title: Ureter

text: A narrowed ureter may lead to ureteric enlargement () and cause swelling of the kidneys (hydronephrosis). Associated symptoms may include recurrent infections, pain or blood in the urine; and when tested, kidney function might be seen to decrease. These are considered situations when surgery is needed. Medical imaging, including urinary tract ultrasound, CT or nuclear medicine imaging is conducted to investigate many causes. This may involve reinserting the ureters into a new place on the bladder (reimplantion), or widening of the ureter. A ureteric stent may be inserted to relieve an obstruction. If the cause cannot be removed, a nephrostomy may be required, which is the insertion of a tube connected to the renal pelvis which directly drains urine into a stoma bag.


title: Ureter

text: Cancer of the ureters is known as ureteral cancer. It is usually due to cancer of the urothelium, the cells that line the surface of the ureters. Urothelial cancer is more common after the age of 40, and more common in men than women; other risk factors include smoking and exposure to dyes such as aromatic amines and aldehydes. When cancer is present, the most common symptom in an affected person is blood in the urine; it may not cause symptoms, and a physical medical examination may be otherwise normal, except in late disease. Ureteral cancer is most often due to cancer of the cells lining the ureter, called transitional cell carcinoma, although it can more rarely occur as a squamous cell carcinoma if the type of cells lining the urethra have changed due to chronic inflammation, such as due to stones or schistosomiasis.


title: Ureter

text: Investigations performed usually include collecting a sample of urine for an inspection for malignant cells under a microscope, called cytology, as well as medical imaging by a CT urogram or ultrasound. If a concerning lesion is seen, a flexible camera may be inserted into the ureters, called ureteroscopy, in order to view the lesion and take a biopsy, and a CT scan will be performed of other body parts (a CT scan of the chest, abdomen and pelvis) to look for additional lesions. After the cancer is staged, treatment may involve open surgery to remove the affected ureter and kidney if it is involved; or, if the lesion is small, it may be removed via ureteroscopy. Prognosis can vary markedly depending on the tumour grade, with a worse prognosis associated with an ulcerating lesion.


title: Ureter

text: Injuries to the ureter can occur after penetrating abdominal injuries, and injuries at high speeds followed by an abrupt stop (such as a high speed car accident). The ureter can be injured during surgery to nearby structures. It is injured in 2 per 10,000 cases of vaginal hysterectomies and 13 per 10,000 cases of abdominal hysterectomies, usually near the suspensory ligament of the ovary or near the cardinal ligament, where the ureter runs close to the blood vessels of the uterus.


title: Ureter

text: Several forms of medical imaging exist that are used to view the ureters and urinary tract. Ultrasound may be able to show evidence of blockage because of hydronephrosis of the kidneys and renal pelvis. CT scans, including ones where contrast media is injected intravenously to better show the ureters, and with contrast to better show lesions, and to differentiate benign from malignant lesions. Dye may also be injected directly into the ureters or renal tract; an antegrade pyelogram is when contrast is injected directly into the renal pelvis, and a retrograde pyelogram is where dye is injected into the urinary tract via a catheter, and flows backwards into the ureters. More invasive forms of imaging include ureteroscopy, which is the insertion of a flexible endoscope into the urinary tract to view the ureters. Ureteroscopy is most commonly used for medium to large-sized stones when less invasive methods of removal are not able to be used.


title: Ureter

text: All vertebrates have two kidneys located behind the abdomen that produce urine, and have a way of excreting it, so that waste products within the urine can be removed from the body. The structure specifically called the ureter is present in amniotes, meaning mammals, birds and reptiles. These animals possess an adult kidney derived from the metanephros. The duct that connects the kidney to excrete urine in these animals is the ureter. It connects to the urinary bladder, from whence urine leaves via the urethra.


title: Ureter

text: The word "ureter" comes from the Ancient Greek stem "uro" relating to urination, and the first use of the word is seen during the era of Hippocrates to refer to the urethra. The anatomical structure of the ureter was noted by 40 AD. However, the terms "ureter" and "urethra" were variably used to refer to each other thereafter for more than a millennium. It was only in the 1550s that anatomists such as Bartolomeo Eustachi and Jacques Dubois began to use the terms to specifically and consistently refer to what is in modern English called the ureter and the urethra. Following this, in the 19th and 20th centuries multiple terms relating to the structures such as ureteritis and ureterography, were coined.


title: Ureter

text: Kidney stones have been identified and recorded about as long as written historical records exist. The urinary tract including the ureters, as well as their function to drain urine from the kidneys, has been described by Galen in the second century AD.


title: Ureter

text: The first to examine the ureter through an internal approach, called ureteroscopy, rather than surgery was Hampton Young in 1929. This was improved on by VF Marshall who is the first published use of a flexible endoscope based on fiber optics, which occurred in 1964. The insertion of a drainage tube into the renal pelvis, bypassing the ureters and urinary tract, called nephrostomy, was first described in 1941. Such an approach differed greatly from the open surgical approaches within the urinary system employed during the preceding two millennia.


title: Ureter

text: The first radiological imaging of the ureters first occurred via X-rays, although this was made more difficult by the thick abdomen, which the low power of the original X-rays was not able to penetrate enough to produce clear images. More useful images were able to be produced when Edwin Hurry Fenwick in 1908 pioneered the use of tubes covered in material visible to X-rays inserted into the ureters, and in the early 20th century when contrasts were injected externally into the urinary tract (retrograde pyelograms). Unfortunately, much of the earlier retrograde pyelograms were complicated by significant damage to the kidneys as a result of contrast based on silver or sodium iodide. Hryntshalk in 1929 pioneered the development of the intravenous urogram, in which contrast is injected into a vein and highlights the kidney and, when excreted, the urinary tract. Things improved with the development by Moses Swick and Leopold Lichtwitz in the late 1920s of relatively nontoxic contrast media, with controversy surrounding publication as to who was the primary discoverer. Side-effects associated with imaging improved even more when Tosten Almen published a ground-breaking thesis in 1969 based on the less toxic low-osmolar contrast media, developed based on swimming experiences in lakes with different salinity.


title: Hosts (file)

text: The computer file hosts is an operating system file that maps hostnames to IP addresses. It is a plain text file. Originally a file named HOSTS.TXT was manually maintained and made available via file sharing by Stanford Research Institute for the ARPANET membership, containing the hostnames and address of hosts as contributed for inclusion by member organizations. The Domain Name System, first described in 1983 and implemented in 1984, automated the publication process and provided instantaneous and dynamic hostname resolution in the rapidly growing network. In modern operating systems, the hosts file remains an alternative name resolution mechanism, configurable often as part of facilities such as the Name Service Switch as either the primary method or as a fallback method.


title: Hosts (file)

text: The hosts file is one of several system facilities that assists in addressing network nodes in a computer network. It is a common part of an operating system's Internet Protocol (IP) implementation, and serves the function of translating human-friendly hostnames into numeric protocol addresses, called IP addresses, that identify and locate a host in an IP network.


title: Hosts (file)

text: In some operating systems, the contents of the hosts file is used preferentially to other name resolution methods, such as the Domain Name System (DNS), but many systems implement name service switches, e.g., nsswitch.conf for Linux and Unix, to provide customization. Unlike remote DNS resolvers, the hosts file is under the direct control of the local computer's administrator.


title: Hosts (file)

text: The hosts file contains lines of text consisting of an IP address in the first text field followed by one or more host names. The host names map to the IPs, not vice versa. Each field is separated by white space – tabs are often preferred for historical reasons, but spaces are also used. Comment lines may be included; they are indicated by an octothorpe (#) in the first position of such lines. Entirely blank lines in the file are ignored. For example, a typical hosts file may contain the following:


title: Hosts (file)

text: This example only contains entries for the loopback addresses of the system and their host names, a typical default content of the hosts file. The example illustrates that an IP address may have multiple host names ("localhost" and "loopback"), and that a host name may be mapped to both IPv4 and IPv6 IP addresses, as shown on the first and second lines respectively.


title: Hosts (file)

text: The location of the hosts file in the file system hierarchy varies by operating system. It is usually named "hosts", without an extension.


title: Hosts (file)

text: The ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet, had no distributed host name database. Each network node maintained its own map of the network nodes as needed and assigned them names that were memorable to the users of the system. There was no method for ensuring that all references to a given node in a network were using the same name, nor was there a way to read the hosts file of another computer to automatically obtain a copy.


title: Hosts (file)

text: The small size of the ARPANET kept the administrative overhead small to maintain an accurate hosts file. Network nodes typically had one address and could have many names. As local area TCP/IP computer networks gained popularity, however, the maintenance of hosts files became a larger burden on system administrators as networks and network nodes were being added to the system with increasing frequency.


title: Hosts (file)

text: Standardization efforts, such as the format specification of the file "HOSTS.TXT" in RFC 952, and distribution protocols, e.g., the hostname server described in RFC 953, helped with these problems, but the centralized and monolithic nature of hosts files eventually necessitated the creation of the distributed Domain Name System (DNS).


title: Hosts (file)

text: On some old systems a file named networks is present that is similar to a hosts file, containing names of networks.


title: Hosts (file)

text: In its function of resolving host names, the hosts file may be used to define any hostname or domain name for use in the local system.


title: Hosts (file)

text: The hosts file may present an attack vector for malicious software. The file may be modified, for example, by adware, computer viruses, or trojan horse software to redirect traffic from the intended destination to sites hosting malicious or unwanted content. The widespread computer worm Mydoom.B blocked users from visiting sites about computer security and antivirus software and also affected access from the compromised computer to the Microsoft Windows Update website.


title: Hosts (file)

text: In some cases, malware has modified the library responsible for loading the hosts file in order to redirect it to a file it is able to control freely.


