title: Natron

text: Historical natron was harvested directly as a salt mixture from dry lake beds in ancient Egypt, and has been used for thousands of years as a cleaning product for both the home and body. Blended with oil, it was an early form of soap. It softens water while removing oil and grease. Undiluted, natron was a cleanser for the teeth and an early mouthwash. The mineral was mixed into early antiseptics for wounds and minor cuts. Natron can be used to dry and preserve fish and meat. It was also an ancient household insecticide, and was used for making leather as well as a bleach for clothing.


title: Natron

text: The mineral was used during mummification ceremonies in ancient Egypt because it absorbs water and behaves as a drying agent. Moreover, when exposed to moisture, the carbonate in natron increases pH (raises alkalinity), which creates a hostile environment for bacteria. In some cultures, natron was thought to enhance spiritual safety for both the living and the dead. Natron was added to castor oil to make a smokeless fuel, which allowed Egyptian artisans to paint elaborate artworks inside ancient tombs without staining them with soot.


title: Natron

text: The Pyramid Texts describe how natron pellets were used as funerary offerings in the rites for the deceased pharaoh, "N". The ceremony required two kinds of natron, one sourced from northern (Upper) and one from southern (Lower) Egypt.


title: Natron

text: Natron is an ingredient for making a distinct color called "Egyptian blue", and also as the flux in Egyptian faience. It was used along with sand and lime in ceramic and glass-making by the Romans and others at least until AD 640. The mineral was also employed as a flux to solder precious metals together.


title: Natron

text: Most of natron's uses both in the home and by industry were gradually replaced with closely related sodium compounds and minerals. Natron's detergent properties are now commercially supplied by soda ash (pure sodium carbonate), the mixture's chief compound ingredient, along with other chemicals. Soda ash also replaced natron in glass-making. Some of its ancient household roles are also now filled by ordinary baking soda, which is sodium bicarbonate, natron's other key ingredient.


title: Natron

text: Natron is also the mineralogical name for the compound sodium carbonate decahydrate (NaCO·10HO), which is the main component in historical natron.Sodium carbonate decahydrate has a specific gravity of 1.42 to 1.47 and a Mohs hardness of 1. It crystallizes in the monoclinic-domatic crystal system, typically forming efflorescences and encrustations.


title: Natron

text: The term "hydrated sodium carbonate" is commonly used to encompass the monohydrate (NaCO·HO), the decahydrate and the heptahydrate (NaCO·7HO), but is often used in industry to refer to the decahydrate only. Both the hepta- and the decahydrate effloresce (lose water) in dry air and are partially transformed into the monohydrate thermonatrite NaCO·HO.


title: Natron

text: Sodium carbonate decahydrate is stable at room temperature but recrystallizes at only to sodium carbonate heptahydrate, NaCO·7HO, then above to sodium carbonate monohydrate, NaCO·HO. This recrystallization from decahydrate to monohydrate releases much crystal water in a mostly clear, colorless salt solution with little solid thermonatrite. The mineral natron is often found in association with thermonatrite, nahcolite, trona, halite, mirabilite, gaylussite, gypsum, and calcite.


title: Natron

text: Most industrially produced sodium carbonate is soda ash (sodium carbonate anhydrate NaCO) which is obtained by calcination (dry heating at temperatures of 150 to 200 °C) of sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate monohydrate, or trona.


title: Natron

text: Geologically, the mineral natron as well as the historical natron are formed as transpiro-evaporite minerals, i.e. crystallizing during the drying up of salt lakes rich in sodium carbonate. The sodium carbonate is usually formed by absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by a highly alkaline, sodium-rich lake brine, according to the following reaction scheme:


title: Natron

text: Pure deposits of sodium carbonate decahydrate are rare, due to the limited temperature stability of this compound and due to the fact that the absorption of carbon dioxide usually produces mixtures of bicarbonate and carbonate in solution. From such mixtures, the mineral natron (and also the historical one) will be formed only if the brine temperature during evaporation is maximally about  – or the alkalinity of the lake is so high, that little bicarbonate is present in solution (see reaction scheme above) – in which case the maximum temperature is increased to about . In most cases the mineral natron will form together with some amount of nahcolite (sodium bicarbonate), resulting in salt mixtures like the historical natron.


title: Natron

text: Otherwise, the minerals trona or thermonatrite and nahcolite are commonly formed. As the evaporation of a salt lake will occur over geological time spans, during which also part or all of the salt beds might redissolve and recrystallize, deposits of sodium carbonate can be composed of layers of all these minerals.


title: Natron

text: The following list may include geographical sources of either natron or other hydrated sodium carbonate minerals:


title: AFC West

text: The American Football Conference – Western Division or AFC West is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division comprises the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, and Los Angeles Chargers.


title: AFC West

text: The division has sent teams to the Super Bowl eighteen times beginning with Super Bowl I vs. Green Bay. As of the 2021 season, the Broncos and Raiders were tied with the most Super Bowl wins within the division with 3 each; The Broncos have appeared in the most Super Bowls in the division with 8 and the Raiders have appeared in 5. The Chiefs are 2–2 in the Super Bowl, while the Chargers lost their lone Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XXIX.


title: AFC West

text: The Chiefs won the most recent AFC West title in 2022. It was their seventh consecutive AFC West title, moving them into a four-way tie with the Broncos, Raiders and Chargers for the most AFC West titles.


title: AFC West

text: The division was formed in 1960 as the American Football League's Western Division. In 1970, as part of the new NFL's two-conference, six-division alignment, the AFL West entered the merged league more or less intact as the AFC West.


title: AFC West

text: The original AFL West had four members – the Dallas Texans (who moved to Kansas City in 1963 as the Chiefs), Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers (who moved to San Diego in 1961, then back to Los Angeles in 2017) and Oakland Raiders (who moved to Los Angeles in 1982, back to Oakland in 1995, and Las Vegas in 2020). These four teams have remained in the AFL/AFC West since its inception, and are currently the only teams in the division. Largely because of this, and the fact they have played each other twice a year for over 60 years, the entire division is considered one very large and very heated rivalry.


title: AFC West

text: The Cincinnati Bengals played the last two AFL seasons in the AFL West despite being further east than Houston, where the Houston Oilers played at the time and were members of the AFL Eastern Division. The Bengals (along with the Oilers) moved to the AFC Central (now the AFC North) in 1970, instantly forming rivalries with the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers.


title: AFC West

text: In 1977, the Seattle Seahawks were added to the AFC West after spending their expansion season in the NFC West; they would move back to the NFC West in 2002. The first-year Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976 played as a member of the AFC West before being aligned into the NFC Central in 1977.


title: AFC West

text: Each of the four AFC West teams won a division title in the first four years of the realignment – Oakland in 2002, Kansas City in 2003, San Diego in 2004 and Denver in 2005. It is the only one of the eight NFL divisions to have all of its teams win titles in the first four seasons of the North-East-West-South format.


title: AFC West

text: In the early and mid-2000s, the division was often cited as one of the NFL's "Toughest Divisions" due partially to the home-field advantages of Empower Field at Mile High, Arrowhead Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium and the Oakland Coliseum, although in 2008 the division was the NFL's weakest since the AFC Central in 1985 by sending the San Diego Chargers to the playoffs as division winners with an 8–8 record while the New England Patriots missed out at 11–5 after losing out on tiebreakers for both the AFC East and the wild-card. In 2010, the Raiders swept the entire division, going 6–0, but failed to qualify for the playoffs as they only won two non-divisional games.


title: AFC West

text: The division was very weak in 2011 as well, when a loss by the Raiders in the last game of the season gave the Broncos the division title with only an 8–8 record. Only the NFC West in 2010, the NFC South in 2014, and the NFC East in 2020 have historically sent a worse division winner to the playoffs, when the Seahawks (themselves a former AFC West member) won that division with a 7–9 record, the Panthers won the NFC South division with a 7–8–1 record, and the Washington Football Team won the NFC East division with a 7–9 record. Along with the AFC (formerly AFL) East, the AFC West is the oldest NFL division in terms of creation date (1960).


title: AFC West

text: In 1969, The Western Division 2nd place team played the Eastern Division 1st place team in an Interdivisional game.


