title: Xavi

text: On 6 June 2015, Xavi came on as a 78th-minute substitute for Andrés Iniesta to make his 767th and final appearance for Barcelona during the 2015 Champions League Final, as the club won its fifth European Cup, beating Juventus at Berlin's Olympiastadion. Xavi, as club captain, lifted the trophy. This made Barcelona the first club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice. Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Gerard Piqué, Pedro, Sergio Busquets and Dani Alves were part of both treble-winning teams. Xavi's 767 appearances was a club record until surpassed by Lionel Messi in March 2021.


title: Xavi

text: On 21 May 2015, Xavi announced that he would join Qatari club Al Sadd at the end of the 2014–15 season on a three-year contract. According to his agent, the deal would involve him becoming an ambassador for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and also start his coaching qualifications. He made his debut for Al Sadd in a 4–0 win over Mesaimeer on 13 September 2015, assisting in the team's first goal. In the following match, he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–2 draw with Umm Salal. Al Sadd ended the league campaign in third position putting them in a place for the next season's AFC Champions League, the elite club competition of the Asian Football Confederation. Xavi scored three goals during the season. In the Champions League, Al Sadd were knocked out from the qualifying rounds by Emirati side Al Jazira on penalties; Xavi missed his spot kick.


title: Xavi

text: Xavi won his first trophy with Al Sadd following a 2–1 victory over El Jaish in the Qatar Cup final on 29 April 2017. On 10 November 2017, Xavi said that he would retire when his contract with Al Sadd expired at the end of the 2017–18 season, and would later pursue a coaching career. However, he postponed these plans and signed a two-year contract extension on 24 May 2018. In October 2018, Al Sadd reached the 2018 AFC Champions League semi-finals of the tournament with Xavi as captain but were eliminated 2–1 by Persepolis.


title: Xavi

text: On 2 May 2019, Xavi announced that he would be retiring from professional football at the end of the season. On 20 May 2019, Xavi played the final match of his career, a 2–0 defeat to Persepolis in Tehran, Iran which was Al Sadd's final AFC Champions League group match; before the match, he stated that he would like to remain in Qatar after his retirement, and that he would look to begin a coaching career, commenting: "The idea is to start as a coach in Qatar, to test myself and get some experience."


title: Xavi

text: Xavi played for Spain at the 2000 Olympics, 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004, 2006 World Cup, Euro 2008, 2009 Confederations Cup, 2010 World Cup, Euro 2012, 2013 Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup. In 1999 he was part of the Spanish team that won FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria, with Xavi also scoring two goals in the tournament.


title: Xavi

text: Xavi was named Euro 2008's player of the tournament after Spain defeated Germany 1–0 in the final. Xavi was dominant in midfield, where his passing and reading of the game was pivotal to Spain's success, as he led his nation to their first silverware since the 1964 European Championship. Andy Roxburgh, head of UEFA's Technical Committee, said, "We have chosen Xavi because he epitomizes the Spanish style of play. He was influential in the whole possession, passing and penetrating kind of game that Spain played."


title: Xavi

text: Xavi scored the first goal in the semi-final against Russia, which Spain won 3–0. In the final, he made the pass from which Fernando Torres scored the winning goal.


title: Xavi

text: Xavi was named in Spain's squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, with Spain eventually winning their first World Cup. He provided the most accurate passes, 599 with a passing success rate of 91%, and he crossed the ball inside the 18-yard box more than any other player in the tournament. In the final he made 57 accurate forward half passes. Xavi also covered 80.20 kilometres throughout the competitions, averaging approximately 11.5 kilometres per game, more than any other player. In the final, he covered a distance of almost 15 kilometres.


title: Xavi

text: During the round of 16 match against Portugal, Xavi provided a backheel pass in the 63rd minute to David Villa. Although Villa had his shot with his left foot blocked by goalkeeper Eduardo, he then put in the rebound with his right foot for the winning goal. In the semi-final against Germany, Xavi crossed from a corner to the edge of the six-yard box, where Carles Puyol scored with a header into the top-right corner. Spain dominated possession throughout the competition, averaging 59% possession during their three group matches, and 44 passes per shot throughout the entire World Cup, in large part thanks to midfield trio of Xavi, Iniesta, and Xabi Alonso, who were singled out in the media for their role in Spain's title–run; Spain also completed more passes (3,547) than any World Cup team since 1966.


title: Xavi

text: Xavi played for Spain at Euro 2012 which Spain won by defeating Italy 4–0 in the final. Xavi attempted 136 passes (127 completed, 94% success rate) during Spain's 4–0 victory in the group stage match against the Republic of Ireland, more than any other player in a European Championship match. The previous record of 117 had been set by Ronald Koeman in a Euro 1992 match between the Netherlands and Denmark. Xavi and Andrés Iniesta made 229 passes in the match, more than the combined Irish team managed. "Pum, pum, pum, pum" was how Xavi described the rhythmic sound of the ball moving between himself and his midfield partner.


title: Xavi

text: With Xavi providing two assists in the final, for Jordi Alba and Fernando Torres, he became the first player to register assists in two European Championship finals. Spain's UEFA Euro 2012 victory made Xavi the most decorated player in Spanish football history, a status that he previously shared with Carles Puyol, who missed the tournament.


title: Xavi

text: On 5 August 2014, following the 2014 World Cup where Spain were eliminated at the group stage, Xavi announced his retirement from international football, having made 133 appearances in a 14-year period. Spain's World Cup-winning manager Vicente del Bosque paid tribute, stating that Xavi was "a key part of the team's style of play" and "he was more important to us than even the manager", also adding, "We will miss him both on and off the pitch. He is a player who we hold in great esteem both personally and as a player. He is and always will be a person and a player who is greatly valued by the federation, the coaching staff and by myself."


title: Xavi

text: On 28 May 2019 it was announced that Xavi would take over as manager of Al Sadd on a two-year contract. Xavi helped the club reach the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League, where they were eliminated by Al-Hilal FC 6–5 on aggregate. In the league, the club finished third. In the 2019–20 season, Xavi led his team to win one domestic trophy, the Qatar Cup. In the 2020 AFC Champions League, Al Sadd reached the round of 16 but were eliminated 1–0 by Persepolis. During his 97 games in charge of Al Sadd, spanning two and a half years, he led the club to seven trophies.


title: Xavi

text: On 3 November 2021, Al Sadd drew 3–3 against Al-Duhail in his final game in-charge. Two days later Al Sadd announced Xavi's move to Barcelona after his release clause was paid.


title: Xavi

text: On 6 November 2021, Xavi returned to his former club Barcelona as the new manager replacing Ronald Koeman, on a contract until June 2024. Following his arrival, Xavi reportedly implemented stricter rules for the players which included re-introduction of fines, early arrival for training and tracking of players' off pitch activities.


title: Xavi

text: In his first game in charge, Barcelona defeated local rival Espanyol by a 1–0 scoreline at the Camp Nou in La Liga to win his first Catalan Derby as manager. On 4 December, Xavi suffered his first defeat as Barcelona manager after losing 1–0 to Real Betis at home in La Liga. In Xavi's first Champions League campaign, he took charge with two group stage matches remaining. After drawing 0–0 with Benfica at the Camp Nou on 23 November and losing 3–0 to Bayern Munich on 8 December at the Allianz Arena, Barcelona finished third in the group stage which put them in the Europa League knockout round play-offs.


title: Xavi

text: On 12 January 2022, in his first "Clásico" in charge, Barcelona were beaten by Real Madrid 2–3 at the end of extra-time in the Supercopa de España semi-final. Barcelona suffered an early exit from the Copa del Rey after being beaten by Athletic Bilbao 3–2 at the end of extra-time in the round of 16. In the winter transfer window, Barcelona strengthened their attack with the signings of Ferran Torres and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Adama Traoré on loan. After a difficult first few months for Xavi, Barcelona quickly turned around their form with the new signings playing a big role in the process. The team entered a 14-match unbeaten streak starting with a 0–1 victory over Alavés in La Liga, during this run they scored four goals in 6 out of 11 matches and also qualified for the quarter-finals of the Europa League. On 20 March, Xavi won his first "Clásico" as manager beating Real Madrid 0–4 in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabéu ending their five-match "Clásico" losing streak and extending their unbeaten run to 12 matches. On April 14, Xavi and his men who were on the verge of a monumental comeback, were knocked out of the UEL quarter-finals by Eintracht Frankfurt, bringing their fifteen-game unbeaten run to an end. In La Liga, he led Barcelona to a second-placed finish from ninth position when he took charge.


title: Xavi

text: Xavi is widely considered one of the best midfielders of all time, relying largely on his ability to find and exploit space as a deep-lying playmaker. As he said, "That's what I do: look for spaces. All day. I'm always looking." Finding space, he would appear for a teammate to receive and then move the ball on, with his coach Pep Guardiola putting it: "I get the ball, I give the ball, I get the ball, I give the ball." A diminutive, composed, agile, and technically skilled player with a slender physique and a low centre of gravity, these characteristics compensated for his lack of pace or physicality. Xavi's signature move when in possession involved him performing a 360 degree turn, a feint known as "la pelopina", that allowed him to move away from the opposing player, retain possession, and gave him space and time on the ball to think about his next pass. In his youth, he had also played as a centre-back, before being shifted to a midfield role. While primarily a central midfielder with Barcelona, he often played in a more advanced midfield role with Spain.


title: Xavi

text: Although he was not known for his tackling ability, or for being prolific in front of goal, Xavi's outstanding vision, "metronomic" pinpoint accurate passing, excellent off the ball movement, superb reading of the game, positional sense, and world-class ball control allowed him to create chances for teammates and dictate the flow of play in midfield, while rarely relinquishing possession. These qualities were displayed by his performance during Spain's 2010 World Cup victory, where he maintained a 91% passing success rate throughout the entire tournament, in addition to providing two assists, while Spain dominated possession throughout the competition.


