diff --git a/addon/README b/addon/README
index 8d5088f7..18843cea 100644
--- a/addon/README
+++ b/addon/README
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ Current hooks:
 		'username' => the supplied username
 		'password' => the supplied password
 		'authenticated' => set this to non-zero to authenticate the user.
+		'user_record' => successful authentication must also return a valid user record from the database
+
 
 'logged_in' - called after a user has successfully logged in.
 	$b contains the $a->user array
diff --git a/addon/ldapauth/ldapauth.php b/addon/ldapauth/ldapauth.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2ec30caa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/addon/ldapauth/ldapauth.php
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * Friendika addon
+ * 
+ * Module: LDAP Authenticate
+ *
+ * Authenticate a user against an LDAP directory
+ * Useful for Windows Active Directory and other LDAP-based organisations
+ * to maintain a single password across the organisation.
+ *
+ * Optionally authenticates only if a member of a given group in the directory.
+ *
+ * The person must have registered with Friendika using the normal registration 
+ * procedures in order to have a Friendika user record, contact, and profile.
+ *
+ * Note when using with Windows Active Directory: you may need to set TLS_CACERT in your site
+ * ldap.conf file to the signing cert for your LDAP server. 
+ * 
+ * The required configuration options for this module may be set in the .htconfig.php file
+ * e.g.:
+ *
+ * $a->config['ldapauth']['ldap_server'] = 'host.example.com';
+ * ...etc.
+ *
+ */
+
+
+
+function ldapauth_install() {
+	register_hook('authenticate', 'addon/ldapauth/ldapauth.php', 'ldapauth_hook_authenticate');
+}
+
+
+function ldapauth_uninstall() {
+	unregister_hook('authenticate', 'addon/ldapauth/ldapauth.php', 'ldapauth_hook_authenticate');
+}
+
+
+function ldapauth_hook_authenticate($a,&$b) {
+	if(ldapauth_authenticate($b['username'],$b['password'])) {
+		$results = q("SELECT * FROM `user` WHERE `nickname` = '%s' AND `blocked` = 0 AND `verified` = 1 LIMIT 1",
+				dbesc($b['username'])
+		);
+		if(count($results)) {
+				$b['user_record'] = $results[0];
+				$b['authenticated'] = 1;
+		}
+	}
+	return;
+}
+
+
+function ldapauth_authenticate($username,$password) {
+
+    $ldap_server   = get_config('ldapauth','ldap_server');
+    $ldap_binddn   = get_config('ldapauth','ldap_binddn');
+    $ldap_bindpw   = get_config('ldapauth','ldap_bindpw');
+    $ldap_searchdn = get_config('ldapauth','ldap_searchdn');
+    $ldap_userattr = get_config('ldapauth','ldap_userattr');
+    $ldap_group    = get_config('ldapauth','ldap_group');
+
+    if(! ((strlen($password))
+            && (function_exists('ldap_connect'))
+            && (strlen($ldap_server))))
+            return false;
+
+    $connect = @ldap_connect($ldap_server);
+
+    if(! $connect)
+        return false;
+
+    @ldap_set_option($connect, LDAP_OPT_PROTOCOL_VERSION,3);
+    @ldap_set_option($connect, LDAP_OPT_REFERRALS, 0);
+    if((@ldap_bind($connect,$ldap_binddn,$ldap_bindpw)) === false) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    $res = @ldap_search($connect,$ldap_searchdn, $ldap_userattr . '=' . $username);
+
+    if(! $res) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    $id = @ldap_first_entry($connect,$res);
+
+    if(! $id) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    $dn = @ldap_get_dn($connect,$id);
+
+    if(! @ldap_bind($connect,$dn,$password))
+        return false;
+
+    if(! strlen($ldap_group))
+        return true;
+
+    $r = @ldap_compare($connect,$ldap_group,'member',$dn);
+    if ($r === -1) {
+        $err = @ldap_error($connect);
+        $eno = @ldap_errno($connect);
+        @ldap_close($connect);
+
+        if ($eno === 32) {
+            logger("ldapauth: access control group Does Not Exist");
+            return false;
+        }
+        elseif ($eno === 16) {
+            logger('ldapauth: membership attribute does not exist in access control group');
+            return false;
+        }
+        else {
+            logger('ldapauth: error: ' . $err);
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+    elseif ($r === false) {
+        @ldap_close($connect);
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    return true;
+}
diff --git a/addon/randplace/randplace.php b/addon/randplace/randplace.php
index 2e1bd33a..2f0ff038 100644
--- a/addon/randplace/randplace.php
+++ b/addon/randplace/randplace.php
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ function randplace_post_hook($a, &$item) {
 	$cities = array();
 	$zones = timezone_identifiers_list();
 	foreach($zones as $zone) {
-		if(strpos($zone,'/'))
+		if((strpos($zone,'/')) && (! stristr($zone,'US/')) && (! stristr($zone,'Etc/')))
 			$cities[] = str_replace('_', ' ',substr($zone,strpos($zone,'/') + 1));
 	}
 
