text:
Bank Melli Iran

Bank Melli Iran (BMI; ) is the first national and commercial retail bank of Iran. It was considered as the largest Iranian company in terms of annual income with a revenue of 364 657 billion Rials in 2016. It is the largest bank in the Islamic world and in the Middle East. By the end of 2016, BMI had a net asset of $76.6 billion and a network of 3.328 banking branches; so it was known as the largest Iranian bank based on the amount of assets. The brand of BMI was recognized as one of the 100 top Iranian brands in 10th National Iranian Heroes Championship in 2013. The National Bank has 3328 active branches inside, 14 active branches and 4 sub-stations abroad, and it has 180 booths. The first managing director of BMI was Kurt Lindenblatt from Germany, the first foreign branch of BMI was opened in Hamburg, Germany in 1948.

History
The formation of a new bank was first proposed by Haj Mohammad Hassan Amin Dar al-Zarb known as Amināl-Zarb (one of the Tehran stockholders) in 1879 ten years before the creation of the King Bank, to Naser-al-Din Shah Qajar. But this proposal was not accepted with the interference of the countries that dominated Iran and their agents. Instead, the King Bank was established in Iran. After the establishment of the constitution, when the government allowed the National Assembly to allow external borrowing, the national feelings were excited that had been hurt by past loans and the behavior of foreign banks. So, the deputies demanded the establishment of the National Bank in order to curtail the political and economic influence of said banks and restore the treasury finances while opposing external borrowing. A group of traders and merchants committed to participate in the bank. Thus, it was published with a statement that showed the general feelings and popular interest in establishing a national credit bank in Iran in December 1906.

On 23 November 1906, Mirza Abolqasem Nasser al-Malik, the Minister of Finance of the time of Muzaffar al-Din Shah, was present in the National Assembly. He announced the financial crisis of the country. He suggested that the government get a loan from European countries to deal with this problem, but the deputies dissented strongly. After that, on 9 December, the deputies agreed to establish a bank that could benefit the country and work with people's deposits in the interests of the country and the people.

On the other hand, sudden changes in the political situation and the 1907 agreement between the governments of Russia and Britain and the division of Iran, as well as the beginning of the First World War and the arrival of occupation forces in Iran, have undermined all efforts to form the National Bank. Finally, by the end of First World War and withdrawal of invaders from Iran, the law for establishing the National Bank of Iran was approved by the parliament on 14 May 1927. The statute of bank was approved by the Parliament's Finance Committee on 14 July 1928.

The first CEO of the National Bank, Kurt Lindenblatt, and his vice-president, Fogel, came to Iran with 70 experts from Germany. According to the statute of bank, the National Bank of Iran was recognized as joint-stock company with legal personality; it was considered to be subject to commercial laws. The initial capital of the bank was 20 million Rials, of which only 8 million were paid. At present, it is 187 trillion Rials with an increase in 2016.

Due to the fact that there were no bank specialists in Iran at that time, the law allowed the recruitment of Swiss or German nationals for the administration of the bank. The number of bank employees on the opening day, including Iranian and German, did not exceed 27. Now, the number of employees of BMI is over 45 thousand people.

Initially, when the bank was first chartered, in addition to the central branch, two additional domestic branches were also opened, one in the market of Tehran and the other in Bandar-e Bushhehr, the country's most important commercial port. The bank's first official overseas branch abroad opened in 1948 in Hamburg, West Germany. On 22 March 1931, the right to publish the banknote was approved by the National Assembly. It was officially granted to the National Bank of Iran for 10 years, which could be renewed on its own. In April 1932, the first banknote of BMI was issued.

Saving Fund: saving fund of Bank Melli Iran was established under a law to encourage people to save money in 1939.

After the Islamic Revolution
After the Islamic Revolution, changes to the banking system were implemented in order to conform with Sharia law in the realm of Islamic banking and finance. The new law was passed in 1984. There are more than 3328 active branches inside, 14 active branches and 4 subsidiaries abroad and 180 offices.

The 20 Rials Pahlavi coin had two pictures: On one side, there was image of Reza Pahlavi with the words of Reza Shah: Establishment of BMI was one of the long-term wishes of my nation, and on the other side was the image of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi with the written: Establishment of BMI was one of the real foundations of independence of Iran.

Governors
(Source: )
 * Kurt Lindenblatt, September 1928 - September 1932
 * Albert Schneider, September 1932 - April 1933
 * Hossein Ala, April 1933 - March 1934
 * Reza Gholi Amir Khosrovi, March 1934 - November 1939
 * Mohamad Ali Farzin, November 1939 - October 1941
 * Hossein Ala, October 1941 - December 1942
 * Abul Hassan Ebtehaj, December 1942 - July 1950
 * Ebrahim Zand, July 1950 - September 1951
 * Ali Asghar Nasser, September 1951 - July 1952
 * Mohammad Nassiri, July 1952 - August 1953
 * Ali Asghar Nasser, September 1953 - April 1957
 * Ebrahim Kashani, April 1957 - 1960

Bank Melli Iran Museum
The Museum of BMI was opened with the presence of Eshaq Jahangiri, the first vice president, on 21 July 2017. The Museum of BMI was opened with a collection of exquisite works of art, especially banking treasures from various historical periods of Iran, at savings fund building. The National Bank of Iran has ancient objects from Achaemenid, Sasanian and artistic works, including paintings, lines, rugs and blankets. So, the objectives of establishing BMI Museum is displaying old and historical banking instruments, as well as gifts from various countries during the activity of BMI. The building of BMI Fund was constructed at Ferdowsi Street in Tehran in 1928; it was registered in the category of national works of Iran on 20 December 2000 by number of 2930. This building was designed by a German architect H. Heinrich, inspired by remained Achaemenid periodic buildings and combination of Iranian and European architecture. In this museum, a comprehensive collection of historical gifts of the bank, office equipment and banknote printing machine, ancient paintings, coins, old banknotes and ceremonial bank items are publicly displayed.

Banknote printing
On 22 March 1931, the National Assembly handed over the right to BMI to print the banknote for 10 years. Also, it was decided that, after expiration of this period, if this right was not canceled, it would act for next ten years.

The first National Banknotes were issued on 1 April 1932. The banknotes of Imperial Bank and National Bank of Iran were prevalent from that date to three months. The banknotes of BMI have become the only paper money in Iran since July of that year.

By 1960, BMI was issuing banknotes for its economic needs. However, that year, upon establishment of Central Bank of Iran, the exclusive right to issue banknotes was transferred to this bank, which is still ongoing.

Capital
From the beginning of establishment, BMI was a public company; its initial capital was 20 million Rials divided to 20 thousand shares of thousand Rials (13,500 shares with name and 6,500 anonymous shares). But, the transfer of bank shares to non-state shareholders was banned in 1938. In 1935, the capital of BMI increased to 300 million Rials and increased to 2 billion Rials in 1952.

Due to banking system constraints, the National Bank carried out all duties of Central Bank in the economy before 1956. After establishment of Central Bank of Iran, the duties were assigned to this bank. The last registered capital of National Bank was 198 thousand and 565 billion and 600 million Rials in June 2017.

Social responsibilities

 * Public Utilities Projects: At present, the bank has been involved in 39 public utilities project more than 114 billion Rials.
 * Children Support.
 * Support for cultural and scientific projects.
 * Support for sports plans for releasing Diya prisoners.
 * School building.

Islamic banking
All banks in Iran must follow the banking principles and practices described in the Islamic Banking (Sharia) law of Iran passed in 1983 by the Islamic Majlis of Iran. According to this law, banks can only engage in interest-free Islamic transactions (interest is considered as usury or riba and is forbidden by Islam and its holy book the Quran). The permitted commercial transactions involve exchange of goods and services in return for a share of the assumed profit. All such transactions are performed through Islamic contracts, such as mozarebe, foroush aghsati, joale, salaf, and gharzol-hassane. Details of these contracts and related practices are contained in the Iranian Interest-Free banking law and its guidelines.

Number of employees
Serving condition table of BMI employees by gender

National Bank Hospital
The Hospital of BMI was established to provide health care and to meet the medical needs of its employees in 1938. Following this, the current building of the Bank Hospital was built in 1973.

Financial numbers and statistics

16 June 2008 (US$1 is approximately 133,130 Iranian rial (Rls)):
 * Total assets = Rls 360,517 billion
 * Capitalization = Rls 36,487 billion
 * Net income after tax = Rls 772 billion
 * Total loans = Rls 163,595 billion
 * Number of branches = 3,300
 * Number of employees = 43,000
 * Bank Melli Iran (BMI) has offered close to 30 percent of all credits to economic, production, industrial and services sectors.
 * Online banking services offered by Bank Melli have registered a 370-percent growth in 2008.

Debts and claims
Mohammad Reza Hosseinzadeh, director of BMI, announced that the Islamic Republic of Iran owes over 220,000 billion Rials to BMI. In 2009, the announcement of Mahmoud Reza Khavari's talks with ISNA news agency was published on the debt of 50 trillion Rials of Iranian government to the bank and the government's inability to repay the debt. But then, the news of "the government's inability to pay the debt" was denied by Khavari

Significant buildings

 * Ferdowsi Building – Ferdowsi Avenue, Tehran

Offices
Bank Melli Iran has 18 international branches and services in 11 countries:

 * 🇦🇫 Afghanistan (Kabul)
 * 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan (Baku)
 * 🇧🇭 Bahrain (Manama)
 * 🇫🇷 France (Paris)
 * 🇩🇪 Germany (Hamburg)
 * Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
 * 🇮🇶 Iraq (Baghdad & Basra)
 * 🇴🇲 Oman (Muscat)
 * 🇷🇺 Russia (Moscow)
 * United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi – 4 branches, Dubai – 4 branches and Sharjah)
 * United Kingdom (London)

Civil lawsuit
Following the September 1997 suicide bombing in Jerusalem, five American students who had been wounded were awarded $251 million in compensatory and punitive damages against the government of Iran and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps by Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, under the Flatow Amendment of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, in accordance with Section 201a of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, which states that "in every case in which a person has obtained a judgment against a terrorist party on a claim based upon an act of terrorism ... the blocked assets of that terrorist party ... shall be subject to execution". Since most Iranian assets in the United States had been withdrawn after the embassy hostage crisis, the only substantial monetary asset left was approximately $150,000 in the Bank Melli's account in the Bank of New York. Before turning over the funds to the five students, however, the Bank of New York sued for a legal decision regarding its responsibilities in the case. The United States Department of Justice, speaking as amicus curiae in support of Bank Melli, advised that the bank had no responsibility for turning the funds over to the students; in March 2006, Judge Denise Cole ruled against them, and was upheld by the Second Circuit Court in April 2007. Bank Melli then withdrew the funds from Bank of New York.

