The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The President of South Africa serves both as head of government; the President is elected by the National Assembly and must retain the confidence of the Assembly in order to remain in office. South Africans elect provincial legislatures which govern each of the country's nine provinces. Since the end of apartheid in 1994 the African National Congress has dominated South Africa's politics; the ANC is the ruling party in the national legislature, as well as in eight of the nine provinces. The ANC received 62.15% of the vote during the 2014 general election. It had received 62.9% of the popular vote in the 2011 municipal election. The main challenger to the ANC's rule is the Democratic Alliance, led by Mmusi Maimane, which received 22.23% of the vote in the 2014 election. Other major political parties represented in Parliament include the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Inkatha Freedom Party, which represents Zulu voters.

The dominant New National Party, which both introduced and ended apartheid through its predecessor the National Party, disbanded in 2005 to merge with the ANC. Jacob Zuma served as President of South Africa since May 9, 2009 until his resignation in February 2018. Zuma was replaced by Cyril Ramaphosa; the country's 2019 general election was held on May 8. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated South Africa a "flawed democracy" in 2019, it has been argued. South Africa is a parliamentary representative democratic republic, wherein the President of South Africa, elected by parliament, is the head of government, of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of Parliament, the Council of Provinces and the National Assembly; the judiciary is independent of the legislature. Government is three-tiered, with representatives elected at the national and local levels. Following the 1994 elections, South Africa was governed under an interim constitution.

This constitution required the Constituent Assembly to draft and approve a permanent constitution by 9 May 1996. The Government of National Unity established under the interim constitution ostensibly remained in effect until the 1999 national elections; the parties comprising the GNU – the African National Congress, the National Party, the Inkatha Freedom Party – shared executive power. On 30 June 1996, the NP withdrew from the GNU to become part of the opposition. Under the Constitution, the President is both head of head of government. General elections take place every 5 years; the first multi-racial democratic election was held in 1994, the second in 1999, the third in 2004, the fourth in 2009, the most recent in 2014. Until 2008, elected officials were allowed to change political party, while retaining their seats, during set windows which occurred twice each electoral term, due to controversial floor crossing legislative amendments made in 2002; the last two floor crossing windows occurred in 2005 and in 2007.

After the 2009 elections, the ANC lost its two-thirds majority in the national legislature which had allowed it to unilaterally alter the constitution. The Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party are in a formal alliance with the ruling ANC, thus do not stand separately for election. Notes: The constitution's bill of rights provides extensive guarantees, including equality before the law and prohibitions against discrimination; the legal rights of criminal suspects are enumerated. It includes wide guarantees of access of food, education, health care, social security; the constitution provides for an independent and impartial judiciary, and, in practice, these provisions are respected. Citizens' entitlements to a safe environment, housing and health care are included in the bill of rights, are known as secondary constitutional rights. In 2003 the constitutional secondary rights were used by the HIV/AIDS activist group the Treatment Action Campaign as a means of forcing the government to change its health policy.

Violent crime, including violence against women and children, organised criminal activity are at high levels and are a grave concern. As a result, vigilante action and mob justice sometimes occur; some members of the police are accused of abusing suspects in custody. In April 1997, the government established an Independent Complaints Directorate to investigate deaths in police custody and deaths resulting from police action; some discrimination against women continues, discrimination against those living with HIV/AIDS is becoming serious. There has been growing political repression. Many leaders of former bantustans or homelands have had a role in South African politics since their abolition. Mangosuthu Buthelezi was chief minister of his Kwa-Zulu homeland from 1976 until 1994. In post-apartheid South Africa he has served as President of the Inkatha Freedom Party, he was a Minister in President Mandela's cabinet. He served as acting President of South Africa when President Nelson Mandela was overseas.

