title: Ningbo

text: The city of Ningbo was known in Europe for a long time under the name of Liampó. This was the usual spelling used, e.g. in the standard Portuguese history, João de Barros's "Décadas da Ásia", although Barros explained that Liampó was a Portuguese "corruption" of the more correct Nimpó. The spelling Liampó is also attested to in the "Peregrination" ("Peregrinação") by Fernão Mendes Pinto, a (so-called) autobiography written in Portuguese during the 16th century. For the mid-16th-century Portuguese, the nearby promontory, which they called the cape of Liampó after the nearby "illustrious city", was the easternmost known point of the mainland Asia. The Portuguese began trading in Ningbo around 1522. By 1542, the Portuguese had a sizable community in Ningbo (or, more likely, on nearby small islands such as Shuangyu). Portuguese activities from their Ningbo base included pillaging and attacking multiple Chinese port cities around Ningbo for plunder and spoil. They also enslaved people during their raids. The Portuguese were ousted from the Ningbo area in 1548.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo was one of the five Chinese "treaty ports" opened by the Treaty of Nanjing (signed in 1842) at the end of the First Opium War between Britain and China. During the war, British forces briefly took possession of the walled city of Ningbo after storming the fortified town of Zhenhai at the mouth of the Yong River on October 10, 1841. The British subsequently repulsed a Chinese attempt to retake the city in the Battle of Ningpo on March 10, 1842. In 1861, the forces of the Taiping Kingdom took the city relatively unopposed as the defending garrison and all Ningbo residents fled except for the Jews and Persians; they held the town for six months. In March 1885, during the Sino-French War, Admiral Courbet's naval squadron blockaded several Chinese warships in Zhenhai Bay and exchanged fire with the shore defenses.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo was also once famed for traditional Chinese furniture production, and western encyclopedias described Ningbo as a center of craftsmanship and industry.


title: Ningbo

text: During the 1800s, Ningbo authorities contracted Cantonese pirates to exterminate Portuguese pirates who had raided Canton shipping around Ningbo. The massacre was "successful", with 40 Portuguese dead and only 2 Cantonese dead. It was dubbed "The Ningpo Massacre" by an English correspondent, who noted that the Portuguese pirates had behaved savagely towards the Cantonese Chinese, and that the Portuguese authorities at Macau should have reined in the pirates.


title: Ningbo

text: During the late Qing era, Western missionaries set up a Presbyterian Church in Ningbo. Li Veng-eing was a Reverend of the Ningpo Church. The Ningpo College was managed by Rev. Robert F. Fitch. The four trustees were natives of Ningbo, and three of them had Taotai rank. Rev. George Evans Moule, B.A., was appointed as a missionary to China by the Church of England Missionary Society, and arrived at Ningpo with Mrs. Moule in February 1858. His time was chiefly divided between Ningpo and another mission station he began at Hang-chow. He wrote Christian publications in the Ningbo dialect.


title: Ningbo

text: During WWII in 1940, between 80% to 90% of Ningbo's population fled Ningbo, leaving only the elderly behind before the Japanese bombed Ningbo with ceramic bombs full of fleas carrying the bubonic plague. According to Daniel Barenblatt, imperial planes loading germ bombs for bubonic dissemination over Ningbo was recorded on film in 1940.


title: Ningbo

text: “It has been said of the Ningbo fishermen that, 'no people in the world apparently made so great an advance in the art of fishing; and for centuries past no people have made so little further progress.'”


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo ranges in latitude from 28° 51' to 30° 33' N and in longitude from 120° 55' to 122° 16' E, bounded on the east by the East China Sea and Zhoushan Archipelago; on the north by Hangzhou Bay, across which it faces Jiaxing and Shanghai; on the west by Shaoxing; and on the south by Taizhou. Its land area is , while its oceanic territory amounts to ; there is a total of coastline, including of mainland coastline and of island coastline that together accounting for one-third of the entire provincial coastline. There are 531 islands accounting for under the city's administration.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo's city proper is sandwiched between the ocean and low-lying mountains to the southwest, with coastal plain and valleys in between. Important peninsulas include the Chuanshan Peninsula (), located in Beilun District and containing mainland Zhejiang's easternmost point, and the Xiangshan Peninsula () in Xiangshan County. The Siming Mountains () run north from Mount Tiantai and within Ningbo City, traversing Yuyao City, Haishu District, and Fenghua District, and reaching a height of .


title: Ningbo

text: Tidal flat ecosystems occur adjacent to the city, however, a large areas have been reclaimed for agricultural purposes.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa") with four distinctive seasons, characterized by hot, humid summers and chilly, cloudy and dry winters (with occasional snow). The mean annual temperature is , with monthly daily averages ranging from in January to in July. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from on 12 January 1955 to on 8 August 2013. The city receives an average annual rainfall of and is affected by the plum rains of the Asian monsoon in June, when average relative humidity also peaks. From August to October, Ningbo experiences the effects of typhoons, and is affected by an average 1.8 storms annually, though the city is not often struck directly by these systems. A 2012 OECD study lists Ningbo among the top 20 cities worldwide most at risk of flooding due to anthropogenic climate change.


title: Ningbo

text: The sub-provincial city of Ningbo is as whole an urban group with one central group, one northern group, and one southern group.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo is an important port city located south of Shanghai. The city's export industry dates back to the 7th century. Today, Ningbo is a major exporter of electrical products, textiles, food, and industrial tools. The city's private sector is especially well-developed, contributing 80 percent of total GDP in 2013.


title: Ningbo

text: Historically, Ningbo was somewhat geographically isolated from other major cities. In 2007 the Hangzhou Bay Bridge was built, cutting highway transit time between Ningbo and Shanghai from four hours to two and a half. The city now serves as the economic center for the southern Yangtze River Delta and has been ranked among the most competitive cities in China.


title: Ningbo

text: In 2009, Ningbo's economic activity reached US$60.8 billion, down 10.4% from 2008. The exports totaled US$38.65 billion, down 16.6% from the previous year. In addition, Ningbo imported US$22.16 billion of goods, up 3.1% from the previous year.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo's economy grew 9.26% in 2013 to 712.89 billion yuan (US$115.12 billion). In 2009, the city's per capita output was US$10,833, about three times the national average.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo is famous for the Si Lan Nong Xiang flower, which is used for dying cloth. In 2008, Ningbo's cloth exports were responsible for 3% of its economic growth.


title: Ningbo

text: With several important development zones established in or around Ningbo, the city has received considerable foreign investment. Over 60 domestic and foreign-invested financial institutions have established operations in the city, which has also attracted more than 10,000 foreigners. The municipal government offers preferential policies designed to encourage investment in international trade, new strategic industries, manufacturing, information services, and creative industries.


title: Ningbo

text: Located in the north-east of Ningbo, behind Beilun Port, NETD is away from the city center. With more than 20 years of great effort, NETD has already formed the general framework for large scale construction and development, and established the perfect investment environment. It is situated close to the Ningbo Port and Ningbo Lishe International Airport. Major Investors include Exxon Mobile, Dupont and Dow Chemical.


title: Ningbo

text: The Ningbo Daxie Development Zone was approved in 1993 and covers an area of . Over more than ten years of development and construction, industrial and logistical foundations have been established in the zone for the transshipment of energy, liquid chemicals and containers.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone was founded in 1999 and was upgraded to a national level zone in January 2007. It is from Ningbo International Airport and away from Ningbo Port. The zone serves as the important technical innovation base of Yangtze River Delta. Industries encouraged include chemicals production and processing, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, raw material processing, Research and Development.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo Free Trade Zone is one of the 15 free trade zones authorized by the State Council of China, and is the only free trade zone in Zhejiang Province. It was established by State Council in 1992, covering the area of . It lies in the middle of the coastline of Mainland China, at the south of Yangtze River Delta. In 2008, its industrial output value was RMB 53.33 billion and grew at 19.8% as compared to 2007.


title: Ningbo

text: The Nordic Industrial Park Co. Ltd. (NIP) is one of the first wholly foreign-owned industrial parks in China located in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. NIP is managed and operated by a Scandinavian management team.


title: Ningbo

text: The Ningbo Advertising Park is a national level pilot park located in the Ningbo Southern Business District. The financial incentives have attracted over 300 relevant firms to establish operations.


title: Ningbo

text: Unlike other cities, Ningbo has the same authority as provincial governments for economic administration and is the largest port in the world in terms of annual cargo throughput. In contrast to Shanghai, the port is deep-water and capable of handling 300,000 ton vessels. The port is located mainly in Beilun district and Zhenhai district. In 2006, Ningbo Port started its expansion towards the neighboring island city of Zhoushan to build an even larger port with higher capacity to compete with neighboring ports in the region, such as Shanghai's Yangshan Deep-Water Port. Statistics in 2010 showed that total cargo throughput was 627,000,000 tonnes and container throughput 13,144,000 TEUs. In 2021, total cargo throughput was 1,224,050,000 tonnes, including 31,080,000 TEUs. Ningbo proper saw 623,400,000 tonnes and 29,370,000 TEUs, while Zhoushan saw 600,650,000 tonnes and 1,710 000,TEUs.


title: Ningbo

text: Thus, with bulk container breakdowns, hugely improved logistics, and massive chemical and foodstuff, processing developments, Ningbo is outcompeting Shanghai for the preeminent Chinese east coast port.


title: Ningbo

text: Due to its long history and economic prosperity, Ningbo is a city with very rich tourist resources. The following is a list of the main tourist attractions authorized by the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism in each subdivision of Ningbo city.


title: Ningbo

text: With three main rivers running through Ningbo, bridges are crucial for the efficiency of the transport network in Ningbo. The Ling Bridge, which connects Haishu district and Jiangdong District, is the earliest modern bridge built in Ningbo, designed by German engineers. Since the late 1980s, 16 bridges have been built on the three rivers. Currently, another 27 bridges are under construction.


