title: Jelena Dokic

text: She competed at the US Open but lost to Kirsten Flipkens in the first round. The week later, she played at the $100k event at Biella where she is seeded fourth, but lost to Petra Martić in the second round. She then played at another $100k tournament at Sofia but again lost in the second round to Andrea Hlaváčková in straight sets. Two weeks later she played at another $100k+H tournament at Athens, Greece. She won the tournament by beating Eleni Daniilidou 6–2, 6–1 in the final. This was her first title in 2009 and her most significant title since 2002.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic then travelled to France to play ITF level tournaments, started with Joué-lès-Tours, a $50k event where she was the top seed. She advanced to her second final of the year but lost to Sofia Arvidsson by 2–6, 6–7. She then played at Poitiers, a $100k event, as the fourth seed. She made it to her third consecutive final and faced Sofia Arvidsson again. This time, she won 6–4, 6–4, clinching her second title in 2009. Dokic finished 2009 ranked world No. 56, her best showing since 2004.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Prior to the first Grand Slam event, Dokic participated in two Australian Open warm-up tournaments. She opened the season at the Brisbane International, where she lost to former world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, in three sets in the first round. She then travelled to Hobart to play the Hobart International where she defeated Elena Baltacha in the first round but lost to second seed, Shahar Pe'er, in a disappointing second-round match, 2–6, 2–6 with Dokic making over 40 unforced errors. She was seen breaking down on court as well as crying after this match. As well as the singles, Dokic also participated in the doubles event at this tournament, trying to start a new combination with compatriot Alicia Molik. However, the pair lost in the first round to Chan Yung-jan and Monica Niculescu.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: She then travelled to Melbourne to compete at the Australian Open. Dokic was defeated there in the first round by 27th seed Alisa Kleybanova. The loss caused her rank to drop to world No. 96. She also played doubles, partnering with Petra Kvitová, but the pair lost in the first round. In a recent article, Dokic decided to withdraw from Australia Fed Cup after dealing with emotions on and off court; however in the aftermath she said, "I have had a lot to deal with in my career but I am not done yet" and "I will be back."


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic withdrew from the Pattaya Open in Thailand and Malaysian Open due to a mysterious illness. She lost in the qualifying rounds of Monterrey Open and the first round of the Indian Wells Open. She was then offered a wildcard into Miami Open but declined it due to another injury. Jelena then continued to withdraw from WTA Tour events in Marbella and Barcelona, Spain, and Fes, Morocco, still troubled by injuries.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Her clay season started in May, where she played at a $50k tournament at Prague where she was seeded third. She lost in the quarterfinals to Corinna Dentoni. Her next tournament was the French Open, but she lost in the first round to 24th seed Lucie Šafářová. She then travelled to Rome to participate at a $50k tournament but lost to Anna Tatishvili in the first round. The following week, she participated at a $100k tournament at Marseille, France. She reached the quarterfinals but lost to eventual champion Klára Zakopalová.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: She then played the qualification for Wimbledon but lost in the second round to Julie Ditty in three sets, after committing 24 double faults, including five in the fifth game of the final set. Dokic then withdrew from a $100k tournament in Cuneo, Italy, with a wrist injury. The following week she withdrew from another one in Biarritz, France. She competed at a $50k tournament in Contrexéville, France winning the singles over Olivia Sanchez, thus claiming her first title in 2010. Partnering with Sharon Fichman, she lost in the doubles finals. She then won her second straight title, in Bucharest at the $75k Ruxandra Dragomir Open defeating Zuzana Ondrášková in the final. With this win, Dokic was back in the top 100, ranked 96. The next week, she participated at a $75k tournament in Vancouver, where she won her third straight title after defeating Virginie Razzano in a two-sets final, capping a 15-match winning streak. Dokic has the most $50k or more titles in the ITF Circuit.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Though she returned to the top 100 after winning three tournaments and 15 matches in a row, Dokic lost in the first round qualifying draw of the US Open to Laura Robson. Jelena then travelled to Asia to participate at two ITF tournaments but had disappointing result as she both lost in the first round of the 100k+H tournament in Ningbo, China, and 100k+H tournament in Tokyo, Japan. She then travelled back to Europe and participated at a 50k tournament in Joué-lès-Tours. She double-bageled Eirini Georgatou in the first round and she beat Karolína Plíšková in the second round. In the quarterfinals, Jelena beat Elitsa Kostova. Dokic was beaten in the semifinal by Vesna Manasieva.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic won her first-round match in the $50k tournament in Saint-Raphael, France by beating Eva Birnerová. Jelena retired in her second-round match against Urszula Radwańska leading 7–5, 0–2, with a suspected thigh injury. Dokic revealed that she had an elbow injury in the beginning of the year (possibly the reason she withdrew in tournaments such as Miami). Also, she explained that she did not take part in a lot of tournaments in the second half of the year to recover from injury and to deal with her coaching situations.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: In December, Dokic participated in the Australian Open Wildcard playoff tournament. In her round robin, Dokic won all three of her matches and a spot in the semifinal round where she defeated Alicia Molik. However, Dokic lost to Olivia Rogowska in the final. Despite missing out on a wildcard spot, the organisers awarded her a wildcard for the Australian Open main draw. Dokic finished the year ranked world No. 138.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic started her 2011 campaign by receiving three main-draw wildcards during the Australian summer, in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. She comfortably won her first match in Brisbane against qualifier Anastasia Pivovarova but then lost to in-form, eventual finalist, Andrea Petkovic. After the match Dokic cited a stomach virus as the reason to the loss. In Sydney, she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova by in the first round.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: In the Australian Open, Dokic easily dispatched Zuzana Ondrášková in the first round, but fell to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in the second round. She also received wildcard to participate in doubles, partnering with Sally Peers where they faced 16th seed, Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin, in the first round. The pair lost in two sets.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: At the Open GdF Suez in Paris, Dokic won all three qualifying matches for a spot in the main draw. Dokic then upset the 30th ranked Lucie Šafářová, a 2010 finalist, for a spot in the second round. This victory was Dokic's first victory over a top-30 player since the 2009 Australian Open. She backed up her strong performance by defeating fifth seed and former doubles partner, Nadia Petrova in straight sets in the second round to advance to her first WTA quarterfinals appearance since the 2009 Australian Open. However, her run ended after Kim Clijsters beat her despite leading 3–0 in the first set, in a victory that brought Clijsters back to world No. 1. Nevertheless, Dokic's strong performance in the Premier event brought Dokic back to the top 100, at No. 91, and a main-draw wildcard of the Dubai Tennis Championships.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: In the first round of Dubai, Dokic, hindered by illness, committed 41 unforced errors and 11 double faults to give victory to an in-form Flavia Pennetta losing. Following the loss, Dokic travelled to Doha to participate at the qualifying draw of Qatar Open. She comfortably won her first match but lost in the second match to fellow Australian, Jarmila Groth.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic traveled to Kuala Lumpur where she scored her biggest win of the year by upsetting world No. 5, 2010 French Open champion, and top seed Francesca Schiavone in the first round, despite serving 15 double faults. This is her first win against a top-5 player since 2003, where she defeated then world number one player Kim Clijsters in Zurich. She then defeated Japan's Kurumi Nara in the second round, to advance to her second WTA quarterfinal this year. She reinforced this win by upsetting an in-form Bojana Jovanovski, the eighth seed, in straight sets. This victory saw Dokic advance to her first WTA semifinals since Pan Pacific Open in Japan in February 2004. Dokic faced a resurgent Michaëlla Krajicek of the Netherlands, who had defeated defending champion Alisa Kleybanova in the second round and prevailed to advance to her first WTA singles final since the Zürich Open in October 2003. She concluded the tournament by beating Lucie Šafářová in the final after saving two championships points in the second set tiebreak and being down 1–3 in the final set. This was Dokic's first WTA title under Australian flag and first since June 2002 where she won the Birmingham Classic. Her strong performance rose her ranking to world No. 61.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Originally electing to strategically skip the qualifying stage of Indian Wells to compete in a $100k tournament in the Bahamas, Dokic then withdrew from the $100k tournament. Dokic's next tournament was Miami where she had to play the qualifying round. Dokic won both of her matches against Tatjana Malek and Christina McHale to advance to the main draw, where she fell to a resurgent former world No. 1, Dinara Safina in two sets.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic then started her clay season campaign by participating at Charleston, where she was upset in the first round by qualifier Anna Tatishvili, in three close sets. She then participated at Fes as the sixth seed but was forced to withdraw due to a viral illness. This also subsequently forced Dokic to withdraw from Estoril and missed both Madrid and Rome. She finalised her preparation for the French Open by playing at Strasbourg. She defeated Fes finalist Simona Halep in the first round in just 48 minutes, dropping only one point on serve in the second set. Dokic then fell to resurgent former child prodigy Mirjana Lučić. Despite this, Dokic's victory over Halep will ensure that she will reach the top 60 for the first time since 2009, with a year high ranking of #59. In Roland Garros, Dokic lost to Vera Dushevina in the first round. She also participated in doubles partnering with Melanie Oudin but the pair lost in the first round to Alexandra Dulgheru and Magdaléna Rybáriková. In spite of an early exit from the clay Grand Slam, Dokic's ranking rose to No. 57.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: After Roland Garros, Dokic participated at Copenhagen as the seventh seed but lost to a qualifier, Galina Voskoboeva, in the first round. Dokic then rebounded with a victory over Alla Kudryavtseva at 's-Hertogenbosch in two sets. She then upset fourth seed Flavia Pennetta in the second round to avenge her loss in Dubai, ensuring her third quarterfinal appearance of the year. In the quarterfinals, Dokic faced Swedish player Johanna Larsson whom she dispatched, setting up a semifinal berth against Romina Oprandi, who had upset world No. 2, Kim Clijsters, in the second round. She won the match 6–4, 2–0 (ret.) to ensure her second final appearance of the year against Roberta Vinci. Dokic was edged out in three close sets. Despite the loss, Dokic's run to the final ensured that for the first time since October 2004, she will be ranked in the top 50 – at world No. 45.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic's next tournament was Wimbledon where she lost to sixth seed Francesca Schiavone in the first round. despite being a favourite to upset. She also participated in doubles, partnering with Bojana Jovanovski but fell to third seed Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in the first round.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic's next scheduled tournament was Budapest, but she decided to withdraw to recover from a hamstring injury. The same injury forced her to withdraw from the tournament in Bad Gastein and Baku as well. Dokic then participated in Washington as the fourth seed, but her lack of match play saw her fall in the first round to China's Zhang Shuai. She played in San Diego, but was defeated in three tight sets to Ayumi Morita with her 15 double faults being highlighted as the main concern for the match. Since then, Dokic did not play any further matches due to a shoulder injury. Despite this setback, Dokic took part in the main draw of the US Open. She reached the second round but lost to Jelena Janković, in straight sets.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: On 27 September, Dokic went back to Belgrade, Serbia, and reconciled with her father. Dokic then participated in the qualifying round of Linz in October but retired after losing the first set 3–6 in the first qualifying match to Evgeniya Rodina due to the shoulder injury that had been bothering her since July. This turned out to be Dokic's last match in 2011.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic began her 2012 season in Auckland where she lost in the first round to Mona Barthel. Then, she received a wildcard to compete in Sydney. In the first round, she defeated fellow Australian Isabella Holland to set up a clash against eight seeded Marion Bartoli in the second round where she lost in two sets. She also played doubles with Sofia Arvidsson where she reached the quarterfinals before losing to Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears. One week later, Dokic took part in the Australian Open. She began her campaign by defeating Anna Chakvetadze in the first round. In the second round, she met Bartoli for the second time in two weeks. Dokic's nine double faults (some at crucial points) cost her and she lost in straight sets. Despite that loss, Dokic stated she had played much better than in Sydney. She also participated in doubles and mixed doubles competitions, partnering with Kateryna Bondarenko and Paul Hanley respectively, but lost in the first rounds of both.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic travelled to Bogotá where she was the fourth seed, but lost to Paula Ormaechea. In Monterrey, she lost to eventual runner up Alexandra Cadantu. As the defending champion and seventh seed at the BMW Malaysian open in Kuala Lumpur, Dokic started her campaign successfully, defeating Kristina Mladenovic and started well against fellow Australian Olivia Rogowska, leading 6–3, 4–2, but eventually losing 6–3, 4–6, 6–7. Since she had failed to defend her points, she dropped out of the top 100.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: She then suffered three consecutive first round losses at Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston, losing to Gisela Dulko, Ekaterina Makarova and Galina Voskoboeva. It was later revealed, Dokic had suffered from a continuing right wrist injury since the beginning of the year, explaining her poor results and retirements. Dokic was set to return to tournament play at the ITF Challenger tour in September, but was forced to cancel all commitments due to continuing problems with her wrist. In November 2012, it was announced Dokic had undergone wrist surgery and would miss the Australian summer of events.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: In May 2013, Dokic said in an interview that she was training for a comeback attempt at smaller tournaments using an injury protected ranking. Again, in October 2013, she said that after a wrist operation she was training with Todd Woodbridge to try for a wildcard entry into the 2014 Australian Open. Dokic entered the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff in December 2013 but lost in the first round to Jarmila Gajdošová. She received a wildcard to play alongside Storm Sanders at the doubles competition; in the first round, the team lost to Magdaléna Rybáriková/Stefanie Vögele in what was Dokic's final appearance in a rating event.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: Dokic kept a low profile after her playing career. She was engaged by Tennis Australia as a coach immediately following her retirement, and was pictured coaching rising Australian star Daria Gavrilova at a training camp in Italy in June 2014. She also wrote for "Australian Tennis Magazine" in 2014.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: In January 2017, she was a commentator for Fox Sports at the Australian Open. Later that year, she published her autobiography, "Unbreakable" (), in which she discussed her life, career and the years of physical and mental abuse by her father.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: The book was released on 13 November 2017 and topped the Australian book charts within the first day of release. It was released in Europe in January 2018.


