Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.
Modern English is English spoken since the great vowel shift, completed in roughly 1550.
Despite some differences in vocabulary, material from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, is considered to be in Modern English, or more specifically, they are referred to as Early Modern English, and most people who are fluent in the English of the early 21st century can read these books with little difficulty.
Modern English has a large number of dialects, spoken in diverse countries throughout the world. Most of these, however, are mutually intelligible. This includes American English, Australian English, British English, Canadian English, Caribbean English, Hiberno-English, Indo-Pakistani English, New Zealand English, Singaporean English and South African English. These dialects may be met in different contexts, for example some American actors in Hollywood historical or mythic epics often employ British-derivative accents while many British, Australian and non-native English-speaking international pop singers sing in an 'industry neutral' American accent to appeal to an international demographic.
According to Ethnologue, there are over 508 million speakers of English as a first or second language as of 1999, a number dwarfed only by the Chinese language in terms of the number of speakers. However, Chinese has a smaller geographical range: it is spoken primarily in mainland China and Taiwan, and by a sizable immigrant community in North America. In contrast, English is spoken in a vast number of territories, including Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan and Southern Africa. Its large number of speakers, plus its worldwide presence, have made English a common language for use in such diverse applications as controlling airplanes, developing software, conducting international diplomacy, and business relations.

History
Early Modern English lacked uniformity in spelling, but Samuel Johnson's dictionary, published in 1755 in England, was influential in establishing a standard form of spelling. Noah Webster did the same in America, publishing his dictionary in 1828; see American and British English spelling differences.
Public education increased literacy, and more people had access to books (and therefore to a standard language) with the spread of public libraries in the 19th century. Many words entered English from other languages, as a result of contact with other cultures through trade and settlement, and the migration of large numbers of people to the United States from other countries. World War I and World War II threw together people from different backgrounds, and the greater social mobility afterwards helped to lessen the differences between social accents, at least in the UK. The development of radio broadcasting in the early 20th century familiarised the population with accents and vocabulary from outside their own localities, often for the first time, and this phenomenon continued with film and television.

Outline of changes in Modern English
See the sound changes c.1600-1725 and sound changes c.1725-1900 sections of the Phonological history of the English language page.

Syntax

History of the English Language
List of dialects of the English language
Old English
Middle English

Thurles (Irish: Dúrlas Éile) is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland, situated on the River Suir, with a population of around 8,000. It is twinned with Bollington in England, and Salt Lake City, Utah.
Geographically, Thurles is surrounded by the Silvermines which are mountains to the north-west and the Slieveardagh Hills to the south-east. The town itself nestles in the heart of the beautiful Suir Valley. The mild climate and the waters of the River Suir have combined to produce some of the finest agricultural land in the world. The many castles and monastic settlements, which surround Thurles, bear lasting evidence to the area's rich and colourful history. The town itself owes its development to the Norman Butlers and particularly to James, who was created Earl of Ormond by Edward III in 1328. Two of the original family fortresses still remain in Thurles today.
Thurles is the birthplace of the Gaelic Athletic Association, founded in 1884 in Hayes' Hotel. Semple Stadium, where the centenary All-Ireland hurling final was played, is the second largest Gaelic Athletic Association stadium in Ireland, second only to Croke Park. In addition, Lar na Pairce, a museum devoted to the Gaelic Athletic Association, is located in the town. Semple Stadium in Thurles is Ireland's second largest sports arena with a capacity of 55,000. It is the spiritual home of Munster hurling and many famous matches, especially Munster Finals, have been played there. It was also the site of the Féile rock festival during the 1990s.
Thurles is a strong education centre with a long history. There are numerous schools in Thurles. The Ursuline Convent was founded in 1737, the Presentation Convent in 1817, the CBS in 1818, St. Patrick's College in 1837, the Pallottine College in 1907 and Thurles Vocational School in 1928. A third-level college, the Tipperary Institute (formerly TRBDI), was established in 1998. A new arts centre & library, the Source, was completed in 2006.
Thurles has a well-developed industrial sector originally based on the traditional agri-based sector. It has also successfully attracted modern high technology industries to the area, with the establishment of the Thurles Technology Park.

Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling (born 2 November 1891; died 17 November 1955) was an officer in the German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) during World War II. Weidling was the last commander of the Berlin Defense Area during the Battle of Berlin. Weidling attempted to foil the final assault by Soviet forces on the city of Berlin just before the end of World War II in Europe.
During Weidling's military career he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (see also Knight's Cross).

Early life
In November 1938, Weidling became a Colonel (Oberst) of the 56th Artillery Regiment. He fought with this regiment in the Polish Campaign of 1939. In April 1940, Weidling was appointed Artillery Commander of the XL Tank Corps (XL Panzer Korps). He fought with this corps during the Battle of France and during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa.
On 1 January 1942, still on the Eastern Front, Weidling was appointed to command the 86th Infantry Division. One month later he was promoted to the rank of Major-General (Generalmajor). On 1 January 1943, Weidling was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General (Generalleutnant).

Poland, France, and Russia
On 15 October 1943, Weidling became the Commanding General of the XLI Tank Corps (XLI Panzer Korps). He was to hold this command to 10 April 1945. There was a short break from 19 June 1944 to 1 July 1944 when Lieutenant-General (Generalleutnant) Edmund Hoffmeister commanded the tank corps. Weidling was given command of the XLI Tank Corps after the unit took part in the Battle of Kursk (4 July to 20 July). Two months after being given command of the XLI Tank Corps, Weidling was promoted to rank of Artillery General (General der Artillerie).
On 10 April 1945, Weidling was relieved of his command and transferred to the Officer Reserve (Führerreserve) of the Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres or OKH). Two days later, he was appointed as commander of the LVI Tank Corps (LVI Panzer Korps). The LVI Tank Corps was part of Gotthard Heinrici's Army Group Vistula.

XLI tank corps
On 16 April, Weidling prepared to take part in the Battle of the Seelow Heights which was part of the broader Battle of the Oder-Neisse. Weidling's LVI Tank Corps was in the center with the CI Army Corps to his left and the XI SS Tank Corps to his right. All three corps were part of General Theodor Busse's 9th Army which was defending the heights. All three corps were conspicuously short of tanks. Earlier in the day, Heinrici had seen to his horror that Hitler had tranferred three tank divisions from Army Group Vistula to the command of recently promoted Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) Ferdinand Schörner.
Colonel (Oberst) Theodor von Dufving was Weidling's Chief-of-Staff and Colonel (Oberst) Hans-Oscar Wöhlermann was his Artillery Officer while Weidling commanded the LVI Tank Corps.
By 19 April, Schörner's Army Group Centre was collapsing and the position of Army Group Vistula was becoming untenable. Heinrici was forced to pull back what was left of his forces, including Weidlings LVI Tank Corps. The defensive line on the Seelow Heights was the last major defensive line outside of Berlin. With the loss of this position, the road to Berlin lay wide open. To escape envelopment and total anhialation, Weidling pulled his corps back with the rest of Army Group Vistula.

LVI tank corps
On 22 April, German dictator Adolf Hitler ordered that Weidling be executed by firing squad. Hitler believed that, as commander of the LVI Tank Corps, Weidling had ordered his tank corps to retreat in the face of advancing Soviet forces. Ordering a retreat would be in defiance of Hitler's standing orders to the contrary. As such, Weidling's actions required a death sentence. This situation turned out to be a misunderstanding and it was cleared up before Weidling's execution could take place.
On 23 April, Hitler appointed Weidling as the commander of the Berlin Defense Area. He replaced Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant) Helmuth Reymann, Colonel (Oberst) Ernst Kaether, and Hitler himself. Reymann had only held the position since 6 March. Starting 22 April, Kaether had held the position for less than one day. For a short period of time, Hitler took personal control of Berlin's defenses with Major General Erich Bärenfänger as his deputy. Weidling was ordered by Hitler to defend the city of Berlin. Specifically, he was ordered not to surrender and to fight to the last man.

