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Foodborne illness

Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease), and toxins such as aflatoxins in peanuts, poisonous mushrooms, and various species of beans that have not been boiled for at least 10 minutes.

Symptoms vary depending on the cause. They often include vomiting, fever, and aches, and may include diarrhea. Bouts of vomiting can be repeated with an extended delay in between. This is because even if infected food was eliminated from the stomach in the first bout, microbes, like bacteria (if applicable), can pass through the stomach into the intestine and begin to multiply. Some types of microbes stay in the intestine.

For contaminants requiring an incubation period, symptoms may not manifest for hours to days, depending on the cause and on the quantity of consumption. Longer incubation periods tend to cause those affected to not associate the symptoms with the item consumed, so they may misattribute the symptoms to gastroenteritis, for example.

Causes
Foodborne illness usually arises from improper handling, preparation, or food storage. Good hygiene practices before, during, and after food preparation can reduce the chances of contracting an illness. There is a consensus in the public health community that regular hand-washing is one of the most effective defenses against the spread of foodborne illness. The action of monitoring food to ensure that it will not cause foodborne illness is known as food safety. Foodborne disease can also be caused by a large variety of toxins that affect the environment.

Furthermore, foodborne illness can be caused by a number of chemicals, such as pesticides, medicines, and natural toxic substances such as vomitoxin, poisonous mushrooms or reef fish.

Bacteria
Bacteria are a common cause of foodborne illness. In 2000, the United Kingdom reported the individual bacteria involved as the following: Campylobacter jejuni 77.3%, Salmonella 20.9%, Escherichia coli O157:H7 1.4%, and all others less than 0.56%.

In the past, bacterial infections were thought to be more prevalent because few places had the capability to test for norovirus and no active surveillance was being done for this particular agent. Toxins from bacterial infections are delayed because the bacteria need time to multiply. As a result, symptoms associated with intoxication are usually not seen until 12–72 hours or more after eating contaminated food. However, in some cases, such as Staphylococcal food poisoning, the onset of illness can be as soon as 30 minutes after ingesting contaminated food.

A 2022 study concluded that washing uncooked chicken could increase the risk of pathogen transfer, and that specific washing conditions can decrease the risk of transfer.

Most common bacterial foodborne pathogens are:
 * Campylobacter jejuni which can lead to secondary Guillain–Barré syndrome and periodontitis
 * Clostridium perfringens, the "cafeteria germ"
 * Salmonella spp. – its S. typhimurium infection is caused by consumption of eggs or poultry that are not adequately cooked or by other interactive human-animal pathogens
 * Escherichia coli O157:H7 enterohemorrhagic (EHEC) which can cause hemolytic-uremic syndrome

Other common bacterial foodborne pathogens are:
 * Bacillus cereus
 * Escherichia coli, other virulence properties, such as enteroinvasive (EIEC), enteropathogenic (EPEC), enterotoxigenic (ETEC), enteroaggregative (EAEC or EAgEC)
 * Listeria monocytogenes
 * Shigella spp.
 * Staphylococcus aureus
 * Streptococcus
 * Vibrio cholerae, including O1 and non-O1
 * Vibrio parahaemolyticus
 * Vibrio vulnificus
 * Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

Less common bacterial agents:
 * Brucella spp.
 * Corynebacterium ulcerans
 * Coxiella burnetii or Q fever
 * Plesiomonas shigelloides

Enterotoxins
In addition to disease caused by direct bacterial infection, some foodborne illnesses are caused by enterotoxins (exotoxins targeting the intestines). Enterotoxins can produce illness even when the microbes that produced them have been killed. Symptom onset varies with the toxin but may be rapid in onset, as in the case of enterotoxins of Staphylococcus aureus in which symptoms appear in one to six hours. This causes intense vomiting including or not including diarrhea (resulting in staphylococcal enteritis), and staphylococcal enterotoxins (most commonly staphylococcal enterotoxin A but also including staphylococcal enterotoxin B) are the most commonly reported enterotoxins although cases of poisoning are likely underestimated. It occurs mainly in cooked and processed foods due to competition with other biota in raw foods, and humans are the main cause of contamination as a substantial percentage of humans are persistent carriers of S. aureus. The CDC has estimated about 240,000 cases per year in the United States.
 * Clostridium botulinum
 * Clostridium perfringens
 * Bacillus cereus

The rare but potentially deadly disease botulism occurs when the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum grows in improperly canned low-acid foods and produces botulin, a powerful paralytic toxin.

Pseudoalteromonas tetraodonis, certain species of Pseudomonas and Vibrio, and some other bacteria, produce the lethal tetrodotoxin, which is present in the tissues of some living animal species rather than being a product of decomposition.

Emerging foodborne pathogens
Scandinavian outbreaks of Yersinia enterocolitica have recently increased to an annual basis, connected to the non-canonical contamination of pre-washed salad.
 * Aeromonas hydrophila, Aeromonas caviae, Aeromonas sobria

Preventing bacterial food poisoning
Goverments have the primary mandate of ensuring safe food for all, however all actors in the food chain are responsible to ensure only safe food reaches the consumer, thus preventing foodborne illnesses. This is achieved through the implementation of strict hygiene rules and a public veterinary and phytosanitary service that monitors animal products throughout the food chain, from farming to delivery in shops and restaurants. This regulation includes:
 * traceability: the origin of the ingredients (farm of origin, identification of the crop or animal) and where and when it has been processed must be known in the final product; in this way, the origin of the disease can be traced and resolved (and possibly penalized), and the final products can be removed from sale if a problem is detected;
 * enforcement of hygiene procedures such as HACCP and the "cold chain";
 * power of control and of law enforcement of veterinarians.

In August 2006, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved phage therapy which involves spraying meat with viruses that infect bacteria, and thus preventing infection. This has raised concerns because without mandatory labeling, consumers would not know that meat and poultry products have been treated with the spray.

At home, prevention mainly consists of good food safety practices. Many forms of bacterial poisoning can be prevented by cooking food sufficiently, and either eating it quickly or refrigerating it effectively. Many toxins, however, are not destroyed by heat treatment.

Techniques that help prevent food borne illness in the kitchen are hand washing, rinsing produce, preventing cross-contamination, proper storage, and maintaining cooking temperatures. In general, freezing or refrigerating prevents virtually all bacteria from growing, and heating food sufficiently kills parasites, viruses, and most bacteria. Bacteria grow most rapidly at the range of temperatures between 40 and 140 °F, called the "danger zone". Storing food below or above the "danger zone" can effectively limit the production of toxins. For storing leftovers, the food must be put in shallow containers for quick cooling and must be refrigerated within two hours. When food is reheated, it must reach an internal temperature of 165 F or until hot or steaming to kill bacteria.

Mycotoxins and alimentary mycotoxicoses
The term alimentary mycotoxicosis refers to the effect of poisoning by mycotoxins through food consumption. The term mycotoxin is usually reserved for the toxic chemical compounds naturally produced by fungi that readily colonize crops under given temperature and moisture conditions. Mycotoxins can have important effects on human and animal health. For example, an outbreak which occurred in the UK during 1960 caused the death of 100,000 turkeys which had consumed aflatoxin-contaminated peanut meal. In the USSR in World War II, 5,000 people died due to alimentary toxic aleukia (ALA). . In Kenya, mycotoxins led to the death of 125 people in 2004, after consumption of contaminated grains. In animals, mycotoxicosis targets organ systems such as liver and digestive system. Other effects can include reduced productivity and suppression of the immune system, thus pre-disposing the animals to other secondary infections. The common foodborne Mycotoxins include:
 * Aflatoxins – originating from Aspergillus parasiticus and Aspergillus flavus. They are frequently found in tree nuts, peanuts, maize, sorghum and other oilseeds, including corn and cottonseeds. The pronounced forms of aflatoxins are those of B1, B2, G1, and G2, amongst which Aflatoxin B1 predominantly targets the liver, which will result in necrosis, cirrhosis, and carcinoma. Other forms of aflatoxins exist as metabolites such as Aflatoxin M1. In the US, the acceptable level of total aflatoxins in foods is less than 20 μg/kg, except for Aflatoxin M1 in milk, which should be less than 0.5 μg/kg The official document can be found at FDA's website.  The European union has more stringent standards, set at 10 μg/kg in cereals and cereal products. These references are also adopted in other countries.
 * Altertoxins – are those of alternariol (AOH), alternariol methyl ether (AME), altenuene (ALT), altertoxin-1 (ATX-1), tenuazonic acid (TeA), and radicinin (RAD), originating from Alternaria spp. Some of the toxins can be present in sorghum, ragi, wheat and tomatoes.  Some research has shown that the toxins can be easily cross-contaminated between grain commodities, suggesting that manufacturing and storage of grain commodities is a critical practice.
 * Citrinin
 * Citreoviridin
 * Cyclopiazonic acid
 * Cytochalasins
 * Ergot alkaloids / ergopeptine alkaloids – ergotamine
 * Fumonisins – Crop corn can be easily contaminated by the fungi Fusarium moniliforme, and its fumonisin B1 will cause leukoencephalomalacia (LEM) in horses, pulmonary edema syndrome (PES) in pigs, liver cancer in rats and esophageal cancer in humans. For human and animal health, both the FDA and the EC have regulated the content levels of toxins in food and animal feed.
 * Fusaric acid
 * Fusarochromanone
 * Kojic acid
 * Lolitrem alkaloids
 * Moniliformin
 * 3-Nitropropionic acid
 * Nivalenol
 * Ochratoxins – In Australia, The Limit of Reporting (LOR) level for ochratoxin A (OTA) analyses in 20th Australian Total Diet Survey was 1 μg/kg, whereas the EC restricts the content of OTA to 5 μg/kg in cereal commodities, 3 μg/kg in processed products and 10 μg/kg in dried vine fruits.
 * Oosporeine
 * Patulin – Currently, this toxin has been advisably regulated on fruit products. The EC and the FDA have limited it to under 50 μg/kg for fruit juice and fruit nectar, while limits of 25 μg/kg for solid-contained fruit products and 10 μg/kg for baby foods were specified by the EC.
 * Phomopsins
 * Sporidesmin A
 * Sterigmatocystin
 * Tremorgenic mycotoxins – Five of them have been reported to be associated with molds found in fermented meats. These are fumitremorgen B, paxilline, penitrem A, verrucosidin, and verruculogen.
 * Trichothecenes – sourced from Cephalosporium, Fusarium, Myrothecium, Stachybotrys, and Trichoderma. The toxins are usually found in molded maize, wheat, corn, peanuts and rice, or animal feed of hay and straw. Four trichothecenes, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), and deoxynivalenol (DON) have been most commonly encountered by humans and animals. The consequences of oral intake of, or dermal exposure to, the toxins will result in alimentary toxic aleukia, neutropenia, aplastic anemia, thrombocytopenia and/or skin irritation.   In 1993, the FDA issued a document for the content limits of DON in food and animal feed at an advisory level. In 2003, US published a patent that is very promising for farmers to produce a trichothecene-resistant crop.
 * Zearalenone
 * Zearalenols

