title: Oradea

text: Oradea's current architecture is a mix of Communist-era apartment buildings, mainly in the outer quarters, and beautiful historical buildings that are remnants of the era when the city was part of Austria-Hungary. In addition to many Baroque buildings, Oradea is remarkable for its particularly rich collection of Art Nouveau architecture.


title: Oradea

text: Art Nouveau is easy to discern because of its curved, undulating lines " flowing " naturally, in syncopate rhythms, as a musical leitmotif. The numerous open curved lines – parabolas and hyperbolas – important elements of Art Nouveau "panoply", give dynamism and rhythm to these buildings and artefacts.


title: Oradea

text: It is fully expressed in decorative arts, design, and architecture. The main ornamental characteristic is the asymmetric undulating line, terminated by an energetic whiplash.


title: Oradea

text: Oradea may be considered one of the most representative centres of 1900 architecture in Romania; it can be compared with those of Secession architecture in Central Europe.


title: Oradea

text: Located at the Romanian western border, Nagyvárad (to be changed to Oradea after the Treaty of Trianon) had been part of the Hungarian Kingdom, and was, until the Treaty of Trianon in 1921, part of the Central European Austro-Hungarian Empire and, thus, was influenced by the artistic currents of this space.


title: Oradea

text: The buildings of the early 20th century are richly marked by Lechner and Vienna Secession influence, inheriting an important legacy from the great architects of the artistic movement of the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The architecture and habitat of Oradea are to be approached only in the context of Central European architecture.


title: Oradea

text: By its independence and personality, Oradea has a place among the large great European families of the firmly contoured 1900 Art, especially regarding the area between the Citadel and the Main Railway Station. There are here rental buildings, (Moskovits Palace I and II, Apollo Palace, Stern Palace, Adorján Houses I and II, Darvasy Palace), villas (La Roche, Vágó, Okany Schwartz), hotels (Pannonia, Emke, Rimonoczy, Weiszlovics, Fekete Sas / Vulturul Negru), military buildings – on Armatei Române Street, industrial buildings and warehouses (beer-, spirit-, bricks-factories, electric plant's chimney), public institutions (City Hall, Palace of Orthodox Bishopry, Palace of Greek-Catholic Bishopry, Palace of Justice, banks, houses of commerce and industry etc.), signed by architects who have a prime place in the European 1900 Architecture record: Odon Lechner, Dezső Jakab, Marcell Komor, László and József Vágó, Valér Mende, Ferenc Sztaril, Ferenc Löbl, Kálmán Rimanóczy Sr.and Jr., Anton Szallerbek. All these sites offer a very diverse research and development material.


title: Oradea

text: These great architects brought in Nagyvárad (Oradea) the influence of Vienna and Budapest through their work, featuring a new style, different from the academic ones, thus creating the premises of a stylistic diversification based on inventions and originality.


title: Oradea

text: Like many European cities, "Small Paris", as Oradea was named at the beginning of the last century, has a belle-époque charm given by its Secession, eclectic, New-Romanian, Neoclassic and Baroque architecture. Not impressing by size or opulence, the buildings of Oradea have an aura of welfare, refinement and quality that imprints on the memory.


title: Oradea

text: The early 20th century is well represented in the centre, but almost every zone of the city has something especially particular.


title: Oradea

text: The history centre of the city has a great historical, cultural, architectural and urban planning heritage value. It includes settlements nuclei, architectural relics, monuments of architecture and urban planning beginning with the 16th century up to a well represented beginning of the 20th century, and none of the monuments are annoying or discordant.


title: Oradea

text: Analyzing the unity of style and ornamentation as an intrinsic value of Art Nouveau, we can find a coherent style combining the architectural structure and its artistic means; stucco mouldings, statues and medallions, ironwork, stained glass, opaque and coloured glass – they all justify ornamentation as a principle of architecture, based on the value of the line, on the organic power of the plant and on the structural symbol.


title: Oradea

text: Oradea architecture is a result of the values created by an extremely interesting and valuable ethnic mix, which materialized in a value exchange of a rare richness, and in a shared heritage of great majesty and beauty. In its evident and rare specificity, it appears to be exceptionally valuable.


title: Oradea

text: The heritage represents here a unifying element, a social cohesion instrument, which engendered a cultural mosaic and an original synthesis, like the dialects of a language – the result is a stylistic dialect resulting from mutual embellishments and fertilizations.


title: Oradea

text: This contribution, a Romanian stylistic intervention in an important European current, is worth a special attention and a significant promotion, to match the quality, generosity, authenticity and exceptional value of the harmonious resulting interlacing.


title: Oradea

text: The authenticity of the place was very well kept and fed by the previous generations. If the local specificity is not well-preserved, much of the cultural identity, so important in identifying a people, will be lost.


title: Oradea

text: The entire community must feel obliged to a greater attention and sensitivity concerning the heritage protection, and the authorities and experts must develop policies and actions to preserve such a valuable heritage.


title: Oradea

text: It is necessary to study and know the different views of conservation, to carefully choose the appropriate ones, to avoid possible pitfalls that may stem from trying to maintain a balance between conservation and management of the historic city.


title: Oradea

text: The old city centre is one of the main tourist highlights in Oradea, as are the Băile Felix health spas, accessible by bus and located just outside the city.


title: Oradea

text: CSM Oradea is Oradea's professional basketball club that plays in the country's 1st division, Liga Națională, competition that the club won it, in 2016 and 2018, also competing in international competitions such as Champions League. The team plays its home matches at the Arena Antonio Alexe.


title: Oradea

text: FC Bihor, founded in 1958, club colors were red and blue, and the logo includes the year 1902, when the first football match was played in Oradea in Réday Park, was the city's most representative club in the Romanian football system for 58 years, the club was dissolved in 2016, after important financial problems. A phoenix club appeared in 2022, under the same name FC Bihor Oradea


title: Oradea

text: CA Oradea (CAO), founded in 1910 became famous, after the annexation of Northern Transylvania by Hungary during WW II, the football club played in the Hungarian Championship under the Hungarian translation Nagyváradi Atlétikai Club (NAC), and won the championship at the end of the 1943–1944 season. CA Oradea is one of only three football clubs who played and won national championships in three countries (the other two are SK Rapid Wien and Derry City). After FC Bihor dissolution CAO was refounded in the spring of 2017, at 54 years after its dissolution. In the late years another club appeared on the city's football stage, Luceafărul Oradea, club that was founded in 2001 and now is playing in the Liga II, being the most representative football club of the city and Bihor County, at this moment.


title: Oradea

text: Many important footballers were born in Oradea over time, such as: Iuliu Baratky, Cosmin Bărcăuan, Elemér Berkessy, Zeno Bundea, Zoltan Crișan, Claudiu Keșerü, Attila Kun, Erik Lincar, Marius Popa, Paul Popovici, Francisc Spielmann, Albert Ströck, and Ion Zare.


title: Oradea

text: CSM Digi Oradea is Oradea's professional water polo club, it evolves in the Romanian Superliga, competition that it won 9 times in a row and also have a regular presence in LEN Champions League or LEN Euro Cup, being a finalist in the last one.


title: Oradea

text: Oradea metropolitan area is a metropolitan area located in Western Romania, in the County of Bihor, Crişana Romania and was founded on 9 May 2005.


title: Kicking and Screaming (1995 film)

text: Kicking and Screaming is a 1995 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach in his feature directorial debut. It tells of a group of college graduates who refuse to move on with their lives, each in their own peculiar way. The film stars Josh Hamilton, Chris Eigeman, Carlos Jacott, and features Eric Stoltz, Olivia d'Abo and Parker Posey.


title: Kicking and Screaming (1995 film)

text: Jason Blum, Baumbach's college roommate who was producing a film for the first time, obtained financing after receiving a letter from family acquaintance Steve Martin endorsing the script. Blum attached the letter to copies of the script he sent around Hollywood.


title: Kicking and Screaming (1995 film)

text: "Kicking and Screaming" received mostly positive reviews, with many critical assessments describing it as remarkably competent for a directorial and writing debut, expecting that Baumbach would "graduate to better things." On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10, and with the critical consensus reading: "Witty and watchable yet undeniably flawed, "Kicking and Screaming" marks writer-director Noah Baumbach as an emerging talent with intriguing potential." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Kicking and Screaming (1995 film)

text: Roger Ebert praised the film's "good eye and a terrific ear; the dialogue by writer-director Noah Baumbach is not simply accurate... but a distillation of reality–elevating aimless brainy small-talk into a statement." Reviews often mentioned the thin and meandering plot, but most noted this as a facet of the characters' life stage. Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" stated, ""Kicking and Screaming" occupies its postage-stamp size terrain with confident comic style."


title: Kicking and Screaming (1995 film)

text: According to Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times", "You begin to wonder why you're bothering to watch the aimless lives of these four unfold... At 25 he may be too close to the material to achieve the detachment from which irony and meaning flow." In a 2020 retrospective article, Nathan Dunne of "The Guardian" wrote the film is "a charming distillation of 90s slacker posturing and the tedium of a quarter-life crisis."


title: Kicking and Screaming (1995 film)

text: The film premiered in 1995 at the New York Film Festival to critical acclaim. Baumbach was chosen as one of "Newsweek"s "Ten New Faces of 1996". The Criterion Collection released the film on DVD on August 22, 2006 in the U.S.


title: Brick Lane

text: Brick Lane (Bengali: ব্রিক লেন) is a street in the East End of London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busiest, most commercially active part which runs through Spitalfields, or along its eastern edge. Brick Lane’s southern end is connected to Whitechapel High Street by a short extension called Osborn Street.


title: Brick Lane

text: Today, it is the heart of the country's Bangladeshi community with the vicinity known to some as Banglatown. It is famous for its many curry houses.


title: Brick Lane

text: The street was formerly known as Whitechapel Lane, and wound through fields. It derives its current name from brick and tile manufacture started in the 15th century, which used the local brick earth deposits. The street featured in the 16th-century Woodcut map of London as a partially-developed crossroad leading north from the city's most easterly edge, and by the 17th century was being developed northwards from the Barres (now Whitechapel High Street) as a result of expanding population.


