title: Salil Chowdhury

text: Salil Chowdhury (19 November 1925 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films. He composed music for films in 13 languages. This includes over 75 Hindi films, 41 Bengali films, 27 Malayalam films, and a few Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Odia and Assamese films. His musical ability was widely recognised and acknowledged in the Indian film industry. He was an accomplished composer and arranger who was proficient in several musical instruments, including flute, the piano, and the esraj. He was also widely acclaimed and admired for his inspirational and original poetry in Bengali.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: The first Bengali film for which Chowdhury composed music was "Paribortan", released in 1949. "Mahabharati", released in 1994, was the last of the 41 Bengali films where he rendered his music. He is affectionately called "Salilda" by his admirers.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: Salil Chowdhury was born on 19 November 1925, in a village called Ghazipur in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. Salil's childhood was spent in the Tea Gardens Region of Assam. His father was reputed to stage plays with coolies and other low-paid workers of the tea-gardens. From an early age he listened to the Western Classical collection of his father. During the second world war Chowdhury got the opportunity to closely observe human sufferings, hunger and problem of the refugees. He studied in Harinavi D.V.A.S High School and there after graduating from Bangabasi College, affiliated to the University of Calcutta in Kolkata, and during this period his political ideas were formulated along with a considerable maturity in his musical ideas.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: As a teenager in school, Chowdhury already had an interest in music, and played the flute, harmonium and esraj. He learnt to play the piano from his elder brother at the age of 6. Once in college, he also began to compose tunes. His first popular song was ""Becharpoti tomar bichaar"" (lit. the days of new judgement have come because people are now awake), set to a kirtan tune. Chowdhury composed it in 1945 during the Indian National Army trials when the freedom fighters had returned from Andaman jail. Chowdhury shifted to a village in 24 parganas to live with his maternal uncles, when he was witness to a big peasant uprising there in 1943. He got involved with them and began writing songs for the peasant movement. In 1944, while studying for his MA, Chowdhury witnessed people dying on the streets of Calcutta, as 50 lakh Bengalis died during the famine. The famine was man-made as local rice was instead directed to Britain's war effort overseas, leading to scarcity, aggravated by black marketeers and hoarders. This led Chowdhury to become fully involved in the peasant movement, and he became a full-time member of IPTA and the Communist Party. Subsequently, arrest warrants were issued in his name, and he went underground in the Sunderbans, hiding in paddy fields and supported by local peasants. During this time, he continued writing plays and songs.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: In 1944, a young Salil came to Calcutta for his graduate studies. He joined the IPTA (Indian Peoples Theater Association) the cultural wing of the Communist Party of India. He started writing songs and setting tunes for them. The IPTA theatrical outfit travelled through the villages and the cities bringing these songs to the common man. Songs like "Bicharpati", "Runner" and "Abak prithibi" became extremely popular with the general population at the time.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: Songs like "Gnaayer bodhu" (গাঁয়ের বধূ), which he composed at the age of 20, brought about a new wave of Bengali music. Almost every notable singer at the time from West Bengal had sung at least one of his songs. A few examples are Debabrata Biswas, Manna Dey, Hemanta Mukherjee, Shyamal Mitra, Sandhya Mukherjee, Manabendra Mukherjee, Subir Sen, and Pratima Banerjee.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: The first Bengali film in which Salil Chowdhury composed music was "Paribortan", released in 1949. "Mahabharati", released in 1994, was the last of the 41 Bengali films where he rendered his music.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: In an interview with All India Radio, Salil Chowdhury described his coming to Bombay in 1953 as a "stroke of luck". He was writing the script for a Bengali film about a peasant who was disowned of his land and had gone to Calcutta to earn money as a Rickshaw puller. Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who heard of it from Chowdhury during a visit to Calcutta, liked it immensely and suggested that he narrate it to the director Bimal Roy. Roy heard it, and asked him to meet him again the next morning. However, when Chowdhury went to meet him the next day, he learnt that Roy had rushed to Bombay on an urgent call. A week later, he received a telegram from Roy that he wanted to turn his script into a movie. This resulted in Chowdhury's debut in the Hindi film industry in 1953 as the music director for "Do Bigha Zamin" (1953). The movie was based on Tagore's poem by the same name, but the story was different and was written by Salil Chowdhury himself. Directed by Bimal Roy, this film took his career to new heights when it became the first film to win the Filmfare Best Movie Award and won the international Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: After working for about 20 years in Bengali and Hindi films, he entered the Malayalam film industry and, in 1964, composed music for the movie "Chemmeen". He went on to compose music for films in 13 languages. This includes over 75 Hindi films, 41 Bengali films, around 27 Malayalam films, and a few Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Odia and Assamese films. Asked about his method, Chowdhury described it thus – He would usually ask the film maker to explain the situation to him, then Chowdhury would compose a tune to suit the mood, and the lyric writer would set in words. This remained his practice for most of his films including Madhumati, in which Shailendra wrote the lyrics subsequently.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: During the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, Chowdhury contributed to the programmes of the "Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra" based in Kolkata. His 1971 album "Bangla Amar Bangla" was meant for the liberation struggle. Later, when Chowdhury visited Bangladesh in 1990, he was given the welcome of a mass leader in Dhaka. Chowdhury was posthumously awarded the Muktijoddha Maitreye Samman in 2012.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: Poet, Playwright, Short story writer, Salil also directed a film Pinjre Ke Panchhi starring Meena Kumari, Balraj Sahani and Mehmood based


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: Salil Chowdhury was the Founder of Bombay Youth Choir, the first ever Secular Choir in India in 1958 as its composer and conductor -


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: he inspired scores of secular choir groups to be formed throughout India formulating a new genre of music using vocal polyphony for


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: Salil Chowdhury married the painter Jyoti Chowdhury in July 1952 in a temple. He had three daughters with her – Aloka, Tulika and Lipika. Later, he had a court marriage with singer Sabita Banerjee, with whom he had two sons, Sukanta and Sanjoy, and two daughters, Antara and Sanchari. Sanjoy Chowdhury is a successful music composer and has scored music for over 100 feature films. Sabita Chowdhury was a legendary singer and their daughter Antara Chowdhury too a known singer. Smt. Sabita Chowdhury died on 29 June 2017.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: List of some songs for which music or lyrics were composed by Salil Chowdhury (in alphabetical order)


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: A Hindi film directed by Bimal Roy based on a story in Bengali "Rikshawalaa" written by Salil Chowdhury.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: A Malayalam film directed by Ramu Kariat, based on a novel of the same name written by the renowned writer Thakazhy Shivshankar Pillai, where Music Direction was done by Salil Chowdhury.


title: Salil Chowdhury

text: Poet, Playwright, Short story writer, he also directed a film Pinjre Ke Panchhi starring Meena Kumari, Balraj Sahani and Mehmood b


title: Rob Affuso

text: Robert James Affuso (born March 1, 1963, in Newburgh, New York) is an American heavy metal drummer best known as a member of the band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996.


title: Rob Affuso

text: Affuso is currently the band leader and drummer for Soulsystem, a band he formed while touring with Skid Row in 1992. He also formed an entertainment company Soulsystem Orchestras Inc. in New York. Affuso played in the band Ozone Monday with several of his former Skid Row bandmates. He was not involved in Skid Row's 1999 reunion. He has said that he would not rejoin the band without former lead singer Sebastian Bach.


title: Rob Affuso

text: Affuso is the only former member that keeps in contact with all former Skid Row bandmates and is still good friends with them all. He met Dave "Snake" Sabo while auditioning for Bon Jovi in 1985.


title: Rob Affuso

text: He normally plays Pearl drums and Sabian Cymbals with Soulsystem, and also used them whilst with Skid Row.


title: Rob Affuso

text: He was also a member of the Sutton Thomas Band prior to joining Skid Row. He also played on Gilby Clarke's debut solo album in 1994 and Guns N' Roses bassist, Duff McKagan's solo album. Affuso played on the debut album of Jill Hennessy (Crossing Jordan/Law & Order) in 2008. Affuso made his first appearance in years in the metal community on VH1's "That Metal Show". He was a guest in the audience, where host Eddie Trunk asked him if he would accept a Skid Row reunion, which he replied by saying "absolutely."


title: Rob Affuso

text: He reunited with Skid Row onstage in 2002. He also appeared with Sebastian Bach live on August 25, 2011, performing "I Remember You".


title: Rob Affuso

text: In April 2015, Affuso joined the band Four by Fate, which features former Frehley's Comet members Tod Howarth and John Regan.


title: Alnwick

text: Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116.


title: Alnwick

text: The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish border, inland from the North Sea at Alnmouth and north of Newcastle upon Tyne.


title: Alnwick

text: The town dates to about AD 600 and thrived as an agricultural centre. Alnwick Castle was the home of the most powerful medieval northern baronial family, the Earls of Northumberland. It was a staging post on the Great North Road between Edinburgh and London. The town centre has changed relatively little, but the town has seen some growth, with several housing estates covering what had been pasture and new factory and trading estate developments along the roads to the south.


title: Alnwick

text: The name "Alnwick" comes from the Old English "wic" ('dairy farm, settlement') and the name of the river Aln.


title: Alnwick

text: The history of Alnwick is the history of the castle and its lords, starting with Gilbert Tyson, written variously as "Tison", "Tisson", and "De Tesson", one of William the Conqueror's standard-bearers, upon whom this northern estate was bestowed. It was held by the De Vesci family (now spelt "Vasey" – a name found all over south-east Northumberland) for over 200 years and then passed into the hands of the House of Percy in 1309.