title: Misery Business

text: "Misery Business" is a song by American rock band Paramore and serves as the lead single from their second studio album, "Riot!" (2007). The song was written about a past experience of the band's lead singer, Hayley Williams, which involved a male friend who she felt was being exploited by a girl; when Williams and her friend dated afterwards, she wrote the track in order to "finally explain my side of the story and feel freed of it all". The accompanying music video for "Misery Business" was the third to be directed by Shane Drake for the band, and "Alternative Press" named "Misery Business" the Video of the Year in 2007.


title: Misery Business

text: "Misery Business" is considered the band's breakthrough hit and is credited with introducing the band to a mainstream audience. The track was commercially successful, peaking on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at No. 26 (for the week of January 12, 2008), making it the band's highest-charting single until "Ain't It Fun" reached No. 10 in 2014. It also peaked at No. 3 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. It was the group's first charting single in the UK with more than 20,000 copies created within less than a year of the song's debut. It also succeeded in many countries including Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. On June 2, 2022, the song was certified six times platinum in the United States, the first of the band's songs to have sold six million units.


title: Misery Business

text: The phrase, "Misery Business", was first heard in a Stephen King adaptation of the psycho-thriller film, "Misery" (1990). The origin of the song is ambiguous with Williams giving conflicting explanations. The Fueled by Ramen website reports that Williams wrote the song based on feedback the band received after a question she posted on the band's LiveJournal asking what people were ashamed of. However, on the band's blog, Williams claims the song was written about a past experience involving a male friend who she felt was being manipulated by a girl, and later on when Williams and her friend began to date, she penned the lyrics to "finally explain my side of the story and feel freed of it all". Later, Williams addressed the lyrics in the chorus:


title: Misery Business

text: Williams joked on Twitter on May 27, 2013, that it was about London's Heathrow Airport. In May 2020, she finally revealed that it was about bandmate Josh Farro. She told "Vulture", "When I was 13 or 14 and I had a crush on Josh, he didn't like me back. He would go hang out with his girlfriend, who I wrote 'Misery Business' about because I was a dick."


title: Misery Business

text: On September 7, 2018, Williams announced during a concert that the band will play the song "for the last time for a really long time", mainly due to a line from the second verse that was deemed sexist and anti-feminist. Williams did not sing the song again until the 2022 Coachella Festival, when she performed an acoustic version with Billie Eilish. The song returned to Paramore's setlist during the band's Fall 2022 Tour.


title: Misery Business

text: At the time of the release of "Misery Business", Paramore was a guest on MTV's "Discover and Download" which gave the band time in the spotlight to reach out and explain the purpose of their album and how they wish to see it grow. This song is the group's first single to enter the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. During the week of June 25, 2007, it debuted at #99 on the chart and reached #75 two weeks later before dropping off the chart in the following week. Due to increased digital downloads during the month of August 2007, it re-entered the "Billboard" Hot 100 during the chart week of September 6, 2007 at #34. It reached its peak position of #26 during the chart week of January 12, 2008. It was the band's highest-charting single at that time, prior to the release of "Ain't It Fun" in 2014, but "Misery Business" still remains the band's most-played song on the radio to date whereas Ain't It Fun never succeeded on alternative radio due to the band's change of style as well as not having the staying power "Misery Business" had, despite charting higher; leaving "Misery Business" as their most popular song to date. It peaked at #3 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also attained moderate crossover success, reaching #12 on Pop Songs chart and #31 on Adult Pop Songs chart. The song was certified Platinum in the U.S on September 17, 2008, with over 1,000,000 digital downloads. In December 2010 the song topped the two million mark in paid downloads. It has sold 2,464,000 copies in the US as of June 18, 2014.


title: Misery Business

text: The single was re-released in the UK Accorto Record Store on February 11, 2008 and included three vinyl records. To date, it has peaked at #17 on the UK Singles Chart. It is also the group's first charting single in the UK. It was a success in many countries including Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and others. It debuted on the Dutch Top 40 peaking at #28 and in Finland at #23.


title: Misery Business

text: In 2009, the song was certified Platinum in Australia. Selling over 15,000 copies in New Zealand, the song was certified Gold on February 1, 2008, with the shipment of over 7,500 copies.


title: Misery Business

text: "Misery Business" is widely regarded as one of the band's best songs. In 2017, "NME" ranked the song number one on their list of the 10 greatest Paramore songs, and in 2021, "Kerrang" ranked the song number five on their list of the 20 greatest Paramore songs.


title: Misery Business

text: The music video was filmed at Reseda High School in Reseda, California. Directed by Shane Drake, who also directed Paramore's videos for "Pressure" and "Emergency", it features a band performance at a school.


title: Misery Business

text: The video starts out and has cut scenes of Paramore performing the song with an assortment of "RIOT!"s (a reference to the album's name) in the background all throughout the video. At the same time, a girl (Amy Paffrath), presumably the "whore" as subject in the song, ensues terror onto students at a high school. She pushes aside cheerleaders, cuts off another girl's braid, further injures a boy in an arm sling, and ruins a relationship between a couple by kissing the boy right in front of the girl. In the end, the band members themselves confront her and Williams gives her a taste of her own medicine by taking out her bra inserts and wiping the make-up off her face, thus revealing the girl's true identity and putting an end to her egotistical reign at the high school.


title: Misery Business

text: The video was nominated for the "Best Video" award at the Kerrang! Awards 2007 but lost to Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race."


title: Misery Business

text: Fueled by Ramen (FBR+) also released an alternate cut of the video that removes the high school clips and features only performance segments.


title: Misery Business

text: A CD and two 7" singles were released in the UK on June 18, 2008. The CD single features a new song, "Stop This Song (Love Sick Melody)", and the two vinyls feature two covers: an electronic remix of "My Hero" by the Foo Fighters, and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava Slav") is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak Super Liga. Founded as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953. Slovan is the most successful team in Slovakia with the most titles in both league and cup in the country.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Slovan Bratislava became the first and so far only club in Slovakia as well as former Czechoslovakia to win one of the European cup competitions, the Cup Winners' Cup when they defeated FC Barcelona in the final in Basel in 1969. The club also supplied seven players to the victorious UEFA Euro 1976 Czechoslovak team.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Slovan was founded on 1 April 1919 in the Panonia Café in Bratislava, as I.ČsŠK Bratislava (the First Czechoslovak Sports Club Bratislava). The first president was Police Captain Richard Brunner, who arranged the club's first temporary training ground at Kuchajda (Pasienky). The club soon moved to Petržalka.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: I.ČsŠK became the champions of Slovakia in 1922. Notable players from the early era were Pavol Šoral, Štefan Čambal and Štefan Priboj. In the spring of 1938 anti-Jewish sentiments penetrated into the club, and the victim was coach József Braun, who was one of the many Bratislava inhabitants who had to involuntarily leave the city. Under the terms of the 1938 Munich agreement Czechoslovakia was dissolved, leading to the emergence of the Slovak Republic. At this point the club name was changed to ŠK Bratislava. On 26 September 1940 ŠK Bratislava played its first game at the new stadium, Tehelné pole.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: The first international meeting at the new venue was on 27 October 1940, when ŠK Bratislava and Hertha Berlin played out a 2–2 draw. In the separate Slovak league, ŠK Bratislava won the title four times in the period from 1939 to 1945. Slovan was the first Czechoslovak team to use the WM formation. The team's first foreign opponent after World War II was Ferencvárosi TC. ŠK Bratislava lost 1–0, but won the Central European Cup 2–1 over Hungary before 20,000 spectators at Tehelnom field. In this period former players of I. ČsŠK Bratislava Ferdinand Daučík and Leopold "Jim" Šťastný served as coaches for ŠK Bratislava.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: The team name changed again in 1948, to Sokol NV Bratislava. The team met with success in 1949, when they became the first champions of the re-formed Czechoslovakia. Outstanding players from this era included Emil Pažický, Gejza Šimanský, Bozhin Laskov, Viktor Tegelhoff, and Teodor Reimann.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Anton Bulla, the coach in 1953, added eight new players to team. In 1961–62 the team defeated Red Star Bratislava in the national league for the title. Under the influence of political and economic pressures and interests, TJ ÚNV Slovan and TJ Dimitrov merged to create CHZJD Slovan Bratislava on 5 August 1961 (CHZJD stood for the Juraj Dimitrov Chemical Plant).


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: 1962 was a successful year, as the Czechoslovakia national team were defeated 3–1 in the 1962 FIFA World Cup Final in Chile, obtaining the silver, and repeating the success of the 1934 FIFA World Cup Final in Rome. Slovan players included goalkeeper Viliam Schrojf and defender Ján Popluhár.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Slovan ended the 1967–68 season second in the league, won the cup in Czechoslovakia, and participated in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The team was managed by former Slovan player Michal Vičan, who focused on fast and simple games. Vičan took the team on a winter tour of Argentina in 1969.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: On 21 May 1969, the team defeated FC Barcelona in the 1969 European Cup Winners' Cup Final by a score of 3–2. Some of the players on the team were Ľudovít Cvetler, Vladimír Hrivnák, Ján Čapkovič, Karol Jokl, Alexander Horváth, Jozef Čapkovič, and Alexander Vencel.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: In 1970 the Czechoslovak squad sent to the FIFA World Cup in Mexico included seven players from Slovan: Alexander Vencel, Ján Zlocha, Ivan Hrdlička, Karol Jokl, Ján Čapkovič, Vladimír Hrivnák, and Alexander Horváth. Jozef Vengloš was the coach of the Slovan Bratislava team for part of this era, as well as performing duties coaching at the international level.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: In 1976 a Czechoslovakian team including six Slovan players won the European title in the European Championships held in Belgrade. Gold medals were given to coach Vengloš, Alexander Vencel, Jozef Čapkovič, Koloman Gogh, Marián Masný, Anton Ondruš, Ján Pivarník, and Ján Švehlík. From the 1977–78 season Slovan were declining. In the 1984–85 season Slovan, led by coaches Ján Hucko and Jozef Obert, left the highest level of competition and were relegated to the Slovakian National League.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: After three seasons spent in the Slovakian National League, Slovan Bratislava were able to return to national competition. In season 1987–88 the team returned to the top leagues under the leadership of coaches Ján Zachar and Jozef Jankech, who later coached the Slovak national team. Dušan Galis was the coach from 1977 to 1981. In 1991–92 Slovan Bratislava won the Czechoslovak title for the last time. Among the stars on the team were Peter Dubovský, Dušan Tittel, Ladislav Pecko, Vladimir Kinder, Miloš Glonek, Tomáš Stúpala, and Alexander Vencel (junior).