On 5 March 2018, Bank Melli lost an appeal "related to credit card use in Iran" concerning "roughly $17.6 million that Visa Inc and Franklin Resources Inc" were holding for Bank Melli.

United States sanctions
On 25 October 2007, the United States imposed unilateral sanctions against Iran. These sanctions include new measures to reduce Iran's ability to conduct financial transactions between the state-owned banks of Iran and United States citizens or private organisations. Bank Melli was included in these sanctions, on the grounds that, besides its other customers, Bank Melli provides financial services to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. A fact sheet released by the US Treasury Department also asserts that between 2002 and 2006 Bank Melli sent at least $100 million to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and other groups, via the Quds Force, a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

In a statement published on its website, BMI refuted the US allegations and denied that it has ever been involved in any "deceptive banking practices".

European Union sanctions
On 16 June 2008, the European Union imposed further unilateral sanctions against Iran. These sanctions include the European Union freezing the assets of Bank Melli, in response to Tehran's refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program. After the lifting of sanctions, BMI was the first Iranian bank to be reconnected to Swift.

Sadad data company
In 1999, Sadad Data Company was registered at Companies Registration Office and Non-commercial Enterprises.

Publishing company of BMI
After assignment of right to publish banknotes to BMI, a limited organization was created to publish the date of issue on banknotes. This organization evolved along with development of BMI; it was known as "BMI Printing House". Printing company of BMI received the publication license from Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in order to allow publication of book and magazine; so it renamed "BMI Printing and Publishing Company".

National Development Group
The National Development Group is an investment company, which is listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange.

title: Bank Melli Iran


text:
Avram Hershko

Avram Hershko (אברהם הרשקו, Herskó Ferenc Ábrahám; born December 31, 1937) is a Hungarian-Israeli biochemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004.

Biography
He was born Herskó Ferenc in Karcag, Hungary, into a Jewish family, the son of Shoshana/Margit 'Manci' (née Wulc) and Moshe Hershko, both teachers. During the Second World War, his father was forced into labor service in the Hungarian army and then taken as a prisoner by the Soviet Army. For years, Avram's family didn't known anything about what had happened to his father. Avram, his mother and older brother Chaim/Laszlo 'Laci' were put in a ghetto in Szolnok. During the final days of the ghetto, most Jews were sent to be murdered in Auschwitz, but Avram and his family managed to board trains that took them to a concentration camp in Austria, where they were forced into labor until the end of the war. Avram and his mother and brother survived the war and returned to their home. His father returned as well, 4 years after they had last seen him.

Hershko and his family emigrated to Israel in 1950 and settled in Jerusalem. He received his MD in 1965 and his PhD in 1969 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem-Hadassah Medical Center. He was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, San Francisco. He is currently a Distinguished Professor at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion in Haifa and a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine.

Along with Aaron Ciechanover and Irwin Rose, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. The ubiquitin-proteasome system has a critical role in maintaining the homeostasis of cells and is believed to be involved in the development and progression of diseases such as cancer, muscular and neurological diseases, and immune and inflammatory responses.

His contributions to science directly helped cure one of his long-time friends of cancer.

Honours and awards

 * 1987 – Weizmann Prize for Sciences
 * 1994 – Israel Prize in Biochemistry
 * 1999 – Canada Gairdner International Award (with Alexander Varshavsky)
 * 2000 – Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (with Aaron Ciechanover and Varshavsky)
 * 2000 – Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Prize (with Varshavsky)
 * 2000 – Member, Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
 * 2001 – Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University (with Varshavsky)
 * 2001 – Massry Prize from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California (with Varshavsky)
 * 2001 – Wolf Prize in Medicine (with Varshavsky) for "the discovery of the ubiquitin system of intracellular protein degradation and the crucial functions of this system in cellular regulation."
 * 2002 – The EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture in the category of Life Sciences (with Ciechanover and Leo Sachs)
 * 2002 – E.B. Wilson Medal (with Varshavsky)
 * 2003 – Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences, USA
 * 2004 – Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery with Ciechanover and Irwin Rose, of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation
 * 2005 – Elected to the American Philosophical Society

Involvement with biotechnology
Hershko serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Oramed Pharmaceuticals.

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

title: Avram Hershko


text:
Off-premises extension

An off-premises extension (OPX), sometimes also known as off-premises station (OPS), is an extension telephone at a location distant from its servicing exchange.

One type of off-premises extension, connected to a private branch exchange (PBX), is generally used to provide employees with access to a company telephone system while they are out of the office. Off-premises extensions are used in distributed environments, serving locations that are too far from the PBX to be served by on-premises wiring.

Another type of off-premises extension, connected to a public telephone exchange, is generally used to allow a private phone line to ring at a second location. For example, the owner of a business may have an OPX for their home phone at the business location, allowing them to avoid missing calls to the home phone.

Telephone service providers charge a significant monthly rate for an OPX, partly calculated by the distance; in extreme cases, the distance may result in a rate higher than simply having an additional central office line with its own number. Recent innovations such as call forwarding-no answer or simultaneous ringing of multiple lines can replace several of the conveniences of an OPX at much lower cost.

An OPX uses a conditioned wire pair that is usually used only for voice applications, while for data, a pair usually needs to be unconditioned. An alarm circuit is an unconditioned pair.

In Internet telephony, a VoIP VPN OPX may be implemented by connecting an extension over a virtual private networking connection, instead of connecting it directly to the local area network. As a host connected by a VPN appears as a part of the local area network, the off-premises extension appears to the IP-PBX as if it were on-site.

title: Off-premises extension


text:
Bank Mellat

Bank Mellat (, Bank Milât, lit. People's Bank) is a private Iranian bank. Its name means "Bank of the Nation". Bank Mellat was established in 1980, with a paid capital of Rials 33.5 billion as a merger of ten pre-revolution private banks, comprising Tehran, Dariush, Pars, Etebarat Taavoni & Tozie, Iran & Arab, Bein-al-melalie-Iran, Omran, Bimeh Iran, Tejarat Khareji Iran and Farhangian.

The bank's capital amounted to Rls 13,100 billion and it was one of the largest commercial banks in the Islamic Republic of Iran, ranking among the top 1000 banks of the world.

In 2007 the Iranian government started the process of privatising the bank as part of a policy of selling 80% of state-owned stakes in banking, media, transportation and mining companies.

The Bank Mellat London branch was merged with the Bank Tejarat branch to form Persia International Bank PLC.

Sanctions and court actions
The United States Department of the Treasury has mentioned Bank Mellat and Persia International in their watchlist of Iranian banks which may be trading in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1803.

On 29 January 2013, the European General Court in Luxembourg ruled to annul the European Union sanctions in place since 2010 against Bank Mellat on grounds of supporting the Iranian nuclear and missile programs, stating that the basic rights of the bank had been denied and there was no evidence supporting the claim. Bank Mellat intends to sue for damages. On 18 February 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union concurred with the General Court decision that the reasons given for sanctions were too vague.

A related action in the British courts was taken to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in March 2013, causing the court to hold a closed hearing for the first time. In June 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the UK government's sanctions on the bank had been unlawful with one justice stating that targeting Bank Mellat was "irrational and disproportionate". Bank Mellat is claiming damages from the UK government for the loss of business between 2009 and 2013. The damages hearing was scheduled for June 2019, with Bank Mellat seeking damages of $1.7 billion. On the first day of the trial the parties agreed a settlement for a confidential sum. The Times later reported that £1.25 billion plus interest was paid to Bank Mellat, through a third country entity to avoid US sanctions. However the British government stated in parliament "the amount paid in respect of the settlement was €91,352,709.35", plus £1 million for legal costs.

title: Bank Mellat


text:
Bank Saderat Iran

Bank Saderat Iran (BSI) (, Bank Sadârat Iran, lit. "Export Bank of Iran") is an Iranian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Tehran, Iran. It is Iran's largest bank. It was founded in Tehran in 1952 by the prominent Mofarrah and Bolurfrushan (also spelled Bolourforoushan) families, represented in the first board by Mohammad Ali Mofarrah and  Mohammad Bolurfrushan and commenced operation on 13 November 1952 with a board of three directors and 20 employees.

Bank Saderat Iran has around 3,500 offices in 12 countries and territories across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and around 10 million customers. As of 30 June 2013, it had total assets of $59.110 billion. BSI has 28 international branches and services in 12 countries.

History
On 7 June 1979, after the Iranian Revolution, all Iranian private banks were nationalized, quite to the dismay of the founding families, and became state-owned. In 1980, branches and sub-branches of BSI in the Iranian provinces were turned into independent banks, named Bank Saderat Ostan (province). Today, BSI has 29 owned provincial bank subsidiaries and over 200 affiliated companies, supervised by Ghadir Investment Company. Iranian banks are administered on the basis of a law passed by the Islamic Revolution Council on 25 September 1979, and the provisions of its Articles of Association.

Bank Saderat is used by the Government of Iran to transfer money to what the U.S. has stated are designated terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Under the Iranian Transactions Regulations (31 CFR Part 560) in 2008, U.S. banks may process certain funds transfers involving an Iranian bank, such as transfers for authorized or exempt transactions and "U-turn" transactions. U-turn transactions allow U.S. banks to process payments involving Iran that begin and end with a non-Iranian foreign bank. Bank Saderat will not be able to participate in any transfers involving U.S. banks, effective from the date that the amendment to the regulations is filed with the U.S. Federal Register. By prohibiting U-turn and all other transactions with Bank Saderat, the bank is denied all direct and indirect access to the U.S. financial system.

Bank Saderat Iran currently conducts banking in the UAE, handling Iranian trade in and out of Dubai. The bank mainly deals in project financing, letters of credit and bank guarantees (demand guarantees), whereas other activities remains less important.

In February 2013, the European General Court in Luxembourg ruled to annul sanctions by the European Union (EU) against the bank, stating that the EU "is in breach of the obligation to state reasons and the obligation to disclose to the applicant ... the evidence adduced against it". The EU may appeal the decision. As of 2016, the EU asset freeze was still in effect.

In 2019 an EU court rejected BSI's appeal for £78.7m in damages the bank claimed to have suffered after the EU placed it on their sanctions list.

Location of branches

 * United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi - 3 branches and Dubai - 6 branches)
 * Lebanon (Beirut - 4 branches, Sidon and Baalbek)
 * Afghanistan (Kabul - 2 branches)
 * Qatar (Doha - 2 branches)
 * Bahrain (Manama)
 * France (Paris)
 * Germany (Hamburg and Frankfurt)
 * Italy (Venice)
 * Pakistan (Karachi)
 * Oman (Muscat)
 * Turkmenistan (Ashkhabad)
 * United Kingdom (London)
 * Uzbekistan (Tashkent)

title: Bank Saderat Iran


text:
Aaron Ciechanover

Aaron Ciechanover (אהרן צ'חנובר; born October 1, 1947) is an Israeli biologist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for characterizing the method that cells use to degrade and recycle proteins using ubiquitin.

