title: NIFL Premiership

text: A play-off system for the final European qualification berth was introduced for the 2015–16 season. If the Irish Cup winners finish seventh or higher in the league, which historically has been the case in the majority of seasons, the four remaining teams from the top seven that have not already qualified for a UEFA competition (the teams in 3rd–7th, excluding either the Irish Cup winners, or the third-placed team if they are awarded the berth as explained above) compete in a series of play-offs for the final European place. If, however, the Irish Cup winners finish outside the top seven in the Premiership or play in a lower division, and if they also possess a UEFA licence, all five teams finishing 3rd–7th qualify for the play-offs. This would require an additional quarter-final match to be played by the sixth and seventh-placed teams, with the winner joining the other three clubs in the semi-finals. The play-offs did not take place during the 2019–20 season, as the league's UEFA ranking fell to 52nd. This meant that it lost the European berth normally awarded to the play-off winners. The play-offs returned in the 2020–21 season, after the league's ranking improved to 48th place - earning the fourth European berth back again.


title: NIFL Premiership

text: The play-offs are single knockout matches and are played at the home of the higher-ranked team, with extra time used to determine the winner if the match ends level after 900 minutes, and a penalty shootout to follow if the two teams are still level after 120 minutes. Seeding is used during all rounds to reward the higher-placed qualifiers, with the sixth-placed team given home advantage against the seventh-placed team in the quarter-final match if it is required. The two higher-ranked semi-finalists are then given home advantage when facing the two lower-ranked semi-finalists, and the higher-ranked finalist is again given home advantage against the lower-ranked finalist.


title: NIFL Premiership

text: Since the 2016–17 season, the league champions and the runners-up have been invited to participate in the Scottish Challenge Cup. Starting from 2019, the reigning champions have also faced the League of Ireland champions in that year's Champions Cup – the first all-Ireland competition since the Setanta Sports Cup was discontinued after the 2014 edition.


title: NIFL Premiership

text: Highlights of individual Premiership matches are available online via the BBC Sport website. BBC NI also produces "The Irish League Show", a weekly highlights show available to watch via BBC iPlayer. Live online streams of matches are also broadcast by Bwin. Since February 2017 Sky Sports have been broadcasting NIFL Premiership games live.


title: NIFL Premiership

text: "These statistics cover the Premiership from 2008 onwards. For more detailed statistics covering the Irish League since 1890, see Northern Ireland Football League"


title: Mike Moh

text: Mike Moh (born August 19, 1983) is an American actor and martial artist of Korean descent. A sixth degree black belt in American Taekwondo, Moh is perhaps best known for his roles as martial arts legend Bruce Lee in the 2019 film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", and Ryu in the web series of "" (2014) and "" (2016) or in the FOX drama series "Empire" where he made a few appearances.


title: Mike Moh

text: Moh was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Korean parents. He grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and attended the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, graduating with a degree in business marketing. He is married to Richelle Kondratowicz. They have two sons and a daughter.


title: Ricky Kasso

text: Richard Allan "Ricky" Kasso Jr. (March 29, 1967 – July 7, 1984), also known as The Acid King, was an American killer who murdered his 17-year-old friend Gary Lauwers in Northport, New York on June 19, 1984. Two other teens, Jimmy Troiano and Albert Quinones, were present at the murder, which took place in the Aztakea Woods of Northport while all four were under the influence of what they believed to be mescaline, but was most likely LSD.


title: Ricky Kasso

text: The murder became sensational news in New York City and across the nation due to the alleged torture of Lauwers and supposed occult aspects of the murder. The murder took place during a period known as the "Satanic panic" when there was much public concern over the effects of Satanic and occult content in heavy metal music and in role-playing games. Kasso was wearing an AC/DC T-shirt at the time of his arrest and was a fan of groups such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne.


title: Ricky Kasso

text: Kasso was the son of a local high school history teacher and football coach at affluent Cold Spring Harbor High School. Kasso was often thrown out of his home as a young teen and lived on the streets of suburban Northport, New York, usually sleeping in the local woods, or in the cars, garages, backyards and houses of friends. He often took drugs, mainly marijuana, hashish, LSD, PCP, and purple "microdots" of what he believed to be mescaline, but was most likely low-grade LSD. He tended to consume all of his drugs, but had on occasion dealt drugs in Northport as well.


title: Ricky Kasso

text: Kasso was acquainted with the members of a loosely organized group of friends who sold marijuana and referred to themselves as the "Knights of the Black Circle". After Kasso's murder of Lauwers, several newspapers and television journalists incorrectly reported the Knights as being a "satanic cult." Kasso allegedly participated in occult ceremonies, mostly in Northport, and celebrated Walpurgis Night at the infamous Amityville Horror house in 1984. Kasso also expressed to friends his interest in Anton LaVey's book "The Satanic Bible". On at least one occasion, Ricky's parents admitted him to the South Oaks Psychiatric Hospital (formerly known as the Amityville Asylum) in Amityville, New York for drug rehabilitation and psychiatric care.


title: Ricky Kasso

text: In the year prior to the murder, Kasso had been arrested for digging into a colonial-era grave inside a local cemetery. Less than a month after his arrest for this crime, Ricky contracted pneumonia and was treated at Long Island Jewish Hospital. During his hospital stay, his parents tried to convince the doctors to commit him for involuntary psychiatric care. However, the conclusion of the psychiatrists was that Kasso exhibited antisocial behavior but was neither psychotic nor a violent danger, and Kasso was released upon recovering from his bout with pneumonia.


title: Ricky Kasso

text: The conflict between Kasso and Lauwers had started some time earlier when Lauwers stole 10 bags of PCP from Kasso's jacket, after he had passed out at a party. Kasso confronted him soon after the incident, prompting Lauwers to immediately return five of the ten bags of PCP. Lauwers also promised to repay Kasso $50 for the five bags of PCP that had been used. Kasso reportedly beat Lauwers on four occasions. On the night of the murder, Kasso visited the small gazebo in the new Cow Harbor park and borrowed a radio from a friend. He then invited Lauwers to get high with him, Troiano and Quinones. The group walked to Aztakea Woods, set up camp and ingested several doses, or "hits", of what they believed to be mescaline. The drugs they ingested were tablets called "purple microdots", and while they were erroneously referred to as mescaline on the street, they were likely LSD. The teens also smoked several bags of PCP before attempting to start a small fire, but all of the available firewood was too wet and would not ignite. Lauwers used his socks, as well as the sleeves from his denim jacket, as kindling to start the fire.


title: Ricky Kasso

text: At some point during the night, the situation escalated into violence. Kasso scuffled with Lauwers, bit him on the neck and stabbed him in the chest. Kasso continued his assault on Lauwers, and Quinones later claimed that Troiano helped Kasso and held Lauwers during the attack. During subsequent testimony he provided under immunity, Quinones later claimed that Troiano did not assist Kasso. Lauwers was stabbed somewhere between 17 and 36 times and his eyeballs were possibly sliced out during the stabbing. During the attack, Kasso allegedly commanded Lauwers to "Say you love Satan", and Lauwers is said to have instead replied "I love my mother," before finally giving in to Kasso's demands. After the attack, Kasso and Troiano covered Lauwers' body with leaves and small branches and left it in the woods.


title: Ricky Kasso

text: The date of the murder was initially misreported by the police and press as June 16, 1984. In 2018, it was revealed that the murder had actually taken place three days later on June 19.


title: Ricky Kasso

text: In the aftermath, Kasso bragged about the murder to friends. Kasso claimed Satan manifested in the form of a black crow after killing Lauwers, and that the crow had cawed, something he interpreted as Satan's approval of the murder. Kasso even brought several disbelieving teens to view Lauwers' body before he and Troiano returned to the woods to bury the decomposing remains in a shallow grave. However, it wasn't until two weeks went by, on July 1, that the murder was reported to the police via an anonymous tip. On July 4, 1984, police used dogs to search Aztakea Woods and recovered the decomposing and mutilated body of Gary Lauwers. Kasso and Troiano were arrested the next day. On July 7, Kasso committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell.


title: Ricky Kasso

text: Jimmy Troiano signed two confessions that he later recanted. Quinones gave witness account that Troiano helped Kasso during the murder, but later denied this during his testimony at Troiano's trial. Due to Quinones' drugged state at the time of the killing, his testimony was brought into question and Troiano was acquitted of second-degree murder in a trial by jury in April 1985.


title: Elephantiasis

text: Elephantiasis is the enlargement and hardening of limbs or body parts due to tissue swelling. It is characterised by edema, hypertrophy, and fibrosis of skin and subcutaneous tissues, due to obstruction of lymphatic vessels. It may affect the genitalia. The term elephantiasis is often used in reference to (symptoms caused by) parasitic worm infections, but may refer to a variety of diseases where parts of a person's body swell to massive proportions.


title: Lance Storm

text: Lance Timothy Evers (; born April 3, 1969), known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he held a combined 13 total championships (including holding three titles simultaneously in WCW).


title: Lance Storm

text: Storm started his career in 1990, training with Chris Jericho. They worked together in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), forming a tag team known as the Thrillseekers. In 1997, Storm joined ECW, where he worked with Justin Credible as The Impact Players. He stayed with ECW until 2000, then signed with World Championship Wrestling. In WCW, Storm won the United States, Cruiserweight and Hardcore Championships at the same time, renaming them as Canadian, 100 kg and Under Championship, and Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title.


title: Lance Storm

text: When WCW closed, his contract was bought by World Wrestling Federation (WWF), being involved in The Invasion storyline. He kept wrestling with WWF (later WWE) until 2005, when he left. Since then, Storm focused on the independent circuit as well as his training school, the Storm Wrestling Academy, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.


title: Lance Storm

text: Lance Timothy Evers was born in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada on April 3, 1969. Evers graduated from West Ferris Secondary School in North Bay, Ontario, and attended Wilfrid Laurier University School of Business and Economics in Waterloo, playing volleyball throughout.