title: Jelena Dokic

text: In 2021 while commentating on Wimbledon for Channel Nine, Dokic praised the support Ashleigh Barty had received from her parents, prompting Dokic to become so emotional she worried she would <nowiki>"fall apart"</nowiki> live on air.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd Zengī (; February 1118 – 15 May 1174), commonly known as Nur ad-Din (lit. "Light of the Faith" in Arabic), was a member of the Zengid dynasty, which ruled the Syrian province ("Shām") of the Seljuk Empire. He reigned from 1146 to 1174. He is regarded as an important figure of the Second Crusade.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: Nur ad-Din was the second son of Imad ad-Din Zengi, the Turkish "atabeg" of Aleppo and Mosul, who was a devoted enemy of the crusader presence in Syria. After the assassination of his father in 1146, Nur ad-Din and his older brother Saif ad-Din Ghazi I divided the kingdom between themselves, with Nur ad-Din governing Aleppo and Saif ad-Din Ghazi establishing himself in Mosul. The border between the two new kingdoms was formed by al-Khabur River. Almost as soon as he began his rule, Nur ad-Din attacked the Principality of Antioch, seizing several castles in the north of Syria, while at the same time he defeated an attempt by Joscelin II to recover the County of Edessa, which had been conquered by Zengi in 1144. In 1146, after the Frankish attempt to reoccupy Edessa, Nur ad-Din massacred the local Armenian Christian population of the city and destroyed its fortifications, in punishment for assisting Joscelin in this attempt. According to Thomas Asbridge, the women and children of Edessa were enslaved.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: Nur ad-Din sought to make alliances with his Muslim neighbours in northern Iraq and Syria in order to strengthen the Muslim front against their Crusader enemies. In 1147, he signed a bilateral treaty with Mu'in ad-Din Unur, governor of Damascus. As part of this agreement, he also married Mu'in ad-Din's daughter Ismat ad-Din Khatun. Together Mu'in ad-Din and Nur ad-Din besieged the cities of Bosra and Salkhad, which had been captured by a rebellious vassal of Mu'in ad-Din named Altuntash, but Mu'in ad-Din was always suspicious of Nur ad-Din's intentions and did not want to offend his former crusader allies in Jerusalem, who had helped defend Damascus against Zengi. To reassure Mu'in ad-Din, Nur ad-Din curtailed his stay in Damascus and turned instead towards the Principality of Antioch, where he was able to seize Artah, Kafar Latha, Basarfut, and Bara.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: In 1148, the Second Crusade arrived in Syria, led by Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. Nur ad-Din's victories and the Crusader's losses in Asia Minor however had made the recovery of Edessa – their original goal – practically impossible. Given that Aleppo was too far off from Jerusalem for an attack and Damascus, recently allied with the Kingdom of Jerusalem against Zengi, had entered into an alliance with Nur ad-Din, the Crusaders decided to attack Damascus, the conquest of which would preclude a combination of Jerusalem's enemies. Mu'in ad-Din reluctantly called for help from Nur ad-Din, but the crusader siege collapsed after only four days.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: Nur ad-Din took advantage of the failure of the Crusade to prepare another attack against Antioch. In 1149, he launched an offensive against the territories dominated by the castle of Harim, situated on the eastern bank of the Orontes, after which he besieged the castle of Inab. The Prince of Antioch, Raymond of Poitiers, quickly came to the aid of the besieged citadel. The Muslim army destroyed the Crusader army at the Battle of Inab, during which Raymond was killed, moreover, Raymond's head was sent to Nur ad-Din, who sent it along to the Caliph Al-Muqtafi in Baghdad. Nur ad-Din marched all the way to the coast and expressed his dominance of Syria by symbolically bathing in the Mediterranean. He did not, however, attack Antioch itself; he was content with capturing all Antiochene territory east of the Orontes and leaving a rump state around the city, which in any case soon fell under the suzerainty of the Byzantine Empire. In 1150, he defeated Joscelin II for a final time, after allying with the Seljuk Sultan of Rüm, Mas'ud (whose daughter he also married). Joscelin was blinded and died in his prison in Aleppo in 1159. In the Battle of Aintab, Nur ad-Din tried but failed to prevent King Baldwin III of Jerusalem's evacuation of the Latin Christian residents of Turbessel. In 1152, Nur ad-Din captured and burned Tortosa, briefly occupying the town.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: It was Nur ad-Din's dream to unite the various Muslim forces between the Euphrates and the Nile to make a common front against the crusaders. In 1149 Saif ad-Din Ghazi died, and a younger brother, Qutb ad-Din Mawdud, succeeded him. Qutb ad-Din recognized Nur ad-Din as overlord of Mosul, so that the major cities of Mosul and Aleppo were united under one man. Damascus was all that remained as an obstacle to the unification of Syria.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: After the failure of the Second Crusade, Mu'in ad-Din had renewed his treaty with the crusaders, and after his death in 1149, his successor Mujir ad-Din Abaq followed the same policy. In 1150 and 1151, Nur ad-Din besieged the city, but retreated each time with no success, aside from empty recognition of his suzerainty. When Ascalon was captured by the crusaders in 1153, Mujir ad-Din forbade Nur ad-Din from travelling across his territory. Mujir ad-Din, however, was a weaker ruler than his predecessor, and he also agreed to pay an annual tribute to the crusaders in exchange for their protection. The growing weakness of Damascus under Mujir ad-Din allowed Nur ad-Din to overthrow him in 1154, with help from the population of the city. Damascus was annexed to Zengid territory, and all of Syria was unified under the authority of Nur ad-Din, from Edessa in the north to the Hauran in the south. He was cautious not to attack Jerusalem right away, and even continued to send the yearly tribute established by Mujir ad-Din; meanwhile he briefly became involved in affairs to the north of Mosul, where a succession dispute in the Sultanate of Rum threatened Edessa and other cities.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: In 1157, Nur ad-Din besieged the Knights Hospitaller in the crusader fortress of Banias, routed a relief army from Jerusalem led by King Baldwin III, and captured Grand Master Bertrand de Blanquefort. However, he fell ill that year and the crusaders were given a brief respite from his attacks. In 1159, the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus arrived to assert his authority in Antioch, and the crusaders hoped he would send an expedition against Aleppo. However, Nur ad-Din sent ambassadors and negotiated an alliance with the emperor against the Seljuks, much to the crusaders' dismay. Nur ad-Din, along with the Danishmends of eastern Anatolia, attacked the Seljuk sultan Kilij Arslan II from the east the next year, while Manuel attacked from the west. Later in 1160, Nur ad-Din captured the Prince of Antioch, Raynald of Châtillon after a raid in the Anti-Taurus mountains; Raynald remained in captivity for the next sixteen years. By 1162, with Antioch under nominal Byzantine control and the crusader states further south powerless to make any further attacks on Syria, Nur ad-Din made a pilgrimage to Mecca. Soon after he returned, he learned of the death of King Baldwin III of Jerusalem, and out of respect for such a formidable opponent he refrained from attacking the crusader kingdom: William of Tyre reports that Nur ad-Din said "We should sympathize with their grief and in pity spare them, because they have lost a prince such as the rest of the world does not possess today."