Early life
Ciechanover was born in Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine on 1 October 1947 into a Jewish family. He is the son of Bluma (Lubashevsky), a teacher of English, and Yitzhak Ciechanover, an office worker in a law firm. His mother and father supported the Zionist movement and immigrated to Israel from Poland in the 1920s.

Education
He earned a master's degree in science in 1971 and graduated from Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem in 1974. He received his doctorate in biochemistry in 1981 from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa before conducting postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Harvey Lodish at the Whitehead Institute at MIT from 1981 to 1984.

Recent
Ciechanover is currently a Technion Distinguished Research Professor in the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute at the Technion. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Russian Academy of Sciences and is a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 2008, he was a visiting Distinguished Chair Professor at NCKU, Taiwan. As part of Shenzhen's 13th Five-Year Plan funding research in emerging technologies and opening "Nobel laureate research labs", in 2018 he opened the Ciechanover Institute of Precision and Regenerative Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen campus.

Nobel Prize
Ciechanover is one of Israel's first Nobel Laureates in science, earning his Nobel Prize in 2004 for his work in ubiquitination. He is honored for playing a central role in the history of Israel and in the history of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Publications and lectures

 * Ciehanover, A., Hod, Y. and Hershko, A. (1978). A Heat-stable Polypeptide Component of an ATP-dependent Proteolytic System from Reticulocytes.  Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 81, 1100–1105. (His name was wrongly transliterated from Hebrew in this publication.)
 * Ciechanover, A., Heller, H., Elias, S., Haas, A.L. and Hershko, A. (1980). ATP-dependent Conjugation of Reticulocyte Proteins with the Polypeptide Required for Protein Degradation.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77, 1365–1368.
 * Hershko, A. and Ciechanover, A. (1982). Mechanisms of intracellular protein breakdown. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 51, 335–364.
 * Hershko, A. and Ciechanover, A. (1998). THE UBIQUITIN SYSTEM. Biochem. 1998 67:1, 425–479
 * Ciechanover was an invited guest lecturer at the Yerevan State Medical University in Armenia in 2010.
 * He lectured at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in North Korea in May 2016.

Industry involvement
Ciechanover has served on the scientific advisory boards of the following companies: Rosetta Genomics (Chairman), BioLineRx, Ltd, StemRad, Ltd, Allosterix Ltd, Proteologics, Inc, MultiGene Vascular Systems, Ltd, Protalix BioTherapeutics, BioTheryX, Inc., and Haplogen, GmbH.

Ciechanover is a member of the advisory board of Patient Innovation, a nonprofit, international, multilingual, free venue for patients and caregivers of any disease to share their innovations.

Awards

 * In 2000, Ciechanover received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.
 * In 2003, he was awarded the Israel Prize, for biology.
 * In 2004, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery with Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose, of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway has a critical role in maintaining the homeostasis of cells and is believed to be involved in the development and progression of cancer, muscular and neurological diseases, and immune and inflammatory responses.
 * In 2005, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
 * In 2006, he was awarded the Sir Hans Krebs Medal.
 * In 2008. he was conferred Hon. DSc by NCKU Taiwan
 * In 2009, he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Science by the University of Cambodia.
 * In 2011, he was awarded the Humboldt Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
 * In 2016, he became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

title: Aaron Ciechanover


text:
Talk:Ōdachi

Permission?

 * I did not see any sources or permission to use this text, so I mention here that this article is almost identical to the one in here. Shinnin 20:49, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

 * and is in fact identical to text here. Outerstyx (talk) 17:38, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

WP:MilHist Assessment
While considerably longer than most stubs, the vast majority of the content of this article is in bulletpoints, with practically no further explanation. There is some interesting supplementary information, such as the etymology of the word, the swordsmithing techniques, but none of this is elaborated on. There is literally just one single sentence on this sword being used as a weapon. LordAmeth 16:34, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Too long for practical use?
"Some ōdachi are too long for practical use." I doubt this statement. Used from a horse a long sword can be very useful against targets on horse or afoot. The longest Odachi is more 377cm long. It could have been used in battle. Also the long handle of this odachi seems to be made on purpose to facilitate the use. []
 * You link to that site, and still dispute the fact that some Odachi were too long for practical use? And how would you propose to use any Odachi, let alone a 377cm long one, from horseback? Look at how they used greatswords and Zweihänders in Europe. -KA
 * My Ōdachi is massive and is rather hard to hold let alone wield. I think the statement in question is fairly solid unless there's some fairly convincing commentary to the contrary. Speaking of such, would a photo of my Ōdachi be appropriate for this page or is the page decent enough without it?

 * PinothyJ (talk) 10:28, 12 May 2010 (UTC)…

Mostly held by two people.
This is an absolutely preposterous claim. Site your source or this is going away quickly. In fact, if anyone can site ANY example of a hand weapon being wielded by two people, I will leave this up.

Merge with nodachi?
Despite some would-be expert's attempt to differentiate between Ōdachi and nodachi, the terms are considered essentially synonymous in Japanese. 野太刀 redirects to 大太刀 on the Japanese wikipedia, and, tellingly, there is no link on the page for nodachi to the Japanese wikipedia.

--127.0.0.1 (talk) 17:43, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

 * Agreed. Although the articles say that the swords are different, none of them provide evidence to support that statement.  75.157.78.82 (talk) 17:45, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Kibitsu jinja
This unverified "factoid" was removed from Modern system of ranked Shinto Shrines:
 * Kibitsu jinja holds the longest Japanese Odachi, which has a length of 377 cm (11 feet).

With inline cite support, it could be used in this article. --Ansei (talk) 14:56, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Drawing from the back
I do not doubt at all the impracticality of drawing a blade of any significant length from the back, but did this really matter for this weapon? I would think the weapon would merely be stored there until needed, and would be drawn—presumably clumsily, by another person or after removing the scabbard from the back—well before coming into contact with the enemy (presumably on an open battlefield). It was hardly a weapon that would need to be (or be expected to have to be) drawn quickly. TaintedMustard (talk) 15:39, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

Cultural references
I suggest the article is missing at least two cultural references which would be useful; Sasaki Kojiro’s use of an odachi during his duel with Musashi, and the depiction of its use in the Seven Samurai by Toshiro Mifune’s character, Kikuchiyo. Interestingly, in the film Kikuchiyo used his long sword to defeat a charging horseman (a reversal of the description of the odachi’s use in the article) and it also depicts the blade breaking after some use (which tally’s with the manufacturing difficulties the article describes). Any thoughts? Swanny18 (talk) 18:30, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Another one: M'chonne on the Walking Dead carries one, NOT a katana which is the common mis-assumption — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.248.214.103 (talk) 20:58, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

Infantry, not cavalry weapon
I removed an uncited reference to the Odachi supposedly being used from horseback, and changed "cavalry sword" (also uncited) to "infantry sword". The notion that it was meant for use from horseback is nothing short of preposterous, as it is very much a two-handed weapon - not a one handed weapon. Simply holding it out and swiping enemy infantry with it as you ride along is not a viable fighting method, and there is indeed no record whatsoever of it being used that way. I was able to find exactly one depiction of Odachi wielded from horseback, and it was held in both hands and poised to strike down vertically - against another cavalryman who was blocking with a yari. The trouble is that this seems to be a hero depiction, in which case exaggerations are common. For the most part it is shown in the hands of infantry. And indeed, we know it was used as an infantry sword, since we know it was common to wrap wire around the first portion of the blade as to make a ricasso, a means to extend the handle (Karl Friday, "Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan"). No one else in the world thought it was a good idea to wield greatswords from horseback, and there is nothing to suggest the Japanese did, either. Tsuka (talk) 06:54, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Ōdachi. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120204081704/http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/nihonto.htm to http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/nihonto.htm

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

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 09:06, 13 January 2018 (UTC)

A Source Added in May 2022
The source is clearly wrong as it misunderstands the type of tachi. Known as tachi and written as 太刀 in kanji, curved swords appeared in the Heian period. On the other hand, the two swords excavated from the two ancient tombs of the fifth century described in the source refer to tachi (大刀), which has the same pronunciation but different kanji. It is a kind of chokutō, a straight sword. The source confuses tachi (太刀) with tachi (大刀) and misinterprets long 大刀 as odachi.--SLIMHANNYA (talk) 03:47, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

 * I have reworked the lede and moved etymological content into its own section. I didn't go into the 太刀 vs. 大刀 spelling distinction, since that doesn't actually seem germane to the article.
 * As you note, the source added by in  was incorrect -- not only was that web page only a blog post written by who-knows-whom, the blog content contained glaring mistakes (such as claiming that the -chi portion in ōdachi was spelled as 刀, indicating an ignorance of written Japanese; or the conflation of the 5th-century tsurugi, continental-style straight and double-edged swords, with the later Japan-specific curved swords), and that content had been copy-pasted into the Ōdachi section as a clear copyvio.
 * I have simply the offending content.
 * Cheers, ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │Tala við mig 18:01, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Blade lengths
... the nodachi had a blade length of 3 shaku (traditional Japanese feet) and 9 sun (traditional Japanese inches; totaling approx. 148 centimetres (58 in)) and ōdachi had a blade length of 3 shaku 3 sun (approx. 125 centimetres (49 in)) ...

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_units_of_measurement#Length, this is significantly wrong.

3 shaku + 9 sun=118.17 cm=46.527 in

3 shaku + 3 sun= 99.99 cm=39.369 in

Did the traditional units change that much over time? Is there something else going on here? I want to check before correcting the math. 2600:1700:1936:4810:2EE:BB5A:C97B:24B9 (talk) 22:35, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

 * My copy of the Kōjien dictionary has the following entry for 尺 (shaku, the traditional Japanese "foot"):

 ①尺貫法における長さの単位. 古来用いられ、大尺（高麗尺）・小尺があり、近世には曲尺・鯨尺・呉服尺・享保尺などがあったが、明治以後は曲尺が採用され、1メートルの33分の10と定義された. 寸の10倍、丈の10分の1.

(1) Unit of length in the shaku-kan system ["foot-stone system", where one "stone" in Japan was at one time about 8 1/4 lbs instead of the 14 lbs of the English "stone"]. Used since antiquity, there was the "big foot" ("Goguryeo foot") and the "small foot", and in the Edo period there was also the "carpenter's square foot", the "whale foot", the "textile foot", and the "Kyōhō foot", among others; from the Meiji period, the "carpenter's square foot" was adopted, and defined as 10/33rds of a meter. Also equal to 10 sun (traditional inch), and 1/10th of a jō (traditional rod).

