Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the second-largest city in Venezuela, after the national capital, Caracas, and the capital of the state of Zulia. The population of the city is approximately 2,658,355 with the metropolitan area estimated at 5,278,448 .
Maracaibo is nicknamed "The Beloved Land of the Sun" ().

Maracaibo is considered the economic center of western Venezuela, owing to the petroleum industry that developed in the shores of Lake Maracaibo. It is sometimes known as "The First City of Venezuela", for being the first city in Venezuela to adopt various types of public services, including electricity, as well as for being located in the shores of Lake Maracaibo, where the name of Venezuela allegedly originates.

Early indigenous settlements around the area were of Arawak and Carib origin. Maracaibo's founding date is disputed. There were failed attempts to found the city—in 1529, by Captain Ambrosio Ehinger, and in 1569, by Captain Alonso Pacheco. Founded in 1574 as Nueva Zamora de la Laguna de Maracaibo by Captain Pedro Maldonado, the city became a transshipment point for inland settlements after Gibraltar, at the head of the lake, had been destroyed by pirates in 1669. It was not until the first decades of the 17th century that the first town was settled. Petroleum was discovered in 1917, leading to a large increase in population from migration.

Maracaibo is served by La Chinita International Airport. The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge connects Maracaibo to the rest of the country.

Etymology

The name Maracaibo is said to derive from the brave cacique (indigenous chief) Mara, a young native who valiantly resisted the Spaniards and died fighting them.

Legend says that when Mara fell, the Coquivacoa shouted "Mara kayó!" ("Mara fell!"), thus originating the city name — although it would be strange for them to shout in Spanish. Other historians say that the first name of this land in the local language was "Maara-iwo" meaning "Place where serpents abound".

History

Foundation
The first indigenous settlements were of Arawak and Carib origin. Around the main group were the Añu tribe who built rows of stilt houses all over the northern riviera of Lake Maracaibo. The first Europeans arrived in 1499.

The city was founded three times: the first time was during the Klein-Venedig period (1528–1546), when the Welser bankers of Augsburg received a concession over Venezuela Province from Charles I of Spain. In August 1529, the German Ambrosius Ehinger made his first expedition to Lake Maracaibo, which was bitterly opposed by the indigenous Coquivacoa. After winning a series of bloody battles, he founded the settlement on 8 September 1529. Ehinger named the settlement New Nuremberg () and the lake after the valiant chieftain Mara of the Coquivacoa, who had died in the fighting. The city was renamed Maracaibo after the Spanish took possession. The lack of activity in the zone made Nikolaus Federmann evacuate the village in 1535 and move its population to Santa Marta near the then capital of Venezuela Province, Santa Ana de Coro.

A second attempt by Captain Alonso Pacheco in 1569 suffered a brief setback when the city had to be evacuated in 1573 due to ferocious attacks by native local tribes. The European settlement returned a short while later, in 1574, however, for which it was re-founded by Captain Pedro Maldonado under Governor Diego de Mazariegos's command and assuming the name of Nueva Zamora de Maracaibo. "Nueva Zamora" comes from Mazariego's place of birth, Zamora, in Spain. Since its definite foundation, the town began to develop as a whole. It is based on the western side of Lake Maracaibo, the dominant feature of the oil-rich Maracaibo Basin. Favored by prevailing winds and a protected harbour, the city is located on the shores of the lake where the narrows, which eventually lead to the Gulf of Venezuela, first become pronounced.

Pirate attacks

The Dutch corsair Henrik de Gerard plundered Maracaibo in 1614, and in 1642 the city was attacked by the British pirate William Jackson. In 1667, l'Olonnais with a fleet of eight ships and a crew of six hundred pirates sacked Maracaibo and Gibraltar. En route, l'Olonnais crossed paths with a Spanish treasure ship, which he captured, along with its rich cargo of cacao, gemstones and more than 260,000 pieces of eight.

In March 1669, Henry Morgan sacked Maracaibo, which emptied when his fleet was first spied, and moved on to the Spanish settlement of Gibraltar on the inside of Lake Maracaibo in search of more treasure. A few weeks later, when he attempted to sail out of the lake, Morgan found an occupied fort blocking the inlet to the Caribbean, along with three Spanish ships. These were the Magdalena, the San Luis, and the Soledad. He destroyed the Magdalena and burned the San Luis by sending a dummy ship full of gunpowder to explode near them, after which the crew of the Soledad surrendered. By faking a landward attack on the fort, thereby convincing the Spanish governor to shift his cannon, he eluded their guns and escaped.

In June 1678, Michel de Grammont, the French commander of six ships and 700 men, captured Maracaibo then followed the plundering of several smaller towns as Gibraltar, penetrating as far inland as Trujillo.

Venezuelan Independence

In 1810, the province of Maracaibo did not join the First Republic of Venezuela and remained loyal to the Spanish crown. Maracaibo then held the seat of the Captaincy General of Venezuela.

In 1821, uprisings in favor of independence began to lead to warfare and hostility. The royalists, led by Francisco Tomás Morales, fought with the patriots, led by Rafael Urdaneta, to take back control over the province in the Juana de Ávila Battle, and Morales brought back Spanish rule in 1822 until he was defeated in the Battle of Lake Maracaibo on 24 July 1823, culminating Venezuela's struggle for independence.

Isolation period
For about 380 years, Maracaibo remained isolated and separated from the rest of the country. Transportation to the vecinity was possible through the lake via boat and ferries. Commerce and culture flowed between Maracaibo and the Caribbean Sea, particularly the Dutch Antilles, colombian coastal cities, Cuba, Hispaniola and later on Miami, New York and Hamburg.

This isolation from the rest of Venezuela was both a challenge and an advantage. The very nature of the city's location made for a population known for their independent thought and character. The history of this region is rife with stories about the creation of an independent and sovereign nation apart from Venezuela, a nation called , 'the Independent Republic of Zulia', but this has never come to be.

Come the 20st century, cars, buses, and lorries, with their constant flow of manufactured goods and agricultural product to and from the city port, depended on ferry services between the city and the eastern shore which was poorly connected to the country's motorway system. Maracaibo and the Lake Maracaibo region's economy was more linked to Colombia and the Caribbean than to eastern Venezuela due to the natural route available through Lake Maracaibo then leading to the sea.

In January 1903, as the naval blockade of Venezuela continued during the negotiations with presidente Cipriano Castro, the German warship SMS Panther attempted to enter Lake Maracaibo, which was a center of German commercial activity. On 17 January, it exchanged fire with the settlement of Fort San Carlos, but withdrew after half an hour, as shallow waters prevented it getting close enough to the fort to be effective. The Venezuelans claimed this as a victory, and in response the German commander sent the SMS Vineta, with heavier weapons, to set an example. On 21 January, the Vineta bombarded the fort, setting fire to it and destroying it, with the death of 25 civilians in the nearby town.

In 1908, the Friesland, Gelderland and Jacob van Heemskerck
were sent to patrol the Venezuelan coast during the second Castro crisis. Friesland guarded the entry way to Maracaibo.

Building of the bridge

The dictatorial regime of General Marcos Pérez Jiménez in the 1950s set as a goal the construction of a bridge connecting the two lake shores. Various bridge projects for the spanning of the Lake Maracaibo narrows near the city were in the works. The general's government had decided that this "city of independent thought" should be more "connected" to the rest of the country.

Proposals for a bridge design that included rail transport and tourist facilities were seriously considered. The fall of the Pérez Jiménez regime on January 23, 1958, quickly led to a less elaborate design project that was approved and funded by a democratic and more financially responsible government.

The building of  ('General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge over Lake Maracaibo') named after the distinguished general and war of independence hero was opened to public traffic in 1962 connecting the city to its opposite shore neighbors and the rest of the country through a new system of highways. The project was completed on schedule in 40 months.

This bridge construction project was a remarkable feat. Built under very difficult conditions, when completed, it became the longest prestressed concrete bridge in the world. The structure is in constant use and remains today as the most important link between Maracaibo, along with much of the state of Zulia, and the rest of Venezuela.

Modern times

François de Pons, an agent to the French government in Caracas, provides some historical insight into the people of Maracaibo in his travel journal . The following excerpts describe the local population of Maracaibo:

"They perform coasting, or long voyages, with equal facility; and when all trade is suspended by the operations of war, they enter privateers. Bred up in the neighbourhood of the lake, they are mostly all expert swimmers and excellent divers. Their reputation stands equally high as soldiers. Those who do not enter into the sea service, form plantations, or assist in cultivating those that belong to their fathers. Nothing proves better their aptitude for this kind of occupation, than the immense flocks of cattle with which the savannas of Maracaybo  are covered."