title: Lance Storm

text: Lance Storm was trained by Ed Langley and Brad Young of the Hart Brothers Wrestling Camp at the Silver Dollar Action Centre in Calgary, where he became friends with fellow student Chris Jericho. Jericho has stated that despite the name of the school, the only involvement any of the Hart brothers had in their training was a "thirty-minute cameo" by Keith Hart to collect the student's fees. Lance would later debut against Jericho in 1990 as Lance T. Storm. Early on, he mainly wrestled in Calgary but also spent time in Japan in Wrestling Association "R". Along with Jericho, Storm debuted in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1994, forming a tag team known as the Thrillseekers. After Jericho was injured, Storm continued to compete in singles competition for a few months, even winning the "Beat the Champ" TV Title. He then left SMW and moved on to a Winnipeg-based West Four Wrestling Alliance, where he teamed once again with Jericho. In 1995, he began wrestling in Japan for WAR. He formed championship teams with Yuji Yasuraoka (with whom he held the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship numerous times), as well as forming a trio with Nobutaka Araya and Koki Kitahara, with whom he held the WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.


title: Lance Storm

text: In 1997, Storm joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), making his debut at Crossing the Line Again against Balls Mahoney. Early in his ECW career, he took part in a match against Rob Van Dam at Barely Legal where he was booed by the crowd for two visibly "weak" chair shots to Van Dam. At Heat Wave, Storm faced Taz for the ECW World Television Championship but failed to win the title. He made a name for himself by becoming a villain and teaming with Chris Candido, and at November to Remember, Storm and Candido defeated Tommy Rogers and Jerry Lynn. The following month, at Better Than Ever, Storm and Candido won the ECW World Tag Team Championship from The Can-Am Express.


title: Lance Storm

text: After losing the titles to Sabu and Rob Van Dam the team broke up and a feud between the two ensued, and at CyberSlam, Storm defeated Candido. At Living Dangerously, Storm and Al Snow defeated Shane Douglas and Candido. At Wrestlepalooza, Storm and Candido defeated The Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks (Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten) to retain the ECW World Tag Team Championship. After losing the titles to Sabu and Rob Van Dam, Storm introduced his valet Tammy Lynn Bytch, a parody of Candido's real life girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch, who appeared in ECW to side with Candido and feuded with Bytch. At November to Remember, Storm defeated Jerry Lynn with Mikey Whipwreck as special guest referee.


title: Lance Storm

text: Following his feud with Candido, Storm joined forces with his trainee Justin Credible in February 1999 at Crossing the Line '99. The duo formed a tag team named The Impact Players. At Living Dangerously, The Impact Players faced Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglas in a losing effort. The stable joined Storm and his valet (now renamed Dawn Marie) with Credible and his manager Jason. They first feuded with Jerry Lynn and Sabu in singles matches and by late 1999, they had begun a violent feud with Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman. The team brutalized many singles stars during this period as well. At Hardcore Heaven, Storm defeated Tommy Dreamer. At Heat Wave, The Impact Players faced Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn in a losing effort. At Anarchy Rulz, Storm defeated Jerry Lynn. At November to Remember, The Impact Players and Rhino defeated Raven, Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman in the night's main event. At Guilty as Charged, The Impact Players defeated Tommy Dreamer and Raven for their first of two World Tag Team Championship reigns. After losing the titles to Tommy Dreamer and Masato Tanaka they won them back at Living Dangerously where The Impact Players defeated Raven and Mike Awesome and Tommy Dreamer and Masato Tanaka in a Three-Way Dance. However they lost the titles to Tommy Dreamer and Masato Tanaka on February 26, 2000. During this time, Storm also gained a position as a booker in ECW and had a hand in much of the product content on television and pay-per-view. At Hardcore Heaven, Storm challenged his former tag team partner Justin Credible for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship but failed to win the title. After the company began to suffer financial hardships, Storm left ECW for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in order to support his family.


title: Lance Storm

text: Storm left ECW in 2000 to join WCW, where he became a singles wrestler. He made his first appearance on the June 19, 2000 episode of "Nitro" and quickly became one of WCW's most prominent stars, winning the United States Heavyweight Championship, the Cruiserweight Championship, and the Hardcore Championship in rapid succession, resulting in Storm becoming the first and only wrestler in WCW history to hold three titles simultaneously. As an affront to the fans, he renamed the titles to the Canadian Heavyweight Championship, 100 kg and Under Championship, and Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title (S.H.I.T.), respectively, complete with large Canadian flag stickers that covered the belts' faceplates. Storm then formed the group called Team Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during New Blood Rising on August 13, where he defended the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in a match with Mike Awesome. The match was refereed by the Canadian Jacques Rougeau, who enabled Storm to defeat Awesome and retain his title by constantly changing the rules. Following the match, the semi-retired Canadian wrestler Bret Hart came to the ring and hugged Storm and Rougeau. At Fall Brawl, Storm defeated General Rection with Jim Duggan as the referee, with Duggan turning on M.I.A and joining Team Canada. He also attempted to win the World Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by champion Booker T on each occasion. Storm eventually awarded the Cruiserweight and Hardcore titles by presenting them to his Team Canada stablemates Elix Skipper and Carl Ouellet, respectively. At Halloween Havoc, Storm and Jim Duggan lost to General Rection in a Handicap match losing the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship and to free Major Gunns from Team Canada. On the November 13 edition of "Nitro", Storm defeated General Rection to win the US title back. At Mayhem, General Rection defeated Storm for the title. At Starrcade, Storm defeated Ernest Miller.


title: Lance Storm

text: Storm's stable Team Canada feuded with General Rection's stable, the Misfits In Action, for several months. at Sin, Team Canada (Lance Storm, Mike Awesome and Elix Skipper) (with Major Gunns) defeated The Filthy Animals (Konnan, Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Billy Kidman) (with Tygress) in a Penalty Box match with Jim Duggan as special guest referee, In particular, Storm and Rection feuded with each other over Storm's "Canadian" Heavyweight Title, which Rection finally won and promptly returned to the United States Heavyweight Title name. At SuperBrawl Revenge, Storm faced The Cat where he lost and The Cat became the new Commissioner of WCW. at WCW's final PPV Greed, Team Canada (Lance Storm and Mike Awesome) defeated Konnan and Hugh Morrus. The pay-per-view event took place eight days before the final episode of "Nitro" and three days before the final episode of "Thunder". On the final episode of "Nitro", Team Canada (Lance Storm and Mike Awesome) challenged for the WCW World Tag Team Championship against Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo but failed to win the titles.


title: Lance Storm

text: When WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 2001, Storm's contract was kept and he became a WWF employee. Storm, portrayed as a serious, humourless heel, was in The Alliance and was the first WCW superstar to ever invade a WWF program, where he debuted on the May 28, 2001 episode of "Raw". At Invasion, Storm and Mike Awesome faced Edge and Christian in a losing effort. Storm received a modest push during the Invasion angle, as he would go on to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Albert on the July 23 episode of "Raw". He lost the title a month later to Edge at SummerSlam, Storm formed a tag team with The Hurricane and feuded with the Hardy Boyz over the WWF and WCW Tag Team Titles for the next few months; at Unforgiven, Storm and The Hurricane competed in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match for the WWF Tag Team Championship but failed to win, this later included a match for the WCW Tag Team Championship against the Hardy Boyz at No Mercy, which Storm and Hurricane lost. Eventually, at Rebellion, Storm and Justin Credible faced Billy and Chuck in a losing effort. At Survivor Series, Storm competed in an Immunity Battle Royal that was won by Test, where the winner could not be fired for a year. However, Team Alliance lost in the main event and Storm was fired (in storyline) along with the rest of the Alliance roster by Vince McMahon. Storm eventually got his job back officially on the December 17 edition of "Raw" when he defeated The Rock with help from Test in a match that earned him a WWF contract. On the December 27 episode of "SmackDown!", Storm and Kurt Angle lost to The Rock and Rob Van Dam.


title: Lance Storm

text: Storm remained a heel and on the January 17, 2002 edition of "SmackDown!", Storm and Christian faced Rikishi in a 2 on 1 Over The Top Rope Challenge which Rikishi won. At the Royal Rumble, Storm competed in the Royal Rumble match where he was eliminated by Al Snow. At No Way Out, Storm and Christian competed in a Tag Team Turmoil match which was won by The APA.


title: Lance Storm

text: In June 2002 he formed The Un-Americans along with Christian, Test, and later William Regal. During this angle, Storm and Christian won the WWE Tag Team Championship on July 21 at Vengeance by defeating Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Edge. On the August 5 edition of "Raw", Storm and Christian retained the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Hardy Boyz by disqualification. On the August 12 edition of "Raw", The Un-Americans and Triple H defeated Booker T, The Undertaker, Goldust and The Rock in an 8-man tag team match. At SummerSlam, Storm and Christian defeated Booker T and Goldust to retain the titles. On the September 9 edition of "Raw", Storm and Christian defeated Kane and Bradshaw when Regal hit Bradshaw with a pair of brass knuckles and joined the group. At Unforgiven, The Un-Americans (Storm, Christian, Regal, and Test) faced Kane, Goldust, Booker T, and Bubba Ray Dudley in a losing effort. Storm and Christian lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to Kane and The Hurricane on the September 23 episode of "Raw". Eventually, the stable broke apart on the September 30 episode of "Raw" after they each lost their respective matches, leading to a brawl involving all the members of the group.


title: Lance Storm

text: Storm continued teaming with Regal as a regular tag team with the same anti-American gimmick; Storm would represent Canada and Regal represented England. At Armageddon, Storm and Regal competed in a fatal-four-way tag team elimination match for the World Tag Team Championship but failed to win the titles. The next month, the duo won the World Tag Team Championship on two separate occasions. The first was by defeating Booker T and Goldust on the January 6, 2003 episode of "Raw" with help from Chief Morley, who was appointed "Raw Chief of Staff", but they lost the title at the Royal Rumble to The Dudley Boyz. Storm and Regal began their second reign as World Tag Team Champions the next night on "Raw" by defeating the Dudley Boyz with help from Morley again. At No Way Out, Storm and Regal defeated Kane and Rob Van Dam to retain the titles. On the March 24 episode of "Raw", Morley announced that since the belts had not been defended in 30 days due to Regal's legitimate health problems, the duo would be stripped of the title. He immediately named himself and Lance Storm the new World Tag Team Champions starting Storm's fourth tag team title reign. The following week on the March 31 episode of "Raw", Storm and Morley faced Kane and Rob Van Dam and The Dudley Boyz in a 3-Way Elimination match, dropping the titles to Kane and Van Dam. At Judgment Day, Storm competed in a Battle Royal for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship which was won by Christian.


