title: Tom Perez

text: Secretary Perez used the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 as authority to issue the Persuader Rule, which required an employer's attorney to publicly disclose advice given to persuade against unionization.


title: Tom Perez

text: Before the rule took effect on July 1, 2016, the National Federation of Independent Business sued. On June 26, U.S. District Judge Samuel Ray Cummings issued a nationwide injunction blocking the Persuader Rule, finding it was not authorized by the Act, and that it violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. On August 25, Perez implemented the President's Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order. On October 4, U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone issued a nationwide injunction blocking the rule. Crone found the Constitution's Due Process Clause forbids the President from requiring federal contractors to disclose mere allegations that the contractor had violated labor laws.


title: Tom Perez

text: Perez issued a regulation attempting to double the maximum salary where overtime is required, effective December 1. On November 22, U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III, issued a nationwide injunction blocking the regulation, finding that the overtime pay rule was beyond the Secretary's authority under the Fair Labor Standards Act.


title: Tom Perez

text: During the 2016 presidential election, Perez was mentioned as a possible running mate on the Democratic ticket with Hillary Clinton, but was ultimately not selected. Perez later campaigned for the Clinton-Kaine ticket.


title: Tom Perez

text: Perez claimed that questions by the Donald Trump Presidential Transition team sent to the State and Energy Departments were illegal, but he said he was not aware of any similar 'blanket' probes having been sent to the Labor Department.


title: Tom Perez

text: Perez announced his candidacy for Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on December 15, 2016. Perez gave the keynote speech for the Maryland Democratic Party annual legislative luncheon on January 10, 2017, in Annapolis. Perez promised not to take money from federal lobbyists, foreign nationals, or current Labor Department employees. His candidacy was endorsed by former Vice President Joe Biden and other Obama administration officials.


title: Tom Perez

text: On February 25, 2017, Perez was elected DNC chair. Perez won on the second ballot with 235 votes, beating nearest rival Representative Keith Ellison who earned 200 votes. After winning the election, Perez's immediate response was to make a motion to suspend the rules and recreate the (largely ceremonial) role of Deputy Chair, and to install Ellison into the office. Perez is the first Dominican-American to chair the Democratic National Committee. He undertook a Unity Tour in 2017 with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders to promote the DNC.


title: Tom Perez

text: Following the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses, Perez received pressure from outside groups, including presidential candidate, Tulsi Gabbard, to resign as the DNC chair. Perez refused to resign, citing the amount of elections Democrats had won since he assumed the chairmanship in 2017.


title: Tom Perez

text: In November 2020, Perez was reported to be a potential contender for United States Attorney General or Secretary of Labor in the Biden Administration.


title: Tom Perez

text: Perez declined to run for reelection as DNC Chair in 2021, and Jaime Harrison was elected to succeed him on January 21, 2021.


title: Tom Perez

text: On June 23, 2021, Perez announced that he would be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Maryland in the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election. His running mate was Shannon Sneed, a former member of the Baltimore City Council. If elected, he would have become Maryland's first Latino governor.


title: Tom Perez

text: Many labor groups issued early endorsements of Perez, including the Amalgamated Transit Union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Communication Workers of America, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Service Employees International Union.


title: Tom Perez

text: Perez received endorsements from various members of Congress, including members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.


title: Tom Perez

text: On July 14, 2022, Perez's campaign announced that its workers had unionized with Campaign Workers Guild.


title: Tom Perez

text: On July 19, 2022, Perez lost the primary, placing second behind Wes Moore, an author and U.S. Army veteran.


title: Tom Perez

text: Perez owns a home in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife, Ann Marie Staudenmaier, an attorney with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, and their three children.


title: Tom Perez

text: Perez is Catholic, and recalls that his parents told him, "In order to get to heaven, you have to have letters of reference from poor people."


title: Tom Perez

text: In 2014, Perez received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Brown University, an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Drexel University School of Law, and an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Oberlin College.


title: Neon White

text: Neon White is a first-person shooter and puzzle-platforming game developed by Angel Matrix and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and the Nintendo Switch on June 16, 2022. It was released on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on December 13, 2022.


title: Neon White

text: Designed to focus on speedrun-style of gameplay, "Neon White" has the player in the role of a Neon, a demon hunter in heaven, clearing all the demons on a given level in the fastest time possible. The game uses playing cards that represent weapons which can be discarded to perform special moves like double-jumping. The game was written by "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes" writer Ryann Shannon.


title: Neon White

text: The game is composed of several missions each consisting of multiple levels. To complete a level, the player must defeat all the demons present and reach a goal, which additionally grants the player experience which can unlock the ability to see alternate routes and hidden items in levels. The player traverses the level through running and jumping, and collects Soul Cards lying about in the open or obtained from defeating demons. Soul Cards can be used as weapons with each card having a standard firing mode and an alternate special ability that is activated by discarding it. For example, the handgun card can be discarded to perform a double jump. They player-character can die if they take too much damage from demons or fall into bottomless abysses, requiring them to restart the level. Once the player completes a level, they are awarded a medal based their time to complete, ranging from Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Ace.


title: Neon White

text: In-between levels players can interact with NPCs on the world map who give insight and details about the game's story. Players can also enter relationships with the NPCs during this section of the game. Progressing onto new missions may also require the player to have earned a specific neon rank, reflecting the number of levels the player has obtained a gold or better time medal on. Players can return to any previous level to try to earn better time scores.


title: Neon White

text: Neon White features a group known as Neons, sinners taken from Hell in an annual competition to clean up demons in Heaven for a chance to stay there. Neons are required to wear masks during their duties that explode if they disobey orders or break the rules given to them, and compete against each other for the position of top Neon. The player takes the role of the titular Neon White, an assassin who is competing for the first time. White receives daily missions from the angel Mikey, and meets up with old crewmates of his, all while dealing with an amnesia preventing him from remembering his past life.


title: Neon White

text: The amnesiac Neon White awakens in Heaven alongside other sinners who have floated up from Hell. They are informed by the Believers, a group of beings who claim to speak for God, that they are "Neons" whom God has judged "most unfavorably". Their only chance at salvation is through the Ten Days of Judgement competition, held annually to cull the demons infesting Heaven. The Neon who can kill the most demons by the competition's end will receive a mechanical halo that will allow them to stay in Heaven for a year. White and the other Neons are given weapons and non-removable, explosive masks that the Believers can detonate to execute any Neon who steps out of line. As the competition begins, White meets fellow Neons Yellow, Violet, and Red, all of whom vaguely claim to have known him in his past life, and the angels Mikey and Gabby, who manage the Neons' assignments.


title: Neon White

text: During a daily sermon from the Believers, White meets Neon Green, the current bearer of the mechanical halo, who is feared for killing other Neons. Later, Violet tells White about the Old City, an abandoned area of Heaven rumored to have powerful weapons. Red warns White against going there since Green uses it as his hunting grounds, but White ignores this and proceeds to the Old City with Yellow. The pair encounter Green, and Yellow is killed when he blocks an attack meant for White. As Green makes his escape after being defeated by White, he explains that the Believers crafted his halo using a page from the Book of Death, and promises that he has plans for White. Following the confrontation, White learns of the counterpart Book of Life, and decides to seek it out as his suspicions about the competition and the Believers mount.


title: Neon White

text: White catches up with Green, who tells him the Book of Life is at Heaven's Edge. Red intervenes to prevent a second fight, and reveals their shared past: White, Red, Yellow, and Violet had worked together as a crew of assassins under the leadership of Green, and their last operation had been to assassinate Blue, who was Green's old boss. They all died during the mission, although Green successfully killed Blue. The next day, Mikey refuses White's request to be assigned to Heaven's Edge, explaining that he knows the competition is a sham and that he would rather see White for ten days every year than risk him being unable to return to Heaven ever again. White and Red venture into Heaven's Edge anyway, but Mikey catches up to them and divulges the truth. Heaven was originally Sheol, but Sheol did not live up to the Believers' expectations of the afterlife and they eventually overthrew God to seize his books and remake the realm into their ideal version of paradise. The Believers also killed most of the angels during the war, and only spared those angels who swore loyalty and service to them. The Believers defeated God and acquired the Book of Death, but God closed his hands around the Book of Life and the Inkhorn used to write into both divine books, preventing the Believers from gaining total power over Heaven and leaving it vulnerable to demonic invasion. As Mikey concludes his story, a stray page from the Book of Life appears, giving White a way to seek out the location of the full book.


title: Neon White

text: White arrives at the Third Temple, where he finds one of God's hands clenched around the Book of Life. The hand opens at White's approach, but Violet, who was slighted by White earlier, swoops in and snatches the book, only for Green to fatally wound her. As White and Green clash, Green's mechanical halo is broken, freeing him from the Believers' control. The vengeful Green declares he will use the books to destroy Heaven, but Violet stymies his plan by blowing herself up and scattering the Book of Life's pages. Green returns to Outer Heaven and steals the Book of Death from the Believers, preventing them from detonating the Neons' masks. All of the remaining Neons begin to riot throughout Heaven, and Green kills off the Believers. Meanwhile, White uses the remaining page of the Book of Life to recover its pages and reassemble it.


title: Neon White

text: Once the Book of Life is whole, White turns his attention to the Inkhorn, the last item needed to bring back God. In the course of the search, Mikey reveals to White that the sinners who float up to Heaven are free of guilt, which make them the best Neons as they are unquestioning; White had been weighed down by guilt, but he ascended to Heaven anyway because Red pulled him up, and this unusual method of entry caused his amnesia. God's other hand is found, but it lies outside Heaven and a soul is needed to trigger the process to push it into Heaven so it can reopen. Red sacrifices herself by detonating her mask, and Green and White have a final duel over the Books and the Inkhorn. White is once again victorious, and the angels undertake the ritual to restore God. However, Green reappears and charges at White, intent on writing everyone's names into the Book of Death.


