A10高速公路 (意大利)

History.

The route from Genoa to Savona was opened on 5 September 1967, and the route from Savona to Ventimiglia was opened on 6 November 1971.  Between Genoa and Savona, the highway has been improved three times in recent times: the northern route, in the direction of Ventimiglia, has been renovated, while the opposite direction, towards Genoa, is now the original road, which formerly consisted of both directions. Accordingly, this side is of lower quality than the other; the widening of the road to three lanes has necessitated the removal of the emergency lane, and a reduction of all lanes to less than 3.75m - this is less than the regulations of the Italian highway code, and has in turn caused a reduction of the speed limit to 80 km/h for most of the section between Albisola and Genoa Voltri.  The route between Savona and the Italian border, on the other hand, is completely new, having been built in the sixties; it consists of two carriageways side by side, with two lanes in each direction. It has, however, no emergency lane, but includes several places in which it is suitable to make an emergency stop.  On 14 August 2018, a section of the Ponte Morandi bridge that formed part of the A10 collapsed during a storm, killing 43 people.

The Autostrada today.

The route is currently run by two companies: from Genoa to Savona, by the company Autostrade Italy SpA, and from Savona to the border by Autostrada dei Fiori SpA. It has 22 entrances, and includes eight service stations.  Much of the route is built on hillside, with a series of viaducts and tunnels; for this reason, the entire motorway requires paying a toll charge (one of the most expensive in Italy). Past Savona, the motorway visits Albenga, Imperia, San Remo, and Ventimiglia: six kilometres from Ventimiglia, it reaches the border with France. Until the nineties, the border was marked by a change of stripe colour, from yellow to white, alongside a sign in the tunnel indicating the precise location of the border—this is now gone, although its former location can still be discerned from a change of lighting systems, and the different thicknesses of asphalt.  In the opposite direction, the A10 intersects with the A6, towards Turin, the A26, towards the Po Valley, Switzerland, and other major cities in the north of Italy, before finally joining the A7, towards Milan and Tuscany.

The Autostrada A10, also known as the" Fiori Autostrada" or the "AutoFiori" ("fiori" meaning "flowers" in Italian), is an Italian motorway, passing through Liguria and connecting Genoa with Ventimiglia. It connects to the French A8 autoroute, which finishes in Aix-en-Provence, and forms part of European route E80. It is 158.7 kilometres long.

A10高速公路(),又称百花高速公路(),是一条自意大利利古里亚大区首府热那亚,西沿海岸,经文蒂米利亚通往法国的高速公路,全长158.1公里。由于地势关系,不少路段是高架桥或隧道。


History.

Formation and listing.

Bunge & Born was founded in 1818 by Johann Peter Gottlieb Bunge in Amsterdam, it was relocated to Antwerp by Edouard Bunge in 1859. Edouard's brother; Ernest Bunge, took the Bunge name to Argentina in 1884, and in 1905 the business extended to Brazil and later on to the United States. The company was converted into the Bermuda-registered Bunge International in 1994, retaining the Bunge y Born name only in Argentina. Bunge remained a privately held company of 180 shareholders (including the longtime controlling family interests) and divested itself in 1998 of almost all its retail foods interests in favor of a greater role in international agribusiness and commodity markets; by then the company's gross annual turnover had reached US$13 billion. Bunge ultimately went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2001, becoming Bunge Limited.  In 1994, the Bermuda-registered Bunge International was created as the main company in which the families had shares. There were around 180 shareholders—the main families were Hirsch, Bunge, Born, Engels, and De La Tour. This replaced the older structure in which individual shareholders had stakes in all the different Bunge companies. Now only in Argentina does the Bunge y Born name still exist. In 2001, under the leadership of Alberto Weisser, Bunge was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Through their three businesses—agribusiness, fertilizer, and food products—they have established a leading global presence in the farm-to-consumer food chain. Bunge is the world's largest oilseed processor, the world's number one seller of bottled vegetable oil to consumers and the largest producer and supplier of fertilizers to farmers in South America.

Acquisitions.

In 2004, Bunge acquired Cereol, parent of oilseed companies Central Soya and CanAmera Foods. In 2008, Bunge acquired Walter Rau, a margarine company, from Germany. In 2009, Bunge acquired the margarine business from Raisio Group, maker of functional food ingredients. In 2017, Bunge announced intentions to acquire a 70% stake in IOI Loders Croklaan for $946 million from Malaysian palm oil producer IOI Corp Berhad.

Brazilian sourcing protests.

In 2012, Bunge came under criticism from NGO Survival International for sourcing its sugarcane from the ancestral land of the Guaraní people in Brazil. It has been reported by the tribe that crop production has brought pesticides and machinery that has damaged their health, as well as restricting them to a small area that has prevented them from hunting and practicing their traditions. Also, in January 2003, opposition from the tribe had led to the killing of their chief Marcus Vernon by ranchers. In 2012, survivors were requesting Bunge follows the example of the company Raízen, which agreed to stop the sourcing of sugarcane from the area.

Recent.

In May 2017, Glencore in Switzerland began pursuing the acquisition of Bunge. In early June 2017, Bunge hired advisers to help it fend off Glencore's takeover interest. In January 2017, Archer Daniels Midland agreed to sell its crop risk services (insurance) unit to Validus Holdings for $127.5 million. On January 19, 2018, it was reported that Archer Daniels Midland had approached Bunge Ltd. about a takeover, with details "unclear." At that point, Bunge had a market value of about $9.8 billion, and was still being pursued by Glencore.  In 2019, Bunge relocated its global headquarters from White Plains, New York, to the St Louis metropolitan area in 2020, where the company had its US headquarters.  In April 2020, Bunge announced it agreed to sell 35 U.S interior grain elevators to Zen-Noh Corporation. The completion of the sale is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in Q4 2020 or Q1 2021.

Products.

The company's operations include:

Environmental record.

In 2006, the United States Environmental Protection Agency filed charges against Bunge company regarding pollution emissions. This involved twelve soybean processing plants and corn mills in eight states throughout the US. The lawsuit claimed Bunge violated the Clean Air Act by constructing major modifications that increased emissions. Bunge was required to implement engineering changes and pollution control projects, estimated to cost $12 million, to reduce emissions at the facilities by 2,200 tons a year. The settlement also called for Bunge to pay a cash penalty of $625,000 and to spend $1.25 million to fund community-based environmental projects selected by and to be supervised by the impacted states. The state of Kansas will receive $22,000 of the $625,000 civil penalty, this being issued by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Biofuel production.

In November 2005, Bunge created a Europe production joint venture biodiesel with French company KBBV and Diester Industrie. The new company received the name Diester Industrie International. The joint venture will produce biodiesel in Germany, Austria and Italy. The total capacity of the plants will reach 430 thousand tons biodiesel per year.

Corporate governance.

As at 05 Feb 2020

Tax dodging.

A noteworthy case of transfer mispricing came to light in 2011 in Argentina involving the world’s four largest grain traders: ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus Company. Argentina’s revenue and customs service began an investigation into the four companies when prices for agricultural commodities spiked in 2008 and yet very little profit for the four companies had been reported to the office. As a result of the investigation, it was alleged that the companies had submitted false declarations of sales and routed profits through tax havens or through their headquarters. In some cases, they were said to have used phantom firms to buy grain and had inflated costs in Argentina in order to reduce the recorded profits earned in the country. According to the country’s revenue and customs service, the outstanding taxes amounted to almost USD 1 billion. The companies involved have denied the allegations. To date, the Argentinian tax authorities have not replied to the Swiss NGO Public Eye’s request regarding the current state of the case. In its 2018 annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bunge mentioned provisions which suggest that the case is still ongoing: “[A]s of December 31, 2018, Bunge’s Argentine subsidiary had received income tax assessments relating to 2006 through 2009 of approximately 1,276 million Argentine pesos (approximately $34 million), plus applicable interest on the outstanding amount of approximately 4,246 million Argentine pesos (approximately $113 million).”

Bunge Limited (formerly Bunge International, and prior to that Bunge & Born) is an agribusiness and food company, incorporated in Bermuda, and headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. As well as being an international soybean exporter, it is also involved in food processing, grain trading, and fertilizer. It competes with Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland. The company has approximately 32,000 employees in 40 countries.

邦吉公司 (英语:Bunge Limited)是一家美国农业和粮食公司。是全球四大粮商之一,其他三家为路易达孚,嘉吉公司和阿奇尔丹尼斯米德兰。


Overview.

US Code 44, Section 3601 Definition of Enterprise Architecture: (4)“enterprise architecture”— (A)means— (i)a strategic information asset base, which defines the mission; (ii)the information necessary to perform the mission; (iii)the technologies necessary to perform the mission; and (iv)the transitional processes for implementing new technologies in response to changing mission needs; and (B)includes— (i)a baseline architecture; (ii)a target architecture; and (iii)a sequencing plan;  EA is not just about IT. It's about understanding the mission in sufficient detail that you can make informed purchase decisions across the enterprise, in context and in a timely manner.  “Congress, OMB and the IT community are SO distracted from the underlying plot of the Clinger-Cohen Act — it was NEVER about the technology but rather how you could transform mission and support processes through the thoughtful application of technology,” Brubaker said. “Agencies were to demonstrate how they were thoughtfully applying technology by presenting clear and compelling business cases for investing in technology then holding themselves accountable for producing measurable improvements in mission and operational performance. Sadly, OMB, GSA, agencies and CIOs just couldn’t resist the temptation to over-prescribe compliance and pushing tasks that over-focused on technology and infrastructure which completely missed the point.” Paul Brubaker  https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2019/02/dont-exempt-dod-from-the-clinger-cohen-act-modernize-federal-it-management-instead/  The Enterprise Architecture Body of Knowledge defines enterprise architecture as a practice, which IT analysis firm Gartner defines the term as a discipline where an enterprise is led through change. According to their glossary, Each of the definitions above underplays the historical reality that enterprise architecture emerged from methods for documenting and planning information systems architectures, and the current reality that most enterprise architecture practitioners report to a CIO or other IT department manager. In a business organization structure today, the enterprise architecture team performs an ongoing business function that helps business and IT managers to figure out the best strategies to support and enable business development and business change – in relation to the business information systems that the business depends on.

