title: Della Duck

text: Della uses one of her brother's signature phrases, "Aw, phooey!" Like Donald, she uses the phrase to indicate that she has given up on something she was trying to do (such as when she realizes she cannot free her leg from rocket wreckage), or after realizing things have gone horribly wrong (such as after accidentally awakening an ancient robotic foe). Reflecting her unstoppable attitude, Della also has her own signature catchphrase, "Nothing can stop Della Duck!"


title: Della Duck

text: Della's first speaking appearance was in the season 1 finale of 2017's "DuckTales". Paget Brewster voiced Della in the episode before joining the "DuckTales" cast as a recurring cast member in season 2 and a main character in season 3. Brewster told "Entertainment Weekly" that she really wanted the role and to be on the "DuckTales" cast, saying "it's very exciting to be able to be a part of the creation of [Della's] backstory, and who she is." Brewster was initially worried that, because Della is Donald Duck's twin, she might be asked to do a Donald-like voice for the character, telling "Entertainment Tonight" that "I could not pull it off."


title: Della Duck

text: "Entertainment Weekly" said that Brewster "makes Della Duck sound like someone generating rocket fuel with pure pep." Since voicing Della in her speaking debut, Brewster has been praised for her performance in the role; with "Den of Geek" writing that "the fantastic work of Paget Brewster" helped breathe "an adventurous and loving spirit into Della," while "The A.V. Club" wrote that Brewster was "selling Della with every passionate line-reading, making her such a perfect addition to the cast." Paget Brewster was nominated for the 2020 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for her performance as Della Duck.


title: Della Duck

text: Little is known of Della's personality prior to the 2017 "DuckTales" series. In the Dutch comic "80 is Prachtig!", Della is depicted in flashbacks as a brave and adventurous pilot. In fact, she first declared she wanted to be a pilot at the same time her brother Donald declared he wanted to be a sailor. Della's accomplishments as a pilot included being the first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic, flying as a test pilot (and successfully landing a plane that caught fire), and piloting an experimental rocket ship. She is also depicted as caring about and missing her family while she was adventuring. Due to the effects of time dilation from Della's near-lightspeed rocket travel while Huey, Dewey, and Louie lived with Donald for several years, Della believed she had been gone for less than an hour. Through radio transmissions, Della revealed she was eager to finish her test flight and get home to her boys, unaware that several more years will pass on Earth by the time she does so.


title: Della Duck

text: In 2017's "DuckTales", Della is similarly depicted as an adventurous pilot and as a mother who cares for and loves her family, but the show also establishes that Della shares personality traits with the new series' versions of her relatives. Like her twin brother Donald, Della can be temperamental. For example, after seeing a taunting illustration by Gyro Gearloose in a rocket instruction manual, Della flies into a rage; not only tearing the manual apart, but also stomping on the remains. Della also shares personality traits with her sons, including their fearlessness and mischief. These common traits are what allow them to accept and bond with her once she returns home. Like her son Huey, Della was a Junior Woodchuck, as evidenced by her bringing her Junior Woodchuck Guidebook with her to the moon and quoting Junior Woodchuck rules by heart. Della also shares Dewey's adventurous spirit and Louie's quick-talking cleverness and tendency to cause trouble without considering the consequences.


title: Della Duck

text: Furthermore, Della is also shown to have an unstoppable attitude. This is established early in "What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!", which opens with Della having crashed her rocket on the moon, and awakening to her leg trapped underneath the wreckage. After seeing a photo of her family and assessing the situation, she determines the wreckage is too heavy for her to move on her own, amputates her leg, and declares her intent to return home. As described by "DuckTales" producer Francisco Angones, "she's gonna beat every odd, she's gonna take charge of her decisions. She made the choice to amputate her leg [on the moon] and it proved, nothing would stop her."


title: Della Duck

text: While Della is tenacious and determined, after finally making it back home, she struggles with returning to civilization and her family. While she has ample experience as an adventurer, she had little experience being a mom, and needed time to adjust to the responsibilities of being a parent. "DuckTales" co-producers Angones and Matt Youngberg said they wanted to use Della to depict how difficult, but also rewarding, it is to be a mom. It was revealed in the episode "The Lost Harp of Mervana!" that Della suffers from ichthyophobia, resulting in her having a strong dislike towards fish.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: World of Warcraft: Legion is the sixth expansion set in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "World of Warcraft", following "". It was announced on August 6, 2015 at Gamescom 2015. The expansion was released on August 30, 2016.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: The expansion raises the existing level cap from 100 to 110, features artifact weapons for each class's specializations, includes a new area on Azeroth called the Broken Isles and introduces the demon hunter hero class that starts at level 98. It initially included ten 5-man dungeons and two raids.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: The expansion allows players to level up to 110 in the Broken Isles, an increase from the cap of 100 in the previous expansion "Warlords of Draenor". Initially, there were ten dungeons in 7.0 with patch 7.1 adding the revamped "Karazhan" dungeon, patch 7.2 adding "Cathedral of the Eternal Night" and patch 7.3 adding the "Seat of the Triumvirate" on the planet Argus - the headquarters of the Burning Legion and the former home of the Draenei. There are four raid tiers in "Legion", with the first tier being "The Emerald Nightmare" that opened three weeks after Legion's release along with the small raid "Trial of Valor" that opened in patch 7.1, the second raid tier "The Nighthold" in patch 7.1.5, the third raid tier "Tomb of Sargeras" in patch 7.2.5 and the final raid tier is "Antorus, the Burning Throne" on Argus in patch 7.3.2. After Emerald Nightmare was opened, Mythic Plus dungeons and "Legion"'s first player versus player (PvP) season began. PvP seasons usually follow raid tiers or major patches, with Season 6 beginning after Antorus opened.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: The development team made a number of changes to the PvP aspects of the game. There is a PvP honor system that unlocks PvP honor talents and there are separate abilities for use only in PvP that are not available in regular gameplay. Honor talents are abilities earned through increased levels in PvP and are activated while players engage in PvP. Once players hit maximum honor level, they can choose to earn a prestige level that resets the honor talents earned and gives cosmetic bonuses. In PvP combat, gear will be nullified and all bonuses related to gear will be deactivated, with the exception of artifact weapons and their related powers. Instead, the game will predetermine a set of stats configured to a player's specialization that can be modified for class balance purposes. However, a player's average item level will still factor in PvP; every point above item level 800 results in a 0.1% increase to a player's PvP stats.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Artifact weapons are powerful items that were wielded by legends of the Warcraft universe, and only available to player characters in "Legion". There are 36 unique weapons specific for every class and specialization combination, which include the "Ashbringer" (the sword wielded by the Mograine family, and later Tirion Fordring) for retribution paladins, the "Doomhammer" (the warhammer wielded by Thrall) for enhancement shamans, the "Icebringer" and "Frostreaper" (twin blades together known as the 'Blades of the Fallen Prince' that are forged from the "Frostmourne" wielded by the Lich King) for frost death knights, and other powerful weapons from the Warcraft lore. In addition, there is a fishing artifact called the "Underlight Angler" for those dedicated to fishing. Players complete quests to obtain these weapons, and the weapons will gain power alongside the player as they level in the Broken Isles, complete world quests, and defeat bosses. The appearance of each artifact can be customized and artifact-specific appearances are unlocked after completing certain tasks. At level 102, quests are available to acquire the other artifact weapons from a player's class that were not initially earned at level 100.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Demon hunters are the second "hero class" in "World of Warcraft", joining death knights that were introduced in "". Demon hunters begin as members of the Illidari, the elite guard of Illidan Stormrage during his rule of Outland in "". Demon hunters operate on the concept of "fighting fire with fire", wielding demonic fel magic to fuel their attacks and harnessing the powers of demons they kill to fight against the Burning Legion. To become demon hunters, an initiate must consume the heart of a demon that results in most initiates dying due to being overwhelmed by the demonic energy or going insane; the survivors become part demon, taking on demonic aspects including horns, wings, claws and hooves. Demon hunters ritually blind themselves to gain 'spectral sight', allowing them to detect demonic energy from demons and to see stealthed enemies.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Similar to death knights, demon hunters are able to fill the tank or damage dealer (DPS) role, but only have two specializations: vengeance for tanking and havoc for DPS. They wear leather armor and wield a pair of warglaives, a weapon that is a curved two-bladed short sword that is similar to the Blades of Azzinoth wielded by Illidan. Unlike death knights, which are available to all races except for Pandaren, demon hunters are only playable by the two elvish races - Night Elves and Blood Elves. While any race has the potential to become a demon hunter, Illidan only trained elves in the Black Temple. A player is only allowed one demon hunter per realm and must already have a level 70 on that realm in order to create one.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: As a hero class, a demon hunter does not start at level 1 but instead starts at level 98. Demon hunters have a unique starting experience, similar to death knights; their story begins ten years before "Legion" (shortly before Illidan's death in the Black Temple raid, as depicted in "The Burning Crusade") on the shattered Burning Legion world of Mardum, where they have been sent by Illidan to obtain a demonic artifact, the Sargerite Keystone, used to gain access to the Legion-controlled planets. Upon returning to Outland, the demon hunters find Illidan slain by the Wardens, and are captured and imprisoned in the Vault of the Wardens on Azeroth. Ten years later, demon hunters are freed in order to fight against the Burning Legion after the Horde and Alliance losses at the Broken Shore. As a base of operations, the class's order hall is the captured Legion ship "Fel Hammer" located on Mardum.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Mythic Plus (stylized as "Mythic+" or "M+") dungeons are a new dungeon difficulty introduced that adds increasing difficulty level from the regular Mythic dungeons based on the activation of a "mythic keystone", similar to the Greater Rift Keystone in "Diablo III: Reaper of Souls". Completing a dungeon that has been activated with a keystone within the time limit awards a higher level keystone, and a chance to receive character items proportionate to the difficulty.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Each class has an "order hall" - a place of great power linked closely to a character's class, such as Acherus (the hub for death knights introduced in "Wrath of the Lich King") or the Temple of Five Dawns (the hub for monks introduced in "Mists of Pandaria"), where only members of that class can congregate. Player characters can upgrade the look and abilities of their artifact weapons in their class's order hall and engage in missions in the Broken Isles. The player character, for lore purposes, is the leader of the class's organization in question (e.g. a paladin character is the Highlord of the Order of the Silver Hand), similar to being the commander of Alliance or Horde forces in "Warlords of Draenor". The order hall locations include the sanctuary beneath Light's Hope Chapel for paladins, a cave overlooking the Maelstrom for shamans, and an enclave on the Burning Legion portal world of Dreadscar Rift for warlocks. The order halls do not include access to the auction house or banks and only the druid and mage order halls include a mailbox. Notably, members of both the Horde and Alliance are seen in the membership of these Order Halls, showcasing the unity of the rival factions in the wake of the Legion's invasion.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Some existing classes experienced major changes. For example, hunters, who are predominantly ranged and rely on pet damage, had their three specializations changed: Survival allows them to wield melee weapons while fighting alongside their pet, Beastmaster can use multiple pets at once and Marksmanship has the option to forgo their pet in exchange for stronger ranged abilities. Warlocks' demonology specialization no longer has the metamorphosis ability because the ability was given to demon hunters; this warlock specialization is refocused around using multiple summoned demon minions at once. Other removals from the game included the Gladiator Stance talent for Protection Warriors, which helped that specialization do more damage at the expense of tanking ability, and the Fistweaving talent that allowed Mistweaver Monks to heal allies by dealing melee damage. All of the class changes are explained in each of Blizzard's "Legion Class Preview Series".


