Early years.

Duka was born in 1943 in Hradec Králové in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now in the Czech Republic). His father was an army officer who fought for the allied forces in World War II, based at RAF Cosford, who was later imprisoned in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s. Duka graduated from Tyl Grammar School in Hradec Králové in 1960 and worked in a factory and as an apprentice locksmith before entering military service from 1962 to 1964.

Priestly ministry.

On 6 January 1969 he made temporary profession in the Dominican Order and on 22 June 1970 he was ordained a priest by Cardinal Štěpán Trochta, Bishop of Litoměřice. For five years he worked in parishes of the Archdiocese of Prague and, on 7 January 1972, he made his solemn profession in the Dominican Order.  In 1975, the Communist government of Czechoslovakia revoked Duka's authorization to work as a priest. From then until the regime collapsed in 1989, Duka worked as a designer at the Škoda factory in Plzeň. In the meantime, he worked in secret in the Order and was elected the province's Vicar Provincial and served from 1975 until 1987. From 1976 to 1981, he taught theology to seminarians at the Theological Faculty of Litoměřice. In 1979, he obtained a licentiate in theology at the Theological Faculty of St. John the Baptist in Warsaw, Poland.  As a result of his activities with the Dominican Order and involvement in the publication of unauthorised samizdat literature, he was imprisoned in Bory Prison in Plzeň from 1981-82, where his fellow prisoners included future Czech President Vaclav Havel. While in prison, Duka conducted a clandestine mass for other prisoners disguised as a chess club. From 1986 to 1998 he was Prior Provincial of the Dominicans in Bohemia and Moravia. From 1990–98, he was a lecturer in the Faculty of Theology at Palacký University in Olomouc, teaching Introduction to Sacred Scripture and biblical anthropology.  Duka was elected president of the Conference of Major Superiors of the Czech Republic and served from 1989 to 1992. In 1992, he became the vice president of the Union of European Conferences of Major Superiors, serving until 1996.

Episcopacy.

On 6 June 1998 Duka was appointed bishop of Hradec Králové and received episcopal consecration on 26 September 1998. On 13 February 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Archbishop of Prague. Duka was formally installed in Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral. On his appointment, Duka said that:""The Church must engage in a dialogue with society and must seek reconciliation with it. Twenty years ago, we were euphoric about freedom; today we live in an economic and financial crisis, and also to a certain extent in a crisis of values. So the tasks are going to be a little more difficult. But thanks to everything that’s been done, it will not be a journey into the unknown.""  One of Duka's chief concerns was the long-standing issue of the restitution of church property, which had been confiscated by the communist regime, and which was either never fully returned or for which the church was never compensated. The Czech Republic is one of the last countries in Europe not to have ratified a treaty with the Holy See. After previous attempts at an agreement had failed – most notably in 2008 under Cardinal Vlk – the Czech government in mid-January 2012 agreed to a compensation plan, under which the country's seventeen churches, including Catholic and Protestant, would get 56% of their former property now held by the state – estimated at 75 billion koruna ($3.7 billion) — and 59 billion koruna ($2.9 billion) in financial compensation paid to them over the next thirty years. The state will also gradually stop covering their expenses over the next seventeen years.  On 23 December 2011, Duka delivered the liturgy at the funeral of Vaclav Havel.

Cardinalate.

On 18 February 2012, Duka was made Cardinal-Priest of "Santi Marcellino e Pietro". On 21 April 2012, he was appointed to the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.  Duka was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that selected Pope Francis.  Duka contributed to a book "Eleven Cardinals Speak on Marriage and the Family" which urged fellow church leaders to maintain the church's rules regarding marriage and strengthen Catholic education about marriage and family life. The book was released before the world Synod of Bishops on the family in October 2015.  In May 2016, Duka claimed that the pope could not fully understand the refugee crisis because he is not from Europe. Duka has frequently spoken against Muslim immigration into Europe, and has said that Muslims can only be considered a "safe presence" if they make up less than five percent of the population.  Duka has had several clashes with a Templeton winner, Tomáš Halík. In August 2015, Duka banned a conference by Jeannine Gramick, an American nun specialising in pastoral care for LGBT people, as well as the screening of a Polish film about a homosexual priest. In a statement setting out his objections, Duka said: "Most participants are not believers and have no intention of addressing their relationship with the Church. Since I do not think people with this sexual orientation are discriminated against in our country, it is not right for us to advocate things which are in direct conflict with the Catholic Church’s teachings."  In 2016, Halík criticized Duka for allegedly dissociating himself from the pope and for being too close to the Czech president Miloš Zeman. They disagree on Islam and its "violent tendencies". Halík also criticized Cardinal Duka in October 2016, for accepting the highest state award from President Milos Zeman, telling "Právo": "On the October 28 national holiday, when Milos Zeman was bestowing a medal on Dominik Duka for his support for Miloš Zeman, I remembered the words a former Pope, who commented on the death of Cardinal Richelieu — He said if God exists, the cardinal will probably have a lot to explain to him; if God does not exist, the cardinal did his job perfectly. I would be ashamed to accept an award from Milos Zeman. However, Cardinal Duka seems to have got on a train he will never have the courage to leave. This makes me sorry."  In February 2018, a group of Czech Catholic laymen wrote a letter to Pope Francis, expressing concern about Duka's closeness to Czech politicians including Vaclav Klaus, Milos Zeman and Tomio Okamura, and urging him not to extend Duka's mandate for the Archbishopric when Duka turned 75 in April 2018.

Dominik Jaroslav Duka (born 26 April 1943) is a Czech cardinal, who is the 36th Archbishop of Prague and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He previously served as Bishop of Hradec Králové.


Biography.

On 13 February 1797 in Berlin, Augusta married Prince William of Hesse-Kassel, eldest surviving son of William IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. In 1803, the Landgrave was raised to Elector of Hesse, and Prince William succeeded on his father's death in 1821.  The marriage of Augusta was politically arranged and unhappy. Augusta and William often came into conflict with one another, which led to aggressive confrontations.  In 1806, Hesse was occupied by France. Augusta was in Berlin with her children at the time, having remained in the Prussian capital due to her pregnancy when Napoleon's army took it for France. Napoleon put guards around her house and gave orders that she should not be disturbed. With Hesse and Prussia occupied and her family in exile, Augusta lacked money, and after her child's birth she asked for a meeting with Napoleon. She appeared before him with her newborn baby on her arm and one of her children by the hand and asked him for an allowance, which he granted her.  After the birth of her last child in 1806, the relationship between Augusta and William was unofficially terminated. In 1815, they agreed to keep separate households. Augusta lived in Schoenfeld Palace, where she became a celebrated salonist and the centre of the romantic "Schoenfelder-circle", which included Ludwig Hassenpflug, Joseph von Radowitz and the Grimm brothers, while William lived in a different residence with his mistress, Emilie Ortlöpp.  Auguste closed her salon in 1823, and between 1826 and 1831 she lived in The Hague, Koblenz, Bonn and Fulda. She returned to Kassel in 1831. Augusta was regarded as a skillful painter, whose works included self-portraits.  Several months after Augusta's death, William morganatically remarried his longtime mistress Emilie Ortlöpp, ennobled as Countess von Reichenbach-Lessonitz, by whom he had an additional eight children.

Princess Augusta of Prussia (Christine Friederike Auguste; 1 May 1780 – 19 February 1841) was a German salonist, painter, and Electress consort of Hesse by marriage to William II, Elector of Hesse. She was the third daughter and fifth child of Frederick William II of Prussia and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.


Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange

Background.

Wilhelmina was brought up by her grandmother. On 4 October 1767 in Berlin, she was married to William V of Orange, the last Dutch Stadtholder. Duke Louis Ernest was instrumental in arranging the marriage of Prince William V with his niece. He immediately observed that the princess craved joint rule, and so was starting to undermine Louis Ernest's dominant position. In long letters she complained about him to her other uncle, King Frederick II of Prussia. As a person, she was proud and politically ambitious; as a princess consort, she dominated her spouse and exerted both overt and covert influence on the politics of state.

The revolution.

She was deeply involved in the revolutionary political conflict in the Netherlands from 1781 onwards – not only a supporter and partner, but as a main driving power behind the party of her spouse. She disliked her uncle Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Captain-General of the Netherlands. From 1782 she was recognized openly as the true leader of the dynastic Stadtholder party, a role its followers actively encouraged her to take. She was in heavy correspondence with foreign powers and used foreign supporters to influence Dutch internal policy. In 1785, her spouse was forced to leave Den Haag and put under a demand to abdicate. Wilhelmina persuaded William not to give in, and subsequently went to Friesland – officially to visit a jubilee, but in reality she aimed to gain support in the ongoing political conflict. In 1786, the family moved from the capital at the Hague to Nijmegen. After the revolution proper broke out in 1787 and William had moved his court to Guelders, she attempted to return to the Hague; on 28 June 1787, she was stopped at Goejanverwellesluis, waiting for permission to continue to her destination; she was went back to William after two days as permission was denied.  Both Wilhelmina and her brother, King Frederick William II of Prussia perceived the occurrences as an insult. A request to the States to apologize led to two ultimatums, the first on 6 August and the second starting on 10 September. Then Wilhelmina asked her brother for a military intervention. Frederick, despite having been in power for only a year, attacked the Dutch Republic on 13 September 1787. William was restored to power two weeks later and many rebels fled to Pas de Calais (France), and Brussels in early October. At the end of the year, the princess demanded the replacement of a large number of regents.

Exile and later life.

However, the Dutch patriots returned in 1795 with support from the French, and William fled to his ally, his cousin George III of England. During their exile, the couple lived in Kew until 1802, and subsequently went to Germany, where they lived in Nassau and Braunschweig (where William died in 1806). Thereafter, Wilhelmina and her daughter – both having been widowed in 1806 – lived together at various places in the Confederation of the Rhine, Weimar, Oranienburg and Berlin.  William, the son of William V and Wilhelmina, went with them into exile, but returned to the Netherlands in 1813 to become King William I of the Netherlands, the founder of the present Dutch monarchy. Wilhelmina and her daughter returned to the Netherlands in 1814 and settled in Villa Welgelegen. She received Tsar Alexander I of Russia in Haarlem in 1815.