Topics.

The terms "enterprise" and "architecture".

The term "enterprise" can be defined as describing an organizational unit, organization, or collection of organizations that share a set of common goals and collaborate to provide specific products or services to customers.  In that sense, the term enterprise covers various types of organizations, regardless of their size, ownership model, operational model, or geographical distribution. It includes those organizations' complete socio-technical systems, including people, information, processes, and technologies.  The term "architecture" refers to fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment, embodied in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution.  Understood as a socio-technical system, the term enterprise defines the scope of the enterprise architecture.

Scopes.

Perspectives, or beliefs, held by enterprise architecture practitioners and scholars, with regards to the meaning of the enterprise architecture, typically gravitate towards one or a hybrid of three schools of thought:  One’s belief with regards to the meaning of enterprise architecture will impact how one sees its purpose, its scope, the means of achieving it, the skills needed to conduct it, and the locus of responsibility for conducting it

Architectural description of an enterprise.

According to the standard ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010, the product used to describe the architecture of a system is called an "architectural description". In practice, an architectural description contains a variety of lists, tables, and diagrams. These are models known as "views". In the case of Enterprise Architecture, these models describe the logical business functions or capabilities, business processes, human roles and actors, the physical organization structure, data flows and data stores, business applications and platform applications, hardware, and communications infrastructure.  The UK National Computing Centre EA best practice guidance states:  Normally an EA takes the form of a comprehensive set of cohesive models that describe the structure and functions of an enterprise. The individual models in an EA are arranged in a logical manner that provides an ever-increasing level of detail about the enterprise. The architecture of an enterprise is described with a view to improving the manageability, effectiveness, efficiency, or agility of the business, and ensuring that money spent on information technology (IT) is justified.  Paramount to "changing" the enterprise architecture is the identification of a sponsor. His/her mission, vision, and strategy, and the governance framework define all roles, responsibilities, and relationships involved in the anticipated transformation. Changes considered by enterprise architects typically include:  A methodology for developing and using architecture to guide the transformation of a business from a baseline state to a target state, sometimes through several transition states, is usually known as an enterprise architecture framework. A framework provides a structured collection of processes, techniques, artifact descriptions, reference models, and guidance for the production and use of an enterprise-specific architecture description.

Benefits.

The benefits of enterprise architecture are achieved through its direct and indirect contributions to organizational goals. It has been found that the most notable benefits of enterprise architecture can be observed in the following areas:

Examples.

Documenting the architecture of enterprises is done within the U.S. Federal Government in the context of the Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC) process.  The Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) reference model guides federal agencies in the development of their architectures.  Companies such as Independence Blue Cross, Intel, Volkswagen AG and InterContinental Hotels Group use enterprise architecture to improve their business architectures as well as to improve business performance and productivity.  For various understandable reasons, commercial organizations rarely publish substantial enterprise architecture descriptions. However, government agencies have begun to publish architectural descriptions they have developed. Examples include:

Relationship to other disciplines.

According to the Federation of EA Professional Organizations (FEAPO), enterprise architecture interacts with a wide array of other disciplines commonly found in business settings. According to FEAPO: As enterprise architecture has emerged in various organizations, the broad reach has resulted in this business role being included in the information technology governance processes of many organizations. While this may imply that enterprise architecture is closely tied to IT, it should be viewed in the broader context of business optimization in that it addresses business architecture, performance management, and process architecture, as well as more technical subjects.  Discussions of the intersection of enterprise architecture and various IT practices have been published by various IT analysis firms. Gartner and Forrester have stressed the important relationship of enterprise architecture with emerging holistic design practices such as Design Thinking and User Experience Design. Analyst firm Real Story Group suggested that enterprise architecture and the emerging concept of the digital workplace were "two sides to the same coin." The Cutter Consortium describes enterprise architecture as an information and knowledge-based discipline.  The enterprise architecture of an organization is too complex and extensive to document in its entirety, so knowledge management techniques provide a way to explore and analyze these hidden, tacit, or implicit areas. In return, enterprise architecture provides a way of documenting the components of an organization and their interaction, in a systemic and holistic way that complements knowledge management.  In various venues, enterprise architecture has been discussed as having a relationship with Service Oriented Architecture, a particular style of application integration. Research points to enterprise architecture promoting the use of SOA as an enterprise-wide integration pattern.

Tools.

The following table lists some notable enterprise architecture tools listed by Gartner and Forrester Research in their 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018 reports.

Criticism.

Despite the benefits that enterprise architecture claims to provide, for more than a decade, writers and organizations raised concerns about enterprise architecture as an effective practice. Here is a partial list of those objections:  A key concern about EA has been the difficulty in arriving at metrics of success, because of the broad-brush and often opaque nature of EA projects.

Enterprise architecture (EA) is "a well-defined practice for conducting enterprise analysis, design, planning, and implementation, using a comprehensive approach at all times, for the successful development and execution of strategy. Enterprise architecture applies architecture principles and practices to guide organizations through the business, information, process, and technology changes necessary to execute their strategies. These practices utilize the various aspects of an enterprise to identify, motivate, and achieve these changes."

企业架构(英语:Enterprise Architecture,英语:EA,或企业体系结构)是在信息系统架构设计与实施的实践基础上发展起来的一个特殊领域,现有的实践,主要来自大型组织,例如政府建设。自1987年Zachman的开创性工作以来,这个领域累积了不少研究与实践,但对“企业架构”概念还没有出现一致公认的定义,综合现有的研究与实践,可以从下面几个方面理解:


巴库-第比利斯-卡尔斯铁路

Pre-existing railways.

The (Poti–)Tbilisi–Baku railway (the Transcaucasus Railway) was completed in 1883, and has since remained the backbone of Transcaucasia's railway network.  By 1899, a branch line (Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway) from Tbilisi to Marabda to Gyumri (then Alexandropol) to Kars was completed. Due to the poor state of relations between Armenia and Turkey this branch line has been abandoned.  In 1986, the construction of a branch railway line from Marabda (on the Tbilisi-Gyumri line, south of Tbilisi Junction) west to Akhalkalaki was completed. However, this branch fell into disuse at a later stage.

History and construction.

In 1993, Turkey closed its border with Armenia—closing the Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway, which goes through Armenia—to support Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia following the Nagorno-Karabakh War. A railway line project between Azerbaijan and Turkey through Georgia, intended to provide an alternative to the closed route, was first discussed in July 1993.  A multi-lateral accord to build the link was signed by the three countries in January 2005. Because of a lack of funding at this time, this project was more or less abandoned. However, during the inauguration of the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline in May 2005, the Presidents of Azerbaijan, of Georgia and of Turkey evoked once again the possibility of building a railroad between their three countries.  For the construction of the railway on Georgian territory, Azerbaijan is providing a US$200 million loan to Georgia, repayable in 25 years, with an annual interest rate of 1%. A concessional loan agreement for this financing has already been signed between a Georgian state-owned company Marabda-Karsi Railroad LLC and Azerbaijan. Lately, Azerbaijan again allocated to Georgian government an additional $575 million at the rate of 5% per annum. As of September 2007, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan has allocated the first US$50 million installment of this loan. The European Union and the United States declined to assist in the financing or promoting of the line because they saw it as being designed to bypass Armenia, supporting instead the reopening of the Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railway line, thanks in part to pressure on the US Congress from Armenian lobbies in Washington like ARMENPAC or the Armenia National Committee in America. The EU did later "welcome the new rail corridor".  In February 2007 in Tbilisi, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey signed a trilateral agreement to launch the construction of the railroad the same year. On 21 November 2007, the presidents of Azerbaijan (Ilham Aliyev), Georgia (Mikheil Saakashvili), and Turkey (Abdullah Gül) inaugurated the construction of the railroad at a groundbreaking ceremony at the Marabda junction south of Tbilisi, and the first rails in Turkey began to be laid in July 2008 from Kars.  The Russo-Georgian War and environmental problems delayed the project from an originally projected completion date of 2010, to 2015 and subsequently later still. In November 2014, Turkey's Transportation Minister, Lütfi Elvan, stated that 83% of the project had been completed. According to estimates, the railway line will be capable of carrying 17 million tonnes of cargo and about three million passengers by 2030.  On 30 January 2015 the first test train ran along the new (Georgian) stretch of track between Akhalkalaki and Kartsakhi in the presence of the Georgian Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, and the Azerbaijani Minister of Transport, Ziya Mammadov. According to Kvirikashvili,'major construction works on railway are actually completed and every effort will be made to complete Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway works in late 2015.' In September 2015 it was announced in Georgian media that service would not begin before an unspecified time in 2016.  The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan (Elmar Mammadyarov), Georgia (Mikheil Janelidze) and Turkey (Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu) held a fifth trilateral meeting in Georgia on 19 February 2016, during which they travelled to the new Georgia-Turkey border crossing at Kartsakhi/Çıldır, subsequently hailing the railway project as "historic" and noting its importance for the region in the context of the new Silk Road. A week before the foreign ministers met, a seventh meeting of the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars co-ordination council was held in Tbilisi, during which the Turkish and Azerbaijani transport ministers and the Georgian finance minister announced that the railway will be operational in 2017 when work on the Turkish section is completed.

Opening.

The railway was officially inaugurated in the Alat Port of Baku, Azerbaijan on 30 October 2017 by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Representatives of TRACECA, international and financial organizations, official delegations of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were among participants of the ceremony. The ceremony had been announced 27 September by the Azerbaijani and Georgian ministers of foreign affairs following the first test run by a passenger train from Tbilisi to Akhalkalaki. In his speech at the opening ceremony of the railway, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said: "“The Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway is of great importance for the development of business and mutually beneficial cooperation. I am sure that the countries making the biggest contribution to regional cooperation – Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey – will always be together and support each other. Such giant projects as the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway further strengthen our unity and friendship.”"  The 30 October date for the opening was chosen for symbolic reasons - it was that date in 1920 that Turkey captured Kars from the Armenian Republic.  The European Union welcomed the opening of the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway and referred it as a major measure for transport interconnections channeling the European Union with Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Central Asia. In the statement it is stated that this rail corridor will ensure better network, create new business circumstances and increase quality of trade among the parties.

