title: Kuruvi

text: "Rediff" reviewed that Vivek and Vijay's comic-timing worked together and paved way for the some what average success of "Kuruvi". Behindwoods rated the movie at 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated "If you go to see Kuruvi with lowered expectations, you may end up liking it. But those who are looking for big build-up sequences and large Ghilli-like payoffs – stay away.". Sify wrote:"To give Dharani his due, Kuruvi is watchable in parts, for die-hard fans of Vijay. For ordinary viewers, the film lacks a basic story and stretches ones patience for nearly three hours". Rediff wrote:"Kuruvi's got everything to appeal to Vijay fans – but Dharani the director is lost in this melee of fist-fights and elementary comedy". "Ananda Vikatan" rated the film 39 out of 100. Indiaglitz wrote:"Kuruvi, a racy thriller loaded with romance and action, is a sure treat for Vijay fans". Hindu wrote:"Kuruvi tries its best to fly high, only that the effort isn’t enough because earlier Ghilli had soared much higher. Of course, Dharani keeps up the momentum and things move fast to the midway point". The satellite rights of the film were sold to Kalaignar TV in Tamil and Kairali TV in Malayalam.


title: Amarna Miller

text: Miller, whose stage name comes from an Egyptian archaeological site Amarna and the writer Henry Miller, graduated in fine arts from the European University of Madrid.


title: Amarna Miller

text: Miller joined the adult film industry at 19 years of age, operating her own film production company called Omnia-X for five years. She has appeared in the magazines "PlayGround" and "Primera Línea" and on the Orgasmatrix website.


title: Amarna Miller

text: Despite being a supporter of feminist pornography, she acknowledges that she works in "an industry made by and for men" and that "if I only shot feminist porn, I would not pay half a bill." She is an advocate for ethical pornography but states that rights of adult actors are not respected in most jurisdictions outside the United States.


title: Amarna Miller

text: She was featured as spokeswoman and protagonist a controversial promotional spot for the Erotic Salon of Barcelona 2016. The advertisement, called "Patria" and awarded a Silver Lion at the Cannes Lions festival, criticizes Spanish double standards and ends with the phrase: "We live in a disgustingly hypocritical country, but some of us do not give up".


title: Amarna Miller

text: In 2017, she starred in her first feature film entitled "Contigo no, bicho", directed by Álvaro Alonso and Miguel Ángel Jiménez, which premiered at the Málaga Film Festival. In September of that year, she was injured in a motorcycle accident in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, in the Philippines, sustaining multiple injuries that necessitated surgery and a blood transfusion.


title: Amarna Miller

text: She stopped shooting pornography in 2017 to pursue other opportunities. She has since acknowledged the stigma she faces due to her past sex work.


title: Amarna Miller

text: She has taken part, among others, on the television programs "Al rincón de pensar" (Antena 3), "Late Motiv" (Movistar+), "Sálvame Deluxe" (Telecinco), and "The Zoo" (LATV), while also taking part on the independent radio program "Carne Cruda".


title: Amarna Miller

text: She presents the television show "Diario Vice" on channel 0 of Movistar+ where she interviewed the Spanish artist Abel Azcona and the musical band Las Odio. In 2016 she was interviewed by Buenafuente in "Late Motiv". In 2018 she assisted to the TV program "La Resistencia", presented by David Broncano.


title: Amarna Miller

text: She appeared in the cover magazine "Interviú" in 2014 and 2016, as well as "Bad Skin", "Mongolia" and "Primera Línea".


title: Amarna Miller

text: In digital media, she has done many interviews such as "Erebus", "Jot Down" and "GQ". She is also very active in social media.


title: Amarna Miller

text: She uses her YouTube channel to express ideas about sustainability, stigma rupture and ecology. In this channel, Miller tells her experiences like living a month in her van or without producing trash, why she gave up pornography, or what medicines to take when going to a foreign country.


title: Amarna Miller

text: In 2015, she published her first book titled "Manual de psiconáutica" with the publisher Lapsus Calami (while the prologue was done by Nacho Vigalondo and the epilogue by Luna Miguel) and it was a mix of poetry and photography. She defined it as "my personal labyrinth, my nook, my innermost".


title: Amarna Miller

text: She also wrote the prologue of "@Alicia_hot" written by Alejandro Ruiz Morillas, the back cover of the book "Post Coño" written by Gaby Bess (both in 2015) and the prologue of "X" written by Risto Mejide in 2016.


title: Amarna Miller

text: In May 2016, she held a talk with the deputies of Podemos Beatriz Gimeno and Clara Serra titled "Sex, porn and feminism" in which she said that pornography can not be used for sex education, but her presence in this talk was not well received by some feminist sectors. She held a talk again with Clara Serra in 2017, this time accompanied by the pornographic actor Aday Traun, at the Charles III University of Madrid titled "Pornography and diversity" in which she criticized some clichés of the pornographic industry.


title: Amarna Miller

text: She has appeared in short films "The Immaculate Heart" by Vex Ashley and "Lacrimarum" by Nico Bertrand. On the cover of the magazine "Mongolia" in March 2016, she posed emulating the Virgin Mary.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: "Piñata" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of the AMC television series "Better Call Saul", a spin-off series of "Breaking Bad". The episode aired on September 10, 2018, on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming service Netflix in several countries.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: In a flashback from 1993, Jimmy McGill collects ballots for an office pool predicting the outcomes of the 65th Academy Awards and Howard announces that Chuck McGill has successfully closed a lucrative case. The staff applauds and Kim Wexler takes the opportunity to show Chuck her own legal acumen. Jimmy tries to congratulate Chuck, who is dismissive. Jimmy passes the firm's law library while delivering mail, checks to make sure no one is watching, and silently enters.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: Late at night, Kim reviews Mesa Verde documents but is drawn to her pro bono cases. The next morning, she meets with Rich Schweikart and makes a successful pitch to join Schweikart & Cokely as head of a new banking division. She informs Jimmy over lunch, falsely telling him that Rich sought her out.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: A relative of Geraldine, his first elder law client, calls Jimmy to tell him she died. Jimmy breaks down afterward, and later re-watches his first elder law commercial, which featured Geraldine.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: Gus Fring and Mike Ehrmantraut arrange to house Werner Ziegler and his crew while they build the meth lab. Mike explains the living and security arrangements to Werner and his crew. Crew member Kai appears dismissive, but Werner vouches for him. Mike apologizes to Stacey for exposing Henry at the support group, and Stacey allows him to see Kaylee again.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: Gus visits a hospitalized, unconscious Hector Salamanca and recounts a childhood story about a coati that ate the fruit from a lúcuma tree Gus had carefully tended in Chile. He trapped the coati, which broke its leg while trying to escape. Rather than killing it, which would have been humane, Gus held it and let it suffer until it died.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: Jimmy visits HHM to pick up his $5,000 inheritance check. Howard Hamlin explains that clients are leaving because HHM’s reputation has been damaged by recent events. Before departing, Jimmy tries a "tough love" pep talk to rouse Howard into action.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: Jimmy uses his inheritance to buy pay-as-you-go phones for resale on the street. The three teenagers who previously robbed him attempt to rob him again, and Jimmy springs a trap. After the three teenagers are bound and suspended upside down, Huell Babineaux and Man Mountain use bats to smash piñatas close to their heads. Jimmy obtains their fearful agreement that the boys will both leave him alone and spread the word that he is off limits.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: This episode features the return of Michael McKean (Chuck McGill), who last appeared in the third season finale when his character was killed off-screen after he deliberately set his house on fire in an apparent suicide.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: This episode was directed by Andrew Stanton, who is better known for writing and directing several Pixar films, including "Finding Nemo" and "WALL-E". He also had directed "John Carter", which had given him the idea of doing more live-action directing work. "Piñata" is Stanton's second television production, following directing of two episodes of the second season of "Stranger Things," an opportunity given to him by Shawn Levy. From "Stranger Things" he spoke to more people about his interest in further television productions. During such a conversation with Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein, the show's executive producers, they suggested the opportunity for him to direct a "Better Call Saul" episode, which he jumped at, as he had already been a fan of both "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul", and wanted the opportunity to work with the creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: The scene with Gus and Hector ends with a shot of Hector's right hand as Gus walks out; this was intended to allude to the scene in the "Breaking Bad" fourth season episode "Face Off," in which Hector uses the same hand to trigger the explosion that kills both him and Gus. Two takes of this scene were shot, one with Hector's finger twitching and one without, as there had been debate on the production team over which version would be better. The episode as broadcast did not include the twitch.


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: "Piñata" received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, it garnered a perfect 100% rating with an average score of 8.52/10 based on 11 reviews. The site's critical consensus is, "Though more of an expositional creep than previous episodes, 'Piñata' maintains the season's emotionally charged character growth and provides a powerful, mildly petrifying performance from Giancarlo Esposito."