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: The transmogrification system, which allows players to remodel their items' appearances, was expanded with Transmogrify 2.0. All soulbound item appearances players have in their inventory and bank are added to the wardrobe's user interface, similar to the transmogrification system used in "". Additionally, all applicable gear rewards (such as mail armor for Shaman/Hunters but not leather) from every quest completed and treasure found are added to the player's wardrobe. The wardrobe can be used to create outfits that can be saved to a list and set to change automatically with specialization changes. After items have been added to the wardrobe, the player does not need to keep them in their bank or inventory in order to retain the appearances in the wardrobe.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: In addition to the existing options to hide helms and cloaks from appearing on a player character, an option to hide shoulder armor was added to the transmogrify system in patch 7.0. In patch 7.1, options to hide belts, tabards and shirts were added.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Following the defeat of Archimonde at Hellfire Citadel in an alternate timeline Draenor, the orc warlock Gul'dan was transported to the main timeline Azeroth. Gul'dan invaded the Vault of the Wardens, a prison used to contain dangerous beings from across Azeroth, with the help of the traitorous former Watcher Cordana Felsong, whom he had successfully corrupted to his side back on Draenor. In desperation, the wardens released the "Illidari"; demon hunters that use fel power, to help fight against the Burning Legion. Despite this, Gul'dan was successfully able to steal the body of Illidan Stormrage and traveled to the nearby Tomb of Sargeras and opened a massive portal, thereby allowing the Burning Legion to invade Azeroth.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Demonic invasions spawn throughout Azeroth, with both the Alliance and Horde fighting to defend their lands. Khadgar begins researching ways to sever the Legion from their source of power at the Tomb of Sargeras, consulting with the newly awoken Magni Bronzebeard. Magni declares that his innate connection with the land during his slumber has allowed him to communicate with the nascent Titan slumbering within Azeroth. Only by using the five Pillars of Creation, incredibly powerful Titan artifacts, can the forces of Azeroth drive back the Legion. Khadgar teleports the Kirin Tor capital city of Dalaran to the tower of Karahzan to further his research.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Faced with an increasing number of demonic attacks, the Alliance, Horde, and Argent Crusade prepare to launch an invasion with naval, air, and ground forces to the Tomb of Sargeras on the Broken Isles. The demons mislead the Alliance and Horde as to the size of the demonic army present at the Tomb, manipulating them into far underestimating the size of the demonic host. Although they make initial headway against the demons, the heroes of Azeroth are unable to prevail: the majority of the Argent Crusade is destroyed before the Horde and Alliance arrive, and both factions lose their primary leaders in the process. Anduin Wrynn becomes king in his father's place, and Vol'jin's last command is for Sylvanas to lead the Horde. Even worse, miscommunication leads to many within the Alliance believing that the Horde intentionally abandoned them during the battle, inflaming tensions between the two factions to the boiling point once again.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: With both the Alliance and Horde devastated by the battle at the Broken Shore, a new source of power is required to defeat the Legion. The players—including the newly introduced demon hunters—must acquire and master artifact weapons and find the Pillars of Creation that hold the power to stop the Legion's invasion. While the Legion remains a focus of the Broken Isles as a whole, it only takes center stage in one (Stormheim). In the other three, primary opposition comes from the Naga of Azshara (in Azsuna), the Old Gods and the Emerald Nightmare (in Val'sharah), and a race of subterranean rock-creatures called Drogbar (in Highmountain). During this time, the players find a powerful Light-infused object, revealed to be the sentience core of the prime Naaru Xe'ra who, following a prophecy about Illidan being a champion against the Legion, guides the heroes on a mission which leads to the successful rescue of Illidan's soul.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: After locating the first four Pillars, the heroes receive a distress call from exiled Nightborne from Suramar, where Gul'dan has besieged their home and seized control. With the help of both Horde and Alliance, the players and their allies liberate the Nightborne and their home, defeat Gul'dan and restore Illidan to life, who kills Gul'dan. With his assistance, the class hall orders establish a foothold on the Broken Shore while facing heavy resistance. After fighting back the invasion forces, the players enter the Tomb of Sargeras to end the Legion's presence on Azeroth. The players find and kill Kil'jaeden, but Illidan uses the opportunity to open a rift between Argus and Azeroth, setting the stage for the players to invade Argus. Meanwhile, Anduin Wrynn, plagued with doubt regarding his ability to be a worthy successor to his father, reclaims Varian's compass with the help of Alliance champions. Venturing to the entrance of the Tomb, where Varian fell, Anduin recovers Varian's sword Shalamayne and, with the help of Genn, Velen and even Varian's spirit, finds within himself the confidence and determination to serve the Alliance as its High King.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Velen summons the Alliance and Horde to travel aboard the newly constructed vessel, The "Vindicaar". The players travel to the surface and quickly meet the Krokuun, the surviving Broken Draenei that were left on Argus. Shortly thereafter, they encounter the surviving members of the Army of the Light, including Turalyon and Alleria. The player gains ground on Argus and reaches the downed Army of the Light vessel to rescue a dormant Xe'ra. However she is destroyed by Illidan after she attempts to remake him as her prophesied chosen one. Magni arrives and is able to communicate with the world soul of Argus: through it, he learns that Sargeras has captured the essences of his fellow titans, and seeks to revive them under his control.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: The players invade Antorus and free the remaining Titans, though Sargeras forces the world soul of Argus to manifest. Thoroughly corrupted and suffering, the players and the Titans are forced to kill it. The players see that Sargeras is at Azeroth and prepared to take it for himself. Sargeras is pulled away by the Titans, but stabs his sword deep into Azeroth as a final act of spite. The players and their allies return home, save Illidan, who stays behind to face Sargeras inside his prison.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: While Sargeras is defeated, his giant sword remains; players absorb its corrupting poison into their artifacts, which greatly weakens them but buys the world of Azeroth time. However, the titan's blood has been erupting to the surface in the form of a crystalline substance called "Azerite," which has tremendous magical potential. Both factions, still honoring their heroes and mourning their dead, are unwilling to let the other faction have sole access to this miracle substance, and prepare for war again...


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: The expansion begins approximately two years after the events of "Warlords of Draenor" and takes place in the Broken Isles, an island chain near the Maelstrom in the middle of the Great Sea. Originally part of the former supercontinent of Kalimdor, the isles were sent to the bottom of the Great Sea after the Sundering ten thousand years earlier, and used by Aegwynn, the Guardian of Tirisfal, to imprison the corpse of the avatar of Sargeras, the dark titan and leader of the Burning Legion. During the events of "", the warlock Gul'dan raised the islands from the sea floor in search of the tomb; Illidan later explored the tomb in "". The Demon Hunter's first experiences are portrayed in the novel "".


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: There are six zones in the Broken Isles: Azsuna, the Broken Shore, Highmountain, Stormheim, Suramar and Val'sharah. The city of Dalaran, which served as the neutral capital city in Northrend during "Wrath of the Lich King", is relocated to the southern part of the Broken Isles to provide a base for the Alliance and Horde forces to fight against the Legion and its other enemies.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: In patch 7.3, the players invade Argus that is the homeworld of the Burning Legion. It has three zones: Krokuun, Antoran Wastes and Eredath (Eredath was originally named Mac'aree in the game's release for developer Jesse Mc'cree, but was renamed following the 2021 lawsuit and Mc'cree's departure). Antorus, the Burning Throne is the fifth Legion raid that was added in patch 7.3.2 and it is located in the Antoran Wastes of Argus.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: "Legion" entered alpha testing in late November 2015. The beta test for the game began on May 12, 2016. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X on August 30, 2016. Legion has the most voice acting of any Warcraft expansion to date.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: Players who purchase the game will receive one level 100 boost to apply to a character and players who pre-ordered the game receive early access starting on August 9 to the demon hunter class before the official release. On July 19, 2016, patch 7.0.3 introduced all the game system changes, which included the class, transmogrify and item stat changes.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: On August 9, 2016 (August 10 in the EU) in the weeks before "Legion"'s release, the Burning Legion began its invasion of Azeroth, allowing all player adventurers to defend their world and includes the Broken Shore event—the epicenter of the demonic invasion.