title: Lance Storm

text: From there, Storm was briefly involved in a storyline in which Stone Cold Steve Austin, an authority figure, encouraged the fans to chant "boring" during Storm's matches including one with Storm losing to newcomer Garrison Cade on June 16, 2003, thanks to Austin bringing out a pillow and blanket and snoring loudly into the microphone, and other distracting antics. Storm eventually found help from Goldust who helped improve Storm's charisma, which eventually turned Storm into a face and Storm started dancing. He soon rejoined Morley, who had also become a face and reverted to his Val Venis character. Their reformed team began entering the ring with very attractive women but this time their tag team never got a push. Storm and Goldust then began teaming together for a short period of time. At Armageddon, Storm and Val Venis competed in a Tag Team Turmoil match for the World Tag Team Championship which was won by Ric Flair and Batista. From December 2003 to March 2004, Storm mainly competed on "Sunday Night Heat".


title: Lance Storm

text: Storm eventually turned heel once again by betraying the fans. This happened when he told them of how he was sick and tired of pleasing them with his dancing and how it was just a waste of his time on an episode of "Raw" following the 2004 WWE draft lottery, only to be squashed by Rhyno immediately thereafter, thus turning Rhyno into a face once again. This would turn out to be Storm's last appearance on "Raw".


title: Lance Storm

text: In April 2004, Storm chose to retire from in-ring action. His last match was on April 19, 2004, and he faced Steven Richards at the Calgary Saddledome. He then accepted a position backstage with WWE, working as a wrestling trainer in Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE's main developmental territory.


title: Lance Storm

text: On March 23, 2005, Storm came out of retirement to participate in a six-man tag team match with Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro against fellow ECW alumni Tommy Dreamer and the Dudley Boyz. On April 9, 2005, in Cloverport, Kentucky, Storm teamed with Matt Cappotelli to face Mercury and Nitro.


title: Lance Storm

text: Storm resigned from WWE in May 2005 and announced that he intended to open his own training school in his hometown of Calgary, the Storm Wrestling Academy, with the first semester beginning in September 2005. He returned to WWE for one night on May 30, 2005, and faced Maven on "Sunday Night Heat". Storm wrestled one last time on a WWE-promoted show at ECW One Night Stand on June 12, 2005, where he defeated his close friend and former tag team partner Chris Jericho with the help of Justin Credible.


title: Lance Storm

text: Since leaving WWE, Storm has made several appearances on the independent circuit. At Hardcore Homecoming on November 4, 2005, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Storm interfered in a steel cage match between Justin Credible and Jerry Lynn, helping Credible defeat Lynn. At the December 3, 2005 Ring of Honor show "Steel Cage Warfare" in New York, New York, Storm congratulated World Champion Bryan Danielson following a successful title defense against Rocky Romero. On April 1, 2006, at "Better Than Our Best", Storm returned to Ring of Honor to face Danielson for the World Championship in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to the event, Storm commended Bryan Danielson and said that he is the one person to make him come out of retirement. Danielson defeated Storm by submission to retain the championship. ROH fans were appreciative of Storm's efforts and chanted "You've still got it" as a tribute.


title: Lance Storm

text: May 26 and 27 saw Storm work for the United Kingdom-based wrestling promotion One Pro Wrestling (1PW). On May 26, he teamed with Andy Boy Simmonz, who substituted for Justin Credible due to Credible missing a flight, in a first round match of the Tag Team Championship tournament. Storm and Simmonz lost to eventual finalists A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels. The next night, Storm lost to Doug Williams in a singles match.


title: Lance Storm

text: Storm has made rare indy appearances for Northern Ontario-based promotion Blood, Sweat & Ears. On December 3, 2006, in Mississauga, Ontario, he lost to Christian Cage and suffered a throat injury due to a stiff clothesline. On July 21, 2007, he defeated Christopher Daniels before defeating Robert Roode on August 11, 2007.


title: Lance Storm

text: On July 3, 2009, it was announced that Storm would be coming out of retirement to perform at two Ring of Honor shows on July 24 and 25, "Death Before Dishonor VII: Nights 1 and 2" respectively. On July 24, Storm and fellow Canadian Kevin Steen defeated Chris Hero and Davey Richards and on July 25, Storm was defeated by Hero in a one-on-one grudge match. Following the match, Storm cut an emotional promo, and later announced his belief that this would be his last match, saying "I shared this match with people who share my love and respect for this business, and I am now home being Lance Evers with the family I will share the rest of my life with. I still have my school, and I will always be a part of this business, but I truly believe I am now done as a performer. They say, never say never in this business, and because of that I won’t, but I think I left it all in the ring that night and I believe I wrote the final page in the 19-year long book that was the career of Lance Storm."


title: Lance Storm

text: In November 2009, Lance Storm announced he had accepted the position as the head booker of the Prairie Wrestling Alliance, a promotion that operates out of Edmonton. PWA and the Storm Wrestling Academy had also begun working together very closely.


title: Lance Storm

text: On April 3, 2010, Storm came out of retirement to wrestle his friend Bryan Alvarez at a Tulalip Championship Wrestling event. Storm was defeated in the match, which he wrestled under a mask as The Ideal Canadian. On March 19, 2011, Storm made a return to the ring at PWA's 10th anniversary show, teaming with Brother Devon in a tag team match, where they defeated Bully Ray and Dylan Knight. On August 27, 2011, Storm came out of retirement to work a short match with Tommy Dreamer. Storm returned to ROH again on March 30, 2012, for the Showdown in the Sun pay-per-view, losing to Mike Bennett when Maria Kanellis interfered. He wrestled Bennett again at the following ROH PPV, Border Wars, this time coming out victorious. At the June 29 tapings of "Ring of Honor Wrestling", Bennett defeated Storm following interference from "Brutal" Bob and Maria in the final match of their trilogy.


title: Lance Storm

text: On January 18, 2013, Storm worked for the Hart Legacy promotion in Calgary, taking part in a six-man tag team match, where Storm and the Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith, Jr. and Lance Archer) defeated Bobby Lashley, Chris Masters and Johnny Devine. On June 22, Storm worked for the House of Hardcore promotion, losing to its founder Tommy Dreamer in a main event singles match. On November 9, 2013, Storm and Sean Waltman were defeated by Dreamer and Terry Funk at House of Hardcore 3. On June 14, 2014, Storm faced Mike Bennett in a losing effort at House of Hardcore 6.


title: Lance Storm

text: On December 15, 2013, Storm was defeated by Chris Hero at a Smash Wrestling event. On December 21, 2013, Storm defeated Dan Collins at an EWP Wrestling event. on September 20, 2014, Storm and Justin Credible faced Alex and Kyle Reynolds for the PWS tag team championship but failed to win the titles. On October 3, 2015, at WWE's Live from MSG special event, Storm was acknowledged in the crowd by Chris Jericho, thus making his first WWE appearance since 2005.


title: Lance Storm

text: On March 16, 2016, Storm challenged Jay Lethal for the ROH World Championship in a losing effort for the Prairie Wrestling Alliance (PWA) 15th Anniversary Show.


title: Lance Storm

text: On April 2, 2016, Storm, managed by Missy Hyatt, took part in the 2016 WrestleCon, losing to Matt Hardy, in what would be his final match.


title: Lance Storm

text: In March 2019, Storm revealed he was working with Impact Wrestling as a producer. He was also part of the Rebellion PPV where he was chosen to be the special guest referee for the World Championship match involving Johnny Impact and Brian Cage. The latter won the match and became the champion.


title: Lance Storm

text: On November 2, 2019, Storm announced that he was returning to WWE to work as a producer. On the February 7, 2020 episode of "SmackDown" he appeared in a prerecorded video shown during "The Dirt Sheet".


title: Lance Storm

text: Storm writes a monthly column for British wrestling and MMA publication "Fighting Spirit magazine". Since 2005, Lance has been a regular guest on podcasts available through the Figure Four Weekly / Wrestling Observer web site, as well as a frequent guest on the nationally airing Wrestling Observer Live radio show. In 2011, Storm and ten of his Storm Wrestling Academy students were featured in a ten-part reality television show, "World of Hurt", which premiered on The Cave on May 1. In 2011, Storm published an E-book for the Amazon Kindle, titled "Storm Warning", which is a collection of columns from his website. He later released a second volume, titled "Storm Front" which covers stories from his WWE career from 2001 to 2004.


title: Lance Storm

text: Storm has made appearances on the WWE Network original The Edge and Christian Show, first playing the role of representative of WWE's PG department, then appearing briefly on the season finale.


title: Lance Storm

text: On October 18, 2016, Storm debuted a new podcast with longtime friend Don Callis called "Killing the Town with Storm and Cyrus." The show is part of The Jericho Network on PodcastOne.


title: Danish Defence

text: Danish Defence (, , ) is the unified armed forces of the Kingdom of Denmark charged with the defence of Denmark and its constituent, self-governing nations Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Defence also promote Denmark's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid.


title: Danish Defence

text: Since the creation of a standing military in 1510, the armed forces have seen action in many wars, most involving Sweden, but also involving the world's great powers, including the Thirty Years' War, the Great Northern War, and the Napoleonic Wars.


title: Danish Defence

text: Today, Danish Defence consists of: the Royal Danish Army, Denmark's principal land warfare branch; the Royal Danish Navy, a blue-water navy with a fleet of 20 commissioned ships; and the Royal Danish Air Force, an air force with an operational fleet consisting of both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. The Defence also includes the Home Guard. Under the Danish Defence Law the Minister of Defence serves as the commander of Danish Defence (through the Chief of Defence and the Defence Command) and the Danish Home Guard (through the Home Guard Command). De facto the Danish Cabinet is the commanding authority of the Defence, though it cannot mobilize the armed forces, for purposes that are not strictly defence oriented, without the consent of parliament.


title: Danish Defence

text: The modern Danish military can be traced back to 1510, with the creation of the Royal Danish Navy. During this time, the Danish Kingdom held considerable territories, including Schleswig-Holstein, Norway, and colonies in Africa and the Americas.


title: Danish Defence

text: Following the defeat in the Second Schleswig War, the military became a political hot-button issue. Denmark managed to maintain its neutrality during the First World War, with a relative strong military force. However, following the Interwar period, a more pacifistic government came to power, decreasing the size of the military. This resulted in Denmark having a limited military, when Denmark was invaded in 1940.


