prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: MV Miralda's owner announced it was in the process of doing what in April 2010?

The following are given passages.
Context 1: Passage 1:
Movie Gallery
Movie Gallery, Inc  (former NASDAQ ticker symbol MOVI) was the second largest movie and game rental company in the United States and Canada, behind Blockbuster Video  The company rented and sold Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, VHS tapes, and video games  Founded in Dothan, Alabama, the company was headquartered in Dothan, and later in Wilsonville, Oregon 
On April 30, 2010, Movie Gallery announced it was closing and liquidating all of its stores per a filing of Chapter 7 bankruptcy  At its peak the firm had about 4,700 stores in North America, operating mainly under the Movie Gallery, Hollywood Video, and GameCrazy brands  The last of the company's stores were closed in August 2010 
In 2011, three Movie Gallery locations in Northwest Arkansas reopened by an independent business owner who acquired the trademark rights in Arkansas  In 2013, an independent businessman in Jackson, Mississippi acquired the trademark rights in Mississippi to Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video and announced intentions to reopen select previously profitable stores 
Most regular Movie Galleries were located in rural areas, while Hollywood Video locations, which competed directly with Blockbuster, were located in urban areas 

History
Movie Gallery was formed in 1985 by Joe Malugen and Harrison Parrish in Dothan, Alabama  Through its wholly owned subsidiary, M G A , the company's founders began operating video specialty stores in southern Alabama and the Florida panhandle, and franchising the Movie Gallery store concept  By June 1987 the company owned five stores and had a franchise operation of 45 stores  In 1988, the company began to consolidate the franchisees into company owned stores  By 1992, the company had a total of 37 stores and annual revenues of $6 million 
In August 1994, the company completed an initial public offering of its stock  With the proceeds from this offering, the company began to quickly complete acquisitions of various video chains, primarily in the southeast  In early 1995, the company raised additional public funds and continued the acquisition and development of stores  By the middle of 1996, only 22 months after beginning its aggressive expansion strategy, Movie Gallery had grown to over 850 stores through over 100 separate acquisitions 
In 1999, Movie Gallery announced plans to build 100 new stores  The company completed an 88-store acquisition of Blowout Entertainment in May and ended the year with more than 950 locations in 31 states  In 2000, Movie Gallery again set its goal at opening 100 new stores and relocating 25  This goal was surpassed 
The company moved forward with its largest single-chain acquisition to date, expanding its base of stores by 30%, in late December 2001  The addition of Video Update stores to the Movie Gallery family launched the company's international presence with 100 retail locations in Canada  Movie Gallery achieved the 1,678 store mark in 2002 In 2005, the company completed the largest acquisition to date with the Hollywood Entertainment merger  This combination of companies increased the store total to 4,700 with revenues in excess of $2 5 billion  In addition, Movie Gallery opened 61 new stores in Western Canada with the acquisition of VHQ Entertainment 

Downfall
The company began having financial difficulties and announced the closure of 520 stores in September 2007  At the time Movie Gallery had about 4,500 locations  The next month, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under the U S  Bankruptcy Code  Because of these troubles, the stock price dropped below $1 per share and was removed from listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange in November 2007 An additional 400 stores were scheduled to close during the bankruptcy reorganization  Movie Gallery emerged from Chapter 11 in May 2008 and appointed C  J  Gabriel, Jr  as the new chief executive officer  Founder and former CEO Joe Malugen continued to serve on the Movie Gallery Board of Directors until leaving on July 30, 2008  The company relocated its headquarters to Wilsonville, Oregon, (home of the Hollywood Video subsidiary) in late 2008  In January 2009, they closed their Wilsonville distribution center In early 2009, Movie Gallery operated about 2,700 locations and 1,300 Hollywood Video locations in the United States  Canadian operations included over 200 "Movie Gallery" branded stores, as well as approximately 60 under the VHQ brand in western Canada  In 2009 Movie Gallery closed its Wilsonville, Oregon distribution facility, merging it with one in Nashville, Tennessee The Chapter 11 reorganization plan failed to solve all of the company's problems; Movie Gallery's stock fell from $1 25 at close in October 2009 to $0 05 a share at close on December 3, 2009, and many locations fell behind on rent  On February 1, 2010, stores received a report stating that about 800 stores were to be shut down  The company hired the law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal to prepare for a second filing of bankruptcy, and on February 3, 2010, they again filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection  During a company-wide conference call on April 30, 2010, it was announced that all U S  Hollywood Video, Movie Gallery, and Game Crazy stores would file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in May 2010  On June 8, 2010, the company's Canadian stores also entered liquidation The last US Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video locations closed on July 31, 2010, and the liquidation sale was completed  The remaining Canadian stores closed during the week of August 8  The contents of the company's headquarters were auctioned off in August 2010 

Subsidiaries
MovieBeam
MovieBeam was a set-top service offered in larger cities in which customers could download movies to a set-top box  Most movies expired within 24 hours of downloading  The company was founded by Disney and other investors as an alternative to online movie downloads  A special set-top box had to be purchased by consumers for the service at a retail price of $149 95  Most major movie studios provided new release content to the service  However, MovieBeam failed to gain any serious traction in the marketplace  MovieBeam was shut down on December 15, 2007  As of June 2008 the remnants of MovieBeam, including its trademarks and other intellectual properties, were sold to an outside investors group for approximately $2 million as part of the company's restructuring  All in-store kiosks for the service were then removed as well 

Hollywood Video
Hollywood Video, a subsidiary of Movie Gallery, Inc , operated from Wilsonville, Oregon, as a DVD and video game rental shop chain in the United States  It was started in 1988 by former CEO Mark Wattles and his wife  The chain was the largest direct competitor of Blockbuster Video until it was purchased by Movie Gallery in 2005  Hollywood Video declared bankruptcy in February 2010 and announced that it would shut down three months later 

Purchase of Hollywood Video
Hollywood Video was the target of a hostile takeover attempt, initially announced at the end of December 2004 by competitor Blockbuster Video  In February 2005, Blockbuster announced an exchange offer of $14 50 per share ($11 50 cash and $3 00 in Blockbuster shares) In order to create a stronger position against the hostile takeover, Hollywood Video agreed to a buyout on Monday, January 10, 2005, by its smaller competitor Movie Gallery  Movie Gallery paid $860 million, $13 25 per share, and the assumption of $380 million in debt  Stocks closed at $13 85 on January 10 after the news  Blockbuster then dropped its purchase plans, citing anti-trust concerns  Movie Gallery completed its purchase of Hollywood Video on April 27, 2005 

Headquarters
Movie Gallery originally had its headquarters in Dothan, Alabama  In Dothan, the company had 70,000 square feet (6,500 m2) of space in the Porter Square Mall  Later in its life the company's headquarters were in Wilsonville, Oregon In 2005 Movie Gallery bought Hollywood Video, gaining Hollywood's office space in Oregon  Movie Gallery operated its Oregon office out of the space, and Hollywood Video, now a subsidiary of Movie Gallery, maintained its headquarters in Wilsonville  In 2007 Movie Gallery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection  In 2008 when the company emerged from Chapter 11, its new upper management had no ties whatsoever to Dothan, Alabama  Joe Malugen, the founder of Movie Gallery, was no longer the CEO; instead, C  J  Gabriel, an Idaho resident, was named the CEO  Because of this, Jim Cook of The Enterprise Ledger said "there may be little motivation for keeping the home office" in Dothan  In 2008 the headquarters moved to Wilsonville  The former Porter Square Mall space went up for lease or sale  Movie Gallery kept some central employees in Dothan, and the company said that it would continue to have a "presence" in Dothan  Wendy Culverwell of the Portland Business Journal said that the headquarters move decision was "unusual" because "most of Hollywood Entertainment's decision-making authority went to Alabama after the sale to Movie Gallery in 2005 "After the company filed for Chapter 7, Great American Group, Inc  held an auction on August 17, 2010, at the Wilsonville, Oregon headquarters of Movie Gallery, auctioning away the company's equipment 

See also
Veterans Memorial Stadium in Troy, Alabama, formerly Movie Gallery Stadium
Passage 2:
MV Miralda
MV Miralda was one of nine Anglo Saxon Royal Dutch/Shell oil tankers converted to become a Merchant Aircraft Carrier (MAC ship)  The group is collectively known as the Rapana class 
Macoma was launched in July 1936 at Nederlandse Scheepsbouw Mij, Amsterdam as an oil tanker  Her conversion to a MAC ship was completed in January 1944 As a MAC ship, she had no aircraft hangar, and continued to carry normal cargoes, although operating under Royal Navy control   Only her air crew and the necessary maintenance staff were naval personnel 
The British Ship Adoption Society, a Maritime Charity, was formed in the early part of the Second World War, with a large number of schools taking part in the scheme, amassing comforts for a particular ship and in return the children would receive letters of thanks and news from various ports around the world to which it would sail  the M V Miralda was adopted by Styal Cottage Homes, a home colony and school for orphaned and destitute children of Manchester After the war, Miralda was reconverted and returned to merchant service as an oil tanker and served in that role until scrapped in Hong Kong in 1960  She was renamed Marisa in 1950 
Passage 3:
Kosciuszko (album)
Kosciuszko is the fifth studio album by Australian alternative rock band Jebediah  Released on 15 April 2011, by Dew Process, the album introduced the award-winning band to mainstream audiences and commercial success 

Background and recording
Even though Jebediah took five years to re-enter the studio after the release of their Anniversary E P  (2005),  the band began drafting the songs as early as 2006  Between the two albums, the band took a break, with  lead singer–rhythm guitarist Kevin Mitchell relocating to Melbourne during the hiatus 
Recording occurred at Blackbird Studios in Perth, Australia, and production duties were undertaken by Dave Parkin (owner of the studio) in collaboration with the band  Kevin Mitchell revealed in a radio interview:It's probably the only time we've ever made a record where it was actually finished when it was finished  Every other time you're pretty much given a month or a two month block  When that last day ticks over the record is finished; whether it's finished or not  So this was an absolutely luxury to do it that way 

Promotion and release
Kosciuszko was released on 15 April 2011 by record label Dew Process  On each of the twelve days leading up to the album's release, a short video (around one minute) was uploaded to the band's YouTube page, in which the band provides insight into each of the album's songs Its first single "She's Like a Comet" quickly became a hit,  and the band performed the song on Australian morning television program Sunrise  
The album reached number 6 in the ARIA Chart, staying in the chart for six weeks  As well as being available on CD, a limited number of copies were also released on vinyl 

Track listing
Charts
Passage 4:
Helix Producer 1
Helix Producer I is a ship-shaped monohull floating production and offloading vessel, converted from the ferry MV Karl Carstens   It has no storage capability 

MV Karl Carstens
The ship was built in 1986 for Deutsche Bundesbahn as a roll-on roll-off (RORO) ferry serving on the Vogelfluglinie, a connection between Fehmarn, Germany and Denmark   It remained in service from 1986 until 1997 

Helix Producer I
The ship was reconfigured as a Floating Production vessel and converted between 2006–2008 at the Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Croatia   Topside production facilities were designed by OFD Engineering in Houston, Texas and installed in 2009 at the Kiewit shipyard in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States Helix Producer I has a Disconectable Transfer system (DTS) designed and supplied by Flexible Engineered Solutions LTD (FES), UK, and consists of a riser buoy supporting sub-sea risers and control umbilicals that would be connected to a deep water well and can be released from the hull, allowing the vessel to move out of the way of an approaching hurricane  After the storm, the vessel would return to the site and reconnect the buoy resuming normal oil extraction  It is  operated by the Helix Energy Solutions Group and was scheduled to operate on the Phoenix Oil Field in the Gulf of Mexico, but on 14 June 2010 Helix announced that the ship would be directed to assist BP at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site In its new configuration the ship has a length of 161 5 m (530 ft), a breadth of 29 m (95 ft) (increased from before 18 m (59 ft)), a depth of 14 2 m (47 ft), and a draft of 8 6 m (28 ft)  The vessel has a maximum displacement of 29,000 t (29,000 long tons; 32,000 short tons), and as a light ship of 9,475 t (9,325 long tons; 10,444 short tons) 

Service at Deepwater Horizon site
In June 2010, BP announced that Helix Producer I would join Discoverer Enterprise and Toisa Pisces at the Deepwater Horizon site to process oil that is flowing from the deepwater well   While Discover Enterprise can process about 18,000 barrels (760,000 US gallons; 2,900 cubic metres) of oil per day, Helix Producer I can handle about 30,000 barrels   The estimate of the uncontrolled oil flow at that time was up to 60,000 barrels  It was anticipated that Helix Producer I would be used for 2 months for this mission   Oil from Helix Producer I was to be offloaded by a shuttle tanker 
Starting in early August mud, later cement was pumped into the well, eventually closing it, so that by  19 September 2010, it could be announced that the Macondo Well had been finally killed 
Passage 5:
Transavia Denmark
Transavia Denmark ApS, also known as Transavia com Denmark or Transavia Denmark and trading as transavia com, was a Danish based low-cost airline operating as a subsidiary of Transavia group  Its main base was at Copenhagen Airport  Transavia Denmark chiefly operated scheduled and charter services to leisure destinations  It was headquartered in Kastrup, Tårnby Municipality  Operations ceased in 2011, although those in the Netherlands and France continue 

History
The airline began operations on 6 November 2008; Sterling Airlines had gone bankrupt in October 2008 and Transavia saw a good opportunity to start operations in Denmark because of this, and announced that it would start operations at short notice Transavia Denmark started flights from Billund Airport under a Danish tour operator  It operated five routes from Billund  It also announced a larger base at Copenhagen Airport from which it operated ten routes  Ticket sales for the new low-cost airline started on 7 November 2008 In September 2010, it was announced that Transavia Denmark would cease operations on 23 April 2011  From 1 November 2010 onwards the activities were gradually scaled down until the complete stop on 23 April 2011  The parent of Transavia Denmark, Air France-KLM, stated that the Danish part of Transavia had not met expectations 

Destinations
This is a list of airports to which Transavia Denmark flew (including seasonal destinations):
Austria
Innsbruck - Innsbruck Airport
Salzburg - Salzburg Airport
Denmark
Billund - Billund Airport
Copenhagen - Copenhagen Airport
France
Montpellier - Montpellier - Méditerranée Airport
Nice - Côte d'Azur Airport
Greece
Chania - Chania International Airport
Italy
Naples - Naples Airport
Pisa - Galileo Galilei Airport
Spain
Barcelona - Barcelona Airport
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - Gran Canaria Airport
Málaga - Málaga Airport
Menorca - Menorca Airport
Palma de Mallorca - Son Sant Joan Airport
Tenerife - Reina Sofía Airport

Fleet
The Transavia Denmark fleet consisted of the following aircraft as of November 2010:

In-flight services
Transavia com offered the "Assortment on Board" buy on board service offering food and drinks for purchase 

See also
Transavia
Transavia France
Passage 6:
Royal Dutch Shell
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England  Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange  A core component of Big Oil, Shell is the second largest investor-owned oil and gas company in the world by revenue (after ExxonMobil), and among the world's largest companies out of any industry  Measured by both its own emissions, and the emissions of all the fossil fuels it sells, Shell was the ninth-largest corporate producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the period 1988–2015 Shell was formed in 1907 through the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company of the Netherlands and The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company of the United Kingdom  The combined company rapidly became the leading competitor of the American Standard Oil and by 1920 Shell was the largest producer of oil in the world  Shell first entered the chemicals industry in 1929  Shell was one of the "Seven Sisters" which dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s  In 1964, Shell was a partner in the world's first commercial sea transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG)  In 1970, Shell acquired the mining company Billiton, which it subsequently sold in 1994 and now forms part of BHP  In recent decades gas has become an increasingly important part of Shell's business and Shell acquired BG Group in 2016 Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration, production, refining, transport, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation, and trading  Shell has operations in over 99 countries, produces around 3 7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and has around 44,000 service stations worldwide  As of 31 December 2019, Shell had total proved reserves of 11 1 billion barrels (1 76×109 m3) of oil equivalent  Shell USA, its principal subsidiary in the United States, is one of its largest businesses  Shell holds 44% of Raízen, a publicly-listed joint venture with Cosan, which is the third-largest Brazil-based energy company  In addition to the main Shell brand, the company also owns the Jiffy Lube, Pennzoil and Quaker State brands 
Shell is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index and had a market capitalisation of US$199 billion on 15 September 2022, the largest of any company listed on the LSE and the 44th-largest of any company in the world  By 2021 revenues, Shell is the second-largest investor-owned oil company in the world (after ExxonMobil), the largest company headquartered in the United Kingdom, the second-largest company headquartered in Europe (after Volkswagen), and the 15th largest company in the world  Until its unification in 2005 as Royal Dutch Shell plc, the firm operated as a dual-listed company, whereby the British and Dutch companies maintained their legal existence and separate listings but operated as a single-unit partnership  From 2005 to 2022, the company had its headquarters in The Hague, its registered office in London and had two types of shares (A and B)  In January 2022, the firm merged the A and B shares, moved its headquarters to London, and changed its legal name to Shell plc 

History
Origins
The Royal Dutch Shell Group was created in April 1907 through the amalgamation of two rival companies: the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company (Dutch: Koninklijke Nederlandse Petroleum Maatschappij) of the Netherlands and the Shell Transport and Trading Company Limited of the United Kingdom  It was a move largely driven by the need to compete globally with Standard Oil  The Royal Dutch Petroleum Company was a Dutch company founded in 1890 to develop an oilfield in Pangkalan Brandan, North Sumatra, and initially led by August Kessler, Hugo Loudon, and Henri Deterding  The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company (the quotation marks were part of the legal name) was a British company, founded in 1897 by Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted, and his brother Samuel Samuel  Their father had owned an antique company in Houndsditch, London, which expanded in 1833 to import and sell seashells, after which the company "Shell" took its name For various reasons, the new firm operated as a dual-listed company, whereby the merging companies maintained their legal existence but operated as a single-unit partnership for business purposes  The terms of the merger gave 60 percent stock ownership of the new group to Royal Dutch, and 40 percent to Shell  Both became holding companies for Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, containing the production and refining assets, and Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, containing the transport and storage assets  National patriotic sensibilities would not permit a full-scale merger or takeover of either of the two companies  The Dutch company, Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij at The Hague, was in charge of production and manufacture  The British Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company was based in London, to direct the transport and storage of the products In 1912, Royal Dutch Shell purchased the Rothschilds' Russian oil assets in a stock deal  The Group's production portfolio then consisted of 53 percent from the East Indies, 29 percent from the Russian Empire, and 17 percent from Romania 

20th century
During the First World War, Shell was the main supplier of fuel to the British Expeditionary Force  It was also the sole supplier of aviation fuel and supplied 80 percent of the British Army's TNT  It also volunteered all of its shipping to the British Admiralty The German invasion of Romania in 1916 saw 17% of the group's worldwide production destroyed In 1919, Shell took control of the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company and in 1921 formed Shell-Mex Limited, which marketed products under the "Shell" and "Eagle" brands in the United Kingdom  During the Genoa Conference of 1922 Royal Dutch Shell was in negotiations for a monopoly over Soviet oilfields in Baku and Grosny, although the leak of a draft treaty led to breakdown of the talks  In 1929, Shell Chemicals was founded  By the end of the 1920s, Shell was the world's leading oil company, producing 11 percent of the world's crude oil supply and owning 10 percent of its tanker tonnage Shell Mex House was completed in 1931, and was the head office for Shell's marketing activity worldwide  In 1932, partly in response to the difficult economic conditions of the Great Depression, Shell-Mex merged its UK marketing operations with those of BP to create Shell-Mex & BP, a company that traded until the brands separated in 1975  Royal Dutch Company ranked 79th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts 

The 1930s saw Shell's Mexican assets seized by the local government  After the invasion of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in 1940, the head office of the Dutch companies was moved to Curaçao  In 1945 Shell's Danish headquarters in Copenhagen, at the time being used by the Gestapo, was bombed by Royal Air Force De Havilland Mosquitoes in Operation Carthage In 1937, Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), 23 75 percent owned by Royal Dutch Shell plc, signed an oil concession agreement with the Sultan of Muscat  In 1952, IPC offered financial support to raise an armed force that would assist the Sultan in occupying the interior region of Oman, an area that geologists believed to be rich in oil  This led to the 1954 outbreak of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman that lasted for more than 5 years Around 1952, Shell was the first company to purchase and use a computer in the Netherlands  The computer, a Ferranti Mark 1*, was assembled and used at the Shell laboratory in Amsterdam  In 1970 Shell acquired the mining company Billiton, which it subsequently sold in 1994 In the 1990s, protesters criticised the company's environmental record, particularly the possible pollution caused by the proposed disposal of the Brent Spar platform into the North Sea  Despite support from the UK government, Shell reversed the decision under public pressure but maintained that sinking the platform would have been environmentally better  Shell subsequently published an unequivocal commitment to sustainable development, supported by executive speeches reinforcing this commitment  Shell was subsequently criticised by the European Commission and five European Union members after deciding to leave part of its decommissioned oil rigs standing in the North Sea  Shell argued that removing them would be too costly and risky  Germany said that the estimated 11,000 tonnes of raw oil and toxins remaining in the rigs would eventually seep into the sea, and called it a 'ticking timebomb' On 15 January 1999, off the Argentinian town of Magdalena, Buenos Aires, the Shell tanker Estrella pampeana collided with a German cargo ship, emptying its contents into the lake, polluting the environment, drinkable water, plants and animals  Over a decade after the spill, a referendum held in Magdalena determined the acceptance of a US$9 5 million compensatory payout from Shell  Shell denied responsibility for the spill, but an Argentine court ruled in 2002 that the corporation was responsible 

