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:
A Beautiful Mind (soundtrack)
A Beautiful Mind is the original soundtrack album, on the Decca Records label, of the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly (who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as "Alicia Nash"), Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany  The original score and songs were composed and conducted by James Horner 
The album garnered nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and the Academy Award for Best Original Score  Music critics felt that the musical score fit the film well, but believed it to be similar to several of Horner's previous films 

Development
Composer James Horner was a frequent collaborator with Ron Howard, the director of A Beautiful Mind  Horner desired to feature vocals reminiscent of being midway between a girl and woman, and wrote the score specifically for 15-year-old Welsh singer Charlotte Church  To convey "the beauty of mathematics", Horner decided to use the idea of a kaleidoscope, as its "patterns are always changing, and things move very quickly, but in moving so quickly, they create other patterns that move very slowly underneath"  He added that these changing patterns were conveyed with the piano and Church's voice 

Release and reception
Writing for Empire magazine, Danny Graydon gave the soundtrack four out of five stars  He thought the score contained elements of Horner's previous films Sneakers (1992) and Bicentennial Man (1999), but said "if you can forgive that, this is a clever, masterful and romantic score that captures a brilliant mind in conflict"  In the tracks "Creating Government Dynamics" and "Cracking The Russian Codes", Graydon opined that Church's "poignant vocals mix well with the frenetic piano and strings to represent Nash’s brilliance" and wished that her voice had been used more in the film Dan Goldwasser of Soundtrack net also found similarities to the score in Bicentennial Man, but thought Horner's work fit the film regardless, explaining "it effectively underscores the drama and romance, and even provides a few bits of tension for the action scene"  Goldwasser concluded that "while it all works well in the film, there is enough about this score that just seemed to  [sic] 'familiar' to make it stand out"  Contributing to National Public Radio, Andy Trudeau believed Church's particular voice adds a "human element  It's the sound that, I think, gives a sense of--the center of this character, if you will  I think it's the soul  And it's trying to be normal in a way, and underneath it it's trying to be crazy" Horner's score garnered nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and the Academy Award for Best Original Score  It lost the Golden Globe to the film Moulin Rouge! and the Oscar to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 

Track listing
Adapted from:
Passage 2:
Christel Khalil
Christel Adnana Mina Khalil (born November 30, 1987) is an American actress 

Background
Khalil was born in Los Angeles, California, to a mother of Native American, African American, and European descent and a Pakistani father  Khalil has stated she identifies as mixed race  She has three older brothers and a younger paternal half-sister  In January 2017, in the wake of President Donald Trump's signing of Executive Order 13769, Khalil revealed that her father is an immigrant from his native country of Pakistan 

Career
Khalil is best known for her portrayal as Lily Winters on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless  At the 39th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 23, 2012, she won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series after four nominations in the category  In August 2018, she announced her decision to downgrade from being on contract with the show and instead continue on a recurring basis  Khalil explained the decision was driven by her desire to have more freedom in both her professional and personal life  She continued to make sporadic appearances on the show until being approached by current head writer and co-executive producer Josh Griffith in January 2020, to return to filming on a regular basis Khalil has had small roles in movies such as Dragon Fury, Matilda, Interview With the Assassin and White Like the Moon  She voiced Cornelia Hale in W I T C H , and also appeared on That's So Raven and Malcolm in the Middle, among other shows  Khalil also performed in Los Angeles theater productions before landing her role on The Young and the Restless  In 2012, she was featured in musician Johnny Britt's music video  for his single Beautiful Queen  In  spring 2018, Khalil co-starred in the independent thriller, Good Deed, which premiered on the Lifetime network in November 2018 under the title Sorority Stalker  In spring 2019, she was cast in the independent comedy We Need To Talk by writer and director Todd Wolfe 

Personal life
In September 2008, she married musician Stephen Hensley  The Young and the Restless co-star Elizabeth Hendrickson served as a bridesmaid while Bryton James was a groomsman  Khalil gave birth to their son on April 17, 2010, during an at home water birth  Bryton James is his godfather and actress Fadhia Marcelin is his godmother  She and Hensley split in early 2011 and divorced later that year  In 2015, Khalil stated she had been in a relationship with bar runner Ray Wicks for 4 years  Khalil ended the relationship in August 2015   In the summer of 2018, Khalil stated that she in a relationship with Canadian businessman Sam Restagno, who works in private equity  The two met in 2016, during that years Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California  In 2019, Khalil and her son relocated to Toronto, Ontario to be with Restagno, who was born and based there  In July 2020, Khalil moved back to Los Angeles  In June 2023, she announced she was expecting her second child, her first with Restagno She is best friends with Bryton James, who portrays her character's brother, Devon Hamilton on The Young and the Restless  She is also friends with several former and current The Young and the Restless co-stars, including Mishael Morgan and Nadine Heimann  In October 2015, she modeled for Heimann's non-profit, True Connection In June 2015, after the United States Supreme Court's decision on Obergefell v  Hodges, she voiced her support for same-sex marriage  Khalil has said one of her favorite hobbies is traveling because she loves experiencing different cultures and travel makes her feel connected to who she is as a person 

Filmography
Awards and nominations
Passage 3:
Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)
Black Widow (Natalia Alianovna "Natasha" Romanova; Russian: Наталья Альяновна "Наташа" Романова) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics  Created by editor and plotter Stan Lee, scripter Don Rico, and artist Don Heck, the character debuted in Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964)  The character was introduced as a Russian spy, an antagonist of the superhero Iron Man  She later defected to the United States, becoming an agent of the fictional spy agency S H I E L D  and a member of the superhero team the Avengers 
The character has appeared in numerous forms of media, such as animated television series, video games, and films 
Scarlett Johansson portrayed Natasha Romanoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Black Widow (2021), with Lake Bell voicing the character in the animated series What If   ? (2021) 

Publication history
The Black Widow's first appearances were as a recurring, non-costumed, Russian-spy antagonist in the feature "Iron Man", beginning in Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964)  Five issues later, she recruits the besotted costumed archer and later superhero Hawkeye to her cause  Her government later supplies her with her first Black Widow costume and high-tech weaponry, but she eventually defects to the United States after appearing, temporarily brainwashed against the U S , in the superhero-team series The Avengers #29 (July 1966)  The Widow later becomes a recurring ally of the team before officially becoming its 16th member many years later 
The Black Widow was visually updated in 1970: The Amazing Spider-Man #86 (July 1970) reintroduced her with shoulder-length red hair (instead of her former short black hair), a skintight black costume, and wristbands which fired spider threads John Romita, the artist responsible for the redesign elaborated on how the character was updated  "I did the costume on the Black Widow  One of my favorite strips from when I was a kid was Miss Fury  They had done a Miss Fury book at Marvel, and when I found out they had the rights to her, I said I'd love to do a Miss Fury book sometime  I had done an updated drawing of Miss Fury, and Stan said, "Why don't we redesign the Black Widow costume based on Miss Fury?" So I took the mask off her face, and made the Black Widow, the one in the patent leather jumpsuit "In short order, The Black Widow starred in her own series in Amazing Adventures #1–8 (Aug  1970–Sept  1971), sharing that split book with the feature Inhumans  The Black Widow feature was dropped after only eight issues (the Inhumans feature followed soon, ending with issue #10) Immediately after her initial solo feature ended, the Black Widow co-starred in Daredevil  #81–124 (Nov  1971–Aug  1975), of which #92-107 were cover titled Daredevil and the Black Widow  Daredevil writer Gerry Conway recounted, "It was my idea to team up Daredevil and the Black Widow, mainly because I was a fan of Natasha, and thought she and Daredevil would have interesting chemistry " Succeeding writers, however, felt that Daredevil worked better as a solo hero, and gradually wrote the Black Widow out of the series  She was immediately recast into the super-team series The Champions as the leader of the titular superhero group, which ran for 17 issues (Oct  1975–Jan  1978) Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Black Widow appeared frequently as both an Avengers member and a freelance agent of S H I E L D  She starred in a serialized feature within the omnibus comic-book series Marvel Fanfare #10–13 (Aug  1983–March 1984), written by George Pérez and Ralph Macchio, with art by penciller Perez  These stories were later collected in the oversized one-shot Black Widow: Web of Intrigue #1 (June 1999) 
The Widow guest-starred in issues of Solo Avengers, Force Works, Iron Man, Marvel Team-Up, and other comics  She had made frequent guest appearances in Daredevil since the late 1970s 
She starred in a three-issue arc, "The Fire Next Time", by writer Scott Lobdell and penciller Randy Green, in Journey into Mystery #517–519 (Feb –April 1998) 
A new ongoing Black Widow comic title debuted in April 2010  The first story arc was written by Marjorie Liu with art by Daniel Acuña  Beginning with issue #6 (Sept  2010), the title was written by Duane Swierczynski, with artwork by Manuel Garcia and Lorenzo Ruggiero 
Black Widow appeared as a regular character throughout the 2010–2013 Secret Avengers series, from issue #1 (July 2010) through its final issue #37 (March 2013) 
Black Widow appears in the 2013 Secret Avengers series by Nick Spencer and Luke Ross Black Widow appears in a relaunched ongoing series by writer Nathan Edmondson and artist Phil Noto  The first issue debuted in Jan  2014 In October 2015, it was announced that Mark Waid and Chris Samnee would be launching a new Black Widow series for 2016 as part of Marvel's post-Secret Wars relaunch  The first issue was released in March 2016 

Limited series and specials
Aside from the arcs in Marvel Fanfare and Journey into Mystery, the Black Widow has starred in four limited series and four graphic novels 
The three-issue Black Widow (June-Aug  1999), under the Marvel Knights imprint, starred Romanova and fully introduced her appointed successor, Captain Yelena Belova, who had briefly appeared in an issue of the 1999 series Inhumans  The writer for the story arc, "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" was Devin K  Grayson while J  G  Jones was the artist  The next three-issue, Marvel Knights mini-series, also titled Black Widow (Jan –March 2001) featured both Black Widows in the story arc "Breakdown", by writers Devin Grayson and Greg Rucka with painted art by Scott Hampton Romanova next starred in another solo miniseries titled Black Widow: Homecoming (Nov  2004–April 2005), also under the Marvel Knights imprint and written by science fiction novelist Richard K  Morgan, with art initially by Bill Sienkiewicz and later by Sienkiewicz over Goran Parlov layouts  A six-issue sequel, Black Widow: The Things They Say About Her (Nov  2005–April 2006; officially Black Widow 2: The Things They Say About Her in the series' postal indicia), by writer Morgan, penciller Sean Phillips, and inker Sienkiewicz, picks up immediately where the previous miniseries left off, continuing the story using many of the same characters She starred in the solo graphic novel Black Widow: The Coldest War (April 1990), and co-starred in three more: Punisher/Black Widow: Spinning Doomsday's Web (Dec  1992); Daredevil/Black Widow: Abattoir (July 1993); and Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty (June 1995), also co-starring Marvel UK's Night Raven Black Widow is also featured in the short story Love Is Blindness in I Heart Marvel: Marvel Ai (2006) #1 (April 2006), where she instigates a humorous fight with Elektra over Daredevil's affections  The comic is stylized to look like Japanese animation and uses images, not words, inside the speech and thought bubbles to convey what the characters are saying/thinking In 2010, the year in which the character, called only Natasha Romanoff, made her film debut in Iron Man 2, the Black Widow received two separate miniseries  Black Widow and the Marvel Girls was an all-ages, four-issue series that chronicled her adventures with various women of the Marvel Universe, including Storm, She-Hulk, the Enchantress, and Spider-Woman  It was written by Paul Tobin, with art by Salvador Espin, Veronica Gandini and Takeshi Miyazawa  The second four-issue miniseries, Black Widow: Deadly Origin, was written by Paul Cornell, and featured art by Tom Raney and John Paul Leon 

Fictional character biography
Early life
Natasha was born in Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russian SFSR, USSR  The first and best-known Black Widow is a Russian agent trained as a spy, martial artist, and sniper, and outfitted with an arsenal of high-tech weaponry, including a pair of wrist-mounted energy weapons dubbed her "Widow's Bite"  She wears no costume during her first few appearances but simply evening wear and a veil  Romanova eventually defects to the U S  for reasons that include her love for the reluctant-criminal turned superhero archer, Hawkeye 
The first hints to Natasha Romanova's childhood come from Ivan Petrovich, who is introduced as her middle-aged chauffeur and confidant in the Black Widow's 1970s Amazing Adventures  Petrovich tells Matt Murdock that he had been given custody of little Natasha by a woman who died immediately afterwards, during the Battle of Stalingrad in autumn 1942  He consequently felt committed to raise the orphan as a surrogate father and she eventually trained as a Soviet spy, being eager to help her homeland  In another flashback, set in the fictional island of Madripoor in 1941, Petrovich helps Captain America and the mutant Logan, who would later become the Canadian super-agent and costumed hero Wolverine, to rescue Natasha from Nazis A revised, retconned origin establishes her as being raised from very early childhood by the U S S R 's "Black Widow Ops" program, rather than solely by Ivan Petrovitch  Petrovitch had taken her to Department X with other young female orphans, where she was brainwashed and trained in combat and espionage at the covert "Red Room" facility  There, she is biotechnologically and psycho-technologically enhanced—which provides a rationale for her unusually long and youthful lifespan  During that time she had some training under the Winter Soldier, and the pair even had a short romance  Each Black Widow is deployed with false memories to help ensure her loyalty  Romanova eventually discovers this, including the fact that she had never, as she had believed, been a ballerina  She further discovers that the Red Room is still active as "2R" 
The KGB arranged a marriage between Natasha and the renowned Soviet test pilot Alexei Shostakov  However, when the Soviet government decided to make Shostakov into their new operative, the Red Guardian, he is told that he can have no further contact with his wife  Natasha is told that he died and is trained as a secret agent separately 

The Avengers
Romanova grew up to serve as a femme fatale  She was assigned to assist Boris Turgenov in the assassination of Professor Anton Vanko for defecting from the Soviet Union, which served as her first mission in the United States  Natasha and Turgenov infiltrated Stark Industries as part of the plan  She attempted to manipulate information from American defense contractor Tony Stark, and inevitably confronted his superhero alter ego, Iron Man  The pair then battled Iron Man, and Turgenov stole and wore the Crimson Dynamo suit  Vanko sacrificed himself to save Iron Man, killing Turgenov in the process, using an unstable experimental laser light pistol  Romanova later meets the criminal archer Hawkeye and sets him against Iron Man, and later helped Hawkeye battle Iron Man Later, Natasha again attempted to get Hawkeye to help her destroy Iron Man  The pair almost succeeded, but when Black Widow was injured, Hawkeye retreated to get her to safety  During this period, Romanova was attempting to defect from the Soviet Union and began falling in love with Hawkeye, weakening her loyalty to her country  When her employers learned the truth, the KGB had her gunned down, sending her to a hospital, convincing Hawkeye to go straight and seek membership in the Avengers The Red Room kidnapped and brainwashed her again, and with the Swordsman and the first Power Man, she battled the Avengers  She eventually broke free from her psychological conditioning (with the help of Hawkeye), and successfully defected, having further adventures with Spider-Man, with Hawkeye, and with Daredevil  She ultimately joins the Avengers as a costumed hero herself 