title: Alnwick

text: At various points in the town are memorials of the constant wars between Percys and Scots, in which so many Percys spent the greater part of their lives. A cross near Broomhouse Hill across the river from the castle marks the spot where Malcolm III of Scotland was killed during the first Battle of Alnwick. At the side of the broad shady road called Ratten Row, leading from the West Lodge to Bailiffgate, a stone tablet marks the spot where William the Lion of Scotland was captured during the second Battle of Alnwick by a party of about 400 mounted knights, led by Ranulf de Glanvill.


title: Alnwick

text: Hulne Priory, outside the town walls in Hulne Park, the Duke of Northumberland's walled estate, was a monastery founded in the 13th century by the Carmelites; it is said that the site was chosen for some slight resemblance to Mount Carmel where the order originated.


title: Alnwick

text: In 1314, Sir John Felton was governor of Alnwick. In winter 1424, much of the town was burnt by a Scottish raiding party. Again in 1448, the town was burnt by a Scottish army led by William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas and George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus. There was a Church of Scotland congregation in Alnwick in the 17th and 18th centuries.


title: Alnwick

text: A Royal Air Force distribution depot was constructed at Alnwick during the Second World War with four main fuel storage tanks (total capacity 1700 tons) and road and rail loading facilities. The tanks were above ground and surrounded by concrete. The site was closed in the 1970s, and its demolition and disposal were completed in 1980.


title: Alnwick

text: The Alnwick by-pass takes the A1 London–Edinburgh trunk road around the town. It was started in 1968.


title: Alnwick

text: Historically, the town was partly within the Bamburgh Ward and Coquetdale Ward and later included in the East Division of Coquetdale Ward in 1832. Alnwick Town Hall was the home of the common council of Alnwick. By the time of the 2011 Census, an electoral ward covering only part of Alnwick parish existed. The total population of this ward was 4,766.


title: Alnwick

text: The town's greatest building is Alnwick Castle, one of the homes of the Duke of Northumberland, and site of The Alnwick Garden.


title: Alnwick

text: The town centre is the marketplace, with its market cross, and the relatively modern Northumberland Hall, used as a meeting place.


title: Alnwick

text: The Alnwick Playhouse is a thriving multi-purpose arts centre that stages theatre, dance, music, cinema, and visual arts productions.


title: Alnwick

text: In 2003, the Willowburn Leisure Centre was opened on the southern outskirts of the enlarged town (replacing the old sports centre located by the Lindisfarne Middle School and the now-demolished Youth Centre).


title: Alnwick

text: Alnwick's museum, Bailiffgate Museum, is close to the Bailiffgate entrance to the castle. Its collection is specifically dedicated to local social history. The museum has recently had a major refit funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Its collection includes a variety of agricultural objects, domestic items, railway items, coal mining artefacts, printing objects, a sizeable photographic collection, paintings and a range of activities for children.


title: Alnwick

text: Alnwick Fair was an annual costumed event, held each summer from 1969 to 2007, recreating some of the appearance of medieval trading fairs and 17th century agricultural fairs. It has now been discontinued.


title: Alnwick

text: Alnwick lies adjacent to the A1, the main national north–south trunk road, providing easy access to Newcastle upon Tyne ( south) and Edinburgh ( north).


title: Alnwick

text: The East Coast Main Line between Edinburgh (journey time approximately 1:10) and London (journey time approximately 3:45) runs through Alnmouth for Alnwick Stationabout awaywith a weekday service of 15 trains per day north to Edinburgh and 13 trains per day south to London.


title: Alnwick

text: The Alnwick branch line formerly linked Alnwick's own station, close to the town centre, to Alnmouth station, but this line closed in January 1968. Since the 2010s, the Aln Valley Railway Trust have worked to reopen the branch as a heritage railway but, due to construction of the A1 Alnwick bypass removing a section of the original trackbed on the edge of the town, their purpose-built Alnwick Lionheart terminus is located near the Lionheart Enterprise Estate on the outskirts of the town. The reopening project is ongoing and, as of July 2020, the line's eastern terminus had reached a new station at , approximately from Lionheart, although it is yet to carry passengers over the full length.


title: Alnwick

text: Newcastle Airport lies around 45 minutes drive-time away and provides 19 daily flights to (London Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and London City), with regular flights to other UK centres.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: Jeong-In (Korean: 정인; June 10, 2019 — October 13, 2020) was a 16-month-old baby girl from Seoul, South Korea, who was abused and tortured by her adoptive parents for 271 days (8 months), and ultimately died on October 13, 2020, due to severe abdominal injuries. Her adoptive full name was Ahn Yul-Ha (Korean: 안율하).


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: Her adoptive mother, Jang Hayeong, was charged with murder and child abuse. Her adoptive father, Ahn Sungeun, was only charged with child abuse and neglect as he claimed he was unaware of the abusive acts of his wife. On May 14, 2021, Jang was sentenced to life imprisonment while Ahn was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: The death of Jeong-In sparked national outrage and international awareness. Much of the outrage was also focused on the perceived failure of the police to press charges against her adoptive parents, even though three suspicious child abuse reports were filed by Jeong-In's day-care teachers, a family friend, and a pediatrician. The pediatrician had examined Jeong-In and found multiple bruises on her body, and such a significant weight loss that it was perceived as evidence of abuse and malnutrition. Workers from Holt International Children's Services also failed in follow-ups after the abuse was reported to them.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: On October 13, 2020, Jeong-In was brought to the hospital by her adoptive mother by taxi and died a few hours after due to cardiac arrest. The CT scan and autopsy revealed that her abdomen was full of blood (80% of her blood), that she had multiple bone fractures in her collarbone, ribs, and arms, with some of the bones having been broken again after self-healing 2–4 months prior, and that she had suffered countless bruises on her face, neck, ears, and legs. The cause of death was ruled as amputation of her pancreas and traumatic damage to her internal organs, including severe intestinal rupture caused by heavy external forces. The forensic doctor testified in the 4th trial that he suspected that there was at least another fatal beating around three to five days before Jeong-In died, which fell on a public holiday in South Korea, indicating that both adoptive parents were at home.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: On January 2, 2021, an episode of the investigative show "Unanswered Questions" (Korean: 그것이 알고 싶다) analyzed what may have happened to Jeong-In, and was aired by the South Korean broadcaster SBS; the show went viral and sparked national outrage in South Korea. Thousands of protesters and children's rights activists demanded the government reform laws to better protect children from abuse and implement the maximum penalty for the adoptive parents Jang and Ahn. The #SorryJeongIn online campaign was also created to raise awareness of child abuse, especially that of Jeong-In's case. On November 26, Jang's sentence was commuted to 35 years in prison.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: Jeong-In was born on June 10, 2019, at full-term and as a healthy baby weighed 3.43 kg (7 lbs 9oz). Her birth mother was incapable of taking care of her and therefore gave her up to a church when Jeong-In was just 8 days old. Jeong-In then spent 8 months in a foster home until she was adopted. According to her foster mom, Jeong-In was a very happy and cheerful baby, who loved music and always smiled.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: In August 2019, Jeong-In was matched with Jang and Ahn after they applied to adopt a baby girl. Jang and Ahn have a 4-year-old biological daughter and said that they wanted a baby sister for their biological daughter. The adoptive parents passed the adoption screening process including the psychological test and qualified for adoption. Jeong-In moved in with them in February 2020. She weighed 8.5 kg (18.8 lbs) when she was officially adopted by Jang and Ahn.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: While in the same household with Jang Hayeong and Ahn Sungeun for 8 months, Jeong-In was systematically abused and tortured in many brutal ways. The abuse included being regularly beaten, which caused multiple bone fractures, and starvation because they didn't like the smell of her feces. She was served hot food right after it was taken out from the microwave, which caused blisters and wounds in the mouth. Her adoptive parents left her alone at home for over 3 hours a day, for a minimum of 15 times, during the 2 months she was absent from daycare (July 2020 to September 2020). She was locked in a dark room every day after 7 pm. Jang and Ahn slapped her and tore at her mouth when she was crying. They overturned her stroller whilst she was inside it to scare her when she was crying. They deliberately tripped her while she was walking, and then laughed loudly. They also left her alone alongside the swimming pool for a whole day without a guardian and hung her up by her arms to hit her armpit area, as it was a very sensitive area, and so would cause tremendous pain.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: 2 months after the adoption, the daycare teachers started to observe unusual bruises on Jeong-In's face and ears. When they found more bruises on her thighs, abdomen, neck, and collar bone fractures, the teachers reported a suspected child abuse case to the police on May 25, 2020. The police and the child protection institution started to investigate but closed the case with the conclusion that no apparent abuse founded.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: On June 29, 2020, a family friend of Jang's saw Jeong-In was left alone in Jang's car for over an hour on a hot summer day and reported it to the police. The investigation was not initiated by the police until one month later and therefore all CCTV footage from the street had been erased, so the case was closed again.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: Jeong-In was absent from her day-care for 2 months from July 2020 to September 2020, but when she returned to the day-care in September, the teachers were shocked to see her condition. Jeong-In had lost a significant amount of weight and was covered in bruises all over her body. The teachers immediately took her to a clinic where the pediatrician examined Jeong-In and reported to the police that Jeong-In was suffering from malnutrition and obvious child abuse. The pediatrician strongly advised the police to immediately separate Jeong-In from her parents. However, the police and child protection institution took Jeong-In to another clinic where her adoptive parents had a relationship with the doctor and as such, the doctor diagnosed Jeong-In with a mouth infection, hence the case was closed again and Jeong-In was sent back home to her abusive parents. 20 days after the third case was closed, Jeong-In died.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: On October 12, 2020, Jeong-In was sent to daycare in bad condition. According to the daycare teachers, she couldn't walk, stand, drink or eat all day. Her belly seemed swollen and big, but she didn't fuss or cry at all. Her diaper was also dry for hours without any urine passing. The teachers called her adoptive mother, and she came to check Jeong-In's condition for a few minutes, but then left saying there was nothing to worry about.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: However, Jeong-In was not OK; she had no energy and seemed very weak. After being so dehydrated, she finally took a few sips of milk that the teacher tried to feed her, but she immediately panted after drinking the liquid, and her whole body began to shiver. When her adoptive father picked her up in the afternoon, the teacher expressed her concern about Jeong-In's health, and how she didn't walk all day; at that moment, her adoptive father forced Jeong-In to take a few steps towards him, trying to prove that she was fine. The teachers asked the adoptive father to take Jeong-In to the hospital immediately, but he decided not to.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: The next day on October 13, 2020, Jeong-In's adoptive mother recorded with her phone to force Jeong-In to walk between 8:46 am and 9:01 am. In the video, Jeong-In seemed to be in severe pain, constantly crying, but her adoptive mother was yelling loudly and screaming at Jeong-In, demanding that she walk. At around 9:40 am, the neighbors downstairs heard some extremely loud noises from above, as if dumbbells were falling on the ground about 4-5 times. The neighbor went upstairs to check if everything was fine, but only Jang answered the door while her biological daughter peeked out. Jang apologized for the noise and said everything was OK. Then Jang called the daycare, stating that Jeong-In would be absent from daycare on that day. Around 10:19 am, the adoptive mother took her biological daughter to the daycare, and then to a lingerie store on the way home. In the surveillance footage, Jeong-In was not with her adoptive mother, and so she was alone at home again. Once returning home, Jang finally called a taxi to bring Jeong-In to the hospital. The taxi driver saw that Jeong-In was turning blue and unconscious, so he asked Jang to call the ambulance instead, but she refused. After several rounds of cardiac arrest and resuscitation in the ER, Jeong-In died on October 13, 2020, at the age of 16 months. While Jeong-In was fighting for her life in the ER, her adoptive mother was perusing online shopping malls, and looking for a fish cake to buy outside of the ER room.


