title: The Kooks

text: The Kooks have mentioned drawing on a number of varied sources to create their sound, listing the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Chris de Burgh among influences on songwriting style and musical presentation over the course of their four albums.


title: The Kooks

text: The band's debut album "Inside In/Inside Out" was touted as a typical Britpop record, and was influenced by the Libertines, Thin Lizzy, the Police and containing elements of the 60s British pop movement. Pritchard's lyrical style was compared to that of a "younger, less pathetic version of Pete Doherty's mush-mouth style". The band themselves felt the album was not consistent in its direction. "The first record was definitely genre-hopping. [...] The first album was finding its feet, it was gadabout", said Harris in an interview for "The Sunday Business Post".


title: The Kooks

text: On the follow-up "Konk", the band attempted to find a more mature and polished sound. Drawing on a much wider choice of material for the album (about 80 to 90 new songs had been accumulated within the band's repertoire by this stage), the band began to incorporate more a hard-edged rock focus into their music. Critics drew comparisons to the work of The Kinks throughout the album, it being recorded at the studio owned by Ray Davies. Also noted were the band’s growing similarities in musical direction to The Fratellis and the Arctic Monkeys. "I think we've made a dynamic album", Pritchard said. "Every song has its own character. It's a good pop album."


title: The Kooks

text: Their fourth album, "Listen", includes much more percussion and cross rhythms than previous material. Pritchard described "Listen" as "percussion sonnets". "The first couple albums I made I never really thought about rhythms, I focused on the recording and the lyrics", Pritchard said.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: Masterminds is a 2016 American crime comedy film based on the October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery in North Carolina. Directed by Jared Hess and written by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer and Emily Spivey, the film stars Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Jason Sudeikis.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: It premiered in Los Angeles on September 26, 2016 and was theatrically released in the United States on September 30, 2016, by Relativity EuropaCorp Distribution and Relativity Media. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $30 million.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: In March 1997, after Loomis Fargo & Company has been robbed of $18.8 million in Jacksonville by company security guard Philip Noel Johnson, Steve Eugene Chambers and Kelly Campbell, a former employee of Loomis, decides to rob the company. They involve Loomis armored car driver David Scott Ghantt. After some awkward training in preparation for the robbery, the team has David go inside Loomis' vault and load the entire money supply into the company's van. Before he leaves, David takes out three CCTV tapes, but misses one. The next day, David flees to Mexico with $20,000 and takes the cover name "Michael McKinney", which is the name of a friend of Steve's. Meanwhile, Steve takes most of the heist, around $17 million.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: FBI Special Agent Scanlon and her partner take the case, and immediately have David as the prime suspect, but have no idea of Steve's involvement. Steve plans to cut David loose but Kelly thinks it would be wrong to abandon him. In Mexico, David narrowly evades three Interpol agents looking for him, and calls Kelly about what happened. Unfortunately, he inadvertently learns Steve's name from the ID in a wallet that Kelly gave to him. With his cover blown, Steve hires the real, but unstable hitman, Michael McKinney to hunt David down. He finds David and attempts to shoot him, but the gun backfires and David escapes. David phones Kelly and learns that Steve is trying to kill him, and that Steve will not send the money for him as expected. David is then knocked unconscious by McKinney. When David regains consciousness, McKinney is about to kill him but reconsiders upon looking at "McKinney"'s birth certificate, thinking that David was born under the same circumstances; they become friends.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: David calls Steve, threatening to surrender himself to Interpol if Steve does not wire $6 million into his bank account in two days. Kelly is then attacked by Jandice, who learns of her involvement with David, at the mall and escapes. When Steve refuses to wire the money, his two friends kidnap Kelly and he tells David to get a ticket to South America in exchange for her release. At the airport, he meets McKinney, who is returning to the U.S., but as he bids farewell he sees Kelly's name written on his hand and tells McKinney that he knows her. Realizing that he cannot bring himself to kill her, they switch tickets just as the three Interpol agents attempt to catch David.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: While Steve is hosting a party, the FBI puts a wire on one of the party members in an attempt to record Steve's confession. David sneaks in and rescues Kelly. They escape by stealing Steve's BMW but it crashes as they attempt to drive through the gate. Steve catches and assaults him, until David realizes he is near the FBI van with the agents inside. David tricks Steve into admitting that he was the mastermind of the whole plan, giving the agents enough reason to arrest all of them, including Kelly. David is sentenced to seven years in prison, while Steve served eleven years. About $2 million is still unaccounted for. Upon David's release, he is picked up by McKinney and they drive to visit Kelly.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: On February 1, 2013, Jim Carrey joined the cast. On June 10, 2013, Owen Wilson joined the cast of the film. On December 3, 2013, Zach Galifianakis joined the cast to replace Carrey after he dropped out. On May 16, 2014, Kristen Wiig joined the cast, and on June 25, 2014, Jason Sudeikis was added as well. On June 30, 2014, Ken Marino, Kate McKinnon, Devin Ratray, Leslie Jones, Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Ross Kimball joined the cast. On July 10, Jon Daly joined the cast of the film to play an FBI agent. The film was produced by Brent Almond. David Ghantt was a technical consultant for the film, but due to outstanding court-ordered restitution for his part in the heist he was not paid.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: The title used in media coverage was "Untitled Armored Car". Principal photography began on July 7, 2014, in Old Fort and Swannanoa, North Carolina in the Asheville area. On July 29, Galifianakis was spotted in a prisoner's costume, during filming in the streets of downtown Asheville, which were made over. The BB&T Center building, also the location of the production office, was transformed into the "Park Street Citizens Bank", with a Loomis Fargo burgundy truck parked outside of the entrance. The crew also shot the film on the steps of Buncombe County Courthouse, inside of the Buncombe County Jail, and in front of the Mediterranean Restaurant.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: The film was released in the United States on September 30, 2016. The film was previously scheduled to be released on August 19, 2015, a date which, in July 2015, Relativity rescheduled to October 9, 2015. The company pushed back the date because it was facing a financial crisis. The film was pulled from the October 9, 2015 release date before being released on September 30, 2016.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: "Masterminds" was released in North America on September 30, 2016. The film was projected to gross $10 million from 3,042 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $2,325,546 on its first day. It went on to gross $6,541,205 in its opening weekend, finishing 6th at the box office.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: The film went on to gross $29,674,699 worldwide against a $25 million production budget. Additional prints and advertising costs were estimated to be in excess of $20 million.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 34% based on reviews from 99 critics, with an average rating of 4.63/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Mastermind"s great cast and stranger-than-fiction true story are largely wasted on a scattershot comedy with a handful of funny moments and far too much wackiness." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 47 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Masterminds (2016 film)

text: Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" magazine gave the film one-and-a-half out of four stars, mainly criticizing its lack of good jokes: "The laughs evaporate almost as soon as they land, and some (make that most) of them don't land at all... "Masterminds" owes us our two hours back." On the other hand, Matt Zoller Seitz of "RogerEbert.com" gave the film three out of four stars, stating that "If smart dumb comedies hold a place in your heart, you'll like 'Masterminds.'" Although he acknowledged the film's weakness in its length, structure, and pacing, he emphasized that "Most of the time in these kinds of films the notes of sweetness, naivete and regret feel forced... Here, though, you believe the sweetness, because Hess and his cast sell it with poker faces." Richard Brody of "The New Yorker" also gave praise to the film, writing that "Yes, the comedy is funny—even when it’s not laugh-out-loud funny, it’s sparklingly inventive and charmingly loopy—but, above all, it has the religious intensity and spiritual resonance that marks all of Hess’s other films, and it extends his world of ideas into wild new realms, extends his vision into darker corners of existence than he had formerly contemplated." He also observed the filmmaking of Hess as "suggest[ing] a kinship with the transcendental cinema of Robert Bresson and Carl Theodor Dreyer... his images belong to a similar realm of astonishment, even if his are frankly comedic where theirs are irreconcilably tragic."


title: Skywalker Ranch

text: Skywalker Ranch is a movie ranch and workplace of film director, writer and producer George Lucas located in a secluded area near Nicasio, California, in Marin County. The ranch is located on Lucas Valley Road, named for an early-20th-century landowner in the area, unrelated to George Lucas. The ranch is not open to the public.


title: Skywalker Ranch

text: The principal operation of the facility is as a motion picture sound mixing and recording facility. Other Lucasfilm properties provide animation and visual effects; Skywalker handles sound, music, and allied services.


title: Skywalker Ranch

text: In September 1978, George Lucas purchased the first parcel, then named Bulltail Ranch, which in subsequent years became Skywalker Ranch. Skywalker Ranch has cost Lucas up to US$100 million, according to the "Wall Street Journal". Lucasfilm acquired 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of adjoining land for a total of over 4,700 acres (1,900 ha). Only 15 acres (6.1 ha) have been developed. For 25 years, the residents of the area have fought his plan to build a larger studio on the property, citing light and noise pollution.


title: Skywalker Ranch

text: The Ranch contains a barn with animals, vineyards, a garden with fruits and vegetables used in the on-site restaurant, an outdoor swimming pool and fitness center with racquetball courts, the man-made "Ewok Lake", a hilltop observatory, a 300-seat theater called "The Stag" as well as theater screening rooms, and parking that is mostly concealed underground to preserve the natural landscape. Skywalker Sound was moved onto the ranch in 1987, now occupying the Technical Building. The Main House has a company research library under a stained-glass dome. Skywalker Ranch has its own fire station; it is part of the Marin County mutual aid system and is often called on to assist firefighters in nearby Marinwood.


