Abdera is a municipality in the Xanthi Prefecture of Thrace, Greece. In classical antiquity, it was a major Greek polis on the Thracian coast; the ancient polis is to be distinguished from the municipality, named in its honor. The polis lay 17 km east-northeast of the mouth of the Nestos River directly opposite the island of Thasos, it was a colony placed in unsettled Thracian territory, not a part of Hellas, during the age of Greek colonization. The city that developed from it became of major importance in ancient Greece. After the 4th century AD it declined, contracted to its acropolis, was abandoned, never to be reoccupied except by archaeologists. Meanwhile, life went on as the changing population settled in other communities in the region. One named. In 2011 the municipality of Abdera was synoecized from three previous municipalities comprising a number of modern settlements; the ancient site remains in it as a ruin. The municipality of Abdera has 19,005 inhabitants; the seat of the municipality is the town Genisea.

The name Abdera is of Phoenician origin and was shared in antiquity by Abdera, Spain and a town near Carthage in North Africa. It was variously Hellenized as Ἄβδηρα, Αὔδηρα, Ἄβδαρα, Ἄβδηρον, Ἄβδηρος, before being Latinized as Abdera. Greek legend attributed the name to an eponymous Abderus who fell nearby and was memorialized by Hercules's founding of a city at the location; the present-day town is pronounced in modern Greek. The Phoenicians began the settlement of Abdera at some point before the mid-7th century and the town long maintained Phoenician standards in its coinage; the Greek settlement was begun as a failed colony from Klazomenai, traditionally dated to 654 BC. Herodotus reports that the leader of the colony had been Timesios but, within his generation, the Thracians had expelled the colonists. Timesios was subsequently honored as a local protective spirit by the Abderans from Teos. Others recount various legends about this colony. Plutarch and Aelian relate that Timesios grew insufferable to his colonists because of his desire to do everything by himself.

The successful foundation occurred in 544 BC, when the majority of the people of Teos migrated to Abdera to escape the Persian yoke. The chief coin type, a griffon, is identical with that of Teos. In 513 and 512 BC, the Persians, under Darius conquered Abdera, by which time the city seems to have become a place of considerable importance, is mentioned as one of the cities which had the expensive honour of entertaining the great king on his march into Greece. In 492 BC, after the Ionian Revolt, the Persians again conquered Abdera, again under Darius I but led by his general Mardonius. On his flight after the Battle of Salamis, Xerxes stopped at Abdera and acknowledged the hospitality of its inhabitants by presenting them with a tiara and scimitar of gold. Thucydides mentions Abdera as the westernmost limit of the Odrysian kingdom when at its height at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, it became part of the Delian League and fought on the side of Athens in the Peloponnesian war. Abdera was a wealthy city, the third richest in the League, due to its status as a prime port for trade with the interior of Thrace and the Odrysian kingdom.

In 408 BC, Abdera was reduced under the power of Athens by Thrasybulus one of the Athenian generals in that quarter. A valuable prize, the city was sacked: by the Triballi in 376 BC, Philip II of Macedon in 350 BC. In 170 BC the Roman armies and those of Eumenes II of Pergamon sacked it; the town seems to have declined in importance after the middle of the 4th century BC. Cicero ridicules the city as a byword for stupidity in his letters to Atticus, writing of a debate in the Senate, "Here was Abdera, but I wasn't silent"; the city counted among its citizens the philosophers Democritus and Anaxarchus, historian and philosopher Hecataeus of Abdera, the lyric poet Anacreon. Pliny the Elder speaks of Abdera as being in his time a free city. Abdera had flourished in ancient times for two reasons: because of the large area of their territory and their strategic position; the city controlled two great road passages. Furthermore, from their ports passed the sea road, which from Troas led to the Thracian and the Macedonian coast.

The ruins of the town may still be seen on Cape Balastra. The municipality Abdera was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of three former municipalities that became municipal units: Abdera and Vistonida; the municipality has an area of 352.047 km2, the municipal unit 161.958 km2. The municipal unit Abdera is subdivided into the communities Abdera, Mandra and Nea Kessani; the community Abdera consists of the settlements Abdera, Lefkippos and Skala

Minions is a 2015 American 3D computer-animated comedy film, serving as a spin-off prequel to the Despicable Me franchise. Produced by Illumination Entertainment for Universal Pictures, it was directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, written by Brian Lynch, produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy; the film stars the voices of Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders, with the narration provided by Geoffrey Rush. It was first foreshadowed in the end credits of Despicable Me 2, where Kevin and Bob, three of the Minions and the film's main characters, are seen auditioning for the film. Minions had its premiere on June 11, 2015, in Leicester Square and went into general release in the United States on July 10, 2015. Critical response was mixed: some critics praised the comedic aspects of the film and the vocal performances of Bullock and Hamm, while saying they felt that the title characters were not able to carry the film on their own, that the villains were flatly characterized.

