Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.

The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, though administered as a city with special status separately from the rest of the region. A 2022 official estimate reported a population of 1,350,228 within the city limits, making it the second-largest city in the country, after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997; since then it has grown and developed economically into one of the most modern cities in Central Asia. In 2021, the government selected Astana as one of the 10 priority destinations for tourist development.

Modern Astana is a planned city, following the process of other planned capitals. After it became the capital of Kazakhstan, the city dramatically changed shape with its master-plan  designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. As the seat of the government of Kazakhstan, Astana is the site of the Parliament House, Supreme Court, Ak Orda Presidential Palace and numerous government departments and agencies. It is home to a range of futuristic buildings, including many skyscrapers.

Names
The settlement of Akmoly was founded in 1830, possibly named after a local landmark—Ақ мола literally means white grave in Kazakh—although this theory is not universally accepted. In 1832, it was granted town status and renamed Akmolinsk. In 1961 under Khrushchev's government, it was renamed Tselinograd, Russian for "virgin lands city". In 1991 following Kazakhstan's independence, the name was changed to Akmola.

In December 1997, the city replaced Almaty as the capital of Kazakhstan, and in May 1998, it was renamed Astana, which means "capital city" in Kazakh. In March 2019, the capital was renamed to Nur-Sultan (; ; ) in honor of the long-ruling President Nursultan Nazarbayev, shortly after his resignation. In September 2022, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a constitutional amendment to revert to the name Astana. , it holds the Guinness World Record for the capital city with the most name changes in modern times.

History

Middle Ages (8th to 18th centuries)
Many centuries ago, the Bozok settlement was located on the territory of modern Astana. It was a military fortress of the Steppe section of the Great Silk Road. The etymology of the Turkic word "Boz" carries several meanings such as 'untouched earth', 'virgin soil' and 'feather grass'. It was a large settlement of the 12-14th centuries. At present, Astana is expanding to the territory of ancient Bozok.

Early years (1830–1918)
The settlement of Akmoly was established on the Ishim River in 1830 as the seat of an okrug. In 1832, the settlement was granted town status and named Akmolinsk. The advantages of the position of the town were clear as early as 1863. It describes how picket roads and lines connected this geographic center to Kargaly in the East, Aktau fort in the South and through Atbasar to Kokshetau in the West. In 1838, at the height of the great national and liberation movement headed by Kenesary Khan, Akmolinsk fortress was burned. After the repression of the liberation movement, the fortress was rebuilt. On 16 July 1863, Akmolinsk was officially declared an uyezd town. In 1869, Akmolinsk external district and department were cancelled, and Akmolinsk became the center of the newly established Akmolinsk Oblast. In 1879, Major General Dubelt proposed to build a railway between Tyumen and Akmolinsk to the Ministry of Communications of Russia.  In the course of the first 30 years of its existence, the population of Akmola numbered a trifle more than 2,000 people. However, over the next 30 years the city's population increased by three times according to volosts and settlements of the Akmolinsk Oblast. In 1893, Akmolinsk was an uyezd with a 6,428 strong population, 3 churches, 5 schools and colleges and 3 factories.

Soviet era (1918–1991)
During World War II, Akmolinsk served as a route for the transport of engineering tools and equipment from evacuated plants in the Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR, and Russian SFSR located in the oblasts of the Kazakh SSR. Local industries were appointed to respond to war needs, assisting the country to provide the battle and home fronts with all materials needed. In the post-war years, Akmolinsk became a beacon of economic revival in the west of the Soviet Union ruined by the war. Additionally, many Russian-Germans were resettled here after being deported under Joseph Stalin's rule.

In 1954, Northern Kazakh SSR oblasts became a territory of the Virgin Lands Campaign, in order to turn the region into a second grain producer for the Soviet Union. In December 1960, Central Committee made a resolution to create the Tselinniy Krai, which comprised five regions of the Northern Kazakh SSR oblasts. Akmolinsk Oblast was ceased to exist as a separate administrative entity. Its districts were directly subordinated to the new krai administration, and Akmolinsk became the krai capital, as well as the administrative seat of the new Virgin Lands economic region. On 14 March 1961, Khrushchev suggested the city should have a name corresponding to its role in the Virgin Lands Campaign. On 20 March 1961, the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR renamed Akmolinsk to Tselinograd. On 24 April 1961, the region was reconstituted as Tselinograd Oblast. In the 1960s, Tselinograd was completely transformed. In 1963, work on the first three new high-rise housing districts began. In addition, the city received a number of new monumental public buildings, including the Virgin Lands Palace, a Palace of Youth, a House of Soviets, a new airport, and several sports venues. In 1971, the Tselinniy Krai was abolished and Tselinograd became the centre of the oblast.

Contemporary era (1991–present)
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the consequent independence of Kazakhstan, the city's original name was restored in the modified form Akmola. On 6 July 1994, the Supreme Council of Kazakhstan adopted the decree "On the transfer of the capital of Kazakhstan". After the capital of Kazakhstan was moved from Almaty to Akmola on 10 December 1997, the city was consequently renamed Astana in 1998. On 10 June 1998, Astana was presented as the capital internationally. Due to several determined advantages, Astana was chosen as the capital: large urban areas, favorable geographical position, proximity to the major economic centers of the region, considerable demographic capacity, good transportation facilities, and a relatively favorable climate. On 16 July 1999, Astana was awarded the medal and title of the City of Peace by UNESCO.

In March 2019, the Kazakhstani government renamed the city Nur-Sultan to honour the country's outgoing long-term authoritarian president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. In September 2022, after a number of controversies and unrest resulting in Nazarbayev's resignation from the Security Council of Kazakhstan, the name of the capital was changed back to Astana.

Geography

Astana is almost  from the country's largest city and former capital, Almaty. The nearest big cities are Karaganda () and Omsk in Russia ().

Topography
Astana is located in central Kazakhstan on the Ishim River in a very flat, semi-arid steppe region which covers most of the country's territory. It is at 51° 10' north latitude and 71° 26' east longitude. The city encompasses . The elevation of Astana is  above sea level. Astana is in a spacious steppe landscape, in the transitional area between the north of Kazakhstan and the extremely thinly settled national centre, because of the Ishim River. The older boroughs lie north of the river, whilst the new boroughs are located south of the Ishim.

Time
The time offset from the UTC used by Astana is 6 hours ahead of UTC, or UTC+6:00. This is also used by most of Kazakhstan and Almaty.

Climate
Astana is the second-coldest national capital in the world after Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, a position formerly held by Canada's capital, Ottawa, until Astana attained capital city status in 1997. Astana has an extreme continental climate with warm summers (featuring occasional brief rain showers) and long, very cold, dry winters. Summer temperatures occasionally reach  while  is not unusual between mid-December and early March. Typically, the city's river is frozen over between the second week of November and the beginning of April. Astana has a well-deserved reputation among Kazakhs for its frequent high winds, the effects of which are felt particularly strongly on the fast-developing but relatively exposed Left Bank area of the city.

Overall, Astana has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb). The average annual temperature in Astana is . January is the coldest month with an average temperature of  and record lowest is in January 1893's cold wave reaching temperatures down to . July is the hottest month with an average temperature of .

Demographics

Population
As of January 2020, the population of Astana is 1,136,008; over double the 2002 population of 493,000.

As of 2018, ethnic Kazakhs made up 80.6% of the city population, representing a significant increase from only 17% at the time of the country's independence.

Ethnic groups (2020):
 Kazakh: 79.1%
Russian: 12.85%
Ukrainian: 1.32%
Tatar: 1.08%
Uzbek: 0.96%
 Others: 4.65%

In 1989, Tselinograd had a population of 281,000. The ethnic mix was about 17.7% Kazakh, 54.1% Russian and 28.2% other ethnic groups.

By 2007, Astana's population had more than doubled since becoming the capital, to over 600,000, and it topped 1 million in 2017. Migrant workers—legal and illegal—have been attracted from across Kazakhstan and neighbouring states such as Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and Astana is a magnet for young professionals seeking to build a career.

Religion

Islam is the predominant religion of the city. Other religions practiced are Christianity (primarily Russian Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism), Judaism, and Buddhism.

The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation was specially constructed in 2006 to host the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. It contains accommodations for different religions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and other faiths.

Central Asia's largest mosque is found in Astana.

Metropolitan area
The metropolitan area centered upon Astana includes the Arshaly, Shortandy, Tselinograd and (partially) Akkol districts of Akmola Region. The area contains 1.2 million people.

Economy

Astana's economy is based on trade, industrial production, transport, communication and construction. The city's industrial production is mainly focused on producing building materials, foodstuff and mechanical engineering.

Astana is the leader in the CIS region on Global Financial Centers Index rank in 2022.

The Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) opened in July 2018 to become a hub for financial services in Central Asia.

Astana is the headquarters of state-owned corporations such as Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, KazMunayGas, KazTransOil, Kazatomprom, KEGOC, Kazpost and Kazakhtelecom.

The shift of the capital has given it a powerful boost to Astana's economic development. The city's high economic growth rate has attracted numerous investors. In the 16 years since Astana became the capital, the volume of investments has increased by almost 30 times, the gross regional product has increased by 90 times, and industrial output has increased by 11 times. The city's Gross Regional Product makes up about 8.5 per cent of the republic's Gross domestic product.

The Astana – New City special economic zone was established in 2001 to help develop industry and increase the attractiveness of the city to investors. The SEZ plans to commission five projects worth 20 billion KZT (around $108 million) in the Industrial Park No. 1 in 2015. The projects include construction of a plant for production of diesel engines, a fast food complex, temporary storage warehouses and a business center, a furniture factory, and production of military and civil engineering machinery. The new Astana International Financial Centre opened in July 2018.

Astana's administration is promoting the development of small and medium-sized businesses through the cooperation of the Sovereign Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna and National Economic Chamber. Support is provided by a special programme of crediting. As a result, the number of small and medium-sized businesses increased by 13.7% to over 96,000 compared to the previous year as of 1 July 2015. In addition, the number of people employed in small and medium-sized business increased by 17.8% to over 234,000 people as of 1 April 2015.

Astana was included in the list of top 21 intelligent communities of the world, according to the report released by the Intelligent Community Forum in October 2016. The rating list includes the cities, regions and communities which use digital instruments for the construction of local economy and society.