Viruses
Viral infections make up perhaps one third of cases of food poisoning in developed countries. In the US, more than 50% of cases are viral and noroviruses are the most common foodborne illness, causing 57% of outbreaks in 2004. Foodborne viral infection are usually of intermediate (1–3 days) incubation period, causing illnesses which are self-limited in otherwise healthy individuals; they are similar to the bacterial forms described above.
 * Enterovirus
 * Hepatitis A is distinguished from other viral causes by its prolonged (2–6 week) incubation period and its ability to spread beyond the stomach and intestines into the liver. It often results in jaundice, or yellowing of the skin, but rarely leads to chronic liver dysfunction. The virus has been found to cause infection due to the consumption of fresh-cut produce which has fecal contamination.
 * Hepatitis E
 * Norovirus
 * Rotavirus Rotavirus.jpg

Parasites
Most foodborne parasites are zoonoses.
 * Platyhelminthes:
 * Diphyllobothrium sp.
 * Nanophyetus sp.
 * Taenia saginata
 * Taenia solium
 * Fasciola hepatica
 * See also: Tapeworm and Flatworm
 * Nematode:
 * Anisakis sp.
 * Ascaris lumbricoides
 * Eustrongylides sp.
 * Toxocara
 * Trichinella spiralis
 * Trichuris trichiura
 * Protozoa:
 * Acanthamoeba and other free-living amoebae
 * Cryptosporidiosis
 * Cyclospora cayetanensis
 * Entamoeba histolytica
 * Giardia lambliaGiardia lamblia.jpg
 * Sarcocystis hominis
 * Sarcocystis suihominis
 * Toxoplasma

Natural toxins
Several foods can naturally contain toxins, many of which are not produced by bacteria. Plants in particular may be toxic; animals which are naturally poisonous to eat are rare. In evolutionary terms, animals can escape being eaten by fleeing; plants can use only passive defenses such as poisons and distasteful substances, for example capsaicin in chili peppers and pungent sulfur compounds in garlic and onions. Most animal poisons are not synthesised by the animal, but acquired by eating poisonous plants to which the animal is immune, or by bacterial action.
 * Alkaloids
 * Ciguatera poisoning
 * Grayanotoxin (honey intoxication)
 * Hormones from the thyroid glands of slaughtered animals (especially triiodothyronine in cases of hamburger thyrotoxicosis or alimentary thyrotoxicosis)
 * Mushroom toxins
 * Phytohaemagglutinin (red kidney bean poisoning; destroyed by boiling)
 * Pyrrolizidine alkaloids
 * Shellfish toxin, including paralytic shellfish poisoning, diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, neurotoxic shellfish poisoning, amnesic shellfish poisoning and ciguatera fish poisoning
 * Scombrotoxin
 * Solanine (green potato poisoning)
 * Tetrodotoxin (fugu fish poisoning)

Some plants contain substances which are toxic in large doses, but have therapeutic properties in appropriate dosages.
 * Foxglove contains cardiac glycosides.
 * Poisonous hemlock (conium) has medicinal uses.

Other pathogenic agents

 * Prions, resulting in Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) and its variant (vCJD)

"Ptomaine poisoning" misconception
Ptomaine poisoning was a myth that persisted in the public consciousness, in newspaper headlines, and legal cases as an official diagnosis, decades after it had been scientifically disproven in the 1910s.

In the 19th century, the Italian chemist Francesco Selmi, of Bologna, introduced the generic name  (from Greek ptōma, "fall, fallen body, corpse") for alkaloids found in decaying animal and vegetable matter, especially (as reflected in their names) putrescine and cadaverine. The 1892 Merck's Bulletin stated, "We name such products of bacterial origin ptomaines; and the special alkaloid produced by the comma bacillus is variously named Cadaverine, Putrescine, etc." While The Lancet stated, "The chemical ferments produced in the system, the... ptomaines which may exercise so disastrous an influence." It is now known that the "disastrous... influence" is due to the direct action of bacteria and only slightly due to the alkaloids. Thus, the use of the phrase "ptomaine poisoning" is now obsolete.

At a Communist political convention in Massillon, Ohio, and aboard a cruise ship in Washington, D.C., tainted potato salad sickened hundreds in separate incidents during a single week in 1932, drawing national attention to the dangers of so-called "ptomaine poisoning" in the pages of the American news weekly, Time. In 1944, another newspaper article reported that over 150 people in Chicago were hospitalized with ptomaine poisoning, apparently from rice pudding served by a restaurant chain.

Incubation period
The delay between the consumption of contaminated food and the appearance of the first symptoms of illness is called the incubation period. This ranges from hours to days (and rarely months or even years, such as in the case of listeriosis or bovine spongiform encephalopathy), depending on the agent, and on how much was consumed. If symptoms occur within one to six hours after eating the food, it suggests that it is caused by a bacterial toxin or a chemical rather than live bacteria.

The long incubation period of many foodborne illnesses tends to cause those affected to attribute their symptoms to gastroenteritis.

During the incubation period, microbes pass through the stomach into the intestine, attach to the cells lining the intestinal walls, and begin to multiply there. Some types of microbes stay in the intestine, some produce a toxin that is absorbed into the bloodstream, and some can directly invade the deeper body tissues. The symptoms produced depend on the type of microbe.

Infectious dose
The infectious dose is the amount of agent that must be consumed to give rise to symptoms of foodborne illness, and varies according to the agent and the consumer's age and overall health. Pathogens vary in minimum infectious dose; for example, Shigella sonnei has a low estimated minimum dose of < 500 colony-forming units (CFU) while Staphylococcus aureus has a relatively high estimate.

In the case of Salmonella a relatively large inoculum of 1 million to 1 billion organisms is necessary to produce symptoms in healthy human volunteers, as Salmonellae are very sensitive to acid. An unusually high stomach pH level (low acidity) greatly reduces the number of bacteria required to cause symptoms by a factor of between 10 and 100.

Gut microbiota unaccustomed to endemic organisms
Foodborne illness often occurs as travelers' diarrhea in persons whose gut microbiota is unaccustomed to organisms endemic to the visited region. This effect of microbiologic naïveté is compounded by any food safety lapses in the food's preparation.

Epidemiology
Asymptomatic subclinical infection may help spread these diseases, particularly Staphylococcus aureus, Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, Enterobacter, Vibrio cholerae, and Yersinia. For example, as of 1984 it was estimated that in the United States, 200,000 people were asymptomatic carriers of Salmonella.

Infants
Globally, infants are a group that is especially vulnerable to foodborne disease. The World Health Organization has issued recommendations for the preparation, use and storage of prepared formulas. Breastfeeding remains the best preventive measure for protection from foodborne infections in infants.

United States
A CDC report for the period 2017–2019 found that 41% of outbreaks at restaurants were caused by a sick employee. Contributory factors identified included lack of written policy compliance with FDA recommendations for identifying red-flag symptoms, glove use, and hand washing; lack of paid sick leave at the majority of establishments; and social pressure to come to work even while sick. The remaining outbreaks had a variety of causes, including inadequate cooking, improper temperature, and cross-contamination.

In the United States, using FoodNet data from 2000 to 2007, the CDC estimated there were 47.8 million foodborne illnesses per year (16,000 cases for 100,000 inhabitants) with 9.4 million of these caused by 31 known identified pathogens.

 * 127,839 were hospitalized (43 per 100,000 inhabitants per year).
 * 3,037 people died (1.0 per 100,000 inhabitants per year).

United Kingdom
According to a 2012 report from the Food Standards Agency, there were around a million cases of foodborne illness per year (1,580 cases for 100,000 inhabitants).
 * 20,000 were hospitalized (32 per 100,000 inhabitants);
 * 500 people died (0.80 per 100,000 inhabitants).

France
This data pertains to reported medical cases of 23 specific pathogens in the 1990s, as opposed to total population estimates of all foodborne illness for the United States.

In France, for 735,590 to 769,615 cases of infection identified as being with the 23 specific pathogens, 238,836 to 269,085 were estimated to have been contracted from food:
 * between 12,995 and 22,030 people were hospitalized (10,188 to 17,771 estimated to have contracted their infections from food);
 * between 306 and 797 people died (228 to 691 estimated to have contracted their infections from food).

Australia
A study by the Australian National University published in 2022 for Food Standards Australia New Zealand estimated there are 4.67 million cases of food poisoning in Australia each year that result in 47,900 hospitalisations, 38 deaths and a cost to the economy of $2.1 billion.

A previous study using different methodology and published in November 2014, found in 2010 that there were an estimated 4.1 million cases of foodborne gastroenteritis acquired in Australia on average each year, along with 5,140 cases of non-gastrointestinal illness.

