Badminton career.

In 2004, he played in the Thomas Cup with Chew Choon Eng. They gave a strong performance during the second doubles match against Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian of Indonesia in the quarter finals. However, after the tournament, the Badminton Association of Malaysia decided to partner him with Chan Chong Ming who previously partnered Choon Eng. Later, they won the bronze medal at the 2005 World Championships.  In 2006, he started to play with Tan Boon Heong. Together, they won the gold medal at the 2006 Doha Asian Games as an unseeded pair. En route to the finals, they defeated several top pairs including Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia. They are the youngest ever men's doubles pair to win an Asian Games gold medal at the age of 22 and 19 respectively. 2007 was the best year for Koo and Tan. They won several Super Series tournaments and climbed to the top of world rankings. They also won their first All England Super Series title after beating Chinese pair, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng in straight games.  In 2009, the two won the bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships. At the 2010 BWF World Championships, the pair entered the semifinals after beating Korean rivals Lee Yong Dae and Jung Jae Sung. In the semifinals they defeated China's Guo Zhendong and Xu Chen 21-14, 21-18. Tan and Koo became the first Malaysian pair to enter a World Championship final in 13 years. In the finals, they played China's Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng but lost 21-18, 18-21, 14-21.  At the 2011 All England Super Series Premier, Boon Heong and Kien Keat defeated 2008 Olympic champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan in the quarterfinals. They then defeated World champions Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng 21-11, 23-21. They lost to the Danes and then world number 1 Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen 21-15, 18-21, 18-21.  In 2012, they competed at the 2012 Olympics, reaching the semi-finals losing to the eventual gold medalists, and then losing in the bronze medal match to the Koreans. In 2013, they suffered a series of early round exits in 2013 and a three-year major title drought but managed to remain in the top 10 of the world rankings. In 2014,Koo parted with the Badminton Association of Malaysia and became a coach for the Granular Club of Thailand in early 2014. In August that year, Koo returned to play his last tournament with Tan at the 2014 BWF World Championships. Their supposedly last match together was in the third round where they lost to a Chinese Taipei pair with a score of 19-21 in the deciding game.  In 2015, Koo announced that he is coming out of retirement to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics with Tan before they call it quits for good. They were sponsored by Seri Mutiara Development Sdn Bhd and playing for an independent club. They achieved several breakthroughs this year, winning the Dutch Open and finishing as runners-up at the Thailand Open. They also made it to two Super Series quarterfinals in Australia and Korea.  In 2016, Koo and Tan managed to enter the top 15 of the world rankings. However, due to the new Olympic qualification requirement set by the BWF whereby each country can only send two representatives for each event only if they are both in the top 10 world rankings of their discipline and if they are not then only the highest ranked representative will contest, Koo and Tan narrowly failed to qualify for the Olympics. By the time the qualification period had ended, the two were ranked world number 14 just one rank behind compatriots Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong who were selected instead and went on to win the silver medal. In November, Koo reannounce his retirement from professional badminton, citing the Hong Kong open as his last tournament.

Personal life.

He began his studies at St. Michael's Institution in Ipoh, Perak. Later, he received an offer to go to Bukit Jalil Sports School, where he completed his secondary school studies and sat for the SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) examination. He married Audrey Tan Su Ven in 2013, and has a son, Dayson, who was born in 2014.

Playing style.

Koo Kien Keat moves very fast around the net areas and is adventurous with deceptive shots. He also reacts very well on fast flat exchanges. A favourite formation is when he is on the front court and his partner, the main smasher, attacks from the rear of the court with powerful, left-handed smashes.  Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong are an explosive and dynamic pair in their game style.  In 2010, they won their first title of the year in their home, Malaysia, as the world number 1 pair. They came in seeded number 1 in the All England but lost in the first round to Denmark former world champions Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen.  In the 2010 BWF World Championships they beat the young Chinese pair of Chai Biao & Zhang Nan in the quarter-finals and later their arch rivals, the South Koreans Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae, in 3 sets to reach the semi-finals. After that, they beat another Chinese pair of Guo Zhendong & Xu Chen to reach their first ever finals in world championship. The only other Malaysian pair to reach that far before them were Yap Kim Hock and Cheah Soon Kit.

Achievements.

BWF World Championships.

"Men's Doubles" "Mixed Doubles"

Commonwealth Games.

"Men's Doubles" "Mixed Doubles"

Asian Games.

"Men's Doubles"

Asian Championships.

"Men's Doubles"

Southeast Asian Games.

"Men's Doubles" "Mixed Doubles"

World Junior Championships.

"Boys' Doubles"

Asian Junior Championships.

"Boys' Doubles" "Mixed Doubles"

BWF Superseries.

The BWF Superseries has two level such as Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end.  "Men's Doubles"

BWF Grand Prix.

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix. It is a series of badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) since 1983.  "Men's doubles" "Mixed doubles"

BWF International Challenge/Series.

"Men's Doubles"

Koo Kien Keat (born 18 September 1985) is a Malaysian former professional badminton player. He succeeded in both men's and mixed doubles but is best known for his partnership with Tan Boon Heong with whom, he reached a career high ranking of world number 1.


Historical overview.

The first municipal art collection of the city of Strasbourg was the result of the French Revolution, and was a consequence of the expropriation of churches and cloisters. Through the years, the collection, which was founded in 1801, grew by private donations, as well as government loans from the inventory of the Louvre. On August 24, 1870, the museum, which was housed in the "Aubette" on Place Kléber, was set on fire by Prussian artillery fire and completely destroyed. After the end of the Franco-Prussian War, it was resolved to re-establish the museum, and the imperial art historian Wilhelm von Bode was commissioned with the task in 1889. In 1890, the museum was launched and was re-stocked since that time by acquisitions and gifts. In 1931 under the leadership of Hans Haug (1890–1965), the collection of medieval art and upper-Rhenish painting (Konrad Witz, Hans Baldung, Sebastian Stoskopff) was transferred to the newly founded Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame. The collection of modern art went to the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Strasbourg). Haug's superior during the German occupation from 1940 to 1944 was Kurt Martin.  On August 13, 1947, fire destroyed part of the re-established collection, including works of Francesco Guardi, Thomas de Keyser, Antonio del Pollaiolo and Lucas Cranach the Elder. However, with the money from the insurance, it was possible to acquire other artistically valuable paintings. Apart from regular purchases on the art market, the collection of the museum is also regularly being expanded by substantial donations, notably in 1987 and 1994 by collectors Othon Kaufman and François Schlageter (Italian paintings), in 2004 by collectors Roger and Elisabeth Eisenbeth (Dutch paintings,) in 2009 by the collector Ann L. Oppenheimer (Italian, Flemish and Dutch paintings), and in 2019 by the collectors Jeannine Poitrey and Marie-Claire Ballabio (mostly Italian and Dutch paintings).

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg (Museum of Fine Arts of Strasbourg) is the old masters paintings collection of the city of Strasbourg, located in the Alsace region of France. The museum is housed in the first and second floors of the baroque Palais Rohan since 1898. The museum displays works by non-Upper Rhenish artists from between the 14th century and 1871 and by Upper Rhenish artist from between 1681 and 1871. The museum owned 1,934 works as of 31 December 2015, this number has substantially increased since (see below). The old masters from the upper-Rhenish area until 1681 are exhibited in the neighboring Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame.


Life and career.

Ebbesmeyer was born April 24, 1943 in Los Angeles, California. Educated at the University of Washington––where he earned a Ph.D. in oceanography in 1973––Ebbesmeyer monitored ocean currents by tracking buoys and markers dropped at sea. Stories vary as to the origin of Ebbesmeyer's use of flotsam as markers. In May 1990 80,000 Nike sneakers were released from a container washed off the ship "Hansa Carrier". When Ebbesmeyer's mother heard about those shoes floating in the currents she said: "Well isn't that what you do?" He says that from this he saw the opportunity to monitor ocean currents from the distribution of the shoes washing up on the coasts of Oregon and Washington. However, in a 1999 article, Ebbesmeyer credits the discovery by Richard Strickland, a colleague at the University of Washington School of Oceanography, of a Chinese message in a bottle, which Strickland opened in 1991 having found it in June the previous year. Ebbesmeyer and his team calculated that the bottle had been released on the other side of the Pacific in 1980.  He established links with beachcombers and formed a network of people reporting the landfall of the contents of this and other spills. Using OSCURS (Ocean Surface Currents Simulation), a computer simulator developed by Seattle oceanographer Jim Ingraham, Ebbesmeyer tracked the oceanic movement of all kinds of flotsam including 34,000 ice hockey gloves washed off the "Hyundai Seattle" in 1994. Prior to this, he had specialised in forecasting the movement of oil spills and sewage.  Ebbesmeyer founded the nonprofit "Beachcombers' and Oceanographers' International Association" in 1996 for which he writes and publishes the magazine "Beachcombers' Alert".  In retirement, Ebbesmeyer has continued to work with Evans-Hamilton, Inc., a Seattle-based oceanography company offering in physical oceanography services, meteorological conditions studies, and application of marine and freshwater instrumentation.  Ebbesmeyer has worked with marine scientist Charles Moore, who, in 1999, published findings that the ratio of plastic to zooplankton (in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre) is about six to one, with consequent harm to ocean life from the very start of the food chain.

Curtis Charles Ebbesmeyer is an American oceanographer who, in retirement, has studied the movement of flotsam. He came to public attention through his interest in The First Years' "Friendly Floatees" rubber ducks, a consignment of bath toys washed into the Pacific Ocean in 1992.


Plot.

