Romano Prodi is an Italian politician who served as the 10th President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, he is considered the founder of the Italian centre-left and one of the most prominent and iconic figures of the so-called Second Republic. Prodi is nicknamed Il Professore due to his academic career. A former professor of economics and international advisor to Goldman Sachs, Prodi ran in 1996 as lead candidate of The Olive Tree coalition, winning the general election and serving as Prime Minister of Italy until 1998. Following the victory of his coalition The Union over the House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi in the April 2006 Italian elections, Prodi took power again. On 24 January 2008, he lost a vote of confidence in the Senate house and tendered his resignation as Prime Minister to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, but he continued in office for four months for routine business, until early elections were held and a new government was formed.

Until now, he is the first progressive candidate to come first at legislative elections since 1921 and to manage to form a government without the need of opponents' parliamentary support. On 14 October 2007, Prodi became the first President of the Democratic Party upon foundation of the party. On 12 September 2008, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon selected Prodi as president of the African Union–United Nations peacekeeping panel, he is serving as the United Nations Special Envoy for the Sahel. Prodi was born in Scandiano, in the province of Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, he is the eighth of nine children of Mario Prodi, an engineer from a peasant family, Enrica, a primary school teacher. He has five of them being like him university professors. Prodi married Flavia Franzoni in 1969, he was married by Camillo Ruini, now a well-known cardinal. They have two sons and Antonio, he and his family still live in Bologna. In addition to his native Italian, Prodi speaks English. After completing his secondary education at the Liceo Ludovico Ariosto in Reggio Emilia, Prodi graduated in law at Milan's Università Cattolica in 1961 with a thesis on the role of Protectionism in the development of Italian industry.

He carried out postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics. In 1963 Prodi joined the Christian Democracy party. In the same year he became a teaching assistant for Beniamino Andreatta in the Department of Economics and the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Bologna, subsequently serving as associate professor and as Professor of Industrial Organisation and Industrial Policy. Prodi has been a visiting professor at Harvard University and a researcher at the Stanford Research Institute, his research covers competition regulations and the development of small and medium businesses. He is interested in industrial districts, anti-monopoly policies, relations between states and markets, the dynamics of the different capitalistic models. Between 1974 and 1978 he chaired Il Mulino publishing house, in 1982 he became director of the magazines Energia and L'Industria. In 1981 he founded a company of economic studies and consultancy, he cooperated with the newspapers Corriere della Sera and Il Sole 24 Ore. Prodi has received 20 honorary degrees from institutions in Italy, from the rest of Europe, North America and Africa.

Prodi's political career began as a left-of-centre reformist Christian Democrat and a disciple of Beniamino Andreatta, another economist turned politician. In 1963 he was elected municipal councillor in Reggio Emilia for the Christian Democracy, but after few years he resigned to continue his academic career. On 25 November 1978 Prodi was appointed Minister of Industry and Craftmanship in the government of the Christian Democratic leader Giulio Andreotti. If he was a DC member, Prodi was considered a "technical minister"; as minister, he promoted a law, known as "Prodi law', which aimed a regulating of the extraordinary state administration procedure for the rescue of large enterprises in crisis. On 2 April 1978, Prodi and other teachers at the University of Bologna passed on a tip-off that revealed the whereabouts of the safe house where the kidnapped Aldo Moro, the former Prime Minister, was being held captive by the Red Brigades. Prodi claimed he had been given this tip-off by the founders of the Christian Democracy party, contacted from beyond the grave via a séance and a Ouija board.

Whilst during this supposed séance Prodi thought the word Gradoli referred to a town on the outskirts of Rome, it referred to the Roman address of a Red Brigades safe house, located at no. 96, Via Gradoli. The information was trusted and a police group made an armed blitz in the town of Gradoli, 80 km from Rome, on the following day, 6 April though Moro was not found. Prodi spoke to the Italian parliament's commission about the case in 1981. In the notes of the Italian parliament commission on terrorism, the séance is described as a fake, used to hide the true source of the information. In 1997 Giulio Andreotti declared that the information came from the Bologna section of Autonomia Operaia, a far-left organization with some ties with the Red Brigades, that Francesco Cossiga knew the true source. Judge Ferdinando Imposimato considered Andreotti's theory as "possible", but accused him of having kept information that could have been valuable in

