title: William Herschel

text: The Herschel home in Slough became a scramble of "labourers and workmen, smiths and carpenters". A 40-foot telescope tube had to be cast of iron. The tube was large enough to walk through. Mirror blanks were poured from Speculum metal, a mix of copper and tin. They were almost four feet (1.2 m) in diameter and weighed 1,000 pounds (454 kg). When the first disk deformed due to its weight, a second thicker one was made with a higher content of copper. The mirrors had to be hand-polished, a painstaking process. A mirror was repeatedly put into the telescope and removed again to ensure that it was properly formed. When a mirror deformed or tarnished, it had to be removed, repolished and replaced in the apparatus. A huge rotating platform was built to support the telescope, enabling it to be repositioned by assistants as a sweep progressed. A platform near the top of the tube enabled the viewer to look down into the tube and view the resulting image.


title: William Herschel

text: In 1789, shortly after this instrument was operational, Herschel discovered a new moon of Saturn: Mimas, only 250 miles (400 km) in diameter. Discovery of a second moon (Enceladus) followed, within the first month of observation.


title: William Herschel

text: The 40-foot (12.2-metre) telescope proved very cumbersome, and in spite of its size, not very effective at showing clearer images. Herschel's technological innovations had taken him to the limits of what was possible with the technology of his day. The 40-foot would not be improved upon until the Victorians developed techniques for the precision engineering of large, high-quality mirrors.


title: William Herschel

text: Most of Herschel's observations were done with a smaller , reflector. Nonetheless, the 40-foot caught the public imagination. It inspired scientists and writers including Erasmus Darwin and William Blake, and impressed foreign tourists and French dignitaries. King George was pleased.


title: William Herschel

text: Herschel discovered that unfilled telescope apertures can be used to obtain high angular resolution, something which became the essential basis for interferometric imaging in astronomy (in particular aperture masking interferometry and hypertelescopes).


title: William Herschel

text: In 2012, the BBC television programme "Stargazing Live" built a replica of the 20-foot telescope using Herschel's original plans but modern materials. It is to be considered a close modern approximation rather than an exact replica. A modern glass mirror was used, the frame uses metal scaffolding and the tube is a sewer pipe. The telescope was shown on the programme in January 2013 and stands on the Art, Design and Technology campus of the University of Derby where it will be used for educational purposes.


title: William Herschel

text: Herschel was sure that he had found ample evidence of life on the Moon and compared it to the English countryside. He did not refrain himself from theorising that the other planets were populated, with a special interest in Mars, which was in line with most of his contemporary scientists. During Herschel's time, scientists tended to believe in a plurality of civilised worlds; in contrast, most religious thinkers referred to unique properties of the Earth.


title: William Herschel

text: Herschel examined the correlation of solar variation and solar cycle and climate. Over a period of 40 years (1779–1818), Herschel regularly observed sunspots and their variations in number, form and size. Most of his observations took place in a period of low solar activity, the Dalton Minimum, when sunspots were relatively few in number. This was one of the reasons why Herschel was not able to identify the standard 11-year period in solar activity.


title: William Herschel

text: Herschel compared his observations with the series of wheat prices published by Adam Smith in "The Wealth of Nations".


title: William Herschel

text: In 1801, Herschel reported his findings to the Royal Society and indicated five prolonged periods of few sunspots correlated with the price of wheat. Herschel's study was ridiculed by some of his contemporaries but did initiate further attempts to find a correlation. Later in the 19th century, William Stanley Jevons proposed the 11-year cycle with Herschel's basic idea of a correlation between the low number of sunspots and lower yields explaining recurring booms and slumps in the economy.


title: William Herschel

text: Herschel's speculation on a connection between sunspots and regional climate, using the market price of wheat as a proxy, continues to be cited.


title: William Herschel

text: According to one study, the influence of solar activity can actually be seen on the historical wheat market in England over ten solar cycles between 1600 and 1700. The evaluation is controversial and the significance of the correlation is doubted by some scientists.


title: William Herschel

text: In his later career, Herschel discovered two moons of Saturn, Mimas and Enceladus; as well as two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon. He did not give these moons their names; they were named by his son John in 1847 and 1852, respectively, after his death. Herschel measured the axial tilt of Mars and discovered that the Martian ice caps, first observed by Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1666) and Christiaan Huygens (1672), changed size with that planet's seasons. It has been suggested that Herschel discovered rings around Uranus.


title: William Herschel

text: Herschel introduced but did not create the word "asteroid", meaning "star-like" (from the Greek "asteroeides", "aster" "star" + "-eidos" "form, shape"), in 1802 (shortly after Olbers discovered the second minor planet, 2 Pallas, in late March), to describe the star-like appearance of the small moons of the giant planets and of the minor planets; the planets all show discs, by comparison. By the 1850s 'asteroid' became a standard term for describing certain minor planets.


title: William Herschel

text: From studying the proper motion of stars, the nature and extent of the solar motion was first demonstrated by Herschel in 1783, along with first determining the direction for the solar apex to Lambda Herculis, only 10° away from today's accepted position.


title: William Herschel

text: Herschel also studied the structure of the Milky Way and was the first to propose a model of the galaxy based on observation and measurement. He concluded that it was in the shape of a disk, but incorrectly assumed that the Sun was in the centre of the disk. This heliocentric view was eventually replaced by galactocentrism due to the work of Harlow Shapley, Heber Doust Curtis and Edwin Hubble in the 20th century. All three men used significantly more far-reaching and accurate telescopes than Herschel's.


title: William Herschel

text: In early 1800, Herschel was testing different filters to pass sunlight through, and noticed that filters of different colors seemed to generate varying amounts of heat. He decided to pass the light through a prism to measure the different colors of light using a thermometer, and in the process, took a measurement just beyond the red end of the visible spectrum. He detected a temperature one degree higher than that of red light. Further experimentation led to Herschel's conclusion that there must be an invisible form of light beyond the visible spectrum. He published these results in April 1800.


title: William Herschel

text: Herschel used a microscope to establish that coral was not a plant – as many at the time believed – because it lacked the cell walls characteristic of plants. It is in fact an animal, a marine invertebrate.


title: William Herschel

text: On 8 May 1788, William Herschel married the widow Mary Pitt (née Baldwin) at St Laurence's Church, Upton in Slough. They had one child, John, born at Observatory House on 7 March 1792. William's personal background and rise as man of science had a profound impact on the upbringing of his son and grandchildren. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1788. In 1816, William was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order by the Prince Regent and was accorded the honorary title 'Sir' although this was not the equivalent of an official British knighthood. He helped to found the Astronomical Society of London in 1820, which in 1831 received a royal charter and became the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1813, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.


title: William Herschel

text: On 25 August 1822, Herschel died at Observatory House, Windsor Road, Slough, after a long illness. He was buried at nearby St Laurence's Church, Upton, Slough. Herschel's epitaph is


title: William Herschel

text: Caroline was deeply distressed by his death, and soon after his burial she returned to Hanover, a decision she later regretted. She had lived in England for fifty years. Her interests were much more in line with her nephew John Herschel, also an astronomer, than with her surviving family in Hanover. She continued to work on the organization and cataloguing of nebulae, creating what would later become the basis of the "New General Catalogue". She died on 9 January 1848.


title: William Herschel

text: William Herschel lived most of his life in the town of Slough, then in Buckinghamshire (now in Berkshire). He died in the town and was buried under the tower of the Church of St Laurence, Upton-cum-Chalvey, near Slough.


title: William Herschel

text: Herschel is especially honoured in Slough and there are several memorials to him and his discoveries. In 2011 a new bus station, the design of which was inspired by the infrared experiment of William Herschel, was built in the centre of Slough.


title: William Herschel

text: His house at 19 New King Street in Bath, Somerset, where he made many telescopes and first observed Uranus, is now home to the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Don Cossacks () or Donians () are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (, which was either an independent or an autonomous democratic republic in present-day Southern Russia and parts of the Donbas region, from the end of the 16th century until 1918. As of 1992, by presidential decree of the Russian Federation, Cossacks can be enrolled on a special register. A number of Cossack communities have been reconstituted to further Cossack cultural traditions, including those of the Don Cossack Host.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Don Cossacks have had a rich military tradition - they played an important part in the historical development of the Russian Empire and participated in most of its major wars.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The name Cossack (; ) was widely used to characterise "free people" (compare Turkic "qazaq", which means "free men") as opposed to others with different standing in feudal society (i.e., peasants, nobles, clergy, etc.). The name "cossack" was also applied to migrants, free-booters and bandits.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The exact origins of Cossacks remain unclear. In the modern view, Don Cossacks descend from Slavic people connected with Russian lands like the Povolzhye, the Novgorod Republic, and the Principality of Ryazan, and Ukrainian lands like the Dnieper. Gotho-Alans could also have played a role in forming Don Cossack culture, which originated in the western part of the North Caucasus.


title: Don Cossacks

text: More than two thousand years ago the Scythians lived on the banks of the river Don. Many Scythian tombs have been found in this area. Subsequently, the area was inhabited by the Khazars and the Polovtsians. From the 16th to the 18th centuries the steppes of the Don River were part of "the Wild Field" (). In the late Middle Ages the area was under the general control of the Golden Horde, and numerous Tatar (especially Crimean Tatar) armed groups roamed there, attacking and enslaving merchants and settlers.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The first Christians to settle on the territories around the Don were the Jassi and Kosogi tribes of the Khazar Kaghanate of the 7th to 10th centuries. After the fall of the Golden Horde in 1480, more colonists started to expand onto this land from the Novgorod Republic after the Battle of Shelon (1471), and from the neighboring Principality of Ryazan. Until the end of the 16th century, the Don Cossacks inhabited independent free territories.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Cossacks of Ryazan are mentioned in 1444 as defenders of Pereslavl-Zalessky against the units of Golden Horde and in a letter of Ivan III of Russia from 1502. After the Golden Horde fell in 1480, the area around the Don River was divided between the Crimean west side and the Nogai east side. On their border since the 14th century the vast steppe of the Don region was populated by those people who were not satisfied with the existing social order, by those who did not recognize the power of the land-owners, by runaway serfs, by those who longed for freedom. In the course of time they turned into a united community and were called "the Cossacks". At first the main occupation of these small armed detachments was hunting and fishing—as well as the constant struggle against the Turks and the Tatars who attacked them. Only later they began to settle and work on the land.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The first records relating to the Cossack villages: the "stanitsa", date back to 1549. In the year 1552 Don Cossacks under the command of Ataman Susar Fedorov joined the Army of Ivan the Terrible during the Siege of Kazan in 1552. On 2 June 1556 the Cossack regiment of Ataman Lyapun Filimonov, together with the Army of Moscovits comprising strelets, conquered and annexed the Astrakhan Khanate.


