text:
Elasmotherium

Elasmotherium is an extinct genus of large rhinoceros endemic to Eurasia during Late Miocene through to the Late Pleistocene, with the youngest reliable dates around 39,000 years ago. It was the last surviving member of Elasmotheriinae, a distinctive group of rhinoceroses separate from the group that contains living rhinoceros (Rhinocerotinae).

Five species are recognised. The genus first appeared in the Late Miocene in present-day China, likely having evolved from Sinotherium, before spreading to the Pontic–Caspian steppe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The best known Elasmotherium species, E. sibiricum, sometimes called the Siberian unicorn, was the size of a mammoth and is often conjectured to have borne a single very large horn. However, no horn has ever been found, and other authors have conjectured that the horn was likely much smaller. Like all rhinoceroses, elasmotheres were herbivorous. Unlike any other rhinos and any other ungulates aside from some notoungulates, its high-crowned molars were ever-growing, and it was likely adapted for a grazing diet. Its legs were longer than those of other rhinos and were adapted for galloping, giving it a horse-like gait.

Taxonomy
Elasmotherium was first described in 1809 by German/Russian palaeontologist Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim based on a left lower jaw, four molars, and the tooth root of the third premolar, which was gifted to Moscow University by princess Ekaterina Dashkova in 1807. He first announced it at an 1808 presentation before the Moscow Society of Naturalists. The genus name derives from Ancient Greek elasmos "laminated" and therion "beast" in reference to the laminated folding of the tooth enamel; and the species name sibericus is probably a reference to the predominantly Siberian origin of princess Dashkova's collection. However, the specimen's exact origins are unknown. In 1877, German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt placed it into the newly erected subfamily Elasmotheriinae, separate from modern rhinos.

The genus is known from hundreds of find sites, mainly of cranial fragments and teeth, but in some cases nearly complete skeletons of post-cranial bones, scattered over Eurasia from Eastern Europe to China. Dozens of crania have been reconstructed and given archaeological identifiers. The division into species is based mainly on the fine distinctions of the teeth and jaws and the shape of the skull.

Evolution
Elasmotherium belongs to the subfamily Elasmotheriinae, distinct from the subfamily which includes all living rhinceroses, Rhinocerotinae. The depth of the split between Elasmotheriinae and Rhinocerotinae is disputed. Older estimates place the age of divergence around 47 million years ago, during the Eocene, while younger estimates place the split around 35 million years ago, during the Oligocene.

Elasmotherium is the only known member of Elasmotheriinae from after the Miocene, others becoming extinct with the expansion of savannas. The oldest known species of Elasmotherium is Elasmotherium primigenium from the Late Miocene of Dingbian County in Shaanxi, China. Elasmotherium likely evolved from Sinotherium, a genus of elasmothere also found in China. Elasmotherium arrived in Eastern Europe around 2.5 million years ago, during the earliest part of the Pleistocene epoch.

Hypsodonty, a dentition pattern where the molars have high crowns and the enamel extends below the gum line, is thought to be a characteristic of Elasmotheriinae, perhaps as an adaptation to the heavier grains featured in riparian zones on riversides.

Species
There are four chronospecies of Elasmotherium aside from the aforementioned E. primigenium, which are—from oldest to youngest—E. chaprovicum, E. peii, E. caucasicum and E. sibiricum, and which together span from the Late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene. An elasmotherian species turned up in the preceding Khaprovian or Khaprov Faunal Complex, which was at first taken to be E. caucasicum, and then on the basis of the dentition was redefined as a new species, E. chaprovicum (Shvyreva, 2004), named after the Khaprov Faunal Complex. The Khaprov is in the Middle Villafranchian, MN17, which spans the Piacenzian of the Late Pliocene and the Gelasian of the Early Pleistocene of Northern Caucasus, Moldova and Asia and has been dated to 2.6–2.2 Ma.

E. peii was first described by (Chow, 1958) for remains found in Shaanxi, China. Additional remains from Shaanxi were described in 2018 The species is also known from numerous remains from the classical range of Elasmotherium, some sources have considered this species to be a synonym of E. caucasicum, but it is currently considered distinct. it is found during the Psekups faunal complex between 2.2 and 1.6 Ma.

E. caucasicum was first described by Russian palaeontologist Aleksei Borissiak in 1914, who said it apparently flourished in the Black Sea region as a member of the Early Pleistocene Tamanian Faunal Unit (1.1–0.8 Ma, Taman Peninsula). It is the most commonly found mammal of the assemblage. E. caucasicum is thought to be more primitive than E. sibiricum and perhaps represents an ancestral stock. It is also known in northern China from the Early Pleistocene Nihewan Faunal assemblage and were extinct at approximately 1.6 Ma. This suggests Elasmotherium developed separately in Russia and China.

E. sibiricum, described by Johann Fischer von Waldheim in 1808 and chronologically the latest species of the sequence appeared in the Middle Pleistocene, ranging from southwestern Russia to western Siberia and southward into Ukraine and Moldova.

Description
Elasmotherium is typically reconstructed as a woolly animal, generally based on the woolliness exemplified in contemporary megafauna such as mammoths and the woolly rhino. However, it is sometimes depicted as bare-skinned like modern rhinos. In 1948, Russian palaeontologist Valentin Teryaev suggested it was semi-aquatic with a dome-like horn, and resembled a hippo because the animal had 4 toes like a wetland tapir rather than the 3 toes in other rhinos, but Elasmotherium has since been shown to have had only 3 functional toes, and Teryaev's reconstruction has not garnered much scientific attention.

The known specimens of E. sibiricum reach up to 4.5 m in length, with shoulder heights up to 2.5 m, while E. caucasicum reaches at least 5 m in body length with an estimated mass of 3.5 - 5 t, making Elasmotherium the largest rhinos of the Quaternary. Both species were among the largest rhinos, comparable in size to the woolly mammoth and larger than the contemporary woolly rhinoceros. The feet were unguligrade, the front larger than the rear, with 3 digits at the front and rear, with a vestigial fifth metacarpal.

Dentition
Like other rhinos, Elasmotherium had two premolars and three molars for chewing, and lacked incisors and canines, relying instead on a prehensile lip to strip food. Elasmotherium were euhypsodonts, with large tooth crowns and enamel extending below the gum line, and continuously growing teeth.

Elasmotherium fossils rarely show evidence of tooth roots.

Horn
Elasmotherium is traditionally thought to have had a keratinous horn, indicated by a circular dome on the forehead, with a 5 in deep, furrowed surface, and a circumference of 3 ft. The furrows are interpreted as the seats of blood vessels for horn-generating tissue.

In rhinos, the horn is not attached to bone, but grows from the surface of a dense skin tissue, anchoring itself by creating bone irregularities and rugosities. The outermost layer cornifies. As the layers age, the horn loses diameter by degradation of the keratin due to ultraviolet light, drying out, and continual wearing. However, melanin and calcium deposits in the centre harden the keratin there, which gives the horn its distinctive shape.

There was likely a large hump of muscle on the back, which is generally thought to have supported a heavy horn.

A 2021 study challenges assumptions of Elasmotherium having had a horn by comparing its cranial dome and neck musculature to those of modern rhinos. The study finds that both are ill-suited for a large horn and more likely are indicative of a smaller horn, and that the dome could function as a resonating chamber of some sort, akin to that of Rusingoryx and hadrosaur crests.

Diet
Modern hypsodont hoofed mammals are generally grazers of open environments, with hypsodonty possibly an adaptation to chewing tough, fibrous grass. Elasmotherium dental wearing is similar to that of the grazing white rhino, and both of their heads have a downward orientation, indicating a similar lifestyle and an ability to only reach low-lying plants. In fact, the head of Elasmotherium had the most obtuse angle of any rhinoceros, and could only reach the lowest levels and therefore must have grazed habitually. Elasmotherium also displays euhypsodonty (evergrowing teeth), which is typically seen in rodents, and dental physiology could have been influenced by pulling up food from moist, grainy soil. Therefore, they may have inhabited both mammoth steppeland and riparian riversides, similar to contemporary mammoths.

Movement
Elasmotherium had similar running limbs to the white rhinoceros–which run at 30 kph with a top speed of 40 –. However, Elasmotherium had double the weight–about 5 MT–and consequently had a more restricted gait and mobility, likely achieving much slower speeds. Elephants, weighing 2.5 –, cannot exceed a speed of 20 kph.

Extinction
Elasmotherium was previously thought to have gone extinct around 200,000 years ago as part of normal extinction, but E. sibiricum skull fragments from the Pavlodar Region, Kazakhstan, shows its persistence in the Western Siberian Plain about 36,000–35,000 years ago. Isolated remains dating to 50,000 years ago are known from the Siberian Smelovskaya and Batpak Caves, likely dragged there by a predator.

This timing is roughly coincident with the Pleistocene extinction, during which many mammal species with body weights >45 kg died out. This coincided with a shift to a cooler climate–which resulted in replacement of grasses and herbs by lichens and mosses–and the migration of modern humans into the area.

title: Elasmotherium


text:
Opéra station (Paris Métro)

Opéra is a station on Lines 3, 7 and 8 of the Paris Métro. It is named after the nearby Opéra Garnier. Located at the end of the Avenue de l'Opéra, it serves the district of Boulevard Haussmann. Its main entrances are located on the Place de l'Opéra, built in a marble design (instead of the characteristic iron metro entrances of Hector Guimard), to not spoil the view of the opera house.

The station is connected by an underground passage to Auber on RER A. From Auber, additional stations and lines can be reached via a sequence of underground passages, namely Havre–Caumartin for Line 3 and Line 9, and Haussmann–Saint-Lazare for RER E, the latter being connected to Saint-Lazare for Line 3, Line 12, Line 13 and Line 14, and the latter in turn being connected to Saint-Augustin for Line 9.

Location
The station platforms were established under Rue Auber for line 3; under Avenue de l'Opéra for line 7; and under Boulevard des Capucines for line 8. The platform lie partially under the Place de l'Opéra.

The three lines cross on the levels at the same point, using a common underground structure located under the square.

