text:
Détente

Détente is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The diplomacy term originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsuccessfully to reduce tensions.

The term is often used to refer to a period of general easing of geopolitical tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War. Détente began in 1969 as a core element of the foreign policy of U.S. president Richard Nixon. In an effort to avoid an escalation of conflict with the Eastern Bloc, the Nixon administration promoted greater dialogue with the Soviet government in order to facilitate negotiations over arms control and other bilateral agreements. Détente was known in Russian as разрядка, loosely meaning "relaxation of tension".

Cold War
Cold War alliances mid-1975.svg" of the Cold War era in 1975:

]] While the recognized era of détente formally began under the Richard Nixon presidency, there were prior instances of relationship relaxation between the United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, both the United States and Soviet Union agreed to install a direct hotline between Washington and Moscow, colloquially known as the red telephone. The hotline enabled leaders of both countries to communicate rapidly in the event of another potentially catastrophic confrontation.

The period of détente in the Cold War saw the ratification of major disarmament treaties such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the creation of more symbolic pacts such as the Helsinki Accords. An ongoing debate among historians exists as to how successful the détente period was in achieving peace.

Détente is considered to have ended after the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1979, which led to the U.S.' boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Ronald Reagan's election as president in 1980, based in large part on an anti-détente campaign, induced a period of rising tension. In his first press conference, Reagan claimed that the U.S.'s pursuit of détente had been used by the Soviet Union to further its interests.

Relations had been continued to increasingly sour through the unrest in Poland, the U.S.'s withdrawal from the SALT II arms treaty, and the NATO Able Archer exercise.

In response to the heightening tensions, U.S. secretary of state George P. Shultz shifted the Ronald Reagan administration's foreign policy towards another period of de-escalation with the Soviet Union especially following Mikhail Gorbachev coming to power. During Gorbachev's leadership, dialogue over the START arms reduction treaty meaningfully progressed. Diplomatic overtures were continued by the succeeding Bush administration, including the ratification of the START treaty, up until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This period of a renewed de-escalation from 1983 to 1991 is sometimes referred to as the second period of détente.

According to Eric Grynaviski, "Soviet and U.S. decision-makers had two very different understandings about what détente meant" while simultaneously holding "an inaccurate belief that both sides shared principles and expectations for future behaviour."

Summits and treaties
Before Richard Nixon became president, the foundations of détente were developed through multilateral arms-limitation treaties in the early to middle 1960s. These included the August 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the January 1967 Outer Space Treaty, and the July 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Historical developments such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and technological advancements such as the development of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) spurred these agreements.

When Nixon came into office in 1969, several important détente treaties were developed. The Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Pact sent an offer to the U.S. and the rest of the West that urged a summit on "security and cooperation in Europe" to be held. The West agreed, and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks began towards actual limits on the nuclear capabilities of both superpowers, which ultimately led to the signing of the SALT I treaty in 1972. It limited each power's nuclear arsenals but was quickly rendered outdated as a result of the development of MIRVs. Also in 1972, the Biological Weapons Convention and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty were concluded, and talks on SALT II began the same year. The Washington Summit of 1973 further advanced mutual and international relations through discussion of diplomatic cooperation and continued discussion regarding limitations on nuclear weaponry.

In 1975, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) met and produced the Helsinki Accords, a wide-ranging series of agreements on economic, political, and human rights issues. The CSCE was initiated by the Soviet Union and involved 35 states throughout Europe. One of the most prevalent issues after the conference was the question of human rights violations in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Constitution directly violated the Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations, and that issue became a prominent point of separation between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Jimmy Carter administration had been supporting human rights groups inside the Soviet Union, and Leonid Brezhnev accused the US of interference in other countries' internal affairs. That prompted intense discussion of whether or not other nations may interfere if basic human rights, such as freedom of speech and religion, are violated. This basic disagreement between the superpowers, a democracy, and a one-party state, did not allow that issue to be reconciled. Furthermore, the Soviets proceeded to defend their internal policies on human rights by attacking American support of South Africa, Chile, and other countries that were known to violate many of the same human rights.

In July 1975, the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) became the first international space mission; three American astronauts and two Soviet cosmonauts docked their spacecraft and conducted joint experiments. The mission had been preceded by five years of political negotiation and technical co-operation, including exchanges of American and Soviet engineers between both countries' space centres.

Trade relations between both blocs increased substantially during the era of détente. Most significant were the vast shipments of grain that were sent from the West to the Soviet Union each year and helped to make up for the failure of the kolkhoz, the Soviet collective farms.

At the same time, the Jackson–Vanik amendment, signed into law by U.S. president Gerald Ford on 3 January 1975 after a unanimous vote by both houses of the U.S. Congress, was designed to leverage trade relations between the Americans and the Soviets. It linked U.S. trade to improvements in human rights in the Soviet Union, particularly by allowing refuseniks to emigrate. It also added to the most favoured nation status a clause that no country that resisted emigration could be awarded that status, which provided a method to link geopolitics to human rights.

End of Vietnam War
Nixon and his national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, moved toward détente with the Soviet Union in the early 1970s. They hoped, in return, for Soviets to help the U.S. extricate or remove itself from Vietnam. People then started to notice the consciousness with which US politicians started to act.

Strategic Arms Limitations Talks
Nixon and Brezhnev signed an ABM treaty in Moscow on 26 May 1972 as well as SALT I, the Interim Agreement, which temporarily capped the number of strategic arms (MIRVs, SLBMs, and ICBMs). That was a show of détente militarily since an expansion of nuclear ballistic arms had started to occur.

The goal of Nixon and Kissinger was to use arms control to promote a much broader policy of détente, which could then allow the resolution of other urgent problems through what Nixon called "linkage." David Tal argued: "The linkage between strategic arms limitations and outstanding issues such as the Middle East, Berlin and, foremost, Vietnam thus became central to Nixon's and Kissinger's policy of détente. Through employment of linkage, they hoped to change the nature and course of U.S. foreign policy, including U.S. nuclear disarmament and arms control policy, and to separate them from those practiced by Nixon's predecessors. They also intended, through linkage, to make U.S. arms control policy part of détente. ... His policy of linkage had in fact failed. It failed mainly because it was based on flawed assumptions and false premises, the foremost of which was that the Soviet Union wanted strategic arms limitation agreement much more than the United States did."

Apollo–Soyuz handshake
A significant example of an event contributing to détente was the handshake that took place in space. In July 1975, the first Soviet-American joint space flight was conducted, the ASTP. Its primary goal was the creation of an international docking system, which would allow two different spacecraft to join in orbit. That would allow both crews on board to collaborate on space exploration. The project marked the end of the Space Race, which had started in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik 1, and allowed tensions between the Americans and the Soviets to decrease significantly.

Concurrent conflicts
As direct relations thawed, increased tensions continued between both superpowers through their proxies, especially in the Third World. Conflicts in South Asia and the Middle East in 1973 saw the Soviet Union and the U.S. backing their respective surrogates, such as in Afghanistan, with war material and diplomatic posturing. In Latin America, the U.S. continued to block any left-wing electoral shifts in the region by supporting unpopular right-wing military coups and military dictatorships. Meanwhile, there were also many communist or left-wing guerrillas around the region, which were militarily and economically backed by the Soviet Union, China and Cuba.

During much of the early détente period, the Vietnam War continued to rage. Both sides still mistrusted each other, and the potential for nuclear war remained constant, notably during the 1973 Yom Kippur War when the U.S. raised its alert level to DEFCON 3, the highest since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Both sides continued aiming thousands of nuclear warheads atop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at each other's cities, maintaining submarines with long-range nuclear weapon capability (submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or SLBMs) in the world's oceans, keeping hundreds of nuclear-armed aircraft on constant alert, and guarding contentious borders in Korea and Europe with large ground forces. Espionage efforts remained a high priority, and defectors, reconnaissance satellites, and signal intercepts measured each other's intentions to try to gain a strategic advantage.

Reignited tensions and the end of the first détente
The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, carried out in an attempt to shore up a struggling pro-Soviet regime, led to harsh international criticisms, and a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, held in Moscow. U.S. president Jimmy Carter boosted the budget of the U.S. Department of Defense and began financial aid to the office of Pakistan president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who, in turn, subsidized the anti-Soviet radical Islamist group of Afghan mujahideen fighters.

Another contributing factor in the decline in the popularity of détente as a desirable U.S. policy was the inter-service rivalry between the U.S. State Department and Department of Defense. From 1973 to 1977, there were three secretaries worth mentioning: Elliot Richardson, James Schlesinger, and Donald Rumsfeld. Schlesinger's tenure as secretary of defense was plagued by notably poor relations with Kissinger, one of the most prominent advocates of détente in the U.S. Their poor working relationship bled into their professional relationship, and policy clashes would increasingly occur. They ultimately resulted in Schlesinger's dismissal in 1975. However, his replacement, Rumsfeld, had similar issues with Kissinger although their disagreements stemmed more from domestic resistance to détente. As a result, clashes on policy continued between the State and the Defense Departments. Rumsfeld thought that Kissinger was too complacent about the growing Soviet strength. Although Rumsfeld largely agreed with Kissinger's stance that the U.S. held military superiority over the Soviet Union, he argued that Kissinger's public optimism would prevent Congress from allowing the Defense Department the funds that Rumsfeld believed were required to maintain the favorable gap between the US and the Soviets. Rumsfeld responded by regularly presenting a more alarmist view of the superior strength of the Soviets.

In response to the stranglehold of influence by Kissinger in the Nixon and Ford administrations and the later decline in influence over foreign policy by the Department of Defense, Richardson, Schlesinger, and Rumsfeld all used the growing antipathy in the U.S. for the Soviet Union to undermine Kissinger's attempts to achieve a comprehensive arms reduction treaty. That helped to portray the entire notion of détente as an untenable policy.