title: Brick Lane

text: Brewing came to Brick Lane before 1680, with water drawn from deep wells. One brewer was Joseph Truman, first recorded in 1683. His family, particularly Benjamin Truman, went on to establish the sizeable Black Eagle Brewery on Brick Lane. The Brick Lane Market first developed in the 17th century for fruit and vegetables sold outside the City.


title: Brick Lane

text: Successive waves of immigrants settled in the area. In the 17th century, French Huguenots expanded into the area for housing; the master weavers were based in Spitalfields. Starting with the Huguenots, the area became a centre for weaving, tailoring and the developing clothing industry. It continued to attract immigrants, who provided semi-skilled and unskilled labour.


title: Brick Lane

text: In the 19th century, Irish people and Ashkenazi Jews immigrated to the area. Jewish immigration continued into the early 20th century.


title: Brick Lane

text: The Sunday market, like those on Petticoat Lane and nearby Columbia Road, dates from a dispensation given by the government to the Jewish community in the 19th century. At the time, owing to the Christian observance of Sabbath, no Sunday markets were open. Located at the junction of Cheshire Street and Sclater Street, the market sells bric-a-brac as well as fruit, vegetables and many other items. In 2015 it was identified by police as the focal point of a trade in stolen bicycles and bicycle parts, many taken from people employed in the City of London who had used "cycle to work" schemes. Alongside seven arrests, the police also warned purchasers that buying bicycles or parts in deals "too good to be true" could make them guilty of handling stolen goods. Near the junction with Hanbury Street are two indoor markets; Upmarket and Backyard Market. The Brick Lane Farmers' Market opened in 2010, intended to be held every Sunday in nearby Bacon Street; it has now closed.


title: Brick Lane

text: In the later 20th century, Bangladeshi Bengalis from Sylhet comprised the major group of immigrants and gradually predominated in the area. Many Bengali immigrants to Brick Lane were from the Greater Sylhet region of what became Bangladesh. These settlers helped shape Bangladeshi migration to Britain; many families from Beanibazar, though they spread around the london city Jagannathpur and Bishwanath tend to live in the Brick Lane area.


title: Brick Lane

text: In 1742, La Neuve Eglise, a Huguenot chapel, was built on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier Street. By 1809, it was used by missionaries as The Jews’ Chapel, where they promoted Christianity to the expanding Jewish population. It was adapted as a Methodist chapel in 1819 for Protestant residents. (John Wesley had preached his first "covenant sermon" at the nearby Black Eagle Street Chapel).


title: Brick Lane

text: Reflecting the changing demographics of the area, in 1898, the building was consecrated as the "Machzikei HaDath", or Spitalfields Great Synagogue. After decades of change in the area, with Jews moving out and Bangladeshis moving in, in 1976 it was adapted again as the London Jamme Masjid (Great London Mosque) to serve the expanding Bangladeshi community. The building is Grade II* listed.


title: Brick Lane

text: In the 20th century the Brick Lane area was important in the second wave of development of Anglo-Indian cuisine, as families from countries such as Bangladesh (mainly the Greater Sylhet region) migrated to London to look for work. Some curry houses of Brick Lane do not sell alcoholic beverages, for most are owned by Muslims. According to "EasyJet Traveller magazine", the top three curry houses on Brick Lane in 2021 are Aladin, Sheba and City Spice.


title: Brick Lane

text: Bengalis in the United Kingdom settled in big cities with industrial employment. In London, many settled in the East End. For centuries the East End has been the first port of call for many immigrants working in the docks and shipping from Chittagong port in Bengal (the British Empire in India was founded and based in Bengal). Their regular stopover paved the way for food outlets to be opened; these catered at first for an all-male workforce, for family migration and settlement took place some decades later. Humble beginnings such as this gave rise to Brick Lane as the famous curry capital of the UK (alongside Birmingham's Balti Triangle).


title: Brick Lane

text: Designed by Meena Thakor, the ornamental Brick Lane Arch was erected in 1997 near Osborn Street to mark the entrance to Brick Lane and to ‘Banglatown’. Like Brick Lane's lamp posts, the arch displays the red and green colours of the Bangladesh flag. Having contributed so significantly to the area, the Bengali community campaigned to get the arch installed to celebrate Bengali culture in Brick Lane.


title: Brick Lane

text: More recently the area has also broadened to being a vibrant art and fashion student area, with considerable exhibition space. Each year most of the fine art and fashion courses exhibit their work near Brick Lane.


title: Brick Lane

text: Since the late 1990s, Brick Lane has been the site of several of the city's best known night clubs, notably 93 Feet East and The Vibe Bar, both built on the site of The Old Truman Brewery, once the industrial centre of the area, and now an office and entertainment complex. In 1999, it was the scene of a bombing that injured 13 people.


title: Brick Lane

text: Brick Lane has a regular display of graffiti, which features artists such as Banksy, Stik, ROA, D*Face, Ben Eine and Omar Hassan. The street has been used in many music videos, including "Glory Days" by Just Jack, "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers, and "Überlin" by R.E.M.


title: Brick Lane

text: Large swathes of Brick Lane and its surrounding areas were once owned by the Osborne (later Osborn after 1720) family, Baronets, of Chicksands in the County of Bedford. The family's holdings survived until at least the 1970s. The family's history continues to be reflected by the naming of streets in the area around Brick Lane, including:


title: Brick Lane

text: Nearby buildings of interest include Christ Church, Spitalfields, the Jamme Masjid or Great London Mosque on the corner of Fournier Street (the building represents a history of successive communities of immigrants in East End), and The Rag Factory on Heneage Street (once home to Turner Prize nominees Tracey Emin and Gary Hume, now a thriving arts space).


title: Brick Lane

text: The nearest London Underground stations are Aldgate East and Liverpool Street. A campaign was launched in 2006 to change the name of Aldgate East station to "Brick Lane", but received no official support.


title: Brick Lane

text: The nearest London Overground station is Shoreditch High Street station. This line runs on part of the former East London Line which has now been converted to London Overground. At the junction with Pedley Street existed the former Shoreditch Underground station terminus, which closed in 2006 due to the construction of the East London Line extension, and replaced by the aforementioned Shoreditch High Street. Remnants of the station can be seen from overground trains entering and leaving Liverpool Street station.


title: Brick Lane

text: The street is the location for Monica Ali's book "Brick Lane", published in 2003, and the film of the same name of 2007 starring Tannishtha Chatterjee. The novel provoked a controversy with some of the local South Asian community because of a perceived negative portrayal of them. Parts of the Bengali community were particularly opposed to plans by Ruby Films to film parts of the movie based on the novel in the Brick Lane area and formed the "Campaign Against Monica Ali's Film Brick Lane". Consequently, the producers of the film used different locations for certain scenes, such as that depicting Brick Lane Market. Despite this, the director of the film, Sarah Gavron, attests on the DVD commentary of the film that genuine footage of Brick Lane does appear in the finished movie. Activists told "The Guardian" they intended to burn copies of Ali's book during a rally to be held on 30 July 2006, but the demonstration passed without incident.


title: Brick Lane

text: Other notable books on the area are "Salaam Brick Lane" by Tarquin Hall, "On Brick Lane" (2007) by Rachel Lichtenstein and "An Acre of Barren Ground" by Jeremy Gavron. A large collection of photographs of the characters and salespeople who worked on the markets in Brick Lane were taken by Fran May between 1976 and 1978, whilst she was a student of photography at the Royal College of Art.


title: Brick Lane

text: The street was used for several filming locations for the third season of the BBC television series "Luther" (2013).


title: Common University Entrance Test

text: The Common University Entrance Test (CUET), earlier known as Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) is an all-India test being organized by National Testing Agency for admission to various Undergraduate, Integrated, Postgraduate, Diploma, Certification courses and Research Programmes in 45 Central Universities of India. It is also accepted by number of other State Universities and Deemed universities in India.


title: Common University Entrance Test

text: CUCET was first conducted to admission for seven central universities for 1,500 seats in 41 undergraduate, postgraduate and integrated courses from 2010. The application form was filled up through "CUCET-2010" which held on 19 and 20 June 2010 in about 30 examination centres spread across the country. From its inception in 2010 till 2020, the CUCET was conducted by the Central University of Rajasthan for 12 Central Universities. The National Testing Agency took over the conduct of these exams in 2021. In 2022, as a part of National Education Policy 2020, CUET is introduced as revamped version of CUCET making it compulsory for all 43 central universities to adopt it.


title: Common University Entrance Test

text: The CUET 2022 consist of language test, domain-specific papers and the general test. Candidates can opt for combination of atmost 2 languages and 6 domain-specific subject or 3 languages and 5 domain-specific tests. CUET entrance test 2022 will now be conducted in two slots. The duration of first slot is 45 to 195 minutes and the duration of the second slot is 45 to 225 minutes.


title: Common University Entrance Test

text: Marking scheme includes 5 marks for each correct answer and 1 mark will be deducted for each wrong response.


title: Common University Entrance Test

text: CUET PG will have more 72 test papers for various courses. The complete mapping of test paper code versus course and university is provided by NTA in the information brochure.


title: Common University Entrance Test

text: For UG & PG Programmes, negative marking scheme is followed with a deduction of 0.25 marks for each wrong answer. However, the negative marking is not followed for research programmes.


title: Common University Entrance Test

text: Only online applications are accepted for CUCET-2022 and application fees for various categories are listed below.


title: Common University Entrance Test

text: Admission in the following universities is done through CUET-UG in 2022 (only undergraduate and integrated masters degrees)-


title: Common University Entrance Test

text: Admission in the following universities is done through CUET-PG in 2022 (only masters degrees and post graduate diplomas)-


title: There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane

text: There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane is a 2011 documentary television film directed by Liz Garbus about the 2009 Taconic State Parkway crash. It premiered on HBO on July 25, 2011.