The main causes were norovirus, pathogenic Escherichia coli, Campylobacter spp. and non-typhoidal Salmonella spp., although the causes of approximately 80% of illnesses were unknown. Approximately 25% (90% CrI: 13%–42%) of the 15.9 million episodes of gastroenteritis that occur in Australia were estimated to be transmitted by contaminated food. This equates to an average of approximately one episode of foodborne gastroenteritis every five years per person. Data on the number of hospitalisations and deaths represent the occurrence of serious foodborne illness. Including gastroenteritis, non-gastroenteritis and sequelae, there were an estimated annual 31,920 (90% CrI: 29,500–35,500) hospitalisations due to foodborne illness and 86 (90% CrI: 70–105) deaths due to foodborne illness circa 2010. This study concludes that these rates are similar to recent estimates in the US and Canada.

A main aim of this study was to compare if foodborne illness incidence had increased over time. In this study, similar methods of assessment were applied to data from circa 2000, which showed that the rate of foodborne gastroenteritis had not changed significantly over time. Two key estimates were the total number of gastroenteritis episodes each year, and the proportion considered foodborne. In circa 2010, it was estimated that 25% of all episodes of gastroenteritis were foodborne. By applying this proportion of episodes due to food to the incidence of gastroenteritis circa 2000, there were an estimated 4.3 million (90% CrI: 2.2–7.3 million) episodes of foodborne gastroenteritis circa 2000, although credible intervals overlap with 2010. Taking into account changes in population size, applying these equivalent methods suggests a 17% decrease in the rate of foodborne gastroenteritis between 2000 and 2010, with considerable overlap of the 90% credible intervals.

This study replaces a previous estimate of 5.4 million cases of foodborne illness in Australia every year, causing:
 * 18,000 hospitalizations
 * 120 deaths (0.5 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants)
 * 2.1 million lost days off work
 * 1.2 million doctor consultations
 * 300,000 prescriptions for antibiotics.

Most foodborne disease outbreaks in Australia have been linked to raw or minimally cooked eggs or poultry. The Australian Food Safety Information Council estimates that one third of cases of food poisoning occur in the home.

Outbreaks
The vast majority of reported cases of foodborne illness occur as individual or sporadic cases. The origin of most sporadic cases is undetermined. In the United States, where people eat outside the home frequently, 58% of cases originate from commercial food facilities (2004 FoodNet data). An outbreak is defined as occurring when two or more people experience similar illness after consuming food from a common source.

Often, a combination of events contributes to an outbreak, for example, food might be left at room temperature for many hours, allowing bacteria to multiply which is compounded by inadequate cooking which results in a failure to kill the dangerously elevated bacterial levels.

Outbreaks are usually identified when those affected know each other. Outbreaks can also be identified by public health staff when there are unexpected increases in laboratory results for certain strains of bacteria. Outbreak detection and investigation in the United States is primarily handled by local health jurisdictions and is inconsistent from district to district. It is estimated that 1–2% of outbreaks are detected.

United Kingdom
In postwar Aberdeen (1964) a large-scale (>400 cases) outbreak of typhoid occurred, caused by contaminated corned beef which had been imported from Argentina. The corned beef was placed in cans and because the cooling plant had failed, cold river water from the Plate estuary was used to cool the cans. One of the cans had a defect and the meat inside was contaminated. This meat was then sliced using a meat slicer in a shop in Aberdeen, and a lack of cleaning the machinery led to spreading the contamination to other meats cut in the slicer. These meats were then eaten by the people of Aberdeen who then became ill.

Serious outbreaks of foodborne illness since the 1970s prompted key changes in UK food safety law. These included the death of 19 patients in the Stanley Royd Hospital outbreak and the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, mad cow disease) outbreak identified in the 1980s. The death of 21 people in the 1996 Wishaw outbreak of E. coli O157 was a precursor to the establishment of the Food Standards Agency which, according to Tony Blair in the 1998 white paper A Force for Change Cm 3830, "would be powerful, open and dedicated to the interests of consumers".

In May 2015, for the second year running, England's Food Standards Agency devoted its annual Food Safety Week to "The Chicken Challenge". The focus was on the handling of raw chicken in the home and in catering facilities in a drive to reduce the high levels of food poisoning from the campylobacter bacterium. Anne Hardy argues that widespread public education of food hygiene can be useful, particularly through media (TV cookery programmes) and advertisement. She points to the examples set by Scandinavian societies.

United States
In 2001, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the United States Department of Agriculture to require meat packers to remove spinal cords before processing cattle carcasses for human consumption, a measure designed to lessen the risk of infection by variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. The petition was supported by the American Public Health Association, the Consumer Federation of America, the Government Accountability Project, the National Consumers League, and Safe Tables Our Priority.

None of the US Department of Health and Human Services targets regarding incidence of foodborne infections were reached in 2007.

A report issued in June 2018 by NBC's Minneapolis station using research by both the CDC and the Minnesota Department of Health concluded that foodborne illness is on the rise in the U.S.

India
In India, Entamoeba is the most common cause of food illness, followed by Campylobacter bacteria, Salmonella bacteria, E. coli bacteria, and norovirus. According to statistics, food poisoning was the second most common cause of infectious disease outbreak in India in 2017. The numbers of outbreaks have increased from 50 in 2008 to 242 in 2017.

Organizations
The World Health Organization Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses (FOS) provides scientific advice for organizations and the public on issues concerning the safety of food. Its mission is to lower the burden of foodborne disease, thereby strengthening the health security and sustainable development of Member States. Foodborne and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases kill an estimated 2.2 million people annually, most of whom are children. WHO works closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to address food safety issues along the entire food production chain—from production to consumption—using new methods of risk analysis. These methods provide efficient, science-based tools to improve food safety, thereby benefiting both public health and economic development.

International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN)
The International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) is a joint program of the WHO and FAO. INFOSAN has been connecting national authorities from around the globe since 2004, with the goal of preventing the international spread of contaminated food and foodborne disease and strengthening food safety systems globally. This is done by:

 * 1) Promoting the rapid exchange of information during food safety events;
 * 2) Sharing information on important food safety issues of global interest;
 * 3) Promoting partnership and collaboration between countries; and
 * 4) Helping countries strengthen their capacity to manage food safety risks.

Membership to INFOSAN is voluntary, but is restricted to representatives from national and regional government authorities and requires an official letter of designation. INFOSAN seeks to reflect the multidisciplinary nature of food safety and promote intersectoral collaboration by requesting the designation of Focal Points in each of the respective national authorities with a stake in food safety, and a single Emergency Contact Point in the national authority with the responsibility for coordinating national food safety emergencies; countries choosing to be members of INFOSAN are committed to sharing information between their respective food safety authorities and other INFOSAN members. The operational definition of a food safety authority includes those authorities involved in: food policy; risk assessment; food control and management; food inspection services; foodborne disease surveillance and response; laboratory services for monitoring and surveillance of foods and foodborne diseases; and food safety information, education and communication across the farm-to-table continuum.

Prioritisation of foodborne pathogens
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and The World Health Organization have published a global ranking of foodborne parasites using a multicriteria ranking tool concluding that Taenia solium was the most relevant, followed by Echinococcus granulosus, Echinococcus multilocularis, and Toxoplasma gondii. The same method was used regionally to rank the most important foodborne parasites in Europe ranking Echinococcus multilocularis of highest relevance, followed by Toxoplasma gondii and Trichinella spiralis.

Regulatory steps
Food may be contaminated during all stages of food production and retailing. In order to prevent viral contamination, regulatory authorities in Europe have enacted several measures:
 * European Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 of November 15, 2005
 * European Committee for Standardization (CEN): Standard method for the detection of norovirus and hepatitis A virus in food products (shellfish, fruits and vegetables, surfaces and bottled water)
 * CODEX Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH): Guideline for the application of general principles of food hygiene for the control of viruses in food

Periodicals

 * International Journal of Food Microbiology,, Elsevier
 * Foodborne Pathogens and Disease,, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
 * Mycopathologia, (electronic),  (paper), Springer

Books

 * ISBN 978-0-387-28391-3 (electronic).

title: Foodborne illness


text:
Bohemond V of Antioch

Bohemond V of Antioch (1199 − January 17, 1252) was ruler of the Principality of Antioch, a Crusader state, from 1233 to his death. He was simultaneously Count of Tripoli.

Life
Bohemond V was the son of Bohemond IV of Antioch and Plaisance of Gibelet. Like his father before him, Bohemond had a notorious dislike for the Knights Hospitaller and the neighbouring Kingdom of Armenia, preferring an alliance with the Knights Templar. Peace with Armenia was assured only shortly before his death, with the mediation of Louis IX of France.

In 1225, Bohemond was married to Cypriote queen dowager Alice of Champagne. Their childless marriage ended in annulment after July 5, 1227. His second marriage was in 1235 to Lucienne of Segni, a great-niece of Pope Innocent III. He had two children:
 * Plaisance of Antioch, a daughter who became the third wife of King Henry I of Cyprus in 1251
 * Bohemond VI of Antioch

Bohemond V died in January 1252. Since his son and successor was only 15 at the time, he succeeded under the regency of the dowager princess, Lucienne. However, she never left Tripoli, and instead handed over the government of the principality to her Roman relatives. This made her unpopular, so the young Bohemond VI gained the approval of King Louis IX of France, who was on Crusade at the time, to get permission from Pope Innocent IV to come of age a few months early.

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

title: Bohemond V of Antioch


text:
Svartálfar

In Norse cosmology, svartálfar (O.N. "black elves", "swarthy elves", sing. svartálfr), also called myrkálfar ("dark elves", "dusky elves", "murky elves", sing. myrkálfr), are beings who dwell in Svartálfheim (Svartálf[a]heimr, "home of the black-elves"). Both the svartálfar and Svartálfaheimr are primarily attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Scholars have noted that the svartálfar appear to be synonymous with the dwarfs and potentially also the dökkálfar ("dark elves"). As dwarfs, the home of the svartálfar could possibly be another description for Niðavellir ("dark fields").

Attestations
The svartálfar are almost only attested in the Prose Edda (the word does appear in Ektors saga ok kappa hans, but is presumably borrowed from the Prose Edda). The svartálfar mentioned in Skáldskaparmál 35 are the Sons of Ivaldi, whom Loki engages to craft replacement hair for Sif, wife of the god Thor, after Loki mischievously sheared off her golden tresses. Ivaldi is often glossed as being a dwarf.