title: Death of Jeong-In

text: During the trial, the autopsy came out and the doctor testified that Jeong-In's case was the worst child abuse case he had ever seen in his 20 years of experience. Out of the 3,800 bodies he has examined, from a pediatric perspective, Jeong-In had the worst injuries and her entire body was severely damaged from head to toe. The forensic doctor had never seen a ruptured pancreas in a pediatric case, and he concluded that Jeong-In was probably stepped on multiple times on her stomach by adults. Only extremely strong force applied to her abdomen would cause such rupture of her internal organs. Additionally, based on some recovered tissue found in Jeong-In's organs, the doctors also believed that there was another severe beating that happened 3–5 days prior to her death. The last few days in Jeong-In's life were in extreme pain, with even breathing being painful which explained why she could not cry in the day-care when she was last seen alive.


title: Next Northern Ireland Assembly election

text: A Northern Ireland Assembly election has to be held to elect 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly if the parties fail to form an Executive, which they have yet to do so. After the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election on 5 May, the DUP declined to agree on the appointment of Speaker to the Assembly, preventing the formation of an Executive. Chris Heaton-Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, confirmed a legal obligation to call an election if no Executive was formed by a 27 October 2022 deadline. No Executive was formed by this deadline, but Heaton-Harris delayed immediately calling an election and subsequently produced a new deadline of 8 December 2022, with the option for a further extension of 6 weeks beyond that. If no Executive is formed, an election will be required by 13 April 2023.


title: Next Northern Ireland Assembly election

text: The next election will be the eighth since the assembly was established in 1998. Seven parties have MLAs in the seventh assembly: Sinn Féin led by Michelle O'Neill, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by Jeffrey Donaldson, Alliance led by Naomi Long, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) led by Doug Beattie, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) led by Colum Eastwood, Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) led by Jim Allister, and People Before Profit (PBP), who have a collective leadership.


title: Next Northern Ireland Assembly election

text: Section 7 of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 specifies that elections will be held on the first Thursday in May on the fifth calendar year following that in which its predecessor was elected, which would be 6 May 2027. However, there are several circumstances in which the Assembly can be dissolved before the date scheduled by virtue of section 31(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.


title: Next Northern Ireland Assembly election

text: After the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, the DUP declined to join in forming a government due to its opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol on post-Brexit trading arrangements. If no government is formed within six months, the United Kingdom Government's Northern Ireland Secretary can call a new election early.


title: Next Northern Ireland Assembly election

text: On 28 September 2022, Chris Heaton-Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, stated that he had a legal obligation to call an early election on 28 October if no government was formed by that date, probably to be held no later than January 2023. Sinn Féin leader Michelle O'Neill voiced her opposition to such an election: "The people spoke, and the people asked for a functioning executive, they asked for us to make politics work." Both the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Irish Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar had urged the DUP to agree to the formation of a Government.


title: Next Northern Ireland Assembly election

text: The parties met on 27 October and failed to elect a Speaker, the fourth time they had met and failed to do so, and no government was formed by the deadline. On 28 October, Heaton-Harris expressed disappointment that no Executive had been formed and acknowledged his legal duty to call an election, but delayed immediately calling one. The chief electoral officer said the election date would likely be 15 December. The last date that an election could be held under the legislation existing then was 19 January 2023.


title: Next Northern Ireland Assembly election

text: On 29 October, Heaton-Harris delayed calling an election. Claire Hanna, a Member of Parliament for the SDLP, reacted to the news, saying an election was now "less likely". Heaton-Harris held another round of talks with the political parties on 1 November, amid speculation that the UK government could introduce legislation to delay the need for a new election. However, Northern Ireland Office Minister Steve Baker said on 2 November that Heaton-Harris "will soon confirm the date of the next Northern Ireland Assembly election as required by law."


title: Next Northern Ireland Assembly election

text: On 4 November, Heaton-Harris said an election would not be held in December. On 9 November, he said that he would be introducing legislation to extend the deadline to form a new Assembly Executive to 8 December 2022, with the option for an additional 6-week extension. This means the latest possible date for the next election, if an Executive is not formed, is 13 April 2023. The requisite legislation was passed by Parliament on 6 December 2022.


title: Vanilla (genus)

text: Vanilla, the vanilla orchids, forms a flowering plant genus of about 110 species in the orchid family (Orchidaceae). The most widely known member is the flat-leaved vanilla ("V. planifolia"), native to Mexico and Belize, from which commercial vanilla flavoring is derived. It is the only orchid widely used for industrial purposes in flavoring such products as foods, beverages and cosmetics, and is recognized as the most popular aroma and flavor. The key constituent imparting its flavour is the phenolic aldehyde, vanillin.


title: Vanilla (genus)

text: This evergreen genus occurs worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions, from tropical America to tropical Asia, New Guinea and West Africa. Five species are known from the contiguous United States, all limited to southern Florida.


title: Vanilla (genus)

text: The genus was established in 1754 by Plumier, based on J. Miller. The word vanilla, derived from the diminutive of the Spanish word vaina (vaina itself meaning sheath or pod), simply translates as little pod.


title: Vanilla (genus)

text: This genus of vine-like plants has a monopodial climbing habitus. They can form long thin stems with a length of more than 35 m, with alternate leaves spread along their length. The short, oblong, dark green leaves of "Vanilla" are thick and leathery, even fleshy in some species. But there are also a significant number of species that have their leaves reduced to scales or have become nearly or totally leafless and appear to use their green climbing stems for photosynthesis. Long and strong aerial roots grow from each node.


title: Vanilla (genus)

text: The racemose inflorescence's short-lived flowers arise successively on short peduncles from the leaf axils or scales. There may be up to 100 flowers on a single raceme, but usually no less than 20. The flowers are quite large and attractive with white, green, greenish yellow or cream colors. The flowers' sepals and petals are similar. The lip is tubular-shaped and surrounds the long, bristly column, opening up, as the bell of a trumpet, at its apex. The anther is at the top of the column and hangs over the stigma, separated by the rostellum. Most "Vanilla" flowers have a sweet scent.


title: Vanilla (genus)

text: Blooming occurs only when the flowers are fully grown. Each flower opens up in the morning and closes late in the afternoon on the same day, never to reopen. If pollination has not occurred meanwhile, it will be shed. The flowers are self-fertile, but need pollinators to perform this task. In the Neotropics, the flowers were historically presumed to be pollinated by stingless bees (e.g. "Melipona") or hummingbirds, but this was never confirmed; the only actual documented pollination (i.e., producing seed set) is recorded for an orchid bee, "Eulaema meriana", visiting "Vanilla grandiflora" in Peru, and pollinia of "Vanilla" species have been observed attached to other species of "Eulaema" in Panama. Hand pollination is the most reliable method in commercially grown vanilla. Vanilla plantations require trees for the orchids to climb and anchor by its roots.


title: Vanilla (genus)

text: The fruit is termed "vanilla bean", though true beans are fabaceous eudicots not at all closely related to orchids. Rather, the vanilla fruit is technically an elongate, fleshy and later dehiscent capsule 10–20 cm long. It ripens gradually for 8 to 9 months after flowering, eventually turning black in color and giving off a strong aroma. Each pod contains thousands of minute seeds, and both the pods and seeds within are used to create vanilla flavoring. Vanilla beans are harvested by hand from commercial orchards.


title: Vanilla (genus)

text: "Vanilla" species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, such as the woolly bear moths "Hypercompe eridanus" and "H. icasia". Off-season or when abandoned, they may serve as habitat for animals of open forest, e.g. on the Comoros for Robert Mertens's day gecko ("Phelsuma robertmertensi").


title: Vanilla (genus)

text: Regarded as the world's most popular aroma and flavor, vanilla contains the phenolic aldehyde, vanillin, as well as anisaldehyde, together accounting for its predominant sensory characteristics. Vanilla is a widely used aroma and flavor compound for foods, beverages and cosmetics, as indicated by its popularity as an ice cream flavor.