title: Don Cossacks

text: During the reign of Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV), the ataman Yermak Timofeyevich went on an expedition to conquer Siberia. After defeating Khan Kuchum in the fall of 1582 and occupying Isker, the capital of the Siberian Khanate, Yermak sent a force of Cossacks down the Irtysh in the winter of 1583. The detachment, led by Bogdan Bryazga (according to other sources, the Cossack chieftain Nikita Pan) passed through the lands of the Konda-Pelym Voguls and reached the walls of the town of Samarovo. Surprised by the Cossack attack, the Ostyaks surrendered. In fall 1585, shortly after Yermak's death, Cossacks led by voevoda (army commander) Ivan Mansurov founded the first Russian fortified town in Siberia, Obskoy, at the mouth of the Irtysh river on the right bank of the Ob river. The Mansi and Khanty lands thus became part of the Russian state, finally secured by the founding of the cities of Pelym and Berezov in 1592 and Surgut in 1594. As a result of Yermak's expedition, Russia was able to annex Siberia.


title: Don Cossacks

text: In the 17th century Cossacks waged war against the Ottomans and the Crimean Khanate. In 1637 the Don Cossacks, joined by the Zaporozhian Cossacks, captured the strategic Ottoman fortress of Azov, which guarded the Don. The defense of the Azov Fortress in 1641 was one of the key actions in Don Cossack history. After total taking of the Free Territories of Don Cossacks under the Moscovy control, Don Cossack history became more intertwined with the history of the rest of Russia. In exchange for protection of the Southern borders of medieval Russia, the Don Cossacks were given the privilege of not paying taxes and the tsar's authority in Cossack lands was not as absolute as in other parts of Russia.


title: Don Cossacks

text: During this period, three of Russia's most notorious rebels, Stenka Razin, Kondraty Bulavin and Emelian Pugachev, were Don Cossacks.


title: Don Cossacks

text: After 1786, the territory of the Don Cossacks was officially called Don Voisko Lands, and was renamed Don Voisko Province ("Oblast’ Voyska Donskogo") in 1870 (presently part of the Rostov, Volgograd, and Voronezh regions of the Russian Federation as well as part of the Luhansk region of Ukraine).


title: Don Cossacks

text: Don Cossacks are credited with playing a significant part in repelling Napoleon's Invasion of Russia. Under the command of Count Matvey Ivanovich Platov, the Don Cossacks fought in a number of battles against the Grande Armée. In the Battle of Borodino, Don Cossacks made raids to the rear of the French Army. Platov commanded all the Cossack troops and successfully covered the retreat of the Russian Army to Moscow. The Don Cossacks distinguished themselves in subsequent campaigns, and took part in the capture of Paris. Napoleon is credited with declaring, "Cossacks are the finest light troops among all that exist. If I had them in my army, I would go through all the world with them."


title: Don Cossacks

text: In the general census of 1884, the male population of the Don Cossacks was reported to number 425,000. The Don Cossacks were the largest of the ten cossack hosts then in existence, providing over a third of total cossack manpower available for military service.


title: Don Cossacks

text: On the eve of World War I, the Don Cossack Host comprised 17 regular regiments plus 6 detached sotnias (squadrons). In addition two regiments of the Imperial Guard were recruited from the Don territory. By 1916 the Don Host had expanded to 58 line regiments and 100 detached sotnias. The central location of the Don territories meant that these units were employed extensively on both the German and Austro-Hungarian fronts, though less so against the Ottoman Turks to the south. The continued value of the Don and other Cossacks as mounted troops was illustrated by the decision taken in 1916 to dismount about a third of the regular Russian cavalry, but to retain the cossack regiments in their traditional role.


title: Don Cossacks

text: At the outbreak of the February 1917 Revolution, three regiments of Don Cossacks (the 1st, 4th and 14th) formed part of the garrison of St. Petersburg. Consisting partly of new recruits from the poorer regions of the Host territory, these units were influenced by the general disillusionment with the Tsar's government. Accordingly, they did not act effectively when ordered to disperse the growing demonstrations in the city. Reports that the historically loyal Don Cossacks could no longer be relied on were a significant factor in the sudden collapse of the Tsarist regime.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The Don Cossack Host was disbanded on Russian soil in 1918, after the Russian Revolution, but the Don Cossacks in the White Army and those who emigrated abroad, continued to preserve the traditions, musical and otherwise, of their host. Many found employment as trick riders in various circuses throughout Europe and the United States. Admiral Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak, one of the leaders of the White movement during the Russian Civil War, was of Don Cossack descent.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Following the defeat of the White Army in the Russian Civil War, a policy of decossackization ("Raskazachivaniye") took place on the surviving Cossacks and their homelands, since they were viewed as a threat to the new Soviet regime.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The Cossack homelands were often very fertile, and during the collectivisation campaign many Cossacks shared the fate of the kulaks. According to historian Michael Kort, "During 1919 and 1920, out of a population of approximately 1.5 million Don Cossacks, the Bolshevik regime killed or deported an estimated 300,000 to 500,000". Others, such as Peter Holquist, estimate a figure of 10,000 deaths. The region also suffered greatly during the Soviet famine of 1932–33 as a result of the Soviet policies.


title: Don Cossacks

text: On 20 April 1936 the previous ban on Cossacks serving in the Red Army was lifted. Later the same year two existing Red Army cavalry divisions were re-designated as Don Cossacks. By 1939 a number of these regiments had been issued with traditional Cossack uniforms in ceremonial and field service versions. The dress of the Don Cossack units included the broad red stripes on dark-blue breeches, which had been their distinguishing feature prior to the Revolution. The Don Cossack Cavalry Corps saw extensive active service until 1943, after which its role diminished (as did that of the other remaining horse-mounted units in the Red Army). However Don Cossack cavalry was still in existence in 1945 and participated in the Victory Parade in Moscow.


title: Don Cossacks

text: During World War II, the Don Cossacks mustered the largest single concentration of Cossacks within the German Army, the XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps, a great part of them being former Russian citizens. The XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps included the 1st Cossack Division and the 2nd Cossack Division.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The majority of the Cossacks remained loyal to the Red Army. In the earliest battles, particularly the encirclement of Belostok Cossack units such as the 94th Beloglisnky, 152nd Rostovsky and 48th Belorechensky regiments fought to their death.


title: Don Cossacks

text: In the opening phase of the war, during the German advance towards Moscow, Cossacks became extensively used for the raids behind enemy lines. The most famous of these took place during the Battle of Smolensk under the command of Lev Dovator, whose 3rd Cavalry Corps consisted of the 50th and 53rd Cavalry divisions from the Kuban and Terek Cossacks, which were mobilised from the Northern Caucasus. The raid, which in ten days covered 300 km and destroyed the hinterlands of the 9th German Army, before successfully breaking out. Whilst units under the command of General Pavel Belov, the 2nd Cavalry Corps made from Don, Kuban and Stavropol Cossacks spearheaded the counter-attack onto the right flank of the 6th German Army delaying its advance towards Moscow.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The high professionalism that the Cossacks under Dovator and Belov (both generals would later be granted the title Hero of the Soviet Union and their units raised to a Guards (elite) status) ensured that many new units would be formed. In the end, the Germans during the whole war only managed to form two Cossack Corps, while the Red Army in just 1942 alone had 17. Many of the newly formed units were filled with ethnically Cossack volunteers. The Kuban Cossacks were allocated to the 10th, 12th and 13th Corps. However, the most famous Kuban Cossack unit would be the 17th Cossack Corps under the command of general Nikolay Kirichenko.


title: Don Cossacks

text: During one particular attack, Cossacks destroyed up to 1,800 enemy soldiers and officers, they took 300 prisoners, seized 18 artillery pieces and 25 mortars. The 5th and 9th Romanian Cavalry divisions fled in panic, and the 198th German Infantry division, carrying large losses, hastily departed to the left bank of the river Ei.


title: Don Cossacks

text: During the opening phase of the Battle of Stalingrad, when the Germans overran the Kuban, the majority of the Cossack population, long before the Germans began their agitation with Krasnov and Shkuro, became involved in Partisan activity. Raids onto the German positions from the Caucasus mountains became commonplace. After the German defeat at Stalingrad, the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Corps, strengthened by tanks and artillery, broke through the German lines and liberated Mineralnye Vody, and Stavropol.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The Don Cossacks were revived in the early 1990s and were officially recognised by the Russian Government in 1997, its Ataman holding the rank, insignia and uniform of a full Marshal.


title: Don Cossacks

text: In 2009, the Ukrainian Security Service banned a leader of the Don Cossacks from entering Ukraine in order to prevent the creation of an illegal parliamentary formation on Ukrainian territory.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Since 2014, members of Don Cossacks have participated in the war in Eastern Ukraine as independent volunteers for the pro-Russian Donbass militias.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Reportedly several military formations were formed though most of these groups were subsequently disbanded and integrated into the armed forces of the DPR and LPR.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The Don Cossacks flag 3:4 was inaugurated during the Don Cossacks assembly in Novocherkassk, Don Republic, on 4 May 1918 under chiefing of Ataman Pyotr Krasnov. The flag has three colours: blue, yellow, and red. The flag is similar to that of the Ukrainian State, also established in 1918, which the Don Republic bordered to its west.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The Don Cossacks Coat of Arms was known from the 17th century. It was adopted as a symbol of the Don Republic on 15 September 1918.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Until 1914 the distinguishing colour of the Don Cossack Host was red: worn on the cap bands and wide trouser stripes of a dark blue uniform of the loose-fitting cut common to the Steppe Cossacks. Tall lambskin hats were worn on occasion, with red cloth tops edged in white lace. Silver metal scrolls were worn on the headdress to denote the distinguished conduct of individual regiments. Officers had silver braiding on their collars and epaulettes plus silver/black girdles. Shoulder-straps of other ranks were the same dark blue as the caftan (coat). A whip was used instead of spurs. Prior to 1908, individual cossacks from all Hosts were required to provide their own uniforms (together with horses and harness). However the size and relative affluence of the Don Cossack Host permitted the setting up of communally owned clothing factories.