The film has grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2015, the 21st highest-grossing film of all time, the fifth highest-grossing animated film and the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film. A sequel, Minions: The Rise of Gru will be released on July 3, 2020. Minions are small, yellow creatures who have existed since the beginning of time, evolving from yellow single-celled organisms into beings which exist only to serve history's most despicable masters. After rolling a Tyrannosaurus into a volcano, getting their caveman leader eaten by a cave bear, crushing a Pharaoh under a pyramid after constructing it upside-down, exposing Count Dracula to sunlight, accidentally firing a cannon into Napoleon while in Russia, the Minions are driven into isolation and start a new life in a massive cave. After many years, the Minions become depressed and unmotivated without a master to serve. To regain their dignity and sense of purpose, one fearless Minion, decides to set out to find a new master and asks for help.

Stuart, a musically inclined, one-eyed Minion, Bob, a young and inexperienced but enthusiastic Minion, are recruited. The trio journey to New York, when the year is 1968. After spending the day attempting to blend in, the Minions end up in a department store for the night, where they accidentally discover a hidden commercial broadcast for villains advertising Villain-Con; the trio hitchhikes a ride with the Nelson family and impress them with their accidental villainy after being chased by police. At the convention, they see Scarlet Overkill, a female supervillain who unexpectedly hires them and takes them to her home in England, they phone the rest of the Minions to get them to join. Scarlet explains the plan to steal the Imperial State Crown from the Queen of England and promises to reward the Minions if they steal it but kill them if they do not, her husband, supplies them with inventions to aid in the heist, but they are nearly caught when they break into the Tower of London, which leads to a chase that ends with Bob accidentally crashing into the Sword in the Stone and pulling it free, removing the Queen from the throne and becoming King Bob.

Enraged that somebody else accomplishes her dream of stealing the throne, Scarlet confronts the Minions, so Bob abdicates the throne in her favor. Undeterred because she feels betrayed, Scarlet imprisons the three in a dungeon to be tortured by Herb before her coronation, but they escape with the intention to apologize to Scarlet. After making their way to Westminster Abbey and Bob interrupt the coronation by inadvertently dropping a chandelier on Scarlet, who orders their execution having survived. Dozens of villains chase the three of them during a thunderstorm, he sees Scarlet on a television, promising that she will kill Stuart and Bob if Kevin does not show up by dawn. With the villains still searching for him, Kevin sneaks into Scarlet's castle to steal weapons, but right before the villains catch him, Kevin accidentally triggers a machine Herb was building and grows into a gigantic being, destroying the castle. He tramples through London, rescuing his friends and battling Scarlet just as the other Minions turn up in London.

Scarlet tries to eradicate them, firing a massive missile. Scarlet and Herb attempt to escape with her rocket-dress, but Kevin holds onto it, managing to get a ride; the missile Kevin swallowed detonates. The other Minions stare at the explosion in sadness but Kevin turns out to have survived and shrunk back to his normal size. Queen Elizabeth II gets her throne and crown back and rewards Bob with a tiny crown for his teddy bear, Stuart with an electric guitar and Kevin with a knighthood. Scarlet and Herb, who turn out to have survived the explosion, steal the crown once more only to be frozen in place by a young Gru, who flees with the crown on a rocket-powered motorbike; the Minions stare in run after him, having decided he is the boss they had been looking for. Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment first announced in July 2012, that the Minions from Despicable Me would get their own spin-off film planned for a 2014 release. Brian Lynch known for co-writing another Illumination film, Hop, as well as DreamWorks Animation's Puss in Boots, was asked to write the film's screenplay, due to his prior work writing for the theme p

The Regional Representative Council, is one of two parliamentary chambers in Indonesia. Together with the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, it makes up the Indonesian national legislative body, the Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat. Under Indonesia's constitution, the authority of the DPD is limited to areas related to regional governments and can only propose and give advise on bills to the DPR. Unlike the DPR, the DPD has no direct law-making power, its members are called senators instead of DPD members. The idea of regional representation in parliament was accommodated in the original version of the 1945 Constitution, with the concept of Utusan Daerah in the MPR, along with Utusan Golongan and members of the DPR; this is regulated in Article 2 of the constitution, which states that "The MPR consists of members of the DPR plus representatives from regions and groups, according to the rules established by law". This loose arrangement was further regulated in various laws and regulations. In the Constitution of the United States of Indonesia enacted in 1949, the idea was realized in the form of Senat Republik Indonesia Serikat, representing the states and working side by side with the DPR.