title: AFC West

text: The table below reflects division titles and playoff appearances from former members of the AFL/AFC West while still in the division.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: The four "De Zeven Provinciën"-class frigates are highly advanced air-defence and command frigates in service with the Royal Navy of the Netherlands ("Koninklijke Marine"). This class of ships is also known as "LCF" ("Luchtverdedigings- en commandofregat", air defense and command frigate). The ships are similar to the German "Sachsen"-class frigates in role and mission.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: These ships were optimized for antiaircraft warfare and command. For this role the ships are equipped with an advanced sensor and weapons suite. The primary sensors for this role are the long range surveillance radar SMART-L and the multifunction radar APAR. The SMART-L and APAR are highly complementary, in the sense that SMART-L is a D band radar providing very long range surveillance while APAR is an I band radar providing precise target tracking, a highly capable horizon search capability, and missile guidance using the Interrupted Continuous Wave Illumination (ICWI) technique, thus allowing guidance of 32 semi-active radar homing missiles in flight simultaneously, including 16 in the terminal guidance phase. The primary antiaircraft weapons are the point defence Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile and the area defence RIM-66 Standard Missile (SM-2) Block IIIA. The Mk 41 Vertical Launch System is used to house and launch these missiles. 32 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile and 32 Standard Missile SM-2 Block IIIA are carried.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: The Navy is investigating the use of these ships for the role of Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD). During tests carried out by in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, experimental modifications to the SMART-L to allow even longer range were proven. A study by the "Koninklijke Marine", the Netherlands Defence Material Organization, Thales Nederland, Raytheon Missile Systems, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Lockheed Martin has been conducted to establish the feasibility of modifying the "De Zeven Provinciën" class to provide it the capability to intercept ballistic missiles. In particular, the study examined the feasibility of integrating the SM-3 Block IB missile with the SMART-L and APAR radars. The study concluded that – with certain modifications to the SMART-L and APAR, as well as to the ship's Combat Management System and the missile itself – BMD with the "De Zeven Provinciën" class could be achieved. During a 2015 very large NATO exercise the BMD capabilities were proven, the sensor suite discovered ballistic targets, and the ship destroyed them using both its own SAM missiles, as well as using a U.S. Navy destroyer's missiles, by providing target data and missile guidance.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: A contract was awarded for the radar modification in June 2012, operational tests & live firing show the performance to exceed expectations.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: The "De Zeven Provinciën"-class ships will get the new SMART-L Mk2 radar that can detect ballistic missiles at a range of . The Dutch minister promised also that the APAR radar will have a bigger range than as the Netherlands is the first country to participate as an active missile shield for NATO.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: In late 2011, the Ministry of Defence announced a modernization program to upgrade the SMART-L early-warning radar so that "De Zeven Provinciën"-class frigates can detect and track ballistic missiles at extended range. In 2018 plans were announced to acquire the BMD-capable SM-3 surface-to-air missiles as the ships are provisioned for an extra 8-cell vertical launch module, "De Zeven Provinciën"-class frigates can pass on the tracking and detection data to other sea-based or land-defense BMD assets, including U.S. Navy's warships, that can deal with a ballistic missile threat. This modernization program is scheduled for completion by late 2017 for the entire "De Zeven Provinciën" class.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: On 3 May 2018 the Dutch Secretary of Defence, Barbara Visser, informed the Dutch national parliament that the evolved sea sparrow missile (ESSM) aboard the "De Zeven Provinciën"-class frigates will be upgraded from block 1 to block 2. This upgrade will be completed by 2024 and will allow the frigates to deal with the growing threat of modern anti-ship missiles. ESSM Block 2 allows the four frigates to defend against missiles that have greater speed, agility and perform unexpected movements. The current Harpoon surface-to-surface missile (SSM) will also be replaced with a new SSM by 2024. Furthermore, the current Otobreda 127/54 Compact cannon will be replaced with Otobreda 127/64 cannons. The new cannon must be able to fire multiple types of ammunition, including in the future precision-guided ammunition. The project costs between € 100 million and € 250 million, and will be take place between 2018 and 2023. Lastly, the Goalkeepers will be upgraded to a new version and all ships will have two installed as originally designed, they will eventually be replaced after 2025 by a new system.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: In the Strategic Defence Review 2022 the acquisition of RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) and BGM-109 Tomahawk was announced for which the Mk41 vertical launch systems will be expanded with an additional unit of 8 cells.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: As noted above, these ships were optimized for antiaircraft warfare, but they also have weapons on-board capable of attacking surface and submarine targets, for example: the RGM-84F Harpoon missile and Mk. 46 torpedoes. In a new defense Study published by the Dutch government in March 2018, it was stated the frigates will receive a new surface-to-surface missile to succeed the Harpoon Block 1D.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: Proposals to equip the Zeven Provinciën-class frigates with a total of 32 BGM-109 Tomahawk (8 per ship) cruise missiles were evaluated, but these were shelved in May 2005 but reconfirmed in 2022.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: In November 2003, some from the Azores, the missile guidance capabilities were tested with live firings for the first time. The firings involved the firing of a single ESSM and a single SM-2ER Block IIIA. These firings were the first ever live firings involving a full-size ship-borne active electronically scanned array (i.e., APAR) guiding missiles using the ICWI technique in an operational environment. As related by Jane's Navy International:


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: During the tracking and missile-firing tests, target profiles were provided by Greek-built EADS/3Sigma Iris PVK medium-range subsonic target drones. [...] According to the RNLN, ... APAR immediately acquired the missile and maintained track until destruction". [...] These ground-breaking tests represented the world's first live verification of the ICWI technique.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: Further live firings were performed in March 2005, again in the Atlantic Ocean some west of the Azores. The tests involved three live-firing events including firing a single SM-2 Block IIIA at an Iris target drone at long range, a single ESSM at an Iris target drone, and a two-salvo launch (with one salvo comprising two SM-2 Block IIIAs and the other comprising two ESSMs) against two incoming Iris target drones. The long-range SM-2 engagement apparently resulted in an intercept at a range of greater than from the ship, with a missile-target miss distance of (the warhead's proximity fuse having been disabled for the purposes of the test).


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: During the military exercise Formidable Shield 2021, HNLMS "De Zeven Provinciën" detected and tracked a ballistic missile with Thales-made SMART-L MM radar and relayed the target information to for SM-3 engagement. With this activity, the Netherlands becomes the only European country that can simultaneously scan the airspace beyond the atmosphere and space up to for air threats.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: Ships of the "De Zeven Provinciën" class have been involved in counter-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa. The untraditional target set (i.e., small slow-moving or even static surface targets) can apparently be challenging for doppler radars designed to take on "high end" threats. However, according to Jane's International Defence Review:


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: [The RNLN has] reported great success using tailored surface-search software for the APAR sets fitted to the "De Zeven Provinciën"-class frigates deployed on antipiracy roles. By sacrificing some of APAR's high-end antiaircraft warfare capabilities, which were deemed unnecessary for the antipiracy role, its performance and resolution were improved in the surface-search role.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: On November 30, 2017 Alion Canada submitted a proposal based on the "De Zeven Provinciën class" for the Canadian Single Class Surface Combatant Project. Damen Group, as builder of the "De Zeven Provincien class" frigates, was part of Alion's team in this proposal.


title: De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate

text: In 2020 it was announced that these intensively used ships will not be replaced as planned around 2025. The Royal Netherlands Navy and the German Navy will cooperate towards a joint platform design to replace both the s and "De Zeven Provinciën"-class frigates from 2030 - 2035 onwards.


title: Hoof

text: The hoof (plural: hooves) is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, which is covered and strengthened with a thick and horny keratin covering. Artiodactyls are even-toed ungulates, species whose feet have an even number of digits, yet the ruminants with two digits, are the most numerous, e.g. giraffe, deer, bison, cattle, goat, and sheep. The feet of perissodactyl mammals have an odd number of toes, e.g. the horse, the rhinoceros, and the tapir. Hooves are limb structures restricted to placental mammals, which have long pregnancies; however, the marsupial "Chaeropus" had hooves.


title: Hoof

text: The hoof surrounds the distal end of the second phalanx, the distal phalanx, and the navicular bone. The hoof consists of the hoof wall, the bars of the hoof, the sole and frog and soft tissue shock absorption structures. The weight of the animal is normally borne by both the sole and the edge of the hoof wall. Hooves perform many functions, including supporting the weight of the animal, dissipating the energy impact as the hooves strike the ground or surface, protecting the tissues and bone within the hoof capsule, and providing traction for the animal. Numerous factors can affect hoof structure and health, including genetics, hoof conformation, environmental influences, and athletic performance of the animal. The ideal hoof has a parallel hoof-pastern axis, a thick hoof wall, adequate sole depth, a solid heel base and growth rings of equal size under the coronary band.


title: Hoof

text: There are four layers within the exterior wall of the hoof. From the outside, a hoof is made up of the stratum externum, the stratum medium, the stratum internum and the dermis parietis. The stratum externum and the stratum medium are difficult to distinguish, the stratum externum is thin and the stratum medium is what makes up the bulk of the hoof wall. Inside the hoof wall is a laminar junction, a soft tissue structure that allows the hoof to withstand the demands of force transmission it undergoes. This tissue structure binds the inner surface of the hoof wall, the dermis parietis and the outer surface of the third phalanx.


title: Hoof

text: Most even-toed ungulates (such as sheep, goats, deer, cattle, bison and pigs) have two main hooves on each foot, together called a cloven hoof. Most of these cloven-hooved animals also have two smaller hooves called "dewclaws" a little further up the leg – these are not normally used for walking, but in some species with larger dewclaws (such as deer and pigs) they may touch the ground when running or jumping, or if the ground is soft. In the mountain goat, the dewclaw serves to provide extra traction when descending rocky slopes as well as additional drag on loose or slippery surfaces made of ice, dirt, or snow. Other cloven-hooved animals (such as giraffes and pronghorns) have no dewclaws.


title: Hoof

text: In some so-called "cloven-hooved" animals, such as camels, the "hoof" is not properly a hoof – it is not a hard or rubbery sole with a hard wall formed by a thick nail – instead it is a soft toe with little more than a nail merely having an appearance of a hoof.


title: Hoof

text: Some odd-toed ungulates (equids) have one hoof on each foot; others have (or had) three distinct hooved or heavily nailed toes, or one hoof and two dewclaws. The tapir is a special case, having three toes on each hind foot and four toes on each front foot.


title: Hoof

text: Hooves grow continuously. In nature, wild animals are capable of wearing down the hoof as it continuously grows, but captive domesticated species often must undergo specific hoof care for a healthy, functional hoof. Proper care improves biomechanical efficiency and prevents lameness. If not worn down enough by use, such as in the dairy industry, hooves may need to be trimmed. However, too much wear can result in damage of the hooves, and for this reason, horseshoes and oxshoes are used by animals that routinely walk on hard surfaces and carry heavy weight.


title: Hoof

text: Within the equine world, the expression, "no foot, no horse" emphasizes the importance of hoof health. Hoof care is important in the equine industry. Problems that can arise with poor horse hoof care include hoof cracks, thrush, abscesses and laminitis.


title: Hoof

text: A cow hoof is cloven, or divided, into two approximately equal parts, usually called claws. Approximately 95% of lameness in dairy cattle occurs in the feet. Lameness in dairy cows can reduce milk production and fertility, and cause reproductive problems and suffering. For dairy farm profitability, lameness, behind only infertility and mastitis, is the third most important cow health issue.


title: Hoof

text: Hoof trimmers trim and care for bovine hooves, usually dairy cows. Hooves can be trimmed with a sharp knife while the cow is restrained and positioned with ropes. Professional hoof-trimming tend to use angle grinders and of some type of hoof trimming crush to make the process quicker and less physically demanding on the hoof trimmer. A hoof trimmer using modern machinery may trim the hooves of more than 10,000 cows per year. The trimmer shapes the hooves to provide the optimal weight bearing surface. A freshly trimmed hoof may be treated with copper sulfate pentahydrate to prevent foot rot.


title: Hoof

text: Hooves have historical significance in ceremonies and games. They have been used in burial ceremonies.


