Plot.

In Sicily in 1860, Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina enjoys the customary comforts and privileges of an ancient and noble name. War has broken out between the armies of Francis II of the Two Sicilies and the insurgent volunteer redshirts of Giuseppe Garibaldi. Among the rebels is the Prince's remarkably handsome and dashing nephew, Tancredi, with whose romantic politics the Prince shares some whimsical sympathy. Moved by the uprising, the Prince departs for nearby Palermo. Garibaldi's army conquers the city and Sicily from the Bourbons. The Prince muses upon the inevitability of change, with the middle class displacing the hereditary ruling class while on the surface everything remains the same.  Refusing to bend to the tide of necessity, the Prince departs for his summer palace at Donnafugata. A new national assembly has called a plebiscite which the nationalists win 512-0, thanks to the corruption of the town's leading citizen, Don Calogero Sedara, who sees his daughter, the exquisitely beautiful Angelica, as a ticket of admittance to the high-class soirées of the nobility. Bringing her with him to the villa of the Salinas, he watches as both the Prince and Tancredi fall abjectly in love with her. Realising his chance, he effectively pimps his daughter to the aristocracy, and Tancredi offers his hand.  The Prince sees the wisdom of the match because he knows his nephew's vaulting ambition and need for ready cash, which Angelica's father, greedy for familial prestige, will happily make available. With the mutual blessing of the Prince of Salina and Don Calogero, Tancredi and Angelica become engaged.  A visitor from the constituent assembly comes to the villa. He begs the great scholar and nobleman to join the senate and help direct the ship of state; he hopes that the Prince's great compassion and wisdom will help alleviate the poverty and ignorance to be seen everywhere on the streets of Sicily. However, the Prince demurs and refuses this invitation, claiming that Sicily prefers its sleep to the agitations of modernity because its people are proud of who they are. He sees a future when the leopards and the lions, along with the sheep and the jackals, will all live according to the same law, but he does not want to be a part of this democratic vision.  He notes that Tancredi has shifted allegiances from the insurgent Garibaldi to the king's army, and wistfully recognises that his nephew is the kind of opportunist and time-server who will flourish in the new Italy.  A great ball is held at the villa of a neighboring Prince, and the Salinas and Tancredi attend. Afflicted by a combination of melancholia, the ridiculousness of the nouveau riche, and age, the Prince wanders forlornly from chamber to chamber, increasingly disaffected by the entire edifice of the society he so gallantly represents – until Angelica approaches and asks him to dance. Stirred and momentarily released from his cares, the Prince accepts, and once more he resembles the elegant and dashing figure of his past.  Disenchanted, he leaves the ball alone and asks Tancredi to arrange carriage for his family, and walks with a heavy heart to a dark alley that symbolises Italy's inordinate and fading past, which he inhabits.

Production.

Development.

The original novel had been a best-seller. In August 1960 the Italian company Titanus announced that they would make a film based on the novel in Sicily the following summer on a budget of at least $2 million. The movie would be an Italian-American co-production, shot in English, with a combination of Italian and American stars. Ettore Giannini was preparing a script although it was expected he would collaborate with an English speaking writer to finish it.  Several treatments were reportedly done before Visconti became involved. "The book is seen through the eyes of a Sicilian prince who has no sense of the people," said Visconti. "The people were for Garibaldi and then they were destroyed by the Piedmontese. The popular conscience was strangled by the way the Piedmont upper class tried to keep the social structure of the south just as it was."  In July 1961 MGM announced they had signed a co-production deal with Titanus to make the movie. Warren Beatty was in discussions with Visconti to play the nephew, while Visconti approached Laurence Olivier and Spencer Tracy to play the lead.  When Visconti was told by producers that they needed to cast a star in order to help to ensure that they'd earn enough money to justify the big budget, the director's first choice was one of the Soviet Union's preeminent actors, Nikolai Cherkasov. Learning that Cherkasov was in no condition, the producers stipulated that the star should be either Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Spencer Tracy or Burt Lancaster. The producers chose Hollywood star Burt Lancaster without consulting Visconti, which insulted the director and caused tension on the set; but Visconti and Lancaster ended up working well together, and their resulting friendship lasted the rest of their lives.  In November, Lancaster agreed to play the lead with filming to start in April. Lancaster said he had been "long fascinated" with "The Leopard" even before being offered the role. "I think it is the best written and most perceptive study of a man and his background that has appeared for many years."  He had doubts about accepting the part because "the novel was so perfect as a novel" but decided to accept.  All the scenes with Lancaster would be shot in English, and dubbed into Italian for the Italian version; other scenes would be filmed in Italian then dubbed into English for the English version.  In April 1962 20th Century Fox announced it had bought the distribution rights to the movie.

Shooting.

Filming started in May 1962 in Palermo. The first two weeks of the two month location shoot in Sicily were dedicated to battle scenes. After 22 weeks of location scenes, interiors would be shot in Rome.  Lancaster called Visconti "the finest director I've ever worked with."  Archibald Colquhoun worked as dialogue director.  By May 1963 it was reported the film had cost Titanus $5 million.

Versions.

"The Leopard" has circulated in at least four different versions. Visconti's first cut was 205 minutes long, but was felt to be excessive in length by both the director and producer, and was shortened to 195 minutes for its Cannes Film Festival premiere.  Visconti then cut the film further to 185 minutes for its official release, and considered this version to be his preferred one.  The U.S English-dubbed version, in which the Italian and French actors were dubbed over (except for Burt Lancaster, whose original English voice work is heard), was edited down to 161 minutes by its distributor 20th Century Fox. This was done without Visconti's input - the director was unhappy with the editing and dubbing.  Visconti threatened to sue Fox, who threatened to counter-sue the director, arguing that Lancaster supervised the American cut.  "I don't feel it's my film at all," said Visconti of the American cut.

Release.

The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1963. It won the Golden Palm for best picture.

Reception.

Box Office.

The film was the sixth most popular film of the year at the French box office, after "The Great Escape", "La Cuisine au Beurre", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Dr No" and "55 Days at Peking", with admissions of 3 688 024. (Others in the top ten were "Any Number Can Win", "Crooks in Clover", "Bebert and the Train" and "Where Are You From, Johnny?"

Critical.

At the time of its release in the summer of 1963, the majority of American critics panned the film. According to "Newsweek", Lancaster looked "as if he's playing Clarence Day's "Life with Father" in summer stock." Jonathan Miller of "The New Yorker" derided Lancaster as "muzzled by whiskers and clearly stunned by the importance of his role." However, "Time Magazine" praised the characterisation of the titular Leopard as solid and convincing.

Re-release.

The 185 minute edition was released in the US in 1983.  "New York" magazine called the now-famous ballroom scene "almost unbearably moving." The "New York Times" wrote "The reappearance of this enchanting work proves that, under the right circumstances, two decades make no difference whatsoever but 25 minutes can transform a very good film into a possibly great one."  The film's reputation continues to rise. Director Martin Scorsese considers the film to be one of the greatest ever made.  In the decennial poll made by the British Film Institute, it was named the 57th greatest film of all time selected by critics. Review website Rotten Tomatoes reports the film has a 98% "Fresh" rating, based on 47 reviews.

Preservation.

The original 8-perforation Technirama camera negative for "The Leopard" survives and was used by The Criterion Collection to create their video master for DVD and Blu-ray, with color timing supervised by the film's cinematographer, Giuseppe Rotunno. New preservation film elements were created using a 4K digital scan of the film, done with the cooperation of the Cineteca di Bologna, L'Immagine Ritrovata, The Film Foundation, Gucci, Pathé, Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, Twentieth Century Fox, and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale. This restoration premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival to great fanfare.

Home media.

There are several DVD editions available.  Blu-ray release.

The Leopard (, "The Serval"; alternative title: "Le Guépard") is a 1963 Italian epic period drama film by director Luchino Visconti, based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's 1958 novel of the same title.

Gepard je italské historicko-romantické filmové drama z roku 1963, natočené na podkladě románu spisovatele Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa ("Il Gattopardo", vydáno roku 1958). Film režíroval Luchino Visconti a v hlavních rolích hrály tehdejší filmové hvězdy jako například Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon nebo Claudia Cardinale.


Football at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

Fotbal na Letních olympijských hrách 2016 - turnaj žen

Competition schedule.

The match schedule of the women's tournament was unveiled on 10 November 2015.

Qualification.

In addition to host nation Brazil, 11 women's national teams qualified from six separate continental confederations. FIFA ratified the distribution of spots at the Executive Committee meeting in March 2014.

Venues.

The tournament was held in seven venues across six cities:

Squads.

The women's tournament was a full international tournament with no restrictions on age. Each team had to submit a squad of 18 players, two of whom must be goalkeepers. Each team might also have a list of four alternate players, who would replace any player in the squad in case of injury during the tournament.

Match officials.

On 2 May 2016, FIFA released the list of match referees that would officiate at the Olympics.

Draw.

The draw for the tournament was held on 14 April 2016, 10:30 BRT (), at the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro. The 12 teams in the women's tournament were drawn into three groups of four teams. The teams were seeded into four pots based on the FIFA Ranking of March 2016 (in brackets in the table). The hosts Brazil were automatically assigned into position E1. No groups can contain more than one team from the same confederation.

Group stage.