title: There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane

text: The film profiles Diane Schuler, who caused the fatal car accident, through interviews with her family members and friends, and attempts to piece together Schuler's actions on the day of the accident, in order to determine why the accident took place. The primary interviewees are Schuler's husband, Daniel, and sister-in-law, Jay, who are convinced that the toxicology report showing Schuler's high level of alcohol and THC intoxication was inaccurate, or that Schuler did not knowingly consume the intoxicants.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Stefan Uroš IV Dušan (, ), known as Dušan the Mighty (; circa 1308 – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Tsar (or Emperor) and autocrat of the Serbs and Greeks (or Romans) from 16 April 1346 until his death in 1355.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan conquered a large part of southeast Europe, becoming one of the most powerful monarchs of the era. Under Dušan's rule, Serbia was the major power in the Balkans, and an Eastern Orthodox multi-ethnic and multi-lingual empire that stretched from the Danube in the north to the Gulf of Corinth in the south, with its capital in Skopje. He enacted the constitution of the Serbian Empire, known as Dušan's Code, perhaps the most important literary work of medieval Serbia. Dušan promoted the Serbian Church from an archbishopric to a patriarchate, finished the construction of the Visoki Dečani Monastery (now a UNESCO site), and founded the monastery of the Holy Archangels, among others. Under his rule, Serbia reached its territorial, political, economic, and cultural peak.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan died in 1355, seen as the end of resistance against the advancing Ottoman Empire and the subsequent fall of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the region.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: In 1314, Serbian King Stefan Milutin quarreled with his son, Stefan Uroš III. Milutin sent Dečanski to Constantinople to have him blinded, though he was never totally blinded. Dečanski wrote to Danilo, the bishop of Hum, asking him to intervene with his father. Danilo wrote to Archbishop Nicodemus of Serbia, who spoke with Milutin and persuaded him to recall his son. In 1320 Dečanski was permitted to return to Serbia and was given the appanage of 'Budimlje' (modern Berane), while his half-brother, Stefan Konstantin, held the province of Zeta.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Milutin became ill and died on 29 October 1321, and Konstantin was crowned king. Civil war erupted immediately, as Dečanski and his cousin, Stefan Vladislav II, claimed the throne. Konstantin refused to submit to Dečanski, who then invaded Zeta, defeating and killing Konstantin. Dečanski was crowned king on 6 January 1322 by Nicodemus, and his son, Stefan Dušan, was crowned "young king". Dečanski later granted Zeta to Dušan, indicating him as the intended heir. Since April 1326 Dušan appears in written sources as the "young king" and ruler in Zeta and Zahumlje. From that fact and the "Old Serbian genealogies and annals", in recent works, some Serbian historians write that Dusan was 14 years old probably in March, or April 1326, and that he was born in 1312, not around 1308.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: In the meantime, Vladislav II mobilized local support from Rudnik, the former appanage of his father, Stefan Dragutin. Vladislav proclaimed himself king, and he was supported by the Hungarians, consolidating control over his lands and preparing for battle with Dečanski. As was the case with their fathers, Serbia was divided by the two independent rulers; in 1322 and 1323 Ragusan merchants freely visited both lands.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: In 1323, war broke out between Dečanski and Vladislav. Rudnik had fallen to Dečanski by the end of 1323, and Vladislav appeared to have fled north. Vladislav was defeated in battle in late 1324 and fled to Hungary, leaving the Serbian throne to Dečanski as undisputed "king of All Serbian and Maritime lands".


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan was the eldest son of King Stefan Dečanski and Theodora Smilets, the daughter of emperor Smilets of Bulgaria. He was born circa 1308, or in 1312 in Serbia, but with the exile Dušan's father in 1314, the family lived in Constantinople until 1320, when his father was allowed to return. In Constantinople he learned Greek, gained an understanding of Byzantine life and culture, and became acquainted with the Byzantine Empire. He took a lot interest in arts of war; in his youth he fought exceptionally in two battles: in 1329 he defeated the ban Stephen II Kotromanić during the War of Hum, and in 1330 the Bulgarian emperor Michael III Shishman in the Battle of Velbužd. Dečanski appointed his nephew Ivan Stephen (through Anna Neda) to the throne of Bulgaria in August 1330.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dečanski's decision not to attack the Byzantines after the victory at Velbazhd, when he had an opportunity, resulted in the alienation of many nobles, who sought to expand to the south. By January or February 1331, Dušan was quarreling with his father, perhaps pressured by the nobility. According to contemporary pro-Dušan sources, advisors turned Dečanski against his son, and he decided to seize and exclude Dušan from his inheritance. Dečanski sent an army into Zeta against his son; the army ravaged Skadar (modern Shkodër), but Dušan had crossed the Bojana river. A brief period of anarchy took place in parts of Serbia before father and son concluded peace in April 1331. Three months later, Dečanski ordered Dušan to meet him. Dušan feared for his life and his advisors persuaded him to resist, so Dušan marched from Skadar to Nerodimlje, where he besieged his father. Dečanski fled, and Dušan captured the treasury and family. He then pursued his father, catching up with him at Petrich. On 21 August 1331 Dečanski surrendered, and on the advice or insistence of Dušan's advisors, he was imprisoned. Dušan was crowned "King of All Serbian and Maritime lands" in the first week of September.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: The civil war had prevented Serbia from aiding Ivan Stephen and Anna Neda in Bulgaria, who were deposed in March 1331, taking refuge in the mountains. Emperor Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria feared Serbia, as the situation there had settled, and he immediately sought peace with Dušan. As Dušan wanted to move against richer Byzantium, the two made peace and an alliance in December 1331. It was sealed with Dušan's marriage to Ivan Alexander's sister Helena.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Contemporary writers described Dušan as unusually tall and strong, "the tallest man of his time", very handsome, and a rare leader full of dynamism, quick intelligence, and strength, bearing "a kingly presence". According to contemporary depictions, he had dark hair and brown eyes; in adult age he grew a beard and longer hair.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Serbia made some raids into the Macedonia region in late 1331, but a planned major attack on Byzantium was delayed as Dušan had to suppress revolts in Zeta in 1332. Dušan's ingratitude toward those who had aided his rise – the Zetan nobility may have been neglected their promised reward and greater influence – may have been the cause of the rebellion, which was suppressed in the course of the same year.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan began to fight against the Byzantine Empire in 1334, and warfare continued with interruptions of various duration until his death in 1355. Twice he became involved in larger conflicts with the Hungarians, but these clashes were mostly defensive. Dušan's armies were initially defeated by Charles I of Hungary's 80,000-strong royal armies in Šumadija in 1336. As the Hungarians advanced south towards a hostile terrain, Dušan's cavalry launched several attacks in the narrow open fields, resulting in a rout of Hungarian troops, which retreated to the north of Danube. Charles I was wounded by an arrow but survived. As a result, the Hungarians lost Mačva and Belgrade. Dušan then focused his attention on the internal affairs of his country, writing, in 1349, the first statute book of the Serbs.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: To the west, Dušan scored victories over Hungarian leader Louis the Great that gave him eastern half of modern Bosnia, and his coins were minted at Kotor. Dušan was also successful against Louis' vassals: he defeated the armies of the Croatian ban and the forces of Hungarian voivodes. He was at peace with tsar Ivan Alexander Bulgaria, who even helped him on several occasions, and he is said to have visited Ivan Alexander at his capital. Serbia became temporarily dominant state between 1331 and 1365.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan exploited the civil war in the Byzantine Empire between the regent of the minor Emperor John V Palaiologos, Anna of Savoy, and his father's general John Kantakouzenos. Dušan and Ivan Alexander picked opposite sides in the conflict but remained at peace with each other, taking advantage of the Byzantine civil war to secure gains for themselves.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan's systematic offensive began in 1342, and in the end he conquered all Byzantine territories in the western Balkans as far as Kavala, except for the Peloponnesus and Thessaloniki, which he could not besiege due to his small fleet. There has been speculation that Dušan's ultimate goal was no less than to conquer Constantinople and replace the declining Byzantine Empire with a united Orthodox Greco-Serbian Empire under his control. In May 1344, his commander Preljub was stopped at Stephaniana by a Turkic force of 3,100. The Turks won the battle, but the victory was not enough to thwart the Serbian conquest of Macedonia. Faced with Dušan's aggression, the Byzantines sought allies in the Ottoman Turks, whom they brought into Europe for the first time.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: In 1343, Dušan added "of Romans (Greeks)" to his self-styled title "King of Serbia, Albania and the coast". In another instance, in a charter issued to the fortified city of Krujë, Dušan referred to himself as "King of the Bulgarians". In 1345 he began calling himself "tsar", equivalent of Emperor, as attested in charters to two athonite monasteries, one from November 1345 and the other from January 1346, and around Christmas 1345 at a council meeting in Serres, which was conquered on 25 September 1345, he proclaimed himself "Tsar of the Serbs and Romans" ("Romans" is equivalent to "Greeks" in Serbian documents).


