Location.

The station is under and around Place de la Nation – each stopping point oriented along an east–west axis.  The station of line 1 is in a curve, under the southern part of the square, enclosed between the loop stations of lines 2 and 6.  The terminus of line 2 forms a loop under the square. The arrival on the loop is under Avenue de Taillebourg, and the departure under Avenue du Trône, Place des Antilles and Boulevard de Charonne. The station is located southwest of the loop and has two tracks framing a large central platform.  The terminus of line 6 also forms a loop, with the arrival under Avenue du Bel-Air and the departure under Avenue Dorian, Rue de Picpus and Avenue de Saint-Mandé. The trains run along the loop during peak hours but turn back towards Avenue du Bel-Air during off-peak hours (the Dorian-Picpus tunnel then serving as a garage).  The station of line 9, also in a curve, is set lower than the others, under the northern part of the square, between Boulevard Voltaire and Avenue de Taillebourg.

History.

The station serves as the eastern terminus of both Paris Métro Line 2 and Paris Métro Line 6. The Line 1 station opened as part of the first stage of the line between Porte de Vincennes and Porte Maillot on 19 July 1900. The Line 2 platforms opened when the line was extended from Bagnolet (now Alexandre Dumas) on 2 April 1903. The Line 6 platforms opened when the line was extended from Place d'Italie to Nation on 1 March 1909. The Line 9 platforms opened when the first stage of the line was extended from Richelieu – Drouot to Porte de Montreuil on 10 December 1933. On 12 December 1969, the RER station was opened as a new Paris terminus for the Ligne de Vincennes, replacing the old Gare de La Bastille. On 8 December 1977 the central section of line A opened from "Nation" to Auber.  It is named after the Place de la Nation, named in honour of Bastille Day in 1880. Previously it was called the Place du Trône, where guillotines were set up during the French Revolution.  From the 1960s to 2010, the decorative style "Mouton-Duvernet" was applied to the platforms of lines 2, 6 and 9 with some specificities. The tiles of line 6 have particular patterns, while those of lines 2 and 9 are bevelled and in two shades of orange, colour randomly distributed on the walls and the tympans. The lighting strips are fitted with metal blades on line 2, while they are typical of the "Mouton" style on lines 6 and 9. On the latter, the name of the station is written in capital letters on projecting backlit panels, while the'shell' seats, characteristic of the "Motte" style, are white. This stopping point is the only one to have lost its decoration since the renovation of the station, implemented within the framework of the RATP "Renouveau du métro" program.  In the 1990s, the platforms of line 1 were renovated in red "Ouï-dire" style.  As part of line 1's automation works, the platforms of this line were raised on the weekend of 12 to 13 September 2009, then fitted with platform doors in April 2011.  In 2019, 8.834,660 travelers entered this station which placed it at the 22nd position of the metro stations for its usage.

Passenger services.

Access.

This station has six entrances, some of which are shared with the RER. Each leads to the side medians, between the roundabout and the circular path serving the buildings in the square.

Platforms.

The station of line 1, in curve, is of standard configuration. It has two platforms separated by the tracks of the metro and the vault is elliptical. The decoration is red " Ouï-dire" style. The lighting canopies, of the same color, are supported by a curved support in the shape of a scythe. The direct lighting is white while the indirect lighting, projected on the vault, is multicolored. The white ceramic tiles are flat and cover the walls, the vault (diagonally), the tympans and some of the hallways. The advertising frames are white and cylindrical and the platforms are fitted with silver "sit-stand" benches as well as platform screen doors.  The station of line 2, also in a curve, is equipped with a central platform framed by two tracks, with the southern one being bordered by a 'dead platform' protected by a fence and partially used as a connecting passage, which connects with the platform in the direction of La Défense station from the line 1 station adjoining it. Established flush with the walls, its ceiling consists of a metal deck, whose beams, silver in color, are supported by vertical walls. The decoration is in the "Mouton-Duvernet" style, but with an orange beveled tiling on the walls and the outlets of connecting corridors with line 1, a feature that was also found in the station of line 9 before its renovation; in addition, they are aligned horizontally and vertically. The lighting canopies are specific, fitted with metal blades. The advertising frames are also metallic and the'shell' seats, characteristic of the "Motte" style, are blue.  The station on line 6, like that on line 2, has two tracks framing an island platform. However, it is the only one that is not curved and the vault is elliptical. The decoration is a particular variation of the "Mouton" style with two characteristic lighting canopies, walls covered with tiles, with unique patterns on the network, aligned horizontally and vertically, as well as a vault painted white. The surrounds of the staircase hoppers are treated with the same tiling for some or with a flat white tiling also aligned horizontally and vertically for others. The advertising frames are metallic and gray, and the platform is equipped with a few white "Motte" style seats.  Like that of line 1, the station of line 9 is curved and has a classic layout under an elliptical vault. Its decoration is of the style used for most metro stations. The lighting canopies are white and rounded in the "Gaudin" style of the revival of the "renouveau du métro des années 2000", and the bevelled white ceramic tiles cover the walls, the vault and the tympans. The advertising frames are in white ceramics and the seats, in "Akiko" style, are green. The western part of the platform, in the direction of Mairie de Montreuil, has the distinction of displaying coats of arms of the two French departments of the Antilles: Guadeloupe and Martinique, thus illustrating the subtitle attributed to the platforms of line 9 only.  For each stopping point, the name of the station is written in Parisine font on enamelled plates.

Other services.

The station is connected with line RER A served by the Gare de Nation. This line connects the western and eastern suburbs of Paris.  It is also served:

Culture.

The entrance to the metro is the setting for the outcome of Abdellatif Kechiche's film "Poetical Refugee".

Future project.

Ultimately, the station could be connected to the T3a tram line or the T3b tram line, which would be extended from Porte de Vincennes, which would allow users of these lines to benefit from metro lines 2, 6 and 9 as well as with RER A.

Nation () is a station in the Paris Métro and of Île-de-France's regional high-speed RER. It serves Line 1, Line 2, Line 6 and Line 9 of the Paris Métro and RER A. It takes its name from its location at the Place de la Nation.


Early life and education.

Charles Michel was born in Namur, Wallonia, on 21 December 1975. He is the son of Louis Michel, a former European Commissioner, and Martine Pierre.  Michel began his political career at the age of 16 when he joined the Young Liberal Reformers of Jodoigne ("Jeunes Réformateurs Libéraux de Jodoigne"), affiliated to the MR. In 1994, at the age of 18, he was elected provincial councilor in Walloon Brabant. He graduated in law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the University of Amsterdam in 1998, after which he became lawyer at the Brussels Bar. He is fluent in Dutch and English in addition to his native French.

Early political career.

Michel was elected to the federal Chamber of Representatives in 1999, representing Walloon Brabant, a stronghold of the liberal MR.  In 2000, he became Minister of Home Affairs in the Walloon Government aged 25, making him the youngest regional minister in Belgian history. At the local level, he was elected city councillor in Wavre in 2000, and in 2006 became mayor of the city.  In December 2007, Michel became the Minister of Development Cooperation in the Verhofstadt III Government and subsequently in the Leterme I, Van Rompuy I and Leterme II governments.  After poor results in the 2009 regional elections, Michel was part of a group demanding the MR leader Didier Reynders resign. After the party suffered further losses in the 2010 federal election, Reynders resigned, and Michel announced his candidacy to replace him. In January 2011, he was elected President of MR, and resigned from the cabinet.

Prime Minister of Belgium.

After the 2014 federal election, Michel became co-formateur in the ensuing coalition negotiations. Initially, CD&V Leader Kris Peeters was expected to be Prime Minister. However CD&V also insisted on Marianne Thyssen being appointed as European Commissioner, and Michel's MR refused to allow the two most important political posts to be held by a single party.  Ultimately, the parties agreed to appoint Thyssen as European Commissioner, with an understanding that the prime ministership would go to either MR or OVLD. As Michel was serving as co-formateur, he quickly won internal support from other parties to lead the next government. On 7 October 2014, an overall agreement was reached between the four parties to form a new government, with Michel proposed as Prime Minister, and Peeters as one of four Deputy Prime Ministers. Michel became the youngest Belgian Prime Minister, and was only the second Francophone liberal to become Prime Minister.  In December 2018, a political crisis emerged over whether to sign the Global Compact for Migration. Michel's coalition partner N-VA, which originally supported the Compact, reversed course to oppose it whereas the other three parties continued to support it. Michel subsequently announced the formation of a minority government, with CD&V, MR and OVLD backing the compact. On 18 December, he presented his government's resignation to the King. The King accepted Michel's resignation on 21 December after consulting party leaders. He remained in office as caretaker Prime Minister during the 2019 federal election, and the ensuing coalition negotiations.

President of the European Council.

On 2 July 2019, Michel was elected President of the European Council, one of the most prominent leadership positions of the European Union.

Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician serving as President of the European Council since 2019. He previously served as Prime Minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019.


Life.