Objectives and political issues.

The key objective of the project is to improve economic relations between the three countries and gaining foreign direct investment by connecting Europe and Asia. Some commentators in Armenia have viewed this new route as an attempt by Azerbaijan to bypass and isolate Armenia from regional economic projects. However, the route through Armenia was politically impossible due to the unresolved war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.  According to Samuel Lussac, "[the project] will contribute to further regional cooperation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey," but it will also, "constitute a new stage in the further marginalisation of Armenia within the South Caucasus." The president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev in 2005 reportedly declared, "If we succeed with this project, the Armenians will end in complete isolation, which would create an additional problem for their already bleak future."  As further objectives, the railways is expected to provide stable goods turnover between Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and the countries located on the other side of the Caspian Sea. The formation of strong port infrastructure and transportation of oil and oil products to the world markets are also part of targets.

Route.

In total of new line have been built between Kars and Akhalkalaki, with within Turkey and in Georgia. The existing railway line from Akhalkalaki to Marabda and on to Tbilisi and Baku has been modernised.  Its total length is and it will be able to transport 1 million passengers and 6.5 million tons of freight at the first stage. This capacity will then reach 3 million passengers and over 15 million tons of freight.

Gauge.

Georgia and Azerbaijan both use the Russian broad gauge of, and the existing section of railway line (Akhalkalaki–Tbilisi–Baku) will not be modified. The new tracks, i.e. the Georgian section from Akhalkalaki to the border station at Kartsakhi (; ) and the new Turkish section from Kartsakhi to Kars, were built to the standard gauge used by Turkey.  The line therefore includes a break of gauge near Akhalkalaki, which typically requires either variable gauge, bogie exchange or cargo reloading. The passenger cars that Azerbaijan Railways ordered from Stadler in 2014 (see below) will be equipped with the DB AG/RAFIL Type V system of adjustable wheelsets to accommodate the change of gauge from 1,520mm to 1,435mm (standard gauge). In June 2018, Stadler signed a contract in Bussnang with the Georgian company Marabda-Kartsakhi-Railway LCC for the delivery of a gauge-changing facility (30 metres of special track) to be installed in Akhalkalaki.

Rolling stock.

In June 2014, Azerbaijan Railways announced that they had signed a SFr 120 million (EUR 115 million) contract with the Swiss firm Stadler Rail AG to supply 3 ten-car variable-gauge sleeper trains, with an option for 7 more.  Each train will have a total of 257 beds, divided into first, second and "first/second" (family compartments) classes. The contract includes an option for a further 70 sleeping cars.  Each train will be made up of:  Stadler delivered the first of three ten-carriage passenger trains to Azerbaijan Railways in March 2019. The trains are manufactured at Stadler's factory in Belarus, and the two remaining units will be delivered in early 2020.

In operation.

Freight.

By November 2019, the line had carried 275,000 tonnes of freight according to Turkey's transport and infrastructure minister. Three trains a week run between Turkey and Kazakhstan, and block container train services between China and Turkey are run once a week. The BTK line is also increasingly used for North-South links: a Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation on the BTK Railway Route signed by Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey in May 2019 notably aims to increase exchanges between Turkey and Russia to 6 million tonnes.  The first freight train to travel from China (Xian) to Europe (Prague) via the BTK line and Istanbul's Marmaray Tunnel under the Bosphorus arrived in Prague on 6 November 2019. Travelling at an average speed of 40km/h, the China Railway Express will link Western China and Central Europe in just 18 days. In volume, this train's 42 carriages could contain the equivalent of 96.5 TEU (or 0.4% of the capacity of the "MSC Gülsün", currently the world's largest container ship).

Passengers.

Passenger service was scheduled to start in August 2019

The Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK), or Baku–Tbilisi–Akhalkalaki–Kars railway (BTAK), became operational on 30 October 2017. This is a regional rail link project to directly connect Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The project was originally to be completed by 2010, but was delayed to 2013, 2015, 2016, and following a fifth trilateral meeting in February 2016, the three countries' foreign ministers announced that the railway would finally be completed in 2017.

巴库-第比利斯-卡尔斯铁路(英语:Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway)自2017年10月31日通车营运。这是一条连接阿塞拜疆、乔治亚和土耳其的区域铁路连接项目。该项目原订在2010年完工,但后来分别延误至2013、2015和2016年,而在2016年2月第五次的三边会议后,三个国家的外长宣布铁路将在2017年完工。


Life.

Early life.

Ptolemy was the son of King Juba II and Queen Cleopatra Selene II of Mauretania. His birth date is not certainly known, but must have occurred before his mother's death, which has been estimated to have taken place in 5BC. He had a sister (possibly younger) who is evidenced by an Athenian inscription, but her name has not been preserved. She may have been called Drusilla of Mauretania.  His father Juba II was the son of King Juba I of Numidia, who was descended from the Berbers of North Africa and was an ally to the Roman Triumvir Pompey. His mother Cleopatra Selene II was the daughter of the Ptolemaic Greek Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the Roman Triumvir Mark Antony. Ptolemy was of Berber, Greek and Roman ancestry. Ptolemy and his sister were the only known children of Juba II and Cleopatra Selene II to reach maturity and were among the younger grandchildren to Mark Antony. Through his maternal grandfather, Ptolemy was distantly related to Julius Caesar and the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Ptolemy was a first cousin to Germanicus and the Roman Emperor Claudius and a second cousin to the Emperor Caligula, the Empress Agrippina the Younger, the Empress Valeria Messalina and the Emperor Nero.  Ptolemy was most probably born in Caesaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania (modern Cherchell, Algeria) in the Roman Empire. He was named in honor of his mother's ancestors, in particular the Ptolemaic dynasty. He was also named in honor of the memory of Cleopatra VII, the birthplace of his mother and the birthplace of her relatives. In choosing her son's name, Cleopatra Selene II created a distinct Greek-Egyptian tone and emphasized her role as the monarch who would continue the Ptolemaic dynasty. She by-passed the ancestral names of her husband. By naming her son Ptolemy instead of a Berber ancestral name, she offers an example rare in ancient history, especially in the case of a son who is the primary male heir, of reaching into the mother's family instead of the father's for a name. This emphasized the idea that his mother was the heiress of the Ptolemies and the leader of a Ptolemaic government in exile.  Through his parents, Ptolemy had Roman citizenship and they sent him to Rome to be educated. His mother likely died in 5BC and was placed in the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania, built by his parents. In Rome, Ptolemy received a good Roman education. He was part of the remarkable court of his maternal aunt Antonia Minor, an influential aristocrat who presided over a circle of various princes and princesses which assisted in the political preservation of the Roman Empire's borders and affairs of the client states. Antonia Minor, the youngest daughter of Mark Antony and the youngest niece of Emperor Augustus, was a half-sister of Ptolemy's late mother, also a daughter of Mark Antony. Antonia Minor's mother was Octavia Minor, Mark Antony's fourth wife and the second sister of Octavian (later Augustus). Ptolemy lived in Rome until the age of 21, when he returned to the court of his aging father in Mauretania.

Reign.