The X Factor was an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent. The third season premiered on the Seven Network on 29 August 2011 and ended on 22 November 2011; the winner was Reece Mastin and his debut single "Good Night" was released after the final. Mastin was mentored throughout by Guy Sebastian. There was only a one percent difference in the votes between runner-up Andrew Wishart; the season was presented by Luke Jacobz. Ronan Keating and Sebastian were the only judges from the previous season who returned, while Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Mel B joined the judging panel as replacements for former judges, Natalie Imbruglia and Kyle Sandilands; the competition was split into several stages: auditions, home visits and live shows. Auditions in front of the show's producers took place throughout March and April 2011; the successful auditionees chosen by the producers were invited back to the last set of auditions that took place in front of the judges and a live studio audience during May and June.

After the auditions was bootcamp, where successful acts were split into four categories: Boys, Over 25s and Groups. Each judge was given a category to mentor and had to decide on their twelve acts after day two, their six acts after day three. Special guest judges, including Wynter Gordon, Stephen Belafonte, Darren Hayes and The Veronicas, were brought in to help the judges decide their acts. Following bootcamp was the home visits stage, where each of the judges reduced their six acts to three, with help from more guest judges including Beyoncé, Melanie C, Jason Derulo, Good Charlotte and Leona Lewis; the live shows began on 19 September 2011. The third season sparked controversy, namely Mel B's attitude towards the other judges, labeling them dishonest and boring. Controversy occurred between Sebastian and contestant Mitchell Callaway. There were claims of a clash between Callaway and contestant Declan Sykes; the grand final decider was watched by 1.99 million people, making it the highest rated television episode of the season.

On 16 March 2011, judge Kyle Sandilands announced on his breakfast radio show, Kyle & Jackie O that he would not be returning to the judging panel for the third season. Of his decision, Sandilands said, "Not because I didn't like it. I thought the show was great and it was great fun to do but it's just too hectic, it's too much work. So, I've told Channel Seven, no." On 31 March 2011, it was announced that Natalie Bassingthwaighte would join the judging panel as a replacement for Natalie Imbruglia. When speaking of her role as a judge, Bassingthwaighte said she would focus on bringing an honest critique to the show and would guide "the artists through the competition". In late April 2011, it was confirmed. Mel B said, " are either going to love me or hate me but it's going to be a fun ride. I'm easy to get on with and I'm a hard worker. I'm firm but nice." Guy Sebastian and Ronan Keating were the only judges from the second season. In 2011, the minimum age for contestants to audition was changed to 14 years old, having been 16 years old.

Auditions in front of the show's producers began in March 2011 in five cities: Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. The successful auditionees chosen by the producers were invited back to the last set of auditions that took place in front of the judges and a live studio audience; these auditions were held in three cities: Brisbane and Sydney. The bootcamp stage was held in Sydney and was first broadcast on 7 September 2011. On the first day of bootcamp, each judge was given a category to mentor and were joined by a celebrity guest judge to help them decide their top twelve acts. Sebastian was assisted by Wynter Gordon and was given the Boys, Mel B was assisted by her husband Stephen Belafonte and was given the Girls, Bassingthwaighte teamed up with Darren Hayes and was assigned the Over 25s, Keating was assisted by The Veronicas and had the Groups. On the second day, the Boys each had to sing a song made famously by a female artist, the Over 25s got styled for a photo shoot and each had to perform one song, the Girls had to perform choreography to either Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" or Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", the Groups held recording sessions with vocal producer Erana Clark.