 * So yes, the specific length of a shaku depended very much on the point in time, and possibly also the specific social context. This is not unlike other traditional systems of measurement; the English ton has had different weights over time as well.  ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │Tala við mig 00:20, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ōdachi


text:
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist

Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist is a comic Old West adventure computer game created by Al Lowe (of Leisure Suit Larry fame) and Josh Mandel (of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon fame) and published by Sierra On-Line in 1993. It was dubbed "the Blazing Saddles of computer games" by Computer Gaming World.

Gameplay
The game uses Sierra's SCI1.1 engine and features 256-color hand-drawn art, scaling sprites, and a point-and-click interface. Freddy Pharkas ran under both DOS and Windows 3.1. It was released in both floppy disk and CD-ROM versions, the latter having full voiceover speech for all characters. The game's manual is entitled The Modern Day Book of Health and Hygiene, a parody of 19th century medical texts. It contains information necessary for solving prescription puzzles.

As a form of copy protection, the player must concoct prescriptions for Freddy's patients using recipes found in the user's manual. An incorrect prescription will result in the customer returning angrily, but does not end the game.

Plot
In the game, the player takes the role of Freddy Pharkas, an 1880s-era pharmacist in the town of Coarsegold, California which was the location of Sierra's headquarters in 1993. Freddy was once a gunslinger, but sought a new career after his last gunfight, in which "Kenny the Kid" (a reference to the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid) shot off one of his ears. Throughout the town, businesses are either being bought or proprietors are being scared out of town. Someone is obviously trying to take over the entire area, but who? And why? The slimy sheriff, Checkum P. Shift doesn't seem eager to help, so it's up to Freddy to find out the details. The cast includes the town's eccentric old man and story narrator Whittlin' Willy, Srini (Freddy's "Injun" sidekick – actually East Indian), Doc "Dizzy" Gillespie the drunken town doctor, the cafe owner Helen Back, otherwise known as Mom and her stereotypical Chinese chef Hopalong Singh (a reference to Hop Sing, the cook on Bonanza), the crooked banker Phineas (P.H.) Balance, town schoolmarm (and Freddy's love interest) Penelope Primm, and Madame Ovaree, who runs the local brothel. The villain "Kenny the Kid" is a cartoonish version of Sierra's then-president Ken Williams. Madame Ovaree's name is an obvious parody of Madame Bovary and (as evidenced by her occupation) ovaries. Also, there are some anachronisms in the game, such as Srini mentioning him being on Pakistani time, but Pakistan did not exist at the time the game is set, as the region where the country is located was still a part of India at that time, and Pakistan did not become a country until 1947, 67 years after the game's setting.

Freddy must take part in numerous tasks such as mixing the right amount of chemicals to create the requested prescription remedy and lab equipment. He also must deal with various dilemmas taking part in town such as a gas leak aka all the town's horses with explosive flatulence, a snail stampede, a diarrhea epidemic and an abandoned building fire that might spread through the entire town. He must use found objects and pharmaceutical skills to solve these problems.

Eventually, he regains his gunslinger status and apprehends a poker cheater and neutralizes a group of rowdy cowhands with a canister of laughing gas. Soon, he is confronted by Kenny the Kid and in the ensuring duel, has his remaining ear shot off. Assuming that Freddy would soon die of blood loss, Kenny reveals his affiliation with Penelope Primm, the one who was attempting to buy out Coarsegold for the oil rights. Freddy staunches the bleeding and recovers enough strength to enter the schoolhouse, only to find Penelope packing up. Penelope shows her true colors by aiming a Derringer at Freddy and ordering him to drop his gun holsters. Freddy complies, only to grab a slate to block the bullet that Penelope fires. Penelope then responds by throwing her gun at Freddy, knocking him out, and tying him in the basement and setting it on fire. Freddy escapes the basement and confronts Penelope in a sword fight. Freddy prevails but Kenny reappears and realizes Freddy's true identity, only to be killed when Freddy tosses his sharpened silver ear at his throat. Freddy then leaps out of the schoolhouse before it, along with Penelope, is consumed by an explosion from the fire set in the basement. In the game's dénouement, both Whittlin' Willy and the closing song pointedly mention that Penelope's body was never found.

On at least one box containing the CD-ROM version of the game, it states "Meet the Great-Great Grandpappy of Leisure Suit Larry!", referring to Zircon Jim Laffer who makes a (belated) appearance in the game. However, the game's original intent may have instead been to portray Zircon Jim as Leisure Suit Larry's great-great-great uncle.

Voice cast

 * Cam Clarke as Freddy Pharkas
 * Lewis Arquette as Whittlin' Willie / P. H. Balance
 * Bill Bryant as Doc Gillespie
 * Michael Gough as Kenny the Kid / Salvatore O'Hanrahan
 * Nicholas Guest as Srini / Hop Singh
 * Jocko Marcellino as Smithie
 * Richard Paul as Chester Field / Sheriff Shift
 * Jan Rabson as Sam Andreas / Wheaton Hall / Zircon Jim Laffer
 * Neil Ross as The Narrator
 * Susan Silo as Helen Back / Madame Ovaree
 * Kath Soucie as Penelope Primm

Development history
Al Lowe has said that he considers Freddy Pharkas one of his funniest games. He gives a good deal of credit to Josh Mandel, who co-wrote the game, as well as some of the songs including the opening and closing ballads. (Mandel was a collaborator on several Sierra games, including the Space Quest series and The Dagger of Amon Ra.)

Mandel had explained in a commentary the reason why there were so many more jokes in the floppy disk version as compared to the CD-ROM version of the game, "I had co-designed, directed, produced, and written the floppy version; there were no plans at all, at the time, to produce a CD version. When sales of the floppy version justified a CD version, I was no longer available to produce and direct it, having by then started on Space Quest 6. Al Lowe was then tapped to do the casting and recording of the CD version, but the game already had so much text in it that, when it came time to record the inventory text, Al just stopped—he was, he said, tired of sitting in the sound studio. As I had written the vast majority of the game's text and dialogue, I pointed out to him that, in the process of cutting roughly 15% of the game's text from the recording, he'd not only left out many jokes, but many clues and hints as well".

Lowe admitted that his goal was to make a comic western game in the vein of Blazing Saddles. Freddy Pharkas definitely contains its share of scatological humor: it may very well hold the distinction of the first computer game in which the player must capture a horse's flatulence in a paper bag.

Canadian video game journalist and television presenter Geoff Keighley helped beta test the game before its release.

Reception
Charles Ardai praised the game in Computer Gaming World in 1993, stating that "Freddy Pharkas is the Blazing Saddles of computer games", with better humor and puzzles than the Leisure Suit Larry series and which "can make a jaded player laugh out loud frequently". He wrote that although "satirizing the Wild West is by no means a new idea", the developers "manage to find new jokes to crack and new ways to crack old ones ... never runs out of material", including satires of other computer games, both Sierra's and others'. Game Informer in September 2006 called it one of the best adventure games of all time, and gave it a Retro Review score of 9.0.

According to Al Lowe, Freddy Pharkas "sold well into six figures." However, he noted that the game and Torin's Passage "had a reputation as failures at Sierra". He explained that the game sold over 150,000 after roughly a year, which inspired the team to re-release it on CD-ROM. This new edition "sold well for two years", and drove the game's lifetime sales to 500,000 copies. Lowe remarked, "It turned out to be quite a successful game and probably should've had a sequel, but because it took three years to get those big numbers, Josh had moved on by then and other things had happened, so it fell through the cracks."

In 2011, Adventure Gamers named Freddy Pharkas the 78th-best adventure game ever released.

title: Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist


text:
Imperial Bank of Persia

The Imperial Bank of Persia was a British bank that operated as the central bank and bank of issue in Iran (formerly known as Persia until 1935) between 1889 and 1929. It was established in 1885 with a concession from the Persian government to Baron Julius De Reuter (born Israel Beer Josaphat) a German–Jewish banker and businessman who later became a Christian and a British subject.

The bank was the first modern bank in Iran and introduced European banking ideas to a country in which they were previously unknown. The legal centre of the bank was in London and whilst it was subject to British law, its activities were based in Tehran. It also had operations in other Middle Eastern countries. It was later named British Bank of the Middle East (BBME) and is now called HSBC Bank Middle East Limited. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, all the Iranian activities of this bank were transferred to Bank Tejarat.

Background and history
Nineteenth-century Iran has been described as "one of the most backward countries in the world." As usury was forbidden under Islam, the traditional money lenders in Iran were the Jewish sarrafs, who continued to dominate the field after the Imperial Bank's arrival due to greater loan flexibility and cultural ties. At the time the only form of money in circulation was gold and silver coins.

Reuter was granted the Reuter concession in 1872 which granted him exclusive rights over virtually all the resources in the land of Persia. While the real reason Reuter wanted the concession was in order to develop the railroad in Persia, it also gave him monopoly over banking for sixty years. The concession was hidden from the British government till the last minute, and alarmed both the British and Russian governments upon its revealing. The concession was resented by the local population, which protested that the Shah had granted all the resources of the land to a foreigner and by Russians who saw the British competing with their interest in Persia. Due to mounting pressure, the Shah subsequently cancelled the concession in 1873, citing the fact that Reuter failed to initiate the railway project within 15 months.

Reuter was not to go down without a fight. However it was not until 1889 that he was able to get exclusive banking and mining rights for sixty years. Although this new concession was not as immense as the first one, it still granted him valuable control over Persian banking and mining with the energetic support of British minister, Henry Drummond Wolff.

The Imperial Bank of Persia was finally established in 1889 on the basis of the 1872 concession to Baron Julius De Reuter from the Persian government (Reuter concession) which made it the state bank, with the exclusive right to issue notes and tax free status for sixty years. The Imperial Bank was publicly floated in London.

There was a similar Russian bank known as the Loan and Discount Bank of Persia (Bānk-e Esteqrāżī-e Rūs) which was founded in 1890. The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 split Iran into a Russian and British sphere of influence. It assigned to the Russian Loan and Discount Bank the revenues from the amortization of Persian debts in northern Iran, and the same for the British Imperial Bank in southern Iran.

