title: Mother Shipton

text: The earliest account of Mother Shipton's prophecies was published in 1641, eighty years after her death. The story goes that the document of Mother Shipton's life was recorded by a woman named Joanne Walker who heard the story as a young girl and transcribed it as Mother Shipton spoke of her life. Mother Shipton never wrote anything down or published anything during her lifetime.


title: Mother Shipton

text: The cave where she lived is known as England's oldest tourist attraction and for hundreds of years people have trekked to see the cave where she was born. This cave's water has a mineral content so high anything placed in the pool will slowly be covered in layers of stone. Tourists will place items in the pool to later return and see it turned to stone. It is assumed that many of her prophecies were never written down, and many legends and prophecies accredited to her were created after her death to enhance the folk legend she had become.


title: Mother Shipton

text: The figure of Mother Shipton accumulated considerable folklore and legendary status. Her name became associated with many tragic events and strange goings-on recorded in the UK, North America and Australia throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Many fortune-tellers used her effigy and statue, presumably for purposes of association marketing. Many English pubs were named after her. Only two survive, one near her purported birthplace in Knaresborough and the other in Portsmouth. The latter has a statue of her above the door.


title: Mother Shipton

text: A caricature of Mother Shipton was used in early pantomime. Her appearance in pantomime was mentioned in a song from Yorkshire that was transcribed in the 18th century, and which reads (in part): "Of all the pretty pantomimes/ That have been seen or sung in rhimes,/Since famous Johnny Rich's times,/There's none like Mother Shipton."


title: Mother Shipton

text: The Mother Shipton moth ("Callistege mi") is named after her. Each wing's pattern resembles a hag's head in profile.


title: Mother Shipton

text: A fundraising campaign was started in 2013 to raise £35,000 to erect a statue of Shipton in Knaresborough. Completed in October 2017, the statue sits on a bench in the town's Market Square close to a statue of John Metcalf, an 18th-century road engineer known as Blind Jack.


title: Mother Shipton

text: Mother Shipton is referred to in Daniel Defoe's "A Journal of the Plague Year" (1722), referring to the year 1665, when the bubonic plague erupted in London:


title: Mother Shipton

text: "These terrors and apprehensions of the people led them into a thousand weak, foolish, and wicked things, which they wanted not a sort of people really wicked to encourage them to: and this was running about to fortune-tellers, cunning-men, and astrologers to know their fortune, or, as it is vulgarly expressed, to have their fortunes told them, their nativities calculated, and the like... And this trade grew so open and so generally practised that it became common to have signs and inscriptions set up at doors: 'Here lives a fortune-teller', 'Here lives an astrologer', 'Here you may have your nativity calculated', and the like; and Friar Bacon's brazen-head, which was the usual sign of these people's dwellings, was to be seen almost in every street, or else the sign of Mother Shipton..."


title: Ketel One

text: Ketel (Dutch for: "Pot still") One is a liquor brand of the Nolet Distillery in Schiedam, Netherlands. Ketel One Vodka is distilled from 100% wheat in copper pot stills, filtered over loose charcoal, and rests in tile-lined tanks until ready. Ketel One Vodka is named after the original copper pot still, "Distilleerketel #1." The alcohol content of this spirit is 40% (80 proof (US), 70 degrees proof (international)). The Nolet Distillery also makes Ketel One Citroen, Ketel One Oranje, Ketel One Botanical (in the varietals Peach & Orange Blossom, Cucumber & Mint, and Grapefruit Rose) and Ketel 1 Jenever.


title: Ketel One

text: Ketel One is produced by the Nolet Distillery in Schiedam, Netherlands. The Nolet Distillery was founded in 1691 by the Nolet family, French Huguenot refugees, and has remained in the Nolet family ever since. Ketel One is so named for the original coal-fired copper still that was used to distill it, Distilleerketel #1.


title: Ketel One

text: In 1794 a windmill known as "the Whale" was built on the property. In 1867 the family began to focus on exporting their products.


title: Ketel One

text: The town of Schiedam has long been known for the alcohol industry. By the end of the 19th century the town boasted over 400 distilleries.


title: Ketel One

text: The Nolet Family opened a distillery in the United States in 1902 and sold vodka under the Imperial Eagle Vodka brand name. Nolet were forced to close it during the prohibition era, with Joannes Nolet forced to flee the country.


title: Ketel One

text: The distillery industry in Schiedam was hit hard by World War II, and by the end of the war only 40 distilleries were left. Within the next few years changes in technology and consolidations and mergers left Nolet as the only distillery still operating in Schiedam.


title: Ketel One

text: When Carolus Nolet (1941–), the tenth generation of the family to own the company, took over for his father in 1979, the company made a wide range of spirits. He made the decision to focus on one product, and make it the best it could be. The company began producing jenever exclusively. Ketel 1 Jenever quickly became the best selling Jenever brand in the Netherlands. At that point the company began to look at returning to the United States market. Carolus began to develop a vodka designed specially for the American market, focusing on quality.


title: Ketel One

text: Nolet returned to the U.S. market in 1983, launching Ketel One Vodka in San Francisco at the BIX Restaurant and Supper Club. Rather than advertising directly to consumers, the company encouraged bartenders and distributors to sell their product. In 1991 Carl Nolet Jr. moved to the U.S. and founded Nolet Spirits USA. Between 2000 and 2010 the company released two flavored vodkas, Ketel One Citroen and Ketel One Oranje.


title: Ketel One

text: Ketel One reached sales of one million cases worldwide in 2002. In 2003 the company launched its first advertising campaign, thanking Ketel One drinkers. By 2008 the company was selling close to two million cases per year.


title: Ketel One

text: In 2008, Diageo announced an investment of $900 million in a joint venture with the owners of Ketel One, with the Nolet family continuing ownership of the distillery in Schiedam.


title: Ketel One

text: In 2009 the brand attracted attention for its first television commercials, which seemed "tailor-made" for the post-2008 recession economy. Despite being sold in 25 countries, up until 2008 the United States was the only country where the company advertised.


title: Ketel One

text: In 2014, "The New York Times" cited the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index as having the Ketel One brand at number 2, behind only Grey Goose among vodkas.


title: Tax exemption

text: Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, reduced rates, or tax on only a portion of items. Examples include exemption of charitable organizations from property taxes and income taxes, veterans, and certain cross-border or multi-jurisdictional scenarios.


title: Tax exemption

text: Tax exemption generally refers to a statutory exception to a general rule rather than the mere absence of taxation in particular circumstances, otherwise known as an exclusion. Tax exemption also refers to removal from taxation of a particular item rather than a deduction.


title: Tax exemption

text: International duty free shopping may be termed "tax-free shopping". In tax-free shopping, the goods are permanently taken outside the jurisdiction, thus paying taxes is not necessary. Tax-free shopping is also found in ships, airplanes and other vessels traveling between countries (or tax areas). Tax-free shopping is usually available in dedicated duty-free shops. However, any transaction may be duty-free, given that the goods are presented to the customs when exiting the country. In such a scenario, a sum equivalent to the tax is paid, but reimbursed on exit. More common in Europe, tax-free is less frequent in the United States, with the exception of Louisiana. However, current European Union rules prohibit most intra-EU tax-free trade, with the exception of certain special territories outside the tax area.


title: Tax exemption

text: Some jurisdictions allow for a specific monetary reduction of the tax base, which may be referred to as an exemption. For example, the U.S. Federal and many state tax systems allow a deduction of a specified dollar amount for each of several categories of "personal exemptions". Similar amounts may be called "personal allowances". Some systems may provide thresholds at which such exemptions or allowances are phased out or removed.


title: Tax exemption

text: Some governments grant broad exclusions from all taxation for certain types of organization. The exclusions may be restricted to entities having various characteristics. The exclusions may be inherent in definitions or restrictions outside the tax law itself.


title: Tax exemption

text: There are several different approaches used in granting exemption to organizations. Different approaches may be used within a jurisdiction or especially within sub-jurisdictions.


title: Tax exemption

text: Some jurisdictions grant an overall exemption from taxation to organizations meeting certain definitions. The United Kingdom, for example, provides an exemption from rates (property taxes), and income taxes for entities governed by the Charities Law. This overall exemption may be somewhat limited by limited scope for taxation by the jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions may levy only a single type of tax, exemption from only a particular tax.


title: Tax exemption

text: Some jurisdictions provide for exemption only from certain taxes. The United States exempts certain organizations from Federal income taxes, but not from various excise or most employment taxes.


title: Tax exemption

text: Many tax systems provide complete exemption from tax for recognized charitable organizations. Such organizations may include religious organizations (temples, mosques, churches, etc.), fraternal organizations (including social clubs), public charities (e.g., organizations serving homeless persons), or any of a broad variety of organizations considered to serve public purposes.


title: Tax exemption

text: The U.S. system exempts from Federal and many state income taxes the income of organizations that have qualified for such exemption. Qualification requires that the organization be created and operated for one of a long list of tax-exempt purposes, which includes more than 28 types of organizations and also requires, for most types of organizations, that the organization apply for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, or be a religious or apostolic organization. Note that the U.S. system does not distinguish between various kinds of tax-exempt entities (such as educational versus charitable) for purposes of granting exemption, but does make such distinctions with respect to allowing a tax deduction for contributions.


title: Tax exemption

text: The UK generally exempts public charities from business rates, corporation tax, income tax, and certain other taxes.


title: Tax exemption

text: Most systems exempt internal governmental units from all tax. For multi-tier jurisdictions, this exemption generally extends to lower tier units and across units. For example, state and local governments are not subject to Federal, state, or local income taxes in the U.S.


title: Tax exemption

text: Most systems do not tax entities organized to conduct retirement investment and pension activities for employees of one or more employers or for the benefit of employees. In addition, many systems also provide tax exemption for personal pension schemes.


title: Tax exemption

text: Some jurisdictions provide separate total or partial tax exemptions for educational institutions. These exemptions may be limited to certain functions or income.


title: Tax exemption

text: Some jurisdictions provide tax exemption for other particular types of organizations not meeting any of the above categories.