21st century
In 2002, Shell acquired Pennzoil-Quaker State through its American division for $22 USD per share, or about $1 8 billion USD  Through its acquisition of Pennzoil, Shell became a descendant of Standard Oil  With its acquisition, Shell inherited multiple auto part brands including Jiffy Lube, Rain-X, and Fix-a-Flat  The company was notably late in its acquisition as seen by journalists, with Shell seen as streamlining its assets around the same time of other major mergers and acquisitions in the industry, such as BP's purchase of Amoco and the merger of Exxon and Mobil In 2004, Shell overstated its oil reserves, resulting in loss of confidence in the group, a £17 million fine by the Financial Services Authority and the departure of the chairman Philip Watts  A lawsuit resulted in the payment of $450 million to non-American shareholders in 2007 As a result of the scandal, the corporate structure was simplified  Two classes of ordinary shares, A (code RDSA) and B (code RDSB), identical but for the tax treatment of dividends, were issued for the company In November 2004, following a period of turmoil caused by the revelation that Shell had been overstating its oil reserves, it was announced that the Shell Group would move to a single capital structure, creating a new parent company to be named Royal Dutch Shell plc, with its primary listing on the LSE, a secondary listing on Euronext Amsterdam, its headquarters and tax residency in The Hague, Netherlands and its registered office in London  The company was already incorporated in 2002 as Forthdeal Limited, a shelf corporation incorporated by Swift Incorporations Limited and Instant Companies Limited, both based in Bristol  The unification was completed on 20 July 2005 and the original owners delisted their companies from the respective exchanges  On 20 July 2005, the Shell Transport & Trading Company plc was delisted from the LSE, whereas, Royal Dutch Petroleum Company from the New York Stock Exchange on 18 November 2005  The shares of the company were issued at a 60/40 advantage for the shareholders of Royal Dutch in line with the original ownership of the Shell Group During the 2009 Iraqi oil services contracts tender, a consortium led by Shell (45%) and which included Petronas (30%) was awarded a production contract for the "Majnoon field" in the south of Iraq, which contains an estimated 12 6 billion barrels (2 00×109 m3) of oil  The "West Qurna 1 field" production contract was awarded to a consortium led by ExxonMobil (60%) and included Shell (15%) In February 2010, Shell and Cosan formed a 50:50 joint-venture, Raízen, comprising all of Cosan's Brazilian ethanol, energy generation, fuel distribution and sugar activities, and all of Shell's Brazilian retail fuel and aviation distribution businesses  In March 2010, Shell announced the sale of some of its assets, including its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) business, to meet the cost of a planned $28bn capital spending programme  Shell invited buyers to submit indicative bids, due by 22 March, with a plan to raise $2–3bn from the sale  In June 2010, Shell agreed to acquire all the business of East Resources for a cash consideration of $4 7 billion  The transaction included East Resources' tight gas fields Over the course of 2013, the corporation began the sale of its US shale gas assets and canceled a US$20 billion gas project that was to be constructed in the US state of Louisiana  A new CEO Ben van Beurden was appointed in January 2014, prior to the announcement that the corporation's overall performance in 2013 was 38 percent lower than in 2012—the value of Shell's shares fell by 3 percent as a result  Following the sale of the majority of its Australian assets in February 2014, the corporation plans to sell a further US$15 billion worth of assets in the period leading up to 2015, with deals announced in Australia, Brazil and Italy Shell announced on 8 April 2015 it had agreed to buy BG Group for £47 billion (US$70 billion), subject to shareholder and regulatory approval  The acquisition was completed in February 2016, resulting in Shell surpassing Chevron Corporation and becoming the world's second largest non-state oil company On 7 June 2016, Shell announced that it would build an ethane cracker plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after spending several years doing an environmental cleanup of the proposed plant's site In January 2017, Shell agreed to sell £2 46bn worth of North Sea assets to oil exploration firm Chrysaor  In 2017, Shell sold its oil sands assets to Canadian Natural Resources in exchange of approximately 8 8% stake in that company  In May 2017, it was reported that Shell plans to sell its shares in Canadian Natural Resources fully exiting the oil sands business On 5 November 2017, the Paradise Papers, a set of confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investment, revealed that Argentine Energy Minister Juan José Aranguren was revealed to have managed the offshore companies 'Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited' and 'Sol Antilles y Guianas Limited', both subsidiaries of Shell  One is the main bidder for the purchase of diesel oil by the government through the state owned CAMMESA (Compañía Administradora del Mercado Mayorista Eléctrico) On 30 April 2020, Shell announced that it would cut its dividend for the first time since the Second World War, due to the oil price collapse following the reduction in oil demand during the COVID-19 pandemic  Shell stated that their net income adjusted for the cost of supply dropped to US$2 9 billion in three months to 31 March  This compared with US$5 3 billion in the same period the previous year  On 30 September 2020, the company said that it would cut up to 9,000 jobs as a result of the economic effects caused by the pandemic and announced a "broad restructuring"  In December 2020, Shell forecast another write-down of $3 5-4 5 billion for the fourth quarter due to lower oil prices, following $16 8 billion of impairment in the second quarter In February 2021, Shell announced a loss of $21 7 billion in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite reducing its operating expenses by 12%, or $4 5 billion, according to a Morningstar analysis cited by Barron's In November 2021, Shell announced that it is planning to relocate their headquarters to London, abandon its dual share structure, and change its name from Royal Dutch Shell plc to Shell plc  The company's name change was registered in the Companies House on 21 January 2022 In December 2021, Shell pulled out of the Cambo oil field, off the Shetland Islands, claiming that "the economic case for investment in this project is not strong enough at this time, as well as having the potential for delays"  The proposed oilfield had been the subject of intense campaigning by environmentalists in the run-up to the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow in November 2021 On 4 March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in the midst of the growing boycott of Russian economy and related divestments, Shell bought a cargo of discounted Russian crude oil  The next day, following criticism from Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Shell defended the purchase as a short term necessity, but also announced that it intended to reduce such purchases, and it would put profits from any Russian oil it purchases into a fund that would go towards humanitarian aid to Ukraine  On 8 March, Shell announced that it would stop buying Russian oil and gas and close its service stations in the country In 2022, the major oil and gas companies, including Shell, reported sharp rises in interim revenues and profits  In fact, this rise in profit for Shell was so sharp, that 2022 was the company's best year, as Shell recorded double the profits from 2021, and the highest profit in its entire history 

Corporate affairs
Management
On 4 August 2005, the board of directors announced the appointment of Jorma Ollila, chairman and CEO of Nokia at the time, to succeed Aad Jacobs as the company's non-executive chairman on 1 June 2006  Ollila is the first Shell chairman to be neither Dutch nor British  Other non-executive directors include Maarten van den Bergh, Wim Kok, Nina Henderson, Lord Kerr, Adelbert van Roxe, and Christine Morin-Postel Since 3 January 2014, Ben van Beurden has been CEO of Shell  His predecessor was Peter Voser who became CEO of Shell on 1 July 2009 Following a career at the corporation, in locations such as Australia and Africa, Ann Pickard was appointed as the executive vice president of the Arctic at Royal Dutch Shell, a role that was publicized in an interview with McKinsey & Company in June 2014 In January 2023, Wael Sawan succeeded Ben van Beurden as CEO 

Board of directors
As of 25 January 2023, the Shell board members are:
Andrew Mackenzie (chair), former CEO of BHP Billiton
Euleen Goh, former CEO of Standard Chartered Singapore
Wael Sawan, CEO of Shell plc
Sinead Gorman, CFO of Shell plc
Dick Boer, former president and CEO of Ahold Delhaize
Neil Carson, former CEO of Johnson Matthey
Ann Godbehere, former CFO of Swiss Re and Northern Rock
Catherine J  Hughes, former executive at Nexen, Husky Oil, and Schlumberger
Jane Holl Lute, former president and CEO of SICPA North America
Martina Hund-Mejean, former CFO of Mastercard
Abraham Schot, former CEO of Audi AG
Caroline Omloo, company secretary

Historical leadership
Name and logo
The name Shell is linked to The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company  In 1833, the founder's father, Marcus Samuel Sr , founded an import business to sell seashells to London collectors  When collecting seashell specimens in the Caspian Sea area in 1892, the younger Samuel realised there was potential in exporting lamp oil from the region and commissioned the world's first purpose-built oil tanker, the Murex (Latin for a type of snail shell), to enter this market; by 1907 the company had a fleet  Although for several decades the company had a refinery at Shell Haven on the Thames, there is no evidence of this having provided the name The Shell logo is one of the most familiar commercial symbols in the world  This logo is known as the "pecten" after the sea shell Pecten maximus (the giant scallop), on which its design is based  The yellow and red colours used are thought to relate to the colours of the flag of Spain, as Shell built early service stations in California, previously a Spanish colony  The current revision of the logo was designed by Raymond Loewy in 1971 The slash was removed from the name "Royal Dutch/Shell" in 2005, concurrent with moves to merge the two legally separate companies (Royal Dutch and Shell) to the single legal entity which exists today On 15 November 2021, Royal Dutch Shell plc announced plans to change its name to Shell plc 

Logo evolution
Operations
Business groupings
Shell is organised into four major business groupings:
Upstream – manages the upstream business  It searches for and recovers crude oil and natural gas and operates the upstream and midstream infrastructure necessary to deliver oil and gas to the market  Its activities are organised primarily within geographic units, although there are some activities that are managed across the business or provided through support units 
Integrated Gas and New Energies – manages to liquefy natural gas, converting gas to liquids and low-carbon opportunities 
Downstream – manages Shell's manufacturing, distribution, and marketing activities for oil products and chemicals  Manufacturing and supply include refinery, supply, and shipping of crude oil 
Projects and technology – manages the delivery of Shell's major projects, provides technical services and technology capability covering both upstream and downstream activities  It is also responsible for providing functional leadership across Shell in the areas of health, safety and environment, and contracting and procurement 

Oil and gas activities
Shell's primary business is the management of a vertically integrated oil company  The development of technical and commercial expertise in all stages of this vertical integration, from the initial search for oil (exploration) through its harvesting (production), transportation, refining and finally trading and marketing established the core competencies on which the company was founded  Similar competencies were required for natural gas, which has become one of the most important businesses in which Shell is involved, and which contributes a significant proportion of the company's profits  While the vertically integrated business model provided significant economies of scale and barriers to entry, each business now seeks to be a self-supporting unit without subsidies from other parts of the company Traditionally, Shell was a heavily decentralised business worldwide (especially in the downstream) with companies in over 100 countries, each of which operated with a high degree of independence  The upstream tended to be far more centralised with much of the technical and financial direction coming from the central offices in The Hague  The upstream oil sector is also commonly known as the "exploration and production" sector Downstream operations, which now also includes the chemicals business, generate the majority of Shell's profits worldwide and is known for its global network of more than 40,000 petrol stations and its various oil refineries  The downstream business, which in some countries also included oil refining, generally included a retail petrol station network, lubricants manufacture and marketing, industrial fuel and lubricants sales, and a host of other product/market sectors such as LPG and bitumen  The practice in Shell was that these businesses were essentially local and that they were best managed by local "operating companies" – often with middle and senior management reinforced by expatriates 

Sponsorships
Shell has a long history of motorsport sponsorship, most notably Scuderia Ferrari (1951–1964, 1966–1973 and 1996-present), BRM (1962–1966 and 1968–1972), Scuderia Toro Rosso (2007–2013 and 2016), McLaren (1967–1968 and 1984–1994), Lotus (1968–1971), Ducati Corse (since 1999), Team Penske (2011–present), Hyundai Motorsport (since 2005), AF Corse, Risi Competizione, BMW Motorsport (2015–present with also Pennzoil) and Dick Johnson Racing (1987-2004 and 2017–present) Starting in 2023, Shell will become the official fuel for IndyCar Series, supplying E100 race fuel for all teams 

Operations by region
Arctic
Kulluk oil rig
Following the purchase of an offshore lease in 2005, Shell initiated its US$4 5 billion Arctic drilling program in 2006, after the corporation purchased the "Kulluk" oil rig and leased the Noble Discoverer drillship  At inception, the project was led by Pete Slaiby, a Shell executive who had previously worked in the North Sea  However, after the purchase of a second offshore lease in 2008, Shell only commenced drilling work in 2012, due to the refurbishment of rigs, permit delays from the relevant authorities and lawsuits  The plans to drill in the Arctic led to protests from environmental groups, particularly Greenpeace; furthermore, analysts in the energy field, as well as related industries, also expressed skepticism due to perceptions that drilling in the region is "too dangerous because of harsh conditions and remote locations" Further problems hampered the Arctic project after the commencement of drilling in 2012, as Shell dealt with a series of issues that involved air permits, Coast Guard certification of a marine vessel, and severe damage to essential oil-spill equipment  Additionally, difficult weather conditions resulted in the delay of drilling during mid-2012 and the already dire situation was exacerbated by the "Kulluk" incident at the end of the year  Shell had invested nearly US$5 billion by this stage of the project As the Kulluk oil rig was being towed to the American state of Washington to be serviced in preparation for the 2013 drilling season, a winter storm on 27 December 2012 caused the towing crews, as well as the rescue service, to lose control of the rig  As of 1 January 2013, the Kulluk was grounded off the coast Sitkalidak Island, near the eastern end of Kodiak Island  Following the accident, a Fortune magazine contacted Larry McKinney, the executive director at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M, and he explained that "A two-month delay in the Arctic is not a two-month delay     A two-month delay could wipe out the entire drilling season "It was unclear if Shell would recommence drilling in mid-2013, following the "Kulluk" incident, and, in February 2013, the corporation stated that it would "pause" its closely watched drilling project off the Alaskan coast in 2013, and will instead prepare for future exploration  In January 2014, the corporation announced the extension of the suspension of its drilling program in the Arctic, with chief executive van Beurden explaining that the project is "under review" due to both market and internal issues A June 2014 interview with Pickard indicated that, following a forensic analysis of the problems encountered in 2012, Shell will continue with the project and Pickard stated that she perceives the future of the corporation activity in the Arctic region as a long-term "marathon"  Pickard stated that the forensic "look back" revealed "there was an on/off switch" and further explained:

In other words, don't spend the money unless you're sure you're going to have the legal environment to go forward  Don't spend the money unless you're sure you're going to have the permit  No, I can't tell you that I'm going to have that permit until June, but we need to plan like we're going to have that permit in June  And so probably the biggest lesson is to make sure we could smooth out the on/off switches wherever we could and take control of our own destiny 
Based upon the interview with Pickard, Shell is approaching the project as an investment that will reap energy resources with a lifespan of around 30 years According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management report in 2015 the chances of a major spill in a deep-sea Arctic drilling is 75% before century's end 

Kodiak Island
In 2010, Greenpeace activists painted "No Arctic Drilling" using spilled BP oil on the side of a ship in the Gulf of Mexico that was en route to explore for Arctic oil for Shell  At the protest, Phil Radford of Greenpeace called for "President Obama [to] ban all offshore oil drilling and call for an end to the use of oil in our cars by 2030 "On 16 March 2012, 52 Greenpeace activists from five different countries boarded Fennica and Nordica, multipurpose icebreakers chartered to support Shell's drilling rigs near Alaska  Around the same time period, a reporter for Fortune magazine spoke with Edward Itta, an Inupiat leader and the former mayor of the North Slope Borough, who expressed that he was conflicted about Shell's plans in the Arctic, as he was concerned that an oil spill could destroy the Inupiat peoples hunting-and-fishing culture, but his borough also received major tax revenue from oil and gas production; additionally, further revenue from energy activity was considered crucial to the future of the living standard in Itta's community In July 2012, Greenpeace activists shut down 53 Shell petrol stations in Edinburgh and London in a protest against the company's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic  Greenpeace's "Save the Arctic" campaign aims to prevent oil drilling and industrial fishing in the Arctic by declaring the uninhabited area around the North Pole a global sanctuary A review was announced after the Kulluk oil rig ran aground near Kodiak Island in December 2012 In response, Shell filed lawsuits to seek injunctions from possible protests, and Benjamin Jealous of the NAACP and Radford argued that the legal action was "trampling Americans' rights " According to Greenpeace, Shell lodged a request with Google to take down video footage of a Greenpeace protest action that occurred at the Shell-sponsored Formula One (F1) Belgian Grand Prix on 25 August 2013, in which "SaveTheArctic org" banners appear at the winners' podium ceremony  In the video, the banners rise up automatically—activists controlled their appearance with the use of four radio car antennas—revealing the website URL, alongside an image that consists of half of a polar bear's head and half of the Shell logo Shell then announced a "pause" in the timeline of the project in early 2013 and, in September 2015, the corporation announced the extension of the suspension of its drilling program in the Arctic 

Polar Pioneer rig
A June 2014 interview with the corporation's new executive vice president of the Arctic indicated that Shell will continue with its activity in the region In Seattle protests began in May 2015 in response to the news that the Port of Seattle made an agreement with Shell to berth rigs at the Port's Terminal 5 during the off-season of oil exploration in Alaskan waters  The arrival of Shell's new Arctic drilling vessel, Polar Pioneer (IMO number: 8754140), a semi-submersible offshore drilling rig, was greeted by large numbers of environmental protesters paddling kayaks in Elliott Bay On 6 May 2015, it was reported that during a coast guard inspection of Polar Pioneer, a piece of anti-pollution gear failed, resulting in fines and delay of the operation  Oil executives from Total and Eni interviewed by the New York Times, expressed scepticism about Shell's new ambitions for offshore drilling in the Arctic, and cited economic and environmental hurdles  ConocoPhillips and Equinor (formerly Statoil) suspended Arctic drilling earlier, after Shell's failed attempt in 2012 

Australia
On 20 May 2011, Shell's final investment decision for the world's first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility was finalized following the discovery of the remote offshore Prelude field—located off Australia's northwestern coast and estimated to contain about 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent reserves—in 2007  FLNG technology is based on liquefied natural gas (LNG) developments that were pioneered in the mid-20th century and facilitates the exploitation of untapped natural gas reserves located in remote areas, often too small to extract any other way The floating vessel to be used for the Prelude field, known as Prelude FLNG, is promoted as the longest floating structure in the world and will take in the equivalent of 110,000 barrels of oil per day in natural gas—at a location 200 km (125 miles) off the coast of Western Australia—and cool it into liquefied natural gas for transport and sale in Asia  The Prelude is expected to start producing LNG in 2017—analysts estimated the total cost of construction at more than US$12 billion Following the decision by the Shell fuel corporation to close its Geelong Oil Refinery in Australia in April 2013, a third consecutive annual loss was recorded for Shell's Australian refining and fuel marketing assets  Revealed in June 2013, the writedown is worth A$203 million and was preceded by a A$638m writedown in 2012 and a A$407m writedown in 2011, after the closure of the Clyde Refinery in Sydney, Australia In February 2014, Shell sold its Australian refinery and petrol stations for US$2 6 billion (A$2 9 billion) to Swiss company Vitol At the time of the downstream sale to Vitol, Shell was expected to continue investment into Australian upstream projects, with projects that involve Chevron Corp , Woodside Petroleum and Prelude  In June 2014, Shell sold 9 5% of its 23 1% stake in Woodside Petroleum and advised that it had reached an agreement for Woodside to buy back 9 5% of its shares at a later stage  Shell became a major shareholder in Woodside after a 2001 takeover attempt was blocked by then federal Treasurer Peter Costello and the corporation has been open about its intention to sell its stake in Woodside as part of its target to shed assets  At a general body meeting, held on 1 August 2014, 72 percent of shareholders voted to approve the buy-back, short of the 75 percent vote that was required for approval  A statement from Shell read: "Royal Dutch Shell acknowledges the outcome of Woodside Petroleum Limited's shareholders' negative vote on the selective buy-back proposal  Shell is reviewing its options in relation to its remaining 13 6 percent holding "

Brunei
Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) is a joint venture between the Government of Brunei and Shell  The British Malayan Petroleum Company (BMPC), owned by Royal Dutch Shell, first found commercial amounts of oil in 1929  It currently produces 350,000 barrels of oil and gas equivalent per day  BSP is the largest oil and gas company in Brunei, a sector which contributes 90% of government revenue  In 1954, the BMPC in Seria had a total of 1,277 European and Asian staff 

China
The company has upstream operations in unconventional oil and gas in China  Shell has a joint venture with PetroChina at the Changbei tight gas field in Shaanxi, which has produced natural gas since 2008  The company has also invested in exploring for shale oil in Sichuan  The other unconventional resource which Shell invested in in China was shale  The company was an early entrant in shale oil exploration in China but scaled down operations in 2014 due to difficulties with geology and population density  It has a joint venture to explore for oil shale in Jilin through a joint venture with Jilin Guangzheng Mineral Development Company Limited 

Hong Kong
Shell has been active in Hong Kong for a century, providing Retail, LPG, Commercial Fuel, Lubricants, Bitumen, Aviation, Marine and Chemicals services, and products  Shell also sponsored the first Hong Kong-built aircraft, Inspiration, for its around-the-world trip 

India
Shell India has inaugurated its new lubricants laboratory at its Technology Centre in Bangalore 

Ireland
Shell first started trading in Ireland in 1902  Shell E&P Ireland (SEPIL) (previously Enterprise Energy Ireland) is an Irish exploration and production subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell  Its headquarters are on Leeson Street in Dublin  It was acquired in May 2002  Its main project is the Corrib gas project, a large gas field off the northwest coast, for which Shell has encountered controversy and protests in relation to the onshore pipeline and licence terms In 2005, Shell disposed of its entire retail and commercial fuels business in Ireland to Topaz Energy Group  This included depots, company-owned petrol stations and supply agreements stations throughout the island of Ireland  The retail outlets were re-branded as Topaz in 2008/9 The Topaz fuel network was subsequently acquired in 2015 by Couchetard and these stations began re-branding to Circle K in 2018 

Malaysia
Shell discovered the first oil well in Malaysia in 1910, in Miri, Sarawak  Today the oil well is a state monument known as the Grand Old Lady  In 1914, following this discovery, Shell built Malaysia's first oil refinery and laid a submarine pipeline in Miri 

