title: Chinese animation

text: The concept of Chinese animations have begun loosening up in recent years without locking into any particular one style. One of the first revolutionary change was in the 1995 manhua animation adaptation "Cyber Weapon Z". The style consist of characters that are practically indistinguishable from any typical anime, yet it is categorized as Chinese animation. It can be said that productions are not necessarily limited to any one technique; that water ink, puppetry, computer CG are all demonstrated in the art.


title: Chinese animation

text: Newer waves of animations since the 1990s, especially flash animations, are trying to break away from the tradition. In 2001 "Time Asia" would rate the Taiwanese webtoon character "A-kuei" as one of the top 100 new figures in Asia. The appearance of "A-kuei" with the large head, would probably lean much closer to children's material like Doraemon. So changes like this signify a welcoming transition, since folklore-like characters have always had a hard time gaining international appeal. "GoGo Top" magazine, the first weekly Chinese animation magazine, conducted a survey and proved that only 1 out of 20 favorite characters among children was actually created domestically in China.


title: Chinese animation

text: The demographics of the Chinese consumer market show an audience where 11% are under the age of 13, 59% between 14 and 17, and 30% over 18 years of age. Potentially 500 million people could be identified as cartoon consumers. China has 370 million children, one of the world's largest animation audiences.


title: Chinese animation

text: From the financial perspective, "Quatech Market Research" surveyed ages between 14 and 30 in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and found that over 1.3 billion RMB (about US$163 million) was spent on cartoons every year, but more than 80% of the revenue flows straight out of the country. Further studies show that 60% still prefer Japanese anime, 29% prefer Americans, and just 11 percent favor those made by Chinese mainland, Taiwan or Hong Kong animators.


title: Chinese animation

text: From 2006 to present, the Chinese government has considered animation as a key sector for the birth of a new national identity and for the cultural development in China. The government has started to promote the development of cinema and TV series with the aim of reaching 1% of GDP in the next five years against an investment of around RMB250-350 million (€29-41 million). It supported the birth of about 6000 animation studios and 1300 universities which provide animation studies. In 2010, 220,000 minutes of animations were produced, making China the world's biggest producer of cartoons on TV.


title: Chinese animation

text: In 1999 Shanghai Animation Film Studio spent 21 million RMB (about US$2.6 million) producing the animation "Lotus Lantern". The film earned a box office income of more than RMB 20 million (about US$2.5 million), but failed to capitalize on any related products. The same company shot a cartoon series "Music Up" in 2001, and although 66% of its profits came from selling related merchandise, it lagged far behind foreign animations.


title: Chinese animation

text: 2007 saw the debut of the popular Chinese Series, "The Legend of Qin". It boasted impressive 3d graphics and an immersive storyline. Its third season was released on 23 June 2010. Its fourth season is under production.


title: Chinese animation

text: One of the most popular manhua in Hong Kong was "Old Master Q". The characters were converted into cartoon forms as early as 1981, followed by numerous animation adaptations including a widescreen DVD release in 2003. While the publications remained legendary for decades, the animations have always been considered more of a fan tribute. And this is another sign that newer generations are further disconnected with older styled characters. Newer animations like "My Life as McDull" has also been introduced to expand on the modern trend.


title: Chinese animation

text: In 2005 the first 3D CG-animated movie from Shenzhen China, "Thru the Moebius Strip" was debuted. Running for 80 minutes, it is the first 3D movie fully rendered in mainland China to premiere in the Cannes Film Festival. It was a critical first step for the industry. The immensely popular kids's animated series "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" came out the same year.


title: Chinese animation

text: In November 2006 an animation summit forum was held to announce China's top 10 most popular domestic cartoons as "Century Sonny", "Tortoise Hanba's Stories", "Black Cat Detective", "SkyEye", "Lao Mountain Taoist", "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King", "Wanderings of Sanmao", "Zhang Ga the Soldier Boy", "The Blue Mouse and the Big-Faced Cat" and "3000 Whys of Blue Cat". "Century Sonny" is a 3D CG-animated TV series with 104 episodes fully rendered.


title: Chinese animation

text: In 2011 Vasoon Animation released "Kuiba". The film tells the story of how a boy attempts to save a fantasy world from an evil monster who, unknowingly, is inside of him. The film borrows from a Japanese "hot-blooded" style, refreshing the audience's views on Chinese animation. "Kuiba" was critically acclaimed, however it commercially fell below expectations.


title: Chinese animation

text: It was reported that the CEO Wu Hanqing received minority help from a venture capital fund at Tsinghua University to complete "Kuiba." This film also holds the distinction of being the first big Chinese animation series to enter the Japanese market. From July 2012 to July 2013, "YouYaoQi" released One hundred thousand bad jokes.


title: Chinese animation

text: In 2015, is back gain 2.85 million USD box office, it was the highest-grossing animated film in China.


title: Chinese animation

text: On 15 September 1999 FlashEmpire became the first flash community in China to come online. While it began with amateurish contents, it was one of the first time any form of user-generated contents was offered in the mainland. By the beginning of 2000, it averaged 10,000 hits daily with more than 5,000 individual work published. Today it has more than 1 million members.


title: Chinese animation

text: In 2001, "Xiao Xiao", a series of flash animations about kung fu stick figures became an Internet phenomenon totaling more than 50 million hits, most of which in mainland China. It also became popular overseas with numerous international artists borrowing the "Xiao Xiao" character for their own flash work in sites like Newgrounds.


title: Chinese animation

text: On 24 April 2006 Flashlands.com was launched, hosting a variety of high quality flash animations from mainland China. The site is designed to be one of the first cross-cultural site allowing English speakers easy access to domestic productions. Though the success of the site has yet to be determined.


title: Chinese animation

text: In October 2006, 3G.NET.CN paid 3 million RMB (about US$380,000) to produce "A Chinese odyssey", the flash version of Stephen Chow's "A Chinese Odyssey" in flash format.


title: Chinese animation

text: For every quarter, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television announces the "Outstanding Domestic Animated Television Productions", which is given to the works that "persist with correct value guidance" () and "possess relatively high artistic quality and production standards" (), and recommends the television broadcasters in Mainland China to give priority when broadcasting such series.


title: Chinese animation

text: Statistics from China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) indicate domestic cartoons aired 1hr 30 minutes each day from 1993 to 2002, and that by the end of 2004, it increased the airing time of domestic cartoons to 2hrs per day. The division requested a total of 2,000 provinces to devote a show time of 60,000 minutes to domestically-produced animations and comic works. But statistics show that domestic animators can only provide enough work for 20,000 minutes, leaving a gap of 40,000 minutes that can only be filled by foreign programs. Though insiders are allegedly criticizing domestic cartoons for its emphasis on education over entertainment.


title: Chinese animation

text: SARFT also have a history of taking protectionism actions such as banning foreign programming, such as the film "". While statistics are proving there are not enough domestic materials available, the administration continues to ban foreign materials. On 15 February 2006 another notice is issued to ban cartoons that incorporated live actors. As reported by Xinhua News Agency, the commission did not want CGI and 2D characters alongside human actors. Doing so would jeopardize the broadcast order of homemade animation and mislead their development. Neither ban makes logical sense to the general public, according to foreign sources.


title: Chinese animation

text: There is little discussion of Chinese animation in English. Daisy Yan Du's PhD dissertation, "On the Move: The Trans/national Animated Film in 1940s-1970s China" (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2012), is by far the most systematic analysis of early Chinese animation before 1980. Weihua Wu's PhD dissertation, "Animation in Postsocialist China: Visual Narrative, Modernity, and Digital Culture" (City University of Hong Kong, 2006), discusses contemporary Chinese animation in the digital age after 1980. Besides the two major works, there are other articles and book chapters written by John Lent, Paola Voci, Mary Farquhar, and others about Chinese animation. The first English-language monograph devoted to Chinese animation was Rolf Giesen's "Chinese Animation: A History and Filmography, 1922–2012" (McFarland & Company, Jefferson NC, 2015).


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Interfaith marriage, sometimes called a "mixed marriage", is marriage between spouses professing different religions. Although interfaith marriages are often established as civil marriages, in some instances they may be established as a religious marriage. This depends on religious doctrine of each of the two parties' religions; some prohibit interfaith marriage, and among others there are varying degrees of permissibility.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Several major religions are mute on the issue, and still others allow it with requirements for ceremony and custom. For ethno-religious groups, resistance to interfaith marriage may be a form of self-segregation.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In an interfaith marriage, each partner typically adheres to their own religion. One issue which can arise in such unions is the choice of faith in which to raise the children.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: According to Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, men and women who have attained the age of majority have the right to marry "without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion". Although most of Article 16 is incorporated verbatim in Article 23 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the references to religious and racial limitations is omitted. Article 17, clause two, of the American Convention on Human Rights says that all men and women have the right to marry, subject to the conditions of domestic law "insofar as such conditions do not affect the principle of nondiscrimination established in this Convention."