title: Xavi

text: Xavi's ability to control games earned him the sobriquet, "The Puppet Master". Jorge Valdano opined, "If football was a science, Xavi would have discovered the formula. With a ball at his feet, no one else has ever communicated so intelligently with every player on the pitch." Barcelona president Sandro Rosell believed that Xavi, together with Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, perfected the club's "tiki-taka" style of play, a style introduced to the club by former coach Johan Cruyff. Despite primarily being a creative player, however, he was also capable of scoring goals himself in addition to assisting them. Named in the Ballon d'Or Dream Team, a greatest all-time XI, Xavi's creativity, range of passing, and unique set of skills have led many in the sport to regard him as one of the greatest passers and one of the finest playmakers in history. In addition to his playing ability, Xavi was also praised for his leadership.


title: Xavi

text: Xavi has a sponsorship deal with German sportswear and equipment supplier Adidas and has appeared in Adidas commercials alongside Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Robin van Persie. Xavi has worn Adidas Predator boots.


title: Xavi

text: In November 2014, Xavi appeared in FIFA's "11 against Ebola" campaign with a selection of top football players from around the world, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Gareth Bale and Didier Drogba. Under the slogan "Together, we can beat Ebola", FIFA's campaign was done in conjunction with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and health experts, with the players holding up 11 messages to raise awareness of the disease and ways to combat it.


title: Xavi

text: Since July 2013, Xavi has been married to Nuria Cunillera. They have a daughter, Asia, born in 2016 and a son, Dan, born in 2018.


title: Euronews

text: Euronews (styled on-air in lowercase as euronews) is a European television news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. The network began broadcasting on 1 January 1993 and covers world news from a European perspective.


title: Euronews

text: The majority of Euronews (88%) is owned by Portuguese investment management firm Alpac Capital, with the rest partly owned by several European and North African public and state-owned broadcasting organizations.


title: Euronews

text: It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in most of the world via its website, on YouTube, and on various mobile devices and digital media players.


title: Euronews

text: In 1992, following the Persian Gulf War, during which CNN's position as the preeminent source of 24-hour news programming was cemented, the European Broadcasting Union decided to establish Euronews to present information from a European perspective. The channel's first broadcast was on 1 January 1993 from Écully, Lyon. An additional broadcast studio was set up in London in 1996. It was founded by a group of ten public broadcasters:


title: Euronews

text: The shareholders are represented by the SOCEMIE () consortium. Euronews SA is the operating company that produces the channel and holds the broadcasting licence. It is currently co-owned by seven of the ten founders and:


title: Euronews

text: In late 1997, the British news broadcaster ITN purchased a 49% share of Euronews for £5.1 million from Alcatel-Lucent. ITN supplied the content of the channel along with the remaining shareholders.


title: Euronews

text: The broadcast switched from solely analogue to mainly digital transmission in 1999. That same year, a Portuguese audio track was added. A Russian audio track was added in 2001, following VGTRK joining as one of the major shareholders.


title: Euronews

text: In April 2003, ITN sold its stake in Euronews as part of its drive to streamline operations and focus on news-gathering rather than channel management.


title: Euronews

text: On 6 February 2006, Ukrainian public broadcaster Natsionalna Telekompanya Ukraïny (NTU) purchased a one percent interest in SOCEMIE.


title: Euronews

text: In 2007, Euronews won the European Commission's tender for an Arabic-language news channel, with a service agreement being signed on 6 December. The Arabic service would eventually be launched in July 2008.


title: Euronews

text: On 27 May 2008, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE decided to leave Euronews, citing legal requirements to maintain low debt levels through careful spending as a factor influencing its decision to leave, as well as to promote its international channel TVE Internacional.


title: Euronews

text: In February 2009, the Turkish public broadcaster TRT became a shareholder in the channel and joined its supervisory board. TRT purchased 15.70% of the channel's shares and became the fourth main partner after France Télévisions (23.93%), RAI (21.54%), and VGTRK (16.94%). Subsequently, Turkish was added as the ninth language service in January 2010. Later that year in October, the channel started broadcasting in Persian, then began broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen format in early 2011, and launched a Ukrainian service in August. A Polish service was launched in mid-2011 amid Poland's accession to the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, although only some selected evening broadcasts were translated. It was shortly after discontinued in January 2012.


title: Euronews

text: In February 2015, the channel's executive board approved a bid by Media Globe Networks, owned by Egyptian telecom magnate Naguib Sawiris, to acquire a 53% controlling stake in the media outlet. The deal raised questions over Euronews's future editorial posture and independence.


title: Euronews

text: On 13 March 2015, it was announced that Inter Media Group, owned by pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, had taken over the Ukrainian service. In response, the Ukrainian government decided to revoke its broadcasting license for its suspected bias and dropped its funding. Firtash later abandoned the project, resulting in the department shutting down and leaving 17 journalists redundant. The Russian service, which was financed by Moscow, refused to provide jobs to the journalists, in violation of French labour legislation. The management explained that not hiring any Ukrainian journalists was a specific instruction from VGTRK.


title: Euronews

text: In October 2015, Euronews moved to a new global headquarters complex in La Confluence, Lyon, designed by Paris architecture firm Jakob + MacFarlane and covering a floor area of 10,000 m (2 acres).


title: Euronews

text: On 2 October 2012, Euronews launched Euronews Radio. The service was available for download on the App Store and Google Play, in addition to being available on TuneIn, and was designed for viewers for whom "watching news is not an option" by providing a direct simulcast to the TV channel, with the "No Comment" segment being replaced by music. The music of the bulletin openings was also transmitted on Euronews Radio. Weather reports were read by a female announcer.


title: Euronews

text: As of December 2020, the radio service appears to have been defunct, and the stream on its webpage or on TuneIn is not functional.


title: Euronews

text: In January 2014, Euronews announced a partnership with public broadcaster Télé Congo "under the auspices of the President of the Republic of the Congo, Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso" to create an African service entitled Africanews. Initially based in Pointe-Noire, its website debuted on 4 January 2016, with the Africanews TV channel eventually launching on 20 April, broadcasting in English and French.


title: Euronews

text: In January 2016, Euronews was accused of plagiarism by the Congolese media group AfricaNews, because the Lyon-based channel used the name "Africanews" for its African subsidiary. However, AfricaNews in the Democratic Republic of Congo has existed since 2005 and can be found on the Internet. Its employees sent letters to DRC authorities and managing director of Euronews, Michael Peters, to change the related name and to avoid using it for the African subsidiary of Euronews.


title: Euronews

text: In 2020, Euronews originally planned to sell Africanews to a group known as Sipromad, but the deal eventually fell through and the two parties entered litigation. As a result, Africanews would remain under the ownership of its sister channel, but its production would move from Pointe-Noire to Euronews's headquarters in Lyon by the end of July 2020, with a reduction in costs of at least 30%.


title: Euronews

text: In November 2016, the channel's executive board was in talks with NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News, for a "strategic partnership". NBCU would acquire 15 to 30% ownership of the Euronews network, would contribute to Euronews content, and facilitate NBC News' expanded operations in Europe. After successful negotiations with the European Commission, who feared that the partnership would result in an "Americanization" of Euronews, the NBCUniversal News Group finally purchased a 25% stake in Euronews in February 2017 for $30 million. NBC News president Deborah Turness was appointed to head up international operations, and incumbent Euronews CEO Michael Peters, who had led it since 2004, became CEO of the new partnership. Both reported directly to NBC News chairman Andrew Lack. The resulting partnership became known as Euronews NBC.


title: Euronews

text: Although Naguib Sawiris and NBC News had the largest stakes in Euronews, editorial control by SOCEMIE members was assured, with the broadcasters having seven slots in the editorial board, as opposed to Sawiris' company (which has three slots) and NBC News, which only has one, thereby reducing rumors of an "Americanization" of Euronews' values. Editorial control is fully handled by Euronews' teams, with NBC only focusing on planning and coordinating tasks. After the formation of the partnership, video reports from NBC News' properties and correspondents began to appear frequently on the TV channel and reports from NBCNews.com began to be distributed on its digital platforms.


title: Euronews

text: On 9 May 2017, Euronews split its service into 12 language-specific editions, of which nine have a linear TV channel with its own language voiceover, but now including the on-screen ticker and most lower thirds in the local language. The "glocal" strategy allows the language editorial teams to personalize the content and presentation of their channel, not only by sharing own-produced content with other languages but by producing content that is relevant to local audiences and allowing local reporters and presenters to appear on camera in all its language editions. The splitting process finished on 24 May 2017.


title: Euronews

text: Alongside the major language split, satellite distribution for the German, Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish channels was discontinued, now being only available via fiber-optic IP uplink. The discontinuation of the German-language channel on satellite in particular generated outcry from many German satellite TV owners, resulting in its restoration on the Astra 1L satellite on 25 July 2017, via an unencrypted SD feed sitting alongside the French-language channel. Additionally, the Arabic and Persian-language editions became available only on Euronews' website and apps as well as on social media, with TV broadcasting being discontinued. Furthermore, the Ukrainian edition was discontinued outright, due to lack of funding from the Ukrainian government, as well as due to the controversy surrounding the ownership of its broadcasting licence. The Turkish-language TV channel would later also be axed, following discontinued support from TRT, who wanted to prioritise its own international news channel, TRT World. Finally, the Euronews channel in English would become known as the "World" edition, and distribution to premises in the American continent via fiber-optic IP uplink was set to begin later in 2018. These changes caused the elimination of 43 staff positions, mainly from the Ukrainian edition, causing major layoffs and leading to production staff having more flexible roles.