The top two teams of each group and the two best third-placed teams advanced to the quarter-finals. The rankings of teams in each group were determined as follows: If two or more teams were equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings were determined as follows:  The groups were denoted as groups E, F and G to avoid confusion with the groups of the men's tournament which used designations A–D.

Knockout stage.

In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.  On 18 March 2016, the FIFA Executive Committee agreed that the competition would be part of the International Football Association Board's trial to allow a fourth substitute to be made during extra time.

The women's football tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held from 3 to 19 August 2016. It was the 6th edition of the women's Olympic football tournament. Together with the men's competition, the 2016 Summer Olympics football tournament was held in six cities in Brazil, including Olympic host city Rio de Janeiro, which hosted the final at the Maracanã Stadium. There were no player age restrictions for teams participating in the women's competition.

Fotbalový turnaj žen na Letních olympijských hrách 2016 se konal v hostitelském městě Rio de Janeiru a dalších městech Brazílie ve dnech od 3. srpna do 19. srpna 2016. Byl šestým ženským fotbalový turnajem na olympijských hrách. Finále se uskutečnilo na jednom z největších fotbalových stadionů Estádio do Maracanã. Dvojnásobným obhájcem zlatých medailí byl výběr Spojených států amerických, který ve čtvrtfinále podlehl mužstvu Švédska.


Plot.

Retired CIA analyst Jack Ryan is on vacation with his family in London. Ryan and his family witness a terrorist attack on Lord William Holmes, Minister of State for Northern Ireland only for Ryan to intervene. Injured in the attack, Ryan kills one of the assailants, Patrick Miller, while his older brother Sean looks on. The remaining attackers flee as Sean is apprehended by the police. While recovering, Ryan is called to testify in court against Miller, who is part of a splinter cell of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Miller is convicted for his crimes and swears revenge against Ryan.  The leader of the splinter cell, Kevin O'Donnell, meets with IRA brigade commander Jimmy Reardon, who tricks O'Donnell into going into an ambush so he can be assassinated by hitmen. O'Donnell turns the tables on his attackers and kills them all while O'Donnell's lover, Annette, assassinates Reardon. While being transferred to HM Prison Albany on the Isle of Wight, Miller's escort convoy is ambushed by his comrades, including O'Donnell, who execute the police officers and coordinate an escape. Miller and his companions flee to North Africa to plan another kidnapping attempt on Lord Holmes. Miller persuades several members of the group to accompany him to the United States, where he plans to eliminate Ryan and his family.  Annette and fellow terrorist Ned Clark attempt to assassinate Ryan outside the United States Naval Academy, but Ryan notices Clark following him. Clark overwhelms Ryan, only to be shot by several Marines. Miller and a henchman attack Ryan's pregnant wife Cathy and their daughter Sally on a busy highway, injuring them both. Enraged over the attack on his family, Ryan decides to go back to work for the CIA, having earlier rejected the appeal of his former superior, Vice Admiral James Greer.  Ryan's analysis leads him to conclude that Miller has taken refuge in a training camp in North Africa. A Special Air Service team kills everyone in the camp while Ryan looks on through a live satellite feed. Unbeknownst to Ryan, Miller and his companions have left the camp and are on their way to the U.S. to stage their next attack.  Lord Holmes decides to visit Ryan at his home to present his honorary knighthood in recognition of his role in foiling the first attack on Holmes. With the aid of Holmes' traitorous assistant, Miller's group tracks Holmes to Ryan's coast-side home in Maryland. The team kill the DSS agents and state troopers guarding the residence, and make an attempt to kidnap Lord Holmes. Ryan leads Holmes and his family to safety.  The FBI's Hostage Rescue Team scrambles to pick up Holmes. Ryan develops a ruse to leave his family and Lord Holmes behind, near the shoreline, while racing away from the coast on a boat. Miller, O'Donnell and Annette follow suit, and chase him in a secondary boat. Upon realizing that Ryan is leading them away from Holmes, O'Donnell and Annette try to persuade him to turn around, but an enraged Miller kills them both and continues his pursuit of Ryan. Miller reaches Ryan's boat, jumps aboard, and attacks Ryan. During their fight, Ryan impales Miller on an anchor, killing him. Ryan jumps clear of the boat before it crashes into several rocks, and is rescued by an FBI helicopter.  Sometime later, Cathy receives a call from her obstetrician; giving her the baby's latest test results.

Production.

Casting.

The actors who played Jack and Caroline Ryan in "The Hunt for Red October", Alec Baldwin and Gates McFadden, did not appear in the film. Baldwin was in negotiations to reprise his role, but committed to perform in "A Streetcar Named Desire" on Broadway. In 2011, Baldwin claimed the role was recast due to David Kirkpatrick forcing him to choose between performing in "A Streetcar Named Desire" or agreeing to an open-ended clause relating to dates for the first sequel. Baldwin furthered claimed this occurred after a famous actor, widely believed to be the film's eventual star Harrison Ford, offered to play Ryan and was favored by both the studio and the director John McTiernan due to a large debt owed to him from an unproduced film. McTiernan had originally desired Ford in the role in the first film and confirmed that “there was a great deal of scheming that went on to push Alec out of that part.” Kirkpatrick responded to Baldwin's claims by saying that negotiations with him to reprise the role had already broken due to his insistence on script approval.  McTiernan initially wanted to direct an adaptation of "Clear and Present Danger" using a script written by John Milius. After the studio opted to adapt "Patriot Games", he declined to direct because of his Irish-American background and was replaced with Philip Noyce. In the original novel, the assassination attempt was made on the Prince and Princess of Wales, and many members of the British royal family appeared as important characters. As a result, they were replaced with fictitious characters in the screenplay, with Prince Charles being replaced by Lord Holmes, a nonexistent cousin of Queen Mother Elizabeth.

Filming.

The movie was filmed on location in areas around London, at Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and at Pinewood Studios. Scenes were also filmed in Annapolis, Maryland. Jack Ryan's home was filmed on the California coast and made to look like it was in Maryland.  The scenes set at a terrorist camp in Libya were filmed in the desert near Brawley, California. To make the attack on the camp appear as infrared footage, actors wearing black body suits were filmed from a helicopter and the resulting video images were reversed in post-production.  "Patriot Games" was the first movie to be allowed to film at the George Bush Center for Intelligence, CIA Headquarters.  Filming also took place at Aldwych underground station for a sequence later in the film. Harrison Ford accidentally hit Sean Bean with a boat hook while shooting the final scene; Bean has a scar over his eye as a result.  Test audiences responded negatively to the original ending, which had Jack Ryan and Sean Miller fighting underwater. The ending was re-shot with a more explosive finale.  The numerous changes between the film and the novel caused Clancy to distance himself from the film production. Clancy was unhappy with the script and during production asked for his name to be taken off the film. He complained that the final attack scene was "unrealistic" and that he had not been shown any rushes. He said he was not sure a film would be made of "Clear and Present Danger" "because I think "Patriot Games" will turn out so bad," he said.

Music.

On June 9, 1992, the original motion picture soundtrack was released by the RCA Records music label. The film's musical score was composed by James Horner and contains musical references to works by Aram Khachaturian (Adagio from "Gayane" Suite) and Dmitri Shostakovich "(Symphony No. 5, 3rd mvt.)". A music video is shown in an early scene featuring Clannad's song "Theme from Harry's Game", originally made for an ITV drama about The Troubles in 1982. All other vocal performances featured on the soundtrack were performed by Maggie Boyle.  In 2013, a 2-disc expanded soundtrack album was released by La-La Land Records. Limited to 3000 copies, the album contains over 50 minutes of previously unreleased music (including cues by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and John Philip Sousa).

Reception.

Critical reception.

Despite receiving generally positive reviews, the film garnered controversy during its release, from Tom Clancy disowning the film, to critics complaining it was too different from the book. Nonetheless the film has earned a 73% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 40 reviews. The site's consensus states: ""Patriot Games" doesn't win many points for verisimilitude, but some entertaining set pieces -- and Harrison Ford in the central role -- more than compensate for its flaws."  Roger Ebert called it "absorbing" while also commenting how actor Harrison Ford "once again demonstrates what a solid, convincing actor he is". Chris Hicks of the "Deseret News" mentioned how director Noyce gave the film "flourish and tension" while star Harrison Ford injected "a commanding sense of decency and humanity to the role of CIA analyst Jack Ryan, making it his own."

Box office.

The film was a financial success, debuting at the number one position for the weekend of June 5, 1992. During that weekend, the film grossed $18,511,191 in business showing at 2,365 locations. The film's revenue dropped by 39.5% in its second week of release, earning $11,208,134. For that particular weekend, the film remained in 1st place with an increased theater count of 2,396. "Patriot Games" went on to top out domestically at $83,351,587 in ticket sales and $94,700,000 in foreign business for a worldwide total of $178,051,587 through an initial 9-week theatrical run. For 1992 as a whole, the film would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 14.

Patriot Games is a 1992 American action thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce and based on Tom Clancy's 1987 novel of the same name. The film is a sequel to the 1990 film "The Hunt for Red October", but with different actors in the leading roles, Harrison Ford starring as Jack Ryan and Anne Archer as his wife. James Earl Jones reprises his role as Admiral James Greer. The cast also includes Sean Bean, Patrick Bergin, Thora Birch, Samuel L. Jackson, James Fox, and Richard Harris.