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Slovan won titles in the Slovak league in the 1993–94, 1994–95 and 1995–96 seasons. For the next two years, MFK Košice won the title. Slovan returned to the Slovak throne in the 1998–99 season. The stars of the team included coach Stanislav Griga and players Róbert Tomaschek, Miroslav König, Stanislav Varga, Tibor Jančula, and Ladislav Pecko. In the next few years the club's performance was below par and they were in trouble financially. They were forced to sell some of their best players. At the end of the 2003–04 season, the team was relegated to the Slovak Second League, where they spent two seasons. After two years, in the 2010–11 season Slovan won the double with coach Karel Jarolím.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Tehelné pole, Slovan's previous stadium, was built during the first Slovak Republic, when Nazi Germany occupied Petržalka in 1938 and Bratislava lost almost all of its sporting facilities. The construction lasted from 1939 to 1944 and the stadium became home ground for Slovan Bratislava. The stadium was officially opened in September 1940 with 25,000 places, and the first international match was played on 27 October 1940, with Slovan Bratislava playing against Hertha Berlin, ending in 2–2 tie. The old stadium underwent reconstruction in 1961, which added second tribune, boosting its capacity to 45,000 and modernising by adding score table, artificial light and revamping the field. However, the stadium could hold up even 50,000 spectators, and just before breakup of Czechoslovakia, it was the largest one in use (Strahov Stadium in Prague had a capacity of 220,000 but was disused in the 1990s) and was the home ground for Czechoslovak national team.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: The stadium was reconstructed once more in the 1990s to the "all-seater" stadium, reducing the capacity into 30,000. The last match at the old Tehelné pole stadium was played in November 2009.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: In September 2016, after many years of negotiations and discussions, the building of the new stadium begun. The new stadium was opened on 3 March 2019 with a ceremony before the derby match against Spartak Trnava. The new stadium was built at the same place where Slovan has had its original home. It is a locality, which is typically connected with sports activities in Bratislava. The capacity of the new stadium is 22,500 spectators and fulfils UEFA 4-star category criteria.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: The main ultras group is called "Ultras Slovan" or "Sektor C" according to the section in which they are situated during home matches. Previously, the main ultras group was called "Belasá šlachta" (Sky-blue aristocracy). The major hooligan firm is called "Ultras Slovan Pressburg".


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Slovan supporters maintain friendly relations with fans of Zbrojovka Brno, Austria Wien, as well as Polish club Wisła Kraków.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Slovan's greatest rival is Spartak Trnava. The derby is the most prestigious match in the Slovak football calendar.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Matches against DAC Dunajská Streda are not considered a derby, but are generally one of the most watched games of the season.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Slovan's major rival teams in Bratislava were Inter Bratislava and FC Petržalka. The rivalry between Slovan and Inter has had a long and rich history as both teams played in the Czechoslovak First League. The rivalry with Petržalka peaked after 2000.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: On the international scene, Slovan's rivals are mainly clubs from neighboring countries. Namely, Sparta Prague (Federal Derby), Rapid Wien or Ferencváros.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: "For recent transfers, see List of Slovak football transfers summer 2022. <br> and List of Slovak football transfers winter 2022-23"


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: The Czechoslovak League top scorer from 1944 to 1945 until 1992–93. Since the 1993–94 Slovak League top scorer.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: Slovan have produced numerous players who have gone on to represent the Slovak national football team. Over the last period there has been a steady increase of young players leaving Slovan after a few years of first team football and moving on to play football in leagues of a higher standard, with the German Bundesliga (best scorer Róbert Vittek to 1. FC Nürnberg in 2003), English Premier League (Vladimír Kinder to Middlesbrough in 1997, Stanislav Varga to Sunderland in 2000, Igor Bališ to West Bromwich in 2000), Turkish Süper Lig (Marko Milinković to Gençlerbirliği S.K. in 2016, Ľubomír Meszároš to Elazığspor in 2002, Marián Zeman to İstanbulspor A.Ş. in 1995), Italy (Marek Hamšík to Brescia Calcio in 2004), Spanish La Liga (Samuel Slovák to CD Tenerife in 1997 and Peter Dubovský to Real Madrid C.F. for 110mil SKK (4.3mil €) in 1993). Other interesting transfers were Dušan Tittel to Nîmes Olympique in 1992, Igor Demo to PSV Eindhoven in 1997, Róbert Tomaschek to Heart of Midlothian F.C. in 2000, Kornel Saláta to FC Rostov in 2011 and Branislav Niňaj to Lokeren in 2015. The top transfer was agreed in 2020 when 25 years old striker and previous season topscorer Andraž Šporar joined Portugal team Sporting CP for a fee more than €7.0 million, which was the highest ever paid to a Slovak club.


title: ŠK Slovan Bratislava

text: The following players had collected senior international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Slovan.


title: Vault 7

text: Vault 7 is a series of documents that WikiLeaks began to publish on 7 March 2017, detailing the activities and capabilities of the United States Central Intelligence Agency to perform electronic surveillance and cyber warfare. The files, dating from 2013 to 2016, include details on the agency's software capabilities, such as the ability to compromise cars, smart TVs, web browsers (including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera), and the operating systems of most smartphones (including Apple's iOS and Google's Android), as well as other operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux. A CIA internal audit identified 91 malware tools out of more than 500 tools in use in 2016 being compromised by the release. The tools were developed by the Operations Support Branch of the C.I.A.


title: Vault 7

text: The release of Vault 7 led the CIA to redefine WikiLeaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence service.” In July 2022 former CIA software engineer Joshua Schulte was convicted of leaking the documents to WikiLeaks.


title: Vault 7

text: During January and February 2017, the United States Justice Department was negotiating through Julian Assange's attorney Adam Waldman for immunity and safe passage for Assange to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and to travel to the United States both to discuss risk minimization of future WikiLeaks releases including redactions and to testify that Russia was not the source for the WikiLeaks releases in 2016. In mid February 2017, Waldman, who was pro bono, asked Senator Mark Warner who was co-chairman of the United States Senate Intelligence Committee if he had any questions to ask Assange. Warner contacted FBI Director James Comey and told Waldman "stand down and end the negotiations with Assange," with which Waldman complied. However, David Laufman who was Waldman's counterpart with the Justice Department replied, "That's B.S. You're not standing down and neither am I." According to Ray McGovern on 28 March 2017, Waldman and Laufman were very near an agreement between the Justice Department and Assange for "risk mitigation approaches relating to CIA documents in WikiLeaks' possession or control, such as the redaction of Agency personnel in hostile jurisdictions," in return for "an acceptable immunity and safe passage agreement" but a formal agreement was never reached and the very damaging disclosure about "Marble Framework" was released by WikiLeaks on 31 March 2017.


title: Vault 7

text: In February 2017, WikiLeaks began teasing the release of "Vault 7" with a series of cryptic messages on Twitter, according to media reports. Later on in February, WikiLeaks released classified documents describing how the CIA monitored the 2012 French presidential election. The press release for the leak stated that it was published "as context for its forthcoming CIA Vault 7 series."


title: Vault 7

text: In March 2017, US intelligence and law enforcement officials said to the international wire agency Reuters that they had been aware of the CIA security breach, which led to Vault 7, since late-2016. Two officials said they were focusing on "contractors" as the possible source of the leaks.


title: Vault 7

text: In 2017, federal law enforcement identified CIA software engineer Joshua Adam Schulte as a suspected source of Vault 7. In July 2022, Schulte was convicted of leaking the documents to WikiLeaks.


title: Vault 7

text: On 13 April 2017, CIA director Mike Pompeo declared WikiLeaks to be a "hostile intelligence service." In September 2021, Yahoo! News reported that in 2017 in the wake of the Vault 7 leaks, the CIA considered kidnapping or assassinating Assange, spying on associates of WikiLeaks, sowing discord among its members, and stealing their electronic devices. After many months of deliberation, all proposed plans had been scrapped due to a combination of legal and moral objections. Per the 2021 Yahoo News article, a former Trump national security official stated, "We should never act out of a desire for revenge".


title: Vault 7

text: The first batch of documents named "Year Zero" was published by WikiLeaks on 7 March 2017, consisting of 7,818 web pages with 943 attachments, purportedly from the Center for Cyber Intelligence, which contained more pages than former NSA contractor and leaker, Edward Snowden's NSA release at the time. WikiLeaks had released Year Zero online in a locked archive earlier that week, and revealing the passphrase on the 7th. The passphrase referred to a President Kennedy quote that he wanted “to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds”.


title: Vault 7

text: WikiLeaks did not name the source, but said that the files had "circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive." According to WikiLeaks, the source "wishes to initiate a public debate about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyberweapons" since these tools raise questions that "urgently need to be debated in public, including whether the C.I.A.'s hacking capabilities exceed its mandated powers and the problem of public oversight of the agency."