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 is the seventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 6. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013, and was released on September 18 of that year. It was succeeded by iOS 8 on September 17, 2014.


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 introduced a completely redesigned user interface, a design credited to a team led by Apple's former senior vice president of design, Jony Ive. The new look, featuring flatter icons, a new slide-to-unlock function, and new animations, was described by Ive as "profound and enduring beauty in simplicity". The new design was implemented throughout the operating system, including the Notification Center, which was updated with three tabs offering different views of information; notifications visible on the lock screen; a redesigned Siri voice assistant offering visual indicators; and a Control Center offering easy access to the most commonly used features. iOS 7 also introduced AirDrop, a wireless sharing technology; CarPlay, phone and car integration; and automatic app updates in the App Store.


title: IOS 7

text: Reception of iOS 7 was mixed. The new design language was criticized, with critics noting the implementation of design changes rather than actual productivity improvements, and citing examples such as animations delaying access, lack of icon consistency, and buttons being hidden as negative aspects of the user experience. The addition of the Control Center was praised, as were updates to Siri and multitasking. Shortly after release, there were reports of the new design causing sickness, a trend explained as being caused by animations with similar effects as car sickness.


title: IOS 7

text: User adoption of iOS 7 was fast. Its iOS market share was reported to be as high as 35% after one day, and installed on 200 million devices within 5 days, which Apple stated was "the fastest software upgrade in history."


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 was introduced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013. A beta release was made available to registered developers after the announcement.


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 introduced a complete visual overhaul of the user interface. With "sharper, flatter icons, slimmer fonts, a new slide-to-unlock function, and a new control panel that slides up from the bottom of the screen for frequently accessed settings," the operating system also significantly redesigned the standard pre-installed apps from Apple. Jonathan Ive, Apple's head of design, commented that "There is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation - it's about bringing order to complexity. iOS 7 is a clear representation of these goals. It has a whole new structure that is coherent and applied across the entire system." The background colour of the Boot screen matches the device's front bezel colour of white or black, with the oppositely coloured brand logo.


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 introduced AirDrop, a wireless sharing technology accessible from the share icon, which lets users send files from their local device to other, nearby iOS devices. It can be enabled in the Control Center, with options for controlling its discovery by other devices, including Off, Contacts Only, and Everyone.


title: IOS 7

text: At launch, AirDrop was only available on the iPhone 5 and later, fourth-generation iPad and later, all iPad Minis, and the fifth-generation iPod Touch. Support can be added unofficially, with some quirks, via jailbreaking.


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 introduced the Control Center, a menu that users can access by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, providing access to frequently used settings such as Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb Mode, and Rotation Lock. There is a slider for adjusting screen brightness, controls for music playback, along with a volume slider. A Flashlight toggle is also available, as is an icon for quickly accessing the camera.


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 overhauled the Notification Center, with both visual and functional changes. It has three tabs; "Today" (information on what's coming during the day), "All," and "Missed." Notifications are now visible on the phone's lock screen, and notifications are synchronized across devices, so users don't need to dismiss the same notification multiple times on different devices.


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 expanded the screen for app switching. Users double-pressed the home button and were taken out of the current app for a view of full-screen thumbnails of recently accessed apps.


title: IOS 7

text: CarPlay (formerly iOS in the Car), released as part of iOS 7.1, integrates with selected car models to offer phone interaction, including music controls and Maps navigation, through the car's display. Users can also talk to Siri to send messages hands-free. It supports all Lightning-equipped iPhones with iOS 7.1 or later.


title: IOS 7

text: Siri features a new design where the assistant fades in with the background app being blurred. While speaking, visual vocal waves appear, that form into a spinning circle as the device communicates with Apple's servers. Siri can now control a limited set of device settings, including Bluetooth. The assistant can alternatively send the user directly to the settings menu if their query cannot be controlled by voice, or otherwise, displays an error if the request can't be processed. For searching the Internet, Bing became the default search engine, and Siri's web resources were expanded to include Wikipedia. Siri was also more deeply connected into Twitter, offering full tweet search.


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 came with new wallpapers that included a "Parallax" effect; the icons appear to be moving as the user moves the phone around, producing an "illusion that the icons are floating above the background wallpaper".


title: IOS 7

text: In Settings, users have the option to make custom vibrations for certain types of notifications, turn off the parallax wallpaper animation effect using a Reduce Motion setting, and block callers, with the block applying across multiple devices and apps, including Phone, Messages, and FaceTime.


title: IOS 7

text: On the home screen, newly installed apps and recently updated apps have a blue dot next to them until the user opens the app for the first time.


title: IOS 7

text: Folders are updated to incorporate different pages, similar to the home screen layout, allowing for a significant expansion of folder functionality. Each page of a folder can contain up to nine apps, and there can be 15 pages in total, allowing for a total of 135 apps in a single folder.


title: IOS 7

text: The App Store received several significant changes in iOS 7. Users can enable automatic app updates. Users can now view a history of updates to each installed app. With location services enabled, the App Store has a Near Me tab that recommends popular apps based on the user's geographic location. It also became possible to download older versions of apps, in case new iOS versions left older devices incompatible for system updates, allowing users to maintain a working copy of the last supported update of each app.


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 introduced a square photo mode for the Camera app, enabling "Instagram-style photos". Also new are live filters; nine different filter options that each change the photo's appearance. Further improvements to the camera included the ability to pinch-to-zoom during video recording, and a Burst mode for easily taking successive photos by holding the shutter button, causing the phone to take 10 frames per second. On the iPhone 5S, a slow-motion video option was added, with the ability to shoot a video at a high frame rate of 120 frames per second. All iPhones record slow motion video with audio. It can be edited in the Photos app, where users can decide where to start and end the slow-motion part.


title: IOS 7

text: The Photos app was updated with new categorization options. Three tabs on the bottom, "Photos," "Shared," and "Albums," each open to different app sections featuring galleries. On the main Photos interface, the app displays a timeline of all photos, sorted into "Years," "Collections," and "Moments." Filters were added, allowing users to choose from several types of filters to add to their photos. Alongside existing options for sharing pictures, the app was updated with support for the new AirDrop functionality.


title: IOS 7

text: The iOS 7 camera user interface has been redesigned. Elements such as the shutter button use flat design with simple geometrical shapes.


title: IOS 7

text: Switching between the camera modes is done using swiping gestures or tapping on the name of the mode (text) near the on-screen shutter button.


title: IOS 7

text: The camera user interfaces of all succeeding iOS versions are based on this layout and design introduced in iOS 7.


title: IOS 7

text: The redesigned camera interface offers new controls for adjusting exposure value and locking the autofocus.


title: IOS 7

text: Tapping inside the viewfinder adjusts the focus and exposure to that area in the camera's field of view. In order to hold (lock) the current focus and exposure state, the desired location inside of the viewfinder can be tapped and held down for half a second. This is known as the "AE/AF lock" or "AF/AE lock".


title: IOS 7

text: After tapping, with or without locked focus/exposure, the exposure value can be adjusted by swiping up or down. In case "AE/AF lock" is activated, the exposure will be fixed indefinitely until unlocked manually.


title: IOS 7

text: These controls are also available during both normal and slow motion (high frame rate) video recording and also for both front camera photo and front camera video modes.


title: IOS 7

text: The Music app integrated Apple's iTunes Radio service; a station-based music service that let users choose an artist, with the service generating a "station" based on that and similar artists' songs. Users were able to skip songs and search through the history of previous songs, in addition to being able to purchase the songs directly from the iTunes Store while playing. iTunes Radio also had a feature that showed songs currently trending on Twitter. iTunes Radio was free and ad-supported, but users could subscribe to iTunes Match, that enabled ad-free playback.


title: IOS 7

text: After more than two years of release, iTunes Radio was eventually discontinued in January 2016, with the features moving to the new Apple Music music subscription service and Beats 1 radio station.


title: IOS 7

text: In iOS 7, the Safari web browser received multiple significant updates. The two search bars found in previous iterations of the browser have been combined into a single "Smart Search" field. Tab management was improved to allow more than eight open tabs at once, as well as stacking tabs on top of each other vertically as opposed to a horizontal card view. The option to enter a Private tab was built into the app itself rather than in Settings menus, and a new "Do Not Track" button allows the user to further manage their privacy levels.


title: IOS 7

text: The design of Maps was updated to feature a full-screen view, where interface elements such as the search bar disappear from view, alongside new translucent search and lower toolbars, and a Night Mode that automatically activates when users drive at night. A separate Siri volume control is available in Maps, enabling users to "change the relative volume of Siri's voice feedback independently of the system volume, so it doesn't shout too loud over your background music."


title: IOS 7

text: The Weather app on iOS 7 received significant changes, including a new icon, the absence of a static weather indicator on the app thumbnail on the home screen, and new dynamic, visual representations of the current weather.