title: Ningbo

text: The Hangzhou Bay Bridge, a combination cable-stayed bridge and causeway across Hangzhou Bay, opened to the public on May 1, 2008. This bridge connects the municipalities of Shanghai and Ningbo, and is considered the longest trans-oceanic bridge in the world. It is the world's second-longest bridge, after the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, United States.


title: Ningbo

text: The Jintang Bridge, a four-lane sea crossing bridge linking Jintang Island of Zhoushan and Zhenhai district, is a long opened on December 26, 2009.


title: Ningbo

text: The Xiangshan Harbor Bridge opened to traffic on December 29, 2012, connecting Ningbo with Xiangshan. The long project includes as the main body of the bridge and a 8 kilometer-long tunnel.


title: Ningbo

text: The port of Ningbo is the world's busiest port. It was ranked number 1 in total Cargo Volume (1.22 billion tonnes in 2021) and number 3 in total container traffic (31.1 million TEUs in 2021) since 2019.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo Lishe International Airport connects Ningbo by air to the rest of China, with regularly scheduled domestic and international flights. In 2009, new air routes between Ningbo and Taiwan were opened. Jetstar Asia launched a new route between Ningbo and Singapore in September 2011. Tiger Air planned to begin flying this route from 26 December 2013.


title: Ningbo

text: Three railway lines intersect in Ningbo: the Xiaoshan–Ningbo Railway (Xiaoyong Line), which runs west to Hangzhou; the Ningbo–Taizhou–Wenzhou (Yongtaiwen) Railway, which runs south to Wenzhou; and the Hangzhou–Ningbo High-Speed Railway, which runs parallel to the Xiaoyong Line providing high-speed railway service.


title: Ningbo

text: With the booming economy in the region, the Xiaoyong Railway, a conventional railway built in the 1950s, could not meet the demand for railway travel between Zhejiang's two largest cities, so construction of a new high-speed railway line between Hangzhou and Ningbo started in 2009. The new railway line was finished in 2013 and reduced travel time between Ningbo and Hangzhou to 50 minutes.


title: Ningbo

text: The Ningbo–Taizhou–Wenzhou Railway is a high-speed railway that opened in September 2009. It connects Ningbo with cities along the coast to the south to Fujian Province. High-speed trains on this line operate at speeds of up to .


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo re-opened the Ningbo railway station after three years of construction on December 28, 2013. With a construction area of more than 120,000 m2, it is one of the largest railway stations in China.


title: Ningbo

text: Since the Metro lines above mainly serve the 6 urban districts of Ningbo, the Ningbo government announced several future plans to built further rapid transit to connect the 6 urban districts with the county-level cities and counties.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo serves as the headquarters of the East Sea Fleet of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo speech is a dialect of Wu Chinese that has preserved many aspects of ancient Chinese phonology. Its original wording mode can be found in classical reference books. After the unequal treaty port opening, western culture gradually permeated Ningbo. Thus, the prefix " yang", meaning ocean or Western, before the nouns of imported goods is a special language phenomenon of Ningbo dialect.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo is known for Ningbo Tangyuan, small stuffed buns which are boiled. The stuffing is usually ground sesame mixed with sugar or pork fat. The stuffing is then wrapped with sticky rice powder. Ningbo is even more well known throughout China for its seafood. Seafood markets are abundant, carrying countless varieties of fish, shellfish, snails, jellyfish and other invertebrates, and sea vegetables in all stages of preparation from "still swimming," to cleaned and ready to cook, to fully cooked.


title: Ningbo

text: While the Mid-Autumn Festival is usually celebrated on August 15th of the Lunar Calendar, Ningbo celebrates the festival a day later on the 16th. The most creditable history for this is that long ago, the whole city waited for Shih Hao, a Southern Sung prime minister, to celebrate the festival.


title: Ningbo

text: At the end of 2020, there were 1,896 schools of all levels and types in the city, with a total of 1,418,000 students. Among them, there are 15 colleges and universities in Ningbo with 177,000 full-time students; 86 regular high schools with 93,000 students; 35 vocational schools with 69,000 students; 230 junior high schools with 21.7 (should this be 217,000 students? It is not 21.7 people) students; and 427 primary schools with 517,000 students. There were also 838 full-time private primary and secondary schools (including kindergartens) in the city, with 258,000 students, accounting for 21.7% of the city's full-time primary and secondary school students. In the compulsory education section, there were 288,000 children of migrant workers who went to schools in Ningbo.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo is one of the top 200 cities in the world by scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index.


title: Ningbo

text: In the whole year of 2020, the city attracted 1,372 more workers with doctoral degrees, for a total of 9,265; 67,000 highly skilled talents, for a total of 551,000; 35 post-doctoral research stations, for a total of 224; and 166,000 graduates, a year-on-year increase of 20.5%. There are 10 offices, totaling 100. Throughout the year, 327,000 skilled personnel were trained in the city.


title: Ningbo

text: Ningbo has 15 universities and colleges as of May 2021, as well as many research institutions that offer graduate degree programs. The following is a list of current universities and colleges in Ningbo.


title: Ningbo

text: As of 2020, many famous universities and research institutions have an operating campus or institutes in Ningbo, most of them offering graduate degree programs.


title: Ningbo

text: Compared to the other 14 sub-provincial cities in China, Ningbo has the fewest higher-educational institutions.


title: Ningbo

text: Compulsory education is from the ages 6 to 15. Students are catered to in a variety of state and private schools. Studying for the Gaokao (高考), a cumulative test taken at the end of high school, is optional. At the end of 2020, there were 86 regular high schools with 93,000 students in Ningbo; 35 vocational schools with 69,000 students; 230 junior high schools with 21.7 students; and 427 primary schools with 517,000 students. There were also 838 full-time private primary and secondary schools (including kindergartens) in the city, with 258,000 students, accounting for 21.7% of the city's full-time primary and secondary school students. In the compulsory education section, there were 288,000 children of migrant workers who went to schools in Ningbo.


title: Ningbo

text: Several schools are permitted to operate foreign educational programs as an alternative to the Chinese National curriculum and to accept international students.


title: Ningbo

text: Access International Academy Ningbo (AIAN) and Ningbo Zhicheng School International (NZSI) both offer the American AERO (American Education Reaches Out) curriculum with the College Board Advanced Placement examinations. Ningbo International School (NBIS) delivers the Cambridge International Primary and Secondary Curricula leading to iGCSE Examinations and A-Levels. Huamao Multicultural Education Academy is an IB World School and offers an international curriculum through the IB Primary Years Program for students ages 3–12 and the IB Diploma Program for students ages 16–19.


title: History of the euro

text: The euro came into existence on 1 January 1999, although it had been a goal of the European Union (EU) and its predecessors since the 1960s. After tough negotiations, the Maastricht Treaty entered into force in 1993 with the goal of creating an economic and monetary union by 1999 for all EU states except the UK and Denmark (even though Denmark has a fixed exchange rate policy with the euro).


title: History of the euro

text: The currency was formed virtually in 1999; notes and coins began to circulate in 2002. It rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded behind the rest of the EU. In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty finalised its political authority, the Eurogroup, alongside the European Central Bank.


title: History of the euro

text: The first ideas of an economic and monetary union in Europe were raised well before establishing the European Communities. For example, as earlier on as the League of Nations, Gustav Stresemann had enquired in 1929 for a European currency against the background of an increased economic division due to a number of new nation states in Europe after World War I. At this time memories of the Latin Monetary Union involving principally France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland and which, for practical purposes, had disintegrated following the First World War, figured prominently in the minds of policy makers.


title: History of the euro

text: A first attempt to create an economic and monetary union between the members of the European Economic Community (EEC) arrived with an initiative by the European Commission in 1969, which set out the need for "greater co-ordination of economic policies and monetary cooperation". This was followed up at a meeting of the European Council at The Hague in December 1969. The European Council tasked Pierre Werner, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, with finding a way to reduce currency exchange rate volatility. His report was published in October 1970 and recommended centralisation of the national macroeconomic policies entailing "the total and irreversible fixing of parity rates and the complete liberation of movements of capital". But he did not propose a single currency or central bank. An attempt to limit the fluctuations of European currencies, using a "snake in the tunnel", failed.


title: History of the euro

text: In 1971, US President Richard Nixon removed the gold backing from the US dollar, causing a collapse in the Bretton Woods system that managed to affect all of the world's major currencies. The widespread currency floats and devaluations set back aspirations for European monetary union. However, in March 1979 the European Monetary System (EMS) was created, fixing exchange rates onto the European Currency Unit (ECU), an accounting currency, to stabilise exchange rates and counter inflation. It also created the European Monetary Cooperation Fund (EMCF).


title: History of the euro

text: In February 1986, the Single European Act formalised political co-operation within the EEC, including competency in monetary policy. The European Council summit in Hannover on 14 June 1988 began to outline monetary co-operation. France, Italy and the European Commission backed a fully monetary union with a central bank, which British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opposed.


title: History of the euro

text: The Hannover European Council asked Commission President Jacques Delors to chair an ad hoc committee of central bank governors to propose a new timetable with clear, practical and realistic steps for creating an economic and monetary union. This way of working was derived from the Spaak method.


title: History of the euro

text: France and the UK were opposed to German reunification, and attempted to influence the Soviet Union to stop it. However, in late 1989 France extracted German commitment to the Monetary Union in return for support for German reunification.


title: History of the euro

text: The Delors report of 1989 set out a plan to introduce the EMU in three stages and it included the creation of institutions such as the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), which would become responsible for formulating and implementing monetary policy. It laid out monetary union being accomplished in three steps. Beginning the first of these steps, on 1 July 1990, exchange controls were abolished, thus capital movements were completely liberalised in the European Economic Community. Leaders reached agreement on currency union with the Maastricht Treaty, signed on 7 February 1992. It agreed to create a single currency, although without the participation of the United Kingdom, by January 1999.


