Most viewed Wikipedia articles on December 24 , 2019

The Witcher is a Polish-American fantasy drama streaming television series produced by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. It is based on the book series of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.

The Christmas season, also called the holiday season, or the festive season, is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from November to early January.

The Witcher is a series of fantasy novels and short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the titular "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are beast hunters who develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle wild beasts and monsters. The books have been adapted into a film, two television series, a trilogy of video games, and a graphic novel series. The series of novels is known as the Witcher Saga. The short stories and novels have been translated into numerous languages, including Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

Marshawn Terrell Lynch, nicknamed "Beast Mode", is an American football running back who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft after playing college football at the University of California, Berkeley, where he became the school's second all-time career rusher.

Jun Lin, also known as Justin Lin, was an international student from Wuhan and an undergraduate in the engineering and computer science faculty at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In 2012 he was murdered by Luka Rocco Magnotta, who then mailed his hands and feet to elementary schools and federal political party offices.

Anya Chalotra is a British actress primarily known for her role as Yennefer of Vengerberg in the Netflix original series The Witcher. Before that she had a role in Wanderlust.

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bordering the Straits of Malacca to the west, the Riau Islands to the south, and the South China Sea to the east. The country's territory is composed of one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet, the combined area of which has increased by 25% since the country's independence as a result of extensive land reclamation projects. It has the second greatest population density in the world. The country has almost 5.7 million residents, 61% (3.4 million) of whom are Singaporean citizens. There are four official languages of Singapore: English, Malay, Chinese, and Tamil; with English being the lingua franca. Multiracialism is enshrined in the constitution, and continues to shape national policies in education, housing, and politics.

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and its largest city, with a population of 587,581 as of 2020. The population of Vilnius's functional urban area, which stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at 700,275, while according to the Vilnius territorial health insurance fund, there were 729,923 permanent inhabitants as of May 2020 in Vilnius city and Vilnius district municipalities combined. Vilnius is in southeastern Lithuania and is the second-largest city in the Baltic states. It is the seat of Lithuania's national government and the Vilnius District Municipality.

The Mandalorian is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the Star Wars franchise, beginning five years after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983). It stars Pedro Pascal as the title character, a lone bounty hunter who goes on the run after being hired to retrieve "The Child".

Cats is a 2019 musical fantasy film based on the 1981 Tony Award-winning stage musical of the same name by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which in turn was based on the poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) by T. S. Eliot. The film is directed by Tom Hooper, in his second feature musical following Les Misérables (2012), from a screenplay by Lee Hall and Hooper. The film features an ensemble cast, including James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson, and Francesca Hayward.

Funafuti is an atoll and the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 6,320 people, making it the country's most populated atoll, with 60.15 percent of Tuvalu's population. It is a narrow sweep of land between 20 and 400 metres wide, encircling a large lagoon 18 km long and 14 km wide. The average depth in the Funafuti lagoon is about 20 fathoms. With a surface of 275 square kilometres (106.2 sq mi), it is by far the largest lagoon in Tuvalu. The land area of the 33 islets aggregates to 2.4 square kilometres (0.9 sq mi), less than one percent of the total area of the atoll. Cargo ships can enter Funafuti's lagoon and dock at the port facilities on Fongafale.

Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill is a British actor. He is known for his portrayal of the Duke of Suffolk in Showtime’s The Tudors, DC Comics character Superman in the DC Extended Universe, Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix fantasy series The Witcher (2019–present), as well as Sherlock Holmes in the Netflix movie Enola Holmes (2020).

Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season centered around it.

The Dyatlov Pass incident was an event in which nine Russian hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains between 1 and 2 February 1959, in uncertain circumstances. The experienced trekking group, who were all from the Ural Polytechnical Institute, had established a camp on the slopes of Kholat Syakhl, in an area now named in honour of the group's leader, Igor Dyatlov. During the night, something caused them to cut their way out of their tents and flee the campsite while inadequately dressed for the heavy snowfall and subzero temperatures.

Kyoto, officially Kyoto City , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. As of 2018, the city had a population of 1.47 million.

Dabangg 3 is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film directed by Prabhu Deva and co-produced by Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan under their respective banners of Salman Khan Films and Arbaaz Khan Productions. The film serves as a prequel-cum-sequel to the 2010 film Dabangg and 2012 film Dabangg 2, and is the third installment of the Dabangg film series. The screenplay of the film is written by Salman Khan, Prabhu Deva, and Alok Upadhyaye. The story, written by Salman Khan, is set in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The film features Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha,and Arbaaz Khan reprising their roles from the previous film, along with Sudeep as the antagonist and Saiee Manjrekar in her Bollywood debut.