When Ptolemy returned to Mauretania, JubaII made Ptolemy his co-ruler and successor. Coinage has survived from JubaII's co-rule with his son. On coinage, on one side there is a central bust of JubaII with his title in Latin " ‘King Juba’". On the other side there is a central bust of Ptolemy and the inscription stating in Latin " ‘King Ptolemy son of Juba’". JubaII died in 23 and was placed alongside Cleopatra SeleneII in the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania. Then Ptolemy became the sole ruler of Mauretania.  During his co-rule with JubaII, and into his sole rule, Ptolemy, like his father, appeared to be a patron of art, learning, literature and sports. In Athens, Greece, statues were erected to JubaII and Ptolemy in a gymnasium in Athens, and a statue was erected in Ptolemy's honor in reference to his taste in literature. Ptolemy dedicated statues of himself on the Acropolis. The Athenians honored Ptolemy and his family with inscriptions dedicated to them, and this reveals that the Athenians had respect towards the Roman Client Monarchs and their families which was common in the 1st century. In the year 17, the local Berber tribes, the Numidian Tacfarinas and Garamantes, started to revolt against the Kingdom of Mauretania and Rome. The war had ravaged Africa and Berber forces included former slaves from Ptolemy's household who had joined in the revolt. Ptolemy through his military campaigns was unsuccessful in ending the Berber revolt. The war reached the point where Ptolemy summoned the Roman governor of Africa, Publius Cornelius Dolabella, and his army to assist Ptolemy in ending the revolt. The war finally ended in 24. Although Ptolemy's army and the Romans won, both parties suffered considerable losses of infantry and cavalry.  The Roman Senate, impressed by Ptolemy's loyal conduct, had sent a Roman senator to visit Ptolemy. The Roman senator recognized Ptolemy's loyal conduct and awarded him an ivory scepter, an embroidered triumphal robe, and the senator greeted Ptolemy as "king, ally, and friend". This recognition was a tradition which recognized and rewarded the allies of Rome.  Ptolemy, through his military campaigns, had proven his capability and loyalty as an ally and Client King to Rome. He was a popular monarch with the Berbers and had travelled extensively throughout the Roman Empire, including Alexandria, Egypt and Ostia, Italy.  In Caesaria, prayers were offered for the health of Ptolemy at the Temple of Saturn "frugifer dues". Mauretania was a region that was abundant in agriculture and a god considered equivalent to Saturn was the god of agriculture. This cult was an important one in the kingdom. A temple and a sanctuary were dedicated to Saturn in Caesaria by 30 and, throughout Mauretania, various temples were dedicated to Saturn.  Ptolemy's parents descended from backgrounds that had strong endemic traditions in claiming their descent from Hercules (see Heracleidae). His mother originated from Egypt where there were various imperial cults dedicated to the Pharaohs and their relatives, and there is a possibility that his father's Royal Numidian ancestors may have had imperial cults dedicated to them.  A surviving inscription in Mauretania hints that either JubaII or Ptolemy established an imperial cult honoring Hiempsal II, a previous Numidian King and paternal grandfather of JubaII. According to inscription evidence, Ptolemy may have established a Royal Mauretanian cult honoring himself and his late parents (see Berber mythology). One inscription is dedicated to his genius and another inscription expressed wishes for his good health.  Evidence suggesting that Ptolemy could have deified JubaII after his death is from the writings of the Christian author of the 3rd century Marcus Minucius Felix. In Felix's "Octavius", the writer records a dialogue between a Christian and a pagan from Cirta. This dialogue was part of a Christian argument that divinity is impossible for mortals. Felix lists humans who were said to have become divine: "Saturn, Jupiter, Romulus and Juba". Further literary evidence, suggesting the deification of JubaII by Ptolemy, is from the brief euhemerist exercise entitled "On the Vanity of Idols" by the 3rd-century Christian saint Cyprian. In his exercise in deflating the gods, Cyprian observed and stated that the Mauretanians were manifestly worshiping their kings and did not conceal their name by any disguise. According to the surviving evidence there is a strong probability that JubaII and Ptolemy were deified by the Berbers after their deaths.  Coinage from Ptolemy's sole reign is very different from those during the time Ptolemy co-ruled with JubaII. His royal title on coinage is in Latin " ‘King Ptolemy’" and there is no surviving coinage that shows his royal title in Greek. On his coinage there is no Ancient Egyptian imagery. The coinage from his sole reign displays a variety of themes. Ptolemy personified himself as an elephant on coins. Elephant personification is an ancient coinage tradition in which his late parents did when they ruled Mauretania. The elephant has symbolic functions: an icon representing Africa and an iconic monetary characteristic from the Hellenistic period which displays influence and power. Another animal Ptolemy uses on coins is a lion leaping, which is a symbol of animal kingship and is another symbol representing Africa.  Other coins display Roman themes. A rare revealing gold coin, dated from the year 39, celebrates Ptolemy's ascent, his rule, and his loyalty to Rome. On one side of the coin, there is a central bust of JubaII and is inscribed in Latin "‘King Juba son of Juba’". JubaII is personified like a Greek Egyptian pharaoh from the Ptolemaic dynasty. The other side of the coin is an eagle with its wings displayed on a thunderbolt, and Ptolemy's initials are inscribed in Latin. Through his father's central bust and inscription, Ptolemy is celebrating and showing the continuation of his family and rule, while honoring his paternal ancestry. The personification of his father as a Ptolemaic Pharaoh, Ptolemy is celebrating his Greek Egyptian descent and possibly his links to Alexander the Great. Ptolemy through the eagle is celebrating the Roman Peace, honoring the rule of the Roman Empire, while he is showing his allegiance and loyalty to Ancient Rome. Another coin, dating from the year 40, celebrates his senatorial decree. The coin shows on one side, a curule chair upon which is a wreath and a scepter leaning against it. On the other side of the coin, Ptolemy is wearing a fillet on his head.  Ptolemy seemed to have had expensive tastes and enjoyed luxury items. He owned a custom-made citrus wood wine table. Mauretania had many citrus trees and produced many citrus wood tables, which were frequently sought out by aristocrats and monarchs.  Ptolemy married a woman named Julia Urania, who came from obscure origins. She is only known through a funeral inscription found at Caesaria through her freedwoman Julia Bodina. Bodina ascribed Julia Urania as "‘Queen Julia Urania’". There is a possibility that Julia Urania was a member of the royal family of Emesa (modern Homs, Syria). Ptolemy married Julia Urania at an unknown date during the 1st century. She bore Ptolemy, in about 38, a daughter called Drusilla.

Death.

The Kingdom of Mauretania was one of the wealthiest Roman client kingdoms, and after 24 Ptolemy continued to reign without interruption. In late 40, Caligula invited Ptolemy to Rome and welcomed him with appropriate honours. Ptolemy was confirmed as king and an ally and friend of the empire, but he was assassinated by order of Caligula. Caligula's motivation is unclear. Ancient historians claim envy of Ptolemy's wealth or of a theatrical crowd's admiration of Ptolemy's purple cloak. Later historians have suggested other motivations. Some of these are inspired by Suetonius's claim about the purple cloak, while others are independent of the claims of the ancient historians, for example the idea that Ptolemy may have been implicated in a plot by Gaetulicus or Caligula wanted to exert greater control over Mauretania.  After Ptolemy's murder in Rome, his former household slave Aedemon, from outrage and out of loyalty to his former master, wanted to take revenge against Caligula and started the revolt of Mauretania with the Berbers against Rome. The Berber revolt was a violent one and the rebels were skilled fighters against the Roman Army. The Roman generals Gnaeus Hosidius Geta and Gaius Suetonius Paulinus were needed to end the revolt. Mauretania was divided into two provinces which were Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis.  Much prior to Ptolemy's death, Caligula had sent a man to him with a message stating: "Do nothing at all, neither good or bad, to the bearer." Claudius tried a Roman senator called Gaius Rabirius Postumus for treason who before tried unsuccessfully to recover money from Ptolemy.

In popular culture.

Ptolemy is a minor character in the novels by Robert Graves, "I Claudius " and "Claudius the God".  He appears in Stephanie Dray's novel "Daughters of the Nile", which marked the end of the trilogy focusing on Ptolemy's mother.  Throughout Algeria and Morocco, statues have survived that belonged to Ptolemy. There is a nude statue of him, dated from the 1st century, which is on display at the Rabat Museum in Morocco. His sculpted images are of a youthful appearance and particularly those first portraits created during the reign of JubaII virtually show his relations to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. This is evident by the arrangement of the comma shaped locks over the forehead. There is a seven-inch fine bronze Roman imperial bust of Ptolemy about age 15 which Sotheby's auctioned in New York for $960,000 in 2004.

Ptolemy of Mauretania (, "Ptolemaîos"; ; 13 9BC–AD40) was the last Roman client king and ruler of Mauretania for Rome. He was a member of the Berber Massyles tribe of Numidia; via his mother Cleopatra Selene II, he was also a member of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty.

托勒密(英语:Ptolemy of Mauretania),(前19年-40年)。古罗马在北非所立的邦君之一(公元23年至公元40年在位),曾帮助罗马军队镇压北非附近的叛乱并与其结盟,后为罗马统治者卡利古拉所杀。出生于努米底亚,为埃及托勒密王朝的后裔。在接受希腊教育后继承王位。接受罗马帝国统治,在他死后该地因为再次发生叛乱而一分为二。


History.

Mir village was founded sometime prior to 1345. It is home to a late medieval castle, which made the town the target of many attacks over the centuries. The town belonged to the Illinič family (Korczak coat of arms) first and then to the Radziwiłł family. It was destroyed by the Swedish forces in 1655 (Deluge) and again by the Swedes during the Great Northern War in 1706. In 1792, the Lithuanian division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army under Józef Judycki was routed by the invading Imperial Russian army corps under Boris Mellin (see Battle of Mir). During the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in 1812, Russian Imperial cavalry, artillery and cossack regiments ambushed and defeated the Duchy of Warsaw 3 uhlan divisions (Battle of Mir (1812)). The retreating Russians, withdrawing east, abandoned the town and destroyed the castle with gunpowder. During the Middle Ages it was first located in the Principality of Polotsk, after the Battle on the river Nemiga in the Principality of Minsk, then was taken over by Kievan Rus' but after the Mongol Invasion the Rus' rule diminished and since 1242 Mir belonged to the expanding and dynamic Duchy of Lithuania.  In 1569, along with the rest of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Mir became a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1795, Mir was acquired by the Russian Empire as a result of the Third Partition of Poland.  From 1921 until 1939, Mir was part of the Second Polish Republic. On 17 September 1939, the town was occupied by the Red Army and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR.  From 28 June 1941 until 7 July 1944, Mir was occupied by Nazi Germany and administered as a part of the Generalbezirk Weißruthenien of Reichskommissariat Ostland. After the end of German occupation, it remained within the Byelorussian SSR until 1991, when it became part of the independent Republic of Belarus.  Mir was the site of two very famous horse fairs associated with Saint Nikolaus feast days, first held on May 9 and the second fair on December 6 each year. Both fairs lasted four weeks each and were very popular and well known throughout the country until 1939. Roma practically dominated the fairs as horse traders, and numerous Roma community thrived in the town until 1939. The fairs collapsed in 1941, when Nazi Germany invaded the Belorussian Soviet Republic and murdered the Roma people of Mir.  Mir's claim to fame in Jewish Diaspora history is that it was the original home of the Mir yeshiva which operated there intermittently from 1815 until the fall of Poland in 1939, when the invading communist Soviet Red Army and security forces pressured the school to close and relocate to then still free Lithuania. (Current incarnations of the yeshiva are located in Brooklyn, New York, Jerusalem and Modi'in Illit.)  Today, Mir has little industry and is no longer an internationally renowned center of Jewish learning or Roma horse trade. Home to about 2,500 people, virtually none of whom are descended from the once thriving Jewish and Roma communities, its primary attraction is the Mir Castle as well as memorials erected by the Soviet government and various Jewish groups over the past half century. On the eve of World War II, some 2,400 Jews lived in Mir, about half of the town's population. All of them, except about 50 escapees, were murdered by the Germans in 1941. One of the escapees, Elia Miranski, reported in an interview given in 2013 that entire neighborhoods had been destroyed by the Germans and the town today is significantly smaller than it was; outlines of the former neighborhood streets can be seen on Google Earth to the northeast of the castle along the river.

