title: Credit default swap

text: In the "no-arbitrage" model proposed by both Duffie, and Hull-White, it is assumed that there is no risk free arbitrage. Duffie uses the LIBOR as the risk free rate, whereas Hull and White use US Treasuries as the risk free rate. Both analyses make simplifying assumptions (such as the assumption that there is zero cost of unwinding the fixed leg of the swap on default), which may invalidate the no-arbitrage assumption. However the Duffie approach is frequently used by the market to determine theoretical prices.


title: Credit default swap

text: Under the Duffie construct, the price of a credit default swap can also be derived by calculating the asset swap spread of a bond. If a bond has a spread of 100, and the swap spread is 70 basis points, then a CDS contract should trade at 30. However, there are sometimes technical reasons why this will not be the case, and this may or may not present an arbitrage opportunity for the canny investor. The difference between the theoretical model and the actual price of a credit default swap is known as the basis.


title: Credit default swap

text: Critics of the huge credit default swap market have claimed that it has been allowed to become too large without proper regulation and that, because all contracts are privately negotiated, the market has no transparency. Furthermore, there have been claims that CDSs exacerbated the 2008 global financial crisis by hastening the demise of companies such as Lehman Brothers and AIG.


title: Credit default swap

text: In the case of Lehman Brothers, it is claimed that the widening of the bank's CDS spread reduced confidence in the bank and ultimately gave it further problems that it was not able to overcome. However, proponents of the CDS market argue that this confuses cause and effect; CDS spreads simply reflected the reality that the company was in serious trouble. Furthermore, they claim that the CDS market allowed investors who had counterparty risk with Lehman Brothers to reduce their exposure in the case of their default.


title: Credit default swap

text: Credit default swaps have also faced criticism that they contributed to a breakdown in negotiations during the 2009 General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization, because certain bondholders might benefit from the credit event of a GM bankruptcy due to their holding of CDSs. Critics speculate that these creditors had an incentive to push for the company to enter bankruptcy protection. Due to a lack of transparency, there was no way to identify the protection buyers and protection writers.


title: Credit default swap

text: It was also feared at the time of Lehman's bankruptcy that the $400 billion notional of CDS protection which had been written on the bank could lead to a net payout of $366 billion from protection sellers to buyers (given the cash-settlement auction settled at a final price of 8.625%) and that these large payouts could lead to further bankruptcies of firms without enough cash to settle their contracts. However, industry estimates after the auction suggest that net cashflows were only in the region of $7 billion. because many parties held offsetting positions. Furthermore, CDS deals are marked-to-market frequently. This would have led to margin calls from buyers to sellers as Lehman's CDS spread widened, reducing the net cashflows on the days after the auction.


title: Credit default swap

text: Senior bankers have argued that not only has the CDS market functioned remarkably well during the financial crisis; that CDS contracts have been acting to distribute risk just as was intended; and that it is not CDSs themselves that need further regulation but the parties who trade them.


title: Credit default swap

text: Some general criticism of financial derivatives is also relevant to credit derivatives. Warren Buffett famously described derivatives bought speculatively as "financial weapons of mass destruction." In Berkshire Hathaway's annual report to shareholders in 2002, he said, "Unless derivatives contracts are collateralized or guaranteed, their ultimate value also depends on the creditworthiness of the counterparties to them. In the meantime, though, before a contract is settled, the counterparties record profits and losses—often huge in amount—in their current earnings statements without so much as a penny changing hands. The range of derivatives contracts is limited only by the imagination of man (or sometimes, so it seems, madmen)."


title: Credit default swap

text: To hedge the counterparty risk of entering a CDS transaction, one practice is to buy CDS protection on one's counterparty. The positions are marked-to-market daily and collateral pass from buyer to seller or vice versa to protect both parties against counterparty default, but money does not always change hands due to the offset of gains and losses by those who had both bought and sold protection. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, the clearinghouse for the majority of trades in the US over-the-counter market, stated in October 2008 that once offsetting trades were considered, only an estimated $6 billion would change hands on October 21, during the settlement of the CDS contracts issued on Lehman Brothers' debt, which amounted to somewhere between $150 to $360 billion.


title: Credit default swap

text: Despite Buffett's criticism on derivatives, in October 2008 Berkshire Hathaway revealed to regulators that it has entered into at least $4.85 billion in derivative transactions. Buffett stated in his 2008 letter to shareholders that Berkshire Hathaway has no counterparty risk in its derivative dealings because Berkshire require counterparties to make payments when contracts are initiated, so that Berkshire always holds the money. Berkshire Hathaway was a large owner of Moody's stock during the period that it was one of two primary rating agencies for subprime CDOs, a form of mortgage security derivative dependent on the use of credit default swaps.


title: Credit default swap

text: The monoline insurance companies got involved with writing credit default swaps on mortgage-backed CDOs. Some media reports have claimed this was a contributing factor to the downfall of some of the monolines. In 2009 one of the monolines, MBIA, sued Merrill Lynch, claiming that Merrill had misrepresented some of its CDOs to MBIA in order to persuade MBIA to write CDS protection for those CDOs.


title: Credit default swap

text: During the 2008 financial crisis, counterparties became subject to a risk of default, amplified with the involvement of Lehman Brothers and AIG in a very large number of CDS transactions. This is an example of systemic risk, risk which threatens an entire market, and a number of commentators have argued that size and deregulation of the CDS market have increased this risk.


title: Credit default swap

text: For example, imagine if a hypothetical mutual fund had bought some Washington Mutual corporate bonds in 2005 and decided to hedge their exposure by buying CDS protection from Lehman Brothers. After Lehman's default, this protection was no longer active, and Washington Mutual's sudden default only days later would have led to a massive loss on the bonds, a loss that should have been insured by the CDS. There was also fear that Lehman Brothers and AIG's inability to pay out on CDS contracts would lead to the unraveling of complex interlinked chain of CDS transactions between financial institutions.


title: Credit default swap

text: Chains of CDS transactions can arise from a practice known as "netting". Here, company B may buy a CDS from company A with a certain annual "premium", say 2%. If the condition of the reference company worsens, the risk premium rises, so company B can sell a CDS to company C with a premium of say, 5%, and pocket the 3% difference. However, if the reference company defaults, company B might not have the assets on hand to make good on the contract. It depends on its contract with company A to provide a large payout, which it then passes along to company C.


title: Credit default swap

text: The problem lies if one of the companies in the chain fails, creating a "domino effect" of losses. For example, if company A fails, company B will default on its CDS contract to company C, possibly resulting in bankruptcy, and company C will potentially experience a large loss due to the failure to receive compensation for the bad debt it held from the reference company. Even worse, because CDS contracts are private, company C will not know that its fate is tied to company A; it is only doing business with company B.


title: Credit default swap

text: As described above, the establishment of a central exchange or clearing house for CDS trades would help to solve the "domino effect" problem, since it would mean that all trades faced a central counterparty guaranteed by a consortium of dealers.


title: Credit default swap

text: The U.S federal income tax treatment of CDS is uncertain (Nirenberg and Kopp 1997:1, Peaslee & Nirenberg 2008-07-21:129 and Brandes 2008). Commentators have suggested that, depending on how they are drafted, they are either notional principal contracts or options for tax purposes,(Peaslee & Nirenberg 2008-07-21:129). but this is not certain. There is a risk of having CDS recharacterized as different types of financial instruments because they resemble put options and credit guarantees. In particular, the degree of risk depends on the type of settlement (physical/cash and binary/FMV) and trigger (default only/any credit event) (Nirenberg & Kopp 1997:8). And, as noted below, the appropriate treatment for Naked CDS may be entirely different.


title: Credit default swap

text: If a CDS is a notional principal contract, pre-default periodic and nonperiodic payments on the swap are deductible and included in ordinary income. If a payment is a termination payment, or a payment received on a sale of the swap to a third party, however, its tax treatment is an open question. In 2004, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it was studying the characterization of CDS in response to taxpayer confusion. As the outcome of its study, the IRS issued proposed regulations in 2011 specifically classifying CDS as notional principal contracts, and thereby qualifying such termination and sale payments for favorable capital gains tax treatment. These proposed regulations—which are yet to be finalized—have already been subject to criticism at a public hearing held by the IRS in January 2012, as well as in the academic press, insofar as that classification would apply to Naked CDS.


title: Credit default swap

text: The thrust of this criticism is that Naked CDS are indistinguishable from gambling wagers, and thus give rise in all instances to ordinary income, including to hedge fund managers on their so-called carried interests, and that the IRS exceeded its authority with the proposed regulations. This is evidenced by the fact that Congress confirmed that certain derivatives, including CDS, do constitute gambling when, in 2000, to allay industry fears that they were illegal gambling, it exempted them from "any State or local law that prohibits or regulates gaming." While this decriminalized Naked CDS, it did not grant them relief under the federal gambling tax provisions.


title: Credit default swap

text: The accounting treatment of CDS used for hedging may not parallel the economic effects and instead, increase volatility. For example, GAAP generally require that CDS be reported on a mark to market basis. In contrast, assets that are held for investment, such as a commercial loan or bonds, are reported at cost, unless a probable and significant loss is expected. Thus, hedging a commercial loan using a CDS can induce considerable volatility into the income statement and balance sheet as the CDS changes value over its life due to market conditions and due to the tendency for shorter dated CDS to sell at lower prices than longer dated CDS. One can try to account for the CDS as a hedge under FASB 133 but in practice that can prove very difficult unless the risky asset owned by the bank or corporation is exactly the same as the Reference Obligation used for the particular CDS that was bought.