title: Interfaith marriage

text: According to the Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study, interfaith marriage is increasingly common in the United States, accounting for 39% of marriages since 2010.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Joan Boocock Lee, an Episcopalian British-American actress married to a Jewish husband, stated that in the mid-twentieth-century United States the couple faced difficulty adopting a child.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Interfaith marriage is controversial in some areas, especially disapproval of relationships between Hindus and Muslims (where in some cases non-Muslims are required to convert to complete the marriage) by conservative Muslims. Advertisements and films depicting Hindu-Muslim relationships have attracted condemnation and legal action. Hindu-Muslim couples have experienced harassment, including posting personal details on social media. In 2020 and 2021, several Indian states with BJP governments passed laws prohibiting forced conversions, and requiring notification of intent to marry and a waiting period, and allowing anyone to object to the union. Interfaith marriages have been taken as an inherent indication of a forced conversion, despite some individuals stating they will not be converting in order to marry. The laws have been used to arrest and in some cases torture Muslim men who have married Hindu women. Fearing vigilante violence and after facing long delays and uncooperative lawyers and government officials, some couples have fled to other states to get married, often losing their jobs. In August 2021, the Gujarat High Court limited the scope of that state's law on the grounds of freedom of religion.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Religion in Saudi Arabia is severely restricted, with the Wahhabi Islam as the state religion. Public celebration or advocacy of any other religion is generally prohibited. Atheism and blasphemy against Islam are punishable by death, but private celebration of other religions is allowed despite occasional harassment. All immigrants seeking Saudi citizenship must convert to Islam.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In Israel, marriages are performed by delegated religious authorities and people must marry people with the same religion. Interfaith marriages are not allowed domestically but interfaith marriages performed in other countries are recognized. "Hitbolelut" is a derogatory term used mainly to refer with prejudice to Jewish inter-faith couples, who can be criticised as being anti-Zionist or anti-Israeli, particularly when one partner is Muslim or is identified as being Palestinian or Arab.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: According to the Baháʼí Faith, all religions are inspired by God and interfaith marriage is permitted. A Baháʼí ceremony should be performed with the non-Baháʼí rite (or ceremony). If both ceremonies are performed, the non-Baháʼí ceremony should not invalidate the Baháʼí ceremony; the Baháʼí partner remains a Baháʼí, and is not adopting the religion of the other partner in the ceremony. The Baháʼí partner should also abstain from vows (or statements) committing them to a declaration of faith in another religion or that are contrary to the principles of the Baháʼí Faith. The two ceremonies should be performed on the same day; their order is not important. The Baháʼí ceremony may be performed in the place of worship of the other religion if it is afforded respect equal to the non-Baháʼí ceremony and is clearly distinct from the non-Baháʼí ceremony.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In Christianity, an interfaith marriage is a marriage between a Christian and a non-Christian (e.g. a wedding between a Christian man and a Jewish woman, or between a Christian woman and a Muslim man); it is to be distinguished between an interdenominational marriage in which two baptized Christians belonging to two different Christian denominations marry, e.g. a wedding between a Lutheran Christian and a Catholic Christian. Almost all Christian denominations permit interdenominational marriages, though with respect to interfaith marriage, many Christian denominations caution against it, citing verses of the Christian Bible that prohibit it such as , while certain Christian denominations have made allowances for interfaith marriage, which is referenced in , verses where Saint Paul addresses originally non-Christian couples in which one of the spouses became a Christian after the marriage had taken place. The consensus of the early Church Fathers was that "interreligious marriage undermined the ecclesiological integrity of the Christian community" though as Christianity rapidly spread, cases would arise among non-Christian couples in which one person converted to Christianity; "Apostolic Tradition", an early Christian Church Order, references an interfaith couple in its instructions on Christian prayer at the seven fixed prayer times and the ablutions preceding them, stating:


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In early Christianity, the Church of the East, in the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in AD 410, ruled that "Christian women should not marry across religious boundaries" though it allowed for Christian men to marry "women of all nations" ("neshē men kul 'ammin") in order that Christian men would "instruct them in the ways of Christianity." The cultural context at the time was that a couple's children would follow the religion of the father.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In the Presbyterian Church (USA), the local church congregation is tasked with supporting and including the interfaith couple in the life of the Church, "help[ing] parents make and live by commitments about the spiritual nurture of their children", and being inclusive of the children of the interfaith couple. The pastor is to be available to help and counsel the interfaith couple in their life journey.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: The Catholic Church recognizes as sacramental, (1) the marriages between two baptized Protestants or between two baptized Orthodox Christians, as well as (2) marriages between baptized non-Catholic Christians and Catholic Christians, although in the latter case, consent from the diocesan bishop must be obtained, with this termed "permission to enter into a mixed marriage". To illustrate (1), for example, "if two Lutherans marry in the Lutheran Church in the presence of a Lutheran minister, the Catholic Church recognizes this as a valid sacrament of marriage." On the other hand, although the Catholic Church recognizes marriages between two non-Christians or those between a Catholic Christian and a non-Christian, these are not considered to be sacramental, and in the latter case, the Catholic Christian must seek permission from his/her bishop for the marriage to occur; this permission is known as "dispensation from disparity of cult".


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In Methodist Christianity, the 2014 Book of Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection discourages interfaith marriages, stating "Many Christians have married unconverted persons. This has produced bad effects; they have either been hindered for life, or have turned back to perdition." Though the United Methodist Church authorizes its clergy to preside at interfaith marriages, it notes that has been interpreted "as at least an ideal if not an absolute ban on such [interfaith] marriages as an issue of scriptural faithfulness, if not as an issue of Christian survival." At the same time, for those already in an interfaith marriage (including cases in which there is a non-Christian couple and one party converts to Christianity after marriage), the Church notes that Saint Paul "addresses persons married to unbelievers and encourages them to stay married (see )." The Wesleyan Holiness Association of Churches teaches that "For a Christian to marry an unbeliever is unscriptural. If one does marry an unconverted party and trouble follows, he/she cannot blame God for his/her wrongdoing but must expect to pay the penalty, for the marriage covenant is morally binding so long as both live and, therefore, may not be dissolved at will ()."


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In Hinduism, spiritual texts like Vedas do not have any views on interfaith marriages by differentiating between people of different religions . This is because there was no known religion in old times when Vedas were written . Law books like Manusmriti, Yajnavalkya Smriti, and Parashara speak of marriage rules among various kulas and gotras i.e. marriage outside of "varna". Manusmriti versions are numerous as the original is not preserved but it represents one of the oldest attempts to formally regulate the secular society of India. It is not a religious text. According to the "varna" system, marriage is normally between two individuals of the same "varna but marrying outside varna is also feasible". Ancient Hindu literature identified four "varnas": Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. In ancient India.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Interfaith marriages are recognized between Muslims and Non-Muslim People of the Book (usually enumerated as Jews, Christians, and Sabians). Historically, in Islamic culture and traditional Islamic law Muslim women have been forbidden from marrying Christian or Jewish men, whereas Muslim men have been permitted to marry Christian or Jewish women. It is lawful for Muslim men to marry Jewish or Christian women but not a polytheist woman (). In the case of a Muslim-Christian marriage, which is to be contracted only after permission from the Christian party, the Christian spouse is not to be prevented from attending church for prayer and worship, according to the Ashtiname of Muhammad, a treaty between Muslims and Christians recorded between Muhammad and Saint Catherine's Monastery.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: On the other hand, according to the traditional understanding of interfaith marriage in Islam, Muslim women are forbidden from intermarrying with Non-Muslim men based on Islamic law. The Quran states:


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In some societies outside the traditional "dar al-islam", interfaith marriages between Muslims and Non-Muslims are not uncommon, including marriages that contradict the historic Sunni understanding of "ijmāʿ" (the consensus of "fuqāha") as to the bounds of legitimacy. The tradition of reformist and progressive Islam, however, permits marriage between Muslim women and Non-Muslim men; Islamic scholars opining this view include Khaleel Mohammed, Daayiee Abdullah, and Hassan Al-Turabi, among others. Early Muslim jurists in the most-prominent schools of Islamic jurisprudence ruled in "fiqh" that the marriage of a Muslim man to a Christian or Jewish woman is "makruh" (disapproved) if they live in a non-Muslim country. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (634–644) denied interfaith marriage to Muslim men during his command of the "ummah".


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Many Arab countries allow interfaith marriages to Christian or Jewish women but not to Christian or Jewish men. In Lebanon for example there is no civil personal status law and marriages are performed according to the religion of the spouses. In India, Muslim women can freely marry Non-Muslim men. In order to promote trust among the religions, these marriages find larger acceptance in Indian society. Turkey allows marriages between Muslim women and Non-Muslim men through secular laws. In Tunisia since 16 September 2017, Muslim women can lawfully marry any man of any faith, or of none. In Malaysia, a Non-Muslim must convert to Islam in order to marry a Muslim and the offspring of such unions are automatically Muslims.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Canadian Islamic scholar Ahmad Kutty has expressed disapproval of all interfaith marriages, citing Umar. According to Canadian Islamic teacher Bilal Philips, the verse permitting Muslim men to marry Non-Muslim women is no longer valid for several reasons (including its misinterpretation). Canadian Islamic scholar Shabir Ally has also said that it is "makruh" for a Muslim man to marry outside his religion. The movement of progressive Islam permits marriage between Muslim women and Non-Muslim men; Members opining this view include Muslim scholars Khaleel Mohammed, Daayiee Abdullah, and Hassan Al-Turabi, among others.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Interfaith marriage in Judaism was historically viewed with disfavor by Jewish leaders, and it remains controversial. The Talmud and "poskim" prohibit non-Jews to marry Jews, and discuss when the prohibition is from the Torah and when it is rabbinical. In 1236, Moses of Coucy encouraged Jewish men who had married Christian or Muslim women to divorce them. In 1844, the reform Rabbinical Conference of Brunswick permitted Jews to marry "any adherent of a monotheistic religion" if children of the marriage were raised Jewish. This conference was controversial; one of its resolutions called on members to abolish the Kol Nidre prayer, which opens the Yom Kippur service. One member of the conference later changed his opinion, becoming an opponent of intermarriage.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Traditional Judaism does not consider marriage between a Jew by birth and a convert as intermarriage; Biblical passages which apparently support intermarriage, such as that of Joseph to Asenath and Ruth to Boaz, were regarded by classical rabbis as having occurred after the non-Jewish spouse had converted. Some still considered Canaanites forbidden to marry even after conversion, although this did not necessarily apply to their children.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Conservative Judaism does not sanction intermarriage but encourages acceptance of the non-Jewish spouse by the family in the hope that such acceptance will lead to the spouse's conversion to Judaism. In December 2014 the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's United Synagogue Youth controversially modified a binding rule that its leaders would not date non-Jews, replacing it with a "recogni[tion of] the importance of dating within the Jewish community."