On the third day of bootcamp, the judges along with their celebrity guest judges, narrowed down the contestants to six each. The 24 successful acts were: Boys: Rob Baron, Trent Bell, Reece Mastin, Johnny Ruffo, Declan Sykes, Mali Talefenua Girls: Tyla Bertolli, Sophie Metcalfe, Chantelle Morrell, Jacqui Newland, Christina Parie, Amy Walton Over 25s: Mitchell Callaway, Pamela Cook, Marina Davis, Cleo Howman, Paige Phoenix, Andrew Wishart Groups: Audio Vixen, Femme Da Funk, Three Wishez, Up Front, Young Men Society The final round of the selection process, the home visits, saw the judges reduce their six acts to three; each judge took their six acts to ex

The Canadian Alliance fielded several candidates in the 2000 federal election, won sixty-six seats to become the Official Opposition party in the House of Commons of Canada. Many of the party's candidates have their own biography pages; this page provides information for Canadian Alliance candidates who contested by-elections between 2000 and 2003. All electoral information is taken from Elections Canada. Note: this section is incomplete. Etienne is a lawyer in Toronto, was twenty-six years old at the time of the election, he said that he chose to enter the campaign to protest Canada's support for a United Nations resolution, critical of Israel. He supported tax incentives for religious school tuition, he received 5,497 votes. Etienne has been involved in several high-profile legal cases since 2000, including a 2004 defence of an illegal Jamaican immigrant who argued that his life would be in danger if he was deported. Etienne succeeded in winning him the right to stay in Canada. In 2005, he was listed as co-chair of Toronto Friends of Falun Gong.

McAdam is a political consultant. He first campaigned for public office in the 1993 federal election as the Reform Party candidates in Kingston and the Islands, he was twenty-four years old at the time, a Political Science student at Queen's University. He finished third against Liberal incumbent Peter Milliken, worked on the Ottawa staff of federal Reform Party leader Preston Manning. McAdam ran for the Reform Party again in the 1997 election, defeating Vito D. Luceno and Laurie Greenidge for the nomination in Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, he focused on gun control as a primary issue, finished third against Liberal Larry McCormick. After the election, McAdam worked for two years in the office of Reform Member of Parliament Art Hanger before becoming Manning's Question Period advisor, he was an early supporter of the Reform Party's United Alternative initiative, which led to the creation of the Canadian Alliance. He worked as a senior aide to Stockwell Day in late 2000, after Day defeated Manning to become Alliance leader.

McAdam won the HFLA Alliance nomination over Vito Luceno and former Member of Provincial Parliament Gary Fox for the 2000 election and, although the riding was seen as winnable for his party, lost to McCormick a second time (KWS, 28 November 2000. He continued to work for Day until March 2001. In April, he supported Hanger's call for Day to resign as leader, he said, "Once I started to work with in a senior position it was clear to me that he wasn't the man for the job". He worked as a senior aide to the breakaway Democratic Representative Caucus in the year, he was critical of plans to have Stephen Harper challenge Day for the Alliance leadership, writing that Harper "seems to focus more on the differences than on what can unite". McAdam has worked as a palm reader and hypnotist. Goligher was born in Montreal, Canada, he is a veteran of the Canadian Forces and has done extensive service overseas, including in Cyprus and Sinai. He lived in Kingston, Ontario during the 1980s, returned to the city in 1995 after retiring from the army.

Goligher was forty-six years old in 2000, worked as a freelance writer, was a member of the Kingston Whig-Standard Community Editorial Board. A Progressive Conservative, he joined the Canadian Alliance in 2000 after a request to campaign for the party, he defeated former riding president Siobhain Fiene to win the nomination, received 7,904 votes to finish third against Liberal incumbent Peter Milliken. Gayowsky was born in Brandon, Manitoba to a Ukrainian Canadian family, was a career diplomat for thirty-six years before running for public office, he served in Scandinavia, Finland and the Soviet Union, became Canada's first consul general to Ukraine in 1991. After Canada recognized Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union, Gayowsky was named chargé d'affaires of the Canadian embassy, he represented the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Kiev. He received 7,600 votes in 2000. A newspaper report from the election lists him as 66 years old, he supported a bridge over the Ottawa River east of Kettle Island, criticized the Liberal government's record on taxes and patronage.