At a young age, Bolko V was sent to the University of Prague, where he learned of the social and religious views of Jan Hus. Soon after (probably before 1417) he returned to Upper Silesia and ca. 1418 married with Elizabeth (d. aft. 2 September 1452), daughter of Wincenty Granowski (d. ca. 1410) by his wife Elisabeth of Pilica, who had recently become Queen of Poland after her marriage to King Władysław II Jagiełło. The wedding with the King's stepdaughter brought to the Dukes of Opole the immense wealth of the Pilica family and the alliance with the royal court at Wawel Castle.  In 1422 Bolko V was named by his father as co-ruler of the Duchy of Opole, and two years later (1424), thanks to the resignation of both his father and uncle Bernard, he became the independent ruler over Głogówek and Prudnik.  In 1428 Silesia was invaded by Hussite troops. In the capital of his domains, Głogówek, Bolko V decided at first to fight against them. However, almost immediately, the young Duke, at that time in Gliwice, not only decided to admit the Hussites into his city in order to avoid the destruction of his duchy, but also took the occasion to enrich himself with the secularization of the local churches (one of his first decisions was the cancellation of the building of a Kolegiata in Głogówek, which began by orders of Bolko IV). After a solemn oath, Bolko V vowed to support the Hussites, and he sent his army to help them. The cooperation with the Hussites was not just material, but also ideological. One aim of the duke was the policy of a gradual Germanization of Silesia, and the national teachings of Jan Hus fit in with this purpose. Later in that year, Bolko V took over all the goods of the Church in his Duchy.  In 1429 with the Hussites involved on other fronts, Bolko V acquired for himself the neighboring Duchy of Nysa, which belonged to the Bishopric of Wrocław. In the following year, together with his allies, he forced Polish troops to retreat to Jasna Góra, which become the new Silesian-Poland frontier. He also tried to obtain some lands from the Dukes of Brzeg: Namysłów (who could defend himself thanks to the help of the citizens of Wrocław) and Kluczbork (which was taken by him). In the following years Bolko V became the ruler of almost all Upper Silesia and parts of Lower Silesia. In his conquests, Bolko V could count on the support of his closest relatives, his father Bolko IV and his uncle Bernard. His luck turned against him on 13 May 1433, in connection with his defeat at the Battle of Trzebnica against Duke Nicholas V of Karniów. Despite this, Bolko V managed to maintain until his death the majority of Church goods obtained after the secularization. For this, in 1443 he was excommunicated.  During 1444–1452 Bolko V led a fight against the Bishop of Kraków, Zbigniew Oleśnicki, over the buying of the Duchy of Siewierz. This war resulted in significant destruction on the Silesian-Lesser Poland frontier. The Emperor Frederick III feared a complete collapse of the Silesian states. The dispute only ended in 1452 during the Polish Sejm in Piotrków, where Bolko V even offered the Polish King Casimir IV financial assistance for a war against the Teutonic Order in exchange for the district of Wieluń as a lien (the proposal wasn't accepted).  Prior to that, in 1450 Bolko V's uncle Bernard, lacking male descendants, decided to give most of his estate to him, including the Duchies of Strzelce and Niemodlin. Five years later (1455), Bolko V received Olesno after the death of Bernard.  In 1451, Bolko V divorced his wife Elizabeth Granowska after almost thirty-three years of marriage. This union only produced a son, Wenceslaus (b. 1433 – d. bef. 14 March 1453), whose early death was a terrible blow to Bolko V. He never recovered from the loss.  On 27 June 1451, Bolko V married for the second time, to Hedwig (d. aft. 1 February 1461), daughter of Hincze Beess of Kujawy, a member of the local nobility. This union was childless.  Bolko V died on 29 May 1460 in his favorite residence, Głogówek, and was buried in the local Franciscan church. Without surviving male heirs, he was succeeded in all his domains by his only surviving brother, Nicholas I.

Further reading.

Bolko V the Hussite () (ca. 1400 – 29 May 1460) was a Duke of Opole between 1422–1424 (as a co-ruler with his father), ruler over Głogówek and Prudnik since 1424, Duke of Strzelce and Niemodlin from 1450 and ruler over Olesno since 1455.


Biography.

Anna German was a Polish and Russian-language singer She was born in Urgench, a city with a population of 22,000 in northwestern Uzbekistan in Central Asia, then Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union. Her mother, Irma Martens, was the descendant of Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites invited to Russia by Catherine II. Her accountant father, Eugen (Eugeniusz) Hörmann (in Russian, Герман), was also of a Russian-German pastor family and born during travel in Łódź (Czarist Russian Empire) now Poland. Eugen Hörmann's father, Anna's grandfather, Friedrich Hörmann, who had studied theology at Lodz, was in 1929 incarcerated in Gulag Plesetsk by Communists for being a priest, where he died. In 1937, during the NKVD's anti-German operation, Eugen Hörmann was arrested in Urgench on false charges of spying, and executed (officially, sentenced to ten years in prison). Thereafter, Anna and her mother and grandmother survived in the Kemerovo Region of Siberia, as well as in Tashkent, and later in the Kyrgyz and Kazakh SSRs.  In 1946, her mother (who had married Herman Gerner, a Ludowe Wojsko Polskie soldier) was able to take the family to Silesia, first Nowa Ruda and then Wrocław in 1949.  Anna quickly learned Polish and several other languages and grew up hiding her family heritage. She graduated from the Geological Institute of Wroclaw University. During her university years, she began her music career at the Kalambur theater. Anna finally became successful when she won the 1964 II Festival of Polish Songs in Opole with her song "Tańczące Eurydyki". One year later, she won first prize in the international song contest in Sopot.  Anna performed in the Marché international de l'édition musicale in Cannes, as well as on the stages of Belgium, Germany, United States, Canada and Australia.  She also sang in Russian, English, Italian, Spanish, Latin, German and Mongolian. In 2001, six of her Polish albums were reissued on CDs. In recent years, many compilation albums of her songs have also been released in both Russia and Poland.

Career in Italy.

In December 1966, German in Milan signed a contract with a small firm CDI to release the records, thus becoming the first performer from behind the "iron curtain", which was recorded in Italy. In Italy, Anna German has performed at the festival in San Remo, starred in a television show, a recorded programme with the singer Domenico Modugno, performed at the festival of Neapolitan songs in Sorrento and received the award "Oscar della simpatia".

Car accident and treatment.

On 27 August 1967, while in Italy, on the road between Forlì and Milan, Anna German was involved in a severe car accident. At high speed, the car driven by the impresario of the singer crashed into a concrete fence. Anna was thrown from the car through the windshield. She suffered multiple fractures, internal injuries. The results of the investigation revealed that the driver of the car – her manager Renato Serio – fell asleep at the wheel. He escaped with a fracture of the hand and feet.  After the accident, German had not regained consciousness. After the plaster was taken off, the singer still lay in a hospital bed for half a year. Then it took her a few months to relearn to sit and walk.  Later in the 1960s, she released the autobiographical book "Come Back to Sorrento?"("Wróć do Sorrento?"), dedicated to the Italian period of her career. The book's circulation was 30,000 copies.

Personal life.

On 23 March 1972, she married Zbigniew Tucholski. Their son,, was born on 27 November 1975. In the last years of her life, she composed some church songs. She died of osteosarcoma in 1982, and was buried at Warsaw Evangelical cemetery.  Anna loved to cook Oriental dishes. Her favorite foods were boiled potatoes with herring, pickles, pies with cabbage, black tea with lemon, and oatmeal cookies. She did not consume alcohol.

Anna Wiktoria German-Tucholska (14 February 1936 – 25 August 1982) was Polish singer, immensely popular in Poland and in the Soviet Union in the 1960s–1970s. She released over a dozen music albums with songs in Polish, as well as several albums with Russian repertoire. Throughout her music career, she recorded songs in seven languages: Polish, Russian, German, Italian, Spanish, English and Latin.


Life.

After his father's death in 1476, Nicholas II inherited Opole, Brzeg, Strzelce and Niemodlin together with his older brothers Louis and Jan II the Good as co-rulers. However, soon Louis died and Nicholas II maintained the co-government with Jan II. It is unknown the exact date of the division of the duchy between the surviving brothers, and even if this division really existed; however indirect sources inferred that Nicholas II became in the independent ruler of Niemodlin shortly after Louis's death, maybe only as a formal rule. In any case, most of the inheritance (included Opole) was retained by Jan II. The now Duke of Niemodlin supported his brother in his politics: in 1477 the brothers bought Prudnik to Duke Konrad X of Oleśnica, in 1494 they acquired Gliwice and in 1495 Toszek. The only territorial loss was in 1481, when the Duke Frederick I of Legnica purchased Brzeg (pledged by his father in 1450) by the amounts of 8,500 fines and 1,500 ducats.  In foreign politics, Nicholas II sought to strike a balance between the powerful King of Hungary Matthias Corvinus and competitor and eventual co-ruler in the Bohemian Kingdom, Władysław II Jagiellon. Ultimately, however, the aggressive politics towards the Hungarian ruler in favor of the Polish candidate caused his imprisonment in 1487 in Koźle. Nicholas II regained his freedom only after the payment of 15,000 Hungarian złoty as a ransom. Despite the participation of the Dukes of Opole in the Sejm reunited in Nuremberg later in that year, the relations with the Hungarian Kingdom remained tense until the death of Matthias Corvinus in 1490.  In June 1497, in order to end the disputes between the Duchies of Opole and Cieszyn, a meeting was arranged in Nysa (were also discuss the issue of the Turkish risk over the Hungary). At the convention assisted, among others, Nicholas II, Duke Casimir II of Cieszyn, Wiktoryn of Poděbrady and his brother Henry I, Duke of Ziębice and the Bishop of Wrocław, Jan IV Roth. During the conversations, on 26 June, the tragedy occurred. For unknown reasons (although some sources believed that the reason was the fear of the growing importance of Duke Casimir II over Nicholas I's sons) Nicholas II tried to stab both Duke Casimir II and Bishop Jan IV Roth. After the attacks, with the help of the servants and nobles, failed, Nicholas II tried to avoid the responsibility of the Town Hall and found refuge in the nearby church of St. Jakob, where he asked for sanctuary, but was taken by force from the altar and put in a dungeon. The nobles reunited (who included the victims of the Duke of Niemodlin) long wondered what to do with the prisoner; at the end, they decided to apply against him the common law of Nysa, despite of the fact that the Duke of Niemodlin was a royal prince. The attempts to obtain his freedom (which included the offer to pay the huge sum of 100,000 Hungarian złoty) gave no results, thanks to the clear opposition of the Duke of Cieszyn (at that time also Starost General of Silesia), who obtain the heaviest sentence for Nicholas II: the death. All the process was performed in the German language, which Nicholas II apparently didn't know (there is some evidence that he and his brother Jan II only knew the Polish and Czech languages). The Duke of Niemodlin was only allowed to write a letter to his brother, in which he left him all his domains. The court ruling that the sentence would take place almost immediately in order to avoid the reaction of the Opole citizens and the Duke's brother. Nicholas II was beheaded by a sword cut in the Nysa market on 27 June 1497. According to the tradition, his last words were: ""Nysa! Nysa! You punish me because my ancestors had given you to the Church, and now you force me to paid the price?"".  Nicholas II never married or had children. According to his last wish, he was buried in the Franciscan church in Opole. On his tombstone was written the epitaph: "Here lies who fell for his true principles and give courageously his neck under the sword".  At the news of the execution of his brother, Jan II started to collect a good army and began the preparations of a brutally retaliatory expedition against the Duchy of Cieszyn; however, the war ultimately didn't occur as a result of the diplomatic moves of King Władysław II Jagiellon, and saved Silesia from the civil war.