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: "Legion" was acclaimed, scoring an 88 on Metacritic. During the first week of the game's launch, the number of concurrent players reached its highest point since the 2010 launch of the expansion. "IGN" praised the expansion stating that, ""Legion" shows World of Warcraft finding its footing again and asserting its relevance after more than a decade." "GameSpot" praised the new zones, world quests, dungeon design, and closed by stating, "Blizzard has proven it can still craft an MMO experience as well as--if not better--than anyone else." "Polygon" praised the quality of life enhancements the expansion brought to the game, as well as stating that the classic questing and raiding system "is as good as it's ever been."


title: World of Warcraft: Legion

text: The expansion set sold 3.3 million copies by its official release date of August 30, 2016, matching the previous expansion sales record held by "Cataclysm".


title: Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1964

text: This is a list of "Billboard" magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1964. The Top 100, as revealed in the edition of "Billboard" dated January 2, 1965, is based on Hot 100 charts from the issue dates of January 4 through December 12, 1964.


title: Yuke's

text: Yuke's Co. Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka. It was established on 26 February 1993 by Yukinori Taniguchi. The company is best known for developing the "WWE" video game series, based on the professional wrestling promotion of the same name, until 2018.


title: Yuke's

text: Founded in 1993, Yuke's was named after founder Yukinori Taniguchi's high school nickname. The first two games that the company developed were the platform game "Hermie Hopperhead" and the pro wrestling game "Toukon Retsuden". The latter title was a best-seller in Japan. Though Activision purchased the rights to publish the game in North America and began localization work, only the first game was localized, becoming "Power Move Pro Wrestling" with a different roster of wrestlers.


title: Yuke's

text: Beginning in 2000, Yuke's began to develop wrestling games for THQ based on the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE). They were recommended to THQ by Aki, who had developed their own line of wrestling games.


title: Yuke's

text: From 2005 to 2012, Yuke's owned 54% of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the top professional wrestling promotion in Japan.


title: Yuke's

text: In August 2019, then-series publisher 2K Games announced it had moved "WWE" game development to California-based studio Visual Concepts. Earlier that year, Yuke's had revealed its frustration over what it had been able to achieve with recent "WWE 2K" games and suggested that its relationship with publisher 2K Sports was partly responsible. Producer Hiromi Furuta revealed that Yuke's had established a new development team tasked with creating a rival wrestling IP, with the intention of reinvigorating its staff. On November 10, 2020, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced an upcoming console game developed by Yuke's, led by "Def Jam Vendetta" and "WWF No Mercy" director, Hideyuki "Geta" Iwashita.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Taulant Ragip Xhaka (born 28 March 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Swiss Super League club Basel. Born in Switzerland, he represented the Albania national team.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Xhaka was born in Basel, Switzerland, to Albanian parents originally from Kosovo. He is the elder brother of Granit Xhaka, who is a professional footballer who plays for Arsenal and the Switzerland national team. The family moved from Yugoslavia to Switzerland in 1990, where both brothers were born.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Taulant Xhaka started playing football at the age of 6 and entered at FC Concordia Basel in 2000 before moving along with his brother to FC Basel two years later. He played for various FC Basel youth teams and from 2008 became a regular member of the under-21 team for two years in the Swiss 1. Liga playing overall 37 games, scoring six goals.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: At the beginning of the 2010–11 season, he and his brother Granit moved up into the first team squad where he began playing as a defender. He made his first team debut on 19 September 2010 in the 5–0 Swiss Cup win against FC Mendrisio-Stabio. He made his Super League debut on 27 February 2011 in the 1–0 away win against Luzern. At the end of the season, the team won the Super League title, Xhaka's first silverware with the club.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: In the next season, Xhaka scored his first Basel goal on 10 September during the 4–0 away league win against Servette, where he came on as a substitute. On 27 September, he made his UEFA Champions League debut as a substitute in the 3–3 away draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: On 18 January 2012, it was announced Xhaka was sent on loan to Grasshoppers to gain first-team playing experience. He made his Grasshoppers debut on 12 February during the 2–0 away defeat to Zürich, and until the end of the season he established himself in the starting lineup, making 13 appearances during the second part of 2011–12 season. He also spent the 2012–13 season on loan to the Grasshoppers. But for the following season Basel recalled him into their squad.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Basel coach Murat Yakin recalled Xhaka to the Basel squad as defensive midfielder. During the 2013–14 season, he established himself in the starting lineup, making 23 league appearances and scoring two goals "en route" to winning his second league championship with Basel. He also made four cup appearances as the team reached in the final but was beaten 2–0 by Zürich after extra time. He was also an important instrument in team's European campaign, playing ten matches in the Champions League and five in the UEFA Europa League.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: During the 2014–15 season, Xhaka further secured his place in the starting lineup, playing 29 matches in league, as Basel were crowned champions for the sixth time in a row. He scored his first goal of the season on 27 September in the 1–1 home draw against Thun. On 13 December, during the cup fixture against Sion, Xhaka suffered an injury which kept him sidelined until the January 2015.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: On 9 January 2015, Xhaka extended his contract for a further three years, up until 30 June 2018. In February 2015, he was included in the 2014 Team of the Year by Swiss Football Association and was placed as right-defender. He became one of the three Albania international footballers who participated in the knockout stage of the Champions League for the first time in history, alongside Basel teammates Shkëlzen Gashi and Arlind Ajeti.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Under trainer Urs Fischer, Xhaka won the Swiss Super League championship at the end of the 2015–16 season and at the end of the 2016–17 Super League season for the sixth time. For the club this was the eighth title in a row and their 20th championship title in total. They also won the Swiss Cup for the 12th time, which meant they had won the double for the sixth time in club history.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Following the retirement of Matías Emilio Delgado at the start of the 2017–18 season, on 5 August 2017, Xhaka became vice-captain of the Basel team. On 18 October 2017, Xhaka scored his first UEFA Champions League goal during the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage matchday 3 against CSKA Moscow in the VEB Arena helping Basel to take their second win.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Under trainer Marcel Koller, Basel won the Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16 Winterthur 1–0. In the quarter finals Sion were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi finals Zürich were defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on the 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against Thun. Striker Albian Ajeti scored the first goal, Fabian Frei the second for Basel, then Dejan Sorgić netted a goal for Thun, but the end result was 2–1 for Basel. Xhaka played in four of the cup games.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: In the UEFA Europa League quarter-final match against Shakhtar Donetsk on 11 August 2020 Xhaka was injured and substituted out in the 60th minute. This was later diagnosed as a medial collateral ligament injury and eventually required an operation. Xhaka missed the entire 2020–21 season due to this and could not returned to team-trainings until June 2021.<ref name="fcb-achiv-UEL-2019/20-Shakhtar Donetsk-FCB"></ref>


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Xhaka begun his international career with Switzerland by playing with the under-17 side at the 2008 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. He played in all three matches as starter, unable to prevent the team's early elimination from the competition. In the next two years, Xhaka also featured with under-18 and the -19 teams.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: His Swiss under-20 debut came on 6 September 2010 in a 2–3 loss to Germany at Stadion Breite. One year later, Xhaka earned his first under-21 cap in the 1–0 away win versus Georgia. He played his first match as starter in another match versus them which ended in a 5–0 win at Cornaredo Stadium. Overall, Xhaka played 41 matches for Switzerland youth squads.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: In May 2013, Xhaka expressed his wish to represent Albania senior team, adding that his choice of Albania was definitive. Later in October, he told the media that his choice to play for Albania was influenced by his younger brother Granit. On 18 December of the same year, he received Albanian citizenship, though he still required approval from FIFA in order to represent Albania internationally.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Xhaka received his first call-up by manager Gianni De Biasi for the friendly against Malta on 5 March 2014, but was forced to withdraw due to an injury suffered just three days before the match. He was invited again in May for three friendlies against Romania, Hungary and San Marino but suffered yet another injury which prolonged his debut. On 25 June, Xhaka received approval from FIFA allowing him to represent Albania in international official matches.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Xhaka was fully fit ahead of UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign where he received a call-up for the opening match against Portugal on 7 September 2014. He started the match and played full-90 minutes, producing a great performance and helping Albania to an empathic 1–0 win at Estádio Municipal de Aveiro. His performance earned praise from the media, as he was included in the Team of the Week. Later on 14 October, Xhaka playing in the third qualifying match against Serbia; he was heavily involved in the riots that happened during the match, notably taking the flag Greater Albania along with Andi Lila from the Serbian player Stefan Mitrović which started a massive brawl. The match was eventually postponed due to Serbian fans launching flares onto the pitch. He along with other Albanian players where attacked by Serbian hooligans who came onto the pitch with chairs and other objects. Initially, UEFA awarded Serbia with a 3–0 win, but were deducted three points, leading both Serbia and Albania appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who on 10 July 2015, awarded Albania with a 3–0 victory and Serbia were still deducted three points. Days after the match, he along with Lorik Cana were declared citizens of honour from the mayor of the city of Mitrovica, Kosovo, for the bravery shown in protecting national symbols.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Albania eventually made their way to their UEFA European Championship appearance after defeating Armenia 3–0 in the last match in which played full-90 minutes. On 21 May 2016, Xhaka was named in Albania's preliminary 27-man squad for the final stages of Euro 2016, and in Albania's final 23-man Euro 2016 squad, announced on 31 May.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: In Albania's opening match, against Switzerland, Xhaka competed against his brother Granit, becoming the first pair of brothers to play against each other in the entire UEFA European Championship history. At that day, their mother watched from the crowd with a T-shirt combining both nations' flags. Switzerland defeated Albania 1–0. In the second match against hosts France, Xhaka played in the final 16 minutes as a replacement for Burim Kukeli as Albania lost 2–0 with both goals conceded in the last minutes. He did not play in the last group match against Romania in which Albania won 1–0 thanks to a header by Armando Sadiku. It was Albania's first win over Romania since 1948. Albania finished the group in the third position with three points and with a goal difference −2, and was ranked last in the third-placed teams, which eventually eliminated them.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Xhaka played only four matches in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification in which Albania was placed in Group G, finishing in third place which was still a record. In March 2017, following the 2–0 away loss to Italy in which Xhaka didn't play, he left the team and ahead of the friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina, announcing via a Facebook status that he would not be part of the team while Gianni De Biasi remains in charge. He also threw several accusations towards the coach in the next weeks, saying that De Biasi is Italian, and that his interest are only the money, not the national team.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: De Biasi told the media that he is willing to call Xhaka to the national team again if he asks for public forgiveness, a request which Xhaka refused. De Biasi left Albania in June 2017, and was replaced by fellow countryman Cristian Panucci, who in August left Xhaka out again for the next qualifying matches. He returned to the national team in October 2017 for the final two qualifying matches against Spain and Italy. He played his first match in 11 months against Spain which ended in a 3–0 away loss.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: Xhaka scored his first international goal in his 22nd appearance in Albania's first ever match in UEFA Nations League against Israel, netting with a right shot outside the penalty area in the second half. His goal gave Albania a 1–0 win at Elbasan Arena and the first three points in 2018–19 UEFA Nations League C's Group 1.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: On 15 November 2021, Xhaka announced his retirement from international football, citing his injuries and personal stuff as the reasons behind his decision. He played his last match for Albania on 7 September, exactly five years after his debut. He totaled 31 appearances and one goal.