title: Tax exemption

text: Some jurisdictions allow tax exemption for organizations exempt from tax in certain other jurisdictions. For example, most U.S. states allow tax exemption for organizations recognized for Federal tax purposes as tax exempt.


title: Tax exemption

text: Most states and localities imposing sales and use taxes in the United States exempt resellers from sales taxes on goods held for sale and ultimately sold. In addition, most such states and localities exempt from sales taxes goods used directly in the production of other goods (i.e., raw materials).


title: Tax exemption

text: Certain classes of persons may be granted a full or partial tax exemption within a system. Common exemptions are for veterans, clergymen or taxpayers with children (who can take "dependency exemption" for each qualifying dependent who has lived with the taxpayer. The dependent can be a natural child, step-child, step-sibling, half-sibling, adopted child, eligible foster child, or grandchild, and is usually under age 19, a full-time student under age 24, or have special needs). The exemption granted may depend on multiple criteria, including criteria otherwise unrelated to the particular tax. For example, a property tax exemption may be provided to certain classes of veterans earning less than a particular income level. Definitions of exempt individuals tend to be complex.


title: Tax exemption

text: In in the Hebrew Bible, King Saul includes tax exemption as one of the rewards on offer to whoever comes forward to defeat the Philistine giant Goliath.


title: Tax exemption

text: In the Ottoman Empire, tax breaks for descendents of Muhammad encouraged many people to buy certificates of descent or forge genealogies; the phenomenon of "teseyyüd" – falsely claiming noble ancestry – spread across ethnic, class, and religious boundaries. In the 17th century, an Ottoman bureaucrat estimated that there were 300,000 impostors; In 18th-century Anatolia, nearly all upper-class urban people claimed descent from Muhammad. The number of people claiming such ancestry – which exempted them from taxes such as avarız and tekalif-i orfiye – became so great that tax collection was very difficult.


title: Tax exemption

text: Most income tax systems exclude certain classes of income from the taxable income base. Such exclusions may be referred to as exclusions or exemptions. Systems vary highly. Among the more commonly excluded items are:


title: Tax exemption

text: Some tax systems specifically exclude from income items that the system is trying to encourage. Such exclusions or exemptions can be quite specific or very general.


title: Tax exemption

text: Among the types of income that may be included are classes of income earned in specific areas, such as special economic zones, enterprise zones, etc. These exemptions may be limited to specific industries. As an example, India provides SEZs where exporters of goods or providers of services to foreign customers may be exempt from income taxes and customs duties.


title: Tax exemption

text: Certain types of property are commonly granted exemption from property or transaction (such as sales or value added) taxes. These exemptions vary highly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and definitions of what property qualifies for exemption can be voluminous.


title: Tax exemption

text: Many countries that impose tax have subdivisions or subsidiary jurisdictions that also impose tax. This feature is not unique to federal systems, like the U.S., Switzerland and Australia, but rather is a common feature of national systems. The top tier system may impose restrictions on both the ability of the lower tier system to levy tax as well as how certain aspects of such lower tier system work, including the granting of tax exemptions. The restrictions may be imposed directly on the lower jurisdiction's power to levy tax or indirectly by regulating tax effects of the exemption at the upper tier.


title: Tax exemption

text: Jurisdictions may enter into agreements with other jurisdictions that provide for reciprocal tax exemption. Such provisions are common in an income tax treaty. These reciprocal tax exemptions typically call for each contracting jurisdiction to exempt certain income of a resident of the other contracting jurisdiction.


title: Tax exemption

text: Multi-jurisdictional agreements for tax exemption also exist. 20 of the U.S. states have entered into the Multistate Tax Compact that provides, among other things, that each member must grant a full credit for sales and use taxes paid to other states or subdivisions. The European Union members are all parties to the EU multi-country VAT harmonisation rules.


title: Tax exemption

text: The Department’s Office of Foreign Missions (OFM) issues diplomatic tax exemption cards to eligible foreign missions and their accredited members and dependents on the basis of international law and reciprocity.


title: Tax exemption

text: This card is used by foreign missions to buy necessary items for the mission. This type of card work only while paying with a cheque, credit card, or wire transfer transaction and must be made in the name of the mission otherwise it is not eligible for the tax exemption. These cards may only be issued to a person, who is a principal member or an employee of the mission, holds an A or G visa, and is not a permanent resident of the USA.


title: Tax exemption

text: This card is issued to eligible foreign mission members for exemption on their personal item purchases. The user of this card is the only person who might use this card on his purchases and he is the only one who can profit from them.


title: Tax exemption

text: This is a tax exemption issued for purchases of hotel stays and other forms of lodging. The tax exemption card is required before paying for the lodging, if it is paid before acquiring it, or through the internet, the benefits are unusable.


title: Tax exemption

text: These exemptions might only be used for purchases necessary for the mission’s functioning. The mission is only available to be exempt from tax if:


title: Tax exemption

text: The mission has a valid Tax exemption card, the stay is required in support of the mission’s diplomatic or consular functions and the costs are paid with a cheque, credit card, or a wire transfer in the name of the mission.


title: Tax exemption

text: This card is issued only for the benefit of its holder and might not be used to benefit anyone else. The expenses are only exempt from tax if:


title: Tax exemption

text: The person has a valid Tax exemption card, the rooms are registered and paid only by the person holding the Tax exemption card.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Ernesto Samper Pizano (born 3 August 1950) is a Colombian politician. Samper is a member of the influential Samper family. He served as the President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998, representing the Liberal Party. From 2014 to 2017 he served as the Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).


title: Ernesto Samper

text: He was involved in the 8000 process scandal, which takes its name from the folio number assigned to it by the chief prosecutor's office. The prosecutor charged that money from the Cali Cartel was funneled into Samper's presidential campaign to gain his success in what would have been a very close race after he failed to win by a majority during the first round (Colombia has 2 rounds of elections, unless the first round yields a majority winner). The Colombian Chamber of Representatives acquitted Samper by a vote of 111 to 43, concluding the process.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: One of his great great grandfathers, Teodoro Valenzuela Sarmiento, was the nephew of the former president and hero of the Independence of Colombia, Crisanto Valenzuela Conde. Another of his great great grandfathers was the poet , and his great great grandmother Felisa Pombo Rebolledo was the sister of the poet Rafael Pombo.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Samper is a collateral descendant of Antonio Nariño's, paternal grandson of writer , grandson in direct line of businessman Tomas Samper Brush, and grandson of the politician Miguel Samper Agudelo, who was a presidential candidate in 1898.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Samper is the nephew of the renowned architect , brother of writer, journalist and columnist Daniel Samper Pizano (as noted above), cousin of Patricio Samper Gnecco, and uncle of the former director of "SoHo Magazine", Daniel Samper Ospina.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Ernesto was born on 3 August 1950 in Bogotá, to Andrés Samper Gnecco and Helena Pizano Pardo. Among his siblings, Daniel Samper Pizano stands out as a prolific writer and journalist, a trait not alien to the Samper family, who come from a long line of writers.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Samper studied in the Gimnasio Moderno, a prestigious secondary school in Bogotá, and attended the Pontifical Xavierian University, graduating in 1972 with a degree in economics. He obtained a degree in law in 1973. Additionally, he conducted graduate studies in Economics at Columbia University while living in New York City. In 1974, he became a professor of law and economics at his alma mater, the Pontifical Xavierian University.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Samper helped manage the unsuccessful 1982 presidential campaign of former president Alfonso López Michelsen. He became a member of the Bogotá City Council. He was then a member of the Senate of Colombia.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Samper unsuccessfully ran for the Liberal Party's nomination for president in 1990. Like the eventual winner, César Gaviria, Samper was from the reformist wing of the party. In 1989, Samper was wounded by 11 bullets during the assassination of Patriotic Union leader , leaving Samper hospitalized with near-fatal sepsis. His subsequent campaign was conducted with strict regard for security, including wearing bullet-proof vests and being accompanied by a security detail of over 400.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: During the Gaviria administration, Samper served as Minister of Economic Development, (1990–1991) and as ambassador to Spain (1991–1993).