title: Don Cossacks

text: A khaki field tunic was adopted in 1908, replacing the dark blue coats or white (summer) blouses previously worn for ordinary duties. However the blue riding breeches with broad red stripes long characteristic of the Don Host, continued to be worn even on active service during both World Wars.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The Don Cossack Battery of the Imperial Guard wore a "Tsar's green" (a dark shade common to the army) uniform, with the black and red distinctions of the artillery as a branch.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Most Don Cossacks are Russian Orthodox, who consider themselves guardians of the faith. However, a large percentage of Don Cossacks were Starovers. Even in 1903, a minimum of 150,000 from a total of the 2,500,000 parish members of the Don Eparchy were Starovers. Ataman count Matvei Platov was of a Popovtsy Old Believers Family. Don Cossacks were tolerant of other religions – with the exception of Jews – and accepted Buddhists, Muslims, Old Believers, and pagans into their communities.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The Cossacks had a democratic society where the most important decisions were made during a Common Assembly (Казачий Круг). The assembly elected temporary authorities — atamans.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Don Cossacks were skilled horsemen and experienced warriors, due to their long conflict with the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire. They sold their military services to different powers in Eastern Europe. Together with the Polish King, they raided Moscow during the Time of Troubles (Смутное Время) and, under Russian authority, carried out raids and expeditions against Ottoman Turkey and Qajar Persia.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Isolated between Russian and Muslim territory, the Don Cossacks developed a distinct culture and language which fused Ukrainian, Russian, Kalmyk, and Tatar elements.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The Don Cossacks have a tradition of choral singing and many of their songs, such as "Chyorny Voron" (Black Raven) and "Lyubo, Bratsi, Lyubo" (It's good, brothers, good) became popular throughout the rest of Russia. Many of the songs are about death in war.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Up to the 18th century marriages and divorces were held in the Common Assembly (Казачий Круг). If a Cossack wanted to marry a woman he was expected to bring her to the Common Assembly for presentation. If the Common Assembly gave approval, the marriage followed. The same procedure took place if there was a divorce. Peter I banned these practices in the Common Assembly, requiring Cossacks to marry only in church.


title: Don Cossacks

text: A Cossack marriage is a complex ritual, accompanied by songs, dances and performances. A bridegroom arrives on horseback and takes his bride to the church, followed by a marriage train. After the wedding all present would adjourn to the bridegroom's house. There, the parents would bless the couple, break a loaf of bread above their heads, and sprinkle them with wheat, nuts, sweets and hops. The bride's hair would then be unbraided according to traditional rites.


title: Don Cossacks

text: When a son was born to a Cossack family, his relatives presented him with an arrow, a bow, a cartridge, a bullet and a gun. All of these items were hung on the wall, over the boy's bed. At the age of three, the boy began to ride a horse. At the age of 7 to 8 he was allowed to ride in the street, to go fishing and hunt with adults.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Horse racing was a popular pastime with Don Cossacks. Riders competed to hit a target, firing weapons from horseback. The most dexterous were able to do this standing on the horses back. It was traditional practice for Cossack families to provide a young Cossack with two horses, a uniform and weapons.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Cossack leave-taking was always festive. All departing Cossacks would gather in the church, then hang a small bag around their necks containing a pinch of their native soil before setting off singing. Having left their stanitsa, they drank a cup of vodka and said good-bye to their native land.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The Don Cossack Choir Serge Jaroff was a group of former officers of the Russian Imperial Army who were discovered singing in Çilingir (near Constantinople), where they had fled after the defeat of their army in the Crimea. They made their formal concert debut in Vienna in 1923, led by their founder, conductor and composer, Serge Jaroff.


title: Don Cossacks

text: The choir became popular in America, Japan and Europe, touring the world in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, till today. The men, dressed as Cossacks, sang a cappella in a repertory of Russian sacred and secular music, army, folk and art songs. Cossack dancing was eventually added to their programme.


title: Don Cossacks

text: Mikhail Sholokhov's monumental work, ""And Quiet Flows the Don"", deals sympathetically with the Don Cossacks and depicts the destruction of their way of life as a result of World War I and the Russian Civil War.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: Spetsnaz GRU or Spetsnaz G.U. (formally known as Special Forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces () is the special forces ("spetsnaz") of the G.U., the foreign military-intelligence agency of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: The Spetsnaz GRU, the first "spetsnaz" force in the Soviet Union, formed in 1949 as the military force of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), the foreign military-intelligence agency of the Soviet Armed Forces. The force was designed in the context of the Cold War to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage against enemy targets in the form of special reconnaissance and direct-action attacks. The Spetsnaz GRU inspired additional "spetsnaz" forces attached to other Soviet intelligence agencies, such as Vympel (founded in 1981) and the Alpha Group (established in 1974) - both within the KGB.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: The concept of using special forces tactics and strategies in the Soviet Union was originally proposed by the military theorist Mikhail Svechnykov, who envisaged the development of unconventional warfare capabilities in order to overcome disadvantages that conventional forces faced in the field. Svechnykov was executed during the Great Purge in 1938, but practical implementation of his ideas was begun by Ilya Starinov, dubbed the "grandfather of the "spetsnaz"".


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: Following the entrance of the Soviet Union into World War II, basic forces dedicated to acts of reconnaissance and sabotage were formed under the supervision of the Second Department of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces, and were subordinate to the commanders of Fronts.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: The primary function of Spetsnaz troops in wartime was infiltration/insertion behind enemy lines (either in uniform or civilian clothing), usually well before hostilities are scheduled to begin and, once in place, to commit acts of sabotage such as the destruction of vital communications logistics centers, as well as the assassination of key government leaders and military officers.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: Spetsnaz GRU training included: weapons handling, fast rappelling, explosives training, marksmanship, counter-terrorism, airborne training, hand-to-hand combat, climbing (alpine rope techniques), diving, underwater combat, emergency medical training, and demolition.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: The situation was reviewed after the war ended, and between 1947 and 1950 the whole of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) was reorganized. The first "independent reconnaissance companies of special purpose" were formed in 1949, to work for tank and combined-arms armies, which were tasked to eliminate amongst others enemy nuclear weapons systems such as the MGR-3 Little John and MGM-1 Matador.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: In 1957, the first Spetsnaz battalions were formed under the GRU, five to operate beyond the 150–200 km range of the reconnaissance companies. The first brigades were formed in 1962, reportedly to reach up to 750 kilometres in the rear to destroy U.S. weapons systems such as the MGM-52 Lance, MGM-29 Sergeant, and MGM-31 Pershing.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: Two 'study regiments' were established in the 1960s to train specialists and NCOs, the first in 1968 at Pechora near Pskov, and the second in 1970 at Chirchik near Tashkent. According to Vladimir Rezun, a GRU defector who used the pseudonym "Viktor Suvorov", there were 20 GRU Spetsnaz brigades plus 41 separate companies at the time of his defection in 1978.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: The first major foreign operation of the unit came in August 1968, when Moscow decided to crack down on the Prague Spring and move the troops of Warsaw Pact countries into Czechoslovakia. The Spetsnaz GRU was tasked with capturing the Prague Airport. On the night of 21 August, a Soviet passenger plane requested an emergency landing at the Prague Airport, allegedly due to engine failure.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: After landing, the commandos, without firing a shot, seized the airport and took over air traffic control. At the same time, other Spetsnaz GRU units that had infiltrated into Prague a few days before the operation seized control of other key city points.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: In December 1979, the undercover Spetsnaz GRU unit codenamed "Muslim Battalion" participated in Operation Storm-333, the successful mission to assassinate Hafizullah Amin, the President of Afghanistan, and to capture Amin's residential palace which triggered the Soviet–Afghan War.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: Most of Spetsnaz GRU's operations remain classified even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It is believed the special forces had participated in operations in more than nineteen countries around the world in Africa, Asia and South America. From time to time, the men also served as military instructors and set up training camps for Soviet-backed fighters in Vietnam and Angola.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: Following the deactivation of the Soviet GRU in 1992, control of the special forces was transferred to the newly formed G.U. of Russia and were maintained to their respective assigned units as before. According to Stanislav Lunev, who defected to the U.S. in 1992, the GRU also commanded some 25,000 Spetsnaz troops as of 1997.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: Following the 2008 Russian military reform, a brand new Directorate of Special Operations was established in 2009 following studies of American and various Western special operations forces units and commands. The newly formed Special Operations Forces which is directly subordinated to the General Staff, bypassing the GRU. In 2013, the Directorate became the Special Operations Forces Command with a GRU unit transferring to the command.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: In 2010, Spetsnaz GRU units were reassigned to the military districts of the Ground Forces and was subordinate to the operational-strategic commands until 2012, due to then Defence Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov's military reforms. This decision was reversed in 2013 and Spetsnaz GRU units were reassigned to their original GRU divisions.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: Throughout the mid-1990s to the 2000s, Spetsnaz GRU were involved in both the First Chechen War and more prominently in the Second Chechen War and also the Invasion of Dagestan in August 1999. The special forces learned invaluable lessons from the first war and transformed into a better and more effective fighting force and were instrumental in Russia's and the Russian backed government's success in the second war.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: In 2003, during the Second Chechen War, the GRU formed the Special Battalions "Vostok" and "Zapad", two ethnic Chechen units that belonged to the Spetsnaz GRU which fought primarily in Chechnya, and also in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War as well as peacekeeping operations after the 2006 Lebanon War.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: Spetsnaz GRU maintains an airborne unit, the Separate Spetsnaz Airborne Reconnaissance Unit (codenamed No. 48427), which participated in the 2008 Georgian War. The unit is housed at Matrosskaya Tishina 10 in Moscow.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: During the period of insurgency in the North Caucasus region, Spetsnaz GRU along with special forces from the FSB and MVD conducted numerous special operations and counter-terrorism operations against mainly the Caucasus Emirate, Wilayat al-Qawqaz and other smaller terrorist groups.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: After the Crimean crisis, during which some units of Spetsnaz GRU were a part of the "Little green men", and the start of the rebel insurgency by pro-Russian rebels, Ukraine has on numerous occasions accused various Spetsnaz forces of aiding the rebels and even fighting on the ground in Eastern Ukraine. In December 2014, the Ukrainian military claimed that the Spetsnaz GRU was involved in attacks on an airport in Donetsk which was later captured by DPR in the battle.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: In late 2015, GRU special forces operators were reportedly involved in the Syrian Civil War, appearing in the government offensives of Aleppo and Homs. GRU officials have also visited Qamishli, near the border with Turkey.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: GRU special forces units participated in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine in various roles. Spestnaz units were sent in during the first days of the invasion as saboteurs disguised as civilians or Ukrainian military, while others were sent to capture or assassinate important Ukrainian government members, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: Below is a list of current "Spetsnaz" units in the Russian Armed Forces that fall under GRU operational control during wartime operations:


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: The navy also fields dedicated maritime sabotage and counter-sabotage diver units which are attached to the naval infantry. These units also include combat swimmers, trained to conduct underwater combat, mining and clearance diving. The task is to protect ships and other fleet assets from enemy frogmen and special forces. The term "combat swimmers" is correct term in relation to the staff of the OSNB PDSS. Every PDSS unit has approximately 50–60 combat swimmers.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: There are PDSS units in all major naval bases across Russia. The OMRP is composed of reconnaissance divers that fall under operational subordination to the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). There are four OMRPs in Russia serving each fleet: Northern Fleet, Baltic Fleet, Black Sea Fleet and Pacific Fleet, with each consisting of 120–200 personnel.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: The Special Battalions Vostok and Zapad were two Spetsnaz units; Vostok headquartered at Eastern Chechnya and Zapad headquartered at Western Chechnya.


title: Spetsnaz GRU

text: It was subordinate to the GRU and responsible for carrying out mountain warfare and special operations in Chechnya. A power struggle then broke out between rival pro-Russian Chechen warlords then Head of the Chechen Republic Kadyrov and Sulim Yamadaev which led to a series of assassinations and shootouts in the ensuing years forcing the GRU to disband the controversial battalions in November 2008.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: Daphne Diana Joan Susanna Guinness (born 9 November 1967) is an English designer, actress, producer, and musician.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: Her father is Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne, the eldest son of Diana Mitford and Bryan Guinness. Diana Mitford was the daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, the father of the Mitford sisters. Mitford divorced Guinness and married the leader of the British Union of Fascists, Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet of Ancoats. Daphne Guinness has said she did not know of Mosley's political affiliations, before she heard in 1980 on the BBC News that he had died.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: As a child, Guinness grew up moving between the country houses owned by her family in England and Ireland, and a villa in Spain, where Salvador Dalí was a family friend. She later lived in New York with her half-sister, Catherine Guinness, who was working as a Personal Assistant to Andy Warhol.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: Guinness's first work in fashion was with Isabella Blow. She has worked with Karl Lagerfeld, NARS, MAC, Akris, Gareth Pugh, and Philip Treacy, working with them artistically or as a model or both.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: She was a friend of the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Scheduled to model for charity on the runway the day his suicide was announced, Guinness veiled herself in mourning.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: She designs clothes, jewelry, and perfume. Since 1994, she has been on the International Best Dressed List. In 2011, she created a make-up line for MAC cosmetics.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: At the end of 2011, photographers Markus Klinko and Indrani, Guinness, and stylist GK Reid produced "The Legend of Lady White Snake", a film based on a Chinese legend, where Guinness played the central role of Lady White Snake. Bernard-Henri Lévy wrote her dialogue for the film.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: David Bowie encouraged Guinness to pursue music, introducing her to Tony Visconti, who had produced three of her albums as of August 2020.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: After the deaths of her brother Jasper and friends Isabella Blow and Alexander McQueen, Guinness went to a studio in Ireland, intending to record a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row.” While there, she wrote and recorded original songs which became the basis for her first album, "Optimist in Black." "Optimist In Black" was released on May 27, 2016, through private label Agent Anonyme/Absolute.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: In April 2018, Guinness released her second album, "Daphne & The Golden Chord", also produced by Visconti. The album was recorded on analog tapes at British Grove Studios in a three-week session. The band included 58 instrumentalists including timpani, tambourine, and bassoon players. Will Hodgkinson of "The Times of London" described the album as “aristocratic glam fuelled by wit, character and a clear and abiding love of rock’n’roll.”


title: Daphne Guinness

text: Guinness’ third album, "Revelations", was released in August 2020. Like her prior two albums, it was produced by Visconti.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: Thomas Barrie of British GQ said "Revelations" features “lusher, disco-inflected instrumentation, with flourishes arranged by Visconti in strings, and parts written for more experimental, obscure instruments like the theremin and ocarina.” Guinness collaborated with LaChapelle on a three-part film series also titled "Revelations", which featured songs from the album and explored references to the Book of Revelation.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: Guinness’s music career began with the release in 2013 and 2014 of several music videos of songs for songs which would later be included in her first album. These early videos include “Fatal Flaw” (directed by Nick Knight) in 2013, and “Evening in Space,” directed by David LaChapelle, in 2014. Jessie Peterson of "MTV News" said the video took the “fashion world to space.” It featured costumes from designers such as Iris van Herpen and Noritaka Tatehana.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: Guinness also released music video versions for two songs that were on the 2018 "Daphne & The Golden Chord" album – “Talking To Yourself” and “Remember to Breathe”.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: Two music videos directed by LaChapelle were released in 2020 for the songs from the Revelations album LaChapelle on the videos for “Hallucinations” and “Heaven”, two of the songs on the "Revelations" album.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: Guinness has walked in two of Naomi Campbell's Fashion for Relief shows to raise funds for disaster victims. In April 2008, she auctioned off part of her wardrobe, with the proceeds going to a British charity called Womankind Worldwide, which deals with women's issues, such as domestic violence.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: In June 2010, Guinness purchased at auction the entire wardrobe of Isabella Blow, her friend who died by suicide in 2007. The lot was purchased prior to an auction, which was arranged at Christie's. She later announced that she would be displaying the wardrobe at Central Saint Martins and online, as well as starting a foundation to help with mental illness. The official show, entitled ""Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore,"" is set for display in November 2013 at Somerset House in London.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: In February 2013, Guinness, along with Baroness Monica von Neumann and Lynn Ban, donated a collection of her shoes to the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology's "Shoe Obsession" exhibit.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: In 1987, she married Spyros Niarchos, the second son of Stavros Niarchos. The couple had three children. Her $39 million settlement, obtained at the time of her 1999 divorce, was added to her Guinness inheritance.


title: Daphne Guinness

text: She lives in London and Manhattan with her three children: Nicolas Stavros Niarchos (born 1989), Alexis "Lex" Spyros Niarchos (born 1991), and Ines Sophia Niarchos (born 1995).


title: Daphne Guinness

text: She has been romantically involved with French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy for a number of years. In the February 2011 issue of "Harper's Bazaar", Guinness confirmed to journalist Derek Blasberg: "He is obviously the love of my life."


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs featuring a line-up of conservative commentators.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Australia is distributed on pay television in Australia and New Zealand, while a free-to-air version of the service, Sky News Regional (which features programming from Sky News Australia and Fox Sports News) is distributed on digital terrestrial television by Southern Cross Austereo and selected WIN Television stations. The channel also operates two spin-off services, Sky News Weather Channel, and public affairs service Sky News Extra (formerly A-PAC).


title: Sky News Australia

text: The channel was originally a joint venture between British broadcaster BSkyB (thus making it a spin-off of the Sky News channel in the United Kingdom), Seven Media Group, and Nine Entertainment Co., as Australian News Channel Pty Ltd. The company was acquired by News Corp Australia in 2016; with the subsequent sale of Murdoch's remaining shares in Sky UK to Comcast, Sky News Australia no longer has any direct ties to its UK counterpart.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Especially since the acquisition of the channel by News Corp Australia, Sky News Australia has faced scrutiny from the press over its increased focus on opinion programming, with comparisons drawn to Rupert Murdoch's American news channel Fox News (which carries a similar format), and accusations that the channel's opinion programming has promoted right-wing misinformation and conspiracy theories, and provided a platform for far-right figures.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Channel's parent company, Australian News Channel (ANC), was owned equally by British Sky Broadcasting (now Sky Limited; which is now a division of Comcast), Seven Media Group and Nine Entertainment Co., each with a 33% stake in the company from its founding until December 2016, when it was acquired by News Corp Australia.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In 2004, Sky News began broadcasting Sky News Active, its on-demand interactive TV news service. In 2008, Sky News launched the Sky News Business Channel, and on 20 January 2009, Sky News launched Australian Public Affairs Channel (A-PAC). It began widescreen broadcasting on 17 May 2009. Sky News Australia began broadcasting in high definition on 1 December 2015. A fourth spin-off channel, Sky News Election Channel, was launched on 1 May 2016.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In 2013, Sky News Australia was granted 20 million in funding from its parent company to be used over three years.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In mid-2019, the channel began expanding its digital operations. This included a content partnership with YouTube, Microsoft News, Facebook and Taboola. That led to new, opinion-focused videos being uploaded more frequently and across News Corp platforms, after having previously not uploaded any videos from February 2017 to April 2019.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In February 2018, Sky News Australia launched a digital-first brand and content platform called 2600. The online political newsletter is sent out daily with breaking news from Canberra.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In November 2018, Sky News terminated the contract of former Liberal Party MP and late-night presenter Ross Cameron for using racist language to describe Chinese people.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News programming consists of a mix of live news bulletins, live broadcasts from events (such as Parliament Question Time and selected press conferences), original commentary panel programs and simulcasts of international sister station Sky News UK. Sky News has broadcast every sitting of Question Time from the House of Representatives since its launch in 1996.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Australia increased its primetime programming offerings, particularly its political-themed shows, significantly in 2013, when it made more obvious its right-leaning ideology, ahead of the 2013 federal election, cancelling almost entirely the slot's rolling news block "News Night". It would then regain most of its runtime in 2014. Sky News Australia rebranded itself on 19 January 2015 as "Sky News Live", dropping the "Sky News National" branding.