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: Emmy nominee Giancarlo Esposito submitted this episode for consideration for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards


title: Piñata (Better Call Saul)

text: "Piñata" was watched by 1.40 million viewers on its first broadcast, earning a 0.4 ratings for viewers between 18 and 49.


title: Keele University

text: Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele was granted university status by Royal Charter in 1962.


title: Keele University

text: Keele occupies a rural campus close to the village of Keele and consists of extensive woods, lakes and Keele Hall set in Staffordshire Potteries. It has a science park and a conference centre, making it the largest campus university in the UK. The university's School of Medicine operates the clinical part of its courses from a separate campus at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. The School of Nursing and Midwifery is based at the nearby Clinical Education Centre.


title: Keele University

text: Cambridge and Oxford Extension Lectures had been arranged in the Potteries since the 1890s, but outside any organised educational framework or establishment. In 1904, funds were raised by local industrialists to support teaching by the creation of a North Staffordshire College, but the project, without the backing of Staffordshire County Council, was abandoned.


title: Keele University

text: By the late 1930s the Staffordshire towns of Longton, Fenton, Burslem, Hanley had grown into the largest conurbation without some form of university provision. A large area including Staffordshire, Shropshire and parts of Cheshire and Derbyshire did not have its own university. Stoke, in particular, demanded highly qualified graduates for the regional pottery and mining industries and also additional social workers, teachers and administrators. A. D. Lindsay, Professor of Philosophy and Master of Balliol College, Oxford, was a strong advocate of working-class adult education, and suggested a "people's university" in an address to the North Staffordshire Workers' Educational Association in 1925.


title: Keele University

text: Recently appointed to the House of Lords, Lindsay participated in producing the influential Foreign Office report "University Reform in Germany", which argued that no institution deserved the name of "university" unless it combined teaching and research. Consistent with his democratic ideals of education, Lindsay also warned of the dangers of training the specialist intellect in the natural sciences and the need to introduce elements of social sciences at university level by broadening the academic agenda. Lindsay believed technological excesses sponsored by the state without a review of the social and political consequences had been a major contributor to Germany's downfall. This was to heavily influence Keele's curriculum. On 13 March 1946, Lindsay wrote to Sir Walter Moberly, chair of the University Grants Committee (UGC), suggesting the creation of a college "on new lines". The committee wanted a university for the 20th century that could overcome the division between arts and sciences, and what Moberly was calling the "evil of departmentalism". The UGC argued that "The tasks of the modern citizen and the study of modern society should be central to the curriculum." North Staffordshire was seen as an ideal site since it "presented many typical problems thrown up by modern industrial conglomerations, such as those posed by technical innovation in the pottery and mining industries." The college could become a "social laboratory" for industries and the local communities they catered for.


title: Keele University

text: Normal practice was for new colleges (such as Southampton, Exeter and Nottingham) to be launched without degree-awarding powers. Students would instead matriculate with and take external degrees from the University of London. Lindsay wanted to "get rid of the London external degree" and instead found a college with degree-awarding authority, as well as the power to set its own syllabus, perhaps acting under the sponsorship of an established university. This would allow the college to start afresh in the setting of its curriculum. Lindsay wrote to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, tentatively requesting such sponsorship.


title: Keele University

text: An exploratory committee was established by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, and, having secured public funding from the UGC in January 1948, the committee acquired Keele Hall on the outskirts of Newcastle-under-Lyme from its owner, Ralph Sneyd. The Hall was purchased together with the bulk of the Sneyd estate and a number of prefabricated structures erected by the Army during the Second World War for £31,000.


title: Keele University

text: In August 1949 the university college was granted the right to award its own degrees. The first graduate was George Eason, who had studied mathematics at Birmingham University and gained a BSc in 1951. He received his MSc in 1952 from Keele. In 1954 the first graduate studying fully at Keele was Margaret Boulds, who received a dual honours degree in philosophy and English.


title: Keele University

text: Growing steadily to 1,200 students, the university college was granted university status in 1962, receiving a new royal charter in January that year, and adopting the name "University of Keele". Alternatives were considered, including "The University of Stoke" or "Stoke-on-Trent", but both were rejected because the estate is situated in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. "Staffordshire University" was also discussed (this is now the name of the former North Staffordshire Polytechnic). The university is a short distance west of the civil parish of Keele, and it was decided to name it after the village. It is the only establishment of higher education in the UK to be named after a village, and this has long attracted questions as to its location. Together with Reading, Nottingham, Southampton, Hull, Exeter and Leicester, all university colleges founded a short time before or after the First World War, Keele was identified as one of the "younger civic universities" by the Robbins Report.


title: Keele University

text: In 1968 the Royal Commission on Medical Education (1965–68) issued the Todd Report, which examined the possibility of a medical school being established at Keele. It was considered that North Staffordshire would be a good site, having a large local population and several hospitals. However, a minimum intake of 150 students each year would be necessary to make a medical school economically and educationally viable, and the university was at that time too small to support a medical school of this size.


title: Keele University

text: Keele's International Relations Department was founded in 1974 by Alan James and was one of the first institutions to offer a full degree in the subject. The Keele World Affairs Group, closely associated, followed suit in 1980. Keele's first female professor was appointed to the Chair of Social Work in 1976. In 1978, Keele Department of Postgraduate Medicine was created, although it did not cater for undergraduate medical students.


title: Keele University

text: In late 1985, after a series of cuts in university funding, Keele briefly considered merging with North Staffordshire Polytechnic, but negotiations collapsed. In September 1983, the Secretary of State, via the UGC, had encouraged the idea, asserting that the most radical way of increasing the size of departments and diminishing their number is by the merger of institutions. At the time, Keele had a population of 2,700 students, compared to 6,000 at the less academically exclusive Polytechnic. Edwina Currie, then Conservative MP for South Derbyshire, remarked, "A university which is now below 3,000 students has got problems. It simply isn't big enough". Keele University Science & Business Park Ltd (KUSP Ltd) opened in 1987, partly to generate and diversify alternative sources of income.


title: Keele University

text: In 1994, the Oswestry and North Staffordshire School of Physiotherapy (ONSSP), which had been a separate institution based at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire, merged with Keele University, becoming Keele's Department of Physiotherapy Studies (now School of Health & Rehabilitation). It moved to the Keele University campus. In August 1995, Keele University merged with North Staffordshire College of Nursing and Midwifery, forming the new School of Nursing and Midwifery. In 1998 and 1999 there was some controversy when the university decided to sell the Turner Collection, a valuable collection of printed mathematical books, including some which had belonged to and had been heavily annotated by Isaac Newton, in order to fund major improvements to the university library. Senior university officials authorised the sale of the collection to a private buyer, with no guarantee that it would remain intact or within the UK. Although the sale was legal, it was unpopular among the academic community, and the controversy was fuelled by prolonged negative press coverage suggesting that the £1m sale price was too low and that the collection was certain to be broken up.


title: Keele University

text: Sir David Weatherall was named as Chancellor in 2000. In 2001, Keele was awarded an undergraduate medical school in partnership with Manchester University. Initially, some students from Manchester Medical School began being taught at Keele. Finally Keele's own medical school opened in 2007 with the first of cohort of students graduating in 2012. In 2009, the university was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, for 'pioneering work with the NHS in early intervention and primary care in the treatment of chronic pain and arthritis, linking research to delivery to patients through GP networks and user groups'. In 2006 the School of Pharmacy was created with the launch of MPharm degree programmes.


title: Keele University

text: In early 2001, to cut costs, the faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences merged. Due to declining popularity and funding, the German department closed in December 2004 with the university retaining its physics degree despite the subject facing similar pressures. Although degrees ceased to be offered in modern languages, a Language Learning Unit was created to provide Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish teaching for Keele students and staff. This can lead to an enhanced degree title given sufficient electives taken.


title: Keele University

text: The foundation year was eliminated in 1998 but re-introduced in 2012 with new programmes of study, the international foundation year and the accelerated international foundation year which add to the existing offer, as well as the humanities, science, social science, health, general foundation years and foundation year for people who are visually impaired.


title: Keele University

text: Starting in 2012, Keele has placed environmental sustainability at the heart of its strategy. In 2016, Keele was finalist in the Green Gowns Awards for its "significant reduction in carbon emissions and to a dedicated programme of carbon reduction projects supported by an excellent energy management system". In the People & Planet Green League 2015 assessments for environmental and ethical performance, Keele ranked 48 of 151 educational establishments. The creation of a SMART energy centre due for completion in 2021 will allow the campus to become energy self-sufficient via waste recycling and alternative energy sources.


title: Keele University

text: In 2017, Keele School of Management (KMS), which was at the time housed in the Darwin Building, decided to expand its offering at undergraduate level with new single honours programmes. The new science park Mercia Centre for Innovation and Leadership (MCIL) initiative, due for completion in 2019 serve as a relocation for the school. KMS also elected to work more closely with regional business actors e.g. Michelin Tyre PLC in Stoke-on-Trent by offering first year students the opportunity to work on live projects. Additionally, Keele has embarked on a major expansion of STEM subjects with a £45m investment.


title: Keele University

text: The university is in advanced discussions with Shropshire's Harper Adams University for the creation of a joint Veterinary School on-campus with its first student intake expected in 2019. The development will comprise a veterinary hospital, a clinical skills centre, and the Keele campus-based Veterinary School hub facilities. Developed by CVS on the Keele University Science and Innovation Park, the facilities will be ready for the first student intake in autumn 2020.


title: Keele University

text: The heraldic grant of arms features the scythe of the Sneyd family, who owned the Keele park estate from 1540 to 1949, and includes the Sneyd family's motto "Thanke God for All". The shield features the colours red and yellow to represent the County of Staffordshire as well as the Staffordshire chevron. The Stafford knot for Stafford, the Fleur-de-Lys for Burton upon Trent and the Fret depict the historical association with the industry of Stoke-on-Trent. An open book joins Rodin's "Le Penseur", which is represented amid a wreath of laurel vert. Variations on this have appeared in various corporate logos and shield but this remains the formal grant of arms in official documents.


title: Keele University

text: Prior to 1986, the university shield was principally utilized on marketing (e.g.university prospectus) and communications material (corporate letterheads etc.). With the opening of the Science park, brand identity evolved with a new, modern corporate wordmarque featuring 'Congress' and 'Proteus' typefaces. In 1995, the corporate logo changed again with an intertwined ribbon motif representing the overlapping of educational disciplines. In 2011, the university shield returned relying heavily on the armorial bearings but with a modern twist for the digital age.


title: Keele University

text: The academic gowns reflect the colours of the County of Staffordshire and emphasise red and yellow. Higher Doctorates utilise purple, whilst the College of Fellows uses red and gold.