title: Danish Defence

text: Since the establishment of the Danish military, the two branches operated independently, without much cooperation. They both had their own ministry, and their own air force. It was only after the lessons of World War II, the branches were reorganized, and collected under the newly created Danish Defence. This was to ensure a unified command when conducting joint operations, as learned from the War.


title: Danish Defence

text: Denmark tried to remain neutral after World War II, with the proposed Scandinavian defence union. However, Norway resigned from the talks, and with Cold War tensions on the rise and the 1948 Easter Crisis, Denmark was forced to join the North Atlantic Treaty. During the Cold War, Denmark began to rebuild its military and to prepare for possible attacks by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. During this time Denmark participated in a number of UN peacekeeping missions including UNEF and UNFICYP.


title: Danish Defence

text: Following the end of the Cold War, Denmark began a more active foreign policy, deciding to participate in international operations. This began with the participation in the Bosnian War, where the Royal Danish Army served as part of the United Nations Protection Force and were in two skirmishes. This was the first time the Danish Army was a part of a combat operation since World War 2. On April 29, 1994, the Royal Danish Army, while on an operation to relieve an observation post as part of the United Nations Protection Force, the Jutland Dragoon Regiment came under artillery fire from the town of Kalesija. The United Nations Protection Force quickly returned fire and eliminated the artillery positions. On October 24, 1994, the Royal Danish Army, while on an operation to reinforce an observation post in the town of Gradačac, were fired upon by a T-55 Bosnian Serb tank. One of the three Danish Leopard 1 tanks experienced slight damage, but all returned fired and put the T-55 tank out of action.


title: Danish Defence

text: With the September 11 attacks, Denmark joined US forces in the War on terror, participating in both the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War. In Afghanistan, 37 soldiers have been killed in various hostile engagements or as a result of friendly fire, and 6 have been killed in non-combat related incidents, bringing the number of Danish fatalities to 43, being the highest loss per capita within the coalition forces. Denmark has since participated in Operation Ocean Shield, the 2011 military intervention in Libya and the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War.


title: Danish Defence

text: The purpose and task of the armed forces of Denmark is defined in Law no. 122 of February 27, 2001 and in force since March 1, 2001. It defines three purposes and six tasks.


title: Danish Defence

text: Its primary purpose is to prevent conflicts and war, preserve the sovereignty of Denmark, secure the continuing existence and integrity of the independent Kingdom of Denmark and further a peaceful development in the world with respect to human rights.


title: Danish Defence

text: Its primary tasks are: NATO participation in accordance with the strategy of the alliance, detect and repel any sovereignty violation of Danish territory (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), defence cooperation with non-NATO members, especially Central and East European countries, international missions in the area of conflict prevention, crisis-control, humanitarian, peacemaking, peacekeeping, participation in "Total Defence" in cooperation with civilian resources and finally maintenance of a sizable force to execute these tasks at all times.


title: Danish Defence

text: Total Defence () is "the use of all resources in order to maintain an organized and functional society, and to protect the population and values of society". This is achieved by combining the military, Home Guard, Danish Emergency Management Agency and elements of the police. The concept of total defence was created following World War II, where it was clear that the defence of the country could not only rely on the military, but there also need to be other measures to ensure a continuation of society. As a part of the Total Defence, all former conscripts can be recalled to duty, in order to serve in cases of emergency.


title: Danish Defence

text: Since 1988, Danish defence budgets and security policy have been set by multi-year white paper agreements supported by a wide parliamentary majority including government and opposition parties. However, public opposition to increases in defence spending—during periods of economic constraints require reduced spending for social welfare — has created differences among the political parties regarding a broadly acceptable level of new defence expenditure.


title: Danish Defence

text: The latest Defence agreement ("Defence Agreement 2018–23") was signed 28 January 2018, and calls for an increase in spending, cyber security and capabilities to act in international operations and international stabilization efforts. The reaction speed is increased, with an entire brigade on standby readiness; the military retains the capability to continually deploy 2,000 soldiers in international service or 5,000 over a short time span. The standard mandatory conscription is expanded to include 500 more, with some of these having a longer service time, with more focus on national challenges.


title: Danish Defence

text: In 2006 the Danish military budget was the fifth largest single portion of the Danish Government's total budget, significantly less than that of the Ministry of Social Affairs (≈110 billion DKK), Ministry of Employment (≈67 billion DKK), Ministry of the Interior and Health (≈66 billion DKK) and Ministry of Education (≈30 billion DKK) and only slightly larger than that of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (≈14 billion DKK). This list lists the complete expenditures for the Danish Ministry of Defence.


title: Danish Defence

text: The Danish Defence Force, counting all branches and all departments, itself has an income equal to about 1–5% of its expenditures, depending on the year. They are not deducted in this listing.


title: Danish Defence

text: Approximately 95% of the budget goes directly to running the Danish military including the Home guard. Depending on year, 50–53% accounts for payment to personnel, roughly 14–21% on acquiring new material, 2–8% for larger ships, building projects or infrastructure and about 24–27% on other items, including purchasing of goods, renting, maintenance, services and taxes.


title: Danish Defence

text: The remaining 5% is special expenditures to NATO, branch shared expenditures, special services and civil structures, here in including running the Danish Maritime Safety Administration, Danish Emergency Management Agency and the Administration of Conscientious Objectors (Militærnægteradministrationen).


title: Danish Defence

text: Because Denmark has a small and highly specialized military industry, the vast majority of Danish Defence's equipment is imported from NATO and the Nordic countries.


title: Danish Defence

text: The Danish Royal Army () consists of 2 brigades, organised into 3 regiments, and a number of support centres, all commanded through the Army Staff. The army is a mixture of Mechanized infantry and Armoured cavalry with a limited capabilities in Armoured warfare.


title: Danish Defence

text: The army also provides protection for the Danish royal family, in the form of the Royal Guard Company and the Guard Hussar Regiment Mounted Squadron.


title: Danish Defence

text: The Royal Danish Navy () consists of frigates, patrol vessels, mine-countermeasure vessels, and other miscellaneous vessels, many of which are issued with the modular mission payload system StanFlex. The navy's chief responsibility is maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish, Greenlandic and Faroese territorial waters.


title: Danish Defence

text: The Home Guard is voluntary service responsible for defence of the country, but has since 2008 also supported the army, in Afghanistan and Kosovo.


title: Danish Defence

text: Women in the military can be traced back to 1946, with the creation of "Lottekorpset". This corps allowed women to serve, however, without entering with the normal armed forces, and they were not allowed to carry weapons. In 1962, women were allowed in the military.


title: Danish Defence

text: Currently 1,122 or 7.3% of all personnel in the armed forces are women. Women do not have to serve conscription in Denmark, since 1998, it is however possible to serve under conscription-like circumstances; 17% of those serving conscription or conscription-like are women. Between 1991 and 31 December 2017, 1,965 women have been deployed to different international missions. Of those 3 women have lost their lives. In 1998, Police Constable Gitte Larsen was killed in Hebron on the West Bank. In 2003, "Overkonstabel" Susanne Lauritzen was killed in a traffic accident in Kosovo. In 2010, the first woman was killed in a combat situation, when "Konstabel" Sophia Bruun was killed by an IED in Afghanistan.


title: Danish Defence

text: In 2005, Line Bonde became the first female fighter pilot in Denmark. In 2016, Lone Træholt became the first female general. She was the only female general in the Danish armed forces until the army promoted Jette Albinus to the rank of brigadier general on 11 September 2017.


title: Danish Defence

text: In May 2018, the Royal Life Guards was forced to lower the height requirements for women, as the Danish Institute of Human Rights decided it was discrimination.