History

The Line 3 platforms opened on 19 October 1904 as part of the first section of the line opened between Père Lachaise and Villiers. A twenty metre high masonry well was built to avoid the need for heavy underpinning work when Line 7 and Line 8 were planned to be built. This work was affected by groundwater, which required the support of three concrete pillars, made by sinking caissons with workers digging out the mud with compressed air. The work lasted eleven months, from March 1903 to February 1904. It owes its name to the Garnier opera house, built by the architect Charles Garnier.

The Line 7 platforms opened on 5 November 1910 as part of the first section of the line opened between Opéra and Porte de la Villette. The Line 8 platforms opened on 13 July 1913 as part of the first section of the line opened between Opéra and Beaugrenelle (now Charles Michels station on Line 10) and then on 30 June 1928 when it was extended to Richelieu - Drouot.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, the walls in line 3 were covered with metal bodywork before their renovation in Andreu-Motte style. The platforms of Lines 7 and 8 were modernised from the early 1970s to 2007 in a unique style with three shades of blue (a dark tone for the Motte style seats and the vault and two others lighter shades for small square tiles). The station's name consisted of large raised white capital letters. This decoration, derived from the Mouton-Duvernet style, from which it notably adopted the characteristic lighting canopies, was sometimes nicknamed the "swimming pool". The blue ceiling was then repainted in white to increase the brightness. The entire layout was removed in 2007 when the station was renovated as part of the RATP Renouveau du métro programme. Only the Saint-Lazare station on Lines 12 and 13 had comparable decoration until the mid-2000s.

On 1 April 2016, the RATP replaced one of every two nameplates on the platforms of the three lines to make an April Fool for a day, like twelve other stations. Opera is humorously renamed "Apéro" by anagram.

In 2019, 10,501,357 travelers entered this station which places it at the 15th position of metro stations for its usage.

Access
The station has three entrances. The two main entrances are on Place de l'Opéra, and the third is on Place Charles-Garnier leading to the platforms of Line 3. An additional exit from the platforms of Line 7, via escalator, is located at No. 43, Avenue de l'Opéra.

Platforms
The platforms of the three lines are of standard configuration. Two in number per stopping point, they are separated by the metro tracks located in the centre.

The platform for Line 3 is established flush with the walls. The ceiling consists of a metal roof, whose beams, burgundy in colour, are supported by vertical pillars. The decoration is in the Andreu-Motte style with two burgundy light canopies, benches, tunnel exits and walls fitted with large white flat tiles in a stretched sandstone and purple Motte seats. On the other hand, the outlets of the corridors are fitted with standard white bevelled tiles. Advertisements are devoid of frames and the name of the station is written in Parisine font on enamelled plates. With Palais Royal - Musée du Louvre on Line 1 and Concorde on line 8, this is one of three stations in the Andreu-Motte style to be treated in shades of purple, this shade being part of the lexicon exceptional colours for this decoration.

The platforms of Lines 7 and 8 have an elliptical vault and are similarly arranged, with a slight extra curve for Line 7, while the platforms of line 8 have a higher of the vault. The style is that used for most metro stations. The lighting canopies are white and rounded in the Gaudin du renouveau du métro des années 2000 renovation, and the bevelled white ceramic tiles cover the walls and the tympans. The vault is painted white. The advertising frames are in white ceramic and the name of the station is written in Parisine font on enamelled plates. The seats are Akiko style, green for line 7 and orange for line 8. As part of the treatment for major permeation, the lighting canopies for line 7 is temporarily removed.

Bus connections
The station is served by lines 20, 21, 22, 27, 32, 29, 45, 52, 66, 68, 95, and Roissybus of the RATP Bus Network and, at night, by lines N15 and N16 of the Noctilien network.

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

title: Opéra station (Paris Métro)


text:
Generalitat Valenciana

The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self-government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organized.

It consists of seven institutions including the Corts Valencianes (or autonomous Parliament), the President of the Generalitat, or the autonomous government itself (or Consell). Its functions are regulated by the Valencian Statute of Autonomy. Despite being also present in various cities of the Valencian Community, the main locations of the autonomous Parliament, presidency of the Generalitat and the Consell are all in the city of Valencia. There is also an office in Brussels appointed by the Generalitat Valenciana lobbying before the European Union.

President of the Generalitat
The current President of the Generalitat Valenciana is Carlos Mazón of the People's Party of the Valencian Community (People's Party). He assumed the Presidency in July 2023 and took office in Les Corts in the same month, as the head of a coalition between the PP and Vox.

History
The Generalitat Valenciana was created in 1418. It acted, along with the Monarch shared with the other territories of the Crown of Aragon, as the ruling body of the Kingdom of Valencia. Originally its posts were designated for three year terms. In 1510, the process of designating posts was reorganized, becoming more automatic and less elective. This re-organization stayed the same until 1709, when it was abolished as a consequence of the War of the Spanish Succession and the subsequent Nueva Planta decrees, along with the other fueros of the Kingdom of Valencia.

The Generalitat Valenciana was not re-established until 1982, after the corresponding Valencian Statute of Autonomy was approved.

El Consell
El Consell consists of eight members, each the leader of an institution. These institutions are:
 * Education, Culture, and Sports: in charge of education, formal training, universities, sciences, promotion of cultural heritage, language policy, and sports.
 * Treasury and Public Administrations: responsible for finance, the Valencian business sector, public service, and information technology and management communication.

 * Health: responsible for health services and public health.

 * Planning and Environment: responsible for public works, land and coastline planning, housing and building quality, transportation, ports and airports, environment, landscape, and climate change.

 * Social Welfare: responsible for policies affecting social services, dependence, the disabled, family, children, adoptions, youth, women, and immigration.

 * Government and Justice: responsible for civil protection, management of the National Police assigned to Valencia, prevention and extinction of fires, management of emergency situations, statutory development, consultations, professional associations, and notarial records.

 * Economics, Industry, and Employment: in charge of the economy, business sector, agriculture, industry, craftsmanship, domestic and foreign trade, consumerism, and investigation and innovation of technology and energy.

 * Agriculture, Fishing, Food and Water: responsible for establishing and maintaining relations with other countries of the European Union, other Autonomous Communities, local administrations, and citizens.

Institutions
La Generalitat Valenciana comprises seven institutions:
 * Les Corts
 * Consell Valencià de Cultura
 * Comité Econòmic i Social
 * Sindicatura de Comptes
 * Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
 * Síndic de Greuges
 * Consell Jurídic Consultiu

Les Corts Valencianes
The Corts Valencianes is the Valencian Parliament. It represents the people of Valencia via the members of parliament. These members are elected using a universal, direct, free, and secret vote. It is made up of 75-100 members, which are determined by the Statute of Autonomy and through the voting process. The Statute of Autonomy also requires any candidate running for a Seat must "stand for a party or coalition that obtains more than 5% of the given votes in all the Autonomous Community." The D'Hondt method is used to distribute Seats. In the VIII Term, 35 members of Parliament were elected in the Alicante district, 24 members in the Castellon district, and 40 in the Valencia district.

The Statute of Autonomy dedicates Chapter II of Title III to the Valencian Parliament, which only outlines the composition of the Parliament, the basic principles of the election system, their corresponding duties, and sets out a general outline of the Statute of the Members of Parliament. The Valencian Parliament Regulations were developed in addition to the Statute of Autonomy to govern the organization and functioning of this Institution. On March 4, 1983, the first draft of the Valencian Parliament Regulations was approved during the Transitional Phase. Since then, it has undergone several modifications, which were approved by the Valencian Parliament on December 18, 2006. The contemporary Corts Valencianes differs from its historical counterpart of the same name. The former Corts Valencianes was organized into three arms – Ecclesiastic, Military, and Royal – which had different duties than the Corts today.

Consell Valencià de Cultura
The Consell Valencià de Cultura (Valencian Council of Culture) is a consultation and advisory institution for the Generalitat Valenciana for affairs related to Valencian culture. It defends and promotes the region's cultural and linguistic values. The Council's headquarters are located in the city of Valencia, but has also held sessions in Valencian municipal centers such as Castelló de la Plana, Alacant, Morella, Elx, and Vilafamés.

Comité Econòmic i Social
The Economic and Social Committee is a body of the government that provides consultations on economic, social, labor, and employment matters. It is also a part of the public institutions of Valencia.

Sindicatura de Comptes
The Sindicatura de Comptes, or Audit Office in English, is responsible for the external audit of the economic and financial activity of the public sector in the Valencian Community. This institution of the Generalitat reports to the Corts Valencianes, or Valencian Parliament, but maintains functional independence.

Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, or Valencian Academy of Language, was founded in 1998. It is the official governing body over the native language of the region, Valencian. Like the Sindicatura de Comptes, this institution maintains functional independence but works under the Corts Valencianes. The institution's purpose is to define and draw up linguistic rules and safeguard the Valencian language on the basis of its lexicographic and literary tradition and its actual linguistic reality, as well as the established Normes de Castelló (Castello Norms) that were approved in 1932.

Síndic de Greuges
The Ombudsman of the Valencian Region was established through Ley 11/1988. This office defend the fundamental rights and public freedoms recognized in the Spanish Constitution and Valencian Statute of Autonomy. The ombudsman is elected for a period of five years and may be re-elected.

Consell Jurídic Consultiu
The Legal Advisory Council of the Valencian government is the supreme branch of the Consell, Regional Administration, and local governments that consults in legal matters.

Debt of the Generalitat
In 2014, the government will try to enforce privatizations to try to stop the debt and balance the debt of the Generalitat. To lower debt, the Consell will sell assets and outsource waste treatment plants, sewage treatment plants, housing, and infrastructure as a means to generate income. The goal is to raise $300 million to address its problems, primarily to pay off the debts of the Generalitat, which is one of the departments that went over budget. The Generalitat is the third department to go over budget, after Sanitation and Education. Money to some departments, such as education, will be reduced. Other departments' budgets, such as Justice and Social Welfare, will receive a slight increase.

title: Generalitat Valenciana


text:
Eduard Kokoity

Eduard Dzhabeyevich Kokoyty (Кокойты Джабейы фырт Эдуард; born 31 October 1964) is an Ossetian politician who served as the second president of South Ossetia of the partially recognized state of South Ossetia from 2001 to 2011.

Early life
Eduard Kokoyty was born in Tskhinvali, in the Georgian SSR, a part of the Soviet Union at the time. He was a member, and champion, of the Soviet Union's national wrestling team. Prior to 1989, he was the First Secretary of the Tskhinvali branch of the Komsomol, the Young Communist League. He moved to Moscow in 1992, where he became a businessman, after learning about capitalism. In 2001, he moved back to South Ossetia.

