1.
Michael Winterbottom
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Not to be confused with the classical scholar Michael Winterbottom. Michael Winterbottom is an English filmmaker and he began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—Welcome to Sarajevo, Wonderland and 24 Hour Party People—have competed for the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival, Winterbottom was born in Blackburn, Lancashire. Winterbottoms television directing career began with a documentary about Ingmar Bergman, in 1991 he directed episodes of various British TV shows, including the 4-part childrens series Time Riders and an episode of Boon. In 1992 he directed the television film Under the Sun about a young British woman traveling in Greece and he next directed the 1994 mini-series Family, written by Roddy Doyle. Each of four episodes focused on one member of a working-class Dublin family and it was this series that first brought Winterbottom to the attention of filmgoers, when it was edited down into a feature and shown at festivals. His final early television project was a 1995 episode of the documentary series Cinema Europe, The Other Hollywood, butterfly Kiss Winterbottoms 1995 cinematic debut firmly established his intense visual sense, naturalistic style and compelling use of pop songs to reinforce narrative. The story of a mentally unbalanced lesbian serial killer and her submissive lover/accomplice falling in love as they slaughter their way across the motorways of Northern England and it found only a limited release. Go Now That same year, he reunited with Jimmy McGovern for the BBC television film Go Now, focusing on the turmoil this causes the couple, the film was given a theatrical release in many countries, including the United States. It was not Winterbottoms first time approaching the work, having filmed the pig slaughter sequence at film school. Starring Christopher Eccleston and Kate Winslet, Jude brought Winterbottom wider recognition, his first screening at Cannes and numerous Hollywood offers, all of which he eventually turned down. The film is based on the story of a British reporter, Michael Nicholson. I Want You Winterbottoms next two films both had difficulties and were not widely seen. I Want You is a neo-noir sex thriller set in a decaying British seaside resort town, starring Rachel Weisz and Alessandro Nivola, it was shot in bold primary colors by the Polish cinematographer Slawomir Idziak and was inspired by the Elvis Costello song of the same name. Idziak won an Honourable Mention award at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival for his work on the film, Wonderland 1999s Wonderland marked a decided shift in style for Winterbottom, with its loose, handheld photography and naturalistic, often improvised dialogue which drew comparisons to Robert Altman. Featuring Gina McKee, Shirley Henderson, John Simm, Ian Hart and Stuart Townsend, the disparate elements are tied together by an orchestral score by minimalist composer Michael Nyman, who would become a frequent collaborator with Winterbottom. The Claim Winterbottom followed that project up with his biggest budgeted film, The Claim, shot with a budget of $20 million in the wilds of Canada, it was not a financial success and proved an ordeal to make, with Winterbottom himself getting frostbite. The production had previously been ready to shoot in Spain, with sets already built, as much an ode to the city of Manchester as the story of the contemporary musical world, the film stars Steve Coogan as broadcaster/music-mogul Tony Wilson
2.
Riz Ahmed
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Rizwan Riz Ahmed, also known as Riz MC, is an English actor and rapper. As an actor, he was known for his work in independent films such as The Road to Guantanamo, Shifty, Four Lions, Trishna. Since then, he has appeared in the films Una, Jason Bourne, and he also starred in the HBO miniseries The Night Of as Nasir Khan, the show and his performance were critically lauded, earning him Golden Globe and SAG nominations. As a rapper, he is a member of the Swet Shop Boys, Ahmed was born in Wembley, London, into a Muslim British Pakistani family. His parents moved to England from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan during the 1970s, Ahmed attended Merchant Taylors School, Northwood through a scholarship programme. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford University, with a degree in PPE and he later studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Ahmeds film career began in the Michael Winterbottom film The Road to Guantanamo, in which he played the part of Shafiq Rasul, a member of the Tipton Three. He and another involved in the film were detained at Luton Airport upon their return from the Berlin Film Festival where the film won a Silver Bear Award. In 2007, he portrayed Sohail Waheed in the Channel 4 drama, Ahmed then portrayed Riq in the five-part horror thriller Dead Set for E4 and Manesh Kunzru in ITV1s Wired in 2008. In July 2009 he appeared in Freefall alongside Sarah Harding and he featured in the title role of the 2009 independent film Shifty, directed by Eran Creevy. Ahmed plays a young drug dealer in the film which sees a life in the day of this character. He was nominated for Best Actor at the 2008 British Independent Film Awards for this role, alongside Colin Farrell, Ahmed also had a supporting role in Neil Marshalls historical thriller Centurion. In 2012, he starred as one of the roles in the London-based film Ill Manors. Ahmed received his third British Independent Film Award nomination for Best Actor, in 2014, Ahmed appeared in Dan Gilroys directorial debut film Nightcrawler where he played role of Rick, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal. Ahmed received acclaim for his portrayal in the film and gained numerous awards nominations during awards season. In 2016, Ahmed played the role of Nasir Naz Khan in the HBO miniseries The Night Of, also that year, he appeared in Rogue One, the first film in the new Star Wars anthology films as Bodhi Rook, a defected imperial pilot. In 2006, Ahmed released a satirical social-commentary rap track entitled Post 9/11 Blues, the song was initially banned from British airplay because the lyrics were deemed politically sensitive. Other tracks he has released include Sour Times which was accompanied by a video featuring Scroobius Pip, Plan B and he was selected as a BBC Introducing artist in 2007, playing the Glastonbury Festival and the BBC Electric Proms
3.
Channel 4
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Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster that began transmission on 2 November 1982. With the conversion of the Wenvoe transmitter group in Wales to digital on 31 March 2010, before Channel 4 and S4C, Britain had three terrestrial television services, BBC1, BBC2, and ITV. The Broadcasting Act 1980 began the process of adding a fourth, after some months of test broadcasts, it began scheduled transmissions on 2 November 1982. Indeed, television sets throughout the 1970s and early 1980s had a spare channel called ITV/IBA2. It was most likely politics which had the biggest impact in leading to a delay of almost three decades before the commercial channel became a reality. The campaign was taken so seriously by Gwynfor Evans, former president of Plaid Cymru, the result was that Channel 4 as seen by the rest of the United Kingdom would be replaced in Wales by Sianel Pedwar Cymru. Operated by a specially created authority, S4C would air programmes in Welsh made by HTV, since then, carriage on digital cable, satellite and digital terrestrial has introduced Channel 4 to Welsh homes where it is now universally available. The first programme to air on the channel was the game show Countdown. The first person to be seen on Channel 4 was Richard Whiteley with Ted Moult being the second, the first woman on the channel, contrary to popular belief, was not Carol Vorderman and was a lexicographer only ever identified as Mary. Whiteley opened the show with the words, On its first day, Channel 4 also broadcast controversial soap opera Brookside, which ran until 2003. On its launch, Channel 4 committed itself to providing an alternative to the existing channels, Channel 4 co-commissioned Robert Ashleys ground-breaking television opera Perfect Lives, which it premiered over several episodes in 1984. The channel often did not receive mass audiences for much of period, however. Channel 4 for many years had a poorer quality signal compared to other channels, Channel 4 also began the funding of independent films, such as the Merchant-Ivory docudrama The Courtesans of Bombay, during this time. In 1992, Channel 4 also faced its first libel case by Jani Allan, a South African journalist, who objected to her representation in the documentary The Leader, His Driver and the Drivers Wife. After control of the station passed from the Channel Four Television Company to the Channel Four Television Corporation in 1993, instead of aiming for the fringes of society, it began to focus on the edges of the mainstream, and the centre of the mass market itself. It began to show many US programmes in peak viewing time and it gave such shows as Friends and ER their UK premières. In the early 2000s, Channel 4 began broadcasting reality formats such as Big Brother and obtained the rights to broadcast mass appeal sporting events like cricket and this new direction increased ratings and revenues. In addition, the corporation launched a number of new channels through its new 4Ventures offshoot, including Film4, At the Races, E4
4.