Gayowsky moved to British Columbia, was campaign manager for Conservative candidate James Lunney in the 2004 election. He remains interested in Ukrainian affairs, was an OCSE observer for the late 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, won by Victor Yushchenko. George Stripe was thirty-seven years old during the election and worked as a supply teacher with the Near North District School Board, he received 9,569 votes. Eric John Allan Mann is a beef farmer in Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield, near the city of Peterborough, he is active in the local Baptist community. A graduate of Peterborough Teachers College, he taught elementary school for six years in the 1970s, he was a trustee on the Pet

Melbourne City Football Club is an association football club based in Bundoora, Victoria. The club was formed in 2009 as Melbourne Heart, they became the second Victorian member admitted into the A-League in 2005. Melbourne City entered the A-League in the 2010–11 season, following the club's formation in 2009; the club was for its four seasons called Melbourne Heart FC, though ahead of the 2014–15 season it was bought by the City Football Group and rebranded Melbourne City FC. As at the end of the 2018–19 season, the club's first team had spent nine seasons in the top division Australian soccer, their worst league finish to date is 10th in the A-League, their placing at the end of the 2013–14. The table details the club's achievements in major competitions, the top scorers for each season. Key to league competitions: Ultimate A-League A-League Stats

Ralph Anthony Charles de Boissière was a Trinidad-born Australian social realist novelist. Described as "an outspoken opponent of racism, injustice and corruption, a passionate humanist with a vision of a just society", he was the author of four novels although most acclaimed for the first two: Crown Jewel and Rum and Coca-Cola, both published in the 1950s. A fifth novel called. Ralph de Boissière was born in Port of Spain, the son of Armand de Boissière, a solicitor, Maude Harper, an English woman who died three weeks later, he attended Queen's Royal College and during this time discovered the Russian authors, Turgenev, Chekhov and Gogol, who were to remain a lasting influence: Initially he wished to become a concert pianist but on leaving school took a job as a salesman, which enlightened him to the living and working conditions of ordinary Trinidadians. He became involved in left-wing and trade union politics, campaigning as well as writing. A story of his, "Booze and the Goberdaw", appeared in the 1929 Christmas issue of a short-lived publication called Trinidad, edited by Alfred Mendes and C. L. R. James.

De Boissière became part of the group of young writers, including James, who published in Trinidad's first literary magazine The Beacon, edited by Albert Gomes. In 1935 he married Ivy Alcantara and they had two daughters, but in 1947, having lost his job and unable to find another one because of his political activities, he and his family left the country for Chicago, afterwards moving to the Australian city of Melbourne in 1948. He found work in Australia as a factory-hand. Aged 42, de Boissière settled into a clerical job, from which he retired in 1980. In Australia he joined the Communist Party and had his first novel, Crown Jewel, published in 1952 by the leftist Australasian Book Society. Like all his work this depicts the struggles of the working class with realistic sympathy, culminating with a portrayal of a 1937 strike in Trinidad brutally put down by police shooting, he subsequently wrote four more novels and has been translated into Polish, Russian, Romanian and Chinese. His work has been described by one critic as "combin social realism and political commitment with a concern for the culture of the feeling within the individual in a way, unique not only among West Indian writers but among writers with a social conscience anywhere in the world."

The literary archive of Ralph de Boissière is held at the National Library of Australia and comprises his manuscripts, "typescripts of his novels and screenplays. In 2007, his centenary year, Ralph de Boissière married his longtime companion, Dr. Annie Greet, his fourth novel, Call of the Rainbow, was published in Melbourne, in November, he received an honorary Doctor of Literature from the University of Trinidad and Tobago, his autobiography, Life on the Edge, was posthumously published in 2010. De Boissière died in Melbourne on 16 February 2008, aged 100. Crown Jewel Rum and Coca-Cola No Saddles for Kangaroos Call of the Rainbow Unpublished: Homeless in Paradise The Autobiography of Ralph de Boissière: Life on the Edge Ralph de Boissière Biography with discussion of his novels Citation for honorary degree

The Dark Flight Down is a young adult fantasy novel by Marcus Sedgwick, first published in 2005. It is the sequel to his 2003 novel The Book of Dead Days, it tells the story of the fifteen-year-old Boy, his companion and his new master, Kepler, in the aftermath of the death of Valerian, Boy's previous master. Boy has survived the terrors of life with the magician Valerian, dark magic and deadly chases through gloomy catacombs, but he is still on the run. Now, as the City lies frozen in the icy claws of winter, he is captured and incarcerated in the Emperor Frederick's palace. Boy is transported to a world of gilded finery and wealth beyond his wildest imagining, but beneath its golden veneer, this world is just as full of madness and cruelty, of desperation guarded secrets and terrifying revelations. Five days after New Year's Eve and Valerian's death and Willow have been separated by Kepler, who needs Boy further, is determined not to let Willow get in his way; the two set off for the funeral of the director of Valerian's old theatre.