2001 presidential election
Kokoyty was elected president, at the age of 38, with a majority in the presidential elections of November–December 2001. In the first round of the elections on 18 November 2001, he collected 45% of the vote, with Stanislav Kochiev collecting 24%, and incumbent Lyudvig Chibirov collecting 21%. In the Second and final round, he won 53% of the vote to Stanislav Kochiev's 40% on 6 December. Kokoyty assumed office on 18 December 2001.

Kokoyty's victory was unexpected and owed much to the support of the Tedeyev clan, one of South Ossetia's most powerful families. He had gained key support from Albert "Dik" Tedeyev and his brother Dzhambolat, also a champion wrestler, who organized and financed Kokoyty's election campaign. The clan had previously supported Lyudvig Chibirov, but broke off support for him after he attempted to move against them. After Kokoyty was elected president, members of the Tedeyev clan took over responsibility for the republic's customs service and for freight traffic along the Transcaucasian highway. Revenues from the highway provide much of the South Ossetian government's revenue.

In July 2003, Kokoyty moved against the Tedeyevs. Sacking Albert Tedeyev, the Secretary of the Security Council, and ordering their private militias to be disarmed. According to Kokoyty, the Security Council Secretary, along with the Defense and Security Chiefs had links with criminals. The affair prompted an outbreak of gunfire in Tskhinvali, but no casualties were reported.

President
Kokoyty has taken a strong position against reunification with Georgia, although he has expressed a willingness to negotiate a peace settlement on the basis of South Ossetia being treated as an independent state (a precondition rejected by the Tbilisi government). Following a tense stand-off with the central Georgian government in July 2004, he claimed "Georgia wants war. But we are ready for self-defense." Prior to the 2006 presidential elections, he stated that the Georgian-Ossetian conflict was not an inter-ethnic, but clearly a political one caused by Georgia's desire to impose on Ossetians the norms of Western democracy which could not be superior to the Caucasian traditional laws. He has also criticized the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe mission in the region on several occasions, accusing the organization of bias and likening its activities to "[those] of Georgia's secret services".

He was reelected on 12 November 2006 following the 2006 presidential election. On the same day, Georgian-backed forces organized an alternative election in the territories controlled by Georgia or only loosely controlled by the South Ossetian government. Dmitry Sanakoyev, a former prime minister of South Ossetia, who was sacked by Kokoyty in 2001, was elected as a rival president.

On 10 December 2011, he resigned as President of South Ossetia. Prime Minister Vadim Brovtsev was acting president until the presidential election rerun on 25 March 2012. Eduard Kokoyty was constitutionally barred from serving a third term in office. Although attempts were made to call a referendum to change the constitution, this was blocked by the Supreme Court. Kokoyty himself stated he had no intention in seeking a third term, and called on everybody to refrain from initiatives to allow him to serve a third term. After multiple elections and several rounds of voting, Leonid Tibilov was elected president 8 April 2012.

Cabinet
Following in 2008, Kokoyty broke precedent and sacked almost the entire executive cabinet, except for the Foreign Ministry, the sole holdover.

Controversy
On 11 September 2008 Kokoyty stated that independent South Ossetia would eventually become part of the Russian Federation, a claim that was quickly denied by Russian officials and shortly thereafter retracted by Kokoyty. Kokoyty is a Eurasianist and argues that South Ossetia never left the Russian Empire.

Since December 2008, Kokoyty's former allies have subjected him to heavy criticism in a series of interviews with the Russian media. Kokoyty's erstwhile insider and the Russia-based businessman Albert Dzhussoyev accused the Kokoyty administration of hijacking Russian funds meant for South Ossetia and claimed the region was on the brink of a "social catastrophe". Similar charges have been brought by South Ossetia's former defense minister Anatoly Barankevich and prime minister Yury Morozov. Barankevich further claimed that Kokoyty had fled Tskhinvali during the Russo-Georgian War and accused him of personally torturing a captured Georgian soldier. South Ossetia's former interior minister and chair of the supreme court, Alan Parastayev, told the Georgian Imedi TV that Kokoyty had organized a series of terrorist attacks and ordered murders for which he blamed Georgia. Representatives of the Kokoyty administration dismissed the allegations, claiming these allegations were part of a plot against Kokoyty.

On 3 March 2009, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that Kokoyty's administration and the Kremlin were at odds over the control of aid funds allocated from Russia's federal budget to South Ossetia and Tskhinvali was at the verge of "social explosion". In May 2009, Albert Dzhussoyev and Dzhabulat Tadeyev announced they would seek to organize early presidential elections in order to remove Kokoyty whom they accused of authoritarianism, corruption and being "unreliable" for Russia. The first attempt at organizing an Ossetian opposition rally in Moscow was dispersed by the Russian OMON.

In spring 2010, Kokoyty again received much criticism, mostly regarding the use of Russian aid. An opinion poll held by the International Center of Political Analysis (MTsPA) showed an approval rating for Kokoyty of 12.4%, with 66.3% of respondents having a negative opinion. Kosta Dzugaev, an advisor to Kokoyty, immediately blasted the poll as "lies", claiming the MTsPA had never actually done any research in South Ossetia. The MTsPA has been linked to Prime Minister Vadim Brovtsev, who is himself under attack for mismanaging Russian funds.

title: Eduard Kokoity


text:
Saint-Augustin station

Saint-Augustin is a station on Line 9 of the Paris Métro. Named after Place Saint-Augustin (itself named after Saint-Augustin church), the station opened on 27 May 1923 with the line's extension from Trocadéro. It is located in the 8th arrondissement.

History
After the extension of Line 14 to Saint-Lazare opened in 2004, the station was connected to Saint-Lazare Métro station (which is near Saint-Lazare railway station) by a long underground passageway. This allows interchange to Line 14 as advertised on RATP maps. There is also connection to Lines 3, 12 and 13 via the Line 14 platforms, but under normal operating conditions these connections are not useful and are not indicated on RATP maps.

Nearby
The current Saint-Augustin church, built in 1868 by Baltard, replaced an old chapel which was also dedicated to St Augustine (354–430).

title: Saint-Augustin station


text:
Wasil ibn Ata

Wāṣil ibn ʿAtāʾ (699–748) (واصل بن عطاء) was a Muslim theologian and jurist. He is considered to be the founder of the Muʿtazilite school of Kalam.

Born around the year 699 in the Arabian Peninsula, he initially studied under Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, the grandson of Ali. Later he would travel to Basra in Iraq to study under Hasan of Basra (one of the Tabi‘in). In Basra he began to develop the ideologies that would lead to the Muʿtazilite school. These stemmed from conflicts that many scholars had in resolving theology and politics. His main contribution to the Muʿtazilite school was in planting the seeds for the formation of its doctrine.

Wasil ibn Ata died in 748 in the Arabian Peninsula.

He married the sister of Amr ibn Ubayd.

title: Wasil ibn Ata


text:
Bourse station

Bourse is a station on Paris Métro Line 3, located in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris.

Location
The station is located under the axis of the Rue Quatre-Septembre and Réaumur, right next to Place de la Bourse. Oriented approximately along an east–west axis, it is located between Quatre-Septembre and Sentier stations.

History
It opened on 19 October 1904 as part of the first section of the line opened between Père Lachaise and Villiers. It is named after the nearby Bourse de Paris (stock exchange) of which it provides a service, and at the center of which is built the Palais Brongniart, then known as the Palais de la Bourse because it housed the Paris Stock Exchange at the time. The latter sat there from 1828 to 1998 before being integrated into Euronext.

As part of the RATP's Metro Renewal program, the station's corridors were renovated on 11 July 2003, then the turn of the platforms in 2008.

In 2019, 3,386,481 travelers entered this station which places it at 148th position of metro stations for its usage.

On 9 October 2019, half of the nameplates on the platforms were temporarily replaced by the RATP in order to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Astérix and Obélix, as in eleven other stations. Taking up in particular the typography characteristic of the comics of René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, the Bourse was humorously renamed Sesterce, from the name of the Roman currency in use during the last two centuries of the Roman Republic.

Access
The station has two adjoining accesses to the Palais Brongniart, whose respective surroundings have the distinction of being integrated into the gates surrounding the latter:
 * entrance 1 - Palais Brongniart, consisting of a fixed staircase lined with an escalator, with an atypical inscription (METROPOLITAIN) above the gates, at the southwest corner of the building;
 * entrance 2 - Rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, with a fixed staircase established on the same street, at the southeast corner of the building.

Platforms
Bourse is a standard configuration station. It has two platforms separated by the metro tracks and the vault is elliptical. The decoration is that of the style used for most metro stations. The lighting canopies are white and rounded in the Gaudin style du renouveau du métro des années 2000 renovation, and the bevelled white ceramic tiles cover the walls, the vault, the tunnel exits, and outlets of the corridors. The advertising frames are in white ceramic and the name of the station is written in Parisine font on enamelled plates. The seats are in the Akiko style in cyan colour.

Bus services
The station is served by lines 20, 29, 39, 74 and 85 of the RATP Bus Network and, at night, by lines N15 and N16 of the Noctilien network.

Nearby Attractions

 * Paris Bourse
 * Palais Brongniart
 * Town Hall of the 2nd arrondissement
 * National Library of France (Rue de Richelieu branch)
 * Agence France-Presse

title: Bourse station


text:
Sentier station

Sentier is a station on Line 3 of the Paris Métro in the 2nd arrondissement.

Location
The station is located under Rue Réaumur, at the intersection with Rue de Cléry and Rue du Sentier. Oriented, approximately, along an east–west axis, it is located between the Bourse and Réaumur - Sébastopol stations.

History
The station opened on 20 November 1904 as part of the first section of the line between Père Lachaise and Villiers, which opened a month earlier. The station is named after a path (French: Sentier) leading to the city's fortifications, now called the Rue du Sentier, which gave its name to the Sentier district, known until recently for the activities in the textile trades that developed there from the 1950s. The station is one of the few to have its entrance incorporated into the front of a building. A secondary entrance is located 87 Rue Réaumur; it contains railings designed by Hector Guimard and is listed as a monument historique.