title: Taulant Xhaka

text: On 7 January 2018, Xhaka was engaged to his long-time Albanian girlfriend, Arbnora Nuredini; they married that year. He is the elder brother of Granit Xhaka.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The 1963 Syrian coup d'état, referred to by the Syrian government as the 8 March Revolution (), was the successful seizure of power in Syria by the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The planning and the unfolding conspiracy was inspired by the Iraqi Regional Branch's successful military coup.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The coup was planned by the military committee, rather than the Ba'ath Party's civilian leadership, but Michel Aflaq, the leader of the party, consented to the conspiracy. The leading members of the military committee throughout the planning process and in the immediate aftermath of taking power were Muhammad Umran, Salah Jadid and Hafez al-Assad. The committee enlisted the support of two Nasserists, Rashid al-Qutayni and Muhammad al-Sufi, and the independent Ziad al-Hariri. The coup was originally planned for 7 March, but was postponed one day after the government discovered where the conspirators were planning to assemble.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: Modern Syria was first established in 1920 as the Arab Kingdom of Syria under King Faisal I. This state was planned to be a new Arab kingdom, and not just Syrian, and the state espoused Arab nationalism and pan-Islamic policies. However the British, who had helped establish the state after World War I, made a secret agreement (Sykes-Picot Agreement) with France and established the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. The area thereby functioned as one of France's colonies, and the newly established state was viewed unfavorably by most Syrians, with many of them regarding it as a vassal of European imperialism. At this stage, some movements tried to establish a Syrian identity, most notably the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, or became advocates of communism and Islamism. The majority of Syrians continued to see themselves as Arabs rather than Syrians.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The mandate was feudal in character, and it rested on a semi-liberal oligarchic social base. This system remained unchanged until the establishment of the United Arab Republic (UAR). This system created a class society reflecting urban-rural living patterns. An estimated three thousand families owned half of the land in Syria. The middle class owned the majority of small to medium properties. Some two-thirds of peasants were landless. Agricultural revenues were highly skewed – the top two percent of the population received 50 percent of the income, while the middle class (merchants or middle landowning groups), which was 18 percent of the population, earned 25 percent of agricultural revenues. The bottom 80 percent received the remainder. The landowner–peasant alliance was based on class differences, and social antagonism between each other – this would lead to the landowner's downfall.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The mandate was dissolved in 1946 because of a British ultimatum to France, and Syria became an independent country on 17 April 1946. The same elite that had governed Syria during the mandate continued in power, and they ruled in the same manner. The failure in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War led to the downfall of the traditional elite and the rise of the military in politics. Husni al-Za'im became the first military dictator of Syria in 1949, but in 1950, military officer Adib Shishakli gained power behind the scenes, and by 1953 had established another military dictatorship. The military's introduction to the Syrian political scene destroyed the oligarchy enabling the middle class to participate in Syrian politics. However, while their powers were weakened, the traditional elite retained the majority of the wealth produced.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: It was in this environment that the ideology of Ba'athism came into being. The Arab Ba'ath Movement was established by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar in the 1940s, others who played a notable role in the early stages of the Ba'athist movement were Zaki al-Arsuzi, Wahib al-Ghanim and Jallal al-Sayyid. Akram al-Hawrani founded the Arab Socialist Party (ASP) in 1953 – the Ba'ath Party was established through a merger of the ASP and the Arab Ba'ath Party. Of the 150 delegates to the founding congress of the Arab Ba'ath Party in 1947, the majority were either middle-class professionals or intellectuals. By the 1950s the party had managed to acquire an urban middle-class base. However, the Ba'ath Party was not a purely middle-class party, and from the very beginning, it sent party cadres to rural areas to recruit new members and form new party organisations. In 1956, the Ba'ath Party organized the first labour protest in Syrian history. While the Ba'ath Party was strong, its decision to recruit members from across society led to tribalism and clientelism within the party. Party leaders then opted to overlook democratic norms and procedures.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The Ba'ath Party faced a significant dilemma: take power through competitive elections or forceful takeover. Even the liberal and democratic-inclined founding leaders were partial to forceful takeover, citing the corrupt electoral process. Before taking control, the Ba'ath Party gambled that it would be allowed to share power with Gamal Abdel Nasser in the United Arab Republic (UAR). The UAR would prove to be Egypt-dominated, and the Ba'ath Party was forced to dissolve itself, but in 1961 the UAR collapsed because of a military coup in Syria. The establishment and the dissolution of the UAR was a catastrophe for the Ba'ath Party as it divided among those who supported the UAR, those who opposed it and those who opposed or supported the traditional leaders of the party. In 1962, Aflaq convened a Ba'ath Party congress and re-established the party. Several branches had not followed orders and had not dissolved during the UAR years. Instead, they had become deeply hostile to pan-Arabist thought and had become radical socialists instead. The military committee, which would launch the 8 March Revolution, shared most of their views.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The 8 March Revolution has often been viewed as a mere military coup, but it had many of the ingredients of national revolts from below. The revolution was led by an anti-oligarchical alliance of a radicalised lower middle class, strategic members of the officer corps, marginalised minorities and a significant number of peasants who were mobilised for agrarian conflict. In an international context, the revolution took place because the state boundaries established by France were artificial and the hostility within the newly established Syria to the creation of Israel. The traditional elite that took power in Syria when the country gained independence had come to power during the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. The external imposition of arbitrary state boundaries on Syria with no corresponding popular acceptance led to discontent. The national struggle was shaped by ideologies such as Arab nationalism, pan-Islamism and Greater Syrianism. The plebeian character of the struggle and the radical ideologies spawned radical solutions to the agrarian problem.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The growth of the new middle class in Syria fueled discontent since the traditional elite dominated the agrarian sector – the largest sector of the economy – and created most of the wealth. The new middle class consisted of capitalists and entrepreneurs who opposed the traditional elite – the monopolisation of power by the traditional elite led to the radicalisation of the new middle-class. The military, which in many countries is conservative and elitist, became radicalised in Syria because the military wanted greater power, believing that the traditional elite was unable to defend the country. A significant group of military personnel were recruited from the new middle class or the hinterlands.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: In Syria, religious minorities were often underprivileged, and a specific ethnicity usually belonged to a specific social class. The Alawites, the Druzes and the Isma'ilis for instance, were religious groups with low social class who began to embrace a radical form of Arab nationalism, e.g. Ba'athism. Without the peasantry there could not have been a Ba'athist revolution in Syria. The new middle class alone could only produce instability, but together with the peasantry, the revolution became possible. The inequality between urban and rural dwellers, together with capitalist penetration of the agrarian sector and the traditional elites' monopolisation of most large revenue sources, led to the establishment of peasant movements who fought for change or opposed the system. The Syrian branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was able to recruit youth from radical peasant movements and thus was able to mobilise large sectors of the population.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: In 1962, the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party spent most of its time planning to take power through a conventional military coup. The military committee decided it had to capture al-Kiswah and Qatana, two military camps, seize control of the 70th Armoured Brigade at al-Kiswah, the Military Academy in the city of Homs and the Damascus radio station. While the conspirators of the military committee were all young, the sitting regime had been slowly disintegrating and the traditional elite had lost effective political power.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: For the coup to be successful, the military committee needed to gain the support of some of the Syrian officer corps. The collapse of the UAR, coupled with mutinies, purges and transfers left the officer corps in complete disarray and open to anti-government agitation. At the time, the officer corps was split into five different factions; the Damascus faction which supported the Syrian Government, supporters of Akram al-Hawrani, a Nasserist faction, a Ba'athist faction and a group of independents. The Damascus faction was the enemy of the military committee because of their support for Nazim al-Kudsi's Government and the Hawranist were considered as rivals because of their stance against pan-Arabism. The Nasserists became allies of the Ba'ath, even while they supported Gamal Abdel Nasser and the reestablishment of the UAR.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The military committee's alliance with the Nasserists led to the establishment of secret contact with Colonel Rashid al-Qutayni, the head of the military intelligence, and Colonel Muhammad al-Sufi, the commander of the Homs Brigade. The military committee ordered a group of junior officers to recruit the leading independent Colonel Ziad al-Hariri, the commander of the front facing Israel, to their cause. The group was successful, and they promised al-Hariri that "If we succeed, you can become chief of staff. If we fail, you can disown us." Al-Hariri supported the committee because Khalid al-Azm, the Prime Minister of Syria, was planning to demote him.