title: Vault 7

text: WikiLeaks attempted to redact names and other identifying information from the documents before their release, but faced criticism for leaving some key details unredacted. WikiLeaks also attempted to allow for connections between people to be drawn via unique identifiers generated by WikiLeaks. It also said that it would postpone releasing the source code for the cyber weapons, which is reportedly several hundred million lines long, "until a consensus emerges on the technical and political nature of the C.I.A.'s program and how such 'weapons' should be analyzed, disarmed and published." WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed this was only part of a larger series.


title: Vault 7

text: The CIA released a statement saying, "The American public should be deeply troubled by any WikiLeaks disclosure designed to damage the Intelligence Community's ability to protect America against terrorists or other adversaries. Such disclosures not only jeopardize US personnel and operations, but also equip our adversaries with tools and information to do us harm."


title: Vault 7

text: In a statement issued on 19 March 2017, Assange said the technology companies who had been contacted had not agreed to, disagreed with, or questioned what he termed as WikiLeaks' standard industry disclosure plan. The standard disclosure time for a vulnerability is 90 days after the company responsible for patching the software is given full details of the flaw. According to WikiLeaks, only Mozilla had been provided with information on the vulnerabilities, while "Google and some other companies" only confirmed receiving the initial notification. WikiLeaks stated: "Most of these lagging companies have conflicts of interest due to their classified work with US government agencies. In practice such associations limit industry staff with US security clearances from fixing holes based on leaked information from the CIA. Should such companies choose to not secure their users against CIA or NSA attacks users may prefer organizations such as Mozilla or European companies that prioritize their users over government contracts".


title: Vault 7

text: On 23 March 2017 WikiLeaks published the second release of Vault 7 material, entitled "Dark Matter". The publication included documentation for several CIA efforts to hack Apple's iPhones and Macs. These included the "Sonic Screwdriver" malware that could use the thunderbolt interface to bypass Apple's password firmware protection.


title: Vault 7

text: On 31 March 2017, WikiLeaks published the third part of its Vault 7 documents, entitled "Marble". It contained 676 source code files for the CIA's Marble Framework. It is used to obfuscate, or scramble, malware code in an attempt to make it so that anti-virus firms or investigators cannot understand the code or attribute its source. According to WikiLeaks, the code also included a de-obfuscator to reverse the obfuscation effects.


title: Vault 7

text: On 7 April 2017, WikiLeaks published the fourth set of its Vault 7 documents, dubbed "Grasshopper". The publication contains 27 documents from the CIA's Grasshopper framework, which is used by the CIA to build customized and persistent malware payloads for the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Grasshopper focused on Personal Security Product (PSP) avoidance. PSPs are antivirus software such as MS Security Essentials, Symantec Endpoint or Kaspersky IS.


title: Vault 7

text: On 14 April 2017, WikiLeaks published the fifth part of its Vault 7 documents, titled "HIVE". Based on the CIA top-secret virus program created by its "Embedded Development Branch" (EDB). The six documents published by WikiLeaks are related to the HIVE multi-platform CIA malware suite. A CIA back-end infrastructure with a public-facing HTTPS interface used by CIA to transfer information from target desktop computers and smartphones to the CIA, and open those devices to receive further commands from CIA operators to execute specific tasks, all the while hiding its presence behind unsuspicious-looking public domains through a masking interface known as "Switchblade" (also known as Listening Post (LP) and Command and Control (C2)).


title: Vault 7

text: On 21 April 2017, WikiLeaks published the sixth part of its Vault 7 material, code-named "Weeping Angel", a hacking tool co-developed by the CIA and MI5 used to exploit a series of smart TVs for the purpose of covert intelligence gathering. Once installed in suitable televisions with a USB stick, the hacking tool enables those televisions' built-in microphones and possibly video cameras to record their surroundings, while the televisions falsely appear to be turned off. The recorded data is then either stored locally into the television's memory or sent over the internet to the CIA. Allegedly both the CIA and MI5 agencies collaborated to develop that malware and coordinated their work in Joint Development Workshops. As of this part 6 publication, "Weeping Angel" is the second major CIA hacking tool which notably references the British television show, "Doctor Who", alongside "Sonic Screwdriver" in "Dark Matter".


title: Vault 7

text: On 28 April 2017, WikiLeaks published the seventh part of its Vault 7 materials, dubbed "Scribbles". The leak includes documentation and source code of a tool intended to track documents leaked to whistleblowers and journalists by embedding web beacon tags into classified documents to trace who leaked them. The tool affects Microsoft Office documents, specifically "Microsoft Office 2013 (on Windows 8.1 x64), documents from Office versions 97-2016 (Office 95 documents will not work) and documents that are not locked, encrypted, or password-protected". When a CIA watermarked document is opened, an invisible image within the document that is hosted on the agency's server is loaded, generating a HTTP request. The request is then logged on the server, giving the intelligence agency information about who is opening it and where it is being opened. However, if a watermarked document is opened in an alternative word processor the image may be visible to the viewer. The documentation also states that if the document is viewed offline or in protected view, the watermarked image will not be able to contact its home server. This is overridden only when a user enables editing.


title: Vault 7

text: On 5 May 2017, WikiLeaks published the eighth part of its Vault 7 documents, titled "Archimedes". According to U.S. SANS Institute instructor Jake Williams, who analyzed the published documents, Archimedes is a virus previously codenamed "Fulcrum". According to cyber security expert and ENISA member Pierluigi Paganini, the CIA operators use Archimedes to redirect local area network (LAN) web browser sessions from a targeted computer through a computer controlled by the CIA before the sessions are routed to the users. This type of attack is known as man-in-the-middle (MitM). With their publication WikiLeaks included a number of hashes that they claim can be used to potentially identify the Archimedes virus and guard against it in the future. Paganini stated that potential targeted computers can search for those hashes on their systems to check if their systems had been attacked by the CIA.


title: Vault 7

text: On 12 May 2017, WikiLeaks published part nine of its Vault 7 materials, "AfterMidnight" and "Assassin". AfterMidnight is a malware installed on a target personal computer and disguises as a DLL file, which is executed while the user's computer reboots. It then triggers a connection to the CIA's Command and Control (C2) computer, from which it downloads various modules to run. As for Assassin, it is very similar to its AfterMidnight counterpart, but deceptively runs inside a Windows service process. CIA operators reportedly use Assassin as a C2 to execute a series of tasks, collect, and then periodically send user data to the CIA Listening Post(s) (LP). Similar to backdoor Trojan behavior. Both AfterMidnight and Assassin run on Windows operating system, are persistent, and periodically beacon to their configured LP to either request tasks or send private information to the CIA, as well as automatically uninstall themselves on a set date and time.


title: Vault 7

text: On 19 May 2017, WikiLeaks published the tenth part of its Vault 7 documents, titled "Athena". The published user guide, demo, and related documents were created between September 2015 and February 2016. They are all about a malware allegedly developed for the CIA in August 2015, roughly one month after Microsoft released Windows 10 with their firm statements about how difficult it was to compromise. Both the primary "Athena" malware and its secondary malware named "Hera" are similar in theory to Grasshopper and AfterMidnight malware but with some significant differences. One of those differences is that Athena and Hera were developed by the CIA with a New Hampshire private corporation called Siege Technologies. During a Bloomberg 2014 interview the founder of Siege Technologies confirmed and justified their development of such malware. Athena malware completely hijacks Windows' Remote Access services, while Hera hijacks Windows Dnscache service. Both Athena and Hera also affect all current versions of Windows including, but not limited to, Windows Server 2012 and Windows 10. Another difference is in the types of encryption used between the infected computers and the CIA Listening Posts (LP). As for the similarities, they exploit persistent DLL files to create a backdoor to communicate with CIA's LP, steal private data, then send it to CIA servers, or delete private data on the target computer, as well as Command and Control (C2) for CIA operatives to send additional malicious software to further run specific tasks on the attacked computer. All of the above designed to deceive computer security software. Beside the published detailed documents, WikiLeaks did not provided any evidence suggesting the CIA used Athena or not.


title: Vault 7

text: On 1 June 2017, WikiLeaks published part 11 of its Vault 7 materials, "Pandemic". This tool serves as a persistent implant affecting Windows machines with shared folders. It functions as a file system filter driver on an infected computer, and listens for Server Message Block traffic while detecting download attempts from other computers on a local network. "Pandemic" will answer a download request on behalf of the infected computer. However, it will replace the legitimate file with malware. In order to obfuscate its activities, "Pandemic" only modifies or replaces the legitimate file in transit, leaving the original on the server unchanged. The implant allows 20 files to be modified at a time, with a maximum individual file size of 800MB. While not stated in the leaked documentation, it is possible that newly infected computers could themselves become "Pandemic" file servers, allowing the implant to reach new targets on a local network.


title: Vault 7

text: On 15 June 2017, WikiLeaks published part 12 of its Vault 7 materials, entitled "Cherry Blossom". Cherry Blossom used a command and control server called Cherry Tree and custom router firmware called FlyTrap to monitor internet activity of targets, scan for “email addresses, chat usernames, MAC addresses and VoIP numbers" and redirect traffic.


title: Vault 7

text: On 22 June 2017, WikiLeaks published part 13 of its Vault 7 materials, the manuals for "Brutal Kangaroo". Brutal Kangaroo was a project focused on CIA malware designed to compromise air-gapped computer networks with infected USB drives. Brutal Kangaroo included the tools Drifting Deadline, the main tool, Shattered Assurance, a server that automates thumb drive infection, Shadow, a tool to coordinate compromised machines, and Broken Promise, a tool for exfiltrating data from the air-gapped networks.