title: Stefan Dušan

text: On 16 April 1346 (Easter), Dušan convoked a huge assembly at Skopje, attended by the Serbian Archbishop Joanikije II, the Archbishop of Ochrid Nikolas I, the Bulgarian Patriarch Simeon, and various religious leaders of Mount Athos. The assembly and clerics agreed upon, and then ceremonially performed, the raising of the autocephalous Serbian Archbishopric to the status of Serbian Patriarchate. The Archbishop from then on was titled Serbian Patriarch, although some documents called him "Patriarch of Serbs and Romans", with the seat at the Monastery of Peć. The first Serbian Patriarch Joanikije II solemnly crowned Dušan as "Emperor and autocrat of Serbs and Romans" (Greek ). Dušan had his son Uroš crowned "King of Serbs and Greeks", giving him nominal rule over the "Serbian lands", and although Dušan was governing the whole state, he had special responsibility for the Eastern "Roman" lands.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: A further increase in the Byzantinization of the Serbian court followed, particularly in court ceremonial and titles. As Emperor, Dušan could grant titles only possible as an Emperor. In the years that followed, Dušan's half-brother Symeon Uroš and brother-in-law Jovan Asen became "despotes". Jovan Oliver already had the despot title, granted to him by Andronikos III. His brother-in-law Dejan Dragaš and Branko Mladenović were granted the title of "sebastocrator". The military commanders ("voivodes") Preljub and Vojihna received the title of "caesar". The raising of the Serbian Patriarch resulted in the same spirit as bishoprics became metropolitans, as for example the Metropolitanate of Skopje.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: The Serbian Patriarchate took over sovereignty on Mt. Athos and the Greek eparchies under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, while the Archbishopric of Ohrid remained autocephalous. For those acts he was excommunicated by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1350.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: In 1347, Dušan conquered Epirus, Aetolia and Acarnania, appointing his half-brother, despot Simeon Uroš as governor of those provinces. In 1348, Dušan also conquered Thessaly, appointing Preljub as governor. In eastern regions of Macedonia, he appointed Vojihna as governor of Drama. Once Dušan conquered Byzantine possessions in western regions, he sought to obtain Constantinople. To acquire the city, he needed a fleet. Knowing that fleets of southern Serbian Dalmatian towns were not strong enough to overcome Constantinople, he opened negotiations with Venice, with which he maintained fairly good relations. Venice feared a reduction of privileges in the Empire if Serbs became the masters of Constantinople over the weakened Byzantines. But if the Venetians had allied with Serbia, Dušan would have examined existing privileges. Once he became master of all Byzantine lands (especially Thessalonika and Constantinople) the Venetians would have gained privileges. But Venice chose to avoid a military alliance. While Dušan sought Venetian aid against Byzantium, the Venetians sought Serbian support in the struggle against the Hungarians over Dalmatia. When sensing that Serbian aid would result in a Venetian obligation to Serbia, Venice politely turned down Dušan's offers of help.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: While Dušan launched the Bosnian campaign (absent the Serbian troops in Macedonia and Thessaly), Kantakouzenos tried to regain lands Byzantium had lost. In his support, the Constantinopolitan patriarch Kallistos excommunicated Dušan to discourage the Greek population in Dušan's Greek provinces from supporting the Serbian administration and thereby assist the Kantakouzenos campaign. The excommunication did not stop Dušan's relations with Mount Athos, which still addressed him as Emperor, though rather as "Emperor of Serbs" than "Emperor of Serbs and Greeks".


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Kantakouzenos raised a small army and took the Chalcidic peninsula, then Veria and Voden. Veria was the richest town in the Bottiaea region. Dušan had earlier replaced many Greeks with Serbs, including a Serb garrison. However, the remaining locals were able to open the gates for Kantakouzenos in 1350. Voden resisted Kantakouzenos but was taken by assault. Kantakouzenos then marched toward Thessaly but was stopped at Servia by "Caesar" Preljub and his army of 500 men. The Byzantine force retired to Veria, and the aiding Turk contingent went off plundering, reaching Skopje. Once news of the Byzantine campaign reached Dušan in Hum, he quickly reassembled his forces from Bosnia and Hum and marched for Thessaly.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan evidently wanted to expand his rule over the provinces that had earlier been in the hands of Serbia, such as Hum, which was annexed by the Hungarian protégé and Bosnian Ban Stephen II Kotromanić in 1326. In 1329, Ban Stephen II launched an attack on Lord Vitomir, who held Travunia and Konavle. The Bosnian army was defeated at Pribojska Banja by Dušan, when he was still "Young King". The Ban soon took over Nevesinje and the rest of Bosnia. Petar Toljenović, the Lord of "seaside Hum" and a distant relative of Dušan, sparked a rebellion against the new ruler, but he was soon captured and died in prison.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: In 1350, Dušan attacked Bosnia, seeking to regain the previously lost land of Hum and stop raids on his tributaries at Konavle. Venice sought a settlement between the two but failed. In October he invaded Hum, with an army said to be of 80,000 men, and successfully occupied part of the disputed territory. According to Orbini, Dušan had secretly been in contact with various Bosnian nobles, offering them bribes for support. Many nobles, chiefly of Hum, were ready to betray the Ban, such as the Nikolić family, which was kin to the Nemanjić dynasty. The Bosnian Ban avoided any major confrontation and did not meet Dušan in battle; he instead retired to the mountains and made small hit-and-run actions. Most of Bosnia's fortresses held out, but some nobles submitted to Dušan. The Serbs ravaged much of the countryside. With one army they reached Duvno and Cetina; another reached Krka, on which lay Knin (modern Croatia); and another took Imotski and Novi, where they left garrisons and entered Hum. From this position of strength, Dušan tried to negotiate peace with the Ban, sealing it by the marriage of Dušan's son Uroš with Stephen's daughter Elizabeth, who would receive Hum as her dowry – restoring it to Serbia. The Ban was not willing to consider this proposal.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan may have also launched the campaign to aid his sister, Jelena, who married Mladen III Šubić of Klis, Omiš and Skradin, in 1347. Mladen died from Black Death (bubonic plague) in 1348, and Jelena sought to maintain the rule of the cities for herself and her son. She was challenged by Hungary and Venice, so the dispatch of Serbian troops to western Hum and Croatia may have been for her aid, as operations in this region were unlikely to help Dušan conquer Hum. If Dušan had intended to aid Jelena, rising trouble in the East precluded this. Pope Clement VI in 1335 addresses to King Stefan Dušan and request him to stop the persecution and that to the bishop of Kotor which is responsible for Roman Catholic Diocese of Trebinje return monasteries, churches, islands and villages, which some kings of Raška before him overtook.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan had grand intentions to hold Belgrade, Mačva and Hum, conquer Durrës, Phillipopolis, Adrianople, Thessalonica, and Constantinople, and to place himself at the head of a grand crusading army to drive the Muslim Turks from Europe. His premature death created a large power vacuum in the Balkans, that ultimately enabled Turkish invasion and Turkish rule until the early 20th century. While mounting a crusade against the Turks, he fell ill (possibly poisoned) and died of a fever on 20 December 1355. He was buried in his foundation, the Monastery of the Holy Archangels near Prizren.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: His empire slowly crumbled. His son and successor Stefan Uroš V could not keep the integrity of the Empire intact for long, as several feudal families immensely increased their power, though nominally acknowledging Uroš V as Emperor. Simeon Uroš, Dušan's half-brother, had proclaimed himself Emperor after the death of Dušan, ruling a large area of Thessaly and Epirus, which he had received from Dušan earlier.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Today Dušan's remains are in the Church of Saint Mark in Belgrade. Dušan is the only monarch of the Nemanjić dynasty who has not been canonised as a saint.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Much like his ancestors, Emperor Dušan was very active in renovating churches and monasteries, and also for founding new ones. First, he cared for the monasteries in which his parents were buried. Both the Banjska monastery, built by King Milutin, where his mother was buried, and the monastery of Visoki Dečani, an endowment of his father, were generously looked after. The monastery was built for eight years and it is certain that the Emperor's role in the building process was huge. Between 1337 and 1339, the emperor became ill, and he gave his word that if he survived, he would build a church and monastery in Jerusalem. At the time, there was one Serbian monastery in Jerusalem, dedicated to Archangel Michael (believed to be founded by King Milutin), and a number of Serbian monks at the Sinai Peninsula.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: His greatest endowment was the Saint Archangels Monastery, located near the town of Prizren, in which he was originally buried. Dušan gave many possessions to this monastery, including the forest of Prizren which was supposed to be a special property of the monastery where all precious goods and relics were to be stored.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: His son, Stefan Uroš V, did not make peace with the Constantinopolitan Patriarch. The first initiative was made by "despot" Uglješa in 1368, which resulted that the areas under his rule were restored to Constantinople. The final initiative for reconciliation between the churches came from Prince Lazar in 1375. There is no evidence of an existing cult of Emperor Dušan in the decades after his death. Dušan's charter to Ragusa (Dubrovnik) served as a statute in the future trade between Serbia and Ragusa, and its regulations were deemed inviolable. Emperor Dušan's legacy was esteemed in Ragusa. Later folk tradition in Serbia included various attitudes toward Dušan, mostly negative, made under the influence of the church.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan rejected Constantinople's claims to authority over the Serbian Orthodox Church and contemplated a religious union with the Latin Church. In 1354, Dušan reached out to the Papal States, offering to recognise Pope Innocent VI as the "father of all Christians" and to solidify a union between the Catholic and Serbian Orthodox Church, in exchange for supporting Dušan in his plans for a military crusade against the Turks. Dušan's plans were welcomed, however such plans never materialized due to his death in 1355.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: With the raising of the Serbian Archbishopric to a Patriarchate, serious changes in the organization of the church followed. Joanikije II became Patriarch. Bishoprics (Eparchies) were raised to Metropolitanates, and new territories of the Ochrid Archbishopric and Ecumenical Constantinople were added to the jurisdiction of the Serbian church. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople had Dušan excommunicated in 1350, although this did not affect the religious organization.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Under Serbian jurisdiction came one of the foremost centers of spirituality – Mount Athos. As of November 1345, Athonite monks accept his supreme rule, and Dušan guaranteed autonomy, also giving a row of economic privileges, with tremendous gifts and endowments. The monks of Chilandar (the cradle of the Serbian church, founded by Saint Sava, his ancestor) came at the front of the ecclesiastical community.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: In his codex, Dušan accentuates his role as a protector of Christianity and points out the independence of the church. From the codex we can also see care that the parishes are equally arranged both in cities and villages. He was also taking care of few churches and monasteries from Bari to the west, to Jerusalem to the east.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Besides Orthodox Christians, there were many Catholics in the Empire, mostly in the coastal cities, Cattaro, Alessio (modern Lezhë) etc. In the court of Dušan there were also Catholics (servants from Cattaro and Ragusa, mercenaries, guests etc.). In the central parts, Saxons were in areas active in mining and trading. Serbia under Dušan claimed its identity through Orthodoxy, and opposition to Catholicism. Catholics were persecuted, especially Catholic Albanians.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Some historians consider that the goal of Emperor Dušan was to establish a new, Serbian-Greek Empire, replacing the Byzantine Empire. Ćirković considered his initial ideology as that of the previous Bulgarian emperors, who had envisioned co-rulership. However, starting in 1347, relations with John VI Kantakouzenos worsened, Dušan allied himself with rival John V Palaiologos.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan was the first Serbian monarch who wrote most of his letters in Greek, also signing with the Imperial red ink. He was the first to publish prostagma, a kind of Byzantine document, characteristic for Byzantine rulers. In his royal title, "Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks", his claim as Eastern Roman (Byzantine) successor is clear. He also gave Byzantine court titles to his nobility, something that would continue into the 16th century.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: The most lasting monument to Dušan's rulership was a law code. For the purposes of Dušan's Code, a wealth of charters were published, and some great foreign works of law were translated to Serbian; however, the third section of the Code was new and distinctively Serbian, albeit with Byzantine influence and attention to a long legal tradition in Serbia. Dušan explained the purpose of his Code in one of in his charters; he intimated that its aims were spiritual and that the code would help his people to save themselves for the afterlife. The Code was proclaimed on 21 May 1349. in Skopje, and contained 155 clauses, while 66 further clauses were added at Serres in 1353 or 1354. The authors of the code are not known, but they were probably members of the court who specialised in law.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Dušan's Code proclaims on subjects both secular and ecclesiastic, the more so because Serbia had recently achieved full ecclesiastic autonomy as an independent Orthodox Church under a Patriarchate. The first 38 clauses relate to the church and they deal with issues that the Medieval Serbian Church faced, while the next 25 clauses relate to the nobility. Civil law is largely excluded, since it was covered in earlier documents, namely Saint Sava's Nomokamon and in Corpus Juris Civilis. Dušan's Code originally dealt with criminal law, with heavy emphasis on the concept of lawfulness, which was mostly taken directly from Byzantine law.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: The original manuscript of Dušan's Code does not survive. The Code continued as a de facto constitution under the rule of Dušan's son, Stefan Uroš V, and after the fall of the Serbian Empire in 1371, it was used in all the successor provinces. It was officially used in the successor state, Serbian Despotate, until its annexation by the Ottoman Empire in 1459. The Code was used as a reference for Serbian communities under Turkish rule, which exercised considerable legal autonomy in civil cases. The Code was also used in the Serbian autonomical areas under the Republic of Venice, like Grbalj and Paštrovići.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Serbian tactics favored wedge shaped heavy cavalry attacks with horse archers on the flanks. Many foreign mercenaries were in the Serbian army in the 14th century, mostly German knights and Catalan halberdiers. Dušan had his personal mercenary guard on his disposal, consisting of German knights lead by Palman, commander of the Serbian "Alemannic Guard", who upon crossing Serbia to Jerusalem in 1331, became leader of all mercenaries in the Serbian army. The main strength of the Serbian army were their heavy cavalry, feared for their ferocious charge and staying power. The imperial army of Stefan Dušan was built on existing military administration of Byzantium. Although Vlach cavalry of Thessaly was disbanded his army include Serbian feudal forces, Albanians and Greeks. Dušan recruited light cavalry composed of 15,000 Albanians, armed with spears and swords.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: The Serbian expansion in the former territory of Byzantine Empire proceeded without a single major battle, it was based on besieging Greek fortifications.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: He was crowned "Young King" as heir apparent on 6 January 1322 but he was too young to really rule with his father 1322. and later in April 1326 Dušan appears as the co-ruler in Zeta and Zahumlje. He was entitled the rule of Zeta; thus he ruled as "King of Zeta". In 1331 he succeeded his father as "King of all Serbian and Maritime Lands". In 1343 his title was "King of Serbia, Greeks, Albania and the coast". In 1345 he began calling himself "tsar", Emperor, and in 1345 he proclaimed himself "Emperor of Serbs and Eastern Romans ". On 16 April 1346 he was crowned "Emperor of Serbs and Greeks". This title was soon enlarged into ""Emperor and Autocrat of the Serbs and Greeks, the Bulgarians and Albanians"".


