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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_(programming_language)#cite_note-189] | [TOKENS: 4314] |
Contents Python (programming language) Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability with the use of significant indentation. Python is dynamically type-checked and garbage-collected. It supports multiple programming paradigms, including structured (particularly procedural), object-oriented and functional programming. Guido van Rossum began working on Python in the late 1980s as a successor to the ABC programming language. Python 3.0, released in 2008, was a major revision and not completely backward-compatible with earlier versions. Beginning with Python 3.5, capabilities and keywords for typing were added to the language, allowing optional static typing. As of 2026[update], the Python Software Foundation supports Python 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, and 3.14, following the project's annual release cycle and five-year support policy. Python 3.15 is currently in the alpha development phase, and the stable release is expected to come out in October 2026. Earlier versions in the 3.x series have reached end-of-life and no longer receive security updates. Python has gained widespread use in the machine learning community. It is widely taught as an introductory programming language. Since 2003, Python has consistently ranked in the top ten of the most popular programming languages in the TIOBE Programming Community Index, which ranks based on searches in 24 platforms. History Python was conceived in the late 1980s by Guido van Rossum at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands. It was designed as a successor to the ABC programming language, which was inspired by SETL, capable of exception handling and interfacing with the Amoeba operating system. Python implementation began in December 1989. Van Rossum first released it in 1991 as Python 0.9.0. Van Rossum assumed sole responsibility for the project, as the lead developer, until 12 July 2018, when he announced his "permanent vacation" from responsibilities as Python's "benevolent dictator for life" (BDFL); this title was bestowed on him by the Python community to reflect his long-term commitment as the project's chief decision-maker. (He has since come out of retirement and is self-titled "BDFL-emeritus".) In January 2019, active Python core developers elected a five-member Steering Council to lead the project. The name Python derives from the British comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus. (See § Naming.) Python 2.0 was released on 16 October 2000, featuring many new features such as list comprehensions, cycle-detecting garbage collection, reference counting, and Unicode support. Python 2.7's end-of-life was initially set for 2015, and then postponed to 2020 out of concern that a large body of existing code could not easily be forward-ported to Python 3. It no longer receives security patches or updates. While Python 2.7 and older versions are officially unsupported, a different unofficial Python implementation, PyPy, continues to support Python 2, i.e., "2.7.18+" (plus 3.11), with the plus signifying (at least some) "backported security updates". Python 3.0 was released on 3 December 2008, and was a major revision and not completely backward-compatible with earlier versions, with some new semantics and changed syntax. Python 2.7.18, released in 2020, was the last release of Python 2. Several releases in the Python 3.x series have added new syntax to the language, and made a few (considered very minor) backward-incompatible changes. As of January 2026[update], Python 3.14.3 is the latest stable release. All older 3.x versions had a security update down to Python 3.9.24 then again with 3.9.25, the final version in 3.9 series. Python 3.10 is, since November 2025, the oldest supported branch. Python 3.15 has an alpha released, and Android has an official downloadable executable available for Python 3.14. Releases receive two years of full support followed by three years of security support. Design philosophy and features Python is a multi-paradigm programming language. Object-oriented programming and structured programming are fully supported, and many of their features support functional programming and aspect-oriented programming – including metaprogramming and metaobjects. Many other paradigms are supported via extensions, including design by contract and logic programming. Python is often referred to as a 'glue language' because it is purposely designed to be able to integrate components written in other languages. Python uses dynamic typing and a combination of reference counting and a cycle-detecting garbage collector for memory management. It uses dynamic name resolution (late binding), which binds method and variable names during program execution. Python's design offers some support for functional programming in the "Lisp tradition". It has filter, map, and reduce functions; list comprehensions, dictionaries, sets, and generator expressions. The standard library has two modules (itertools and functools) that implement functional tools borrowed from Haskell and Standard ML. Python's core philosophy is summarized in the Zen of Python (PEP 20) written by Tim Peters, which includes aphorisms such as these: However, Python has received criticism for violating these principles and adding unnecessary language bloat. Responses to these criticisms note that the Zen of Python is a guideline rather than a rule. The addition of some new features had been controversial: Guido van Rossum resigned as Benevolent Dictator for Life after conflict about adding the assignment expression operator in Python 3.8. Nevertheless, rather than building all functionality into its core, Python was designed to be highly extensible via modules. This compact modularity has made it particularly popular as a means of adding programmable interfaces to existing applications. Van Rossum's vision of a small core language with a large standard library and easily extensible interpreter stemmed from his frustrations with ABC, which represented the opposite approach. Python claims to strive for a simpler, less-cluttered syntax and grammar, while giving developers a choice in their coding methodology. Python lacks do .. while loops, which Rossum considered harmful. In contrast to Perl's motto "there is more than one way to do it", Python advocates an approach where "there should be one – and preferably only one – obvious way to do it". In practice, however, Python provides many ways to achieve a given goal. There are at least three ways to format a string literal, with no certainty as to which one a programmer should use. Alex Martelli is a Fellow at the Python Software Foundation and Python book author; he wrote that "To describe something as 'clever' is not considered a compliment in the Python culture." Python's developers typically prioritize readability over performance. For example, they reject patches to non-critical parts of the CPython reference implementation that would offer increases in speed that do not justify the cost of clarity and readability.[failed verification] Execution speed can be improved by moving speed-critical functions to extension modules written in languages such as C, or by using a just-in-time compiler like PyPy. Also, it is possible to transpile to other languages. However, this approach either fails to achieve the expected speed-up, since Python is a very dynamic language, or only a restricted subset of Python is compiled (with potential minor semantic changes). Python is meant to be a fun language to use. This goal is reflected in the name – a tribute to the British comedy group Monty Python – and in playful approaches to some tutorials and reference materials. For instance, some code examples use the terms "spam" and "eggs" (in reference to a Monty Python sketch), rather than the typical terms "foo" and "bar". A common neologism in the Python community is pythonic, which has a broad range of meanings related to program style: Pythonic code may use Python idioms well; be natural or show fluency in the language; or conform with Python's minimalist philosophy and emphasis on readability. Syntax and semantics Python is meant to be an easily readable language. Its formatting is visually uncluttered and often uses English keywords where other languages use punctuation. Unlike many other languages, it does not use curly brackets to delimit blocks, and semicolons after statements are allowed but rarely used. It has fewer syntactic exceptions and special cases than C or Pascal. Python uses whitespace indentation, rather than curly brackets or keywords, to delimit blocks. An increase in indentation comes after certain statements; a decrease in indentation signifies the end of the current block. Thus, the program's visual structure accurately represents its semantic structure. This feature is sometimes termed the off-side rule. Some other languages use indentation this way; but in most, indentation has no semantic meaning. The recommended indent size is four spaces. Python's statements include the following: The assignment statement (=) binds a name as a reference to a separate, dynamically allocated object. Variables may subsequently be rebound at any time to any object. In Python, a variable name is a generic reference holder without a fixed data type; however, it always refers to some object with a type. This is called dynamic typing—in contrast to statically-typed languages, where each variable may contain only a value of a certain type. Python does not support tail call optimization or first-class continuations; according to Van Rossum, the language never will. However, better support for coroutine-like functionality is provided by extending Python's generators. Before 2.5, generators were lazy iterators; data was passed unidirectionally out of the generator. From Python 2.5 on, it is possible to pass data back into a generator function; and from version 3.3, data can be passed through multiple stack levels. Python's expressions include the following: In Python, a distinction between expressions and statements is rigidly enforced, in contrast to languages such as Common Lisp, Scheme, or Ruby. This distinction leads to duplicating some functionality, for example: A