He also notes the appreciation of literature, the arts, education, and culture among the people of Maracaibo:

"But what confers the greatest honour on the inhabitants of Maracaibo, is their application to literature; in which, notwithstanding the wretched state of public education, they make considerable progress....They likewise acquired the art of elocution, and of writing their mother tongue with the greatest purity; in a word, they possessed all the qualities that characterise men of letters."

Maracaibo has become a large metropolitan city, comprising two municipalities: the municipality of Maracaibo proper, and the municipality of San Francisco, established in 1995, to the south. In recent years, due to political/economic and cultural reasons, many have moved to Maracaibo from rural areas and other cities (including Caracas).

Maracaibo also boasts one of the best universities in the country, the state university, La Universidad del Zulia (LUZ) is well renowned for its excellent law, medical and engineering schools as many other disciplines. Other universities and schools include Universidad Dr. Rafael Belloso Chacín (URBE) and Universidad Rafael Urdaneta, with one of the country's leading psychology schools.

The Diocese of Maracaibo (23 July 1965) was elevated to Archdiocese on 30 April 1966 by Pope Paulus VI. Maracaibo was visited by Pope John Paul II in 1985. Since November 2000, its Archbishop has been Ubaldo Ramón Santana Sequera.

Economy
Zulia's main income comes from oil extraction and refining, agriculture (coffee, rice, maize, cassava, cocoa, sugar cane),
livestock production, and mining (clay, limestone, coal and sand).

Geography

The municipality of Maracaibo is divided into 18 parishes as follows:

Districts

Climate
Maracaibo is one of the hottest cities in Venezuela and all of South America as well. The rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta gives the city a semiarid climate (Köppen: BSh) bordering tropical savanna climate (Köppen: Aw)
Attenuated only by the moderating influence of the lake; Maracaibo's average historical temperature is . In the past, the climate of the city, indeed all along the coast of Lake Maracaibo, was unhealthy due to the combination of high temperatures with high humidity. Today, control of plagues and the effects of urban development has largely eradicated these health problems. The registered high temperature of the city is , and the lowest is .

Education

Colleges and universities
Several universities are based in the city:
 Universidad del Zulia - (LUZ)
 Nacional Experimental de la Fuerza Armada UNEFA
 Universidad Rafael Belloso Chacín - (URBE)
 Universidad Rafael Urdaneta
 Universidad Católica Cecilio Acosta
 Universidad Dr. José Gregorio Hernández
 Universidad Bolivariano de Venezuela sede Zulia
 Universidad Nacional Abierta (UNA) Centro Local Zulia

International schools

 Escuela Bella Vista (American school)
 Colegio Alemán de Maracaibo, formerly Colegio Alemán del Zulia (German school)

Sports

Due to the regionalistic nature of Marabinos, they strongly support their native teams. Maracaibo, and the rest of Zulia, are represented in baseball by the Águilas del Zulia, a Venezuelan winter league team that plays in the Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional, and is based in the Estadio Luis Aparicio El Grande. The city's basketball team is Gaiteros del Zulia, which plays in the Liga Profesional de Baloncesto de Venezuela. Its home is the 5.000-people Pedro Elías Belisario Aponte stadium. Other teams include the Unión Atlético Maracaibo and the Zulia FC in football, the Maracaibo Rugby Football Club and the Zulianos Rugby Club.

In the 2000 Little League World Series, the Sierrra Maestra Little League of Maracaibo, Venezuela defeated Bellaire Little League of Bellaire, Texas in the championship game of the 54th Little League World Series. The Coquivocoa Little League team from Maracaibo placed third in the 1974 Little League World Series.

Rugby in Venezuela was first played in Maracaibo, thanks to the influence of the English community based on the Zulia State

Team:
 Baseball: Águilas del Zulia BBC.
 Basketball: Gaiteros del Zulia
 Soccer: Unión Atlético Maracaibo, Zulia FC
 Rugby: Maracaibo Rugby Football Club "Oil Blacks", Zulianos Rugby Club

Culture

Culture in Maracaibo maintains strong Indigenous influences, from its gaitas, desserts, style, and other customs. Most major houses of advertising in Venezuela acknowledge how different the culture of Maracaibo is from that of Caracas. Studies of both prove, for example, that Caracas' leading soft drink brand is Coke, while in Maracaibo it is Pepsi. This has made many brands create special localized advertising of their products (including several Pepsi commercials spoken by local celebrities).

The Gaita is a style of Venezuelan folk music from Maracaibo. According to Joan Corominas, it may come from gaits, the Gothic word for "goat", which is the skin generally used for the membrane of the "furro" instrument. Other instruments used in gaita include maracas, cuatro, charrasca and tambora (Venezuelan drum). Song themes range from humorous and love songs to protest songs.The style became popular throughout Venezuela in the 1960s, and it fused with other styles such as salsa and merengue in the 1970s. Famous gaita groups include Maracaibo 15, Gran Coquivacoa, Barrio Obrero, Cardenales del Éxito, Koquimba, Melody Gaita, Guaco, Estrellas del Zulia, Saladillo, and many others.

Museums, cultural centers and theaters

 Zulia Contemporary Art Museum (MACZUL)
 General Rafael Urdaneta Museum
 "Balmiro León" Municipal Graphic Arts Museum
 Maracaibo's Fine Arts Centre
 Maracaibo's "Lía Bermúdez" Art Centre
 Baralt Theatre
 Museum of Gaita

Libraries
 Public Library of Zulia
 "Arturo Uslar Pietri" Public Library
 "Dr. Pedro Alciro Barboza de la Torre" Library
 "Simón Palmar" Public Library
 Biblioteca Pública "Luís Guillermo Pineda Belloso" (De carácter público, bilingüe y circulante)
 "Pedagógica" Specialized Public Library
 "SEDINI" Specialized Public Library
 "Dr. Nectario Andrade Labarca" Private Library

Notable people

 Wilyer Abreu - baseball player
 Teolindo Acosta - baseball player
 José Andrés Martínez - professional MLS soccer player
 Gustavo Aguado - musician, singer and leader of Guaco music band
 Ricardo Aguirre - composer and singer
 Daniel Alvarado - singer and actor
 Wilson Álvarez - Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher
 Ernesto Aparicio - former shortstop in Venezuelan League Baseball
 Luis Aparicio - shortstop, Major League Baseball Hall of Fame
 Rafael Maria Baralt - diplomat, writer, philologist, historian
 Huascar Barradas - flutist
 Lionel Belasco - pianist, composer and bandleader, best known for his calypso recordings
 Marisela Berti - actress, singer, show host and beauty queen
 José Bracho - baseball pitcher
 Silvino Bracho - baseball pitcher
 Antonio Briñez - first manager to win a National Amateur Baseball championship to Venezuela
 María Calcaño - poet
 José Antonio Casanova - baseball player and team manager
 Abel Castellano Jr. - jockey
 Javier Castellano - jockey Eclipse Award 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. Hall of Fame
 Leopoldo Castillo - journalist. TV host
 Gustavo Chacín - baseball player
 Johana Clavel - cook and entrepreneur
 Gilberto Correa - TV host
 David Cubillan - basketball player
 Chiquinquirá Delgado - actress and TV host
 Elías Díaz - MLB baseball player
 Xabier Elorriaga- actor
 Heraclio Fernández - pianist and composer
 Lupita Ferrer - actress
 Juan Fuenmayor - soccer player
 Manuel Gogorza- military
 Betulio González - boxer
 Carlos González - baseball player
 Geremi González - Major League Baseball player for several teams
 Inés González Árraga - chemist and former political prisoner
 Mariana González Parra - fencer
 Ulises Hadjis- singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist
 Alejandro Hernández - Internet comedian
 Jonathan Herrera - baseball player
 Wilmer Herrison - painter
 Ender Inciarte - MLB baseball player
 Ninibeth Leal - Miss Venezuela World 1991, Miss World 1991
 Tulio Enrique León - blind organist, composer, and arranger
 Sandy León - MLB baseball player
 Carlos López Bustamante - journalist, known for his opposition to Juan Vicente Gómez
 Eduardo López Bustamante - journalist, lawyer, and poet
 Teresa López Bustamante - journalist, founder of the Catholic Venezuelan newspaper
 Eduardo López Rivas - editor and journalist
 Betty Cecilia Lugo - Philanthropist
 Julio Machado - Major League Baseball pitcher
 Carlos Ramírez MacGregor - journalist, politician and writer
 Domingo Marcucci - shipbuilder and shipowner in San Francisco, California
 Ernesto Mayz Vallenilla - philosopher, rector of Simón Bolívar University (Venezuela)
 Armando Molero - songwriter
 Carlos Molina Tamayo - navy militar
 Ricardo Montaner - Venezuelan musician
 Carmen Maria Montiel - Miss Venezuela 1984, Miss Universe 1984 2nd runner-up
 Carlos Caridad-Montero - film producer
 Humberto Fernández Morán - research scientist, founded the Venezuelan scientific research institute
 Lila Morillo - actress and singer
 Francisco Ochoa - first President of the Universidad del Zulia
 Rougned Odor - MLB baseball player
 Gastón Parra Luzardo- Economist president of PDVSA in 2002
 Gerardo Parra- MLB baseball player
 Nestor Perez Luzardo- lawyer and singer
 Felipe Pirela- singer
 Nick Pocock - former cricketer, ex-captain of Hampshire County Cricket Club
 Oswaldo Álvarez Paz - First elected Governor
 L. Rafael Reif - electrical engineer and the 17th President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 Graciela Rincón Calcaño - poet
 Rafael Romero Sandrea - track and field athlete
 Daniel Sarcos - Telemundo TV host
 Jefferson Savarino - footballer
 Monica Spear - Miss Venezuela 2004, Miss Universe 2005 4th runner-up, actress
 Orlando Urdaneta - actor
 Rafael Urdaneta - hero of the Latin American war for independence
 Vivian Urdaneta - Miss Venezuela International 2000, Miss International 2000
 Patricia Van Dalen - painter
 Patricia Velásquez - actress and international top model
 Leonardo Villalobos - actor and television personality