title: History of the euro

text: Gaining approval for the treaty was a challenge. Germany was cautious about giving up its stable currency, i.e., the German Mark, France approved the treaty by a narrow margin and Denmark refused to ratify until they got such an opt-out from monetary union as the United Kingdom, an opt-out that they maintain as of 2019. On 16 September 1992, known in the UK as Black Wednesday, the British pound sterling was forced to withdraw from the fixed exchange rate system due to a rapid fall in the value of the pound.


title: History of the euro

text: Delors' second stage began in 1994 with creation of the European Monetary Institute, succeeding the EMCF, under Maastricht. It was created as the forerunner to the European Central Bank. It met for the first time on 12 January under its first president, Alexandre Lamfalussy. After much disagreement, in December 1995 the name "euro" was adopted for the new currency (replacing the name "Ecu" used for the previous accounting currency), on the suggestion of then-German finance minister Theo Waigel. They also agreed on the date 1 January 1999 for its launch.


title: History of the euro

text: On 17 June 1997 the European Council decided in Amsterdam to adopt the Stability and Growth Pact, designed to ensure budgetary discipline after creation of the euro, and a new exchange rate mechanism (ERM II) was set up to provide stability above the euro and the national currencies of countries that hadn't yet entered the eurozone. Then, on 3 May 1998, at the European Council in Brussels, the 11 initial countries that would participate in the third stage from 1 January 1999 were selected. To participate in the new currency, member states had to meet strict criteria such as a budget deficit of less than 3% of their GDP, a debt ratio of less than 60% of GDP, low inflation, and interest rates close to the EU average. Greece failed to meet the criteria and was excluded from participating on 1 January 1999.


title: History of the euro

text: On 1 June 1998 the European Central Bank succeeded the European Monetary Institute. However, it did not take on its full powers until the euro was created on 1 January 1999. The bank's first President was Wim Duisenberg, former head of the EMI and the Dutch central bank. The conversion rates between the 11 participating national currencies and the euro were then established. The rates were determined by the Council of the European Union, based on a recommendation from the European Commission based on the market rates on 31 December 1998, so that one ECU would equal one euro. These rates were set by Council Regulation 2866/98 (EC), of 31 December 1998. They could not be set earlier, because the ECU depended on the closing exchange rate of the non-euro currencies (principally the pound sterling) that day. Due to differences in national conventions for rounding and significant digits, all conversion between the national currencies had to be carried out using the process of triangulation via the euro.


title: History of the euro

text: The currency was introduced in non-physical form (traveller's cheques, electronic transfers, banking, etc.) at midnight on 1 January 1999, when the national currencies of participating countries (the eurozone) ceased to exist independently in that their exchange rates were locked at fixed rates against each other, effectively making them mere non-decimal subdivisions of the euro. The euro thus became the successor to the European Currency Unit (ECU). The notes and coins for the old currencies, however, continued to be used as legal tender until new notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002 (having been distributed in small amounts in the previous December). Beginning on 1 January 1999, all bonds and other forms of government debt by eurozone nations were denominated in euros.


title: History of the euro

text: The value of the euro, which started at US$1.1686 on 31 December 1998, rose during its first day of trading, Monday, 4 January 1999, closing at approximately US$1.18. It was rapidly taken up and dealers were surprised by the speed at which it replaced the national currencies. Trading in the Deutsche Mark was expected to continue in parallel but vanished as soon as the markets opened. However, by the end of 1999 the euro had dropped to parity with the dollar leading to emergency action from the G7 to support the euro in 2001.


title: History of the euro

text: Later in 2000, Denmark held a referendum on whether to abandon their opt-out from the euro. The referendum resulted in a decision to retain the krone, and also set back plans for a referendum in the UK as a result. The procedure used to fix the irrevocable conversion rate of 340.750 between the Greek drachma and the euro was different, since the euro by then was already two years old. While the conversion rates for the initial eleven currencies were determined only hours before the euro was introduced as a virtual currency, the conversion rate for the Greek drachma was fixed several months beforehand, in Council Regulation 1478/2000 (EC) of 19 June 2000.


title: History of the euro

text: The designs for the new coins and notes were announced between 1996 and 1998, and production began at the various mints and printers on 11 May 1998. The task was large, and would require the full three-and-a-half-years. In all, 7.4 billion notes and 38.2 billion coins would be available for issuance to consumers and businesses on 1 January 2002. In seven nations, the new coins—struck in the run-up to 1 January 2002—would bear a 2002 date. In Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands, and Spain, the new coins would bear the date of striking, so those five countries would be the only ones to strike euro coins dated 1999, 2000, and 2001. Small numbers of coins from Monaco, Vatican City, and San Marino were also struck. These immediately became popular collector's items, commanding premiums well above face value. New issues continue to do so to this day.


title: History of the euro

text: Meanwhile, a parallel task was to educate the European public about the new coins. Posters were issued showing the designs, which were used on items ranging from playing cards to T-shirts. As a final step, on 15 December 2001, banks began exchanging "euro starter kits", plastic pouches with a selection of the new coins in each country (generally, between 10 and 20 euros' worth—though Finland's contained one of each coin, totalling €3.88). They would not be usable in commerce until 1 January, when notes would be made available as well. Larger starter kits, containing a roll of each denomination, were available as well in some nations.


title: History of the euro

text: Retailers and government agencies had a considerable task as well. For items to be sold to the public, dual pricing was commonly utilised. Postage stamps for governments (as well as stamps issued by the United Nations Postal Administration for the UN offices in Vienna) often bore denominations both in the legacy currency and euros, assuring continued utility beyond 2001. Banks bore a huge task, not only in preparation for the change of the notes and coins, but also in the back office. Beginning in 1999, all deposits and loans were technically in euros, but deposits and withdrawals continued in the legacy currency. Statements would bear balances in both currencies beginning no later than 1 July 2001, and earlier if required by the customer's needs.


title: History of the euro

text: Beginning on 1 December 2001, coins and notes were distributed from secure storage, first to large retailers, and then to smaller ones. It was widely expected that there would be massive problems on and after 1 January. Such a changeover, across twelve populous countries, had never been attempted before.


title: History of the euro

text: The new coins and notes were first valid on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. The first official purchase using euro coins and notes took place there, for one kilogram of lychees. The coming of midnight in Frankfurt at the ECB offices, though, symbolised the transition.


title: History of the euro

text: In Finland, the Central Bank opened for an hour at midnight to allow citizens to exchange currency, while a huge euro pyramid decorated Syntagma Square in Athens. Other countries noted the coming of the euro as well—Paris's Pont Neuf was decorated in EU colours, while in the northern German town of Gifhorn a sombre, symbolic funeral for the Deutsche Mark took place.


title: History of the euro

text: Except for Germany, the plan for introduction of the new currency was basically the same. Banks would accept the exchange of legacy currencies, begin to dispense euros from ATMs, and only euros would be available as withdrawals were made, beginning on 1 January. Merchants would accept legacy currency, but give change only in euros. In Germany, the Deutsche Mark would no longer be a legal tender on 1 January, but would have to be exchanged at the banks.


title: History of the euro

text: Despite the massive amounts of euros available, chaos was feared. In France, these fears were accentuated by a threatened postal workers' strike. The strike, however, was settled. Similarly, workers at the French bank BNP Paribas threatened to disrupt the introduction of euro currency with a strike. That was also settled.


title: History of the euro

text: In practice, the roll-out was smooth, with few problems. By 2 January, all ATMs in 7 countries and at least 90 percent in 4 others were issuing euros rather than legacy currency, with Italy, the worst offender, having only 85% of ATMs dispensing euros. The unexpected tendency of consumers to spend their legacy currency, rather than exchange it at banks, led to temporary shortages of euro small change, with some consumers being given change in legacy currency.


title: History of the euro

text: Some businesses did take advantage of the currency exchange to raise prices. According to a study by the Deutsche Bundesbank, there was a price rise, but consumers refused to buy as much. A coffee bar in Italy that took advantage of the transition to raise coffee prices by a third was ordered to pay compensation to customers.


title: History of the euro

text: Nations were allowed to keep legacy currency in circulation as legal tender for two months, until 28 February 2002. The official date on which the national currencies ceased to be legal tender varied from member state to member state. The earliest date was in Germany; the Deutsche Mark officially ceased to be legal tender after 31 December 2001. Most member states, though, permitted their legacy currency to remain in circulation the full two months. The legacy currency was exchangeable at commercial banks in the currency's nation for a further period, generally until 30 June 2002.


title: History of the euro

text: However, even after the official dates, they continued to be accepted for exchange by national central banks for varying periods—and indefinitely in Austria, Germany, Ireland, and Spain. Coins from those four countries, Italy, and Finland remain exchangeable. The earliest coins to become non-convertible were the Portuguese escudos, which ceased to have monetary value after 31 December 2002, although banknotes remain exchangeable until 2022. All banknotes current on 1 January 2002 would remain valid until at least 2012.


title: History of the euro

text: In Germany, Deutsche Telekom modified 50,000 pay phones to take Deutsche Mark coins in 2005, at least on a temporary basis. Callers were allowed to use DM coins, at least initially, with the Deutsche Mark pegged to equal one euro, almost twice the usual rate.


title: History of the euro

text: In France, as of 2007 receipts still indicated the value of products in the legacy currency (francs) along with the euro value. In other eurozone countries this had long been considered unnecessary. As of 2008, some small-town merchants in France still accepted franc notes.


title: History of the euro

text: After dropping to an interday low of US$0.8296 on 26 October 2001, and a brief crash to $0.8115 on 15 January 2002, the euro soon recovered from its early slump. Its value last closed below $1.00 on 6 November 2002 ($0.9971), and increased rapidly from there. It peaked at $1.35 in 2004, and reached its highest value versus the US dollar at $1.5916 on 14 July 2008. As its values increased against the pound sterling in the late-2000s, peaking at 97.73p on 31 December 2008, its international usage grew rapidly. The euro grew in importance steadily, with its share of foreign exchange reserves rising from nearly 18% in 1999 to 25% in 2003—while the dollar share fell by an equivalent margin. Alan Greenspan in 2007 said the eurozone had profited from the euro's rise and claimed it was perfectly conceivable that it could trade equally or become more important than the US dollar in the future.