title: Sky News Australia

text: On weekdays, throughout most of the day, rolling news coverage is presented from one of Sky News Australia's studios. From 5 pm (AEST/AEDT), commentary programs begin, and continue through primetime until 11 pm AEST/AEDT. Most of these programs are presented by conservative commentators discussing the news of the day, often with a panel of other commentators, and feature a news update at the beginning of the program (and sometimes further updates during the program). Rolling news continues from 11 pm AEST/AEDT before coverage switches to an overnight simulcast of "Sky News UK" at 1 am AEST/AEDT.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In 2007, Sky News aired local breakaway programming for New Zealand viewers in primetime, filmed at Prime NZ's Auckland studios. One of these programs, "Prime News – First at 5:30", was also simulcast to Australian viewers. The debut of "Sky News NZ Evening News" was watched by just 1,500 viewers and panned by critics. As of 2015, no local New Zealand programs are produced or broadcast following the loss of a production contract with Prime NZ. However the channel debuted "New Zealand Agenda" on 16 June 2018, hosted by New Zealand bureau chief James O'Doherty from Wellington, New Zealand, focusing on NZ politics.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Australia has a bureau in every capital city in Australia, completing this with the opening of its Hobart studio in 2013. In 2016, it opened a bureau in Cairns, making it the first non-capital city bureau. In 2017, a Gold Coast bureau was opened marking the third non-capital city studio after Cairns and Geelong.


title: Sky News Australia

text: The base of Sky News Australia is in the Sydney suburb of Macquarie Park, from which the majority of its news and programming is broadcast. Its Melbourne studio was upgraded in 2014, allowing it to be used as a secondary broadcast studio. "Hinch Live" became the first regular program to be broadcast from Melbourne.


title: Sky News Australia

text: The third major bureau is in Parliament House, Canberra, opened in 2000. Lyndal Curtis became Bureau Chief of in October 2015. Additionally, Sky News has a small office in the Channel Seven building in Martin Place, which includes a small street-level single camera studio which looks onto Elizabeth Street, Sydney.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Apart from its own resources, Sky News Australia uses the news resources of its former parent companies "Seven News", "Nine News" and Sky News UK, as well as sister network Fox News Channel. It signed a four-year partnership deal with CNN International, commencing on 1 January 2011, and additionally has agreements with CCTV China, ABC America, CBS, Reuters, APTN, Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Newshub. Sky News UK, ABC and CBS were founding international partners of Sky News Australia.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In 2017, Denis Muller, a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Advancing Journalism, described the channel as having a "split personality," running straight news bulletins and reporting during the day with professional and independent journalists and presenters, while moving towards "right-leaning punditry" in prime time.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In February 2021, Muller, commenting on former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's statement that Sky News was following a pattern laid down by Fox News, described the nighttime programming of Sky News as including "the unconstrained peddling of extreme right-wing propaganda, lies, disinformation, crude distortion of fact and baseless assertions."


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Australia is considered by commentators to have a conservative, right-wing bias, with frequent criticism of Australia's main progressive political parties, Labor and the Greens. Presenter Paul Murray has stated that "Sky News at night is a Liberal echo chamber". Drawing a strong comparison to Fox News, the network began moving towards panel-based programming from 2010, with most of its highest profile prime time commentators being conservative. Hosts Andrew Bolt and Paul Murray have been compared to Fox News presenters Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity respectively.


title: Sky News Australia

text: As many of the channel's primetime contributors are conservatives - many with clear career links to the Liberal Party - the Australian Labor Party and its figureheads Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Western Australian premier Mark McGowan are frequently critiqued whilst the policies of the Liberal and National parties of Australia are often endorsed and promoted. During the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in the year 2020, some Sky News commentators referred to Andrews as a 'dictator' and a 'chairman', drawing a comparison to socialist and communist regimes when criticising Andrews' frequent use of pandemic lockdowns and public health orders.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Australia has been a frequent critic of US President Joe Biden ever since he took office on 20 January 2021. Some reporters such as Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones have frequently commented about Biden's mental health, claiming it was declining and that Biden is unfit to be the President.


title: Sky News Australia

text: On 13 December 2020, Rowan Dean promoted the Great Reset conspiracy theory on Sky News Australia, claiming that "This Great Reset is as serious and dangerous a threat to our prosperity – to your prosperity and your freedom – as we have faced in decades".


title: Sky News Australia

text: As of February 2021, American far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones uses segments from Sky News Australia to back up his claims.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In July 2021, Alan Jones and Craig Kelly falsely claimed that United Kingdom data proved that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 would increase the likelihood of death due to COVID-19. The claim originated in "The Daily Exposé", a British website known for promoting COVID-19 and anti-vaccine misinformation. "The Daily Exposé"'s claim was debunked by the BBC, Full Fact and Reuters. Sky News Australia subsequently removed the broadcast and issued a correction on its website.


title: Sky News Australia

text: On 1 August 2021, YouTube barred Sky News Australia from uploading new content onto their channel for a week for breaking YouTube's rules on posting videos containing COVID-19 misinformation. Upon the channel's return to the platform, Sky News Australia published a piece titled "Uncancelled: Sky News Australia Set Free" wherein Digital Editor Jack Houghton claimed the channel's temporary banning was the result of Silicon Valley and left-wing media attempting to stifle free speech.


title: Sky News Australia

text: A 2022 analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a British think tank, found that Sky News Australia was a major source for climate change misinformation. Sky News Australia rejected the findings of the analysis, saying that they would "continue to encourage debate" on climate change.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Largely, Sky News struggles to garner any significant viewership figures and is largely confined to a core group of around 50,000 nightly primetime viewers across their cable and free-to-air platforms. Thus, the channel rates extremely poorly compared to other news networks such as ABC News and broadcast networks.


title: Sky News Australia

text: The highest rating broadcast on Sky News Australia was an episode of "Paul Murray Live" on 26 June 2013 (following the 2013 Labor leadership spill), averaging 197,000 viewers across a special two-hour broadcast. The highest audience share Sky News Australia has achieved was during coverage of the 2009 Victorian bushfires.


title: Sky News Australia

text: On 15 December 2014 during the Sydney Lindt café siege, coverage of the unfolding incident took 16 of the 20 most watched programs on the Foxtel platform. The 7 pm (AEST) hour was the highest rated at 109,000 viewers. Sky News achieved a day time share of 2.6% (behind ABC News 24's 3.8%) and a primetime share of 1.5% (behind ABC News 24's 2.5%).


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Live rated 56,000 viewers for early evening coverage of the 2015 Queensland state election, and 83,000 viewers for later coverage, beaten by ABC News 24's coverage which was watched by 195,000 viewers nationally. For its coverage of the failed Liberal leadership spill on 9 February 2015 between 9 am and 10 am, Sky News Live was the second most watched subscription channel and the coverage was the third most watched program of the day with 69,000 viewers.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Live reached a total audience of 700,000 viewers on 14 September 2015 (including simulcast on Sky News Business) during the 2015 Liberal leadership spill. It was the most watched subscription television channel for the evening and outrated all free-to-air television channels between 11 pm and midnight AEST. The highest rated hour of coverage was from 10pm, achieving 190,000 viewers, the second highest ratings since the 2013 Labor Party spill.


title: Sky News Australia

text: A March 2016 article in "The Guardian Australia" reported Sky News averages 12,000 national viewers between 6 pm and midnight, with a peak of 18,000 between 8 pm and 10 pm, although the report did not specify what days or dates this average refers to.


title: Sky News Australia

text: During the 2016 federal election, Sky News averaged 96,000 viewers, an increase of 46% from the 2013 election.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In July 2018, Sky News claimed to have achieved its highest ratings on record, with viewership up 9% overall and its weeknight primetime (6pm-11pm) viewership 25% higher on the same period last year, according to OzTAM figures.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In August 2018, coverage of the Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill, 2018 saw Sky News gain its highest Tuesday primetime audience ever with a 4.2% audience share. "Speers", "Credlin" and "Jones & Co" all had their highest-rated episodes on record.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In August 2018, Sky News was heavily criticised for providing a platform to Blair Cottrell, leader of the far-right, Neo-Nazi organisation United Patriots Front in a one-on-one discussion about immigration on "The Adam Giles Show". Sky News presenters, including Laura Jayes and David Speers, were among those critical (both on-air and off-air) of his appearance on the program due to the fact that he has expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and claimed to have manipulated women "using violence and terror." Sky News commentator and former Labor Party minister Craig Emerson resigned in protest after the interview was broadcast, stating that "My father fought Nazis in WWII and was interred in a German POW camp", and that the decision to give Cottrell a platform on Sky News was "another step in a journey to normalising racism & bigotry in our country". The activist group Sleeping Giants Oz called on advertisers to pull advertising campaigns off Sky News in the wake of the channel's interview with Cottrell.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings in March 2019, Sky News Australia was temporarily removed from Sky New Zealand's satellite platform, amid concerns over how the channel's coverage could potentially affect the investigation into the attack; Fox Sports News was added to the platform as a replacement. Sky News Australia was restored to Sky New Zealand on 21 March, six days after the attack.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News began broadcasting in widescreen, along with its sister channels on 17 May 2009. Sky News Australia only provides closed captioning between 4 pm and 5 pm (AEST/AEDT) each day.