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities
Maracaibo is twinned with:

 Bremen, Germany
 Durban, South Africa
 Honolulu, United States
 New Orleans, United States
 Ploiești, Romania
 Istanbul, Turkey

References

Further reading

External links

 Panorama Digital - Largest Maracaibo based newspaper
 La Verdad - Maracaibo-based newspaper

Cities in Zulia
Municipalities of Zulia
Lake Maracaibo
Port cities in the Caribbean
Port cities in Venezuela
Populated places established in 1529
Ports and harbours of Venezuela

Maracaibo


Our Lady of Aránzazu (Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu) (Colloquially Known as Birhen ng Bayang San Mateo / Virgin of the Town of San Mateo) is a Roman Catholic title of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated in San Mateo, Rizal, Philippines.

The image is widely known due to claims of miraculous healing and flood safety. It further retained its standing posture despite the controversy of its original image in Oñati, Spain being seated.

Pope Francis granted a pontifical decree of canonical coronation on 17 June 2016. The coronation took place on 31 May 2017.

History

The history of Christianity in San Mateo, Rizal dates back to the early Spanish era of 1596, when the Augustinians friars built the first settlements in the place.

On 29 August 1596, the first parish was built under and in honor of the patron Saint Matthew.

On 6 December 1696, the Jesuits came and gained control of the town. The history of the Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu (also known as Birhen ng Bayang San Mateo)  in San Mateo, Rizal dates back to the early Spanish era of 1705.

A Jesuit priest, Juan de Echazabal, started the devotion to Our Lady of Aránzazu from Spain and changed the patron of the town from St. Matthew to Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu.

In 1716, a new church was constructed on the site of the current church and placed the church of San Mateo under the patronage of the Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu. The first image of the Virgin of Aránzazu was brought to the Philippines by a Spanish captain from the Basque region.

In 1732, the Dominican Order of Letran in Intramuros made effort in spreading the devotion to the Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu among Filipinos during the Spanish era.

The church was proclaimed as Diocesan Shrine and Parish of Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu on 16 July 2004.

Description
Mary, holding the Christ Child, is vested in imperial regalia, and holds an apple symbolising her role as the "New Eve" (La Nueva Eva). The image depicts the 1469 apparition, with the Virgin standing on a thorn bush with a small quadrilateral bell hanging from it. It includes the statue of Rodrigo de Balzategui in a kneeling position.

The image is known for its controversial artistic posture. While the original image in the Sanctuary of Arantzazu in Oñate, Spain, is a seated Madonna, the image in San Mateo is depicted standing up. A similar reconstructed once more in 1990, when its controversy was officially settled by the Diocese of Antipolo in 2012 by the decision of the Bishop-Emeritus Gabriel Reyes. The image retained its standing posture, as per local custom and wishes of its devotees.

Veneration
The image was granted an Episcopal Coronation on 9 November 2013 by the Bishop of Antipolo, Gabriel V. Reyes, while the coronation ceremony was officiated by Francisco M. de León.

The canonical coronation of the image was granted in response to the petition made by the community through the parish priest Lawrence C. Paz (deceased) with documents prepared by the Cofradia de Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu. The decree was promulgated on 17 June 2016 by Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the sacraments, Cardinal Robert Sarah. The coronation was held on 31 May 2017. With Francisco M. De Leon as the mass celebrant, and Cardinal Archbishop Orlando Quevedo as the crowning prelate in behalf of Pope Francis.

Devotion
The feast day of the image is celebrated every September 9 with much solemnity and joy as people carry her image in procession while waving white handkerchiefs and singing her hymn. Her feast day was formerly celebrated every Sunday or the Sunday nearest Pentecost until it was discovered by then parish priest Rev. Fr. Marcelino Prudente that in Oñate, her feast is on September 9. Through his efforts, The Most Rev. Protacio Gungon, D.D., then the Bishop of Antipolo, declared in 1989 that the feast of the Virgin will be kept on its present date. Today, the shrine devotes the ninth day and second Saturday of each month to the Virgin of Aránzazu.

The devotion to Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu continues to inspire the people of San Mateo to strive for their faith. Miracles continued to be reported through her intercession up to the present and pilgrims from around the country make a pilgrimage to her shrine to seek her intercession.

Miracles
Thousand of devotees offer testimonials of miracles through the intercession of the Virgin of Aránzazu. One of the most popular is when during one typhoon season in the country, San Mateo was in danger of flooding that it was decided to bring out the image of the Virgin from her shrine and to be brought in every area in San Mateo. It is said that once the Virgin faced each household or area, the floods suddenly subsided. Another case was during the Typhoon Yolanda that would also threaten Rizal area and it was at that time the Episcopal Coronation of Nuestra Senora de Aránzazu will take place. Heavy rain downpour was looming in the area yet when the Virgin arrived for her Episcopal Coronation, the rain suddenly stopped and the coronation ceremony took place.

Other miracles from her devotees were recorded by the shrine and can be seen in the prayer chapel of the Virgin from cures from different diseases like cancer, passing of qualifying examinations for different professions, financial aids, reconciliation of families, conversion of non believers among others that the people of San Mateo gave their loving devotion and affection to their beloved patroness over the centuries.

Gallery

See also
Roman Catholicism in the Philippines
Marian apparition
St. Joseph Church (Baras, Rizal)
Our Lady of the Abandoned
Our Lady of La Naval, a similar Marian image enshrined in Quezon City.

References

External links

Aranzazu
Catholic Church in the Philippines
Religion in Rizal
Titles of Mary
Statues of the Madonna and Child

Our Lady of Aranzazu


Mona Wallén-Hjerpe sometimes called Sjösalakvinnan (The Sjösala Woman) was born 24 January 1932 in Stockholm and died 19 June 2008 (aged 76). Wallén-Hjerpe was a Swedish author and criminal who burnt Evert Taube's summer house Sjösala on 19 December 1969. After that she was placed in a psychiatric hospital. She confessed to the burning of Sjösala on 10 March 1970 and on 1 August she was sentenced for the treatment of mental disorders for having schizophrenia.

Wallén-Hjerpe wrote about her "relationship" to the Taube family in her 1987 book Sjösala brinner (Sjösala Is Burning), saying "Evert Taube lovar att gifta sig med mig, men jag blir inspärrad på mentalsjukhus" ("Evert Taube promises to marry me, but I get locked-in at a psychiatric hospital").

She is portrayed as Lena Nylén in Fredrik Strage's 2005 book Fans, and later there was a play based on the book, performed at Södra Teatern in Stockholm.

Mona is also the inspiration for Swedish singer Thomazes song "You're In Love With Me" (2012).

References

Swedish criminals
1932 births
2008 deaths
Swedish women writers
Writers from Stockholm
People with schizophrenia
Women memoirists
Swedish female criminals

Mona Wallén-Hjerpe


Hasdrubal Gisco (died 202BC), a latinization of the name ʿAzrubaʿal son of Gersakkun (), was a Carthaginian general who fought against Rome in Iberia (Hispania) and North Africa during the Second Punic War.

Biography
Hasdrubal Gisco was sent to Iberia with an army following the defeat of Hasdrubal Barca at the Battle of Dertosa in the spring of 215 BC. He arrived in Iberia in 214 BC. His arrival ended the absolute command of the Barcid family there. In 212 BC, the two Roman commanders in Iberia, Publius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, decided to take the offensive. Publius Scipio marched to encounter the Carthaginian forces commanded by Hasdrubal and Mago Barca, who had been reinforced by Numidian cavalry commanded by Masinissa. In a battle near Castulo, the Roman forces were defeated and Publius Scipio killed. Immediately after this victory, Hasdrubal hastened to join his army with that of Hasdrubal Barca. The combined Carthaginian forces were able to trap Gnaeus Scipio near Ilorca and won another victory, with Gnaeus Scipio killed less than a month after the death of his brother Publius.