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: As there was now nothing the crusaders could do in Syria, they were forced to look to the south if they wanted to expand their territory. The capture of Ascalon had already succeeded in cutting off Egypt from Syria, and Egypt had been politically weakened by a series of very young Fatimid caliphs. By 1163, the caliph was the young al-Adid, but the country was ruled by the vizier Shawar. That year, Shawar was overthrown by Dirgham; soon afterwards, the King of Jerusalem, Amalric I, led an offensive against Egypt, on the pretext that the Fatimids were not paying the tribute they had promised to pay during the reign of Baldwin III. This campaign failed and he was forced to return to Jerusalem, but it provoked Nur ad-Din to lead a campaign of his own against the crusaders in Syria in order to turn their attention away from Egypt. His attack on Tripoli was unsuccessful, but he was soon visited by the exiled Shawar, who begged him to send an army and restore him to the vizierate. Nur ad-Din did not want to spare his own army for a defense of Egypt, but his Kurdish general Shirkuh convinced him to invade in 1164. In response, Dirgham allied with Amalric, but the king could not mobilize in time to save him. Dirgham was killed during Shirkuh's invasion and Shawar was restored as vizier.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: Shawar immediately expelled Shirkuh and allied with Amalric, who arrived to besiege Shirkuh at Bilbeis. Shirkuh agreed to abandon Egypt when Amalric was forced to return home, after Nur ad-Din attacked Antioch and besieged the castle of Harenc. There, Nur ad-Din routed the combined armies of Antioch and Tripoli, but refused to attack Antioch itself, fearing reprisals from the Byzantines. Instead he besieged and captured Banias, and for the next two years continually raided the frontiers of the crusader states. In 1166, Shirkuh was sent again to Egypt. Amalric followed him at the beginning of 1167, and a formal treaty was established between Amalric and Shawar, with the nominal support of the caliph. The crusaders occupied Alexandria and Cairo and made Egypt a tributary state, but Amalric could not hold the country while Nur ad-Din still held Syria, and he was forced to return to Jerusalem. In 1167, Nur ad-Din raided the County of Tripoli, in which he temporarily captured Areimeh Castle, Chastel Blanc and Gibelacar, exploiting the captivity of Raymond III.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: In 1168, Amalric sought an alliance with Emperor Manuel and invaded Egypt once more. Shawar's son Khalil had had enough, and with support from Caliph al-Adid requested help from Nur ad-Din and Shirkuh. At the beginning of 1169, Shirkuh arrived and the crusaders once more were forced to retreat. This time Nur ad-Din gained full control of Egypt. Shawar was executed and Shirkuh was named vizier of the newly conquered territory, later succeeded by his nephew Saladin. One last invasion of Egypt was launched by Amalric and Manuel, but it was disorganized and came to nothing.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: During this time Nur ad-Din was busy in the north, fighting the Ortoqids, and in 1170 he had to settle a dispute between his nephews when his brother Qutb ad-Din died. After conquering Egypt, Nur ad-Din believed that he had accomplished his goal of uniting the Muslim states, he was seized by a fever due to complications from a peritonsillar abscess. He died at the age of 56 on 15 May 1174 in the Citadel of Damascus. He was initially buried there, before being reburied in the Nur al-Din Madrasa. His young son As-Salih Ismail al-Malik became his legitimate heir, and Saladin declared himself his vassal, Syria and Egypt under his own rule. defeated the other claimants to the throne and took power in Syria in 1185, finally realizing Nur ad-Din's dream.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: According to William of Tyre, although Nur ad-Din was "a mighty persecutor of the Christian name and faith," he was also "a just prince, valiant and wise, and according to the traditions of his race, a religious man." Nur ad-Din was especially religious after his illness and his pilgrimage. He considered the crusaders foreigners in Muslim territory, who had come to Outremer to plunder the land and profane its sacred places. Nevertheless, he tolerated the Christians who lived under his authority, aside from the Armenians of Edessa, and regarded the Emperor Manuel with deep respect. In contrast to Nur ad-Din's respectful reaction to the death of Baldwin III, Amalric I immediately besieged Banias upon learning of the emir's death, and extorted a vast amount of money from his widow.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: During Nur ad-Din's reign, forty-two madrasas were built in Syria, of which half he personally sponsored. Through the construction of these madrasas Nur ad-Din was ensuring the creation of Sunni Islamic qadis and imams. Nur ad-Din himself enjoyed to have specialists read to him from the Hadith, and his professors even awarded him a diploma in Hadith narration. He had bimaristans (hospitals) constructed in his cities as well, and built caravanserais on the roads for travellers and pilgrims. He held court several times a week so that people could seek justice from him against his generals, governors, or other employees who had committed some crime.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: Nur ad-Din's Sunni orthodoxy can be seen in his public works. His repair of the Roman aqueduct in Aleppo insinuated an anti-Shia polemic, and the conversion of two Shia mosques into madrasas, one Shafi'i another Hanafi, reinforce his insistence of promoting Sunni Islam. Consequently, in November 1148, he forbade the Shia call to prayer in Aleppo and any public displays of Shi'ism.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: In the Muslim world he remains a legendary figure of military courage, piety, and modesty. Sir Steven Runciman said that he loved, above all else, justice.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: The Damascene chronicler Ibn al-Qalanisi generally speaks of Nur ad-Din in majestic terms, although he himself died in 1160, and unfortunately did not witness the later events of Nur ad-Din's reign.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: The Islamist group Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki, active in the Syrian Civil War in Aleppo since 2011, is named after Nur ad-Din.


title: Nur ad-Din (died 1174)

text: Nur ad-Din, or known as Nourn Dinh, is one of the martyrs venerated by the syncretistic Vietnamese religion of Cao Dai.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: The 2020 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2019–20 season and the culmination of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. This series was between the Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the Western Conference champion Dallas Stars. The Lightning won the best-of-seven series, four games to two, for their second championship in franchise history. The Lightning had home-ice advantage in the series with the better regular season record. The series began on September 19 and concluded on September 28. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire series was played behind closed doors at Rogers Place in Edmonton. The pandemic resulted in the league suspending the regular season on March 12, 2020, and then scheduling a special 24-team playoff format to be held in two neutral "hub cities" (Edmonton and Toronto) that began on August 1. Thus it became the first Stanley Cup Finals to be played in the month of September.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: This was the first Stanley Cup Final series since to be played entirely outside the Eastern Time Zone, the first since to be played entirely in one location, the first since to be played entirely in Canada, and the first since to have the Stanley Cup awarded in a Canadian arena. This was the first Stanley Cup Final since to feature a neutral site game and the first Stanley Cup Finals to feature two teams from the American Sun Belt (Texas and Florida).