The 1980 U.S. presidential election saw Reagan elected on a platform opposed to the concessions of détente. Negotiations on SALT II were abandoned as a result. However, during the later years of his presidency, Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev pursued a policy that was considered to be détente. However, the Reagan administration talked about a "winnable" nuclear war and led to the creation of the Strategic Defense Initiative and the Third World policy of funding irregular and paramilitary death squads in Central America, sub-Saharan Africa, Cambodia, and Afghanistan.

Cuban thaw
On 17 December 2014, U.S. president Barack Obama and Cuba president Raúl Castro resolved to restore diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S. The restoration agreement had been negotiated in secret in the preceding months. The negotiations were facilitated by Pope Francis and hosted mostly by the Canadian government, which had warmer relations with Cuba at that time. Meetings were held in both Canada and the Vatican City. The agreement would see some U.S. travel restrictions lifted, fewer restrictions on remittances, greater access to the Cuban financial system for U.S. banks, and the reopening of the U.S. embassy in Havana and the Cuban embassy in Washington, which both closed in 1961 after the breakup of diplomatic relations as a result of Cuba's alliance with the Soviet Union.

On 14 April 2015, the Obama administration announced the removal of Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Cuba was officially removed from the list on 29 May 2015. On 20 July 2015, the Cuban and U.S. interest sections in Washington and Havana were upgraded to embassies. On 20 March 2016, Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge visited in 1928. In 2017, Donald Trump, Obama's successor, stated that he was "canceling" the Obama administration's deals with Cuba, while also expressing that a new deal could be negotiated between the Cuban and U.S. governments.

title: Détente


text:
List of districts of Maharashtra

Maharashtra is an Indian state that was formed on 1 May 1960 with 26 initial districts. Since then, 11 additional districts have been created, the most recent of which is Palghar district. The state currently has 36 districts. These districts are grouped into six administrative divisions shown below.

All divisions in maharastra
Maharashtra is divided into 36 districts, which are grouped into six divisions.

Regions
Geographically, historically, politically, and according to cultural sentiments, Maharashtra has five main regions:

 * Konkan (Konkan division)
 * Paschim Maharashtra, also known as Desh (Pune division)
 * North Maharashtra (Nashik Division) - contains Khandesh
 * Marathwada (Aurangabad division)
 * Vidarbha (Nagpur and Amravati divisions) - formerly Central Provinces and Berar

Districts
The table below lists important geographic and demographic parameters for all 36 districts. Population data are extracted from the 2011 Census of India.

Proposed districts
In 2018, then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis constituted a committee under leadership of Chief secretary. The committee has proposed 22 new districts. Earlier in 2015, former ministers has demanded formation of new districts, they were Katol (Nagpur), Chimur(Chandrapur), Pusad (Yavatmal), Khamgaon (Buldhana), Achalpur (Amravati), and Aheri (Gadchiroli).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: List of districts of Maharashtra


text:
Rolando Navarrete

Rolando Navarrete (born February 14, 1957) is a Filipino former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 1991. He held the WBC super featherweight title from August 1981 and May 1982.

Fighting style
A fine boxer, Navarrete had a good talent and was known for his hard-hitting punches. Known to be a slugger and one of the greatest Filipino knockout artists.

Professional career
He first fought for a world title in 1980 against Alexis Argüello but lost by TKO to the legendary champion. On August 29, 1981, he would win the WBC Super featherweight title by knocking out popular fellow southpaw Cornelius Boza-Edwards in the 5th round of a title match held in Italy. He later defended the title against unknown Choi Chung-Il of Korea, stopping the gritty challenger in the 11th round of a controversial bout held in Manila in January 1982. In his second title defense four months later in Las Vegas, Nevada, Navarrete took on Rafael "Bazooka" Limón. The champion led on all scorecards before getting knocked out by Limón in the 12th round. Thereafter, Navarrete's career went downhill and he would never again figure in big-money fights. In 1984, he was convicted of sexual assault and served three years in a Hawaiian prison.

After his release in March 1988, Navarrete went back to the Philippines and embarked on several comeback fights. In one of those fights, he would exact revenge on his old tormentor Limón, winning by decision in a 10-round bout. During his comeback, he was cast alongside fellow boxer Rolando Bohol by comic book writer Carlo J. Caparas in his boxing film Kambal Na Kamao: Madugong Engkwentro, which was released in mid-1988. A series of losses against local fighters and unranked contenders later forced him to retire for good.

Personal life
Navarrete currently lives in General Santos. A series of failed relationships with different women gave him a total of seven children. One of his sons, Rolando Jr., who fights under his mother's name Rolando Dy, is a professional mixed martial artist.

Troubles outside the ring left Navarrete with no money and the former world champion now sells fish that, according to him, earn him 800 pesos (about 16 dollars) a day. He still trains nowadays with a heavy bag in his home.

He spent three years in a United States prison for rape. Navarrete was also recently involved in various police complaints for wife battery and drugs.

On February 14, 2008, Navarrete, was pronounced out of danger, after being stabbed in the neck by Racman Saliling, a tenant at the boarding house he owns in Bula, General Santos, using an ice pick. Navarrete was also involved in two previous attacks: in 2005, he was hit with a steel pipe by a female neighbor and in 2006, a security guard clubbed his leg with a shotgun at a fishing port.

Legacy
He is ranked the 9th best super featherweight champion in history, by the World Boxing Council. In 2007, Navarrete was included in "Kamao", an episode of award winning program Sine Totoo, which received the RP's first and only George Foster Peabody Award, the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.

"Kamao", presented the sports of boxing and featured the story of the former world featherweight champion.

title: Rolando Navarrete


text:
Roughouse

Roughouse is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as the occasional enemy of Wolverine. His first appearance was in Wolverine vol. 2, #4. The character was created by Chris Claremont and John Buscema.

Fictional character biography
Roughouse is one of the most mysterious opponents that Wolverine has come across. Little is known of his past beyond the fact that Roughouse is descended from one of the races that inhabit the dimension of Asgard, the mythical home of the Asgardian "gods." In Wolverine vol. 2, #6, Roughouse provides the first clue to his origin by uttering the phrase, "Ymir's icy breath." This is a reference to the giant Ymir, said to be the father of the race of beings known as the Frost Giants, the primary enemies of the Asgardian "gods." He is also known to have been systematically abused by his father as a boy. Some writers have suggested that the reason Roughouse wears long hair and a full beard is to hide scars received at the hands of his father.

In recent years, Roughouse has come to the island nation of Madripoor along with his partner, the "pseudo-vampire" Bloodscream. They have found employment under General Coy, one of the island's most powerful crime lords, as special enforcers used to eliminate any threats to his operations. They are sent after the woman called Tyger Tiger, Coy's primary rival as the supreme crime boss of Madripoor. This brings the two mercenaries into a number of conflicts with Wolverine. The duo are never able to defeat him.

General Coy grows tired of Roughouse's failures and literally sells him to Geist ("Ghost"), a former high ranking agent of Nazi Germany in the United Kingdom and a cyborg. By the time Roughouse meets him, Geist is financing himself through illegal drug trade and needs a guinea pig on which to experiment a new drug. Geist's men give Roughouse a dose of this experimental version of cocaine which temporarily drives him mad.

Wolverine holds back in the fight with Roughouse, since Roughouse is not truly even aware of what he is doing. After helping Roughouse escape, they come upon a mysterious nun of the Roman Catholic Church known only as Sister Salvation, who possesses the ability to cure those suffering from physical or mental injuries and cure sickness just by touching them with her hands. After several "sessions" she is able to fully purge Roughouse's body of the cocaine induced suffering. Roughhouse decides to stay with Sister Salvation in Tierra Verde to help her rebuild her destroyed mission.

It would be quite a while before Wolverine and Roughouse would cross paths again. In Wolverine #123, Roughhouse and Bloodscream had now renewed their partnership and ambushed Wolverine after the adamantium has been stripped from his skeleton. They manage to get the upper hand and beat Wolverine unconscious. They bring him to their hideout where they beat him repeatedly over the next few days. Wolverine is able to free himself from the shackles by breaking his own wrist, and engage the duo in combat, as Roughouse was on his way to shoot him in the head. It was believed that this would have killed Wolverine, and this is the last time he crosses paths with Roughouse.

It is unknown why Roughouse renews his partnership with Bloodscream, but as Bloodscream becomes increasingly cannibalistic it is unlikely Roughouse would have stayed with him. Roughouse, while a villain, still had some sense of honor and valued human life. Sure enough, the next time Wolverine encounters Bloodscream, Roughouse is no longer with him. He is instead replaced by the cannibalistic imbecile, Vermin.

Roughouse is hired by a violent criminal named Kimura to guard a group of children. A colleague tries to bribe Roughouse so as to gain perverted access to the kids, Roughouse instantly murders the man, verbally proclaiming that allow kids to come to harm is something he will not tolerate. Kimura later leads her forces on a direct attack against the de facto leader of Madripoor, Tiger Tyger. This includes intentionally murdering dozens of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

Powers and abilities
Roughouse possesses various superhuman physical attributes as a result of his unique heritage.

Roughouse cannot be slain by any metal forged by mortal man.

Roughouse is many times stronger than the average human. In Wolverine #123, Wolverine narrates that "He's not Hulk-level strength." but is seen picking up a steamroller or forklift easily with one arm. This would put Roughhouse comparable to Colossus or Rogue. At that point Wolverine introduces into the story that Roughouse was descended from Rock Trolls.

Like full blooded Rock Trolls, the various tissues of Roughouse's body have much greater density than those of ordinary humans (contributing somewhat to Roughouse's great strength and size). As a result, Roughouse's body is highly resistant to conventional injury. Roughouse's body can withstand temperature extremes, puncture wounds, impact trauma, and high caliber machine gun shells without being injured. Even though Roughouse can be injured, the force or weaponry required to do so would have to be considerably more powerful than most conventional materials.