title: Credit default swap

text: A new type of default swap is the "loan only" credit default swap (LCDS). This is conceptually very similar to a standard CDS, but unlike "vanilla" CDS, the underlying protection is sold on syndicated secured loans of the Reference Entity rather than the broader category of "Bond or Loan". Also, as of May 22, 2007, for the most widely traded LCDS form, which governs North American single name and index trades, the default settlement method for LCDS shifted to auction settlement rather than physical settlement. The auction method is essentially the same that has been used in the various ISDA cash settlement auction protocols, but does not require parties to take any additional steps following a credit event (i.e., adherence to a protocol) to elect cash settlement. On October 23, 2007, the first ever LCDS auction was held for Movie Gallery.


title: Credit default swap

text: Because LCDS trades are linked to secured obligations with much higher recovery values than the unsecured bond obligations that are typically assumed the cheapest to deliver in respect of vanilla CDS, LCDS spreads are generally much tighter than CDS trades on the same name.


title: Credit default swap

text: During the rapid growth of the credit derivatives market the 1999 ISDA Credit Derivatives Definitions were introduced to standardize the legal documentation of CDS. Subsequently, replaced with the 2003 ISDA Credit Derivatives Definitions, and later the 2014 ISDA Credit Derivatives Definitions, each definition update seeks to ensure the CDS payoffs closely mimic the economics of the underlying reference obligations (bonds).


title: Three Amigos

text: Three Amigos (stylized as ¡Three Amigos!) is a 1986 American Western comedy film directed by John Landis, written by Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, and Randy Newman (who also wrote the film's songs), and starring Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Alfonso Arau, Tony Plana, and Patrice Martinez. It is the story of three silent film stars who are mistaken for real heroes by the suffering people of a small Mexican village. The actors must find a way to live up to their reputation and stop a malevolent bandit.


title: Three Amigos

text: In 1916, the bandit El Guapo and his gang collect protection money from the Mexican village of Santo Poco. Carmen, daughter of the village leader, searches for someone who can rescue her townspeople. Visiting a village church, she sees a silent film featuring The Three Amigos, a trio of gunfighters who protect the vulnerable from villains. Believing them to be real heroes, Carmen sends a telegram asking them to come and stop El Guapo.


title: Three Amigos

text: Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms, and Ned Nederlander, the actors who portray the Amigos, demand a salary increase for their next project and are fired by their boss Harry Flugelman. He has them evicted from the studio mansion, banned from his lot, and the clothes they borrowed from wardrobe repossessed. They soon receive Carmen's telegram, misinterpreting it as a job offer to perform a show in Santo Poco. The Amigos break into the studio to retrieve their costumes and head for Mexico.


title: Three Amigos

text: Stopping at a cantina near Santo Poco, they are mistaken for associates of a fast-shooting German pilot who arrived just before they did, also in search of El Guapo. They perform "My Little Buttercup" at the cantina, confusing the locals. The German's real associates arrive at the cantina, proving themselves lethal with their pistols when everybody laughs at them. Relieved, Carmen picks up the Amigos and takes them to the village, where they are pampered in the best house in town.


title: Three Amigos

text: The next morning, when three of El Guapo's men raid the village, the Amigos do a Hollywood-style stunt show that leaves the men bemused. The bandits ride off, making the villagers think they have defeated the enemy. In reality, the men inform El Guapo of what has happened and he decides to return the next day to kill the Amigos.


title: Three Amigos

text: The village throws a victory party for the Amigos. The next morning, El Guapo and his gang come to Santo Poco and call them out, but they think it's another show. After Lucky gets shot, they realize they are facing real bandits and beg for mercy. El Guapo allows the Amigos to live, then lets his men loot the village and kidnaps Carmen. They leave Santo Poco in humiliation.


title: Three Amigos

text: Ned persuades Lucky and Dusty to go after El Guapo as they have nothing worth going back to in America and this is their chance to be real heroes. They spot a plane and follow it; it is flown by the German, who has brought a shipment of rifles for the gang. El Guapo's 40th birthday party is being prepared and he plans to bed Carmen that night. The Amigos fling themselves over the wall to infiltrate the hideout with mixed results: Lucky is immediately captured and chained in a dungeon, Dusty crashes into Carmen's room, and Ned ends up suspended from a piñata.


title: Three Amigos

text: Lucky frees himself, but Dusty and Ned are discovered and held hostage. The German, having idolized Ned's quick-draw and gun-spinning pistol skills in childhood, challenges him to a shootout. Ned kills the German and Lucky holds El Guapo at gunpoint long enough for Carmen and the Amigos to escape in the German's plane.


title: Three Amigos

text: Returning to Santo Poco with El Guapo's army in pursuit, the Amigos rally the villagers to stand up for themselves. The villagers are uncertain as all they are good at is sewing. Drawing inspiration from one of their films, they have the villagers create improvised Amigos costumes. The bandits arrive, are shot at by Amigos from all sides, and fall into hidden trenches. El Guapo's men either ride off or are shot, and he takes a fatal wound. Before he dies, the villagers, dressed as Amigos, step out to confront him. El Guapo congratulates them, then shoots Lucky in the foot before dying.


title: Three Amigos

text: The villagers offer the Amigos all the money they have, but the Amigos refuse it with: "Our reward is that justice has been done." They then ride off into the sunset.


title: Three Amigos

text: The film was written by Martin, Michaels, and Randy Newman. According to Michaels, Martin approached him with the idea for the film and asked him to co-write it. Martin originally had the working title "Three Caballeros", the same as the Disney cartoon.


title: Three Amigos

text: Newman contributed three original songs: "The Ballad of the Three Amigos", "My Little Buttercup", and "Blue Shadows on the Trail", and the musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. It was shot outside Grants, New Mexico, and in Simi Valley, California; Coronado National Forest; Old Tucson Studios; Culver City and Hollywood.


title: Three Amigos

text: John Landis was on trial over the "Twilight Zone" tragedy during the editing of "Three Amigos", and the studio heavily edited the film down after he submitted his final cut.


title: Three Amigos

text: The production went through many cast changes before filming. Martin had been attached to the project since 1980 and he, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi were originally going to star. At one point, Steven Spielberg was slated to direct; he wanted Martin, Bill Murray, and Robin Williams to play Lucky, Dusty, and Ned, respectively. Landis has said that Rick Moranis would have been cast as Ned had Short been unavailable. When Aykroyd became unavailable, Chase replaced him. John Candy was set for the role originally intended for Belushi, but was too large to ride a horse. Candy recommended Short to Martin, as they had worked together at SCTV. Short and Martin became close friends and continue to perform together. Candy was later seen riding a horse in the 1991 film "Delirious". While Steve Martin has top billing in some posters as well as DVD covers today, Chevy Chase has top billing in the film itself.


title: Three Amigos

text: Martin reportedly developed tinnitus after filming a pistol-shooting scene. But in an interview with "Pitchfork", he clarified that the tinnitus was from years of listening to loud music and performing for noisy crowds.


title: Three Amigos

text: There were difficulties between the main actors and Landis. Most famously, Chase refused to tell a particular joke that he thought would make his character look like a "moron". Chase agreed to do the line after Landis threatened to give it to Short instead. Chase recalled making a "hideous" insult about Landis's supposed lack of stunt precautions at a 50-foot cliff, in reference to Landis's ongoing "Twilight Zone" accidental death trial, which Landis overheard on live microphone and nearly started a fistfight over. Chase later said that making this movie was "the most fun I've ever had".


title: Three Amigos

text: Several deleted scenes were included in the Blu-ray release. An alternative opening features Santo Poco being pillaged by El Guapo and his men, prompting Carmen's search for help. Extended sequences of the Three Amigos at the studio mansion and backlot lead into another deleted subplot involving an up-and-coming rival actress at the studio, Miss Rene (Fran Drescher). A billboard featuring a Miss Rene film is visible when the Amigos steal their costumes from the studio.


title: Three Amigos

text: A number of deleted scenes featuring Sam Kinison as a mountain man were lost, as were most of Drescher's other scenes.


title: Three Amigos

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 45% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Three Amigos!" stars a trio of gifted comedians and has an agreeably silly sense of humor, but they're often adrift in a dawdling story with too few laugh-out-loud moments." On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Three Amigos

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film one star out of four, writing, "The ideas to make "Three Amigos" into a good comedy are here, but the madness is missing." Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" wrote that it was "likable" but lacked a "distinctive style", though certain jokes are crafted with "enjoyable sophistication". Caroline Wetsbrook of "Empire" awarded the film three out of five stars and wrote that it was "good-natured enough to sustain its ultimately thin premise".


title: Three Amigos

text: The film has since been reviewed more favorably and has become a cult classic. Neil McNally of the website "Den of Geek" noted that the film was "unfairly overlooked" when first released, and praised the performances of Martin, Chase, and Short; the comedic timing of Landis's direction; and Bernstein's "sweeping, majestic" score. The film was ranked 79th on Bravo's list of the "100 Funniest Movies".


title: 1998 NBA draft

text: The 1998 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1998, at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This draft helped turn around four struggling franchises: the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, the Boston Celtics, and the Toronto Raptors.


title: 1998 NBA draft

text: The Vancouver Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors were not able to win the NBA draft lottery; as they were expansion teams, they were not allowed to select first in this draft.