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: The Dallas Stars set the record for most playoff games played by a team in a single postseason at 27 games.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic, and later that day, the National Basketball Association suspended all games after players tested positive for the disease. One day later, the NHL announced that the 2019–20 season had been paused indefinitely. On May 22, the league and the NHLPA agreed on a basic framework to stage a 24-team playoff tournament behind closed doors, conducted in two neutral "hub" cities to help protect teams from the virus. The details of the plan were announced publicly on May 26. The seeds would be based on each club's points percentage when the season paused on March 12, effectively scrapping the remainder of the regular season. In the opening round of the 24-team playoff format, the top four teams in each conference played each other in a separate Seeding Round-robin to determine the seeding in the First Round. The eight lower seeded teams in each conference played in the Qualifying Round, a best-of-five series to advance to the next round. The First Round through to the Finals remained as best-of-seven series. On July 10, along with the ratification of an extension to the collective bargaining agreement, the NHL and the NHLPA formally agreed to begin the playoffs on August 1 (concluding no later than early October), with games being hosted by Edmonton (Western Conference early rounds, Conference Finals, and Stanley Cup Finals) and Toronto (Eastern Conference early rounds). U.S. cities were also considered, but were passed over after several U.S. states experienced a spike in COVID-19 cases in late June.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: This was the franchise's fifth appearance in the Finals. They won the Stanley Cup in 1999 before losing the Finals in 2000. They also made two appearances as the Minnesota North Stars in 1981 and 1991.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: During the offseason, Dallas signed forwards Corey Perry and Joe Pavelski as well as defenceman Andrej Sekera in free agency. The team also re-signed defenceman Taylor Fedun and forward Jason Dickinson. The team made no trades during the regular season.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: On December 10, 2019, head coach Jim Montgomery was dismissed due to "unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs" of both the team and the league, and was replaced by Rick Bowness. Before joining the Stars organization, Bowness had served as associate coach with the Lightning from 2013 to 2018.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: When the regular season was suspended on March 12, 2020, the Stars had a 37–24–8 record and a .594 points percentage to finish third in the Central Division and fourth in the Western Conference. After play resumed in the hubs, Dallas placed third in the Round Robin. The Stars then defeated the Calgary Flames in six games in the First Round, the Colorado Avalanche in seven games in the Second Round, and the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the Western Conference Finals.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: This was the Tampa Bay Lightning's third appearance in the Finals. They won the Stanley Cup in 2004 before losing the Finals in 2015.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: During the offseason, Tampa Bay signed goaltender Curtis McElhinney, defencemen Luke Schenn, Luke Witkowski, and Kevin Shattenkirk, and forward Patrick Maroon during free agency. Tampa Bay also re-signed goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and forwards Cedric Paquette and Brayden Point. During the regular season, the Lightning traded for forwards Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. They also signed Zach Bogosian whose contract had been terminated by the Buffalo Sabres during the season. During Phase 2 of the Return to Play plan, captain Steven Stamkos injured himself while skating, and subsequently missed the round robin and the first three rounds of the playoffs for the Lightning.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: When the regular season was suspended on March 12, the Lightning had a 42–21–6 record and a .657 points percentage to finish second in both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. After play resumed in the hubs, Tampa Bay placed second in the Round Robin. The Lightning then defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets in the First Round, including winning Game 1 of the series that became the fourth longest game in NHL history, and the Boston Bruins in the Second Round in five games respectively. The Lightning then eliminated the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference Finals in six games.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: In the first period of game one, neither team produced many shots, yet each scored a goal. The first goal came from Stars defenceman Joel Hanley who took an open pass from Roope Hintz. Tampa Bay equalized the score on left winger Yanni Gourde's skate deflection. In the second period, both teams produced more shots, however, Dallas was up by two at the end of the period. Jamie Oleksiak fired a wrist shot which rebounded back to him which he then shot it over Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it 2–1. The Stars' third goal started in their own end with Esa Lindell passing to Joel Kiviranta. Kiviranta then skated through centre, firing a shot that was blocked, but picked up the rebound to put it past Vasilevskiy for a 3–1 lead. In the third period, the Stars played more defensively, putting up only two shots compared to the Lightning who fired twenty-two shots at Anton Khudobin. The Stars held their ground for the remaining 20 minutes, and Jason Dickinson's empty-net goal sealed a 4–1 victory for Dallas.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: In game two, the Lightning struck three times in the first period. Twice on the power-play, Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov set up both goal-scorers. The first came from a tic-tac-toe pass to Brayden Point firing it past Stars goalie Anton Khudobin. The second goal was another set-up pass; this time Kucherov fed it through the middle where Ondrej Palat made it 2–0. The Lightning made it 3–0 when the Stars fumbled the puck in their own zone and Anthony Cirelli gave it to Kevin Shattenkirk, whose shot at the blue line deflected off of Esa Lindell and past Khudobin. In the second period, the Stars shot eighteen times at Andrei Vasilevskiy and caught a break on the power-play. During Palat's slashing penalty, John Klingberg's shot deflected off of fellow Stars forward Joe Pavelski to cut the score to 3–1. Later in the period, a hit on Stars player Blake Comeau caused a skirmish to erupt, with Dallas players Corey Perry and Klingberg against Cedric Paquette and Hedman respectively. All players received simultaneous roughing penalties. In the third period, the Stars made it 3–2 when Mattias Janmark's shot snuck past Vasilevskiy. The Lightning kept their offense going in the final 20 minutes, pouring twelve shots on Khudobin, holding off the Stars, and ending the game 3–2 to tie the series 1–1.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: In game three, Dallas put the heat on Andrei Vasilevskiy in the first period. However, among their sixteen shots, only one goal was successfully scored compared to the Lightning's two. Tampa Bay's first came from a misplay by Miro Heiskanen giving Nikita Kucherov a breakaway, sniping the puck past Anton Khudobin. Their second goal came from their captain Steven Stamkos returning from injury for his first game since being injured on February 25. After a rush by the Stars was stopped in the offensive zone, Victor Hedman passed the puck to Stamkos, who was racing on the right side, upon which he fired his shot over Khudobin's blocker to make it 2–0. The Stars' lone goal of the period came short-handed when a shot by Roope Hintz was stopped by Vasilevskiy. The rebound of that save went back to Hintz in the left corner who then passed to an open Jason Dickinson, whose shot got through Vasilevskiy to make it 2–1. The Lightning had a more dominant approach in the second period, putting off 21 shots and scoring three times. The first goal came following Alexander Radulov's hooking penalty which carried over from the first period. After a puck battle behind the net, Anthony Cirelli, who was falling down on the play, passed to Hedman who shot the puck under Khudobin's stick into the net. Tampa Bay's fourth goal arrived when the Stars began a line change and a 3-on-1 developed with Kucherov leading the rush and Brayden Point scoring the goal. The Lightning continued their offensive zone coverage towards the end of the period and in the final minute-and-a-half, Point fired a shot that rebounded to Ondrej Palat, who put it into the net for a 5–1 lead. Dallas then pulled Khudobin before the third period, replacing him with rookie Jake Oettinger. The Stars, showing some frustration, began roughing the Lightning on three occasions: the first with Mattias Janmark and Palat; then both Jamie Benn and Jan Rutta, who had a skirmish after the play, both earning misconducts as a result; and an errant cross-check at 18:05 by Joe Pavelski on Cedric Paquette, which caused a ruckus with both teams. Heiskanen's goal gave the Stars some life in the third period, but Tampa Bay's defense kept the Stars at bay, winning the game 5–2 and taking a 2–1 series lead.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: The Tampa Bay Lightning overcame a 2–0 deficit in game four. In the first period, John Klingberg gave the Stars their first goal of the game subsequently on their first shot. The Stars gained a 2–0 lead when Jamie Benn set up Joe Pavelski, whose wrist shot got under Andrei Vasilevskiy. Tampa Bay got on the board with 33 seconds remaining in the period. The play began when defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk, from behind the Lightning net, gave an outstretched pass to Ondrej Palat, who then passed across to the right boards to find a solitary Brayden Point. He maneuvered around Anton Khudobin, going to his backhand to score. Point then tied the game early in the second period, on the power-play. During the Stars' penalty, Alex Killorn made a pass to the front, but the puck deflected off of Andrej Sekera's skate into the air, which Point then batted it into the net. The Stars soon regained the lead when Tyler Seguin's pass around Vasilevskiy got picked up by Corey Perry who, although tied up by Cedric Paquette, allowed the puck to trickle in off his stick. The Lightning tied the game up again when Andrew Cogliano got caught for hooking and on the ensuing Tampa Bay power-play, Mikhail Sergachev set up Nikita Kucherov for a one-timer, but the puck deflected off of Esa Lindell to Yanni Gourde who shot it past Khudobin. In the third period, Killorn put the Lightning up 4–3 when he went out around the net and shot at the top corner behind Khudobin. Pavelski tied the game 4–4 after picking up the rebound of Seguin's shot and then launching the puck at Vasilevskiy which deflected off of Shattenkirk into the net. Into overtime, Benn pushed down Tyler Johnson; controversially, he was called for tripping. While on the ensuing power-play, Patrick Maroon won an offensive zone face-off, sending it back to Victor Hedman. Hedman then passed it to Shattenkirk, whose shot at a sharp angle went over Khudobin's right pad for the game-winning goal and a 3–1 series lead.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: Corey Perry opened the scoring in the first period of game five. Jamie Oleksiak passed to Tyler Seguin, who then dropped it for Perry to score the initial goal for Dallas. In the second period, the Lightning struck back when Nikita Kucherov passed to Ondrej Palat and he skated past the Dallas defencemen and goaltender Anton Khudobin with a backhand to tie the game 1–1. The Lightning kept putting the pressure on the Stars for the remainder of the second period, firing away 13 shots. In the third period, Mikhail Sergachev's blast from the point gave the Lightning a 2–1 lead. The Stars tied the game 2–2 when Miro Heiskanen's shot from the point rebounded to Joe Pavelski, who put it past Andrei Vasilevskiy to break the record held by Joe Mullen for most career playoff goals scored by a US-born player. The two teams remained tied after the fact heading into overtime. In the first overtime, Dallas put up two shots compared to Tampa Bay's seven, but no goals were scored and the game continued on to double overtime. At 9:23 of the second overtime, Perry picked up a rebound from Seguin's shot and slid the puck past Vasilevskiy to give the Stars the game 3–2, forcing a sixth game.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: In game six, the Lightning took a 1–0 lead in the first period. After John Klingberg was penalized for tripping, Brayden Point fired a wrist shot that flew past Anton Khudobin after following the rebound of his own initial shot. Tampa Bay gained a 2–0 lead in the second period when a Stars turnover to Patrick Maroon got to Cedric Paquette, who set up Blake Coleman for a one-timer. The Stars remained scoreless for the rest of the game, but they had a close chance in the second period when Joel Kiviranta's shot was stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy with his skate. Although had a goal been scored, it would have been disallowed as Corey Perry was penalized for goaltender interference on the play. The Lightning held Dallas to just 8 shots in the first two periods combined. Vasilevskiy continued his shutout in the third period, stopping all 22 shots by Dallas, earning his first playoff shutout. With a 2–0 victory, the Tampa Bay Lightning won their second Stanley Cup. Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman was given the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: Years indicated in boldface under the "Finals appearance" column signify that the player won the Stanley Cup in the given year.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: The Stanley Cup was presented to Lightning captain Steven Stamkos by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman following the Lightning's 2–0 win in game six.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: Tampa Bay had 28 players on their extended official team roster during the 2020 playoffs. Of those, 27 automatically qualified to have their names engraved.


title: 2020 Stanley Cup Finals

text: In Canada, the series was broadcast by Sportsnet and CBC Television in English, and TVA Sports in French. In the United States, the Finals were split between NBC (Games one, and four through six) and NBCSN (Games two and three). The NHL initially had plans to produce broadcasts for each game using a skeleton crew on-site, such as cameramen and producers, and then each media partners' commentators on both TV and radio were to call the games remotely. The league then allowed both Sportsnet and NBC commentators into the hubs. As he had been doing throughout the playoffs, 74-year-old NBC lead play-by-play commentator Mike "Doc" Emrick called the Cup Finals off of monitors from his home studio in Metro Detroit, citing his advanced age as a potential risk for severe illness from COVID-19. These were the final games that Emrick called; he announced his retirement on October 19, 2020.


title: Chewbacca Mask Lady

text: Chewbacca Mask Lady (also known as Chewbacca Mom) is a viral video featuring 37-year-old Texan mother Candace Payne filming herself heartily laughing while wearing a "Star Wars" Chewbacca mask. The video was posted to Facebook with the description "It's the simple joys in life..." on May 19, 2016.