title: Euronews

text: In 2018, Euronews' English-language channel began to gradually revamp its programming schedule, with the roll-out of a new slate of presenter-led programming to complement its already existing shows, a move that was reported earlier in the year, after the success of its presenter-led special reports and weekly programming introduced in recent years. Alongside conventional rolling news shows with newsreaders, debate programming, talk shows, and new presenter-led long-form shows began to be offered during the weekly schedule, and throughout programs, Euronews reporters from different nationalities will be offering context on stories close to their respective home nationalities.


title: Euronews

text: The roll-out began on 22 May, when Euronews debuted the first of these new shows, "Good Morning Europe", a five-hour morning show which airs every weekday morning from 7 am. It was first anchored by former RT correspondent and TVB Pearl news presenter Tesa Arcilla, who anchored it on a temporary basis. Some weeks later, former France 24 presenter Belle Donati began presenting the show, alternating with Arcilla; after she moved to Brussels in September, she became the main anchor of the slot. Two months later, on 17 July, Euronews debuted a six-hour breaking news show, "Euronews Now", anchored by Tokunbo Salako, covering the dayside and afternoon slots. On 3 September, the new evening program lineup was launched, starting with a politics-focused show, "Raw Politics", hosted from Brussels by Tesa Arcilla, and featuring former Sky News reporter Darren McCaffrey. It also spawned a weekly spin-off, "Raw Politics: Your Call", a phone-in show which featured European Parliament members answering viewers' questions by phone or social media. The show was dropped over a year later, in October 2019, due to low viewership, with its content being integrated into the rolling news programming. Two weeks after the launch of "Raw Politics", on 17 September, the full roll-out was completed with the introduction of a 5-hour evening rolling news show, "Euronews Tonight", initially presented by former Sky News and BBC News presenter Sam Naz, and later by Euronews veteran Isabelle Kumar, who has worked with the channel since 2003. The traditional pre-produced blocks of video content still remains on some late-nights and weekends. Most overnights now repeat the previous day's edition (either full or half-length) of "Euronews Now".


title: Euronews

text: New weekly programming is also being produced, including the weekly interview series "Uncut", which feature conversations from political leaders and newsmakers worldwide with minimum to no editing. The first episodes feature German-French politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit interviewing former UKIP leader Nigel Farage and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair about Brexit. Additionally, a new social media unit was created, with journalists with a background on digital news verification leading it. The newly created team help to produce "The Cube", a social media segment during rolling news shows, focusing on analysis on treatment and reactions about news headlines on social media, with special attention at the major stories of the day. "No Comment", a long-standing element of Euronews' programming, remains on the channels' schedule, and it's being gradually integrated into the rolling news shows on the English-language channel.


title: Euronews

text: Additionally, a major investment in mobile reporting via iPhone devices helped Euronews gain a major scoop, becoming the only TV news outlet worldwide to broadcast live coverage from the MV "Aquarius", with Paris correspondent Annelise Borges (formerly with France 24) on assignment. Borges broadcast live for 10 days as the Italian government denied the Aquarius access to Italian ports. The coverage made headlines on many news outlets worldwide and helped Euronews augment its credibility and its audience. The new Euronews also hired new correspondents in London, Berlin, Moscow, Rome, Madrid and Washington D.C., and gained access to NBC News' large network of correspondents worldwide.


title: Euronews

text: As of September 2018, the other language editions are unaffected, with the pre-produced blocks of video content remaining at all times. Programming dayparts were later named with proper translations of the existing daypart programming of the World edition (i.e. the evening daypart being named "Euronews am Abend", "Euronews Noite", "Euronews Soir"...). There were plans to introduce presenter-led programming during the morning slots on these other channels, eventually, the evening daypart in most of the language-specific channels became presenter-led by late 2018; all of these editions are pre-recorded and pre-produced before broadcast, and eventually looped through the night.


title: Euronews

text: On 20 April 2020, it was reported that NBCUniversal had sold its stake in Euronews to Media Globe Networks, eventually having an overall majority share of 88%. NBCUniversal's parent company Comcast had recently acquired pan-European satellite service Sky Group, and was prioritizing a collaboration between NBC News and Sky News on a new international news channel. The proposed service was scrapped in August during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, with the project no longer considered commercially viable.


title: Euronews

text: As part of Euronews' digital growth post-NBC, the broadcaster has launched a series of online verticals dedicated to specific areas. These include Euronews Green, Euronews Travel, Euronews Next, and Euronews Culture.


title: Euronews

text: In December 2021, reports surfaced that Lisbon-based Alpac Capital would buy an 88% controlling stake in Euronews from Egyptian telecoms magnate Naguib Sawiris. The sale was met with scrutiny as Alpac is allegedly linked to Viktor Orbán of Hungary (discussed below). The purchase was finalised in July 2022, following approval from the French government.


title: Euronews

text: The channel is available in 430 million households in 166 countries worldwide. It reaches more than 170 million European households by cable, satellite and terrestrial. It also began to secure availability on multimedia platforms such as IPTV and digital media.


title: Euronews

text: Euronews launched an application for mobile devices (Android, iPhone, and iPad) which is called "Euronews Live". The application is free of charge and is available on Google Play and the App Store. This app was later shut down quietly.


title: Euronews

text: The channel's programmes are also available by podcast, and it has maintained YouTube channels since October 2007.


title: Euronews

text: The following broadcasters have simulcast, or are currently simulcasting Euronews through terrestrial channels for a limited amount of time:


title: Euronews

text: In 2012, the largest Belarusian state network MTIS stopped broadcasting Euronews for unknown reasons.


title: Euronews

text: In 2013, the new commercial channel Planet TV started broadcasting Euronews dubbed in Slovenian after Antenna TV SL purchased a major stake in the company. Euronews airs after closedown (or sign-off) of Planet TV, but both call sign logos are displayed.


title: Euronews

text: In September 2016, Euronews disappeared from the Freesat channel list in the UK, in a move made by Sawiris.


title: Euronews

text: In September 2017, VGTRK ceased simulcasting Euronews to expand broadcasting hours of its Russia-K channel.


title: Euronews

text: Access to Euronews in Russia was blocked by Roskomnadzor in late March 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the channel being pulled from local providers as well as its websites no longer being accessible.


title: Euronews

text: In the UK, Euronews is available, together with a number of other international news channels, via online video subscription service NewsPlayer+ and alongside Africanews on Freeview channel 271 via the Channelbox free streaming service.


title: Euronews

text: Since 2018, Euronews has begun licensing its name to various private and public broadcasters and organisations in southern, central and eastern Europe, agreeing to set up localized Euronews channels broadcasting regional, national, European and international news in local languages. The first of these channels was the launch of Euronews Albania.


title: Euronews

text: In 2019, Euronews launched its first franchise through a joint venture with local RTV In in Albania. The new channel, known as Euronews Albania, is based in Tirana, Albania and covers the Western Balkans countries of Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia.


title: Euronews

text: In 2021, Euronews signed a partnership with TV Europa to launch a channel in Bulgarian. The new channel started broadcasting on May 5, 2022.


title: Euronews

text: In 2019, Euronews signed a deal with local telecommunications company Silknet to launch a channel in Georgian. The new channel began broadcasting on 31 August.


title: Euronews

text: In 2021, Euronews teamed up with the Politehnica University of Bucharest to launch a channel in Romanian. The new channel started broadcasting on 25 May 2022, and also covers the Republic of Moldova.


title: Euronews

text: In 2019, Euronews teamed up with the media group HD-WIN, owned by the state-owned Telekom Srbija, to launch a channel in Serbian. The new channel started broadcasting on 3 June 2021.


title: Euronews

text: High-definition (HD) broadcasting was started on 2 November 2016 via satellite using Hot Bird-capacities (English audio only). Regarding the audio codec, Euronews originally used the AC3 format, before changing to the AAC codec in March 2017, and changing again to the MPEG codec in April 2017.


title: Euronews

text: The current Euronews logo is the fifth. From 1 January 1993 to February 1999 the logo was in the lower right corner of the screen, from February 1999 to June 2008 it was in the upper left corner of the screen, from June 2008 to May 2016 it was in the upper right corner of the screen, and from May 2016 to present it has been in the lower-left corner of the screen.


title: Euronews

text: Euronews primarily broadcasts from its headquarters in Lyon, but also maintains international bureaux for editorial or marketing purposes in Athens, Brussels, Budapest, Doha, Dubai, Istanbul, London, Paris, Bucharest and Washington, D.C.


title: Euronews

text: Mário David, the father of Pedro Vargas David (CEO of Alpac Capital), is a long-time associate, advisor and friend to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. According to Ágnes Urbán, director of the think tank Mertek Media Monitor, Euronews risks being exploited as a "pseudo-independent" media outpost of the government of Hungary, where it maintains a semblance of independence, but takes a "far less critical" stance with regard to Hungary and other so-called illiberal democracies.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term "Geneva Convention" usually denotes the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of the Second World War (1939–1945), which updated the terms of the two 1929 treaties and added two new conventions. The Geneva Conventions extensively define the basic rights of wartime prisoners (civilians and military personnel), established protections for the wounded and sick, and provided protections for the civilians in and around a war-zone; moreover, the Geneva Convention also defines the rights and protections afforded to non-combatants. The treaties of 1949 were ratified, in their entirety or with reservations, by 196 countries. The Geneva Conventions concern only prisoners and non-combatants in war; they do not address the use of weapons of war, which are instead addressed by the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which concern conventional weapons, and the Geneva Protocol, which concerns biological and chemical warfare.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The Swiss businessman Henry Dunant went to visit wounded soldiers after the Battle of Solferino in 1859. He was shocked by the lack of facilities, personnel, and medical aid available to help these soldiers. As a result, he published his book, "A Memory of Solferino", in 1862, on the horrors of war. His wartime experiences inspired Dunant to propose:


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The former proposal led to the establishment of the Red Cross in Geneva. The latter led to the 1864 Geneva Convention, the first codified international treaty that covered the sick and wounded soldiers on the battlefield. On 22 August 1864, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico, to attend an official diplomatic conference. Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. On 22 August 1864, the conference adopted the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention:


title: Geneva Conventions

text: For both of these accomplishments, Henry Dunant became co recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: On 20 October 1868 the first unsuccessful attempt to expand the 1864 treaty was undertaken. With the 'Additional Articles relating to the Condition of the Wounded in War' an attempt was initiated to clarify some rules of the 1864 convention and to extend them to maritime warfare. The Articles were signed but were only ratified by the Netherlands and the United States of America. The Netherlands later withdrew their ratification. The protection of the victims of maritime warfare would later be realized by the third Hague Convention of 1899 and the tenth Hague Convention of 1907.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: In 1906 thirty-five states attended a conference convened by the Swiss government. On 6 July 1906 it resulted in the adoption of the "Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field", which improved and supplemented, for the first time, the 1864 convention. It remained in force until 1970 when Costa Rica acceded to the 1949 Geneva Conventions.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The 1929 conference yielded two conventions that were signed on 27 July 1929. One, the "Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field", was the third version to replace the original convention of 1864. The other was adopted after experiences in World War I had shown the deficiencies in the protection of prisoners of war under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. The "Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" was not to replace these earlier conventions signed at The Hague, rather it supplemented them.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Inspired by the wave of humanitarian and pacifistic enthusiasm following World War II and the outrage towards the war crimes disclosed by the Nuremberg Trials, a series of conferences were held in 1949 reaffirming, expanding and updating the prior Geneva and Hague Conventions. It yielded four distinct conventions:


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Despite the length of these documents, they were found over time to be incomplete. In fact, the very nature of armed conflicts had changed with the beginning of the Cold War era, leading many to believe that the 1949 Geneva Conventions were addressing a largely extinct reality: on the one hand, most armed conflicts had become internal, or civil wars, while on the other, most wars had become increasingly asymmetric. Moreover, modern armed conflicts were inflicting an increasingly higher toll on civilians, which brought the need to provide civilian persons and objects with tangible protections in time of combat, thus bringing a much needed update to the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. In light of these developments, two Protocols were adopted in 1977 that extended the terms of the 1949 Conventions with additional protections. In 2005, a third brief Protocol was added establishing an additional protective sign for medical services, the Red Crystal, as an alternative to the ubiquitous Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems, for those countries that find them objectionable.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: "The Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. Commentary" ("The Commentaries") is a series of four volumes of books published between 1952 and 1958 and containing commentaries to each of the four Geneva Conventions. The series was edited by Jean Pictet who was the vice-president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The "Commentaries" are often relied upon to provide authoritative interpretation of the articles.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The Geneva Conventions are rules that apply only in times of armed conflict and seek to protect people who are not or are no longer taking part in hostilities; these include the sick and wounded of armed forces on the field, wounded, sick, and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea, prisoners of war, and civilians. The first convention dealt with the treatment of wounded and sick armed forces in the field. The second convention dealt with the sick, wounded, and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea. The third convention dealt with the treatment of prisoners of war during times of conflict. The fourth convention dealt with the treatment of civilians and their protection during wartime.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: During the negotiations for the 1949 conventions, Britain and France successfully removed language from early drafts that they saw as unfavorable to their colonial rule.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: In international law and diplomacy the term "convention" refers to "an international agreement," or treaty.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: With two Geneva Conventions revised and adopted, and the second and fourth added, in 1949 the whole set is referred to as the "Geneva Conventions of 1949" or simply the "Geneva Conventions". Usually only the Geneva Conventions of 1949 are referred to as First, Second, Third or Fourth Geneva Convention. The treaties of 1949 were ratified, in whole or with reservations, by 196 countries.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The Geneva Conventions apply at times of war and armed conflict to governments who have ratified its terms. The details of applicability are spelled out in Common Articles 2 and 3.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: This article states that the Geneva Conventions apply to all the cases of "international" conflict, where at least one of the warring nations have ratified the Conventions. Primarily:


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Article 1 of Protocol I further clarifies that armed conflict against colonial domination and foreign occupation also qualifies as an "international" conflict.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: When the criteria of international conflict have been met, the full protections of the Conventions are considered to apply.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: This article states that the certain minimum rules of war apply to armed conflicts "where at least one Party is not a State". The interpretation of the term "armed conflict" and therefore the applicability of this article is a matter of debate. For example, it would apply to conflicts between the Government and rebel forces, or between two rebel forces, or to other conflicts that have all the characteristics of war, whether carried out within the confines of one country or not. There are two criteria to distinguish non-international armed conflicts from lower forms of violence. The level of violence has to be of certain intensity, for example when the state cannot contain the situation with regular police forces. Also, involved non-state groups need to have a certain level of organization, like a military command structure.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The other Geneva Conventions are not applicable in this situation but only the provisions contained within Article 3, and additionally within the language of Protocol II. The rationale for the limitation is to avoid conflict with the rights of Sovereign States that were not part of the treaties. When the provisions of this article apply, it states that:


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The term "protecting power" has a specific meaning under these Conventions. A protecting power is a state that is not taking part in the armed conflict, but that has agreed to look after the interests of a state that is a party to the conflict. The protecting power is a mediator enabling the flow of communication between the parties to the conflict. The protecting power also monitors implementation of these Conventions, such as by visiting the zone of conflict and prisoners of war. The protecting power must act as an advocate for prisoners, the wounded, and civilians.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Not all violations of the treaty are treated equally. The most serious crimes are termed "grave breaches" and provide a legal definition of a war crime. Grave breaches of the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions include the following acts if committed against a person protected by the convention:


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Nations who are party to these treaties must enact and enforce legislation penalizing any of these crimes. Nations are also obligated to search for persons alleged to commit these crimes, or persons having ordered them to be committed, and to bring them to trial regardless of their nationality and regardless of the place where the crimes took place.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The principle of universal jurisdiction also applies to the enforcement of grave breaches when the United Nations Security Council asserts its authority and jurisdiction from the UN Charter to apply universal jurisdiction. The UNSC did this when they established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to investigate and/or prosecute alleged violations.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Soldiers, as prisoners of war, will not receive a trial unless the allegation of a war crime has been made. According to article 43 of the 1949 Conventions, soldiers are employed for the purpose of serving in war; engaging in armed conflict is legitimate, and does not constitute a grave breach. Should a soldier be arrested by belligerent forces, they are to be considered "lawful combatants" and afforded the protectorate status of a prisoner of war (POW) until the cessation of the conflict. Human rights law applies to any incarcerated individual, including the right to a fair trial. Charges may only be brought against an enemy POW after a fair trial, but the initial crime being accused must be an explicit violation of the accords, more severe than simply fighting against the captor in battle. No trial will otherwise be afforded to a captured soldier, as deemed by human rights law. This element of the convention has been confused during past incidents of detainment of US soldiers by North Vietnam, where the regime attempted to try all imprisoned soldiers in court for committing grave breaches, on the incorrect assumption that their sole existence as enemies of the state violated international law.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Although warfare has changed dramatically since the Geneva Conventions of 1949, they are still considered the cornerstone of contemporary international humanitarian law. They protect combatants who find themselves "hors de combat," and they protect civilians caught up in the zone of war. These treaties came into play for all recent international armed conflicts, including the War in Afghanistan, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion of Chechnya (1994–2017), and the Russo-Georgian War. The Geneva Conventions also protect those affected by non-international armed conflicts such as the Syrian civil war.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The lines between combatants and civilians have blurred when the actors are not exclusively High Contracting Parties (HCP). Since the fall of the Soviet Union, an HCP often is faced with a non-state actor, as argued by General Wesley Clark in 2007. Examples of such conflict include the Sri Lankan Civil War, the Sudanese Civil War, and the Colombian Armed Conflict, as well as most military engagements of the US since 2000.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Some scholars hold that Common Article 3 deals with these situations, supplemented by Protocol II (1977). These set out minimum legal standards that must be followed for internal conflicts. International tribunals, particularly the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), have clarified international law in this area. In the 1999 "Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic" judgement, the ICTY ruled that grave breaches apply not only to international conflicts, but also to internal armed conflict. Further, those provisions are considered customary international law.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Controversy has arisen over the US designation of irregular opponents as "unlawful enemy combatants" (see also unlawful combatant), especially in the SCOTUS judgments over the Guantanamo Bay detention camp brig facility "Hamdi v. Rumsfeld", "Hamdan v. Rumsfeld" and "Rasul v. Bush", and later "Boumediene v. Bush". President George W. Bush, aided by Attorneys-General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales and General Keith B. Alexander, claimed the power, as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, to determine that any person, including an American citizen, who is suspected of being a member, agent, or associate of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or possibly any other terrorist organization, is an "enemy combatant" who can be detained in U.S. military custody until hostilities end, pursuant to the international law of war.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: The application of the Geneva Conventions in the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present) has been troublesome because some of the personnel who engaged in combat against the Ukrainians were not identified by insignia, although they did wear military-style fatigues. The types of comportment qualified as acts of perfidy under doctrine are listed in Articles 37 through 39 of the Geneva Convention; the prohibition of fake insignia is listed at Article 39.2, but the law is silent on the complete absence of insignia. The status of POWs captured in this circumstance remains a question.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Educational institutions and organizations including Harvard University, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute use the Geneva Convention as a primary text investigating torture and warfare.


