title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Daniel Waterland, a theologian by training, became master of the college in 1714 and prescribed a new curriculum for undergraduate students at Magdalene. His new curriculum included Mathematics, Newtonian Physics, Geography and Astronomy, as well as Classics, Logic and Metaphysics. Waterland was also successful in attracting financial aid for the college, including funds for scholarships. The mathematician Edward Waring was among those who joined the college during this period.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: In 1781, Peter Peckard, one of the earliest abolitionists, became master of Magdalene. The "Zong" massacre of 1781 prompted Peckard to speak strongly against slave trade in his sermons, some of which were published as tracts and pamphlets. Peckard set the college on the course of achieving a wider reputation of scholarship and sound thinking, and was later appointed as vice-chancellor of Cambridge University.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Magdalene continued to be a liberal college through the Victorian era. The college had more liberal admissions policies than most, admitting Arthur Cohen, the first practising Jew to graduate from Cambridge. During the same period, Magdalene also admitted Catholic students such as Charles Januarius Acton, and Asian students who were excluded from many other colleges until after the First World War.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: The modern development of Magdalene was shaped by A. C. Benson, master from 1915 to 1925. His enthusiasm and attention to detail produced outstanding pieces of poems, essays and literary criticism; his diaries were also studied by many later critics. His financial generosity effected significant impact on the modern appearance of the college grounds: at least 20 inscriptions around the college refer to him. In 1930, Benson Court was constructed and named after him.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: From 1972, the previously all-male colleges in Cambridge started admitting women, the first three being Churchill, Clare and King's. In 1985, Oriel College, Oxford, admitted women, making Magdalene the only surviving all-male Oxbridge college. The following year, Magdalene made the controversial decision to admit women and become co-residential. When women eventually joined the college in 1988, some male students protested by wearing black arm-bands and flying the college flag at half-mast.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Although the historical perception of Magdalene's bias towards undergraduate applicants from independent schools persists, Magdalene now has an evenly mixed student body in terms of sex, race and education background. In recent years, Magdalene's access programme has attracted many applicants from state schools, especially from North West England; and the college's close affiliation with international students' bursaries such as the Prince Philip Scholarship and the Jardine Foundation has attracted many applicants from Southeast Asia, most notably Wong Yan Lung who went on to become Secretary for Justice for Hong Kong.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: In October 2022, the new library designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects won the Stirling Prize for excellence in architecture.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Consistent with Magdalene’s reputation of elitism, but in blatant contradiction to the spirit of the college's access policy, the hereditary visitor of the college remains the Barons Braybrooke "ex officio". The visitor since 2017 is Richard Neville, 11th Baron Braybrooke, former director of "Bring a Bottle" alcohol price comparison website, who attempted to gain a seat in the House of Lords as a crossbench candidate in the October 2022 by-elections but received zero votes. Magdalene, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and Jesus College, Oxford are the only three Oxbridge colleges that continue to prescribe by statute visitations held by hereditary peers.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Magdalene College is located at the bend of the River Cam on the northwestern side of the town centre, at the foot of Castle Hill. The college was deliberately built on the opposite end of Magdalene Bridge from the town centre so that the Benedictine student-monks would be secluded from the business and temptations of the town. As such, it was the first Cambridge college to be built on the northwestern side of the Cam. The college's main site was previously settled during the Roman occupation of England.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: The college's buildings are distributed on both sides of the river, and is roughly divided into four areas: the main site, where the oldest buildings including the porter's lodge and the Pepys Library are located; "The Village", which was built in the 1930s and consists exclusively of student accommodation; Quayside, built on the southeastern side of the river in the 1980s as an investment project which also provides student accommodation; and Cripps Court, built in the 2000s for extra conference facilities and accommodation.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Magdalene's old buildings are representative of the college's ramshackle growth from a monks' foundation into a centre of education. It is also distinctive in that most of the old buildings are in brick rather than stone (save for the frontage of the Pepys Building). Magdalene Street divides the most ancient courts from more recent developments. One of the accommodation blocks in the newer part of the college was built by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the early 1930s. Opened in 2005, Cripps Court, on Chesterton Road, features new undergraduate rooms and conference facilities.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: The main site of the college is the area bounded by Magdalene Street, Chesterton Lane and the River Cam. It is the first area to be populated by college buildings since as early as the 1470s. This area includes Magdalene's First Court, Second Court, Fellows' Garden, and the buildings surrounding them such as the porters' lodge, the Master's Lodge, and the Pepys Library.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Situated on the north-east side of Magdalene Street is the porter's lodge. It is the place where mail to members of the college is delivered and distributed. Past the gatehouse by which the porter's lodge is situated lies First Court. The First Court was the earliest court to be built. From 1760 the Court was faced with stucco, but most of the buildings were restored in a project between 1953 and 1966. The chapel was the first to be built around 1470, while the gatehouse including the porter's lodge and the street-front of the college did not exist until 1585.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: The chapel lies in the north range of First Court, and its original construction dates to 1470-72. However, later renovation works meant that little of the original chapel other than the original roof remains. Since the college is dedicated to Mary Magdalene, much of the chapel's artwork describes her story. The glass windows on the eastern wall of the chapel are entirely dedicated to the encounters between Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ around the time of the crucifixion of Jesus: anointing Jesus with her jug of ointment, watching the crucifixion, weeping at the tomb and recognising Jesus after his resurrection. Compared to most other Cambridge colleges of medieval origin, Magdalene's chapel is much smaller in line with the college's relatively small population. Despite its smaller size, however, the chapel's physical proportions are in keeping with those of other medieval Oxbridge college chapels, reflecting the traditional layout of Solomon's Temple: the ratio of Magdalene's antechapel, choir, and sanctuary (1:4:2) matches that of the Temple's porch, holy place, and holy of holies. In 2000, the chapel received a new Baroque-style pipe organ built by Goetze & Gwynn.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Past the chapel, the hall separates the First Court to the west and the Second Court to the east. This is where daily formal dinners are served. The hall itself was first built in the early 16th century, again with many later refurbishments but never gas or electric lighting—Magdalene's hall is unique in Oxbridge in relying solely on candlelight. To the far end of the hall is the High Table, placed on a platform one step above ground level, where fellows and their guests dine. Students dine at three long benches in front of and perpendicular to the High Table and spanning to the entrance. Flanking the entrance is a double staircase leading to a minstrels' gallery and the senior combination room. The walls of the hall are decorated with 15 portraits of notable benefactors and past members.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Both the old and new Master's Lodges are located just to the north of first court. The old Master's Lodge, connected directly to the building on which the porter's lodge was situated, was built in the 16th century and vacated in 1835. The Master's Lodge then moved to a new location about 50m north of the previous location. This new lodge was subsequently torn down and rebuilt in 1967 to give the Master a less grandiose, but more comfortable residence. The building which used to be first Master's Lodge is now known as Old Lodge and is predominantly used for student accommodation. Other than Old Lodge, there are also student rooms scattered around the buildings surrounding First Court, including the areas on top of the hall.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Past the formal hall, the Second Court is most clearly marked by the Pepys Building, where the Pepys Library is housed. The architect and polymath Robert Hooke, otherwise best known for coining the idea of a biological cell, participated in designing this building in 1677, and construction carried on from then until the 1700s because of the college's lack of money. The inscription on the arch in front of the building, "Bibliotheca Pepysiana 1724", refers to the year in which the Pepys Diary was donated to the college, rather than the year in which the building was completed. Because of the famous Pepys Diary, the Pepys Library became a popular tourist destination in Cambridge. The ground and basement levels of the Pepys Building host the college library where undergraduate course books are available, and is therefore a major study spot for undergraduates. The Pepys Building was constructed in such a way that it would provide a good view of the Fellows' Garden. Construction of a