Svartálfaheimr ("world of black-elves") appears in the Prose Edda twice, in each case as the place where certain dwarfs can be found to be living: In Gylfaginning 33, the "world of black-elves" is where the dwarfs are sought by the gods to craft the fetter Gleipnir to bind the wolf Fenrir. And in Skáldskaparmál, 39, the "world of black-elves" is where Loki encounters the dwarf Andvari.

Theories and interpretations
Scholars have commented that, as both attestations mentioning the beings and location appear to refer to dwarfs, svartálfr and dwarf may simply be synonyms for the same concept. Scholar John Lindow comments that whether the dökkálfar and the svartálfar were considered the same at the time of the writing of the Prose Edda is also unclear.

title: Svartálfar


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Talk:Svartálfar

Ideas for Improvement
This topic could use one of those wonderful contents menus, as its structure is present enough that by inserting subcategories, navigation could be made slightly easier.

Further, Henry Fuseli's "The Nightmare" should be added as the main topic picture. It depicts a crouching, rather non-dwarflike svartalf sitting atop a sleeping maiden's chest as well as one of the nightmare horses (see Pooka). I'd say if anything matches the idea of the svartalf closer than a dwarf, it's the dark elf in that piece. There are two versions of this piece, to be sure, both of which I think should be included: one has a lithe demon on the sleeper's chest and a white nightmare; the other has a black nightmare, a dwarf instead of a demon, and the positioning is reversed (the woman faces the opposite direction). I'm not sure which one Fuseli painted (if not both), but it could be an interesting work of compartive art as connecting to mythology.

The other idea I have is to combine this article with "dark elf," though I'm not sure I'd go that far. Dark elf is more general, so the information for svartalfar would be subject to the wills of those working with the more general topic.

Just a few ideas.

 * I've added headings (and thus a contents menu) and the picture by Fuseli found at the sleep paralysis page. The other picture is here at French Wikipedia if anyone feels strongly about uploading it. And btw. the mare in nightmare is not a female horse, the nightmare is the black creature. See the nightmare article for more on that. Salleman 02:28, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

 * Thank you so much, those edits were wonderful! I'm new to Wikipedia (though I've been monitoring it for a while), so I'm glad someone found my to do list. I'm going to have to upload that other picture, though (or a better scan of it, at any rate), as that was the one to which I was referring.

 * ...and as far as I had heard, the "nightmare" was the horse, not the "incubus" (elf) that provided a nightmare. Of course, that could simply be an association made at some point between the Mara and the pooka (which often assumes that form). It doesn't really matter, though, as neither the svartalf nor the pooka are nightmares, but the denizens/bringers of nightmares.

 * Another thing I just thought of: should we connect this topic to other nightmare creatures, such as the bugbear/bugaboo/boggle/boogie man?

 * As far as I'm concerned, svartálf is an Old Norse synonym to dvergr (dwarf) or perhaps including similar subterranean beings if they were seen as different. The German nightmare elf might be akin to the svartálf, but it was only seen as a elf in Germany. The elf article has one or two lines about that. However, feel free to create an entry on Nightmare creatures or Nightmare beings or whatever you'd like to call it. That could certainly be a very interesting topic, since there seems to be bad critters causing nightmares and/or sleep paralysis all over the globe. I wrote some things on talk:Mara (folklore) about that if you're interested.

 * (And btw. you can sign your discussion posts with four tildes, like this: ~ .) Salleman 16:51, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the idea, Salleman. I'll need to do a bit more research before I begin such an article (if we don't want another stub), but I like that idea. Iro 22:11, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

wpcd
i added the wpcd tag since i think this article is very well written and deserves to be considered for inclusion

Good or evil does not exist in mythology. The gods and the creatures are beyond good and evil. All other meanings have been added throught time. Asuras and devas are not good or evil Good and evil is only a christian concept and Snorri was a christian who projected his values on the myths. The seeli and unseeli must also be a postchristian addition especially since no written records from celtic times remain. Celtic mythology is recontructed from oral tradition. In addition dragons, unicorn and all so called pegan gods have either been devided into cathegoires of God and evil over time. It's clear to see that many versions overlapp and contradict. Many folkloric christian demons separate from the christian theology are occasionally based on pegan diety while in other stories the old gods become saints or angelic creatues. My analysis of this that orginally there are no unseeli or seeli, or svartalfer or ljusalfer. Also asuras and devas are two races of goods there is little to suggest that either one was evil though according to my theory they inspired the ideas of good and evil in Zoroatrism. That theori is based on similaties of the word ashura and asura and that opposing cultures projected evil or good from their own cultural perspectives. Another example of moral subjectivity is the farmers and shepheard myth which probably refer to the early conflicts between sheepheards and farmes in the middle east. The end.

Pardon for my addenda. In swedish folklore, "Mare" means both night"mare" and a kind of female witch that you dreams nightmares about. The mare is often beautiful.

Merger
This article and dark elves seem to cover the same topic, and I suggest they be merged. Although the merge tags currently suggest merging "dark elves" into "svartálfar", I am ambivalent about which direction the merger should be performed in. --Stemonitis 10:06, 26 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Black Elves and Dark Elves are possibly different types of beings, in the referenced textbooks. I'd keep the articles separate. They have separate names afterall. However we might think to rename this page Black elves as it is the standard to have English headings.Goldenrowley 06:55, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Oppose, two we'd have to split them off again due to size. Just keep it a summary of this with a tag on it and we are doing fine.
 * Not true at all. The articles are both very sparse and if you consider where they overlap, then there really is not enough content at all for two articles. Godheval (talk) 01:40, 22 August 2008 (UTC)(Update: — Godheval T C W 19:12, 2 September 2008 (UTC))

 * Regarding naming conventions, if there is no original English source for it - like we have with Midgard - then it needs to stay in the original Old Norse Svartálfar because that's what it was called and otherwise it would then be a debate of a bunch of arbitrary translations and Anglicizations whereas we could just use the original source term - which themselves are a bevy of information - and be done with it. bloodofox: (talk) 02:43, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Well here it's more a matter of how they are more commonly known - and that would be Dark elves. The article can discuss any contention over whether or not dark elves and black elves are the same beings.  It makes it a more interesting - and robust - article.  As it stands now, both articles are starving for content. Godheval (talk) 01:40, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

 * Oppose - I see no problem with maintaining both articles essentially as they are, since this article deals specifically with "black elves" in Old Norse literature and mythology. Furthermore, although Svartálfar does unambiguously translate as "black elves", maintaining the Old Norse name makes more sense than Anglicizing it in this context. Wilhelm meis (talk) 05:43, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

 * Support - the difference between the articles as mentioned by the above poster are minimal. The articles have far more in common than points on which they differ.  Merging does not mean one article will be destroyed, but rather than ALL of the information of both will be included in the new merged article.  So there is nothing to lose in merging.  Furthermore, with regards to the fact that this is the English language Wikipedia, Dark elves should be the receiving article. Godheval (talk) 01:37, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

 * Support - there is no point in having two articles on the EXACT same topic. --Sparviere (talk) 22:13, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress which affects this page. Please participate at Talk:Vanaheimr - Requested move and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RM bot 21:00, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 05:17, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Svartálfar


text:
Old Grammar School, Derby

The Old Grammar School, St. Peter's Churchyard, Derby, England, is now a Ladies Hairdressing Salon.

The building's new owner is the daughter of the architect responsible for the original restoration of this historical property. All of the original features of the building have been retained and further extensive restoration work has been carried out at the new owner's expense.

The Reverend John Cotton, a principal New England Puritan figure and a founder of Boston, Massachusetts, was educated at Derby School.

The Heritage Centre was established in 1992 by Richard Felix, long time historian on popular Living show Most Haunted and is the starting point for Derby Ghost Walks. The paranormal TV series Most Haunted completed an investigation at the Heritage Centre in 2003.

title: Old Grammar School, Derby


text:
3D Movie Maker

3D Movie Maker (commonly shortened to 3DMM) is a children's computer program developed by Microsoft Home's Microsoft Kids subsidiary released in 1995. Using the program, users can make films by placing 3D characters and props into pre-rendered environments, as well as adding actions, sound effects, music, text, speech and special effects. Movies are then saved in the .3mm file format.

The program features two helper characters to guide users through the various features of the program: The character McZee (voiced by Michael Shapiro), shared from other Microsoft Kids products like Creative Writer, provides help throughout the studio while his assistant Melanie provides other various tutorials. In Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker, the user is instead guided by Stick Stickly.

Developed in accordance with Microsoft's broader ambitions towards multimedia software in conjunction with the release of its then-new Windows 95 home computer operating system, 3D Movie Maker is built on BRender, a software rasterized 3D graphics engine created by Argonaut Software. The models and backgrounds were made by Illumin8 Digital Pictures (a now-defunct graphics studio) using Softimage modeling software, while the cinematic introduction and help sequences were made by Productions Jarnigoine, a now-inactive production company founded by Jean-Jacques Tremblay. In 1998, a user named Space Goat created the website 3dmm.com that allows users to upload movies and mods for 3DMM. 3dmm.com is still used today by many 3DMM enthusiasts.

Following the open-sourcing of the licensed BRender engine prior in similar fashion, Microsoft released the source code of the program under the MIT License in May 2022,  following a request by Foone Turing on Twitter a month earlier.

Overview
Filmmaking in 3D Movie Maker is a straightforward process, allowing users to create various kinds of movies with ease. By default, 40 actors/actresses are available (each with 4 different costumes and a number of actions), as well as 20 different props. Twelve different scenes are available to the user, each containing several different static camera angles. While the actors and props are rendered as polygonal meshes with affine texture mapping and basic shading, the scene backgrounds instead are pre-rendered images with an associated depth buffer that is compared against the runtime-rendered meshes so that aspects of the scene at hand can appear to occlude the meshes once a character or prop is placed behind a static object from the background. Many sample voice and MIDI music clips are included, but original voices can be recorded using a microphone while external .wav and .MIDI files can be imported.

