Chad

Coordinates: 15°N 19°E / 15°N 19°E / 15; 19

Chad (ⁱ/tʃæd/; Arabic: تشاد‎ Tshād; French: Tchad), officially the Republic of Chad (Arabic: جمهورية تشاد‎ Jumhūrīyat Tshād; French: République du Tchad), is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest and Niger to the west. It is the fifth largest country in Africa in terms of area.

Chad has several regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second-largest in Africa. N'Djamena, the capital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic and French are the official languages. Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.

Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires rose and fell in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa. In 1960, Chad obtained independence under the leadership of François Tombalbaye. Resentment towards his policies in the Muslim north culminated in the eruption of a long-lasting civil war in 1965. In 1979, the rebels conquered the capital and put an end to the south's hegemony. However, the rebel commanders fought amongst themselves until Hissène Habré defeated his rivals. He was overthrown in 1990 by his general Idriss Déby. Since 2003, the Darfur crisis in Sudan has spilt over the border and destabilised the nation, with hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees living in and around camps in eastern Chad.

Akuila Uate

Akuila Uate (born 6 October 1987) is a Fijian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League. A three time Dally M Winger of the Year, Uate has represented New South Wales in State of Origin and both Fiji and Australia in international football. He is also a New South Wales Country, NRL All Stars and Prime Minister's XIII representative. He plays at wing and is currently the highest try-scorer in the Newcastle Knights' history.

Background

Born in Votua, in the Province of Nadroga-Navosa, Uate moved to Woy Woy, New South Wales, Australia as a 15-year and played his junior football for the Woy Woy Roosters in New South Wales before being signed by the Newcastle Knights. As a junior, Uate came 3rd in the underage Australian sprinting finals. Uate was tipped as a future superstar by Knights legend, Andrew Johns. Johns said about Uate, "In all my years in rugby league I've never seen a better athlete than this bloke." He was also described by the talent scout who spotted him as "the next Lote Tuqiri". Uate played for the Knights' Premier League and Jersey Flegg teams in 2006. Uate scored a try in the 2006 Jersey Flegg Grand Final 22-20 loss to the Penrith Panthers Jersey Flegg side. While attending Brisbane Waters Senior College, Uate played for the Australian schoolboys in 2005. On 7 October 2006, Uate represented Fiji in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup qualifying match against the Cook Islands, playing at centre and scoring a try in the 40-4 win at Penrith Stadium.

Choose Your Own Adventure

Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based upon a concept created by Edward Packard and originally published by Constance Cappel's and R. A. Montgomery's Vermont Crossroads Press as the "Adventures of You" series, starting with Packard's Sugarcane Island in 1976.

Choose Your Own Adventure, as published by Bantam Books, was one of the most popular children's series during the 1980s and 1990s, selling more than 250 million copies between 1979 and 1998. When Bantam, now owned by Random House, allowed the Choose Your Own Adventure trademark to lapse, the series was relaunched by Chooseco, which now owns the CYOA trademark. Notably, Chooseco does not reissue titles by Packard, who has started his own imprint, U-Ventures.

Format

Jarrod Mullen

Jarrod Stephen Mullen (born 9 April 1987) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Newcastle Knights of the National Rugby League (NRL). A New South Wales State of Origin representative halfback, he also plays five-eighth and has played his entire career with the Knights.

Mullen is a playmaker for the Newcastle Knights. After playing only nine first grade games as halfback and 31 games in total, he was a shock pick at that position for the New South Wales Blues in the 2007 State of Origin series. Most believed that at 20 years of age, the job would go to a more experienced playmaker, but the selectors saw him as a potential long-term prospect. Ultimately, Mullen was dropped after one game, a match in which NSW let slip an 18-6 halftime lead to lose 25-18.

Early career

Born in Singleton, NSW, he moved to Newcastle with his family when he was nine. Son of Leeann Mullen and Steve Mullen, a former rugby league player who played for the Canterbury Bulldogs and Western Suburbs Magpies in the 1980s, he was born into the sport and played his first game aged seven for the Taree-Old Bar Lifesavers (now known as Taree Panthers), where it was obvious he had talent. Two years later (after a brief stint playing soccer), Mullen relocated to Newcastle, where he continued his junior career with the Western Suburbs club. His first representative game was for St Therese's Primary School, New Lambton, in the Regional Knights Knockout competition, with the school winning the competition in 1996 and 1997. He played most of his junior football at five-eighth.

Kevin Naiqama

Kevin Naiqama (born 4 February 1989) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League. He previously played for the Newcastle Knights and Penrith Panthers. He is a Fijian international representative and primarily plays as a fullback, winger and centre.

Background

Born in Sutherland, New South Wales, Naiqama is of Fijian descent and played his junior football for the Arncliffe Scots, before being signed by the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

Naiqama is the younger brother of London Broncos player and Fijian international, Wes Naiqama.

Playing career

Early career

After playing with the St. George Illawarra Dragons, Naiqama joined the Newcastle Knights alongside his brother Wes in 2008. He played for the Knights' NYC team in 2008 and 2009, scoring 21 tries in 33 games.

2009

In 2009, Naiqama played for Fiji in the 2009 Pacific Cup.

2010

In 2010, he moved on to the Knights' New South Wales Cup team, Central Coast Centurions and played for the New South Wales Residents against the Queensland Residents at ANZ Stadium as a curtain raiser to Game three of the State of Origin series. In Round 26 of the 2010 NRL season, Naiqama made his NRL debut for the Knights against the Melbourne Storm on the wing in the Knights 34-4 loss at AAMI Park. At the end of 2010, Naiqama was named on the wing in the New South Wales Cup Team of the Year.