title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: The player controls Ben Tennyson and helps him to travel to five regions across the United States, in order to recover all the Omnitrix's DNA samples stolen by Vilgax, who want to use it to destroy the world. The gameplay consists of solving puzzles and defeating waves of enemies. Ben also has the access to his Omnitrix, which allows him to transform into different alien forms with specific abilities. At the beginning of the game, Ben is only able to access a few of his alien forms for a limited time, but after defeating a boss, Ben can access a new alien form (Fourarms, Heatblast, XLR8, Cannonbolt, and Wildvine) and even unlocks the "master control", meaning he can stay alien for an infinite amount of time or switch between aliens without draining Omnitrix energy. Attack combos can be unlocked by collecting Omnitrix points. Limited power boosts or invincibility can be gathered, as well as bonuses to make the Omnitrix recharge faster. Three Sumo Slammer cards are hidden in each main level, and once collected unlock features, such as movie clips.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: After each level, Plumber ranks are rewarded, depending on how fast the player beats that level. If the player gets an A rank, you get a character view, usually a boss or a villain. In the main boss levels, a quick time event allows players to execute a special attack at certain points.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: The Wii, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable versions, developed by High Voltage Software, are largely identical to each other and are played in three-dimensional environments. A second player can join in co-op mode. The Wii version utilizes motion controls, such as simple flicks of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to perform attacks, and pointing the Wii Remote at on-screen targets to execute quick-time events. The PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable versions require the use of memory cards to save progress.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: Unlike the other three versions, the Nintendo DS version is a side-scrolling, 2.5D beat 'em up, in which players can use the touchscreen to operate the Omnitrix, switching between available forms.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: At the Grand Canyon, a mosquito-like drone sucks most of the DNA out of Ben's Omnitrix while he's sleeping. The next morning, a giant object crashes into the mountains and Ben finds out he can't transform into any of his aliens except Four Arms and Heatblast. After fighting through multiple drones, he defeats a Giant Mech Drone and finds an Omnitrix Crystal which gives him access to XLR8.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: Later, the Tennysons go to Mesa Verde and find Vilgax's Drones and the Forever Knights fighting. After defeating all the knights and drones, an injured Forever Knight tells them that Enoch has used all the technology of Area 51 to make a Big Battle-Bot to fight Ben. They go to Area 51 in Nevada and fight Enoch, but Enoch recovers and climbs his Battle-Bot. The determine Enoch will travel to a place to further empower the Battle Bot and Gwen thinks it is the Hoover Dam. They head to the Hoover Dam and fight the Battle-Bot. After defeating it Ben finds another Omnitrix Crystal which regains access to Cannonbolt.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: When the Tennysons head to San Francisco, California for a vacation, they find out that Kevin 11 has escaped from the Null Void and has brought some plant creatures with him. He kidnaps Grandpa Max, but later gets sucked to the Null Void again by Ben at a Lumber Mill in Oregon. Later, after fighting through Crater Lake, they head to the Space Needle in Seattle where the mother plant (who has Wildvine's DNA) has made its home and infecting the whole city. After defeating it, Ben finds an Omnitrix Crystal which gives him access to the last unlockable alien in the game, Wildvine.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: In outer space, Vilgax and Ghostfreak are working together to recover the Omnitrix. Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa Max head to Effigy Mounds in Iowa for camping, and find some of Ghostfreak's Troops hunting there. After defeating Hex at the end, they discover that Ghostfreak had plundered the Plumber Base in Mt. Rushmore. Ben chases him through Chicago and then defeats him in the Gold Coast Theater and Grandpa Max sucks him in the Null Void.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: After defeating Ghostfreak, they go to the Historic Battlefield, where Dr. Animo kidnaps Gwen. They go to the Bayou and discover Clancy, in an abandoned mansion. After Ben defeats him, Max asks him where Animo had taken Gwen. He tells him that it is too late to save her now and Animo plans to turn her into one of his mutants. Ben and grandpa travel to New Orleans and take a boat to Animo's oil refinery. After defeating Dr. Animo, Gwen tells them that Dr. Animo and Vilgax have planned to suck Earth into the Null Void. Ben then unlocks Master Control in the Omnitrix.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: After going to Washington DC where there were Null Void Portals everywhere, and Ben defeats SixSix and his Detrovite Troops in Cape Canaveral. Grandpa Max uses rockets found there to make the Rustbucket capable of flight. Then, they fly to Vilgax's Ship and Ben tries to defeat Vilgax. After a big battle that ends with Vilgax's defeat, Ben discovers that the rest of the Omnitrix Crystals are right there on the ship. But just after he retrieves them, the ship starts powering down and projecting a Null Void Portal, which then sucks in Vilgax and his ship. Luckily, Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa Max escape in time and get back to their vacation.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: Critical reception has been mainly average. "IGN" scored the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable versions a 6.8 out of 10, commenting that the cel-shaded graphics, simple gameplay and on-the-fly saving suits the target demographic but was unable to recommend it for hardcore gamers. Lucas M. Thomas scored the Nintendo DS version one point higher, praising its gameplay and sound.


title: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

text: "Eurogamer" gave the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable versions 5 out of 10, highlighting the drop-in drop-out two player mode and decent cutscenes, but criticising the bland environments.


title: Hamamatsu

text: Hamamatsu consists of a flat plain and the Mikatahara Plateau in the south, and a mountainous area in the north. It is roughly bordered by Lake Hamana to the west, the Tenryū River to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the south.


title: Hamamatsu

text: The climate in southern Hamamatsu has a humid subtropical climate with cool to mild winters with little snowfall; however, it is windy in winter because of the dry monsoon called "Enshū no Karakaze", which is unique to the region. The climate in northern Hamamatsu is much harsher because of foehn winds. Summer is hot with the highest temperature often exceeds 35 degrees in the Tenryu-ku area, while it snows in winter.


title: Hamamatsu

text: Hamamatsu has a significant non-Japanese population. The population of Nikkei foreigners, especially Brazilians increased after a 1990 change in Japanese immigration law allowed them to work in Japan. At one point, Hamamatsu had the largest Brazilian Nikkei population of any Japanese city, Many foreigners work in the manufacturing sector, taking temporary jobs in Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha plants. the number of non-Japanese in Hamamatsu was 33,332, and by 2010 the number exceeded 30,000. The city has a lot of Portuguese signage. It includes a Brazilian school, and many businesses catering to Brazilians display Brazilian flags. However, Natsuko Fukue of "The Japan Times" wrote in 2010 that many foreign children have difficulty integrating to society in Hamamatsu because "Japanese and foreign communities live largely separate from one another."


title: Hamamatsu

text: The foreign population dropped significantly in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008, with the Hamamatsu city government offering aid for some foreign nationals to return to their home countries. The foreign population was estimated as 25,084 as of August 1, 2019, per official city statistics,


title: Hamamatsu

text: The area now comprising Hamamatsu has been settled since prehistoric times, with numerous remains from the Jōmon period and Kofun period having been discovered within the present city limits, including the Shijimizuka site shell mound and the Akamonue Kofun ancient tomb.


title: Hamamatsu

text: Hamamatsu flourished during the Edo period under a succession of "daimyō" rulers as a castle town, and as a post town on the Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto.


title: Hamamatsu

text: After the Meiji Restoration, Hamamatsu became a short-lived prefecture from 1871 to 1876, after which it was united with Shizuoka Prefecture.


title: Hamamatsu

text: Hamamatsu has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 46 members. The city contributes 15 members to the Shizuoka Prefectural Assembly.


title: Hamamatsu

text: Hamamatsu has ratified Music Culture Exchange Treaty with the following cities (however, of the following Rochester is the only official sister city):


title: Hamamatsu

text: Hamamatsu has been famous as an industrial city, especially for musical instruments and motorcycles. It also has been known for fabric industry, but most of those companies and factories went out of business in the 1990s. As of 2010, Greater Hamamatsu, Hamamatsu Metropolitan Employment Area, has a GDP of US$54.3 billion.


title: Hamamatsu

text: There are no civilian airports in Hamamatsu. Shizuoka Airport () is the closest, located from Hamamatsu Station, between Makinohara and Shimada.


title: Hamamatsu

text: Chūbu Centrair International Airport in Aichi Prefecture, located about west of the city, is the second closest.


title: Hamamatsu

text: There is one senior high school operated by the city government: Hamamatsu Municipal Senior High School


title: Hamamatsu

text: Elementary and junior high schools are operated by the city government. , the city had 117 public elementary schools and 52 public junior high schools.


title: Hamamatsu

text: The city formerly hosted other Brazilian schools, Colégio Pitágoras Brasil and Escola Cantinho Feliz.


title: Hamamatsu

text: As of May 1, 2009, the municipal elementary and junior high schools had 1,638 non-Japanese students. , there were 932 Brazilians enrolled in Hamamatsu's municipal elementary and junior high schools: 646 Brazilians were enrolled in 61 public elementary schools, and 286 Brazilians were enrolled in 38 public junior high schools.


title: Hamamatsu

text: Within public schools Brazilian students have the same academic programs and take the same classes as Japanese nationals. Special teachers and assistants work with foreign students at municipal elementary and junior high schools with significant numbers of non-Japanese enrolled. In particular the schools use their part-time interpreters to assist Brazilian students. The interpreters are not formal teachers, yet Tsutsumi Angela Aparecida of Hamamatsu's Burajiru Fureai Kai wrote that "[t]heir assistance


title: Hamamatsu

text: has become very useful". Toshiko Sugino of the National Defense Academy of Japan wrote that the municipal and prefectural schools in Hamamatsu "follow traditional views of education and enforce rigid school rules" despite the reputation of open-mindedness in the residents of Hamamatsu, causing some foreigners to send their non-Japanese children to foreign private schools.


title: Hamamatsu

text: In Hamamatsu volunteers and a non-profit organization have established Japanese-language classes and native language classes for foreign children.


