerity drive implemented by the government in order to improve the Lithuanian economy.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Šimonytė stepped down from her position as finance minister after the 2012 parliamentary election, where the incumbent government suffered defeat at the hands of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party and the incoming government of Algirdas Butkevičius. Following her resignation, Šimonytė was appointed to serve as deputy chairperson of the board of the Bank of Lithuania, a role she remained in until 2016, while also becoming a lecturer of economics at the Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, and of public finance at ISM University of Management and Economics.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: In 2015, Šimonytė planned her return to politics after confirming her intention to stand as a candidate in the 2016 parliamentary election, aiming to represent the Antakalnis constituency within Vilnius. The seat had been held by former prime minister Andrius Kubilius, who opted not to run for reelection in the constituency. Considered to be a safe seat for the Homeland Union, Šimonytė ran as an independent candidate, but received electoral assistance from the Homeland Union. In the election, Šimonytė was one of only three constituency candidates nationwide to win their elections without having to advance to a second round run-off election, having won 51.54% of the electorate within her constituency in the first round. Following her win, she took her seat in the Seimas.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: After her election to the Seimas, Šimonytė joined the parliamentary group of the Homeland Union, despite being officially an independent politician. She was appointed to serve as the chairperson of the audit committee, while also serving on the European affairs committee.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: In 2018, Šimonytė announced her campaign for president of Lithuania in the 2019 presidential election. Standing as an independent candidate, Šimonytė sought the nomination of the Homeland Union political party, facing only Vygaudas Ušackas for the nomination. She ultimately won the nomination, receiving 79% of the vote.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Going into the election as the Homeland Union candidate, Šimonytė was one of the favourites to win, continuously polling in a near-deadlocked tie for first with independent candidate Gitanas Nausėda. The first round of the election was held on 12 May 2019, where Šimonytė narrowly placed first with 31.53% of the vote, ahead of Nausėda's 31.16%. The two subsequently advanced to a run-off election on 26 May, where Šimonytė was defeated by Nausėda after receiving only 33.47% of the vote; she had received fewer overall votes cast for her in the second round than she did in the first round, having received about 3,200 fewer votes, compared to Nausėda having received more than 400,000 more votes than he received in the first round.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Following the 2019 presidential election, Šimonytė had emerged as an unofficial leader of the Homeland Union and one of the most prominent politicians affiliated with the party, despite being officially an independent. She stood for reelection to the Seimas in the 2020 parliamentary election, where she once again became one of only three constituency candidates nationwide to win their elections in the first round, this time having received more than 60% of the vote. Following the certification of the election results, it emerged that the Homeland Union had won a plurality of seats, overtaking the incumbent government led by the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: After the election a coalition was expected to be formed between the Homeland Union, the Liberal Movement, and the Freedom Party, with all three parties proposing Šimonytė to serve as prime minister. If confirmed, the government would be led by three women: Šimonytė, Liberal Movement leader Viktorija Čmilytė, and Freedom Party leader Aušrinė Armonaitė, following in the footsteps of the Marin Cabinet in Finland.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: On 9 November, the coalition agreement was signed between the Homeland Union, Liberal Movement, and Freedom Party, paving the way for Šimonytė to become prime minister. On 18 November, she announced the proposed makeup of her cabinet. Šimonytė was appointed prime minister on 11 December 2020 by President Gitanas Nausėda, becoming the second woman to serve in the role, following Kazimira Prunskienė.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: The government of Saulius Skvernelis held its last meeting on 9 December 2020, before the new cabinet is expected to assume office on Friday. Then, PM-designate Šimonytė urged the outgoing government to step up coronavirus measures.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Šimonytė's cabinet was sworn in and started working on 11 December 2020, when the number of cases reached 3067. Two days later, restrictions were put in place.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: The vaccination program began on 27 December 2020, as in the rest of the European Union. The first to receive the vaccine were healthcare professionals working with COVID-19 patients.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: On 4 January, Lithuanian government confirmed backlog of 293 deaths that were previously unaccounted in statistic.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: From 15 February, partial lifting of lockdown was made, including decision to re-open small shops and beauty salons. Later, wearing face masks no longer required outdoors.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: On 17 March Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys suspended the use of vaccine produced by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca. On 18 March the European Medicines Agency said the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe. On 22 March 2021, Šimonytė, Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, and Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys also received the same vaccine.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Based on the priority works of the Government's program, the portfolio of the Prime Minister's strategic projects has been compiled. The following five strategic works (projects) have been published in the Prime Minister's portfolio of strategic works (projects) as part of the reforms of the government term:


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: The Prime Minister's portfolio of strategic works (projects) also includes the commitment of the implementation plan of the Eighteenth Government Program to prepare the State Progress Strategy "Lithuania 2050" and seven more strategic works (projects) of public management, education and strategic infrastructure:


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: On 1 January 2021, Šimonytė took over the presidency of the Baltic Council of Ministers for a term of one year.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: During a meeting with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Šimonytė emphasized that Lithuania seeks to further increase pressure on the Belarusian regime. Lithuania also supports the expansion of EU sanctions. During the meeting, the prime minister said:


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: <...> Release of political prisoners, end of repression, and free and democratic elections are the key steps that Belarusians are demanding. Lithuania and the entire democratic world demand the same.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: In October 2018, during a debate on foreign policy for the Homeland Union nomination in the 2019 presidential election, Šimonytė stated that if elected president, she would increase funding for national security and defense. She has referred to Russia as a "state that has broken all international agreements", and called Russia a threat to European security. Additionally, Šimonytė has referred to Poland as an ally, and has encouraged improving relations between the two countries. She said that Russia offers its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine "to the world as another hybrid weapon to divide and rule."


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Šimonytė supports scientific data on climate change, and referred to Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement as a "mistake".


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Šimonytė’s new ruling coalition has agreed to defend "those fighting for freedom" in Taiwan, suggesting that Lithuania's relations with China would not be a priority for her government.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Šimonytė has stated that she did not oppose the introduction of same-sex civil unions to Lithuania, which attracted the support of LGBT rights activists. Additionally, Šimonytė stated that while she would never have an abortion herself, she would not condemn women who choose to do so.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: Šimonytė was criticized by the Jewish community in Lithuania after she opposed removing a plaque to Jonas Noreika, who had signed the declaration to establish Jewish ghettos in Lithuania during the German occupation of Lithuania in 1941.


title: Ingrida Šimonytė

text: In addition to her native Lithuanian, Šimonytė also speaks English, Polish, and Russian, as well as basic-level Swedish. She is unmarried and has no children. The Good Soldier Švejk, a satirical dark comedy by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek, is one of Šimonytė's favorite books, whose characters she has often publicly quoted during her political career.


title: David E. Shaw

text: David Elliot Shaw (born March 29, 1951) is an American billionaire scientist and former hedge fund manager. He founded D. E. Shaw & Co., a hedge fund company which was once described by "Fortune" magazine as "the most intriguing and mysterious force on Wall Street". A former assistant professor in the computer science department at Columbia University, Shaw made his fortune exploiting inefficiencies in financial markets with the help of state-of-the-art high speed computer networks. In 1996, "Fortune" magazine referred to him as "King Quant" because of his firm's pioneering role in high-speed quantitative trading. In 2001, Shaw turned to full-time scientific research in computational biochemistry, more specifically molecular dynamics simulations of proteins.


title: David E. Shaw

text: Shaw was raised in Los Angeles, California. His father was a theoretical physicist who specialised in plasma and fluid flows, and his mother is an artist and educator. They divorced when he was 12. His stepfather, Irving Pfeffer, was professor of finance at University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of papers supporting the efficient market hypothesis.


title: David E. Shaw

text: Shaw earned a bachelor's degree "summa cum laude" from the University of California, San Diego, a PhD from Stanford University in 1980, and then became an assistant professor of the department of computer science at Columbia University. While at Columbia, Shaw conducted research in massively parallel computing with the NON-VON supercomputer. This supercomputer was composed of processing elements in a tree structure meant to be used for fast relational database searches. Earlier in his career, he founded Stanford Systems Corporation.


title: David E. Shaw

text: In 1986, he joined Morgan Stanley, as Vice President for Technology in Nunzio Tartaglia's automated proprietary trading group. In 1994, Shaw was appointed by President Clinton to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, where he was chairman of the Panel on Educational Technology. In 2000, he was elected to the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science served as its treasurer 2000–2010. In 2007, Shaw was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2009, he was appointed by President Obama again to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. In 2012, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and in 2014 was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.


title: David E. Shaw

text: In 1988 he started his own hedge fund, D. E. Shaw & Co, which employed proprietary algorithms for securities trading. In 2018, "Forbes" estimated his net worth at $6.2 billion. He is also a senior research fellow at the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at Columbia University, and an adjunct professor of biomedical informatics at Columbia's medical school. Shaw is chief scientist of D. E. Shaw Research, which conducts interdisciplinary research in the field of computational biochemistry.