Nigeria
Shell began production in Nigeria in 1958  In Nigeria, Shell told US diplomats that it had placed staff in all the main ministries of the government  Shell continues however upstream activities/extracting crude oil in the oil-rich Niger Delta as well as downstream/commercial activities in South Africa  In June 2013, the company announced a strategic review of its operations in Nigeria, hinting that assets could be divested  In August 2014, the company disclosed it was in the process of finalizing the sale of its interests in four Nigerian oil fields  On 29 January 2021 a Dutch court ruled that Shell was responsible for multiple oil leaks in Nigeria The presence of companies like Shell has led to extreme environmental issues in the Niger Delta  Many pipelines in the Niger Delta owned by Shell are old and corroded  Shell has acknowledged its responsibility for keeping the pipelines new but has also denied responsibility for environmental causes  This has led to mass protests from the Niger Delta inhabitants, Amnesty International, and Friends of the Earth the Netherlands against Shell  It has also led to action plans to boycott Shell by environmental and human rights groups  In January 2013, a Dutch court rejected four out of five allegations brought against the firm over oil pollution in the Niger Delta but found a subsidiary guilty of one case of pollution, ordering compensation to be paid to a Nigerian farmer 

Nordic countries
On 27 August 2007, Shell and Reitan Group, the owner of the 7-Eleven brand in Scandinavia, announced an agreement to re-brand some 269 service stations across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals under the different competition laws in each country  In April 2010 Shell announced that the corporation is in process of trying to find a potential buyer for all of its operations in Finland and is doing similar market research concerning Swedish operations  In October 2010 Shell's gas stations and the heavy vehicle fuel supply networks in Finland and Sweden, along with a refinery located in Gothenburg, Sweden were sold to St1, a Finnish energy company, more precisely to its major shareholding parent company Keele Oy 

North America
Through most of Shell's early history, Shell USA business in the United States was substantially independent  Its stock was traded on the NYSE, and the group's central office had little direct involvement in running the operation  However, in 1984, Shell made a bid to purchase those shares of Shell Oil Company it did not own (around 30%) and, despite opposition from some minority shareholders which led to a court case, Shell completed the buyout for a sum of $5 7 billion 

Philippines
Royal Dutch Shell operates in the Philippines under its subsidiary, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation  Its headquarters is in Makati and it has facilities in the Pandacan oil depot and other key locations In January 2010, the Bureau of Customs claimed 7 34 billion pesos worth of unpaid excise taxes against Pilipinas Shell for importing Catalytic cracked gasoline (CCG) and light catalytic cracked gasoline (LCCG) stating that those imports are bound for tariff charges In August 2016, Pilipinas Shell filed an application to sell US$629 million worth of primary and secondary shares to the investing public (registration statement) with the SEC  This was a prelude to filing its IPO listing application with the Philippine Stock Exchange  On 3 November 2016 the Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation was officially listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SHLPH after they held its initial public offering on 19 to 25 October of the same year Due to the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the global, regional and local economies, continually low refining margins, and competition with imported refined products, the management of Pilipinas Shell announced in August 2020 that the 110,000 bbl/d refinery in Tabangao, Batangas, which started operations in 1962, will be shutting down permanently and turned into an import terminal instead 

Russia
In February 2022, Shell exited all its joint ventures with Gazprom because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and, in March 2022, Shell announced that it would stop buying oil from Russia and close all its service stations there  In April 2022, it emerged that Shell was to book up to $5 billion in impairment charges from exiting its interests in Russia 

Singapore
Singapore is the main centre for Shell's petrochemical operations in the Asia Pacific region  Shell Eastern Petroleum limited (SEPL) have their refinery located in Singapore's Pulau Bukom island  They also operate as Shell Chemicals Seraya in Jurong Island  In November 2020, Shell announced that, as part of efforts to curtail pollution emissions, it will cut its oil-processing capacity in Singapore 

United Kingdom
In the UK sector of the North Sea Shell employs around 4,500 staff in Scotland as well as an additional 1,000 service contractors: however in August 2014 it announced it was laying off 250 of them, mainly in Aberdeen  Shell paid no UK taxes on its North Sea operations over the period 2018 to 2021 

Alternative energy
In the early 2000s Shell moved into alternative energy and there is now an embryonic "Renewables" business that has made investments in solar power, wind power, hydrogen, and forestry  The forestry business went the way of nuclear, coal, metals and electricity generation, and was disposed of in 2003  In 2006 Shell paid SolarWorld to take over its entire solar business and in 2008, the company withdrew from the London Array which when built was the world's largest offshore wind farm Shell also is involved in large-scale hydrogen projects  HydrogenForecast com describes Shell's approach thus far as consisting of "baby steps", but with an underlying message of "extreme optimism"  In 2015, the company announced plans to install hydrogen fuel pumps across Germany, planning on having 400 locations in operation by 2023 Shell holds 44% of Raízen, a joint venture with Brazilian sugarcane producer Cosan which is the third-largest Brazil-based energy company by revenues and a major producer of ethanol  In 2015, the company partnered with Brazilian start-up company Insolar to install solar panels in Rio de Janeiro to deliver electricity to the Santa Marta neighbourhood Shell is the operator and major shareholder of The Shell Canada Quest Energy project, based within the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, located near Fort McMurray, Alberta  It holds a 60% share, alongside Chevron Canada Limited, which holds 20%, and Marathon Canadian Oil Sands Holding Limited, which holds the final 20%  Commercial operations launched in November 2015  It was the world's first commercial-scale oil and sand carbon capture storage (CCS) project  It is expected to reduce CO2 emissions in Canada by 1 08 million tonnes per year In December 2016, Shell won the auction for the 700 MW Borssele III & IV offshore wind farms at a price of 5 45 c/kWh, beating 6 other consortia  In June 2018, it was announced that the company and its co-investor Partners Group had secured $1 5bn for the project, which also involves Eneco, Van Oord, and Mitsubishi/DGE In October 2017, it bought Europe's biggest vehicle charging network, "NewMotion "In November 2017, Shell's CEO Ben van Beurden announced Shell's plan to cut half of its carbon emissions by 2050, and 20 percent by 2035  In this regard, Shell promised to spend $2 billion annually on renewable energy sources  Shell began to develop its wind energy segment in 2001, the company now operates six wind farms in the United States and is part of a plan to build two offshore wind farms in the Netherlands In December 2017, the company announced plans to buy UK household energy and broadband provider First Utility  In March 2019 it rebranded to Shell Energy and announced that all electricity would be supplied from renewable sources In December 2018, the company announced that it had partnered with SkyNRG to begin supplying sustainable aviation fuel to airlines operating out of San Francisco Airport (SFO), including KLM, SAS, and Finnair  In the same month, the company announced plans to double its renewable energy budget to investment in low-carbon energy to $4 billion US each year, with an aim to spend up to $2 billion US on renewable energy by 2021 In January 2018, the company acquired a 44% interest in Silicon Ranch, a solar energy company run by Matt Kisber, as part of its global New Energies project  The company took over from Partners Group, paying up to an estimated $217 million for the minority interest In February 2019, the company acquired German solar battery company Sonnen  It first invested in the company in May 2018 as part of its New Energies project  As of late 2021, the company had 800 employees and has installed 70 000 home battery systems On 27 February 2019, the company acquired British VPP operator Limejump for an undisclosed amount In July 2019, Shell installed their first 150 kW electric car chargers at its London petrol stations with payments handled via SMOOV  They also plan to provide 350 kW chargers in Europe by entering into an agreement with IONITY On 26 January 2021, Shell said it would buy 100 per cent of Ubitricity, owner of the largest public charging network for electric vehicles in the United Kingdom, as the company expands its presence along the power supply chain On 25 February 2021, Shell announced the acquisition of German Virtual Power Plant (VPP) company Next Kraftwerke for an undisclosed amount  Next Kraftwerke connects renewable electricity generation- and storage projects to optimize the usage of those assets  The company mostly operates in Europe In November 2022, it was announced Shell's wholly-owned subsidiary, Shell Petroleum NV, had acquired the Odense-headquartered renewable natural gas producer, Nature Energy Biogas A/S for nearly $2 billion USD 

Controversies
General issues
Shell's public rhetoric and pledges emphasize that the company is shifting towards climate-friendly, low-carbon and transition strategies  However, a 2022 study found that the company's spending on clean energy was insignificant and opaque, with little to suggest that the company's discourse matched its actions In 1989, Shell redesigned a $3-billion natural gas platform in the North Sea, raising its height one to two meters, to accommodate an anticipated sea level rise due to global warming  In 2013, Royal Dutch Shell PLC reported CO2 emissions of 81 million metric tonnes In 2017, Shell sold non-compliant foreign fuel to consumers In 2020, the Northern Lights CCS project was announced, which is a joint project between Equinor, Shell and Total, operating in the European Union (Norway) and aiming to store liquid CO2 beneath the seabed Environmentalists have expressed concern that Shell is processing oil from the Amazon region of South America  In the United States, the Martinez refinery (CA) and the Puget Sound Refinery (WA) carry Amazonian oil  In 2015, 14% of the Martinez refinery's gross, at 19,570 barrels per day, came from the Amazon In 2021, Shell was ranked as the 10th most environmentally responsible company out of 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in the Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI) In December 2021, Royal Dutch Shell decided to move ahead with seismic tests to explore for oil in humpback whale breeding grounds along South Africa's eastern coastline  On 3 December 2021, a South African high court struck down an urgent application brought by environmentalists to stop the project, which will involve a vessel regularly firing an air gun that produces a very powerful shock wave underwater to help map subsea geology  According to Greenpeace Africa and the South African Deep Sea Angling Association, this could cause "irreparable harm" to the marine environment, especially to migrating humpback whales in the area 

Climate change
In 2017, a public information film ("Climate of Concern") unseen for years resurfaced and showed Shell had clear grasp of global warming 26 years earlier but has not acted accordingly since, said critics The burning of the fossil fuels produced by Shell are responsible for 1 67% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions from 1988 to 2015  In April 2020, Shell announced plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner  However, internal documents from the company released by the Democratic-led House committee reveal a private 2020 communication saying Shell does not have any plans to bring emissions to zero for next 10–20 years 

Climate case
On 5 April 2019, Milieudefensie (Dutch for "environmental defense"), together with six NGOs and more than 17,000 citizens, sued Shell, accusing the company of harming the climate despite knowing about global warming since 1986  In May 2021, the district court of The Hague ruled that Shell must reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030 (compared to 2019 levels) 

Oil spills
Shell was responsible for around 21,000 gallons of oil spilled near Tracy, California, in May 2016 due to a pipeline crack 
Shell was responsible for an 88,200-gallon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in May 2016 
Two ruptures in a Shell Oil Co  pipeline in Altamont, California – one in September 2015 and another in May 2016 – led to questions on whether the Office of the State Fire Marshal, charged with overseeing the pipeline, was doing an adequate job 
On 29 January 2021, a Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell plc's Nigerian unit to compensate for oil spills in two villages over 13 years ago  Shell Nigeria is liable for damages from pipeline leaks in the villages of Oruma and Goi, the Hague Court of Appeals said in a ruling  Shell said that it should not be liable, as the spills were the result of sabotage 

Accusations of greenwashing
On 2 September 2002, Shell Chairman Philip Watts accepted the "Greenwash Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Greenwash Academy's Oscar Green, near the World Summit on Sustainable Development In 2007, British ASA ruled against a Shell ad involving chimneys spewing flowers, which depicted Shell's waste management policies, claiming it was misleading the public about Shell's environmental impact In 2008, the British ASA ruled that Shell had misled the public in an advertisement when it claimed that a $10 billion oil sands project in Alberta, Canada, was a "sustainable energy source" In 2021, Netherlands officials told Shell to stop running a campaign which claimed customers could turn their fuel "carbon neutral" by buying offsets, as it was concluded that this claim was devoid of evidence In December 2022, U S  House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney and U S  House Oversight Environment Subcommittee Chair Ro Khanna sent a memorandum to all House Oversight and Reform Committee members summarizing additional findings from the Committee's investigation into the fossil fuel industry disinformation campaign to obscure the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming, and that upon reviewing internal company documents, accused Shell  along with BP, Chevron Corporation, and ExxonMobil of greenwashing their Paris Agreement carbon neutrality pledges while continuing long-term investment in fossil fuel production and sales, for engaging in a campaign to promote the use of natural gas as a clean energy source and bridge fuel to renewable energy, and of intimidating journalists reporting about the companies' climate actions and of obstructing the Committee's investigation, which ExxonMobil, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute denied 

Health and safety
A number of incidents over the years led to criticism of Shell's health and safety record, including repeated warnings by the UK Health and Safety Executive about the poor state of the company's North Sea platforms 

Reaction to the War in Ukraine
Shell already had previous experience exiting markets that were subject to sanctions pressure from NATO or EU member states  In particular, in 2013, Shell announced that it was suspending its operations in Syria  On 8 March 2022, Shell announced its intention to phase out all Russian hydrocarbon production and acquisition projects, including crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG)   In early 2022 the company criticized by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for its slow response to the war in Ukraine  As of April 2023, Shell still had shares in Russian companies, such as 27 5% in Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC), a joint venture with Gazprom (50%), Mitsui (12 5%) and Mitsubishi (10%) 

royaldutchshellplc com
This domain name was first registered by a former marketing manager for Royal Dutch Shell plc, Alfred Donovan, and has been used as a "gripe site"  It avoids being an illegal cybersquatter as long as it is non-commercial, active, and no attempt is made to sell the domain name, as determined by WIPO proceedings  In 2005, Donovan said he would relinquish the site to Shell after it "gets rid of all the management he deems responsible for its various recent woes " The site has been recognized by several media outlets for its role as an Internet leak  In 2008 the Financial Times published an article based on a letter published by royaldutchshellplc com, which Reuters and The Times also covered shortly thereafter  On 18 October 2006, the site published an article stating that Shell had for some time been supplying information to the Russian government relating to Sakhalin II  The Russian energy company Gazprom subsequently obtained a 50% stake in the Sakhalin-II project  Other instances where the site has acted as an Internet leak include a 2007 IT outsourcing plan, as well as a 2008 internal memo where CEO Jeroen van der Veer expressed disappointment in the company's share-price performance The gripe site has also been recognized as a source of information regarding Shell by several news sources  In the 2006 Fortune Global 500 rankings, in which Royal Dutch Shell placed third, royaldutchshellplc com was listed alongside shell com as a source of information  In 2007 the site was described as "a hub for activists and disgruntled former employees " A 2009 article called royaldutchshellplc com "the world's most effective adversarial Web site " The site has been described as "an open wound for Shell "

See also
Notes
Passage 7:
Total Bellas
Total Bellas is an American reality television series that aired from October 5, 2016, to January 28, 2021 on E!  A spin-off of Total Divas, the series gave viewers a further look into the lives of twin sisters and professional wrestlers Brie and Nikki Bella, along with their immediate family and partners 

Production
On April 20, 2016, it was announced that former WWE wrestlers Brie and Nikki Bella—collectively known as the Bella Twins—would be getting a spin-off show entitled Total Bellas  The first season premiered on October 5, 2016  The show revolves around the lives of the twins and their family  Filming for the first season was set in Tampa, Florida as Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan moved in with Nikki Bella and John Cena to help Nikki after her neck surgery  Brie and Nikki's brother JJ and his wife Lauren had a recurring role along with their mother Kathy Colace and her now husband John Laurinaitis 
On November 16, 2016, it was announced that E! renewed the show for a second season  The second season premiered on September 6, 2017  The second season was filmed in Phoenix, Arizona as Nikki Bella and John Cena move in with Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan to help Brie through her first pregnancy  In addition to Brie's growing baby bump, the second season documented Daniel's travels under his new role as General Manager of WWE's SmackDown Live On January 30, 2018, it was announced that a third season would be premiering in spring of 2018  On April 5, 2018, the premiere date for the third season was announced, airing on May 20, 2018 On August 7, 2018, E! and WWE announced that Total Bellas had been renewed for a fourth season  On November 28, 2018, it was announced that the fourth season would premiere on January 13, 2019 On June 19, 2019, while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Brie and Nikki announced that the series would return for a fifth season which premiered on April 2, 2020 On June 11, 2020, the series was renewed for a sixth season which premiered on November 12, 2020 In June 2021, Essentially Sports reported that E! had canceled Total Bellas and its sister show Total Divas, citing low ratings and a lack of interest from those involved 

Cast
Main
Recurring
Episodes
Series overview
Season 1 (2016)
Season 2 (2017)
Season 3 (2018)
Season 4 (2019)
Season 5 (2020)
Season 6 (2020–21)
Awards and nominations
Broadcast
The show is broadcast in The United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, France and South Africa on the local E! network  
The series is also available on Hulu, WWE Network and Peacock 
Context 2: Passage 1:
Khrystyne Haje
Khrystyne Kamil Haje ( krist-EEN HOZH; born December 21, 1968) is an American actress  She is known for her role as Simone Foster in the sitcom series Head of the Class  After the series ended in 1991, she continued acting in both television and films  Haje was named as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in People magazine's first edition of that list in 1990 

Career
Haje began her career at age 14 as a fashion model while attending North Hollywood High School  Her acting career started at 17 in the television movie Crime of Innocence 
After appearing in several other television roles, including an appearance in the movie Bates Motel, Haje landed the role of sensitive poet Simone Foster on Head of the Class  After the series ended in 1991, she continued acting in both television and films  She was named as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in People Magazine's first edition of that list in 1990 That same year, Haje won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program for hosting the special Spaceship Earth: Our Global Environment  In 1995, Haje voiced the character of Rebecca Fallbrook in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series 
In the late 1990s, she began working in theatre productions and appearing less in television productions In 2001, People Magazine reported that Haje was "quarter owner of a Silicon Valley company" worth $500 million  Haje explained, "I was really lucky and made a smart move "

Personal life
Haje was born in Santa Clara, California and has four brothers  Her parents are of Lebanese and Czech origin  Haje is a founding board member of the Earth Communication Office (ECO), which helps to protect ecosystems She appeared on the March 23, 2012 episode of the Rachael Ray Show to have her hair cut as part of National Donate Your Hair Day (April 27) for women with cancer In 2015, Haje was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, three years after being successfully treated for invasive lobular breast cancer  Although doctors estimated she had only two years to live, a medical trial called the SM-88 treatment (consisting of daily pills and injections) was successful, leaving her with no evidence of cancer within two years  She said, "I'm so lucky    I found this treatment, and I responded to it  And I don't suffer "

Filmography
Film

Television

Awards and nominations
1992: Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program; Spaceship Earth: Our Global Environment (shared with Kirk Bergstrom and Kit Thomas)
Young Artist Awards nominations:

1987: Exceptional Performance By a Young Actress in a New Television, Comedy or Drama Series, Head of the Class
1988: Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress in a Television Comedy Series, Head of the Class
1989: Best Young Actress – Starring in a Television Comedy Series, Head of the Class
Passage 2:
The Dinner Party (play)
The Dinner Party is a one-act comedy written by Neil Simon, about marriage and divorce  This is Simon's 31st play 

Production
The Dinner Party had its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, in December 1999 and then ran at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC  in June and July 2000 The play opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre on October 19, 2000 and closed on September 1, 2001 after 364 performances and 20 previews  Directed by John Rando, the cast featured Len Cariou (Andre Bouville), Veanne Cox (Yvonne Fouchet), Penny Fuller (Gabrielle Buonocelli), Jan Maxwell (Mariette Levieux), John Ritter (Claude) and Henry Winkler (Albert)   The sets were by John Lee Beatty, costumes by Jane Greenwood and lighting by Brian MacDevitt Near the end of the run, Ritter and Winkler were replaced by Jon Lovitz and Larry Miller Fuller received a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play 

Background
In an interview in The New York Times (as reported by talkinbroadway com), Simon said that "he was trying to write a play very different from anything he had done before, and that he 'had the concept of creating a farce up to a certain point, and then instead of continuing the farce, to make a turn to where it becomes quite serious  [He] wanted to break the concept that farces can never get real, even for a minute ' "

Plot overview
Playwright Neil Simon, himself married five times, mines his own experience to create the thematic material for this unique farce-turned-dramedy 
Six unknowing guests have RSVP'd to a dinner at a private dining room in a first-rate restaurant in Paris  Arriving in a staggered manner, they eventually realize they are three divorced couples—providing the makings of the farce Simon intends the first half of the play to be  Five of them were mistaken into thinking a man they hold in high regard (who happens to be the divorce lawyer) is hosting the party, but he never shows up, and appearances prove to be deceiving 
Claude Pichon and Albert Donay are the first to arrive, and Claude asks what the party is for, but Albert does not know either  As the three male guests arrive first and the female guests later, it only gradually unfolds that they are three divorced couples and that somebody has designs for them to be together 
After the shock wears off, the characters inevitably begin to analyze and emotionally process their past marriages, and the play ends on a hopeful note 
The play treats similar themes to Stephen Sondheim's Follies, but has a generally more upbeat ending and a more positive spin on breakups and the meaning of relationships 