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism do not generally regard the authority of classical rabbis; many rabbis from these denominations are willing to officiate at interfaith marriages, although some try to persuade intermarried couples to raise their children as Jews. In 1870, some Reform Jews published the opinion that intermarriage is prohibited.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In 2015 the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College voted to accept rabbinical students in interfaith relationships, making Reconstructionist Judaism the first major movement within Judaism to allow rabbis to have relationships with non-Jewish partners. Humanistic Judaism is a nontheistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life, defining Judaism as the cultural and historical experience of the Jewish people. The Society for Humanistic Judaism answers the question, "Is intermarriage contributing to the demise of Judaism?" on its website: "Intermarriage is the positive consequence of a free and open society. If the Jewish community is open, welcoming, embracing, and pluralistic, we will encourage more people to identify with the Jewish people rather than fewer. Intermarriage could contribute to the continuity of the Jewish people."


title: Interfaith marriage

text: During the early 19th century, intermarriage was relatively rare; less than one-tenth of one percent of the Jews of Algeria, for example, practiced exogamy. Since the early 20th century, rates of Jewish intermarriage have increased. In the United States from 1996 to 2001, nearly half (47 percent) of marriages involving Jews were intermarriages with non-Jewish partners (a similar proportion—44 percent—as in the early 20th century in New South Wales).


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In Israel, the religious authorities, which are the only entities authorized to perform weddings in Israel, are prohibited from marrying couples unless both partners share the same religion. Therefore, interfaith couples can be legally married in Israel only if one of the partners converts to the religion of the other. Interfaith couples from Israel and Lebanon often travel to Cyprus to wed.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In orthodox Serer religion (an ethnoreligious faith), interfaith and interracial marriages are forbidden. Banishment and disinheritance may be levied against a Serer who disobeys the law. The Serer-Noon (a sub-group of the Serer people) adhere strongly to this teaching.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Despite some "gurdwaras" allowing weddings between a Sikh and a non-Sikh, the vast majority oppose it. As per the 1945 Sikh Rehat Maryada (Code of Conduct), an interfaith anand karaj is not allowed within the Sikh faith. The 10th Sikh Guru had indicated within The 52 Hukams of Guru Gobind Singh that "a Sikh’s daughter must be married to a Sikh". In 2014, the Sikh Council in the UK developed a consistent approach towards marriages in Gurdwaras where one partner is not of Sikh origin, following a two-year consultation with Gurdwara Sahib Committees, Sikh Organisations, and individuals. The resulting guidelines were approved by the General Assembly of Sikh Council UK on 11 October 2014, and state that Gurdwaras are encouraged to ensure that both parties to an Anand Karaj wedding are Sikhs, but that where a couple chooses to undertake a civil marriage they should be offered the opportunity to hold an "Ardas", "Sukhmani Sahib Path", "Akhand Path", or other service to celebrate their marriage in the presence of family and friends. Some gurdwaras permit mixed marriages, which has led to controversy.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: Some traditional Zoroastrians in India disapprove of and discourage interfaith marriages, and female adherents who marry outside the faith are often considered to be excommunicated. When a female adherent marries a partner from another religion, they go through the risk of not being able to enter the Agyaris and Atash Behrams. In the past, their partner and children were forbidden from entering Zoroastrian religious buildings; this is often still observed. A loophole was found to avoid such expulsion: the offspring (especially born out of wedlock) of a Parsi man and a non-Parsi woman were often "adopted" by the Parsi father and tacitly accepted into the religion. Alternatively in a few cases such as that of Suzanne RD Tata, the non-Zoroastrian spouse has been allowed to convert Zoroastrianism by undergoing the navjote ritual Interfaith marriages may skew Zoroastrian demographics, since the number of adherents is low.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: According to Indian law (where most Parsis live), only the father of the child must be a Zoroastrian for the child (or children) to be accepted into the faith. This has been debated, since the religion promotes gender equality (which the law violates). Zoroastrians in North America and Europe defy the rule, and children of a non-Zoroastrian father are accepted as Zoroastrians.


title: Interfaith marriage

text: In modern times various composers have written sacred music for use during interfaith marriage ceremonies including:


title: National Action (UK)

text: National Action is a British right-wing extremist and Neo-Nazi terrorist organisation based in Warrington. Founded in 2013, the group is secretive, and has rules to prevent members from talking about it openly. It has been a proscribed organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000 since 16 December 2016, the first far-right group to be proscribed since the Second World War. In March 2017, an undercover investigation by ITV found that its members were still meeting in secret. It is believed that since its proscription, National Action has organised itself in a similar way to the also-banned Salafi jihadist Al-Muhajiroun network.


title: National Action (UK)

text: National Action was founded in early 2013, after the decline of the British National Party (BNP) and English Defence League. The group was founded by Benjamin Raymond and Alex Davies, who were university students. Raymond refers to Davies as the founder of National Action and says he became involved after Davies. Activists who later joined National Action met on websites such as Iron March and . 4chon was created in 2011 when 4chan's administration deleted its /new/ board.


title: National Action (UK)

text: Davies joined the BNP Youth at 16, but found the group to be in "disarray". He describes the difference between the two groups as, "We're targeting universities regularly. That's something the BNP never had. We've built something in a few months the BNP didn't have in 20 years." Raymond and Davies considered the BNP to be a failure, and their analysis of the BNP's decline as a "moderate" far-right group, was key in their conception of National Action as a neo-Nazi organisation.


title: National Action (UK)

text: Early into the organisation's existence, actions focused on street activism. Tactics included leafletting, banner drops and protests. Some of these were organised alongside activists from the British Movement, another neo-Nazi organisation which largely collapsed in the 1980s.


title: National Action (UK)

text: Davies withdrew from a first-year course in philosophy at Warwick University in June 2014 after his involvement in National Action was revealed. A university spokesman said, "Any such allegations are taken seriously." Hope not Hate described Davies as the National Front's "deputy and front man".


title: National Action (UK)

text: Due to the secretive nature of National Action, it is not clear who the leadership of the organisation are. Former National Front member Ashley Bell (pseudonym Tommy Johnson) has been referred to as the organisation's leader, and is thought to be one of a number of activists behind National Action's founding document, according to Hope not Hate. Other individuals indicated to be former or current leaders in the organisation according to Hope not Hate include Wayne Bell, Mark James, Kevin Layzell, Ben Raymond and Alex Davies.


title: National Action (UK)

text: According to an investigation by the "Daily Mirror", Benjamin Raymond (age 25 in June 2014) went on to lead the organisation. He is a former double-glazing salesman who graduated with a degree in politics from the University of Essex in 2013. By 2014, he had written on his blog, "There are non-whites and Jews in my country who all need to be exterminated. As a teenager, "Mein Kampf" changed my life. I am not ashamed to say I love Hitler." He has expressed admiration for Anders Breivik, the far-right terrorist, as "the hero Norway deserves". Raymond told "BBC News" in 2015 that "The source of all of the conflict in society is all the different racial groups that have been brought here. They have been brought here to create a people who are deracinated and easier to control."


title: National Action (UK)

text: "Tom", a member who was 18 years old at the time, was interviewed by "The Huffington Post" in March 2014. He named José Antonio Primo de Rivera of the Spanish Falange, Alexander Raven Thomson and Oswald Mosley of the British Union of Fascists, and writer Wyndham Lewis as inspiration for National Action. The group's strategy document twice quoted Adolf Hitler, which "Tom" called "a bit dodgy". He explained it by saying "What has been a successful nationalist movement? Oh it was [the Nazis]...That's why we're using [the Nazis]. They used it and they were able to gain power...Gottfried Feder, who was an economist and a member of the NSDAP, he had some good ideas".


title: National Action (UK)

text: Jack Renshaw, a former Youth BNP activist and a senior spokesperson for the organisation, faced criminal charges over incitement to racial hatred, with his trial scheduled for 2 January 2018. Renshaw had called for Jews to be "eradicated" as "nature's financial parasite and nature's social vermin", and had said that the UK had backed the wrong side in the Second World War, since the Nazis "were there to remove Jewry from Europe once and for all". A person who had committed those same offences, whose name cannot be legally published in the UK, was found guilty at Preston Crown Court of inciting racial hatred on 8 January 2018.


title: National Action (UK)

text: In November 2017, six people – 31-year-old Christopher Lythgoe, from Warrington, Garron Helm, 24, of Seaforth, Merseyside; Matthew Hankinson, 23, of Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside; and Andrew Clarke, 33, and Michael Trubini, 35, both of Warrington, along with Jack Renshaw, were charged with being members of National Action, which is banned in the UK. Two of the men, Lythgoe and Renshaw, were also charged with being involved in a plot to murder the West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper with a machete, and of threatening to kill a police officer. In July 2017, a former National Action member, Robbie Mullen, reported the plot to the anti-racism organisation Hope not Hate, who reported the matter to the police.


title: National Action (UK)

text: The six faced trial on 11 June 2018 at the Old Bailey in London. The next day, Renshaw pleaded guilty to plotting to murder Rosie Cooper, and to threatening to kill a police officer. The following month, Hankinson and Lythgoe were found guilty of being members of National Action and jailed for six years and eight years, respectively. The presiding judge, Mr Justice Jay, told Hankinson, "You are a neo-Nazi who glorifies and revels in a perverted ideology, has a deep hatred of ethnic minorities and Jews and has advocated violence to achieve your objectives." Helm was found not guilty of being a member of the group and Lythgoe was found not guilty of encouragement to murder for allegedly giving Renshaw permission to kill Ms Cooper on behalf of the group.