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: new College Library began in 2018; the new building, designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects, will offer three times more space.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Also situated on Second Court is Bright's Building, named after Mynors Bright, who was most famous for having deciphered the Pepys Diary. It was built in 1908–09 by Aston Webb to provide extra accommodation to host increasing numbers of undergraduate students. The largest room in Bright's Building is Ramsay Hall, named after Allen Beville Ramsay. The room was originally intended to be a lecture room, but it was later refurbished in 1949 to become the college's canteen.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: The Fellows' Garden, situated behind Pepys Building, included a Roman-era flood barrier bank which became today's Monk's Walk, a raised footpath leading from the south side of Pepys Building to the exit of the Fellows' Garden on Chesterton Lane. At the time of the college's establishment in 1428, the Fellows' Garden was a series of fishponds. The fishponds were filled between 1586 and 1609, but it was not until the 1660s that plans to cultivate a garden on the land were realised. Most of the trees planted in the original plan of the garden were chopped down and replaced in a renovation in the early 1900s, under the instruction of botanist Walter Gardiner. Most of the newly planted trees were black poplars and its variant, Lombardy poplars. Some fruit trees, such as quince, cherry and plum trees, were later planted in the 1980s-90s. Squirrels, and the occasional woodpecker may be spotted in the garden; there are also a few flowerbeds in the garden in which the gardeners grow seasonal flowers. Near the northwest corner of the Fellows’ Garden lies a Victorian pet cemetery with several gravestones and statues of departed dogs and cats of the College.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Adjacent to the Fellows' Garden are two other gardens: the Master's Garden, which is part of the Master's Lodge and separated from the Fellows' Garden by a brick wall, and the River Court, a small, brick-paved patch of land between Bright's Building and the River Cam, where seasonal flowers are on display in the flowerbeds.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: The area of the college across Magdalene Street from porter's lodge, bounded by Magdalene Street, Northampton Street, the River Cam and St John's College is known as the Magdalene Village. It includes Benson Court, Mallory Court and Buckingham Court, and consists almost exclusively of student accommodation. The whole area of the Village was gradually developed over a period of 45 years by three different architects, Harry Redfern, Sir Edwin Lutyens and David Roberts. The first building to be developed was Mallory Court B (1925–26) and the last was the new Buckingham Court building (1968–70). Lutyens had an original plan which involved demolishing many existing buildings in the area and constructing new buildings that matched the general look and feel of the college's main site, but this plan was scrapped due to insufficient funding and the only part of Lutyens' plan that was realised was the Lutyens building.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Passing through an obscure wooden gate opposite the porter's lodge, the open courtyard of Benson Court can be seen. Benson Court was named after A. C. Benson, master of Magdalene College from 1915 to 1925. Benson was best known for writing the lyrics of "Land of Hope and Glory", a British patriotic song set to the tune of Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1". The cottages to either side of the entrance pathway are all pre-existing buildings that were converted into student accommodation in the 1960s. In particular, Benson Court H is one of the few buildings in college whose structure survived from the 16th century, and presents its 17th-century facade which was previously known as Cross Keys Inn to the street front of Magdalene Street. To the left of the courtyard is a gentle grassy slope that leads to the "Magdalene beach", where the college punts are moored and parties are held in the summer.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Across the courtyard is the Lutyens building, also designated Benson A-E, which was built and named after Sir Edwin Lutyens, the architect who planned much of the Village. Due to a lack of funding, it was the only part of Lutyens' original grandiose plan that was actually built. Part of the building's cost was sponsored by subscriptions raised by Harvard in memory of Henry Dunster, who studied in Magdalene in 1627–1630 and later became a founding father of Harvard University. Hence, the crest of Harvard with the inscription "Veritas" can be found at the entrance to the D staircase. Each staircase in the building had slightly different banister designs, which Lutyens explained was "to help Magdalene men to feel in the dark whether they were entering the correct staircase". The Lutyens building currently hosts about 60 students and fellows as well as the college launderette.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Another two courts can be found to the northwest of Benson Court: Mallory Court and Buckingham Court. Mallory Court was named after George Mallory, the British mountaineer who famously answered "Because it's there" when asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest. The court itself comprises student rooms, some new and some converted from existing buildings which include a defunct brewery. Buckingham Court has two groups of buildings, which includes the "Tan Yard Cottages" incorporated to the college and refurbished in 1966, and a new building which contains the college's car park. The new Buckingham building, completed in 1970, marked the completion of the entire Magdalene Village.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Most of the buildings bounded by the River Cam, Bridge Street and Thompson's Lane are owned by Magdalene College, despite being completely covered by shop-fronts and restaurants on the ground level. Many of these buildings are part of the Quayside development project, built between 1983–89, as part of a business plan of the college. As for student accommodation, this part of the college includes the Bridge Street and Thompson's Lane hostels.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Situated on the opposite side of Chesterton Road from the main site of the college, Cripps Court is the newest part of Magdalene. It was built between 2003-05 in response to increasing demands for extra accommodation and conference facilities. The site of Cripps Court is a natural southerly slope, which can be seen from the stepped courtyard in between the buildings. The court was sponsored by, and named after, the Cripps family headed by Humphrey Cripps. It contains a 142-seat auditorium, 5 seminar rooms, an oak-roofed event gallery also called the orangery, and about 60 student rooms.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Magdalene is noted for its 'traditional' style: it boasts a well-regarded candlelit formal hall (held every evening) and was the last all-male college in Oxford or Cambridge to admit women in 1988 (Oriel College was the last in Oxford, admitting women in 1986). This change resulted in protests by some male undergraduates, including the wearing of black armbands and flying the college flag at half-mast.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: The college is officially known as "The College of Saint Mary Magdalene", with "Magdalene" customarily pronounced "Maudlyn" ( ). The name was chosen when Thomas Audley re-founded and dedicated the college to Mary Magdalene in 1542. In early documents, the name of the college was spelt "Maudleyn" as it was pronounced. Although the standard pronunciation of the name "Magdalene" in the English language has changed, the customary pronunciation of the college's name was retained.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: With the development of the General Post Office during the 19th century, the spelling of the college's name was fixed as "Magdalene" with a final "e", to avoid confusion with Magdalen College, Oxford. The two colleges are pronounced the same.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Master of Magdalene College is the title given to the Head of House. Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury (2002–12), became the master on 1 January 2013. Sir Christopher Greenwood succeeded Williams as master of Magdalene on 1 October 2020.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Power to appoint the master was vested until 2012 in the visitor of the college. Following an amendment to the college statutes, which was approved by the Queen in Council in February 2012, the master is now appointed by the governing body of the college. The master usually serves until reaching the statutory fellowship retirement age of 67. Exceptionally, this period may be extended until the master in question reaches 70 as occurred in the case of Duncan Robinson, master from 2002 to 2012.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: With the position of master comes college-based residency in the form of the Master's Lodge, which may be populated and decorated according to the wishes of the master. Traditionally, every Sunday, the master attends the service in the college chapel before sitting at the head of the high table in hall for formal hall.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: The college's most famous alumnus is the 17th-century chronicler Samuel Pepys. His papers and books were donated to the college upon his death and are housed in the Pepys Library in the Pepys Building. A portrait of the diarist by Peter Lely hangs in the Hall.


title: 2011 in video games

text: Numerous video games were released in 2011. Many awards went to games such as "", "Portal 2", "", "" and "". 2011 also marked the worldwide release of the Nintendo 3DS.


title: 2011 in video games

text: Series with new installments in 2011 include "Ace Combat", "Assassin's Creed", "", "Battlefield", "Call of Duty", "Call of Juarez", "Cities XL", "Crysis", "Dead Space", "Deus Ex", "Dragon Age", "Driver", "Duke Nukem", "Dynasty Warriors", "The Elder Scrolls", "F.E.A.R", "Forza Motorsport", "Gears of War", "Infamous", "Killzone", "The Legend of Zelda", "LittleBigPlanet", "Mario Kart", "Modern Combat", "Mortal Kombat", "MX vs. ATV", "Need for Speed", "Operation Flashpoint", "Pokémon", "Portal", "Rayman", "Red Faction", "", "Resistance", "Saints Row", "", "Super Mario", "Total War", "Tropico", "Uncharted", "Sonic the Hedgehog", and "The Witcher".


title: 2011 in video games

text: 2011 saw the introduction of several new properties, including "Bastion", "Dark Souls", "Dead Island", "Homefront", "L.A. Noire", "Minecraft", and "Rage".


title: Joey Mercury

text: Adam Birch (born July 18, 1979), better known by the ring names Joey Mercury and Joey Matthews, is an American professional wrestler who is best known for his two tenures in WWE. Birch was most recently signed to Ring of Honor, where he worked as a producer, trainer, and member of the creative team.


title: Joey Mercury

text: Birch was trained by fellow wrestler Jimmy Cicero and made his wrestling debut in October 1996, using the name Joey Matthews as he wrestled in ECW Extreme Championship Wrestling. The following year, he began competing for Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (MEWF), where he began competing in tag team competition and captured the MEWF Tag Team Championship, alongside Christian York. Throughout the late-1990s, Birch competed in various independent promotions, where he and York continued to work as a team. It was also during that time that he won various championships in singles and tag team competition.


title: Joey Mercury

text: In 2004, Birch signed with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Kentucky under the name Joey Mercury. While situated at OVW, he was placed in tag team competition, alongside Johnny Nitro, in which they won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on one occasion. It was also during this time that he and Nitro, alongside their manager Melina, were known as the stable MNM. The group were called up to the SmackDown! roster and on their debut in April 2005, Mercury and Nitro went on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. After their third and final reign ended in May 2006, Nitro and Melina turned on Mercury, thus ending their faction. However, in November 2006, the team reunited for a brief period, before Mercury was let go from his contract in March 2007.


title: Joey Mercury

text: Following his stint with WWE, Birch continued his wrestling career, appearing at several independent promotions, including competing at Ring of Honor events. In March 2008, he returned to OVW, where he won the OVW Television Championship on one occasion. In October 2008, Birch announced his retirement from professional wrestling, following an injury, but later returned to wrestling in 2010, working for WWE as a producer and making a brief in-ring return as part of CM Punk's Straight Edge Society. He returned to TV once again in 2014 alongside Jamie Noble, (known as J&J Security) as an on screen security guard for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins as part of The Authority faction.


title: Joey Mercury

text: After being trained by fellow professional wrestler Jimmy Cicero, Birch made his debut in October 1996 under the name Joey Matthews. In 1997, approximately a year after his debut, Matthews began competing for the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (MEWF) promotion, where he won the MEWF Tag Team Championship with Christian York. Matthews defeated York on May 8, 1998, to regain the Southern Championship Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Championship in Wendell, North Carolina. Matthews and York, soon teamed up again, however, and won the Steel City Wrestling Tag Team Championship on December 20, 1998. Less than a month later, Matthews defeated York to win the Independent Professional Wrestling Alliance Light Heavyweight Championship on January 9, 1999.