In 3DMM, movies are recorded from frames in quick succession, featuring a destructive editing paradigm. Whilst pre-created animations (such as walking or dancing) can be applied to actors and made to run over a number of frames in sequence, unlike conventional animation software, the interface explicitly does not expose any distinction between abstract keyframes and inbetweens. 3DMM stores the positions of the characters and objects for each frame. Lending itself to the hardware limitations of the time when computers with performant 3D graphics rendering were more out-of-reach for most families, the game's internal movie playback frame rate was capped to 6-8 frames per second, depending on the system.

A finished movie can only be viewed inside 3DMM using the virtual auditorium or the studio, unless converted to a video file format with a third-party utility. The application's user interface is centered upon a theater building consisting of several rooms: the ticket booth, where the user is greeted by McZee and then asked to play or create a movie; the lobby and concession stand; the theater for watching movies, a projecting room for tutorials for 3D logos and tips, an idea room for movie ideas (also where the talent book stands); and the studio for movie-making tools. The V3DMM version of 3DMM removes the surrounding diegetic theater interface and thus restricts viewing movies only in the studio.

The two common file formats used by 3D Movies are .3mm and .vmm. .nmm was a third file format once used by 3D Movies, but since the release of the "Nickelodeon 3DMM" add-on to 3D Movie Maker, which combined both editions in one program, this has been deprecated by the ".3mm" file format.

The infamous Comic Sans font, originally intended to be used for Microsoft Bob, made its first appearance in 3D Movie Maker. Michael Shapiro, the voice actor for McZee, later went to voice G-Man in the Half-Life series.

Versions

 * A Japanese expansion pack for 3DMM was released with characters from the popular children's manga and anime series Doraemon. It consists of 11 new scenes, 5 new characters and 96 new voice lines.
 * Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker is a Nickelodeon-themed version of 3D Movie Maker. This version includes 12 unique actors and 11 unique scenes from Rocko's Modern Life, Ren & Stimpy and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters. An unofficial expansion pack was later created, which allowed Nickelodeon actors, props, scenes, music and sounds to be used in the original 3D Movie Maker.
 * Demo versions: These only feature the studio, do not allow the opening/saving of movies and only feature two actors and one prop. They are Bongo, Nakita and a red car for 3D Movie Maker, while for Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker they are Ren, Stimpy and a spaceship. A demo version was distributed with the Microsoft Interactive CD Sampler (1996).

Third-party
Several user-made expansion packs and animation tools exist, such as:
 * 3DMM Animation Pro (2002): Binds mouse movements to the keyboard, which allows directors to create more fluid movements on the screen.
 * Doraemon Expansion Pack: This pack was only released in Japan.
 * 3DMM Expansion Pack (2003): A user-made expansion pack known as "Frankie's Expansion" after its creator Frank Weindel, who introduced the first new textures, actors and objects to the software since release.
 * Virtual 3D Movie Maker (V3DMM; 2004): An unofficial third-party expansion management program that allows users to include their own customized expansions in their movies and allow them to be freely distributed. Notable expansions include characters from The Simpsons, Pokémon, PaRappa the Rapper, and other notable media icons.
 * 7gen (2005): A GUI for creating V3DMM expansions.
 * 3DMM Pencil++ 2: A program for editing 3D Movie Maker datafiles that allows users to edit expansions.
 * Nickelodeon Expansion Pack: An unofficial expansion pack that adds all the actors, props, textures, scenes and sounds from Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker.

Reception
Alamo PC Organization wrote: "This is not a program one masters in a few days, or even weeks. It is a wonderful demonstration of technological advancement for Windows 95 graphical programming possibilities. This program in the hands of casual, perhaps even dedicated home users, is not a threat to any commercial animation firm." Aaron Matterson of Joystick Division said that "it looked impossibly goofy even by 1995 standards, but [I did] love it, and it taught me many things about my own creativity, the art of storytelling, and a strange, terrible humanoid creature named McZee".

title: 3D Movie Maker


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User:Jalnet2

Hi!

title: User:Jalnet2


text:
User talk:Jalnet2

Hello.
 * Hi! :)

UMaine pic
Thanks for that breathtaking UMaine pic. Got any more? :)

I'm just getting into this, and I'm amazed how quickly this stuff gets seen! I have tons more, since I'm up here about 95% of my time. Any requests? - NightThree 02:02, Oct 13, 2004 (UTC)

Race
Jalnet, I left a message for you on the Talk page, and I'd appreciate it you would address it, as it might go some way to working out what the main issues are. It makes no sense to continually revert as the consenus is against your position. SlimVirgin 01:50, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)
 * You have just violated 3RR. Please do not keep reverting. Many thanks, SlimVirgin 01:59, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)
 * You have been blocked from editing for 24 hours for a violation of the three revert rule on Race. You can edit again in 24 hours -- Chris 73 Talk 02:45, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)
 * Regarding your email, please see Three-revert rule for full details. In summary: Don't revert any page more than three times within a period of 24 hours. (This doesn't apply to self-reverts or correcting simple vandalism.) Your revert was not reverting simple vandalism, you also got warned, yet you reverted it again. Hence a block is proper. In the future, please pay attention to the 3RR rule. Please also note, that timed reverts (i.e. 4 reverts in 24 hours and 1 minute) may also get you blocked. -- Chris 73 Talk 03:06, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)

3RR
Since you brought the 3RR violation by Slrubenstein to my attention, I assumed you were familiar with the rule. You are not to revert an ARTICLE more than 3 times in a 24 hour period... it does not matter if you are reverting 3 different things. You BOTH violated the 3RR and therefore you were both punished equally (as is the appropriate sanction as stated in the 3RR). If you have reasonable suggestions, feel free to raise them on the talk page and seek consensus. I will not investigate the history of this dispute. I have no interest in this dispute beyond assuring that it doesn't continue in the form of reverts. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 21:06, Feb 1, 2005 (UTC)

Non-free use disputed for Image:Umaine-logo2.png
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NowCommons: File:Oldtown1.jpg
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 * File:Umaine-main lawn.jpg is now available as Commons:File:UMaine TheMall.jpg. --Erwin85Bot (talk) 23:43, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

File source problem with File:Img020-mc-fernald.jpg
Thanks for uploading File:Img020-mc-fernald.jpg. I noticed that the file's description page currently doesn't specify who created the content, so the copyright status is unclear. If you did not create this file yourself, you will need to specify the owner of the copyright. If you obtained it from a website, then a link to the website from which it was taken, together with a restatement of that website's terms of use of its content, is usually sufficient information. However, if the copyright holder is different from the website's publisher, their copyright should also be acknowledged.

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File:Umainelawn1.jpg listed for deletion
A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Umainelawn1.jpg, has been listed at Files for deletion. Please see the to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted.

File:Umaine1.jpg listed for deletion
A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Umaine1.jpg, has been listed at Files for deletion. Please see the to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted.

ArbCom elections are now open!
Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:15, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Please claim your upload(s): File:BAT-OldTown Schematic4.png
Hi, This image was seemingly uploaded prior to current image polices, Thank you.

However, as part of ongoing efforts to ensure all media on English Wikipedia is correctly licensed and attributed it would be appreciated if you were able to confirm, that it was your own work, by marking it as own, amending the information added by a third party, and by changing the license to an appropriate "self" variant. You can also add  to the Media by uploader or Presumed self tag(s) if  present to indicate that you've acknowledged the image, and license shown (and updated the information where appropriate).

This will assist those reviewing the many many "free" images on commons that have not yet been transfered to Commons. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 19:59, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

title: User talk:Jalnet2


text:
User talk:Studio1991

Hello "Studio1991" and welcome to Wikipedia. A few tips for you:

 * Peruse Welcome, newcomers and associated pages, such as
 * How to edit a page
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style
 * You can experiment in the Sandbox.
 * Sign talk page entries with ~, which is automatically converted to a name and date.
 * If you have any questions, see Help, or you can a question to the village pump.
 * I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian -- Infrogmation 23:26, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Studio1991


text:
Talk:Rhinolophus

Hi there - this article doesn't seem to fit the format of the other bat articles - is it a work in progress? Thanks! Mark Richards 23:26, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Furthermore, I don't see why the species list needs to be on a separate page? It's long, but if it's the last thing on the page, that doesn't matter. And the format could be made tighter, couldn't it? also, does anyone know whether the genus or the family is the best owner for the name Horseshoe Bat? We seem to be in a bit of a muddle here. seglea 06:38, 22 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * Merged list into article. Shyamal 04:10, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Rhinolophus


text:
Dictionary (disambiguation)

A dictionary is a list of words and their meanings.

Dictionary or dictionaries may also refer to:
 * Encyclopedic dictionary, sometimes titled Dictionary of...
 * Biographical dictionary
 * Dictionary (game), a word-definition party game

Computing

 * Data dictionary, a centralised set of metadata in a database management system
 * Dictionary (data structure), an abstract data type for a set of pairs
 * Dictionary attack, a technique to determine a password
 * Dictionary (software), an app in Mac OS X v10.4 and later
 * Dictionary.com, a dictionary website

Other uses

 * "Dictionaries", a Series D episode of the television series QI (2006)

title: Dictionary (disambiguation)


text:
User:Matthewmeisel

Currently a student at Harvard University. Rah. Friends with Will.

title: User:Matthewmeisel


text:
Power ring

Power ring or ring(s) of power may refer to:

Fictional entities

 * Power ring (DC Comics), an object featured in comic books
 * Power Ring (character), several comic book characters
 * Rings of Power, fictional artefacts in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium
 * Rings (Sonic the Hedgehog), an element in the video game series Sonic the Hedgehog

Media

 * Rings of Power (video game), for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, 1992
 * Rock & Rule (known as Ring of Power outside North America), a 1983 film
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, an Amazon Prime Video television series set in Tolkien's Middle-earth
 * "The Ring of Powers", an episode of Ugly Americans

title: Power ring


text:
Francis Bok

Francis Piol Bol Bok (born February 1979), a Dinka tribesman and citizen of South Sudan, was a slave for ten years and later became an abolitionist and author living in the United States.