As a replacement of Utusan Daerah, the DPD was created by the third amendment to the 1945 Constitution enacted on 9 November 2001 in a move towards bicameralism. The DPD does not have the revising powers of an upper house like the United States Senate. Article 22D restricts the DPD to dealing with bills on "regional autonomy, the relationship of central and local government, formation and merger of regions, management of natural resources and other economic resources, Bills related to the financial balance between the centre and the regions."The International Foundation for Electoral Systems conducted a tracking survey in the Indonesian legislative elections in 2004 which showed that not all voters knew how to vote for candidates for the new Regional Representative Council, or were aware of its existence. The first 128 elected DPD members were sworn in for the first time on 1 October 2004; the DPD is not a true upper house, because power of the DPD is weak compared to the older chamber, the DPR, notably it has no direct law-making or the power to veto bills.

According to Indonesian constitutional scholar Jimly Asshiddiqie, the relative weakness of the DPD was a result of a compromise in the committee responsible for the constitutional amendment. The reformist faction wanted a strong second chamber in addition to the existing DPR in order to strengthen checks and balances, but this was opposed by the conservative faction. Article 22C of the Constitution rules that all members of the DPD are elected through the same Legislative Election every five years, along with the members of DPR; the total number of members is limited so that it does not exceed one third of that of DPR. Each province of Indonesia elects 4 members to the DPD on a non-partisan basis, although many candidates in the April 2004 election had links to the parties represented in the People's Representative Council, the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat or DPR; the members represents the interests of their provinces, therefore the DPD can be seen as a reform of the utusan daerah of the MPR in Suharto era, which were appointed to the MPR at the president's discretion.

The DPD can propose regional bills to the DPR and must be heard on any regional bill proposed by DPR. The acronym DPD is a common one in Indonesia. In political parties, it stands for Indonesian: Dewan Pimpinan Daerah and seated at each provincial capital, it should not be confused with the Legislative body. Indrayana, Denny. "Indonesian Constitutional Reform 1999–2002: An Evaluation of Constitution-Making in Transition". Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne. Asshiddiqie, Jimly. "Lembaga Perwakilan dan Permusyawaratan Rakyat Tingkat Pusat". Jimly.com. DPD homepage

Gerald Smedley Andrews, was a Canadian frontier teacher and ranch hand, horse wrangler and soldier. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he was educated in Vancouver, Toronto and Dresden. From 1922 to 1930, he was a school master at Big Bar Kelly Lake. In 1930, he became a land surveyor until World War II. During World War II, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. From 1946 to 1950, he served as Chief Air Survey Engineer for British Columbia. From 1952 to 1968, he was the Surveyors General of the Province of British Columbia and Director of Mapping and Provincial Boundaries Commissioner. For his services, during World War II, he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire. In 1990, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. Canadian Military Engineer Association's Last Post 2005 Order of Canada citation

Bhimajuli massacre of 2009 was named after Bhimajuli, a village in Assam, where NDFB militants of its anti-talks faction led by Ranjan Daimary fired indiscriminately at villagers in Bhimajuli, in Sonitpur district near the Assam-Arunachal border killing five people on the spot and six including an eight-year-old girl on October 4, 2009. Protests broke out soon after and angry residents came out of their houses with bows and arrows in their hands, they didn't allow CRPF jawans to enter their village. The outraged villagers accused the government of failing to maintain order. Different organisations such as the All Assam Gorkha Student Union, All Assam Students Union, All Assam President of Asom Xatra Mahaxabha Bhadra Krishna Goswami condemned the killings at Bhimajuli in a press meet. Assam conflict Bhimajuli burning with simmering tension AAGSU torch rally in memorium of Bhimajuli massacre Bhimajuli Carnage: A Year Later, Palpable Grief at Ground Zero Rebels Without a Cause Assam armed groups: Revolution gone, terrorism on BHIMAJULI MASSACRE AND THE RESPONSE OF THE GOVERNMENT