Kathmandu is the capital and largest city of Nepal, with a population of around 1 million. Also known as the city of temples, the city stands at an elevation of approximately 1,400 metres above sea level in the bowl-shaped Kathmandu valley in central Nepal. The valley was historically called the "Nepal Mandala" and has been the home of the Newar people, a cosmopolitan urban civilization in the Himalayan foothills. The city was the royal capital of the Kingdom of Nepal and hosts palaces, mansions and gardens of the Nepalese aristocracy. It has been home to the headquarters of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) since 1985. Today, it is the seat of government of the Nepalese republic, established in 2008, and is part of the Bagmati Province.

This is a list of notable deaths, organized by year. New deaths articles are added to their respective month, and then linked here.

Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts on Christmas Eve of toys and candy to well-behaved children, and either coal or nothing to naughty children. He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves, who make the toys in his workshop at the North Pole, and flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air.

Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin is an American actor, musician, and podcaster. Regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars" and on E!'s list of the "50 Greatest Child Stars".

The Star Wars franchise has spawned multiple live-action and animated films. The franchise started with a film trilogy set in medias res—beginning in the middle of the story—which was later expanded to a trilogy of trilogies, better known as the "Skywalker saga". The original trilogy was released between 1977 and 1983, the prequel trilogy between 1999 and 2005, and a sequel trilogy between 2015 and 2019. The original eponymous film, later subtitled Episode IV – A New Hope, was followed by the sequels Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983), forming what is collectively referred to as the original trilogy.

Seoul, officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. Seoul has a population of 9.7 million people, and forms the heart of the Seoul Capital Area with the surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province. Seoul was the world's 4th largest metropolitan economy in 2014 after Tokyo, New York City and Los Angeles. In 2017, the cost of living in Seoul was ranked the 6th highest globally.

Edward Regan Murphy is an American actor, comedian, writer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has also worked as a stand-up comedian and was ranked No. 10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms.

Hanukkah is a Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE. It is also known as the Festival of Lights.

Adam Douglas Driver is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, as well as nominations for a Tony Award, two Academy Awards, and four Primetime Emmy Awards.

Home Alone is a 1990 American comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. It stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O'Hara. Culkin stars as eight-year-old Kevin, who defends his home from burglars Harry and Marv after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their vacation.

Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained attention in 2015 when she uploaded the song "Ocean Eyes" to SoundCloud, which was subsequently released by the Interscope Records subsidiary Darkroom. The song was written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom she collaborates on music and live shows. Her debut EP, Don't Smile at Me (2017), became a sleeper hit, reaching the top 15 in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.

Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various films and other media, including television series, video games, novels, comic books, theme park attractions, and themed areas, comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe. In 2020, its total value was estimated at US$70 billion, and it is currently the fifth-highest-grossing media franchise of all time.

Ram Dass, also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, psychologist, and author. His best known book, Be Here Now (1971), has been described as "seminal", and helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga with the baby boomer generation in the West. He authored or co-authored twelve more books on spirituality over the next four decades, including Grist for the Mill (1977), How Can I Help? (1985), and Polishing the Mirror (2013).

Pope Benedict XVI is a retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as head of the Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2005 until his resignation in 2013. Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II. Benedict chose to be known by the title "pope emeritus" upon his resignation.

Jakarta, officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, is the capital of Indonesia. On the northwest coast of the world's most-populous island of Java, it is the centre of economy, culture and politics of Indonesia with a population of 10,770,487 in the city as of 2020. Although Jakarta only covers 699.5 square kilometres (270.1 sq mi), the smallest among any Indonesian provinces, its metropolitan area covers 6,392 square kilometres (2,468 sq mi), and is the world's second-most populous urban area after Tokyo, with a population of about 35.934 million as of 2020. Jakarta's business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a higher standard of living, have attracted migrants from across the Indonesian archipelago, making it a melting pot of numerous cultures. Jakarta is nicknamed the "Big Durian", the thorny strongly-odored fruit native to the region, seen as the Indonesian equivalent of the "Big Apple".

Pope Francis is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. Francis is the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first pope from outside Europe since the Syrian Gregory III, who reigned in the 8th century.

Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide. Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously formed part of the British Empire. Boxing Day is on 26 December, although the attached bank holiday or public holiday may take place either on that day or one or two days later. Boxing day is also concurrent with the Christian holiday Saint Stephen's Day.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing a pathway to Indian citizenship for refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians, and arrived in India before the end of December 2014. The law does not grant such eligibility to Muslims from those countries, all of which are Muslim-majority countries. The act was the first time that religion had been overtly used as a criterion for citizenship under Indian law.

Mumbai is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-most populous city in the country after Delhi and the seventh-most populous city in the world with a population of roughly 20 million. As per Indian government population census of 2011, Mumbai was the most populous city in India with an estimated city proper population of 12.5 million living under Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. Mumbai is the centre of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the sixth most populous metropolitan area in the world with a population of over 23 million. Mumbai lies on the Konkan coast on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2008, Mumbai was named an alpha world city. It has the highest number of millionaires and billionaires among all cities in India. Mumbai is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Elephanta Caves, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, and the city's distinctive ensemble of Victorian and Art Deco buildings.

James Riddle Hoffa was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971.

Dubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai.

The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest of any kind. It broadcasts radio news, speech and discussions in more than 40 languages to many parts of the world on analogue and digital shortwave platforms, internet streaming, podcasting, satellite, DAB, FM and MW relays. In 2015, The World Service reached an average of 210 million people a week. In November 2016, the BBC announced that it would start broadcasting in additional languages including Amharic and Igbo, in its biggest expansion since the 1940s.

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. was an American singer, comedian and actor. The first multimedia star, Crosby was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1930 to 1954. He made over seventy feature films and recorded more than 1,600 different songs.

Saint Petersburg, also known as St. Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd (Петроград) (1914–1924), and later Leningrad (Ленинград) (1924–1991), is the second-largest city in Russia. The city is situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, with a population of roughly 5.4 million residents. It is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most-populous city on the Baltic Sea, as well as the world's northernmost city with over 1 million residents. As an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea, it is governed as a federal city, Saint Petersburg was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Sheev Palpatine is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. Initially credited as The Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Palpatine is also known by his Sith title Darth Sidious.

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. As of 2014, Greater Beirut has a population of 2.2 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region and the thirteenth-largest in the Arab world. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast. Beirut has been inhabited for more than 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. The first historical mention of Beirut is found in the Amarna letters from the New Kingdom of Egypt, which date to the 15th century BC.

Vera-Ellen was an American dancer and actress. She is remembered for her solo performances as well as her work with partners Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye, and Donald O'Connor. She is best known for her starring roles in On the Town (1949) with Kelly and White Christmas (1954) with Kaye.

The Witcher is a 2007 action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by Atari on Microsoft Windows and CD Projekt on OS X, based on the novel series of The Witcher by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, taking place after the events of the main saga.

Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley is an English actress who rose to international prominence through playing the lead role of Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy: The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as an alternative to the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season. Originally created by author Daniel O'Keefe, Festivus entered popular culture after it was made the focus of the 1997 Seinfeld episode "The Strike", which O'Keefe's son, Dan O'Keefe, co-wrote.

According to traditional festive legend in some parts of the world, Santa Claus's reindeer are said to pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to children on Christmas Eve. The commonly cited names of the nine reindeer are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph, although Donner is sometimes called Donder and Blitzen is sometimes called Blixem.

The Irishman is a 2019 American epic crime film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt. It stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, with Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, and Harvey Keitel in supporting roles. The film follows Frank Sheeran, a truck driver who becomes a hitman involved with mobster Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and his crime family, including his time working for the powerful Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino).

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is a 1989 American family comedy film, the third installment in National Lampoon magazine's Vacation film series. Christmas Vacation was written by John Hughes, who based it on "Christmas '59", his short story published in National Lampoon. The film stars Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, and Randy Quaid.

'Hanoi ' is the capital city of Vietnam. It covers an area of 3,358.6 square kilometres (1,297 sq mi). It is the second largest city in Vietnam, with over eight million residents within city proper and an estimated population of 20 million within the metropolitan area. Located in part of the Red River Delta, Hanoi is the commercial, cultural, and educational centre of Northern Vietnam. Having an estimated nominal GDP of US$32.8 billion as of 2018, it is the second most productive economic area of Vietnam, after Ho Chi Minh City.

Frank Frederick Borman II is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) colonel, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, businessman, rancher, and NASA astronaut. He was the commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, and together with crewmates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, became the first of 24 humans to do so, for which he was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. As of 2020, he is the oldest living former American astronaut, eleven days older than Lovell.