In 2018, Astana attracted more than three trillion tenge (US$7.91 billion) in foreign direct investment, a record amount for the city. The growth was achieved due to a large number of construction projects.

Tourism becomes one of the factors that drive economic growth in the city. Astana is among the top ten most attractive tourist cities in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Diplomacy platform
Astana has become a platform for high-profile diplomatic talks and summits on critical global issues. Astana has hosted multiple rounds of talks between the Syrian Arab Republic government led by Bashar al-Assad and Syrian opposition. The 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was originally scheduled to take place in June 2020 in then Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, WTO members discussed Kazakhstan's offer to reschedule the conference to June 2021 but postponed taking a decision due to the ongoing pandemic. In April 2021, members agreed that MC12 would take place in Geneva from 30 November to 3 December. Since 2003, Astana has hosted the Congress on World and Traditional Religions, which is a diverse gathering of religious leaders to discuss religious harmony and ending terrorism and extremism.

Cityscape

Astana is subdivided into four districts. Almaty District was created on 6 May 1998 by presidential decree. The district's territory encompasses an area of  with a population of 375,938 people. The district has five villages. Yesil District, which is also called left bank of the city, was created on 5 August 2008 by presidential decree. The district's territory encompasses an area of  with a population of 119,929 people. Saryarka District was created on 6 May 1998 by presidential decree. The district's territory encompasses an area of  with a population of 339,286 people. Baykonyr District was created on 16 March 2018 by presidential decree. The district's territory encompasses an area of  with a population of 233 351 people.

In April 1998, the Government of Kazakhstan asked architects and urban planners of international renown to participate in a design competition for the new capital. On 6 October 1998, Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa was awarded the First Prize. Kurokawa's proposal aimed to preserve and redevelop the existing city, and create a new city at the south and the east sides of the Ishim River, enabling the Symbiosis of the History and the Future.

North of the railway line, which crosses Astana in an east–west direction, are industrial and poorer residential areas. Between the railway line and the Ishim river is the city centre, where at present intense building activity is occurring. To the west and east are more elevated residential areas with parks and the new area of government administration to the south of the Ishim River. Here many large building projects are under way; for example, the construction of a diplomatic quarter, and government buildings. By 2030, these quarters are to be completed. Astana's chief planner, Vladimir Laptev, wants to build a Berlin in a Eurasian style. He has stated that a purely administrative capital such as Canberra is not one of his goals.

Sport

The city has a variety of sports teams. The major association football team is the FC Astana of the Kazakhstan Premier League. Founded in 2009, the FC Astana won six league titles, three Kazakh Cups and five Kazakh Super Cups. Their home stadium is the Astana Arena, which also serves as a home for the Kazakhstan national football team and the FC Bayterek. The FC Bayterek is a member of the Kazakhstan First Division. They were founded in 2012, to develop youth football. The FC Astana-1964 is based in the Kazhymukan Munaitpasov Stadium and plays in the Astana Municipal Football League. The club's most successful years were 2000s, when they won 3 league titles.

Astana is home to several professional ice hockey teams. The Barys Astana, a founding member of the Kontinental Hockey League in 2008 and based in the Barys Arena. The Nomad Astana and HC Astana play in the Kazakhstan Hockey Championship. The Snezhnye Barsy of the Junior Hockey League is a junior team of the Barys Astana. Astana annually hosts the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan's Cup ice hockey tournament.

The Astana Pro Team, founded in 2007, participates in the UCI World Tour. The team is one of the most successful road cycling teams of recent years, winning several grand tours. The BC Astana of the VTB United League and the Kazakhstan Basketball League is the only professional basketball team in Astana. It is the most successful basketball team in Kazakhstan with three Kazakhstan Basketball League titles and four Kazakhstan Basketball Cups. Its home arena is the Saryarka Velodrome, which is mainly used for track cycling events. The Saryarka Velodrome hosted the UCI Track Cycling World Cup stage in 2011. The Astana Presidential Sports Club was founded in 2012, to combine the main sports teams in Astana. The organization is supported by Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna. The 2011 Asian Winter Games were partly held in the capital. The Alau Ice Palace, hosted the 2015 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships. The President's Cup tennis tournament is annually held at the Daulet National Tennis Centre.

The martial art palace was opened on 6 July 2019. Sports facilities for five thousand spectators can take part in international competitions in boxing, wrestling, judo, weightlifting, and other Olympic and non-Olympic disciplines. The palace has a 25-meter pool, fitness and wrestling rooms, a football field, as well as a comfortable hotel. The object will be made available to the pupils of the sports school.

Education

Astana has many universities and junior colleges.  academic year, Astana had a total enrollment of 53,561 students in its 14 higher educational institutions, a 10% increase from the prior year. The L.N.Gumilyov Eurasian National University is the biggest university in Astana with 16,558 students and 1,678 academic staff. It was founded as the result of merging the Akmola Civil Engineering Institute with the Akmola Pedagogical Institute on 23 May 1996. The oldest university in Astana is the S. Seifullin Kazakh Agro Technical University founded in 1957. Nazarbayev University is an autonomous research university founded in 2010 in partnership with some of the world's top universities. The Kazakh University of Economics, Finance and International Trade is an economic institution in Astana. The Kazakh Humanities and Law Institute is a law university founded by initiative of Ministry of Justice in 1994. The Astana Medical University was the only medical school in Astana until the opening of the School of Medicine at Nazarbayev University in 2014. The Kazakh National University of Arts is the premier music school and has provided Astana with highly qualified professional specialists in the field of Arts.

Astana schools enrolls about 103,000 students across 83 schools, including 71 state schools and 12 private schools. The Miras International School, established 1999, was the first private high school established in Astana. The Haileybury Astana school was established in 2011, as a branch of the Haileybury and Imperial Service College, an independent school in the United Kingdom. The Astana Kazakh-Turkish High Schools are run by the International KATEV foundation. There are Kazakh-Turkish High Boarding Schools for gifted boys and girls, separately and the Nurorda International School. Astana hosts two Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS), including the School of Physics and Mathematics and International Baccalaureate world school. The QSI International School of Astana is an international school that provides an American curriculum to its students. The school is a branch of the Quality Schools International that started in the Middle East.

Transportation

City transport

The city transport in Astana consists of buses and taxis. Over 720,000 people use public transport daily. There are over 60 bus lines served by more than 1000 vehicles, with over 3000 people working in the public transport sector. Just like buses, share taxis have their own predefined routes and work on a shared basis. There are three share taxi routes in total.

Trolleybus routes were opened in 1983. There were originally 3 routes, however, by 2006, only one route was left. In 2008, the only trolleybus fleet by the special state commission was declared unprofitable due to debts to the energy supply company and as a result, it was completely closed.

In 2011, the Akimat of Astana established a company to implement a series of changes and programmes in the metropolis known as the "New transport system of Astana". As part of these programmes, bus rapid transit (BRT) lines were opened. That same year, the construction of a light rail (LRT) was to begin. It was planned that the first stage of construction of a 16.4-kilometer line, which would've included nine stations, was planned to be completed by 1 December 2013. However, as of May 2020, construction has not started. In November 2013, President Nursultan Nazarbayev condemned the construction of LRT because of the high cost. In exchange, there was a promise to launch high-speed buses. Despite the controversy, the construction of the LRT began in 2017 with the flyovers along to which the trains will pass. The opening is planned for the end of 2020.

The bicycle-sharing program AstanaBike has been operating in Astana since 2014. In 2017, the system consisted of 40 stations with 1000 bicycles. The registration in the system for a season costs 5000 tenge ($28), plus a deposit for an RFID card ($5.50), the first half-hour of bike rental is free, the next hour is 100 tenge ($0.55). After more than 4 hours, the rent costs 1000 tenge.

Air
Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport , located  south-east of the city center, is the main gateway for the city's domestic and international civilian air traffic. It is the second-busiest airport in Kazakhstan, with 2,960,181 passengers passing through it in 2014. The airport hosts 13 airlines operating regular passenger flights inside the country and internationally. Air Astana maintains its second-largest hub at the airport. An expected 50% increase in passenger traffic by 2017 has spurred the construction of a new terminal with an area of about .

Railway and roads

Astana is located in the centre of the country, serving as a well-positioned transport node for rail and automotive networks.

Astana railway station is the city's main railway station and serves approximately 7,000 people each day. A new railway station, Nurly Zhol was built during the Expo 2017 event with a customer capacity of 12,000. Tulpar Talgo is a daily express train to Almaty. Short-term plans include the construction of a new railway station in the industrial district; in the vicinity of CHPP-3 a new terminal will be erected for freight cars.

M-36 Chelyabinsk-Almaty and A-343 Astana-Petropavlovsk highways are routed through the city. The strategic geographical positioning of Astana allows the city to serve as a transport and reload centre for cargoes formed at adjacent stations in the area.

River transport
Since 2008, navigation on the Esil River has been organized within the city. The Akimat of the city in the framework of the implementation of the "Shipping Esil" program created a specialized enterprise GKKP "Esil-Astana".

Expo 2017
On 1 July 2010, at the 153rd General Assembly of Bureau International des Expositions held in Paris, representatives from then-Astana presented the city's bid to host the Specialised Expo 2017. The Kazakh concept for this exhibition relates to the impact of energy on society in the modern world. The theme of the Astana Expo was "Future Energy".

Expo 2017 opened to much fanfare on 10 June 2017, with heads of state from 17 nations in attendance. It is the first world's fair to be held in Central Asia and its central pavilion, Nur Alem, is the largest spherical building in the world. The two-millionth visitor was registered on 7 August. More than 4 million people attended the event.