title: Danish Defence

text: Technically all Danish 18-year-old males are conscripts (37,897 in 2010, of whom 53% were considered suitable for duty). Due to the large number of volunteers, 96-99% of the number required in the past three years, the number of men actually called up is relatively low (4,200 in 2012). There were additionally 567 female volunteers in 2010, who pass training on "conscript-like" conditions.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: An air gap, air wall, air gapping or disconnected network is a network security measure employed on one or more computers to ensure that a secure computer network is physically isolated from unsecured networks, such as the public Internet or an unsecured local area network. It means a computer or network has no network interface controllers connected to other networks, with a physical or conceptual air gap, analogous to the air gap used in plumbing to maintain water quality.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: An "air-gapped" computer or network is one that has no network interfaces, either wired or wireless, connected to outside networks. Many computers, even when they are not plugged into a wired network, have a wireless network interface controller (WiFi) and are connected to nearby wireless networks to access the Internet and update software. This represents a security vulnerability, so air-gapped computers either have their wireless interface controller permanently disabled or physically removed. To move data between the outside world and the air-gapped system, it is necessary to write data to a physical medium such as a thumbdrive, and physically move it between computers. Physical access has to be controlled (man identity and storage media itself). It is easier to control than a direct full network interface, which can be attacked from the exterior insecure system and, if malware infects the secure system, can be used to export secure data. That's why some new hardware technologies are also available like unidirectional data diodes or bidirectional diodes (also called electronic airgaps), that physically separate the network and transportation layers and copy and filter the application data.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: In environments where networks or devices are rated to handle different levels of classified information, the two disconnected devices or networks are referred to as "low side" and "high side", "low" being unclassified and "high" referring to classified, or classified at a higher level. This is also occasionally referred to as "red" (classified) and "black" (unclassified). Access policies are often based on the Bell–LaPadula confidentiality model, where data can be moved low-to-high with minimal security measures, while high-to-low requires much more stringent procedures to ensure protection of the data at a higher level of classification. In some cases (for instance industrial critical systems), the policy is different: data can be moved from high-to-low with minimal security measures, but low-to-high requires a high level of procedures to ensure integrity of the industrial safety system.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: The concept represents nearly the maximum protection one network can have from another (save turning the device off). One way to transfer data between the outside world and the air-gapped system is to copy data on a removable storage medium such as a removable disk or USB flash drive and physically carry the storage to the other system. This access still has to be carefully controlled since USB drive may have vulnerabilities (see below). The upside to this is that such a network can generally be regarded as a closed system (in terms of information, signals, and emissions security), unable to be accessed from the outside world. The downside is that transferring information (from the outside world) to be analyzed by computers on the secure network is extraordinarily labor-intensive, often involving human security analysis of prospective programs or data to be entered onto air-gapped networks and possibly even human manual re-entry of the data following security analysis. That's why another way to transfer data, used in appropriate situations like critical industries, is to use data diodes and electronic airgaps, that assure a physical cut of the network by a specific hardware.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: Sophisticated computer viruses for use in cyberwarfare, such as Stuxnet and agent.btz have been designed to infect air-gapped systems by exploiting security holes related to the handling of removable media. The possibility of using acoustic communication has also been demonstrated by researchers. Researchers have also demonstrated the feasibility of data exfiltration using FM frequency signals.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: Many of these systems have since added features that connect them during limited periods of time to the organisation's internet (for the need of surveillance or updates) or the public internet, and are no longer effectively and permanently air gapped, including thermostats with internet connections and automobiles with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and cellular phone connectivity.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: Limitations imposed on devices used in these environments may include a ban on wireless connections to or from the secure network, or similar restrictions on EM leakage from the secure network through the use of TEMPEST or a Faraday cage.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: Despite a lack of direct connection to other systems, air-gapped networks have been shown to be vulnerable to attack in various circumstances.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: Scientists in 2013 demonstrated the viability of air gap malware designed to defeat air gap isolation using acoustic signaling. Shortly after that, network security researcher Dragos Ruiu's BadBIOS received press attention.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: In 2014, researchers introduced "AirHopper", a bifurcated attack pattern showing the feasibility of data exfiltration from an isolated computer to a nearby mobile phone, using FM frequency signals.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: In 2015, BitWhisper, a covert signaling channel between air-gapped computers using thermal manipulations was introduced. BitWhisper supports bidirectional communication and requires no additional dedicated peripheral hardware.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: Later in 2015, researchers introduced GSMem, a method for exfiltrating data from air-gapped computers over cellular frequencies. The transmission - generated by a standard internal bus - renders the computer into a small cellular transmitter antenna.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: "ProjectSauron" malware discovered in 2016 demonstrates how an infected USB device can be used to remotely leak data off of an air-gapped computer. The malware remained undetected for 5 years and relied on hidden partitions on a USB drive not visible to Windows as a transport channel between the air-gapped computer and a computer connected to the internet, presumably as a way to share files between the two systems.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: "NFCdrip" was the name given to the discovery of stealthy data exfiltration through NFC (Near-field communication) radio abuse and signal detection in 2018. Although NFC enables devices to establish effective communication by bringing them within a few centimeters of each other, researchers showed that it can be abused to transmit information at a much longer range than expected - up to 100 meters.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: In general, malware can exploit various hardware combinations to leak sensitive information from air-gapped systems using "air-gap covert channels". These hardware combinations use a number of different media to bridge the air-gap, including: acoustic, light, seismic, magnetic, thermal, and radio-frequency.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: From a security perspective, the main drawback of an air gapped network is the inability of software to automatically self update. Users and system administrators must instead download and install updates manually. If a strict update routine is not followed, this results in out-of-date software running on the network, which may contain known security vulnerabilities. If an adversary manages to gain access to the air gapped network (for instance by contacting a disgruntled employee or using social engineering) they may be able to quickly spread within the air gapped network using such vulnerabilities with a possibly higher success rate than on the public Internet.


title: Air gap (networking)

text: System administrators may manage software updates in an air gapped network using dedicated solutions such as Windows Server Update Services or network logon scripts. Such mechanisms would allow all computers on the air gapped network to automatically install updates after the system administrator downloads the updates from the Internet once. The problem is not completely eliminated though, especially if users have administrative privileges on their local workstations and are therefore able to install software which is not centrally managed. The presence of IoT devices requiring firmware updates can also complicate matters, since often such updates cannot be centrally managed.


title: Holos (political party)

text: Holos (), translated as Voice or Vote, is a liberal and pro-European political party in Ukraine, which was led by Ukrainian musician Svyatoslav Vakarchuk until March 2020. The party won 20 MPs in the 2019 parliamentary election and became part of the opposition in the current Ukrainian parliament. The party split late July 2021 and seven MPs were expelled from the party. As of September 2021, only nine of the party's 20 seats in the Verkhovna Rada are held by MPs who are loyal to the party; the remaining 11 are held by MPs who have formed a breakaway group called Justice (; "Spravedlyvist").


title: Holos (political party)

text: The name of the party has two meanings in the Ukrainian language - "voice" and "vote". The founder of the party, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, said that the name of the party was chosen because this word characterizes Ukrainian voters and their desire for change in the country:


title: Holos (political party)

text: The party was presented to the public on 16 May 2019 in Kyiv and announced it would run in the upcoming July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. Legally, Holos is an "upgraded" version of the party "Platform of Initiatives" that was founded in 2015 to take part in the 2015 Ukrainian local elections. The creation of the party marks Vakarchuk's second venture into politics – he previously served as an MP for almost a year after being elected in the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election.


title: Holos (political party)

text: The party was first featured in the opinion polling carried out from 16 to 21 May 2019, its rating was 4.6%.


title: Holos (political party)

text: The party held its first congress on 8 June 2019, at which part of its party list for the then forthcoming elections was announced. The top 10 candidates were as follows: 1) Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, 2) Yulia Klimenko, 3) Kira Rudyk, 4) Yaroslav Zheleznyak, 5) Oleksandra Ustinova, 6) Oleh Makarov, 7) Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, 8) Serhiy Rakhmanin, 9) Solomiya Bobrovska, and 10) Olha Stefanyshyna. Prior to the congress, the Ukrainian Galician Party and Voice agreed to cooperate, Ukrainian Galician Party members ran as Voice candidates in single-member constituencies and were added to Voice's national electoral list. On 12 June, the party withdrew two of its constituency candidates because they had "affiliated with or co-operated with pro-Russian forces", namely Ukrainian Choice and the Opposition Bloc. Party leader Vakarchuk had assured on 19 May 2019 that no incumbent MPs would be on the party's list for the 2019 parliamentary election. However, such deputies, whose political views coincided with the party's ideology, were allowed to be elected by majority constituencies. In the election, four incumbent MPs stood as candidates for the party in majority constituencies: Victoria Voytsitska, Pavlo Rizanenko, Victoria Ptashnyk, and Leonid Yemets. None of them were elected.


title: Holos (political party)

text: In the 2019 parliamentary election, Voice finished with 5.82% of the vote, 17 MPs elected nationwide and three MPs elected in a constituency. 47.6% of the party's elected deputies are women.


title: Holos (political party)

text: On 11 March 2020, Vakarchuk stepped aside as head of the party. Voice selected Kira Rudyk as its new leader. Vakarchuk left parliament in June 2020, stating that his "mission" (bringing new people with new politics into parliament) was complete.


title: Holos (political party)

text: The party was admitted to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) on 18 November 2020.


title: Holos (political party)

text: In the October 2020 Ukrainian local elections, Voice had some local success, having led its factions to the Lviv Oblast Council, to the city councils of Kyiv, Lviv, Cherkasy, and a number of other city councils, including even in the Donbas. The party's mayoral candidate made it to the second round of the election in Cherkasy, which he lost. The party failed to get into the Top-10 of parties that won the most seats in the election (10th place on this list was the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko who won 1.62% of the available seats, which was 535 seats). The party's mayoral candidate for Kyiv, showman Serhiy Prytula, failed to win in the city, coming third with less than 8% of the vote. In June 2021, he quit the party, claiming it had "moved so far away from our initial principles."


title: Holos (political party)

text: In January 2021, the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) blocked the payment of state funds to the party's accounts. The NAPC found agreements and acts of work performed by contractors and the payment of rent for three offices to be illegal.


title: Holos (political party)

text: In June 2021, 10 of the party's 20 MPs announced that they would create a separate association named Justice (; "Spravedlyvist") and expressed their lack of confidence in faction leader Yaroslav Zhelezniak. In addition, three of the party's regional branches called on party leader Kira Rudyk to resign and demanded that the party hold a congress to select a new leader. The party responded by admitting that it was "going through a difficult period" and announcing a congress at which the conflict within Voice will be addressed. The split was triggered by the decision of five of the party's MPs (including Rudyk and Zhelezniak) to vote in favour of the ruling party's initiative to delay the introduction of Ukrainian language quotas for the country's film industry; the dissenting MPs called this "betrayal" and a "vote for Russification".


title: Holos (political party)

text: In late July 2021, a group made up of 11 of the party's MPs attempted to replace faction leader Yaroslav Zhelezniak with his deputy, Roman Kostenko, as acting head of the faction. This move failed because for the faction leader to be replaced, firstly two-thirds of the faction have to vote (in this case, 14 MPs), and secondly such a decision can only be made at a faction meeting. A statement countering the attempt was signed by the remaining MPs, including Zhelezniak and Kostenko.


title: Holos (political party)

text: At the party congress of 29 July 2021 it was decided to expel seven of the party MPs. Five of the expelled MPs had already written statements to leave the party. The expelled members were dissatisfied with, according to them, the "cementing of Kira Rudyk's control over the party." At the same meeting, 86% of the delegates expressed their confidence in Rudyk as the party leader.


title: Holos (political party)

text: As of September 2021, only nine of the party's 20 seats in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's national parliament) are held by MPs who are loyal to the party; the remaining 11 are held by MPs who are part of "Spravedlyvist".


title: Holos (political party)

text: On 15 December 2021, Voice lost its appeal to the Supreme Court of Ukraine to roll back the January 2021 blocking of the payment of state funds to the party's accounts by the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC). The court verdict remanded the case for retrial, but allowed the NAPC to continue blocking the funds.


title: Holos (political party)

text: On 2 February 2022, party leader Kira Rudyk stated that a criminal case had been opened against the party regarding its economic activities. In comments on the party's official site Rudyk stated that the case was politically motivated, and that Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation was "systematically attempting to muzzle those who criticise the government while ignoring cases involving 'Ze-friends'".


title: Holos (political party)

text: The party declares a democratic approach, supporting the separation of money from politics. In economic matters, the party is in favor of introducing a tax on withdrawn capital, a land market, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and the fight against illegal customs and tax schemes.


title: Holos (political party)

text: Party leader Vakarchuk stated on 10 June 2019 that the party wants to abolish the current Ukrainian election constituencies (in which 225 seats are elected in constituencies with a first-past-the-post electoral system in one round), instead favoring a shift to full open list proportional representation.