Children.

Wilhelmina and William V of Orange were parents to five children:

Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia ("Frederika Sophia Wilhelmina"; 7 August 1751 in Berlin – 9 June 1820 in Het Loo) was the consort of William V of Orange and the de facto leader of the dynastic party and counter-revolution in the Netherlands. She was the daughter of Prince Augustus William of Prussia and Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Wilhelmina was the longest-serving Princess consort of Orange.


History.

Conception.

Initially, the "métro régional", the ancestor to the RER, was conceived of three lines, one going from east to west (the future RER A), a new line built from existing lines (the future RER C), the extension of the Ligne de Sceaux and with its interconnection with an SNCF line, along with a supplementary interconnected north–south (the future RER D). The operation of renovating "les Halles" gave the occasion to build Châtelet-Les Halles with a cut-and-cover method, in order to reduce costs.

Inauguration.

On 27 September 1987, the RER D was officially created, by extending existing suburban trains from Villiers-le-Bel to Gare du Nord, towards Châtelet-Les Halles. Initially long, it was equipped with bi-current Z 8800 stock trains, while newer Z 20500 stock trains were still being built. At Châtelet-Les Halles, the RER D terminated on the three central tracks, already built from the conception of Châtelet-Les Halles station.  In 1988, existing suburban trains terminating at Goussainville now integrate with the RER D. On the same year, the first bi-mode Z 20500 trains are in service. They were initially composed of 4 cars until the north–south interconnection was inaugurated in 1995, when they became 5-car trains (where they're coupled to make 10-car trains).  In September 1990, the RER D again extended north to Orry-la-Ville. At the same time, one-man operation started on the RER D.

Central tunnel opening.

On 11 September 1995, the north–south interconnection of the RER D was put into service by building a dedicated long tunnel between Châtelet-Les Halles and the Gare de Lyon.  In 1996, the RER D was extended south from La Ferté-Alais to Malesherbes. On 15 January 1998 for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Stade de France – Saint-Denis station opened, in order to serve the Stade de France.  A high number of incidents, from a social and service point of view, have brought the term "RER poubelle" ("RER trash" in French), often used by its users, and even its staff. Assaults are frequent and unpunctuality is the highest in the Transilien network, with the number of late trains going from 9.9% to 14.1% between 1994 and 1995.

Enhancements.

On 22 November 2006, the STIF has approved a master plan for the RER D, in order to establish short, mid and long-term goals for the reliability of the RER D.  On 29 January 2007, the first renovated Z 20500 train was presented, the first out of 137 trains. Renovated trains feature a new blue livery, uniform 2+3 seats, new lighting and new floor covering. The renovation programme costs over €100,000,000.

Delays.

The RER D is often seen in Paris as the most unpunctual railway line in the RER network. This unpunctuality is partially due to the tunnel the RER B and RER D lines share between Châtelet–Les Halles and Gare du Nord, where even a small delay of a few seconds on either lines can cause catastrophic delays and trains to be cancelled. The effects of this mean regular commuters of the RER D are used to trains being cancelled or late daily.

Incidents.

On 20 September 2003, an unusual incident occurred near Villeneuve-Triage station. A southbound train stopped at 18:50 on the central track near the station due to an incident. Passengers aboard were invited to step off the train by the left, as track 2M has been neutralised by the regulators. However, due to a misuse of the alarm signal by nervous passengers, some doors opened on the right. Ignoring the driver's orders, numerous passengers stepped off on the right, and were confronted with a northbound train, travelling at around.  The driver of the train had the time to activate his emergency brakes and slowed the train to around, which permitted to passengers to brace against the stopped train or jump into the ditch. Thankfully, no one was injured. This near miss, filmed by a passenger with a mobile phone, was broadcast the night of the incident, and created a large controversy.  On 9 July 2004, an alleged anti-semitic assault provoked a public and political reaction, with immediate declarations from the Ministry of the Interior Dominique de Villepin and the President of France Jacques Chirac. However, the allegations were proven false after the investigation, as the person behind the assault suffered from pathological lying. The event provoked a controversy on the treatment of information by the media.

The RER D is one of five RER lines serving Paris, France. It connects Orry-la-Ville and Creil in the north to Melun, Corbeil-Essonnes and Malesherbes in the south, passing through the heart of Paris.


Early life.

Kalyayev was born in Warsaw into the family of a Russian police inspector father and a Polish mother. He attended Saint Petersburg University from (1897), but soon became involved in student protests, was briefly imprisoned, and then expelled from the University and sent into exile in Ekaterinoslav. Thereafter he tried to return to University, but was denied entrance due to his political activities. When Kalyayev was 24 he joined the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party but soon broke with them, dissatisfied with what he considered "just talk", i.e. propaganda that did not lead to direct action. After serving his term he went to Lemberg (then in Austria-Hungary) to continue his education at Lemberg University, and became involved with the Russian emigrant revolutionaries there. He was soon arrested in Berlin with revolutionary literature intended for Russia. The German government transferred Kalyayev to Russia. After a short imprisonment in Warsaw, Kalyayev was exiled to Yaroslavl.

Bomber.

In Yaroslavl, Kalyayev befriended the Socialist-Revolutionaries and writers Boris Savinkov and Aleksey Remizov, and decided to completely devote his life to revolutionary actions. At that time Kalyayev became convinced that political terror was the only way to realize his political ideas. He met Evno Azef, the commander of the SR Combat Organization and volunteered to perform political assassinations.  Kalyayev served as backup in the assassination of Interior Minister Vyacheslav Pleve. However, Pleve was killed by another member of the team, Yegor Sazonov, and Kalyaev did not ultimately need to use his bomb. The next to be killed was the General-Governor of Moscow and uncle of Tsar Nicholas II, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.

Assassination of Grand Duke Sergei.

The assassination was planned for 15 February 1905. On that day, the Duke was to visit a Bolshoi Theatre show that was a fundraiser for the Red Cross. Kalyayev was supposed to attack the carriage as it approached the theatre. Everything went as expected. Kalyaev was about to throw his bomb at the carriage of the Grand Duke, but he noticed that Sergei Alexandrovich's wife (Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna) and young nephews (children of the Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich) were also in the carriage, and he aborted the assassination.  He carried out the assassination two days later, killing the Grand Duke and his coachman as the Grand Duke was approaching his official residence in the Moscow Kremlin. Kalyayev was arrested immediately.

Aftermath.

According to Edvard Radzinsky, "Elizabeth spent all the days before the burial in ceaseless prayer. On her husband's tombstone she wrote: 'Father, release them, they know not what they do.' She understood the words of the Gospels heart and soul, and on the eve of the funeral she demanded to be taken to the prison where Kalyayev was being held. Brought into his cell, she asked, 'Why did you kill my husband?' 'I killed Sergei Alexandrovich because he was a weapon of tyranny. I was taking revenge for the people.' 'Do not listen to your pride. Repent... and I will beg the Sovereign to give you your life. I will ask him for you. I myself have already forgiven you.' On the eve of revolution, she had already found a way out; forgiveness! Forgive through the impossible pain and blood -- and thereby stop it then, at the beginning, this bloody wheel. By her example, poor Ella appealed to society, calling upon the people to live in Christian faith. 'No!" replied Kalyayev. 'I do not repent. I must die for my deed and I will... My death will be more useful to my cause than Sergei Alexandrovich's death.' Kalyayev was sentenced to death. 'I am pleased with your sentence,' he told the judges. 'I hope that you will carry it out just as openly and publicly as I carried out the sentence of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Learn to look the advancing revolution right in the face.'" Kalyayev was hanged on 23 May 1905. This incident formed the basis for Albert Camus' 1949 play "Les Justes".

Poetry.

Ivan Kalyayev was known to his friends by the nickname "Poet" and wrote several verses and prose. During his exile to Yaroslavl in 1902, Kalyayev, together with Aleksey Remizov, translated poems in prose by the Polish author Stanisław Przybyszewski. After his execution, the Socialist-Revolutionary Party published Kalyayev's book of poetry. His poetry was even included (without naming the author) in a popular reader. Today his works have been almost completely forgotten. A sample of Kalyayev's poetry is his "Prayer".

Ivan Kalyayev (; 6 July 1877 – 23 May 1905) was a Russian poet, a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. He is best known for his role in the assassination of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, which was an operation of the SR Combat Organization. Arrested at the scene, Kalyayev was convicted of murder and hanged.


Early life and ordination.

Quinn was born in Riverside, California, and ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of San Diego on July 19, 1953. Pope Paul VI named him auxiliary bishop of San Diego with the titular see of Thisiduo on October 21, 1967. He was consecrated on December 12.  He became a regular contributor to "America".

Arch/Bishop of Oklahoma City.

On November 17, 1971, he was appointed Bishop of Oklahoma City-Tulsa. When the diocese was split to form the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa on December 13, 1972, Quinn became the first Archbishop of Oklahoma City.  The website of that Archdiocese reports that "he revealed his priorities by his actions: emphasis on priestly vocations, desire for better pastoral care of Spanish-speaking Catholics, re-establishment of a Catholic newspaper, appointment of a full-time youth director, and a reorganization of Catholic charities."  Pope Paul VI named Quinn to participate in the 1974 World Synod of Bishops.

Archbishop of San Francisco.

Quinn's was a popular appointment by Pope Paul VI in 1977 and for almost his entire episcopate in San Francisco he enjoyed the support of priests and the lay faithful. In the early years of his time as Archbishop he was simultaneously president of the USCC NCCB, which often kept him away from the archdiocese.  Quinn recognized that the Archdiocese was too large for effective pastoral governance and helped devise plans for the creation of the Diocese of San Jose, which was erected by Pope John Paul II on January 27, 1981.

Views.

Irenicism and liberalism.

Quinn was an irenic and liberal presence in San Francisco who, in the 1970s and 1980s, offering national leadership to Catholics in the United States on issues as diverse as U.S. women religious, the moral permissibility of nuclear weapons, sanctuary for Central American refugees, and working to overturn Roe vs Wade and restore legal protection to unborn children.

Óscar Romero.

After the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero in March 1980, Quinn issued a statement lauding the murdered prelate as "a voice for the poor and the oppressed." Quinn later attended Archbishop Romero's funeral in San Salvador.