diff --git a/include/auth.php b/include/auth.php
index bc77e5db..d2bcb68d 100644
--- a/include/auth.php
+++ b/include/auth.php
@@ -132,16 +132,18 @@ else {
 	}
 	if((x($_POST,'auth-params')) && $_POST['auth-params'] === 'login') {
 
+		$record = null;
 
 		$addon_auth = array(
-			'name' => trim($_POST['openid_url']), 
+			'username' => trim($_POST['openid_url']), 
 			'password' => trim($_POST['password']),
-			'authenticated' => 0
+			'authenticated' => 0,
+			'user_record' => null
 		);
 
 		/**
 		 *
-		 * A plugin indicates successful login by setting 'authenticated' to non-zero value
+		 * A plugin indicates successful login by setting 'authenticated' to non-zero value and returning a user record
 		 * Plugins should never set 'authenticated' except to indicate success - as hooks may be chained
 		 * and later plugins should not interfere with an earlier one that succeeded.
 		 *
@@ -149,8 +151,12 @@ else {
 
 		call_hooks('authenticate', $addon_auth);
 
-		if(! $addon_auth['authenticated']) {
-			// process login request
+		if(($addon_auth['authenticated']) && (count($addon_auth['user_record']))) {
+			$record = $addon_auth['user_record'];
+		}
+		else {
+
+			// process normal login request
 
 			$r = q("SELECT * FROM `user` WHERE ( `email` = '%s' OR `nickname` = '%s' ) 
 				AND `password` = '%s' AND `blocked` = 0 AND `verified` = 1 LIMIT 1",
@@ -158,21 +164,25 @@ else {
 				dbesc(trim($_POST['openid_url'])),
 				dbesc($encrypted)
 			);
-			if(($r === false) || (! count($r))) {
-				notice( t('Login failed.') . EOL );
-				goaway($a->get_baseurl());
-  			}
+			if(count($r))
+				$record = $r[0];
 		}
 
-		$_SESSION['uid'] = $r[0]['uid'];
-		$_SESSION['theme'] = $r[0]['theme'];
+		if((! $record) || (! count($record))) {
+			logger('authenticate: failed login attempt: ' . trim($_POST['openid_url'])); 
+			notice( t('Login failed.') . EOL );
+			goaway($a->get_baseurl());
+  		}
+
+		$_SESSION['uid'] = $record['uid'];
+		$_SESSION['theme'] = $record['theme'];
 		$_SESSION['authenticated'] = 1;
-		$_SESSION['page_flags'] = $r[0]['page-flags'];
-		$_SESSION['my_url'] = $a->get_baseurl() . '/profile/' . $r[0]['nickname'];
+		$_SESSION['page_flags'] = $record['page-flags'];
+		$_SESSION['my_url'] = $a->get_baseurl() . '/profile/' . $record['nickname'];
 		$_SESSION['addr'] = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
 