title: Holos (political party)

text: According to the analysis of human rights activist Volodymyr Yavorsky, the party's program pays great attention to human rights, while there are no populist statements in it.


title: Holos (political party)

text: According to experts from the Center for Economic Strategy Dmytro Yablonovsky and Daria Mikhailishin, the program focuses on combating corruption through de-oligarchization and by increasing the efficiency of the state through the introduction of modern technologies.


title: Holos (political party)

text: In November 2019, the party's parliamentary faction stated that because Ukraine could not regain control of separatist Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic and Russian annexed Crimea it should "freeze the conflicts", abandon the Minsk Agreements and focus on strengthening its own positions.


title: Holos (political party)

text: In October 2020, the party claimed that Russia must pay $500 bln in reparations to cover the damage it has caused to the Donbas since 2014.


title: Holos (political party)

text: A number of prominent party members were excluded from the party in July 2021 due to their disagreement with the party's leadership.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: Indo-Iranian peoples, also known as Indo-Iranic peoples by scholars, and sometimes as Arya or Aryans from their self-designation, were a group of Indo-European peoples who brought the Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, to major parts of Eurasia in the second part of the 3rd millennium BCE. They eventually branched out into Iranian peoples and Indo-Aryan peoples, predominantly in the geographical subregion of Southern Asia.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: The term "Aryan" has long been used to denote the "Indo-Iranians", because "Arya" is indeed the self-designation of the ancient speakers of the Indo-Iranian languages, specifically the Iranian and the Indo-Aryan peoples, collectively known as the Indo-Iranians. Despite this, some scholars use the term Indo-Iranian to refer to this group, though the term "Aryan" remains widely used by most scholars, such as Josef Wiesehofer, Will Durant, and Jaakko Häkkinen. Population geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, in his 1994 book "The History and Geography of Human Genes", also uses the term Aryan to describe the Indo-Iranians.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: The early Indo-Iranians are commonly identified with the descendants of the Proto-Indo-Europeans known as the Sintashta culture and the subsequent Andronovo culture within the broader Andronovo horizon, and their homeland with an area of the Eurasian steppe that borders the Ural River on the west, the Tian Shan on the east (where the Indo-Iranians took over the area occupied by the earlier Afanasevo culture), and Transoxiana and the Hindu Kush on the south.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: Based on its use by Indo-Aryans in Mitanni and Vedic India, its prior absence in the Near East and Harappan India, and its 19th–20th century BCE attestation at the Andronovo site of Sintashta, Kuzmina (1994) argues that the chariot corroborates the identification of Andronovo as Indo-Iranian. dated a chariot burial at Krivoye Lake to about 2000 BCE, and a Bactria-Margiana burial that also contains a foal has recently been found, indicating further links with the steppes.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: Historical linguists broadly estimate that a continuum of Indo-Iranian languages probably began to diverge by 2000 BCE, if not earlier, preceding both the Vedic and Iranian cultures. The earliest recorded forms of these languages, Vedic Sanskrit and Gathic Avestan, are remarkably similar, descended from the common Proto-Indo-Iranian language. The origin and earliest relationship between the Nuristani languages and that of the Iranian and Indo-Aryan groups is not completely clear.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: Two-wave models of Indo-Iranian expansion have been proposed by Burrow (1973) and . The Indo-Iranians and their expansion are strongly associated with the Proto-Indo-European invention of the chariot. It is assumed that this expansion spread from the Proto-Indo-European homeland north of the Caspian sea south to the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Iranian plateau, and the Indian subcontinent.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: The Mitanni, a people known in eastern Anatolia from about 1500 BCE, were of possibly of mixed origins: a Hurrian-speaking majority was supposedly dominated by a non-Anatolian, Indo-Aryan elite. There is linguistic evidence for such a superstrate, in the form of:


title: Indo-Iranians

text: In particular, Kikkuli's text includes words such as "aika" "one" (i.e. a cognate of the Indo-Aryan "eka"), "tera" "three" ("tri"), "panza" "five" ("pancha"), "satta" "seven", ("sapta"), "na" "nine" ("nava"), and "vartana" "turn around", in the context of a horse race (Indo-Aryan "vartana"). In a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, the Ashvin deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya are invoked. These loanwords tend to connect the Mitanni superstrate to Indo-Aryan rather than Iranian languages – i.e. the early Iranian word for "one" was "aiva".


title: Indo-Iranians

text: The standard model for the entry of the Indo-European languages into the Indian subcontinent is that this first wave went over the Hindu Kush, either into the headwaters of the Indus and later the Ganges. The earliest stratum of Vedic Sanskrit, preserved only in the Rigveda, is assigned to roughly 1500 BCE. From the Indus, the Indo-Aryan languages spread from c. 1500 BCE to c. 500 BCE, over the northern and central parts of the subcontinent, sparing the extreme south. The Indo-Aryans in these areas established several powerful kingdoms and principalities in the region, from south eastern Afghanistan to the doorstep of Bengal. The most powerful of these kingdoms were the post-Rigvedic Kuru (in Kurukshetra and the Delhi area) and their allies the Pañcālas further east, as well as Gandhara and later on, about the time of the Buddha, the kingdom of Kosala and the quickly expanding realm of Magadha. The latter lasted until the 4th century BCE, when it was conquered by Chandragupta Maurya and formed the center of the Mauryan empire.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: In eastern Afghanistan and some western regions of Pakistan, Indo-Aryan languages were eventually replaced by Eastern Iranian languages. Most Indo-Aryan languages, however, were and still are prominent in the rest of the Indian subcontinent. Today, Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Suriname and the Maldives.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: The first Iranians to reach the Black Sea may have been the Cimmerians in the 8th century BCE, although their linguistic affiliation is uncertain. They were followed by the Scythians, who are considered a western branch of the Central Asian Sakas. Sarmatian tribes, of whom the best known are the Roxolani (Rhoxolani), Iazyges (Jazyges) and the Alani (Alans), followed the Scythians westwards into Europe in the late centuries BCE and the 1st and 2nd centuries CE (The Age of Migrations). The populous Sarmatian tribe of the Massagetae, dwelling near the Caspian Sea, were known to the early rulers of Persia in the Achaemenid Period. At their greatest reported extent, around 1st century CE, the Sarmatian tribes ranged from the Vistula River to the mouth of the Danube and eastward to the Volga, bordering the shores of the Black and Caspian seas as well as the Caucasus to the south. In the east, the Saka occupied several areas in Xinjiang, from Khotan to Tumshuq.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: The Medians, Persians and Parthians begin to appear on the Iranian plateau from c. 800 BCE, and the Achaemenids replaced Elamite rule from 559 BCE. Around the first millennium CE, Iranian groups began to settle on the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau, on the mountainous frontier of northwestern and western Pakistan, displacing the earlier Indo-Aryans from the area.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: In Eastern Europe, the Iranians were eventually decisively assimilated (e.g. Slavicisation) and absorbed by the Proto-Slavic population of the region, while in Central Asia, the Turkic languages marginalized the Iranian languages as a result of the Turkic expansion of the early centuries CE. Extant major Iranian languages are Persian, Pashto, Kurdish, and Balochi besides numerous smaller ones. Ossetian, primarily spoken in North Ossetia and South Ossetia, is a direct descendant of Alanic, and by that the only surviving Sarmatian language of the once wide-ranging East Iranian dialect continuum that stretched from Eastern Europe to the eastern parts of Central Asia.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: The Indo-European language spoken by the Indo-Iranians in the late 3rd millennium BCE was a Satem language still not removed very far from the Proto-Indo-European language, and in turn only removed by a few centuries from Vedic Sanskrit of the Rigveda. The main phonological change separating Proto-Indo-Iranian from Proto–Indo-European is the collapse of the ablauting vowels "*e, *o, *a" into a single vowel, Proto–Indo-Iranian "*a" (but see Brugmann's law). Grassmann's law and Bartholomae's law were also complete in Proto-Indo-Iranian, as well as the loss of the labiovelars (kw, etc.) to k, and the Eastern Indo-European (Satem) shift from palatized k' to ć, as in Proto–Indo-European *k'ṃto- > Indo-Iran. *ćata- > Sanskrit śata-, Old Iran. sata


title: Indo-Iranians

text: Among the sound changes from Proto-Indo-Iranian to Indo-Aryan is the loss of the voiced sibilant "*z", among those to Iranian is the de-aspiration of the PIE voiced aspirates.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: Despite the introduction of later Vedic and Zoroastrian scriptures, Indo-Iranians shared a common inheritance of concepts including the universal force "*Hṛta-" (Sanskrit "rta", Avestan "asha"), the sacred plant and drink "*sawHma-" (Sanskrit "Soma", Avestan "Haoma") and gods of social order such as "*mitra-" (Sanskrit "Mitra", Avestan and Old Persian "Mithra", "Miθra") and "*bʰaga-" (Sanskrit "Bhaga", Avestan and Old Persian "Baga"). Proto-Indo-Iranian religion is an archaic offshoot of Indo-European religion. From the various and dispersed Indo-Iranian cultures, a set of common ideas may be reconstructed from which a common, unattested proto-Indo-Iranian source may be deduced.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: The pre-Islamic religion of the Nuristani people and extant religion of the Kalash people, is mostly based on the original religion of the Indo-Iranians. Michael Witzel theorises that these religions might share some elements with Shinto, one of the national religions of Japan, which according to him may contain some Indo-Iranian influence owing to contact presumably in the steppes of Central Asia at around 2000 BCE. In Shinto, traces of these can be seen in the myth of the storm god Susanoo slaying a serpent Yamata-no-Orochi and in the myth of the dawn goddess Ame-no-Uzume.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: Beliefs developed in different ways as cultures separated and evolved. For example, the cosmo-mythology of the peoples that remained on the Central Asian steppes and the Iranian plateau is to a great degree unlike that of the Indians, focused more on groups of deities ("*daiva" and "*asura") and less on the divinities individually. Indians were less conservative than Iranians in their treatment of their divinities, so that some deities were conflated with others or, conversely, aspects of a single divinity developed into divinities in their own right. By the time of Zoroaster, Iranian culture had also been subject to the upheavals of the Iranian Heroic Age (late Iranian Bronze Age, 1800–800 BCE), an influence that the Indo-Aryans were not subject to.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: Sometimes certain myths developed in altogether different ways. The Rig-Vedic Sarasvati is linguistically and functionally cognate with Avestan *Haraxvaitī Ārəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā. In the Rig-Veda (6,61,5–7) she battles a serpent called Vritra, who has hoarded all of the Earth's water. In contrast, in early portions of the Avesta, Iranian *Harahvati "is" the world-river that flows down from the mythical central Mount Hara. But *Harahvati does no battle — she is blocked by an obstacle (Avestan for obstacle: "vərəθra") placed there by Angra Mainyu.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: The following is a list of cognate terms that may be gleaned from comparative linguistic analysis of the Rigveda and Avesta. Both collections are from the period after the proposed date of separation (c. 2nd millennium BCE) of the Proto-Indo-Iranians into their respective Indic and Iranian branches.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: R1a1a (R-M17 or R-M198) is the sub-clade most commonly associated with Indo-European speakers. Most discussions purportedly of R1a origins are actually about the origins of the dominant R1a1a (R-M17 or R-M198) sub-clade. Data so far collected indicates that there are two widely separated areas of high frequency, one in the northern Indian subcontinent, and the other in Eastern Europe, around Poland and Ukraine. The historical and prehistoric possible reasons for this are the subject of on-going discussion and attention amongst population geneticists and genetic genealogists, and are considered to be of potential interest to linguists and archaeologists also.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: Out of 10 human male remains assigned to the Andronovo horizon from the Krasnoyarsk region, 9 possessed the R1a Y-chromosome haplogroup and one C-M130 haplogroup (xC3). mtDNA haplogroups of nine individuals assigned to the same Andronovo horizon and region were as follows: U4 (2 individuals), U2e, U5a1, Z, T1, T4, H, and K2b.