Reception
Ben Brantley in his New York Times review wrote: "The Dinner Party obviously hopes to invert a traditional comic form to reveal the truly absurd messes that so many people make of their marriages  Mr  Simon, who has been married five times, has reason to consider this subject  But no matter how profound his intentions, the play keeps shifting into automatic pilot, reflexively delivering barbs that glide over the surface instead of piercing it  The Dinner Party concludes on a tender, truly stirring note of pathos, bewilderment and affection for the foolish mortals who create such havoc for themselves  This sentimental moment is so palpably sincere, you wish you had been able to believe for a single instant in the events leading up to it "
Passage 3:
Love, Simon
Love, Simon is a 2018 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Greg Berlanti, written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, and based on the novel Simon vs  the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli  The film stars Nick Robinson, Josh Duhamel, and Jennifer Garner  It centers on Simon Spier, a closeted gay high school boy who struggles to balance his friends, his family, and the blackmailer threatening to out him to the entire school, while simultaneously attempting to discover the identity of the anonymous classmate with whom he has fallen in love online 
Love, Simon premiered at the Mardi Gras Film Festival on February 27, 2018, and was released in the United States on March 16, 2018, by 20th Century Fox  Critics praised the film for its "big heart, diverse and talented cast, and revolutionary normalcy", describing it as "tender, sweet, and affecting" and a "hugely charming crowd-pleaser" that is "funny, warm-hearted and life-affirming", with reviews comparing it to the romantic comedy-drama films of John Hughes  Notable as the first film by a major Hollywood studio to focus on a gay teenage romance, it grossed $66 million worldwide  A television series titled Love, Victor, set in the same universe as the film, premiered on June 17, 2020, on Hulu, with Robinson serving as the series' narrator for the first season 

Plot
Simon Spier is a closeted gay teenager living in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia  He has a close and loving family—parents Emily and Jack, and sister Nora—as well as three best friends: Nick and Leah, whom he has known most of his life, and newcomer Abby 
Leah informs Simon about an online confession of a closeted gay student at their high school, known only by the pseudonym "Blue"  Simon begins communicating with Blue via email using the pseudonym "Jacques"  The two confide personal details and form a connection  Their emails are accidentally discovered by another student, Martin, who is infatuated with Abby  After learning his secret, Martin threatens to make Simon's emails public unless he helps Martin win over Abby  Simon begins trying to figure out which of his classmates is actually Blue 
At a Halloween party, Simon suspects his classmate Bram might be Blue and attempts to connect with him, but later walks in on Bram making out with a female student  Nick confides in Simon that he has feelings for Abby  Simon lies to Nick, telling him that Abby has a boyfriend in college  Leah walks an inebriated Simon home, where she speaks vaguely about how she feels that she is fated to love one person very intensely; Simon believes she is referring to Nick 
Simon meets up with Abby and Martin at a Waffle House after he convinces them to practice lines together for an upcoming school musical  Simon bonds with their server, a classmate named Lyle, and now suspects that Lyle may be Blue  That night, Simon comes out to Abby and is relieved when she reacts positively 
At a school football game, Simon crosses paths with Lyle; before he can summon the courage to ask if Lyle is Blue, he finds out Lyle is actually interested in Abby  An upset Simon tells a pestering Martin to either "go big or go home" when courting Abby  Martin interrupts the national anthem and publicly declares his feelings for Abby  When Abby admits she does not share those feelings, Martin is humiliated and becomes the subject of ridicule 
On Christmas Eve, to distract people from his own humiliation, Martin outs Simon by posting his emails on the school's gossip site  Simon's sister, Nora, tries to comfort Simon but he shuts her out and does not return his friends' texts and calls  Simon comes out to his parents on Christmas morning, to their surprise and acceptance 
After the holidays, Nick and Abby, now a couple, confront Simon about the lies he told and learn that he tried to keep them apart due to Martin's blackmail  Leah confesses to Simon that she was in love with him, not Nick, and is upset he came out to Abby first  After his friends break off from him, Simon receives a final email from Blue, who is upset that their emails have been leaked  Blue tells Simon that they should stop speaking and deletes his email account 
In the cafeteria, Simon and an openly gay student, Ethan, are mocked by classmates  Ethan and Simon bond over the difficulties they have faced coming out  After his mother reaches out and comforts him, Simon apologizes to Leah and tells her he is in love with Blue  Simon posts a confession on the gossip site apologizing to his friends, seeking out Blue and asking him to meet at the school carnival 
After the school musical, Leah, Nick and Abby make amends with Simon and invite him to go to the carnival with them  Waiting for Blue at the carnival, Simon rides the Ferris wheel, drawing a large crowd of peers  When Simon runs out of tickets, Martin buys him one more ride  Just before the ride begins, Bram sits next to Simon, revealing himself as Blue after all; the kiss Simon saw with the female student was a drunken misunderstanding  They ride the Ferris wheel together and kiss as their friends cheer them on 
Simon's life gradually returns to normal and he begins a relationship with Bram  While picking up his friends and boyfriend for school, Simon suggests that they forgo their usual morning routine and instead go "on a little adventure" 

Cast
Nick Robinson as Simon Spier
Bryson Pitts as 10-year-old Simon Spier
Nye Reynolds as 5-year-old Simon Spier
Josh Duhamel as Jack Spier, Simon's father
Jennifer Garner as Emily Spier, Simon's mother
Katherine Langford as Leah Burke, one of Simon's best friends
Alexandra Shipp as Abby Susso, one of Simon's best friends
Jorge Lendeborg Jr  as Nick Eisner, one of Simon's best friends
Keiynan Lonsdale as Abraham "Bram" Greenfeld, Simon's love interest
Miles Heizer as Cal Price, one of Simon's classmates
Logan Miller as Martin Addison, one of Simon's classmates who blackmails him
Tony Hale as Mr  Worth, the awkward vice principal of the school Simon attends
Talitha Bateman as Nora Spier, Simon's sister
Skye Mowbray as 6-year-old Nora Spier
Natasha Rothwell as Ms  Albright, Simon's drama teacher
Drew Starkey as Garrett Laughlin, one of Simon's classmates
Clark Moore as Ethan, one of Simon's classmates who is openly gay
Joey Pollari as Lyle, a flirty server at a local diner
Mackenzie Lintz as Taylor Metternich, one of Simon's classmates

Production
Principal photography began on March 6, 2017, in Atlanta, Georgia  Filming officially ended on April 23, 2017, two days earlier than scheduled, an effort that Berlanti made to offset the cost of paying royalties for the most expensive songs on the film's soundtrack Becky Albertalli, the author of the novel the film is based on, and YouTuber Doug Armstrong make cameo appearances as students in the film 

Music
Love, Simon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) was released by RCA Records and Sony Music Entertainment, on March 16, 2018  It featured music by several artists including Bleachers, Troye Sivan, Amy Shark, Brenton Wood, The 1975, Normani and Khalid, among others  It featured at #37 on Billboard 200's chart, #3 on Billboard Top Soundtracks chart, and at #24 in Billboard Canadian Albums chart for the week beginning with March 31, 2018, while also featured at #161 on Billboard 200 year-ender chart Rob Simonsen's score was distributed by Lakeshore Records as Love, Simon (Original Motion Picture Score) and released along with the soundtrack album 

Release
Love, Simon premiered at the Mardi Gras Film Festival on February 27, 2018, and also screened at the Glasgow Film Festival and the Melbourne Queer Film Festival  The film was released by 20th Century Fox in the United States and Canada on March 16, 2018, and was scheduled to be released in other countries on various dates throughout 2018 Following the film's release, several celebrities – including Jennifer Garner, Kristen Bell, Neil Patrick Harris, Joey Graceffa, Matt Bomer, Robbie Rogers, Benj Pasek, Tyler Oakley, Martin Gero, Andrew Rannells, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson – bought out theaters and offered free screenings of the film because they believed it conveyed an important message  Love, Simon is notable as the first film by a major Hollywood studio to focus on a gay teenage romance The film became available to pre-order on home video on January 17, 2018, was released digitally on May 29, 2018, and was released on 4K Blu-Ray, Blu-ray and DVD on June 12, 2018 

Reception
Box office
Love, Simon grossed $40 8 million in the United States and Canada, and $25 4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $66 3 million, against a production budget of $10–17 million  It is the 15th highest-grossing teen romance film since 1980, and the third-highest by 20th Century Fox after The Fault in Our Stars and Romeo + Juliet Love, Simon held early preview screenings on March 10 before its official release on March 16, where it grossed $800,000 from 927 theaters, which Deadline Hollywood considered "strong"  In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Tomb Raider and I Can Only Imagine, and was projected to gross $10–12 million from 2,401 theaters in its opening weekend  The film made $4 6 million on its first day (including $850,000 from Thursday previews at 2,125 theaters)  The film went on to debut at $11 8 million, finishing fifth at the box office; 58% of its opening weekend audience was female and 59% was under 25  In its second weekend the film dropped 33% to $7 8 million, finishing 7th, and in its third weekend made $4 8 million, finishing ninth In the United Kingdom, the film debuted fourth at the box office, earning $1 6 million  In Australia, the film debuted fourth at the box office, earning $916,697  In Brazil, the film debuted fourth at the box office, earning $804,567  In Mexico, the film debuted third at the box office, earning $982,391 

Critical response
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 239 reviews, with an average rating of 7 5/10  The website's critical consensus reads, "Love, Simon hits its coming-of-age beats more deftly than many entries in this well-traveled genre – and represents an overdue, if not entirely successful, milestone of inclusion " On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews"  Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, one of fewer than 90 films in the history of the service to earn such a score Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave the film four out of five stars, calling it a "hugely charming crowd-pleaser"  Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood gave the film four out of five stars, stating that audiences "are guaranteed to fall in love with this sweet, funny coming-of-age film" Molly Freeman of Screen Rant gave the film four out of five stars or an Excellent rating, stating that "Love, Simon is a funny, heartfelt, and truly touching teen romantic comedy that instantly becomes a modern classic for today's generation " Josh Winning of GamesRadar+ gave the film four out five stars, describing it as a "warm, sensitive and engaging coming-out-of-ager" and "one of the freshest teen-coms in ages" Meredith Goldstein of The Boston Globe gave the film three and a half out of four stars and stated, "Love, Simon is a sweet, modern romantic comedy that manages to channel the teen movie classics of the late John Hughes, but only the good stuff " Colin Covert of the Star Tribune gave the film 3/4 stars and wrote, "If John Hughes had gone on to make a smart LGBT coming-of-age charmer, most likely it would resemble this "Bruce Demara of the Toronto Star also gave it three out of four stars, stating "The casting is high quality, the script – with a tantalizing mystery at its heart – is particularly well-crafted and the story hits all the right emotional notes in delivering a funny, warm-hearted and life-affirming tale " Brian Truitt of USA Today gave the film three and a half out of four stars and wrote, "Young and old, jocks and nerds, geeks and freaks, and everyone in between should be able to find something to adore in Love, Simon "Joyce Slaton of Common Sense Media gave the film four out of five stars, describing it as "tender, sweet, and affecting", with the film also receiving The Common Sense Seal, which recognizes movies that offer families an exceptional media experience  MJ Franklin of Mashable wrote that "Love, Simon feels like an instant classic that you're going to want to watch again and again "Max Weiss of Baltimore gave Love, Simon three out of four stars, calling it a "sweet, funny, warm-hearted film" Peter Debruge of Variety, while stating that the film is average in execution, praised the content as "groundbreaking on so many levels, not least of which is just how otherwise familiar it all seems"  Jesse Hassenger of The A V  Club gave the film a C+ and wrote that the film "is touching as a gesture", but as entertainment "it's nothing Degrassi hasn't done better" Becky Albertalli, the author of the novel on which the film is based, watched an early cut and praised the film, stating: "It's funny and relevant and timeless and charming and honest and painful and so romantic  It says exactly what I wanted the book to say "

Accolades
Sequel television series
Although Berlanti indicated that, after witnessing the film's success, he would not necessarily be opposed to directing a sequel film based on the book's spin-off sequel, Leah on the Offbeat, stating "God willing that the movie is successful enough that people actually ask for something like that  I loved working with these people on this film so much  I would just like to spend more time with them, that would be good!" When asked about a sequel, Katherine Langford said "I mean, it's always a discussion of who would make it, but if the script was good and the filmmaker had a great vision, then I would be totally down  I'm always down to tell a good story "On April 11, 2019, it was announced that a spin-off television series would premiere on Disney+  The series is not an adaptation of Leah on the Offbeat but rather a new story set at the same high school and follows closeted basketball player Victor and his already out-of-the-closet hipster crush, Benji On June 13, 2019, actress Ana Ortiz was cast to star as Isabel, Victor's mother  On August 15, 2019, the rest of the cast was revealed, with Michael Cimino leading the series as Victor, James Martinez as Victor's father Armando, Isabella Ferreira as Victor's sister Pilar, Mateo Fernandez as Victor's brother Adrian, Rachel Naomi Hilson as Victor's friend Mia, Bebe Wood as Mia's friend Lake, George Sear as Victor's love interest Benji, Anthony Turpel as Victor's best friend Felix, and Mason Gooding as cocky jock Andrew  Additionally, Nick Robinson would return as narrator and a producer of the series In February 2020, the series – now titled Love, Victor – was announced to be premiering on Hulu instead in June 2020  It was released on Disney+ in February 2021 in territories where the Star content hub is available 
Passage 4:
Bruce Davis (video game industry)
Bruce L  Davis (born 1952) is an American businessman, most recently CEO and chairman of Digimarc  Formerly the head of both Imagic and Activision 

Early life and education
A native of New York, Davis earned a B S  in accounting and psychology and an M A  in criminal justice from University at Albany, SUNY, and a J D  degree from Columbia University 

Career
Davis began his professional career by establishing the intellectual property practice at the firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in San Francisco, California  He assumed leadership of Imagic as it was going out of business in the video game crash of 1983 From 1987 to 1991, Davis was first chief operating officer, then chairman and CEO of Activision  The board of directors promoted him from senior vice president to replace Jim Levy shortly after the acquisition of Infocom, in the hopes of stemming the continuing financial damage from the crash  He had opposed the merger, and many Infocom employees believed he was deliberately working against them, changing processes that had made the game business successful  Activision co-founder and programmer David Crane was also critical of Davis: "Bruce Davis’ biggest mistake was treating video games as commodities, rather than creative products " Nevertheless, Davis's leadership of Activision began well  He led the company to a profit in his first year at the helm on strong sales growth, following 16 consecutive quarters of multimillion-dollar losses  The turnaround effort was stymied after a huge damages award for infringement of Magnavox's original home video game patents was upheld on appeal in 1988  That year Activision changed its name to Mediagenic, as Davis sought to expand the company's product lines to non-gaming software  In February 1991, Robert Kotick, backed by Steve Wynn of Mirage Resorts, staged a successful hostile takeover  Kotick and his team then filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in cooperation with Magnavox parent company Philips in a leveraged recapitalization of Activision, as it was renamed in 1992  Kotick replaced Davis in this restructuring Starting in 1992, Davis founded and served as president of TV Guide on Screen, a joint venture of News Corporation and TCI that supplied electronic guides and navigational software for the cable television market  The company later merged with Prevue Networks, then with TV Guide  TV Guide later merged with Gemstar International  The resulting Gemstar-TV Guide International was acquired in 2008 by Macrovision  
Davis was the chairman and CEO of Digimarc until 2021  He led Digimarc from start up in 1997 to a more than US$100 million public company supplying digital watermarking technologies to national and state governments and to the media industry  In April 2021, Davis retired from his role as chairman and CEO of Digimarc Davis has been awarded more than 50 patents on television user interface and media management and security  In 2003, Davis was named Ernst & Young's Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur Of The Year for the technology category 
Passage 5:
Empire Interactive
Empire Interactive was a British video game developer and publisher based in London  Founded in 1987 by Ian Higgins and Simon Jeffrey, it was acquired by Silverstar Holdings in 2006 and went out of business in 2009 

History
Empire Interactive was established by Ian Higgins (chief executive officer) and Simon Jeffrey (managing director) in 1987  In November 2000, the company acquired development studio Razorworks As well as full priced titles, Empire also had a budget range of titles, Xplosiv, for PC and PS2  Initially launched for PC in January 2000, Xplosiv published titles in Europe from third parties such as Sega and Microsoft  Later, in 2003 Empire launched titles for PS2 In March 2002 Empire acquired music creation software eJay Silverstar Holdings, a U S  public company listed on NASDAQ, offered to acquired Empire Interactive in late October 2006  The deal was accepted by 90% of Empire Interactive's shareholders by late November, and so Silverstar Holdings acquired 85% of Empire Interactive's shares  The deal was valued at approximately £4 5 million  Admissions of further Empire Interactive shares on the Alternative Investments Market of the London Stock Exchange, were expected to be cancelled, effective on 20 December  Higgins stepped down from his position in May 2008  In July, Empire Interactive reduced its staff count by 30%, with the intent to sell Razorworks  Razorworks was sold to and absorbed by Rebellion Developments a few days later  After Silverstar Holdings was delisted from NASDAQ in March 2009, Empire Interactive was placed into administration on 1 May 2009, with KPMG Restructuring appointed as administrator  Subsequently, 49 out of 55 employees were laid off, with the remaining six staying to aiding KPMG Restructuring in the winding-down of the company  Empire Interactive's intellectual property was sold to U S -based company New World IP  Shortly thereafter, U S  publisher Zoo Publishing acquired an exclusive licence for the publishing and distribution of Empire Interactive from New World IP 

Games
Passage 6:
René Simon
René Simon (1898 in Troyes – 1971) was a French actor and founder in 1925 of the Cours Simon drama school in Paris  Notable alumni of Cours Simon include Benoît Petitjean and Jean Reno 
Passage 7:
Director of the National Security Agency
The director of the National Security Agency (DIRNSA) is the highest-ranking official of the National Security Agency, which is a defense agency within the U S  Department of Defense  The director of the NSA also concurrently serves as the Chief of the Central Security Service (CHCSS) and as the commander of U S  Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM)  As the director of the NSA and the chief of the CSC, the officeholder reports to the under secretary of defense for intelligence, and as the commander of U S  Cyber Command, the officeholder reports directly to the secretary of defense 
According to 10 U S C  § 201 of the United States Code, the director of the NSA is recommended by the secretary of defense and nominated for appointment by the president  The nominee must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate  In accordance with Department of Defense Directive 5100 20, dated 23 December 1971, the director of the NSA must always be a commissioned officer of the military services  As the assignment is currently part of a tri-hatted position, the director of the NSA is appointed to the grade of a four-star general or admiral during the period of his incumbency  The director's deputy is always a technically experienced civilian 

AFSA directors
The Armed Forces Security Agency was the predecessor to the National Security Agency and existed from 1949 to 1952 

NSA directors
Passage 8:
Wishful Drinking
Wishful Drinking is an autobiographical humor book by American actress and author Carrie Fisher, published by Simon & Schuster in 2008  Fisher's book was based on her one-woman stage show, which she developed with writer/director Joshua Ravetch 
The show debuted at The Geffen Playhouse  Fisher performed with Ravetch co-creating and directing  It enjoyed a successful Broadway run and then toured in other cities  In 2010, HBO filmed a feature-length documentary of the stage play 

Book reception
Wishful Drinking received generally positive reviews from critics  The January 2009 New York Times review described it as a "funny, sardonic little memoir", but "pretty slight, padded out with big type, extra space between the lines and some family photographs, and it displays at times an almost antic need to entertain  The paragraphs are short, and the jokes – the puns, the wisecracks, the deadpan one-liners – come rattling along at the rate of one every other sentence or so "  Salon reviewer Rebecca Traister found the book quite funny in large part, but was disappointed that "instead of pushing aside the twinkling craziness of her outside life to meaningfully reveal the crazy on the inside, as she has always done so well, Fisher is now gathering all the starry stuff around her for comfort and reassurance about who she is and what she means "The author, who died on December 27, 2016, had written the following comment in the book, and it was widely published by the news media after her death:

Now I think that this would make for a fantastic obit—so I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra 

Stage adaptation
The book followed Fisher's one-woman play in which Fisher had been performing  Developed originally at The Geffen Playhouse with Josh Ravetch co-creating and directing the world premiere, it moved to Berkeley Repertory Theatre near San Francisco at the beginning of 2008, the production opened in a limited run on Broadway at Studio 54 on September 22, 2009 (previews) and October 4, 2009, and closed on January 17, 2010  After its successful San Francisco Bay Area run and before moving to Broadway, Wishful Drinking played at, among other venues, the Arena Stage in Washington, D C  in September 2008, and Seattle Repertory Theatre April – May 2009 

Production rights dispute
While the show met with critical and popular success on Broadway in New York, Fisher was soon embroiled in a battle with producer Jonathan Reinis over its production rights  Each claimed lost revenue at the hands of the other 

Film documentary
HBO cable television released a filmed documentary of the stage show, directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and first broadcast in December 2010  The 76-minute film was released on DVD on September 13, 2011   The film production and DVD received a mixture of reviews   In the Los Angeles Times, Robert Lloyd described the performance captured: "Fisher can be broad, but that is also the person she plays everywhere now: a little larger than life, worn but not worn out  She's funny as an actress, and as a writer makes memorable phrases"   Boston Globe reviewer Matthew Gilbert wrote, "Fisher’s obsession with her parents and stepparents can be a little tiresome, to be honest, even while her tales of Hollywood absurdity remain outrageous   
Context 3: Passage 1:
The Miracle Child
The Miracle Child (French: L'enfant du miracle) is a 1932 French science fiction film based on a play of the same name by Robert Charvay and Paul Gavault  The plot of the film centers around a widow named Blanche Montel who endeavours to find a man with whom to produce a child so that she can pretend that the child was her late husband's and so inherit a fortune  In a scene which has been cited as particularly humorous, a few characters interrupt a Spiritualist séance and are subsequently believed to be ghosts  Ginette Leclerc's minor role in The Miracle Child was one of her first acting roles in a long and successful career 
Passage 2:
Blood Stain Child
Blood Stain Child (stylised as BLOOD STAIN CHILD) is a Japanese melodic death metal band from the city of Osaka  The band's musical style combines melodic death metal with electronic and trance  The band formed under the name "Visionquest" in 1999, but changed their name to Blood Stain Child in 2000 