title: Neon White

text: If White failed to collect enough gifts to unlock all of his memories, White's only option is to write Green's name into the Book of Death, wherein Green is transformed into a demon and sent to Hell. God then writes Yellow, Violet, and Red's names into the Book of Life, but excludes White because he failed to earn salvation. If all memories have been unlocked, White is given a second option to write Green's name into the Book of Life, forgiving Green for his actions and showing that White can let go of his past issues. After this, God writes White's name into the book with the rest of his crew, and an additional scene is shown of them enjoying an eternity of peace together.


title: Neon White

text: Lead designer Ben Esposito created an initial prototype of "Neon White" as a first-person shooter in 2017 while he was finishing development of "Donut County" as a distraction from that work. Once "Donut County" was released in 2018, Esposito returned to the prototype to continue its development. Around that time, the roguelike deck-building game "Slay the Spire" had just been released and created a wave of card-based games in the indie games space. Esposito has said the decision to use cards instead of actual weapons in the game is one of the game's design goals stating that players should look at cards not as weapons, but instead as resources that allow greater movement.


title: Neon White

text: The card idea concept led to the game being what Esposito called a "card-based arena shooter with a lot of randomness built in". However, he found that randomly rewarding the player with cards made the game more difficult, and instead decided to fix what cards the players would get, which led to the game to be more about speedrunning. Esposito said that speedrun videos influenced these ideas, as "super-high level [speedrunning] becomes a little bit less about your execution and more about solving a puzzle to shave off some time". He wanted to make sure that players had one obvious route to complete each level but had clues that encouraged the player to look for shortcuts or alternate uses of the cards. Esposito said they had initial problems with playtesters simply beating each level and not returning to try to improve their time. Besides adding the Neon Rank system which forced players to return, they also had to find ways to prevent players from being discouraged from trying to improve their times. This led to the idea of revealing both friends' and global scoreboards only after the player beat the level with certain goals, as well as adding the ghost support and shortcut hints when the player was likely working to improve their times. Additionally, they set themselves a design goal that each level had at one major shortcut that would be necessary to achieve the Ace medal rank in the absence of any other mistakes. This led to setting target times for each other medal rank based on how less skilled players perform. However, they found that their own performances were too good and generated times that were unlikely to be met by most players, so used their own ghost runs adjusted with small imperfections to dial in more reasonable times for these medals.


title: Neon White

text: Esposito brought in more development help in 2019 to build out from these ideas, naming the team Angel Matrix, a nod to 1990s anime. Treating the game as a puzzle game, Esposito took out some of the elements normally found in first-person shooters, such as the visual presentation of the gun, or the limit on carrying only one of any type of gun. He brought on team members to help on the game's visual and character design, including Aevee Bee, Ryann Shannon, and his wife Geneva Hodgson.


title: Neon White

text: In May 2022, Steve Blum, Alicyn Packard, Courtney Lin, Ian Jones-Quartey, SungWon Cho, Zeno Robinson, Salli Saffioti, Ben Lepley and Bruce Barker were announced to have voice-acting roles in the game.


title: Neon White

text: In June 2022, the game was announced at Summer Game Fest 2022 to have an official release date of June 16, 2022 on Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows. Ports for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 were released on December 13, 2022.


title: Neon White

text: "Neon White" received "universal acclaim" for Windows and "generally favorable" reviews for Nintendo Switch, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Neon White

text: Eric Van Allen of "Destructoid" praised the game's angular aesthetics, philosophical story, speedrun-incentivizing level design, and endearing characters and voicework, writing, "["Neon White"]'s a blood-pumping, speed-infused anime shooter with style and a decent bit of heart." "Eurogamer"'s Oisin Kuhnke recommended the game, lauding its story, themes, and anime influences while primarily praising its speedrunning-centric core gameplay loop, stating, ""Neon White" has some of the best level design I've ever played in an arcade-style game...the adrenaline I felt when I squeezed in that first place time within less than a millisecond wasn't like any I'd felt before." Blake Hester of "Game Informer" wrote, ""Neon White" is my favorite game I've played all year – by a large margin...It's one of the most fun games I've played in years," and cited the "top-notch" level design, "stupid-but-charming" story, "precise and intricate" gameplay, and Japanese action game aesthetic akin to "Killer7" and as the game's strengths. "GameSpot"'s Richard Wakeling appreciated the title's replay value and inspired card-based mechanics while calling it "a flawless marriage between level design and player improvement", but noted the slow-paced story and weak writing. Dan Ryckert of "Giant Bomb" gave the game a perfect score of 5 stars while likening the game's aesthetics to 90s video game magazines "claiming that a game would cause any variety of extreme maladies", and said, "It gets its hooks in deep and fast, but the true fun and challenge in Neon White becomes apparent the more you play it."


title: Neon White

text: Scott McCrae of "Nintendo Life" gave heavy praise to the intense and satisfying gunplay, great writing and performances, high replay value, fantastic visuals, and energetic soundtrack. "PC Gamer" likened "Neon White"'s visual style to that of a Dreamcast game, and wrote, "If you can ignore (or better yet, embrace) the cringe, however, Neon White is still a blisteringly stylish speedrunning platformer." "Shacknews"' Morgan Shaver praised the agency the game gave to the player and the experimentation it encouraged, writing, "You really get a nice, exhilarating speedrunning feeling in "Neon White" with the multiple ways in which you can clear a level, both conventional and unconventional." While noting that collectable locations later in the game could be a bit obtuse, "The Verge" wrote that "those forced replays showed me how the game really works — and now, I actually want to replay stages until I’ve perfected my run".


title: Neon White

text: "Neon White"'s soundtrack was created by Machine Girl, who was specifically sought after by lead designer Ben Esposito after hearing their 2020 EP "RePorpoised Phantasies". Esposito, a fan of theirs since the release of their album "Gemini" in 2015, reached out to them over email to propose the project as something they could do at home during COVID-19 lockdown. Lead artist Matt Stephenson accepted after determining that Esposito wasn't "just some kid in his bedroom making a video game", and began sharing a large quantity of unfinished demos to work through and use in the game after Esposito stated that he wanted the soundtrack to continue in the direction of the sound of "RePorpoised Phantasies". Esposito estimates that about half of the tracks in the final game were culled from these demos, while the other half were original compositions created just for "Neon White;" he also estimated that about half of the overall tracks that were created for the game were cut.


title: Neon White

text: For the soundtrack, Esposito wanted the music to fit the vibe of a "lost PS2 or Dreamcast game" and would send Stephenson soundtracks from games of that era as inspiration, such as those of the "Jet Set Radio" and "Ape Escape" series, with Stephenson also citing Mick Gordon's work for the "Doom" series as inspiration for some late game music. During the later stages of development, Machine Girl began live touring while still working on music for the game, and Stephenson would create chiller compositions in order to de-stress. "Peace of Mind", the main theme for the game's hub world, was created during a particularly stressful day for them as they were running "super late" for a show and one of the van passengers had become car sick. Machine Girl released the soundtrack to Bandcamp and streaming services to coincide with the release of the game, splitting it into two volumes.


title: MBTA subway

text: The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates rapid transit (heavy rail), light rail, and bus rapid transit services in the Boston metropolitan area, collectively referred to as the rapid transit, subway, or the T system.


title: MBTA subway

text: The color-branded lines consist of three heavy rail lines (Red, Orange, and Blue), one branched light rail system (Green), and a short light rail line (the Ashmont–Mattapan High-Speed Line, colored as part of the Red Line). All except the Ashmont–Mattapan line operate in tunnels in the downtown area, but no route operates entirely underground, and only 31 out of the system's 147 stations are located underground. The five branches of the Silver Line bus rapid transit network are also shown as part of the rapid transit system. operate underground and charge rapid transit fares; operate entirely on the surface and charge lower bus fares.


title: MBTA subway

text: In , the heavy rail lines had rides, or about per weekday in , and comprised the fourth-busiest heavy rail system in the United States. In the same period, the light rail lines had rides, or about per weekday, and comprised the third-busiest light rail system in the United States.


title: MBTA subway

text: The section of the Tremont Street subway between Park Street and Boylston Street stations, now on the Green Line, opened in 1897, making it the oldest transit subway in the United States still in use. (Only the short-lived Beach Pneumatic Transit demonstration line in New York City was built before.)


title: MBTA subway

text: Opened in September 1897, the four-track-wide segment of the Green Line tunnel between Park Street and Boylston stations was the first subway in the United States, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark. The downtown portions of what are now the Green, Orange, Blue, and Red line tunnels were all in service by 1912. Additions to the rapid transit network occurred in most decades of the 1900s, and continued in the 2000s with the addition of Silver Line bus rapid transit and Green Line Extension. (See MBTA History and MBTA Future plans sections.)


title: MBTA subway

text: Streetcar congestion in downtown Boston led to the creation of underground subways and elevated rail, the former in 1897 and the latter in 1901. The Tremont Street subway was the first rapid transit tunnel in the United States. The grade-separated railways added transportation capacity while avoiding delays caused by intersections with cross streets. The first elevated railway and the first rapid transit line in Boston were built three years before the first underground line of the New York City Subway, but 34 years after the first London Underground lines, and long after the first elevated railway in New York City.


title: MBTA subway

text: Various extensions and branches were added to the subway lines at both ends, bypassing more surface tracks. As grade-separated lines were extended, street-running lines were cut back for faster downtown service. The last elevated heavy rail or "El" inter-station segments in Boston – with the exception of the Red Line's still-active elevated tracks, connecting Charles/MGH station over Charles Circle to the Longfellow Bridge and the Cambridge Tunnel's northern portal – were at the extremities of the Orange Line: its northern end was relocated in 1975 from Everett to Malden, MA, and its southern end was relocated into the Southwest Corridor in 1987. However, the Green Line's Causeway Street Elevated remained in service until 2004, when it was relocated into a tunnel with an incline to reconnect to the Lechmere Viaduct.


title: MBTA subway

text: The final section of elevated, between the Lechmere Viaduct and Lechmere station, was closed in 2020 for construction of the Green Line Extension. The extension opened in two phases in 2022 with new branches from Lechmere to and – the first rail expansion since 1987.