Nicholas II of Niemodlin (; – 27 June 1497), was a Duke of Opole-Brzeg-Strzelce-Niemodlin in 1476 (as co-ruler of his father) and sole Duke of Niemodlin from 1476 until his death.


Plot.

A successful Manhattan couple, lawyer Paul Michael Morgan (Hugh Grant) and estate agent Meryl Judith Morgan (Sarah Jessica Parker), are separated due to Paul's infidelity. After dinner one night, Meryl and Paul witness the murder of one of Meryl's real estate clients. As a result, they become targets of contract killer Vincent (Michael Kelly) and must enter the Witness Protection Program.  Paul and Meryl are relocated to the small town of Ray, Wyoming and placed temporarily under the protection of husband and wife/sheriff and deputy, Clay and Emma Wheeler (Sam Elliott and Mary Steenburgen). For their own safety, they are permitted no outside contact via telephone or e-mail. They have trouble adjusting to small-town life, but after a perilous encounter with a bear and awkward attempts at shooting rifles, chopping wood, and horseback riding, they eventually adjust and begin assisting the local citizens professionally. Meanwhile, neither of their assistants back in New York City know their whereabouts. Vincent plants a bug at Meryl's office and in her assistant Jackie's (Elisabeth Moss) purse, hoping to gain information, which is eventually successful.  Jackie attempts to call Meryl but Paul's assistant Adam (Jesse Liebman) stops her by kissing her, which she responds to by tasering him then apologizing and offering him to take her on a date the next day. Paul and Meryl go on a "date" in town and begin to reconcile, but then Paul is heartbroken when he learns that Meryl had a one-night stand with one of their acquaintances during their separation. The next day, with Vincent in town unbeknownst to them, the Morgans anticipate leaving Ray for a permanent hiding place. The Wheelers invite them to a rodeo, but the Morgans are at loggerheads, so they decline. Leaving the Morgans without any form of security, the Wheelers leave for the rodeo. Vincent tries to attack the house but is accosted by a bear, which gives the Morgans time to escape. They flee on horseback to the rodeo to seek help. Vincent follows them to the rodeo, they spot him and hide in a bull suit. However, they end up in the ring with a bull, which then charges them, injuring Meryl. Meryl, unable to walk, stays hidden from Vincent while Paul impulsively confronts him with a canister of bear repellent spray. Paul accidentally sprays himself in the face, alerting Vincent who then holds Paul at gun-point. The Morgans are rescued by the Wheelers and their new friends from the town.  Six months later, Jackie and Adam are in a committed relationship while Paul and Meryl have repaired their marriage. They have an adopted baby girl from China, named Rae in honor of the Wyoming town, and Meryl is pregnant with their biological child living happily together in New York City.

Production.

Filming for "Did You Hear About the Morgans" took place over 25 days in May and June in 2009. The film was shot in New York City; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Roy, New Mexico.

Reception.

Critical response.

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 12% based on reviews from 120 critics, with an average rating of 3.43/10. The site's consensus states "It gets a certain amount of mileage out of the inherent likability of its stars, but with an unfunny script and a lack of onscreen chemistry, "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" falls flat." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 27 out of 100, based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B-" on scale of A to F.  John Anderson of "Variety magazine" wrote: "the charm of the film is that it resists turning people into cliches and lets Parker and Grant work their particular magic -- before they get to Wyoming, their performances are as stressed out as their characters, and while it's a dubious conceit that going cowboy is a cure-all, they put the notion across as convincingly as possible." Sarah Jessica Parker was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award as Worst Actress for her performance, but lost to Sandra Bullock for "All About Steve".

Box office.

In its first opening weekend, the film opened at #4 in the United States box office earning $6,616,571. With a budget of $58 million, "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" grossed only $29.5 million domestically at the box office. It did a little better internationally, earning an additional $56 million, for a total of $85 million worldwide.

Home media.

"Did You Hear About the Morgans?" was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 16, 2010.  The DVD features:

Did You Hear About the Morgans? is a 2009 American romantic comedy thriller film directed and written by Marc Lawrence. Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker portray the film's protagonists, Paul and Meryl Morgan, a recently separated New York power couple on the verge of divorce until they witness the murder of Meryl's client. They are forced to enter into temporary witness protection, given new identities, and relocated to a small Wyoming town (the fictional Ray, Wyoming, 45 minutes out of Cody). Supporting roles are played by Sam Elliott, Mary Steenburgen, Elisabeth Moss, and Wilford Brimley. It is the second collaboration of Grant and Parker, following the 1996 film "Extreme Measures".


History.

Liferay's original product, Liferay Portal, was created in 2000 by chief software architect Brian Chan to provide an enterprise portal solution for non-profit organizations. In 2004, the company was incorporated under the name Liferay, Inc. and formalized its Germany subsidiary Liferay GmbH. In 2007, the company opened a new Asian headquarters in Dalian, China, and the Spanish subsidiary Liferay SL. In March 2009, the company opened a new office in Bangalore, India. To date Liferay has 22 offices worldwide with over 250 partners and 180,000 open source community members.  Sun Microsystems and Liferay signed a technology-sharing agreement during May 2008. Sun Microsystems rebranded the offering GlassFish Web Space Server. ZDNet further describes the relationship in the May 2008 article "Sun and Liferay launch web-presentation platform". In 2010 Sun was acquired by Oracle and the GlassFish Web Space Server was not included in their portal roadmap, with all prospects turned over to Liferay, Inc.  In April 2013, Liferay partnered with TIBCO Software to offer a series of Liferay enterprise Connectivity Adapters (eC Adapters) that use TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks with the intention of easing integration of Liferay Portal with multiple systems.  In May 2016, the company introduced Liferay Digital Experience Platform, an expansion of the original Liferay Portal, to offer additional functionality such as engagement metrics.  In July 2018, Liferay released two new products: a B2B focused digital commerce solution named Liferay Commerce, and a cloud analytics software called Liferay Analytics Cloud.  In December 2019, collaborative editing of documents was fully introduced in Liferay with the integration of OnlyOffice editors via the integration app.

Liferay, Inc., is an open-source company that provides free documentation and paid professional service to users of its software. Mainly focused on enterprise portal technology, the company has its headquarters in Diamond Bar, California, United States.


Early life.

Buckley was born in Claremont in Los Angeles County, California. He earned a degree in economics from the University of California, San Diego, graduating in 2003. As a college student, Buckley appeared as a contestant on "The Price Is Right". After working for a year as an economic consultant, he moved back to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.

Career.

In 2006, Buckley made his acting debut as a series regular on the MyNetworkTV primetime telenovela "Fashion House", playing the role of Michael Bauer. Buckley then made his feature film debut in the horror "When a Killer Calls", released in February 2006. He subsequently joined the cast of another MyNetworkTV telenovela, portraying the role of Matthew Wakefield in "American Heiress". In 2007, Buckley guest starred on an episode of "Ghost Whisperer". Also in 2007, he was cast in the recurring role of Kirby Atwood on NBC's comedy-drama series "Lipstick Jungle".  The following year, Buckley signed on to play surf instructor Kyle Hamilton in the Lifetime film "Flirting with Forty", alongside Heather Locklear. He then co-starred as Nik in the horror comedy "Killer Movie", alongside Kaley Cuoco, Leighton Meester, and Paul Wesley, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2008. In 2009, The CW announced that Buckley would appear in a two-episode guest arc on the comedy-drama series "Privileged" as David Besser.  In June 2009, it was announced that Buckley had signed to star as a series regular on The CW's teen drama series "One Tree Hill". He played the role of sports agent Clay Evans and remained with "One Tree Hill" until the series' ending in April 2012. In February 2010, Buckley was reported to be in the running for the title role in Marvel's "", but the part ultimately went to Chris Evans.  From 2012 to 2013, Buckley starred in the short-lived horror drama series "666 Park Avenue", portraying struggling playwright Brian Leonard who moves into a haunted building with his wife. In 2013, he was cast in a two-episode guest arc on season three of The CW's comedy-drama series "Hart of Dixie". The following year, he co-starred in the "Veronica Mars" web spin-off series "Play It Again, Dick", featuring Ryan Hansen in the central role. In 2015, he began starring as Major Lilywhite on The CW's comedy-drama horror series "iZombie". In June 2016, Buckley was cast to star in the first episode of the Hulu anthology series "Dimension 404", alongside Lea Michele and Joel McHale.

Personal life.

In May 2018, Buckley married actress Jenny Wade.

Robert Earl Buckley (born May 2, 1981) is an American actor, known for his roles as Kirby Atwood on NBC's comedy-drama series "Lipstick Jungle" and Clay Evans on The CW's teen drama series "One Tree Hill". Buckley also starred as Brian Leonard on ABC's horror drama series "666 Park Avenue" and portrayed Major Lillywhite on The CW's comedy-drama series "iZombie" from 2015 until 2019.


Biography.