Vysoká hra patriotů (v anglickém originále Patriot Games) je americký film z roku 1992. Akční kriminální drama podle stejnojmenné knihy Toma Clancyho a scénáře Donalda Stewarta natočil australský režisér Phillip Noyce. Harrison Ford v něm hraje Jacka Ryana, který opustil aktivní službu, je však konfrontován s uprchlým teroristou IRA Seanem Millerem, jehož ztvárnil Sean Bean. Společnost Paramount Pictures snímek uvedla do amerických kin 5. června 1992.


Early life.

Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana to Catherine Dorothy (née Wright; 1894–1979)—whose father was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright—and Kenneth Stuart Baxter (1893–1977), an executive with the Seagram Company. When Baxter was five, she appeared in a school play, and as her family had moved to New York when she was six years old, Baxter continued to act. She was raised in Westchester County, New York and attended Brearley. At age 10, Baxter attended a Broadway play starring Helen Hayes, and she was so impressed that she declared to her family that she wanted to become an actress. By the age of 13, she had appeared on Broadway in "Seen but Not Heard". During this period, Baxter learned her acting craft as a student of actress and teacher Maria Ouspenskaya. In 1939, she was cast as Katharine Hepburn's little sister in the play "The Philadelphia Story", but Hepburn did not like Baxter's acting style, and she was replaced during the show's pre-Broadway run. Rather than giving up, she turned to Hollywood.

Career.

20th Century Fox.

At 16, Baxter screen-tested for the role of Mrs. DeWinter in "Rebecca". Director Alfred Hitchcock deemed Baxter too young for the role, but she soon secured a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. In 1940, she was loaned to MGM for her first film "20 Mule Team", in which she was billed fourth after Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo, and Marjorie Rambeau. She worked with John Barrymore in her next film "The Great Profile" (1940) and appeared as the ingénue in the Jack Benny vehicle "Charley's Aunt" (1941). She received star billing in "Swamp Water" (1941) and "The Pied Piper" (1942), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.  Baxter was loaned to RKO to appear in director Orson Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942). She was Tyrone Power's leading lady in "Crash Dive" (1943), her first Technicolor film. In 1943, she played a French maid in a North African hotel (with a French accent) in Billy Wilder's "Five Graves to Cairo", a Paramount production. She became a popular star in World War II dramas and received top billing in "The North Star" (1943), "The Sullivans" (1944), "The Eve of St. Mark" (1944), and "Sunday Dinner for a Soldier" (1944), co-starring her future husband John Hodiak. Baxter later recalled, "I was getting almost as much mail as Betty Grable. I was our boys' idealized girl next door."  She was loaned to United Artists for the leading role in the film noir "Guest in the House" (1944), and appeared in "A Royal Scandal" (1945), with Tallulah Bankhead and Charles Coburn; "Smoky" (1946), with Fred MacMurray; "Angel on My Shoulder" (1946), with Paul Muni and Claude Rains.  Baxter co-starred with Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney in 1946's "The Razor's Edge", for which she won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Baxter later recounted that "The Razor's Edge" contained her only great performance, a hospital scene where the character Sophie "loses her husband, child and everything else." She said she relived the death of her brother, who had died at age three.  She was loaned to Paramount for a top-billed role opposite William Holden in "Blaze of Noon" (1947) and to MGM for a supporting role as Clark Gable's wife in "Homecoming" (1948). Back at 20th Century Fox, she played a wide variety of roles: a lawyer in love with Cornel Wilde in "The Walls of Jericho" (1948); Tyrone Power's Irish romantic interest in "The Luck of the Irish" (1948); a tomboy in "Yellow Sky" (1948), with Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark; a 1920s flapper in "You're My Everything" (1949), with Dan Dailey; and another tomboy in "A Ticket to Tomahawk" (1950), again with Dailey. In 1950, Baxter was chosen to co-star in "All About Eve" largely because of a resemblance to Claudette Colbert, who originally was cast but dropped out and was replaced by Bette Davis. The original idea was to have Baxter's character gradually come to mirror Colbert's over the course of the film. Baxter received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the title role of Eve Harrington. She said she modeled the role on a bitchy understudy she had for her debut performance in the Broadway play "Seen but Not Heard" at the age of 13 and who had threatened to "finish her off."  Her next Fox film "Follow the Sun" (1951) co-starred Glenn Ford as champion golfer Ben Hogan; Baxter played Hogan's wife Valerie. She was top-billed in the western "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" (1950), with Dale Robertson, and was part of an ensemble cast in "O. Henry's Full House" (1952), her last project for Fox. The comedy "My Wife's Best Friend", with MacDonald Carey, was her second and last Fox film released in 1952. Baxter left 20th Century Fox in 1953.

Freelance.

In 1953, Baxter contracted a two-picture deal for Warner Brothers. Her first was opposite Montgomery Clift in Alfred Hitchcock's "I Confess"; the second was the Fritz Lang whodunit "The Blue Gardenia", in which she played a woman accused of murder.  In June 1954, Baxter won the part of the Egyptian princess and queen Nefertari in Cecil B. DeMille's award-winning "The Ten Commandments". Her scenes were shot on Paramount's sound stages in 1955, and she attended the film's New York and Los Angeles premieres in November 1956. Despite criticisms of her interpretation of Nefertari, DeMille and "The Hollywood Reporter" both thought her performance was "very good," and "The New York Daily News" described her as "remarkably effective." She later remembered the film in an interview: In 1960, Baxter received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6741 Hollywood Boulevard.

Later career.

Baxter worked regularly in television in the 1960s. She appeared as one of the mystery guests on "What's My Line?". She also starred as guest villain Zelda The Great in episodes 9 and 10 of the "Batman" series. She appeared as another villain, Olga, Queen of the Cossacks, opposite Vincent Price's Egghead in three episodes of the show's third season. She also played an old flame of Raymond Burr on his crime series "Ironside".  Baxter returned to Broadway during the 1970s in "Applause", the musical version of "All About Eve", but this time as Margo Channing (succeeding Lauren Bacall).  In the 1970s, Baxter was a frequent guest and guest host on "The Mike Douglas Show". She portrayed a murderous film star on an episode of "Columbo", titled "Requiem for a Falling Star". In 1971, she had a role in "Fools' Parade" as an aging prostitute who helps characters played by Jimmy Stewart, Strother Martin, and Kurt Russell escape from the villain, played by George Kennedy, before an act of betrayal seals her fate. In 1983, Baxter starred in the television series "Hotel", replacing Bette Davis after Davis became ill.

Personal life.

Baxter married actor John Hodiak on July 7, 1946, at her parents' home in Burlingame, California. They had one daughter, Katrina, born in 1951. Baxter and Hodiak divorced in 1953. At the time, she said they were "basically incompatible", but in her book she blamed herself for the separation: "I had loved John as much", she wrote. "But we'd eventually congealed in the longest winter in the world. Daily estrangement. Things unsaid. Even a fight would have warmed us. To my shame, I'd picked one at last in order to unfreeze the word 'divorce.'" Hodiak died in 1955.  Baxter was a Republican who was active in the campaigns of Thomas E. Dewey and Dwight D. Eisenhower.  In the mid-1950s, Baxter began a relationship with her publicist Russell Birdwell, who took control of her career and directed her in "The Come On" (1956). The couple formed Baxter-Birdwell Productions to make films on a 10-year plan; Baxter would star in the films and Birdwell would work behind the camera. Princeton University Library has a collection of 175 letters by Baxter to Birdwell.  In 1960, Baxter married her second husband Randolph Galt, an American owner of a neighboring cattle station near Sydney, Australia, where she was filming "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll". After the birth of their second daughter, Maginel, back in California, Galt unexpectedly announced that they were moving to a 4,452 hectare (11,000 acre) ranch south of Grants, New Mexico. They then moved to Hawaii (his home state) before settling back in Brentwood, California. Baxter and Galt were divorced in 1969. In 1976, Baxter recounted her courtship with Galt (whom she called "Ran") and their experiences at Giro in a well-received book called "Intermission". Melissa Galt, Baxter's first daughter with Galt, became an interior designer and then a business coach, speaker, and seminar provider. Maginel became a cloistered Catholic nun, reportedly living in Rome, Italy.  In 1977, Baxter married David Klee, a stockbroker. It was a brief marriage; Klee died unexpectedly from illness. The newlywed couple had purchased a sprawling property in Easton, Connecticut, which they extensively remodeled; however, Klee did not live to see the renovations completed. Although she maintained a residence in West Hollywood, Baxter considered her Connecticut home to be her primary residence.

Death.

Baxter suffered a stroke on December 4, 1985, while hailing a taxi on Madison Avenue in New York City. Baxter remained on life support for eight days in New York's Lenox Hill hospital, until family members agreed that brain function had ceased. She died on December 12, aged 62. Baxter is buried on the estate of Frank Lloyd Wright at Lloyd Jones Cemetery in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Emmy.

Anne Baxterová (7. května 1923 Michigan City,Indiana, USA – 12. prosince 1985, New York, USA) byla americká filmová a divadelní herečka.


Origins: the storytelling of the Song.