S H I E L D  and Daredevil
Upon Nick Fury's request, she begins freelancing as an agent of the international espionage group S H I E L D  She is sent on a secret S H I E L D  mission to China by Nick Fury  There, with the Avengers, she battles Col  Ling, Gen  Brushov, and her ex-husband the Red Guardian  For a time, as writer Les Daniels noted in a contemporaneous study in 1971,

    her left-wing upbringing was put to better use, and she has lately taken to fighting realistic oppressor-of-the-people types  She helps young Puerto Ricans clean up police corruption and saves young hippies from organized crime       [The splash page of Amazing Adventures #3 (Nov  1970)] reflects the recent trend toward involving fantastic characters in contemporary social problems, a move which has gained widespread publicity for Marvel and its competitor, DC 
She investigates a plot by Egghead, the Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker to blackmail the US government using a laser-firing satellite During her romantic involvement with Matt Murdock in San Francisco, she operates as an independent superhero alongside Murdock's alter ego, Daredevil  There she tries unsuccessfully to find a new career for herself as a fashion designer  Eventually, her relationship with Murdock stagnates, and after briefly working with Avengers finally breaks up with Murdock, fearing that playing "sidekick" is sublimating her identity  During a HYDRA attempt to take over S H I E L D , she is tortured to such an extent that she regresses back to an old cover identity of schoolteacher Nancy Rushman, but she is recovered by Spider-Man in time to help Nick Fury and Shang-Chi work out what had happened and restore her memory, with "Nancy" developing an attraction to Spider-Man before her memory is restored during the final fight against Madam Viper, Boomerang, and the Silver Samurai  She later returns to Matt Murdock's life to find he is romantically involved with another woman, Heather Glenn, prompting her to leave New York  Natasha ultimately realizes that Matt still only thinks of her in platonic terms, and elects to restrain herself from any advances 

The Champions
After their breakup, the Widow moves to Los Angeles and becomes leader of the newly created and short-lived super team known as The Champions, consisting of her, Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Hercules (with whom she has a brief romance), and former X-Men Angel and Iceman Her friends usually call her "Natasha", the informal version of "Natalia"  She has sometimes chosen the last-name alias "Romanoff"  She has hinted to be a descendant of the deposed House of Romanov and a relation to Nicholas II of Russia 

21st century
Natasha crosses Daredevil's (Matt Murdock) path again when he attempts to slay an infant he believes to be the Anti-Christ while under the influence of mind-altering drugs  After Daredevil's one-time love, Karen Page, dies protecting the child, Natasha reconciles with Murdock, revealing she still loves him, but noting that he is too full of anger to commit to a relationship with her Natasha is challenged by Yelena Belova, a graduate from the training program through which Natasha herself was taught the espionage trade, who is the first to ever surpass Natasha's marks and considers herself the rightful successor to the "Black Widow" mantle  Natasha refers to her as "little one" and "rooskaya (meaning "Russian"), and encourages her to discover her individuality rather than live in blind service, asking her "why be Black Widow, when you can be Yelena Belova?" After several confrontations, Natasha subjects Yelena to intense psychological manipulation and suffering in order to teach her the reality of the espionage business, and an angry but disillusioned Yelena eventually returns home and temporarily quits being a spy  Although Matt Murdock is appalled by the cruelty of Natasha's treatment of Yelena, Nick Fury describes the action as Natasha's attempt at saving Yelena's life  After bringing the Avengers and the Thunderbolts together to overcome Count Nefaria, Natasha supported Daredevil's short-lived efforts to form a new super-team to capture the Punisher, originally believed to be Nick Fury's murderer  Despite recruitment endeavors, however, this vigilante group folded shortly after she and her teammate Dagger fought an army of renegade S H I E L D  androids; ironically, she soon afterward worked with both Daredevil and Punisher against the European crime syndicate managed by the Brothers Grace  Months later, her pursuit of war criminal Anatoly Krylenko led to a clash with Hawkeye, whose pessimism regarding heroic activities now rivaled her own Shortly after the Scarlet Witch's insanity seemingly killed Hawkeye and again disbanded the Avengers, Natasha, weary of espionage and adventure, travelled to Arizona but was targeted  Andrea discovers that other women had been trained in the Black Widow Program, and all are now being hunted down and killed by the North Institute on behalf of the corporation Gynacon  Natasha's investigations led her back to Russia, where she was appalled to learn the previously unimagined extent of her past manipulation, and she discovered the Widows were being hunted because Gynacon, having purchased Russian biotechnology from Red Room's successor agency 2R, wanted all prior users of the technology dead  Natasha finds and kills the mastermind of the Black Widow murders: Ian McMasters, Gynacon's aging CEO, who intended to use part of their genetic structure to create a new chemical weapon  After killing McMasters, she clashed with operatives of multiple governments to help Sally Anne Carter, a girl Natasha had befriended in her investigations, whom she rescued with help from Daredevil and Yelena Belova  She soon returned the favor for Daredevil by reluctantly working with Elektra Natchios to protect his new wife, Milla Donovan, from the FBI and others, although Yelena proved beyond help when she agreed to be transformed into the new Super-Adaptoid by A I M  and HYDRA 

Civil War / Initiative
During the Superhero Civil War, Natasha becomes a supporter of the Superhuman Registration Act and a member of the taskforce led by Iron Man  Afterward, the registered Natasha joins the reconstituted Avengers  S H I E L D  director Nick Fury is presumed killed, and deputy director Maria Hill incapacitated, so Natasha assumes temporary command of S H I E L D  as the highest-ranking agent present Later, Tony Stark assigns Natasha to convey the late Captain America's shield to a secure location, but is intercepted by her former lover, Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, who steals the shield  Natasha and the Falcon then rescue Barnes from the Red Skull's minions and bring him to the S H I E L D  Helicarrier, where Stark convinces Bucky to become the new Captain America  Afterward, Natasha accompanies Bucky as his partner for a brief time until she is called back by S H I E L D  She later rejoins him and Falcon for the final confrontation with the Red Skull, helping to rescue Sharon Carter  She and Bucky have restarted their relationship  She later plays an important role in the capture of Hercules  However, due to her respect of the Greek god, she let him go  Soon Natasha, along with the rest of the Avengers, gets involved in the current Skrull invasion  Afterwards, she stayed as Bucky's partner  She also assists former director Maria Hill in delivering a special form of data to Bucky 

Thunderbolts
Norman Osborn discovered Yelena Belova breaking into an abandoned S H I E L D  facility, and offered her the position of field leader of the new Thunderbolts  On her first mission, she and Ant-Man take control of Air Force One with the Goblin, Doc Samson, and the new President aboard  It was suggested she faked her apparent death (as the Adaptoid) but it is never explained how 
A conversation with the Ghost implies that Yelena is working as a mole for someone else and that she may even be someone else disguised as Yelena  She is later seen talking privately through a comm-link to Nick Fury Osborn orders Yelena to lead the current Thunderbolts to kill former Thunderbolt, Songbird  Fury orders "Yelena" to rescue and retrieve Songbird for the information she might possess about Osborn and his operations  Yelena finds Songbird and reveals to her that she was really Natasha Romanova in disguise  She tries delivering Songbird to Fury but the Thunderbolts have also followed them  The trio are captured as Osborn reveals he had been impersonating Fury in messages all along to set Natasha up in order to strengthen the Thunderbolts and lead him to Fury  She and Songbird are brought to be executed but manage to escape when Ant-Man, Headsmen, and Paladin turn on the rest of the Thunderbolts and let them go 

Heroic Age
At the start of the "Heroic Age," Natasha is recruited by Steve Rogers into a new black-ops wing of the Avengers dubbed the Secret Avengers  She travels to Dubai with her new teammate, Valkyrie, where they steal a dangerous artifact which the Beast then studies, noting that it seems like a distant cousin of the Serpent Crown  In the story "Coppelia", she encounters a teenage clone of herself, code named "Tiny Dancer", whom she rescues from an arms dealer 

Fear Itself
During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Black Widow and Peregrine are sent on a mission to free hostages being held in a Marseille cathedral by Rapido  He and a group of mercenaries are trying to exploit the panic over the events in Paris to steal France's nuclear arsenal 

Ends of the Earth
During the "Ends of the Earth" storyline involving one of Doctor Octopus' schemes, Natasha is one of only three heroes left standing after the defeat of the Avengers by the Sinister Six, joining Silver Sable and Spider-Man to track the Six (albeit because she was closest to Sable's cloaked ship after the Avengers were defeated rather than for her prowess)  She is later contacted by the Titanium Man to warn her and her allies about Doctor Octopus' attempt to rally other villains against Spider-Man  She is knocked out along with Hawkeye by Iron Man during a battle against the Avengers when they were temporarily under Octavius' remote control 

Secret Wars
During the incursion event between Earth-616 and Earth-1610, Natasha is involved in the final battle between the Marvel Universe's superheroes and the Ultimate Universe's Children of Tomorrow  She pilots a ship holding a handpicked few to restart humanity after the universe ends, copiloted by Jessica Drew  Her ship is shot down during the battle though, and she is killed in the ensuing explosion As the evacuation of Earth-616 begins in light of the fact that Earth-1610 is about to come crashing down as part of the "Last Days" storyline, Black Widow is seen standing atop a building with Captain America who gives her a list of people to save and bring aboard the lifeboat  As she tells Sam she cannot save them all, Sam explains it's Natasha's job to assist in the effort to save as many people as possible before Earth as they know it is destroyed  As she leaves, her mind transitions to Cold War Russia, where a young Natasha (here called Natalia) speaks with two Russian functionaries in the infamous "Red Room"  She is given her first mission: travel to Cuba and locate a family called the Comienzas, who are at risk from Raúl Castro's regime and who may have information of vital importance to Russia  She is told to rendezvous with another agent, her classmate Marina, and befriend the family under the guise of a Russian businesswoman  Natasha assures them of her competency and leaves  When one of the officers questions her youth, the other assures him, "she's a killer  She will not disappoint " Natasha meets Marina in Cuba and the two friends catch up before meeting with the Comienzas that night at a local bar  Using her talent for deception, she casually and politely convinces the husband and wife that she's seeking inside information to help her import various goods into the country  The Comienzas explain they cannot reveal said information, prompting Natasha to later explain to Marina that the family might need "a little push"  Not too soon she effectively began terrorizing the family into desperation  First, she plants an American flag on their doorstep to mimic someone accusing them of defecting to the United States  Later after meeting with one of the Russian officers from the Red Room to report her progress, she detonated a car bomb outside their home when the first attempt did not make them "nearly desperate enough"  Following the car bomb explosion, Natasha declares the family is indeed desperate enough to reproach for information  Before letting Natasha go, the officer announces she has one additional task before her mission is over: Marina has become too much enamored with her civilian guise, and is now a security risk  Natasha will have to eliminate her  Flipping to the present, Black Widow is saving as many people as she can, but she quickly flashbacks to Havana  Natasha and her then Red Room partner Marina are trying to help a family defect  Natasha's orders are simple: Kill the parents and make it public  When Natasha asks if she should kill the child too, her boss looks horrified that she would be so OK with that and tells her no  Having no problem following orders she sets up a meet and using a sniper rifle she takes out the pair without blinking  Next she shoots Marina's boyfriend then Marina herself  Next she shoots Marina's cat  Flipping back to the present, Black Widow is back saving people from the incursion as the reason that triggered Natasha's flashback is revealed     a man she saved is holding his cat  This dark, heartless side of the Black Widow shows why she is trying so hard to do good today 

Secret Empire
During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Black Widow appears as a member of the underground resistance at the time when most of the United States has been taken over by Hydra and Captain America who was brainwashed by Red Skull's clone using the powers of the sentient Cosmic Cube Kobik into believing that he was a Hydra sleeper agent  While Hawkeye assembles a strike force of Hercules and Quicksilver to find the Cosmic Cube fragments, Black Widow sets off to kill Rogers herself reasoning that even if Rick's theory is true, the man Rogers was would prefer to die than be used in this manner  She finds herself followed by the Champions as she establishes her version of the Red Room  While preparing to shoot Captain America with a sniper rifle, she rushes to prevent Miles Morales from killing him as predicted by Ulysses, and is struck by his shield, breaking her neck and killing her  Despite the return of the real Steve Rogers and the downfall of Hydra, Natasha's death, along with other casualties, remains 

Clone of Natalia Romanova
However, while observing a dictator who recently rose to power due to his support of Hydra, Bucky witnesses the man being assassinated in such a manner that he believes only Natasha could have pulled off the kill and believes he sees the Black Widow (actually Yelena Belova) depart from her chosen vantage point It was later discovered that a series of clones of the original Black Widow had been produced by the Black Widow Ops Program following her death  Its member Ursa Major bribed Epsilon Red to let him add the current memories of the deceased Natalia Romanova to one such clone while secretly disposing of the bad programming  The Black Widow Ops Program tasked the clone into taking out the remnants of Hydra and S H I E L D  She revealed herself to Winter Soldier and Hawkeye while also killing Orphan Maker  To keep them from interfering, the Black Widow clone locked Winter Soldier and Hawkeye in a safe room within the Red Room  The Black Widow clone rose to the ranks of the Red Room while secretly persuading the recruits to turn against their masters  When Winter Soldier and Hawkeye arrived at the Red Room, the Black Widow clone dropped her cover where she began to kill her superiors, liberate the recruits and destroy all the clones and Epsilon Red  When the authorities arrived, The Black Widow clone, adopting the name Natasha Romanoff, left the Red Room, where she left a note for Hawkeye to stop following her and for Winter Soldier to join her in ending the Red Room During the "Infinity Countdown" storyline, the Black Widow clone traced a dead drop signal left by a revived Wolverine in Madripoor  She discovered that Wolverine had left the Space Infinity Gem in her care  The Black Widow clone meets up with Doctor Strange who wants to dispose of the Space Stone  Doctor Strange did not want to take it as he knows what would happen if they are in the same proximity  She is among the Infinity Gem holders who are contacted by Doctor Strange stating that they need to reform the Infinity Watch in order to safeguard the Infinity Gems from such calamities like Thanos
Context 3: Passage 1:
Sejong High School (Sejong)
Sejong High School is a public high school located in Jochiwon-eup, Sejong City, South Korea  Its former name was Jochiwon High School 

External links
(in Korean) Official website
Passage 2:
Commonwealth Elementary School
Commonwealth Elementary School  is a grade school with more than 7,000 students, as of January 2023  It is located in Corner St  Commonwealth Avenue, Barangay Commonwealth, Quezon City of the National Capital Region, Philippines  The school is categorized as large school in Quezon City 
Passage 3:
List of municipalities in Georgia (U S  state)
Georgia is a state located in the Southern United States  According to the 2010 United States Census, Georgia is the 8th most populous state with 9,688,681 inhabitants and the 21st largest by land area spanning 57,513 49 square miles (148,959 3 km2) of land  Georgia is divided into 159 counties and contains 535 municipalities consisting of cities, towns, consolidated city-counties, and consolidated cities There is no legal difference in Georgia between cities and towns  Eight municipalities have merged with their counties to form consolidated city-counties: Athens with Clarke County, Augusta with Richmond County, Columbus with Muscogee County, Cusseta with Chattahoochee County, Georgetown with Quitman County, Macon with Bibb County, Statenville with Echols County, and Webster County unified government with Webster County  Athens and Augusta also have municipalities independent of the consolidated governments and are considered consolidated cities The largest municipality by population in Georgia is Atlanta, with 498,715 residents, and the smallest municipality by population is Aldora, with 0 residents  The largest municipality by land area is Augusta, a consolidated city-county, which spans 302 47 sq mi (783 4 km2), and Edge Hill and Santa Claus are tied for the smallest, at 0 18 sq mi (0 47 km2) each 