title: Keele University

text: Located in North Staffordshire, Keele's campus is rural with many 19th-century architectural features such as Keele Hall predating the concrete and red-brick buildings of the modern university. The campus occupies a rural campus close to the village of Keele and consists of extensive woods, lakes and Keele Hall set in Staffordshire Potteries. The estate was originally given by King Henry II of England to the Knights Templars in 1180. When the Templars were condemned and dissolved by the Council of Vienne in 1311, their possessions were annexed by the Knights Hospitallers until their dissolution by Henry VIII. The estate was purchased from the Crown by the Sneyd family and remained their property until acquisition by the Stoke-on-Trent Corporation in 1948. Apart from increasing numbers of academic and residential buildings, other facilities include an astronomical observatory, arts and cultural programme, arboretum, Islamic centre, shops, cafés and places to eat and drink. The campus has science, business enterprise parks and conference centres. It is home to the Earth Science Education Unit (ESEU). The chapel is located in the centre of the campus, close to the university library and student union. From the onset, Christian worship was central to university life. Lindsay, first principal of the University College, was an ardent Christian preaching every Sunday in the Library Reading room of Keele Hall. A permanent structure was required and the chapel was built in 1965. Built from Staffordshire blue brick, the chapel accommodates different Christian traditions.


title: Keele University

text: There are five halls of residence on the main campus: Horwood, Lindsay, Barnes, Holly Cross and The Oaks. (Hawthorns Hall was located off site in Keele village just outside the main entrance. However, the site has been sold for redevelopment, and the halls demolished.) These halls provide accommodation for 70% of all full-time students. Three of the oldest halls, Horwood (1957), Lindsay (1964) and Barnes (1970) are named after the founding fathers of the university. The Oaks (1992), west of Lindsay Hall, is named after four oak trees that were felled to pave the way for the university residence and Holly Cross (1993). The Hawthorns (1957), remnants of the Sneyd property in Keele Village, was originally a large house, two paddocks and gardens totalling 13 acres.


title: Keele University

text: Following student demand for accommodation on-campus, in 2018, Barnes hall of residence will be re-developed with new residential units added to cater for an additional 453 bedrooms, funded from the proceeds of the sale of the Hawthorns.


title: Keele University

text: The university operates a Science Park under a wholly owned subsidiary company, Keele University Science & Business Park Limited.


title: Keele University

text: When the university was founded in 1948, the Librarian's office was located above a public house in Stoke, near the Town Hall. In 1952, the old Sneyd Library was used with 20,000 items which increased to 70,000 by 1954. By 1955, 155,000 volumes were accounted for and necessitating 12 full-time staff. Later, the Senate Room in Keele Hall was used to house the material. Construction of the new library campus began in 1961 with additional expansion completed in 1966. By the early 1970s, the library was able to accommodate 750 readers and 600,000 books.


title: Keele University

text: The university purchased the collection of deceased Belgian Professor Charles Saroléa, consisting of between 150,000 and 300,000 items. A viewing was organized and an agreement reached with the trustees to the acquisition of 120,000 books at a cost of £1348. However, the books were stocked in Edinburgh and removing the items without delay was one of the conditions of the agreement. A price per ton was fixed and the books arrived, first in a Methodist church school where each item was sorted and cataloged. The books were transferred to the new campus building in 1961.


title: Keele University

text: The library catalogue and circulation system was automated in 1990. In 1993, the Computer Centre merged with the library, renamed Keele Information Services (KIS). The library allowed for new PC labs and an IT Helpdesk to assist students. With further modernisation in 2006, a self-service digitised counter was opened and refurbishment of different library wings. In 2005, following students' requests, a group study area was incorporated in the Short-Loan library. The library is now opened 24/7 during each semester.


title: Keele University

text: Since the founding of the Keele University School of Medicine, a Health Library is available to both Keele students and National Health Service (NHS) staff at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. An IT suite complements the material with 60 workstations.


title: Keele University

text: The university's curriculum required every student to study two principal subjects to honours level, as well as further subsidiary subjects, with an additional requirement that students should study at least one subject from each of the subject groupings of Arts, Sciences and Social Sciences. The cross-disciplinary requirement was reinforced by the Foundation Year, an innovation which meant that for the first year of the four-year programmes, all students would study a common course of interdisciplinary "foundation studies". This key particularity of the Keele curriculum led Michael Brawne to remark in 1966 that the university was "the nearest thing in Britain to the small liberal arts college in the US".


title: Keele University

text: Standard three-year degrees were introduced in 1973 and the numbers of students following the Foundation Year course have steadily dwindled since. The Foundation Year has never been formally discontinued, however, and remains an option for prospective students who qualify for entry into higher education, but lack subject-specific qualifications for specific degree programmes. By contrast, almost 90 per cent of current undergraduates read dual honours. Able to combine any two available subjects, students have a choice of over 500 degree courses in all. The university also offers a study abroad semester to most of its students.


title: Keele University

text: As an experimental community, Keele was initially founded as a "wholly residential" institution. Of the initial intake of 159 students in October 1950, 149 were resident on campus, and it was required of the first professors appointed that they should also be in residence. With the expansion of the university, total residency has long since been abandoned, but the proportion of full-time students resident on campus remains above average at 62% in 2011.


title: Keele University

text: All Keele's courses, with the exception of Medicine and Pharmacy, are modular, with the academic year divided into two semesters, with breaks at Christmas and Easter. There are approximately 14 students to every member of staff.


title: Keele University

text: The statutes of the university are laid out in its Royal Charter granted in 1962. These describe the organisational structure and powers that allow the university to function and govern its affairs. The Chancellor is appointed by an elected council every 5 years or until resignation and supplemented by a Pro-Chancellor and Deputy Pro-Chancellors. The Vice-Chancellor, also appointed by the council, requires approval from the senate and is the principal academic and administrative officer of the university. All are officers of the university.


title: Keele University

text: The university operates several collaborative arrangements with educational establishments in the UK and abroad. In 2016, in the UK and regionally, Keele held joint contracts/awards with Liverpool University (Marie Curie Palliative Care Institution), University of Salford and Staffordshire University. Keele also has multiple franchise agreements, represented in South East Asia with SEGo College, KDU University College and the Sri Lankan Institute of Information Technology. Early overseas exchange programmes in the 1950s debuted in the US with Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania and Reed College, Oregon whilst, in continental Europe, with Université de Nancy. Today, Keele has exchange agreements with over 80 academic institutions worldwide.


title: Keele University

text: According to the university's Statement of Accounts for 2015/16, total income for the year ending 31 July 2016 was just over £148.5 million with a total expenditure of £140.5 million. This amounted to a consolidated surplus of £8 million and a slight increase of £3.6 million on a yearly basis. For 2015/16, income was primarily derived from academic fees raking £71.3 million with home and European Union students the largest group accounting for £50.3 million followed by international students with £13.6 million. Tuition fees and education contracts account for 48% of total income received before donations and endowments. The university has continued to invest in capital projects with the refurbishments of the Walter Moberley and Huxley buildings, an upgrade to the Sports Centre facilities and a new HR/payroll system.


title: Keele University

text: In 2011, Keele established a college of fellows to promote the activities of the university outside the traditional realm of academia. Current members includes alumni who have demarcated themselves in the field of industry, media and/or public service as well as key stakeholders from in and around Staffordshire.


title: Keele University

text: Keele has a graduation rate of over 90%, with 68.4% achieving 1sts or 2:1s. 90% of undergraduates are state-educated, and over 25% of students are from working-class backgrounds. In recent years Keele has attempted to boost this number by reaching out to local schools and hosting a summer school. In February 2011, a Sutton Trust report revealed that 3·4% of students had received free school meals, whilst 7·9% had attended independent schools. This compares the national figures for England of 14% eligible for free school meals, and 7% independently educated.


title: Keele University

text: New students entering Keele in 2016 had an average of 128 UCAS points or ABB at A'Level. Typically three-year degree courses ask for A'Level grades (or equivalent) of between AAB and BBC with the exception of Medicine. Keele has made it a priority to attract applicants with ABB grades and above at A'Level. The university also aspires to enter the top 30 across league tables by 2020. In May 2012 Keele was listed by the "Times Higher Education" (THE) magazine as among the world's top 100 new (50 years old or less) universities. In September 2016, Keele was awarded 'University of the Year for Student Experience' (The Times and The Sunday Times annual University of the Year awards, 2017).


title: Keele University

text: Keele has traditionally participated in the UCAS clearing process and it has become customary for the university to lower its requirements to fill outstanding places. In September 2018, the university reduced its academic demands to 72 UCAS points or higher equivalent to 2 A'Levels at grades B and C in dual and single honours degree programmes with vacancies remaining.<ref name="http://www.keele.ac.uk/clearing"></ref>


title: Keele University

text: According to the National Student Survey (NSS) and excluding private or specialist institutions, the university ranked first for Student Satisfaction in 2014, 2015 and 2016 (jointly with the University of St Andrews) amongst broad-based educational establishments. The NSS is aimed at final year undergraduates, gathering opinions about their experience of their courses and the institution. It is conducted independently and a key quality indicator of higher education in the UK. In 2015, disciplines that scored highest included Education, Geology, Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Biochemistry, English and Mathematics. In June 2017, Keele was awarded Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) which measures excellence in three areas: teaching quality, the learning environment and the educational and professional outcomes achieved by students.


title: Keele University

text: Keele submitted 60% of its staff to the 2014 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and ranked 57 of 128 institutions by grade point average (GPA) The university scored particularly well in public health, health services and primary care. Medical research includes detecting Parkinson's disease early, and using stem cell research to aid the healing process. The cochlear implant was developed in the Department of Communication and Neuroscience at Keele. Other notable medical pursuits includes attempts to explain the evolution of the human brain, looking into links between cannabis and mental illness (cited in the 2009 reclassification debate), as well as tumour and cancer research. In August 2009, university astronomers, led by David Anderson, discovered the first planet that orbits in the opposite direction to the spin of its star. The planet was named WASP-17b. In 2010 Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston won the Ig Nobel prize for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain. In 2010 a medical centre in Newport, Shropshire was completed, for students to learn in real medical situations and to research medical sciences.