Roughouse's superhuman musculature produces far less lactic acid than the musculature of ordinary humans, granting him superhuman levels of stamina in all physical activities.

Special skills
Aside from his superhuman powers, Roughouse is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant. He utilizes mostly street fighting techniques that let him make full use of his great size and physical strength. He also has many connections throughout the criminal underworld, where he often hires himself out as a special enforcer.

Television

 * Roughouse had a cameo in episode 16 of the X-Men series along with Bloodscream just like with the first ongoing Wolverine comic series.

title: Roughouse


text:
Talk:The Secret Policeman's Ball

Untitled
Source moved from article: "Some of the information used here is derived from the DVD collection's booklet."

Name
Firstly, does anyone know where the name of the shows comes from? I'm sure it would be an interesting addition to the article.

Also, the DVD and other sources refer to the events as The Secret Policeman's Ball, not Balls: the current article title might be inaccurate. As it stands, the title seems to refer to a policeman's balls, as opposed to a ball.

--anskas 03:22, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

It seems pretty clear from the context (the performers and the era) that the oblique reference to testicles is an intentional in-joke. No, I myself can't provide a reference for that, but I'll be shocked if nobody can. 66.58.240.20 (talk) 08:15, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

 * I assume that the title of this article comes from the fact that there were more than one Amnesty International concert with "The Secret Policeman's Ball" within the title — and, because this article deals with all of the Amnesty concerts, instead of a single concert.
 * Therefore, the article page is probably called "The Secret Policeman's Balls" to indicate "plural" for more than one concert, and to avoid confusion with people thinking that the article was dealing only with the single "The Secret Policeman's Ball" concert. The Amnesty concerts include the following:

 * "Pleasure at Her Majesty's" — also known as "A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick") (1976)
 * "Mermaid Frolics" (1977)
 * "The Secret Policeman's Ball" (1979)
 * "The Secret Policeman's Other Ball" (1981)
 * "The Secret Policeman's Third Ball" (1987)
 * "The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball" (1989)

 * Hope this helps.

 * Incidentally, all of the above listed concerts are on DVD in "The Secret Policeman's Ball" boxed set.

 * The concerts are very enjoyable — and every DVD sold helps Amnesty International. Figaro 03:46, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Got some more info on this. I'm working on a revision of the article with a lot more info I've discovered in the liner notes of some record and CD releases of material from the shows. Plus  books and press interviews.  Including the origin of the title etc etc.  Hope to have it up very soon.  Davidpatrick 06:08, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

 * The Title should be changed, it sounds like a gay adult film. --Yancyfry jr 20:19, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

 * What about something like The Amnesty Comedy Concerts?

 * The article would need to be 'moved' to retain the full editing history of the article, as well as the discussion (talk) page and its full editing history.

 * If this is agreeable, I could 'move' the page - and then change all of the links (on other article pages) which have links which lead to this article, so that the links would be accurate (if the article was 'moved', the present title of "The Secret Policeman's Balls" would automatically redirect to the new title). Figaro 02:44, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

This requires some thought before deciding on a change. First of all - the "Secret Policeman's" title is extremely well known. Secondly the benefit shows (not concerts) are much much more than comedy shows (though that's how they started out). They became as iconic for the music as for comedy. Thirdly their influence on others who followed the tradition (eg Bono, Sting, Bob Geldof) is always attributed to some mention of the "Secret Policeman's Ball" title.

In favor of keeping the current article title: The exact wording in the current article title has been used with some humor to describe the series. eg it showed up spoken by Don Pardo in the 1982 US film. And it reflects the Python humor.

If a consensus develops to change the article title (and speaking for myself I'm open to the idea) my 2 cents is that if we do so - it has to be for the right name.

I would consider some of these:

• The Secret Policeman's Ball benefits

• The Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows

• The Secret Policeman's Ball series

• The Secret Policeman's Ball shows

Note that there are already two pages (of necessity) called "The Secret Policeman's Ball". One for the original 1979 show. The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979) And the other for the new show coming in October The Secret Policeman's Ball (2006) which has been given the identical title.

Other thoughts?

Davidpatrick 03:23, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

 * And, for my 2 cents worth I think, if a title change is decided upon for the article, that either your second title suggestion of "The Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows", or your fourth title suggestion of "The Secret Policeman's Ball shows", would be an excellent choice to be adopted for the new title. Figaro 09:33, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

The name comes from the joke.

"a policeman arrests a protester and the protester says 'I'm not buying any tickets' the copper replies 'what do you mean, tickets?' the protester says 'to the policeman's ball, the last guy that grabbed me wanted money off me for tickets to the policeman's ball' the copper replies 'don't be stupid policemen don't have balls' " Unfortunately I have no source for this which is a shame because it does belong in the article.Schnizzle (talk) 14:36, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Alternative titles
Been doing some more research - and some more thinking about it.

BTW - the article was called just "The Secret Policeman's Ball" till approx. July 2005 - when it was realized that that title wasn't broad enough to cover all the various events over the years. And the title changed to "Balls"

As to the prospective alternate titles I've suggested:

I agree that #1 wouldn't work too well. "benefits" is an ambiguous word when used on its own.

And #3 could be confusing. Though it has become a series of shows/events. "Series" often connotes a TV series. so without a qualifying word it probably doesn't work.

I think #4 is ok - but it doesn't cover the breadth of what the events became. ie very successful movies, TV specials & albums etc. Comparatively few people attended the actual shows in the theatres. Very large numbers of people have seen the movies, TV shows and heard the albums. So I think "shows" doesn't cover it sufficiently.

I think that #2 does have some merits. The word "benefits" is in a context. There is still the matter that the word "shows" sound more ordinary than one senses these events were.

I've been looking in a lot of resources and I've discovered that the original events were not described as "shows" at all. They were always described as being a "gala". ie grand festive occasions - that were very special and not like ordinary shows at all.

I'm mindful that we don't want the title to be too many words - but on the other hand - the first four words are essential.

So how about choosing from among these:

• The Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows

• The Secret Policeman's Ball shows

• The Secret Policeman's Ball galas

• The Secret Policeman's Ball benefit galas

• The Secret Policeman's Ball benefit series

Davidpatrick 05:40, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Out of the above selection of titles, I like the title "The Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows" best.

 * With regard to the other suggested titles:

 * Because of its similarity, the word 'gala' makes me think of the Australian slang term 'galah' (please see the article about our Australian bird, the Galah, regarding this term).

 * The word 'series' reminds me more of a television series than a 'sequence' of shows, and seems to dim the significance of its meaning and the benefits they had for Amnesty.

 * Figaro 22:35, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

What about choosing from one of the following titles:

 * The Secret Policeman's Ball Amnesty benefit shows
 * The Secret Policeman's Ball - Amnesty benefit shows

Figaro 21:46, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

First of all - I appreciate you getting back on this. It is truly difficult.

The trouble with those two suggestions is that they take the number of words in the article title to seven. Which I think is just too long. My longest suggestions were six words - and I was thinking THOSE were too long. I have toyed with dispensing with the word "THE" - but it's an integral part of that title. The other problem is that while the shows are indeed benefits for Amnesty and some people know that - not everyone does - nor would look them up under such a cumbersome title. Especially bearing in mind that the original shows were turned into successful movies and record albums that reached a lot of people internationally who may not have been as aware of the charity element of the original shows as the UK audience. So while I appreciate the thought - I don't think they solve the problem.

I'm still concerned that the word "shows" (or even "galas") relate just to the original stage events and don't encompass the breadth of what the "SPB" phenomenon has become. Between TV, film, albums, books etc etc - that is how most people have experienced "SPB". I thought about calling the article "The Secret Policeman's Ball fundraisers" but closer examination indicates that in several cases they were as much about raising consciousness as raising funds.

So at present I am in favor of keeping the current article title. I disagree with the person who thought that the title sounded like a "gay adult title"! The pun nature of the title has been in the public consciousness for 30 years now... Davidpatrick 22:52, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Thank you Davidpatrick for replying to my comments. I appreciate it.  And, like you, I think that the current title is best and should be retained. Figaro 10:52, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Haha! My original comment was intended as a lighthearted and sarcastic remark, and I am amazed at the responses. I guess everyone's interest is a testament to the success of the shows/galas/benefit shows/concerts/et al. :-). There are some very interesting suggestions, but I agree with Davidpatrick's argument, that basically none of the proposed titles truly encompass the phenomenon that is SPB(s). Also, I'm sure John Cleese and Peter Cook and the like would vote to maintain this amusing title!!! —anskas 23:54, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

This article should be named The Secret Policeman's Ball since it's about all of the events with this name. The articles about specific balls should include the year the balls took place (e.g. The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979), The Secret Policeman's Ball (2006). Unless someone objects, I'll move the page in a few days. Pburka (talk) 21:02, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:The-Secret-Policemans-Ball.jpg
Image:The-Secret-Policemans-Ball.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 02:54, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

New Name?
Just reading this article title made me laugh. Please, someone see sense and change it! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.163.199.136 (talk) 16:37, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

It's an article about a series of shows/films that are primarily comedy events. So making you laugh is not inappropriate! Since the article title is accurate and relates to a series of events of that name that have been running for nearly 30 years - the logic behind your anonymous suggestion is rather elusive. Davidpatrick (talk) 13:44, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

1986 Festival
Also had ...

Big Audio Dynamite .... Candy (talk) 15:02, 12 February 2011 (UTC)

Name
The 1979 show in the article is repeated cited as being the show that gave the concerts name. Why. this needs to be includedCurb Chain (talk) 00:12, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Requested move 8 February 2015