title: History of the euro

text: As a result of the global financial crisis that began in 2007/2008, the eurozone entered its first official recession in the third quarter of 2008, official figures confirmed in January 2009. The EU was in negative growth for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 before returning to positive growth (for the eurozone as a whole). Despite the recession, Estonia acceded to the eurozone and Iceland put in an EU application to join the euro, seeing it at the time as a safe haven.


title: History of the euro

text: In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty formalised the Eurogroup, the meeting of euro finance ministers, with an official president. Jean-Claude Juncker served as president before and after formalisation and has been an advocate of strengthening the group, economic co-operation and common representation. Appetite for stronger economic co-operation grew due to the recession and the potential failure of some weaker eurozone members. However, Germany had opposed previous moves to strengthen the Eurogroup, such as French President Nicolas Sarkozy's attempts at Eurogroup summits, due to fears of undermining the ECB's independence. Jean-Claude Trichet, who succeeded Duisenberg as ECB president in 2003, fended off numerous attacks from Sarkozy at the start of the recession. Before that formalisation of the Eurogroup, eurozone leaders held an extraordinary summit in reaction to the financial crisis on 11 October 2008 in Paris. Rather than the Eurogroup meeting as finance ministers, they met as head of states or government (similar to the European Council) to define a joint action plan for the eurozone and the European Central Bank to stabilise the European economy. These such meetings would be where many euro governance reforms would be agreed.


title: History of the euro

text: The leaders hammered out a plan to confront the financial crisis which will involve hundreds of billions of euros of new initiatives to head off a feared meltdown. They agreed a bank rescue plan: governments would buy into banks to boost their finances and guarantee interbank lending. Coordination against the crisis is considered vital to prevent the actions of one country harming another and exacerbating the bank solvency and credit shortage problems.


title: History of the euro

text: Despite initial fears by speculators in early 2009 that the stress of such a large recession could lead to the break-up of the eurozone, the euro's position actually strengthened as the year progressed. Far from the poorer performing economies moving further away and becoming a default risk, bond yield spreads between Germany and the weakest economies decreased easing the strain on these economies. Much of the credit for the turn around in fortunes has been attributed to the ECB, which injected €500bn into the banks in June. Indeed, the euro came to be seen as a safe haven, as countries outside it such as Iceland fared worse than those with the euro. Iceland subsequently applied to the EU to get the benefit of using a larger currency with the support of the ECB.


title: History of the euro

text: However, with the risk of a default in Greece and other members in late 2009–10, eurozone leaders agreed to provisions for bailing out member states who could not raise funds (triggered for Greece in April 2010). This was a U-turn on the EU treaties, which rule out any bailout of a euro member in order to encourage members to manage their finances better. Yet with Greece struggling to restore its finances, other member states also at risk and the repercussions this would have on the rest of the eurozone economy; a temporary bail out mechanism was agreed and devised in the form of a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) named "European Financial Stability Facility" (complemented by the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism and funds form the International Monetary Fund), aiming at preserving financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance to eurozone states in difficulty. The crisis also spurred consensus for further economic integration and a range of proposals such as a "European Monetary Fund" or federal treasury.


title: History of the euro

text: However, in June 2010, broad agreement was finally reached on a controversial proposal for member states to peer review each other's budgets prior to their presentation to national parliaments. Although showing the entire budget to each other was opposed by Germany, Sweden and the UK, each government would present to their peers and the Commission their estimates for growth, inflation, revenue and expenditure levels six months before they go to national parliaments. If a country was to run a deficit, they would have to justify it to the rest of the EU while countries with a debt more than 60% of GDP would face greater scrutiny. The plans would apply to all EU members, not just the eurozone, and have to be approved by EU leaders along with proposals for states to face sanctions before they reach the 3% limit in the Stability and Growth Pact. Poland has criticised the idea of withholding regional funding for those who break the deficit limits, as that would only impact the poorer states. In June 2010 France agreed to back Germany's plan for suspending the voting rights of members who breach the rules.


title: History of the euro

text: In late 2010/early 2011, it was agreed to replace the European Financial Stability Facility and European Financial Stability Mechanism with a larger and permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The ESM required a treaty amendment to allow it and a separate treaty to establish it but, if ratified successfully, would be established in time to take over when the old facilities expire in 2013. Meanwhile, to support Italy and prevent it having to ask for a bail-out later, the ECB controversially started buying Italian bonds, as it had done with Greece.


title: History of the euro

text: In March 2011 was initiated a new reform of the Stability and Growth Pact aiming at straightening the rules by adopting an automatic procedure for imposing of penalties in case of breaches of either the deficit or the debt rules. The Euro Plus Pact sets out a wide range of reforms to take place in the eurozone to ensure and the French and German governments further agreed to push for a 'true economic government' that would involve twice-yearly eurozone leader summits and a financial transactions tax.


title: History of the euro

text: The European Fiscal Union is a proposal for a treaty about fiscal integration described in a decision adopted on 9 December 2011 by the European Council. The participants are the eurozone member states and all other EU members without the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic. The treaty entered into force on 1 January 2013 for the 16 states which completed ratification prior of this date and on 1 April 2014 entered into force for all 25 signatories.


title: History of the euro

text: Despite speculation that the crisis in Greece could spread and that the euro might fail, some newer EU states from the 2004 enlargement joined the currency during the recession. Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus all acceded within the first two years of the recession, closely followed by Slovakia in 2009. The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined in 2011, 2014 and 2015, respectively.


title: History of the euro

text: Slovenia was the first country to join the eurozone after the launch of the coins and banknotes. Participation in ERM II began on 28 June 2004 and on 11 July 2006 the Council of EU adopted a decision allowing Slovenia to join the euro area as from 1 January 2007. The euro replaced the Slovenian tolar on 1 January 2007. The exchange rate between the euro and tolar had been set on 11 July 2006 at 239.640 SIT, but unlike the previous launches, cash and non-cash transactions were introduced simultaneously.


title: History of the euro

text: A formal letter of application to join the eurozone was submitted on 13 February 2007. On 16 May 2007 the European Commission, backed by the European Central Bank, gave its go-ahead for the introduction in January 2008.


title: History of the euro

text: The campaign to inform the citizens of Cyprus about the euro officially began in Cypriot media on 9 March 2007. On 15 March 2007, the Cypriot House of Representatives passed the necessary laws for the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2008. The European Commissioner for Economic & Financial Affairs Joaquín Almunia, on 16 May 2007, recommended that Cyprus adopt the euro as scheduled, and the European Parliament concurred on 21 June 2007; the date was confirmed by the EU leaders. The final decision was taken by the EU finance ministers (Ecofin) on 10 July 2007 and the conversion rate was fixed at 0.585274 CYP. On 23 October 2007, the coin designs were officially published in the Official Journal of the European Union.


title: History of the euro

text: On 1 January 2008, the euro replaced the Cypriot pound as the official currency. The euro is only used in the government-controlled areas of the Republic, the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (under UK jurisdiction, outside the EU) and in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus. The "de facto" Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continues to use the new Turkish lira as its primary currency and the euro as its secondary currency.


title: History of the euro

text: Malta replaced the Maltese lira with the euro on 1 January 2008. The aims were officially confirmed on 26 February 2007. On 16 May 2007, the Commissioner for Economic & Financial Affairs of the EU, Joaquín Almunia, recommended that Malta adopt the euro as scheduled, a decision later confirmed by the Council of Finance Ministers of 10 July 2007. On the same day, dual displaying became mandatory and the first Maltese euro coins were struck at Monnaie de Paris. The first Maltese euro coins were available for the public on 1 December 2007, as business starter packs worth €131 each started being available for small businesses to fill up their cash registers with sufficient amount of euro coins before the €-day (Jum €). Mini-kits each worth €11.65 were available for the general public on 10 December 2007. Maltese coins which were current at the time of the euro transition could be exchanged through 1 February 2010.


title: History of the euro

text: Maltese citizens could obtain euro information directly from their town or village between December 2007 and January 2008. From the Euro Centres (Ċentru l-ewro) which opened during the day. People trained specifically on matters related to the changeover to the euro were available to provide council at euro centres along with information materials.


title: History of the euro

text: In December 2007, as part of the euro changeover celebrations, streets of Valletta were covered with carpets depicting euro coins. Celebrations reached climax on New Year's Eve with a firework display near the Grand Harbour area, several other activities had to be moved indoors because of the stormy weather that struck the island on that night.


title: History of the euro

text: Slovakia adopted the euro on 1 January 2009. The koruna was part of ERM II from 28 November 2005, requiring that it trade within 15% of an agreed central rate; this rate was changed on 17 March 2007 and again on 28 May 2008. The rate of 30.126 SKK from May 2008 was finally confirmed on 8 July 2008.


title: History of the euro

text: To assist the process of conversion to the euro, on 1 April 2008, the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) announced their plan for withdrawal of the Slovak koruna notes and coins. A few days later, on 5 April 2008, Slovakia officially applied to enter the eurozone. On 7 May 2008, the European Commission approved the application and asked member states to endorse the bid during the EU finance ministers' meeting in July 2008.


title: History of the euro

text: Slovakia fulfilled the euro convergence criteria. At 2.2%, Slovakia's twelve-month inflation was well below the 3.2% threshold. However, for March 2008 annual inflation was 3.6%. Fiscal deficit was 2.2% versus the reference value of 3.0%. Finally, the government debt ratio was 29.4% of GDP in 2007, well below the maximum ratio of 60.0%. Public opinion supported the switch, with 58% in favour and 35% opposed, but 65% worried about the inflationary impacts of the adoption. Three months after the adoption of the currency, 83 percent of Slovaks considered Slovakia's decision to adopt the euro to have been right.