title: Skywalker Ranch

text: Skywalker Ranch is intended to be more of a "filmmaker's retreat" than a headquarters for Lucas's business operations. The headquarters of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, and LucasArts are located in Lucas's Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio of San Francisco. The George Lucas Educational Foundation is based at the Ranch. Skywalker Sound remains based at the Ranch, for which Lucasfilm pays a rental fee to George Lucas, who remains the property's owner. Although Lucas maintains his offices there, he does not reside at the Ranch. Lucasfilm Games was located at the ranch during the early company years.


title: Skywalker Ranch

text: Big Rock Ranch is a later Lucasfilm development in Marin county at 3800 Lucas Valley Road adjacent to Skywalker Ranch. The county's planning commission approved this facility in September 1996 and construction was completed in August 2002. However, in November 2004, Lucas announced that the 250 employees of the ranch were to be moved to the Letterman Digital Arts Center.


title: Skywalker Ranch

text: The ranch comprises 1,061 acres (429 ha), of which 43 acres (17 ha) are developed with 317,000 sq ft (29,500 m) of office space. Before the move to the Presidio in 2005, Big Rock Ranch housed the marketing, licensing, distribution and online divisions of Lucasfilm. it was the headquarters of the animation division.


title: Skywalker Ranch

text: In 2018, Big Rock Ranch was renovated into an opulent, 56-room resort called "Summit at Skywalker Ranch". The facility hosts exclusive corporate retreat events.


title: Skywalker Ranch

text: Starting in 1988, Lucasfilm sought approval to develop another nearby property called Grady Ranch at 2400 Lucas Valley Road. The most recent proposals called for a digital film production center for the property. However, in the wake of delays caused by local resistance and environmental concerns, Lucas abandoned these plans in April 2012 and has instead decided to sell the land.


title: Skywalker Ranch

text: Lucas also owns McGuire Ranch (3801 Lucas Valley Road) and Loma Alta Ranch (4001 Lucas Valley Road) in Marin County.


title: Laksa

text: Laksa is a spicy noodle dish popular in Southeast Asia. Laksa consists of various types of noodles, most commonly thick rice noodles, with toppings such as chicken, prawn or fish. Most variations of laksa are prepared with a rich and spicy coconut soup or a broth seasoned with sour (tamarind or ).


title: Laksa

text: Originating from Peranakan cuisine, laksa recipes are commonly served in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.


title: Laksa

text: Laksa is one of the most popular dishes of Peranakan origin, with a diverse variety of ingredients and preparation processes that vary greatly by region. Because laksa has different varieties across the region, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of the dish. Nevertheless, numbers of laksa recipes has been developed along the trade channels of Southeast Asia—where the ports of Penang, Medan, Malacca, Singapore, Palembang, and Batavia (now Jakarta) are the major stops along the historic spice route. The intensive trade links among these port cities enables exchanges of ideas to take place, including sharing recipes.


title: Laksa

text: There are various theories about the origins of laksa. One theory is that the word "laksa" is theorised to come from an ancient Persian word for "noodles". According to Denys Lombard in the book (The Javanese Crossroads: Towards a Global History, 2005), one of the earliest record of the word "laksa" to describe noodles was found in the Javanese Biluluk inscription dated from 1391 of Majapahit era that mentions the word "hanglaksa". "Hanglaksa" in Kawi means "vermicelli maker". In Sanskrit, "laksa" means "one hundred thousand", referring to numerous strands of the vermicelli. The term "laksa" or "lakhshah" is also believed to have come from Persian or Hindi which refer to a kind of vermicelli.


title: Laksa

text: Another theory about the dish's origins goes back to the 15th century Ming Chinese naval expeditions led by Zheng He, whose armada navigated Maritime Southeast Asia. Overseas Chinese migrants had settled in various parts of Maritime Southeast Asia, long before Zheng He's expedition. However, it was after this that the number of Chinese migrants and traders significantly increased. These Chinese men intermarried into the local populations, and together they formed mixed-race communities called the Peranakans or Straits Chinese. In Malaysia, the earliest variant of laksa is believed to have been introduced by the Peranakan Chinese in Malacca.


title: Laksa

text: In Singapore, the dish is believed to have been created after interaction between the Peranakans with the local Singaporean Malays.


title: Laksa

text: In Indonesia, the dish is believed to have been born from the mixing of the cultures and cooking practices of local people and Chinese immigrants. Historians believe laksa is a dish that was born from actual intermarriage. In early coastal "pecinan" (Chinese settlement) in maritime Southeast Asia, it was only Chinese men that ventured abroad out from China to trade. When settling down in the new town, these Chinese traders and sailors set out to find local wives, and these women began incorporating local spices and coconut milk into Chinese noodle soup served to their husbands. This creates the hybrid Chinese-local (Malay or Javanese) culture called Peranakan culture. As Peranakan Chinese communities have blended their ancestors' culture with local culture, Peranakan communities in different places now demonstrate diversity according to the local flavour.


title: Laksa

text: A wide variety of laksa exists in Southeast Asia, with regional and vendor-specific differences. Laksa can be broadly categorized by its two main ingredients: noodles and soup. Most preparations of "laksa" are garnished with herbs. Two of the most widely used herbs are mint and Vietnamese coriander, known in Malay as "daun kesum" or by its colloquial name "daun laksa" "laksa leaf". Another popular garnish used for many laksa recipes is the unopened flower bud of the torch ginger, usually sliced or shredded.


title: Laksa

text: Thick rice noodles, also known as "laksa noodles" are most commonly used, although thin rice vermicelli ( "bee hoon") are also common. Some laksa variants might use fresh rice noodles handmade from scratch, other types of noodles; Johor laksa for example uses wheat-based spaghetti, while Kelantanese laksam is served with wide strips of rice noodle rolls similar in texture to "shahe fen".


title: Laksa

text: The type of Laksa is generally based upon the soup base employed in its recipe; either rich and savoury coconut milk, fresh and sour "asam" (tamarind, tamarind slice), or a combination of those two.


title: Laksa

text: Laksa with a rich and strongly spiced coconut gravy is typically described in Malaysia and Singapore as Laksa Lemak or Nyonya Laksa (). "Lemak" is a Malay culinary description that specifically refers to the presence of coconut milk which adds a distinctive richness to a dish, whereas "Nyonya" alludes to the dish's Peranakan origins and the role of women in Peranakan cuisine. "Laksa" is also an alternate name used for curry mee, a similar coconut soup noodle dish widely popular within the region which is sometimes known as curry laksa. The most common toppings for the various versions of coconut soup laksa include eggs, deep-fried tofu, beansprouts, and herbs, with a spoonful of "sambal" chilli paste on the side as a relish.


title: Laksa

text: The Malay word "asam" refers to any ingredient that makes a dish taste sour (e.g. tamarind () or tamarind slice (), which comes from a different tree despite its name). The main ingredients for tamarind-based laksa typically include shredded fish, normally mackerel ("ikan kembung"), and finely sliced vegetables including cucumber, onions, red chillies, pineapple, mint leaves, laksa leaves, and shredded torch ginger flower. Preparations for tamarind-based laksa usually produce tangy, spicy, sour flavours. This type of Laksa is normally served with either thick rice noodles ("laksa") or thin rice noodles ("mee hoon") and topped off with "otak udang" or "hae ko" (蝦膏), a thick sweet shrimp paste.


title: Laksa

text: In Indonesia, most laksa variants are coconut milk-based soups. Common spices include turmeric, coriander, candlenut, lemongrass, garlic, shallot, and pepper cooked in coconut milk. Widely available "daun kemangi" (lemon basil leaf) is commonly used instead of "daun kesum" commonly used in Malaysia and Singapore. Thin rice vermicelli ("bee hoon") is most commonly used, instead of thick rice noodle ("laksa"). Some recipes might even add slices of "ketupat" or "lontong" rice cake.


title: Laksa

text: Several laksa variants have gained popularity in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia; and subsequently international recognition. In July 2011, CNN Travel ranked Penang Asam Laksa seventh out of the 50 most delicious foods in the world. A later online poll by 35,000 participants published by CNN in September 2011 ranked it at number 26th. Singaporean-style Laksa on the other hand ranked on CNN "World's 50 best foods" at number 44th. In 2018, the Kuala Lumpur variant has been named the second-best food experience in the world on Lonely Planet's Ultimate Eat list.


title: Laksa

text: In Indonesia, laksa is a traditional comfort food; the spicy warm noodle soup is much appreciated during cold rainy days. However, its popularity is somewhat overshadowed by "soto", a similar hearty warm soup dish, which is often consumed with rice instead of noodles. In modern households, it is common practice to mix and match the recipes of laksas; if traditional laksa noodle is not available, Japanese udon noodles might be used instead.


title: Laksa

text: Laksa is a popular dish in Australia. First appearing on the menus of eateries in cities like Adelaide, Australia during the 1970s, the coconut soup laksa variant is considered to have been normalized as one of Australia’s ‘borrowed’ foodways since the 2010s. The Darwin International Laksa Festival was first held in November 2019.


title: Laksa

text: In 2009, as part of a national food branding exercise, Malaysian Minister of Tourism Ng Yen Yen attempted to claim ownership for regional dishes such as Laksa, Hainanese Chicken Rice, and Bak Kut Teh, claiming that others have "hijacked their dishes". This led to discontent with its regional neighbours. Ng later clarified that she was misquoted on her intention to patent the foods, and that a study on the origins of the foods would be conducted "and an apology conveyed if it was wrongly claimed." To date, the results of the study have not been made public.