title: Chandrakanta (1994 TV series)

text: Chandrakanta is an Indian fantasy television series partly based on Devaki Nandan Khatri's 1888 novel of the same name. It was originally telecast on DD National between 1994 and 1996 and was created, written, produced, and directed by Nirja Guleri. The serial was pulled off air by Doordarshan in 1996 and the producers had to file a suit in court for reinstatement. Reruns of the show also aired on Star Plus and Sony Entertainment Television.


title: Chandrakanta (1994 TV series)

text: Kamlapati Khatri, the grandson of the novel's author, has said that the producer "had not done justice to the soul of Khatri's Chandrakanta". He has also accused the producers of willfully misrepresenting certain concepts from the novel, such as "tilism" (kind of a maze) and "ayyari" (spying), and showing them as "jadu-tona" (sorcery), as well as criticizing the characters and the sequences in the Chunar fort for being overly exaggerated, and how far into the show Chandrakanta appeared.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to produce ephemeris data.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: Modern analytic celestial mechanics started with Isaac Newton's Principia of 1687. The name "celestial mechanics" is more recent than that. Newton wrote that the field should be called "rational mechanics." The term "dynamics" came in a little later with Gottfried Leibniz, and over a century after Newton, Pierre-Simon Laplace introduced the term "celestial mechanics." Prior to Kepler there was little connection between exact, quantitative prediction of planetary positions, using geometrical or arithmetical techniques, and contemporary discussions of the physical causes of the planets' motion.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) was the first to closely integrate the predictive geometrical astronomy, which had been dominant from Ptolemy in the 2nd century to Copernicus, with physical concepts to produce a "New Astronomy, Based upon Causes, or Celestial Physics" in 1609. His work led to the modern laws of planetary orbits, which he developed using his physical principles and the planetary observations made by Tycho Brahe. Kepler's model greatly improved the accuracy of predictions of planetary motion, years before Isaac Newton developed his law of gravitation in 1686.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: Isaac Newton (25 December 1642–31 March 1727) is credited with introducing the idea that the motion of objects in the heavens, such as planets, the Sun, and the Moon, and the motion of objects on the ground, like cannon balls and falling apples, could be described by the same set of physical laws. In this sense he unified "celestial" and "terrestrial" dynamics. Using Newton's law of universal gravitation, proving Kepler's Laws for the case of a circular orbit is simple. Elliptical orbits involve more complex calculations, which Newton included in his "Principia".


title: Celestial mechanics

text: After Newton, Lagrange (25 January 1736–10 April 1813) attempted to solve the three-body problem, analyzed the stability of planetary orbits, and discovered the existence of the Lagrangian points. Lagrange also reformulated the principles of classical mechanics, emphasizing energy more than force and developing a method to use a single polar coordinate equation to describe any orbit, even those that are parabolic and hyperbolic. This is useful for calculating the behaviour of planets and comets and such. More recently, it has also become useful to calculate spacecraft trajectories.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: Simon Newcomb (12 March 1835–11 July 1909) was a Canadian-American astronomer who revised Peter Andreas Hansen's table of lunar positions. In 1877, assisted by George William Hill, he recalculated all the major astronomical constants. After 1884, he conceived with A. M. W. Downing a plan to resolve much international confusion on the subject. By the time he attended a standardisation conference in Paris, France, in May 1886, the international consensus was that all ephemerides should be based on Newcomb's calculations. A further conference as late as 1950 confirmed Newcomb's constants as the international standard.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: Albert Einstein (14 March 1879–18 April 1955) explained the anomalous precession of Mercury's perihelion in his 1916 paper "The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity". This led astronomers to recognize that Newtonian mechanics did not provide the highest accuracy. Binary pulsars have been observed, the first in 1974, whose orbits not only require the use of General Relativity for their explanation, but whose evolution proves the existence of gravitational radiation, a discovery that led to the 1993 Nobel Physics Prize.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: Celestial motion, without additional forces such as drag forces or the thrust of a rocket, is governed by the reciprocal gravitational acceleration between masses. A generalization is the "n"-body problem, where a number "n" of masses are mutually interacting via the gravitational force. Although analytically not integrable in the general case, the integration can be well approximated numerically.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: In the formula_1 case (two-body problem) the configuration is much simpler than for formula_2. In this case, the system is fully integrable and exact solutions can be found.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: A further simplification is based on the "standard assumptions in astrodynamics", which include that one body, the orbiting body, is much smaller than the other, the central body. This is also often approximately valid.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: Perturbation theory comprises mathematical methods that are used to find an approximate solution to a problem which cannot be solved exactly. (It is closely related to methods used in numerical analysis, which are ancient.) The earliest use of modern perturbation theory was to deal with the otherwise unsolvable mathematical problems of celestial mechanics: Newton's solution for the orbit of the Moon, which moves noticeably differently from a simple Keplerian ellipse because of the competing gravitation of the Earth and the Sun.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: Perturbation methods start with a simplified form of the original problem, which is carefully chosen to be exactly solvable. In celestial mechanics, this is usually a Keplerian ellipse, which is correct when there are only two gravitating bodies (say, the Earth and the Moon), or a circular orbit, which is only correct in special cases of two-body motion, but is often close enough for practical use.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: The solved, but simplified problem is then ""perturbed"" to make its time-rate-of-change equations for the object's position closer to the values from the real problem, such as including the gravitational attraction of a third, more distant body (the Sun). The slight changes that result from the terms in the equations – which themselves may have been simplified yet again – are used as corrections to the original solution. Because simplifications are made at every step, the corrections are never perfect, but even one cycle of corrections often provides a remarkably better approximate solution to the real problem.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: There is no requirement to stop at only one cycle of corrections. A partially corrected solution can be re-used as the new starting point for yet another cycle of perturbations and corrections. In principle, for most problems the recycling and refining of prior solutions to obtain a new generation of better solutions could continue indefinitely, to any desired finite degree of accuracy.


title: Celestial mechanics

text: The common difficulty with the method is that the corrections usually progressively make the new solutions very much more complicated, so each cycle is much more difficult to manage than the previous cycle of corrections. Newton is reported to have said, regarding the problem of the Moon's orbit ""It causeth my head to ache.""


title: Celestial mechanics

text: This general procedure – starting with a simplified problem and gradually adding corrections that make the starting point of the corrected problem closer to the real situation – is a widely used mathematical tool in advanced sciences and engineering. It is the natural extension of the "guess, check, and fix" method used anciently with numbers.


title: Donna Wilkes

text: Donna Consuelo Wilkes (born November 11, 1958) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actor in commercials before making her feature film debut in "Jaws 2" (1978). She subsequently had a supporting role in "Almost Summer" (1978), followed by lead roles in the horror films "Schizoid" (1980) and "Blood Song" (1982). She also appeared in several television programs, including the soap opera "Days of Our Lives" (1982–1983), portraying Pamela Prentiss. She portrayed Diane Alder in the short-lived sitcom "Hello, Larry" (1979), a role she reprised in a spin-off episode of "Diff'rent Strokes".


title: Donna Wilkes

text: Wilkes is perhaps best known for her starring role in the thriller "Angel" (1984), in which she portrayed a preparatory student in Los Angeles who lives a double life as a prostitute by night. Her other credits include the horror film "Grotesque" (1988), opposite Linda Blair and Tab Hunter, and guest-starring roles on the series "Dragnet" (1989) and "" (1991).


title: Donna Wilkes

text: Wilkes abandoned her acting career in the early 1990s after the birth of her daughter. She returned to acting in 2013, appearing in the independent films "My Stepbrother Is a Vampire!?!" and "90210 Shark Attack" (2014).


title: Donna Wilkes

text: Wilkes was born in Manhattan, New York City in Spanish Harlem. Her father was Wayman Otis Wilkes (1918–2013), an Irish American chiropractor originally from Texas, while her mother, a nightclub singer from El Salvador, was of Spanish and French descent. Wilkes's parents divorced when she was 3 months old. She was raised speaking both English and Spanish, and is fluent in both.


title: Donna Wilkes

text: When she was six she made her first commercial, for Keds sneakers. She trained in acting at Dominica American Theatre of Performing Arts, but stopped her training at age 11 to become a "normal student." At age 12, she went to live with her aunt and uncle in the Dominican Republic. Wilkes attended the Collegio Santo Domingo where she was an advanced student, graduating at age 14. At age 15, she moved to Los Angeles, California, but, unable to work at such a young age, convinced many employers that she was 18 and married. Her first jobs included being a computer operator for an ambulance service, and as a secretary and administrative assistant for a large corporation.


title: Donna Wilkes

text: Wilkes began acting again at age 17. Her first role was the part of Jackie Peters in the 1978 Universal Pictures film "Jaws 2". That same year, she starred as Meredith in "Almost Summer", which earned her a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card. At around age 18, she married 39-year-old actor Billy Gray, known for his work on "Father Knows Best". The marriage soon ended in divorce.


title: Donna Wilkes

text: In 1980, Wilkes portrayed the mentally-unstable daughter of a psychologist (played by Klaus Kinski) in the horror film "Schizoid". She subsequently starred in the Oregon-shot slasher film "Blood Song" (1982) opposite Frankie Avalon, playing a disabled young woman stalked by a maniacal killer with whom she has a telepathic connection.


title: Donna Wilkes

text: Wilkes had a central role as Pamela Prentiss on the soap opera "Days of Our Lives" from 1983 to 1984.


title: Donna Wilkes

text: She subsequently gained international attention for her leading role in the cult sexploitation film "Angel", in which she played Molly "Angel" Stewart, a high school honor student by day, and a prostitute by night, opposite Cliff Gorman, Susan Tyrrell, Dick Shawn, and Rory Calhoun. The film spawned three unsuccessful sequels in which Wilkes had no involvement. Wilkes was 22 or so at the time she played the 15-year-old character. To prepare for the role, she spent time in halfway houses and rehabilitation centers in Los Angeles. Released by New World Pictures in January 1984, "Angel" was a box-office hit, grossing $17.5 million in the United States.