Hašler studied to be a glove-maker, but he became intererested in theatre at a young age and occasionally performed with amateur theatre ensembles. In 1897, following his debut at the "Aréna Theatre" he left home and successively joined various travelling theatre companies. In 1902 he became a member of the Slovenian theatre in Ljubljana, but soon moved back to Prague, where he joined the National Theatre ensemble. In the National Theatre, he asserted himself in conversational plays. In addition to that, he also attempted to apply his singing abilities. Around 1908, he started composing his own music, and at the same time he began to incline to cabaret activities. Gradually he became a director and head of various Prague cabarets, such as "Lucerna" (1910–1915, 1918–1923), "Rokoko" (1915–1918) and "Karlín Variety Theatre" (1924–1929). In 1908, he married a sister of pianist and composer Rudolf Friml.  During World War I he also began to appear in silent films, as an actor, director and author. In 1914, he made a comedy "České hrady a zámky" (Czech Castles), based on his own script. The film was intended as an introduction for the play "Pán bez kvartýru" (A Man Without Flat). He appeared also in the comedy "Ahasver" and in other silent films.  Among his most successful film roles were the lawyer and deputy Uher in the drama film "Batalion" (The Battalion, 1927) by Přemysl Pražský, and the organist in "Varhaník u sv. Víta" (Organist at St. Vitus Cathedral, 1929) by Martin Frič. The coming era of the sound film in 1930s enabled Hašler to utilize his singing skills. In his first sound film role "Písničkář" (Balladeer, 1932) by Svatopluk Innemann he sang patriotic songs "Svoboda" (Freedom) and "Ta naše písnička česká" (Our Czech song), among others. In 1942, in his last film role, he played himself in "Za tichých nocí" (In the Quiet Nights), made by his son Gina Hašler. From 1932 to 1941 Hašler played in more than 13 films. In September 1941, during production of the film "Městečko na dlani", based on the script by Jan Drda, he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp. The main reason for his arrest was his patriotic songs. In Mauthausen he was tortured to death.  In the post-war Communist Czechoslovakia he was officially ignored for political reasons, because many of his songs hailed Tomáš Masaryk and Czechoslovak Legionnaires, and mocked interbellum communists.

Remembrance.

A popular Czech herbal-menthol hard candy was called "" after him. They have been known since early 1900s. Now the trademark is owned by Nestle.  ""Hašlerky"" is a recognizable type of songs, written by Hašler and of similar character.  Czech astronomer Lenka Kotková (née L. Šarounová) named asteroid 37939 Hašler after him.  In 2008, Czech directors Marek Jícha and Josef Lustig made a documentary "Písničkář, který nezemřel" (The Immortal Balladeer of Prague) describing the fate of Hašler's illegitimate son Thomas Hasler.  On the occasion of Hašler's 130th anniversary (2009) a monument by sculptor Stanislav Hanzík was unveiled at the.  In 2013 the band Patrola Šlapeto recorded a CD and DVD with 23 Hašler's songs based on original recordings found in musical archives. While there have been plenty recordings of Hasler's songs, this was the first in 80 years recording of the original tunes. Karel Hašlers artistic output consists mainly of songs. He created more than 300 compositions, many of which became popular "folk songs". With his engaged patriotic approach he helped to strengthen the national consciousness of Czech people during times of danger and oppression. Following his death in the concentration camp, his songs became a symbol of national resistance.

Works.

Selected songs  Actor:  Writer:  Composer:  Music Department:  Director:  Soundtrack:  Producer:

Karel Hašler (31 October 1879 in Prague – 22 December 1941 in Mauthausen) was a Czech songwriter, actor, lyricist, film and theatre director, composer, writer, dramatist, screenwriter and cabaretier. He was murdered in the Mauthausen concentration camp.


Junior.

In 2003, Hejnová competed at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics at Sherbrooke, Canada and won the gold medal in the 400 metre hurdles with a time of 57.54. A year later, she returned at Grosseto, Italy at the 2004 World Junior Championships. This time she won the silver with a time of 57.44 in the 400 m hurdles, defeated by the Russian, Ekaterina Kostetskaya, who won gold by a large margin at 55.55 seconds.  Her current personal bests are 14.11 in the 100m achieved at Ostrava on 3 September 2005; 13.77 in the 100 metres hurdles at Stará Boleslav on 13 June 2003; 53.04 in the 400 m at Kladno on 28 June 2008; and 54.90 in the 400 m hurdles recorded at Monaco on 28 July 2009.

Career.

2008.

In early March 2008 Hejnová competed in the 400 metres at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships and reached the semi finals but did not qualify to reach the final. She did however, reach the final with the Czech relay team in the 4 × 400 metres relay in a team which included her, Zuzana Bergrová, Denisa Ščerbová, and Jitka Bartoničková. They finished 4th, with a time of 3:34.53, but were over 5 seconds slower than the Americans who took bronze with a time of 3:29.30.  On 21 June 2008, she competed for the Czech Republic at the 2008 European Cup in Athletics.  Hejnová competed in the 400 metres hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She qualified for the second round with the thirteenth fastest overall time of 55.91 seconds and for the final with 55.17. In the final she finished seventh with 54.97, only one hundredth behind her personal best at the time.

2011.

She won the 400 metres hurdles at the European Team Championships with a new national record of 53.87 seconds. On 8 July 2011 she improved her national record to 53.29 seconds.

2012.

Hejnová won the first round of the Women's 400 m Hurdles at the 2012 Summer Olympics. On 8 August 2012 Hejnová won the bronze medal in the finals.

2013.

Hejnová won Diamond League races over 400 m Hurdles in Shanghai (53.79), Eugene (53.70), Oslo (53.60), Paris (53.23 NR), and London (53.07 NR). Hejnová also won races in Des Moines (54.41), Prague (54.55) and Ostrava (53.32). Hejnová secured maximum points for Czech Republic in the European Team Championships First League in Dublin by winning the 400 m in 51.90 seconds. On 15 August 2013 in Moscow, she became World Champion over 400 m Hurdles with a new Czech record (52.83 NR).

Zuzana Hejnová (; born 19 December 1986) is a Czech athlete. She competes in the 100 metres, the 100 metres hurdles, the 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles, and also the heptathlon. She is a two-time World Champion in the 400 metres hurdles, winning in 2013 and 2015.


History.

The line was a success and provided a major portion of Mauritania's GDP; as a result the line was nationalised in 1974. Following Mauritania's annexation of southern Western Sahara in 1976, the line came under constant attack by Polisario militia, effectively putting the line out of use and thereby crippling Mauritania's economy. This played a major role in prompting the army to overthrow Mauritanian president Moktar Ould Daddah in 1978, followed by a withdrawal from Western Sahara the following year. With the line now secure, repairs were conducted and trains starting using it once again in the early 1980s. This railway is unique for its usage of the Soviet type coupler SA-3, which is quite rare in non ex-Soviet countries.

Traffic.

Trains on the railway are up to in length, making them among the longest and heaviest in the world. They consist of 3 or 4 diesel-electric EMD locomotives, 200 to 210 cars each carrying up to 84 tons of iron ore, and 2-3 service cars. The total traffic averages 16.6 million tons per year.  Passengers are also occasionally transported by train; these services are managed by an SNIM subsidiary, the société d'Assainissement, de Travaux, de Transport et de Maintenance (abb. ATTM). Passenger cars are sometimes attached to freight trains, but more often passengers simply ride atop the ore hopper cars freely. Passengers include locals, merchants, and rarely some tourists. Conditions for these passengers are incredibly harsh with daytime temperatures exceeding 40°C and death from falls being common.  In January 2019, the railway resumed tourism after a ten year hiatus; part of the track ran through a forbidden tourist area. One of the stops on the tourist route is an iron mine. The tourist route is typically operated by a locomotive carrying two passenger carriages.

Locomotives.

In October 2010, SNIM ordered six EMD SD-70ACS locomotives, with special modifications for operating in high temperatures.

Glencore Xstrata.

In 2014, the mining company Glencore paid $1 billion for 18 years of access to SNIM's rail and port infrastructure, which would be connected to branch lines to new iron mines at Askaf and Guelb El Aouj. The deal would have saved the company the cost of constructing their own tracks and facilities. However, Glencore backed out of the project just one year later after the price of iron ore tumbled nearly 40%.

The Mauritania Railway is the national railway of Mauritania. Construction of the line began in 1960, with it opening in 1963.. It consists of a single, railway line linking the iron mining centre of Zouerate with the port of Nouadhibou, via Fderik and Choum. The state agency "Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière" (National Mining and Industrial Company, SNIM) controls the railway line.


History.

The present cathedral was preceded by other buildings. The first dated from the fourth century and in 666 was destroyed by fire. The second is recorded in 920 by the name of Saint Cecilia, the present-day patroness of musicians. It was replaced in the thirteenth century by a Gothic cathedral in stone.  The Southern French Gothic cathedral was constructed in brick between 1282 and 1480 in the wake of the crusade against Catharism, a heterodox non-trinitarian dualist movement with an episcopal see at Albi around 1165 AD. Pope Innocent III initiated a crusade to extinguish Catharism in southern France, with great loss of life. In the aftermath of the crusade, the cathedral's dominant presence and fortress-like exterior made of brick were intended to demonstrate the authority of the Catholic Church, to protect its sanctuary by thick walls, and to convey a sense of poverty in response to Catharism. The instigator of the cathedral's construction was Bernard de Castanet, Catholic Bishop of Albi and Inquisitor of Languedoc. Work on the nave was completed about 1330.

Features.

The cathedral is built in the Southern French Gothic style. As suitable building stone is not found locally, the structure is built almost entirely of brick. Notable architectural features include the bell-tower (added in 1492), which stands tall, and the doorway by Dominique de Florence (added circa 1392). The nave is the widest Gothic example in France at. The interior lacks aisles which are replaced by rows of small chapels between brick internal buttresses, making Albi a hall church. Compared with regular Gothic, the buttresses are almost entirely submerged in the mass of the church. The principal entry is on the south side through an elaborate porch entered by a fortified stair, rather than through the west front, as is traditional in France.  The side chapels in the nave received overhead galleries in the 15th century, diminishing their impact.  The elaborate interior stands in stark contrast to the cathedral's military exterior. The central "chœur", reserved for members of the clergy, is surrounded by a roodscreen with detailed filigree stone work and a group of polychrome statues. Below the organ, a fresco of the "Last Judgement", attributed to unknown Flemish painters, originally covered nearly 200 m (the central area was later removed). The frescoes on the enormous vaulted ceiling comprise the largest and oldest ensemble of Italian Renaissance painting in France.  The cathedral organ, the work of Christophe Moucherel, dates from the 18th century.