Background
Blood Stain Child, then called Visionquest, was formed in 1999 by Ryo (bass, lead vocals), Ryu (lead guitar, synth guitar), Daiki (rhythm guitar, synth guitar), Aki (keyboards, piano, synthesizers, backing vocals) and Violator (drums, percussion)  In 2000, they took on their current name and recorded their first three-track demo in August 2000  The band sent that demo to a radio station and the DJ enjoyed the music so much that he recommended the band to the record label, M&I Company, who eventually signed Blood Stain Child In 2001, Blood Stain Child recorded two songs, "The World" and "Steel Flame"  The first song was used as the theme song for professional wrestler, Kensuke Sasaki and the second song was used as the theme song for the 30th anniversary of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, a professional wrestling group  In July 2002, Blood Stain released their debut studio album, Silence of Northern Hell  In October 2002, Blood Stain Child was the supporting act for Dream Evil during their tour in Japan  In June 2003, Blood Stain Child released their second studio album, Mystic Your Heart, which was co-produced by Anssi Kippo, a popular producer from Finland 
In March 2005, Daiki left the band and was replaced by Shiromasa in April  That same year, Blood Stain Child released their third studio album, Idolator, which was co-produced by Tue Madsen, a popular producer from Denmark  In 2006, Blood Stain Child signed with Dockyard 1 and released Idolator in Europe on 27 November 2006  Idolator was later released in the United States through Locomotive Records on 17 July 2007 
In April 2007, Blood Stain Child announced the addition of a new vocalist, Sadew, and a new guitarist, G S R  On 18 July 2007, Blood Stain Child released their fourth studio album, Mozaiq in Japan, which was also co-produced by Tue Madsen  It was then released in Europe on 20 July 2007 with an exclusive bonus track "Cosmic Highway" 
On 12 June 2010, Ryu announced on his official blog that Sadew withdrew from the band due to personal reasons  Drummer Violator left the band as well, in order to take care of family business  In September the band announced new members Sophia Aslanides (also known as Sophia Aslanidou, from Greece) on vocals and Gami (ex-Youthquake) on drums, signing a contract with Italian record label Coroner Records and Japanese record label Pony Canyon 
In April 2011, Blood Stain Child took part in a Studio Ghibli cover album titled Imaginary Flying Machines - Princess Ghibli, covering the songs "Itsumo Nando Demo" (Spirited Away) and "Teru no Uta" (Tales from Earthsea)  In June 2011, the band performed at A-Kon in Dallas, Texas, together with D  Later that same month, the band released their fifth full studio album, Epsilon  The band started a Japanese tour from 19 August to 24 September  In December 2011, the band performed in Moscow, St  Petersburg, Ekaterinburg and Kiev 
Blood Stain Child performed as special guests at Naka-Kon 2012, in Overland Park, Kansas, between the 10–12 February  In March 2012, the band took part in another Princess Ghibli album, covering the song "Ai wa Hana Kimi wa Sonotane" (Only Yesterday)  On 21 July, Sophia officially announced that she was leaving Blood Stain Child  She later formed the electronic metal band Season of Ghosts in 2013  New female vocalist Kiki joined the band on 3 December  In early 2013 the band introduced their new VJ/DJ - Makoto, which came along with an announcement of Aki being absent from further live shows due to "his personal issues", however, he will remain a member and take part in the creation of music  However, Makoto left in 2014 
Founding member Ryo and Kiki both left Blood Stain Child in 2016  They were replaced by bassist Yakky and male vocalist Saika, respectively In 2018, Blood Stain Child joined forces with Danceroid singer Yuzuki and created the melodic death metal supergroup Yuzukingdom 
On 1 February 2019, Blood Stain Child released a new single, entitled "Del-Sol" as well as an accompanying music video  Later that year, on 3 July, a new full-length album called Amateras was released featuring the same members as the previous single 

Musical style
A notable feature of Blood Stain Child is their tendency to incorporate both electro-industrial and euro-trance related themes and elements into their music  The band's sound includes screamed vocals complemented at times by traditional singing, with their overall musical style best classified as a mix between In Flames, Children of Bodom, and Soilwork  The band cites influences such as In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, HIM, X Japan, and Luna Sea 

Members
Ryu – lead guitar, synth guitar (1999–present)
Aki – keyboards, piano, synthesizers, backing vocals (1999–present, studio member since 2013)
G S R – rhythm guitar, synth guitar (2007–present)
Sadew – lead vocals (2007–2010, 2018–present)
Yakky – bass (2016–present)
Yasu – drums, percussion (2018–present)

Former members
Daiki – rhythm guitar, synth guitar (1999–2005)
Violator – drums, percussion (1999–2010)
Ryo – bass, lead vocals (1999–2016), backing vocals (1999–2007)
Shiromasa – rhythm guitar, synth guitar (2005–2007)
Sophia Aslanides – lead vocals (2010–2012)
Gami – drums, percussion (2010–2018)
Kiki – lead vocals (2012–2016)
Makoto – DJ, VJ, manipulator (2013–2014)
Saika – lead vocals (2016–2018)

Timeline
Discography
Demos, EPs and SinglesDemo 2000 (2000)
The World (2001)
Last Stardust (2014)
Nexus (2016)
Tri Odyssey (2017)
Del-SOl (2019)
2045 (2021)
共鳴領域 (with Pizuya's Cell, 2022)AlbumsSilence of Northern Hell (2002)
Mystic Your Heart (2003)
Idolator (2005)
mozaiq (2007)
εpsilon (2011)
The Legend (Best of-album, 2018)
Amateras (2019)Music videos"Silence of Northern Hell" from Silence of Northern Hell
"Truth" from Idolator
"Freedom" from mozaiq
"Last Stardust" from Last Stardust EP
"Nexus" from Nexus EP
"Tri Odyssey" from Tri Odyssey EP
"Trance Dead Kingdom" from Tri Odyssey EP
"gaia evolution" from Tri Odyssey EP
"KAMUI-神威-" from The Legend
"Del-Sol" from Amateras
"皇～sumeragi～" from Amateras
Passage 3:
Child labour
Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful  Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation worldwide, although these laws do not consider all work by children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists, family duties, supervised training, and some forms of work undertaken by Amish children, as well as by indigenous children in the Americas Child labour has existed to varying extents throughout history  During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many children aged 5–14 from poorer families worked in Western nations and their colonies alike  These children mainly worked in agriculture, home-based assembly operations, factories, mining, and services such as news boys – some worked night shifts lasting 12 hours  With the rise of household income, availability of schools and passage of child labour laws, the incidence rates of child labour fell In the world's poorest countries, around one in four children are engaged in child labour, the highest number of whom (29 percent) live in sub-saharan Africa  In 2017, four African nations (Mali, Benin, Chad and Guinea-Bissau) witnessed over 50 percent of children aged 5–14 working  Worldwide agriculture is the largest employer of child labour  The vast majority of child labour is found in rural settings and informal urban economies; children are predominantly employed by their parents, rather than factories  Poverty and lack of schools are considered the primary cause of child labour Globally the incidence of child labour decreased from 25% to 10% between 1960 and 2003, according to the World Bank  Nevertheless, the total number of child labourers remains high, with UNICEF and ILO acknowledging an estimated 168 million children aged 5–17 worldwide were involved in child labour in 2013 

History
Child labour in preindustrial societies
Child labour forms an intrinsic part of pre-industrial economies  In pre-industrial societies, there is rarely a concept of childhood in the modern sense  Children often begin to actively participate in activities such as child rearing, hunting and farming as soon as they are competent  In many societies, children as young as 13 are seen as adults and engage in the same activities as adults The work of children was important in pre-industrial societies, as children needed to provide their labour for their survival and that of their group  Pre-industrial societies were characterised by low productivity and short life expectancy; preventing children from participating in productive work would be more harmful to their welfare and that of their group in the long run  In pre-industrial societies, there was little need for children to attend school  This is especially the case in non-literate societies  Most pre-industrial skill and knowledge were amenable to being passed down through direct mentoring or apprenticing by competent adults 

Industrial Revolution
With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the late 18th century, there was a rapid increase in the industrial exploitation of labour, including child labour  Industrial cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool rapidly grew from small villages into large cities and improving child mortality rates  These cities drew in the population that was rapidly growing due to increased agricultural output  This process was replicated in other industrialising countries The Victorian era in particular became notorious for the conditions under which children were employed  Children as young as four were employed in production factories and mines working long hours in dangerous, often fatal, working conditions  In coal mines, children would crawl through tunnels too narrow and low for adults  Children also worked as errand boys, crossing sweepers, shoe blacks, or selling matches, flowers and other cheap goods  Some children undertook work as apprentices to respectable trades, such as building or as domestic servants (there were over 120,000 domestic servants in London in the mid-18th century)  Working hours were long: builders worked 64 hours a week in the summer and 52 hours in winter, while servants worked 80-hour weeks Child labour played an important role in the Industrial Revolution from its outset, often brought about by economic hardship  The children of the poor were expected to contribute to their family income  In 19th-century Great Britain, one-third of poor families were without a breadwinner, as a result of death or abandonment, obliging many children to work from a young age  In England and Scotland in 1788, two-thirds of the workers in 143 water-powered cotton mills were described as children  A high number of children also worked as prostitutes  The author Charles Dickens worked at the age of 12 in a blacking factory, with his family in debtor's prison Child wages were often low, the wages were as little as 10–20% of an adult male's wage  Karl Marx was an outspoken opponent of child labour, saying British industries "could but live by sucking blood, and children’s blood too", and that U S  capital was financed by the "capitalized blood of children"  Letitia Elizabeth Landon castigated child labour in her 1835 poem The Factory, portions of which she pointedly included in her 18th Birthday Tribute to Princess Victoria in 1837 
Throughout the second half of the 19th century, child labour began to decline in industrialised societies due to regulation and economic factors because of the Growth of trade unions  The regulation of child labour began from the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution  The first act to regulate child labour in Britain was passed in 1803  As early as 1802 and 1819 Factory Acts were passed to regulate the working hours of workhouse children in factories and cotton mills to 12 hours per day  These acts were largely ineffective and after radical agitation, by for example the "Short Time Committees" in 1831, a Royal Commission recommended in 1833 that children aged 11–18 should work a maximum of 12 hours per day, children aged 9–11 a maximum of eight hours, and children under the age of nine were no longer permitted to work  This act however only applied to the textile industry, and further agitation led to another act in 1847 limiting both adults and children to 10-hour working days  Lord Shaftesbury was an outspoken advocate of regulating child labour As technology improved and proliferated, there was a greater need for educated employees  This saw an increase in schooling, with the eventual introduction of compulsory schooling  Improved technology, automation and further legislation significantly reduced child labour particularly in western Europe and the U S 

Early 20th century
In the early 20th century, thousands of boys were employed in glass making industries  Glass making was a dangerous and tough job especially without the current technologies  The process of making glass includes intense heat to melt glass (3,133 °F (1,723 °C))  When the boys are at work, they are exposed to this heat  This could cause eye trouble, lung ailments, heat exhaustion, cuts, and burns  Since workers were paid by the piece, they had to work productively for hours without a break  Since furnaces had to be constantly burning, there were night shifts from 5:00 pm to 3:00 am  Many factory owners preferred boys under 16 years of age An estimated 1 7 million children under the age of fifteen were employed in American industry by 1900 In 1910, over 2 million children in the same age group were employed in the United States  This included children who rolled cigarettes, engaged in factory work, worked as bobbin doffers in textile mills, worked in coal mines and were employed in canneries  Lewis Hine's photographs of child labourers in the 1910s powerfully evoked the plight of working children in the American south  Hine took these photographs between 1908 and 1917 as the staff photographer for the National Child Labor Committee 

Household enterprises
Factories and mines were not the only places where child labour was prevalent in the early 20th century  Home-based manufacturing across the United States and Europe employed children as well  Governments and reformers argued that labour in factories must be regulated and the state had an obligation to provide welfare for poor  Legislation that followed had the effect of moving work out of factories into urban homes  Families and women, in particular, preferred it because it allowed them to generate income while taking care of household duties Home-based manufacturing operations were active year-round  Families willingly deployed their children in these income generating home enterprises  In many cases, men worked from home  In France, over 58% of garment workers operated out of their homes; in Germany, the number of full-time home operations nearly doubled between 1882 and 1907; and in the United States, millions of families operated out of home seven days a week, year round to produce garments, shoes, artificial flowers, feathers, match boxes, toys, umbrellas and other products  Children aged 5–14 worked alongside the parents  Home-based operations and child labour in Australia, Britain, Austria and other parts of the world was common  Rural areas similarly saw families deploying their children in agriculture  In 1946, Frieda S  Miller – then Director of the United States Department of Labor – told the International Labour Organization (ILO) that these home-based operations offered "low wages, long hours, child labour, unhealthy and insanitary working conditions" 

21st century
Child labour is still common in many parts of the world  Estimates for child labour vary  It ranges between 250 and 304 million, if children aged 5–17 involved in any economic activity are counted  If light occasional work is excluded, ILO estimates there were 153 million child labourers aged 5–14 worldwide in 2008  This is about 20 million less than ILO estimate for child labourers in 2004  Some 60 percent of the child labour was involved in agricultural activities such as farming, dairy, fisheries and forestry  Another 25% of child labourers were in service activities such as retail, hawking goods, restaurants, load and transfer of goods, storage, picking and recycling trash, polishing shoes, domestic help, and other services  The remaining 15% laboured in assembly and manufacturing in informal economy, home-based enterprises, factories, mines, packaging salt, operating machinery, and such operations  Two out of three child workers work alongside their parents, in unpaid family work situations  Some children work as guides for tourists, sometimes combined with bringing in business for shops and restaurants  Child labour predominantly occurs in the rural areas (70%) and informal urban sector (26%) 
Contrary to popular belief, most child labourers are employed by their parents rather than in manufacturing or formal economy  Children who work for pay or in-kind compensation are usually found in rural settings as opposed to urban centres  Less than 3% of child labour aged 5–14 across the world work outside their household, or away from their parents Child labour accounts for 22% of the workforce in Asia, 32% in Africa, 17% in Latin America, 1% in the US, Canada, Europe and other wealthy nations  The proportion of child labourers varies greatly among countries and even regions inside those countries  Africa has the highest percentage of children aged 5–17 employed as child labour, and a total of over 65 million  Asia, with its larger population, has the largest number of children employed as child labour at about 114 million  Latin America and the Caribbean region have lower overall population density, but at 14 million child labourers has high incidence rates too 

Accurate present day child labour information is difficult to obtain because of disagreements between data sources as to what constitutes child labour  In some countries, government policy contributes to this difficulty  For example, the overall extent of child labour in China is unclear due to the government categorizing child labour data as "highly secret"  China has enacted regulations to prevent child labour; still, the practice of child labour is reported to be a persistent problem within China, generally in agriculture and low-skill service sectors as well as small workshops and manufacturing enterprises In 2014, the U S  Department of Labor issued a List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, where China was attributed 12 goods the majority of which were produced by both underage children and indentured labourers  The report listed electronics, garments, toys, and coal, among other goods 
The Maplecroft Child Labour Index 2012 survey reports that 76 countries pose extreme child labour complicity risks for companies operating worldwide  The ten highest risk countries in 2012, ranked in decreasing order, were: Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, DR Congo, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Burundi, Pakistan and Ethiopia  Of the major growth economies, Maplecroft ranked Philippines 25th riskiest, India 27th, China 36th, Vietnam 37th, Indonesia 46th, and Brazil 54th, all of them rated to involve extreme risks of child labour uncertainties, to corporations seeking to invest in developing world and import products from emerging markets 

Causes
The ILO suggests that poverty is the greatest single cause behind child labour  For impoverished households, income from a child's work is usually crucial for his or her own survival or for that of the household  Income from working children, even if small, may be between 25 and 40% of the household income  Other scholars such as Harsch on African child labour, and Edmonds and Pavcnik on global child labour have reached the same conclusion Lack of meaningful alternatives, such as affordable schools and quality education, according to the ILO, is another major factor driving children to harmful labour  Children work because they have nothing better to do  Many communities, particularly rural areas where between 60 and 70% of child labour is prevalent, do not possess adequate school facilities  Even when schools are sometimes available, they are too far away, difficult to reach, unaffordable or the quality of education is so poor that parents wonder if going to school is really worth it 

Cultural factors
In European history when child labour was common, as well as in contemporary child labour of modern world, certain cultural beliefs have rationalised child labour and thereby encouraged it  Some view that work is good for the character-building and skill development of children  In many cultures, particular where the informal economy and small household businesses thrive, the cultural tradition is that children follow in their parents' footsteps; child labour then is a means to learn and practice that trade from a very early age  Similarly, in many cultures the education of girls is less valued or girls are simply not expected to need formal schooling, and these girls pushed into child labour such as providing domestic services 

Macroeconomics
Biggeri and Mehrotra have studied the macroeconomic factors that encourage child labour  They focus their study on five Asian nations including India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines  They suggest that child labour is a serious problem in all five, but it is not a new problem  Macroeconomic causes encouraged widespread child labour across the world, over most of human history  They suggest that the causes for child labour include both the demand and the supply side  While poverty and unavailability of good schools explain the child labour supply side, they suggest that the growth of low-paying informal economy rather than higher paying formal economy is amongst the causes of the demand side  Other scholars too suggest that inflexible labour market, size of informal economy, inability of industries to scale up and lack of modern manufacturing technologies are major macroeconomic factors affecting demand and acceptability of child labour 

By country
Colonial empires
Systematic use of child labour was commonplace in the colonies of European powers between 1650 and 1950  In Africa, colonial administrators encouraged traditional kin-ordered modes of production, that is hiring a household for work not just the adults  Millions of children worked in colonial agricultural plantations, mines and domestic service industries  Sophisticated schemes were promulgated where children in these colonies between the ages of 5 and 14 were hired as an apprentice without pay in exchange for learning a craft  A system of Pauper Apprenticeship came into practice in the 19th century where the colonial master neither needed the native parents' nor child's approval to assign a child to labour, away from parents, at a distant farm owned by a different colonial master  Other schemes included 'earn-and-learn' programs where children would work and thereby learn  Britain for example passed a law, the so-called Masters and Servants Act of 1899, followed by Tax and Pass Law, to encourage child labour in colonies particularly in Africa  These laws offered the native people the legal ownership to some of the native land in exchange for making labour of wife and children available to colonial government's needs such as in farms and as picannins Beyond laws, new taxes were imposed on colonies  One of these taxes was the Head Tax in the British and French colonial empires  The tax was imposed on everyone older than 8 years, in some colonies  To pay these taxes and cover living expenses, children in colonial households had to work In southeast Asian colonies, such as Hong Kong, child labour such as the Mui Tsai (妹仔), was rationalised as a cultural tradition and ignored by British authorities



ground_truth: trying to find a potential buyer for all of its operations in Finland

FIN

fi

Finland

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Who is the head of the developer of Simon?