AIDS.

In 1985, Archbishop Quinn initiated the Catholic Church's first institutional response to the AIDS epidemic and when John Paul II visited San Francisco in 1987, Archbishop Quinn arranged that he met with several AIDS patients, including a young boy.

LGBT.

Quinn reached out to gay Catholic as early as 83. He issued a document that asked priests to take concerns of gay people seriously. In it, he said he wanted gay Catholics to find "a church where he or she will find acceptance, understanding, and love." Priests were reminded in the letter that many gay Catholics saw their orientation as a positive.  He supported the efforts of Most Holy Redeemer Church in The Castro in their efforts to reach out to the LGBT population of the neighborhood. Quinn regularly visited this parish, especially during the annual 40 Hours Vigil held throughout the 1980s in support of those who were HIV-positive and their caregivers.

Loma Prieta earthquake.

In the 1990s, Quinn turned his attention to the needs of the archdiocese after the Loma Prieta earthquake, which damaged many churches. The Archdiocese of San Francisco drew up a plan which would see the closure of a dozen parishes whose churches had been damaged in the earthquake. This plan drew the wrath of many priests, 41 of whom signed a petition to Quinn dissenting from his plan. Quinn sold the former archiepiscopal residence and in the summer of 1992 moved into the Cathedral rectory where he lived with his fellow clergy until his retirement.

"The Reform of the Papacy".

Throughout his episcopate he maintained strong links with the Catholic Church in England visiting it regularly and maintaining strong personal links with the country. After his retirement from the full-time ministry he spent time at Campion Hall, Oxford where in 1996 he gave a celebrated paper on "The Claims of the Primacy and the Costly Call to Unity", a paper which was a first draft of his 1999 book "The Reform of the Papacy".  This call for the reform of the Roman Curia and a concomitant reduction in the power of that Curia has been interpreted by some conservative voices in the Church as an 'attack' on the papacy. Quinn repeatedly made it clear that he was not opposing the Vatican and in many ways his writings prefigured the views of Pope Francis.

John Raphael Quinn (March 28, 1929 – June 22, 2017) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of San Francisco from 1977 to 1995 and Archbishop of Oklahoma City from 1971 to 1977. He served as the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 1977 to 1980.


Design and development.

Prior to World War I, Pfalz Flugzeugwerke produced Morane-Saulnier monoplane designs under license. These aircraft entered military service as the Pfalz A- and E-series. In September 1916, Pfalz began producing the first of 20 Roland D.I and 200 Roland D.II fighters under license.  In November 1916, Pfalz hired Rudolph Gehringer from Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen GmbH. As Pfalz's new chief engineer, Gehringer immediately commenced work on an original fighter design. The resulting D.III emerged in April 1917. Like the Rolands, the D.III used a plywood monocoque fuselage. Two layers of thin plywood strips were placed over a mold to form one half of a fuselage shell. The fuselage halves were then glued together, covered with a layer of fabric, and doped. This "Wickelrumpf" (wrapped body) method was a patented invention of the LFG firm. It gave the fuselage great strength, light weight, and smooth contours compared to conventional construction techniques. However, it also proved to be more labor-intensive and expensive. Furthermore, fuselages of the "Wickelrumpf" type proved to be liable to twisting or warping in service, affecting performance as well as causing control problems. This has been attributed to moisture absorption in damp front-line conditions or to the use of insufficiently seasoned wood.  The wings were of conventional construction, with a flush Teves und Braun radiator offset to the right side of the upper wing. The ailerons were wooden, rather than the more usual steel tube construction. The horizontal stabilizer had an inverted airfoil section, which facilitated dive recovery and permitted the use of an unbalanced elevator.  "Idflieg" found the prototype promising. It directed Pfalz to halt production of the Roland D.III and to complete the balance of the contract, 70 aircraft, to the new design. After a "Typenprüfung" (type test) at Adlershof in May, the "Idflieg" ordered various modifications, including an enlarged rudder and horn-balanced ailerons. In June 1917, Pfalz received a second order for 300 aircraft.

Operational history.

Deliveries to operational units began in August 1917. "Jasta" 10 was the first recipient of the new aircraft, followed by "Jasta" 4. While markedly better than the earlier Roland designs, the D.III was generally considered inferior to the Albatros D.III and D.V. German pilots variously criticized the Pfalz's heavy controls, low speed, lack of power, or low rate of climb compared to the Albatros. The D.III slipped in turns, leading to crashes when unwary pilots turned at very low altitudes. Moreover, the Pfalz stalled sharply and spun readily. Recovery from the resulting flat spin was difficult, though some pilots took advantage of this trait to descend quickly or evade enemy aircraft.  The Pfalz's primary advantage was its strength and sturdiness. The Albatros scouts were plagued by failure of their single-spar lower wings. The Pfalz, however, could safely dive at high speeds due to its twin-spar lower wing. For this reason, the Pfalz was well-suited to diving attacks on observation balloons, which were usually heavily defended by anti-aircraft guns trained to the balloon's altitude.

D.IIIa.

The most pressing complaint about the new Pfalz was that the guns were buried in the fuselage, preventing pilots from clearing gun jams in flight. This feature had been carried over from the earlier Roland designs. In November 1917, Pfalz responded by producing the slightly modified D.IIIa, which relocated the guns to the upper fuselage decking. The D.IIIa was distinguishable by its enlarged semicircular horizontal stabilizer and cropped lower wingtips. It also featured a more powerful version of the Mercedes D.III engine.  Pfalz built approximately 260 D.III and 750 D.IIIa aircraft. Most were delivered to Bavarian "Jastas". Once Pfalz completed the final batch in May 1918, production shifted to the D.IIIa's successor, the D.XII. Some aircraft from the final D.IIIa batch were delivered to Turkey.  As of 30 April 1918, 433 D.IIIa scouts were still in frontline use. By 31 August, that number had declined to 166. Many serviceable aircraft were sent to advanced training schools, but approximately 100 aircraft remained in frontline use at the time of the Armistice.

Replica aircraft.

Today, there are no known surviving D.III airframes. However, two flying replicas were built for the 1966 film "The Blue Max". One replica was built from scratch, while a second was converted from a de Havilland Tiger Moth airframe. Both replicas are currently based in New Zealand.

The Pfalz D.III was a fighter aircraft used by the "Luftstreitkräfte" (Imperial German Air Service) during the First World War. The D.III was the first major original design from Pfalz Flugzeugwerke. Though generally considered inferior to contemporary Albatros and Fokker fighters, the D.III was widely used by the "Jagdstaffeln" from late 1917 to mid-1918. It continued to serve as a training aircraft until the end of the war.


Plot summary.

In 1946, after working apart during the Second World War, former British Army nurse Claire Randall and her husband Frank Randall, a history professor, go on a second honeymoon to Inverness, Scotland. Frank conducts research into his family history and Claire goes plant-gathering near standing stones on the hill of Craigh na Dun. Investigating a buzzing noise near the stones, she touches one and faints; upon waking, she encounters Frank's ancestor, Captain Jack Randall. Before Captain Randall can attack her, he is knocked unconscious by a highlander who takes Claire to his clansmen. As the Scots inexpertly attend their injured comrade Jamie, Claire uses her medical skill to set Jamie's dislocated shoulder. The men identify themselves as members of Clan MacKenzie, and Claire eventually concludes that she has traveled into the past. She represents herself as an English widow who is traveling to France to see her family. The Scots do not believe her and take her to Castle Leoch, where Claire searches for a way to return to her own time.  The highlanders of 1743 see Claire as a "Sassenach", or "Outlander", ignorant of Gaelic culture. Her medical skills eventually earn their respect; but the clan chieftain, Colum MacKenzie, suspects her of being an English spy. Colum sends her with his brother, Dougal, to collect rents; on the way he also solicits donations for the Jacobites, overseen by Ned Gowan, a lawyer from Edinburgh who is working for the Clan.  When chance again brings her to his attention, Captain Randall tells Dougal to bring Claire to him for questioning. There is suspicion that she is perhaps an English spy. To keep Claire from Randall, Dougal has her wed Jamie, which makes her a Scottish citizen. Torn between her attachment to Jamie and the thought of Frank, Claire tries to return to Craigh na Dun. However, she is captured by Randall's men, requiring Jamie to rescue her. Upon returning to Castle Leoch, Claire continues acting as the official healer, and befriends Geillis Duncan, the wife of a local official, who shares a knowledge of medicine. Eventually Claire and Geillis are charged with witchcraft while Jamie is away, but Jamie returns in time to save Claire. While imprisoned with Geillis, Claire learns that Geillis is part of the plot to restore King James to the Scottish throne along with Dougal and that she is also pregnant with his child. Just before their escape, Claire realizes that Geillis is, like herself, from the future, when she sees a smallpox vaccine scar on her arm. Geillis also sees Claire's scar.  Claire tells Jamie her real story, and he takes her to Craigh na Dun. When he offers her the chance to stay or go, she decides to stay. Jamie takes her to his home of Lallybroch, where they meet Jamie's sister Jenny and her husband, Ian. Though Jamie is still a fugitive from the British, he reclaims his position as Laird of Lallybroch, until one of his tenants betrays him and he is taken to Wentworth Prison. Claire and the MacKenzie clansmen attempt to rescue him, but they fail, and Claire is captured by Randall, who threatens to have her raped. Jamie offers himself in Claire's place, and Randall frees Claire into the woods. Claire tells Randall that she is a witch and tells him the exact day of his death, which she knows from Frank's family history. Thereafter Claire is befriended by Sir Marcus MacRannoch, a former suitor of Jamie's mother. While MacRannoch's men distract Wentworth's guards, the clansmen drive a herd of cattle through the underground halls, trampling a man. They rescue Jamie, who has been assaulted physically and sexually by Randall, and take him to MacRannoch's stronghold, where Claire tends Jamie's wounds. As soon as Jamie is able, they and Jamie's godfather, Murtagh, escape to Saint Anne de Beaupre's monastery in France, where another of Jamie's uncles is abbot. As she and Jamie emerge from a sacred hot spring under the Abbey, Claire reveals that she is pregnant.