title: Chewbacca Mask Lady

text: The video became so popular that "Forbes" reported that the mask sold out from every online retailer. In response to the video, Kohl's, where the mask was purchased, rewarded Payne with about $2,500 in gift cards, "Star Wars" toys and 10,000 reward points. On May 23, 2016, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield wore the masks on "This Morning". On the same day, Payne was featured on "Good Morning America". On the show, Hasbro rewarded her with more "Star Wars" toys. Later that day, The Gregory Brothers uploaded an autotuned remix of the video. Payne was later featured on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" with J. J. Abrams. She was also featured on "The Star Wars Show" on the "Star Wars" official YouTube channel on May 25, 2016. Additionally, Payne received $7,500 for a Memorial Day weekend visit at Disney's Hollywood Studios, $2,000 to attend the Fan Dallas Expo with Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew, and $400,000 in scholarship money from Southeastern University, bringing the total value of her gift to more than $420,000 as of June 7, 2016.


title: Chewbacca Mask Lady

text: On May 24, 2016, she was invited by Mark Zuckerberg to visit the Facebook headquarters in California. As of that date, the video had gathered over 140 million views on Facebook and was the most viewed Facebook Live video of all time. The video also has over three million Facebook "reshares".


title: Chewbacca Mask Lady

text: Payne visited Hasbro headquarters with her family on June 19 and was presented with a "Chewbacca Mom" action figure. The body looks like Chewbacca but the head is a representation of Payne, including a removable Chewbacca mask; it also has 13 prerecorded phrases such as "That's not me making that noise, it's the mask," and "I am such a happy Chewbacca." Payne has since signed on as a video blogger with the television network TLC and written a book about her experience "Laugh It Up!: Embrace Freedom and Experience Defiant Joy" (2017). Payne is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University.


title: Chewbacca Mask Lady

text: On July 9, 2016, Payne posted a video on Facebook of her cover of Michael Jackson's song "Heal the World" and dedicated it to the victims of the 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers, which happened days earlier in Dallas near her home. This video, and the widespread perception that it represented a misunderstanding of or a distraction from important issues, was the likely origin of the term milkshake duck, according to the term's creator.


title: Chewbacca Mask Lady

text: The video was parodied in the 2018 Disney animated film "Ralph Breaks the Internet", the sequel to 2012's "Wreck-It Ralph". In the film, before Ralph and Vanellope meet her and while determining which videos must be on BuzzzTube, Yesss and her assistant Maybe see a video entitled "Chewbacca Dad", to which Maybe explains to his boss that it is Chewbacca, but a dad rather than a mom.


title: Kerala Police

text: The Kerala Police is the law enforcement agency for the Indian state of Kerala. Kerala Police has its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. The motto of the force is "Mridhu Bhave Dhrida Kruthye" which means "Soft in Temperament, Firm in Action" in Sanskrit.


title: Kerala Police

text: Kerala Police is headed by the State Police Chief. He is the senior most Indian Police Service officer in the State and is of the rank of Director General of Police. State Police Chief is designated as the Head of the department for all administrative and operational purposes. State Police Chief is assisted by officers in the rank of Additional Director General of Police.


title: Kerala Police

text: Additional DGP (ADGP, L&O) heads this wing. The state of Kerala is divided into two police zones, North Zone and South Zone. each zone is headed by The Inspector Generals of Police (IGP). The office of IGP North zone is located at Nadakkavu in Kozhikkode district and the office of IGP South zone is located at Nandavanam, in Thiruvananthapuram district. There are 20 police districts in Kerala. All the police districts of Kerala are co-terminus with the boundaries of Revenue districts except six districts. The six Revenue districts which are divided into two police districts each are Thiruvananthapuram (Thiruvanathapuram city and Thrivanathapuram rural police districts), Ernakulam (Kochi city and Ernakulam Rural police districts), Kollam (Kollam city and Kollam rural police districts), Kozhikode (Kozhikode city and Kozhikode rural), Thrissur (Thrissur city and Thrissur rural) and Kannur (Kannur City and Kannur Rural).


title: Kerala Police

text: Each police district is headed by a District Police Chief with the rank of Superintendent of Police except for Thiruvananthapuram City and Kochi City, which are headed by officers with the rank of Inspector General of Police, and Kozhikode City, which is headed by an officer with the rank of Deputy Inspector General Police. Each Police district is divided into some subdivisions to supervise activities of several police stations under its jurisdiction.


title: Kerala Police

text: The police officer in charge of a sub division is called SDPO (Sub Divisional Police Officer). DySPs or ASPs are posted as SDPOs. The Sub Divisional Offices are headed by Sub Divisional Police Officers in the rank of Deputy superintendent of police or Assistant superintendent of police. A Sub Division is further divided into Police Station areas, each of which is under an Inspector of Police designated as Station House Officer (SHO). Inspectors in charge of police stations are known as ISHOs (Inspector SHOs). In small police stations sub-inspectors are appointed as SHOs. The SHO is assisted by Sub Inspectors of Police, Assistant Sub Inspectors of Police, Senior Civil Police Officers and Civil Police Officers. The section known as General Executive is working in the police stations of Kerala.


title: Kerala Police

text: Thiruvananthapuram City Police and Kochi City Police are headed by Commissioner of Police of the rank of Inspector General of Police. Kozhikode City Police is headed by the Commissioner of Police of the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police. Thrissur City Police, Kannur City Police and Kollam City Police are headed by Commissioner of Police of the rank of Superintendent of Police. The Commissioner of Police is assisted by Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) of the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police or Superintendent of Police and Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.


title: Kerala Police

text: The Crime Branch is the specialized investigation wing of the Kerala police. It is headed by an officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police.


title: Kerala Police

text: Crime Branch investigates cases that are entrusted to it by the State Police Chief or the Government or the High Court of Kerala. The Cyber Crime Police Stations and Hi-Tech Crime Enquiry Cell of the Kerala Police are functioning under the Crime Branch. This department was earlier known as Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CBCID).


title: Kerala Police

text: Crime Branch is the Nodal agency for Interpol related matters in the State and conducts verifications or enquiries on behalf of Interpol.


title: Kerala Police

text: Crime Branch is specialized in investigation of complex organized crimes, financial frauds, economic offences with huge ramifications, undetected or sensitive crime cases, cases with inter-state ramifications, etc.


title: Kerala Police

text: Apart from this, the District Crime Branch (C-Branch) functions under the respective District Police Chiefs. District C-Branch is headed by a Deputy Superintendent of Police. District C Branch acts as specialized investigating wing of District Police Chief which is mandated to help in investigating sensational cases at the district level.


title: Kerala Police

text: The State Special Branch is the intelligence wing of the Kerala police. This wing is headed by an officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police. The ADGP (Intelligence) is assisted by Inspector Generals of Police, Deputy Inspector Generals of Police, Superintendents of Police and Subordinate officers. State Special Branch (SSB) is primarily concerned with the collection, collation and dissemination of intelligence on and about various political, communal, terrorist, national security, labour activities and with relation to various law and order issues like agitations, strikes, demonstrations, protests, etc. The SSB is functioning as the eyes and ears of the Government.


title: Kerala Police

text: This wing is headed by an officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP APBn). There are eleven armed police battalions in the state, which serve as reserve forces to be deployed whenever and wherever district police fall short of manpower in the maintenance of law and order. Each battalion is headed by a Commandant of the rank of Superintendent of Police. Malabar Special Police is the oldest paramilitary force of India after Assam Rifles.


title: Kerala Police

text: Tourism Police wing has been functioning in the state for maintaining law and order, preventing attack and harassment on tourists. They also assist the tourists for getting tourist related information, guidance, etc. The uniform of Tourism Police Officers is sky blue shirt and khakee pants. International Tourism Police Station and Police Museum at Mattancherry in Ernakulam district is the first of its kind in the country which not only addresses grievances of tourists but also showcases the history of the Kerala Police. The primary aim of the station is to make the state of Kerala more tourist-friendly.


title: Kerala Police

text: Coastal Police Stations handle the security of the coasts and carry out the patrolling in the sea up to 12 nautical miles. The cases reported on the sea (in the Territorial Waters) will be investigated by the Coastal Police. The headquarters of Kerala Coastal Police is situated at Kochi.


title: Kerala Police

text: The responsibility of the Kerala Railway Police is to maintain law and order, prevent and detect crime on the railways and railway stations in Kerala.


title: Kerala Police

text: The Superintendent of Police (Railways) is under supervision of A.D.G.P (Intelligence & Railways). There are 13 Railway Police Stations in Kerala. They are located in the main Railway station premises at Trivandrum Central, Parassala, Kollam, Punalur, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam Junction, Thrissur, Shornur, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod.


title: Kerala Police

text: The main objectives of Pink Patrol are to prevent violence and crimes against women and children. As part of improving women safety in public places, Kerala Police has rolled out a special patrol team called pink patrol with all women police officers, patrolling across all the busy areas of the various cities of Kerala. The team has been allotted pink Maruti Suzuki sedan cars. The Pink patrol vehicles are fitted with GPS and other smart equipments for faster response and assistance as well as has on-board cameras and scanning systems to identify potential offenders.


title: Kerala Police

text: Narcotic Cell collects intelligence on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) and pass it on to concerned police stations according to the gravity of cases. Monitoring and Supervising cases registered under NDPS Act is also done by this wing. Abkari raids are being conducted by Narcotic Cell on information.


title: Kerala Police

text: District Narcotic Cell is functioning in all police districts, headed by an officer of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, and under supervision of District Police Chiefs.


title: Kerala Police

text: State Women Cell is headed by the Lady Superintendent of Police. In addition, One District Women Cell is also functioning in all Police Districts, each headed by a Woman Inspector. The State Women Cell is functioning at the Police Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram. The first Woman Police Station started at Kozhikode in 1973.


title: Kerala Police

text: Thunderbolts is the elite commando unit of Kerala Police. It performs perilous counter-terrorism, jungle-warfare, and hostage-rescue operations. Thunderbolts are a form of SPG and NSG, which are trained to take on air, water and land attacks.


title: Kerala Police

text: IPS officers are recruited from Civil Services Examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). They are also promoted from State Police Service. The first posting of a direct recruit IPS officer is to the post of Assistant Superintendent of Police.


title: Kerala Police

text: According to the "Indian Police Service (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955", Kerala Police Service officers are eligible for promotion to IPS after completion of eight years of service. But in reality, officers are generally promoted to the IPS after two and half decades in service. KPS or State Police Service officers are inducted into IPS by promotion from the rank of Superintendent of Police (Non-IPS). After completion of two decades of service, KPS officers get promoted to the Indian Police Service, after confirmation by the Ministry of Home Affairs of Government of India and the Union Public Service Commission. One-third of the total IPS strength in Kerala is reserved for KPS officers (SPS quota).