In a small Texas town, John Kirby, a mentally ill man, kills two members of the family with whom he was staying. Sheriff Daniel "Dan" Stevens and his deputy Charlie, respond and eventually arrest John, but he breaks out of the handcuffs, overpowers the other officers and grabs a shot gun, forcing the officers to open fire and shoot John.  Severely injured and near death, John is transported to an institute where his psychiatrist, Dr. Thomas "Tom" Halman, works along with Dr. Phillip Spires and Dr. Paul Vaughn, two doctors and geneticists. To save John, Phillip proposes treating him with a formula created by himself and Paul to enhance cellular strength and regeneration. Tom objects to its use due to John's psychosis, and Phillip pretends to agree but later administers the formula anyway once Tom leaves. Revived and rendered nearly mute but virtually invulnerable, John escapes from the institute and tracks Tom to his home, having overheard Tom telling Phillip to allow John to die earlier. Meanwhile, Dan invites Tom's sister Alison, whom is he romancing, on a trip. John breaks into Tom's home and the two fight. Despite shooting John several times and pushing him down a flight of stairs, Tom is killed. Tom's wife Nancy finds her husband's body and is killed by John as well. Alison arrives to pick up her gear for the trip and discovers her brother and sister-in-law's corpses, but John flees as Dan and Charlie arrive with the police.  Dan and Charlie take Alison to the institute, unaware that John has also returned there to get Phillip and Paul to treat his wounds. Realizing that the situation is out of control, Phillip leaves to examine samples while Paul attempts to kill John by injecting him with acid. John survives and kills Paul after a brief struggle by stabbing him with the syringe. After finding Paul's body, Phillip returns to his office, where he briefly speaks to John about the success of their experiment. John initially seems to understand Phillip but ultimately snaps his neck. With Dan at the county coroner's office, Charlie and Alison discover John killing another of the institute workers; Charlie attempts to arrest him but is mortally wounded when John breaks his back. Dan returns just in time to discover Charlie dying and protects Alison from John.  Dan shoots John and knocks him out of a window, but John revives and nearly kills Dan. John hangs on to Dan's car as Dan and Allison try to escape and climbs into its back window, forcing them to jump out. The car crashes and explodes, lighting John on fire. This injures him, but he jumps into a nearby lake and quickly recovers. With Alison watching, Dan and John engage in hand-to-hand combat. Both men score blows, but Dan overwhelms John by roundhouse kicking him several times before throwing him into a nearby well, seemingly killing him. With John's carnage at an end, Dan and Alison leave. However, deep in the well, John suddenly bursts from the water, having survived.

Production.

Michael Miller had directed two features, the last of which was "Jackson County Jail". He was offered the film by executive producer Paul Lewis, although he says Tony Under "was really the mover and shaker who was essential to the whole thing." He says "The reason Chuck Norris wanted to do the picture – and I think it was the reason we all wanted to do the picture – is because it was a major studio picture."  Miller said the film was written with Chuck Norris in mind. "You don’t hire Chuck Norris not to do karate. It wasn’t like it was an old John Wayne script that they ended up giving to Chuck. He does his thing. I think the idea was to try and broaden the audience in that it wasn’t a karate movie. In my mind, it was a Frankenstein movie. It was like Frankenstein meets Chuck."  Miller said the film was not inspired by slasher movies. "I’m not a fan of those. When I read it, I thought that it was Frankenstein. That’s what I was heading towards. We’ll have the mad scientists bringing this guy back to life. Chuck will have to try to apprehend him."  Miller said Brian Libby was a stunt man who was a friend of Aaron Norris. "He reminded me of Lee Marvin. He came in and I thought, Okay, this guy can play Frankenstein’s creature. He was a real cooperative kind of guy. He never balked about anything. I put him in a silver suit, and put him through a lot. A lot of other actors would have thought that was beneath them, but he wasn’t like that."  Miller said Stephen Furst's character was like Andy Devine. The story that Furst's character tells Norris about the dog came from Furst.  Filming began on July 30, 1981 in Dallas. It took 30 days. Director Michael Miller called the film "kung fu meets Frankenstein."  Miller says Norris was most comfortable fighting. The actor improvised a love scene with Toni Kalem, "and that was a big deal for him," said Miller. "I said, “Just talk and have fun,” I told him. He did, and it’s a nice little scene."

Release.

The film was released theatrically in the United States by Columbia Pictures in April 1982. It grossed $10,490,791 at the box office.  Miller said he hoped to make sequels. "At the end, the guy is still not dead. But that never happened. I would have liked that. You can see that this guy is not a slasher. He kills people the way Frankenstein’s creature kills people. He throws them and bang."  Miller says the reason was "I don’t think this was one of Chuck’s favorite pictures. He went to the screening, and I think that was the last time I ever saw him. He seemed to enjoy it, but he wasn’t sure it was going to work. It was outside of the formulas he’d been doing. I think he was too much of a gentleman to ever say, “I don’t like this.” I just don’t think this was in his wheelhouse. He didn’t do any more slasher type pictures."  The film was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in 2001.  RiffTrax released "Silent Rage" on demand on September 6, 2013.

Reception.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 80% based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 5.06/10. On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 31 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". "Variety" wrote that the film "seems as if it were made with a demographics sampler entitled '10 Sleazy Ways To Cash In On The Exploitation Market.' The only trouble is the filmmakers have employed all ten techniques in one picture. The result is a combination horror-kung-fu-oater-woman-in-peril-mad-scientist film with more unintentional laughs than probably appear possible in the space of 100 minutes." John Corry of "The New York Times" thought that the only interesting scenes are those with the mad scientists, as Norris has "no screen presence to speak of." Rita Kempley of "The Washington Post" called Norris' martial arts "a curious footnote in a formula horror film". Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times" praised the "shrewd, witty script." Richard Christiansen of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "As in 'Jackson County Jail,' his 1976 sleeper hit, Miller has given some inventive, energetic touches to a crude formula film. He doesn't deal in sophisticated material, but he's surprisingly sophisticated in the way he handles his raw material." Jimmy Summers wrote in "BoxOffice" magazine, "How you take all this depends a great deal on whether you accept it as tongue-in-cheek satire or simply dismiss it as dumb filmmaking. Considering how corny and obvious most of it is, you hope for the sake of the filmmakers they meant to be tongue-in-cheek."  Norris said that he received negative feedback from fans over his love scenes. He subsequently resolved to avoid them in the future.

Remake.

The film was remade in 2009 as "Indestructible".

Silent Rage is a 1982 American action crime neo noir science fiction horror film directed by Michael Miller. It stars Chuck Norris as a sheriff who must stop a mentally ill man (Brian Libby) who goes on a rampage after being granted near-indestructibility in a medical experiment. It grossed $10.5 million on release.


Islamic scriptures.

Muslim scholars have historically considered zināʾ a hudud sin, or crime against God. It is mentioned in both Quran and in the Hadiths.

Introduction and definition.

The Qur'an deals with zināʾ in several places. First is the Qur'anic general rule that commands Muslims not to commit zināʾ:  In the Hadiths, the definitions of zina have been described as all the forms of sexual intercourse, penetrative or non-penetrative, outside lawful marriage.

Adultery and fornication.

Qur'an.

Most of the rules related to fornication, adultery and false accusations from a husband to his wife or from members of the community to chaste women, can be found in Surat an-Nur (the Light). The sura starts by giving very specific rules about punishment for zināʾ:

Hadith.

The public lashing and public lethal stoning punishment for fornication and adultery are also prescribed in Hadiths, the books most trusted in Islam after Quran, particularly in "Kitab Al-Hudud".  Hadith Sahih al Bukhari, another authentic source of sunnah, has several entries which refer to death by stoning. For example,  Other hadith collections on zina between men and woman include:

Rape.

Rape has been defined as "zina al-zibr" (forcefull illicit sex) in the traditional Islamic texts. Few hadiths have been found regarding rape in the time of Muhammad. The most popular transmitted hadith given below indicates the ordinance of stoning for the rapist but no punishment and no requirement of four eyewitnesses for the rape victim.  The hadiths declare rape of a free or slave woman as zina.

View of scholars.

If a confession or the four witnesses required to prove a "hadd" crime are not available, but rape can be proved by other means, the rapist is sentenced under the "ta'zir" system of judicial discretion. According to the eleventh-century Maliki jurist Ibn 'Abd al-Barr:

Homosexuality.

Islamic teachings (in the "hadith" tradition) presume same-sex attraction, extol abstention and (in the Qur'an) condemn consummation. The Quran forbids homosexual relationships, in Al-Nisa, Al-Araf (verses 7:80–84, 11:69–83, 29:28–35 of the Qur'an using the story of Lot's people), and other surahs. For example, In another verse, the statement of prophet lot has been also pointed out,  Some scholars indicate this verse as the prescribed punishment for homosexuality in the Quran: However, there are different interpretations of the last verse where who the Quran refers to as "two among you". Pakistani scholar Javed Ahmed Ghamidi sees it as a reference to premarital sexual relationships between men and women. In his opinion, the preceding Ayat of Sura Nisa deals with prostitutes of the time. He believes these rulings were temporary and were abrogated later when a functioning state was established and society was ready for permanent rulings, which came in Sura Nur, Ayat 2 and 3, prescribing flogging as a punishment for adultery. He does not see stoning as a prescribed punishment, even for married men, and considers the Hadiths quoted supporting that view to be dealing with either rape or prostitution, where the strictest punishment under Islam for spreading "fasad fil arz", meaning mischief in the land, referring to egregious acts of defiance to the rule of law was carried out.  The Hadiths consider homosexuality as zina, and male homosexuality to be punished with death. For example, Abu Dawud states,  The discourse on homosexuality in Islam is primarily concerned with activities between men. There are, however, a few hadith mentioning homosexual behavior in women; The jurists are agreed that "there is no hadd punishment for lesbianism, because it is not zina. Rather a ta’zeer punishment must be imposed, because it is a sin..'". Although punishment for lesbianism is rarely mentioned in the histories, al-Tabari records an example of the casual execution of a pair of lesbian slavegirls in the harem of al-Hadi, in a collection of highly critical anecdotes pertaining to that Caliph's actions as ruler. Some jurists viewed sexual intercourse as possible only for an individual who possesses a phallus; hence those definitions of sexual intercourse that rely on the entry of as little of the corona of the phallus into a partner's orifice. Since women do not possess a phallus and cannot have intercourse with one another, they are, in this interpretation, physically incapable of committing zinā.