title: Geneva Conventions

text: Artificial intelligence and autonomous weapon systems, such as military robots and cyber-weapons, are creating challenges in the creation, interpretation and application of the laws of armed conflict. The complexity of these new challenges, as well as the speed in which they are developed, complicates the application of the Conventions, which have not been updated in a long time. Adding to this challenge is the very slow speed of the procedure of developing new treaties to deal with new forms of warfare, and determining agreed-upon interpretations to existing ones, meaning that by the time a decision can be made, armed conflict may have already evolved in a way that makes the changes obsolete.


title: John Wick

text: John Wick is an American action thriller media franchise created by Derek Kolstad and centering around John Wick, a former hitman who is forced back into the criminal underworld he had abandoned.


title: John Wick

text: The franchise began with the release of "John Wick" in 2014, followed by two sequels, "" in 2017 and "" in 2019. The three films were considered critical and commercial successes, with a collective gross of more than $587 million worldwide. A fourth installment, "", is in post-production and has a release date of March 24, 2023. Two spin-offs are in development for a 2023 release: the limited series "The Continental", and film "Ballerina", while a fifth main installment, originally intended to be shot back-to-back with the fourth film, is also in development.


title: John Wick

text: John Wick (Keanu Reeves) was born Jardani Jovonovich in Belarus. He was an orphan, and was taken in by the Tarasov Russian Mafia where he was raised as an assassin. He was so ruthless that the mafia boss Viggo Tarasov respected and feared him. At the beginning of the first film, Wick had been retired from being a hitman for five years.


title: John Wick

text: The first film in the series focuses on Wick's search for the men who broke into his home, stole his beloved vintage car, and killed his puppy, Daisy. She was the final gift from his recently deceased wife, Helen (Bridget Moynahan).


title: John Wick

text: The films began development in 2012. Principal photography began September 25, 2013, and wrapped on December 20, 2013.


title: John Wick

text: Forced to honor a debt from his past life, Wick is sent to assassinate a target he has no wish to kill, then faces betrayal at the hands of his sponsor.


title: John Wick

text: John Wick is on the run, being hunted with a $14 million 'open' contract on his life for breaking a foundational rule: taking a life on Continental Hotel grounds. The victim, Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) was a member of the High Table, the organization that ordered the open contract. John should have already been executed, but the Continental's manager, Winston Scott (Ian McShane), has given him a one-hour grace period before he is "excommunicado"—his membership will be revoked and he will be banned from all services and cut off from other members. John uses favors and contacts accrued in his former life to stay alive as he fights his way out of New York City.


title: John Wick

text: The third film was announced in October 2016, production began in early 2018 and was released in May 2019.


title: John Wick

text: In May 2019, prior to the release of "John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum", Chad Stahelski confirmed on a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" thread that there has been discussion of another film. Keanu Reeves has also stated that he would continue as long as the films are successful. Lionsgate officially announced the film during "John Wick 3"s opening week, with a scheduled release date of May 21, 2021. However, in April 2020, during an interview with Collider, Stahelski revealed that the film would most likely not make its 2021 release date due to his commitment to "The Matrix Resurrections". He also revealed, during the same interview, that a 100-page "scriptment" (part script/part outline) had been written for the film. The screenplay was written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch, as the studio decided to move on from series creator Derek Kolstad. Production is due to commence in June 2021 in Paris and Berlin, with additional filming in Japan and New York City. Partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film is now scheduled for release on March 24, 2023. In June 2021, Donnie Yen, Rina Sawayama, Shamier Anderson, Bill Skarsgård and Hiroyuki Sanada joined the cast. Principal photography began on June 28, 2021. In October 2021, principal photography had officially wrapped.


title: John Wick

text: In July 2017, Lionsgate announced the development of a spin-off film written by Shay Hatten and titled "Ballerina". The studio intends to expand the franchise with installments set within the same fictional world. The story, written as a spec script based on Hatten's love for the "John Wick" films before being purchased by Lionsgate, involves a young woman who is raised to be an assassin who seeks revenge on the hitmen who killed her family. Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee will serve as producers. The project will be developed by Thunder Road Films production studio.


title: John Wick

text: In October 2019, Len Wiseman signed onto the project as director, with Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski serving as a producer and executive producer, respectively. The film will follow the same ballerina character previously portrayed by Unity Phelan in "John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum". In May 2020, Stahelski stated that Wiseman had read the script earlier, and approached the studio with a pitch of how he would develop the project, based on Hatten's draft. Stahelski met with Wiseman, and approached executives to hire the filmmaker. He confirmed that he and his team will work closely with Wiseman on the action sequences and stunts for the film, while acknowledging that Wiseman's filmmaking style will add variety to the franchise. At that point, Wiseman and Hatten were working on a newer draft of the script. In May 2020, it was reported that the studio is looking for an actress, with Chloë Grace Moretz as the template for the kind of talent they are looking for. In October 2021, Ana de Armas entered early-negotiations to portray the titular character. By April 2022 at CinemaCon, Lionsgate officially announced that de Armas will star in the lead role. Principal photography will commence later that summer. In July of the same year, it was revealed that de Armas had personally selected Emerald Fennell to contribute to the script as one of its writers.


title: John Wick

text: In September 2022, it was announced that principal photography had been delayed from its previous tentative start and will commence later that fall. In November 2022, principal photography was scheduled to begin imminently. Later that month, Ian McShane and Keanu Reeves were announced as part of the cast, reprising their respective roles as Winston Scott and John Wick. Filming began on November 7, 2022, in Prague, Czech Republic.


title: John Wick

text: In August 2020, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer confirmed that a fifth film was also being developed. It was intended to be shot back-to-back with the fourth installment in early 2021, but in March 2021, Lionsgate opted to delay production and move forward with "Chapter 4" first. In May 2022, Stehelski stated that while "Chapter 4" has some "conclusion" elements to the story, there would be a fifth installment to the franchise.


title: John Wick

text: In February 2022, Halle Berry spoke to "IGN" about the possibility of her character having a spin-off film, evolving from a failed concept for a film about her "James Bond" character, Jinx.


title: John Wick

text: In July 2017, Leitch discussed the potential of a crossover film between "Atomic Blonde" and the "John Wick" franchise, Leitch himself having directed the former after previously co-directing the first "John Wick" film. He stated that everyone involved had discussed the possibility, and agreed to do it if a good enough story was created.


title: John Wick

text: In March 2021, Derek Kolstad stated that there is potential for a crossover between "John Wick" and "Nobody", while it would be done in a small, Easter egg-reference manner. Later that month, director Ilya Naishuller stated that there is potential for crossover with the "John Wick" franchise, noting that the same creative teams and studios made the films. In June of the same year, Kolstad stated that he would like to have the properties crossover in a minimalist fashion, but reaffirmed that John Wick and Hutch Mansell would be on the same side should the characters share more screen time.


title: John Wick

text: In June 2017, Chad Stahelski and Derek Kolstad were announced to be developing a television series for Lionsgate based on the characters and setting of the "John Wick" films, tentatively titled "The Continental". The series was reported to center around the hotel safe-haven for hit men and assassins, which features in the films. It was reported that Reeves would reprise his role. That same month, it was announced that the series would be a prequel to the film series that takes place years prior to the events of the films. In January 2018, the project was ordered to series and was set to premiere on the co-owned Starz network. Chris Collins will serve as executive writer and showrunner for the series, while David Leitch, Keanu Reeves, and Chad Stahelski will produce the series. Stahelski will also direct the pilot episode.


title: John Wick

text: In April 2021, chairman of Lionsgate Television Kevin Beggs announced that the series will center around a young Winston in the 1970s. The series will explore real-world events, including the Great Garbage Strike and the American Mafia's rise to economic power. He announced that the project's plot had been difficult to develop, with the studio having taken various pitches from different creative teams, before the creators of "Wayne" presented the concept that they settled upon: three 90-minute episodes, making "The Continental" a limited series. In October 2021, it was announced that Mel Gibson would star in the series, with Colin Woodell cast as a young Winston Scott. Hubert Point-Du Jour, Jessica Allain, Mishel Prada, Nhung Kate, and Ben Robson were also added to the cast. In November 2021, Ayomide Adegun, Peter Greene, and Jeremy Bobb joined the cast as a young Charon, a younger Uncle Charlie, and a new character named Mayhew, respectively. In February 2022, it was announced that Katie McGrath was cast as The Adjudicator.


title: John Wick

text: In August 2022, Lionsgate announced it had sold premiere rights to the series to Peacock, having determined the series was no longer a fit for Starz. It is now expected to premiere in 2023.


title: John Wick

text: The premise for "John Wick" was conceived by screenwriter Derek Kolstad who began work on a treatment about a retired contract killer coming out to seek vengeance, entitled "Scorn". After one month of work, he had completed the first draft of the screenplay. After addressing several issues he pitched the script to various clients, garnering at least three offers. When he first began to think about writing the script, Kolstad was influenced by film-noir classics, and the themes of revenge and the antihero. Kolstad explained that he tried to, "explore what would happen if the worst man in existence found salvation [... and] when the source of his salvation is ripped from him, what happens? Do the gates of Hades open?"


title: John Wick

text: In December 2012, Thunder Road Pictures had bought the script with discretionary funds, with Kolstad agreeing to Thunder Road's plan to make the film straight away. When Basil Iwanyk, head of Thunder Road Pictures, had first read Kolstad's original screenplay, he was immediately drawn to the main character of Wick, stating: "The tone of the script was subversive and really fun". He also admired the emotional weight and action elements of the piece. After Thunder Road had optioned the script, Kolstad spent additional months rewriting the script with them. In the original script, the character of John Wick was written with "a man in his mid-sixties" to play the role, given the title character's fabled reputation as a revered and respected assassin. However, Iwanyk believed that this was irrelevant and bent the original vision ever so slightly, stating: "Instead, we decided to look for someone who is not literally older, but who has a seasoned history in the film world".