Sightseeing

Akorda is the residence of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Astana Grand Mosque – the largest mosque in Central Asia, completed in 2022
Baiterek is the main attraction and symbol of Astana
"Ethnoaul National Cultural Complex" – a unique cultural, tourist and image project for Expo 2017.Ethnoaul is a real opportunity to travel to the past and feel like a real nomad, to feel the atmosphere of centuries past. The national-cultural complex will acquaint visitors with the rich history, culture, art and traditions of the Kazakh people, where anyone who is interested will be transferred to the ethno-cultural environment of the nomadic civilization and fully enjoy the daily and festive life of the aul
 is a landmark architectural structure, erected in honour of the anniversary of independence of Kazakhstan on the idea of Nursultan Nazarbayev
Independence Palace – a building designed for diplomatic and other events of international level; the building also has a large-scale layout plan of Astana with existing and future facilities
"Jastar" – the Palace of creativity of schoolchildren and youth
Kazakh Eli – ("The Country of Kazakhs") – a monument on Independence Square. The 91-meter stele is crowned with the Samruk bird (Samұryқ, Simurg) – the king of all birds, the keeper of the peoples. The mythological image of Samruk also includes the second important monument of Kazakhstan – "Baiterek", in the translation "Tree of Life", under which the king of birds sits and spreads seeds on the ground from the flapping of wings
"Kazakhstan" – Central Concert Hall
Khan Shatyr is the largest shopping and entertainment center (considered the largest tent in the world). Architect Norman Foster
 Kazakhstan Pavilion of Expo 2017
Kazakhstan Pavilion and Science Museum "Nur Alem" is the tallest building with a spherical shape, 30 meters in diameter, than the Ericsson-Glob Arena in Stockholm
National Space Center Future Energy Museum "Nur Alem" EXPO 2017 – the spherical building "Nur Alem" (Kaz. Shining World). Its height is 100 meters and its diameter is 80 meters
Nurjol Boulevard (formerly Water-Green Boulevard) is a recreational pedestrian zone with an Alley of Singing Fountains
Palace of Peace and Reconciliation is the Congress Hall, designed for summits and congresses of representatives of traditional Kazakhstan and world religions. Architect Norman Foster
Shabyt Palace – Kazakh National University of Arts

Theaters, concert halls, and museums
There are 27 libraries in Astana, whose services in 2011 were used by 153 people for every thousand residents, 8 state museums, which were visited by 415,500 people in 2011 and which conducted 68,514 excursions, 10 recreation parks, in 2011 1492.2 thousand visitors were received and 99 events, 6 state museums and 6 cinemas were held.
The Central Concert Hall Kazakhstan is a unique complex of the young capital designed for events of various levels: concerts of world and domestic stars, celebrations and official meetings, exhibitions, conferences, presentations. Architect Manfredi Nicoletti
Astana Circus is an entertaining circus institution in the city of Nur Sultan. One of the three main circuses of Kazakhstan; in the territory of the former USSR, one of the newest circuses and one of two unique circus buildings in the form of a "flying saucer" (along with the Kazan circus)
The National Opera and Ballet Theater named after K. Baiseitova is the youngest musical theater in the country, the bearer of the traditions of the Kazakh and world musical culture, comprehending the classical heritage and realizing the spiritual needs of the renewed Kazakhstani society
Astana Opera is a theater founded by the initiative of the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The theater building, built in 2013, this Parthenon-styled edifice is one of the cultural centers of the city, staging both classical and original works, is recognized as an architectural monument of national importance
Kazakh Music and Drama Theater named after K. Kuanyshbaev
State Academic Russian Drama Theater named after Maxim Gorky
The National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the largest museum in Central Asia. The museum was created on behalf of the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. *Nazarbayev in the framework of the State program "Cultural Heritage"
Modern Art Museum
Presidential Center of Culture – created on the initiative of the head of state N. Nazarbayev. The uniqueness of the research, cultural and educational complex of the capital is that its structure includes a museum, a library, a concert hall
ALZhIR (Akmola camp of wives of traitors to the motherland) – the largest Soviet women's camp, one of the three "islands" of the "Gulag Archipelago"
Atameken is an ethno-memorial complex of nature, architecture and life on a large-scale map of Kazakhstan
Museum of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Memorial complex of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (in honor of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War in the capital)
Museum of The Future (Nur-Alem Pavilion) – is more than just a monument of EXPO2017. The museum exhibition is all about the energy of the future. You can learn everything there is to know about renewable, green, and solar-powered energy sources, as well as see a model of the city proposed for 2050

Twin towns – sister cities

Astana is twinned with:

 Amman, Jordan (2005)
 Ankara, Turkey (2001)
 Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (2017)
 Bangkok, Thailand (2004)
 Beijing, China (2006)
 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (2011)
 Damascus, Syria
 Gdańsk, Poland (1996)
 Hanoi, Vietnam (2009)
 Islamabad, Pakistan
 Kazan, Russia (2004)
 Kyiv, Ukraine (1998)
 Manila, Philippines
 Moscow, Russia
 Nice, France (2013)
 Nusantara, Indonesia (2023)
 Oulu, Finland (2013)
 Putrajaya, Malaysia
 Riga, Latvia (1998)
 Saint Petersburg, Russia (1996)
 Seoul, South Korea (2004)
 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
 Tbilisi, Georgia (1996)
 Ufa, Russia (2010)
 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (2019)
 Uşak, Turkey
 Vilnius, Lithuania
 Warsaw, Poland (2002)
 Zagreb, Croatia (2014)

Friendly cities
Astana also cooperates with:

 Baku, Azerbaijan
 Belgrade, Serbia
 Berlin, Germany
 Bucharest, Romania
 Budapest, Hungary
 Cairo, Egypt
 Chelyabinsk, Russia
 Chișinău, Moldova
 Kurgan, Russia
 Kursk, Russia
 Minsk, Belarus
 Omsk, Russia
 Penza, Russia
 Saratov, Russia
 Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia
 Tomsk, Russia
 Ürümqi, China

Smart city initiative
The Smart Astana project is an initiative developed by the then-Astana city administration that incorporates technology-driven solutions in various sectors, like hospitals, schools, the ticket booking system and street lighting. These projects run on an interconnected application, the Smart Astana.

Astana's smart city sector includes the annual Astana Innovations Challenge, designed to bring attention to the smart city concept. In addition, the world's first smart sustainable city acceleration hub is set to open in Astana. This hub was planned to integrate from 10 to 15 startup solutions into the infrastructure of Kazakhstan.

See also
 List of people from Astana

Footnotes

References

Further reading

External links

 Official website of the BIE
 Expo 2017 Astana-Kazakhstan

Akmolinsk Oblast (Russian Empire)
Weather extremes of Earth
Capitals in Asia
Cities and towns in Kazakhstan
Cities in Central Asia
Planned capitals
Populated places established in 1830
Regions of Kazakhstan
1830 establishments in the Russian Empire

Astana


The Cardinal is a 1963 American film.

The Cardinal may also refer to:

The Cardinal (1641 play), a 1641 James Shirley play
The Cardinal (1901 play) a 1901 play by Louis N. Parker
The Cardinal (1936 film), a 1936 British film
The Cardinal, a novel by Henry Morton Robinson, the basis for the 1963 film

See also
Cardinal (disambiguation)

The Cardinal (disambiguation)


Gilles Tschudi is a Swiss actor, born in 1957. He is notable for his 2004 Swiss Film Prize for "Performance in a Supporting Role" as "Secretary Goltz" in Jagged Harmonies: Bach vs. Frederick II and for appearing in the films Grounding (2006), Cargo (2009), and Clouds of Sils Maria (2014). For television he appeared in Lüthi und Blanc (1999–2006), Das Paar im Kahn (2004), Hunkeler macht Sachen (2008), and Hunkeler und die Augen des Ödipus (2012)

References

External links

1957 births
Living people
Swiss male film actors

Gilles Tschudi


Hava Kohav Beller is a filmmaker primarily known for three documentary films: The Restless Conscience (1991), The Burning Wall (2002), and In The Land of Pomegranates (2018).

Early life
Beller was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and grew up in Geva, Israel. She studied at the Juilliard School, where she studied music, ballet and modern dance.

Hava Beller lives in New York City.

Career
Beller was a dancer and choreographer, and had her own dance company in New York. She acted in off-Broadway productions. From 1979 to 1981 she studied filmmaking with Arnold S. Eagle at the New School for Social Research.

In 1991, after nine years in the making, Beller finished the film The Restless Conscience. The film examines the Nazi terror and those who fought it from within. In 1992, The Restless Conscience was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Documentary Feature. In 1993, Ms. Beller was decorated by then President of Germany Richard von Weizsäcker with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit (Das Grosse Bundesverdienstkreuz). It was screened nationally on PBS and has been on television in over twenty countries worldwide.

The Burning Wall depicts the development of the GDR—its founders and those who opposed it, as it emerged from the ashes of World War II. It charts its political and social evolution through various stages, including the 1956 uprising and the building of the Berlin Wall. Particular attention is paid to the life of Robert Havemann, whose biography threads these episodes together. The film's latter part focuses on the work of the Stasi, with many original interviews with former Stasi discussing their cases and methods, as well as interviews with the subjects of their surveillance.

It premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and the Film Forum in New York. In 2002, the film won the Best Documentary Prize in the Hollywood Film Festival. In 2003, it won Best Documentary The Anchorage Film Festival.

After a 16-year gap, Beller finished a third documentary, about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, titled In the Land of Pomegranates (2018). It premiered at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York City on January 5, 2018.

References

American documentary filmmakers
German emigrants to Israel
Israeli emigrants to the United States
Juilliard School alumni
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Hava Kohav Beller


Neferirkare (sometimes referred to as Neferirkare II because of Neferirkare Kakai) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Eighth Dynasty during the early First Intermediate Period (2181–2055 BC). According to the egyptologists Kim Ryholt, Jürgen von Beckerath and Darrell Baker he was the 17th and final king of the Eighth Dynasty. Many scholars consider Neferirkare to have been the last pharaoh of the Old Kingdom, which came to an end with the 8th Dynasty.

Attestations
Neferirkare II's name is clearly attested on the 56th entry of the Abydos King List, a king list which was redacted some 900 years after the First Intermediate Period during the reign of Seti I. The latest reconstruction of the Turin canon, another king list compiled in the Ramesside era, indicates that Neferirkare II is also attested there on column 5, line 13.

Identity
Farouk Gomaà, William C. Hayes and Baker identify Neferirkare II with the horus name Demedjibtawy (Dmḏ-ib-t3wy, "He who unifies the heart of the two lands") appearing on a single decree, the Coptos Decree R, now in the Egyptian Museum, JE 41894. The decree concerns the temple of Min at Coptos, exempting it from dues and duties. This identification is rejected by Jürgen von Beckerath.