title: Indo-Iranians

text: A 2004 study also established that during the Bronze Age/Iron Age period, the majority of the population of Kazakhstan (part of the Andronovo culture during the Bronze Age), was of west Eurasian origin (with mtDNA haplogroups such as U, H, HV, T, I and W), and that prior to the 13th–7th century BCE, all Kazakh samples belonged to European lineages.


title: FouseyTube

text: Yousef Saleh Erakat (; born January 22, 1990), also known as FouseyTube or Fousey, is an American YouTuber who produces parodies, vlogs, comedy sketches and interviews. He also has two other channels, Fousey and DoseOfFousey.


title: FouseyTube

text: Yousef Erakat was born in Fremont, California, to Palestinian parents. He has three older siblings, including Noura Erakat, who is a legal scholar. Erakat attended San Jose State University and majored in theatre arts. He moved to Los Angeles after graduating in 2013 to pursue his acting career.


title: FouseyTube

text: Erakat has had multiple YouTube channels in the past, namely ones relating to fitness. It wasn't until he started making Middle Eastern videos that his popularity grew. His past channels included him following a workout routine, P90X, and giving a review and before and after of his journey. In 2012, Erakat was listed 3rd on the list of "40 Inspiring Muslims Under 40" by "MBMuslima Magazine". On January 1, 2015, Erakat released his first single "Prideland" under the stage name "fousey". A music video for the song was released the same day on his daily vlog channel "DOSEofFOUSEY". Erakat was invited by "Quest Nutrition" to unveil their newest protein bar flavor by allowing him to prank other popular YouTube personalities, namely by pieing them in the face. The video has reached over a million views.


title: FouseyTube

text: On October 3, 2015, Erakat showcased his BMW 435 with a full transformation. Erakat took his car to West Coast Customs in hopes of drastically changing his car to represent not only his favorite colors, but his YouTube audience as well, which he used to call the "bruh bruhs". Erakat enjoyed the turnout and showcased it on both his daily vlog channel as well as his main channel "fouseyTUBE". On October 6, 2015, it was announced that Erakat had signed with Creative Artists Agency, a popular agency located in Century City, Los Angeles. Erakat embarked on a five-day tour with friend and YouTube star Roman Atwood called the "Roman vs Fousey Tour" on February 24, 2016. They performed in five states along the west coast as a preview/test for their upcoming 30-day tour of the same name. On June 3, 2017, Erakat officially reached the YouTube milestone of 10 million subscribers, thus earning him a YouTube Diamond Play Button.


title: FouseyTube

text: In July 2018, Erakat announced an event named "Hate Dies, Love Arrives". He claimed that the world will know about this event. On July 15, Erakat hosted the event, which turned out to be a major failure. Only about 1,500 people arrived at the place. During the event, Fousey suffered mental problems. When Fousey was on the stage, there was an alleged bomb at the event causing the event to be cancelled. Afterwards, Fousey announced the event changed his life, and further told that he lost his cars, his respect, his money, his worth and almost his parents.


title: FouseyTube

text: On August 31, 2018, Erakat retracted all of his material from his social media accounts. On February 26, 2019, Erakat posted a video on the reluctance to resume vlogging on the channel. In 2020, Erakat started to upload less and less on his channel and then later on eventually left uploading on the channel.


title: FouseyTube

text: In 2021, Erakat returned to YouTube with a new YouTube Boxing related channel named Fousey (stylized fousey). On this channel he has uploaded boxing related videos with Slim Albaher, AnEsonGib and other YouTubers. He started to call himself DanaTube. In the same year, he also returned to his DOSEofFousey channel. He told that he will use his DOSEofFousey channel for clips.


title: FouseyTube

text: In January 2021, it was announced that he was going to release a book, titled "Warning: This Is Not a Motivational Story".


title: FouseyTube

text: Erakat made his boxing debut against Slim Albaher on September 29, 2019, losing by a technical knockout. Erakat suffered a broken nose and needed two surgeries to fix it. Following that experience, he vowed never to fight again, but in 2022 he chose to step in the ring again against Deji Olatunji and lost, vowing to never fight again for the second time.


title: FouseyTube

text: Erakat was brought up in a religious Muslim family from Palestine. He has on several occasions criticized negative stereotyping of Muslims.


title: FouseyTube

text: Erakat struggles with ongoing depression, addiction, anxiety and bipolar disorder. He mentions it frequently in his daily vlogs, and also announced it on VH1.


title: FouseyTube

text: He was nominated for Pranks and Show of The Year at the 5th Streamy Awards, and in September 2015, won the Show of The Year award.


title: 1980s in fashion

text: Fashion of the 1980s was characterized by a rejection of 1970s fashion. Punk fashion began as a reaction against both the hippie movement of the past decades and the materialist values of the current decade. The first half of the decade was relatively tame in comparison to the second half, which was when apparel became very bright and vivid in appearance.


title: 1980s in fashion

text: Hair in the 1980s was typically big, curly, bouffant and heavily styled. Television shows such as "Dynasty" helped popularize the high volume bouffant and glamorous image associated with it. Women in the 1980s wore bright, heavy makeup. Everyday fashion in the 1980s consisted of light-colored lips, dark and thick eyelashes, and pink or red rouge (otherwise known as blush).


title: 1980s in fashion

text: Some of the top fashion models of the 1980s were Brooke Shields, Christie Brinkley, Gia Carangi, Joan Severance, Kim Alexis, Carol Alt, Yasmin Le Bon, Renée Simonsen, Kelly Emberg, Inès de La Fressange, Tatjana Patitz, Elle Macpherson, and Paulina Porizkova.


title: 1980s in fashion

text: Parachute pants are a style of trousers characterized by the use of ripstop nylon or extremely baggy cuts. In the original tight-fitting, extraneously zippered style of the late 1970s and early 1980s, "parachute" referred to the pants' synthetic nylon material. In the later 1980s, "parachute" may have referred to the extreme bagginess of the pant. These are also referred to as "Hammer" pants, due to rapper MC Hammer's signature style. Hammer pants differ from the parachute pants of the 1970s and early 1980s. They are typically worn as menswear and are often brightly colored. Parachute pants became a fad in US culture in the 1980s as part of an increased mainstream popularity of breakdancing.


title: 1980s in fashion

text: Robert Smith of the Cure based his gothic look from Siouxsie Sioux's and being a guitarist in her band.


title: 1980s in fashion

text: Although straight hair was the norm at the beginning of the decade, as many late-1970s styles were still relevant, the perm had come into fashion by 1980.


title: 1980s in fashion

text: Big and eccentric hair styles were popularized by film and music stars, in particular among teenagers but also adults. These hairstyles became iconic during the mid-1980s and include big bangs worn by girls from upper elementary, middle school, high school, college and adult women. There was generally an excessive amount of mousse used in styling an individual's hair, which resulted in the popular, shiny look and greater volume. Some mousse even contained glitter.


title: 1980s in fashion

text: Beginning in the late 80s, high ponytails, side ponytails, and high side ponytails with a scrunchie or headband became common among girls from upper elementary, middle school, high school, college and adult women.


title: 1980s in fashion

text: By 1983, short hair had made a comeback for men, in reaction to the shag and mod haircuts of the mid- to late '70s. The sideburns of the 1960s and 1970s saw a massive decline in fashion, and many guys wore regular haircuts and quiffs. Beards went out of style due to their association with hippies, but moustaches remained common among blue collar men.


title: 1980s in fashion

text: From the mid-1980s until the early 1990s, mullets were popular in suburban and rural areas among working-class men. This contrasted with a conservative look preferred by business professionals, with neatly groomed short hair for men and sleek, straight hair for women. Some men also wore bangs in styles such as regular frontal or side swept bangs but they were not as big as women or girls bangs. Hairsprays such as Aqua Net were also used in excess by fans of glam metal bands such as Poison.


title: Moroccans

text: Moroccans (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Kingdom of Morocco. The country's population is predominantly composed of Arabs and Berbers (Amazigh). The term also applies more broadly to any people who are of Moroccan nationality, sharing a common culture and identity, as well as those who natively speak Moroccan Arabic or other languages of Morocco.


title: Moroccans

text: In addition to the approximately 37 million residents of Morocco, there is a large Moroccan diaspora as part of the wider Arab diaspora. Considerable Moroccan populations can be found in France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands; with smaller notable concentrations in other Arab states as well as Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.