title: David E. Shaw

text: According to the Institutional Investor's "Alpha" magazine's annual ranking for 2014, D. E. Shaw, who made $530 million in 2014, and James H. Simons of Renaissance Technologies who made $1.2 billion were among the top 25 earners in the hedge fund industry. They are both "quantitative strategists who founded firms that build algorithms for trading."


title: David E. Shaw

text: Shaw has donated US$2.25 million to Priorities USA Action, a super PAC supporting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and $1 million to Organizing for Action.


title: David E. Shaw

text: Through the Shaw Family Endowment Fund, by 2014 he and his wife have donated $400,000 to the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, $400,000 to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and $800,000 to the Horace Mann School. From 2011 to 2017, the Fund annually donated $1 million to Yale University, Stanford University, Harvard University, Princeton University, and $500,000 to Columbia University and Brown University. The college donations represent over 60% of the Fund's philanthropy. Shaw was on the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.


title: David E. Shaw

text: Shaw is married to personal finance commentator and journalist Beth Kobliner. Shaw is Jewish and he and his wife are members of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York. They have three children, and live in New York City. In 2014, Shaw purchased several homes in Westchester County, New York and combined them into a mansion that received press attention.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Tsui Hark (, , born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as "Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain" (1983), the "Once Upon a Time in China" film series (1991–1997) and "The Blade" (1995). Tsui also has been a prolific writer and producer; his productions include "A Better Tomorrow" (1986), "A Better Tomorrow II" (1987), "A Chinese Ghost Story" (1987), "The Killer" (1989), "The Legend of the Swordsman" (1992), "The Wicked City" (1992), "Iron Monkey" (1993) and "Black Mask" (1996). He is viewed as a major figure in the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema and is regarded by critics as "one of the masters of Asian cinematography".


title: Tsui Hark

text: In the late 1990s, Tsui had a short-lived career in the United States, directing the Jean-Claude Van Damme–led films "Double Team" (1997) and "Knock Off" (1998). Both films were commercially unsuccessful and critically panned; Tsui himself was unsatisfied with his lack of creative control and returned to Hong Kong to continue his career, where he found commercial and critical success with blockbusters such as the "Detective Dee" film series, "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" (2011), and "The Taking of Tiger Mountain" (2014).


title: Tsui Hark

text: Tsui was born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam, to a large Chinese (Hoa) family with sixteen siblings. Tsui showed an early interest in show business and films; when he was 10, he and some friends rented an 8 mm camera to film a magic show they put on at school. He also drew comic books, an interest that would influence his cinematic style. By the age of 13, he and his family immigrated to Hong Kong.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Tsui started his secondary education in Hong Kong in 1966. He proceeded to study film in Texas, first at Southern Methodist University and then at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating in 1975. He claims to have told his parents he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps as a pharmacist, and that it was here he changed his given name to Hark ("overcoming").


title: Tsui Hark

text: After graduation, Tsui moved to New York City, where he worked on "From Spikes to Spindles" (1976), a noted documentary film by Christine Choy on the history of the city's Chinatown. He also worked as an editor for a Chinese newspaper, developed a community theatre group and worked in a Chinese cable TV station. He returned to Hong Kong in 1977.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Upon turning to feature filmmaking, Tsui was quickly typed as a member of the "New Wave" of young, iconoclastic directors. His debut film, "The Butterfly Murders" (1979), was a technically challenging blend of wuxia, murder mystery and science fiction / fantasy elements. His second film, "We're Going to Eat You" (1980), was a blend of cannibal horror, black comedy and martial arts.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Tsui's third film, "Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind" (1980), was a nihilistic thriller about delinquent youths on a bombing spree. Heavily censored by the British colonial government, it was released in 1981 in a drastically altered version titled "Dangerous Encounter – 1st Kind" (or alternatively, "Don't Play with Fire"). It was not a financial success. However, it helped make Tsui a darling of film critics who had coined the New Wave label, and who were hopeful for a more aesthetically daring cinema more engaged with the realities of contemporary Hong Kong.


title: Tsui Hark

text: In 1981, Tsui joined Cinema City & Films Co., a production company founded by comedians Raymond Wong, Karl Maka and Dean Shek. Cinema City & Films Co. was instrumental in codifying the slick Hong Kong blockbuster films of the 1980s. Tsui played his part in the process with pictures like the crime farce "All the Wrong Clues" (1981), his first hit, and "Aces Go Places 3" (1984), part of the studio's long-running spy spoof series.