56th Berlin International Film Festival
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The 56th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 19 February 2006. The festival opened with Snow Cake by Marc Evans, digitally restored version of Sam Peckinpahs 1972 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid served as the closing film. British actress Charlotte Rampling was selected as the head of the jury, the Golden Bear was awarded to Grbavica, The Land of My Dreams directed by Jasmila Žbanić. The retrospective was dedicated to the actresses of 1950s, titled Dream Girls. Film Stars in the 1950s was shown at the festival, more than 186,000 tickets were sold at the festival with visitors from 120 countries, including 3,800 journalists, attended the festival. I. C. A. E
5.
Tipton Three
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Ruhal Ahmed was born on March 11,1981, Asif Iqbal was born on April 24,1981, the United States Department of Defense estimated that Shafiq Rasul was born in 1977. Other reports state he was only a couple of older than his friends. The three men in their early 20s were captured in Afghanistan in 2001, transferred to United States Army custody and transported to Guantanamo and their families were not told of their whereabouts until the British Foreign Office informed them in January 2002. They were three of nine Britons detained at Guantanamo, after negotiations between the governments and British assessment of their interrogations, the men were repatriated to the United Kingdom in March 2004. They were released without charge the next day, with many others, Shafiq Rasul filed a habeas corpus suit in 2004 against the United States government for his detention, in a case that ultimately went to the US Supreme Court. In the landmark, Rasul v. Bush, the court held that Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge whether their detention is constitutional in the US courts, the three men were represented in the UK by the lawyer Gareth Peirce. In addition, the Tipton Three and Jamal Udeen Al-Harith filed a suit in 2004 against the US government in Rasul v. Rumsfeld, challenging its use of torture and religious abuses of detainees. In December 2009 the US Supreme Court declined to accept the case for hearing, the three men were featured as the subjects of The Road to Guantánamo, a docu-drama about the events directed by the British filmmaker, Michael Winterbottom. The three travelled together, were captured together, and were released together on 9 March 2004, Ruhal Ahmed is a British citizen. His detainee identification number was 110, australia refused Ruhal Ahmed a visa to visit to promote The Road to Guantanamo, a British docudrama made about the events. He has taken part in a campaign against torture, organised by Amnesty International and his detainee ID number was 86. His family discovered his detention when the British Foreign Office contacted them on January 21,2002 and he was released in March 2004, shortly after his return to the United Kingdom, more than three months before Rasul v. Bush was decided. Asif Iqbal is a British citizen who was held in detention as a terror suspect in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps in Cuba. Iqbals Guantanamo detainee ID number was 87, Iqbal married on 2 July 2005. On August 4,2004 Iqbal, Ahmed and Rasul released a report on their abuse, the American guard told the inmates, The world does not know youre here. We would kill you and no one would know, Iqbal said when he arrived at Guantanamo, one of the soldiers told him, You killed my family in the towers and now its time to get back at you. Rasul said an MI5 officer had told him during an interrogation that he would be detained in Guantanamo for life, the men said they saw the beating of mentally ill inmates. Another man was left brain damaged after a beating by soldiers as punishment for attempting suicide, the Britons said an inmate told them he was shown a video of hooded men- apparently inmates- being forced to sodomise one another
6.
Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
7.
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
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The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo or GTMO, which fronts on Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. Since the inmates have been detained indefinitely without trial and several inmates were severely tortured, the camp was established by the President George W. Bushs administration in 2002 during the War on Terror. During his term, his administration succeeded in reducing the number of inmates from about 245 to 41, in practice, the site has long been used for indefinite detention without trial. The facility is operated by the Joint Task Force Guantanamo of the United States government in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Detention areas consisted of Camp Delta including Camp Echo, Camp Iguana, and Camp X-Ray, which is now closed. The Bush administration asserted that detainees were not entitled to any of the protections of the Geneva Conventions. Following this, on 7 July 2006, the Department of Defense issued a memo stating that detainees would, in the future. Current and former detainees have reported abuse and torture, which the Bush administration denied, in a 2005 Amnesty International report, the facility was called the Gulag of our times. In 2006, the United Nations called unsuccessfully for the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to be closed, on 22 January 2009, President Obama issued a request to suspend proceedings at Guantanamo military commission for 120 days and to shut down the detention facility that year. President Obama issued a Presidential memorandum dated 15 December 2009, ordering Thomson Correctional Center, Thomson, in February 2011, U. S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that Guantanamo Bay was unlikely to be closed, due to opposition in the Congress. Congress particularly opposed moving prisoners to facilities in the United States for detention or trial, in April 2011, Wikileaks began publishing 779 secret files relating to prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. On 4 November 2015, President Barack Obama stated that he was preparing to unveil a plan to close the facility, the plan would propose one or more prisons from a working list that includes facilities in Kansas, Colorado and South Carolina. Two others that were on the list, in California and Washington state, do not appear to have made the preliminary cut, by January 19,2017, however, the detention center remained open, with 41 detainees remaining. Camp Delta is a 612-unit detention center finished in April 2002 and it includes detention camps 1 through to 6, as well as Camp Echo, where pre-commissions are held. Camp X-Ray was a detention facility, which was closed in April 2002. Its prisoners were transferred to Camp Delta, in 2008, the Associated Press reported Camp 7, a separate facility on the naval base that is considered the highest security jail on the base, and its location is classified. It is used to house high-security detainees formerly held by the CIA, in January 2010, Scott Horton published an article in Harpers Magazine describing Camp No, a black site about a mile outside the main camp perimeter, which included an interrogation center. His description was based on accounts by four guards who had served at Guantanamo and they said prisoners were taken one at a time to the camp, where they were believed to be interrogated. He believes that the three detainees that DoD announced as having committed suicide were questioned under torture the night of their deaths
8.
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
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The base is on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas U. S. Naval Base, since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, for unlawful combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places during the War on Terror. Cases of torture of prisoners, and their denial of protection under the Geneva Conventions, have been condemned internationally. S. Coast Guard Aviation Detachment Guantanamo Bay U. S. GTMO-5, GTMO-6 and GTMO-7, besides servicemen, the base houses a large number of civilian contractors working for the military. These contractors are largely imported from Jamaica and Philippines, and are thought to constitute up to 40% of the bases population, on 30 April 1494, Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage, arrived and spent the night. The place where Columbus landed is now known as Fishermans Point, Columbus declared the bay Puerto Grande. The bay and surrounding areas came under British control during the War of Jenkins Ear, prior to British occupation, the bay was referred to as Walthenham Harbor. The British renamed the bay Cumberland Bay, the British retreated from the area after a failed attempt to march to Santiago de Cuba. During the Spanish–American War, the U. S. fleet attacking Santiago secured Guantánamos harbor for protection during the season of 1898. The Marines landed at Guantanamo Bay with naval support, and American and Cuban forces routed the defending Spanish troops, the war ended with the Treaty of Paris of 1898, in which Spain formally relinquished control of Cuba. Although the war was over, the US maintained a military presence on the island. In 1901 the US government passed the Platt Amendment as part of an Army Appropriations Bill, the Constitution took effect in 1902, and land for a naval base at Guantanamo Bay was granted to the United States the following year. The 1903 lease agreement was executed in two parts, the second agreement, signed five months later in July 1903, established the amount of USD$2,000 to be paid to Cuba annually by the US. The lease amount was changed in 1933 to $3676.50, payments have been sent annually, but only one lease payment has been cashed since the Cuban Revolution. Fidel Castro claimed that this check was deposited due to confusion in 1959, during World War II, the base was set up to use a nondescript number for postal operations. The base used the Fleet Post Office, Atlantic, in New York City, until the 1953–59 revolution, thousands of Cubans commuted daily from outside the base to jobs within. In mid-1958, vehicular traffic was stopped, workers were required to walk through the several gates. Public Works Center buses were pressed into service almost overnight to carry the tides of workers to and from the gate
9.