title: Joey Mercury

text: He was also a member of the North Carolina based Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA) run by Matt and Jeff Hardy, where he defeated York to win the OMEGA Light Heavyweight Championship on January 29, 1999. He was signed to a World Championship Wrestling contract in 1999; Birch did not make any appearances for the promotion during the seven months he was signed to a contract. A few months later, while competing in singles competition at Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW), he once again defeated York to win the MCW Cruiserweight Championship on May 21. Matthews and York soon began teaming again, and, sometimes using The Bad Street Boys as a tag team name, they won numerous tag team championships, including the Atlantic Terror Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship on January 15, 2000 and the MCW Tag Team Championship on May 17, 2000.


title: Joey Mercury

text: In late 2000, Matthews and York joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and lost to Danny Doring and Roadkill at Anarchy Rulz. They then began a feud with Simon and Swinger, whom they lost to at November to Remember, but defeated at Massacre on 34th Street. They competed in ECW for approximately six months, until the promotion closed in January 2001 and were on the company's final pay-per-view Guilty as Charged, where they suffered a loss to Jerry Lynn and Cyrus. After the closure of ECW, they returned to the independent circuit, where, on February 3, 2001, the Bad Street Boys defeated Rick Michaels and David Young to become the NWA World Tag Team Champions, a championship that they held for two weeks. They won the MCW Tag Team Championship for the second time on November 3 by defeating Earl the Pearl and Rich Myers, and later won the Virginia Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship on December 1, 2001.


title: Joey Mercury

text: In 2002, Matthews and York competed in Ring of Honor (ROH), and teamed together on several occasions, before Matthews joined a faction called Special K, of which he was a member until 2004. He also worked for various independent organizations such as Xtreme Pro Wrestling, Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW) and Phoenix Championship Wrestling. On January 29, 2003, Matthews defeated Romeo Valentino to win the MCW Rage Television Championship, but lost it four months later to Doug Delicious on May 15.


title: Joey Mercury

text: On the April 14, 2003, episode of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s "Raw", one of WWE's primary television programs, Matthews and York teamed up to defeat Phil Brown and Pat Cusick in a dark match. In the months that followed, Matthews wrestled for North America's three largest wrestling promotions, WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and ROH. His early months in WWE saw him taking on Lance Storm and Crowbar in dark matches, and Matt Hardy, Último Dragón and A-Train on "Velocity". On July 19, 2003, at "Death Before Dishonor", a Ring of Honor event, he teamed with Krazy K in a loss to Jeff Hardy in a handicap match. In August 2003, Matthews lost to Chris Sabin on an episode of "TNA Xplosion".


title: Joey Mercury

text: After spending some time at the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) training center in 2003, Matthews made several appearances in Pro-Pain Pro Wrestling (3PW), defeating A.J. Styles, before defeating Jerry Lynn and Sabu to become the number one contender to the 3PW Heavyweight Championship. On April 17, 2004, he defeated Raven to win the championship, a title he retained until August 21 of that year, when he lost it to Christopher Daniels in a four-way elimination match, also involving A.J. Styles and Chris Sabin.


title: Joey Mercury

text: Meanwhile, Matthews was still active in WWE, and lost to Rhino and Maven on "Sunday Night Heat". He was also still competing in TNA's X Division, and in August, he took part in a 20-Man Gauntlet match, in which Petey Williams won the X Division title. Afterwards, Matthews competed for Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council (WWC), losing to Eddie Colón in September, and exchanging victories with Alex Montalvo in November.


title: Joey Mercury

text: Matthews wrestled in dark matches before being signed to a developmental deal by WWE in 2004; he moved to Louisville, Kentucky to the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) farm territory. There he formed a faction with Johnny Nitro; along with manager Melina, they were known as "MNM". MNM wrestled in OVW for around a year, winning the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship once, before being called up to the main "SmackDown!" roster, where Matthews was renamed Joey Mercury.


title: Joey Mercury

text: In their first match for the SmackDown brand, in April 2005, they won the WWE Tag Team Championship from Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. They held the titles for three months, having successful titles defenses against the teams of Mysterio and Guerrero and Hardcore Holly and Charlie Haas, before dropping them to the new Legion of Doom (LOD) at The Great American Bash in July 2005. They recaptured the titles in a four-way match defeating The Mexicools, William Regal and Paul Burchill, and LOD, but lost them to Mysterio and Batista days before the Armageddon pay-per-view in December. Due to help from Mark Henry, they defeated Mysterio and Batista in a rematch on December 30 to win the Championship for the third time.


title: Joey Mercury

text: They began a rivalry with the team of Paul London and Brian Kendrick that lasted over three months, until the Judgment Day pay-per-view on May 21, 2006, where MNM lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to London and Kendrick. Nitro and Melina suddenly turned on Mercury, attacking him and breaking up the group. Later that night Nitro and Melina were fired from the SmackDown! brand in storyline, to facilitate their move to Raw, where they reappeared the following week. The legitimate reason for the team's sudden split was later revealed to be Mercury failing a WWE Wellness Policy drug test and being forced to serve a 30-day suspension.


title: Joey Mercury

text: Mercury stayed off WWE television for six months. Mercury made a surprise return on the November 27, 2006 episode of "Raw", temporarily reforming MNM with Nitro and Melina to take up the also recently reunited Hardys (Matt and Jeff) "open challenge" for December to Dismember. The Hardys went on to win the match at December to Dismember, but the feud continued across all three brands (Raw, ECW, and SmackDown!), and in a fatal-four way ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship at December's Armageddon event, also involving London and Kendrick, and Dave Taylor and William Regal. During the ladder match, Mercury suffered a legitimate injury when he was struck in the face with a ladder, breaking his nose and orbital bone. He immediately left the match and was rushed to an emergency room where he received more than thirty stitches. As a result, Nitro continued the match on his own.


title: Joey Mercury

text: After missing a few weeks, Mercury returned wearing a protective face mask and his injury was worked into the angle, with both he and Nitro attempting to injure the Hardys in various ways for revenge. MNM lost to The Hardys at the Royal Rumble, and again in a six-man tag team match in which they teamed with Montel Vontavious Porter (Chris Benoit teamed with The Hardys) at the No Way Out pay-per-view in February which concluded the feud. He also wrestled in singles competition on "SmackDown!" until he was released from his WWE contract on March 26, 2007.


title: Joey Mercury

text: Birch's first appearance after his WWE release was on April 21 for Northeast Wrestling as Joey Matthews, when he and Romeo Roselli defeated The NOW. He went on to make appearances for MCW, Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, and the New York Wrestling Connection, competing against wrestlers including Alex Shelley, Tyler Black, and Brother Runt. Matthew's wrestled in All American Wrestling (AAW) in July 2007, where he lost to Eric Priest in a match for the AAW Heritage Championship. He made another appearance on September 29, reuniting with Christian York, in a losing effort against the AAW Tag Team Champions, The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley).


title: Joey Mercury

text: In September 2007, Matthews began working for OVW as a trainer for the intermediate class. He also competed in dark matches at the OVW television tapings. At TNA's Bound for Glory pay-per-view in October 2007, he competed in a dark match, where he teamed with Johnny Swinger in a losing effort to The Motor City Machineguns. For the remainder of 2007, Matthews worked for independent promotions, including Pro Wrestling Unplugged and the United Wrestling Federation.


title: Joey Mercury

text: On January 25, 2008, Matthews returned to ROH as the newest member of The Age of the Fall (AotF), where he partnered with Jimmy Jacobs in a losing effort against Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero of the No Remorse Corps. The following night, Matthews lost to Mark Briscoe. Matthews was mainly utilized in a tag team role as a member of the AotF, teaming with fellow faction members Tyler Black and Necro Butcher. During this time, he continued to work for other promotions, and on March 12, at an OVW television taping, he defeated Jamin Olivencia to win the OVW Television Championship. After successful defenses against Olivencia, he dropped the title to Tommy McNailer a month later on April 16. He continued to wrestle for ROH until Battle For Supremacy in June, when he and Jimmy Jacobs lost to Kevin Steen and El Generico, in what was his last ROH wrestling match.


title: Joey Mercury

text: He continued to wrestle for OVW, and also made appearances for MCW and German Stampede Wrestling. In October 2008, Birch announced his retirement from professional wrestling due to injury.


title: Joey Mercury

text: In 2010, Birch came out of retirement and returned to WWE at the "SmackDown" tapings on April 20, where he lost to Shelton Benjamin in a dark match. On April 25 at Extreme Rules, he reappeared on television as a masked member of CM Punk's The Straight Edge Society stable and interfered in Punk's match with Rey Mysterio, helping him pick up the win. Birch continued to interfere in Punk's matches during the following months, before being unmasked by Big Show on the July 23 episode of "SmackDown". This led to a handicap match at SummerSlam where Big Show defeated the entire Society. In early September it was reported that Mercury had undergone surgery on a torn pectoral muscle.


title: Joey Mercury

text: In order to rehabilitate his injury, he began training at Florida Championship Wrestling, WWE's developmental territory. He later began working there as a trainer. Following this, he moved into a producer role for the main roster.


title: Joey Mercury

text: On the September 29, 2014 episode of "Raw", Mercury and fellow producer Jamie Noble aligned themselves with The Authority. Dubbed "J&J Security", Mercury and Noble began acting as bodyguards to Authority member Seth Rollins. On the November 24 episode of "Raw", J&J Security wrestled the first televised matches for each man in several years, partnering with Rollins in a three-on-two handicap match against John Cena and Dolph Ziggler, which they lost. On the March 16, 2015 episode of "Raw", both Mercury and Noble seemingly left The Authority due to Rollins not listening them. Later that night, it was revealed to be a ruse, with all The Authority members coming out to help Rollins take out Randy Orton, but they were stopped by Sting, who made a surprise appearance and helped Orton fight off The Authority. On the June 22 episode of "Raw", J&J Security reconciled with Rollins when the three of them and Kane attacked Brock Lesnar. On the July 6 episode of "Raw", Mercury was viciously beaten by Lesnar, who after destroying his and fellow J&J Security member Jamie Noble's prized Cadillac car, which had been gifted to them by Seth Rollins the week before, picked him up and tossed him onto the then unbroken windshield of it. On July 7, it was reported that Mercury suffered mild contusions as a result of the attack and both members of J&J Security would be out of action indefinitely.