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Cecilia (French: "Basilique Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile d'Albi"), also known as Albi Cathedral, is the most important Catholic building in Albi, France and is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Albi. First built as a fortress in the aftermath of the Albigensian Crusade; begun in 1282 and under construction for 200 years, it is claimed to be the largest brick building in the world.


Career.

Netherlands.

Sylvie Meis is partly of Dutch East Indies origin. She graduated from the University of West Brabant () Aged 18, she decided that she wanted to be a model and was cast for various shoots by casting agencies. After becoming interested in television, she gained popularity through assignments at FoxKids and music station TMF. She hosts several events at TMF, such as presenting the annual TMF-awards, and conducting interviews with international artists such as Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue. In addition, she features in video clips and the Dutch TV-series "". She also introduced the "Pure by Sylvie" jewellery line to the Dutch market. Thereafter, she hosted the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year award ceremony.  After being elected the Netherlands' Sexiest Female in 2003, she started a relationship with then Ajax footballer Rafael van der Vaart. Due in part to the fame from their individual careers, they soon became the Netherlands' most famous "football couple". Their fame grew after their marriage on 10 June 2005 and live coverage of the wedding on SBS6, a Dutch television channel, with the broadcast gaining high ratings in the Netherlands; Sylvie took Rafael's last name, van der Vaart.

Germany.

Meis and her then husband moved to Germany when he left Ajax to play for Bundesliga football club Hamburger SV. After her husband's 2008 transfer to Real Madrid, the van der Vaarts moved to Spain. Between 2008 and 2011, she was a judge on "Das Supertalent", the German version of Simon Cowell's "Got Talent" series. In 2010 she took part in the third season of the German equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing, called "Let's Dance". On 17 April 2010, Meis replaced the usual "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" judge Nina Eichinger for the final of the 7th season, after the latter was stuck in Los Angeles following flight restrictions as a result of the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull. Between 2011 and 2017 Meis has been hosting the show "Let's Dance" together with Daniel Hartwich. In 2018 she was replaced by former participant Viktoria Swarovski and instead returned to "Das Supertalent" as a judge. Following in the footsteps of famous entertainers such as Johannes Heesters and Rudi Carell, Meis is one of the most successful Dutch personalities active in Germany.

Personal life.

Meis is of partly Indo-European descent, her father being Dutch-Indonesian, her mother being Belgian.  Meis was in a relationship with footballer Rafael van der Vaart from 2003. On 10 June 2005, Sylvie married Rafael and on 28 May 2006, their son Damián Rafael was born. Some of the media described the couple as the "new Beckhams" but both of them denied the claims saying that they prefer to just live a normal life.  On 16 June 2009, she announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and had undergone surgery in May 2009. She finished post-op chemotherapy and is cancer free. In the summer of 2009, Real Madrid wanted to sell Rafael van der Vaart, but the player decided to stay in Madrid because Sylvie was undergoing cancer treatments there. A year later, upon his move to England, Rafael stated ""She had a very serious illness and it is true that she had to be treated at the Clínica Quirón. Last season, they wanted me to leave but I couldn't leave for that reason. Now she is well and the only thing that happened was that Madrid wanted to sell and I wanted to get back to enjoying playing football, and Tottenham are a great team that are going to give me the football opportunities that I need.""  In 2010, Sylvie admitted to having cheated on her husband, stating that Van der Vaart found out through emails that she was having an affair with a KLM airline pilot which she believed was the beginning of the end of their marriage. On 2 January 2013, Sylvie acknowledged their separation after he had struck her in front of their guests. Their divorce was finalized in December 2013. On 12 April 2017, she became engaged to Charbel Aouad but the couple separated in October 2017.  She is fluent in English, Dutch, and German.

Plastic surgery controversy.

In may 2019 the German media has wondered what happened to the face from Sylvie Meis at a basketball contest from Hamburg Towers. The German media, the German Bild magazine and fans could not recognise her appearance and face from her old former self.

Television and media appearances.

Sylvie Meis has made several television appearances worldwide including:

Sylvie Françoise Meis (born 13 April 1978) is a Dutch television personality and model. She is also popular in Germany.


History.

The synagogue was commissioned by the "Agoudas Hakehilos" (אֲגֻדָּת־הַקְּהִלּוֹת, union of the communities), society composed of Orthodox Jews of primarily Russian origin, headed by Joseph Landau. Its erection is a testament to the massive wave of immigration from Eastern Europe that took place at the turn of the 20th century. Funded by this wealthy Polish-Russian group it did not cost the Parisian community a "centime". They intended to provide a spacious and modernized place for Jews accustomed to the intimate and often squalid "shtiblakh".  The construction of the Synagogue started in 1913 and was completed the following year, with the official inauguration taking place on 7 June 1914; nevertheless the Synagogue had been already active for services since October 1913. The opening ceremony was not attended by any of the representants of the Central Consistory, instead famous polish Hazzan Gershon Sirota was present at the event.  During the year in 1934 a gas explosion destroyed the main hall which was rebuilt right after. On the evening of Yom Kippur in 1941, the building was dynamited along with six other Parisian synagogues by collaborators of the nazi occupants; however the bomb did not go off and the building was preserved. On the night between 2 and 3 October of the same year, the synagogue was damaged following an attack organised by far-right association Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire. It was partially restored afterwards, but the main entrance was altered from its original appearance.  The building was registered as a "monument historique" by the French authorities on July 4, 1989. The synagogue is fully functional today with the Rabbi being Rav Moredekhai Rottenberg, the son of the late Rav Haim Yaakov Rottenberg, known as the "Rouv". The synagogue is now open to the public.

Description.

The synagogue is Guimard's last major project before World War I and the only religious building he designed. Built on a narrow stripe of land between older houses, the synagogue is developed in height, with the elongated windows and continuous columns of its façade emphasizing its verticality. The interior is vertically arranged as well, with two levels of galleries on each side of the nave, to deal with the lack of width.  Guimard made use of reinforced concrete for the structure and for the exterior he chose white stone. Light enters through a number of windows in the façade, but much of the natural lighting is provided by the large glass window of the back wall. Skylights originally were also present, but were covered when the roof was renovated; they are still visible from the interior.  The furnishings (luminaires, chandeliers, brackets, and benches) as well as the stylized vegetal decorations made of staff and the cast iron railings are all creations of Guimard and they display the same motifs that characterize the exteriors. The triangle is a recurring symbol in the ornamentation and triangles were also present over the entrances, but were substituted by a single Star of David during a restoration of the façade.

The Agoudas Hakehilos Synagogue (אֲגֻדָּת־הַקְּהִלּוֹת, Union of the communities), at 10 rue Pavée, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris (Le Marais quarter), commonly referred to at the Pavée synagogue, rue Pavée synagogue, or Guimard synagogue, was designed by Art Nouveau architect Hector Guimard and erected between 1913 and 1914.


History.

In 1810, the Ashkenazi Jews of Paris, had two synagogues, one on rue Sainte-Avoye (today: rue du Temple) and another on rue du Chaulme (today: rue des Archives). Expelled from the synagogue on Saint-Avoye by the landlord in 1818, the community bought a plot of land in 1819 situated between 14 rue Neuve-Saint-Laurent (today: rue du Vertbois) and 15 rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth. After having received permission from the King, Louis XVIII through the ordinance of 29 June 1819, the Assembly of the Jews of Paris, construction began under the direction of architect Sandrié de Jouy, and ended in 1822. The synagogue was built to accommodate a congregation of several hundred worshipers, including galleries for women. The synagogue on rue du Chaume was closed the following year.  Very rapidly faults began to emerge in construction, and in 1848, the building was in danger of collapsing. The police closed it in 1850 and it was destroyed. A new synagogue designed by the architect Thierry (1810–1890) was built on the site funded by donations from Baron James de Rothschild and was inaugurated in 1852.  The synagogue contains an organ, quite common among French Jews since Chief Rabbi Salomon Ulmann published a responsa in its favour. The actress Rachel was a member of the congregation. The composer Jacques Offenbach, after having arrived in Paris, was appointed, with his brother, to train and manage the choir "de la formation et de la direction du chœur" for six months from December 1833. It followed an Alsacien rite, and was the residence of the Chief Rabbis of France and of Paris until the construction of the Grand Synagogue (on rue de la Victoire) in 1875.  The French composer Ernest Cahen played the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the synagogue.  During the Second World War, in 1941 the synagogue was damaged by French collaborators. The chief rabbi of the synagogue, Joseph Saks and his wife were arrested and deported during the Holocaust. Due to the influx of North African Jews from migration, the synagogue changed to follow the Sephardi rite.

The Synagogue de Nazareth is situated on the Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth, in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, and is the oldest of the 'great' synagogues of Paris. It is normally known as "Synagogue Nazareth" rather than "Synagogue de la rue Nazareth", its official name.


History.

The architect was Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe (1834–1895) who also built the Versailles Synagogue and that of Enghien-les-Bains. Building commenced in 1867 and the Synagogue was inaugurated in 1874, and opened to the general public in 1875, built in the classical style, but embellished with Byzantine frills.  The inscription in Hebrew at the entrance is a verse from Genesis 28,17 : "This is none other than the House of God, the very gateway to Heaven", the same as is found on the entrance to the synagogue of Reims and that of Bar-le-Duc.  The interior has a number of religious inscriptions above the doors. In the choir pulpit is written in French the names of the prophets. Above the Torah Ark is engraved with the words "ה 'ניסי" ("The Lord-is-my-banner" Ex 17:15)  It also includes a series of 12 stained glass windows symbolising the Tribes of Israel.  The choir is separated from the assembly by a balustrade and the bimah.  Every year, the Sunday before Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), there takes place a ceremony in remembrance of the Martyrs of the Deportation, which is televised on France 2.

Miscellaneous.