title: National Action (UK)

text: According to the BBC and "The Independent", six people – five men and a woman – were arrested in co-ordinated raids by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, and were charged with being members of National Action. The six – Nathan Pryke, 26, from Cambridge; Adam Thomas, 21, and Claudia Patatas, 38, both of Banbury, Oxfordshire; Darren Fletcher, 28, of Wednesfield, Wolverhampton; Daniel Bogunovic, 26, of Leicester; and Joel Wilmore, 24, of Hazel Grove, Stockport – appeared in court in January 2018 and entered pleas of not guilty. All except Patatas gave their nationality as British; Patatas is Portuguese. Several of the group also faced additional charges. Thomas, Patatas and Bogunovic were convicted in November 2018. ("see below") In December 2018, the six received prison sentences of between five and six-and-a-half years.


title: National Action (UK)

text: Two National Action members were imprisoned for eight years each at the Crown Court in Birmingham. In March 2018, Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen, 34, was described as a recruiter for National Action, a key part of whose strategy was to expand its membership within the armed forces. A self-confessed racist who believes in a coming "race war", Vehvilainen wanted to establish an all-white stronghold in the Welsh village of Llansilin. When arrested at his house there, police found a photograph of him giving a Nazi salute at a 1917 memorial to his native Finland's independence and an arsenal of weapons and swastika bunting. Another soldier, Private Mark Barrett, like Vehvilainen a member of the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, was acquitted but is believed to have been dismissed by the Army. Alexander Deakin, 24, unemployed, was the Midlands regional organiser. He was seen on CCTV putting up racist stickers at Aston University. Deakin spread racist propaganda from his bedroom at his parents’ house, telling fellow National Action members via encrypted chat that in a future "race war" they would have a "KKK-themed death squad", alluding to notorious American group the Ku Klux Klan. He bragged that counter-terrorism officers were incompetent and would never catch him, but he was found hiding in a cupboard when he was arrested. He was sentenced in April 2018.


title: National Action (UK)

text: In May 2018, Wayne Bell, described as a "poster boy" for the organisation, pleaded guilty to two counts of stirring up racial hatred and three counts of possessing multiple items in order to destroy or damage property. The court heard that he had written neo-Nazi graffiti on pillars and lamp posts in his home town of Castleford, and that he had made hundreds of racist and antisemitic posts on Twitter and the Russian social media site VKontakte. He was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.


title: National Action (UK)

text: In March 2020, four people – Alice Cutter, 23, Mark Jones, 25, both of Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire; Garry Jack, 24, of Shard End, Birmingham; and Connor Scothern, 19, of Nottingham – were convicted of membership of National Action. In June 2020, Cutter, Jones and Jack were sentenced to prison for terms of between three and five-and-a-half years, while Scothern was to be detained in youth custody for 18 months. The court heard that Cutter took part in a "Miss Hitler" beauty pageant as "Miss Buchenwald".


title: National Action (UK)

text: In April 2021, a serving Metropolitan Police officer, Benjamin Hannam, was convicted of membership of a proscribed organisation, two counts of fraud by false representation, two counts of possession of documents likely to be of use to a terrorist and possession of a prohibited image of children. Hannam had attended National Action meetings in 2016 and 2017 before joining the police force, claiming to have had no connections to the far-right.


title: National Action (UK)

text: In late April 2021, National Action's co-founder, Benjamin Raymond, was charged with alleged offences relating to his activities in the organisation, including membership in the group after it was declared a terrorist organisation by the British government. In November 2021 he was found guilty of being a member of a banned terrorist organisation, possessing a manifesto by Anders Breivik and a guide to homemade detonators.


title: National Action (UK)

text: Davies described the group as "like the BNP but more radical". National Action self-styles itself as a "revolutionary nationalist" organisation which grew out of a failed offshoot within the youth wing of the British National Party and has made effective, large-scale use of social media and blogging platforms.


title: National Action (UK)

text: National Action wanted to reintroduce Section 28, which prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality" by local councils. On immigration, "Tom" said, "With coloured people we'd say big no to them coming over. But with [white people] we'd be a bit more lenient."


title: National Action (UK)

text: The group has distributed its material on at least 12 university campuses. In an interview with "The National Student" in 2014, an anonymous organiser for National Action explained why they target universities. "Very soon they are going to find out just how hard the system has screwed them – if they knew what we know now we would have an army. The last Labour government aspired to send 50% of 18- to 21-year-olds to university and the total student population has grown exponentially over the past decade. That is 50% of youth who are going to be very angry burger flippers." He also promised, "This year will be a reign of terror", and described people who are in interracial relationships as "pathetic internet nerds who can't get laid and STD-infested sluts".


title: National Action (UK)

text: In October 2014, Garron Helm, a National Action member from Merseyside, was sentenced to four weeks in prison for sending a message via Twitter to MP Luciana Berger relating to her Jewish background, which was found to be "an offensive, indecent or obscene message". "I'm not a lunatic for embracing martyrdom, I've just accepted that I could be more use in death than life", he wrote in early 2015. Helm served two weeks of his sentence before being released. In November 2014, ten National Action activists were arrested in dawn raids on suspicion of conspiring to cause criminal damage to Berger's office; they were all bailed. No further action was taken against them. National Action's campaign against Berger was supported by the US-based neo-Nazi website "The Daily Stormer", which offered advice on how to set up untraceable Twitter accounts in order to send abuse.


title: National Action (UK)

text: In March 2015, National Action organised a "White Man March" on the Quayside in Newcastle upon Tyne during which police arrested nine people; those attending included North East representatives of the British National Party (BNP) and neo-Nazis from Eastern Europe. In June the same year, 26-year-old Zack Davies, who told police that he was a member of National Action, was found guilty of the attempted murder of Sarandev Bhambra, a Sikh man and trainee dentist, in Mold, Flintshire. Dr Bhambra was struck in the head and nearly lost a hand in the attack, suffering "life changing injuries". Davies claimed this was revenge for the murder of Lee Rigby and chanted "white power" as he launched the attack. Davies was given a life sentence the following September, and is to serve 14 years before being considered for parole. National Action publicly denied any association with Davies or his actions.


title: National Action (UK)

text: In August 2015, the group attempted to hold a second "White Man March" in Liverpool. Strong opposition from the Anti-Fascist Network and local activists forced the organisers to cancel the march and take refuge in the lost luggage collection point at Lime Street Station. Tensions were raised by a letter to Mayor Joe Anderson threatening race riots; National Action claimed this was a forgery by an "agent provocateur".


title: National Action (UK)

text: In November 2016, "The Sunday Times" reported that "fears that far-right activists may be grooming a new generation of Hitler Youth in the UK emerged" after stickers from National Action proclaiming parts of Liverpool to be a "Nazi-controlled zone" appeared. The group also held a number of marches and demonstrations on Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday proclaiming that "Hitler was right", and celebrated the election of Donald Trump as President-elect of the United States under the slogan of "white power".


title: National Action (UK)

text: National Action has called for a "white jihad" to "cleanse Britain of parasites" using leaflets, stickers and video. Members of the group stated in speeches that there was a "disease of international Jewry", and that "when the time comes they'll be in the chambers".


title: National Action (UK)

text: "Tom" reported that the group was monitored by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit. Gerry Gable, former editor of the anti-fascist magazine "Searchlight", said, "National Action are highly organised with a lot of foreign money backing them up. They're not looking to attract thickos who just want a fight. They want thinkers who are prepared to die for National Socialism." Scotland Yard was reported to be "very concerned" by the group, but gave an official response that "We cannot discuss details of individuals or organisations that may or may not be the subject of an investigation."


title: National Action (UK)

text: Ian Austin, a Labour Party MP whose adoptive father fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, said of National Action, "Seventy years ago, British heroes were fighting to liberate Europe from the scourge of Nazis and fascism. It's absolutely disgusting to see young British people praise Hitler today."


title: National Action (UK)

text: On 5 September 2017, it was reported that four serving male members of the British Army had been arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of being members of National Action: a 22-year-old from Birmingham, a 32-year-old from Powys, a 24-year-old from Ipswich and a 24-year-old from Northampton. A fifth man was reported to have been detained in Cyprus. As a result, three men, including two British soldiers, were charged with terrorism offences. On 27 September 2017, eleven men were arrested in further raids across England and Wales.


title: National Action (UK)

text: On 3 January 2018, six people – five men from Cambridge, Banbury, Wolverhampton, Leicester and Stockport, and a woman from Banbury – were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, namely on suspicion of being a member of a proscribed organisation, National Action. Those arrested were aged between 21 and 37.


title: National Action (UK)

text: In November 2016, "The Sunday Times" reported that National Action was supporting Thomas Mair, the murderer of the Batley and Spen Labour MP Jo Cox, posting "only 649 MPs to go!" on social media. National Action also supported Mair personally, saying, "Don't let this man's sacrifice go in vain," and altered its listing on Google to state, "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain!", a slogan Mair had said to a court when asked to give his name following Cox's murder. The organisation also supported the Orlando nightclub shooting and has called for graphic and violent attacks on police officers in the UK. Mair, however, appeared to have little involvement with National Action or any other white supremacist groups within the UK.


title: National Action (UK)

text: Before it was banned, the organisation was the most active in Yorkshire, where half of the referrals to the government's anti-extremism strategy have been about the far-right. In October, the "Jewish Chronicle" reported that the organisation's leaflets "including swastikas, a Nazi salute and the phrase 'no tolerance'" were spotted in Hull, Liverpool, Glasgow and Cardiff. The "Hull Daily Mail" reported, "The first evidence of the group in the city was in July when graffiti appeared on a wall on George Street in the city centre with an incorrectly painted Swastika, the letters NA and a logo." In a newsletter, National Action claimed that although the group was "not entirely sure who could done" the graffiti, "it seems we have got quite a following in Hull, with graffiti (even though backwards) of swastikas and an attempt at our logo and the initials NA popping up around Hull and triggering the reactionary left."


