The Sweet Escape Tour was the second concert tour by American recording artist Gwen Stefani. The tour began in April 2007 in support of her second solo album The Sweet Escape. Performing for nearly a hundred concerts, the tour traveled to the Americas, Australasia and Europe; the shows in North America ranked 23rd on Billboard "Top 25 Tours". The 55 reported shows grossed $30.6 million with 648,529 tickets sold. The tour was Stefani's follow up to her previous 2005 tour, it went worldwide as compared to her previous tour, constricted only to North America and had more than double the number of shows. It was Stefani's last solo effort; the main feature were usage of various props such as a prison for Stefani's opening act, a six-piece band and a large multimedia screen in the backdrop showing videos and animations. On her June 22nd and June 23rd concerts in Irvine, Stefani was joined onstage by her No Doubt bandmates, they performed: "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", "Sunday Morning","Hella Good" and their cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life".

In response to the 2007 California wildfires, Stefani donated $166,000 from her October 30th concert in San Diego to "The San Diego Foundation" fire relief fund. The tour had its own set of controversies. A group known as "The National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students" wanted to ban Stefani's concert, slated to take place on August 21st at Putra Indoor Stadium; the union's vice president, Abdul Muntaqim said, "Her performance and her attire are not suitable for our culture. It will encourage youth to emulate the western lifestyle; the concert should be stopped." The organizer of the vent, Maxis Communications responded, "Stefani has confirmed that her concert will not feature any revealing costumes. She will abide by the Malaysian authorities' guidelines to ensure that her show will not be offensive to local sensitivities."In April, Akon drew criticism for having on-stage dirty dancing with a fifteen-year-old preacher's daughter, at a club in Trinidad and Tobago, as part of a fake contest. As a result, the tour's sponsor Verizon Wireless decided not to sponsor the tour.

The Sweet Escape tour was well-received by critics. Ricardo Baca stated, he continues, "Wednesday's show was proof of Stefani the rock star. While she's still better suited for the sneering pop-ska of her band No Doubt, she does all right with the glittery, hip-hop-fueled Top 40-loving music on which she has built her solo career." For the concert in Mansfield, Joan Anderman of The Boston Globe stated, "Ironically, for a performer so enamored of artifice, Stefani perpetually comes off as one of the more genuine chart-toppers. Her voice was built for amped-up cheers like "Hollaback Girl," not slow jams like "Luxurious," but her bad notes were hers, part of a real personality rather than a standard-issue pop star."Ross Raihala described her performance in Saint Paul as a "high spirited, energetic sugar rush". He goes on to say, "Yet it was the fresh stuff that made the night work; the high-tech stage and choreographed dance numbers felt canned, just when they started to get overwhelming, Stefani sprinted to the back of the auditorium and up into the seats to perform a stripped-down'Cool' surrounded by awestruck fans."

Chris Macias of The Sacramento Bee stated. He says, "Stefani doesn't skimp on her shows. It's part pep rally, part Broadway musical, plus a whole lot of breakdancing from Stefani's sidekicks. With a five-piece band perched high on a riser, a giant'G' that descended from the top of the stage, this concert had plenty of eye and ear candy."At the Shoreline Amphitheatre, Neva Chonin affirmed the show was stiff and robotic. She says, "Stefani gave back to them with a show in which every line, every move and every gesture was carbon-copied from every other show on the tour, excepting the usual local shout-outs; this doesn't mean she's not sincere when she rhapsodizes over the charms of the Bay Area, or gushes about how amazed she is to be a star and how grateful she is to her fans for helping her become one. It means she's gone so far into the star-making machinery she's forgotten how to convey that sincerity in anything besides packaged sound bites."Derek Paiva of The Honolulu Advertiser described Stefani's show in Honolulu as "infectiously energetic".