title: MBTA subway

text: The rapid transit lines consist of 3 heavy rail (Metro) lines, 2 light rail lines, and a bus rapid transit line. The heavy rail Red Line has two southern branches, while the light rail Green Line has four services (B, C, D, and E) that use four western and two northern branches. The Silver Line has five bus rapid transit routes; two run on Washington Street with different downtown terminals, while three run underground in the Seaport with surface branches.


title: MBTA subway

text: All four subway lines cross downtown, forming a quadrilateral configuration, and the Orange and Green Lines (which run approximately parallel in that district) also connect directly at two stations just north of downtown. The Red Line and Blue Line are the only pair of subway lines which do not have a direct transfer connection to each other. Because the various subway lines do not consistently run in any given compass direction, it is customary to refer to line directions as "inbound" or "outbound". Inbound trains travel towards the four downtown transfer stations–Park Street, State Street, Government Center and Downtown Crossing–and outbound trains travel away from these hub stations.


title: MBTA subway

text: Originally, transit lines in the region only used geographic names; though numbering was added to public maps in 1936. The three heavy rail lines were assigned numbers 1, 2, and 3; what is now the Green Line was assigned different numbers for each branch. However, riders generally continued to use the geographic names. Colors were assigned on August 26, 1965, as part of a wider modernization under design standards developed by Cambridge Seven Associates, and have served as the primary identifier for the lines since then. The numbers for the heavy rail lines and the Mattapan Line were retained in public information until 1966. In 1967, the then-current five branches of the Green Line were lettered A through E.


title: MBTA subway

text: Cambridge Seven originally intended to use red, yellow, green, and blue for the four lines. However, yellow proved unsuitable, since some patrons would have difficulty reading yellow text on a white background; orange was substituted, and yellow eventually was used for the MBTA bus service's visibility markings and signage. When sketching design concepts, Peter Chermayeff labeled the subway-surface light rail routes as the Green Line because they run adjacent to parts of the Emerald Necklace park system. The East Boston Tunnel became the Blue Line because it runs under Boston Harbor, and the Cambridge-Dorchester Tunnel became the Red Line because its northernmost terminus was then at Harvard University, whose school color is crimson. According to Chermayeff, the Main Line El "ended up being orange for no particular reason beyond color balance." The MBTA and transit historians later claimed that orange came from Orange Street, an early name for the street that ran southwards down the Boston Neck to connect the Shawmut Peninsula to the mainland, for what is now part of Washington Street.


title: MBTA subway

text: The MBTA rapid transit system consists of 147 stations, with another 5 in construction as part of the Green Line Extension project in Somerville.


title: MBTA subway

text: The MBTA is in the process of replacing its entire fleet of Red Line and Orange Line cars, which are over 40 years old, by 2023. The Blue Line cars were replaced in 2008. The Green Line has a variety of vehicles, some dating back to 1986, with the latest batch delivered in 2019.


title: MBTA subway

text: All four transit lines use standard-gauge railway tracks (), but are otherwise incompatible, with varying loading gauges, car lengths, platform heights, and power collection systems as detailed in the chart below:


title: MBTA subway

text: There are no direct track connections between lines, except between the Red Line and Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line, but all except the Blue Line have little-used connections to the national rail network, which have been used for deliveries of railcars and supplies.


title: MBTA subway

text: As of July 1, 2019, MBTA fares are based on the trip type. A one-way ticket costs $2.40 whether loaded onto a reusable, fare-loadable CharlieCard, purchased as a single-use paper ticket, or paid in cash onboard the Green Line. The monthly LinkPass (which includes unlimited travel on rapid transit and bus) costs $90 per month. Daily and weekly passes are available at $11 and $22.50, respectively, and discounts are provided to seniors and high school students. Children up to 11 years old ride free when accompanied by an adult; limit 2. Certain groups of government workers can ride for free.


title: Pécs

text: Pécs ( , ; ; , ; also known by other alternative names) is the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the country's southwest, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economic centre of Baranya County, and the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs.


title: Pécs

text: A city dating back to ancient times, settled by the Celts and the Romans, it was made an episcopal see in early medieval Hungary. It has the oldest university in the country, and is one of its major cultural centers. It has a rich cultural heritage from the age of a 150-year Ottoman occupation. It is historically a multi-ethnic city where many cultures have interacted through 2000 years of history. In recent times, it has been recognized for its cultural heritage, including being named as one of the European Capital of Culture cities.


title: Pécs

text: The earliest name for the territory was its Roman name of "Sopianæ". The name possibly comes from the plural of the Celtic "sop" meaning "marsh". Contrary to the popular belief, the name did not signify a single city, and there are no traces of an encircling wall from the early Roman era, only from the 4th century.


title: Pécs

text: The medieval city was first mentioned in 871 under the name ("five cathedrals".) The name refers to the fact that when constructing the churches of the city, the builders used material from five old Christian chapels. In later Latin documents the city was mentioned as "Quinque Ecclesiae" ("five churches", a name identical in meaning to the German name "Fünfkirchen" and the Slovak name ).


title: Pécs

text: The name "Pécs" appears in documents in 1235 in the word "Pechyut" (with modern spelling: "pécsi út", meaning "road to/from Pécs") most likely derives from the Proto-Slavic "*pęčь" or from the Illyrian "*penče", both meaning five. In other languages: in Latin, "Quinque Ecclesiae"; in Italian, "Cinquechiese"; in Croatian, "Pečuh"; in Serbian, ("Pečuj"); in Slovak, "Päťkostolie"; in Czech, ; in Dutch, ; in German, "Fünfkirchen"; and in Turkish, "Peçuy".


title: Pécs

text: Pécs is located in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, in the center of the southern Hungarian county of Baranya. It is bordered by the Mecsek hills to the north, and by a rolling plain to the south. Pécs has a significant mining past. Mecsek dolomitic water is famous for its high density of minerals at constant poise.


title: Pécs

text: The city of Pécs is located near to the border of Croatia. Its southern part is rather flat whereas its northern part clings to the slope of the Mecsek mountains. It has a very favorable climate, and is bordered by a flourishing woody area. During hot summer nights a cooling air streams down from Mecsek to clean the air of the city.


title: Pécs

text: Pécs is bordered by plains to the south (elevation 120–130 m), while the Mecsek mountains rise up to elevations of 400–600 meters behind the city. Jakab-hill, located in the western Mecsek, is 592 m (1942 ft) tall, Tubes, straight above Pécs, is 612 m (2008 ft) tall, and Misina is 535 m (1755 ft) tall. Higher parts of the city climb up to 200–250 m (656 to 820 ft), mainly Pécsbánya, Szabolcsfalu, Vasas and Somogy. Woody areas generally start from elevations of about 300 m (984 ft). The Mecsek hills are marked by numerous valleys which play a key role in ameliorating the climate of the city in the absence of lakes and rivers. Waters coming down from the Mecsek hills flow into the Pécsi stream under the east–west rail road leading them eventually to the Danube.


title: Pécs

text: The area has been inhabited since ancient times, with the oldest archaeological findings being 6,000 years old. Before the Roman era the place was inhabited by Celts.


title: Pécs

text: The city of Sopianae was founded by Romans at the beginning of the 2nd century, in an area peopled by Celts and Pannoni tribes. By the 4th century, it became the capital of Valeria province and a significant early Christian center. The early Christian necropolis from that era became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 2000.


title: Pécs

text: When Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire (named "Pannonia"), the Romans founded several wine-producing colonies under the collective name of Sopianae where Pécs now stands, in the early 2nd century.


title: Pécs

text: The centre of Sopianae was where the Bishop's Palace now stands. Some parts of the Roman aqueduct are still visible. When Pannonia province was divided into four administrative divisions, Sopianae was the capital of the division named Valeria.


title: Pécs

text: In the first half of the 4th century, Sopianae became an important Christian city. The first Christian cemeteries, dating back to this age, are inscribed on the World Heritage List. By the end of the century, Roman rule weakened in the area, mostly due to attacks by Barbarians and Huns.


title: Pécs

text: When Charlemagne arrived in the area in 791, it was ruled by the Avars. Charlemagne, after conquering the area, annexed it to the Holy Roman Empire. It belonged to the Diocese of Salzburg.


title: Pécs

text: A document written in Salzburg in 871 is the first document mentioning the early medieval city under the name "Quinque Basilicae" (see above).) During the 9th century, the city was inhabited by Slavic and Avar peoples and was part of the Balaton Principality, a Frankish vassal state.


title: Pécs

text: According to György Györffy's theory of place names, after the Hungarians conquered the Carpathian Basin, they retained a semi-nomadic lifestyle, changing pastures between winter and summer. Árpád's winter quarters – clearly after his occupation of Pannonia in 900 – were perhaps in Pécs. Later, when the Comitatus of Baranya was established, the capital of the comitatus was not Pécs but a nearby castle, Baranyavár ('Baranya Castle'). Pécs, however, became an important religious centre and episcopal seat. In Latin documents, the city was mentioned as "Quinque Ecclesiae". Around 1000, the area was inhabited by the Black Magyars. The Deed of Foundation of the Diocese of Pécs was issued in 1009.


title: Pécs

text: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs was founded in 1009 by Stephen I, and the first university in Hungary was founded in Pécs in 1367 by Louis I the Great. (The largest university still resides in Pécs with about 34,000 students.)


title: Pécs

text: Peter Orseolo, the second king of Hungary, was buried in the cathedral in 1046. The location of his grave is unknown. This is because in 1064, when King Solomon made peace with his cousin, the later King Géza I, they celebrated Easter in Pécs. Shortly after the cathedral burnt down. The cathedral that stands today was built after this, in the second half of the 11th century.


title: Pécs

text: Several religious orders settled down in Pécs. The Benedictine order was the first in 1076. In 1181, there was already a hospital in the city. The first Dominican monastery of the country was built in Pécs in 1238.


title: Pécs

text: King Louis the Great founded a university in Pécs in 1367 following the advice of William, the bishop of Pécs, who was also the king's chancellor. It was the first university in Hungary. The founding document is almost word for word identical with that of the University of Vienna, stating that the university has the right to teach all arts and sciences, with the exception of theology.