title: Tsui Hark

text: In 1983, Tsui directed the wuxia fantasy film "Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain" (1983) for the studio Golden Harvest. Tsui imported Hollywood technicians to help create special effects whose number and complexity were unprecedented in Chinese-language cinema.


title: Tsui Hark

text: In 1984, Tsui formed the production company Film Workshop with Nansun Shi. He also developed a reputation as a hands-on and even intrusive producer of other directors' work, fuelled by public breaks with major filmmakers like John Woo and King Hu. His most longstanding and fruitful collaboration has probably been with Ching Siu-tung. As action choreographer and/or director on many Film Workshop productions, Ching made a major contribution to the well-known Tsui style.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Film Workshop releases became consistent box office hits in Hong Kong and around Asia, drawing audiences with their visual adventurousness, their broad commercial appeal, and hectic camerawork and pace. With Tsui having been called the 'Steven Spielberg of Asia', Film Workshop became the 'Amblin of Hong Kong'. He produced John Woo's "A Better Tomorrow" (1986), which launched a craze for Heroic bloodshed movies, and Ching Siu-tung's "A Chinese Ghost Story" (1987), which did the same for period ghost fantasies. "Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain" and "The Swordsman" (1990) birthed the modern-day special effects industry in Hong Kong.


title: Tsui Hark

text: In fact, Tsui's "movie brat" nostalgia is one of the main ingredients in his work. He often resurrects and revises classic films and genres: the murder mystery in "The Butterfly Murders" (1979); the Shanghai musical comedy in "Shanghai Blues" (1985). "Peking Opera Blues" (1986) plays with and pays tribute to the traditions of the Peking opera that his mother took him to see as a small boy and which had such a strong influence on Hong Kong action cinema. "The Lovers" (1994) adapts a retold, cross-dressing period romance, best known from Li Han-hsiang's 1963 opera film "The Love Eterne". "A Chinese Ghost Story" remakes Li's supernatural romance "The Enchanting Shadow" (1959) as a special effects action movie.


title: Tsui Hark

text: The pattern is also seen in perhaps Tsui's most successful work to date, the "Once Upon a Time in China" film series (1991–97). Jet Li played the role of Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung in the first three films and the sixth, "Once Upon a Time in China and America". This series is the clearest expression in his oeuvre of Tsui's Chinese nationalism and his passionate engagement with the upheavals of Chinese history, particularly in the face of Western power and influence.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Tsui also dabbled in acting, mostly for other directors. Notable roles include one-third of the comic relief trio in Corey Yuen's film "Yes, Madam!" (1985) and a villain in Patrick Tam's darkly comic crime story "Final Victory" (1987), written by Wong Kar-wai. He also made frequent cameo appearances in his own productions, such as a music judge in "A Better Tomorrow" and a phony FBI agent in "Aces Go Places II".


title: Tsui Hark

text: In the face of an industry downturn in the '90s, he produced two expensive movies. "Green Snake" (1993) was a poetic and lyric movie based on a favourite Chinese fairy tale. "The Blade" (1995) was a gory, deliberately rough-hewn revision of the 1967 wuxia classic "The One-Armed Swordsman".


title: Tsui Hark

text: In the mid-to-late '90s, Tsui tried Hollywood with two films starring Jean-Claude Van Damme: "Double Team" (1997) and "Knock Off" (1998). In 2002, he made "", an American market sequel to Jet Li's 1996 film. It was released direct-to-video in the United States in December of that year before being theatrically released the next month in Hong Kong.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Tsui returned to directing at home in 2000 after not having made a local film since 1996. "Time and Tide" (2000) and "The Legend of Zu" (2001) were action extravaganzas with lavish computer-generated imagery that gained cult admirers but no mass success.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Tsui continues to push technical boundaries and revise old favourites. "Master Q 2001" was Hong Kong's first combination of live action and Pixar-style 3D computer animation. "Era of Vampires" (2002; US title, "Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters") reworked a subgenre popular in the '80s, hybrid martial arts / supernatural horror films featuring the "hopping corpses" of Chinese folk legend.


title: Tsui Hark

text: In 2005, Tsui launched the multimedia production "Seven Swords", a film adaptation of Liang Yusheng's novels "Saiwai Qixia Zhuan" and "Qijian Xia Tianshan". The film came with a television series counterpart ("Seven Swordsmen"), a comic book series, a cellphone game, clothing brand, and an online multi-player video game. The film was relatively successful, and in February 2006 Tsui announced plans to begin filming the second late in the year. As of 2008, Tsui continues to work on the script for "Seven Swords 2" in between filming projects. In 2011 there has been no news nor plans about a "Seven Swords 2". Rumors has it that due to lack of interest by the filmmakers of finishing the hexalogy lead the project into being cancelled.