title: Stefan Dušan

text: His epithet "Silni" (Силни) is translated into "the Mighty", but also "the Great", "the Powerful" or "the Strong".


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Stefan Dušan was the most powerful Serbian ruler in the Middle Ages and remains a folk hero to Serbs. Dušan, a contemporary of England's Edward III, is regarded with the same reverence as the Bulgarians feel for Tsar Simeon I, the Poles for Sigismund I the Old, and the Czechs for Charles IV. According to Steven Runciman, he was "perhaps the most powerful ruler in Europe" during the 14th century. His state was a rival to the regional powers of Byzantium and Hungary, and it encompassed a large territory, which would also be his empire's greatest weakness. By nature a soldier and a conqueror, Dušan also proved to be very able but nonetheless feared ruler. His empire however, slowly crumbled at the hands of his son, as regional aristocrats distanced from the central rule.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: The aim of restoring Serbia as an Empire it once was, was one of the greatest ideals of Serbs, living both in the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian lands. In 1526, Jovan Nenad, in the style of Dušan, proclaimed himself "Emperor", when ruling a short-lived state of Serbian provinces under the crown of Hungary.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: "The Realm of the Slavs", written by Ragusian historian Mavro Orbin (l. ca. 1550–1614), saw Emperor Dušan's actions and works positively. The book served as the primary source about early history of South Slavs at the time and most of the western historians drew their information on the Slavs from it. Early Serbian historians, even though they wrote according to the sources, were influenced by the ideas of the time they lived in. They made efforts to harmonize with two different traditions: one from brevets and public documents and other from genealogies and narrative writings. Of early historians, most information came from Jovan Rajić (1726–1801), who wrote fifty pages about Dušan's life. Rajić's work had great influence on Serbian culture of that time, and for decades it was the main source of information about Serbian history.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: After the restoration of Serbia in the 19th century, continuity with the Serbian Middle Ages was accentuated, particularly of its greatest moment – during Emperor Dušan. A political agenda, as with a restoration of his Empire, would find its place in the political programmes of the Principality of Serbia, notably the "Načertanije" by Ilija Garašanin.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: By his wife, Helena of Bulgaria, Emperor Dušan had at least one child, Stefan Uroš V, who succeeded his father as Emperor, r. 1355–1371. According to contemporary Byzantine historian Nicephorus Gregoras, Dušan also had a daughter, Theodora.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: According to Gregoras, Dušan was negotiating a potential alliance with Orhan, which would have involved marrying off his daughter to Orhan himself or one of Orhan's sons in 1351. However, these negotiations broke down after the Serbian emissaries were attacked by Nikephoros Orsini – the marriage proposal was withdrawn and Serbia and the Ottoman Empire resumed hostilities. Theodora most likely died between 1352 and 1354.