title: Moroccans

text: Moroccans are primarily of Arab and Berber origin as in other neighbouring countries in the Maghreb region. Arabs make up 68% of the population of Morocco, while Berbers make up 21%, the Baydhan make up 10%, and others make up 1%. Socially, there are two contrasting groups of Moroccans: those living in the cities and those in the rural areas. Among the rural, several classes have formed such as landowners, peasants, and tenant farmers. Moroccans live mainly in the north and west portions of Morocco. However, they prefer living in the more fertile regions near the Mediterranean Sea.


title: Moroccans

text: The Arab population of Morocco is a result of the inflow of nomadic Arab tribes from the Arabian Peninsula since the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in the 7th century with a major wave in the 11th century. The major migration to the region by Arab tribes was in the 11th century when the tribes of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, along with others, were sent by the Fatimids to defeat a Berber rebellion and then settle in the Maghreb. Between the Nile and the Red Sea were Arab tribes expelled from Arabia for their turbulence, Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, who often plundered farming areas in the Nile Valley. According to Ibn Khaldun, whole tribes set off with women, children, ancestors, animals and camping equipment. These tribes, who arrived in the region of Morocco around the 12th-13th centuries, and later the Ma'qil in the 14th century, contributed to a more extensive ethnic, genetic, cultural, and linguistic Arabization of Morocco over time, especially beyond the major urban centres and the northern regions which were the main sites of Arabization up to that point.


title: Moroccans

text: The Berber population mainly inhabits the mountainous regions of Morocco where some preserve Berber culture, and are split into three groups; Riffians, Shilha and Zayanes, who inhabit the Rif mountains, Anti-Atlas mountains, and Middle Atlas mountains respectively. The Berbers were an amalgamation of Ibero-Maurisian and a minority of Capsian stock blended with a more recent intrusion associated with the Neolithic revolution. Out of these populations, the proto-Berber tribes formed during the late Paleolithic era. The Arabized Berbers who constitute about a quarter of the population are the Berbers who were Arabized mainly as a result of the Arab nomad inflow, and have adopted Arab culture and the Arabic language as their native language, especially those who sought the protection of the Bedouin. A small minority of the population is identified as Haratin and Gnawa, These are sedentary agriculturalists of non-Arab and non-Berber origin, who inhabit the southern and eastern oases and speak either Berber or Arabic. Some parts of the population are descendants of refugees who fled Spain after the Reconquista in the 15th century. The Trans-Saharan slave trade brought a population of Sub-Saharan Africans to Morocco. After the founding of Israel and start of the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948, many Jews felt compelled to leave Morocco especially after the anti-Jewish riots in Oujda, and many fled to Israel, Europe, and North America, and by 1967 250,000 Jews left Morocco.


title: Moroccans

text: In 670 AD, the first Arab conquest of the North African coastal plain took place under Uqba ibn Nafi, a general serving under the Umayyad Caliphate, marking the first wave of Arab migration to Morocco. Arab tribes such as Banu Muzaina migrated, and the Arab Muslims in the region had more impact on the culture of the Maghreb than the region's conquerers before and after them. The Umayyads brought their language, their system of government, and Islam to Morocco and many Berbers converted to Islam. The first independent state in the area of modern Morocco was the Emirate of Nekor, an Arab emirate in north Morocco ruling as a client state of the Umayyad Caliphate. It was founded by the Himyarite descendant Salih ibn Mansur in 710. After the outbreak of the Berber Revolt in 739, the Berbers formed other independent states such as the Emirate of Sijilmasa and the Barghawata Confederation.


title: Moroccans

text: After the Battle of Fakhkh in 786, Idris ibn Abdallah, who traced his ancestry back to Ali ibn Abi Talib, fled from the Arabian Peninsula to Morocco. He first went to Tangier before going to Walili and founding the Arab Idrisid dynasty in 788, ruling most of Morocco. The Idrisids established Fes as their capital and Morocco became a centre of Muslim learning and a major regional power. The Idrisids were ousted in 927 by the Fatimid Caliphate and their Miknasa allies. After Miknasa broke off relations with the Fatimids in 932, they were removed from power by the Maghrawa of Sijilmasa in 980. In 973, the Caliphate of Cordoba under the Umayyads took over parts of Morocco.


title: Moroccans

text: From the 11th century onwards, a series of dynasties of Berber origin arose. Under the Almoravid dynasty and the Almohad dynasty dominated the Maghreb, much of present-day Spain and Portugal, and the western Mediterranean region. In the 13th and 14th centuries the Merinids held power in Morocco and strove to replicate the successes of the Almohads by military campaigns in Algeria and Iberia. They were followed by the Wattasids. In the 15th century, the Reconquista ended Muslim rule in central and southern Iberia and many Muslims and Jews fled to Morocco. Portuguese efforts to control the Atlantic coast in the 15th century did not greatly affect the interior of Morocco. According to Elizabeth Allo Isichei, "In 1520, there was a famine in Morocco so terrible that for a long time other events were dated by it. It has been suggested that the population of Morocco fell from 5 to under 3 million between the early sixteenth and nineteenth centuries."


title: Moroccans

text: The major migration to the region by Arab tribes was in the 11th century when the tribes of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, along with others, were sent by the Fatimids to defeat a Berber rebellion and then settle in the Maghreb. These tribes advanced in large numbers all the way to Morocco, contributing to a more extensive ethnic, genetic, cultural, and linguistic Arabization in the region. The Arab tribes of Maqil migrated to the Maghreb a century later and even immigrated southwards to Mauritania.


title: Moroccans

text: From 1549, a series of Arab dynasties arose. First the Saadian dynasty who ruled from 1549 to 1659, and then the 'Alawi dynasty, who remain in power since the 17th century. Both dynasties are Sharifian.


title: Moroccans

text: Under the Saadian dynasty, the country repulsed Ottoman incursions and a Portuguese invasion at the battle of Ksar el Kebir in 1578. The reign of Ahmad al-Mansur brought new wealth and prestige to the Sultanate, and a large expedition to West Africa inflicted a crushing defeat on the Songhay Empire in 1591. However, managing the territories across the Sahara proved too difficult. After the death of al-Mansur the country was divided among his sons.


title: Moroccans

text: In 1666, Morocco was reunited by the Arab 'Alawi dynasty, who have been the ruling house of Morocco ever since. Morocco was facing aggression from Spain and the Ottoman Empire lies pressing westward. The 'Alawis succeeded in stabilizing their position, and while the kingdom was smaller than previous ones in the region, it remained quite wealthy. Against the opposition of local tribes Ismail Ibn Sharif (1672–1727) began to create a unified state.


title: Moroccans

text: Morocco was the first nation to recognize the fledgling United States as an independent nation in 1777. In the beginning of the American Revolution, American merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean were subject to attack by the Barbary pirates. On 20 December 1777, Morocco's Sultan Mohammed III declared that American merchant ships would be under the protection of the sultanate and could thus enjoy safe passage. The Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, signed in 1786, stands as the U.S.'s oldest non-broken friendship treaty.


title: Moroccans

text: The culture of Morocco is a blend of Arab, Berber, Jewish, and Western European cultures. Through Moroccan history, the country had many cultural influences (Europe, Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa). The culture of Morocco shares similar traits with those of neighboring countries, particularly Algeria and Tunisia and to a certain extent Spain.


title: Moroccans

text: Each region possesses its own uniqueness, contributing to the national culture. Morocco has set among its top priorities the protection of its diversity and the preservation of its cultural heritage.


title: Moroccans

text: The traditional dress for men and women is called "djellaba" (جلابة), a long, loose, hooded garment with full sleeves. For special occasions, men also wear a red cap called a bernousse, more commonly known as a fez. Women wear kaftans decorated with ornaments. Nearly all men, and most women, wear balgha (بلغة). These are soft leather slippers with no heel, often dyed yellow. Women also wear high-heeled sandals, often with silver or gold tinsel.


title: Moroccans

text: Moroccan style is a new trend in decoration, which takes its roots from Moorish architecture. It has been made popular by the vogue of riad renovation in Marrakech. Dar is the name given to one of the most common types of domestic structures in Morocco; it is a home found in a medina, or walled urban area of a city. Dar exteriors are typically devoid of ornamentation and windows, except occasional small openings in secondary quarters, such as stairways and service areas. These piercings provide light and ventilation.


title: Moroccans

text: Moroccan cuisine primarily consists of a blend of Arab, Berber, and Andalusi influences. It is known for dishes like couscous and pastilla, among others. Spices such as cinnamon are also used in Moroccan cooking. Sweets like halwa are popular, as well as other confections. Cuisines from neighbouring areas have also influenced the country's culinary traditions. Additionally, Moroccan craftsmanship has a rich tradition of jewellery-making, pottery, leather-work and woodwork.


title: Moroccans

text: The music of Morocco ranges and differs according to the various areas of the country. Moroccan music has a variety of styles from complex sophisticated orchestral music to simple music involving only voice and drums. There are three varieties of folk music: village and ritual music, and the music performed by professional musicians. Chaabi (الشعبي) is a music consisting of numerous varieties which descend from the multifarious forms of Moroccan folk music. Chaabi was originally performed in markets, but is now found at any celebration or meeting. Gnawa is a form of music that is mystical. It was gradually brought to Morocco by the Gnawa and later became part of the Moroccan tradition. Sufi brotherhoods (tariqas) are common in Morocco, and music is an integral part of their spiritual tradition. This music is an attempt at reaching a trance state which inspires mystical ecstasy.


title: Moroccans

text: The majority of the population speaks Moroccan Arabic, spoken by 92.2% of the population, 37.3 million people. 8.8 million Moroccans speak Berber varieties wish make 26% of population of morocco, either as a first language or bilingually with Arabic. Three different Berber dialects are spoken: Tarifit, spoken by 1.27 million mostly in the Rif mountains, Shilha, spoken by 3 to 4.5 million mostly in the Anti-Atlas mountains, and Central Atlas Tamazight, spoken by 2.3 million mostly in the Middle Atlas.


title: Moroccans

text: Hassaniya Arabic is spoken in the southern part of the country, spoken by over 200,000 people. Morocco has recently included the protection of Hassaniya in the constitution as part of the July 2011 reforms.


title: Moroccans

text: French is taught universally and still serves as Morocco's primary language of and economics; it is also used in education, sciences, government and most education fields.


title: Moroccans

text: Spanish is also spoken in the northern and southern parts of the country as a secondary foreign language after French. Meanwhile, English is increasingly becoming more popular among the educated, particularly in the science fields.