An engagement or betrothal is the relationship between two people who want to get married, the period of time between a marriage proposal and a marriage. During this period, a couple is said to be betrothed, affianced, engaged to be married, or engaged. Future brides and grooms may be called the betrothed, a wife-to-be or husband-to-be, fiancée or fiancé, respectively; the duration of the courtship varies vastly, is dependent on cultural norms or upon the agreement of the parties involved. Long engagements were once common in formal arranged marriages, it was not uncommon for parents betrothing children to arrange marriages many years before the engaged couple were old enough; this is still common in some countries. The origins of European engagement in marriage practice is found in the Jewish law, first exemplified by Abraham, outlined in the last Talmudic tractate of the Nashim order, where marriage consists of two separate acts, called erusin, the betrothal ceremony, nissu'in or chupah, the actual ceremony for the marriage.

Erusin changes the couple's interpersonal status, while nissu'in brings about the legal consequences of the change of status. This was adopted in Ancient Greece as the gamos and engeysis rituals, although unlike in Judaism the contract made in front of witness was only verbal; the giving of a ring was borrowed from Judaism by Roman marriage law, with the fiancé presenting it after swearing the oath of marriage intent, presenting of the gifts at the engagement party. Betrothal is a formal state of engagement to be married. In Jewish weddings during Talmudic times, the two ceremonies of betrothal and wedding took place up to a year apart. Since the Middle Ages the two ceremonies have taken place as a combined ceremony performed in public; the betrothal is now part of the Jewish wedding ceremony, accomplished when the groom gives the bride the ring or another object of at least nominal value. As mentioned above, betrothal in Judaism is separate from engagement. Typical steps of a match were the following: Negotiation of a match done by the couple's families with bride and groom having varying levels of input, from no input, to veto power, to a fuller voice in the selection of marriage partner.

This is not as practiced as it was although it is still common in culturally conservative communities in Israel, India and Persian Gulf countries, although most of these have a requirement that the bride be at least allowed veto power. Negotiation of bride price or dowry In most cultures evolved from Europe, bride prices or dowries have been reduced to the engagement ring accompanying the marriage contract, while in other cultures, such as those on the Arabian Peninsula, they are still part of negotiating a marriage contract. Blessing by the parents and clergy Exchange of Vows and Signing of Contracts Often one of these is omitted Celebration The exact duration of a betrothal varies according to culture and the participants’ needs and wishes. For adults, it may be anywhere from several hours to a period of several years. A year and a day are common in neo-pagan groups today. In the case of child marriage, betrothal might last from infancy until the age of marriage; the responsibilities and privileges of betrothal vary.

In most cultures, the betrothed couple is expected to spend much time together, learning about each other. In some historical cultures, the betrothal was a trial marriage, with marriage only being required in cases of conception of a child. All cultures are loosening restrictions against physical contact between partners in cultures that had strong prohibitions against it; the betrothal period was considered to be a preparatory time, in which the groom built a house, started a business or otherwise proved his readiness to enter adult society. In medieval Europe, in canon law, a betrothal could be formed by the exchange of vows in the future tense, but sexual intercourse consummated the vows, making a binding marriage rather than a betrothal. Although these betrothals could be concluded with only the vows spoken by the couple, they had legal implications: Richard III of England had his older brother's children declared illegitimate on the grounds their father had been betrothed to another woman when he married their mother.

A betrothal is considered to be a'semi-binding' contract. Normal reasons for invalidation of a betrothal include: Revelation of a prior commitment or marriage Evidence of infidelity Failure to conceive Failure of either party to meet the financial and property stipulations of the betrothal contractNormally, either party can break a betrothal, though some financial penalty applies. In some common law countries, including England and Wales and many US states, it was once possible for the spurned partner to sue the other

Missa Cuiusvis Toni is a four-part musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass by the 15th-century composer Johannes Ockeghem. It is found in late-century manuscripts, including the Chigi codex, was published in 1539, 42 years after the composer's death in 1497; the work's name reflects the fact that it may be sung in any of the Dorian, Lydian or Mixolydian modes. This is made possible by writing the music without clefs or key signatures, allowing the singers to assume those suited to the chosen mode; this unusual and complex idea has led the musicologist Fabrice Fitch to describe the mass as "the work chiefly responsible for Ockeghem's reputation as an artful pedant". Although Leeman L. Perkins describes the Missa Cuiusvis Toni as "not unduly complex in its contrapuntal style", to compose a work to be singable in any of the four modes is a considerable technical challenge, because the cadences suitable for the Phrygian mode are unsuitable for the other modes, vice versa. Ockeghem's solution is to write cadences.