Sodomy.

Muslim scholars justify the prohibition of sodomy, anal sex (liwat) and oral sex, on the basis of the Qur'anic verse 2:223, saying that it commands intercourse only in the vagina (i.e. potentially procreational intercourse). The vaginal intercourse may be in any manner the couple wishes, that is, from behind or from the front, sitting or with the wife lying on her back or on her side.  There are also several "hadith" which prohibit sodomy.  Furthermore, it is reported that Muhammad referred to anal sex as "minor incest".  Islamic law establishes two categories of legal, sexual relationships: between husband and wife, and between a man and his concubine. All other sexual relationships are considered "zināʾ" (fornication), including adultery and homosexuality, according to Islamic law and exegesis of the Qur'an. From the story of Lot it is clear that the Qur'an regards sodomy as an egregious sin. The death by stoning for people of Sodom and Gomorrah is similar to the stoning punishment stipulated for illegal heterosexual sex. There is no punishment for a man who sodomizes a woman because it is not tied to procreation. However, other jurists insist that any act of lust in which the result is the injecting of semen into another person constitutes sexual intercourse.  In Islam, oral sex between a husband and a wife is considered "Makruh Tahrimi" or highly undesirable by some Islamic jurists when the act is defined as the mouth and the tongue coming in contact with the genitals. The reason behind considering this act as not recommended is manifold, the foremost being the issues of modesty, purification (Taharat) and cleanliness.  The most common argument states that the mouth and tongue are used for the recitation of the Qur'an and for the remembrance of Allah (Dhikr). Firstly, scholars consider touching genitals by mouth as discouraged mentioning the reason that, touching genitals by the right hand rather than the left hand has been prohibited by Muhammad; as in their opinion, the mouth is comparatively more honorable than the right hand, for that touching genitals with the mouth is more abhorrent and vacatably excluded. Secondly, the status of genital secretions is debated among the four Sunni schools, some scholars viewing it as impure and others not.  Currently, sodomy is punishable by death in a number of Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as in Nigeria's Sharia courts.

Incest.

Hadith forbids incestous relationship (zinā bi'l-mahārim), sexual intercourse between someone who is mahram and prescribes execution as punishment.

Bestiality.

According to hadith, bestiality is defined under zina and its punishment is execution of the accused man or woman along with the animal.

Inclusions of the zināʾ definition.

Zināʾ encompasses extramarital sex (between a married Muslim man and a married Muslim woman who are not married to one another), and premarital sex (between unmarried Muslim man and unmarried Muslim woman). In Islamic history, zina also included sex between Muslim man with a non-Muslim female slave, when the slave was not owned by that Muslim man.  Technically, zināʾ only refers to the act of penetration, while non-penetrative sex acts outside of marriage were censored by the Prophet as that which can lead to zināʾ.  Sharia, in describing zina, differentiates between an unmarried Muslim, a married Muslim ("Muhsan") and a slave (Ma malakat aymanukum). The second one must be lethally stoned (rajm), while an unmarried Muslim and a slave must receive public lashing, and for a slave, the lashing count is half of an unmarried Muslim.

Accusation process and punishment.

Islam requires evidence before a man or a woman can be punished for zināʾ. These are:  If a pregnant woman confesses that her baby was born from an illegal relationship then she will be subject to conviction in the Islamic courts. In cases where there are no witnesses and no confession then the woman will not receive punishment just because of pregnancy. Women can fall pregnant without committing illegal sexual intercourse. A woman could be raped or coerced. In this case, she is a victim and not the perpetrator of a crime. Therefore, she cannot be punished or even accused of misconduct merely on the strength of her falling pregnant.  The four witnesses requirement for zina, that applies in case of an accusation against man or woman, is also revealed by Quranic verses 24:11 through 24:13 and various hadiths. Some Islamic scholars state that the requirement of four male eyewitnesses was to address zina in public. The testimony of women and non-Muslims is not admitted in cases of zināʾ or in other hadd crimes.  Any uninvolved Muslim witness, or victim of non-consensual sexual intercourse, who accuses a Muslim of zina, but fails to produce four adult, pious male eyewitnesses before a sharia court, commits the crime of false accusation ("Qadhf", القذف), punishable with eighty lashes in public.  These requirements made zina virtually impossible to prove in practice. Aside from "a few rare and isolated" instances from the pre-modern era and several recent cases, there is no historical record of stoning for zina being legally carried out.  Some schools of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) created the principle of "shubha" (doubt). According to this principle, if there is room for doubt in the perpetrator's mind about whether the sexual act was illegal, he or she should not receive the hadd penalty, but could receive a less severe punishment at the discretion of the judge. Jurists had varying opinions on what counted as legitimate "doubt" for this purposes. A typical example is a man who has sex with his wife's or his son's slave. This is zināʾ - a man can lawfully have sex only with his own slave. But a man might plausibly believe that he had ownership rights over his wife's or his son's property, and so think that having sex with their slaves was legal. The Ḥanafī jurists of the Ottoman Empire applied the concept of doubt to exempt prostitution from the hadd penalty. Their rationale was that since legal sex is legitimized, in part, by payment (the dower paid by the husband to the wife upon marriage, or the purchase price of a slave), a man might plausibly believe that prostitution, which also involves a payment in return for sexual access, was legal. It is important to note that this principle did not mean that such acts were treated as legal: they remained offenses, and could be punished, but they were not liable for the hadd penalty of 100 lashes or stoning.

Sunni practice.

All Sunni schools of jurisprudence agree that zināʾ is to be punished with stoning to death if the offender is a free, adult, married or previously married Muslim ("muhsan"). Persons who are not "muhsan" (i.e. a slave, a minor, never married or non-Muslim) are punished for zināʾ with one hundred lashes in public.  Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence considers pregnancy as sufficient and automatic evidence, unless there is evidence of rape. Other Sunni schools of jurisprudence rely on early Islamic scholars that state that a fetus can "sleep and stop developing for 5 years in a womb", and thus a woman who was previously married but now divorced may not have committed zina even if she delivers a baby years after her divorce. The also argue that the woman may have been forced or coerced (see section above, 'Accusation process and punishment').The position of modern Islamic scholars varies from country to country. For example, in Malaysia which officially follows the Shafi'i fiqh, Section 23(2) through 23(4) of the Syariah (Sharia) Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997 state,  Minimal proof for zināʾ is still the testimony of four male eyewitnesses, even in the case of homosexual intercourse.  Prosecution of extramarital pregnancy as zināʾ, as well as prosecution of rape victims for the crime of zina, have been the source of worldwide controversy in recent years.

Shi'a practice.

Again, minimal proof for zināʾ is the testimony of four male eyewitnesses. The Shi'is, however, also allow the testimony of women, if there is "at least one male witness", testifying together with "six women". All witnesses must have seen the act in its most intimate details, i.e. the penetration (like "a stick disappearing in a kohl container," as the fiqh books specify). If their testimonies do not satisfy the requirements, they can be sentenced to eighty lashes for unfounded accusation of fornication (kadhf). If the accused freely admits the offense, the confession must be repeated "four" times, just as in Sunni practice. Pregnancy of a single woman is also sufficient evidence of her having committed zina.

Human rights controversy.

The zināʾ and rape laws of countries under Sharia law are the subjects of a global human rights debate.  Hundreds of women in Afghan jails are victims of rape or domestic violence. This has been criticized as leading to "hundreds of incidents where a woman subjected to rape, or gang rape, was eventually accused of zināʾ" and incarcerated.  In Pakistan, over 200,000 zina cases against women, under its Hudood laws, were under process at various levels in Pakistan's legal system in 2005. In addition to thousands of women in prison awaiting trial for zina-related charges, there has been a severe reluctance to even report rape because the victim fears of being charged with zina.  Iran has prosecuted many cases of zina, and enforced public stoning to death of those accused between 2001 and 2010.  Zina laws are one of many items of reform and secularization debate with respect to Islam. In the early 20th century, under the influence of colonial era, many penal laws and criminal justice systems were reformed away from Sharia in Muslim-majority parts of the world. In contrast, in the second half of the 20th century, after respective independence, a number of governments including Pakistan, Morocco, Malaysia and Iran have reverted to Sharia with traditional interpretations of Islam's sacred texts. Zina and hudud laws have been re-enacted and enforced.  Contemporary human right activists refer this as a new phase in the politics of gender in Islam, the battle between forces of traditionalism and modernism in the Muslim world, and the use of religious texts of Islam through state laws to sanction and practice gender-based violence.  In contrast to human rights activists, Islamic scholars and Islamist political parties consider 'universal human rights' arguments as imposition of a non-Muslim culture on Muslim people, a disrespect of customary cultural practices and sexual codes that are central to Islam. Zina laws come under hudud seen as crime against Allah; the Islamists refer to this pressure and proposals to reform zina and other laws as ‘contrary to Islam’. Attempts by international human rights to reform religious laws and codes of Islam has become the Islamist rallying platforms during political campaigns.

