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British Overseas Territories Act 2002

The British Overseas Territories Act 2002 (c.8) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which superseded parts of the British Nationality Act 1981. It makes legal provision for the renaming of the British Dependent Territories as British Overseas Territories, and the renaming of associated citizenship.

As a result of the act, all who were British Overseas Territories citizens (apart from those solely connected with the Cyprus Sovereign Base Areas) immediately prior to 21 May 2002 automatically became full British citizens on that date (previously full British citizenship was either automatically accorded or granted without conditions on request only to people from Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands).

The law was enacted five years after the end of British sovereignty over Hong Kong, whose population had been vastly greater than all other British Dependent Territories put together.

The qualifying territories for the purposes of the 2002 Act include the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and the British Antarctic Territory. At the time, there was discussion as to whether either of these territories should be treated as qualifying territories for the purposes of the Act, when neither has a permanent population and in the case of the British Antarctic Territory there are competing territorial claims that are held in abeyance.

Although it is not normally possible under either territory's immigration laws to acquire British Overseas Territories citizenship (BOTC) by naturalization in that territory, the former inhabitants of the BIOT still hold BOTC by virtue of their birth, or a parent's birth, in that territory.

Although it was possible for BOTCs to voluntarily acquire British citizenship under the previous provisions of British Nationality Act 1981 through section 4 registration by meeting UK residency and good character requirements prior to 2002, the enactment of the 2002 act means that every BOTC who was not already a British citizen on enactment day automatically acquired that status without satisfying residency and character requirements. This, effectively, means that BOTCs are in a unique position of simultaneously holding two forms of British nationality. The only exception to this are for those connected solely with the sovereign military bases in Cyprus, and those who acquired BOTC status voluntarily (i.e., through naturalization) after 21 May 2002.

This has allowed residents of British Overseas Territories to apply for and travel on a separate British passport describing them as a British citizen, to reside in the UK permanently without being subject to UK immigration control, to join the British armed forces and police forces, and to exercise rights under the Human Rights Act. Although not explicitly stated, the act also granted them EU citizenship through UK's membership in the European Union, which (until UK's withdrawal from the EU was finalized) meant that BOTCs with British citizen passports were afforded all rights accorded to EU citizens in any EU country.

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands was included in the scope of the Act mainly due to its former association with the Falkland Islands. The 2002 Act is similar in scope to the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983 and repealed some of that Act (without affecting the validity of any acquisition of British citizenship under that legislation).

Those naturalizing as British overseas territories citizens after 21 May 2002 may submit an application to be registered as British citizens under section 4A of the 1981 Act, subject only to good character requirements. However, the application must be made voluntarily. Hence, it is still theoretically possible for a person to hold only BOTC status but not British citizenship after 2002, if they had never filed such an application or their application is refused by the UK government.

While BOTCs of all the Overseas Territories (except the Sovereign Base Areas) are now either British citizens or eligible to acquire British citizenship (and therefore gain right of abode in the UK by virtue of being a British citizen), British citizens visiting Overseas Territories are still subject to local immigration controls and are, in most cases, given limited leave to remain by the territory's immigration officers.

Qualifying territories

In the following is a list of all the overseas territories in which qualify under the provisions of the Act.

 * 🇦🇮 Anguilla
 * 🇧🇲 Bermuda
 * British Antarctic Territory
 * British Virgin Islands
 * 🇮🇴 British Indian Ocean Territory
 * 🇰🇾 Cayman Islands
 * Falkland Islands
 * 🇬🇮 Gibraltar
 * 🇲🇸 Montserrat
 * Pitcairn Islands
 * 🇸🇭 Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
 * Saint Helena
 * Ascension Island
 * Tristan da Cunha
 * South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
 * 🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos Islands

title: British Overseas Territories Act 2002


text:
National Assembly (Venezuela)

The National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vote partly by direct election in state-based voting districts, and partly on a state-based party-list proportional representation system. The number of seats is constant, each state and the Capital district elected three representatives plus the result of dividing the state population by 1.1% of the total population of the country. Three seats are reserved for representatives of Venezuela's indigenous peoples and elected separately by all citizens, not just those with indigenous backgrounds. For the 2010 to 2015 the number of seats was 165. All deputies serve five-year terms. The National Assembly meets in the Federal Legislative Palace in Venezuela's capital, Caracas.

1961 Constitution

Under its previous 1961 Venezuelan Constitution, Venezuela had a bicameral legislature, known as the Congress (Congreso). This Congress was composed of a Senate of Venezuela (Senado) and a Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de Diputados).

The Senate was made up of two senators per state, two for the Federal District, and a number of ex officio senators intended to represent the nation's minorities. In addition, former presidents (those elected democratically or their replacements legally appointed to serve at least half a presidential term) were awarded lifetime senate seats. Senators were required to be Venezuelan-born citizens and over the age of 30.

The members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by direct universal suffrage, with each state returning at least two. Deputies had to be at least 21 years old.

The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies were each led by a President, and both performed their functions with the help of a Directorial Board. The President of Senate of Venezuela hold additional title of the President of Congress, and was constitutional successor of the President of Venezuela in case of a vacancy. This succession took place in 1993, when Octavio Lepage succeeded Carlos Andrés Pérez.

1999 Constitution
President Hugo Chávez was first elected in December 1998 on a platform calling for a National Constituent Assembly to be convened to draft a new constitution for Venezuela. Chávez's argument was that the existing political system, under the earlier 1961 Constitution, had become isolated from the people. In the Constituent Assembly elections held on 25 July 1999, all but six seats were given to candidates associated with the Chávez movement. The National Constituent Assembly (ANC), consisting of 131 elected individuals, convened in August 1999 to begin rewriting the constitution. The ANC's proposed constitution was approved in a referendum on 15 December 1999 and came into effect the following 20 December.

2017 constitutional crisis
On 29 March 2017, the Supreme Court (TSJ) stripped the Assembly of its powers, ruling that all powers would be transferred to the Supreme Court. The previous year the court found the assembly in contempt for swearing in legislators whose elections had been deemed invalid by the court. The 2017 court judgement declared that the "situation of contempt" meant that the assembly could not exercise its powers. The action transferred powers from the Assembly, which had an opposition majority since January 2016, to the Supreme Court, which has a majority of government loyalists. The move was denounced by the opposition with Assembly President Julio Borges describing the action as a coup d'état by President Nicolás Maduro. However, after public protests and condemnation by international bodies, the court's decision was reversed a few days later on 1 April.

On 4 August 2017, Venezuela convened a new Constituent Assembly after a special election which was boycotted by opposition parties. The new Constituent Assembly is intended to rewrite the constitution; it also has wide legal powers allowing it to rule above all other state institutions. The Constituent Assembly meets within the Federal Legislative Palace; the leadership of the National Assembly have said it would continue its work as a legislature and it will still continue to meet in the same building.

On 18 August the Constituent Assembly summoned the members of the National Assembly to attend a ceremony acknowledging its legal superiority; the opposition members of the National Assembly boycotted the event. In response, the Constituent Assembly stripped the National Assembly of its legislative powers, assuming them for itself. It justified the move by claiming that the National Assembly had failed to prevent what it called "opposition violence" in the form of the 2017 Venezuelan protests. The constitutionality of this move has been questioned, and it has been condemned by several foreign governments and international bodies.

2020 contested leadership election
The 2020 Venezuelan National Assembly Delegated Committee election of 5 January, to elect the Board of Directors of the National Assembly was disrupted. The events resulted in two competing claims for the Presidency of the National Assembly: one by deputy Luis Parra and one by Juan Guaidó. Parra was formerly a member of Justice First, but was expelled from the party on 20 December 2019 based on corruption allegations, which he denies. From inside the legislature, Parra declared himself president of the National Assembly; a move that was welcomed by Maduro administration. The opposition disputed this outcome, saying that quorum had not been achieved and no votes had been counted. Police forces had blocked access to parliament to some opposition members, including Guaidó, and members of the media. Later in the day, a separate session was carried out at the headquarters of El Nacional newspaper, where 100 of the 167 deputies voted to re-elect Guaidó as president of the parliament. In his speech, Guaidó announced his resignation from Popular Will.

Guaidó was sworn in a session on 7 January after forcing his way in through police barricades. Parra has reiterated his claim to the presidency of the parliament.