title: Kerala Police

text: Unlike other state police forces, there is no direct recruitment for the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police in the Kerala Police. The recruitment to Kerala Police Service is by Promotion from the rank of Inspector of Police.


title: Kerala Police

text: Recruitment to the post of Sub Inspector of Police (Trainee) to the Kerala Civil Police cadre is done through the competitive exam and departmental promotion tests conducted by Kerala Public Service Commission. Recruitment to the post of Sub Inspector (GE) is done through direct and promotion in the ratio of 1:1.


title: Kerala Police

text: Recruitment to the cadre of Civil Police Officer is conducted by the Kerala PSC. Apart from this, Kerala PSC conducts direct recruitment for various technical and special category posts like Police Constable (Driver), Armed Police Constable, Police Constable (Commando wing) and Police Constable (Telecommunication) Finger Print Expert and Forensic Expert, etc.


title: Kerala Police

text: The training wing of state police is headed by an officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police (Training).


title: Kerala Police

text: The Kerala Police Academy is headed by the Director of the rank of Additional Director General of Police. The Director is assisted by Joint Directors, assistant directors, HODs,etc. The academy is situated at Thrissur. The academy will cater to the training needs of all officers of police department including IPS officers.


title: Kerala Police

text: The head of Police Training College is Principal in the rank of Superintendent of Police. It is situated in Thiruvananthapuram. The Basic Training and In-service courses are key Training programmes carried out in PTC. Apart from giving Basic Training, many In-Service Courses such as Refresher courses, Re-orientation courses, Familiarization courses, Cader courses are also being undertaken at PTC. Basic training for Excise Inspectors, Forest Officers are also now being conducted. Training of Probationary Officers is carried out in PTC.


title: Kerala Police

text: The Government of Kerala has decided to give Grade Senior Civil Police Officer (SCPO Grade) Rank to Civil Police Officers who have completed 12 years of service from 2020, Senior Civil Police Officers who have completed 20 years of service will be given the rank of Grade Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI Grade) and Assistant Sub Inspectors who have completed 25 years of service from 2019 will be given the rank of Grade Sub Inspector (SI Grade). They will continue to carry the duties and responsibilities of the rank when they receive the honorary grade.


title: Kerala Police

text: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has termed Kerala Police as best in the country. In 2021 Kerala Police bagged the National e-Governance Award.


title: Kerala Police

text: There have been several allegations of irregularities and brutalities by Kerala Police officials. Kerala Police has been accused of failure in curbing violence and failure to act on intelligence reports. Indian poet Dr Tapan Kumar Pradhan in his books and social media posts has exposed several irregularities in criminal investigation by Kerala Police, especially in Hemangi Sharma Fraud Case.


title: Kerala Police

text: Members of the Kerala Police have been frequently portrayed in Malayalam films. Some of the prominent ones are:


title: Matías Viña

text: Matías Nicolás Viña Susperreguy (born 9 November 1997) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Serie A club Roma and the Uruguay national team.


title: Matías Viña

text: Viña was signed by Nacional in 2015 when he was 17 years old. He joined the Fourth Division and had the opportunity to practice with the professional team. One year later, Viña achieved his first minutes with the club's reserve team, having played 8 games in the Third Division. On 31 January 2020, Viña left the club to join Série A side Palmeiras, where he won the treble consisting of the Campeonato Paulista, Copa Libertadores and Copa do Brasil. In August 2021, he signed for A.S. Roma.


title: Matías Viña

text: Making his debut in 2016 for the Uruguay under-20 team in a friendly against Chile, Viña played in both the 2017 South American U-20 Championship, coming first, and in the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, finishing in fourth place. He played 27 games for the youth selection, scoring four times.


title: Matías Viña

text: Viña made his senior international debut for Uruguay on 6 September 2019, coming on from the bench in a friendly against Costa Rica. His debut as a starter came four days later, in a friendly against the United States; Viña played the whole 90 minutes in a 1–1 draw.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Santa Rosa, officially the City of Santa Rosa (), is a 1st class component city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 414,812 people.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: It is the second largest local government unit in Laguna after Calamba. On August 28, 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11395, which separated the city from the first district, allowing it to elect its separate representative beginning in the 2022 elections. However, for the purposes of electing Sangguniang Panlalawigan members, Santa Rosa remains part of the province's first Sangguniang Panlalawigan District.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Santa Rosa was initially known for the Coca-Cola and Toyota manufacturing plants in its industrial estates. Recently, it has become popular for being the site of Enchanted Kingdom, a local theme park, and several housing developments.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: In 1571, Spanish "conquistador" Juan de Salcedo, the grandson of Miguel López de Legazpi, founded the town of Biñan which was annexed as a barrio to Tabuco (now Cabuyao) while exploring the region of Laguna de Bay.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: In 1688, Biñan, together with Barrio Bukol, separated from Cabuyao. After a series of renaming and separating barrios to become independent towns, Barrio Bukol was politically emancipated as the municipality of Santa Rosa, which was named after Saint Rose of Lima. The municipality of Santa Rosa was founded on January 18, 1792.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: During the revolutionary period in 1898, the town was instrumental in the proclamation of Philippine independence from Spain when the country signed the Act of Independence on June 12, 1898. Later on, the town's local revolutionaries fought alongside the forces of Pío del Pilar during the Philippine–American War.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: On February 5, 1945, the town was abandoned by Japanese soldiers when the local guerrilla resistance movement, with support from the American and Filipino military contingent, entered the town, where skirmishes, torture, and deaths occurred.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: During the postwar era up until the 1970s, the townspeople primarily depended on basic agriculture and family-owned enterprises for their livelihood. The influence of industrialization grew in the 1980s with the entry of local and foreign investors who were responsible for the fast-paced economic and social transformation of the town and the province.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: On July 10, 2004, Santa Rosa was converted into a city by Republic Act No. 9264, which was approved by voters in the plebiscite. Leon Arcillas, who was sworn in for his third and final term ten days before, became its first city mayor.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Arcillas was assassinated at the former city hall by two gunmen. They were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013. Jose Catindig Jr., who served as vice mayor, became mayor to serve out the remainder of his term. On May 14, 2007, Catindig, who ran for his full term as mayor, was defeated by Arcillas' daughter, Arlene B. Arcillas.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: The western half of the city occupies the numerous commercial, industrial, and business establishments, while the other is primarily composed of residential areas and subdivisions, schools, industrial zones, and various business establishments.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: The population of Santa Rosa is fast-growing with an intercensal growth rate of 7% from 1990 to 1995, exponentially increasing in subsequent decades (except between the 2007 and 2010 censuses).


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Some inhabitants of Santa Rosa today erroneously refer to themselves as "Rosanians"; since Santa Rosa is a Spanish name, the correct demonym should be "Rosaños".


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Like other places in Metro Manila, the original settlers in Santa Rosa are Tagalogs. Throughout the centuries, there has been constant migration of Spaniards, Visayans, Bikolanos, Ilokanos, Chinese, and Americans.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: The main language is Filipino, which is based on Tagalog. In addition, due to continuous development of the city, English is used in education, business and information technology.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Most people are Roman Catholics. Other religious groups represented include the Aglipayans (members of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente – a breakout group from the Catholic Church in 1902 headed by the Union Obrera Democratica), the Church of God International, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Jesus Is Lord Church, Baptist, Jehovah's Witness, and Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo (Unida Evangelical Christian Church). In 1994, some migrants and expatriates have formed the Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church (under the canonical jurisdiction of The Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong/Philippines-Ecumenical Patriarchate) in Golden City Subdivision.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Santa Rosa is considered to be the premier city and hub of South Luzon. It is also known as the Lion City of South Luzon. According to the 2013 COA AFR report, the city has an annual income of , surpassing the income of Calamba and Batangas City. Santa Rosa is now the richest city in Luzon outside of Metro Manila in terms of annual income.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Major commercial banks in the Philippines operate in the city. Currently, the city hosts banking institutions that offer banking services to businesses and residents. Most of these are concentrated in barangays Balibago, Don Jose, Macabling, Pulong Santa Cruz, Santo Domingo, and Tagapo.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: A number of car brands have put up dealerships in Santa Rosa. Prominent car dealerships include Toyota, Chevrolet, Ford (Borromeo), Foton, Honda (ANC), Hyundai, Isuzu (Gencars), JMC, Kia, Mazda (Borromeo), MG Motor (Greenfield), Mitsubishi (Amcar), Nissan (Greenfield), Subaru (ANC), and Volkswagen (Greenfield).