title: Reid technique

text: The Reid technique is a method of interrogation. The system was developed in the United States by John E. Reid in the 1950s. Reid was a psychologist, polygraph expert, and former Chicago police officer. The technique is known for creating a high pressure environment for the interviewee, followed by sympathy and offers of understanding and help, but only if a confession is forthcoming. Since its spread in the 1960s, it has been a mainstay of police procedure, especially in the United States.


title: Reid technique

text: Proponents of the Reid technique say it is useful in extracting information from otherwise unwilling suspects. Critics say the technique results in an unacceptably high rate of false confessions, especially from juveniles and the mentally impaired. Criticism has also been leveled in the opposite case—that against strong-willed interviewees, the technique causes them to stop talking and give no information whatsoever, rather than elicit lies that can be checked against for the guilty or exonerating details for the innocent.


title: Reid technique

text: In 1955 in Lincoln, Nebraska, John E. Reid helped gain a confession from a suspect, Darrel Parker, for Parker's wife's murder. This case established Reid's reputation and popularized his technique. Parker recanted his confession the next day, but it was admitted to evidence at his trial. He was convicted by a jury and sentenced to life in prison. He was later determined to be innocent, after another man confessed and was found to have been the perpetrator. Parker sued the state for wrongful conviction; it paid him $500,000 in compensation.


title: Reid technique

text: In spite of Parker's false confession, Reid co-authored a text explaining his interrogation techniques. Reid died in 1982 but his company, John E. Reid and Associates, continued: as of 2013, it was led by president Joseph Buckley, who had been hired by Reid. By that year, the company had "trained more interrogators than any other company in the world", and Reid's technique had been adopted by law enforcement agencies of many different types, with it being especially influential in North America.


title: Reid technique

text: The Reid technique consists of a three-phase process beginning with fact analysis, followed by the behavior analysis interview (a non-accusatory interview designed to develop investigative and behavioral information), followed when appropriate by the Reid nine steps of interrogation. According to process guidelines, individuals should be interrogated only when the information developed from the interview and investigation indicate that the subject is involved in the commission of the crime.


title: Reid technique

text: In the Reid technique, interrogation is an accusatory process, in which the investigator tells the suspect that the results of the investigation clearly indicate that they did commit the crime in question. The interrogation is in the form of a monologue presented by the investigator rather than a question and answer format. The demeanor of the investigator during the course of an interrogation is ideally understanding, patient, and non-demeaning. The Reid technique user's goal is to make the suspect gradually more comfortable with telling the truth. This is accomplished by the investigator's first imagining and then offering the suspect various psychological constructs as justification for their behavior.


title: Reid technique

text: For example, an admission of guilt might be prompted by the question, "Did you plan this out or did it just happen on the spur of the moment?" This is called an alternative question, which is based on an implicit assumption of guilt. Critics regard this strategy as hazardous, arguing that it is subject to confirmation bias (likely to reinforce inaccurate beliefs or assumptions) and may lead to prematurely narrowing an investigation.


title: Reid technique

text: Critics claim the technique too easily produces false confessions, especially with juveniles, with second-language speakers in their non-native language, and with people whose communication/language abilities are affected by mental disabilities, including reduced intellectual capacity. While this criticism acknowledges that the technique can be "effective" in producing confessions, it is not accurate at getting guilty parties to confess, instead sweeping up people pushed to their mental limits by stress. Critics also dislike how police often apply the technique on subjects of unclear guilt, when simply gathering more information in non-stressful interrogations can be more useful both for convicting guilty suspects and exonerating innocent suspects.


title: Reid technique

text: Of 311 people exonerated through post-conviction DNA testing, more than a quarter had given false confessions—including those convicted in such notorious cases as the Central Park Five.


title: Reid technique

text: Some of the more minor details Reid propounded have since been called into question as well. For example, Reid believed that "tells" such as fidgeting was a sign of lying, and more generally believed that trained police interrogators could intuitively check lies merely by how they were delivered. Later studies have shown no useful correlation between any sort of body movements such as breaking eye contact or fidgeting and truth-telling. While police can be effective at cracking lies, it is via gathering contradicting evidence; police officers have shown to be no better than average people at detecting lies merely from their delivery in studies.


title: Reid technique

text: Several European countries prohibit some interrogation techniques that are currently allowed in the United States, such as a law enforcement officer lying to a suspect about evidence, due to the perceived risk of false confessions and wrongful convictions that might result, particularly with juveniles. For example, §136a of the German (StPO, "code of criminal procedure") bans the use of deception and intimidation in interrogations; the Reid method also conflicts with the German police's obligation to adequately inform the suspect of their right to silence.


title: Reid technique

text: In Canada, provincial court judge Mike Dinkel ruled in 2012 that "stripped to its bare essentials, the Reid technique is a guilt-presumptive, confrontational, psychologically manipulative procedure whose purpose is to extract a confession".


title: Reid technique

text: In December 2013, an unredacted copy of a secret FBI interrogation manual was discovered in the Library of Congress, available for public view. The manual confirmed American Civil Liberties Union concerns that FBI agents used the Reid technique in interrogations.


title: Reid technique

text: Abuses of interrogation methods include officers treating accused suspects aggressively and telling them lies about the amount of evidence proving their guilt. Such exaggerated claims of evidence, such as video or genetics, have the potential, when combined with such coercive tactics as threats of harm or promises of leniency, to cause innocent suspects to become psychologically overwhelmed.


title: Reid technique

text: In 2015, eight organizations, including John E. Reid & Associates, settled with Juan Rivera, who was wrongfully convicted of the 1992 rape and murder of 11-year-old Holly Staker. A number of pieces of evidence excluded Rivera, including DNA from the PERK (Physical Evidence Recovery Kit) and the report from the electronic ankle monitor he was wearing at the time, as he awaited trial for a non-violent burglary, but he falsely confessed to the Staker crimes after being interrogated by the police several days after taking two polygraph examinations at Reid & Associates. After his exoneration, Rivera filed a suit for false arrest and malicious prosecution. The case was settled out of court with John E. Reid & Associates paying $2 million.


title: Reid technique

text: The PEACE (Preparation and Planning, Engage and Explain, Account, Closure and Evaluate) model developed in Britain "encourages more of a dialogue between investigator and suspect".


title: Reid technique

text: In 2015, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police adopted a new standard influenced by the PEACE model. Sergeant Darren Carr, who trains police with the new approach, described it as "less Kojak and more Dr. Phil". This approach eschews the use of deceptive information to overwhelm suspects. It emphasizes information gathering over eliciting confessions and discourages investigators from presuming a suspect's guilt.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Urinary incontinence (UI), also known as involuntary urination, is any uncontrolled leakage of urine. It is a common and distressing problem, which may have a large impact on quality of life. It has been identified as an important issue in geriatric health care. The term enuresis is often used to refer to urinary incontinence primarily in children, such as nocturnal enuresis (bed wetting). UI is an example of a stigmatized medical condition, which creates barriers to successful management and makes the problem worse. People may be too embarrassed to seek medical help, and attempt to self-manage the symptom in secrecy from others.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Pelvic surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause are major risk factors. Urinary incontinence is often a result of an underlying medical condition but is under-reported to medical practitioners. There are four main types of incontinence:


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Treatments include pelvic floor muscle training, bladder training, surgery, and electrical stimulation. Behavioral therapy generally works better than medication for stress and urge incontinence. The benefit of medications is small and long term safety is unclear. Urinary incontinence is more common in older women.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Urinary incontinence can result from both urologic and non-urologic causes. Urologic causes can be classified as either bladder dysfunction or urethral sphincter incompetence and may include detrusor overactivity, poor bladder compliance, urethral hypermobility, or intrinsic sphincter deficiency. Non-urologic causes may include infection, medication or drugs, psychological factors, polyuria, hydrocephalus, stool impaction, and restricted mobility. The causes leading to urinary incontinence are usually specific to each sex, however, some causes are common to both men and women.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: The most common types of urinary incontinence in women are stress urinary incontinence and urge urinary incontinence. Women that have symptoms of both types are said to have "mixed" urinary incontinence. After menopause, estrogen production decreases and, in some women, urethral tissue will demonstrate atrophy, becoming weaker and thinner, possibly playing a role in the development of urinary incontinence.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Stress urinary incontinence in women is most commonly caused by loss of support of the urethra, which is usually a consequence of damage to pelvic support structures as a result of pregnancy, childbirth, obesity, age, among others. About 33% of all women experience urinary incontinence after giving birth, and women who deliver vaginally are about twice as likely to have urinary incontinence as women who give birth via a Caesarean section. Stress incontinence is characterized by leaking of small amounts of urine with activities that increase abdominal pressure such as coughing, sneezing, laughing and lifting. This happens when the urethral sphincter cannot close completely due to the damage in the sphincter itself, or the surrounding tissue. Additionally, frequent exercise in high-impact activities can cause athletic incontinence to develop. Urge urinary incontinence, is caused by uninhibited contractions of the detrusor muscle, a condition known as overactive bladder syndrome. It is characterized by leaking of large amounts of urine in association with insufficient warning to get to the bathroom in time.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Urge incontinence is the most common type of incontinence in men. Similar to women, urine leakage happens following a very intense feeling of urination, not allowing enough time to reach the bathroom, a condition called overactive bladder syndrome. In men, the condition is commonly associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (an enlarged prostate), which causes bladder outlet obstruction, a dysfunction of the detrusor muscle (muscle of the bladder), eventually causing overactive bladder syndrome, and the associated incontinence.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Stress urinary incontinence is the other common type of incontinence in men, and it most commonly happens after prostate surgery. Prostatectomy, transurethral resection of the prostate, prostate brachytherapy, and radiotherapy can all damage the urethral sphincter and surrounding tissue, causing it to be incompetent. An incompetent urethral sphincter cannot prevent the urine from leaking out of the urinary bladder during activities that increase the intraabdominal pressure, such as coughing, sneezing, or laughing. Continence usually improves within 6 to 12 months after prostate surgery without any specific interventions, and only 5 to 10% of people report persistent symptoms.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: The body stores urine — water and wastes removed by the kidneys — in the urinary bladder, a balloon-like organ. The bladder connects to the urethra, the tube through which urine leaves the body.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Continence and micturition involve a balance between urethral closure and detrusor muscle activity (the muscle of the bladder). During urination, detrusor muscles in the wall of the bladder contract, forcing urine out of the bladder and into the urethra. At the same time, sphincter muscles surrounding the urethra relax, letting urine pass out of the body. The urethral sphincter is the muscular ring that closes the outlet of the urinary bladder preventing urine to pass outside the body. Urethral pressure normally exceeds bladder pressure, resulting in urine remaining in the bladder, and maintaining continence. The urethra is supported by pelvic floor muscles and tissue, allowing it to close firmly. Any damage to this balance between the detrusor muscle, urethral sphincter, supportive tissue and nerves can lead to some type of incontinence .