The following are given passages.
Context 2:  Fisher even starts to seem boastful about her dysfunction    "  Continuing, "Fortunately Fisher does have some self-awareness about the potential for her show to seem like a narcissistic screed  That helps " DVDTalk reviewer Jason Bailey wrote of the released DVD, "To put across the brilliance of Wishful Drinking, all Bailey and Barbato really needed to do was put Fisher on stage, and turn on the cameras  They do that skillfully and unobtrusively"  The DVD's content received 4/5 stars, video quality 3/5, audio quality 3 5/5, extras 2 5/5, replay 4/5, with final advice of "Highly Recommended" 
Passage 9:
Striking Out
Striking Out is an Irish television legal drama series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017  Produced by Bl!nder F!lms for RTÉ Television, Striking Out stars Amy Huberman as Dublin-based solicitor Tara Rafferty, who is currently working for a fledgling legal firm  Filmed in Dublin and Wicklow, the first series, comprising four episodes, was broadcast during January 2017, to critical acclaim  Subsequently, the series was sold to the United States, where it made its North American debut on Acorn TV on 17 March 2017  Internationally, the series has been distributed by DCD Rights and Acorn Media Enterprises The series drew the highest Sunday night ratings for RTÉ in over a year  Prior to the broadcast of the first episode, RTÉ's Head of Drama Jane Gogan confirmed to the Irish Examiner that a second series was already in development  Subsequently, a second series was officially confirmed by RTÉ, with filming taking place throughout the summer of 2017  The second series, extended to six episodes, commenced broadcasting in 2018, with Maria Doyle Kennedy, Moe Dunford and Jane Brennan amongst the new cast members  Simon Massey will also act as the director  In 2018, Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd acquired the rights to air the series in the United Kingdom, with the first series airing on the newly launched 5Select from 13 February 2018 
There are currently no plans to develop a third season of the drama, despite the 'cliff hanger' ending of season 2 

Synopsis
Striking Out follows the professional and personal life of Dublin-based solicitor, Tara Rafferty 

Cast
Main cast
Amy Huberman as Tara Rafferty; a Dublin-based solicitor
Neil Morrissey as Vincent Pike; SC and close friend of Tara's
Rory Keenan as Eric Dunbar; Tara's cheating ex-fiancé and former colleague
Fiona O'Shaughnessy as Meg Reilly; a private investigator and tech guru
Emmet Byrne as Ray Lamont; a petty criminal represented by Tara whom she later employs
Maria Doyle Kennedy as George Cusack; Tara's new office partner (Series 2—)
Moe Dunford as Sam Dunbar; Eric's younger brother (Series 2—)
Paul Antony-Barber as Richard Dunbar; senior partner in the law firm and Eric's father
Nick Dunning as Conrad Rafferty; Tara's father, who works as a barrister
Ingrid Craigie as Irene Rafferty; Tara's mother and former legal secretary
Brahm Gallagher as Pete; a local cafe owner who allows Tara to set up her fledgling firm in his back office (Series 1 — Series 2, Episode 1)

Recurring cast
Conall Keating as Steve; Ray's partner
Kate Gilmore as Lucy Whelan; receptionist at Dunbar's
Sam McGovern as "Bookworm" Joe; a junior counsel
Natalie Radmall-Quirke as Caroline Walsh; an employee at Dunbar's
Elva Trill as Gillian; an employee at Dunbar's
Susannah De Wrixon as Joan Dunbar; Eric's mother
Enda Oates as Phillip McGrath (Series 2—)
Michael James Ford as Nigel Fitzjames (Series 2—)
Jane Brennan as Deidre York (Series 2—)

Episodes
Series 1 (2017)
Series 2 (2018)
Passage 10:
The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)
The Odd Couple (titled onscreen Neil Simon's The Odd Couple) is an American sitcom television series broadcast from September 24, 1970 to March 7, 1975 on ABC  The show, which stars Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison, was the first of several sitcoms developed by Garry Marshall for Paramount Television  The series is based on the 1965 play The Odd Couple written by Neil Simon, which was also adapted into the 1968 film The Odd Couple  The story examines two divorced men, Oscar and Felix, who share a Manhattan apartment and whose opposite personalities inevitably lead to conflict and laughter 
In 1997, the episodes "Password" and "The Fat Farm" were ranked No  5 and No  58, respectively, on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time  The show received three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series 

History
The success of the 1968 film version of the stage play of The Odd Couple, which starred Jack Lemmon as Felix and Walter Matthau as Oscar, catalyzed production of the television show  Mickey Rooney and Martin Balsam were also considered for the part of Oscar and Dean Martin and Art Carney for Felix (Carney had originated the role on Broadway) 
Eventually Tony Randall (as Felix) and Jack Klugman (as Oscar) were hired; Klugman had replaced Walter Matthau as Oscar in the original Broadway production, and Randall had also appeared as Felix in other productions of the play  Randall, who was hired first, had still wanted Mickey Rooney to play Oscar  Co-executive producer Garry Marshall had to lobby hard to get Klugman successfully hired  Once the casting was in place, the show's writers (Marshall, Jerry Belson, Jerry Paris, Bob Brunner, Mark Rothman and Lowell Ganz, among others) came up with a multitude of situations for Felix and Oscar to be in, while staying true to the soul of the play, which always reverted to the human tensions between the two that created the comic situations 
The show premiered on ABC on September 24, 1970  The first season was filmed at Paramount studios using the single-camera method and a laugh track, utilizing the same apartment set seen in Paramount's 1968 film version  Klugman and Randall both expressed displeasure with using a laugh track without a live audience  Marshall also disliked the practice; theatre veteran Randall particularly resented the process of having to wait several seconds between punchlines in order to allot enough space for the laughter to be inserted  The production team eventually experimented with omitting the laugh track altogether for Season One's 21st episode, "Oscar's New Life" (laughter was subsequently added for syndication in order to maintain continuity)  By the second season, ABC relented, and the show was then filmed with three cameras and performed like a stage play in front of a live studio audience, with laugh sweetening completed during post-production 
The change also required construction of a new, larger apartment set with a new layout, within a theatre at Paramount Randall and Klugman both enjoyed the spontaneity that came with performing in front of a live audience; any missed or blown lines usually went by without stopping (they would be reshot during post-production)  In addition, it gave the show a certain edge that had been lost during the first season, although the actors had to deliver lines more loudly, since they were on a larger sound stage, as opposed to a quiet studio with only minimal crew present Klugman later recalled, "We spent three days rehearsing the show  We sat around a table the first day  We tore the script apart  We took out all the jokes and put in character  The only reason we leave in any jokes is for the rotten canned laughter  I hated it  I watch the shows at home, I see Oscar come in and he says, 'Hi,' and there is the laughter  'Hey,' I think, 'what the hell did I do?' I hate it; it insults the audience "Throughout its five years on ABC, The Odd Couple was juggled several times around the network's programming schedule, never reaching the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings  However, ABC continually renewed the show because the ratings for the summer reruns were consistently high 
In the final first-run episode, "Felix Remarries", Felix finally wins his ex-wife Gloria back and they remarry, as Oscar regains the freedom of living alone again  The final scene unfolds in this way, as the two say their goodbyes:

Felix: Your dinner's in the oven; turn it off in 20 minutes  [pause] Oscar … what can I say? Five years ago you took me in: a broken man on the verge of … mental collapse  I leave here a cured human being  I owe it all to you  [gesturing toward apartment] It's all yours buddy  I salute you  [empties waste basket onto floor]
Oscar: Felix, you know how I'm gonna salute you? I'm gonna clean that up 
Felix: It has not been in vain 
[They shake hands and Felix exits stage left through front door  After door closes …]
Oscar: [swings his hand through the air] I'm not gonna clean that up  [exits stage right to bedroom to audience laughter]
[Felix sneaks back in stage left and looks at floor]
Felix: [disgustedly] I knew he wouldn't clean it up! [proceeds to pick up trash to audience applause] (fade out)The 114 episodes went on to syndication and home video 

Differences between the series and the play/film
In the TV series, Felix's last name was spelled Unger but in the play and film it is spelled Ungar 
In the stage play, Felix is a news writer for CBS (in the film he writes the news for "television"), while in the TV series he is a commercial photographer  (His slogan, which he is quick to vocalize, is "Portraits a specialty" )
Felix's wife is named Frances in the play and in the film, but is Gloria in the TV series 
In the play and the film, Oscar has at least two children (including a son "Brucey"), who are referred to but not seen  In the series, Oscar is childless  In the play and the film, Felix has a son and a younger daughter  In the series, the children's birth order is reversed, and they are named Leonard and Edna, after Tony Randall's middle name and the name of his sister 
In the series, Felix is portrayed as being rather highbrow with refined tastes in food, music and the arts in general; he is baffled by much of popular culture  In the play/film, Felix is much more of a “regular guy”: He ogles go-go dancers,   plays poker, goes bowling and shoots pool  Though the pre-TV Felix enjoys cooking and prepares well-crafted sandwiches for his friends, he mentions on different occasions preparing rather simple dinners like meatloaf, franks and beans and cole slaw  When the dinner he has prepared for the Pigeon Sisters  burns (meatloaf in the film, London Broil in the play), he suggests substituting corned beef sandwiches from the local delicatessen 

Supporting characters
The Pigeon Sisters (Monica Evans as Cecily and Carole Shelley as Gwendolyn, reprising their roles from the Broadway stage play and film) made four appearances during the first season  The sisters were never seen after that, but were occasionally mentioned later on  Oscar gained a steady girlfriend during that latter part of the first season and half of the second, Dr  Nancy Cunningham (portrayed by Joan Hotchkis), an attractive physician, whose colleague, Dr  Melnitz (played by Bill Quinn in several episodes), is a curmudgeonly and sardonic older doctor who treats both Felix and Oscar  Felix also gained a girlfriend in the third season, Miriam Welby (portrayed by Elinor Donahue), and they lasted into the fifth season, presumably breaking up before Felix and Gloria remarry in the series finale  Christopher Shea appeared in three episodes of the first season as Philip, Felix and Oscar's precocious 11-year-old neighbor  Oscar makes frequent references to "Crazy Rhoda Zimmerman", his occasional good-time girlfriend, but she never appears onscreen 
The TV show also featured their ex-wives  Janis Hansen appeared as Felix's former wife Gloria (named Frances in the play and film), and Jack Klugman's real-life wife Brett Somers portrayed Blanche, Oscar's acerbic ex-wife (The couple separated in real life during the final season of the series)  There were several episodes in which Felix felt he had not tried hard enough to reconcile with Gloria, and took comically drastic measures to try to win her back  In contrast, Oscar seemed quite happy to be divorced from Blanche, and she from him, as the two constantly traded sarcastic barbs  The only major drawback from Oscar's point of view was the alimony he was ordered to pay  Willie Aames and later Leif Garrett made a few appearances as Felix's son, Leonard  Pamelyn Ferdin and later Doney Oatman appeared as Felix's teenaged daughter, Edna 
The two other major supporting characters, Officer Murray Greshler and Myrna Turner, Oscar's secretary, were portrayed by Al Molinaro and Penny Marshall (Garry's sister) respectively  Alice Ghostley played Murray's wife Mimi in one episode of the first season when Felix quickly outstays his welcome after he moves out of Oscar's apartment after a falling-out  Jane Dulo made one appearance as Mimi in the second season  The regular cast was rounded out by Garry Walberg, Larry Gelman and Ryan McDonald who portrayed Oscar's poker cronies Homer "Speed" Deegan, the bald, bespectacled Vincent "Vinnie" Barella and Roy, Oscar's accountant, respectively  Ryan McDonald left the show after the seventh of the first season's eight episodes in which there was a poker game, and the character of Roy was mentioned occasionally after that, but never seen again 
Garry Walberg (who later appeared with his friend Klugman on the 1976-83 series Quincy M E ) as "Speed", and Larry Gelman as Vinnie, both made several scattered guest appearances after the first season  Character actor Richard Stahl was seen in nine episodes as, among other things, a florist, a pet-shop owner, a psychiatrist, a volunteer fireman and a non-denominational monk, never playing the same role twice  Veteran character actors Herbie Faye and Phil Leeds appeared on the series in different roles, five and three times respectively    Oscar's mother appeared in two different episodes, played once by Elvia Allman, and once by Jane Dulo, both veteran actresses   Character actor John Fiedler who portrayed Vinnie in the 1968 film version, made two guest appearances in different roles  Victor Buono guest-starred in two episodes, playing a different role in each  Veteran stand-up comedian Leonard Barr made appearances in five episodes 

Celebrity guest stars
As themselves
The show often had celebrity guest stars, who reflected the cultural leanings either of Oscar or Felix, either playing themselves or fictional characters 
Sportscaster Howard Cosell (2 episodes) and then ABC television producer Roone Arledge (1 episode) played themselves 
Pop singer Jaye P  Morgan played herself as one of Oscar's many girlfriends  Opera singers Martina Arroyo and Richard Fredricks appeared as themselves  Other celebrities appearing as themselves included Edward Villella, Monty Hall, Richard Dawson, Wolfman Jack, David Steinberg, Hugh Hefner, Rodney Allen Rippy, John Simon, Bubba Smith, Deacon Jones, John Barbour and Allen Ludden and Betty White (married in real life)  In one episode, noted tennis frenemies and real-life competitors Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King appeared as themselves 
Singer-songwriter Paul Williams appeared in an episode where Felix's daughter Edna runs away to follow Williams on tour  (Williams dissuades her ) Dick Clark made an appearance as himself, a radio disc jockey who calls Oscar in a contest, where he wins a new car (The New Car, episode 76)  Neil Simon (the author of the play which the series is based upon) makes an uncredited cameo appearance during the fifth season in Two on the Aisle, as does Bob Hope in The Hollywood Story 

Fictional depictions
Marilyn Horne played Jackie Hartman, a shy but musically talented co-worker of Oscar's 
Roy Clark played "Wild" Willie Boggs, an old practical joke-playing friend of Oscar's, who nonetheless has enormous musical talent, impressing even Felix 
Jean Simmons played the visiting Princess Lydia from the fictional European country of Liechtenberg (Peggy Rea played her lady-in-waiting), who meets Felix in a photography session but goes out on a date with Oscar, and he comes home bragging of a wonderful time  He proudly relates that the Princess had a wonderful time also, and that "she knighted a wino" 
Pernell Roberts played country music impresario Billy Joe Babcock, to whom Oscar owes a lot of money in gambling debts, and who does NOT take IOUs 
Jack Soo played Chinese wrestler Chuk Mai Chin 
Reta Shaw played a tough retired Army Colonel, Claire Frost, who works as housekeeper when Oscar is sick and Felix is too busy  She hails from Bayonne, New Jersey, and her domineering ways cause Oscar to derisively refer to her as "The Beast of Bayonne" 
Penny Marshall, who played Oscar's secretary, Myrna Turner, made her last appearance in an episode in which she married "Sheldn" (his legal name since the "o" was omitted from his birth certificate), played by Rob Reiner, Marshall's husband at the time  Marshall's real-life brother and sister, Garry and Ronnie played Myrna's siblings, Werner Turner and Verna Turner, in the same episode 
Victor Buono appeared twice, as Mr  Lovelace, the eccentric new manager of the building in which Felix and Oscar live, who loves plants but hates people, and as Dr  Clove, an "exorcist" in an episode inspired by the film The Exorcist in which the boys think their apartment is haunted 
Albert Brooks, as Rudy Mandel, a pretentious advertising colleague of Felix (in two episodes in the show's first season)
William Redfield as Felix's brother Floyd Unger, owner of Unger Gum in Buffalo, New York 

Awards and nominations
During its original run, the show had mediocre ratings at best (the show was never among the Top 30 programs on the Nielsen ratings list during its entire run)  Nonetheless, both actors were nominated for Emmy Awards in each year of the show's run  Jack Klugman won two Emmy Awards for his work (in 1971 and 1973), and Tony Randall won an Emmy as well (in 1975, upon accepting the award, he commented on the fact that he wished he "had a job,” as the show had recently been cancelled) 
Klugman was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1972 and won one in 1974  The show itself was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in the years 1971, 1972, and 1974  To date, these are the last Emmy nominations to a sitcom airing on a Friday night 

Opening narration and credit sequence
For the first three seasons, the program's opening credit sequence consisted of Felix and Oscar in various humorous situations around New York City  These scenes included Felix trying, to no avail, to help an old lady cross the street, Oscar walking into wet cement while ogling a girl with a revealing dress, Oscar eating a hot dog and getting chili on his shirt, and both men cavorting around a Maypole  The end of the introduction title sequence (for the series entire run) showed the duo sitting on a park bench in front of the William Tecumseh Sherman Monument in Grand Army Plaza at West 58th Street and Fifth Avenue, where Oscar throws his lunch wrapper on the ground, while Felix beckons him to pick it up 
Halfway through the show's debut season, a "prologue" was added to the introduction and featured a narration (the voice of actor Bill Woodson) retelling how Felix and Oscar came to live together:

"On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence " (Unger's unseen wife slams door, only to reopen it and hand Felix his pan ) "That request came from his wife  Deep down, he knew she was right  But he also knew that, someday, he would return to her  With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison  Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return  Can two divorced men share an apartment, without driving each other crazy?"
ABC apparently added the narration because it did not want the audience to speculate about a homosexual subtext, given the changing perceptions of masculinity at the time  ABC insisted that every episode mention that the characters were both divorced  It was noted that Oscar had been thrown out of his home like Felix, when several episodes had shown that Oscar had lived in the same apartment before and during his marriage (as in the original play and film)  Later, the opening narrative stated that when Felix moved into Oscar's apartment, Oscar was already divorced 
In another case, the fourth episode showed Felix and Oscar meeting during jury duty  Later, the opening narration included a retcon that they were childhood friends  During the second season, the narration changed it to them being “simply friends,” and the "sometime earlier" narrative was also changed to "several years earlier ”  Later, in an episode aired in 1973, the two were in the Army together, with Felix being Oscar's superior at the time Oscar and wife Blanche (Brett Somers) married  An episode aired in 1974, the epilogue showed Oscar's recollection of meeting Felix when they were children In later seasons, the opening sequence featured highlights from past episodes, mixed with the previous footage as well as another clip (recreated from a scene on the show), in which Felix reprimands Oscar for drying his hands on the curtains, only to have Oscar use Felix's shirt as a towel as well 
For the first three seasons of the show, the closing credits of the show consisted of more of the duo's zany antics, such as Felix talking to a man repairing a street clock and Oscar indiscreetly looking at a peep show  During the fourth season, the credits included a scene where Oscar throws his cigar into a fountain in Columbus Circle, Felix barks at him to pick it up, and Oscar scoops it up with his shoe and then places the wet, soiled cigar butt in Felix's pocket  For the final season, the credits were shown against a blue background 

Related appearances by Klugman and Randall
Over the years, Klugman and Randall  appeared in many television commercials and public service announcements for several different products as Felix and Oscar, including 1972 ads for Yoplait yogurt (Klugman later appeared in commercials without Randall for the product in the early 1980s); in 1974, for the game Challenge Yahtzee; for a while, their likenesses also appeared on the game's packaging, with the slogan "You play your way—I'll play mine!"; in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Klugman and Randall reprised their Odd Couple characters in a series of commercials for Eagle Snacks, although in some of these spots they called each other by their real names 
Klugman and Randall also reprised their roles as Felix and Oscar in several regional productions of the original Neil Simon play  They toured in the play during the TV version's summertime off-season in the early to mid-1970s; they later appeared in several performances of the play during the late 1980s and early 1990s  In 1997, they appeared in a Broadway revival of the Simon play, The Sunshine Boys In the early 1980s, while starring in the NBC drama Quincy, M E , Klugman appeared in TV commercials for Canon copiers  Minolta countered by hiring Randall, then on the NBC sitcom Love, Sidney, to do a commercial for that company's copiers where he channeled his Felix role, mentioning that he "can change copy colors without getting that disgusting black powder all over my hands!" He closed by saying "But that doesn't mean I'm a neat freak  Of course, I'm not a slob, either, like, uh    " and waved his hand, to suggest Klugman as Oscar Randall and Klugman reunited for the 1993 television movie, The Odd Couple Together Again to a mixed reception  Klugman had lost a vocal cord to throat cancer and this real-life struggle was written into the script  In the film, Felix tries to help Oscar recover following surgery; he also becomes overly involved in his daughter Edna's upcoming wedding, much to her and Gloria's (Barbara Barrie) dismay 

Other versions
An ABC cartoon version of The Odd Couple premiered on September 6, 1975 titled The Oddball Couple during the network's  Saturday morning kids' programming block, Funshine Saturday  Although authorized by Neil Simon (who received a "based on" credit) completely different characters were created: "Spiffy" (a fussy cat voiced by Frank Nelson) and "Fleabag" (a sloppy dog voiced by Paul Winchell) who live together in a house that is half rundown and messy and half pristine and tidy along with a matching car  It was directed and produced by  David DePatie and Friz Freleng, along with Gerry Chiniquy, and Robert McKimson among others, who directed several episodes  The characters' professions in this version were reversed from the original series, with the fastidious Spiffy working as a reporter and the rumpled Fleabag a photographer, often working together  The cartoon was canceled in 1977 In 1982, as a hedge against the 1981 Writers Guild of America strike, ABC aired an African-American version of The Odd Couple, starring  Ron Glass as Felix and Demond Wilson as Oscar  It was called The New Odd Couple, and initially used eight previously-filmed scripts from the original series; when the strike ended during the series' production, union writers returned, and original episodes were written from then on  It was canceled after only half a season A Chilean version titled Una Pareja Dispareja began airing in January 2009 on TVN (which had aired the series during the 1970s)  This version takes several of its cues from Two and a Half Men, a Chuck Lorre-created sitcom with a similar premise to The Odd Couple (even alluded to the similarities between the two in the episode "Whipped Unto The Third Generation")  Some of the details taken from Two and a Half Men include Felix and Oscar being siblings instead of friends, as well as Felix being a doctor and Oscar a musician Another American remake, also called The Odd Couple, aired on CBS for three seasons from 2015 to 2017  This version, a multi-camera sitcom, was co-created and co-produced by Matthew Perry, who played Oscar, while Thomas Lennon played Felix 

Episodes
Home media
The Complete First Season of The Odd Couple was released on DVD in Region 1 on August 18, 2006 by Time Life Video under license from Paramount Home Entertainment (Paramount Television was the program's original distributor)  Some episodes, mainly from the first season, were available on a VHS videotape set during the 1990s, and distributed by Columbia House 
Each episode on the First Season DVDs contain an introduction from the show's producer Garry Marshall  Also included as extras are Emmy Awards speeches, bloopers, TV interviews with the show's stars and a clip of The Odd Couple on Broadway Paramount/CBS DVD have since released the remaining seasons (two through five) of The Odd Couple on DVD in Region 1  Season 1 was released in Region 2 on April 28, 2008  While the Time/Life Season 1 DVD release contained only unedited episodes as originally broadcast, CBS Home Entertainment opted to edit their DVDs of seasons two through five, removing short segments or occasionally entire scenes which included music sung by Felix or some other character  A notable example of this can be seen in the Season 5 episode "Strike Up the Band or Else" where, in the epilogue, guest star Pernell Roberts' character is going to sing, and the episode abruptly ends and closing credits roll  Fans and critics alike lambasted CBS/Paramount for the shoddy treatment The Odd Couple DVD releases received, concluding that the studio has misled consumers by labeling their DVD sets as "complete" when they have been intentionally edited to avoid paying royalties required by the music publishers On June 16, 2015, CBS DVD released The Odd Couple- The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1, albeit with the same edits and removal of scenes with music In Australia (Region 4), Paramount released The First Season in 2008, and no further releases were made  In 2016, Via Vision Entertainment obtained the rights to release the entire series from July 2016 through until September 2016  Followed by a Complete Series boxset in November 2016 
Passage 11:
Simon (cipher)
Simon is a family of lightweight block ciphers publicly released by the National Security Agency (NSA) in June 2013  Simon has been optimized for performance in hardware implementations, while its sister algorithm, Speck, has been optimized for software implementations The NSA began working on the Simon and Speck ciphers in 2011  The agency anticipated some agencies in the US federal government would need a cipher that would operate well on a diverse collection of Internet of Things devices while maintaining an acceptable level of security 

Description of the cipher
The Simon block cipher is a balanced Feistel cipher with an n-bit word, and therefore the block length is 2n   The key length is a multiple of n by 2, 3, or 4, which is the value m   Therefore, a Simon cipher implementation is denoted as Simon2n/nm   For example, Simon64/128 refers to the cipher operating on a 64-bit plaintext block (n = 32) that uses a 128-bit key  The block component of the cipher is uniform between the Simon implementations; however, the key generation logic is dependent on the implementation of 2, 3 or 4 keys 
Simon supports the following combinations of block sizes, key sizes and number of rounds:

Description of the key schedule
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Description of the constant sequence
The constant sequence,  
  
    
      