Commander of the Berlin Defense Area
The forces available to Weidling for the city's defence included roughly 45,000 soldiers in several severely depleted German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) and Armed SS (Waffen-SS) divisions. These depleted divisions were supplemented by the Berlin police force, boys in the compulsory Hitler Youth, and about 40,000 elderly men of the Home Guard (Volkssturm). The commander of the central district was Protective Squadron (Schutzstaffel, SS) Brigade Leader (SS Brigadeführer) Wilhelm Mohnke. Mohnke had been appointed to his position by Hitler himself and he had over 2,000 men under his direct command. The Soviets were to later estimate the number of defenders in Berlin at 180,000. But this was based on the number of prisoners that they took. The prisoners included many unarmed men in uniform, such as railway officials and members of the Reich Labour Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst).
Weidling organized the defences into eight sectors designated "A" through to "H". Each sector was commanded by a colonel or a general. But most of the colonels and generals had no combat experience. To the west of the city was the 20th Motorized Infantry Division. To the north of the city was the 9th Parachute Division. To the north-east of the city was the "Müncheberg" Tank Division (Panzer Division Müncheberg). To the south-east of the city and to the east of Tempelhof Airport was the 11th SS Volunteer Armored Infantry Division "Nordland" (SS Nordland Panzergrenadier Division). Weidling's reserve, the 18th Armored Infantry Division (18th Panzergrenadier Division), was in Berlin's central district.
On 25 April, Weidling ordered Major General of the Reserve (Generalmajor der Reserve) Werner Mummert, commander of "Müncheberg" to take command of the German LVI Army Corps. Weidling ordered that the command of "Müncheberg" be handed over to Colonel (Oberst) Hans-Oscar Wöhlermann. Wöhlermann was the artillery commander for the city.
On 26 April, Weildling ordered "Müncheberg" and "Nordland" to attack towards Tempelhof Airport and Neukölln. At first, with its last ten tanks, "Müncheberg" made good progress against a surprised Soviet foe. However, the surprise wore off and was replaced with fierce defensive fire and several local counter-attacks. These soon halted the tank division's advance.

The defenders
Sometime around 26 April 1945, Weidling chose as his headquarters the old army headquarters on the Bendlestrasse, the "Bendlerblock." It possessed well-equipped air-raid shelters and it was close to the Reich Chancellery. In the depths of the Bendlerblock, his staff did not know whether it were day or night.

Flooding of the Berlin underground
The diary of the officer with the "Müncheberg" Tank Division also described the "flying courts-martial" prevalent at this time.
"Flying courts-martial unusually prominent today. Most of them very young SS officers. Hardly a decoration among them. Blind and fanatical. The hope of relief and the fear of these courts bring men back to the fighting. General Mummert refuses to allow any further courts-martial in the sector under his command . . . He is determined to shoot down personally any courts-martial that appears . . . We cannot hold the Potsdamer Platz and move through the subway tunnel to Nollendorferplatz. In the tunnel next to ours, the Russians are advancing in the opposite direction."

Flying courts-martial
On 29 April, the Soviet Information Bureau announced that troops of the 1st Belorussian Front continued to clear the streets of Berlin, occupied the northwest sector of Charlottenburg as far as Bismark Street, the west half of Moabit, and the east part of Schoeneberg. Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front occupied Friedenau and Grunewald in northwest Berlin.

Relentless advance
On 30 April, as the Soviet forces continued to fight their way into the center of Berlin, German dictator Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun in the Führerbunker. Hitler and Braun then committed suicide, Braun by taking cyanide and Hitler by simultaneously taking cyanide and shooting himself. Per instructions, their bodies were burned.
Afterwards, when Weidling reached the Führerbunker, he was met by Goebbels, Bormann, and Krebs. They took him to Hitler's room, where the couple had committed suicide. They told him that their bodies had been burned and buried in a shell crater in the garden above. Weidling was forced to swear that he would not repeat this news to anybody. The only person in the outside world who was to be informed was Joseph Stalin. An attempt would be made that night to arrange an armistice, and General Krebs would inform the Soviet commander so that he could inform the Kremlin.
It was now up to Weidling to negotiate with the Soviets.