title: National Action (UK)

text: National Action has promoted the antisemitic conspiracy theories that Jews were behind the 11 September attacks and has labelled Cox the "patron saint" of grooming gangs, according to "The Sunday Times". At a secret meeting of the Yorkshire Forum, Renshaw said (in a video seen by "The Times") that they need to adopt a "killer instinct". According to him, "As nationalists we need to learn from the mistakes of the national socialists and we need to realise that, no, you do not show the Jew mercy."


title: National Action (UK)

text: The group was proscribed as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000, making it a criminal offence to support or be a member after 16 December 2016. In laying an order for National Action's proscription, the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, described the group as "a racist, antisemitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology". National Action is the first far-right organisation to be proscribed in the UK since the now-defunct British Union of Fascists in the 1940s. National Action is one of only four terrorist organisations based in Great Britain to be proscribed (one being the Sonnenkrieg Division, a splinter of the System Resistance Network (a National Action alias), and the other two being radical Islamist organisations). Its ban was seen as an acknowledgement by the UK government that the far-right was on the rise, and figures released by the National Police Chiefs' Council show that the number of far-right referrals to the anti-terror "Prevent" programme increased from 323 cases in 2014–15 to 561 in 2015–16.


title: National Action (UK)

text: Suspicion that some National Action followers simply swapped membership of National Action for membership of the group Scottish Dawn, in order to circumvent the ban, prompted the Home Office to consider whether the new group should be outlawed too. Scottish Dawn was established shortly after National Action was banned and described itself as a "new Identitarian social movement formed from various organisations in 2017 to develop a coherent conception of Scottish identity and secure its place within Scottish politics".


title: National Action (UK)

text: NS131 (National Socialist Anti-Capitalist Action) was another group that appeared after National Action was proscribed and was "a platform dedicated to promoting and spreading NS street art and physical propaganda" according to its website. On 28 September 2017, after eleven suspected members across the country were arrested, the government announced that both Scottish Dawn and NS131 would be banned as aliases of National Action.


title: National Action (UK)

text: System Resistance Network (SRN) is a group that is believed to have been putting up homophobic and anti-refugee posters in Dundee, Swansea, Cardiff and Bristol, and is claimed by Hope not Hate to be another alias of National Action. SRN was formerly known as Vanguard Britannia, the British chapter of American alt-right, neo-Nazi group Vanguard America. Former members of the SRN are suspected to have been involved in the creation of the Sonnenkrieg Division, an offshoot of the American neo-Nazi terrorist organisation the Atomwaffen Division.


title: National Action (UK)

text: In June 2021, Andrew Dymock a neo-Nazi student associated with SRN was found guilty of terror and hate offences.


title: National Action (UK)

text: During the 2018 trial of three people for being members of National Action, it emerged that a successor organisation named the TripleK Mafia had been set up by the defendants. This rebrand was made in an attempt to "shed one skin for another"; the name was another reference to the Ku Klux Klan. The group name was misspelled as "TrippleK" four times in new posters by member Joel Wilmore. Two of the defendants in the trial, Adam Thomas, 22, and Claudia Patatas, 38, had named their newborn baby Adolf in honour of Hitler, and posed for photographs with the child while dressed in KKK robes and with swastika flags. The third defendant was a "prominent member of National Action's Midlands chapter", Daniel Bogunovic, 27. All three were convicted after a seven-week trial at the Crown Court in Birmingham.


title: Devin White

text: Devin Marcel White (born February 17, 1998) is an American football linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU, and was drafted by the Buccaneers fifth overall in the 2019 NFL Draft. He won a Super Bowl championship in 2021, in a 31–9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.


title: Devin White

text: Devin White attended North Webster High School in Springhill, Louisiana where he played football as a standout linebacker and running back.


title: Devin White

text: White was a controversial recruit out of high school, having multiple run-ins with police. In November 2015, he and his teammate Keuntra Gipson were arrested for having sex with a 14-year-old, a misdemeanor in Louisiana. One month later, White was arrested for misdemeanor charges of “careless operation of a motor vehicle and flight from an officer.” Because of his legal situation, White was dismissed from the 2015 Under Armour All-America Game. Despite these controversies, he was still able to sign with LSU to play football.


title: Devin White

text: In his sophomore season at LSU, White led the SEC in tackles with 133, the fourth-most tackles in a single season in school history. He became the first player in SEC history to be named Defensive Player of the Week four times in the same season. Following his junior year, White decided to forgo his senior year and enter the 2019 NFL Draft.


title: Devin White

text: White was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round with the fifth overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft. His selection made him the highest drafted LSU defensive player since Patrick Peterson in 2011, as well as the highest drafted linebacker in school history. On July 20, 2019, the Buccaneers signed White to a fully guaranteed, four-year, $29.32 million contract including a signing bonus of $19.34 million.


title: Devin White

text: White made his NFL debut in Week 1 against the San Francisco 49ers, making six tackles in the 31–17 loss. In Week 2, during a 20–14 win over the Carolina Panthers, White sprained his MCL which resulted in him missing the next three games.


title: Devin White

text: In Week 9 against the Seattle Seahawks, White recorded a team-high 12 tackles, half a sack on Russell Wilson, and two forced fumbles on running back Chris Carson, one of which that was recovered by teammate Jordan Whitehead in the 40–34 overtime loss. In Week 11 against the New Orleans Saints, White recorded a team-high 13 tackles in the 34–17 loss. In Week 12, during a 35–22 win against the Atlanta Falcons, White recorded eight tackles and sacked Matt Ryan twice, the first multi-sack game of his career. In Week 13, during a 28–11 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars, White had a team-high seven tackles, his first career interception off a pass thrown by Nick Foles, and recovered a strip sack by teammate Shaquil Barrett on Foles for a touchdown. As a result of White's strong play in November (39 tackles, 2.5 sacks, one pass deflection, and two forced fumbles from Weeks 9–12), he was named NFC Defensive Rookie of the Month. As a result of White's strong play in December (29 tackles, two pass deflections, one interception, one forced fumble, four fumble recoveries, and two fumble return touchdowns from Weeks 13–17), he was named the NFC Defensive Rookie of the Month.


title: Devin White

text: White finished his rookie season with 91 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, three pass deflections, one interception, three forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, and two fumble return touchdowns.


title: Devin White

text: In Week 2 against the Carolina Panthers, White recorded a team-high 15 tackles, of which 11 were solo, during the 31–17 win. In Week 6 against the Green Bay Packers, White led the team with 10 tackles and sacked Aaron Rodgers once during the 38–10 win. In Week 7, during a 45–20 win against the Las Vegas Raiders, White recorded a team-high 11 tackles, of which nine were solo, as well as a career-high three sacks on Derek Carr, one of which resulted in a fumble, earning NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. In Week 15, White recorded 12 tackles (four for a loss), sacked Matt Ryan three times, and defended two passes in a 31–27 comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons, earning his second NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors of the season. In Week 16, during a 47–7 win over the Detroit Lions, White recorded 10 tackles and a sack. On January 1, 2021, it was revealed that White tested positive for COVID-19, and, along with teammates Shaquil Barrett and Steve McLendon, was placed on the reserve/COVID list by the Buccaneers on January 1, 2021, and was subsequently activated on January 11. White finished the 2020 regular season with a team-best 140 total tackles as well as nine sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and four pass deflections.


title: Devin White

text: White made his postseason debut in the Divisional Round against the New Orleans Saints. During the game, White led the team with 11 tackles (10 solo), deflected one pass, recovered a fumble forced by teammate Antoine Winfield Jr., and intercepted a pass by Drew Brees as the Buccaneers defeated the Saints 30–20. In the NFC Championship against the Green Bay Packers, White led the Buccaneers with 15 tackles (nine solo) and recovered a fumble forced by teammate Jordan Whitehead as the Buccaneers defeated the Packers 31–26 to advance to Super Bowl LV. In the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs, White recorded 12 tackles, two tackles for loss, and the game sealing interception off a pass thrown by Patrick Mahomes in the end zone to secure a 31–9 victory for the Buccaneers.


title: National qualifications frameworks in the United Kingdom

text: The national qualification frameworks in the United Kingdom are qualifications frameworks that define and link the levels and credit values of different qualifications.


text: Credit frameworks use the Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme, where 1 credit = 10 hours of nominal learning.


text: The Regulated Qualifications Framework (England and Northern Ireland) is split into nine levels: entry level (further subdivided into sub-levels one to three) and levels one to eight; the CQFW (Wales) has the same nine levels as the RQF and has adopted the same level descriptors for regulated (non-degree) qualifications. The FHEQ in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has five levels, numbered four to eight to match the RQF/CQFW levels.


text: Normally (different rules apply for specifically-named qualifications such as GCSEs), the name of a qualification offered under the RQF will contain the name of the awarding organisation and the level of the qualification. It may also include "NVQ" to indicate that it meets certain criteria to be considered a vocational qualification: "the qualification is based on recognised occupational standards, confers occupational competence and requires work-based assessment and/or assessment in an environment that simulates the work place". The size of the qualification may be indicated by it being called an "Award" (less that 120 hours total qualification time/1–12 credits), "Certificate" (121 to 369 hours/13–36 credits) or "Diploma" (370 or more hours/37+ credits).


text: In general usage, qualifications are often compared to the best-known qualification at that level. For example, the Level 2 DiDA is often said to be equivalent to four GCSEs at grades A*–C.


text: While the frameworks say how qualifications compare in terms of size and level, they do not (except for the split of GCSEs across level 1 and 2) take grades into account, e.g. a first class honours degree and a pass degree are both 360 credit qualifications at level 6. For university entrance, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) produces its own tariff for level 3 qualifications and international equivalents, based on grades achieved and the size of the qualification (in four size bands). Universities, colleges and employers are also free to make their own decisions on how they treat qualifications, and are not bound to follow the frameworks.


text: The RQF and CQFW have been referenced to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and can also be compared to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), as laid out in the table below.