According to the musicologist Richard Turbet, this makes the Mass easiest to sing in the Phrygian mode and successively more difficult in the Mixolydian and Dorian modes. Both Turbet and Fitch believe that the work was conceived for the Phrygian mode and adapted for the other modes. Missa Cuiusvis Toni, æon, ÆCD 0753, performed by Lucien Kandel. First recording of the four versions. Ed. Gérard Geay

Canadian Centre for Child Protection is a registered charitable organization dedicated to the personal safety of all children. Their goal is to reduce child victimization by providing programs and services to the Canadian public; the organization is supported by the Government of Canada, the Manitoba Government, the Government of New Brunswick and the Yukon Government. In April 1985, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection was established as Child Find Manitoba, following the disappearance and murder of Candace Derksen in November 30, 1984. In September 2002, the Cybertip.ca was launched as a two-year pilot project. In May 2004, it was recognized as Internet hotline by the Canadian Government, it was launched on January 2005. In May 2006, the organization was renamed the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. In May 2011, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection launched MissingKids.ca. Cybertip.ca is a national hotline operated by the C3P, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and local Canadian law enforcement agencies that reports child pornography.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection developed an automated crawler called Project Arachnid, which detects images and videos on the internet and dark web based on confirmed digital fingerprints of illegal child sexual abuse content. Cybertip.ca Official Website Project Arachnid page

AOM French Airlines was the second largest airline in France from 1990 until 2001. Its head office was located in Building 363 at Paray-Vieille-Poste. Air Outre Mer was founded in 1988 in the French overseas département of the island of Réunion and began scheduled passenger service in 1990 with a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 and a Dornier Do 228. In October 1991, Air Outre Mer merged with Air Minerve, a French airline, based at Orly and had operated since 1975; the two companies began operating under the name AOM French Airlines although the administrative name was "AOM-Minerve S. A.". Air Minerve was the first airline to compete directly with Air Inter on the French domestic airline market by opening a Paris - Nice route in May 1990. In February 1999, Swissair acquired a 49% stake in the airline as a part of its "hunter strategy". For most of the decade, the airline fiercely competed with Air France on both the French domestic market and on the air routes to the French overseas territories. Due to inappropriate fleet management and overcapacity, the airline accumulated huge debts and ceased operations in 2001.

The airline's final bankruptcy was approved after several months of strikes. On 25 March 2001 AOM French Airlines merged with Air Liberté, the airline retaining the name "Air Liberté". On 22 September 2001 the airline was renamed "Air Lib".. AOM's disappearance was followed by several other French airlines such as Aeris, Air Littoral, Euralair in the next several years, leaving Air France and Star Airlines as the three largest remaining airlines in France at the time. Marseille Nice Paris Perpignan Toulon French Guiana Cayenne Guadeloupe Pointe-à-Pitre Saint Martin Martinique Fort-de-France New Caledonia Nouméa Réunion Saint-Denis Tahiti Papeete AustraliaSydney BahamasNassau CubaHavana Varadero Dominican RepublicPunta Cana EcuadorQuito JapanTokyo LibyaTripoli MaldivesMalé Sri LankaColombo SwitzerlandZurich ThailandBangkok United StatesLos Angeles VietnamHo Chi Minh City Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216: On December 21, 1999, a Cubana de Aviación McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 on lease from AOM on an international non-scheduled passenger flight from Havana suffered a landing accident at Guatemala City, Guatemala.

The aircraft overran runway 19 and continued down a steep slope before coming to rest in a residential area. 8 of the 296 passengers and 8 of the 18 crew as well as 2 people on the ground were killed and the aircraft written off. The Guatemalan Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil investigated the accident; the AOM French Airlines fleet included the following equipment: 15 McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 12 McDonnell Douglas MD-83 2 Airbus A340-200 2 Airbus A340-300 2 Boeing 737-500 AOM French Airlines Air Outre-Mer at the Aviation Safety Network Database Defunct airlines at http://www.aviationexplorer.com AOM French Airlines at https://web.archive.org/web/20120412013004/http://www.rati.com/