Lithuanian book smugglers or Lithuanian book carriers transported Lithuanian language books printed in the Latin alphabet into Lithuanian-speaking areas of the Russian Empire, defying a ban on such materials in force from 1864 to 1904. Opposing imperial Russian authorities' efforts to replace the traditional Latin orthography with Cyrillic, transporting printed matter from as far away as the United States to do so, the book smugglers became a symbol of Lithuanians' resistance to Russification. After the Polish-Lithuanian insurrection I of 1863, the Russian Imperial government intensified its efforts to Russify the Lithuanian population and alienate it from its historic roots, including the Roman Catholic faith, which had become widespread during the years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the summer of 1863 Tsar Alexander II issued Temporary Rules for State Junior Schools of the Northwestern Krai, ruling that only Russian-language education would be allowed there. In 1864, the Governor General of the Vilnius Governorate, Mikhail Muravyov, ordered that Lithuanian language primers were to be printed only in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Muravyov's successor, Konstantin Kaufman, in 1865 banned all Lithuanian-language use of the Latin alphabet. In 1866, the Tsar issued an oral ban on the importing of printed matter in Lithuanian. Although formally, the order had no legal force, it was executed de facto until 1904. During this time, there were fifty-five printings of Lithuanian books in Cyrillic. Most of the Latin-alphabet Lithuanian-language books and periodicals published at the time were printed in Lithuania Minor and smuggled into Lithuania; when caught, the book smugglers were punished by fines and exile, including deportation to Siberia. Some were shot in the head while crossing the border or executed on the spot. In 1867, Motiejus Valančius, the Bishop of Žemaitija, began to covertly organize and finance this printing abroad and sponsored the distribution of Lithuanian-language books within Lithuania. In 1870, his organization was uncovered with the help of Prussian authorities, five priests and two book smugglers were exiled to remote areas of Russia.

Other book smugglers carried on his work. During the final years of the ban, an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 books were smuggled in annually. About one-third of them were seized by authorities. Lithuanian books reached every settlement in Lithuania, many legal institutions served as undercover transfer points for the books. A number of secret organizations distributed the books throughout Lithuania, including Sietynas, Teisybė, Prievarta, Aušrinė, Atžala, Akstinas, Svirplys, Žiburėlis, Žvaigždė, Kūdikis. In East Prussia since 1864 up to 1896, more than 3 500 000 copies of publications in Lithuanian language was published: about 500 000 primers, more than 300 000 scientific secular editions, 75 000 newspapers and other types of publications; the ban's lack of success was recognized by the end of the 19th century, in 1904, under the official pretext that the minorities within the Russian Empire needed to be pacified after the Russo-Japanese War, the ban on Lithuanian-language publications was lifted.

In 1905, soon after the ban was lifted, one of the book smugglers, Juozas Masiulis, opened his own bookstore in Panevėžys. This bookstore is still operational, a chain of bookstores operates in Lithuania under his name; this historical episode was suppressed during the years when Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. The book smugglers were an important part of the Lithuanian National Revival. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, book smugglers were honored in Lithuania with museums and street names. A statue dedicated to "The Unknown Book Smuggler" stands in Kaunas. Special relationship of Lithuanians and the book is still seen in the popular Vilnius Book Fair. Book smuggler Jurgis Bielinis, who created a secret distribution network for banned Lithuanian books, was born on 16 March 1846, this date is commemorated in Lithuania as the Day of the Book Smugglers. In 1988, the Lithuanian Knygnešiai Association was established at the Lithuanian Culture Foundation. Among its goals was to collect information about all Lithuanian book smugglers and printers.

As of 2017, four volumes titled. In 1997, the "Book Smugglers' Wall" was unveiled at the Vytautas the Great War Museum, and in 1998 a book Šimtas knygnešių. Knygnešių sienelės vardai was published. During 1959–2000 there was a magazine named Knygnešys which provided information about books and book publishers. In 2018 London Book Fair the tactics of Knygnešiai was used to distribute books of the Lithuanian authors and spread the information about the Lithuanian pavilion. Samizdat Lithuanian National Revival Ruseckas, Petras Knygnešys: 1864–1904 Valstybinis leidybos centras, Vilnius, ISBN 9986-810-06-X.