Development and inspiration.

Diana Gabaldon planned to write a historical novel "for practice", but did not have a specific setting in mind until she happened to watch "The War Games", a classic "Doctor Who" serial, on PBS. Her eye was caught by the character Jamie McCrimmon, a young Scot from 1745 played by actor Frazer Hines. The image of the young man in the kilt stayed with her, and she decided to set her novel in 18th century Scotland. She named her male protagonist "Jamie" after the "Doctor Who" character (however, the surname "Fraser" was not taken from actor Frazer Hines, since the PBS station cut off the programme's credits).  Gabaldon's initial plan was to write a "straight historical novel", but as she began to write the character of Claire, she says the character "promptly took over the story and began telling it herself, making smart-ass modern remarks about everything." Gabaldon decided to make the character a modern woman and determine how she came to be in 18th century Scotland later.  Gabaldon acknowledged a date discrepancy between the American version of the novel, the plot of which begins in 1945, and the British version, which begins in 1946. She explained, "Reay Tannahill, a Scot who kindly proofread the novel before it was published in the UK, said that 1946 would have been a more accurate representation of conditions as I described them in Scotland." Gabaldon was able to rework all of the dates for the UK edition, but the American version was too far along in production to change.

Reception and awards.

"Publishers Weekly" said of "Outlander", "Absorbing and heartwarming, this first novel lavishly evokes the land and lore of Scotland, quickening both with realistic characters and a feisty, likable heroine." With 25 million copies sold,"Outlander" is one of the best-selling book series of all time. The novel won the Romance Writers of America's RITA Award for Best Romance of 1991.

Television series.

In June 2013, Starz ordered 16 episodes of a television adaptation, and production began in October 2013 in Scotland. The series premiered in the US on August 9, 2014. It was picked up for a second season on August 15, 2014, and for a third and fourth season on June 1, 2016. On May 9, 2018, Starz renewed the series for a fifth and sixth season.

Other adaptations.

In 2010 Gabaldon adapted the first third of "Outlander" into "", illustrated by Hoang Nguyen. The same year, a 14-song cycle based on "Outlander" was released under the title "".

Outlander (published in the United Kingdom as Cross Stitch) is the first in a series of eight historical multi-genre novels by Diana Gabaldon. Published in 1991, it focuses on the Second World War-era nurse Claire Randall, who travels through time to 18th century Scotland and finds adventure and romance with the dashing Jamie Fraser. A mix of several genres, the "Outlander" series has elements of historical fiction, romance, adventure and fantasy. With 25 million copies sold, "Outlander" is one of the best-selling book series of all time. "Outlander" won the Romance Writers of America's RITA Award for Best Romance of 1991. A television adaptation of the "Outlander" series premiered on Starz in the US on August 9, 2014.


Route.

The ancient source for the aqueduct was near the modern towns of Arsoli and Agosta, over away in the Anio valley. This general locale, in hills to the east of the city, was also used for other aqueducts including the Anio Vetus, Anio Novus, and Aqua Claudia. The same source is used today to supply the modern aqueduct.  The Aqua Marcia supplied water to the Viminal Hill in the north of Rome, and from there to the Caelian, Aventine, Palatine, and Capitoline regions of the city. Its extension to the Capitoline Hill caused a controversy at the time, because traditionalists were concerned about a passage in the "Sibylline Books" warning against bringing water there.

History.

The Aqua Marcia was constructed from 144 to 140 BC by the praetor Quintus Marcius Rex (an ancestor of Julius Caesar), for whom it is named.  The aqueduct was largely paid for by spoils from the recent Roman conquests of Corinth in 146 BC and the destruction of Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War, in the same year.  The aqueduct followed the via Tiburtina into Rome, and entered the city in its eastern boundary at the Porta Tiburtina of the Aurelian Wall. It was well known for its cold and pure waters.  The aqueduct was repaired by Marcus Agrippa in 33 BC, and then later again by Augustus, according to the inscription in the arch that was later made into the Porta Tiburtina. Augustus also augmented the supply by linking it to an additional source, the Aqua Augusta, doubling the throughput. Much of its supply was siphoned off by private citizens for their own use, making it effectively only a trickle in the city by the time of Nero. The supply was increased again by later emperors. Frontinus measured the flow of the Aqua Marcia at its source around AD 97 as 4690 quinariae, making it the second-greatest source of the city's water. Modern estimates of size of one quinaria vary over a wide range, from to of water a day, giving the Aqua Marcia a flow rate of to of water a day.

The Aqua Marcia () is one of the longest of the eleven aqueducts that supplied the city of Rome. The aqueduct was built between 144–140 BC, during the Roman Republic. The still-functioning Acqua Felice from 1586 runs on long stretches along the route of the Aqua Marcia.


Early life.

The eldest son of William Douglas, 1st Earl of Selkirk (who was created Duke of Hamilton for his lifetime and changed his surname to Hamilton in 1660 and his wife Anne, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton in her own right, Hamilton was born at Hamilton Palace, in Lanarkshire. He was a descendant through his mother of the Scottish House of Stewart and therefore had a significant claim to the thrones of both Scotland and England. He was educated by a series of tutors, until he was of age to attend the University of Glasgow. Following this he travelled to the continent on the Grand Tour, fashionable amongst young noblemen of the time. He was styled until 1698 as the Earl of Arran.  In 1679, Arran was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber by Charles II. Later in 1683, he was accredited ambassador to the Court of Louis XIV of France. Arran remained in France for over a year, taking part in two campaigns in French service. On his return to Great Britain following the accession of James VII, he brought letters of personal recommendation from Louis to the new King. King James reaffirmed Arran in his offices. Arran was in the first cohort of James VII's royal Order of the Thistle in 1687, and following the deposition of James, Arran refused to join the party of the Prince of Orange, indeed he was imprisoned twice in the Tower of London, suspected of intrigues, but was released without charge.

Duke of Hamilton.

Arran's father died in 1694, and in July 1698 his mother resigned all her titles into the hand of King William, who regranted them to Arran a month later in a charter signed at Het Loo, Netherlands. He was confirmed in the titles of Duke of Hamilton, Marquess of Clydesdale, Earl of Arran, Lanark and Cambridge and Lord Aven, Polmont, Machansyre, and Innerdale. This regrant of title was presumably because of the loyalty of Arran's parents to the king, as his own affection to the House of Orange was questionable due to his suspected Jacobitism.

The Darien scheme and the Act of Union.

Hamilton formed a Political grouping in support of the Darien Scheme, in the Parliament of Scotland. He and his mother had heavily invested in the expedition, doomed by the intrigues and sabotage perpetrated by England.  Following the failure of Darien, and in light of the longer history of trade friction with England, serious machinations began proposing a union between the two realms of Scotland and England. Hamilton was assumed to be the head of the anti-union Cavalier Party, perhaps due to his serious claim to the throne of Scotland. Hamilton, being a descendant through his mother of the Scottish House of Stewart (prior to their accession to the English throne) was the senior-most claimant to the throne of Scotland in the event of that Scotland chose not to accept Sophia of the Palatinate as the Stuart heiress (see Act of Security 1704). Sophia was the most junior descendant of the most junior branch of the English Stuarts and Scotland, also being Protestant, would only accept a Protestant heir to Scotland. This meant that Hamilton and his heirs were next in the Scottish line of succession after the House of Hanover. To the detriment of his royal future, Hamilton's political conduct proved ineffective and he wavered between both the Court and the National parties. On the day of the final vote regarding the Anglo-Scottish union, Hamilton abstained and remained in his chambers at Holyrood Palace claiming to be indisposed by toothache. The highly unpopular Acts of Union were passed, and riots followed in the streets of Edinburgh. Hamilton had missed his chance to secure the Scottish succession for his family.

Post Union.

Hamilton was chosen as one of 16 Scottish Representative Peers in 1708. He was created Duke of Brandon, Suffolk in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1711, this drew criticism as to legality of his position and ability to sit in the House of Lords, the situation was not resolved until 1782 for the 6th Duke of Hamilton. In addition to the Dukedom, Hamilton was created Baron Dutton in Cheshire. In October 1712 he was created a Knight of the Garter, making him the only Non-Royal to be a knight of both Thistle and Garter.

The Macclesfield inheritance and death.

On 15 November 1712, Hamilton fought a celebrated duel with Charles, Lord Mohun, in Hyde Park, Westminster, in an episode narrated in Thackeray's "The History of Henry Esmond". Following the death without an heir of Fitton Gerard, third Earl of Macclesfield, in 1702, a disagreement had arisen over who should succeed to his extensive estates, based at Gawsworth Hall, Cheshire. Hamilton claimed the estates through his wife Elizabeth Gerard, a granddaughter of Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield. Mohun claimed them as the named heir of Charles Gerard, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, to whom he had been a companion-in-arms. The years of litigation that followed culminated in Mohun calling Hamilton out.  The duel took place on the morning of the 15th. The older Hamilton mortally wounded Mohun, and was mortally wounded in turn. Hamilton's second thereafter claimed that Mohun's second George Macartney had dealt the final stroke to Hamilton whilst pretending to attend to Mohun, but the evidence was wholly inconclusive. Questions about why John Hamilton didn't stay to attempt to arrest Macartney if he'd thought that such a crime had been committed brought suspicion on his testimony. A cry for justice went up amongst the Duke's friends, including Jonathan Swift, and Macartney escaped to the continent. After attempts to repatriate him, he was tried "in absentia" for murder, and stripped of his regiment, but was later pardoned.

Marriage and issue.

In 1686 Hamilton married Lady Anne Spencer, a daughter of Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland. They had two daughters, although neither survived childhood:  Anne died shortly after the birth of the second daughter in 1690.  Hamilton married secondly Elizabeth Gerard, daughter of Digby Gerard, 5th Baron Gerard in 1698, and had seven children:  In addition, Hamilton had four illegitimate children. These were Lt. Col. Sir James Abercrombie, 1st Baronet, born prior to 1680, who died at Dunkirk in 1724; two further illegitimate sons, Charles and William Hamilton, born to Barbara FitzRoy, and two daughters named Ruthven.