After Hasdrubal Barca left for Italy by escaping the Battle of Baecula, Gisco retired to gather mercenaries in Lusitania. In 207 BC, Hasdrubal was near Gades in the south of the Iberian peninsula, where he was joined by Mago Barca. In 206 BC, Hasdrubal raised further fresh troops to increase his army to 70,000 infantry and 4,500 cavalry. However, he and Mago were attacked by Scipio Africanus, the son of Publius Scipio, and heavily defeated at the Battle of Ilipa.

Hasdrubal now crossed to North Africa, where he persuaded Syphax, king of the Berber Masaesyli tribe of western Numidia, to ally himself with Carthage against Rome. Hasdrubal achieved this by offering Syphax his daughter Sophonisba in marriage. When Scipio landed in North Africa in 204 BC, he was opposed by Hasdrubal and Syphax with a combined force of 80,000 infantry and 13,000 cavalry. While negotiations continued, Scipio and his new ally Masinissa (who ironically had switched his allegiances to the Romans at almost the same time that the leader of the other Numidian faction, Syphax, had switched his to the Carthaginians) approached the Carthaginian-Numidian camp by stealth and set fire to it. According to Polybius, the Carthaginians and Numidians lost over 40,000 dead.

Syphax was apparently persuaded by his wife, Sophonisba, not to desert the Carthaginian cause, and he and Hasdrubal were joined by a force of about 4,000 Celtiberian mercenaries. They offered battle again, but were defeated with great slaughter by Scipio and Masinissa at the Battle of Bagbrades. Hasdrubal returned to Carthage, where he committed suicide in 202 BC to avoid being lynched by a Carthaginian mob.

As a general, he was not in the class of the Barcid brothers, although Livy describes him as "the best and most distinguished general this war produced after the three sons of Hamilcar". In another passage, Livy gives a much less complimentary quote from Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, who described Hasdrubal as "a general who showed his speed chiefly in retreat". He had a prodigious talent for diplomacy and three times raised large armies, in Iberia and in Africa, after severe defeats. Polybius says that he attempted to extract a large sum of money from Andobales, whom he describes as the most faithful friend the Carthaginians had in Iberia. Polybius says that when Andobales refused to pay, Hasdrubal brought a false accusation against him and forced him to give his daughters as hostages.

See also
 Other Hasdrubals in Carthaginian history

References

Citations

Bibliography
 .
 .
 Polybius Book XI, including an account of the Battle of Ilipa
 Polybius Book XIV, including the account of Scipio's attack on Hasdrubal's camp

External links
 Livius.org: Hasdrubal, son of Gesco

202 BC deaths
3rd-century BC births
Carthaginian commanders of the Second Punic War
Year of birth unknown
3rd-century BC Punic people

Hasdrubal Gisco


Bullia digitalis, the finger plough shell or plough snail, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Nassariidae, the Nassa mud snails or dog whelks.

These dominant scavengers are attracted by the scent of decaying animal matter from a considerable distance so that they converge from all directions to feed.

Description
Length: 60 mm

Narrow, smooth shell with a long, pointed spire, usually light yellow or creamy, often tinged with violet or yellow. The large, oval foot is offwhite. The operculum has serrated margins.

The ovate shell is elongated, subturreted, smooth and polished. It is of a reddish yellow color. The shell is composed of seven whorls, hardly convex. The suture which separates them is simple, shallow and submargined. The apex is moderately pointed. Pretty prominent striae of growth are seen upon the lowest whorl. The ovate aperture is smooth, widened at the middle and strongly emarginated at its base. The columella is yellowish, smooth and arched. A keel, continues from the upper third of the aperture to the base of the outer lip. The space between the keel and the edge of the lip is filled with oblique folds. The outer lip is simple, thin, sharp, and slightly effuse towards the middle.

Distribution
Lower east, south, south-west and west coast of South Africa. Best viewing: Kei Mouth.

Status
Common to locally very common; the dominant plough shell on Atlantic shores.

Habitat
Sandy beaches along the surf zone, low on the shore from middle tidal zone seawards where the sand is not too coarse.

Behaviour
When the tide starts to rise, this snail emerges from the sand, spreads its large "foot" like a sail, and surfs up the beach in response to the smell of carrion. The large foot is also used to burrow into the sand when the tide recedes. Sticks its proboscis into the prey to suck up soft tissues. Often gathers in large numbers to feed on dead and stranded jellyfish and bluebottles.

Similar species
Various plough shells on the southern African coast look similar, including Bullia rhodostoma on the south coast and Bullia natalensis (pleated plough shell) on the coast of KwaZulu-Natal. B. digitalis however does not have pleated whorls like the pleated plough shell. All the common plough shells on the coast can only de differentiated for each other by their colour.

See also
 Bullia natalensis
 Bullia rhodostoma

References

External links

Nassariidae
Gastropods described in 1817
Articles containing video clips

Bullia digitalis


Anna Sergeyevna "Anne" Vyalitsyna (; born 19 March 1986), also known as Anne V, is a Russian-American model best known for her 10-consecutive-year appearances (2005–2014) in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Early life and discovery
Vyalitsyna was born in the Russian city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod). Both of her parents are physicians. Her father is a sports doctor for an association football team and her mother is a pediatrician. Vyalitsyna started her professional modeling career at the age of 15 after IMG Models scouted her in Saint Petersburg while looking for new faces for MTV's Fashionably Loud Europe. She entered the contest and moved to New York after winning a contest sponsored by IMG and MTV. She became an American citizen on 16 November 2013.

Career
Within six months after winning the contest, Vyalitsyna worked for Anna Molinari, Chloé and Sportmax. She has appeared on the covers of Vogue, ELLE, and Glamour. She made her debut in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2005 and has appeared in it each year until 2014.  She was the object/subject of Joanne Gair body painting works in the 2005 edition.

She had an uncredited cameo in the fifth installment of the Die Hard film franchise, A Good Day to Die Hard.

In 2016, she walked for Versace SS 2017 fashion show along with Carmen Kass, Bette Franke, Adriana Lima, Naomi Campbell, Caroline Trentini, and Mariacarla Boscono.

In 2018, she has walked for Intimissimi show

Fall 2020, Veronica Beard, Rag & Bone, and Salvatore Ferragamo

She made her runway comeback this 2023 starting off with Valentino Haute Couture FW23, walking for SS 2024 shows: Carolina Herrera, Retrofete, Prabal Gurung which she opened, Staud, Richard Quinn, John Richmond, Elisabeta Franchi and Chiara Boni Le Petite Robe which she closed, Givenchy SS 2024 walking alongside Jessica Stam, Natasha Poly.

Personal life
In 2009, Vyalitsyna completed the ING New York City Marathon. She volunteered to guide a disabled athlete through the race for Achilles International and tweeted about the race in real-time.

In 2010, Vyalitsyna dated Adam Levine, the lead singer of Maroon 5, and they appeared together on the November 2011 cover of Vogue Russia. She also appeared in the Maroon 5 music videos for "Misery" and "Never Gonna Leave This Bed." The couple broke up in April 2012. After she and Levine ended their relationship, she dated baseball player Matt Harvey for eight months from 2013 to 2014.

On 19 March 2015, Vyalitsyna announced that she was pregnant with her first child by boyfriend Adam Cahan. They welcomed daughter Alaska on 25 June 2015, stating that this name was chosen because Alaska is "where the U.S. and Russia meet". On 5 June 2016, Vyalitsyna and Cahan got engaged, but had separated by 2018.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Music videos

References

External links

2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Gallery - Anne V
SI Swimsuit Collection Gallery - Anne V
The Age: "The Russians are coming"

Living people
Russian emigrants to the United States
1986 births
Russian female models
Russian models
American female models
People from Nizhny Novgorod
Russian film actresses
American film actresses
21st-century American actresses
Participants in American reality television series
21st-century Russian actresses
People with acquired American citizenship
The Lions (agency) models
Elite Model Management models

Anne Vyalitsyna


The Florida version of the NWA Brass Knuckles Championship was a secondary professional wrestling championship defended sporadically in the National Wrestling Alliance's Florida territory, Championship Wrestling from Florida. As its name suggests, the title was contested in matches in which the participants wore brass knuckles and it existed from 1960 until the title was abandoned, no earlier than late 1984.