title: Stefan Dušan

text: Some historians speculate that the couple had another child, a daughter. J. Fine suggested that it might be "Irene", the wife of "caesar" Preljub (governor of Thessaly, d. 1355–1356), mother of Thomas Preljubović (Ruler of Epirus, 1367–1384). In one theory, she married Radoslav Hlapen, Governor of Voden and Veria and Lord of Kastoria, after her first husband's death in 1360. This hypothesis is not widely accepted.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Abdullah Abdullah (Dari/, ; born as Abdullah on 5 September 1960) is an Afghan politician who led the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) from May 2020 until August 2021, when the Afghan government was overthrown by the Taliban. The council had been established to facilitate peace talks between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban insurgents. Abdullah served as the Chief Executive of Afghanistan from September 2014 to March 2020, and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from December 2001 to April 2005. Prior to that, he was a senior member of the Northern Alliance, working as an adviser to Ahmad Shah Massoud. He worked as an ophthalmologist and medical doctor in the 1980s.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Abdullah ran against President Hamid Karzai in the 2009 Afghan presidential election, coming second with 30.5% of the total votes. In 2010, he created the Coalition for Change and Hope, which became the National Coalition of Afghanistan in 2011 and is one of the leading democratic opposition movements in Afghanistan. He ran again in the 2014 presidential election and went to the second round with 45% the total vote. His closest rival, Ashraf Ghani, had secured 35% of the total vote. Due to signs of fraud, the results of the second round were heavily contested and led to a deadlock. Despite the controversy regarding the results of the second round of elections, the final certified result by the Independent election commission of Afghanistan shows that Ashraf Ghani received 55.3% of the votes while Abdullah Abdullah secured 44.7% of the vote. After months of talks and US mediation, the two candidates established a national unity government in which Abdullah served as the Chief Executive of Afghanistan.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on 17 August 2021, leader of the Taliban-affiliated Hezb-e-Islami party Gulbuddin Hekmatyar met with Abdullah and Karzai in Doha, seeking to form a government. Reports emerged on 25 August that a 12-member council will be formed to govern the de facto newly-reinstated Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Reportedly 7 members were already agreed upon: Abdullah himself, Karzai, Hekmatyar, Abdul Ghani Baradar, Mohammad Yaqoob, Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani, and Hanif Atmar. However, it was later announced that Abdullah Abdullah and Karzai had failed to secure roles in the new government.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Abdullah was born in the second district of Kārte Parwān in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is the son of a Pashtun father, Ghulam Mahyyoddin Zmaryalay, from the Kandahar area, and a Tajik mother from Panjshir. His early years were split between living in Panjshir Province, Kandahar and Kabul, where his father was serving as an administrator in the land survey, and subsequently the audit section of the Prime Minister's office. His father was a senator during the final years of King Zahir Shah's rule. Abdullah has seven sisters and two brothers. His nephew was Mohammad Fahim Dashty, the spokesman for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan during the Panjshir conflict.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Until he became a government minister, Abdullah had only a first name; demands from Western newspaper editors for a family name led him to adopt the full name "Abdullah Abdullah". Abdullah is married, and has three daughters and a son.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Abdullah graduated from Naderia High School in 1976. He studied ophthalmology at Kabul University's Department of Medicine, where he received an MBBS in 1983. After graduating, he worked for several months as a resident ophthalmologist at the National Organisation for Ophthalmic Rehabilitation (NOOR) hospital in Kabul. Then he moved to Pakistan, where he worked in the Syed Jamaluddin Afghan Eye Hospital for Afghan Refugees in Peshawar for more than a year.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: In 1985, Abdullah returned to Afghanistan to join the resistance against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and made his way to Panjshir. In September, he became the head of the Health Department for the Panjshir Resistance Front, coordinating treatments and health care for the resistance fighters and the civilian population. He became a close associate and adviser to mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: After the fall of the communist government in 1992, the Peshawar Accord established the Islamic State of Afghanistan with a provisional government led by Burhanuddin Rabbani. Abdullah was appointed chief of staff and spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: On 27 September 1996, the Taliban seized power in Kabul and 90% of the country, with military training support by Pakistan, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Following the Taliban takeover of Kabul, the Northern Alliance, also called the United Islamic Front, was created under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Massoud. The Northern Alliance was supported by Russia, Iran and India. Abdullah became the United Front's Minister of Foreign Affairs. Islamic State of Afghanistan elements of the United Front, including the Defense Minister Ahmad Shah Massoud and the Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, remained Afghanistan's internationally recognized government. The Taliban government was recognized by only three countries – Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: In early 2001, Abdullah traveled with Ahmad Shah Massoud to Brussels, where Massoud addressed the European Parliament asking the international community to provide humanitarian help to the people of Afghanistan. Abdullah translated when Massoud stated that the Taliban and al-Qaeda had introduced "a very wrong perception of Islam" and that without the support of Pakistan and Bin Laden, the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: In October 2001 the Taliban regime was overthrown by Operation Enduring Freedom including American and United Front forces. As a result of the International Conference on Afghanistan in Bonn in 2001, Abdullah was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Interim Administration in December 2001.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: In November 2001, a diplomatic crisis unfolded when the British government, without any forewarning or seeking permission from the Northern Alliance, flew members of the British Special Boat Service to Bagram. Abdullah was "apoplectic" as he considered the uninvited arrival to be a violation of sovereignty, and complained bitterly to the head of the CIA field office, threatening to resign if the British did not withdraw. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw tried to reassure the Northern Alliance that the deployment was not a vanguard of a British peacekeeping army, but Northern Alliance leaders did not believe them; with the threat of the Northern Alliance opening fire on incoming Royal Air Force troop transports, the deployment was put on hold.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Following the 2004 Afghan presidential election, Abdullah was one of the few people who kept their position from the Transitional Government and was re-appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs for another year. In 2005 he resigned his position.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: On 6 May 2009, Abdullah registered as an Independent candidate for the 2009 Afghan presidential election, running against incumbent president Hamid Karzai. Abdullah selected as his running mates Humayun Shah Asefi as his First Vice President and Dr. Cheragh Ali Cheragh (a surgeon from Kabul who is a practicing Shi'i Muslim) as Second Vice President. Afghanistan has an executive structure featuring two vice presidents, a First VP and a Second VP, to help ensure a stable government by attempting to provide ethnic and religious balance to senior government leadership positions. Unofficial and non-certified electoral results were announced during the day on 16 September 2009, showing that Abdullah was in second position with 27.8% of the total votes cast. President Karzai did not achieve the 50.01% vote majority required to avoid a runoff election. A large number of fraudulent ballots, mostly belonging to Karzai's camp, were disallowed by the Independent Afghan Electoral Commission. Karzai came under intense international political and diplomatic pressure from international leaders because of allegations of large-scale fraud. Hamid Karzai eventually agreed to participate in a designated head-to-head runoff election (held between the contenders with the two largest numbers of total votes in the first election) which was scheduled nationwide for 7 November 2009.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: On 1 November 2009, Abdullah announced that he had decided to withdraw from the runoff election, citing his lack of faith in the President Karzai government's ability to hold a "fair and transparent" second election process. Subsequently, Hamid Karzai was declared the winner by the Afghan Electoral Commission (essentially winning by default).


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: After the 2009 Afghan Presidential Elections, Abdullah created the Coalition for Change and Hope (CCH). The NCA presented the leading democratic opposition movement against the government of Hamid Karzai.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: In the 18 September 2010 parliamentary election, the Coalition for Change and Hope won more than 90 seats out of 249 seats, becoming the main opposition party. As a result, it is assumed that the new Parliament will introduce some checks and balances on the Presidential power.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: In December 2011, the National Coalition of Afghanistan, supported by dozens of Afghan political parties and led by Abdullah, was formed to challenge the government of President Hamid Karzai. Major figures associated with the coalition include Yunus Qanuni (the former head of the Afghan Parliament), Homayoon Shah-asefi (a former presidential candidate and leader of the monarchist party with ties to the family of former king Mohammed Zahir, Noorolhagh Oloumi (a senior political figure in the former Afghan communist government), Ahmad Wali Massoud (a younger brother of Ahmad Shah Massoud) and several current Members of Parliament.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Abdullah has been the Secretary General of the Massoud Foundation since June 2006. The Massoud Foundation is an independent, non-aligned, non-profitable and non-political organization established by people who have been affected by the life of Massoud. It provides humanitarian assistance to Afghans especially in the fields of health care and education. It also runs programs in the fields of culture, construction, agriculture and welfare.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: On 1 October 2013, Abdullah officially announced his nomination for the presidential election held on 5 April 2014. On 13 April, BBC News reported that the counting indicated that Abdullah had thus far received 44.65% of the vote, with Ashraf Ghani following behind with 33.6%. Abdullah and Ghani were then bound to compete in a run-off election in June 2014. The results of that election remained in dispute through until September 2014, with Abdullah claiming the government and the national electoral institutions manipulated the results. Pressure from the United States on the two candidates to resolve their differences, and to negotiate a power-sharing deal were initially agreed to, but Abdullah later remained defiant. A UN-led audit failed to sway Abdullah as he insisted the audit team could not explain a million extra votes counted in the run-off. Ghani supporters insisted they wanted to do a deal with Abdullah, and said they were leaving the door open to negotiations.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: On 19 September, the Independent Election Commission announced Ghani the winner. Five hours later, Abdullah and Ghani signed a power-sharing agreement, with Ghani being named president and Abdullah taking on an important position in the government; the deal was signed in front of the presidential palace, with incumbent president Hamid Karzai in attendance. Part of the deal stipulated that the Independent Election Commission would not release the exact vote totals of the second round of voting.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Following a close loss to Ashraf Ghani in the second round of the 2014 election, Abdullah became Chief Executive, a newly created position that encompasses prime ministerial powers. Serving as Chief Executive, Abdullah has actively met with international business leaders and politicians alike, seeking foreign investment and support. He has further sought to implement a number of ceasefires with the Taliban. Citing mistrust of the Taliban, Abdullah has taken a somewhat more hardline stance against the Taliban movement than his presidential counterpart Ashraf Ghani, noting a number of failed attempts at long-term peace. In April 2019, Abdullah opted not to attend the Consultative Peace Jirga, noting that the Jirga was unlikely to resolve any issues.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Incumbent Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah registered as a candidate for the 2019 Afghan presidential election. Abdullah selected Enayatullah Babur Farahmand as his First Vice President and Asadullah Sadati as Second Vice President.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: After the election results showed that Ashraf Ghani was declared as the winner, Abdullah declared himself winner as well, sparking a political crisis and leading him to publicly state that he would form a parallel government. On 9 March, both Abdullah and Ghani took the presidential oath of office at separate inauguration ceremonies. The United States pressured the Afghan government to come up with a solution by cutting $1 billion of aid. This, with mounting international pressure and the threat of the Taliban, forced officials to strike a deal between Abdullah and Ghani. The deal left President Ghani in charge of executive power and created the High Council of National Reconciliation. Mr. Abdullah is head of the council, where he will lead peace efforts with the Taliban.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: On 17 May 2020, a deal was reached where Abdullah was to lead the country's High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) as a chairman. Moreover, HCNR was given the authority to handle and approve all affairs related to the Afghan peace process. The Council held its first meeting in December 2020, several months after its official creation, despite having incomplete membership and power struggles.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: Following the collapse of the Republican government and Abdullah's meeting with Hekmatyar, the political fate of the HCNR remains unclear.


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: On 1 September 2021, Taliban representatives said that they had approached former president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah. The representatives said that the Taliban was "ready to recruit them" but said that Karzai was unlikely to be part of the government as they do not want "old horses". As for Abdullah, the Taliban showed a different approach saying that he was the "least controversial."


title: Abdullah Abdullah

text: In February 2022, Abdullah was placed under house arrest by the Taliban in Afghanistan. On May 4 2022 he was allowed to leave Afghanistan for India to be with his family during Eid al-Fitr. He returned to Afghanistan on June 11.


title: American paddlefish

text: The American paddlefish ("Polyodon spathula," also known as a Mississippi paddlefish, spoon-billed cat, or spoonbill) is a species of ray-finned fish. It is the only living species of paddlefish (Polyodontidae). This family is most closely related to the sturgeons; together they make up the order Acipenseriformes, which are one of the most primitive living groups of ray-finned fish. Fossil records of other paddlefish species date back 125 million years to the Early Cretaceous, with records of "Polyodon" extending back 65 million years to the early Paleocene. The American paddlefish is a smooth-skinned freshwater fish with an almost entirely cartilaginous skeleton and a paddle-shaped rostrum (snout), which extends nearly one-third its body length. It has been referred to as a freshwater shark because of its heterocercal tail or caudal fin resembling that of sharks, though it is not closely related. The American paddlefish is a highly derived fish because it has evolved specialised adaptations such as filter feeding. Its rostrum and cranium are covered with tens of thousands of sensory receptors for locating swarms of zooplankton, its primary food source. The only other species of paddlefish that survived to modern times was the Chinese paddlefish ("Psephurus gladius"), last sighted in 2003 in the Yangtze River in China and considered to have gone extinct no later than 2010.