Structure and powers
Under the current Bolivarian 1999 Constitution, the legislative branch of Government in Venezuela is represented by a unicameral National Assembly. The Assembly is made up of 167 seats . Officials are elected by "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vote on a national party-list proportional representation system. In addition, three deputies are returned on a state-by-state basis, and three seats are reserved for representatives of Venezuela's indigenous peoples.

All deputies serve five-year terms and must appoint a replacement (suplente) to stand in for them during periods of incapacity or absence. Under the 1999 constitution deputies could be reelected on up to two terms (Art. 192); under the 2009 Venezuelan constitutional referendum these term limits were removed. Deputies must be Venezuelan citizens by birth, or naturalized Venezuelans with a period of residency in excess of 15 years; older than 21 on the day of the election; and have lived in the state for which they seek election during the previous four years (Art. 188).

Beyond passing legislation (and being able to block any of the president's legislative initiatives), the Assembly has a number of specific powers outlined in Article 187, including approving the budget, initiating impeachment proceedings against most government officials (including ministers and the Vice President, but not the President, who can only be removed through a recall referendum) and appointing the members of the electoral, judicial, and prosecutor's branches of government. Among others it also has the power to authorize foreign and domestic military action and to authorize the President to leave the national territory for more than 5 days.

The Assembly is led by a President with 2 Vice Presidents, and together with a secretary and an assistant secretary, they form the Assembly Directorial Board, and when it is on recess twice a year, they lead a Standing Commission of the National Assembly together with 28 other MPs.

Since 2010 the Assembly's 15 Permanent Committees, created by the 2010 Assembly Rules, are composed by MPs (ranging from the minimum of 7 to the maximum of 25) tackling legislation of various issues. The Committees' offices are housed in the José María Vargas Building in Caracas, few hundred yards from the Federal Legislative Palace, the former building is also where the offices of the Assembly leadership are located.

Electoral system
In the 2000 Venezuelan parliamentary election, representatives were elected under a mixed member proportional representation, with 60% elected in single seat districts and the remainder by closed party list proportional representation. This was an adaptation of the system previously used for the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies, which had been introduced in 1993, with a 50-50 balance between single seat districts and party lists, and deputies per state proportional to population, but with a minimum of three deputies per state.

Political composition
The first election of deputies to the new National Assembly took place on 30 July 2000. President Hugo Chávez' Fifth Republic Movement won 92 seats (56%). The opposition did not participate in the 2005 elections, and as a result gained no seats, while the Fifth Republic Movement gained 114 (69%). In 2007 a number of parties, including the Fifth Republic Movement, merged to create the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which in January 2009 held 139 of the 169 seats (82%). In the 2010 election, for which the number of deputies was reduced to 165, the PSUV won 96 seats (58%), the opposition electoral coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) 65, and Patria Para Todos won 2.

At the 2015 parliamentary election, the MUD won 109 of the 164 general seats and all three indigenous seats, which gave them a supermajority in the National Assembly; while the government's own coalition, the Great Patriotic Pole, won the remaining 55 seats. Voter turnout exceeded 70 percent.

The result, however, was marred by the January 2016 suspension from the NA by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of 4 elected MPs from Amazonas state due to alleged voter fraud and election irregularities. 3 of the 4 were opposition deputies and one was from the GPP.

Following the 2017 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election the new Venezuelan Constitutional Assembly was inaugurated which has the power to rule over all other state institutions and rewrite the constitution. As of May 2019, the Constituent Assembly mandate is expected to expire on 31 December 2020 (after next National Assembly elections), a measure that replaces the previous resolution of August 2017 that established its validity for at least two years.

In 2020, Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela and allied parties claimed to have captured 67 percent of seats in the National Assembly, but that election was also disputed by EU and U.S. officials. Nevertheless, since then Maduro has exercised majority control of the Venezuelan parliament, displacing Juan Guaidó from his oppositional presidency.

Members

 * I National Assembly of Venezuela
 * II National Assembly of Venezuela
 * III National Assembly of Venezuela
 * IV National Assembly of Venezuela
 * V National Assembly of Venezuela

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

title: National Assembly (Venezuela)


text:
Bihar County

Bihar was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary and a county of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and Principality of Transylvania (since the 16th century, when it was under the rule of the Princes of Transylvania). Most of its territory is now part of Romania, while a smaller western part belongs to Hungary. The capital of the county was Nagyvárad (now Oradea in Romania). Albrecht Dürer's father was from this county.

Geography
Bihar County was situated along the upper courses of the rivers Körös, Sebes-Körös, Fekete-Körös and Berettyó. The medieval county also included Kalotaszeg region (now Țara Călatei in Romania). The total territory of the medieval county was around 10000 km2.

After 1876, Bihar county shared borders with the Hungarian counties Békés, Hajdú, Szabolcs, Szatmár, Szilágy, Kolozs, Torda-Aranyos and Arad. The western half of the county was in the Pannonian plain, while the eastern half was part of the Apuseni mountains (Erdélyi-középhegység). Its area was 10657 km2 around 1910, making it the third largest county of Hungary.

Origins
The origin of the name of Bihar is uncertain, however more theories exist. It could take its name from an ancient fortress in the current commune of Biharia. Or, the Hungarian Bihar derived from the word vihar (tempest, storm), that is of Slavic origin; vihor (whirlwind). A less probable theory is that Biharea is of Daco-Thracian etymology (bimeaning "two" and harati "take" or "lead"), possibly meaning two possessions of land in the Duchy of Menumorut.

In the 730s the Khazar Khaganate was ruled by Bihar Khagan, called Viharos in Armenian sources. “Viharos” is a currently used Hungarian word meaning stormy.

The castle of Byhor, or Bihar (now Biharia in Romania), was the center of the duchy of Menumorut at the time of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in the 890s, according to the Gesta Hungarorum. The Gesta—the only primary source which mentions Menumorut—describes him as a ruler "with Bulgarian heart" who was the vassal of the Byzantine Emperor. Menumorut's subjects were Khazars, and the Székelys joined the invading Hungarians in his duchy. Historian Tudor Sălăgean writes that other peoples (including Romanians) must have also lived in Menumorut's realm. Menumorut was forced to give his daughter in marriage to Zoltán, son of Árpád, Grand Prince of the Hungarians. When he died, his son-in-law inherited his duchy. Modern scholars debate whether Menumorut and his duchy actually existed or the anonymous author of the Gesta invented them. For instance, historian György Györffy says that Menumorut's name preserved the memory of the Moravians who dominated parts of the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century. According to historians György Györffy and Victor Spinei, the presence of Kabars in the region could have given rise to Anonymous' reference to Menumorut's "Khazars".

Place names of Slavic origin—for instance, Zomlyn (near modern Darvas in Hungary), Csatár and Szalacs (now Cetariu and Sălacea in Romania)—show that Slav communities lived along the rivers Ér and Berettyó and around Bihar. Graves of 10th-century warriors, buried together with parts of their horses, have been excavated, for instance, at Bihar, Hajdúböszörmény, and Nagyszalonta (now Salonta in Romania). According to archaeologist Thomas Nägler, the small number of graves which can be attributed to 10th-century Hungarian warriors shows that few Hungarians settled in the region after the Hungarian conquest. Archaeologist Erwin Gáll writes that the cemetery at Bihar may represent a "peripheral centre" of a core region which was located along the upper courses of the river Tisza, because the burial customs were similar in the two territories. Almost a dozen medieval villages—for instance, Felkér, Köröskisjenő and Köröstarján (now Felcheriu, Ineu and Tărian in Romania)—bore the name of a Hungarian tribe, suggesting that Hungarian groups settled in the region in the late 10th and early 11th centuries, according to György Györffy.

Written sources and toponyms implies the presence of Székelys. The castle folk of Ebey—a village, located near Nagyszalonta, which was later abandoned—were grouped into a "hundred", or centurionatus, named Székelyszáz around 1217. The Seat of Telegd was most probably named after the village Telegd (now Tileagd in Romania). If this scholarly theory is valid, the ancestors of the Székelys of Telegd had lived in Bihar County before they moved to eastern Transylvania. Historian Florin Curta writes that the Székelys settled in the county only in the early 13th century.

Modern historians agree that the county was established between 1020 and 1050, most probably by Stephen I, the first king of Hungary, or possibly by his successor, Peter. According to a version of a royal charter, issued in 1203, mentioned that "the whole Bihar County" was located partly around Bihar and partly around Zaránd (now Zărand in Romania), suggesting that Bihar County had originally included Zaránd County, or at least its territories north of the river Fehér-Körös. Another version of the same charter also mentioned Békés besides Bihar and Zaránd, implying that Bihar County had also included the lands which developed into the separate Békés County.