title: Ernesto Samper

text: In 1993, when the 1994 presidential campaign was in its early stages, it became increasingly clear that the race was going to be close, particularly between Samper and Andrés Pastrana, the candidate of the Colombian Conservative Party: opinion polls were sharply divided. Presidential elections took place on 29 May 1994. Ernesto Samper won the first electoral round—where about 1/2 of 17 million voters cast ballots—with 45.2% of the vote. Pastrana was the runner up, with 45%. 16 other candidates divided the remainder. Colombian electoral law states that if no candidate wins more than 50% + 1 vote in the first round, a second round between the two candidates who achieved the highest number of votes in the first round shall take place to identify a winner.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: The results of the first round caused the Samper campaign team to secure additional funding to help widen the margin over the opposing candidate. The campaign had assumed that Ernesto Samper would win the election easily in the first round and had spent all of their campaign funds to achieve this. With the campaign financials running in the red, the campaign managers were faced with the need to rally support for an additional three weeks against a strong, well-funded opponent. In what can be described as an attempt to win at all cost, the campaign turned to the Cali Cartel, receiving cash donations in excess of $6 million US dollars. These donations were delivered in large colourful paper bags normally used for birthday gifts.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: On 19 June 1994, after three weeks of arduous campaigning, Samper was elected president in the second-round voting, once again by a narrow margin, 50.37% to 48.64%, over Pastrana.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Shortly after his presidential victory, Samper was accused by Pastrana of having received campaign donations from the Cali Cartel of $3.75 million US dollars, with journalist Alberto Giraldo Lopez as the intermediary. Samper initially denied the allegations. Soon afterwards, a series of damaging tape recordings were released to the public. Years later, the DEA's Joe Toft would claim ownership of the recordings.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Gustavo de Greiff, Colombia's outgoing Chief Prosecutor cleared Samper of wrongdoing, after what critics termed a "less-than-exhaustive" investigation. His successor, Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento, personally led a new investigation. Valdivieso was a cousin of the late Luis Carlos Galán, a charismatic Liberal party presidential candidate assassinated in 1989 by the Medellín Cartel for his political views, particularly for favoring the extradition of drug lords to the United States. Valdivieso discovered connections between the Cali drug cartel and top figures of Colombia's society, including the Colombian comptroller general, the president of the lower house of the Colombian congress, and nine congressman, as well as journalist Alberto Giraldo, who openly admitted to having ties to the Cali cartel. Although Samper's campaign treasurer, Santiago Medina, came under investigation, Valdivieso refused to re-open the "narco-cassette case" that had been closed by de Greiff.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: As a result of the investigation, Santiago Medina, the campaign's treasurer, was arrested for accepting $50,000 from a company known to be a front for the Cali cartel. Just after Medina's arrest, Samper gave a unscheduled, nationally televised address where he admitted the possibility that drug money had gone to his campaign. On 31 July 1995, days after Medina's arrest, Fernando Botero, who had been Samper's campaign manager, and Horacio Serpa, another political ally, held a press conference to deny Medina's allegations, armed with copies of Medina's testimony to the chief prosecutor. Serpa said the testimony had come from "anonymous sources", but they were allegedly stolen from the prosecutor's office. Valdivieso appeared on national television to angrily denounce Botero and Serpa for divulging such testimony. Medina was later convicted, and sentenced to prison.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: On 2 August 1995, Botero resigned as defense minister, soon after Valdivieso asked the Colombian supreme court to investigate his role, and that of communications minister Armando Benedetti, in Samper's campaign financing. On 15 August, Botero was arrested in connection with the investigation. Other political figures, such as Alberto Santofimio Botero and Eduardo Mestre, as well as journalist Alberto Giraldo, were also imprisoned as a result of the same investigation. The prosecutor also charged Samper, who insisted on his innocence. Samper said that if drug money had entered the presidential campaign, it had done so "behind his back". Subsequently, Samper declared a 90-day state of emergency, which caused some to fear a shift to the right by Samper. The defection to the United States of cartel accountant Guillermo Pallomari put a trove of documents in the hands of investigators.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Cardinal Pedro Rubiano, a leader of Colombia's Catholic Church, stated in an interview that not knowing that drug money financed part of the presidential campaign was similar to not noticing an elephant entering one's living room. Since then, the events that led to drug money financing the "Samper for President" campaign have been referred to as "The Elephant".


title: Ernesto Samper

text: According to the Colombian Constitution, only Congress can judge the president. So, once the Prosecutor General presented the case and delivered the evidence to the Congress, it was in the hands of the latter to evaluate the evidence and determine whether Samper was directly involved in this scandal. On 26 September 1995, Samper was questioned for nine hours by Heine Mogollón, the head of the Chamber of Representatives' Accusation Commission, at Samper's own request. Afterward, Samper went on television to say that he had answered all "the lies" and vowed to serve out his term. It was considered unlikely that the commission, composed mostly of members from Samper's own party, would recommend impeachment. A greater danger was the possibility that the supreme court would allow Valdivieso to investigate Samper. On 27 September, in an apparent attempt to force Samper to resign, two bodyguards of his attorney, Antonio José Cancino, were killed, with Cancino and another bodyguard wounded. On 14 December 1995, despite the publication in the magazine "Cambio" of the details of Pallomari's accusations, the congressional commission voted against opening a formal investigation into the charges against Samper, although Colombian justice officials continued to investigate.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: On 15 March 1996, the Colombian supreme court opened an investigation into three cabinet members—Horacio Serpa, and Juan Manuel Turbay—alleged to be involved in the scandal.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: On 7 August 1994, under tight security, Samper was sworn in as president in Plaza Bolívar, Bogotá, with foreign dignitaries such as Cuban president Fidel Castro and US interior secretary Bruce Babbitt in attendance. In his inauguration speech, he made the drug war a special priority while warning that no one was in a position to lecture Colombia on how to fight that war.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: In June 1995, Samper claimed that his administration had made considerable progress in fighting the drug war—which had cost Colombia "countless lives" in the previous ten years, "including more than 3,000 police officers and soldiers, 23 judges, 63 journalists and four presidential candidates"—by launching an "integrated, multi-front attack on the cartels" that targeted "bank accounts, laboratories, crops, chemicals, transportation systems and political connections."


title: Ernesto Samper

text: In June 1995, a money-laundering law was signed; and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, a leader of the Cali Cartel, was arrested, one of over 1,100 cartel members arrested so far in the year. By August, five more cartel leaders—Henry Loaiza-Ceballos, Victor Patiño-Fomeque, José Santacruz Londoño, Phanor Arizabaleta-Arzayus, and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela—had been arrested, leaving Hélmer Herrera the only top leader at large.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: In the first half of 1995, about of coca crops and over of heroin crops were destroyed, much more than in 1994; more than of liquid chemicals and of solid chemicals were destroyed; of heroin were confiscated; and 243 drug labs were destroyed.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: In 1995, Colombia's Caribbean islands became bases from which the military could intercept drug shipments and communications. Unprecedented police operations in the city of Cali took place with the same objective of disrupting drug trafficking.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Under strong U.S. pressure, leaders of the Cali Cocaine cartel are targets of a massive manhunt involving about 6,000 troops. Now controlling about 80 percent of the global multibillion-dollar cocaine trade, the loose-knit Cali syndicate is considered... to be one of the most difficult criminal enterprises to penetrate. While... anti-narcotics efforts concentrated on the rival Medellín cartel in the 1980s, the Cali organization grew... Instead of fighting the state through a campaign of terrorism, the leaders here set out to buy influence and control the economy... all the leaders run separate trafficking, intelligence and security organizations, but they coordinate drug shipments and share information. With an intelligence apparatus encompassing hotel clerks, corrupt policemen and politicians and a taxi fleet of several thousand, the movements of police and army units are constantly monitored. To combat such corruption, Gen. Rosso José Serrano, commander of the National Police... [i]n the last two months... [has] kicked out 220 officers... 400 noncommissioned officers and 1,600 other policemen... soldiers assigned to anti-drug duty, members of an elite 150-man unit trained as a shock force[,] live in utter isolation... None of the soldiers... is from the Cali area...


title: Ernesto Samper

text: In less than 30 days, five of the cartel's seven most wanted members have been put behind bars. In thousands of raids on farms, houses, apartments and office buildings, police have found and seized weapons, drugs, money and—most importantly—business documents, accounts books and lists of payments essential to unraveling the drug lords' multi-billion dollar property and investment empire and their systematic bribes to politicians and other official protectors. 'We use a hammer-and-anvil tactic,' said Colonel Argemiro Serna, commander of the Cali police, in a recent interview. 'The search force raids suspected drug houses and possible hideouts, to try to flush them into movement. Then I send out units on roadblocks and aggressive random searches to trap them.' His boss, National Police Director Ross Serrano, described a more complex overall strategy—first closing down the private security agencies, taxi fleets and beeper companies that gave the cartel leaders bodyguards, safe transport and communications; arresting many of their messengers and lower-level employees to isolate them; and freezing their bank accounts to crimp cash flow.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: However, with drug use in Europe on the rise, new markets opening up in Eastern Europe and Asia, and the United States reporting a 25% increase in cocaine-related medical emergencies since 1991, the continuing demand for drugs meant that drug trafficking would continue.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Samper stated that further measures to be taken should focus on increased international cooperation, including sharing information to speed up investigations and prosecutions, working toward implementing a treaty to stop cartel money laundering through established financial institutions, restricting the trade in precursor chemicals, enhancing international financial support for crop substitution, and holding a world summit on drugs.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Shortly after Samper's election and disturbed by the release of the taped phone conversations compromising the integrity of the president-elect, the US Senate unanimously approved a measure that would make anti-narcotic financial aid to Colombia conditional on the government's commitment to fighting drug trafficking. In reply, Colombian foreign minister Noemí Sanín said that Colombia was prepared to fight the drug war without the United States, and that the measure was "disrespectful".


title: Ernesto Samper

text: On 1 March 1996, after an annual review of narcotics programs in 140 countries, U.S. President Clinton cut off most of his country's over $1billion of economic aid to Colombia, saying that Colombia's government was too corrupt to combat its country's drug lords, although Colombia would continue to receive $37million in aid to combat narcotics trafficking. The United States would also seek to block loans from international organizations. For years, Samper's administration was lambasted by the US for its supposed failure to make every effort to effectively fight the war against cocaine and the Cali Cartel. Additionally, the US revoked Samper's visa and thereby effectively banned him from entering the country.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: In July 2006, President Álvaro Uribe offered Samper Colombia's ambassadorship to France. This led to the resignation of former President and Ambassador of Colombia to the United States, Andrés Pastrana, who criticized the decision. Opposition was also expressed by the media, political groups, and other segments of Colombian society. In the end, Samper did not accept the offer.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: In July 2014, Samper was named Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). He took office on 11 September 2014. During his inauguration ceremony in Caracas, Venezuela, Samper announced that he planned to focus on three agendas: political, social, and economic. He also announced plans to create a South American International Criminal Court to deal with regional criminal issues. Samper left office on 31 January 2017.


title: Ernesto Samper

text: Samper married Silvia Arbelaez with whom he had one son, Andrés. The couple divorced, and Samper married Jacquin Strouss Lucena on 16 June 1979, with whom he has two children, Miguel and Felipe.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret is a principal town in the Rift Valley region of Kenya and serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. The town is known to the white settlers as Farm 64, 64 or and colloquially by locals as 'Sisibo'. As per the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, Eldoret is the fifth most populated urban area in the country after Kenya's 4 cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru. Lying south of the Cherangani Hills, the local elevation varies from about at the airport to more than in nearby areas. The population was 289,380 in the 2009 Census, and it is currently the fastest growing town in Kenya with 475,716 people according to 2019 National Census. Eldoret was on course to be named Kenya's fourth city, but was edged out by Nakuru in 2021.


title: Eldoret

text: The name "Eldoret" is based on the Maasai word "eldore" meaning "stony river"; a reference to the bed of the Sosiani River (a tributary of the Nile), that runs through the city.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret and the plateau around it had been occupied by the Sirikwa for several centuries prior to the era of Maasai ascendancy. Innovation in weaponry was introduced by the Maasai era of the late 18th and 19th centuries. With new weapons and forms of governance, they swept down from their original homelands in the north, closer to Lake Turkana, down to their present homelands south of Kenya. The Maasai clan that took over the Plateau were known as the Ilwasin Kishu, after whom it is presently named.