text: The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is a 12-level framework that unites qualifications from the Scottish Qualifications Authority and higher education institutes with Scottish Vocational Qualifications and Modern Apprenticeships:


text: The Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies (FHEQ) includes separate descriptors for higher education (HE) qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and in Scotland for bachelor's degrees and below; for master's degrees and doctoral degrees the same descriptors apply across the UK. HE qualifications in Scotland are part of a sub-framework, the Framework for Qualifications of Higher Education Institutes in Scotland (FQHEIS), which is tied to the top six levels (7–12) of the SCQF. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the FHEQ uses the same numbering as the top 5 levels of the RQF and CQFW (4–8).


text: With respect to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), only qualifications on the FHEQ (and only those with the full number of credits for that level) are certified as being equivalent to Bologna Process cycles, thus:


text: The idea of a national framework for higher education qualifications (FHEQ) was proposed by the Dearing and Garrick Reports in 1997. Dearing's proposed FHEQ had 8 levels, not all of which were subsequently adopted:


text: Note "postgraduate conversion courses" were what are now called graduate certificates and diplomas but were, at the time of the report, often awarded as master's degrees, "Higher honours" referred to integrated master's degrees.


text: The first editions of the FHEQ were published by the Quality Assurance Agency in January 2001 as two documents: one covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the other Scotland. As currently, the 2001 England, Wales and Northern Ireland FHEQ had five levels, the 2001 Scotland FHEQ had six levels. The Scottish FHEQ was tied to the SCQF, but the England, Wales and Northern Ireland FHEQ was not tied to the NQF until 2004, when the latter was reorganised (as described below). The levels were:


text: Note that while the framework for England, Wales and Northern Ireland did have numbered levels, the letter designations were often used to avoid confusion with the different numbering on the NQF.


text: The major difference between the 2001 framework and the current framework was the position of Ordinary (non-honours) bachelor's degrees. These were, at the time, considered to be at the same level as foundation degrees and diplomas of higher education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, rather than being at the same level as honours degrees but with a lower credit value.


text: The Scottish FHEQ was certified as aligned with the framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEQ) in 2007. The second edition of the FHEQ for England, Wales and Northern Ireland was issued in August 2008, and was also then certified as aligned with the EHEA framework. The major changes were the shifting of the non-honours bachelor's degree to its current position, allowing it to be considered a first cycle (end of cycle) qualification in the EHEA framework and the adoption of the NQF/QCF level numbers in place of the separate labelling of higher education levels; it also made explicit that primary qualifications in medicine, dentistry and veterinary science were at master's level. A second edition of the Scottish FHEQ was issued in June 2014, doing away with the separate labelling of levels in higher education and simply adopting the SCQF numbering, and a third edition of both, united into one document as "The Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies", was published in November 2014. This gave unified level descriptors for master's degrees and doctoral degrees, while maintaining separate descriptors for lower level qualifications.


text: The Qualifications and Credit Framework was used from 2008 until 2015 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It replaced the National Qualifications Framework (NQF; see below) and was replaced in turn by the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF). It used the same levels as the (post 2004) NQF and the current RQF, but differed from the NQF in that in addition to qualifications being assigned a level they were assigned a credit value, indicating their size. The QCF had prescriptive rules on qualification design and assessment; a review in 2014 found that "the rules placed too much focus on structure, and not enough on validity, and that they were not flexible enough to meet the variety of needs covered by vocational qualifications". This led to the establishment of the RQF, which does not contain specific rules for qualifications in the manner of the QCF.


text: National Qualifications Framework (NQF) was a former qualification framework developed for qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which was in use until 2008.


text: The NQF was introduced to help employers compare the many hundreds of qualifications available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Originally, the framework only went up to Level 5, but in 2004 the old Level 4 was subdivided into Levels 4, 5 and 6 and the old Level 5 was subdivided into Level 7 and Level 8. This allowed the NQF to better align with its equivalent for higher education, the FHEQ.


text: The Framework, after 2004, had nine levels (with entry level qualifications offered at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3) covering all levels of learning in secondary education, further education, vocational, and higher education. Though academic higher education courses (such as academic degrees) were not covered in the NQF, it was broadly aligned with the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ), allowing levels of achievement to be compared.


text: Only when a course had been accredited and became part of the NQF was it then eligible for state funding. As such, some courses which were popular internationally and offered by British-based organisations were not available to state schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.


text: BTECs and Cambridge courses are vocational equivalent, which under the QCF were equivalent to 1, 2 or 3 GCSEs or A Levels, at Grade A*-C.


text: The NQF was replaced with the QCF, Qualifications and Credit Framework in 2010, which was a credit transfer system which indicated the size of qualifications (measured in learning hours), as well as their level. The QCF was, in turn, replaced by the Regulated Qualifications Framework in October 2015.


text: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) classifies higher and further education courses using a more detailed framework using letter codes based on the original FHEQ. This separates postgraduate courses into research and taught, based on the largest component in terms of student effort. Doctorate-level courses are coded D for research and E for taught; master's-level courses are coded M for taught (including integrated master's courses) and L for research. Honours-level courses are coded H and non-honours bachelor's-level courses I (across the whole of the UK, not just Scotland, thus splitting level 6 on the England, Wales and Northern Ireland framework). Foundation degree/HND/DipHE-level qualifications are coded J and HNC/CertHE-level C.


text: At the FE stage, A-levels and similar level 3 qualifications (including the Scottish Advanced Higher, which is at level 7 on the SCQF, the same as HNCs and CertHEs) are coded P. Lower levels file alphabetically: Q for level 2, R for level 1 and S for entry level. X is used to code non-accredited/non-approved qualifications, Access to HE Diplomas and Welsh for Adults qualifications.


text: The mapping to the ISCED 1997 international statistical classification levels has research courses at both doctoral and master's level (codes D and L) corresponding to ISCED level 6; taught courses at doctoral, master's and honours level (codes E, M and H) corresponding to level 5A; courses at non-honours bachelor's-level and foundation degree/diploma level (codes I and J) corresponding to level 5B; and courses at certificate level (code C) corresponding to level 5B or level 4. No correspondence is given between the HESA framework and ISCED 1997 levels for FE qualifications.


text: The national mapping for ISCED gives equivalences for UK qualifications in both the 1997 and 2011 classifications:


text: The UK ENIC (European Network of Information Centres) uses a 16-level "band framework" in its evaluation of foreign qualifications to identify comparable British qualifications. UK ENIC issues statements of comparability and certificates based on these bands, which are designed to be precise enough to distinguish between different international awards and assist in informed decision making.


title: Tiger attack

text: Tiger attacks are an extreme form of human–wildlife conflict which occur for various reasons and have claimed more human lives than attacks by any of the other big cats. The most comprehensive study of deaths due to tiger attacks estimates that at least 373,000 people died due to tiger attacks between 1800 and 2009 averaging about 1800 kills per year, the majority of these attacks occurring in India, Nepal and Southeast Asia.


title: Tiger attack

text: If a human comes too close and surprises a sleeping tiger, a feeding tiger, or a tigress with her cubs, the tiger will attack and injure or kill a human. Tigers also attack humans in a case of "mistaken identity" (for example, if a human is crouching while collecting firewood, or cutting grass) and sometimes when a tourist gets too close. Some also recommend not riding a bicycle, or running in a region where tigers live, in order to not provoke their chase. Peter Byrne wrote about an Indian postman who was working on foot for many years without any problems with resident tigers, but was chased by a tiger soon after he started riding a bicycle for his work. While on average there are approximately 85 or fewer people killed and injured by tigers each year, India has seen sharper increases in tiger attacks, as was the case in 2014 and 2015 due to urban expansion into the tiger's natural habitat. Many human fatalities and injuries are due to incidents at zoos, or to the man-eating tigers in India.


title: Tiger attack

text: In some cases, tigers will change their natural diet to become man-eaters. This is usually due to a tiger being incapacitated by a gunshot wound or porcupine quills, or some other factors, such as health issues and disabilities. In such cases, the animal's inability to take traditional prey forces it to stalk humans, which are less appetizing, but much easier to chase, overpower and kill; this was the case with the man-eating tigress of Champawat, which was believed to have begun eating villagers at least partially in response to crippling tooth injuries. As tigers in Asia often live in close proximity to humans, tigers have killed more people than any other big cat. Between 1876 and 1912, tigers killed 33,247 people in British India.


title: Tiger attack

text: Man-eaters have been a recurrent problem in India, especially in Kumaon, Garhwal and the Sundarbans mangrove swamps of Bengal. There, some healthy tigers have been known to hunt humans. However, there have been mentions of man eaters in old Indian literature so it appears that after British occupied India and built roads in to forests and brought the tradition of "shikar" , man eaters became a nightmare come alive. Even though tigers usually avoid elephants, they have been known to jump on an elephant's back and severely injure the mahout riding on the elephant's back. Kesri Singh mentioned a case when a fatally wounded tiger attacked and killed the hunter who wounded it while the hunter was on the back of an elephant. Most man-eating tigers are eventually captured, shot or poisoned.


title: Tiger attack

text: During war, tigers may acquire a taste for human flesh from the consumption of corpses which have lain unburied, and go on to attack soldiers; this happened during the Vietnam and Second World Wars. Tigers will stalk groups of people bending down while working in a field or cutting grass, but will lose interest as soon as the people stand upright. Consequently, it has been hypothesized that some attacks are a simple case of mistaken identity.


title: Tiger attack

text: Tigers typically surprise victims from the side or from behind: either approaching upwind or lying in wait downwind. Tigers rarely press an attack if they are seen before their ambush is mounted.


title: Tiger attack

text: Tigers are sometimes intimidated from attacking humans, especially if they are unfamiliar with people. Tigers, even established man-eating tigers will seldom enter human settlements, usually sticking to village outskirts. Nevertheless, attacks in human villages do occur.