Title history

See also
List of National Wrestling Alliance championships

Footnotes

References

Championship Wrestling from Florida championships
Hardcore wrestling championships
National Wrestling Alliance championships
Regional professional wrestling championships

NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Florida version)


What We Do Is Secret is a 12" EP compiling material recorded by the Germs. It was released posthumously by Slash Records in the United States in 1981 as SREP-108. It was later also released in 1982 in Italy on the Expanded Music label as EX-20-Y. What We Do Is Secret includes the three songs from the band's second release, the Lexicon Devil EP, as well as one cover, one outtake, some crowd conversation from the band's last show, and two live tracks.

The title was taken from the first track of their 1979 (GI) LP, which was not included on this release.

A 2008 biopic of vocalist Darby Crash and the Germs was also titled What We Do Is Secret.

Track listing

References

1982 EPs
Germs (band) EPs
Slash Records EPs
1982 compilation albums
Germs (band) compilation albums
Slash Records compilation albums
EPs published posthumously

What We Do Is Secret (EP)


The Ford Cougar is a D-segment coupé that was produced and sold in the European market between 1998 and 2002, and sold in Canada and the United States from 1999 until 2002 as the Mercury Cougar.

The car was originally intended to be the third generation Probe, but after rationalization of the three coupés available in the United States, the Probe name was dropped in favor of the Cougar. It is an example of a sports coupé/liftback.

History

The Cougar was Ford's second attempt to reintroduce a sports coupé in Europe, in the same vein as the successful, but long discontinued Capri – the first attempt having been the Mazda MX-6 based Probe. Just as the Capri had been based on the Cortina, the Cougar was based on the large family car available at the time, the Mondeo.

The car went on sale in Europe in December 1998 to mixed reviews, partly due to the then-new and controversial New Edge styling, a crisp style which was subsequently applied to most of the Ford range. Cougar sales levels did not achieve those of predecessor Capri models.

Like its (indirect) predecessor, the Ford Probe, the 1998 Cougar was sold and built in the United States. Cars destined to be sold in Europe and the United Kingdom were finished in Ford's Köln plant in Germany, where the cars had European specification lighting installed, Ford badges applied (and in the case of the United Kingdom and Australian cars, converted to RHD); in the United States, it had different branding, in this case being branded as the Mercury Cougar, while in Europe and Australia, it was known as the Ford Cougar.

In Britain, Ford unveiled the car in July 1998, at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone. The television advertisements featured the silver model driven by Dennis Hopper due to his appearance in the film Easy Rider. At the same time, Steppenwolf's song from 1968, "Born To Be Wild" played, as this was featured in the film and the same scene the advertisement recreated.

The Cougar was retired from the European market in August 2002, after its withdrawal from Britain, in February 2001. After the first two years of production, only 12,000 units reportedly had been sold in the United Kingdom. Released in Australia in October 1999, the Cougar only came with the 2.5 L 24-valve Duratec V6, and sales continued until March 2004.

Technical

Mechanical
Cougar was built on the Ford Mondeo sedan platform providing it with a good ride and compared to other coupes along with "reasonably generous" interior room.

The Cougar came equipped with the 2.0 L 16-valve Zetec, or the 2.5 L 24-valve Duratec V6 engines with two specification levels, largely equivalent to a Mondeo Ghia (standard) and Ghia X (simply X). Manual and automatic transmissions were available. All variants came with 16-inch alloy wheels as standard.

The standard 2.0 L version was rated at  while the 2.5 L was rated at .

Specifications

Handling
The car's handling has been described by as "puts its power down effectively and tackles twisty roads with confidence." The standard wheels had 215 mm wide tyres, which contributed to its cornering abilities. Long trips by Car and Driver resulted in numerous "uncomplimentary observations concerning the driver's seat."

Extras
An "X-Pack" was available on the larger engine; this included leather upholstered and heated front seats, with six-way electric adjustment for the driver's seat, and a Ford RDS6000 six-speaker radio with six-CD autochanger.

Available at an extra cost, and not included in the "X-Pack" were heated windscreen, electric tilt, slide sunroof, and metallic paint.

Safety and security
The standard safety kit includes driver, passenger, and side airbags, plus anti-lock brakes and seat belts that reduce chest injuries. The Cougar included an engine immobilizer, remote control central and double locking systems, and an alarm.

See also
 Mercury Cougar

References

External links

Cougar
Front-wheel-drive vehicles
Coupés
Sport compact cars
Hatchbacks
2000s cars
Cars introduced in 1998

Ford Cougar


Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg  (; 24 September 1861 – 31 July 1924) was the fourth and youngest son and child of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and his morganatic wife Julia, Princess of Battenberg.

Biography
At one time, he was considered for the throne of Bulgaria, which eventually went to his brother Alexander; nonetheless, as Alexander was unmarried and without legitimate heirs at the time, Francis Joseph was considered heir presumptive to the throne. He followed his brother to Bulgaria, where he served as a colonel in the Bulgarian cavalry, seeing action during the Serbo-Bulgarian War. During the coup of 1886, he was arrested and expelled from Bulgaria, along with his brother.

From an early age Francis Joseph showed great interest in science, and unlike his brothers – who pursued careers in the military – he pursued a career in academics; in 1891 he published an academic study on Bulgarian economic history, which he dedicated to his brother.

At a family reunion in London in 1894 Franz Joseph met Consuelo Vanderbilt, the daughter of an extremely wealthy American railway tycoon William Kissam Vanderbilt. He made a marriage proposal to Consuelo, but she disliked him and turned him down.

In 1897 he married Princess Ana Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro (1874–1971), the sixth daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro; they had no children. He served as a colonel in the Montenegrin Army during the Balkan Wars.

They lived in Prinz Emil Palais, but upon the outbreak of World War I, he and his wife moved to Switzerland, where he lived until his death in 1924. He was a close friend of his brother-in-law King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, whom he visited often; their wives were sisters.

Honours
He received the following orders and decorations:

Ancestry

Notes

External links

1861 births
1924 deaths
Battenberg family
Bulgarian military personnel
Montenegrin military personnel of the Balkan Wars
Recipients of the Order of Bravery, 4th class
Officers of the Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria)
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
People from the Austrian Empire

Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg


The JT9D engine family consists of three distinct series. The JT9D-7 engine covers the 46,300- to 50,000-pound-thrust range, and the JT9D-7Q series has a 53,000 pound thrust rating. Later models, the -7R4 series, cover the 48,000- to 56,000-pound-thrust range. For JT9D-7R4 twinjet installations, the engines are approved for 180-minute ETOPS (Extended-range Twin-engine Operations).

Aircraft engines

Pratt & Whitney JT9D


Gabriel Gorodetsky (born 13 May 1945) is an Israeli academic who is the Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and emeritus professor of history at Tel Aviv University. Gorodetsky studied History and Russian Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and went on to obtain his Ph.D degree under the supervision of British historian E. H. Carr in Oxford. He was the director of the Cummings Center for Russian Studies at Tel Aviv University from 1991–2007. He has been a visiting fellow of St. Antony's College in Oxford in 1979 and in 1993, of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington in 1986, of All Souls in Oxford in 2006, and a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Gorodetsky was also a visiting professor at the universities of Munich and Cologne, and at the Central European University in Budapest. In 2010 Gorodetsky received an honorary doctorate from the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow.

He is married to , a jurist from Cologne, judge in the RTL Television court show Das Jugendgericht (2001–2005), research fellow of the Centre of Criminology at the University of Oxford, author of Recht Persönlich (Beck, 2006) and The Art of Justice: The Judge's Perspective (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2013).

Research
In his book Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia (Yale University Press, 1999), Gorodetsky said that Stalin was committed to realpolitik and eager to improve the Soviet Union's national status. It had lost position as a result of the disasters during the First World War and the Russian Revolution. According to Gorodetsky, through the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Stalin believed he could bring about a change in the European balance of power. When he learnt through his intelligence of Hitler's aggressive intentions in late 1930s, he had no choice but to resort to appeasement, hoping he could either delay the war or reach a second agreement with Hitler. Stalin's purges of the 1930s had decapitated the military and left it in a dismal state.