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: moved. No comment on potential mergers, as they were only discussed by two of the five participants. Number  5  7  15:06, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

– The title is simply not accurate. You wouldn't entitle the article about the Super Bowl as "Super Bowls". The logo and other media (including books about history of event, etc) call it The Secret Policeman's Ball (singular). The ONE and ONLY time it was used was for the 2009 compilation DVD, in which case, it seems to have been done to be humorous. The 2014 book was called The Very Best of... The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Greatest Comedy Line-up Ever .. not "Balls". Yes, the pluralized version is funny, but odd looking. And it appears the move was done without a proper consensus. Wikimandia (talk) 10:27, 8 February 2015 (UTC)
 * The Secret Policeman's Balls → The Secret Policeman's Ball
 * The Secret Policeman's Ball → The Secret Policeman's Ball (disambiguation)
 * The Secret Policeman's Balls mediagraphy → The Secret Policeman's Ball mediagraphy

 * Comment, another issue is that SOME events have individual articles, as do some films, some LPs (not especially the most notable ones). These are often stubs, or do little more than repeat main page info. I spent a few days trying to evolve a tidy-up strategy, but gave up. The rename seems apt, but more drastic tidy may be needed Pincrete (talk) 12:26, 8 February 2015 (UTC) … … trivial ps, it's just as funny singular, the title originates from an ancient UK joke … "Would you like to buy a ticket for the Policeman's Ball?" … "No, I can't dance." … "It's not a dance, it's a raffle!" Pincrete (talk) 12:47, 8 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Items for tidy include: The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979), Pleasure at Her Majesty's, A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick) (these two about same show) and The Secret Policeman's Balls (DVD box set), this DVD set has its own page, but is not listed on the mediagraphy page, many individual pages linked from main page are little more than stubs.Pincrete (talk) 14:29, 8 February 2015 (UTC)
 * I definitely support the merge. The Pleasure at Her Majesty's isn't sufficiently different to warrant its own article. I added a discussion here Talk:A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick) if anyone cares to actually discuss it. Shouldn't be too controversial. When I get some money I'll buy that 2014 book about all the shows and see if I can't sort it all out, expanding stubs etc. Wikimandia (talk) 18:12, 8 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Have done quite a bit of pruning/fixing today, inc. adding 'Main article' links, now perhaps it will be easier to see what is where. Pincrete (talk) 19:23, 8 February 2015 (UTC)

 * Support evidently singular. In ictu oculi (talk) 13:07, 8 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Support for at any given time the Secret Policeman holds but one ball. 166.171.59.224 (talk) 17:15, 8 February 2015 (UTC)
 * As part of this general tidy up, I have proposed a merge of The Secret Policeman's Balls (DVD box set) with The Secret Policeman's Balls mediagraphy.Pincrete (talk) 18:41, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

 * Support for reasons given by Wikimandia.Pincrete (talk) 00:15, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Merge 'box set' with mediagraphy
Merge The Secret Policeman's Balls (DVD box set) with The Secret Policeman's Balls mediagraphy I think I may have gone about the merge of these two article (technically) wrongly, if anyone knows how to fix this, please go ahead. Pincrete (talk) 21:37, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 3 one external links on The Secret Policeman's Ball. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20060925172940/http://www.amnesty.org.uk/secretpolice/index.asp?page=6 to http://www.amnesty.org.uk/secretpolice/index.asp?page=6
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20070928153204/http://www.artforamnesty.com/view_event.php?id=4 to http://www.artforamnesty.com/view_event.php?id=4
 * Attempted to fix sourcing for http://www.shoutfactorystore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=5256896

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 10:50, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on The Secret Policeman's Ball. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20070928153159/http://www.artforamnesty.com/view_event.php?id=3 to http://www.artforamnesty.com/view_event.php?id=3
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090804184840/http://www.greaterunion.com.au:80/movies/7048/Secret-Policeman's-Ball-08.htm to http://www.greaterunion.com.au/movies/7048/Secret-Policeman's-Ball-08.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 00:24, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Etymology
Need a reference for this, obviously, but my understanding is that when offering a bribe to a british uniformed police officer, one purchases tickets to the policeman's ball. Hence the name. Paul Murray (talk) 04:04, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

 * The most commonly cited explanation for the title is an old UK joke "Would you like to buy a ticket for the policeman's ball? ... No I can't dance. ....It isn't a dance, it's a raffle!" … … … 'Secret' simply adds a surreal touch to a schoolboy joke. Pincrete (talk) 16:49, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on The Secret Policeman's Ball. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100113163211/http://www.phespirit.info/pictures/heroes/p008_info.htm to http://www.phespirit.info/pictures/heroes/p008_info.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 07:59, 10 December 2017 (UTC)

title: Talk:The Secret Policeman's Ball


text:
Sudd

The Sudd (السد, Dinka: Toc) is a vast swamp in South Sudan, formed by the White Nile's Baḥr al-Jabal section. The Arabic word sudd is derived from sadd (سد), meaning "barrier" or "obstruction". The term "the sudd" has come to refer to any large solid floating vegetation island or mat. The area which the swamp covers is one of the world's largest wetlands and the largest freshwater wetland in the Nile Basin.

For many years the swamp, and especially its thicket of vegetation, proved an impenetrable barrier to navigation along the Nile. The ancient Egyptians failed to penetrate the Sudd and reach the areas south of it. In AD 61, a party of Roman soldiers sent by the Emperor Nero proceeded up the White Nile but were not able to get beyond the Sudd, which marked the limit of Roman penetration into equatorial Africa. For the same reasons in later times, the search for the source of the Nile was particularly difficult; it eventually involved overland expeditions from the central African coast, so as to avoid having to travel through the Sudd.

In 2019, a study suggested that increased water flows into the Sudd may be partly causing up to a third of the whole West African rise in atmospheric methane levels over the previous decade.

Location
The Sudd stretches from Mongalla to just outside the Sobat River confluence with the White Nile just upstream of Malakal as well as westwards along the Bahr el Ghazal. The shallow and flat inland delta lies between 5.5 and 9.5 degrees latitude north and covers an area of 500 km south to north and 200 km east to west between Mongalla in the south and Malakal in the north.

Its size is highly variable, averaging over 30000 km2. During the wet season it may extend to over 130000 km2 comprising 21% of the country, depending on the inflowing waters, with the discharge from Lake Victoria being the main control factor of flood levels and area inundation. Since the Sudd area consists of various meandering channels, lagoons, reed and papyrus fields and loses half of its inflowing water through evapotranspiration in the permanent and seasonal floodplains, the complex hydrology has many primary and secondary effects. A major feature of the area, is the incomplete Jonglei Canal, which was planned to bypass waters from the Sudd to avoid evaporation losses and increase the amount of water discharged at the outlet of the Sudd.

From 1961 to 1963, a great increase in the flooded area occurred when the level of Lake Victoria rose, and the outflow increased. The total area of the Sudd is related to the amount of water reaching Bor from the Albert Nile and from torrents or seasonal watercourses that can add substantial amounts to the flow in the upstream end of the Sudd. During the 1960s increase in Lake Victoria discharge, where flows at Mongalla roughly doubled, the flows at Malakal at the northern end of the swamps increased by 1.5 times the previous average flow. As a consequence of these high flows, the areas of permanent swamp and seasonal floodplains have, taken together, increased to 2.5 times their former size. The swamps have increased the most, and the seasonal floodplain is 1.5 times its previous size. From the southern inflow of the Bahr al Jabal ("Sea of the Mountain") at Mongalla, the defined riverbed successively widens into a floodplain, where the waters flow in meandering river stretches and various channels and lagoons throughout the dry season. With rising water levels it expands over the semi-flooded grasslands during the flood season.

Slightly downstream of Bor, the Bahr el Zeraf ("Sea of the Giraffes") river branches off the Bahr al Jabal to the east, diverting part of the flow, and again joins the Bahr al Jabal just before reaching Malakal. During the course of its flow, the Bahr al Jabal passes Lake No, where the Bahr el Ghazal ("Sea of the Gazelles") connects to the Bahr al Jabal, contributing an inflow with seasonal variation. At Malakal, the Sobat River joins into the system. The combined flows then stream to the north as the White Nile in a defined bed, joining with the Blue Nile waters at Khartoum to form the main Nile.

Sudd was designated as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 2006. An area of 57000 km2 was designated.

Climate
Hydrologically the Sudd plays an important role in storing floodwaters and trapping sediments from the Bahr al Jabal. Roughly 55% of water entering the area is lost to evaporation. Water levels fluctuate by up to 1.5 metres, depending on the intensity of seasonal flooding. The region receives less rainfall (typically between 55 and 65 centimetres per year) than neighbouring areas at the same latitude. Orographic lifting on the eastern and western sides of the Sudd contribute to that condition.

Geomorphology
The morphology of the area is defined by the channel and lagoon system of the permanent Sudd swamps, the adjacent flood plains, and the surrounding flat terrain. The Bahr al Jabal runs to the north-northwest and therefore in an angle to the gradient of the floodplain, which slopes down to the north, while north of Juba the river flows in an incised trough. The banks of this trough decrease in height from south to north with the Bahr al Jabal approaching Bor and ending in the Sudd flood plain just north of Bor on the eastern bank and towards Shambe on the western bank. In the southern part, the river meanders from side to side in the restraining trough in one or more channels, but further north the swamp is not limited by higher ground and the system of river channels becomes increasingly complex. The characteristics of the river with its network of channels and lagoons are distinguishable in satellite imagery and digital elevation models.

The geology of the area is defined by heavy clay soils, highly impermeable with a top layer of "black cotton" vertisol of approximately 500 mm on average. Sandy soils are found only at depths of approximately 30 m and below, as determined by well drilling profiles. This indicates a very limited groundwater influence on the area's hydrology.