List of municipalities
Largest cities and towns in Georgia by population
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
  County seat†
  State capital and county seat‡

Notes
See also
Georgia statistical areas
List of counties in Georgia (U S  state)
Passage 4:
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (UK: , US: , French: [stʁasbuʁ] (listen); German: Straßburg [ˈʃtʁaːsbʊʁk] (listen); Bas Rhin Alsatian: Strossburi [ˈʃd̥ʁɔːsb̥uʁi] (listen), Haut Rhin Alsatian: Strossburig [ˈʃd̥ʁɔːsb̥uʁiɡ̊] (listen)) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the European Parliament  Located at the border with Germany in the historic region of Alsace, it is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin department 
In 2020, the city proper had 290,576 inhabitants and both the Eurométropole de Strasbourg (Greater Strasbourg) and the Arrondissement of Strasbourg had 511,552 inhabitants  Strasbourg's metropolitan area had a population of 853,110 in 2019, making it the eighth-largest metro area in France and home to 14% of the Grand Est region's inhabitants  The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau had a population of roughly 1,000,000 in 2022  Strasbourg is one of the de facto four main capitals of the European Union (alongside Brussels, Luxembourg and Frankfurt), as it is the seat of several European institutions, such as the European Parliament, the Eurocorps and the European Ombudsman of the European Union  An organization separate from the European Union, the Council of Europe (with its European Court of Human Rights, its European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines most commonly known in French as "Pharmacopée Européenne", and its European Audiovisual Observatory) is also located in the city 
Together with Basel (Bank for International Settlements), Geneva (United Nations), The Hague (International Court of Justice) and New York City (United Nations world headquarters), Strasbourg is among the few cities in the world that is not a state capital that hosts international organisations of the first order  The city is the seat of many non-European international institutions such as the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine and the International Institute of Human Rights  It is the second city in France in terms of international congress and symposia, after Paris  Strasbourg's historic city centre, the Grande Île (Grand Island), was classified a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988, with the newer "Neustadt" being added to the site in 2017  Strasbourg is immersed in Franco-German culture and although violently disputed throughout history, has been a cultural bridge between France and Germany for centuries, especially through the University of Strasbourg, currently the second-largest in France, and the coexistence of Catholic and Protestant culture  It is also home to the largest Islamic place of worship in France, the Strasbourg Grand Mosque Economically, Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as a hub of road, rail, and river transportation  The port of Strasbourg is the second-largest on the Rhine after Duisburg in Germany, and the second-largest river port in France after Paris 

Etymology and names
Until the fifth century CE, the city was known as Argantorati (in the nominative, Argantorate in the locative), a Celtic Gaulish name Latinised first as Argentorate (with Gaulish locative ending, as appearing on the first Roman milestones in the first century CE) and then as Argentoratum (with regular Latin nominative ending, in later Latin texts)  That Gaulish name is a compound of -rati, the Gaulish word for fortified enclosures, cognate to the Old Irish ráth (see ringfort) and arganto(n)- (cognate to Latin argentum, which gave modern French argent), the Gaulish word for silver, but also any precious metal, particularly gold, suggesting either a fortified enclosure located by a river gold mining site, or hoarding gold mined in the nearby rivers After the fifth century CE the city became known by a completely different name, later Gallicized as Strasbourg (Lower Alsatian: Strossburi; German: Straßburg)  That name is of Germanic origin and means 'town (at the crossing) of roads'  The modern Stras- is cognate with the German Straße and English street, both derived from Latin strata ("paved road"), while -bourg is cognate with the German Burg and English borough, both derived from Proto-Germanic *burgz ("hill fort, fortress") 
Gregory of Tours was the first to mention the name change: in the tenth book of his History of the Franks written shortly after 590 he said that Egidius, Bishop of Reims, accused of plotting against King Childebert II of Austrasia in favor of his uncle King Chilperic I of Neustria, was tried by a synod of Austrasian bishops in Metz in November 590, found guilty and removed from the priesthood, then taken "ad Argentoratensem urbem, quam nunc Strateburgum vocant" ("to the city of Argentoratum, which they now call Strateburgus"), where he was exiled 

Geography
Location
Strasbourg is situated at the eastern border of France with Germany  This border is formed by the Rhine, which also forms the eastern border of the modern city, facing across the river to the German town Kehl  The historic core of Strasbourg, however, lies on the Grande Île in the river Ill, which here flows parallel to, and roughly 4 kilometres (2 5 mi) from, the Rhine  The natural courses of the two rivers eventually join some distance downstream of Strasbourg, although several artificial waterways now connect them within the city 
The city lies in the Upper Rhine Plain, at between 132 metres (433 ft) and 151 metres (495 ft) above sea level, with the upland areas of the Vosges Mountains some 20 km (12 mi) to the west and the Black Forest 25 km (16 mi) to the east  This section of the Rhine valley is a major axis of north–south travel, with river traffic on the Rhine itself, and major roads and railways paralleling it on both banks 
The city is some 397 kilometres (247 mi) east of Paris  The mouth of the Rhine lies approximately 450 kilometres (280 mi) to the north, or 650 kilometres (400 mi) as the river flows, whilst the head of navigation in Basel is some 100 kilometres (62 mi) to the south, or 150 kilometres (93 mi) by river 

Climate
In spite of its position far inland, Strasbourg has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), though with less maritime influence than the milder climates of Western and Southern France  The city has warm, relatively sunny summers and cool, overcast winters  Precipitation is elevated from mid-spring to the end of summer, but remains largely constant throughout the year, totaling 631 4 mm (24 9 in) annually  On average, snow falls 30 days per year The third highest temperature ever recorded was 38 5 °C (101 3 °F) in August 2003, during the 2003 European heat wave  This record was broken, on June 30, 2019, when it reached 38 8 °C (101 8 °F)  and then on July 25, 2019, when it reached 38 9 °C (102 0 °F)  The lowest temperature ever recorded was −23 4 °C (−10 1 °F) in December 1938 Strasbourg's location in the Rhine valley, sheltered from strong winds by the Vosges and Black Forest mountains, results in poor natural ventilation, making Strasbourg one of the most atmospherically polluted cities of France  Nonetheless, the progressive disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city have reduced air pollution in recent years 

History
The Roman camp of Argentoratum was first mentioned in 12 BC; the city of Strasbourg which grew from it celebrated its 2,000th anniversary in 1988  The fertile area in the Upper Rhine Plain between the rivers Ill and Rhine had already been populated since the Middle Paleolithic Between 362 and 1262, Strasbourg was governed by the bishops of Strasbourg; their rule was reinforced in 873 and then more in 982  In 1262, the citizens violently rebelled against the bishop's rule (Battle of Hausbergen) and Strasbourg became a free imperial city  It became a French city in 1681, after the conquest of Alsace by the armies of Louis XIV  In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War, the city became German again, until 1918 (end of World War I), when it reverted to France  After the defeat of France in 1940 (World War II), Strasbourg came under German control again through formal annexation into the Gau Baden-Elsaß under the Nazi Gauleiter Robert Wagner; since the end of 1944, it has again been a French city  In 2016, Strasbourg was promoted from capital of Alsace to capital of Grand Est 
Strasbourg played an important part in the Protestant Reformation, with personalities such as John Calvin, Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Capito, Matthew and Katharina Zell, but also in other aspects of Christianity such as German mysticism, with Johannes Tauler, Pietism, with Philipp Spener, and Reverence for Life, with Albert Schweitzer  Delegates from the city took part in the Protestation at Speyer  It was also one of the first centres of the printing industry with pioneers such as Johannes Gutenberg, Johannes Mentelin, and Heinrich Eggestein  Among the darkest periods in the city's long history were the years 1349 (Strasbourg massacre), 1518 (Dancing plague), 1793 (Reign of Terror), 1870 (Siege of Strasbourg) and the years 1940–1944 with the Nazi occupation (atrocities such as the Jewish skull collection) and the British and American bombing raids  Some other notable dates were the years 357 (Battle of Argentoratum), 842 (Oaths of Strasbourg), 1538 (establishment of the university), 1605 (world's first newspaper printed by Johann Carolus), 1792 (La Marseillaise), and 1889 (pancreatic origin of diabetes discovered by Minkowski and Von Mering) 
Strasbourg has been the seat of European institutions since 1949: first of the International Commission on Civil Status and of the Council of Europe, later of the European Parliament, of the European Science Foundation, of Eurocorps, and others as well 

Districts
Strasbourg is divided into the following districts:
Bourse, Esplanade, Krutenau
Centre Ville (Downtown Strasbourg)
Gare, Tribunal (Central Station, Court)
Conseil des XV, Orangerie
Cronenbourg
Hautepierre, Poteries
Koenigshoffen,
Montagne-Verte (Green Hill)
Elsau
Meinau
Neudorf-Musau
Neuhof 1 (including Ganzau)
Neuhof 2
Robertsau
Port du Rhin (Rhin's Harbor)

Main sights
Architecture
The city is chiefly known for its sandstone Gothic Cathedral with its famous astronomical clock, and for its medieval cityscape of Rhineland black and white timber-framed buildings, particularly in the Petite France district or Gerberviertel ("tanners' district") alongside the Ill and in the streets and squares surrounding the cathedral, where the renowned Maison Kammerzell stands out 
Notable medieval streets include Rue Mercière, Rue des Dentelles, Rue du Bain aux Plantes, Rue des Juifs, Rue des Frères, Rue des Tonneliers, Rue du Maroquin, Rue des Charpentiers, Rue des Serruriers, Grand' Rue, Quai des Bateliers, Quai Saint-Nicolas and Quai Saint-Thomas 
Notable medieval squares include Place de la Cathédrale, Place du Marché Gayot, Place Saint-Étienne, Place du Marché aux Cochons de Lait and Place Benjamin Zix 

In addition to the cathedral, Strasbourg houses several other medieval churches that have survived the many wars and destructions that have plagued the city: the Romanesque Église Saint-Étienne, partly destroyed in 1944 by Allied bombing raids; the part-Romanesque, part-Gothic, very large Église Saint-Thomas with its Silbermann organ on which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Albert Schweitzer played; the Gothic Église protestante Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune with its crypt dating back to the seventh century and its cloister partly from the eleventh century; the Gothic Église Saint-Guillaume with its fine early-Renaissance stained glass and furniture; the Gothic Église Saint-Jean; the part-Gothic, part-Art Nouveau Église Sainte-Madeleine etc  The Neo-Gothic church Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux Catholique (there is also an adjacent church Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux Protestant) serves as a shrine for several 15th-century wood-worked and painted altars coming from other, now destroyed churches and installed there for public display; especially the Passion of Christ  Among the numerous secular medieval buildings, the monumental Ancienne Douane (old custom-house) stands out 
The German Renaissance has bequeathed the city some noteworthy buildings (especially the current Chambre de commerce et d'industrie, former town hall, on Place Gutenberg), as did the French Baroque and Classicism with several hôtels particuliers (i e  palaces), among which the Palais Rohan (completed 1742, used for university purposes from 1872 to 1895, now housing three museums) is the most spectacular  Other buildings of its kind are the "Hôtel de Hanau" (1736, now the city hall); the Hôtel de Klinglin (1736, now residence of the préfet); the Hôtel des Deux-Ponts (1755, now residence of the military governor); the Hôtel d'Andlau-Klinglin (1725, now seat of the administration of the Port autonome de Strasbourg) etc  The largest baroque building of Strasbourg though is the 150-metre-long (490 ft) 1720s main building of the Hôpital civil 
As for French Neo-classicism, it is the Opera House on Place Broglie that most prestigiously represents this style 
Strasbourg also offers high-class eclecticist buildings in its very extended German district, the Neustadt, being the main memory of Wilhelmian architecture since most of the major cities in Germany proper suffered intensive damage during World War II  Streets, boulevards and avenues are homogeneous, surprisingly high (up to seven stories) and broad examples of German urban lay-out and of this architectural style that summons and mixes up five centuries of European architecture as well as Neo-Egyptian, Neo-Greek and Neo-Babylonian styles  The former imperial palace Palais du Rhin, the most political and thus heavily criticized of all German Strasbourg buildings epitomizes the grand scale and stylistic sturdiness of this period  But the two most handsome and ornate buildings of these times are the École internationale des Pontonniers (the former Höhere Mädchenschule, with its towers, turrets and multiple round and square angles and the Haute école des arts du Rhin with its lavishly ornate façade of painted bricks, woodwork and majolica 

Notable streets of the German district include: Avenue de la Forêt Noire, Avenue des Vosges, Avenue d'Alsace, Avenue de la Marseillaise, Avenue de la Liberté, Boulevard de la Victoire, Rue Sellénick, Rue du Général de Castelnau, Rue du Maréchal Foch, and Rue du Maréchal Joffre  Notable squares of the German district include Place de la République, Place de l'Université, Place Brant, and Place Arnold 
Impressive examples of Prussian military architecture of the 1880s can be found along the newly reopened Rue du Rempart, displaying large-scale fortifications among which the aptly named Kriegstor (war gate) 
As for modern and contemporary architecture, Strasbourg possesses some fine Art Nouveau buildings (such as the huge Palais des Fêtes and houses and villas like Villa Schutzenberger and Hôtel Brion), good examples of post-World War II functional architecture (the Cité Rotterdam, for which Le Corbusier did not succeed in the architectural contest) and, in the very extended Quartier Européen, some spectacular administrative buildings of sometimes utterly large size, among which the European Court of Human Rights building by Richard Rogers is arguably the finest  Other noticeable contemporary buildings are the new Music school Cité de la Musique et de la Danse, the Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain and the Hôtel du Département facing it, as well as, in the outskirts, the tramway-station Hoenheim-Nord designed by Zaha Hadid 

The city has many bridges, including the medieval and four-towered Ponts Couverts that, despite their name, are no longer covered  Next to the Ponts Couverts is the Barrage Vauban, a part of Vauban's 17th-century fortifications, that does include a covered bridge  Other bridges are the ornate 19th-century Pont de la Fonderie (1893, stone) and Pont d'Auvergne (1892, iron), as well as architect Marc Mimram's futuristic Passerelle over the Rhine, opened in 2004 
The largest square at the centre of the city of Strasbourg is the Place Kléber  Located in the heart of the city's commercial area, it was named after general Jean-Baptiste Kléber, born in Strasbourg in 1753 and assassinated in 1800 in Cairo  In the square is a statue of Kléber, under which is a vault containing his remains  On the north side of the square is the Aubette (Orderly Room), built by Jacques François Blondel, architect of the king, in 1765–1772 