title: Vault 7

text: On 28 June 2017, WikiLeaks published part 14 of its Vault 7 materials, the manual for the project entitled "Elsa". Elsa was a tool used for tracking Windows devices on nearby WiFi networks.


title: Vault 7

text: On 29 June 2017, WikiLeaks published part 15 of its Vault 7 materials, the manual for the project entitled "OutlawCountry". OutlawCountry was a kernel module for Linux 2.6 that let CIA agents spy on Linux servers and redirect outgoing traffic from a Linux computer to a chosen site.


title: Vault 7

text: On 6 July 2017, WikiLeaks published part 16 of its Vault 7 materials, the manual for the project entitled "BothanSpy". BothanSpy was a CIA hacking tool made to steal SSH credentials from Windows computers.


title: Vault 7

text: On 13 July 2017, WikiLeaks published part 17 of its Vault 7 materials, the manual for the project entitled "Highrise". The Highrise hacking tool, also known as Tidecheck, was used to intercept and redirect SMS messages to Android phones using versions 4.0 through 4.3. Highrise could also be used as an encrypted communications channel between CIA agents and supervisors.


title: Vault 7

text: On 27 July 2017, WikiLeaks published part 19 of its Vault 7 materials, manuals for the project entitled "Imperial". Imperial included three tools named Achilles, Aeris and SeaPea. Achilles was a tool for turning MacOS DMG install files into trojan malware. Aeris was a malware implant for POSIX systems, and SeaPea was an OS X rootkit.


title: Vault 7

text: On 3 August 2017, WikiLeaks published part 20 of its Vault 7 materials, manuals for the project entitled "Dumbo". Dumbo was a tool that the Agency used to disable webcams, microphones, and other surveillance tools over WiFi and bluetooth to allow field agents to perform their missions.


title: Vault 7

text: On 10 August 2017, WikiLeaks published part 21 of its Vault 7 materials, the manual for the project CouchPotato. CouchPotato was a tool for intercepting and saving remote video streams, which let the CIA tap into other people's surveillance systems.


title: Vault 7

text: On 24 August 2017, WikiLeaks published part 22 of its Vault 7 materials from the CIA's "ExpressLane" project. These documents highlighted one of the cyber operations the CIA conducts against other services it liaises with, including the National Security Agency (NSA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).


title: Vault 7

text: ExpressLane, a covert information collection tool, was used by the CIA to exfiltrate the biometric data collection systems of services it liaises with. ExpressLane was installed and run under the cover of upgrading the biometric software of liaison services by the CIA's Office of Technical Services (OTS) agents without their knowledge.


title: Vault 7

text: On 31 August 2017, WikiLeaks published part 23 of the Vault 7 documents, the manual for the project Angelfire. Angelfire was a malware framework made to infect computers running Windows XP and Windows 7, made of five parts. Solartime was the malware that modified the boot sector to load Wolfcreek, which was a self-loading driver that loaded other drivers. Keystone was responsible for loading other malware. BadMFS was a covert file system that hid the malware, and Windows Transitory File System was a newer alternative to BadMFS. The manual included a long list of problems with the tools.


title: Vault 7

text: On 9 November, 2017, WikiLeaks began publishing Vault 8, which it described as "source code and analysis for CIA software projects including those described in the Vault7 series." The stated intention of the Vault 8 publication was to "enable investigative journalists, forensic experts and the general public to better identify and understand covert CIA infrastructure components." The only Vault 8 release has been the source code and development logs for Hive, a covert communications platform for CIA malware. WikiLeaks published the Hive documentation as part of Vault 7 on 14 April 2017.


title: Vault 7

text: WikiLeaks said that the documents came from "an isolated, high-security network situated inside the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence (CCI) in Langley, Virginia." The documents allowed WikiLeaks to partially determine the structure and organization of the CCI. The CCI reportedly has an entire unit devoted to compromising Apple products.


title: Vault 7

text: The cybersecurity firm Symantec analyzed Vault 7 documents and found some of the described software closely matched cyberattacks by "Longhorn," which it had monitored since 2014. Symantec had previously suspected that "Longhorn" was government-sponsored and had tracked its usage against 40 targets in 16 countries.


title: Vault 7

text: The first portion of the documents made public on 7 March 2017, Vault 7 "Year Zero", revealed that a top secret CIA unit used the German city of Frankfurt as the starting point for hacking attacks on Europe, China and the Middle East. According to the documents, the U.S. government uses its Consulate General Office in Frankfurt as a hacker base for cyber operations. WikiLeaks documents reveal the Frankfurt hackers, part of the Center for Cyber Intelligence Europe (CCIE), were given cover identities and diplomatic passports to obfuscate customs officers to gain entry to Germany.


title: Vault 7

text: The chief Public Prosecutor General of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe Peter Frank announced on 8 March 2017 that the government was conducting a preliminary investigation to see if it will launch a major probe into the activities being conducted out of the consulate and also more broadly whether people in Germany were being attacked by the CIA. Germany's foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel from the Social Democratic Party responded to the documents of Vault 7 "Year Zero" that the CIA used Frankfurt as a base for its digital espionage operations, saying that Germany did not have any information about the cyber attacks.


title: Vault 7

text: The documents reportedly revealed that the agency had amassed a large collection of cyberattack techniques and malware produced by other hackers. This library was reportedly maintained by the CIA's Remote Devices Branch's UMBRAGE group, with examples of using these techniques and source code contained in the "Umbrage Component Library" git repository. According to WikiLeaks, by recycling the techniques of third-parties through UMBRAGE, the CIA can not only increase its total number of attacks, but can also mislead forensic investigators by disguising these attacks as the work of other groups and nations. Among the techniques borrowed by UMBRAGE was the file wiping implementation used by Shamoon. According to "PC World", some of the techniques and code snippets have been used by CIA in its internal projects, whose end result cannot be inferred from the leaks. "PC World" commented that the practice of planting "false flags" to deter attribution was not a new development in cyberattacks: Russian, North Korean and Israeli hacker groups are among those suspected of using false flags.


title: Vault 7

text: According to a study by Kim Zetter in "The Intercept", UMBRAGE was probably much more focused on speeding up development by repurposing existing tools, rather than on planting false flags. Robert Graham, CEO of Errata Security told "The Intercept" that the source code referenced in the UMBRAGE documents is "extremely public", and is likely used by a multitude of groups and state actors. Graham added: "What we can conclusively say from the evidence in the documents is that they're creating snippets of code for use in other projects and they're reusing methods in code that they find on the internet. ... Elsewhere they talk about obscuring attacks so you can't see where it's coming from, but there's no concrete plan to do a false flag operation. They're not trying to say 'We're going to make this look like Russia'."


title: Vault 7

text: On the day the Vault 7 documents were first released, WikiLeaks described UMBRAGE as "a substantial library of attack techniques 'stolen' from malware produced in other states including the Russian Federation," and tweeted, "CIA steals other groups virus and malware facilitating false flag attacks." A conspiracy theory soon emerged alleging that the CIA framed the Russian government for interfering in the 2016 U.S. elections. Conservative commentators such as Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter speculated about this possibility on Twitter, and Rush Limbaugh discussed it on his radio show. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that Vault 7 showed that "the CIA could get access to such 'fingerprints' and then use them."


title: Vault 7

text: Cybersecurity writers, such as Ben Buchanan and Kevin Poulsen, were skeptical of those theories. Poulsen wrote, "The leaked catalog isn't organized by country of origin, and the specific malware used by the Russian DNC hackers is nowhere on the list."


title: Vault 7

text: The documents describe the Marble framework, a string obfuscator used to hide text fragments in malware from visual inspection. As part of the program, foreign languages were used to cover up the source of CIA hacks. According to WikiLeaks, it reached 1.0 in 2015 and was used by the CIA throughout 2016.


title: Vault 7

text: In its release, WikiLeaks described the primary purpose of "Marble" as to insert foreign language text into the malware to mask viruses, trojans and hacking attacks, making it more difficult for them to be tracked to the CIA and to cause forensic investigators to falsely attribute code to the wrong nation. The source code revealed that Marble had examples in Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic and Persian. These were the languages of the US's main cyber-adversaries – China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.


title: Vault 7

text: Analysts called WikiLeaks' description of Marble's main purpose inaccurate, telling "The Hill" its main purpose was probably to avoid detection by antivirus programs.


title: Vault 7

text: Security researcher Nicholas Weaver from International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley told the Washington Post: "This appears to be one of the most technically damaging leaks ever done by WikiLeaks, as it seems designed to directly disrupt ongoing CIA operations."


title: Vault 7

text: HammerDrill is a CD/DVD collection tool that collects directory walks and files to a configured directory and filename pattern as well as logging CD/DVD insertion and removal events. v2.0 adds a gap jumping capability that injects a trojan into 32-bit executables as they are being burned to disc by Nero. Additionally, v2.0 adds a status, termination and an on-demand collection feature controlled by HammerDrillStatus.dll, HammerDrillKiller.dll and HammerDrillCollector.dll. The logging now also fingerprints discs by hashing the first two blocks of the ISO image, which enables unique identification of multi-sessions discs even as data is added and removed. The log also logs anytime a HammerDrill trojaned binary is seen on a disc.


title: Vault 7

text: After WikiLeaks released the first installment of Vault 7, "Year Zero", Apple stated that "many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS," and that the company will "continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities."