Berlin International Film Festival
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The Berlin International Film Festival, also called the Berlinale, is one of the worlds leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held annually in Berlin, Germany, founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978. With around 300,000 tickets sold and 500,000 admissions it is considered the largest publicly attended film festival based on actual attendance rates. Up to 400 films are shown in sections, representing a comprehensive array of the cinematic world. Around twenty films compete for the called the Golden and Silver Bears. Since 2001 the director of the festival has been Dieter Kosslick, the European Film Market, a film trade fair held simultaneously to the Berlinale, is a major industry meeting for the international film circuit. The trade fair serves distributors, film buyers, producers, financiers, the Berlinale Talent Campus, a week-long series of lectures and workshops, gathers young filmmakers from around the globe. It partners with the festival itself and is considered to be a forum for upcoming artists, the festival, the EFM and other satellite events are attended by around 20,000 professionals from over 130 countries. More than 4200 journalists are responsible for the exposure in over 110 countries. At high-profile feature film premieres, movie stars and celebrities are present at the red carpet, the Berlinale has established a cosmopolitan character integrating art, glamour, commerce and a global media attention. The Berlin International Film Festival was founded in West Berlin in 1951, alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca opened the first Berlinale. Although the film had premiered in 1940, many Germans had been unable to watch it until after the war ended, since 1978 the festival has been celebrated annually in February. The next-to-most recent festival, the 66th Berlinale, was held from 11 February to 21 February 2016, meryl Streep presided over the international jury. Joel and Ethan Coens film Hail, Caesar. was selected to open the festival, the Golden Bear was awarded to the Italian documentary Fire at Sea, directed by Gianfranco Rosi. The 67th Berlin International Film Festival was held February 9 to February 19,2017, the festival is composed of seven different film sections. Films are chosen in each category by a director with the advice of a committee of film experts. Categories include, Competition, comprises feature-length films yet to be released outside their country of origin, films in the Competition section compete for several prizes, including the top Golden Bear for the best film and a series of Silver Bears for acting, writing and production. Panorama, comprises new independent and arthouse films that deal with controversial subjects or unconventional aesthetic styles, films in the category are intended to provoke discussion, and have historically involved themes such as LGBT issues
10.
Sundance Film Festival
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The Sundance Film Festival, a program of the Sundance Institute, is an American film festival that takes place annually in Park City, Utah. With 46,660 attendees in 2016, it is the largest independent film festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29,2017. Sundance began in Salt Lake City in August 1978, as the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to more filmmakers to Utah. It was founded by Sterling Van Wagenen, John Earle, the 1978 festival featured films such as Deliverance, A Streetcar Named Desire, Midnight Cowboy, Mean Streets, and The Sweet Smell of Success. The festival also highlighted the work of filmmakers who worked outside the Hollywood system. The jury of the 1978 festival was headed by Gary Allison, and included Verna Fields, Linwood G. Dunn, Katharine Ross, Charles E. Sellier Jr. Mark Rydell, and Anthea Sylbert. More than 60 films were screened at the festival that year, also that year, the first Frank Capra Award went to Jimmy Stewart. The festival also made a profit for the first time, in 1980, Catania left the festival to pursue a production career in Hollywood. Several factors helped propel the growth of Utah/US Film Festival, first was the involvement of actor and Utah resident Robert Redford, who became the festivals inaugural chairman. By having Redfords name associated with the festival, it received great attention, secondly, the country was hungry for more venues that would celebrate American-made films as the only other festival doing so at the time was the USA Film Festival in Dallas. Response in Hollywood was unprecedented as major studios did all they could to contribute their resources, in 1981, the festival moved to Park City, Utah, and changed the dates from September to January. It was called the US Film and Video Festival, in 1984, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival. The branding and marketing transition from the US Film Festival to the Sundance Film Festival was managed under the direction of Colleen Allen, Allen Advertising Inc. by appointment of Robert Redford. In 1991 the festival was renamed the Sundance Film Festival, after Redfords character The Sundance Kid from the film Butch Cassidy. The majority of the screenings, including the festivals premieres. The 2013 Sundance London Festival was held April 25–28,2013, Sundance London 2014 took place on April 25–27,2014 at the O2 arena. The Sundance London 2015 Festival was cancelled in an announcement on January 16,2015, Sundance London will return to London in 2016 from June 10–12 at Picturehouse Cinema in Londons West End
11.
Al-Qaeda
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It operates as a network made up of Islamic extremist, Salafist jihadists. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countries, including the 1998 U. S. embassy bombings, the September 11 attacks, the U. S. government responded to the September 11 attacks by launching the War on Terror. Characteristic techniques employed by al-Qaeda include suicide attacks and the bombing of different targets. Al-Qaeda ideologues envision a complete break from all foreign influences in Muslim countries, among the beliefs ascribed to al-Qaeda members is the conviction that a Christian–Jewish alliance is conspiring to destroy Islam. Al-Qaeda also opposes what it regards as man-made laws, and wants to replace them with a form of sharia law. Al-Qaeda has carried out attacks on targets it considers kafir. Al-Qaeda is also responsible for instigating violence among Muslims. Al-Qaeda leaders regard liberal Muslims, Shias, Sufis and other sects as heretics and have attacked their mosques, examples of sectarian attacks include the Yazidi community bombings, the Sadr City bombings, the Ashoura massacre and the April 2007 Baghdad bombings. Since the death of bin Laden in 2011, the group has been led by the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaedas management philosophy has been described as centralization of decision and decentralization of execution. Many terrorism experts do not believe that the global jihadist movement is driven at every level by al-Qaedas leadership, marc Sageman, a psychiatrist and former Central Intelligence Agency officer, said that al-Qaeda is now just a loose label for a movement that seems to target the west. We like to create an entity called in our minds. This view mirrors the account given by Osama bin Laden in his October 2001 interview with Tayseer Allouni and this matter isnt about any specific person and. is not about the al-Qaidah Organization. We are the children of an Islamic Nation, with Prophet Muhammad as its leader, and all the true believers are brothers. So the situation isnt like the West portrays it, that there is an organization with a specific name and that particular name is very old. It was born without any intention from us, created a military base to train the young men to fight against the vicious, arrogant, brutal, terrorizing Soviet empire. So this place was called The Base, as in a base, so this name grew. We arent separated from this nation, and so we discuss the conscience of this nation. Bruce Hoffman, however, sees al-Qaeda as a network that is strongly led from the Pakistani tribal areas
12.
Taliban
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Until his death in 2013, Mullah Mohammed Omar was the supreme commander and spiritual leader of the Taliban. Mullah Akhtar Mansour was elected as his replacement in 2015, and following Mansours killing in a May 2016 U. S. drone strike, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada became the groups leader. The Taliban emerged in 1994 as one of the prominent factions in the Afghan Civil War, under the leadership of Mohammed Omar, the movement spread throughout most of Afghanistan, sequestering power from the Mujahideen warlords, whose corruption and despotism Afghans had tired of. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was established in 1996 and the Afghan capital transferred to Kandahar and it held control of most of the country until being overthrown by the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in December 2001 following the September 11 attacks. At its peak, formal recognition of the Talibans government was acknowledged by only three nations, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The group later regrouped as a movement to fight the American-backed Karzai administration. The Taliban have been condemned internationally for the enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. In its post-9/11 insurgency, the group has accused of using terrorism as a specific tactic to further their ideological and political goals. According to the United Nations, the Taliban and their allies were responsible for 76% of Afghan civilian casualties in 2010, 80% in 2011, Pakistan states that it dropped all support for the group after the September 11 attacks. Al-Qaeda also supported the Taliban with fighters from Arab countries and Central Asia, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee to United Front-controlled territory, Pakistan, and Iran. The word Taliban is Pashto, طالبان ṭālibān, meaning students and this is a loanword from Arabic طالب ṭālib, using the Persian plural ending -ān ان. In Arabic طالبان ṭālibān means not students but two students, as it is a form, the Arabic plural being طلاب ṭullāb—occasionally causing some confusion to Arabic speakers. Since becoming a loanword in English, Taliban, besides a plural noun referring to the group, has also used as a singular noun referring to an individual. For example, John Walker Lindh has been referred to as an American Taliban, in the English language newspapers of Pakistan, the word Talibans is often used when referring to more than one Taliban. The spelling Taliban has come to be predominant over Taleban in English, in the meantime, the United States and Saudi Arabia joined the struggle against the Soviet Union by providing all the funds. Zia-ul-Haq aligned himself with Pakistans Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and later picked General Akhtar Abdur Rahman to lead the insurgency against the Soviet Union inside Afghanistan, about 90,000 Afghans, including Mohammed Omar, were trained by Pakistans ISI during the 1980s. After the fall of the Soviet-backed regime of Mohammad Najibullah in 1992, several Afghan political parties agreed on a peace and power-sharing agreement, the accord created the Islamic State of Afghanistan and appointed an interim government for a transitional period. With the exception of Gulbuddin Hekmatyars Hezb-e Islami, all of the parties, were ostensibly unified under this government in April 1992
13.