title: John Wick

text: In 2013, Keanu Reeves secured the film's male lead. After Iwanyk and Peter Lawson of Thunder Road showed him the script, he thought it to be full of potential and stated: "I love the role but you want the whole story, the whole ensemble to come to life". Reeves and Kolstad worked closely together on further developing the screenplay and the story, with the screenwriter describing: "We spent as much time developing the other characters as we did his. [Keanu] recognizes that the strength of the storyline lies in even the smallest details". The title of the film was later changed from "Scorn" to "John Wick", as according to Kolstad, "Keanu liked the name so much, that Reeves kept telling everyone that he was making a film called 'John Wick, and the producers agreed, changing the title.


title: John Wick

text: During story discussions for "John Wick", Reeves contacted Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, whom he originally met on the set of "The Matrix", to see if they were interested in choreographing or directing the action of the piece. Reeves admired Stahelski and Leitch's work performing, choreographing and coordinating, stating that, "when I got the script...I immediately thought of Chad and Dave for the action design, but I was secretly hoping they'd want to direct it". He later added: "I knew that they would love the genre and I knew that they would love John Wick. And I thought the worlds that get created – the real world and then this underworld – would be attractive to them, and it was". After reading Kolstad's script, Stahelski and Leitch told Reeves they wanted to tell the story of "John Wick", as they both had a desire to get involved with a project as directors. Impressed with Reeves' enthusiasm and the quality of the script, Stahelski and Leitch told him that they wished to direct the film and later presented him with their version of the story which was based on "[...] the idea of [Wick] as an urban legend, a thriller assassin movie with a realistic vibe and an otherworldly setting". Impressed with their concept, Reeves supported the pair, and Stahelski and Leitch pitched the idea to the studio, who hired them to direct, contrary to their initial request of directing the film's second unit. In May 2013, Stahelski and Leitch came to direct the film together as a team, though it was later ruled by the Directors Guild of America that only Stahelski would be given the director credit. Leitch was credited as a producer.


title: John Wick

text: Principal photography for the first film began in New York City, with an original shooting schedule from September 25 to December 5, 2013, and the filming process scheduled to continue in and around New York City and the greater New York area.


title: John Wick

text: In February 2015, directors Stahelski and Leitch stated that a "John Wick" sequel had begun development, which was later titled "John Wick: Chapter 2". The same month, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer stated during a conference call that they see "John Wick" as a multiple-title action franchise. Additionally, it was reported that Kolstad would return to write the screenplay. In May 2015, it was confirmed that a sequel was green-lit, and Lionsgate would be selling the film at the Cannes Film Festival. Principal photography on the film began on October 26, 2015, in New York City. It would later move to Rome, and eventually resume in Montreal, Canada on October 27, 2016.


title: John Wick

text: In October 2016, Stahelski stated a third film was in development. In June 2017, it was reported that Kolstad would return again to write the screenplay for the third film. In September 2017, Lionsgate announced a release date of May 17, 2019. In January 2018, it was reported that Chad Stahelski was returning to direct the film and Common, Laurence Fishburne, and Ruby Rose were set to reprise their roles from the second film. Additionally, it was announced that Hiroyuki Sanada had been cast as the film's antagonist. The film began production in early 2018. On May 21, 2018, it was reported that Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillon, Anjelica Huston, Mark Dacascos and Jason Mantzoukas had joined the cast.


title: John Wick

text: Director Chad Stahelski cited "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1966), "Point Blank" (1967), "Le Cercle Rouge" (1970), and "The Killer" (1989) as influences for the series.


title: John Wick

text: About "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", Stahelski said, "Look at Clint Eastwood in [the film] – there is so much back-story unsaid there. We're big fans of leaving it to your imagination. We just give you some gold coins, and then it's, 'Where do the gold coins come from?' We'll get to that eventually. Have your imagination do some work there." He also said "Point Blank" influenced John Wick: "One of the biggest inspirations for the film was "Point Blank". We watched it on a loop in our office, and there are a couple of homages to that [in "John Wick"]." Park Chan-wook's "The Vengeance Trilogy" (2002–2005) and Lee Jeong-beom's "The Man from Nowhere" (2010) influenced the film due to "[their] minimalist composition and graphic nature."


title: John Wick

text: Alistair MacLean and Stephen King were huge influences in the creation of the story of "John Wick" in terms of characterization and world-building, with screenwriter Derek Kolstad stating, "MacLean could build a world, and King could surprise you by what the main character truly was capable of." Outside of films, Stahelski and Leitch drew inspiration from the visual stylings of the '60s and '70s as well as cinematic influences, including Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, Steve McQueen, Lee Marvin, William Friedkin and Sam Peckinpah. Stahelski himself said, "All the way back to Kurosawa up to Sergio Leone. We like the Spaghetti Western sensibility there, some of the composition." About inspiration and emulation from the noir film genre, Stahelski added that "Noir maybe was sort of less impact for us than the other sort of westerns and Kurosawa and things like that. I think we wanted to make this hard-boiled character."


title: John Wick

text: Wick appears as a playable character in "Payday 2". "John Wick"-themed elements were also added to "Fortnite Battle Royale" upon the launch of its ninth season, occurring a day before the third film's release. A Wick-inspired character had previously been available in the game's third season.


title: John Wick

text: "John Wick Chronicles", a virtual reality game game set in the Continental Hotel, was released on February 9, 2017. Players assassinate multiple targets inside the hotel as John Wick using a multitude of weapons.


title: John Wick

text: "John Wick Hex", a tactical role-playing game, was announced in May 2019 and released on October 8, 2019. The game has the player control Wick in various missions to use his array of skills to take down opponents and features the voices of Ian McShane and Lance Reddick reprising their film roles, among others. The PlayStation 4 version of the game was released on May 5, 2020.


title: John Wick

text: Lionsgate has also revealed that they have received several pitches for a AAA "John Wick"' title but are still currently fielding those proposal.


title: John Wick

text: A "John Wick" comic book mini-series was released between November 29, 2017 and January 31, 2018 by Dynamite Entertainment. It was written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Giovanni Valletta (issues 1 and 2) and Matt Gaudio (issues 3–5). The five-book series chronicles a young John Wick after his release from prison and his first vendetta. It serves as a prequel to the movie franchise and introduces the Book of Rules, The Continental and other aspects familiar within the "John Wick" movie series.


title: John Wick

text: On May 23, 2021, thirty-second season finale of "The Simpsons", titled "The Last Barfighter", aired on Fox as an official parody of "" and "", featuring Ian McShane guest star as Artemis Scott, Winston's twin brother and the manager of "The Confidential" hotel, part of a secret society of bartenders of which members include Moe Szyslak and Dr. Julius Hibbert.


title: Madeira

text: Madeira ( , , ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is one of two autonomous regions of Portugal, the other being the Azores. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in a region known as Macaronesia, just under to the north of the Canary Islands and west of the Kingdom of Morocco. Madeira is geologically located on the African Tectonic Plate, notwithstanding being culturally, sociologically, economically and politically European as is its southern archipelago neighbor. Its population was 251,060 in 2021. The capital of Madeira is Funchal, which is located on the main island's south coast.


title: Madeira

text: The archipelago includes the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Desertas, administered together with the separate archipelago of the Savage Islands. Roughly half of the region's population lives in its capital, Funchal. The region has political and administrative autonomy through the Administrative Political Statute of the Autonomous Region of Madeira provided for in the Portuguese Constitution. The autonomous region is an integral part of the European Union as an outermost region. Madeira generally has a very mild and moderate subtropical climate with mediterranean summer droughts and winter rain. Many microclimates are found at different elevations.


title: Madeira

text: Madeira, originally uninhabited, was claimed by Portuguese sailors in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1419 and settled after 1420. The archipelago is considered to be the first territorial discovery of the exploratory period of the Age of Discovery.


title: Madeira

text: It's a popular year-round resort, particularly for fellow Portuguese, but also British (148,000 visits in 2021), and Germans (with 113,000 visits in 2021). It is by far the most populous and densely populated Portuguese island. The region is noted for its Madeira wine, flora, fauna, with its pre-historic laurel forest classified as UNESCO World Heritage Site. The main harbour in Funchal has long been the leading Portuguese port in cruise liner dockings, an important stopover for Atlantic passenger cruises between Europe, the Caribbean and North Africa. In addition, the International Business Centre of Madeira, also known as the Madeira Free Trade Zone, was created formally in the 1980s as a tool of regional economic policy. It consists of a set of incentives, mainly tax-related, granted with the objective of attracting foreign direct investment based on international services into Madeira.


title: Madeira

text: Plutarch in his "Parallel Lives" ("Sertorius", 75 AD) referring to the military commander Quintus Sertorius (d. 72 BC), relates that after his return to Cádiz, he met sailors who spoke of idyllic Atlantic islands: "The islands are said to be two in number separated by a very narrow strait and lie from Africa. They are called the Isles of the Blessed."


title: Madeira

text: Archaeological evidence suggests that the islands may have been visited by the Vikings sometime between 900 and 1030.


title: Madeira

text: Accounts by Muhammad al-Idrisi state that the Mugharrarin came across an island where they found "a huge quantity of sheep, the meat of which was bitter and inedible" before going to the more incontrovertibly inhabited Canary Islands. This island, possibly Madeira or Hierro, must have been inhabited or previously visited by people for livestock to be present.


title: Madeira

text: During the reign of King Edward III of England, lovers Robert Machim and Anna d'Arfet were said to have fled from England to France in 1346. Driven off course by a violent storm, their ship ran aground along the coast of an island that may have been Madeira. Later this legend was the basis of the naming of the city of Machico on the island, in memory of the young lovers.