Mir (; ; both meaning "world" and "peace"; but the name most likely originates from the name of the river the settlement is situated on) is a town in the Karelichy District (Карэліцкі раён) of Grodno Region, Belarus on the banks of Miranka River, about 85 kilometers southwest of the national capital, Minsk.

密尔 (; )是白俄罗斯格罗德诺州的一个城镇,位于首都明斯克西南85公里,约有2500人。


1998年欧洲足协图图杯

First round.

Second leg.

"Baltika Kaliningrad won 5–1 on aggregate."  "National București won 5–2 on aggregate."  "Debrecen won 10–2 on aggregate."  "Vojvodina won 5–3 on aggregate."  "OD Trenčín won 5–2 on aggregate."  "Makedonija GjP won 5–3 on aggregate."  "Torpedo Kutaisi won 7–1 on aggregate."  "Rimavská Sobota won 3–2 on aggregate."  "Kongsvinger won 9–1 on aggregate."  "Lyngby won 4–2 on aggregate."  "Hradec Králové won 2–1 on aggregate."  "Altay won 5–4 on aggregate."  "TPS 3–3 Sion on aggregate. TPS won on away goals rule."  "Inkaras Kaunas 1–1 Baki Fahlasi on aggregate. Inkaras Kaunas won 5–4 on penalties."

Second round.

Second leg.

"Werder Bremen won 5–1 on aggregate."  "Sampdoria won 2–1 on aggregate."  "Naţional București won 4–3 on aggregate."  "Vojvodina won 4–0 on aggregate."  "Bastia won 7–1 on aggregate."  "Baltika Kaliningrad won 1–0 on aggregate."  "Lommel 2–2 Torpedo Kutaisi on aggregate. Lommel won on away goals rule."  "Austria Salzburg won 3–2 on aggregate."  "Shinnik Yaroslavl won 5–2 on aggregate."

Third round.

Second leg.

"Debrecen won 3–2 on aggregate."  "Sampdoria won 4–0 on aggregate."  "Espanyol won 2–1 on aggregate."  "Ruch Chorzów 2–2 Estrela da Amadora on aggregate. Ruch Chorzów won 4–2 on penalties."  "Bologna 3–3 Naţional București on aggregate. Bologna won on away goals rule."  "Valencia won 4–2 on aggregate."  "Samsunspor won 4–0 on aggregate."  "Fortuna Sittard won 5–2 on aggregate."  "Bastia won 4–3 on aggregate."  "Werder Bremen won 5–2 on aggregate."  "Austria Salzburg won 5–3 on aggregate."  "Vojvodina won 4–2 on aggregate."

Semi–finals.

Second leg.

"Vojvodina won 4–2 on aggregate."  "Bologna won 3–2 on aggregate."  "Austria Salzburg won 4–3 on aggregate."  "Ruch Chorzów won 4–0 on aggregate."  "Werder Bremen won 6–0 on aggregate."  "Valencia won 3–0 on aggregate."

Finals.

Second leg.

"Valencia won 4–1 on aggregate."  "Werder Bremen won 2–1 on aggregate."  "Bologna won 3–0 on aggregate."

The 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Valencia, Werder Bremen, and Bologna. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. The 1998 tournament saw the return of English clubs in the competition since the controversy surrounding its participants in 1995.

1998年欧洲足协图图杯(1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup)是第 38 届图图杯赛事,亦是由欧洲足球协会(UEFA)主办的第 4 届赛事。


霍特科姆县 (华盛顿州)

History.

The Whatcom County area has known human habitation for at least twelve millennia. At least three aboriginal tribes have been identified in the area: Lummi (San Juan Islands, between Point Whitehorn and Chuckanut Bay), Nooksack (between Lynden and Maple Falls) and Semiahmoo(the northern portion, near Blaine).  This area was part of the Oregon Country at the start of the nineteenth century, inhabited both by fur prospectors from Canada, and Americans seeking land for agricultural and mineral-extraction opportunities. Unable to resolve which country should control this vast area, the Treaty of 1818 provided for joint control. In 1827 the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Langley near present Lynden.  By 1843, the Provisional Government of Oregon had been established, although at first there were questions as to its authority and extent. During its existence, that provisional government formed the area north of the Columbia River first into the Washington Territory, and then (December 19, 1845) into two vast counties: Clark and Lewis. In 1852, a portion of Lewis County was partitioned off to form Thurston County, and in 1853 a portion of the new county was partitioned off to form Island County.  The Washington Territory was formed as a separate governing entity in 1853. In 1854, that legislature carved several counties out of the existing counties, including Whatcom County on March 9, 1854, with area taken from Island County. The original county boundary was reduced in 1873 by the formation of San Juan County, and again in 1883 by the formation of Skagit County.  A Nooksack chief is the namesake of Whatcom County, taken from the word in the Nooksack language for "noisy water."  In 1855 the settlers erected a blockhouse west of Whatcom Creek, to protect against forays from the aboriginal inhabitants who were attempting to defend their homelands. That year the Treaty of Point Elliott was signed, which assigned the Lummi and Semiahmoo peoples a greatly-restricted reserved area.  The short-lived Fraser Canyon Gold Rush (1857–58) caused a short-term increase in the county's population, which briefly swelled to over 10,000 before the bubble burst.  In 1857 the federal government began the field work necessary to establish the national border between the United States and Canada, which had been agreed on as the forty-ninth parallel in this area, and which would also mark the north line of Whatcom County. As the work moved east, several of the workers chose to remain in the area as settlers.

Border crossings.

Whatcom County's northern border is the Canada–US border with the Canadian province of British Columbia. Adjoining the county on the north (from west to east) are the metropolitan Vancouver's suburbs of Delta, Surrey, Langley, the central Fraser Valley city of Abbotsford and the rural Fraser Valley Regional District.  The border crossing points are (from west to east):  Several shopping malls and other services in Bellingham and elsewhere in the county are geared to cross-border shopping and recreation.

Geography.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and (16%) is covered by water.  The county includes Lake Whatcom, which empties into Bellingham Bay by way of Whatcom Creek. Physiographically, Whatcom County is an extension of the Fraser Valley or "Lower Mainland" area of British Columbia, essentially the lowland delta plain of the Fraser River. At some periods in the past, one of the Fraser River's lower arms entered Bellingham Bay near Bellingham via what is now the mouth of the Nooksack River.  A small part of the county, Point Roberts, about, is an extension of the Tsawwassen Peninsula, which is bisected by the Canada–US border along the 49th parallel. The highest point in the county is the peak of the active volcano Mount Baker at above sea level. The lowest points are at sea level along the Pacific Ocean.

Demographics.

2000 census.

As of the census of 2000, 166,814 people, 64,446 households, and 41,116 families resided in the county. The population density was 79 people per square mile (30/km2). The 73,893 housing units averaged 35 per square mile (13/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 88.41% White, 0.69% Black or African American, 2.82% Native American, 2.78% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 2.49% from other races, and 2.66% from two or more races. About 5.21% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of people of European ancestry, 15.5% identified as German, 9.2% as English, 8.2% as Dutch, 7.9% as Irish, 7.0% as Norwegian, and 6.6% as United States or American ancestry.  Of the 64,446 households, 30.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.20% were married couples living together, 8.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.20% were not families. About 25.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.03.  In the county, the population was distributed as 24.10% under the age of 18, 14.20% from 18 to 24, 27.50% from 25 to 44, 22.50% from 45 to 64, and 11.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.00 males.  The median income for a household in the county was $40,005, and for a family was $49,325. Males had a median income of $37,589 versus $26,193 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,025. About 7.80% of families and 14.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.20% of those under age 18 and 8.30% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census.

As of the 2010 United States Census, 201,140 people, 80,370 households, and 48,862 families resided in the county. The population density was. The 90,665 housing units averaged. The racial makeup of the county was 85.4% White, 3.5% Asian, 2.8% American Indian, 1.0% Black or African American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 3.3% from other races, and 3.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 7.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 20.8% were German, 12.8% were Irish, 12.6% were English, 8.0% were Dutch, 6.9% were Norwegian, and 4.4% were American.  Of the 80,370 households, 28.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.0% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 39.2% were not families, and 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.43, and the average family size was 2.97. The median age was 36.6 years.  The median income for a household in the county was $49,031 and for a family was $64,586. Males had a median income of $47,109 versus $34,690 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,407. About 7.8% of families and 15.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.9% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

Government.

The Whatcom County government is a municipal corporation operating under a county charter approved in 1978; it acts as a county constitution. Whatcom County is one of four Washington counties to use the home rule charter provision of state law. Local government is split between the county, incorporated cities and towns, and special-purpose districts. These local governments are established and operate according to state law, and operate independently from the county government.

County government.

The charter establishes the structure of Whatcom County government. The Whatcom County Council holds legislative powers granted to counties. The council consists of seven members elected for a term of four years. Council members are elected at the general election in November of odd-numbered years. Three council members are elected one year before a presidential election; four council members are elected one year after a presidential election. Two members are elected from each of three districts; the seventh member is elected at-large, which favors candidates who can command a majority of voters. The county council also serves as the county board of health.  The executive branch consists of six elected officials, a county executive, and five department heads. The county executive is similar to a mayor or governor. The assessor, auditor, prosecuting attorney, sheriff, and treasurer are elected independently from the county executive and council. These six officials serve four-year terms. The county council establishes various departments by ordinance. The county council or county executive appoint department heads. These departments include administrative services, health, medical examiner, planning and development services, parks and recreation, and public works.  The judicial branch consists of a district court and superior court. The district court is a court of limited jurisdiction which handles civil and criminal cases. Criminal cases are limited to adults charged with misdemeanor and/or gross misdemeanor offenses. State law specifies what cases are in the district court's jurisdiction. The district court operates a small claims court to resolve civil cases involving monetary damages not exceeding $5,000. No attorneys are permitted to appear in small claims court. Cases are heard using less formal procedures. The district court has two judges, a court commissioner, and a support staff.  The superior court is a court of general jurisdiction. Superior court hears civil cases exceeding $75,000 or requesting non-monetary remedies. Superior court hears all juvenile criminal cases and all adult felony cases. Superior court also hears appeals from district court and municipal courts. Superior court staff include three judges, three full-time court commissioners, two part-time court commissioners, and support staff. District and superior court judges are elected by the county voters for a term of four years. Court commissioners are appointed by elected judges; commissioners have powers and responsibilities equal to elected judges.