Since the 1960s, the platforms have been adorned with metallic bodywork with white surrounds; this technique was then widely used in network stopping points as an inexpensive way to modernize them quickly.

As part of the RATP's Renouveau du métro program, the station's corridors were renovated on 16 May 2003.

On 20 March 2018, half of the nameplates on the station's platforms are temporarily replaced by the RATP to celebrate the arrival of spring, in parallel with the distribution of flowers to users, as in five other stations. The new plaques represented a wooden sign decorated with plants, on which the station's patronym is engraved in capital letters.

In 2019, 3,420,249 travelers entered this station which placed it at the 146th position of the metro stations for its usage.

Access
The station has two exits leading to Rue Réaumur:
 * entrance 1 - Rue du Sentier, being among the few in the network to be established in a building, in this case within no. 97 Rue Réaumur, and having a unique signage dating from the 1930s;
 * entrance 2 - Rue des Petits-Carreaux, adorned with a Guimard edicule which is listed as a historic monument. Located at the right of 87 Rue Réaumur at the end of Rue des Petits-Carreaux.

Platforms
Sentier is a standard configuration station. It has two platforms separated by the metro tracks and the vault is elliptical. Since the 1950s, the walls have been covered with a metallic bodywork with white horizontal uprights and light golden advertising frames. This arrangement is completed by yellow Motte style seats. The bevelled white ceramic tiles cover the piers, the vault, and the tunnel exits. Lighting is provided by independent fluorescent tubes and the name of the station is written in Parisine font on enamelled plates incorporated into the bodywork.

Bus services
The station is served by lines 20 and 39 of the RATP Bus Network.

title: Sentier station


text:
Talk:Monarchy of Luxembourg

House of Bourbon-Parma
Regarding the latest edit (by 140.203.7.37), I do feel certain that the descendants of GD Charlotte should be considered members of the House of Bourbon-Parma, not the House of Nassau-Weilburg. This is the way it is most commonly done, and it is a consistent way of naming dynasties. Of course, if there is an official decision to name the house otherwise, that complicates the matter (like in the UK, where Elizabeth's descendants are officially considered members of the house Windsor, so that the name will continue to be the official dynasty name after her death). Is there such a decision in Luxembourg? Then, of course, there should be some Wiki-agreement on whether we should go on the official line, or rather on the more consistent, agnatic-family line. Comments? -- Jao 09:16, 4 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * Why not state the use of both? 's-Gravenhage 13:21, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Because House Names are usually (note: usually, not always)passed down only in the male line, not in the female.

Naming conventions
Why are some Grand Dukes listed in French (Jean and not John, Henri and not Henry) and others in English (William instead of Guillaume) ? What is the rule ? 68.91.98.249 17:57, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

 * The only Wikipedia policy on this is "the name most common in English". As common usage is inconsistent, Wikipedia will be too. But there's a clear tendency towards not anglicizing names of living monarchs or people otherwise seen as contemporary, which probably explains your examples. I think all this anglicizing business is slowly changing, though, so chances are that Henri will never be known as Henry, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. But current Wikipedia policy is that this is not up to us to decide. -- Jao 12:06, August 15, 2005 (UTC)

"Royal Highness", not "Majesty"
http://www.gouvernement.lu/dossiers/famille_grand_ducale/chregneuk/infobase/cvhenri.html СЛУЖБА (talk) 07:28, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

A certain "Arkansaw Brown"
Who is Arkansaw Brown and why he is listed as a member of the Ducal Family?

Please reply to this question...

RNAlonto (talk) 18:40, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Monarchy of Luxembourg
Can someone change the contents of this article to be about the Monarchy of Luxembourg instead of the title? There is already a list of Grand Dukes and every other European monarchy have a Monarchy of X article.--Queen Elizabeth II's Little Spy (talk) 03:18, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Contradiction
See talk:Line of succession to the throne of Luxembourg. Thryduulf (talk) 13:47, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Requested move 21 February 2016

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

The result of the move request was: no consensus. Number   5  7  22:22, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Grand Duke of Luxembourg → Monarchy of Luxembourg – For similar reasons to the above concern back in 2011, female succession has been permitted in Luxembourg since 1907.--Neve–selbert 20:41, 21 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Support - without question. I recall raising this concern about this article & Prince of Monaco, years ago. But, it didn't get any traction. GoodDay (talk) 22:13, 21 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Strong oppose, for two reasons:
 * "Grand Duke" is the title of an office-holder. If his title was "monarch", then the article should be "Monarch of Luxembourg".  The proposed name "Monarchy" refers to the office rather than person, and is the equivalent of "Grand Duchy" rather than "Grand Duke".
 * No evidence is offered (or even hinted at) that "Monarch[y] of Luxembourg" is the WP:COMMONNAME for the holder of this office. On the contrary, this proposed renaming appears to be motivated solely to satisfy the nominator's views on gender-neutrality.  However laudable those views, WP:AT does not permit renaming a topic to a rarely-used title just to satisfy the preferences of editors. -- Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 16:16, 22 February 2016 (UTC)
 * The proposal is Monarchy of Luxembourg, not Monarch of Luxembourg. GoodDay (talk) 17:50, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

 * Support For consistency with other articles about the function of the monarch in European countries. Gerard von Hebel (talk) 16:54, 22 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Oppose per Brown HairedGirl's argument, above, including the observation that "Monarch of Luxembourg" refers generically to the office rather than specifically to the officeholder(s) who serve as Luxembourg's Head of State. Her rationale is sound: if English does not have a single, gender-neutral term for such an officeholder that is the business of the people of that nation; we should not grab the nearest synonym and substitute it as if it were identical in meaning when it is not. FactStraight (talk) 21:24, 23 February 2016 (UTC)
 * I would note that there is a similar precedent with Monarchy of Monaco and Monarchy of Liechtenstein.--Neve–selbert 17:47, 24 February 2016 (UTC)
 * The proposal is Monarchy of Luxembourg, not Monarch of Luxembourg. GoodDay (talk) 17:50, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

 * Oppose It's more easy to have a Grand Duchess article. Eleutheure (talk) 21:37, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

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

Requested move 22 March 2016

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

The result of the move request was: Close as repetitive, set full moratorium on move discussions of three months and a permanent minimum six month gap between same user renominations This proposal is identical to the one discussed last month and made by the same user. Constantly bringing the same proposal back is unhelpful. Timrollpickering (talk) 09:38, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Grand Duke of Luxembourg → Monarchy of Luxembourg – Per consistency with the other European monarchy articles: e.g. Monarchy of Liechtenstein, Monarchy of Monaco, et al. --Neve–selbert 03:26, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Support - per nominator's reasoning. GoodDay (talk) 04:04, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Oppose per Brown HairedGirl's argument on this issue last month, above, including the observation that "Monarch of Luxembourg" refers generically to the office rather than specifically to the officeholder(s) who serve as Luxembourg's Head of State. Her rationale is sound: if English does not have a single, gender-neutral term for such an officeholder that is the business of the people of that nation; we should not grab the nearest synonym and substitute it as if it were identical in meaning when it is not. Also, per Eleutheure's point, raised in last month's discussion. FactStraight (talk) 08:58, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Again though, the proposal is to change to  Monarchy of Luxembourg, not  Monarch of Luxembourg. Furthermore, the article is about the office. GoodDay (talk) 10:54, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

 * Support: per scope.--Z oupan 17:56, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

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

Requested move 23 September 2016

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

The result of the move request was: page moved. (non-admin closure) GeoffreyT2000  ( talk,  contribs ) 16:04, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

Grand Duke of Luxembourg → Monarchy of Luxembourg – Given WP:SCOPE, this article is about the Luxembourgish monarchy just as much as Monarchy of the United Kingdom is about the Queen of the United Kingdom. Consistency is the key issue at stake here. Take Monarchy of Liechtenstein, for example, which is not entitled [Sovereign] Prince of Liechtenstein for this very reason. It should also be noted that this move request is not motivated by reason of gender-neutrality, this is irrelevant. Luxembourg is a constitutional monarchy, and hence any argument that Monarchy of Luxembourg should just follow the precedent of Presidency of the United States redirecting to President of the United States is a red herring; the United States is not a presidency but a constitutional republic. Queen of the United Kingdom, King of Thailand are redirects for a reason. We should aim to encourage this efficient consistency across all such articles. --Nevé–selbert 22:55, 23 September 2016 (UTC)

Survey

 * Feel free to state your position on the renaming proposal by beginning a new line in this section with  or  , then sign your comment with  . Since polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account Wikipedia's policy on article titles.

 * Support, as it would bring the article title in line with other monarchy article titles. GoodDay (talk) 22:59, 23 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Oppose, unlike many other monarchies, the title of Grand Duke of Luxembourg pre-dates independence, and as such this page is not only about the monarchy of the state of luxembourg, but the title of nobility that predates the existence of the state.XavierGreen (talk) 17:09, 24 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Oppose Because the Monarchy predates the Grand Duke but the articles starts at 1815. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yamakkusa (talk • contribs) 02:19, 25 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Support, it only makes sense since we have a list of counts, dukes and grand dukes already. This should be Monarchy of...like other existing monarchy. If a brief mentioning of the County and Duchy is necessary than we can include it at the beginning in a background section or something like that but still have the article solely focused on the modern monarchy since 1815.--The Emperor's New Spy (talk) 06:16, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Support per nom and WP:CONSISTENCY. I don't find the oppose arguments convincing. The state of Luxembourg isn't really relevant here. The grand duke is clearly part of the monarchy, whichever era you're looking at. — Amakuru (talk) 13:42, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

Discussion

 * Any additional comments:

 * In response to both and :
 * I'm sorry, but your argument is definitively redundant. Independent or not, "Luxembourg" in and of itself has always been a monarchical state since at least 1772, the earliest year mentioned at the article. Just take List of current constituent monarchs, all of these constituent monarchs preside over some sort of monarchy, however marginalised. The Grand Duke I should think is no different. There is absolutely zero mention of a "title of nobility" at the article. And, even if there were, we could easily have the article WP:SPLIT. Furthermore, what if we had to face a similar situation with what is looming for First Lady of the United States: an occupant of the opposite gender? I find it much more likely that that page would be moved to First Spouse of the United States than First Gentleman of the United States. That being said, gender-neutrality is more or less irrelevant; this article pertains to the "the monarchical head of state of Luxembourg." The article also reads that "Luxembourg has been a grand duchy since 15 March 1815, when it was elevated from a duchy, and was in personal union with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1890 under the House of Orange-Nassau and is the world's only sovereign grand duchy. Since 1815, there have been nine monarchs of Luxembourg, including the incumbent, Henri." Judging from the lede alone, it seems quite clear to me that the premise of the article pertains to Luxembourg's monarchy, rather than the Luxembourgish nobility title that once preceded it.--Nevé–selbert 18:30, 24 September 2016 (UTC)
 * I shall again point out that any grand duchy is synonymous with monarchy, i.e. a grand duchy is a monarchy. Whether or not Luxembourg was or was not independent is completely and utterly irrelevant. This article is about the monarchical system of government used in Luxembourg and nothing more, nothing less. Take Monarchy of Tonga, for example, a country under British supervision until 1970. Despite such colonial ties, this did not stop Tonga from being a monarchy per se, in any way whatsoever.--Nevé–selbert 19:38, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

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

Descendants
Is it true Rutger Corné Heinsius and Linde Irmgard Heinsius, who nowadays are a rare species out from the Houses of Bourbon, Habsburg, Arragon, Heinaut and Hohenstaufen, beside all the others, also earn the title Duke (Duchess) of the Duchy Luxembourg? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.100.67.82 (talk) 12:22, 20 August 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 20:18, 14 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Great coat of arms of Luxembourg.svg

title: Talk:Monarchy of Luxembourg


text:
Bloomberg Terminal

The Bloomberg Terminal is a computer software system provided by the financial data vendor Bloomberg L.P. that enables professionals in the financial service sector and other industries to access Bloomberg Professional Services through which users can monitor and analyze real-time financial market data and place trades on the electronic trading platform. It was developed by employees working for businessman Michael Bloomberg. The system also provides news, price quotes, and messaging across its proprietary secure network. It is well known among the financial community for its black interface, which has become a recognizable trait of the service. The first version of the terminal was released in December 1982.

Most large financial firms have subscriptions to Bloomberg Professional Services. Many exchanges charge their own additional fees for access to real time price feeds across the terminal. The same applies to various news organizations.

All Bloomberg Terminals are leased in two-year cycles (in the late 1990s and early 2000s, three-year contracts were an option), with leases originally based on how many displays were connected to each terminal (this predated the move to Windows-based application). Most Bloomberg setups have between two and six displays. As a data analytics and electronic trading platform, the Bloomberg terminal is available for an annual fee of around $24k per user or $27k per year for subscribers that use only one terminal. As of 2022, there were 325,000 Bloomberg Terminal subscribers worldwide.

History
In 1981, Michael Bloomberg was fired from Salomon Brothers. He was given no severance package, but owned $10 million worth of equity as a partner at the firm. Using this money, Bloomberg, having designed in-house computerized financial systems for Salomon, set up a data services company named Innovative Market Systems (IMS) based on his belief that Wall Street would pay a premium for high-quality business information, delivered instantly on computer terminals in a variety of usable formats. The company sold customized computer terminals that delivered real-time market data, financial calculations and other analytics to Wall Street firms. At first, the machine was called the Market Master terminal, but later became known as the Bloomberg Terminal or simply "The Bloomberg." The terminal was released to market in December 1982. Merrill Lynch became the company's first customer, purchasing a 30% stake in IMS for $30 million in exchange for a five-year restriction on marketing the terminals to Merrill Lynch's competitors. In 1984, Merrill Lynch released IMS from the restriction.

In 1990, the Bloomberg keyboard was released with a trackball and built-in voice-chat features. In 1991, the first color edition of the terminal was released.

Michael Bloomberg stepped away from working on the terminal in 2001 to run for New York City mayor, but returned to lead the project in 2014. Starting in 2012, Bloomberg Terminal had a greater annual revenue than Thomson Reuters, the company that founded the market data business.

Currently, the hardware aspect of the terminal is only a series of accessories. Some of those accessories are a custom keyboard with special keys, a fingerprint scanner, and a dual-screen display.

Pricing
Sales from the Bloomberg terminal account for more than 85 percent of Bloomberg L.P.'s annual revenue. The financial data vendor's proprietary computer system starts at $30,000 per user per year.

Architecture
The terminal implements a client-server architecture with the server running on a multiprocessor Unix platform. The client, used by end users to interact with the system, is a Windows application that typically connects directly through a router provided by Bloomberg and installed on-site. End users can also make use of an extra service (Bloomberg Anywhere) to allow the Windows application to connect via internet/IP, or Web access via a Citrix client. There are also applications that allow mobile access via Android and iOS. The server side of the terminal was originally developed using mostly the programming languages Fortran and C. Recent years have seen a transition towards C++ and embedded JavaScript on the clients and servers.

Each server machine runs multiple instances of the server process. Using a proprietary form of context-switching, the servers keep track of the state of each end user, allowing consecutive interactions from a single user to be handled by different server processes. The graphical user interface (GUI) code is also proprietary.

Keyboard

Michael Bloomberg's 1997 autobiography contains a chapter entitled "Computers for Virgins", which explains the differences in the design of the terminal and its keyboard from the standard IBM PC keyboard layout that was popular at that time. The terminal's keyboard layout was designed for traders and market makers who had no prior computer experience. The look and feel of the Bloomberg keyboard are similar to an ordinary computer keyboard, with several enhancements which help users navigate through the system.

Keyboard keys are commonly referred to inside angle brackets with full commands being contained in curly brackets  e.g., {VOD LN Equity GO}. The function key names and then-standard beige colour of an ordinary keyboard were changed from the technical name, e.g., F10, to a memorable name and colour, e.g., Yellow. The F10 key is thus a Yellow key named Index. The Esc is coloured red and named Cancel in the Bloomberg system, with the red to catch one's eye to stop a task. The Enter key is referred to as GO with a green color, deriving from the Monopoly game board, by passing Go and collecting $200 in a hope that the user could make money on the information he would find.

The Bloomberg keyboard includes a unique Menu key which navigates back to the previous function used. If no previous commands are found, Menu displays a list of related functions. Similarly, the History key will populate the command-line with previously used functions in reverse chronological order, as the Up key function does in certain command prompts.

The yellow hotkeys along the top of the keyboard are used to enter market sectors, and are generally used as suffixes to allow the terminal to correctly identify a security.

 * F2 GOVT – government securities (U.S. treasury and non-U.S.)
 * F3 CORP – corporate debt
 * F4 MTGE – mortgage securities
 * F5 M-Mkt – money market
 * F6 MUNI – municipal debt
 * F7 PFD – preferred shares
 * F8 EQUITY – equity shares
 * F9 COMDTY – commodity markets
 * F10 INDEX – indices
 * F11 CURNCY – currency markets
 * F12 CLIENT/ALPHA – portfolio functionality

For example, if someone is interested in the Vodafone stock listed in the London market, one enters { VOD LN Equity GO} where VOD is the company's ticker symbol, LN is the venue code for London, and Equity is the market sector. A detailed option list related to Vodafone UK stock will pop up, the person can then choose different options by pressing related keys or using the mouse to select the option.

Similarly, { USDEUR Curncy GO} displays the U.S. dollar–Euro exchange spot rate.

Other common Bloomberg commands for Equity include:

 * {HP GO} – Historical Price – Display the detailed historical price of the currently loaded stock
 * {DVD GO} – Dividend / Split Summary of the currently loaded stock
 * {CACS GO} – Corporate Actions related to the currently loaded stock
 * {CN GO} – Company News – News related to the currently loaded stock

Thus, if someone interested in the historical Vodafone UK stock price, they can directly type in { VOD LN Equity HP GO}.

The Bloomberg keyboard has traditionally been heavier and sturdier than standard keyboards (a previous version, the SEA100 Bloomberg keyboard weighed around 3 kg) with 3mm key travel and 19mm key pitch; it also comes with built-in speakers for multimedia features. The SEA100 version has a built-in, 500 PPI, 0.26 sq inch biometric sensor for user login verification. The current Starboard (Keyboard 4) version is 1.08 kg and uses flatter, chiclet-style keys which are quieter and have less key travel than Freeboard (Keyboard 3) and prior.

Terminal and related products
Originally a self-contained operating system running on custom hardware commonly referred to as a Bloomberg Box, the Bloomberg Terminal now functions as an application within the Windows environment. From a user's perspective, there are essentially three distinct levels to the system:

Core Terminal
Core Terminal is the original Bloomberg system; typically consisting of four windows, or Panels, each Panel contains a separate instance of the terminal command line. As the user enters tickers and functions, they can call up and display the real-time data of the market, with each different screen simultaneously running a program to analyze other tickers, functions, values and markets in real time. This use of multiple screens with user-demanded, specific pieces of differing data—across all relevant markets—allows the user to view diverse and countless volumes of information in real-time. Accessing market data, as it develops, allows the user to make trades and investments in all markets across the world, without having any lag in information. Users can run all four windows on a single monitor or spread them out amongst many monitors, maximizing the information shown on each, to effectually create up to four terminals.

In February 2012, Bloomberg LP publicly announced an upgrade to the Terminal called Bloomberg NEXT. The stated goals of this multi-year, $100 million project were to improve the discoverability and usability of the Core Terminal's functionality.

Launchpad
Launchpad is a customizable display consisting of a number of smaller windows, called components, each dedicated to permanently displaying one set of data. A typical user would be a stockbroker who wishes to keep a list of 30 stocks visible at all times: Launchpad allows the user to create a small component which will show these prices constantly, saving the user from having to check each stock independently in the 4 terminal windows. To turn on Launchpad the command {BLP GO} is used, {PDFB GO} allows users to set Lpad to open automatically on login. Older keyboards had an  key which replicated the {BLP GO} command. Other functions, such as email inboxes, calculation tools and news tickers can be similarly displayed. The Instant Bloomberg messaging/chat tool is a Launchpad component, as are the chat windows it creates. To launch a normal function from the Bloomberg Terminal's 4 Screens into launchpad type {LLPGO} from the target screen you wish to turn into a launchpad item.