title: History of the euro

text: Publicity for the transition from the koruna to the euro on 1 January 2009 included a "euromobile", with a professional actor driving around the countryside holding impromptu quiz shows about the euro. Winners received euro T-shirts, euro conversion calculators, and chocolate euro coins. Euro starter kits, available for 500 koruna, were a popular Christmas gift in 2008. The coins therein, however, were not valid as legal tender in the eurozone until 1 January 2009, with koruna exchanged through 17 January 2009, though redeemable at the central bank in Bratislava until a date to be determined. Anyone using Slovakian euro coins before 1 January could have been fined. Businesses using the transition to raise prices also were subject to penalty.


title: History of the euro

text: In 2010, Estonia gained the support of the European Commission, European Central Bank and European Parliament for accession on 1 January 2011, with Estonia adopting the currency on that date. In 2013, Latvia gained the support of the European Commission, European Central Bank and European Parliament for accession on 1 January 2014, with Latvia adopting the currency on that date. On 23 July 2014 Lithuania became the last Baltic state to gain permission to join the euro, which was adopted on 1 January 2015.


title: History of the euro

text: The chart below provides a full summary of all applying exchange-rate regimes for EU members, since the European Monetary System with its Exchange Rate Mechanism and the related new common currency ECU was born on 13 March 1979. The euro replaced the ECU 1:1 at the exchange rate markets, on 1 January 1999. During 1979–1999, the D-Mark functioned as a de facto anchor for the ECU, meaning there was only a minor difference between pegging a currency against ECU and pegging it against the D-mark.


title: History of the euro

text: The eurozone was born with its first 11 Member States on 1 January 1999. The first enlargement of the eurozone, to Greece, took place on 1 January 2001, one year before the euro had physically entered into circulation. The next enlargements were to states which joined the EU in 2004, and then joined the eurozone on 1 January in the mentioned year: Slovenia (2007), Cyprus (2008), Malta (2008), Slovakia (2009), Estonia (2011), Latvia (2014), and Lithuania (2015).


title: History of the euro

text: All new EU members having joined the bloc after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, are obliged to adopt the euro under the terms of their accession treaties. However, the last of the five economic convergence criteria which needs first to be complied with in order to qualify for euro adoption, is the exchange rate stability criterion, which requires having been an ERM-member for a minimum of two years without the presence of "severe tensions" for the currency exchange rate.


title: History of the euro

text: In September 2011, a diplomatic source close to the euro adoption preparation talks between the seven remaining new Member States from Eastern Europe who had yet to adopt the euro (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania), claimed that the monetary union (eurozone) they had thought they were going to join upon their signing of the accession treaty may very well end up being a very different union entailing much closer fiscal, economic and political convergence. This changed legal status of the eurozone could potentially cause them to conclude that the conditions for their promise to join were no longer valid, which "could force them to stage new referendums" on euro adoption.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Christy Renea Martin (; born June 12, 1968) is an American former professional boxer. Competing from 1989 to 2012, she held the WBC female super welterweight title in 2009. In 2010, Martin was stabbed and shot by her husband. He was subsequently found guilty of attempted second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Martin was the first female boxer elected to the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016, and was also elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020, which was the first year that women were on the ballot.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Martin was born Christy Renea Salters on June 12, 1968 in Mullens, West Virginia. and attended Mullens High School.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: She played various sports as a child including Little League baseball and all-state basketball. She attended Concord College in Athens, West Virginia on a basketball scholarship and earned a B.S. in education.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Martin is said to be “the most successful and prominent female boxer in the United States” and the person who “legitimized” women’s participation in the sport of boxing. She began her career fighting in “Toughwoman” contests and won three consecutive titles. She then began training with boxing coach, Jim Martin, who became her husband in 1991.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Martin started her professional boxing career at the age of 21 with a six-round draw with Angela Buchanan in 1989. She had her first training under the direction of Charlie Sensabaugh of Daniels West Virginia. Martin won a rematch with Buchanan one month later with a second round knockout. Andrea DeShong then beat Martin in a five-round decision. Martin then had nineteen consecutive wins, including two against Jamie Whitcomb and Suzanne Riccio-Major as well a rubber match win against Buchanan. On October 15, 1993, Martin defeated Beverly Szymansky. Martin won by knocking out Szymansky in three rounds. In her first title defense, she fought to a draw against debutante Laura Serrano in Las Vegas.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Martin defended her title six more times, including a rematch with Szymansky, a fourth fight with Buchanan and defenses versus Melinda Robinson and Sue Chase, winning all of them, before the fight that many credit for putting women's boxing on the sports fans' radar took place: On March 16, 1996, she and Deirdre Gogarty fought what many consider a great fight, in front of Showtime cameras. Martin got the decision, and after that bout, she began to gain more celebrity, even appearing on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" once shortly afterwards. (Specifically, on April 15, 1996, Martin became the first female boxer to appear on the cover of "Sports Illustrated"; the headline read, "The Lady Is a Champ".)


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Martin made a special guest appearance on the television show "Roseanne" in season 9, episode 6, "Pampered to a Pulp".


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Martin won her next eight bouts including wins against Robinson, DeShong, Marcela Acuña and Isra Girgrah. Martin lost her title in a 10-round decision loss to Sumya Anani in 1998. Martin then won her next nine fights including wins against Belinda Laracuente, Sabrina Hall and Kathy Collins. Martin won her next two fights by ten-round decisions against Lisa Holeywine and Mia St. John.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: In 2005 a fight with Lucia Rijker, titled "Million Dollar Lady", was canceled because Rijker ruptured her Achilles during training.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: On September 16, 2005, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Martin lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Holly Holm. Martin was beaten by the 23-year-old southpaw, with all three judges scoring for Holm.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Martin holds a record of 49 wins, 7 losses and 3 draws with 31 wins by knockout. She is a frequent visitor of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame annual induction ceremonies, and an avid autograph signer. She has fought on the undercard of boxers Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Félix Trinidad and Julio César Chávez.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Martin was promoted by Don King, and was the first woman to sign with him. He signed Martin in October 1993 following her third-round knockout win against Beverly Szymanski.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Martin announced on January 19, 2011, that she would be fighting again in hopes of her 50th career win on the undercard of the Ricardo Mayorga vs Miguel Cotto Fight at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 12, 2011, against Dakota Stone in a rematch of their 2009 Fight. The fight was postponed due to a rib injury to Martin. The rescheduled rematch took place June 4, 2011 at Staples Center in Los Angeles on the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs Sebastian Zbik undercard. Dakota Stone prevailed by TKO with :51 left as Martin broke her right hand in 9 places on a punch in the 4th round and could not continue.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: In 2016, she became the first female boxer inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. That same year, "Sports Illustrated" reported that she was working 2 jobs, as a substitute teacher and helping military veterans find work, and that she was dealing with the after effects of her career, including dealing with lack of stamina and double vision. In 2020 she was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame; she was elected to it in 2019, the first year that women were on the ballot.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: On November 23, 2010, Christy Martin was stabbed several times and shot at least once in her torso and left for dead by her husband, 66-year-old James V. Martin. The attack reportedly occurred after an argument in their Apopka home. She survived the attack. On November 30, James Martin was arrested and taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center after he stabbed himself. He was booked in Orange County Jail and charged with attempted first degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: He was sentenced two months later to 25 years in prison. He is currently serving his sentence at Graceville Correctional Facility in Graceville, Florida.


title: Christy Martin (boxer)

text: Martin married former ring rival Lisa Holewyne on November 25, 2017. Martin is the CEO of Christy Martin Promotions, a boxing promotion company that has promoted many events in North Carolina since 2016 and will be promoting boxing events in Jacksonville, Florida and in other Southern United States cities.


title: BeIN Media Group

text: beIN Media Group (; Arabic: مجموعة بي إن الإعلامية, "Majmū‘at Bī’in al-I‘lāmiyyah") is a state-owned global sport and entertainment network headquartered in Doha, Qatar. beIN distributes entertainment, live sports action, and major international events across 5 continents, in 43 countries, and 7 different languages spanning Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).


title: BeIN Media Group

text: beIN Sports was first launched, as a brand, in June 2012 by Al Jazeera Media Network in France. On 1 January 2014, beIN Media Group was established and became the new independent holding company of beIN Sports. In October 2014, it was announced that beIN Media Group had agreed to acquire pay-TV sports channel Setanta Sports Australia, with Setanta being rebranded as beIN Sports Australia.


title: BeIN Media Group

text: In 2015, beIN Sports launched an HD channel specially dedicated to football in Spain. The group declared in November 2015 that it would be expanding from sports-only programming to include entertainment and movies as well.


title: BeIN Media Group

text: It was announced in January 2016 that beIN Media Group secured an agreement with Turner Broadcasting System, allowing it exclusive rights to broadcast a number of Turner-licensed entertainment and news channels across the Middle East and North Africa. beIN Media Group has since signed strategic partnerships with BBC Studios, Warner Bros., CBS, DreamWorks Animation, and Discovery.


title: BeIN Media Group

text: It was rumored in November 2015 that beIN Media Group were interested in purchasing Miramax. On 1 March 2016, beIN Media Group announced its full acquisition of Miramax from Filmyard Holdings. beIN announced they would sell at least 49% of the company in June 2019, with Viacom and Lionsgate as the front-liners.


title: BeIN Media Group

text: It was announced in August 2016 that beIN Media Group acquired Turkish pay TV service Digiturk. In November 2019, beIN Media acquired exclusive broadcast rights for the 2019 and 2020 FIFA Club World Cup.


title: BeIN Media Group

text: Following the Covid-19 crisis, BeIN is implementing a layoff plan for its activities in the Middle East and North Africa.


title: BeIN Media Group

text: In August 2017, beoutQ was launched illegally broadcasting via satellite and streaming over the internet premium sports and entertainment content worth billions of dollars. beIN Media Group has campaigned with leading sporting organizations and broadcasters from around the world to universally condemn piracy operations and call for decisive action to be taken to stamp out beoutQ and stop Saudi-based pay TV provider Arabsat from distributing the illegal broadcast channel.