Parks
Strasbourg features a number of prominent parks, of which several are of cultural and historical interest: the Parc de l'Orangerie, laid out as a French garden by André le Nôtre and remodeled as an English garden on behalf of Joséphine de Beauharnais, now displaying noteworthy French gardens, a neo-classical castle and a small zoo; the Parc de la Citadelle, built around impressive remains of the 17th-century fortress erected close to the Rhine by Vauban; the Parc de Pourtalès, laid out in English style around a baroque castle (heavily restored in the 19th century) that now houses a small three-star hotel, and featuring an open-air museum of international contemporary sculpture 
The Jardin botanique de l'Université de Strasbourg (botanical garden) was created under the German administration next to the Observatory of Strasbourg, built in 1881, and still owns some greenhouses of those times  The Parc des Contades, although the oldest park of the city, was completely remodeled after World War II  The futuristic Parc des Poteries is an example of European park-conception in the late 1990s  The Jardin des deux Rives, spread over Strasbourg and Kehl on both sides of the Rhine opened in 2004 and is the most extended (60-hectare) park of the agglomeration  The most recent park is Parc du Heyritz (8,7 ha), opened in 2014 along a canal facing the hôpital civil 

Museums
As of 2020, the city of Strasbourg has eleven municipal museums (including Aubette 1928), eleven university museums, and at least two privately owned museums (Musée vodou and Musée du barreau de Strasbourg)  Five communes in the metropolitan area also have museums (see below), three of them dedicated to military history 

Overview
The collections in Strasbourg are distributed over a wide range of museums, according to a system that takes into account not only the types and geographical provenances of the items, but also the epochs  This concerns in particular the following domains:

Old Master paintings from the Germanic Rhenish territories and until 1681 are displayed in the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame (MOND); old master paintings from all the rest of Europe (including the Dutch Rhenish territories) and until 1871, as well as old master paintings from the Germanic Rhenish territories between 1681 and 1871, are displayed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts; paintings since 1871 are displayed in the Musée d'art moderne et contemporain (MAMCS) 
Decorative arts until 1681 are on display in the MOND, decorative arts from the years 1681 until 1871 are on display in the Musée des arts décoratifs, decorative arts after 1871 are on display at the MAMCS, with items from each epoch also shown in the Musée historique 
Prints and drawings until 1871 are displayed in the Cabinet des estampes et dessins, save for the original plans of Strasbourg Cathedral, displayed in the MOND  Prints and drawings after 1871 are displayed in the MAMCS, and in the Musée Tomi Ungerer/Centre international de l'illustration (the combined number of prints and drawings amounts to well over 200,000) 
Artefacts from Ancient Egypt are on display in two entirely different collections, one in the Musée archéologique and the other belonging to the Instituts d'Égyptologie et de Papyrologie of the University of Strasbourg 

Fine art museums
The Musée des Beaux-Arts owns paintings by Hans Memling, Francisco de Goya, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, Giotto di Bondone, Sandro Botticelli, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, El Greco, Correggio, Cima da Conegliano and Piero di Cosimo, among others 
The Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame (located in a part-Gothic, part-Renaissance building next to the cathedral) houses a large and renowned collection of medieval and Renaissance upper-Rhenish art, among which original sculptures, plans and stained glass from the cathedral and paintings by Hans Baldung and Sebastian Stoskopff 
The Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain is among the largest museums of its kind in France 
The Musée des Arts décoratifs, located in the sumptuous former residence of the cardinals of Rohan, the Palais Rohan displays a reputable collection of 18th century furniture and china 
The Cabinet des estampes et des dessins displays five centuries of engravings and drawings, but also woodcuts and lithographies 
The Musée Tomi Ungerer/Centre international de l'illustration, located in a large former villa next to the Theatre, displays original works by Ungerer and other artists (Saul Steinberg, Ronald Searle     ) as well as Ungerer's large collection of ancient toys 

Other museums
The Musée archéologique presents a large display of regional findings from the first ages of man to the sixth century, focusing on the Roman and Celtic period  It also includes a collection of works from Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, assembled and bequeathed by Gustave Schlumberger 
The Musée alsacien is dedicated to traditional Alsatian daily life 
Le Vaisseau ("The vessel") is a science and technology centre, especially designed for children 
The Musée historique (historical museum) is dedicated to the tumultuous history of the city and displays many artifacts of the times, including the Grüselhorn, the horn that was blown at 10 every evening during medieval times to order the Jews out of the city 
The Musée vodou (Voodoo museum) opened its doors on 28 November 2013  Displaying a private collection of artefacts from Haiti, it is located in a former water tower (château d'eau) built in 1883 and classified as a Monument historique 
The Musée du barreau de Strasbourg (The Strasbourg bar association museum) is a museum dedicated to the work and the history of lawyers in the city 

University museums
The Université de Strasbourg is in charge of a number of permanent public displays of its collections of scientific artefacts and products of all kinds of exploration and research 
The Musée zoologique is one of the oldest in France and is especially famous for its collection of birds  The museum is co-administrated by the municipality 
The Gypsothèque (also known as Musée des moulages or Musée Adolf Michaelis) is France's second-largest cast collection and the largest university cast collection in France 
The Musée de Sismologie et Magnétisme terrestre displays antique instruments of measure 
The Musée Pasteur is a collection of medical curiosities 
The Musée de minéralogie is dedicated to minerals 
The Musée d'Égyptologie houses a collections of archaeological findings made in and brought from Egypt and Sudan  This collection is entirely separate from the Schlumberger collection of the Musée archéologique (see above) 
The Crypte aux étoiles ("star crypt") is situated in the vaulted basement below the Observatory of Strasbourg and displays old telescopes and other antique astronomical devices such as clocks and theodolites



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 spouse of the actor that plays vision in avengers age of ultron?

The following are given passages.
Context 2: Captain America had Black Widow's clone infiltrate Roxxon as an ex-S H I E L D  operative-turned-contractor named Angel to spy on Roxxon and keep an eye on Weapon H  As Angel, she accompanied Weapon H and his assigned team to Weirdworld up to the point where Morgan le Fay of Earth-15238 exposed her identity to Weapon H  After getting out of the wreckage of the Roxxon Research Outpost, Black Widow reveals to Blake that she was sent to get the Roxxon group out of Weirdworld  Dr  Carrie Espinoza and the Roxxon soldiers with her salvage a Weirdworld Adamantine Crystal filled with Morgan le Fay's mystic energies which Dr  Esponoza states to Black Widow and Blake that it can power all of New York for 10 years  As the group arrives near the Inaku village, they witness Weapon H fighting Korg as Black Widow is contacted by Sonia Sung from Roxxon's headquarters  Black Widow tries to help Sonia get through to Weapon H until Dario Agger arrives  Black Widow is among those that are evacuated through the portal 

Powers and abilities
Black Widow has been enhanced by biotechnology that makes her body resistant to aging and disease and she heals faster than the average human  The white blood cells in her body are also enhanced by these implants, making them efficient enough to fight off most microbes, foreign bodies and other threats to her body, keeping her healthy and immune to most, if not all, infections, diseases and physical disorders Romanova has a gifted intellect  She displays an uncanny affinity for psychological manipulation and can mask her real emotions perfectly  Like Steve Rogers, she possesses the ability to quickly process multiple information streams (such as threat assessment) and rapidly respond to changing tactical situations, as well as having extensive espionage training Black Widow is a world-class athlete, gymnast, acrobat, and aerialist, capable of numerous complex maneuvers and feats  She can coordinate her body with balance, flexibility, and dexterity easily, and is an accomplished ballerina  She has mastered several martial arts such as jiu jitsu, aikido, boxing, judo, karate, savate, ninjutsu, various styles of kung fu and kenpo, as well as the Russian martial art sambo  She also underwent training on how to masterfully use sidearms, marksman rifles and melee weapons such as batons and combat knives 
She is also a skilled hypnotist  She uses a combination of techniques such as direct eye contact, hypnotic speech patterns and a soothing voice to influence a subjects' mind, planting thoughts, ideas or post-hypnotic commands, or even affecting memories and personality traits 

Equipment
Black Widow uses a variety of equipment invented by Soviet scientists and technicians, with later improvements by S H I E L D  scientists and technicians  She usually wears distinctively shaped bracelets which fire the Widow's Bite electro-static energy blasts that can deliver charges up to 30,000 volts, as well as "Widow's Line" grappling hooks, tear gas pellets, and a new element introduced during her ongoing series during the "Kiss or Kill" arc called the "Widow's Kiss"—an aerosol instant knock-out gas she has modified  She wears a belt of metallic discs; some are disc-charges containing plastic explosives, while others have been shown to be compartments for housing other equipment  Her costume consists of synthetic stretch fabric equipped with micro-suction cups on fingers and feet, enabling her to adhere to walls and ceilings  In the 2006 "Homecoming" mini-series, she was seen using knives, unarmed combat, and various firearms, but she has since begun using her bracelets again  While in disguise as Yelena Belova, when infiltrating the then Osborn-sanctioned Thunderbolts during "Dark Reign", she used a specialized multi-lens goggle/head-carapace that demonstrated various technical abilities, such as enhancing vision and communication  Later, she has used a modified gun based on her Widow's Bite wrist cartridge during her adventures alongside the new Captain America 

Supporting characters
Reception
Critical response
Laura Bradley of Vanity Fair included Black Widow in their "Stan Lee’s Most Iconic Characters" list  Jesse Schedeen of IGN included Black Widow in their "Marvel's Femme Fatales" list, writing, "Whatever happens, at least it can be said that Natasha's life still hasn't become boring after all these years," and ranked her 42nd in their "Top 50 Avengers" list, and 74th in their "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes" list  Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy ranked Black Widow 1st in their "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic" list  Matthew Perpetua and Daniel Kibblesmith of BuzzFeed ranked Black Widow 3rd in their "84 Avengers Members Ranked From Worst To Best" list  Madeline Catalano of MovieWeb ranked Black Widow 4th in their "Toughest Female Superheroes" list  Gavia Baker-Whitelaw of The Daily Dot ranked Black Widow 9th in their "Top 33 female Superheroes Of All Time" list  The A V  Club ranked Black Widow 10th in their "100 Best Marvel Characters" list Jo-Anne Rowney of Daily Mirror ranked Black Widow 11th in their "Best female superheroes of all time" list  Rob Bricken of Gizmodo ranked Black Widow 13th in their "Every Member Of The Avengers" list, saying, "She's been one of the most venerable Avengers " Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly ranked Black Widow 14th in their "Let's Rank Every Avenger Ever" list  Sarah Prado of Game Rant ranked Black Widow 14th in their "Marvel: 14 Best Villains Turned Heroes" list  Comics Buyer's Guide ranked Black Widow 31st in their "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list  Lance Cartelli of Comicbook com ranked Black Widow 41st in their "50 Most Important Superheroes Ever" list  Lance Cartelli of GameSpot ranked Black Widow 46th in their "50 Most Important Superheroes" list  Wizard Magazine ranked Black Widow 176th in their "Top 200 Comic Book Characters" list Screen Rant included Black Widow in their "10 Best Villains Who Became Heroes In Marvel Comics" list, and in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Lady Liberators" list  CBR com ranked Black Widow 6th in their "Avengers' Greatest Leaders" list, 6th in their "10 Most Powerful Russians In Comics" list, and 32nd in their "35 Strongest Avengers" list 

Other versions
1602
In Marvel 1602, a world where superheroes have started to appear several hundred years early, Natasha is a freelance spy and "the most dangerous woman in Europe " Initially allied with Matthew Murdoch (Daredevil's 1602 counterpart), she later betrays him to Count Otto Von Doom, whom she shares a romantic relationship with  It is Natasha who later comes to Doom's rescue when he is horribly burned by Thor's lightning & the accompanying discharge of Blake's golden sphere Natasha is still working with Count von Doom during Marvel 1602: Fantastick Four where she is the captain of his flying ship  However, when she questions his plan to take the ship to the edge of the world, he pushes her over the side and appoints the Wizard captain 

1872
The Secret Wars War Zone of 1872 reimagines Natasha in the Wild West in the town of Timely  Natasha Barnes is a widow who was married to Deputy Bucky Barnes, who was killed by Mayor Fisk's men when he tried to stop a lynching  Fisk had her believe the Native Americans were responsible for his death until Sheriff Rogers told her the truth  After Sheriff Rogers was killed by Fisk and his men, Natasha teams up with Red Wolf and Doctor Bruce Banner to take Fisk down and destroy the dam separating the Cheyenne from their water 

Age of Ultron
In the Age of Ultron story, Black Widow is shown after Ultron's attack with disfiguring scars on the right side of her face from an unknown source, disarming a desperate and panicked man who attempts to threaten her for resources before meeting up with Moon Knight in one of Nick Fury's old bases 

The Avengers: United They Stand
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow appeared in the comic-book series based on the animated television series The Avengers: United They Stand 

Earth X
Natasha Romanova appeared in the Earth X miniseries much the same as her 616 counterpart  After Absorbing Man was broken to pieces by The Vision after killing The Avengers (Giant Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye), part of his body was given to her to guard in order to prevent anyone from putting Absorbing man back together   She was killed sometime before the start of Earth X  Later in the series, she is revealed in the Realm of the Dead and is recruited by Mar-Vell into his legion of the undead 

House of M
Natasha is seen as a member of the Soviet Super Soldiers  Natasha later appears a member of Shang-Chi's Red Dragons, and is mentioned as a member of S H I E L D 

Marvel Mangaverse
She appears in the New Dawn arc where The Executioner and she are hired by Mordo to kidnap Bruce Banner  They manage to succeed in doing so, with her escaping with Bruce while Tigra is dealing with The Executioner intent on keeping the reward for the job herself  However, during her escape, Bruce turns into The Hulk and destroys the submarine they were in, presumably killing her 

Marvel Zombies
Black Widow is among the Avengers who are infected by the Sentry in Marvel Zombies vs  the Army of Darkness  She is seen consuming a Yorkshire Terrier puppy  Later, in the original Marvel Zombies series, she is among the zombies who attack the Silver Surfer 

Ultimate Marvel
Under the Ultimate Marvel imprint Natasha Romanova is a member of the Ultimates, this universe's analogue of the Avengers  She debuted in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #14 (June 2002) in a story written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Terry Moore, before becoming one of the major characters in writer Mark Millar and penciller Bryan Hitch's The Ultimates, debuting there in #7 (Sept  2002) Romanova is a former KGB spy and assassin, code-named the Black Widow, known for killing her ex-husbands, notably Alexi Shostakov  She was originally part of the Ultimates' covert operations ("black ops") team, but with the emergence of the Chitauri threat was subsequently moved to public status after a publicly acceptable background was written for her  She has genetic or cybernetic enhancements making her far better in combat than the average human  After accepting a marriage proposal from Tony Stark, she receives a black suit of Iron Man armor as an engagement present, along with a set of nanites to control the armor Romanova is later revealed as a traitor—claiming that she betrayed the Ultimates because she feels that America has turned her country into a collection of drug-runners and prostitutes—responsible for killing Hawkeye's wife and children, revealing Bruce Banner's connection to the Hulk to the public, helping to frame Captain America as a traitor, and collaborating with the Liberators in their invasion of the United States  After she murders Edwin Jarvis and holds Stark hostage in an attempt to extort his fortune, Stark activates the nanites in her bloodstream, freezing her body in place, before knocking her unconscious with a wine bottle  She appears later in an emergency clinic, having cut open her wrists to bleed out the disabling nanites  Hawkeye kills her in revenge for her part in the murder of his family By The Ultimates 3 #1 a sex tape between Natasha and Stark has been leaked to the public  According to Janet Pym, the tape is of unknown origin and seems to have been professionally done with "close ups"  Stark is shown to be in a state of depression over Natasha's betrayal and subsequent death  It is later revealed that one of the Ultrons calling himself Yellowjacket had leaked the tape  During the Brotherhood's attack on the Stark Mansion, Mystique shapeshifts into Natasha to get close to Tony in an attempt to kill him but is knocked unconscious by Wasp 