title: Urinary incontinence

text: For example, stress urinary incontinence is usually a result of the incompetent closure of the urethral sphincter. This can be caused by damage to the sphincter itself, the muscles that support it, or nerves that supply it. In men, the damage usually happens after prostate surgery or radiation, and in women, it's usually caused by childbirth and pregnancy. The pressure inside the abdomen (from coughing and sneezing) is normally transmitted to both urethra and bladder equally, leaving the pressure difference unchanged, resulting in continence. When the sphincter is incompetent, this increase in pressure will push the urine against it, leading to incontinence.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Another example is urge incontinence. This incontinence is associated with sudden forceful contractions of the detrusor muscle (bladder muscle), leading to an intense feeling of urination, and incontinence if the person does not reach the bathroom on time. The syndrome is known as overactive bladder syndrome, and it's related to dysfunction of the detrusor muscle.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Urination, or voiding, is a complex activity. The bladder is a balloon-like muscle that lies in the lowest part of the abdomen. The bladder stores urine then releases it through the urethra, the canal that carries urine to the outside of the body. Controlling this activity involves nerves, muscles, the spinal cord and the brain.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: The bladder is made of two types of muscles: the detrusor, a muscular sac that stores urine and squeezes to empty, and the sphincter, a circular group of muscles at the bottom or neck of the bladder that automatically stays contracted to hold the urine in and automatically relax when the detrusor contracts to let the urine into the urethra. A third group of muscles below the bladder (pelvic floor muscles) can contract to keep urine back.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: A baby's bladder fills to a set point, then automatically contracts and empties. As the child gets older, the nervous system develops. The child's brain begins to get messages from the filling bladder and begins to send messages to the bladder to keep it from automatically emptying until the child decides it is the time and place to void.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Failures in this control mechanism result in incontinence. Reasons for this failure range from the simple to the complex.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: The pattern of voiding and urine leakage is important as it suggests the type of incontinence. Other points include straining and discomfort, use of drugs, recent surgery, and illness.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: The physical examination looks for signs of medical conditions causing incontinence, such as tumors that block the urinary tract, stool impaction, and poor reflexes or sensations, which may be evidence of a nerve-related cause.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: People are often asked to keep a diary for a day or more, up to a week, to record the pattern of voiding, noting times and the amounts of urine produced.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Research projects that assess the efficacy of anti-incontinence therapies often quantify the extent of urinary incontinence. The methods include the 1-h pad test, measuring leakage volume; using a voiding diary, counting the number of incontinence episodes (leakage episodes) per day; and assessing of the strength of pelvic floor muscles, measuring the maximum vaginal squeeze pressure.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Yearly screening is recommended for women by the Women's Preventive Services Initiative. Screening questions should inquire about what symptoms they have experienced, how severe the symptoms are, and if the symptoms affect their daily lives. , studies have not shown a change in outcomes with urinary incontinence screenings in women.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Treatment options range from conservative treatment, behavioral therapy, bladder retraining, pelvic floor therapy, collecting devices (for men), fixer-occluder devices for incontinence (in men), medications and surgery. A 2018 systematic review update showed that both nonpharmacological and pharmacological treatments are effective for treating UI in non-pregnant women. All treatments, except hormones and periurethral bulking agents, are more effective than no treatment in improving or curing UI symptoms or achieving patient satisfaction. The success of treatment depends on the correct diagnoses.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Behavioral therapy involves the use of both suppressive techniques (distraction, relaxation) and learning to avoid foods that may worsen urinary incontinence. This may involve avoiding or limiting consumption of caffeine and alcohol. Behavioral therapies, including bladder training, biofeedback, and pelvic floor muscle training, are most effective for improving urinary incontinence in women, with a low risk of adverse events. Behavioral therapy is not curative for urinary incontinence, but it can improve a person's quality of life. Behavioral therapy has benefits as both a monotherapy and as an adjunct to medications for symptom reduction.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Avoiding heavy lifting and preventing constipation may help with uncontrollable urine leakage. Stopping smoking is also recommended as it is associated with improvements in urinary incontinence in men and women. Weight loss is recommended in those who are obese.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Pelvic floor physical therapists work with patients to identify and treat underlying pelvic muscle dysfunction that can cease urinary incontinence. They may recommend exercises to strengthen the muscles, electrostimulation, or biofeedback treatments. Exercising the muscles of the pelvis such as with Kegel exercises are a first line treatment for women with stress incontinence. Efforts to increase the time between urination, known as bladder training, is recommended in those with urge incontinence. Both these may be used in those with mixed incontinence.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Small vaginal cones of increasing weight may be used to help with exercise. They seem to be better than no active treatment in women with stress urinary incontinence, and have similar effects to training of pelvic floor muscles or electrostimulation.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Biofeedback uses measuring devices to help the patient become aware of his or her body's functioning. By using electronic devices or diaries to track when the bladder and urethral muscles contract, the patient can gain control over these muscles. Biofeedback can be used with pelvic muscle exercises and electrical stimulation to relieve stress and urge incontinence.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Time voiding while urinating and bladder training are techniques that use biofeedback. In time voiding, the patient fills in a chart of voiding and leaking. From the patterns that appear in the chart, the patient can plan to empty his or her bladder before he or she would otherwise leak. Biofeedback and muscle conditioning, known as bladder training, can alter the bladder's schedule for storing and emptying urine. These techniques are effective for urge and overflow incontinence