Lieutenant General James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton and 1st Duke of Brandon (11 April 1658 – 15 November 1712) was a Scottish nobleman, the Premier Peer of Scotland, and Keeper of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. He was a Master of the Great Wardrobe, Master-General of the Ordnance, Ambassador, and Colonel-in-Chief of his regiment. Hamilton was a major investor in the failed Darien Scheme, which cost many of Scotland's ruling class their fortunes, and he played a leading role in the events leading up to the Act of Union in 1707. He died on 15 November 1712 as the result of a celebrated duel in Hyde Park, Westminster, with Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun, over a disputed inheritance.


History.

Foundations.

The oldest known structure on the site was a chapel dedicated to St. Martin of Tours, founded during the Merovingian dynasty, which appears in a text of 710. At a date which remains unknown, a community of monks became established there around the chapel. The abbey they founded was pillaged and destroyed by Norman invaders during the late 10th century.  In 1060, King Henry I of France chose to rebuild the complex of the former abbey, intending it then to be a priory of canons regular. At that era, it still remained outside the walls of the city, thus its designation as "des champs" (in the fields). In 1079 the priory was given to St. Hugh of Cluny and became a Benedictine community, which developed into one of the major houses of the Congregation of Cluny, The priory soon gained major landholdings throughout the region, becoming second in importance only to the Royal Abbey of St-Denis.  The priory church was completed in 1135, having a choir section with a double ambulatory, topped by a simple ribbed arch. The nave was completed during the 13th century, as was the refectory of the priory. The later two are attributed to Pierre de Montreuil. These are the only surviving portions of the monastic complex today.  The priory maintained a major presence in the religious and social life of Paris. It became the site of the last officially sanctioned trial by combat in France in 1386, when both the king and the Parliament of Paris authorized such a contest between the knights Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris, when the former charged the latter with raping his wife.

Decline.

Over time, the priory fell subject to the system of commendatory abbots and became the property of a number of titular priors. The famous Cardinal Richelieu can be counted among their number.  The priory was suppressed in 1790 under the new laws of the French Revolution, and the buildings were used as a prison. The monastic walls and dormitories were soon torn down.

Legacy.

The surviving structures of the priory became the home of the Museum of Arts and Crafts, which opened there in 1802. The original Foucault Pendulum was housed there from 1855 until it was irreparably damaged in 2010.

The Priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs was an influential monastery established in what is now the city of Paris, France. Its surviving buildings are considered treasures of Medieval architecture in the city.


Formation.

It was around 1108 that William of Champeaux retired from teaching with a few disciples in a hermitage (or cella) abandoned near a chapel dedicated to St. Victor, at the foot of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève (the abbey remained outside the walls of the enclosure built by Philip Augustus at the end of the twelfth century).  In 1113, when William was elected Bishop of Chalons-sur-Marne, Louis VI transformed the small retreat into an abbey that was richly endowed the following year. The Pope dedicated the foundation.  The successor of William was the prior Gilduin, dearest disciple of William and confessor of the king. Born in Paris, he is the abbot of 1113–1155. It is most probably during his abbacy, that the customs of St. Victor were composed in the Liber Ordinis Sancti Victoris, following a rigorous asceticism, where silence and manual labor prevailed.  In 1148, the abbey acquired the college of Sainte-Geneviève.  The abbey later fell on hard times, being identified in the 17th and early 18th centuries with the Jansenist movement. It was dissolved and destroyed during the French Revolution.  The site of the former abbey is now largely occupied by Paris VI and VII Universities and by the Muséum and Jardin des Plantes. The name survives in a neighbouring street.

Makeup of the Congregation.

The Victorines are one of the most illustrious of the twelfth-century congregations in terms of cosmopolitan and intellectual pursuits. Thanks to Hugh and his comprehensive teachings, the school took on a universalist dimension that Victorines defended against those who wanted to "rip and shred the whole body and who, by a perverse judgment, arbitrarily choose whatever pleases them."  Saint-Victor became a popular retreat of Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Becket (1118-1170), and the bishops of Paris had an apartment there. The cloister became a public school of theology and liberal arts, a kind of monastery-university attended by the philosopher Abelard and Peter Lombard, author of the famous Sentences (Libri Quattuor Sententiarum).

Library.

The abbey had a rich library open to the public. In the consulting room the manuscripts were chained. But there were other properties: liturgical manuscripts were kept for the choir, some others near the refectory, for reading aloud in the infirmary to the sick and dying, and others consisting of double reserves by the librarian (armarius). Part of the library consisted of a group of books (minores) the canons or students could borrow over long periods (concessi).  The teaching of the abbey activity favoured the development of library funds. Richly endowed, the abbey would be filled by purchases or copies from elsewhere: the scriptorium seems not to have been well developed. Endowments also enriched the collection. In addition, the documents found upon the death of a Victorin (sermons, for example) were compiled and stored in the library.  In Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais, there are satirical references to the library of St Victor (Chapter VII.6).

Scriptorium.

The scriptorium of Saint-Victor has certainly been the cause of experience glosses texts of Scripture by formatting columns, "formal provision entirely unique"; the biblical text in the center, and commentaries on the outside. This seems to be influence of Italian origin as regards their decoration.

Masters of Saint-Victor.

The main and iconic masters of this scholarly abbey remain Hugh and Richard of St. Victor. The first being recognized as the true founder of the school, abbot of 1125-1140, the complete scholar, philosopher, mystic and teacher, whose book "De sacramentis christianae fidei" (1136-1141) is the most important theological synthesis before scholastic Saint Thomas Aquinas. The second, Richard of St. Victor is considered the founder of the medieval mysticism.  Philosophies developed by these Victorines were to give a rational support for the mystical, aided by divine grace, enlightenment or innate principles of truth to the soul. One of the goals of all the Victorines was to promote the spiritual life.

The Abbey of Saint Victor, Paris, also known as Royal Abbey and School of Saint Victor, was an abbey near Paris, France. Its origins are connected to the decision of William of Champeaux, the Archdeacon of Paris, to retire to a small hermitage near Paris in 1108. He took on the life, vocation and observances of the Canons Regular, and his new community followed the Augustinian Rule.


Background.

On March 16, U.S. General Dan McNeill reported that NATO forces were battling insurgents in various places in Southern Afghanistan but that most of the rebel fighters were steering clear of Western troops. He also said that NATO would launch new operations against the Taliban during the spring and summer.

Operation.

Operation Volcano, part of Operation Achilles, saw British Royal Marines clear a Taliban base, consisting of 25 compounds, near the Kajaki hydroelectric dam. The Royal Marines received heavy fire from Taliban assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The Royal Marines systematically cleared the compounds and buildings, backed up by mortars and air support.  On April 3, United States and Afghan forces raided a compound in the Helmand province, after getting a tip-off that a junior Taliban commander was hiding there. Indeed, Taliban forces were present. Heavy fighting broke out, which left at least 10 Taliban dead and two captured. The coalition had no casualties. The fate of the junior commander remains unknown.  On April 30, 1,000 ISAF troops, alongside Afghan National Army ground forces, pushed northwards through the Sangin Valley driving the Taliban from Gereshk and the surrounding villages. It was reported that coalition troops killed more than 130 Taliban fighters, but thousands of Afghans staged a protest saying the victims were civilians. Backed by air support, the Taliban fighters were killed in two separate battles in the western province of Herat, according to a US military statement. As part of the operation, British Royal Engineers built company sized patrol bases for the Afghan National Security Forces.  The deaths triggered an angry protest - the second in the country in two days - over what local villagers claimed was the killing of civilians. Herat, bordering Iran, had been relatively safe until recently compared with the south and east where the Taliban are most active. Both battles were in the Zerkoh valley, south of Shindand district, where Western troops have a large base, and running into Farah province further south.  A total of 87 Taliban fighters were killed during a 14-hour battle with US-led troops and Afghan forces on Sunday. Another 49 Taliban, including two of their leaders, were killed two days earlier after a group of Taliban fired at a joint coalition and Afghan patrol in another part of the valley. However, local officials said that up to 51 civilians, including women and children, were among the dead.

February-May timeline.

February: Operation Volcano, a British operation to clear a Taliban base near the Kajaki hydroelectric dam.  May 1: southern Afghanistan NATO Commander Major-General Ton van Loon of the Netherlands was succeeded by Major-General Jacko Page of the United Kingdom.  May 13: Mullah Dadullah Lang, 2nd in command of the Taliban was killed in a clash with US, Afghan and NATO forces in Helmand Province. He was killed after coalition forces and Afghan forces found him leaving his hideout. Mullah Dadullah was the most experienced Commander the Taliban had at the time of his death.  May 18: Airstrikes targeted a convoy of suspected Taliban militants who had left a meeting in western Afghanistan, killing 14 and wounding 10, a provincial governor reported.  May 21: Taliban militants ambushed a joint U.S.coalition and Afghan patrol in a southern town near Helmand, sparking a battle and airstrikes that killed 25 suspected insurgents, U.S.officials said.  May 30: Operation Achilles ended and the new Operation Lastay Kulang began.

Operation Achilles was a NATO operation, part of the war in Afghanistan. Its objective was to clear Helmand province of the Taliban. The operation began on March 6, 2007. The offensive is the largest NATO-based operation in Afghanistan to date. NATO officials reported that, contrary to previous operations, Taliban fighters were avoiding direct confrontation in favor of guerilla tactics.


History.