Between 1889 and 1928, the bank operated as the central bank and bank of issue of Iran, and held a virtual monopoly on banking in the country. Sir William Keswick was the bank's chairman. The bank was principally funded by Glyn, Mills & Co., J. Henry Schröder & Co. and David Sassoon & Co. Despite holding a monopoly, the bank's management was farcical, according to Geoffrey Jones, and the bank struggled to make a profit. However, Jones also notes that British banks in this period were allowed to disguise their profits by making transfers to or from "inner" or "secret" reserves before reaching their published profits figure. The Imperial bank's real profits were on average twice as high as the published profits between 1890 and 1952. The bank contributed to the Iranian economy by mobilizing domestic savings, but many were doubtful of the real use of these savings as the Bank often "discriminated against Persians in giving credit". In 1927, 80% of the loans granted in Bushehr, Shiraz and Esfahan were to finance Iranian export of opium, whereas most of the loans in the northern cities related to the trade with Russia. The imperial bank did not employ locals as managers; in contrast, the Imperial Ottoman Bank, which was under mixed British, French and Turkish ownership employed middle eastern nationals in managerial positions. The bank's first chief executive, Joseph Rabino, born in London to an Italian Jewish family, was always regarded with great suspicion by his board. He served eighteen years in Persia and was instrumental in building up the bank's reputation. At the time, Persians were wary of giving up silver and gold coins for paper notes. He ordered all branches to keep enough silver coins to be able to redeem paper notes for silver on demand. However bank runs did occur in the early years of the bank, and these runs were sometimes instigated by the Russians who were the British rival in Persia. The bank issued only small notes in the early years to be able to redeem the notes for silver even in the remote areas. With the protection of Persian soldiers, the bank supplied even remote branches with enough silver coins.

The bank's high level contact in Tehran was general Albert Houtum-Schindler who was, like Reuter, a British subject of German origin. Schindler lived in Persia for many years and was the most informed member of the European community in Persia at the time. Henry Drummond Wolff liked him so much that he tried unsuccessfully to persuade the foreign office to engage him as a member of Legation staff. Reuter employed him instead. Schindler and Rabino were instrumental in increasing the bank's reputation.

The bank was instrumental in providing British loans to the Shah between 1892 and 1911. These loans were secured using Caspian fisheries and the custom dues of the Persian Gulf ports and raised the alarm of Persian nationalists. By 1928 the bank had 24 branches in all major Iranian cities.

Between 1928 and 1952, the Imperial Bank was subject to criticism and attack from the nationalistic Iranian governments. Bank Melli, an Iranian-controlled central bank, was established in 1928. In 1933, Imperial Bank was forced to relinquish its note-issuing powers. In the 1930s, exchange controls and barter agreements destroyed the Imperial Bank's business in financing foreign trade. Imperial Bank began to rapidly lose market share to Bank Melli, and by 1939 the Imperial Bank held just 9 percent of Iranian bank deposits. The bank sold off half of its branches in the 1930s.

In the late 1940s, the bank opened branches in the Persian Gulf States, and was the first bank in Kuwait, Dubai and Oman. In 1952 the bank abandoned the Iranian market and renamed itself the British Bank of the Middle East. In 1959 the British Bank of the Middle East was acquired by Hongkong Bank in a friendly takeover, and now forms part of its HSBC Bank Middle East subsidiary.

Assessment
According to Jones, "the Bank was widely seen as an agent of British imperialism, and with reason". Jones argues that during the two World Wars and in the early 1920s, the bank placed British diplomatic interests before those of Iran's elites.

title: Imperial Bank of Persia


text:
Hemispheres (TV program)

Hemispheres is a news and current affairs program, co-produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Its main focus was foreign events and international issues, using ABC and CBC correspondents from around the world. The program debuted in 2005.

It aired on the Australia Network and CBC Newsworld channels, as well as on ABC2 in Australia, but not on the main free-to-air ABC and CBC channels.

It was presented by CBC News anchor Ian Hanomansing from Vancouver, and ABC News presenter Felicity Davey in Sydney.

title: Hemispheres (TV program)


text:
Dutch Gold

Dutch Gold is a low-cost, imported, pilsner lager beer sold only in Ireland. It was launched there in 1995.

The beer
The beer is distributed in Ireland by Comans Beverages, an importer and distributor of beers wines and spirits located in Tallaght, County Dublin. The beer originally contained 4% alcohol by volume. This was changed in 2022 to 3.5% alcohol by volume in order to align prices with Irelands newly introduced minimum alcohol unit pricing laws. It is described by the distributor as having "a crisp, clean, fresh flavour".

Irish retailing
In the Irish canned beer market, Dutch Gold has a market share of between 11% and 14%, making it the nation's third most popular beer after Budweiser and Heineken as of 2007. Dutch Gold is not advertised in the media, rather favouring in-store advertising. Competitive pricing and a variety of multi-pack offers are the primary promotional methods.

Social and cultural implications
In 2006, the Gardaí launched a campaign against anti-social behaviour in Lucan under the name 'Operation Dutch Gold'. The distributors of the product, Comans Wholesale of Tallaght, complained that the naming of the project was unfair to them.

In 2005, University College Dublin had a Dutch Gold Society on campus, in a tribute to the beer.

title: Dutch Gold


text:
Dwale

Dwale may refer to:
 * Dwale, Kentucky, a census-designated place
 * Dwale (anaesthetic), an anaesthetic potion used in medieval medicine
 * Atropa belladonna, a poisonous plant

title: Dwale


text:
User:Jpk

I am a Finnish Wikipedia user, but occasionally I contribute to the English Wikipedia.

Aviation
Airports
 * Image:Helsinki-Vantaan kiitotie 33.jpg
 * Image:Hernesaaren_helikopterikenttä_ilmasta.jpg
 * Image:Ivalon lentoasema kesällä.jpg
 * Image:Oulun lentoaseman torni.jpg
 * Image:Rovaniemen lentoasemarakennus.jpg

Aircraft
 * Image:Mi-8 kuljetushelikopteri.jpg
 * Image:Saab 91 Safir Pirkkalassa.jpg
 * Image:Shorts SC.7 Skyvan.jpg
 * Image:Rajavartiolaitoksen_Dornier_Malmilla.jpg
 * Image:Valmet L-70 Miltrainer.jpg

Gadgets

 * Image:Canon ixus 700.jpg
 * Image:Macintosh II motherboard.jpg
 * Image:Nokia 9210.jpg
 * Image:Nokia N-Gage.png

Buildings and statues

 * Image:Espoon tuomiokirkko.jpg
 * Image:Espoon Tapiola kesällä.jpg
 * Image:Fortumin pääkonttori.jpg
 * Image:Helsinki University of Technology auditorium.jpg
 * Image:Hietaniemen hautausmaa ilmasta.jpg
 * Image:Imatrankoski kuohuu.jpg
 * Image:Linnanmäki roller coaster.jpg
 * Image:Nokian kirkko.jpg
 * Image:Otaniemi from air.jpg
 * Image:Tampereen Stockmann Hämeenkadulta.jpg
 * Image:Villa Mairea.jpg

Sceneries

 * Image:Yllästunturi_Ylläsjärven_puolelta.jpg (Featured picture candidate 04/2007)

de:Benutzer:J-pk fi:Käyttäjä:Jpk sv:Användare:Jpk

title: User:Jpk


text:
Megan Hollingshead

Megan Hollingshead, also known as Karen Thompson or Kelli Kassidi is an American voice actress, best known for her roles as Nurse Joy in Pokémon, Mai Valentine in Yu-Gi-Oh!, Shizune in Naruto, Caster in Fate/stay night, Rangiku Matsumoto in Bleach, and Re-l Mayer in Ergo Proxy.

Career
Best known for her anime dubbing work, Megan's most famous roles include Nurse Joy, Cassidy in the first 6 seasons of the Pokémon anime series and Mai Valentine in the first 3 seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. She also lent her voice to the Enix role-playing game series Valkyrie Profile as Lenneth. During the start of Pokémon's 7th season, she left New York City to relocate to her new residence in Los Angeles, and continue her voice acting career, voicing characters such as Shizune in Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, Rangiku Matsumoto and Nemu Kurotsuchi in Bleach, Hilda in Eureka Seven, Villetta Nu in the Code Geass series, and Re-l Mayer in Ergo Proxy. Megan's theatre résumé is as extensive, if less so, with roles in performances of The Duchess of Malfi, Baptizing Adam, Spacegrrrls, and Vinegar Tom, to name but a few. Megan studied acting at the William Esper Studio, and is a founding member of the Adirondack Theatre Festival. She serves as a yoga instructor in her spare time. Hollingshead currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee with her family.

title: Megan Hollingshead


text:
Ponferrada

Ponferrada is a city of Spain, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Ponferrada, the second most populated municipality of the Province of León, is also the capital city of El Bierzo, the only comarca recognized as an administrative entity by law in the region.

Surrounded by mountains, the city straddles the course of the Sil River. It is the last major town on the French route of the Camino de Santiago before it reaches Santiago de Compostela. In 2021, it had a population of 63,747.

Etymology
Ponferrada comes from the Latin Pons Ferrata, Iron Bridge.

History
In pre-Roman times the region was populated by the Astures, a Hispano-Celtic Gallaecian people. They were conquered by Emperor Augustus in the Astur-Cantabrian Wars (29–19 BC) and the area quickly became the largest mining center of the Empire during the Roman period, where gold and other metals and minerals were extracted. Numerous Roman mining sites are still visible in the area, one of the most spectacular being Las Médulas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Romans also imported grapevines, and wine production thrived in the region until the propagation of Phylloxera at the end of the 19th century, which destroyed the majority of the vineyards.

The modern name of the city derives from the iron reinforcements added to the ancient bridge over the river Sil (Latin pons for "bridge" and ferrata for "iron"), commissioned in 1082 by Bishop Osmundo of Astorga to facilitate the crossing of the Sil River to pilgrims in their way to Santiago de Compostela.

The railroad arrived in Ponferrada in 1881, and during World War I local tungsten deposits were exploited to supply the arms industry. In 1918, the Ponferrada Mining, Iron and Steel Company (Minero Siderúrgica de Ponferrada (MSP)) was founded to exploit coal deposits in the region, and it grew to become Spain's largest coal mining corporation. The Spanish National Energy Corporation (Endesa) was founded in 1944, and in 1949, it opened Spain's first coal-fueled power plant in Ponferrada, Compostilla I. In 1960, the Bárcena Dam (Pantano de Bárcena) opened and by the second half of the 20th century the economy of the city was mainly based on mining and electricity generation, both hydroelectric and coal-fueled.

Starting in the late 1980s, most mines were closed, and after the collapse of the mining industry Ponferrada was in a crisis for a while. However, in the late 1990s, the city underwent a major transformation with the establishment of several industrial and service firms, the reintroduction of commercial wine production, the opening of a local branch of the University of León offering several undergraduate degrees, and in general, an improvement of the town's infrastructure. The economy is now based mainly on tourism, agriculture (fruit and wine), wind power generation and slate mining, with a constant small population increase.