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Furthermore, the Borromeo's Ford and Mazda have recently set up shops while two of the six ANC Group brands, Honda and Subaru, have branches in Santa Rosa.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: The city host various shopping malls: SM City Santa Rosa, Robinsons Place Santa Rosa, Ayala Malls Solenad, Walter Mart Santa Rosa, Walter Mart Santa Rosa Bel-Air, Victory Mall Santa Rosa, Vista Mall Sta. Rosa, Paseo Outlets (formerly and still commonly known as Paseo de Santa Rosa), Laguna Central, Arcadia, and Target Mall. A new branch of CityMall in the city is currently under construction.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Dubbed as the "Motor City of the Philippines" or "Detroit City of the Philippines", Santa Rosa is host to multinational automotive giants Nissan Motors Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation, and Mitsubishi – all contributing 95 percent of the country's automotive production. It is also the location for the headquarters of Santarosa Motor Works, Inc.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Food conglomerate Monde Nissin Corporation, which manufactures Lucky Me! instant noodles and Monde biscuits, has a manufacturing facility in the city. San Miguel Brewery and Magnolia also have a plant in the city. Santa Rosa is also home to the largest plant of The Coca-Cola Company in the Philippines, situated next to the Santa Rosa Exit of South Luzon Expressway. In 2018, Santa Rosa became the new home of HAMBURG Trading Corporation's facility that houses the company's warehouse, administration office, and state-of-the-art demo kitchen – all in one roof.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Santa Rosa is aiming to be the next hub for the BPO industry. It is currently ranked 82nd in the world for its competitiveness in the Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing services (IT-BPO) by the leading strategic advisory firm, THOLONS. BPO companies present in Santa Rosa are IQor, KGB, Teletech, IBM, Ubisoft, and Concentrix.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Santa Rosa is serviced by South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and Cavite–Laguna Expressway (CALAX). Two exits of SLEX are located in the city: Santa Rosa Exit and Eton City (Malitlit) Exit. The city is also accessible through Greenfield City (Mamplasan) Exit in Biñan, which provides access to CALAX, SM City Santa Rosa, and the Santa Rosa city proper. Two exits of CALAX directly serve the city, namely: Sta. Rosa City Exit (located in Barangay Carmen, Silang, Cavite) and Laguna Boulevard Exit (located within the city). A four-lane national highway from Alabang, Muntinlupa up to Calamba, Laguna passes through the city. Another road, Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Road, acts as the main route for people going up to Tagaytay from Metro Manila, especially on weekends and vacation periods.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Public transportation within the city, like in most of the urban areas in the Philippines, is facilitated mostly using inexpensive jeepneys. Tricycles are also used for short distances. The Santa Rosa railway station is located in barangay Labas, near the city center. The city is also the location of the Santa Rosa Commercial Complex, a well-known intermodal transport and commercial hub in barangay Balibago, and the Santa Rosa Integrated Terminal, a provincial bus station serving Metro Manila and eventually other parts south of Metro Manila.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Santa Rosa's source of electricity is partly from Meralco. Its water supply is provided by the Laguna Water Inc., except for Vista Land Developments (including Sta. Elena City), which is provided by Primewater Infrastructure Corporation. Santa Rosa's communication system is powered by Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) and Globe Telecom, and the cellular network in the Philippines, particularly in metropolitan areas, is increasing due to the low cost of calls and text messaging. Globe Telecom, Smart Communications (PLDT), and Dito Telecommunity provide cellular networks in Santa Rosa. Cable and satellite Television access is provided by SkyCable, G Sat, Cignal Digital TV, and Royal Cable. Internet Digital Subscriber Line or DSL coverage is provided by PLDT, cable internet is serviced by SkyCable's ZPDee and Global Destiny. Fiber Internet Wireless broadband is provided by Globelines Broadband and Smart Communications.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: The Santa Rosa Community Hospital is the primary public hospital of Santa Rosa. The city also hosts at least seven other private hospitals: New Sinai MDI Hospital and Medical Center, Marian Hospital, Balibago Polyclinic and Hospital, St. James Hospital in Dita, Sta. Rosa Hospital and Medical Center along RSBS Boulevard in Balibago, The Medical City South Luzon in Greenfield City, and QualiMed Hospital – Sta. Rosa in Nuvali.


title: Santa Rosa, Laguna

text: Santa Rosa City is governed primarily by the city mayor, the vice mayor, and the city councilors. The mayor acts as the chief executive of the city while the city councilors act as its legislative body. The vice mayor, besides taking on mayoral responsibilities in case of a temporary vacancy, acts as the presiding officer of the city legislature. The legislative body is composed of 12 regular members and representatives from the barangay and the youth council.


title: Freaky Tah

text: Tahliq Raymond Rogers (May 14, 1971 – March 28, 1999), better known as Freaky Tah, was an American rapper, music promoter and hype man. Freaky Tah was a member of a hip hop group called the Lost Boyz, together with Mr. Cheeks, DJ Spigg Nice, and Pretty Lou.


title: Freaky Tah

text: On the night of March 28, 1999, after leaving Mr. Cheeks' birthday party with friends William Brown and Thomas Roman of Boston, Massachusetts, Rogers was fatally shot by Kelvin Jones while he was going towards the exit of a Sheraton hotel in Queens, New York. It was a case of mistaken identity. He was pronounced dead at the nearby Jamaica Hospital. He was aged 27 at the time of his death.


title: Freaky Tah

text: The getaway driver, Raheem Fletcher, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Jones pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years for second degree murder. As of 2022 Jones was incarcerated at Elmira Correctional Facility in Upstate New York. He became eligible for parole in 2014, and was denied. He will become eligible again in 2023.


title: Widescreen

text: Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35 mm film.


title: Widescreen

text: For television, the original screen ratio for broadcasts was in fullscreen (1.33:1). Largely between the 1990s and early 2000s, at varying paces in different nations, (1.78:1) widescreen TV displays came into increasingly common use. They are typically used in conjunction with high-definition television (HDTV) receivers, or Standard-Definition (SD) DVD players and other digital television sources.


title: Widescreen

text: With computer displays, aspect ratios wider than 4:3 are also referred to as widescreen. Widescreen computer displays were previously made in a 16:10 aspect ratio (e.g. 1680 × 1050), but now are usually 16:9 (e.g. 1920 × 1080).


title: Widescreen

text: Widescreen was first used for "The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight" (1897). This was not only the longest film that had been released to date at 100 minutes, but also the first widescreen film being shot on 63 mm Eastman stock with five perforations per frame.


title: Widescreen

text: Widescreen was first widely used in the late 1920s in some short films and newsreels, and feature films, notably Abel Gance's film "Napoleon" (1927) with a final widescreen sequence in what Gance called Polyvision. Claude Autant-Lara released a film "Pour construire un feu" ("To Build a Fire", 1928) in the early Henri Chrétien widescreen process, later adapted by Twentieth Century-Fox for CinemaScope in 1952.


title: Widescreen

text: The experimental Natural Vision widescreen process developed by George K. Spoor and P. John Berggren used 63.5 mm film and had a 2:1 aspect ratio. In 1926, a Natural Vision film of Niagara Falls was released. In 1927, the Natural Vision process was used in the production of "The American" "The Flag Maker". It was directed by J. Stuart Blackton and starred Bessie Love and Charles Ray, but was never released theatrically.


title: Widescreen

text: On May 26, 1929, Fox Film Corporation released "Fox Grandeur News" and "Fox Movietone Follies of 1929" in New York City in the Fox Grandeur process. Other films shot in widescreen were the musical "Happy Days" (1929) which premiered at the Roxy Theater, New York City, on February 13, 1930, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell and a 12-year-old Betty Grable as a chorus girl; "Song o' My Heart", a musical feature starring Irish tenor John McCormack and directed by Frank Borzage ("Seventh Heaven", "A Farewell to Arms"), which was shipped from the labs on March 17, 1930, but never released and may no longer survive, according to film historian Miles Kreuger (the 35 mm version, however, debuted in New York on March 11, 1930); and the western "The Big Trail" (1930) starring John Wayne and Tyrone Power, Sr. which premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on October 2, 1930, all of which were also made in the 70 mm Fox Grandeur process.


title: Widescreen

text: RKO Radio Pictures released "Danger Lights" with Jean Arthur, Louis Wolheim, and Robert Armstrong on August 21, 1930 in a 65 mm widescreen process known as NaturalVision, invented by film pioneer George K. Spoor. On November 13, 1930, United Artists released "The Bat Whispers" directed by Roland West in a 70 mm widescreen process known as Magnafilm. Warner Brothers released "Song of the Flame" and "Kismet" (both 1930) in a widescreen process they called Vitascope.


title: Widescreen

text: In 1930, after experimenting with the system called Fantom Screen for "The Trail of '98" (1928), MGM came out with a system called Realife. MGM filmed "The Great Meadow" (1930) in Realife. However, it is unclear whether it was released in that widescreen process due to declining interest of the movie-going public.


title: Widescreen

text: By 1932, the Great Depression had forced studios to cut back on needless expense and it was not until 1953 that wider aspect ratios were again used in an attempt to stop the fall in attendance due, partially, to the emergence of television in the U.S. However, a few producers and directors, among them Alfred Hitchcock, were reluctant to use the anamorphic widescreen size featured in such formats as Cinemascope. Hitchcock used VistaVision, a non-anamorphic widescreen process developed by Paramount Pictures and Technicolor which could be adjusted to present various flat aspect ratios.


title: Widescreen

text: Masked (or flat) widescreen was introduced in April 1953. The negative is shot exposing the Academy ratio using spherical lenses, but the top and bottom of the picture are hidden or masked off by a metal aperture plate, cut to specifications of the theater's screen, in the projector. Alternatively, a hard matte in the printing or shooting stages may be used to mask off those areas while filming for composition purposes, but an aperture plate is still used to block off the appropriate areas in the theater. A detriment is that the film grain size is thus increased because only part of the image is being expanded to full height. Films are designed to be shown in cinemas in masked widescreen format but the full unmasked frame is sometimes used for television, known as an open matte. In such an instance, a photographer will compose for widescreen, but "protect" the full image from things such as microphones and other filming equipment. Standardized "flat wide screen" ratios are 1.66:1, 1.75:1, 1.85:1, and 2:1. 1.85:1 has become the predominant aspect ratio for the format.


title: Widescreen

text: 35 mm anamorphic – This type of widescreen is used for CinemaScope, Panavision, and several other equivalent processes. The film is essentially shot "squeezed", so that the actors appear vertically elongated on the actual film. A special lens inside the projector unsqueezes the image so that it will appear normal. Films shot in CinemaScope or Panavision are usually projected at a aspect ratio, though the historical aspect ratio can be 2.55:1 (original 4-track magnetic sound aspect ratio) or 2.35:1 (original mono optical sound aspect ratio). The negative is usually 2.66:1 or, in rare cases, 2.55:1 or 2.35:1. The sole purpose of the change to 2.39:1 and, later, to 2.40:1, was to better hide so-called "negative assembly" splices (splices employed in the composited camera negative. This was not a production change, rather it was a recommended projection change.)


title: Widescreen

text: A Chilean film, "Post Mortem", used anamorphic lenses with 16 mm film, to be projected at an ultra-widescreen 2.66:1 for a unique look.


title: Widescreen

text: Super gauges – The full negative frame, including the area traditionally reserved for the sound track, is filmed using a wider gate. The print is then shrunk and/or cropped in order to fit it back onto release prints. The aspect ratio for Super 35, for example, can be set to virtually any projection standard.