title: Pécs

text: In 1459, Janus Pannonius, the most important medieval poet of Hungary became the bishop of Pécs. He strengthened the cultural importance of the city.


title: Pécs

text: Pécs was formed into one of the cultural and arts center of the country by bishop Janus Pannonius, great humanist poet.


title: Pécs

text: After the Battle of Mohács (1526) in which the invading Ottoman army defeated the armies of King Louis II, the armies of Suleiman occupied Pécs.


title: Pécs

text: Not only was a large part of the country occupied by Ottomans, the public opinion of who should be the king of Hungary was divided, too. One party supported Ferdinand of Habsburg, the other party crowned John Zápolya in Székesfehérvár. The citizens of Pécs supported Emperor Ferdinand, but the rest of Baranya county supported King John. In the summer of 1527 Ferdinand defeated the armies of Szapolyai and was crowned king on November 3. Ferdinand favoured the city because of their support, and exempted Pécs from paying taxes. Pécs was rebuilt and fortified.


title: Pécs

text: In 1529, the Ottomans captured Pécs again, and went on a campaign against Vienna. The Ottomans forced Pécs to accept King John (who was allied with them) as their ruler. John died in 1540. In 1541, the Ottomans occupied the castle of Buda, and ordered Isabella, the widow of John to give Pécs to them, since the city was of strategic importance. The citizens of Pécs defended the city against the Ottomans, and swore loyalty to Ferdinand. The emperor helped the city and defended it from further Ottoman attacks, but his advisers persuaded him into focusing more on the cities of Székesfehérvár and Esztergom instead of Pécs. Pécs was preparing for the siege, but a day before, Flemish and Walloon mercenaries fled from the city, and raided the nearby lands. The next day in June 1543 the Bishop himself went to the Ottomans with the keys of the city.


title: Pécs

text: After occupying the city, the Ottomans fortified it and turned it into a real Ottoman city. The Christian churches were turned into mosques; Turkish baths and minarets were built, Qur'an schools were founded, there was a bazaar in place of the market. For a hundred years the city was an island of peace in a land of war. It was a sanjak centre in Budin Eyalet at first and Kanije Eyalet later as "Peçuy".


title: Pécs

text: The Ottoman era resulted in numerous landmarks, such as the mosque of Pasha Qasim the Victorious on Széchenyi square, the Tomb of İdris Baba, and the Yakovalı Hasan Paşa Mosque.


title: Pécs

text: The Ottoman chronicler İbrahim Peçevi (Ibrahim of Pécs), whose work forms the main body of reference for Ottoman history between 1520 and 1640, was a native of the city.


title: Pécs

text: In 1664, Croat-Hungarian nobleman Nicholas Zrínyi arrived in Pécs, with his army. Since the city was well into the Ottoman territories, they knew that even if they occupy it, they could not keep it for long, so they planned only to pillage it. They ravaged and burned the city but could not occupy the castle. Mediaeval Pécs was destroyed forever, except the wall encircling the historical city, a single bastion (Barbakán), the network of tunnels and catacombs beneath the city, parts of which are closed down, other parts are in possession of the famous Litke champagne factory, and can be visited today. Several Turkish artifacts also survived, namely three mosques, two minarets, remnants of a bath over the ancient Christian tombs near the cathedral, and several houses, one even with a stone cannonball embedded in the wall.


title: Pécs

text: After the castle of Buda was wrested from Ottoman rule in 1686, the armies went to capture the rest of Pécs. The advance guards could break into the city and pillaged it. The Ottomans saw that they could not hold the city, and burnt it, and withdrew into the castle. The army led by Louis of Baden occupied the city on 14 October and destroyed the aqueduct leading to the castle. The Ottomans had no other choice but to surrender, which they did on 22 October (see Siege of Pécs).


title: Pécs

text: The city was under martial law under the command of Karl von Thüngen. The Viennese court wanted to destroy the city first, but later they decided to keep it to counterbalance the importance of Szigetvár, which was still under Ottoman rule. Slowly the city started to prosper again, but in the 1690s two plague epidemics claimed many lives. In 1688 German settlers arrived. Only about one-quarter of the city's population was Hungarian, the others were Germans or Southern Slavs. Census of taxpayers from 1698 lists 637 families for which Janja Živković Mandić concludes that 308 were of Croatian nationality (Catholics Croats, Racs, Šokci, Bunjevci, Illyrians, Slavs, Bosniaks) and the remaining 329 were Hungarians, Germans, Serbs or Greeks. According to same census István Tabo mentions 171 Hungarian, 349 Slavs and 79 Germans while Đuro Šarošac mentions that at that time in the city lived 325 Croats, 139 Hungarians, 92 Germans, 53 Vlachs and 28 Serbs. According to 1698 data, South Slavs comprised more than half of the population of the town. Because Hungarians were only a minority of the population, Pécs did not support the revolution against Habsburg rule led by Francis II Rákóczi, and his armies pillaged the city in 1704.


title: Pécs

text: A more peaceful era started after 1710. Industry, trade and viticulture prospered, manufactures were founded, a new city hall was built. The feudal lord of the city was the Bishop of Pécs, but the city wanted to free itself from episcopal control. Bishop George Klimó, an enlightened man (who founded the first public library of the country) would have agreed to cede his rights to the city, but the Holy See forbade him to do so. When Klimó died in 1777, Queen Maria Theresa quickly elevated Pécs to free royal town status before the new bishop was elected. This cost the city 83,315 forints.


title: Pécs

text: According to the first census (held in 1787 by the order of Joseph II), there were 1,474 houses and 1,834 families in Pécs, a total of 8,853 residents, of which 133 were priests and 117 were noblemen.


title: Pécs

text: In 1785, the Academy of Győr was moved to Pécs. This academy eventually evolved into a law school. The first stonework theatre of the city was built in 1839.


title: Pécs

text: At that time or Maria Theresia and her son Josef II, the Danube Swabians from Germany was settled in the City.


title: Pécs

text: The industry developed a lot in the second half of the 19th century. By 1848, there were 1,739 industrial workers. Some of the manufactures were nationally famous. The iron and paper factories were among the most modern ones of the age. Coal mining was relevant. A sugar factory and beer manufactures were built, too. The city had 14,616 residents.


title: Pécs

text: During the revolution in 1848–49, Pécs was occupied by Croatian armies for a short time, but it was freed from them by Habsburg armies in January 1849.


title: Pécs

text: After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 Pécs developed, like all the other cities and towns of the country. From 1867, Pécs is connected to the nearby town Barcs by railway, and since 1882 it is also connected to Budapest. In 1913, a tram system has been founded, but it was extinguished in 1960.


title: Pécs

text: At the end of World War I, Baranya county was occupied by Serbian troops, and it was not until August 1921 that Pécs could be sure that it remains part of Hungary. The University of Pressburg (modern-day Bratislava, Slovakia) was moved to Pécs after Hungary lost Pressburg according to the Treaty of Trianon.


title: Pécs

text: During World War II, Pécs was captured by Soviet troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front on 29 November 1944 in the course of the Budapest Offensive. The city suffered only minor damages, even though a large tank-battle took place south of the city, close to the Villány area late in the war, when the advancing Red Army fought its way towards Austria. Until the end of World War II, the majority Inhabitants was Danube Swabians. Some of the former German Settlers was expelled to Germany and Austria in 1945-1948, about the Potsdam Agreement. Germans of Hungary are still a minority in the City.


title: Pécs

text: A history of Hungary from 1945-1990, "under Soviet domination" can be found in A Concise History of Hungary. After the war, development became fast again, and the city grew, absorbing several nearby towns. In the 1980s, Pécs already had 180,000 inhabitants.


title: Pécs

text: After the end of Socialist era (1989–1990), Pécs and its county, like many other areas, were hit hard by the changes, the unemployment rate was high, the mines and several factories were closed, and the war in neighboring Yugoslavia in the 1990s affected the tourism.


title: Pécs

text: Pécs was also the centre of the Nordic Support Group (NSG) consisting of units from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Poland, as part of the IFOR and later SFOR NATO deployments, after the Dayton Agreement and following peace in former Yugoslavia; the first units were deployed to Pécs in late 1995 and early 1996. The NSG handled the relaying of supply, personnel and other logistical tasks between the participating countries and their deployed forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina.


title: Pécs

text: In 1998 Pécs was given the UNESCO prize ""Cities for Peace"" for maintaining its cultural minorities, and also for its tolerant and helping attitude toward refugees of the Yugoslav Wars.


title: Pécs

text: In 2007 Pécs was third, and in 2008 it was second ""Livable City"" (The LivCom Awards) in the category of cities between 75,000 and 200,000 inhabitants.


title: Pécs

text: In 2010, Pécs was selected to be the European Capital of Culture alongside Essen and Istanbul. The city motto is "The Borderless City". After receiving the title major renewal started in the city. Renewed public places, streets, squares and neighbourhoods, new cultural centers, a concert hall, a new library and center and a cultural quarter were designed.


title: Pécs

text: A good example of the city's history and interesting past can be seen in the main square, where the Gazi Kasim Mosque still stands, and, although consecrated as a church following the retreat of the Ottoman Turks centuries ago, the crescent moon of Islam is still visible on the cupola, surmounted by a cross. Indeed, Pécs is the richest town in Hungary in terms of Turkish architecture, with the ruins of Memi Pasa's Baths and the mausoleum of miracle worker Idris Baba, just two other notable remains. The Yakovalı Hasan Paşa Mosque, dating from the mid-1500s, still functions as an active mosque today. It is open to the public except during Friday services from 2.30 to 3.30 pm.


title: Pécs

text: The majority of the citizens with 84.0% are Hungarians according to the 2011 census. The city's Germans are the largest minority with 4.2%. Followed by the Roma (2.0%), the Croats (1.2%) and the Romanians (0.2%).