On April 21, 1890, Alfred Dreyfus married Lucie Hadamard in the synagogue. The ceremony was officiated by the Chief Rabbi of France, Zadoc Kahn, a future 'Dreyfusard' who advocated for Dreyfus' freedom.  In 1955, (also written "Meir" Jaïs) became the first Sephardic chief rabbi of Paris and thus head of the Grand Synagogue.  The French organist Ernest Cahen played the Merklin organ of the synagogue.  In November 2013, French baritone David Serero performed a concert there.

The Grand Synagogue of Paris, generally known as Synagogue de la Victoire or Grande Synagogue de la Victoire, is situated at 44, Rue de la Victoire, in the 9th arrondissement. It also serves as the official seat of the chief rabbi of Paris.


Biography.

Huston was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, the city in which she lived until age fifteen, at which time her family moved to Wilton, New Hampshire, where she attended High Mowing School. She studied at Sarah Lawrence College in New York City, where she was given the opportunity to spend a year of her studies in Paris. Arriving in Paris in 1973, Huston obtained a master's degree from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, writing a thesis on swear words under the supervision of Roland Barthes.  After many years of marriage to Tzvetan Todorov, with whom she had two children, Huston now shares her life with Swiss painter Guy Oberson.

Career.

Because French was a language acquired at school and university, Huston found that the combination of her eventual command of the language and her distance from it as a non-native speaker helped her to find her literary voice. Since 1980, Huston has published over 45 books of fiction and non-fiction, including theatre and children's books. Some of her publications are self-translations of previously published works. Essentially she writes in French and subsequently self-translates into English but "Plainsong" (1993) was written first in English and then self-translated to French as "Cantique des plaines" (1993) – it was, however, the French version which first found a publisher.  She has 25 fiction publications, of which 13 are original fiction and 11 are self-translations.  In her fiction, only "Trois fois septembre" (1989), "Visages de l'aube" (2001) and "Infrarouge" (2010), as well as her three children's books, have not been published in English. She has also published two plays but has not yet translated either.  She has 14 non-fiction publications, of which 12 are original publications and two are self-translations. The other ten non-fiction publications have not yet been self-translated.  While Huston's often controversial works of non-fiction have been well-received, her fiction has earned her the most critical acclaim. Her first novel, "Les variations Goldberg" (1981), was awarded the Prix Contrepoint and was shortlisted for the Prix Femina. She translated this novel into English as "The Goldberg Variations" (1996).  Her next major award came in 1993 when she was received the Canadian Governor General's Award for Fiction in French for "Cantique des Plaines" (1993). This was initially contested as it was a translation of "Plainsong" (1993), but Huston demonstrated that it was an adaptation and kept the prize. A subsequent novel, "La virevolte" (1994), won the Prix "L" and the Prix Louis-Hémon. It was published in English in 1996 as "Slow Emergencies".  Huston's novel, "Instruments des ténèbres", has been her most successful novel yet, being shortlisted for the Prix Femina, and the Governor General's Award. It was awarded the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, as well as both the Prix des lectrices (Elle Québec) and the Prix du livre Inter in 1997.  In 1998, she was nominated for a Governor General's Award for her novel "L'Empreinte de l'ange". The next year she was nominated for a Governor General's Award for translating the work into English as "The Mark of the Angel".  In 1999, she appeared in the film "Set Me Free (Emporte-moi)", also collaborating on the screenplay.  Her works have been translated into many languages from Chinese to Russian.  In 2005, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and she received the Prix Femina in 2006 for the novel "Lignes de faille" and which, as "Fault Lines", has been published by Atlantic Books and is shortlisted for the 2008 Orange Prize.  Her latest novel is "Infrarouge" (2010).  In 2007, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Liège.  In 2010, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa.  In 2012, she won the Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Award for her novel, "Infrared".

Nancy Louise Huston, OC (born September 16, 1953) is a Canadian-born novelist and essayist who writes primarily in French and translates her own works into English.


Biography.

Nathan Friedman-Yellin was born in Grodno in the Russian Empire (now Belarus). He studied engineering at the Warsaw Polytechnic. He was active in Betar and Irgun in Poland.  Between 1938 and 1939 he was the coeditor, along with Avraham Stern (Yair), of "Di Tat" ("The Action "), the Irgun's newspaper in Poland.

Zionist activism.

He immigrated clandestinely to the British Mandate of Palestine and joined Lehi, a Jewish paramilitary group, Lohamei Herut Yisrael (Hebrew acronym LHI - in English, Fighters for the Freedom of Israel; derogatorily called by the British the "Stern gang"). In December 1941, Yair Stern assigned Yellin-Mor to travel to Turkey and the Balkans to recruit Jews living there for the underground in Palestine. He was arrested near Aleppo, Syria and brought back to Palestine, where he was put into detention by the British first at the Mizrah detention camp and then transferred to Latrun. There Yellin-Mor masterminded digging a 74 meters long tunnel, and together with 19 comrades, escaped in 1943. After Stern's murder, he became a member of the Lehi's guiding triumvirate, with Israel Eldad as chief of Lehi's propaganda and Yitzhak Shamir as chief of operations. Yellin-Mor was in charge of Lehi's political activities.  He was one of the planners of the assassination of Lord Moyne. He saw the struggle against the British in an international context, and advocated collaboration with other anti-colonialist forces, including Palestinian and other Arab forces. After the Deir Yassin massacre, he privately confronted Eldad. After the assassination in September 1948 of United Nations mediator Count Folke Bernadotte, he was arrested along with Lehi member Matityahu Shmuelevitch and charged with leadership of a terrorist organization. They were found guilty on January 25, 1949, the day on which Yellin-Mor was elected to the Knesset. On February 10, 1949, Yellin-Mor was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. Though the court was confident that Lehi was responsible for Bernadotte's death, it did not find sufficient evidence that the murder had been sanctioned by the Lehi leadership. The court offered to release the defendants if they agreed to certain conditions that included forswearing underground activity and submitting to police supervision, but they rejected the offer. However the Provisional State Council soon authorised their pardon.

Political career.

In 1948 Yellin-Mor formed a political party, the Fighters List, and was elected to the first Knesset. He served from 1949 to 1951 and was a member of the Internal Affairs committee.  In 1949, he denounced the Partition of Palestine as "bartering with the territory of the homeland" and opposed the Palestinian right of return. Later, he moved increasingly to the left, in a return to the pro-Soviet position of some Lehi militants in the 1940s, by advocating a pro-Soviet foreign policy. In 1956 he helped found the group Semitic Action, whose journal "Etgar" ("Challenge") he edited.  In his later years, he dedicated himself to working for reconciliation with the Palestinians, promoting negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Nathan Yellin-Mor(, Nathan Friedman-Yellin; 1913 – 19 February 1980) was a Revisionist Zionist activist, Lehi leader and Israeli politician. In later years, he became a leader of the Israeli peace camp, a pacifist who supported negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization and concessions in the Israeli-Arab conflict.


Plot summary.

The book picks up the story nine months after the end of "Rama II". The book follows the story of three astronauts from the expedition in "Rama II" who were trapped aboard the cylindrical alien spacecraft, Rama II, heading out towards deep space. Along the journey, five children were born. Simone Tiasso Wakefield, Catharine Colin Wakefield, Eleanor Joan Wakefield, Benjamin Ryan O'Toole and Patrick Erin O'Toole, were born by Nicole des Jardins from her relationships with Richard Wakefield and Michael O'Toole. These children later become major characters in "Rama Revealed". After a twelve-year journey, they arrive in the vicinity of the star Sirius, where all eight rendezvous with a Raman Node.  At the Node they are subjected to physiological tests for a year while Rama is refurbished, and they are eventually sent back to the solar system, this time to collect two thousand more representatives of humanity. An Earth agency, known as the ISA, receives the message from Rama requesting two thousand humans. Upon its reception, the message is kept secret and, under the guise of a new Martian colony, the ISA starts acquiring its payload. The ISA selects a handful of their own representatives; meanwhile, they selectively gather convicts and promise them freedom if they are chosen to be a colonist. The payload is subdivided into three ships: the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria (names based on Christopher Columbus's ships Niña, Pinta, and Santa María) that arrive sequentially at Rama. At this point the colonists believe everything is a hoax (despite the colossal size of Rama) created by the ISA. With that discontent as the tone upon their arrival, Rama III heads back to deep space with its new payload.  Soon an aggressive group of humans, led by a mob boss, seizes control of the human colony and begins a war of annihilation and propaganda against one of the other races occupying the massive spacecraft. The original astronauts and their children find themselves powerless to prevent the genocide. However, the aggressive behavior of the human species does not go unnoticed: Another species, unknown to the humans, observe their behavior and start considering a possible counterattack.  Meanwhile, Rama III determines that total escalation of the conflict is imminent and transmits an emergency signal to its ancient constructors. The book ends with a cliffhanger, on the eve of the execution of one of the original astronauts.

Books in the series.

Gentry Lee also wrote two further novels set in the same Rama Universe.

The Garden of Rama is a 1991 novel by Gentry Lee and Arthur C. Clarke. It is the third book in the four-book "Rama" series: "Rendezvous with Rama", "Rama II", "The Garden of Rama", and "Rama Revealed", and follows on from where "Rama II" left off.


Background and business career.

Smith was born in London, the son of William Henry Smith (1792–1865). He was educated at Tavistock Grammar School before joining the business with his father in 1846, at which time the firm became W H Smith & Son. Smith and his father took advantage of the by opening newsstands on railway stations, starting with Euston in 1848.  In 1850 the firm opened depots in Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. The business became a household name (W H Smith), and Smith used the success of the firm as a springboard into politics.  He was elected in February 1878 a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Political career.