Important factors contributing to the recent boom of the tourism industry are the increasing popularity of the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago; a pilgrimage route that goes from France to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia), the designation in 1997 of Las Médulas as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the development of rural tourism lodging and wineries in the area. The Energy City Foundation Fundación Ciudad de la Energía was established in Ponferrada in 2006 and is currently overseeing the construction of the National Energy Museum (Museo Nacional de la Energía) in the city, as well as sponsoring several other initiatives that should further boost tourism and the economy of the city and its region.

Climate
The climate in Ponferrada is warm-summer Mediterranean (Csb) under the Köppen classification and subtropical with dry summer (Mediterranean) with warm summer and cool winter (Csbk) under the Trewartha classification. The winters are cool and wet, the summers are warm and dry. The average annual temperature in Ponferrada is 19 °C during the day and 7 °C at night. During the coldest month, January, the average temperature is 9 °C during the day and 1 °C at night. In the warmest month, July, the average temperature is 29 °C during the day and 14 °C at night.

During the winter, temperatures generally vary between 5 and 15 C during the day and between -2 and 5 C at night. Nights below freezing are very common during this period. Snowfall occurs almost every year with an average of 4-5 snow days every winter, although heavy snowfalls are uncommon in the city.

During the summer, temperatures generally vary between 25 and 32 C during the day and between 12 and 17 C at night. It is not uncommon that the temperature exceeds 35 °C during heatwaves. The sky is generally clear during this period with occasional storms.

Spring and autumn are mild to warm and wet. Temperatures generally vary between 14 and 25 C during the day and between 4 and 10 C at night.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Ponferrada was 41.5 °C on July 17, 2022, and the lowest -10.4 °C on January 4, 1971.

Main sights
Ponferrada lies in the Way of St. James, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and every year many pilgrims pass through the city in their way to Santiago de Compostela. Las Médulas, ancient Roman gold mines also included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site List, are only a few kilometres away from the city. Ponferrada is also noted for its Castillo de los Templarios, a Templar castle which covers approximately 16,000 m2. In 1178, Ferdinand II of León donated the city to the Templar order for protecting the pilgrims on the Way of St. James who passed through El Bierzo in their road to Santiago de Compostela.

The castle hosted the Knights Templar's Grand Master of Castille. However, the Templars were only able to enjoy the use of their fortress for about twenty years before the order was disbanded and its properties confiscated in 1311. Several noble houses fought over the assets until Alfonso XI allotted them to the Count of Lemos in 1340. Finally, the Catholic Monarchs incorporated Ponferrada and its castle into the Crown in 1486. As with many other historical sites in Europe, many of the blocks that at one point formed the walls of the castle were removed and used in local construction projects.

The Basilica de la Encina is a church built in the Renaissance style in 1573. Its baroque tower dates from 1614.

The El Bierzo Museum (Museo de El Bierzo) offers a tour of the history of the region and hosts several important archeological pieces, while the Museum of Radio (Museo de la Radio) offers an interesting tour of the history of the radio in Spain. The National Energy Museum (Museo Nacional de la Energía) is sponsored by the Energy City Foundation (Fundación Ciudad de la Energía). It includes the restored building and equipment of Compostilla I, Spain's first coal-fueled power plant opened in 1949 in Ponferrada. The church of Santiago de Peñalba (an example of Mozarabic art), the Hermitage of Santo Tomás de las Ollas (10th century) and the Romanesque Church of Santa María de Vizbayo are also nearby.

The highest view from the city, is the Torre de la Rosaleda, in the Roseleda district, the tallest building in Ponferrada.

Outdoor activities
The city and its surroundings offer many opportunities for outdoor activities. There are many easily accessible hiking and cycling routes nearby, both on and off-road, including the 330 kilometer long La Mirada Circular which circles the whole El Bierzo valley. Cycling is also very popular, as the valley provides opportunities to exercise in both flat and inclined terrain, on and off-road.

El Morredero peak (2,135 m), 20 km from Ponferrada in the Aquilianos mountains, hosts a small ski resort.

It is possible to visit many wineries in the area to try the local wines and food, or simply visit the vineyards.

Events
Ponferrada hosts its annual festival (Fiestas de La Encina) during the first week of September with many concerts and activities for adults and especially children, and in July, it organises a Templar Night in its Templar Castle (participants dress up and recreate town life during the 14th century).

Education
Ponferrada has several primary and secondary education centers, as well as a public language school (Escuela Oficial de Idiomas) which offers English, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and Galician language courses. The city also hosts a University of León campus, which offers several undergraduate degrees, and a UNED branch, which provides distance undergraduate education.

Culture
Theatre productions perform regularly at the local Teatro Bergidum, and there is a local multiplex cinema with seven screens. The city hosts a regional museum (El Bierzo Museum), a radio museum (Museum of Radio) and the National Energy Museum, in addition to music and cinema festivals each year.

Sports
The local football team, SD Ponferradina currently plays in the Spanish 2nd Division. The team had played for most of its history in the 2nd Division B of the Spanish Football League, however in the 2006–07 season the team was promoted for the first time to the 2nd Division, quite an achievement for a medium-sized city.

There are many intramural and regional leagues in football and other sports, including basketball, futsal, and athletics. The city's athletics stadium is named after former 800m world champion Colomán Trabado.

Ponferrada hosted the 2014 UCI Road World Championships from 21 to 28 September 2014. The city was appointed to organize it, on 21 September 2011.

Transportation
Ponferrada is easily accessible by highway (Autovía A-6) and intercity public transportation is readily available, as several daily ALSA bus services. León Airport is the closest, while airports in Santiago, A Coruña, Asturias, Valladolid and Madrid Barajas provide alternative options for national and international air travel.

Rail
Ponferrada railway station provides rail services to the city, that are offered by RENFE. Passenger trains link the city with major population centers in Spain, including Madrid or Barcelona.

Buses
Ponferrada also has an urban bus network called SMT (Servicio Municipal de Transporte). It is made up of eight lines on the weekdays and six lines on the festive days that connect all the neighbourhoods with the city centre or Bierzo's Hospital. The bus fleet is composed of Mercedes-Benz Citaro and Isuzu buses and Mercedes-Benz minibuses.

Notable people

 * José María Calleja (1955–2020), journalist
 * Valentín García Yebra (1917–2010), translator and member of the Royal Spanish Academy
 * Lydia Valentín (born 1985), Olympic champion weightlifter

title: Ponferrada


text:
Humbert Wolfe

Humbert Wolfe CB CBE (5 January 1885 – 5 January 1940) was an Italian-born British poet, man of letters and civil servant.

Biography
Humbert Wolfe was born in Milan, Italy, and came from a Jewish family background, his father, Martin Wolff, being of German descent and his mother, Consuela, née Terraccini, Italian. He was brought up in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire and was a pupil at Bradford Grammar School. Wolfe attended Wadham College at the University of Oxford.

He was one of the most popular British authors of the 1920s. He was also a translator of Heinrich Heine, Edmond Fleg (1874–1963) and Eugene Heltai (Heltai Jenő). A Christian convert, he remained very aware of his Jewish heritage.

His career was in the Civil Service, beginning in the Board of Trade and then in the Ministry of Labour. By 1940 he had a position of high responsibility. His work was recognised with a CBE and then a CB.

Wolfe said in an interview with Twentieth Century Authors that he was "of no political creed, except that his general view is that money and its possessors should be abolished."

Wolfe's verses have been set to music by a number of composers, including Gustav Holst in his 12 Humbert Wolfe Songs, Op. 48 (1929).

He had a long-term affair with the novelist Pamela Frankau, while remaining married.

He died on his 55th birthday.

Though his works are little read today, the following epigram from The Uncelestial City continues to be widely known and quoted:

 * You cannot hope
 * to bribe or twist,
 * thank God! the
 * British journalist.
 * But, seeing what
 * the man will do
 * unbribed, there's
 * no occasion to.
 * no occasion to.

In 2014–2015, five busts of the poet were created and sited by sculptor Anthony Padgett to mark the 75th anniversary of Wolfe's death. The sculptures have been sited where Wolfe died in London – 75 Eccleston Square, where he studied – Wadham College Oxford, where there is a collection of his manuscripts – New York Public Library and where he grew up – Bradford Library and Bradford Grammar School.

Works

 * London Sonnets (1920)
 * Shylock Reasons with Mr. Chesterton and other poems (1920)
 * Please note that a wikilink to the author's article on [Labour Supply and Regulation] in [EB1922] is not available
 * Circular Saws (1923)
 * Labour Supply and Regulation (1923)
 * The Lilac (1924)
 * Lampoons (1925)
 * The Unknown Goddess (1925) poems
 * Humoresque (1926)
 * News of the Devil (1926) poems
 * Requiem (1927) poems
 * Cursory Rhymes (1927) poems
 * Others Abide (1927) translator, Ancient Greek poems
 * Kensington Gardens (1924)
 * Dialogues and Monologues (1928) criticism
 * This Blind Rose (1928) poems
 * Troy (1928) Faber & Gwyer, Ariel poems
 * The Moon and Mrs. Misses Smith (1928)
 * The Craft of Verse (1928) essay
 * The Silver Cat and other poems (1928)
 * Notes on English Verse Satire (1929)
 * A Winter Miscellany (1930) editor, prose anthology, plus some original poems
 * Homage to Meleager (1930 Limited Edition)
 * Tennyson (1930) criticism of Maud
 * The Uncelestial City (1930) poems
 * Early Poems (1930)
 * George Moore (1931) biography
 * Snow (1931) poems
 * Signpost to Poetry (1931)
 * Reverie of Policeman: A ballet in three acts (1933)
 * Now a Stranger (1933) autobiography
 * Romantic and Unromantic Poetry (1933)
 * Truffle Eater. Pretty Stories and funny pictures An anti-Nazi parody of the famous Struwwelpeter, published under the alias "Oistros", with pictures by Archibald Louis Charles Savory (1933)
 * Portraits by Inference (1934) biographical sketches
 * Sonnets pour Helene (by Ronsard) (1934) translator
 * X at Oberammergau : A poem (1935) drama
 * The Fourth of August (1935) poems
 * Selected Lyrics of Heinrich Heine (1935) translator
 * P. L. M.: Peoples Landfalls Mountains (1936)
 * The Pilgrim's Way (1936)
 * Personalities; a selection from the writings of A. A. Baumann (1936) editor, biographical sketches by Arthur A. Baumann
 * The Silent Knight: A Romantic Comedy in Three Acts (by Eugene Heltai)(1937)
 * Others Abide: Translated Greek Epigrams (1937)
 * The Upward Anguish (1938) autobiography
 * Out of Great Tribulation (1939) poems
 * Kensington Gardens in War-Time (1940) poems
 * Cyrano de Bergerac (1941) by Edmond Rostand translator

Other sources

 * Bagguley, Philip (1997). Harlequin in Whitehall: a Life of Humbert Wolfe, Poet and Civil Servant 1885-1940. London: Nyala Publications, ISBN 9780952937609
 * Helen Ferris, Favorite Poems Old and New (1957).

title: Humbert Wolfe


text:
Type 56 assault rifle

The Type 56 (literally; "Assault Rifle, Model of 1956") is a Chinese 7.62×39mm automatic rifle, a licensed derivative of the Soviet-designed AK-47 (specifically Type 3 variant).