Biography
On May 15, 1986, he was captured and enslaved at the age of seven during an Arab militia raid on the village of Nyamlell in southern Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Bok lived in bondage for ten years before escaping imprisonment in Kurdufan, Sudan, followed by a journey to the United States by way of Cairo, Egypt.

Bok was aided by people of diverse cultures and faiths in his journey to freedom. His earliest steps towards the United States were helped by a northern Sudanese Muslim family that believed that slavery was wrong and provided him a bus ticket to Khartoum. Upon arriving, Bok was aided by a fellow Dinka tribesman and members of the Fur people, and his trip to the United States was paid for by members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. His first point of contact in the United States was a refugee from Somalia who helped him get settled in Fargo, North Dakota.

Bok has testified before the United States Senate and met with George W. Bush, Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice, telling them his story of slavery. He has been honored by the United States Olympic Committee, the Boston Celtics and colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada. Francis now lives in the U.S. state of Kansas, where he works for the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) and Sudan Sunrise, an organization that works for peace in Sudan. Bok's autobiography, Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America, published by St. Martin's Press, chronicles his life, from his early youth, his years in captivity, to his work in the United States as an abolitionist.

Childhood and abduction
Francis Bok was raised in a large Catholic family of cattle herders in the Dinka village of Gurion in Southern Sudan. His father, Bol Buk Dol, managed several herds of cattle, sheep and goats. When Bok was captured at the age of 7 on May 15, 1986, he could not count beyond 10 and knew very little of the outside world.

Bok was captured after his mother, Adut Al Akok, had sent him to the village of Nyamlell to sell eggs and peanuts in the village market with some older siblings and neighbors. This was Bok's first trip to the village without his mother, and it was the first time he was allowed to sell some of the family's goods at the market. Bok went to the market, where he heard adults say that they had seen smoke coming from nearby villages and had heard gunfire in the distance. People began fleeing the market as Francis saw horsemen with machine guns. The gunmen surrounded the market and shot the men in Nyamlell. The raiders were part of an Islamic militia from the northern part of Sudan that conducted periodic raids on the villages of their Dinka neighbors, who were Christians or animists of Sub-Saharan African descent.

Life as a slave
Seven-year-old Bok was captured by Giemma, a member of the slave hunting militia, who forced him to join a caravan of slaves, stolen produce, livestock and wares that the militia had captured in their raid of the Dinka settlement. When the members of the militia split up to return to their homes, Bok was taken by Giemma. Upon arriving at Giemma's residence, Bok was beaten by his captor's children with sticks and was called abeed. The word literally means 'slave' and the stereotype is that of an inferior, demeaned, Negroid race. Bok was given quarters in a hovel near the pens of Giemma's livestock.

Bok began a ten-year period of slavery at the hands of Giemma and his son Hamid. He was forced to tend the family's herds of livestock. He had to take them to pastures in the area and to local watering holes, where he saw other Dinka boys who were also forced to tend herds of livestock. He began to suspect that his life was going to change forever and that his father was not going to be able to save him. His attempts to speak to the other Dinka boys were futile, as they were speaking Arabic, which he could not understand; they also seemed afraid to speak to him.

According to Bok, as he grew older, Giemma and Hamid began to place more trust in his abilities as a herdsman. Care of the cattle, horses and camels was passed to Bok and he was able to spend more time alone with the animals. Previously he had been under the careful supervision of Hamid and sometimes Giemma. In addition to having him serve as his slave, Giemma forced Bok to convert to Islam and to take the Arabic name of Abdul Rahman, meaning 'servant of the compassionate one'. In his autobiography, Bok states that although he was forced to convert to Islam, he never stopped praying to God for strength to get him through his ordeal.

Bok tried twice to flee from slavery at the age of 14. The first instance happened early one morning after he had been sent out with the cattle. Bok blindly ran down a road for several miles before he was captured by one of Giemma's fellow militia members. Giemma's peer returned Bok to the Giemma's compound, where he was beaten with a bullwhip. Bok attempted to escape once again just two days later, when he fled in the opposite direction of his previous escape. He once again fled for several miles, this time keeping to the forest. He stopped for water at a local stream crossing, where he was spotted by Giemma who happened to be there as well. Giemma forced Bok back to his home, this time promising to kill him. Bok was beaten again, but Giemma chose not to kill him, as he had become too valuable to the family as a slave.

Escape
Bok waited three years, until 1996, before he tried to escape again. During the intervening three years he tended to the herds and regained Giemma's trust. Giemma regularly praised Bok's work with the animals yet still forced him to live a life of slavery.

Bok finally escaped from Giemma when he was 17 years old by walking through the forest to the nearby market town of Mutari. Bok went to the local police department to seek help, and asked the police to help him find his people. Instead of helping him, the police made him their slave for two months. Bok escaped from the police by simply taking their donkeys to the well, tying them, and leaving them behind as he walked into the crowded marketplace.

Bok asked a man with a truck to give him a ride out of Mutari. The man, a Muslim named Abdah, agreed to help him. Abdah thought that slavery was wrong and agreed to transport Bok to the town of Ed-Da'Ein in the back of his truck amongst his cargo of grain and onions. Bok stayed with Abdah, his wife and two sons for two months while Abdah tried to find a way to take Bok to Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan. When he could not find a friend to provide passage to Khartoum, Abdah bought a bus ticket to Khartoum for Bok. Bok arrived in Khartoum with no money and no place to go. A stranger eventually helped him find his way to his fellow Dinka tribespeople in Khartoum in the Jabarona settlement.

Journey to the United States
Jabarona was filled with Dinka refugees who had fled the fighting in the south of Sudan and were forced to live together in sub-standard conditions. Bok settled among people who were from the Aweil area of North Bahr al Ghazal and began using his Christian name of Francis once again. Bok was quickly arrested by the Sudanese police for telling his friends and neighbors that he was a slave. Slavery in Sudan is a subject that was largely denied by the government in Khartoum and anybody that spoke of it could be arrested or even killed. Bok was interrogated numerous times while he was imprisoned and each time he denied that he was a slave. He was finally released from prison after seven months. Once he was released Bok decided that he must leave Sudan. Through the help of some Dinka tribesman he was able to acquire a Sudanese passport on the black market and obtain a ticket for passage to Cairo.

Upon arriving in Cairo in April 1999, Bok was directed to Sacred Heart Catholic Church. This church was well known among the Dinka in Khartoum as a place of refuge in Cairo. While staying at Sacred Heart, Bok began to learn some English and made important contacts among the Dinka population of Cairo. He also began practicing his Christian faith without fear of reprisal. He eventually moved out of the church compound and into an apartment with other Dinka who were also seeking UN refugee status in order to leave Africa for the United States, Great Britain or Australia.

Bok applied for and received UN refugee status on September 15, 1999, and after several months of waiting, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service agreed to allow Bok to move to the U.S. He flew from Cairo to New York City on August 13, 1999, and from there he flew to Fargo, North Dakota. His journey was sponsored by Lutheran Social Services and a United Methodist Church; both worked together to provide him an apartment in Fargo and helped him find a job. Bok worked several jobs, making pallets and plastic knobs for the gearshift of cars. He heard of a large population of Dinka in Ames, Iowa, and moved to Ames after several months in Fargo. It was while living in Ames that he was contacted by Charles Jacobs, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Work as an abolitionist
Jesse Sage, associate director of the American Anti-Slavery Group, and Jacobs persuaded Bok to move to Boston to work with the AASG. He was initially hesitant to leave his new friends in Ames, but according to Bok, the people at AASG were persistent. He arrived in Boston on May 14, 2000, AASG helped him find an apartment. A week after moving to Boston, he was invited to speak at a Baptist church in Roxbury and was interviewed by Charles A. Radin of The Boston Globe. Two days after his speech in Roxbury, Bok was asked to meet with supporters of AASG on the steps of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. He returned to Washington on September 28, 2000, and became the first escaped slave to speak before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Bok was invited to Washington again in 2002 for the signing of the Sudan Peace Act and met with President George W. Bush. It was during this trip to the White House that Bok became the first former slave to meet with a U.S. President since the 19th century.

Bok has spoken at churches and universities throughout the United States and Canada and he has helped launch the American Anti-Slavery Group's website iAbolish.org at a Jane's Addiction concert before an audience of 40,000 on April 28, 2001. Perry Farrell was a key early supporter of the iAbolish movement. Bok has also been honored by the Boston Celtics and was chosen to carry the Olympic Torch past Plymouth Rock prior to the 2002 Winter Olympics. His autobiography, Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America, was published in 2003 by St. Martin's Press.

Bok currently lives with his wife, Atak, and their two young children, Buk and Dhai, in Kansas. He is now working in the AASG's first extension office in Kansas. He also works with Sudan Sunrise, a Lenexa, Kansas-based organization that seeks to work for peace and unity in Sudan.

In popular culture
Francis Bok's voice is heard on Zero Church, an 2002 album by Suzzy and Maggie Roche.

title: Francis Bok


text:
Bohemond VI of Antioch

Bohemond VI (c. 1237–1275), also known as the Fair, was the prince of Antioch and count of Tripoli from 1251 until his death. He ruled while Antioch was caught between the warring Mongol Empire and Mamluk Sultanate. He allied with the Mongols against the Muslim Mamluks and his Crusaders fought alongside the Mongols in their battles against the Mamluks. The Mamluks would achieve a historic victory against the Mongols and halt their advance westwards at the Battle of Ain Jalut. In 1268 Antioch was captured by the Mamluks under Baybars, and he was thenceforth a prince in exile. He was succeeded by his son, Bohemond VII.