Ruhal Ahmed
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His Internment Serial Number was 110. Ahmed was returned to the United Kingdom in March 2004, where he was released the day without charges. He was one of three British men, friends from Tipton, United Kingdom, who had been detained and they became known as the Tipton Three. In August 2004 Ahmed, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal compiled and released a report on their abuses while in US custody, in Rasul v. Rumsfeld, the Tipton Three and Jamal Udeen Al-Harith, four former Guantánamo Bay internees, sued former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. They charge that illegal interrogation tactics were permitted to be used against them by Rumsfeld, the 2006 film, The Road to Guantánamo is a docu-drama by Michael Winterbottom depicting their account of their detention. With his friends Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, Ahmed in October 2001, weeks after the 9/11 attacks in the United States, while there, they went into Afghanistan and got caught when war broke out with US and allied bombings and attacks. They were captured by soldiers of the Northern Alliance and transferred to the custody of the US Army, as they had lost all their identification and luggage. They were detained there and transported to Guantanamo Bay detention camps on US territory in Cuba and they were returned to the UK in March 2004, and released the next day without charges. In August 2004 they compiled and released a report on their abuses while in US custody, in Rasul v. Rumsfeld, the Tipton Three and Jamal Udeen Al-Harith, four former Guantánamo Bay internees, sued former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. They charge that illegal interrogation tactics were permitted to be used against them by Rumsfeld, the Associated Press quoted Ahmed following the US announcement of the deaths of three detainees at Guantanamo in June 2006, who were alleged to have committed suicide. He said, “There is no hope in Guantanamo, the only thing that goes through your mind day after day is how to get justice or how to kill yourself. It is the despair - not the thought of martyrdom - that consumes you there. ”He went on and we could hear him rip up his sheets and tie it to the wire mesh roof of the cell. He jumped off his sink and tried to hang himself and we shouted to the military police and they came and saved him. ”Last, he said, It’s weird because when we left we werent even that religious, We were young - average British lads. Obviously if we knew what we were getting ourselves into we would have never gone. ”The 2006 film, Ahmed was refused a visa by Australia to travel there to promote the film. Ahmed has taken part in a campaign against torture, organized by Amnesty International, on 15 June 2008, the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Ruhal Ahmed in Britain. Ahmed said when he returned to Tipton, someone had hung an effigy clad in an orange Guantanamo coverall, high Court Rejects Appeal Alleging Torture at Guantanamo. Composite statement, Detention in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Rhuhel Ahmed
14.
Shafiq Rasul
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Shafiq Rasul is best known for being a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay by the United States, which treated him an unlawful combatant. His detainee ID number was 86 and his family discovered his detention when the British Foreign Office contacted them on January 21,2002. He was released in March 2004, shortly after his return to the United Kingdom, in August 2004 Rasul, Asif Iqbal, and Ruhal Ahmed, all from Tipton, compiled a report on their abuse and humiliation while in US custody. In Rasul v. Rumsfeld, plaintiffs Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed and they charge that illegal interrogation tactics were permitted to be used against them by Secretary Rumsfeld and the military chain of command. The Hague Justice Portal gives access to the official Court documents related to the Rasul v. Bush case. Rasul denounced the attack, asserted that there was no excuse for the attack, and that he had able to move past his experiences. Road to Guantanamo Tipton Three Torture Guantanamo Bay guard meets Tipton 3 ex-prisoners video from the BBC,12 January 2010 U. S, high Court Rejects Appeal Alleging Torture at Guantanamo Bloomberg, December 14,2009 Vikram Dodd, Tania Branigan. Composite statement, Detention in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Rhuhel Ahmed
15.
Tipton
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Tipton is a town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England, with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 census. Tipton is located halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is a part of the Black Country, historically within Staffordshire, Tipton was an urban district until 1938, when it became a municipal borough. Along with the rest of West Bromwich and Warley, Tipton became part of the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in 1974, the town of Tipton was originally called Tibintone and recorded as such in the Domesday Book, the oldest surviving public record that provides information about the 1086 Domesday survey. The present spelling of Tipton derives from the 16th century, until the 18th century, Tipton was a collection of small hamlets. Industrial growth started in the town when ironstone and coal were discovered in the 1770s, a number of canals were built through the town and later railways, which greatly accelerated the pace of industrialisation. James Watt built his first steam engine in or very near Tipton in the 1770s, in 1780, James Keir and Alexander Blair set up a chemical works there, making vast quantities of alkali and soap. From details of the 1801 census, it records 834 houses with 872 families living in Tipton, only 46 houses are stated as being empty. An adult population of 4,280 is also recorded with males numbered at 2,218, iron making and mining were the main employment for the population. Trades and manufacturing provided work for 1,740 people and other jobs totalled 2,484 and it is noted that between Tipton and Dudley there were a few farms listed which gave employment to 56 people. The massive expansion in iron and coal led to the population of Tipton expanding rapidly through the 19th century. Most of the industries which once dominated the town have since disappeared. The towpaths of the remaining canals today form a vital cycling, wildlife, the landscape of Tipton began to change further from the late 1920s when new housing estates were built by the towns council, in response to the growing need to replace slum housing. Private houses were built on smaller developments around the same time. However, the Lost City has since been integrated with the rest of Tipton as newer housing developments have sprung up around it, during World War II, there were a number of air raids on the town. On 17 May 1941, six died in an air raid in New Road. The Tipton Tavern and New Road Methodist Church was destroyed and a number of houses were damaged. Tipton Tavern landlord Roger Preece was trapped in the rubble but survived with minor injuries, the Tipton Tavern was rebuilt in the 1950s and became the Hallbridge Arms during the 1990s and more recently became the Pearl Girl, the worlds first licensed pearl bar
16.
West Midlands conurbation
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According to the 2011 Census the area had a population of 2,440,986, making it the third most populated in the United Kingdom behind the Greater London and Greater Manchester Built Up Areas. The conurbation has several lesser used names, such as the Birmingham conurbation, the Birmingham-Wolverhampton conurbation. It should be noted that these settlements are not coterminous with the Metropolitan Boroughs of the same name, the area of conurbation between Birmingham and Wolverhampton is known as the Black Country. The Black Country has no centre, having grown up from a number of historic market towns. It remains essentially polycentric with many of the towns and villages remaining recognisable communities, coventry is separated from the West Midlands conurbation by the Meriden Gap, and other urban areas, such as Cannock and Codsall are also only narrowly avoided. For administrative purposes, the vast majority of the conurbation falls within the six Metropolitan Boroughs of Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, the West Midlands Built Up Area consists of the below settlements. In the 2011 Census, Coleshill and Water Orton are two separate areas with populations of 6,341 and 3,444 respectively. Prior to 2011, they were considered part of the West Midlands Urban Area, bentley Heath was not considered to be a settlement within the West Midlands Urban Area in 1981. Yew Tree is only considered part of the West Midlands Urban Area in the 2001 census, cheswick Green was not considered to be a settlement within the West Midlands Urban Area in 1981. Shelly Green was not considered to be a settlement within the West Midlands Urban Area in 1981 or 1991
17.