title: IOS 7

text: iOS 7 has its own FaceTime app on iPhone, with FaceTime Audio, a feature that allows users to call while on Wi-Fi. FaceTime Audio is accessible from the Phone app, the Contacts app, or the FaceTime app itself. It is available on devices running iOS 7 or later.


title: IOS 7

text: The reception of iOS 7 was mixed. Mark Rogowsky of "Forbes" criticized multiple aspects of the new design, including the 3D effect on the home screen wallpaper, writing that "the interaction between iOS 7 and the screen background is challenging at best", and writing that the new overall design language for the operating system "now has your icons fly into the screen whenever you unlock it like some kind of videogame effect. It's pointless, delays your access to the phone by a fraction of a second and is arguably distracting". Joshua Topolsky of "The Verge" also criticized the design, noting lack of icon consistency in different parts of the OS, as well as writing that "instead of correcting issues with the notification panel and alerts, Apple has simply given them a fresh coat of paint and several layers of sub-navigation [...] doing nothing to actually speed up your productivity on the device."


title: IOS 7

text: The Nielsen Norman Group, a research company, wrote an extensive report on the user-experience of iOS 7, summarizing the report as "Flat design hides calls to action, and swiping around the edges can interfere with carousels and scrolling."


title: IOS 7

text: David Pogue of "The New York Times", however, liked the minimalist design of iOS 7, writing that "The longer you spend with the new OS, the more you're grateful for the fixing and de-annoyifying on display," and that "you can swipe upward from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center: a compact, visual palette of controls for the settings and functions you're most likely to need." He also praised the improvements to the Siri voice assistant, writing that Siri "is much better." He concluded by writing: "The structure, layout, and features represent some of Apple's best work. The look of iOS 7 — well, that judgment is up to you."


title: IOS 7

text: Darrell Etherington of "TechCrunch" focused on many of the new features introduced, praising the Control Center as being "incredibly useful", AirDrop as being "great" (although noting the lack of interoperability between iOS and Mac at the time), Siri as being "more generally useful", and the new multitasking features as "smarter", with the multitasking screen being "much better". In conclusion, he wrote that "There's no question that iOS 7 will be a dramatic change from the iOS many users already know and love, but on balance it's an update packed with plenty of new features that make using Apple's mobile devices easier and more enjoyable".


title: IOS 7

text: Some critics noted the influence of competition from other mobile platforms on the design and functionality of iOS 7. Of note were the use of concepts from Android and Windows Phone, such as a similarly minimal and typographic design, Control Center being an equivalent to similar settings toggles on the notification shade of Android, a similar multitasking menu to WebOS, and even the design of the Weather app being almost identical to those on Windows 8 and HTC Sense. Sascha Segan of "PC Magazine" stated that "Apple's brilliance is in putting the pieces together and marketing them. Apple's developer APIs and its history of making money for developers still reign supreme—there's less piracy than on Android, and a bigger audience and more design flexibility than on Windows Phone."


title: IOS 7

text: The adoption rate of iOS 7 was reported to be as high as 35% after one day. Within five days, iOS 7 was installed on more than 200 million devices, which Apple claimed was "the fastest software upgrade in history." In August 2014, it was reported that 91% of iOS devices ran iOS 7 at the time.


title: IOS 7

text: In September 2013, Pranav Dixit of "Fast Company" reported about user complaints shared on Apple's support forums that the new design of iOS 7, including "many zoom animations while multitasking and opening and closing apps, in addition to a slight parallax effect" were causing users to feel sick. Dixit noted that while the parallax effect could be turned off, most animations did not have such an option.


title: IOS 7

text: Dr. George Kikano, "division chief of family medicine at UH Case Medical Center in Ohio," told Fox News that "There's some validity to this, for people who are susceptible." Fox News wrote that Dr. Kikano said "It's a new "parallax" function that causes the background of the phone to subtly move back and forth, a feature that leads to an effect not unlike car sickness. The inner ear is responsible for balance, the eyes for vision. When things are out of sync you feel dizzy, nauseous. Some people get it, some people don't, and some people get used to it."


title: IOS 7

text: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of "ZDNet" wrote in March 2014 that iPhone and iPad users reported battery drain with the iOS 7.1 update. In lab testing, Andrew Cunningham of "Ars Technica" found some hardware models experienced minor battery depletion, while others experienced no statistically significant changes.


title: IOS 7

text: Dom Esposito of "9to5Mac" reported in June 2014 that a new lock screen bypass method had been discovered in iOS 7, allowing access to the phone in "5 seconds under certain circumstances". The issue was later fixed.


title: IOS 7

text: Many users reported performance issues with their iPhone 4 after upgrading to iOS 7. Apple added some performance enhancements in iOS 7.1 to attempt to rectify this.


title: IOS 7

text: During the iOS 7 release, fake advertisements claimed that the update would cause devices to become waterproof, and that AirDrop was a mechanism for protecting the device's screen from breaking when dropped. The hoax provoked angry and scolding reactions from users who destroyed their phones while checking if the statements were true.


title: IOS 7

text: With this release, Apple dropped support for older devices, specifically the iPhone 3GS and the fourth-generation iPod Touch. With support being dropped from the iPhone 3GS, software updates from devices with Samsung processors were no longer available.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is an action-adventure game, the sequel to the 2010 game "", and part of the "Castlevania" franchise. The game was developed by MercurySteam and published by Konami. It was released late February 2014 in both North America and Europe and in March 2014 in Australia. "Lords of Shadow 2" was released on September 4, 2014, in Japan. A downloadable chapter has also been released in March from the same year.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: The story is set in both medieval and modern worlds and follows a weakened Dracula on a quest to defeat his former enemy, Satan. Gameplay takes place after the original "Lords of Shadow" but this time through an open world. The player controls Dracula who uses multiple powers and weapons to achieve his goals. "Lords of Shadow 2" received mixed opinions from critics, while it was praised for its combat and visuals, the narrative and forced stealth gameplay were criticized.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: As in the previous game, the player controls Gabriel Belmont, now known as Dracula. During the game's opening sequence the player is able to control Dracula while he still possesses all his powers as well as all of his weapons. Dracula's main weapon is his Shadow Whip, a weapon that is comparable to the Combat Cross from the original "Lords of Shadow". Replacing the magic system from the previous game are the Void Sword and the Chaos Claws. The Void Sword can replenish Dracula's health when used while the Chaos Claws can be used to break through enemy defenses and deliver powerful attacks. Other new abilities include shapeshifting into a rat to hide from enemies or travel through vents, turning into an intangible mist to pass through bars or fly/glide to higher platforms, possessing enemies for a few seconds to pass through secure doors, and drinking the blood of an enemy to replenish some health. The story mode in "Lords of Shadow 2" has been stated to be far longer than the previous one. The game is mainly an open world, allowing the player to choose what route to take. "Lords of Shadow 2" features a movable camera, something that was not available in its predecessor.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: The game starts out with a recap of "" and "", detailing Gabriel Belmont's (Robert Carlyle) transformation into Dracula and his encounters with his son, Trevor (Richard Madden), whom he kills and subsequently resurrects, and grandson, Simon. The game starts with knights attacking Dracula's castle. He swiftly dispatches all of them before being confronted by the revived Trevor, now known as Alucard.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: A thousand years have passed and Dracula awakens in a cathedral in modern times, weak from starvation and with no memory of the circumstances that led to him being there. He is warned by his former enemy, Zobek (Patrick Stewart), of the return of Satan, who until then was deterred from doing so by Dracula himself. Zobek offers him his old weapon, the Vampire Killer (the Combat Cross from the first game), the only relic capable of ending his cursed existence, in exchange for him vanquishing the "acolytes" trying to bring Satan (Jason Isaacs) back. The key to him regaining his power lies in his castle, which the cursed blood that kept it alive for centuries attempts to deter Dracula of his quest. Throughout his journey, Dracula is aided by various allies, including Zobek's bodyguard and specters of his deceased wife Marie (Natascha McElhone) and a younger Trevor. He also encounters the Brotherhood of Light and its current leader, Victor Belmont (Anthony Howell).


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: Having destroyed two of the acolytes and tracked down the third, Dracula prepares to ambush him but is stopped by the bodyguard, flashing back to his last encounter with Alucard. It is revealed that centuries ago, Alucard had come to Dracula with a plan to destroy both Zobek and Satan, using his sword, the Crissaegrim (created from a shard of the Vampire Killer), on him to induce a deep sleep and thus setting the current events into motion. The truth now known, the bodyguard reveals himself to be Alucard. Zobek discovers their treachery and angrily confronts them both. Dracula kills him just as the third acolyte summons Satan, who proceeds to summon a flying monster to destroy the human world. Dracula and Alucard are able to kill the beast, only for Satan to possess the latter, forcing father and son to battle. Dracula gains the upper hand and prepares to stake Alucard with the Vampire Killer, despite Satan's insistence that he would not and forcing him to vacate the body. Having anticipated this, Dracula kills Satan once and for all while saving his son. Dracula then destroys the Mirror of Fate and walks back inside his cathedral with Alucard as the sun rises on the city.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: The game was announced at E3 2012. The developers' intention was to play as Dracula for the first time in the "Castlevania" series and conclude the storyline started in the first "Lords of Shadow". Although the previous game was well-received, the designers noted it had several flaws which they wanted to fix while improving the gameplay. This includes reducing the game's over-reliance on quick time events, removing the fixed camera in favor of a 360 field, and improving the framerate. Rather than recycling elements from previous games, the team decided to redesign the game engine. The developers also felt "Lords of Shadow" was too linear, which introduced another change for the sequel: it will have an open world to give players a sense of exploration and avoid transitions between levels. Despite an initially linear path, players will be given multiple options as they progress. This was also intended to contrast with other action series such as "Tenchu", "Legacy of Kain" and "Devil May Cry". Designing the modern setting created difficulties for the developers. The team had previously done open world games but were disappointed with their quality and believe "Lords of Shadow 2" will be an improvement over those.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: In a June 2012 interview with "Nintendo Life" regarding "" during E3 at the time, "Lords of Shadow" producer Dave Cox stated there were no plans to release "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2" on Nintendo's then upcoming Wii U console. Cox and Konami reaffirmed this several months later after the Wii U launched, citing lack of resources for porting the game.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: Following the game's release, reports surfaced from anonymous sources stating to be developers at MercurySteam concerning the game's development. One source alleged that the development process had been "a degree of 'hell'", and laid the blame upon the game's director, Enric Álvarez. Álvarez, it was alleged, led the development "based on his personal criteria", while "completely overlooking programmers, designers and artists." A second source corroborated this information, bemoaning the lack of trust, leadership and communication between the teams working on the game. This source suggested that José Luis Vaello, a former art director at MercurySteam, left the studio for Tequila Works due to the conditions described. Álvarez denied the claims on Twitter stating "Is sad [to] see people giving credit to the lies and insults from an enraged ex-worker."