title: Donna Wilkes

text: Following "Angel", Wilkes continued to work in television, making guest appearances on the series "Partners in Crime" (1984), "Hell Town" (1985), and "Dragnet" (1989). She also had a supporting role in the horror film "Grotesque" (1988), co-starring with Linda Blair and Tab Hunter.


title: Donna Wilkes

text: Wilkes abandoned her acting career in the early 1990s after giving birth to her daughter. She returned to acting in the 2010s, appearing in the independent films "My Stepbrother Is a Vampire!?!" (2013), "90210 Shark Attack" (2014) and "Buzz Cut" (2021).


title: 10x10 (film)

text: 10x10 is a 2018 British-American thriller film directed by Suzi Ewing and starring Luke Evans and Kelly Reilly. It was written and produced by Noel Clarke, through his production company Unstoppable Entertainment.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: The movie starts with a shifty man named Robert Lewis (Luke Evans) watching flower shop owner Cathy Newland (Kelly Reilly) take a seat in a restaurant to eat lunch. He gets up and casually walks by her to wait outside at the car parking lot for her. She exits soon after and goes to her yoga lessons. He parks his car next to her car and kidnaps her when she comes out. He drives to a remote house and locks her in a small (10 by 10) room, which appears to be a cellar. He emphasizes to her that the house is isolated and the cellar is soundproof; there is no way to escape. He tells her that if he wanted to kill her, he already could have.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: Cathy gets her bound hands in front of her and attacks him when he comes to get her for lunch. She tries to call the police on the land line but he shoots the phone and so she desperately tries to get free. Unsuccessful, she sits down to eat with him. He asks her name, but attacks her when she answers; they fight and he overpowers her, returning her to the cellar. As he exits the cellar his maid, Alondra, enters the house to be astonished at a disheveled and bleeding Lewis; he had forgotten to tell her to take a day off, but sends her away now.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: Cathy lies in the cellar, bleeding and in pain. He returns and questions her. She tells him she already answered him, but he keeps asking for details of her past life, insisting that she is lying. He continues to press her, and she changes her story. She said she studied English and owns a flower shop, but now admits having studied medicine and formerly worked as a nurse.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: Flashback to a public trial where several people have died. It transpires that "Cathy" is actually Nathalie Ann Steven, the twin sister to Cathy, who killed herself after their father cheated on their mother with a cheerleader for the football team he worked for as a doctor.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: Lewis watches a movie where he cradles a baby (presumedly his own child). In the meantime Nathalie tries to call the police on a mobile phone she had hidden. He rushes in to ask her about the Charleston Three, three patients admitted to the All Angels Hospital in Charleston who died under the nurses’ care, one of whom was his wife, Alana Matthews Lewis. He accuses her of murder since his wife's blood was full of alcohol and the rape drug GHB. She apologizes for Alana's death, and he simply states that he knows that she killed his wife.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: He returns to the cellar to threaten her with his gun. She talks about her childhood in a religious household; how, after their father had left, they were treated like outcasts over the twins’ father had sinned against the family and that her sister committed suicide by hanging in the family’s barn as a result.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: Nathalie tells him that she killed these three patients out of vengeance for being sinners (John Lamptey, had two wives, Jane Spencer lied to the police about her husband abusing her for alimony, and Alana cheated on Lewis), but he refuses to believe his wife had cheated on him. He looks for evidence for his wife's infidelity on videos and sees one part in particular where her phone rings, she looks at it impassively and ends the call.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: Emotionally overwhelmed, Lewis drives away. He has a brief encounter with police while stopped at a lake, but he is able to quell any suspicions. In the meantime Nathalie tries to remove a broken shard of floor tile to cut open her restraints.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: He returns to his house, tells her she had no right to kill his wife before he could talk to her, and demands she go to the police and confess to the Charleston Three Murders case. She says she is now Cathy Newland and won't let him ruin her fresh start of a now-happy life, then attacks him with the floor shard.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: He bleeds heavily and tries to lock her into the cellar again but she flees upstairs. Alondra, the maid, comes home with Lewis' daughter Summer, who came home from a sleepover. Nathalie shoots Alondra and takes Summer as hostage. She tells him this can only end with his and his Summer's death, and says Summer is not his biological daughter, since his wife cheated on him.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: Summer says Nathalie is gone, and they prepare to leave the house. He takes the recordings from the computer of Nathalie's confessions, and runs to the garage where she corners him. She tries to stab him with a pitchfork, but he drives it upwards to take her off balance and knocks her unconscious. Soon after the police arrive and the nightmare is over.


title: 10x10 (film)

text: The film has generally received positive reviews from critics with on Rotten Tomatoes. Noel Murray of the "Los Angeles Times" praised the performances and twists, but questioned some storytelling choices.


title: Mason Musso

text: Mason Tyler Musso (born March 17, 1989) is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known for being the lead vocalist of Metro Station. He is the older brother of actor Mitchel Musso of "Hannah Montana" fame.


title: Mason Musso

text: Mason Tyler Musso was born to Katherine (née Moore) and Samuel Musso in Dallas, Texas, on March 17, 1989. Soon after, his family moved to Rockwall, Texas. He has two younger brothers, Mitchel and Marc, who are both actors. In 2006, Mitchel landed the role of Oliver Oken on the Disney Channel children's comedy series "Hannah Montana", causing the Musso family to move to Burbank, California. Musso attended College of the Canyons studying music business classes in 2006.


title: Mason Musso

text: Mason Musso met Trace Cyrus, the older brother of actress and musician Miley Cyrus, on the set of Miley's television show, "Hannah Montana". Soon afterward, the two formed the band Metro Station with Blake Healy and Anthony Improgo. The group released songs on Myspace and soon signed a record deal with Columbia/Red Ink. The band released their debut album "Metro Station" on September 18, 2007, and peaked at number 39 on "Billboard 200" and has been certified gold in Canada. This album included the single "Shake It", which peaked at #10 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Internationally, it charted in the top ten in eight countries outside the United States (#2 in Australia, #4 in Canada and the Republic of Ireland, #6 in the United Kingdom, #8 in Japan and #9 in Austria, Germany and New Zealand). The single was certified Gold by the RIAA on June 13, 2008, and later Platinum that year, finally reaching Double Platinum status at the end of January 2009. In December 2007 they released their fourth single "Seventeen Forever" from the album. It is their second song to hit the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 42 and has been certified gold.


title: Mason Musso

text: The band went on and recorded a song for the feature-length film "Alice in Wonderland", titled "Where's My Angel". In March 2010, after a number of personal disputes between Musso and Cyrus the band went into indefinite hiatus. Metro Station officially disbanded when it was announced both Musso and Cyrus were working on solo projects.


title: Mason Musso

text: On May 31, 2011, Musso released a track "Ain't So High" on YouTube after acquiring the rights to the Metro Station name. On July 20, 2011, Musso announced he was working on a new Metro Station record with help from former members Blake Healy and Anthony Improgo. On September 25, 2011, Musso released a second song, "Closer and Closer" on SoundCloud and YouTube with Blake Healy.


title: Mason Musso

text: On August 13, 2014, Cyrus returned to the band. On June 30, 2015, the band released their second album, "Savior". They disbanded once again in 2017 but reunited again in 2019, and released the single "I Hate Society" in 2020.


title: Mason Musso

text: In 2020, Musso worked with Louis Vecchio, Matthew Di Panni and Anthony Improgo to start a new project under the name "Social Order". Musso spoke in an interview with "Alternative Press" on why the project started. He stated, "The whole quarantine has definitely got me wanting to write more, try new projects and experiment with different stuff that I wouldn't normally do." Their debut single "Going Outside Dancing" was released that same year. The group released an EP titled, "How to Lie" in 2022.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Sexual differentiation in humans is the process of development of sex differences in humans. It is defined as the development of phenotypic structures consequent to the action of hormones produced following gonadal determination. Sexual differentiation includes development of different genitalia and the internal genital tracts and body hair plays a role in sex identification.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: The development of sexual differences begins with the XY sex-determination system that is present in humans, and complex mechanisms are responsible for the development of the phenotypic differences between male and female humans from an undifferentiated zygote. Females typically have two X chromosomes, and males typically have a Y chromosome and an X chromosome. At an early stage in embryonic development, both sexes possess equivalent internal structures. These are the mesonephric ducts and paramesonephric ducts. The presence of the SRY gene on the Y chromosome causes the development of the testes in males, and the subsequent release of hormones which cause the paramesonephric ducts to regress. In females, the mesonephric ducts regress.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Most mammals, including humans, have an XY sex-determination system: the Y chromosome carries factors responsible for triggering male development. In the absence of a Y chromosome, the fetus will undergo female development. This is because of the presence of the sex-determining region of the Y chromosome, also known as the SRY gene. Thus, male mammals typically have an X and a Y chromosome (XY), while female mammals typically have two X chromosomes (XX).


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Chromosomal sex is determined at the time of fertilization; a chromosome from the sperm cell, either X or Y, fuses with the X chromosome in the egg cell. "Gonadal sex" refers to the gonads, that is the testis or ovaries, depending on which genes are expressed. "Phenotypic sex" refers to the structures of the external and internal genitalia.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: 6 weeks elapse after fertilization before the first signs of sex differentiation can be observed in human embryos. The embryo and subsequent early fetus appear to be sexually indifferent, looking neither like a male or a female. Over the next several weeks, hormones are produced that cause undifferentiated tissue to transform into either male or female reproductive organs. This process is called sexual differentiation. The precursor of the internal female sex organs is called the Müllerian system.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: By 7 weeks, a fetus has a genital tubercle, urogenital groove and sinus, and labioscrotal folds. In females, without excess androgens, these become the clitoris, urethra and vagina, and labia.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Differentiation between the sexes of the sex organs occurs throughout embryological, fetal and later life. This includes both internal and external genital differentiation. In both males and females, the sex organs consist of three structures: the gonads, the internal genitalia, and the external genitalia. In males, the gonads are the testes and in females they are the ovaries. These are the organs that produce gametes (egg and sperm), the reproductive cells that will eventually meet to form the fertilized egg (zygote).