title: Madeira

text: Madeira is described in various medieval manuscripts: the Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms of early 14th century, the Medici-Laurentian Atlas of 1351, in Soleri Portolani of 1380 and 1385 and Corbitis Atlas of late 14th century; under names such as "Lecmane", "Lolegname" and "Legnami" (the isle of wood); "Puerto" or Porto Santo; "desierta", "deserte" or deserta. It is widely accepted that knowledge of these Atlantic islands existed before their more documented and successful settlement by the Portuguese Empire.


title: Madeira

text: In 1418, two captains under service to Prince Henry the Navigator, João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, were driven off course by a storm to an island they named Porto Santo (English: "holy harbour") in gratitude for divine deliverance from a shipwreck. The following year, an organised expedition, under the captaincy of Zarco, Vaz Teixeira, and Bartolomeu Perestrello, traveled to the island to claim it on behalf of the Portuguese Crown. Subsequently, the new settlers observed "a heavy black cloud suspended to the southwest." Their investigation revealed it to be the larger island they called Madeira.


title: Madeira

text: The first settlers were the three captain-donees and their respective families, a small group of members of the gentry, people of modest conditions and some former inmates of the kingdom.


title: Madeira

text: The settlement involved people from all over the kingdom. It was from the Algarve that some of the early settlers set out. Many came with the important task of the landlord system employment. Servants, squires, knights and noblemen are identified as the ones who secured the beginning of the settlement. Later on, settlers came from the north of Portugal, namely from the region of Entre Douro and Minho, who intervened specifically in the organization of the agricultural area.


title: Madeira

text: Majority of settlers were fishermen and peasant farmers, who willingly left Portugal for a new life on the islands, a better one, they hoped, than was possible in a Portugal which had been ravaged by the Black Death and where the best farmlands were strictly controlled by the nobility.


title: Madeira

text: To have minimum conditions for the development of agriculture on the island, the settlers had to chop down part of the dense forest and build a large number of water channels, called “levadas”, to carry the abundant waters on the north coast to the south coast of the island.


title: Madeira

text: Initially, the settlers produced wheat for their own sustenance but later began to export wheat to mainland Portugal.


title: Madeira

text: Grain production began to fall and the ensuing crisis forced Henry the Navigator to order other commercial crops to be planted so that the islands could be profitable. These specialised plants, and their associated industrial technology, created one of the major revolutions on the islands and fuelled Portuguese industry. Following the introduction of the first water-driven sugar mill on Madeira, sugar production increased to over 6,000 "arrobas" (an "arroba" was equal to ) by 1455, using advisers from Sicily and financed by Genoese capital. (Genoa acted as an integral part of the island economy until the 17th century.) The accessibility of Madeira attracted Genoese and Flemish traders, who were keen to bypass Venetian monopolies.


title: Madeira

text: Sugarcane production was the primary engine of the island's economy which quickly afforded the Funchal metropolis economic prosperity. The production of sugar cane attracted adventurers and merchants from all parts of Europe, especially Italians, Basques, Catalans, and Flemish. This meant that, in the second half of the fifteenth century, the city of Funchal became a mandatory port of call for European trade routes.


title: Madeira

text: Slaves were used during the island's period of sugar trade to cultivate sugar cane alongside paid workers, though slave owners were only a small minority of the Madeiran population, and those who did own slaves owned only a few. Slaves consisted of Guanches from the nearby Canary islands, captured Berbers from the conquest of Ceuta and West Africans after further exploration of the African coast.


title: Madeira

text: Until the first half of the sixteenth century, Madeira was one of the major sugar markets of the Atlantic. Apparently it is in Madeira that, in the context of sugar production, slave labour was applied for the first time. The colonial system of sugar production was put into practice on the island of Madeira, on a much smaller scale, and later transferred, on a large scale, to other overseas production areas.


title: Madeira

text: Later on, this small scale of production was completely outmatched by Brazilian and São Tomean plantations. Madeiran sugar production declined in such a way that it was not enough for domestic needs, so that sugar was imported to the island from other Portuguese colonies. Sugar mills were gradually abandoned, with few remaining, which gave way to other markets in Madeira.


title: Madeira

text: In the 17th century, as Portuguese sugar production was shifted to Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe and elsewhere, Madeira's most important commodity product became its wine. Sugar plantations were replaced by vineyards, originating in the so-called ‘Wine Culture’, which acquired international fame and provided the rise of a new social class, the Bourgeoisie.


title: Madeira

text: With the increase of commercial treaties with England, important English merchants settled on the Island and, ultimately, controlled the increasingly important island wine trade. The English traders settled in the Funchal as of the seventeenth century, consolidating the markets from North America, the West Indies and England itself. The Madeira Wine became very popular in the markets and it is also said to have been used in a toast during the Declaration of Independence by the Founding Fathers. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Madeira stands out for its climate and therapeutic effects. In the nineteenth century, visitors to the island integrated four major groups: patients, travellers, tourists and scientists. Most visitors belonged to the moneyed aristocracy.


title: Madeira

text: As a result of a high demand for the season, there was a need to prepare guides for visitors. The first tourist guide of Madeira appeared in 1850 and focused on elements of history, geology, flora, fauna and customs of the island.


title: Madeira

text: Regarding hotel infrastructures, the British and the Germans were the first to launch the Madeiran hotel chain. The historic Belmond Reid's Palace opened in 1891 and is still open to this day.


title: Madeira

text: Barbary corsairs from North Africa, who enslaved Europeans from ships and coastal communities throughout the Mediterranean region, captured 1,200 people in Porto Santo in 1617.


title: Madeira

text: The British first amicably occupied the island in 1801 whereafter Colonel William Henry Clinton became governor. A detachment of the 85th Regiment of Foot under Lieutenant-colonel James Willoughby Gordon garrisoned the island.


title: Madeira

text: After the Peace of Amiens, British troops withdrew in 1802, only to reoccupy Madeira in 1807 until the end of the Peninsular War in 1814. In 1846 James Julius Wood wrote a series of seven sketches of the island. In 1856, British troops recovering from cholera, and widows and orphans of soldiers fallen in the Crimean War, were stationed in Funchal, Madeira.


title: Madeira

text: During the Great War on 3 December 1916, a German U-boat, , captained by Max Valentiner, entered Funchal harbour on Madeira. "U-38" torpedoed and sank three ships, bringing the war to Portugal by extension. The ships sunk were:


title: Madeira

text: After attacking the ships, "U-38" bombarded Funchal for two hours from a range of about . Batteries on Madeira returned fire and eventually forced "U-38" to withdraw.


title: Madeira

text: On 12 December 1917, two German U-boats, "SM U-156" and "SM U-157" (captained by Max Valentiner), again bombarded Funchal. This time the attack lasted around 30 minutes. The U-boats fired 40 shells. There were three fatalities and 17 wounded; a number of houses and Santa Clara church were hit.


title: Madeira

text: Charles I (Karl I), the last Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was exiled to Madeira after the war. Determined to prevent an attempt to restore Charles to the throne, the Council of Allied Powers agreed he could go into exile on Madeira because it was isolated in the Atlantic and easily guarded. He died there on 1 April 1922 and his coffin lies in a chapel of the Church of Our Lady of Monte.


title: Madeira

text: The archipelago of Madeira is located from the African coast and from the European continent (approximately a one-and-a-half-hour flight from the Portuguese capital of Lisbon). Madeira is on the same parallel as Bermuda a few time zones further west in the Atlantic. The two archipelagos are the only land in the Atlantic on the 32nd parallel north. Madeira is found in the extreme south of the Tore-Madeira Ridge, a bathymetric structure of great dimensions oriented along a north-northeast to south-southwest axis that extends for . This submarine structure consists of long geomorphological relief that extends from the abyssal plain to ; its highest submersed point is at a depth of about (around latitude 36°N). The origins of the Tore-Madeira Ridge are not clearly established, but may have resulted from a morphological "buckling" of the lithosphere.


title: Madeira

text: The island of Madeira is at the top of a massive shield volcano that rises about from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, on the Tore underwater mountain range. The volcano formed atop an east–west rift in the oceanic crust along the African Plate, beginning during the Miocene epoch over 5 million years ago, continuing into the Pleistocene until about 700,000 years ago. This was followed by extensive erosion, producing two large amphitheatres open to south in the central part of the island. Volcanic activity later resumed, producing scoria cones and lava flows atop the older eroded shield. The most recent volcanic eruptions were on the west-central part of the island only 6,500 years ago, creating more cinder cones and lava flows.


title: Madeira

text: It is the largest island of the group with an area of , a length of (from Ponte de São Lourenço to Ponta do Pargo), while approximately at its widest point (from Ponta da Cruz to Ponta de São Jorge), with a coastline of . It has a mountain ridge that extends along the centre of the island, reaching at its highest point (Pico Ruivo), while much lower (below 200 metres) along its eastern extent. The primitive volcanic foci responsible for the central mountainous area, consisted of the peaks: Ruivo (1,862 m), Torres (1,851 m), Arieiro (1,818 m), Cidrão (1,802 m), Cedro (1,759 m), Casado (1,725 m), Grande (1,657 m), Ferreiro (1,582 m). At the end of this eruptive phase, an island circled by reefs was formed, its marine vestiges are evident in a calcareous layer in the area of Lameiros, in São Vicente (which was later explored for calcium oxide production). Sea cliffs, such as Cabo Girão, valleys and ravines extend from this central spine, making the interior generally inaccessible. Daily life is concentrated in the many villages at the mouths of the ravines, through which the heavy rains of autumn and winter usually travel to the sea.