Books

 The Precarious Truce: Anglo-Soviet Relations, 1924-1927 (Cambridge University Press, 1977, reissued in 2008). (284 pp.)
 Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917-1991: A Retrospective (Frank Cass, London, 1994) (227 pp.)
 Stafford Cripps' Mission to Moscow, 1940-1942 (Cambridge University Press, 1984) (361 pp.) (Revised reprint in paperback, Cambridge University Press, 2002).
 Mif Ledokola (Moscow, Progress, 1995) (350 pp.). (In Russian: The Icebreaker Myth).
 Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia (Yale, University Press, 1999) (550 pp.). (paperback edition, 2001)
 Le Grand Jeu de Dupes (French translation, Belles Lettres, Paris, 2000) (573 pp.).
 Self-Deception: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia (Hebrew translation, Ma'arachot, Tel Aviv, 1999) (450 pp.)
 Rokovoi samoobman. Stalin i napadenie Germanii na Sovetskii soiuz (Russian translation, Rospen, Moscow, 1999, reissued 2009)
 Die Täuschung: Stalin, Hitler und das "Unternehmen Barbarossa" (German translation, Siedler, Berlin, 2001) paperback edition, 2001)
Documents on Israeli-Soviet Relations, 1941-1953 (2 vols.)(Cass, London, 2000) (998 pp.)
 with W. Weidenfeld, Regional Security in the Wake of the Collapse of the Soviet Union: Europe and the Middle East (Europa Union Verlag, Munich, 2002)
 Russia between East and West: Russian Foreign Policy on the Threshold of the 21st Century (Cass, London, 2003)
 Stafford Cripps in Moscow 1940-42, Diary and Papers (Valentine and Mitchel, 2007)
 The Maisky Diaries - Red Ambassador to the Court of St James's, 1932-1943 (Yale University Press, Oct 2015)

References

External links
  Short Curriculum Vitae of prof. Gabriel Gorodetsky

Cold War historians
Historians of Russia
Israeli historians
1945 births
Living people
Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
Academic staff of Central European University
Russian studies scholars
Alumni of the University of Oxford

Gabriel Gorodetsky


Chaunga (group of people) apa kureva kuungana kwevanhu seboka rimwe.

Ringira, ndinozokuita kuti ubare, ndikuwanze; ndinozokuita chiunga chevanhu: 'I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, (Genesis 48:4 Bhaibheri reChiNdau.

Mitauro yeBantu

VaSwahili vanoti kiungo (1. something serving to connect or join; 2. connection, joint, coupling etc. 3. Elec - connection, switch, contact; 4. joint articulation).
Digo vanoti kuungana (to come together to form a group, to join with one another). Digo neChewa vanoti unga (to join, to unite).
Chewa vanoti kuunganicha (to unite). Chewa vanoti kuunga bwalo (to assemble a court).
Barotse vanoti liunga kana maunga (n. group of people, company) kureva chaunga. Kimbundu vanoti kionga (n. assembly; congress; conference).

Matare emhosva

Chaunga


Jack Vitek is the Journalism professor in the English department at Edgewood College. Vitek has worked at the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Daily News, Newsday, the Palm Beach Post and Outdoor Life magazine.  He is the advisor for Edgewood College's student newspaper, On the Edge, which recently had finalist reporters in two categories in the AP Collegiate Story of the Year contest.

He co-authored (with Jerry Oppenheimer) the 1986 biography Idol Rock Hudson: The True Story of an American Film Hero. The biography by Vitek and Oppenheimer generated controversy because it reported that Hudson continued to have unprotected sex with other men after he had been diagnosed with AIDS. Their version of his life story was supported by a lawsuit won by one of Hudson's lovers who was exposed to AIDS.

His latest work is The Godfather of Tabloid:  Generoso Pope Jr. and the National Enquirer, published August 1, 2008 by University Press of Kentucky.

External links
 Press Release about the student newspaper winning national recognition

American educators
Edgewood College people
Living people
American biographers
1950 births

Jack Vitek


Kenroy Denroy Martin (born 8 January 1979) is a former Vincentian cricketer who represented the Windward Islands and several other teams in West Indian domestic cricket. He played as an all-rounder, batting left-handed and bowling right-arm medium pace.

Martin his first-class debut for the Windwards in April 1997, in a Red Stripe Cup game against Jamaica. In his next match, against the Leeward Islands, he made 65 runs, which was to be his highest first-class score. The following year, Martin represented the West Indies under-19s at the 1998 Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. He played in four of his team's matches, but had little impact. Later in 1998, Martin made his List A debut, appearing for the Windwards in the 1997–98 Red Stripe Bowl.

In the 2001–02 Red Stripe Bowl, Martin represented the Southern Windward Islands team that appeared on a once-off basis. In that season's Busta Cup (the renamed Red Stripe Cup), he played for West Indies B, a development team drawn from across the Caribbean. Against Bangladesh A (competing as a guest team), he scored 61 runs, his second first-class half-century. For the 2002–03 Red Stripe Bowl, the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines national team competed separately, with Martin featuring in all four of their matches. He took ten wickets, including 4/52 against the University of the West Indies, which made him his team's leading wicket-taker (and equal seventh overall).

Playing against India A in the 2002–03 Busta Cup, Martin took figures of 3/5 from six overs, his best at first-class level. The following season was his last for the Windwards, with his final match coming against Jamaica in February 2004. However, in 2006 and 2008, Martin represented the Saint Vincent national team in the Stanford 20/20 tournament, where matches held official Twenty20 status. In the opening match of the 2006 tournament, against the United States Virgin Islands, he took 3/6 from 2.1 overs, and also 21 not out, for which he was named man of the match. He was wicketless in the next match against Grenada, however, and in his sole appearance in 2008, against Sint Maarten, conceded 52 runs from four overs without taking a wicket.

References

External links
Player profile and statistics at CricketArchive
Player profile and statistics at ESPNcricinfo

1979 births
Living people
People from Saint Vincent (Antilles)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines cricketers
West Indies B cricketers
Windward Islands cricketers

Kenroy Martin


Colesberg is a town with 17,354 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, located on the main N1 road from Cape Town to Johannesburg.

In a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds many of the country's top merinos. It is also renowned for producing high-quality racehorses and many stud farms, including one owned by renowned golfer, Gary Player, are nearby.

History
Founded in 1830 on an abandoned station of the London Missionary Society, and initially named Toverberg after a nearby hill, it was renamed Colesberg after Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, then Governor of the Cape Colony.  The site of the town lay on one of the well-travelled routes used by traders, hunters and explorers to gain access to the interior. Towerberg or Coleskop is a prominent hill near the town and a landmark easily seen from a distance by travellers.

Colesberg saw a large number of battles and skirmishes during the second Anglo-Boer War, and the Colesberg Garden of Remembrance is located just outside the town.

A number of 1820 Settlers established farms in the Colesberg district. Outnumbered as a religious group, some attended the Methodist Church and others the Dutch Reformed Church, where services in English were specially held for them. Anglican officials in Cape Town appointed Dr CEH Orpen as rector and the first services were conducted in the Court House and the London Mission Chapel, which became known as St Stephen's Church. In 1852 the construction of the Anglican Christ Church was started, having been designed by Sophy Gray, wife of the Cape Town bishop Robert Gray.

The Colesberg Bank was founded in 1861. Michael Davitt wrote while documenting the Second Boer War, that the previous generation noted the village as a rendezvous for hunters and diamond miners.

Past residents

Hennie Bingle, rector of the PUK
General Piet Cronje, a South African general in both the Anglo-Boer wars.
Danie du Plessis, Head of the South African Railways & co-founder of The Afrikaner Broederbond
Frans du Toit, a South African Economist, and Trade Commissioner.
Ricardo Loubscher, South Africa national rugby union team player & rugby coach
Zamani Saul, Premier of the Northern Cape
Nicolaas Theunissen, South African Test cricketer

Cityscape

Architecture
The town boasts many buildings that were built in a blend of Cape Dutch and Georgian architecture with ceilings of reed, and yellowwood timbers, and others that display a range of designs reflecting the changes of 19th century building. Originally plots were pegged out and sold on the site of the town to fund the building of the Dutch Reformed church.

Society and culture

Museums, monuments and memorials

A large number of Heritage Sites registered with the South African Heritage Resources Agency are located in Colesberg.

Economy
Farming in the area is dedicated almost entirely to horses and merino sheep. While in a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds many of the country's top merinos. Colesberg is renowned for producing high-quality racehorses and many stud farms, including one owned by legendary golfer, Gary Player, are nearby. The ostrich-feather boom of the early 1900s, which left many farmers rich, is long forgotten.

The town has a thriving tourism industry, in part because it represents a rough halfway point between Johannesburg and Cape Town. There is a hotel, a motel, and many guest houses and B&Bs around town, most having restaurants and pubs on-site. Several guest farms operate in the district offering accommodation with 4x4 trails, mountain bike trails, game hunting (mainly springbok, wildebeest and blesbok) and bird watching. Three major service stations with on-site shops, restaurants and toilet facilities are located on the N1 at Colesberg. Small industries are located in town, including a sheep abattoir, a factory which makes a range of furniture to order and a panel beater.

The Doornkloof Nature Reserve is located near Colesberg on the confluence of the Orange and Seekoei Rivers.

References

External links
Colesberg South Africa
Colesberg site

Populated places in the Umsombomvu Local Municipality
Populated places established in 1830
Karoo
1830 establishments in the Cape Colony

Colesberg


The Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) has been established in 1955. It leads the national research and development in the basic and applied peaceful nuclear research.