title: Sky News Australia

text: With the roll-out of Foxtel Digital, Sky News Australia launched the "Sky News Active" interactive news service based on the Sky News UK service with the same name. The service offered a choice of eight news screens, some with original content not seen on the main channel they vary depending on the days news or events and include the latest news, business, sport, showbiz and weather in text. Other features included interactive polling and the latest news headlines via text. On 15 November 2009 Sky News active re-launched with a new look as well as 5 additional local screens (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Now was a mobile service available on Vodafone, Telstra and 3. It offered a wide variety of news in both video and text. As of 2015, the service was no longer available.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Alerts is a SMS and MMS breaking news service available on all mobile phones inside Australia. Breaking news alerts are sent to a subscriber via SMS or MMS at a cost per message.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In November 2014, Sky News Australia was contracted to provide Qantas with in-flight news bulletins replacing a longstanding contract with the Nine Network.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News offers various programs via podcast including First Business, Market Day, Showbiz, Agenda, Australian News Week, and Prime News New Zealand.


title: Sky News Australia

text: Sky News Regional (formerly Sky News on WIN) is a free-to-air version of Sky News Australia, which was launched on 2 September 2018. The channel features Sky News Australia and Fox Sports News programming, as well as the original morning newscast "Sky News Breakfast". The channel was originally established as part of a partnership with WIN Television. In 2021, WIN's contracts with both Network 10 and Sky News expired; with WIN returning to its previous Nine Network affiliation on 1 July 2021, and Sky News's contract expiring on 1 August 2021 (the allotments were, in turn, used for 9Life). Sky News reached a new agreement with Southern Cross Austereo to distribute the channel, now known as Sky News Regional.


title: Sky News Australia

text: In its first two weeks on the air, the channel averaged 10,000 viewers in primetime and 4,000 viewers in daytime, with "Richo" the highest rated program at 24,000 viewers.


title: Sky News Australia

text: The channel is available on digital channel 56 across Southern Cross Austereo's regional markets in Regional QLD, Southern NSW & ACT and Regional VIC, and on WIN digital channel 53 in Northern NSW & Gold Coast, Griffith and South East SA. It is not available in Broken Hill, Spencer Gulf, Tasmania, Mildura, Darwin, Remote & Central Australia and Regional WA. Mildura, Tasmania, and Regional Western Australia carried this channel as Sky News on WIN on the WIN network until August 2021 when it switched to 9Life’s feed. The channel was previously on WIN digital channels 83 and 85, prior to the rebrand as Sky News Regional on 1 August 2021.


title: Bakeneko

text: The (, "changed cat") is a type of Japanese , or supernatural entity; more specifically, it is a , or supernatural cat. It is often confused with the , another cat-like . The distinction between them is often ambiguous, but the largest difference is that the has two tails, while the has only one.


title: Bakeneko

text: There are legends of in various parts of Japan, but the tale of the Nabeshima Disturbance in Saga Prefecture is especially famous.


title: Bakeneko

text: The reason that cats are seen as in Japanese mythology is attributed to many of their characteristics: for example, the irises of their eyes change shape depending on the time of day, their fur can seem to cause sparks when they are petted (due to static electricity), they sometimes lick blood, they can walk without making a sound, their wild nature that remains despite the gentleness they can show, they are difficult to control (unlike dogs), their sharp claws and teeth, nocturnal habits, and their speed and agility.


title: Bakeneko

text: Many other animals appear as in old tales and display similar attributes: the deep tenacity of snakes, the ability of foxes () to shapeshift into women, and the brutality of in eating humans depicted in the Kachi-kachi Yama folktale from the Edo period. However, cats figure in a great number of tales and superstitions because they live with humans yet retain their wild essence and air of mystery.


title: Bakeneko

text: One folk belief about the is that they lick lamp oil. In the Edo period encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue, it is said that a cat licking this oil is an omen of an impending strange event. People in the early modern period used cheap fish oils in lamps, e.g. sardine oil; that could explain cats wanting to lick them. Also, at that time the Japanese diet was based on grains and vegetables, and while the leftovers were fed to the cats, as carnivores, the cats would have lacked for protein and fat and therefore been even more attracted to lamp oils. Moreover, the sight of a cat standing on its hind legs to reach a lamp, its face lit with anticipation, could have seemed eerie and unnatural, like a . The stealing of household objects is commonly associated with many Japanese ghosts, and thus the disappearance of lamp oil when a cat was present helped to associate the cat with the supernatural.


title: Bakeneko

text: The mysterious air that cats possess was associated with prostitutes who worked in Edo-period red-light districts. This was the origin of a popular character in kusazōshi (among other publications), the bakeneko yūjo.


title: Bakeneko

text: As with the , another cat-like which is said to evolve from a cat whose tail split into two when it grew old, there are folk beliefs across Japan about aged cats turning into . There are tales of cats that became after being raised for twelve years in Ibaraki Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture, and for thirteen years in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture. In Yamagata District, Hiroshima Prefecture, it is said that a cat raised for seven years or longer will kill the one that raised it. There are also many regions where, due to this superstition, people decided in advance for how many years they would raise a cat. Depending on the area, there are stories in which cats that were brutally killed by humans would become and curse that human. stories are not only about aged cats, but also sometimes about revenge against cruel humans.


title: Bakeneko

text: The abilities attributed to are various, including shapeshifting into humans, wearing a towel or napkin on the head and dancing, speaking human words, cursing humans, manipulating dead people, possessing humans, and lurking in the mountains and taking wolves with them to attack travelers. As an unusual example, on Aji island, Oshika District, Miyagi Prefecture and in the Oki Islands, Shimane Prefecture, there is a story of a cat that shapeshifted into a human and wanted to engage in sumo.


title: Bakeneko

text: The legend that cats could speak may have arisen from misinterpreting the cat's meowing as human language; for this reason some would say that the cat is not a type of . In 1992 (Heisei 4), in the Yomiuri newspaper, there was an article that argued that when people thought they had heard a cat speak, upon listening a second time, they realized that it was simply the cat's meowing and that it was only coincidence that it resembled a human word.


title: Bakeneko

text: In the Edo period (1603–1867), there was a folk belief that cats with long tails like snakes could bewitch people. Cats with long tails were disliked, and there was a custom of cutting their tails. It is speculated that this is the reason that there are so many cats in Japan with short tails now, natural selection having favored those with short tails.


title: Bakeneko

text: Folk beliefs that cats can cause strange phenomena are not limited to Japan. For example, in Jinhua, Zhejiang, in China, it is said that a cat that had been raised by humans for three years would start bewitching them. Because cats with white tails are said to be especially good at this, refraining from raising them became customary. Since their ability to bewitch humans is said to come from taking in the spiritual energy of the moon, it is said that when a cat looks up at the moon, it should be killed on the spot, whether its tail has been cut or not.


title: Bakeneko

text: One famous story is about a man named Takasu Genbei, whose mother's personality changed completely after his pet cat went missing for many years. His mother avoided the company of friends and family and would take her meals alone in her room. When the family peeked in on her, they saw a cat-like monster in the mother's clothes, chewing on animal carcasses. Takasu, still skeptical, slew what looked like his mother, and after one day his mother's body turned back into his pet cat that had been missing. Takasu then tore up the floorboards of his mother's room to find her skeleton hidden there, her bones gnawed clean of all flesh.


title: Bakeneko

text: There is a legend that takes place in the time of Nabeshima Mitsushige, the second of the Saga Domain, Hizen Province. Mitsushige's retainer Ryūzōji Matashichirō, who served as the s opponent in the game of Go, displeased Mitsushige and was put to the sword. Ryūzōji's mother, while recounting her sorrows to her cat, committed suicide. The cat licked the mother's blood, became a , went into the castle, and tormented Mitsushige every night until his loyal retainer Komori Hanzaemon finally killed it and saved the Nabeshima family.


title: Bakeneko

text: Historically, the Ryūzōji clan was older than the Nabeshima clan in Hizen. After Ryūzōji Takanobu's death, his assistant Nabeshima Naoshige held the real power, and after the sudden death of Takanobu's grandchild Takafusa, his father Masaie also committed suicide. Afterwards, since the remnants of the Ryūzōji clan created disturbances in the public order near the Saga castle, Naoshige, in order to pacify the spirits of the Ryūzōji, built Tenyū-ji (now in Tafuse, Saga). This has been considered the origin of the disturbance and it is thought that the was an expression of the Ryūzōji's grudge in the form of a cat. Also, the inheritance of power from the Ryūzōji clan to the Nabeshima clan was not an issue, but because of Takanobu's death, and Nabeshima Katsushige's son's sudden death, some point out that this (ghost story) arose from a dramatization of this series of events.


title: Bakeneko

text: This legend was turned into a (play). In the Kaei period (1848–1854), it was first performed in Nakamura-za as (). The "Sagano" in the title is a place in Tokyo Prefecture, but it was actually a pun on the word . This work became very popular throughout the country, but a complaint from the Saga domain brought the performances to a quick stop. However, since the (a samurai official of the shogunate) who filed the complaint for the performances to be stopped was Nabeshima Naotaka of the Nabeshima clan, the gossip about the disturbance spread even more.


title: Bakeneko

text: After that, the tale was widely circulated in society in the (』) and the historical record book (). In the (a style of traditional oral Japanese storytelling), because Ryūzōji's widow told of her sorrow to the cat, it became a , and killed and ate Komori Hanzaemon's mother and wife. It then shapeshifted and appeared in their forms, and cast a curse upon the family. In the historical record book, this was completely unrelated to the Ryūzōji event, however, and a foreign type of cat, which had been abused by Nabeshima's feudal lord Komori Handayū, sought revenge and killed and ate the lord's favorite concubine, shapeshifted into her form, and caused harm to the family. It was Itō Sōda who exterminated it.