Cities and towns.

Incorporated cities and towns provide municipal services. Each city or town has an elected council and mayor.

Special purpose districts.

Special-purpose districts include cemetery, fire, hospital, library, school, and water and sewer districts. Each special district is governed by officials elected by voters within that jurisdiction.

Fire districts.

Eleven fire districts, two city fire departments, and a regional fire authority provide fire prevention, fire fighting, and emergency medical services. Each fire district is governed by an elected board of commissioners. Most districts have three commissioners. Fire districts receive most of their revenue from property taxes. All of the fire districts and the regional fire authority have volunteer or paid-call firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMTs), as does the City of Lynden Fire Department.  The City of Bellingham is an all-career department. Some of the districts also have full-time firefighter/EMTs. All fire districts use 9-1-1 for emergency calls. Whatcom County has one 9-1-1 call center located in Bellingham. Fire/EMS calls are processed and dispatched at a second public safety answering point called Prospect, located at a fire station in Bellingham. Additional dispatching locations provide backup capacity to answer emergency calls.  Whatcom County Fire Districts are:  ° Outside Lynden city limits only. The Lynden Fire Department serves Lynden.

Economy.

Coal mines, a sawmill, and a military fort were established on Bellingham Bay in the 1850s. Logging was the principal economic activity at first, and agriculture developed as land was cleared by logging activity. Canneries, both of fish and crops, shipped the county's products far and wide.  Pacific American Fisheries organized in 1899 in Fairhaven, and became the world's largest canning operation, employing over 1,000 Chinese and 4,500 "white persons". Smaller canneries at Semiahmoo also produced 2,000 cases of canned salmon daily. The Fairhaven Shipyard constructed fleets of fishing ships, and also produced freighters during World War I.  Whatcom County is the top producer of raspberries in the state.  Cross border activity is a significant driver of the economy.

Education.

Primary and secondary education.

Whatcom County residents are served by public and private schools, providing preschool, primary (K-5), and secondary (6–12) education. Public schools are operated by eight school districts. Each school district is an independent local government managed by an elected school board. Seven districts serve the western portion of Whatcom County. One district serves the southeast corner of Whatcom County. The remaining portion of the county is national forest or national park land, which has no permanent residents.  These districts are:  Numerous private schools operate in Whatcom County including Assumption Catholic School, St. Paul's Academy, Lynden Christian Schools, Bellingham Christian Schools, and the Waldorf School.

Higher education.

Whatcom County hosts five institutions of higher education. Western Washington University (Western) is the third-largest public university in Washington. Western offers bachelor's and master's degrees through seven colleges, and enrolls more than 15,000 students. Whatcom Community College is a public community college offering academic certificate programs and associate degrees. Two universities and two colleges are located in Bellingham. One college is located on the Lummi Nation (Lummi Reservation) west of Bellingham. Bellingham Technical College is a public technical and vocational college located in Bellingham. Trinity Western University (TWU) is a private, Christian university based in Langley, BC about 25 miles north of Bellingham. TWU operates a branch campus in Bellingham offering undergraduate courses and supports TWU's bachelor's degree completion program.  Northwest Indian College is a college supported by the Lummi Nation and serves the Native American community. Northwest Indian College is located on the Lummi Nation (Lummi Reservation) about five miles west of Bellingham.

Whatcom County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, the population was 201,140. It is bordered by Metro Vancouver Regional District and Fraser Valley Regional District in Canada on the north, Okanogan County on the east, Skagit County on the south, and the Salish Sea on the west. The county seat and largest city is Bellingham.

霍特科姆县(Whatcom County, Washington)是美国华盛顿州西北部的一个县,北邻加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省。面积6,484平方公里。根据美国2000年人口普查,共有人口166,814人。县治贝灵汉 (Bellingham)。


Early life and education.

Prince Moulay Rachid is the second son and fifth child of King Hassan II and his wife, Lalla Latifa Hammou. Prince Moulay Rachid has one older brother, King Mohammed VI, and three sisters, Princess Lalla Meryem, Princess Lalla Asma and Princess Lalla Hasna.  After primary and secondary studies at the Royal College in Rabat and obtaining the Baccalauréat in June 1989, he entered Mohammed V University in Rabat to start his higher studies in Law. In May 1993, Prince Moulay Rachid obtained his Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) majoring in economic and social law. The same year the Prince received his License to Practice Law – Public Law. On 29 June 1995, the Prince completed his graduate studies and received a Master of Law (LL.M.) in Political Science. The Bosnia question was the subject of his research and the thesis that the Prince presented and supported publicly. In order to complete his training for his postgraduate education, in November 1993, the Prince started an internship with the United Nations in New York. On 18 May 2001, the Prince presented his doctorate thesis on the Organisation of the Islamic Conference at the Université Montesquieu-Bordeaux IV, which merited a specific mention for the quality of his work. On 21 June 1996, the Prince successfully completed the written and oral tests for his postgraduate education and received a postgraduate Degree in International Relations.

As heir to the Moroccan throne.

In 1999, after the death of his father and the enthronement of his brother King Mohammed VI, the prince became crown prince, but in 2003, this position was granted to his newborn nephew Moulay Hassan. The Prince is now second in line to the throne.  In 1999, a few analysts like Nicolas Beau and Catherine Graciet argued that Moulay Rachid might be better suited for the job of the king than his brother. They expressed their concern that Mohammed VI might not have adequate expertise to deal with militant Islamists.

Fouad Mourtada controversy.

On 5 February 2008, Fouad Mourtada was arrested on suspicion of stealing the identity of Moulay Rachid by creating a fake profile on Facebook as a joke. Although the prince did not seek to press charges, on 23 February, Fouad Mourtada was sentenced to three years in jail and fined 10,000 dirhams (~1,350 USD). After local protests and international criticism, Fouad Mourtada was granted a royal pardon on 19 March 2008 just days before an appeal hearing.

Marriage.

On 15 June 2014, he married his second cousin Oum Kalthum Boufarès (born 1987). She is daughter of Moulay El Mamoun Boufarès, former Minister of Interior, and paternal granddaughter of Lalla Khadija (a sister of Mohammed V). On 23 June 2016 their first child, a son, Moulay Ahmed was born.

Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco, also known as Prince Moulay Rachid ben al-Hassan, GCVO, () was born on 20 June 1970 in Rabat as the youngest male child of the late King Hassan II and his second wife, Lalla Latifa Hammou. He holds a doctorate in international politics and serves Morocco as a diplomat. He is currently second in the line of succession to the Moroccan throne.

穆莱·拉希德王子(阿拉伯语:,1970年-6月20日),摩洛哥王子,哈桑二世幼子,穆罕默德六世之弟。


安德烈·帕夫洛维奇·基里连科

Early life and career.

Andrei Kirilenko was born on 8 September 1906 in the village of Alexeyevka, Belgorod Oblast, in the Russian Empire, to a working-class family. As a young boy, he worked as an electrician and a locksmith. In 1920, Kirilenko graduated from one of the local schools; five years later, he graduated from the Alekseevskii vocational technical school. In the mid-to-late 1920s, Kirilenko started working for a mining enterprise located in the Voronezh Oblast. He became an active member of Komsomol in 1929 and, two years later, became a member of the All-Union Communist Party. In 1936, he graduated from the Rybinsk Aviation Technology Institute. He started working as a design engineer for the aircraft factory, Zaporizhia Engine Plant. In 1938, Kirilenko became an active participant in party politics and was eventually selected to the position of Second Secretary of the Voroshilov District Party Committee in Zaporozhye Oblast. The following year, he was voted in as First Secretary. Later that year he was appointed to Second Secretary of the Zaporizhzhya Regional Party Committee of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In this role, Kirilenko made significant contributions to the development of metallurgical and electrical engineering, but also other sorts of industry.  During the Great Patriotic War, Kirilenko was directly involved with evacuating industry to safe zones. From 1941 to 1943, he was a member of the Military Soviet of the 18th Army of the Southern Front. He contributed by improving discipline among soldiers as well as improving the materiel support for the troops. In 1943, Kirilenko was relocated to Moscow, and during his stay there the production of advanced aircraft increased rapidly. By the end of the war, in 1944, Kirilenko was made First Secretary of the Zaporizhzhya Regional Party. He succeeded Leonid Brezhnev, future Soviet leader, as First Secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Party Committee. From 1955 to 1962, he was First Secretary of the Sverdlovsk Regional Party Committee; he was appointed by Nikita Khrushchev himself to take charge of economic planning and personnel selection in urban areas of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Kirilenko was later promoted to Khrushchev's Vice-Chairman of the Bureau of the Central Committee. Brezhnev benefited from Kirilenko's position, Brezhnev used him to win over supporters of his conspiracy against Khrushchev.

Brezhnev era.

Rise to prominence.