The Führerbunker
On 2 May, General Weidling had his Chief-of-Staff, von Dufving, arrange a meeting with General Chuikov. Weidling and Chuikov met and had the following conversation:
Chuikov: "You are the commander of the Berlin garrison?"
Weidling: "Yes, I am the commander of the LVI Tank Corps."
Chuikov: "Where is Krebs?"
Weidling: "I saw him yesterday in the Reich Chancellery. I thought he would commit suicide. At first he (Krebs) criticized me because unofficial capitulation started yesterday. The order regarding capitulation has been issued today."
The meeting between Weidling and Chuikov ended at at 8:23 am on 2 May 1945. Later that same day, loudspeakers announced Weidling's surrender and copies of his order were distributed to the remaining defenders. With the exception of scattered areas of resistance and of desperate efforts to break out, the Battle for Berlin was over.
The Soviet forces took Weidling into custody as a prisoner of war and flew him to the Soviet Union. He never returned to Germany alive.

Surrender to Chuikov
On 27 February 1952, a Soviet military tribunal in Moscow sentenced Weidling to 25 years of imprisonment. Weidling died on 17 November 1955, apparently in the custody of the KGB in Vladimir. KGB records listed the cause of death as "arterial and cardiac sclerosis along with circulatory collapse."

Aftermath

Beevor, Antony. Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5
Dollinger, Hans. The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 67-27047 Popular culture

Invasion of Poland (1939) - 1939
Battle of France - 1940
Operation Barbarossa - 1941
Eastern Front (WWII) - 1941/45
Battle for Berlin - 1945
Hans Krebs, German General and Chief of Staff
Theodor Busse, Commander of the German 9th Army
Walther Wenck, Commander of the German 12th Army
Gotthard Heinrici, Commander of Army Group Vistula - 20 March to 28 Aprl 1945
Hans Refior, Weidling's "Civil" Chief of Staff
Theodor von Dufving, Weidling's "Military" Chief of Staff
Siegfried Knappe, Weidling's adjundant during the Battle for Berlin

The Agreement on the South Asian Free Trade Area is an agreement reached at the 12th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit at Islamabad, capital of Pakistan on 6 January 2004. It creates a framework for the creation of a free trade zone covering 1.4 billion people in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives.The seven foreign ministers of the region signed a framework agreement on SAFTA with zero customs duty on the trade of practically all products in the region by end 2012. The SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA), with concessional duty on sub-continent trade, went into force on 1 January 1996. The new agreement i.e. SAFTA, came into being on 1 January 2006 and will be operational following the ratification of the agreement by the seven governments. SAFTA requires the developing countries in South Asia, that is, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to bring their duties down to 20 percent in the first phase of the two year period ending in 2007. In the final five year phase ending 2012, the 20 percent duty will be reduced to zero in a series of annual cuts. The least developed nations in South Asia consisting of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives have an additional three years to reduce tarrifs to zero.

Beccaria redirects here. This article is about the philosopher and politician. For the physicist please see Giovanni Battista Beccaria.
Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria-Bonesana (March 11, 1738 – November 28, 1794) was an Italian philosopher and politician best known for his treatise On Crimes and Punishments (1764), which condemned torture and the death penalty and was a founding work in the field of criminology.

Publications
The principles to which Beccaria appealed were Reason, an understanding of the state as a form of contract, and, above all, the principle of utility, or of the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Beccaria had elaborated this original principle in conjunction with Pietro Verri, and greatly influenced Jeremy Bentham to develop it into the full-scale doctrine of Utilitarianism.
Apart from condemning the death penalty (on two grounds: first, because the state does not possess the right to take lives; and secondly, because capital punishment is neither a useful nor a necessary form of punishment), Beccaria developed in his treatise a number of innovative and influential principles: punishment had a preventive (deterrent), not a retributive, function; punishment should be proportionate to the crime committed; the certainty of punishment, not its severity, would achieve the preventive effect; procedures of criminal convictions should be public; and finally, in order to be effective, punishment should be prompt. He also argued against gun control laws[1].
With the Verri brothers, Beccaria traveled to Paris, where he was given a very warm reception by the philosophes. He retreated in horror, however, returning to his young wife Teresa and never venturing abroad again. The break with the Verri brothers proved lasting; they were never able to understand why Beccaria had left his position at the peak of success.
Many reforms in the penal codes of the principal European nations can be traced to Beccaria's treatise, although few contemporaries were convinced by Beccaria's argument against the death penalty. When the Grand Duchy of Tuscany abolished the death penalty, as the first nation in the world to do so, it followed Beccaria's argument about the lack of utility of capital punishment, not about the state's lacking right to execute citizens.
In November 1768 Beccaria was appointed to the chair of law and economy, founded expressly for him at the Palatine college of Milan. His lectures on political economy, which are based on strict utilitarian principles, are in marked accordance with the theories of the English school of economists. They are published in the collection of Italian writers on political economy (Scrittori Classici Italiani di Economia politica, vols. xi. and xii.). Beccaria never succeeded in producing a work to match Dei Delitti e Delle Pene, although he made various incomplete attempts in the course of his life. A short treatise on literary style was all he saw to press.
In 1771 Beccaria was made a member of the supreme economic council; and in 1791 he was appointed to the board for the reform of the judicial code, where he made a valuable contribution. He died in Milan.
His daughter Giulia was the mother of Alessandro Manzoni, the noted Italian novelist and poet.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Abkhazia
See also: Politics of Georgia
The People's Assembly of Abkhazia is the legislature of the internationally unrecognised Republic of Abkhazia. It has 35 members, elected for a five year term in single seat constituencies. Nugzar Ashuba is the current speaker of parliament.