In 1868, Smith was elected Member of Parliament for Westminster as a Conservative after an initial attempt to get into Parliament as a "Liberal Conservative" in 1865 as a supporter of Palmerston. In 1874 Smith was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury when Disraeli returned as Prime Minister. In 1877, he became First Lord of the Admiralty. It has been claimed that Smith's appointment was the inspiration for the character of Sir Joseph Porter, KCB, in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1878 comic opera, "H.M.S. Pinafore".  Gilbert had written to Sullivan in December 1877, "The fact that the First Lord in the opera is a "Radical" of the most pronounced type will do away with any suspicion that W. H. Smith is intended." However, the character was seen as a reflection on Smith and even Disraeli was overheard to refer to his First Lord as "Pinafore Smith". It has been suggested that the Pinafore character was as much based on Smith's controversial predecessor as First Lord, Hugh Childers, as on Smith himself. Smith held this office for three years until the Liberals returned to power.  In 1885, a redistribution of seats led to Smith now standing for the Strand division in Westminster, and he served as Chief Secretary for Ireland for a short period in the following year. He was twice Secretary of State for War, the first time during Lord Salisbury's brief ministry between 1885 and 1886, and the second when the Conservatives won the 1886 General Election. He succeeded this appointment in 1887 as First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons, and became Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1891.  He died shortly afterwards at Walmer Castle, and his widow was created Viscountess Hambleden in his honour, taking the title from the village close to the Smiths' country house of Greenlands, near Henley-on-Thames. One of the few ministers personally close to Lord Salisbury (apart from the latter's nephew, Arthur Balfour), Smith was dubbed "Old Morality" due to his austere manner and conduct.

Family.

Smith married Emily, daughter of Frederick Dawes Danvers, in 1858. They had two sons and four daughters:  He died in October 1891, aged 66. The following month his widow was raised to the peerage in his honour as Viscountess Hambleden, of Hambleden in the County of Buckingham. She died in August 1913 and was succeeded by her and Smith's only surviving son, Frederick.

William Henry Smith, FRS (24 June 1825 – 6 October 1891) was an English bookseller and newsagent of the family firm W H Smith, who expanded the firm and introduced the practice of selling books and newspapers at railway stations. He was elected a Member of Parliament in 1868 and rose to the position of First Lord of the Admiralty less than ten years thereafter. Because of his lack of naval experience, he was perceived as a model for the character Sir Joseph Porter in "H.M.S. Pinafore". In the mid-1880s, he was twice Secretary of State for War, and later First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons, among other posts.


Representation in traditional folklore.

The Sandman is a traditional character in many children's stories and books. In Scandinavian folklore, he is said to sprinkle sand or dust on or into the eyes of children at night to bring on sleep and dreams. The grit or "sleep" (rheum) in one's eyes upon waking is the supposed result of the Sandman's work the previous night.

Literature.

E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) wrote a short story in 1816 titled "Der Sandmann", which showed how sinister such a character could be made. According to the protagonist's nurse, he threw sand in the eyes of children who wouldn't sleep, with the result of those eyes falling out and being collected by the Sandman, who then takes the eyes to his nest on the Moon and uses them to feed his children. The protagonist of the story grows to associate this nightmarish creature with the genuinely sinister figure of his father's associate, Coppelius. In Romanian folklore there is a similar character, Moș Ene (Ene the Elder). Hoffmanns version of the sandman is also similar to the French Canadian character known as the (seven o’clock guy), who, in some versions, throws sand in children’s eyes to blind them so he may capture them. Contrarily to the sandman, his bag is the place where he traps children who don’t go to bed. Hans Christian Andersen's 1841 folk tale "Ole Lukøje" introduced the Sandman, named Ole Lukøje, by relating dreams he gave to a young boy in a week through his magical technique of sprinkling dust in the eyes of the children. "Ole" is a common Danish first name and "Lukøje" means "close eye". Andersen wrote: In Norway and Sweden, he is called John or Jon Blund, and in Dutch and Afrikaans, a language spoken in Southern Africa and related to Dutch, he is referred to as "Klaas Vaak".

Television.

The East German stop motion children's television programme "Unser Sandmännchen" ("Our Little Sandman"), based on Hans Christian Andersen's Ole Lukøje character and the story by E. T. A. Hoffmann has been broadcast since 1959, along with a West German version which was discontinued after reunification. Santa Claus-franchised sandman appears as a legendary councilman  In the 1990s, Nilus the Sandman aired on English-Speaking Canadian Television

Comics.

Fantasy writer Neil Gaiman wrote a 75-part comic book series called "The Sandman" for Vertigo Comics. The original series ran from 1989 to 1996. It tells the story of Dream of the Endless, who rules over the world of dreams. He is an anthropomorphic personification of dreams known to various characters throughout the series as Morpheus, Oneiros, the Shaper of Form, Lord of the Dreaming, the Dream King, Dream-Sneak, the Cat of Dreams, Murphy, Kai'ckul, and Lord L'Zoril. He possesses three symbols of office: a helm, an amulet known as the Dreamstone, and a sand pouch.  A comics adaption of the above mentioned German TV show "Unser Sandmännchen" has also been published. Most notably on the back pages of FF Dabei focusing on Pittiplatsch and his friends.  The manga, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, also features a character called Sandman. This however is not the regular interpretation of Sandman, but a human who is running in the Steel Ball Run race.

Music.

Songs based on the figure of the Sandman include the 1950s classic "Mr. Sandman", Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" in which the singer is put to sleep by "A candy-colored clown they call the sandman" to dream of his lost love, and Metallica's "Enter Sandman" whose lyrics "juxtapose childhood bedtime rituals and nightmarish imagery", and originally included a reference to crib death. The Sandman also appears in the version of the lullaby "Morningtown Ride" recorded by The Seekers. and is mentioned briefly in the song “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet” by Fall Out Boy. British singer-songwriter Graham Nash makes a small reference to Sandman in the song "Sleep song" in his latest stanza:  "[...] Then I will wait till  The sandman  Has done with you [...]  Also Finland Heavy Metal band Lordi that creates Mr. Lordi have song Blood Red Sandman  The single "Mr. Sandman" was released by SYML in 2017.

The Sandman is a mythical character in Western and Northern European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes.


Life.

He joined the army as an artillery gunner in 1780. He was awarded the rank of lieutenant in 1786. In the war against the Turks, he significantly participated in the siege of the towns of Sabac and Belgrade. He became famous for fundamental improvement in artillery organization in Flanders in 1790. In 1792 he took part in the crusade against France, among others, in the battle of Jemappes. In 1793 he took charge of Archduke Charles horse battery command. Subsequently, he won at the battle of Neerwiden and he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa for this victory.  He was badly wounded at the battle of Fleurus in 1794. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1796 for key help during the defence of Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. He was badly wounded at Meßkirch for the second time in 1800. Then he continued as Major in the Czech Legion. In 1805 he battled in Italy. In 1809 he led the 3rd Army Corps already as colonel in Regensburg. He was awarded the second Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa, this time the Commander's one, and promoted to major general.  He was not, however, only a commander, but also an engineer and an author of many innovations in the artillery. One of the famous ones was, for example, wall gun-mounting in 1807.  He was married to Mary Smola, Baroness of Häring (1771–1807). His two sons Josef von Smola Jr. and Karl von Smola were also officers. The last living descendants being Miloslav von Smola (* 29 August 1949 in Prague) and Miloslav von Smola (* 6 January 1986 in Prague), both currently living in the Czech Republic.

Josef Freiherr von Smola (12 June 1764 in Teplice – 29 November 1820 in Vienna) was a (commissioned) officer and holder of the Knight's and Commander's Crosses of the Order of Maria Theresa.


Description.

Growth.

The Sugar Pine is the tallest and largest "Pinus" species, commonly growing to tall, exceptionally to tall, with a trunk diameter of, exceptionally. The tallest recorded specimen is tall, is located in Yosemite National Park, and was discovered in 2015. The second tallest recorded was "Yosemite Giant", an tall specimen in Yosemite National Park, which died from a bark beetle attack in 2007. The tallest, known, living specimens today grow in southern Oregon and Yosemite National Park: one in Umpqua National Forest is tall and another in Siskiyou National Forest is tall. Yosemite National Park also has the third tallest, measured to tall as of June 2013; the Rim Fire affected this specimen, but it survived.  "Pinus lambertiana" is a member of the white pine group ("Pinus" subgenus "Strobus") and, like all members of that group, the leaves ("needles") grow in fascicles ("bundles") of five, with a deciduous sheath. They are long. Sugar pine is notable for having the longest cones of any conifer, mostly long, exceptionally to long, although the cones of the Coulter pine are more massive. The seeds are long, with a long wing that aids their dispersal by wind. Sugar pine never grows in pure stands, always in a mixed forest and is shade tolerant in youth.

Distribution.

The sugar pine occurs in the mountains of Oregon and California in the western United States, and Baja California in northwestern Mexico; specifically the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Coast Ranges, and Sierra San Pedro Martir.

White pine blister rust.

The sugar pine has been severely affected by the white pine blister rust ("Cronartium ribicola"), a fungus that was accidentally introduced from Europe in 1909. A high proportion of sugar pines have been killed by the blister rust, particularly in the northern part of the species' range that has experienced the rust for a longer period of time. The rust has also destroyed much of the Western white pine and whitebark pine throughout their ranges. The U.S. Forest Service has a program (see link below) for developing rust-resistant sugar pine and western white pine. Seedlings of these trees have been introduced into the wild. The Sugar Pine Foundation in the Lake Tahoe Basin has been successful in finding resistant sugar pine seed trees and has demonstrated that it is important for the public to assist the U.S. Forest Service in restoring this species. However, blister rust is much less common in California, and sugar, Western white and whitebark pines still survive in great numbers there.

Etymology.

Naturalist John Muir considered sugar pine to be the "king of the conifers". The common name comes from the sweet resin, which Native Americans used as a sweetener. John Muir found it preferable to maple sugar. It is also known as the great sugar pine. The scientific name was assigned by David Douglas in honor of Aylmer Bourke Lambert.

Uses.

According to David Douglas, Native Americans ate the sweetish seeds. Native Americans also ate the sweet sap, but in small quantities due to its laxative properties.  The odorless wood is also preferred for packing fruit, as well as storing drugs and other goods. Its straight grain also makes it a useful organ pipe material.

Folklore.