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: As the zygote divides, it first becomes the embryo (which means 'growing within'), typically between zero and eight weeks, then from the eighth week until birth, it is considered the fetus (which means 'unborn offspring'). The internal genitalia are all the accessory glands and ducts that connect the gonads to the outside environment. The external genitalia consist of all the external reproductive structures. The sex of an early embryo cannot be determined because the reproductive structures do not differentiate until the seventh week. Prior to this, the child is considered bipotential because it cannot be identified as male or female.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: The internal genitalia consist of two accessory ducts: mesonephric ducts (male) and paramesonephric ducts (female). The mesonephric system is the precursor to the male genitalia and the paramesonephric to the female reproductive system. As development proceeds, one of the pairs of ducts develops while the other regresses. This depends on the presence or absence of the sex determining region of the Y chromosome, also known as the SRY gene. In the presence of a functional SRY gene, the bipotential gonads develop into testes. Gonads are histologically distinguishable by 6–8 weeks of gestation.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Subsequent development of one set and degeneration of the other depends on the presence or absence of two testicular hormones: testosterone and anti-müllerian hormone (AMH). Disruption of typical development may result in the development of both, or neither, duct system, which may produce morphologically intersex individuals.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Males: The SRY gene when transcribed and processed produces SRY protein that binds to DNA and directs the development of the gonad into testes. Male development can only occur when the fetal testis secretes key hormones at a critical period in early gestation. The testes begin to secrete three hormones that influence the male internal and external genitalia: they secrete anti-müllerian hormone (AMH), testosterone, and dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Anti-müllerian hormone causes the paramesonephric ducts to regress. Testosterone converts the mesonephric ducts into male accessory structures, including the epididymis, vas deferens, and seminal vesicle. Testosterone will also control the descending of the testes from the abdomen into the scrotum. Many other genes found on other autosomes, including "WT1", "SOX9" and "SF1" also play a role in gonadal development.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Females: Without testosterone and AMH, the mesonephric ducts degenerate and disappear. The paramesonephric ducts develop into a uterus, fallopian tubes, and upper vagina. There still remains a broad lack of information about the genetic controls of female development, and much remains unknown about the female embryonic process.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Males become externally distinct between 8 and 12 weeks, as androgens enlarge the phallus and cause the urogenital groove and sinus to fuse in the midline, producing an unambiguous penis with a phallic urethra, and a thinned, rugate scrotum. Dihydrotestosterone will differentiate the remaining male characteristics of the external genitalia.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: A sufficient amount of any androgen can cause external masculinization. The most potent is dihydrotestosterone (DHT), generated from testosterone in skin and genital tissue by the action of 5α-reductase. A male fetus may be incompletely masculinized if this enzyme is deficient. In some diseases and circumstances, other androgens may be present in high enough concentrations to cause partial or (rarely) complete masculinization of the external genitalia of a genetically female fetus. The testes begin to secrete three hormones that influence the male internal and external genitalia. They secrete anti-müllerian hormone, testosterone, and Dihydrotestosterone. Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) causes the paramesonephric ducts to regress. Testosterone, which is secreted and converts the mesonephric ducts into male accessory structures, such as epididymis, vas deferens and seminal vesicle. Testosterone will also control the descending of the testes from the abdomen into the scrotum. Dihydrotestosterone, also known as (DHT) will differentiate the remaining male characteristics of the external genitalia.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Further sex differentiation of the external genitalia occurs at puberty, when androgen levels again become disparate. Male levels of testosterone directly induce growth of the penis, and indirectly (via DHT) the prostate.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Alfred Jost observed that while testosterone was required for mesonephric duct development, the regression of the paramesonephric duct was due to another substance. This was later determined to be paramesonephric inhibiting substance (MIS), a 140 kD dimeric glycoprotein that is produced by sertoli cells. MIS blocks the development of paramesonephric ducts, promoting their regression.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Visible differentiation occurs at puberty, when estradiol and other hormones cause breasts to develop in typical females.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Human adults and children show many psychological and behavioral sex differences. Some (e.g. dress) are learned and cultural. Others are demonstrable across cultures and have both biological and learned determinants. For example, some studies claim girls are, on average, more verbally fluent than boys, but boys are, on average, better at spatial calculation. Some have observed that this may be due to two different patterns in parental communication with infants, noting that parents are more likely to talk to girls and more likely to engage in physical play with boys. Because researchers cannot explore hormonal influences on human behavior experimentally, the relative contributions of biological factors and learning to human psychological and behavioral sex differences (especially gender identity, role, and sexual orientation) are controversial (and hotly contested).


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: Current theories on mechanisms of sexual differentiation of brains and behavior in humans are based primarily on three sources of evidence: animal research involving manipulation of hormones in early life, observation of outcomes of small numbers of individuals with intersex conditions or cases of early sex reassignment, and statistical distribution of traits in populations (e.g., rates of homosexuality in twins). Many of these cases suggest some genetic or hormonal effect on sex differentiation of behavior and mental traits. This has been disputed as poor interpretation of scientific methodology.


title: Sexual differentiation in humans

text: The following are some of the variations associated with atypical determination and differentiation process:


title: Crown Sydney

text: Crown Sydney (also referred to as One Barangaroo) is a skyscraper in Barangaroo, New South Wales, Australia. Designed by WilkinsonEyre, it stands at a height of with 75 floors, making it the tallest building in Sydney and 4th tallest building in Australia. It was developed by Crown Resorts, primarily comprising a hotel and residential apartments, while a casino and other hospitality venues make up the rest of its floorspace. Construction first began in October 2016, before topping out in March 2020. The tower was inaugurated to the public in December 2020.


title: Crown Sydney

text: Crown Sydney is a major component in the urban redevelopment of the Barangaroo area of central Sydney, forming part of a cluster of skyscrapers comprising the adjacent One Sydney Harbour and International Towers complexes. The tower sits on the site of former industrial wharves, which were progressively paved over through land reclamation in the 1960s and 70s after falling into disuse, forming the unoccupied concrete site on which the tower was developed on.


title: Crown Sydney

text: Initial concepts for a hotel development in Barangaroo as part of its urban redevelopment plan first circulated in 2010. These concepts mostly centred around a 213 metre (698 ft) tall hotel tower built on a pier extended 150 metres (492 ft) into the harbour. Following public backlash, the height of the tower was lowered to 159 metres (522 ft) and the length of the pier was reduced to 85 metres (279 ft). These proposals failed to gain traction.


title: Crown Sydney

text: In February 2012, James Packer's casino group, Crown Resorts, presented an A$1 billion+ proposal to Premier Barry O'Farrell to build a hotel, casino and entertainment complex at the site on land that was set aside for open space at Barangaroo Central, a departure from previous concepts of building a tower on an extended pier in the harbour. O'Farrell initially welcomed the proposal, yet cautioned it would need to gain regulatory approval before going ahead.


title: Crown Sydney

text: The proposal drew widespread criticism from the Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Paul Keating, and former government architect, Chris Johnson. In October 2012, Premier O'Farrell announced that the NSW Cabinet had reviewed the proposal and decided that the government would enter into detailed negotiations with Crown Resorts for the establishment of a casino and hotel complex at Barangaroo. Tony Harris, a former Auditor-General of New South Wales was critical of the decision−making process, claiming the public could miss out on millions of dollars. Packer wrote a defence of his proposal for the press.


title: Crown Sydney

text: In July 2013 after a recommendation from an independent steering committee, O'Farrell announced the Crown proposal would be moved to Stage 3 of the unsolicited proposals process, the final stage where the parties will negotiate a binding contract. The government received a $100 million upfront fee for the licence, despite being offered $250 million with alternative tax arrangements which the steering committee's economic advisor Deloitte calculated was a superior offer. Crown's intention was to lure Chinese high-rollers to its Sydney casino, leveraging off its interests in its Macau casinos and taking advantage of a new streamlined visa process introduced by the Australian government for Chinese citizens wanting to gamble at Australian casinos. In November 2013, it was announced that Crown Sydney had received approval for the casino licence and place at Barangaroo.


title: Crown Sydney

text: In November 2015, Packer expressed his frustrations over the delaying of the project from strenuous government planning laws. Following this in March 2016, a series of proposals to change aspects of the building were recommended by the State Government in order for the project to receive final approval. This included the introduction of a new recess in the interior as well as new cladding on the south side of the building. An observation deck on the 66th floor from a height of 250 metres (820 ft) above ground, as well as public access to the upper floors, was also proposed. In June 2016, the casino received final approval from the Planning Assessment Commission on condition that the casino met needs proposed by the commission, including adequate public spaces and access.


title: Crown Sydney

text: Despite the development's approval, the Millers Point Fund lodged legal action against the project in early August 2016 challenging the validity of the casino and aiming to have construction on the project halted. Crown Resorts responded, stating they would "vigorously defend" their actions. The dispute was held in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales in late August, with a decisive dismissal of the Millers Point Fund's claims.


title: Crown Sydney

text: In November 2020, Crown Resorts was investigated by Liquor & Gaming NSW after Crown Resorts admitted to money laundering in some of its VIP accounts at Crown venues in other states. Consequently, Crown Sydney was blocked from opening its casino entity, although other operations within the building remained unaffected. Following a complete overhaul of Crown Resort's board, management and procedures, a conditional license was finally granted for the casino in June 2022, allowing for its opening in August 2022.