Middle Ages

The 11th-century Bihar Castle, made of earth and timber, was the first center of the county. The earliest royal charter that mentioned the ispán, or head, of the county was issued around 1067. The county was included in the ducatus, or duchy, that Andrew I of Hungary granted to his younger brother, Béla, around 1050. Béla's son, Géza, ruled the duchy from 1064. Nomadic Turks—Pechenegs or Ouzes—plundered the eastern territories of the Kingdom of Hungary, including the region around Bihar Castle in 1068. Duke Géza, his brother, Ladislaus, and their cousin, King Solomon of Hungary, joined their forces and chased the marauders as far as Doboka (now Dăbâca in Romania). Six years later, "the troops from Byhor" were under the command of Duke Ladislaus in the Battle of Mogyoród which ended with the decisive victory of Géza and Ladislaus over King Solomon. The first document that mentioned the county was issued in 1075.

According to György Györffy, the county seems to have originally been included in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Eger, because the Deanery of Zsomboly, located to the south of Bihar County, formed an exclave of the Eger bishopric during the Middle Ages. The separate Roman Catholic Diocese of Bihar was set up between 1020 and 1061. Its see was transferred to Várad (now Oradea in Romania) before 1095. There were four deaneries in the county; the Deanery of Bihar was the first to have been documented (in 1213). Pilgrims frequented the shrine of King St Ladislaus in the Várad Cathedral after his canonization in 1192 and trials by ordeal were also held there.

Emeric, King of Hungary approached Pope Innocent III, asking him to make "Latins" abbot of the Greek monasteries in the Kingdom of Hungary to restore discipline. In a letter, written on 16 May 1204, the pope ordered Simon, the Catholic Bishop of Várad to visit the "Greek" monasteries and to set up a separate diocese, directly subjected to the Holy See, for them. According to historian Ioan-Aurel Pop, those "Greek" monasteries actually belonged to the local Orthodox Romanians'. Pop also writes that the Orthodox bishopric "in the country of Knez Bela", mentioned in a letter that Pope Innocent wrote to the Archbishop of Kalocsa in 1205, was located north of Oradea.

At least 19 villages—including Köröskisjenő, Mezőgyán and Mezősas in Bihar County, and Gyulavarsánd and Vadász (now Vărșand and Vânători) in Zaránd County—made up the honour of Bihar Castle in the early 13th century. The Várad Register—a codex which preserved the minutes of hundreds of ordeals held at the Várad Chapter between 1208 and 1235—provides information of the life of the commoners in the honour. The castle folk who were divided in "hundreds" provided well-specified services to the ispán. The Register mentioned the gatekeepers and the hunters of Bihar Castle. The Register also referred to "guest settlers" of foreign—Rus', German or "Latin"—origin. For instance, Walloon "guests" established Olaszi near Várad (now Olasig neighborhood in Oradea) before 1215.

The kings started to give away parcels of the royal domain already in the 11th century. Prelates and ecclesiastic institutions—including the bishops of Várad, the Dömös Chapter and the Garamszentbenedek Abbey—were the first beneficiaries. According to György Györffy, the noble Ákos, Borsa, Gutkeled and Hont-Pázmány clans received their first estates in the county in the 11th century; the Geregyes, the Telegdis and most other lords only in the late 13th century. The western and southwestern lowlands were distributed among dozens of noble families, each holding only one village.

The Mongols captured and destroyed Várad during their invasion of Hungary in 1241, according to Roger of Torre Maggiore, who was archdeacon of the Várad Chapter at that time. At least 18% of the nearly 170 settlements documented in the county before 1241 disappeared during the Mongol invasion. Stephen V of Hungary exempted the peasants living in the estates of the bishop of Várad of royal taxation and granted the bishop the right to open mines in his estates in 1263 to promote the economic recovery of the bishopric. A silver mine was in short opened at the bishop's domains at Belényes (now Beiuș in Romania).

New fortresses were built during the decades following the withdrawal of the Mongols. Judge royal Paul Geregye erected Sólyomkő Castle at Élesd (now Aleșd in Romania); his sons held further 2 newly built fortresses in the 1270s. Their power was crushed during King Ladislaus the Cuman's reign; he granted their fortresses and domains to the Borsas. James Borsa, one of the semi-independent "oligarchs", was the actual ruler of Bihar, Kraszna, Szabolcs, Szatmár and Szolnok counties in the early 14th century. After James Borsa's fall in the late 1310s, the noble Czibak, Debreceni and Telegdi families became the wealthiest lay landowners in the county. The center of the Debrecenis' ancestral estates, Debrecen, developed into a market town.

One of the earliest references to the presence of Romanians in the county—the place name Olahteluk ("Vlachs' Plot")—was recorded in a non-authentic charter, dated to 1283. The first authentic document mentioning Romanians was issued in 1293. They lived in the region of the bishop's castle at Várasfenes (now Finiș in Romania). Next a charter of 1326 referred to the Romanian Voivode Neagul who "settled and lived" (considet and commoratur) in Nicholas Telegdi's estate at Káptalanhodos (now Hodiş in Romania). Historian Ioan Aurel Pop writes that the latter charter proves that Nicholas Telegdi's estate had originally owned by Voivode Neagul.

Modern Times
After the Battle of Mohács, soon the Kingdom of Hungary was partitioned, the county's territory became part of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, then the Principality of Transylvania. A large part of it was ruled by Ottoman Empire as Varat Eyalet between 1660–1692, before it became part of the Kingdom of Hungary again.

Following the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, in 1850 Bihar was provisionally partitioned into Ober- and Unter-Bihar (Upper- and Lower-Bihar) as part of the District of Großwardein. These later became Süd- and Nord-Bihar (South- and North-Bihar). The border between Süd- and Nord-Bihar mostly followed the Berettyó/Barcău river. Süd-Bihar was centred on the Landbezirk of Großwardein (Nagyvárad, Oradea) and also included the Stuhlbezirke (districts) of Ártánd, Élesd, Margita, Szalonta, Belényes and Tenke. Nord-Bihar was centred on the Land- and Stadtbezirk of Debreczin and also included the Stuhlbezirke of Dorogh, Diószegh, Derecske and Püspök-Ladány. Part of Nord-Bihar's territory had previously belonged to the Hajdúság (see Hajdú County) and Szabolcs County. The pre-1848 counties of Hungary, including Bihar, were restored in October 1860.

In 1876 the Kingdom of Hungary was divided into seven Circles, with a total of 64 counties. The Circle on the left bank of the Theiss contained eight counties, including Bihar Megye (Megye means county), with the other seven being Békés, Hajdú, Máramaros, Szabolcs, Szatmár, Szilágy and Ugocsa. Bihar county in the Austro-Hungarian Empire contained Debrecen and Nagyvárad.

In 1920, by the Treaty of Trianon about 75% of the county became part of Romania. The west of the county remained in Hungary. The capital of this smaller county Bihar was Berettyóújfalu. In 1940, by the Second Vienna Award, the county's territory have been extended by its former parts gained from Romania.

In 1950, the Hungarian county Bihar was merged with Hajdú County to form Hajdú-Bihar county. The southernmost part of Hungarian Bihar (the area around Sarkad and Okány) went to Békés County.

The Romanian part of former Bihar County now forms the Romanian Bihor County, except the southernmost part (around Beliu), which is in Arad County.