Immediately after Khrushchev's ouster, a "collective leadership" had been formed with Brezhnev as First Secretary, Alexei Kosygin as head of government and Anastas Mikoyan (replaced in 1965 by Nikolai Podgorny) as head of state. Central Committee Secretaries Mikhail Suslov and Kirilenko were also a part of the collective leadership, with Kirilenko ranked fifth behind Brezhnev, Podgorny, Kosygin, and Suslov. In 1962, Kirilenko became a voting member of the Political Bureau (Politburo). In 1966, the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RSFSR was abolished, and Kirilenko became Brezhnev's chief lieutenant. Vadim Medvedev, a Soviet official, said Kirilenko's chief concern was maintaining and strengthening Brezhnev's position within the Party. Men who were loyal to Brezhnev were also loyal to Kirilenko.  Konstantin Chernenko, another old Brezhnev protégé, became a "counterweight" to Kirilenko's power within the Central Committee (CC). Before Chernenko's rise in the Soviet hierarchy, Kirilenko provided detailed supervision of new party personnel and the economy. When Chernenko came on board in 1976, Kirilenko supervised the economy. By the mid-to-late 1970s, Kirilenko's health was beginning to decline, and his memory weakened. Despite his failing health, he was still a high-standing member, and he usually presided over the meetings of the Secretariat when Suslov was not around. While First World representatives treated Kirilenko as Second Secretary of the Communist Party because most of his duties had been associated with that office in the past, the position was actually held by Suslov. During most of his term, Kirilenko was one of four who had both a seat in the Secretariat and Politburo; the three others were Brezhnev, Suslov and Fyodor Kulakov.  By 1976 Kirilenko's position within the Soviet leadership had grown to such an extent that leading officials, such as Brezhnev and Suslov, were beginning to worry about his "organisational tail" in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). His supervisory responsibilities led many of his colleagues to view him as a threat to the Party Organisational Work Department of the Central Committee – the Central Committee department overseeing the civilian economy and the military–industrial complex. His position was weakened drastically by the end of the year, his weakened position did not lead to a strengthening of the Collective leadership but to the weakening of it.

Later career and resignation.

As with Kosygin, Kirilenko's leading position in the Soviet leadership was in "limbo" due to his support for economic reform to countenance the country's stagnating economy. Kirilenko grew increasingly estranged with Brezhnev in 1977, some believe that it was due to the growing economic hardship that faced the Soviet Union. It is said that the two argued over resource allocation and on how to modernise the ailing economy. However, the most common explanation is that Kirilenko grew estranged was because of his weakened position within the Collective leadership.  Kirilenko led the Soviet delegation to the December 1977 MPLA Party Congress. At this congress, MPLA officially subscribed to the doctrine of Marxist-Leninism. This congress was important to the Soviet Union, and Kirilenko compared Angola's development with that of Vietnam. Kirilenko, along with Premier Kosygin, had been one of the most vocal opponents to a Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. He blamed the Afghan Party leadership for the rebellion against them, claiming that the Soviets "gave them everything." He also disliked it when the Afghan leadership tried to justify their murderous actions on the grounds that Vladimir Lenin also did it.  Kirilenko was seen as a possible candidate for the post of First Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in 1977, however, First World observers tended to overrate the significance of the office, and because of it, their observation were completely off the mark. Vasili Kuznetsov, a 76-year-old man, was chosen to the office of First Deputy Chairman instead. During Brezhnev's later rule, KGB chairman Yuri Andropov gradually took over the functions and, eventually, Kirilenko's position within the Soviet leadership. In 1979, Kirilenko lost his unofficial office as supervisor of the defence industry over to Pavel Finogenov, a protegé of Dmitriy Ustinov. Kirilenko was seen as a key candidate by the West to replace Brezhnev as Soviet leader in 1982. After Brezhnev's death, Kirilenko was removed from the ruling Politburo by the new General Secretary Andropov. With his deteriorating health, having a disease known as arteriosclerosis, Kirilenko was disabled from ensuing active politics or protecting himself from Andropov's attacks. After Brezhnev's death and funeral, Kirilenko's mental condition deteriorated to where he could not remember the names of several leading Politburo members. He was unable to write properly during his later life; when asked by Andropov to write a letter of resignation in 1982, he was unable to do so. The decision to remove Kirilenko was taken before Andropov rose to power, so in the event Brezhnev had died later, Kirilenko would still have been forced to resign. The reason for the decision was that Kirilenko's son had tried to defect to the United Kingdom.

Later life, death and recognition.

When compared to other Soviet politicians who shared the same fate, Kirilenko's downfall was, according to historian R. Judson Mitchell, a "relatively easy" fall from power. At Brezhnev's lying-in-state and subsequent funeral, he was allowed to stand next besides Brezhnev's family even if he was not a member of the Soviet leadership at the time. Kirilenko made his last public appearance in 1983, and was given an honorary retirement the same year. Mitchell believes that Andropov gave Kirilenko the honorary retirement so that he could win over Kirilenko's "organisational tail", literally Kirilenko's appointees to top-ranking offices during his years in service. He lived the rest of his life in Moscow and died on 12 May 1990. He was buried at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery. During his lifetime, he was awarded the Hero of Socialist Labour twice, and he received six Orders of Lenin and one Order of the October Revolution.

Andrei Pavlovich Kirilenko (; – 12 May 1990) was a Soviet statesman from the start to the end of the Cold War. In 1906, Kirilenko was born at Alexeyevka in Belgorod Oblast to a Ukrainian working-class family. He graduated in the 1920s from a local vocational school, and again in the mid-to-late 1930s from the Rybinsk Aviation Technology Institute. He became a member of the All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) in 1930. As many like him, Kirilenko climbed up the Soviet hierarchy through the "industrial ladder"; by the 1960s, he was Vice-Chairman of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). After Nikita Khrushchev's forced resignation, Kirilenko became Leonid Brezhnev's "chief lieutenant" within the Central Committee.

安德烈·帕夫洛维奇·基里连科(,-1990年5月12日),冷战时期苏联政治家,1906年生于俄罗斯帝国沃罗涅日省阿列克谢耶夫卡一个俄罗斯人工人阶级家庭。他在1920年从当地一家职业训练学校毕业,又在1930年代中末叶从毕业。他在1930年成为全联盟共产党(布尔什维克)党员。基里连科和很多成为党政要员的苏共党员一样,都是从「工业梯队」晋身苏联统治阶层;他在1960年已是苏共中央俄罗斯联邦局第一副主席。尼基塔·赫鲁晓夫被迫辞职之后,他在1965年成为苏共中央政治局委员,并充当列昂尼德·勃列日涅夫的「主将」。


History.

Development.

Development of TORCS began in 1997 by Eric Espié and Christophe Guionneau as a 2D game called Racing Car Simulator (RCS). It was influenced by and based on RARS (Robot Auto Racing Simulator). When Espié and Guionneau acquired a 3dfx graphics card for game development, they made the first 3D version of the simulator with OpenGL and renamed it Open Racing Car Simulator (ORCS) so as not to be confused with the Revision Control System.  The early versions of ORCS did not include cars with engines, making the game a Soap Box Derby-style, downhill racing simulation. When engines and engine sounds were eventually added, the simulation was given its final name, TORCS, as the name seemed more relevant to automobiles given its similarity to the word torque.  Later, Guionneau added multiple camera angles during game-play. Guionneau developed much of the original graphics code in TORCS and eventually added texture mapping to give more detail to the cars. Espié then worked on piecing together and finalizing code for release.

Future goals.

The current main developers of TORCS are Bernhard Wymann (project leader), Christos Dimitrakakis (simulation, sound, AI) and Andrew Sumner (graphics, tracks). Aside from bugfixes and maintenance of TORCS code, the next features planned include network multiplayer mode, improved physics engine, enhanced car interior detail, and replays.

Reception and impact.

In December 2000 CNN placed TORCS among the ""Top 10 Linux games for the holidays"". "Linux Journal" considered "TORCS" to be the best open source driving game in their October 18, 2007 issue, highlighting the ability for players to design their own cars, realistic graphics and vehicle handling. The game became quite popular, alone via Sourceforge.net the game was downloaded between 2000 and May 2017 over 2.9 million times.

Competitions.

The "TORCS Racing Board" hosts a competition on its website among players in the TORCS community. Unlike traditional network multiplayer events in which players compete in real-time on local network or Internet-connected clients simultaneously, the TORCS Racing Board is a competition between artificial intelligence "robots" developed and uploaded by users.  Faculty from the University of Würzburg and Politecnico di Milano host two AI competitions, the "Simulated Car Racing Championship" and the "Demolition Derby Competition"; the latter uses a patched TORCS server.

TORCS forks.

TORCS has been forked into several projects, for example Speed Dreams, originally known as "Torcs-NG".

Use in research.

Thanks to its openness, modularity and extensibility, TORCS has been adopted as a base for many research projects; examples include automated computation of car setups, human-assisted algorithmic generation of tracks and the application of several computing techniques (e.g. genetic programming) to different aspects of robot driving. Since 2008, TORCS has also played an important role in various research fields within the IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games, where it appears as a base for 4 to 6 projects every year.  According to the TORCS FAQ the current version of TORCS should be cited as "B. Wymann, E. Espié, C. Guionneau, C. Dimitrakakis, R. Coulom, A. Sumner. TORCS: The Open Racing Car Simulator, vX.X.X, 20XX."

TORCS (The Open Racing Car Simulator) is an open-source 3D car racing simulator available for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, AmigaOS 4, AROS, MorphOS and Microsoft Windows. TORCS was created by Eric Espié and Christophe Guionneau, but project development is now headed by Bernhard Wymann. It is written in C++ and is licensed under the GNU GPL. TORCS is designed to enable pre-programmed AI drivers to race against one another, while allowing the user to control a vehicle using either a keyboard, mouse, or wheel input.

《The Open Racing Car Simulator》(TORCS)是一款开源英语:3D赛车模拟游戏。是在英语:Linux操作系统上广受欢迎的赛车游戏。有50种车辆和20条赛道,简单的视觉效果。用C和C++写成,释放在GPL协议下。


Synopsis.

Chip and Dale are two chipmunks who start a detective agency, Rescue Rangers, along with their friends Gadget, Monterey Jack, and Zipper. The pint-sized detectives deal with crimes that are often "too small" for the police to handle, usually with other animals as their clients. The gang frequently find themselves going up against two particular arch-villains: Mafia-style tabby cat Fat Cat and mad scientist Norton Nimnul.

Episodes.

Except for the five-part set of episodes made from the pilot movie, each 22-minute episode of the series was self-contained. Plot points introduced in each episode stayed in the episode and any character development did not appear to continue through to future episodes. Most of the episodes followed a similar format, where in the next case was presented at the start of the episode, then the bulk of the episode had the sleuths gathering clues and investigating the situation. In the last few minutes of the episode, the case was resolved, usually in dramatic fashion and the final moments would have a humorous wrap up scene between the Rangers.