Application programming interface
The Bloomberg Open API (BLPAPI) application programming interface (API) allows third-party applications, such as Microsoft Excel, to access Bloomberg data via the Terminal and Bloomberg's market data products. A user might wish to use Bloomberg data from the Terminal to create their own calculations; by accessing streaming, historical, and reference market data from another program, they can build these formulae. The Bloomberg Terminal installation ships with Excel add-ins which facilitate building spreadsheets which consume market data. In addition, Bloomberg offers free BLPAPI SDKs allowing Bloomberg subscribers to build their own software which accesses market data in Wolfram Language, C, C++, Java, .NET, Perl, and Python, on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Solaris.

Financial Instrument Global Identifier
In September 2021, Bloomberg earned regulatory approval for its Financial Instrument Global Identifier (FIGI), a 12-character alphanumerical, open standard, unique identifier for financial instruments that may be attached to common equities, options, derivatives, futures, corporate bonds, sovereign bonds, municipal bonds, currencies, and mortgage products. This was previously known as the Bloomberg Global Identifier and was introduced in 2009. Once issued, a FIGI number is never reused. There are unique FIGIs that identify securities as well as the individual exchanges on which they trade. There are also composite FIGIs that may be used to represent unique securities across related exchanges, although unique FIGIs would be used to identify common stock on an individual exchange. The FIGI structure is defined and copyrighted by the Object Management Group. Unique FIGIs are published by Bloomberg L.P. It's a competitor to the CUSIP.

Legal Entity Identifiers
In April 2022, Bloomberg released the Common Data Format 3.1 for Legal Entity Identifiers and received accreditation as an LEI issuer for funds, a move which would allow firms to better understand their exposure to different types of legal entities and meet regulatory requirements. Like the FIGI, the LEI is managed under the Open Symbology unit of Bloomberg.

Competitors
The largest competitor to the Bloomberg Terminal is Refinitiv with its Eikon offering, formerly owned by Thomson Reuters. Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters split the market with a share of 30% each in 2011. This was a major improvement for Bloomberg as the share in 2007 was Bloomberg's 26% to Reuters' 36%.

Other major competitors include Money.Net, SIX Financial Information, Markit, FactSet Research Systems, Capital IQ, Fidessa and Dow Jones. According to Burton-Taylor International Consulting, the market for financial data and analytics was worth almost $25 billion.

title: Bloomberg Terminal


text:
Xining

Xining is the capital of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau.

The city lies in the Huangshui River Valley, also known as Tsongkha (Tibetan: ཙོང་ཁ་), and owing to its high altitude, has a cool climate on the borderline between cool semi-arid and dry winter humid continental. It was a commercial hub along the Northern Silk Road's Hexi Corridor for over 2000 years, and was a stronghold of the Han, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties' resistance against nomadic attacks from the west. Although long a part of Gansu province, Xining was added to Qinghai in 1928. Xining holds sites of religious significance to Muslims and Buddhists, including the Dongguan Mosque and Kumbum Monastery. It is connected by the Qinghai–Tibet railway to Lhasa, Tibet and connected by a high-speed railway to Lanzhou, Gansu and Ürümqi, Xinjiang.

The city is home to Qinghai University, a comprehensive university and the only Double First-Class University in Xining.

History
Xining has a history of over 2,100 years and was a chief commercial hub on the Hexi Corridor caravan route to Tibet, handling especially timber, wool and salt in ancient times. The trade along the Hexi Corridor was part of a larger trade corridor along the Northern Silk Road, whose use was intensified in the 1st century BC after efforts by the Han dynasty to control this route.

Under the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), a county called Linqiang was established to control the local Qiang tribesmen. It was again a frontier county under the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties; during the 7th and early 8th centuries it was a center of constant warfare with Tuyuhun and Tibet. In 763, it was overrun by the Tibetans and while under Tibetan control was known to the Chinese as Qingtang cheng (青唐城). Recovered by the Song dynasty in 1104, it received the name Xining (meaning "peace in the west") and has been the seat of a prefecture or superior prefecture under that name since that time. The founder of Gelug Tsongkhapa (Tibetan: ཙོང་ཁ་པ་, meaning: "the man from Tsongkha". c. 1357–1419) was born in the 14th century, and on the site of his birthplace the Kumbum Monastery was founded in the late 16th century, establishing Xining as an important religious center for the Gelug School of Buddhists.

A major earthquake occurred May 22, 1927, measuring at a magnitude of 7.6. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in China with a total count of over 40,000 deaths. It also caused large land fractures.

Xining was the extraterritorial capital of the Koko Nor territory and remained in Gansu until 1928, when it became the provincial capital of the newly established independent province of Qinghai.

Xining was subjected to aerial bombardment by Japanese warplanes in 1941 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The bombing spurred all ethnicities in Qinghai, including the local Qinghai Mongols and Qinghai Tibetans, against the Japanese. The Salar Muslim General Han Youwen directed the defense of the city of Xining during air raids by Japanese planes.

Xining was given municipal status in 1945.

Under the rule of Governor Ma Bufang, Xining, like the rest of Qinghai, underwent industrialization and modernization. In 1947 the USA sold Ma Bufang a piped water (sewage) system which was installed in Xining. Ma Bufang also promoted education. He made businessmen methodically clean up Xining by serving as insect exterminators. Since the late 1950s, when the Liujiaxia Dam and hydroelectric project came into operation in neighboring Gansu province, Xining has been linked by a high-tension electrical grid to both Liujia and Lanzhou. It also uses local coal from mines at Datong County to the north. A modern woollen mill was installed at Xining before 1957. The city also has a leather industry and is a market for salt from the Qaidam region. During the late 1950s medium-sized iron and steelworks were built there, supplying metal to Lanzhou.

Construction of a highway to the mineral-rich Qaidam basin, and completion in 1959 a link to the Chinese rail network via Lanzhou in Gansu province, has spurred industrial development. This effort was part of a plan of the central government to rapidly exploit oil and pasturage in the Xining area beginning in the 1950s.

Geography and climate
Xining is located in the eastern part of Qinghai Province and lies on the Huangshui River. The four urban districts have a total area of 343 km2.

Xining is located on the eastern edge of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and the upper reaches of the Huangshui River. It is the political, economic, and cultural center of Qinghai Province with an average altitude of about 2,200 m. Human activity in the region can be traced to 2,100 years ago. During the Western and Eastern Han dynasties, owing to its developing agriculture, Xining was paid notice due to its economic and military significance. As well as being an important hinge between the Central Plains and the western part of China in ancient times, Xining was an important link in the Silk Road. It continues to be an important rail and road link to the hinterlands of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau.

Xining has also been dubbed the Summer Resort Capital of China owing to its cool summer, with a borderline cold semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk)/dry winter humid continental climate (Dwb). Conditions are influenced by the aridity and high altitude. Nights are cold or cool throughout the year, and the diurnal temperature variation often reaches or exceeds 15 °C-change. The monthly 24-hour average temperatures ranges from −7.9 °C in January to 17.5 °C in July; the annual mean is 6.0 °C, still making it one of the warmest locations in Qinghai due to the low elevation by provincial standards. Rainfall falls mainly from May to September, and the area is often dry and sunny: with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 49 percent in September to 67 percent in November, the city receives 2,540 hours of bright sunshine per year. Extreme temperatures have ranged from −26.6 °C to 36.5 °C. Snow cover is very sparse due to the dry winters.

River management
In 2007, the World Bank lent US$1 billion to aid river treatment in Xining, including Sanxian County's anti-flooding project, with an added US$1 billion to support infrastructure. Qinghai has invested large amounts in the treatment of Huangshui Main River and Nanchuan River, totalling 24.5 km. However, a treatment on a 40 km river course and 10 flash flood relief channels remain pending due to lack of equipment. In Sanxian County, a 108.4 m long river course and 80 flash flood relief channels need treatment.

Air quality
According to a 2011 World Health Organization (based on Chinese statistics), Xining has the second worst air quality (annual mean PM10 ug/m3 of 141) among eleven western China cities, and is worse than Beijing (121).

Economy

The GDP per capita was 49,200 RMB (US$7,897) in 2015. Its main industries are wool spinning and textiles, fur, meat, milk, salt, and light processing industries.

Economic and Technological Development Zones
Xining Economic & Technological Development Zone XETDZ) was approved as state-level development zone in July 2000. It has a planned area of 4.4 km2. XETDZ lies in the east of Xining, 5 km away from downtown. The XETDZ is the first of its kind at the national level on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is established to fulfill the nation's strategy of developing the west.
 * Xining Economic & Technological Development Zone

XETDZ enjoys a convenient transportation system, connected by the Xining–Lanzhou expressway and run through by two main roads, the broadest roads of the city. It is 4 km away from the railway station, 15 km from Xining Airport.

It focuses on the development of following industries: chemicals based on salt lake resources, nonferrous metals, and petroleum and natural gas processing; special medicine, foods and bio-chemicals using local plateau animals and plants; new products involving ecological and environmental protection, high technology, new materials as well as information technology; and services such as logistics, banking, real estate, tourism, hotel, catering, agency and international trade.

Demographics
According to the 2020 Chinese census, the prefecture-level city of Xining has a population of 2,467,965 inhabitants (2,208,708 as of the 2010 Chinese census), of whom 1,954,795 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of 5 urban districts.

At present, four districts, three counties and a national economic and technological development zone are under the administration of the local government. With a population of more than two million, Xining is the first city on the upper reaches of the Yellow River to achieve a population in the millions.

Ethnic diversity
There are about 37 nationalities living here, though only the Han, Hui, Monguor/Tu and Tibetans are numerically significant. Local traditions and customs are influenced by the Tibetans, Monguor, Muslims and Han. In the 2010 Census numbers, Han Chinese represent 74.04 percent of the total population of Xining, while Hui (16.26 percent), Tibetan (5.51 percent) and Tu (2.6 percent) are the main minority groups in the city.

Religion
Located in the southwest part of Xining City, the Kumbum Monastery or Ta'er Monastery is one of six famous monasteries in the Gelug (also called Yellow Hat Sect) of Tibetan Buddhism and has hundreds of monks. Having a history of over 600 years, the Dongguan Mosque, located in the Xining City Zone, is one of the most famous mosques in the northwest region of China. It has splendid and diversiform towers, walls and halls in the mosque. Another unique religious structure is the Beishan Si (North Mountain Temple), a Taoist facility.

There are more than 300 Christian meeting points in Xining.