title: Crown Sydney

text: Lendlease was contracted for the main construction of the structure, while the Robert Bird Group oversaw structural engineering and LCI as head of MEP servicing. Initial site works commenced in October 2016, starting with an excavation and decontamination of the site, mostly of remnants of asbestos; indicative of the site's industrial history. Excavation of the basement and foundation works would continue throughout 2017. Between February and March 2018, tower cranes were assembled on site, to commence works on the main core and floorplates, which would see the structure start to rise throughout 2018. A top-down method of construction was utilised on the core.


title: Crown Sydney

text: By March 2019, the structure had reached a height of 120 metres (394 ft). The structure continued to rise throughout 2019, reaching a "halfway point" in its construction by May 2019, which would be followed closely by the installation of approximately 7000 triangular glass panels for the facade of the building. The main core of the structure topped-out in March 2020, followed by the floorplates which topped out and reached the building's full architectural height in May 2020. Fit-out of the internals of the building and facade continued throughout 2020, before completion was reached in December 2020. Crown Sydney was officially inaugurated to the public on 28 December 2020.


title: Crown Sydney

text: In 2013, Crown Resorts launched a design competition, seeking expressions of interest from eight architecture firms with experience in similar hospitality focused projects. A shortlist of designs from Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, Kohn Pedersen Fox and WilkinsonEyre were subsequently selected and a jury panel was formed to select the hotel's final design and Principal Architect. The jury panel consisted of representatives from Crown Resorts, Lendlease and the Barangaroo Delivery Authority as well as a prominent architect representing the NSW Department of Planning and an observer from the City of Sydney. A unanimous vote in favour of Wilkinson Eyre's design was finalised in May 2013.


title: Crown Sydney

text: The design and form of the tower takes inspiration from natural forms and curved geometry, emanating from three "petals" that twist and rise together, The geometry of the tower was derived using parametric 3D modelling, to accommodate a 60-degree twist in the outer skin with helical columns on the perimeter while maintaining a vertical core structure. According to Wilkinson Eyre, the tower ""is derived from a sculptural form that is reminiscent of three twisting petals and takes inspiration from nature, being composed of organic forms without literal or direct reference"." Additionally, the twisting shape of the upper and intermediate levels of the tower are designed to maximise views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Founding architect Chris Wilkinson further describes the design of the tower as ""a sculptural form that will rise up on the skyline like an inhabited artwork, with differing levels of transparency, striking a clear new image against the sky”."


title: Crown Sydney

text: Crown Sydney comprises a floor area of . The casino floor along with bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues occupy the podium of the tower. Crown Resort's six star hotel makes up the lower levels of the tower from levels 6 to 32, including the protruding lower south east wing of the building. Private residential apartments occupy levels 33 to 63 of the tower, while duplex penthouses occupy levels 64 to 66. A public observation deck occupies a small section of level 66. The tower is topped with the hotel's "sky villas", occupying levels 67 to 69, with utilities making up the remaining levels of 70 and 71.


title: Crown Sydney

text: Popular opinion is divided on the design of the tower. Australian and international media have reported that the building has been nicknamed "Packer's Pecker", in reference to its primary proponent, James Packer, and its outsized massing and phallic shape. Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating admired the tower for its ""Brancusi-like sculptural quality"" and clean sculptural shape. Some architectural commentators have commented unfavourably on the quality of the design, especially compared to other works by its designers. On the other hand, Crown Resorts has described the tower as "epic" and having "opulence, style and substance".


title: Crown Sydney

text: Emporis named Crown Sydney as the winner of their prestigious Skyscraper Award in 2021; the first building in Australia to win the award in the competition's 20 year history. Coming ahead of the Telus Sky tower and One Vanderbilt in 2nd and 3rd places respectively, a jury of international architects attributed Crown Sydney's ""extravagant design of (its) exterior facade"" as the deciding factor for its first place finish.


title: Crown Sydney

text: Researchers from the Responsible Gambling Fund financed, University of Sydney Gambling Treatment Clinic, have suggested that strategies such as a minimum bet size are not likely to prevent the local community from being affected by problem gambling. They have suggested that students, new immigrants and working class individuals are typically and more likely found to be losing large amounts of money at Casino style table and electronic games.


title: Crown Sydney

text: Academic researchers have suggested that while the casino is initially not licensed to offer poker machines, it will inevitably gain a licence in future years.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Marriage in Korea mirrors many of the practices and expectations of marriages in other societies. Modern practices are a combination of millennia-old traditions and global influences.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Marriages during the Koryo Period were made primarily on the basis of political and economic considerations, at least among the aristocracy.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: King T'aejo, the founder of the Koryo Dynasty, had 29 queens with which he built alliances with other aristocratic families. However, he married all but two of his daughters to their half brothers, rather than using them to further build and affirm alliances. A strategy continued by his successors. The practice of marrying royal daughters to half brothers ended under the insistence of the Mongol Empire, and the Mongol and Korean royal families exchanged princesses. The kings of Goryeo married the imperial princesses of the Yuan dynasty (Mongol Empire), beginning with the marriage of King Chungnyeol to a daughter of Kublai Khan. Cousin marriage was common in the early Koryo Period, and non-royal aristocrats married daughters to half brothers of different mothers also. However, such consanguineous marriages were gradually prohibited by banning such individuals' children from attaining positions in the state bureaucracy and later came to labeled as adulterous but often persisted despite these sanctions.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: In contrast with the prevailing custom of patrilocal residence for married couples during the Choson Period and modern era, Koreans of the Koryo Period it was not uncommon for a husband to matrilocally reside with his wife and her parents after marriage. Wedding ceremonies were held at the home of the bride's family and the average age of marriage was late teens with aristocrats marrying earlier than commoners. Weddings included gift exchange and a banquet, which were meant to display the bride's family's wealth. There was no exchange of bride wealth or dowry. Marriages were often arranged by matchmakers. Koryo society was highly stratified and kinship and status were determined bilaterally, including the status and relatives of both mothers and fathers. Thus, unlike during the Choson Period, brides and husbands remained members of both their natal kin group and their affinal family after marriage. Marriage ideally did not lead to the division of the household into smaller units and families preferred to retain their daughters after marriage, with or without their husbands. The prospect of an inheritance from in-laws may have been a significant motivation for husbands to take up residence with their wives' Kin. Inheritance was not determined by primogeniture and both sons and daughters received equal shares of inheritance from their parents.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Although plural marriages were practiced, wives and their offspring were not ranked and each had equal claim as heirs. Marriages could easily be broken by husbands or wives. A woman who remarried too frequently could gain a negative reputation as promiscuous, but Koreans of the Koryo dynasty were not seen as prudish, at least by Chinese standards of the time. There were no prohibitions against widows remarrying apart from having to observe a period of mourning. Offspring of a widower were retained by their mother and her family.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Distinctions were introduced at the beginning of the Joseon dynasty, in imitation of feudal imperial China, which distinguished primary and secondary wives, thereby clarifying the line of succession. Essential criteria for a primary wife was that she entered her husband's family as a virgin, and that she could not be descended from low-class ancestry in the case of marriages to noblemen, who, at the introduction of this rule, were forced to choose which of their already multiple wives to designate as primary. In imitation of the Ming criminal code, primary wives could not be divorced for another, and wives’ rankings could not be re-ordered. The purpose of the reform ranking wives was to increase the clarity of distinctions of social status across society. From then on elites generally chose their first wives from fellow Y"angban" families, while choosing secondary wives from the lower classes, increasing the distinction between the "Yangban" aristocracy and commoners.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: During this period patrilocal residence after marriage became the norm through royally dictated changes to laws governing mourning obligations and inheritance rights. This shift was accomplished in part through increasingly strict restrictions on consanguineous marriages, first outlawing marriage to matrilinial first cousins, then extending to second cousins and ultimately expanding to prohibit marriage between individuals of the same surname by 1669. In 1427 another Chinese law was adopted that fixed the marriageable age of first marriage at 15-years of age for men and 14-years for women, although if a parent was chronically ill or elderly (over 50) the marriage age limit could be lowered to 12. The rationale for preventing early marriage was the belief that children married too young would not be sufficiently socialized to understand the duties of spouses and also thus incapable of properly socializing their own children. However, this law was frequently violated. Aristocratic "Yangban" men tended to marry younger than commoners. Concern among legislators over the perceived lack of marriageable women led to the passage of laws that made families subject to punishment for failing to marry her off at an appropriate time.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Following the establishment of communist regime in North Korea in the late 1940s, the regulations on family matters between North and South started to diverge, as the North Korean government quickly introduced a set of new laws and regulations affecting family law. One of the impetus for new laws was a revolutionary rhetoric endorsing gender equality (however, gender equality in North Korea remains a major issue, with most independent observes concluding that North Korea is still far from achieving a parity between genders).


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Engagement is not legally recognized. Marriage is allowed at age 18 (for boys) and 17 (for girls). Unlike in South Korea, there are no legal provisions regulating or banning marriage between persons in cases of consanguinity or other types of familial relations. Divorce is allowed, subject to administrative approval.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: As of the late 2010s, marriage rates in North Korea have been reported as very high (over 96% of adults aged 30+ are married), and divorce rates as very low (less than 1% of North Korean population is classified as separated or divorce according to official data).