Zināʾ () or zina ( or ) is an Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse. According to traditional jurisprudence, zina can include adultery (of married parties), fornication (of unmarried parties), prostitution, rape, sodomy, homosexuality, incest, and bestiality. Although classification of homosexual intercourse as zina differs according to legal school, the majority apply the rules of zinā to homosexuality, mostly male homosexuality. The Quran disapproved of the promiscuity prevailing in Arabia at the time, and several verses refer to unlawful sexual intercourse, including one that prescribes the punishment of 100 lashes for fornicators. Four witnesses are required to prove the offense. Zina thus belongs to the class of "hadd" (pl. "hudud") crimes which have Quranically specified punishments.


Early and personal life.

Frank Soo was born in Buxton, Derbyshire on 8 March 1914, and brought up in Liverpool. His parents, a Liverpool-based Chinese sailor father, Our Quong-Soo (; also "Ah Kwong-Soo"), and an English mother, Beatrice Whittam, had married in Chorlton, Manchester in 1908. The couple had moved to the village of Fairfield to open a laundrette, as was commonly done by Chinese emigrants in England at the time, before eventually moving premises to West Derby, Liverpool around 1920. He had an elder brother, Norman, and several younger siblings: Phyllis, Ronald, Jack, Harold and Kenneth. His brother, Ronald, was killed on 14 January 1944, while serving as an air gunner in No. 166 Squadron.  Soo married hairdressing salon proprietor Beryl Freda Lunt in Stoke-on-Trent on 12 June 1938, and the couple honeymooned in Bournemouth. Freda, as she was known, was a keen autograph hunter, and had initially introduced herself to Soo simply to ask for his signature. The couple separated in 1951, and Freda died as a result of a barbiturate overdose on 10 March 1952; it was not known whether her death was intentional or accidental.

Playing career.

Stoke City.

Soo played for Norwood, West Derby and West Derby Boys' Club, and was scouted by both Everton and Liverpool without ever being signed by either club. He instead began his senior career with Cheshire League side Prescot Cables in late 1932, whilst working as an office clerk. He was quickly signed by Stoke City for a £400 fee on 25 January 1933, after being spotted by the club's scouts. Tom Mather handed Soo his debut at the expense of Harry Ware after picking him to play inside-left against Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park on 4 November 1933, making him the first player of Chinese descent to play in the Football League; the match ended in a 6–1 defeat. Despite the heavy defeat he was praised as Stoke's stand out performer, and kept his place for the 1–0 defeat to Manchester City at the Victoria Ground seven days later. He made a third appearance in a loss to Arsenal at Highbury, before being dropped for six matches. He scored his first goal in professional football on 3 January 1934, as Stoke beat Bradford Park Avenue 3–0 in the third round of the FA Cup, and then scored again as Stoke defeated Blackpool by the same scoreline in the following round 24 days later. He scored his first league goal for the "Potters" on 29 January, concluding the scoring in a 3–0 victory over Huddersfield Town. He made a total of 16 appearances during the 1933–34 season, scoring three goals, as Stoke posted a 12th-place finish in the First Division.  Soo featured mainly for the Reserves during the 1934–35 campaign, as the forward line of Harry Davies, Joe Johnson, Bobby Liddle, Stanley Matthews and Tommy Sale proved to be highly effective, scoring 60 of the club's 71 league goals on the way to a tenth-place finish. He failed to make a first team appearance between September and 9 March, only returning to the side following a run of three consecutive defeats. He broke his leg during 1935–36 pre-season training, but made a speedy recovery to feature in a 2–0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on 18 September. He found himself a first team regular under new manager Bob McGrory, who utilised him as a left-sided half-back in the place of ageing veteran Harry Sellars. Playing alongside Arthur Turner and Arthur Tutin, Soo would be a part of one of the club's great half-back lines. He played a total of 40 matches that season, helping Stoke to a fourth-place finish, the highest in the club's history.  Stoke were inconsistent across the 1936–37 season, recording a 10–3 victory over West Bromwich Albion (a game which Soo missed due to injury) in the middle of a run of eight defeats in 11 league fixtures. Soo made 31 appearances, as City finished in tenth-place. Soo scored four goals from 45 appearances during the 1937–38 campaign, and played at centre-forward on two occasions in November due to injuries to Freddie Steele and James Westland. However Stoke struggled again, falling to 17th-place in the league and being knocked out of the FA Cup by Bradford Park Avenue. Soo succeeded Turner as acting club captain in March 1938, and was formally named as captain in the summer.  In October 1938, Stoke rejected a bid from Brentford of £5,000 for Soo. Stoke recovered from a poor start to the 1938–39 season to finish in seventh-place, with Soo scoring three goals from 44 appearances, sometimes being asked to play out of position due to injuries to other players. His name was put forward in numerous newspapers for selection in the England team, with the "Daily Express" stating that "Soo, of Stoke, is one of the finest halves in the game, and it would be no less than he was worth if they put him in". However he lost the chance to represent England due to the outbreak of World War II, which had also caused Stoke City to cancel their planned 1939 summer tour of Germany and Poland, and then led the Football League to cancel the 1939–40 season after just three matches. Before the league was suspended, Soo's midfield partnership with Turner and Tutin – with Matthews and Steele in attack – had made Stoke one of the favourites for that season's league title.

World War II.

Soo initially found work in the engineering department of the Michelin tyre company in Stoke-on-Trent, which allowed him to play wartime matches for Stoke City. Throughout the war he played at full-back, right half-back, left-half-back and inside-left, filling in as need be as team-mates would be unavailable for selection due to service or work commitments. He also appeared for Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Chelsea, Reading, Brentford, Port Vale, Crewe Alexandra, Millwall, and Burnley, and played nine times for the England national football team between 1942 and 1945 (in Wartime and Victory Internationals), the first non-white person ever to play for the national team (albeit in semi-official matches only) and the only person of East Asian descent to date. He also played for several FA representative teams not officially described as "England". He played mainly for Stoke City however, scoring three goals in 28 appearances in the 1939–40 season as Stoke won the War League West Regional Championship. He then scored four goals from 18 matches in 1940–41.  He was called up to the Royal Air Force (RAF) on 28 July 1941, and spent most of his time in the RAF working in the technical training of aircrews. As time went on he was based further away from Stoke and became unable to play for the club, he scored three goals from 12 appearances in 1941–42 and four goals from 13 matches in 1942–43, before he was stripped of the captaincy. He played just two games for Stoke in 1943–44, and scored three goals from eight games in 1944–45. In April 1945, Soo submitted a transfer request after growing tensions between himself and McGrory due to his lack of availability and his frustrations at being played out of position by McGrory, who also had a similarly tense relationship with star player Stanley Matthews.

Leicester City.

On 27 September 1945, Soo was sold to Leicester City for a fee of £4,600, rejoining the manager who had signed him for Stoke, Tom Mather. He was named as the "Foxes" new club captain less than two weeks later. However Leicester struggled in the 1945–46 season, and he was transfer-listed in January despite being one of the better performers at Filbert Street. He was demobilised from the RAF on 26 April 1946.

Luton Town.

Soo joined Luton Town in July 1946 for a fee of £5,000. The "Hatters" started the 1946–47 season poorly, losing eight matches by mid-November. However, after going three goals down to league leaders Newcastle United, manager George Martin gave what Soo described as "the most unusual pep talk I have ever heard" and inspired a 4–3 comeback victory. Luton went on to finish the season 13th in the Second Division, with Soo making 38 league and four FA Cup appearances. He then scored five goals in 36 appearances in the 1947–48 season, though new manager Dally Duncan could not take Luton above 13th-place, and he allowed Soo to leave Kenilworth Road in the summer.

Chelmsford City.

On 28 May 1948, Soo signed with Chelmsford City from Luton for a reported "substantial transfer fee". He was appointed as club captain and as a coach and helped Arthur Rowe's "Clarets" to finish second in the Southern League in 1948–49, before being transfer-listed in the summer after failing to agree terms with the club. He spent the summer coaching Finnish club Helsingin Palloseura. Rowe left to manage Tottenham Hotspur and Soo applied to succeed him as Chelmsford manager, but lost out to Jack Tresadern. He submitted a transfer request in November 1949 so as to try and find a club closer to his wife's family home in Stoke-on-Trent following her father's death, and also due to increasing tensions between himself, Tresadern, and the club's board of directors. Kidderminster Harriers offered Chelmsford £1,000 for his services, but Soo refused to join the club. He was forced to play for Chelmsford Reserves as the dispute rumbled on, before he was reinstated in the first team in January following outcry from the club's supporters. City finished in fourth-place at the end of the 1949–50 season, and though Soo was named on the club's retained list he instead retired as a player to join St Albans City as manager on 30 May 1950.

Style of play.

Soo was quick and intelligent, and was noted for his ability to deliver perfectly placed passes. Stan Mortensen wrote in his autobiography, "Football Is My Game", that Soo was one of the four best wing-halves he ever played with (alongside George Farrow, Billy Wright and Harry Sellars), and "seemed incapable of a clumsy movement". Arsenal's Alex James described him as "modern for his time".

Managerial career.

Padova.

Soo had spent the summer of 1949 coaching Finnish club Helsingin Palloseura, before entering management full-time at Isthmian League side St Albans City in May 1950. He led the "Saints" to a ninth-place finish at the end of the 1950–51 season, and on 12 April 1951 he was appointed as manager of Italian club Padova following Giovanni Ferrari's dismissal as manager. The press had accused the "Patavini" players of laziness, and Soo's reputation as a stern taskmaster was seen as a good solution. Padova beat Napoli 2–0 on the final day of the 1950–51 season to avoid relegation out of Serie A, and finished just a point ahead of 19th-placed Roma. His main summer signing was Norwegian player Knut Andersen, though the transfer was only completed in December when clearance from the Scandinavian Federation was confirmed; on Andersen's debut Padova managed to beat reigning champions Milan 5–2 at the Stadio Silvio Appiani. However the team struggled in the second half of the 1951–52 season, and Soo left the club on 13 March to return to England following his wife's death; Gastone Prendato was named as his successor at Padova, but could not keep the club out of the relegation zone by the end of the season.