title: Hamamatsu

text: Long ago, Mount Akiha was believed to have supernatural powers to prevent fires. Bow and arrow, sword, and fire dances are performed at the Akiha Shrine. At the Akiha Temple, a firewalking ceremony is performed where both believers and spectators celebrate the festival.


title: Hamamatsu

text: When a family commemorates the first "Obon" holidays after the death of a loved one, they may request that a "dainenbutsu" (Buddhist chanting ritual) be performed outside their house. This is one of the local performing arts of the region. The group always forms a procession in front of the house led by a person carrying a lantern and marches to the sound of flutes, Japanese drums and cymbals.


title: Hamamatsu

text: Hamamatsu Kite Festival is also called Hamamatsu Festival. Hamamatsu Kite Festival held from May 3 to May 5 each year, includes a "Tako Gassen", or kite fight, and luxuriously decorated palace-like floats. The festival originated about 430 years ago, when the lord of Hamamatsu Castle celebrated the birth of his first son by flying kites. In the Meiji Era, the celebration of the birth of a first son by flying "Hatsu Dako", or the first kite, became popular, and this tradition has survived in the form of Hamamatsu Kite Festival. During the nights of Hamamatsu Kite Festival, people parade downtown carrying over 70 "yatai", or palace-lake floats, that are beautifully decorated while playing Japanese traditional festival music. The festival reaches its peak when groups representing the city's various districts compete by energetically marching through the downtown streets.


title: Hamamatsu

text: This festival is held in honor of Ryujin, the god believed to be associated with the Tenryū River, and features a wide variety of events such as the Hamakita takoage (kite flying) event and the "Hiryu himatsuri" (flying dragon fire festival) which celebrates water, sound, and flame.


title: Hamamatsu

text: This festival celebrates Hamamatsu's history as a city of musical instruments and music, and brings dozens of the best young pianists from all over the world. It has been held triennially since 1991 at the Act City Concert Hall and Main Hall.


title: Hamamatsu

text: This event takes place in Man'yō-no-Mori Park to commemorate the Man'yō period and introduce its culture. As part of the festival, people reenact the ancient past by wearing traditional clothes from the Heian period and presenting Japanese poetry readings.


title: Hamamatsu

text: One of the few puppet festivals held in Japan, featuring 60 performances of about 30 plays by puppet masters from all over the country. The shows provide a full day of enjoyment for both children and adults.


title: Hamamatsu

text: This reenactment of a procession made by the princess in her palanquin along with her entourage of over 100 people including maids, samurai, and servants makes for a splendid scene beneath the cherry blossoms along the Toda River. In the Edo period, princesses enjoyed traveling this road which came to be known as a "hime kaidō" ("princess road").


title: Hamamatsu

text: In Ryusui Garden there is a stream with seven small waterfalls and about 80 weeping "ume" trees pruned to give the appearance of dragons riding on clouds to the heavens. There are also 200 young trees planted along the mountainside.


title: Militsiya

text: Militsiya () was the name of the police forces in the Soviet Union (until 1991) and in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), as well as in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1992). The term continues in common and sometimes official usage in some of the individual former Soviet republics such as Belarus, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as in the partially recognised or unrecognised republics of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, DNR and LNR.


title: Militsiya

text: The name "militsiya" as applied to police forces originates from a Russian Provisional Government decree dated April 17, 1917, and from early Soviet history: both the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks intended to associate their new law-enforcement authority with the self-organisation of the people and to distinguish it from the czarist police. The militsiya was reaffirmed in Russia on October 28 (November 10, according to the new style dating), 1917 under the official name of the "Workers' and Peasants' Militsiya", in further contrast to what the Bolsheviks called the "bourgeois class protecting" police. Eventually, it was replaced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russian: МВД, "MVD"; Ukrainian: МВС, "MVS"; Belorussian: МУС, "MUS"), which is now the official full name for the militsiya forces in the respective countries. Its regional branches are officially called Departments of Internal Affairs—city department of internal affairs, "raion" department of internal affairs, "oblast" department of internal affairs, etc. (The Russian term for a "raion" department is OVD (ОВД; Отдел/Отделение внутренних дел, "Otdel/Otdeleniye vnutrennikh del"), for region department is UVD (УВД; Управление внутренних дел, "Upravleniye vnutrennikh del") or, sometimes, GUVD (ГУВД; Главное управление внутренних дел, "Glavnoye upravleniye vnutrennikh del"), same for national republics is MVD, (МВД; Министерство внутренних дел, "Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del").)


title: Militsiya

text: Functionally, Ministries of Internal Affairs are mostly police agencies. Their functions and organisation differ significantly from similarly named departments in Western countries, which are usually civil executive bodies headed by politicians and responsible for many other tasks as well as the supervision of law enforcement. The Soviet and successor MVDs have usually been headed by a militsiya general and predominantly consist of service personnel, with civilian employees only filling auxiliary posts. Although such ministers are members of their respective countries' cabinets, they usually do not report to the prime minister or parliament, but only to the president. Local militsiya departments are subordinated to their regional departments, having little accountability to local authorities.


title: Militsiya

text: Internal-affairs units within the militsiya itself are usually called "internal security" departments.


title: Militsiya

text: The official names of particular militsiya bodies and services in post-Soviet countries are usually very complicated, hence the use of the short term "militsiya". Laws usually refer to police just as "militsiya".


title: Militsiya

text: The short term for a police officer (regardless of gender) is "militsioner" (Russian: "милиционер", Ukrainian: "мiлiцiонер"). Slang Russian terms for "militsioner" include "ment" (plural: менты, "menty") and "musor" (plural: "мусора", "musora"). Although the latter word is offensive (it literally means "trash" or "garbage"), it originated from an acronym for the Moscow Criminal Investigations Department (, short for ) in Imperial Russia. "Ment" is a close equivalent to the English slang term "cop" and derived from the Lwów dialect of Polish


title: Militsiya

text: The following countries have changed the name of the police force from "Militsiya" (or equivalent) to a western-style name analogous to "police": Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, Moldova, Latvia, Mongolia, North Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Russia and Ukraine.


title: Militsiya

text: In 2019, Uzbekistan officially removed references to the word "Militsiya" from its laws without replacing them with "police".


title: Militsiya

text: The police are still called "militsiya" in Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, as well as in the unrecognized republics of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. In Kyrgyzstan active discussion continues about renaming the police force from "militsiya" to "police".


title: Militsiya

text: The organizational structure, methods and traditions of the militsiya differ significantly from those of western police. Militsiya as an organisation consists of many functional departments, such as the GIBDD, a traffic police. Organised crime detectives form highly independent squads inside regional militsiya. Some units may have the distinctive names (like OMON in Russia) which are more specific than "militsiya" or "militsioner".


title: Militsiya

text: Militsiya personnel ranks mostly follow those of the Army – from private (Rus: "ryadovoy"), which is the lowest rank, to colonel general – with only these exceptions: there are no ranks of Yefreytor, Army General, or Marshal. Detectives (Russian: "operativnik" short for "operativniy rabotnik") hold a rank of lieutenant at least and could be promoted to major or the lieutenant colonel. The militsiya of an oblast (or other equivalent subnational entity) is usually headed by a general. The rank name is suffixed with "of militsiya" (e.g. "major of militsiya" for a major). Militsiya personnel carry firearms, but are not permitted to carry their weapons when they are off duty.


title: Militsiya

text: Unlike in some other countries' police agencies, militsioners are not assigned permanent partners, but work alone or within larger groups. Neither uniformed officers nor detectives are allowed to drive police vehicles themselves, so a specialist driver (either a serviceman or a civil employee) is assigned to each car and is also in charge of its maintenance. Under the Patrol Police Service Regulations a designated police officer-driver is required to have a driver licence and is not allowed to abandon the vehicle. However, this refers only to fully marked police vehicles with emergency lights; detectives are allowed to drive civilian cars with are registered to the MVD, having white number plates (marked police vehicles have blue plates) with specific series (for example, "o...vo", "o...rr", "o...mm", "o...om"). The last two are usually assigned to the vehicles registered to regional level MVD units. The law does not provide any preferences on the road nor allows emergency lights and/or sirens on such vehicles, therefore technically police officers do not have the right to violate traffic laws even while on an assignment. GIBDD (the traffic militsiya) is the only exception: its members drive their own (or even own private) cars and are specially trained in risk-driving.


title: Militsiya

text: One unique feature of militsiya policing approach is the system of territorial patronage over citizens. The cities, as well as the rural settlements are divided into "uchastoks" (, ""quarters"") with a special "uchastkovyi" militsioner ("quarter policeman"), assigned to each. The main duty of "uchastkovyi" is to maintain close relations with the residents of his quarter and gather information among them. In particular, "uchastkovyi" should personally know each and every ex-convict, substance abuser, young hooligan etc. in given "uchastok", and visit them regularly for preemptive influence. "Uchastkovyi" is also responsible for tackling minor offences like family violence, loud noise, residential area parking etc. "Uchastkovyi" is also the main, and actually the real, militsiya force in remote areas and small settlements where permanent police departments are not created. "Uchastkovyi" militsioners possess separate small offices within their quarters and maintain citizens admittance in definite weekdays.


title: Militsiya

text: This system slightly resembles the US system of sheriffs but shows some notable differences. "Uchastkovyi" is neither a chief police officer in a given community nor a universal one (not combining detective, incarceration or special tactics tasks).


title: Militsiya

text: The system of "uchastkovyis" dates back to imperial times when "uriadniks" were conducting lowest-level policing in rural areas. In Soviet Union, "uchastkovyis" were also responsible for such tasks as maintaining propiska limitations and overseeing former political prisoners, which were subject to daily registration at the local MVD office.