title: Widescreen

text: Large gauge – A 70 mm film frame is not only twice as wide as a standard frame but also has greater height. Shooting and projecting a film in 70 mm therefore gives more than four times the image area of non-anamorphic 35 mm film providing a major improvement in image quality. Few major dramatic narrative films have been filmed entirely on this format since the 1970s; the three most recent are Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet", Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" and Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight". For many years, large budget pictures shot anamorphically used reserve stocks of 70 mm film for SFX shots involving CGI or blue-screen compositing as the anamorphic format creates problems with said effects. It has also been used to sometimes strike 70 mm blow-up prints for "roadshow" tours in select cities from the 35 mm camera negative in order to capitalize on the extra sound channels provided. The introduction of digital sound systems and diminishing number of installed 70 mm projectors has made a 70 mm release largely obsolete. However, blowups from 35 mm formats to IMAX have been used for a limited number of blockbuster films.


title: Widescreen

text: Paramount's VistaVision was a larger gauge precursor to 70 mm film. Introduced in 1954, it ran standard 35 mm film through the camera horizontally to achieve a widescreen effect using greater negative area, in order to create a finer-grained four-perforation 35 mm prints in an era where standard monopack stock could not produce finer results. Negative frames were eight perforations wide. Eight-perf photography is sometimes used for shooting special effects in order to produce a finer grained matte that can be used in optical printing without image degradation, and is notable for its use in Lucasfilm's original three "Star Wars" films, among others. Another similar system with horizontal orientation was MGM's "Arnoldscope".


title: Widescreen

text: Multiple lens camera/multiple projectors – The Cinerama system originally involved shooting with three lens camera, and projecting the three resulting films on a curved screen with three synchronized projectors, resulting in an ultrawide aspect ratio of 2.89. Later Cinerama movies were shot in 70 mm anamorphic (see below), and the resultant widescreen image was divided into three by optical printers to produce the final threefold prints.


title: Widescreen

text: The technical drawbacks of Cinerama are discussed in its own article. Only two narrative feature films, "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" and "How the West Was Won", were filmed in three-camera Cinerama, and several sequences from the latter were actually filmed in Ultra-Panavision. With the exception of a few films created sporadically for use in specialty Cinerama theaters, the format is effectively obsolete.


title: Widescreen

text: A non-Cinerama, three-projector process was pioneered for the final reel of Abel Gance's epic film "Napoléon" (1927)


title: Widescreen

text: The process, called Polyvision by Gance, consisted of three 1.33 images side by side, so that the total aspect ratio of the image is 4:1. The technical difficulties in mounting a full screening of the film, however, make most theaters unwilling or unable to show it in this format.


title: Widescreen

text: Between 1956 and 1957, the Soviets developed Kinopanorama, which is identical in most respects to the original three-camera Cinerama.


title: Widescreen

text: Anamorphic 70 mm – 70 mm with anamorphic lenses, popularly known as "Ultra Panavision" or "MGM Camera 65", creates an even wider high-quality picture. This camera process was used for the remake of "Ben-Hur" (1959), resulting in an aspect ratio of 2.76:1, one of the widest projected images ever used for a feature film. 70 mm anamorphic was not commonly used, due to the very high production costs, although it was favored for epic films such as "Ben-Hur" in order to capture wide panoramic landscapes and high-budget scenes with thousands of extras and enormous sets. This system is obsolete.


title: Widescreen

text: The original screen ratio for television broadcasts was 4:3 (1.33:1). This was the same aspect ratio as most cinema screens and films at the time television was first sold commercially. Earlier 4:3 films such as "Gone with the Wind" have always been displayed on television in full frame, though color television was invented later.


title: Widescreen

text: When preparing a film that was originally intended to be displayed in widescreen for television broadcast the material was often edited with the sides truncated, using techniques such as Center cut or pan and scan. Sometimes, in the case of Super 35, the full film negative was shown unmasked on TV (i.e. with the hard matte removed), however this causes the 4:3 image not to be what the director intended the audience to see, and sometimes boom mics, edited out of the shot when the picture is matted, can be visible. Modern widescreen televisions feature a 16:9 (and occasionally 16:10) aspect ratio, allowing them to display a 16:9 widescreen picture without letterboxing (or with a minimal letterbox in the case of 16:10).


title: Widescreen

text: The first widescreen TV sold in the United States was the Thomson Consumer Electronics RCA CinemaScreen, sold in 1993.


title: Widescreen

text: In Europe, the PAL TV format, with its higher resolution than NTSC format, meant the quality issues of letterboxed or matted movies on TV was not as severe. There is also an extension to PAL, called PALplus, which allows specially equipped receivers to receive a PAL picture as true 16:9 with a full 576 lines of vertical resolution, provided the station employs the same system. Standard PAL receivers will receive such a broadcast as a 16:9 image letterboxed to 4:3, with a small amount of color noise in the black bars; this "noise" is actually the additional lines which are hidden inside the color signal. This system has no equivalent in analog NTSC broadcasting.


title: Widescreen

text: Despite the existence of PALplus and support for widescreen in the DVB-based digital satellite, terrestrial and cable broadcasts in use across Europe, only Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, the Nordic countries and the UK have adopted widescreen on a large scale, with over half of all widescreen channels available by satellite in Europe targeting those areas. The UK, in particular, began moving to widescreen with the advent of digital terrestrial television in the late 1990s, and commercials were required to be delivered to broadcasters in widescreen as of 1 July 2000, on their widescreen "C-Day".


title: Widescreen

text: Widescreen televisions are typically used in conjunction with Digital, High-Definition Television (HDTV) receivers, or Standard-Definition (SD) DVD players and other digital television sources. Digital material is provided to widescreen TVs either in high-definition format, which is natively 16:9 (1.78:1), or as an anamorphically-compressed standard-definition picture. Typically, devices decoding Digital Standard-Definition pictures can be programmed to provide anamorphic widescreen formatting, for 16:9 sets, and formatting for 4:3 sets. Pan-and-scan mode can be used on 4:3 if the producers of the material have included the necessary panning data; if this data is absent, letterboxing or centre cut-out is used.


title: Widescreen

text: HD DVD and Blu-ray players were introduced in 2006. Toshiba ceased production of HD DVD players in early 2008. Consumer camcorders are also available in the HD-video format at fairly low prices. These developments will result in more options for viewing widescreen images on television monitors.


title: Communism and LGBT rights

text: Communist attitudes towards LGBT rights have evolved radically in recent years. In the 19th and 20th century, communist parties and Marxist–Leninist states varied on LGBT rights; some were among the first political parties to support LGBT rights while others harshly persecuted people of the LGBT community (especially gay men).


title: Communism and LGBT rights

text: Communist leaders and intellectuals took many different positions on LGBT-rights issues. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels said very little on the subject in their published works and what they did say was contemptuous. Marx in particular commented rarely on sexuality in general.


title: Communism and LGBT rights

text: The "Encyclopedia of Homosexuality" volume two is unequivocal on Marx and Engels view of homosexuality, stating: "There can be little doubt that, as far as they thought of the matter at all, Marx and Engels were personally homo-phobic, as shown by an acerbic 1869 exchange of letter on Jean Baptista von Schweitzer, a German socialist rival. Schweitzer had been arrested in a park on a morals charge and not only did Marx and Engels refuse to join a committee defending him, they resorted to the cheapest form of bathroom humor in their private comments about the affair."


title: Communism and LGBT rights

text: One of the first important politicians to speak out in favour of gay rights in public debates was the German Marxist and co-founder of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, August Bebel. Although Bebel personally considered same sex relationships to be "against nature", he was among the signatories of Magnus Hirschfeld's petition from the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee to overturn Paragraph 175 from the German penal code. The bill brought before the Reichstag in 1898 was supported only by a minority from the Social Democratic Party of Germany led by Bebel. Among other signatories was the Marxist theoretician Karl Kautsky.


title: Communism and LGBT rights

text: In 1895, Marxist theorist Eduard Bernstein of the Social Democratic Party of Germany wrote a defense of Oscar Wilde (who had been on trial for homosexual behavior) in "Die Neue Zeit", a materialist critique of social attitudes concerning the subject of sexuality. Among other arguments he made, he stated that the characterization of homosexuality as "unnatural" was inappropriate, preferring "not the norm" instead. During the Weimar Republic, the Communist Party of Germany joined with the Social Democrats in support of efforts to legalize private homosexual relations between consenting adults.


title: Communism and LGBT rights

text: The situation for LGBT rights in the first Communist government in Russia was somewhat mixed. In the early Soviet Union, the Communist Party abolished all oppressive Czarist laws in 1917 related to sexuality. In 1917 the Soviet government also decriminalised homosexuality, and the subsequent Soviet criminal code in the 1920s did not criminalize non-commercial same-sex sexuality between consenting adults in private. "The Sexual Revolution in Russia", a 1923 four-page pamphlet written by , noted that Soviet law post-1917 regarded gay sexual practices to be part of normal human sexual behaviour, and did not criminalize them as all matters of sex were a private matter. However, outside the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and Ukrainian SSR, homosexuality remained a criminal offense in certain Soviet republics in the 1920s (particularly the Muslim-dominated Soviet Republics in Central Asia) and Soviet policy was often inconsistent in terms of pursuing homosexual rights and wider legal/social equality for homosexual people. Official Soviet policy on homosexuality in the 1920s also fluctuated: between legal and social tolerance of homosexuals and homosexuality to state attempts to classify homosexuality as a mental disorder. In 1933, Article 121 was added to the entire Soviet Union criminal code, which made male homosexuality a crime punishable by up to five years in prison with hard labor. The precise reason for Article 121 is in some dispute among historians. The few official government statements made about the law tended to confuse homosexuality with pedophilia and was tied up with a belief that homosexuality was practiced only among fascists or the aristocracy. The law remained intact until after the dissolution of the Soviet Union; it was repealed in 1993.


title: Communism and LGBT rights

text: Gay men were sometimes denied membership or expelled from communist parties across the globe during the 20th century, as most communist parties followed the social precedents set by the USSR. However, this was not always the case in the West.


title: Communism and LGBT rights

text: The phrase "" originated in Weimar Germany in the 1920s by Pastor Ludwig Hoppe of Berlin as a more general term of approbation at licentiousness. When Nazi Germany came into being after the failures of the Weimar government, the Nazis used the term "sexual Bolshevism" to refer to perceived sexual degeneracy, in particular homosexuality.


title: Communism and LGBT rights

text: In the early 1920s, Western communist party leaders propagated the view that the increase in homosexuality and the open discussion of homosexuality were caused by capitalism "in its death throes". In their view, homosexuality would vanish.