title: Tiger attack

text: Most tigers will only attack a human if they cannot physically satisfy their needs otherwise. Tigers are typically wary of humans and usually show no preference for human meat. Although humans are relatively easy prey, they are not a desired source of food. Thus, most man-eating tigers are old, infirm, or have missing teeth, and choose human victims out of desperation. In one case, a post-mortem examination of a killed tigress revealed two broken canine teeth, four missing incisors and a loose upper molar, handicaps which would make capturing stronger prey extremely difficult. Only upon reaching this stage did she attack a workman.


title: Tiger attack

text: In some cases, rather than being predatory, tiger attacks on humans seem to be territorial in nature. In at least one case, a tigress with cubs killed eight people entering her territory without consuming them at all.


title: Tiger attack

text: The Bengal tigers of the Sundarbans (translation: 'beautiful forest'), bordering India and Bangladesh, used to regularly kill fifty or sixty people a year. This was strange given that the tigers were usually in prime condition and had adequate prey available. Approximately 100 tigers live in this region, possibly the largest single population anywhere in the world. The kill rate has dropped significantly due to better management techniques and now only about three people lose their lives each year . Despite the notoriety associated with this area, humans are only a supplement to the tigers' diet; they do not provide a primary food source.


title: Tiger attack

text: The Champawat Tiger was a man-eating tigress which purportedly killed some 200 men and women before being driven out of Nepal. She moved to Champawat district in the state of Uttarakhand in North India, and continued to kill, bringing her total human kills up to 436. She was finally tracked down and killed in 1907. She was known to enter villages, even during daylight, roaring and causing people to flee in panic to their huts.


title: Tiger attack

text: The Champawat Tiger was found and killed by Jim Corbett after he followed the trail of blood the tigress left behind after killing her last victim, a 16-year-old girl. Later examination of the tigress showed the upper and lower canine teeth on the right side of her mouth were broken, the upper one in half, the lower one right down to the bone. This permanent injury, Corbett claimed, "had prevented her from killing her natural prey, and had been the cause of her becoming a man-eater."


title: Tiger attack

text: The Tiger of Segur was a young man-eating male Bengal tiger who killed five people in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu state in South India. Though originating in the District of Malabar District and Wayanad District below the south-western face of the Blue Mountains, the tiger later shifted its hunting grounds to Gudalur and between the Sigur Plateau and Anaikatty in Coimbatore district. It was killed by Kenneth Anderson on the banks of the Segur River, . Anderson later wrote that the tiger had a disability preventing it from hunting its natural prey.


title: Tiger attack

text: The Tigers of Chowgarh were a pair of man-eating Bengal tigers, consisting of an old tigress and her sub-adult cub, which for over a five-year period killed a reported 64 people in eastern Kumaon Division of Uttarakhand in Northern India over an area spanning . The figures however are uncertain, as the natives of the areas the tigers frequented claimed double that number, and they do not take into account victims who survived direct attacks but died subsequently. Both tigers were killed by Jim Corbett.


title: Tiger attack

text: The Thak man-eater was a tigress from Eastern Kumaon division, who killed only four human victims, but was the last hunt of the hunter, conservationist and author Jim Corbett. Corbett called her up and killed her during late twilight, after he lost all other means to track her down. Postmortem revealed that this tigress had two old gunshot wounds, one of which had become septic. This, according to Corbett, forced her to turn from a normal predator hunting natural prey to a man-eater.


title: Tiger attack

text: The Tiger of Mundachipallam was a male Bengal tiger, which in the 1950s killed seven people in the vicinity of the village of Pennagram, four miles (6 km) from the Hogenakkal Falls in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. Unlike the Segur man-eater, the Mundachipallam tiger had no known infirmities preventing it from hunting its natural prey. Its first three victims were killed in unprovoked attacks, while the subsequent victims were devoured. The Mundachipallam tiger was later killed by Kenneth Anderson.


title: Tiger attack

text: A story was discovered by Pune-based author Sureshchandra Warghade when he ran into an old villager in the Bhimashankar forest which lies near Pune. The villager explained to the author how a man-eating tiger terrorized the entire Bhimashakar area during a span of two years in the 1940s. He was a police constable in that area and he had been responsible for dealing with the formalities surrounding the deaths (missing person reports and death certificates) and other jobs such as helping the hunting parties. During this time the tiger supposedly killed more than 100 people, but it was apparently very careful to avoid discovery; only 2 bodies were ever found. Several hunting parties were organized, but the only one to succeed was an Ambegaon-based hunter named Ismail. During his first attempt, Ismail had a direct confrontation with the tiger and was almost killed. He later called Kenneth Anderson. They returned and killed the tiger. The tiger predominately killed the villagers who slept outside the huts.


title: Tiger attack

text: The authenticity of the story told by the villager was confirmed when Warghade examined official reports, including a certificate given by the British authorities for killing the man-eating tiger.


title: Tiger attack

text: While the Sundarbans are particularly well known for tiger attacks, Dudhwa National Park also had several man-eaters in the late 1970s. The first death was on 2 March 1978, closely followed by 3 further kills.


title: Tiger attack

text: The population demanded action from authorities. The locals wanted the man-eater shot or poisoned. The killings continued, each one making headlines. Officials soon started to believe that the likely culprit was a tigress called Tara. Conservationist Billy Arjan Singh had taken the British-born cat from Twycross Zoo and raised her in India, with the goal of releasing her back into the wild. His experiments had also been carried out on leopards with some success.


title: Tiger attack

text: Experts felt that Tara would not have the required skills and correct hunting techniques to survive in the wild and controversy surrounded the project. She also associated men with providing food and comfort, which increased the likelihood that she would approach villages.


title: Tiger attack

text: Officials later became convinced that Tara had taken to easier prey and become a man-eater. A total of 24 people were killed before the tigress was shot. Singh also joined the hunt with the intent of identifying the man-eater, but firm confirmation of the identity of the tiger was never found.


title: Tiger attack

text: The debate over the tiger's identity has continued in the years since the attacks. Singh's supporters continue to claim that the tiger was not Tara, and the conservationist has produced evidence to that effect. However, officials maintain that the tiger was definitely Tara.


title: Tiger attack

text: Other man-eaters from Dudhwa National Park have existed, but this tiger was potentially the first captive-bred tiger to be trained and released into the wild. This controversy cast doubt on the success of Singh's rewilding project.


title: Tiger attack

text: Problems at Dudhwa have been minor in the past few years. Occasional tiger attacks still occur, but these are no higher than at other wildlife reserves. On average, two villagers are attacked at Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve each year. These attacks generally occur during the monsoon season when the locals enter the reserve to collect grass.


title: Tiger attack

text: In February 2014, reports emerged that a tigress had killed 7 people near the Jim Corbett National Park. The tigress was later called the man-eater of Moradabad, because it was hunting in the Bijnor and Moradabad region. The tigress could not be traced by about 50 camera traps and an unmanned aerial vehicle. In August 2014, it was reported that tigress had stopped killing humans. Its last victim was killed in February, with a total of 7 victims. The animal remained untraced.


title: Tiger attack

text: Between 2016 and 2018, a tigress known as T-1 was said to have killed 13 people in Yavatmal district, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. The tigress was shot dead after a major hunt in November 2018. The tiger was killed in self-defence, after charging those attempting to tranquillise her.


title: Tiger attack

text: The hunt for the tigress included more than 100 camera traps, bait in the form of horses and goats tied to trees, round-the-clock surveillance from treetop platforms and armed patrols. Drones and a hang glider were also used to try and locate T-1. Wildlife officials also brought in bottles of the perfume "Obsession for Men" by Calvin Klein, which contains a pheromone called civetone, after an experiment in the US suggested that it could be used to attract jaguars.


title: Tiger attack

text: In 2021, the four tigers killed ten people and injured several others in Bardia National Park of Nepal. Three of tigers were captured and transferred to rescue centers. One of the tigers escaped from its cage and is yet to be captured.


title: Tiger attack

text: The tigers were identified and captured from Gaidamachan on 4 April, from Khata on 18 March and from Geruwa on 17 March. The tigers were found with broken canine teeth, possibly due to fighting between two males. After the capture, one of the tiger escaped from the iron cage and went back to the forest in Banke district. Two were housed at the rescue facility in Bardia National Park in Thakurdwara and Rambapur. One was transferred to the Central Zoo in Jawalakhel, Kathmandu.


title: Tiger attack

text: Various measures were taken to prevent and reduce the number of tiger attacks with limited success. For example, since tigers almost always attack from the rear, masks with human faces were worn on the back of the head by the villagers in 1986 in the Sundarbans, on the theory that tigers usually do not attack if seen by their prey. This had temporarily decreased the number of attacks, but only for a short while before the tigers figured out it was not the front of the human being so the villagers no longer wore them for protection. All other means to prevent tiger attacks, such as providing the tigers with more prey by releasing captive bred pigs to the reserve's buffer zones, or placing electrified human dummies to teach tigers to associate attacking people with electric shock, did not work as well and tiger attacks continue. Many measures were thus discontinued due to lack of success.


title: Tiger attack

text: Tiger attacks have also happened in zoos and as exotic pets. Attacks by captive tigers are not that rare. Between 1998 and 2001 there were seven fatal tiger attacks in the United States and at least 20 more attacks that required emergency medical care.


title: Betsy Sodaro

text: Betsy Sodaro is an American actress from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles. Sodaro is best known for her appearances on comedy programs such as "Another Period", "Duncanville", "Clipped", "Animal Practice", "Nailed It" and "Big Time in Hollywood, FL".


title: Betsy Sodaro

text: Sodaro is originally from Summit County, Colorado, and graduated from Western State Colorado University in 2006, with a degree in communications and theater. After graduating, she trained and performed at the Sacramento Comedy Spot and moved to Los Angeles in 2007. She performs regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre with house improv teams Bangarang! and Search History and house sketch team Nephew. Sodaro cites Chris Farley among her comedic influences.