title: Madeira

text: Based on differences in sun exposure, humidity, and annual mean temperature, there are clear variations between north- and south-facing regions, as well as between some islands. The islands are strongly influenced by the Gulf Stream and Canary Current, giving it mild to warm year-round temperatures; according to the Instituto de Meteorologia (IPMA), the average annual temperature at Funchal weather station is for the 1981–2010 period. Relief is a determinant factor on precipitation levels, areas such as the Madeira Natural Park can get as much as of precipitation a year hosting green lush laurel forests, while Porto Santo, being a much flatter island, has a semiarid climate ("BSh"). In most winters snowfall occurs in the mountains of Madeira. The main Madeira island has areas with an annual average temperature exceeding along the coast (according to the Portuguese Meteorological Institute).


title: Madeira

text: In the south, there is very little left of the indigenous subtropical rainforest that once covered the whole island (the original settlers set fire to the island to clear the land for farming) and gave it the name it now bears ("Madeira" means "wood" in Portuguese). However, in the north, the valleys contain native trees of fine growth. These "laurisilva" forests, called "lauraceas madeirense", notably the forests on the northern slopes of Madeira Island, are designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The paleobotanical record of Madeira reveals that laurisilva forest has existed in this island for at least 1.8 million years. Critically endangered species such as the vine "Jasminum azoricum" and the rowan "Sorbus maderensis" are endemic to Madeira. The Madeiran large white butterfly was an endemic subspecies of the Large white which inhabited the laurisilva forests but has not been seen since 1977 so may now be extinct.


title: Madeira

text: The Madeiran wall lizard ("Teira dugesii") is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to the Island where it is very common, and is the only small lizard, ranging from sea coasts to altitudes of . It is usually found in rocky places or among scrub and may climb into trees. It is also found in gardens and on the walls of buildings. It feeds on small invertebrates such as ants and also eats some vegetable matter. The tail is easily shed and the stump regenerates slowly. The colouring is variable and tends to match the colour of the animal's surroundings, being some shade of brown or grey with occasionally a greenish tinge. Most animals are finely flecked with darker markings. The underparts are white or cream, sometimes with dark spots, with some males having orange or red underparts and blue throats, but these bright colours may fade if the animal is disturbed. The Madeiran wall lizard grows to a snout-to-vent length of about with a tail about 1.7 times the length of its body. Females lay two to three clutches of eggs in a year with the juveniles being about when they hatch.


title: Madeira

text: Two species of birds are endemic to Madeira, the Trocaz pigeon and the Madeira firecrest. In addition to these are several extinct species which may have died out soon after the islands were settled, the Madeiran scops owl, two rail species, "Rallus adolfocaesaris" and "R. lowei", and two quail species, "Coturnix lignorum" and "C. alabrevis", and the Madeiran wood pigeon, a subspecies of the widespread common wood pigeon and which was last seen in the early 20th century.


title: Madeira

text: The island of Madeira is wet in the northwest, but dry in the southeast. In the 16th century the Portuguese started building levadas or aqueducts to carry water to the agricultural regions in the south. Madeira is very mountainous, and building the levadas was difficult and often convicts or slaves were used. Many are cut into the sides of mountains, and it was also necessary to dig of tunnels, some of which are still accessible.


title: Madeira

text: Today the levadas not only supply water to the southern parts of the island, but provide hydro-electric power. There are over of levadas and they provide a network of walking paths. Some provide easy and relaxing walks through the countryside, but others are narrow, crumbling ledges where a slip could result in serious injury or death. Since 2011, some improvements have been made to these pathways, after the 2010 Madeira floods and mudslides on the island, to clean and reconstruct some critical parts of the island, including the levadas. Such improvements involved the continuous maintenance of the water streams, cementing the trails, and positioning safety fences on dangerous paths.


title: Madeira

text: Two of the most popular levadas to hike are the "Levada do Caldeirão Verde" and the "Levada do Caldeirão do Inferno", which should not be attempted by hikers prone to vertigo or without torches and helmets. The "Levada do Caniçal" is a much easier walk, running from Maroços to the "Caniçal Tunnel". It is known as the "mimosa levada", because "mimosa" trees, (the colloquial name for invasive acacia) are found all along the route.


title: Madeira

text: Due to its distinct geography, economy, social and cultural situation, as well as the historical autonomic aspirations of the Madeiran island population, the Autonomous Regions of Madeira was established in 1976. Although it is a politico-administrative autonomic region the Portuguese constitution specifies both a regional and national connection, obliging their administrations to maintain democratic principles and promote regional interests, while still reinforcing national unity.


title: Madeira

text: As defined by the Portuguese constitution and other laws, Madeira possesses its own political and administrative statute and has its own government. The branches of Government are the Regional Government and the Legislative Assembly, the later being elected by universal suffrage, using the D'Hondt method of proportional representation.


title: Madeira

text: The president of the Regional Government is appointed by the Representative of the Republic according to the results of the election to the legislative assemblies.


title: Madeira

text: The sovereignty of the Portuguese Republic was represented in Madeira by the Minister of the Republic, proposed by the Government of the Republic and appointed by the President of the Republic. However, after the sixth amendment to the Portuguese Constitution was passed in 2006, the Minister of the Republic was replaced by a less-powerful Representative of the Republic who is appointed by the President, after listening to the Government, but otherwise it is a presidential prerogative. The other tasks of Representative of the Republic are to sign and order the publication of regional legislative decrees and regional regulatory decrees or to exercise the right of veto over regional laws, should these laws be unconstitutional.


title: Madeira

text: Madeira is also an Outermost Region (OMR) of the European Union, meaning that due to its geographical situation, it is entitled to derogation from some EU policies despite being part of the European Union.


title: Madeira

text: According to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, both primary and secondary European Union law applies automatically to Madeira, with possible derogations to take account of its "structural social and economic situation (...) which is compounded by their remoteness, insularity, small size, difficult topography and climate, economic dependence on a few products, the permanence and combination of which severely restrain their development". An example of such derogation is seen in the approval of the International Business Centre of Madeira and other state aid policies to help the rum industry.


title: Madeira

text: It forms part of the European Union customs area, the Schengen Area and the European Union Value Added Tax Area.


title: Madeira

text: Administratively, Madeira (with a population of 251,060 inhabitants in 2021) and covering an area of is organised into eleven municipalities:


title: Madeira

text: Funchal is the capital and principal city of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, located along the southern coast of the island of Madeira. It is a modern city, located within a natural geological "amphitheatre" composed of vulcanological structure and fluvial hydrological forces. Beginning at the harbour (Porto de Funchal), the neighbourhoods and streets rise almost , along gentle slopes that helped to provide a natural shelter to the early settlers.


title: Madeira

text: The island was settled by Portuguese people, especially farmers from the Minho region, meaning that Madeirans (), as they are called, are ethnically Portuguese, though they have developed their own distinct regional identity and cultural traits.


title: Madeira

text: The region of Madeira and Porto Santo has a total population of just under 256,060, the majority of whom live on the main island of Madeira 251,060 where the population density is ; meanwhile only around 5,000 live on the Porto Santo island where the population density is .


title: Madeira

text: About 247,000 (96%) of the population are Catholic and Funchal is the location of the Catholic cathedral.


title: Madeira

text: Madeirans migrated to the United States, Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago. Madeiran immigrants in North America mostly clustered in the New England and mid-Atlantic states, Toronto, Northern California, and Hawaii. The city of New Bedford is especially rich in Madeirans, hosting the Museum of Madeira Heritage, as well as the annual Madeiran and Luso-American celebration, the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, the world's largest celebration of Madeiran heritage, regularly drawing crowds of tens of thousands to the city's Madeira Field.


title: Madeira

text: In 1846, when a famine struck Madeira over 6,000 of the inhabitants migrated to British Guiana. In 1891 they numbered 4.3% of the population. In 1902 in Honolulu, Hawaii there were 5,000 Portuguese people, mostly Madeirans. In 1910 this grew to 21,000.


title: Madeira

text: 1849 saw an emigration of Protestant religious exiles from Madeira to the United States, by way of Trinidad and other locations in the West Indies. Most of them settled in Illinois with financial and physical aid of the American Protestant Society, headquartered in New York City. In the late 1830s the Reverend Robert Reid Kalley, from Scotland, a Presbyterian minister as well as a physician, made a stop at Funchal, Madeira on his way to a mission in China, with his wife, so that she could recover from an illness. The Rev. Kalley and his wife stayed on Madeira where he began preaching the Protestant gospel and converting islanders from Catholicism. Eventually, the Rev. Kalley was arrested for his religious conversion activities and imprisoned. Another missionary from Scotland, William Hepburn Hewitson, took on Protestant ministerial activities in Madeira. By 1846, about 1,000 Protestant Madeirenses, who were discriminated against and the subjects of mob violence because of their religious conversions, chose to immigrate to Trinidad and other locations in the West Indies in answer for a call for sugar plantation workers. The Madeirenses exiles did not fare well in the West Indies. The tropical climate was unfamiliar and they found themselves in serious economic difficulties. By 1848, the American Protestant Society raised money and sent the Rev. Manuel J. Gonsalves, a Baptist minister and a naturalized U.S. citizen from Madeira, to work with the Rev. Arsénio da Silva, who had emigrated with the exiles from Madeira, to arrange to resettle those who wanted to come to the United States. The Rev. da Silva died in early 1849. Later in 1849, the Rev. Gonsalves was then charged with escorting the exiles from Trinidad to be settled in Sangamon and Morgan counties in Illinois on land purchased with funds raised by the American Protestant Society. Accounts state that anywhere from 700 to 1,000 exiles came to the United States at this time.


title: Madeira

text: There are several large Madeiran communities around the world, such as the number in the UK, including Jersey, the Portuguese British community mostly made up of Madeirans celebrate Madeira Day.