Another proposed identification concerns the prenomen Wadjkare (W3ḏ-k3-Rˁ, "Flourishing is the Ka of Ra"), which also appears on the Coptos Decree R. Kurt Heinrich Sethe, Gomaà, Hayes and Baker see Wadjkare as distinct from Demedjibtawy, but von Beckerath believes that Wadjkare may have been the prenomen of Neferkare II and the same person as Demedjibtawy. At the opposite, Gomaà and Hayes equate Wadjkare with an obscure ruler named Hor-Khabaw. Alternatively, Hans Goedicke proposed that Wadjkare is the predecessor of Demedjibtawy and places both rulers chronologically into the 9th Dynasty.
Thomas Schneider leaves the problem open and relates Wadjkare equally to either Neferkare II or Neferirkare II without further reference to Demedjibtawy.

Finally, both Demedjibtawy and Wadjkare are not known from any other contemporary attestation than the decree and, unless they are to be identified with Neferirkare II or Neferkare II, they are also absent from both the Abydos king list and the Turin canon.

In 2014 Maha Farid Mostafa published an inscription, found in the tomb of Shemay. The inscription belongs most likely to Idy, a son of Shemay, albeit Idy's name is not preserved. The text is dated under a king with the name Pepy and with a throne name Nefer-ka [destroyed]-Ra. Maha Farid Mostafa reconstructed that throne name to Neferirkare. The inscription dates for sure to the 8th Dynasty. If this reconstruction is correct, Neferirkare is most likely identical with Demedjibtawy. Idy is mentioned on one of the Coptos decrees together with Demedjibtawy .

Reign
The Turin canon credits Neferirkare II with a year and half of reign. Both the Turin canon and the Abydos king list record Neferirkare II as the last ruler of the combined 7th/8th. Neferirkare was possibly overthrown by the first king of the succeeding Herakleopolitan 9th Dynasty, Meryibre Khety. Alternatively the Egyptian state may have completely collapsed with the onset of low Nile floods, mass famine and chaos which engulfed Egypt at the start of the First Intermediate Period.

References

22nd-century BC Pharaohs
Pharaohs of the Eighth Dynasty of Egypt

Neferirkare


Angwantibos are two species of strepsirrhine primates classified in the genus Arctocebus of the family Lorisidae. They are also known as golden pottos because of their yellow or golden coloration.

Angwantibos live in tropical Africa and their range includes Nigeria, Cameroon north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Angwantibos grow to a size of 22 to 30 cm, and have almost no tail at all. They only weigh up to 0.5 kg. Their fur is yellow brown to golden in color. Their snout is more pointed than that of the other lorids and this, along with their round ears, gives it the bear-like appearance that lends them their name in German: Bärenmaki, "bear lemur".

Solitary, nocturnal and arboreal, they prefer the underbrush and the lower layers of the forests. They spend the day hidden in the leaves. Like all lorisids they are characterized by slow movements.

The diet of angwantibos consists predominantly of insects (mostly caterpillars), and occasionally fruits. Owing to their careful movements and their good sense of smell, they can quietly stalk and close-in on their prey and catch it with a lightning-quick movement.

The males mate with all available females whose territory overlaps with theirs. Copulation takes place hanging onto a branch. Gestation lasts 130 days and births are of a single offspring. The juvenile clasps itself first to the belly of the mother and later she may park her offspring on a branch while she goes searching for food. Within three to four months the young are weaned, at about six months it leaves its mother, and at an age of eight to ten months it becomes fully mature. The life expectancy of angwantibos is at most 13 years.

A subplot in Gerald Durrell's first book The Overloaded Ark centres on his attempts to secure an angwantibo for zoological study.

Species

References

Sources

External links

 Primate Info Net Arctocebus Factsheets

Lorises
Mammals of Cameroon
Mammals of West Africa
Mammals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Angwantibo


Cape Dolphin (Spanish: "Cabo Leal") is the most northerly point on East Falkland, Falkland Islands. It is the most northerly point of the two main islands, East and West Falkland, but many of the smaller islands, such as the Jason Islands are further north. Eddystone Rock is located 7.6 kilometres northwest of Cape Dolphin.

References
 Stonehouse, B (ed.) Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans (2002, )

Headlands of East Falkland

Cape Dolphin


Canon Richard Knowling, DD (1851 – 4 July 1919) was the Chaplain of King's College London, canon of Durham and professor of divinity at Durham University.

Early life
Richard John Knowling was born in Devonport, England and educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton and at Balliol College in Oxford. After taking Honours in Lit.Hum and theology, he was appointed classical master at Abingdon School in 1874. In 1875 Knowling was ordained deacon and from 1878 to 1879 served as curate of Wellington in Somerset, where his father, Prebendary Knowling, was vicar.

Later career
From 1878 Knowling spent six years as curate at St Martin-in-the-Fields and in 1884 began a connection with King's College London (which continued until his appointment in 1905 as canon of Durham Cathedral and professor of divinity at Durham University). Beginning as censor and lecturer, he became vice principal of King's College in 1890 and professor of New Testament exegesis in 1894.
In 1903 Knowling was appointed examining chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Exeter.
Knowling married Miss Ellen Raban in 1893 and died a widower in Torquay in 1919.

Knowling's publications included The Witness of the Epistles (1892), but his main period of writing was from 1901 onwards. In addition to original work he contributed to the content on The Acts of the Apostles in the Expositors Greek Testament and the Epistle of St James in the Westminster Commentaries, whilst also contributing to the Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels and the Dictionary of Christian Biography.

Publications

The Witness of the Epistles; A Study in Modern Criticism (1892)
Epistle of Saint James (1904)
Our Lord's Virgin Birth: And the Criticism of To-day (1904)
The Testimony of St. Paul to Christ Viewed in Some of Its Aspects (1905)
Literary Criticism and the New Testament (1907)
Messianic Interpretation and Other Studies (1910)

Sources
Obituary of Canon R. J. Knowling, The Times, 7 July 1919 (pg. 16; Issue 42145; col F)

1851 births
1919 deaths
19th-century English Anglican priests
20th-century English Anglican priests
Academics of Durham University
Academics of King's College London
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Chaplains of King's College London
Critics of the Christ myth theory
English theologians
People educated at Blundell's School
People from Devonport, Plymouth
Clergy from Plymouth, Devon

Richard Knowling


Heribert Calleen (born Herbert Calleen, 6 March 1924 - 24 November 2017) was a German sculptor and medalist. His oeuvre includes medals and plaques, statues and sculptures, fountains, monuments, memorials, monuments and works of art for the sacred space. A master student of Ludwig Gies, he was from 1954 to 1987 the tomb adviser (Grabmalberater) of Cologne.

Life and work

Born in Cologne, he was guided by Toni Stockheim a sculpture in 1946. From 1947, he learned stonemasonry in the Cologne cathedral workshop. At the same time he studied sculpture at the Kölner Werkschulen with Wolfgang Wallner and Ludwig Gies. In 1952, he was a master student of Gies, famous for the art of coin cutting. In 1954, he opened his own studio in Cologne and at the same time took over the office of a tomb adviser at the Cologne cemetery administration, which he held until 1987. He designed the Zelter-Plakette in 1956, among others.

Heribert Calleen has two children, publicist and editor Florine Calleen and art historian Justinus Maria Calleen.

Selected works

 1955 Cologne: St. Maria im Kapitol, Hermann-Josef-Reliquiar
 1956 Cologne: Melaten Cemetery, memonument for Annmarie Kluxen-Pohlmeier
 1957 Cologne-Deutz: Rheinpark, fountains, colour scheme
 1968 Cologne: Rudolfplatz, Würfelbrunnen, Belgischer Granit
 2009 Cologne Cathedral, Gedenktafel (Plaque) "Weltjugendtag" 2009

External links

 Zelter-Plakette
 Börsenbrunnen Cologne
 "Die Jünglinge im Feuerofen", Westfriedhof Cologne
 Moses Hess Town Hall, Cologne
 Agrippina die Jüngere Town Hall, Cologne
 Ausgezeichneter Medienrechtler Kölnische Rundschau 21 June 2011

References

1924 births
2017 deaths
German sculptors
German male sculptors
German medallists
Artists from Cologne

Heribert Calleen


Cordel literature (from the Portuguese term, literatura de cordel, literally "string literature", ) are popular and inexpensively printed booklets or pamphlets containing folk novels, poems and songs. They are produced and sold in street markets and by street vendors in Brazil, mainly in the Northeast. They are so named because they are hung from strings to display them to potential customers, and the word for rope in Portuguese is corda, from which the term cordel is derived.

History
Cordel literature forms one of the least altered continuations of the Western traditions of popular literature, such as chapbooks, and popular prints. Its history dates back to the 16th century, when the printing of oral reports became popularized in the Renaissance. This genre derives from the papel volante tradition of Portugal, a literary genre also found in Spain during the 18th and 19th centuries, and offered readers a wide array of topics, from basic instruction to political tracts. The name comes from the way the leaflets were traditionally displayed for sale, hung on ropes, twine or string in Portugal. It remains a popular literary form in Brazil. In the Northeastern region of Brazil, the name was adopted, but the leaflet may or may not be displayed on string. Some poems are illustrated with woodcuts, also used on the covers. The most common stanzas are those of ten, eight or six verses. The authors, or cordelistas, recite these verses in a melodious and cadenced way, accompanied by a musical instrument named viola. Readings or declamations of these verses are performed to win over potential buyers. In 1988, the Academia Brasileira de Literatura de Cordel (ABLC) [Brazilian Academy of Cordel Literature] was founded in Rio de Janeiro in order to bring together the exponents of this Brazilian literary genre.

According to the poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade it is one of the purest manifestations of the inventive spirit, the sense of humor and the critical capacity of Brazilians from the interior and of the humblest backgrounds.

Form

Usually produced in black and white, in quarto format, cordel chapbooks are usually illustrated with woodcuts. Often both the author or poet's and the woodcut artist's names will appear in the credits of the book. Two expressive woodcutters are Adir Botelho and José Francisco Borges, whose woodcuts have been exhibited in the Louvre and the Smithsonian.

The cordel literature found its zenith in the decades of 1920s and 1930s, with the popular legend created by the cangaceiros of Lampião, a band of outlaws and bandolier bandits who terrorized the region for almost 20 years. The War of Canudos, a military conflict in the state of Bahia, 1896–1897, has been also a frequent theme of cordel literature, due to its epic dimensions and importance for the history of the Northeast backlands.