The pleasure districts of the two Song dynasty capitals, Kaifeng and Hangzhou, hosted a range of entertainment, including storytelling. The storytellers were specialized by theme and topic. Some told historical tales, often drawn from the history of the Three Kingdoms (220–265) or the Five Dynasties (907–960), in several sessions, sometimes over several weeks. Others specialized in Buddhist stories, heirs of the "bianwen". There was also a class of storytellers whose tales took one sitting. These stories were divided into subgenres, such as the stories of bandits, fantastic stories of ghosts and demons, love stories, and such. Scholars of the genre have disproved the early theory that "huaben" originated in the promptbooks or "cribs" used by these storytellers, but "huaben" did grow from the oral style and story-telling conventions of these early tales.  No original printed versions survive from the Song dynasty, and only one reference from the 14th or 15th centuries, though later collections print what claim to be Song "huaben". "The Tales of the Serene Mountain" (), published in 1550 by Hong Pian, a bibliophile in Hangzhou, is the oldest known printed collection of "huaben". It originally contained 60 texts from the Song and Yuan dynasties, but fewer than half have survived, almost all considered of low quality. They are, however, the earliest evidence of written versions of the oral stories. In form, a poem often served as prologue, another at the end gave the moral of the story, and the body of the tale included passages in verse.  Another of these collections is the "Datang Sanzang fashi qujing ji" ().

The late Ming "huaben" as literary art: the "Three Words" and "Two Hits".

The "huaben" came into its own in the late Ming reign of the Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620). By the early 1600s, prosperity had increased the number of schools and commercial publishing houses, also increasing competition to pass the examinations. Many educated men could not obtain official positions and so turned instead to writing for the market. Feng Menglong (1574–1646) and Ling Mengchu (1580–1644) found themselves in just this position. As educated scholars with considerable literary talents but no means of support, they collected and edited earlier stories and wrote new ones which appealed to the new public. Although they used the storytellers' oral conventions of the earlier "huaben", their new stories were sophisticated and self-conscious works of art to which these authors proudly signed their names, rather than publishing anonymously, as did the novelists.  Feng Menglong established the "huaben" as a commercially successful genre by publishing three sets of stories. The first, "Gujin Xiaoshuo" ("Stories Old and New"), published in 1620, became known as "Illustrious Words to Instruct the World" ("Yushi Mingyan"). It was followed by "Stories to Caution the World" ("Jingshi Tongyan") in 1624 and "Stories to Awaken the World" ("Xingshi Hengyan") in 1627. Because the character "yan" 言 (word) appears at the end of each title, these three collections are often referred to as "Sanyan" 三言 (Three Words).  "Huaben" have a wider range of subjects than the literary stories, and deal with city life and common people. The moralizing intention of these scholar-authors mingles with entertainment within multiple genres, such as love stories and detective stories. As Shuhu Yang, the recent translator of the first two volumes, comments, the "Three Words" collections provide a "vivid panoramic view of the bustling world of imperial China before the end of the Ming; we see not only scholars, emperors, ministers and generals, but a gallery of men and women in their everyday surroundings – merchants and artisans, prostitutes and courtesans, matchmakers and fortune tellers, monks and nuns, servants and maids, likes and dislikes, their views of life and death, and even their visions of the netherworld and the supernatural".  The commercial success of Feng's collections inspired Ling Mengchu to release two volumes of forty stories each in 1628 and 1633. The set is called "Pai'an Jingqi", or "Slapping the Table in Amazement". Compared to Feng, Ling is rooted in classical Chinese literature, rewriting stories in the vernacular.  Around 1640, an anthology, "Jingu Qiguan" ("Curious Shows New and Old"), comprising some forty stories extracted without acknowledgment from Ling and Feng's works, was so successful that the names of these two authors were eclipsed until they were rediscovered in the 20th century by scholars such as Lu Xun. In any case, the creativity of the "huaben" did not survive the turmoil of the fall of the Ming.

Translations.

Translations of individual works may be found under each work's article.

A huaben () is a Chinese short- or medium-length story or novella Setsuwa(, ) written mostly in vernacular language, sometimes including simple classical language. In contrast to the full-length Chinese novel, it is generally not divided into chapters and recounts a limited number of characters or events. The earliest "huaben" are reported in the 12th century during the Song dynasty, but the genre did not flourish until the late Ming dynasty, and after the mid-17th century did not produce works of originality. In the development of Chinese fiction, the "huaben" are heirs of the "bianwen" (Buddhist tales) and "chuanqi" of the Tang dynasty, and are the predecessors of the stories and full-length novels of the Ming.

Chua-pen () je termín pro čínské povídky nebo novely psané většinou v hovorové čínštině, někdy obsahující jednoduché prvky klasického čínského jazyka. V kontrastu k čínskému románu nejsou obecně rozděleny do kapitol a vystupuje v nich omezený počet postav nebo událostí. Nejstarší "chua-pen" jsou doloženy z 12. století v sungské Číně. Žánr nebyl významný až do pozdně mingské doby (konec 16./začátek 17. století), ale už od poloviny 17. století nevznikala originální díla. V rámci vývoje čínské beletrie jsou povídky "chua-pen" dědici buddhistických příběhů "pien-wen" a tchangských vyprávění "čchuan-čchi", a předchůdci povídek a románů mingské doby.


History.

Ethnonym.

In the Middle Ages, the native Albanians in the area of Albania called their country "Arbëri" or "Arbëni" and referred to themselves as "Arbëreshë" or "Arbëneshë". In the sixteenth century, the toponym "Shqipëria" and the demonym "Shqiptarë" gradually replaced "Arbëria" and "Arbëresh" respectively. Nowadays, only the Albanians in Italy, whose ancestors immigrated from the Middle Ages, are called Arbëresh and the language Arbërisht. The term "Arbëreshë" is also used as an endonym by the Arvanites in Greece.

Early migrations.

The Arbëreshë, between the 11th and 14th centuries, moved in small groups towards central and southern Albania and the north and south of Greece (Thessaly, Corinth, Peloponnesus, Attica) where they founded colonies. Their military skill made them favorite mercenaries of the Franks, Catalans, Italians and Byzantines.  The invasion of the Balkans by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century forced many Arbëreshë to emigrate from Albania and Epirus to the south of Italy. There were several waves of migrations. Indeed, in 1448, the King of Naples Alfonso V of Aragon appealed to Skanderbeg in suppressing a revolt at Naples. Skanderbeg sent a force under the leadership of Demetrio Reres, and his two sons. Following a request of Albanian soldiers, King Alfonso granted land to them and they were settled in twelve villages in the mountainous area called Catanzaro in 1448. A year later the sons of Demetrio, George and Basil along with other Albanians were settled in four villages in the region of Sicily.  In 1459, the son of Alfonso, king Ferdinand I of Naples again requested the help of Skanderbeg. This time, the legendary leader himself came to Italy with his troops ruled by one of his general Luca Baffa, to end a French-supported insurrection. Skanderbeg was appointed as the leader of the combined Neapolitan-Albanian army and, after victories in two decisive battles, the Albanian soldiers effectively defended Naples. This time they were rewarded with land east of Taranto in Apulia, populating 15 other villages.  After the death of Skanderbeg in 1468, the organized Albanian resistance against the Ottomans came to an end. Like much of the Balkans, Albania became subject to the invading Turks. Many of its people under the rule of Luca Baffa and Marco Becci fled to the neighboring countries and settled in a few villages in Calabria. From the time of Skanderbeg's death until 1480 there were constant migrations of Albanians to the Italian coast. Throughout the 16th century, these migrations continued and other Albanian villages were formed on Italian soil. The new immigrants often took up work as mercenaries hired by the Italian armies.  Another wave of emigration, between 1500 and 1534, relates to Arbëreshë from central Greece. Employed as mercenaries by Venice, they had to evacuate the colonies of the Peloponnese with the assistance of the troops of Charles V, as the Turks had invaded that region. Charles V established these troops in Italy of the South to reinforce defense against the threat of Turkish invasion. Established in insular villages (which enabled them to maintain their culture until the 20th century), Arbëreshë were, traditionally, soldiers for the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Venice, from the Wars of Religion to the Napoleonic invasion.

Later migrations.

The wave of migration from southern Italy to the Americas in 1900–1910 and 1920–1940 depopulated approximately half of the Arbëreshë villages, and subjected the population to the risk of cultural disappearance, despite the beginning of a cultural and artistic revival in the 19th century.  Since the end of communism in Albania in 1990, there has been a wave of immigration into Arbëreshë villages by Albanians.

Distribution.

The Arbëresh villages contains two or three names, an Italian one as well as one or two native Arbëresh names by which villagers know the place. The Arbëreshë communities are divided into numerous ethnic islands corresponding to different areas of southern Italy. However, some places have already lost their original characteristics and the language, and others have totally disappeared. Today, Italy has 50 communities of Arbëreshë origin and culture, 41 municipalities and 9 villages, spread across seven regions of southern Italy, forming a population of about 100,000. Some cultural islands survive in the metropolitan areas of Milan, Chieri, Turin, Rome, Naples, Bari, Cosenza, Crotone and Palermo. In the rest of the world, following the migrations of the twentieth century to countries such as Germany, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Uruguay and the United States, there are strong communities that keep Arbëreshë traditions alive.  The full list of the Arbëresh Communities in Italy is:

Language.