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: While it planned the coup, the military committee and its members were frowned upon by civilian Ba'athists. The reason for the army–party alliance in the first place was to safeguard the party from repression. The military committee did not look favourably on the civilian leadership led by Michel Aflaq, objecting to his dissolution of the Ba'ath Party during the UAR years. While Aflaq needed the military committee to seize power, the committee needed Aflaq to hold on power – without Aflaq they would have no support base. At the 5th National Ba'ath Party Congress, held on 8 May 1962, it was decided to reestablish the party and keep Aflaq as Secretary General of the National Command. Muhammad Umran, a leading member of the military committee, was a delegate at the 5th National Congress, and told Aflaq of the military committee's intentions – Aflaq consented to the coup, but no agreement was made between him and the committee on how to share power after the coup.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: On 8 February 1963, the Iraqi Regional Branch, led by Ali Salih al-Sa'di, took power in Iraq by overthrowing Abd al-Karim Qasim. He was a far more formidable opponent than al-Kudsi, and the Iraqi Regional Branch managed to take power through an alliance not only with military officers, but also with segments of the middle class. Qasim's downfall changed the rules of Arab politics – the Nasserists had monopolised the Arab nationalist movement since the UAR, but the takeover made the Ba'ath Party a force to be reckoned with. In contrast to the Iraqi regional branch, the Syrian regional branch did not have mass support or a significant support base in the middle class. While Aflaq cautioned the plotters because of the party's lack of support, they failed to share his worries, and planned to launch the coup on 7 March. However, that day the military intelligence raided the apartment where the plotters were planning to assemble. Assad was given the task of reporting to other units that the coup had been postponed to 8 March.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: On the night of 7–8 March, tanks and units loyal to the conspiracy began moving on Damascus. Al-Hariri led a brigade from the Syrian front towards Israel, while Ba'athists were able to gain control of a second brigade stationed in Suwayda. Caught in a pincer movement, the commander of the 70th Armoured Brigade, Lieutenant General Abd al-Karim surrendered to the plotters – Umran took over as acting commander of the 70th Armoured Brigade. The potentially hostile unit stationed in Qatana, south-west of Damascus, did not intervene – probably because Widad Bashir had taken control over communications in the Damascus area. With the forces in al-Kiswah defeated and Qatana neutralised, al-Hariri's forces marched upon Damascus and began to set up road-blocks in the city, while at the same time seizing critical facilities such as the central post office. Captain Salim Hatum, a party officer, seized the radio station. The Ministry of Defence headquarters were seized without a fight, and General Zahr al-Din, the commander-in-chief, was put under arrest. Both al-Kudsi and al-Hawrani were easily tracked down and arrested. Salah Jadid bicycled into the city that morning, and captured the Bureau of Officers' Affairs, which later became his personal fiefdom.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: Assad led a small group of conspirators to capture the al-Dumayr air base, north-east of Damascus – the only unit that resisted the coup. Some of its planes had been ordered to bomb rebel positions. The plan was that Assad would lead a company from al-Hariri's brigade to capture the air base before dawn to prevent air strikes. The surrender of the 70th Armoured Brigade took longer than expected, putting Assad's forces behind schedule. When Assad's forces reached the outskirts of the base, it was broad daylight. Assad sent an emissary to tell the commanders that he would start shelling the base if they did not surrender. They negotiated their surrender even though, according to Assad himself, their forces could have defeated his rebel company in combat. Later that morning, the coupmakers convened at the army headquarters to celebrate.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: 820 people were reported killed during the takeover and another 20 were executed shortly afterwards. The coup was met by indifference in the population at large. Saber Falhout, a Druze who was later known as "the poet of the revolution", wrote and announced the first communique of the plotters. The ninth communique reinstated the five members of the military committee in the armed forces. The senior members of the newly established regime were Umran, Jadid and at last, Assad.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The first act of the new rulers of Syria was to establish the twenty-man National Council for the Revolutionary Command (NCRC), composed of twelve Ba'athists and eight Nasserists and independents. On 9 March, the NCRC ordered Salah al-Din al-Bitar, one of the Ba'ath Party founders, to form a government, and to implement the policies of the NCRC. Later, six civilians were given membership in NCRC, three Ba'athists (Aflaq, al-Bitar and Mansur al-Atrash) and three Nasserists. However, this did not change the balance of power, and the officers still controlled the country. From the beginning, the military committee members formed state policies behind the backs of other NCRC members – when the civilian leadership found out, al-Atrash said: "Why do not these gentlemen speak? May I suggest they appoint a liaison officer to communicate their views to us?" From that day, Umran gave the civilians a faint idea of what the committee members were planning.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: At the beginning, there were no signs of the quarrels that would destroy the military committee. At the time, the members were bound together by their goal of building a prosperous nation. On 9 March the NCRC released Lu'ay al-Atassi from jail, promoted him to the rank of lieutenant general, appointed him commander-in-chief and NCRC chairman, the "de facto" head of state. Hariri was appointed chief of staff. While Atassi and Hariri held powerful posts, they did not possess enough personal or political power to threaten the NCRC. The Nasserist officers were also given notable offices with Muhammad al-Sufi becoming Minister of Defence and Rashid al-Qutayni becoming deputy chief of staff. However, the Military Committee, which had expanded its membership with five new members, ensured that the Ba'athists controlled the real levers of powers. The committee decided state policies before the sessions of the NCRC, and by doing so became the real seat of power.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: Umran was first given the command of the 5th Brigade in Homs, but was promoted in June to become commander of the 70th Armoured Brigade. As head of the Bureau of Officers' Affairs, Jadid appointed friends to senior positions, purged his enemies and appointed several Ba'athists to senior positions. Ahmad Suwaydani, one of the new members of the Military Committee, was appointed Head of Military Intelligence and Mazyad Hunaydi became Head of the Military Police. The Military Academy at Homs was put under Ba'athist control—several hundred Ba'athists, including Assad's brother Rifaat al-Assad, were given a crash course in military teaching before being given command. Assad became the "de facto" head of the Syrian Air Force, a dizzying promotion for a man in his thirties. Considering that the members of the Military Committee were all too young to be perceived as the real leaders of Syria by the populace, the Military Committee appointed Colonel Amin al-Hafiz to the post of Minister of the Interior.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: Pressure from consistent pro-Nasser demonstrations in northern Syria and Damascus and from pro-union Ba'athist leaders like Jamal al-Atassi, the Nasserists and the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM), coupled with the weakness of the Ba'athists at the popular level in Syria, led to unification efforts between the new government and the governments of Egypt and Iraq. The latter's anti-UAR government had also been overthrown by pro-UAR officers in 1963. On 17 April a new stage-based unity agreement was reached that would include the three states in a federal union with Nasser as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: However, between 28 April-2 May, the Ba'athist-dominated Military Committee virtually renounced the agreement when it purged over 50 Nasserist officers from their high-ranking positions in the armed forces, leading to a wide-scale propaganda campaign by Egypt via radio denouncing the Ba'ath (Nasserist-leaning newspapers had been previously shut down.) Mass pro-union rioting in Aleppo, Damascus, Hama and other parts of the country followed. The purges prompted the protest resignations of Nasserist officials, including Defense Minister al-Sufi, Deputy Chief of Staff al-Qutayni, and four other Nasserist cabinet members.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: Later, on 19 June, Chief of Staff al-Hariri led a high-ranking delegation that included Prime Minister al-Bitar, Aflaq and Education Minister Sami Droubi to Algeria for a state visit. While al-Hariri was away, the Committee used the opportunity to undertake a purge of about 30 elite officers—mostly political independents—under al-Hariri's command. Al-Hariri was ordered to take a direct flight to the Syrian embassy in the United States, where he was reassigned as the embassy's military attache. Instead, he returned to Syria via a flight to Beirut on 23 June to protest the Committee's move against him. Unsuccessful, he left the country for France in a self-imposed exile on 8 July. The Committee's virtual ousting of al-Hariri was to the chagrin of al-Bitar, who viewed al-Hariri as the last military counterweight able to check the Committee's domination over his government.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The Nasserists still maintained a relatively high level of strength in the military, despite the purges, and on 18 July, under the leadership of Jassem Alwan and the help of Egyptian intelligence, they attempted to launch a daytime coup against the new government. The Army Headquarters, personally defended by al-Hafiz, and the broadcast station were attacked, and the ensuing battle left hundreds of people dead, including several civilian bystanders. The coup attempt failed and 27 participating officers were arrested and executed. The executions were a rare punitive action used to deal with the participants of a failed coup in Syria, with the typical punishment being exile, imprisonment or reassignment to a foreign diplomatic post. President Lu'ay al-Atassi subsequently resigned, signalling his disapproval of the executions. After evading the authorities for a short period, Alwan and his chief co-conspirators Raef al-Maarri and Muhammad Nabhan were apprehended and brought to military trial, where they were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. They were released exactly a year later and exiled, after lobbying by Nasser and Iraqi President Abdul Salam Arif.