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: On March 25, 2014, the first and only downloadable content episode was released, entitled "Revelations". The story serves as a prequel to the main game and focuses on Dracula's son, Alucard who is on a quest to reclaim the Void Sword and Chaos Claws for his father when he awakens. Alucard plays similarly to Dracula, but has abilities unique to him such as Bat Cloud which allows him to teleport to hard-to-reach places, Timeless Vision which lets him temporarily reverse time, and Spectral Wolf which allows him to get past certain obstacles.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: The game also provides a pair of cosmetic skins for Dracula named "Dark Dracula" and "Armored Dracula." Dark Dracula alters the features of the physical appearance of Dracula's body, causing him to more closely resemble Alucard, with white hair, black eyes, and paler skin. Armored Dracula provides a different look for Dracula's clothes, resembling the clothing the character wore in the original Lords of Shadow, but with a more armored appearance. The two skins can be combined, resulting in "Dark Armored Dracula". The skins also have effects on the in-game dialogue spoken by Dracula when he is shown looking at a massive tome referred to in game as the Book of Dracul, during periods when a player resumes play after taking a break from the game, though they do not otherwise affect in-game or cinematic dialogue.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: The game received generally mixed reception from critics, review aggregation website Metacritic scored the game 58/100, 63/100 and 70/100 across the three platforms.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: "Play" was full of praise for the combat, describing it as "simply awesome" and "[an] impressive, flowing combat system". "Play" commented how the skill progression system forced players to vary their attacks, a mechanic that GameSpot felt "delays your effectiveness in battle somewhat", but "[opened] the game up to different types of combat strategies." The bosses in the game drew particular attention from multiple reviews; GameSpot described these "grotesque monstrosities" as "bringing to mind some of the best designs from film director Guillermo del Toro's work". Eurogamer highlighted the fight against the Toy Maker boss as a place where "the whole game suddenly shudders to life" and "a delight to be a part of", but felt that these levels of enjoyment could not be maintained through the game. IGN too enjoyed the boss fights, but felt that the standard enemy designs were "bland and boring" and some did not fit the "Castlevania" series at all.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: Reactions to the game's visuals were mixed. Critics generally praised the medieval castle setting but were let down by the modern day city environments. Joystiq described the environments as "of almost equal spectacle" to the bosses, the castle "home to breathtaking views", but something the city could not live up to. "Play" felt similarly, writing that the game surpassed the original "Lords of Shadow" in its visuals, though the "grey and familiar" modern day settings failed to "match the majesty" of Dracula's castle. Eurogamer's "Digital Foundry" praised the game's technical performance across the three platforms, comparing it favourably to the original "Lords of Shadow". They concluded that "huge strides have been made" and the game could produce a "sustained 30fps during both light exploration and heavy combat." "Digital Foundry" felt that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions both offered "the same graphical and gameplay experience throughout", but "the ability to run at 60fps easily makes the PC game the most attractive."


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: The "Edge" review was highly critical, highlighting the failings of the stealth sections, the "unimaginative visual design" of the modern era, and the poor pacing. Even the combat mechanics, described by "Edge" as the game's sole saving grace, were judged to fall short of its inspirations, such as the "God of War" series. In an interview with Eurogamer Spain, Enric Álvarez, the game's director, complained that the "Edge" review was "terribly unfair", and that "one must be blind or stupid to give a 4/10 mark to a game with this quality". Álvarez believed that the game's poorer critical response compared to the original "" was due to the heightened expectations of a sequel. Still, on the whole, Álvarez said of the reception, "I tend to think positive after reading some things. I'm glad that some people are writing about games instead of making them."


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: In Russia, the game received mixed reviews. Alexei Makarenkov of Igromania magazine said that he considers this game a clone of "God of War". Tony Vilgotsky wrote in Darker magazine that "Lords of Shadow 2" is one of the best dark games of the year.


title: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

text: Enric Alvarez stated in an interview with Eurogamer that the game sold well, but not as well as the first game.


title: Historical capitals of China

text: There are traditionally four major historical capitals of China referred to as the "Four Great Ancient Capitals of China" (). The four are Beijing, Nanjing, Luoyang and Xi'an (Chang'an).


title: Jan Lewan

text: Jan Lewandowski (; born 15 August 1941 in Bydgoszcz, Poland) known professionally as Jan Lewan, is a Polish-American songwriter and polka band leader. Lewan's financial crimes were described by "The Morning Call" as a "classic Ponzi scheme".


title: Jan Lewan

text: Lewan's life has been depicted in multiple films, first in the 2007 TV documentary "Mystery of the Polka King", the 2009 documentary film "The Man Who Would Be Polka King", and the 2017 American comedy film "The Polka King", in which Lewandowski is portrayed by Jack Black, which was released on Netflix on January 12, 2018.


title: Jan Lewan

text: Information on Lewan's early life is found primarily on his official website, which states that Lewan was born in Bydgoszcz in northern Poland in 1941 during the German occupation of the country during World War II. As a young child Lewan loved music and enrolled in Conservatory of Music in Gdańsk. He also sang in an opera. Lewan served in the Central Polish Army for several years as all young men in Poland were obliged to do at the time. Lewan played in music halls across Poland and Northern Europe including the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. When Lewan came to the United States he later met his first wife Rhonda Lewan during a telethon and wed later on, and in 2011 officially divorced. Rhonda then married Steve Saive, the former trumpet player of Jan Lewan's polka band.


title: Jan Lewan

text: After his career in Europe, Lewan moved to the United States via Canada in 1972. He settled in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where he continued his polka career. He was a main part in the foundation of "Pennsylvania Polka" on PCN. During this time Lewan toured frequently. Notable tours were to Poland, Ireland, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, England, Israel, Russia, Greece, Egypt, and Ukraine.


title: Jan Lewan

text: He created a polka-oriented orchestra and recorded several albums. Lewan's self-titled album, "Jan Lewan and His Orchestra", was nominated for a Grammy in 1995. Lewan went on to perform even bigger polka shows in the prestigious Las Vegas Hilton Showroom, Las Vegas Sands Convention Center, and Atlantic City's Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Atlantis Hotel and Casino, and Trump Castle Hotel Casino.


title: Jan Lewan

text: Lewan's legacy was the focal point of the 2007 TV documentary "Mystery of Polka King", its 2009 documentary film follow-up, "The Man Who Would Be Polka King", as well as the 2017 comedy film "The Polka King" in which Lewan is portrayed by Jack Black.


title: Jan Lewan

text: Lewan owned and operated a gift store in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. When he would tour back in Poland, he would bring back jewelry and other goods to sell in the store. To support the store, he also sold shares in the business and promised returns of 12 and 20 percent to investors, many of whom had traveled with him. The state of Pennsylvania warned him to stop selling securities, but Lewan continued. In 2004 Lewan was arrested for defrauding some 400 people in 22 states of millions of dollars. Lewan was sentenced to five years and 11 months imprisonment by a federal court judge as well as a seven-year sentence in New Jersey, which were served concurrently. Lewan was prosecuted by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice and was sentenced by the Mercer County Superior Court on Money Laundering and Securities Fraud charges.


title: Jan Lewan

text: While in prison in Delaware in 2004, Lewan was stabbed in the neck by a cellmate. He was taken to a nearby hospital and was sent back to prison several days later. The perpetrator of the stabbing had 15 years added to his sentence. Lewan was released from prison in 2009.


title: Jan Lewan

text: On January 26, 2001, Lewan's tour bus wrecked en route to Florida for six shows. Two of his musicians were killed, he was injured and his son Daniel suffered critical injuries.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands with a capacity of 140,700. The circuit has FIA Grade 1 license.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: Until 2013 the track was known only as the "Circuit de Catalunya", before a sponsorship deal with Barcelona City Council added Barcelona to the track's title.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was built in 1991 and began hosting the Spanish Grand Prix that same year. Construction also coincided with the Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Barcelona the next year, where the circuit acted as the start and finish line for the road team time trial cycling event. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya should not be confused with the Montjuïc circuit, which hosted the Spanish Grand Prix four times between 1969 and 1975 and, unlike the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, is actually located within the city of Barcelona.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: Because so much testing is done at this circuit, Formula One drivers and mechanics are extremely familiar with it. This has led to criticism that drivers and mechanics are too familiar with Catalunya, reducing the amount of on-track action.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: When first used, overtaking was frequent as cars could follow closely through the last two corners and slipstream down the long straight. As aerodynamic balance became more critical, this overtaking method drastically decreased as the cars were unable to follow each other through the fast final corner due to turbulence created by the leading car. The 2007 season saw the first of the two final sweepers replaced with a slow chicane in an effort to improve overtaking. The chicane has been criticised for failing at this goal and causing congestion during qualifying sessions. The chicane reduces speeds through the final corner, where serious accidents could occur.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has hosted a motorcycle Grand Prix since 1992, originally the European motorcycle Grand Prix from 1992 and later the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix since 1996. There are at least five points on the track (turns 1, 2, 4, 10, 14) where riders are known to overtake. As in Formula 1, Turn 1 is arguably the most popular place for overtaking. The circuit is not known to produce copious amounts of overtaking, despite the long straights. Originally, the Formula 1 circuit changes were not instituted for MotoGP; however, after a fatal crash in the 2016 MotoGP round involving a Moto2 rider, Luis Salom, the Formula 1 layout was implemented to slow down riders for safety purposes. The FIM made a further change to the chicane for 2017 by moving up the chicane to prevent riders from cutting the pit lane entrance, but that was abandoned because the motorcycle chicane had a surface change that created more safety issues with the transition. Further changes were made to the circuit in December 2017 as grandstands were removed to add additional runoff that allowed the FIM to eliminate that chicane (although the Turn 10 hairpin was kept).