Arbëresh derives from the Tosk dialect spoken in southern Albania, and is spoken in Southern Italy in the regions of Calabria, Molise, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, Abruzzi, and Sicily. All dialects of Arbëresh are closely related to each other but are not entirely mutually intelligible.  The Arbëresh language retains many archaisms of medieval Albanian from pre-Ottoman Albania in the 15th century. It also retains some Greek language elements, including vocabulary and pronunciation. It has also preserved some conservative features that were lost in mainstream Albanian Tosk. For example, it has preserved certain syllable-initial consonant clusters which have been simplified in Standard Albanian (cf. Arbërisht "gluhë" ('language/tongue'), vs. Standard Albanian "gjuhë" ). It sounds more archaic than Standard Albanian, but is close enough that it is written using the same Albanian alphabet as Standard Albanian. A Shqiptar (Albanian) listening to or reading Arbërisht is similar to a modern English speaker listening to or reading Shakespearean English. The Arbëresh language is of particular interest to students of the modern Albanian language as it represents the sounds, grammar, and vocabulary of pre-Ottoman Albania.  Arbërisht was commonly called ("Albanian" in Italian) in Italy until the 1990s. Until recently, Arbërisht speakers had only very imprecise notions about how related or unrelated their language was to Albanian. Until the 1980s Arbërisht was exclusively a spoken language, except for its written form used in the Italo-Albanian Church, and Arbëreshë people had no practical affiliation with the Standard Albanian language used in Albania, as they did not use this form in writing or in media. When a large number of immigrants from Albania began to enter Italy in the 1990s and came into contact with local Arbëreshë communities, the differences and similarities were for the first time made known. There are mixed feelings towards the "new Albanians", and social conflict existed between the groups.  Since the 1980s, some efforts have been organized to preserve the cultural and linguistic heritage of the language. Arbërisht has been under a slow decline in recent decades, but is currently experiencing a revival in many villages in Italy. Figures such as Giuseppe Schirò Di Maggio have done much work on school books and other language learning tools in the language, producing two books "Udha e Mbarë" and "Udhëtimi", both used in schools in the village of Piana degli Albanesi.  There is no official political, administrative or cultural structure which represents the Arbëresh community. Arbërësh is not one of the group of minority languages that enjoy the special protection of the State under Article 6 of the Italian Constitution. At the regional level, however, Arbërisht is accorded some degree of official recognition in the autonomy statutes of Calabria, Basilicata and Molise. In certain communes the local authorities support cultural and linguistic activities promoted by the Arbëresh communities and have agreed to the erection of bilingual road signs. There are associations that try to protect the culture, particularly in the Province of Cosenza. The Arbëresh language is used in some private radios and publications. The fundamental laws of the areas of Molise, Basilicata and Calabria make reference to the Arbëresh language and culture. Nevertheless, the increase in training in the use of the written language has given some hope for the continuity of this culture.

Literature.

Early Arbëreshë literature.

The first work of Italo-Albanian literature was that of Sicilian archpriest Luca Matranga (1567–1619). The book was titled "E mbsuama e krështerë" (Christian Doctrine) and it was a simple religious translation in Arbëresh language, aiming at bringing Christianity closer to his people is Southern Italy. While during the 17th century there were no Arbëresh writers, in the 18th century there was Giulio Variboba (1724–1788, ), regarded by many Albanians as the first genuine poet in all of Albanian literature. Born in San Giorgio Albanese (Mbuzati) and educated in Corsini Seminary in San Benedetto Ullano, after many polemics with local priest he went to exile in Rome in 1761 and there he published in 1762 his long lyric poem "Ghiella e Shën Mëriis Virghiër" (The life of Virgin Mary). The poem has been written entirely in dialect of San Giorgio and has about 4717 lines. Variboba is considered unique in Albanian literature for his poetic sensitivities and the variety of rhythmic expression. Another known artistic figure of that time was Nicola Chetta (1740–1803) known in Albanian as "Nikollë Keta". As a poet he wrote verses both in Albanian and Greek language and he has also composed the first Albanian sonnet in 1777. Being a poet, lexicographer, linguist, historian, theologian and rector of Greek seminary, his variety and universality of work distinguish him from other writers of the period. The most prominent figure among Arbëresh writers and the foremost figure of the Albanian nationalist movement in 19th-century Italy was that of Girolamo de Rada (). Born the son of a parish priest of Italo-Albanian Catholic Church in Macchia Albanese () in the mountains of Cosenza, De Rada attended the college of Saint Adrian in San Demetrio Corone. In October 1834, in accordance with his father's wishes, he registered at the Faculty of Law of the University of Naples, but the main focus of his interests remained folklore and literature. It was in Naples in 1836 that De Rada published the first edition of his best-known Albanian-language poem, the "Songs of Milosao", under the Italian title "Poesie albanesi del secolo XV. Canti di Milosao, figlio del despota di Scutari" (Albanian poetry from the 15th century. Songs of Milosao, son of the despot of Shkodra). His second work, "Canti storici albanesi di Serafina Thopia, moglie del principe Nicola Ducagino", Naples 1839 (Albanian historical songs of Serafina Thopia, wife of prince Nicholas Dukagjini), was seized by the Bourbon authorities because of De Rada's alleged affiliation with conspiratorial groups during the Italian Risorgimento. The work was republished under the title "Canti di Serafina Thopia, principessa di Zadrina nel secolo XV", Naples 1843 (Songs of Serafina Thopia, princess of Zadrina in the 15th century) and in later years in a third version as "Specchio di umano transito, vita di Serafina Thopia, Principessa di Ducagino", Naples 1897 (Mirror of human transience, life of Serafina Thopia, princess of Dukagjin). His Italian-language historical tragedy "I Numidi", Naples 1846 (The Numidians), elaborated half a century later as "Sofonisba, dramma storico", Naples 1892 (Sofonisba, historical drama), enjoyed only modest public response. In the revolutionary year 1848, De Rada founded the newspaper "L'Albanese d'Italia" (The Albanian of Italy) which included articles in Albanian. This bilingual "political, moral and literary journal" with a final circulation of 3,200 copies was the first Albanian-language periodical anywhere.  De Rada was the harbinger and first audible voice of the Romantic movement in Albanian literature, a movement which, inspired by his unfailing energy on behalf of national awakening among Albanians in Italy and in the Balkans, was to evolve into the romantic nationalism characteristic of the Rilindja period in Albania. His journalistic, literary and political activities were instrumental not only in fostering an awareness for the Arbëresh minority in Italy but also in laying the foundations for an Albanian national literature.  The most popular of his literary works is the above-mentioned "Canti di Milosao" (Songs of Milosao), known in Albanian as "Këngët e Milosaos", a long romantic ballad portraying the love of Milosao, a fictitious young nobleman in fifteenth-century Shkodra (Scutari), who has returned home from Thessalonica. Here, at the village fountain, he encounters and falls in love with Rina, the daughter of the shepherd Kollogre. The difference in social standing between the lovers long impedes their union until an earthquake destroys both the city and all semblance of class distinction. After their marriage abroad, a child is born. But the period of marital bliss does not last long. Milosao's son and wife soon die, and he himself, wounded in battle, perishes on a riverbank within sight of Shkodra.

Culture.

Traditions and Folklore.

Among the Arbëreshë the memory of Skanderbeg and his exploits was maintained and survived through songs, in the form of a Skanderbeg cycle.

Gjitonía.

"Gjitonia" is a form of neighbourhood typical of Arbëresh communities and widespread throughout the Arbëresh people. It comes from the Greek γειτονιά (geitonía). The Gjitonía functions as a microsystem around which the life of the "horë" (village) revolves; the Gjitonía is a smaller-scale version of the layout of the village often consisting of a small square towards which the alleys are oriented, surrounded by buildings that have openings towards a larger square ("shesh") on diagonal angles. The name is usually taken from the families that live there. The social aspect of the Gjitonía is an ancient and historical structure where values of hospitality and solidarity between the families of the neighbourhood coexisted and where there was no difference of social class. Mainly for the Italian-Albanian communities, it is a world where relationships were so strong that they created real family relationships so much so that the Arbëreshe phrase "Gjitoni gjirì" ("neighbourhood relatives") is typical.

Cuisine.

The Arbëreshë cuisine is composed of the cuisines of Albania and Italy. The style of cooking and the food associated with it have evolved over many centuries from their Albanian origins to a mixed cuisine of Sicilian and Calabrian influences.  These traditional dishes are Piana degli Albanesi (Palermo, Sicily):

Religion.

The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church, particular church "sui iuris", includes three ecclesiastical jurisdictions: the Eparchy of Lungro degli Italo-Albanesi for the Albanians of Southern Italy based in Lungro (CS); the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi for Albanians of Insular Italy based in Piana degli Albanesi (PA); the Territorial Abbacy of Santa Maria of Grottaferrata, with Basilian monks (O.S.B.I.) come from the Italo-Albanian communities, located in the only abbey and abbey church in Grottaferrata (RM).  The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church being a Byzantine enclave in the Latin West, is secularly inclined to ecumenism between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. It was the only reality, the end of the Middle Ages until the twentieth century, of Eastern spirituality in Italy.  There are institutions and religious congregations of the Byzantine rite in the territory of the Italo-Albanian Church: the Basilian Order of Grottaferrata, the Collegine Sisters of Sacra Famiglia, Piccole operaie dei Sacri Cuori and the congregation of the Basilian Sisters Daughters of Saint Macrina.

The Arbëreshë (; or ), also known as Albanians of Italy or Italo-Albanians, are an Albanian ethnolinguistic group in Southern Italy, mostly concentrated in scattered villages in the regions of Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise and Sicily. They are the descendants of mostly Tosk Albanian refugees, who fled from Albania between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries in consequence of the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans.