De facto government

• President
  
  
  
  • Sergei Bagapsh Vice President
    
    
    
    • Raul Khadjimba Prime Minister
      
      
      
      • Alexander Ankvab
        People's Assembly
        Political parties Elections
        De jure Government
        
        
        
        • Chairman of the Supreme Council
          
          
          
          • Temur Mzhavia
            Chairman of Cabinet of Ministers
            
            
            
            • Malkhaz Akishbaia
              UNOMIG

In baseball statistics, a hit (denoted by H), sometimes called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice. To do this, the batter must reach first base before any fielder can either tag him with the ball, throw to another player protecting the base before the batter reaches it, or tag first base while carrying the ball. The hit is scored the moment the batter reaches first base safely - if the runner is put out while attempting a double or triple on the same play, he still gets credit for the hit. A hit is defined by rule 10.05 of MLB's Official Rules.
The term "base hit" is not an official baseball term, but is typically used by play-by-play announcers to distinguish over-the-wall home runs from other varieties of hits that are in play. It is most readily used for balls that bounce within fair terrority and pass by the infielders into the outfield, thus guaranteeing the batter at least a single.
An "infield hit" is a hit where the ball does not leave the infield. Infield hits are uncommon by nature, and typically earned most often by speedy runners.
In cases where a ball takes an unusual bounce, and a fielder might have a chance of throwing the runner out but does not, it is at the official scorer's discretion whether the batter is given a hit or instead reached on an error. Most often, an unusual bounce is considered a hit, as the fielder cannot anticipate the errant bounce and make a play on it.
A hit for one base is called a single - the number of singles is equal to the total number of hits minus the number of extra base hits. A home run is also scored as a hit.
If a batter reaches first base because of offensive interference by a preceding runner (including if a preceding runner is hit by a batted ball), he is also credited with a hit.
A no-hitter is a game in which one of the teams prevented the other from getting a hit. Throwing a no-hitter is rare and considered an extraordinary accomplishment for a pitcher or pitching staff. In most cases in the professional game, no-hitters are accomplished by a single pitcher who throws a complete game.
In 1887, Major League Baseball counted bases on balls (walks) as hits. The result was skyrocketing batting averages, including some near .500; Tip O'Neill of the St. Louis Browns batted .485 that season, which would still be a major league record if recognized. The experiment was abandoned the following season. There is some controversy regarding how the records of 1887 should be interpreted; as the number of legitimate walks is known for all players that year, computing averages using the standard method used in other years is quite simple. In 1968, Major League Baseball formed a Special Baseball Records Committee to resolve this issue, among others, and the Committee ruled that walks in 1887 should not be counted as hits; in 2000, Major League Baseball reversed its decision, ruling that the statistics which were recognized in each year's official records should stand, even in cases where they were later proven incorrect. Most current sources list O'Neill's 1887 average as .435, as calculated by omitting his walks; he would retain his American Association batting championship. However, the variance between methods results in differing recognition for the 1887 National League batting champion; Cap Anson would be recognized, with his .421 average, if walks are included, but Sam Thompson would be the champion at .372 if they are not.