title: Eldoret

text: In August 1908, fifty-eight families of displaced Afrikaners left Nakuru for the Uasin Gishu plateau after a journey from South Africa by sea and by rail from Mombasa. Led by Jan van Rensburg, they traveled using wagons that would often get stuck in mud, finally arriving at Sergoit Hill on 22 October of that year. Jan Ernest Kruger would later own the Sergoit farm, now owned by Sergoit Golf and Wildlife resort.


title: Eldoret

text: The land had earlier been surveyed by a certain van Breda and the new arrivals took up leaseholds of between on condition that they would develop it within five years. Each family built a shack, put up fences, in-spanned oxen to simple ploughs and turned the first furrows. They sowed wheat, maize and vegetables. These actions laid the foundation for the transformation of the Plateau into a prosperous agricultural region.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret was established in the midst of the farms they created on what was known to the settlers as "Farm 64", "64" or "Sisibo" to the locals because at that time it was from the newly built Uganda Railway railhead at Kibigori. Willy van Aardt owned the farm. The Central Lounge in Eldoret is all that remains of Willy's farm.


title: Eldoret

text: The official town site started in 1910 with the development of a Post Office at "Sisibo". This was followed shortly after by the arrival of 60 more Afrikaner families in 1911. The governor decided to establish an administrative centre in the area in 1912 and thus the Post Office was renamed from "64" to a new official town name: "Eldoret". Becoming an administrative centre caused an enormous increase in trade within the prospective city. A bank and several shops were built.


title: Eldoret

text: The Uganda Railway extension, from Kibigori toward Uganda, reached Eldoret in 1924, starting a new era of prosperity and growth. In 1928, a piped water supply from the Sosiani River was installed. In 1933, the East African Power and Lighting Company installed an electricity generator plant. By that time, Eldoret had a small airport, and low-cost rental housing had been constructed.


title: Eldoret

text: In the 1950s the town was literally divided into two, along the main street (now Uganda Road), with the Afrikaans on the north and the British on the south. The former took their children to Highland School, (now Moi Girls High School) and the latter, to Hill School. Recreation was also along the divide – 'Brits' used the Lincoln Hotel and the Race-Course near the now "Chinese Area" while the Afrikaans converged at the Wagon Wheel for recreation.


title: Eldoret

text: Daniel Arap Moi was born in the neighboring Baringo District, and under his presidency, the town was developed further. The country's second institution of higher learning, Moi University, was established by the government in 1984 and the third international airport was subsequently constructed, significantly boosting the fortunes of the town.


title: Eldoret

text: By 1987, only two Afrikaner households remained in Eldoret, with the rest having moved back to South Africa in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the aftermath of the Mau Mau rebellion and in anticipation of independence.


title: Eldoret

text: The city was significantly impacted by the 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis when violence gripped Kenya in the aftermath of controversial general elections. The athlete Lucas Sang was murdered about away from the town while on his way home to Chepkoilel. On 1 January 2008, a mob attacked and set fire to a church located near burnt forest town, a satellite town of Eldoret. Hundreds of people had taken refuge during Kenyan massacres. As a result, about forty to eighty people, mostly Kikuyu, were burnt to death.


title: Eldoret

text: William Ruto the current President of the Republic of Kenya was born in Kamagut Ward of Turbo Constituency that straddles Eldoret town. He has previously represented Eldoret North Constituency in parliament.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfb"). The city, lying over above sea level, has a moderate to cool climate. The temperatures fall significantly at night, and in the cold season (May–August) it is regularly in the single digits Celsius.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret is governed by the County Government of Uasin Gishu which manages all the city affairs. The city is divided into thirteen wards. Six of them (Huruma, Kamukunji, Kapyemit, Kidiwa/Kapsuswa, and Stadium/Industrial, Market) are in Eldoret North Constituency, Three (Hospital, Kapsoya and Kimumu/Sergoit) are in Eldoret East Constituency, and the remaining four (Kipkenyo, Langas, Pioneer/Elgon View and Race Course) are part of Eldoret South Constituency. All of these three constituencies have more wards within other local authorities than Eldoret municipality.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret has a number of estates. Estates vary in that some are posh and others are residents of the middle-class community. Almost every estate has its own identity. Some of the estates include Elgon View, Langas, Kapseret, Huruma, Kapsoya, Shauri, Kipkorgot, Kahoya, West Indies, West, Kipkaren, Kimumu, Jerusalem, Annex, Mwanzo, Action, Mailinne, Pioneer, Outspan, Kiplombe, Kamkunji, Samar, Silas, Kenya Service, Cheplaskei, Chinese, Road Block, Peris, Junction, Munyaka, Hillside, Eldoville, Juniorate among many others.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret is surrounded by prime agricultural lands and acts as a trading centre for Uasin Gishu's economy which is driven by large-scale grain farming, dairy and horticultural farming. The town is also a local manufacturing hub with a number of nationally recognised manufacturing concerns, including Raiplywoods, Rupa Textiles, Kenya Pipeline Company, Kenya Co-operative Creameries as well as corn, wheat and pyrethrum factories all within the town.


title: Eldoret

text: The city is home to a large market and is known for the "Doinyo Lessos" cheese factory, Moi University and Eldoret International Airport. The runners from Eldoret have also contributed significantly to the economy of Eldoret town, primarily investing in small businesses and real estate, from their winnings in races all over the world. Moses Kiptanui is a stake holder in one of the largest buildings Komora that houses a large supermarket chain and many offices.


title: Eldoret

text: Notable professional firms include Nyairo and Company, the oldest law firm in the city, founded by Alfred Momanyi Nyairo in the sixties. Other law firms include Wabomba Masinde and Associates advocates, Gumbo and Associate Advocates, Mburu Maina & Company Advocates, Nyaundi Tuiyott & Company Advocates, Kalya & Company Advocates, Chebii and Company Advocates and Gicheru & Company Advocates.


title: Eldoret

text: The town has a vibrant textile industry that is led by Ken Knit (Kenya). It is the first, fully integrated textile manufacturing company in East and Central Africa and has been based in Eldoret for close to 50 years. It is Kenya's leading manufacturer of wool products and with a workforce of 2,000, is presently the largest textile related employer in the North-Rift.


title: Eldoret

text: Another notable textile firm is Rivatex EA which was opened in 1975 by then Vice President, Daniel Toroitich arap Moi as Rift Valley Textiles (Rivatex), a parastatal that was the first Kenyan textile mill to operate computerized mills. It quickly became a success, achieving profitability within three years while employing 400 people and consuming 3,000 tons of cotton a year at its peak. By the late 1990s, the liberalization of Kenya's market which led to massive imports of cheap used clothing coupled with mismanagement led to the decline of the country's textile industry. Rivatex in Eldoret was placed under receivership in 1998 and finally shut its doors in 2000.


title: Eldoret

text: The town of Eldoret, through Moi University and its subsidiary firm Rivatex, has played a leading role in the revival of the Kenyan textile industry.


title: Eldoret

text: The defunct Rivatex was purchased from the Government of Kenya in 2007 by Moi University as a facility for research, product development, extension and production. The university identified the high cost of imported dyes as a factor affecting profitability. This was resolved in 2008, when Prof Richard Mibey, invented the Tami Dye, a natural dye made from Mexican Marigold which was previously considered a weed in the surrounding regions. The university holds the patent to this dye.


title: Eldoret

text: Being able to produce affordable dye in Kenya has been a key contributing factor to the revival of Rivatex East Africa and the wider Kenyan textile industry. The university won a $60 million grant from the World Bank to carry out a face-lift as a result of the work on the Tami Dye. It also secured a pledged investment of $40 million from the Indian Government.


title: Eldoret

text: In mid-2019, Rivatex, reopened following major renovations and restructuring. As part of this effort, it opened a Digital Assembly Plant with the capacity to produce laptops, tablets, electric meters, smartphones and other digital devices.


title: Eldoret

text: The city is host to the Moi Barracks for the Kenya Defence Forces. The barracks has a memorial for Kenyan soldiers killed in battle in Somalia. The city is also home to the Kenya Ordnance Factories Corporation since 1997, a military installation that is the only manufacturer of small arms and ammunition in the region. Its customers include the Kenya Police, Wildlife Service, the Army, licensed dealers and carriers as well as friendly governments.


title: Eldoret

text: The Toyota Tsusho Corporation built Kenya's first full scale fertilizer blending factory at Ngeria on the outskirts of Eldoret. The $15 million plant has the capacity to produce 150,000 tonnes per year which is 25% of Kenya's 600,000 annual requirement.


title: Eldoret

text: In early 2019, Safaricom, Kenya's largest mobile network operator, set up its second largest call centre, and its first outside Nairobi, in Eldoret town. The Kshs 900 million facility provides employment to 800 individuals of whom 300 are paid interns from local universities.


title: Eldoret

text: The town is also home to the MGW site, located at Kapsoya, the first of Safaricom's data centre in the North Rift, set up in 2015.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret has traditionally not been known as a tourist destination and does not have much to differentiate it from Kenya's other highland centres. Being Kenya's fifth-largest city however, it is a great deal bigger and serves as a base for touring the North-Rift circuit. The city has a decent variety of accommodation options, notably the Sirikwa Hotel, Poa Place and the ultra-modern Boma Inn as well as enough night-life options to interest one for an evening or two.


title: Eldoret

text: The city and surrounding regions has also lately grown into a sports tourism destination thanks to a number of resident, renowned world runners and a high-altitude that makes the local area suitable for athletics training.


title: Eldoret

text: Notable attractions within easy distance of Eldoret include the Nandi Hills area to the south, home of the Nandi, the fiercest early opponents to British rule. It is also the home of the Chemosit, a crypto-beast that is said to devour human brains.