title: Pécs

text: The largest religious group is the Catholics with 39.7% Roman Catholic and 0.3% Greek Catholic. The second largest denomination is the Calvinists (5.2%), the third the Lutherans (1.3%). 27.8% of the population is non-religious.


title: Pécs

text: Due to the number of international students studying and living in Pécs, a notable diversity of non-permanent citizen could be obviously seen around the city.


title: Pécs

text: Historically Pécs was well known in Hungary for its industry with several factories, but after the fall of the Iron Curtain many have not managed the economic transition well and went bankrupt (e.g. Pécsi Kesztyűgyár, Pécsi Bőrgyár, Littke Pezsgőgyár etc.). Until some years ago, it had a coal and uranium mine, now only its sand mine exists and is operated by the Hungarian-owned "Quartz" mining company.


title: Pécs

text: The nationally (and to a limited extent internationally) famous porcelain factory, the "Zsolnay Porcelain" is the greatest pride of Pécs. The walls and roofs of several public and private buildings in the city are decorated with the company's porcelains contributing to Pécs's unique cityscape.


title: Pécs

text: The "Pécsi Sörfőzde" (Pécs Brewery) is one of the four main Hungarian breweries (the others being Dreher Breweries, Borsod Brewery, Heineken Hungária), but the only one of them owned fully by Hungarians. It produces a special beer, that is known for not being strained before bottling.


title: Pécs

text: The Hungarian textilmanufacturer "Rovitex Hungária", the American crane manufacturer Terex, the Hungarian scale manufacturer "Pécsi Mérlegstúdió", the Hungarian furniture manufacturer "Megyeri Bútor", the Hungarian cutting-tool manufacturer "FORSZ", the German switchboard manufacturer HB-Kapcsolószekrénygyártó (part of the Bader Gruppe), the Hungarian recycling company "Alcufer", the Hungarian agricultural vehiclemanufacturer "HIDROT", the Hungarian animal husbandry tool manufacturer "Önitató", the tobacco factory "Pécsi Dohánygyár" (owned by British American Tobacco), the Hungarian automotive spare parts manufacturer "Matro", the Hungarian safe manufacturer "Strauss Metal", the Hungarian packaging machine manufacturer "SOMAPAK", the Hungarian plastics producer "Termoplast", the "Bocz Printing House", the Hungarian pickles manufacturer "Babina", the Hungarian plastic product manufacturer "Karsai Pécs", the Hungarian metal manufacturer "Riner Metal" based there and have their production facilities in the city.


title: Pécs

text: There is a gradual development of modern high-tech industry, with Finnish electronics manufacturing company Elcoteq the largest industrial employer in the city, the Hungarian "Z Elektronika" electronics manufacturer and the Hungarian TG Netcom IT network manufacturer.


title: Pécs

text: The "Biokom" waste management and recycling company (owned by the city) is responsible for the transport and recycling of waste in the whole territory of Pécs and the surrounding areas. The energy used in the settlement is produced mainly by the two biomass power plants of "Pannonpower" (part of Veolia) which consists of a 49,9 MW woodchip-fired and a 35 MW agricultural by-product-fired powerplants. The country's largest solar cell field is also in Pécs, thanks to the city's southern location and longer sunny hours, which can produce about 10 MW energy a year. The solar power plant is operated by "MVM Hungarowind" (part of the MVM Group).


title: Pécs

text: The Expo Center Pécs Exhibition and Conference Centre provides place for international exhibitions and conferences.


title: Pécs

text: The University of Pécs was founded by Louis I of Hungary in 1367. It is the oldest university in Hungary, and is among the first European universities. In the recent past it used to be divided in two universities, one for Medicine and Orthodontics (POTE) and a larger one for other studies: JPTE (Janus Pannonius Tudományegyetem). The POTE (Pécs University Medical School, now known as the Medical School) has a large English program for general medicine and dentistry (with students from America, Asia, Africa, and European countries - including many Scandinavians) and a new German program. On 1 January 2000 these universities were combined under the name University of Pécs (acronym: PTE - Pécsi Tudományegyetem - University of Pécs). Nowadays, the University of Pécs has become the most internationalized university in Hungary with around 5000 international students out of the total of approximately 20000 students (around 25%).


title: Pécs

text: The local Municipal Assembly, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 26 members (1 Mayor, 18 Individual constituencies MEPs and 7 Compensation List MEPs) divided into this political parties and alliances:


title: Pécs

text: Fidesz policies in Pécs have included a law making homelessness illegal (2014) and an official call to property owners not to make space available for an NGO supported by OSF (2017).


title: Pécs

text: Pécs is connected to Budapest through Pusztaszabolcs, and has direct connections to Mohács, Nagykanizsa.


title: Pécs

text: Designed by Ferenc Pfaff, the main railway station was built in 1900 and became a listed building in 2008. The building itself was built in the style of Renaissance Eclecticism, and it features reliefs depicting James Watt and George Stephenson designed by Klein Ármin and made by Zsolnay factory A mass transit hub -including a bus terminal, a bus stop and a cab rank zone- is situated on the square in front of the railway station.


title: Pécs

text: Volvo and Kravtex-Credo buses provide the only form of public transport in Pécs, though a tram line did operate from 1913 to 1960, when it was shut down due to changing transportation policy. Most of the remnants of this older system have been removed, though a few rails may still be seen around the city.


title: Pécs

text: A new airport opened in Pécs Pécs-Pogány International Airport in March 2006. Its main traffic is supplied by smaller charter planes.


title: Paul Higgins (actor)

text: Paul Higgins is a Scottish actor, best known for appearing in the British television series "The Thick of It", "Utopia" and "Line of Duty".


title: Paul Higgins (actor)

text: Higgins was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was raised as a Roman Catholic, but now he considers himself a lapsed Catholic. As a teenager, he trained to be a priest, but gave his training up aged 17 when he began dating.


title: Paul Higgins (actor)

text: Higgins has appeared onstage in "Paul" and "Black Watch", and in the film "Complicity". He played Alan in "Staying Alive", a hospital drama on ITV. He has also played Jamie McDonald, an aggressive press officer, in the BBC show "The Thick of It" and its spin-off feature-length film, "In the Loop". In 2009, he appeared as Gil Cameron on the BBC drama "Hope Springs". He played Michael Dugdale in Channel 4's acclaimed conspiracy thriller "Utopia". In 2013 he appeared in series 1 of the BBC series "Line of Duty" and returned for season 4 in 2017.


title: Paul Higgins (actor)

text: He wrote a play titled "Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us", which was performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland in November 2008.


title: Paul Higgins (actor)

text: Higgins is married to actress Amelia Bullmore, whom he met in 1992 while co-starring with her in "A View from the Bridge" in Manchester. Since December 2019 he has been Chair of ACT, the Actors' Children's Trust, and since September 2021 a Trustee of The Vegan Society.


title: Olga Sosnovska

text: Sosnovska was born in Wieluń, Poland. Her family emigrated to England when she was eleven. Sosnovska is perhaps best known in the United States for her role as the Polish businesswoman Lena Kundera on the soap opera "All My Children". In 2003, her pairing with Bianca Montgomery (portrayed by Eden Riegel), the daughter of Erica Kane, and their subsequent kiss made television history in the US. This was the first ever same-sex kiss in American soap opera history.


title: Olga Sosnovska

text: In Britain, she was known for playing Fiona Carter in series 3–4 of the popular series "Spooks", which she left mid-series owing to her first pregnancy in 2005.


title: Olga Sosnovska

text: She is married to the actor Sendhil Ramamurthy (of TV series "Heroes" fame) and they have one daughter, Halina (b. 2005), and one son, Alex (b. 2008). Sosnovska played a small role in a third-season episode of "Heroes". In 2007, Sosnovska played the role of Debbie in "Ocean's Thirteen".


title: Vaclav Smil

text: Vaclav Smil (; born 9 December 1943) is a Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His interdisciplinary research interests encompass a broad area of energy, environmental, food, population, economic, historical and public policy studies. He has also applied these approaches to energy, food and environmental affairs of China.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: Smil was born during WWII in Plzeň, at that time in the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (present-day Czech Republic). His father was a police officer and his mother a bookkeeper. Growing up in a remote mountain town in the Plzeň Region, Smil cut wood daily to keep the home heated. This provided an early lesson in energy efficiency and density.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: Smil completed his undergraduate studies and began his graduate work (culminating in the RNDr., an intermediate graduate degree similar to the Anglo-American Master of Philosophy credential, in 1965) at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Charles University in Prague, where he took 35 classes a week, 10 months a year, for 5 years. "They taught me nature, from geology to clouds," Smil said. After graduation he refused to join the Communist party, undermining his job prospects, though he found employment at a regional planning office. He married Eva, who was studying to be a physician. In 1969, following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and also Eva's graduation, the Smils emigrated to the United States, leaving the country months before a Soviet travel ban shut the borders. "That was not a minor sacrifice, you know?" Smil says. Smil then received his Ph.D. in geography from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences of Pennsylvania State University in 1971.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: In 1972, Smil took his first job offer at the University of Manitoba where he remained for decades, until his retirement. He taught introductory environmental science courses among other subjects dealing with energy, atmospheric change, China, population and economic development.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: Smil is skeptical that there will be a rapid transition to clean energy, believing it will take much longer than many predict. Smil said "I have never been wrong on these major energy and environmental issues because I have nothing to sell," unlike many energy companies and politicians.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: Smil noted in 2018 that coal, oil, and natural gas still supply 90% of the world's primary energy. Despite decades of growth in newer renewable energy technologies, the worldwide proportion of energy supplied by fossil fuels had increased since 2000. He emphasizes that "the greatest long-term challenge in the industrial sector will be to displace fossil carbon used in the production of primary iron, cement, ammonia and plastics" which account for 15% of the total fossil fuel consumption globally. Smil favours reducing demand for fossil fuels through energy conservation, and calls for having the price of energy reflect its real costs including greenhouse gas emissions.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: Smil believes economic growth has to end, that all growth is logistic rather than exponential, and that humans could consume much lower levels of materials and energy.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: Included among Smil's admirers is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who has read all of Smil's 36 books. "I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next Star Wars movie," Gates wrote in 2017. "He's a slayer of bullshit," says David Keith, an energy and climate scientist at Harvard University.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: He lives in a house with unusually thick insulation, grows some of his own food, and eats meat roughly once a week. He reads 60 to 110 non-technical books a year and keeps a list of all books he has read since 1969. He "does not intend to have a cell phone ever."