Production.

"Rescue Rangers" was originally conceived as the first of three new companion shows to Disney's popular "DuckTales" series, which had more than doubled the ratings among child audiences in its time slots after its debut in the fall of 1987. Disney had originally invested $20,000,000 in "DuckTales" and then invested $28,000,000 in "Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers".  It, along with "TaleSpin" and a third series, "Double-O Duck" (which ultimately became "Darkwing Duck"), would round out a programming block later known as "The Disney Afternoon" along with the previously established "Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears" to capitalize on "DuckTales"' success.  When Tad Stones first came up with the idea for the "Rescue Rangers" series, Chip and Dale were not part of the show. He initially pitched doing a TV series based on "The Rescuers", but Disney rejected that idea as a sequel to that film was already in production. He created a new concept with the working title of "Metro Mice". In the original draft, the main character was an Indiana Jones-type mouse named Kit Colby who sported a fedora and a fluffy collared leather jacket, and the rest of the team included a chameleon, an earlier version of Gadget, and a character resembling Monterey Jack with a different name. When he proposed the show in a meeting with Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the idea was well received except for the character of Kit. At Eisner's suggestion, they replaced him with the chipmunk duo to give the show some established Disney characters to work with. By late 1987, two years before its television debut, the show was announced under its original proposed title of ""Chip 'n Dale and the Rescue Rangers"".  While Chip and Dale were established characters, in order to bring them into the series only their general appearance and basic personality traits were kept. Unlike their appearances in Disney shorts, in the "Rescue Rangers" the chipmunk duo are very verbal, with Chip voiced by Tress MacNeille and Dale voiced by Corey Burton. Audio processing was used to speed up the voice recordings and give the voices a higher pitch, particularly Chip's. The pair were given clothes—Chip the clothing of the original-concept Kit, while the goofier Dale was reminiscent, but not specifically modeled after "Magnum, P.I." with his Hawaiian shirt.  The series premiered in 1989 on The Disney Channel before moving into a regular slot in syndication the following fall. In 1990, the series premiered as part of the Disney Afternoon line up, where it aired until 1993. On October 2, 1995, "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers" began reruns on The Disney Channel as part of a two-hour programming block called "Block Party" which aired on weekdays in the late afternoon/early evening and which also included "Darkwing Duck", "TaleSpin", and "DuckTales".  The show's opening theme was written (listed in the end credits as words & music) by Mark Mueller, an ASCAP Award-winning pop music songwriter who also wrote the popular theme song for "DuckTales" and produced by Alf Clausen. The song performed over the title credits is sung by Jeff Pescetto (who also performed the "DuckTales" theme song). A full-length version of the theme song was later recorded by the pop group The Jets.

Home media.

United Kingdom VHS releases.

On November 6, 1989, Walt Disney Home Video released episodes from the series on video, containing a pair of episodes each.

United States VHS releases.

On February 22, 1991, Walt Disney Home Video released 10 episodes from the series on five VHS cassettes in the United States, containing a pair of episodes each. Additionally, on December 14, 1994, the episode "Ghost of a Chance" was released together with the "Goof Troop" episode "Hallow-Weenies" on one VHS cassette as a special release called "Boo-Busters". On September 3, 1996, the episode "Good Times, Bat Times" was released together with the "Darkwing Duck" episode "Ghoul of My Dreams" on one VHS cassette as a special release called "Witcheroo!"  Several other episodes were available on international releases.

UK, Australia and New Zealand releases.

Eleven VHS cassettes containing 23 episodes of the series were released in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

DVD releases.

North America (Region 1).

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has released some of the series on DVD-Video; two volumes have been released in Region 1 thus far, featuring the first 51 episodes of the series. The first was released on November 8, 2005 (containing episodes 1–27) and the second on November 14, 2006 (containing episodes 28–51). The episodes on the first volume are arranged in production order, while the episodes on the second volume are arranged by original air date. The sets were originally packaged in a box containing 3 slipcases, one for each disc. Both volumes were reissued in standard-sized DVD cases in 2013. There has yet to be any word from Disney regarding the release of a third volume set for episodes 52–65.

International (Region 2).

In the United Kingdom, Disney released one Region 2 volume in 2007, titled "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers First Collection". Despite the set being similar to the US version, the DVD contained only 20 episodes, while having 6 language tracks: English, French, Dutch, German, Spanish and Italian. Several other similar releases were then made to other countries, but only going up to episode #20. On December 5, 2012, a second DVD set of the series was released in the UK, but as a Region 2 version of Volume 2, titled "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers Season 2". Unlike the first DVD, this 3-disc set includes a Fastplay mode and only two language tracks: English and German, but subtitles have not been added. As of yet, there are no plans to release the rest of the series, or the seven episodes missing between the first two sets.

Video on demand.

The series was released on Amazon Video in 2013 and was free for Amazon Prime members. However, it was unavailable for some time. The series was brought back to Amazon Instant Video in the United States in 2016, being currently available for purchase in SD and HD.  The complete series is also currently available for purchase in SD and HD on iTunes and Google Play (Volume 2 on Google Play is only available in SD), also released in 2016.  The complete series was released alongside the release of Disney's streaming service Disney+ on November 12, 2019.

Reception and legacy.

In January 2009, IGN named "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers" as the 60th-best in the Top 100 Animated TV Shows. Hal Erickson, author of "Television Cartoon Shows, An Illustrated Encyclopedia" compared the show to "DuckTales", stating that it was "consummately produced and written" and its animation "succeeded in putting most other overseas output to shame."  The main characters of "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" appeared in the 2017 "DuckTales" series.

Other media.

Merchandise.

In fall of 1989, McDonald's produced a series of "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" themed Happy Meal that included toy versions of the main characters riding small vehicles. Scenes from the series were incorporated into the TV commercials advertising the Happy Meals. Ice cream versions of Chip 'n Dale were made by Good Humor.

Theme parks.

In 1989, Walt Disney World presented a parade called Hooray For Disney Stars Parade.  In 1990, Walt Disney World presented a show called Mickey's Magical TV World, featuring Chip and Dale in their "Rescue Rangers" outfits.  In 1990, Chip 'n Dale appeared in the Disney on Ice show "Walt Disney's World on Ice: 10th Anniversary" in their "Rescue Rangers" outfits.  In 1991, Disneyland presented a Disney Afternoon-themed stage show called "Plane Crazy" featuring Chip and Dale in their "Rescue Rangers" outfits, as part of the park's Disney Afternoon Avenue. In addition, cut-outs of Gadget, and Chip 'n' Dale were featured in the "Rescue Rangers Raceway" re-theme of the Fantasyland Autopia.  In January 1993, a junior roller coaster called Gadget's Go Coaster debuted along with the rest of Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland. The coaster looks like it was designed and built by Gadget. In April 1996, the attraction opened in Tokyo Disneyland. In December 2010, Gadget is back meeting to hello in the show "Disney's Twelve Days of Christmas", following for Mickey and Disney characters.  In addition, Chip and Dale in their "Rescue Rangers" outfits were featured to meet fans at "Fall Back to Fun Event" in September 2014, along with other Disney characters.

Comic.

A monthly comic book based on the show was published by Disney Comics in 1990, that ran for 19 issues. Subsequent comic stories were printed in "Disney Adventures" from 1990 to 1995, as well as in the Disney Afternoon comic book published by Marvel Comics. They also had a series from Boom Studios that was published for 8 issues from December 2010 to June 2011.

Cameo appearances.

In the first "Darkwing Duck" comic story from KaBoom!, Gadget makes a cameo gag.

"BOOM!" revival.

From September 2010, "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers" was revived by comics publisher Boom! Studios, as an ongoing monthly series slated to begin in December of the same year. This choice was based on the extreme and unexpected popularity of "Darkwing Duck", another Disney Afternoon property which BOOM! revived earlier in 2010. The series featured comics writer Ian Brill, and artist Leonel Castellani. Eight issues were published, collecting the two 4-part stories into two trade paperback books. The comic series was cancelled May 2011, to be replaced by the launch of DuckTales.  The Boom! Studios series will be reprinted in IDW Publishing's "Disney's Afternoon Giant" in October 2018.

Live-action film adaptation.

In January 2014, it was announced that The Walt Disney Company is developing a live-action feature-length film, with use of CGI special effects, similar to 20th Century Fox's "Alvin & the Chipmunks" film series. Robert Rugan was hired to write and direct the film.  By May 2019, Akiva Schaffer was hired as the director, replacing Rugan. The script is now set to be co-written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, from a previous draft by Barry Schwartz. David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman will serve as producers. The film will be a co-production between Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films while Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will distribute.

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers is an American animated adventure comedy television series produced by Disney Television Animation (formerly Walt Disney Television Animation). Created by Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove, it featured the established Disney characters Chip 'n' Dale in a new setting. The series premiered on The Disney Channel on March 4, 1989, after a preview episode ("Catteries Not Included") was aired on August 27, 1988. The series continued in September with a two-hour movie special, "Rescue Rangers: To the Rescue", which was later broken up into five parts to air as part of the weekday run. The final episode aired on November 19, 1990.

《-{zh-hans:救援突击队;zh-hk:小松鼠历险记;zh-tw:救难小福星;}-》(英语:"Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers"),又译《-{zh-hans:救难小福星;zh-hk:救难小福星;zh-tw:救援突击队;}-》,《-{zh-hans:小松鼠历险记;zh-hk:救援突击队;zh-tw:小松鼠历险记;}-》,是美国迪士尼公司推出的系列动画片,从1989年3月4日起播出。本片主角是迪士尼的经典人物:两只花栗鼠奇奇(Chip)和蒂蒂(Dale)。台湾华视于1991年引进播放,香港无线电视亦于1990年代播出,之后影集中的一部分曾经由中录德加拉在大陆发行过中文版 VCD,目前于迪士尼频道仍会不定时继续重播。