title: Eldoret

text: To the north lies the town of Iten, capital of Elgeyo Marakwet county and the world's foremost source of elite-middle and long distance runners. It is a popular destination for foreigners looking to hone their athletics talent and time at its high altitude training centres form part of a number of elite athletes training regimens. Notably, altitude training here was a key element of Mo farah's preparations before his 5000m and 10000m gold medals at London 2012 and World Championships 2013.


title: Eldoret

text: Elgeyo Marakwet is also increasingly gaining a global reputation as a paragliding destination. It has become the place to go to fly out-and-returns in January with world records across both distances having been set in the Kerio Valley in 2013 and 2014 respectively.


title: Eldoret

text: The city is home to many retail stores, supermarket chains and various malls, including Rupa Mall and Zion Mall. The city hosts various MSMEs located in various notable buildings such as Komora Centre, Zul Arcade, 64 Arcade, Kibogy Arcade, Tarita Centre, Jumbo House, Sugarland, Barngetuny, The Anchor and Kalyet City Mall.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret has a vibrant nightlife with many clubs found in the city centre such as Club Timba, Tamasha, TMT, Area 51, Club 411, Signature Club, Babel Club and the more upmarket Klique Hotel/Restaurant, Well Irish Pub and Zaika Lounge, the latter located at Rupas Mall.


title: Eldoret

text: The Champions Monument is situated at the junction of Kaptagat and Nairobi roads and was erected in honour of retired, elite and upcoming athletes in the country. The bronze monument, erected by Mediheal Group of Hospitals, depicts two female athletes and two male athletes attached on a world map running towards different directions. One of the males is holding an Olympic torch in one hand while the rest have their hands raised up as a sign of victory. It also has an image of a male athlete mounted on the top draped in the Kenyan flag.


title: Eldoret

text: At 26 floors and tall, this is the tallest building in Kenya west of Nairobi and stands as a landmark of the town. It was built by the Moi University Pension Scheme and was opened in 2016.


title: Eldoret

text: The territory of the bearers of the Sirikwa culture, Kenya's predominant hinterland archaeological culture, extended over the Uasin Gishu plateau. This society experienced a cultural peak between the 12th to 15th centuries and persisted as a way of life to the 17th and 18th centuries. It declined and was superseded in Uasin Gishu by the Uasin Gishu people who gave their name to the plateau. Studies indicate that the 'Sirikwa' kept cattle in sunken pens, which today form depressions commonly known as Sirikwa Holes. Some of these can be seen around Uasin Gishu though most are today overgrown with grass or have been tilled over. A well preserved example exists at Naiberi River Campsite located just out of town.


title: Eldoret

text: The Wagon hotel is a local institution dating to the Afrikaner period in Eldoret. The majority of Afrikaners who settled in Kenya made their home in Uasin Gishu, turning what was for many centuries prime pasture land into one Kenya's most productive agricultural zones. They made their way to Uasin Gishu in wagons and the hotel bears testament to the 'trek' made by those families as they sought a new home and as they built one. The hotel itself, was built in 1926 by these families as a recreational hub and is one of the oldest buildings in town. It has pictures of the wagons of the Great Treks — as the journeys from South Africa to Kenya were known then, and a dining area shaped like an elongated railway wagon with a looped roof. It also features a modern casino, the only one in the North Rift region.


title: Eldoret

text: Athletics is by far the most popular sport in the region with wins at the Olympics and World Athletics Championships as well as roadraces across the world having propelled many local residents to stardom and financial success. Current and future athletes can be seen training at the IAAF High Altitude Training Centre, the Kipchoge Keino stadium or even along the streets on most mornings.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret Club is a private members club that was established in 1924 on the edge of town. It is situated on large well-manicured grounds that house a clubhouse, a 9-hole golf course and a variety of other facilities.


title: Eldoret

text: Located some away from Eldoret at a point where the River Sosiani plunges from the plateau and over a granite escarpment. It was also a site of the ancient practice of Sheu Morobi where very old members of the Nandi community would jump to their deaths for a variety of reasons including loneliness and so as not to burden the community.


title: Eldoret

text: This is a notable resort in the town and features a wide variety of accommodation, food and amusements.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret is home to Moi University. Though the university's main campus is located about away in Kesess, located due South, four of its campuses are within the city limits of Eldoret. These campuses are;Annex Campus (School of Law), Town Campus( School of Medicine and School of dental sciences), Rivatex Campus (School of aeronautical engineering) and Eldoret West campus (for privately sponsored students) a student population of 14,855 as of 2006.


title: Eldoret

text: The University of Eldoret is the second largest university in the city having been awarded its charter in 2013. Its main campus is located within the city limits to the north of the town.


title: Eldoret

text: Other universities with campuses in the town include Catholic University of East Africa, Jomo Kenyatta University, University of Nairobi, University of East Africa - Baraton, Kabarak University, Mount Kenya University and Kisii University


title: Eldoret

text: The city also is home to many technical and vocational institutes including Rift Valley Technical Training Institute, Eldoret National Polytechnic, African Institute for Research and Applied Studies.


title: Eldoret

text: There are a number of medical facilities in the city, notably Moi Teaching & Referral Hospital; The only referral national hospital in western Kenya. The county has the Uasin Gishu District Hospital, and there are several private institutions: St. Luke Orthopaedic And Trauma Hospital, Eldoret Hospital, Mediheal Hospital, Eldoret Oncology Associates Cancer Hospital, Reale Hospital, Alexandria Cancer Centre and Palliative Care Hospital and Elgon View Hospital among others.


title: Eldoret

text: In 2015, East & Central Africa's first public children's hospital, The Shoe4Africa Children's Hospital, a 200-bed general teaching hospital, was opened, behind the Moi Referral.


title: Eldoret

text: Also in 2015, a new out patient cancer treatment centre was opened at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, funded principally by Ruth Lily, an American philanthropist. It has been named after the businessman, Manu Chandaria, a later funder, and is now known as The Chandaria Cancer and Chronic Disease Centre.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret, in particular the Elgon View area, is the hometown of numerous Kenyan runners, the most renowned of whom is Kipchoge Keino and Eliud Kipchoge. The high altitude is an ideal training ground for many middle and long distance athletes.


title: Eldoret

text: Kipchoge Keino Stadium is the town's main stadium and is a multi-use stadium with a capacity of 10,000 people. The stadium is used for athletic meetings and hosts local football teams including Rivatex and Eldoret KCC. The stadium fell into disrepair and was refurbished beginning in 2007 when the Kenyan Government allocated Ksh100 million for its upgrade. It is currently (2018) undergoing a major expansion and renovation.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret Falcons is a women's football team that represents the city in the nationwide league while Eldoret RFC is a men's rugby team in the nationwide league. The city has also been a popular stage in the KCB Safari Rally.


title: Eldoret

text: The city is home to the Eldoret City Marathon, whose $35,000 winners purse during its second edition in 2019 made it the richest marathon race in Africa. The event is organised by the Uasin Gishu county government and is patronized by the County Governor, H.E Jackson Mandago and Moses Tanui.


title: Eldoret

text: The city is also host to a leg of the annual national sevens circuit rugby tournament being one of the six cities that make up the circuit. The Eldoret leg is played in June and referred to as the Sepetuka Sevens. It is extremely popular and brings the city to a halt for the entire weekend with fans coming into the city from all over the country.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret is also home to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)'s High Altitude Training Centre for Kenyan and international athletes.


title: Eldoret

text: Eldoret International Airport is a regional airport approximately from Eldoret city. It has daily scheduled flights to Nairobi and Lodwar and weekly international cargo flights operated by Emirates and Etihad Airways. Situated at above sea level, the airport has a single asphalt runway that measures in length.


title: Eldoret

text: Four domestic airline companies operate in this airport: Fly 540, Jambojet, Skyward Express and Silverstone Air.


title: Eldoret

text: The Eldoret Airstrip, also known as the Eldoret Boma Airport, is a small airstrip located within Eldoret city on the Eldoret Iten road. It has an elevation of 7,050 ft above sea level and a single runway measuring . The county government of Uasin Gishu took over operations of the Eldoret airstrip in July 2015


title: Eldoret

text: The French renewable energy firm Voltalia is building a 40-megawatt (MW) solar plant for compatriot Kenya-based French solar firm Alten Africa in Kesses, Eldoret. Once it goes into commercial operation, scheduled for March 2020, approximately 123.6GWh of clean electricity will be injected into the grid every year, enough to meet the annual energy consumption needs of over 824,000 Kenyans.