title: Keele University

text: Keele University Students' Union organises social activities throughout the year. The principal Students' Union building was designed by Stillman & Eastwick-Field (now part of the T. P. Bennett practice), with some guidance from the university's architect, J. A. Pickavance. It opened in 1962 and was completed in 1963, extended in the 1970s and the ground-floor interior remodelled in 2011–2012. Its magazine, "Concourse", was founded in 1964 and is issued monthly during term time. It is editorially independent of both the university and the students' union.


title: Keele University

text: The Keele team won the 1968 series of "University Challenge". The same team also made runner up to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (1979) in the 2002 special "University Challenge: Reunited".


title: Keele University

text: There is a student radio station called KUBE Radio (Keele University Broadcasting Enterprises) with broadcast over the Internet.


title: Keele University

text: Keele sports range from rugby to lacrosse and dodgeball. Sports teams and issues raised are managed by the Athletic Union. The centre has two national standard sports halls, a single court gymnasium, a fitness centre, dance studio and climbing wall. Outside there is an all weather floodlit AstroTurf pitch, tennis courts and extensive playing fields. It is also the first university centre in the UK to offer a full "Kinesis" gym facility.


title: Keele University

text: Keele University Sports Centre hosts the matches of Newcastle (Staffs) Volleyball Club, providing around 110 tiered seats with the perfect view of some of the best matches in English Volleyball. In 2012, Keele University took part in the first official inter-university Muggle Quidditch match, winning and thus becoming the top ranked team in the country. The sport has since expanded and Keele has remained one of the forerunners, finishing in second place at the British Quidditch Cup in November 2013. The university also hosted eight teams for the Northern Cup in March 2014.


title: Keele University

text: Keele University's Athletic Union plays an annual multi-sports series against the neighbouring Staffordshire University. The event was founded as a charity football match in 2001. Since 2007, Keele University's Athletic Union has played an annual multi-sports varsity series against local rivals Staffordshire University. The varsity match occurs at both universities sports facilities, alternating between the venues each year. Sports included in the contest include football, cricket, rugby, badminton, lacrosse, swimming, volleyball, netball, hockey, fencing, tennis, basketball and frisbee. Team Keele and Team Staffs went head to head across a record 23 sports in 2017. Keele has won the varsity trophy in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2022. Staffordshire University won in 2007 and 2009.


title: Keele University

text: Keele University featured prominently in "Marvellous", the biographical film about honorary graduate Neil Baldwin broadcast on BBC Two in September 2014. The BBC filmed parts of its surreal comedy "A Very Peculiar Practice" (1986–1988) at the Keele University campus and students played extra parts.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: In physical cosmology, Big Bang nucleosynthesis (abbreviated BBN, also known as primordial nucleosynthesis) is the production of nuclei other than those of the lightest isotope of hydrogen (hydrogen-1, H, having a single proton as a nucleus) during the early phases of the Universe. Primordial nucleosynthesis is believed by most cosmologists to have taken place in the interval from roughly 10 seconds to 20 minutes after the Big Bang, and is calculated to be responsible for the formation of most of the universe's helium as the isotope helium-4 (He), along with small amounts of the hydrogen isotope deuterium (H or D), the helium isotope helium-3 (He), and a very small amount of the lithium isotope lithium-7 (Li). In addition to these stable nuclei, two unstable or radioactive isotopes were also produced: the heavy hydrogen isotope tritium (H or T); and the beryllium isotope beryllium-7 (Be); but these unstable isotopes later decayed into He and Li, respectively, as above.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: Essentially all of the elements that are heavier than lithium were created much later, by stellar nucleosynthesis in evolving and exploding stars.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: The key parameter which allows one to calculate the effects of Big Bang nucleosynthesis is the baryon/photon number ratio, which is a small number of order 6 × 10. This parameter corresponds to the baryon density and controls the rate at which nucleons collide and react; from this it is possible to calculate element abundances after nucleosynthesis ends. Although the baryon per photon ratio is important in determining element abundances, the precise value makes little difference to the overall picture. Without major changes to the Big Bang theory itself, BBN will result in mass abundances of about 75% of hydrogen-1, about 25% helium-4, about 0.01% of deuterium and helium-3, trace amounts (on the order of 10) of lithium, and negligible heavier elements. That the observed abundances in the universe are generally consistent with these abundance numbers is considered strong evidence for the Big Bang theory.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: In this field, for historical reasons it is customary to quote the helium-4 fraction "by mass", symbol Y, so that 25% helium-4 means that helium-4 atoms account for 25% of the mass, but less than 8% of the nuclei would be helium-4 nuclei. Other (trace) nuclei are usually expressed as number ratios to hydrogen. The first detailed calculations of the primordial isotopic abundances came in 1966 and have been refined over the years using updated estimates of the input nuclear reaction rates. The first systematic Monte Carlo study of how nuclear reaction rate uncertainties impact isotope predictions, over the relevant temperature range, was carried out in 1993.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: The creation of light elements during BBN was dependent on a number of parameters; among those was the neutron–proton ratio (calculable from Standard Model physics) and the baryon-photon ratio.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: Neutrons can react with positrons or electron neutrinos to create protons and other products in one of the following reactions:


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: At times much earlier than 1 sec, these reactions were fast and maintained the n/p ratio close to 1:1. As the temperature dropped, the equilibrium shifted in favour of protons due to their slightly lower mass, and the n/p ratio smoothly decreased.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: These reactions continued until the decreasing temperature and density caused the reactions to become too slow, which occurred at about T = 0.7 MeV (time around 1 second) and is called the freeze out temperature. At freeze out, the neutron–proton ratio was about 1/6. However, free neutrons are unstable with a mean life of 880 sec; some neutrons decayed in the next few minutes before fusing into any nucleus, so the ratio of total neutrons to protons after nucleosynthesis ends is about 1/7. Almost all neutrons that fused instead of decaying ended up combined into helium-4, due to the fact that helium-4 has the highest binding energy per nucleon among light elements. This predicts that about 8% of all atoms should be helium-4, leading to a mass fraction of helium-4 of about 25%, which is in line with observations. Small traces of deuterium and helium-3 remained as there was insufficient time and density for them to react and form helium-4.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: The baryon–photon ratio, η, is the key parameter determining the abundances of light elements after nucleosynthesis ends. Baryons and light elements can fuse in the following main reactions:


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: (An important feature is that there are no stable nuclei with mass 5 or 8, which implies that reactions adding one baryon to He, or fusing two He, do not occur).