The history of the town can be divided into two different periods. In the earlier history of Russia it was known as one of the holy places of the Russian Orthodox Church, because of its monastery, that gave Russia one of its greatest saints, St. Seraphim. Since the 1940s, it has gradually become the center for research and production of Soviet and later Russian nuclear weapons.  The history of human settlement in the area around Sarov goes back at least to the 12th–13th centuries, when a large Mordvin settlement was founded on its spot. In 1298, the town was taken over by Tatars.  The modern town took its name from being the site of the Sarov Monastery next to the Sarov River. In 1664, an Orthodox monk Theodosius first settled on the Sarov hill. The first Church of Sarov tenement was founded in 1706. Saint Seraphim was living in Sarov from 1778 to 1833. In 1903, the monastery was visited by Tsar Nicholas II and other members of the royal family. At that time the monastery had nine churches, including one underground. Around 320 monks lived in the monastery.  In 1923 the monastery was closed, the monks faced Bolshevik repressions, and many were executed. During World War II, the monastery buildings were used as factories for producing rockets for BM-13 "Katyusha" rocket launchers.  In 1946, the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics—a nuclear weapons design facility that would become known in the West under the acronym "VNIIEF"—was built. Sarov became a closed city. It was removed from all unclassified maps. Initial provisional names included Base 112, Site 550, Yasnogorsk, Kremlyev and Arzamas-75. Sarov was known as Arzamas-16 until 1995. In 1954, Arzamas-16 was granted town status.  The town is home to the Russian Federation Nuclear Center and "Atomic Bomb" museum which has a number of casings of Soviet-era nuclear weapons and photographs of those involved in their production. The main access is by train, which, after a security stop and inspection, is allowed into the town to disembark passengers. The small Sarov Airport is generally for government aircraft only, and visitors usually fly to Nizhny Novgorod airport and then drive.  The town is surrounded by fences patrolled by the military. Foreigners, and even Russians who do not live in Sarov, are not allowed to enter the town without permission. Foreigners who visit on business must surrender their passports, phones, and cameras to security while they are in the facility, though some documentary filmmakers have shot footage inside the town walls.  A large portion of the town is located on the grounds of the P.G.S. State Park in adjacent Temnikovsky District of the Republic of Mordovia.  In 1993, the town became a sister city to Los Alamos, New Mexico, the home of the U.S. nuclear weapons design laboratory (Los Alamos National Laboratory, or LANL). Scientists from LANL and VNIIEF have cooperated on various arms control and nuclear safeguards programs, under which the Los Alamos scientists learned, to their amusement, that their Russian colleagues paid homage to their American rivals by irreverently calling their own laboratory "Los Arzamas."  Boris Yeltsin changed the town's name back to Sarov at the request of the residents in August 1995.  On June 17, 1997, a Russian Federal Nuclear Center senior researcher Alexandr Zakharov received a fatal dose of 4850 rem in a criticality accident.  During the 2010 Russian wildfires the Russian Army took preventive forest fire measures and radioactive material was reported to have been secured elsewhere.  Today the Russian federal nuclear center is responsible for important decisions concerning the development, production, storage, and utilization of nuclear weapons; the recycling of radioactive and other materials; and research in fundamental and applied physics. International foundations have helped to fund some research scientists in Sarov following the downsizing and transitions after the Soviet era. The city's fences and the electrified fences around fissile stores are maintained. In 1998 a resident stated that the perimeter fences also kept the city free from organized crime.  On Monday August 12, 2019, flags in Sarov were lowered to half-staff during the viewing of five coffins in Sarov's main square. These were the bodies of five Rosatom workers who were killed during the August 8, 2019, Nyonoksa radiation accident near Severodvinsk at “The State Central Navy Testing Range” () which is the main rocket launching site of the Russian Navy. Later on August 12, 2019, the bodies of the Rosatom workers, who were involved in the development and testing of the 9M730 Burevestnik (Petrel) also known as by the NATO reporting name SSC-X-9 "Skyfall", were buried in Sarov's main cemetery.

Administrative and municipal status.

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the town of oblast significance of Sarov—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the town of oblast significance of Sarov is incorporated as Sarov Urban Okrug.

International relations.

Twin towns and sister cities.

Sarov is twinned with:

Sarov () is a closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It was known as Gorkiy-130 (Горький-130) and Arzamas-16 () from 1946 to 1991. Until 1995, it was known as Kremlyov (). The town is closed as it is the Russian center for nuclear research. Population: 92,047 (2010 Census); 87,652 (2002 Census)


Description.

The Venus stares straight at the viewer, unconcerned with her nudity. In her right hand she holds a posy of roses whilst she holds her other hand over her genitals. In the near background is a dog, often a symbol of fidelity. In a different space in the background two maids are shown rummaging through a "cassone" chest, where clothes were kept.  The detailed depiction of the interior setting is unusual, perhaps unique, in Titian. Titian contracted for the 21 year old Ippolito de' Medici, reluctantly made a cardinal (though not a priest), by his uncle, Pope Clement VII. He was trying to pursue a military career, and was a papal diplomat. On 20 October 1532 he spent the night in Venice with Angela del Moro, or Angela Zaffetta, a leading courtesan in Venice and sometimes a dining companion of Titian and Aretino, the latter a friend of the cardinal. Titian painted Ippolito's portrait, and it seems likely that he was asked to add a nude portrait of Angela Zaffetta, or that Titian decided to paint one in the hope he would like it. On 20 December 1534 Titian wrote to Ippolito's chamberlain in Rome saying that he had been working on a painting of a woman for the cardinal. Ippolito died in August 1535, and apparently never saw the painting, which was still in Titian's studio when Guidobaldo II della Rovere, the 24-year-old son of the Duke of Urbino came in January 1538 to sit for a portrait. As letters from him and his mother show, he was extremely keen to buy it, and did so some months later; he refers to it simply as "the nude woman", and was worried Titian would sell it to someone else. Later that year he inherited the Duchy of Urbino on the death of his father, hence the painting acquired the name by which it is usually known, although it seems it was mostly kept in Pesaro from early on.  Alternatively, the painting may have been commissioned by Guidobaldo, possibly to celebrate his marriage in 1534 to the 10 year-old Giulia Varano, which made him Duke of Camerino, or its consummation, which was probably a few years later. Some critics have seen references to marriage in details such as the maids at the "cassone", where the "corredo" or trousseau of clothes generally given to the bride by her husband's family were stored. Rona Goffen sees Venus's hand "caressing" her genitals as such a reference, as it was believed at the time that a female "emission" or orgasm was necessary for conception to take place, and female masturbation was therefore allowed only in cases where the male had ejaculated and withdrawn. The production of heirs was of great concern in elite marriages. Even the little dog on the bed has been brought into the argument; an identical dog is shown in Titian's portrait of the duke's mother Eleonora Gonzaga, the reasoning being that the dog identifies the house as a della Rovere home, and that it remains quiet indicates that the viewer is the husband of the woman.

Later history.

In 1624, as the Papacy moved to fully annex the duchy to the Papal States, the della Rovere court moved to Pesaro, where the painting hung in the Villa Imperiale. It joined the Medici family collections in 1633 when the last della Rovere, Vittoria della Rovere, married Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. It was moved to the Uffizi in 1736, and has remained there ever since, apart from visits to exhibitions which in the 21st century have included Madrid, Brussels, Tokyo, Venice and Urbino. It has long been famous, as is shown by its prominent placing at the front of the gallery group portrait by Johan Zoffany of the "Tribuna of the Uffizi" of the 1770s.  In his 1880 travelogue "A Tramp Abroad", Mark Twain called the "Venus of Urbino" "the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses". He proposed that "it was painted for a bagnio [brothel], and it was probably refused because it was a trifle too strong", adding humorously that "in truth, it is a trifle too strong for any place but a public art gallery". Twain does this to juxtapose the artistic license (for nudity, for example) allowed in painting, as opposed to the restrictions and Victorian morality imposed on literature in the "last eighty or ninety years". In the same passage, Twain also mocks the fig leaves placed in the 19th century on nude statues in Rome, which had "stood in innocent nakedness for ages." The "Venus of Urbino" was one of the inspirations for Édouard Manet's 1863 "Olympia", in which the figure of Venus is replaced with the model Victorine Meurent.

Sculptures.

Lorenzo Bartolini developed the same theme in sculpture with his Venus (about 1830), based on the painting that his friend J.A.D. Ingres copied for him from the Titian version. The original sculpture can be seen at the Musée Fabre in Montpellier; a copy is at the Lady Lever Art Gallery near Liverpool.

The Venus of Urbino (also known as Reclining Venus) is an oil painting by the Italian painter Titian, which seems to have been begun in 1532 or 1534, and was perhaps completed in 1534, but not sold until 1538. It depicts a nude young woman, traditionally identified with the goddess Venus, reclining on a couch or bed in the sumptuous surroundings of a Renaissance palace. It is now in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence.


Education.

Zariski was born Oscher (also transliterated as Ascher or Osher) Zaritsky to a Jewish family (his parents were Bezalel Zaritsky and Hanna Tennenbaum) and in 1918 studied at the University of Kiev. He left Kiev in 1920 to study at the University of Rome where he became a disciple of the Italian school of algebraic geometry, studying with Guido Castelnuovo, Federigo Enriques and Francesco Severi.  Zariski wrote a doctoral dissertation in 1924 on a topic in Galois theory, which was proposed to him by Castelnuovo. At the time of his dissertation publication, he changed his name to Oscar Zariski.

Johns Hopkins University years.

Zariski emigrated to the United States in 1927 supported by Solomon Lefschetz. He had a position at Johns Hopkins University where he became professor in 1937. During this period, he wrote "Algebraic Surfaces" as a summation of the work of the Italian school. The book was published in 1935 and reissued 36 years later, with detailed notes by Zariski's students that illustrated how the field of algebraic geometry had changed. It is still an important reference.  It seems to have been this work that set the seal of Zariski's discontent with the approach of the Italians to birational geometry. He addressed the question of rigour by recourse to commutative algebra. The Zariski topology, as it was later known, is adequate for "biregular geometry", where varieties are mapped by polynomial functions. That theory is too limited for algebraic surfaces, and even for curves with singular points. A rational map is to a regular map as a rational function is to a polynomial: it may be indeterminate at some points. In geometric terms, one has to work with functions defined on some open, dense set of a given variety. The description of the behaviour on the complement may require infinitely near points to be introduced to account for limiting behaviour "along different directions". This introduces a need, in the surface case, to use also valuation theory to describe the phenomena such as blowing up (balloon-style, rather than explosively).

Harvard University years.