Bangladesh
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Bangladesh, officially the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It shares land borders with India and Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and China are located near Bangladesh but do not share a border with it. The countrys maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal is roughly equal to the size of its land area, Bangladesh is the worlds eighth most populous country. Dhaka is its capital and largest city, followed by Chittagong which has the countrys largest port, Bangladesh forms the largest and eastern part of the Bengal region. Bangladeshis include people of different ethnic groups and religions, Bengalis, who speak the official Bengali, make up 98% of the population. The politically dominant Bengali Muslims make the nation the worlds third largest Muslim-majority country, most of Bangladesh is covered by the Bengal delta, the largest delta on Earth. The country has 700 rivers and 8,046 km of inland waterways, highlands with evergreen forests are found in the northeastern and southeastern regions of the country. Bangladesh has many islands and a coral reef and it is home to the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world. The countrys biodiversity includes a vast array of plant and wildlife, including critically endangered Bengal tigers, the Greeks and Romans identified the region as Gangaridai, a powerful kingdom of the historical subcontinent, in the 3rd century BCE. Archaeological research has unearthed several ancient cities in Bangladesh, which had trade links for millennia. The Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Bengal transformed the region into a cosmopolitan Islamic imperial power between the 14th and 18th centuries, the region was home to many principalities which had inland naval prowess. It was also a center of the worldwide muslin and silk trade. As part of British India, the region was influenced by the Bengali renaissance, the Partition of British India made East Bengal a part of the Dominion of Pakistan, and was renamed as East Pakistan. The region witnessed the Bengali Language Movement in 1952 and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, after independence, a parliamentary republic was established. A presidential government was in place between 1975 and 1990, followed by a return to parliamentary democracy, the country has also been affected by poverty, natural disasters, hunger, dominant party systems and military coups. Bangladesh is a power and a major developing nation. Listed as one of the Next Eleven, it has the 46th largest economy and it is one of the largest textile exporters in the world. Its major trading partners are the European Union, the United States, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, with its strategically vital location between Southern, Eastern and Southeast Asia, Bangladesh is an important promoter of regional connectivity and cooperation
18.
Pakistan
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Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on the crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people, in terms of area, it is the 33rd-largest country in the world with an area covering 881,913 square kilometres. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistans narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, Pakistan is unique among Muslim countries in that it is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and it is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic, an ethnic civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh. The new constitution stipulated that all laws were to conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran. Pakistan has an economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector. The Pakistani economy is the 24th-largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and it is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is backed by one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing middle classes. The post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterised by periods of military rule, the country continues to face challenging problems such as illiteracy, healthcare, and corruption, but has substantially reduced poverty and terrorism and expanded per capita income. It is also a member of CERN. Pakistan is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, the name Pakistan literally means land of the pure in Urdu and Persian. It is a play on the word pāk meaning pure in Persian and Pashto, the letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name. Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan, the earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Vedic Civilization, characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, the Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander, prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of education in the world. At its zenith, the Rai Dynasty of Sindh ruled this region, the Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire, which, under Dharampala and Devapala, stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan. The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Indus valley from Sindh to Multan in southern Punjab in 711 AD, the Pakistan governments official chronology identifies this as the time when the foundation of Pakistan was laid
19.
September 11 attacks
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The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11,2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and it was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively. Suspicion for the attack fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Although al-Qaedas leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U. S. support of Israel, the presence of U. S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives. Having evaded capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U. S. Navy in May 2011. S. many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, on November 18,2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site. The building was opened on November 3,2014. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets. Under the guidance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden became more radical, in 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwā, calling for American soldiers to leave Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances are reversed, Muslim legal scholars have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries, according to bin Laden. Bin Laden, who orchestrated the attacks, initially denied but later admitted involvement, in November 2001, U. S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In the video, bin Laden is seen talking to Khaled al-Harbi, on December 27,2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he said, It has become clear that the West in general and it is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, the transcript refers several times to the United States specifically targeting Muslims. He said that the attacks were carried out because, we are free, and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours, Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
20.
Karachi
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Karachi is the capital of Sindh, and is the largest and most populous city in Pakistan, as well as the 7th largest in the world and the worlds second most populous city proper. Ranked as a world city, the city is Pakistans premier industrial and financial centre. Karachi is also Pakistans most cosmopolitan city, though the Karachi region has been inhabited for millennia, the city was founded as a village named Kolachi that was established as a fortified settlement in 1729. By the time of the Partition of British India, the city was the largest in Sindh with a population of 400,000. Immediately following the independence of Pakistan, the population increased dramatically with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees from India. The city experienced economic growth following independence, attracting migrants from throughout Pakistan. Karachi is now Pakistans premier industrial and financial centre, the city has a formal economy estimated to be worth $113 billion as of 2014. Karachi collects over a third of Pakistans tax revenue, and generates approximately 20% of Pakistans GDP, approximately 30% of Pakistani industrial output is from Karachi, while Karachis ports handle approximately 95% of Pakistans foreign trade. Approximately 90% of the corporations operating in Pakistan are headquartered in Karachi. Up to 70% of Karachis workforce is employed in the informal economy, Karachi is one of Pakistans most secular and socially liberal cities. It is also the most linguistically, ethnically, and religiously diverse city in Pakistan, Karachi is considered to be one of the worlds fastest growing cities, and has communities representing almost every ethnic group in Pakistan. Karachi is also home to over 2 million Bangladeshi migrants,1 million Afghans, the citys murder rate in 2015 had decreased by 75% compared to 2013, and kidnappings decreased by 90%, with the improved security environment triggering sharp increases in real-estate prices. Karachi was reputedly founded in 1729 as the settlement of Kolachi, the new settlement is said to have been named in honour of Mai Kolachi, whose son is said to have slayed a man-eating crocodile in the village after his elder brothers had already been killed by it. The citys inhabitants are referred to by the demonym Karachiite in English, the earliest inhabitants of the Karachi region are believed to have been hunter-gatherers, with ancient flint tools discovered at several sites. The Karachi region is believed to have known to the ancient Greeks. The region may be the site of Krokola, where Alexander the Great once camped to prepare a fleet for Babylonia, in 711 C. E. Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Sindh and Indus Valley. The Karachi region is believed to have known to the Arabs as Debal. Under Mirza Ghazi Beg the Mughal administrator of Sindh, development of coastal Sindh, under his rule, fortifications in the region acted as a bulwark against Portuguese incursions into Sindh
21.
Kandahar
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Kandahar or Qandahar is the second-largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 491,500 as of 2012. Formerly called Alexandria Arachosia, the city is named after Alexander the Great, Kandahar is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at an altitude of 1,010 m above sea level. The Arghandab River runs along the west of the city, the city of Kandahar has a population of 557,118. It has 15 districts and a land area of 27,337 hectares. The total number of dwellings in Kandahar is 61,902, Kandahar is one of the most culturally significant cities of the Pashtuns and has been their traditional seat of power for more than 200 years. It is a trading center for sheep, wool, cotton, silk, felt, food grains, fresh and dried fruit. The region produces fine fruits, especially pomegranates and grapes, and the city has plants for canning, drying, and packing fruit, the area is believed to be the birthplace of cannabis indica. The region around Kandahar is one of the oldest known human settlements, Alexander the Great had laid-out the foundation of what is now Old Kandahar in the 4th century BC and gave it the Ancient Greek name Αλεξάνδρεια Aραχωσίας. Many empires have long fought over the city due to its location along the trade routes of southern, central. In 1709, Mirwais Hotak made the region an independent kingdom, in 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the last Afghan empire, made it the capital of modern Afghanistan. A temple to the deified Alexander as well as an inscription in Greek and Aramaic by Emperor Ashoka, Ibn Batutta mentions Kandahar in the 14th century by describing it as a large and prosperous town three nights journey from Ghazni. It has been then mentioned extensively by Mughal Emperor Babur and others, an alternative story describes Khandahar as Gandhara in Mahabharata ruled by Suvala and later by Shakuni. The princess of Hastinapur, Gandhari was born in Gandhara, a folk etymology offered is that the word kand or qand in Persian and Pashto means candy. The name Candahar or Kandahar in this form probably translates to candy area and this probably has to do with the location being fertile and historically known for producing fine grapes, pomegranates, apricots, melons and other sweet fruits. Ernst Herzfeld claimed Kandahar perpetuated the name of the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares, excavations of prehistoric sites by archaeologists such as Louis Dupree and others suggest that the region around Kandahar is one of the oldest human settlements known so far. Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan ca.5000 B. C. or 7000 years ago, deh Morasi Ghundai, the first prehistoric site to be excavated in Afghanistan, lies 27 km southwest of Kandahar. Another Bronze Age village mound site with multiroomed mud-brick buildings dating from the same period sits nearby at Said Qala, Bronze Age pottery, copper and bronze horse trappings and stone seals were found in the lowermost levels in the nearby cave called Shamshir Ghar. In the Seistan, southwest of these Kandahar sites, two teams of American archaeologists discovered sites relating to the 2nd millennium B. C, while the Diadochi were warring amongst themselves, the Mauryan Empire was developing in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent
22.