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: Most fusion chains during BBN ultimately terminate in He (helium-4), while "incomplete" reaction chains lead to small amounts of left-over H or He; the amount of these decreases with increasing baryon-photon ratio. That is, the larger the baryon-photon ratio the more reactions there will be and the more efficiently deuterium will be eventually transformed into helium-4. This result makes deuterium a very useful tool in measuring the baryon-to-photon ratio.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: Big Bang nucleosynthesis began roughly about 20 seconds after the big bang, when the universe had cooled sufficiently to allow deuterium nuclei to survive disruption by high-energy photons. (Note that the neutron–proton freeze-out time was earlier). This time is essentially independent of dark matter content, since the universe was highly radiation dominated until much later, and this dominant component controls the temperature/time relation. At this time there were about six protons for every neutron, but a small fraction of the neutrons decay before fusing in the next few hundred seconds, so at the end of nucleosynthesis there are about seven protons to every neutron, and almost all the neutrons are in Helium-4 nuclei.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: One feature of BBN is that the physical laws and constants that govern the behavior of matter at these energies are very well understood, and hence BBN lacks some of the speculative uncertainties that characterize earlier periods in the life of the universe. Another feature is that the process of nucleosynthesis is determined by conditions at the start of this phase of the life of the universe, and proceeds independently of what happened before.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: As the universe expands, it cools. Free neutrons are less stable than helium nuclei, and the protons and neutrons have a strong tendency to form helium-4. However, forming helium-4 requires the intermediate step of forming deuterium. Before nucleosynthesis began, the temperature was high enough for many photons to have energy greater than the binding energy of deuterium; therefore any deuterium that was formed was immediately destroyed (a situation known as the "deuterium bottleneck"). Hence, the formation of helium-4 is delayed until the universe became cool enough for deuterium to survive (at about T = 0.1 MeV); after which there was a sudden burst of element formation. However, very shortly thereafter, around twenty minutes after the Big Bang, the temperature and density became too low for any significant fusion to occur. At this point, the elemental abundances were nearly fixed, and the only changes were the result of the radioactive decay of the two major unstable products of BBN, tritium and beryllium-7.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: The history of Big Bang nucleosynthesis began with the calculations of Ralph Alpher in the 1940s. Alpher published the Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper that outlined the theory of light-element production in the early universe.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: Big Bang nucleosynthesis produced very few nuclei of elements heavier than lithium due to a bottleneck: the absence of a stable nucleus with 8 or 5 nucleons. This deficit of larger atoms also limited the amounts of lithium-7 produced during BBN. In stars, the bottleneck is passed by triple collisions of helium-4 nuclei, producing carbon (the triple-alpha process). However, this process is very slow and requires much higher densities, taking tens of thousands of years to convert a significant amount of helium to carbon in stars, and therefore it made a negligible contribution in the minutes following the Big Bang.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: The predicted abundance of CNO isotopes produced in Big Bang nucleosynthesis is expected to be on the order of 10 that of H, making them essentially undetectable and negligible. Indeed, none of these primordial isotopes of the elements from beryllium to oxygen have yet been detected, although those of beryllium and boron may be able to be detected in the future. So far, the only stable nuclides known experimentally to have been made before or during Big Bang nucleosynthesis are protium, deuterium, helium-3, helium-4, and lithium-7.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: Big Bang nucleosynthesis predicts a primordial abundance of about 25% helium-4 by mass, irrespective of the initial conditions of the universe. As long as the universe was hot enough for protons and neutrons to transform into each other easily, their ratio, determined solely by their relative masses, was about 1 neutron to 7 protons (allowing for some decay of neutrons into protons). Once it was cool enough, the neutrons quickly bound with an equal number of protons to form first deuterium, then helium-4. Helium-4 is very stable and is nearly the end of this chain if it runs for only a short time, since helium neither decays nor combines easily to form heavier nuclei (since there are no stable nuclei with mass numbers of 5 or 8, helium does not combine easily with either protons, or with itself). Once temperatures are lowered, out of every 16 nucleons (2 neutrons and 14 protons), 4 of these (25% of the total particles and total mass) combine quickly into one helium-4 nucleus. This produces one helium for every 12 hydrogens, resulting in a universe that is a little over 8% helium by number of atoms, and 25% helium by mass.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: One analogy is to think of helium-4 as ash, and the amount of ash that one forms when one completely burns a piece of wood is insensitive to how one burns it. The resort to the BBN theory of the helium-4 abundance is necessary as there is far more helium-4 in the universe than can be explained by stellar nucleosynthesis. In addition, it provides an important test for the Big Bang theory. If the observed helium abundance is significantly different from 25%, then this would pose a serious challenge to the theory. This would particularly be the case if the early helium-4 abundance was much smaller than 25% because it is hard to destroy helium-4. For a few years during the mid-1990s, observations suggested that this might be the case, causing astrophysicists to talk about a Big Bang nucleosynthetic crisis, but further observations were consistent with the Big Bang theory.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: Deuterium is in some ways the opposite of helium-4, in that while helium-4 is very stable and difficult to destroy, deuterium is only marginally stable and easy to destroy. The temperatures, time, and densities were sufficient to combine a substantial fraction of the deuterium nuclei to form helium-4 but insufficient to carry the process further using helium-4 in the next fusion step. BBN did not convert all of the deuterium in the universe to helium-4 due to the expansion that cooled the universe and reduced the density, and so cut that conversion short before it could proceed any further. One consequence of this is that, unlike helium-4, the amount of deuterium is very sensitive to initial conditions. The denser the initial universe was, the more deuterium would be converted to helium-4 before time ran out, and the less deuterium would remain.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: There are no known post-Big Bang processes which can produce significant amounts of deuterium. Hence observations about deuterium abundance suggest that the universe is not infinitely old, which is in accordance with the Big Bang theory.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: During the 1970s, there were major efforts to find processes that could produce deuterium, but those revealed ways of producing isotopes other than deuterium. The problem was that while the concentration of deuterium in the universe is consistent with the Big Bang model as a whole, it is too high to be consistent with a model that presumes that most of the universe is composed of protons and neutrons. If one assumes that all of the universe consists of protons and neutrons, the density of the universe is such that much of the currently observed deuterium would have been burned into helium-4. The standard explanation now used for the abundance of deuterium is that the universe does not consist mostly of baryons, but that non-baryonic matter (also known as dark matter) makes up most of the mass of the universe. This explanation is also consistent with calculations that show that a universe made mostly of protons and neutrons would be far more "clumpy" than is observed.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: It is very hard to come up with another process that would produce deuterium other than by nuclear fusion. Such a process would require that the temperature be hot enough to produce deuterium, but not hot enough to produce helium-4, and that this process should immediately cool to non-nuclear temperatures after no more than a few minutes. It would also be necessary for the deuterium to be swept away before it reoccurs.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: Producing deuterium by fission is also difficult. The problem here again is that deuterium is very unlikely due to nuclear processes, and that collisions between atomic nuclei are likely to result either in the fusion of the nuclei, or in the release of free neutrons or alpha particles. During the 1970s, cosmic ray spallation was proposed as a source of deuterium. That theory failed to account for the abundance of deuterium, but led to explanations of the source of other light elements.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: Lithium-7 and lithium-6 produced in the Big Bang are on the order of: lithium-7 to be 10 of all primordial nuclides; and lithium-6 around 10.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: The theory of BBN gives a detailed mathematical description of the production of the light "elements" deuterium, helium-3, helium-4, and lithium-7. Specifically, the theory yields precise quantitative predictions for the mixture of these elements, that is, the primordial abundances at the end of the big-bang.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: In order to test these predictions, it is necessary to reconstruct the primordial abundances as faithfully as possible, for instance by observing astronomical objects in which very little stellar nucleosynthesis has taken place (such as certain dwarf galaxies) or by observing objects that are very far away, and thus can be seen in a very early stage of their evolution (such as distant quasars).


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: As noted above, in the standard picture of BBN, all of the light element abundances depend on the amount of ordinary matter (baryons) relative to radiation (photons). Since the universe is presumed to be homogeneous, it has one unique value of the baryon-to-photon ratio. For a long time, this meant that to test BBN theory against observations one had to ask: can "all" of the light element observations be explained with a "single value" of the baryon-to-photon ratio? Or more precisely, allowing for the finite precision of both the predictions and the observations, one asks: is there some "range" of baryon-to-photon values which can account for all of the observations?


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: More recently, the question has changed: Precision observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and Planck give an independent value for the baryon-to-photon ratio. Using this value, are the BBN predictions for the abundances of light elements in agreement with the observations?


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: The present measurement of helium-4 indicates good agreement, and yet better agreement for helium-3. But for lithium-7, there is a significant discrepancy between BBN and WMAP/Planck, and the abundance derived from Population II stars. The discrepancy is a factor of 2.4―4.3 below the theoretically predicted value and is considered a problem for the original models, that have resulted in revised calculations of the standard BBN based on new nuclear data, and to various reevaluation proposals for primordial proton–proton nuclear reactions, especially the abundances of , versus .


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: In addition to the standard BBN scenario there are numerous non-standard BBN scenarios. These should not be confused with non-standard cosmology: a non-standard BBN scenario assumes that the Big Bang occurred, but inserts additional physics in order to see how this affects elemental abundances. These pieces of additional physics include relaxing or removing the assumption of homogeneity, or inserting new particles such as massive neutrinos.


title: Big Bang nucleosynthesis

text: There have been, and continue to be, various reasons for researching non-standard BBN. The first, which is largely of historical interest, is to resolve inconsistencies between BBN predictions and observations. This has proved to be of limited usefulness in that the inconsistencies were resolved by better observations, and in most cases trying to change BBN resulted in abundances that were more inconsistent with observations rather than less. The second reason for researching non-standard BBN, and largely the focus of non-standard BBN in the early 21st century, is to use BBN to place limits on unknown or speculative physics. For example, standard BBN assumes that no exotic hypothetical particles were involved in BBN. One can insert a hypothetical particle (such as a massive neutrino) and see what has to happen before BBN predicts abundances that are very different from observations. This has been done to put limits on the mass of a stable tau neutrino.


title: Mary Kay Ash

text: Mary Kay Ash (born Mary Kathlyn Wagner; May 12, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. At her death, she had a fortune of $98 million, and her company had more than $1.2 billion in sales with a sales force of more than 800,000 in at least three dozen countries.


title: Mary Kay Ash

text: Mary Kay Ash, born Mary Kathlyn Wagner in Hot Wells, Harris County, Texas, was the daughter of Edward Alexander and Lula Vember Hastings Wagner. Her mother was trained as a nurse and later became a manager of a restaurant in Houston. Ash attended Dow Elementary School and Reagan High School in Houston, and graduated in 1934.


title: Mary Kay Ash

text: Ash married Ben Rogers at age 17. They had 3 children, Ben Jr., Marylin Reed, and Richard Rogers. While her husband served in World War II, she sold books door-to-door. After her husband's return in 1945, they divorced. She later married the brother of Mary C. Crowley, founder of Home Interiors and Gifts.


title: Mary Kay Ash

text: Ash went to work for Stanley Home Products in 1939. Frustrated when passed over for a promotion in favor of a man that she had trained, Ash retired in 1963 and intended to write a book to assist women in business. The book turned into a business plan for her ideal company, and in the summer of 1963, Mary Kay Ash and her new husband, George Hallenbeck, planned to start Mary Kay Cosmetics. However, one month before Mary Kay and George started Beauty by Mary Kay, as the company was then called, George died of a heart attack. One month after George's death on September 13, 1963, when she was 45 years old with a $5,000 investment from her oldest son, Ben Rogers, Jr. and with her young son, Richard Rogers taking her late husband's place, Ash started Mary Kay Cosmetics. The company started its original storefront operation "Beauty By Mary Kay" in Dallas. They used a five‐hundred‐square‐foot storefront with nine saleswomen signed up. She copied the same “house party” model used by Stanley, Tupperware, and others. A Mary Kay representative would invite her friends over for free facials, then pitch the products. Profits rolled in, with double‐digit growth every year.


title: Mary Kay Ash

text: Both during her life and posthumously, Ash received numerous honors from business groups, including the Horatio Alger Award. In 1980, Ash received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Ash was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1996. A long-time fundraiser for charities, she founded the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation to raise money to combat domestic violence and cancers affecting women. Ash served as Mary Kay Cosmetics' chairman until 1987 when she was named Chairman Emeritus. Fortune magazine recognized Mary Kay Inc. with inclusion in "The 100 best companies to work for in America." The company was also named one of the best 10 companies for women to work. Her most recent acknowledgments were the "Equal Justice Award" from Legal Services of North Texas in 2001, and "Most Outstanding Woman in Business in the 20th Century" from Lifetime Television in 1999.