title: Urinary incontinence

text: A 2013 randomized controlled trial found no benefit of adding biofeedback to pelvic floor muscle exercise in stress urinary incontinence, but observing improvements in both groups. In another randomized controlled trial the addition of biofeedback to the training of pelvic floor muscles for the treatment of stress incontinence, improved pelvic floor muscle function, reduced urinary symptoms, and improved the quality of life.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Preoperative pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) in men undergoing radical prostatectomy was not effective in reducing urinary incontinence.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Alternative exercises have been studied for stress urinary incontinence in women. Evidence was insufficient to support the use of Paula method, abdominal muscle training, Pilates, Tai Chi, breathing exercises, postural training, and generalized fitness.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Individuals who continue to experience urinary incontinence need to find a management solution that matches their individual situation. The use of mechanical devices has not been well studied in women, as of 2014.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: A number of medications exist to treat urinary incontinence including: fesoterodine, tolterodine and oxybutynin. These medications work by relaxing smooth muscle in the bladder. While some of these medications appear to have a small benefit, the risk of side effects are a concern. Medications are effective for about one in ten people, and all medications have similar efficacy.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Medications are not recommended for those with stress incontinence and are only recommended in those with urge incontinence who do not improve with bladder training.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Injectable bulking agents may be used to enhance urethral support, however, they are of unclear benefit.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Women and men that have persistent incontinence despite optimal conservative therapy may be candidates for surgery. Surgery may be used to help stress or overflow incontinence. Common surgical techniques for stress incontinence include slings, tension-free vaginal tape, bladder suspension, artificial urinary sphincters, among others.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: The use of transvaginal mesh implants and bladder slings is controversial due to the risk of debilitating painful side effects such as vaginal erosion. In 2012 transvaginal mesh implants were classified as a high risk device by the US Food and Drug Administration. Urodynamic testing seems to confirm that surgical restoration of vault prolapse can cure motor urge incontinence.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Traditional suburethral sling operations are probably slightly better than open abdominal retropubic colposuspension and are probably slightly less effective than mid-urethral sling operations in reducing urinary incontinence in women, but it is still uncertain if any of the different types of traditional suburethral sling operations are better than others. Similarly, there is insufficient evidence to be certain about the effectiveness or safety of single-incision sling operations for urinary incontinence in women. Traditional suburethral slings may have a higher risk of surgical complications than minimally invasive slings but the risk of complications compared with other types of operation is still uncertain.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Laparoscopic colposuspension (keyhole surgery through the abdomen) with sutures is as effective as open colposuspension for curing incontinence in women up to 18 months after surgery, but it is unclear whether there are fewer risk of complications during or after surgery. There is probably a higher risk of complications with traditional suburethral slings than with open abdominal retropubic suspension.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: The artificial urinary sphincter is an implantable device used to treat stress incontinence, mostly in men. The device is made of 2 or 3 parts: The pump, cuff, and balloon reservoir connected to each other by specialized tubes. The cuff wraps around the urethra and closes it. When the person wants to urinate, he presses the pump (implanted in the scrotum), to deflate the cuff, and allow the urine to pass. The cuff regains pressure within a few minutes to regain continence. The European Association of Urology considers the artificial urinary sphincter as the gold standard in surgical management of stress urinary incontinence in men after prostatectomy.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: In 2014, urinary leakage affected between 30% and 40% of people over 65 years of age living in their own homes or apartments in the U.S. Twenty-four percent of older adults in the U.S. have moderate or severe urinary incontinence that should be treated medically. People with dementia are three times more likely to have urinary incontinence compared to people of similar ages.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Bladder control problems have been found to be associated with higher incidence of many other health problems such as obesity and diabetes. Difficulty with bladder control results in higher rates of depression and limited activity levels.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Incontinence is expensive both to individuals in the form of bladder control products and to the health care system and nursing home industry. Injury-related to incontinence is a leading cause of admission to assisted living and nursing care facilities. In 1997 more than 50% of nursing facility admissions were related to incontinence.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Bladder symptoms affect women of all ages. However, bladder problems are most prevalent among older women. Women over the age of 60 years are twice as likely as men to experience incontinence; one in three women over the age of 60 years are estimated to have bladder control problems. One reason why women are more affected is the weakening of pelvic floor muscles by pregnancy.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Men tend to experience incontinence less often than women, and the structure of the male urinary tract accounts for this difference. Stress incontinence is common after prostate cancer treatments.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: While urinary incontinence affects older men more often than younger men, the onset of incontinence can happen at any age. Estimates around 2007 suggested that 17 percent of men over age 60, an estimated 600,000 men in the US, experienced urinary incontinence, with this percentage increasing with age.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Incontinence happens less often after age 5: About 10 percent of 5-year-olds, 5 percent of 10-year-olds, and 1 percent of 18-year-olds experience episodes of incontinence. It is twice as common in girls as in boys.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: The management of urinary incontinence with pads is mentioned in the earliest medical book known, the Ebers Papyrus (1500 BC).


title: Urinary incontinence

text: Incontinence has historically been a taboo subject in Western culture. However, this situation changed some when Kimberly-Clark aggressively marketed adult diapers in the 1980s with actor June Allyson as spokeswoman. Allyson was initially reticent to participate, but her mother, who had incontinence, convinced her that it was her duty in light of her successful career. The product proved a success.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: The case "Hiltibran et al v. Levy et al" in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri resulted in that court issuing an order in 2011. That order requires incontinence briefs funded by Medicaid to be given by Missouri to adults who would be institutionalized without them.


title: Urinary incontinence

text: The effectiveness of different therapeutic approaches to treating urinary incontinence is not well studied for some medical conditions. For example, for people who experience urinary incontinence due to stroke, treatment approaches such as physical therapy, cognitive therapy, complementary medicine, and specialized interventions with experienced medical professionals are sometimes suggested, however it is not clear how effective these are at improving incontinence and there is no strong medical evidence to guide clinical practice.


title: Edward Witten

text: Edward Witten (born August 26, 1951) is an American mathematical and theoretical physicist. He is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Witten is a researcher in string theory, quantum gravity, supersymmetric quantum field theories, and other areas of mathematical physics. Witten's work has also significantly impacted pure mathematics. In 1990, he became the first physicist to be awarded a Fields Medal by the International Mathematical Union, for his mathematical insights in physics, such as his 1981 proof of the positive energy theorem in general relativity, and his interpretation of the Jones invariants of knots as Feynman integrals. He is considered the practical founder of M-theory.


title: Edward Witten

text: Witten was born on August 26, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland, to a Jewish family. He is the son of Lorraine (née Wollach) Witten and Louis Witten, a theoretical physicist specializing in gravitation and general relativity.


title: Edward Witten

text: Witten attended the Park School of Baltimore (class of '68), and received his Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in history and minor in linguistics from Brandeis University in 1971.


title: Edward Witten

text: He had aspirations in journalism and politics and published articles in both "The New Republic" and "The Nation" in the late 1960s. In 1972 he worked for six months on George McGovern's presidential campaign.


title: Edward Witten

text: Witten attended the University of Michigan for one semester as an economics graduate student before dropping out. He returned to academia, enrolling in applied mathematics at Princeton University in 1973, then shifting departments and receiving a PhD in physics in 1976 and completing a dissertation, "Some problems in the short distance analysis of gauge theories", under the supervision of David Gross. He held a fellowship at Harvard University (1976–77), visited Oxford University (1977–78), was a junior fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows (1977–1980), and held a MacArthur Foundation fellowship (1982).


title: Edward Witten

text: As an example of Witten's work in pure mathematics, Atiyah cites his application of techniques from quantum field theory to the mathematical subject of low-dimensional topology. In the late 1980s, Witten coined the term "topological quantum field theory" for a certain type of physical theory in which the expectation values of observable quantities encode information about the topology of spacetime. In particular, Witten realized that a physical theory now called Chern–Simons theory could provide a framework for understanding the mathematical theory of knots and 3-manifolds. Although Witten's work was based on the mathematically ill-defined notion of a Feynman path integral and therefore not mathematically rigorous, mathematicians were able to systematically develop Witten's ideas, leading to the theory of Reshetikhin–Turaev invariants.


title: Edward Witten

text: Another result for which Witten was awarded the Fields Medal was his proof in 1981 of the positive energy theorem in general relativity. This theorem asserts that (under appropriate assumptions) the total energy of a gravitating system is always positive and can be zero only if the geometry of spacetime is that of flat Minkowski space. It establishes Minkowski space as a stable ground state of the gravitational field. While the original proof of this result due to Richard Schoen and Shing-Tung Yau used variational methods, Witten's proof used ideas from supergravity theory to simplify the argument.


title: Edward Witten

text: A third area mentioned in Atiyah's address is Witten's work relating supersymmetry and Morse theory, a branch of mathematics that studies the topology of manifolds using the concept of a differentiable function. Witten's work gave a physical proof of a classical result, the Morse inequalities, by interpreting the theory in terms of supersymmetric quantum mechanics.


title: Edward Witten

text: By the mid 1990s, physicists working on string theory had developed five different consistent versions of the theory. These versions are known as type I, type IIA, type IIB, and the two flavors of heterotic string theory (SO(32) and E×E). The thinking was that of these five candidate theories, only one was the actual correct theory of everything, and that theory was the one whose low-energy limit matched the physics observed in our world today.


title: Edward Witten

text: Speaking at the string theory conference at University of Southern California in 1995, Witten made the surprising suggestion that these five string theories were in fact not distinct theories, but different limits of a single theory, which he called M-theory. Witten's proposal was based on the observation that the five string theories can be mapped to one another by certain rules called dualities and are identified by these dualities. It led to a flurry of work now known as the second superstring revolution.


title: Edward Witten

text: Another of Witten's contributions to physics was to the result of gauge/gravity duality. In 1997, Juan Maldacena formulated a result known as the AdS/CFT correspondence, which establishes a relationship between certain quantum field theories and theories of quantum gravity. Maldacena's discovery has dominated high-energy theoretical physics for the past 15 years because of its applications to theoretical problems in quantum gravity and quantum field theory. Witten's foundational work following Maldacena's result has shed light on this relationship.


title: Edward Witten

text: In collaboration with Nathan Seiberg, Witten established several powerful results in quantum field theories. In their paper on string theory and noncommutative geometry, Seiberg and Witten studied certain noncommutative quantum field theories that arise as limits of string theory. In another well-known paper, they studied aspects of supersymmetric gauge theory. The latter paper, combined with Witten's earlier work on topological quantum field theory, led to developments in the topology of smooth 4-manifolds, in particular the notion of Seiberg–Witten invariants.


title: Edward Witten

text: With Anton Kapustin, Witten has made deep mathematical connections between S-duality of gauge theories and the geometric Langlands correspondence. Partly in collaboration with Seiberg, one of his recent interests include aspects of field theoretical description of topological phases in condensed matter and non-supersymmetric dualities in field theories that, among other things, are of high relevance in condensed matter theory. In 2016, he has also brought tensor models to the relevance of holographic and quantum gravity theories, by using them as a generalization of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model.


title: Edward Witten

text: Witten has published influential and insightful work in many aspects of quantum field theories and mathematical physics, including the physics and mathematics of anomalies, integrability, dualities, localization, and homologies. Many of his results have deeply influenced areas in theoretical physics (often well beyond the original context of his results), including string theory, quantum gravity and topological condensed matter.


title: Edward Witten

text: Witten has been honored with numerous awards including a MacArthur Grant (1982), the Fields Medal (1990), the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1997), the Nemmers Prize in Mathematics (2000), the National Medal of Science (2002), Pythagoras Award (2005), the Henri Poincaré Prize (2006), the Crafoord Prize (2008), the Lorentz Medal (2010) the Isaac Newton Medal (2010) and the Fundamental Physics Prize (2012). Since 1999, he has been a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (London), and in March 2016 was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Pope Benedict XVI appointed Witten as a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (2006). He also appeared in the list of "Time" magazine's 100 most influential people of 2004. In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. Witten was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1984, a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1988, and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1993. In May 2022 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania.