title: Vaclav Smil

text: Smil is known for being "intensely private", shunning the press while letting his books speak for themselves. At the University of Manitoba, he only ever showed up at one faculty meeting (since the 1980s). The school accepted his reclusiveness so long as he kept teaching and publishing highly rated books.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Science Academy) and the recipient of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology in 2000. In 2010, he was named by "Foreign Policy" magazine to its list of FP Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013, he was appointed by the Governor General to the Order of Canada. In the fall of 2013, he was the EADS Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: He has been an invited speaker in more than 300 conferences and workshops in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa, has lectured at many universities in North America, Europe and East Asia and has worked as a consultant for many US, European Union and international institutions.


title: Vaclav Smil

text: His book "How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going" was a nominee for the 2022 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: The pyramid-shaped maxillary sinus (or antrum of Highmore) is the largest of the paranasal sinuses, and drains into the middle meatus of the nose through the osteomeatal complex.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: It is the largest air sinus in the body. Found in the body of the maxilla, this sinus has three recesses: an alveolar recess pointed inferiorly, bounded by the alveolar process of the maxilla; a zygomatic recess pointed laterally, bounded by the zygomatic bone; and an infraorbital recess pointed superiorly, bounded by the inferior orbital surface of the maxilla. The medial wall is composed primarily of cartilage. The ostia for drainage are located high on the medial wall and open into the semilunar hiatus of the lateral nasal cavity; because of the position of the ostia, gravity cannot drain the maxillary sinus contents when the head is erect (see pathology). The ostium of the maxillary sinus is high up on the medial wall and on average is 2.4 mm in diameter; with a mean volume of about 10 ml.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: The sinus is lined with mucoperiosteum, with cilia that beat toward the ostia. This membranous lining is also referred to as the Schneiderian membrane, which is histologically a bilaminar membrane with pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelial cells on the internal (or cavernous) side and periosteum on the osseous side. The size of the sinuses varies in different skulls, and even on the two sides of the same skull.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: The infraorbital canal usually projects into the cavity as a well-marked ridge extending from the roof to the anterior wall; additional ridges are sometimes seen in the posterior wall of the cavity and are caused by the alveolar canals.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: The mucous membranes receive their postganglionic parasympathetic nerve fibres for mucous secretion from the pterygopalatine ganglion. The preganglionic parasympathetic fibres are coming to this ganglion through the greater petrosal nerve (a branch of the facial nerve) and the nerve of the pterygoid canal. The superior alveolar (anterior, middle, and posterior) nerves, branches of the maxillary nerve provide sensory innervation.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: The nasal wall of the maxillary sinus, or base, presents, in the disarticulated bone, a large, irregular aperture, communicating with the nasal cavity. In the articulated skull this aperture is much reduced in size by the following bones:


title: Maxillary sinus

text: On the posterior wall are the alveolar canals, transmitting the posterior superior alveolar vessels and nerves to the molar teeth.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: The floor is formed by the alveolar process, and, if the sinus is of an average size, is on a level with the floor of the nose; if the sinus is large it reaches below this level. Projecting into the floor of the antrum are several conical processes, corresponding to the roots of the first and second maxillary molar teeth; in some cases the floor can be perforated by the apices of the teeth.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: Maxillary sinus is the first paranasal sinuses to form. At birth, it is about 6 to 8 cm in volume, elongated, as is orientated in antero-posterior direction, located at the next to the medial orbital wall of the eye. The lateral wall of the maxillary sinus goes beneath the medial orbital wall during the first year of life, extends laterally pass the infraorbital groove by the age of four years, and reach the maxilla by the age of nine years. After the first permanent tooth erupted at the age of six to seven, aeration of maxillary sinus is the main growth feature. At the final phase of aeration, the floor of maxillary sinus is four to five milimetres below the floor of nasal cavity. However, timing of maxillary sinus growth is variable in different people.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: Maxillary sinusitis is inflammation of the maxillary sinuses. The symptoms of sinusitis are headache, usually near the involved sinus, and foul-smelling nasal or pharyngeal discharge, possibly with some systemic signs of infection such as fever and weakness. The skin over the involved sinus can be tender, hot, and even reddened due to the inflammatory process in the area. On radiographs, there is opacification (or cloudiness) of the usually translucent sinus due to retained mucus.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: Maxillary sinusitis is common due to the close anatomic relation of the frontal sinus, anterior ethmoidal sinus and the maxillary teeth, allowing for easy spread of infection. Differential diagnosis of dental problems needs to be done due to the close proximity to the teeth since the pain from sinusitis can seem to be dentally related. Furthermore, the drainage orifice lies near the roof of the sinus, and so the maxillary sinus does not drain well, and infection develops more easily. The maxillary sinus may drain into the mouth via an abnormal opening, an oroantral fistula, a particular risk after tooth extraction.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: An OAC is an abnormal physical communication between the maxillary sinus and the mouth. This opening is only present when the structures, that normally separates the mouth and sinus into 2 separate compartments, are lost.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: There are many causes of an OAC. The most common reason is following extraction of a posterior maxillary (upper) premolar or molar tooth. Other causes include trauma, pathology (e.g. tumours or cysts), infection or iatrogenic damage during surgery. Iatrogenic damage during dental treatment accounts for nearly half of the incidence of dental-related maxillary sinusitis. There is always a thin layer of mucous membrane ("Schneiderian membrane") and usually bone between the roots of the upper back teeth and the floor of the maxillary sinus. However, the bone can vary in thickness in different individuals, ranging from complete absence to 12mm thick. Therefore, in certain individuals the membrane +/- the bony floor of the sinus can be perforated easily, creating an opening into the mouth when a tooth is extracted.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: An OAC that is smaller than 2mm can heal spontaneously i.e. closure of the opening. Those that are larger than 2mm have a higher chance of developing into oro-antral fistula (OAF). The passage is only defined as an OAF if it is persistent and lined by epithelium. Epithelialisation happens when an OAC persist for at least 2–3 days and oral epithelial cells proliferate to line the defect. Large defects (more than 2mm) should be surgically closed as soon as possible to avoid accumulation of food and saliva which could contaminate the maxillary sinus, leading to infection (sinusitis). Various surgical techniques can be employed to manage an OAF but the most common involves pulling and stitching some soft tissue from the gum to cover the opening (i.e. soft tissue flap).


title: Maxillary sinus

text: Traditionally the treatment of acute maxillary sinusitis is usually prescription of a broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic resistant to beta-lactamase, administered for 10 days. Recent studies have found that the cause of chronic sinus infections lies in the nasal mucus, not in the nasal and sinus tissue targeted by standard treatment. This suggests a beneficial effect in treatments that target primarily the underlying and presumably damage-inflicting nasal and sinus membrane inflammation, instead of the secondary bacterial infection that has been the primary target of past treatments for the disease. Also, surgical procedures with chronic sinus infections are now changing with the direct removal of the mucus, which is loaded with toxins from the inflammatory cells, rather than the inflamed tissue during surgery. Leaving the mucus behind might predispose early recurrence of the chronic sinus infection. If any surgery is performed, it is to enlarge the ostia in the lateral walls of the nasal cavity, creating adequate drainage.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: Carcinoma of the maxillary sinus may invade the palate and cause dental pain. It may also block the nasolacrimal duct. Spread of the tumor into the orbit causes proptosis.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: With age, the enlarging maxillary sinus may even begin to surround the roots of the maxillary posterior teeth and extend its margins into the body of the zygomatic bone. If the maxillary posterior teeth are lost, the maxillary sinus may expand even more, thinning the bony floor of the alveolar process so that only a thin shell of bone is present.


title: Maxillary sinus

text: The maxillary sinus was first discovered and illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci, but the earliest attribution of significance was given to Nathaniel Highmore, the British surgeon and anatomist who described it in detail in his 1651 treatise.


title: Middle of the Road (band)

text: Middle of the Road are a Scottish pop group who have enjoyed success across Europe and Latin America since the 1970s. Before ABBA established themselves in the mid 70s, Middle of the Road were the sound of early europop with their distinctive harmonies and lead vocals from Sally Carr. Four of their singles sold over one million copies each, and received a gold disc: "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep". "Sacramento", "Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum" and "Soley Soley". By early 1972 the group had sold over five million records.


title: Middle of the Road (band)

text: Original lead singer Sally Carr, drummer Ken Andrew, guitarist Ian McCredie and his bassist brother Eric McCredie, founded the band on 1 April 1970 in Glasgow, Scotland. They had already played together under the name Part Four since 1967 and later in Latin American style under the name "Las Caracas". Under the name "Las Caracas" they won the UK TV talent show Opportunity Knocks. They moved to Italy in 1970 because they had not found success in the United Kingdom. There they met the Italian music producer Giacomo Tosti, who gave the band their distinctive sound and gave them their international break.


title: Middle of the Road (band)

text: The band had their first and biggest hit record in the United Kingdom with their debut UK single, "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep". The song reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1971 and stayed there for four more weeks. In all, Middle of the Road had five hit singles in the UK in 1971 and 1972. The band had especially strong success in Germany, where they achieved eleven Top 40 hits between 1971 and 1974. As an example of this, Frank Valdor was fast to adapt "Sacramento" as his "party records". "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" and "Sacramento" were played a lot on Scandinavian radio. In the Dutch "Daverende 30" the group had four number 1 hits in between 1971 and 1973.


title: Middle of the Road (band)

text: In 1974, early Bay City Rollers member Neil Henderson joined the band on guitar. He wrote and co-wrote songs for Middle of the Road, including the singles "Rockin' Soul" and "Everybody Loves a Winner" and 1974 albums, "You Pays Yer Money and You Takes Yer Chance" and "Postcard", all released in Germany via Ariola like their first German LP, "Music Music".