statement cannot be part of an expression; because of this restriction, expressions such as list and dict comprehensions (and lambda expressions) cannot contain statements. As a particular case, an assignment statement such as a = 1 cannot be part of the conditional expression of a conditional statement. Python uses duck typing, and it has typed objects but untyped variable names. Type constraints are not checked at definition time; rather, operations on an object may fail at usage time, indicating that the object is not of an appropriate type. Despite being dynamically typed, Python is strongly typed, forbidding operations that are poorly defined (e.g., adding a number and a string) rather than quietly attempting to interpret them. Python allows programmers to define their own types using classes, most often for object-oriented programming. New instances of classes are constructed by calling the class, for example, SpamClass() or EggsClass()); the classes are instances of the metaclass type (which is an instance of itself), thereby allowing metaprogramming and reflection. Before version 3.0, Python had two kinds of classes, both using the same syntax: old-style and new-style. Current Python versions support the semantics of only the new style. Python supports optional type annotations. These annotations are not enforced by the language, but may be used by external tools such as mypy to catch errors. Python includes a module typing including several type names for type annotations. Also, mypy supports a Python compiler called mypyc, which leverages type annotations for optimization. 1.33333 frozenset() Python includes conventional symbols for arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /), the floor-division operator //, and the modulo operator %. (With the modulo operator, a remainder can be negative, e.g., 4 % -3 == -2.) Also, Python offers the ** symbol for exponentiation, e.g. 5**3 == 125 and 9**0.5 == 3.0. Also, it offers the matrix‑multiplication operator @ . These operators work as in traditional mathematics; with the same precedence rules, the infix operators + and - can also be unary, to represent positive and negative numbers respectively. Division between integers produces floating-point results. The behavior of division has changed significantly over time: In Python terms, the / operator represents true division (or simply division), while the // operator represents floor division. Before version 3.0, the / operator represents classic division. Rounding towards negative infinity, though a different method than in most languages, adds consistency to Python. For instance, this rounding implies that the equation (a + b)//b == a//b + 1 is always true. Also, the rounding implies that the equation b*(a//b) + a%b == a is valid for both positive and negative values of a. As expected, the result of a%b lies in the half-open interval [0, b), where b is a positive integer; however, maintaining the validity of the equation requires that the result must lie in the interval (b, 0] when b is negative. Python provides a round function for rounding a float to the nearest integer. For tie-breaking, Python 3 uses the round to even method: round(1.5) and round(2.5) both produce 2. Python versions before 3 used the round-away-from-zero method: round(0.5) is 1.0, and round(-0.5) is −1.0. Python allows Boolean expressions that contain multiple equality relations to be consistent with general usage in mathematics. For example, the expression a < b < c tests whether a is less than b and b is less than c. C-derived languages interpret this expression differently: in C, the expression would first evaluate a < b, resulting in 0 or 1, and that result would then be compared with c. Python uses arbitrary-precision arithmetic for all integer operations. The Decimal type/class in the decimal module provides decimal floating-point numbers to a pre-defined arbitrary precision with several rounding modes. The Fraction class in the fractions module provides arbitrary precision for rational numbers. Due to Python's extensive mathematics library and the third-party library NumPy, the language is frequently used for scientific scripting in tasks such as numerical data processing and manipulation. Functions are created in Python by using the def keyword. A function is defined similarly to how it is called, by first providing the function name and then the required parameters. Here is an example of a function that prints its inputs: To assign a default value to a function parameter in case no actual value is provided at run time, variable-definition syntax can be used inside the function header. Code examples "Hello, World!" program: Program to calculate the factorial of a non-negative integer: Libraries Python's large standard library is commonly cited as one of its greatest strengths. For Internet-facing applications, many standard formats and protocols such as MIME and HTTP are supported. The language includes modules for creating graphical user interfaces, connecting to relational databases, generating pseudorandom numbers, arithmetic with arbitrary-precision decimals, manipulating regular expressions, and unit testing. Some parts of the standard library are covered by specifications—for example, the Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI) implementation wsgiref follows PEP 333—but most parts are specified by their code, internal documentation, and test suites. However, because most of the standard library is cross-platform Python code, only a few modules must be altered or rewritten for variant implementations. As of 13 March 2025,[update] the Python Package Index (PyPI), the official repository for third-party Python software, contains over 614,339 packages. Development environments Most[which?] Python implementations (including CPython) include a read–eval–print loop (REPL); this permits the environment to function as a command line interpreter, with which users enter statements sequentially and receive results immediately. Also, CPython is bundled with an integrated development environment (IDE) called IDLE, which is oriented toward beginners.[citation needed] Other shells, including IDLE and IPython, add additional capabilities such as improved auto-completion, session-state retention, and syntax highlighting. Standard desktop IDEs include PyCharm, Spyder, and Visual Studio Code; there are web browser-based IDEs, such as the following environments: Implementations CPython is the reference implementation of Python. This implementation is written in C, meeting the C11 standard since version 3.11. Older versions use the C89 standard with several select C99 features, but third-party extensions are not limited to older C versions—e.g., they can be implemented using C11 or C++. CPython compiles Python programs into an intermediate bytecode, which is then executed by a virtual machine. CPython is distributed with a large standard library written in a combination of C and native Python. CPython is available for many platforms, including Windows and most modern Unix-like systems, including macOS (and Apple M1 Macs, since Python 3.9.1, using an experimental installer). Starting with Python 3.9, the Python installer intentionally fails to install on Windows 7 and 8; Windows XP was supported until Python 3.5, with unofficial support for VMS. Platform portability was one of Python's earliest priorities. During development of Python 1 and 2, even OS/2 and Solaris were supported; since that time, support has been dropped for many platforms. All current Python versions (since 3.7) support only operating systems that feature multithreading, by now supporting not nearly as many operating systems (dropping many outdated) than in the past. All alternative implementations have at least slightly different semantics. For example, an alternative may include unordered dictionaries, in contrast to other current Python versions. As another example in the larger Python ecosystem, PyPy does not support the full C Python API. Creating an executable with Python often is done by bundling an entire Python interpreter into the executable, which causes binary sizes to be massive for small programs, yet there exist implementations that are capable of truly compiling Python. Alternative implementations include the following: Stackless Python is a significant fork of CPython that implements microthreads. This implementation uses the call stack differently, thus allowing massively concurrent programs. PyPy also offers a stackless version. Just-in-time Python compilers have been developed, but are now unsupported: There are several compilers/transpilers to high-level object languages; the source language is unrestricted Python, a subset of Python, or a language similar to Python: There are also specialized compilers: Some older projects existed, as well as compilers not designed for use with Python 3.x and related syntax: A performance comparison among various Python implementations, using a non-numerical (combinatorial) workload, was presented at EuroSciPy '13. In addition, Python's performance relative to other programming languages is benchmarked by The Computer Language Benchmarks Game. There are several approaches to optimizing Python performance, despite the inherent slowness of an interpreted language. These approaches include the following strategies or tools: Language Development Python's development is conducted mostly through the Python Enhancement Proposal (PEP) process; this process is the primary mechanism for proposing major new features, collecting community input on issues, and documenting Python design decisions. Python coding style is covered in PEP 8. Outstanding PEPs are reviewed and commented on by the Python community and the steering council. Enhancement of the language corresponds with development of the CPython reference implementation. The mailing list python-dev is the primary forum for the language's development. Specific issues were originally discussed in the Roundup bug tracker hosted by the foundation. In 2022, all issues and discussions were migrated to GitHub. Development originally took place on a self-hosted source-code repository running Mercurial, until Python moved to GitHub in January 2017. CPython's public releases have three types, distinguished by which part of the version number is incremented: Many alpha, beta, and release-candidates are also released as previews and for testing before final releases. Although there is a rough schedule for releases, they are often delayed if the code is not ready yet. Python's development team monitors the state of the code by running a large unit test suite during development. The major academic conference on Python is PyCon. Also, there are special Python mentoring programs, such as PyLadies. Naming Python's name is inspired by the British comedy group Monty Python, whom Python creator Guido van Rossum enjoyed while developing the language. Monty Python references appear frequently in Python code and culture; for example, the metasyntactic variables often used in Python literature are spam and eggs, rather than the traditional foo and bar. Also, the official Python documentation contains various references to Monty Python routines. Python users are sometimes referred to as "Pythonistas". Languages influenced by Python See also Notes References Further reading External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafr_Qasim] | [TOKENS: 1291] |