title: Joey Mercury

text: Mercury appeared on the March 14, 2016 episode of "Raw" breaking up the brawl between Triple H and Roman Reigns. In January 2017, it was reported that Birch had been released from WWE.


title: Joey Mercury

text: Birch, performing once again as Joey Matthews, announced his return as an active independent wrestler. Matthews won the MCW Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup.


title: Joey Mercury

text: On September 30, 2017 he won the MCW Heavyweight Championship. In July 2018 he made four appearances on House of Hardcore's Australian tour. He would lose to the likes of Tommy Dreamer, Al Snow and Swoggle on the shows. He also appeared in Lucha Underground in August 2018 as Joey Wrestling, as part of former tag team partner Johnny Mundo's (previously Johnny Nitro) stable Worldwide Underground. The following week, he lost his only Lucha Underground match to Matanza Cueto, after which he was "sacrificed to the gods," killing off his character in the show. That is the last match he has competed in to date.


title: Joey Mercury

text: On May 19, 2018, he became one of the trainers at ROH's Baltimore Dojo a training school for the Ring of Honor promotion. Later on February 2, 2019 it was revealed that he would now be working as a producer, trainer and a member of the creative team for Ring of Honor going forward. In October 2019, he departed from Ring Of Honor as a producer.


title: Joey Mercury

text: During an interview in late 2007, Birch revealed that he had been using drugs since he was 15 and had mixed cocaine, crack, and heroin with alcohol: "I've been a drug addict and alcoholic since I was 15 years old, right before I started in wrestling – so that's the better part of 15 years." As a result of this, Birch has overdosed three times and wrecked ten cars. He entered rehab in 2006 and missed six months of work. Due to the facial injury he suffered at Armageddon in December 2006, Birch then became addicted to painkillers. After a direct intervention by Vince McMahon, Birch was released from the WWE and he credits this with helping him to address his addictions. After his release, CM Punk helped pay for his house, which was on the verge of foreclosure after losing his job.


title: Joey Mercury

text: Birch had a three-and-a-half year relationship with Mickie James, and they lived together in Virginia before breaking up. He also briefly dated Christy Hemme.


title: CoffeeScript

text: CoffeeScript is a programming language that compiles to JavaScript. It adds syntactic sugar inspired by Ruby, Python, and Haskell in an effort to enhance JavaScript's brevity and readability. Specific additional features include list comprehension and destructuring assignment.


title: CoffeeScript

text: CoffeeScript support is included in Ruby on Rails version 3.1 and Play Framework. In 2011, Brendan Eich referenced CoffeeScript as an influence on his thoughts about the future of JavaScript.


title: CoffeeScript

text: On December 13, 2009, Jeremy Ashkenas made the first Git commit of CoffeeScript with the comment: "initial commit of the mystery language." The compiler was written in Ruby. On December 24, he made the first tagged and documented release, 0.1.0. On February 21, 2010, he committed version 0.5, which replaced the Ruby compiler with a self-hosting version in pure CoffeeScript. By that time the project had attracted several other contributors on GitHub, and was receiving over 300 page hits per day.


title: CoffeeScript

text: On December 24, 2010, Ashkenas announced the release of stable 1.0.0 to Hacker News, the site where the project was announced for the first time.


title: CoffeeScript

text: On September 18, 2017, version 2.0.0 was introduced, which "aims to bring CoffeeScript into the modern JavaScript era, closing gaps in compatibility with JavaScript while preserving the clean syntax that is CoffeeScript’s hallmark."


title: CoffeeScript

text: Almost everything is an expression in CoffeeScript, for example, codice_1, codice_2 and codice_3 expressions (which have no return value in JavaScript) return a value. As in Perl, these control statements also have postfix versions; for example, codice_1 can also be written in codice_5 form.


title: CoffeeScript

text: Many unnecessary parentheses and braces can be omitted; for example, blocks of code can be denoted by indentation instead of braces, function calls are implicit, and object literals are often detected automatically.


title: CoffeeScript

text: To compute the greatest common divisor of two integers with the Euclidean algorithm, in JavaScript one usually needs a "while" loop:


title: CoffeeScript

text: This would alert "No person" if the variable is codice_8 or codice_9 and "Have person" if there is something there.


title: CoffeeScript

text: In CoffeeScript, the codice_12 keyword is replaced by the codice_13 symbol, and indentation is used instead of curly braces, as in other off-side rule languages such as Python and Haskell. Also, parentheses can usually be omitted, using indentation level instead to denote a function or block. Thus, the CoffeeScript equivalent of the snippet above is:


title: CoffeeScript

text: Ruby-style string interpolation is included in CoffeeScript. Double-quoted strings allow for interpolated values, using #{ ... }, and single-quoted strings are literal.


title: CoffeeScript

text: Any "for" loop can be replaced by a list comprehension; so that to compute the squares of the positive odd numbers smaller than ten (i.e. numbers whose remainder modulo 2 is 1), one can do:


title: CoffeeScript

text: The codice_14 syntax allows looping over arrays while the codice_15 syntax allows looping over objects.


title: CoffeeScript

text: rules. In particular, it completely disallows variable shadowing which makes reasoning about code more difficult and


title: CoffeeScript

text: The CoffeeScript compiler has been self-hosting since version 0.5 and is available as a Node.js utility; however, the core compiler does not rely on Node.js and can be run in any JavaScript environment. One alternative to the Node.js utility is the Coffee Maven Plugin, a plugin for the Apache Maven build system. The plugin uses the Rhino JavaScript engine written in Java.


title: CoffeeScript

text: The official site at CoffeeScript.org has a "Try CoffeeScript" button in the menu bar; clicking it opens a modal window in which users can enter CoffeeScript, see the JavaScript output, and run it directly in the browser. The js2coffee site provides bi-directional translation.


title: CoffeeScript

text: Iced CoffeeScript is a superset of CoffeeScript which adds two new keywords: codice_20 and codice_21. These additions simplify asynchronous control flow, making the code look more like a procedural programming language, eliminating the call-back chain. It can be used on the server side and in the browser.


title: CoffeeScript

text: On September 13, 2012, Dropbox announced that their browser-side code base had been rewritten from JavaScript to CoffeeScript, however it was migrated to TypeScript in 2017.