Kabul
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Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan as well as its largest city, located in the eastern section of the country. According to a 2015 estimate, the population of the city was around 3,678,033 which includes all the ethnic groups. Rapid urbanization had made Kabul the worlds 64th largest city and the fifth fastest-growing city in the world, Kabul is said to be over 3,500 years old, mentioned since at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire. The city is at a location along the trade routes of South and Central Asia. It has been part of the Achaemenids, Seleucids, Mauryans, Kushans, Kabul Shahis, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Later, it was controlled by the Mughal Empire until finally becoming part of the Durrani Empire in 1747. The city is located high up in a valley between the Hindu Kush mountains. Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan during the reign of Timur Shah Durrani, in the early 19th century, the British occupied the city but were compelled to abandon it. Relations between Afghanistan and Great Britain were later established, the city was occupied by the Soviets in 1979 but they too abandoned it after the 1988 Geneva Accords were signed. A civil war in the 1990s between various rebel groups destroyed much of the city, resulting in many casualties, since the removal of the Taliban from power in late 2001, the city gradually began rebuilding itself with assistance by the international community. Despite the many terrorist attacks by elements, the city is growing and developing. The city is divided into about 18 districts, the Kabul International Airport is located in the Wazir Akbar Khan district a few miles from the foreign embassies. The Parliament of Afghanistan, built by India, is located in the Kārte Seh district, Kabul, also spelled Cabool, Caubul, Kabol, or Cabul. The word Kubhā is mentioned in the Rigveda, one of the four sacred texts of Hinduism, and the Avesta. The Rigveda praises it as a city, a vision of paradise set in the mountains. The area in which the Kabul valley sits was ruled by the Medes before falling to the Achaemenids, there is a reference to a settlement called Kabura by the rulers of the Achaemenid Empire, It became a center of Zoroastrianism followed by Buddhism and Hinduism. The region became part of the Seleucid Empire but was given to the Indian Maurya Empire. The Greco-Bactrians captured Kabul from the Mauryans in the early 2nd century BC, indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BC, but lost the city to the Kushan Empire about 100 years later. Some historians ascribe Kabul the Sanskrit name of Kamboja and it is mentioned as Kophes or Kophene in some classical writings
23.
Northern Alliance
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The United Front was assembled by key leaders of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, particularly president Burhanuddin Rabbani and former Defense Minister Ahmad Shah Massoud. Initially it included mostly Tajiks but by 2000, leaders of ethnic groups had joined the Northern Alliance. This included Abdul Rashid Dostum, Mohammad Mohaqiq, Abdul Qadir, Asif Mohseni, the Northern Alliance fought a defensive war against the Taliban government. They received support from Iran, Russia, Turkey, India, Tajikistan and others, while the Taliban were backed by al-Qaeda, the Northern Alliance was mostly made up of ethnic Tajiks, but later included Uzbeks and Hazaras. The Taliban government was dominated by Pashtuns with other groups being the minority, the US invaded Afghanistan providing support to Northern Alliance troops on the ground in a two-month war against the Taliban, which they won in December 2001. With the establishment of the Karzai administration, the Northern Alliance broke apart, the United Front was formed in late 1996 against the Taliban government by opposition factions. Massoud decided on the political line and the general military strategy of the alliance. The accords created the Islamic State of Afghanistan and appointed a government for a transitional period to be followed by general elections. With the exception of Gulbuddin Hekmatyars Hezb-e Islami, all of the parties were unified under this government in April 1992. Hekmatyars Hezb-e Islami, for its part, refused to recognize the government for most of the period discussed in this report and launched attacks against government forces, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar received operational, financial and military support from Pakistan. Afghanistan expert Amin Saikal concludes in Modern Afghanistan, A History of Struggle and Survival, islamabad could not possibly expect the new Islamic government leaders to subordinate their own nationalist objectives in order to help Pakistan realize its regional ambitions. Had it not been for the ISIs logistic support and supply of a number of rockets, Hekmatyars forces would not have been able to target. In addition, Saudi Arabia and Iran as competitors for regional hegemony – supported Afghan militias hostile towards each other, according to Human Rights Watch, Iran was backing the Shia Hazara Hezb-i Wahdat forces of Abdul Ali Mazari in order to maximize Wahdats military power and influence. Saudi Arabia supported the Wahhabite Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and his Ittihad-i Islami faction, a publication by the George Washington University describes, utside forces saw instability in Afghanistan as an opportunity to press their own security and political agendas. Conflict between the two militias soon escalated into a full-scale war, because of the chaos, some leaders increasingly had only nominal control over their commanders. Meanwhile, southern Afghanistan was under the control of local leaders not affiliated with the government in Kabul. In 1994, the Taliban - a movement originating from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan - also developed in Afghanistan as a politico-religious force. In late 1994, most of the factions which had been fighting in the battle for control of Kabul were defeated militarily by forces of the Islamic States Minister of Defense Ahmad Shah Massoud
24.
Mazar-i-Sharif
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Mazar-i-Sharif or Mazar-e-Sharif is the third-largest city of Afghanistan, with a 2015 UN—Habitat population estimate between 577,500 to 693,000. It is the capital of Balkh province and is linked by highways with Kunduz in the east, Kabul in the southeast, Herat in the west and Uzbekistan in the north. Mazar-e Sharif, along with Herat, Jalalabad in the east and Kandahar in the south, the city also serves as one of the many tourist attractions because of its famous shrines as well as the Muslim and Hellenistic archeological sites. In 2006, the discovery of new Hellenistic remains was announced, Mazar-i-Sharif is the Regional Hub located in the northern region in close proximity to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The Mazari Sharif Airport in the city has been used during the 1980s Soviet war. The name Mazar-e Sharif means Noble Shrine, a reference to the large, blue-tiled sanctuary, according to tradition, the city of Mazari Sharif owes its existence to a dream. The famous Jalal al-Din Rumi was born in area but like many historical figures his exact location of birth cannot be confirmed. His father Baha Walad was descended from the first caliph Abu Bakr and was influenced by the ideas of Ahmad Ghazali, Baha Walads sermons were published and still exist as Divine Sciences. Rumi completed six books of poetry and tales called Masnavi before he died in 1273. Although later rebuilt, Mazar stood in the shadow of its neighbor Balkh, thus the ruler of North Central Afghanistan decided to shift the capital of the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. The Mazar-i-Sharif means the noble shrine and this name represents the Blue Mosque which is widely known to be the grave of Hazrat Ali. In the late 1870s, Emir Sher Ali Khan ruled the area from his Tashkurgan Palace in Mazar-i Sharif and this northern part of Afghanistan was un-visited by the British-led Indian forces during the Anglo-Afghan wars of the 19th century. During the 1980s Soviet war, Mazar-i-Sharif was a base for the Soviet Army as they used its airport to launch air strikes on Afghan mujahideen. As a garrison for the Soviet-backed Afghan army, the city was under the command of Dostum, under Dostums 5 year rule from the early 1990s to early 1997, the city was relatively peaceful. The rest of the nation disintegrated and was taken over by the Taliban forces. He printed his own currency and established his own airline and he is widely believed to have been responsible for the brutal massacre of up to 3,000 Taliban prisoners after inviting them into Mazar-i-Sharif. Several of the Taliban escaped the slaughtering and reported what had happened, the Taliban retaliated in 1998 attacking the city and killing an estimated 8,000. More than 8000 noncombatants were reported killed in Mazar-i-Sharif and later in Bamiyan, in addition, the Taliban were criticized for forbidding anyone from burying the corpses for the first six days while the remains rotted in the summer heat and were eaten by dogs
25.
United States Armed Forces
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
26.