        
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Cryptanalysis
The designers claim that Simon, though a "lightweight" cipher, is designed to have the full security possible for each block and key size, against standard chosen-plaintext (CPA) and chosen-ciphertext (CCA) attacks   Resistance against related-key attacks was also stated as a goal, though a less crucial one as attacks in that model are not relevant for typical use cases : 2   No effort was made to resist attacks in the known-key distinguishing attack model, nor did the designers evaluate Simon for use as a hash function As of 2018, no successful attack on full-round Simon of any variant is known   Due to interest in Simon and Speck, about 70 cryptanalysis papers have been published on them : 10   As is typical for iterated ciphers, reduced-round variants have been successfully attacked   The best published attacks on Simon in the standard attack model (CPA/CCA with unknown key) are differential cryptanalysis attacks; these make it through about 70–75% of the rounds of most variants, though these best attacks are only marginally faster than brute-force : 12   The design team states that while designing Simon, they found differential attacks to be the limiting attacks, i e  the type of attack that makes it through the most rounds; they then set the number of rounds to leave a security margin similar to AES-128's at approximately 30% : 12–13 
Simon has been criticized for having too small a security margin, i e  too few rounds between the best attacks and the full cipher, in comparison to more conservative ciphers such as ChaCha20 
Ciphers with small security margins are more likely to be broken by future advances in cryptanalysis   Simon's design team counters that there is a real-world cost to unnecessarily large security margins, especially on lightweight devices, that cryptanalysis during the design phase allowed the number of rounds to be set appropriately, and that they targeted AES's security margin : 17 Simon includes a round counter in the key schedule   The designers state this was included to block slide and rotational cryptanalysis attacks : 16   Still, rotational-XOR cryptanalysis has been used to find distinguishers against reduced-round versions of related ciphers like Speck  Though the authors don't describe standard key-recovery attacks based on their distinguishers, their best distinguishers on Simon32 and Simon48 in the known-key distinguishing attack model for certain weak key classes make it through slightly more rounds than the best differential distinguishers   One of the authors has said that his research was resource-constrained and that rotational-XOR distinguishers on more rounds are probably possible  The designers also state that Simon was not designed to resist known-key distinguishing attacks (which do not directly compromise the confidentiality of ciphers) : 8 The designers state that NSA cryptanalysis found the algorithms to have no weaknesses, and security commensurate with their key lengths : 2   The design team says that their cryptanalysis included linear and differential cryptanalysis using standard techniques such as Matsui's algorithm and SAT/SMT solvers, though a full list of techniques used is not given : 10   Simon's designers have been criticized for not providing more details on NSA cryptanalysis of the ciphers The NSA has approved Simon128/256 and Speck128/256 for use in U S  National Security Systems, though AES-256 is still recommended for non-constrained applications 

Standardization efforts and controversies
Initial attempts to standardise Simon and Speck failed to meet International Organization for Standardization super-majority required by the process and the ciphers were not adopted  Expert delegates to the ISO from several countries including Germany, Japan and Israel opposed the efforts by the NSA to standardise the Simon and Speck ciphers, citing concerns that the NSA is pushing for their standardisation with knowledge of exploitable weaknesses in the ciphers  The position was based on partial evidence of weaknesses in the ciphers, lack of clear need for standardisation of the new ciphers, and the NSA's previous involvement in the creation and promotion of the backdoored Dual_EC_DRBG cryptographic algorithm In response to concerns, the NSA stated that more than 70 security analysis papers from some of the world's leading cryptographers support NSA's conclusion that the algorithms are secure and NSA affirmed that it is not aware of any cryptanalytic techniques that would allow them or anyone else to exploit Simon or Speck 
After initial attempts to standardise the ciphers failed, the ISO standardised Simon and Speck in other working groups  As of October 2018, the Simon and Speck ciphers have been standardized by ISO as a part of the RFID air interface standard, International Standard ISO/29167-21 (for Simon) and International Standard ISO/29167-22 (for Speck), making them available for use by commercial entities 

See also
Balanced boolean function
Bent function
Passage 12:
Sam's Game
Sam's Game was a celebrity poker program on Playboy TV  It featured a lineup of comedians, Playmates, and professional Texas Hold 'Em players and was hosted by Simpsons' co-developer, Sam Simon 

Format
Shot at Hugh Hefner's private sky villa at the Palms Resort, the show featured celebrities playing traditional Texas Hold 'Em with their own actual money, as opposed to charity contributions 
Women in Playboy bunny costumes served as the card dealers and cocktail waitresses  A variety of comedians, actresses, professional card players, and ex-Playmates made up the rotating table of players, with Sam Simon being the only constant 

Featured players
Norm Macdonald
Artie Lange
Brande Roderick
Dave Attell
Jennifer Tilly
Jeff Ross
Deanna Brooks
Andrea Lowell
Phil Laak
Jay Kogen
Passage 13:
The Essential Simon and Garfunkel
The Essential Simon & Garfunkel is the second 2-CD compilation album of greatest hits by Simon & Garfunkel, released by Columbia Records on October 14, 2003 
This two-disc anthology was released to coincide with Simon & Garfunkel's 2003 reunion tour  It contains all of the duo's 16 singles originally released between 1964 and 1975 to reach the Hot 100 (including the 1975 reunion hit, "My Little Town")  The remaining 17 songs include non-hits like “Richard Cory”, and eight live performances from 1967 to 1969 

Track listing
All songs composed by Paul Simon, except where noted 

US version
Disc one

Disc two

Disc three (3 0 edition)

1 He Was My Brother
2	April Come She Will
3 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night
4	Punky's Dilemma
5	Why Don't You Write Me
6	Citizen of the Planet

European version
Disc one

Disc two

Charts
Certifications
Context 3:  The Dutch East India Company officials rationalised their child labour abuses with, "it is a way to save these children from a worse fate " Christian mission schools in regions stretching from Zambia to Nigeria too required work from children, and in exchange provided religious education, not secular education  Elsewhere, the Canadian Dominion Statutes in form of so-called Breaches of Contract Act, stipulated jail terms for uncooperative child workers Proposals to regulate child labour began as early as 1786 

Africa
Children working at a young age has been a consistent theme throughout Africa  Many children began first working in the home to help their parents run the family farm  Children in Africa today are often forced into exploitative labour due to family debt and other financial factors, leading to ongoing poverty  Other types of domestic child labour include working in commercial plantations, begging, and other sales such as boot shining  In total, there is an estimated five million children who are currently working in the field of agriculture which steadily increases during the time of harvest  Along with 30% of children who are picking coffee, there are an estimated 25,000 school age children who work year round 

What industries children work in depends on whether they grew up in a rural area or an urban area  Children who were born in urban areas often found themselves working for street vendors, washing cars, helping in construction sites, weaving clothing, and sometimes even working as exotic dancers  While children who grew up in rural areas would work on farms doing physical labour, working with animals, and selling crops  Many children can also be found working in hazardous environments, with some using bare hands, stones and hammers to take apart CRT-based televisions and computer monitors  Of all the child workers, the most serious cases involved street children and trafficked children due to the physical and emotional abuse they endured by their employers  To address the issue of child labour, the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child Act was implemented in 1959  Yet due to poverty, lack of education and ignorance, the legal actions were not/are not wholly enforced or accepted in Africa 

Other legal factors that have been implemented to end and reduce child labour includes the global response that came into force in 1979 by the declaration of the International Year of the Child  Along with the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations, these two declarations worked on many levels to eliminate child labour  Although many actions have been taken to end this epidemic, child labour in Africa is still an issue today due to the unclear definition of adolescence and how much time is needed for children to engage in activities that are crucial for their development  Another issue that often comes into play is the link between what constitutes as child labour within the household due to the cultural acceptance of children helping run the family business  In the end, there is a consistent challenge for the national government to strengthen its grip politically on child labour, and to increase education and awareness on the issue of children working below the legal age limit  With children playing an important role in the African economy, child labour still plays an important role for many in the 20th century 

Australia
From European settlement in 1788, child convicts were occasionally sent to Australia where they were made to work  Child labour was not as excessive in Australia as in Britain  With a low population, agricultural productivity was higher and families did not face starvation as in established industrialised countries  Australia also did not have significant industry until the later part of the 20th century, when child labour laws and compulsory schooling had developed under the influence of Britain  From the 1870s, child labour was restricted by compulsory schooling Child labour laws in Australia differ from state to state  Generally, children are allowed to work at any age, but restrictions exist for children under 15 years of age  These restrictions apply to work hours and the type of work that children can perform  In all states, children are obliged to attend school until a minimum leaving age, 15 years of age in all states except Tasmania and Queensland where the leaving age is 17 

Brazil
Child labour has been a consistent struggle for children in Brazil ever since Portuguese colonization in the region began in 1500  Work that many children took part in was not always visible, legal, or paid  Free or slave labour was a common occurrence for many youths and was a part of their everyday lives as they grew into adulthood  Yet due to there being no clear definition of how to classify what a child or youth is, there has been little historical documentation of child labour during the colonial period  Due to this lack of documentation, it is hard to determine just how many children were used for what kinds of work before the nineteenth century  The first documentation of child labour in Brazil occurred during the time of indigenous societies and slave labour where it was found that children were forcibly working on tasks that exceeded their emotional and physical limits  Armando Dias, for example, died in November 1913 whilst still very young, a victim of an electric shock when entering the textile industry where he worked  Boys and girls were victims of industrial accidents on a daily basis In Brazil, the minimum working age has been identified as fourteen due to constitutional amendments that passed in 1934, 1937, and 1946  Yet due to a change in the dictatorship by the military in the 1980s, the minimum age restriction was reduced to twelve but was reviewed due to reports of dangerous and hazardous working conditions in 1988  This led to the minimum age being raised once again to 14  Another set of restrictions was passed in 1998 that restricted the kinds of work youth could partake in, such as work that was considered hazardous like running construction equipment, or certain kinds of factory work  Although many steps were taken to reduce the risk and occurrence of child labour, there is still a high number of children and adolescents working under the age of fourteen in Brazil  It was not until recently in the 1980s that it was discovered that almost nine million children in Brazil were working illegally and not partaking in traditional childhood activities that help to develop important life experiences Brazilian census data (PNAD, 1999) indicate that 2 55 million 10- to 14-year-olds were illegally holding jobs  They were joined by 3 7 million 15- to 17-year-olds and about 375,000 5- to 9-year-olds  Due to the raised age restriction of 14, at least half of the recorded young workers had been employed illegally, which led to many not being protected by important labour laws  Although substantial time has passed since the time of regulated child labour, there are still many children working illegally in Brazil  Many children are used by drug cartels to sell and carry drugs, guns, and other illegal substances because of their perception of innocence  This type of work that youth are taking part in is very dangerous due to the physical and psychological implications that come with these jobs  Yet despite the hazards that come with working with drug dealers, there has been an increase in this area of employment throughout the country 

Britain
Many factors played a role in Britain's long-term economic growth, such as the industrial revolution in the late 1700s and the prominent presence of child labour during the industrial age  Children who worked at an early age were often not forced; but did so because they needed to help their family survive financially  Due to poor employment opportunities for many parents, sending their children to work on farms and in factories was a way to help feed and support the family  Child labour first started to occur in England when household businesses were turned into local labour markets that mass-produced the once homemade goods  Because children often helped produce the goods out of their homes, working in a factory to make those same goods was a simple change for many of these youths  Although there are many counts of children under the age of ten working for factories, the majority of children workers were between the ages of ten and fourteen 
Another factor that influenced child labour was the demographic changes that occurred in the eighteenth century  By the end of the eighteenth century, 20 percent of the population was made up of children between the ages of 5 and 14  Due to this substantial shift in available workers, and the development of the industrial revolution, children began to work earlier in life in companies outside of the home  Yet, even though there was an increase of child labour in factories such as cotton textiles, there were large numbers of children working in the field of agriculture and domestic production With such a high percentage of children working, the rising of illiteracy, and the lack of a formal education became a widespread issue for many children who worked to provide for their families  Due to this problematic trend, many parents developed a change of opinion when deciding whether or not to send their children to work  Other factors that lead to the decline of child labour included financial changes in the economy, changes in the development of technology, raised wages, and continuous regulations on factory legislation In 1933 Britain adopted legislation restricting the use of children under 14 in employment  The Children and Young Persons Act 1933, defined the term "child" as anyone of compulsory school age (age sixteen)  In general no child may be employed under the age of fifteen years, or fourteen years for light work 

Cambodia
Significant levels of child labour appear to be found in Cambodia  In 1998, ILO estimated that 24 1% of children in Cambodia aged between 10 and 14 were economically active  Many of these children work long hours and Cambodia Human Development Report 2000 reported that approximately 65,000 children between the ages of 5 and 13 worked 25 hours a week and did not attend school  There are also many initiative and policies put in place to decrease the prevalence of child labour such as the United States generalized system of preferences, the U S -Cambodia textile agreement, ILO Garment Sector Working Conditions Improvement Project, and ChildWise Tourism 

Ecuador
An Ecuadorean study published in 2006 found child labour to be one of the main environmental problems affecting children's health  It reported that over 800,000 children are working in Ecuador, where they are exposed to heavy metals and toxic chemicals and are subject to mental and physical stress and the insecurity caused by being at risk of work-related accidents  Minors performing agricultural work along with their parents help apply pesticides without wearing protective equipment 

India
In 2015, the country of India is home to the largest number of children who are working illegally in various industrial industries  Agriculture in India is the largest sector where many children work at early ages to help support their family  Many of these children are forced to work at young ages due to many family factors such as unemployment, large families, poverty, and lack of parental education  This is often the major cause of the high rate of child labour in India On 23 June 1757, the English East India Company defeated Siraj-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Bengal, in the Battle of Plassey  The British thus became masters of east India (Bengal, Bihar, Orissa) – a prosperous region with a flourishing agriculture, industry and trade  This led to many children being forced into labour due to the increasing need of cheap labour to produce large numbers of goods  Many multinationals often employed children because that they can be recruited for less pay, and have more endurance to utilise in factory environments  Another reason many Indian children were hired was because they lack knowledge of their basic rights, they did not cause trouble or complain, and they were often more trustworthy  The innocence that comes with childhood was utilised to make a profit by many and was encouraged by the need for family income 

A variety of Indian social scientists as well as the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have done extensive research on the numeric figures of child labour found in India and determined that India contributes to one-third of Asia's child labour and one-fourth of the world's child labour  Due to many children being illegally employed, the Indian government began to take extensive actions to reduce the number of children working, and to focus on the importance of facilitating the proper growth and development of children  International influences help to encourage legal actions to be taken in India, such as the Geneva Declaration of the Right of Children Act was passed in 1924  This act was followed by The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 to which incorporated the basic human rights and needs of children for proper progression and growth in their younger years  These international acts encouraged major changes to the workforce in India which occurred in 1986 when the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act was put into place  This act prohibited hiring children younger than the age of 14, and from working in hazardous conditions Due to the increase of regulations and legal restrictions on child labour, there has been a 64 percent decline in child labour from 1993 to 2005  Although this is a great decrease in the country of India, there is still high numbers of children working in the rural areas of India  With 85 percent of the child labour occurring in rural areas, and 15 percent occurring in urban areas, there are still substantial areas of concern in the country of India India has legislation since 1986 which allows work by children in non-hazardous industry  In 2013, the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave a landmark order that directed that there shall be a total ban on the employment of children up to the age of 14 years, be it hazardous or non-hazardous industries  However, the Court ruled that a child can work with his or her family in family based trades/occupations, for the purpose of learning a new trade/craftsmanship or vocation 

Iran
In Isfahan province, the Iranian Department of State Welfare (behzisti) keeps a database of the scanned retina irises of a number of working street kids, and have put "child friendly" measures in place to support them, reduce the social harm from their presence, and improve their quality of life Only Tehran as of June 2023 has seventy thousand working children they also collect recycles 

Ireland
In post-colonial Ireland, the rate of child exploitation was extremely high as children were used as farm labourers once they were able to walk, these children were never paid for the labour that they carried out on the family farm  Children were wanted and desired in Ireland for the use of their labour on the family farm  Irish parents felt that it was the children's duty to carry out chores on the family farm 

Japan
Though banned in modern Japan, shonenko (child labourers) were a feature of the Imperial era until its end in 1945  During World War II labour recruiting efforts targeted youths from Taiwan (Formosa), then a Japanese territory, with promises of educational opportunity  Though the target of 25,000 recruits was never reached, over 8,400 Taiwanese youths aged 12 to 14 relocated to Japan to help manufacture the Mitsubishi J2M Raiden aircraft 

Pakistan
The Netherlands
Child labour existed in the Netherlands up to and through the Industrial Revolution  Laws governing child labour in factories were first passed in 1874, but child labour on farms continued to be the norm up until the 20th century 

Soviet Union and successor states
Although formally banned since 1922, child labour was widespread in the Soviet Union, mostly in the form of mandatory, unpaid work by schoolchildren on Saturdays and holidays  The students were used as a cheap, unqualified workforce on kolhoz (collective farms) as well as in industry and forestry  The practice was formally called "work education" From the 1950s on, the students were also used for unpaid work at schools, where they cleaned and performed repairs  This practice has continued in the Russian Federation, where up to 21 days of the summer holidays is sometimes set aside for school works  By law, this is only allowed as part of specialised occupational training and with the students' and parents' permission, but those provisions are widely ignored  In 2012 there was an accident near the city of Nalchik where a car killed several pupils cleaning up a highway shoulder during their "holiday work", as well as their teacher, who was supervising them Out of former Soviet Union republics Uzbekistan continued and expanded the program of child labour on industrial scale to increase profits on the main source of Islam Karimov's income, cotton harvesting  In September, when school normally starts, the classes are suspended and children are sent to cotton fields for work, where they are assigned daily quotas of 20 to 60 kg of raw cotton they have to collect  This process is repeated in spring, when collected cotton needs to be hoed and weeded  In 2006 it is estimated that 2 7 million children were forced to work this way 

Switzerland
As in many other countries, child labour in Switzerland affected among the so-called Kaminfegerkinder ("chimney sweep children") and children working p e  in spinning mills, factories and in agriculture in 19th-century Switzerland, but also to the 1960s so-called Verdingkinder (literally: "contract children" or "indentured child laborers") were children who were taken from their parents, often due to poverty or moral reasons – usually mothers being unmarried, very poor citizens, of Gypsy–Yeniche origin, so-called Kinder der Landstrasse, etc  – and sent to live with new families, often poor farmers who needed cheap labour There were even Verdingkinder auctions where children were handed over to the farmer asking the least money from the authorities, thus securing cheap labour for his farm and relieving the authority from the financial burden of looking after the children  In the 1930s 20% of all agricultural labourers in the Canton of Bern were children below the age of 15  Swiss municipality guardianship authorities acted so, commonly tolerated by federal authorities, to the 1960s, not all of them of course, but usually communities affected of low taxes in some Swiss cantons Swiss historian Marco Leuenberger investigated, that in 1930 there were some 35,000 indentured children, and between 1920 and 1970 more than 100,000 are believed to have been placed with families or homes  10,000 Verdingkinder are still alive  Therefore, the so-called Wiedergutmachungsinitiative was started in April 2014  In April 2014 the collection of targeted at least authenticated 100,000 signatures of Swiss citizens has started, and still have to be collected to October 2015 

United States
Child labour laws in the United States are found at the federal and state levels  The most sweeping federal law that restricts the employment and abuse of child workers is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)  Child labour provisions under FLSA are designed to protect the educational opportunities of youth and prohibit their employment in jobs that are detrimental to their health and safety  FLSA restricts the hours that youth under 16 years of age can work and lists hazardous occupations too dangerous for young workers to perform 
Under the FLSA, for non-agricultural jobs, children under 14 may not be employed, children between 14 and 16 may be employed in allowed occupations during limited hours, and children between 16 and 17 may be employed for unlimited hours in non-hazardous occupations  A number of exceptions to these rules exist, such as for employment by parents, newspaper delivery, and child actors  The regulations for agricultural employment are generally less strict 
States have varying laws covering youth employment  Each state has minimum requirements such as, earliest age a child may begin working, number of hours a child is allowed to be working during the day, number of hours a child is allowed to be worked during the week  The United States Department of Labor lists the minimum requirements for agricultural work in each state  Where state law differs from federal law on child labour, the law with the more rigorous standard applies Individual states have a wide range of restrictions on labor by minors, often requiring work permits for minors who are still enrolled in high school, limiting the times and hours that minors can work by age and imposing additional safety regulations 

Child labour laws and initiatives
Almost every country in the world has laws relating to and aimed at preventing child labour  International Labour Organization has helped set international law, which most countries have signed on and ratified  According to ILO minimum age convention (C138) of 1973, child labour refers to any work performed by children under the age of 12, non-light work done by children aged 12–14, and hazardous work done by children aged 15–17  Light work was defined, under this convention, as any work that does not harm a child's health and development, and that does not interfere with his or her attendance at school  This convention has been ratified by 171 countries 
The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which was subsequently ratified by 193 countries  Article 32 of the convention addressed child labour, as follows:   Parties recognise the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development 
Under Article 1 of the 1990 Convention, a child is defined as "every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, a majority is attained earlier " Article 28 of this Convention requires States to, "make primary education compulsory and available free to all "195 countries are party to the convention; only two nations have not ratified the treaty, Somalia and the United States In 1999, ILO helped lead the Worst Forms Convention 182 (C182), which has so far been signed upon and domestically ratified by 151 countries including the United States  This international law prohibits worst forms of child labour, defined as all forms of slavery and slavery-like practices, such as child trafficking, debt bondage, and forced labour, including forced recruitment of children into armed conflict  The law also prohibits the use of a child for prostitution or the production of pornography, child labour in illicit activities such as drug production and trafficking; and in hazardous work  Both the Worst Forms Convention (C182) and the Minimum Age Convention (C138) are examples of international labour standards implemented through the ILO that deal with child labour 
In addition to setting the international law, the United Nations initiated International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in 1992  This initiative aims to progressively eliminate child labour through strengthening national capacities to address some of the causes of child labour  Amongst the key initiative is the so-called time-bounded programme countries, where child labour is most prevalent and schooling opportunities lacking  The initiative seeks to achieve amongst other things, universal primary school availability  The IPEC has expanded to at least the following target countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Nepal, Tanzania, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa and Turkey 
Targeted child labour campaigns were initiated by the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in order to advocate for prevention and elimination of all forms of child labour  The global Music against Child Labour Initiative was launched in 2013 in order to involve socially excluded children in structured musical activity and education in efforts to help protect them from child labour 

Exceptions granted
In 2004, the United States passed an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938  The amendment allows certain children aged 14–18 to work in or outside a business where machinery is used to process wood  The law aims to respect the religious and cultural needs of the Amish community of the United States  The Amish believe that one effective way to educate children is on the job  The new law allows Amish children the ability to work with their families, once they are past eighth grade in school 
Similarly, in 1996, member countries of the European Union, per Directive 94/33/EC, agreed to a number of exceptions for young people in its child labour laws  Under these rules, children of various ages may work in cultural, artistic, sporting or advertising activities if authorised by the competent authority  Children above the age of 13 may perform light work for a limited number of hours per week in other economic activities as defined at the discretion of each country  Additionally, the European law exception allows children aged 14 years or over to work as part of a work/training scheme  The EU Directive clarified that these exceptions do not allow child labour where the children may experience harmful exposure to dangerous substances  Nonetheless, many children under the age of 13 do work, even in the most developed countries of the EU  For instance, a recent study showed over a third of Dutch twelve-year-old kids had a job, the most common being babysitting 

More laws vs  more freedom
Very often, however, these state laws were not enforced    Federal legislation was passed in 1916 and again in 1919, but both laws were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court  Although the number of child workers declined dramatically during the 1920s and 1930s, it was not until the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 that federal regulation of child labor finally became a reality 
Scholars disagree on the best legal course forward to address child labour  Some suggest the need for laws that place a blanket ban on any work by children less than 18 years old  Others suggest the current international laws are enough, and the need for more engaging approach to achieve the ultimate goals Some scholars suggest any labour by children aged 18 years or less is wrong since this encourages illiteracy, inhumane work and lower investment in human capital  These activists claim that child labor also leads to poor labour standards for adults, depresses the wages of adults in developing countries as well as the developed countries, and dooms the third world economies to low-skill jobs only capable of producing poor quality cheap exports



ground_truth: ADM Michael S. Rogers

Michael S. Rogers

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Who is the child of Sigrid Eskilsdotter's child?