Contents Kafr Qasim Kafr Qasim (Arabic: كفر قاسم, Hebrew: כַּפְר קָאסִם), also spelled as Kafr Qassem, Kufur Kassem, Kfar Kassem and Kafar Kassem, is an Arab city in Israel. It is located about 20 km (12 mi) east of Tel Aviv, on the Israeli side of the Green Line separating Israel and the West Bank, in the southern portion of the "Little Triangle" of Arab-Israeli towns and villages. In 2023 its population was 27,121. The town was the site of the Kafr Qasim massacre, in which the Israel Border Police killed 49 civilians on October 29, 1956. On February 12, 2008, Israeli Minister of the Interior Meir Sheetrit declared Kafr Qasim a city in a ceremony held at the town. History The town's area was populated in ancient times, based on remains from the Middle Paleolithic period found in the Qesem Cave. Cisterns, a winepress and terraced fields have also been documented, together with remains from the Byzantine era. Kafr Qasim is identified with Kefar Kesem (Hebrew: כפר קסם), a site mentioned in the Tosefta as home to a pagan holy tree. In the fourth century, the village had a sizable Samaritan villa which was uncovered by archaeologists in 2025. In 1838, during the Ottoman period, it was noted as a Muslim village, Kefr Kasim, in Jurat Merda, south of Nablus. Charles van de Velde visited the site in 1851–52, noting "the many ancient stones used in the construction of the present houses and many other remains indicating an ancient site." In 1870 Victor Guérin visited the village, which he called Kafr Kasim. He found the place to be "the site of a more ancient town, as is shown by cisterns and the mass of rubbish found outside the present village". The village had about four hundred inhabitants. In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described the village as being of moderate size, with buildings constructed principally of adobe, on low hill in open ground. The survey also noted the existence of a rock-cut tomb to the south of the village. In 1917, during World War I, Kafr Qasim (together with the rest of the area) was captured from the ruling Ottoman Empire by the British Army and was later placed under the British Mandate of Palestine. In the 1922 census of Palestine Kufr Quasem had a population of 661, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 989, still all Muslims, in a total of 241 houses. In 1945 the population of Kafr Qasim was 1,460, all Muslims, who owned 12,765 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. 239 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 491 were plantations and irrigable land, and 8,980 were planted with cereals, while 58 dunams were built-up (urban) land. Israeli military advances came to a halt at Kafr Qasim during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In 1949, Israel annexed the town in accordance with the 1949 Armistice Agreements. On October 29, 1956, on the eve of the joint Israeli, French and British invasion of Egypt, Israel moved up the time of the local curfew as it was concerned that nearby Jordan would enter the fighting. After the curfew started, a platoon of Israeli border police who had been sent to the area encountered and killed 49 villagers returning to Kafr Qasim from their work in the fields. Though the village head had been informed a half an hour before the military curfew started, he informed the Israeli commander that the fellahin and shepherds could not be notified in time that the curfew had been imposed. The incident became known as the Kafr Qasim massacre. In October 2021, the President of Israel Isaac Herzog made an official apology for the 1956 massacre, on behalf of the state. In 1959, the town was granted local council status by the Israeli Interior Ministry. Sheikh Abdullah Nimar Darwish started the Islamic Movement. Israeli parliamentarian Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur, a native of Kafr Qasim, served for a decade on the town council and heads the southern faction of the Islamic Movement of Israel since 1999. In December 2007, President Shimon Peres formally apologised for the Kafr Qasim massacre. In 2007 development plans for the industrial and logistical area Lev HaAretz were approved. Development started in 2008. Steimatzky is one of many companies who moved into this area. Also in 2008, the Ministry of the Interior announced that Kafr Qasim would become a city. Demographics According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had 21,100 mostly Muslim inhabitants at the end of 2012. There are 936 females for every 1,000 males. The population increases at an annual rate of 2.7%. The social-economic rank of the town is relatively low (3 out of 10). Only 50.2% of 12th graders were eligible for graduation (Bagrut) certificates in 2000. The average monthly wage in 2000 was 3,633 NIS, as opposed to the national average of 6,835 NIS at that time. Culture Kafr Qasim served as the primary filming location for the Israeli political thriller television series Fauda. F.C. Kafr Qasim plays in the Leumit League (second division). Following their promotion to the national league, it plays home matches at the Lod Municipal Stadium in Lod. A new stadium is under construction. Notable people See also References Bibliography External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_computer] | [TOKENS: 866] |
Contents Chemical computer A chemical computer, also called a reaction-diffusion computer, Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) computer, or gooware computer, is an unconventional computer based on a semi-solid chemical "soup" where data are represented by varying concentrations of chemicals. The computations are performed by naturally occurring chemical reactions. Background Originally chemical reactions were seen as a simple move towards a stable equilibrium which was not very promising for computation. This was changed by a discovery made by Boris Belousov, a Soviet scientist, in the 1950s. He created a chemical reaction between different salts and acids that swing back and forth between being yellow and clear because the concentration of the different components changes up and down in a cyclic way. At the time this was considered impossible because it seemed to go against the second law of thermodynamics, which says that in a closed system the entropy will only increase over time, causing the components in the mixture to distribute themselves until equilibrium is gained and making any changes in the concentration impossible. But modern theoretical analyses shows sufficiently complicated reactions can indeed comprise wave phenomena without breaking the laws of nature. (A convincing directly visible demonstration was achieved by Anatol Zhabotinsky with the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction showing spiraling colored waves.) The wave properties of the BZ reaction means it can move information in the same way as all other waves. This still leaves the need for computation, performed by conventional microchips using the binary code transmitting and changing ones and zeros through a complicated system of logic gates. To perform any conceivable computation it is sufficient to have NAND gates. (A NAND gate has two bits input. Its output is 0 if both bits are 1, otherwise it's 1). In the chemical computer version logic gates are implemented by concentration waves blocking or amplifying each other in different ways. Current research In 1989 it was demonstrated how light-sensitive chemical reactions could perform image processing. This led to an upsurge in the field of chemical computing. Andrew Adamatzky at the University of the West of England has demonstrated simple logic gates using reaction–diffusion processes. Furthermore, he has theoretically shown how a hypothetical "2+ medium" modelled as a cellular automaton can perform computation. Adamatzky was inspired by a theoretical article on computation by using balls on a billiard table to transfer this principle to the BZ-chemicals and replace the billiard balls with waves: if two waves meet in the solution, they create a third wave which is registered as a 1. One of the problems with the present version of this technology is the speed of the waves; they only spread at a rate of a few millimeters per minute. According to Adamatzky, this problem can be eliminated by placing the gates very close to each other, to make sure the signals are transferred quickly. Another possibility could be new chemical reactions where waves propagate much faster. In 2014, a chemical computing system was developed by an international team headed by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa). The chemical computer used surface tension calculations derived from the Marangoni effect using an acidic gel to find the most efficient route between points A and B, outpacing a conventional satellite navigation system attempting to calculate the same route. In 2015, Stanford University graduate students created a computer using magnetic fields and water droplets infused with magnetic nanoparticles, illustrating some of the basic principles behind a chemical computer. In 2015, University of Washington students created a programming language for chemical reactions (originally developed for DNA analysis). In 2017, researchers at Harvard University patented a chemical Turing machine that operated using the non-linear dynamics of the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction. The system that they developed is capable of recognizing a Chomsky type-1 language using Gibbs free energy considerations. This work was subsequently published in 2019, including systems for Chomsky type-2 and type-3 languages. In 2020, University of Glasgow researchers created a chemical computer using 3D-printed parts and magnetic stirrers in order to control the oscillations of BZ medium. In doing so, they were able to compute binary logic gates, and perform pattern recognition. See also References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI#cite_note-251] | [TOKENS: 8773] |