Scandinavia.

He signed a one-year contract to manage Swedish club Eskilstuna in May 1952, but took charge of the side after first working as head coach of the Norway national football team for the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He took charge of just one match, as Norway were defeated 4–1 by neighbours and reigning gold medallists Sweden in the first round of the tournament. Returning to Eskilstuna, he told the press that he wanted to initiate a new playing style of "long, sweeping passes", and in addition to coaching the first team he also took charge of the youth team and coached at local Eskilstuna schools. He also initiated a total ban on alcohol for his players, which some in the media criticised as totalitarian and unnecessary. The club finished third in the Östra region of Division 3 in 1952–53, but were promoted into Division 2 due to a re-organisation of the league system.  Soo was appointed manager of newly relegated Division 2 Svealand club Örebro in 1953, however soon became unpopular with some players in his new dressing room due to his strict training methods. Despite his apparent unpopularity, he still managed to take the club to a second-place finish at the end of the 1953–54 season, one place ahead of Eskilstuna. He again did not stay long though, and was appointed as manager at Allsvenskan club Djurgården in June 1954, succeeding Welshman Dai Astley. He was also linked with the Swedish national team job, but the SvFF opted not to appoint a full-time manager following failure to qualify for the 1954 FIFA World Cup. He instead accepted a post as part-time coach of Sweden, still to be officially managed by a committee, but left the post following heavy defeats to the Soviet Union and Hungary. Back at Djurgården, his physical style of play proved to be highly effective and he led the "Blåränderna" to the league title at the end of the 1954–55 season, after which he tendered his resignation.  Soo was appointed manager of Division 3 Nordvästra Götaland club Oddevold on 21 February 1956, and led the club to promotion as runners-up of their region in 1955–56. However the team struggled in the Västra Götaland region of Division 2 in the 1956–57 campaign, and Soo left the club in February 1957; his successor, Sven-Ove Svensson, led the club to an eighth-place finish. In December 1957, he was appointed as trainer at Allsvenskan club AIK, working alongside former Sweden selection committee chairman Putte Kock. However he soon caused controversy after trying to focus his players primarily on football, which angered bandy playing twins Bengt and Björn Anlert. The "Gnaget" finished ninth in 1957–58, and Soo and the players suffered a difficult relationship.

Scunthorpe United.

On 8 June 1959, Soo returned to England and was appointed manager of Second Division club Scunthorpe United, and immediately came under fire from vice-chairman Doug Drury, who said the club could not afford Soo's £1,600-a-year salary. He signed defender Dennis John, winger Martin Bakes and centre-forward Barrie Thomas; Thomas went on to score 26 goals as the "Iron" recorded a 15th-place finish at the end of the 1959–60 season. Writing in February 1960, Ipswich Town manager Alf Ramsey described Scunthorpe as "one of the most improved clubs in the country, since manager Frank Soo took over the reins at the Old Showground at the start of the season, the football produced by this little club has at times matched the best". However, Soo resigned in May 1960.

Later career.

In 1961, Soo returned to Scandinavia and managed Frigg in Oslo, the capital of Norway for one season. Two years later Soo was appointed manager of the Israel national team and was due to take charge in October 1963, but a last-minute disagreement between himself and the Israel Football Association meant that he never formally took charge of the team, and the job instead went to George Ainsley. He subsequently returned to Scandinavia, and briefly took charge at IFK Stockholm, before he was appointed manager of Norwegian First Division club Fredrikstad in January 1964. He had a "short and turbulent" reign, again finding his players resentful of his prohibition of alcohol, and led the club to a second-place finish in 1964, before he resigned on 15 December 1964. In November 1965, he was appointed manager of Danish 1st Division club Akademisk Boldklub, and led the "Akademikerne" to fifth-place and sixth-place finishes in 1965 and 1966. However, by this time he had established a reputation as a manager who was difficult to work with, highly demanding both in what he asked of his players and what he asked for financially, and someone who very quickly moved on. He remained in Sweden for the rest of the 1960s, though nearly made a return to coaching with the Hong Kong national team in April 1972, though did not take up the post as the HKFA were only prepared to offer him a one-year contract. He returned to Stoke-on-Trent by the 1980s, and later died due to complications of dementia at a cottage hospital in Cheadle on 25 January 1991.

Style of management.

In an interview with Swedish newspaper "Fotboll", Soo said that "usually I run with the boys for 90-minutes. Then I try to make that time as intense as possible... I want them to be tired after training". He was described as a "slavdrivare" (slave driver).

Legacy.

A street was named after him on what used to be the site of the Victoria Ground in Stoke. A foundation was created in Soo's honour in 2016, the aim of which is to promote his story and continue his legacy. An annual five-a-side charity football tournament is held in his honour, with the Player of the Tournament award being named after him.  On 8 May 2020, to commemorate the anniversary of his first England cap, Soo was honoured by Google with a Doodle.

Career statistics.

Playing statistics.

Source:

Managerial statistics.

Source:

Frank Soo (8 March 1914 – 25 January 1991) was an English professional football player and manager of mixed Chinese and English parentage. He was the first player of Chinese origin to play in the English Football League, and the first non-white player to represent England, though in unofficial wartime matches.


Biography.

Berlin grew up in The Bronx, New York, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1970. He wrote extensively on American history and the larger Atlantic world in the 18th and 19th centuries. Berlin focused in particular on the history of slavery in the United States. His first book, "Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South" (1974), was awarded the Best First Book Prize by the National Historical Society.  Berlin's work is concerned with what he termed the "striking diversity" in African-American life under slavery. He argues that this diversity is especially evident with attention to the differences in African-American life under slavery across geography and time. In his 1998 book "Many Thousands Gone", which covers the history of North American slavery through the 18th century, Berlin differentiates among four regions and their respective forms of slavery: the Chesapeake, the Lowcountry of South Carolina and Georgia, the Lower Mississippi Valley, and the North. He further differentiates each of these regions across three distinct "generations," emphasizing shifts over time. Berlin argues that geographic and temporal differences in the first two centuries of North American slavery had important consequences for African American culture and society.  He founded the Freedmen and Southern Society Project and served as director until 1991. The project's multi-volume "Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation" has twice been awarded the Thomas Jefferson Prize of the Society for the History of the Federal Government, as well as the J. Franklin Jameson Prize of the American Historical Association for outstanding editorial achievement (October, 1999). He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004.  In 2003, Berlin was the chief advisor for the HBO documentary "Unchained Memories". In 2007, he was an advising scholar for the award-winning PBS documentary "Prince Among Slaves", produced by Unity Productions Foundation.

Ira Berlin (May 27, 1941 – June 5, 2018) was an American historian, professor of history at the University of Maryland, and former president of Organization of American Historians.


History.

2007–2014.

Henrik Fisker co-founded Fisker Automotive in 2007 with Fisker Coachbuild partner Bernhard Koehler and Quantum Technologies after securing U$5.2 Million investment from Gianfranco Pizzuto, an Italian businessman, and Palo Alto Investors. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm, was one of the early investors. Fisker is responsible for designing many premium cars such as the Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage, Artega GT, and BMW Z8. He also served as design director and sat on the board at Aston Martin.  Before Fisker Automotive, Fisker and Koehler left Aston Martin in 2005 to establish Fisker Coachbuild, in an attempt to revive the art of coach-building automobiles to customer specifications. The Fisker Tramanto and Latigo used chassis and power trains from Mercedes-Benz SL and BMW 6 Series automobiles. Several were purchased, but the business soon gave way to Fisker Automotive, a true automobile manufacturer.  In 2009, Fisker mentioned plans for another plug-in hybrid, a "high-volume vehicle for a lower price", subject to getting a U.S. Department of Energy loan to build about 100,000 vehicles annually in the United States.  On April 14, 2008, Tesla Motors filed a lawsuit against Fisker Automotive, alleging they stole Tesla's technology and were using it to develop their own hybrid car, the Fisker Karma, which was announced at the North American International Auto Show in January 2008. Tesla's suit claimed that the design work done for the Model S by Fisker Coachbuild was substandard, and that Fisker diverted its best ideas to the Karma. In early 2009, the suit was settled in Fisker's favor and Tesla was ordered to pay Fisker more than US$1.1 million in legal fees.  Fisker received a US$528.7 million conditional loan in September 2009 from the Department of Energy's US$25 billion Advanced Technologies Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM). Of the total loan amount approved, a total of US$192 million was drawn by Fisker Automotive for engineering work with primarily US suppliers to complete the Fisker Karma and Fisker's Project Nina, later revealed as the Fisker Atlantic.  Vice President Joe Biden attended the October 27, 2009 announcement that Fisker Automotive would take control of the Boxwood Road Plant (previously owned and operated by General Motors as Wilmington Assembly) in Wilmington, Delaware, with production scheduled to begin in late 2012.  Fisker's problems started with recall of its battery by A123 in December 2011, followed by a second recall by A123 Systems in March 2012 and eventually a bankruptcy of its battery supplier A123 Systems in August 2012, the costs involved regarding a recall and repairs to customer cars. In addition to production stopping for over five months, with no date announced to recommence, the planned production of the second model, the Fisker Atlantic, was postponed, together with the cessation of development of the new model.  The Department of Energy froze Fisker's credit line in August 2012 after US$192 million had been drawn, and after differences between the DOE and Fisker on the milestones set as conditions for the loan. The loan received additional scrutiny for being awarded for the manufacture of luxury vehicles that are too expensive for much of the general public. Fisker investor Ray Lane responded that the issues were being blown out of proportion due to election-year politics.  In February 2012, Tom LaSorda was named the new CEO, and Henrik Fisker became executive chairman, but six months later on August 14, La Sorda was replaced by Tony Posawatz, previously General Motors Vehicle Line Director for the Chevrolet Volt.  In April 2012, Fisker announced it had received US$392 million in a new round of financing.  The company suffered a setback on October 29, 2012, when Hurricane Sandy flooded and destroyed its entire European shipment of 338 Karmas at Port Newark, New Jersey. Sixteen of the cars burned, because six to eight feet of seawater caused a short circuit in a vehicle control unit in one Karma, and high winds spread the resulting fire to 15 others. The company said that its lithium-ion battery was not at fault. Insurer XL Insurance America initially denied the roughly US$30 million loss claim and was subsequently sued by Fisker in New York State Supreme Court. The case was settled with an undisclosed out-of-court agreement.  Henrik Fisker resigned in March 2013, after "disagreements with management", in particular "disagreements over business strategy". Shortly after the departure of Henrik Fisker from Fisker Automotive, on April 5, 2013, Fisker laid off 75% of its workforce, retaining only a core group of 40 workers as it continued to negotiate with prospective investors.  On October 11, 2013, Hybrid Technology LLC agreed to buy Fisker's defaulted government loan at a heavy discount. On November 22, 2013, Fisker filed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Concurrently, on November 23, 2013, Fisker agreed, subject to bankruptcy court approval, to be acquired by Hybrid, owned by Hong Kong billionaire, Richard Li. However, at the last moment, Chinese parts supplier Wanxiang Group submitted a competing bid of 24.75 million, supported by the Official Creditors' Committee in the case. Wanxiang had earlier lost out to Hybrid in bidding for purchase of the government's loan to Fisker. Wanxiang owns A123 Systems LLC, Fisker's former battery supplier, and Fisker argued that Wanxiang's conduct was partly responsible for Fisker's business failure. As part of its bid, Wanxiang proposed restarting production of the Karma.  Wanxiang received court approval on February 18, 2014, to buy the assets of Fisker after a three-day auction against Hybrid with a bid of $149.2 million, with bidding starting at $55 million, significantly more than the previous $24.75 million bid, and significantly higher than the $25 million Hybrid Technology LLC paid the Department of Energy for a $164 million loan note. On top of the $25 million, the DOE also recouped $28 million from Fisker for a total of $53 million recovered of its $192 million loan.  Following Fisker Automotive's structured bankruptcy auction in February 2014, Henrik Fisker retained the Fisker brand name. Wanxiang Group bought the company's assets, which it turned into Karma Automotive, launching the Karma Revero plug-in hybrid car based on the Fisker Karma.