title: Edward Witten

text: In an informal poll at a 1990 cosmology conference, Witten received the largest number of mentions as "the smartest living physicist".


title: Edward Witten

text: Witten has been married to Chiara Nappi, a professor of physics at Princeton University, since 1979. They have two daughters and a son. Their daughter Ilana B. Witten is a neuroscientist at Princeton University, and daughter Daniela Witten is a biostatistician at the University of Washington.


title: Edward Witten

text: Witten sits on the board of directors of Americans for Peace Now and on the advisory council of J Street. He supports the two-state solution and advocates a boycott of Israeli institutions and economic activity beyond its 1967 borders, though not of Israel itself.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: This Morning is a British daytime magazine programme that is broadcast on ITV1. It debuted on 3 October, 1988 and is broadcast live every weekday from 10:00am to 12:30pm across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The programme features a variety of news, showbiz, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, home and garden, food, tech, live phone ins, competitions and more.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: The programme is broadcast on ITV1, STV or UTV (depending on ITV region) across the British Islands and on Virgin Media One in the Republic of Ireland. Catch up is available on the ITV Hub and STV Player.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: The show was originally presented by husband and wife duo Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan for more than a decade after its launch. It is currently presented by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby from Monday to Thursday, with Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary on Fridays.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: The daytime programme has aired on ITV since its inception, making it one of the longest-running daytime programmes on British television. It regularly wins at the National Television Awards and the "TV Choice" Awards.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In 1988, ITV decided to create a live daytime morning programme and five regional ITV companies made pilot shows to bid for the national contract:


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: The first episode of "This Morning" aired at 10:40 am on 3 October 1988 and finished at 12:10 pm, live from the Granada studio inside the Albert Dock in Liverpool. An industry insider believed the idea would not work and would be pulled by Christmas 1988, but despite "This Morning" being launched with no publicity, its ratings quickly rose to a daily average of two million viewers.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In the first few series', the show's "experts" were weatherman Fred Talbot, agony aunt Denise Robertson, medic Dr Chris Steele, cook Susan Brookes, beauty presenter Liz Earle, hair and make-up artists Andrew and Liz Collinge, and wine expert Charles Metcalfe. The theme tune was by David Pringle, who also wrote opening music for "Wheel of Fortune", "Fun House" and "The Pyramid Game". To end the first series, in 1989, the show was presented via satellite from the United States at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Produced by Granada's Field Producer, Brian Thomas, the set was built directly in front of 'Sleeping Beauty Castle', a first for Disney.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: As part of the show, weather presenter Fred Talbot used a floating map of the British Isles to report the forecast. A clip of Mark Roberts, a prolific streaker, running onto Talbot's weather map in 1995 is regularly featured on clip shows.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In 1996, the show was moved to the London Studios on the grounds that it was difficult to get celebrity guests to travel from London to Liverpool. In the summer of 2001, Madeley and Finnigan left "This Morning" to present their own series on Channel 4.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: The show proved newsworthy on several occasions. In 2001 "This Morning" covered new ground by showing a gay partnership celebration live, and a 2008 interview with Kerry Katona slurring her words also attracted coverage.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: ITV relaunched "This Morning" in 2009 with a new set and with Holly Willoughby replacing Fern Britton as co-host, which saw ratings rise by 20%.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: "This Morning Cook In!", an interactive cook event, began on 1 March 2010. Each week, five viewers and a celebrity guest cooked along, via Skype, with Gino D'Acampo or Phil Vickery.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: From 20 March 2010, "This Morning" increased from five to seven shows a week, with two new one-hour shows broadcast on the weekends, where Schofield and Willoughby presented pre-recorded links in between compilations of the week's programming. The weekend editions were later dropped from the schedule.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: The 'Hub' interactive segment was heavily featured from 2010 until 2014. Presenters included Jeff Brazier (2013–14), Jenni Falconer (2013–14), Stephen Mulhern (2011–2014) Rylan Clark (2013–14), Emma Willis (2012–2014), Coleen Nolan (2010–2012), Samanthi Jayawardena (2010–2012) and Matt Johnson (2010–2013).


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: On 21 August 2013, Carol Vorderman took her first steps towards a 2014 World Record attempt by doing a solo flight to 1,000 metres high, live on "This Morning". Reporter Jenni Falconer covered the occasion.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: On 3 October 2013, "This Morning" celebrated its 25th anniversary. The programme was broadcast live from its original home at Albert Dock in Liverpool with presenters Phillip Schofield, Eamonn Holmes, Holly Willoughby, Alison Hammond and Ruth Langsford being joined by original presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. Numerous historical clips of the show were aired, including Gene Pitney's miming gaffe from 1989. Keith Lemon presented the weather from the show's famous floating weather map, while Stephen Mulhern presented various items including 'The Hub Sub' (the 'Hub' on a submarine). There was speculation concerning whether Fern Britton would return for the 25th anniversary; however, it was confirmed eight days beforehand that she would not.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: On 27 August 2015, "This Morning" broadcast the remaining weeks' shows from the South Bank due to the main studio having a revamp ready for the new series on 1 September. The new series had many changes, including a brand new set, theme music, titles and the new logo being painted onto the outside of the building.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In February 2017, it was announced that The London Studios, where "This Morning" is filmed, were planned to close for large-scale redevelopment in early 2018, and that "This Morning" would be relocated to Television Centre during construction. This move became permanent when ITV announced its intention to sell The London Studios in October 2018.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In July 2017, at the start of the summer series, new titles were made to match Langsford and Holmes presenting the show. The titles were different from the usual design, showing a behind-the-scenes look from the doors to the studio, make-up props and room, clothing department and the art gallery with a view of the studio at fast speed with crew in the presenters' place. The show was also retitled "This Morning with Eamonn and Ruth". The regular series titles used since 2015 returned on 4 September, when Willoughby and Schofield returned to the show.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: From 1 to 5 October 2018, "This Morning" celebrated 30 years on air. During the week, it broadcast a live wedding, a brief come-back of the classic weather map from Albert Dock (presented by Alison Hammond), special opening titles, a new app, a live studio audience, a special 30 years bus (with correspondents Lisa Snowdon and Ore Oduba), as well as special games and guests. On 2 October, an ITV special aired, entitled "This Morning: 30 Unforgettable Years". On 12 October, the show aired live coverage of the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: From 6 January 2020, an extra 30 minutes were added onto the show following a live handover from Lorraine, which sees the show start at the earlier time of 10:00am as part of a changes to the ITV Daytime schedule. In November 2020, it was announced that Holmes and Langsford would no longer do a weekly slot and would be replaced by Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary. They took over the slot in January 2021.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: From October 1988 to July 2001, "This Morning" was presented by husband and wife Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. From 1998 onwards, they hosted only the Monday to Thursday editions, with regular guest presenters hosting on Fridays: during the tenth series Caron Keating and Ross Kelly presided, and from series 11 in 1999 Fern Britton and John Leslie were regular presenters of the Friday show. When Madeley and Finnigan left the show in 2001, they were replaced by Coleen Nolan and Twiggy, with Fern Britton and John Leslie remaining on Fridays. However, Nolan and Twiggy proved less popular with viewers: Twiggy was later axed, whilst Nolan presented until the end of 2001 with Leslie, and was subsequently replaced by Britton.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In October 2002, after television presenter Matthew Wright named John Leslie on "The Wright Stuff" as the man who allegedly raped Ulrika Jonsson, Leslie's contract on "This Morning" was terminated. Ulrika Jonsson had written in her autobiography that "an acquaintance" had raped her when she was 19. Leslie was replaced by Phillip Schofield.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In 2003, Alison Hammond joined the "This Morning" team as a regular segment presenter and announcer. In 2006, Ruth Langsford, who had been a guest presenter since 1999, and Eamonn Holmes became main presenters on Fridays and half terms.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: On 26 March 2009, Fern Britton announced that she was to leave "This Morning", and would be replaced by Holly Willoughby on 14 September 2009. Britton's final show was presented after 10 years on 17 July 2009.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In August 2013, Rochelle Humes and her husband Marvin Humes joined This Morning as regular stand-in presenters. They no longer appear together however since 2018, Humes has guest hosted the show on a number of occasions alongside a co-star. Humes also appeared as a regular host on the show alongside Phillip Schofield for a short period between November and December 2018, filling in for Schofield's co-star Holly Willoughby during her stint on "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!". She also hosts the program in the absence of Holly Willoughby on a regular basis and is a main host in the absence of other presenters.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In 2018, Josie Gibson joined the This Morning team as a regular segment presenter and announcer. In 2021, she became a regular stand-in presenter of the show, hosting in the absence of main presenters.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In December 2020, it was announced that Holmes and Langsford were being replaced on Fridays by Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary, and would move to a school and bank holiday presenting slot. This change came into place in 2021. In December 2021, Holmes announced he was leaving "This Morning" and would be moving to GB News.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In 2021, Vernon Kay joined the "This Morning" team as regular stand-in presenter in the absence of the main hosts, presenting alongside Rochelle Humes and Josie Gibson for the first time over the Christmas break for Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: On the 7 July 2022, This Morning announced a host of new presenters taking the reins while Holly and Philip take their regular summer break.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: The new hosts will include regular Friday presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary, as well as Ruth Langsford, Josie Gibson, Rochelle Humes, Vernon Kay, Rylan Clark, Craig Doyle, Mollie King and Andi Peters.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: Alison and Dermot will kick off the summer months by hosting the first two weeks. After that, there will be a mix of onscreen partnerships as follows: Josie and Craig, Rochelle and Andi, Josie and Vernon, Rochelle and Craig, Mollie and Craig, and Ruth and Rylan. Rochelle and Vernon will take the reins for the remaining shows before Phillip and Holly's comeback on 5 September.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: On 22 August, Ruth Langsford returned to This Morning to present for the first time in nearly a year. Rylan presented alongside her.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: On 29 August, Vernon Kay returned to present This Morning for the last week of the summer holidays. Rochelle presented alongside him.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: On 12 December the Christmas Holidays began with Alison & Dermot presenting all week (12th-16th). From week beginning the 19th Craig Doyle & Josie Gibson presented.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In 2018, viewers and commentators criticised a segment titled 'It's A Toff Life.' Instalments set a series of challenge for former "Made in Chelsea" cast member Georgia 'Toff' Toffolo that included completing tasks required of staff in KFC and a sewage works. Viewers deemed the segment "pathetically patronising" to watch Toffolo "slum it like ordinary folk for the day" and claimed the show was 'patronising working class people.'