Egypt was the second in the African Continent, after South Africa, to build a nuclear reactor. The first research reactor (ET-RR-1), commissioned in 1961, is a Van de Graf type 4 MW reactor engineered and built by Russia.  Another research reactor (ET-RR-2) is 22 MW open pool MultiPurpose Reactor (MPR) located at Inshas, 60 km from Cairo, engineered and built by INVAP from Argentina.

The EAEA has scientists educated in the topmost universities and research institutes. It is organized into four research centers:

 Nuclear Research Center (NRC)
 Hot Laboratory and Waste Management Center (HLWMC)
 National Centre for Radiation Research and Technology (NCRRT)
 National Centre for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Control (NCNSRC)

These centres are further subdivided into major research divisions.

The EAEA is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and other regional and international organizations.

See also

 Energy in Egypt

References

External links
 Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority – official website
Federation of American Scientists

1955 establishments in Egypt
Nuclear organizations
Atomic Energy Authority
Nuclear power in Egypt
Nuclear program of Egypt

Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority


The Dark Flood Rises is the 19th novel of Margaret Drabble, and was first published in 2016.

Theme
The title of the book is a quotation from a poem, The Ship of Death, by D. H. Lawrence about mortality: "Piecemeal the body dies, and the timid soul/has her footing washed away, as the dark flood rises." The main theme is growing old and dying. It is told from multiple viewpoints, all of people linked in some way to Francesca (Fran) Stubbs, an elderly woman who does occasional work for a charity on aspects of living accommodation for the old. There is no strong plot: rather the book conveys different experiences of, and attitudes to, the twilight years of life, with the past histories of the main characters' lives being gradually revealed. In the background are two major contemporary concerns - climate change and the refugee crisis of the years during which it was written, to which there are frequent references: the flood in the title is also a reference to the effects of climate change and to the seas on which many refugees sought to escape to Europe. There is also mention of other potential ecological catastrophes, over which Fran's daughter Poppet is very concerned.

Critical reception
Critical reaction to the book was generally favourable. Reviewers remarked on the relative absence of plot, the mordant wit with which the theme is lightened, and the way the narrative approach, with its multiple viewpoints, mirrors the wanderings of Fran's own mind. The reviewer for The Independent described the book as "witty and intelligent but ultimately uncomfortable, melancholic and rather doom-laden work. It's not a particularly easy book to read, but it is brimming with relevance." The Guardian reviewer wrote, "beneath the apparently placid surface, Drabble's novel seethes with apocalyptic intent." The New York Times reviewer summed up the book: "this humane and masterly novel by one of Britain's most dazzling writers is something else as well, deeper than mere philosophy: a praisesong for the tragical human predicament exactly as it has been ordained on Earth, our terminal house."

Further reading
 The Guardian, 3 November 2016, retrieved 16 May 2017: The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Drabble review – coming to terms with death
 The Independent, 15 November 2016, retrieved 16 May 2017: The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Drabble, book review: A rather doom-laden work
 New Statesman, 30 November 2016, retrieved 16 May 2017: Margaret Drabble's The Dark Flood Rises is a significant achievement
 The New York Times'', 14 February 2017, retrieved 16 May 2017: Death and Disaster Stalk the Characters in Margaret Drabble's New Novel

References

2016 British novels
Canongate Books books
Climate change novels
Novels by Margaret Drabble

The Dark Flood Rises


Officially, Vietnam is an atheist state. Despite this, many of its citizens are religious. The three main religions in Vietnam are Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Sometimes, they are grouped together as one religion called the three teachings or tam giáo. According to many studies, 70-90% of Vietnamese people are tam giáo. 8% are Christians (mostly Roman Catholic) and 1-2% practice indigenous, animist religions including Hinduism. About 1% are not religious but have a strong Buddhist influence in their life.

Despite strong links in the older adult population, the younger population of Vietnam is quite different, with low numbers of young people believing religious ideas. The religious ideas that don't fit state thinking aren't emphasised.

The earliest established religion was Hinduism during the Cham Hindu Kingdom era. Later, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism spread. Today, these religions are grouped into the same religion known as the triple religion or Tam Giao, which has many followers. Later religions in Vietnam include Christianity and Islam. New religious movements include Hoa Hao Buddhism and Cao Dai. Hinduism is still practised by a small Cham minority who live mainly in central Vietnam.

Buddhism

Among the religions in Vietnam, Buddhism has the most followers. According to the statistics of the Buddhist Church of Vietnam, 45 million people are taking refuge in the three jewels and about 12 million are just Buddhist making it about 57 million Buddhists. There are two main branches of Buddhism in Vietnam, Mahayana, and Theravada. Mahayana is more popular with the people while Theravada being more popular with the Khmer people.

References

Religion in Vietnam


Valenciennes-Denain Airport  is a regional airport in France, located southwest of Valenciennes (Departement du Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais);  north-northeast of Paris

It supports general aviation with no commercial airline service scheduled.

History
Denain Airport began as a pre-World War II airport in France, most likely with a grass runway and several support buildings and a hangar. serving the nearby city of Prouvy and surrounding region.

German use during World War II
It was seized by the Germans in late May 1940 during the early part of the Battle of France. In July 1940, the Luftwaffe stationed Erprobungsgruppe 210, a Messerschmitt Bf 110C/D heavy fighter/bomber unit at the airport, taking part in the Battle of Britain that summer. Later the unit switched to attacks on British shipping. In February 1941, the unit was re-equipped with Messerschmitt Bf 109 Es, flying bomber escort missions. Jagdgeschwader 51, another Bf 109E unit briefly used the airport in October 1940.

In addition, a reconnaissance unit, Aufklärungsgruppe 12 was assigned to Denain in October 1940 with Henschel Hs 126 twin-seat light observation planes. The unit stayed until May 1941.

It appears that the Luftwaffe moved out of Denain in 1941 and the airfield was left unused. In 1943, the Germans laid a 1600m all-weather concrete runway at the airport, aligned northeast–southwest (06/24). A taxiway and a significant number of aircraft dispersal pads, maintenance shops, hangars and other support facilities were also built. Presumably this was due to the fortification of the Pas-de-Calais, being believed by the Germans that when the Americans and British tried to land in France to open a Second Front, the airfield would have a key role in the defense of France.

After the construction of a military airfield at Denain, the airfield was reactivated by the Luftwaffe, stationing Jagdgeschwader 3, a day fighter-interceptor unit assigned to the "Defense of the Reich" campaign against the American Eighth Air Force heavy bombers attacking targets in Occupied Europe and Germany.

In response to the interceptor attacks, Denain was attacked by USAAF Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauder medium bombers and P-47 Thunderbolts mostly with 500-pound General-Purpose bombs; unguided rockets and .50 caliber machine gun sweeps when Eighth Air Force heavy bombers (B-17s, B-24s) were within interception range of the Luftwaffe aircraft assigned to the base. The attacks were timed to have the maximum effect possible to keep the interceptors pinned down on the ground and be unable to attack the heavy bombers. Also the P-51 Mustang fighter-escort groups of Eighth Air Force would drop down on their return to England and attack the base with a fighter sweep and attack any target of opportunity to be found at the airfield.

American use
Denain Airport was cleared of German forces by Allied ground forces about 11 September 1944 during the Northern France Campaign. Almost immediately, the United States Army Air Forces IX Engineering Command 862d Engineer Aviation Battalion cleared the airport of mines and destroyed Luftwaffe aircraft. Pierced steel planking was laid down on the bomb-damaged runway in order to make it serviceable and available for operational use. The airport immediately became a combat supply and casualty evacuation airfield, designated as Advanced Landing Ground "A-83" about 14 September, also being known as "Denain/Prouvy Airfield".

C-47 Skytrain transports moved in and out of the American-controlled airfield almost immediately after the runway was repaired, supplying the front line forces with the necessary materiel to support their advance. A small cadre of personnel was assigned to the field, still largely in ruins due to the B-26 Marauder and fighter strafing/bombing runs on the field. In January 1945, the 833d Engineer Aviation Battalion moved back to Denain and improved the facilities enough to support combat units. The Ninth Air Force 323d Bombardment Group, moved in with B-26 Marauder medium bombers in February, remaining until 15 May 1945.

Royal Air Force use
It is known that Denain was used by the Royal Air Force, as it was assigned ALG "B-74". The RAF's use of the base has not been determined.

After being used for a brief time as a storage depot for excess aircraft after the war ended by Air Technical Service Command, the Americans turned the airfield back over to French authorities on 25 June 1945.

Postwar and modern use
In French control after the war, the airport sat abandoned for several years. There was much unexploded ordnance at the site which needed to be removed, as well as the wreckage of German and American aircraft. Many of the buildings at the base were destroyed by the war, and although some had been repaired by the American combat engineers, most were in ruins. It was uneconomical to repair the prewar airport, and as a result the facility was demolished, with the French Army sending in unexploded ordnance teams to remove the dangerous munitions.