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Marriage in South Korea is currently restricted to unions between individuals of the opposite sex as same-sex marriages remain unrecognized. Males over 18 and females over 16 years old may marry with their parents' or guardians' consent. Otherwise South Korea's age of consent to marriage is 20 in Korean age (19 in international age). 20 years of age is also the age of consent for sexual activity. These age limits refer to one's lunar calendar based age, which tend to be one or two years greater than one's solar age. South Korea also recognizes what it calls "De Facto Marriages" equivalent to "Common Law Marriages" of couples who have not legally registered their marriage but who have either 1. made it publicly known that their relationship is akin to a marriage, 2. had a public wedding ceremony, or 3. have been cohabiting as though they are married.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Prior to 2005 marriage between two individuals of the same clan violated Korean incest taboos and was illegal while marriage between individuals of the same surname was socially prohibited. As of the mid 1990s, 55% of South Korea's population shared one of five surnames: Kim, Park, Lee, Choi and Jung; and 40% of South Koreans claim membership in one of three major clans: the Kimhae Kim clan, Chonju Lee clan, and the Milyang Park clan. This codified prohibition was inspired by similar taboos in Tang China during Korea's late Choson Dynasty, which strove to realize Confucian ideals of governance and social order.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Traditional Korean weddings are based around and centered on traditional Confucian values. Every aspect of the wedding, from the arrangement of the marriage to the ceremony and post celebrations, had important and elaborate steps to go along with them. In traditional Korean culture, like many traditional cultures, marriage between a man and a woman were decided by the bride and groom's elders. As in Confucian values family and the customs of a family is placed above all. Marriage is considered the most important passage in one's life. This is not only the union between two individuals but two families. Additionally, a marriage was a way, particularly among elite families, of developing and/or maintaining a social status. For these reasons, a significant amount of time was spent in preparation before finally performing the actual wedding ritual.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: In ancient times, weddings (Hangul: honrye; Hanja: 婚禮) were held in the bride's yard or house. The groom traveled by horse to the bride's house and after the wedding ceremony took his wife in a palanquin (sedan chair) to his parents' house to live. The bride and groom wore formal court costumes for the wedding ceremony. Ordinary people were permitted to wear the luxurious clothes only on their wedding day. Hand lanterns are used for lighting the way from the groom's home to the bride's home on the night before the wedding. Traditionally, the groom's family would carry a wedding chest filled with gifts for the bride's family. Wedding geese are a symbol for a long and happy marriage. Cranes are a symbol of long life and may be represented on the woman's sash. Pairs of wooden Mandarin duck carvings called wedding ducks are often used in traditional wedding ceremonies because they represent peace, fidelity, and plentiful offspring.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: The women's attire includes a "jeogori" (저고리; short jacket with long sleeves) with two long ribbons which are tied to form the "otgoreum" (옷고름). A "chima" (치마), a full-length, high-waisted, wrap-around skirt is worn. Boat-shaped shoes made of silk, are worn with white cotton socks. The bride's attire might include a white sash with significant symbols or flowers. A headpiece or crown may also be worn. The norigae (노리개) is a "hanbok" (한복) decoration which has been worn by all classes of Korean women for centuries. It is tied to the skirt or the ribbon on the jacket. The knot on the top is called the "Maedeup" (매듭). A jacket ("jeogori", 저고리) and trousers and an overcoat are worn. The jacket has loose sleeves, the trousers are roomy and tied with straps at the ankles. A vest may be worn over the shirt. A black hat could be worn. The wedding costume for men is also known as "gwanbok" for the groom.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: In larger cities, luxury hotels will have 'wedding halls' or ballrooms used specifically for wedding ceremonies. These rooms are decorated with a wedding motif and are rented to couples. Other wedding halls are independent facilities that can accommodate several different weddings at once. Today, many couples will initially have a more 'Westernized' ceremony with tuxedo attire and white wedding gown, then proceed with a smaller-scale, traditional Korean wedding after the main ceremony.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Whereas a hotel ballroom or church must retain the flexibility necessary for other functions, independent wedding halls are able to focus strictly on weddings, and even cater to specific themes. Weddings in luxurious hotels had been prohibited by the government in 1980, became partly permitted in 1994, and became completely permitted in 1999.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: In busier wedding halls, formality (except for the couple and their families) is typically relaxed compared to Western standards. There may be a buffet hall on one floor in which guests from all of the different weddings come for a meal, either before or after the ceremony, which may take no longer than 20 minutes. The most common gift for a new couple is cash, and in the hall outside the wedding salon, representatives from the couple's families will collect and log donations.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: The official ceremony in front of the guests is followed by "Pyebaek," which is a ceremony among family members exclusively. The bride formally greets her new parents-in-law after the wedding ceremony. Additionally, the groom often gives a piggy back ride to his mother and then his bride, symbolizing his acceptance of his obligations to both his mother and wife.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: The modern Korean wedding feast or reception, ("kyeolhon piroyeon", 결혼피로연, 結婚披露宴) can be a mix of traditional and western cultures.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: At a traditional wedding feast a guest would expect to find "bulgogi" (불고기, marinated barbecue beef strips), "galbi" (갈비, marinated short ribs), a variety of "kimchi "(pickled cabbage with a variety of spices, with other ingredients such as radishes, seafood). There will be many accompanying bowls of sauces for dipping.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: The meal is always accompanied with a vast quantity of white, sticky rice (밥) as well as "gimbap" (김밥), which is rice, egg, spinach, crab meat, pickled radish, and other ingredients rolled in seaweed and sliced into 1-inch rounds. "Mandu" (만두), dumplings filled with cabbage, carrot, meat, spinach, garlic, onion, chive, and clear noodle. These dumplings may be deep-fried or steamed. Soup will be offered, very frequently a "kimchi" type, or a rice cake soup (rice dumplings with chicken broth), or "doenjang jigae", a fermented soybean paste soup.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Also popular are a light broth boiled from dried anchovies and vegetable soups rendered from dried spinach, sliced radish or dried seaweed. Steamed rice cakes ("tteok") sometimes embellished with aromatic mugwort leaves or dusted with toasted soy, barley, or millet flour are presented as a tasty ritual food. A large variety of fruits, such as Korean pears, and pastries will be offered for dessert. A spoon and chopsticks are used for eating.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: As of 2020, according to Statistics Korea, the average age of first marriage is 33.2 for men and 30.8 for women. In a large number of marriages, the male is older than the female. This age disparity is usually intentional. In 2013, the average cost of a wedding per person surpassed 50 million won.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: The number of mixed marriages in Korea has increased due to a number of factors, among them the high number of Koreans studying abroad or traveling and a percentage of men living in rural areas where men outnumber women by a significant margin. As the world becomes more interconnected with the development of the internet, dating network sites or social network sites provide a medium for couples to interact. The bulk of 'mixed' marriages are between Korean men and foreign women. Since 2005, the number of international marriages in Korea has been on the decline. About 7% of couples who married in 2020 were international couples.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Since there is lack of population of women in rural areas of South Korea, some men rely on marriage brokers and agencies to set up a marriage with a mail-order bride, mostly from southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand, as well as Uzbekistan and Nepal. Marriages between South Korean men and foreign women are often arranged by marriage brokers or international religious groups. Men pay money to match-up and meet their spouse on the moment of their arrival to South Korea. There is mounting evidence to suggest that there is a statistically higher level of poverty and divorce in the Korean men married to foreign women cohort.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Currently divorces between Koreans and foreign spouses make up 10% of the total Korean divorce rate. Although these marriages can be successful, in some cases immigrant wives are misunderstood and isolated from their Korean husbands.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Most Chinese women marrying Korean men are ethnic Han Chinese, and most Chinese men marrying Korean women are ethnic Korean-Chinese(조선족). Most American men married to Korean women are Korean-American. About 97% of Korean women who married Vietnamese men in 2020 were remarried persons. They were Vietnamese women who married Korean men and divorced after acquiring nationality.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: As language and cultural differences become an issue many foreign brides do suffer from cultural differences which also affects the social integration of their children. The children of inter-racial marriage families called "Damunhwa" meaning multicultural family, face identity crisis and racial abuse as they try to assimilate into Korean society.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Since negative social perception of foreign marriage agencies and brides from these agencies exist as well as extreme conformity of one-race Koreans, these children suffer from lack of sense of belongingness and feel abused from isolation.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: As a means of reducing future problems, the government is setting up programs for men who are thinking of marrying a foreign woman through a collaboration between the Ministry of Gender Equality and the Ministry of Justice. Also, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs is offering programs to help foreign wives to try to adjust to Korean society through Healthy Family Support Centers nationwide.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Multicultural Family Support Centers in South Korea are operated and funded by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The aim and purpose of these centers are to provide family education, counseling and cultural services for multicultural families, to support the early settlement of immigrant women in Korean society, and to help multicultural families enjoy stable family lives. By collaborating with local cities and provinces, the Support Centers manage to provide basic but necessary services to local women such as Korean language and cultural education services, translation and interpretation services, childcare support services, child education support services, employment & venture support services.


title: Marriage in Korea

text: Same-sex marriage is not legally recognised in South Korea. Homosexuality is strongly criticized in mainstream Korean society, and many Koreans consider homosexuality to be a Western phenomenon. Despite the illegality of same-sex marriage in Korea, though, some gay couples are having non-legal private ceremonies. Movie director and producer Kim-Jho Gwang-soo had a private non-legal ceremony with Kim Seung-hwan, the head of the gay film distributor Rainbow Factory in September 2013. Kim Jho held a public, non-legal wedding ceremony with film distributor David Kim Seung-hwan (his same-sex partner since 2004), in Seoul on September 7, 2013, the first of its kind in the country which does not recognize same-sex marriages. In Seoul on November 10, 2019, Kim Gyu-Jin, the openly lesbian married her partner in public. She wrote a book about her lesbian marriage experience in Korea called <nowiki>"</nowiki>Unni, will you marry me?"(ko: 언니, 나랑 결혼할래요?) On May 7, 2020, she and her partner filed a marriage registration with the Jongno-Gu Office but they received a notice of non-repair.