Production models.

Fisker Karma.

The Karma was a plug-in hybrid luxury sports sedan produced by Fisker Automotive and manufactured at Valmet Automotive in Finland. After missing its initial late 2009 launch, and after the launch was rescheduled several times, the first deliveries took place in the U.S. in late July 2011 and deliveries to retail customers began in November 2011.  The 20.1 kWh (72.36 MJ) lithium ion rechargeable battery in each car came from A123 Systems in Watertown, Massachusetts. The aluminum frame was engineered by Fisker and was supplied by Norsk Hydro from Norway. The cabin interior was designed by Fisker Automotive, but was made in the United States by Magna International of Canada. The EVer powertrain system, technically a series hybrid, delivered over 400 horsepower, and was inspired by Quantum Technologies, a cofounder of and early investor in Fisker. A version of the Karma was relaunched as the Karma Revero in 2016 by Karma Automotive.

Concept vehicles.

Fisker Surf and Sunset.

Fisker unveiled the Karma S hardtop convertible concept in 2009.  The Fisker Surf plug-in hybrid concept car was unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. The Surf would have an all-electric range of and an additional when the gasoline engine is engaged, acting as a generator to charge the battery pack. Like the Karma, the Surf operates in Sport or energy-saving Stealth modes. In Sport, the car can reach from 0 in 5.9 seconds and the maximum speed is. According to Henrik Fisker, the Surf would be part of the company's lineup and would be available for North American and international delivery in 2013. Price was expected be in the same range as the Karma. In early 2012, the company announced they were dropping their plans to produce the Surf and the Sunset. Instead, they decided to proceed with production of the Fisker Atlantic.

Fisker Atlantic.

In April 2012, Fisker unveiled their model Atlantic at the 2012 New York International Auto Show. The Fisker Atlantic, originally called "Project Nina", shares the range-extender system from the larger Karma, but uses a four-cylinder BMW-sourced gasoline engine, which acts as a generator to keep the batteries charged. The Atlantic is rear-wheel drive, with the option of four-wheel drive. The expected all-electric range is. The Atlantic was scheduled to become Fisker Automotive's second production car, after plans to produce the Fisker Surf and Sunset variants of its full-sized Karma were shelved earlier in 2012. Production was initially scheduled to begin by the end of 2012 at the former GM plant in Wilmington, Delaware. By October 2012, the carmaker decided to postpone production for late 2014 or 2015 due to financial constraints.

Sales.

By February 2012, Fisker had established 45 dealerships in the US and three in Canada. By March 2012, the company had built over 2,450 vehicles, with over 2000 cars delivered to customers by the end of 2012. Fisker Automotive distributed vehicles through a traditional dealer network and partnered with five importers: GP Supercars (Merano, Italy), Nellemann (Copenhagen, Denmark); the Emil Frey Group (Zurich, Switzerland); BD Otomotive (Istanbul, Turkey) and Al-Futtaim Group (Middle East and North Africa).

Manufacturing.

Fisker Automotive used to retain core competencies, such as design, engineering and marketing, in house, but outsourced manufacturing of its first vehicle Fisker Karma. Fisker's outsourcing methods allowed the company a 2–3 year period of development instead of the typical 5 years and at a cost of US$333 million instead of $1 billion, and claimed that it could make a profit from selling just 15,000 cars. Fisker used to save significant development costs by using pre-engineered components developed by other car companies whenever possible, such as the door handle mechanism which was a General Motors part; Fisker Automotive just paid a royalty to GM for each door handle in the Karma, which was much cheaper than designing its own door handles. However, the A123 battery failure and its resulting recall, and the eventual bankruptcy of the battery supplier, led to significant problems and added cost to the manufacture of the Karma model, finally resulting in Fisker's bankruptcy.  In 2008, Fisker estimated 15,000 cars per year would be assembled by Valmet Automotive in Uusikaupunki, Finland. Manufacturing eventually commenced in 2011 but by the third quarter of 2012 production ceased.

Investors.

Fisker Automotive's investors have included Leonardo DiCaprio, Palo Alto Investors, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Qatar Holdings, LLC, A123 Systems, and Ace Investments. In April 2012, Fisker announced it had received $392 million in a round of financing, which was in addition to $850 million in private investment it had received in previous rounds. In Fisker's bankruptcy case, Hybrid Technology LLC ranked ahead of all the equity investors as a senior creditor since they purchased the Department of Energy loan note to Fisker Automotive in November 2013.

Fisker Automotive was an American company known for producing the Fisker Karma, which was one of the world's first production luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. It debuted at the 2008 North American International Auto Show, and first deliveries were in 2011. Production of the Fisker Karma was suspended in November 2012 due to bankruptcy of its battery supplier A123 Systems, with about 2,450 Karmas built since 2011 and over 2000 cars sold worldwide. In February 2014, Fisker Automotive's Karma vehicle design, tooling and a manufacturing facility in Delaware were purchased by Chinese auto parts conglomerate Wanxiang Group. Henrik Fisker, the founder of Fisker Automotive, retained the Fisker trademarks and the Fisker brand and launched a separate company, Fisker Inc., in 2016. Wanxiang later renamed its new company Karma Automotive.


Origins.

NISI MASA was founded in 2001 by three film enthusiast friends who wanted to create a Europe-wide platform for cooperation between young filmmakers. More than eleven years later, the number of countries in the network has increased to 26. Currently there are 28 member associations with over 1500 individual members.  The name 'NISI MASA' is a reference to the film "81⁄2" by Federico Fellini, in which Marcello Mastroianni transmits the phrase "Asa Nisi Masa" to a clairvoyant. The film, a European cinema classic, and the sentence, an incantation belonging to no specific language, both reflect the cinematic and cross-border spirit of the network.

The network.

NISI MASA is present in 26 countries all around Europe, with a total of 31 member associations dedicated to cinema in different fields. All the NISI MASA member associations organize workshops, screenings, conferences and seminars and all kind of activities related to cinema.  The 28 associations part of NISI MASA are:  NISI MASA develops its own projects, but always collaborates closely with the member associations, creating an inter-cultural and youth exchange all around Europe.

Publications.

NISI MASA has published books, magazines, catalogues and e-books about its workshops, trainings and projects.  The films produced since 2006 by NISI MASA are online at Vimeo. The films are edited in DVD and the benefits of the sales help support the next projects of young filmmakers and help NIS MASA in its aim to promote the European young cinema.

NISI MASA is a nonprofit organization promoting young professionals in the European film industry. It is formed from 28 national member bodies.


Swallow.

The car was built by the Tube Investments Group subsidiary, Swallow Coachbuilding Company (1935) Ltd, bought for its 1935 to 1946 association with Jaguar's prewar motorcycle sidecars. Sometimes known for its similarity to the Ferrari 166MM 'Barchetta' and Austin-Healey 100.

Doretti.

The Doretti name was derived from Dorothy Deen, who managed the Western US distributorship Cal Sales. The Trade Mark logo and Doretti name is in the ownership of Canadian Peter Schömer. He is building a new limited edition sports car called the Doretti TR250 'Corsa Veloce' using the Ferrari TR 250 chassis and engine from 1957. https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmcase/page/Results/1/UK00003020634

Design.