title: 1998 NBA draft

text: The Mavericks, despite having a talented nucleus of Jason Kidd, Jamal Mashburn and Jimmy Jackson in the mid-1990s, had not had a winning season since 1989-90, which was also the last time they made the playoffs. By the end of the 1997 season, all three players were traded and it was time to rebuild. With the sixth selection in 1998, they drafted Robert Traylor and quickly traded him to the Milwaukee Bucks for Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity. They then traded Garrity in a package to the Phoenix Suns for Steve Nash. With Nash and Nowitzki, the Mavericks quickly went from a lottery team in the late 1990s to a perennial playoff contender throughout the 2000s. Nowitzki went on to win the 2011 NBA Finals with Dallas without Nash, but with Kidd.


title: 1998 NBA draft

text: Meanwhile, the Raptors were a recent expansion team that had failed to win more than 30 games in its first three seasons. With the fourth pick they selected Antawn Jamison, whom they quickly dealt to the Golden State Warriors for Vince Carter. Carter went on to win Rookie of the Year.


title: 1998 NBA draft

text: First overall pick Michael Olowokandi from mid-major University of the Pacific is regarded by "Sports Illustrated" as one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history. As of February 2019, he is the last top selection to come out of a university that is considered mid-major.


title: 1998 NBA draft

text: Five players from the 1998 draft class played in the NBA All-Star Game at least once in their careers: Nowitzki, Carter, Jamison, Paul Pierce and Rashard Lewis. All of them except Lewis scored at least 20,000 career points.


title: 1998 NBA draft

text: Carter retired in 2020, making him the last active player drafted in the 1990s to retire. He set the record for most seasons played in the NBA with 22, becoming the first player to ever appear in NBA games in four different decades. Nowitzki missed the same four-decade status by nine months, retiring from the Mavericks in April 2019 as the first player to ever spend more than 20 NBA seasons with one team.


title: 1998 NBA draft

text: These players eligible for the 1998 NBA Draft were not selected but played at least one game in the NBA.


title: Tree of life (Kabbalah)

text: The Tree of Life (Hebrew: עֵץ חַיִּים "ʿĒṣ Ḥayyīm") is a diagram used in Kabbalah and various other mystical traditions. It usually consists of 10 or 11 nodes symbolizing different archetypes and 22 lines connecting the nodes. The nodes are often arranged into three columns to represent that they belong to a common category.


title: Tree of life (Kabbalah)

text: The nodes are usually represented as spheres and the lines are usually represented as paths. The nodes usually represent encompassing aspects of existence, God, or the human psyche. The lines usually represent the relationship between the concepts ascribed to the spheres or a symbolic description of the requirements to go from one sphere to another. The nodes are also associated to deities, angels, celestial bodies, values, single colors or combinations of them, and specific numbers. The columns are usually symbolized as pillars. These pillars usually represent different kinds of values, electric charges, or types of ceremonial magic. It is usually referred to as the Kabbalistic tree of life in order to distinguish it from other concepts with the same name. In the Jewish Kabbalah, the nodes are called sephiroth. The diagram is also used by Christian Cabbala, Hermetic Qabalah and Theosophy. The diagram is believed to be derivable from the flower of life.


title: Tree of life (Kabbalah)

text: Scholars believe that the concept of a tree of life with different spheres encompassing aspects of reality traces its origins back to Assyria in the 9th century BC. The Assyrians also assigned values and specific numbers to their deities similar to those used by the later Jewish Kabbalah. The beginnings of the Jewish Kabbalah are traced back by scholars to the Medieval Age, originating in the "Bahir" and the "Zohar". However, the first historical instance of the modern diagram appeared centuries later in the cover of the Latin translation of "Gates of Light" in the year 1516. Scholars have traced the origin of the art in the "Porta Lucis" cover to Johann Reuchlin.


title: Tree of life (Kabbalah)

text: The first historical instance of the modern tree of life was designed by Johann Reuchlin. Paolo Riccio's son, Hyeronomius, had actively exchanged letters and shared his father's work with Reuchlin before publication. Thus, in the year 1516, Reuchlin's diagram came to appear on the cover of the Paolo Riccio's Latin translation of Joseph Gikatilla's "Gates of Light". The diagram only had 17 paths and, at the time, the concepts of 10 spheres and 22 letters were still distinct in the literature. In 1573, a version sketched by Franciscus Zillettus appeared in "Cesare Evoli, De divinis attributis". This version introduced several innovations that would reappear in later versions: all the spheres were of the same size, the lines became wide paths, the spheres were aligned into 3 distinct columns, Malkuth was connected to three spheres, and astrological symbols for the known celestial bodies were used in conjunction with the Hebrew names to label the spheres. However, it also had only 17 paths, albeit distributed differently. Reuchlin's version was reprinted in Johann Pistorius' compilation of 1587. Finally, several versions from unknown artists introducing 21 and 22 paths appeared in the posthumous print editions of Moses Cordovero's "Pardes Rimonim" between 1592 and 1609. However, the diagrams with 22 paths lacked consistency with each other and none of them


title: Tree of life (Kabbalah)

text: had the 22 letters. Between 1652 and 1654, Athanasius Kircher published his own version of the tree in "Oedipus Aegyptiacus". Kircher might have designed his diagram in a syncretic attempt to reconcile several distinct ideas. This heavily annotated version, self-termed "Sephirotic System", introduced more innovations: abstract concepts, divine names, the 22 Hebrew letters for each path, and new astrological symbols. Between 1677 and 1684, Christian Knorr von Rosenroth published "Kabbala Denudat". He designed several new versions of the tree of life, introduced the first version with 11 spheres, placed Daath between Kether and Tiphareth, and attempted to derive the tree of life from elemental geometry.


title: Tree of life (Kabbalah)

text: Consequently, to modern day, two versions are widely circulated: one where Malkuth has 1 path, owing to Reuchlin's original; and another where Malkuth has three paths, owing to several later versions; both having 22 paths in total, corresponding each to a Hebrew letter, owing to Kircher's syncretism. With the resurgence of occultism in the 19th century, many new versions appeared, but without major innovations. In the 20th century, Aleister Crowley might have resurfaced the idea of Daath as an 11th hidden sphere between Kether and Tiphareth in his book "Liber 777", syncretizing the concept with Kircher's symbols and von Rosenroth's diagrams. With the discovery of new planets, people might have tried to introduce more astrological symbols to their own versions of the diagram. As a result, there is no general agreement about the position of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. However, in particular, it has been noted that Pluto bears resemblance with Daath: Pluto is a former planet, the last traditional celestial body to be discovered, and Daath is a hidden sphere, the last to be introduced. In the 21st century, enthusiasts might have rushed to attribute these collaborative works spanning centuries and involving several people through complex interactions to single authors. Thus, sometimes, the version where Malkuth has 3 paths is termed the "Tree of Emanation", and the version where Malkuth has 1 path is termed the "Tree of Return".


title: Tree of life (Kabbalah)

text: According to Chassidist Kabbalist scholars, the tree of life is to be interpreted in the following way:


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: Presnel Kimpembe (born 13 August 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team. He was part of the France squad that won the 2018 FIFA World Cup.


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: Kimpembe was born in Beaumont-sur-Oise, France, to a Congolese father and a Haitian mother. He was named after his maternal grandfather.


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: Kimpembe made his professional debut for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on 17 October 2014 against Lens, replacing Thiago Motta after 76 minutes in a 3–1 away win. He made his UEFA Champions League debut on 14 February 2017, keeping a clean sheet in a 4–0 win against Barcelona.


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: On 12 February 2019, Kimpembe scored his first goal for PSG against Manchester United in an away match at Old Trafford, turning home at the far-post from an Ángel Di María corner in the 53rd minute. However, in the return leg at Parc des Princes in Paris, he jumped to block a shot from Diogo Dalot in injury time that was given as a penalty for handball after the referee consulted VAR. PSG went on to lose the match 3–1, and were subsequently knocked out due to the away goals rule.


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: On 11 July 2020, Kimpembe signed a contract extension with PSG, a deal lasting until 2024. In the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, PSG went on to reach the final of the competition, losing 1–0 to Bayern Munich. Kimpembe participated in the match. On 3 January 2022, he scored his second goal for the club in a 4–0 Coupe de France win over Vannes. He also contributed an assist for a Kylian Mbappé goal. Kimpembe scored his first Ligue 1 goal in a 5–1 win away to Lille on 6 February.


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: Kimpembe got his first call up to the senior France side after Eliaquim Mangala withdrew through injury for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Netherlands in October 2016. In January 2018, William Gallas, former Arsenal and Chelsea player said that Kimpembe is the future of the French team. Kimpembe finally made his first team debut on 27 March 2018, a year and a half after his first call-up, in a friendly against Russia. He came on for Ousmane Dembélé in the 72nd minute of a 3–1 away victory.


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: On 17 May 2018, he was called up to the 23 man French squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Kimpembe won the World Cup with France in 2018, a tournament in which he played a total of 90 minutes, against Denmark in the group stage.


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: On 18 May 2021, he was called up to the 26-man French squad for the 2020 European Championships. He started in all four matches for France, playing in every minute of the tournament until their eventual defeat to Switzerland in the round of 16.


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: On 9 November 2022, he was named in the French squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. On 14 November, he withdrew from the tournament with an injury and was replaced by Axel Disasi.


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: In July 2018, Kimpembe's name featured in the hit Vegedream single Ramenez la coupe à la maison. The line featuring his name, ‘Maestro Kimpembe (x7)', earned him the nickname 'Maestro'.