What If?
In What If? Age of Ultron #3, where Thor was killed, Natasha becomes the new wielder of Mjolnir to hold off an assault by the World-Serpent in Thor's absence 

In other media
Television
Black Widow was to appear in a proposed live-action 1975 series, portrayed by series creator Angie Bowie  However, the series was not picked up by a studio 
Black Widow appears in the "Iron Man" segment of The Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Margaret Griffin 
Black Widow appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Deadly is the Black Widow's Bite!," voiced by Lena Headey 
Black Widow appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Vanessa Marshall  This version is an agent of S H I E L D  and member of Nick Fury's Secret Warriors 
A young Black Widow appears in Iron Man: Armored Adventures, voiced by Ashleigh Ball  This version is initially a freelancer before eventually joining S H I E L D 
Black Widow appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by Laura Bailey  This version is a member of the Avengers 
Black Widow appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload, voiced by again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced again by Laura Bailey  This version is a member of the Avengers 
Black Widow appears in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers 
Black Widow appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears in the Spider-Man episode "Spider-Island" Part 2, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes - Black Panther: Trouble in Wakanda, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears in Marvel Future Avengers, voiced by Mayumi Asano in Japanese and Laura Bailey in English 

Film
In 2004, Lionsgate Entertainment announced that a Black Widow motion picture by screenwriter-director David Hayter and starring Natasha Romanoff was in the script stage  Lionsgate subsequently dropped the project 
The Ultimate Marvel incarnation of Black Widow appears in Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2, voiced by Olivia d'Abo 
Black Widow makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, in which she joined the Avengers in stopping Ultron  Though she was killed in battle, she is survived by her and Captain America's son James Rogers 
Black Widow appears in Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, voiced by Clare Grant 
Black Widow appears in Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, voiced by Jennifer Carpenter 

Marvel Cinematic Universe
Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow appears in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed by Scarlett Johansson  This version is a former assassin for the Red Room before joining S H I E L D  and becoming an Avenger  She first appears in the live-action film Iron Man 2 before making subsequent appearances in the live-action films The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and a self-titled film (2021)  Additionally, alternate timeline versions of Romanoff appear in the Disney+ animated series What If   ?, voiced by Lake Bell 

Video games
Black Widow appears in The Punisher, voiced by Saffron Henderson 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in PlayStation Portable (PSP) and the PC versions of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, voiced by Nika Futterman 
Black Widow appears in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, voiced by Salli Saffioti 
Black Widow appears as a boss in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, voiced again by Nika Futterman 
Black Widow, based on the MCU incarnation, appears in the Iron Man 2 tie-in game, voiced by Catherine Campion 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet, voiced by Grey DeLisle 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, voiced by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Strike Force 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance 
Black Widow appears as a card in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3's Heroes vs Heralds mode
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Contest of Champions 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth 
Black Widow appears in LittleBigPlanet via the "Marvel Costume Kit 5" DLC 
Black Widow appears in Zen Pinball 2 via the "Women of Power" DLC pack's A-Force table 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Julianne Buescher 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers Alliance Tactics 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Disney Infinity 2 0, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Disney Infinity 3 0, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Five variants of Black Widow appear in Marvel Puzzle Quest 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel: Future Fight 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel's Avengers, voiced by Scarlett Johansson 
A teenage version of Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers Academy, voiced by Alison Brie 
Black Widow appears as a downloadable playable character in Marvel vs  Capcom: Infinite, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, voiced by Maria Teresa Creasey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Powers United VR, voiced again  by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel's Avengers, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Future Revolution, voiced again by Laura Bailey  Additionally, several alternate universe incarnations of Black Widow appear as NPCs, such as one who went undercover in the Hydra Empire and one who joined a secret rebellion against the Maestro on Sakaar 
Black Widow's mainstream and MCU incarnations, with the latter based on her appearances in Avengers: Endgame and her self-titled film, appear as unlockable outfits in Fortnite Battle Royale 
Black Widow appears in Marvel Snap 

Novels
Black Widow appears in the novels Black Widow: Forever Red (2015) and Black Widow: Red Vengeance (2016), by Margaret Stohl 
Black Widow appears in the prose novel adaptation of The Death of Captain America 
Black Widow appears in the prose novel adaptation of Civil War 
The MCU incarnation of Black Widow appears in Avengers: Everybody Wants To Rule The World 

Miscellaneous
Black Widow appears in the Spider-Woman motion comic, voiced by JoEllen Anklam 
Black Widow appears in Marvel Universe: LIVE!, portrayed by Louise Forsley  This version is a member of the Avengers 
Black Widow appears in the Black Widow: Bad Blood audio novel 

Collected editions
See also
List of Russian superheroes
List of Marvel Comics superhero debuts
Passage 4:
Jeremy Staat
Jeremy Ray Staat (born October 10, 1976) is a former American football defensive lineman and offensive lineman who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1998 through 2000 and the St  Louis Rams for two games in 2003  He also played for the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League (AFL)  After his football career, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq  On September 17, 2019, Staat, a registered Republican, announced his candidacy for Congress in California's 8th District 

Football career
Staat was a two-sport star in Bakersfield High School in Bakersfield, California, where he was All-Area selection  He then attended Bakersfield College, a junior college, where he played offensive and defensive line for two years while also excelling in track and field  After initially expressing interest in transferring to the University of Nebraska as a walk on, he was offered a full ride scholarship to Arizona State University as a defensive lineman At ASU, Staat became friends with free safety Pat Tillman, and was a roommate with Tillman's brother for a semester  While playing for the Sun Devils, he won the Morris Trophy as the best defensive lineman in the Pac-10 Conference in 1997 and was named a FWAA First-team All-American [1]In the 1998 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Staat with the 41st overall pick  The Steelers had debated about whether to take Staat or Alan Faneca with their first round pick but ultimately was able to take both  He played three seasons in Pittsburgh, starting in eleven games in the 1999 season  He would sign with the Seattle Seahawks in 2001 but would be cut from the team following the preseason  Cut by a football team for the first time in his life, Staat began seriously considering joining the military following the September 11, 2001 attacks  However, Tillman, who had quit a lucrative career with the Arizona Cardinals to become a U S  Army Ranger after the attacks, talked Staat into staying in the league for at least three more games to earn his NFL retirement benefits [2]In 2002, he signed with the Oakland Raiders and was moved to offensive guard by Bill Callahan  He would be cut during the preseason, however, after Jon Gruden was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers  Despite speculation that he would reunite with Jake Plummer on the Arizona Cardinals, following an injury to defensive lineman Tom Burke, he would ultimately remain unsigned  Staat eventually earned his pension during a stint with the St  Louis Rams during the 2003 season after transitioning back to the defensive line  The following season, he joined the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League  During the season, he learned Tillman had been killed in action in Afghanistan, in what was later revealed to be a "friendly fire" incident  The loss of his friend further reduced his interest in football  He would throw his helmet during the middle of practice and storm off the field, leaving the Avengers and professional football forever 

Post-football career
Immediately after football, one of Staat's friends got him a job working at a Walgreens drug store  Staat, like Tillman's family, was dismayed by the United States Army's handling of the story surrounding Tillman's death; himself noting that "The fog around his death was thickened by lies " However, after spending time deciding on his own future, he opted to follow his deceased friend and teammate's example and join the military; but instead of the Army, he joined the United States Marine Corps [3]Staat joined the Marine Corps in 2006 [4] In March 2007, Lance Corporal Staat deployed with 1st Battalion 3rd Marines for a seven-month mission in Iraq [5] He was an infantry machine gunner and drove around in seven-ton armored trucks used to transport soldiers Staat's Iraq tour was fairly quiet, his unit suffered two injuries and no one was killed in action  His opinions changed: "It wasn't a blood fest, like some people make it out to be  It was pretty controlled  We had a pretty good sense of security  My eyes were opened up  They [the Iraqis] were just people  I expected to see guys running around with AK-47s, shouting about Allah and shooting into the sky " After returning from his tour, he started to have back, hip and heart problems  He was put on light duty and began the process of seeking a medical discharge Following his military career, Staat opted to return and finish his degree  He graduated from Arizona State University in 2009 with a master's degree, and returned to his hometown of Bakersfield, where he teaches welding at Bakersfield College In 2019, Staat announced that he would be running for Congress in the 2020 Election on the Republican Party ticket for California's 8th congressional district  He lost in the March primary to Jay Obernolte 
Passage 5:
Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany (born 27 May 1971) is a British actor  He is best known for his roles as J A R V I S  and Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and for starring in the Disney+ miniseries WandaVision (2021), for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie 
Bettany first gained popularity for appearing in the films Gangster No  1 (2000), A Knight's Tale (2001) and A Beautiful Mind (2001)  He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for playing Stephen Maturin in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)  Other films in which Bettany has appeared include Dogville (2003), Wimbledon (2004), The Da Vinci Code (2006), The Tourist (2010), Margin Call (2011), Legend (2015) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)  He made his directorial debut with the film Shelter (2014), which he also wrote and co-produced 
In television and theatre, Bettany has portrayed Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll in the series A Very British Scandal and Andy Warhol in the play The Collaboration in the West End, which is set to transfer to Broadway 

Early life
Bettany was born on 27 May 1971 in London, to Anne (née Kettle), a stage singer, theatre teacher, and stage manager, and Thane Bettany, a dancer, actor, drama teacher and godfather to Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh  Bettany was raised Roman Catholic, although his church attendance drifted after his confirmation  Bettany then experimented with other Christian denominations among which were Methodist and Church of England congregations with his father  Bettany is now an atheist  While his father taught at the all-girls boarding school Queenswood School, near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, the family lived on the school grounds When Bettany was 16, his brother Matthew died at age 8 after falling onto concrete from a tennis pavilion roof at Queenswood  Soon after, Bettany dropped out of school, left home, and became a street performer in London  He lived in a small flat and earned money by playing his guitar in the streets as a busker  His parents later divorced  After two years, he found a new job in a home for the elderly  After working there for a year, Bettany enrolled at the Drama Centre London  He had dyslexia prior to it being recognised as a learning difficulty 

Career
In 1990, at the age of 19, Bettany began a three-year course at the Drama Centre London in Chalk Farm  He made his stage debut in Stephen Daldry's acclaimed West End revival of An Inspector Calls at the Aldwych Theatre, playing the part of Eric Birling  He also appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar (for which he received a Charleson Award nomination)  When Bettany was 21, he appeared in a BBC production of Oliver Twist, playing Bill Sikes 
After appearing in the finale of Sean Bean's series Sharpe as William II of the Netherlands at the Battle of Waterloo, he made his film debut with a small part in Bent, a Holocaust drama which also featured Clive Owen, Jude Law, and Ian McKellen  He continued doing work in stage and television: these included Joe Penhall's Love and Understanding, which played at London's Bush Theatre and then ran in Connecticut  He had roles in the television productions Killer Net and Coming Home, during which he met and dated Emily Mortimer  His last stage work was in One More Wasted Year and Stranger's House at the Royal Court Theatre  He filmed several more movies, including his first leading role in Gangster No  1  The British Independent Film Awards nominated him for Best Actor, and the London Film Critics' Circle nominated him for British Newcomer of the Year Back in Hollywood, writer/director Brian Helgeland (L A  Confidential) was planning a new film called The Sin Eater (also known as The Order)  He was impressed by Bettany's audition tape, though Helgeland eventually decided to film A Knight's Tale instead  The studio executives were not impressed, but Helgeland was determined to cast him, even writing the part of Chaucer for him  A Knight's Tale would be Bettany's first big Hollywood production  He received critical acclaim for A Knight's Tale, including winning the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Supporting Actor  After the movie wrapped, Helgeland, determined that Hollywood should recognize Bettany's talent, showed the audition tape to many of his peers, including Ron Howard, who promptly cast Bettany in A Beautiful Mind alongside Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly  After A Beautiful Mind, Bettany was offered the role of serial killer Francis Dolarhyde in Red Dragon, opposite Edward Norton and Anthony Hopkins  He turned down the role due to his commitment to a role in Lars von Trier's Dogville Bettany's next major project saw him starring again alongside A Beautiful Mind costar Russell Crowe in Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World  His portrayal of surgeon and naturalist Stephen Maturin brought him a BAFTA nomination, and he was named British Actor of the Year (London Film Critics' Circle), and Best Actor (Evening Standard) 
On 28 June 2004, Bettany and 13 other actors were included in the 2004 invitation to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences  Dogville and The Reckoning were released in limited cinemas in 2004  In September of that year, Bettany made his leading-man debut in Wimbledon, a romantic comedy with Kirsten Dunst  The film's cast would also introduce him to Jon Favreau, playing his manager, a relationship that would return when Favreau cast him as the voice of J A R V I S  in Iron Man  In mid-2005, Bettany filmed Firewall in Vancouver, Canada, a thriller also starring Harrison Ford and Virginia Madsen, which reunited him with Wimbledon director Richard Loncraine  He spent the autumn of 2005 filming The Da Vinci Code, based on Dan Brown's best-selling novel and starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou and Ian McKellen  In the film, he played an Opus Dei monk named Silas 
In 2007, Bettany went to London to star in There For Me, written by his friends Dan Fredenburgh and Doraly Rosen  In 2008, he appeared in the New Line Cinema family fantasy Inkheart, playing the part of a fire-eater named Dustfinger  In 2009, he appeared as Charles Darwin in Creation, starring opposite his own wife Jennifer Connelly  In 2010, Bettany appeared alongside Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in The Tourist and portrayed the archangel Michael in Legion, a film depicting divine vengeance upon humanity  He starred in the films Priest and Margin Call, both released in 2011 
Bettany reprised his voice role as J A R V I S  in 2010's Iron Man 2, 2012's The Avengers, 2013's Iron Man 3, and Disneyland's Innoventions attraction  In 2014, Bettany starred alongside Johnny Depp and fellow British actor Rebecca Hall in the feature film Transcendence  He was once again paired with Depp in Mortdecai, a 2015 motion picture also starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor  After voicing J A R V I S  for five years, Bettany made his first onscreen appearance in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron, playing Vision  He reprised the role in the sequels Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Bettany portrayed Ted Kaczynski in the Discovery Channel television show, Manhunt: Unabomber  Bettany replaced Michael K  Williams in Solo: A Star Wars Story, after Williams was removed from the final film, as he was unable to return to set during the film's reshoots  Bettany was cast in his place, with the character being reworked from a motion-capture alien to a human  On 20 January 2018, it was reported that Bettany was nearing a deal to play Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on the Netflix series The Crown, succeeding Matt Smith  Days later, on 25 January, it was reported by TVLine that Bettany was ultimately unable to sign on due to scheduling conflicts Bettany starred alongside Elizabeth Olsen in the Marvel television miniseries WandaVision, portraying a new version of his Marvel Cinematic Universe character, Vision, with Olsen portraying the titular Wanda  It premiered on Disney+ in January 2021, garnering praise from critics  Reviewing the series, Matt Purslow of IGN wrote Bettany "effortlessly takes to the comedic skits" and that he and Olsen "provide a fantastic amount of life, wit, and emotion"  For his performance, Bettany received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film Bettany starred in the 2021 miniseries A Very British Scandal  He played artist Andy Warhol in a production of the play The Collaboration by Anthony McCarten at the Young Vic in London from February to April 2022  He is slated to reprise the role in a film adaptation of the play  Bettany is attached to portray businessman Alexander Nix in a film about the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal as well as co-write and star in the dramedy film Harvest Moon Bettany will reprise his role as Vision in the television series Vision Quest 