Cordel literature can still be found in the Northeastern Brazilian states, most notably in Pernambuco, Paraíba and Ceará.

Authors
Some of the main authors from the past are Leandro Gomes de Barros (1865–1918) and João Martins de Athayde (1880–1959).

Today some Cordel Literature authors as Marcelo Soares, Davi Teixeira, Meca Moreco and Altair Leal are keeping this popular expression alive. Those writers and other authors are helping to show the importance of popular art to Brazil and to the world .

There are a lot of not-well-known cordel authors in Brazil, although there are still chapbooks that tell widely known old tales, even reinvented, in a new context. See as an example a masterpiece of the past decades: A Chegada de Lampião no Inferno (The Arrival of Lampião in Hell) by José Pacheco, as well as today's A Chegada de Lula no Inferno (The Arrival of Lula in Hell); besides "classics," living folk poetry say to us much both about cordel and its strong roots in the everyday life of the people and its place in Brazilian culture as a whole.

See also
 Lira popular

External links

Digital libraries dedicated to cordel literature

 Collection Lira Popular (University of Chile)
 CBDRS - Catálogo y Biblioteca Digital de Relaciones de Sucesos (University of Coruña)
 Comedias Sueltas USA
 Corpus de Literatura Oral (University of Jaén)
 Untangling the cordel (University of Geneva)
 Fons especials (University of Lleida)
 Fundation Joaquín Díaz
 Impresos Populares Iberoamericanos - IPI (UNAM)
 The Bibliothèque Virtuelle Cordel (University of Poitiers)
 Literatura de cordel y teatro en España (1675-1825)
 Literatura Oral y Tradiciones Populares (National library of Chile)
 Mapping Pliegos (Catholic University of Valencia, Library T. Navarro Tomás, CSIC, Cambridge University)
 Romanços - Imatgeria Popular (Calaix - Generalitat de Catalunya)
 Spanish Chapbooks (Cambridge University Digital Library - CUDL)

Association and other resources
 Literatura de Cordel: Web Resources (Rio de Janeiro Office, Library of Congress)
 Biblioteca Cordel On-Line
 Tesoros Trading Company reprint of New York Times article about Jose Borges
 Academia Brasileira de Literatura de Cordel
 Literatura de Cordel do Brasil

References

Book arts
Brazilian literature
Printmaking

Cordel literature


Stephen James Dorrell (born 25 March 1952) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Loughborough between 1979 and 1997 and then for Charnwood from 1997 to 2015.

Dorrell most recently served for four years as Chairman of the House of Commons Health Select Committee from 2010 to 2014. In the 1990s he was a full member of John Major's Cabinet for almost three years, whilst serving as both Secretary of State for National Heritage and then Secretary of State for Health until the 1997 general election. He did not contest the 2015 general election and retired from the House of Commons. Returning to politics in 2019, he left the Conservatives and stood as a Change UK candidate at the 2019 European Parliament election. After failing to be elected, he defected to the Liberal Democrats and was the unsuccessful Liberal Democrat candidate for Buckingham in the 2019 general election.

Early life and  education
Dorrell was born in Worcester and educated at Uppingham School, Rutland, and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree. He was a member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve for two years from 1971.

Political career

During the February 1974 general election, Dorrell acted as a personal assistant to Conservative minister Peter Walker. Aged only 22, he contested the safe Labour seat of Kingston upon Hull East at the October 1974 general election, but was heavily defeated by the sitting MP (and later Deputy Prime Minister), John Prescott, who was returned with a majority of 25,793 votes.

At the 1979 general election, the Conservatives were returned to office under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher. Dorrell, then 27, was elected to the House of Commons for the marginal seat of Loughborough, ousting the veteran Labour MP John Cronin by 5,199 votes. He remained an MP until standing down from Parliament at the 2015 General Election.

On his election he was the Baby of the House of Commons, an informal title for the youngest member.  He was succeeded as the Baby of the House on 9 April 1981 when Bobby Sands was elected at the April 1981 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election; however, Sands died on 5 May 1981 whilst on hunger strike in Long Kesh Prison. Dorrell again became the Baby of the House until 20 August 1981, when Sands' successor Owen Carron was elected at the August 1981 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election. He nonetheless remained the youngest MP to take his seat in the House of Commons (Sinn Féin members do not take their seats) until the 1983 election, when Charles Kennedy succeeded him.

Following his election to parliament in 1979 he was a member of the Transport Select committee. After the 1983 general election he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to his old boss Peter Walker, who had now become the Secretary of State for Energy.

In government
Dorrell was promoted to government after the 1987 General Election by the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as an Assistant Government Whip, and in 1988 became a Lord Commissioner to the Treasury 'full whip'. He was appointed as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health in 1990 under the premiership of John Major. After the 1992 General Election he became the Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Dorrell was promoted to the Major Cabinet as the Secretary of State for National Heritage in 1994, and on appointment became a Member of the Privy Council. He  headhunted Jennie Page for the job of Millennium Dome Chief Executive according to The Observer. He was transferred to become the Secretary of State for Health in 1995, and remained in position until the end of the Conservative administration at the 1997 general election.

After government
When constituency boundaries were revised for the 1997 election, he moved with his key rural voters into the new Charnwood constituency. He won the seat comfortably with a majority of 5,900, although Loughborough was lost to Andy Reed of Labour.

He launched a bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1997, but withdrew before the first ballot when it became clear his support amongst Conservative MPs was negligible. Instead he threw his support behind Kenneth Clarke's bid. Under William Hague he became shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment, but left the shadow cabinet in 1998, and was a backbencher for the remainder of his parliamentary career.

Chairman of Health Select Committee and views on NHS reforms
In June 2010, Dorrell was elected Chairman of the Health Select Committee. In June 2011, following concerns over the unpopularity of Andrew Lansley's NHS reforms, Dorrell was tipped as a possible successor but stated that he wanted to continue as the committee chairman for the full parliament. An alternate view was that David Cameron would not want any more "Tory retreads" from previous governments. Dorrell acknowledged that resources would become tighter but changes driven by new medicines and new expectations were inevitable and integration of health care and social care would be both better and more efficient.

Interviewed in 2012, Dorrell stated that the 4% per year for four years efficiency targets, agreed before the 2010 election and described as "a huge challenge", were taking too long to achieve. Whilst the bill had good points, e.g. involving clinicians and local authorities, more independence for public health etc. savings required a change in the way care is delivered not just changes in management structure. The reforms were acting as a "disruption and distraction".  They were a secondary issue compared with the need to make efficiency savings of £20bn, he added.

Dorrell resigned in June 2014 and was succeeded by Sarah Wollaston.

Expenses investigation over "secret flat rent deal" with care home owners
In November 2012 Dorrell was reported to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) after arranging to sell his London flat to "friends" who owned a chain of nursing homes, subsequently renting it back at £1,400 a month, funded by the taxpayer. His impartiality as chairman was questioned as the Health Select Committee was investigating social care, and some of the chain's nursing homes had been criticised by the Care Quality Commission.  Committee members were not aware of the financial connection. David Cameron refused to get involved, saying it was a matter for IPSA. IPSA said that the rules banned MPs from renting from family members, not from friends.

Standing down from Parliament
In November 2014, he surprised local party members and staff by announcing his future retirement from the House to take a job with consultancy KPMG in "a senior role supporting their health and public service practice...". The role, he said, was "incompatible with seeking re-election to the House of Commons". Fellow Leicestershire Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen also expressed surprise, but said that the prestige of Parliament had fallen since the expenses scandal, and a number of experienced MPs were leaving. Neighbouring Loughborough MP Nicky Morgan described him as "a really important political figure in Leicestershire since 1979. He has been a great support to me". She denied claims she would stand in Dorrell's Charnwood seat (rather than Loughborough) at the 2015 general election, saying that these were "rumour-mongering" by members of the Labour Party. (In May 2015 she held the Loughborough seat with an increased majority.)

The Labour candidate for Charnwood, Sean Kelly Walsh, paid tribute to Dorrell's long service and constituency work, as well as his roles as Secretary of State for Health and chairman of the Health Affairs Select Committee.

Resignation call over conflict of interest
In December 2014, Dorrell was criticised for alleged conflict of interest when it became clear that he would be working both as an MP and KPMG consultant for six months until the election, and that KPMG were considering bidding for a £1 billion NHS contract. Pointing out that Dorrell had previously admitted the two roles were incompatible, Dr Clive Peedell, co-leader of the National Health Action Party, called for him to resign from one of the posts. Dorrell responded saying no issues were raised as he was not seeking re-election.

In January 2015, a group of six pensioners, who called at Dorrell's offices in Thurmaston to hand in a 2,286 signature petition calling on him to resign, were told they were trespassing and the police would be called. Hanif Asmal, Chairman of Charnwood Conservative Association claimed police were called as the group didn't have an appointment.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Dorrell's extra-parliamentary work took up 1,736 hours, or 33.4 hours per week, in 2014. The Telegraph also stated he voted in 63% of opportunities in Parliament, ranking him 517 out of 650 MPs.

Criticisms of business practice
Dorrell was criticised for his actions when, in 2009, his family-owned firm went into a prepack administration, a "controversial" but legal procedure which the Government's Insolvency Service said was "mocking rules".
David Blake, Director of the Cass Business School in London, believes the method is used to dump pension fund liabilities. The controversy may have deterred David Cameron from inviting Dorrell to join the Front Bench. His stake was in clothing company, Faithful, a family business established in the 19th century which made blue collar workwear in Worcester. Finance Director Steve Hall reported the company had been quite profitable until 2004 when it was split between Dorrell and his brother.

By 2005, after loss-making acquisitions, the company pensions deficit was almost £3 million. The pension scheme was changed to money purchase, and the factory site was pledged to support it. However, when the site was sold, some of the money was used to buy another business, and the firm was bought by stock market-listed Wensum. None of the money was paid into the pension scheme. According to Dorrell, the scheme then required 10% of annual turnover, making (debt or equity) restructuring (by financiers) impossible. An independent trustee was appointed, the pension fund received nothing and Wensum continued as a company. In May 2009, Wensum was put into a prepack administration which allowed a new company, GG125, to acquire Wensum's assets for £7.9 million, whilst leaving its debts unpaid.