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: Kimpembe provided the French voice acting for Spider-Man's enemy Scorpion in the 2018 Marvel film "".


title: Presnel Kimpembe

text: In June 2020, Kimpembe began his own streetwear collection called PK3 Paris. On 1 November 2021, he launched an auction for objects belonging to sportspeople for which the profits would be given to Médecins Sans Frontières in order to help the Haitian people.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: The twenty-first season of the American reality television series "The Voice" premiered on September 20, 2021, on NBC. Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend returned as coaches for their twenty-first, eighth, and sixth seasons, respectively. Ariana Grande made her first appearance as a coach this season, replacing Nick Jonas. Meanwhile, Carson Daly returned for his twenty-first season as host.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: At the season finale, Girl Named Tom, consisting of siblings Bekah, Caleb, and Joshua Liechty, was crowned the winner of this season, marking Kelly Clarkson's fourth win as a coach and the first instance of a group act winning the show, as well as the second time that the first (aired) act to audition would go on to win the entire season, following Todd Tilghman's win in season 18. Additionally, with Wendy Moten being named the runner-up, she is the oldest in the show's run, and along with Toneisha Harris (also from season 18), they are the highest-placing African-American female singers in the show's history.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: The twenty-first season was also notable when Sasha Allen of Jim & Sasha Allen not only became the American version’s third openly transgender artist (after season fourteen's Angel Bonilla and season seventeen’s Dane Mautone of Dane & Stephanie) and second transgender male to turn a chair on the show, but also became the American version’s first transgender artist to have progressed to the Live shows.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: In March 2021, NBC announced there would be a change in the coaches for this season. Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, and John Legend all returned for their twenty-first, eighth, and sixth seasons, respectively, with Ariana Grande making her first appearance as a coach in this season. Carson Daly returned for his twenty-first season as the host.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: In August 2021, the advisors for the Battles were revealed, who were: Jason Aldean for Team Kelly, Camila Cabello for Team Legend, Kristin Chenoweth for Team Ariana and Dierks Bentley for Team Blake.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: Ed Sheeran serves as the mega mentor for this season during the Knockouts. He was previously a Battle advisor for Team Christina in season five.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: The blind auditions began airing on September 20, 2021. In each audition, an artist sings their piece in front of the coaches whose chairs are facing the audience. If a coach is interested to work with the artist, they will press their button to face the artist. If a singular coach presses the button, the artist automatically becomes part of their team. If multiple coaches turn, they will compete for the artist, who will decide which team they will join. Each coach has one "block" to prevent another coach from getting an artist, with only one block permitted to be used per blind audition. Each coach ends up with 12 artists by the end of the blind auditions, creating a total of 48 artists advancing to the battles.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: The coaches performed a mash-up of "Hold On, I'm Comin'" (John Legend & Blake Shelton) and "Respect" (Kelly Clarkson & Ariana Grande) at the start of the show.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: The battles began airing on October 11, 2021. The advisors for this round were Jason Aldean for Team Kelly, Camila Cabello for Team Legend, Kristin Chenoweth for Team Ariana, and Dierks Bentley for Team Blake.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: In this round, the coaches pit two of their artists in a singing match and then select one of them to advance to the next round. Losing artists may be "stolen" by another coach, becoming new members of their team, or can be saved by their coach, remaining a part of their original team. Multiple coaches can attempt to steal an artist, resulting in a competition for the artist, who will ultimately decide which team they will go to. Additionally, their original coach can compete for their artist if they attempt to save them. There will be no four-way knockout in this season meaning that the artists saved by their coach will go to the regular Knockouts.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: At the end of this round, eight artists will remain on each team; six will be battle winners, and one from a steal and a save, respectively. In total, 32 artists advance to the knockouts.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: It was revealed that for the Live Playoffs Wildcard, one previously eliminated artist from each team has the chance to be voted via Twitter to earn a place in the Top 13 (see "Voice Comeback").


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: The Knockouts began airing on October 25, 2021. Ed Sheeran served as the mega mentor for this season's knockouts.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: In this round, each coach pairs two of their artists in a singing match. The artists themselves will select the song they will sing in the round. The coach will then select one of the artists to advance to the Live Playoffs. Each coach can steal one losing artist from another team but the coaches do not have the ability to save their artists during the Knockouts. At the end of this round, four artists will remain on each team whilst four artists will be stolen, creating a total of twenty artists advancing to the Live Playoffs.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: Following the conclusion of the Knockouts, it was revealed that one previously eliminated artist from each team has the chance to return to the competition. Each artist will be put up in a poll via Twitter where viewers may vote by tweeting or retweeting. The winner participates in the Live Playoffs Wildcard, having the chance to earn a place in the Top 13.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: To participate in this poll, Ariana and Kelly selected Vaughn Mugol and Aaron Hines, respectively, who were eliminated in the Battles, while Blake and John selected Hailey Green and Samara Brown, respectively, who were eliminated in the Knockouts.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: The Live Playoffs comprised episodes 15 and 16. On Monday, the Top 20 artists performed live for their chance at a spot in the Top 13. On Tuesday, in the live results show, two artists from each team advanced based on the public's vote, and each coach got to save one of their own artists. The remaining artists from each team with the highest overnight vote then competed for the Wild card. In addition, Vaughn Mugol, via "The Voice Comeback", competed in the Wild card as well.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: Hailey Mia won the Wildcard and advanced to the Top 13. This is the third time, following the fifteenth and seventeenth seasons, that Kelly Clarkson has entered the Top 13 with four artists on her team.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: This week's theme was “Dedications”. The three artists who received the fewest votes competed for the Instant Save on the results show. There was only one artist in the bottom three receiving the instant save, eliminating two artists from the competition. Also, this season restored the previous elimination format last used in season 17, which does not guarantee a coach will have an artist in the finale.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: As the studio performances start to be released, the trio Girl Named Tom becomes the first contestant this season to crack the Top 10 on iTunes Songs Chart. Their cover of "Dust in the Wind" hit #10 at the close of the voting window.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: This week was "Fan Week" wherein the viewers selected the songs the remaining artists would perform. At the results show, the two artists with the fewest public votes competed for the sole instant save for that week, eliminating one artist.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: Once again, Girl Named Tom reached Top 10 on iTunes Songs Chart at #9. They are also the only contestant placing in the top 100 (for the second consecutive week).


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: Week four is "Challenge Week", wherein the remaining artists sang songs "outside of their genre." The three artists who receive the fewest votes will compete for the Instant Save on the results show. One will instantly be saved eliminating two artists from the competition.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: No performance reached the top 10 on iTunes this week. However, for the first time this season, there are four contestants who cracked the top 100, with their highest charting being Girl Named Tom at #12, Wendy Moten at #45, and Paris Winningham at #53.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: With the elimination of Holly Forbes, Ariana Grande does not have any Artist left in the competition.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: The Top 8 performed on Monday, with the results following on Tuesday. The four artists with the most votes automatically moved on to the finale with the remaining four artists, competing in the Instant Save for the fifth and final spot in the finale.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: In addition to their solo song, each artist performed a 90s duet with another act. The duets were not available to purchase on iTunes.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: This week, Girl Named Tom's cover of "River" marked the first The Voice studio performance to hit #1 on iTunes Overall Chart since the eighteenth season. Additionally, four other contestants reached the top 100: Wendy Moten at #17, Hailey Mia at #56, Joshua Vacanti at #90, and Paris Winningham at #96. Jim & Sasha Allen and Jershika Maple just missed out on the top 100 at #104 and #106, respectively.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: With the advancements of Girl Named Tom and Hailey Mia, this is the first time that a female coach (Kelly Clarkson) has had two artists on her team advance to the finale, and with Girl Named Tom's advancement, in particular, the first time that a trio has advanced to the finale, as well. Also, this is the first season that not only one but two coaches have multiple artists represented in the finale (Kelly and Blake with 2 each). In addition, Hailey Mia became the first Wild card Instant Save winner to make it to the finale. Additionally, with the elimination of Jim & Sasha Allen, Ariana Grande no longer has any artists left on her team, marking the first instance of a coach not being represented in the finale since the sixteenth season, as well as the first time since the thirteenth season that a debuting coach was not represented in the finale. Grande would become the second coach to NOT take any artists to the finale during their time as a coach, after Shakira.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: The Top 5 finalists performed two songs on Monday, as well as a duet with their coach on Tuesday. This is the second consecutive season in which contestants aren't allowed to perform original songs on the finale.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: Girl Named Tom was the only contestant that managed to get both finale songs reach Top 10 on iTunes at #1 and #7 (along with their Top 13 and Top 8 songs at #3 and #8). This is the second time a contestant have 4 songs in the top 10 all at the same time (after Jake Hoot in season 17). All their other songs also got back on the Top 100 overall. In addition, Wendy Moten charted at #11 and #70 (with her Top 8 song at #85), Paris Winningham hit #25, and Hailey Mia reached #33. Coach duets were not released to purchase this season.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: Girl Named Tom was announced as the winner, making them the first-ever trio to win "The Voice". Also, Kelly Clarkson got her fourth win, surpassing Adam Levine's three wins and becoming the second most winningest coach. She also has a winning percentage of 50%, winning 4 of her 8 seasons. This is tied with Usher for the best winning percentage of any coach. Clarkson is also the first female coach to win four times.