To Kepler's chagrin, Willow is there, having snuck out from the previous job that Kepler got for her at a local orphanage. The theatre violinist, insists on dragging Boy and Kepler off to a local tavern. Willow follows, despite Kepler's attempts to leave, he is dragged into a game of Snapdragon, which he finds he is not good at. Meanwhile and Willow reunited, discuss the possibility of abandoning Kepler and eloping together. Discovering Kepler is unconscious after drinking too much absinthe, Boy decides to return him home, is offered help by Wilfred, the strongman. Before leaving and Willow make plans to meet at the St. Valentine's fountain, share their first kiss; the next day, Boy seeks out the mysterious Book that Valerian had sought, Kepler had taken, in the hope he will find out whether or not Valerian was his father, what is real name is. However, a hungover Kepler arrives and orders Boy to return to Valerian's house to collect the Camera, which Valerian had spent money having built in order to determine when Fate was coming.

At the house, Boy finds the Camera, but before he can retrieve it, he is apprehended by some members of the City Watch, who suspect him of looting. Boy is dragged off to the Palace. At the St. Valentine Fountain, Willow grows angry at Boy's no-show, storms off to Kepler's to confront him. There, she discovers that Boy has not returned, they set off to look for him at the Yellow House. Upon arrival, they find signs of a struggle, find the Camera, which Kepler had sent Boy to find. Knowing where Boy is, Kepler insists on rescuing Boy alone. Willow, heads to the Palace and tries to find a way in. Unable to, she runs into Kepler. At the Imperial Palace Court, Boy is presented to the Emperor Frederick by his shaven-headed servant, Maxim. Frederick, an elderly and hypochondriac, obsessed with his health, living an extravagant lifestyle and finding immortality, is uninterested in the findings and orders Boy be thrown into the river. Before the City Watchmen can do so, Maxim intervenes and instead has Boy dragged down to the castle dungeon.

Boy soon tries to get out, but is unable to. In his wait, he is troubled by dreams of a dark flight of stairs, leading to where he believes the Phantom, a savage murdering creature from the previous book, is kept. A blinded jailer brings him some food, is carrying a second one for another prisoner, whom Boy is unable to see. Maxim questions Boy about the Book, believing Valerian had it; when Boy is unable to answer, Maxim leaves. It emerges that Maxim is seeking the Book because Frederick, determined not to die, as he has no heir to the throne, is the last in line for his family, is attempting to find a way to become immortal, is relying on astrologers and necromancers to help him, if a person does not impress him, he has them killed. Maxim hopes. Boy further investigates the dungeon and, further away from his cell, he meets an elderly man, who lives in a gilded, well-furnished cell within the dungeon; the man, whose memory has left him, introduces himself as Bedrich, reveals that he is Frederick's former doctor.

He is now meant to take care of the Phantom. The next time a meal is brought, Bedrich is brought with it, he is told. Sensing an opportunity to get help, he asks Bedrich to send a message to Willow, telling her to steal the Book and return. Bedrich starts to tell Boy that he knows about this "Book," and upstairs, Frederick questions Maxim about Boy. Having forgotten he had ordered Boy's death, he demands that Boy be brought to him. Back downstairs, Bedrich reveals that the Book is not only full of knowledge, but very dangerous, it was brought to Frederick by the Beebe family. Before he can go on, two guard arrive and take boy away, leaving Bedrich in the cell, it is revealed that their interaction was being spied on. Boy is taken to some luxurious quarters, where he is given a bath, some food and clothing and a bed by another blinded servant; the next morning, he is interrogated again by Maxim, who seems to know what has been said, about Willow. Boy realises he was spying on the meeting, feels awful at having betrayed Willow's name.

He is taken down to the Court, where Frederick is holding a meeting of applicants for a Royal Position. Boy impresses Frederick when he exposes a secret tha