After spending a year 1946–1947 at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Zariski became professor at Harvard University in 1947 where he remained until his retirement in 1969. In 1945, he fruitfully discussed foundational matters for algebraic geometry with André Weil. Weil's interest was in putting an abstract variety theory in place, to support the use of the Jacobian variety in his proof of the Riemann hypothesis for curves over finite fields, a direction rather oblique to Zariski's interests. The two sets of foundations weren't reconciled at that point.  At Harvard, Zariski's students included Shreeram Abhyankar, Heisuke Hironaka, David Mumford, Michael Artin and Steven Kleiman—thus spanning the main areas of advance in singularity theory, moduli theory and cohomology in the next generation. Zariski himself worked on equisingularity theory. Some of his major results, Zariski's main theorem and the Zariski theorem on holomorphic functions, were amongst the results generalized and included in the programme of Alexander Grothendieck that ultimately unified algebraic geometry.  Zariski proposed the first example of a Zariski surface in 1958.

Views.

Zariski was a Jewish atheist.

Awards and recognition.

Zariski was awarded the Steele Prize in 1981, and in the same year the Wolf Prize in Mathematics with Lars Ahlfors. He wrote also "Commutative Algebra" in two volumes, with Pierre Samuel. His papers have been published by MIT Press, in four volumes. In 1997 a conference was held in his honor in Obergurgl, Austria.

Oscar Zariski (April 24, 1899 – July 4, 1986) was a Russian-born American mathematician and one of the most influential algebraic geometers of the 20th century.


Biography.

Ludovic Halévy was born in Paris. His father, Léon Halévy (1802–1883), was a civil servant and a clever and versatile writer, who tried almost every branch of literature—prose and verse, vaudeville, drama, history—without, however, achieving decisive success in any. His uncle, Fromental Halévy, was a noted composer of opera; hence the double and early connection of Ludovic Halévy with the Parisian stage. His father had converted from Judaism to Christianity prior to his marriage with Alexandrine Lebas, daughter of a Christian architect.  At the age of six, Halévy might have been seen playing in that "Foyer de la danse" with which he was to make his readers so familiar, and, when a boy of twelve, he would often, on a Sunday night, on his way back to the Collège Louis le Grand, look in at the Odéon, where he had free admittance, and see the first act of the new play. At eighteen he joined the ranks of the French administration and occupied various posts, the last being that of "secrétaire-rédacteur" to the Corps Législatif. In that capacity, he enjoyed the special favour and friendship of the famous duke of Morny, then president of that assembly. In 1865, Ludovic Halévy's increasing popularity as an author enabled him to retire from the public service. Ten years earlier, he had become acquainted with the musician Offenbach, who was about to start a small theatre of his own in the Champs-Élysées, and he wrote a sort of prologue, "Entrez, messieurs, mesdames", for the opening night. Other little productions followed, "Ba-ta-clan" being the most noticeable among them. They were produced under the pseudonym of Jules Servières. The name of Ludovic Halévy appeared for the first time on the bills on 1 January 1856. Soon afterwards, the unprecedented run of "Orphée aux enfers", a musical parody, written in collaboration with Hector Crémieux, made his name famous. In the spring of 1860, he was commissioned to write a play for the manager of the Variétés in conjunction with another vaudevillist, Lambert-Thiboust.  The latter having abruptly retired from the collaboration, Halévy was at a loss how to carry out the contract, when on the steps of the theatre he met Henri Meilhac (1831–1897), then comparatively a stranger to him. He proposed to Meilhac the task rejected by Lambert Thiboust, and the proposal was immediately accepted. Thus began a connection which was to last over twenty years, and which proved most fruitful both for the reputation of the two authors and the prosperity of the minor Paris theatres. Their joint works may be divided into three classes: the operettas, the farces, the comedies. The "opérettes" afforded excellent opportunities to a gifted musician for the display of his peculiar humour. They were broad and lively libels against the society of the time, but savoured strongly of the vices and follies they were supposed to satirize. Amongst the most celebrated works of the joint authors were "La belle Hélène" (1864), "Barbe-bleue" (1866), "La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein" (1867), "La Périchole" (1868), and "Le Réveillon", which became one of the sources of Johann Strauss's operetta Die Fledermaus.  After 1870, the vogue of parody rapidly declined. The decadence became still more apparent when Offenbach was no longer at hand to assist the two authors with his quaint musical irony, and when they had to deal with interpreters almost destitute of singing powers. They wrote farces of the old type, consisting of complicated intrigues, with which they cleverly interwove the representation of contemporary whims and social oddities. They generally failed when they attempted comedies of a more serious character and tried to introduce a higher sort of emotion. A solitary exception must be made in the case of "Froufrou" (1869), which, owing perhaps to the admirable talent of Aimée Desclée, remains their unique "Succès de larmes". During this period, they wrote the libretto to "Carmen" but it was a sideshow to their other work. Meilhac and Halévy will be found at their best in light sketches of Parisian life, "Les Sonnettes", "Madame attend Monsieur", "Toto chez Tata" and "Le Roi Candaule" (the title of the last is derived from the Classical Greek account of the semi-legendary King Candaules). In that intimate association between the two men who had met so opportunely on the "perron des variétés", it was often asked who was the leading partner. The question was not answered until the connection was finally severed and they stood before the public, each to answer for his own work. It was then apparent that they had many gifts in common. Both had wit, humour, observation of character. Meilhac had a ready imagination, a rich and whimsical fancy; Halévy had taste, refinement and pathos of a certain kind. Not less clever than his brilliant comrade, he was more human.  Of this he gave evidence in two delightful books, "Monsieur et Madame Cardinal" (1873) and "Les Petites Cardinal", in which the lowest orders of the Parisian middle class are faithfully described. The pompous, pedantic, venomous "Monsieur Cardinal" will long survive as the true image of sententious and self-glorifying immorality. M. Halévy's peculiar qualities are even more visible in the simple and striking scenes of the Invasion, published soon after the conclusion of the Franco-German War, in "Criquette" (1883) and "The Abbot Constantine" (1882), two novels, the latter of which went through innumerable editions. Émile Zola had presented to the public an almost exclusive combination of bad men and women; in "L'Abbé Constantin" all are kind and good, and the change was eagerly welcomed by the public. Some enthusiasts robustly maintain that the Abbé will rank permanently in literature by the side of the equally chimerical "Vicar of Wakefield". At any rate, it opened for M. Ludovic Halévy the doors of the Académie française, to which he was elected in 1884.  Halévy remained an assiduous frequenter of the Academy, the Conservatoire, the Comédie Française, and the Society of Dramatic Authors, but, when he died in Paris on 7 May 1908, he had produced practically nothing new for many years.  His last romance, "Kari Kari", appeared in 1892. His diary was published in book form in 1935 as well as serially in the pages of the "Revue des Deux Mondes" in 1937–38.

Ludovic Halévy (1 January 1834 – 7 May 1908) was a French author and playwright, best known for his collaborations with Henri Meilhac on Georges Bizet's "Carmen" and on the works of Jacques Offenbach.


Description.

This fast-growing tree can reach up to in its native range of Melanesia and Polynesia; however, it usually averages in other areas. "Spondias dulcis" has deciduous, pinnate leaves, in length, composed of 9 to 25 glossy, elliptic or obovate-oblong leaflets long, which are finely toothed toward the apex. The tree produces small, inconspicuous white flowers in terminal panicles. Its oval fruits, long, are borne in bunches of 12 or more on a long stalk. Over several weeks, the fruit fall to the ground while still green and hard, then turn golden-yellow as they ripen. According to Morton (1987), "some fruits in the South Sea Islands weigh over each."

Habitat.

"Spondias dulcis" has been introduced into tropical areas across the world. It was brought to Jamaica in 1782, and it is cultivated in Panama, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and eastern Sucre in Venezuela. The United States Department of Agriculture received seeds from Liberia in 1909, but it did not become a popular crop in the US. Nevertheless, it is grown in South Florida as far north as Palm Beach County. The fruit is also widely grown in Somalia's agriculture belt, probably introduced during the colonial times preceding 1960.

As food.

"Spondias dulcis" is most commonly used as a food source. In West Java, its young leaves are used as seasoning for "pepes". In Costa Rica, the more mature leaves are also eaten as a salad green though they are tart. However, it is most commonly used for its fruit.  The fruit may be eaten raw; the flesh is crunchy and a little sour. According to Boning (2006): "The fruit is best when fully colored, but still somewhat crunchy. At this stage, it has a pineapple-mango flavor. The flesh is golden in color, very juicy, vaguely sweet, but with a hint of tart acidity." In Indonesia and Malaysia, it is eaten with shrimp paste, a thick, black, salty-sweet sauce called "hayko" in the Southern Min dialect of Chinese. It is an ingredient in "rujak" in Indonesia and "rojak" in Malaysia. The juice is called "kedondong" in Indonesia, "amra" in Malaysia, and "balonglong" in Singapore.  The fruit is made into preserves and flavorings for sauces, soups, braised and stews. In Fiji it is made into jam. In Samoa and Tonga it is used to make "otai". In Sri Lanka the fruit is soaked in vinegar with chili and other spices to make the snack food "acharu". In Vietnam the unripe fruit is eaten with salt, sugar, and chili, or with shrimp paste. Children eat the fruit macerated in artificially sweetened licorice extract. In Jamaica, it is mostly considered a novelty, especially by children. It can be eaten with salt or made into a drink sweetened with sugar and spiced with ginger. It is also used to make juice in Grenada. In Trinidad and Tobago, it is curried, sweetened, salted, or flavored with pepper sauce and spices. In Cambodia it is made into a salad called "nhoam mkak" (/ɲŏam məkaʔ/ ញាំម្កាក់). In Suriname, the fruit is dried and made into a spicy chutney, mixed with garlic and peppers. In Thai cuisine both the fruits and the tender leaves are eaten.

Spondias dulcis (syn. "Spondias cytherea"), known commonly as'() in Sri Lanka or June plum, is an equatorial or tropical tree, with edible fruit containing a fibrous pit. It is known by many other names in various regions, including kedondong in Indonesia and in Malaysia, ambra in Malaysia, buah long long among the Chinese population in Singapore, Isbaandheys' in Somalia, Embe Ng'ong'o' in Tanzania, prune de cythère, pommecythere, or golden apple in Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Suriname, Saint Lucia and Martinique, June plum in Bermuda and Jamaica, mangotín in Panama, yuplón in Costa Rica, golden apple in Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Guyana, golden plum in Belize, jobo indio in Venezuela, cajá-manga and cajarana in Brazil and São Tomé and Príncipe, quả cóc in Vietnam, /məkaʔ/ (ម្កាក់) in Cambodia, amra in Bangladesh, manzana de oro in Dominican Republic, cas mango in Cameroon, Maldives, vi in Samoa, Tonga, and Hawaii. In Seychelles frisiter" and มะกอกบก or มะกอกฝรั่ง"' (magog bog or magog farang) in Thailand.