GG125 was then renamed Wensum Group Limited. The deal was completed in a day, Dorrell receiving a director salary (increased to £200,000 in September 2009) plus 15% share ownership in the new company. As company contributions had ceased, the workers were put into the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), which caps (often reducing) personal payouts and tends to erode with inflation. Hall expected 30–40% pension loss to him as such. Dorrell and his wife had already withdrawn their pensions. Dorrell claimed he had lost £550,000 because of the failure and that the alternative to the prepack would have offered less.

The prepack was criticised as "completely immoral", and inappropriate for listed companies, by a South African creditor, LA group. It had sold a clothing manufacturer to Wensum in May 2009 for Wensum shares which became worthless and ceased after the prepack. Another Wensum shareholder compared the deal to a "spider eviscerating a fly it has caught, taking all the good bits, then dropping the useless carcass, which is the creditors, the shareholders and of course the taxpayer".

After Parliament
He was reckoned by the Health Service Journal to be the 24th most influential person  in the English NHS in 2015 after he became Chair of the NHS Confederation.

In 2016 he became Chair of the European Movement UK, succeeding Richard Corbett, in order to lead its campaign to stop Brexit. He stood down in 2021.

In 2018, Dorrell became a committee member of the Tories Against Brexit campaign, which is run  by Citizens4Britain.org. He also became the chair of healthcare consultancy LaingBuisson, where he is now a Non Executive Director  in addition to being a Director of NHS change consultancy Four Eyes Insight, global policy institute Public Policy Projects  and its holding company Dorson Transform, and affiliate Dorson Inform

He became a supporter of Change UK in 2019. He stood for the party in the 2019 European Parliament elections in the constituency of the West Midlands.

Dorrell stood unsuccessfully in the 2019 general election as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Buckingham to succeed former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, having joined the Lib Dems in August from Change UK. He was beaten by the Conservative Greg Smith, who had a majority of over 20,000.

Personal life
Dorrell is married to Penelope Taylor and has three sons and a daughter.

He is a Trustee of Uppingham School and a Governor of Loughborough Endowed Schools. He was Chairman of Trustees at Uppingham from 2008 to 2017.

References

External links

Profile: Stephen Dorrell MP, BBC News, 18 October 2002

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1952 births
Living people
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
British Secretaries of State
Change UK politicians
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
KPMG people
Liberal Democrats (UK) parliamentary candidates
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Loughborough
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at Uppingham School
Politicians from Worcester, England
Secretaries of State for Health (UK)
Secretaries of State for National Heritage
Shadow Secretaries of State for Health
UK MPs 1979–1983
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015

Stephen Dorrell


was a professional baseball player and manager in Japan, and the manager of Tokyo International University's baseball team.

Early life
Because baseball was popular in the city, Koba started playing it when he was in primary school. Soon he dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player.

In 1952, he went on to Seseiko high school, which had a good baseball team. The next year, he participated in the Koshien tournament, which is the national tournament of high school baseball. After he graduated from high school, he went on to Senshu University but soon after his entering university, his father died. In order to make up for the deficit in the living expenses of his family, he left the university and obtained a job. At the same time, his dream took on a financial overtone as well since baseball players' salaries were very high.

Playing career
In 1958, three years after he started working, with the help of the manager of his team, he became a professional baseball player for the Hiroshima Carp, a Japanese professional baseball team belonging to the Central League, with the uniform number 29. In 1959, his second year as a professional baseball player, his uniform number was changed from 29 to 1 and he secured a regular position at shortstop. He continued to be a regular player until 1968.

In 1963, he participated in the all-star game for the first time, and in the regular season he was a leading contestant for the leading hitter, together with Shigeo Nagashima, who was the main batter of the Yomiuri Giants, another Japanese professional baseball team. However, in the final phase of the baseball season, he was hit by a pitch in the face and was sent to a hospital. As a result, he ended in second place with a batting average of .339, which was his best record. After the year, he came to be afraid of inside pitches and therefore he remained in a long slump in batting. Instead, he found a means of survival in his ability for baserunning, especially steals.

In 1964 and 1968, he led in the number of steals in the Central League. The focus on baserunning later had a great influence on his own strategy as manager.

In 1970, he was traded to the Nankai Hawks, which was also one of the Japanese teams but belonged to the other league, the Pacific League. In 1971, he retired and was appointed a coach.

Managing career
After working for two years as the Hawks' coach and for one year as the Carp's coach, he was assigned in 1975 to the manager post of the Carp because Joe Lutz, who was the manager at the time, left the team in April, during the baseball season. That year, he led the Carp to become the league champion for the first time in the team's 26-year-long history. He has said that during the year there were mysterious events around him. For example, bluebirds, which are considered the symbol of happiness in Japan, came to his birdcage.

In 1979, 1980, and 1984 he led the team to win the league championship again and moreover to win the Japan championship. At the end of the season of 1985, he left the team. As of 2009, he is the only manager who has led the Carp to win the Japan championship.

As a manager, he put special emphasis on baserunning. For the 11 years he was the manager, the number of the steals made by the team in one season exceeded 100 11 times. Also, he trained "utility players", players who can serve as both an infielder and an outfielder, in order to make the best use of a limited number of players. In addition, he requested that the owner of the team build indoor training rooms, which did not exist in the world of Japanese baseball in those days. With them, players can train even on rainy days. As a result of these policies, during the 11 years he led the Carp, the Carp became the top-class, which means the first place, second place, or third place, nine times, the league champion four times, the Japan champion three times.

In 1987, he assumed the manager post of the Taiyo Whales, which was another Japanese professional baseball team, on a five-year contract because he was thought highly of as a result of his work with the Carp. However, he retired from the post at the end of the season of 1989 because he could not bring the team to the top class.

His 873 wins as a manager put him into 14th place on the all-time list of Japanese professional baseball.

After retirement from professional baseball
After he retired from the manager post of the Whales, he became a baseball commentator, and also the chairman of the International Boys Baseball Association Japan, which has been working to popularize baseball in countries in which baseball is not so popular as Japan. In 1999, he was selected as a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, which admits people who have rendered distinguished service to the world of Japanese baseball.

Since February 2008, he has been the manager of the baseball team of Tokyo International University. As there had been no ex-professional manager serving as the manager of the baseball team of a university for 61 years, his adoption of the manager
role at the university was reported in not only sports newspapers but also some general newspapers.

References

External links

1936 births
2021 deaths
Sportspeople from Kumamoto
Senshu University alumni
Japanese baseball players
Hiroshima Carp players
Hiroshima Toyo Carp players
Nankai Hawks players
Managers of baseball teams in Japan
Yokohama DeNA BayStars managers
Hiroshima Toyo Carp managers
College baseball coaches
Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductees

Takeshi Koba


Muhammad Ibrahim (known as Justice M Ibrahim; September 1894 – 13 October 1966) was a Pakistani Bengali judge and academic. He served as the 8th Vice-chancellor of the University of Dhaka during 1956–1958.

Early life and education

Ibrahim was born in September 1894 in Shaildubi village of Sadarpur Upazila in Faridpur District to Ghiyasuddin Ahmed. Ibrahim passed matriculation exam from Barisal Zilla School and intermediate exam from Dhaka College in 1916 and 1918 respectively. He completed his bachelor's in English literature. He then studied Law under the persuasion of Nares Chandra Sen-Gupta. He earned a law degree in 1921.

Career
Ibrahim practiced law at Faridpur during 1922–1923, and joined the Dhaka District Bar in 1924. He also served as a part-time teacher at the University of Dhaka from 1924 until 1943. He became a Public Prosecutor in the Dhaka District Court in 1939. He was appointed an Additional District and Sessions Judge in 1943. In 1950, he was elevated to Dhaka High Court Bench. He retired as a High Court Judge in 1956.

He served as the Chairman of the Election Tribunal and later served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dhaka from November 1956 until October 1958.

He was appointed the Minister of Law by Pakistani President Ayub Khan and served the position during 1958–1962.

Personal life
Ibrahim was married to Lutfuennessa Ibrahim. Together they had a daughter Sufia Ahmed, a National Professor of Bangladesh.

References

1894 births
1966 deaths
People from Faridpur District
Dhaka College alumni
Academic staff of the University of Dhaka
Vice-Chancellors of the University of Dhaka
Law Ministers of Pakistan
Pakistani judges
Bengali lawyers

Muhammad Ibrahim (justice)


Grace Keagy (née Stambaugh; December 16, 1921 – October 4, 2009) was an American actress, best known for her work on the stage in character roles. She is best known for her Drama Desk Award-nominated performance as "Rosa" in the original 1979 production of Joseph Stein and Alan Jay Lerner's Carmelina.

Career

Grace Stambaugh was born in Youngstown, Ohio, and ultimately settled in Minneapolis where she taught voice and piano between 1964 and 1968. She made her first professional stage appearance in 1967 as Dame Margery in Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday at the Guthrie Theater after which she became active in regional theatre productions. She made her Broadway theatre debut in 1975 as Queen Isabella of Bavaria in the original production of Larry Grossman and lyrics by Hal Hackady's Goodtime Charley.

In 1979, she returned to Broadway in January to portray several smaller roles in the original production of Jerry Herman's The Grand Tour. After the show closed in March, she went into rehearsals for Carmelina which premiered on April 8, 1979, at the St. James Theatre. Although the show ran for only a few weeks, Keagy garnered high praise from critics for her performance and earned a Drama Desk Award nomination. She almost immediately joined the original cast of Richard Rodgers's musical version I Remember Mama, replacing Dolores Wilson as Aunt Jenny. After that show closed in September, she spent the following year touring the United States as Aunt Eller in Oklahoma!.

Keagy remained active in theatre during the early 1980s, returning to Broadway for the original productions of Tom Savage's Musical Chairs (1980) and  John Kander and Fred Ebb's Woman of the Year (1983).

She made her first television appearance as a guest star on Our Family Honor in 1985, later appearing in Four Eyes and Six Guns (1992), Mrs. Santa Claus (1996) and numerous times on soap operas like As the World Turns, One Life to Live, The Doctors, Ryan's Hope, and Search for Tomorrow.