Personal life
On 1 January 2003, Bettany married American actress Jennifer Connelly in Scotland; they met when they starred together in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind  They did not become a couple until some time after filming, as both were in other relationships at the time  As a teenager, he had developed a crush on her after seeing her in the 1986 film Labyrinth  The September 11 attacks motivated him to act on his feelings for her, and after two days of attempting to contact her, he proposed, despite the fact that they were not yet in a relationship  Soon after their marriage, they moved to Brooklyn Heights after living in Tribeca  The couple have two children together  Bettany is stepfather to Connelly's son from a previous relationship Bettany is close friends with actor Johnny Depp  Text messages between Bettany and Depp from 2013 were used as evidence in 2020 during Depp's defamation trial against The Sun and in 2022 as part of Depp's defamation trial against his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard 

Acting credits
Film
Television
Theatre
Awards and nominations
Notes
Passage 6:
The New Adventures of the Elusive Avengers
The New Adventures of the Elusive Avengers (Russian: Новые приключения Неуловимых, translit  Novye prikluchenya Neulovimykh) is a 1968 Soviet action film, a sequel of The Elusive Avengers, directed by Edmond Keosayan and made on Mosfilm  The film was followed by The Crown of the Russian Empire, or Once Again the Elusive Avengers released in 1971 

Plot
The film continues the story of the Elusive Avengers, a posse of young Red Partisans, including Valerka, a former schoolboy, Yashka, a devil-may-care gypsy, and two orphan siblings, Danka and his sister Ksanka  They join the Red Army and fight Baron Wrangel's White Guards  They intercept an airplane that was carrying a letter to the Baron  The letter reveals that the map of fortifications in Crimea is in possession of the White counter-intelligence officer, Colonel Kudasov  This map is vital for the Red Army assault, and the Avengers are sent on a secret mission to steal the map 
They enter Sevastopol on a fishing boat and disguise themselves  Danka assumes the guise of a shoe cleaner, and Valerka fashions himself as a young monarchist nobleman  Meanwhile, the Red agent they were sent to is arrested by Kudasov and killed when he tries to escape, leaving the Avengers on their own 
Ksanka meets Bubba Castorsky, a popular singer and dancer who helped the Avengers in the first film, and Bubba tells them about a White officer who probably knows the combination for Kudasov's safe  Valerka visits the cabaret often visited by this officer, captain Ovechkin, and befriends him  But Danka is arrested, because Ataman Burnash comes to the city and recognizes him  Yashka meets the local Gypsies and persuades them to help freeing Danka 
Then Captain Ovechkin recognizes Valerka for what he is, gloats at him and tells him the combination, intending to arrest him immediately, but Valerka detonates a pool ball filled with explosives and escapes  He dashes to the Counterintelligence Service headquarters, infiltrates it and steals the map  The headquarters is surrounded by soldiers, but Danka, Yashka and Ksanka distract the soldiers and let him escape with the map  The Avengers, along with Bubba, flee the city, but a White officer shoots Bubba when they are already escaping on a boat 

Cast
Mikhail Metyolkin – Valerka Meshcheryakov
Vasily Vasilyev – Yashka the Gypsy
Viktor Kosykh – Danka Shchus
Valentina Kurdyukova – Ksanka Shchus
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan – captain Pyotr Sergeyevich Ovechkin
Boris Sichkin – Buba Kastorsky, actor and singer
Arkady Tolbuzin – colonel Leopold Sergeyevich Kudasov
Vladimir Ivashov – lieutenant Perov, Kudasov's adjutant
Yefim Kopelyan – chieftain Ignat Burnash
Konstantin Sorokin – Mefody Kuzmich, carousel owner
Ivan Pereverzev – Smirnov, chief of staff of Red Cavalry Army
Nikolay Fedortsov – Andrei, underground fighter
Yevgeny Vesnik – drunk colonel
Sergey Filippov – Koshkin, apothecary, expert on explosions
Savely Kramarov – Ilyukha Verekhov, cross-eyed convoy, former bandit
Eduard Abalov – episode
Yan Frenkel – violinist (uncredited)

External links
The New Adventures of the Elusive Avengers at IMDb
Context 3: 

Museums in the suburbs
Musée Les Secrets du Chocolat (Chocolate museum) in Geispolsheim
Fort Frère in Oberhausbergen
Fort Rapp in Reichstett
Pixel Museum, a video game museum, in Schiltigheim
MM Park France, a military museum, in La Wantzenau

Demographics
The commune of Strasbourg proper had a population of 290,576 on 1 January 2020, the result of a constant moderate annual growth which is also reflected in the constant growth of the number of students at its university (e  g  from 42,000 students in 2010 to 52,000 students in 2019)  The metropolitan area of Strasbourg had a population of 853,110 inhabitants in 2019 (French side of the border only), while the transnational Eurodistrict had a population of 1,000,000 in 2022 
In the Middle Ages, Strasbourg (a Free imperial city since 1262), was an important town  According to a 1444 census, the population was circa 20,000; only one third less than Cologne, then a major European city 

Population growth
Population composition
Culture
Strasbourg is the seat of internationally renowned institutions of music and drama:

The Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, founded in 1855, one of the oldest symphonic orchestras in western Europe  Based since 1975 in the Palais de la musique et des congrès 
The Opéra national du Rhin
The Théâtre national de Strasbourg
The Percussions de Strasbourg
The Théâtre du Maillon
The "Laiterie"
Joshy's house - a venue for performance poetry and freestyle urban music 
Au ZénithOther theatres are the Théâtre jeune public, the TAPS Scala, the Kafteur    

Events
Musica, international festival of contemporary classical music (autumn)
Festival international de Strasbourg (founded in 1932), festival of classical music and jazz (summer)
Festival des Artefacts, festival of contemporary non-classical music
Les Nuits électroniques de l'Ososphère
Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival is an annual film festival devoted to science fiction, horror and fantasy  It was known as the Spectre Film Festival before 2008 
Strasbulles is the annual comic con, also known as the European Festival of Bande Dessinée
The Strasbourg International Film Festival is an annual film festival focusing on new and emerging independent filmmakers from around the world 
Christkindelsmärik, held from the end of November through December, is an annual Christmas market that dates back to 1570 

Education
Universities and tertiary education
Strasbourg, well known as centre of humanism, has a long history of excellence in higher-education, at the crossroads of French and German intellectual traditions  Although Strasbourg had been annexed by the Kingdom of France in 1683, it still remained connected to the German-speaking intellectual world throughout the 18th century, and the university attracted numerous students from the Holy Roman Empire, with Goethe, Metternich and Montgelas, who studied law in Strasbourg, among the most prominent  With 19 Nobel prizes in total, Strasbourg is the most eminent French university outside of Paris 
Up until January 2009, there were three universities in Strasbourg, with an approximate total of 48,500 students as of 2007 (another 4,500 students are being taught at one of the diverse post-graduate schools):
Strasbourg I – Louis Pasteur University
Strasbourg II – Marc Bloch University
Strasbourg III – Robert Schuman UniversityAs of 1 January 2009, those three universities have merged and now constitute the Université de Strasbourg 
Schools part of the Université de Strasbourg include:

Sciences Po Strasbourg (Institut d'études politiques de Strasbourg), the University of Strasbourg's political science & international studies center
The EMS (EM Strasbourg Business School), the University of Strasbourg's business school
The INSA (Institut national des sciences appliquées), the University of Strasbourg's engineering school
The ENA (École nationale d'administration)  ENA trains most of the nation's high-ranking civil servants  The relocation to Strasbourg was meant to give a European vocation to the school and to implement the French government's "décentralisation" plan 
The ISEG Group (Institut supérieur européen de gestion group)
The ECPM (École européenne de chimie, polymères et matériaux)
The EPITA (École pour l'informatique et les techniques avancées)
The EPITECH (École pour l'informatique et les nouvelles technologies)
The ITIRI (Institute de traducteurs, d'interpretes, et de relations Internationales)
The INET (Institut national des études territoriales)
The IIEF (Institut international d'études françaises)
Three IUTs (Instituts universitaires de technologie located in Schiltigheim, Illkirch, and Haguenau)
The ENGEES (École nationale du génie de l'eau et de l'environnement de Strasbourg)
The CUEJ (Centre universitaire d'enseignement du journalisme)
TÉLÉCOM Physique Strasbourg (École nationale supérieure de physique de Strasbourg), Institute of Technology, located in the South of Strasbourg (Illkirch-Graffenstaden)

Other Tertiary institutions
Two American colleges have a base in Strasbourg: University of Syracuse, NY, and Centre College, KT  There is also HEAR (Haute école des arts du Rhin) the celebrated art school, and the International Space University in the south of Strasbourg (Illkirch-Graffenstaden) 

Primary and secondary education
International schools include:
Multiple levels:

European School of Strasbourg (priority given to children whose parents are employed at the European institutions)For elementary education:
École Internationale Robert Schuman
International School at Lucie Berger
Russian Mission School in StrasbourgFor middle school/junior high school education:
Collège International de l'EsplanadeFor senior high school/sixth form college:
Lycée International des Pontonniers (FR)
Lycée International Jean Sturm

Libraries
The Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire (BNU) is, with its collection of more than 3,000,000 titles, the second-largest library in France after the Bibliothèque nationale de France  It was founded by the German administration after the complete destruction of the previous municipal library in 1871 and holds the unique status of being simultaneously a students' and a national library  The Strasbourg municipal library had been marked erroneously as "City Hall" in a French commercial map, which had been captured and used by the German artillery to lay their guns  A librarian from Munich later pointed out "   that the destruction of the precious collection was not the fault of a German artillery officer, who used the French map, but of the slovenly and inaccurate scholarship of a Frenchman "The municipal library Bibliothèque municipale de Strasbourg (BMS) administrates a network of ten medium-sized librairies in different areas of the town  A six stories high "Grande bibliothèque", the Médiathèque André Malraux, was inaugurated on 19 September 2008 and is considered the largest in Eastern France 

Incunabula
As one of the earliest centers of book-printing in Europe (see above: History), Strasbourg for a long time held a large number of incunabula — books printed before 1500 — in its library as one of its most precious heritages: no less than 7,000  After the total destruction of this institution in 1870, however, a new collection had to be reassembled from scratch  Today, Strasbourg's different public and institutional libraries again display a sizable total number of incunabula, distributed as follows: Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, ca  2,120, Médiathèque de la ville et de la communauté urbaine de Strasbourg, 349, Bibliothèque du Grand Séminaire, 238, Médiathèque protestante, 66, and Bibliothèque alsatique du Crédit Mutuel, 5 

Transport
Train services operate from the Gare de Strasbourg, the city's main station in the city centre, eastward to Offenburg and Karlsruhe in Germany, westward to Metz and Paris, and southward to Basel  Strasbourg's links with the rest of France have improved due to its recent connection to the TGV network, with the first phase of the TGV Est (Paris–Strasbourg) in 2007, the TGV Rhin-Rhône (Strasbourg-Lyon) in 2012, and the second phase of the TGV Est in July 2016 
Strasbourg also has its own airport, serving major domestic destinations as well as international destinations in Europe and northern Africa  The airport is linked to the Gare de Strasbourg by a frequent train service City transport in Strasbourg includes the futurist-looking Strasbourg tramway, which opened in 1994 and is operated by the regional transit company Compagnie des Transports Strasbourgeois (CTS), consisting of 6 lines with a total length of 55 8 km (34 7 mi)  The CTS also operates a comprehensive bus network throughout the city that is integrated with the trams  With more than 500 km (311 mi) of bicycle paths, biking in the city is convenient and the CTS operates a cheap bike-sharing scheme named Vélhop  The CTS, and its predecessors, also operated a previous generation of tram system between 1878 and 1960, complemented by trolleybus routes between 1939 and 1962 Being on the Ill and close to the Rhine, Strasbourg has always been an important centre of fluvial navigation, as is attested by archeological findings  In 1682 the Canal de la Bruche was added to the river navigations, initially to provide transport for sandstone from quarries in the Vosges for use in the fortification of the city  That canal has since closed, but the subsequent Canal du Rhône au Rhin, Canal de la Marne au Rhin and Grand Canal d'Alsace are still in use, as is the important activity of the Port autonome de Strasbourg  Water tourism inside the city proper attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists yearly 
The tram system that now criss-crosses the historic city centre complements walking and biking in it  The centre has been transformed into a pedestrian priority zone that enables and invites walking and biking by making these active modes of transport comfortable, safe and enjoyable  These attributes are accomplished by applying the principle of "filtered permeability" to the existing irregular network of streets  It means that the network adaptations favour active transport and, selectively, "filter out" the car by reducing the number of streets that run through the centre  While certain streets are discontinuous for cars, they connect to a network of pedestrian and bike paths which permeate the entire centre  In addition, these paths go through public squares and open spaces increasing the enjoyment of the trip  This logic of filtering a mode of transport is fully expressed in a comprehensive model for laying out neighbourhoods and districts – the fused grid 
At present the A35 autoroute, which parallels the Rhine between Karlsruhe and Basel, and the A4 autoroute, which links Paris with Strasbourg, penetrate close to the centre of the city  The Grand contournement ouest (GCO) project, programmed since 1999, planned to construct a 24-kilometre-long (15 mi) highway connection between the junctions of the A4 and the A35 autoroutes in the north and of the A35 and A352 autoroutes in the south  This routes well to the west of the city in order to divest a significant portion of motorized traffic from the unité urbaine  The GCO project was opposed by environmentalists, who created a ZAD (or Zone to Defend)  After much delay, the GCO was finally inaugurated on 11 December 2021 

Strasbourg public transport statistics
The average amount of time people spend commuting on public transport in Strasbourg on weekdays is 52 min  7% of travellers on public transport travel for more than 2 hours every day  The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transport is 9 min and 11% of passengers wait for more than 20 minutes on average every day  The average distance people usually travel in a single trip on public transport is 3 9 km (2 4 mi), whilst none travels for more than 12 km (7 5 mi) in a single direction 