Structure.

The founder of the university is Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.  The management bodies of the university are University Council, the University Senate and the University Rector.  Mykolas Romeris University consists of: 2 faculties and 4 Institutes, Mykolas Romeris Law School and Public Security Academy. It offers more than 90 programmes at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral levels in Lithuanian and English languages. Studies are carried out in compliance to the major principles of Bologna process. The major fields of study are Business, Communication, Economics, Educology, Finance, History, Management, Informatics, Law, Management, Philology, Philosophy, Political Sciences, Psychology, Public Administration, Public Security, Social Work, and Sociology.  Asian Centre MRU was established in April 2013 and it focuses on cooperation with Japan, South Korea, China and India. It also offers Korean, Chinese and Japanese language courses free of charge. Vilnius King Sejong Institute (KSI) at MRU promotes cultural understanding Lithuania - S. Korea through Korean language, culture, economics and politics courses. KSI teaches Korean language and culture to foreigners who want to learn Korean as a second language or a foreign language.

Studies.

For International Students Mykolas Romeris University offers 9 Bachelor, 18 Master and 6 Doctoral degree programmes in English language.

Research.

Mykolas Romeris University engages in fundamental and applied research, takes part in national, regional and international research programmes and projects, and practically applies research results and disseminates them to the public. The research results, carried out in the University's faculties, departments, in laboratories, institutes, and centres, make up the basis of integration between research and studies. Traditionally the University has engaged in research in the area of social sciences and more recently, has initiated research in biomedicine, technology and the humanities.

Internationalization.

International cooperation at MRU is oriented to strengthen internationalization in studies and research. In partnership with other institutions, joint study programmes are created. Students, academics and administrative personnel participate in exchange programmes, international conferences and other events. The University's international ties span all the regions of the globe. It has affiliations with more than 400 foreign academic and state institutions. From 2006, the University offers joint master's degree study programmes and encourages its students to attain double or triple diplomas. One of the goals of University's internationalization is student diversification, thus the number of international students is continually growing. This enables both Lithuanian and international students to share experiences and ideas as well as to work together on joint international projects, expanding their world views and cultural awareness.  Currently MRU has over 500 of international students with majority of students coming from Ukraine, Turkey, France, Germany, Italy, Spain. Every semester number of International degree seeking students and exchange students (under Erasmus+ and bilateral agreements) is growing.

Campus.

The University is known for having modern – and some of the best – infrastructure in the country MRU's Central Campus is located in the Northern part of Vilnius, surrounded by the park:

Sports.

Mykolas Romeris University is a perfect place to train or work out. Students are encouraged to engage in an active lifestyle on campus through organized activities and individual health promotion. New athletic halls for gymnastics, games and table tennis have been set up.

Mykolas Romeris University () is one of Lithuania's largest universities, bearing the name of the Lithuanian legal scholar, judge and father of Lithuania's Constitutional Law Mykolas Römeris. Established after restoration of independence of the Republic of Lithuania in 1990, it became a state university.


History.

In 1360 Charles V began constructing Hôtel Saint-Pol from the Hôtel du Petit-Musc, purchased in 1318 by Louis of Bourbon, a grandson of Louis IX. From then until 1364, Charles continued to improve and develop it by acquiring additional property, including the newer Hôtel d'Étampes in 1361, and ordering the construction of new buildings. The king, who could not stand the pestilential odours of Paris and the problems they caused his health, appreciated its location outside the medieval city. He valued the residence for its calm and its cleaner environment, which he claimed had helped him avoid illnesses, and more importantly recover good health.  On 28 January 1393, the Bal des Ardents took place at the Hôtel Saint-Pol. Four noble dancers caught fire and were burned to death, while Charles VI and another dancer barely escaped the flames.

Expansion of the park of the Hôtel Saint-Pol.

The Hôtel Saint-Pol was not a single building, but consisted of three important dwellings making up the royal residence: one dwelling for the king, one for the queen (the former Hôtel d'Étampes), one for their children (the former Hôtel des Abbés de Saint-Maur). All had rooms for banquets and entertainments given by the king, and rooms for guests. Charles V had the residence luxuriously decorated according to his personal tastes, with precious woods, paintings, and goldwork. Walls were decorated with hangings embroidered with pearls, and books were displayed on the furniture, along with golden ornaments. Two chapels were built in the residence, one for the king, the other for his consort, Joanna of Bourbon. The "hôtel" included a remarkable collection of precious books that the king enjoyed assembling, including those of his father, John II, who had also been a great lover of books. This collection allowed Charles V to create the Royal Library, which would later become the Bibliothèque nationale de France, France's national library in Paris. Within his own residence, Charles V included a room for the Conseil du Roi where affairs of state were conducted.

Etiquette.

The Hôtel Saint-Pol and other palaces were the sites where the first versions of a royal etiquette at the French court were developed. Charles V, for instance, had his servants dressed in liveries appropriate to the stature of a king of France.

The Hôtel Saint-Pol in the 15th and 16th centuries.

After Charles VII fled to Bourges in 1418, the Hôtel Saint-Pol was abandoned by Charles and his successors. Louis XI preferred the Château de Plessis-lez-Tours, and when visiting Paris stayed at the Château de Vincennes. Charles VIII, Louis XII, and Francis I lived in the Loire Valley or at the Château de Fontainebleau, and the Hôtel Saint-Pol fell into ruin. In 1519, part of it was sold by order of Francis I, and several years later, it was completely demolished. A wall of the church of Saint-Paul, which formed part of the "hôtel", survives to this day.

The Hôtel Saint-Pol was a royal residence begun in 1360 by Charles V of France on the ruins of a building constructed by Louis IX. It was used by Charles V and Charles VI. Located on the Right Bank, to the northwest of the Quartier de l'Arsenal in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, the residence's grounds stretched from the Quai des Célestins to the Rue Saint-Antoine, and from the Rue Saint-Paul to the Rue du Petit-Musc. It fell into disuse and ruin after the death of Isabeau de Bavière in 1435 and was demolished after François I of France sold it in parts at auction in 1543.


Overview.

Following research carried out by Vodafone that showed that fewer than 25% of people carry any details of who they would like telephoned following a serious accident, a campaign encouraging people to do this was started in May 2005 by Bob Brotchie of the East of England Ambulance Service in the UK. The idea has taken off since 7 July 2005 London bombings.  When interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 "Today" programme on 12 July 2005, Brotchie said: "I was reflecting on some difficult calls I've attended, where people were unable to speak to me through injury or illness and we were unable to find out who they were. I discovered that many people, obviously, carry mobile phones and we were using them to discover who they were. It occurred to me that if we had a uniform approach to searching inside a mobile phone for an emergency contact then that would make it easier for everyone."  Brotchie also urged mobile phone manufacturers to support the campaign by adding an ICE heading to phone number lists of all new mobile phones.  With this additional information and medical information, first responders can access this information from the victim's phone in the event of an emergency. In the event of a major trauma, it is critical to have this information within the golden hour, which can increase the chances of survival.

Criticism.

While some emergency responders lauded the suggestion others have criticized it.  In Germany, the "In Case of Emergency" concept has been criticised for many reasons: It is recommended that one carries contact information and relevant medical information in writing inside one's wallet, and not rely on ICE contacts as a primary means of identification.  Other problems include language-dependent text (ICE in English, ECU in French, etc. etc.), the difficulty of accessing locked, discharged or broken phones, differences among mobile models requiring training of emergency responders.  Many smartphone models have dedicated ICE contact information functionality either built into the OS or available as apps. Saving duplicate phone numbers on a phone without dedicated ICE functionality may cause the ICE and regular contacts to be combined, or cause the caller ID to fail for incoming calls from a close friend or relative. (To avoid this, some use the "tel:" URI scheme to put the phone number in the ICE contact's "home page" field.)  A "competing proposal" exists called E.123 which is also an official ITU-T standard.  The hoaxbuster site classified the claims of the program as "partly true, partly false".

Locked phones.

For security purposes, many mobile phone owners now lock their mobiles, requiring a passcode to be entered in order to access the device. This hinders the ability of first responders to access the ICE phone list entry. In response to this problem, many device manufacturers have provided a mechanism to specify some text to be displayed while the mobile is in the locked state. The owner of the phone can specify their "In Case of Emergency" contact and also a "Lost and Found" contact. For example, BlackBerry mobiles permit the "Owner" information to be set in the Settings → Options → Owner menu item. Android users running Android Nougat (Android 7.0) or higher also have the ability to program emergency information and contact details accessible by others through the emergency call screen when the device is locked. Emergency contacts can be added to iPhone lock screens with the iOS Health application, and accessed by tapping or swiping to the Emergency dialer, where calls to 911 or another pre-specified number can be made, and the Medical ID button is displayed as well. When accessing this Medical ID, the user's name, health information, allergies and medications can be listed, along with the ability to directly contact listed emergency contacts.  Alternatively, some handsets provide access to a list of ICE contacts directly from the "locked" screen. There are also smartphone "apps" (applications) that allow custom ICE and emergency information to be displayed on the "locked" screen. For instance, the Medical ID Android app enables quick access to medical information and emergency contacts.

Popularity.

The popularity of the program is difficult to assess. A CNN article mentioned that the program might be spreading into North America, but gave different instructions to its readers.

In Case of Emergency (ICE) is a program that enables first responders, such as paramedics, firefighters, and police officers, as well as hospital personnel, to contact the next of kin of the owner of a mobile phone to obtain important medical or support information (the phone must be unlocked and working). The phone entry (or entries) should supplement or complement written (such as wallet, bracelet, or necklace) information or indicators. The programme was conceived in the mid-2000s and promoted by British paramedic Bob Brotchie in May 2005. It encourages people to enter emergency contacts in their mobile phone address book under the name "ICE". Alternatively, a person can list multiple emergency contacts as "ICE1", "ICE2", etc.