Arberešové ("Arbëreshë") nebo také "Italoalbánci" jsou příslušníci národnostní menšiny žijící na jihu Itálie, tvořené křesťanskými uprchlíky z Albánie, kteří se v oblasti usazovali od 15. století. Počet Arberešů se odhaduje na zhruba sto tisíc a lidí se smíšeným arberešským původem na dva miliony, žijí převážně v krajích Apulie, Basilicata, Kalábrie, Molise a Sicílie. Hovoří arbereštinou, která se vyvinula ze středověké toskičtiny ovlivněné řečtinou a italštinou. Většina z nich se hlásí k italsko-albánské církvi, užívající byzantský ritus, místní církev tvoří eparchie Lungro, eparchie Piana degli Albanesi a územní opatství Santa Maria di Grottaferrata.


Design and development.

The C-130J is the newest version of the Hercules and the only model still in production. Externally similar to the classic Hercules in general appearance, the J-model features considerably updated technology. These differences include new Rolls-Royce AE 2100 D3 turboprop engines with Dowty R391 composite scimitar propellers, digital avionics (including head-up displays (HUDs) for each pilot), and reduced crew requirements. These changes have improved performance over its C-130E/H predecessors, such as 40% greater range, 21% higher maximum speed, and 41% shorter takeoff distance. The J-model is available in a standard-length or stretched "-30" variant. As a cargo and airlift aircraft, the C-130J's crew includes two pilots and one loadmaster (no navigator or flight engineer), while specialized USAF variants (e.g., AC-130J, EC-130J, MC-130J, HC-130J, WC-130J) may have larger crews, such as navigators/Combat Systems Officers or other specialized officer and enlisted air crew. The U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J uses a crew chief for expeditionary operations. The C-130J's cargo compartment is approximately long, high, and wide, and loading is from the rear of the fuselage. The aircraft can also be configured with the "enhanced cargo handling system". The system consists of a computerized loadmaster's station from which the user can remotely control the under-floor winch and also configure the flip-floor system to palletized roller or flat-floor cargo handling. Initially developed for the USAF, this system enables rapid role changes to be carried out and so extends the C-130J's time available to complete taskings.  Lockheed Martin received the launch order for the J-model from the RAF, which ordered 25 aircraft, with first deliveries beginning in 1999 as Hercules C4 (C-130J-30) and Hercules C5 (C-130J). The standard C-130J had a flyaway cost of in 2008.  In mid-June 2008, the United States Air Force awarded a $470 million contract to Lockheed Martin for six modified KC-130J aircraft for use by the Air Force and Special Operations Command. The contract led to C-130J variants that will replace aging HC-130s and MC-130s. The HC-130J Combat King II personnel recovery aircraft completed developmental testing on 14 March 2011. The final test point was air-to-air refueling, and was the first ever boom refueling of a C-130 where the aircraft's refueling receiver was installed during aircraft production. This test procedure also applied to the MC-130J Combat Shadow II aircraft in production for Air Force Special Operations Command.

Harvest HAWK.

With the addition of the Marine Corps's ISR / Weapon Mission Kit, the KC-130J tanker variant will be able to serve as an overwatch aircraft and can deliver ground support fire in the form of Hellfire or Griffin missiles, precision-guided bombs, and eventually 30mm Mk44 Bushmaster II cannon fire in a later upgrade. This capability, designated as "Harvest HAWK" (Hercules Airborne Weapons Kit), can be used in scenarios where precision is not a requisite, such as area denial. The aircraft retains its original capabilities in refueling and transportation. The entire system can be removed within a day if necessary.

Operational history.

The Super Hercules has been used extensively by the USAF and USMC in Iraq and Afghanistan. Canada has also deployed its CC-130J aircraft to Afghanistan.  C-130Js from several countries have been deployed in support of the US Operation Odyssey Dawn and NATO's Operation Unified Protector during the 2011 Libyan civil war.  From the first flight on 5 April 1996 to 30 April 2013, 290 C-130J Super Hercules aircraft operated by 13 nations surpassed 1 million flight hours.  In January 2013, it was reported that some of Canada's CC-130J transports had counterfeit Chinese microchips in their cockpit displays. These parts are more likely to fail and result in failures such as blank instrument screens during flight. A 14-month investigation by the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee concluded that counterfeit parts in the Hercules and other American-made military equipment are prone to failure with potentially "catastrophic consequences." The U.S. congressional investigation reported the fake Hercules microchips were originally made by the Korean electronics giant Samsung in the 1990s, and more than a decade later, had been recycled, refurbished and remarked to appear genuine by a company in China. Samsung later stated that "it is not possible to project the reliability" of the altered parts. The U.S. investigation reported that the problems on the Hercules first came to light in 2010 when the instrument panel failed on a USAF aircraft during active duty.  On 20 August 2013, the Indian Air Force performed the highest landing of a C-130J at the Daulat Beg Oldi airstrip in Ladakh at the height of.

Civilian use.

The Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) is a self-contained unit used for aerial firefighting that can be loaded onto a C-130 Hercules, which then allows the aircraft to be used as an air tanker against wildfires. This allows the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to utilize military aircraft from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve to serve as an emergency backup resource to the civilian air tanker fleet. The latest generation MAFFS II system was used for the first time on a fire in July 2010, using the C-130J Super Hercules. The 146th Airlift Wing was the first to transition to the MAFFS II system in 2008, and it remains the only unit flying the new system on the C-130J aircraft.

Orders and deliveries.

The largest operator of the new model is the U.S. Air Force, which has ordered the aircraft in increasing numbers. Current operators of the C-130J are the USAF (including the Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard), United States Marine Corps (being their fourth variant after KC-130F, KC-130R and KC-130T,) United States Coast Guard, Royal Air Force, Indian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Danish Air Force, Royal Norwegian Air Force, Israeli Air Force, and the Italian Air Force. As of July 2010, a total of 200 units have been produced of the 284 on order at that time.

International orders.

The Royal Australian Air Force was the second international customer for the C-130J-30, with an initial order of twelve aircraft. An additional order for two more aircraft was planned, but replaced by the purchase of a fifth Boeing C-17 Globemaster III.  The Royal Norwegian Air Force ordered four C-130J-30s in 2007 to replace six aging C-130Hs in need of additional repairs. Aircraft were delivered from November 2008 to 2010. One of these was lost in March 2012.  The Canadian Forces signed a US$1.4 billion contract with Lockheed Martin for seventeen new C-130J-30s on 16 January 2008, as part of the procurement process to replace the existing C-130E and H models. The C-130J is officially designated as the "CC-130J Hercules" in Canadian service. The first C-130J was delivered to CFB Trenton on 4 June 2010. The final C-130J was delivered on 11 May 2012.  The Indian Air Force purchased six C-130J-30s in early 2008 at a cost of up to US$1.059 billion for its special operations forces in a package deal with the US government under its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. India has options to buy six more aircraft. The Indian government decided not to sign the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA), which resulted in the exclusion of high precision GPS and other sensitive equipment. However the IAF added similar equipment produced indigenously to the aircraft after delivery. In October 2011, India announced its intent to exercise the option for the six additional aircraft, following the C-130J's favorable performance in the 2011 Sikkim earthquake relief operations. In July 2012, the U.S. accepted India's request for the six more C-130Js through the FMS program. On 20 December 2013, India's CCS approved the order for 6 more aircraft. The Iraqi Air Force ordered six C-130J-30s in July 2008.  Qatar ordered four C-130Js in October 2008, along with spare parts and training for the Qatar Emiri Air Force. The contract is worth a total of US$393.6 million and deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2011.  The United Arab Emirates Air Force announced an order for twelve C-130J transports at the 2009 IDEX, with an announced value of US$1.3 billion. The United Arab Emirates requested 12 C-130Js through a Direct Commercial Sale in December 2009, with logistics support, training and related systems to be provided through a Foreign Military Sales program. A contract with Lockheed Martin has not been signed.  The Israeli Air Force is seeking to purchase nine C-130J-30s. In April 2010 Israel ordered one C-130J-30 with delivery in 2013, and was in contract talks for two more aircraft in June 2010. An option for a second C-130J-30 was exercised on 8 April 2011, along with planning and advance long lead procurement of aircraft components to support the third C-130J Israeli aircraft. The first Israeli C-130J was delivered on 26 June 2013 and was modified with Israeli-unique systems in the United States prior to its arrival in Israel on 9 April 2014. Israel ordered a fourth C-130J-30 on 25 July 2013. The C-130J's local name is "Shimshon".  The Kuwait Air Force signed a contract for three KC-130J air refueling tankers in May 2010, with deliveries to begin in late 2013. The KC-130Js will refuel its F-18s and augment its fleet of three militarized L-100s.  Oman increased its C-130J order in August 2010 by adding two C-130Js to the single C-130J-30 ordered in 2009. Deliveries are to be completed by early 2014. The Royal Saudi Air Force has purchased two KC-130Js to be delivered in 2016.  The Mexican Government has requested 2 C-130J-30s.  The Mongolian Air Force is planning to buy 3 C-130Js.  On 7 June 2013, U.S. Congress was notified of a possible foreign military sale of two C-130J-30s for the Free Libyan Air Force. The deal would include 10 Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3 engines, support and test equipment, and radios. The deal would be worth $588 million.  In July 2013, the C-130J became part of a competition in the Peruvian Air Force for a medium transport aircraft. The Super Hercules was a candidate along with the EADS CASA C-295, the Alenia C-27J Spartan, the Antonov An-70, and the upgraded Antonov An-32. The Peruvian Air Force selected the C-27J in November 2013.  In 2015, the French Air Force ordered 4 Super Hercules to supplement existing capabilities due to the ongoing problems and delays of the ordered Airbus A400M, through FMS the French will get 2 C-130J in 2017/2018 and 2 KC-130J in 2018/2019 (helicopter refueling capability), especially supporting French overseas operations in Africa.  In January 2017, German defence minister announced the intention to purchase up to 6 C-130J Hercules to acquire tactical airlift capabilities due to the delayed deliveries of the Airbus A400M. Together with the C-130J of the French Air Force this will form a joint air transport squadron.  In September 2018, Indonesia's state-owned news agency Antara reported that minister of defence Ryamizard Ryacudu said Indonesia is looking to acquire 5 C-130J Super Hercules aircraft.  On 11 June 2019, New Zealand's Minister of Defence Ron Mark identified the C-130J-30 as the preferred replacement for the Royal New Zealand Air Force's five remaining C-130Hs that are planned to be in service until 2023. In November 2019 the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of the potential sale of 5 C-130Js, 24 engines and related equipment for an estimated cost of US$1.4 billion. The sale was confirmed on June 5th 2020, with the planes expected to be delivered between 2024 and 2025.