Brooklyn is a borough of New York City, co-extensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. It is the most-populous county in the state, the second-most densely populated county in the United States, and New York City's most populous borough, with an estimated 2,648,403 residents in 2020. Named after the Dutch village of Breukelen, it shares a land border with the borough of Queens, at the western end of Long Island. Brooklyn has several bridge and tunnel connections to the borough of Manhattan across the East River, and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge connects it with Staten Island.

A Christmas Carol is a 2019 British dark fantasy drama based on the 1843 novella of the same name by Charles Dickens. It began airing on BBC One in the U.K. on 22 December 2019, and concluded two days later on 24 December 2019. It also later aired in the U.S. on FX Networks on 19 December 2019 & lasting for three nights with each episode part & also later airing encore presentations of the serial right after those three nights of the first broadcast on FX Networks in the U.S.. The three-part series is written by Steven Knight with actor Tom Hardy and Ridley Scott among the executive producers. This adaptation was meant to present a darker take on the classic story, one aimed for an adult audience. The drama involves adult language, horror elements, implications of child molestation, forced prostitution, and a depiction of a child drowning.

Joker is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Todd Phillips, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. The film, based on DC Comics characters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker and provides an alternative origin story for the character. Set in 1981, it follows Arthur Fleck, a failed clown and stand-up comedian whose descent into insanity and nihilism inspires a violent counter-cultural revolution against the wealthy in a decaying Gotham City. Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, and Marc Maron appear in supporting roles. Joker was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, and Joint Effort, in association with Bron Creative and Village Roadshow Pictures, and distributed by Warner Bros.

NORAD Tracks Santa is an annual Christmas-themed program in which NORAD simulates the tracking of Santa Claus, who is said to leave the North Pole to travel around the world on his mission to deliver presents to children every year on Christmas Eve. The program starts on December 1, but the actual Santa-tracking simulation starts at midnight annually on December 23. It is a community outreach function of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and has been held annually since 1955.

SN 1604, also known as Kepler's Supernova, Kepler's Nova or Kepler's Star, was a Type Ia supernova that occurred in the Milky Way, in the constellation Ophiuchus. Appearing in 1604, it is the most recent supernova in our galaxy to have been unquestionably observed by the naked eye, occurring no farther than 6 kiloparsecs from Earth. Prior to the adoption of the current naming system for supernovae, it was named for Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer who described it in De Stella Nova.

Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas Day. Together, both days are considered one of the most culturally significant celebrations in Christendom and Western society.

Knives Out is a 2019 American mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson, and produced by Johnson and Ram Bergman. It follows a master detective investigating the death of the patriarch of a wealthy, dysfunctional family. The film features an ensemble cast including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, and Christopher Plummer.

The Two Popes is a 2019 biographical drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles and written by Anthony McCarten, adapted from McCarten's play The Pope which premiered at Royal & Derngate Theatre in 2019. Predominantly set in the Vatican City in the aftermath of the Vatican leaks scandal, the film follows Pope Benedict XVI, played by Anthony Hopkins, as he attempts to convince Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, played by Jonathan Pryce, to reconsider his decision to resign as an archbishop as he confides his own intentions to abdicate the papacy.

Mariah Carey is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Known for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style, and signature use of the whistle register, she is referred to as the "Songbird Supreme" by Guinness World Records. She has also been referred to as the "Queen of Christmas". She rose to fame in 1990 with her eponymous debut album, released under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, who married her three years later. Carey is the first artist in history to have their first five singles reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, from "Vision of Love" to "Emotions".

An annular solar eclipse occurred on December 26, 2019. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide.

Geralt of Rivia is a fictional character and the protagonist of The Witcher series of short stories and novels by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Geralt, one of the few remaining witchers on the Continent, is a traveling monster slayer for hire, mutated and trained from an early age to slay deadly beasts.

Carrie Frances Fisher was an American actress and writer. Fisher played Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, a role for which she was nominated for four Saturn Awards. Her other film credits include Shampoo (1975), The Blues Brothers (1980), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The 'Burbs (1989), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Soapdish (1991), and The Women (2008). Fisher was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performances on the television series 30 Rock and Catastrophe. She was posthumously made a Disney Legend in 2017, and in 2018 she was awarded a posthumous Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.

Cats is a sung-through musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the 1939 poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. It tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make the "Jellicle choice," deciding which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. The musical includes the well-known song "Memory" as sung by Grizabella. As of 2019, Cats remains the fourth-longest-running Broadway show and the sixth-longest-running West End show.