The Catholic minority is pastorally served by the (pre-diocesan) Apostolic Prefecture of Xining.

Administrative divisions
The municipality oversees seven districts and counties. The data here are presented in km² and in population according to 2010 Census:

Colleges and universities

 * Qinghai University
 * Qinghai Normal University
 * Qinghai University for Nationalities

Private schools
Xining International Academy is an English-language international school.

Transportation
Xining is situated in a fertile mountain basin in the valley of the Huangshui (river), a tributary of the Yellow River, that acts as a river port. The city lies about 200 km west of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, on what was traditionally the main trade route from northern China into Tibet and the Qaidam Basin. These routes are now followed by modern highways.

Railway
Since 1959 Xining station has been connected by the Lanzhou–Qinghai Railway to China's railway network. Later, this railway was extended into the Qaidam area via Haiyan near Qinghai Lake to Golmud, and, since 2006, to Lhasa, Tibet. (See the Qinghai–Tibet Railway).

The second major railway serving Xining is the Lanzhou–Xinjiang High-Speed Railway, opened in December 2014. When first opened, it just provided high-speed train service to Lanzhou and Urumqi (and points in between). With the opening of the Baoji–Lanzhou high-speed railway on July 9, 2017, it has been connected to the rest of the nation's high-speed rail network.

Unlike many other Chinese cities, where the conventional and high-speed trains stop at different train stations, Xining railway station is served by both types of trains. Thus it can be used as a transfer point for e.g. a passenger traveling from Xinjiang to Tibet.

Air
Xining Caojiapu International Airport serves the area with regularly scheduled passenger flights to major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Kunming, Xi'an, and Wuhan.

Highway

 * China National Highway 214
 * China National Highway 227
 * China National Highway 315
 * G6 Beijing–Lhasa Expressway

Food
Xining's cuisine is distinct from other Chinese cities and mainly uses food products native to the area.

Local specialties include: Feng'er Liji (a round lamb tenderloin), Danbai Chongcao Ji (a medicine cuisine made of chicken, Chinese caterpillar fungus and eggs), and Jinyu Facai (pork wrapped in flagelliform nostoc and shaped as a goldfish).

There are also many small restaurants offering noodles. Gan Ban is a very common noodle dish. Perhaps Mian Pian, which means "noodle leaves" is the most common noodle plate among the Qinghai people. On the streets, many Muslims sell spicy lamb brochettes. Due to the cold climate, residents of Xining are also fond of strong spirits;  Xining has the reputation of being one of the regions of heaviest alcohol consumption in China.

title: Xining


text:
Al-Wathiq

Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad (أبو جعفر هارون بن محمد; 17 April 812 – 10 August 847), commonly known by his regnal name al-Wathiq bi'Ilah (الواثق بالله), was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 842 until his death in 847.

Al-Wathiq is described in the sources as well-educated, intellectually curious, but also a poet and a drinker, who enjoyed the company of poets and musicians as well as scholars. His brief reign was one of continuity with the policies of his father, al-Mu'tasim ((r. 833 – 842)), as power continued to rest in the hands of the same officials whom al-Mu'tasim had appointed. The chief events of the reign were the suppression of revolts: Bedouin rebellions occurred in Syria in 842, the Hejaz in 845, and the Yamama in 846, Armenia had to be pacified over several years, and above all, an abortive uprising took place in Baghdad itself in 846, under Ahmad ibn Nasr al-Khuza'i. The latter was linked to al-Wathiq's continued support for the doctrine of Mu'tazilism, and his reactivation of the to root out opponents. In foreign affairs, the perennial conflict with the Byzantine Empire continued, and the Abbasids even scored a significant victory at Mauropotamos, but after a prisoner exchange in 845, warfare ceased for several years.

Al-Wathiq's character is relatively obscure compared to other early Abbasid caliphs. He appears to have been a sedentary ruler occupied with the luxuries of the court, a capable poet, and a patron of poets and musicians, as well as showing interest in scholarly pursuits. Al-Wathiq's unexpected death left the succession unsettled. Al-Wathiq's son al-Muhtadi was passed over due to his youth, and his half-brother al-Mutawakkil ((r. 847 – 861)) was chosen as the next caliph by a coterie of leading officials.

Early life
Al-Wathiq was born on 17 April 812 (various sources give slightly earlier or later dates in 811–813), on the road to Mecca. His father was the Abbasid prince, and later caliph, al-Mu'tasim ((r. 833 – 842)), and his mother a Byzantine Greek slave, Qaratis. He was named Harun after his grandfather, Caliph Harun al-Rashid ((r. 786 – 809)), and had the teknonym Abu Ja'far.

The early life of al-Wathiq is obscure, all the more since his father was initially a junior prince without prospects of succession, who owed his rise to prominence, and eventually to the caliphate, to his control of an elite private army of Turkic slave troops. Harun ibn Ziyad is mentioned as his first teacher, and he learned calligraphy, recitation and literature from his uncle, Caliph al-Ma'mun ((r. 813 – 833)). Later sources nickname him the "Little Ma'mun" on account of his erudition and moral character.

When al-Mu'tasim became caliph, he took care for al-Wathiq, as his son and heir-apparent, to acquire experience in governance. Thus al-Wathiq was left in charge of the capital Baghdad in 835, when al-Mu'tasim moved north to found a new capital at Samarra. He is then mentioned in the account of al-Tabari as being sent to ceremonially welcome the general al-Afshin during his victorious return from the suppression of the revolt of Babak Khorramdin in 838 (in present-day Iran), and being left behind as his father's deputy during the Amorion campaign of the same year.

Al-Wathiq is then mentioned in 841 as bringing a bowl of fruit to al-Afshin, now disgraced and imprisoned. Fearing that the fruit was poisoned, al-Afshin refused to accept it, and asked for someone else to convey a message to the Caliph. In Samarra, al-Wathiq's residence was immediately adjacent to his father's palace, and he was a fixed presence at court. As historian John Turner remarks, these reports show al-Wathiq in the "role of a trusted agent of his father, which positioned him well to take over the reins of power". On the other hand, al-Wathiq was never given a military command and did not even participate in the Amorion campaign, in a departure from previous Abbasid practice.

Reign
Al-Tabari records that al-Wathiq was of medium height, handsome and well-built. He was fair with a ruddy complexion, commonly associated with noble descent. His left eye was paralyzed with a white fleck, which reportedly lent his gaze a stern aspect. When al-Mu'tasim died on 5 January 842, al-Wathiq succeeded him without opposition. Inheriting a full treasury, the new caliph made generous donations to the common people, especially in Baghdad and the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Al-Wathiq sent his mother, Qaratis, accompanied by his brother Ja'far (the future caliph al-Mutawakkil), to head the pilgrimage in 842. Qaratis died on the way at al-Hirah on 16 August 842, and was buried in Kufa.

Ruling elites
Al-Wathiq's reign was short and is generally considered to have been essentially a continuation of al-Mu'tasim's own, as the government continued to be led by men that had been raised to power by al-Mu'tasim: the Turkic military commanders Itakh, Wasif, and Ashinas, the vizier, Muhammad ibn al-Zayyat, and the chief (judge), Ahmad ibn Abi Duwad. These men had been personally loyal to al-Mu'tasim, but were not similarly bound to al-Wathiq; in practice, according to Turner, this narrow circle "controlled the levers of power and thus the Caliph's independence".

In a gesture likely aimed at cementing an alliance between the caliph and his most powerful commander, al-Wathiq bestowed a crown on Ashinas in June/July 843, and on the occasion invested him with sweeping authority over the western provinces, from Samarra to the Maghreb—an act which the 15th-century Egyptian scholar al-Suyuti considered as the first occasion when royal power was delegated by a caliph to a subject. Ashinas died in 844, and Itakh succeeded him in his rank as commander-in-chief and in his over-governorship of the western provinces. The new caliph also engaged in much construction in Samarra, which went a long way towards making the caliphal residence a proper city, with markets and a port adequate to its needs. This made Samarra not only more comfortable for its inhabitants but also made investment in property there economically attractive—both major considerations for the Abbasid elites and the military, who had been forced to relocate to the new capital by al-Mu'tasim.

However, in 843/44, the Caliph—allegedly at the instigation of the vizier Ibn al-Zayyat, or, according to a story reported by al-Tabari, inspired by the downfall of the Barmakids under Harun al-Rashid—arrested, tortured, and imposed heavy fines on several of the secretaries in the central government, in an effort to raise money to pay the Turkic troops. The measure was at the same time possibly aimed at driving a wedge between civilian and military elites, or at reducing the power of the leading Turkic commanders, such as Itakh and Ashinas, since most of the secretaries arrested and forced to pay were in their service.

Suppression of rebellions
Already during the last months of al-Mu'tasim's life, a large-scale revolt had erupted in Palestine under a certain al-Mubarqa. Al-Mu'tasim sent the general Raja ibn Ayyub al-Hidari to confront the rebels. When al-Wathiq came to power, he dispatched al-Hidari against Ibn Bayhas, who led a Qaysi tribal revolt around Damascus. The exact relationship of this uprising with the revolt of al-Mubarqa is unclear. Taking advantage of the dissensions among the tribesmen, al-Hidari quickly defeated Ibn Bayhas, and then turned south and confronted al-Mubarqa's forces near Ramla. The battle was a decisive victory for the government army, with al-Mubarqa taken prisoner and brought to Samarra, where he was thrown into prison and never heard of again.

Upon coming to the throne, al-Wathiq appointed Khalid ibn Yazid al-Shaybani as governor of the restive province of Armenia. At the head of a large army, Khalid defeated the opposition of the local Muslim and Christian princes at the Battle of Kawakert. Khalid died soon after, but his son, Muhammad al-Shaybani, succeeded him in office and continued his father's task.