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The track was resurfaced in 2018 as a result of calls by MotoGP riders to improve the amount of grip on the surface. Previously the track had been resurfaced in 2004.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The circuit hosted many other international racing series, including the FIA Sportscar Championship (1999–2002), European Touring Car Championship (2003), FIA GT Championship (2003), Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (2006–2009), European Le Mans Series (2008–2009, 2019, 2021–present), and World Series Formula V8 3.5 (2002–2004, 2006–2013, 2016), GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (2017–present), 24h de Barcelona Trofeu Fermí Vélez, and FIA World Rallycross Championship (2015-present).


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: Since 2016, the racetrack hosts the 24h BiCircuit Festival, an ultra-distance cycling event featuring 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour races for soloists and relay teams up to 8 riders.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: For the 2020 Formula One season Liberty Media expected the calendar would consist of twenty-one Grands Prix and that any new races would come at the expense of existing events, in particular the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort replacing the Spanish Grand Prix on Circuit de Barcelona, but later negotiated an agreement with the teams to allow up to twenty-two Grands Prix, salvaging the Spanish Grand Prix. Before 2021 season, the circuit's F1 deal was extended for one more year. However in November 2021, the circuit's F1 deal was extended to 2026.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: Barcelona has the 3-star FIA Environmental Accreditation and the ISO 14001 certification. In a 2021 report, it was ranked the second most sustainable racetrack in the world, together with Circuit Paul Ricard and behind Mugello Circuit.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The circuit has been the site of some memorable moments. In 1991, Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell went down the entire front straight side by side while dueling for second place, with Mansell eventually taking the position and ultimately the race itself. In 1994, Michael Schumacher managed to finish in second place despite driving over half the race with only fifth gear. In 1996, Schumacher took his first win as a Ferrari driver, after a dominant performance during a torrential rainstorm. In 2001, Mika Häkkinen suffered a clutch failure while leading the race on the last lap, handing the win to Schumacher. At the 2006 event, Fernando Alonso became the first Spanish Formula One driver to win at his home country's track.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: In 2008, Heikki Kovalainen left the track at after a wheel rim failure at turn 9. He managed to decelerate to when he hit the tyre barrier. He was temporarily unconscious and suffered a minor concussion, but a few minutes later, spectators were relieved when he gave a thumbs up.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The circuit has been the scene of two debut wins in Formula One. Pastor Maldonado took his first and only Grand Prix victory and podium here in 2012, and in 2016 Max Verstappen won his first Grand Prix. As a result, he became the youngest driver to ever win an F1 Grand Prix race.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: At the 2009 motorcycle Grand Prix, teammates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo fought all race long for first place, culminating in an overtake on the final corner by Rossi. Riders and pundits described the race as "historic" and "genius".


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: On 3 June 2016, during Moto2 Free Practice for the 2016 Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, Luis Salom crashed in turn 12, resulting in the session being red-flagged. After being transferred to the local "Hospital General de Catalunya", Salom died of the injuries sustained in the crash. Upon hearing this, FIM decided to change the current layout of the track to the same layout as the one used in Formula One. After off-season discussions, the FIM announced that the track layout would be slightly modified in that the chicane would be moved up a few metres.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The track is demanding of a car's aerodynamic qualities. The wind direction at the circuit can change drastically during the day, a significant factor given the importance of aerodynamics to modern Formula One cars. It is then hard to find a good setup since cars can have massive aerodynamic drag and understeer on one part of the circuit in the morning, but suffer oversteer at the same part of the circuit in the afternoon. A given tyre compound can work well when tested, but not so well a couple of months later. These changeable conditions can make for unexpected performances from some teams during the race. The changeable wind conditions have also caused accidents at the circuit, with Fernando Alonso's testing accident in 2015 partly blamed on the severity of the wind.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: Through 2015, the MotoGP layout used the 1995-2003 version of the Grand Prix circuit. This was originally the same layout as Formula One, but in 2004 a new, slower La Caixa turn was built; the motorcycles continued to use the old version, and they also ignored the shorter Europcar turn and RACC chicane. The F1 layout was implemented for MotoGP originally in 2016 following the fatal accident of Luis Salom in Europcar corner on 3 June 2016. Race control switched to the F1 circuit for qualifying and the race on 5 June 2016. On 15 December 2016, the FIM announced the change was permanent by announcing plans for a chicane ahead of the current car chicane. However, during the 2017 race, the new chicane was deemed dangerous by riders because of a surface change, and the car chicane was used during that event. After changes to the track in the off-season including removing grandstands in Turn 12, creating additional runoff and a complete repaving of the circuit, the F1 layout from 2004 to 2006, including the new La Caixa hairpin instead of the long sweeper, was used, eliminating the chicane.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: For 2021, the La Caixa hairpin was remodelled again, slower than the original one but faster than the F1 one. The alterations were done to improve safety for the drivers.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: Turn 1 is the main overtaking point at Catalunya, as it is a braking zone at the end of a long DRS straight. The inside and outside are equally difficult for overtaking; drivers who can hold the line around the outside of turn one, can get the inside line for turn two. The corners themselves make up a medium-speed chicane – drivers brake rather late for turn one (Elf) and shift down to gear two, and turn two is almost full throttle as they try to gain as much exit speed as possible. Turn 3 (Renault) is a long, flat-out (in most cars) right-hander that has a g-force of about four, and it leads to a short straight before turn 4, the Repsol curve. Another right-hander, turn four is similar to Monza's Curva Parabolica – drivers brake and take an early apex (in third gear), carrying great speed out of the exit. Turn 5 (Seat) comes immediately after and is a slow left-hander taken in second gear which drops rapidly downhill towards the left kink of turn 6 which is ignored by F1 cars. Turns 7 and 8 make up a medium-speed, uphill, left-right chicane. Drivers brake and shift down to gear three, and must not run too wide as turn eight has a large kerb on its apex which could potentially damage cars' suspensions. Turn 9, Campsa Corner, is a very fast, sixth-gear right-hander which is made incredibly difficult by being completely blind (drivers cannot see the apex on approach). It is initially quite steep uphill but the exit is then downhill, so it is quite easy to run wide onto the astroturf. The long back straight leads into turn 10 (La Caixa), a second-gear, left-hand corner, then turns 11 and 12, a left kink before a long, slow, third-gear right. The next section has been redesigned by German engineer Hermann Tilke to lower speeds onto the pit straight – which in turn increases overtaking opportunities and safety. Turn 13 is a tight, third-gear right-hander and drivers have to cross the track quickly to take the racing line through the slow left-right chicane of turns 14 and 15, taken in second gear. Good traction is needed here as it determines speed down the pit straight. Turn 16 (New Holland) is a flat-out right-hander which takes cars across the start/finish line.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The official lap record for the current Grand Prix circuit layout is 1:18.149, set by Max Verstappen driving for Red Bull Racing in the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix. The official race lap records at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya are listed as:


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The public attendance at the Spanish Grand Prix, and at the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, have fallen significantly since 2007, which has complicated the economic solvency of this circuit.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: At least since 2009, the circuit is economically deficient, and in the period 2009–2018, €50.5m of losses were generated. The economic survival of the circuit is only guaranteed by large volumes of public money, which both the Provincial Deputation of Barcelona and the Generalitat de Catalunya provide in the form of grants and rinsing of losses.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: Given these poor results, some senior officials of the Generalitat de Catalunya have considered eliminating Formula One from this Circuit. Due to the irregularities detected in the last audit, the City Council of Barcelona decided to cancel the economic grant that the circuit received until now, which has aggravated its economic survival. Recently, some more irregularities have been detected, even by the Generalitat de Catalunya.