title: American paddlefish

text: The American paddlefish is native to the Mississippi river basin and once moved freely under the relatively unaltered conditions that existed prior to the early 1900s. It commonly inhabited large, free-flowing rivers, braided channels, backwaters, and oxbow lakes throughout the Mississippi River drainage basin, and adjacent Gulf Coast drainages. Its peripheral range extended into the Great Lakes, with occurrences in Lake Huron and Lake Helen in Canada until about 1917. American paddlefish populations have declined dramatically primarily because of overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution. Poaching has also been a contributing factor to its decline and is liable to continue to be so as long as the demand for caviar remains strong. Naturally occurring American paddlefish populations have been extirpated from most of their peripheral range, as well as from New York, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They have been reintroduced in the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio river systems in western Pennsylvania. However, their current range has been reduced to the Mississippi and Missouri River tributaries and Mobile Bay drainage basin. American paddlefish are currently found in twenty-two states in the U.S., and are protected under state, federal and international laws.


title: American paddlefish

text: In 1797, French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède established the genus "Polyodon" for paddlefish, which today includes a single extant species, "Polyodon spathula". Lacépède disagreed with Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre's description in (1788), which had suggested that paddlefish were a species of shark. When Lacépède established his binomial name "Polydon feuille" he was unaware the species had already been described in 1792 by taxonomist Johann Julius Walbaum, who had named it as "Squalus spathula". Consequently "spathula" has priority as the specific name (and 'Walbaum, 1792' is the taxonomic authority to be cited). But Walbaum's generic name "Squalus" was already in use for dogfish, so Lacépède's "Polyodon" is the valid name for this paddlefish genus. Hence "'Polyodon spathula" (Walbaum, 1792)' is the accepted full scientific name of the American paddlefish.


title: American paddlefish

text: The American paddlefish is the sole surviving species in the paddlefish family, the Polyodontidae. This is the sister group to the sturgeons (family Acipenseridae); evidence from DNA sequences suggest that their last common ancestor lived roughly 140 million years ago. Together these families compose the Acipenseriformes, an order of basal ray-finned fishes. Paddlefish have a long fossil record dating back to the Early Cretaceous 125 million years ago. American paddlefish are often referred to as primitive fish, or relict species, because of morphological characteristics that they retain from some of their early fossil ancestors. These characteristics include a skeleton composed primarily of cartilage, and a deeply forked heterocercal (spine extending into the upper lobe) caudal fin similar to that of sharks, although they are not closely related.


title: American paddlefish

text: The family Polyodontidae comprises six known species: three fossil species from western North America, one fossil species from China, one recently extinct species from China (the Chinese paddlefish, "Psephurus gladius"; last recorded 2003), and the single extant species, the American paddlefish, native to the Mississippi River Basin in the United States. DNA sequences suggest the Chinese and American paddlefishes diverged about 68 million years ago. The oldest fossils of paddlefish belonging to "Polyodon" are those of "P. tuberculata" from the Lower Paleocene Tullock Member of the Fort Union Formation in Montana, dating to around 65 million years ago. An elongated rostrum is a morphological characteristic of Polyodontidae, but only the genus "Polyodon" has characteristics adapted specifically for filter feeding, including the jaw, gill arches, and cranium. The gill rakers of American paddlefish are composed of extensive comb-like filaments believed to have inspired the etymology of the genus name, "Polyodon", a Greek compound word meaning "many toothed". Adult American paddlefish are actually toothless, although numerous small teeth less than were found in a juvenile paddlefish measuring . The name "spathula" references the elongated, paddle-shaped snout or rostrum. Compared to Chinese paddlefish and fossil genera, American paddlefish (and the fossil relative "P. tuberculata") are considered to be highly derived because of their specialised adaptations.


title: American paddlefish

text: Unlike the planktivorous American paddlefish, Chinese paddlefish were strong swimmers, grew larger, and were opportunistic piscivores that fed on small fishes and crustaceans. Some distinct morphological differences of Chinese paddlefish include a narrower, sword-like rostrum, and a protrusible mouth. They also had fewer, thicker gill rakers than American paddlefish.


title: American paddlefish

text: American paddlefish are among the largest and longest-lived freshwater fishes in North America. They have a shark-like body, average in length, weigh , and can live in excess of thirty years. For most populations the median age is five to eight years and the maximum age is fourteen to eighteen years. The age of American paddlefish is best determined by dentary studies, a process which usually occurs on fish harvested during snagging season, a popular sport fishing activity in certain parts of the U.S. The dentary is removed from the lower jawbone, cleaned of any remaining soft tissue, and cross-sectioned to expose the annual rings. The dentary rings are counted in much the same way a tree is aged. Dentary studies suggest that some individuals can live 60 years or longer, and that females typically live longer and grow larger than males.


title: American paddlefish

text: American paddlefish are smooth-skinned and almost entirely cartilaginous. Their eyes are small and directed laterally. They have a large, tapering operculum flap, a large mouth, and a flat, paddle-shaped rostrum that measures approximately one-third of their body length. During the initial stages of development from embryo to hatchling, American paddlefish have no rostrum. It begins to form shortly after hatching. The rostrum is an extension of the cranium, not of the upper and lower jaws or olfactory system as with the long snouts of other fish. Other distinguishing characteristics include a deeply forked heterocercal caudal fin and dull coloration, often with mottling, ranging from bluish gray to black dorsally grading to a whitish underbelly.


title: American paddlefish

text: Scientists began to debate the function of the American paddlefish's rostrum when the species was described in the late 1700s. They had once believed it was used to excavate bottom substrate or functioned as a balancing mechanism and navigational aid. However, laboratory experiments in 1993 that utilized advanced technology in the field of electron microscopy have established conclusively that the rostrum of American paddlefish is covered with tens of thousands of sensory receptors. These receptors are morphologically similar to the ampullae of Lorenzini of sharks and rays, and are indeed passive ampullary-type electroreceptors used by American paddlefish to detect plankton. Clusters of electroreceptors also cover the head and operculum flaps. The diet of the American paddlefish consists primarily of zooplankton. Their electroreceptors can detect weak electrical fields that signal not only the presence of zooplankton, but also the individual feeding and swimming movements of zooplankton appendages. When a swarm of zooplankton is detected, the paddlefish swims forward continuously with its mouth wide open, forcing water over the gill rakers to filter out prey. Such feeding behavior is considered ram suspension-feeding. Further research has indicated that the electroreceptor of the paddlefish may serve as a navigational aid for obstacle avoidance.


title: American paddlefish

text: American paddlefish have small undeveloped eyes that are directed laterally. Unlike most fishes, American paddlefish hardly respond to overhead shadows or changes in illumination. Electroreception appears to have largely replaced vision as a primary sensory modality, which indicates a reliance on electroreceptors for detecting prey. However, the rostrum is not their only means of food detection. Some reports suggest a damaged rostrum would render American paddlefish less capable of foraging efficiently to maintain good health, but laboratory experiments and field research indicate otherwise. As well as electroreceptors on the rostrum, American paddlefish have sensory pores covering nearly half of the skin surface extending from the rostrum to the top of the head down to the tips of the operculum flaps. Studies have indicated that American paddlefish with damaged or abbreviated rostrums are still able to forage and maintain good health.


title: American paddlefish

text: American paddlefish are long-lived, sexually late maturing pelagic fish. Females do not begin spawning until they are seven to ten years old, some as late as sixteen to eighteen years old. Females do not spawn every year; rather they spawn every second or third year. Males spawn more frequently, usually every year or every other year beginning around age seven, some as late as nine or ten years of age.


title: American paddlefish

text: American paddlefish begin their upstream spawning migration sometime during early spring; some begin in late fall. They spawn on silt-free gravel bars that would otherwise be exposed to air or covered by very shallow water were it not for the rises in the river from snow melt and annual spring rains that cause flooding. Although availability of preferred spawning habitat is essential, there are three precise environmental events that must occur before American paddlefish will spawn. The water temperature must be from ; the lengthened photoperiod which occurs in spring triggers biological and behavioral processes that are dependent on increasing day length; and there must be a proper rise and flow in the river before a successful spawn can occur. Historically, American paddlefish did not spawn every year because the precise environmental events occurred just once every 4 or 5 years.


title: American paddlefish

text: American paddlefish are broadcast spawners, also referred to as mass spawners or synchronous spawners. Gravid females release their eggs into the water over bare rocks or gravel at the same time males release their sperm. Fertilization occurs externally. The eggs become sticky after they are released into the water and will attach to the bottom substrate. Incubation varies depending on water temperature, but in water the eggs will hatch into larval fish in about seven days. After hatching, the larval fish drift downstream into areas of low flow velocity where they forage on zooplankton.


title: American paddlefish

text: Young American paddlefish are poor swimmers which makes them susceptible to predation. Therefore, rapid first-year growth is important to their survival. Fry can grow about per week, and by late July the fingerlings are around long. Their rate of growth is variable and highly dependent on food abundance. Higher growth rates occur in areas where food is not limited. The feeding behavior of fingerlings is quite different from that of older juveniles and adults. They capture individual plankton one by one, which requires detection and location of individual "Daphnia" on approach, followed by an intercept maneuver to capture the selected prey. By late September fingerlings have developed into juveniles, and are around long. After the 1st year their growth rate slows and is highly variable. Studies indicate that by age 5 their growth rate averages around per year depending on the abundance of food and other environmental influences.


title: American paddlefish

text: American paddlefish are highly mobile and well adapted to living in rivers. They inhabit many types of riverine habitats throughout much of the Mississippi Valley and adjacent Gulf slope drainages. They occur most frequently in deeper, low current areas such as side channels, oxbows, backwater lakes, bayous, and tailwaters below dams. They have been observed to move more than in a river system.