Bantubonke Holomisa, a general in the homeland of Transkei f

The Heilmann locomotives were a series of three experimental steam-electric locomotives produced in the 1890s for the French Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest. A prototype was built in 1894 and two larger locomotives were built in 1897; these locomotives can be considered the ancestors of diesel-electric locomotives, other self powered locomotives which use an electric transmission. In 1890 Jean Jacques Heilmann registered a patent for a self powered electric vehicle, his design used a balanced steam engine to drive the locomotive via an electrical transmission. Heilmann wished to create a machine suited for high-speed trains without the high costs of an electrified infrastructure, his earliest design was of a trainset consisting of a vehicle with a triple expansion steam engine and generator, a tender and three carriages. The entire train was to run on bogies, use a distributed traction system provided by 12 axle-mounted electric motors in the three carriages; the first real locomotive built to Heilmann's design was a prototype steam-electric locomotive, with boiler, steam engine and motors built into a single locomotive.

The steam engine and boiler were built at the Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée in Le Havre, the electrical equipment was designed and built at Brown, Boveri & Compagnie of Baden, whilst the locomotive frame and bogies were built at the Compagnie de Materiel de Chemins de Fer. The locomotive had a 600 to 800 metric horsepower two-cylinder horizontal compound steam engine with transversely mounted cylinders of 425 and 650 millimetres diameter by 300 mm stroke, it was supplied with steam by a Lentz-type boiler, operating at a pressure of 12.6 standard atmospheres. The engine had a fixed cutoff with no reversing mechanism, no speed governor excluding a centrifugal overspeed safety device; the firebox was of a stayless corrugated type. It had a grate area of 2.25 square metres. The boiler had a total surface area of 145 square metres; the steam engine drove directly a direct current dynamo, rated at 500 kW. The generator's field coils were energised by a separate bipolar dynamo capable of generating 100 A at 100 V, directly driven at 300 RPM by a 20 CV two cylinder vertical compound steam engine of similar design to the main engine.

This secondary generator's output was used to provide a supply for electric lighting in carriages. Electric speed and load control was obtained by reducing the main generator's field excitation current coming from the 10 kilowatts dynamo using a twelve step drum rheostat; the eight traction motors were connected in parallel. The motors were located in two four-axle bogies, with wheelset having a sealed axle mounted 80 to 100 metric horsepower electric motor. Braking was with disc brakes fitted on all wheels; the locomotive was a cab forward design. The first official tests of the locomotive began on 2 February 1894; the test train consisted of the locomotive, four new first class carriages, a dynamometer car, two vans containing one tonne of batteries between them. Speeds were increased over subsequent runs: the first run average 51.5 kilometres per hour, on the fourth run the average speed was 59.4 kilometres per hour, with speeds of 55 kilometres per hour on the 8‰ slopes, 70 kilometres per hour on level track.

On 9 May 1894, La Fusée Electrique made a trial run from Saint-Lazare station, Paris to Mantes-la-Jolie, hauling a train consisting eight carriages. The 53 kilometres journey took 55 minutes. A speed of 107 kilometres per hour was reported to have been achieved. Following the test run, the locomotive hauled a regular service train back to Paris. Trials showed; the locomotive was said to ride "like a Pullman carriage." Criticisms of the locomotive were that it was "too complicated, too costly, too heavy". These same arguments would be repeated with the introduction of main-line diesel-electric locomotives some half a century later; the locomotive completed around 2,000 kilometres of test runs. Two larger locomotives were ordered for further trials on the CF de l'Ouest. La Fusée Electrique had been dismantled by 1897, with the bogies being used for two 0-8-0 electric locomotives which were employed on the 4 kilometres underground railway between Saint-Germain Ouest and Grande-Ceinture. A ​1⁄10 scale model of the prototype locomotive made in 1903

Live, Vol. Four is the fourth live album from The Avett Brothers. It, its concert DVD counterpart, was released on December 18, 2015; the vinyl edition will be released in early 2016. It contains 14 tracks, including 2 never released original songs. Live, Vol. Four was recorded at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC on December 31, 2014. Many of the tracks feature Valient Himself of the North Carolinian band Valient Thorr as Father Time. Francesco Marano of Zumic gave the album a positive review, writing that "...you can hear, feel, the band’s energy through the night" of the 2014 New Year’s Eve concert. Marcy Donelson of Allmusic gives a more mixed review, that although "over-sung and over-played... their performance has the uplifting infectiousness of a gospel choir." Scott Avett - vocals, acoustic guitar, kick drum Seth Avett - vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, hi-hat Bob Crawford - backing vocals, upright bass, electric bass, fiddle Paul Defiglia - backing vocals, organ, upright bass Tania Elizabeth - backing vocals, violin Joe Kwon - backing vocals, cello Mike Marsh - drums Bonnie Avett - vocals on "Ten Thousand Words" and "Happy Trails" Jim Avett - vocals on "Happy Trails" Valient Thorr - vocals on "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Happy Trails"