Population
Nuer and Dinka pastoralists use the Sudd and the surrounding areas extensively. Livestock and rain-fed agriculture are the dominant means of support for the largely rural population for which the seasonal flooded grasslands along the Sudd provides valuable grazing lands.

Vegetation and ecosystem
Vegetation cover of the area can generally be classified in five categories which depend on the elevation of the area above river flood level: the lakes and rivers, the floating plant life of the swamp, river-flooded grasslands (Toic), rain-flooded grasslands, and wooded grasslands on the fringes. Grassland and woodland areas have been cultivated by local populations.

The density of the grasslands along the Sudd changes with the season, with tall grass in the rainy season and short dry grass in the dry season, when frequent fires also occur. The fluvial area is mostly overgrown with vegetation, with some main and side channels as well as lagoons of open water. The vegetation distribution is described in further detail in Sutcliffe (1974) and Petersen (2007). The main species are:

 * Phragmites communis (shallow flooded, buried roots)
 * Echinochloa pyramidalis (shallow flooded, buried roots)
 * Oryza barthii (shallow flooded, buried roots)
 * Echinochloa stagnina (deep flooded, superficial/floating roots)
 * Vossia cuspidata (deep flooded, superficial/floating roots)
 * Cyperus papyrus (deep flooded, superficial/floating roots)
 * Typha domingensis

The first three species are anchored so their distribution is limited to the depth of flooding. For the last species their root system needs to be permanently in water or saturated soil, which is a good indicator of flood patterns. P. communis, E. pyramidalis and O. barthii for example dominate only in areas where the depth of flooding does not exceed 130 cm over a period of ten years or 118 cm for one month in the year.

Floating vegetation of C. papyrus had caused blockages in the Sudd swamps on a number of occasions between 1879 and 1900, when the plants were torn out by increased flooding. C. papyrus needs saturated conditions and can tolerate flooding that is not more than 150 cm deep.

When the matted vegetation breaks free of its moorings, it forms floating islands of vegetation up to 30 km in length. Such islands, in varying stages of decomposition, eventually break up.

Historically, the fully floating Nile cabbage (Pistia stratiotes) was an important plant in the Sudd, but it has largely been replaced by the invasive water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes). The sluggish waters are host to a large population of mosquitoes and parasites that cause waterborne diseases.

Fauna
Including several diverse aquatic habitats like swamps, lakes, channels and floodplains, the Sudd is rich in fish. Some 70 species have been recorded, and this mostly involves fish that are found in much of the Nile system such as marbled lungfish, Senegal bichir, African arowana, Mormyrus caschive, Nile carp, Nile tilapia, mango tilapia, redbelly tilapia, Nile perch, Distichodus rostratus, elongate tigerfish, African tetras, African sharptooth catfish, Synodontis frontosus, S. schall and others. Among the few endemics of the Sudd system are Clarias engelseni, Enteromius yeiensis, Nothobranchius nubaensis, N. virgatus and two apparently undescribed species of Enteromius, and the fish fauna in significant sections still has not been properly studied.

Over 400 species of bird are found in the Sudd, including shoebills (a stronghold for the species with several thousand individuals), great white pelicans, and black crowned cranes. The Sudd provides food and water to large populations of migrating birds. As the surrounding landscape is a large swath of dry Sahel across Africa, the swamp is also a haven for migrating mammals, especially antelopes, such as the bohor reedbuck, sitatunga (the most aquatic antelope of the Sudd, mostly inhabiting permanent swampland), the endangered Nile lechwe (not in permanent swampland, but generally near the water's edge and often walking in shallow water), and the white-eared kob (further away from the permanent swampland). White-eared kob, tiang and Mongalla gazelle take part in one of the largest mammal migrations on Earth, numbering about 1.2 million individuals in total. The shallow water is frequented by Nile crocodiles and hippopotamuses. In more upland areas the Sudd was known as an historic habitat for the endangered painted hunting dog, which however may have been exterminated in the region.

Threats and preservation
The long-running civil war in Southern Sudan seriously disrupted conservation efforts in the Sudd, especially as the widespread availability of weapons has encouraged wildlife poaching, including of elephants. There are three game reserves: Zeraf Island between the Zeraf River and the Nile, Shambe Reserve, and Mongalla Game Reserve.

Jonglei diversion canal
The early explorers searching for the source of the Nile experienced considerable difficulties, sometimes taking months to get through the Sudd. In his 1972 book The White Nile, Alan Moorehead says of the Sudd, "there is no more formidable swamp in the world". The Sudd swamp is sustained by the water from the southwestern tributaries (the Bahr el Ghazal system) and consumes a proportion of the main river through evaporation and transpiration.

Sir William Garstin, Undersecretary of State of Public Works of Egypt, created the first detailed proposal for digging a canal east of the Sudd in 1907. By bypassing the swamps, evaporation of the Nile's water would vastly decrease, allowing an increase in the area of cultivatable land in Egypt by 2000000 acres. The Egyptian government in the 1930s proposed digging a canal east of the Sudd to divert water from the Bahr al Jabal above the Sudd to a point farther down the White Nile, bypassing the swamps and carrying the White Nile's water directly to the main channel of the river.

The Jonglei Canal scheme was studied by the government of Egypt in 1946, and plans were developed in 1954–59. Construction work on the canal began in 1978, but the outbreak of political instability in Sudan has held up work for many years. By 1984 when the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army brought the works to a halt, 240 km of the canal of a total of 360 km had been excavated. The rusting remains of the giant German-built excavation machine—variously nicknamed either "Sarah" or "Lucy" —are visible on a Google Earth image at the south end of the canal, where it has been located since it was destroyed by a missile. When peace was restored in 2000, speculation grew about a restart of the project. However, on 21 February 2008, the Sudanese government said the revival of the project was not a priority. Nevertheless, in 2008, Sudan and Egypt agreed to restart the project and finish the canal in 24 years. South Sudan gained independence in 2011.

It is estimated that the Jonglei canal project would produce 3.5–4.8 x 109 m3 of water per year (equal to a mean annual discharge of 110–152 m3/s (3 883–5 368 ft3/s), an increase of around 5–7% of Egypt's current water supply. The canal's benefits would be shared by Egypt and Sudan, with the expected damage falling on South Sudan. The complex environmental and social issues involved, including the collapse of fisheries, drying of grazing lands, a drop of groundwater levels, and a reduction of rainfall in the region, limits the practicality of the project. The draining of the Sudd is likely to have environmental effects comparable to the drying of Lake Chad or the draining of the Aral Sea.

title: Sudd


text:
Bloodscream

Bloodscream (originally Bloodsport) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of Wolverine.

Publication history
Bloodscream's first appearance was in Wolverine vol. 2 #4 (February, 1989), and he was created by Chris Claremont and John Buscema.

Fictional character biography
Bloodscream is a being with traits and abilities that are similar to those of vampires, though he himself is not a vampire. Bloodscream was born in England in the 16th century. In his youth, he served as an apprentice to an unknown doctor before adulthood, in the manner typical of the Tudor period. He later served in Sir Francis Drake's pirate fleet as a naval surgeon between 1577 and 1580.

In 1580, the surgeon is mortally wounded during an attack on a Spanish galleon and Drake personally directs him to be treated by a Native American shaman named Dagoo. The shaman, however, is actually a necromancer and is only able to save his life by transforming him into a vampire-like being. Enraged by his new condition, Bloodscream forces Dagoo to reveal the ingredients of the potion that had saved him and how to reverse the effects. Before he kills Dagoo, the necromancer reveals that the effects will only be reversed if the potion contains the blood of a man who doesn't age. Most of his activities over the centuries aren't known, with the exception that he continuously fights in any war he can, as Dagoo told him that was where he might find an immortal.

During the 20th century, he serves as a soldier in the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. He sees action during World War II and first encountered the man then known only as Logan, who would later become Wolverine, during the Battle of Normandy (June 6 - August 25, 1944), when Wolverine is a corporal of the Canadian Forces. The two engage in a brief battle with Bloodscream being stabbed and left for dead.

He runs into Wolverine decades later in Madripoor and notices that Wolverine hasn't aged since his encounter with him decades earlier. This leaves Bloodscream to believe that Wolverine's blood will work in the formula to transform him back into a human.

He properly introduces himself to Wolverine while working in Madripoor as a criminal enforcer with his partner, Roughouse. During this time, he often comes into conflict with Wolverine, who was at the time in his alter-ego as "Patch", though he's never able to defeat him. He nearly kills one of Wolverine's close friends, Archie Corrigan, managing to scar his chest with a handprint before being interrupted.

After he parts company with Roughouse, Bloodscream enters a partnership with Cylla Markham of the Reavers, who at that point is tracking Wolverine for reasons of her own. He joins her in tracking Wolverine all throughout the high Canadian wilderness and they finally locate him, though both he and Cylla are near death from hunger and fatigue. Knowing he has no chance against Wolverine unless he's at his peak, Bloodscream turns on Cylla and drains her of blood. Bloodscream then confronts Wolverine, who is armed with the honor sword of Clan Yashida. The sword is a katana forged by demon blacksmiths from a fallen meteorite. As the sword wasn't forged by mortal man, Bloodscream is vulnerable to it and is struck down by Wolverine, who again leaves him for dead.

However, Bloodscream later reappears, and revives the androids Albert and Elsie-Dee, hoping to use them to locate Wolverine. Bloodscream later begins working as a mercenary again with Roughouse, the two being hired by villain the Black Tarantula for a time before being defeated and captured by Spider-Man, although they were unaware of this as Spider-Man fought them using his four new identities- exchanging knowledge of the Tarantula's plans for their freedom. He encounters Wolverine a few more times and has recently been involved in a confrontation with Iron Man in which he was beaten. Iron Man stabbed him with a blade in his armour normally used to interface with outside systems. Maintaining Bloodscream's inability to be hurt with mortally forged weapons, this blade was created by a Stark Enterprises engineering robot rather than a man.