title: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

text: The circuit is located in an elevated area with respect to its environment, and without protective measures to minimize the noise pollution produced by cars, motorbikes and other vehicles. Therefore, it is a real source of acoustic disturbance, and the noise produced during many days of racing and testing during the year is noticeable for many kilometers around the circuit, especially in the adjacent municipalities, which is recognized by the Generalitat itself, the main owner of the Circuit.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: Christian Democracy (, DC) was a Christian democratic political party in Italy. The DC was founded on 15 December 1943 in the Italian Social Republic (Nazi-occupied Italy) as the ideal successor of the Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crusader shield ("scudo crociato"). As a Catholic-inspired, centrist, catch-all party comprising both centre-right and centre-left political factions, the DC played a dominant role in the politics of Italy for fifty years, and had been part of the government from soon after its inception until its final demise on 16 January 1994 amid the "Tangentopoli" scandals. Christian Democrats led the Italian government continuously from 1946 until 1981. The party was nicknamed the "White Whale" () due to its huge organization and official color. During its time in government, the Italian Communist Party was the largest opposition party.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: From 1946 until 1994, the DC was the largest party in the Italian Parliament, governing in successive coalitions, including the "Pentapartito" system. It originally supported liberal-conservative governments, along with the moderate Italian Democratic Socialist Party, the Italian Liberal Party, and the Italian Republican Party, before moving towards the Organic Centre-left involving the Italian Socialist Party. The party was succeeded by a string of smaller parties, including the Italian People's Party, the Christian Democratic Centre, the United Christian Democrats, and the still active Union of the Centre. Former DC members are also spread among other parties, including the centre-right Forza Italia and the centre-left Democratic Party. It was a founding member of the European People's Party in 1976.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: The party was founded as the revival of the Italian People's Party (PPI), a political party created in 1919 by Luigi Sturzo, a Catholic priest. The PPI won over 20% of the votes in the 1919 and 1921 general elections, but was declared illegal by the Fascist dictatorship in 1926 despite the presence of some "Popolari" in Benito Mussolini's first government.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: As World War II was ending, the Christian Democrats started organizing post-Fascist Italy in coalition with all the other mainstream parties, including the Italian Communist Party (PCI), the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), the Italian Liberal Party (PLI), the Italian Republican Party (PRI), the Action Party (Pd'A) and the Labour Democratic Party (PDL). In December 1945 Christian Democrat Alcide De Gasperi was appointed Prime Minister of Italy.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: The Christian Democracy party was opposed to both Fascism and Communism. In elections Italians were voting based on a way of life, not just a political party. Christian ideals were usually paired with the idea of freedom.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: In May 1947 De Gasperi broke decisively with his Communist and Socialist coalition partners under pressure from U.S. President Harry Truman. This opened the way for a centrist coalition that included the Italian Workers' Socialist Party (PSLI), a centrist break-away from the PSI, as well as its usual allies, the PLI and the PRI.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: In the 1948 general election the DC went on to win a decisive victory, with the support of the Catholic Church and the United States, and obtained 48.5% of the vote, its best result ever. Despite his party's absolute majority in the Italian Parliament, De Gasperi continued to govern at the head of the centrist coalition, which was successively abandoned by the Liberals, who hoped for more right-wing policies, in 1950 and the Democratic Socialists, who hoped for more leftist policies, in 1951.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: Under De Gasperi, major land reforms were carried out in the poorer rural regions in the early postwar years, with farms appropriated from the large landowners and parcelled out to the peasants. In addition, during its years in office, Christian Democrats passed a number of laws safeguarding employees from exploitation, established a national health service, and initiated low-cost housing in Italy’s major cities.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: De Gasperi served as Prime Minister until 1953 and died a year later. No Christian Democrat would match his longevity in office and, despite the fact that DC's share of vote was always between 38 and 43% from 1953 to 1979, the party was more and more fractured. As a result, Prime Ministers changed more frequently.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: From 1954 the DC was led by progressive Christian Democrats, such as Amintore Fanfani, Aldo Moro and Benigno Zaccagnini, supported by the influential left-wing factions. In the 1950s the party formed centrist or moderately centre-left coalitions, and even a short-lived government led by Fernando Tambroni relying on parliamentary support from the Italian Social Movement (MSI), the post-fascist party.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: In 1963 the party, under Prime Minister Aldo Moro, formed a coalition with the PSI, which returned to ministerial roles after 16 years, the PSDI and the PRI. Similar "Organic Centre-left" governments became usual through the 1960s and the 1970s.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: From 1976 to 1979 the DC governed with the external support of the PCI, through the Historic Compromise. Moro, who was the party main leader and who had inspired the Compromise, was abducted and murdered by the Red Brigades.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: The event was a shock for the party. When Moro was abducted, the government, at the time led by Giulio Andreotti, immediately took a hardline position stating that the "State must not bend" on terrorist demands. This was a very different position from the one taken in similar cases before (such as the kidnapping of Ciro Cirillo, a Campanian DC member for whom a ransom was paid thanks to the local ties of the party with the Camorra). It was however supported by all the mainstream parties, including the PCI, with the two notable exceptions of the PSI and the Radicals. In the trial for Mafia allegations against Andreotti, it was said that he took the chance of getting rid of a dangerous political competitor by sabotaging all of the rescue options and ultimately leaving the captors with no option but killing him. During his captivity Moro wrote a series of letters, at times very critical of Andreotti.. Later the memorial written by Moro during his imprisonment was subject to several plots, including the assassination of journalist Mino Pecorelli and general Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: At the beginning of the 1980s, the DC had lost part of its support among Italian voters. In 1981, Giovanni Spadolini of the PRI was the first non-Christian Democrat to lead a government since 1944, at the head of a coalition comprising the DC, the PSI, the PSDI, the PRI and the PLI, the so-called "Pentapartito". In the successive 1983 general election, the DC suffered one of its largest declines in votes up to that point, receiving only 32.5% of the vote cast (a decline of -5.8% relative to 1981). Subsequently, Bettino Craxi (leader of the rising PSI) reclaimed for himself the post of Prime Minister, again at the head of a "Pentapartito" government.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: DC re-gained the post of Prime Minister in 1987, after a modest recovery in the 1987 general election (34.2%), and the "Pentapartito" coalition governed Italy almost continuously until 1993. While Italy experienced steady economic progress in the 1980s, the Italian economy was being undermined by constant devaluation of the Italian lira and the issuing of large amounts of high-interest treasury bonds, so that, between 1982 and 1992, the excessive budget deficit built a significant proportion of the debt that would plague the country well into the 21st century.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: In 1992 the "Mani pulite" investigation was started in Milan, uncovering the so-called "Tangentopoli" scandals (endemic corruption practices at the highest levels), and causing numerous, often controversial, arrests and resignations. After the dismal result in the 1992 general election (29.7%), also due to the rise of Lega Nord in northern Italy and two years of mounting scandals (which included several Mafia investigations which notably touched Andreotti), the party was disbanded in 1994. In the 1990s most of the politicians prosecuted during those investigations were acquitted, sometimes however on the basis of legal formalities or on the basis of statutory time limit rules.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: The DC suffered heavy defeats in the 1993 provincial and municipal elections and the subsequent split of the Mario Segni's Pact, and contemporary polling suggested heavy losses in the upcoming 1994 general election. In hopes of changing the party's image, the DC's last secretary, Mino Martinazzoli decided to change the name of the party into the Italian People's Party (PPI). Pier Ferdinando Casini, representing the right-wing faction of the party (previously led by Forlani) decided to launch a new party called Christian Democratic Centre and form an alliance with Silvio Berlusconi's new party, Forza Italia (FI). The left-wing factions stayed within the new PPI (albeit a minority which had formed the Social Christians in 1993 and would join forces with the post-communist Democratic Party of the Left), while some right-wingers joined the National Alliance. In 1995 the centre-right United Christian Democrats, which were led by Rocco Buttiglione split off from the PPI and also entered in alliance with FI. In the following years, most Christian Democrats joined FI, which became the party with the most ex-DC members in absolute terms. In December 1999, Forza Italia gained full membership in the European People's Party.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: The party's ideology drew on the Christian democratic doctrines developed from the 19th century referred to as Catholic social teaching(see Christian democracy), the political thought of Romolo Murri and Luigi Sturzo, and ultimately the tradition of the defunct Italian People's Party. Two Papal encyclicals, "Rerum novarum" (1891) of Pope Leo XIII, and "Quadragesimo anno" (1931) of Pope Pius XI, offered a further basis for the DC's social and political doctrine.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: In economics, the DC preferred competition to cooperation, supported the model of social market economy, and rejected the Marxist idea of class struggle. The party thus advocated collaboration between social classes and was basically a catch-all party which aimed to represent both right-wing and left-wing Italian Catholics under the principle of the "political unity of Catholics" against socialism, communism and anarchism. It ultimately represented the majority of Italians who were opposed to the Italian Communist Party. The party was, however, originally equidistant between the Communists and the hard right represented by the Italian Social Movement.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: As a catch-all party, the DC differed from other European Christian Democratic parties, such as the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, that were mainly conservative political groupings. The DC, which included conservative as well as social-democratic and liberal elements was characterised by factionalism and by the double adherence of members to the party and to factions which were often identified with individual leaders.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: The DC's factions spanned the political spectrum from left to right and continually evolved oer time.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: In the early years, centrists and liberal-conservatives such as Alcide De Gasperi, Giuseppe Pella, Ezio Vanoni and Mario Scelba led the party. After them, progressives led by Amintore Fanfani were in charge, though opposed by right wing led by Antonio Segni. The party's left wing, with its roots in the left of the late Italian People's Party (Giovanni Gronchi, Achille Grandi and controversial Fernando Tambroni), was reinforced by new leaders such as Giuseppe Dossetti, Giorgio La Pira, Giuseppe Lazzati and Fanfani himself. Most of them were social democrats by European standards.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: The party was often led by centrist figures unaffiliated to any faction such as Aldo Moro, Mariano Rumor (both closer to the centre-left) and Giulio Andreotti (closer to the centre-right). Moreover, it was often the case that if the government was led by a centre-right Christian Democrat, the party was led by a left-winger and vice versa. This was what happened in the 1950s when Fanfani was party secretary and the government was led by centre-right figures such as Scelba and Segni, as well as in the late 1970s when Benigno Zaccagnini, a progressive, led the party and Andreotti the government. This custom, in clear contrast with the principles of a Westminster system, deeply weakened DC-led governments, so that even with broad majorities they were unable to resolve differences between the several factions of the party, and ultimately turning the Italian political system into a de facto particracy ("partitocrazia").