title: Bakeneko

text: In the beginning of the Shōwa period (1926–1989), films such as () and () became quite popular. Actresses like Takako Irie and Sumiko Suzuki played the part of the and became well known as "bakeneko actresses."


title: Bakeneko

text: Cats as in literature date back to the Kamakura period (1185–1333). In the collection of (oral tradition of folktales before the 14th century), the Kokon Chomonjū, from this period, there can be seen statements pointing out cats that do strange and suspicious things, noting that "these are perhaps ones that have turned into demons." Old stories about from that time period are often associated with temples, but it is thought that the reason for this is that when Buddhism came to Japan, in order to protect the sutras (sacred texts) from being chewed on by rats, cats were brought along too.


title: Bakeneko

text: During the Edo period (1603–1867), tales about began to appear in essays and collections in various areas. Tales of cats transforming into humans and talking can be seen in publications like the (), the (), the (), and the (). Similarly, tales of dancing cats can be seen in the (), and the (). In the fourth volume of "Mimibukuro", it is stated that any cat anywhere that lives for ten years would begin to speak as a human, and that cats born from the union of a fox and a cat would begin speaking even before ten years had passed. According to tales of cats that transform, aged cats would very often shapeshift into old women. The Edo period was the golden age for about , and with like the "Nabeshima Bakeneko Disturbance" being performed, these became even more famous.


title: Bakeneko

text: In Makidani, Yamasaki, Shisō District, Harima Province (now within Shisō, Hyōgo Prefecture), a tale was passed down about a person in Karakawa who was a . The same kind of tale was also found in Taniguchi, Fukusaki village, Jinsai District, of the same province, where it is said that in Kongōjō-ji, a who troubled a villager was killed by someone from the temple. This was protected from arrows and bullets by a s lid and an iron pot. These, like the legend of Susanoo's extermination of Yamata no Orochi, have a commonality in that the local old families of the area played a role.


title: Bakeneko

text: In 1909, articles about cats that broke into dance in tenement houses in the Honjo neighbourhood of Tokyo were published in newspapers such as the Sports Hochi, the Yorozu Chōhō, and the Yamato Shimbun.


title: Bakeneko

text: have appeared in Japanese films—including more specifically the subgenre of horror films known as "monster cat" or "ghost cat" films ( or ), a subgenre derived primarily from the repertoire of kabuki theatre. In such films, the is often depicted as a vengeful spirit that manifests itself in the form of a cat-like woman.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: Edgar Ricardo Arjona Algadeoro (born 19 January 1964), known as Ricardo Arjona (), is a Guatemalan singer-songwriter. Arjona is one of the most successful and best-selling Latin American artists of all time, with more than 80 million records sold. He is often called "El Animal Nocturno" (The Nocturnal Animal), thanks to his breakthrough success with his fourth studio album, which bears the same name. His music ranges from ballads to Latin pop, rock, pop rock, Cuban music, and more recently a cappella performances and a mixture of Tejano music and Norteño music, and other Afro-American and Latin sounds. Arjona is noted for his lyrical style, and often addresses topics such as love, sexuality, violence, racism and immigration.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: As of 2016, Arjona had released sixteen studio albums, one live album, nine compilation albums and forty-three singles. Four Arjona albums reached number one on the "Billboard" Top Latin Albums, and ten reached number one in Argentina. Four albums had charted on the "Billboard" 200. Four singles had reached number one on the "Billboard" Latin Songs chart and seven had done the same on Latin Pop Songs. His work earned him numerous awards and accolades, including one Grammy Award, one Latin Grammy Award, the Latin Heritage Award as well as awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; a silver and golden torch and two silver seagulls from the 2010 Viña del Mar International Song Festival, two "Billboard" Latin Music Awards, and a "Latin Trajectory of the Year" Award at the Orgullosamente Latino Awards of 2010.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: Edgar Ricardo Arjona Morales was born on 19 January 1964, in Jocotenango, Guatemala, to parents Ricardo Arjona Moscoso and Mimi Morales de Arjona. He spent most of his childhood in Guatemala City, where he began his musical instruction. At age twelve, he participated in the contest "Festival Infantil Juventud 74" with "Gracias al Mundo", a song composed by his father, finally winning the event. Although he initially enrolled in architecture and engineering at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC), he graduated with a degree from the School of Communication Sciences. In the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he met Puerto Rican Leslie Torres and had two children with her: Adria and Ricardo. They separated in 2005. As of 2010, Arjona was dating Venezuelan model Daisy Arvelo, with whom he has a child.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: Arjona was a talented basketball player who played for "Leones de Marte" and "TRIAS". He toured Central America as a member of the Guatemala national basketball team. Until recently, he held the record for the most points scored (78) in a single game by a Guatemalan. He also taught at a primary school (called "Santa Elena III"), where he claimed to have spent six hours giving lessons and the rest of the day playing football. This earned him a visit from a Ministry of Education representative, who was sent to evaluate his pupils. The representative found that the students' education was actually above average. In 1988, he became the basketball coach of a boys' school (called "Instituto Don Bosco").


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: Arjona began his musical career at age 21, when he signed with the now defunct Guatemalan record label, Discos de Centroamérica, S.A., and distributed by PolyGram, and released his debut album "Déjame Decir Que Te Amo" in 1985. The label attempted to portray Arjona as a stereotypical Latin lover. The title track was released as a single, "Déjame Decir Que Te Amo". This album failed to chart, but received moderate praise from critics, with Allmusic awarding it three stars out of five. Because of his negative experience recording the album and its commercial failure, he decided to abandon music to teach school. At age 24, Arjona reversed course and sought the opportunity to represent his country in the OTI Festival with the song "Con Una Estrella En El Vientre". The sessions immediately following this decision produced the song "S.O.S Rescátame". His second studio album, "Jesús, Verbo No Sustantivo" brought him commercial and critical success across Latin America and the U.S. and became a best-seller in many Central American territories.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: Arjona started the new decade as a regular in the Mexican telenovela (soap opera) "Alcanzar una Estrella" (English translation: Reaching a Star), which assisted him in becoming a known singer throughout Latin America. After joining Sony Music in 1990 he released "Del Otro Lado del Sol", one of his least successful albums. That year, he started composing songs for other artists, such as Yuri's "Detrás de Mi Ventana", for her album "Nueva era" (1993). The song became a hit, reaching No.1 on the US Hot Latin Songs chart for three weeks in 1994. He later covered the song in his compilation album, "Trópico" (2009), alongside Melina León. "Animal Nocturno", Arjona's fourth studio album, was released in 1993. The album contained the hit singles "Mujeres" (No. 6 on Latin Songs) and "Primera Vez" (No. 6 on Latin Songs) and received thirteen platinum and one diamond certifications. "Animal Nocturno" sold 500,000 copies in 1994, and carried Arjona to fame along with his work on the Mexican telenovela "Alcanzar Una Estrella", which allowed him to showcase his songwriting and singing skills.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: He confirmed his reputation with the release of his fifth studio album, "Historias". The album sold 2 million copies throughout Latin America and received twenty-seven platinum and two diamond certifications, including quadruple Platinum in Argentina. "Historias" reached No. 43 on Top Latin Albums and included the hit singles "Te Conozco" (No. 3 on "Billboard" Latin Songs) and "Señora De Las Cuatro Décadas" (No. 7 on Latin Songs). The Allmusic review by Jason Birchmeier awarded the album 4.5 stars stating that "If you were to pick only one Arjona album for your collection that wasn't a greatest-hits compilation, this should be the one. "Historias" was a career-defining success for Arjona." His fourth and fifth studio albums were the best-selling of his career.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: In 1996, he released his sixth studio album, "Si El Norte Fuera El Sur". This was the first album in which Arjona ventured beyond the theme of love to explore nationalism and globalization, among other sociopolitical topics. Its four singles were "Si El Norte Fuera El Sur" (No. 9 on Latin Pop Songs), whose main theme is the relationship between the United States and Latin America, "Tu Reputación" (No. 18 on Latin Songs, No. 2 on Latin Pop Songs), "Me Enseñaste" (No. 18 on Latin Pop Songs), and "Ella y Él" (No. 24 on Latin Songs, No. 8 on Latin Pop Songs). Birchmeier awarded the album 4.5 stars stating "All in all, it's Arjona's third classic album in a row, each distinct from its predecessor." "Billboard" named it the Rock Album of the Year in 1997. "Si El Norte Fuera El Sur" received multiple Platinum certifications in the United States and Argentina.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: In 1998, he released his seventh studio album, "Sin Daños a Terceros". Terry Jenkins from Allmusic, on his review of the album, awarded it 4 stars, writing that ""Sin Daños a Terceros" continues Ricardo Arjona's streak of accomplished, affecting albums that spotlights both his melodic skills and his sharp social consciousness." His fourth consecutive album to receive critical success, "Sin Daños a Terceros" also enjoyed commercial success, debuting at No. 6 on Top Latin Albums, the first to reach the top 10, and reaching No. 3 on the "Billboard" Latin Pop Albums chart. It contained the hit singles "Dime Que No" (No. 6 on Latin Songs, No. 3 on Latin Pop Songs), and "Mentiroso" (No. 22 on Latin Songs, No. 5 on Latin Pop Songs). The album received multiple Platinum certifications from the United States and Argentina. More than 700,000 copies were sold.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: On 5 December 1998 and in front of a live audience of more than 100,000 people at the Hippodrome of Guatemala City, Arjona recorded his first live album, the 1999 release "Vivo". The album was moderately successful, certified Gold in Mexico and Platinum in the United States and Argentina. It produced the hit "Desnuda", which became his first No. 1 on the "Billboard" Top Latin Songs chart. As of December 2005, "Vivo" had sold 243,000 copies in the United States, his best-selling album there as of that date.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: Arjona's eighth studio album, "Galería Caribe" was preceded by the single "Cuándo", which became a commercial success and reached No. 1 on both Top Latin Songs and Latin Pop Songs. The singer commented that the album consumed twelve months and that before starting, he "had more friends." He also mentioned he had "lived in love with Caribbean culture and music since my childhood." Birchmeier awarded the album 3 stars stating "All in all, "Galería Caribe" is a curious entry in Arjona's catalog that most fans can overlook without missing much." The album became his first to chart on the "Billboard" 200, peaking at No. 136, while charting at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums. It was awarded Platinum certification in Mexico, Argentina and the US. Its three singles were "Lo Poco Que Queda De Mi"; "Mesías", which reached No. 19 on Top Latin Songs and No. 11 on the Latin Pop Songs chart, and "A Cara O Cruz", which reached No. 28 on Latin Pop Songs. To promote the album, which sold more than one million copies, Arjona embarked on his "Galería Caribe Tour", which began in Mexico in 2000 and finished in 2001.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: In "Mesias" Arjona talks about a character who appears "in the form of a wealthy, well-armed magnate with [...] some sinister plan for the world." Some critics argued that it was a "metaphorical attack" on capitalism and imperialism, named as "classic Arjona targets." The song became a subject of some controversy when fans and critics noted connections between its theme and the attacks of September 2001, months after the song's release, which resulted in the FBI investigating Arjona. The singer later commented that "Mesías" had no relationship to the attacks, and that the lyrics were pure coincidence. He further stated the FBI had never spoken directly to him, but instead to somebody on his team.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: On 19 November 2002, Arjona released his ninth studio album, "Santo Pecado", preceded by singles "El Problema", which reached No. 1 on both the "Billboard" Top Latin Songs and Latin Pop Songs charts, and "Minutos", which reached No. 5 on the Top Latin Songs and No. 3 on the Latin Pop Songs charts. "Santo Pecado" became a commercial success, selling more than 300,000 copies just in Mexico (double Platinum), 160,000 in Argentina (quadruple Platinum) and 200,000 in the United States (double Platinum). In 2003 Arjona released "Lados B", his second compilation album, including songs that were "not so commercial", and that he wanted to give a second chance at radio airplay. The album contained songs from all his past studio albums. Critical reception for the album was mixed. Birchmeier noted that it was "a misleading entry point into Arjona's catalog." Despite this, the album received a Gold certification in Mexico.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: On 6 December 2005, Arjona released his tenth studio album, "Adentro". This was Arjona's first collaboration with Tommy Torres. In an interview, the singer commented that he first "tested" Torres by sending him the "hookiest and darkest tracks" on the album, "Acompañame A Estar Solo" and "Iluso". Torres said that he "went all out on the first demo, hiring a full band that included a string orchestra", which grabbed Arjona's attention. The album was critically acclaimed, with Evan C. Gutiérrez from Allmusic giving it four stars out of five and commenting that "Be it for the stripped, natural production value, the confident performance of Ricardo Arjona, or his relevant-as-ever lyricism, he's got both his loyal fans and the execs at Norte smiling. While the instrumentation, performance, and overall sonic palette of this project are minimalist and unassuming, there is a depth and brilliance to them. The listener's ear does not tire or want for more, humble as "Adentro" is." Arjona further commented that "Adentro" was "a very representative and tremendously complete album," adding that "having different producers made it rich in possibilities."