title: CoffeeScript

text: GitHub's internal style guide once said "write new JS in CoffeeScript", though it no longer does, and their Atom text editor was also written in the language.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: Gibraltar International Airport or North Front Airport is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The runway is owned by the Ministry of Defence for use by the Royal Air Force as RAF Gibraltar. Civilian operators use the civilian-operated terminal. National Air Traffic Services hold the contract for provision of air navigation services at the airport.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: In 2017, the airport handled 571,184 passengers and 302,094 kg of cargo on 4,888 total flights. Winston Churchill Avenue (the main road heading towards the land border with Spain) intersects the airport runway, and consequently has to be closed every time a plane lands or departs. The History Channel programme "Most Extreme Airports" ranked the airport the fifth most extreme airport in the world, ahead of the now-defunct Kai Tak Airport with its infamous right-hand turn approach over central Hong Kong before landing, but behind Princess Juliana International Airport, famous for its low-altitude approaches over a public beach. It is exposed to strong cross winds around the rock and across the Bay of Gibraltar, making landings in winter particularly challenging.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: Monarch Airlines was the largest operator at Gibraltar, operating flights to Birmingham, London Gatwick, London Luton, and Manchester. Monarch entered administration at 4:30am on 2 October 2017, ceasing operations with immediate effect around a year after rumours of its imminent demise became widespread. As of 2021 EasyJet is the largest airline operator, with the airport also being served by British Airways.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: Although located in Gibraltar, the airport is also used by people travelling to or from neighbouring parts of southern Spain such as the Costa del Sol or the Campo de Gibraltar.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: The airport was constructed during World War II upon the territory's race course (introduced by the Maltese), when Gibraltar was an important naval base for the British. Opened in 1939, it was only an emergency airfield for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. However, the runway was later extended by reclaiming some land from the Bay of Gibraltar using rock blasted from the Rock of Gibraltar while carrying out works on . This last major extension of the runway allowed larger aircraft to land at Gibraltar.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: On 3 November 2003, Monarch announced a new route from Gibraltar to Manchester Airport. It was the first route from Gibraltar to operate to the North of England. However, on 19 July 2006, Monarch withdrew the route due to the cost. On 21 April 2008, Monarch announced it would resume the services to Manchester from 12 September 2008. The route operated three to five times a week: every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in winter season, as well as on Thursdays and Sundays in the summer season.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: By late 2005 and early 2006, the implementation of a new agreement was one of the main topics of the Gibraltar Trilateral Forum being held between the Governments of Gibraltar, Spain and the United Kingdom. As a result, the Córdoba Accord was signed on 18 September 2006 by all parties. This ended all discriminatory restrictions on civilian flights to Gibraltar International, including the prohibition of flights over Spanish soil, and exclusion of Gibraltar from all EU agreements on air transport, allowing civilian flights from all nations into Gibraltar International.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: On 17 November 2006 Iberia announced that it would start flights from Madrid to Gibraltar using an Airbus A319 aircraft. This was a landmark move as no Spanish airline had flown to Gibraltar since 1979, because of its disputed status. Iberia began flights to Gibraltar International on 16 December 2006 with a flight from Madrid that included some members of the Spanish Government on board. GB Airways flew a one-off flight in the other direction with a group of children from the Gibraltar area making up the passengers. In May 2007 GB Airways (flying as a British Airways franchisee) also began operating the route between Madrid and Gibraltar, however, this was discontinued on 30 September, leaving Iberia to work the route alone. On 22 September 2008 Iberia announced that it would cease its flights to Madrid by 28 September due to "economic reasons", namely, lack of demand. This left Gibraltar, once again, without any air links with Spain.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: In April 2009, Ándalus Líneas Aéreas restored Gibraltar's air link with the Spanish capital. In July 2009 Ándalus also began scheduled flights to Barcelona, increasing the destinations in Spain to two. However, the airline ceased to serve this route in September 2009 due to a lack of demand. In April 2010, it was confirmed that Ándalus flights to and from Gibraltar had been indefinitely suspended. And now yet again, Gibraltar has no direct air links to Spain. Ándalus Líneas Aéreas ceased operations on 13 August 2010.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: From 2011 until October 2012, easyJet offered thrice-weekly service from Gibraltar to Liverpool, but it was eventually cancelled due to lack of demand.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: On 18 May 2011, Bmibaby announced that it would launch flights from Gibraltar to East Midlands from 31 March 2012. This was the first time that an airline has operated that route. The route operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, using a Boeing 737-300. However, on 3 May 2012 it was announced that Bmibaby was to be closed by the International Airlines Group after the group failed to find a buyer for the airline. Bmibaby operated its last service to Gibraltar on 8 September 2012 and the airline operated its last flight the following day.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: On 10 January 2012, Gibraltar was selected as one of the 'World's Scariest Airport Landings and Take-offs' in the travel section of the "Daily Telegraph" due to its runway which extends into the sea.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: On 14 August 2012, Monarch announced it would launch a new route to Birmingham, operating three times a week; every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The route began on 23 March 2013 but changed to running on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: In the summer of 2014 services between Gibraltar and Marrakech were operated by Royal Air Maroc Express on behalf of a local travel company, Your Flight. However, the services, which were operated on a charter basis, and could not be booked via global distribution system channels or on a connection basis, terminated after just three months due to insufficient demand.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: In November 2014, easyJet announced that it would begin a new route to Bristol Airport which commenced on 19 April 2015.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: Royal Air Maroc announced in November 2014 that after many years, it would restore the short intercontinental air connection between Gibraltar and Tangier in March 2015 on a twice weekly basis. Unlike the previous Marrakech flights these would be operated by RAM for themselves, and offer connecting flights to their Casablanca hub and onwards, and be available via normal sales channels.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: Overnight work to resurface the runway started on the evening of September 4, 2015, and the work was completed in January 2016.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: In November 2015, easyJet announced that it would begin a new route to Manchester Airport twice weekly, making this the first time two airlines have competed against each other on the Manchester-Gibraltar route. The new route commenced on 3 July 2016. During the same month, Monarch announced a new route from Gibraltar to London Gatwick, beginning on 1 May running four times a week.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: On 2 October 2017, the CAA confirmed that Monarch Airlines had ceased operations with immediate effect and had entered administration. All flights were cancelled. Monarch operated about a third of the airports movements prior to shutting down.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: On 12 July 2018, easyJet announced a twice-weekly new route to London-Luton restoring the link between the two airports. The restored route started in December 2018.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: On 11 December 2019, easyJet announced a new twice-weekly service to Edinburgh, making it the first time that Gibraltar has had a direct link to Scotland. The route was due to start on 31 March 2020 however due to the COVID-19 pandemic the route finally commenced on 5 June 2021 after several reschedulings. EasyJet resumed services from Manchester on 20 July, Gatwick on 25 July, and Bristol on 4 August. The airlines service to Luton was axed as a result of the pandemic and increased competition from Wizz Air who began serving the route in December 2020.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: In October 2020, Hélity announced a new route to Málaga beginning 30 October with flights operating three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: On 4 February 2021, Eastern Airways announced two new routes to Southampton and Birmingham from 24 and 28 May. This marked the first time that Eastern Airways were to operate scheduled flights from the Airport, as well as the first ever route to Southampton and the resumption of the Birmingham service that was lost after Monarch's collapse in October 2017.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: The airport is located on the isthmus that connects Gibraltar with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. Whether or not the airport's territory was ceded by the Treaty of Utrecht is disputed by Spain and Britain.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: In the spring of 1815, Spain claims an epidemic of yellow fever struck Gibraltar, so that the British authorities built several barracks as field isolation in the neutral zone. On 20 April 1815 Lt. Governor of Gibraltar, George Don agreed with the general commander of the Campo de Gibraltar, General Don José María de Alós, that "a large proportion of the inhabitants [of Gibraltar] to [..] not [have] they suffered fever, temporarily established on the neutral ground, as close as circumstances permit, in front of this fortress".


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: Spain's continuing sovereignty dispute with the United Kingdom over the territory on which the airport stands (different from the generic one on Gibraltar itself) has seriously affected the airport's operations. On 2 December 1987, an was signed between the governments of the United Kingdom and Spain to allow the joint civil use of the airport. The agreement foresaw the building of a new terminal in the neighbouring Spanish municipality of La Línea de la Concepción adjacent to the northern side of the existing frontier. However, the agreement was blocked by the Government of Gibraltar, led from 1988 by Joe Bossano. As a result, the agreement was never implemented.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: Since then, Spain successfully excluded Gibraltar from European-wide de-regulation initiatives, such as the Single European Sky programme preventing direct links from Gibraltar to the European Union, on the grounds that no regulation that somehow recognises the sovereignty of the United Kingdom over the Gibraltar peninsula may be implemented without a previous agreement on the airport.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: The old terminal at the airport was built in 1959 and refurbished in the late 1990s. For many years, it had been too small to cope with the number of passengers when two flights were scheduled to arrive/depart within a short space of time. The size of the terminal was , and had 10 check-in desks, one baggage carousel, one security gate and two departure gates. On 26 November 2011, arriving flights switched to the new terminal as the first phase of the new terminal opened. On 25 September 2012, the old terminal closed its doors as flight departures moved into the new terminal on 26 September 2012. The last flight to use it was easyJet flight EZY8904 to London-Gatwick. The old terminal building was demolished in February 2014.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: A new terminal was constructed at Gibraltar International due to increasing numbers of passengers. Planning permission was announced in 2007 with construction of the new terminal beginning in 2009 and completed in 2011. The first phase of the new terminal opened on 26 November 2011 for arriving flights only. The second phase of the new terminal opened on 26 September 2012 when flight departures moved. The first flight to use the first phase was EasyJet flight EZY7295 from Liverpool and the first flight to use the second phase was British Airways flight BA491 to London Heathrow. The terminal's terrace was inaugurated by the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward on 13 June 2012.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: The terminal is , which is bigger than the old terminal. It has two baggage carousels and three departure gates, none of which are equipped with jet bridges. It has a passenger capacity of up to 1.5 million passengers per year. Retail services are also available in the terminal and these include WH Smith, 36 North Bar and Gibraltar Duty Free Stores. A new general aviation area has also been built inside the terminal to handle private aircraft.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: The road across the runway is constraining operations at the airport, especially with the increase in operations since the Córdoba Agreement. Prior to this agreement, only three flights operated daily to Gatwick and Luton, and three flights a week to Manchester. On busy days, at present, some seven flights now arrive and depart. If the average time the road is closed for an aircraft to land or depart is ten minutes, then on certain days the road can be closed for over half an hour.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: Because of this, a new four-lane diversion road and tunnel section was planned. The new runway tunnel will reduce delays and tailbacks caused by aircraft taking off and landing. Construction of the new road was due to begin in January 2008 and be completed by the beginning of 2009, but as of 2016 it remained incomplete. Although the road across the runway is to remain in place, for exceptional, specific, or emergency use, it will not be available for routine day-to-day use by private vehicular traffic. Pedestrians will not be required to travel via the new road/tunnel, and will continue to cross the runway at the present location. A prolonged litigation between the Government of Gibraltar and contractor OHL over the delay was resolved in June 2016 with an agreement for OHL to complete the works at a price of £24 million and a projected finish date of November 2018. The most recent estimate for completion of the project is the end of the 2022.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: A new dual-carriageway is also being built. It will pass under the new terminal and towards the eastern edge of the runway at which point it will pass through a tunnel under it and connect via a roundabout with Devil's Tower Road on the opposite side of the runway. After the road tunnel on the north side of the runway the new road will run parallel to the frontier, passing under the air terminal fly-over section. The road will then branch into two, with one road leading to the loop and the frontier, and another leading to the Air Terminal, North Front and Winston Churchill Avenue.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: A number of car parks are being built at Gibraltar International during its expansion, including a new 220-space, three-story car park located at the east of the new terminal. Another new car park is to be built by Eastern Beach, and two multi-storey facilities will also be built on Devil's Tower Road.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: The runway featured in a BBC "Top Gear" special and was also used by Jaguar in the launch of a new range. A custom painted Boeing 737 was used in conjunction with a fleet of the cars. The airport appeared on Channel 5's series, "" which was broadcast from June to July 2013.