Recently, Bloodscream and Roughouse have come into employment by HYDRA. They came into conflict with the Shadow Initiative. Already beheaded by Typhoid Mary, Bloodscream is defeated by the appearance of Ant-Man, who destroys Bloodscream's body by growing inside of it. However, Ant-Man states Bloodscream would have pulled himself back together, thus urging the Shadow Initiative to evacuate the HYDRA headquarters.

Powers and abilities
Bloodscream possesses a variety of superhuman abilities that are reminiscent of those possessed by supernatural vampires, even though he himself is not a true vampire. He possesses none of the supernatural or mystical vulnerabilities common to true vampires. He suffers no harm from sunlight, silver, or any other traditional weakness from folklore.

Like true vampires, however, Bloodscream possesses superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, and reaction time. The full limits of Bloodscream's physical capabilities are unknown but are well beyond those of most known true vampires.

Bloodscream must regularly feed from the blood or the lifeforce of other human beings in order to maintain his physical vitality. There are times in which he merely ingests blood and there are others when he drains an individual of his or her life energy. He is able to accomplish either by touching a victim's bare skin. If a victim survives, the victim is left with a red scar in the shape of Bloodscream's hand at the exact point where he touches a victim. It also can result, if Bloodscream chooses to absorb a victim's entire lifeforce, in the victim's body quickly withering into rapidly aged husk. Bloodscream is able to transform a dead victim into a mindless, zombie-like being that is forced to do his bidding, though he rarely does so.

Bloodscream is functionally immortal in the sense that he is immune to the effects of aging and to all known diseases. He has also shown the ability to rapidly heal from physical injury and to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissues, similar to Wolverine's mutant healing factor. Bloodscream has, in the past, reattached his own head after being decapitated by Wolverine. According to the necromancer who transformed him into his current form, Bloodscream cannot be slain by any weapon created by a mortal being, though it is unknown this is true or not. It is known that he can at least be injured by weapons created by mortal hands, and Iron Man once managed to seriously injure him with a blade function in his armor that had been created by a Stark Industries robot rather than a living being.

Bloodscream also possesses limited shape-shifting powers, able to transform from his 'normal' pale-skinned vampire likeness into a more monstrous form. His jaw expands to several feet deep, and his teeth grow to almost a foot long. Bloodscream's arms, hands, and fingers also elongate, with his fingernails growing out to a similar length as his teeth. In this state, Bloodscream is little more than an animal and his craving for blood reaches frenzied levels.

Special skills
Bloodscream is a good hand-to-hand combatant and has many connections throughout the criminal underworld, adding to his reputation as a mercenary for hire. His extended lifespan has granted him great experience in matters of naval warfare and piracy.

Television

 * Bloodscream had a cameo in episode of the X-Men series along with Roughouse just as with the first ongoing Wolverine comic series.

Video games

 * Bloodscream appears as a boss in Wolverine: Adamantium Rage.
 * Though he is not seen in the game, Bloodscream is briefly mentioned as having been murdered by a cult group called "The Circle of Eight" in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance.

title: Bloodscream


text:
George Seddon (cabinetmaker)

George Seddon (1727–1801) was an English cabinetmaker. At one time his furniture making business was the largest and most successful in London, employing over four hundred craftsmen. He was Master of the Joiners Company of London in 1795.

His two sons, George and Thomas, and his son in law, Thomas Shackleton joined him in his business.

title: George Seddon (cabinetmaker)


text:
Nordhausen, Thuringia

Nordhausen is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the Nordhausen district and the urban centre of northern Thuringia and the southern Harz region; its population is 42,000. Nordhausen is located approximately 60 km north of Erfurt, 80 km west of Halle, 85 km south of Braunschweig and 60 km east of Göttingen.

Nordhausen was first mentioned in records in the year 927 and became one of the most important cities in central Germany during the later Middle Ages. The city is situated on the Zorge river, a tributary of the Helme within the fertile region of Goldene Aue (golden floodplain) at the southern edge of the Harz mountains. In the early 13th century, it became a free imperial city, so that it was an independent and republican self-ruled member of the Holy Roman Empire. Due to its long-distance trade, Nordhausen was prosperous and influential, with a population of 8,000 around 1500. It was the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt, today's capital, and Mühlhausen, the other free imperial city in the land.

Nordhausen was once known for its tobacco industry and is still known for its distilled spirit, Nordhäuser Doppelkorn. Industrialization accompanied railway construction that linked the cities to major markets in the mid-19th century. In the late 19th century, narrow-gauge railways were constructed in this region through the Harz mountains. In December 1898 the Nordhausen-Wernigerode Railway Company (Nordhausen-Wernigeroder Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) or NWE added a line, with the full network operating by 1899. The Harz Narrow Gauge Railways are maintained today by local authorities and frequented primarily by tourists.

In the early 20th century, this became a centre of the engineering and arms industries. During World War II, the Nazi German government established and operated the nearby KZ Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, where 60,000 forced labourers had to work in the arms industry. They were prisoners of war and persons from occupied territories. Some 20,000 persons died because of the bad conditions. In April 1945, most of the city was destroyed by Royal Air Force bombings, resulting in 8,800 casualties (more than 20% of the population). 25 % of the historic inner city survived. Nordhausen suffered the most damage during the war of any city in Thuringia. A week later the United States troops occupied the city, followed weeks later by the Soviet Red Army. The city was within the Soviet zone of occupation, and later the territory was known as East Germany. Hundreds of German scientists and their families from Nordhausen were among thousands deported to the Soviet Union after the war to work on advanced rocket and other arms engineering projects.

Nordhausen is the birthplace of the mathematician Oswald Teichmüller, known for his groundbreaking work on the Teichmüller spaces – which were named after him. It is the site of the Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule Nordhausen), founded in 1997 after the reunification of Germany. The university has 2,500 students.

Middle Ages
The Franks colonized the area around Nordhausen about 800, many place names here have a Frankish origin, discernible by the suffix -hausen (like Nordhausen itself, Sundhausen, Windehausen and the later abandoned settlement Stockhausen as well as the neighbouring cities of Mühlhausen, Sondershausen, Frankenhausen and Sangerhausen). Nordhausen itself is first mentioned in a 13 May 927 document of King Henry the Fowler. He built a castle here, which is traceable between 910 and 1277 and became a centre of the empire during the 10th century. Gerberga of Saxony, Henry's daughter is supposed to have been born there, as was Henry I, Duke of Bavaria. The first market was established in the 10th century, as was a chapter of nuns (961). During the 12th century, the old town was semi-planned and established around the new market place and St. Nicholas' Church.

Nordhausen was Reichsgut (estate of the German emperor) from the beginning, but in 1158, Frederick Barbarossa donated it to the local chapter of nuns, which was converted to a cathedral chapter by Frederick II in 1220, whereby the city came back to the empire and became an Imperial Free City. Nordhausen was granted the privileges of a town around 1200, in 1198 it was first mentioned as a villa and in 1206, there was a mayor, a Vogt and citizens. The municipal law of Nordhausen was similar to that of Mühlhausen, hence the Mühlhausen Book of Law was adopted in the mid-13th century. Today's city wall was established between 1290 and 1330 and cut the old town off from Altendorf in the north-west, the new town in the west and Altnordhausen in the south. Nevertheless, the new town was legally incorporated in 1365. Besides the parish churches, many monasteries were founded during the late Middle Ages in Nordhausen (Cistercians in Altnordhausen (Frauenberg, about 1200) and Altendorf (1294), Augustines where the Nordhäuser distillery is today (1312), Franciscans at Georgengasse (1230) and Dominicans at Predigerstraße (1287)). As distinct from Mühlhausen and many other free imperial cities, Nordhausen did not own any territories or villages in the surrounding area.

The city's independence was endangered by the ambitions of regional counts, especially by those of Hohnstein County (based in near Ilfeld), who extorted funds from Nordhausen during the 14th century. On the other hand, the debts of the Hohnstein Counts were gigantic: they owed 86 citizens of Nordhausen 5744 Mark silver in 1370. In 1306, Nordhausen allied with the two other major Thuringian cities Erfurt and Mühlhausen against the Wettins and the local counts (Hohnstein, Stolberg, Schwarzburg, Beichlingen etc.) and joined the Hanseatic League together with them in 1430. Further alliances were concluded with Goslar, Halberstadt, Quedlinburg and Aschersleben to represent urban interests against the landlords.

In 1349, during a plague epidemic, some number of Jewish residents were killed by the citizenry with support from Frederick II, Margrave of Meissen. According to legend, they danced on their way to the pyre.

Early modern period
In 1500 it became part of the Lower Saxon Circle, and from around the same year the city began producing fermented grain liquor, which became famous under the name Nordhäuser Doppelkorn. In 1523, a year in which Thomas Müntzer spent some time in the city, the Protestant Reformation came to Nordhausen, which was one of the first cities that adopted the new doctrine. The cathedral chapter stayed catholic, protected by the Habsburg emperors but the other monasteries got closed during the following decades and their heritage came to the city. During the 16th century, Nordhausen succeeded to push back the influence of the Wettins and the Hohnstein counts by buying back their privileges over the city. This marked the peak in pre-modern urban development, followed by some centuries of decline introduced by the Thirty Years' War. In 1551, the Jews were expelled from the city. They were not generally permitted to live there again until 1807.