Based on the Triumph TR2 it had much improved stability, its track was wider and its wheelbase longer. The Doretti had a tubular Reynolds 531 manganese–molybdenum, medium-carbon steel chassis. Reynolds was another member of the T I Group. The double-skinned body had an inner structural skin made of steel and an aluminium outer skin. Most cars were supplied with Laycock-de Normanville electric epicyclic overdrive and they were capable of 100 mph. 276 Mk I cars were made, including a single fixed head coupe version. The car was designed by in-house engineer Frank Rainbow, and produced in the TI factory at The Airport, Walsall, Staffordshire, England.  Three prototype Mk II cars, the "Sabre" were produced. These had a stiffer chassis and better weight distribution.  The only car that the TI Group ever built under the Swallow name its production stopped in 1955 when the parent company TI Group changed policy. Allegedly, pressure from the British motor industry, most notably Jaguar, led to the cessation of production of the Doretti. It is thought that the directors of TI were pressured in that the production of the Doretti sports car placed TI at an advantage over their customers buying raw materials, creating a conflict of interest.

Performance.

A car with overdrive tested by the British magazine "The Motor" in 1954 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 12.3 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £1,158 including taxes.  The standard version without overdrive cost £1,102. At the time a Triumph TR2 cost £887.

The Swallow Doretti is a two-seater British sports car built on Swallow's own design of box-section tube chassis using Triumph TR2 mechanicals, made between 1954 and 1955. It was intended for the U.S. market and to be a more refined two-seater than available there at that time.


Typical early 17th century recipes.

Cut cold roast chicken or other meats into slices. Mix with minced tarragon and an onion. Mix all together with capers, olives, samphire, broombuds, mushrooms, oysters, lemon, orange, raisins, almonds, blue figs, Virginia potatoes, peas and red and white currants. Garnish with sliced oranges and lemons. Cover with oil and vinegar, beaten together. (From "The Good Huswives Treasure", Anon, 1588–1660)  From a reprint of "Mrs. Hill's New Cook Book", originally published in 1867 and republished by Applewood Books of Bedford, Massachusetts. Boil two calf's feet; take the feet out when done; reduce the broth to a quart. The feet may be fried and used, first removing the bones. Let the broth become cold in an earthen vessel; scrape off all the grease; wipe the top of the jelly with a coarse towel; put the cake of jelly into a kettle lined with tin or porcelain; season it with two lemons cut up (removing the seed), fine blades of mace, a stick of cinnamon, pepper (white pepper is best), and salt to taste. Beat to a froth the whites of six eggs; stir these to the jelly just as it melts; it must then be left to clarify and not stirred again. When it simmers long enough to look clear at the sides, strain it through a flannel bag before the fire; do not squeeze the bag. Suspend it by running a stick through a loop made by tying the bag; rest each end of the stick upon a chair, and throw a table-cloth over all to keep out the dust. If the jelly does not run through clear the first time, pour it through the jelly-bag again. Set this aside. Prepare the meat and seasoning for the pie. Put into a stew-pan slices of pickled pork, using a piece of pork four inches square; if it is very salt[y] lay it an hour in tepid water. Cut up two young, tender chickens—a terrapin, if it is convenient—two or three young squirrels, half a dozen birds or squabs. Stew them gently, cutting up and adding a few sprigs of parsley. Roll into half a pound of butter two tablespoonfuls of flour; add this to the stew until the meat is nearly done. Line a fire-proof dish, or two fire-proof dishes (this quantity of stew will fill two common-sized or quart dishes;) with good pastry; mix the different kinds of meats; put in Irish potato dumplings; season to taste; pour in the gravy and bake. When done, remove the upper crust when the pie is cold and pack in the jelly, heaping the jelly in the middle. Return the crust and serve cold or hot. The jelly will prevent them become too dry. They are good Christmas pies and will keep several days. Very little gravy should be used, and that rich. Should there be too much, leave the stew-pan open until reduced sufficiently. This kind of pie keeps well if made in deep plates, and by some is preferred to those baked in deep moulds.

Etymology.

The word salmagundi is derived from the French word "salmigondis" which means disparate assembly of things, ideas or people, forming an incoherent whole. Salmagundi is used figuratively in modern English to mean a mixture or assortment of things.  The name later evolved to "Solomon Gundy" in the eighteenth century. It seems likely that the name is connected with the children’s rhyme, Solomon Grundy. Solomon Gundy retains its food connotation today as the name given to a spicy Caribbean paste made of mashed, pickled herrings, peppers and onions.

Salmagundi (sometimes abbreviated as salmi) is a dish of seasoned meats, stewed with vegetables. Etymologically, the word comes from Rabelais' "Third Book of Pantagruel" (Tiers livre, 1546), in which it is written as "salmigondin". It seems to appear in English for the first time in the 17th century as a dish of cooked meats, seafood, vegetables, fruit, leaves, nuts and flowers and dressed with oil, vinegar and spices. There is some debate over sense and origin of the word. The French word "salmigondis" has come to mean a hodgepodge or mix of widely disparate things.


Name.

The name Black Abbey derives from the use of the term "Black Friars" to describe members of the Dominican Order. This in turn derives from the black "cappa" or cloak which Dominicans wear over their white habits.

Site.

When the priory was founded the 13th century, the town of Kilkenny was divided in two parts by the Bregach River. One part was occupied mainly by indigenous Irish (Irishtown) and the other by English (Norman) settlers. The Dominicans established the priory between those two towns and outside the city walls, because they wished to show their independence from either side.  In practical terms, the site chosen for the priory presented challenges, because ever since the priory was established, right up to the present time, the buildings are subject to annual flooding from the river.

History.

The priory was founded in 1225 by William Marshal the younger, Earl of Pembroke, who died in 1231.  In 1349, the community within the priory was affected by the outbreak of bubonic plague - known as the Black Death. Eight members of the community died in three months during this pandemic. After the plague years, very few structural changes were carried out at the priory up until the end of 15th century. In 1558, Ireland was under the rule of Elizabeth I of England, a Protestant queen, and the property of the priory was confiscated by the crown. Elizabeth died in 1603, but the policies of the new Protestant King, James I, did not change: the priory became a courthouse, and the Dominicans were forced to leave and find places to stay in other houses.  From 1642 to 1649, Black Abbey played a major part in attempting to save both the Irish Catholic religion and the king, Charles I of England and of Ireland; the abbey hosted the government known as the Irish Catholic Confederation. This effort did not last long however. In March 1650, the English army under the command of Oliver Cromwell surrounded Kilkenny in a siege. Many people died from epidemic and hunger, many more fled before the city finally surrendered.  From 1685 to 1689 under the rule of the Catholic king James II of England, the abbey flourished, but in 1690, under the rule of the Protestant king William III of England, both Kilkenny and the abbey were once again occupied by the English.  By 1776, the community of the Black Abbey was close to zero, but starting in that year, the Dominicans retook possession of the abbey, first by renting it. In 1816, Black Abbey was restored as a Dominican priory, and the first public mass was held on 25 September 1816.  On Trinity Sunday, 22 May 1864, Black Abbey was reconsecrated by the bishop, and was finally opened again as a house of prayer.

Interior.

In nearly all cases, the main building of monasteries of the Dominicans and Franciscans in Ireland followed the same plan. There was a nave and a choir (pointing east), separated by a tower. From the tower or the nave they had just one transept, pointing to the north or the south, in most cases with one aisle. In some cases, an aisle was also attached to the nave. Black Abbey followed this plan:  The original choir fell into ruin, and at the end of the 18th century the stones were used to construct two storey living quarters for the Dominican friars. This structure was used for 120 years. It was demolished to enable the reconstruction of the nave, which made possible the reconsecration of the abbey in 1864. (The south transept was restored first, and before the reconsecration, masses were held there.)  The nave leads to the altar below the tower. Immediately behind the altar is the large stained glass window known as the "Rosary Window", which is composed of five "lights" or great vertical panels, and is the largest stained glass window in Ireland. This window was created in 1892 by Mayers of Munich, and depicts the Mysteries of the Rosary.

The Black Abbey of Kilkenny, Ireland, is a Catholic priory of the Dominican Order, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Black Abbey was established in 1225 as one of the first houses of the Dominican Order in Ireland.


Early life.

Groesbeck was born in Warren, Michigan, the son of Macomb County Sheriff Louis Groesbeck and his wife Julia (Coquillard) Groesbeck. Groesbeck attended the public schools of Mount Clemens, Michigan, and of Wallaceburg, Ontario, where his parents resided for two years with their family. Groesbeck wanted to become a lawyer from an early age, and undertook the study of law in the office of an attorney at Port Huron, Michigan. He went on to earn a law degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1893. He was admitted to the bar that year and set up practice in Detroit where he rapidly gained the "respect, goodwill and confidence of his colleagues, because of his close conformity to the highest ethical standards of the profession".

Politics.