title: Gibraltar International Airport

text: The airstrip and the Four Corners Border crossing feature at the end of Carol Reed's 1963 production of "The Running Man". Several 'takes' were shot as Remick and Harvey chase each other, firstly through the Border and later as the light aircraft took off from the Eastern end of the runway, narrowly missing an RAF Halifax aircraft which was supposed to be taking off too.


title: Dinagyang

text: The Dinagyang Festival is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines, held annually on the 4th Sunday of January, or right after the Sinulog in Cebu and the Ati-Atihan Festival in Kalibo, Aklan. It is one of the biggest festivals in the Philippines, attracting more than a million domestic and international visitors every year.


title: Dinagyang

text: The festival is the only one in the Philippines that has been awarded by the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines (ATOP) as the best tourism event for three consecutive years in 2006, 2007, and 2008. It is also the most awarded festival in the country with both national and international awards because of its legacy, popularity, and innovation. Dinagyang receives an honor and is regarded as a world-class festival and is dubbed as the "Queen of All Philippine Festivals."


title: Dinagyang

text: The word "Dinagyang" came from a Hiligaynon word extrapolated from "dágyang," meaning “merrymaking.” The festival hosts a celebration of the Santo Niño (Holy Child or Infant Jesus) and the pact between the Datus and the locals after the arrival of Malay settlers and the legendary barter of Panay Island from the natives called Ati.


title: Dinagyang

text: Dinagyang began after Rev. Fr. Ambrosio Galindez, the first Filipino Rector of the Augustinian Community and Parish Priest of the San Jose Parish introduced the devotion to Santo Niño in November 1967 after observing the Ati-Atihan Festival in the province of Aklan. On 1968, a replica of the original image of the Santo Niño de Cebu was brought to Iloilo by Fr. Sulpicio Enderez.


title: Dinagyang

text: In the beginning, the observance of the feast was confined to the parish. The Confradia patterned the celebration on the Ati-atihan of Ibajay, Aklan, where natives dance in the streets, their bodies covered with soot and ashes, to simulate the Atis dancing to celebrate the sale of Panay. It was these tribal groups who were the prototype of the present festival.


title: Dinagyang

text: In 1977, the Marcos government ordered the various regions of the Philippines to come up with festivals or celebrations that could boost tourism and development. The City of Iloilo readily identified the Iloilo Ati-Atihan as its project. At the same time the local parish could no longer handle the growing challenges of the festival.


title: Dinagyang

text: Dinagyang was voted as the best tourism event for 2006, 2007 and 2008 by the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines Inc. (ATOP). It is one of few festivals in the world to get the support of the United Nations for the promotion of the Millennium Development Goals, and cited by the Asian Development Bank as Best Practice on government, private sector & NGO cooperatives. Recently, the ATOP once again declared the 2021 Dinagyang Digital as the Grand Winner of its Pearl Awards.


title: Dinagyang

text: The Dinagyang Festival is divided into three major events held annually every fourth weekend of January: the Ati Tribe Competition (held on a Sunday), Dagyang sa Calle Real (held on a Saturday prior to the main event the next day, the Ati Tribe competition), and the Miss Iloilo Dinagyang (which is held on the week of the main Dinagyang Festival highlights).


title: Dinagyang

text: As an added attraction to the Ati Tribe competition, the Kasadyahan Cultural competition was added to the festival from the 1980s to 2019 to showcase the talents of the students as well as the rich cultural heritage of the province of Iloilo. In the first few years of this event, schools from various towns and cities in the province participated in this competition, but in recent times, the cultural competition confined only to the province has become a regional event, accepting entries from other provinces of the region, showcasing the best of Western Visayas cultural and historical heritage. Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc. (IFFI) announced that the Kasadyahan Festival would no longer be part of the Dinagyang Festival starting in 2020. It was replaced by merry making or the "sadsad" that has been the central feature of the Ati-Atihan Festival of Kalibo, Aklan. Meanwhile, the Kasadyahan Festival will be celebrated in a separate month or possibly incorporated into the celebration of Iloilo City’s Charter Day.


title: Dinagyang

text: The main part of the festival, which is the Ati Tribe competition, consists of a number of "warrior" dancers (who hold a shield in one hand and a spear in another) in a tribe (locally called "tribu") dancing in a choreographed formation and patterns as well as chanting to the sound of loud drum beats and improvised percussion instruments innovated by the respective tribes. In the early years, a number of tribes were created, founded and organized by some of the barangay or communities around the city, but through the years, as the Dinagyang evolves and the competition becomes more competitive, gaining worldwide fame and attention, schools are starting to create and organize tribes, introducing dynamic new dance patterns, formations and choreography, soliciting sponsors from private companies for expenses and the cost of participating in the competition. No actual Ati are involved, nor do they benefit in any way from this event. There are a number of requirements, including that the performers must paint their skin black and be indigenous; other kinds of materials can be used for the costumes. All dances are performed to drum music. Many tribes are organized by the local high schools, and in recent times, some tribes came from as far as Batanes in Luzon and Cotabato in Mindanao. The tribes receive a subsidy from the IFFI and the city government of Iloilo and recruit private sponsors, with the best tribes receiving the most. The current Ati population of Iloilo is not involved with any of the tribes nor are they involved in the festival in any other way, although recently the original Atis from the hinterlands of Panay, specifically from the mountains of Barotac Nuevo and Anilao, came to participate non-competitively for recognition and to give them importance as being the characters symbolically portrayed in the festival.


title: Dinagyang

text: "Hala bira", a Hiligaynon phrase that means "dispense all means," is a popular catchphrase among Ilonggos to show enthusiastic involvement in the Dinagyang. During the celebration, the phrase is always heard attributed to the festival theme song, ""Hala Bira, Iloilo!"", played on every street in the city. The song was composed by award-winning musician and lyricist Dante M. Beriong and is one of the most recognizable festival theme songs in the Philippines.


title: Dinagyang

text: Dinagyang festival has brought a lot of innovations throughout the years. These innovations has influenced the way other festivals in the country is run. Among these are the following:


title: Dinagyang

text: Dagoy is the official festival mascot of Dinagyang. He was born from the promotional sketches of Dinagyang in 2002. The caricature was later adopted as the official logo of the festival. He was introduced to the public on December 14, 2004 in The Fort, Taguig, and December 18, 2004 in Iloilo City. Depicted as a young Ati warrior, Dagoy symbolizes the jollification and friendship of the Ilonggo and the other thousands to millions of tourists flocked to witness the festival.


title: Dinagyang

text: Dagoy stands six feet and nine inches tall. He has a dark brown skin tone and wears a headdress with an image of Sto. Niño. He is garbed with a camel-colored loincloth which is the typical attire of an Ati. Dagoy is holding a drum made of fiberglass with the logo of the Iloilo City Government printed at the center. His hands and feet are adorned with multi-colored bracelets, similar to these being worn by a Dinagyang warrior.


title: Dinagyang

text: Dagoy's winsome smile is popular among children as such miniature version of the mascot is marketed as Dagoy Dolls.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline/evangelical Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainline, although varying theological and mission emphases may be found among its congregations, including modernist, charismatic and evangelical orientations. It traces its history to the First Baptist Church in America (1638) and the Baptist congregational associations which organized the Triennial Convention in 1814. From 1907 to 1950, it was known as the Northern Baptist Convention, and from 1950 to 1972 as the American Baptist Convention.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: American Baptist Churches USA have their origins in the First Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode Island, now the First Baptist Church in America, founded in 1638 by the minister Roger Williams. Regarded by the more dogmatic Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a heretic for his religious separatism, Williams was banished into the New England wilderness where he and his followers created the settlement of Providence and later, the colony of Rhode Island. Williams is credited with being the founder of the Baptist movement in America, the founder of the state of Rhode Island, and the first highly visible public leader in America to call for the separation of church and state.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: Having a congregational polity, early Baptist churches in America operated independently from one another, following an array of Protestant theological paths, but were often unified in their mission to evangelize. In the 18th century, they sometimes created local congregational associations for support, fellowship, and work (such as the founding of Brown University in 1764). The evangelical mission led to the establishment of the national Triennial Convention in 1814, a collaborative effort by local churches to organize, fund, and deploy missionaries. The ABCUSA descends from this Triennial Convention. Through the Triennial Convention structure a number of mission-oriented societies were formed, including the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (1814), American Baptist Home Mission Society (1832), American Baptist Publication Society (1841), and the American Baptist Education Society (1888).