title: 1963 Syrian coup d'état

text: The failure of Alwan's revolt marked the end of significant Nasserist influence in Syria's military and civilian institutions, and with the pro-Nasser forces largely defeated, the Military Committee became the sole power center of the country. Relations with Egypt immediately soured, with Nasser, still popular with the Syrian masses, issuing broadcasts denouncing the Ba'athists as "murderers" and "fascists", and representing the forces of heresy and atheism, a derogatory reference to the party's embrace of strict secularism and the numerous leadership positions held by non-Sunni Muslims. Nasser also announced his withdrawal from the 17 April unity agreement.


title: Pegasystems

text: Pegasystems Inc. is an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1983, Pegasystems develops software for customer relationship management (CRM) and business process management (BPM). The company has been publicly traded since 1996 as PEGA (NASDAQ). Pega is a low-code platform for workflow automation and AI-powered decisioning.


title: Pegasystems

text: Alan Trefler founded Pegasystems in 1983 at the age of 27, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior to founding the company, in the early 1980s Trefler had developed computer systems that could play chess. During the company's early years it focused on providing case management, namely for companies such as American Express. Trefler recollects that when he started Pegasystems, he wanted to create software for business people, how business-people wanted things to work. An article in "Computerworld" traces business rules engine to the early 1990s and to products from Pegasystems, Fair Isaac Corp and ILOG. As a private company, Pegasystems was "bootstrapped" initially, but did not take on outside investors. The company went public in 1996 with initial and secondary public offerings, and began trading on NASDAQ under the symbol PEGA. Raising several millions in funding in the process, going public freed the company from needing to pursue venture capital investments. Pegasystems entered a period of financial trouble in the late 1990s, following a dispute with its accountants, Ernst & Young. After restating their earnings, Pegasystems faced an investigation by the SEC, which was dropped in 2002.


title: Pegasystems

text: In March 2010, Pegasystems acquired the enterprise software company Chordiant for around $161.5 million. The acquisition gave Pegasystems access to new markets such as online training, telecommunications and healthcare, with Pegasystems integrating Chordiant and its customer relationship management (CRM) technology into its existing operations. Pega Cloud was introduced using Amazon Web Services in 2012, and in October 2013, Pegasystems acquired the mobile application developer Antenna Software for $27.7 million. Located in New Jersey, Antenna also had bases in Kraków and Bangalore.


title: Pegasystems

text: In 2014, Pegasystems hired a cloud technology proponent to develop its cloud technology strategy. Over the following year, Pegasystems invested in network operations in North America and India to support its cloud services. In May 2014, Pegasystems acquired the Bangalore-based MeshLabs, a text mining and analytics software startup. The "Times of India" reported that Pegasystems would integrate MeshLabs's text analytics software to "gather unstructured social media data and decode it into actionable business insights for its clients." The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Pegasystems acquired Firefly in June 2014, a co-browsing tool funded by First Round Capital. The startup from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the company's first move into the cobrowsing market. By the summer of 2014, Pegasystems remained headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts with 2,700 employees. By July 2014 the company was worth around US$1 billion.


title: Pegasystems

text: By early 2015, Pegasystems remained a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq, with 3,000 employees, 30 offices, and "more than half a billion dollars in revenue." As of February 2015, the company had active partnerships with IT outsourcing companies such as Hexaware, NIIT Incessant Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Accenture and Cognizant. By September of that year, companies who had built teams of Pegasystems specialists included Virtusa (engineering and solution delivery partner since 2001), Accenture, Ernst & Young and Cognizant. Between 2005 and 2015, Pegasystems had average sales growth of 21% per year. There was a steady rise in the company's share price in 2015, with higher than expected revenues from the year prior. In January 2016, it was reported that Pegasystems planned on raising its number of employees significantly, and the company announced the acquisition of OpenSpan Inc. in April 2016. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, OpenSpan specialized in robotic process automation and workforce analytics software.


title: Pegasystems

text: In 2016, Pegasystems announced training and certification on the Pega 7 platform for educators and students. Clients Google, Aflac, and Anthem promoted Pega software at the 2018 PegaWorld conference, an annual conference held since 2006.


title: Pegasystems

text: In February 2019, Pegasystems purchased Infruid Labs, a business analytics and data visualization software company. In May 2019, the company bought In The Chat, a digital messaging platform.


title: Pegasystems

text: In January 2021, the company announced it had acquired Qurious.io, which provides a cloud service that analyzes voice calls in real time to support customer service representatives.


title: Pegasystems

text: In June 2021, Pegasystems became the official supplier of the Ryder Cup. The company also sponsors pro golfers Marc Leishman and Mel Reid. In June 2021, Reid wore Pegasystems' Pride logo, one of the first times the logo has been worn in professional golf.


title: Pegasystems

text: In May 2022, a jury verdict awarded Appian Corporation $2.036 billion in damages for trade secret misappropriation and a damages award of $1 for a violation of the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, which Pega plans to appeal. The company will not be required to begin paying the judgement until all avenues of appeal have been exhausted.


title: Pegasystems

text: In 2022, Pegasystems acquired Everflow, a Brazilian process mining company to support their process mining and hyper automation goals. The company also entered into a partnership with Celebrus, a CDP Vendor. The partnership resulted in the release of Always-On Insights which allows customer data and advertising data to drive automated marketing campaigns.


title: Pegasystems

text: Pegasystems develops and supports software for customer engagement and operations. In particular, Pegasystems specializes in software for business process management (BPM) and customer relationship management (CRM), and is seen as offering more bespoke technology than competitors such as Oracle Corporation or SAP ERP. The company's core software product is the Pega Platform, part of its Pega Infinity suite of applications for customer engagement and digital process automation, which are designed to connect customer interfaces with back-end process automation. Pegasystems states its applications are certified to work on Google Cloud and other public cloud platforms, including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Pivotal’s Cloud Foundry. Various Kubernetes environments are supported. In 2018 Pega announced platform additions that used artificial intelligence for marketing campaigns, customer interfaces, and robotic automation, as well as a Blockchain kit for Ethereum.


title: Pegasystems

text: As of late 2013, Pegasystem’s core software, PegaRULES Process Commander (PRPC), was related to BPM. Pegasystems Inc. in March 2016 announced the Pega Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) application. The company added artificial intelligence into its customer service software to allow interactions to occur on multiple communication channels at once. The company’s low-code development platform was highlighted in a 2018 "Wall Street Journal" article, with Pegasystems’ chief technology officer explaining that the software allowed developers to "drag and drop [ready-made software components] to configure applications,” minimizing development time. The company's core product is the Pega Platform, which is part of its Pega Infinity suite of applications for customer engagement and robotic process automation.


title: Pegasystems

text: In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pegasystems announced an application for financial institutions to manage emergency loan applications from small businesses seeking COVID-19 financial relief. Throughout 2020, Pegasystems helped several of its clients, including the Bavarian government and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, develop apps to manage issues that arose because of COVID-19.


title: Pegasystems

text: Pega’s Voice AI and Messaging AI analyze live customer service conversations in real time to help service agents resolve service requests with reduced manual effort.


title: Pegasystems

text: Pegasystems specializes in the following industries: financial services, insurance, life sciences, healthcare, government, manufacturing, high tech, communications and media, energy, and utilities. While core areas have traditionally included banking and financial sectors, more recent areas include manufacturing, life sciences and healthcare. As of 2013, other clients included "largely Fortune 500 companies" such as ING, Lloyds Banking Group, BAA, and the state of Maine, which commissioned Pegasystems to create a BPM system to cut administrative costs. By July 2014, PayPal, Cisco Systems, and Philips were using Pegasystems’ CRM software, and BNY Mellon announced they would be integrating Pega into its operation.


title: Pegasystems

text: In 2017, Global business insurer QBE began using RPA software from Pegasystems to automate processes and reduce employee workloads. Ford Motor Company began using Pegasystems’ low code/no code platform for citizen development. Johnson & Johnson developed their ClinApp built on Pegasystems’ Infinity suite of applications.


title: Arras

text: Arras ( , ; ; historical ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of the Artois region, with a Baroque town square, Arras is in Northern France at the confluence of the rivers Scarpe and Crinchon.


title: Arras

text: The Arras plain is on a large chalk plateau bordered on the north by the Marqueffles fault, on the southwest by the Artois and Ternois hills, and on the south by the slopes of Beaufort-Blavincourt. On the east it is connected to the Scarpe valley.


title: Arras

text: Established during the Iron Age by the Gauls, the town of Arras was first known as "Nemetocenna", which is believed to have originated from the Celtic word "nemeton", meaning 'sacred space.'


title: Arras

text: Saint Vedast (or St. Vaast) was the first Catholic bishop in the year 499 and tried to eliminate paganism among the Franks. By 843, Arras was seat of the County of Artois which became part of the Royal domain in 1191.


title: Arras

text: The first mention of the name "Arras" appeared in the 12th century. Some hypothesize it is a contraction of "Atrebates", a Belgic tribe of Gaul and Britain that used to inhabit the area. The name "Atrebates" could have successively evolved to become "Atrades", "Atradis", "Aras" and finally "Arras". Others believe it comes from the Celtic word "Ar", meaning 'running water', as the Scarpe river flows through Arras or simply the name of Abraham's wife Sarra spelled backwards.


title: Arras

text: Arras is Pas-de-Calais' third most populous town after Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer. The town counted 43,693 residents in 2012, with the Arras metropolitan area having a population of 124,200. Arras is located north of Paris and can be reached in 2 hours by car and in 50 minutes by TGV. It is the historic center of the former Artois province. Its local speech is characterized as a patois. The city of Arras is well known for its architecture, culture, and history. It was once part of the Spanish Netherlands, a portion of the Low Countries controlled by Spain from 1556 to 1714. Louis XIII reconquered Arras in 1640; the town officially became part of France in 1659.