title: Mary Kay Ash

text: Ash and her partners, which included her son, Richard, took the company public in 1968. In 1985, the company's board decided to take the company private again after seventeen years as a public company. Ash remained active in Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. until suffering a stroke in 1996. Richard Rogers was named CEO of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. in 2001. At the time of Ash's death, Mary Kay Cosmetics had over 800,000 representatives in 37 countries, with total annual sales of over $200 million. As of 2014, Mary Kay Cosmetics has more than 3 million consultants worldwide and a wholesale volume in excess of 3 billion.


title: Mary Kay Ash

text: Ash was the author of several books, including "Mary Kay", an autobiography in 1994, "Miracles Happen" and "You Can Have It All" in 1995. Her first book called "Mary Kay on People Management" was published in 1984 and the publisher Nightingale Conant produced an audio program written by Ash with the same title as the book.


title: Mary Kay Ash

text: Mary Kay Ash died on November 22, 2001. Mary Kay Ash is interred in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas, Texas.


title: Amrapali

text: Āmrapālī, also known as "Ambapālika", "Ambapali", or "Amra" was a celebrated "nagarvadhu" (royal courtesan) of the republic of Vaishali (located in present-day Bihar) in ancient India around 500 BC. Following the Buddha's teachings, she became an arahant. She is mentioned in the old Pali texts and Buddhist traditions (āgama sutras), particularly in conjunction with the Buddha staying at her mango grove, "Ambapali vana", which she later donated to his order and wherein he preached the famous "Ambapalika Sutra". The legend of Amrapali originated in the Buddhist Jataka Tales some 1500 years ago.


title: Amrapali

text: Amrapali was born around 600-500 BCE, to Mahanama & an unknown mother. Etymologically, the variants on her name derive from a combination of two Sanskrit words: "amra", meaning mango, and "pallawa", meaning young leaves or sprouts. It is said that she was spontaneously born at the foot of a mango tree in one of the royal gardens in Vaishali — hence her name.


title: Amrapali

text: Even as a young maiden, Amrapali was exceptionally beautiful and ethereal. It is said that a feudal lord by the name of Mahanaman was so enchanted by the young Amrapali's beauty that he abandoned his kingdom and moved to Ambara village, a small hamlet in Vaishali presently in Muzaffarpur.


title: Amrapali

text: Vaishali was the capital city of the Licchavi tribe, one of the eight Khattiya (Sanskrit "Kshatriya") clans that had united to form the Vajjian confederacy. The king was elected by an electoral college consisting of princes and nobles from the Kshatriya clans. It was customary that the most beautiful women in the land, rather than marrying one man, dedicated themselves to the pleasure of many.


title: Amrapali

text: Amrapali grew up to be a lady of extraordinary charm and grace, and was talented in many art forms. Many young nobles desired her company. When Manudev, king of Vaishali, saw Amrapali perform a dance in the city, he plotted to "own" her. He murdered Amrapali's childhood love and would-be-groom, Pushpakumar, on the day of their wedding, and afterwards made an official announcement declaring Amrapali as the 'bride' of Vaishali — i.e. the "Nagarvadhu". She was also bestowed with the title of "Vaishali Janpad Kalayani", given to the most beautiful and talented girl of the kingdom for a period of seven years. Amrapali had the right to choose her lovers, but according to the aforementioned custom, she could not be committed to any one man.


title: Amrapali

text: After being declared a "Nagarvadhu", Amrapali also became the "Rajanartiki" or court dancer. Her talent and beauty attracted so many men that the glory of Vaishali during this period is often attributed to Amrapali's fame. The price to see Amrapali's art form was fifty Karshapanas per night, and her treasury grew much larger than the treasuries of some kings.


title: Amrapali

text: Stories of her beauty travelled to the ears of Bimbisara, king of the hostile neighbouring kingdom of Magadha. He attacked Vaishali, and took refuge in Amrapali's house. Bimbisara was a good musician. Before long, Amrapali and Bimbisara fell in love. When she learned his true identity, Amrapali asked Bimbisara to leave and cease his war. Bimbisara, smitten with love, did as she asked. In the eyes of the people of Vaishali, this incident made him a coward. Later, Amrapali bore him a son named Vimala Kondanna.


title: Amrapali

text: Ajatashatru, Bimbisara's son by Queen Chellana (according to Jaina traditions) or Queen Kosala Devi (according to Buddhist traditions), later invaded Vaishali due to a dispute with his brothers. He was so moved by her beauty that when Amrapali was imprisoned, he burned the whole of Vaishali. Almost everyone died in the massacre, except his beloved Amrapali, but when she saw the condition of her motherland, she renounced her love for him.


title: Amrapali

text: In Buddhist records, Amrapali is noted as having had the opportunity to serve food to the Buddha during his last visit to Vaishali, shortly before his death. Amrapali attended his sermon at a nearby grove and was so deeply moved by it that she invited him for a meal at her quarters. In other accounts, it is stated that the Buddha himself took shelter in her mango groves and was visited by Amrapali who paid her obeisance to him and then extended the invitation. He consented to her proposal with silence. On her way back, her chariot collided with that of the princely nobles of Vaishali who were also heading to invite the Buddha to dine with them. They berate her by calling her a 'mango-woman' and ask her, a woman of ill repute, to move aside and let her superiors pass. It is then that she announces that the Buddha was coming to her house for a meal. The princes were upset and offered her gold in return of the privilege of hosting the Buddha but she refuses. Buddha also turns them down, having already committed to Amrapali.


title: Amrapali

text: Buddha recognised her beauty and advised his disciples to be mindful in her presence lest they become infatuated with her. Amrapali received the Buddha with her retinue in her grand residence which had been specially decorated for the occasion. It was no less than the palace of any king; such was the wealth she commanded. At the conclusion of the meal, she offered to the Buddha and his order her entire property including her groves which became the venue for several sermons on mindfulness. Soon thereafter, she renounced her position as courtesan, accepted the Buddhist way, and remained an active supporter of the Buddhist order. She dedicated her life to the service of the poor and the destitutes.


title: Amrapali

text: The story of Amrapali is significant for understanding contemporary attitudes of courtesans. Though she received much fame as a talented artist, she was also berated by the noble princes of Vaishali by calling her 'ganika' (i.e. prostitute) which carried derogatory connotations. However, unlike them, Buddha did not share that kind of prejudice towards her. He ate at her residence and accepted her grove for the Buddhist order. This is often quoted as an example for his unbiased regard towards women. However, what has been noticed is that with the passage of time and as the Therigatha was collated, this bias also entered the Buddhist fold.


title: Amrapali

text: Amrapali's possible alliance with Bimbisara has also survived mainly through an oral tradition and has not found its way into the Pali canon of Buddhism. This is because Bimbisara was a great royal patron of Buddhism and his links with Amrapali may throw a negative light on him. Amrapali's mention in the canon also focuses mostly on the later part of her life when she converted to Buddhism.


title: Amrapali

text: However, records of Chinese travellers who came to India in search of Buddhist texts have made note of Amrapali's early life and her relationship with Bimbisara. The latter is found in the Chinese Recension of the Buddhist tripitaka. This narrative has been written in the Mahayana tradition and therefore did not have the onus of representing Bimbisara in a positive light. Hence, their relationship is highlighted.


title: Amrapali

text: A third set of scriptures which refer to the story of Amrapali, and do so most elaborately, come from the Gilgit area of Kashmir and are therefore known as the Gilgit Manuscripts. These are the Tibetan-Sanskrit scriptures of the Mulasarvastivada branch of Buddhism which hold her in high esteem. However, the negative connotation of being a courtesan is still present. Thus, the cultural memory of a courtesan shows a complex pattern, varying across time and place.


title: Francis Fanny

text: Francis "Fanny" Freeman (also known as Ajax) is a fictional supervillain first appeared in "Deadpool" #14 (cover-dated March 1998) and was created by writer Joe Kelly and artist Walter A. McDaniel.


title: Francis Fanny

text: The man known as "The Attending" was the former enforcer at Dr. Killebrew's laboratory, known as the Workshop, part of the Hospice for failed supersoldiers at the Weapon X Project. Francis acted as the strongarm for Killebrew, reining in the project's "washouts" that were fodder for Killebrew's sadistic experiments whenever they stepped out of line. This included Wade Wilson, who would later be known as the mercenary Deadpool.


title: Francis Fanny

text: Having had his nerves removed by Killebrew for better pain management, Francis would later have enhanced strength and intuitive capability, as well as receiving subcutaneous implants for super-speed and agility.


title: Francis Fanny

text: After endless taunting from Wilson, Francis was given permission by Killebrew to kill him. Francis orchestrated events so that Wilson would perform a mercy killing on another inmate, which was against the rules; the inmate Deadpool was to kill was one to whom he had grown particularly close. After Francis removed Wilson's heart, his healing factor manifested itself for the first time by regenerating a new heart for the mercenary. However, the entire series of events cost him his sanity. Taking the codename Deadpool, he hunted down and seemingly killed Francis.


title: Francis Fanny

text: Revealed to have survived, Francis resurfaced years later using the codename of Ajax. He hunted down and killed many of the surviving members of the Weapon X project to exact his revenge on Deadpool. Ajax tortured Killebrew at his mountain home in the Alps in order to obtain Wade's teleporter frequency; after which he teleported Wade next to a nearby cliff and sucker-punched him, sending Deadpool to his apparent death.


title: Francis Fanny

text: In a near death experience, however, it was revealed that because Wade came back from the dead once to kill Francis, he was now bound by honor and destiny to finish the job he began those many years ago, urged on by the ghosts of Francis' victims who had also been Wilson's friends. The battle continued as Deadpool rescued Killebrew and sought shelter at Killebrew's neighbor's house. This was owned by Ilaney Bruckner who was reluctantly dragged into the conflict when Deadpool destroyed the house to slow down Francis.