title: BeIN Media Group

text: In October 2018, beIN Media Group launched a $1 billion international arbitration case against Saudi Arabia on the basis of beoutQ. In July 2018, FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and other sports rights holders disclosed that they will be launching legal action in Saudi Arabia.


title: BeIN Media Group

text: In December 2018, The World Trade Organization agreed to launch a dispute inquiry to determine whether Saudi Arabia has failed to protect Intellectual Property rights because of beoutQ.


title: Ikaris

text: Ikaris is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in "The Eternals" #1 (July 1976) and was created by Jack Kirby. The character is depicted as a member of a race known as the Eternals.


title: Ikaris

text: Neil Gaiman, with artist John Romita, Jr., created a 2006 miniseries, which helped bring the Eternals' role in the modern Marvel Universe up-to-date. Originally solicited as a six-issue series, an extra issue was added to the run, because, according to editor Nick Lowe, "There was too much story to fit into the structure we set for ourselves. Neil was starting issue five and told me that he might need a seventh issue. He just had too much story to fit in six issues (even with the first and sixth double-sized)".


title: Ikaris

text: Ikaris also appears in "All-New Invaders" as a villain, when he is controlled by the Kree, who use the God's Whisper on him.


title: Ikaris

text: Ikaris was born over 20,000 years ago in Polaria, in the area now known as Siberia. He is the son of the Eternals Virako and Tulayn. His real birth name is unknown.


title: Ikaris

text: When the Second Host of the Celestials sank the Deviant Lemuria in what is known as the "Great Cataclysm", Ikaris guides a ship of humans to safety. The humans mistake Ikaris for a bird, and (per Marvel Universe history) he is memorialized as the dove that guided Noah to the Mountains of Ararat ("Eternals" #2).


title: Ikaris

text: Ikaris chose his name due to a tragic accident hundreds of years ago. While fighting the Deviants in ancient Greece, the man eventually known as Ikaris meets and weds a human woman. Together they bear a son named Icarus, who loves to soar with his father high above the seas and mountains of Greece. In time, the Eternal builds his son a set of mechanical wings so the boy can fly on his own.


title: Ikaris

text: When his father disappears while fighting the Deviants, the young Icarus seeks him out using the mechanical wings. Too inexperienced to fly on his own, young Icarus soars too high, loses consciousness in the upper atmosphere, and falls to his death. Finding his son dead, the father Eternal takes the name of his son, "Ikaris", in his memory.


title: Ikaris

text: Around 1000 AD, Virako, Ikaris' father, dies in battle against the Deviant Dromedan. Ikaris is then adopted by his uncle Valkin, who reveals to him his secret Arctic home, the Pyramid of the Winds.


title: Ikaris

text: At some point during the early centuries, Ikaris and the Eternals would come into conflict with the immortal mutant, Apocalypse. This conflict would end with Ikaris and the Eternals defeating him, and Ikaris believing Apocalypse to be dead.


title: Ikaris

text: In 1823, as part of the Eternals' preparation for the coming of the Fourth Host of the Celestials, Zuras orders Ikaris to perfect his cosmic senses in anticipation of their coming. When they draw near, Ikaris is ordered to go to the City of the Space Gods and revive the sleeping Eternal Ajak to greet them.


title: Ikaris

text: When the Celestials arrive on Earth around a century and a half later, Ikaris succeeds in this mission with the aid of human archaeologist Dr. Daniel Damian and his daughter, Margo. Ikaris witnesses the arrival of the Fourth Celestial Host on Earth. He then publicly reveals himself as all Eternals do. He later battles a "cosmic Hulk" robot, and fights Dromedan. During the Fourth Host, Valkin's son Druig captures and tortures Ikaris to force him to reveal the location of the Pyramid of the Winds. Ikaris catches up with Druig and kills him, but not before Druig is able to fire a weapon at a Celestial; the Celestial, however, is unharmed.


title: Ikaris

text: Later, he encountered Thor for the first time. He next participated in a battle between the Eternals and the Olympian gods defeating Ares. Not long after that, he learned of the demise of Zuras, the Prime Eternal (leader of Earth's Eternals).


title: Ikaris

text: Later, it was revealed how Ikaris first encountered the Inhumans. Ikaris was later captured with the other Eternals by a Deviant army. He joined with the other Eternals and Iron Man (Jim Rhodes) in defeating the Deviants. After that, Ikaris battled Maelstrom alongside the other Eternals and the Avengers. After the battle, he was selected by the Uni-Mind to remain on Earth.


title: Ikaris

text: During his long lifetime, Ikaris also attempts to be a fair and just leader of the Eternals, but has abandoned Eternal traditions to take an active and public role in protecting the human race. He has even adopted a unique human identity by becoming a professional wrestler with the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation as "Iceberg" Ike Harris. Ikaris and fellow Eternal Thena have had a strong dislike for each other for a long time, and find themselves coming to conflict when she is appointed as Prime Eternal. Questioning her worth as Prime Eternal, Ikaris faces her in the Hall of Eternal Judgment and defeats her, becoming the new Prime Eternal. Ikaris then battled Ghaur alongside the Eternals, Thor, and the West Coast Avengers. He also buried Margo Damian when she was killed by a Deviant experiment.


title: Ikaris

text: Later, with the other Eternals, Ikaris captured the Silver Surfer on behalf of the High Evolutionary. Some time after that, he was captured by the Deviant leader Brother Visara, and then freed by Kro. Ikaris exposed Dr. Damian as the Eternals' enemy, and battled a transformed Ajak as a result.


title: Ikaris

text: When the Eternal Sersi became sick with the "Mahd Wy'ry" disease, a uncurable degenerating Eternal disease, Ikaris and others eternals tried to bring her to Olympia and perform a rite of Cleansing. However Sersi rejected the idea, on the basis that the ritual was designed to kill the infected Eternal, and solicited his family to perform the "Gann Josin" bond between her and her lover the Black Knight. Ikaris was infuriated by the idea, and performed the bond without consent of the Knight.


title: Ikaris

text: In "The New Eternals" series, Ikaris still retains the title of Prime Eternal. Ikaris and the Eternals' ancient nemesis Apocalypse returned to detonate a nuclear warhead on Deviant Lemuria. He causes Ikaris's father Virako to return to life. Ikaris confronts, and fights Apocalypse. Although Ikaris is defeated by Apocalypse, Ikaris still manages to destroy his ship and thwart Apocalypse's plan. Virako is appalled to find the Eternals accepting Deviants such as Ransak the Reject and Karkas. Under the alias of "Sovereign", he briefly introduces the Eternals to the world as a team of super-heroes called the "New Breed".


title: Ikaris

text: Ikaris was featured again in the Marvel mini-series "Eternals", written by Neil Gaiman and penciled by artist John Romita, Jr. The Eternals were the victims of memory and reality manipulation by former Eternal Sprite, and thus have forgotten their true identities. Ikaris visited Mark Curry, to try to awaken/remember his past but he rebuked him. Although Ikaris (calling himself Ike Harris) was captured and atomized by two Deviants agents, Gelt and Morjak, his body reappears at the bottom of the (fictional) Antarctic city of Olympia. His body and powers fully restored by the sentient city, Ikaris regains his memories and sets out to awaken his fellow Eternals to their true identities. After a prolonged battle, he at last unites the few Eternals present. He then plans to team up with Makkari and reawaken the ninety other Eternals.


title: Ikaris

text: At the end of the last volume, Makkari has been chosen as the "chosen one" that the awakened Dreaming Celestial communicates with. This is very frustrating to Ajak because he has spent his entire existence communing with the Celestials, their language and what their showing up means. In conversations between Makkari and the Dreaming Celestial,the eternal learned that the Celestials picks or create a planet and seed it with life forms. They then create 100 Eternals and 100 Deviants. The Celestials then keep a watchful eye on the planet and weigh which of the two races influences the life forms more. This is done in servitude of the Fulcrum. If the Deviants influence has more prominence, the Celestials send the Horde to eradicate the race and they start over. If it is the Eternals, the Celestials allow the goodness to flow back into the Fulcrum, which the Celestials seems to serve. These conversations between Makkari and the Dreaming Celestial take place on a different plane of existence and cause Makkari's body to shut down, seemingly almost dying, which Sersi is concerned with because she thinks he is addicted to this state. We also see here the origin of the Dreaming Celestial and how he came to be put to sleep by the other Celestials.


title: Ikaris

text: Next the story picks up with Thena and Ikaris, trying to find all of the other amnesiac Eternals and reminding them of who they are. They find that a similar effort is being conducted by Druig, who is now the ruler of Vorozheika. Druig is using a secret source to find the Eternals and is winning in the contest of finding and converting more Eternals to his cause. Ikaris and Thena approach Phastos, who thinks he is an engineer in Sweden named Phillip Voss. Thena tries to trigger his memory with questions about his past under the guise that she and Ikaris are attorneys executing the will of a deceased relative of Mr. Voss'. This ploy proves to be a failure and Ikaris just wants to force the memories on the Eternals who have lost their memories, but this also causes problems as they react violently to having their world's turned upside down like this.


title: Ikaris

text: We then see that Thena prior to her trip with Ikaris to visit Phastos, she leaves her son Joey Eliot in the care of her father: Zuras who seems a little absent-minded. Zuras begins to explore and show the different parts of the Eternals' habitat with Joey. It is here we learn that the Horde that the Dreaming Celestial has spoken of, that is coming to Earth has an agent already on Earth who is bonded to a human via a symbiotic relationship. This turns out to be Thena's son Joey. Joey is then seen going into a trance-like state when viewing new and unexplored areas of the habitat and information and transmitting that information back to the Horde. Sersi investigates and finds out about this through tracing a signal that is being sent from the habitat to the Horde and she informs Zuras of this fact. Zuras scoffs at this notion and Joey's life is terminated by the symbiote who determines that he has been detected.