title: Arras

text: Arras attracts thousands of visitors every year, who commonly explore the city's architecture and historic buildings. Some attractions include the Town Hall and its Belfry (listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 15 July 2005), the "Boves" (a maze beneath the city), the Squares ("La Place des Héros" and "La Grand'Place"), the Art District (the Theatre of Arras and the "Hôtel de Guînes"), the Abbey District (The Saint-Vaast Abbey and the Cathedral of Arras), the Vauban Citadel, and the "Nemetacum" site (the ancient town founded by the Romans 2000 years ago). The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is just outside the town.


title: Arras

text: Archaeologists found evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the Scarpe basin. The archaeological sites of Mont-Saint-Vaast in Arras and Biache-Saint-Vaast were Stone Age settlements of the Mousterian culture. They were evidenced by the finds of stone tools. These tools show signs of the Levallois technique, a name given by archaeologists to a distinctive type of stone knapping, developed by forerunners to modern humans during the Paleolithic period 170,000 years ago.


title: Arras

text: Arras was founded on the boat of Baudimont by the Belgic tribe of the Atrebates, who named it "Nemetocenna" in reference to a "nemeton" that probably existed there. It was later renamed "Nemetacum/Atrebatum" by the Romans, under whom it became an important garrison town.


title: Arras

text: In the Scarpe valley, archaeologists' excavations and data recovery revealed Late Iron Age settlements. These buildings, believed to be farms, were found near the municipalities of Arras, Hamblain-les-Prés and Saint-Pol.


title: Arras

text: In the 4th century, "Nemetacum" was renowned for its arts and crafts as well as textiles trade throughout the whole empire. Between 406 and 407, the city was taken and destroyed by Germanic invaders. In 428, the Salian Franks led by Clodion le Chevelu took control of the region including the current Somme department. Roman General Aetius then chose to negotiate for peace and concluded a treaty ("fœdus") with Clodion that gave the Franks the status of «foederati» fighting for Rome.


title: Arras

text: The town's people were converted to Christianity in the late 4th century by Saint Innocent, who was killed in 410 during a barbarian attack on the town. In 499, after the conversion of Clovis I to Catholicism, a diocese ("évêché" in French) was created in Arras, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arras, and given to Saint Vaast (also known as "Saint Vedast" in English), who remains the diocesan patron saint. Saint Vaast then established an episcopal see and a monastic community. It was suppressed in 580 to found the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cambrai, from which it would reemerge five centuries later.


title: Arras

text: In 667 Saint Aubert, bishop of Cambrai, decided to found the Abbey of Saint Vaast, which developed during the Carolingian period into an immensely wealthy Benedictine abbey. The modern town of Arras initially spread around the abbey as a grain market. During the 9th century, both town and abbey suffered from the attacks of the Vikings, who later settled to the west in Normandy. The abbey revived its strength in the 11th century and played an important role in the development of medieval painting, successfully synthesizing the artistic styles of Carolingian, Ottonian and English art.


title: Arras

text: In 1025, a Catholic council was held at Arras against certain Manichaean (dualistic) heretics who rejected the sacraments of the Church. In 1093, the bishopric of Arras was refounded on territory split from the Diocese of Cambrai. In 1097 two councils, presided over by Lambert d'Arras, dealt with questions concerning monasteries and persons consecrated to God. In this time, Arras became an important cultural center, especially for the group of poets who came to be known as trouvères. One particular society of such poets was later called the "Puy d'Arras".


title: Arras

text: The town was granted a commercial charter by the French crown in 1180 and became an internationally important location for banking and trade. The wool industry of Arras, established in the 4th century, became of great importance during the Middle Ages. Already in the third century Romans had lauded about the quality of wool from Tournai and Arras. By the eleventh century Arras was the leading city and trading hub of the wool industry. This prominence would eventually shift towards areas north of Arras, and cities such as Lille, Douai and Saint-Omer, followed by Ypres and eventually Bruges would become the centres of the wool industry and trade. However, by the 14th century Arras still was renowned and drew considerable wealth from the cloth and wool industry, and was particularly well known for its production of fine tapestries—so much so that in English and Italian the word "Arras" ("Arazzi" in Italian) was adopted to refer to tapestries in general. The patronage of wealthy cloth merchants ensured that the town became an important cultural center, with major figures such as the poet Jean Bodel and the trouvère Adam de la Halle making their homes in Arras.


title: Arras

text: The ownership of the town was repeatedly disputed along with the rest of Artois. During the Middle Ages, possession of Arras passed to a variety of feudal rulers and fiefs, including the County of Flanders, the Duchy of Burgundy, the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg and the French crown. In 1430, Joan of Arc ("Jeanne d'Arc" in French), was imprisoned in the region of Arras. The town was the site of the Congress of Arras in 1435, an unsuccessful attempt to end the Hundred Years' War that resulted in the Burgundians breaking their alliance with the English. After the death of Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy in 1477, King Louis XI of France took control of Arras but the town's inhabitants, still loyal to the Burgundians, expelled the French. This prompted Louis XI to besiege Arras in person and, after taking it by assault, he had the town's walls razed and its inhabitants expelled, to be replaced by more loyal subjects from other parts of France. In a bid to erase the town's identity completely, Louis renamed it temporarily to "Franchise". In 1482, the Peace of Arras was signed in the town to end a war between Louis XI and Maximilian I of Austria; ten years later, the town was ceded to Maximilian. It was eventually bequeathed to the Spanish Habsburgs as part of the Spanish Netherlands.


title: Arras

text: Arras remained under Habsburg rule from 1493 until 1640 when it was captured by the French. The Spanish ceded it by the peace treaty in 1659 and it has since remained French. The Union of Arras was signed here in January 1579 by the Catholic principalities of the Low Countries that remained loyal to King Philip II of Habsburg; it provoked the declaration of the Union of Utrecht later the same month.


title: Arras

text: Maximilien de Robespierre, a French lawyer and politician from Arras and one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution, was elected fifth deputy of the third estate of Artois to the Estates-General in 1789. Robespierre also helped draft the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.


title: Arras

text: During the French Revolution, the city of Arras was first presided over by French reformer Dubois de Fosseux, erudite squire, secretary of the Arras district ("arrondissement" in French) and future president of the Pas-de-Calais department. Around the same time, competing against Aire-sur-la-Lys, Calais and Saint-Omer, Arras won the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais. From September 1793 to July 1794, during the Reign of Terror, the city was under the supervision of Joseph Lebon who implemented food restrictions, ordered 400 executions and destroyed several religious monuments including the Arras Cathedral and the Abbey of St. Vaast. Arras' demography and economic activity remained the same throughout the French Revolution while Lille's grew exponentially. In 1898, under the influence of Mayor Émile Legrelle, some of Arras' ramparts were demolished to build vast boulevards, establish a new sewage system and replace the old railway station from 1846.


title: Arras

text: During most of the First World War, Arras was about away from the front line, and a series of battles took place around the city and nearby, including the Battle of Arras (1914), the Battle of Arras (1917) and the Second Battle of the Somme component of 1918's Hundred Days Offensive.


title: Arras

text: On 31 August 1914, German light cavalry (Uhlans) arrived in Tilloy-lès-Mofflaines, and an army patrol made a foray into Arras. On 6 September 1914, 3,000 soldiers led by General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim barracked within the city and in the citadel. Shortly after, Louis Ernest de Maud'huy's soldiers partly repelled the German army troops, and trenches were dug in the "Faubourgs d'Arras". On 7 October 1914 the city hall burned. On 21 October 1914 the belfry was destroyed, and so was Arras Cathedral on 6 July 1915.


title: Arras

text: In 1917, a series of medieval tunnels beneath the city, linked and greatly expanded by the New Zealand Tunnelling Company, became a decisive factor in the British forces holding the city - particularly during that year's Battle of Arras.


title: Arras

text: By the end of World War I (1918), the city was so heavily damaged that three-quarters had to be rebuilt. The reconstruction was extremely costly, yet it proved to be a success and allowed the city to expand.


title: Arras

text: The town is located approximately south of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial built in 1936 on Hill 145, the highest point of the Vimy Ridge escarpment. It is dedicated to the Battle of Vimy Ridge assault (part of the 1917 Battle of Arras) and the missing First World War Canadian soldiers with no known grave; it is also the site of two WWI Canadian cemeteries.


title: Arras

text: On 9 April 2017, the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, Arras Mayor Frédéric Leturque thanked Canadians, as well as Australians and British, New Zealanders and South Africans, for their role in the First World War battles in the area.


title: Arras

text: In the early stages of the second World War, during the invasion of France in May 1940, the city was the focus of a major British counterattack. Arras saw an Allied counterattack against the flank of the German army. The German forces were pushing north towards the channel coast, in order to entrap the Allied Forces that were advancing east into Belgium. The counterattack at Arras was an Allied attempt to cut through the German spearhead and frustrate the German advance. Although the Allies initially made gains, they were repulsed by German forces and forced to withdraw to avoid encirclement. Arras was then occupied by the Germans and 240 suspected French Resistance members were executed in Arras citadel. On 3 September 1944, the city was entered and liberated by the British Guards Armoured Division.


title: Arras

text: In September 1993, Ipswich (United Kingdom) and Arras became twin towns, and a square in the new Ipswich Buttermarket development was named Arras Square to mark the relationship.


title: Arras

text: Arras is located in northern France in the Hauts-de-France region. Hauts-de-France is divided into five departments: Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Oise, Aisne. Arras is in the south-east part of the Pas-de-Calais department and forms the Arras district ("arrondissement d'Arras") in the Artois, a former province of northern France.


title: Arras

text: By car, it is north of Paris, east of the English Channel, south of Brussels, and south of Amsterdam.


title: Arras

text: The city's total area is . The lowest point in the city is at above sea level and the highest is at .