Accidents.

C-130Js have been involved in the following notable accidents.

The Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems., 400 C-130J aircraft have been delivered to 17 nations.

C-130J Super Hercules je taktický turbovrtulový transportní letoun, který u amerického letectva nahradil starší C-130E a později našel uplatnění i v letectvech mnoha jiných zemí. Super Hercules byl vyvinut americkou společností Lockheed Martin a je to jediný model z rodiny C-130, který je v současnosti ve výrobě. Letadlo je určeno k přepravě personálu, vybavení a lehkých vojenských vozidel.


Description.

Sparsely hairy annual. Stems to 50 cm, becoming hollow with age. Leaves bi- to tri-pinnate with lobes reaching around 10mm, narrow and entire to pinnatifid, petiole broadened at base and having scarious, usually ciliate margin. Umbels with 1-3 stout glabrous to sparsely hairy rays 0.5–4 cm in length; peduncle very short or absent; terminal umbel bearing hermaphrodite flowers and lateral umbels bearing variable proportions of male and hermaphrodite flowers. Bracts usually absent; bracteoles usually 5 in number, longer than pedicels, simple or irregularly (often deeply) divided. Flowers white; sepals small; outer petals not radiating; styles with enlarged base, forming stylopodium. Fruit 30-70mm, more or less cylindrical, slightly compressed laterally, with strongly dorsally flattened beak 3-4 times as long as and plainly distinct from seed-bearing portion, constricted at commissure; mericarps ribbed and scabrid with forward-pointing bristles on margins; carpophore present; vittae solitary and conspicuous; pedicels almost as thick as rays, glabrous at apex; styles 2-4 times as long as stylopodium, erect; stigma tapering. Cotyledons tapered gradually at base, without distinct petiole. Flowering time: May to June.

Ploidy.

Chromosome number of "Scandix pecten-veneris" and infraspecific taxa 2n = 16, 26.

Scientific name.

"Scandix" is in origin a Latin word for chervil used by Pliny the Elder, who was also the first to record the descriptive name "pecten Veneris" signifying 'Venus's comb'.

English names.

"Scandix pecten-veneris" has a wealth of evocative common names in English - most of them needle-related, in reference to the distinctive fruit, which, when mature, make it unlikely to be confused with any other native umbellifer. The English folk imagination has made of the plant the 'needle' of the following : Adam, the beggar, the clock, the crow, the Devil, the old wife/old woman/witch, Puck, the shepherd, and (more prosaically) the tailor. Of these, the tailor is (self-evidently) a user of needles in his work; Adam, the beggar, the crow and the shepherd convey rustic simplicity; the clock draws a parallel with clock hands and 'needles', and the Devil, the Witch and Puck play on the idea of the (malignly) supernatural and uncanny.  English 'comb' names for the plant are less plentiful, one, of the two recorded, invoking (once again) the shepherd and the other relating to the lady i.e. 'Our Lady' — one of the titles of the Virgin Mary. '(Our) Lady's Comb' is thus a Christianised form of 'Venus's Comb' (first recorded by Pliny in the Latin form " pecten Veneris") with the name of the preeminent female figure of the newer religion replacing the name of the Roman goddess.  The connection between a harmless, edible plant growing in a cornfield and somewhat sinister supernatural entities (to say nothing of an ancient Roman goddess) is not immediately apparent to the modern mind, but may be explained by a study of ancient harvest customs. When growing corn waves in the wind, a shiver appears to run through it; and this was often described (by pre-industrial populations) as some imaginary creature running through the field. This supernatural 'creature' could be identified with the last sheaf cut at harvest time, as could certain female entities, preserving traces of half-remembered, pre-Christian goddesses. The association of grain with a goddess could be as old as the first attempts at sowing seed and collecting plants that were useful for food, and the grain field as a human-made environment in the British Isles and Ireland dates from the Neolithic period, with its attendant mythology (surviving only as iconography) colouring later Celtic myth. In this context, the Old Wife/Old Woman/Witch names for "Scandix pecten-veneris" can be seen to refer to a harvest goddess of the kind still remembered in Celtic countries and present in English folk belief as part of a Celtic substrate pre-dating the Saxon invasions. The folkloric entity known as the 'Old Wife' can thus be understood in relation to the Welsh Gwrach, the Northern English and Lowland Scots Carlin and the Scottish Highland and Irish Cailleach. Puck and the Devil in names for the plant can likewise be understood as conceptions of the uncanny corn spirit whose passage is marked by the waving of the wheat in the wind, the Devil being a Christian interpretation of an earlier Puck figure.

Distribution.

"Scandix pecten-veneris" has a range extending from Western, Central and Southern Europe Eastwards to Western and Central Asia and is found also in the Maghreb. Within the U.K. the plant used to be widely distributed as a weed of arable land in the Southeast of England, being found as far west as Wiltshire, but became rather rare in its former haunts, a state of affairs attributed to stubble-burning and the use of modern herbicides This gloomy tale of decline was, however, qualified in 1996 by wild food enthusiast Richard Mabey, who noted that, although the plant had suffered a dramatic decline in England, beginning in the 1950s, it began to recover with the banning of stubble-burning in the early 1990s. Furthermore — and contrary to earlier theories — the plant has proven to be resistant to modern herbicides after all and Mabey notes that the 'needles' of the plant are not readily separated from wheat by modern harvesting machinery — another factor contributing to its return to the English countryside.

Habitat.

"Scandix pecten-veneris" is a ruderal species, tending to favour dry, calcareous soils and often occurring in open meadows and woodland edges, this species does well in arable land and was formerly cultivated as a vegetable, as well as being gathered from the wild (see below).

As an edible plant.

"Scandix pecten-veneris" has a long history of use in Europe, both as a leaf vegetable and as a salad vegetable. Some of the earliest references to its consumption are to be found in Ancient Greek texts satirising the tragedian Euripides (c.480-c.406 B.C.), of Salamis Island, which portray the playwright's mother, Cleito, as a humble greengrocer, amongst whose wares was the vegetable "scanthrix" - the name of which found its way into Latin, in the modified form "scandix", as a name for chervil (a related, edible umbellifer). The edible plant "scanthrix" is mentioned also by the Ancient Greek writers Opion, Theophrastus, and Erasistratus of Ceos, while the variant form of the name "scanthrox" is used by Pedanius Dioscorides for the same plant. Among Latin authors, Pliny the Elder lists "scandix" among the edible plants of Egypt. Much later, the Vicentine physician Onorio Belli (a.k.a. Honorius Bellus, 1550-1604) notes that, in his day, it was eaten on the island of Crete.

Scandix pecten-veneris (shepherd's-needle, Venus' comb, Stork's needle) is a species of edible plant belonging to the family Apiaceae. It is native to Eurasia, but is known to occur elsewhere. It is named for its long fruit, which has a thickened body up to 1.5 centimeters long and a beak which can measure up to 7 centimeters long and is lined with comblike bristles.

Vochlice hřebenitá ("Scandix pecten-veneris") je jednoletá, plevelná bylina, jediný druh rodu vochlice, který v české přírodě roste. Tento archeofyt se v ČR vyskytuje jen příležitostně, je vzácný a je považován za rostlinu ohroženou vyhynutím.


High school career.

Tolzien was a two-star recruit out of William Fremd High School, located in Palatine, Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago. He made official visits to the University of Kentucky and the University of Toledo, but he did not attract many offers from major universities. He chose to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

College career.

Tolzien attended and played college football for the University of Wisconsin from 2006–2010.

2006 season.

As a true freshman at Wisconsin in 2006, Tolzien was redshirted and did not play.

2007 season.

Tolzien did not play in any games for Wisconsin in 2007, as Wisconsin had Tyler Donovan, Allan Evridge, and Dustin Sherer at quarterback.

2008 season.

After Allan Evridge was benched following his performances against Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, Tolzien saw his first major action for Wisconsin against Iowa in Kinnick Stadium. He completed 5 passes on 8 attempts, but threw an interception in the red zone. Dustin Sherer eventually took charge of the Badgers, who finished the season 7–6.

2009 season.