After the war, the Electorate of Brandenburg tried to incorporate the free cities of Nordhausen, Mühlhausen and Goslar, because it already became large territories in the Harz region. The Electorate of Saxony, protecting power of Nordhausen gave hidden support to the Brandenburgs, so that Nordhausen tried to keep its independence through the protection by the Hanovers. After the Brandenburg-Prussians had occupied Nordhausen between 1703 and 1714, the city got protection of Hanover resp. England, which paid 50,000 Talers to the Prussians to leave Nordhausen, which was moreover destroyed by two town fires in 1710 and 1712. Under the protection of Hanover, the economy improved again and the production of tobacco since mid-18th century brought new wealth to Nordhausen.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Prussian troops occupied Nordhausen on 2 August 1802; the city lost its status as an Imperial Free City during the German Mediatisation. After Prussia's defeat against Napoleon, it became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia created in 1807.

Since 1815
Following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, Nordhausen was included in the Kingdom of Prussia's Province of Saxony created in 1816. During the mid-19th century, industrialisation started in Nordhausen with production of chewing tobacco, alcoholic beverages, paper and textiles. The breakthrough was reached as Nordhausen got connected to main railways in four directions between 1866 and 1869. In 1882 it became an urban district (until 1950). In the late 19th century, narrow-gauge railways were constructed linking Nordhausen and other cities through the Harz mountains, operating by 1899.

As the engineering industry developed after 1900, the city saw an economic heyday. Industry developed and expanded during the following decades.

1900 to present
In the 1930s the Nazi Party came to power in Germany. It imposed discrimination against Jews, with increasing restrictions and violence such as Kristallnacht in 1938, when businesses and synagogues were destroyed. It deported Jews to concentration and death camps. The Mittelbau-Dora Nazi concentration camp, also known as Dora-Nordhausen or Nordhausen, was established in 1943 during World War II after the destruction of Peenemünde, and located on the outskirts of Nordhausen to provide labor for the Mittelwerk V-2 rocket factory in the Kohnstein. Over its period of operation, around 60,000 inmates passed through Dora and its system of subcamps, of whom around 20,000 died from bad working conditions, starvation, and diseases, or were murdered. Around 10,000 forced labourers were deployed in several factories within the city; up to 6,000 of them were interned at Boelcke Kaserne, working for a Junkers factory.

On 24 August 1944, 11 B-17 Flying Fortresses of Mission 568 bombed the airfield at Nordhausen as a target of opportunity. From January 1945, sick and dying prisoners were interned at Boelcke Kaserne. On 3 and 4 April 1945 three-quarters of Nordhausen was destroyed by bombing raids of the Royal Air Force, resulting in the deaths of around 8,800 people, including 1,300-1,500 sick prisoners at the Boelcke Kaserne barracks within Nordhausen.

On 11 April 1945, United States troops occupied the town, and on 2 July the Red Army of the Soviet Union took over. A Special Mission V-2: US operation was undertaken by Maj. William Bromley, intended to recover V-2 rocket parts and equipment. Maj. James P. Hamill co-ordinated the rail transport of said equipment with the 144th Motor Vehicle Assembly Company, from Nordhausen to Erfurt (Operation Paperclip).

On 18 July the Soviet administration created the Institute Rabe to develop Soviet rocket technology on the basis of the substantially more sophisticated V-2 rockets. In May 1946 the Institute was subsumed into the new Institute Nordhausen, under an expanded programme of research across the Soviet occupation zone, including a new Institute Berlin. On 22 October 1946, under Operation Osoaviakhim, 10–15,000 German scientists, engineers and their families were deported to the Soviet Union, including around 300 from Nordhausen. Transplanted along with their equipment, many of the scientists and their families lived there until the early 1950s.

Nordhausen became part of East Germany in 1949. It was administered as part of Bezirk Erfurt from 1952. The reconstruction of Nordhausen took a long time during the 1950s and 1960s and was carried out in modern architectural style. Town hall, the cathedral and St. Blaise's Church were the only rebuilt historic monuments. The Uprising of 1953 in East Germany found a centre in Nordhausen, because the living conditions within the destroyed city were still bad, and the people were exceedingly dissatisfied. Only the Soviet army could defeat the uprising. Within the GDR, Nordhausen was the centre of tobacco and liqueur production.

After the German reunification of 1990, Nordhausen was made part of the recreated state of Thuringia. The 1990s brought an economic crisis with high unemployment rates, and many uncompetitive communist-era factories had to close. Nevertheless, local industry revived after the crisis. Since 2000 the economy has been growing again, with the unemployment rate decreasing and Nordhausen has established itself as the urban centre of northern Thuringia. The Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences was founded in 1997, attracting students to the town. The Landesgartenschau (Land's horticultural exhibition) in 2004 was an impetus to further urban development.

Topography
Nordhausen is situated at the border between the flat and fertile area of Goldene Aue in the south and the foothills of the Harz mountains in the north on a level of approx. 180 m of elevation. The Zorge river crosses the city from northwest to southeast and the bigger Helme river runs in west-eastern direction at the southern border of the municipality. Between them are some quarry ponds of former gravel mining near the Sundhausen and Bielen districts. To the north, the terrain is getting more hilly and part of a karst area south to the Harz mountains. The north-west of the territory is marked by the Kohnstein hill (335 m) and the north-east is the Rüdigsdorf Switzerland, a small area with a beautiful landscape up to 350 m of elevation around Rüdigsdorf district. South of Helme river, the terrain gets also hilly around the Windleite mountains between Nordhausen and Sondershausen. Most of the municipal territory is in agricultural use. The forests are located first between the city centre in the south and Rüdigsdorf in the north (with interruptions), second at Kohnstein hill and third in the east around Rodishain and Stempeda.

Administrative division
Nordhausen abuts the following municipalities: Ellrich, Harztor, Harzungen, Neustadt, Buchholz and Herrmannsacker in the north, Südharz and Urbach in the east, Heringen and Kleinfurra in the south and Werther in the west. Except of Südharz, which is part of Mansfeld-Südharz district in Saxony-Anhalt, all the neighbouring municipalities belong to the Nordhausen district in Thuringia.

The following villages belong to the Nordhausen municipality:

Demographics
Nordhausen had approx. 8,000 inhabitants during the late Middle Ages around 1500, which was the third-largest number within today's Thuringia, after Erfurt, the current capital and Mühlhausen. The early modern period brought stagnation to the city, so that the population was also 8,000 around 1800. Nordhausen fell back behind the new ducal residence cities like Weimar, Gotha or Altenburg in this ages and lost its former importance. Nevertheless, Industrialization started in the 1860s, as Nordhausen got connected to the railway and the population grew to 26,000 and 33,000 in 1910, which was a smaller growth than in other cities of comparable size during that period of rapid urbanisation in Germany. Until 1940, the population rose to 42,000, but decreased due to the destruction of the city in World War II to 32,000 in 1946. The old level was attained again in the early 1960s and the population peak was reached in 1988 with 48,000. The bad economic situation after the German reunification led to emigration during the 1990s and the population shrunk in that decade. Because of the various incorporations of neighbouring villages, the amount looks smaller than it was.

The average change of population within the last years (2009–2012) was approximately -0.35% p. a, whereas the population in bordering rural regions is shrinking with accelerating tendency and the 2011 EU census led to a statistical amendment of –2,000 persons. Suburbanization played only a small role in Nordhausen. It occurred after the reunification for a short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders.

The birth deficit was 266 in 2012, this is -6.3 per 1,000 inhabitants (Thuringian average: -4.5; national average: -2.4). The net migration rate was -0.5 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 (Thuringian average: -0.8; national average: +4.6), but is fluctuating relatively heavy for years. The most important regions of origin of Nordhausen migrants are rural areas of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt as well as foreign countries like Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Like other eastern German cities, Nordhausen has only a small number of foreigners: circa 2.3% are non-Germans by citizenship and overall 4.6% are migrants (according to 2011 EU census). During recent years, the economic situation of the city improved somewhat: the unemployment rate in Nordhausen district declined from 24% in 2005 to 10% in 2013 with higher rates in the city than in the bordering rural municipalities. Due to the official atheism in former GDR, most of the population is non-religious. 16.2% are members of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany and 4.5% are Catholics (according to 2011 EU census).

Historical Population

 * Data source since 1994: Thuringian state office for statistics

Museums

 * The Flohburg/Nordhausen-Museum at Barfüßerstraße is the municipal museum of Nordhausen hosting an exhibition about the city's history.
 * The Museum Tabakspeicher at Bäckerstraße is a trade history museum, showing some items of the last centuries economic history.
 * The Kunsthaus Meyenburg at Alexander-Puschkin-Straße is Nordhausen's arthistorical museum and shows temporary exhibitions of art.
 * The Mittelbau-Dora memorial north-west of the city hosts an exhibition about the history of this Nazi concentration camp and a memorial for its 20,000 victims.
 * The IFA-Museum at Montaniastraße shows an exhibition of automotive engineering within an old Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau factory.

Cityscape
Nordhausen's cityscape is marked by the near total destruction during the bombings in 1945, extinguishing most of the historic city centre. There were four historic city parts before: the old town within the city wall on a hill east of the Zorge valley, the new town within the valley between the river in the west, the city wall in the east, Hohensteinerstraße in the north and Vor dem Vogel street in the south, the Altendorf suburbium in the north-west around Altendorf and Am Alten Tor street and the Altnordhausen suburbium in the south-east around St. Mary's Church on the hill. Altnordhausen and the new town are completely vanished, the old town was destroyed up to 90%, only some buildings around Barfüßerstraße, Domstraße and Bäckerstraße on the western edge remained, whereas Altendorf preserved entirely. So around 25 % of the old town remain. During the 19th and 20th century, the city enlarged to all directions, the worker's districts were built up in the west at Zorge valley and Salza and to the east around Förstemannstraße and Leimbacher Straße. The mansion district developed in the north around Stolberger Straße and in the south and west along the railways, the big industrial areas are located.