Contents OpenAI OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence research organization comprising both a non-profit foundation and a controlled for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC), headquartered in San Francisco. It aims to develop "safe and beneficial" artificial general intelligence (AGI), which it defines as "highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work". OpenAI is widely recognized for its development of the GPT family of large language models, the DALL-E series of text-to-image models, and the Sora series of text-to-video models, which have influenced industry research and commercial applications. Its release of ChatGPT in November 2022 has been credited with catalyzing widespread interest in generative AI. The organization was founded in 2015 in Delaware but evolved a complex corporate structure. As of October 2025, following restructuring approved by California and Delaware regulators, the non-profit OpenAI Foundation holds 26% of the for-profit OpenAI Group PBC, with Microsoft holding 27% and employees/other investors holding 47%. Under its governance arrangements, the OpenAI Foundation holds the authority to appoint the board of the for-profit OpenAI Group PBC, a mechanism designed to align the entity’s strategic direction with the Foundation’s charter. Microsoft previously invested over $13 billion into OpenAI, and provides Azure cloud computing resources. In October 2025, OpenAI conducted a $6.6 billion share sale that valued the company at $500 billion. In 2023 and 2024, OpenAI faced multiple lawsuits for alleged copyright infringement against authors and media companies whose work was used to train some of OpenAI's products. In November 2023, OpenAI's board removed Sam Altman as CEO, citing a lack of confidence in him, but reinstated him five days later following a reconstruction of the board. Throughout 2024, roughly half of then-employed AI safety researchers left OpenAI, citing the company's prominent role in an industry-wide problem. Founding In December 2015, OpenAI was founded as a not for profit organization by Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, Trevor Blackwell, Vicki Cheung, Andrej Karpathy, Durk Kingma, John Schulman, Pamela Vagata, and Wojciech Zaremba, with Sam Altman and Elon Musk as the co-chairs. A total of $1 billion in capital was pledged by Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Infosys. However, the actual capital collected significantly lagged pledges. According to company disclosures, only $130 million had been received by 2019. In its founding charter, OpenAI stated an intention to collaborate openly with other institutions by making certain patents and research publicly available, but later restricted access to its most capable models, citing competitive and safety concerns. OpenAI was initially run from Brockman's living room. It was later headquartered at the Pioneer Building in the Mission District, San Francisco. According to OpenAI's charter, its founding mission is "to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI)—by which we mean highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work—benefits all of humanity." Musk and Altman stated in 2015 that they were partly motivated by concerns about AI safety and existential risk from artificial general intelligence. OpenAI stated that "it's hard to fathom how much human-level AI could benefit society", and that it is equally difficult to comprehend "how much it could damage society if built or used incorrectly". The startup also wrote that AI "should be an extension of individual human wills and, in the spirit of liberty, as broadly and evenly distributed as possible", and that "because of AI's surprising history, it's hard to predict when human-level AI might come within reach. When it does, it'll be important to have a leading research institution which can prioritize a good outcome for all over its own self-interest." Co-chair Sam Altman expected a decades-long project that eventually surpasses human intelligence. Brockman met with Yoshua Bengio, one of the "founding fathers" of deep learning, and drew up a list of great AI researchers. Brockman was able to hire nine of them as the first employees in December 2015. OpenAI did not pay AI researchers salaries comparable to those of Facebook or Google. It also did not pay stock options which AI researchers typically get. Nevertheless, OpenAI spent $7 million on its first 52 employees in 2016. OpenAI's potential and mission drew these researchers to the firm; a Google employee said he was willing to leave Google for OpenAI "partly because of the very strong group of people and, to a very large extent, because of its mission." OpenAI co-founder Wojciech Zaremba stated that he turned down "borderline crazy" offers of two to three times his market value to join OpenAI instead. In April 2016, OpenAI released a public beta of "OpenAI Gym", its platform for reinforcement learning research. Nvidia gifted its first DGX-1 supercomputer to OpenAI in August 2016 to help it train larger and more complex AI models with the capability of reducing processing time from six days to two hours. In December 2016, OpenAI released "Universe", a software platform for measuring and training an AI's general intelligence across the world's supply of games, websites, and other applications. Corporate structure In 2019, OpenAI transitioned from non-profit to "capped" for-profit, with the profit being capped at 100 times any investment. According to OpenAI, the capped-profit model allows OpenAI Global, LLC to legally attract investment from venture funds and, in addition, to grant employees stakes in the company. Many top researchers work for Google Brain, DeepMind, or Facebook, which offer equity that a nonprofit would be unable to match. Before the transition, OpenAI was legally required to publicly disclose the compensation of its top employees. The company then distributed equity to its employees and partnered with Microsoft, announcing an investment package of $1 billion into the company. Since then, OpenAI systems have run on an Azure-based supercomputing platform from Microsoft. OpenAI Global, LLC then announced its intention to commercially license its technologies. It planned to spend $1 billion "within five years, and possibly much faster". Altman stated that even a billion dollars may turn out to be insufficient, and that the lab may ultimately need "more capital than any non-profit has ever raised" to achieve artificial general intelligence. The nonprofit, OpenAI, Inc., is the sole controlling shareholder of OpenAI Global, LLC, which, despite being a for-profit company, retains a formal fiduciary responsibility to OpenAI, Inc.'s nonprofit charter. A majority of OpenAI, Inc.'s board is barred from having financial stakes in OpenAI Global, LLC. In addition, minority members with a stake in OpenAI Global, LLC are barred from certain votes due to conflict of interest. Some researchers have argued that OpenAI Global, LLC's switch to for-profit status is inconsistent with OpenAI's claims to be "democratizing" AI. On February 29, 2024, Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of shifting focus from public benefit to profit maximization—a case OpenAI dismissed as "incoherent" and "frivolous," though Musk later revived legal action against Altman and others in August. On April 9, 2024, OpenAI countersued Musk in federal court, alleging that he had engaged in "bad-faith tactics" to slow the company's progress and seize its innovations for his personal benefit. OpenAI also argued that Musk had previously supported the creation of a for-profit structure and had expressed interest in controlling OpenAI himself. The countersuit seeks damages and legal measures to prevent further alleged interference. On February 10, 2025, a consortium of investors led by Elon Musk submitted a $97.4 billion unsolicited bid to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, declaring willingness to match or exceed any better offer. The offer was rejected on 14 February 2025, with OpenAI stating that it was not for sale, but the offer complicated Altman's restructuring plan by suggesting a lower bar for how much the nonprofit should be valued. OpenAI, Inc. was originally designed as a nonprofit in order to ensure that AGI "benefits all of humanity" rather than "the private gain of any person". In 2019, it created OpenAI Global, LLC, a capped-profit subsidiary controlled by the nonprofit. In December 2024, OpenAI proposed a restructuring plan to convert the capped-profit into a Delaware-based public benefit corporation (PBC), and to release it from the control of the nonprofit. The nonprofit would sell its control and other assets, getting equity in return, and would use it to fund and pursue separate charitable projects, including in science and education. OpenAI's leadership described the change as necessary to secure additional investments, and claimed that the nonprofit's founding mission to ensure AGI "benefits all of humanity" would be better fulfilled. The plan has been criticized by former employees. A legal letter named "Not For Private Gain" asked the attorneys general of California and Delaware to intervene, stating that the restructuring is illegal and would remove governance safeguards from the nonprofit and the attorneys general. The letter argues that OpenAI's complex structure was deliberately designed to remain accountable to its mission, without the conflicting pressure of maximizing profits. It contends that the nonprofit is best positioned to advance its mission of ensuring AGI benefits all of humanity by continuing to control OpenAI