The Type 56 rifle was adopted by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) designated as the "Type 1956 Submachine Gun", because the Type 56 took the role of SMG rather than infantry service rifle in the PLA in the rifle's early service years. Production started in 1956 at State Factory 66 but was eventually handed over to Norinco and PolyTech, who continue to manufacture the rifle primarily for export.

Service history
Nikita Khrushchev coming to power marked a shift in the style of Soviet aid to China. Whereas the Stalin era typically saw only old or obsolete arms provided as aid, under Khrushchev active Soviet equipment and production technology was given instead. In 1955, the Soviet Union provided China with information and production equipment for the AK and SKS.

During the Cold War period, the Type 56 was exported to many countries and guerrilla forces throughout the world. Many of these rifles found their way to battlefields in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East and were used alongside other Kalashnikov pattern weapons from both the Soviet Union as well as the Warsaw Pact nations of Eastern Europe.

Chinese support for the North Vietnam before the mid-1960s meant that the Type 56 was frequently encountered by American soldiers in the hands of either Viet Cong guerrillas or PAVN soldiers during the Vietnam War. The Type 56 was discovered far more often than the original Russian-made AK-47s or AKMs.

When relations between China and North Vietnam crumbled in the 1970s and the Sino-Vietnamese War began, the Vietnamese government still possessed vast quantities of Type 56 rifles in its inventory. The People's Liberation Army still used the Type 56 as its standard weapon during this time as well. Thus, Chinese and Vietnamese forces fought each other using the same rifle.

The Type 56 was used extensively by Iranian forces during the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s, with Iran purchasing large quantities of weapons from China for its armed forces. During the war, Iraq also purchased a small quantity, despite them being a major recipient of Soviet weapons and assistance during the conflict. This was done in conjunction with their purchasing of a large number of AKMs from Eastern Europe.

In the United Kingdom and United States, the Type 56 and its derivatives are frequently used in the filming of movies and television shows, standing in for Russian-made AK-47s due to their rarity among Kalashnikov style weapons. Type 56s are oftentimes visually modified to resemble other AK variants.

In the mid-1980s, Sri Lanka began to replace their British L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle (SLR) and German HK G3s with the Type 56-2. Currently, the side-folding stock variant (Type 56-2) issued as the standard primary firearm.

The Type 81, Type 95 and Type 03 replaced the Type 56 in PLA front line service, but the Type 56 remains in use with reserve and militia units. Type 56s are still in production by Norinco for export customers.

During the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s, many Type 56 rifles were supplied to Afghan Mujahideen guerrillas to fight Soviet forces. The rifles were supplied by China, Pakistan and the US who obtained them from third party arms dealers. There is photographic evidence from Soviet/Russian sources where captured Type 56 rifles were utilized by Soviet soldiers in lieu of their standard-issue AKM and AK-74 rifles.

Use of the Type 56 in Afghanistan also continued well into the early 21st century as the standard rifle of the Taliban such as when Taliban forces seized control of Kabul in 1996 (a majority of the Chinese small arms used by the Taliban were provided by Pakistan).

In 1987, Michael Ryan used a legally owned Type 56 rifle, and two other firearms, in the Hungerford massacre in the United Kingdom, in which he shot 32 people, 17 of whom died. The attack led to the passage of Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988, which bans ownership of semi-automatic centre-fire rifles and restricts the use of shotguns.

In the United States, a Type 56 rifle, purchased in Oregon under a false name, was used in the 1989 Stockton schoolyard shooting in which Patrick Purdy fired over 100 rounds to shoot one teacher and 34 children, killing five. The shooting led to the passage of California's Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989. A Type 56, along with a Type 56 S-1, were used by Larry Phillips, Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu during the 1997 North Hollywood shootout.

Compared to AK-47 and AKM

Originally, the Type 56 was a direct copy of the AK-47's final iteration, the Type 3 AK-47, and featured a milled receiver. Starting in the mid-1960s, the guns were manufactured with stamped receivers much like the Soviet AKM. Visually, most versions of the Type 56 are distinguished from the AK-47 and AKM by the fully enclosed hooded front sight (all other AK pattern rifles, including those made in Russia, have a partially open front sight). Many versions also feature a folding bayonet attached to the barrel just aft of the muzzle. There are three different types of bayonets made for Type 56 rifles.

 * The Type 56 has a 1.6mm stamped receiver (like the RPK, although it lacks the reinforced trunnion of the RPK) versus the 1mm stamping of the AKM. Also uses a different riveting pattern that is similar to the RPK. Certain versions of the 56S/MAK-90 have a milled receiver.
 * The barrel on the Type 56 is similar to the AK-47 and heavier than that of the AKM though is pinned in like the AKM and unlike the AK-47. Military issued versions of the Type 56 also lack the threaded muzzle found on the AK-47 and AKM, this means they cannot use an AKM compensator or blank-firing device. Commercial versions of the Type 56 may or may not have a threaded muzzle.
 * The front sights are fully enclosed with a hood, compared to the AKM and AK-47 which have partially opened "ears". The front sight base has a shape similar to the AK-47 and may also have a SKS style folding spike bayonet (nicknamed the "pig sticker") as opposed to the lug for detachable knife bayonets on the AK-47 and AKM. There are three different types of spike bayonets made for the Type 56 and the Type 56 assault rifle is the only AK variant that utilizes a spike bayonet. Certain versions of the Type 56-2 support standard AK-47 and AKM bayonets.
 * Has the double hook disconnector of the AK-47 rather than the single hook disconnector of the AKM. As a result, it also lacks the hammer release delay device of the AKM, otherwise known as the rate reducer. The lack of hammer retarder is perhaps due to a preference of a slightly higher rate of fire, and simplicity. And did not have anything to do with thickness of the receiver, as the RPK included the hammer retarder also.
 * Has "in the white" bolt carrier, while the AKM bolt carrier is blued. Also lacks the various lightening cuts, though has a flat firing pin. Many civilian/export versions have a firing pin spring to prevent possible slamfires when used with softer commercial primers as opposed to the original free-floating type. Some were added by importers rather than being a factory equipped part.
 * Has the flat/smooth handguards of the AK-47, with a storage slit underneath on versions equipped with the spike bayonet. Uniquely, it lacks vent cuts on the upper gas tube heatguard. Also retains a metal ferrule that sits between the lower handguard and the front of the receiver that the AK-47 had.
 * The pistol grip is the same kind as the AK-47 being made out of wood with a metal ferrule between it and the receiver instead of the later one piece bakelite like the AKM. The Type 56-2 uses the AKM style with slightly different shape.
 * The trigger guard is held in place with only three rivets (one on each side and one beneath the pistol grip) whereas the AK-47 and AKM have five (two on each side and one beneath the pistol grip).
 * Has a smooth dust cover like the AK-47 and unlike the ribbed dust cover of the AKM. However, it utilizes the simpler dual U-shaped recoil spring guide of the AKM instead of the telescoping rod of the AK-47.
 * Has a blued finish like the AK-47 and unlike the AKM, which has a black oxide finish or a parkerized finish.
 * Like the AK-47, sights will only adjust to 800 metres, whereas AKM sights adjust to 1000 metres. It also retains the button on the right side.
 * Nearly all Type 56's lack the side mount plate that was featured on many variations of the AK-47 and AKM.
 * The gas relief ports are located on the gas tube like the AK-47, unlike the AKM which had the gas relief ports relocated forward to the gas block. The gas block is also like the AK-47 in that it has the forward sling loop (instead of the handguard) and a cleaning rod capture.
 * The fixed stock of a Type 56 has a less in-line stock like the AK-47, opposed to the AKM which has a straighter stock. It, however, uses the AKM style single upper tang insert type attachment method and has the rear sling mount on the underside of the stock as opposed to the AK-47 dual tang type and receiver side sling mount. Its rear trunnion is also very similar to the AKM, though the distance between the rivets is different. Certain versions of the 56S/MAK-90 have an angled receiver back wall, though these are typically milled variants with a thumb hole stock.
 * The under folders have stamped stocks like the AKMS but only lock on the left and are angled downwards like the AKS-47. The stocks are also typically made out of thicker steel, thus have fewer reinforcing ribs and detents, and they also lack the pistol grip reinforcement plate and true rear trunnion of the AKMS, having a simple pseudo end-cap rear trunnion, likely due to the thicker receiver.