title: Eldoret

text: The Kenya Pipeline Company operates a pipeline that passes through the city. It is connected to the refinery at the coastal city of Mombasa and extends further from Eldoret to the lakeside city of Kisumu. One of 5 national oil depots is located in the city.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: A BitTorrent tracker is a special type of server that assists in the communication between peers using the BitTorrent protocol.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: In peer-to-peer file sharing, a software client on an end-user PC requests a file, and portions of the requested file residing on peer machines are sent to the client, and then reassembled into a full copy of the requested file. The "tracker" server keeps track of where file copies reside on peer machines, which ones are available at time of the client request, and helps coordinate efficient transmission and reassembly of the copied file. Clients that have already begun downloading a file communicate with the tracker periodically to negotiate faster file transfer with new peers, and provide network performance statistics; however, after the initial peer-to-peer file download is started, peer-to-peer communication can continue without the connection to a tracker.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: Since the creation of the distributed hash table (DHT) method for "trackerless" torrents, BitTorrent trackers have largely become redundant; however, they are still often included with torrents to improve the speed of peer discovery.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: Public or open trackers can be used by anyone by adding the tracker address to an existing torrent, or they can be used by any newly created torrent, like OpenBitTorrent. The Pirate Bay operated one of the most popular public trackers until disabling it in 2009 due to legal trouble, and thereafter offered only magnet links.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: A "private tracker" is a BitTorrent tracker that restricts use by requiring users to register with the site. The method for controlling registration used among many private trackers is an invitation system, in which active and contributing members are given the ability to grant a new user permission to register at the site, or a new user goes through an interview process.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: There are several circumstances under which it is legal to distribute copyrighted material or parts thereof.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: There are also experiments that legally sell content that is distributed over BitTorrent using a "secure" tracker system.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: Trackers are the primary reason for a damaged BitTorrent "swarm". (Other reasons are mostly related to damaged or hacked clients uploading corrupt data.) The reliability of trackers has been improved through two main innovations in the BitTorrent protocol.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: Multi-tracker torrents contain multiple trackers in a single torrent file. This provides redundancy in the case that one tracker fails, the other trackers can continue to maintain the swarm for the torrent. One disadvantage to this is that it becomes possible to have multiple unconnected swarms for a single torrent where some users can connect to one specific tracker while being unable to connect to another. This can create a disjoint set which can impede the efficiency of a torrent to transfer the files it describes. Additional extensions such as Peer exchange and DHT mitigate this effect by rapidly merging otherwise disjoint graphs of peers.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: Vuze (formerly Azureus) was the first BitTorrent client to implement such a system through the distributed hash table (DHT) method. An alternative and incompatible DHT system, known as Mainline DHT, was developed simultaneously and later adopted by the BitTorrent (Mainline), μTorrent, Transmission, rTorrent, KTorrent, BitComet, and Deluge clients.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: Current versions of the official BitTorrent client, μTorrent, BitComet, Transmission and BitSpirit all share compatibility with Mainline DHT. Both DHT implementations are based on Kademlia. As of version 3.0.5.0, Vuze also supports Mainline DHT in addition to its own distributed database through use of an optional application plugin MainlineDHT Plugin. This potentially allows the Vuze client to reach a bigger swarm.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: Most BitTorrent clients also use Peer exchange (PeX) to gather peers in addition to trackers and DHT. Peer exchange checks with known peers to see if they know of any other peers. With the 3.0.5.0 release of Vuze, all major BitTorrent clients now have compatible peer exchange.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: One of the options for this HTTP based tracker protocol is the "compact" flag. This flag, as defined in BEP 23, specifies that the tracker can compact the response by encoding IPv4 addresses as a set of 4 bytes (32 bits).


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: IPv6 though are 128 bits long, and as such, the "compact" would break IPv6 support. To handle that situation clients and trackers must either avoid using compact announces over IPv6 or implement BEP 07


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: opentracker from Dirk Engling powered one of the biggest BitTorrent trackers, The Pirate Bay tracker.


title: BitTorrent tracker

text: BitTorious is an open source, commercially supported tracker with integrated web-based management portal.


title: Gold Cobra

text: Gold Cobra is the fifth studio album by American rap rock band Limp Bizkit. Released in 2011 by Flip and Interscope Records, it is the band's first studio album since 2003's "Results May Vary" and its first with the full original lineup since 2000's "Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water". "Gold Cobra" features an eclectic and diverse sound, but is also similar in style to the band's earlier albums. The album, which featured the single "Shotgun" and received mixed reviews, sold 27,000 copies during its first week in the United States and peaked at No. 16 on the "Billboard" 200. This was their last album for a decade, until the band released "Still Sucks" in 2021.


title: Gold Cobra

text: In 2004, Limp Bizkit recorded "The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1)", with returning member Wes Borland, but John Otto was replaced by Sammy Siegler for much of the album. Following the release of the band's "Greatest Hitz" album, the band went on hiatus. Borland stated that it was unlikely that a sequel to "The Unquestionable Truth" would be produced and that "As of right now, none of my future plans include Limp Bizkit." In 2009, Limp Bizkit reunited with Borland on guitar and launched the Unicorns N' Rainbows Tour.


title: Gold Cobra

text: During the tour Durst announced that they had begun to record a new album with Borland, titled "Gold Cobra". Borland said that the title does not have any meaning, and that it was chosen because it fit the style of music the band was writing for the album. The band recorded a spoken intro written by Durst and performed by Kiss member Gene Simmons for the album, but it was left off the completed album. The band also recorded additional "non-album" tracks, including "Combat Jazz", which featured rapper Raekwon.


title: Gold Cobra

text: The music of "Gold Cobra" was generally described as nu metal, and has been noted as a return to the established sound of Limp Bizkit's earlier albums. However, the album features noticeable variations from the band's established style for a more eclectic sound. Unlike "Significant Other", "Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water" and "Results May Vary", "Gold Cobra" does not feature any guest vocalists, except for two of the bonus tracks, and the album's sound predominately focuses on the guitar work of Wes Borland rather than that of turntablist and sound designer DJ Lethal. Sam Rivers' bass playing incorporates elements of jazz and funk, while Borland's guitar playing incorporates a variety of influences, ranging from heavy metal and hard rock to electronic music and DJ Lethal's keyboards and samples give the album a sound that is both melodic and abrasive. The intro, "Introbra", features distorted air raid sirens, and is much darker in tone than the hip hop-influenced intros on "Significant Other" and "Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water". Interludes on the album incorporate elements of hip hop and jazz.


title: Gold Cobra

text: "Bring It Back" differs from Limp Bizkit's established sound by being slower and heavier than the band is generally known for. "Shark Attack" is an uptempo track which features references to earlier songs, such as the lyric "another one of those days", which refers to the lyrics of "Break Stuff". "Walking Away", "Loser" and the album's first single, "Shotgun", are noted for featuring guitar solos by Borland, something that Limp Bizkit is not known for. "Shotgun", influenced by heavy metal music, has been described as an anthem by Artistdirect. "Walking Away" is a serene, ambient ballad with introspective lyrics which does not contain any hip hop influence or rapping, in contrast to the sound the band is generally known for, and builds with dramatic solos. "Loser" combines the softer sound of "Walking Away" with rapped verses, and is followed by a heavier track, "Autotunage", featuring Durst singing in autotune, and "90.2.10", which incorporates a thrash influence.


title: Gold Cobra

text: At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 53, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on 11 reviews. Artistdirect reviewer Rick Florino gave the album 5 out of 5 stars, writing ""Gold Cobra" is everything you hoped it would be, and rap and metal will be walking funny after it takes a bite out of both them". Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album a positive review, calling it "a return to the full-throttled attack of "Three Dollar Bill Y'All"". "Metal Hammer" writer Terry Bezer wrote, "Aside from the odd duff moment, "Gold Cobra" throws out the hot shit that’ll make you bounce in the mosh pit over and over again."


title: Gold Cobra

text: David Buchanan, of Consequence of Sound, called "Gold Cobra" "an entertaining, boastful, non-alienating piece of nostalgic bliss for those who once held memberships with the LB". In a similar context, Bloody Disgusting writer Jonathan Barkan gave the album a positive review, stating "The album, on a whole, sounds fantastic. [...] It's not Paganini or Opeth or Dream Theater. It's rap rock and it does exactly what it sets out to do." IGN writer Chad Grischow wrote, "Though far from their best work, Limp Bizkit's latest at least proves that their 2005 "Greatest Hitz" album may have been premature." About.com writer Tim Grierson called "Gold Cobra" "the group’s strongest since "Significant Other"".


title: Gold Cobra

text: "Entertainment Weekly" reviewer Kyle Anderson called the album an "oft-delayed, petulant, and hook-devoid 'comeback' from the onetime champions of early-aughts nü-metal mania. Antiquiet published a negative review which described the album as "music for the sneering scumbags who find kinship in the dregs of cultural rot". The website initially gave the album 1 out of 5 stars. Wes Borland responded to the review, stating "The hatred you have for Fred is part of the reason we've succeeded. [...] No matter what effect he has on people in a ‘TMZ Personality’ kind of way, he is an astonishing front man and performer. I could see 1 out of 5 if you were expecting "OK Computer" [...] As far as LB records go, "Gold Cobra" is perfect."


title: Gold Cobra

text: "Gold Cobra" charted at No. 16 on the "Billboard" 200 charts with 27,000 copies sold in the first week in the United States. The album charted on "Billboard" Albums for the No. 3 Rock Album, No. 11 Digital Album, No. 2 Alternative Album, No. 1 Hard Rock Album and No. 21 Tastemakers Album. In its second week of release overseas "Gold Cobra" was No. 7 on the Swiss Album Charts, No. 8 on the Austrian Album Charts, No. 24 on the Canadian Albums Chart and No. 1 on the German Albums Chart.


title: Grenade (song)

text: "Grenade" is a song by American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars from his debut studio album, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" (2010). The pop and power pop song was written and produced by the Smeezingtons (Mars, Phillip Lawrence, Ari Levine) with additional songwriting by Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, and Andrew Wyatt. The song was developed from an unreleased track with similar lyrical themes played by record producer Benny Blanco to Mars. "Grenade" was completely rearranged and re‑recorded two days before the album's release. The lyrics carry a message of unrequited love and how Mars's heart was broken, despite his best efforts to show her his love. Elektra Records released the song as the second promotional single and as the second official single, to contemporary hit and rhythmic contemporary stations in the United States in October 2010.


title: Grenade (song)

text: "Grenade" was well received by critics, praising the vocals and emotional lyrics of the song and also considered it as one of the stand-out tracks on "Doo-Wops & Hooligans". The single reached number one in fifteen countries, giving Mars his third number one single on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and topping the Canadian Hot 100 for three non-consecutive weeks. "Grenade" was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and seven Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), as well as six times by Music Canada (MC). Worldwide, it was the second best selling digital single of 2011 with 10.2 million copies.


title: Grenade (song)

text: The music video, directed by Nabil Elderkin, was released on November 19, 2010. In the video, Mars is seen dragging an upright piano through Los Angeles, by the time he arrives at the home of his beloved, he discovers she is with another man, so he decides to leave and ends up killing himself. Mars performed "Grenade" on the "Late Show with David Letterman" and during all his tours since 2010. The song has been covered by a variety of performers. It was nominated for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Grenade (song)

text: In an interview with Idolator, Bruno Mars revealed the song's conception and inspiration, saying that he was with his friend Benny Blanco and he was playing a couple of songs to Mars, including one which lyrics were similar to the ones in "Grenade". Blanco added that the band to which the song belonged was not signed and the CD was not released. Mars replied, "I can relate to that so much, I want to take that and make it my own". Mars confessed that the song was inspired by "his love for a girl who did not love him back". He admitted to be "a bit of a drama queen in that song" and that the track was therapeutic to him. Afterwards, Blanco contacted Mars, who started writing his version.