Districts
In the early 20th century, the districts (járás) and their capitals were:

The towns of Derecske, Berettyóújfalu, Biharnagybajom and Biharkeresztes are now in Hungary, while the other towns mentioned are in Romania.

title: Bihar County


text:
Talk:Flag of Alaska

Flag Accuracy
Eight stars of gold on field of blue... The Big Dipper is really out of whack on this graphic. I think the stars are all the same size as well. -- Decumanus 18:05, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC) Why is one of the stars bigger than the other ones? Keyboard mouse (talk) 00:27, 23 April 2010 (UTC) That picture does suck, it's more because the placement and the color of the stars, I've been trying to replace all the alaskan flags I find on wikipedia to "File:Alaskaflag.gif" but yes, the north star is a little bit bigger than the rest, fitting as it is the brightest in the alaskan sky, and it is known as the bear, which symbolizes strength. - duck_that_quacks_alot 11:00, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

I reverted the .gif image of the Flag of Alaska. The stars are based on Ursa Major (the Big Dipper), and the .gif image did not portray these quite right. SVGs are preferred over .gifs in either case. Does anyone have a copy of the official law as signed by the Alaskan legislature? I would like to make sure the flag is accurate to the written law. In particular, I would like information on the size of the stars and position on the fly and hoist. -DevinCook (talk) 10:43, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Q why does Alaska use an flag from Ireland? Gazzas46zs (talk) 05:56, 31 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Which one are you referring to? There are cases of different states coming up with identical solutions. -DevinCook (talk) 14:49, 31 October 2014 (UTC)

The Old Flag
The Russian American Company flag was authorized under Czar Alexander I in 1806. It was the first special flag granted by the Russian Government to any private company. The proposal to establish the flag was submitted by the Minister of Trade N. P. Rumiantsev, who devoted much attention to the Company and personally financed several scientific expeditions. (Port Rumiantsev, the Russian shipping and harbor facility at Bodega Bay was later named for him.) The flag was granted on September 19, 1806 by the St. Petersburg offices. The RAC flag was authorized to be raised over Russian fortifications and on Company ships in place of naval flags. This gave special recognition to the Company in the international trade world.

The flag flew over all Russian American Company settlements, including Fort Ross. The RAC flag has three stripes, the lower red, the middle blue, and the upper and wider stripe white. Painted on the flag is the Russian imperial crest, the double headed eagle. A ribbon hanging from the talons of the eagle is the inscription ‘Russo-American Company.’ On the breast of the double headed eagle is a square with a red shield and St. George on a white steed looking to the left. Between 1818 and 1831 a professional artist was hired by the Company specially to make and draw the emblem on the flags. The Company used six to ten flags annually.

Flags were probably flown on a daily basis at the Ross Colony and in Alaska. Certainly, they were always flown for special occasions such as the arrival of ships and visiting dignitaries, and celebrations of any sort.

The flag flew over Alaska until October 18th, 1867 when all Russian American Company holdings in Alaska were sold to the United States. —Preceding unsigned comment added by UeArtemis (talk • contribs) 20:22, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

I have replaced the above description of the Russian-American Company flag in the article because it contains many errors. I have left it on the talk page so the reader may compare the two accounts and judge for themselves which is more accurate. The first error states "The flag was granted on September 19, 1806 by the St. Petersburg offices." As can be seen in the replaced article it was approved by the Emperor on September 28th (old style) which is October 10th (new style) and, after "Imperial confirmation the ukaz was heard in the Senate and on 19 October 1806".

Fort Ross has always had trouble with its Russian dates, and recently completely missed its own actual 200th anniversay which it understood to be on August 30th, 1812 (old style), when it was actually on September 11th (new style).

The sentence "The RAC flag was authorized to be raised over Russian fortifications and on Company ships in place of naval flags." is entirely incorrect. Naval flags were never flown on either Company establishments or ships. On occasion a Company ship was authorized to fly a naval ensign, but only at express desire of the Emperor, which then made the ship a naval vessel.

The Russian version of the inscription on the ribbon beneath the eagle is also incorrect: it should read "Rossiiskoi-Amerikanskoi Kompanii" At various times and on various examples of the flag the inscription was abbreviated; in 1806 the inscription read "Rossiiskoi Amerik: Kompa". The only extant original flag in the Hermitage collection has as it's inscription "- - (letters missing)-erikan: Kompanii".

The statement "Flags were probably flown on a daily basis at the Ross Colony and in Alaska." has no basis in historical fact or practice. Numerous statements in the historic record order the flag to be raised on specific occasions only.

In addition, the flag images on the table below "Flags flown before 1927" are also incorrect: The civil ensign was used by the Russian-American Company until 1806, after that the RAC flag until 1881 (in Russia; 1867 in North America)

Please remove the Russian naval jack (1729 – July 8, 1799) and replace it with the civil ensign, and place the correct dates for the RAC's use in Alaska: 1806-1867. Ltkizhi (talk) 02:43, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

I have replaced nuclearvacum's flag again, and will continue to do so, as the continued insertion of his design in preference to an original, historic illustration from the time period (1806) amounts to "vandalism". His version is more than incorrect; it is wrong. The spelling of the Company's name is wrong, details (poorly rendered) on crowns and in the design are wrong, and the overall effect of modern computer rendering is incompatable with an historic flag when an original illustration is available. It would be a service to Wikipedia readers to remove all references to nuclearvacum's design(Ltkizhi (talk) 15:28, 26 March 2015 (UTC))

title: Talk:Flag of Alaska


text:
Talk:List of Mumbai stations

Can we move this to List of Mumbai railway stations? Thanks! Mark Richards 18:06, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

The article should be merged with Mumbai suburban railway. The new article shold be called Mumbai suburban railway, because a lot of pages link to Mumbai suburban railway. utcursch 05:47, Aug 18, 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:List of Mumbai stations


text:
HMS Queen (D19)

The USS St. Andrews (CVE-49) (originally AVG-49, later ACV-49) was assigned to MC hull 260 on 23 August 1942, a ship to be built to modified C3-S-A1 plans. She was laid down on 12 March 1943 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation of Tacoma, Washington; redesignated CVE-49 on 15 July; and launched on 31 July; sponsored by Mrs. Robert W. Morse; transferred to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease on 7 December; and commissioned the same day as HMS Queen (D19) in the Royal Navy.

HMS Queen served British and Allied escort forces in protecting the vital convoy supply effort across the North Atlantic in 1944, and in the Pacific campaigns in 1945. On 4 May 1945 aircraft of Queen's 853 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, took part in Operation Judgement, the last air-raid of the European war, at Kilbotn, Norway. After hostilities ceased, she was converted to a troop carrier and used to bring British forces back from the Far East, before being returned to the United States at Norfolk, Virginia, 31 October 1946.

On arrival, Queen was decommissioned by the Royal Navy and was taken over by the U.S. Navy. In excess of Navy needs, CVE-49 was slated, in December, for disposal; struck from the Navy Register in July 1947, sold to the N.V. Stoomv, Maats, Nederland Co., Amsterdam, Netherlands and pressed into merchant service as Roebiah on 29 July 1947 (renamed President Marcos in 1967 and Lucky One in 1972). She was scrapped in Taiwan in 1972.

Design and description
These ships were all larger and had a greater aircraft capacity than all the preceding American built escort carriers. They were also all laid down as escort carriers and not converted merchant ships. All the ships had a complement of 646 men and an overall length of 492 ft, a beam of 69 ft and a draught of 25 ft. Propulsion was provided a steam turbine, two boilers connected to one shaft giving 9,350 brake horsepower (SHP), which could propel the ship at 16.5 kn.

Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side, two aircraft lifts 43 ft by 34 ft, one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires. Aircraft could be housed in the 260 ft by 62 ft hangar below the flight deck. Armament comprised: two 4"/50, 5"/38 or 5"/51 Dual Purpose guns in single mounts, sixteen 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns in twin mounts and twenty 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons in single mounts. They had a maximum aircraft capacity of twenty-four aircraft which could be a mixture of Grumman Martlet, Vought F4U Corsair or Hawker Sea Hurricane fighter aircraft and Fairey Swordfish or Grumman Avenger anti-submarine aircraft.

title: HMS Queen (D19)


text:
Yolande Thibeault

Yolande Thibeault (born October 8, 1939 in Montreal, Quebec) is a journalist and politician in Quebec, Canada. She was elected a Member of Parliament of the House of Commons of Canada for the Saint-Lambert Riding in the 1997 general election. She was re-elected in the 2000 election with considerable majority over other candidates.

She is a former freelance journalist for the Canadian Press. She also volunteered as assistant to the Chief Organizer of the NO committee in Saint-Lambert during the 1995 Quebec referendum, and was a volunteer on the YES committee during the 1992 Charlottetown Accord referendum. She served as Co-Chair for Jacques Saada's federal election campaign in the 1993 election, and was "city leader" for the Quebec Liberal Party in Saint-Lambert for the 1994 provincial election.

During her first mandate as Member of Parliament (MP), she was assistant deputy chair of the Committees of the Whole House. For her second term, she was vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, a member of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, chair of the Prime Minister's caucus Task Force on Seniors, chair of the Canada-Germany Friendship Group, chair of the Canada-Cyprus Friendship Group, executive member of the Canada-France Inter-Parliamentary Association, and executive member of Canada-Africa Parliamentary Group.