The reconstruction after the World War II was carried out in altered manner, changing the grid and the structure of Nordhausen, which can be clearly seen along the new main streets Rautenstraße and Töpferstraße. Some areas were never built up again, for example those north and south of Kranichstraße and around Georgengasse. Peripheral Plattenbau settlements were built during the later GDR period in the east at Leimbacher Straße and in the north around the hospital. The village Salza in the north-west is grown together with Nordhausen since the 20th century.

Churches
Furthermore, there were churches being destroyed by the 1945 bombings: the old main church St. Nicholas' and the new town's church St. Jacob's as well as the earlier abandoned monasteries of the Augustines, Franciscans and Dominicans.
 * The Nordhausen Holy Cross Cathedral is the catholic parish church of Nordhausen. It was never a bishop's seat but it's also called a cathedral because it is dating back to a cathedral chapter monastery. The building was established between 1180 and 1400 and shows both Romanesque and Gothic style elements.
 * The St. Blaise's Church is the evangelical main church of Nordhausen. It was built during the second half of the 15th century in Gothic style.
 * The St. Mary's Church in the valley at Altendorf (north-western historic city part) is an evangelical parish church today and was built as monastery around 1353 in Gothic style.
 * The St. Mary's Church on the hill at Frauenberg hill (south-eastern historic city part) is also an evangelical parish church arose from a monastery. It was built in the 12th century in Romanesque style and destroyed (about 80%) in 1945 during the bombings. Later, the ruins were involved in a modern reconstruction.
 * The Petri Tower is the remained steeple of the damaged St. Peter's Church within the city centre. It was built in 1362.

Secular buildings

 * The city wall was built between 13th and 15th century and remained in big parts (in the north, south-west and south-east).
 * The town hall was built in Renaissance style between 1608 and 1610 and is one of only few buildings being rebuilt after the destruction by the bombings in 1945. The Nordhausen Roland is the city's landmark, it was established in 1717 as larger-than-life statue on the south-western corner of the town hall (wooden, today a copy, the original is shown in the museum).
 * The Stadttheater was built between 1913 and 1917 and is in use a theatre until today.
 * The Walkenrieder Hof is a former storage building at Waisenstraße, built in 1345 and now used as municipal archive.
 * Some old buildings in city centre that survived the bombings in 1945 are only remained along Barfüßerstraße, Domstraße and Bäckerstraße on the western edge of the city centre and in the former suburbium Altendorf in the north-west. An interesting mansion district preserved north of the city centre with late-19th and early-20th century mansions.

Agriculture, industry and services
Agriculture plays an important role to the present day. Approximately 57% of the municipal territory is in agricultural use. Cereals from the region are used in the making of a famous local spirit, the Nordhäuser Korn. Historically, sulfuric acid produced by the distillation of green vitriol (iron(II) sulfate) was known as Nordhausen oil of vitriol.

The primary industry of Nordhausen is in the production of heavy machinery. The region had a factory for the production of rail engines until 1942. Later the region's plants produced truck motors, augers and excavators. Today, engineering is still the most important industrial branch of Nordhausen, although many factories have had to close following the reunification of Germany in 1990. In 2012 there were 35 companies of 20 workers or more were present in the industrial sector, all together employing 4,000 persons and generating an annual turnover of €800 mio, making Nordhausen the industrial core of Thuringia today.

Nordhausen is the biggest city in a circuit of 60 km, making it an important regional service hub for retail, medicine, education, government and culture (theatre, cinema etc.). A major shopping centre is the Südharz Galerie at Bahnhofstraße, and the Südharz Klinikum is one of the biggest hospitals in Thuringia.

Transport
Nordhausen has been a railway node since the late 19th century. The Halle–Kassel railway was opened in 1866/67, the South Harz Railway in 1869 and the Nordhausen–Erfurt railway also in 1869. In 1897, the narrow-gauge Trans-Harz Railway followed as the last one. Today, there are regional express trains to Halle in the east and Kassel in the west as well as local trains to Halle, Heiligenstadt, Erfurt and Göttingen (via Northeim), running every one to two hours. Nordhausen station is the main station, a second one is Nordhausen-Salza on the South Harz line. The narrow-gauge Trans-Harz-Railway is linked with the tramway network in a Tram-train system with many stops within Nordhausen.

Nordhausen is located on the Bundesautobahn 38 from Göttingen in the west to Halle and Leipzig in the east, opened in the 2000s. Furthermore, there are two Bundesstraßen connecting Nordhausen: the Bundesstraße 4 is a link to Erfurt in the south and to Braunschweig through the Harz mountains in the north and the Bundesstraße 243 connects Nordhausen with Hildesheim in the north-west. The former Bundesstraße 80 was annulled after the opening of the parallel Bundesautobahn 38 and the Bundesstraße 81 as a connection to Magdeburg starts a few kilometres north of the city at B 4. The B 4 (southern branch) and the B 243 shall be enlarged because of their importance as connections to and between Erfurt and Lower Saxony. Furthermore, there are important secondary roads to Heringen in the south-east and to Buchholz in the north-east.

The nearest airports are the Erfurt-Weimar Airport, 80 km to the south, the Leipzig/Halle Airport, 120 km to the east and the Hannover Airport, 150 km to the north-west.

For cycling, the long-distance Südharzroute trail network offers 10 trails in the region around Nordhausen.

The Nordhausen tramway network forms an important part of the public transport system, established in 1900. Furthermore, there are inner-city and regional bus services.

Education
Nordhausen has a Fachhochschule (University of Applied Sciences) with 2,500 students that offers Bachelor's and Master's degrees in business administration, public management, and business engineering, among others. Furthermore, there are two Gymnasiums in Nordhausen.

Mayor and city council
The first freely elected mayor after German reunification was Barbara Rinke of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who served from 1994 to 2012. She was succeeded by Klaus Zeh of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 2012 until his resignation in 2017. Independent Kai Buchmann was elected in the resulting election. The most recent mayoral election was held on 10 September 2023, with a runoff held on 24 September, and the results were as follows:

! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate ! rowspan=2| Party ! colspan=2| First round ! colspan=2| Second round ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 18,585 ! 98.9 ! ! ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 194 ! 1.1 ! ! ! colspan=3| Total ! 18,391 ! 100.0 ! ! 100.0 ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! 32,925 ! 56.4 ! !
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Jörg Prophet
 * align=left| Alternative for Germany
 * 7,750
 * 42.1
 * 45.1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Kai Buchmann
 * align=left| Independent
 * 4,363
 * 23.7
 * 54.9
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alexandra Rieger
 * align=left| Social Democratic Party
 * 3,414
 * 18.6
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Inge Klaan
 * align=left| Christian Democratic Union
 * 2,051
 * 11.2
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Stefan Marx
 * align=left| Free Democratic Party
 * 555
 * 3.0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Carsten Meyer
 * align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens
 * 258
 * 1.4
 * 555
 * 3.0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Carsten Meyer
 * align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens
 * 258
 * 1.4
 * 1.4
 * colspan=7| Source: Wahlen in Thüringen, Wahlen In Der Stadt Nordhausen
 * }
 * }

The most recent city council election was held on 26 May 2019, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2| Party ! Lead candidate ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 18,153 ! 97.5 ! ! ! ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 467 ! 2.5 ! ! ! ! colspan=3| Total ! 18,620 ! 100.0 ! ! 36 ! ±0 ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! 34,843 ! 53.4 ! 11.3 ! !
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
 * align=left| Steffen Iffland
 * 11,942
 * 22.2
 * 9.3
 * 8
 * 3
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| The Left (Die Linke)
 * align=left| Michael Mohr
 * 11,734
 * 21.8
 * 1.4
 * 8
 * ±0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD)
 * align=left| Jörg Prophet
 * 11,299
 * 21.0
 * New
 * 8
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD)
 * align=left| Hans-Georg Müller
 * 9,387
 * 17.4
 * 11.8
 * 6
 * 5
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
 * align=left| Sylvia Spehr
 * 4,912
 * 9.1
 * 2.2
 * 3
 * ±0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP)
 * align=left| Manuel Thume
 * 3,857
 * 7.2
 * 2.0
 * 3
 * 1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| National Democratic Party (NPD)
 * align=left| Ralf Friedrich
 * 688
 * 1.3
 * 2.6
 * 0
 * 1
 * align=left| National Democratic Party (NPD)
 * align=left| Ralf Friedrich
 * 688
 * 1.3
 * 2.6
 * 0
 * 1
 * colspan=8| Source: Wahlen in Thüringen
 * }
 * }

Sport
Thüringer HC, a top-flight Bindesliga professional women's handball team, plays at the city's Wiedigsburghalle. The club has its seat in Erfurt and plays also the home matches in the Salza-Halle in Bad Langensalza.

The local association football team is Wacker Nordhausen founded in 1905 (re-formed in 1990), four-time state cup champions. They play their games at the 8000-capacity Albert-Kuntz-Sportpark. League-wise most of their history they have inculcated between the 5th tier and the 6th, both of which they won twice.

Twin towns – sister cities
Nordhausen is twinned with:
 * 🇫🇷 Charleville-Mézières, France (1978)
 * 🇵🇱 Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland (1983)
 * 🇩🇪 Bochum, Germany (1990)
 * 🇮🇱 Beit Shemesh, Israel (1992)

Notable people

 * Eduard Baltzer (1814–1887), reformer and democrat
 * Julius Bergmann (1861–1940), painter
 * Rolf Kalmuczak (1938–2007), author
 * Volker Beck (born 1956), athlete
 * Gitta Escher (born 1957), devices gymnast
 * Ariane Friedrich (born 1984), high jumper
 * Maximilian Beyer (born 1993), racing cyclist

title: Nordhausen, Thuringia