title: The Voice (American season 21)

text: This season is the second time that three stolen artists advanced to the finale, with the eighth season being the first time. Jershika Maple is originally from Team Kelly, Hailey Mia from Ariana's team, and Paris Winningham formerly from John's team.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Hassan Rouhani (, ; born Hassan Fereydoun (); 12 November 1948) is an Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. He is also a sharia lawyer ("Wakil"), academic, former diplomat and Islamic cleric. He has been a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts since 1999. He was a member of the Expediency Council from 1991 to 2021, and also was a member of the Supreme National Security Council from 1989 to 2021.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani was deputy speaker of the fourth and fifth terms of the Parliament of Iran (Majlis) and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from 1989 to 2005. In the latter capacity, he was the country's top negotiator with the EU three, UK, France, and Germany, on nuclear technology in Iran, and has also served as a Shia mujtahid (a senior cleric), and economic trade negotiator.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: On 7 May 2013, Rouhani registered for the presidential election that was held on 14 June 2013. He said that, if elected, he would prepare a "civil rights charter", restore the economy and improve rocky relations with Western nations. He also expressed official support for upholding the rights of ethnic and religious minorities. He was elected as President of Iran on 15 June, defeating Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and four other candidates. He took office on 3 August 2013. In 2013, "Time" magazine named him in its list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani is frequently described as a centrist and reformist. In domestic policy, he encourages personal freedom, free access to information, and has improved women's rights by appointing female foreign ministry spokespeople. He has also improved Iran's diplomatic relations with other countries through exchanging conciliatory letters. Rouhani won re-election in the 2017 election with 23,636,652 votes (57.1%). He became the third Iranian President, after Mohammad Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to win a presidential victory as an incumbent with an increased electoral mandate.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Although Rouhani originally had the support of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during his second term, their relationship went downward as Khamenei criticized Rouhani for presumably being too soft in negotiations with the West over the Iran nuclear agreement. After his second term, Rouhani was not appointed to any senior role by Khamenei and did not meet with him again until 2021.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Hassan Rouhani (born Hassan Fereydoun) was born on 12 November 1948 in Sorkheh, near Semnan, in a religious Persian family. His father, Haj Asadollah Fereydoun (died 2011), had a spice shop in Sorkheh and his mother lived in Semnan until her death in 2015 with her daughters and sons-in-law. Asadollah Fereydoun is reported to have been politically active against Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, and arrested first in 1962, and then more than twenty times before the Iranian Revolution in 1979.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani started religious studies in 1960. First at Semnan Seminary before moving on to the Qom Seminary in 1961. He attended classes taught by prominent scholars of that time including Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad, Morteza Haeri Yazdi, Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani, Soltani, Mohammad Fazel Lankarani, and Mohammad Shahabadi. In addition, he studied modern courses, and was admitted to the University of Tehran in 1969, and obtained a BA degree in Judicial Law in 1972. In 1973, Rouhani entered military service in the city of Nishapur.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani continued his studies at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland, and graduated in 1995 with an MPhil degree in Law with his thesis entitled "The Islamic legislative power with reference to the Iranian experience" and a PhD degree in Constitutional Law in 1999 for a thesis titled "The Flexibility of Shariah (Islamic Law) with reference to the Iranian experience". Rouhani's Caledonian research was initially supervised by Iranian lawyer and scholar Sayed Hassan Amin and later by Islamic law scholar Mahdi Zahraa.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: The website of the Center for Strategic Research, a think-tank headed by Rouhani, misattributed his doctorate to Glasgow University rather than Glasgow Caledonian University and confusion ensued as a result on whether he was a graduate of either university, especially as he was known during his student years by his birth name "Hassan Fereydoun". Glasgow Caledonian University carried out an internal investigation to confirm Rouhani's alumnus status and after confirming it, it published Rouhani's theses abstracts and a video showing him being capped, as Scottish academic tradition provides, during the university's 1999 graduation ceremony.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Allegations regarding Rouhani's plagiarism were first raised in 2013 when it was claimed that he had probably "lifted" sentences from a book by Afghan author Mohammad Hashim Kamali. Glasgow Caledonian University, Rouhani's graduation school, argued that the sentences were both cited properly. The issue was raised again amid 2017 Iranian presidential election when a student campaign claimed that they had for the first time investigated Rouhani's whole thesis using plagiarism detection tool iThenticate and that chapters one through four of Rouhani's thesis had been plagiarized at least 39%, 43%, 40% and 82%, respectively. Ayatollah Ali Akbar Kalantari, a member of the Assembly of Experts, Shiraz University faculty member and one of the alleged victims, said that "major segments" of Chapter 4 of Rouhani's thesis had been translated from his book without being referenced.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Reformist Sadegh Zibakalam accused Rouhani's rival of politicizing the case right before the elections. Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, head of Iranian Parliament's Commission on Education and Research, said that he had found major plagiarisms in chapter 4 of Rouhani's thesis and that the case would be investigated in Education and Research Commission. 50 student-run organizations as well as Shiraz University faculty professors asked Ali Akbar Kalantari to prosecute the case in separate letters.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani married his cousin, Sahebeh Erabi (Rouhani), who is six years younger, when he was around 20 years old and has four children (one son and three daughters). Rouhani's wife changed her last name from "Еrabi" () to "Rouhani" some time after marriage. Born in 1954, she is not politically active. "The Guardian" and the "Financial Times" reported that Rouhani also had a fifth child, a son who has died in unknown circumstances. Based on a comment by Alireza Nourizadeh, some sources reported that he committed suicide "in protest of his father's close connection with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei". This claim, apparently originating from Nourizadeh's report in the Saudi-owned newspaper "Asharq Al-Awsat", included the following text which allegedly came from the son's suicide note: "I hate your government, your lies, your corruption, your religion, your double standard and your hypocrisy...I was forced to lie to my friends each day, telling them that my father isn't part of all of this. Telling them my father loves this nation, whereas I believe this to be untrue. It makes me sick seeing you, my father, kiss the hand of Khamenei."


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani has three sisters and a brother. Rouhani's brother, Hossein Fereydoun, is also a diplomat and politician, a former governor, ambassador, and former Vice Minister of Intelligence. He was Rouhani's representative to IRIB in arrangements for presidential debates.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in a memoir dated 15 May 1982, mentions Hossein Fereydoun as the then governor of Karaj. Rafsanjani later briefly mentions Fereydoon in a memoir dated 31 March 1984: "In Karaj, something has happened about Mr. Ferydoon Rouhani."


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: He was born Hassan Fereydoun (or Fereydun, in reference to a just king in Persian mythology, , ) and later changed his last name to "Rouhani", which means 'spiritual' or 'cleric'; also transliterated as "Rowhani", "Ruhani", or "Rohani"). It is not clear when he officially changed his last name. He was named as "Hassan Fereydoun Rouhani" () in a list of Majlis representatives on 5 July 1981, while photos of his identification card (in Persian transliteration: ) taken around his presidential campaign in 2013 only say "Rouhani" is his last name.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: As a young cleric, Hassan Rouhani started his political activities by following the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the beginning of the Iranian Islamist movement. In 1965, he began traveling throughout Iran making speeches against the government of the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Shah (king) of Iran. During those years he was arrested many times and was banned from delivering public speeches.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: In November 1977, during a public ceremony held at Tehran's Ark Mosque to commemorate the death of Mostafa Khomeini (the elder son of the Ayatollah Khomeini), Rouhani used the title "Imam" for the Ayatollah Khomeini, the then exiled leader of the Islamist movement, for the first time. It has been suggested that the title has been used for Khomeini by others before, including by the Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, although Rouhani was influential in publicizing the title.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Since he was under surveillance by SAVAK (Iran's pre-revolution intelligence agency), the Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti and the Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari advised him to leave the country.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Outside Iran he made public speeches to Iranian students studying abroad and joined Khomeini upon arriving in France.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Rouhani, who had been engaged in revolutionary struggles for about two decades, did his best to stabilize the nascent Islamic Republic and as a first step, he started with organizing the disorderly Iranian army and military bases. He was elected to the Majlis, the Parliament of Iran, in 1980.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: During five terms in the Majlis and for a total of 20 years (from 1980 to 2000), he served in various capacities including deputy speaker of the Majlis (in 4th and 5th terms), as well as the head of defense committee (1st and 2nd terms), and foreign policy committee (4th and 5th terms).


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Among responsibilities shouldered by him in the post-revolution era was leadership of the supervisory council of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) from 1980 to 1983. In July 1983, while Rouhani was heading the council, the council members and Rouhani had conflicts with Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani the then head of IRIB, which led to temporary replacement of Hashemi by first Rouhani and then immediately Mohammad Javad Larijani. The conflict was resolved by the Ayatollah Khomeini intervening and insisting on Rafsanjani staying as the head of IRIB.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: During the Iran–Iraq War, Rouhani was a member of the Supreme Defense Council (1982–1988), member of the High Council for Supporting War and headed its executive committee (1986–1988), deputy commander of the war (1983–1985), commander of the Khatam-ol-Anbiya Operation Center (1985–1988), and commander of the Iran Air Defense Force (1986–1991). He was appointed as Deputy to Second-in-Command of Iran's Joint Chiefs of Staff (1988–1989).