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: In 1845, a majority of Baptists in the South withdrew support from the Triennial Convention – largely in response to the decision of its delegates to ban slave holders from becoming ordained missionaries – and formed the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The Triennial Convention was loosely structured, and the SBC offered Baptists a more centralized organizational structure for carrying on missionary and benevolent work. In contrast, however, the Triennial Convention afforded local churches a higher degree of local autonomy, a more traditional characteristic of Baptist polity. The majority of churches in the North continued to work through these separate cooperating societies for missions and benevolence. The societies were united under the umbrella of a unified convention in 1907.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: The "Northern Baptist Convention" was founded in Washington, D.C., on May 17, 1907.Charles Evans Hughes, then Governor of New York and later Chief Justice of the United States, served the body as its first president. The purpose of the Northern Baptist Convention was to bring about a consistent cooperation among the separate Baptist bodies then existing. It was the first step in bringing together Baptists in the North "with ties to the historic American Baptist mission societies in the nineteenth century." These had contributed to establishing many schools for freedmen in the South after the American Civil War, as well as working on issues of health and welfare. Many of their missionaries and members had worked as teachers in the South. In 1911, most of the churches of the Free Will Baptist General Conference merged with it.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: The name of the Convention was changed in 1950 to the "American Baptist Convention" (ABC), and it operated under this name until 1972. It was the second step at bringing together on a national level Baptists with ties to the mission societies. The ABC was characterized from 1950–66 with annual resolutions at its conventions having to do with the Civil Rights Movement and race relations.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: As in many cases, the rhetoric of the annual conventions was sometimes ahead of local activity, but the denomination gradually made progress. In 1964, it created the Baptist Action for Racial Brotherhood (BARB), which early the next year produced a pamphlet outlining actions for change in local churches. In 1968, the national convention was challenged by "Black American Baptist Churchmen Speak To the American Baptist Convention," demands that challenged how the denomination had "conducted its business relative to black American Baptists." The black churchmen said the Convention had excluded them from decisionmaking positions, even while working with good intentions on behalf of black American Baptists. The following year, Dr. Thomas Kilgore Jr., pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Los Angeles, was elected the first black president of the Convention. The 1968 Convention also voted to create the Study Commission on Denominational Structure (SCODS). Its recommendations changed the denomination in a variety of ways, after being adopted at the 1972 Convention.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: To reflect its new structure, the Convention in 1972 changed its name to the American Baptist Churches USA. Rather than relying on decisionmaking at the annual Convention by whichever churches happened to send delegates, the SCODS restructuring resulted in the following:


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: American Baptists share the same theological beliefs with Protestant churches which believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and the final authority in matters of faith. The ABCUSA affirms the Trinity, that the one God exists as three persons in complete unity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord through whom those who believe can have fellowship with God. He died, taking on the sins of the world, and was resurrected, triumphing over sin and death.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: ABCUSA churches recognize two ordinances: Believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is by immersion, and those being baptized must be of an age to understand its significance. Believing in the priesthood of all believers, the ABCUSA avoids using creeds, affirming the freedom of individual Christians and local churches to interpret scripture as the Holy Spirit leads them. The ABCUSA affirms the ordination of women.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: LGBTQ issues have been a point of contention in the ABCUSA since the 1987 Biennial Meeting. In 1992, the General Board adopted a resolution that stated, “We affirm that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: Since 1995, regional conventions of the Convention have carried out excommunications of various churches which have become members of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists founded in 1993, an association favorable to inclusion LGBTQ people, a belief contrary to a resolution adopted by the Convention.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: So far, at least seven regions in the ABCUSA – Evergreen, Wisconsin, Rochester-Genesee, Metro Chicago, Metropolitan New York, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia – support full inclusion of LGBTQ persons into Baptist life. Many ABCUSA churches have also partnered with the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, which formed at the 1993 Biennial Meeting.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: However, several other ABCUSA regions and churches have opposed affirmation of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender identity. In 2004, the ABC Central Region reaffirmed the 1992 resolution. At its 2005 annual meeting, the West Virginia Baptist Convention, which had a history of proposing resolutions opposing liberal views on LGBTQ inclusion, narrowly rejected a proposal to withdraw from the ABCUSA over its refusal to discipline those regions that have supported LGBTQ-friendly policies. The Indiana-Kentucky region has also proposed a change in the denomination’s bylaws that would prohibit the transfer of churches into another region if removed from the region because of the issue of homosexuality.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: In 2006, American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest split from the convention due to the convention's laxity with churches on enforcing a 1992 resolution that opposes the inclusion of LGBTQ people and have been renamed Transformation Ministries. The convention responded that it wanted to respect the autonomy of local churches and that it did not want to carry out excommunications.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: Each local congregation is autonomous and permitted to perform same-sex marriages if they opt to do so. For example, Calvary Baptist Church (Washington, D.C.), affiliated with the ABCUSA, performs same-sex marriages. In 2013, an ABCUSA congregation in Washington, DC, ordained the denomination's first openly transgender pastor.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: The ABCUSA has consistently allowed each congregation to determine whether or not to perform same-sex marriages, or ordain LGBT clergy. The ABCUSA General Board voted in 2005 to amend the declaration "We are American Baptists" to define marriage as "between one man and one woman" and maintain that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Biblical teaching." However, the denomination has never officially adopted the board's statement, and has also stated "We respect and will continue to respect congregational freedom on this issue".


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: The American Baptists Churches USA has a congregationalist polity emphasizing local church autonomy. Local churches are organized into 33 regions. The General Board makes policy for the denomination's national agencies. However, General Board resolutions are not binding on local congregations. Three-fourths of the representatives to the General Board are nominated and elected by the regions. One-fourth of the representatives are nominated by the Nominating Committee and are elected by the regions. The General Secretary executes the policies and decisions of the General Board. Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer was called as ABCUSA General Secretary on May 8, 2017.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: A substantial portion of the ABCUSA consists of African-American churches that may have joint affiliations with the ABCUSA and historic bodies such as the National Baptist Convention or the Progressive National Baptist Convention.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: In 2009, the ABCUSA reported 1,310,505 members in 5,402 churches. Membership remained fairly steady during the 20th century. In 1925, there were just over 1.4 million members. Membership peaked in the early 1980s at around 1.6 million. Lately, membership has begun to decline again, with the ABCUSA reporting 1,145,647 members in 5,057 churches at the end of 2017. According to a denomination census released in 2020, it claimed 5,025 churches and 1,126,527 members. According to the Official website, in 2022 the church have a small growing, in fact the members and the churches are, approximately, 1,300,000 with 5,000 Churches.