She won the Liberal nomination for Saint-Lambert in 2004 against Carole Marcil. She was subsequently defeated in the election of 2004, losing by 5,370 votes to Cameroonian-born sovereigntist Maka Kotto of the Bloc Québecois. Thibault's defeat was remarkable both because the riding had been considered a "Liberal fortress", and because of her large majority in 1997.

title: Yolande Thibeault


text:
Tommy Burks

Fred Thomas Burks (May 22, 1940 – October 19, 1998) was a farmer and Democratic Party politician in Tennessee, United States. He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1970 until 1978 and in the Tennessee State Senate from 1978 until his assassination in 1998.

Biography
Born in Cookeville, Tennessee, Burks was one of the most conservative Democrats in the state legislature. He opposed the teaching of evolution in school science classes (twice introducing legislation to restrict its teaching), legal abortion, gambling, and a state lottery. His views seemed to have been very popular and in line with a large number of voters within his rural district.

Burks was an energetic legislator who almost never missed a floor or committee session. It is reported that he would on some occasions arrive at a session having already gotten up on his farm, delivered a load of hogs to Knoxville (approximately 90 miles east of his home), and then driven to the State Capitol in Nashville (100 miles west of his home and 190 miles west of Knoxville). Despite the 100-mile distance, and unlike most legislators from parts of the state a considerable distance from Nashville, Burks made it a practice to go home to his district and his farm almost every night, even during legislative sessions.

Death
Burks was shot dead by his Republican Party opponent Byron Looper on Burks's own property before the next election. An eyewitness to the murder helped seal the conviction of Looper, who was, at the time, Putnam County Tax Assessor. Burks' widow, Charlotte, ran for his seat and won, becoming the first Tennessee State Senator to win as a write-in candidate and one of very few American politicians to win as a write-in candidate. She was reelected in 2002, 2006, and 2010. The gun used to kill Burks was found by a highway work crew near Hwy 111 and Interstate 40 and is believed to have been thrown out of Looper's car window along I-40, between Monterey and Cookeville, following the murder.

Interstate 40 through Wilson, Smith, Putnam, and Cumberland counties is named the "Tommy Burks Memorial Highway".

title: Tommy Burks


text:
Talk:Oriental metal

Is Doomdeath a genre?
1) Is Doomdeath a genre? if its important enough to link to, or even be used, shouldn't it be defined? 2) The entire last paragraph on Orphoned Land should be in its own entry, linked from the Oriental metal article. 3) is Oriental metal big enough to deserve its own article? I'm a metal fan but i've never even heard of doomdeath (although i have heard Hassidic speed metal) i've never heard of it as a genre. Crackshoe 18:09, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

MathKnight 20:30, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * 1) I can't say if it isa genere, but the term doomdeath is commonly use to describe a combination of very slow death metal and doom metal with growls.
 * 2) You might be right.
 * 3) Oriental metal is still rather small, but I expect it will expand in the near future. Anyway, it definitly different than anything else and due to the florlism here (there are even articles on Tolkien metal or Troll metal). So I believe this article have the right to exist.

I'm not sure that two bands make a genre. I could be wrong though. Labelling music into genres is always going to cause controversy (are there any musical similarities between Blur and Oasis? I doubt it!). Ive never heard any of this stuff myself but I have heard quite a bit of Death metal. I think what Im getting at is: does singing about different topics or in a different language over a familiar musical backing change the music enough to maker it a legitimate term? If so, does this mean that Brujeria are "Mariachi-metal" and Nile are "Sahara-death"?Motown Junkie 11:45, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)

It is not just about singing in different laungages on different themes. The music itself is also different. I think you never heard Doomdeath combined with darbooka, Oud and silsulim. MathKnight 18:54, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Kenitra
kenitra (the small Arabic bridge) was founded in 1997 in Martigny (Were worth) by:      Jalal Marhani composer-songwriter and guitarist of the group. Surrounded by Yves Roulin in the rhythmic guitar and Yvan Monnet with the battery, the group started to repeat. The music of will kenitra is in a style which its musicians enjoy to call > MetalOrientalprog< from the fact that it is the result of the mixture of Progressive Metal and the Eastern influences which bring to him its type-setter thanks to his origins. After one year of good and faithful services, Yvan Monnet leaves for new horizons leaving the group without beater, with a box at rate/rhythm programme. Good beaters being always as much difficult to find under our latitude, the box at rate/rhythm will function during one year and half. The répét's continue however and will kenitra is joined during 1999 by Emanuel Pot with the battery, and Julien Dulex with low. Three months of intensive work later, the group produces a first model of 10 instrumental titles to the Colchique studio in Monthey (Were worth). 2000 ran out, the cruising speed seemed reached and all went for best for the group when a drama arrived. An animal of the family of the rodents tackling the electric system, caused a fire which destroyed all the building, as all the material of the group which was in its room. At the beginning of 2001, the heavy heart, Jalal Marhani decides to leave to Morocco to record violins and typically Eastern percussions there in order to polish its style. On its return in Switzerland, it meets the centre piece of its group: Reda Redjati, Oriental singer residing at Katmandu (Népal). They decide the setting-up of a project a collaboration. Medium 2001, Jalal Marhani moves in Bex (Vaud) where it finds a room adapted to the installation of a project of studio of recording. During this time, the manager of the group approaches the owner of Montain Studio in Montreux (Vaud). To interest by the style of will kenitra, David Richards (of which we will not make him the affront present it to you) proposes an artistic collaboration. Unfortunately, the destiny decided some differently. The rhythmic guitarist Yves Roulin (to perhaps frighten by the extent of the events) decides to leave will kenitra, and it is replaced with the foot raised by Raoul Goin. In 2002 will kenitra is selected among 30 groups of all the French-speaking Switzerland by Recording Festival in Sion (Were worth). The purpose of this festival is to support the new talents in their offering an audio-video support, thus facilitating the promotional accesses to them (concerts, house of discs, etc). And here is the first concert of will kenitra out of box... Also, will kenitra seizes this advisability to give you the listening of his music through support that you hold between your hands, and wishes that you will have pleasure to listen to it.

LINE-UP :

Reda Redjati : Vocals Emanuel Pot : Drums Jalal Marhani : Guitars Raoul Goin : Guitars Julien Dulex : Bass

TRACKLIST : 1.Intro(0:39) 2.Ya Chabab(4:53) 3.Dounia (5:35) 4.Kif-Kif (3:44) 5.Morgana (4:45) 6.Malou Malou(3:51) 7.Red Balek(4:39) 8.Bent Nasse(4:35) 9.Dmah Ya Dmah(6:33)

DOWNLOADS : AUDIO : LIVE: Intro (mp3) Ya Chabab (mp3) Dounia (mp3) Kif-Kif (mp3) Morgana (mp3) Malou Malou (mp3) Red Balek (mp3) Bent Nasse (mp3) Dmah Ya Dmah (mp3) VIDEO: Video 1 Video 2

CONTACT : Kenitra, Rte de l'Allex 1, 1880 Bex, Switzerland Email: ethnometal@tele2.ch Website: http://www.kenitra.ch

.

- needs a lot of editing. MathKnight 19:39, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Mostly needs a separate article. --24.122.130.78 23:34, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

does this really need it's own article?
The scene seems far too limited. Not many bands are mentioned. I have never heard the term Oriental Metal applied to a band outside of this article. Personally, I think this term is as valid as Circus Metal. --Burbster 19:50, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

 * Your statement that the scene is rather limited is correct - however, the term "oriental metal" is existant and it has been mentioned in major metal media such as the Metal Hammer and Rock Hard magazines. Furthermore, the genre can easily be distinguished by unique characteristics namely the musical structure of (mostly) Death metal based on an underlying Oriental folk music pattern. Nile, for the record, are not filed unter "oriental metal" - their music contains multiple Middle Eastern influences, but is not based on Oriental music. Thus, "oriental metal" is a distinct genre in itself and it deserves an own article. I do understand your point, though. Personally, I only know of Salem, Orphaned Land and Melechesh as relatively well-known bands which can be classified as "oriental metal" - the rest of the scene is composed of about 30-40 underground bands mostly from Israel and the Arab countries. Vargher 22:21, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I don't think we need an article on every fake genre that 3 bands come up with, whether Metal Hammer mentions them or not. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.244.169.52 (talk • contribs) 17:11, 5 March 2006

 * as far as I am concerned, this article can be send to the dust bin. Spearhead 21:48, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

 * I back Spearhead partially, but more in the sense that it can be sent to the great Reference Article In The Sky. Ley Shade 09:08, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, put it up for AFD again Spearhead 22:06, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

 * I also agree that this article is pointless. I've personally never heard the term outside of Wikipedia... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.73.199.69 (talk • contribs) 14:19, 15 August 2006

 * Last.FM, the scrobbling site, does have a page for all songs tagged "oriental metal", though the only Oriental Metal I've heard is the OST of the game Prince of Persia: Warrior Within by Stuart Chatwood. Naveen Kumar Molleti (talk) 04:18, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Sources needed
Why is it called 'Oriental' for example? While Israel and Turkey could be called Eastern from a European point of view, the term 'Oriental' is more usually used to refer to the 'Far East' like China and Japan.