title: Francis Fanny

text: Francis caught up with the trio and proceeded to punch Deadpool repeatedly at super-speed. Before he could kill Deadpool, however, Killebrew doused him with gasoline and lit up a flare, destroying Francis' head and neck protection. For doing this, Killebrew was shredded at super speed.


title: Francis Fanny

text: Once again catching up with the fleeing Deadpool, Ajax fell victim to a trap laid by his intended victim which resulted in his armor's circuitry being exposed. Taking advantage of this, Deadpool arranged for Ajax to plunge both of them into a lake, short-circuiting his armor and giving Deadpool the opportunity to kill him, which he did by snapping his neck. Ajax "re-appeared" years later in one of Deadpool's nightmares, more specifically on a television set.


title: Francis Fanny

text: Blackheart releases Ajax from Hell in an attempt to prevent Deadpool and Thanos from meddling in his latest plot to overthrow Mephisto. Ajax, now calling himself Abyss Man, locates and attempts to kill the pair, but the duo subdue him and turn him into a gateway to Hell with the help of Black Talon.


title: Francis Fanny

text: Francis has enhanced strength and intuitive capacity, as a result of genetic modifications by Doctor Killebrew. After receiving implants, he gained superhuman speed and agility. His nerves were also removed to dramatically increase his tolerance for pain.


title: Francis Fanny

text: Francis Freeman / Ajax appears in the live-action film "Deadpool" (2016), portrayed by Ed Skrein. According to co-writer Rhett Reese, the character was selected to serve as the film's antagonist due to his "sadistic quality and his imperviousness to pain and what that implied about him" which "lands very hard on Wade Wilson and creates the fun antagonism". This version of Ajax works as a scientist at an underground facility called the Workshop and tortures Wade Wilson to activate his mutant genes and sell him as a super slave. However, Wade escapes and seeks revenge after the torture leaves him disfigured. After Wade corners and injures him, Freeman escapes when Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead distract his attacker. He and his partner Angel Dust later retaliate by kidnapping Wade's girlfriend Vanessa Carlysle. Wade, Colossus, and Negasonic confront Freeman, Angel Dust, and their team in a scrapyard, where Wade kills Freeman.


title: Kelley Blue Book

text: Kelley Blue Book is an Irvine, California-based vehicle valuation and automotive research company that is recognized by both consumers and the automotive industry. The company is owned by the Cox Automotive subsidiary of Cox Enterprises.


title: Kelley Blue Book

text: The company began as the Kelley Kar Company founded by Les Kelley in 1918. Kelley started the company with three Model T Fords. His younger brother, Buster, worked with Kelley as a lot boy. By using data collected from the dealership, Kelley published the company’s first Blue Book in 1926, which became a standard guide in automotive trade in determining car value. Kelley Blue Book was formed in 1926, and the Kelley family continued its dealership business in Southern California for several decades. By the 1960s, the company moved from a car dealership to a specialty publisher and focused on the production of its automobile price guide. Kelley Blue Book guide became the first publication to use mileage to determine a car's value.


title: Kelley Blue Book

text: In 1995, Kelley Blue Book created its company website, which contained tips and pricing information from its hardcopy guide.


title: Kelley Blue Book

text: In December 2010, Kelley Blue Book was purchased by AutoTrader.com. After its acquisition, the company operated as a subsidiary of AutoTrader.com, Inc.


title: Kelley Blue Book

text: In 2014, Kelley Blue Book signed a two-year agreement with Hendrick Motorsports to be a primary sponsor of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Chevrolet SS NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team.


title: Kelley Blue Book

text: The company reports market value prices for new and used automobiles of all types, as well as motorcycles, snowmobiles and personal watercraft. For both new and used automobiles, Kelley Blue Book provides a "fair market range" and "fair purchase price", based on actual transactions of what others are paying for a vehicle and adjusted regularly as market conditions change. For new automobiles, Kelley Blue Book also provides information about a car's MSRP and dealer invoice price. For used cars, Kelley Blue Book provides typical listing price, certified pre-owned price, trade-in value and private party value. Kelley Blue Book also offers expert and consumer vehicle reviews and ratings, and "5-year cost to own" information for new cars.


title: Kelley Blue Book

text: In 2012–2014, Harris Poll recognized Kelley Blue Book as the Online Auto Shopping Brand of the Year. In addition, the company received a WebAward in the automotive category of Outstanding Website for two consecutive years.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan (), simply called Ansar al-Islam (), also nicknamed the Kurdish Taliban, is a Kurdish Islamist militant and separatist group. It was established in northern Iraq around the Kurdistan Region by Kurdish Islamists who were former Taliban and former Al-Qaeda members, coming back from Afghanistan, in 2001. Its motive is to establish an Islamic state around the Kurdistan region. It imposed strict Sharia in villages it controlled around Byara near the Iranian border. Its ideology follows a traditionalist interpretation of the Quran and Salafism.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: The group was a designated terrorist organization in the United Nations, Australia, Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and a known affiliate of the al-Qaeda network.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: On 29 August 2014, 50 members and commanders of Ansar al-Islam announced that they were joining ISIS individually, however Ansar al-Islam continued to oppose ISIS and kept functioning independently. Abu Khattab al-Kurdi was among those who left Ansar al-Islam for ISIS, and he later became an ISIS commander. When a previously unknown Kurdish militant group using white flags appeared in Iraq in 2017, Iraqi security and intelligence officials argued that this was splinter group of Ansar al-Islam, which reportedly still had hundreds of fighters operating in the Hamrin Mountains.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Their official name is "Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan", meaning "Supporters of Islam in Kurdistan", but they are called "Ansar al-Islam" for short.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: The group received the nickname "Kurdish Taliban" because it was made up of Kurds who fought for the Taliban in Afghanistan, and for their similarity with the Taliban, including how both of them established Islamic Emirates under Sharia law, both of their fighters were Islamist but had some nationalism (Taliban with Pashtun, Ansar with Kurdish), and both of them harshly persecuted non-Muslims.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Ansar al-Islam seeks to establish an "Islamic state" under Sharia law, as well as to obtain and preserve the "legitimate rights" of the Kurds.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Ansar al-Islam was formed in September 2001 from a merger of Jund al-Islam (not the Egyptian Jund al-Islam), led by Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i, and a splinter group from the Kurdistan Islamic Movement led by Mullah Krekar. Krekar became the leader of the merged Ansar al-Islam, which opposed an agreement made between IMK and the dominant Kurdish group in the area, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The group later made allegiance to al-Qaeda and allegedly received direct funds from the terror network.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Ansar al-Islam initially comprised approximately 300 men, many of them Kurdish veterans of Jihad in the Soviet–Afghan War.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: The two IMK splinter groups that formed Jund al Islam on 1 September 2001, had some early battlefield successes in the same month when it killed 42 PUK-Peshmerga fighters in an ambush, which led to them drawing in more IMK leaders in their ranks, on 10 December 2001, the group became known as AAI (Ansar al-Islam).


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: During the Islamic Emirate of Byara near the Iranian border, there were allegations of logistical support from "powerful factions in Iran".