Reconstruction of the airport included an entirely new asphalt runway, aligned 11/29, along with appropriate taxiways, ramp space and new infrastructure buildings on the north-west side of the airfield. Today the airport is a modern, well-equipped facility.

The wartime air base is still evident with the 5500-foot concrete NE/SW runway remaining, complete with patched bomb craters and expansion joints allowing grass to grow between the concrete pads. The taxiway is the only wartime structures of the base that still exists, mostly as a single lane concrete access road.

Very few constructions are still visible today (2021), but the restaurant l'Escale is one of the buildings built to store bombers on the airport.

See also

 Advanced Landing Ground
 List of airports in France

References

External links

Airports in Hauts-de-France
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in France
Airports established in 1937

Valenciennes-Denain Airport


Michael Fahy (1951 – 2 April 2019) was an Irish farmer, and a Fianna Fáil and sometime Independent member of Galway County Council. From Ardrahan and first elected to the council in 1979, he resigned from Fianna Fáil in 2004 when under investigation for misappropriation of funds from the council. He served a prison sentence for this in 2007, but his conviction was overturned in 2011. He rejoined Fianna Fáil in 2018.

Early career
Fahy owned a 70-acre farm and prior to his trial worked as a salesman for New Ireland Assurance. He was appointed a Peace Commissioner in 1978, and was on the visiting committee of Limerick Prison until 2004. He ran in Galway West as an independent in the 1987 general election, but later rejoined Fianna Fáil. In the 2004 local elections, Fahy was criticised for using thousands of prepaid Oireachtas envelopes to write to voters. He said "I wanted to show I had the support of the Oireachtas members and if I hadn't done it like the other candidates, it would seem like I didn't have the same clout." The judge at his 2007 trial alluded to Fahy's "quite extensive property assets of great value"; his 2010 councillor's declaration of interests lists land at Cregclare, Ardrahan, and Caherduff.

"Stroke" nickname
Fahy acquired the nickname "Stroke" (Irish slang for a sly political manoeuvre) in the 1970s from a local journalist after he convinced the Fianna Fáil national executive to add his name to the local election ticket when the local party had left it out. An advertisement in the Galway Advertiser during his 1987 election campaign has the headline The "Stroke" For Galway West. In quashing his 2007 conviction for misappropriation, Justice Finnegan noted "The name by which the applicant is popularly known and which it is likely was known to some at least of a Galway jury could well exacerbate the prejudice having regard to the nature of the offences with which the applicant is charged." After the success of his 2011 appeal, Fahy's solicitor released a statement:
Cllr Fahy is also particularly anxious to have the media refrain from referring to him as 'The Stroke' in the future. He never took offence at the term in the past, because it was used in the context of a different situation. But he never stood before the people as 'The Stroke' Fahy and he would be grateful if the media would henceforth refer to him by his proper name.

Misappropriation conviction
In 2002–03, a road beside Fahy's farm was being widened, using funds allocated from the Community Involvement Scheme. A contractor erected 2,506 metres of fencing on Fahy's farm. Fahy later claimed in court that he had a verbal agreement to supply an equivalent value of rubble from his farm for the roadworks. The contractor was paid by the council in 2002 for an invoice of €7,055, and submitted another invoice in 2003 for €7,523. After a council investigation, Fahy reimbursed the council for €7,055 and apologised for any embarrassment. In March 2004, the Galway county manager asked Fahy to pay €3,000 to charity; he donated that sum to the Ardrahan Lourdes Invalid Fund. An Irish Independent journalist submitted a request for details under freedom of information legislation, and a Garda investigation was begun. When news of this became public in September 2004, Fahy resigned from Fianna Fáil, although local Fianna Fáil TD Joe Callanan and councillor Michael Regan supported him at his trial.

In March 2007 at Galway Circuit Criminal Court in Loughrea a jury took 2½ hours to find him guilty on seven counts:
 Obtaining by false pretences contrary to section 2 of the Larceny Act 1916 as amended by the Larceny Act 1990
 Attempted theft contrary to section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 and common law (two counts)
 Attempting to make a gain or cause a loss by deception contrary to section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 and common law (two counts)
 False accounting by production or making use of a document contrary to section 10(1)(c) of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 (two counts)

On 20 March 2007 he was sentenced to one year's imprisonment and fined €75,000. The judge criticised Fahy for attempting to implicate other councillors and the fencing contractor in his actions. Senator Michael Kitt criticised the severity of the sentence. Fahy was given two weeks to get his affairs in order and make provision for his dependent mother. In this time he was taken ill and received hospital treatment for heart problems, further delaying the start of his sentence. He also launched an appeal. He was taken from hospital to prison on 23 April 2007.

Fahy remained a county councillor. The judge had suggested he should be disqualified under subsection 13(1)(m)(i) of the Local Government Act 2001 for "fraudulent or dishonest dealings affecting a local authority"; however section 13(2)(c) delays such disqualification pending appeals. While section 18(4)(a) of the Local Government Act 2001 provides that councillors are deemed to have resigned if they fail to attend meetings for six months, section 18(4)(b)(ii) allows the council to make an exception where the absence was "in good faith for another reason [besides illness]". The council decided not to move against him pending his appeal. On the register of panel electors for the 2007 Seanad election, his address was listed as "c/o Mr. Daniel J. Scannell, Governor, Castlerea Prison, Harristown, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon"; he is believed to be the first person to vote from prison in the Seanad elections. Fahy received the full annual representative pay allowance of €16,600 for the year 2007, although his conference expenses were only €3,700, for conferences attended prior to his imprisonment.

Quashing of conviction and subsequent career
On 28 November 2007, the Court of Criminal Appeal ruled that evidence that Fahy had claimed to have been offered €3.8m for a field was irrelevant and thus inadmissible; and further that it was prejudicial as it did not note that the field had been inherited, and thus allowed the inference that "wealth apparently so disproportionate to his income and station in life was not acquired honestly." The court quashed Fahy's conviction, released him on bail, and ordered a retrial. Senator Terry Leyden was quoted as "delighted" with the decision. At the retrial, two charges were dropped; on 10 December 2008, Fahy was found not guilty on four charges and guilty on one charge of obtaining the use or benefit of €7,055 from Galway County Council by false pretences. He was sentenced to time served of seven months, and fined €30,000. He launched another appeal, and on 31 May 2011 the Court of Criminal Appeal ruled his conviction was unsafe, with Justice Adrian Hardiman saying "the evidence before the court was completely different from the case made by the State". No retrial was ordered.

Fahy's mother Mai, a Cumann na mBan veteran, died aged 99 on 23 December 2008.
Fahy was re-elected to Galway county council in the 2009 local elections, topping the poll in the Loughrea local electoral area (LEA). In October 2009, a man was convicted of attempting to extort €5,000 from Fahy by claiming to have tapes of politicians planning to oust or murder Fahy. Fahy was re-elected at the 2014 local elections to Galway county Council. He said afterwards he was considering rejoining Fianna Fáil.

Fahy ran as an independent in Galway East in the 2016 general election, receiving 5.2% of the first-preference vote to finish eighth of the ten candidates. He rejoined Fianna Fáil in 2018, and at the time of his death had been selected to run for the party in Gort/Kinvara LEA in the May 2019 local elections.

References

External links
 Cllr Michael Fahy Galway county council

2019 deaths
Fianna Fáil politicians
Independent candidates in Dáil elections
20th-century Irish farmers
Members of Galway County Council
Politicians from County Galway
Prisoners and detainees of the Republic of Ireland
Irish politicians convicted of crimes
1951 births

Michael Fahy


Adisaya Suriyabha  (; ; 14 February 1889 – 27 January 1963), was the Princess of Siam (later Thailand). She was a member of Siamese Royal Family. She was a daughter of Chulalongkorn, King Rama V of Siam.

Her mother was Chao Chom Manda Aon Bunnag, daughter of Lord (Chao Phraya) Surabandh Bisudhi (niece of Si Suriyawongse). She was the younger sister of Princess Oraprabandh Rambai. She and her mother, and elder sister lived together firstly in the Grand Palace, then moved to the area of Dusit Palace, and lived there all of her life.

She died on 27 January 1963, at the age of 73.

Royal decorations
   Dame of The Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri: received 9 May 1950
  Dame Cross of the Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao (First class): received 2 May 1950

Ancestry

1889 births
1963 deaths
19th-century Thai women
19th-century Chakri dynasty
20th-century Thai women
20th-century Chakri dynasty
Thai female Phra Ong Chao
Order of Chula Chom Klao
Children of Chulalongkorn
Daughters of kings

Adisaya Suriyabha