title: Militsiya

text: Although women constitute a significant proportion of militsiya staff, they are usually not permitted to fill positions that carry risks (such as patrolman, guard, SWAT), but are allowed to carry firearms for self-defence. Instead, they are widely represented among investigators, juvenile crime inspectors, clerks, etc. However, limited attempts are being made to appoint women as traffic officers or "operativniks".


title: Militsiya

text: Another unique militsiya feature is the use of conscripted soldiers from the Internal Troops and special motorized militsiya units ("СМЧМ", SMChM) for regular urban policing and for securing various mass events, which required more force employment than usual. The Internal Troops and SMChMs are the gendarmerie-like military force who can be assigned to carry out simple public security tasks like patrolling while being accompanied by professional militsioners, or cordoning large crowds at sport events, concerts, and protests. These soldiers possess no firearms on their policing duties, however they are equipped with PR-73 rubber police batons, PR-90 tonfas and related equipment; when called to perform riot control duties, they are typically equipped with ballistic shields and tear gas. The SMChM soldiers typically wear grey militsiya uniforms, distinguished from commissioned officers by wearing standard-issued sapogi instead of individual boots or shoes, the Internal Troops wear green military uniform. During emergencies, raids, dragnets and other police operations, they are equipped with bullet-proof vests and protective gear, firearms and armoured vehicles while performing their policing duties.


title: Militsiya

text: While not on law enforcement duty, soldiers reside in barracks and maintain standard military training. Special motorised militsiya units stationed in the cities were all battalions with three exceptions. Kyiv and Leningrad had regiments and Moscow had a division, known as ODON, which is frequently used for policing Moscow; its soldiers can be spotted by a shoulder patch which features a white panther; other Internal troops units in the Moscow region use a shoulder patch with a white falcon.


title: Militsiya

text: Until late 1936, the People's Militsiya and Internal Troops of the NKVD had no personal ranks, much akin to the Red Army, Red Navy, and OGPU, and used position ranks. When personal ranks were reintroduced in the military in 1935, the Militsiya created a curious rank system that was a blend of standard military ranks such as sergeant, lieutenant, captain and major, and old positional ranks like 'squad leader', 'inspector', and 'director', some with several grades like 'senior' or 'junior'. The collar rank insignia was completely original and not based on military insignia.


title: Militsiya

text: This system was largely reused by the GUGB in their special rank structure introduced in 1935, although with new rank insignia and Commissar-style ranks for top officers.


title: Militsiya

text: New insignia were issued to GUGB in 1937 and to Militsiya in 1939. It was now based on collar rank patches of the Red Army and Internal Troops. Confusingly, the special NKVD rank system was left intact, so for example "'Captain of Militsiya/State Security" was assigned the three-box insignia of an army Colonel (in the Red Army, this patch was reassigned to lieutenant colonel in September 1939, but the NKVD did not alter their insignia) and "Major of Militsiya/State Security" was mapped to one-romb insignia of "Kombrig" (a brigade commander) (which was abolished for commanding officers of the Red Army in May 1940). This created a great deal of inconsistency and tension between army and NKVD/NKGB officers.


title: Militsiya

text: The NKVD rank system was streamlined in 1943 when imperial-style shoulder boards replaced the collar insignia patches. The ranks now copied those of the Soviet Army, with the exception of top officers starting with 'Senior Major' who were renamed Commissar of Militsiya 3rd, 2nd, and 1st rank, although they still wore army-style Major General, Lieutenant General and Colonel General shoulder boards.


title: Militsiya

text: The GUGB/NKGB maintained their commissar ranks until 1945, and switched to equivalent General ranks after that. The Militsiya retained the commissar ranks until 1973.


title: Militsiya

text: Some MVD officers had distinct ranks of General of the Internal Service of 1st, 2nd and 3rd rank; they were replaced with Major General, Lieutenant General and Colonel General in the 1970s.


title: Militsiya

text: Ranks of militsiya are considered special ranks, not to be confused with military (all-forces) ranks, which are used by the internal troops of the MVD. All militsiya ranks have had the words "of militsiya" at the end, which are part of the rank name and not a descriptive addition.


title: Militsiya

text: These non-police services should be distinguished from the militsiya itself, except passport and registration service, which structures are often included into "OVD" and sometimes considered one of the important militsiya services. Their members have always used different generic names and specific ranks (e.g. "Major of the Internal Service", rather than "Major of Militsiya").


title: Militsiya

text: The Russian MVD was recreated as the MVD of the Russian SFSR in 1990, following the restoration of the republican Council of Ministers and Supreme Soviet, and remained when Russia gained independence from the Soviet Union. It controlled the Militsiya, the State Road Inspection Service ("GAI"), and the Internal Troops. Since the disbanding of the "Tax Police", it also investigates economic crimes.


title: Militsiya

text: In August 2010, President Dmitry Medvedev introduced new legislation to reform and centralize the funding of the militsiya, as well as to officially change the militsiya's name to "Police" (the term which was used in the Russian Empire). The change was performed on March 1, 2011.


title: Militsiya

text: Militsiya was the national police service of Ukraine from the 1950s until 2015. The militsiya was formed whilst Ukraine was governed by the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union, and continued to serve as a national police service in independent Ukraine until it was replaced by the National Police of Ukraine on 7 November 2015.


title: Militsiya

text: Cognate terms also came into use in several Soviet bloc countries during the Cold War. Examples included Bulgaria (Peoples' Militia), Poland ("Milicja Obywatelska") and other Warsaw Pact nations, as well as the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia ("Milicija"), which was phased out throughout the 1990s and replaced by "policija" (police) in early 1997. Bulgaria changed the name of its law-enforcement body to "Policija" () in 1991. Romania operated a "Miliția", but after the communist regime there fell (1989), the "Poliția" replaced it in 1990.


title: Becherovka

text: Becherovka (), formerly Karlsbader Becherbitter, is a herbal bitters, often drunk as a digestif. It is produced in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic by the Jan Becher company. The brand is owned by Pernod Ricard. It is made from a secret recipe based on more than twenty types of herbs and spices.


title: Becherovka

text: Becherovka is often described as having a gingery or cinnamon flavor. Its alcohol content is 38% ABV (76 proof), and it is usually served chilled.


title: Becherovka

text: The inventor of Becher Bitter was Josef Vitus Becher (1769–1840) from the city then known as Carlsbad, later spelled Karlsbad. Apart from trading in spices and colonial goods in his shop, "Dům U Tří skřivanů" ("House of the Three Woodlarks"), he also produced alcoholic beverages. In 1794, he rented a still-house and began to experiment with spirits.


title: Becherovka

text: In 1805 Prince Maxmillian Friedrich von Plettenberg arrived in Carlsbad for medical treatment, accompanied by his personal physician, Dr. Christian Frobrig from England. Frobrig discussed with Josef Becher the strength of herbs and the recipe for a new liqueur. Becher tested this recipe for two years, after which he began selling this new "English Bitter" liqueur, which was intended for the treatment of diseases of the stomach.


title: Becherovka

text: Josef married twice (his first wife died of pneumonia) and had a total of 16 children, though only five daughters and two sons outlived him. Josef's son Johann (Jan) Nepomuk Becher took over the still-house in 1838. He built a new factory and is considered as the founder of the company. His product was sold under the name of "Becher Carlsbad Bitter Liqueur" from about the 1830s on.


title: Becherovka

text: During the First World War, his Karlsbader Becherbitter was sold in Bohemia, Austria, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Egypt. After the end of Prohibition in the United States, the Becherbitter went on sale in that country and four years later also in England. After the Second World War, Karlsbader Becherbitter became known as Becherovka following the dispossession and forceful expulsion of the German population of Karlovy Vary by the Czech state (see Beneš decrees). Becherovka became one of Czechoslovakia's most popular export items.


title: Becherovka

text: From 1998 to 2003, a Slovak version also was sold. This was manufactured by Zdeněk Hoffmann domestically (Domažlice) and sold in Slovak shops. Hoffmann claimed that Alfred Becher had given his grandfather the recipe in 1939 with the right to manufacture the product, since he had been worried that the secret of his recipe might not survive the war. However, Hoffmann was unable to prove this in court, and in 2008 he was sentenced by the district court to a year and a half in jail.


title: Becherovka

text: The Czech producer says that only two people know the secret of the entire production process and are allowed to enter the "Drogikamr" room – where, once a week, they mix the herbs and spices used in the drink. Some of the herbs are imported from abroad, and some grow around Karlovy Vary.


title: Becherovka

text: Becherovka Lemond is the commercial name of a liqueur which has been produced by Becherovka since 2008. It is based on the traditional Becherovka, but has a lower alcohol content (20% ABV). Lemond is usually consumed straight and takes its name from the drink's citrus taste. Its recipe is also kept secret, just like the recipe of the traditional Becherovka.


title: Becherovka

text: Some serve it with tonic water, making a drink called a "beton" (becherovka and tonic), which means "concrete" in Czech and many other languages. This cocktail was originally created for Expo '67 in Montreal as a refreshment to be served in the Czech Pavilion. It also proved to be very popular in the Czech Republic during the 90s.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The Hyundai Lambda engine family is the company's all-aluminium V6 engine manufactured since 2005. It is currently manufactured at Hyundai's plant in Asan, South Korea. It used to be manufactured at HMMA plant in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. All versions of this engine use a timing chain.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: This engine family uses aluminium blocks and heads, variable valve timing on the intake side, and 4 valves per cylinder.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The Lambda MPi G6DB version was introduced with the 2005 Sonata. Bore and stroke measure and it makes at 6,000 rpm and of torque at 3,500 rpm.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: Changes to Lambda MPi series include adding a CVVT on the exhaust side as well, therefore it does have Dual CVVT.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The 3.0 Lambda II MPi engine is rated at 6,400 rpm and of torque at 5,000 rpm. Bore and stroke measure for a total displacement of .