In spring 845, another tribal rebellion broke out. A local tribe, the Banu Sulaym, had become embroiled in a conflict with the tribes of Banu Kinanah and Bahilah around Medina, resulting in bloody clashes in February/March 845. The local governor, Salih ibn Ali, sent an army against them comprising regular troops as well as citizens of Medina, but, the Sulaym were victorious and proceeded to loot the environs of the two holy cities. As a result, in May al-Wathiq charged one of his Turkic generals, Bugha al-Kabir, to handle the affair. Accompanied by professional troops from the, Turkic, and guard regiments, Bugha defeated the Sulaym and forced them to surrender. In early autumn, he also forced the Banu Hilal to submit. Bugha's troops took many prisoners, some 1,300 in total who were held in Medina. They tried to escape, but were thwarted by the Medinese, and most were killed in the process. In the meantime, Bugha used the opportunity to intimidate the other Bedouin tribes of the region, and marched to confront the Banu Fazara and the Banu Murra. The tribes fled before his advance, with many submitting, and others fleeing to al-Balqa. Bugha then subdued the Banu Kilab, taking some 1,300 of them as prisoners back to Medina in May 846.

A minor Kharijite uprising in 845/6 occurred in Diyar Rabi'a under a certain Muhammad ibn Abdallah al-Tha'labi (or Muhammad ibn Amr), but was easily suppressed by the governor of Mosul. In the same year, the general Wasif suppressed restive Kurdish tribes in Isfahan, Jibal and Fars.

In September 846, al-Wathiq sent Bugha al-Kabir to stop the depredations of the Banu Numayr in Yamamah. On 4 February 847, Bugha fought a major engagement against about 3,000 Numayris at the watering place of Batn al-Sirr. At first he was hard pressed, and his forces almost disintegrated. Then some troops he had out raiding the Numayris' horses returned, fell upon the forces attacking Bugha and completely routed them. According to one report, up to 1,500 Numayris were killed. Bugha spent a few months pacifying the region, issuing writs of safe-passage to those who submitted and pursuing the rest, before he returned to Basra in June/July 847. Over 2,200 Bedouin from various tribes were brought captive with him.

Mu'tazilism and the abortive coup of al-Khuza'i
Like his father, al-Wathiq was an ardent Mu'tazilite—the sources agree that he was strongly influenced by the chief, Ibn Abi Duwad—but also, like his father, maintained good relations with the Alids. In the third year of his caliphate, al-Wathiq revived the inquisition, sending officials to question jurists on their views on the controversial topic of the createdness of the Quran. Al-Wathiq supported the Mu'tazili view that the Quran was created and not eternal, and hence fell within the authority of a God-guided imam (i.e., the caliph) to interpret according to the changing circumstances. Even during a prisoner exchange held with the Byzantine Empire in 845, the ransomed Muslim prisoners were questioned on their opinions regarding the topic, with those giving unsatisfactory answers reportedly left to remain in captivity. Thus Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the founder of the Hanbali school of jurisprudence, who opposed the Mu'tazili doctrine, was forced to cease his teachings and only resumed them after al-Wathiq's death.

In 846, a well-respected notable, Ahmad ibn Nasr ibn Malik al-Khuza'i, a descendant of one of the original missionaries of the Abbasid Revolution, launched a plot in Baghdad to overthrow al-Wathiq, his Turkic commanders, and the Mu'tazilite doctrines. His followers distributed money to the people, and the date for the uprising was scheduled for the night of 4/5 April 846. However, according to al-Tabari, those who were supposed to sound a drum as the signal to rise got drunk and did so a day early, and there was no response. Khatib al-Baghdadi on the other hand reports simply that an informer gave the plot away to the authorities. The deputy governor of the city, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim—the governor, his brother Ishaq, was absent—inquired on the event, and the conspiracy was revealed. Al-Khuza'i and his followers were arrested and brought before al-Wathiq at Samarra.

The Caliph interrogated al-Khuza'i publicly, though more on the thorny theological issue of the createdness of the Quran rather than on the actual rebellion. Ahmad's answers enraged al-Wathiq so much, that the Caliph took al-Samsamah, a famous sword of the pre-Islamic period, and personally joined in the execution of Ahmad, along with the Turks Bugha al-Sharabi and Sima al-Dimashqi. Ahmad's corpse was publicly displayed next to the gibbet of Babak in Baghdad, while twenty of his followers were thrown into prison.

The same year there was a break-in at the public treasury in Samarra. Thieves made off with 42,000 silver dirhams and a small amount of gold dinars. The (chief of security), Yazid al-Huwani, a deputy of Itakh, pursued and caught them. Turner points out that this episode may provide some premonition of the crisis to erupt in later decades: security even at the main palace was lax, and, based on the thieves' loot, the treasury appears to have been almost empty at the time.

War with the Byzantine Empire
In 838 al-Mu'tasim had scored a major victory against the Abbasid Caliphate's perennial foe, the Byzantine Empire, with the celebrated sack of Amorion. This success was not followed up, and warfare reverted to the usual raids and counter-raids along the border. According to Byzantine sources, at the time of his death in 842, al-Mu'tasim was preparing yet another large-scale invasion, but the great fleet he had prepared to assault Constantinople perished in a storm off Cape Chelidonia a few months later. This event is not reported in Muslim sources.

Following al-Mu'tasim's death, the Byzantine regent Theoktistos attempted to reconquer the Emirate of Crete, an Abbasid vassal, but the campaign ended in disaster. In 844, an army from the border emirates of Qaliqala and Tarsus, led by Abu Sa'id, and possibly the emir of Malatya Umar al-Aqta, raided deep into Byzantine Asia Minor and reached as far as the shore of the Bosporus. The Muslims then defeated Theoktistos at the Battle of Mauropotamos, aided by the defection of senior Byzantine officers. At around the same time, the Paulicians, a sect persecuted as heretical in Byzantium, defected to the Arabs under their leader Karbeas. They founded a small principality on the Abbasid–Byzantine frontier, centred on the fortress of Tephrike, and henceforth joined the Arabs in their attacks on Byzantine territory.

In 845, a Byzantine embassy arrived at the caliphal court to negotiate about a prisoner exchange. It was held in September of the same year under the auspices of Yazaman al-Khadim, and somewhere between 3,500 and 4,600 Muslims were ransomed. In March of the same year, however, 42 officers taken captive at Amorion were executed at Samarra, after refusing to convert to Islam. After the truce arranged for the exchange expired, the Abbasid governor of Tarsus, Ahmad ibn Sa'id ibn Salm, led a winter raid with 7,000 men. It failed disastrously, with 500 men dying of cold or drowning, and 200 taken prisoner. After this, the Arab-Byzantine frontier remained quiet for six years. Only in the west did the Abbasids' Aghlabid clients continue their gradual conquest of Byzantine Sicily, capturing Messina (842/43), Modica (845), and Leontini (846). In 845/46, the Aghlabids captured Miseno near Naples in mainland Italy, and in the next year their ships appeared in the Tiber River and their crews raided the environs of Rome.

Death and succession
Al-Wathiq died as the result of edema, likely from liver damage or diabetes, while being seated in an oven in an attempt to cure it, on 10 August 847. His age is variously given as 32, 34, or 36 Islamic years at the time. He was buried in the Haruni Palace in Samarra, that he had built.

His death was unexpected, and left the succession open—although the near-contemporary historian al-Ya'qubi at least claims that an heir had been named, and the oath of allegiance given to him. Consequently, the leading officials, the vizier, Ibn al-Zayyat, the chief, Ahmad ibn Abi Duwad, the Turkic generals Itakh and Wasif, and a few others, assembled to determine his successor. Ibn al-Zayyat initially proposed al-Wathiq's son Muhammad (the future caliph al-Muhtadi), but due to his youth he was passed over, and instead the council chose al-Wathiq's 26-year-old half-brother Ja'far, who became the caliph al-Mutawakkil.

This selection is commonly considered by historians to have been in effect a conspiracy to place a weak and pliable ruler on the throne, while the same cabal of officials would run affairs as under al-Wathiq. They would be quickly proven wrong, for al-Mutawakkil quickly moved to eliminate Ibn al-Zayyat and Itakh and consolidate his own authority.

Assessment and legacy
Al-Wathiq is reported as having been generous to the poor of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and to have reduced taxes on maritime commerce, but he does not appear to have enjoyed any great popularity. What is told of his character shows him being a mild-mannered person, given to indolence and the pleasures of court life, to the point of becoming inebriated and falling asleep. He was an accomplished poet—more poems of his survive than of any other Abbasid caliph—as well as a skilled composer, and could play the oud well. He was also a patron of poets, singers and musicians, inviting them to the palace. He showed particular favour to the musician Ishaq al-Mawsili, the singer Mukhariq, and the poet al-Dahhak al-Bahili, known as.

In contrast to this picture, the 10th-century historian al-Mas'udi portrays al-Wathiq as "interested in scientific learning and facilitating disputations among physicians". The Graeco-Arabic translation movement continued to flourish under his reign, and the sources also relate some episodes that show al-Wathiq's own "intellectual curiosity", especially as related to issues that could burnish his religious credentials: he reportedly dreamed that the "Barrier of Dhu'l-Qarnayn" had been breached—probably resulting from news of the movements of the Kirghiz Turks at the time that caused large population shifts among the Turkic nomads of Central Asia—and sent the chancery official Sallam al-Tarjuman to journey to the region and investigate. Likewise, according to Ibn Khordadbeh, the Caliph sent the astronomer al-Khwarizmi to the Byzantines to investigate the legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.

Al-Wathiq is one of the more obscure Abbasid caliphs. According to the historian Hugh Kennedy, "no other caliph of the period has left so little trace of the history of his times, and it is impossible to form any clear impression of his personality", while the Encyclopaedia of Islam writes that "he had not the gifts of a great ruler, and his brief reign was not distinguished by remarkable events". His very obscurity allowed William Beckford to present a heavily fictionalized version of al-Wathiq in his classic 18th-century Gothic fantasy novel Vathek, which Kennedy describes as "a fantastic tale of cruelty, dissipation and a search for the lost treasure of ancient kings, guarded by Iblis/Satan himself".

Family
One of al-Wathiq's concubines was Qurb, a Greek. In 833 she gave birth to al-Wathiq's son, Muhammad, the future caliph al-Muhtadi. Another concubine was Farida, who was also a musician and al-Wathiq's favourite. When al-Wathiq died, the singer Amr ibn Banah presented her to Caliph al-Mutawakkil. He married her, and she became one of his favourites. He had another concubine, who was a servant of Farida. Al-Wathiq was infatuated with her. Another concubine was Qalam. She belonged to Salih bin Abdul al-Wahhab, who had trained her as a singer. Al-Wathiq bought her for 5000 dinars and called her Ightibat ("delight").

title: Al-Wathiq