Global, LLC, whatever the amount of equity that it could get in exchange. PBCs can choose how they balance their mission with profit-making. Controlling shareholders have a large influence on how closely a PBC sticks to its mission. On October 28, 2025, OpenAI announced that it had adopted the new PBC corporate structure after receiving approval from the attorneys general of California and Delaware. Under the new structure, OpenAI's for-profit branch became a public benefit corporation known as OpenAI Group PBC, while the non-profit was renamed to the OpenAI Foundation. The OpenAI Foundation holds a 26% stake in the PBC, while Microsoft holds a 27% stake and the remaining 47% is owned by employees and other investors. All members of the OpenAI Group PBC board of directors will be appointed by the OpenAI Foundation, which can remove them at any time. Members of the Foundation's board will also serve on the for-profit board. The new structure allows the for-profit PBC to raise investor funds like most traditional tech companies, including through an initial public offering, which Altman claimed was the most likely path forward. In January 2023, OpenAI Global, LLC was in talks for funding that would value the company at $29 billion, double its 2021 value. On January 23, 2023, Microsoft announced a new US$10 billion investment in OpenAI Global, LLC over multiple years, partially needed to use Microsoft's cloud-computing service Azure. From September to December, 2023, Microsoft rebranded all variants of its Copilot to Microsoft Copilot, and they added MS-Copilot to many installations of Windows and released Microsoft Copilot mobile apps. Following OpenAI's 2025 restructuring, Microsoft owns a 27% stake in the for-profit OpenAI Group PBC, valued at $135 billion. In a deal announced the same day, OpenAI agreed to purchase $250 billion of Azure services, with Microsoft ceding their right of first refusal over OpenAI's future cloud computing purchases. As part of the deal, OpenAI will continue to share 20% of its revenue with Microsoft until it achieves AGI, which must now be verified by an independent panel of experts. The deal also loosened restrictions on both companies working with third parties, allowing Microsoft to pursue AGI independently and allowing OpenAI to develop products with other companies. In 2017, OpenAI spent $7.9 million, a quarter of its functional expenses, on cloud computing alone. In comparison, DeepMind's total expenses in 2017 were $442 million. In the summer of 2018, training OpenAI's Dota 2 bots required renting 128,000 CPUs and 256 GPUs from Google for multiple weeks. In October 2024, OpenAI completed a $6.6 billion capital raise with a $157 billion valuation including investments from Microsoft, Nvidia, and SoftBank. On January 21, 2025, Donald Trump announced The Stargate Project, a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank and MGX to build an AI infrastructure system in conjunction with the US government. The project takes its name from OpenAI's existing "Stargate" supercomputer project and is estimated to cost $500 billion. The partners planned to fund the project over the next four years. In July, the United States Department of Defense announced that OpenAI had received a $200 million contract for AI in the military, along with Anthropic, Google, and xAI. In the same month, the company made a deal with the UK Government to use ChatGPT and other AI tools in public services. OpenAI subsequently began a $50 million fund to support nonprofit and community organizations. In April 2025, OpenAI raised $40 billion at a $300 billion post-money valuation, which was the highest-value private technology deal in history. The financing round was led by SoftBank, with other participants including Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter and Thrive. In July 2025, the company reported annualized revenue of $12 billion. This was an increase from $3.7 billion in 2024, which was driven by ChatGPT subscriptions, which reached 20 million paid subscribers by April 2025, up from 15.5 million at the end of 2024, alongside a rapidly expanding enterprise customer base that grew to five million business users. The company’s cash burn remains high because of the intensive computational costs required to train and operate large language models. It projects an $8 billion operating loss in 2025. OpenAI reports revised long-term spending projections totaling approximately $115 billion through 2029, with annual expenditures projected to escalate significantly, reaching $17 billion in 2026, $35 billion in 2027, and $45 billion in 2028. These expenditures are primarily allocated toward expanding compute infrastructure, developing proprietary AI chips, constructing data centers, and funding intensive model training programs, with more than half of the spending through the end of the decade expected to support research-intensive compute for model training and development. The company's financial strategy prioritizes market expansion and technological advancement over near-term profitability, with OpenAI targeting cash-flow-positive operations by 2029 and projecting revenue of approximately $200 billion by 2030. This aggressive spending trajectory underscores both the enormous capital requirements of scaling cutting-edge AI technology and OpenAI's commitment to maintaining its position as a leader in the artificial intelligence industry. In October 2025, OpenAI completed an employee share sale of up to $10 billion to existing investors which valued the company at $500 billion. The deal values OpenAI as the most valuable privately owned company in the world—surpassing SpaceX as the world's most valuable private company. On November 17, 2023, Sam Altman was removed as CEO when its board of directors (composed of Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo and Tasha McCauley) cited a lack of confidence in him. Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati took over as interim CEO. Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI, was also removed as chairman of the board and resigned from the company's presidency shortly thereafter. Three senior OpenAI researchers subsequently resigned: director of research and GPT-4 lead Jakub Pachocki, head of AI risk Aleksander Mądry, and researcher Szymon Sidor. On November 18, 2023, there were reportedly talks of Altman returning as CEO amid pressure placed upon the board by investors such as Microsoft and Thrive Capital, who objected to Altman's departure. Although Altman himself spoke in favor of returning to OpenAI, he has since stated that he considered starting a new company and bringing former OpenAI employees with him if talks to reinstate him didn't work out. The board members agreed "in principle" to resign if Altman returned. On November 19, 2023, negotiations with Altman to return failed and Murati was replaced by Emmett Shear as interim CEO. The board initially contacted Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei (a former OpenAI executive) about replacing Altman, and proposed a merger of the two companies, but both offers were declined. On November 20, 2023, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced Altman and Brockman would be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team, but added that they were still committed to OpenAI despite recent events. Before the partnership with Microsoft was finalized, Altman gave the board another opportunity to negotiate with him. About 738 of OpenAI's 770 employees, including Murati and Sutskever, signed an open letter stating they would quit their jobs and join Microsoft if the board did not rehire Altman and then resign. This prompted OpenAI investors to consider legal action against the board as well. In response, OpenAI management sent an internal memo to employees stating that negotiations with Altman and the board had resumed and would take some time. On November 21, 2023, after continued negotiations, Altman and Brockman returned to the company in their prior roles along with a reconstructed board made up of new members Bret Taylor (as chairman) and Lawrence Summers, with D'Angelo remaining. According to subsequent reporting, shortly before Altman’s firing, some employees raised concerns to the board about how he had handled the safety implications of a recent internal AI capability discovery. On November 29, 2023, OpenAI announced that an anonymous Microsoft employee had joined the board as a non-voting member to observe the company's operations; Microsoft resigned from the board in July 2024. In February 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed OpenAI's internal communication to determine if Altman's alleged lack of candor misled investors. In 2024, following the temporary removal of Sam Altman and his return, many employees gradually left OpenAI, including most of the original leadership team and a significant number of AI safety researchers. In August 2023, it was announced that OpenAI had acquired the New York-based start-up Global Illumination, a company that deploys AI to develop digital infrastructure and creative tools. In June 2024, OpenAI acquired Multi, a startup focused on remote collaboration. In March 2025, OpenAI reached a deal with CoreWeave to acquire $350 million worth of CoreWeave shares and access to AI infrastructure, in return for $11.9 billion paid over five years. Microsoft was already CoreWeave's biggest customer in 2024. Alongside their other business dealings, OpenAI and Microsoft were renegotiating the terms of their partnership to facilitate a potential future initial public offering by OpenAI, while ensuring Microsoft's continued access to advanced AI models. On May 21, OpenAI announced the $6.5 billion acquisition of io, an AI hardware start-up founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive in 2024. In September 2025, OpenAI agreed to acquire the product testing startup Statsig for $1.1 billion in an all-stock deal and appointed Statsig's founding CEO Vijaye Raji as OpenAI's chief technology officer of applications. The company also announced development of an AI-driven hiring service designed to rival LinkedIn. OpenAI acquired personal finance app Roi in October 2025. In October 2025, OpenAI acquired Software Applications Incorporated, the developer of Sky, a macOS-based natural language interface designed to operate across