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The Lambda II MPi version bore and stroke measure and produce at 6,200–6,400 rpm and of torque at 4,500–5,300 rpm depending on the application.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The Lambda II MPi G6DC Lambda II version debuted in the global version of the 2011 Kia Sorento. This engine comes with and is rated at at 6,300-6,600 rpm and at 5,000 rpm depending on application. Bore x stroke measure ; it uses similar technology as the 3.3L and 3.8L variants of the Lambda family.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: Hyundai debuted a GDI version of Lambda V6 at 2010 Beijing Auto Show. Hyundai presented few details but the engine has power rating of .


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The Lambda II GDi G6DG version released with the Azera/Grandeur 5th generation. Compression ratio is 11.0:1 with a bore and stroke of . and produces at 6,400 rpm and of torque at 5,300 rpm.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The 3.0L G6DL is the newer variant of the 3.0L GDI engine. The engine produces at 6,400 rpm and of torque at 5,300 rpm.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The 3.3L G6DH version was introduced with the fifth generation Grandeur/Azera. Compression ratio is 11.5:1 and the engine produces at 6,400 rpm and of torque at 5,200 rpm.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The 3.3L G6DM is the newer variant of the 3.3L GDI engine. Compression ratio is 12.0:1 and the engine produces at 6,400 rpm and of torque at 5,200 rpm.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The 3.8L Atkinson cycle version was introduced with the Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride. Compression ratio is 13.0:1 and the engine produces at 6,000 rpm and of torque at 5,200 rpm.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The 3.8L version for the Genesis Coupe produces at 6,400 rpm and of torque at 4,600 rpm, while in the Genesis (Sedan) it produces at 6,200 rpm and of torque at 4,500 rpm.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: The engine produces at 6,000 rpm and of torque at 5,000 rpm, earlier version of this engine were making at 6,400 rpm and of torque at 5,200 rpm.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: It produces at 6,000 rpm and of torque at 4,500 rpm. Bore and stroke measure for a total displacement of .


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: Rhys Millen Racing (RMR) has developed a version of the Lambda II RS MPi engine in an attempt to break the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) record. The race-version is reported to have been bored and stroked to 4.1 liters of swept displacement with an added turbocharger to increase power output.


title: Hyundai Lambda engine

text: On 5 November 2013, Hyundai announced the creation of a new factory crate engine program at the 2013 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, which initially included a Lambda 3.8-liter, direct-injected V6 engine. The crate engine program began in December 2013.


title: Judea Pearl

text: Judea Pearl (born September 4, 1936) is an Israeli-American computer scientist and philosopher, best known for championing the probabilistic approach to artificial intelligence and the development of Bayesian networks (see the article on belief propagation). He is also credited for developing a theory of causal and counterfactual inference based on structural models (see article on causality). In 2011, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) awarded Pearl with the Turing Award, the highest distinction in computer science, "for fundamental contributions to artificial intelligence through the development of a calculus for probabilistic and causal reasoning". He is the author of several books, including the technical Causality: Models, Reasoning and Inference, and The Book of Why, a book on causality aimed at the general public.


title: Judea Pearl

text: Judea Pearl is the father of journalist Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan connected with Al-Qaeda and the International Islamic Front in 2002 for his American and Jewish heritage.


title: Judea Pearl

text: Judea Pearl was born in Tel Aviv, British Mandate for Palestine, in 1936 to Polish Jewish immigrant parents. He is a descendant of Menachem Mendel of Kotzk on his mother's side. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces and joining a kibbutz, Pearl decided to study engineering in 1956. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Technion 1960. That same year, he emigrated to the United States and pursued graduate studies. He received an M.S. in electrical engineering from the Newark College of Engineering (now the New Jersey Institute of Technology) in 1961, and went on to receive an M.S. in physics from Rutgers University and a PhD in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now the New York University Tandon School of Engineering) in 1965. He worked at RCA Research Laboratories (now SRI International) in Princeton, New Jersey on superconductive parametric amplifiers and storage devices and at Electronic Memories, Inc., on advanced memory systems. When semiconductors "wiped out" Pearl's work, as he later expressed it, he joined UCLA's School of Engineering in 1970 and started work on probabilistic artificial intelligence. He is one of the founding editors of the "Journal of Causal Inference".


title: Judea Pearl

text: Pearl is currently a professor of computer science and statistics and director of the Cognitive Systems Laboratory at UCLA. He and his wife, Ruth, had three children. In addition, , he is a member of the International Advisory Board of NGO Monitor.


title: Judea Pearl

text: Former Israeli Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, partnered with Judea Pearl in the documentary "With My Whole Broken Heart".


title: Judea Pearl

text: In 2002, his son, Daniel Pearl, a journalist working for the "Wall Street Journal" was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan, leading Judea and the other members of the family and friends to create the Daniel Pearl Foundation. On the seventh anniversary of Daniel's death, Judea wrote an article in the "Wall Street Journal" titled "Daniel Pearl and the Normalization of Evil: When will our luminaries stop making excuses for terror?".


title: Judea Pearl

text: Emeritus Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks quoted Judea Pearl's beliefs in a lesson on Judaism: "I asked Judea Pearl, father of the murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, why he was working for reconciliation between Jews and Muslims...he replied with heartbreaking lucidity, 'Hate killed my son. Therefore I am determined to fight hate.'"


title: Judea Pearl

text: On his religious views, Pearl states that he is a "practicing disbeliever." He is very connected to Jewish traditions such as holidays and kiddush on Friday night.


title: Judea Pearl

text: Judea Pearl is credited for "laying the foundations of modern artificial intelligence, so computer systems can process uncertainty and relate causes to effects."


title: Judea Pearl

text: He is one of the pioneers of Bayesian networks and the probabilistic approach to artificial intelligence, and one of the first to mathematize causal modeling in the empirical sciences. His work is also intended as a high-level cognitive model. He is interested in the philosophy of science, knowledge representation, nonstandard logics, and learning. Pearl is described as "one of the giants in the field of artificial intelligence" by UCLA computer science professor Richard Korf. His work on causality has "revolutionized the understanding of causality in statistics, psychology, medicine and the social sciences" according to the Association for Computing Machinery.


title: CompTIA

text: The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is an American non-profit trade association, issuing professional certifications for the information technology (IT) industry. It is considered one of the IT industry's top trade associations.


title: CompTIA

text: Based in Downers Grove, Illinois, CompTIA issues vendor-neutral professional certifications in over 120 countries. The organization releases over 50 industry studies annually to track industry trends and changes. Over 2.2 million people have earned CompTIA certifications since the association was established.


title: CompTIA

text: CompTIA was created in 1982 as the Association of Better Computer Dealers (ABCD). ABCD later changed its name to the Computing Technology Industry Association.


title: CompTIA

text: In 2010, CompTIA moved into its world headquarters in Downers Grove, Illinois. The building was designed to meet LEED CI Certification standards.


title: CompTIA

text: The CompTIA portal moved to a hybrid version of the open-access model in April 2014 with exclusive content for dues-paying members. The move expanded the organization's reach to engage a broader, more diverse set of members and within a year, CompTIA's membership grew from 2,050 members to more than 50,000 in 2015. By the close of 2016, the organization boasted more than 100,000 members worldwide.


title: CompTIA

text: CompTIA launched the Dream IT program in 2014 to provide resources for girls and women in the United States interested in the IT industry. In October 2015, the program was expanded into the UK.


title: CompTIA

text: Skillsboost, CompTIA's online resource for schools, was launched in June 2015. It contained resources for students, parents and teachers to promote the importance of computer skills. CompTIA held its first annual ChannelCon Vendor Summit in 2015. The Vendor Summit is exclusive to people attending ChannelCon, the industry's premier conference for collaboration, education and networking. It addresses issues within the IT industry.


title: CompTIA

text: In January 2017, CompTIA launched an IT professional association built on its acquisition of the Association of Information Technology Professionals.


title: CompTIA

text: The CompTIA Security Trustmark+ is based on the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and demonstrates compliance with key industry regulations such as PCI-DSS, SSAE-16, HIPAA, and others reliant on the NIST Framework. It is based on a third-party assessment of security policies, procedures and operations.


title: CompTIA

text: CompTIA offered additional trustmarks, a Managed Services Trustmark and Managed Print Trustmark, that were retired on Sept. 30, 2021.


title: CompTIA

text: CompTIA administers its vendor-neutral certification exams through Pearson VUE testing centers. (Note: For A+ up through CASP+ one can renew or extend their certification by satisfying in these cases 20 to 75 CEUs a.k.a. "Continuing Education Units," over the three-year period.)


title: CompTIA

text: The CompTIA IT Fundamentals+ certification covers foundational IT concepts, basic IT literacy, and terminology and concepts of the IT industry. It is considered the first step toward the A+ certification.


title: CompTIA

text: CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+) is the highest level certification in CompTIA's cybersecurity pathway after Security+, CySA+, and PenTest+. The CASP+ certification was accredited by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on December 13, 2011. The CASP+ exam will certify that the successful candidate has the technical knowledge and skills required to conceptualize, design, and engineer secure solutions across complex enterprise environments. In March 2013, the Department of Defense approved the certification as a baseline certification accepted for Information Assurance Technical Level III, IS Manager Level II and IA Systems Architect and Engineer Levels I and II.


title: CompTIA

text: "Certified Document Imaging Architect", or "CDIA+", is a certification for competency in document imaging, document management, and enterprise content management.


title: CompTIA

text: The "Certified Technical trainer" or "CTT+" certification is a vendor-neutral certification that is applicable to training professionals in all industries. Originally administered in 2001 through The Chauncey Institute, the CTT program was acquired by CompTIA and renamed as CTT+. It was created through a collaboration of the Information Technology Training Association, Inc. (ITTA) and the Computer Education Management Association (CedMA).


title: CompTIA

text: The CompTIA "Healthcare IT Technician" certificate focused on IT in the healthcare industry and was aimed at IT professionals who install and maintain electronic health record systems. It was retired in 2017.


title: CompTIA

text: The State & Local Government and Education (SLED) division of CompTIA is a consortium of executives from leading technology companies "focused on advancing the interests of the IT industry in the SLED market".


title: CompTIA

text: CompTIA initially lobbied against the right to repair. On February 21, 2020, CompTIA posted the statement below in relation to its prior position on Right to Repair legislation:


title: CompTIA

text: "On February 3, 2020, CompTIA permanently stepped back from all lobbying activity related to right to repair legislation."


title: CompTIA

text: CompTIA established a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation called Creating IT Futures. In 2012, Creating IT Futures worked with the Wounded Warrior Project to provide 5,000 CompTIA certification testing vouchers to injured military veterans.


title: CompTIA

text: Previously, CompTIA marketed its flagship A+, Network+, and Security+ certifications as being valid for a lifetime. In January 2011, CompTIA changed the status of these certifications so that they would expire every three years. Under this proposal, certified individuals would have to re-certify for the exams or pay a yearly maintenance fee for a CEU (Continuing Education Units) system. CompTIA modified the guidelines so that only certificates received after January 1, 2011, would need to be renewed every three years and would require documented continuing education hours. The un-expirable certificates, issued before 2011, are officially called Good-for-Life, and getting a more updated (and expirable) certification does not replace the Good-for-Life one – the professional can have both.


title: Shin (letter)

text: Shin (also spelled Šin (') or Sheen) is the twenty-first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Shin , Hebrew Shin , Aramaic Shin , Syriac Shin ܫ, and Arabic Shin (in abjadi order, 13th in modern order).


title: Shin (letter)

text: The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Sigma () (which in turn gave Latin and Cyrillic С), and the letter "Sha" in the Glagolitic and Cyrillic scripts (, ).


title: Shin (letter)

text: The Proto-Sinaitic glyph, according to William Albright, was based on a "tooth" and with the phonemic value š "corresponds etymologically (in part, at least) to original Semitic "ṯ" (th), which was pronounced "s" in South Canaanite".


title: Shin (letter)

text: The Phoenician letter expressed the continuants of two Proto-Semitic phonemes, and may have been based on a pictogram of a tooth (in modern Hebrew "shen"). The Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1972, records that it originally represented a composite bow.


title: Shin (letter)

text: The history of the letters expressing sibilants in the various Semitic alphabets is somewhat complicated, due to different mergers between Proto-Semitic phonemes. As usually reconstructed, there are seven Proto-Semitic coronal voiceless fricative phonemes that evolved into the various voiceless sibilants of its daughter languages, as follows:


title: Shin (letter)

text: In Aramaic, where the use of "shin" is well-determined, the orthography of "sin" was never fully resolved.


title: Shin (letter)

text: To express an etymological /ś/, a number of dialects chose either "sin" or "samek" exclusively, where other dialects switch freely between them (often 'leaning' more often towards one or the other). For example:


title: Shin (letter)

text: The Hebrew version according to the reconstruction shown above is descended from Proto-Semitic *, a phoneme thought to correspond to a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative , similar to Welsh "Ll" in "Llandudno".


title: Shin (letter)

text: The Hebrew letter represents two different phonemes: a sibilant , like English sour, and a , like English shoe. Prior to the advent and ascendancy of Tiberian orthography, the two were distinguished by a superscript samekh, i.e. ש vs. ש, which later developed into the dot. The two are distinguished by a dot above the left-hand side of the letter for and above the right-hand side for . In the biblical name Issachar () only, the second sin/shin letter is always written without any dot, even in fully vocalized texts. This is because the second sin/shin is always silent.


title: Shin (letter)

text: In gematria, Shin represents the number 300. The breakdown of its namesake, Shin[300] - Yodh[10] - Nunh[50] gives the geometrical meaningful number 360, which encompasses the fullness of the degrees of circles.


title: Shin (letter)

text: Shin as a prefix commonly used in the Hebrew language carries similar meaning as specificity faring relative pronouns in English– "that (..)", "which (..)" and "who (..)". When used in this way, it is pronounced like 'sh' and 'eh'.


title: Shin (letter)

text: In colloquial Hebrew, Kaph and Shin together have the meaning of "when". This is a contraction of , "ka'asher" (as, when).


title: Shin (letter)

text: Shin is also one of the seven letters which receive special crowns (called "tagin") when written in a Sefer Torah. See Gimmel, Ayin, Teth, Nun, Zayin, and Tzadi.


title: Shin (letter)

text: According to Judges 12:6, the tribe of Ephraim could not differentiate between Shin and Samekh; when the Gileadites were at war with the Ephraimites, they would ask suspected Ephraimites to say the word shibolet"; an Ephraimite would say sibolet" and thus be exposed. From this episode we get the English word shibboleth.


title: Shin (letter)

text: Shin also stands for the word Shaddai, a name for God. Because of this, a kohen (priest) forms the letter Shin with his hands as he recites the Priestly Blessing. In the mid-1960s, actor Leonard Nimoy used a single-handed version of this gesture to create the Vulcan hand salute for his character, Mr. Spock, on "".


title: Shin (letter)

text: The letter Shin is often inscribed on the case containing a mezuzah, a scroll of parchment with Biblical text written on it. The text contained in the mezuzah is the Shema Yisrael prayer, which calls the Israelites to love their God with all their heart, soul, and strength. The mezuzah is situated upon all the doorframes in a home or establishment. Sometimes the whole word "Shaddai" will be written.


title: Shin (letter)

text: The Shema Yisrael prayer also commands the Israelites to write God's commandments on their hearts (Deut. 6:6); the shape of the letter Shin mimics the structure of the human heart: the lower, larger left ventricle (which supplies the full body) and the smaller right ventricle (which supplies the lungs) are positioned like the lines of the letter Shin.


title: Shin (letter)

text: A religious significance has been applied to the fact that there are three valleys that comprise the city of Jerusalem's geography: the Valley of Ben Hinnom, Tyropoeon Valley, and Kidron Valley, and that these valleys converge to also form the shape of the letter shin, and that the Temple in Jerusalem is located where the dagesh (horizontal line) is. This is seen as a fulfillment of passages such as that instructs Jews to celebrate the Pasach at "the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name" (NIV).


title: Shin (letter)

text: In the Sefer Yetzirah the letter Shin is King over Fire, Formed Heaven in the Universe, Hot in the Year, and the Head in the Soul.


title: Shin (letter)

text: The 13th-century Kabbalistic text Sefer HaTemunah, holds that a single letter of unknown pronunciation, held by some to be the four-pronged shin on one side of the teffilin box, is missing from the current alphabet. The world's flaws, the book teaches, are related to the absence of this letter, the eventual revelation of which will repair the universe.


title: Shin (letter)

text: The corresponding letter for the sound in Russian is nearly identical in shape to the Hebrew "shin". Given that the Cyrillic script includes borrowed letters from a variety of different alphabets such as Greek and Latin, it is often suggested that the letter "sha" is directly borrowed from the Hebrew letter "shin" (other hypothesized sources include Coptic and Samaritan).


title: Shin (letter)

text: The Shin-Bet was an old acronym for the Israeli Department of Internal General Security, and name of the service is still usually translated as such in English. In Israeli Hebrew and Palestinian Arabic, the security service is known as the “Shabak ”.


title: Shin (letter)

text: A Shin-Shin Clash is Israeli military parlance for a battle between two tank divisions ("armour" in Hebrew is שִׁרְיוֹן - "shiryon").


title: Shin (letter)

text: Sh'at haShin (the Shin hour) is the last possible moment for any action, usually military. Corresponds to the English expression "the eleventh hour".


title: Shin (letter)

text: The Arabic letter "šīn" was an acronym for "something" ( "šayʾ(un)" ) meaning the unknown in algebraic equations. In the transcription into Spanish, the Greek letter "chi" (χ) was used which was later transcribed into Latin "x". According to some sources, this is the origin of "x" used for the unknown in the equations. However, according to other sources, there is no historical evidence for this. In Modern Arabic mathematical notation, "sīn", i.e. "šīn" without its dots, often corresponds to Latin "x".


title: Shin (letter)

text: In Moroccan Arabic, the letter , "šīn" with an additional three dots below, is used to transliterate the sound in foreign loan words.


title: Chelsea boot

text: Chelsea boots are close-fitting, ankle-high boots with an elastic side panel. They often have a loop or tab of fabric on the back of the boot, enabling the boot to be pulled on. The boot dates back to the Victorian era, when it was worn by both men and women.


title: Chelsea boot

text: Chelsea boots and some of their variants were considered an iconic element of the 1960s in Britain, particularly the mod scene.


title: Chelsea boot

text: The design is credited to Queen Victoria's shoemaker Joseph Sparkes Hall. The shoemaker, Joseph Sparkes Hall, claimed that "She (Queen Victoria) walks in them daily and thus gives the strongest proof of the value she attaches to the invention". In his advertising of the period, he refers to the boot as "J. Sparkes Hall's Patent Elastic Ankle Boots". The boot became popular for horse riding as well as walking.


title: Chelsea boot

text: Charles Goodyear's development of vulcanised rubber enabled the invention of the elastic gusset boot. The advantage of elasticised boots meant they could be easily removed and put on again. By the late 1840s, the fashion began to catch on. This became a prominent style in the West until the onset of World War I.


title: Chelsea boot

text: In the 1950s and 1960s, Chelsea boots became popular in the UK – and their association with the King's Road (a street in Chelsea and Fulham in inner western London) set of Swinging London – worn by everyone from the Rolling Stones to Jean Shrimpton – is believed to explain how the name "Chelsea" became attached to the boot.


title: Chelsea boot

text: Theatrical and ballet shoe maker Anello & Davide created a variant of the Chelsea boot in 1961 with Cuban heels and pointed toes for the Beatles, after John Lennon and Paul McCartney saw some Chelsea boots in its shop window and commissioned four pairs with higher, Cuban heels – this style became known as Beatle boots.


title: Chelsea boot

text: Variants used as work boots include a type of riding boot called Jodhpur boots, originating from India, as well as other designs, including Australian work boots like those manufactured by Blundstone and other companies. Such work boots may have steel toes. In Brazil this kind of boot is known as a "botina". Often rugged and utilitarian in design, and similar to Australian work boots, they are commonly associated with caipiras or the rural population in general.


title: 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election

text: The Fifteenth Legislative Assembly Election was held on 16 May 2016 for the 232 seats (except Thanjavur and Aravakurichi for which held on 26 October 2016) of the Legislative Assembly in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. AIADMK under J. Jayalalithaa won the elections and became the first ruling party to be re-elected in Tamil Nadu since 1984, though with a simple majority. DMK won half of the seats it contested but its allies performed poorly; notably, the Indian National Congress won 16% of the seats they contested and the alliance lost due to its poor performance. The votes were counted on 19 May 2016. In the previous election in 2011, AIADMK, under the leadership of Jayalalithaa, won a thumping majority and formed the government, while DMDK chief Vijayakanth served as the Leader of Opposition until January 2016. This was the last election that J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi contested, as they both died in 2016 and 2018 respectively.


text: By the requirement, state assembly election must be held at an interval of five years or whenever it is dissolved by the president. The previous election, to the 14th legislative assembly, was conducted 13 April 2011 and its term would have naturally expired on 22 May 2016. The election to the 16th legislative assembly was organised and conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and was held in a single phase on 16 May 2016. There were over 5.79 crore voters in the electoral rolls and 65,616 polling stations in Tamil Nadu.


text: A special purification drive of electoral rolls between 15 and 29 February 2016 in all poll-bound States including Tamil Nadu was held, in which door-to-door verification was undertaken involving booth-level agents. On 12 February 2016, Election Commission of India announced that 17 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu will have Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines attached along with EVMs. Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines will be in place in 4,000 booths.


text: At the 2011 India census, Tamil Nadu had a population of 7,21,47,030. A total of 1,44,38,445 people constituting 20.01% of the total population belonged to Scheduled Castes (SC) and 7,94,697 people constituting 1.10% of the population belonged to Scheduled tribes (ST). Other Backward Classes (OBCs) form 68% of the population. As per the religious census of 2011, Tamil Nadu had 87.6% Hindus, 5.9% Muslims, 6.1% Christians, 0.1% Jains and 0.3% following other religions or no religion.


text: The elections were held on 16 May 2016, with vote counting taking place on 19 May. The elections in Kerala and Puducherry also took place on 16 May but polling in two of the Tamil Nadu constituencies was postponed due to reports of voters being bribed.


text: To ensure that the electorate exercise their right to vote, the Election Commission of India (ECI) launched their own campaign in Tamil Nadu. The Chief Electoral Officer for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, Rajesh Lakhoni, utilised social media platforms by creating memes and tweets themed around films, which have a huge reach in Tamil Nadu. Additionally, the Election Commission also recruited media personalities Suriya, Ashwin and Karthik, whose campaigning videos were filmed and shared on social media. The Election Commission also partnered with Twitter, for the first time in India, to boost its "#TN100Percent" hashtag campaign. Twitter users who have made use of the hashtag will be reminded to vote on the day of voting. Twitter and Facebook collaborated with ECI in its awareness campaign on striving for 100 per cent voting in the polls.


text: On 4 April, AIADMK released its candidate list for Tamil Nadu. On 14 April, DMK released its candidate list for Tamil Nadu.


text: Gopi Shankar Madurai, a 25 years old gender activist made a bid to contest as one of the youngest candidates in the Tamil Nadu Assembly election and also the first openly Intersex & Genderqueer person to do so. Gopi contested on the ticket of newly launched outfit Anaithu Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) for Madurai North. He secured 14th place out of 21 candidates.


text: DMK released its election manifesto on 10 April 2016. Bharatiya Janata Party released its election manifesto on 21 April 2016. On 23 March 2016, Naam Tamilar Katchi published its 316-page election manifesto 2016, a complete plan to develop Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu Congress Committee released its election manifesto on 27 April 2016. Pattali Makkal Katchi released its draft election manifesto on 15 September 2015 and final election manifesto on 15 April 2016. AIADMK released its election manifesto on 5 May 2016.


text: Voter turnout for the 232 constituencies on 16 May was 74.81%. Parts of Tamil Nadu received heavy rain on the polling day, but it did not deter voters from turning out to cast their votes. While the highest voter turn out was in Dharmapuri constituency recording 85% while the lowest voter turnout was in the capital of Tamil Nadu, Chennai recording 55%. Male voter turnout was 74.15% and female voter turnout was 74.33%.


text: The ruling AIADMK, beating most of the exit polls, was able to retain power with a comfortable majority and became the first party to win consecutive elections since 1984, a feat achieved by M. G. Ramachandran. Jayalalithaa bucked Anti-incumbency trend and cyclic change of governments in the state that hadn't voted back a government in last three decades.


text: ! style="vertical-align:bottom;text-align: center;" rowspan=2 colspan=2|Parties and Coalitions !! style="vertical-align:bottom;text-align:center;" width="60" rowspan=2|Votes !! style="vertical-align:bottom;text-align:center;" rowspan=2|% !! style="text-align:center;" colspan=3|Seats


text: ! style="text-align:center;"|Contested !! style="text-align:left;"|Won !! style="text-align:center;"|+/-


text: Election to two assembly constituencies were cancelled by the Election Commission on confirmed reports of bribing voters in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur. Elections were held later there on 26 October 2016 <section end=Results />


text: On 3 May, News 7 and Dinamalar released an opinion poll giving an edge for DMK over AIADMK. But some editions of Dinamalar carried a statement on the first page distancing itself from the surveys. In an instance VVPAT was helpful in resolving an issue pertaining to a tally of votes in Kancheepuram Assembly constituency as the number of votes entered in the Form 17C of a polling booth and the total number of votes recorded in the EVM control unit of that booth did not tally.


text: Wide spread allegations of parties bribing voters with cash were raised and the Election commission responded by increasing the number of flying squads to conduct raids and prevent distribution of cash for votes. First time in the Indian history Rs 570 crores of three containers captured in Tirupur, no one claimed for that money at the first day. Later SBI claimed that money. Many parties like CPI(M), CPI, VCK, MDMK, PMK, wanted clear information about that money.


text: The Election Commission postponed the polls in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur constituencies due to reports of distribution of huge sums of money and alcohol to voters. The polling was initially postponed to 13 June, despite the Governor of Tamil Nadu requesting that it should happen before 1 June. The date was subsequently amended to November.


text: On 26 October 2016, the Election Commission announced that the election for Thiruparankundram, Aravakurichi and Thanjavur constituencies would be held on 19 November 2016. The outcome was:


title: Terrain

text: Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word (the root of "terrain") means "earth."


title: Terrain

text: In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientation of terrain features. Terrain affects surface water flow and distribution. Over a large area, it can affect weather and climate patterns.


title: Terrain

text: Relief (or "local relief") refers specifically to the quantitative measurement of vertical elevation change in a landscape. It is the difference between maximum and minimum elevations within a given area, usually of limited extent. A relief can be described qualitatively, such as a "" or "" plain or upland. The relief of a landscape can change with the size of the area over which it is measured, making the definition of the scale over which it is measured very important. Because it is related to the slope of surfaces within the area of interest and to the gradient of any streams present, the relief of a landscape is a useful metric in the study of the Earth's surface. Relief energy, which may be defined "inter alia" as "the maximum height range in a regular grid", is essentially an indication of the ruggedness or relative height of the terrain.


title: Terrain

text: Geomorphology is in large part the study of the formation of terrain or topography. Terrain is formed by concurrent processes operating on the underlying geological structures over geological time:


title: Terrain

text: Tectonic processes such as orogenies and uplifts cause land to be elevated, whereas erosional and weathering processes wear the land away by smoothing and reducing topographic features. The relationship of erosion and tectonics rarely (if ever) reaches equilibrium. These processes are also codependent, however the full range of their interactions is still a topic of debate.


title: Terrain

text: Land surface parameters are quantitative measures of various morphometric properties of a surface. The most common examples are used to derive slope or aspect of a terrain or curvatures at each location. These measures can also be used to derive hydrological parameters that reflect flow/erosion processes. Climatic parameters are based on the modelling of solar radiation or air flow.


title: Terrain

text: Land surface objects, or landforms, are definite physical objects (lines, points, areas) that differ from the surrounding objects. The most typical examples airlines of watersheds, stream patterns, ridges, break-lines, pools or borders of specific landforms.


title: Baba Amte

text: Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte, (26 December 1914 – 9 February 2008) was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of people suffering from leprosy. He has received numerous awards and prizes including the Padma Vibhushan, the Dr. Ambedkar International Award, the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Templeton Prize and the Jamnalal Bajaj Award. He is also known as the modern Gandhi of India.


title: Baba Amte

text: Murlidhar Devidas "Baba" Amte was born in an affluent Deshastha Brahmin family on 26 December 1914 in the city of Hinganghat in Maharashtra. His father, Devidas Amte, was. a colonial government officer working for the district administration and revenue collection departments. Murlidhar Amte acquired the nickname "Baba" in his childhood. His wife, Sadhanatai Amte, explains that he came to be known as Baba not because "he was regarded as a saint or a holy person, but because his parents addressed him by that name."


title: Baba Amte

text: Amte was the eldest of eight children. As the eldest son of a wealthy land owner, he had an idyllic childhood, filled with hunting and sports. By the time he was fourteen, he owned his own gun and hunted bear and deer. When he was old enough to drive, he was given a Singer Sports car with cushions covered with panther skin. Though he was born in a wealthy family he was always aware of the class inequality that prevailed in Indian society. "There is a certain callousness in families like my family," he used to say. "They put up strong barriers so as to avoid seeing the misery in the outside world and I rebelled against it."


title: Baba Amte

text: Trained in law, he developed a successful legal practice in Wardha. He soon became involved in the Indian independence movement and, in 1942, began working as a defense lawyer for Indian leaders imprisoned by the colonial government for their involvement in the Quit India movement. He spent some time at Sevagram, at the ashram started by Mahatma Gandhi and became a follower of Gandhism. He practiced Gandhism by engaging in yarn spinning using a charkha and wearing khadi. When Gandhi got to know that Dr. Amte had defended a girl from the lewd taunts of some British soldiers, Gandhi gave him the name – "Abhay Sadhak" (Fearless Seeker of Truth).


title: Baba Amte

text: However one day his encounter with a living corpse and leprosy patient Tulshiram, filled him with fear. Amte,who never feared for anything till that incident and who fought one time with British men to save the honour of an Indian lady and was also challenged by sweepers of Warora to clean the gutters, was quivered in fright on seeing plight of Tulshiram. However,Amte wanted to create a thinking and understanding that leprosy patients can be truly helped only when a society is free of "Mental Leprosy"-fear and wrong understanding associated with disease. To dispel this thinking he once injected himself with bacilli from a patient, to prove the ailment was not highly contagious. In those days, people with leprosy suffered a social stigma and Indian society disowned these people. Amte strove to dispel the widespread belief that leprosy was highly contagious; he even allowed bacilli from a leper to be injected into him as part of an experiment aimed at proving that leprosy was not highly contagious. But Baba Amte and his wife used to prioritise the care and treatment and mainstreaming those affected by the dreaded disease of leprosy and lived amongst the affected and ensured that they got exemplary medical care which ended the scourge of the disease for them. For the rehabilitated and cured patients he arranged vocational training and small-scale manufacturing of handicrafts and got things crafted by them. He struggled and tried to remove the stigma and ignorance surrounding the treatment of leprosy as a disease.


title: Baba Amte

text: Amte founded three ashrams for treatment and rehabilitation of leprosy patients, disabled people and people from marginalised sections of general society in Maharashtra. On 15 August 1949, he and his wife Sadhna Amte started a leprosy hospital in Anandvan under a tree. The leprosy patients were provided with medical care and a life of dignity engaged in agriculture and various small and medium industries like handicrafts. In 1973, Amte founded the Lok Biradari Prakalp to work for the Madia Gond tribal people of Gadchiroli District. Baba Amte also involved in other social cause initiatives like,in year 1985 he launched the first Knit India Mission for peace-at 72 years he walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir,a distance of more than 3000 miles,to inspire unity among Indian people and organised second march three years later travelling over 1800 miles from Assam to Gujarat. He also participated in Narmada Bachao Andolan in year 1990,leaving Anandwan and lived on banks of Narmada for seven years.


title: Baba Amte

text: Amte devoted his life to many other social causes, most notably the Quit India movement and attempting to raise public awareness on the importance of ecological balance, wildlife preservation and the Narmada Bachao Andolan. The Indian Government awarded Baba Amte with a Padma Shri in 1971.


title: Baba Amte

text: Amte married Indu Ghuleshastri (later called Sadhanatai Amte). She participated in her husband's social work with equal dedication. Their two sons, Vikas Amte and Prakash Amte, and daughters-in-law, Mandakini and Bharati, are doctors. All four dedicated their lives to social work and causes similar to those of the senior Amte. Prakash and his wife Mandakini run a school and a hospital at Hemalkasa village in the underprivileged district of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra among the Madia Gond tribe, as well as an orphanage for injured wild animals, including a lion and some leopards. She left her governmental medical and moved to Hemalkasa to start the projects after they married. Their two sons, Dr. Digant and Aniket also dedicated their lives to the same causes. In 2008, Prakash and Mandakini received the Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership.


title: Baba Amte

text: Amte's elder son Vikas and his wife Bharati run the hospital at Anandwan and co-ordinate operations with satellite projects. Anandwan has a university, an orphanage, and schools for the blind and the deaf. The Anandwan ashram is self-sufficient and has over 5,000 residents. Amte later founded "Somnath" and "Ashokwan" ashrams for people suffering from leprosy.


title: Baba Amte

text: Amte followed Gandhi's way of life and led a spartan life. He wore khadi clothes made from the looms at Anandwan. He believed in Gandhi's concept of a self-sufficient village industry that empowers seemingly helpless people, and successfully brought his ideas into practice at Anandwan. Using non-violent means, he played an important role in the struggle for the independence of India. Amte also used Gandhi's principles to fight against corruption, mismanagement, and poor, shortsighted planning in the government. However, Amte never disowned God. He used to say that if there are hundred thousands of universes then God must be very busy. Let us do our work on our own.


title: Baba Amte

text: In 1990, Amte left Anandwan for a while to live along the Narmada River and joined "Narmada Bachao Andolan" ("Save Narmada") movement one of whose popular leaders was Medha Patkar, which fought against both unjust displacement of local inhabitants and damage to the environment due to the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river.


title: Baba Amte

text: Amte died at Anandwan on 9 February 2008 in Maharashtra of age-related illnesses. By choosing to get buried than cremated he followed the principles he preached as environmentalist and social reformer.


title: 2S22 Bohdana

text: The 2S22 Bohdana is a 155 mm NATO-standard artillery caliber, wheeled self-propelled howitzer developed in Ukraine. It is mounted on the 6×6 chassis of the KrAZ-6322. It has an armoured cabin and storage for around 20 shells. The howitzer has a minimum range of 780 meters, and a maximum range of 40 km with HE/AP ammunition or 50 km with a rocket-assisted projectile. It has an average rate of fire of six shells per minute.


title: 2S22 Bohdana

text: The first public demonstration of the howitzer was in the Kyiv Independence Day Parade of 2018. Fire tests were first conducted in October 2021.


title: 2S22 Bohdana

text: In May 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, videos posted on social media allegedly showed the 2S22 Bohdana being used on the battlefield. At that time the weapon had not yet been officially incorporated into the army. On 7 May 2022 Forbes reported that only a single prototype of the 2S22 had been produced and that "it just joined the war".


title: 2S22 Bohdana

text: In June 2022 the 2S22 Bohdana was reportedly used by Ukrainian forces to shell Russian forces on Snake Island, Ukraine, from the Ukrainian mainland. This led to the withdrawal of Russian forces from the island on June 30.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: The legal status of same-sex marriage has changed in recent years in numerous jurisdictions around the world. The current trends and consensus of political authorities and religions throughout the world are summarized in this article.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In December 2005, in the case of "Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie", the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled unanimously that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. The Court gave Parliament one year to change the laws, or same-sex marriage would be legalized by default.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In November 2006, Parliament passed the Civil Union Act, under which both same-sex and opposite-sex couples may contract unions. A union under the Civil Union Act may, at the choice of the spouses, be called either a marriage or a civil partnership; whichever name is chosen, the legal effect is identical to that of a traditional marriage under the Marriage Act. Both religious and civil officials may refuse to perform same-sex marriages.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: On 22 July 2010, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalise same-sex marriage. The law also allows same-sex couples to adopt. And in many jurisdictions, including the city of Buenos Aires, it is also legal for non-residents and tourists.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: On 25 October 2011, Brazil's Supreme Court of Justice ruled that two women can enter into civil marriage under the current law, thus overturning the decision of two lower court's ruling against the women. Following this ruling, a growing number of courts of Brazilian states, such as the most populous state of São Paulo, implemented directives which allowed for same-sex civil marriages in the same manner as other marriages.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Same-sex couples can currently have registered partnerships and full rights to adopt children in all states, and same-sex marriages based on court orders have occurred in several states in individual cases.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: On 14 May 2013, Brazil's National Justice Council (CNJ) ruled in favor of recognizing same-sex marriage nationwide.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In Canada between 2003 and 2005, court rulings in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and Yukon ruled the prohibition of same-sex marriage to be contrary to the Charter of Rights, thus legalizing it in those jurisdictions (which covered 90% of the population). In response to these rulings, the governing Liberal party minority government introduced legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry. On 20 July 2005, the Canadian Parliament passed the "Civil Marriage Act", defining marriage nationwide as "the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others." This was challenged on 7 December 2006 by a motion tabled by the newly elected Conservative party, asking the government to introduce amendments to the "Marriage Act" to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples; it was defeated in the House of Commons by a vote of 175 to 123.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Canada does not have a residency requirement for marriage; consequently, many foreign couples have gone to Canada to marry, regardless of whether that marriage will be recognized in their home country. In fact, in some cases, a Canadian marriage has provided the basis for a challenge to the laws of another country, with cases in Ireland and Israel. The plaintiff in the case of "United States v. Windsor", which challenged the Defense of Marriage Act, wed her wife in Ontario.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Since 11 November 2004, the Canadian federal government's immigration department, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), considers same-sex marriages performed in Canada valid for the purposes of sponsoring a spouse to immigrate. Canadian immigration authorities previously considered long-term, same-sex relationships to be equivalent to similar heterosexual relationships as grounds for sponsorship.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: The Colombian Constitutional Court ruled in February 2007 that same-sex couples are entitled to the same inheritance rights as heterosexuals in common-law marriages. This ruling made Colombia the first South American nation to legally recognize same-sex couples. In January 2009, the Court ruled that same-sex couples must be granted all rights offered to cohabiting heterosexual couples. On 26 July 2011, the Court ordered the Congress to pass legislation giving same-sex couples similar rights to marriage within two years (by 20 June 2013). The law was defeated. In April 2016, the Colombian Constitutional Court voted 6–3 to allow same-sex marriage, with the ruling taking effect immediately.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In 2016 the government motioned at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to pass judgement over the rights of same-sex couples. The Court agreed and in 2018 the Court's binding sentence was that Costa Rica (and presumably all the other member states of the Pact of San José) was required to provide same rights to same-sex couples that heterosexual couples enjoy including marriage. Costa Rica's Constitutional Court subsequently ruled that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry, and gave the government a deadline of May 26, 2020 to make legislative changes. As the deadline lapsed without legislative action, same-sex couples were allowed to marry starting May 26, 2020.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Same-sex marriage has been legal in Cuba since 27 September 2022, after a majority of voters approved the legalization of same-sex marriage at a referendum two days prior. The Constitution of Cuba prohibited same-sex marriage until 2019, and in May 2019 the government announced plans to legalize same-sex marriage. A draft family code containing provisions allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt was approved by the National Assembly of People's Power on 21 December 2021. The text was under public consultation until 6 June 2022, and was approved by the Assembly on 22 July 2022. The measure was approved by two-thirds of voters in a referendum held on 25 September 2022. President Miguel Díaz-Canel signed the new family code into law on 26 September, and it took effect upon publication in the "Official Gazette" the following day.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Cuba was the first independent nation in the Caribbean, the eighth country in Latin America, the first communist state, the first of the former Eastern Bloc (excluding East Germany and Slovenia), and the 32nd country worldwide to legalize same-sex marriage.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Same-sex marriage has been legalized in all states of Mexico and in Mexico City. Since August 2010, same-sex marriages performed within Mexico are recognized by all 31 states without exception.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: On 9 November 2006, Mexico City's unicameral Legislative Assembly passed and approved (43–17) a bill legalizing same-sex civil unions, under the name "Ley de Sociedades de Convivencia" (Law for Co-existence Partnerships), which became effective on 16 March 2007. The law recognizes property and inheritance rights to same-sex couples. On 11 January 2007, the northern state of Coahuila, which borders Texas, passed a similar bill (20–13), under the name "Pacto Civil de Solidaridad" (Civil Pact of Solidarity). Unlike Mexico City's law, once same-sex couples have registered in Coahuila, the state protects their rights no matter where they live in the country. Twenty days after the law had passed, the country's first same-sex civil union took place in Saltillo, Coahuila.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: On 21 December 2009, Mexico City's Legislative Assembly legalized (39–20) same-sex marriages and adoption by same-sex couples. Eight days later, the law was enacted and became effective in March 2010.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Since then, Mexican states have been legalising same-sex marriage one by one, via a combination of gubernatorial decrees, legislative measures, and judicial rulings. Most recently, on 26 October 2022, the Congress of Tamaulipas approved same-sex marriage, making it the final jurisdiction in the country to do so.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In April 2014, legislator Carlos Bruce received a petition signed by 10,000 people in favor of allowing civil unions for same-sex couples. Bruce had proposed the change in the law in September 2013. The bill was scheduled to be debated on 7 April in front of the Commission of Justice and Human Rights, but was postponed until after Easter.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In June 2014, different bills granting same-sex couples various forms of recognition were discussed in Congress. During the debate, politician Carlos Bruce, who had earlier announced to the public that he was gay, decided that the original Civil Union bill he submitted, with more rights, should be voted on separately from other proposals. More than one bill allowing for recognition of same-sex relationships was to be discussed in the next parliamentary session beginning in August.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: On 26 June 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, thereby making same-sex marriage legal throughout the United States.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Prior to 26 June 2015, same-sex marriages were legal in the District of Columbia, Guam, and thirty-six states.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In 2005, California became the first state to pass a bill authorizing same-sex marriages without a court order, but this bill was vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2008, the Supreme Court of California overturned a 2000 law banning same-sex marriages. The legal effect of the court ruling was curtailed by another voter initiative called Proposition 8 later that year. Proposition 8 was upheld by the California Supreme Court in 2009, holding that same-sex couples have all the rights of heterosexual couples, except the right to the "designation" of marriage. On 26 June 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in Hollingsworth v. Perry that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional, allowing same-sex marriages to resume in California.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Section 2 of DOMA defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and its purpose was to enable states to deny recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states. Section 3 of DOMA also denied federal recognition to same-sex couples who were legally married under state law.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: On 26 June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Section 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional in "United States v. Windsor". The court said that the provision was "a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment." With this ruling the federal government recognized same-sex marriages performed by states that allowed same-sex marriage. It also affected several federal rights, including enabling a U.S. citizen to petition a same-sex spouse for immigration. The Court in the "United States v. Windsor" case did not, however, address the constitutionality of DOMA Section 2, which allowed a state to deny recognition of same-sex marriages granted in other states.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In February 2015, the United States Department of Labor issued its final rule amending the definition of "spouse" under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) in response to the "Windsor" decision. The new rule became effective 27 March 2015. The revised definition of "spouse" extended FMLA leave rights and job protections to eligible employees in a same-sex marriage or a common-law marriage entered into in a state where those statuses were legally recognized, regardless of the state in which the employee worked or resided. Accordingly, even if an employer had employees working where same-sex or common law marriage was not recognized, those employees' spouses would trigger FMLA coverage if an employee was married in one of the states that recognized same-sex marriage or common law marriage.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: The "Obergefell v. Hodges" decision on 26 June 2015 eliminated the distinction between same-sex marriage and opposite-sex marriage at the federal level, holding that marriage was a constitutional right, and that same-sex couples were entitled to equal rights under the law.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In December 2022, the Respect for Marriage Act was signed into law, repealing DOMA and codifying the rights to both same-sex and interracial marriage under federal law.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Several states offer alternative legal certifications that recognize same-sex relationships. Before states enacted these laws, U.S. cities began offering recognition of these unions. These laws bestow marriage-like rights to these couples, and are referred to as civil unions, domestic partnerships, or reciprocal beneficiaries depending on the state. The extent to which these unions resemble marriage vary by state, and several states have enhanced the rights afforded to them over time. The U.S. jurisdictions that used these forms of same-sex union recognition instead of marriage were Colorado, Wisconsin, and Nevada, all beginning in 2009.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: An attempt to ban same-sex marriages and any other legal recognition of same-sex couples in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico failed in 2008. Puerto Rico already banned same-sex marriage by statute. Same-sex marriage became legal in Puerto Rico in 2015 due to "Obergefell v. Hodges".


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Same-sex marriage is still not performed in American Samoa, an unorganized territory of the U.S. The application of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to the territory is unclear and has not been challenged. However, the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act has made same-sex marriages conducted outside of American Samoa recognized in the territory as of 2022.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Uruguay became the first country in South America to allow civil unions (for both opposite sex and same-sex couples) on 1 January 2008.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Children can be adopted by same-sex couples since 2009. A same-sex marriage bill passed in the Chamber of Deputies in December 2012, as well as in the Senate in April 2013 but with minor amendments. The amended bill was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in a 71–21 vote on 10 April and was signed by the President on 3 May 2013. The law took effect on 5 August 2013.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Taiwan is the only country in Asia performing same-sex marriages, while Israel and Armenia recognize same-sex marriages performed overseas.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: On 24 May 2017 the Constitutional Court in Taiwan ruled that same-sex couples have a right to marry, and gave the legislature two years to amend Taiwanese marriage laws accordingly. On 24 May 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to recognize same-sex marriage.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In 2004 King Norodom Sihanouk announced that he supported legislation extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In 2011, a ban prohibiting gay marriage was abolished, making same-sex marriages not illegal, but also not protected by law. Some village chiefs may occasionally issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples if one of them is willing to identify as the opposite sex on the marriage license.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Same-sex marriage is not legally recognized. Article 2 of the Marriage Law declares "one husband and one wife" as one of the principles guiding marriages. The principle, first codified in 1950, was intended to outlaw polygamy, but is now also interpreted to disallow same-sex marriages. Many other articles of the same law also assume the marriage is a heterosexual union.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: The National People's Congress proposed legislation allowing same-sex marriages in 2003. However, the proposal failed to collect the 30 votes needed to be added to the agenda.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: On 5 January 2016, a court in Changsha agreed to hear a lawsuit against the Bureau of Civil Affairs of Furong District for its June 2015 refusal to let a gay man marry his partner. On 13 April 2016, the court ruled against the couple. They vowed to appeal, citing the importance of his case for LGBT progress in China.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: Currently, Beijing will grant spousal visas to same-sex couples. These documents allow foreign same-sex married couples to live in China, though only one member of the couple may work.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: The right to marry in Hong Kong is a constitutionally protected right. The Basic Law, the city's constitutional charter, does not define marriage as between a man and a woman, but the Marriage Ordinance does. Under Section 40 of the Marriage Ordinance (Cap. 181), marriage shall be a ""Christian marriage or the civil equivalent of a Christian marriage""; and this ""implies a formal ceremony recognized by law as involving the voluntary union for life of" "one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others" ". Therefore, same-sex couples are excluded from the legal institution of marriage, along with the benefits of marriage.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In 2004 and 2013, under the UK Civil Partnership Act 2004 and Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 respectively, British Nationals including Hong Kong residents holding BN(O) status already have the right to register as civil partners and get married with their same sex partners, under the UK law. However, the British consulate in Hong Kong does not perform consular civil partnerships or same-sex marriage due to the "strong objections" the HKSAR government raised with the British consulate-general, as apparently UK law prohibits embassies and consulates from performing consular marriages if objection is raised by the local government.


title: Legal status of same-sex marriage

text: In 2009, changes to Hong Kong's Domestic and Cohabitation Relationships Ordinance were made to protect same-sex partners. On 13 May 2013, the Court of Final Appeal, in a 4:1 decision, gave transgender people the right to marry as their identified gender rather than their biological sex at birth, but only in biologically heterosexual relationships (i.e., a transgender woman could not marry a cisgender woman).