title: Middle of the Road (band)

text: Carr left the group in 1977, and was replaced by Linda Carroll, who sang on the "Something Old Something New" album (1981), and several singles released between 1977 and 1981. Carroll left the group in 1981.


title: Middle of the Road (band)

text: In 2016, Middle of the Road's founding guitarist Ian McCredie accepted a Living Legends Award on behalf of the group at the Scottish Music Awards in Glasgow. In 2017, Middle of the Road released their first single in over 20 years, a live recording of their 1970s hit Soley Soley, performed in front of 20,000 people in Berlin's Waldbühne amphitheatre.


title: Mavin Records

text: Mavin Records (also known as the Supreme Mavin Dynasty) is a Nigerian music corporation record label founded by record producer and recording artist Don Jazzy on 8 May 2012. The label's inception came to fruition following the closure of Mo' Hits Records, a record label owned by the aforementioned producer and D'banj. The label is home to recording artists such as Korede Bello, Dr SID, D'Prince, Di'Ja, Johnny Drille, Ladipoe, DNA Twins, Rema, Crayon, Ayra Starr, Magixx, Boy Spyce and Bayanni. It also houses producers such as Jazzy himself, Altims, London, Baby Fresh, and Andre Vibez. In 2014, DJ Big N became the label's official disc jockey. Tiwa Savage, Wande Coal, Reekado Banks and Iyanya were all formerly signed to the label. On 8 May 2012, the label released its compilation album "Solar Plexus". In January 2019, Mavin Records secured a multi-million dollar investment from Kupanda Holdings, a subsidiary of Kupanda Capital and TPG Growth.


title: Mavin Records

text: Mavin Records started as a result of D'banj's departure from Mo' Hits. Prior to commenting on D'banj's exit from Mo' Hits, there were allegations that D'banj signed over Mo' Hits to Don Jazzy. In an interview with "Sunday Punch", Don Jazzy addressed D'banj's departure from Mo Hits, saying, "We were working together, and all was going well." It got to a point where I looked at the situation and we both decided that it was not working, and we had to move on. Don Jazzy alluded to being hesitant about a name change. According to "BellaNaija", the term "Mavin" describes someone who is gifted and skilled in any field. Upon establishing the rebranded record label, Don Jazzy said he sees Mavin Records as the powerhouse of music in Africa in the shortest possible time. After rebranding Mo' Hits to Mavin, Don Jazzy signed Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage. Pulse Nigeria reported that Jazzy admires the singer's work ethic and drive. Pulse Nigeria also reported that Mavin Records signed producers Aluko "Altims" Timothy and Sunday "BabyFresh" Enejere.


title: Mavin Records

text: On May 7, 2012, the record label launched its official website and the Mavin league, a social networking site designed to cater to their fans worldwide. Don Jazzy signed endorsement deals with Samsung and Loya Milk after establishing the label, and Tiwa Savage also signed an endorsement deal with Pepsi. Within a year of becoming a revamped brand, the record label released "Take Banana" and "Oma Ga" as singles from its debut compilation album, "Solar Plexus". In February 2014, Don Jazzy signed Di'Ja, Reekado Banks and Korede Bello to Mavin Records a week after each other. On May 1, 2014, Mavin Records released the hit single "Dorobucci" to critical acclaim. On February 25, 2015, Don Jazzy and Tiwa Savage both signed endorsement deals with Konga.com. On October 31, 2016, several media outlets in Nigeria reported that Iyanya signed a record deal with Mavin Records. Both Iyanya and Don Jazzy confirmed the report on Instagram. On February 28, 2017, Don Jazzy announced the signings of Johnny Drille, Ladipoe and DNA to Mavin Records. In March 2019, he also announced the signing of Rema to Mavin. On May 31, Mavin unveiled the signing of Crayon. The next day, the record label released the collaborative single "All is in Order." On January 21, 2021, the label unveiled the signing of Ayra Starr, an 18-year-old female Afropop singer.


title: Mavin Records

text: Reports about Wande Coal's departure surfaced after he released and promoted the single "Kilaju" without the support of Mavin Records. On 5 November 2013, Wande Coal released a song titled "Baby Face" and said Shizzi produced it for him. Subsequently, Don Jazzy went on Twitter and accused Coal of intellectual property theft. He uploaded a studio demo of "Baby Face," which was supposedly recorded the previous year. Wande Coal tweeted several times, debunking Jazzy's allegations. He also tweeted a link to the "original" studio version of the song. Entertainment lawyer Demilade Olaosun spoke to "Premium Times" newspaper about intellectual property (IP). He said the song is a property of Mavin Records since it was produced, arranged and voiced by an official of the label. The lawyer also stated that since Wande Coal's recording contract was not made available to the public, speculations cannot be made about the IP of the recording sound. On 7 November 2013, Mavin Records sent out a press release officially announcing Wande Coal's departure. The press release came shortly after the Twitter feud between Don Jazzy and Wande Coal.


title: Mavin Records

text: In a radio interview with Beat FM in February 2018, Iyanya announced his exit from Mavin Records, saying, "I'm now signed to Temple Music, but I'm a Mavin for life. It was not a beef. I was there, and it was time to move on". On 7 December 2018, Reekado Banks announced his departure from Mavin Records after 5 years and launching of his independent outfit banks music on Instagram. In May 2019, Universal Music Group announced the signing of Tiwa Savage. During said announcement, it was revealed that Savage left Mavin Records. Don Jazzy congratulated Savage on her UMG signing and said she will forever be remembered at Mavin.


title: Mavin Records

text: Mavin Records was nominated for Best Record Label of the Year at the 2013 City People Entertainment Awards. The label won the aforementioned category at the 2014 City People Entertainment Awards.


title: Courland

text: Courland (; ; ; German and Scandinavian languages: "Kurland"; /; ; Estonian: "Kuramaa"; ; ) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. The largest city is Liepāja, the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were formerly held by the same duke.


title: Courland

text: Situated in western Latvia, Courland roughly corresponds to the former Latvian districts of Kuldīga, Liepāja, Saldus, Talsi, Tukums and Ventspils.


title: Courland

text: When combined with Semigallia and Selonia, Courland's northeastern boundary is the Daugava, which separates it from the regions of Latgale and Vidzeme. To the north, Courland's coast lies along the Gulf of Riga. On the west it is bordered by the Baltic Sea, and on the south by Lithuania. It lies between 55° 45′ and 57° 45′ North and 21° and 27° East.


title: Courland

text: The area comprises , of which is made up of lakes. The landscape generally has a low and undulating character, with flat and marshy coastlands. The interior features wooded dunes, covered with pine, spruce, birch, and oak, with swamps and lakes, and fertile patches between. Courland's elevation never rises more than above sea level.


title: Courland

text: The Jelgava plain divides Courland into two parts, the western side, which is fertile and densely inhabited, except in the north, and the eastern side, less fertile and thinly inhabited.


title: Courland

text: Nearly one hundred rivers drain Courland, but only three of these rivers – the Daugava, the Lielupe and the Venta – are navigable. They all flow northwestward and discharge into the Baltic Sea.


title: Courland

text: Owing to its numerous lakes and marshes, Courland has a damp, often foggy, and changeable climate; its winters are severe.


title: Courland

text: In ancient times the Curonians, a pagan tribe, inhabited Courland. The Brethren of the Sword, a German Catholic military order, subdued the Curonians and converted them to Christianity in the first quarter of the 13th century. Thus in 1230, the Curonian king Lammekinus ("Lamiķis") made peace directly with the papal legate. He accepted baptism, and became a vassal of the pope. In 1237 the area passed into the rule of the Teutonic Order owing to the amalgamation of this order with that of the Brethren of the Sword.


title: Courland

text: The Livonian Confederation was a loosely organized confederation formed by the German-led Livonian Order and various bishoprics that encompassed much of present-day Estonia and Latvia. It existed from 1228 to the 1560s, when it was dismembered by the Tsardom of Russia during the Livonian War.


title: Courland

text: The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was a semi-independent duchy that existed from 1561 until 1795, encompassing the areas of Courland and Semigallia. Although nominally a vassal state of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the dukes operated autonomously. In the 18th century, Russia acquired great influence over the Duchy; the future Empress Anna of Russia served as regent there from 1711 until her accession to the Russian throne in 1730. After the last of the ducal line into which she had married died in 1737, she arranged for the Duchy to be given to her lover, Ernst Johann von Biron instead.


title: Courland

text: The Duchy was one of the smallest European nations to colonize overseas territories, establishing short-lived outposts on the Caribbean islands of Tobago and Trinidad and at the mouth of the Gambia River in Africa on what was then known as James Island.


title: Courland

text: The former Bishopric of Courland was directly incorporated into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as the District of Pilten of the Wenden and later Inflanty Voivodeship.


title: Courland

text: After annexation by the Russian Empire, the territory of the former Duchy formed the Courland Governorate.


title: Courland

text: From the time of the Northern Crusades in the early 13th century, most land was owned by nobles descended from the German invaders. In 1863, the Russian authorities issued laws to enable Latvians, who formed the bulk of the population, to acquire the farms which they held, and special banks were founded to help them. By this means, some occupants bought their farms, but the great mass of the population remained landless, and lived as hired labourers, occupying a low position in the social scale.


title: Courland

text: Agriculture was the chief occupation, with the principal crops being rye, barley, oats, wheat, flax, and potatoes. The large estates conducted agriculture with skill and scientific knowledge. Fruit grew well. Excellent breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs were kept. Liepāja and Jelgava operated as the principal industrial centres, with ironworks, agricultural machinery works, tanneries, glass and soap works. Flax spinning took place mostly as a domestic industry. Iron and limestone were the chief minerals; a little amber was found on the coast. The only seaports were Liepāja, Ventspils and Palanga, there being none on the Courland coast of the Gulf of Riga.