 * It's an older, broader usage (remember that archaising language is popular in metal). See The Orient.  (Really, Wikipedia editors should use their own encyclopedia more.) Florian Blaschke 11:49, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

The article also talks almost exclusively about Israeli metal, with Turkish metal added as a sort of afterthought. If there is indeed a common Middle Eastern metal style, shouldn't there be more examples from countries other than Israel?

I'd like to see these choices supported by more/better references than a few bands' websites. -- Kimiko 02:36, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Nile (band)
Nile (band)'s Middle Eastern and Mesopotamian mysticism themes make the band a candidate to be added as a part of this genre. Though not directly related to the so called "founding" bands of the subgenre, Nile does share some of the same subject matter. Cannibaltom 22:48, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Flimsy article
I always thought the person who started this article was a huge Orphaned Land fan who wanted to spread the term 'oriental metal' because he thought it sounded cool. When this article appeared it only cited OL but over the last few months it's been fleshed out to crowbar other bands into the same category. Needless to say it's a lazy excuse for a genre title.

OL produce progressive metal, just because they happen to use the odd dorian or phrygian mode in their playing does not make for an entirely new subgenre. Creating such things divides and confuses music fans. 'Progressive metal' is a well-known and accepted term, whereas I've never come across 'orienal metal' anywhere else. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sbgrant (talk • contribs) 15:01, 6 October 2006

- What about Vedic metal? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.194.169.143 (talk • contribs) 09:36, 15 October 2006

Definition of the term
Oriental refers in this case to anything Middle Eastern, and metal obviously to metal, so the bands in the genre do not have to be Jewish perseé, in fact, about every heavy metal band with a strong middle east flavour is Oriental metal. In this definition, Nile, Mezarkabul, Salem, Orphaned Land and perhaps the later works of Behemoth could be labeled Oriental Metal. I think that the definition of Oriental Metal should way more wider than is currently written in the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.194.169.143 (talk • contribs) 09:36, 15 October 2006

 * Then the emphasize on the Jewish aspect needs to be reviewed and reduced, and the addition of the wide range of other middle eastern metal bands needs to be put in.Cannibaltom 02:07, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

This article defines Oriental metal as "a crossover between death metal and doom metal, influenced by ancient Jewish traditions and the oriental culture". Here's what irks me:

1) Oriental metal doesn't HAVE to be doom/death. Many other bands (early Paradise Lost for example) could be classified as doom/death, but there's absolutely nothing oriental about them. This classification is totally irrelevant.

2) Last time I checked, "Oriental" isn't synonymous with "Jewish". The definition of this genre should clearly include ALL bands who merge metal with traditional Middle Eastern music, be it Turkish, Jewish, Arabic, or maybe even Egyptian and Mesopotamian. Perhaps we should divide this article into sub-categories, like they did on the Folk metal page? --DarkPresence 18:31, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Perhaps we should merely reduce this to a blurb on the folk metal page, As oriental metal is new, and doesn't have the same level of acceptance as Viking Metal does, and is more like Celtic metal. Atechi 17:59, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Superfluous info?
The purpose of this article is to define Oriental metal as a genre, not to make an extensive biography of Salem and Orphaned Land. Both of these bands have their own wikipedia article, so there's no need to describe their entire discography. Currently, this article has more content about these two bands than about the genre itself! It goes as far as describing the concept behind each album, describing individual songs, and even making not-so-objective comments about how the author feels when he listens to their music. Does anyone else think this part should be revised?--DarkPresence 19:06, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

additions
Even though at this point, i'm thinking this should be scraped and either remade, or divided and added to other articles, ie, folk metal. but none the less, i'm thinking you might aswell add all the chinese and japanese bands to this too, and go indepth about them too. Sigh (band) Chthonic (band) Taarma (Black Emperor Jogezai) (band) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cannibaltom (talk • contribs) 01:33, 2 November 2006

 * Just because a band happens to be japanese or afghani doesn't mean they classify as oriental metal. The MUSIC needs to have eastern influences. Last time I checked, Sigh and Taarma don't have much to do with traditional oriental music.

 * You're right about Chthonic, though. But I'm not sure they fit on this article. If we added them, we'd have to change the entire definition of oriental metal. It might be better to start an all-new subcategory (ie. Chinese metal) on the folk metal page.--DarkPresence 19:18, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Merging
This subgenre has been disputed so much over time that it doesn't seem anyone can reach an agreement about what it should contain, though a lot of people seem to dispute its true existence at all. It seems to make more sense to merge it with progressive metal since a lot of the 'oriental' bands mentioned have progressive elements. There could be section on the progressive metal page mentioning some of these bands and their Middle-Eastern influences but not citing them as inhabiting a separate subgenre altogether.

Suggestions to merge the article into any other type of metal would also be valid but I think progressive metal is the best all-rounder. Sbgrant 12:08, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

 * Yeah, right. An amazing total of 3 bands on this page have any progressive elements at all. All-rounder? Not even close...

 * If you really HAVE to merge this article, merge it with Folk Metal. When you get down to brass tracks, that's what Oriental Metal really is. Plus, there's already a section on Oriental Metal on that page.--DarkPresence 15:53, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

 * When I came across this genre here on wikipedia, I immediately doubted its validity. It obviously come across as a [WP:NEO neologism] and we all have seen such nonsense as pirate metal or clown metal being thrown about all too loosely. Well, after doing a little research, I have realised my initial impression was quite mistaken. While it might not be a big thing to those of us in the english speaking world, it nonetheless does exist as a legitimate subgenre of heavy metal - more specifically, as a subgenre of folk metal. Recognition of this can be found on many places on the internet so this is really not a case of someone creating a fictitious neologism on wikipedia. Aside from the usual wiki-copies, interviews with band members and online reviews of albums, we can find recognition of oriental metal in this academic essay here on the extreme metal scene in Israel. That essay is a chapter from a scholarly book that can be purchased from amazon. I think that alone should be convincing enough for the case of this article's existence. The fact that it is still a small genre should not be relevant in the least bit. Wikipedia is not an ecyclopedia only for that which is popular or well-known. There are numerous other articles on wikipedia on obscure subject matters. The significant question is whether the article in question is original research or whether it is verifiable. Oriental metal clearly pass this test. --Anarchodin 09:21, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

 * That said, obviously this article does need a great deal of improvement. I might get around to it myself. --Anarchodin 09:22, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Jewish, Hebrew, Kahanist metal should also be included
Hebrew metal bands are also considered a genere of this style, since most band indeed use types of Jewish music and its techniques, as well as being part of the creating of the style at least to a very diffrent approach, bands such as Golgolot, David Lazzar, Tifeeret ha Neelam and others who might fit the cathegory and of whom some were playing it even before some of the bands mentioned on the article was formed or the style even had a name. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.155.57.205 (talk • contribs) 04:24, 5 April 2007

This article should be deleted
Such a small sprinkling of bands doesn't warrant a full article. Oriental metal should be merged into a fuller paragraph under Folk metal. —Preceding unsigned comment added by BryanJ (talk • contribs) 21:40, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