title: Vault 7

text: On 23 March 2017, WikiLeaks released "Dark Matter", the second batch of documents in its Vault 7 series, detailing the hacking techniques and tools all focusing on Apple products developed by the Embedded Development Branch (EDB) of the CIA. The leak also revealed the CIA had been targeting the iPhone since 2008, a year after the device was released. These EDB projects attacked Apple's firmware, meaning that the attack code would persist even if the device was rebooted. The "Dark Matter" archive included documents from 2009 and 2013. Apple issued a second statement assuring that based on an "initial analysis, the alleged iPhone vulnerability affected iPhone 3G only and was fixed in 2009 when iPhone 3GS was released." Additionally, a preliminary assessment showed "the alleged Mac vulnerabilities were previously fixed in all Macs launched after 2013".


title: Vault 7

text: WikiLeaks said on 19 March 2017 on Twitter that the "CIA was secretly exploiting" a vulnerability in a huge range of Cisco router models discovered thanks to the Vault 7 documents. The CIA had learned more than a year ago how to exploit flaws in Cisco's widely used internet switches, which direct electronic traffic, to enable eavesdropping. Cisco quickly reassigned staff from other projects to turn their focus solely on analyzing the attack and to figure out how the CIA hacking worked, so they could help customers patch their systems and prevent criminal hackers or spies from using similar methods.


title: Vault 7

text: On 20 March, Cisco researchers confirmed that their study of the Vault 7 documents showed the CIA had developed malware which could exploit a flaw found in 318 of Cisco's switch models and alter or take control of the network.


title: Vault 7

text: Cisco issued a warning on security risks, patches were not available, but Cisco provided mitigation advice.


title: Vault 7

text: The electronic tools can reportedly compromise both Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems. By adding malware to the Android operating system, the tools could gain access to secure communications made on a device.


title: Vault 7

text: According to WikiLeaks, once an Android smartphone is penetrated the agency can collect "audio and message traffic before encryption is applied". Some of the agency's software is reportedly able to gain access to messages sent by instant messaging services. This method of accessing messages differs from obtaining access by decrypting an already encrypted message. While the encryption of messengers that offer end-to-end encryption, such as Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal, wasn't reported to be cracked, their encryption can be bypassed by capturing input before their encryption is applied, by methods such as keylogging and recording the touch input from the user. Commentators, among them Snowden and cryptographer and security pundit Bruce Schneier, observed that Wikileaks incorrectly implied that the messaging apps themselves, and their underlying encryption, had been compromised - an implication which was in turn reported for a period by the New York Times and other mainstream outlets.


title: Vault 7

text: One document reportedly showed that the CIA was researching ways to infect vehicle control systems. WikiLeaks stated, "The purpose of such control is not specified, but it would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations." This statement brought renewed attention to conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Michael Hastings.


title: Vault 7

text: The documents refer to a "Windows FAX DLL injection" exploit in Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems. This would allow a user with malicious intents to hide its own malware under the DLL of another application. However, a computer must have already been compromised through another method for the injection to take place.


title: Vault 7

text: On 7 March 2017, Edward Snowden commented on the importance of the release, stating that it reveals the United States Government to be "developing vulnerabilities in US products" and "then intentionally keeping the holes open", which he considers highly reckless.


title: Vault 7

text: On 7 March 2017, Nathan White, Senior Legislative Manager at the Internet advocacy group Access Now, writes:


title: Vault 7

text: On 8 March 2017, Lee Mathews, a contributor to "Forbes", wrote that most of the hacking techniques described in Vault 7 were already known to many cybersecurity experts.


title: Vault 7

text: On 8 March 2017, some note that the revealed techniques and tools are most likely to be used for more targeted surveillance revealed by Edward Snowden.


title: Vault 7

text: On 8 April 2017, Ashley Gorski, an American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney called it "critical" to understand that "these vulnerabilities can be exploited not just by our government but by foreign governments and cyber criminals around the world." Justin Cappos, professor in the Computer Science and Engineering department at New York University asks "if the government knows of a problem in your phone that bad guys could use to hack your phone and have the ability to spy on you, is that a weakness that they themselves should use for counterterrorism, or for their own spying capabilities, or is it a problem they should fix for everyone?".


title: Vault 7

text: On 8 April 2017, Cindy Cohn, executive director of the San Francisco-based international nonprofit digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, said: "If the C.I.A. was walking past your front door and saw that your lock was broken, they should at least tell you and maybe even help you get it fixed." "And worse, they then lost track of the information they had kept from you so that now criminals and hostile foreign governments know about your broken lock." Furthermore, she stated that the CIA had "failed to accurately assess the risk of not disclosing vulnerabilities. Even spy agencies like the CIA have a responsibility to protect the security and privacy of Americans." "The freedom to have a private conversation – free from the worry that a hostile government, a rogue government agent or a competitor or a criminal are listening – is central to a free society". While not as strict as privacy laws in Europe, the Fourth Amendment to the US constitution does guarantee the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.


title: Vault 7

text: On 12 May 2017 Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith wrote "This is an emerging pattern in 2017. We have seen vulnerabilities stored by the CIA show up on WikiLeaks," In other words, Smith expressed concern about the fact that the CIA have stockpiled such computer vulnerabilities, which in turn were stolen from them, while they failed to inform Microsoft in a timely fashion about their security breach, as a result the privacy and security of their customers around the world were potentially negatively affected for an extended period and caused widespread damage.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: The Mk 48 (Mark 48), or Maximi is a belt-fed general-purpose machine gun chambered for 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, fed from a disintegrating belt (M13 link) or the non-disintegrating segmented German DM1 belt of ammunition.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: It is manufactured by Fabrique Nationale Manufacturing Inc., a division of FN Herstal based in the United States. The Mk 48 has been developed in conjunction with the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), which has adopted the weapon and started its fielding process, beginning with special operations units.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: On 21 March 2001, the USSOCOM approved the MNS/ORD ("Mission Need Statement"/"Operational Requirements Document") for a new 7.62×51mm NATO lightweight machine gun (LWMG) to replace the M60E4/Mk 43 Mod 0 in use by United States Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC) units.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: The LWMG program was patterned after the Mk 46 Mod 0— the M249 light machine gun which is a variant of the FN Minimi currently in use by the USSOCOM.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: Fabrique Nationale's division at Columbia, South Carolina (which also produces the M249 and M240 series of weapons for the U.S. military) was charged with production of the Mk 48 Mod 0. The program achieved full-rate production on 21 March 2003.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: Improved version of the Mod 0 which began as a refurbishment program in 2006 and Mod 1 models replaced the Mod 0 entirely as of 2010.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: Some Mk 48s were used by DEVGRU operators as fire support weapons during the raid in May 2011 that killed Osama bin Laden in his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: The Mk 48 Mod 0 is a gas-operated, air-cooled, fully automatic belt-fed machine gun. The design is based on an early 7.62×51mm NATO prototype of the FN Minimi - Maximi, modified to be a scaled-up version of the 5.56 mm Mk 46 Mod 0.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: Being heavily based on the Mk 46 Mod 0, the Mk 48 Mod 0 features five MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rails (one on top of the receiver, one on each side of the forearm/handguard, one under the handguard, and one on top of the barrel), an integral folding bipod, and a tripod-mounting lug. The weapon is fitted with the same fixed, polymer buttstock as the M249, although the metallic, collapsible buttstock from the "Para" model can be found in some models. The carrying handle, which had been removed from the Mk 46, was reintegrated on the Mk 48 to assist the replacement of hot barrels without use of other equipment, such as heat-resistant gloves; the handle can be folded down when not in use. As with the Mk 46, the Mk 48 Mod 0 does not have an M249-type magazine feed port, in order to save weight. The weapon can be fed from a loose belt, separate belt boxes, or clip-on ammunition pouches for 100 rounds.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: There is a high degree of parts commonality between the Mk48, M249 and Mk46 machine guns, which simplifies maintenance and repair. The use of M1913 "Picatinny" rails allows the fitting of various accessories from the SOPMOD kit, such as the ECOS-N (Enhanced Combat Optical Sight) red dot sight and other sighting or target-designating devices. The Mk 48 can also be fitted with a vertical foregrip for increased controllability during sustained fire. While heavier than the 5.56×45mm NATO M249 due to its larger chambering and heavier barrel, the Mk 48 Mod 0 is still 17% lighter and 8.4% shorter than the M240.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: The disadvantages of Mk 48 Mod 0 are that the life of the receiver is only about half of the M240B, and the effective range with accuracy are slightly lower than the M240B.


title: Mk 48 machine gun

text: The Mk 48 Mod 0 is currently in service with certain USSOCOM units, such as the U.S. Navy SEALs and Army's 75th Ranger Regiment.


title: Archenemy

text: In literature, an archenemy (sometimes spelled as arch-enemy) is the main enemy of someone. In fiction, it is a character who is the protagonist's, commonly a hero's, most prominent and most-known enemy.


title: Archenemy

text: The word "archenemy" sometimes spelled as "arch-enemy" originated around the mid-16th century, from the words "arch-" (from Greek ἄρχω "archo" meaning 'to lead') and "enemy".


title: Archenemy

text: An archenemy may also be referred to as an archrival, archfoe, archvillain, or archnemesis. However, an archenemy may also be distinguished from a nemesis, with the latter being an enemy whom the hero cannot defeat (or who defeats the hero), even while not being a longstanding or consistent enemy to the hero.


title: Joanna Going

text: Joanna Catherine Going (born July 22, 1963) is an American actress known for the television series "Kingdom", "House of Cards", "Mad Men" and the movie "Wyatt Earp".


title: Joanna Going

text: Going was born in Washington, DC, the eldest of six children of a lawyer/state assemblyman father and a police dispatcher mother. Her father was of Irish descent, and her mother of Italian and French-Canadian.


title: Joanna Going

text: Going appeared in soap operas in the late 1980s, most notably as Lisa Grady on "Another World" from 1987 to 1989. She portrayed lead character Victoria Winters in the 1991 primetime series "Dark Shadows". She later starred in short-lived television series "Going to Extremes" and guest-starred on "Columbo", "Spin City", "The Outer Limits" and "Law & Order".