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: When Robert C. McFarlane, Reagan's national security adviser, came to Tehran in May 1986, Rouhani was one of the three people who talked to McFarlane about buying weapons. Eventually, this weapons sale became known as the Iran–Contra affair.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: At the end of the war, Hassan Rouhani was awarded the second-grade "Fath" (Victory) Medal along with a group of commanders of the Iranian Army and the Revolutionary Guards. In another ceremony on the occasion of the liberation of Khoramshahr, he and a group of other officials and military commanders who were involved in the war with Iraq were awarded first-grade "Nasr" Medal by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ayatollah Khamenei.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: After the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran was amended and the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) came into being up to the present time, he has been representative of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, at the council. Rouhani was the first secretary of the SNSC and kept the post for 16 years from 1989 to 2005. He was also national security advisor – to President Hashemi and President Khatami – for 13 years from 1989 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2005. In 1991, Rouhani was appointed to the Expediency Council and has kept that post up to the present time. He heads the Political, Defense, and Security Committee of the Expediency Council.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: After the Iran student protests, July 1999 he, as secretary of Supreme National Security Council, stated in a pro-government rally that "At dusk yesterday we received a decisive revolutionary order to crush mercilessly and monumentally any move of these opportunist elements wherever it may occur. From today our people shall witness how in the arena our law enforcement force . . . shall deal with these opportunists and riotous elements, if they simply dare to show their faces." and led the crackdown.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: In the midterm elections for the third term of the Assembly of Experts which was held on 18 February 2000, Rouhani was elected to the Assembly of Experts from Semnan Province. He was elected as Tehran Province's representative to the Assembly's fourth term in 2006 and is still serving in that capacity. He was the head of the political and social committee of the assembly of experts (from 2001 to 2006), member of the presiding board, and head of Tehran office of the secretariat of the assembly (from 2006 to 2008). On 5 March 2013, he was elected as a member of the Assembly's "Commission for investigating ways of protecting and guarding Velayat-e Faqih".


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: In addition to executive posts, Rouhani kept up his academic activities. From 1995 to 1999, he was a member of the board of trustees of Tehran Universities and North Region. Rouhani has been running the Center for Strategic Research since 1991. He is the managing editor of three academic and research quarterlies in Persian and English, which include "Rahbord" (Strategy), "Foreign Relations", and the "Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs".


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani was secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) for 16 years. His leading role in the nuclear negotiations which brought him the nickname of "Diplomat Sheikh", first given to him by the nascent "Sharq" newspaper in November 2003 and was frequently repeated after that by domestic and foreign Persian-speaking media. His career at the council began under President Hashemi Rafsanjani and continued under his successor, President Khatami. Heinonen, former senior IAEA official, said that Rouhani used to boast of how he had used talks with Western powers to "buy time to advance Iran's programme." His term as Iran's top nuclear negotiator, however, was limited to 678 days (from 6 October 2003 to 15 August 2005). That period began with international revelations about Iran's nuclear energy program and adoption of a strongly worded resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In June 2004, the board of governors of the IAEA issued a statement which was followed by a resolution in September of the same year, which focused on Iran's nuclear case with the goal of imposing difficult commitments on Iran. That development was concurrent with the victory of the United States in Iraq war and escalation of war rhetoric in the region. The international community was experiencing unprecedented tensions as a result of which Iran's nuclear advances were considered with high sensitivity.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: As tensions increased and in view of the existing differences between Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Atomic Energy Organization, a proposal was put forth by the foreign minister, Kamal Kharazi, which was accepted by the president and other Iranian leaders. According to that proposal, a decision was made to establish a politically, legally, and technically efficient nuclear team with Hassan Rouhani in charge. The team was delegated with special powers in order to formulate a comprehensive plan for Iran's interactions with the IAEA and coordination among various concerned organizations inside the country. Therefore, on the order of President Khatami with the confirmation of Ali Khamenei, Hassan Rouhani took charge of Iran's nuclear case on 6 October 2003. Subsequently, negotiations between Iran and three European states started at Saadabad in Tehran and continued in later months in Brussels, Geneva and Paris.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani and his team, whose members had been introduced by Velayati and Kharazi as the best diplomats in the Iranian Foreign Ministry, based their efforts on dialogue and confidence building due to political and security conditions. As a first step, they prevented further escalation of accusations against Iran in order to prevent reporting Iran's nuclear case to the United Nations Security Council. Therefore, and for the purpose of confidence building, certain parts of Iran's nuclear activities were voluntarily suspended at several junctures.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: In addition to building confidence, insisting on Iran's rights, reducing international pressures and the possibility of war, and preventing Iran's case from being reported to the UN Security Council, Iran succeeded in completing its nuclear fuel cycle and took groundbreaking steps. However, decisions made by the nuclear team under the leadership of Rouhani were criticized by certain circles in later years.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Following the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president, Rouhani resigned his post as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council after 16 years on 15 August 2005, and was succeeded by Ali Larijani as the new secretary who also took charge of Iran's nuclear case. Larijani, likewise, could not get along with the policies of the new government and resigned his post on 20 October 2007, to be replaced by Saeed Jalili. Rouhani then was appointed by the Supreme Leader as his representative at the SNSC.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani was considered a leading candidate in the June election because of his centrist views yet close ties to Iran's ruling clerics and the Green Movement. He announced his presidential candidacy on 11 March 2013 and registered as a presidential candidate on 7 May. Amid the run-up to the election, former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, together with reformists supported Rouhani on the presidential race after pro-reform candidate Mohammad Reza Aref dropped out of the presidential race after Khatami advised him to quit in favor of Rouhani. On 10 June, Mehr news agency and Fars news agency, suggested that Rouhani might be disqualified prior to the election and "The Washington Post", in an editorial, predicted that Rouhani "will not be allowed to win". On 15 June 2013, Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar announced the results of the election, with a total number of 36,704,156 ballots cast; Rouhani won 18,613,329 votes, while his main rival Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf secured 6,077,292 votes. Rouhani performed well with both the middle class and youth, even garnering majority support in religious cities such as Mashhad and Qom (an important seat of Shia Islam and the clergy, many of whom surprisingly do not support conservatives) as well as small towns and villages. Rouhani's electoral landslide victory was widely seen as the result of the Green Movement from the 2009 elections, with crowds chanting pro-reform slogans. Religious Iranians equally celebrated Rouhani's victory, demonstrating what analysts described as a thorough rejection of the policies of the conservative factions.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani saw off a strong challenge from hardline Ebrahim Raisi at the 2017 election, a fellow cleric with radically different politics, who stirred up populist concerns about the sluggish economy, lambasted Rouhani for seeking foreign investment and appealed to religious conservatives. He had gathered momentum as conservatives keen to win back control of the government coalesced behind Raisi's initially lacklustre campaign. His other rivals were Mostafa Mir-Salim and Mostafa Hashemitaba.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani ultimately won the election in a landslide, providing a ringing endorsement of his efforts to re-engage with the West and offer greater freedoms. He received 23,636,652 of the votes, in an election that had 73.07% turnout.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: In his press conference one day after election day, Rouhani reiterated his promise to recalibrate Iran's relations with the world. He promised greater openness and to repair the country's international standing, offering greater nuclear transparency in order to restore international trust. Revolutionary Guards Major General Mohammad Jafari criticised Rouhani's administration. "The military, systems and procedures governing the administrative system of the country are the same as before, [but it] has been slightly modified and unfortunately infected by Western doctrine, and a fundamental change must occur. The main threat to the revolution is in the political arena and the Guards cannot remain silent in the face of that." In May 2017, Rouhani was re-elected as president with 23.5 million votes.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: He was announced the winner on the day following the election. He received his presidential precept from his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on 3 August 2013 and entered Sa'dabad Palace in a private ceremony. His work as president officially began on the same day at 17:00 IRDT. He was inaugurated as the seventh president of Iran on 4 August in House of the Parliament.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani announced his cabinet on 4 August. He had a ten-day mandate for introducing his cabinet members to the parliament but he did not use this. Then, parliament voted on his cabinet, which was scheduled on 14–19 August. Between three reformist politicians (Mohammad Reza Aref, Eshaq Jahangiri or Mohammad Shariatmadari) that were likely for the vice presidency, Rouhani appointed former industries minister as vice-president. There were also many candidates for the ministry of foreign affairs: Ali Akbar Salehi, Kamal Kharazi, Sadegh Kharazi, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mahmoud Vaezi but Zarif became Rouhani's final nominee. Although several names were being circulated for the other ministerial posts before the final announcement, the office of president-elect denied these speculations. On 23 July 2013, it was reported that eight members of Rouhani's cabinet had been finalized: Jahangiri as first vice president, Zarif as foreign minister, Rahmani Fazli as interior minister, Tayebnia as finance minister, Dehghan as defense minister, Namdar Zanganeh as petroleum minister, Najafi as education minister, Chitchian as energy minister, Nematzadeh as industries minister, Hassan Hashemi as health minister and Akhondi as transportation minister. This become official after Rouhani presented the list of his ministry nominates to the parliament on his inauguration day. He also appointed Mohammad Nahavandian as his chief of staff.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: The economic policy of Hassan Rouhani focuses on the long-term economic development of Iran. It deals with increasing the purchasing power of the public, economic growth, raising sufficient funds, implementation of the general policies of 44th Principle of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and improving the business environment in the short term. Rouhani believes that improving the economic conditions of the people should be accomplished by boosting the purchasing power of the people, reducing the wealth gap. He also thinks that equitable distribution of national wealth and economic growth lead to all mentioned economic goals. He states that if national wealth was not created, poverty would be distributed. National wealth creation causes an increase in real income per capita and equitable distribution of wealth. His plan is targeted to increase direct and indirect assistance to low-income groups.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani is urgently going to regenerate the Management and Planning Organization of Iran. His economic policies also comprise optimal distribution of subsidies, control of liquidity and inflation, speeding economic growth and reducing import. He believes that inflation results in damaging effects on the economy of families and hopes to deflate that in "Foresight and Hope Cabinet".


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani plans urgent economic priorities such as control of high inflation, increasing purchasing power and cutting down high unemployment.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: According to a March 2014 report by Center for International Media Assistance, since Rouhani takeover in 2013, "Censorship of the Internet has only gotten worse, but it's more and more clear that Rouhani does not have complete control over this process".