Family
Keagy was predeceased by her husband, Robert B. Keagy, and her brother William Stambaugh. She was survived by five children, twelve grandchildren, and extended family.

Death
Keagy died on October 4, 2009, in Rochester, New York, aged 87, from ovarian cancer.

References

Sources
Biography of Grace Keagy

External links

1921 births
2009 deaths
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American soap opera actresses
American television actresses
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
Deaths from ovarian cancer
Actresses from Minneapolis
Actresses from Rochester, New York
Actresses from Youngstown, Ohio
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American women

Grace Keagy


The Saccharomycodaceae are a family of yeasts in the order Saccharomycetales. According to the 2007 Outline of Ascomycota, the family contains four genera, although the placement of three of these (Hanseniaspora, Nadsonia, and Wickerhamia) is uncertain. Species in the family have a cosmopolitan distribution and are found in both temperate and tropical areas.

References

Saccharomycetes
Ascomycota families

Saccharomycodaceae


Konpa, also known as Konpa dirèk (; Haitian Creole: konpa or konpa dirèk), is a modern méringue dance music genre of Haiti. The genre was popularized by Nemours Jean-Baptiste following the creation of Ensemble Aux Callebasses in 1955, which became Ensemble Nemours Jean-Baptiste in 1957. The frequent tours of the many Haitian bands have cemented the style in all the Caribbean. Therefore, Konpa is the main music of several countries such as Dominica and the French Antilles. Whether it is called zouk, where French Antilles artists of Martinique and Guadeloupe have taken it, or compas in places where Haitian artists have toured, this méringue style is influential in part of the Caribbean, Portugal, Cape Verde, France, part of Canada, South and North America.

Etymology and characteristics
The word "compas" means "measure" or "rhythm" in Spanish, and one of the most distinctive characteristics of compas is the consistent pulsating tanbou beat, a trait common to many styles of Caribbean music. Compas Direct (which is a trademark registered in the United States by Nemours Jean-Baptiste's heirs Dr Yves Jean-Baptiste and Mrs. Yvrose Jean-Baptiste) translates as direct beat. In Creole, it is spelled konpa, though it is most popularly spelled with an "m" instead of an "n". However, there is no M before B and P in Creole. Therefore kompa does not fit in any language.

History

Mini-jazz and small bands
During and after the US occupation, the word "jazz" has become synonymous with music bands in Haiti. So the mini-jazz is a reduced méringue-compas band. The movement started in the mid-1960s when young, small neighborhood bands played compas featuring paired electric guitars, electric bass, drum set-conga-timbales and two cowbells, one for the timbales and the other to be played with the floor tom; some use an alto sax or a full horn section, others use a keyboard or accordion. This trend, launched by Shleu-Shleu after 1965, came to include a number of groups from Port-au-Prince neighbourhoods, especially the suburb of Pétion-Ville. Les Corvington, Tabou Combo, Les Difficiles, Les Loups Noirs, Les Frères DéJean, Les Fantaisistes de Carrefour, Bossa Combo and Les Ambassadeurs (among others) formed the core of this middle-class popular music movement.

These young musicians were critical in the creation of new techniques that contribute to the fanciness of the style. Although Raymond Gaspard (Nemours) had already started it in the 1950s, guitar players such as Michel Corvington (Les Corvington), Henry Celestin (founder of Les Difficiles de Pétion Ville), Robert Martino (Les Difficiles/Gypsies/Scorpio/Topvice...), Dadou Pasket (Tabou combo/Magnum Band), Jean Claude Jean (Tabou Combo/Super Star...), Serge Rosenthal (Shleu-Shleu), Hans Felix, (Les Ambassadeurs/Volo Volo de Boston), Ricardo/Tiplum (Les Ambassadeurs), Claude Marcellin (Les Difficiles/D.P. Express/Zèklè...), Police Nozile (Les Frères Déjean/D.P. Express...) and many more have created intricate, mostly rhythmic guitar styles that constitute a strong distinguishable feature of the méringue.

Nemours Jean-Baptiste
Nemours Jean-Baptiste presented his Ensemble Aux Calebasses in 1955 (named after the club Aux Calebasses located at Carrefour, a western neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, where the band used to perform on weekends). At the beginning, Ensemble 'Aux Callebasses' Of Nemours Jean-Baptiste played rhythms such as Cuba's guaracha and cha-cha-chá as well as Haiti's Bannann Pouyak, Grenn Moudong, and méringue lente. In 1957, Nemours Jean-Baptiste, with the assistance of conga player Kreudzer Duroseau and accordionist Richard Duroseau, created compas, which has its roots in Haitian traditional méringue and the Vodou traditional rhythms. Its  popularity took off likely due to the genre's ability to improvise and hold the rhythm section steady and the facility with which dancers could absorb, feel and express the new rhythm. Nemours Jean-Baptiste incorporated a lot of brass and, in 1958, the first electric guitar in Haitian urban dance music. Compas is sung in Creole, English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Nemours' popularity grew in and out of the country. The band's clean horn section was remarkable, and the band featured méringue tunes that gained instant popularity. For example, in Martinique, several music groups such as Ensemble Abricot, Les Djoubap, Combo Jazz, Georges Plonquitte (fr) (Vini Dance Compas Direct) won over the public with the many tunes or compositions of Nemours. Later, Nemours became a favorite of Dominican president Joaquín Balaguer, who often contracted the band. This is why hits like "Ti Carole" and "Chagrin D'amour", featured by known Dominican stars Luis Miguel and others, are also sung in Spanish.

Rise in popularity
In the early 1960s Nemours and the Sicot Brothers from Haiti frequently toured the Caribbean, especially Curaçao, Aruba, Saint Lucia, Dominica and mostly the French Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe to spread the seed of the méringue-compas and cadence rampa. Webert Sicot, a prominent Haitian saxophone player and the originator of cadence rampa, recorded three LPs with French Antilles producers, two with Celini disques in Guadeloupe and one with "Balthazar" in Martinique. Haitian compas or cadence bands were asked to integrate Antillean musicians. Consequently, the leading Les Guais Troubadours with influential singer Louis Lahens, along with other bands, played a very important role in the schooling of Antilleans to the méringue-compas or cadence rampa music style. Almost all existing Haitian compas bands have toured these islands that have since adopted the music and the dance of the méringue.

From 1968 to the 1970s prominent bands like Bossa Combo, Volo Volo de Boston, Les Shleu-Shleu, Les Ambassadeurs, Les Vikings, Les Fantaisistes, Les Loups Noirs, Les Frères Dejean, Les Difficiles, and Les Gypsies have exerted a dominance on the Caribbean and many places in European and South American music scenes.  The band Tabou Combo, perhaps one of the most legendary compas ensembles, took the musical style to greater heights when they toured countries like Senegal and Japan during their world tours. Their performances in Panama enamored the population, earning them the title of "Official Panamanian Band". The band's impact on local Panamanian music was so profound that to this day, Panamanians still consider compas (or what they call "reggae haitiano") part of their national music. Throughout the seventies, Tabou Combo remained on the Paris Hits Parade for weeks with their New York City album, and held performances attended by thousands in New York's Central Park. During the '80s, popular artist Gesner Henry, alias Coupé Cloué and his band Trio Select, successively toured West Africa and left sweet memories. He was crowned king. Another band, Orchestre Septentrional D'Haïti (or the Northern Orchestra of Haiti), was also popular during this time period and cemented the style of large orchestras as part of the northern signature of compas.

Dance style
The dance-style that accompanied compas in 1957, is a two-step dance called carré (square) introduced by Nemours Jean-Baptiste in 1962. As a méringue, a ballroom dance, compas is danced in pairs. Sometimes partners dance holding each other tightly and romantically; in this case often most of the moves are made at the hips.

Derivatives of Compas

Zouk
With the Kwaze le 8 Contredanse from southern Haiti, the compas is part of Haitian culture. During the 1970s and 1980s, it was very successful in the Caribbean and contributed to the influence of Zouk in the French West Indies. Nevertheless, Zouk and its rhythm are still mainly influenced by Mazouk and Biguine from Martinique, as well as by Gwoka from Guadeloupe, traditional music from the French Antilles.

Coladeira
In the 1960s, the coladeira emerged as a livelier counterpart to the morna. The coladeira is played in fast double time, accompanying informal pop-style couple dances. Its main influences seem to be obscure folk processional music of the same name, commercial African American music, the morna and, above all, modern French Caribbean pop music. Most often it is played by a modern dance band, i.e. with drums, bass, electric guitars, etc. From the 1960s to the 1980s, Haitian artists and groups such as Claudette & Ti Pierre, Tabou Combo and especially Gesner Henry  Coupé Cloué and the Dominican group Exile One were very popular in Africa. In addition, the French West Indies group Kassav' and other West Indian musicians, whose main music is Zouk, have toured Cabo Island on various occasions. Many Cape Verdean artists play zouk and compas. A good example is the talented Tito Paris dança mami Criola (1994); this CD contained music close to Haiti Tabou Combo, Caribbean Sextet, Tropicana and French Antilles Kassav', etc. Cape Verdean artists were exposed to zouk and compas in the US and France. Acculturation has been aided by the growth of overseas communities (especially in New England) whose population now exceeds that of Cape Verde itself (about 300,000). Today, the new generation of Cape Verdean Kizomba artists play a rhythm close to "Zouk love" and Konpa. To celebrate this influence, a Zouk Museum has been created in Luanda, Angola. It is the only museum in the world dedicated to Caribbean music. Its founders have collected about 10,000 albums, from what is called Zouk Retro, to Zouk-love and Afro-Love.

See also
 Haitian Carnival
 Music of Latin America

References

Un panorama de l'histoire de la musique haïtienne

20th-century music genres
Haitian styles of music

Compas


Alun Herbert Davies (1927-2005), known as Alan Creunant in Wales, was a Welsh head teacher, and first director of the Welsh Books Council. His parents were Rev. Thomas Herbert (Creunant) Davies and Hannah Davies (née Thomas). On completing his secondary education in Llandovery he studied at Trinity College, Carmarthen, but did not enter the teaching profession until he had completed two years military service. Following a short period teaching in the Tregaron area, he moved to Llangeitho where, in 1952, he took up the position of school head teacher.