-		notice( t("Welcome back ") . $r[0]['username'] . EOL);
-		$a->user = $r[0];
+		notice( t("Welcome back ") . $record['username'] . EOL);
+		$a->user = $record;
 		if(strlen($a->user['timezone']))
 			date_default_timezone_set($a->user['timezone']);
 
diff --git a/view/it/strings.php b/view/it/strings.php
index ca6ec3e9..217f0441 100644
--- a/view/it/strings.php
+++ b/view/it/strings.php
@@ -303,9 +303,9 @@ $a->strings['Your registration can not be processed.'] = 'La tua registrazione n
 $a->strings['Registration request at '] = 'Registrazione richiesta il ';
 $a->strings['Your registration is pending approval by the site owner.'] = 'La tua richiesta &egrave; in attesa di approvazione da parte del prorietario del sito.';
 $a->strings["You may \x28optionally\x29 fill in this form via OpenID by supplying your OpenID and clicking 'Register'."] = "Puoi \x28opzionalmento\x29 riempire questa maschera via OpenID inserendo il tuo OpenID e cliccando 'Registra'."; 
-$a->strings['If you are not familiar with OpenID, please leave that field blank and fill in the rest of the items.'] = 'Se non hai famigliarit&agrave; con OpenID, lascia quel campo in bianco e riempi il resto della maschera.';
+$a->strings['If you are not familiar with OpenID, please leave that field blank and fill in the rest of the items.'] = 'Se non hai familiarit&agrave; con OpenID, lascia quel campo in bianco e riempi il resto della maschera.';
 $a->strings["Your OpenID \x28optional\x29: "] = "Il tuo OpenID \x28opzionale\x29: ";
-$a->strings['Shared content is covered by the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0</a> license.'] = 'Contenuto in comune h coperto da licenza <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.it">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0</a>.';
+$a->strings['Shared content is covered by the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0</a> license.'] = 'Il contenuto in comune &egrave; coperto dalla licenza <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.it">Creative Commons Attribuzione 3.0</a>.';
 $a->strings['Registration'] = 'Registrazione';
 $a->strings['Your Full Name ' . "\x28" . 'e.g. Joe Smith' . "\x29" . ': '] = 'Il tuo Nome Completo ' . "\x28" . 'p.e. Mario Rossi' . "\x29" . ': ';
 $a->strings['Your Email Address: '] = 'Il tuo Indirizzo Email: ';
@@ -319,14 +319,14 @@ $a->strings['View in context'] = 'Vedi nel contesto';
 $a->strings['Passwords do not match. Password unchanged.'] = 'Le password non corrispondono. Passoword non cambiata.';
 $a->strings['Empty passwords are not allowed. Password unchanged.'] = 'Password vuote non sono consentite. Password non cambiata.';
 $a->strings['Password changed.'] = 'Password cambiata.';
-$a->strings['Password update failed. Please try again.'] = 'Aggiornamento password  fallito. Prova ancora.';
+$a->strings['Password update failed. Please try again.'] = 'Aggiornamento password fallito. Prova ancora.';
 $a->strings[' Please use a shorter name.'] = ' Usa un nome pi&ugrave; corto.';
 $a->strings[' Name too short.'] = ' Nome troppo corto.';
 $a->strings[' Not valid email.'] = ' Email non valida.';
 $a->strings['Settings updated.'] = 'Impostazioni aggiornate.';
 $a->strings['Plugin Settings'] = 'Impostazioni Plugin';
-$a->strings['Account Settings'= = 'Impostazioni Account';
-$a->strings['No Plugin settings configured'] = 'Nessuna impostazione Plugin configurato';
+$a->strings['Account Settings'] = 'Impostazioni Account';
+$a->strings['No Plugin settings configured'] = 'Nessuna impostazione Plugin configurata';
 $a->strings['OpenID: '] = 'OpenID: ';
 $a->strings["&nbsp;\x28Optional\x29 Allow this OpenID to login to this account."] = "&nbsp;\x28Opzionale\x29 Permetti a questo OpenID di accedere a questo account.";
 $a->strings['Profile is <strong>not published</strong>.'] = 'Il profilo <strong>non &egrave; pubblicato</strong>.';