Variants

 * Type 56 – Basic variant, adopted in 1956. Features a fixed wooden stock and folding spike bayonet. In the mid-1960s production switched from machined to stamped receivers, while the bayonet became optional. Still used by Chinese reserve and militia units.
 * Type 56-1 – Copy of the AKS, with an under-folding steel shoulder stock and the bayonet removed to make the weapon easier to carry. As with the original Type 56, milled receivers were replaced by stamped receivers in the mid-1960s, making the Type 56-1 an equivalent to the Russian AKMS. Civilian semi-auto versions (Type 56S-I) may have the spike bayonet added, though it is worth noting that this is not the original military configuration.
 * Type 56-2 – Improved variant introduced in 1980, with a side-folding stock and dark orange bakelite furniture. The stock also houses a cleaning kit, which both underfolding AKs (all nations) and other sidefolding AKs lacked, instead requiring a separate pouch. It also allows a traditional detachable bayonet, both AK-47 and AKM styles, as an option in addition to the folding spike style. Mainly manufactured for export and rare in China as the Type 81 was already in production by the time of conception.
 * 7.62 RK 56 TP – Modified Type 56-2 in China for Finnish use, with a new hammer spring that allows firing of Finnish 7.62x39.
 * QBZ-56C (Type 56C) – Short-barrel version, introduced in 1991 for the domestic and export market. The QBZ-56C as it is officially designated in China, is a carbine variant of the Type 56-2 and supplied in limited quantities to some PLA units. The Chinese Navy is now the most prominent user. Development began in 1988, after it was discovered that the Type 81 assault rifle was too difficult to shorten. In order to further reduce weight, the bayonet lug was removed. The QBZ-56C is often carried with a twenty-round box magazine, although it is capable of accepting a standard Type 56 thirty-round magazine. It also has a sidefolding stock in addition to a muzzle booster, giving it a similar appearance to the AKS-74U.
 * Type 56S or Type 56 Sporter, also known as the AK47S, AKS-762 and MAK-90 (Modified AK-1990) – Semi-automatic only civilian version. Later versions were modified to meet the requirements of a 1989 Executive Order by President George H. W. Bush prohibiting importation of certain 'assault rifle' configurations of military-style semi-automatic rifles such as the Norinco AKM/AK-47. These modifications included a one-piece U.S.-made thumbhole stock to replace the separate Chinese-made buttstock and pistol grip of the original AK rifle and the inclusion of a rivet on the receiver preventing use of standard AK-47, RPK, or AKM magazines.
 * 56S Galil sidefolder – Special version of the 56S/MAC-90 with an IMI Galil style side folding stock. Was exclusive to the US market.
 * The Legend – Another version of the 56S/MAK-90 except configured to look like the Type 3 AK-47. It is extremely faithful to the Type 3 design, even having a milled receiver and original AK-47 style bayonet lug, but does retain some manufacturing differences from the Type 56 such as the pinned in barrel, lack of vent cuts on the gas tube heat guard, only 3 rivets on the trigger guard, the stamped recoil guide rod, spring loaded firing pin and variance in machining such as on the receiver and lightening cuts. Like the previous, US market only.
 * Type 56M – RPK style LMG version of the Type 56. Utilizes a standard Type 56 stamped receiver and front trunnion, likely due to their rigidity, and its bi-pod is more RPD like then RPK, being tubular. It seems to have two configurations with only minor cosmetic changes, one with standard AK-47/M open sights with "ears" and the bi-pod directly behind the front sight base, and a second configuration with typical Type 56 enclosed "hooded" sights and the bi-pod in front of the front sight base near the muzzle. The latter version usually is seen with a birdcage flash hider or AK-74 style muzzle brake. Like the Type 56-2, it was only made for export as the Type 81 LMG was selected for military service instead. Civilian semi-auto sporter versions are known as the Type 87S or NHM 91. The semi-auto versions have also been sold with standard Type 56 stocks instead of the RPD "club foot" style as well as thumbhole variants after 1989. A rare version known as the "National Match" was once sold with a milled receiver and scope and scope mount.
 * Type 84 – Export version of the Type 56 rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO round. Also has underfolder (Type 84-1) and sidefolder (Type 84-2) versions. Civilian semi-auto version known as Type 84S and AKS-223. Special matte black synthetic versions were also available as the Type 84-3, Type 84-4 (underfolder) and Type 84-5 (sidefolder).
 * Type 86S – Semi automatic bullpup version.
 * KL-7.62 – Iranian copy of the Type 56. The original version of the KL-7.62 was indistinguishable from the Type 56, but in recent years DIO appears to have made some improvements to the Type 56 design, adding a plastic stock and handguards (rather than wood) and a ribbed receiver cover (featured on most AKM variants, but missing from the Type 56), as well as picatinny rails on newer versions.
 * MAZ – Sudanese licensed copy of the Type 56 made by Military Industry Corporation.
 * ASh78 (Automatiku Shqiptar 78) – Albanian licensed copy of the Type 56.
 * TUL-1 - North Vietnamese-made variant, but with stock of an RPK, barrel sights from an RPD. The TUL-1's body was thin, only 1 mm compared to the 1.5 mm of an RPK. It was also heavier and had an inferior rate of fire compared to the RPK. However, the firing rate and effective range of the weapon was better than an AK-47-based rifle. The TUL-1s were manufactured between 1970–1974 and ended after Vietnam obtained production rights to the RPK itself. They're known to use 30-round magazines from AK-47-based rifles with the occasional 40-round magazine.
 * KA2-5 - Clone made in Myanmar by the Kachin Independence Army.

Other Type 56 weapons
The "Type 56" designation was also used for Chinese versions of the SKS and of the RPD, known as the Type 56 carbine and Type 56 light machine gun respectively. However, unlike the popular Type 56 rifle, all Type 56 carbines have been removed from military service, except a few used for ceremonial purposes and by local Chinese militia.

Users

 * Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
 * 🇦🇱 Albania Locally produced as the ASh-78 Tipi-1 under small modification of the Albanian Army needs. Main armament of the army until recently when it's being replaced with ARX-160, and M4A1.
 * 🇩🇿 Algeria
 * 🇧🇩 Bangladesh
 * 🇧🇯 Benin
 * 🇧🇴 Bolivia
 * 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 * 🇧🇷 Brazil: Used by special forces. Limited numbers seized from criminals and issued to the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro
 * 🇧🇮 Burundi: Burundian rebels.
 * 🇰🇭 Cambodia
 * 🇨🇫 Central African Republic
 * 🇹🇩 Chad
 * 🇨🇳 China
 * Congo-Brazzaville
 * Congo-Kinshasa
 * 🇭🇷 Croatia: Used by Croatia in its war of independence.
 * 🇩🇯 Djibouti
 * East Timor
 * 🇪🇨 Ecuador
 * 🇪🇪 Estonia
 * 🇫🇮 Finland: Purchased in the 1990s and used by Finnish Army reserve personnel. Now in long-term storage.
 * 🇬🇲 Gambia
 * 🇮🇳 India: Uses thousands of captured Type 56s for Indian police/military/paramilitary forces.
 * 🇮🇷 Iran
 * 🇮🇶 Iraq
 * Iraqi Kurdistan
 * Ivory Coast
 * Kosovo
 * Laos
 * 🇱🇷 Liberia
 * 🇱🇾 Libyan National Army: Type 56-1
 * 🇲🇱 Mali
 * 🇲🇹 Malta
 * 🇲🇲 Myanmar
 * 🇳🇵 Nepal: Used by the Nepalese Army and formerly by the People's Liberation Army rebels
 * 🇳🇮 Nicaragua: Contras.
 * 🇳🇪 Niger
 * 🇰🇵 North Korea
 * 🇵🇰 Pakistan
 * 🇶🇦 Qatar
 * 🇷🇼 Rwanda
 * 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
 * 🇸🇴 Somalia
 * 🇸🇸 South Sudan: South Sudan Liberation Movement, South Sudan Democratic Movement, Sudan People's Liberation Army and Lou Nuer militias.
 * 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
 * 🇸🇩 Sudan
 * Syria
 * 🇹🇯 Tajikistan
 * 🇺🇦 Ukraine
 * 🇺🇬 Uganda
 * 🇺🇸 United States: Captured rifles issued to MACVSOG
 * Vietnam
 * South Vietnam: Captured from Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War.
 * 🇾🇪 Yemen: supplied by Iran to Houthi rebels.
 * 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

Non-state users

 * Ambazonia Defence Forces
 * Boko Haram : Type 56 and Type 56-1
 * Free Aceh Movement
 * Lord Resistance Army
 * New People's Army
 * Viet Cong

title: Type 56 assault rifle


text:
Kalkan

Kalkan is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Kaş, Antalya Province, Turkey. Its population is 3,926 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (belde). It is an important tourist destination on the Mediterranean coast. The area includes historical sites (such as Tlos and Kekova) and fine beaches (including Patara Beach and Kaputaş Beach).

Kalkan is an old fishing town, and the only safe harbour between Kaş and Fethiye; it is known for its white-washed houses, descending to the sea, and its brightly coloured bougainvilleas. It averages 300 days of sunshine a year. The word "Kalkan" in Turkish either means shield or turbot referring to the town's fishing status.

Until the early 1920s, nearly all of its inhabitants were Greeks and the town was called Kalamaki. They left in 1923 during the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey after the Greco-Turkish War and emigrated mainly to Attica, where they founded the new town of Kalamaki. Abandoned Greek houses can still be seen at Kalkan.

Kalkan was an important harbour town until the 1970s as the only seaport for the environs. It declined after the construction of the Fethiye road but revived after the emergence of the tourism industry in the region.

Although part of the Antalya province administratively, Kalkan is connected more closely to Fethiye economically and for transportation.

The Independent listed Kalkan among the best tourist destinations for 2007. The paper recommended Kalkan, especially for those seeking a romantic holiday and who do not want to travel far from their home country in Europe. According to a 2012 survey 96% of visitors to Kalkan during 2011 were from the United Kingdom.

title: Kalkan


text:
User:Rafigi

My real name is Serkan BAYHAN and I was born in 15th March of 1980 in Ankara, TURKEY. I have a sister named Gamze. My mother Nevin and the father is Ahmet. I am a Turk. I took my fundation from the Aydinlikevler primary school then Inonu highschool afther that in 2002 graduated from '''Bilkent University, Computer Tech. and Programming''' whith the first rank student of my department.

This is my entry level information for Wikipedia and I'll make it advanced sooner.

title: User:Rafigi


text:
Breaching round

A breaching round or slug-shot is a shotgun shell specially made for door breaching. It is typically fired at a range of 6 inches (15 cm) or less, aimed at the hinges or the area between the doorknob and lock and doorjamb, and is designed to destroy the object it hits and then disperse into a relatively harmless powder.

Design and construction
Breaching rounds are designed to destroy door deadbolts, locks, and hinges without risking lives by ricocheting or by flying on at lethal speed through the door, as traditional buckshot can. These frangible rounds are made of a dense sintered material, often metal powder in a binder such as wax, which can destroy a lock or hinge and then immediately disperse. They are used by military and SWAT teams to quickly force entry into a locked room. Amongst police, these rounds are nicknamed "master keys", and their use is known as "Avon calling", alluding to the Avon brand of cosmetics which was sold door-to-door. Ideally, breaching rounds may be used in a standard combat shotgun or riot shotgun, or in a specialized shotgun, often attached to a rifle, such as the KAC Masterkey or M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System. The most effective use of this round is with a "stand-off breacher" attached to the muzzle of a specially converted shotgun. The stand-off is held on the surface of the door and vents gases to prevent overpressure. The British SAS also use these breaching rounds in their shotguns- most commonly the Remington pump action

Though designed not to endanger people behind or around a door, a breaching round is easily lethal if fired directly at a human target.

Examples of breaching rounds:

 * Royal Arms has made the TESAR round for over 25 years using a frangible copper slug of various weights and configurations, with different loads for different applications. It is used by many military and law enforcement agencies around the world.
 * The US military M1030 breaching round is a 12-gauge, 2+3/4 in shell that uses a 40 g projectile made of powdered steel, bound with wax.
 * The Clucas Method of Entry Hatton round is a 12-gauge, 3 in magnum shell that uses a 43 g frangible projectile, consisting of a high-density wax binder.
 * Firequest makes a 12 gauge 2+3/4 in frangible slug named the door breaching cartridge. The slug consists of copper and tin powder.

title: Breaching round