Joe William Valerio is a former American football offensive lineman. He was in the second round of the 1991 NFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, he played college football at Penn. Valerio attended the University of Pennsylvania. In 1987, he was named the Offensive Most Valuable Player of the freshman team. In 1988, he was the only sophomore to letter on offense for a team that went 9-1 and won the Ivy League championship; as a junior in 1989, he was named First-team All-Ivy League, received the schools Bagnell Award, an award given to the most improved player. As a senior in 1990, he was named a team captain, a pre-season All-American. After the end of his senior season, he was awarded the Bednarik award for the teams top lineman, the Munger award for being the team's MVP, as well as first-team All-Ivy League for a second time, first-team All-ECAC, first-team All-America, he was selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game. Valerio was selected in the second round of the 1991 NFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.

During his time with the Chiefs, he was placed as a tight end in the Chiefs "jumbo" formations in short yardage situations. He recorded 4 receptions for 7 yards, 4 touchdowns, he was released by the Chiefs on August 25, 1996. In September 1996 he joined the St. Louis Rams. While with the Rams, he appeared in just one game. In 2005, Valerio was inducted into the University of Pennsylvania Athletics Hall of Fame. Valerio retired after the 1996 season and began working in the insurance industry by serving as a Regional Operations Officer at Willis North America, Inc.. He served as the Managing Director for Wells Fargo Insurance Services in Philadelphia. In 2011, he began to work at TD Insurance/USI Insurance Services, as the Senior Vice President of Regional Sales Manager for the Mid-Atlantic Region. In June 2013, he joined Lyons Companies as the Vice President of Business Development, he served as an assistant football coach at Garnet Valley High School in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. As of 2011, Valerio was married to his wife Jennifer, had triplet daughters.

Penn Quakers bio The 7 best NFL revenge games of the last 25 years, ranked Fat guy glory: Watch 11 offensive linemen scoring touchdowns

Ashraf Jehangir Qazi has held several national and international appointments as a Pakistani diplomat and has served with the United Nations. In 2004, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had named him as the head of the UN mission in Iraq where he helped co-ordinate humanitarian and reconstruction efforts. Before this appointment, he was serving as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States in Washington, D. C.. In 2007, Qazi was appointed as a special representative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Sudan, he completed his tenure in Sudan in 2010. Between 2004 and 2007, he was the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in charge of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq. Between 2002 and 2004, Qazi was Pakistan's ambassador to the United States. Before that, he was Pakistan's High Commissioner to India since 1997 and ambassador to Syria, East Germany, to China. While at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, he served as director of East Asia, director-general for Policy Planning and Additional Foreign Secretary for Policy Planning, Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

He has had diplomatic assignments in Copenhagen, Cairo and London. He is half Irish, his mother, Jennifer Musa, was from County Kerry in Ireland. She lived until her death in Pishin, Pakistan, his father's name is Qazi Musa. H. E. Ashraf Qazi Speaks at the U. S. Institute of Peace Archived from the original on 4 February 2012 IRAQ: Interview with the UN Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, IRIN, 24 March 2005 Qazi interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on the situation in Afghanistan, aired 21 March 2004

Zara was a heavy cruiser built for the Italian Regia Marina, the lead ship of the Zara class. Named after the Italian city of Zara, the ship was built at the Odero-Terni-Orlando shipyard beginning with her keel laying in July 1928, launching in April 1930, commissioning in October 1931. Armed with a main battery of eight 8-inch guns, she was nominally within the 10,000-long-ton limit imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty, though in reality she exceeded this figure. Zara saw extensive service during the first two years of Italy's participation in World War II, having taken part in several sorties to catch British convoys in the Mediterranean as the flagship of the 1st Division, she was present during the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, the Battle of Taranto in November 1940, the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. In the last engagement and her sister ships Fiume and Pola were sunk in a close-range night engagement with three British battleships. Most of her crew, 783 officers and sailors, including the divisional commander Admiral Carlo Cattaneo, were killed in the sinking.