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: In December 2019, during the 2019 United Kingdom general election, Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were criticised for a "giggly" interview with then Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The co-hosts' decision to take a 'selfie' with the British politician was also criticised, and viewers raised a "lack of professionalism" and "clear bias." Schofield defended the stunt writing: "Can I point out that if Mr Corbyn had asked for a selfie, we would have happily obliged." Viewers argued that the pair had been more critical when interviewing then leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn who faced repeated calls to apologise for accusations of antisemitism in the party. Viewers noted that Islamophobia in the Conservative Party was not raised with Johnson. Ofcom received 149 complaints.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: On 5 September 2022, "This Morning" included a new prize of 'energy bills' in their regular 'spin to win' game. The prize equated to four months of payments, up to £400 each month. When a contestant failed to provide the qualifying passcode on air "This Morning" ended the phone call prompting presenter Holly Willoughby to say, "Well, we're not going to make Joyce's dreams come true." Co-host Philip Schofield replied, "Well it's her fault." Schofield asked the first qualifying contestant if they were "worried" about energy bills and the contestant replied that "it's absolutely murder" having a prepayment meter. The inclusion of bill payments was compared to "Black Mirror" or "The Hunger Games". Coverage from Sky News asked "Is Russia using Phillip Schofield for propaganda?" after the game was reported on Russian state television. British politician Mary Kelly Foy tweeted:I'm disgusted that @thismorning have used people being unable to afford their energy bills as some kind of twisted gameshow. The producers need to rethink this immediately! Everyone deserves dignity, especially if they're struggling.On 6 September 2022, Philip Schofield referenced the controversy by saying, "I wonder how much of that they can complain about online." Ofcom received 170 complaints about the segment and it prompted widespread criticism from viewers and commentators. Ofcom's broadcasting code states that: "We would strongly advise broadcasters not to present a monetary prize as a possible resolution of financial difficulty." On 7 September 2022, the prize was removed without comment from ITV.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: Both of the shows' presenters Holly Willlougby and Phillip Schofield attracted controversy on 16 September 2022 after reportedly 'jumping the queue' at Westminster Hall to gain quicker and easier access entry to the lying in state ceremony for HM Queen Elizabeth II who died on 8 September 2022. However the programme makers denied the accusations stating both Willoughby and Schofield were there in a 'professional capacity as accredited journalists to cover the event'.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: The show typically receives 1 million viewers daily. On 3 October 2018, the show had one of its highest ratings, when 2.7 million viewers tuned in for its 30th anniversary.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: From 1996 to April 2018, "This Morning" broadcast live from Studio 8 at The London Studios on the South Bank, which features large picture windows looking out over the River Thames. Coinciding with the programme's revamp, the outside of the studio was repainted with the new "This Morning" logo and branding.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: Since 16 April 2018, "This Morning" has been broadcast from Studio 3 of the newly renovated Television Centre run by BBC Studioworks, along with the rest of ITV Daytime, including "Loose Women", "Lorraine" and "Good Morning Britain".


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: It was planned to move back to the studios in 2023, but in October 2018, ITV announced it was looking to sell the site and would continue with the current studios and offices longer term. In November 2019, the original studio of "This Morning" was sold to Mitsubishi Estate.


title: This Morning (TV programme)

text: "This Morning" has won the National Television Award for Best Daytime/Live Magazine Show for 18 years running, from 1998 to 2021.


title: Flame test

text: A flame test is an analytical procedure used in chemistry to detect the presence of certain elements, primarily metal ions, based on each element's characteristic flame emission spectrum (which may be affected by the presence of chloride ion). The color of flames in general also depends on temperature and oxygen fed; see flame color.


title: Flame test

text: The test involves introducing a sample of the element or compound to a hot, non-luminous flame, and observing the color of the flame that results. The idea of the test is that sample atoms evaporate and since they are hot, they emit light when being in flame. Bulk sample emits light too, but its light is not good for analysis. Bulk samples emit light with hydrochloric acid to remove traces of previous analytes. The compound is usually made into a paste with concentrated hydrochloric acid, as metal halides, being volatile, give better results. Different flames should be tried to avoid wrong data due to "contaminated" flames, or occasionally to verify the accuracy of the color. In high-school chemistry courses, wooden splints are sometimes used, mostly because solutions can be dried onto them, and they are inexpensive. Nichrome wire is also sometimes used. When using a splint, one must be careful to wave the splint through the flame rather than holding it in the flame for extended periods, to avoid setting the splint itself on fire. The use of cotton swab or melamine foam (used in "eraser" cleaning sponges) as a support has also been suggested.


title: Flame test

text: Sodium is a common component or contaminant in many compounds and its spectrum tends to dominate over others. The test flame is often viewed through cobalt blue glass to filter out the yellow of sodium and allow for easier viewing of other metal ions.


title: Flame test

text: The flame test is relatively quick and simple to perform and can be carried out with the basic equipment found in most chemistry laboratories. However, the range of elements positively detectable under these conditions is small, as the test relies on the subjective experience of the experimenter rather than any objective measurements. The test has difficulty detecting small concentrations of some elements, while too strong a result may be produced for certain others, which tends to cause fainter colors to not appear.


title: Flame test

text: Although the flame test only gives qualitative information, not quantitative data about the proportion of elements in the sample, quantitative data can be obtained by the related techniques of flame photometry or flame emission spectroscopy. Flame atomic absorption spectroscopy Instruments, made by e.g. PerkinElmer or Shimadzu, can be operated in emission mode according to the instrument manuals.


title: Flame test

text: Gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and a number of other elements do not produce a characteristic flame color, although some may produce sparks (as do metallic titanium and iron); salts of beryllium and gold reportedly deposit pure metal on cooling.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: Heard first publicly claimed that Depp had abused her when, in May 2016, she filed for divorce and for a temporary restraining order against him. In April 2018, "The Sun", published by NGN, ran an article online originally titled "GONE POTTY How Can J K Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?", written by Dan Wootton, an executive editor at the paper. Depp sued Wootton and NGN for libel, stating that he wanted to clear his name and alleging that Heard had not only lied about the abuse but had in fact abused him. In their defence, NGN and Wootton alleged fourteen incidents of domestic abuse committed by Depp. During the highly publicised trial, both Heard and Depp testified in person.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: In November 2020, the court published its judgement, rejecting Depp's claim against "The Sun" and ruling that he had assaulted Heard in 12 of the 14 alleged incidents and had put her in fear of her life. Depp's request to appeal the verdict was rejected, as the judge concluded that the appeal had "no real prospect of success". Following the initial ruling, he stepped down from his role in the "Fantastic Beasts" series. The case was seen as damaging to the reputations and careers of both Depp and Heard.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard began a relationship in around 2012 and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce from Depp on 23 May 2016, and obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) against him, stating in her court declaration that he had been "verbally and physically abusive" throughout their relationship, usually while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. In response, Depp alleged that she was "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse." Heard testified about the abuse under oath at a divorce court deposition. The divorce received a large amount of publicity, with alleged evidence, such as images of Heard's injuries, published by the media. A settlement was reached in August 2016, and the divorce was finalised in January 2017. Depp and Heard issued a joint statement saying that their "relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm." Depp paid Heard a settlement of US$7 million (£5 million), which she pledged to donate to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The settlement also included a non-disclosure agreement preventing either party from discussing their relationship publicly.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: On 27 April 2018, UK tabloid "The Sun" published online an article titled: "GONE POTTY How Can J K Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?". The article referred to Depp's casting as Gellert Grindelwald, one of the main characters in "", based on a script by author J. K. Rowling. The online title originally described Depp as a "wife beater", but was changed shortly after publication and was never used in the printed version.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: On 1 June 2018, Depp sued News Group News, the company publishing "The Sun", and Dan Wootton for libel. He claimed that the aim of "The Sun" had been to convince their readers that he was a domestic abuser and to plea Rowling to drop him from the "Fantastic Beasts" film. Depp stated that he had initiated the lawsuit to clear his name, and alleged that Heard had instead been the aggressor in the relationship and had lied about being abused as part of a hoax. Depp's lawyers argued that many of the incidents presented by NGN were on a "she said – he said" basis, and that besides Heard, the only other first-hand witness for the alleged abuse was her sister. Although admitting that he used alcohol and drugs, Depp's lawyers denied that this had any significance.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: Depp's legal team further argued that Heard could not have been abused because she had stayed in the relationship without calling the police and had met with him once more even after filing for divorce and a TRO. As their key evidence of a hoax, Depp's lawyers claimed that stylist Samantha McMillen, who dressed Heard for "The Late Late Show with James Corden"—filmed a day after an alleged violent incident in December 2015 (#12)—had not seen any injuries on her. They also alleged that following the May 2016 incident (#14), elevator CCTV footage from Heard and Depp's apartment building did not show her with injuries, and neither members of the apartment building staff nor the two LAPD officers who were called to Depp and Heard's apartment saw any physical injuries on Heard. As for NGN's allegation that Heard and Depp referred to Depp's behaviour while under the influence of alcohol or drugs as "the monster", Depp's lawyers stated that this had been misinterpreted.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: As evidence of Heard's alleged violence, Depp's lawyers presented two recordings of the couple's private discussions where Heard appeared to admit to having hit Depp and thrown items at him. The claim also relied on witness statements by three members of Depp's staff—Sean Bett, Kevin Murphy and Travis McGivern—who alleged to have witnessed Heard being verbally abusive towards Depp. McGivern also stated that he had seen Heard throw items at Depp in March 2015. Depp's team claimed that the injury that Depp suffered to his finger in Australia in 2015 was caused by a bottle thrown by Heard. Furthermore, they claimed to have evidence that Heard was emotionally volatile, had had extramarital affairs, and that she was a habitual user of alcohol and drugs. They also claimed that she was an unreliable witness.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: In their claim, Depp's lawyers stated that NGN and Wootton alleged in their article that Depp "was guilty, on overwhelming evidence, of serious domestic violence against his then wife, causing significant injury and leading to her fearing for her life, for which [Depp] was constrained to pay no less than £5 million to compensate her, and which resulted in him being subjected to a continuing restraining order; and for that reason is not fit to work in the film industry." His lawyers claimed that, as such, "the publication of the [online and hard copy] articles has caused serious harm to his personal and professional reputation", which could be inferred from:


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: In their defence, NGN and Wootton argued that the articles reported the truth, stating that Depp "beat his wife Amber Heard causing her to suffer significant injury and on occasion leading to her fearing for her life. ... Throughout their relationship the Claimant was controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs." They presented 14 separate incidents on which they alleged that Depp had been violent towards Heard. They stated that Depp had a severe substance abuse disorder, which exacerbated his rage and caused him to have blackouts that made him unable to remember what he had done while intoxicated. They alleged that Depp referred to this side of him as "the monster" and that "in periods of sobriety following Mr Depp's destructive rages, he recognised the problems he faced, apologised to Ms Heard and blamed what he described as "his illness". Furthermore, they accused Depp of misogyny, jealousy and controlling behaviour towards Heard.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: NGN denied that this was a "she said – he said" case, instead stating that Heard's allegations were backed up by "witness testimony, medical evidence, photographs, video, audio recordings, digital evidence and Mr Depp's own texts" and that there were also many first-hand witnesses to his aggression. NGN stated that the fact the there were not many witnesses to the actual violence was because it had taken place behind closed doors, which is a common feature in domestic violence. NGN did allege that some violence had been witnessed by Depp's staff members, such as Stephen Deuters, but that they had later changed their statements to be more favourable to their employer. NGN contradicted Depp's claim that Samantha McMillen did not see any injuries on Heard, pointing out that in her witness statement, McMillen said that she had not seen any injuries herself, but that Heard had commented to her immediately after the taping of "The Late Late Show" about how her hair and make up team had been successful in covering them up. NGN also alleged that ever since Heard filed for divorce in 2016, Depp had stated to other people that he wanted to end her career and to publicly humiliate her, and that his team had conducted a "campaign of vilification" against her. They stated that Depp was using old misogynistic tropes to discredit Heard, such as trying to portray her as "a gold-digger, a shrew and an adulterer".


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: Furthermore, NGN stated that Depp's team had tried to hide text messages that would be damaging to his case, only disclosing them when ordered to do so by the judge in spring 2020, and that they had tried to prevent Heard from disclosing evidence—such as witness statements—from the Virginia case (see below) by threatening her with sanctions.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: NGN presented the following 14 incidents where they alleged that Depp had been violent towards Heard:


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: In October 2018, Depp discussed the allegations against him in an interview published in "GQ", where he denied them and stated that he would "never stop fighting" them. In response, Heard's lawyers claimed that he had broken the divorce settlement's non-disclosure agreement while at the same time refusing to allow Heard to present her side of the story publicly. In December 2018, "The Washington Post" published an op-ed by Heard in which she wrote about how becoming a public victim of domestic violence has negatively affected her career in Hollywood. In January 2019, the High Court denied NGN's filing for a stay of the present action as Heard, their main witness, would not be able to provide evidence due to the settlement NDA. In March 2019, Depp sued Heard for defamation over the op-ed in Fairfax County, Virginia, although neither his name nor the alleged violence were mentioned in the article. The case ("Depp v. Heard") was scheduled to go to trial in April 2022.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: Between 2018 and 2020, the public legal filings in both the "Depp v NGN & Wootton" case and Depp's Virginia defamation suit against Heard received frequent media attention. In February 2020, Depp changed his legal team from Brown Rudnick LLP to Schillings LLP, after his previous lawyers accidentally leaked 70,000 of his text messages to NGN's legal team. The following month, the judge ruled that Heard could testify on some of the incidents in closed court, and ordered Depp to disclose documents from the Virginia case. In May 2020, the judge ruled on a controversy between the parties that had arisen about Depp's team's wish to use witness statements from mechanic David Killacky and Heard's former assistant, Kate James, in their case. According to the ruling, Killacky's statement could not be used but James' could be. The following month, the defendants applied for the claim to be dismissed as Depp's team had not complied with the terms of the disclosure ruling given in March. In particular, Depp's team had not provided the defendants with text messages between Depp and his personal assistant, Nathan Holmes, in which he appeared to discuss obtaining illegal drugs. The judge ruled that Depp's team had breached the agreement, but declined to dismiss his claim. Later in the same month, Depp's team applied for third party disclosure from Heard, and in early July, days before the start of the trial, applied for her to be barred from the court room during the trial, except for when she would be appearing as a witness. Both of these applications were denied by the judge.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the trial was postponed from March 2020 to 7–28 July 2020. Depp was represented by Eleanor Laws QC, David Sherborne and Kate Wilson from Schillings LLP, whereas NGN was represented by Sasha Wass QC, Adam Wolanski QC and Clara Hamer from Simons Muirhead and Burton LLP. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and the public interest in the case, five courtrooms were used for the trial.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: Both Depp and Heard testified in person. In addition, testimony was heard from the following individuals, both in person and via a video link:


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: In addition, Depp's team used depositions by LAPD officers Melissa Saenz and Tyler Hadden, a draft declaration by his former bodyguard Jerry Judge (who died in 2019), and a declaration by apartment building staff member Cornelius Harrell. They had also served a hearsay notice for Laura Divinere's declaration in the Virginia case. Depp's former partners Winona Ryder and Vanessa Paradis had also given witness statements, but were not called to give evidence by Depp and as such could not be cross-examined by the defendants. Both parties presented the court with other documents as well, which in total amounted to 13 lever arch files of material.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: On 2 November 2020, Mr Justice Nicol found that assaults were proven to the civil standard in 12 of the 14 incidents reported by NGN, and this with the overarching considerations was sufficient to show that "The Sun" article was substantially accurate on the balance of probabilities. The verdict found that while Depp had been successful in proving that the articles had been damaging to his reputation, his claim of libel had failed as the articles had been "substantially true". The court found no evidence to support Depp's claim of a hoax, stating that "if Ms Heard had been constructing a hoax there are various measures which she might have taken, but which she did not". The court accepted Heard's claim that her career and activism had been seriously damaged by going public about the abuse. The 129-page verdict examined all 14 alleged incidents, both alone and in context of the entirety of the evidence presented.


title: Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

text: The court did not accept Depp's claim that Heard was not a reliable witness. As the basis for this claim, Depp alleged that when Heard's British friend who had worked for her as an assistant in the UK had been visiting her in the US in 2014, she had actually been working as Heard's assistant without a working visa, and thus Heard had lied to the Homeland Security. The evidence supporting this was a statement from Heard's former assistant, Kate James, whose employment had been terminated in acrimonious circumstances, and which the judge therefore did not regard as reliable. A check made out to Savannah McMillian (the alleged assistant) from Amber Heard over $1625 referred to by Heard as "payments". Amber Heard confessed to writing out checks to McMillian multiple times. According to Heard these "payments" would cover expenses for both Heard and McMillian like shopping and errands. The judge accepted Heard's claim that McMillian was not her assistant in the USA but in other jurisdictions. Depp also alleged that Heard had tried to get both James and Depp's assistant Kevin Murphy to make or help in procuring false statements to help the couple to travel with their dogs on two occasions, one of which was the trip to Australia in 2015, when Heard was prosecuted for failing to properly declare the dogs. The court did not find that the evidence presented supported this. Furthermore, the verdict noted that Murphy had declared himself on Depp's side and against Heard, and that one of the dogs was in fact Depp's, but Heard had volunteered to take the blame to ensure that Depp did not get into trouble regarding his employment in Australia.