From 1965 to 1987 he held the position of Director of the Welsh Books Council. During this time he secured significant funding for the institution from local authorities and the Welsh Arts Council, and developed trading practices, introducing a wholesale operation for booksellers and publishers, and introducing services to help publishers improve standards of book production. He was also able to include in Books Council's remit the distribution of grants to improve and extend the variety of books published.

Davies' other great passion was religion, and he served as a lay preacher with the Presbyterian Church of Wales. He was also Moderator of the South Wales Association of the Presbyterian Church of Wales in 1979–1980.

In 1987 he received an honorary MA from the University of Wales, and in 2004 was made a Fellow of the University of Wales Aberystwyth.

He died from cancer at Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth, in October 2005.

References

Welsh schoolteachers
1927 births
2005 deaths

Alun Herbert Davies


Roger Nelson Stembel (December 27, 1810 – November 20, 1900) was an officer of the United States Navy during the Civil War.

Early life
Stembel, born in Middletown, Maryland, was appointed midshipman in the United States Navy on March 27, 1832. He served in the West Indies, Mediterranean, Home, Brazil, China, and East India Squadrons prior to the Civil War.

Civil War
During the Civil War, Stembel served in the Western Gunboat Flotilla during 1861 and 1862. He participated in the engagements of Lucas' Bend, September 9, 1861; Belmont, November 1861; Fort Henry, February 1862; and the bombardment and capture of Island No. 10 in March and April 1862. While commanding the Cincinnati, Stembel was seriously wounded in an engagement with Confederate rams near Fort Pillow on May 10, 1862, and invalided in 1863.

Stembel was assigned shore duty at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1864 and 1865. After being promoted to captain in 1866, he commanded  in the European Squadron from 1865 to 1867. He was stationed at Boston, Massachusetts in 1869 and was promoted to Commodore in 1871. In that year, he assumed command of the North Squadron of the Pacific Fleet; and, in 1872, he assumed command of the Pacific Fleet as well.
With the fall of Confederate Fort Henry he, along with Captain Seth Ledyard Phelps, were sent by flag officer Andrew Hull Foote to hoist the American flag over the captured fort, marking the turning point of the Civil War.

He retired on December 27, 1872, and was promoted to rear admiral on June 5, 1874. Admiral Stembel died in New York City on November 20, 1900. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
The destroyer  was named in his honor. Stembel was the son in law of James McBride of Hamilton, Ohio, and therefore connected with several prominent politicians related to the Lytle family.

See also
 Ulysses S. Grant
 Bibliography of the American Civil War

References

Sources

External links
 Arlington National Cemetery: Roger Nelson Stembel
 Stembel Family History; see Henry Stembel

1810 births
1900 deaths
United States Navy rear admirals
People from Middletown, Maryland
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery

Roger N. Stembel


Antiochus VIII Epiphanes/Callinicus/Philometor, nicknamed Grypus (, "hook-nose"), was the ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire from 125 to 96 BC. He was the younger son of Demetrius II and Cleopatra Thea. He may have spent his early life in Athens and returned to Syria after the deaths of his father and brother Seleucus V. At first he was joint ruler with his mother. Fearing her influence, Antiochus VIII had Cleopatra Thea poisoned in 121 BC.

Political instability affected most of Antiochus VIII's reign. From 116 BC he fought a civil war against his half-brother Antiochus IX. Antiochus VIII's wife, the Ptolemaic Egyptian princess Tryphaena, had her sister and the wife of Antiochus IX, the former Cleopatra IV of Egypt, murdered in 112 BC; Antiochus IX killed Tryphaena in revenge. In 102 BC, Antiochus VIII's aunt Cleopatra III of Egypt, the mother of the two rival queens, gave him the hand of her daughter Cleopatra Selene in marriage. Antiochus VIII was assassinated in 96 BC.

Biography

Family background and childhood
In 193 BC Cleopatra I, a Seleucid princess, married King Ptolemy V of Egypt. Their granddaughter Cleopatra Thea of the Ptolemaic dynasty married the claimant Alexander Balas half a century later in 150 BC. She later married Demetrius II of Syria, and they had two sons. Demetrius II was captured and held as a prisoner by the Parthian Empire. Antiochus VIII's uncle Antiochus VII took the throne and married Cleopatra Thea, but died in 129 BC while fighting against the Parthians; Demetrius II then returned to the throne, and died in 125 BC while waging a war for the Syrian throne against the claimant Alexander II. Demetrius II's eldest son Seleucus V became king after his death, but was soon killed by Cleopatra Thea. She made Antiochus VIII king, ruling as his co-regent.

Rise to power
Shortly after taking the throne, Antiochus VIII married his cousin, the Ptolemaic princess Tryphaena. Silver and bronze coins issued during the co-regency (125–121BC) of Antiochus VIII and Cleopatra Thea show the head of the queen appearing at front with her son's head behind hers. Her name is also the first listed on the coinage. These facts signify that she was the senior co-ruler. He defeated usurper Alexander II Zabinas in 123 BC. In 121 BC, Antiochus decided to rid himself of his influential mother. According to Justin, his mother tried to poison him with wine, but the suspicious king forced her to drink the cup herself. However, it was Grypus himself who would become famous for his interest in toxicology. Some poems about poisonous herbs believed to have been written by him are quoted by the famous physician Galen.

Reign as King of Syria

Despite political shortcomings, Grypus was a popular king. His ugly, lazy appearance on coins (common among the last Seleucids), together with stories of his lavish banquets, made posterity believe his dynasty was degenerate and decadent. This was, however, a conscious image invoking the Hellenistic concept of Tryphe - meaning good life, which the last Seleucids strove to be associated with, as opposed to the exhausting civil wars and feuds which troubled their reigns in reality.

A story of his luxurious parties claims he sent food home with guests who attended banquets, complete with a camel as beast of burden, as well as an attendant to carry the guest himself. This should certainly have caused some strain on the already depleted treasury.

Civil War
In 116 BC his half-brother and cousin Antiochus IX Cyzicenus returned from exile and a civil war began. Cyzicenus' wife, also named Cleopatra, was a sister of Tryphaena and was eventually killed in a dramatic fashion in the temple of Daphne outside Antioch, on the order of Tryphaena. Cyzicenus eventually killed Tryphaena as revenge. The two brothers then divided Syria between them until Grypus was killed by his minister Heracleon in 96 BC.

Family
He married the Ptolemaic princess Tryphaena ca. 125, and had six children by her:
 Seleucus VI Epiphanes
 Antiochus XI Epiphanes Philadelphus
 Philip I Philadelphus
 Demetrius III Eucaerus
 Antiochus XII Dionysus
 Laodice VII Thea, married to king Mithridates I Callinicus of Commagene as part of a settlement by Mithridates' father Sames II Theosebes Dikaios to ensure peace between the Kingdom of Commagene and the Seleucid Empire. Laodice and Mithridates' son was King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, grandson to Grypus.

In 102, Cleopatra III of Egypt gave him her daughter Cleopatra Selene I in marriage, but she gave him no children. Afterwards, she went to marry Antiochus IX Cyzicenus.

See also

 List of Syrian monarchs
 Timeline of Syrian history

Notes

References

Sources

External links

Antiochus VIII Grypus entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith

2nd-century BC births
96 BC deaths
2nd-century BC Seleucid monarchs
1st-century BC Seleucid monarchs
Year of birth unknown
1st-century BC murdered monarchs

Antiochus VIII Grypus


The Hachita Valley, (Spanish language hacho, hatchet-(axe), hachita, little hatchet; Little Hatchet Valley), is a small valley in southwest New Mexico. The valley is in the east of the New Mexico Bootheel region and borders Chihuahua state, Mexico. Hachita, New Mexico lies in the valley's northeast, where New Mexico State Road 9 traverses east-west across much of southern New Mexico. The large, and extensive north-south Playas Valley borders to the west on the other side of the west perimeter mountain ranges.

The Hachita Valley lies in the northwest of the Chihuahuan Desert, with the southeast of the valley draining southeast into desert regions of northern Chihuahua. The Hachita Valley is created because of the three surrounding mountainous regions; the north is more bajada-like, and extends north to foothills of higher elevation mountain regions, transitioning to the Continental Divide of the Americas.

The valley is located in Hidalgo County, but the extreme north drains from north of Hachita in south Grant County.

Description
Hachita Valley is a north-south valley in its north region of about 20 mi in length; the south turns abruptly southeastwards for 15 mi to exit into the Chihuahuan Desert lower elevations in northern Chihuahua. The Apache Hills are the large section of the hills in the east and northeast causing the valley's curvature. A major central wash follows the valley's southeast; the north has no major wash, and instead drainages are towards a central bajada landform region. The northern bajada extends north past Hachita, NM on the east and Old Hachita, NM on the west.

The southeasterly excursion of the valley is caused by the bordering Big Hatchet Mountains on the southwest, which trend southeast; the valley narrows here, between the Apache Hills northeast, to between 5 and 7 mi wide. In the northwest where the valley widens, the Little Hatchet Mountains lie on the west perimeter. The site of Old Hachita is on the Little Burro's northeast; Playas, NM lies on the northwest.

Twelvemile Wells is near the valley's center, and is just north of where the southeast valley excursion starts, near the beginning of the southeast washes. In the northeast of the Big Hatchet Mountains, bordering the southwest valley lies the Big Hatchet Mountains Wilderness Study Area.

Access
New Mexico State Road 81 traverses the north section of the valley from Hachita, and goes southwest to the Playas Valley through Hachita Gap, between the Little and Big Hatchet Mountains.

References

External links
Twelvemile Wells, Hachita Valley, New Mexico

New Mexico Bootheel
Landforms of Hidalgo County, New Mexico
Landforms of Grant County, New Mexico
Valleys of New Mexico

Hachita Valley


Lucas Patterson (born September 19, 1987) is a former American football offensive lineman who played in the National Football League. Patterson was signed as undrafted free agent in 2011. Patterson has been released and re-signed to the practice squad multiple times since his rookie season and has had only very brief stints on the Kansas City Chiefs active roster. Patterson has also played for the New England Patriots during their 2013 preseason but was released following an injury settlement.

References

External links
Kansas City Chiefs bio
Texas A&M Aggies bio

1987 births
Living people
Kansas City Chiefs players
People from Kingsville, Texas

Luke Patterson