title: Grenade (song)

text: In the same interview, the singer expressed the desire to release the song as a single, claiming it was a "personal favourite". Ari Levine said the writing of "Grenade" was among the most difficult songs in the album since it took several months to complete. Later, on April 21, 2012, the team said that the last line of the song was the conflict, since it took two months for them to come up with "but you won't do the same". In May 2018, Claude Kelly stated in an interview that he was invited to the studio by Mars, as the singer wanted to collaborate with him. Once in the studio, he noticed Mars giving a hard time to one of his music partners, Philip Lawrence. The latter was once in a relationship with a girl that "he would do everything for" and received nothing in return. They started to throw extreme examples such as "you jump out of a plane" or "a shark would eat you" which they found amusing and started to write them on a list, "I'd jump out in front of a train, throw my hand on a blade, get hit by a bus". Eventually, they realized it was "catchy".


title: Grenade (song)

text: The original version of "Grenade" had an "uptempo 1960's surf-style sound with jangle pop" and before a live show in New York, Mars "slowed and stripped it down". The reworked song was the last track added to the album. In an interview with "Sound on Sound", Levine, who carried out the recording and instrumentation on "Grenade", explained that the song was original recorded with "a more guitar‑based arrangement", 15bpm faster. According to Mars, the record was much happier. Mars ended up by playing the song live in showcase for the label and to several booking agents in a slower tempo. The singer and his bandmates rehearsed a lot to that show, yet "Grenade" "sounded terrible". Mars decided to do a "stripped down" version by playing the guitar, while Brody Brown played the piano. The single received praise from the label. The song was reproduced in the way you hear it. To do so, the Smeezingtons completely rearranged and re‑recorded it, including the vocals, "two days before the album was supposed to be handed in". Levine, added, "There was quite a bit of deadline stress involved in that." The latter explained which instruments and software were involved in the song:


title: Grenade (song)

text: "Grenade" was written and produced by the Smeezingtons (Mars, Lawrence, Levine) with additional songwriting by Brown, Kelly, and Andrew Wyatt. The song was mixed at Larrabee Recording Studios Los Angeles by Manny Marroquin, with Christian Plata and Erik Madrid serving as the assistants. It was engineered at Levcon Studios in Los Angeles, California by Levine. The latter along with Mars and Brown played all the instruments on the track and recorded them. It was mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California.


title: Grenade (song)

text: "Grenade" was initially released on September 28, 2010, as the second and final promotional single by Elektra Records, as an iTunes Store-exclusive, prior to "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" album release in October, 2010. On October 21, 2010, in an interview with "Digital Spy", Mars revealed the intention to follow the hit single "Just the Way You Are" with "Grenade". Later, during an interview with "Los Angeles Times", Mars confessed he was anxious regarding the song's reception. According to "Billboard", the song was sent to American contemporary hit radio and rhythmic contemporary stations in October 2010 by Elektra, the exact radio impact date is unknown. Later, on January 10, 2011, the track on was released via digital download in the United Kingdom. On February 4, 2011, it was released a CD single, which included a Carl Louis & Martin Danielle Classic Mix of "Just the Way You Are" and the single "Grenade". An EP with different versions of Grenade, including the music video for the song was released on May 8, 2011, on iTunes.


title: Grenade (song)

text: "Grenade" is a pop and power-pop song with an instrumentation that features keyboards, drums and bass. The song is set in the key of D minor and was published in common time, with a moderate tempo of 108 beats per minute. Mars's vocals span from A to D. It has a "powerful kick/bass combination", and competent vocals, mainly in the chorus. A "snare" can be heard when the second verse begins. Mars's vocals have been described as "pure and clean ... over a pounding drum beat". Spencer Hawk from "Little Village" wrote that the song "doesn't rely on a hook, and it's mostly Mars' voice with a simple piano riff and a pulsing drum beat".


title: Grenade (song)

text: According to "The New York Times" music reviewer, Jon Caramanica, the song contains elements of 1980s pop and is accompanied by drums similar to those used by Kanye West. Mike Senior of "Sound on Sound" said that the "piano riff sounded like Coldplay's "Clocks"." "The New Zealand Herald"s Scott Kara described its beats as "Shakira-esque". Both Roberto Mucciacciaro for MTV and Robert Copsey from "Digital Spy" noticed the similarities with Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana". The later describe it as an "haunting piano melody and thunderous drum claps". On the other hand, Tony Clayton-Lea of "The Irish Times" believes that the structure of "Grenade" resembles the one in "Just The Way You Are".


title: Grenade (song)

text: Lyrically, the song contains masochistic themes and tells the story of heartbreak caused by a failed relationship: "Gave you all I had / And you tossed it in the trash". The chorus has Mars singing, "I'd catch a grenade for ya," and speaks of unrequited love when the subject girl of his affections "won't do the same". Tim Byron, writer for The Vine, "'Grenade' is about the feeling of withdrawal". The critic added, "Mars knows she is bad for him, that's she's preventing him from thinking straight, that he can't actually have her the way he wants, but he still nonetheless has crazy desires for that rush of romantic cocaine that he gets from her." As Mars commented in an interview to "Blues & Soul": "'Grenade' represents the OTHER side of love – where you're in love with a woman and you know for a fact that she doesn't love you the way you love HER."


title: Grenade (song)

text: The song received generally positive reviews from most music critics. Robert Copsey of "Digital Spy" gave a review of four stars out of five, praising Mars's vocals, "Mars has the vocal chops ... to carry that off", and emotional lyrics. The latter reminiscent was also noted by Roberto Mucciacciaro for MTV, who added that the song was coincidentally covered on several occasions by Mars. "Entertainment Weekly" Leah Greenblatt called "Grenade" the "atmospheric opener" of Mars's debut studio album, adding that is a "captivating masochist's anthem", enjoying it as one of the album's highlights, as did "The Washington Post" Sean Fennessey. "Rolling Stone" Jody Rosen recommended it as proof of Mars's capabilities as a "lavishly gifted melodist". Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski of "The Daily Telegraph" complimented "the Kanye West-style genre-bending on Grenade and other tracks that joins the dots between Michael Jackson and Bob Marley." "Consequence of Sound"s Kevin Barber praised the track and Mars, since it "showcases his Michael Jackson-esque vocal range" and it's "heavy, heartbreaking lyrics". Ken Tucker for NPR noticed that "It's hard to resist the clever come-on refrain of "Grenade" – "I'd catch a grenade for ya", adding that the song had a "creamy melody".


title: Grenade (song)

text: Tony Clayton-Lea of "The Irish Times" praised "Grenade", saying "the kind of song that JLS and their ilk would chop off their dancing legs for." However, "Slant"s Eric Henderson dismissed its unrealistic lyrics, while AllMusic's Tim Sendra thought the song was "over-the-top"—one of the weaker ones on the album. Spencer Hawk from "Little Village" criticized the song by calling it "fairly innovative" and notice that the shouting of the lyrics "doesn't feel genuine", however he felt that "It's very safe while being a little risky, and Mars is a solid singer". "The Scotsman" dubbed the track a "boy band missile which is a touch desperate in its overwrought overtures to a girl who wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire". Music-News.com, reviewer David Spencer, stated "great pop but little in way of surprise". In 2019, Nerisha Penrose from "Elle" dubbed "Grenade" as one of the 52 Best Songs That Defined the 2010s, ranking it at number two, saying the "raw, somber ballad is easily the highlight of Bruno's career and is what helped catapult him to fame."


title: Grenade (song)

text: "Grenade" received several nominations. In 2011, it was nominated for Choice Music: Break-Up Song at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards and at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards the song received a nomination in the category of Best Song. In the same year, it received a nomination for The Record of the Year ceremony. In 2012, "Grenade" was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and the newly introduced Best Pop Solo Performance, losing all of them to British singer Adele. In the same year, the single received a nomination for "Best Hit International" at the Swiss Music Awards. At the 2012 ASCAP Pop Music Awards the song was one of the winners of Most Performed Songs.


title: Grenade (song)

text: "Grenade" debuted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 the week of October 16, 2010 at number 81 and climbed the chart to number five for the week ending December 18, 2010. On January 8, 2011, it peaked at number 1, making it Bruno Mars's third number one single on the chart, the others being B.o.B's "Nothin' on You", on which he was featured, and "Just the Way You Are". The peak position was reached due to 559 000 downloads and 89 million listener impressions, taking Digital Gainer and Airplay Gainer awards. Around this time, the song had become his second solo single to top the 2 million mark in downloads. The song dropped and rose back to the top spot two more times, making it one of only six singles in "Billboard" history to have three distinct runs at number one. In February, it topped the 3 million mark. The song spent 36 weeks on the Hot 100. As of October 2015, the song has sold 6.1 million digital copies in the United States. On November 19, 2018, the single was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was Mars's second single to sell over 5 million, just a week after "Just the Way You Are" achieved that feat, and it was only the third time in "Billboard" history that back-to-back singles have both sold 5 million copies in the digital era. The song has peaked at number one in the Canada. It replaced "The Time (Dirty Bit)" by The Black Eyed Peas, before being dethroned by "Hold It Against Me" by Britney Spears. On February 12, 2011, it took the top spot from Usher's song "More". Two weeks later it was replaced by Lady Gaga's "Born This Way". It has been certified six times platinum by Music Canada (MC).


title: Grenade (song)

text: In Australia it debuted at number 48 in the ARIA Singles Chart and five weeks later reached number one, taking "The Time (Dirty Bit)" by The Black Eyed Peas from the top spot. On its second run in Australia it dethroned "Who's That Girl" by Guy Sebastian featuring Eve, thus being replaced by the same a week later. After its success in the country, Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) certified it seven times platinum. In the first week in the UK, the song topped the chart becoming Mars's third number one with a total of 159 000 copies sold, blocking Lady Gaga's "Born This Way". Thus, Mars achieved the best opening week of January on the list since 1996 when "Spaceman" by Babylon Zoo debuted with 383,000 units. The recording has been certified three times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). According to the Official Charts Company, the single has reached a total of 1,53 million chart sales, including 64 million streams, as of January 2021. In Austria, the song reached the second position and remained there for three non-consecutive weeks. The song was, eventually, certified Platinum by IFPI Austria. In Germany the song debuted at 8, and three weeks later reached the top spot, where it stayed for six non-consecutive weeks. Then, Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) gave Mars three gold records for the sale of 450 000 downloads.