United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
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Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
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Torture
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Torture is the act of deliberately inflicting physical or psychological pain on an organism in order to fulfill some desire of the torturer or compel some action from the victim. Torture, by definition, is a knowing and intentional act, in other cases, the torturer may be indifferent to the condition of the victim. Alternatively, some forms of torture are designed to inflict pain or leave as little physical injury or evidence as possible while achieving the same psychological devastation. The torturer may or may not kill or injure the victim, depending on the aim, even a form of torture that is intentionally fatal may be prolonged to allow the victim to suffer as long as possible. Although torture is sanctioned by some states, it is prohibited under international law, although widely illegal and reviled there is an ongoing debate as to what exactly is and is not legally defined to be torture. It is a violation of human rights, and is declared to be unacceptable by Article 5 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Torture is also prohibited for the signatories of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, despite these findings and international conventions, organizations that monitor abuses of human rights report widespread use condoned by states in many regions of the world. Amnesty International estimates that at least 81 world governments currently practice torture, the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which is currently in force since June 26,1987, provides a broad definition of torture. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to and this definition includes torture as part of domestic violence or ritualistic abuse, as well as in criminal activities. The Rome Statute is the treaty set up the International Criminal Court. The treaty was adopted at a conference in Rome on 17 July 1998. The Rome Statute provides a simplest definition of torture regarding the prosecution of war criminals by the International Criminal Court, since 1973, Amnesty International has adopted the simplest, broadest definition of torture. Title 18 of the United States Code contains the definition of torture in 18 U. S. C, §2340, which is only applicable to persons committing or attempting to commit torture outside of the United States. The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 provides remedies to individuals who are victims of torture by persons acting in a capacity of any foreign nation. The definition is similar to the U. S. Code §2340, Torture grew into an ornate discipline, where calibrated violence served two functions, to investigate and produce confessions and to attack the body as a form of punishment. Entire populaces of towns would show up to witness an execution by torture in the public square and those who had been spared torture were commonly locked barefooted into the stocks, where children took delight in rubbing feces into their hair and mouths. The Age of Enlightenment in the world further developed the idea of universal human rights. The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 marks the recognition at least nominally of a ban of torture by all UN member states
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Central Intelligence Agency
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As one of the principal members of the U. S. Intelligence Community, the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is focused on providing intelligence for the President. Though it is not the only U. S. government agency specializing in HUMINT and it exerts foreign political influence through its tactical divisions, such as the Special Activities Division. Despite transferring some of its powers to the DNI, the CIA has grown in size as a result of the September 11 attacks. In 2013, The Washington Post reported that in fiscal year 2010, the CIA has increasingly expanded its roles, including covert paramilitary operations. One of its largest divisions, the Information Operations Center, has shifted focus from counter-terrorism to offensive cyber-operations, when the CIA was created, its purpose was to create a clearinghouse for foreign policy intelligence and analysis. Today its primary purpose is to collect, analyze, evaluate, and disseminate foreign intelligence, warning/informing American leaders of important overseas events, with Pakistan described as an intractable target. Counterintelligence, with China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, the Executive Office also supports the U. S. military by providing it with information it gathers, receiving information from military intelligence organizations, and cooperates on field activities. The Executive Director is in charge of the day to day operation of the CIA, each branch of the military service has its own Director. The Directorate has four regional groups, six groups for transnational issues. There is a dedicated to Iraq, regional analytical offices covering the Near East and South Asia, Russia and Europe, and the Asian Pacific, Latin American. The Directorate of Operations is responsible for collecting intelligence. The name reflects its role as the coordinator of intelligence activities between other elements of the wider U. S. intelligence community with their own HUMINT operations. This Directorate was created in an attempt to end years of rivalry over influence, philosophy, in spite of this, the Department of Defense recently organized its own global clandestine intelligence service, the Defense Clandestine Service, under the Defense Intelligence Agency. This Directorate is known to be organized by regions and issues. The Directorate of Science & Technology was established to research, create, many of its innovations were transferred to other intelligence organizations, or, as they became more overt, to the military services. For example, the development of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft was done in cooperation with the United States Air Force, the U-2s original mission was clandestine imagery intelligence over denied areas such as the Soviet Union. It was subsequently provided with signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence capabilities, subsequently, NPIC was transferred to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
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Camp X-Ray (Guantanamo)
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Camp X-Ray was a temporary detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp of Joint Task Force Guantanamo on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. The first twenty detainees arrived at Guantanamo on 11 January 2002 and it was named Camp X-Ray because various temporary camps in the station were named sequentially from the beginning and then from the end of the NATO phonetic alphabet. As of 29 April 2002, the official Camp X-Ray was closed, excludables were held in Camp X-ray near Post 37 before being sent back to Cuba. Excludables included troublemakers from the camps, where the United States was processing Cuban Asylum Seekers for emigration to the United States. The US government was at the time allowed access to Cuban records to process these people, over 100,000 CAS were processed in the mid-1990s and allowed to enter the United States. During the War on Terror, beginning in the fall of 2001 after the 9/11 attacks, the supervision and care of these detainees at Camp X-Ray was handled by Joint Task Force 160, while interrogations were conducted by Joint Task Force 170. JTF-160 was under the command of Marine Brigadier General Michael R. Lehnert until March 2002, since Camp X-Rays closure and the subsequent opening of Camp Delta, JTF-160 and 170 have been combined into Joint Task Force Guantanamo. This camp was one of several locations managed by the United States where prisoners have alleged they suffered torture by US agents in relation to interrogation, dick Cheney, then Vice President, said, Prisoners could be detained until the end of the natural conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Carol Rosenberg, writing for the Miami Herald, Camp X-Ray was visited by a court-ordered forensic FBI team in November 2009, the team spent a week photographing the camp and searching for evidence of abuse of prisoners. This Is Camp X-Ray, UK art installation based on Camp X-Ray, Camp X-ray, an American independent drama film based on Camp X-Ray. X-Ray guard Brandon Neely later admitted throwing prisoners to the ground, in 2009, he tracked two inmates down and apologized for his treatment of them, saying that he still felt guilty. Neely also became involved with the organization Iraq Veterans Against the War
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Quran
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The Quran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God. It is widely regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic literature, the Quran is divided into chapters, which are then divided into verses. The word Quran occurs some 70 times in the text of the Quran, although different names, according to the traditional narrative, several companions of Muhammad served as scribes and were responsible for writing down the revelations. Shortly after Muhammads death, the Quran was compiled by his companions who wrote down and these codices had differences that motivated the Caliph Uthman to establish a standard version now known as Uthmans codex, which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran known today. There are, however, variant readings, with minor differences in meaning. The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in the Biblical scriptures and it summarizes some, dwells at length on others and, in some cases, presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events. The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance and it sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events, and it often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence. The Quran is used along with the hadith to interpret sharia law, during prayers, the Quran is recited only in Arabic. Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz, some Muslims read Quranic ayah with elocution, which is often called tajwid. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers, in order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse, most Muslims rely on the tafsir. The word qurʼān appears about 70 times in the Quran itself and it is a verbal noun of the Arabic verb qaraʼa, meaning he read or he recited. The Syriac equivalent is qeryānā, which refers to reading or lesson. While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac, regardless, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammads lifetime. An important meaning of the word is the act of reciting, as reflected in an early Quranic passage, It is for Us to collect it, in other verses, the word refers to an individual passage recited. Its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages, for example, So when al-qurʼān is recited, listen to it, the word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel. The term also has closely related synonyms that are employed throughout the Quran, each synonym possesses its own distinct meaning, but its use may converge with that of qurʼān in certain contexts. Such terms include kitāb, āyah, and sūrah, the latter two terms also denote units of revelation. In the large majority of contexts, usually with an article, the word is referred to as the revelation
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Arabs