European role
Institutions
Strasbourg is the seat of over twenty international institutions, most famously of the Council of Europe and of the European Parliament, of which it is the official seat  Strasbourg is considered the legislative and democratic capital of the European Union, while Brussels is considered the executive and administrative capital and Luxembourg the judiciary and financial capital Strasbourg is the seat of the following organisations, among others:

Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine (since 1920)
Council of Europe with all the bodies and organisations affiliated to this institution (since 1949)
European Parliament (since 1952)
European Ombudsman
Eurocorps headquarters,
Franco-German television channel Arte
European Science Foundation
International Institute of Human Rights
Human Frontier Science Program
International Commission on Civil Status
Assembly of European Regions
Centre for European Studies (French: Centre d'études européennes de Strasbourg)
Sakharov Prize

Eurodistrict
France and Germany have created a Eurodistrict straddling the Rhine, combining the Greater Strasbourg and the Ortenau district of Baden-Württemberg, with some common administration  It was established in 2005 and has been fully functional since 2010 

Sports
Sporting teams from Strasbourg are the Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (football), SIG Strasbourg (basketball) and the Étoile Noire (ice hockey)  The women's tennis Internationaux de Strasbourg is one of the most important French tournaments of its kind outside Roland-Garros  In 1922, Strasbourg was the venue for the XVI Grand Prix de l'A C F  which saw Fiat battle Bugatti, Ballot, Rolland Pilain, and Britain's Aston Martin and Sunbeam 
In 2006 Strasbourg hosted the Grand Depart of the Tour de France 
The city is home to SN Strasbourg, a First division water polo team that plays its home games at the Piscine de la Kibitzenau 

Honours
Honours associated with the city of Strasbourg:

The Medal of Honor Strasbourg
Sakharov Prize seated in Strasbourg
City of Strasbourg Silver (gilt) Medal, a former medal with City Coat of Arms and Ten Arms of the Cities of the Dekapolis

Notable people
In chronological order, notable people born in Strasbourg include: Eric of Friuli, Johannes Tauler, Sebastian Brant, Jean Baptiste Kléber, Louis Ramond de Carbonnières, François Christophe Kellermann, Marie Tussaud, Ludwig I of Bavaria, Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, Louis-Frédéric Schützenberger, Gustave Doré, Émile Waldteufel, René Beeh, Jean/Hans Arp, Charles Münch, Hans Bethe, Maurice Kriegel-Valrimont, Marcel Marceau, Tomi Ungerer, Elizabeth Sombart, Arsène Wenger, Petit and Matt Pokora 
In chronological order, notable residents of Strasbourg include: Johannes Gutenberg, Hans Baldung, Martin Bucer, John Calvin, Joachim Meyer, Johann Carolus, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Georg Büchner, Louis Pasteur, Ferdinand Braun, Albrecht Kossel, Georg Simmel, Albert Schweitzer, Otto Klemperer, Marc Bloch, Alberto Fujimori, Marjane Satrapi, Paul Ricœur and Jean-Marie Lehn 

Twin towns and sister cities
Strasbourg is twinned with:
 Boston, United States, since 1960
 Leicester, United Kingdom, since 1960
 Stuttgart, Germany, since 1962
 Dresden, Germany, since 1990
 Ramat Gan, Israel, since 1991Strasbourg has cooperative agreements with:
 Jacmel, Haiti, since 1991 (Coopération décentralisée)
 Fez, Morocco, since 1999 (Coopération décentralisée)
 Douala, Cameroon, since 2005 (Coopération décentralisée)
 Vologda, Russia, since 2009 (Coopération décentralisée)
 Oran, Algeria, since 2015 (Coopération décentralisée)
 Kairouan, Tunisia, since 2015 (Coopération décentralisée)
 Moscow, Russia, since 2016 (Coopération décentralisée)
 Kampala, Uganda, since 2018 (Coopération décentralisée)
 Kagoshima, Japan, since 2019 (Coopération décentralisée)

In popular culture
In film
The opening scenes of the 1977 Ridley Scott film The Duellists take place in Strasbourg in 1800 
The 2007 film In the City of Sylvia is set in Strasbourg 
Early February 2011, principal photography for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) moved for two days to Strasbourg  Shooting took place on, around, and inside the Strasbourg Cathedral  The opening scene of the movie covers an assassination-bombing in the city 

In literature
One of the longest chapters of Laurence Sterne's novel Tristram Shandy (1759–1767), "Slawkenbergius' tale", takes place in Strasbourg 
An episode of Matthew Gregory Lewis' novel The Monk (1796) takes place in the forests then surrounding Strasbourg 
A part of the story in White Album 2 takes place in Strasbourg 

In music
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart called his Third violin concerto (1775) Straßburger Konzert because of one of its most prominent motives, based on a local, minuet-like dance that had already appeared as a tune in a symphony by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf  It is not related to Mozart's ulterior stay in Strasbourg (1778), where he gave three concert performances on the piano 
Havergal Brian's Symphony No  7 was inspired by passages in Goethe's memoirs recalling his time spent at Strasbourg University  The work ends with an orchestral bell sounding the note E, the strike-note of the bell of Strasbourg Cathedral 
British art-punk band The Rakes had a minor hit in 2005 with their song "Strasbourg"  This song features witty lyrics with themes of espionage and vodka and includes a count of 'eins, zwei, drei, vier!!', even though Strasbourg's spoken language is French 
On their 1974 album Hamburger Concerto, Dutch progressive band Focus included a track called "La Cathédrale de Strasbourg", which included chimes from a cathedral-like bell 
Strasbourg pie, a dish containing foie gras, is mentioned in the finale of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats 
Several works have specifically been dedicated to Strasbourg Cathedral, notably ad hoc compositions (masses, motets etc ) by Kapellmeisters Franz Xaver Richter and Ignaz Pleyel and, more recently, It is Finished by John Tavener 

Notes
Passage 5:
Maria Carrillo High School
Maria Carrillo High School is a public high school in Santa Rosa, California, United States  It is managed by the Santa Rosa City Schools district  It opened in 1996 and is in Santa Rosa's Rincon Valley neighborhood 

History
Maria Carrillo High School opened in 1997 and is named after María Ygnacia López de Carrillo 
In 2011, a YouTube video of Maria Carrillo student Kayla Kearney speaking at a Martin Luther King Jr  memorial assembly went viral after Kearney came out during her speech Maria Carrillo High School (MCHS), a California Distinguished High School 2013, is one of five comprehensive high schools in the Santa Rosa City Schools district  MCHS currently enrolls 1,550 students in grades 9-12  The school received its first regular accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in 1999 

Curriculum
Maria Carrillo follows curriculum as mandated by the Santa Rosa City Schools district  The school offers English classes, fine arts, mathematics, physical education, social sciences, and science classes  The latter include biology, chemistry, zoology, physics, and physical science 
The school has a culinary program, in which students learn cooking skills and compete for awards at local Santa Rosa restaurants 

Extracurricular activities
Sports
The school has a girls and boys basketball team  In November, 2011, the girls basketball coach resigned after being accused of bullying team members over the course of his career at the school  There is a track and field team, which is part of the North Coast Section competition field  There is also a baseball team, which, as of 2004, were the two-time North Coast Section champions 

Notable alumni
Madeline Jane "Maya" DiRado, Class of 2010, is an American former competitive swimmer who specialized in freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, and individual medley events  She won four medals in the 2016 Summer Olympics- two gold, one silver, and one bronze 
Kevin Jorgeson, Class of 2003, is an American mountain climber; he partnered with Tommy Caldwell to successfully free climb The Dawn Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park 
Tristan Harris, Class of 2002, is the founder of the Center for Humane Technology, an organization focused on better aligning technology with the needs of humanity  Harris was featured on TED Talks and 60 Minutes 
Andrew Vaughn, Class of 2016, baseball player, winner of the 2018 Golden Spikes Award with the University of California, drafted third overall by the Chicago White Sox in the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft 
Maria Carrillo High School Alumni Hall of Fame 
Passage 6:
Alpena Power Company
Alpena Power Company is a public utility company that provides electricity to most of Alpena County, Michigan, as well as southeastern Presque Isle County and the village of Hillman, in Montmorency County  The headquarters are located in Alpena, Michigan  The company was founded in 1881 by George N  Fletcher   
they produce 1-2% of power for the area using 3 hydro electric dams located on the thunder bay river 
Alpena Power has one 138KV interconnection with Consumers Energy/METC 

See also
Lists of public utilities

External links
Official website
Passage 7:
Mount View High School (Maine)
Maine School Administrative District 3 (MSAD 3) is an operating school district within Maine, covering the towns of Brooks, Freedom, Jackson, Knox, Liberty, Monroe, Montville, Thorndike, Troy, Unity and Waldo  MSAU District 3 students attend Mount View High School in Thorndike 
Passage 8:
Sno*Drift
Sno*Drift is a rally racing event held in Montmorency County, Michigan, annually, with headquarters in Atlanta, Michigan   The event is currently the first Rally America National Rally Championship event of the season   Currently the event is organized into three distinct rallies:  the national championship event covering both days of rallying, and two regional rally events each covering one of the two days   Competitors may be entered in any or all of these events simultaneously 
Sno*Drift is a winter rally, run primarily on snow-covered gravel surface roads, and is usually held in January   The winners of the 2009 Sno*Drift Rally were Travis Pastrana and Christian Edstrom of Maryland, driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STI  This team also won the event in 2007, but in 2008, they were leading but did not finish the event as they encountered a deer on the next to last stage 

History
A national event in the 1970s and 1980s
Sno*Drift was first held in 1973 as a National event as part of the SCCA Performance Rally series near Grayling, Michigan   Chaired by Tim Steiner, the event was won by the team of Erhard Dahm and John Campbell driving a Jeep Wagoneer, with Gene Henderson and Ken Pogue finished 2nd in a similar vehicle   Scott Harvey and Tom King placed third in a Dodge Colt   Of the 38 teams starting the event, 24 finished 
The event was repeated the next year with Henderson and Pogue rising to win over Dahm with new co-driver Tom Grimshaw   Third was again captured by Harvey, who also had a new co-driver (Wayne Zitkus)   The final Sno*Drift of the period was held in 1975, and was won by Harvey and Zitkus, this time with a Dodge Ramcharger, while second place was claimed by Tom Tolles and Virginia Reese in a Volvo 122S and third by Bob Hourihan and Doug Shepherd, also in a Volvo 122S 
Sno*Drift was not held again until 1979 when it again became a national event for the SCCA   This running saw 48 teams enter, of whom 31 finished   Taisto Heinonen and Tom Burgess won the event in a Toyota Celica GT while Doug Leverton and Greg Wilkinson placed second in their Datsun 510 and Scott Harvey and Randy Graves finished third in a Dodge Aspen 
46 teams entered the 1980 event, while only 24 finished   Overall winners were Guy Light and Jim Brandt in a Jeep CJ-7, followed by John Buffum and Doug Shepherd in a Triumph TR7 and by Dick Turner and Tom Grimshaw in an International Scout   1980's winner in the production class was the team of Erik Zenz and Brian Berg in a Saab 99L followed by Curt Spicer and Tom Hudak, also in a Saab 99, and by Roger Suppes and Woody Crutchfield in a Toyota Corolla



ground_truth: Jennifer Connelly

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

Question: Which county shares a border with the county where the most populous city in the state where Redan High School is located?

The following are given passages.
Context 3: 
Sno*Drift was held in 1981 with 49 teams entering and 39 finishing   Jean Paul Perusse and Jim Brandt took the overall win in their Peugeot 504, while second place was claimed by Randy Black and Fred Baker in a Datsun 510, and third by Bjorn Anderson and Randy Weiser in a Toyota Celica   Niall Leslie and Doug Martin captured the 1981 production class win in a Datsun 200 SX, with second in class going to Gene Henderson and Jim Kloosterman, and third to Guy Light and Jim Brandt, with both teams driving a pair of AMC Eagle SX/4 coupes 
Sno*Drift saw 50 entries in 1982 with 31 finishing the rally   John Buffum and Tom Grimshaw took first with an Audi Quattro, with second going to Rod Millen and John Bellefleur in a Mazda RX-7 and third to Doug Shepherd and Jim Roller in a Colt   The production class winners were Guy Light and Jim Brandt in an Oldsmobile Omega, followed by Gene Henderson and Jim Kloosterman in their AMC Eagle SX/4, and Erik Zenz and Lawson Smith in a Saab 99 EMS 
1983, marking the eighth running of the event was also the last of the period run as a national event   40 teams entered and 29 finished, with Rod Millen and Michael Parris winning overall in their RX-7, with Mark Klos and Andrew Klos taking second in a Jeep C101 and Don Jankowski and Karen Landau finishing third in a Dodge Charger   The Production class was led by a pair of Chargers, the first driven by Cal Landau and Craig Marr, and the second by Dan Coughnour and Eric Marcus with Gene Henderson and Jim Kloosterman finishing third in their AMC Eagle SX/4 

Years as a non-national event
Sno*Drift was run in 1984, but was downgraded from a national event to a coefficient 2 divisional event of the, with 28 entries and 20 finishers   The event was held in December as part of the 1985 divisional series   Winners were Tom Bell and Mary Jo Czyzio in a Datsun 510, with second going to Erik Zenz and Steve Nowicki in a Saab 99 and third place awarded to Robert Parks and Jerry Tobin in an Alfa Romeo GTV 
Sno*Drift was run again in 1991, but as a time-speed-distance rally   14 teams took part, with Gene Henderson and Jim Mickle winning in a BMW 325ix   This team won again in 1992 when the event was repeated 

Restoration as a national event in the 1990s
After a long period of dormancy, Sno*Drift was run again as national event for the SCCA, although not as a full event, but instead at 60%, while also counting as coefficient 3 divisional event   In 1997, it was held in Montmorency County, Michigan, with 27 entries and 21 finishers   Overall winners were Frank Sprongl and Dan Sprongl in an Audi S2, followed by Steve Gingras and Bill Westrick and by Cal Landau and Eric Marcus, both in the Mitsubishi Eclipse   Group 5 winners were Mike Villemure and Rene Villemure driving a Volkswagen Beetle, followed by Mike Hurst and Lynn Dillon driving a Pontiac Sunbird and by Gail Truess and Paul Truess in a Chevrolet Citation   Group 2 winners were Gerald Sweet and Stuart Spark in a Saab 99 EMS, followed by Wayne Prochaska and Annette Prochaska in a Volkswagen Golf and Art Burmeister and Randy Moore in a Volkswagen GTI   The Production GT class win went to Steve Gingras and Bill Westrick in a Mitsubishi Eclipse followed by another Eclipse driven by Cal Landau and Eric Marcus and an Eagle Talon piloted by Brian Pepp and Dean Rushford   The Production class was won by a Ford Escort GT driven by Tad Ohtake and Bob Martin followed by a Honda Civic driven by Jay Kowalik and Jeff Wheeler   It was intended to run the event in 1998, although this was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions 
1999 saw Sno*Drift run again as a 60% national event and coefficient 3 divisional event   Overall victory went to Tom Ottey and Pam McGarvey in a Mazda 323 GTX, followed up by Jon Kemp and Brian Maxwell in an Audi 4000 Quattro and by Peter Lahm and Matt Chester in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV   Group 5 was won by Henry Krolikowski and Cindy Krolikowski in a Dodge Shadow GT, followed by Mark Utecht and Diane Sargent in a Dodge Omni and by Jeremy Butts and Peter Jacobs in a Plymouth Arrow   Group 2 winners were Wayne and Annette Prochaska in a Volkswagen Golf followed by David S  Cizmas and David L  Cizmas in a Suzuki Swift and by Art Burmeister and Randy Moore in their GTI   Ottey and McGarvey also took the Proguction GT victory, with Chris Czyzio and Eric Carlson in second and Cal Landau and Eric Marcus in third, both in Eclipses   Production class victory went to a pair of Volkswagen GTIs, the first driven by Karl Scheible and Gail McGuire, and the second by Brian Vinson and Richard Beels   Third was captured by a Plymouth Neon ACR piloted by Evan Moen and Ronald Moen 