Life
Bohemond VI was the son of Bohemond V of Antioch and Lucienne of Segni, great-niece of Pope Innocent III. When Bohemond V died in January 1252, 15-year-old Bohemond VI succeeded under the regency of his mother. However, Lucienne never left Tripoli, and instead handed over the government of the principality to her relatives. This made her unpopular, so the young Bohemond VI, through the approval of King Louis IX of France, who was on Crusade at the time, gained permission from Pope Innocent IV to inherit the principality a few months early. Young Bohemond then travelled to Acre where he was knighted by King Louis, and took power in Antioch. Through the efforts of King Louis, a truce was also negotiated between Antioch and Cilician Armenia. At Louis's suggestion, in 1254 the 17-year-old Bohemond married Sibylla, daughter of King Hetoum I of Armenia, which ended the power struggle between the two states that had been started by Bohemond IV, his grandfather.

War of Saint Sabas
Bohemond was also overlord of the Genoese Embriaco family. This involved him in a dispute between the Genoese and the Venetians, the War of St. Sabas, which started in 1256 and drew in many of the nobles in the Holy Land, wasted valuable resources and cost tens of thousands of lives. The Embriaco lords of Gibelet (modern Byblos) were resolute opponents of the princes of Antioch. Bohemond tried to persuade the Genoese to support the Venetians, but the Embriaco family rebelled against him in 1258 and escalated the situation to a civil war which lasted off and on for decades. Bohemond was able to achieve some measure of peace by having the leader of the revolt, Bertrand Embriaco (a cousin of Guy I Embriaco), murdered by some serfs, but the bitterness continued.

Bertrand's son Bartholomew Embriaco became mayor of a Commune set up by the Embriaco family. Bartholomew's brother William, along with his cousin the lord of Gibelet, were eventually defeated by Bohemond's son, Bohemond VII, and then completely driven out by the Muslims.

Mongols
Bohemond's reign also saw a major conflict between the Mamluks and the Mongols. The Mongol army had been approaching steadily from central Asia, with Cilician Armenia and Antioch directly in its path. The Mongols had a deserved reputation of ruthlessness – if settlements in their path did not surrender immediately, the inhabitants were slaughtered by the tens of thousands. The Christian country of Georgia had been conquered in 1236. Hetoum I of Armenia, Bohemond's father-in-law, prudently decided to subject to Mongol authority as well, sending his brother Sempad to the Mongol court in Karakorum in 1247 to negotiate the details. Hethoum later persuaded son-in-law Bohemond VI to do the same, and Antioch became a tributary of the Mongols in 1260. Both Hetoum and Bohemond then participated with their own forces during the 1260 Mongol conquests of Aleppo and Damascus. Historical accounts, quoting from the writings of the medieval historian Templar of Tyre, would often dramatically describe the three Christian rulers (Hetoum, Bohemond, and Kitbuqa) entering the city of Damascus together in triumph, though modern historians have questioned this story as apocryphal.

The Mongols rewarded Bohemond for his allegiance, and returned to him various areas that had been lost to the Muslims, such as Lattakieh, Darkush, Kafr Debbin, and Jabala. Bohemond was then able to re-occupy them, with the assistance of some Templars and Hospitallers.

In return for the lands, Bohemond had to install the Greek patriarch Euthymius at Antioch, in place of the Latin patriarch, since the Mongols were trying to strengthen ties with the Byzantine Empire. This earned Bohemond the enmity of the Latins at Acre, and Bohemond was excommunicated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Jacques Pantaléon. Pope Alexander IV put Bohemond's case on the agenda of his upcoming council (as well as the cases of Hetoum I of Armenia, and Daniel of Russia), but died in 1261, just months before the council could be convened. For a new Pope, the choice fell to Pantaléon, who took the name Pope Urban IV, and after hearing Bohemond's explanation for his submission to the Mongols, suspended his excommunication sentence.

After taking Damascus, the Mongol Army had to cease their westward push, due to internal troubles in the Mongol Empire. The bulk of the Mongol army left Syria, with a smaller force left under Kitbuqa to occupy the territory. This provided an opportunity for the Egyptian Mamluks. The Mamluks advanced northward from Cairo to engage the Mongols, along the way negotiating an unusual pact of neutrality with the Franks of Acre that allowed the Egyptians to pass through Frankish territory unmolested. The Mamluks were thereby able to defeat the Mongols at the historic Battle of Ain Jalut in September 1260. With the Mongol army removed, the Mamluks then proceeded to conquer Syria and Iran, which had been previously ravaged by the Mongols. The Mamluks, under their leader Baibars, also began to threaten Antioch.

In 1263, Bohemond and Hethoum tried various methods of regaining control of the situation. They kidnapped the Greek patriarch Euthymius, and carried him off to Armenia, replacing him with the Latin patriarch Opizzo. They also attempted to gain some financial leverage over the Mamluks. For example, Bohemond and Hethoum controlled the forests of southern Anatolia and Lebanon, the wood of which was needed by the Egyptian Mamluks to build ships. Hethoum attempted to use this as a bargaining chip to obtain a truce with the Mamluks. However, the attempts at blockade merely further incited Baibars.

In 1264, Bohemond also sought assistance from the Mongols. He traveled to the court of Hulagu, trying to obtain as much support as possible from the Mongol rulers against the Mamluk progression. However, Hulagu was unhappy with Bohemond for replacing the Greek patriarch with a Latin one, as the Byzantine alliance was important to him, against the Turks in Anatolia.

Loss of Antioch
In 1266, Hetoum too set out for the Mongol court, pleading for assistance. But while he was gone, the Mamluk army attacked the Armenian army, which was being commanded by Hetoum's sons, at the Battle of Mari. The Mamluks were victorious. They killed one of Hetoum's sons, took the other prisoner, and laid waste to Cilician Armenia, reducing the capital to ruins. After destroying Cilicia, the Mamluk army then turned its attention towards Antioch. But the generals had taken their fill of loot from Armenia, and were not eager for another battle. Bohemond was thereby able to bribe them to keep them from attacking.

Baibars was angry at his generals' weakness, and returned to the attack. In May 1267 he attacked Acre, and in 1268 he began the Siege of Antioch, taking the city while Bohemond was away in Tripoli. All of northern Syria was quickly lost, leaving Bohemond with no estates except Tripoli.

Siege of Tripoli

Baibars attacked again in 1271 by starting the Siege of Tripoli, sending a letter to Bohemond threatening him with total annihilation and taunting him for his alliance with the Mongols: "'Our yellow flags have repelled your red flags, and the sound of the bells has been replaced by the call: 'Allâh Akbar!' (...) Warn your walls and your churches that soon our siege machinery will deal with them, your knights that soon our swords will invite themselves in their homes (...) We will see then what use will be your alliance with Abagha'"

Bohemond begged for a truce, so as not to lose Tripoli as well. Baibars mocked him for lack of courage and asked him to pay all the expenses of the Mamluk campaign. Bohemond had enough pride left to refuse the offer, but in May Baibars offered him a truce anyway. By this time, the Mamluks had captured every inland castle of the Franks, but the Mamluks had heard reports about a new Crusade, this one from the prince who would later be Edward I of England. Edward had landed in Acre on May 9, 1271, where he was soon joined by Bohemond and his cousin King Hugh III of Cyprus.

Bohemond died in 1275, leaving a son and three daughters: Bohemond VII, nominal prince of Antioch (though Antioch had ceased to exist) and count of Tripoli; Isabelle, who died young; Lucia, later titular countess of Tripoli; and Marie (d. ca 1280), married to Nicolas de Saint-Omer (d. 1294).

The rancour of the Mamluks regarding Bohemond VI's alliance with the Mongols would remain until 1289 with the final Fall of Tripoli.

title: Bohemond VI of Antioch


text:
Selamawi Asgedom

Selamawi Asgedom (Tigrinya: ሰላማዊ ሃእለአብ አስገዶም; born in Adi Wahla, Ethiopia on 29 September 1976), or Mawi Asgedom for short, is an author, public speaker, and a refugee of Ethiopian and Eritrean origin.

Biography
Mawi was born in northern Ethiopia, in the province of Tigray. For about two years of his childhood, he was separated from his father, when he and his siblings and mother had to flee to Sudan to avoid the war in Ethiopia. Mawi was seven years old when he and his family arrived in the U.S. in 1983, sponsored by World Relief. They had spent the previous three years in a refugee camp in Sudan. He grew up in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, Illinois. He played on his high school basketball team and ran track, the best in his league. He graduated with top honors from Harvard University, receiving a degree in American history and giving the commencement address at his graduation in 1999. He is the author of Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy's Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard and The Code: The 5 Secrets of Teen Success.

Mawi's autobiography, Of Beetles and Angels was selected by Springfield, Pennsylvania as their community book, and 2,378 people read it there. Day-time television host Oprah Winfrey named her interview of Mr. Asgedom as one of her 20 Unforgettable Moments in October 2005.

Of Beetles and Angels was also chosen as the first-ever Evanston, Illinois, citywide reading program with events planned throughout the 2007–2008 school year. Mr. Asgedom visited with middle school readers throughout the year. Mawi's memoir was also read by the city of Philadelphia including Hatboro-Horsham High School as part of the 'One Book, One School' program

Mawi has four children and lives in Illinois.

title: Selamawi Asgedom


text:
Natuna Regency

Natuna Regency is an islands regency located in the northernmost part of the Province of Riau Islands, Indonesia. It contains at least 154 islands, of which 127 of them are reported as uninhabited. This archipelago, with a land area of 1,978.49 km2 out of a total area of 264,198.37 km2 area, contains 17 administrative districts (kecamatan).

With 69,003 inhabitants at the 2010 Census and 81,495 at the 2020 Census, most of the population are Malays with 11% of Javanese migrants, Chinese, Minang, Batak, Banjar people, Dayak people, Buginese people, Sundanese people, and tiny percentage of migrants who come from Sulawesi, Bali, and other provinces across Indonesia. The official estimate as at mid 2023 was 84,560, comprising 43,480 males and 41,080 females.

Some 80% of its inhabitants are of Malay origin, numerous being descended from Terengganuan, Johorean, and Pattanian descent as results of contact established since 1597. The consequence of this is the usage of Terengganuan Malay beside the Indonesian language as the official language and the Malay language as a lingua franca across the Province of Riau Islands.