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: From the 1980s the party was divided between the centre-right led by Arnaldo Forlani (supported also by the party's right wing) and the centre-left led by Ciriaco De Mita (whose supporters included trade unionists and the internal left), with Andreotti holding the balance. De Mita, who led the party from 1982 to 1989, tried to transform the party into a mainstream "conservative party" in line with the European People's Party in order to preserve party unity. He became Prime Minister in 1988, but was replaced by Forlani in 1989. Disagreements between de Mita and Forlani brought Andreotti back to the prime-ministership from 1989 to 1992.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the great Cold War ideological conflict, and ultimately the "Tangentopoli" scandals, the heterogeneous nature of the party led it to its collapse. The bulk of the DC's membershipjoined the new Italian People's Party (PPI), but immediately several centre-right elements led by Pier Ferdinando Casini joined the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD), while others directly joined Forza Italia. A split from the PPI, the United Christian Democrats (CDU), joined Forza Italia and the CCD in the centre-right Pole of Freedoms coalition (later becoming the Pole for Freedoms), while the PPI was a founding member of The Olive Tree centre-left coalition in 1996.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: In its early years the party was stronger in Northern Italy (especially in eastern Lombardy and Veneto), due to the strong Catholic roots of those areas, than it was in the South. There, the Liberal establishment that had governed Italy for decades before the rise of Benito Mussolini still had grip on voters, as well as the Monarchist National Party and the Common Man's Front. The DC was very weak in Emilia-Romagna and Central Italy, where the Italian Communist Party was the dominant political force.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: In the 1948 general election the party had its best result ever (48.5%) and an absolute majority in the Italian Parliament. The party won 66.8% in eastern Lombardy (73.6% in the Province of Bergamo), 60.5% in Veneto (71.9% in the Province of Vicenza), 69.6% in Trentino and 57.8% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that is to say where the late Italian People's Party had its strongholds. In the Centre-South the DC gained more than 50% of the vote in Lazio (51.9%), Abruzzo (53.7%) and Campania (50.5%).


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: From the late 1950s the DC's support started to move South and by the 1980s it was stronger in the South than in the North, with the exception of Veneto, which remained one of the party's strongholds. In the 1983 general election the party suffered a dramatic decrease in term of votes and its electoral geography was very different from 30 or even 10 years before, as the region where it obtained the best result was Apulia (46.0%).


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: In the 1992 general election the shift was even more evident as the party was over the 40% mark only in some Southern regions (41.1% in Campania, 44.5 in Basilicata and 41.2% in Sicily), while it barely reached 20-25% of the vote in the North. As a result of the rise of Lega Nord, which was stronger precisely in the traditional Christian Democratic heartlands, the DC was reduced to 21.0% in Piedmont (with the League at 16.3%), 32.1% in western Lombardy (League at 25.2%), 31.7% in Veneto (League at 17.3%) and 28.0% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia (League at 17.0%).


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: As the DC's role was reduced, the 1919 PPI strongholds and the DC's traditional heartlands would become the Lega Nord's power base. Meanwhile, the successor parties of the DC continued to be key political actors only in the South, where the clientelistic way of government practised by the Christian Democrats and their allies had left a mark. In the 1996 general election the League gained 7 out of 8 single-seat constituencies in the Province of Bergamo and 5 out of 6 in the Province of Vicenza, winning well over 40%, while the combined score of the three main post-DC parties (the new PPI, the CCD and the CDU) was highest in Campania (22.3%). In the 1996 Sicilian regional election the combined score of those parties was 26.4%.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: The electoral results of the DC in general (Chamber of Deputies) and European Parliament elections since 1946 are shown in the chart below.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: Having ruled Italy for over 40 years with no alternative other than the Italian Communist Party, DC members had ample opportunity to abuse their power, and some did. In the 1960s scandals involved frauds such as huge illegal profits in the administration of banana import quotas, and preferential allocation of purposely misprinted (and, therefore, rare) postage stamps. Giovanni Leone was forced to resign as President of the Italian Republic in 1978, after the Lockheed bribery scandals. He was later acquitted.


title: Christian Democracy (Italy)

text: The party was also invested, like the other parties of the "Pentapartito", in the "Tangentopoli" scandals and in the subsequent "Mani pulite". Moreover, as in the 1970s and the 1980s Southern Italy had become the party's stronghold, it was likely that Mafia and dishonest politicians may try to collaborate. DC was the party most associated with Mafia among the public. Leaders such as Antonio Gava, Calogero Mannino, Vito Ciancimino, Salvo Lima and especially Giulio Andreotti were perceived by many to belong to a grey zone between simple corruption and mafia business, even if most of them were later acquitted.


title: Mann (film)

text: Mann () is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film written and directed by Indra Kumar. The film starred Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala, pairing them for the second time, and also features Anil Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore and Neeraj Vora with Rani Mukerji in a special appearance. The film is majorly based on the 1957 American film "An Affair To Remember". "Mann" received positive reviews upon release, but became an average at the box office. The soundtrack by Sanjeev–Darshan has been surrounded by music sampling and music plagiarism controversies.


title: Mann (film)

text: Dev Karan Singh (Aamir Khan), a Casanova and ambitious painter deep in debt, agrees to marry Anita (Deepti Bhatnagar), the daughter of Singhania (Dalip Tahil), a rich tycoon. Priya (Manisha Koirala), a music teacher for children, is engaged to Raj (Anil Kapoor), whom she has agreed to marry because he had helped her when she was in need. Priya and Dev meet on a cruise. Dev becomes fond of Priya. Dev is a fun-loving, flamboyant cassanova. He tries to get close to Priya. Initially, she doesn't get impressed by Dev, but later falls in love with him. However, due to them already being engaged to other people, they agree to work everything out and meet in 6 months on Valentine's Day to get married.


title: Mann (film)

text: During the 6 months, Dev breaks off his engagement with Anita and starts working hard. Driven by his love, he creates and auctions beautiful paintings, and becomes very successful along with the support of his friend Natu (Neeraj Vora). On the other hand, Priya realises that leaving Raj will be wrong and sadly writes a letter to Dev, explaining everything. When Raj gets the letter instead, he supports Priya and convinces her to go to Dev. Things take a bad turn when, on her way to meet him, Priya gets hit by a car and gets her legs amputated. Dev, who waited all night for Priya, believes she has rejected him, as he does not know of her accident. Priya forbids Raj from telling Dev the truth, not wanting to become a burden on him. Now, Priya spends her time running a musical academy for small kids.


title: Mann (film)

text: Though heartbroken, Dev continues his career and goes on to become a famous painter. One day, Priya attends his art exhibition and wishes to buy a painting of his, a sentimental picture of her speaking to his beloved grandmother, whom Dev had introduced to her during the cruise. Dev had said that he would not sell the painting as it was only for Priya, but upon hearing that the girl who wanted it understands the emotion behind the picture and is disabled, he tells the host of the exhibition to give the painting to her for free.


title: Mann (film)

text: One day, he meets Priya again with Raj at a theatre gathering but again Priya forbids Raj of telling the truth. He visits Priya to give her an anklet that his grandmother, who recently died, had wished for Priya to have when she became Dev's bride. Initially unaware of Priya's condition, Dev realises the truth when he remembers giving the painting to a disabled girl and finds the same painting in another room. The two embrace tearfully and he assures Priya that he will love her no matter what. Dev and Priya then married by Raj, where Dev carries Priya for the wedding rounds in the presence of Nattu and the children of the Musical academy.


title: Mann (film)

text: The soundtrack was composed by the duo Sanjeev–Darshan, while the lyrics were by Sameer Anjaan. Most of the tracks were allegedly plagiarised from other artists' songs without crediting them. "Nasha Yeh Pyar Ka" is based on the melody of "L'Italiano" by the Italian singer Toto Cutugno, "Tinak Tin Tana" is lifted from "Yang Sedang Sedang Saja" by the Malaysian singer , "Chaha Hai Tujhko" is based on the Tamil song "Edho Oru Paatu" composed by S. A. Rajkumar from "Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen" (1998), "Khushiyan Aur Gham" was lifted from "Come Vorrei" by the Italian pop group Ricchi e Poveri, and "Kali Nagin Ke Jaisi" was lifted from "Ya Rayah" by the Algerian singer Dahmane El Harrachi. The first 40 seconds of "Kehna Hai Tumse" were lifted from "Liquid" by Jars of Clay, but the rest of the song is original.


title: Crossword abbreviations

text: Cryptic crosswords often use abbreviations to clue individual letters or short fragments of the overall solution. These include:


title: Crossword abbreviations

text: Taking this one stage further, the clue word can hint at the word or words to be abbreviated rather than giving the word itself. For example:


title: Crossword abbreviations

text: Most abbreviations can be found in the Chambers Dictionary as this is the dictionary primarily used by crossword setters. However, some abbreviations may be found in other dictionaries, such as the Collins English Dictionary and Oxford English Dictionary.


title: Wiley (musician)

text: Richard Kylea Cowie Jr. MBE (born 19 January 1979), better known by his stage name Wiley (formerly Wiley Kat), is a British grime MC, rapper, songwriter, DJ and record producer from Bow, London.


title: Wiley (musician)

text: Wiley is considered a key figure in the creation of grime music and often labelled the "Godfather of Grime". In the early 2000s, he independently released a series of highly influential eskibeat instrumentals on white label vinyl, such as the first in the series "Eskimo" and is known as a grime MC both for his solo work and for material released with his crew Roll Deep.


title: Wiley (musician)

text: Wiley first tasted success as a member of UK garage crew Pay As U Go, with whom he had a top 40 hit, "Champagne Dance" in 2001. Wiley has continued to make grime music while also releasing mainstream singles, such as the UK Singles Chart top 10 hits "Wearing My Rolex", "Never Be Your Woman", and his UK number-one "Heatwave". Wiley's eleventh album, "Godfather" (2017), peaked at number nine on the UK Albums Chart, becoming his highest-charting album of his career, and also won an "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award by "NME".