The winner of a spring quarterback competition, Tolzien beat out starter Sherer in 2009. He set the Wisconsin record for completions in a single season, with 211, and passed for 2,705 yards. Under Tolzien's leadership, Wisconsin finished the season at 9–3. He threw a pair of interceptions that were returned for touchdowns in a loss at Ohio State and threw three interceptions against Iowa the following week. Despite this, Tolzien played well in games against Michigan, Minnesota, and Michigan State, and was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts against Michigan State.  Tolzien finished the 2009 season in a 20–14 win over Miami in the Champs Sports Bowl, completing 19 passes on 26 attempts as the Badgers knocked off the higher-ranked Hurricanes.

2010 season.

After a disappointing effort against Michigan State, Tolzien improved week after week as the Badgers won their next 7 games, to finish the year 11–1. Against a top 5 Ohio State defense, Tolzien completed 13 of 16 passes. His efforts led the Badgers to an eventual upset of then top-ranked Ohio State. The next week against Iowa, Tolzien again had a solid game, completing 20 passes on 26 attempts for 205 yards and a touchdown. Most impressively, Tolzien led the Badgers down the field for the game-winning touchdown with Wisconsin's running game stifled by Iowa's defense. In his final home start, against the Northwestern Wildcats, Tolzien completed 15 passes on 19 attempts for 230 yards with four touchdown passes.  Tolzien made his final collegiate start at Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl against one of the top defenses in the nation, TCU. He finished the game with 12 completions out of 21 attempts for 159 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions and a rating of 120.7 for the game, and the Horned Frogs won, 21–19. Tolzein completed his college career at the East-West Shrine Game on January 22, 2011.  Tolzien won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award in 2010, edging out finalists Andy Dalton of TCU, Colin Kaepernick of Nevada, Christian Ponder of Florida State, and Ricky Stanzi of Iowa, In 2010, he set a new Wisconsin record for completion percentage in a single season, completing 74.3% of his passes in 12 regular season games. Tolzien ranked 4th nationally in passer rating, and led the nation in completion percentage.

Statistics.

The following statistics were retrieved from Sports-Reference.com.

Professional career.

San Diego Chargers.

After going undrafted in the 2011 NFL Draft, Tolzien signed with the San Diego Chargers on July 26, 2011. He threw for 302 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in the preseason. On September 3, 2011, Tolzien was released by the Chargers during final team cuts.

San Francisco 49ers.

On September 4, 2011, Tolzien was claimed off waivers by the San Francisco 49ers. He became the 49ers third-string quarterback behind starter Alex Smith and backup Colin Kaepernick. He remained with San Francisco after the conclusion of the 2012 preseason, still slotted as the team's third-string quarterback. He was on the roster for the 49ers appearance in Super Bowl XLVII. On August 26, 2013, Tolzien was waived by the 49ers.

Green Bay Packers.

Tolzien was signed to the Green Bay Packers practice squad on September 1, 2013. After Aaron Rodgers suffered a clavicle injury, the Packers brought him up from the practice squad to the active roster. On November 10, 2013, Tolzien entered a game after an early injury to Rodgers's backup Seneca Wallace. In his regular season debut, Tolzien completed 24-of-39 attempts for 280 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in a 27–13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, earning him the start in the Packers' next game against the New York Giants. Against the Giants, Tolzien was 24 of 34 and threw for 339 yards, but also threw 3 interceptions in a 27–13 loss. The next week against the Vikings, Tolzien performed a spin move during a touchdown run before being relieved by quarterback Matt Flynn who led the Packers to a 26–26 tie against their divisional rival.  In the 2015 season, he appeared in three games for the Packers and had very limited roles.

Indianapolis Colts.

On March 11, 2016, Tolzien signed a two-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts worth $3.50 million with $500,000 guaranteed. Due to a concussion to Andrew Luck, Tolzien made his first start for the Colts on Thanksgiving on November 24, 2016, throwing for 205 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions in a 28–7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  With Luck being inactive due to a shoulder injury, Tolzien was named the starting quarterback to begin the 2017 season. On September 10, 2017, he started the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams. Tolzien had 128 passing yards with two interceptions returned for touchdowns, until being benched in favor for Jacoby Brissett. The Colts lost by a score of 46–9. Brissett started the next game against the Arizona Cardinals with Tolzien as the backup. After being benched, Tolzien had no more action in 2017. At the end of the year the Colts elected not to renew his contract, and he became a free agent.

Birmingham Iron.

On November 27, 2018, Tolzien was selected by the Birmingham Iron of the Alliance of American Football in the third round of the 2019 AAF QB Draft.  Tolzien never played a down for the Iron as he retired before training camp began; the league would shut down abruptly eight weeks into its season.

Coaching career.

The Wisconsin Badgers hired Tolzein as an analyst to work on scouting opponents in 2019.

Dallas Cowboys.

After the hiring of new Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Mike McCarthy, Tolzien joined their coaching staff under his former head coach as a Coaching Assistant.

External links.

Scott Jeffery Tolzien (born September 4, 1987) is a former American football quarterback who is currently a coaching assistant for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Wisconsin. He was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He has also played for the San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts.

Scott Jeffery Tolzien (* 4. září 1987 v Rolling Meadows, stát Illinois) je bývalý hráč amerického fotbalu, který nastupoval na pozici Quarterbacka v National Football League. Univerzitní fotbal hrál za University of Wisconsin–Madison, po Draftu NFL 2011, kdy si ho nevybral žádný tým, podepsal smlouvu s týmem San Diego Chargers.


Association team allocation.

A total of 188 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations were expected to participate in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League (the exception being Kosovo, whose participation was not accepted in their first attempt as UEFA members). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:  The UEFA Executive Committee approved in December 2014 changes to the rewards given according to the Respect Fair Play ranking, and starting from the 2016–17 season, the three Fair Play berths were no longer allocated to the Europa League.

Association ranking.

For the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2015 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2010–11 to 2014–15.  Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Europa League, as noted below:

Distribution.

In the default access list, Sevilla enter the third qualifying round (as the seventh-placed team of the 2015–16 La Liga). However, since they qualified for the Champions League as the Europa League title holders, the spot which they qualified for in the Europa League third qualifying round is vacated, and the following changes to the default allocation system are made:

Redistribution rules.

A Europa League place is vacated when a team qualifies for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualifies for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules (regulations Articles 3.03 and 3.04):

Teams.

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:  Notably two teams took part in the competition that were not playing in their national top division, Zürich (2nd tier) and Hibernian (2nd tier).

Round and draw dates.

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).  Matches in the qualifying, play-off, and knockout rounds could also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.

Qualifying rounds.

In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2016 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.

First qualifying round.

The draws for the first and second qualifying round were held on 20 June 2016. The first legs were played on 28 and 30 June, and the second legs were played on 5, 6 and 7 July 2016.

Second qualifying round.

The first legs were played on 14 July, and the second legs were played on 20 and 21 July 2016.

Third qualifying round.

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 15 July 2016. The first legs were played on 28 July, and the second legs were played on 3 and 4 August 2016.

Play-off round.

The draw for the play-off round was held on 5 August 2016. The first legs were played on 17 and 18 August, and the second legs were played on 25 August 2016.

Group stage.

The draw for the group stage was held on 26 August 2016, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2016 UEFA club coefficients.  In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32, where they are joined by the eight third-placed teams of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League group stage. The matchdays are 15 September, 29 September, 20 October, 3 November, 24 November, and 8 December 2016.  A total of 21 national associations are represented in the group stage. Astana, Celta Vigo, Dundalk, Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Konyaspor, Mainz 05, Manchester United, Nice, Olympiacos, Osmanlıspor, Sassuolo, Southampton and Zorya Luhansk made their debut appearances in the UEFA Europa League group stage (although Celta Vigo and Olympiacos had appeared in the UEFA Cup group stage and Manchester United and Olympiacos had already competed in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase after a third place in the UEFA Champions League group stage).

Knockout phase.

In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:

Round of 32.

The draw for the round of 32 was held on 12 December 2016. The first legs were played on 16 February, and the second legs were played on 22 and 23 February 2017.

Round of 16.

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 24 February 2017. The first legs were played on 9 March, and the second legs were played on 16 March 2017.

Quarter-finals.

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 17 March 2017. The first legs were played on 13 April, and the second legs were played on 20 April 2017.

Semi-finals.

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 21 April 2017. The first legs were played on 3 and 4 May, and the second legs were played on 11 May 2017.

Final.

The final was played on 24 May 2017 at Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw.

Statistics.

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.

Squad of the Season.

The UEFA technical study group selected the following 18 players as the squad of the tournament.

Player of the Season.

A new UEFA Europa League Player of the Season award was introduced for the 2016–17 season. Votes were cast by coaches of the 48 teams in the group stage, together with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA's member associations. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams. Jury members selected their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. The shortlist of the top three players were announced on 4 August 2017. The award winner was announced and presented to during the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League group stage draw in Monaco on 25 August 2017.

The 2016–17 UEFA Europa League was the 46th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the eighth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.

Evropská liga UEFA 2016/17 byl 46. ročníkem Evropské ligy UEFA, druhé nejvýznamnější evropské soutěže fotbalových klubů (je osmým ročníkem soutěže pořádaným pod současným názvem). Ročníku se zúčastnilo 188 klubů z 54 zemí (zástupce Kosova FK Priština nebyl přijat, protože nesplnil požadavky UEFA na kvalitu domácího stadionu).