Indonesia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coast of Natuna is slightly overlapped by China's widely disputed South China Sea claim.

History
The Natuna Islands were discovered by I-Tsing in 671 A.D. and mentioned throughout his notes in A Record of Buddhist Practices Sent Home from the Southern Sea. The most notable history of Natuna Islands followed upon the decision of Alauddin Riayat Shah III of Johor and Green Queen of Pattani Kingdom to claim Natuna Islands as part of their condominium. However, before the Sultan of Johor and the Pattani Monarch declared Natuna Islands as their condominium in 1597, its previous King, Alauddin Riayat II, created Datuk Kayas'/Dukes' titles as follows:
 * 1) Datok Amar Lela for ruler of Jemaja Island
 * 2) Datok Kaya Dewa Perkasa for ruler of Siantan Island
 * 3) Datuk Kaya Indra Pahlawan for ruler of Serindit Island, (later known as Great Natuna Island)
 * 4) Datuk Kaya Timbalan Siamah for ruler of Tambelan Islands.

Throughout most of its history since the reigns of Sultanate of Riau-Lingga, the Natuna Islands were part of the Archipelago of Seven Islands/Pulau-pulau Tudjuh/Tujuh which were consisted of the Anambas Islands (currently a separated regency in the province), the Badas Islands (part of Island District of Tambelan in Bintan Regency), Great Natuna/Bunguran Islands, Sejang, Serasan Islands, Subi Islands, and Tambelan Archipelago (part of Bintan Regency). Although government of Kawedanan of Tudjuh Archipelago was dissolved in 1964, its island districts/kecamatan who formed Tudjuh Archipelago still existed until its dissolution in 1999, the sunrise of devolution era government in Indonesia. Along the second half of the 20th centuries, there were at least two historical events that made Natuna: the first was oil discoveries in 1969 and second was the Islands use as a destination for South Vietnamese refugees in 1976.

Geography
The Natuna Islands are a 272-island archipelago of Indonesia, located in the Natuna Sea between Peninsular Malaysia to the west and Borneo to the east. They extend in a NNW direction for 300 km from Tanjung Api, the northwest extremity of Kalimantan/Borneo. The Natuna Sea itself is a section of the South China Sea.

The North Group consists of a large island (Pulau Laut), two small islands and several adjacent islets and reefs which lie about 50 km NNW of Natuna Besar Island. Pulau Laut is about 11 km long with a greatest width of 5 km towards the south; it is generally hilly, rising to 273 metres near its north end.

The Middle Group consists of Natuna Besar or Bunguran Island, which contains the bulk of the area and population of the archipelago, together with small offshore islets and reefs; the Bodas Islands (Kepulauan Bodas) are a group of moderately high wooded islands lying close to the southwest coast of Natuna Besar.

The Southern Group (Kepulauan Natuna Selatan) consists primarily of two groups of islands separated from the coast of Kalimantan by the Api Passage. The Subi Islands (Kepulauan Subi) of which the main islands are Subi Besar, Subi Kecil, Bakau, Panjang and Seraya, lie southeast of Natuna Besar. Serasan Island (Pulau Serasan) is the largest of the islands lying further to the southeast and nearer to Kalimantan.

The highest point of this Islands is Mount Ranai at 1035 m. The island had a population of 52,000 inhabitants according to the 2010 census. The principal settlement is Ranai. The island can be reached by scheduled air services via Ranai Airport.

Natural resources
Natuna has large reserves of natural gas (estimated at 1.3 billion m3) that is exported to neighbouring countries such as Singapore. Matak Island now serves as an offshore exploitation base.

Ecology
The Natuna Islands are part of the Borneo lowland rain forests ecoregion.

The Natuna Islands have a remarkable avifauna with 71 species of bird registered, including the near-threatened lesser fish eagle, the Natuna serpent-eagle. Other endangered species include the green iora, the brown fulvetta or the green broadbill.

The Natuna Islands is home to three species of non-human primates: the slow loris (Nycticebus coucang), the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis), and the Natuna leaf monkey (a.k.a. Natuna pale-thighed surili, Presbytis natunae). A small number of wild goats live on the island as well as sea birds. Over 360 species of bird have been recorded on the island.

Colourful coral reefs are found in the neighbouring waters. The Natuna banded leaf monkey, Presbytis natunae, is among the 25 most endangered primates on Earth.

Administrative districts
As of 2010, the Regency was divided into twelve districts (kecamatan), but on 10 December 2014 three additional districts were created by dividing existing districts, and two further districts have subsequently been created by similar division. The seventeen districts are tabulated below from north to south with their areas and their populations at the 2010 census and the 2020 census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2023. The table also includes the location of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages (70 rural desa and 7 urban kelurahan) within each district and its postcodes.

Notes: (a) the populations of the new Pulau Seluan District are included in the figures for Bunguran Utara District, from which it was split off in 2022. (b) comprising 4 kelurahan (Bandarsyah, Batu Hitam, Ranai Darat and Ranai Kota) and 3 desa. (c) the 2010 population of the new Bunguran Batubi District is included in the figure for Bunguran Barat District, from which it was split off in 2014. (d) the 2010 population of the new Pulau Tiga Barat District is included in the figure for Pulau Tiga District, from which it was split off in 2014. (e) the 2010 population of the new Suak Midai District is included in the figure for Midai District, from which it was split off in 2014. (f) the populations of the new Pulau Panjang District are included in the figures for Subi District, from which it was split off in 2022.

Maritime administration and Chinese claim
Indonesia's EEZ extends 200 nautical miles (370 km) from its shores (as per the 1982 UNCLOS), which, around Natuna, means it is slightly intersected by China's nine-dash line, defining its widely disputed claim to most of the South China Sea. In 2014–2015, the presence of the Indonesian National Armed Forces on the islands was reinforced, which the Indonesian government hoped would reduce the chance of any conflict. Then from late 2019, Chinese fishing vessels increased illegal activity within the EEZ, escorted by a Chinese Coast Guard vessel. Indonesia responded with a formal diplomatic protest to Beijing and then deployed to the region a further 600 troops and eight navy warships, along with aerial support. The naval presence included Ahmad Yani-class frigates, Bung Tomo-class corvettes, and Kapitan Pattimura-class ASW corvettes, while aerial support came from Naval aviation CN-235 MPA aircraft, four Indonesian Air Force F-16s and a Boeing 737-2x9, with BAE Hawk aircraft nearby on alert. A visit to the area by President Joko Widodo in early January 2020 reinforced Indonesia's resolve not to tolerate such incursions.

Economy
Despite important natural gas reserves, most of the locals work as fishermen or farmers. There is no significant tourism industry. Farming is not on an industrial scale, just small holdings. The other main source of income is gained by people working for the government.

Peoples
According to the 2010 census returns (released in 2011), the population of the islands stood at 69,003 people. 85.27% of the inhabitants were Malays, with the remainder consisting of Javanese, Sumatrans and Chinese. By the 2020 census, this had grown to 81,495, and by mid 2022 it had grown to 85,446.

Religion
Islam is the dominant religion in the islands, with 96.97% of the total population identify themselves as Muslim. Other religions are Christianity, which forms 1.66% of the total population, Buddhism, which forms 1.23% of the total population, and Confucianism, which forms 0.14% of the total population. The largest mosque is located in the north-east corner of the islands. The Masjid Agung Natuna was built over two years from 2007 to 2009, and is visited by at least 10,000 people every day.

Harbors and airports
The military harbour was headquartered on Teuku Umar for Navy ships tasked on the Natuna Sea.

Ranai-Natuna Airport is located at Ranai, the capital city of Natuna Regency. The airport is also a Type B airbase of the Indonesian Air Force. Other than that, the airport also serves civilian flights. The airport also accommodates large military aircraft. A new passenger terminal opened in October 2016, inaugurated by President Joko Widodo.

The airport resides at an elevation of 2 m above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 18/36 with an asphalt surface measuring 2,560 m x 32 m (8,399 ft × 105 ft). The runway is planned to be widened to 80 m in 2020. Moreover, the airport has an apron measuring 120 m x 60 m and a taxiway measuring 50 m x 32 m.

The recently built terminal at the airport has an area of 3,868 m2, many times larger than the old terminal which only had an area of 243 m2. The new terminal can accommodate around 13,850 passengers daily. The parking lot has been expanded to 5,020 m2 and can now cater to around 3,940 cars and 750 motorcycles. Other facilities inside the airport are the Aviation Accidents Rescue and Fire Fighting building, a generator and the pump house.

title: Natuna Regency


text:
Pusa (disambiguation)

Pusa is a genus of earless seal.

Pusa or PUSA may also refer to:

Music

 * The Presidents of the United States of America (band), a rock band
 * The Presidents of the United States of America (album), the band's self-titled debut album
 * PUSA Inc., a record label founded by The Presidents of the United States of America
 * "Pusa Road", a section of "Fire Garden Suite", a song by Steve Vai from his 1996 album Fire Garden
 * Pusa, a Czech folk rock band

Organizations

 * Pusa Polytechnic - a technology school in India
 * Institute of Hotel Management, Delhi or IHM Pusa, in Pusa, Delhi, India
 * Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), situated in Pusa, Delhi, also known as Pusa Institute
 * Pokémon USA Inc, the American branch of The Pokémon Company
 * PUSA – Persatuan Ulama Seluruh Aceh (All Aceh Religious Scholars Association) established by Daud Beureu'eh in 1939

Places

 * Pusa, Sarawak, a town in Malaysia.
 * Pusa, a block in Samastipur district, Bihar, India
 * Pusa, a neighborhood of New Delhi
 * Khudiram Bose Pusa railway station, a railway station in Samastipur district, Bihar, India

People

 * Marko Pusa, a Finnish darts player

Other uses

 * President of the United States, the head of state and government of the United States of America
 * Pusa, a synonym for Pusana, a for a grasshopper genus
 * Guanyin or Bodhisattva, known in Chinese as pusa
 * Pausha or Pusa, a month in the Hindu calendar (December–January)

title: Pusa (disambiguation)