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Arabs are an ethnic group inhabiting the Arab world. They primarily live in the Arab states in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Arabs are first mentioned in the mid-ninth century BCE as a tribal people dwelling in the central Arabian Peninsula. The Arabs appear to have been under the vassalage of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, tradition holds that Arabs descend from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. The Arabian Desert is the birthplace of Arab, there are other Arab groups as well that spread in the land and existed for millennia. Before the expansion of the Caliphate, Arab referred to any of the largely nomadic Semitic people from the northern to the central Arabian Peninsula and Syrian Desert. Presently, Arab refers to a number of people whose native regions form the Arab world due to spread of Arabs throughout the region during the early Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. The Arabs forged the Rashidun, Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates, whose borders reached southern France in the west, China in the east, Anatolia in the north, and this was one of the largest land empires in history. The Great Arab Revolt has had as big an impact on the modern Middle East as the World War I, the war signaled the end of the Ottoman Empire. They are modern states and became significant as distinct political entities after the fall and defeat, following adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945. The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland whilst respecting the sovereignty of its member states. Beyond the boundaries of the League of Arab States, Arabs can also be found in the global diaspora, the ties that bind Arabs are ethnic, linguistic, cultural, historical, identical, nationalist, geographical and political. The Arabs have their own customs, language, architecture, art, literature, music, dance, media, cuisine, dress, society, sports, the total number of Arabs are an estimated 450 million. This makes them the second largest ethnic group after the Han Chinese. Arabs are a group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. In the pre-Islamic era, most Arabs followed polytheistic religions, some tribes had adopted Christianity or Judaism, and a few individuals, the hanifs, apparently observed monotheism. Today, Arabs are mainly adherents of Islam, with sizable Christian minorities, Arab Muslims primarily belong to the Sunni, Shiite, Ibadi, Alawite, Druze and Ismaili denominations. Arab Christians generally follow one of the Eastern Christian Churches, such as the Maronite, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, or Chaldean churches. Listed among the booty captured by the army of king Shalmaneser III of Assyria in the Battle of Qarqar are 1000 camels of Gi-in-di-buu the ar-ba-a-a or Gindibu belonging to the Arab
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Geneva Conventions
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The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment in war. The treaties of 1949 were ratified, in whole or with reservations, the Swiss businessman Henry Dunant went to visit wounded soldiers after the Battle of Solferino in 1859. He was shocked by the lack of facilities, personnel, as a result, he published his book, A Memory of Solferino, in 1862, on the horrors of war. The latter led to the 1864 Geneva Convention, the first codified international treaty that covered the sick, for both of these accomplishments, Henry Dunant became corecipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. The ten articles of this first treaty were initially adopted on 22 August 1864 by twelve nations, on 20 October 1868 the first, unsuccessful, attempt to expand the 1864 treaty was undertaken. With the Additional Articles relating to the Condition of the Wounded in War an attempt was undertaken to clarify some rules of the 1864 convention, the Articles were signed but never ratified by all parties. Only the Netherlands and the United States ratified the Articles, the Netherlands later withdrew their ratification. The protection of the victims of warfare would later be realized by the third Hague Convention of 1899. In 1906 thirty-five states attended a conference convened by the Swiss government and it remained into force until 1970 when Costa Rica acceded to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The 1929 conference yielded two conventions that were signed on July 27th 1929, one, the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field, was the third version to replace the original convention of 1864. The other was adopted after experiences in World War I had shown the deficiencies in the protection of prisoners of war under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. The Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War was not to replace these earlier conventions signed at The Hague, the Second Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea replaced the Hague Convention of 1907. It was the first Geneva Convention on the protection of the victims of warfare and mimicked the structure. The Third Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War replaced the 1929 Geneva Convention that dealt with prisoners of war. In addition to these three conventions, the conference added a new elaborate Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. It was the first Geneva Convention not to deal with combatants, the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions had already contained some provisions on the protection of civilians and occupied territory. Article 154 specifically provides that the Fourth Geneva Convention is supplementary to these provisions in the Hague Conventions, despite the length of these documents, they were found over time to be incomplete. In light of developments, two Protocols were adopted in 1977 that extended the terms of the 1949 Conventions with additional protections
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Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
35.
Motion Picture Association of America
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The Motion Picture Association of America is an American trade association that represents the six major Hollywood studios. It was founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America to advance the interests of its members. In its formative years it took on the role of devising guidelines for content which resulted in the creation of the Production Code. More recently, the MPAA has advocated for the picture and television industry through lobbying to protect creative content from piracy. The MPAA has long worked to curb copyright infringement, including recent attempts to limit the sharing of copyrighted works via peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, former Democratic Senator Chris Dodd is the chairman and CEO. The MPAA was founded as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America in 1922 as an association of member motion picture companies. At its founding, MPPDA member companies produced approximately 70 to 80 percent of the made in the United States. Former Postmaster General Will H. Hays was named the associations first president, the MPPDA also instituted a code of conduct for Hollywoods actors in an attempt to govern their behavior offscreen. Finally, the sought to protect American film interests abroad by encouraging film studios to avoid racist portrayals of foreigners. From the early days of the association, Hays spoke out against public censorship, large portions of the public both opposed censorship, but also decried the lack of morals in movies. At the time of the MPPDAs founding, there was no censorship, but some state and municipal laws required movies to be censored. Thus, in locations in the US, films were often edited to comply with local laws regarding the onscreen portrayal of violence and sexuality. This resulted in publicity for the studios and decreasing numbers of theater goers. In 1929, more than 50 percent of American moviegoers lived in a location overseen by such a board, the Formula requested that studios send synopses of films being considered to the MPDDA for review. This effort largely failed, however, as studios were under no obligation to send their scripts to Hayss office, in 1927, Hays oversaw the creation of a code of Donts and Be Carefuls for the industry. This list outlined the issues that movies could encounter in different localities, Hays also created a Studio Relations Department with staff available to the studios for script reviews and advice regarding potential problems. In 1930, the MPPDA introduced the Production Code, sometimes called the Hays Code, the Code consisted of moral guidelines regarding what was acceptable to include in films. Unlike the Donts and Be Carefuls, which the studios had ignored, the Code incorporated many of the Donts and Be Carefuls as specific examples of what could not be portrayed
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Toronto municipal election, 2006
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The 2006 Toronto municipal election took place on 13 November 2006 to elect a mayor and 44 city councillors in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The election was held in conjunction with those held in municipalities in the province of Ontario. In the mayoral race, incumbent mayor David Miller was re-elected with 57% of the popular vote, there were 38 candidates running for Mayor of Toronto and 238 candidates running for 44 city councillor positions. To date, this represents the largest number of candidates to run in a Toronto municipal election. In contrast to the election, no candidates were unopposed. Provincial legislation passed in May 2006 extended municipal council terms in Ontario from the three years to four. The council elected in 2006 thus served until 2010, local activist David Meslin created City Idol — an initiative and contest to encourage local citizens who were otherwise alienated from politics to seek office in this election. The contest ultimately selected four candidates to assist in their quests for city council seats, the contest ran from February to June 2006. On 27 September 2006, former councillor Chris Korwin-Kuczynski filed papers to run in his old riding of Ward 14, however the next day he withdrew his nomination. This allowed him to retain a fundraising surplus of $21,742 leftover from his last campaign, if he had not run in this election, the money would have flowed into the city coffers. Gun-related crime and violence Garbage and waste disposal Streetcar right-of-way on St and his political hero was Pierre Trudeau. He promoted city autonomy with a bank, laws guided by eschatological principles from Scriptures. His relatively strong showing may be explained, in part, by the fact that he appeared first on the alphabetical ballot, jaime Castillo was born in Peru, had studied mechanical engineering at Humber College, and had worked in construction and real estate. He first ran for Mayor of Toronto in 2003 as part of a pro-multiculturalism slate and he received 1,616 votes for an eighth-place finish. Castillo promoted multicultural issues again in 2006, also calling for improved tourism services, hazel Jackson previously campaigned for Mayor of Toronto in 1997 and 2000. Formerly homeless, she was a resident of Torontos Tent City for a period and she worked at the Parkdale Activity & Recreation Centre in 2006, and promoted green rooftops, windmills and more community gardens. Lee Romano was a businesswoman in Toronto. She created the Consumers Guide to Insurance Inc. in 1996 and she later moved her service online
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Roadside Attractions
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Lionsgate bought a portion of Roadside in 2007. All pictures were distributed by Roadside, unless said otherwise, official website Online Press Site Roadside Attractions at the Internet Movie Database Roadside Attractionss channel on YouTube