title: American paddlefish

text: American paddlefish are endemic to the Mississippi River Basin, historically occurring from the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in the northwest to the Ohio and Allegheny rivers of the northeast; the headwaters of the Mississippi River south to its mouth, from the San Jacinto River in the southwest to the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers of the southeast. They were extirpated from New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania, as well as from much of their peripheral range in the Great Lakes region, including Lake Huron and Lake Helen in Canada. In 1991, Pennsylvania implemented a reintroduction program utilizing hatchery-reared American paddlefish in an effort to establish self-sustaining populations in the upper Ohio and lower Allegheny rivers. In 1998, New York initiated a stocking program upstream in the Allegheny Reservoir above Kinzua Dam, and a second stocking in 2006 in Conewango Creek, a relatively unaltered section of their historic range. Reports of free ranging adults captured by gill nets have since been documented in Pennsylvania and New York, but there is no evidence of natural reproduction. They are currently found in 22 states in the US, and are protected under state and federal laws. There are 13 states that allow commercial or sport fishing for American paddlefish.


title: American paddlefish

text: The artificial propagation of American paddlefish began with the efforts of the Missouri Department of Conservation during the early 1960s, and focused primarily on maintenance of the sport fishery. However, it was the growing importance of American paddlefish for their meat and roe that became the catalyst for further development of culture techniques for aquaculture in the United States. Artificial propagation requires broodstock which, because of the late sexual maturation of American paddlefish, are initially obtained from the wild and brought into a hatchery environment. The fish are injected with LH-RH hormone to stimulate spawning. The number of eggs a female may produce depends on the size of the fish and can range anywhere from 70,000 to 300,000 eggs. Unlike most teleosts, the oviduct branches of American paddlefish and sturgeons are not directly attached to the ovaries; rather, they open dorsally into the body cavity. To determine the status of progression toward maturation, ova staging is performed. The process begins with a minor procedure that involves a small abdominal incision from which to extract a few sample oocytes. The oocytes are boiled in water for a few minutes until the yolk is hardened, and then they are cut in half to expose the nucleus. The exposed nucleus is examined under a microscope to determine stage of maturity.


title: American paddlefish

text: Once maturation is confirmed, one of three procedures is used to extract the eggs from a female paddlefish. The three procedures are:


title: American paddlefish

text: A spermiating male indicates successful production of mature spermatozoa which results in the release of large volumes of milt over the course of three to four days. Milt is collected by inserting a short plastic tube with syringe attached into the urogenital opening of the male and applying light suction with the syringe to draw the milt. The collected milt is diluted in water just prior to adding it to the eggs and the combination is gently stirred for about a minute to achieve fertilization. Fertilized eggs are adhesive and demersal, therefore if incubation is to take place in a flow-through hatching jar, the eggs must be treated to prevent clumping. Incubation usually takes anywhere from five to twelve days.


title: American paddlefish

text: A 2020 paper reported that eggs from three Russian sturgeons were crossbred with American paddlefish using sperm from four male paddlefish, resulting in hybrids called sturddlefish, a blend of the two names. The offspring had a survival rate of 62–74% and on average reached after a year of growth. This was the first time such fish from different families were successfully crossbred. Their last common ancestor is estimated to have lived 140 million years ago.


title: American paddlefish

text: Advancements in biotechnology have created a global commercial market for the polyculture of American paddlefish. In 1970, American paddlefish were stocked in several rivers in Europe and Asia. Introduction began when five thousand hatched larvae from Missouri hatcheries in the United States were exported to the former Soviet Union for aquacultural utilization. Reproduction was successful in 1988 and 1989, and resulted in the exportation of juveniles to Romania and Hungary. American paddlefish are now being raised in Ukraine, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and the Plovdiv and Vidin regions in Bulgaria. In May 2006, specimens of different sizes and weights were caught by professional fisherman near Prahovo in the Serbian part of the Danube River.


title: American paddlefish

text: In 1988, fertilized American paddlefish eggs and larvae from Missouri hatcheries were first introduced into China. Since that time, China imports approximately 4.5million fertilized eggs and larvae every year from hatcheries in Russia and the United States. Some American paddlefish are polycultured in carp ponds and sold to restaurants while others are cultured for brood stock and caviar production. China has also exported American paddlefish to Cuba, where they are farmed for caviar production.


title: American paddlefish

text: American paddlefish are a popular sport fish where their populations are sufficient to allow such activity. Areas where there are no self-sustaining populations rely on state and federal restocking programs to maintain a viable fishery. A 2009 report includes the following states as allowing American paddlefish sport fishing per their respective state and federal regulations: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee. Since American paddlefish are filter-feeders, they will not take bait or lures, and must be caught by snagging.


title: American paddlefish

text: The official state record in Kansas is an American paddlefish snagged in 2004 that weighed . In Montana, an American paddlefish was snagged in 1973 weighing . In North Dakota, one snagged in 2010 weighed . The largest American paddlefish on record was captured in West Okoboji Lake, Iowa, in 1916 by a spear fisherman; it measured and weighed an estimated .


title: American paddlefish

text: American paddlefish populations have declined dramatically, primarily as a result of overfishing and habitat destruction. In 2004 they were listed as Vulnerable (VU A3de ver 3.1) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They are currently proposed for listing as VU 3de throughout their range as the result of a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service assessment. The assessment concluded that "an overall population size reduction of at least 30% may occur within the next 10 years or three generations due to actual or potential levels of exploitation and the effects of introduced taxa, pollutants, competitors or parasites." American paddlefish are filter-feeding pelagic fish that require large, free-flowing rivers with braided channels, backwater areas, oxbow lakes that are rich in zooplankton, and gravel bars for spawning. Series of dams on rivers such as those constructed on the Missouri River have impounded large populations of American paddlefish, and blocked their upstream migration to spawning shoals. Channelization and groynes or wing dykes have caused the narrowing of rivers and altered flow, destroying crucial spawning and nursery habitat. As a result, most impounded populations are not self-sustaining and must be stocked to maintain a viable sport fishery.


title: American paddlefish

text: Zebra mussel infestations in the Mississippi River, Great Lakes and other Midwest rivers are also negatively affecting American paddlefish populations. Zebra mussels are an invasive species well adapted for explosive population growth as a result of high rates of fecundity and recruitment. As filter feeders, zebra mussels rely on plankton and can filter significant amounts of phytoplankton and zooplankton from the water, altering the availability of an important food source for paddlefish and native unionidae. A few days after the fertilization of zebra mussel eggs, a microscopic larva emerges called a veliger. During this initial stage of development, which usually lasts a few weeks, veligers are able to swim freely in the water column with other microscopic animals comprising zooplankton. Veligers are poor swimmers, making them susceptible to predation by any animal that feeds on zooplankton. However, natural predation of zebra mussels at any stage of development has not made a significant contribution to the long-term reduction of zebra mussel populations.


title: American paddlefish

text: Poaching has been a contributing factor to declining populations of American paddlefish in the states where they are commercially exploited, particularly while the demand for caviar remains strong. Since the 1980s, a trade embargo on Iran restricted imports of the highly sought after and most expensive beluga caviar from the Caspian Sea, limiting U.S. sources of caviar. The most sought-after caviar is produced by sturgeons in the Northern Caspian Sea, but overfishing and poaching have exhausted the supply. American sturgeon and paddlefish populations were targeted as likely substitutes.


title: American paddlefish

text: The roe of American paddlefish can be processed into caviar similar in taste, color, size and texture to sevruga sturgeon caviar from the Caspian Sea. Several cases of mislabeled American paddlefish roe sold as Caspian Sea caviar have been prosecuted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. State and federal regulations restricting the harvest of American paddlefish populations in the wild, and the illegal trafficking of their roe, are strictly enforced. Related violations such as the illegal transport of American paddlefish roe have resulted in convictions with substantial fines and prison sentences. American paddlefish are also protected under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meaning international trade in the species (including parts and derivatives) is regulated.


title: American paddlefish

text: The primary reasons for the decline of the now-extinct Chinese paddlefish are similar to those of American paddlefish, which include overfishing, the construction of dams, and destruction of habitat. The last confirmed sighting of a live Chinese paddlefish was from the Yangtze River on January 24, 2003. From 2006 to 2008, scientists conducted surveys in an effort to locate the fish. They used several boats, deployed 4762 setlines, 111 anchored setlines and 950 drift nets covering on the upper Yangtze River, most of which lies within the protected area of the Upper Yangtze National Nature Reserve. They did not catch a single fish. They also used hydroacoustic equipment to monitor sounds in the water, but were unable to confirm the presence of paddlefish. The species is believed to have gone extinct before 2005 and no later than 2010. The IUCN assessed the species as extinct in 2019, formally publishing this categorisation in 2022.


title: Union Movement

text: The Union Movement (UM) was a far-right political party founded in the United Kingdom by Oswald Mosley. Before the Second World War, Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) had wanted to concentrate trade within the British Empire, but the Union Movement attempted to stress the importance of developing a European nationalism, rather than a narrower country-based nationalism. That has caused the UM to be characterised as an attempt by Mosley to start again in his political life by embracing more democratic and international policies than those with which he had previously been associated. The UM has been described as "post-fascist" by former members such as Robert Edwards, the founder of the pro-Mosley "European Action", a British pressure group.


title: Union Movement

text: Having been the leader of the BUF in the 1930s, Mosley was expected to return to lead the far right. However, he remained out of the immediate postwar political arena, instead turned to writing and published his first work, "My Answer" (1946) in which he argued that he had been a patriot who had been unjustly punished by his internment under Defence Regulation 18B. In it and his 1947 sequel, "The Alternative", Mosley began to argue for a much-closer integration between the nations of Europe, the beginning of his 'Europe a Nation' campaign, which sought a strong united Europe as a counterbalance to the growing power of the United States and the Soviet Union.


title: Union Movement

text: Mosley perceived a linear growth within British history and saw Europe a Nation as the culmination of that destiny. Therefore, he argued it to be "part of an organic process of British history" since Britain had united into one nation and that it was Britain's national destiny to unite the whole continent.


title: Union Movement

text: He further envisaged a three-tiered system of government, headed by an elected European government, to organise defence and the corporatist economy. The continuation of national governments and a collection of local governments were still seen as necessary for the sake of independent identities.