title: Tsui Hark

text: In August 2008, Tsui provided art direction for the direct-to-video anime feature titled "Kungfu Master" (a.k.a. "Wong Fei Hong vs Kungfu Panda"), an apparent unofficial sequel to "Kung Fu Panda", featuring Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung. Also in 2008 was the thriller "Missing" starring Angelica Lee. His latest comedy film "All About Women" features wonky sound editing and comic graphics.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Tsui's latest work in 2010 is "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame", a rare but successful blend of wuxia, suspense-thriller, mystery, and comedy, which was in competition for the Golden Lion award and was also nominated and won numerous other awards.


title: Tsui Hark

text: In 2010 he announced his first 3-D film, "The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate", which is a re-imagining of his 1992 film "New Dragon Gate Inn" starring Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Maggie Cheung and Brigitte Lin. In 2011 Huayi Brothers announced that Tsui will be making a prequel to "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame"; shot in 3-D, it was released in 2013 as "".


title: Tsui Hark

text: In October 2011, Tsui received the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award at the 16th Busan International Film Festival for his contributions to Hong Kong cinema. He is the fifth Chinese filmmaker to receive this award at Busan.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Tsui worked on a film with Milkyway Image alongside Ann Hui, Ringo Lam, Patrick Tam, Johnnie To, Sammo Hung and Yuen Woo-Ping. Each director created a segment based on Hong Kong history. The completed film, "Septet: The Story of Hong Kong", was shown at the annual Hong Kong International Film Festival in April 2021.


title: Tsui Hark

text: Tsui was featured on a track which bore his name on the 1994 Sparks album "Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins". (Sparks also provided a song, "It's a Knockoff," for the closing credits of "Knock Off".)


title: Caroline Lucas

text: Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who has twice led the Green Party of England and Wales and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion since the 2010 general election. She was re-elected in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections, increasing her majority each time.


title: Caroline Lucas

text: Born in Malvern in Worcestershire, Lucas graduated from the University of Exeter and the University of Kansas before receiving a PhD from the University of Exeter in 1989. She joined the Green Party in 1986 and held various party roles, also serving on Oxfordshire County Council from 1993 to 1997. She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 and 2009, also serving as the party's Female Principal Speaker from 2003 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2008.


title: Caroline Lucas

text: Lucas was elected the first leader of the Green Party in 2008 and was selected to represent the constituency of Brighton Pavilion in the 2010 general election, becoming the party's first MP. She stood down as party leader in 2012 to devote more time to her parliamentary duties and focus on an ultimately successful campaign to be re-elected as an MP. She returned as party leader from September 2016 to September 2018, sharing the post with Jonathan Bartley.


title: Caroline Lucas

text: Lucas is known as a campaigner and writer on green economics, localisation, alternatives to globalisation, trade justice, animal welfare and food. In her time as a politician and activist, she has worked with Non-governmental organizations and think tanks, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Oxfam.


title: Caroline Lucas

text: Lucas was born in Malvern in Worcestershire, to middle-class, Conservative-voting parents Peter and Valerie ("née" Griffin) Lucas. She is one of three children; her father ran a small central heating company, and sold solar panelling. Her mother stayed at home to bring up their children.


title: Caroline Lucas

text: Lucas was educated at Malvern Girls' College (which became Malvern St James in 2006), a boarding independent school in Great Malvern. She then went to the University of Exeter, where she gained a first-class BA (Hons) in English Literature, graduating in 1983. While at university, Lucas went on many trips to Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp and Molesworth peace camp when involved with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). Lucas was an activist in CND and was involved in the Snowball Campaign against US military bases in the UK which involved the cutting of fences with the expectation of being arrested.


title: Caroline Lucas

text: Lucas won a scholarship to attend the University of Kansas between 1983 and 1984, gaining a Diploma of Journalism, before studying for a PhD degree in English from the University of Exeter, awarded in 1990, with a thesis entitled "Writing for Women: a study of woman as reader in Elizabethan romance". While completing her doctorate, Lucas worked as a press officer for Oxfam from 1989; she later worked for the charity in other roles, becoming active in the Green Party, and left Oxfam in 1999.