Anthony Darelle "Booger" McFarland is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Louisiana State University and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft. McFarland also played for the Indianapolis Colts, and won two Super Bowl rings in his career: one with the Buccaneers and another with the Colts. He was an analyst for Monday Night Football in 2018 and 2019, before joining as a pregame analyst on Monday Night Countdown in 2020.

6 Underground is a 2019 American action film directed by Michael Bay and written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Mélanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Corey Hawkins, Ben Hardy and Dave Franco. Bay produced the film with his longtime business partner Ian Bryce and Skydance's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger.

Uncut Gems is a 2019 American crime thriller film directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ronald Bronstein. The film stars Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, a Jewish-American jeweler and gambling addict in New York City's Diamond District, who must retrieve an expensive gem he purchased to pay off his debts. The film also stars Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, and Eric Bogosian. Filming took place from September to November 2018. The original score was composed by Daniel Lopatin.

Togo was the lead sled dog of Leonhard Seppala and his dog sled team in the 1925 serum run to Nome across central and northern Alaska. Despite covering the most distance of any lead dogs on the run, over some of the most dangerous parts of the trail, his role was left out of contemporary news of the event at the time, in favor of the last lead dog in the relay, Balto.

Aaron Charles Rodgers is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Rodgers played college football for the California Golden Bears, where he set several career passing records, including lowest single-season and career interception rates. He was selected in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Packers.

Robert James Turbin is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football for the Utah State Aggies, and was drafted in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Seahawks. With the Seahawks, he won Super Bowl XLVIII over the Denver Broncos. He has played for the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts.

The fictional universe of The Witcher saga was created by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski in his series of novels. The following is a list of notable characters from the series of books.

Donald John Trump is an American politician who was the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality.

The fourth and most recent season of the animated television series Rick and Morty was confirmed by Adult Swim in May 2018. The season consists of 10 episodes. The first five episodes of the season aired from November 10, 2019 to December 15, 2019, while the remaining five aired from May 3, 2020 to May 31, 2020.

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and the only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II.

Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, businesswoman, singer-songwriter, producer, and writer. Duff began her acting career at a young age and quickly became labeled a teen idol as the title character of the television series Lizzie McGuire (2001–2004) and in the theatrical film based on the series, The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003). Thereafter, she appeared in numerous films, with leading roles in Agent Cody Banks (2003), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), A Cinderella Story (2004), and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005). She later began appearing in independent films playing a wider range of roles, such as an oversexed popstar in War, Inc. (2008), a suicidal and rebellious teenager in According to Greta (2009), and as the title character in the controversial The Haunting of Sharon Tate (2019). She has also executive produced several of the projects she starred in, such as According to Greta, Beauty and the Briefcase (2010) and The Haunting of Sharon Tate. Since 2015, she has starred as Kelsey Peters on TV Land's longest-running original comedy-drama series Younger, for which she has received nominations for People's Choice Awards in 2016 and 2017.

Scarlett Ingrid Johansson is an American actress and singer. She was the world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, and has featured multiple times on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. Her films have grossed over $14.3 billion worldwide, making Johansson the ninth-highest-grossing box office star of all time. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Tony Award and a BAFTA Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards.

Frozen II is a 2019 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The 58th animated film produced by the studio, and the sequel to the 2013 film Frozen, it features the return of directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, producer Peter Del Vecho, songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and composer Christophe Beck. Lee also returns as screenwriter, penning the screenplay from a story by her, Buck, Marc E. Smith, Anderson-Lopez, and Lopez, while Byron Howard executive-produced the film. Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff, and Ciarán Hinds reprised their roles, while they are joined by newcomers Sterling K. Brown, Evan Rachel Wood, Alfred Molina, Martha Plimpton, Jason Ritter, Rachel Matthews, and Jeremy Sisto.

Hemant Soren is an Indian politician from Jharkhand, who is the current Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Previously, he had also served as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand from July 2013 to December 2014. He is also the president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, a political party in Jharkhand.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian-American celebration of Christmas Eve with dishes of fish and other seafood.

Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 12.4 million residents within the city limits, while over 17 million residents in the urban area, and over 20 million residents in the Moscow Metropolitan Area. The city covers an area of 2,511 square kilometres (970 sq mi), while the urban area covers 5,891 square kilometres (2,275 sq mi), and the metropolitan area covers over 26,000 square kilometres (10,000 sq mi). Moscow is among the world's largest cities, being the largest city entirely in Europe, the largest urban area in Europe, the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and the largest city by land area on the European continent.