 * This definitely should be merged or deleted. The very fact that we talk about changing the definition of this genre, inorder to include or exclude certain bands (which is completely subjective), means it really doesn't deserve an article of its own. Cannibaltom 00:24, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Turkey regional scene
Does it really exist? Salem, Orphaned Land, Melechesh, Arallu and Distorted are all verifiable oriental metal bands mentioned in this article from Israel. Presumably there are lesser known Israeli oriental metal bands that do not have a presence on the web or wikipedia. That was more or less sufficient to me for Israel to remain as an entry under the heading of Regional Scenes in the infobox. On the other hand, I was not able to find any verifiable oriental metal band from Turkey. I was under the impression that Pentagram / Mezarkabul would qualify but to my surprise, I was not able to find any reliable references that indicate it (opinions of fans on online forums do not count as reliable references). There might be some other bands in Turkey that performs oriental metal but I am certainly unaware of them. If someone can provide a reliable reference, that would be great. The exact term oriental metal does not need to be used. A reference to the band using middle eastern folk music in some substantial way is enough. In the absence of any evidence that there are several bands in Turkey that performs oriental metal, I do not think that there should be an entry for Turkey under the heading of Regional Scenes in the infobox. --Bardin (talk) 03:30, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Extreme metal
I see someone has added a description of oriental metal as extreme metal. I realized that all the bands currently mentioned on the article do qualify as extreme metal (death, black, doom) but I do not see any reason why this should be seen as a necessary condition on oriental metal bands. If folk metal bands can perform power or traditional heavy, then I imagine oriental metal bands can do so too. If it is not a necessary condition, then there's really no reason to mention it the opening sentence of this article. --Bardin (talk) 03:46, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
 * It's not a condition but it's a simple fact, oriental-oriented bands are all extreme metal bands. Kakun (talk) 07:24, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
 * The ones on the article are all extreme metal bands. I can agree with you on that. I imagine that there are a lot more oriental metal bands out there, the rest of which simply do not have an article on wikipedia yet. I just think that asserting all oriental metal bands are extreme metal qualify as original research. That's not an issue when it comes to describing oriental metal as a subgenre of folk metal if only because the offered definition or description of oriental metal obviously falls under the umbrella of folk metal. But it is an issue when it comes to describing oriental metal as a subgenre of extreme metal. I had not come across any reliable reference on the internet that describes oriental metal specifically as a subgenre of extreme metal with no possibility of a band playing power or traditional metal to be considered as oriental. If you can find such a reference, then by all means add the info into the article with the citation. A line under musical characteristics would be an appropriate place for the citation. You might well be correct on this issue. Like yourself, I am not aware of any oriental metal band that is not extreme metal as well (unless one considers Mezarkabul). But we can't use our own personal knowledge on wikipedia (at least, we're not supposed to). We can only add in information that can be referenced. Incidentally, thanks for correcting my mistake in taking out the word both from the opening sentence. --Bardin (talk) 09:37, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Nile
I've been brushing up this oriental metal article recently as anyone can see by the edit history. The genre is largely represented by three Israeli bands: Orphaned Land, Melechesh and Salem. There's no doubts or question marks as to whether these three bands are oriental metal. Lots of reliable sources on the internet describing them as such. There are other bands performing the style but who do not have an article page on wikipedia, eg. Litham, Langsuyr, Odious, etc. All of these bands have been tagged explicitly with the exact term oriental metal (or variations like oriental black metal).

The band Nile was mentioned on this oriental metal article before I began working on it. I've left them in the article even though I was not able to find anything that explicitly links them to it. After I spent some time expanding the folk metal article, I returned to the oriental metal article to improve it further. After several days of searching, I still can't find anything that explicitly links Nile to oriental or folk metal. Ordinarily enough, I would just kick them out of the article and that would be the end of the story. However, I have come across descriptions of Nile that seemingly indicate that they can qualify as oriental metal. I have not heard the band's music myself so I really have no idea what they sound like. Just going by what other people say, there's a review on allmusic noting that their music features "occasional interpolations of Middle Eastern folk melodies." A review on metal-observer describes their music as featuring "oriental flourishes." Another review on the same site notes that they've used "oriental instruments." Occasional and flourishes do not indicate a lot but then again, I'm not aware of any restriction indicating that there needs to be a lot of oriental stuff for a band to be called oriental metal. Only Nile has not been called oriental metal by any reliable sources online except in one sole interview with someone from a different band Forgotten Silence that describes Nile's oriental metal as superficial. The transcript of the interview uses quotation marks around oriental for some unknown reason. Another interview with someone from Melechesh explicitly repudiates Nile as being a similar band: "it's totally different, because all they do is basically play death metal, but the lyrics, instead of gore, are about Egypt, which is really cool. They're more influenced by a lyrical concept and a few samplings, but the whole structure of the songs is intelligent, brutal death metal. On the contrary, we invent a musical structure, with the guitar and drum techniques."

With that all in mind, I must confess that I'm really uncertain as to whether the band Nile should be included in this article or not. It feels like original research to me whether they are included or left out. I figure I should play it safe though and take the conservative option of leaving them out. There's another relevant factor too: Nile appears to be a lot more well-known than any of the above oriental metal bands. There's more info on Nile online than those bands. Yet despite that wealth of info, there's no reliable source describing them as oriental metal. I guess sometimes silence says more than words. I also note that the wikipedia article for Nile does not mention oriental metal at all. --Bardin (talk) 15:11, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

 * As a regular editor on the Nile article, I've watched as people have added oriental metal to their description, and I have often proceeded to remove it, primarily due to lack of sourcing. I've gotta' say, for the most part, I am in the same boat as you as to whether to include them. They have a lot of oriental use in their music, but mostly, it's their instrumental/ambient tracks, usually not the tracks with either vocals or actual guitar work in them - initially, if you listened to the tracks alone, you wouldn't know it was done by a metal band (it'd sound more like Karl Sanders' solo album, Saurian Meditation). They sometimes, but less frequently, use the oriental "sounds" with actual metal tracks; but I'm not sure if they do it enough for them to be called "oriental metal". ≈  The Haunted Angel  15:45, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

List of oriental metal bands
I know it was removed before, but shouldn't we have on eventually?  Blizzard Beast  ''$ODIN' 21:57, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

 * A list for just seven bands? Seems rather unnecessary to me. Orphaned Land, Melechesh, Salem, Arallu, Distorted, Khalas and Mezarkabul are the only oriental metal bands with a presence on wikipedia as far as I know and they are all already mentioned in this article. I've just added Salem and Khalas to the list of folk metal bands so all seven bands are on that list now. Their entries in the notes column all begin with oriental so the list can be sorted through that notes column to identify all the oriental metal bands as well as all the celtic and medieval metal groups. There's eight celtic metal bands and nine medieval metal bands, incidentally. For some reason, there's also a category for oriental metal bands but there's none for celtic or medieval metal. I'm not sure that category for oriental metal bands is really necessary with just the few entries there. --Bardin (talk) 02:20, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I suppose not, but there has to be more than seven bands, doesn't there? Otherwise there may be no point in even having this article.  Blizzard Beast  ''$ODIN' 23:46, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
 * It's enough to have an article as long as the genre is genuine and not a neologism. There are certainly other bands performing the genre but I guess those bands are generally not notable enough to merit an article page on wikipedia. --Bardin (talk) 03:30, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Hmmm, I see. Well someone should find some oriental metal bands that do pass the notability requirements and create the pages.  Blizzard Beast  ''$ODIN' 21:34, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Mezarkabul
I've just realized that the inclusion of Mezarkabul in this article has a similar problem to the Nile issue that I've described above. Reviews like this and that does mention that the band use oriental elements in their music but does not actually identify them as an oriental metal band. Mezarkabul has been identified as oriental metal in this lonely interview with a completely different band Forgotten Silence who are not even in the same genre. I'm very reluctant to consider a passing mention by a member of a different band not in the same genre to be a reliable source for identifying bands that are oriental metal or not. --Bardin (talk) 04:34, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Salem was formed in 1985
Salem was formed in 1985, not in 1988(you can find it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_%28band%29) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.180.140.20 (talk) 18:11, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

Potential deletion
I thought I'd post something here on the talk page for a bit of discussion before making any actual move for deletion.

So far this article has been nominated for deletion twice. Apparently the result of each was "Keep". In truth, this is mis-leading: It would be more accurate to say there was no result. In the first instance, only two (I believe) people moved for it to be kept. In the second, only three. Yes, this is the majority in both cases, but two/three people is not enough for a true consensus.

Also, regardless of how many people want to keep the article, the fact is it -doesn't- provide much of an adequate reason for it's existence. Let's take a quick look at the sources: The major source it seems is the "Orphaned Land" article. However, this itself never uses the term "oriental metal". The rockdetector links are broken, and the majority of the sources never use the term either. They make reference to oriental sounds within the music, but that does not a genre make.

So, point 1: We have barely any mentions of the term anyway.