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Regarding internet censorship, he has stated: "Gone are the days when a wall could be built around the country. Today there are no more walls." He has also criticized Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting for showing trivial foreign news, while ignoring pressing national matters. Rouhani also appeared to pledge his support for increasing Internet access and other political and social freedoms. In an interview, he said: "We want the people, in their private lives, to be completely free, and in today's world having access to information and the right of free dialogue, and the right to think freely, is the right of all peoples, including the people of Iran."


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani has maintained a policy of not publicly addressing human rights issues, on which he may have limited powers.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani is a supporter of women's rights. In a speech after he was elected as the President of Iran, he said: There must be equal opportunities for women. There is no difference between man and woman in their creation, in their humanity, in their pursuit of knowledge, in their understanding, in their intelligence, in their religious piety, in serving God and in serving people.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani's government appointed Elham Aminzadeh, Shahindokht Molaverdi and Masoumeh Ebtekar as vice presidents; as well as Marzieh Afkham, the first female spokesperson for the foreign ministry. Rouhani has promised to set up a ministry for women. Many women's rights activists, however, are reluctant about a ministry for women; because they feel that this ministry may isolate women's issues. It has also been suggested that Rouhani will require a deputy minister position within each ministry to address gender issues and issues pertaining to women.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: In September 2013, eleven political prisoners were freed including noted human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and Mohsen Aminzadeh. The move came just days before his visit to the United States for the United Nations General Assembly.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Critics say that little has changed in domestic policy since Rouhani took office. Iranian authorities executed 599 people during Rouhani's first 14 months in power, compared with 596 during the last year in office of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran has the highest number of executions anywhere in the world, apart from China. Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi has criticized Rouhani's human rights record. She cited the increase in executions, Abdolfattah Soltani's hunger strike, and the continued house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi. An Iranian spokesperson said Ebadi's comments would end up provoking animosity towards Iran.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: In 2015, Rouhani appointed Marzieh Afkham and Saleh Adibi, as the first female since the 1979 (the second in history) and the first Sunni Kurd respectively, to hold office as ambassadors.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani's foreign policy has been contained by the conservatism of Iranian Principlists, who fear change, while also realizing it is necessary. Furthermore, Iran's foreign policy, which was deadlocked by the efforts of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, needs new predecessor by cautious and decisive efforts of Rouhani. The main task of Rouhani is only to develop dialogues between Iran and Political rivals including P5+1. This course can help lift sanctions that damaged the Iranian economy.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: In March 2015, Rouhani sent a letter to President Obama and the heads of the other five countries negotiating with Iran, explaining Iran's stance. He announced it on his Twitter account. The US National Security Council confirmed that the letter had been passed on to the U.S. negotiating team, but its contents were not released. Rouhani also spoke by phone with the leaders of all the nations involved in the negotiations, except for the United States.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani met with British Prime Minister David Cameron, marking the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution that the leaders of Iran and the United Kingdom have met. On 20 February 2014 the Iranian Embassy in London was restored and the two countries agreed to restart diplomatic relations.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani's visit to New York City in September 2013 was hailed as major progress in Iran's relations with the United States. He previously said that his government is ready to hold talks with the United States after thirty-two years. Rouhani denied reports that during his trip he had refused a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, and felt more time was needed to coordinate such a meeting. On 27 September 2013, a day after the two countries foreign ministers met during the P5+1 and Iran talks, Rouhani had a phone call with President Obama that marked two countries' highest political exchange since 1979. However, due to this phone call Rouhani was protested by conservatives who chanted "death to America" when he returned to Tehran.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: In February 2019, Rouhani condemned the United States for trying to topple Iran's ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: On 3 January 2020, the second most powerful person in Iran, Qasem Soleimani, was killed by the United States, which considerably heightened the existing tensions between the two countries. Rouhani said that Iran "will take revenge".


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: After Joe Biden won the presidential elections against Donald Trump in November 2020, Hassan Rouhani stated that it was an opportunity for Biden's administration to "compensate for previous mistakes".


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: It is generally assumed that he will follow the ruling establishment in completely supporting Bashar al-Assad, Syria's contentious president, in the Syrian Civil War, as well as "strengthening the Shia Crescent" that runs from southern Lebanon, through Syria, Iraq and into Iran. In his first press conference after winning the presidential election, Rouhani said that "the ultimate responsibility to resolve the Syrian civil war should be in the hands of the Syrian people."


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani has termed Iran–Iraq relations "brotherly" and signed several agreements with Iraq. Right after the Northern Iraq offensive, Iran was the first country to send support for Iraq and is a "key player" in Military intervention against the ISIL.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: On Iran's relationship to Saudi Arabia, Rouhani wrote that during the Khatami administration, he, as the secretary-general of the National Security Council at that time, reached "a comprehensive and strategic agreement" with the Saudis, but that this agreement was not upheld during the Ahmadinejad's government. Specifically, while discussing the episode, he stated:


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani has criticized Saudi Arabian-led military intervention in Yemen, saying: "Don't bomb children, elderly men and women in Yemen. Attacking the oppressed will bring disgrace."


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani has described Israel as "an occupier and usurper government" that "does injustice to the people of the region, and has brought instability to the region, with its warmongering policies", and a "cancerous tumor established by Western countries to advance their interests in the Middle East."


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: When asked in an interview with CNN to clarify his opinion about the Holocaust, Rouhani replied: "... in general, I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews as well as non-Jews is reprehensible and condemnable. Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn". The live translation of his statements included explicit mention of the Holocaust, leading to media reports that he had acknowledged its existence, in contrast to the persistent denial of his predecessor. However, Iranian state media contradicted this, accusing CNN of deliberate mistranslation. Independent translations, including one by the "Wall Street Journal", supported the position that Rouhani had not explicitly accepted the Holocaust's existence.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani termed the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates a "huge mistake" and warned the UAE against permitting Israel to have a secure presence in the Persian Gulf.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: According to a poll conducted in March 2016 by "Information and Public Opinion Solutions LLC" (iPOS) among Iranian citizens, Rouhani had 75% approval and 12% disapproval ratings and thus a +54% net popularity, making him the second most popular politician in Iran, after Mohammad Javad Zarif with +69% net popularity. Rouhani surpassed Hassan Khomeini (+52%), Mohammad Khatami (+43%) and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (+38%) who took the following places. The firm stated with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error was ±3 percentage points.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani began his presidency in November 2013 with approval and disapproval ratings near 58% and 27% respectively, according to "Information and Public Opinion Solutions LLC" (iPOS) which was assessing it on a quarterly basis. It gradually fell to 48% and he recorded a 33% disapproval rating in May 2015.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: His job approval rose after Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, according to a survey conducted by "IranPoll" for the "University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies" (CISSM), standing at 88% with a large majority (61%) expressing a "very favorable view" of him (up from 51% in July 2014) and a ±3.2 margin of sampling error. The poll also indicated Rouhani would have a "tough challenge" in maintaining the support due to the fact that people had high economic expectations from the deal, and it could become his Achilles' heel. "iPOS" recorded a 54% approval and 24% disapproval days after the deal in August 2015. The trend continued until February 2016, with 67% and 18% approval and disapproval ratings, marking his highest level since taking office.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Rouhani is considered to be a moderate and pragmatic politician. In 2000, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy described him as "power-hungry". He was elected as president with heavy reformist support, and he pledged to follow through with reformist demands and to bridge divides between reformists and conservatives.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: During his 2017 reelection campaign, Rouhani's views moved more to the left and he fully aligned with the reformist faction.


title: Hassan Rouhani

text: Having the rank of research professor at Iran's Center for Strategic Research, he has written many books and articles in Persian, English and Arabic, including the following:


title: Burmese python

text: The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is one of the largest species of snakes. It is native to a large area of Southeast Asia and is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Until 2009, it was considered a subspecies of the Indian python, but is now recognized as a distinct species. It is an invasive species in Florida as a result of the pet trade.


title: Burmese python

text: The Burmese python is a dark-colored non-venomous snake with many brown blotches bordered by black down the back.


title: Burmese python

text: In the wild, Burmese pythons typically grow to , while specimens of more than are unconfirmed. This species is sexually dimorphic in size; females average only slightly longer, but are considerably heavier and bulkier than the males. For example, length-weight comparisons in captive Burmese pythons for individual females have shown: at length, a specimen weighed , a specimen of just over weighed , a specimen of weighed , and a specimen of weighed . In comparison, length-weight comparisons for males found: a specimen of weighed , weighed , a specimen of weighed , and a specimen of weighed . In general, individuals over are rare. The record for maximum length of Burmese pythons is held by a female that lived at Serpent Safari for 27 years. Shortly after death, her actual length was determined to be . Widely published data of specimens reported to have been several feet longer are not verified. At her death, a Burmese named "Baby" was the heaviest snake recorded in the world at the time at , much heavier than any wild snake ever measured. Her length was measured at circa 1999. The minimum size for adults is . Dwarf forms occur in Java, Bali, and Sulawesi, with an average length of in Bali, and a maximum of on Sulawesi. Wild individuals average long, but have been known to reach .


title: Burmese python

text: In both their native and invasive range they suffer from "Raillietiella orientalis" (a pentastome parasitic disease).


title: Burmese python

text: The Burmese python occurs throughout Southern and Southeast Asia, including eastern India, southeastern Nepal, western Bhutan, southeastern Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, northern continental Malaysia, and southern China in Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, and Yunnan. It also occurs in Hong Kong, and in Indonesia on Java, southern Sulawesi, Bali, and Sumbawa. It has also been reported in Kinmen.


