title: The Chipmunk Adventure

text: The soundtrack of "The Chipmunk Adventure" was performed by the Chipmunks and the Chipettes and includes a mix of original tunes and covers. The film's score was composed by Randy Edelman, who also contributed some of the songs for the film. Several songs throughout the film were performed by both the Chipmunks and the Chipettes. On April 1, 2008, the soundtrack was re-released as a bonus CD with the film's DVD.


title: The Chipmunk Adventure

text: Though initially scheduled for Christmas 1986, "The Chipmunk Adventure" opened on May 22, 1987 through The Samuel Goldwyn Company and Bagdasarian Productions. With an opening weekend take of $2,584,720, it ultimately grossed $6,804,312 in North America alone.


title: The Chipmunk Adventure

text: In "The New York Times", Janet Maslin commentated that the film is enjoyable for both parents and children. In his "Family Guide to Movies on Video", Henry Herx deemed the film a "charming, lighthearted diversion for the younger set", and remarked that it resembled "a musical revue of pop tunes". Johanna Steinmetz of "Chicago Tribune" gave the film three stars out of four, stating that the inclusion of the minor characters (especially the villains) would "[keep] an adult viewer from insulin crisis." Charles Solomon of "The Los Angeles Times", commented "listening to six little characters talk and sing in speeded-up falsetto voices for 76 minutes becomes a real test of the viewer's endurance." Solomon also said that the villains resembled those from a Ralph Bakshi film and did not fit with the world of the Chipmunks.


title: The Chipmunk Adventure

text: Roger Ebert commented that the animation is slightly better than the TV series', but criticized the film's "dumb and predictable" story, while Gene Siskel criticized the plot for being right out of a Saturday morning cartoon, especially through the film's introduction of the Chipettes. Both Ebert and Siskel also criticized the plot and the Chipmunks' voices, with Ebert comparing them to "fingernails on the blackboard". Siskel and Ebert ultimately gave the film two thumbs down.


title: The Chipmunk Adventure

text: On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 75% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.


title: The Chipmunk Adventure

text: The film was released on VHS by Lorimar Home Video in 1988, Warner Home Video in 1992, and Universal Studios Home Video on March 17, 1998. On May 23, 2006, the film was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment digitally remastered from the original 35mm film and presented with 5.1 surround sound. A special edition DVD re-release of the film with a bonus CD (which is the same soundtrack disc) was released on April 1, 2008, which matches that of the live-action/computer-animated "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and another DVD volume of "Alvin and the Chipmunks Go to the Movies". On March 25, 2014, the film was released on Blu-ray for the first time.


title: Mario Lemina

text: Mario René Junior Lemina (; born 1 September 1993) is a Gabonese professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Nice.


title: Mario Lemina

text: He played for French sides Lorient and Marseille, before joining Italian side Juventus in 2015, where he won the domestic double in both of his seasons with the club. He joined English side Southampton in 2017, and was later loaned out to Turkish club Galatasaray in 2019. After a loan to Fulham in England, he joined French club Nice in 2021.


title: Mario Lemina

text: A former French international at youth level, Lemina went on to represent Gabon at senior level, making his senior international debut in 2017. He later represented Gabon at the 2017 and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.


title: Mario Lemina

text: Lemina began his youth career in France aged 7 at local club ES Nanterre; he then went to study sports at Rueil-Malmaison, finishing at Colombes. Aged 15, he signed with the Lorient youth academy; he was later promoted to the first team during the 2012–13 season, his only season with the club.


title: Mario Lemina

text: The following season, Marseille acquired Lemina for €4 million, although he initially struggled to gain playing time in his first year with the club, making only eight league starts during the 2013–14 season. He began to be used more frequently by manager Marcelo Bielsa during the 2014–15 season, making his breakthrough with the club, as he helped the team to a fourth-place finish, earning 23 appearances in the league. In February 2015, Lemina was sent off for a punch to the groin of Ola Toivonen in a 1–1 Ligue 1 away draw against Rennes.


title: Mario Lemina

text: During the summer of 2015, Lemina began to attract the attention of several clubs, including Premier League clubs Liverpool, Southampton and West Ham United. On 31 August, however, the last day of the transfer window, Juventus announced the signing of Lemina on a season-long loan for €500,000 with an option to buy for €9.5 million at the end of the 2015–16 season. On 26 September 2015, he scored his first goal for Juventus in his third appearance, coming in the 63rd minute of a 2–1 away loss to Napoli.


title: Mario Lemina

text: On 29 April 2016, Lemina's loan was made permanent; he signed a four-year deal from Marseille for a fee of €9.5 million plus an extra €1 million if performance related targets are met. The deal was scheduled to keep him at Juventus until 2020. On 21 May, Lemina started in the Coppa Italia Final, playing the full match as Juventus defeated AC Milan 1–0 after extra time to capture the domestic double for the second consecutive season.


title: Mario Lemina

text: On 8 August 2017, Lemina joined Southampton on a five-year deal for a club record fee of £15.4m. He made his debut on 20 August, in a 3–2 victory over West Ham United. His first goal for Southampton came in a 3–2 victory over fellow strugglers West Bromwich Albion on 3 February.


title: Mario Lemina

text: On 30 August 2020, Lemina was loaned out to Fulham with an option to buy. He made his debut for the club on 16 September 2020 in the second round of the EFL Cup against Ipswich Town, which Fulham won 1–0. On 7 March 2021, Lemina scored his first Fulham goal to seal a 1–0 away win over Liverpool, handing them their sixth consecutive league defeat at Anfield for the first time in the Reds' history. In doing so, Lemina also clinched Fulham's second win at Liverpool in the club's history.


title: Mario Lemina

text: Lemina had been called by the Gabon national team to participate in the 2015 African Cup of Nations, but he refused his call-up. Although he had initially represented France's under-20 and under-21 sides, also winning the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup at youth level, he formally switched to the Gabonese Federation on 2 June, and is now a formal member of the Gabon national team.


title: Mario Lemina

text: He scored on his international debut, in a 3–3 friendly draw against Tunisia on 9 October 2015. Lemina took part at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, which was held on home soil. He started in Gabon's opening match of the tournament on 14 January – a 1–1 draw against Guinea-Bissau – but later suffered a back-injury, however, which ruled him out of the remainder of the tournament.


title: Mario Lemina

text: On 17 January 2022, Lemina announced his retirement from the Gabon national team. He had just been released by Gabon following a heart complication due to COVID-19, leaving in the middle of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.


title: Mario Lemina

text: A strong, powerful, hard-working, and dynamic right-footed midfielder, with good technical skills and solid distribution, Lemina is a box-to-box player who is usually deployed in the centre, due to his ability to start attacking plays after winning back possession. Described as a "classy and tenacious midfielder," due to his tactical versatility, he is capable of playing in several positions, and has been deployed as a winger, as a full-back, or as a wing-back, on the right flank; during his time with Marseille, he also played as centre-back in a three-man defence on occasion, during the 2014–15 season, under manager Marcelo Bielsa. He also been deployed as a playmaker on occasion. Despite his talent, he has also earned a reputation for having a temper and for lacking concentration at times.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles Zenawi Asres (Tigrinya and ; , born Legesse Zenawi Asres; 9 May 1955 – 20 August 2012) was an Ethiopian soldier and politician who served as President of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and then Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 until his death in 2012.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Born in Adwa to an Ethiopian father and an Eritrean mother, Meles became actively involved in politics after changing his original first name from Legesse to Meles, adopted following the execution of fellow university student Meles Takele by the Derg government in 1975. Shortly that year, he left Haile Selassie I University to join the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and fight against the Derg (the Mengistu Haile Mariam-led military dictatorship in Ethiopia). In 1989, he became the chairman of the TPLF, and the head of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) after its formation in 1988.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: After leading the EPRDF to victory in the Ethiopian Civil War, he served as president of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995, then as the 2nd prime minister of Ethiopia from 1995 to his death in 2012. Meles Zenawi's administration brought Ethiopia to ethnic federalism; he expressed his populist view that ethnic groups should share their own languages, culture and lands. An Eritrean referendum was held during his four-year presidency, which resulted in Eritrean secession from Ethiopia in 1993, but the two countries engaged war owing to the territorial dispute from 1998 to 2000, during which 98,217 people were killed. In the 2005 general election, Meles's party EPRDF won and he remained as prime minister, while opposition parties strongly complained that the election was "stolen" and unfair. Shortly during and after the election, disastrous riots and protests sparked across Addis Ababa, in which 193 people were killed by police brutality.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: During his tenure, Ethiopia became one of Africa's fastest-growing economies. Meles undertook major reforms to the country, including land reforms attempt to reduce serious droughts, school expansions, and agricultural interests. He died in Brussels on 20 August 2012 from undisclosed illness. Some analysts claim that he died from catecholamine. "Zenawism" refers to his principles and policies of ethnic federalism, especially those the TPLF advocated, and is the subject of academic study.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles was born in Adwa in northern Ethiopia, to Zenawi Asres, a Tigrayan from Adwa and Alemash Ghebreluel, an Eritrean from Adi Quala. He was the third of six children. His first name at birth was Legesse (thus Legesse Zenawi, Ge'ez: ለገሰ ዜናዊ "legesse zēnāwī"). He eventually became better known by his nom de guerre "Meles", which he adopted in honor of university student and fellow Tigrayan Meles Tekle who was executed by the Derg government in 1975. He received primary education at Queen of Sheba Junior High School in Adwa. Because he started school at age 11 or 12 it took him 5 years to complete the regular 8-year program as he was able to skip grades. He then joined the prestigious General Wingate High school in Addis Ababa on full scholarship and completed high school in 1972. Upon graduating with honors from General Wingate, he was awarded the Haile Selassie I Prize, a selective award given only to the most outstanding students. In 1975, Meles left the university to join the Tigray People's Liberation Front.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles was first with the Tigrayan National Organization (TNO), the forerunner of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Aregawi Berhe, a former member of the TPLF, notes that historians John Young and Jenny Hammond "vaguely indicated" Meles as a founder of the TPLF in their books. Aregawi insists that both he and Sebhat Nega joined the Front "months" after it was founded. While a member of the TPLF, Meles established the Marxist-Leninist League of Tigray (MLLT).


title: Meles Zenawi

text: The TPLF was one of the armed groups struggling against the Derg, the junta which led Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991. Meles was elected member of the leadership committee in 1979 and chairman of the executive committee of TPLF in 1983. He was the chairperson of both the TPLF and the EPRDF. After the EPRDF assumed power at the end of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991. He was president of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia during which he paved the way for Eritrea to secede from the country.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles stated that EPRDF's victory was a triumph for the thousands of TPLF-fighters who were killed, for the millions of Ethiopians who were victims of the country's biggest famine during the Derg regime, when some estimates put up to 1.5 million deaths of Ethiopians from famine and the Red Terror. Accordingly, he maintained that the big support it received from peasants and rural areas helped EPRDF maintain peace and stability. Foreign support was diverse; the Arab League, as well as Western nations, supported the EPRDF rebels against the communist Soviet-supported government (although the TPLF was at the time Marxist) at the height of the Cold War.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: "What the implications of this will be in terms of relations between Ethiopia and the European Union, we will have to wait and see but I don't think you will be surprised if Ethiopia were to insist that it should not be patronised."


title: Meles Zenawi

text: The United States facilitated peace talks between different rebel groups including EPRDF and the Derg to bring an end to the civil war which lasted for nearly 17 years and reach some kind of political settlement in 1991. The talks did not bear any fruit as EPRDF's force were moving to the capital and Mengistu fled the country. The United States agreed to support the EPRDF which would have, nevertheless, seized power without anyone's support. Many angry demonstrators in Addis Ababa reacted to this by protesting against Herman Cohen, the U.S. State Department's chief of African affairs who attended a conference that demonstrators viewed as legitimizing the EPRDF.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: In July 1991, the Convention of Nationalities was held. It was the first Ethiopian multinational convention where delegates of various nations and organizations were given fair and equal representation and observed by various international organizations including the United Nations, Organization for African Unity, European Economic Community, and the United States and the United Kingdom.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Although Meles and his administration claimed they preferred a united but federal state that included the Eritrean state, since Meles' TPLF fought together with EPLF, Meles did not have a choice but to leave the decision to Eritrean leadership in the hope that the independence referendum would vote against secession, according to "Time" magazine's 1991 analysis. The majority of Eritreans were given the choice, to be an independent country and people-as they had always been before European colonialism- or to stay under the US backed federation. They voted for independence on 24 May 1993, Isaias Afewerki became the leader of Eritrea. Meles was in Asmara, Eritrea as the keynote speaker. Many in the Meles administration, as well as opposition parties, were angry over the decision to grant Eritrea its independence.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Despite working together against the Derg regime, Meles and Isaias positive relationship turned sour after Meles succumbed to U.S. pressure to hold an election within a year, but Afewerki abandoned his original promise to create a transitional government in the early 1990s. The Eritrean-Ethiopian War began in May 1998 following the Eritrean troops invasion of Badme and parts of Sheraro woredas. Following the invasion Ethiopia demanded that the Eritrean troops leave the invaded areas completely. However, president Eritrea refused to pull out. Then the Ethiopians responded with huge counter - offensive measures which subsequently lead to the capture of the disputed Badme area and most parts of western Eritrea, Ethiopian President Negaso Gidada gave a victory speech and a peace treaty was signed a few weeks later. According to the peace treaty Ethiopia then pulled out of the Eritrean Territory. Though Ethiopian troops controlled Badme, after an international court ruled that Badme belonged to Eritrea, Ethiopia continued to maintain a presence of Ethiopian soldiers in the town.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: A new constitution was approved in 1994, providing for a parliamentary system. The president served as ceremonial head of state, with the prime minister as head of government and chief executive. The EPRDF handily won the 1995 elections, and Meles was sworn in as prime minister when the new Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was formally inaugurated on 21 August 1995.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles was appointed as Prime Minister after the 1995 general election, and was chairman of the Tigray People's Liberation Front. Under his government, Meles encouraged privatization of government companies, farms, lands, and investments which reversed the previous Derg communist rule.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles' government implemented ethnic based federalism as a response to old imperial rule of Amhara people. Meanwhile, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), while drafting the constitution counted Amharas and Tigrayans dominated the imperial rule likewise. Reasons posited the aim of ethnic federalism empowers all ethnic groups in Ethiopia to share their cultures and languages, and ethnic-based liberation front preferred to join the July Convention of Nationalities in 1991. Critic always commented this system brings to divisions, which on other hands, Meles argues it gives several interests, equitable distribution and wealth to them. He added that the system provides recourse to fight poverty, peasants must choice their own decisions in their own languages. Meles views emphasized an economic growth claiming "if you think it is threat, it will be; if you think it a benefit, then it will be. Ethnicity will become less an issue as the economy grows and Ethiopia's process of assimilation does its job."


title: Meles Zenawi

text: His government criticized for decentralizing of language system. Critics concerned that this policy would fracture Ethiopian national identity. Regions of Ethiopia have their official state language. For example, Afaan Oromo is the official language of Oromia Region, Afar for Afar Region, Harari for Harari Region. Amharic is official working language to Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambela, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles' government allowed freedom of religion formally in 1991. Previous issues including Orthodox Church dominance prior 1974, seizure of church by the Derg regime, state sponsored persecution against non-Orthodox Christians, second-class citizenship accorded to Ethiopian Muslims, and land owning issues by non-Orthodox population almost resolved. However, most analysis stated that there was sporadic clashes since equality and rights granted by national or new religions.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Prior to federalism, both the Haile Selassie and Derg government limited media rights. During Meles' administration, however, politically inflicted media organization became decelerated, while entertainment surging in opposite. It was believed that FM radio stations were licensed under regional governments, community organizations and private companies. The government licensed seven regional state television transmission agencies, but there are not private broadcasters in the country.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles government advocated "pro-poor" domestic policy. According to World Bank's East African leadership, the Ethiopian government ranked first to share GDP for "pro-poor" sectors. It also created regional development to Amhara Development Association, Tigray Development Association, Oromia Development Association and many others.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles government worked the country to economically grow steadily since he took an office. During the last seven years, Ethiopia's GDP growth had shown 9 percent of rate. The country also topped to the category "policies of social inclusion and equity" in domain of "economic management", while Ethiopia was successful scoring "structural policies" and "public sector management and institutions". Gross primary enrollment rate which was initially poor, went 93% in 2004 from 72% in 1990, raising literacy rate from 50% in 1997 to 65% in 2002. Opposition parties contested those growth rate, stating double-digit inflation comes from a result of ruling party government economic failure.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: In 2000 general election, Meles reelected as prime minister, with opposition parties like United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) shared parliament seats. According to Ethiopian Human Rights Council, local UN staff, diplomatic missions, political parties, domestic non-governmental organizations, both general and regional elections were free and fair in most areas. However, there was misconduct in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, particularly in the Hadiya Zone.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Ethiopia has expanded schools partially since 1990 without regional coverage. Meles rearranged school expanding scheme with million of Ethiopian birr; while his policy focussing around agricultural sector, the jobs in urban areas became declined, resulting in opposition from students and urban residents as well. In 1991, 27% of Ethiopian children attended school. The growth enrollment doubled to 77% and reached 85% in November 2006. As of 2005, there were 13,500 elementary schools and 550 secondary schools. Secondary schools were aided by satellite program called "School-Net".


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Under his leadership, many universities and colleges unprecedentedly expanded and constructed. Those higher institutions include Adama University, Nazareth Technical College, Jimma University, Mekelle University, and newly built Debub University. Other are Awassa College and Bahir Dar University. It also implemented various departments and faculties. and the new Wolaita Soddo University started taking in students in February 2007.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Ethiopia frequently suffered from droughts throughout its history. Under his office, major droughts occurred in 1999/2000, 2002/2003 and 2009/2010.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles government encouraged collectivist land reforms and redistribution at local levels. However, the constitution deemed has shortcomings. Article 40, section 3 states that, "The right to own rural and urban land as well as natural resources belongs to only to the state and the people." The farmers use uncertain transfer rights whilst using lands. Since 2008, the government announced "empty" land leasing to foreign investors. This outlook considered by some holders "land grabbing" with a risk of losing their plots.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: The EPRDF once convinced that land should not be privatized, farmers would pay their land after drought. His government believed privatization should be implemented potentially, but not presently.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: The EPRDF faced an unprecedented challenge from opposition groups like the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), UEDF, and the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement in the 2005 election. It was one of the most controversial elections in Ethiopian history, and the opposition accused the EPRDF of electoral fraud. Demonstrations broke out in Addis Ababa and protesters were massacred by government forces—763 people were killed and over 10,000 were imprisoned.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: In spite of the 2005 Ethiopian general election violence, the Administrator of USAID recognized an EPRDF electoral victory and accused European Union election observers who were critical of the outcome of doing a "bad job" and of "favoring opposition groups."


title: Meles Zenawi

text: The TPLF administration strongly regards gender equality; Meles' wife and First Lady Azeb Mesfin was forefront advocator in women rights. Meles government encouraged all-encompassing women participations, organized forums to discuss backward issues in national television. Discussions include concerning tangential issues, HIV transmission, premature marriage, job opportunities and more. Various organizations emerged for example the Ethiopian Women's Lawyers Association (EWLA), Kembatti Mentti Gezzima-tope and Network of Ethiopian Women's Associations.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: On 18 May 2012, Meles attended to Food Security 2012 G8 Summit in Washington D.C to discuss agricultural transformation in Africa to deal with unification of farmers and private sectors. Abebe Gelaw, a Washington-based Ethiopian journalist disrupted the conference by yelling at the podium against Meles with words:


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles Zenawi is a dictator! Meles Zenawi is a dictator! Free Eskinder Nega! Free political prisoners! You are a dictator. You are committing crimes against humanity. Food is nothing without freedom! Meles has committed crimes against humanity! We need freedom! Freedom! Freedom!


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles was immediately stunned and dropped his head for two minutes. Abebe was escorted by guards and detained. Abebe noted in his latest speech, "I voiced the anger, frustration and aspiration of the Ethiopian people in front of world leaders...Some are calling me a hero, others says I deserve honours. While I appreciate all the outpour of support, this is not about me. It is not about my heroism but the truth that must be told with utmost clarity. It is about our country, people, and the freedom and dignity we deserve."


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles moved to have Ethiopia gain a larger share of the Nile River water. Part of this entailed using Ethiopia's hydropower prospects as leverage in exporting power to Egypt, amongst others. He had also aided the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement prior to independence of South Sudan as the rebels fought the government in Khartoum. Since the War on Terrorism, Meles sought to consolidate hegemony of Ethiopia in East Africa, including his mediation efforts with Sudan and South Sudan, as well as stabilizing Somalia towards the end of the mandate of the Transitional Federal Government. Though he had controversially sent troops to fight against the Islamic Courts Union, he had been praised for working towards a stable situation along with the African Union since 2009.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles Zenawi and President of Eritrea Isaias Afwerki were on good terms, as Eritrean forces helped TPLF overthrow the Derg. As the TPLF came to power in Ethiopia, it had occurred simultaneously with the EPLF's rise to power in Eritrea. After the 30 years of war between the two countries, the people of both countries enjoyed the fruit of peace, but not for long. In 1998, the Ethiopian government waged war with Eritrea on basis of border conflicts. The war comes to end in 2000. During the war, between 70,000 and 98,217 people were killed and 650,000 displaced. The Algiers Agreement was a peace agreement between the governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia signed on 12 December 2000, at Algiers, Algeria, which was supposed to be final and binding. Nevertheless, Meles Zenawi refused to pull back Ethiopian forces for Eritrean territory, leading to a no-war-no-peace situation in the region. Ethiopian forces reside in the sovereign lands of Eritrea, around the town Badme despite the EEBC Border ruling granting Badme to Eritrea. Eritreans feel Meles Zenawi and the TPLF have betrayed them and he is responsible for the loss of lives, relationships, and mutually benefiting opportunities of the two countries.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles declared war on the ICU unprovoked in order to curry favor with the West. In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union assumed control of much of the southern part of Somalia and promptly imposed Shari'a law. The Transitional Federal Government sought to reestablish its authority, and, with the assistance of Ethiopian troops, African Union peacekeepers and air support by the United States, managed to drive out the rival ICU. On 8 January 2007, as the Battle of Ras Kamboni raged, TFG President and founder Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former colonel in the Somali Army, entered Mogadishu for the first time since being elected to office. The Somali government then relocated to Villa Somalia in the capital from its interim location in Baidoa. This marked the first time since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 that the federal government controlled most of the country.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: In October 2011, a coordinated multinational operation began against Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia, with the Ethiopian military eventually joining the mission the following month. According to Ramtane Lamamra, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, the additional Ethiopian and AU troop reinforcements are expected to help the Somali authorities gradually expand their territorial control.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles played an important role in developing the African Union's position on climate change since 2009 and was a 'friend of the Chair' at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).


title: Meles Zenawi

text: On 31 August 2009, Meles was appointed Chair of the African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC). The group had been established following the 4 February 2009 decision at the 12th AU Assembly of Heads of States to build a common Africa position on climate change in preparations for COP15.Prior to Meles' appointment, but in light of the AU's decision and the Algiers Declaration on the African Common Platform to Copenhagen, on 19 May 2009 the Africa Group made a submission to the UNFCCC that included demands for US$67 billion per year in finance for adaptation funding and US$200 billion per year for mitigation and set targets in terms of reductions of emissions by developed countries not by reference to temperature.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: We will never accept any global deal that does not limit global warming to the minimum unavoidable level, no matter what levels of compensation and assistance are promised to us… While we will reason with everyone to achieve our objective, we will not rubber-stamp an agreement by the powers that be as the best we could get for the moment. We will use our numbers to delegitimize any agreement that is not consistent with our minimal position. If needs be we are prepared to walk out of any negotiations that threaten to be another rape of our continent.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: In July 2012, questions arose concerning Meles' health when he did not attend African Union summit meetings in Addis Ababa. Opposition groups claimed that Meles may have already died on 16 July while undergoing treatment in Belgium; however, Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn attributed Meles' absence to a minor illness. A press conference, during which the government planned to clarify Meles' health status, was scheduled for 18 July but postponed until later in the week. While the government acknowledged that Meles had been hospitalised, it stated that his condition was not serious. There were further rumours of his death when he was not seen in public after the 2012 G20 summit and at the time of the death of the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Paulos.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: On 20 August, Meles Zenawi died after contracting an infection in Belgium. Some analysis claimed Meles death as a result of catecholamine after verbal attack incident by Ethiopian journalist Abebe Gelaw.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: It's a sad day for Ethiopia. The man who led our country for the past 21 years and brought economic and democratic changes, has died. We have lost our respected leader. Meles has been receiving treatment abroad. He was getting better and we were expecting him to return to Addis Ababa. But he developed a sudden infection and died around 11:40pm last night. His body will be returned to Ethiopia soon. We have set up a committee to organise his funeral. More information will be released about that soon. As per Ethiopian law, Hailemariam Desalegn has now taken over the leadership. He will also be in charge of the Ethiopian military and all other government institutions. I would like to stress, nothing in Ethiopia will change. The government will continue. Our policies and institutions will continue. Nothing will change in Ethiopia. Desalegn will be confirmed by parliament.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: After his body was repatriated two days later, thousands of mourners congregated on streets from the airport to Meles' former residence to pay their last respects as his coffin, draped in the flag of Ethiopia, was accompanied by a military band. The event was attended by political, military, and religious leaders, as well as diplomats and his wife, Azeb Mesfin. The body lie in state. A declaration of national mourning was also issued. There were also fears of a power vacuum after his death, as well as a possible detriment to Eritrea-Ethiopian relations.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles's funeral took place in Addis Ababa on 2 September 2012 in a religious ceremony attended by at least 20 African presidents and thousands of Ethiopians gathered in Meskel Square.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Western NGOs Amnesty International called for the new administration to end Meles' "ever-increasing repression" and Human Rights Watch similarly added that the next administration should repeal the 2009 anti-terrorism law. As "The New York Times" asked about a gap between the United States of America's strategic and ideological goals in relation to its support for Meles' government, it quoted HRW researcher Leslie Lefkow as saying: "There is an opportunity here. If donors are shrewd, they will use the opportunity that this presents to push a much stronger and bolder human rights stance and need for reform." Author Dan Connell, who had interviewed Meles in June, said that "he seemed focused [then] on wrapping up a number of major projects as if he were aware the end was near. Meles knew his days were numbered." The Committee to Protect Journalists cited and criticised the secrecy around Meles' death. "The Washington Post" said that the "circumstances of his death remained laced with intrigue."


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Regional groups responded with the Ogaden National Liberation Front saying it hoped his death "may usher [in] a new era of stability and peace" and Al Shabaab that it was celebrating the "uplifting news."


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles acquired an MBA from the Open University of the United Kingdom in 1995 and a masters of science in economics from the Erasmus University of the Netherlands in 2004. In July 2002, he received an honorary doctoral degree in political science from the Hannam University in South Korea. Meles was married to Azeb Mesfin, a former rebel fighter in the TPLF and, , a Member of Parliament. Meles was the father of three children; Semhal, Marda and Senay Meles.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: During Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's rule, Ethiopia prospered economically (with double-digit economic growth for his last 9 years). The high economic growth is continuing 7 years after his death, since his party Tigray People's Liberation Front and EPRDF continued to work with the same policies. Ethiopia even became the fastest-growing economy in Africa.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Prime Minister Meles received various international awards for setting up a good foundation for the development of Ethiopia. Even though Ethiopia remains one of the poorest countries in the world, the near double-digit annual economic growth rate recently is seen as the beginning of Ethiopia's long marathon struggle to eliminate poverty. Acknowledging the rapid GDP growth of the country, the UK newspaper "The Economist" said in December 2007 that "Ethiopia's economy has been growing at record speed in recent years." In 2008, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) described the speed of Ethiopia's economic growth in recent years as the "fastest for a non-oil exporting country in Sub-Saharan Africa", with Ethiopia ranked as the second-most attractive African country for investors.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Several social, economic, religious, and political developments and systems were established for the first time in Ethiopia under Meles' rule.


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles was given the Green Revolution award and a financial prize of 200,000 dollars by the Norwegian Yara Foundation in September 2005 "in recognition of past accomplishments and encouragement to achieve economic development for the people of Ethiopia."


title: Meles Zenawi

text: Meles donated his $200,000 financial award to a foundation called "Fre—Addis Ethiopia Women Fund" (Fre-Addis Ethiopia Yesetoch Merja Mahiber). The Fre-Addis Ethiopia Women Fund has an objective "to empower girls through providing educational opportunities" and it currently supports 514 needy and orphan rural girls to pursue their education throughout the country.


title: Nanosecond

text: A nanosecond (ns) is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one billionth of a second, that is, of a second, or 10 seconds.


title: Nanosecond

text: The term combines the SI prefix "nano-" indicating a 1 billionth submultiple of an SI unit (e.g. nanogram, nanometre, etc.) and "second", the primary unit of time in the SI.


title: Nanosecond

text: A nanosecond is equal to 1000 picoseconds or  microsecond. Time units ranging between 10 and 10 seconds are typically expressed as tens or hundreds of nanoseconds.


title: Nanosecond

text: Time units of this granularity are commonly found in telecommunications, pulsed lasers, and related aspects of electronics.


title: Laboum

text: Laboum (; stylized as LABOUM) is a South Korean girl group currently under Interpark Music Plus. They debuted in 2014 under NH Media and Nega Network's joint venture Global H. Their name is taken from the French term meaning "The Party".


title: Laboum

text: In August 2014, NH Media and Nega Network announced the upcoming debut girl group Laboum, who had been training for four years. The group was touted as a sister group to NH Media's U-KISS and Nega Network's Brown Eyed Girls.


title: Laboum

text: Laboum released their debut single album "Petit Macaron" on August 28, 2014, following the release of their music video for title track "Pit-A-Pat" the day before. The song was written by Seo Ji-eum, known for hits such as f(x)'s "Electric Shock" and TaeTiSeo's "Twinkle", and composed by Jung Jae-yeob.


title: Laboum

text: On October 24, Laboum announced that they would come back with "Petit Macaron DATA PACK", a "Petit Macaron" re-release with extra digital contents, and a reworking of the track "What About You?". On October 31, the group held a comeback performance on Music Bank and released the song's music video, which featured a clockwork doll theme. "Petit Macaron DATA PACK" was released on November 3.


title: Laboum

text: In late February 2015, ZN was cast to star opposite U-KISS' Kevin in the two "Milky Love" episodes of the omnibus web drama "About Love". Both episodes were released on March 2 on Naver TV Cast.


title: Laboum

text: On March 16, Laboum announced they would come back with a more mature yet refreshing concept in "Sugar Sugar", which would feature a slumber party theme. Their second single album "Sugar Sugar" was released on August 14. Yujeong was a guest on a May episode of the popular radio program Kiss the Radio, hosted by Super Junior.


title: Laboum

text: In June, Solbin was cast in the variety series "Her Secret Weapon". The show focused on lesser-known girl group members and ranked them based on their performance in certain tasks that highlight the qualities female idols need to generate loyal fans. Out of ten contestants, Solbin tied with Berry Good's Taeha for sixth place.


title: Laboum

text: On November 26, 2015, Laboum uploaded a music video teaser for the comeback single "Aalow Aalow" to the group's official YouTube channel. The video was released on December 1 and featured an elegant, yet funky retro style. On December 4, Laboum held a comeback stage for "Aalow Aalow" on "Music Bank". The single album was officially released on December 6.


title: Laboum

text: On February 15, 2016, Laboum launched a campaign to fund their upcoming music video on the crowdfunding platform Makestar. Among other rewards, the group offered an "Honorary Producer" title in the music video credits to those who donated over a certain amount. The campaign reached its goal of $8,261 in just four hours.


title: Laboum

text: The makestar campaign ultimately raised $27,832 – 336.9% of its original goal. Laboum released the music video for "Journey to Atlantis" and its accompanying fourth single album "Fresh Adventure" on April 6, 2016.


title: Laboum

text: On August 23, 2016, Laboum's first mini album "Love Sign" was released. The album consists of six tracks, including the lead single "Shooting Love".


title: Laboum

text: On April 17, 2017, their second mini album "Miss This Kiss" was released with the lead track "Hwi Hwi". They took home their first music show win on "Music Bank" on April 28, 2017, with "Hwi Hwi". The album was crowdfunded on the platform Makestar; the campaign raised $75,751.58 – 849.93% over its original goal.


title: Laboum

text: On July 25, 2017, Laboum released their summer digital single "Laboum Summer Special" with lead single "Only U".


title: Laboum

text: ZN, Yujeong, and Haein appeared on KBS Idol Rebooting Project "", which first aired on October 28, 2017.


title: Laboum

text: On November 3, 2017, NH Media confirmed the departure of Yulhee from the group and terminated her contract.


title: Laboum

text: On February 10, 2018, the finale for The Unit was held live at COEX Stadium, with ZN ranked #8. ZN promoted briefly as a member of the show's winning girl group, UNI.T. She was unable to take part in the group's second and final album, "Begin with the End" due to Laboum's conflicting schedules.


title: Laboum

text: On July 9, a teaser image for the group's single album, "Between Us" was released. The following day, it was revealed that the single was produced by member Soyeon, and that all five members would participate in promotional activities.


title: Laboum

text: The group released its debut Japanese single "Hwi Hwi" on November 7, 2018, under Nippon Columbia. The single reached No. 9 on the Oricon charts.


title: Laboum

text: Laboum released their first studio album "Two of Us" with the title track "Firework" on September 19, 2019. The comeback was also backed by Makestar, achieving 529% of its original goal, and earning $43,283.28 from participants.


title: Laboum

text: On December 21, Laboum came out with a rearranged version of their song 'Fresh Adventure' as 'Fresh Adventure Winter ++' for Christmas. This was the group's third digital single.


title: Laboum

text: Member Yujeong shared a teaser image on August 25, 2020, in an Instagram story that revealed a collaborative music video between Laboum and Chinese children's franchise BabyBus, for a song titled 'Smile Pop Pop'. On the same day, the song was released digitally.


title: Laboum

text: On September 1, 2020, Laboum's company Global H Media confirmed that Laboum is scheduled to make a comeback with a mini-album in October 2020, but the comeback never materialized.


title: Laboum

text: Two days after the announcement, on September 3, 2020, the music video for "Smile Pop Pop" got released through the 'SUPER SOUND Bugs' YouTube channel.


title: Laboum

text: In March 2021, the 2016 song "Journey to Atlantis" was heavily featured in Hangout with Yoo, a Korean variety show program, causing the song to reappear on Korean music charts and steadily rose in position on several real-time charts. In response, the group resumed promotional activities for the song in June 2021. Following the success of "Journey to Atlantis", "Aalow Aalow" also peaked #163, six years after releasing


title: Laboum

text: On September 8, Yujeong posted a handwritten letter on Instagram, announcing that she was going to leave the group after her contract expired. She also announced that Soyeon, ZN, Solbin and Haein have renewed their contracts, and that Laboum would continue as a quartet. In addition, it was announced that the remaining members has departed from their current agency and signed with Interpark Music Plus, a subsidiary of Interpark.


title: Laboum

text: On October 6, it was announced that Laboum would be making their comeback as a four-member group in early November. ZN will be using the name Jinyea for future activities moving forward. It was later announced that Laboum will be releasing their third EP "Blossom" on November 3.


title: Laboum

text: On March 10, 2022, it was confirmed that Laboum would release a new album in April 2022, though it never materialized.


title: Laboum

text: In May 2022, Interpark Music Plus announced that Laboum would be attending the NO WAR Peace Concert', to be held on May 17, to inform the horrors of the Ukrainian war and to awaken the preciousness of peace. giving hope to many people suffering from war.


title: Laboum

text: On August 11, 2022, it was speculated by news outlets that LABOUM would be disbanding at the end of August due to the recent acquisition of Interpark by Yanolja, as they had no intentions to continue managing the group. Later on the same day, a representative from Interpark Music Plus clarified that the group's disbandment has not been confirmed.


title: Laboum

text: On September 23, Joynews24 reported that LABOUM would go on an indefinite hiatus to focus on individual activities. Even though the members are looking for new agencies, they are reportedly interested in conducting group activities as LABOUM alongside their individual activities.


title: Laboum

text: As of November 26, it seems as Yujeong has rejoined Laboum after participating in Soyeon’s fanmeeting. Yujeong also confirmed that Laboum will be having a small concert on February 23, 2023.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: Shaoxing wine ("Shaohsing", "Hsiaohsing", "Shaoshing"), also called "yellow wine", is a traditional Chinese wine made by fermenting glutinous rice, water and wheat-based yeast.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: It must be produced in Shaoxing, in the Zhejiang province of eastern China. It is widely used as both a beverage and a cooking wine in Chinese cuisine. It is internationally well known and renowned throughout mainland China, as well as in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: The content of peptides in Shaoxing wine is high; however, their potential taste properties have not yet been studied.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: The traditional method involved manually stirring rice mash with a type of wooden hoe every 4 hours, in order to help the yeast break down the sugars evenly. Known as "kāipá" (开耙), it was an essential skill to produce wines that were not bitter or sour. Another skill of the winemaker would be to assess the fermentation by listening to the vat for the sound of bubbling.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: It is also bottled for domestic consumption and for shipping internationally. Aged wines are referred to by year of brewing, similar to grape vintage year ("chénnián", 陳年).


title: Shaoxing wine

text: Wines sold overseas are generally used in cooking, and can contain spices and extra salt. Mislabeling wines from regions other than Shaoxing is a "common fraudulent practice".


title: Shaoxing wine

text: In 2020, a revenue of 4.3 billion yuan ($664 million) was reported by 80 rice wine makers in Shaoxing.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: Rice wine has been produced in China since around 770 to 221 BC and was generally for ceremonial use. During the late Qing dynasty, educated councilors from Shaoxing spread the popularity of wine consumption throughout the country and was an essential part of Chinese banquets. Large quantities are made and stored in clay jars over long periods of time.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: In 1980s Hong Kong, interest in Nü Er Hong, a brand of Shaoxing wine, grew due to nostalgic interest in mainland Chinese traditions, as well as references in popular martial arts novels of the time. Tung Chee-hwa celebrated his appointment as first Chief Executive of Hong Kong with Nü Er Hong.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: In China, popularity has waned in favor of drinking other types of alcohols, and has a reputation for being "old-fashioned" although still used for cooking. Outside of Asia it is mostly regarded as a cooking wine.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: Shaoxing wine can be drunk as a beverage and in place of rice at the beginning of a meal. When at home, some families will drink their wine out of rice bowls, which is also the serving style at Xian Heng Inn. If not served at a meal, Shaoxing wine can also accompany peanuts or other common snacks.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: "Nǚ Ér Hong" (女儿红), or "daughter's (red) wine" is a tradition in Shaoxing when a daughter is born into a family. A jar of wine is brew and stored underground from the day of the daughter's birth, and opened for consumption on her wedding day.


title: Shaoxing wine

text: Huang jiu 黄酒 (Pinyin: huáng jiǔ), as it is known locally, is also well known for its use in meat dishes, in addition to being an ingredient in many dishes of Chinese cuisine. It is a key ingredient of Mao Zedong's favourite dish of braised pork belly with scallion greens – what he called his "brain food" that helped him defeat his enemies. The following is a sample list of other common Shaoxing wine-marinated dishes. It is not limited to the following:


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: During Ukraine's post-Soviet history, the far-right has remained on the political periphery and been largely excluded from national politics since independence in 1991. Unlike most Eastern European countries which saw far-right groups become permanent fixtures in their countries' politics during the decline and fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the national electoral support for far-right parties in Ukraine only rarely exceeded 3% of the popular vote. Far-right parties usually enjoyed just a few wins in single-mandate districts, and no far right candidate for president has ever secured more than 5 percent of the popular vote in an election. Only once in the 1994–2014 period was a radical right-wing party elected to the parliament as an independent organization within the proportional part of the voting: Svoboda in 2012. Since then even at the height of nationalist sentiment during and after Russia's annexation of Crimea and the Russo-Ukrainian War far-right parties have failed to gain enough votes to attain political representation.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: The far-right was heavily represented among the pro-Russian separatists with several past or current leaders of the republics of Donetsk and Luhansk linked to various neo-Nazi, white supremacists and ultra nationalists groups. The importance of the far-right on both sides of the conflict declined over time.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election the coalition of Svoboda and the other extreme-right political parties in Ukraine―National Corps, the Governmental Initiative of Yarosh, and the Right Sector―won only 2.15% of the vote combined and failed to pass the 5% threshold. No far-right parties gained seats in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), as they all failed to win any single-mandate constituency seat.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: The far-right in Ukraine is not identical with Ukrainian nationalism which resulted in part from Ukraine being historically divided between various imperial powers. Post-Soviet Ukraine is home to competing nationalisms and cultural orientations. The nationalist organizations during World War II remain controversial. National attitudes about the far-right are impacted by the ambivalent role Ukraine played during Nazi occupation, with Ukrainians volunteering in SS troops and as concentration camp guards.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: Hate crimes were relatively uncommon in Ukraine compared to other Eastern European countries until 2005, but became more common between 2005 and 2008, mostly due to informal youth groups, in particular skinheads. For example, in 2008, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, issued an open letter complaining about the open neo-Nazi activities of one such group, called Patriot of Ukraine, comparing their activities in Kyiv and Kharkiv to what was seen in Russia in 2000–2001. Since 2008, there has been a more explicit response to such crimes by law enforcement and the justice system, which has led to a decrease of violent right-wing offences. Ukraine has seen a decrease in both the frequency and the severity of hate crimes since their high in the mid-2000s. Between 2006 and 2012, there were 295 reported violent hate crimes and 13 hate-crime-related deaths. 2007 was the most violent year in terms of racially motivated crimes with 88 registered assaults with 6 fatalities. By comparison, in Russia during the same year there were a reported 625 casualties with 94 deaths attributed to far-right violence. The significant difference results in part the from the different sizes of the racist youth and skinhead scene in Ukraine and Russia. According to estimates, in 2008 Ukraine had a maximum of 2,000 organized skinheads whereas in Russia the estimates range between 20,000 and 70,000 members of skinhead groups. The last reported death due to a hate crime occurred in 2010.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: Regular torchlight marches by members of the Ukrainian far-right have drawn comparisons to those in Germany after World War I and Ukrainian authorities have faced widespread criticism for their perceived inaction in the face of far-right crime. Repeated attempts by authorities to memorialize Ukrainian nationalist leaders who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II have also drawn criticism.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: In 2017 Human Rights Watch reported that there have been numerous incidents of violence by far-right organisations against LGBT people, Roma people, feminists and civil rights activists. These violent incidents were not prosecuted by the Ukrainian authorities, although the perpetrators even claimed them on social media. Tanya Cooper, Ukraine researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated that: "Members of radical groups that attack and intimidate people to promote hate and discrimination are breaking Ukraine's law and should be held accountable. [...] Ukrainian law enforcement authorities should protect Ukrainians' right to peaceful assembly without fear of obstruction and attacks".


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: A survey by the Pew Research Center in 2018 found that antisemitic sentiments were less prevalent in Ukraine than other Eastern and Central European countries. While 5% of Ukrainians stated that they would not like to have Jews as their fellow citizens, the figure was 14% in Russia and Hungary, 16% in Greece and 32% in Armenia. In contrast, an Anti-Defamation League survey in 2019 showed 46% index score (answering 'probably true' to a majority of the antisemitic stereotypes tested) for Ukraine (up from 32% in 2015), compared to 48% for Poland or 31% for Russia.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: Antisemitic rhetoric used by far-right activists relatively rarely translates into violent actions. Between 2004 and 2014, there were 112 anti-Semitic violent attacks, with a decrease over time, in Ukraine. According to statistics on antisemitic vandalism collected by the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine in the first three months of 2018, extremists tried to disrupt twelve public events and attacked a variety of targets. While direct physical violence was not deployed in all twelve cases, extremist groups sought to restrict the rights and freedoms of Ukraine's citizens.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: In April 2015, Ukraine passed a series of controversial "decommunization laws" regulating official memory of the Holocaust period. Law no. 2538-1 "On the Legal Status and Honoring of the Memory of the Fighters for the Independence of Ukraine in the 20th Century" elevating several historical organizations, including the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, to official status. The laws have been widely criticised as ignoring and whitewashing these organisations.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: In the subsequent period, a number of memorials have been dedicated to collaborators. In 2019, the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankisvsk had a monument built in honour of the nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevych, one of the commanders of Nachtigall Battalion, receiving official protest from the state of Israel and Poland. In Ternopil, Stryi and thirteen other localities, busts and memorials were erected dedicated to the antisemitic collaborator Yaroslav Stetsko.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: In 2019, during a clash between law enforcement officers and the neo-Nazi group S14 at a campaign event in Kyiv for presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko, a Ukrainian riot police officer was caught on video shouting "On the ground, banderist!", which is a derogatory term for a Stepan Bandera supporter. The next day, a social media campaign was organised with the hashtag '#ЯБандерівець' (#IAmABanderist) against the officer, where several public figures claimed to be Bandera supporters as well. These included the head of the National Police Serhiy Knyazev, Interior Ministry and National Police spokesman Artem Shevchenko and Interior Ministry advisor Zoryan Shkyryak.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: According to a 2016 report by French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), Russian ethnic and imperialist nationalism has shaped the official ideology of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, the two self-proclaimed states controlled by pro-Russian separatists but internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. During the Russo-Ukrainian War, especially at the beginning, far-right groups played an important role on the pro-Russian side, arguably more so than on the Ukrainian side. Russian far-right groups gradually became less important in Donbas as the need for Russian radical nationalists started to disappear.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: Members and former members of Russian National Unity (RNU), the National Bolshevik Party, the Eurasian Youth Union, and Cossack groups formed branches to recruit volunteers to join the separatists. A former RNU member, Pavel Gubarev, was founder of the Donbas People's Militia and first "governor" of the Donetsk People's Republic. RNU is particularly linked to the Russian Orthodox Army, one of a number of separatist units described as "pro-Tsarist" and "extremist" Orthodox nationalists. Neo-Nazi units such as the 'Rusich', 'Svarozhich' and 'Ratibor' battalions, use Slavic swastikas on their badges. 'Rusich' is part of the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary group in Ukraine which has been linked to far-right extremism.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: Some of the most influential far-right nationalists among the Russian separatists are neo-imperialists, who seek to revive the Russian Empire. These included Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin, first "minister of defence" of the Donetsk People's Republic, who espouses Russian neo-imperialism and ethno-nationalism. The Russian Imperial Movement, a white supremacist militant group, has recruited thousands of volunteers to join the separatists. Some separatists have flown the black-yellow-white Russian imperial flag, such as the Sparta Battalion. In 2014, volunteers from the National Liberation Movement joined the Donetsk People's Militia bearing portraits of Tsar Nicholas II.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: Other Russian volunteers involved in separatist militias included members of the Eurasian Youth Union, and of banned groups such as the Slavic Union and the Movement Against Illegal Immigration. Another Russian separatist paramilitary unit, the Interbrigades, is made up of activists from the National Bolshevik (Nazbol) group Other Russia.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: According to a 2018 report by the NGO Freedom House far-right groups have been marginal in Ukrainian society and especially in Ukrainian politics. The report identifies three political parties in Ukraine which qualify as extremist ― Svoboda, National Corps and Right Sector. None of the three parties obtained enough votes to gain parliamentary representation. The report argues that due to the far right's weakness in official politics, right-wing groups have sought avenues outside of politics to impose their agenda on Ukrainian society, including attempts to disrupt peaceful assemblies and use force against those with opposite political and cultural views such as left-wing, feminist, LGBT, and human rights activists. The report concludes that while such groups do not have the capabilities to challenge the state, they pose a threat to Ukrainian democracy because they reject democratic values yet actively employ all spectrum of the opportunities offered by democracy. One particular area of concern according to the report is that Ukrainian law enforcement has failed to stop far-right disruptions and such activities have gone unpunished. The report calls on Ukrainian authorities to take more effective measures.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: While far-right activists played their role in the first few months of the conflict in 2014, their importance was often exaggerated. The development of the conflict ultimately led declination of far-right groups on both sides of the conflict. The political climate in the separatists-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk further pushed far-right groups into the margins.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: American scholar and journalist Stephen F. Cohen wrote in "The Nation" in 2018 that the resurrection of Nazi ideology could be observed all around the globe, including Europe and the United States, but that the growing Ukrainian Neo-Nazi movement posed a special danger due to its well-armed and well-organized nature in a political center of the Second Cold War. Cohen cited the Azov battalion and Right Sector in this regard. In 2020, Taras Kuzio criticized Cohen, noting research finding they were largely filled by Russian speakers and national minorities. Kuzio says despite Cohen's claims, even Right Sector and Azov Regiment that are often described as 'nationalist', had minorities such included Georgians, Jews, Russians, Tatars, and Armenians.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: British scholar Richard Sakwa wrote in 2015 that "The creation of the National Guard, consisting largely of far-right militants and others from the Maidan self-defence forces, had the advantage of removing these militants from the centre of Kyiv and other western Ukrainian towns, but they often lacked discipline and treated south-east Ukraine as occupied territory, regularly committing atrocities against civilians and captured 'terrorists'."


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: Despite the fact that far-right parties in Ukraine have been unpopular with the electorate and received considerably less support than far-right parties in other European countries, the Russian government and media started to label Ukraine a "fascist state" following the Orange Revolution in 2004. The subject of the far right's alleged influence in Ukraine became especially politicized during the 2013–2014 Revolution of Dignity when small radical groups without political influence received disproportionate media attention not only in Russia as well as in the West. The impact of these and similar organizations on both Ukrainian politics and society has since been greatly exaggerated in Russian state media and also in some West European journalistic accounts.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: Media coverage has been focused largely on Right Sector and on Svoboda whose members stand accused of killing four national guardsmen using hand grenades during a rally outside Ukrainian parliament in August 2015.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: Russian president Vladimir Putin used the pretext of "denazification" to launch the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem condemned Putin's abuse of Holocaust history. In an analysis of the Russian propaganda article "What Russia should do with Ukraine", historian Timothy Snyder pointed out that the use of words "Nazi" and "denazification" by the Russian regime has no direct link to historical use of these words.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: After Yanokovych's ouster in February 2014, the interim First Yatsenyuk government placed four Svoboda members in leading positions: Oleksandr Sych as Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Ihor Tenyukh as Minister of Defense, lawyer Ihor Shvaika as Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food and Andriy Mokhnyk as Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine; with the fall of the First Yatsenyuk government on 27 November 2014, Svoboda lost representation in the Ukrainian Government. From 14 April 2016 to 29 August 2019, the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament was Andriy Parubiy, the co-founder of the SNPU; however, Parubiy left such organizations in 2004 and later joined moderate political parties, such as Our Ukraine, Batkivshchyna and the People's Front.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: In June 2015, Democratic Representative John Conyers and his Republican colleague Ted Yoho offered bipartisan amendments to block the U.S. military training of Ukraine's Azov Battalion—called a "neo-Nazi paramilitary militia" by Conyers and Yoho. Andriy Biletsky, the head of the ultra-nationalist and far right political groups Social-National Assembly and Patriots of Ukraine, has been commander of the Azov Battalion. Azov Battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard is fighting pro-Russian separatists in the War in Donbass. Some members of the battalion are openly white supremacists.


title: Far-right politics in Ukraine

text: In the 2019 Ukrainian elections, the far-right nationalist electoral alliance, including Svoboda, National Corps, Right Sector, Azov Battalion, OUN, and Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, under-performed expectations. In the presidential election, its candidate Ruslan Koshulynskyi received 1.6% of the vote, and in the parliamentary election, it was reduced to a single seat and saw its national vote fall to 2.15%, half of its result from 2014 and one-quarter of its result from 2012.


title: German dialects

text: German dialects are the various traditional local varieties of the German language. Though varied by region, those of the southern half of Germany beneath the Benrath line are dominated by the geographical spread of the High German consonant shift, and the dialect continuum that connects German to the neighboring varieties of Low Franconian (Dutch) and Frisian.


title: German dialects

text: The varieties of German are conventionally grouped into Upper German, Central German and Low German; Upper and Central German form the High German subgroup. Standard German is a standardized form of High German, developed in the early modern period based on a combination of Central German and Upper German varieties.


title: German dialects

text: Traditionally, all of the major dialect groupings of German dialects are typically named after so-called "stem duchies" or "tribal duchies" (German: "Stammesherzogtümer") by early German linguists, among whom the Brothers Grimm were especially influential. These tribal duchies came into existence at the end of the Early Middle Ages within the Holy Roman Empire and were thought to have been continuations of earlier tribal lands which were subjugated by the Franks and incorporated into their realm at the close of the Migration Period.


title: German dialects

text: For example, the Germanic tribe of the Bavarii (subjugated by the Franks during the 6th century) gave their name to the later stem duchy of Bavaria (817–1180), which itself would lend its name to the traditional Bavarian dialect grouping described in the early 19th century.


title: German dialects

text: As their understanding of the Second Germanic consonant shift progressed, linguists (when applicable) further divided these dialects into groupings based on their degree of participation of this consonant shift, with "Lower" (German: "nieder-") signifying little to no participation, "Middle" (German: "mittel-") meaning medium to high participation and Upper (German: "ober-") conveying high to full participation.


title: German dialects

text: Because the 19th-century classification nomenclature was based primarily on historical territories rather than linguistic clusters, the traditional system can imply greater similarities between dialects than is linguistically warranted. The best-known example of this phenomenon is found within the Franconian cluster, which is divided into Low Franconian, Middle Franconian and Upper Franconian even though the Low Franconian (i.e. Dutch) dialects are not most closely related to Middle and Upper Franconian dialects within the larger continuum. In fact, of all German dialects, the Low Rhenish-dialect (the only Low Franconian dialect spoken in Germany itself) is the most divergent when compared to Standard German, whereas the Middle and Upper Franconian dialects are fairly similar in their overal structure and phonology to the German standard language.


title: German dialects

text: As a result, the second half of the 20th century saw a shift in academic customs, with many linguists instead describing dialect clusters based on the geographical area in which they are spoken (i.e. Meuse-Rhenish or Westphalian) and their degree of participation with the Second Germanic consonant shift, or, such as in the case of the influential linguists Friedrich Maurer and Theodor Frings, creating a new framework of dialect classification altogether.


title: German dialects

text: Nevertheless, in common parlance it is common for speakers of German dialects to use the traditional/older nomenclature when referring to their particular dialect, stating, for example, that they speak Saxon, Bavarian, Allemanic (Swabian), Thuringian or Franconian.


title: German dialects

text: The variation among German dialects ranges. In regions with dialects are being in the same dialectal region, pronunciation, syntax and words particular to specific towns even only a few miles apart can create even more variation. In the Black Forest region alone, there was a newspaper request for people to report what word they used for the term "Dragonfly." Sixty words were collected as reported from responders for the term.


title: German dialects

text: When spoken in their purest form, Low German, most Upper German, High Franconian dialects and even some Central German dialects are unintelligible to those versed only in Standard German. However, all German dialects belong to the dialect continuum of High German and Low German. In the past (roughly until the end of World War II), there was a dialect continuum of all Continental West Germanic languages, as nearly any pair of contiguous dialects were perfectly mutually intelligible.


title: German dialects

text: The German dialect continuum is typically divided into High German and Low German. The terms derive from the geographic characteristics of the terrain in which each is found rather than depicting social status.


title: German dialects

text: As the result of ethnic cleansing, particularly in present-day Poland and the Czech Republic in 1945-48, the German language area considerably shrank. Large dialects such as the East Pomeranian dialect, most varieties of Silesian German, Prussian dialects and Bohemian German dialects disappeared by integration of the refugees in their new homeland west.


title: German dialects

text: Low German varieties (in Germany usually referred to as "Platt" or "Plattdeutsch") are considered dialects of the German language by some but a separate language by others (then often termed "Low Saxon"). Linguistically Low German (that is, Ingvaeonic ("North Sea Germanic") and Low Franconian (that is, Istvaeonic) dialects are grouped together because both did not participate in the High German consonant shift. Low German is further divided into Dutch Low Saxon, West Low German and East Low German.


title: German dialects

text: Middle Low German was the lingua franca of the Hanseatic League. It was the predominant language in Northern Germany, and several translations of the Bible were printed in Low German. That predominance changed in the 16th century. In 1534, the Luther Bible was printed by Martin Luther, and that translation is considered to be an important step towards the evolution of the Early New High German. It aimed to be understandable to an ample audience and was based mainly on High German varieties. Early New High German gained more prestige than Low Saxon and became the language of science and literature. Other factors included the Hanseatic League losing its importance around the same time (as new trade routes to Asia and the Americas were established) and the most powerful German states then being located in Middle and Southern Germany.


title: German dialects

text: The 18th and 19th centuries were marked by mass education, with the language of the schools being Standard German.


title: German dialects

text: Today, Low Saxon dialects are still widespread, especially among the elderly in the Northern parts of Germany, many of them being able to understand and speak the language, but younger people in Northern Germany are at least able to understand these dialects but not to speak them. The local media take care not to let the Low Saxon language die out, so there are several newspapers that have recurring articles in Low Saxon. The North German Broadcasting (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) also offers television programs, such as "Talk op Platt" and radio programs in Low Saxon.


title: German dialects

text: On the other hand, Northern Germany is considered to be the region that speaks the purest Standard German, and in everyday life, little influence of dialect is heard. Still, there are notable differences in pronunciation, even among North German speakers such as the lengthening of vowels and differences in accentuation. There are also some North German expressions that are in use even in Standard High German but are seldom heard in Southern Germany, such as "plietsch" for "intelligent".


title: German dialects

text: Central German dialects include Ripuarian, Moselle Franconian, Central Hessian, East Hessian, North Hessian, Rhine Franconian, Lorraine Franconian, Thuringian, Silesian, High Prussian, Lusatian dialects, Upper Saxon, North Upper Saxon and New Marchian. They are spoken in the southeastern Netherlands, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of northeastern France and in Germany approximately between the River Main and the southern edge of the Lowlands.


title: German dialects

text: High Franconian dialects are transitional dialects in between the two greater High German groups. High Franconian dialects include East Franconian and South Franconian.


title: German dialects

text: Upper German dialects include Alsatian, Swabian, Low Alemannic, Central Alemannic, High Alemannic, Highest Alemannic, Southern Bavarian, Central Bavarian and Northern Bavarian and are spoken in parts of northeastern France, southern Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and Italy.


title: German dialects

text: The Moselle Franconian varieties spoken in Luxembourg have been officially standardized and institutionalized and so are usually considered a separate language, known as Luxembourgish.


title: German dialects

text: Halcnovian, Wymysorys, Sathmarisch and Transylvanian Saxon are High German dialects of Poland and Romania.


title: German dialects

text: The High German varieties spoken by Ashkenazi Jews (mostly in Czarist Russia, then the former Soviet Union and Poland) have several unique features and are usually considered as a separate language. Known as Yiddish, it is the only Germanic language that does not (only) use the Latin script as its standard script. Since it developed in the Danube area, there are some similarities with the Central and Upper German dialects of that region.


title: German dialects

text: The dialects of German that are or were spoken primarily in colonies or communities founded by German-speakers resemble the dialects of the regions of the founders. For example, Pennsylvania German and Volga German resemble dialects of the Baden-Württemberg, Hutterite German resembles dialects of Carinthia and Venezuelan "Alemán Coloniero" is a Low Alemannic variant.


title: German dialects

text: Amana German is a dialect of West Central German. It is spoken in the Amana Colonies in Iowa, which were founded by Inspirationalists of German origin. Amana is derived from Hessian, another West Central German dialect. Amana German is called "Kolonie-Deutsch" in Standard German.


title: German dialects

text: In Brazil, the largest concentrations of German speakers, German Brazilians, are in Rio Grande do Sul, where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch, and Brazilian Pomeranian were developed, especially in the areas of Santa Catarina, Paraná, Rondônia, and Espírito Santo, as well as in Petrópolis (Rio de Janeiro).


title: German dialects

text: Lagunen-Deutsch has integrated elements of Spanish. This includes the integration of false cognates with the Spanish language, transferring the Spanish meanings into Lagunen-Deutsch.


title: German dialects

text: The geographical origin of most or all speakers of Lagunen-Deutsch is Chile, to where the ancestors of the speakers immigrated from German-speaking areas of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. The impact of nineteenth century German immigration to southern Chile was such that Valdivia was for a while a Spanish-German bilingual city with ""German signboards and placards alongside the Spanish"". The prestige the German language had made it acquire qualities of a superstratum in southern Chile.


title: German dialects

text: The Colonia Tovar dialect, or Alemán Coloniero, is a dialect spoken in Colonia Tovar, Venezuela, that belongs to the Low Alemannic branch of German. The dialect, like other Alemannic dialects, is not mutually intelligible with Standard German. It is spoken by descendants of Germans from the Black Forest region of southern Baden, who emigrated to Venezuela in 1843. The dialect has also acquired some Spanish loanwords.


title: German dialects

text: Currently 1.1 million American citizens speak German, with the most being in the Dakotas. German was at one time the lingua franca in many American regions, with high density in the Midwest, but St. Louis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York City and a great many others cities had a very high German-speaking population. By 1900, over 554 Standard German-language newspapers were in circulation.


title: German dialects

text: The rise in American ethnic nativist pride, especially during World War I, led to a zealous push for the Americanization of hyphenated Americans to reclaim the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant hegemonic influence once again, as the surges of immigration had forever changed the dynamic nation. All things and individuals with ties to Germany were thus subjected to public harassment, distrust, or even death, such as in the lynching of Robert Prager, a German seeking to become naturalized in St. Louis.


title: David Benatar

text: David Benatar (born 8 December 1966) is a South African philosopher, academic and author. He is best known for his advocacy of antinatalism in his book "Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence", in which he argues that coming into existence is a serious harm, regardless of the feelings of the existing being once brought into existence, and that, as a consequence, it is always morally wrong to create more sentient beings.


title: David Benatar

text: Benatar is the son of Solomon Benatar, a global-health expert who founded the Bioethics Centre at the University of Cape Town. Not much is known about Benatar's personal life as he deliberately guards his privacy. He has held antinatalist views since his childhood.


title: David Benatar

text: Benatar is professor of philosophy and director of the Bioethics Centre at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a member of the editorial board of the "Journal of Controversial Ideas".


title: David Benatar

text: Benatar argues from the premise that pain is, in itself, a bad thing. His work has often been associated with contemporary philosophies of nihilism and pessimism. Benatar has stated his lack of approval toward the benevolent world-exploder view.


title: David Benatar

text: Benatar argues there is crucial asymmetry between the good and the bad things, such as pleasure and pain, which means it would be better for humans not to have been born:


title: David Benatar

text: Benatar argues that bringing someone into existence generates both good and bad experiences, pain and pleasure, whereas not doing so generates neither pain nor pleasure. The absence of pain is good, the absence of pleasure is not bad. Therefore, the ethical choice is weighed in favor of non-procreation.


title: David Benatar

text: Benatar raises the issue of whether humans inaccurately estimate the true quality of their lives, and has cited three psychological phenomena which he believes are responsible for this:


title: David Benatar

text: Benatar's "The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men and Boys" (2012) examines various issues regarding misandry and the negative socially-imposed aspects of male identity. As a work within the men's liberation movement, it does not seek to attack or diminish the ideas of feminism, but rather to shine light on the parallel existence of systemic and cultural discrimination against men and boys, and how it simultaneously contributes to the oppression of women. In a review of the book, philosopher Simon Blackburn writes that "Benatar knows that such examples are likely to meet snorts of disbelief or derision, but he is careful to back up his claims with empirical data," and through this book, he shows that "if it is all too often tough being a woman, it is also sometimes tough being a man, and that any failure to recognise this risks distorting what should be everyone's goal, namely universal sympathy as well as social justice for all, regardless of gender." In another review, the philosopher Iddo Landau praises the work as "a very well-argued book that presents an unorthodox thesis and defends it ably," agreeing with Benatar that "in order to cope with the hitherto ignored second sexism, we should not only acknowledge it, but also dedicate much more empirical and philosophical research to this under-explored topic and, of course, try to change many attitudes, social norms, and laws".


title: David Benatar

text: Benatar is the author of a series of widely cited papers in medical ethics, including "Between Prophylaxis and Child Abuse" ("The American Journal of Bioethics") and "A Pain in the Fetus: Toward Ending Confusion about Fetal Pain" ("Bioethics"). His work has been published in such journals as "Ethics", "Journal of Applied Philosophy", "Social Theory and Practice", "American Philosophical Quarterly", "", "Journal of Law and Religion" and the "British Medical Journal".


title: David Benatar

text: Nic Pizzolatto, creator and writer of "True Detective", has cited Benatar's "Better Never to Have Been" as an influence on the TV series (along with Ray Brassier's "Nihil Unbound", Thomas Ligotti's "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race", Jim Crawford's "Confessions of an Antinatalist," and Eugene Thacker's "In the Dust of This Planet").


title: David Benatar

text: Benatar is vegan, and has taken part in debates on veganism. He has argued that humans are "responsible for the suffering and deaths of billions of other humans and non-human animals. If that level of destruction were caused by another species we would rapidly recommend that new members of that species not be brought into existence." He has also argued that the outbreak of zoonotic diseases, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, is often the result of how humans mistreat animals.


title: Echo

text: In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the listener. Typical examples are the echo produced by the bottom of a well, by a building, or by the walls of an enclosed room and an empty room. A true echo is a single reflection of the sound source.


title: Echo

text: The word "echo" derives from the Greek ἠχώ ("ēchō"), itself from ἦχος ("ēchos"), "sound". Echo in the Greek folk story is a mountain nymph whose ability to speak was cursed, leaving her able only to repeat the last words spoken to her. Some animals use echo for location sensing and navigation, such as cetaceans (dolphins and whales) and bats in a process known as echolocation. Echoes are also the basis of Sonar technology.


title: Echo

text: Acoustic waves are reflected by walls or other hard surfaces, such as mountains and privacy fences. The reason of reflection may be explained as a discontinuity in the propagation medium. This can be heard when the reflection returns with sufficient magnitude and delay to be perceived distinctly.


title: Echo

text: When sound, or the echo itself, is reflected multiple times from multiple surfaces, the echo is characterized as a reverberation.


title: Echo

text: The human ear cannot distinguish echo from the original direct sound if the delay is less than 1/10 of a second. The velocity of sound in dry air is approximately 343 m/s at a temperature of 25 °C. Therefore, the reflecting object must be more than from the sound source for echo to be perceived by a person located at the source. When a sound produces an echo in two seconds, the reflecting object is away. In nature, canyon walls or rock cliffs facing water are the most common natural settings for hearing echoes. The strength of echo is frequently measured in dB sound pressure level (SPL) relative to the directly transmitted wave. Echoes may be desirable (as in sonar) or undesirable (as in telephone systems).


title: Echo

text: In music performance and recording, electric echo effects have been used since the 1950s. The Echoplex is a tape delay effect, first made in 1959 that recreates the sound of an acoustic echo. Designed by Mike Battle, the Echoplex set a standard for the effect in the 1960s and was used by most of the notable guitar players of the era; original Echoplexes are highly sought after. While Echoplexes were used heavily by guitar players (and the occasional bass player, such as Chuck Rainey, or trumpeter, such as Don Ellis), many recording studios also used the Echoplex. Beginning in the 1970s, Market built the solid-state Echoplex for Maestro. In the 2000s, most echo effects units use electronic or digital circuitry to recreate the echo effect.


title: William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor

text: William Waldorf Astor III, 4th Viscount Astor (born 27 December 1951) is an English businessman and politician who sits as a Conservative hereditary Lord Temporal in the House of Lords. He is a member of the Astor family, which is known for its prominence in business, society, and politics in both the United States and the United Kingdom.


title: William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor

text: Astor was a Lord-in-waiting (a House of Lords whip) from 1990 to 1993. He was then made a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security. In 1994, he moved to the Department of National Heritage where he served until leaving the government in 1995.


title: William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor

text: He was a member of the Founding Council of the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford.


title: William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor

text: Viscount Astor is Chairman of Silvergate Media and director of Networkers Plc (since 2007) and trustee of Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham.


title: William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor

text: Astor married Annabel Lucy Veronica Jones (born 1948), daughter of Timothy Angus Jones and Patricia David Pandora Clifford on 14 January 1976. They have three children:


title: William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor

text: Viscountess Astor was previously married to Sir Reginald Sheffield, 8th Baronet by whom she is the mother of Samantha Cameron, wife of former Prime Minister David Cameron.


title: Elliot Lurie

text: Elliot Lurie (born August 19, 1948) is an American musician who was the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-lead vocalist for the band Looking Glass from 1969 to 1974. He wrote and sang lead on their 1972 #1 hit single "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" and their 1973 Top 40 single "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne".


title: Elliot Lurie

text: After leaving the band in the mid-1970s, Lurie released a self-titled album and a single, "Disco (Where You Gonna Go)", both on Epic Records. Neither reached the Billboard Top 100. He later signed with Arista Records, and also worked writing songs for Chappell Music and Screen Gems Music.


title: Elliot Lurie

text: In the 1980s, Lurie wrote and produced music for private business use. He moved to Los Angeles in 1984, and in 1985, became head of the music department at 20th Century Fox. That year, he produced the soundtrack album for the John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis film "Perfect". Since then he has worked as music supervisor on numerous mainstream films, including "Alien 3" (1992), "A Night at the Roxbury" (1998), "Riding in Cars with Boys" (2001), "I Spy" (2002) and "Spanglish" (2004).


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: Prince Mikasa married Yuriko Takagi in 1941, and they had three sons and two daughters. Prince and Princess Mikasa outlived all three of their sons. With the death of his sister-in-law Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu, on 17 December 2004, Prince Mikasa became the oldest living member of the Imperial House of Japan. He remained active until a few months before his death at the age of 100. At the time of his death, Prince Mikasa was the oldest living royal.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: Prince Takahito was born at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on 2 December 1915 to Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei. He was fourteen years younger than his eldest brother, Crown Prince Hirohito (the future Emperor Shōwa). His childhood appellation was "Sumi-no-miya". Prince Takahito attended the boys' elementary and secondary departments of the Gakushūin (Peers' School) from 1922 to 1932. By the time he began his secondary schooling, his eldest brother had already ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne and his next two brothers, Prince Chichibu and Prince Takamatsu, had already embarked upon careers in the Japanese Imperial Army and the Japanese Imperial Navy respectively. Takahito enrolled in the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1932 and was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant and assigned to the Fifth Cavalry Regiment in June 1936. He subsequently graduated from the Army Staff College.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: Upon attaining the age of majority in December 1935, Emperor Shōwa granted him the title "Mikasa-no-miya" (Prince Mikasa) and the authorization to form a new branch of the Imperial Family.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: Prince Mikasa was promoted to lieutenant in 1937 and to captain in 1939, serving in China under the name of "Wakasugi". During his army career, he was harshly critical of the Japanese military's conduct in China. In a 1994 interview, he criticized the Imperial Army's invasion of and atrocities in China, and recalled having been "strongly shocked" when an officer informed him that the best way to train new recruits was to use living Chinese POWs for bayonet practice. According to Daniel Barenblatt, Prince Mikasa and his cousin Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda received a special screening by Shirō Ishii of a film showing airplanes loading germ bombs for bubonic plague dessemination over the Chinese city of Ningbo in 1940. He also was given a film of Japanese atrocities, possibly linked to the footage used in the American propaganda film, "The Battle of China", and was so moved that he made his brother Emperor Hirohito watch the film.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: In one of Prince Mikasa's memoirs, he wrote that he toured Unit 731's headquarters in China and was shown films showing Chinese prisoners "made to march on the plains of Manchuria for poison gas experiments on humans."


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: In 1994, a newspaper revealed that after Prince Mikasa's return to Tokyo, he had written a stinging indictment of the conduct of the Imperial Japanese Army in China, where the Prince had witnessed Japanese atrocities against Chinese civilians. The Imperial Army General Staff suppressed the document, but one copy survived and surfaced in 1994. After the war, it was reported that while an officer, Prince Mikasa had taken a strict stance against lax discipline and the cruel actions of Japanese soldiers serving in China.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: In an interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun, Mikasa detailed the extent of Japanese military atrocities against the Chinese. He said, “I was really shocked when an officer told me that the best way to train new soldiers was to use living prisoners of war for bayonet practice because it gave them will power.” “It was truly a horrible scene that can only be termed a massacre,” he said. Out of a desperate desire to end the war, he wrote and delivered a speech that condemned Japanese troop aggression against the Chinese, elaborating that repeated rape, plunder and killing of civilians created strong anti-Japanese feelings in China, and that the puppet government in Nanjing was an attempt to cover up Japan's policy of aggression in China. He also disclosed that the Japanese served fruit contaminated with cholera germs to a team from the League of Nations that came to investigate Japan's invasion of China. They did not develop the disease. The army tried to destroy all copies of his speech, but one was discovered.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: He also said he watched an army film that showed Japanese troops yelling and gassing Chinese prisoners who were tied to stakes. He stated that he did not talk about his written speech with his brother, Emperor Hirohito, but he said he once showed the emperor a Chinese-made film of Japanese atrocities.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: Promoted to major in 1941, Prince Mikasa served as a staff officer in the Headquarters of the China Expeditionary Army at Nanjing, China from January 1943 to January 1944. His role was intended to bolster the legitimacy of the Wang Jingwei regime and to coordinate with Japanese Army staff towards a peace initiative, but his efforts were totally undermined by the Operation Ichi-Go campaign launched by the Imperial General Headquarters.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: Prince Mikasa served as a staff officer in the Army Section of the Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo until Japan's surrender in August 1945. After the end of the war, the Prince spoke before the Privy Council, urging that Hirohito abdicate to take responsibility for the war.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: On 22 October 1941, Prince Mikasa married Yuriko Takagi (born 4 June 1923), the second daughter of Viscount ("kazoku", pre-war Japan's upper classes) Masanari Takagi. Prince and Princess Mikasa had five children. The couple's two daughters left the Imperial Family upon marriage. All of their sons predeceased them. In addition to their five children, they had nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren as of 2022.


title: Takahito, Prince Mikasa

text: After the defeat of Japan in World War II, many members of the imperial family, such as Princes Chichibu, Takamatsu and Higashikuni, pressed Emperor Hirohito to abdicate so that one of the Princes could serve as regent until Crown Prince Akihito came of age. On 27 February 1946, Prince Mikasa even stood up in the Privy Council and indirectly urged the Emperor to step down and accept responsibility for Japan's defeat. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, the most senior-ranking United States military commander in Japan at the time, insisted that Emperor Hirohito retain the throne. According to Minister of Welfare Ashida's diary, "Everyone seemed to ponder Mikasa's words. Never have I seen His Majesty's face so pale."