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: "Adentro" became Arjona's second studio album to chart on the Billboard 200, reaching No. 126. It reached No. 3 on the Top Latin Albums and No. 2 on the Latin Pop Albums charts. Five singles were released from "Adentro": the lead single, "Acompañame A Estar Solo" (No. 7 on Latin Songs, No. 1 on Latin Pop Songs), "Pingüinos En La Cama" featuring Spanish singer Chenoa (No. 44 on Latin Songs, No. 19 on Latin Pop Songs); "Mojado", featuring American Tejano/Norteño band Intocable (No. 34 on Latin Songs, No. 30 on Latin Pop Songs), "A Ti" (No. 14 on Latin Songs, No. 3 on Latin Pop Songs), and "De Vez En Mes" (No. 49 on Latin Songs, No. 16 on Latin Pop Songs). The album sold more than a million copies worldwide.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: In 2006, Arjona started the first leg of his world tour, named the "Adentro Tour". The tour resumed in 2007 for a second leg, in which he visited more countries. Approximately two million people attended the performances. The tour was officially closed on 14 September 2007 on the mainland city of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, during the International Fair, in front of more than 100,000 people. On 21 August 2007, Arjona released his fifth compilation album, "Quién Dijo Ayer". The album is a two-disc set which contains, on the first disc, new versions of past hits, some of them including featured artists such as Marta Sánchez on "Tarde (Sin Daños a Terceros)" from "Sin Daños a Terceros"; Panteón Rococó on "Si El Norte Fuera el Sur", from the album of the same name; Marc Anthony on "Historia de Taxi", from "Historias"; Eros Ramazzotti on "A Ti", from "Adentro", and Sandro on "Realmente No Estoy Tan Solo", from "Historias", and which was the last song recorded by the singer, who died on 4 January 2010. Arjona's manager told Argentinian newspaper "Clarín" that "[the singer] had the idea of inviting Roberto [Sandro] for his album, he [Sandro] showed enthusiasm and manifested the same degree of appreciation to Arjona. It seemed to him that he [Arjona] was an artist who proclaims the same values he proclaimed." The second disc contained remastered versions of the hits on the first disc, but in their original versions. It was the second time Arjona collaborated with Torres.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: The album became a critical and commercial success. Jason Birchmeier commented that "while only a couple of the new versions depart stylistically from the originals, the contemporary productions breathe new life into these songs, which should be well known by longtime fans", and reaching double Platinum in Argentina and the United States, and Platinum in Mexico. The record was additionally certified Gold in Colombia, Chile and Venezuela. Two singles were released from the album. The first, "Quién", a previously unreleased song produced by Torres, failed to reach the top 20 on Latin Songs, standing at No. 21, but reached No. 4 on the Latin Pop Songs chart. Arjona commented that "'Quién' is a story with the hurry of the desperate, is the flashback of those who end up loving alone." "Quiero", the second single, reached No.12 on the Latin Songs chart, and No.8 on the Latin Pop Songs chart.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: After spending the majority of his career with Sony, and Sony BMG, Arjona signed a long-term deal with Warner Music Latina in September 2008. Iñigo Zabala, chairman of Warner Music Latin America, said "He's an artist that fits perfectly with our company," and that "We are a label that has a major catalog of songwriters and quality pop and rock from the likes of Maná, Alejandro Sanz, Laura Pausini, and now, Arjona." Arjona announced his eleventh studio album, "5to Piso", on 18 November 2008. The album was preceded by the first single, "Cómo Duele" on September, which reached No. 2 on Top Latin Songs and No. 1 on Latin Pop Songs. He moved approximately 200,000 copies of the album in the first month at retail, and it went Platinum in Mexico, the United States, Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Guatemala, and several other countries. It debuted at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums, becoming his second chart-topper on that list, and sold more than one million copies worldwide. The album received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Pop Album and a Latin Grammy Award nomination for Best Singer-Songwriter Album. The album received positive critical response. Birchmeier gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that "More typical than exceptional for Arjona at this point in his career, "5to Piso" isn't as grand an album as his past few... Yet it's a great album all the same, particularly the opening run of songs that culminates with 'Cómo Duele', and it finds Arjona still at the top of his craft."


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: While Warner Music released his new studio album, Sony Music released a compilation album, "Simplemente Lo Mejor". This led to speculation that the labels were in a fight to win Arjona's fanbase and sales. "Simplemente Lo Mejor" contained hits from past albums, namely "Sin Daños a Terceros", "Si El Norte Fuera El Sur", among others. This compilation went Gold in Mexico, and Platinum in Argentina. "Sin Ti... Sin Mi" was released as "5to Piso"'s second single, and reached No. 4 on both Top Latin Songs and Latin Pop Songs charts. On 24 April 2009, Arjona started the Quinto Piso Tour. The tour included 123 shows in the United States, Spain, Argentina, Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico, among many other countries in Latin America, and ended on 18 June 2010.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: The "Quinto Piso Tour" was one of the most successful tours made by a Latin artist, with more than one million attendees from 19 countries. He received in 2010 the "Latin Tour of the Year" "Billboard" Latin Music Award for the tour. On 26 February 2010, he participated in the 2010 Viña del Mar International Song Festival as one of the top performers. His performance was followed by Colombian singer Fanny Lu. One hour after Lu's performance, a 8.8 magnitude massive earthquake affected the south-central regions of Chile. On social networks, Arjona was jokingly blamed, with remarks such as "earthquakes go where he goes", making reference also to the earthquake felt in Mexico after the singer arrived. After the tour, Arjona announced his twelfth studio album, "Poquita Ropa", which was released on 24 August 2010. It was preceded by the genre-mixing track "Puente", an ode to Havana, Cuba's largest and capital city. The song failed to break in the upper tier of "Billboard" charts, and was reportedly prohibited in Cuba. The album became his third to debut or reach No. 1 on the Top Latin Albums chart. Within two weeks of release, the album received a Gold certification in Chile, United States, Colombia and Puerto Rico; and Platinum certification in Mexico and Argentina.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: The album marked a change in Arjona's sound, which he called a "stripped-down version" of his music. Birchmeier gave the album a somewhat positive review, saying that it was a "stripped-down acoustic effort" yet considered it "impressive". Two more singles were released from "Poquita Ropa", "Vida", a song the singer dedicated to his recently deceased father; and "Marta", an autobiographical song whose music video stars Edith González. Both, like the lead single, failed to gain much airplay in the U.S., and charted poorly.


title: Ricardo Arjona

text: Arjona released his thirteenth studio album, "Independiente", on 4 October 2011. It became his fourth number-one on the Top Latin Albums chart the week ending 22 October 2011; and within a week went Gold in Chile, United States and Mexico; and Platinum in Venezuela and Argentina. "Independiente" was his first release as an independent artist, appearing on his Metamorfosis label, a company he created to refocus his career. The album was distributed by Warner. "Billboard" noted that although other groups have decided to go independent after working with major record labels, Arjona was by far the most important artist in Latin pop to do so. By the end of 2012, the album sold more than 500,000 copies in the United States and 4,000,000 copies worldwide.