title: Joanna Going

text: She starred in a number of feature films. She made her film debut in "Wyatt Earp" (1994) as Josephine Marcus, and later had major roles in "Eden", "Keys to Tulsa", "Inventing the Abbotts", and "Still Breathing". Her biggest role may be in the 1998 film version of "Phantoms". In the 2000s, she starred in several television films and guest-starred on "", "Criminal Minds", and "Mad Men". She also appeared opposite Sean Penn in the 2011 film "The Tree of Life", her first role in a major motion picture since 2003's "Runaway Jury". In 2014, she starred as First Lady Tricia Walker in the second season of Netflix political series "House of Cards". She was later cast in the DirecTV series "Kingdom".


title: Joanna Going

text: Going married actor Dylan Walsh on October 10, 2004. They have a daughter, Stella Haven. On December 15, 2010, Walsh announced he had filed for divorce; it was finalized in December 2012.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 2008, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by Governor General Michaëlle Jean on September 7, 2008.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: The election resulted in a second but stronger minority government for the Conservative Party, led by the incumbent Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. While the Tories were a dozen seats away from a majority government, the Liberal Party led by Stéphane Dion lost 18 seats as the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois made slight gains. The Green Party failed to win any seats and lost its only Member of Parliament. Following the election, a coalition attempt among the Liberal Party and New Democratic Party emerged but was unsuccessful.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: In 2007, Parliament passed a law fixing federal election dates every four years and scheduling the next election date as October 19, 2009, but the law did not (and could not) limit the powers of the Governor General to dissolve Parliament at any time, such as when opposition parties bring down the government on a vote of confidence. In this election there was no loss of a non-confidence vote, but the Prime Minister asked the Governor General to call an election. The Governor General granted the Prime Minister's request.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: 64.7% of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2006 federal election. The Conservative Party received the most votes of any single party, with 36% of the vote, and won 124 seats (127 at dissolution). The Liberal Party won fewer seats than in 2004 – 103 seats (96 at dissolution), and 30% of the vote. The Bloc Québécois lost three seats, lowering its total to 51 seats (48 at dissolution), with 10.5% of the vote. The NDP retained its seats held at the dissolution of Parliament, and won 11 more, making its total 29 seats (30 at dissolution), with 17.5% of the vote. The Green Party received 4.5% of the vote, a minimal increase from the previous election, but did not win any seats (1 at dissolution). Independents and other parties constituted 1% of the total vote with one independent winning a seat.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Since the 2006 election, seven Members of Parliament (MPs) had changed party: David Emerson, Wajid Khan, and Joe Comuzzi from Liberal to Conservative; Garth Turner from Conservative to Independent to Liberal; Blair Wilson from Liberal to Independent to Green; Louise Thibault from Bloc Québécois to Independent; and Bill Casey from Conservative to Independent. In by-elections, the NDP gained one seat from the Liberal Party, while the Conservative Party gained two seats, one from the Liberals and one from the Bloc Québécois. Four seats were vacant when the election was called: three previously held by the Liberal Party, one by the Bloc Québécois.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: The parliament preceding this election was led by the Conservatives, who governed with the smallest plurality ever in the Canadian House of Commons, just 40.6% of the seats. Although the average length of a minority parliament in Canada is 1 year, 5 months, and 22 days (measured from the return of the writs after an election to the dissolution of that parliament), minorities led by the former Progressive Conservative Party have been much shorter: the longest previous Conservative minority was just 6 months and 19 days. The 39th Parliament became Canada's longest serving Conservative minority on October 24, 2006.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: On May 30, 2006, the Conservatives tabled Bill C-16, which would amend the Canada Elections Act to provide fixed election dates. The bill received royal assent on May 3, 2007. The bill states that there will be an election in 2009, and it would be the first to have a fixed election date, the third Monday in October (October 19, 2009). Despite the bill, on September 7, 2008, the Prime Minister sought the dissolution of the 39th Parliament, and the Governor General agreed to hold a general election on October 14, 2008.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: On February 15, 2007, "The Globe and Mail" reported that the Conservatives were preparing for an election expected to be called shortly after the 2007 budget, due on March 19, 2007. Part of the reason for the timing of the election was given as strengthening Conservative poll numbers coupled with the desire to take advantage of the perception that Harper has "better leadership qualities than Liberal counterpart Stéphane Dion".


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: On March 17, 2007, an internal Conservative Party memo was leaked to "The Canadian Press", telling members that they "need to be ready to campaign within the next week". The memo asked members to donate $75 to $150 to help to fund the early stages of the election campaign. None of these predictions for a federal election to occur in 2007 proved true, but the majority of pundits still believed a federal election would be triggered before the fixed election date of October 19, 2009, for sometime in 2008.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Stephen Harper hinted at the possibility of dissolving parliament on August 14, 2008. Speaking in Newfoundland and Labrador, he cited Stéphane Dion as the main player in making Parliament become increasingly "dysfunctional". "I'm going to have to make a judgment in the next little while as to whether or not this Parliament can function productively," Harper said. This came after repeated confidence votes that resulted in the NDP and Bloc parties not voting in favour of the government, and the Liberal Party voting in favour or not attending the vote. Rumours of a possible fall election were further fuelled by Harper's announcement of a fourth federal by-election for September 22 in the Toronto riding of Don Valley West.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: On August 27, 2008, Harper asked Governor General Michaëlle Jean to cancel her trip to the Paralympic Games in Beijing, adding fuel to speculation that the Prime Minister would seek a dissolution. On September 7, 2008 after much speculation, Harper asked the Governor General to call a federal election on October 14, 2008.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was considering calling an election because of a lack of cooperation in Parliament, saying "all the signs indicate that this Parliament is at the end of its productiveness," while in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. The Conservative Party of Canada fueled rumours of an oncoming election when it released several campaign advertisements that focused on a range of issues, and attacked the Liberal Party of Canada for their proposed carbon tax. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) confirmed that Harper would call an election for October 14 after meeting with New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe, which gave the Prime Minister little hope that a fall session of Parliament can be productive, PMO officials said. Senior government officials announced on the first of September that Stephen Harper would ask the Governor General, Michaëlle Jean, to dissolve parliament and call an election for October 14, after he met with Liberal leader Stéphane Dion who called the meeting a "charade". Dion said the two were unable to agree on how to make the upcoming session of Parliament, slated to begin September 15, more productive.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Liberal Party members gathered in Winnipeg on September 2, for a three-day caucus which changed from preparing for a new parliamentary session to a strategy session to formulate a plan to attack the Conservatives while healing internal party rifts that have surfaced in recent weeks. Conservatives began spending at least $60 million on pre-election funding projects to a wide variety of institutions and groups. A few announcements have been big, including Industry Minister Jim Prentice's pledge of $25 million for the expansion of the Northlands exhibition facility in Edmonton. But the Tories have also announced a number of smaller projects, including $40,000 for the 2008 55+ Games and $25,000 for the Peace Window of the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Winnipeg. The announcements have also been spread out across the country. The Atlantic region is to get more than $500,000 for youth jobs and eight cultural organizations. The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia will receive $81,000. Jack Layton attacked the Conservative Party as bribing the public and doing the same thing they used to complain about the Liberals doing before elections.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: A survey conducted by Environics found that 38 per cent of Canadians would vote for the Conservative party if an election were held immediately, 28 per cent would vote for the Liberal party, 19 for the NDP, eight for the Bloc Québécois and seven for the Green party. The poll shows Conservatives taking early leads in Ontario, British Columbia and the Prairies. In Atlantic Canada, Liberals still hold a strong majority, while in Quebec the Bloc Québécois leads while the Conservatives and Liberals are almost tied for second. When asked, most Canadians said the Conservatives would handle the economy better, while most said the Liberals would handle the environment better.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: On September 7, Harper officially asked for the dissolution of Parliament, and called for an election on October 14.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: The 40th Canadian Federal Election campaign officially began at 8:20 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time when Governor General Michaëlle Jean accepted Stephen Harper's request to dissolve Parliament and call an election for October 14, 2008. The party leaders jumped right into the campaign, with Stéphane Dion attacking the Conservative's record, presenting the Liberal plan, and rejected the accusation by Harper that the Liberal party is a risky choice. Jack Layton took a more forceful approach than previous elections, in which the New Democratic Party has just tried to maintain a high number of seats in Parliament to influence government. Layton has made it clear he will campaign for the position of prime minister itself this time, but also returned to a longstanding NDP theme: alleged abuses by big business. He promised to stop what he called "ripoffs" by big oil, cellphone and banks, and his attacks are expected to focus on the Conservatives and all but ignore the Liberals. Elizabeth May of the Green Party said Canadians would care enough about the environment to vote for her party, as long as she was able to get into the television debates. Stephen Harper has stated his objection to including the Green Party into television debates because of the similar policies of the Green and Liberal party, and how it would be unfair. Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said the Conservatives must be prevented from winning a majority, and the BQ is the only party that can do that. Duceppe compared Harper to US President George W. Bush, and said the government is incompetent.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: The two Leaders' Debates of 2008, one each in French and English, included the leaders of five parties, Stephen Harper of the Conservatives, Stéphane Dion of the Liberals, Jack Layton of the NDP, Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québécois and Elizabeth May of the Green Party.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: The French-language debate aired on Wednesday, October 1 from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT, moderated by Stéphan Bureau, a journalist and host. The English-language debate aired Thursday, October 2 from 9 to 11 p.m. EDT, with Steve Paikin of TVOntario as moderator.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Three parties — the Conservatives, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP — opposed the inclusion of the Green Party, citing statements made by Green Party leader Elizabeth May to the effect that the best outcome of the election would be a Liberal-led government, and a deal struck between the Green Party and Liberals where the Liberals would not run in May's riding, Central Nova, and the Green party in Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's riding, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, which they say make May a "second Liberal candidate".