desktop applications. The Sky team joined OpenAI, and the company announced plans to integrate Sky’s capabilities into ChatGPT. In December 2025, it was announced OpenAI had agreed to acquire Neptune, an AI tooling startup that helps companies track and manage model training, for an undisclosed amount. In January 2026, it was announced OpenAI had acquired healthcare technology startup Torch for approximately $60 million. The acquisition followed the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT Health product and was intended to strengthen the company’s medical data and healthcare artificial intelligence capabilities. OpenAI has been criticized for outsourcing the annotation of data sets to Sama, a company based in San Francisco that employed workers in Kenya. These annotations were used to train an AI model to detect toxicity, which could then be used to moderate toxic content, notably from ChatGPT's training data and outputs. However, these pieces of text usually contained detailed descriptions of various types of violence, including sexual violence. The investigation uncovered that OpenAI began sending snippets of data to Sama as early as November 2021. The four Sama employees interviewed by Time described themselves as mentally scarred. OpenAI paid Sama $12.50 per hour of work, and Sama was redistributing the equivalent of between $1.32 and $2.00 per hour post-tax to its annotators. Sama's spokesperson said that the $12.50 was also covering other implicit costs, among which were infrastructure expenses, quality assurance and management. In 2024, OpenAI began collaborating with Broadcom to design a custom AI chip capable of both training and inference, targeted for mass production in 2026 and to be manufactured by TSMC on a 3 nm process node. This initiative intended to reduce OpenAI's dependence on Nvidia GPUs, which are costly and face high demand in the market. In January 2024, Arizona State University purchased ChatGPT Enterprise in OpenAI's first deal with a university. In June 2024, Apple Inc. signed a contract with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT features into its products as part of its new Apple Intelligence initiative. In June 2025, OpenAI began renting Google Cloud's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) to support ChatGPT and related services, marking its first meaningful use of non‑Nvidia AI chips. In September 2025, it was revealed that OpenAI signed a contract with Oracle to purchase $300 billion in computing power over the next five years. In September 2025, OpenAI and NVIDIA announced a memorandum of understanding that included a potential deployment of at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems and a $100 billion investment from NVIDIA in OpenAI. OpenAI expected the negotiations to be completed within weeks. As of January 2026, this has not been realized, and the two sides are rethinking the future of their partnership. In October 2025, OpenAI announced a multi-billion dollar deal with AMD. OpenAI committed to purchasing six gigawatts worth of AMD chips, starting with the MI450. OpenAI will have the option to buy up to 160 million shares of AMD, about 10% of the company, depending on development, performance and share price targets. In December 2025, Disney said it would make a $1 billion investment in OpenAI, and signed a three-year licensing deal that will let users generate videos using Sora—OpenAI's short-form AI video platform. More than 200 Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar characters will be available to OpenAI users. In early 2026, Amazon entered advanced discussions to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI as part of a potential artificial intelligence partnership. Under the proposed agreement, OpenAI’s models could be integrated into Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa and other internal projects. OpenAI provides LLMs to the Artificial Intelligence Cyber Challenge and to the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. In October 2024, The Intercept revealed that OpenAI's tools are considered "essential" for AFRICOM's mission and included in an "Exception to Fair Opportunity" contractual agreement between the United States Department of Defense and Microsoft. In December 2024, OpenAI said it would partner with defense-tech company Anduril to build drone defense technologies for the United States and its allies. In 2025, OpenAI's Chief Product Officer, Kevin Weil, was commissioned lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army to join Detachment 201 as senior advisor. In June 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded OpenAI a $200 million one-year contract to develop AI tools for military and national security applications. OpenAI announced a new program, OpenAI for Government, to give federal, state, and local governments access to its models, including ChatGPT. Services In February 2019, GPT-2 was announced, which gained attention for its ability to generate human-like text. In 2020, OpenAI announced GPT-3, a language model trained on large internet datasets. GPT-3 is aimed at natural language answering questions, but it can also translate between languages and coherently generate improvised text. It also announced that an associated API, named the API, would form the heart of its first commercial product. Eleven employees left OpenAI, mostly between December 2020 and January 2021, in order to establish Anthropic. In 2021, OpenAI introduced DALL-E, a specialized deep learning model adept at generating complex digital images from textual descriptions, utilizing a variant of the GPT-3 architecture. In December 2022, OpenAI received widespread media coverage after launching a free preview of ChatGPT, its new AI chatbot based on GPT-3.5. According to OpenAI, the preview received over a million signups within the first five days. According to anonymous sources cited by Reuters in December 2022, OpenAI Global, LLC was projecting $200 million of revenue in 2023 and $1 billion in revenue in 2024. After ChatGPT was launched, Google announced a similar chatbot, Bard, amid internal concerns that ChatGPT could threaten Google’s position as a primary source of online information. On February 7, 2023, Microsoft announced that it was building AI technology based on the same foundation as ChatGPT into Microsoft Bing, Edge, Microsoft 365 and other products. On March 14, 2023, OpenAI released GPT-4, both as an API (with a waitlist) and as a feature of ChatGPT Plus. On November 6, 2023, OpenAI launched GPTs, allowing individuals to create customized versions of ChatGPT for specific purposes, further expanding the possibilities of AI applications across various industries. On November 14, 2023, OpenAI announced they temporarily suspended new sign-ups for ChatGPT Plus due to high demand. Access for newer subscribers re-opened a month later on December 13. In December 2024, the company launched the Sora model. It also launched OpenAI o1, an early reasoning model that was internally codenamed strawberry. Additionally, ChatGPT Pro—a $200/month subscription service offering unlimited o1 access and enhanced voice features—was introduced, and preliminary benchmark results for the upcoming OpenAI o3 models were shared. On January 23, 2025, OpenAI released Operator, an AI agent and web automation tool for accessing websites to execute goals defined by users. The feature was only available to Pro users in the United States. OpenAI released deep research agent, nine days later. It scored a 27% accuracy on the benchmark Humanity's Last Exam (HLE). Altman later stated GPT-4.5 would be the last model without full chain-of-thought reasoning. In July 2025, reports indicated that AI models by both OpenAI and Google DeepMind solved mathematics problems at the level of top-performing students in the International Mathematical Olympiad. OpenAI's large language model was able to achieve gold medal-level performance, reflecting significant progress in AI's reasoning abilities. On October 6, 2025, OpenAI unveiled its Agent Builder platform during the company's DevDay event. The platform includes a visual drag-and-drop interface that lets developers and businesses design, test, and deploy agentic workflows with limited coding. On October 21, 2025, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Atlas, a browser integrating the ChatGPT assistant directly into web navigation, to compete with existing browsers such as Google Chrome and Apple Safari. On December 11, 2025, OpenAI announced GPT-5.2. This model will be better at creating spreadsheets, building presentations, perceiving images, writing code and understanding long context. On January 27, 2026, OpenAI introduced Prism, a LaTeX-native workspace meant to assist scientists to help with research and writing. The platform utilizes GPT-5.2 as a backend to automate the process of drafting for scientific papers, including features for managing citations, complex equation formatting, and real-time collaborative editing. In March 2023, the company was criticized for disclosing particularly few technical details about products like GPT-4, contradicting its initial commitment to openness and making it harder for independent researchers to replicate its work and develop safeguards. OpenAI cited competitiveness and safety concerns to justify this repudiation. OpenAI's former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever argued in 2023 that open-sourcing increasingly capable models was increasingly risky, and that the safety reasons for not open-sourcing the most potent AI models would become "obvious" in a few years. In September 2025, OpenAI published a study on how people use ChatGPT for everyday tasks. The study found that "non-work tasks" (according to an LLM-based classifier) account for more than 72 percent of all ChatGPT usage, with a minority of overall usage related to business productivity. In July 2023, OpenAI launched the superalignment project, aiming within four years to determine how to align future superintelligent systems. OpenAI promised to dedicate 20% of its computing resources to the project, although the team denied receiving anything close to 20%. OpenAI ended the project in May 2024 after its co-leaders Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike left the company. In August 2025, OpenAI was criticized after