title: Ikaris

text: Makkari learns of Joey and his death from the Dreaming Celestial. He immediately goes to the habitat of the Eternals—Olympia. Then Ajak comes up on the scene of a "Burning Man"-like party being held at the foot of the Dreaming Celestial. He attacks and disperses the worshippers there and is approached by Iron Man's strike team called the Order. Ajak uses a "jedi mind trick" to send the Order away, and Ikaris shows up to have him go undercover inside Druig's stronghold. Ajak agrees and he soon is put to task to find Gilgamesh. Ajak finds him and convinces him that Thena, and Ikaris are possessed by the Deviants and their influence. Eventually Gilgamesh attacks Makkari and beats him violently, leaving to finish his attack against other Eternals. Ajak shows up in the aftermath of Gilgamesh's attack and atomizes Makkari, knowing that he will be given a new body and regenerated in one of the chambers in Olympus like their race has used for thousands of years. Makkari's death makes it necessary for the Dreaming Celestial, who does not have anyone to communicate with, use a failsafe that puts all humanoids asleep on the planet, except Eternals and Deviants.


title: Ikaris

text: Gilgamesh resumes his attack when he reaches Olympus and Thena barely defeats him, but only after he destroys the reassembling chamber that Makkari needs to reconstitute. Sersi then attacks the Dreaming Celestial and is told that she was given heightened powers to care for Makkari while he assisted the Dreaming Celestial in cataloging all super-powered beings on the planet. She then uses her powers to reconstitute Makkari, which stops the need for the failsafe of the Dreaming Celestial. And surprisingly when all of the humans awaken from their sleep, so too does Joey Eliot, ending Thena's sadness at the loss of her son. The Watcher mentions to the Dreaming Celestial that the child was dead and the Dreaming Celestial revived him. The Dreaming Celestial replies that the child was asleep like the rest of the humans and simply woke up when the rest did. The Watcher objects, and then realizes that the Dreaming Celestial has done this as an act of kindness, explained away as the child being simply asleep like the rest of the humans.


title: Ikaris

text: Later when the Final Host arrived on Earth, Ikaris along with all the Eternals killed themselves after realizing the true purpose for which they were created. He was the last Eternal still alive when Iron Man and Doctor Strange traveled to the Mountains of Greece, to try to get some answers from The Eternals. Before his death, he told the heroes the reason for the mass suicide.


title: Ikaris

text: Ikaris' life force is augmented by cosmic energy and he has total mental control over his physical form and bodily processes even when he is asleep or unconscious. As a result, he is virtually immortal, immune to disease and aging, and invulnerable to conventional forms of injury. Should Ikaris be injured somehow, he could regenerate any injured or missing tissue. Cosmic energy bolsters Ikaris's metabolism so that he does not tire from any physical exertion. He can resist temperature extremes through mental concentration.


title: Ikaris

text: Ikaris can levitate himself by mentally manipulating gravitons around himself. He can also levitate other persons and objects, even while simultaneously levitating himself. Ikaris is able to fly via self-levitation at approximately 850 miles per hour, which is faster than most other Eternals.


title: Ikaris

text: Ikaris has low level psychic abilities, enabling him to scan the superficial thoughts of any mind less adept than his own. He can mentally create illusions so as to disguise himself. Ikaris can also psionically manipulate atoms and molecules so as to transform an object's shape. However, Ikaris is only a second-level adept on a five level scale (the fifth level being the highest) in this discipline. He can rearrange molecules in the air so as to create a virtually impenetrable shield about himself.


title: Ikaris

text: Ikaris can project cosmic energy in the form of beams from his eyes or beams and flashes from his hands. This cosmic energy, stored in specialized enclaves of cells in his body, can be used as force, heat, light, and possibly other forms of electromagnetic energy. Ikaris can project a maximum concussive force of at least 260 pounds per square inch. He can project heat of a maximum temperature of at least 3,000 Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt iron. It takes about one minute for him to attain this maximum temperature. Because Ikaris's heat beams can vaporize solid objects, they are often called his disintegrator beams, The maximum range for his energy beams is about 200 feet. Ikaris is a fourth level adept on a five-level scale (the fifth level being the highest) in this discipline. The expenditure of cosmic energy in this way continually for several hours will temporarily deplete Ikaris's physical strength, but not his resistance to injury, although it will temporarily increase his sensitivity to pain. He will rapidly return to normal after such lengthy energy expenditure is over.


title: Ikaris

text: Ikaris can teleport himself psionically, but prefers not to do so, since, like other Eternals, he finds the self-teleportation process physically unpleasant. He can also teleport other people along with himself.


title: Ikaris

text: There is an alternate future version of Ikaris in the Marvel 2099 universe. He appears in "2099: Manifest Destiny".


title: Ikaris

text: Chuck Austen wrote "The Eternal", a 2003-2004 Marvel MAX series which showed the arrival of Ikaris' parents on Earth, in this version Ikaeden and Jeska, and his plan for the story involved "going back in time to see Ikaris birth and development on Earth, meet his parents, and then [we] move forward into contemporary time".


title: Gerbera

text: Gerbera ( or ) L. is a genus of plants in the Asteraceae (Compositae) family. The first scientific description of a "Gerbera" was made by J. D. Hooker in Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1889 when he described "Gerbera jamesonii", a South African species also known as "Transvaal daisy" or "Barberton daisy". Gerbera is also commonly known as the "African daisy".


title: Gerbera

text: The genus was named in honour of German botanist and medical doctor Traugott Gerber (1710 — 1743) who travelled extensively in Russia and was a friend of Carl Linnaeus.


title: Gerbera

text: "Gerbera" species are tufted, caulescent, perennial herbs, often with woolly crown, up to 80 cm high. Leaves are all in rosette, elliptical with entire or toothed margin or lobed, petiolate or with a petaloid base, pinnately veined, often leathery and felted beneath. Single to several flowering stems from each rosette bear bracteate or ebracteate, simple, one-headed inflorescence-capitulum. Capitula are radiate, with several rows of bracts. Ray florets are female, 2-lipped, the outer lip is large and strap-shaped, inner lip consists of two small, thread-like lobes of white, pink or red, rarely yellow colour. Disc florets are fertile, five-lobed and irregularly 2-lipped with curled petals.


title: Gerbera

text: Formerly included numerous species once considered members of "Gerbera" are now regarded as more suited to other genera: "Chaptalia", "Leibnitzia", "Mairia", "Perdicium", "Trichocline", and "Oreoseris".


title: Gerbera

text: "Gerbera" is native to tropical regions of Africa. It was introduced into countries of Latin America and Southeast Asia.


title: Gerbera

text: "Gerbera" is very popular and widely used as a decorative garden plant or as cut flowers. The domesticated cultivars are mostly a result of a cross between "Gerbera jamesonii" and another South African species "Gerbera viridifolia". The cross is known as Gerbera × hybrida. Thousands of cultivars exist. They vary greatly in shape and size. Colours include white, yellow, orange, red, and pink. The centre of the flower is sometimes black. Often the same flower can have petals of several different colours. The flower-heads (capitula) can be as small as 7 cm (Gerbera 'mini Harley') in diameter or up to 12 cm (Gerbera ‘Golden Serena’).


title: Gerbera

text: "Gerbera" is also important commercially. It is the fifth most used cut flower in the world (after rose, carnation, chrysanthemum, and tulip). It is also used as a model organism in studying flower formation.