title: Arras

text: The soil of Arras is primarily composed of chalk, a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock that formed what is called the European stratigraphic unit. That Chalk Group deposited during the Late Cretaceous period 90 million years ago. It used to be extracted to construct the most prestigious buildings and houses of Arras. As a result, residents once nicknamed the city "La ville blanche" (the White Town). The Arras area soil is also composed of clay, which was used to produce bricks, build less noble buildings, and embellish façades. Clay is mostly found in the "lieu-dit" of "La Terre Potier" in the western part of the city.


title: Arras

text: The level of earthquake hazard in the Arras area is low, as it is in the whole Pas-de-Calais department.


title: Arras

text: Two rivers flow through Arras: the Scarpe and the Crinchon; both are left tributaries of the 350-kilometer-long Scheldt river ("L'Escaut" in French). The Crinchon is a rather small river of flowing through Arras underground, while the Scarpe is long, of which two-thirds has been turned into canals.


title: Arras

text: The source of the Scarpe is at Berles-Monchel near Aubigny-en-Artois. It flows through the cities of Arras, Douai and Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. The river ends at Mortagne-du-Nord where it flows into the Scheldt.


title: Arras

text: Arras mainly has a Western European oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb) affected by the North Atlantic Current as it is close to the English Channel ("La Manche" in French). There is frequent rain in all seasons, and temperatures throughout the year are mild, as it is near the sea. Temperature variations tend to be moderate; but there are some brief cold spells as it is subject to both oceanic and continental influences. So the climate can also be referred as semi-oceanic (known as a "Climat océanique dégradé" in French).


title: Arras

text: Summer days are usually moderately warm and agreeable, with temperatures between , occasionally rising above , with a fair amount of sunshine. Some years have even witnessed some unusual long periods of harsh summer weather, such as the heat wave of 2003 where temperatures exceeded for weeks, reaching on some days and rarely even cooling down at night. Spring and Fall have rather warm days and fresh nights, but remain quite unstable. Winter days are cold but generally above freezing, at around ; sunshine is usually scarce. Light night frosts are common as the temperature often falls below . Snowfall has been rare in the past decade but happens in some winters, such as 2009–10, with unusually cold weather: much of Europe had heavy snowfall and record-low temperatures. The most recent warmest winters recorded were in 1989–90, 1994–95, 2006–07 and 2013–14. The Arras region (and most of Northern Europe) had remarkably warm and sunny weather in the winter of 2013–14.


title: Arras

text: Rain falls throughout the year. Average annual precipitation is with light rainfall evenly distributed throughout the year. The highest recorded temperature was , and the lowest was .


title: Arras

text: On 28 October 2013, "Cyclone Christian" (also known as the St. Jude storm), one of the strongest extra-tropical cyclones ever recorded, hit Northern Europe including the Arras area. The cyclone's central pressure was 981 mb, and wind speeds reached a maximum of . The city of Arras did not experience any major damage.


title: Arras

text: , the population of Arras is 41,694 for a density of 3,585 people per square kilometre. The residents go by the name of "Arrageois" (male) and "Arrageoise" (female). The population is rather young as the highest number of residents is 15-29 of age. The most recent male to female ratio is 100:109, and the female to male ratio is 100:92 (2019). There are 19,947 males (48%) for 21,747 females (52%). The Arras functional area has a population of 158,499.


title: Arras

text: Arras's Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame et Saint-Vaast is the cathedral, a minor basilica, episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arras.


title: Arras

text: Arras is part of the "académie de Lille" (Lille's School District). There are 11 "écoles maternelles" (nursery schools), 11 "écoles primaires" (elementary schools), 8 "collèges" (junior high schools) and 7 "lycées" (high schools) within the city.


title: Arras

text: The city centre is marked by two large squares, "La Grand' Place" and "La Place des Héros", also called "La Petite Place". The two squares are surrounded by a unique architectural ensemble of 155 Flemish-Baroque-style townhouses. These were built in the 17th and 18th century and were initially made of wood. In 1918, after the end of World War I, most of the townhouses were so severely damaged that they had to be restored to their pre-war conditions. They are now made of bricks.


title: Arras

text: The Hôtel de Ville in Arras and its belfry were constructed between 1463 and 1554 and had to be rebuilt in a slightly less grandiose style after World War I. The belfry is high and used to serve as a watchtower. Nowadays tourists can enjoy ascending the belfry. In 2005, the belfry was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site because of its architecture and historical importance in maintaining municipal power in Europe.


title: Arras

text: The original cathedral was constructed between 1030 and 1396. This Gothic structure was destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 19th century. The present Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame et Saint-Vaast is a minor basilica.


title: Arras

text: The Boves, a well-preserved underground network of tunnels, beneath the city, was built in the 10th century and can now be visited by tourists. The idea was to set up a vast underground network to make all inhabitants' cellars interconnect by means of tunnels. Excavation material (chalk) was not wasted but rather used to construct houses. During World War I and World War II, the Boves was utilized as an underground bunker to hide and protect residents and valued objects from falling bombs.


title: Arras

text: The Art District is renowned for its Italian-style theatre hall built in 1785 and the "Hôtel de Guînes", a private 18th-century townhouse that attracts artists, designers and producers of intimist shows.


title: Arras

text: Many of Arras's most remarkable structures, including the Musée des beaux-arts d'Arras and several government buildings, occupy the site of the old Abbey of St. Vaast. The abbey's church was demolished and rebuilt in fashionable classical style in 1833, and now serves as the town's cathedral. The design was chosen by the one-time Abbot of St Vaast, the Cardinal de Rohan, and is stark in its simplicity, employing a vast number of perpendicular angles. There is a fine collection of statuary within the church and it houses a number of religious relics.


title: Arras

text: Built by Vauban between 1667 and 1672, the Citadel has been nicknamed "La belle inutile" (the beautiful useless one) by residents as it has never been directly involved in heavy fighting and didn't prevent the Germans from occupying the city in either World War. Since 7 July 2008 it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites "Fortifications of Vauban" which includes eleven other fortifications.


title: Arras

text: Within the citadel on the side of "La Place de Manœuvre" a small Baroque-style chapel was built. Outside, "Le Mur des Fusillés" (the wall of the people executed by a firing squad) pays tribute to the 218 members of the French Resistance shot in the citadel's ditch during World War II.


title: Arras

text: Arras holds the biggest Christmas market north of Paris every year from the end of November to the end of December. Around 80 exhibitors offer a wide selection of arts and crafts, as well as local delicacies like chocolate rats, Atrébate beer and Cœurs d'Arras – heart-shaped biscuits which come in two flavours, ginger and cheese. Entertainment includes cooking lessons with chefs, craft demonstrations, a merry-go-round, a ferris wheel, an ice-skating rink and heated shelters. It also offers native products from International locations such as Canada, Vietnam, Morocco, Indonesia, Africa and gourmet regional specialities from different parts of France: Auvergne, Savoie, South-Western France and Nord-Pas-de-Calais.


title: Arras

text: The Main Square Festival is held for several days in early July within the Vauban Citadel, attracting tens of thousands of attendees and playing host to major acts such as The Chemical Brothers, Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, David Guetta and The Black Eyed Peas.


title: Arras

text: "Le jardin botanique Floralpina" is a private botanical garden, specializing in alpine plants. It opens every year on the last Sunday of May and can be visited by appointment.


title: Arras

text: The Vimy Memorial is a memorial just north of the town honouring a major World War I battle, the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which marked the first time Canada fielded an entire army of her own. Four Canadian divisions fought there on Easter weekend 1917. The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the broader Allied offensive in April known as the Battle of Arras. The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is nearby. Vimy was the only victory the Allies would enjoy during their 1917 spring offensive. The Basilica of Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery, overlooking the nearby village of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, likewise stands before one of France's largest World War I necropolises. Part of an extensive network of tunnels dug in World War I by British Empire soldiers can be visited at the Carrière Wellington museum in the suburbs.


title: Arras

text: The Gare d'Arras railway station is served by a purpose-built branch of the LGV Nord high speed railway, with regular TGV services to Paris (45 minutes). There are also regular trains to Lille, Amiens, Dunkerque and several regional destinations.


title: Arras

text: Autoroute A1 (A1 highway) is a tollway that connects Arras with Lille and Paris. As part of the European 'inter-country' route E15, it also connects Arras with the United Kingdom and Spain as well as the northern and southern parts of France. Autoroute A26 (A26 highway) connects Arras with Calais and Reims.


title: 007 Legends

text: 007 Legends is a first-person shooter video game featuring the character of British secret agent James Bond. It was developed by Eurocom and first released by Activision on October 2012 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with Microsoft Windows and Wii U versions releasing later that year. The game is available as physical optical disc media, as well as a digital release download via PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace on date of release, though it was removed off all other digital stores without warning in January 2013. The PAL Wii U version of the game was released in some parts of Europe on 6 December 2012, The release was cancelled in Australia.


title: 007 Legends

text: The game was released to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the James Bond film series. To achieve this, the single player campaign includes one mission from each of the six actors' eras, being "Goldfinger" (Sean Connery), "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (George Lazenby), "Moonraker" (Roger Moore), "Licence to Kill" (Timothy Dalton) and "Die Another Day" (Pierce Brosnan), with "Skyfall" (Daniel Craig) released as downloadable content for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC and included on disc for the Wii U version. Additionally, some of the original talent from the films add their likenesses and voices to their associated characters.


title: 007 Legends

text: Upon its release, "007 Legends" received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized the choice of missions, bland gameplay and lack of an overarching story; though its multiplayer mode did attract some praise. It is the fourth and final James Bond game title released by Activision and the last game Eurocom developed before the company ceased operations. It remained the final James Bond video game for 8 years until November 2020, when it was announced a new Bond game, developed by IO Interactive, had entered development.