thousands of private ChatGPT conversations were inadvertently exposed to public search engines like Google due to an experimental "share with search engines" feature. The opt-in toggle, intended to allow users to make specific chats discoverable, resulted in some discussions including personal details such as names, locations, and intimate topics appearing in search results when users accidentally enabled it while sharing links. OpenAI announced the feature's permanent removal on August 1, 2025, and the company began coordinating with search providers to remove the exposed content, emphasizing that it was not a security breach but a design flaw that heightened privacy risks. CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the issue in a podcast, noting users often treat ChatGPT as a confidant for deeply personal matters, which amplified concerns about AI handling sensitive data. Management In 2018, Musk resigned from his Board of Directors seat, citing "a potential future conflict [of interest]" with his role as CEO of Tesla due to Tesla's AI development for self-driving cars. OpenAI stated that Musk's financial contributions were below $45 million. On March 3, 2023, Reid Hoffman resigned from his board seat, citing a desire to avoid conflicts of interest with his investments in AI companies via Greylock Partners, and his co-founding of the AI startup Inflection AI. Hoffman remained on the board of Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI. In May 2024, Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever resigned and was succeeded by Jakub Pachocki. Co-leader Jan Leike also departed amid concerns over safety and trust. OpenAI then signed deals with Reddit, News Corp, Axios, and Vox Media. Paul Nakasone then joined the board of OpenAI. In August 2024, cofounder John Schulman left OpenAI to join Anthropic, and OpenAI's president Greg Brockman took extended leave until November. In September 2024, CTO Mira Murati left the company. In November 2025, Lawrence Summers resigned from the board of directors. Governance and legal issues In May 2023, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever posted recommendations for the governance of superintelligence. They stated that superintelligence could happen within the next 10 years, allowing a "dramatically more prosperous future" and that "given the possibility of existential risk, we can't just be reactive". They proposed creating an international watchdog organization similar to IAEA to oversee AI systems above a certain capability threshold, suggesting that relatively weak AI systems on the other side should not be overly regulated. They also called for more technical safety research for superintelligences, and asked for more coordination, for example through governments launching a joint project which "many current efforts become part of". In July 2023, the FTC issued a civil investigative demand to OpenAI to investigate whether the company's data security and privacy practices to develop ChatGPT were unfair or harmed consumers (including by reputational harm) in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. These are typically preliminary investigative matters and are nonpublic, but the FTC's document was leaked. In July 2023, the FTC launched an investigation into OpenAI over allegations that the company scraped public data and published false and defamatory information. They asked OpenAI for comprehensive information about its technology and privacy safeguards, as well as any steps taken to prevent the recurrence of situations in which its chatbot generated false and derogatory content about people. The agency also raised concerns about ‘circular’ spending arrangements—for example, Microsoft extending Azure credits to OpenAI while both companies shared engineering talent—and warned that such structures could negatively affect the public. In September 2024, OpenAI's global affairs chief endorsed the UK's "smart" AI regulation during testimony to a House of Lords committee. In February 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that the company is interested in collaborating with the People's Republic of China, despite regulatory restrictions imposed by the U.S. government. This shift comes in response to the growing influence of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, which has disrupted the AI market with open models, including DeepSeek V3 and DeepSeek R1. Following DeepSeek's market emergence, OpenAI enhanced security protocols to protect proprietary development techniques from industrial espionage. Some industry observers noted similarities between DeepSeek's model distillation approach and OpenAI's methodology, though no formal intellectual property claim was filed. According to Oliver Roberts, in March 2025, the United States had 781 state AI bills or laws. OpenAI advocated for preempting state AI laws with federal laws. According to Scott Kohler, OpenAI has opposed California's AI legislation and suggested that the state bill encroaches on a more competent federal government. Public Citizen opposed a federal preemption on AI and pointed to OpenAI's growth and valuation as evidence that existing state laws have not hampered innovation. Before May 2024, OpenAI required departing employees to sign a lifelong non-disparagement agreement forbidding them from criticizing OpenAI and acknowledging the existence of the agreement. Daniel Kokotajlo, a former employee, publicly stated that he forfeited his vested equity in OpenAI in order to leave without signing the agreement. Sam Altman stated that he was unaware of the equity cancellation provision, and that OpenAI never enforced it to cancel any employee's vested equity. However, leaked documents and emails refute this claim. On May 23, 2024, OpenAI sent a memo releasing former employees from the agreement. OpenAI was sued for copyright infringement by authors Sarah Silverman, Matthew Butterick, Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad in July 2023. In September 2023, 17 authors, including George R. R. Martin, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and Jonathan Franzen, joined the Authors Guild in filing a class action lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the company's technology was illegally using their copyrighted work. The New York Times also sued the company in late December 2023. In May 2024 it was revealed that OpenAI had destroyed its Books1 and Books2 training datasets, which were used in the training of GPT-3, and which the Authors Guild believed to have contained over 100,000 copyrighted books. In 2021, OpenAI developed a speech recognition tool called Whisper. OpenAI used it to transcribe more than one million hours of YouTube videos into text for training GPT-4. The automated transcription of YouTube videos raised concerns within OpenAI employees regarding potential violations of YouTube's terms of service, which prohibit the use of videos for applications independent of the platform, as well as any type of automated access to its videos. Despite these concerns, the project proceeded with notable involvement from OpenAI's president, Greg Brockman. The resulting dataset proved instrumental in training GPT-4. In February 2024, The Intercept as well as Raw Story and Alternate Media Inc. filed lawsuit against OpenAI on copyright litigation ground. The lawsuit is said to have charted a new legal strategy for digital-only publishers to sue OpenAI. On April 30, 2024, eight newspapers filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming illegal harvesting of their copyrighted articles. The suing publications included The Mercury News, The Denver Post, The Orange County Register, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Sun Sentinel, and New York Daily News. In June 2023, a lawsuit claimed that OpenAI scraped 300 billion words online without consent and without registering as a data broker. It was filed in San Francisco, California, by sixteen anonymous plaintiffs. They also claimed that OpenAI and its partner as well as customer Microsoft continued to unlawfully collect and use personal data from millions of consumers worldwide to train artificial intelligence models. On May 22, 2024, OpenAI entered into an agreement with News Corp to integrate news content from The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, The Times, and The Sunday Times into its AI platform. Meanwhile, other publications like The New York Times chose to sue OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement over the use of their content to train AI models. In November 2024, a coalition of Canadian news outlets, including the Toronto Star, Metroland Media, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press and CBC, sued OpenAI for using their news articles to train its software without permission. In October 2024 during a New York Times interview, Suchir Balaji accused OpenAI of violating copyright law in developing its commercial LLMs which he had helped engineer. He was a likely witness in a major copyright trial against the AI company, and was one of several of its current or former employees named in court filings as potentially having documents relevant to the case. On November 26, 2024, Balaji died by suicide. His death prompted the circulation of conspiracy theories alleging that he had been deliberately silenced. California Congressman Ro Khanna endorsed calls for an investigation. On April 24, 2025, Ziff Davis sued OpenAI in Delaware federal court for copyright infringement. Ziff Davis is known for publications such as ZDNet, PCMag, CNET, IGN and Lifehacker. In April 2023, the EU's European Data Protection Board (EDPB) formed a dedicated task force on ChatGPT "to foster cooperation and to exchange information on possible enforcement actions conducted by data protection authorities" based on the "enforcement action undertaken by the Italian data protection authority against OpenAI about the ChatGPT service". In late April 2024 NOYB filed a complaint with the Austrian Datenschutzbehörde against OpenAI for violating the European General Data Protection Regulation. A text created with ChatGPT gave a false date of birth for a living person without giving the individual the option to see the personal data used in the process. A request to correct the mistake was denied. Additionally, neither the recipients of ChatGPT's