Groesbeck's entrance into state politics came in 1912, when he led efforts to select a delegation to the Republican National Convention favorable to the renomination of U.S. President William Howard Taft. Groesbeck also actively led the party faction supporting Taft in the general election. In the same year, Groesbeck was elected the state party chairman, serving until 1914. He was a candidate for Governor of Michigan in 1914, but lost in the Republican primary election to Chase S. Osborn. In 1916, Groesbeck was elected Attorney General of Michigan, and was re-elected in 1918.  As reported in "The New York Times", Attorney General Groesbeck supported a call for Henry Ford to run for the United States Senate as a Republican. This vision was opposed by many other members of the party.  In 1920, he won the Republican primary election for Governor and defeated Democrat and former governor Woodbridge N. Ferris in the general election. After being re-elected in 1922 and 1924, Groesbeck lost to Fred W. Green in the 1926 Republican primary election. In 1924, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, which chose U.S. President Calvin Coolidge to be re-elected. In addition to Groesbeck's political work, he was one of the builders of the Flint-Saginaw Interurban Railway.  At the Detroit Club, he was instrumental in 1922 in selecting James Couzens to be the successful Republican candidate for the Senate seat left vacant by Truman Newberry.  In 1925, Groesbeck vetoed legislation that would have created a state poet laureate. "TIME" magazine reported: Forgetful of the state poets of republican Athens, the Governor's historical knowledge led him to describe the bill as "a reversion to monarchical customs" which "has no place in a republican form of government." During his six years in office, the state's highway growth continued, prison reform measures were sanctioned, state titles for automobiles began, and state government was restructured and consolidated.  He was defeated in the 1930 Republican primary election by Wilber M. Brucker.  Groesbeck is recognized as an important "road builder" in Michigan, being the first governor to champion the use of concrete and 'take Michigan out of the mud.'  In 1924, he opposed a ballot initiative (sponsored by the Public School Defense League) to require attendance at public schools and outlaw private ones; this placed him at odds with the position of the then increasingly popular Ku Klux Klan, which supported the opposing candidate, James Hamilton.

Retirement, death and legacy.

Groesbeck was later appointed chairman of the Michigan Civil Service Commission, and served from 1941 to 1944. Also in 1944, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated for U.S. President, Thomas Dewey, who would lose to the three-term President Franklin Roosevelt in the general election. He was also a member of the Detroit Bar Association, the Michigan Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and in club circles was well known as a member of the Detroit Club and the Detroit Athletic Club.  Groesbeck's gubernatorial papers are kept in the Archives of the State of Michigan.  He died in Detroit and is interred there at Woodlawn Cemetery.  Groesbeck Highway (M-97) was named for the governor, both because of the local prominence of the Groesbeck family in Macomb county and Oakland County and because of his strong support for building roads and highways in Michigan.  He is memorialized by a state historical marker in the City of Warren.

Alexander Joseph Groesbeck (November 7, 1873 – March 10, 1953) was an American politician who served as Attorney General and the 30th Governor of the State of Michigan.


History.

7digital was founded in January 2004 by Ben Drury and James Kane, as a B2B digital music services company, building music download stores for record labels, brands and other retailers. 7digital Direct to Consumer (D2C) service was launched in 2005.  7digital is backed by technology venture capital firm Balderton Capital (formerly Benchmark Capital Europe). On 28 January 2008 7digital raised £4.25m in its series B investor round, securing investment from various groups including Sutton Place Managers. The investment was to be used to launch 7digital.com in more European countries and the United States, along with expanding the sites offerings to include downloadable video and computer games.  In September 2008 7digital.com was the first company in Europe to launch DRM-free MP3 downloads with all four major record labels.  As of October 2008, 7digital employed 45 people in London and had over 1.3 million registered customers.  On 3 August 2009, HMV bought a 50% holding in 7digital from its venture capital owners.  In 2011, 7digital expanded with an office in Luxembourg and in early 2012 they expanded to the US with an office in San Francisco, CA.  In October 2012, 7digital secured $10 million in funding from two new investors, Dolby and Imagination Technologies. HMV's stake was previously reduced to less than 20%, and following HMV entering into administration, retail restructuring specialists Hilco, are now the holders of these shares.  On 25 November 2013, UBC Media announced merger plans with 7digital by way of a reverse takeover. The merger was completed in May 2014, forming 7digital Group Plc.  The company entered a business relationship with MediaMarktSaturn in 2017 which it ended in 2019 in exchange for a cash payment of €4 million. The end of the partnership led to a need for 7digital to raise capital by the third quarter of 2019 to remain operational. The share price fell in response to these developments, with a loss of 63% on 9 April and further losses on 10 April 2019.

Clients.

7digital's agnostic platform is used for building products on any type of connected device. Clients have included Samsung, Yahoo, Sirius, HMV, T-Mobile, Onkyo, Technics, Panasonic, iam+ and the BBC.

Musical.ly.

In May 2016 it was announced that 7digital had won a contract with music video app company Musical.ly.

eMusic.

In Jan 2016 it was announced that 7digital would be partnering with eMusic to power the digital music platform following its re-launch. Under this arrangement, eMusic will access its licensed content for customers through the 7digital catalog.

Guvera.

In July 2014 the Australian-based streaming service Guvera, announced that it was launching into various territories in Asia and the Middle East using 7digital's API. Guvera offers on-demand and ad-supported radio streaming services in a number of territories. Partnering with 7digital allowed Guvera marked the first time entry to Middle Eastern markets for both Guvera and 7digital. The 7digital-powered Guvera service launched through App stores and as a pre-load on Lenovo smartphones and tablets. On 10 November 2014, Guvera announced that it had launched its streaming service in India. They shut down in May 2017.

Onkyo.

In June 2014, it was announced that 7digital were contracted to power a hi-res music service for Japanese hi-fi manufacturer Onkyo. Thes stopped the service on 6 October 2019.

Spanish Broadcasting System.

In September 2014 it was announced that SBS will partner with 7digital to launch new digital streaming services. 7digital's API and infrastructure will provide La Musica, SBS' online Latin music, entertainment and news destination, with content management technology and a royalty reporting system to support additional music products beyond the site's current radio station streaming offering.

Panasonic.

In November 2014 it was announced that Panasonic had launched a new 7digital-powered hi-res music service under their recently re-launched Technics brand. The service, called Technics Tracks revealed there would be tens of thousands of 24-bit 192 kHz songs, hundreds of thousands of 24-bit FLAC tracks, and many millions of 16-bit 44.1 kHz songs. They shut down the Service in 2019.

Samsung.

Samsung selected 7digital as the strategic partner for Music Hub version 1.0. This version of Music Hub provided downloads and synchronisation for offline use. The relationship continued with the replacement of Music Hub 1 by the parallel launch of Music Hub 2.0 and 3.0 dependent on the territory that the handset was designated for. In 2012 with the launch of Samsung Galaxy S3 devices in Europe and North America the Music Hub has begun to include subscription streaming alongside their music downloads. 7digital pre-install is also available on Samsung Galaxy S4.

BlackBerry.

BlackBerry and 7digital first worked together on a download app for their Playbook tablet back in 2010, since then both companies have continued to work closely together on various applications, including 7digital branded Smartphone apps for their OS 7 devices and more recently replacement of the Blackberry World Music Store for a 7digital branded application for Blackberry 10 users.  In 2012 BlackBerry began development on a new white labeled service called "BlackBerry World" which was built using the 7digital API. The service was purpose built to run on their new OS (QNX) which would feature on their newly launched Z10 and Q10 smartphones. The service rolled-out from January 2013 and is live in 18 countries. It offers high-quality MP3 music downloads to BlackBerry customers directly via their BB10 device and also via web-based stores. The launch of the service in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and South Africa also established 7digital's presence in these new emerging markets.

HMV.

7digital is independent of their business since significant investment they received in 2012. Re-launched in October 2013, HMVdigital.com is an à la carte download store, available both online and on mobile, supported by a desktop and locker management application. 7digital provided all back-end technology, user account and billing systems alongside catalogue management and licensing. Mobile apps featured sound and image recognition functionality, simplifying the path to finding and buying music. 7digital enabled HMV to simultaneously launch across five platforms, with plans for international expansion to numerous territories.

Ubuntu One Music Store/Canonical.

7digital collaborated with Canonical Ltd. to provide the Ubuntu One Music Store in the Ubuntu Operating System starting from Ubuntu 10.04.  On 2 April 2014 Canonical announced the closure of all of the Ubuntu One file services.

Spotify.

Spotify users from the UK, France, Norway, Finland, Spain, The Netherlands and Sweden were able to purchase tracks to download (if available) from 7digital. This was done by right-clicking and selecting the 'Buy From' link. However, Spotify launched their own purchase service during 2011 which replaced 7digital.

Other.

In October 2014, it was announced that 7digital would work with will.i.am for his new wearable smart device.  In November 2014, 7digital partners Technics launched 'Technics Tracks', a new premium Hi-Resolution audio service.

7digital.com.

Alongside its B2B digital music services business, 7digital offers music tracks direct to consumers in MQA, MP3 320, 256, M4A, 16-bit and 24-bit FLAC audio.  7digital has apps for Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows, and Firefox OS operating systems as well as a mobile-optimized store available on any device.  The 7digital mobile app has been pre-installed on devices through partnerships with Acer, HTC, Samsung, BlackBerry, Pioneer, HP, Dell, and Sonos.  The 7digital music download stores run weekly localised promotions, with discounts on new albums and catalogue titles, weekly free track promotions and editorial features. 7digital.com stores have local currency, language and catalogue throughout Europe, North America and parts of Asia Pacific.  7digital stores the user's music, via the 7digital Locker, allowing access to previous purchases from any device. Users can then download these music purchases to their device or stream from their 7digital Locker. Locker streaming is also available on wireless Sonos devices.  Launched in 2004, 7digital.com is one of the UK's first digital music download stores. Its catalogue hosts digital music tracks with a bit-rate of 320kbp plus, from the major record labels and independent music aggregators.  7digital's Indiestore launched in early 2006, and allowed unsigned artists and independent labels create their own digital music download store for free. The Indiestore was discontinued in 2010. 7digital directs independent artists to work with independent aggregators, where they will be able to service their music to a variety of music retailers.  In December 2014, 7digital became the first music platform to adopt Meridian Audio's high-quality MQA format for streaming/downloads.

Geographical availability.

As of July 2015, 7digital operated in 82 countries. On 19 May 2017 7digital announced the sudden closure of its EU store. After this, the service is still accessible from 20 countries.

7digital Group Plc is a publicly listed digital music and radio services platform. 7digital offers both B2B services for digital media partners as well as 7digital-branded direct-to-consumer (D2C) music download stores.