title: Burmese python

text: It is an excellent swimmer and needs a permanent source of water. It lives in grasslands, marshes, swamps, rocky foothills, woodlands, river valleys, and jungles with open clearings. It is a good climber and has a prehensile tail. It can stay in water for 30 minutes but mostly stays on land.


title: Burmese python

text: Python invasion has been particularly extensive, notably across South Florida, where a large number of pythons can now be found in the Florida Everglades. Between 1996 and 2006, the Burmese python gained popularity in the pet trade, with more than 90,000 snakes imported into the U.S. The current number of Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades may have reached a minimum viable population and become an invasive species. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was deemed responsible for the destruction of a python-breeding facility and zoo, and these escaped snakes spread and populated areas into the Everglades. More than 1,330 have been captured in the Everglades.


title: Burmese python

text: A genetic study in 2017 revealed that the python population is composed of hybrids between the Burmese python and Indian python.


title: Burmese python

text: By 2007, the Burmese python was found in northern Florida and in the coastal areas of the Florida Panhandle. The importation of Burmese pythons was banned in the United States in January 2012 by the U.S. Department of the Interior. A 2012 report stated, "in areas where the snakes are well established, foxes, and rabbits have disappeared. Sightings of raccoons are down by 99.3%, opossums by 98.9%, and white-tailed deer by 94.1%." Road surveys between 2003 and 2011 indicated a 87.3% decrease in bobcat populations, and in some areas rabbits have not been detected at all. Experimental efforts to reintroduce rabbit populations to areas where rabbits have been completely eliminated have mostly failed "due to high (77% of mortalities) rates of predation by pythons." Bird and coyote populations may be threatened, as well as the already-rare Florida panther. In addition to this correlational relationship, the pythons have also been experimentally shown to decrease marsh rabbit populations, further suggesting they are responsible for many of the recorded mammal declines. They may also outcompete native predators for food.


title: Burmese python

text: For example, Burmese pythons also compete with the native American alligator, and numerous instances of alligators and pythons attacking—and in some cases, preying on—each other have been reported and recorded.


title: Burmese python

text: By 2011, researchers identified up to 25 species of birds from nine avian orders in the digestive tract remains of 85 Burmese pythons found in Everglades National Park. Native bird populations are suffering a negative impact from the introduction of the Burmese python in Florida; among these bird species, the wood stork is of specific concern, now listed as federally endangered.


title: Burmese python

text: Numerous efforts have been made to eliminate the Burmese python population in the last decade. Understanding the preferred habitat of the species is needed to narrow down the python hunt. Burmese pythons have been found to select broad-leafed and low-flooded habitats. Broad-leafed habitats comprise cypress, overstory, and coniferous forest. Though aquatic marsh environments would be a great source for prey, the pythons seem to prioritize environments allowing for morphological and behavioral camouflage to be protected from predators. Also, the Burmese pythons in Florida have been found to prefer elevated habitats, since this provides the optimal conditions for nesting. In addition to elevated habitats, edge habitats are common places where Burmese pythons are found for thermoregulation, nesting, and hunting purposes.


title: Burmese python

text: One of the Burmese python eradication movements with the biggest influence was the 2013 Python Challenge in Florida. This was a month-long contest wherein a total of 68 pythons were removed. The contest offered incentives such as prizes for longest and greatest number of captured pythons. The purpose of the challenge was to raise awareness about the invasive species, increase participation from the public and agency cooperation, and to remove as many pythons as possible from the Florida Everglades.


title: Burmese python

text: A study from 2017 introduced a new method for identifying the presence of Burmese pythons in southern Florida; this method involves the screening of mosquito blood. Since the introduction of the Burmese python in Florida, mosquito communities use the pythons as hosts even though they are recently introduced.


title: Burmese python

text: Invasive Burmese pythons also face certain physiological changes. Unlike their native South Asian counterparts who spend long periods fasting due to seasonal variation in prey availability, pythons in Florida feed year-round due to the constant availability of food. They are also vulnerable to cold stress, with winter freezes resulting in mortality rates of up to 90%. Genomic data suggests natural selection on these populations favors increased thermal tolerance as a result of these high-mortality freezes.


title: Burmese python

text: They have carried "Raillietiella orientalis" (a pentastome parasitic disease) with them from Southeast Asia. Other reptiles in Florida have become infested, and the parasite appears to have become endemic.


title: Burmese python

text: In April 2019, researchers captured and killed a large Burmese python in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve. It was more than long, weighed , and contained 73 developing eggs.


title: Burmese python

text: In December 2021, a Burmese python was captured in Florida that weighed and had a length of ; it contained a record 122 developing eggs.


title: Burmese python

text: Burmese pythons are mainly nocturnal rainforest dwellers. When young, they are equally at home on the ground and in trees, but as they gain girth, they tend to restrict most of their movements to the ground. They are also excellent swimmers, being able to stay submerged for up to half an hour. Burmese pythons spend the majority of their time hidden in the underbrush. In the northern parts of its range, the Burmese python may brumate for some months during the cold season in a hollow tree, a hole in the riverbank, or under rocks. Brumation is biologically distinct from hibernation. While the behavior has similar benefits, allowing organisms to endure the winter without moving, it also involves the preparation of both male and female reproductive organs for the upcoming breeding season. The Florida population also goes through brumation.


title: Burmese python

text: They tend to be solitary and are usually found in pairs only when mating. Burmese pythons breed in the early spring, with females laying clutches of 12–36 eggs in March or April. They remain with the eggs until they hatch, wrapping around them and twitching their muscles in such a way as to raise the ambient temperature around the eggs by several degrees. Once the hatchlings use their egg tooth to cut their way out of their eggs, no further maternal care is given. The newly hatched babies often remain inside their eggs until they are ready to complete their first shedding of skin, after which they hunt for their first meal.


title: Burmese python

text: Like all snakes, the Burmese python is carnivorous. Its diet consists primarily of birds and mammals, but also includes amphibians and reptiles. It is a sit-and-wait predator, meaning it spends most of its time staying relatively still, waiting for prey to approach, then striking rapidly. The snake grabs a prey animal with its sharp teeth, then wraps its body around the animal to kill it through constriction. The python then swallows its prey whole. It is often found near human habitation due to the presence of rats, mice, and other vermin as a food source. However, its equal affinity for domesticated birds and mammals means it is often treated as a pest. In captivity, its diet consists primarily of commercially available appropriately sized rats, graduating to larger prey such as rabbits and poultry as it grows. As an invasive species in Florida, Burmese pythons primarily eat a variety of small mammals including foxes, rabbits, and raccoons. Due to their high predation levels, they have been implicated in the decline and even disappearance of many mammal species. In their invasive range, pythons also eat birds and occasionally other reptiles. Exceptionally large pythons may even require larger food items such as pigs or goats, and are known to have attacked and eaten alligators and adult deer in Florida.


title: Burmese python

text: The digestive response of Burmese pythons to such large prey has made them a model species for digestive physiology. Its sit-and-wait hunting style is characterized by long fasting periods in between meals, with Burmese pythons typically feeding every month or two, but sometimes fasting for as long as 18 months. As digestive tissues are energetically costly to maintain, they are downregulated during fasting periods to conserve energy when they are not in use. A fasting python has a reduced stomach volume and acidity, reduced intestinal mass, and a 'normal' heart volume. After ingesting prey, the entire digestive system undergoes a massive re-modelling, with rapid hypertrophy of the intestines, production of stomach acid, and a 40% increase in mass of the ventricle of the heart to fuel the digestive process. During digestion, the snake's oxygen consumption rises drastically as well, increasing with meal size by 17 to 40 times its resting rate. This dramatic increase is a result of the energetic cost of restarting many aspects of the digestive system, from rebuilding the stomach and small intestine to producing hydrochloric acid to be secreted in the stomach. Hydrochloric acid production is a significant component of the energetic cost of digestion, as digesting whole prey items requires the animal to be broken down without the use of teeth, either for chewing or tearing into smaller pieces. To compensate, once food has been ingested, Burmese pythons begin producing large amounts of acid to make the stomach acidic enough to turn the food into a semi-liquid that can be passed through to the small intestine and undergo the rest of the digestive process.


title: Burmese python

text: The energy cost is highest in the first few days after eating when these regenerative processes are most active, meaning Burmese pythons rely on existing food energy storage to digest a new meal. Overall, the entire digestive process from food intake to defecation lasts 8–14 days.


title: Burmese python

text: The Burmese python is listed on CITES Appendix II. It has been listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2012, as the wild population is estimated to have declined by at least 30% in the first decade of the 21st century due to habitat loss and over-harvesting.


title: Burmese python

text: To maintain Burmese python populations, the IUCN recommends increased conservation legislation and enforcement at the national and international levels to reduce harvesting across the snake's native range. The IUCN also recommends increased research into its population ecology and threats. In Hong Kong, it is a protected species under Wild Animals Protection Ordinance Cap 170. It is also protected in Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia. However, it is still common only in Hong Kong and Thailand, with rare to very rare statuses in the rest of its range.


title: Burmese python

text: Burmese pythons are often sold as pets, and are made popular by their attractive coloration and apparently easy-going nature. However, they have a rapid growth rate, and can exceed in length in a year if power fed. However this may cause health issues in the future. By age four, they will have reached their adult size, though they continue growing very slowly throughout their lives, which may exceed 20 years.