He states, "In times like these, Stefani showed the fun and still grateful side of her that all the costume changes, unnecessary stage production, slickly dumb songs and accompanying bling can't bury. Until she returns to Hawai'i with No Doubt — writer crosses his fingers here — this would have to do."For the concert in San Diego, T. Michael Crowell said "Stefani is not the best singer in the biz, her vocal range is narrow, her pitch is not always dead-on. But that misses the point of her performance, her art is the imagery she brings to the stage, the Stefani style, her personal fashion statement, her brand. Not bad for the skater-girl next door, now all grown-up and ready for a little fun." It is wildly speculated the concerts in San Diego and Stockton were filmed for a DVD release. The performances were not released. Akon Lady Sovereign Gym Class Heroes CSS Brick & Lace Plastilina Mosh Maria José The Hall Effect (Bogotá

The Forum of German Catholics is a conservative Catholic lay organization in Germany. It was founded in 2000 in opposition to the Central Committee of German Catholics; the Forum of German Catholics was founded on 30 September 2000 in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fulda and is based in Kaufering, Bavaria. It is an official religious organization registered with the German government, it was founded with the guidance of Archbishop Johannes Dyba. A conservative organization, it was formed in opposition to the Central Committee of German Catholics; the forum, made up of members of the Catholic laity, claims to be committed to "unadulterated and unabridged" faith. It hosts other events, focused on Catholic teaching and ministry. Since 2001, the forum hosts the annual Congress on Joy of Faith, taking place in Fulda and Regensburg. In 2002 the congress was officiated by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. In 2009, the forum released a resolution stating that Muslims were natural allies in the "fight against a culture of death".

The resolution stated that the "systematic displacement of the Christian faith from politics and public life" was the most dangerous threat in Europe. Participants of the 2009 conference included Archbishop Jean-Claude Perisset, Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke, Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann, Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann. In 2014 the congress's opening ceremony was officiated by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller. In 2007 Eva Herman, accused of promoting ideas from the Third Reich, served as a guest speaker at the forum's seventh annual congress, her involvement was criticized by Dieter Graumann, Vice President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. Herman's involvement was protested by Alois Rhiel, the Minister of Economics in Hesse, who resigned from his patronage of the congress. In 2019 the forum called for Catholic women to boycott the Catholic German Women's Association, after the organization had shown support for the Mary 2.0 movement. Forum of German Catholics

Claude Lamoral, 3rd Prince of Ligne, Prince of Epinoy, Marquis of Roubaix and Count of Fauquemberg, was a nobleman from the Spanish Netherlands, a soldier and diplomat in the service of Philip IV of Spain and Charles II of Spain. Born at Belœil, he succeeded his brother Albert Henry, as third Prince of Ligne, he married in 1642 his brother's widow Claire Marie of countess of Nassau. He was a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Grandee of Spain and Knight in the Order of the Golden Fleece. Between 1649 and 1669, he was Captain General of the Spanish Cavalry in the Spanish Netherlands, the third highest military position after Captain General and Governor of the Arms. In 1660, he was sent as representative of the Spanish King to the Royal court of Charles II of England as first foreign recognition of the newly restored English monarchy, he became Viceroy of Sicily, where he fortified the coastal defences against Turkish pirates, who attacked the local population to abduct and sell them into slavery.

He was appointed Governor of the Duchy of Milan. Claude Lamoral, after his death, his wife Claire Marie, enlarged the Chateau of Belœil and its spectacular French-styled 25 ha garden, which has a 6 ha. lake in front of the castle. Today the gardens are open to the public, their daughter Louise Claire de Ligne married on 1 April 1644 the Portuguese nobleman Raimundo de Lencastre, 4th marquess of Torres Novas, 1st duke of Torres Novas, 4th duke of Aveiro, Conselheiro de Estado. In Spain he was duke of Ciudad Real, a Grandee of Spain in May 1664, 8th Duke of Maqueda, marquess de Montemayor, marquess of Elche and many other lesser titles, deceased in Guadix on 6 October 1666, aged 35, he had to flee to Spain after the Portuguese Secession of 1640. She married again the Spanish nobleman Iñigo Manuel Velez Ladrón de Guevara y Tassis, 10th count of Oñate, a Grandee of Spain by king Philip IV of Spain to his ancestors in 1640 and a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, Head of the Spanish Post Offices, deceased in 1699.

She had no issue in the first marriage but issue on the second. Genealogy of the Belgian house de Ligne, in French