title: Courland

text: In 1870 the population was 619,154; in 1897 it was 674,437 (of whom 345,756 were women); in 1906 it was estimated at 714,200. Of the whole, 79% were Latvians, 8.4% Baltic Germans, about 8% Jews, 1.4% Russians, 1% Lithuanians, 1% Poles, and some Livonians.


title: Courland

text: The chief towns of the ten districts were Jelgava (Mitau), Courland's capital (pop. 35,011 in 1897); Liepāja (Libau) (pop. 64,500 in 1897); Bauska (6,543); Jaunjelgava (Friedrichstadt) (5,223); Kuldīga (Goldingen) (9,733); Grobiņa (1,489); Aizpute (Hasenpoth) (3,338); Ilūkste (Illuxt) (2,340); Talsi (Talsen) (6,215); Tukums (Tuckum) (7542); and Ventspils (Windau) (7,132).


title: Courland

text: 75% of the population belonged to the prevailing denomination, Lutheranism; the rest belonged to the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. There was a small but vigorous Jewish population.


title: Courland

text: During World War I, Courland formed part of the Eastern Front theatre of operations that saw fighting primarily between forces of the Russian and German Empires. Following Russia's Great Retreat of 1915, Courland came under the control of the Imperial German Army's Ober Ost commander in the person of Paul von Hindenburg, a Prussian military hero. (The Russian authorities of the Courland Governorate were exiled to Tartu, never to return.) With large territories coming under the Ober Ost's administration as a result of military successes on the Eastern Front, General Erich Ludendorff was charged with managing the large area now under its jurisdiction. Courland District (which included parts of Semigallia) was made one of three districts of the region, which also came to be known as "Ober Ost".


title: Courland

text: As Russian rule in the rest of what is now Latvia began collapsing at the end of World War I, Baltic Germans began a process of forming provincial councils between September 1917 and March 1918, competing with ethnic Latvians' moves toward independence. With the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of 3 March 1918, the new Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic formally relinquished control of Courland to Germany. The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was proclaimed on 8 March 1918 by a Baltic German "Landesrat", who offered the crown of the duchy to German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wilhelm recognised the duchy as a German vassal that same month. However, the duchy was absorbed on 22 September 1918 by the United Baltic Duchy.


title: Courland

text: On 18 November 1918, Latvia proclaimed its independence and on 7 December 1918, the German military handed over authority to the pro-German Latvian Provisional Government headed by Kārlis Ulmanis. By January 1919, much of Courland had been overrun by the Bolsheviks' Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic, but the provisional government with the aid of German forces pushed back and took back Courland by April. Throughout the Latvian War of Independence, much of Courland remained a German stronghold. Latvia eventually signed a cease-fire with Germany on 15 July 1920, and the Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty of 11 August ended the war.


title: Courland

text: After World War I, Courland became one of five provinces of the newly formed nation of Latvia. These provinces corresponded to Latvia's four traditional regions plus Riga. In 1935, Courland had an area of and a population of 292,659 making it the least populous of the provinces.


title: Courland

text: The Soviet Army occupied Latvia in conformity with the terms of 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 17 June 1940. On 5 August 1940, the Soviet Union annexed the region along with the rest of Latvia which was made a constituent republic of the USSR, the Latvian SSR.


title: Courland

text: At the start of Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941, the German Wehrmacht's Army Group North headed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb overran Courland, along with the rest of the Baltic littoral. In 1944 the Red Army lifted the siege of Leningrad and re-conquered the Baltic area along with much of Ukraine and Belarus. However, some 200,000 German troops held out in Courland. With their backs to the Baltic Sea, they remained trapped in what became known as the Courland Pocket, blockaded by the Red Army and by the Red Baltic Fleet. Colonel-General Heinz Guderian, the Chief of the German General Staff, pleaded with Adolf Hitler to allow evacuation of the troops in Courland by sea for use in the defense of Germany. Hitler refused and ordered the Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine forces in Courland to continue the defense of the area. Germany’s naval capacity to evacuate these forces was restricted as it needed the majority of its transport ships to evacuate troops from East Prussia and maintain vital trade with Sweden. On January 15, 1945, Army Group Courland ("Heeresgruppe Kurland") formed under Colonel-General Dr. Lothar Rendulic. The blockade by elements of the Leningrad Front remained until May 8, 1945, when Army Group Courland, then under its last commander, Colonel-General Carl Hilpert, surrendered to Marshal Leonid Govorov, the commander of the Leningrad Front (reinforced by elements of the 2nd Baltic Front) on the Courland perimeter. At this time the group consisted of the remnants of some 31 divisions. After May 9, 1945, approximately 203,000 troops of Army Group Courland began to be moved to Soviet prison camps to the east. The majority of them never returned to Germany (Haupt, 1997).


title: Courland

text: Courland remained part of the Latvian SSR within the Soviet Union following World War II. Courland was no longer an administrative unit under the Soviets but an early Liepāja Oblast, one of three oblasts in Latvia, roughly corresponded to Courland.


title: Courland

text: With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Courland became part of independent Latvia once more and it remains so to this day. Although Courland is not an administrative entity today, the Courland "(Kurzeme)" Planning Region, with an area of and a population of 301,621 in 2008, includes much of the traditional region. The remainder of Courland is part of the planning regions of Riga and Semigallia "(Zemgale)".


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: Nathan Jason Jones (born 28 May 1973) is a Welsh professional football manager who manages club Southampton. He is also a former player who played as a left back or midfielder.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: Jones began his career with Football Conference club Merthyr Tydfil before joining Luton Town in the summer of 1995. He became homesick at Luton so took an opportunity to move to Spain with Badajoz and then Numancia and returned to England with Southend United in 1997. Jones spent three seasons at Roots Hall which included a brief loan spell with Scarborough in 1999. He moved on to Brighton & Hove Albion in 2000 and was part of the team that won three promotions in five years. He joined Yeovil Town in 2005 where he spent seven seasons in League One making over 200 appearances.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: Whilst at Yeovil, Jones began taking his coaching badges, spending time as first-team coach of Yeovil Town Ladies and later player-assistant manager of the first team. He left Yeovil in 2012 and joined Charlton Athletic as their under-21 professional development coach, a role which he held for one season. He returned to Brighton as a member of the coaching staff to Óscar García, Sami Hyypiä and Chris Hughton. Jones left Brighton in January 2016 to take over as manager of League Two club Luton Town. He guided the Hatters to the League Two play-offs in 2016–17 losing out to Blackpool but earned promotion to League One in 2017–18 finishing in 2nd place.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: With Luton on course for a second consecutive promotion Jones left in January 2019 for Championship club Stoke City. His time at Stoke was ultimately unsuccessful, with him being dismissed in November 2019. Jones returned to Luton in May 2020, subsequently saving the club from relegation following the restart of the season after the UK's lockdown. During the 2022–23 season, he left Luton for a second time and joined Premier League club Southampton.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: Jones was born in Blaenrhondda a small mining village in the Rhondda Valley and began his career with the youth team at local club Cardiff City.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: Jones was released by Cardiff in the summer of 1991 and went to play for Maesteg Park, Ton Pentre and Football Conference club Merthyr Tydfil. He spent two years at Penydarren Park before signing for David Pleat's Luton Town in July 1995 for a fee of £10,000. However he soon became homesick at Luton and so moved to Spain to join Segunda División club Badajoz who were managed by Englishman Colin Addison. The team narrowly missed out on promotion to La Liga in 1995–96, missing out to Extremadura by one goal. Jones dropped down to the Segunda División B in 1996–97 joining Numancia and helped them gain promotion via the play-offs. Jones credits his time in Spain as a major impact on his life and career.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: Jones returned to England play for Southend United in 1997. He spent three seasons at Southend, including a loan at Scarborough in the 1998–99 season, where he was part of the team relegated by Jimmy Glass' memorable goal for Carlisle United.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: He moved to Brighton & Hove Albion where he made over 150 appearances during his five seasons at the club, achieving three promotions.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: Jones moved to Yeovil Town in 2005 and established himself as a member of the first team. His seven-year association with the club included captaining the team at Wembley Stadium for the 2007 Football League One play-off Final, resulting in a 2–0 defeat to Blackpool.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: Jones started his FA Level Three Coaching Badge in the summer of 2008, and became first-team coach of Yeovil Town Ladies from November 2007, alongside manager Steve Phelps and assistant manager Nigel Wolfe.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: On 18 February 2009, Jones was confirmed as player-assistant manager of Yeovil, alongside player-manager Terry Skiverton. Following Skiverton's replacement by Gary Johnson, Jones was demoted to the role of first-team coach.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: On 1 June 2012, Jones left Yeovil Town after seven years and having played 211 matches for the club by mutual consent.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: On 27 June 2012, Jones joined Championship club Charlton Athletic as their under-21 professional development coach.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: On 19 July 2013, Jones joined Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion, filling the new position of assistant head coach, working under head coach Óscar García. Following Oscar's departure from Brighton and the appointment of new manager Sami Hyypiä, Jones changed roles and became Brighton's first-team coach. After Hyypia's resignation on 22 December 2014, Jones was appointed as caretaker manager. Following Chris Hughton's appointment as manager on 31 December 2014, Jones moved back to his role as assistant manager. On 3 February 2015, after the appointment of Colin Calderwood as Hughton's assistant manager, Jones was demoted to the role of first-team coach.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: On 6 January 2016, Jones left his role as first-team coach with Brighton to become the new manager of League Two club Luton Town on a two-and-a-half-year contract. He won 11 of his 21 matches in charge during the remainder of 2015–16, guiding the club away from the danger of relegation to an 11th-place finish.


title: Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

text: Jones made wholesale changes to Luton's squad ahead of 2016–17, releasing 12 players and signing eight new ones. Jones' Luton team spent only one week of the season outside the top seven positions, while he also led the club to the semi-final of the EFL Trophy. He signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with the club on 20 March 2017. Luton finished the 2016–17 season in fourth place, but were beaten 6–5 on aggregate by Blackpool in the play-off semi-final, meaning they would compete the 2017–18 season in League Two again.