This is a list of Bollywood films that were released in 2019.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is a co-production between the United States, United Kingdom, and China. It features a large ensemble cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie. Set in 1969 Los Angeles, the film follows a fading character actor and his stunt double as they navigate the rapidly changing film industry, with the looming threat of the Tate-LaBianca Murders hanging overhead. It features "multiple storylines in a modern fairy tale tribute to the final moments of Hollywood's golden age."

Francis Joseph Sheeran, also known as "The Irishman", was an American labor union official who was accused of having links to the Bufalino crime family in his capacity as a high-ranking official in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the president of Local 326.

The date of birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical reference, but most theologians assume a year of birth between 6 and 4 BC. The historical evidence is too incomplete to allow a definitive dating, but the year is estimated through three different approaches: (A) by analyzing references to known historical events mentioned in the nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, (B) by working backward from the estimation of the start of the ministry of Jesus, and (C) astrological or astronomical alignments. The day or season has been estimated by various methods, including the description of shepherds watching over their sheep.

Love Actually is a 2003 Christmas-themed romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. It features an ensemble cast, composed predominantly of British actors, many of whom had worked with Curtis in previous film and television projects. Mostly filmed on location in London, the screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as the tales progress. The story begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a weekly countdown until the holiday, followed by an epilogue that takes place one month later.

Emma Gwynedd Mary Chambers was an English comic actress. She played the role of Alice Tinker in the BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley and Honey Thacker in the film Notting Hill (1999).

Die Hard is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. It stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, and Bonnie Bedelia. Based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, Die Hard follows New York City police detective John McClane (Willis) who is caught up in a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper while visiting his estranged wife. Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Paul Gleason, and Hart Bochner feature in supporting roles.

Kathryn Tappen is an American sportscaster. Tappen works on NBC Sports Group's coverage of the NHL, Notre Dame Football, Football Night in America as well as the Summer and Winter Olympic Games among others.

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Magnetic North Pole.

Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African-American culture that is held from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually held on the 6th day. It was created by Maulana Karenga, based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of Africa, including West and Southeast Africa. Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966.

Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me", "Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey There", and "This Ole House". She also had success as a jazz vocalist. Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly due to problems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in 1977, when her White Christmas co-star Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business. She continued recording until her death in 2002.

The Apple Network Server (ANS) was a line of PowerPC-based server computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from February 1996 to April 1997. It was codenamed "Shiner" and originally consisted of two models, the Network Server 500/132 and the Network Server 700/150, which got a companion model, the Network Server 700/200 with a faster CPU in November 1996.

His Dark Materials is a fantasy drama television series based on the novel series of the same name by Philip Pullman. It is produced by Bad Wolf and New Line Productions, for BBC One and HBO, with the latter handling international distribution.

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas family fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet The Greatest Gift, which Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943 and is in turn loosely based on the 1843 Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams, in order to help others in his community, and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody. Clarence shows George how he, George, has touched the lives of others and how different life would be for his wife Mary and his community of Bedford Falls if he had not been born.

John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its Second City Television (SCTV) series, and through his appearances in comedy films, including Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, Summer Rental, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle Buck, as well as more dramatic roles in Only the Lonely and JFK. One of his most renowned onscreen performances was as Del Griffith, the talkative shower-curtain ring salesman in the John Hughes comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles. In addition to his work as an actor, Candy was a co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League from 1991 until his death, and the team won the 1991 Grey Cup under his ownership. Candy died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 43. His final two films, Wagons East and Canadian Bacon, are dedicated to his memory.

George Michael was an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! and later embarked on a solo career. Michael sold over 80 million records worldwide making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He achieved seven number one songs on the UK Singles Chart and eight number one songs on the US Billboard Hot 100. Michael won various music awards including two Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, three American Music Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards and six Ivor Novello Awards. In 2008, he was ranked 40th on Billboard's list of the Greatest Hot 100 Artists of All Time.

Alexandria is the second-largest city in Egypt and a major economic centre. With a population of 5,200,000, Alexandria is the largest city on the Mediterranean - also called the Bride of the Mediterranean by locals - the sixth-largest city in the Arab world and the ninth-largest in Africa. The city extends about 40 km (25 mi) at the northern coast of Egypt along the Mediterranean Sea. Alexandria is a popular tourist destination, and also an important industrial centre because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez.

Za'Darius Smith is an American football outside linebacker for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Kentucky, and was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft.