title: Houston Comets

text: The Comets were one of the founding teams in the WNBA. They capped off the league's inaugural season in 1997 with a win over the New York Liberty in the WNBA championship game to win the WNBA's first championship.


title: Houston Comets

text: When the league expanded the next season, the Comets were moved from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference. In 1998, they put together a win loss record of 27-3 for a .900 winning percentage – a WNBA record that still stands. They went on to repeat as champions, defeating the Phoenix Mercury in the first-ever WNBA Finals that year due to the championship game being extended into a three-game championship series.


title: Houston Comets

text: In 1999, led by what was already known as the "Big Three", (Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson), the Comets survived a highlight-film, last-second, court-to-court, game-winning shot by the Liberty's Teresa Weatherspoon in Game 2 of the finals to beat the Liberty in three games and win their third straight title, this one after the death of teammate Kim Perrot, who died of cancer.


title: Houston Comets

text: In 2000, behind league MVP Sheryl Swoopes and eventual WNBA Finals MVP Cynthia Cooper, the Comets beat the New York Liberty in two games to win their fourth title in a row cementing themselves as the greatest WNBA team ever assembled. 2000 was the Comets' last championship and last WNBA Finals appearance in franchise history.


title: Houston Comets

text: After Cooper retired in 2001, Houston clinched the playoffs with a 19–13 record, but lost in the first round in a sweep to the 2001 eventual champion Los Angeles Sparks. In 2002, when Swoopes was injured most of the year with a torn ACL, the Comets were able to qualify for the playoffs with a 24–8 record, but lost to the Utah Starzz in 3 games. In 2003, they qualified to the playoffs for the 7th straight year, but they lost in the first round to the Sacramento Monarchs in 3 games. They missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history with a record of 13–21 in 2004, but returned to the playoffs with a 19–15 record, finishing 3rd. In the first round, the Comets knocked out the 2004 defending champion Seattle Storm in 3 games, but lost in the conference finals to the Sacramento Monarchs in a sweep, which Sacramento later became WNBA Champions in 2005. Houston would return to the playoffs with an 18–16 record, but lost to the 2005 defending champion Sacramento Monarchs in another sweep. 2006 was the last playoff appearance for the Houston Comets. After the Comets' season ended in 2006, the Comets underwent major front-office changes during the off-season. In October 2006, team owner Leslie Alexander (who also owned the NBA's Houston Rockets) announced he was selling the Comets, and longtime head coach Van Chancellor resigned in January 2007.


title: Houston Comets

text: On January 31, 2007, the WNBA Board of Governors approved the sale of the team to Hilton Koch, a Houston-based mattress and furniture businessman. Two weeks later, Comets assistant coach Karleen Thompson was named to become the team's new head coach and general manager for the 2007 season.


title: Houston Comets

text: For the 2007 season, they would miss the playoffs for the second time in franchise history after starting the season 0-10, resulting in a 13–21 record.


title: Houston Comets

text: On December 12, 2007, team owner Hilton Koch announced that the Comets would be moving from the Toyota Center to Reliant Arena for the 2008 WNBA season. This resulted in a loss of fans. The Toyota Center drew 13,000 fans, but the Reliant Arena could only house 7,200. In 2008, the Comets' final year, they only drew an average 6,000 fans per game and sold out four games.


title: Houston Comets

text: In 2008, Koch put the team up for sale, with an asking price of $10 million. No investors stepped up. The WNBA took over management of the Comets and disbanded the team in December 2008. They stated that they would only be suspending operations in 2009, which some people saw as a sign that the franchise could be revived if an investor came in. Comets players were sent off to other teams in a dispersal draft.


title: Houston Comets

text: League president Donna Orender said that the collapse of the Comets was not a sign that the WNBA was in trouble. Former player Cynthia Cooper-Dyke said that the loss of the Comets was "disturbing news" and that the Comets were integral to the WNBA.


title: Houston Comets

text: The Comets played their final home game on September 15, 2008 at the Strahan Coliseum on the campus of Texas State due to Hurricane Ike. They defeated the Sacramento Monarchs 90–81. They finished the season 17-17 and missed the playoffs for the third time in their history.


title: Gex (series)

text: Gex is a platform video game video game series, developed by Crystal Dynamics, that details the adventures of an anthropomorphic gecko named Gex. He has served as the mascot of Crystal Dynamics, appearing on their company logo for several years until 2000. In the North American version, Gex is voiced by comedian Dana Gould; the United Kingdom version features Gould, Leslie Phillips and Danny John-Jules as Gex's voice. Gex was voiced by Mitsuo Senda for the Japanese release of the second game.


title: Gex (series)

text: The games are largely inspired by American TV culture. Gex contributes to the games with wise-cracking remarks laced with media and references to popular culture.


title: Gex (series)

text: Sony Interactive Entertainment published "Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko" on October 1, 2009, "Gex" on November 5, 2009, and "Gex: Enter the Gecko" on February 4, 2014 under the "PS one Classics" banner in the PlayStation Network. The ports are compatible with the PlayStation 3, Portable and Vita. Additionally, Square Enix published "Gex" at GOG.com, a distribution platform for legacy games, on October 16, 2014.


title: Gex (series)

text: Gex is a gecko who has a passion for television which makes him a target for the cybernetic being Emperor Rez. Emperor Rez is determined to overthrow The Media Dimension, the "world" of television.


title: Gex (series)

text: A fourth Gex entry was in development for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, but was canceled due to lack of interest from Eidos Interactive. Many of the ideas and aspects were later used for "Whiplash" for the PS2 with only concept art existing of the "Gex 4" idea.


title: Gex (series)

text: An unreleased prototype for a cancelled 2001 game referred to as "Gex Jr." was leaked online for the PS1 in April 2022.


title: Gex (series)

text: In February 2015, Square Enix announced to allow developers to create games based on some of their old Eidos intellectual properties via the Square Enix Collective project, including the "Gex" intellectual property. In December 2021, Square Enix filed a new "Gex" trademark in the European Union, and subsequently in February a new trademark for "Gex" in Japan. However three months later, Embracer Group made an agreement to purchase Crystal Dynamics and Eidos IPs from Square Enix, which includes "Gex".


title: Gex (series)

text: Gex appears as an unlockable character in the North American and European versions of "Hot Shots Golf 2" and "Mad Dash Racing".


title: Gex (series)

text: In June 2022, a fan animation of the game was uploaded to YouTube by FlippinDingDong. It was presented as a tape recording of a 1990s animated series that aired on Toon Disney. The clip features Gex's characteristic one-liners. The animation would later become viral on YouTube.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: José Manuel Zelaya Rosales (born 20 September 1952) is a Honduran politician who was President of Honduras from 27 January 2006 until 28 June 2009, and who since January 2022 serves as the first First Gentleman of Honduras. He is the eldest son of a wealthy businessman, and inherited his father's nickname "Mel". Before entering politics he was involved in his family's logging and timber businesses.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Elected as a liberal, Zelaya shifted to the political left during his presidency, forging an alliance with the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas known as ALBA. On 28 June 2009, during the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis, he was seized by the military and sent to Costa Rica in a coup d'état. On 21 September 2009 he returned to Honduras clandestinely and resurfaced in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. In 2010, he left Honduras for the Dominican Republic, an exile that lasted more than a year.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: He now represents Honduras as a deputy of the Central American Parliament. Since January 1976 Zelaya has been married to Xiomara Castro, the current President of Honduras, elected in the 2021 general election. Upon his wife's inauguration, Zelaya became the first "First Gentleman" in Honduran history.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Zelaya was born the eldest of four children in Juticalpa, Olancho. Two of his brothers remain alive. Zelaya's mother, Ortensia Rosales de Zelaya, has been described as his best campaigner. His family first lived in Copán, then they moved east to Catacamas, Olancho.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: He attended Niño Jesús de Praga y Luis Landa elementary school and the Instituto Salesiano San Miguel. He began his university studies in civil engineering, but left in 1976 with 11 courses completed, for agriculture and the forestry sector. He was forced to take over the family business by the arrest of his father José Manuel Zelaya Ordoñez, implicated in the murders known as "Slaughter of the Horcones." These murders also involved Mayor José Enrique Chinchilla, Sub-Lieutenant Benjamín Plata, José Manuel Zelaya Ordoñez (property owner) and Carlos Bhar. They were charged and taken to the Central Prison; after four years in prison, they were favored with a pardon from the head of state, General Policarpo Paz García, in 1979. He has engaged in business activities, including timber and cattle, handed down to him by his late father. He is now a landowner in Olancho. In 1987, Zelaya became manager of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP), as well as of the National Association of Wood Processing Enterprises. The COHEP occupies a particularly important role in Honduran politics, as the Constitution delineates that the organization elects one of the seven members of the Nominating Board that proposes nominees to the Supreme Court of Honduras.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Zelaya's father got a 20-year prison sentence for his role in the 1975 Los Horcones massacre, which took place on the Zelaya family ranch, "Los Horcones". As a result of an amnesty, he served less than two.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Zelaya joined the Liberal Party of Honduras, "Partido Liberal de Honduras", (PLH) in 1970 and became active a decade later. He was a deputy in the National Congress for three consecutive times between 1985 and 1998. He held many positions within the PLH and was Minister for Investment in charge of the Honduran Social Investment Fund (HSIF) in a previous PLH government. Under the administration of Zelaya the HSIF lost $40 million. Zelaya was accused of embezzlement but escaped prosecution.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: In the 2005 presidential primaries, his faction was called "Movimiento Esperanza Liberal" (MEL). He received 52% of the 289,300 Liberal votes, vs. 17% for Jaime Rosenthal Oliva and 12% for Gabriela Núñez, the candidate of the Nueva Mayoría faction. Zelaya won the general election of November 27 with 918,669 votes, which accounted for 49.9% of voters, defeating the National party candidate Porfirio Lobo Sosa, who received 46.22% of the votes.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: During Zelaya's time in office, Honduras became a member of ALBA, an international cooperation organization based on the idea of social, political, and economic integration between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. It marked his turning to left-of-center politics, the first such case of right to left policy switch as he had been elected in on a conservative platform. Political opponents, particularly business elites, opposed his foreign policy, including his alliance with Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and friendship with Cuba's Raúl Castro.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: In spite of a number of economic problems, there were a number of significant achievements under Zelaya's presidency. Under his government, free education for all children was introduced, subsidies to small farmers were provided, bank interest rates were reduced, the minimum wage was increased by 80%, school meals were guaranteed for more than 1.6 million children from poor families, domestic employees were integrated into the social security system, poverty was reduced by almost 10% during two years of government, and direct state help was provided for 200,000 families in extreme poverty, with free electricity supplied to those Hondurans most in need.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 22 July 2008, Zelaya sought to incorporate Honduras into ALBA, an international cooperation organization based on the idea of social, political, and economic integration in Latin America and the Caribbean.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Zelaya said that the main media outlets in Honduras, owned by wealthy conservatives, were biased against him and did not cover what his government was doing: "No one publishes anything about me. . . . what prevails here is censorship of my government by the mass media." Inter Press Service says that the vast majority of radio and TV stations and print publications are owned by just six families.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: According to a paper written by Manuel Orozco and Rebecca Rouse for the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in the United States, the Honduran media operate as arms of political parties. Honduran journalists say that most of the news media in Honduras are unabashedly partisan, allied with political parties and local power brokers.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 24 May 2007, Zelaya ordered ten two-hour "cadenas" (mandatory government broadcasts) on all television and radio stations, "to counteract the misinformation of the news media". The move, while legal, was fiercely criticized by the country's main journalists' union, and Zelaya was dubbed "authoritarian" by his opposition. Ultimately, the broadcasts were scaled back to a one-hour program on the government's plans to expand telephone service, a half-hour on new electrical power plants and a half-hour about government revenues.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: An unknown gunman in 2007 murdered a journalist who often criticized Zelaya. The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and the United Nations criticized threats against journalists in Honduras. Other critical journalists, such as Dagoberto Rodriguez and Hector Geovanny Garcia, fled into exile because of constant murder threats.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: The Associated Press, citing Manuel Orozco of the Inter American Dialogue, said that "His [Zelaya's] campaign for changing the constitution has energized his support base of labour groups, farmers and civil organisations who have long felt marginalized in a country where a wealthy elite controls the media and much of politics."


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Manuel Zelaya appointed his nephew Marcelo Chimirri as General Manager of the state-owned telecom Hondutel.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: According to the Mexican newspaper "El Universal", relying on information supplied by the Arcadia Foundation, Hondutel's revenue decreased 47% between 2005 and 2006, the first year of President Manuel Zelaya's administration, despite Hondutel's monopoly on international calls In April 2009, Latin Node Inc., an American company, pleaded guilty to making improper payments to Hondutel, "knowing that some, or all of those funds, would be passed on as bribes to officials of Hondutel". Chimirri resigned in 2007, and was arrested following the coup. He remains in prison on charges of abuse of authority and embezzlement, charges he denies. Apart from Chimirri, Oscar Danilo Santos (the former manager of Hondutel), Jorge Rosa, and James Lagos are all charged in connection with allegedly committing crimes of abuse of authority, fraud and bribery having received bribes of $1.09 million U.S. from an international carrier in exchange for Hondutel providing that carrier lower rates than other firms. Auditor Julio Daniel Flores was charged for the lesser crime of violation of duties of officers.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: President Zelaya came to international attention in June 2009 when he was overthrown in a military coup and forced into exile. The crisis that led to his removal from office centered around the question of whether changes would be made to the 1982 Honduran Constitution. Zelaya proposed a national poll to gauge interest in constitutional change, which provoked a fierce reaction from opposition parties. Those responsible for the coup justified their actions on the grounds that Zelaya's interest in potentially convening a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution was illegal, and alleged that his real motive was to increase his time in office. Zelaya denied that his motive was to stay in office, stating that he intended to step down in January 2010 as scheduled, noting that his successor would be elected at the same time the vote on whether to convene a constituent assembly would occur.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Under constitutional law, the President of Honduras can amend the constitution without a referendum if a congressional majority exists. However, eight articles cannot be amended, including those related to term limits, the permitted system of government, and the process of presidential succession.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Because the president can amend 368 of the 375 articles in the Honduran constitution without calling a constituent assembly, some suspected that Zelaya's true intention was to extend his rule. One-time Christian Democrat presidential candidate Juan Ramon Martinez argued that Zelaya was attempting to discredit parliamentary democracy, saying, "There appears to be a set of tactics aimed at discrediting institutions... he has repeated on several occasions that democratic institutions are worthless and that democracy has not helped at all".


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 11 November 2008, following requests from many Honduran groups for the convening of a constituent assembly, Zelaya issued a decree organizing a poll to decide whether the electorate wanted a fourth ballot box installed at polling places for the upcoming 29 November 2009 general election – an addition to the usual three for Presidential, Congressional, and municipal candidates. The fourth ballot would ask voters whether to convene a National Constituent Assembly for the purpose of writing a new constitution. In March 2009, Zelaya announced that he first wanted to have a preliminary poll – he suggested 28 June 2009 as a date – to ask voters whether they wanted the fourth ballot to be included in the November 2009 election.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: There has been considerable debate as to whether Zelaya's call for a poll about whether to organize a constituent assembly was legally valid according to the 1982 Constitution. Article 373 of the Constitution states that the Constitution can be amended by a two-thirds majority of the normal National Congress. Only eight articles cannot be amended in this fashion; they are specified in Article 374 of the Constitution and include term limits, system of government that is permitted, and process of presidential succession. Because the congress can amend 368 of 375 articles without any constituent assembly, some observers charged that Zelaya's true intention of holding a referendum on convening a constitutional convention on the same date as his successor's election was to extend his term of rule. In a newspaper interview shortly before his removal from office, Zelaya stated that he had every intention of stepping down when his term ends in January 2010.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: The Supreme Court, without deciding on the constitutionality of the poll, ruled that a lower court ruling blocking the referendum was lawful.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: The Supreme Court's ruling was supported by Congress, the country's attorney general, top electoral body, and the country's human rights ombudsman, who all said that Zelaya violated the law. Despite the opposition of the other branches of the government, Zelaya moved forward with his plan to hold the poll on 28 June 2009. In Honduras the military assists with election logistics; in late May 2009, Zelaya requested military help to distribute ballot boxes and other materials for the poll. The chief of the military, General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, refused to carry this order out. In response, Zelaya dismissed Vásquez on 24 May. Subsequently, defense minister Edmundo Orellana and several other military commanders resigned in support of Vásquez. Both the Honduran Supreme Court and the Honduran Congress deemed the dismissal of Velásquez unlawful.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: By 25 June, the newspaper "La Tribuna" reported that the military had deployed hundreds of troops around Tegucigalpa, to prevent possible disturbances by organisations that support Zelaya and with the exception of leftist organizations, "all sectors are publicly opposed to the consultation, which has been declared illegal by the Prosecutor and the Supreme Court". The troops were deployed from the First Infantry Battalion, located 5 km east of the city, to the vicinity of the presidential residence in the west, and the airport, in the south.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: There is some doubt, however, that Zelaya ever actually fired Vásquez. CNN news on 27 June reported that Zelaya on 24 June had "said that he would" fire Vásquez; but that on 26 June Zelaya said that he had never carried out his threat and the general had not been fired. "I didn't do it", he told CNN.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: The Congress, the attorney general, and the top electoral tribunal declared Zelaya's proposed referendum illegal. Congress began to discuss impeaching Zelaya. On 27 June and again on 30 June 2009, thousands of protesters opposed to Zelaya's impeachment marched through the capital city.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 28 June 2009, the Supreme Court issued an order to detain President Zelaya, who was subsequently captured by the military. He was then brought to the air force base Hernan Acosta Mejia,


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: The reason given for the arrest order were charges brought by the Attorney General. The rationale of the order was to enable a statement before the Supreme Court. The decision to expatriate Zelaya was however taken by the military themselves, knowing full well that expatriation violated the constitution. The military offered as justification that they exiled Zelaya "to avoid mob violence".


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Following the coup, Zelaya spoke to the media from his forced exile in San José. He identified the events as a coup and a kidnapping. Soldiers pulled him from his bed, he said, and assaulted his guards. Zelaya announced that he would not recognize anyone named as his successor, and that he wanted to finish his term in office. He also stated that he would begin to meet with diplomats, and attended the Summit of Central American presidents held in Managua, Nicaragua, two days later (30 June 2009).


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: The National Congress voted unanimously to accept what they said was Zelaya's letter of resignation. Zelaya said he did not write the letter.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: National Congress President Roberto Micheletti, the next person in the presidential line of succession and a centre-Right, assumed the presidency following Zelaya's removal from office.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: International bodies like the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the European Union publicly condemned the events. U.S. President Barack Obama said, "We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the President of Honduras." Hugo Chávez threatened to invade Honduras if the Venezuelan embassy or ambassador were attacked. Venezuela has said it would suspend oil shipments, and Honduras's neighbors—El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua—suspended overland trade, and lifted the ban after two days.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: A one-page United Nations resolution, passed by acclamation in the then 192-member body, condemned the events and demanded Zelaya's "immediate and unconditional restoration" as president. The resolution calls "firmly and categorically on all states to recognise no government other than that" of Mr. Zelaya.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: During the first five days out of country, Zelaya spent 80,000 dollars of Honduran public money on goods including hotels, food and clothing, continuing to spend on his expenses as the president of the country.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Zelaya's wife, Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, charged that the exiling of her husband was a violation of the Honduran Constitution.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Article 102 of the Honduran Constitution forbids expatriating or handing over of Hondurans to foreign countries.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Following the coup trends of decreasing poverty and extreme poverty were reversed. The nation saw a poverty increase of 13.2 percent and in extreme poverty of 26.3 percent in just 3 years. Furthermore, unemployment grew between 2008 and 2012 from 6.8 percent to 14.1 percent.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 21 September 2009, Zelaya and his wife arrived at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. Zelaya said that to reach the embassy he travelled through mountains for fifteen hours, and took back roads to avoid checkpoints. Zelaya did not state from which country he entered Honduras. Hundreds of Zelaya's supporters surrounded the Brazilian embassy. Zelaya chanted "Restitution, Fatherland or Death!" to his supporters, raising fears that Zelaya was attempting a violent confrontation.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Michelletti initially denied that Zelaya had returned, but later admitted he had. Michelletti added that the return "changes nothing of our reality". Michelletti later issued a state of emergency with a curfew and asked the Brazilian government to put Zelaya in Honduran custody for trial. Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim stated that Brazil did not aid Zelaya's return. Security Vice-Minister Mario Perdomo ordered checkpoints on the highways leading to Tegucigalpa, to "stop those people coming to start trouble". Defense Minister Lionel Sevilla also suspended all air flights to Tegucigalpa.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Costa Rican President Óscar Arias and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged both sides to begin a dialogue toward a peaceful solution and Eulogio Chavez, leader of a 60,000-member teachers union, announced that his organization would go on strike to back Zelaya. Shortly thereafter, Zelaya claimed that Israeli mercenaries had installed a mobile phone jammer.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 27 September 2009 Honduras gave Brazil a ten-day deadline. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva replied that he would ignore the deadline. "Brazil will not comply with an ultimatum from a government of coup-mongers". Lula said. Honduran interim president Roberto Micheletti warned that his government would take action if Brazil did not determine Zelaya's status soon. President Lula requested an apology. Hundreds of Honduran soldiers and Police Officers surrounded the Brazilian embassy, where protests against the coup continued.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 29 October 2009, the government of "de facto" president Roberto Micheletti signed what United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called a "historic agreement" to let Manuel Zelaya serve the remaining three months of his term. "If Congress agrees", according to Elisabeth Malkin of "The New York Times", "control of the army would shift to the electoral court, and the presidential election set for 29 Nov. would be recognized by both sides. Neither Mr. Zelaya nor Mr. Micheletti will be candidates".


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: When Micheletti announced he had, unilaterally, formed the unity government without input from Zelaya, Zelaya declared the agreement "dead" early on 6 November. The United States sent diplomats to help to resurrect the pact, but Zelaya insisted that he would not accept any deal to restore him to office if it meant he must recognize the elections of 29 November.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 29 November 2009, a presidential election was held under a state of emergency declared in Decree PCM-M-030-2009. According to the decree, the Secretary of State of the 'de facto' government was expected to participate in the military command for this state of emergency. Five of the six presidential candidates retained their candidacies, while Carlos H. Reyes had withdrawn his candidacy on 9 November in protest at what he perceived as illegitimacy of the election. Zelaya called for a boycott of the poll. Some Hondurans interviewed by Associated Press said that they "sought to move past the crisis with the elections", which had been scheduled previous to Zelaya's removal. Early returns indicated that conservative Porfirio Lobo was elected with around 55% of the votes. Official numbers for the turnout of the election falsely placed it at around 60%, but subsequently revised the numbers to 49% turnout.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Organisations and individuals in Honduras, including the National Resistance Front against the coup d'état in Honduras, Marvin Ponce of the Democratic Unification Party, and Bertha Oliva of COFADEH, and internationally, including Mercosur, President Cristina Kirchner of Argentina and


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: the Union of South American Nations, said that elections held on 29 November under Micheletti would not be legitimate.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 2 December, the National Congress began debate regarding the possible reinstatement of Zelaya to the presidency.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 4 December, Juan Barahona-led activists ended five months of daily protests demanding the reinstatement of Zelaya, saying they were moving on now that Congress has voted to keep Manuel Zelaya out of office. Juan Barahona, who had been leading protests since late June when Zelaya was forced out of the country, said that his supporters are "closing that chapter" of their struggle. Barahona said it was time for Hondurans who support policies in favor of the poor and other themes that Zelaya espoused to shift their focus to the 2014 elections.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: On 20 January 2010, the Dominican Republic and Honduran President-elect Lobo agreed to a deal that would allow Zelaya to be transported safely from the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa where he had been, to the Dominican Republic upon Lobo taking office on 27 January. Lobo stated that he would ensure Zelaya would leave safely and "with dignity." Lobo negotiated with Dominican President Leonel Fernández. Lobo also discussed the situation with former presidential candidates, who signed onto a joint statement on the agreement, which also requested that sanctions against Honduras as a result of the coup be lifted. The next day, Zelaya agreed to the deal. A close advisor said Zelaya would remain politically active and hoped to later return to political activity.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Zelaya left Honduras on 27 January 2010 for the Dominican Republic, along with his wife, two children, and President Fernández of the Dominican Republic. Zelaya and his family lived in the Dominican Republic until his return in 2011. Several countries in the region continued to consider Zelaya the legitimate Honduran head of state.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Honduran President Porforio Lobo met with Zelaya in Cartagena, Colombia on 22 May 2011. They both signed an agreement that allowed Zelaya to return to Honduras from exile. Six days later, on 28 May, Zelaya flew back to Honduras aboard a Conviasa jet and was greeted by thousands of his supporters at the airport. He gave a conciliatory speech that called for political reconciliation and increased democracy in the country.


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: In 2015 and 2016, emails by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were released subsequent to disputes over the Secretary's use of private email accounts for government communications. Some critics have argued that, despite President Obama's public support for Zelaya and condemnation of the coup, these communications suggest that the Secretary of State Clinton seemed more interested in ensuring that previously scheduled elections for the new president proceeded in November, rather than taking a strong stand insisting that Zelaya be restored in the meantime. Zelaya himself has criticized both Clinton and the Obama administration, saying, "On the one hand, they condemned the coup, but on the other hand, they were negotiating with the leaders of the coup."


title: Manuel Zelaya

text: Upon his wife's inauguration as President Zelaya became the first First Gentleman in Honduran history.


title: Professional development

text: Professional development is learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been described as intensive and collaborative, ideally incorporating an evaluative stage. There is a variety of approaches to professional development, including consultation, coaching, communities of practice, lesson study, mentoring, reflective supervision and technical assistance.


title: Professional development

text: The University of Management and Technology notes the use of the phrase "professional development" from 1857 onwards.


title: Professional development

text: In the training of school staff in the United States, "[t]he need for professional development ... came to the forefront in the 1960s".


title: Professional development

text: A wide variety of people, such as teachers, military officers and non-commissioned officers, health care professionals, lawyers, accountants and engineers engage in professional development. Individuals may participate in professional development because of an interest in lifelong learning, a sense of moral obligation, to maintain and improve professional competence, to enhance career progression, to keep abreast of new technology and practices, or to comply with professional regulatory requirements. Many American states have professional development requirements for school teachers. For example, Arkansas teachers must complete 60 hours of documented professional development activities annually. Professional development credits are named differently from state to state. For example, teachers in Indiana are required to earn 90 Continuing Renewal Units (CRUs) per year; in Massachusetts, teachers need 150 Professional Development Points (PDPs); and in Georgia, teachers must earn 10 Professional Learning Units (PLUs). American and Canadian nurses, as well as those in the United Kingdom, have to participate in formal and informal professional development (earning credit based on attendance of education that has been accredited by a regulatory agency) in order to maintain professional registration.


title: Professional development

text: A professional school is a graduate school level institution that prepares students for careers in specific fields. Some of the schools also offer undergraduate degrees in specific professions. Examples of this type of school include:


title: Professional development

text: architecture school, business school, divinity school, engineering school, journalism school, law school, library school, schools of education (normal school), public policy school and social work school. The field of healthcare has many professional schools, including medical school, chiropractic school, dental school, pharmacy school, physician assistant school, physiotherapy school, podiatric medical school, public health school, speech–language pathology school, occupational therapy school, nursing school, veterinary school and optometry school.


title: Professional development

text: In a broad sense, professional development may include "formal" types of vocational education, typically post-secondary or poly-technical training leading to qualification or credential required to obtain or retain employment. Professional development may also come in the form of pre-service or in-service professional development programs. These programs may be formal, or informal, group or individualized. Individuals may pursue professional development independently, or programs may be offered by human resource departments. Professional development on the job may develop or enhance process skills, sometimes referred to as leadership skills, as well as task skills. Some examples for process skills are 'effectiveness skills', 'team functioning skills', and 'systems thinking skills'.


title: Professional development

text: Professional development opportunities can range from a single workshop to a semester-long academic course, to services offered by a medley of different professional development providers and varying widely with respect to the philosophy, content, and format of the learning experiences. Some examples of approaches to professional development include:


title: Professional development

text: The World Bank's 2019 World Development Report on the future of work argues that professional development opportunities for those both in and out of work, such as flexible learning opportunities at universities and adult learning programs, enable labor markets to adjust to the future of work.


title: Professional development

text: Initial professional development (IPD) is defined as "a period of development during which an individual acquires a level of competence necessary in order to operate as an autonomous professional". Professional associations may recognise the successful completion of IPD by the award of chartered or similar status. Examples of professional bodies that require IPD prior to the award of professional status are the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, the Institution of Structural Engineers, and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.


title: Professional development

text: Continuing professional development (CPD) or continuing professional education (CPE) is continuing education to maintain knowledge and skills. Most professions have CPD obligations. Examples are the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, American Academy of Financial Management, safety professionals with the International Institute of Risk & Safety Management (IIRSM) or the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), and medical and legal professionals, who are subject to continuing medical education or continuing legal education requirements, which vary by jurisdiction.


title: Professional development

text: CPD authorities in the United Kingdom include the CPD Standards Office who work in partnership with the CPD Institute, and also the CPD Certification Service. For example, CPD by the Institute of Highway Engineers is approved by the CPD Standards Office, and CPD by the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation is approved by the CPD Certification Service.


title: Professional development

text: A systematic review published in 2019 by the Campbell Collaboration found little evidence of the effectiveness of continuing professional development (CPD).


title: RK Vardar

text: RK Vardar 1961 () is a professional handball club from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. Vardar is the most successful handball team in the country, having won fifteen national League and Cup titles. Also, Vardar is the most successful team in the regional SEHA League having won five titles. The team has also won two EHF Champions League titles.


title: RK Vardar

text: RK Vardar was founded in 1961, as part of the Vardar Sports Club in Skopje, which had been founded in 1947.


title: RK Vardar

text: The RK Grafichar Skopje club was established in 1948, which in terms of rank and quality was right behind Rabotnichki. In 1961 Grafichar renamed itself to Vardar and almost the entire team of the club RK Partizan Skopje joined the team. Skopje's club Rabotnichki began to experience a crisis and was no longer the strong first league team from the past, and a more ambitious club Vardar entered the scene. A solid team was created, the mainstays were goalkeeper Jovanovski, as well as Atanasovski, Zdravkovski, Savevski and Bozinovski.


title: RK Vardar

text: This talent promised a good future and with coach Boskos, who was armed with great knowledge gained in at the time handball superpower Romania, where he lived until moving to Macedonia.


title: RK Vardar

text: Everything was done ambitiously and after all the obstacles were overcome and the fiercest opponents were defeated in 1976, Vardar joined the first division. They played there for 2 seasons, while in the 80s they spent most of the time in the second division.


title: RK Vardar

text: The handball team rose to power again in the late 1990s becoming one of the two clubs, alongside RK Pelister, to dominate the Macedonian handball scene after the independence of the country.


title: RK Vardar

text: Vardar have participated in the EHF Champions League eleven times and made it to the semifinals of the Cup Winner's Cup three times. Except for 2005, when they came in 4th place, the club has achieved either championship or runner-up in the Macedonian Super League since 1999. They achieved a record win of the Macedonian handball championship by winning their twelfth title in 2018 and are the record cup winner with thirteen victories. On 15 April 2012, Vardar defeated Metalurg at the Zagreb Arena to become the first SEHA League champion. The team has won five titles in the SEHA League. The club started the new 2013–14 season with a new management structure, Sergey Samsonenko as the new proprietor and sport director of the club, while Mihajlo Mihajlovski has become the honorary club chairman.


title: RK Vardar

text: The season of 2016–17 was the most successful for the team because they managed to win the EHF Champions League and the regional SEHA League including the two main domestic championships, the national Handball Super League and the national Handball Cup. Two days after winning the EHF Champions League the team celebrated the victory with approximately 150,000 people in a ceremony on the Macedonia Square in Skopje. Because of the huge success, Gjorgje Ivanov, at the time President of the Republic of Macedonia, awarded the members of the handball club Vardar a Medal of Merit for the results they achieved, especially for winning the Champions League title. The club was awarded the national charter of the country.


title: RK Vardar

text: In the 2018–19 season, the team once again managed to win the EHF Champions League, the regional SEHA League and the main domestic championship, the Handball Super League of North Macedonia. One day after winning the EHF Champions League the team arrived in the country with a private jet and celebrated the victory with approximately 250,000 people in a central ceremony at the Macedonia Square in Skopje.


title: RK Vardar

text: RK Vardar is the owner of the Jane Sandanski Arena where they play all their home matches in the EHF Champions League, the regional SEHA League and in domestic competitions. It's a modern complex with a sports hall of 7,500 seats. It has its own hotel, spa center, hospital and swimming pool.


title: Rajendra Nath

text: Rajendra Nath Malhotra (8 June 1931 − 13 February 2008) was an Indian actor and comedian in Hindi and Punjabi films.


title: Rajendra Nath

text: Rajendra Nath was born on 8 June 1931 in Tikamgarh, which is now in Madhya Pradesh. His family was from the Karimpura locality of Peshawar but settled in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. He studied at Darbar College, Rewa, where Arjun Singh (a Congress politician) and R.P. Agarwal were his classmates.


title: Rajendra Nath

text: Rajendra's elder brother Prem Nath went to Mumbai and became an actor, so Rajendra joined him in 1949. They were good friends of Raj Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor. Rajendra and Prem's sister Krishna married actor-director Raj Kapoor. He had also another brother Narendra Nath who also became an actor who usually played some villain's role in the movies.


title: Rajendra Nath

text: Rajendra, who was little interested in studies, quit college and landed in Bombay to work in films like his brother. He did some plays at Prithvi theatre like Pathan and Shakuntala. It was here that he became close to Shammi Kapoor.


title: Rajendra Nath

text: Initially Rajendra struggled to get roles till Sashadhar Mukherjee offered him a comedian's role in "Dil Deke Dekho", a film directed by Nasir Hussain, starring Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh. Rajendra Nath along with Asha Parekh were a regular feature in many Nasir Hussain films like "Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon", "Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai", "Baharon Ke Sapne" and "Pyar Ka Mausam". He also played a villain's role in "Hamrahi" opposite Shashikala whose character he kills. He has done 187 movies. He was one of the most famous comedians. His best role as comedian was in "Mere Sanam" and "Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon". He also played the role of Hero/Second Lead in "Vachan" and "Teen Bahuraniyan". He played supporting roles in films like "Dharkan" by Devendra Goel and "Jeevan Mrityu" by Rajshri Productions. He played a buffoon called Popatlal in "Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai", and since then the name became synonymous with Rajendra Nath. He used this name in the famous TV series "Hum Paanch".


title: Rajendra Nath

text: He then did many films, mostly in comic roles, such as in "An Evening in Paris" and "Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon". One of his most applauded performances was in Manoj Kumar's "Purab Aur Paschim" though it was not a full-fledged comedy role.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 1974, 1977, 1978–1979, and 1999–2002. Ecevit was chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) between 1972 and 1980, and in 1987 he became chairman of the Democratic Left Party (DSP).


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Ecevit began his political career when he was elected a CHP MP from Ankara in the 1957, and came to prominence as Minister of Labour in İsmet İnönü's cabinets, representing the rising left-wing faction of the party. Ecevit eventually became leader of the CHP in 1972; his leadership rejuvenated the party by reaching out to working class voters and cementing the party as "Left of Center". Ecevit became Prime Minister in 1974, during which he retracted the ban on cultivation of opium and invaded Cyprus. He formed two more governments in 1977 and 1978–1979 which were marked by increasing polarization, deadlock, and political violence that ended with the 1980 coup.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Following the coup, Ecevit, along with most politicians, was banned from politics for ten years. During the ban, the Democratic Left Party (DSP) was established under the chairmanship of his wife, Rahşan. When the political ban was lifted in 1987, he became the head of the DSP. While heading a caretaker government for the 1999 election, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured in Kenya, catapulting DSP into first place in the election. The DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition (1999–2002) introduced important political and economic reforms, as well as beginning Turkey's accession into the European Union. The MHP's withdrawal from the coalition led to the government's collapse, and in the subsequent 2002 snap election, the DSP was ejected from parliament after being unable to clear the electoral threshold. Ecevit resigned the chairmanship of the party in 2004. He died on Sunday, November 5, 2006, as a result of circulatory and respiratory failure.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Ecevit is known for being Turkey's only leftist prime minister. His chairmanship resulted in the highest shares of votes CHP or any other left-wing party have ever gained in Turkish history. He is credited for introducing social democratic politics to Turkey by synthesizing Kemalism with social democracy, thus making social democracy a core tenet in modern Kemalist ideology. Ecevit is the last non-AKP Prime Minister of Turkey.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Mustafa Bülent was born 28 May 1925 in Istanbul to a middle-class family. He was named after his paternal grandfather , who was an Islamic scholar of Kurdish origin with roots in the region of Dersim (Tunceli) but born in a village in Kastamonu. Mustafa Şükrü's son and Bülent's father was a professor of forensic medicine in Ankara University's Law School. Fahri later entered politics and served as a Republican People's Party member of parliament for Kastamonu between 1943-1950. His mother of Bosniak ancestry, Fatma Nazlı, was among the first women in Turkey to paint professionally.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Bülent Ecevit's maternal great-grandfather was the Meccan Sheikh-ul-Islam Hacı Emin Pasha, who served to protect the holy sights of Hejaz in the Ottoman Empire. The inheritance of his estate, which consisted of approximately 110 decares of land and 99 acres of the Masjid an-Nabawi was left to him once Ecevit's mother died. One lawyer valued the estate at almost $2 billion, while unofficial valuation made by a Medina Court put it at $11 billion. In the end Ecevit donated the proceeds of the estate to the Directorate of Religious Affairs for the benefit of Turkish Hajjis, after his retirement from politics.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: In 1944, Ecevit graduated from Robert College in Istanbul. He started work as a translator at the General Directorate for Press and Publication (Turkish: "Basın Yayın Genel Müdürlüğü"). In 1946, shortly after marrying his classmate Zekiye Rahşan Aral, he moved to London to work in the Turkish embassy as a press attaché. During his stay he studied Bengali, Sanskrit and Art History at the School of Oriental and African Studies but did not graduate. He also indulged in composing Sufi poetry, and was known to sometimes consult the Bhagavad Gita when making difficult decisions.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Bülent Ecevit was not only a politician but also a poet, journalist and a writer. In the 1950s, he worked as an editor for "Ulus", and then "Yeni Ulus", "Halkçi", and "Forum" when it was shut down by the Democrat Party. In 1955 Ecevit went to the United States for three months as a guest journalist for the "Winston-Salem Journal" in North Carolina, and was disturbed by the racism he witnessed in the American South. On his last day at the newspaper he wrote a front-page article about how strange it was that Americans took it upon themselves to fight oppression in the world while white Americans were


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: On a State Department fellowship, he returned to the US with a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship Scholarship in 1957, studying social psychology and Middle East history at Harvard University for eight months. He attended lectures on anti-communism with Olof Palme and Bertrand Russell.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Even as a politician he continued writing for various newspapers, including the daily "Milliyet" in 1965, the monthly "" magazine in 1972, the weekly "Arayış" in 1981, and the monthly "Güvercin" magazine in 1988. Ecevit also translated works by Rabindranath Tagore, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Bernard Lewis into Turkish. Ecevit was successful in these literary endeavors despite never having graduated from a university, a fact that prevented him from ever running for the Presidency of the Turkish Republic.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Bülent Ecevit returned to Turkey in 1950 as a journalist, eventually writing for "Ulus". Writing about politics made him interested in pursuing a career of it, so he registered with the Republican People's Party (CHP) Çankaya branch in 1954, eventually taking part in its Youth Branch Executive Board. At the age of thirty two, he was elected into parliament for the first time in 1957, representing Ankara as a member of the CHP. He was part of the party's delegation to the Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution after the 1960 military coup d'état. At the age of thirty six, he served as the Minister of Labour in three coalition governments headed by İsmet İnönü between 1961 and 1965. The Law on Collective Bargaining, Strikes and Lockouts was signed into law, giving workers the right to strike and collective bargaining, as well as expanding social security privileges.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: By 1965, Ecevit was the leader of the "Democratic Left Movement", a young and energetic left-wing faction in the CHP. His closeness with left-wing politics came from his admiration of the Labour Party and the burgeoning welfare state he was exposed to while studying in Britain. He pressured his mentor İnönü to adopt a new party program known as Left of Center for the general elections that year, arguing that democratic socialism was the best way to combat communism. The party lost the election to Süleyman Demirel's center-right Justice Party. In opposition, the party was racked with internal power struggles, as Ecevit and Turhan Feyzioğlu fought over the party's political orientation. İnönü reluctantly favored Ecevit (who he thought was too young), and in the 18th ordinary CHP congress held in 1966 he was elected secretary general of the CHP. An extraordinary congress held the next year saw 47 deputies and senators led by Feyzioğlu leave the CHP to found the Reliance Party. In 1969, secretary general Ecevit announced a village development program and using the slogan "."


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Another inter-party crisis occurred in the military memorandum of 1971, as Ecevit resigned from his position in protest against İnönü's decision to support the military government. He objected the memorandum, saying that it was directed against the Left of Center movement within the CHP. Heated exchanges occurred between the once old allies, with at one point İnönü saying "[It's] Either me or Bülent!" promising that he would resign if his party did not have confidence in him. On 8 May 1972 İsmet İnönü lost a vote of confidence to Ecevit in an extraordinary congress. İnönü thus was the first general chairman in Turkish political history to lose his position as a result of a party leadership vote.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Despite the conflict between İnönü and Ecevit originally being about the former's support for the technocratic military government, Ecevit initially provided ministers to the Melen government, but withdrew support soon after a reaction from his party base. Rumours circulated that CHP would be banned by the military.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: In the 1973 presidential election, both Ecevit and Demirel agreed to end the soldier-president tradition and voted against Faruk Gürler. The two compromised to support Fahri Korutürk's candidacy as the president, who was an admiral. However, secretary general still voted for Gürler and he and 32 CHP deputies resigned from the party.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: The CHP's electability was put to the test in the general elections of 1973. With the campaign slogan "" ("To brighter days"), the help of labour unions, and other leftist groups, the CHP won 185 deputies with 33.3% of the votes, winning a plurality of the votes and seats in parliament. Ecevit was invited to form a government and formed a coalition with the Islamist National Salvation Party (MSP) headed by Necmettin Erbakan.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: A general amnesty that saw 40,000 rightists and leftists leave jail was implemented, as well as lifting the ban on opium cultivation that was previously implemented by the military governments under heavy American pressure. The age to vote was lowered to 18.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: In July 1974, inter-communal violence in Cyprus once again flared up when pro-EOKA forces staged a coup against president Makarios. Ecevit went to London to met with British officials, as the UK is also a guarantor state of Cyprus, but a common policy for the situation in Cyprus was not found. Ecevit decided to militarily intervene and invaded Cyprus, for which he is nicknamed the 'Conqueror of Cyprus' (). This resulted in an arms embargo by the United States on Turkey which lasted for three years.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: As a left-wing nationalist, Ecevit initially believed Turkey's destiny was not with Europe. He extended this Eurosceptic sentiment to his economic policy, not only establishing generous social programs and enabling a larger government role in the economy, but also raising protective tariffs to keep cheap foreign goods out of Turkey. His combative stance against Athens prevented Turkey from joining the European Economic Community jointly with Greece in 1979.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: After much conflict with his coalition partner and hoping to gain more support for his government through a snap election, Ecevit resigned as prime minister after just 10 months of governing. He was outflanked when the right-wing parties united form the First Nationalist Front under Demirel's premiership. CHP defeated the Justice Party in the 1977 general elections by gathering 41.38% of the votes, the highest share of votes CHP and any other left-wing party has ever gained in Turkish history. Despite winning the election, Ecevit did not have a majority and was unable to form a coalition, so he formed a minority government which lasted just one month. Demirel subsequently took over as Prime Minister and formed another right-wing government known as the Second Nationalist Front.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: In what was known as the , Ecevit was able to bring down Demirel's government on 5 January 1978, after announcing to the press "I am looking for 11 deputies who have no gambling debts." He became Prime Minister for a third time by forming a government supported by the Democratic Party, Republican Reliance Party, and 11 independent MPs who defected from the Justice Party to take cabinet positions in the new government. His third premiership was marked by a peak in political violence which manifested in Kahramanmaraş and Malatya against Alevis and CHP supporters and their subsequent reprisals against right wing activists. Ecevit suspected the "Counter-Guerrilla", the Turkish branch of Gladio, was responsible for the Taksim Square massacre in Istanbul, during which snipers fired on a protest rally of 500,000 citizens, killing 38 and injuring hundreds. Ecevit recalled that he learned for the first time of the existence of Operation Gladio, a secret "stay-behind" NATO army, in 1974. His government issued martial law on the final days of December 1978 in thirteen provinces mainly in southeastern Turkey, but also in Istanbul and Ankara. With allegations of corruption between Ecevit and the independent MPs, TÜSİAD requesting his resignation by printing advertisements on newspapers, and defeat in the 1979 by-elections, Ecevit resigned as prime minister on 14 October 1979. Without a majority, Demirel governed until another military intervention in 1980.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Bülent Ecevit was subject to six assassination attempts. All but one occurred in the 1970s. Five happened in Turkey and one in the United States, the most famous of which took place on 23 July, 1976 in New York City and on 29 May, 1977 at Çiğli Airport. Mehmet İsvan, brother of the Mayor of Istanbul Ahmet İsvan, was injured in the attempt in Çiğli Airport. Various testimonies allege that the weapon used in Çiğli Airport originated from the Special Warfare Department.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: On September 12, 1980 the Turkish Armed Forces seized control of the country. Bülent and Rahşan and most politicians were incarcerated for a month in Hamzaköy, Gelibolu. Along with politicians of all other parties Ecevit was banned from politics for ten years, with the provisional Article 4 of the new constitution. He resigned from the chairmanship of the CHP on October 30, 1980. The Republican People's Party and all other existing political parties were banned by the military. He was banned from traveling abroad in April 1981 for his opposition to the military rule. He was twice more imprisoned from December 1981 to February 1982 and August to October 1982 for his opposition to the junta.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: This ban on politics did not stop Ecevit from continuing to participate in politics. He refused to associate himself with the successor parties created by old CHP supporters, like the Populist Party and Social Democracy Party. Instead his wife Rahşan Ecevit worked to establish a new political party: the Democratic Left Party (DSP). Bülent was often invited to speak in DSP rallies as a guest speaker. Many lawsuits filed against him on the grounds that he violated his ban on politics with his speeches. When the Populist Party and Social Democracy Party united under the name of the Social Democrat Populist Party (SHP) in November 1985 the Ecevits were criticized for refusing to also merge DSP with SHP, which served to divide the social-democratic/Kemalist votes.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: With his ban from politics being finally lifted in a referendum in 1987, he took over the chairmanship of DSP, inheriting the position from Rahşan. His party failed to enter the Grand National Assembly for polling below 10% in the general elections held two months later, so Ecevit briefly resigned before returning as DSP leader in 1989. Emphasizing the need to preserve national unity and secularism in the general elections held in 1991, he attacked SHP, saying "Do not divide the social democratic votes." He also criticized SHP for forming an electoral alliance with the new pro-Kurdish People's Labor Party, and claimed that the SHP "cooperated with the separatists". Despite his partial Kurdish heritage, Ecevit refused to recognize Kurds as an ethnic group in his speeches, and would repeatedly oppose legislation to legalize education in Kurdish and Kurdish television. This stance mellowed upon European pressure when he returned to power in 1999. Despite winning 11% of the vote in the election, Ecevit and only six other DSP deputies entered the Grand National Assembly.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: With the ban on the name "Republican People's Party" and the acronym "CHP" now lifted, an initiative to reestablish the CHP came to the agenda. Ecevit was invited to the 1992 congress that refounded the CHP, but he did not attend. While SHP merged under the reconstituted CHP in 1995, he again objected to uniting the Kemalist parties. To this day, DSP remains a separate political party from CHP.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: DSP's fortunes changed after the 1995 elections, when the party won 76 seats out of 550. Ecevit served as deputy prime minister for two years in Mesut Yılmaz's government, who was assigned to form a government after Necmettin Erbakan was overthrown by the military in the "postmodern coup". In 1999, after nearly twenty years, he returned to the premiership for the last time to form a minority government in the run-up to the 1999 general elections. In those elections – helped by the fact that Abdullah Öcalan, head of the PKK, was apprehended in Kenya and flown to Turkey during this period – Ecevit's party gained the largest number of seats, allowing him to stay as Prime Minister in a coalition with Yılmaz's centrist Motherland Party and Devlet Bahçeli's ultranationalist MHP. Ecevit's coalition partners offered to amend the constitution to allow for his presidential candidacy in the 2000 election, which he wasn't allowed to partake since he never attained a degree from a higher educational institution. Despite his popularity and parliament willing to amend the Constitution for his candidacy, he refused, instead opting to support the candidacy of independent politician Ahmet Necdet Sezer.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Ecevit's last premiership was his longest at almost four years. In coalition with parties to his right, some which were old foes such as MHP (Ecevit was also appointed PM by President Demirel), he was criticized for adopting pro-business policies and abandoning his leftist values. The government passed many important laws, including banking reform, unemployment insurance, a law to ensure the autonomy of the Central Bank, qualified industrial zones, tender law, and employment incentive law, to name a few. The government amended 34 articles of the Constitution to widen fundamental rights and freedoms and undertook a number of reforms aimed at stabilizing the Turkish economy. These were in preparation for accession negotiations with the European Union. Ecevit acknowledged that his past anti-EU views were a mistake, and that Turkey's destiny with Europe. His foreign minister İsmail Cem was instrumental in what is currently the latest step of Turkish–EU accession, when in the Helsinki Summit in December 1999, Turkey was recognized as a full candidate country for the European Union. Three major EU harmonisation packages were passed during this government, including the most comprehensive package of August 2002, which included the abolishment of capital punishment. However progress to EU ascension inevitably hit a roadblock, that being of his making; the Cyprus Dispute.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: A massive economic crisis which originated from long overdue problems from previous governments, but ultimately triggered by an incident where at Ecevit in a National Security Council meeting caused the value of the Lira to crash in February 2001. But two months later, under the guidance of World Bank economist Kemal Derviş, the government passed an extensive series of comprehensive economic reforms and regulations. These included changes to the tender law, economic social council law, unemployment insurance, the restructuring of state banks, accreditation law, law on capital markets, and establishment of competition authorities. These successful reforms allowed for Derviş to sign off on a $20 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, which enabled the high growth of 2002–2007 after DSP's fall from government.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: The Kocaeli earthquake occurred 17 August 1999, killing tens of thousands in Istanbul and İzmit and causing billions in damages.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: During this period, the "Law of Conditional Release and Postponement," also known as the , was passed in reaction to the large amount of hunger strikes occurring in prison, which gave conditional amnesty to crimes other than those committed against the state. Advocated for by Rahşan Ecevit, she commented on the outcome of her law in retrospect, saying "I asked for forgiveness for the poor, [instead] the murderers benefited." With this amnesty, the number of prisoners decreased from 70,000 to 40,000, but in three years it increased again to 64,000.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Bülent Ecevit was a strong opponent of the invasion of Iraq by the US, though he allowed American planes to use bases in Turkey for their air patrols over Northern Iraq. Even still, he criticized American sanctions on Iraqi civilians, which he said caused needless suffering.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Ecevit maintained Turkey's close relationship with Israel, but denounced the IDF's raid on the Jenin refugee camp as "genocide" which he later said was meant against both Israel and Fatah.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: İsmail Cem achieved a period of rapprochement with Greece after relations were at an all-time low following the Öcalan affair.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Rumors about Bülent Ecevit's ill health were confirmed when he was taken to on 4 May, 2002, and became a source of national anxiety. He was taken out of the hospital by Rahşan and brought to their home when his condition worsened. Bülent rested at home, but was taken back to the hospital. Rahşan shared her doubts about her husbands treatment with public during this period. Her allegations were denied, but the issue was brought up again in the Ergenekon trials in the following years.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Discussions came to the fore whether Ecevit could continue governing while incapacitated. Nine deputies from the DSP issued a statement on 25 June, demanding "to lead a life without Ecevit under the leadership of Ecevit". Another group of DSP deputies, who made a press statement on behalf of him on 5 July, openly criticized Deputy Prime Minister Hüsamettin Özkan, one of the closest names to Ecevit. On 7 July, Bahçeli withdrew support from the coalition, and called for early elections. The next day, Özkan resigned, which was followed by the resignation of six ministers and half of DSP's parliamentary group, with most of them joining the New Turkey Party, founded by foreign minister Cem. With the resignations, the coalition government lost its numerical support in the parliament. A summit held on 16 July between the leaders of the coalition government resulted in the decision to hold early elections on 3 November 2002. In the vote held in parliament on at the end of July, 449 out of 514 deputies voted to hold an early election.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Allegations of corruption, the economic crisis, as well as Ecevit's poor health resulted in DSP facing electoral wipeout in the 2002 general election, attaining only 1.2% of the vote and losing all of its MPs. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) entered parliament with a comfortable majority and governs Turkey to this day. In a press conference held on 22 May 2004 Ecevit announced Zeki Sezer as his successor to DSP, and resigned as chairman. He officially left active politics in that summer, and devoted his remaining years to writing.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: After attending the funeral of his friend Yücel Özbilgin, who was killed in the Turkish Council of State shooting on 19 May 2006, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and stayed in the intensive care unit of the Gülhane Military Medical Academy for a long time. Ecevit died of circulatory and respiratory failure at 22:40 on Sunday, 5 November, 2006, 172 days after he entered a vegetative state.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Immediately after his death the Grand National Assembly passed a law to allow for prime ministers and speakers of parliament to also be buried in the Turkish State Cemetery () in Ankara, which allowed Bülent to be buried there. Upon Rahşan's passing in January 2020, the parliament voted to also have civilians be buried in the State Cemetery, allowing her to be interned there too.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: A state funeral was held on 11 November 2006 at the State Cemetery after a funeral prayer in Kocatepe Mosque, attended by approximately a million people from all 81 provinces and from many countries, especially from Northern Cyprus. Five former presidents also attended the funeral.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Against the advice of the Turkish military, Ecevit visited Fethullah Gülen's schools and spoke highly of them. In 1997, the Journalists and Writers Foundation, of which Gülen was an honorary chairman of, presented Ecevit (and Demirel) with the "Award for National Reconciliation in the Field of Politics".


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: During the escalation of the 1997 military memorandum crisis, Chief Public Prosecutor Nuh Mete Yüksel prepared an indictment against Gülen. Footage of Gülen's speeches years ago were broadcast on a multitude of television channels in which Gülen presented about "how they [the Gülen movement] should be structured in the bureaucracy". Questioned about Gülen's statement later on, Prime Minister Ecevit defended Gülen in an interview, saying that he hasn't seen any suspicious behavior in his schools which provide secular education inline to the principles of Atatürk.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: While deputy prime minister, Ecevit requested the Italian Ambassador to greet Gülen when he went to Rome in 1998, which drew reaction from generals like Çevik Bir.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: In the inaugural session of the 21st parliament elected in 1999, Merve Kavakçı entered the Grand National Assembly's chamber with a headscarf, which violated Turkey's then strictly enforced laicité laws. DSP deputies protested her entrance, graveling their benches and shouting "out!" Ecevit eventually came up to the podium:


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Bülent Ecevit's trademark was his blue shirt and mariner's cap. Another trademark of his was the dove, in his many campaign rallies Ecevit released many doves into the air. The dove is also displayed on the logo of DSP. He smoked Bitlis and Parliament cigarettes and wrote with an Erika typewriter, a gift from his in-law, İsmail Hakkı Okday. He donated his 70-year-old typewriter to the METU Science and Technology Museum.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: The origin of Ecevit's popular nickname "Karaoğlan" (a Turkish folk hero) came in a visit to Kars. Shortly after his election as CHP chairman, when found himself guest in the house of his friend Rasim Yarkadaş in Susuz district. Rasim's mother welcomed her guest at the door of their house, hugging Ecevit and exclaiming in a distinct Kars dialect, "Save us from these troubles, Garaoğlan!" He also had the nickname "Halkçı Ecevit" (Populist Ecevit).


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Süleyman Demirel used the nickname "Allende-Büllende" to compare his rival, Ecevit, to the Chilean socialist statesman Salvador Allende, who was overthrown by a coup.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Ecevit was also known as "Kıbrıs Fatihi" "Conqueror of Cyprus" after the Cyprus Operation during his premiership, and also as "Kenya Fatihi" "Conqueror of Kenya" after the operation to capture Abdullah Öcalan.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Ecevit holds a unique legacy in Turkey's political history for being its only socialist prime minister. There has also been no Kemalist prime ministers since him. His chairmanship resulted in the highest shares of votes CHP and any other left-wing party have ever gained in Turkish history. He was the last leader of Turkey before the AKP came into power at his expense in 2002, which has governed Turkey since. He was also the last democratically elected CHP prime minister. Ecevit's DSP-MHP-ANAP government was the longest lasting coalition government in Turkish history.


title: Bülent Ecevit

text: Kartal Bülent Ecevit Cultural Center was put into service in 2005. In 2012 the name of Zonguldak Karaelmas University was changed to “Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University." A wax sculpture of him is on display at the Tayfun Talipoğlu Typewriter Museum, which was opened in Odunpazarı, Eskişehir in May 2016. In 2021, a park in İzmir's Güzelbahçe district was named after him and his statue was erected.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Alpha-thalassemia (α-thalassemia, α-thalassaemia) is a form of thalassemia involving the genes "HBA1" and "HBA2". Thalassemias are a group of inherited blood conditions which result in the impaired production of hemoglobin, the molecule that carries oxygen in the blood. Normal hemoglobin consists of two alpha chains and two beta chains; in alpha-thalassemia, there is a quantitative decrease in the amount of alpha chains, resulting in fewer normal hemoglobin molecules. Furthermore, alpha-thalassemia leads to the production of unstable beta globin molecules which cause increased red blood cell destruction. The degree of impairment is based on which clinical phenotype is present (how many genes are affected).


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Alpha-thalassemias are most commonly inherited in a Mendelian recessive manner. They are also associated with deletions of chromosome 16p. Alpha thalassemia can also be acquired under rare circumstances.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: The mechanism sees that α thalassemias results in decreased alpha-globin production, therefore fewer alpha-globin chains are produced, resulting in an excess of β chains in adults and excess γ chains in newborns. The excess β chains form unstable tetramers called hemoglobin H or HbH of four beta chains. The excess γ chains form tetramers which are poor carriers of O since their affinity for O is too high, so it is not dissociated in the periphery. Homozygote α thalassaemias, where numerous γ but no α-globins occur at all (referred to as Hb Barts), often result in death soon after birth.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Diagnosis of alpha-thalassemia is primarily by laboratory evaluation and molecular diagnosis. Alpha-thalassemia can be mistaken for iron-deficiency anaemia on a full blood count or blood film, as both conditions have a microcytic anaemia. Serum iron and serum ferritin can be used to exclude iron-deficiency anaemia.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Two genetic loci exist for α globin, thus four alleles are in diploid cells. Two alleles are maternal and two alleles are paternal in origin. The severity of the α-thalassemias is correlated with the number of affected α-globin alleles: the greater, the more severe will be the manifestations of the disease. When noting the genotype, an "α" indicates a functional alpha chain, and '-' a pathological one.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: The ability to measure hemoglobin Barts makes it useful in newborn screening tests. If hemoglobin Barts is detected on a newborn screen, the patient is usually referred for further evaluation since detection of hemoglobin Barts can indicate either one alpha globin gene deletion, making the baby a silent alpha thalassemia carrier, two alpha globin gene deletions (alpha thalassemia), or hemoglobin H disease (three alpha globin gene deletions).


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Deletion of four alpha globin genes was previously felt to be incompatible with life, but there are currently 69 patients who have survived past infancy. All such children too show high level of hemoglobin Barts on newborn screen along with other variants.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Post-newborn ages, initial laboratory diagnosis should include a complete blood count and red blood cell indices. As well, a peripheral blood smear should be carefully reviewed. In hemoglobin H disease, red blood cells containing hemoglobin H inclusions can be visualized on the blood smear using new methylene blue or brilliant cresyl blue stain.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Hemoglobin analysis is important for the diagnosis of alpha-thalassemia as it determines the types and percentages of types of hemoglobin present. Several different methods of hemoglobin analysis exist, including hemoglobin electrophoresis, capillary electrophoresis and high-performance liquid chromatography.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Molecular analysis of DNA sequences (DNA analysis) can be used for the confirmation of a diagnosis of alpha-thalassemia, particularly for the detection of alpha-thalassemia carriers (deletions or mutations in only one or two alpha-globin genes).


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Treatment for alpha-thalassemia may include blood transfusions to maintain hemoglobin at a level that reduces symptoms of anemia. The decision to initiate transfusions depends on the clinical severity of the disease. Splenectomy is a possible treatment option to increase total hemoglobin levels in cases of worsening anemia due to an overactive or enlarged spleen, or when transfusion therapy is not possible. However, splenectomy is avoided when other options are available due to an increased risk of serious infections and thrombosis.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Additionally, gallstones may be a problem that would require surgery. Secondary complications from febrile episode should be monitored, and most individuals live without any need for treatment. Additionally, stem cell transplantation should be considered as a treatment (and cure), which is best done in early age. Other options, such as gene therapy, are still being developed.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: A study by Kreger et al combining a retrospective review of three cases of alpha thalassemia major and a literature review of 17 cases found that in utero transfusion can lead to favorable outcomes. Successful hematopoietic cell transplantation was eventually carried out in four patients.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: Worldwide distribution of inherited alpha-thalassemia corresponds to areas of malaria exposure, suggesting a protective role. Thus, alpha-thalassemia is common in sub-Saharan Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, and generally tropical (and subtropical) regions. The epidemiology of alpha-thalassemia in the US reflects this global distribution pattern. More specifically, HbH disease is seen in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, while Hb Bart hydrops fetalis is acknowledged in Southeast Asia only.


title: Alpha-thalassemia

text: The data indicate that 15% of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots are carriers of beta-thalassaemia genes, while 10% of the population carry alpha-thalassaemia genes.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: Pisa Cathedral () is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy, the oldest of the three structures in the plaza followed by the Pisa Baptistry and the Campanile known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The cathedral is a notable example of Romanesque architecture, in particular the style known as "Pisan Romanesque". Consecrated in 1118, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Pisa. Construction began in 1063 and was completed in 1092. Additional enlargements and a new facade were built in the 12th century and the roof was replaced after damage from a fire in 1595.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: Construction on the cathedral began in 1063 (1064 according to the Pisan calendar of the time) by the architect Buscheto, and expenses were paid using the spoils received fighting against the Muslims in Sicily in 1063. It includes various stylistic elements: classical, Lombard-Emilian, Byzantine, and Islamic, drawing upon the international presence of Pisan merchants at that time. In the same year, St. Mark's Basilica began its reconstruction in Venice, evidence of a strong rivalry between the two maritime republics to see which could create the most beautiful and luxurious place of worship.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The church was erected outside Pisa's early medieval walls, to show that Pisa had no fear of being attacked. The chosen area had already been used in the Lombard era as a necropolis and at the beginning of the 11th century a church had been erected here, but never finished, that was to be named "Santa Maria". Buscheto's grand new church was initially called "Santa Maria Maggiore" until it was officially named "Santa Maria Assunta".


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: In 1092 the cathedral was declared primatial church, archbishop Dagobert having been given the title of Primate by Pope Urban II. The cathedral was consecrated in 1118 by Pope Gelasius II, who belonged to the Caetani family which was powerful both in Pisa and in Rome.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: In the early 12th century the cathedral was enlarged under the direction of architect Rainaldo, who increased the length of the nave by adding three bays consistent with the original style of Buscheto, enlarged the transept, and planned a new facade which was completed by workers under the direction of the sculptors Guglielmo and Biduino. The exact date of the work is unclear: according to some, the work was done right after the death of Buscheto about the year 1100, though others say it was done closer to 1140. In any case, work was finished in 1180, as documented by the date written on the bronze knockers made by Bonanno Pisano found on the main door.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The structure's present appearance is the result of numerous restoration campaigns that were carried out in different eras. The first radical interventions occurred after the fire of 1595, following which the roof was replaced and sculptors from the workshop of Giambologna, among whom were Gasparo Mola and Pietro Tacca, created the three bronze doors of the facade. In the early 18th century began the redecoration of the inside walls of the cathedral with large paintings, the "quadroni", depicting stories of the blesseds and saints of Pisa. These works were made by the principal artists of the era, and a group of citizens arranged for the special financing of the project. Successive interventions occurred in the 19th century and included both internal and external modifications; among the latter was the removal of the original facade statues (presently in the cathedral museum) and their replacement with copies.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: Other notable interventions include: the dismantling of Giovanni Pisano's pulpit between 1599 and 1601 that only in 1926 was reassembled and returned to the cathedral (with some original pieces missing, including the staircase); and the dismantling of the monument to Henry VII made by Lupo di Francesco that was found in front of the door of San Ranieri and later substituted by a simpler, symbolic version.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The original building plan was a Greek cross with a grand cupola at the crossing, but today the plan is a Latin cross with a central nave flanked by two side aisles on each side, with the apse and transepts having three naves. The inside offers a spatial effect similar to that of the great mosques thanks to the use of raised lancet arches, the alternating layers of black and white marble, and the elliptical dome, inspired by the Moors. The presence of two raised matronea in the nave, with their solid, monolithic columns of granite, is a clear sign of Byzantine influence. Buscheto welcomed Islamic and Armenian influence.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The rich exterior decoration contains multicolored marble, mosaic, and numerous bronze objects from the spoils of war, among which is the griffin which was taken in Palermo in 1061 and later placed on the eastern part of the roof. In the early 19th century the original sculpture, which can now be seen in the cathedral museum, was removed from the roof and replaced with a copy. The high arches show Islamic and southern Italian influence. The blind arches with lozenge shapes recall similar structures in Armenia. The facade of grey and white marble, decorated with colored marble inserts, was built by Master Rainaldo. Above the three doorways are four levels of loggia divided by cornices with marble intarsia, behind which open single, double, and triple windows.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: Contrary to what might be thought, from the beginning the faithful entered the cathedral through the Door of Saint Rainerius, found in the transept of the same name, which faces the bell tower. This was because the nobles of the city, who approached the cathedral by via Santa Maria, would find themselves precisely at this entrance. This door was cast about 1180 by Bonanno Pisano, and it is the only door not destroyed by the fire of 1595 that heavily damaged the cathedral. The heavy bronze doors of the facade were newly designed, executed and completed in 1602 by sculptors around Giambologna on the expense of Ferdinando I de' Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The door of Saint Rainerius is decorated with 24 bronze relief sculptures showing stories of the New Testament. This door is one of the first produced in Italy during the Middle Ages, after the importation of numerous examples from Constantinople (to Amalfi, Salerno, Rome, Montecassino, Venice, etc.), and a completely western sensibility, detached from the Byzantine tradition, can be admired. Above the doors are four open galleries, with, at the top, the Madonna and Child and, in the angles, the four evangelists. The tomb of Buscheto is found to the left of the north door of the facade.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The interior, subdivided at the front into a central nave flanked by two side aisles on either side and with the transept and apse in three naves, is covered with white and black marble, with monolithic grey marble columns having corinthian capitals. It has a wooden 17th-century coffered ceiling, painted and decorated with gold leaf, made by Domenico and Bartolomeo Atticciati; it bears the Medici coat of arms. Presumably the earlier ceiling was a structure with wooden trusses.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The inside of the dome, found where the central nave and the transepts cross, is decorated using a rare painting technique called encaustic and depicts the Virgin in glory with saints by the Pisan artists Orazio and Girolamo Riminaldi (1627-1631). Restoration of the dome began in 2015 and was concluded in 2018.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The granite Corinthian columns between the nave and the apse come from the mosque of Palermo, and are Pisan spoils retained in 1063 after a successful joint attack with the Normans on the Muslims in that city.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The large mosaic in the apse of "Christ enthroned between the Virgin and Saint John" is famous for the face of Saint John, painted by Cimabue in 1302, which miraculously survived the fire of 1595. This is the last work painted by Cimabue and the only work of his for which we have certified documentation. The work evokes the mosaics of the Byzantine and Norman churches found in Cefalù and Monreale in Sicily. The mosaic, in large part made by Francesco da Pisa, was brought to completion by Vincino da Pistoia with the Madonna on the left side (1320).


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: Among the medieval works that avoided destruction during the fire of 1595 are the fresco of the Madonna with Child in the triumphal arch by the Pisan artist Maestro di San Torpè, as well as the cosmati pavement, work rarely found outside of Lazio. It was made using inlaid marble to create geometric patterns (mid-12th century). Other fresco fragments from the late medieval period have survived, among which is "Saint Jerome" on one of the four central pylons, as well as "Saint John the Bapstist", a Crucifixion, and Saints Cosmas and Damian on one of the pylons near the entrance, partially hidden by the entry way.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The pulpit, a masterpiece made by Giovanni Pisano (1302-1310), survived the fire but was dismantled during the work of restoration and was not reassembled until 1926. With its intricate architecture and its complex sculptural decoration the work presents one of the most sweeping narratives of the 13th-century imagination which reflects the religious renewal and fervor of the era. On the slightly curved panels are sculpted with an expressive language the episodes of the life of Christ. The structure is polygonal (exactly as seen in the analogous works in the Baptistery of Pisa, in the Siena Cathedral Pulpit, and in the church of Saint Andrew); but this is the first example in a work of this type in which the panels are slightly curved. Other original features include:


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: For these qualities united to the skillful narrative art of the nine scenes the pulpit is generally considered to be a masterpiece, but more broadly it is considered a masterpiece of Italian gothic sculpture. This pulpit substituted the previous one made by Guglielmo (1157-1162) that was sent to the Cagliari Cathedral. Given the lack of documentation prior to its dismantling, the pulpit was placed in a location different from its original spot, and without doubt, its parts are not in their original positions either. It is unknown if the original work possessed a marble staircase.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The church also houses the relics of Saint Rainerius, patron saint of Pisa, and the fragmentary tomb of Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor, who died at Buonconvento while holding Florence, in vain, under siege. The tomb, sculpted by Tino da Camaino between 1313 and 1315, was also dismantled then reconstructed and today sits in the right transept, while its original position was in the center of the apse as a sign of the city's ghibbeline adherence. Moved several times for political reasons, it eventually was separated into many parts (some inside the church, some on the facade, others in the Camposanto, and yet others in the cathedral museum).


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The 27 paintings that cover the galleries behind the main altar, depicting "stories of the Old Testament" and "stories of the life of Christ", were made between the 16th and 17th centuries mostly by Tuscan artists, among whom are Andrea del Sarto (three works: "Saint Agnes", "Saints Catherine and Margaret", and "Saints Peter and John the Baptist") il Sodoma, and Domenico Beccafumi (Stories of Moses and the Evagelists).


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: Numerous and prestigious are the sacred furnishings of the church, including the bronze crucifix found on the main altar, and the angel candleholders placed at the ends of the rich marble transenna, made by Giambologna, as well as the large ciborium in silver designed by Giovanni Battista Foggini (1678–86) on the altar of the Blessed Sacrament chapel. On the numerous side altars are located 16th and 17th century paintings. Among these works are the "Our Lady of Graces with saints", by the Florentine Mannerist Andrea del Sarto, and the "Madonna enthroned with saints" in the right transept, by Perin del Vaga, a student of Raphael, both finished by Giovanni Antonio Sogliani. In the Baroque style are: the "Disputa del Sacramento" by the Sienese painter Francesco Vanni, and the "Cross with saints" by Genoan Giovanni Battista Paggi. Particularly well-loved is the 13th century image of the "Madonna col Bambino", also called the "Madonna under the organ", attributed to Berlinghiero Berlinghieri of Volterra.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The cathedral, like the leaning bell tower, is sinking perceptibly into the ground, and a few indications of this instability are visible. For example, the difference in the floor levels of the original nave of Buscheto and the bays which were added later by Rainaldo.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: The cathedral's original "gràdule", constructed by Giovanni Pisano and dating from the late 13th century, were replaced in 1865 by the present parvise. These marble panels, decorated with carved animal figures and faces, were used to create a low wall which was placed close to the outer perimeter of the cathedral and which created an enclosure that provided space for the numerous sarcophagi from the Roman period. During the Middle Ages, these panels were reused for burials of nobles (among them Beatrice of Lorraine) and other well known persons. Some fragments are still visible in the cathedral museum, while the sarcophagi were all moved inside the fence of the Camposanto.


title: Pisa Cathedral

text: Inside the cathedral are found the Serassi organ made between 1831 and 1835, as well as an organ made in 1977 by the company Mascioni of Cuvio.


title: Ari Lehman

text: Ari Lehman (born May 2, 1965) is an American performing artist, composer, and actor. He is known for playing the child Jason Voorhees in the Paramount horror film "Friday the 13th", becoming the first actor to portray the horror icon. Lehman currently performs in a punk rock/heavy metal band, First Jason.


title: Ari Lehman

text: A native New Yorker, Ari Lehman grew up in Westport, Connecticut, where he trained in Classical Music and Jazz Piano. Lehman was presented with an All-State Award for Excellence in Jazz Piano and a scholarship to Berklee School of Music by jazz educator, Dr. Billy Taylor.


title: Ari Lehman

text: Lehman heard about an audition being held in Westport for the movie, "Manny's Orphans", about a group of inner-city orphans who play soccer, directed by Sean S. Cunningham. Lehman snuck into the audition and landed the role of "Roger". This role led to Lehman getting the call to play Jason Voorhees in "Friday the 13th" from Sean S. Cunningham. "For his audition Lehman was asked one key question by the director, ‘Can you swim?’"


title: Ari Lehman

text: After the release of "Friday the 13th", Lehman returned to New York City, where he enrolled at New York University and concentrated on Big Band Orchestration and Jazz Piano, "where he studied with the likes of Vladimir Shafranov". Lehman's career led him to become a keyboardist for artists of Reggae and African music of the time, with whom he toured throughout the US, Europe and West Africa, and recorded with at Tuff Gong Records and Interscope Records.


title: Ari Lehman

text: Lehman went on to form his own world rock and reggae band Ari Ben Moses Band, and gained acclaim when, upon moving to Chicago in late 2002, he was contacted by horror fans who invited him to attend an East Coast horror convention. Lehman then created First Jason, a punk metal band specifically for horror fans, especially the fans of Jason Voorhees and "Friday the 13th".


title: Ari Lehman

text: Lehman made his film debut in Sean S. Cunningham's film "Manny's Orphans". He then played the role of a child Jason Voorhees in "Friday the 13th", appearing in Pamela Voorhees's flashback and Alice Hardy's dream – the final scene of the film.


title: Ari Lehman

text: Lehman also appears in archive footage, uncredited, in "Friday the 13th Part 2" (1981) and "" (1984).


title: Ari Lehman

text: In 2004, Lehman formed his punk metal band whose name, First Jason, is based upon his role as Jason Voorhees. First Jason has independently released two albums: "Jason is Watching!" (2009), with Chuck Lescewicz "Nefarious" from Chicago death metal band Macabre playing bass, and Amit Shamir "Cleaver" from New York hardcore punk band Cro-Mags on drums; and "Heed My Warning,"(2013), described by Uber Rock (UK) as "a brand of thinking man's horror-themed rock."


title: Ari Lehman

text: In 2019, he performed vocals for the acoustic version of the song Thank God It's Friday from Ice Nine Kills album The Silver Scream Final Cut


title: Ari Lehman

text: Lehman has also composed, performed and recorded a number of soundtracks for independent films, including Alexia Anastasio's critically acclaimed all-female "Salome", and Vamp Films "Vampire the Movie", "which won the 2007 Rondo Award for Best Independent Feature."