The following are given passages.
Context 3:  More children that work in poor countries, the fewer and worse-paid are the jobs for adults in these countries  In other words, there are moral and economic reasons that justify a blanket ban on labour from children aged 18 years or less, everywhere in the world 

Other scholars suggest that these arguments are flawed, ignores history and more laws will do more harm than good  According to them, child labour is merely the symptom of a greater disease named poverty  If laws ban all lawful work that enables the poor to survive, informal economy, illicit operations and underground businesses will thrive  These will increase abuse of the children  In poor countries with very high incidence rates of child labour - such as Ethiopia, Chad, Niger and Nepal - schools are not available, and the few schools that exist offer poor quality education or are unaffordable  The alternatives for children who currently work, claim these studies, are worse: grinding subsistence farming, militia or prostitution  Child labour is not a choice, it is a necessity, the only option for survival  It is currently the least undesirable of a set of very bad choices 

These scholars suggest, from their studies of economic and social data, that early 20th-century child labour in Europe and the United States ended in large part as a result of the economic development of the formal regulated economy, technology development and general prosperity  Child labour laws and ILO conventions came later  Edmonds suggests, even in contemporary times, the incidence of child labour in Vietnam has rapidly reduced following economic reforms and GDP growth  These scholars suggest economic engagement, emphasis on opening quality schools rather than more laws and expanding economically relevant skill development opportunities in the third world  International legal actions, such as trade sanctions increase child labour The Incredible Bread Machine, a book published by "World Research, Inc " in 1974, stated:

Child labour was a particular target of early reformers  William Cooke Tatlor wrote at the time about these reformers who, witnessing children at work in the factories, thought to themselves: 'How much more delightful would have been the gambol of the free limbs on the hillside; the sight of the green mead with its spangles of buttercups and daisies; the song of the bird and the humming bee   '
But for many of these children the factory system meant quite literally the only chance for survival  Today we overlook the fact that death from starvation and exposure was a common fate before the Industrial Revolution, for the pre-capitalist economy was barely able to support the population  Yes, children were working  Formerly they would have starved  It was only as goods were produced in greater abundance at a lower cost that men could support their families without sending their children to work  It was not the reformer or the politician that ended the grim necessity for child labour; it was capitalism 

Incidents
Cocoa production
In 1998, UNICEF reported that Ivory Coast farmers used enslaved children – many from surrounding countries  In late 2000 a BBC documentary reported the use of enslaved children in the production of cocoa – the main ingredient in chocolate – in West Africa  Other media followed by reporting widespread child slavery and child trafficking in the production of cocoa  In 2001, the US State Department estimated there were 15,000 child slaves cocoa, cotton and coffee farms in the Ivory Coast, and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association acknowledged that child slavery is used in the cocoa harvest Malian migrants have long worked on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, but in 2000 cocoa prices had dropped to a 10-year low and some farmers stopped paying their employees  The Malian counsel had to rescue some boys who had not been paid for five years and who were beaten if they tried to run away  Malian officials believed that 15,000 children, some as young as 11 years old, were working in the Ivory Coast in 2001  These children were often from poor families or the slums and were sold to work in other countries  Parents were told the children would find work and send money home, but once the children left home, they often worked in conditions resembling slavery  In other cases, children begging for food were lured from bus stations and sold as slaves  In 2002, the Ivory Coast had 12,000 children with no relatives nearby, which suggested they were trafficked, likely from neighboring Mali, Burkina Faso and Togo The cocoa industry was accused of profiting from child slavery and trafficking  The European Cocoa Association dismissed these accusations as "false and excessive" and the industry said the reports were not representative of all areas  Later the industry acknowledged the working conditions for children were unsatisfactory and children's rights were sometimes violated and acknowledged the claims could not be ignored  In a BBC interview, the ambassador for Ivory Coast to the United Kingdom called these reports of widespread use of slave child labour by 700,000 cocoa farmers as absurd and inaccurate In 2001, a voluntary agreement called the Harkin-Engel Protocol, was accepted by the international cocoa and chocolate industry to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, as defined by ILO's Convention 182, in West Africa  This agreement created a foundation named International Cocoa Initiative in 2002  The foundation claims it has, as of 2011, active programs in 290 cocoa growing communities in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, reaching a total population of 689,000 people to help eliminate the worst forms of child labour in cocoa industry  Other organisations claim progress has been made, but the protocol's 2005 deadlines have not yet been met 

Mining in Africa
In 2008, Bloomberg claimed child labour in copper and cobalt mines that supplied Chinese companies in Congo  The children are creuseurs, that is they dig the ore by hand, carry sacks of ores on their backs, and these are then purchased by these companies  Over 60 of Katanga's 75 processing plants are owned by Chinese companies and 90 percent of the region's minerals go to China  An African NGO report claimed 80,000 child labourers under the age of 15, or about 40% of all miners, were supplying ore to Chinese companies in this African region Amnesty International alleged in 2016 that some cobalt sold by Congo Dongfang Mining was produced by child labour, and that it was being used in lithium-ion batteries powering electric cars and mobile devices worldwide BBC, in 2012, accused Glencore of using child labour in its mining and smelting operations of Africa  Glencore denied it used child labour, and said it has strict policy of not using child labour  The company claimed it has a strict policy whereby all copper was mined correctly, placed in bags with numbered seals and then sent to the smelter  Glencore mentioned being aware of child miners who were part of a group of artisanal miners who had without authorisation raided the concession awarded to the company since 2010; Glencore has been pleading with the government to remove the artisanal miners from the concession Small-scale artisanal mining of gold is another source of dangerous child labour in poor rural areas in certain parts of the world  This form of mining uses labour-intensive and low-tech methods  It is informal sector of the economy  Human Rights Watch group estimates that about 12 percent of global gold production comes from artisanal mines  In west Africa, in countries such as Mali – the third largest exporter of gold in Africa – between 20,000 and 40,000 children work in artisanal mining  Locally known as orpaillage, children as young as six years old work with their families  These children and families suffer chronic exposure to toxic chemicals including mercury, and do hazardous work such as digging shafts and working underground, pulling up, carrying and crushing the ore  The poor work practices harm the long-term health of children, as well as release hundreds of tons of mercury every year into local rivers, ground water and lakes  Gold is important to the economy of Mali and Ghana  For Mali, it is the second largest earner of its export revenue  For many poor families with children, it is the primary and sometimes the only source of income 

Meatpacking
In early August 2008, Iowa Labour Commissioner David Neil announced that his department had found that Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking company in Postville which had recently been raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had employed 57 minors, some as young as 14, in violation of state law prohibiting anyone under 18 from working in a meatpacking plant  Neil announced that he was turning the case over to the state Attorney General for prosecution, claiming that his department's inquiry had discovered "egregious violations of virtually every aspect of Iowa's child labour laws " Agriprocessors claimed that it was at a loss to understand the allegations  Agriprocessors' CEO went to trial on these charges in state court on 4 May 2010  After a five-week trial he was found not guilty of all 57 charges of child labour violations by the Black Hawk County District Court jury in Waterloo, Iowa, on 7 June 2010 

GAP
A 2007 report claimed some GAP products had been produced by child labourers  GAP acknowledged the problem and announced it is pulling the products from its shelves  The report found that GAP had rigorous social audit systems since 2004 to eliminate child labour in its supply chain  However, the report concluded that the system was being abused by unscrupulous subcontractors 
GAP's policy, the report claimed, is that if it discovers child labour was used by its supplier in its branded clothes, the contractor must remove the child from the workplace, provide them with access to schooling and a wage, and guarantee the opportunity of work on reaching a legal working age 
In 2007, The New York Times reported that GAP, after the child labour discovery, created a $200,000 grant to improve working conditions in the supplier community  GAP created strong relationships with developing countries to help prevent child labor and find solutions; GAP would conduct interviews and reach out to their 100,000 employees worldwide to get insight into how they feel about GAP's work environments  This survey concluded with a 68 percent response rate, and 77 percent of respondents considered GAP a great environment to work in  GAP's corporate responsibility has allowed them to strengthen their stockholder relationships and be known as one of the fast fashion industry's best companies, with a great image representing a responsible firm 

H&M and Zara
In December 2009, campaigners in the UK called on two leading high street retailers to stop selling clothes made with cotton which may have been picked by children  Anti-Slavery International and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) accused H&M and Zara of using cotton suppliers in Bangladesh  It is also suspected that many of their raw materials originates from Uzbekistan, where children aged 10 are forced to work in the fields  The activists were calling to ban the use of Uzbek cotton and implement a "track and trace" systems to guarantee an ethical responsible source of the material 
H&M said it "does not accept" child labour and "seeks to avoid" using Uzbek cotton, but admitted it did "not have any reliable methods" to ensure Uzbek cotton did not end up in any of its products  Inditex, the owner of Zara, said its code of conduct banned child labour 

Silk weaving
A 2003 Human Rights Watch report claimed children as young as five years old were employed and worked for up to 12 hours a day and six to seven days a week in the silk industry  These children, HRW claimed, were bonded child labour in India, easy to find in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu In 2010, a German news investigative report claimed that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had found up to 10,000 children working in the 1,000 silk factories in 1998  In other locations, thousands of bonded child labourers were present in 1994  After UNICEF and NGOs got involved, the child labour figure dropped drastically after 2005, with the total estimated to be fewer than a thousand child labourers  The report claims the released children were back in school 

Primark
In 2008, the BBC reported that the company Primark was using child labour in the manufacture of clothing  In particular, a £4 hand-embroidered shirt was the starting point of a documentary produced by BBC's Panorama programme  The programme asks consumers to ask themselves, "Why am I only paying £4 for a hand embroidered top? This item looks handmade  Who made it for such little cost?", in addition to exposing the violent side of the child labour industry in countries where child exploitation is prevalent 
As a result of the BBC report, Royal Television Society awarded it a prize, and Primark took immediate action and fired three Indian suppliers in 2008 Primark continued to investigate the allegations for three years, concluding that BBC report was a fake  In 2011, following an investigation by the BBC Trust's Editorial Standards Committee, the BBC announced, "Having carefully scrutinised all of the relevant evidence, the committee concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, it was more likely than not that the Bangalore footage was not authentic " BBC subsequently apologised for faking footage, and returned the television award for investigative reporting 

Eliminating child labour
Concerns have often been raised over the buying public's moral complicity in purchasing products assembled or otherwise manufactured in developing countries with child labour  However, others have raised concerns that boycotting products manufactured through child labour may force these children to turn to more dangerous or strenuous professions, such as prostitution or agriculture  For example, a UNICEF study found that after the Child Labor Deterrence Act was introduced in the US, an estimated 50,000 children were dismissed from their garment industry jobs in Bangladesh, leaving many to resort to jobs such as "stone-crushing, street hustling, and prostitution", jobs that are "more hazardous and exploitative than garment production"  The study suggests that boycotts are "blunt instruments with long-term consequences, that can actually harm rather than help the children involved "According to Milton Friedman, before the Industrial Revolution virtually all children worked in agriculture  During the Industrial Revolution many of these children moved from farm work to factory work  Over time, as real wages rose, parents became able to afford to send their children to school instead of work and as a result child labour declined, both before and after legislation British historian and socialist E  P  Thompson in The Making of the English Working Class draws a qualitative distinction between child domestic work and participation in the wider (waged) labour market  Further, the usefulness of the experience of the industrial revolution in making predictions about current trends has been disputed  Social historian Hugh Cunningham, author of Children and Childhood in Western Society Since 1500, notes that:

Fifty years ago it might have been assumed that, just as child labour had declined in the developed world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so it would also, in a trickle-down fashion, in the rest of the world  Its failure to do that, and its re-emergence in the developed world, raise questions about its role in any economy, whether national or global According to Thomas DeGregori, an economics professor at the University of Houston, in an article published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank operating in Washington D C , "it is clear that technological and economic change are vital ingredients in getting children out of the workplace and into schools  Then they can grow to become productive adults and live longer, healthier lives  However, in poor countries like Bangladesh, working children are essential for survival in many families, as they were in our own heritage until the late 19th century  So, while the struggle to end child labour is necessary, getting there often requires taking different routes—and, sadly, there are many political obstacles The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), founded in 1992, aims to eliminate child labour  It operates in 88 countries and is the largest program of its kind in the world  IPEC works with international and government agencies, NGOs, the media, and children and their families to end child labour and provide children with education and assistance From 2008 to 2013, the ILO operated a program through IPEC entitled "Combating Abusive Child Labour (CACL-II)"  The project, funded by the European Union, contributed to the Government of Pakistan by providing alternative opportunities for vocational training and education to children withdrawn from the worst forms of child labour Periodically, governments, employers' and workers' organisations have met in global conference to assess progress and remaining obstacles and to agree measures to eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2016: first in Oslo (1997), followed by: The Hague (2010); Brasilia, 8–10 October 2013; Buenos Aires, 14–16 November 2017; and most recently Durban, South Africa, 15–20 May 2022 Between 2000 and 2012, progress was made against child labor but the elimination of its worst forms was not accomplished 
Under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, UN Member States, employers' and workers' organizations, and civil society organizations are required to work together to eliminate child labor by 2025, forced labor, modern slavery and human trafficking by 2030  Thus, the ILO established Alliance 8 7 as a global partnership In January 2021, the ILO published the Child Labour Global Estimates 2020 in collaboration with UNICEF  According to the report child labor decreased by 38% from 246 million in 2000 million to 152 million in 2016  Due to COVID-19 pandemic the number of children in child labor increased by 9 million 

Statistics
Potential positives
The term child labour can be misleading when it confuses harmful work with employment that may be beneficial to children  It can also ignore harmful work outside employment and any benefits children normally derive from their work  Domestic work is an example: all families but the rich must work at cleaning, cooking, caring, and more to maintain their homes  In most families in the world, this process extends to productive activities, especially herding and various types of agriculture, and to a variety of small family businesses  Where trading is a significant feature of social life, children can start trading in small items at an early age, often in the company of family members or of peers Work is undertaken from an early age by vast numbers of children in the world and may have a natural place in growing up 
Work can contribute to the well-being of children in a variety of ways; children often choose to work to improve their lives, both in the short- and long-term  At the material level, children's work often contributes to producing food or earning income that benefits themselves and their families; and such income is especially important when the families are poor  Work can provide an escape from debilitating poverty, sometimes by allowing a young person to move away from an impoverished environment  Young people often enjoy their work, especially paid work, or when work involves the company of peers  Even when work is intensive and enforced, children often find ways to combine their work with play While full-time work hinders schooling, empirical evidence is varied on the relationship between part-time work and school  Sometimes even part-time work may hinder school attendance or performance  On the other hand, many poor children work for resources to attend school  Children who are not doing well at school sometimes seek more satisfactory experience in work  Good relations with a supervisor at work can provide relief from tensions that children feel at school and home  In the modern world, school education has become so central to society that schoolwork has become the dominant work for most children, often replacing participation in productive work  If school curricula or quality do not provide children with appropriate skills for available jobs or if children do nor have the aptitude for schoolwork, school may impede the learning of skills, such as agriculture, which will become necessary for future livelihood 

In media
Letitia Elizabeth Landon addresses this issue in scathing terms in her poem  The Factory  (1835)  'Tis an accursed thing!—she writes 
Oliver Twist, a novel by Charles Dickens that was later adapted into films and into a theater production 
"The Little Match Girl", a short story by Hans Christian Andersen that was later adapted into films and other media 

See also
International conventions and other instruments:

Pilot project on Delivery of water to households far from sources of safe water
ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No  29)
ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No  105)
ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No  138)
ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No  182)

Notes
Passage 4:
Sigrid Sture
Sigrid Svantesdotter Sture (13 December 1538, Mörkö, Södermanland – 16 March 1613), was a Swedish noble, Governor (häradshövding) of Stranda Hundred from 1577 to 1613 
She was the daughter of Svante Stensson Sture and Märta ("king Martha") Erikdotter Leijonhufvud, thereby the niece of queen Margaret Leijonhufvud and the granddaughter of regent Christina Gyllenstierna  She married Ture Pedersson Bielke and became the mother of Svante Turesson Bielke  After the death of her husband in 1577, she succeeded him as royal governor of Stranda hundred  This was an unusual position for a person of her gender in 16th century Sweden, and one she kept until her death over 30 years later  She was, however, not allowed to rule formally, but was forced to appoint male proxies to officially rule in her place 

Sources
PLF-Nytt  January 2005  Nr 72
Det medeltida Sverige (DMS)

Further reading
Sigrid Sture at Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon
Passage 5:
Sigrid Eskilsdotter (Banér)
Sigrid Eskilsdotter (Banér) (died 1527), was a Swedish noble, the mother of the Swedish regent Christina Gyllenstierna and the maternal grandmother of King Gustav Vasa of Sweden 

Biography
Sigrid Eskilsdotter was the daughter of Eskil Isaksson (Banér) and Cecilia Haraldsdotter (Gren)  She was married twice and was by 1495 twice widowed and very wealthy  Her daughter Christina was the consort of the Swedish regent in 1512-1520 and the leader of the Stockholm resistance against Denmark in 1520  Sigrid was present at the coronation of king Christian II in Stockholm 4 November 1520  She was captured and imprisoned during the Stockholm Bloodbath  Sigrid and her daughter Christina were the only two women sentenced to death during the Bloodbath, but in neither case was the sentence carried out  Sigrid was sentenced to be sewn into a sack and drowned at sea, but the execution was interrupted when she agreed to bequeath all her assets to the monarch  Together with her daughters Christina and Cecilia, and her granddaughters as well as a large group of Swedish noblewomen, Sigrid was taken to Blåtårn in Denmark in 1521  Her daughter Cecilia and two of her granddaughters died in prison, but Sigrid was allowed to return to Sweden in 1523, where her grandson was now king 

Family
Married firstly to noble councillor Magnus Karlsson (Eka) (d  between 1484 and 1487)
Issue:

Cecilia Månsdotter (1476–1523), mother of king Gustav Vasa Married secondly to noble knight and councillor Nils Eriksson (Gyllenstierna) (d  1495) 
Issue:

Christina Gyllenstierna (1494–1559), regent of Sweden 
Passage 6:
Loekman Hakim
Loekman Hakim, stage name Loekman Noah (born December 30, 1975), is a guitar player for the popular Indonesian musical group Noah 

Career
Loekman joined Peterpan in 2000  At that time, the band had three members: Ariel, Uki, and Reza  Together with Peterpan, Loekman released six albums: Taman Langit, Bintang di Surga, Ost  Alexandria, Hari Yang Cerah, Sebuah Nama Sebuah Cerita and an instrumental album, Suara Lainnya  Peterpan was renamed Noah in August 2012 and continues to release new albums During his career as guitarist in this band, Loekman has earning a nomination for Most Famous Guitarist Player in 2013 SCTV Music Awards 

Personal life
Loekman Hakim was born in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia, on December 30, 1975, to Eman Sulaeman and Iis Martini  Loekman is the third child of five siblings  His father was a teacher at SMP 5 Bandung  Loekman married Rika Nurhayati and they have two children 

Filmography
Film
Book
Kisah Lainnya (2012)
6 903 mil – Cerita di Balik Konser 2 Benua 5 Negara (2013)

Awards and nominations



ground_truth: Svante Stensson Sture