title: Gerbera

text: "Gerbera" contains naturally occurring coumarin derivatives. It is attractive to bees, butterflies, and birds, but resistant to deer. Small ones are called gerbrinis.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines "white" to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, and North African Americans. Americans of European ancestry represent ethnic groups and more than half of the white population are German, Irish, Scottish, English, Italian , French and Polish Americans. In the United States, this population was first derived from English (and, to a lesser degree, French) settlement of the America, as well as settlement by other Europeans such as the Germans and Dutch that began in the 17th century (see History of the United States). Continued growth since the early 19th century is attributed to sustained very high birth rates alongside relatively low death rates among settlers and natives alike as well as periodically massive immigration from European countries, especially Germany, Ireland, England, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, France and Wales, as well as Poland, Russia, and many more countries. It typically refers to an English-speaking American in distinction to Spanish speakers in Mexico and the Southwestern states. In some parts of the country, the term Anglo-American is used to refer to non-Hispanic white English speakers as distinct from Spanish and Portuguese speakers although the term is more frequently used to refer to people of British or English descent and might include white people of Hispanic descent who no longer speak Spanish.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: The first Europeans who came to present United States or Canada were Norse explorers around the year 1000, however they ultimately were absorbed and killed off, leaving no permanent settlements behind. Later, Pilgrims and colonists came in the 1600s along the East Coast, mainly from England, in search of economic opportunities and religious freedom. Over time emigrants from Europe settled the coastal regions developing a commercial economy. Between one-half and two-thirds of white immigrants to the American colonies between the 1630s and American Revolution had come as indentured servants. The total number of European immigrants to all 13 colonies before 1775 was about 500,000; of these 55,000 were involuntary prisoners. Of the 450,000 or so European arrivals who came voluntarily, an estimated 48% were indentured.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: By the time of American Revolution there were about 2.5 million whites in the colonies. The white population was largely of English, Irish, Scotch-Irish, Scottish, German, Dutch and French Huguenot descent at the time. Between the revolution and the 1820s there was relatively little immigration to the United States. Starting after the 1820s large scale migration to the United States began and lasted until the 1920s. Many of the newcomers were Catholics of Irish, Italian, and Polish descent which lead to a nativist backlash. Some Americans worried about the growing Catholic population and wanted to maintain the United States as an Anglo Saxon Protestant nation. Over the course of the 19th and early 20th century European mass emigration to the United States and high birthrates grew the white population. After the American Revolution, white Americans settled the entire nation west of Appalachian Mountains, ultimately displacing the Natives and populating the entire country by the late 19th century. All immigration to the United States declined markedly between the mid 1920s until the 1960s due to a combination of immigration laws, The Great Depression, and The Second World War. Waves of Jewish, Syrian, and Lebanese immigration also occurred around this time.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: Since 1965 white migration to the United States has been relatively minor compared to other racial and ethnic groups. During the 1990s there was a moderate increase from former communist countries in Eastern Europe. At the same time birthrates amongst whites have fallen below replacement level.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: White Americans have developed their own music, art, cuisine, fashion, and political economy largely based on a combination of traditional European ones. Most religious white Americans are Christian. Many Europeans often Anglicized their names and over time most Europeans adopted English as their primary language and intermarried with other white groups.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: 1. Non-European Immigration. The United States has the largest number of immigrants in the world with the vast majority coming from countries where the population is of non-white and/or Latin American origin. Immigration to the United States from European countries has been in a steady decline since World War II averaging 56% of all immigrants in the 1950s and declining to 35% of all immigrants in the 1960s, 20% in the 1970s, 11% in the 1980s, 14% in the 1990s, and 13% in the 2000s. In 2009, approximately 90% of all immigrants came from non-European countries. The United States does receive a small number of non-Latino white immigrants, mainly from countries such as Canada, Poland, Russia, and the UK.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: 2. Intermarriage. The United States is seeing an unprecedented increase in intermarriage between the various racial and ethnic groups. In 2008, a record 14.6% of all new marriages in the United States were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from one another. 9% of non-Latino whites who married in 2008 married either a non-white or Latino. Among all newlyweds in 2008, intermarried pairings were primarily white-Latino "of any race" (41%) as compared to white-Asian (15%), white-black (11%), and other combinations (33%). Other combinations consists of pairings between different minority groups, multi-racial people, and Native Indigenous Americans. The children of such unions would not automatically be classified as white non-Latino. Note that one self-identifies his or her racial and/or ethnic category.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: 3. Methodology. In the 2000 Census, people were allowed to check more than one race in addition to choosing "Latino". There was strong opposition to this from some civil rights activists who feared that this would reduce the size of various racial minorities. The government responded by counting those who are white and of one minority race or ethnicity as minorities for the purposes of civil-rights monitoring and enforcement. Hence one could be 1/8th black and still be counted as a minority. Also, because this does not apply to Latino origin (one is either Latino or not, but cannot be both Latino "and" non-Latino), the offspring of Latinos and non-Latinos are usually counted as Latino. In 2017, the Pew Research Center reported that high intermarriage rates and declining Latin American immigration has led to 11% of US adults with Latino ancestry (5.0 million people) to no longer identify as Latino. First-generation immigrants from Latin America identify themselves as "Latino" at a very high rate (97%), which slowly falls in each succeeding generation (in the second generation, to 92%; in the third, to 77%; and in the fourth, to 50%).


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: 4. Attrition. Minority populations are younger than non-Latino whites. The national median age in 2011 was 37.3 years, with non-Latino whites having the oldest median age (42.3); by contrast, Latinos had the youngest median age (27.6). Non-Latino blacks (32.9) and non-Latino Asians (35.9) also are younger than whites. In 2013, the Census Bureau reported that for the first time, due to the more advanced age profile of the non-Latino white population, non-Latino whites died at a faster rate than non-Latino white births.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: Although non-Latino whites are declining as a percentage, in actual numbers they have still been growing. From 2000 - 2010 the non-Latino white population grew from 194,552,774 to 196,817,552. This was a growth of 1.2% over the 10-year period, due to residual population momentum.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: In 2011, for the first time in American history, non-Hispanic whites accounted for fewer than half of the births in the country, with 49.6% of total births. This rebounded to over 50% by 2016 according to the NCHIS and was still over 50% as of 2019. In addition to this, between 2016-2019, the birthrate of Latinos dropped by exactly twice as much as that of non-Latino whites (0.7 "vs". 0.14). Before 2016, at least, 50% of children under age one had at least one parent of color or at least one parent who is white Latino.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: In 2020, in 36 out of the 50 US states, non-Latino whites made up a greater percentage of the state's population than the US overall share of 57.8%; however, the 14 states with greater shares of non-whites include the four most populous states (California, Texas, New York, and Florida). The "total" non-Latino white population shrunk between 2010 and 2020 in 34 out of the 50 states, and the "relative share" of non-Latino whites in the overall state population has declined in all 50 states during that same time period.


title: Non-Hispanic whites

text: As of 2020, six states are majority-minority: Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, and Maryland. All of these states saw larger declines in the "relative share" of their non-Latino white populations between 1990-2020 than the national average of -23.5% with Nevada dropping by -41.7%, California by -39.3% and Texas by -34.5%.


title: Indian Military Academy

text: The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up under the chairmanship of General (later Field Marshal) Sir Philip Chetwode. From a class of 40 male cadets in 1932, IMA now has a sanctioned capacity of 1,650. Cadets undergo a training course varying between 3 and 16 months depending on entry criteria. On completion of the course at IMA cadets are permanently commissioned into the army as Lieutenants.


title: Indian Military Academy

text: The academy, spread over , houses the Chetwode Hall, Khetarpal Auditorium, Somnath Stadium, Salaria Aquatic Centre, Hoshiar Singh Gymnasium and other facilities that facilitate the training of cadets. Cadets in IMA are organized into a regiment with four battalions of four companies each. The academy's mission, to train future military leaders of the Indian Army, goes hand in hand with the character building enshrined in the IMA honour code, warrior code and motto. Cadets take part in a variety of sports, adventure activities, physical training, drills, weapons training and leadership development activities.


title: Indian Military Academy

text: The academy's alumni include six recipients of India's highest military decoration, the Param Vir Chakra. Other achievements by alumni include 73 Military Crosses, 17 Ashoka Chakras, 84 Maha Vir Chakras and 41 Kirti Chakras. In 2017, Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz Parray was the 847th name to be engraved on the IMA War Memorial, which honours alumni of the academy who have fallen in the course of action.


title: Indian Military Academy

text: Up to 1 October 2019, the 87th Raising Day, over 61,000 gentleman cadets had graduated and over 3,000 foreign cadets from over 30 other states, including Afghanistan, Singapore, Zambia, and Malaysia, had attended IMA for pre-commission training. Alumni have gone on to become Chief and Vice-Chief of Army Staff, Olympians and politicians. Foreign alumni have also done well in their countries, going on to becomes chiefs of their respective militaries, prime ministers, presidents and politicians.


title: Indian Military Academy

text: During the Indian independence movement, Indian leaders recognised the need for a local military institution to meet the needs of an armed force loyal to sovereign India. The Indianisation of the officer cadre of the army began in 1901, but it was only for the elite, and after training they were not allowed into the regular army. The British Raj was reluctant to commission Indian officers or permit local officer training. In 1905, natives could officer only Indian troops and by rank were not equal to commissioned British officers. Up to the outbreak of the First World War, the highest rank to which a native soldier of India could rise was Subedar, a rank lower than the lowermost officer rank of Subaltern.


title: Indian Military Academy

text: But following the Indian military performance in the First World War, the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms facilitated the officer training of 10 Indian commissioned officers at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1922, the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College (now known as the Rashtriya Indian Military College or just RIMC) was set up in Dehradun to prepare young Indians for admission to Sandhurst. The Indianisation of the Army started with the commissioning of 31 Indian officers. Among this first batch of officers to be commissioned was Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, who became the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army in 1969 and later the first Indian Field Marshal.


title: Indian Military Academy

text: Despite demands from the Indian officers, the British resisted expansion of the Indian officer cadre. Indian leaders pressed the issue at the first Round Table Conference in 1930. The establishment of an Indian officer training college was one of the few concessions made at the conference. The Indian Military College Committee, set up under the chairmanship of General Sir Philip Chetwode, in 1931 recommended the establishment of an "Indian Military Academy" in Dehradun to produce forty commissioned officers twice a year following two and a half years of training.


title: Indian Military Academy

text: The Government of India transferred the former property of the Railway Staff College of the Indian Railways, with its 206-acre campus and associated infrastructure, to the Indian Military Academy. Brigadier L.P. Collins was appointed the first Commandant and the first batch of 40 gentleman cadets (GC), as IMA trainees are known, began their training on 1 October 1932. The institute was inaugurated on 10 December 1932 by General Sir Philip Chetwode, 7th Bt. Chetwode was promoted to being a Field Marshal the following year, in February 1933.


title: Indian Military Academy

text: In 1934, before the first batch had passed out, Viceroy Lord Willingdon presented the first colours to the academy on behalf of King George V. The first batch of cadets to graduate the academy, graduating in December 1934, now known as the "Pioneers", included Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, General Muhammad Musa and General Smith Dun, who became the Army Chiefs of India, Pakistan, and Burma, respectively. General Dun graduated at the top of his class at IMA and also commanded the passing out parade for the first course. The second, third, fourth and fifth batches were called, respectively, "Immortals, Invincible, Stalwarts" and "Bahadurs".Through the first 16 regular courses that passed out of the academy, until May 1941, 524 officers were commissioned. But the outbreak of the Second World War resulted in an unprecedented increase in the number of entrants, a temporary reduction in the training period to six months and an expansion of the campus. A total of 3,887 officers were commissioned between August 1941 and January 1946, including 710 British officers for the British Army. The academy reverted to its original two and a half year course of training at the end of the war. During the final years before Independence, the academy navigated the role of training officers for both colonial and postcolonial armies.


title: Indian Military Academy

text: Following the Independence of India in August 1947 and the subsequent partition into Pakistan, a number of British officers who were trainers in the academy left for Britain, while Pakistani cadets left for Pakistan. A total of 110 Pakistani cadets then continued their training at Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul. Brigadier Thakur Mahadeo Singh, DSO, was appointed the first Indian Commandant of the academy. The 189 GCs who graduated on 20 December 1947 were the first class from IMA to be commissioned into a free India.