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: The roots of Ansar al-Islam can be traced to the mid-1990s. The group consists of various Islamist factions that splintered from the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK). In 2001, shortly before the 9/11 attacks, leaders of several Kurdish Islamist factions visited the al-Qa'ida leadership in Afghanistan planning to create a base for al-Qa'ida in northern Iraq. A document found in Kabul stated the group's objective which was to "expel those Jews and Christians from Kurdistan and join the way of jihad, and rule every piece of land with Islamic Sharia law." This was also confirmed by the "Los Angeles Times", based upon interviews with an Ansar prisoner, which stated that in October 2000, Kurdish Islamist leaders sent jihadists to Osama bin Laden's camps, and they received the message from bin Laden that all Kurdish Islamist groups should unite into a single group.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Upon its founding, Ansar al-Islam declared a holy war on all secular political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan. Throughout 2002, AAI carried out attacks on those Kurdish groups and targeted assassinations, particularly on high-level PUK members, as well as engaging in battles and skirmishes with the PUK. The attacks allowed the AAI to control their own area in northeast Iraq, called the Islamic Emirate of Byara, under its spiritual founder and leader Mullah Krekar. Sharia Law was implemented, enforcing it through the bombing of businesses it deemed in-Islamic, acid attacks on women it deemed immodest and beheading of those it deemed apostates.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In the Islamic Emirate of Byara, villages were subjected to harsh Sharia law; musical instruments were destroyed and singing was forbidden, although nasheeds were allowed, and Ansar al-Islam released many nasheeds in the Kurdish language. Girls were not allowed education, and the only school for girls in the area was destroyed, and all pictures of women removed from advertisement labels. Sufi shrines were desecrated and the Yarsan religious minority were forced to convert to Islam, flee, or be killed. Former prisoners of the group also claim that Ansar al-Islam routinely used torture and severe beatings when interrogating prisoners. Beheading of prisoners had also been reported.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In late 2001 and early 2002, AAI received an inflow of foreign jihadist volunteers fleeing Afghanistan following the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. AAI took advantage of the larger numbers and used them for better defense from PUK. One of the foreign jihadists was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who stayed with them shortly.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Prior to the US 2003 invasion of Iraq, paramilitary teams from the Special Activities Division (SAD) and the Army's 10th Special Forces Group entered Iraq and cooperated with PUK -Peshmerga to attack Ansar al-Islam. Together they launched Operation Viking Hammer in March 2003 which dealt a huge blow to the terrorist group which resulted in the deaths of a substantial number of terrorists and the uncovering of a potential chemical weapons facility at Sargat, as well as the end of the Islamic Emirate of Byara. After about fifteen reporters (including NY Times, LA Times, ABC, and BBC) visited Sargat, they searched another location that was supposed to be a chemical weapons factory, which Colin Powell spoke about, they saw nothing but a studio which AAI planned to turn to a TV and radio station. They claimed that the studio was going to be used to make Ansar al-Islam propaganda.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In September 2003, members of Ansar al-Islam, who had fled to Iran after the 2003 joint Iraqi-US operation against them, announced the creation of a group called Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna, which was mostly Arab and was dedicated to expelling U.S. forces from Iraq. Ansar al-Sunna became a prominent insurgent group active in the so-called Sunni Triangle, carrying out kidnappings, suicide bombings, and guerilla attacks.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In November or December 2007 the Ansar al-Sunna group acknowledged that it was an offshoot of Ansar al-Islam, and briefly went to using that name, before changing it to Ansar Al Ahlu Sunna.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Ansar al-Islam remained active after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq of 2011, taking part in the insurgency against Iraq's central government. The group has claimed attacks against Iraqi security forces, particularly around Mosul and Kirkuk.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Ansar al-Islam has established a presence in Syria to take part in the Syrian Civil War, initially under the name of "Ansar al-Sham", later under its own name. The group cooperated with the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades to bomb Syrian military compounds in Damascus in August 2012. It also played a role in the Battle of Aleppo and collaborated with several other Salafist groups including al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front and the Islamic Front. Ansar al-Islam remained functioning when many high-ranking members joined ISIS.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In 2016, they fought alongside the al-Nusra Front during a major offensive in the city. A military commander of the group, Abu Layth al-Tunisi, was reportedly killed in combat during this operation, likely in southwest Aleppo. By July 2018, the Syrian faction of Ansar al-Islam (not to be confused with the Syrian Ansar al-Sham group, which fought in the same area) was active in Latakia Governorate, raiding local Syrian Army outposts. Following the Turkish-Russian agreement to demilitarize Idlib in September 2018, the Syrian branch of Ansar al-Islam joined the Rouse the Believers Operations Room with other al-Qaeda-linked groups to oppose any attempts to demilitarize northwestern Syria.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: After the defeat of ISIL and the recapture of Tuz Khurmatu by Turkmen and Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces during the 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, the town and its surroundings came under almost daily rocket attacks by a militant faction that used a white flag with the blackhead of a lion. These "White Flags", led by Assi al-Qawali, reportedly consisted of Kurdish Islamist militants, ex-ISIL fighters, and Kurdistan Democratic Party supporters who claimed to be fighting to "liberate the Kurdish lands occupied by the Iran-backed Shia militias". Iraqi security and intelligence officials said that intelligence reports made it likely that this new group was a front organization of Ansar al-Islam, which reportedly still had hundreds of fighters operating in the Hamrin Mountains.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: On 30 October 2019, Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility for an IED attack on a Popular Mobilization Forces vehicle in the Diyala Governorate in northeastern Iraq.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In a "Special Analysis" report from July 31, 2002, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) concluded the following regarding possible connections between Saddam's regime and Ansar al-Islam: "The Iraqi regime seeks to influence and manipulate political events in the Kurdish-controlled north and probably has some type of assets in contact with Ansar al-Islam, either through liaison or through penetration by an intelligence asset."


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In January 2003, the U.S. alleged that Ansar al-Islam provided a possible link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, and said to prepare to unveil new evidence of it. Ansar al-Islam's leader, Mullah Krekar, in January 2003, denied all allegations of links of Ansar al-Islam with Saddam Hussein's government. Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, in January 2003, agreed with Krekar that there was zero proof of links between Ansar al-Islam and Saddam Hussein's government.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In February 2003, then-United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell, told the United Nations Security Council that "Baghdad has an agent in the most senior levels of the radical organization, Ansar al-Islam, that controls this corner of Iraq. In 2000 this agent offered al-Qaeda a safe haven in the region. After we swept al-Qaeda from Afghanistan, some of its members accepted this safe haven."


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In March–April 2003, BBC reported that a captured Iraqi intelligence officer had indicated that a senior Ansar al-Islam leader, Abu Wail, was a former Iraqi intelligence officer. "If that was true, then Saddam's regime had some influence on Ansar al-Islam, Saddam's interest could have been to have Ansar al-Islam as a force directly opposing Kurdish independence in northern Iraq", said BBC. Although that claim was proven wrong, due to the fact that Ansar al-Islam themself declared an independent emirate, from both Iraq and Kurdistan, and their leader supported Kurdish independence and was only against the Kurdish parties, due to their secularism.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In January 2004, Colin Powell acknowledged that his claims about Ansar al-Islam's alleged ties to Saddam Hussein had no reliable evidence; he told reporters at a State Department press conference that "I have not seen smoking gun, concrete evidence about the connection, but I do believe the connections existed."


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: The Senate Report on Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq, issued in 2004, concluded that Saddam Hussein was aware of Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaeda's presence in northeastern Iraq, and that he considered the groups a threat to his regime and the intelligence collection operations which his regime attempted against them. The Defense Intelligence Agency stated that senior Ansar al-Islam detainees revealed that the group viewed Saddam's regime as apostates, and denied any relationship with them.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: The U.S. Select Committee on Intelligence in September 2006 confirmed that: "Post-war information reveals that Iraq viewed Ansar al-Islam as a threat to the regime and attempted to collect intelligence on the group".


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: After Powell had left office, in an interview, he told Barbara Walters that he considered his claims of ties between Saddam Hussein and Ansar al-Islam made a "blot" on his record, and that he felt "terrible" about the claims that he made which turned out to be false. He said, "There were some people in the intelligence community who knew at that time that some of these sources were not good and shouldn't be relied upon, and they didn't speak up. That devastated me." When asked specifically about a Saddam–al-Qaeda connection, Powell responded, "I have never seen a connection. I can't think otherwise because I'd never seen evidence to suggest there was one."


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Ali Berzengi and Ferman Abdullah, the owner of a falafel stand in Stockholm, raised money for what they claimed was poor children and Muslims. The money was then transferred through Abdullah's food stand, using the hawala transfer system. The Swedish Security Service was informed in 2002 that people in Sweden had transferred money to Ansar al-Islam. On April 19, 2004, Berzengi and Abdullah were arrested along with another Kurd from Iraq, Shaho Shahab, and Lebanese-born Bilal Ramadan. Ramadan was released in September after a court found that there wasn't enough evidence to keep him in custody. Shahab was released in December after the government decided to deport him to Iraq. However, since Shahab risked the death penalty in Iraq, the deportation was not carried out. In Abdullah's apartment, the police found a letter from a man who claimed to have contact with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, as well as a detailed manual on how to understand coded language.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: On May 12, 2005, Abdullah and Berzengi were convicted of "planning of terrorist offences" () and "planning of public devastation" () by the Stockholm District Court. The Stockholm District Court said that Abdullah and Berzengi had transferred approximately one million SEK to Ansar al-Islam. According to the court there was strong evidence that the collected money had the specific purpose of financing terrorist attacks. Much of the evidence presented consisted of secret wire-tappings from U.S. and German intelligence sources. In the recordings, Abdullah and Berzengi used coded language to describe the attacks. Berzengi, who according to the court, was the mastermind, was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, and Abdullah was sentenced to six years. The Svea Court of Appeal later reduced the sentences to five years for Berzengi, and four and a half years for Abdullah. The appeal to the Supreme Court was denied. They both are to be deported to Iraq after serving their sentences in Sweden. Abdullah is currently serving his sentence at the Norrköping Prison.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Berzengi and Abdullah's conviction was the first conviction since the new Swedish terrorism legislation was taken into effect on July 1, 2003. It was also the first ever conviction in Western Europe of people financing terrorism.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: One of Ansar al-Islam's leaders, Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i, was trained by al-Qaeda during his stay in Afghanistan. Another early leading figure of Ansar al-Islam, Abu Abd al-Rahman, who was killed in October 2001, was convicted by the U.S. of ties to al-Qaeda. In a report dated July 31, 2002, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that "Ansar al-Islam is an independent organization that receives assistance from al-Qaeda, but is not a branch of the group."


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In early 2003, less than 10 percent of individuals in Ansar al-Islam were both Taliban and al-Qaeda members. This, and the information about Shafi'i and Abd al-Rahman, led Colin Powell in January 2003 to claim that ties between Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaeda exist, and that the U.S. was preparing to unveil new evidence of it.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: Mullah Krekar in January 2003 denied links of Ansar with al-Qaeda. U.S. terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, who supported Krekar against the claims that Ansar al-Islam had ties to Saddam Hussein, confirmed that Ansar al-Islam had ties to al-Qaeda. "Ansar al-Islam has links with al-Qaeda. In fact, it is an associate group of al-Qaeda". In March–April 2003, Mullah Krekar again protested against such links, and said to newspaper "Al-Hayat" that he had contacts with the American government prior to 11 September 2001, and possessed "irrefutable evidence against the Americans" and that he was "prepared to release it" if the U.S. made more claims of him being "linked to terrorism".


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: On December 15, 2011 Ansar al-Islam announced a new leader, Abu Hashim al Ibrahim. A post about the group was published on Twitter in November 2015, by Abu al-Waleed al-Salafi, stated that "a number of leaders of the group, including Abu Hashim Al Ibrahim, the emir of the group, were arrested in early 2014"; the article does not mention a new leader.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: On February 18, 2001, four Kurdish Ansar al-Islam members assassinated Franso Hariri while he was on his way to work. Two previous attempts had been made on his life in Erbil in 1994 and 1997 at the same place and the same street, but he escaped from both.


title: Ansar al-Islam

text: In March 22, 2003, Ansar al-Islam detonated a car bomb, killing Australian journalist Paul Moran and several others. The group was also accused of the attempted bombing of a United States Department of Defense office in Erbil, in September 9, 2003, which killed three people.