Point 2: You could find a lot of mentions of the term "pirate metal" around too. But people need to differentiate between a term and a genuine assertion of a genre. These reviews from Metal Observer and allmusic have a "genre" section. But I don't see any including "oriental metal" in them. So, any mention of orientalism in the music is more of a trait rather than these sites claiming a genre really exists.

Point 3: Six bands. Six. Bands. This is not even close enough to warrant the existence of a separate article.

So, can anyone give a genuinely good reason for this article to exist? If not, I'll have to start up a fresh deletion discussion, and this time try to actually force people to use logic rather than just saying "Let's keep it because I want it". I see no more reason for this to exist than articles on "pirate metal", "shred metal" or "technical metal". Prophaniti (talk) 20:01, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

 * It's an underground genre localised in parts of the world that do not have a heavy presence on the internet, let alone the global entertainment media. What are you expecting? Grammy Awards for oriental metal? A Larry King interview? A Rolling Stones feature? Most oriental bands are simply not notable enough by wikipedia's standards to merit an article. That does not mean there are only six oriental metal bands in the world. Some other names that I have come across: Odious, Litham, Arkan, Langsuyr, Narjahanam, Kenitra, etc. There are at least two academic authors who recognize the existence of this genre: Keith Kahn-Harris, associate lecturer at the Open University and author of Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge, among other things; and Mark LeVine, a professor at the University of California and author of Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam, also among other things. Go ahead and nominate the article for deletion if you want but I'd suspect that specialist academic research from university professors and lecturers will be more than enough to counter the relative absence of an underground Middle-Eastern genre in mainstream Western media sources. --Bardin (talk) 11:20, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

 * What I was expecting was, oddly enough, enough to warrant an article of it's own. Two texts, if you can provide direct quotes that back up it's existence as a genuine genre (as opposed to simply a term), would provide a good basis for an article, but even then it would be questionable whether that was really enough in itself.
 * I didn't say there were six bands in the world. What I meant was there are six bands given here. If bands aren't notable enough to have an article on wikipedia, then they can't count towards the genre's main page on wikipedia either. So as far as this site is concerned, it's six bands, and that's not really working in it's favour.
 * It doesn't have to be mainstream western media sources, but we do need significantly more evidence than is currently provided that it is a genuine genre worth an article of it's own. Prophaniti (talk) 11:49, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

 * I no longer have the Keith Kahn-Harris book in my possession but you can check out the Mark LeVine quote from the link provided in the article. “One of the bands that almost every Middle Eastern metal fan loves the best is an Israeli metal band called Orphaned Land, which is the founder of what’s become known as oriental metal, in that they were one of the first bands anywhere in the region to mix oriental, Arabic sounds into metal, and to not sing in English—they sing in Hebrew,” LeVine said. It seems clear to me that LeVine knows that there are other bands around who have followed in the footsteps of Orphaned Land - otherwise he would describe them as the founder of anything. --Bardin (talk) 10:23, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

 * Alrighty, we do have opne author then. However, he on his own certainly isn't enough, it's even questionable as to whether he's really a RS anyway: he's a professor, yes, but in nothing to do with heavy metal music. Most of his works are centred around religion, and even this particlar book seems to have that focus. As such it could be considered dubious as a source: it might have a biased viewpoint in some way; it might have gained publication not for the quality of the material on heavy metal, but on the other side; he doesn't appear qualified in metal music.
 * So, while it can't entirely be ruled out, it's certainly not the best of sources, and even if it were, one source isn't going to be enough. So a -lot- more is still needed to justify this article's existence. Prophaniti (talk) 10:42, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I think you are grasping at straws in suggesting that Mark LeVine, an author of a book focusing on heavy metal music in the Middle East region, is not a reliable source for an article on an underground subgenre of heavy metal music that's localised in the Middle East region. As I've said before, go ahead and nominate this article for deletion if you feel so strongly about it but I would be very surprised if it does get deleted.--Bardin (talk) 07:58, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not at all grasping at straws: Nothing has been provided to indicate that he would be an authority in this particular area.
 * Alrighty, I'll go ahead. Prophaniti (talk) 09:31, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

I would like to add this back as a separate article. I think since the early 2010s, Oriental Metal has evolved out of the Folk Metal scene and kind of exists on its own
Just like Celtic metal has its own page, I think oriental metal is distinct enough to warrant its own article. Various subgenres of Oriental metal, such as Oriental black metal, are really pushing the folk metal label, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone call The Epigenesis by Melechesh a "folk metal" album. In the Turkish and Italian Wikipedia sites, oriental metal has a great separate article.

I'm going to begin work on making Oriental Metal its own separate article, instead of keeping it as a redirect. Or-Shalem (talk) 04:39, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Oriental metal


text: User talk:64.12.96.236

title: User talk:64.12.96.236


text:
Talk:Straits of the Golden Gate

There are no Wikipoints for creating new articles. Wikipoints are actually rescinded. Put this orphan information at Golden Gate Bridge and build on it. See synergy. Wetman 18:11, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Straits of the Golden Gate


text:
HMS Ruler

HMS Ruler was the lead ship of her class of escort carrier of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was built in the United States as the Bogue-class escort carrier carrier St. Joseph (AVG/CVE/ACV-50) for Lend-Lease to the United Kingdom.

Construction
The name St. Joseph (making her the first United States Navy ship named for St. Joseph Bay, Florida) was assigned to MC hull 261, a converted C3-S-A1 cargo ship, on 23 August 1942. She was laid down on 25 March 1943 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation of Tacoma, Washington. She was redesignated CVE-50 on 15 July, launched on 21 August 1943 and sponsored by Mrs. W.W. Smyth. The carrier was transferred to the United Kingdom on 22 December 1943 and commissioned into Royal Navy service the same day as HMS Ruler, with the pennant number D72.

Operational history
After completing sea trials HMS Ruler went to Burrard Dry Dock, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for refit to Royal Navy standards, as a transport carrier. Following a work-up period HMS Ruler went to Norfolk, Virginia, via the Panama Canal. It departed on 20 April 1944 with a number of Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair, transferring them to RNAS Speke in Liverpool, England, the aircraft disembarking on 6 May 1944. HMS Ruler returned to the United States, to New York, to fetch a batch of Grumman TBF Avenger and Grumman F6F Hellcat aircraft, embarking them between the 20 and 23 May 1944 and again transferring to RNAS Speke, on 11 June. HMS Ruler later made a third trip, fetching Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair from Norfolk, Virginia, between 20 and 29 October, this time arriving at Greenock to unload on 18 November.

HMS Ruler served in the North Atlantic during 1944, protecting the vital flow of men and war materiel from the United States to Great Britain and to fighting fronts on the European continent. In early 1945, she transferred to the Pacific Theatre where she supported a raid on Truk and the campaign to take Okinawa.

From March to August 1945 was part of the British Pacific Fleet attached to the 30th Aircraft Carrier Squadron. She entered Tokyo Bay on 31 August 1945 prior to the Surrender of Japan. On 13 September, the ship brought onboard some 450 ex Prisoners of War and sailed for Sydney in Australia, arriving 27 September where she was greeted by the Governor-General of Australia, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester.

After the war ended, Ruler returned to the United States at Norfolk, Virginia, on 28 January 1946. She was decommissioned from RN service on 29 January, and was accepted by the US Navy the same day. In excess of the Navy’s needs, she was slated for disposal and struck from the Navy Register on 20 March 1946. The ship was sold on 13 May and scrapped within the year.

Design and description
These ships were all larger and had a greater aircraft capacity than the preceding American built escort carriers. They were also all laid down as escort carriers and not converted merchant ships. The ships had a complement of 646 men and an overall length of 492 ft, a beam of 69 ft and a draught of 25 ft. Propulsion was provided by two boilers which were connected to a steam turbine; it drove a shaft giving 9,350 brake horsepower (SHP), which could propel the ship at 16.5 kn.

Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge/flight control on the starboard side, two aircraft lifts 43 ft by 34 ft, one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires. Aircraft could be housed in the 260 ft by 62 ft hangar below the flight deck. Ruler's armament comprised: two 4"/50, 5"/38 or 5"/51 Dual Purpose guns in single mounts, sixteen 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns in twin mounts and twenty 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons in single mounts. Each ship had a maximum aircraft capacity of twenty-four aircraft which could be a mixture of Grumman Martlets, Vought F4U Corsairs or Hawker Sea Hurricane fighter aircraft and Fairey Swordfish or Grumman Avenger anti-submarine torpedo bombers.

title: HMS Ruler