title: Betsy Sodaro

text: Sodaro has been in films such as "Monsters University" and "The To Do List", and has made guest appearances on television shows such as "Raising Hope", "Comedy Bang Bang", "", "Stevie TV", and "Kroll Show". In 2010, she was a cast member in UCB co-founder Matt Besser's Comedy Central sketch pilot "This Show Will Get You High", along with Besser, Brett Gelman, John Gemberling, and Paul Rust. In 2012, Sodaro co-starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom "Animal Practice". She also plays recurring roles on the Comedy Central's "Another Period" and "Big Time in Hollywood, FL" and co-starred on the TBS sitcom "Clipped".


title: Betsy Sodaro

text: Sodaro is a frequent guest on Matt Besser's podcast "improv4humans", having appeared on the show over 12 times. She has also guested on many other podcasts on the Earwolf network such as on "Comedy Bang! Bang!", "Hollywood Handbook", "With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus", "The Andy Daly Podcast Pilot Project", "The Hooray Show with Horatio", and more.


title: Betsy Sodaro

text: Betsy Sodaro also provided the voice of Plant from Warner Bros. Animation's "Right Now Kapow", Xixi The Toucan from "All Hail King Julien", and many more. She also played the character "Dabby" on the Netflix sitcom "Disjointed" starring Kathy Bates. In 2022 she appeared on "Ghosts" as Nancy, a ghost who died from cholera.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: Gary Ray Bowles (January 25, 1962 – August 22, 2019) was an American serial killer who was executed in 2019 for the murders of six men in 1994. He is sometimes referred to as The I-95 Killer since most of his victims lived close to the Interstate 95 highway.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: Bowles was born in Clifton Forge, Virginia, and was raised in Rupert, West Virginia. His father Frank, who worked as a coal miner, had died from black lung disease six months before, and his mother Frances remarried several times. Bowles was abused by his second stepfather, a violent alcoholic who also abused Bowles' mother and older brother. The abuse continued until, at the age of 13, Bowles fought back and severely injured his stepfather. He left home soon thereafter, angered by his mother's decision to remain in the marriage. He was homeless for the next few years, earning money as a prostitute to men.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: In 1982, he was arrested for beating and sexually assaulting his girlfriend, and was sentenced to six years in prison. In 1991, after his release from prison, he was convicted of unarmed robbery in the theft of an elderly woman's purse, a crime for which he was sentenced to four more years in prison; he was released in two.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: On March 15, 1994, in Daytona Beach, Florida, Bowles killed his first known victim, John Hardy Roberts, age 59, who had offered him a temporary place to live. Bowles beat and strangled him to death, and then stole his credit card which he later used in Kingsland, Georgia and Nashville, Tennessee. Police soon considered him a suspect after finding his fingerprints and probation records at the crime scene.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: Over the next six months, Bowles murdered four other men: 39 year old David Jarman in Wheaton, Maryland; 72 year old Milton Bradley in Savannah, Georgia; 47 year old Alverson Carter Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia; and 38 year old Albert Morris in Hilliard, Florida. His typical "modus operandi" was to prostitute himself to his victims before beating and strangling them, and stealing their credit cards.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: While on the run, Bowles was put on the FBI's list of the country's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives for his four known victims. On November 22, 1994, Bowles was arrested for the murder of Walter Jamelle "Jay" Hinton in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, and confessed to all six murders.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: Following his arrest for the murders, Bowles told police that following his 1991 release from prison he had moved to Daytona Beach, and moved in with a girlfriend and resumed working as a prostitute. According to Bowles, his girlfriend became pregnant but then had an abortion after she learned that Bowles was a sex worker. Bowles told police officers that he blamed gay men for the abortion, and this led him to becoming a murderer.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: In May 1996, Bowles pleaded guilty to the killing of Walter Jamelle Hinton in Jacksonville on November 17, 1994. Hinton died after Bowles hit his head with a 40-pound (18 kg) stepping stone while Hinton was sleeping and stuffed a towel down his throat during the struggle. Bowles received the death penalty for Hinton's murder. In August 1997, while sitting on death row for the slaying of Hinton, Bowles pleaded guilty to beating and strangling Roberts in 1994.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: Bowles was found guilty of three counts of murder and sentenced to death, but the sentence was reversed by the Florida Supreme Court, when they determined that the court erred by allowing the jury to hear that Bowles hated homosexuals and that the victim was gay. He was given a new sentencing hearing, and in 1999 again received the death penalty.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: Bowles was executed by lethal injection on August 22, 2019, at Florida State Prison in Raiford. Bowles ate three cheeseburgers, french fries, and bacon as a last meal.


title: Gary Ray Bowles

text: Over the years many crime TV show covered the case. Including: "Evil, I"; The Killer Speaks; Mark of a Killer; Most Evil Killers.


title: Liquid Swords

text: Liquid Swords is the second solo studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member GZA, released on November 7, 1995, by Geffen Records. Recording sessions for the album began midway through 1995 at producer RZA's basement studio in the New York City borough of Staten Island. The album heavily samples dialogue from the martial arts film "Shogun Assassin" and maintains a dark atmosphere throughout, incorporating lyrical references to chess, crime and philosophy. "Liquid Swords" features numerous guest appearances from the other eight members of Wu-Tang Clan along with Wu-Tang affiliate Killah Priest.


title: Liquid Swords

text: Upon its release, "Liquid Swords" peaked at number nine on the "Billboard" 200 chart, and number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album platinum in sales nearly 20 years after its release. "Liquid Swords" received critical acclaim for its complex lyricism and hypnotic musical style. Over the years, its recognition has grown, with a number of famous publishers proclaiming it to be one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. In 2007, the "Chicago Tribune" cited it as "one of the most substantial lyrical journeys in hip-hop history".


title: Liquid Swords

text: Following the success of two earlier Wu-Tang Clan solo albums – Method Man's "Tical" and Ol' Dirty Bastard's "", Wu-Tang member Raekwon began recording his acclaimed debut "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." in early 1995. While he and producer RZA were putting the final touches on that album, RZA and GZA began writing and recording what would eventually become "Liquid Swords". In regards to their decision to begin the album at the time they did, GZA later commented "We (Wu-Tang) were on a roll, and it was the perfect time to get in the studio and just do it."


title: Liquid Swords

text: "I'm on a different level, trying to be cinematic," he remarked. "Like that shit in 'Killah Hill' where the kid gets his leg cut to hide the dope – that shit really happened, but I'm trying to make it more visual. "Liquid Swords" is a concept of being lyrically sharp, flowing like liquid metal – mercury, y'know? It comes from this flick, "Legend of the Liquid Sword", where people would get their head cut off but it would still be on their shoulders. No one else would notice, because the sword was so sharp. Wu-Tang is a sword style, and this here is the sharpest. I'd rather slip on the pavement than slip on my tongue."


title: Liquid Swords

text: Similar to other early solo Wu-Tang albums, "Liquid Swords" was recorded in RZA's basement studio in Staten Island, with some beats playing for over two days straight while recording. When asked in a later interview about his opinion of the album's beats, GZA remarked "I loved them. A lot of them had a grimy, rock-like feel to them. I just remember absolutely loving them." In the same interview, GZA described the writing process as "real slow." He further commented "I don’t say slow in the sense that it necessarily took me a long time to finish what I’m writing. I mean, Raekwon and Ghostface can step in and record a song in about forty-five minutes. I on the other hand, would often go back and finish rhymes that I started. I would say I pieced things together more slowly then. Songs generally take me two to three days to write. Sometimes I take different sentences and put them together."


title: Liquid Swords

text: Regarding the overall sensation of writing "Liquid Swords", GZA stated "It's hard to say something is gonna be classic or not. But I can say that I felt the magic with this one. I actually saw it grow and come together, and felt that it was special as we were doing it." He later noted in an interview with "The Seattle Times": "It has great songs, it's not an ignorant album, it doesn't sound dated. If you listen to it and compare it to what's out now, it's timeless. Lyrically, it's not my best work. Not at all. But the chemistry? Production? Overall, I mean, c'mon! RZA's atmospheric production? Yes. It's my best album."


title: Liquid Swords

text: The album's cover was designed by Milestone Media Founder/Creative Director and chief artist Denys Cowan, according to the album's liner notes. Cowan's black and white line art was inked by Inker Prentis Rollins. Milestone's Color Editor, Jason Scott Jones created the cover color art digitally at a time when digital coloring was emerging in comic art eventually becoming the standard. GZA's personal manager Geoffrey L. Garfield, commissioned Cowan. Garfield, an avid comic book fan, said the cover art was supervised under the auspices of GZA GrafX, a subsidiary company of GZA Entertainment owned by GZA and Garfield. The concept of the chessboard with its sword-wielding warriors was conceived by GZA, an avid chess player. The GZA version of the Wu-Tang Clan logo, the "G" using the logo iconography, was rendered by Wu-Tang Clan DJ Mathematics who was also an accomplished graphic artist.


title: Liquid Swords

text: GZA also enjoyed a successful side career as a music video director, and with Garfield as writer and producer, created all four videos for the "Liquid Swords" album ("Liquid Swords", "Cold World", "Shadowboxin'/4th Chamber", and "I Gotcha Back"), and also did videos for Sunz of Man, Ghostface Killah's song ("Motherless Child") on the "Sunset Park" film soundtrack, Shabazz the Disciple (Penalty Records) and Case (Def Jam). "The Source" recognized their video "Shadowboxin'/4th Chamber" as one of the Top Five Videos of 1995.


title: Liquid Swords

text: "Liquid Swords" was performed in its entirety on July 13, 2007, at the Pitchfork Music Festival and again in England, on December 9 at All Tomorrow's Parties and on December 10 at KOKO in London, as part of the ATP-curated Don't Look Back series. After the cancellation of an appearance in Brooklyn, New York, the performance was rescheduled for December 13 and 14 at the Knitting Factory in New York.