Qasr al-Azraq is a large fortress located in present-day eastern Jordan. It is one of the desert castles, located on the outskirts of present-day Azraq 100 km east of Amman, its strategic value came from the only water source in a vast desert region. The name of the fortress and associated town came from these; the settlement was known in antiquity as Basie and the Romans were the first to make military use of the site, an early mosque was built in the middle. It did not assume its present form until an extensive renovation and expansion by the Ayyubids in the 13th century, using locally quarried basalt which makes the castle darker than most other buildings in the area, it would be used by the Ottoman armies during that empire's hegemony over the region. During the Arab Revolt, T. E. Lawrence based his operations here in 1917–18, an experience he wrote about in his book Seven Pillars of Wisdom; the connection to "Lawrence of Arabia" has been one of the castle's major draws for tourists. The castle is constructed of the local black basalt and is a square structure with 80 metre long walls encircling a large central courtyard.

In the middle of the courtyard is a small mosque that may date from Umayyad times. At each corner of the outer wall, there is an oblong tower; the main entrance is composed of a single massive hinged slab of granite, which leads to a vestibule where one can see carved into the pavement the remains of a Roman board game. Although heavy — 1 ton for each of the leaves of the main gate, 3 tons for single the other — these stone doors can quite be moved, thanks to palm tree oil; the unusual choice of stone can be explained by the fact that there is no close source of wood, apart from palm tree wood, soft and unsuitable for building. The strategic significance of the castle is that it lies in the middle of the Azraq oasis, the only permanent source of fresh water in 12,000 square kilometres of desert. Several civilizations are known to have occupied the site for its strategic value in this remote and arid desert area; the area was inhabited by the Nabataean people and around 200 CE fell under the control of the Romans.

The Romans built a stone structure using the local basalt stone that formed a basis for constructions on the site, a structure, used by the Byzantine and Umayyad empires. Qasr al-Azraq underwent its final major stage of building in 1237 CE, when'Izz ad-Din Aybak, an emir of the Ayyubids and fortified it; the fortress in its present form dates to this period. In the 16th century the Ottoman Turks stationed a garrison there, T. E. Lawrence made the fortress his desert headquarters during the winter of 1917, during the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, his office was in the chamber above the entrance gatehouse. It had an additional advantage in modern warfare: the flat nearby desert was an ideal place to build an airfield. According to Lawrence, "Azrak lay favourably for us, the old fort would be convenient headquarters if we made it habitable, no matter how severe the winter. So I established myself in its southern gate-tower, set my six Haurani boys...to cover with brushwood, palm-branches, clay the ancient split stone rafters, which stood open to the sky."

Ali ibn el Hussein "took up his quarters in the south-east corner tower, made that roof tight." The postern gate was shut each night, "The door was a poised lab of dressed basalt, a foot thick, turning on pivots of itself, socketed into threshold and lintel. It took a great effort to start swinging, at the end went shut with a clang and crash which made tremble the west wall of the old castle."Lawrence wrote of their first night, "...when there rose a strange, long wailing round the towers outside. The cries came again and again and again, rising in power, till they sobbed round the walls in deep waves to die away choked and miserable. Lawrence was told, "...the dogs of the Beni Hillal, the mythical builders of the fort, quested the six towers each night for their dead masters...their ghost-watch kept our ward more than arms could have done." Qasr al-Azraq is included on day trips from Amman to the desert castles, along with Qasr Kharana and Qasr Amra, both east of the capital and reached via Highway 40.

Admission is JD 2. Visitors can explore most of the castle, both upstairs and downstairs, except for some sections closed off while the rock is shored up. There is little interpretive material at the moment. Desert castles Jordanian art

The men's 50 metre rifle, prone was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event; the competition was held on 8 August 1936 at the shooting ranges at Wannsee. 66 shooters from 25 nations competed. These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1936 Summer Olympics. There was no official world record registered. Olympic record according to the conditions of this Games - 300 rings possible 400 rings possible Starting order: The competitors were divided into three groups after draw. Starting times: First group 8.30 to 10.30 a.m. second group 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and third group 3 to 5 p.m.. Weather: The first group started to shoot in the rain, but the rain stopped after half an hour. The overcast sky brought occasional sunshine; the wind disturbed occasionally. The competition was held over 15 series of two shots, so every shooter had 30 shots; the maximum score was 300. Willy Røgeberg set a new Olympic record.

12 shooters finished with a better score than the standing Olympic record prior the Games. The places two to seven were established by comparison of the hits on target. Official Report Part II Wudarski, Pawel. "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich". Retrieved 14 December 2007