title: Grenade (song)

text: In New Zealand, the song spent twenty-nine weeks on the chart and it was number one for three consecutive dates, after taking "The Time (Dirty Bit)" by The Black Eyed Peas from the top spot. Grenade sold 30 000 copies, earning a double platinum certification by the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ). Other countries where the song rose to the top include Norway and Denmark, after taking the top spot from Fallulah's single "Out of It". As of February 4, the song spent 4 weeks on the top of the Irish Singles Chart, on its first week it has replaced Matt Cardle's "When We Collide". On the Swedish music chart, "Grenade" dethroned "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga (on its second run at number one). On the Swiss Singles Chart it replaced the duet between Diddy-Dirty Money and Skylar Grey's "Coming Home". It was certified three times platinum by the IFPI Switzerland. In the two regions of Belgium the song reached the top ten and received a gold certification in the Ultratop 50 Flanders. In Slovakia and Finland the song peaked at number 3, while on the Dutch Top 40 the song peaked at number 2. Nevertheless, the success of "Grenade" was lower in other countries; it just spent two weeks on the Japan Hot 100 chart and reached the peak position of 36. Despite its low reception in Spanish territory, it only peaked at number 21, the song was the ninth most played song in the Spotify streaming service in 2011.


title: Grenade (song)

text: Mars was the first male artist in 13 years to reach the top spot in the US and UK with his first two headline singles. "Grenade" reached number one in fourteen charts and sold 10.2 million digital copies in 2011, making it the second most sold single of that year, after Mars's "Just the Way You Are".


title: Grenade (song)

text: Nabil Elderkin directed the music video for the song, which was shot in Los Angeles. In a behind-the-scenes video, Mars explained, "The concept of the video is my struggle, to tell this girl I'd do anything for her, so I'm going as far as dragging a piano to get to her just so I can sing my heart out." Mars, sarcastically, replied to rumors related to the use of special effects: "A lot of people think this is a camera trick, but that is a heavy piano. Luckily, I’ve been doing about, you know, 800 to 967 push-ups every day, so it's not a big deal, I can handle it." Regardless, this achievement, Mars was cautious: "The actions in this video serve as a metaphor, and should not be taken literally. I am aware of the power of visual media, and I encourage everyone who watches this video to understand that it is an artistic interpretation of the song, and not something to imitate".


title: Grenade (song)

text: The music video was released on November 19, 2010 on MTV and MTV.com. and it involves Mars's efforts to sing to a woman he loves after dragging an upright piano with a rope tied to it through Los Angeles. Scenes also feature the singer singing in a dark bedroom, looking out of a rainy window. He wears a suit and encounters a gang and a pit bull along the way. When he reaches the woman's house and finds out she is with another man, he drags himself and the piano in front of a train to attempt suicide. As the train approaches Bruno at full speed, the screen cuts to black, and the video ends.


title: Grenade (song)

text: The video received mixed reviews by critics. Robbie Daw of Idolator complemented the video by saying that the "standout track from Doo-Wops & Hooligans, and it's given an extra sheen thanks to a quirky, unconventional video that doesn't shy away from the dark tone of the song's lyrics". James Montgomery of MTV News gave a mixed review on the video, in which he said "after all, it would’ve been easy – and expected – to make something slick, sexy and/or saccharine, a glossy thing where he croons from a rooftop somewhere, removes his shirt, and somehow ends up with the girl. None of that happens here. Rather, we see Mars struggling and sweating, being taunted and tempted, falling and rising again ... He ends up alone, unloved. He probably gets flattened by a train". On another review by Montgomery, the singer redemption is referred because Mars "distances himself from his smoove-crooning contemporaries, and he does it simply by being real. Really dramatic, really emotional, really clever. This one's a winner, even if, at the end of it, Mars has lost everything."


title: Grenade (song)

text: The video itself earned Mars three nominations at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, in Best Male Video, Best Pop Video and Video of the Year. The video was also one of the most seen online in the United Kingdom, in 2011. Mark Graham for VH1 ranked the video as the second best of 2011, the top spot went for "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele. The video reached 1 billion views on YouTube in March 2021.


title: Grenade (song)

text: Some artists made their own versions and remixes of the song. The American group Boyce Avenue covered "Grenade" and included it in their sixth EP, "Acoustic Sessions, Vol. 1", released on December 6, 2010. American singer-songwriter Gavin Mikhail included his version of the song and its instrumental on his Bruno Mars covers' album. On November 15, 2011, a cover by Trackstarz charted at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart. American rapper Lil Wayne published the first official remix of the song on February 12, 2011. The remix is identical to the song, except for the 16-bar introduction verse that Wayne provides. Mars was so surprised with the remix when he saw it online, he recalls "I was like, ‘What? Press play". He called it, "Awesome". MTV critique, Jayson Rodriguez, described it as "Lil Wayne delivering a spoken word-style flow, expressing devotion for his love interest". RichGirl, a R&B girl group, created a remix to the song, released on their "Fall in Love with RichGirl" mixtape.


title: Grenade (song)

text: Nathaniel Drew and Salt Lake Pops Orchestra remixed the song, with the vocal collaboration of Alex Boye and Lindsey Stirling, it was released as a single on July 13, 2012. Gerrie van Dijk-Dantuma and Michelle Chamuel, contestants on "The Voice of Holland" and its US version, respectively, sang the theme for the competition and released it digitally through iTunes. Japanese singer Gille included her version of the track on her debut EP "Lead the Way", released on May 16, 2012. Will Chase, who guest starred as Michael Swift in the TV series "Smash", sang the song during the episode titled "Enter Mr. DiMaggio", which originally aired on February 20, 2012.


title: Grenade (song)

text: American metalcore band, Memphis May Fire covered the track for the compilation album "Punk Goes Pop 5", which was released on November 6, 2012. The song was officially released for digital download on October 2, 2012. In order to celebrate its fifteen years in the music industry, Dutch symphonic metal band, Within Temptation covered several songs by other artists, including "Grenade", during a special program on the Belgian radio station "Q music", called "Within Temptation Friday". The band chose this song because "It's a really good song and instead of making a grenade go off on stage, we figured we'd make a bomb of astonishment go off in the studio", in the words of the lead vocalist Sharon den Adel. On April 19, 2013 Within Temptation's cover was released and available for download as part of their cover album The Q-Music Sessions. Nevertheless, the song peaked at number 73, in their home country, on the Dutch Charts. In 2016, Postmodern Jukebox also covered "Grenade", evoking a 60's sound, featuring Brielle Von Hugel in the lead vocals. It is featured on the former's album Swing the Vote! In 2020, American singer-songwrtier Enisa covered "Grenade" as part of the tenth anniversary of Mars's debut album.


title: Grenade (song)

text: Mars performed the song at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on August 25, 2010, with him and his four-piece band dressed in blue tuxedos and black skinny ties. John Macdonald for "Spin" said "Despite a couple pitch problems here and there, Mars proved to be nearly as good a performer as he is a songwriter". The song was also performed in a similar manner on the October 9, 2010 episode of "Saturday Night Live", as part of a segue from "Nothin' on You", the debut single was also performed. His performance was well received by critics. "Billboard"'s magazine critique Walter Frazier analysed the performance and commented "Mars' backing band ... dressed as a 1950s rockabilly group, while Mars resembled something of a modern-day Elvis, surely inspiring swoons for the "SNL" audience." The performance was also praised by MTV's Mawuse Ziegbe, who wrote: "Mars peppered the performance with hip-swaying moves Elvis would be proud of and wrapped up the set in classic rock-star style with an enthusiastic jump in the air." On October 21, 2010, a soulful arrangement of the song was sung for a "Billboard" Tastemakers video session. Additionally, Mars performed on the "Late Show with David Letterman", on November 11, 2010, with a soul redemption of "Grenade" accompanied by an all-female string section. Robbie Draw from website Idolator wrote a positive review, commenting "Bruno Mars hit up the "Late Show With David Letterman" last night and left a piece of his heart on the stage after turning out an emotional, bluesy rendition of his new single".


title: Grenade (song)

text: The song was performed at NBC's The Today Show on November 22, 2010, as part of the Toyota Concert Series and at the 2010 Soul Train Music Awards on November 28, 2010. On January 6, 2011, Mars performed "Grenade" on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" with a guitar, "backed by three background singers, a strings section, and pianist". He also performed the song on the Dutch television show "The Voice of Holland" on January 21, 2011. On February 13, 2011 he performed the song live at the 2011 Grammy Awards, along with B.o.B. and Janelle Monáe. In Germany, Mars performed "Grenade" on two shows "Wetten, dass..?" and at the Echo Awards, on March 19 and 28, 2011, respectively. It was performed as encore on his debut world tour, The Doo-Wops & Hooligans Tour (2011–12) and was the twelfth item of the setlist on the Hooligans in Wondaland Tour (2011). At this time, Mars expressed his apprehension about performing the song because fans have threw dummy grenades on stage, some of which are metal and have posed a safety hazard. The track was also part of his second and third world tour, The Moonshine Jungle Tour (2013–14) and the 24K Magic World Tour (2017–18), respectively. During The Late Late Show with James Corden on December 13, 2016, Mars included "Grenade" on the popular segment Carpool Karaoke.


title: Surrealist cinema

text: Surrealist cinema is a modernist approach to film theory, criticism, and production with origins in Paris in the 1920s. The movement used shocking, irrational, or absurd imagery and Freudian dream symbolism to challenge the traditional function of art to represent reality. Related to Dada cinema, Surrealist cinema is characterized by juxtapositions, the rejection of dramatic psychology, and a frequent use of shocking imagery. Philippe Soupault and André Breton’s 1920 book collaboration "Les Champs magnétiques" is often considered to be the first Surrealist work, but it was only once Breton had completed his "Surrealist Manifesto" in 1924 that ‘Surrealism drafted itself an official birth certificate.’