Zara was 182.8 meters long overall, with a draft of 7.2 m. She displaced 14,300 long tons at full load, though her displacement was nominally within the 10,000-long-ton restriction set in place by the Washington Naval Treaty, her power plant consisted of two Parsons steam turbines powered by eight oil-fired Yarrow boilers, which were trunked into two funnels amidships. Her engines were produced a top speed of 32 knots, she enlisted men. She was protected with an armored belt, 150 mm thick amidships, her main deck was 70 mm thick and there was a secondary deck 20 mm thick over the main one. The gun turrets had 150 mm thick plating on the faces and the barbettes they sat in were 150 mm thick; the main conning tower had 150 mm thick sides. Zara was armed with a main battery of eight 203 mm Mod 29 53-caliber guns in four gun turrets; the turrets were arranged in aft. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a battery of sixteen 100 mm 47-cal. Guns in twin mounts, four Vickers-Terni 40 mm/39 guns in single mounts and eight 12.7 mm guns in twin mounts.

She carried a pair of IMAM Ro.43 seaplanes for aerial reconnaissance. Zara's secondary battery was revised several times during her career. Two of the 100 mm guns and all of the 40 mm and 12.7 mm guns were removed in the late 1930s, eight 37 mm 54-cal. Guns and eight 13.2 mm guns were installed in their place. Two 120 mm 15-cal. Star shell guns were added in 1940. Zara's keel was laid down on 4 July 1928 at the Odero-Terni-Orlando shipyard at La Spezia. During sea trials, Zara reached a speed of 35.23 kn, but this was with the ship's machinery forced to give 120,690 shp. This was not representative of in-service performance and normal maximum at-sea speed was about 29 kn; the ship was presented with her battle flag in her namesake city, now Croatia. In August 1932, Zara took part in fleet training exercises in the Gulf of Naples, she became the flagship of the First Naval Squadron in September. She took part in a naval review held for Benito Mussolini in the Gulf of Naples on 6–7 July 1933. Zara participated in another review on 27 November 1936, Victor Emmanuel III, his son Umberto II, the Regent of Hungary, Miklós Horthy, all came aboard the ship.

Another fleet review was held for the German Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, the German minister of defense, on 7 June 1937. On 16 September, the commander of the squadron transferred his flag to the battleship Conte di Cavour. A final peacetime naval review took place on 5 May 1938. On 7 March 1939, Zara and her sister ships sortied from Taranto to intercept a squadron of Republican warships—three cruisers and eight destroyers—attempting to reach the Black Sea; the Italian ships were ordered not to open fire but to try to impede the progress of the Spanish ships and force them to dock at Augusta, Sicily. The Spanish commander refused and instead steamed to Bizerte in French Tunisia, where his ships were interned. A month from 7 to 9 April, Zara supported the Italian invasion of Albania without incident, she was in port in Genoa for Navy Day on 10 June. At Italy's entrance into the Second World War on 10 June 1940, Zara was assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Squadron, as the flagship of Rear Admiral Matteucci.

The division included her sisters Gorizia and Fiume and the four Oriani-class destroyers. At the time, the division was based in Taranto. On 21 June and the rest of the division were transferred to Augusta, Sicily to be better positioned to intercept Allied convoys in the Mediterranean; the following day, the 1st Division joined a patrol with the 2nd and 3rd Divisions, though they failed to find any Allied vessels. Zara was present at the Battle of Calabria on 9 July. On 30 July, the 1st Division escorted a convoy to Benghazi and Tripoli in Italian Libya, arriving back in Augusta on 1 August. Gunnery train