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Stephen Harper and Jack Layton are reported to have said that if the Green Party were included, they would not participate in the Leaders' Debates. Dion said that while he supports May's inclusion, he would not attend if Harper does not, and the Bloc Québécois has stated it will not boycott the debates if May is included. The media consortium in charge of the debate, made up of the CBC, CTV, Global Television and TVA, had decided that it would prefer to broadcast the debates with the four major party leaders, rather than risk not at all or with minimal participation. The Green Party indicated they had begun procedures to lodge a formal complaint with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, as they have in past federal elections.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: On September 10, Harper and Layton released statements that they would not oppose May's inclusion in the debate, citing public backlash and protests — with neither acknowledging making the threat of boycotting the debate — and that the media consortium would reconvene to discuss the matter. Layton stated that "debating about the debate" had become a "distraction", and that he had only one condition, that Stephen Harper be there. In response, spokespeople for Stephen Harper announced they would not stand alone in opposition to the Green Party's inclusion in the debates and also changed their position on the matter. Later that day the consortium announced that May would be allowed to participate in the debate.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: On September 30, Harper announced that he would ask for the 12 minutes on the economy scheduled for the Leader's Debate to be extended to an hour, citing that the financial crisis affecting the U.S. "has deepened since the debate format was finalized", a change which would require agreement from the other parties in the debate to be approved. The NDP released a statement soon after that they supported the move, while public response has been concerned that other topics such as the environment would not end up with enough time to cover the issue.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: On October 1, the day of the first debate, it was announced that both debates would get extended time, from 12 to 30 minutes, for the economy, and leaders would not give opening and closing statements, to allow for longer discussions on the economy without removing time from other topics. It was also revealed that instead of leaders standing at individual podiums for the debate, as had been done in past years, the debate would be done in a round table format.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Much of the French debate revolved around the economy and the environment, with the two topics repeatedly being brought up in discussions allotted for other topics. Stephen Harper came under criticism from every other leader in nearly every topic, especially the economy and environment, with the other party leaders stating that Harper's politics had led to Canada's current crises in those two areas. Their points included that Harper's environmental plan was considered the worst of all developed countries by organizations around the world, with Elizabeth May labeling it "a type of fraud," and that his attempts to remove regulations in the financial sectors, similar to those done by the Bush administration in the United States, have led Canada to being nearly as hard hit by the current financial crisis as the United States.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Continuous comparisons of Harper to George W. Bush were made over the course of the debate, with Jack Layton stating at one point that with Bush ending his presidency at the end of the year, Harper would be "the last leader of a developed country to follow the Bush doctrine".


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Following the same tone as the French debate, much of the discussion revolved around the economy and the environment. The other four leaders keep criticizing Harper, especially for his lack of an economic platform despite asking for the format change to focus more on the economy in light of the ongoing financial crisis, and instead using the time to criticize the economic platforms of the other leaders. May lashed out at Harper for not understanding that Canadians were worried about their homes, jobs and finances, and comparing the current situation to Dutch disease, Dion stated that the only thing that keeps Canada from being hit as hard by the crisis as the US are laws created by the previous Liberal government that the Conservatives had been attempting to overturn, Duceppe repeatedly criticized Harper for financial practices and attitudes similar to the Bush administration, and Layton at one point stated that Harper's position showed he was either incompetent or uncaring to the situation, and asked which one he was, to which Harper did not respond. Harper also came under criticism for his laissez-faire attitude to the job sector, supporting primarily the oil companies and companies that outsource jobs in the manufacturing sector.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: When it turned to the environment, the Carbon Tax proposal came up repeatedly, with both Dion and May supporting it, although May to more ambitious figures than Dion, pointing out it was the most recommended and proven way to deal with carbon emissions by countries and organizations around the world, noting the growth that Sweden and Germany have had with this system. Harper criticized the plan, saying would increase taxpayers' burden and that Dion should be "honest with the people" that some environmental measures will cost the economy and said the plan includes $40 billion in carbon taxes and $26 billion in tax cuts. Dion defended the Liberal's Green Shift, saying that "[Harper's statements are] not true at all", and that "for every dollar that we will raise, you will have a tax cut, and these tax cuts will be on your income". Duceppe commented that he would like targets to be applied to individual provinces, thereby allowing Quebec to financially benefit due to already-implemented greenhouse gas reductions. Layton, who favours a cap-and-trade system, said that it is a "figment of Mr. Harper's imagination" that emissions will fall under his plan. When Harper sought to outline his government's record on other environmental fronts, giving examples of his minority government supported the preservation of hundreds of thousands of hectares of environmentally sensitive land through the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and that the government declared a protected marine area by Lake Superior and created a whale sanctuary by Baffin Island, May responded by saying "The only word he said that's true is on national parks".


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Layton also criticized Dion for his lack of accomplishments as official opposition during the minority government, and his party's previous leader's broken promises in areas such as Child Care and Pharmacare.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Duceppe painted the Conservative government's $45 million in national arts and culture funding cuts as an assault on the province's identity, saying "How can you recognize the Quebec nation and then cut culture [funding], which is the soul of a nation?" followed by citing the economic benefits of culture.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Harper also said he had erred in calling for Canada's participation in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, saying "It was absolutely an error, it's obviously clear", adding that the claim of weapons of mass destruction proved false.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Commenting on the debate, Layton said that he "thoroughly enjoyed" May's contributions to the debate. Reporter Julie Van Dusen said that Harper managed to take the hits calmly, as "someone must have told him ... if you fight back or get too partisan, you're going to alienate voters, especially women". Duceppe said he was happy to have forced Harper to admit his support of joining the Iraq war in 2003 was a mistake, adding he will use the admission in the campaign as "Exhibit A" that the Conservative leader lacks solid judgment skills, and that Harper was weakened when he confirmed he does not support a refundable tax credit for the manufacturing industry to encourage companies to improve productivity.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Stephen Harper had cut $45 million from arts funding while in office, a move that drew much criticism from the other leaders and Quebec citizens, with most leaders seeking to restore the funding. The Conservatives have stated that the money is being reallocated to other arts and cultural programs, including various official languages projects, the 400th anniversary of Quebec City and projects connected with the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Winter Olympic Games, although the Conservative's refusal to have a parliamentary review of their cuts and for a moratorium on the measures until the House of Commons Heritage Committee had a chance to hold hearings on culture and arts funding has most opposition members calling foul.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Both Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton have promised to reverse the cut, with Dion also promising to increase funding to Canada Council for the Arts to $360 million, while Layton also promised to bring income averaging for artists to the national level and providing an annual tax exemption of $20,000 for income earned by copyright and residuals, stating that "one of the key things we must do, before we start giving $50-billion tax giveaways to banks and oil companies, is to protect and promote the arts" and "stable, sure and appropriate funding" for CBC/Radio-Canada while also protecting Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Television Fund.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Harper has said that he believes that the issue is a "niche topic", and that "ordinary Canadians" are not particularly concerned with the issue. A group of Canadian performers, which included Art Hindle, Wendy Crewson and Gordon Pinsent, held a press conference on September 24, saying the cuts would cripple the Canadian arts industry.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: On September 29, Harper unveiled a new tax credit plan worth an estimated $150 million a year to encourage parents to enroll their kids in arts programs like music and drama. The credit will apply on up to $500 of eligible fees for children under 16 who participate in eligible arts activities. Harper said that "[the Conservatives] spend a lot more on culture and arts" but "in a way that we ensure is an effective use of taxpayers' money and ultimately, in this case, benefits families and all of society as well". Harper has come under criticism when the week before he expressed his opinion that "ordinary working people were unable to relate to taxpayer-subsidized cultural elites when they see them at a rich gala on television".


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: In early 2008 it was alleged that Independent MP Chuck Cadman of Surrey North, who was terminally ill with cancer at the time, had been offered a million dollar life insurance policy in exchange for voting against the proposed Liberal budget in May 2005, which he turned down. Under section 119 of the Criminal Code, it is illegal to bribe an MP. Accordingly, Opposition Liberal party Intergovernmental Affairs critic Dominic LeBlanc asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in February 2008 to investigate this allegation. In May 2008, the RCMP announced that there was not enough evidence to support charges.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: Cadman died in July. The following month, Harper stated in a court deposition that any such million-dollar offer would have to be authorized by him, and that he did not issue any such authorization. There is currently an ongoing legal battle between the Liberals and the Conservatives over the matter.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: On September 24, while campaigning in Surrey North, Stephen Harper's campaign team barred reporters from talking with the local Conservative candidate, Dona Cadman, who is Chuck Cadman's widow. The campaign team called in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and ordered them to "Keep [the reporters] out" while Cadman was taken away by staff. Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke later stated that he had not seen the incident, but the local candidates did not need to be interviewed, that "Local candidates' priority is campaigning in their local ridings, and not talking to the national media", and that it should be enough that they hold daily news conferences with the party's most prominent members.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: The incident has reminded people of Conservative tactics during the 2006 election, where attempts by the media to speak with local candidates were stopped by campaign personnel, especially the Harold Albrecht incident, where campaign officials forced Albrecht to stay in a restaurant kitchen when journalists attempted to interview him.


title: 2008 Canadian federal election

text: The Conservatives chose former U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Bruce Koenig to analyze a tape of reporter Tom Zytaruk interviewing Harper on the Cadman bribe attempt. The tape was a key piece of evidence in the ongoing legal battle. On October 10, Koenig announced that the tape had not been altered in any way, contrary to the claims by Stephen Harper that it had been altered.