Becoming a full national event
2000 marked Sno*Drift's promotion to a full national event   The national event, part of the SCCA's ProRally series, would run all of the stages that comprised the rally   In addition, there would be two SCCA ClubRally events   The first, titled simply Sno, covered the first portion of the rally's stages, and was considered a coefficient 2 club rally, while the second, entitled Drift, covered the remaining stages and was scored as a coefficient 3 club rally   Competitors could enter any or all of these rallies and score points the appropriate series   the 2000 and 2001 event results were as follows (results are listed in the format - driver / co-driver / vehicle):

2000 Sno*Drift national rally (41 entrants/28 finishers)
Overall
1  Paul Choiniere / Jeff Becker / Hyundai Tiburon
2  Karl Scheible / Russ Hughes / Mitsubishi Lancer
3  Pete Lahm / Matt Chester / Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
Group N
1  Karl Scheible / Russ Hughes / Mitsubishi Lancer
Group 5
1  Mark Utecht / Brenda Corneliusen / Dodge Omni
2  Mike Hurst / Rob Bohn / Pontiac Sunbird
3  Bryan Hourt / Peter Cardimen / Honda Civic
Group 2
1  Douglas Davenport / Lea Hoffa / Volkswagen Golf
Production GT
1  Chris Czyzio / Eric Carlson / Mitsubishi Eclipse
2  Steve Gingras / Bill Westrick / Eagle Talon
Production
1  Brian Vinson / Luke Stuart / Volkswagen GTI
2  Evan Moen / Kurt Winkelman / Chrysler Neon
2000 Sno Club Coefficient 2 Rally (30 entrants; 20 finishers)
Overall
1  Chris Czyzio / Eric Carlson / Mitsubishi Eclipse
2  Mark Utecht / Brenda Corneliusen / Dodge Omni
3  Sylvester Stepniewski / Adam Pelc / Audi Quattro
Group 5
1  Mark Utecht / Brenda Corneliusen / Dodge Omni
2  Colin McCleery / Jeff Secor / Volkswagen GTI
3  Rene Villemure / Mike Villemure / Volkswagen Beetle
Group 2
1  Douglas Davenport / Lea Hoffa / Volkswagen Golf
2  Charles Langan / Hughie Langan / Ford Escort
Production GT
1  Chris Czyzio / Eric Carlson / Mitsubishi Eclipse
2  Scott Harvey, Jr  / Bob Martin / Eagle Talon
Production
1  Jouni Pohjolainen / John Matikainen / Nissan NX 200
2  Ryan Brooks / Shanti Traskowski / Acura Integra
2000 Drift Club Coefficient 3 Rally
1  Chris Czyzio / Eric Carlson / Mitsubishi Eclipse
2  Mark Utecht / Brenda Corneliusen / Dodge Omni
3  Sylvester Stepniewski / Adam Pelc / Audi Quattro
Group 5
1  Mark Utecht / Brenda Corneliusen / Dodge Omni
2  Rene Villemure / Mike Villemure / Volkswagen Beetle
3  Colin McCleery / Jeff Secor / Volkswagen GTI
Group 2
1  Douglas Davenport / Lea Hoffa / Volkswagen Golf
2  Joshua Scott / Roxanne Slancik / Volkswagen GTI
3  Mark Brown / Ole Holter / Toyota Corolla
Production GT
1  Chris Czyzio / Eric Carlson / Mitsubishi Eclipse
2  Scott Harvey, Jr  / Bob Martin / Eagle Talon
Production
1  Jouni Pohjolainen / John Matikainen / Nissan NX 200
2  Tom Young / Jim LeBeau / Dodge Neon ACR
3  Ryan Brooks / Shanti Traskowski / Acura Integra
2001 Sno*Drift National Rally
Overall
1  Paul Choiniere / Jeff Becker / Hyundai Tiburon
2  Mark Lovell / Steve Turvey / Subaru WRX STi
3  Seamus Burke / Frank Cunningham / Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
Group N
1  Mark Lovell / Steve Turvey / Subaru WRX STi
2  Karl Scheible / Brian Maxwell / Subaru Impreza
3  Henry Krolikowski / Cindy Krolikowski / Subaru WRX STi
Group 5
1  Tad Ohtake / Bob Martin / Ford Escort
2  Mike Hurst / Rob Bohn / Pontiac Sunbird
3  Colin McCleery / Jeff Secor / Volkswagen GTI
Group 2
1  Eric Burmeister / Mark Buskirk / Volkswagen GTI
2  Matthew Johnson / Eric Adams / Volkswagen GTI
3  Thomas Lawless / Brendan Lawless / Honda Civic
Production GT
1  Mark Utecht / Brenda Lewis / Mitsubishi Eclipse
2  Gail Truess / Pattie Hughes-Mayer / Mazda 323 GTX
3  Bruce Perry / Phil Barnes / Eagle Talon
Production
1  Scott Carlborn / Dale Ewald / Jeep Comanche
2  Tom Young / Jim LeBeau / Dodge Neon ACR
2001 Sno Club Coefficient 2 Rally (32 entries; 26 finishers)
Overall
1  Mark Utecht / Brenda Lewis / Mitsubishi Eclipse
2  Bruce Perry / Phil Barnes / Eagle Talon
3  Chris Czyzio / Eric Carlson / Mitsubishi Eclipse
Group 5
1  Mike Hurst / Rob Bohn / Pontiac Sunbird
2  Colin McCleery / Jeff Secor / Volkswagen GTI
3  Wiktor Biegalski / Andy Malikowski / Mitsubishi Eclipse
Group 2
1  Thomas Lawless / Brendan Lawless / Honda Civic
2  Phil Smith / Dallas Smith / MGB-GT
3  Brad Hawkins / Adrian Wintle / Volkswagen Golf GT
Production GT
1  Mark Utecht / Brenda Lewis / Mitsubishi Eclipse
2  Bruce Perry / Phil Barnes / Eagle Talon
3  Chris Czyzio / Eric Carlson / Mitsubishi Eclipse
Production
1  Jim Cox / Kaarii Louise Cox / Chevrolet S-10
2  Ryan Brooks / Randy Berdan / Acura Integra
2001 Drift Club Coefficient 2 Rally (32 entries; 26 finishers)
Overall
1  Mark Utecht / Brenda Lewis / Mitsubishi Eclipse
2  Bruce Perry / Phil Barnes / Eagle Talon
3  Chris Czyzio / Eric Carlson / Mitsubishi Eclipse
Group 5
1  Mike Hurst / Rob Bohn / Pontiac Sunbird
2  Colin McCleery / Jeff Secor / Volkswagen GTI
3  Jerry Brownell / Jim Windsor / Chevrolet Citation
Group 2
1  Thomas Lawless / Brendan Lawless / Honda Civic
2  Phil Smith / Dallas Smith / MGB-GT
3  Phil Schmidt / Steve Irwin / Toyota MR2
Production GT
1  Mark Utecht / Brenda Lewis / Mitsubishi Eclipse
2  Bruce Perry / Phil Barnes / Eagle Talon
3  Chris Czyzio / Eric Carlson / Mitsubishi Eclipse
Production
1  Jim Cox / Kaarii Louise Cox / Chevrolet S-10
2  Ryan Brooks / Randy Berdan / Acura Integra
3  William Tremmel / Peter Coleman / Volkswagen GTI
2002 Sno*Drift national rally (46 starters; 34 finishers)
Overall
1  Frank Sprongl / Dan Sprongl / Hyundai Tiburon
2  Mark Lovell / Steve Turvey / Subaru WRX
3  Mark Higgins / Michael Gibson / Hyundai Tiburon
Group N
1  Mark Utecht / Jeff Secor / Subaru WRX
2  Henry Krolikowski / Cindy Krolikowski / Subaru WRX STi
3  Mark Cox / Jim Gill / Mitsubishi Evo VI

Expansion to a two-day event
In 2002, Sno*Drift was expanded to cover two days, with the Sno club rally covering day one and Drift on day two   In 2003, the event was awarded the ProRally of the Year title by the SCCA   The 2004 event was marked by heavy snow 

Transition to Rally America
In 2005, the SCCA transferred organization and marketing of ProRally and ClubRally to Rally America, Inc , with Sno*Drift as the first event of the 2005 calendar, and thus the first event to take place under Rally America organization 

Summary of events
Sno*Drift 1973:  SCCA national performance rally
Sno*Drift 1974:  SCCA national performance rally
Sno*Drift 1975:  SCCA national performance rally
Sno*Drift 1979:  SCCA national performance rally
Sno*Drift 1980:  SCCA national performance rally
Sno*Drift 1981:  SCCA national performance rally
Sno*Drift 1982:  SCCA national performance rally
Sno*Drift 1983:  SCCA national performance rally
Sno*Drift 1984:  SCCA divisional coefficient 2 rally
Sno*Drift 1991:  SCCA regional time-speed-distance rally
Sno*Drift 1992:  SCCA regional time-speed-distance rally
Sno*Drift 1997:  SCCA 60% national and divisional coefficient 3 rally
Sno*Drift 1999:  SCCA 60% national and divisional coefficient 3 rally
Sno*Drift 2000:  SCCA ProRally national rally
Sno 2000:  SCCA ClubRally coefficient 2 rally
Drift 2000:  SCCA ClubRally coefficient 3 rally
Sno*Drift 2001:  SCCA ProRally national rally
Sno 2001:  SCCA ClubRally coefficient 2 rally
Drift 2001:  SCCA ClubRally coefficient 3 rally
Sno*Drift 2002:  SCCA ProRally national rally
Sno 2002:  SCCA ClubRally coefficient 2 rally
Drift 2002:  SCCA ClubRally coefficient 3 rally
Sno*Drift 2003:  SCCA ProRally national rally
Sno 2003:  SCCA ClubRally coefficient 2 rally
Drift 2003:  SCCA ClubRally coefficient 3 rally
Sno*Drift 2004:  SCCA ProRally national rally
Sno 2004:  SCCA ClubRally coefficient 2 rally
Drift 2004:  SCCA ClubRally coefficient 3 rally
Sno*Drift 2005:  Rally America National Rally Championship event
Sno 2005:  Rally America Central Regional Rally (coefficient 2)
Drift 2005:  Rally America Central Regional Rally (coefficient 3)
Sno*Drift 2006:  Rally America National Rally Championship event
Sno 2006:  Rally America Central Regional Rally (coefficient 2)
Drift 2006:  Rally America Central Regional Rally (coefficient 3)

See also
Rally America
Rallying
Passage 9:
Redan High School
Redan High School is a public secondary school of the DeKalb County School District located in Redan, Georgia 
Redan was established in 1976 by the DeKalb County School District  The school's mascot is the Raider  Both Redan High School and its "twin," Stone Mountain High School, were built without any main windows on their exteriors (except for in the main common area)  The windowless construction was for energy-saving purposes during the "energy crunch" of the mid-to-late 1970s 
As part of the DeKalb County School District, the school is accredited through AdvancED through 2022 

Campus
The school is in Redan, a census-designated place in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States  The school is south of the city of Stone Mountain and has a Stone Mountain mailing address 

Marching band
The Redan High School "Blue Thunder" Marching Band is one of the largest high school marching bands in the state of Georgia and in the southeast  The band has won the national VH1 Save the Music Battle of the Bands twice, the only high school band invited to perform in this competition to do so The band performs consistently highly in both marching band and concert band competitions, and was considered for inclusion in the inaugural parade of President Barack Obama in January 2009 
The band was featured in the blockbuster movie Drumline and the Disneyland Christmas parade, and shot a live commercial while performing at the Atlanta Football Classic  The band has recorded live commercials for several Fortune 500 companies and featured on releases by a number of recording artists  In November 2009, the Marching Blue Thunder was asked to perform in the movie Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming, released in 2010 
The band has performed for many college and university halftime shows, including the Florida A&M Homecoming Celebration, Jackson State University, Bethune-Cookman University, Norfolk State University, and Tennessee State University, as well as major international events including the Chinese Festival in Beijing, China 
Among traditional marching bands, the Marching Blue Thunder is currently ranked number two in the United States and in the Southeast, number one in the South, and the number one ranked "High Stepping" high school marching band in Georgia  The band earns thousands of dollars annually in scholarship and tuition funds 

Athletics
The Redan baseball program has a history of producing competitive athletes that reach elite levels of play  In 2013, the Raiders baseball program won the 4A State Championship  This makes the Raiders the first team made up of only African Americans to win a baseball state championship in the state 
The school's Lady Raiders basketball team won the 5A State Championship in 2009 and 2014 

Feeder schools
The following elementary and middle schools feed into Redan High School:

Elementary
Eldridge Miller Elementary School
Shadow Rock Elementary School
Panola Way Elementary School (partial, about 15%)
Redan Elementary School (partial, about 45%)
Woodridge Elementary School

Middle
Redan Middle School
Freedom Middle School
Miller Grove Middle School

Notable alumni
La La Anthony - disc jockey, television personality, actress
Domonic Brown - former professional baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies)
Charles W  "Chuck" Bryant - co-host of Stuff You Should Know
Kevin Butler - former professional football player (Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals)
Urso Chappell - graphic designer, writer, and World's Fair historian
Cyhi the Prynce - rapper
Danger Mouse - Grammy Award-winning producer
Chris Gardocki - former college and professional football player (Clemson Tigers, Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers)
TJ Hassan - actor
Milt Hill -  former professional baseball player (Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners)
Jagged Edge - R&B group
Wally Joyner - former professional baseball player (California Angels, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves); former assistant hitting coach for the Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers
Terance Mathis - former professional football player (New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers)
Chris Nelson - former professional baseball player (Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, San Diego Padres)
Brandon Phillips - professional baseball player (Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds)
Silentó - rapper
Armond Smith - former professional football player (Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns)
Everett Stull - former professional baseball player (Montreal Expos, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers)
Swizz Beats - Grammy Award-winning producer
Natasha Trethewey, United States Poet Laureate 2012–2014, awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Poet Laureate of Mississippi



ground_truth: Presque Isle County