title: American Baptist Churches USA

text: Congregations are concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast United States. Numbers of the most wealthy and affluent American families, such as Rockefeller family, are Northern Baptist.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Christianity is the largest religion in Ghana, with 71.3% of the country's population being member of various Christian denominations as of 2021 census. Most Ghanaian Christians belong to Protestant denominations, especially Pentecostalism. However, the Catholic Church also has a significant following in the country. Islam is the second largest religion in the country, adhered to by 19.9% of the total population. According to a 2012 report by Pew Research, 51% of Muslims in Ghana are followers of Sunni Islam, while approximately 16% belong to the Ahmadiyya movement and around 8% identify with Shia Islam, while the remainder are non-denominational Muslims.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Religious tolerance in Ghana is very high. The major Christian celebrations of Christmas and Easter are recognized as national holidays. In the past, vacation periods have been planned around these occasions, thus permitting both Christians and others living away from home to visit friends and family in the rural areas. Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, is observed by Muslims in Ghana and important traditional occasions are celebrated. These festivals include the Adae, which occur fortnightly, and the annual Odwira festivals. There is also the annual Apoo festival activities, which is a kind of Mardi Gras and is held in towns across Ghana.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: The presence of Christian missionaries on the coast of Ghana has been dated to the arrival of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. It was the Basel/Presbyterian and Wesleyan/Methodist missionaries, however, who, in the nineteenth century, laid the foundation for the Christian church in Ghana. Beginning their conversions in the coastal area as "nurseries of the church" in which an educated African class was trained. There are secondary schools today, especially exclusively boys and girls schools, that are mission- or church-related institutions. Church schools have been opened to all since the state assumed financial responsibility for formal instruction under the Education Act of 1960.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Various Christian denominations are represented in Ghana, including Evangelical Presbyterian and Catholicism. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in addition to chapels, has a temple in Accra, one of only five LDS temples on the African continent. A second temple has been announced for the city of Kumasi.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: The unifying organization of Christians in the country is the Ghana Christian Council, founded in 1929. Representing the Methodist, Anglican, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Evangelical Presbyterian, African Methodist Episcopal Zionist, Christian Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran, and Baptist churches, and the Society of Friends, the council serves as the link with the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical bodies. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, not a member of Christian Council, has a strong presence in Ghana. The Church opened the premier private and Christian University in Ghana.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: The National Catholic Secretariat, established in 1960, also coordinates the different in-country dioceses. These Christian organizations, concerned primarily with the spiritual affairs of their congregations, have occasionally acted in circumstances described by the government as political. Such was the case in 1991 when both the Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Ghana Christian Council called on the military government of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) to return the country to constitutional rule. The Roman Catholic newspaper, The Standard, was often critical of government policies.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: A 2015 study estimates some 50,000 Christians from a Muslim background in the country, though not all of them are necessarily citizens.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: A popular phenomenon among Christians is the end of year prophecies by religious leaders. Followers are often keen to hear what the coming year holds. Many of these prophecies center on the death of a famous person or the result of keenly contested national elections.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: The rise of Apostolic or Pentecostal churches across the nation partly demonstrates the impact of social change and the eclectic nature of traditional cultures. Some establishments have drum societies and singing groups and the independent African and Pentecostal churches reflected in figures for membership that rose from 1 and 2 percent, respectively, in 1960, to 14 and 8 percent, respectively, according to a 1985 estimate.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: In the north, Islam is represented and the spread of Islam into Dagbon, was mainly the result of the commercial activities of North African Muslims. Islam made its entry into the northern territories of modern Ghana around the fifteenth century. Berber traders and clerics carried the religion into the area. Most Muslims in Ghana are Sunni, following Maliki school of jurisprudence.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Those following the Maliki version of Islamic law and Sufism, involving the organization of mystical brotherhoods (tariq) for the purification and spread of Islam, is not widespread in Ghana. The Tijaniyah and the Qadiriyah brotherhoods are represented. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a sect originating in nineteenth-century India, is the only non-Sunni order in the country.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Despite the spread of Islam in the Middle East and North Africa since the mid-1970s, Muslims and Christians in Ghana have had excellent relations. Guided by the authority of the Muslim Representative Council, religious, social, and economic matters affecting Muslims have often been redressed through negotiations. The Muslim Council has also been responsible for arranging pilgrimages to Mecca for believers who can afford the journey. Nevertheless, there remains a gap between Muslims and Christians in Ghana. As society in Ghana modernized, Muslims were blocked from taking part in the modernization process. This is largely because access to jobs required Western education, and this education was only available in missionary schools. Many Muslims feared that sending their children to missionary schools may result in religious conversion.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Traditional religions in Ghana have retained their influence because of their intimate relation to family loyalties and local mores. The traditional cosmology expresses belief in a supreme being referred as [Nyogmo-Ga, Mawu -Dangme and Ewe, Nyame-Twi] and the supreme being is usually thought of as remote from daily religious life and is, therefore, not directly worshipped.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: There are also the lesser gods that take "residency" in streams, rivers, trees, and mountains. These gods are generally perceived as intermediaries between the supreme being and society. Ancestors and numerous other spirits are also recognized as part of the cosmological order. The spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. The dual worlds of the mundane and the sacred are linked by a network of mutual relationships and responsibilities. The action of the living, for example, can affect the gods or spirits of the departed, while the support of family ancestors ensures prosperity of the lineage or state.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Veneration of departed ancestors is a major characteristic of all traditional religions. The ancestors are believed to be the most immediate link with the spiritual world, and they are thought to be constantly near, observing every thought and action of the living. To ensure that a natural balance is maintained between the world of the sacred and that of the profane, the roles of the family elders in relation to the lineage within society are crucial. The religious functions, especially lineage heads, are clearly demonstrated during such periods as the Odwira, Homowo, or the Aboakyir, that are organized in activities that renew and strengthen relations with ancestors.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Popular religions in Ghana such as Christianity and Islam coexist with the beliefs of spirits, evil, and witchcraft illustrated in traditional beliefs. There is an intersection of religion brought through colonization and existing precolonial beliefs related to witchcraft. In predominantly Christian communities, it is common to find articles and news on what "good" Christians can do to fight evil forces of witchcraft.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: The topic of witchcraft is often brought up in songs, and is present in the music culture in Ghana. Hearing about the topic through music adds to its broader relevance in its culture. Sang in Akan, the dominant non-English language in Ghana, popular songs reference witchcraft as explanation for things such as infertility, alcoholism, and death. Details of witch beliefs and the nocturnal lives of witches are depicted in letters and local newspapers across Ghana. Witchcraft accusations are commonly seen through various forms of media including television, newspaper, and magazines.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: There are at least six witch camps in Ghana, housing a total of approximately 1,000 women. Women suspected of being witches sometimes flee to witch camp settlements for safety, often in order to avoid being lynched by neighbours.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: The Rastafari movement is a movement that arose in Jamaica in the 1930s. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia (1930–1974), as God incarnate, the Second Advent, or the reincarnation of Jesus. According to beliefs, Haile Selassie was the 225th in an unbroken line of Ethiopian monarchs of the Solomonic Dynasty. This dynasty is said to have been founded in the 10th century BC by Menelik I, the son of the Biblical King Solomon and Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, who had visited Solomon in Israel.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: The Rastafari movement encompasses themes such as the spiritual use of cannabis and the rejection of western society, called 'Babylon'. It proclaims Africa, also known as 'Zion' as the original birthplace of mankind. Another theme is Royalty, with Rastas seeing themselves as African royalty and using honorifics such as Prince or King in order to give royalty to their names.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Many Rastas say that it is not a "religion" at all, but a "Way of Life". Rastafari are generally monotheists, worshipping a singular God whom they call Jah. Rastas see Jah as being in the form of the Holy Trinity, that is, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Rastas say that Jah, in the form of the Holy Spirit, lives within the human.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Afrocentrism is another central facet of the Rastafari culture. They teach that Africa, in particular Ethiopia, is where Zion, or paradise, shall be created. As such, Rastafari orients itself around African culture. Rastafari holds that evil society, or "Babylon", has always been white-dominated, and has committed such acts of aggression against the African people as the Atlantic slave trade. Despite this Afrocentrism and focus on people of the black race, members of other races, including whites, are found and accepted by Blacks among the movement, for they believe Rasta is for all people.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: There are Rasta communities all around the world. In Ghana, particularly in the coast, there are many Rastafari places of worship. The Rasta community around Kokrobite is well known throughout Ghana. Many Rasta music festivals occur and Rasta objects are sold.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Hinduism has been practiced in Ghana since 1970s. It was established by a traditional Priest known as Kwesi Esel who traveled to Asia to seek healing powers. Hinduism is spread in Ghana actively by Ghana's Hindu Monastery headed by Swami Ghananand Saraswati and Hare Krishnas. Sathya Sai Organisation, Ananda Marga and Brahma Kumaris are also active in Ghana. Hindu temples have been constructed in Accra. In 2021, there were about 30,000 or 0.1% Hindus in the country.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Afrikania Mission is a Neo-Traditional Movement established in Ghana in 1982 by a former Catholic Priest, Kwabena Damuah, who resigned from the church and assumed the traditional priesthood titles, Osofo Okomfo. The Mission aims to reform and update African traditional religion, and to promote nationalism and Pan-Africanism. Rather than being a single new religious movement, Afrikania also organizes various traditional shrines and traditional healers into associations bringing unity to a diffused system and thereby a greater voice in the public arena. Afrikania has instituted an annual convention for the traditional religion.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: It has become a mouthpiece of traditional religion in Ghana through its publications, lectures, seminars, press conferences, and radio and television broadcast in which it advocates a return to traditional religion and culture as the spiritual basis for the development of Africa. The Mission is also known by other names such as AMEN RA (derived from Egyptian religion, and interpreted to mean ‘God Centred’), Sankofa faith (implying a return to African roots for spiritual and moral values) and Godian Religion, which it adopted briefly during a period of association with Godianism, a Nigerian-based neo-traditional Movement.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: In 1998 the first Nichiren Shoshu Temple in Africa was opened in Accra. Ghana has the largest Nichiren Shoshu Temple outside of Japan. The temple is located at Anyaa-Ablekuma Road at the Fan Milk Junction in Accra. There are other small Buddhist prayer spaces in larger cities, and with a proper request and a small donation, you would be welcome for meditation and chanting.


title: Religion in Ghana

text: Freedom of religion exists in Ghana. A Religious Bodies (Registration) Law 1989 was passed in June 1989 to regulate churches. By requiring certification of all Christian religious organizations operating in Ghana, the government reserved the right to inspect the functioning of these bodies and to order the auditing of their financial statements. The Ghana Council of Churches interpreted the Religious Bodies Law as contradicting the concept of religious freedom in the country. According to a government statement, however, the law was designed to protect the freedom and integrity of genuine religious organizations by exposing and eliminating groups established to take advantage of believers. The PNDC. repealed the law in late 1992. Despite its provisions, all orthodox Christian denominations and many spiritual churches continued to operate in the country.


title: Hiram Johnson

text: Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866August 6, 1945) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 23rd governor of California from 1911 to 1917. Johnson achieved national prominence in the early 20th century. He was elected in 1916 as the United States Senator from California, where he was repeatedly re-elected and served until 1945.


title: Hiram Johnson

text: As a governor, Johnson was a leading American progressive. He ran for vice president on Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive ticket in the 1912 presidential election. As a US senator, Johnson became a leading liberal isolationist, among those "Irreconcilables" who opposed the Treaty of Versailles and rejected the League of Nations. Later, Johnson was also a vocal opponent of the United Nations Charter.


title: Hiram Johnson

text: After having worked as a stenographer and reporter, Johnson embarked on a legal career. He began his practice in his hometown of Sacramento, California. After he moved to San Francisco, he worked as an assistant district attorney. Gaining statewide renown for his prosecutions of public corruption, Johnson won the 1910 California gubernatorial election with the backing of the Lincoln–Roosevelt League. He instituted several progressive reforms, establishing a railroad commission and introducing aspects of direct democracy, such as the power to recall state officials. Having joined with Roosevelt and other progressives to form the Progressive Party, Johnson won the party's 1912 vice-presidential nomination. In one of the best third-party performances in U.S. history, the ticket finished second nationally in the popular and electoral votes.


title: Hiram Johnson

text: Johnson was elected to the US Senate in 1916, becoming a leader of the chamber's Progressive Republicans. He made his biggest mark in the Senate as an early voice for isolationism, opposing U.S. entry into World War I and U.S. participation in the League of Nations.


title: Hiram Johnson

text: He unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1920 and 1924. He supported Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election. While Johnson initially supported many of Roosevelt's New Deal programs, by November 1936 he became violently hostile to Roosevelt as a potential dictator. Johnson in poor health served in the Senate until his death in 1945.


title: Hiram Johnson

text: Hiram Johnson was born in Sacramento on September 2, 1866. His father, Grove Lawrence Johnson, was a Republican U.S. Representative and a member of the California State Legislature whose career was marred by accusations of election fraud and graft. His mother, Annie De Montfredy, was a descendant of a family of French Huguenots who had emigrated to the American colonies in the early 18th century to escape religious persecution after the Edict of Fontainebleau. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution based on her descent from Pierre Van Cortlandt and Philip Van Cortlandt. Johnson had one brother and three sisters.