In the Achomawi creation myth, Annikadel, the creator, makes one of the 'First People' by intentionally dropping a sugar pine seed in a place where it can grow. One of the descendants in this ancestry is Sugarpine-Cone man, who has a handsome son named Ahsoballache.  After Ahsoballache marries the daughter of To'kis the Chipmunk-woman, his grandfather insists that the new couple have a child. To this end, the grandfather breaks open a scale from a sugar pine cone, and secretly instructs Ahsoballache to immerse the scale's contents in spring water, then hide them inside a covered basket. Ahsoballache performs the tasks that night; at the next dawn, he and his wife discover the infant Edechewe near their bed.  The Washo language has a word for sugar pine,, and also a word for "sugar pine sugar",.

Pinus lambertiana (commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine) is the tallest and most massive pine tree, and has the longest cones of any conifer. The species name "lambertiana" was given by the British botanist David Douglas, who named the tree in honour of the English botanist, Aylmer Bourke Lambert. It is native to the mountains of the Pacific coast of North America, from Oregon through California to Baja California.


Covenant of Mayors Signatories.

European local authorities of all sizes – from small villages to capitals and major metropolitan areas – are eligible to sign up as Covenant of Mayors Signatories.  Cities, towns and other urban areas have a crucial role to play in mitigating climate change, as they consume three quarter of the energy produced in the European Union and are responsible for a similar share of emissions. Local authorities are also in a position to change citizens' behaviour and address climate and energy questions in a comprehensive manner, notably by conciliating public and private interests and by integrating sustainable energy issues into overall local development goals.

Formal undertakings.

To meet the reduction targets they set themselves, signatories commit to a series of steps and accept to report and be monitored on their actions. Within predefined time frames, they formally undertake to fulfil the following:  To comply with the crucial necessity of mobilising local stakeholders in the development of the Sustainable Energy Action Plans, signatories also undertake to:

Sustainable Energy Action Plans.

To reach and try to exceed the European Union energy and climate objectives, Covenant of Mayors signatories commit to develop a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP), within a year following their adhesion to the initiative. This action plan, approved by the municipal council, outlines the activities and measures foreseen by signatories to fulfil their commitments, with corresponding time frames and assigned responsibilities.  Various technical and methodological supporting materials (including the "SEAP Guidebook" and template, reports on existing methodologies and tools, etc.) offer practical guidance and clear recommendations on the whole SEAP development process. Based on the practical experiences of local authorities and developed in close co-operation with the European Commission Joint Research Centre, this support package provides Covenant signatories with key principles and a clear step-by-step approach. All documents are downloadable on the www.eumayors.eu website library.

Coordination and support.

Covenant Coordinators and Supporters.

Covenant Signatories do not always possess the adequate tools and resources to prepare a Baseline Emission Inventory, draft the related Sustainable Energy Action Plan and finance the actions featured in the latter. In light of this, provinces, regions, networks and groupings of municipalities have a crucial role to play in helping signatories honour their commitments.  Covenant Coordinators are public authorities from different government levels (national, regional, provincial) which provide strategic guidance to signatories, as well as financial and technical support in the development and implementation of their Sustainable Energy Action Plans. The Commission distinguishes between "Territorial Coordinators", which are sub-national decentralised authorities – including provinces, regions and public groupings of municipalities -, and "National Coordinators", which include national public bodies – such as national energy agencies and ministries of energy.  Covenant Supporters are European, national and regional networks and associations of local authorities which leverage their lobbying, communication and networking activities to promote the Covenant of Mayors initiative and support the commitments of its signatories.

Covenant of Mayors Office.

Promotional, technical and administrative assistance is provided on a daily basis to Covenant signatories and stakeholders by the Covenant of Mayors Office (CoMO), managed by a consortium of local and regional authorities' networks, led by Energy Cities and composed of CEMR, Climate Alliance, Eurocities and FEDARENE. Funded by the European Commission, the CoMO is responsible for the overall co-ordination of the initiative.

Institutions of the European Union.

To support the elaboration and implementation the signatories' Sustainable Energy Action Plans, the European Commission has contributed to the development of financial facilities particularly targeting Covenant of Mayors signatories, among which the European Local Energy Assistance (ELENA) facility, set up in co-operation with the European Investment Bank, for large-scale projects, and ELENA-KfW which, established in partnership with the German Group KfW, offers a complementary approach to mobilise sustainable investments of small and medium-sized municipalities.  Alongside the European Commission, the Covenant benefits from full institutional support, including from the Committee of the Regions, which has supported the initiative since its inception; the European Parliament, where the two first signing ceremonies were held; and the European Investment Bank, which assists local authorities in unlocking their investment potentials.

Joint Research Centre.

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission is responsible for providing technical and scientific support to the initiative. It works in close collaboration with the Covenant of Mayors Office to equip signatories with clear technical guidelines and templates to assist delivery of their Covenant of Mayors commitments, as well as to monitor implementation and results.

The Covenant of Mayors is a European co-operation movement involving local and regional authorities. Signatories of the Covenant of Mayors voluntarily commit to increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources on their territories. By their commitment, they support the European Union 20% reduction objective to be reached by 2020.


Conception.

In 1864, Napoleon III decreed that an international exposition should be held in Paris in 1867. A commission was appointed with Prince Jerome Napoleon as president, under whose direction the preliminary work began. The site chosen for the Exposition Universelle of 1867 was the Champ de Mars, the great military parade ground of Paris, which covered an area of 119 acres (48 ha) and to which was added the island of Billancourt, of 52 acres (21 ha). The principal building was rectangular in shape with rounded ends, having a length of 1608 feet (490 m) and a width of 1247 feet (380 m), and in the center was a pavilion surmounted by a dome and surrounded by a garden, 545 feet (166 m) long and 184 feet (56 m) wide, with a gallery built completely around it. In addition to the main building, there were nearly 100 smaller buildings on the grounds. Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Ernest Renan, and Theophile Gautier all wrote publications to promote the event.

Exhibits.

There were 50,226 exhibitors, of whom 15,055 were from France and her colonies, 6176 from Great Britain and Ireland, 703 from the United States and a small contingent from Canada. The funds for the construction and maintenance of the exposition consisted of grants of $1,165,020 from the French government, a like amount from the city of Paris, and about $2,000,000 from public subscription, making a total of $5,883,400; while the receipts were estimated to have been but $2,822,900, thus leaving a deficit, which, however, was offset by the subscriptions from the government and the city of Paris, so that the final report was made to show a gain.  In the "gallery of Labour History" Jacques Boucher de Perthes, exposes one of the first prehistoric tools whose authenticity has been recognized with the accuracy of these theories.  The exhibition also included two prototypes of the much acclaimed and prize-winning hydrochronometer invented in 1867 by Gian Battista Embriaco, O.P. (Ceriana 1829 - Rome 1903), professor at the College of St. Thomas in Rome.  Among the horological exhibits, stood out a monumental model, an elaborate conical pendulum clock crafted by two of France's most important artisans of the second half of the 19th century—renowned clockmaker E. Farcot and sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Be Belleuse. Farcot exhibited several units, one of them it is currently in the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. Its base, which features the clock's face and inner mechanical movements, is carved from solid onyx marble. Atop the base, a bronze sculpture depicting a robed female figure holds a scepter. Rotating soundlessly from the female subject's hand, the scepter provides consistent motion that adds to the clock's sense of grandeur and mystery. From its base to the top of the bronze figure stands at nearly 10 feet tall. Farcot, the most well-known of the French conical clock-makers, established himself in 1860 and mastered his craft over a period of 30 years, helping to popularize the unique pendulum escapement, the mechanism which controls the motion of the inner wheels. Carrier de Belleuse was one of the most important and renowned sculptors of the 19th century, as well as the teacher of Auguste Rodin. In 1857, his bronze sculptures grabbed the attention of Napoleon III, and he was commissioned for several important national works, including his most famous piece, Torchere, which still flanks the staircase of the Paris Opera House.  One of the Egyptian exhibits was designed by Auguste Mariette, and featured ancient Egyptian monuments. The Suez Canal Company had an exhibit within the Egyptian exhibits, which it used to sell bonds for funding.  The German manufacturer Krupp displayed a 50-ton cannon made of steel.  Americans displayed their latest telegraph technology and both Cyrus Field and Samuel Morse provided speeches.  The exposition was formally opened on 1 April and closed on 31 October 1867, and was visited by 9,238,967 persons, including exhibitors and employees. This exposition was the greatest up to its time of all international expositions, both with respect to its extent and to the scope of its plan.

Influence.

For the first time Japan presented art pieces to the world in a national pavilion, especially pieces from the Satsuma and Saga clans in Kyushu. Vincent van Gogh and other artists of the post-impressionism movement of the late 19th century were part of the European art craze inspired by the displays seen here, and wrote often of the Japanese woodcut prints "that one sees everywhere, landscapes and figures." Not only was Van Gogh a collector of the new art brought to Europe from a newly opened Japan, but many other French artists from the late 19th century were also influenced by the Japanese artistic world-view, to develop into Japonism.  The Paris street near Champs de Mars, Rue de L'Exposition was named in hommage to this 1867 universal exhibition.  Jules Verne visited the exhibition in 1867, his take on the newly publicized discovery of electricity inspiring him heavily in his writing of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea".  A famous revival of the ballet "Le Corsaire" was staged by the Ballet Master Joseph Mazilier in honor of the exhibition at the Théâtre Impérial de l ́Opéra on 21 October 1867.  The World Rowing Championships were held on the Seine River in July and was won by the underdog Canadian team from Saint John, New Brunswick which was quickly dubbed by the media as "The Paris Crew".

The International Exposition of 1867 (), was the second world's fair to be held in Paris, from 1 April to 3 November 1867. A number of nations were represented at the fair. Following a decree of Emperor Napoleon III, the exposition was prepared as early as 1864, in the midst of the renovation of Paris, marking the culmination of the Second French Empire. Visitors included Tsar Alexander II of Russia, a brother of the emperor of Japan, King William and Otto von Bismarck of Prussia, Prince Metternich and Franz Josef of Austria, Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz, and the Khedive of Egypt Isma'il.