work nor the sources used, could be made available, OpenAI claimed. OpenAI was criticized for lifting its ban on using ChatGPT for "military and warfare". Up until January 10, 2024, its "usage policies" included a ban on "activity that has high risk of physical harm, including", specifically, "weapons development" and "military and warfare". Its new policies prohibit "[using] our service to harm yourself or others" and to "develop or use weapons". In August 2025, the parents of a 16-year-old boy who died by suicide filed a wrongful death lawsuit against OpenAI (and CEO Sam Altman), alleging that months of conversations with ChatGPT about mental health and methods of self-harm contributed to their son's death and that safeguards were inadequate for minors. OpenAI expressed condolences and said it was strengthening protections (including updated crisis response behavior and parental controls). Coverage described it as a first-of-its-kind wrongful death case targeting the company's chatbot. The complaint was filed in California state court in San Francisco. In November 2025, the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project filed seven lawsuits against OpenAI, of which four lawsuits alleged wrongful death. The suits were filed on behalf of Zane Shamblin, 23, of Texas; Amaurie Lacey, 17, of Georgia; Joshua Enneking, 26, of Florida; and Joe Ceccanti, 48, of Oregon, who each committed suicide after prolonged ChatGPT usage. In December 2025, Stein-Erik Soelberg, who was 56 years old at the time, allegedly murdered his mother Suzanne Adams. In the months prior the paranoid, delusional man often discussed his ideas with ChatGPT. Adam's estate then sued OpenAI claiming that the company shared responsibility due to the risk of chatbot psychosis despite the fact that chatbot psychosis is not a real medical diagnosis. OpenAI responded saying they will make ChatGPT safer for users disconnected from reality. See also References Further reading External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Instinct] | [TOKENS: 11887] |
Contents Killer Instinct Killer Instinct is a series of fighting video games originally created by Rare and published by Midway, Nintendo, and Xbox Game Studios. The original Killer Instinct was released for arcades in 1994; the game was then released for the Super NES and Game Boy in 1995. Its sequel, Killer Instinct 2, was released for arcades in 1996; the game was then released as Killer Instinct Gold for the Nintendo 64. The series was rebooted with the release of Killer Instinct (2013) for the Xbox One. Games Killer Instinct is an arcade fighting game developed by Rare and published by Midway. Initially released in arcades in 1994, the game advertised it would launch in 1995 for an intended "Nintendo Ultra 64" home console. The Ultra 64 eventually materialized as the Nintendo 64, but never received a version of the original Killer Instinct. Instead, the game received a high-profile launch on the SNES, released on October 27, 1994, which bundled a CD of remixed game tracks with a limited edition black-colored cartridge, as well as a release on the Game Boy handheld the following year. Both the SNES and Game Boy versions were published by Nintendo. A digital port, titled Killer Instinct Classic, was released as part of a bundle with its 2013 sequel's first season on Xbox One. The SNES version of Killer Instinct was re-released as a Nintendo Switch Online game on February 21, 2024. A 1996 arcade-only game developed by Rare, licensed by Nintendo, and manufactured by Midway. It was the sequel to Killer Instinct. The game was also ported to the SNES, but never released. It was later ported to the Nintendo 64 console under the name Killer Instinct Gold, and the port was published by Nintendo. A digital port, titled Killer Instinct 2 Classic, was released as part of a bundle with its 2013 sequel's second season on Xbox One. Killer Instinct Gold was also included as part of the Rare Replay compilation release. A reboot of the Killer Instinct series, developed by Double Helix Games under supervision of Ken Lobb, and the first game in the series to be published by Microsoft Studios, was released in November 2013 as a launch title for the Xbox One. Following the acquisition of Double Helix Games by Amazon, Iron Galaxy Studios took over the development of post-launch content. A Windows 10 version was released in March 2016 on the Windows Store, and via Steam in September 2017. Gameplay Killer Instinct is a fighting game featuring one-on-one combat. The game borrows the attack set of Street Fighter and is also inspired by the finishing moves from Mortal Kombat. There are also several features that distinguish it from other franchises: Characters Chief Thunder, a Native American chief armed with twin tomahawks, enters the tournament to find out what happened to his missing brother Eagle in the previous year's tournament. In the series' reboot, Thunder—AKA hinmatoom—is the grandson of a chief and son of tribal police officers, living on a Nez Perce reservation in Idaho with his brother Eagle. As a teenager, Thunder goes on a vision quest and receives a vision from his spirit animal, a giant crow, telling him he would one day battle an evil monster and should begin training to use tomahawks. In their late 20s, Thunder and Eagle's parents are killed by Ultratech, though the circumstances are covered up. Trying to infiltrate Ultratech, Eagle joins the Disavowed and enters the first Killer Instinct tournament, and is later reported by Ultratech as having been killed in a match, though they refuse to return his body for burial. Grieving and enraged, Thunder attempts to break into an Ultratech plant and is imprisoned, but the plant is later burned to the ground, destroying any evidence regarding his parents' deaths and Eagle's disappearance, and Thunder is framed for arson. Going into hiding in New Mexico for a year, Thunder goes on another vision quest, this time receiving a vision of a metal eagle. Determined, Thunder dons his war paint and enters the second Killer Instinct tournament in the hopes of finding Eagle's remains and receiving closure. Upon discovering evidence that his brother may have been used in the construction of a Fulgore unit, he swears vengeance for the mutilation and begins eliminating Fulgores in a search for Eagle. He later frees Aganos from Ultratech's control, and the two form an alliance, working together to find both Eagle and Kan-Ra. In the 2013 Killer Instinct, his fighting has been revised to be based more heavily around grappling than the other characters. His character design was also revamped to be more culturally sensitive towards Native Americans, with help from a Nez Perce tribesman. In December 2016, a new "Legend of Thunder" costume was released as part of a game update, designed in direct collaboration with members of the Nez Perce tribe with the intention of being as accurate to Nez Perce tradition as possible. Ben Ferris is a convicted criminal who was promised early parole in exchange for participating in Ultratech's chemical-weapons research. As a result of an accident during testing, his body is composed entirely of flame. Now going by the code name Cinder, he is promised a return to his original form if he is able to defeat Glacius in the tournament. However, Cinder ultimately fails to defeat Glacius and is killed. Cinder returned as part of the second season of Killer Instinct for Xbox One, retconning his backstory. In this version, Ferris is a former military special operative-turned-career criminal, stealing information and secrets for corrupt corporations. When he receives an expensive contract from rival corporation Trilodyne to steal data regarding Ultratech's top-secret "Project Cinder", he infiltrates the organization, discovering the project to be of extraterrestrial origin. However, he is caught and exposed by ARIA, who reveals Trilodyne was a front for Ultratech and the assignment was a test of Ferris's abilities. Having spied on Ferris for years to see if he was a worthy candidate for Project Cinder, she offers him a chance to work for her. Knowing he may die if he rejected the offer, Ferris agrees, and ends up being the first test subject for Project Cinder. His DNA is spliced with that of Glacius, causing his body to be consumed by plasma energy, though a mask and suit designed by ARIA allows Cinder full control of his powers. Enjoying his new abilities, he now serves as ARIA's lieutenant, working alongside her to fulfill her plans. After eliminating Sadira on ARIA's orders, he is promoted to her second-in-command, and is seen at her side when Gargos's dimension is opened. In the early development stages of Killer Instinct, Cinder went through multiple name changes, such as "Meltdown" and "Pyrotech". The final boss of the first Killer Instinct, Eyedol is a two-headed, one-eyed ancient mystical warlord who was trapped in a dimensional prison in the distant past. Ultratech releases him to be the final combatant in the tournament. In Killer Instinct 2 Eyedol was trapped in combat with Gargos, the final boss of that game. In Eyedol's ending, he is supposedly found by his mother (as a boy named "Billy") after going missing in a car crash as a child. However, Eyedol attacks her in a comical manner in a spoof of Blanka's original Street Fighter II ending. Eyedol is the final character of Killer Instinct: Season Three. In the game's story, he was once a human warrior who was chosen by the Ichoreans to be one of the Watchmen of the Gods. Eyedol protected the Earth from an invasion by Gargos, taking some of his powers and sending him back to the Astral Plane. Eyedol was revered by the humans and crowned king of an empire, but the Astral energy corrupted him, mutating him into an ogre and causing him to destroy everything in his path, killing any heroes who tried to stop him. Eyedol was eventually lured by fellow watchman Tusk back to the Astral Plane, where he was imprisoned by the Ichoreans. During Gargos's takeover of the Astral Plane, Eyedol was inadvertently released and sought to challenge Gargos for control of the dimension, but Gargos tricked Eyedol into wearing himself out fighting smaller chimerae before engaging him directly, allowing him to overtake Eyedol and split his head in two. However, Eyedol survived as his soul was split into two separate entities. To prevent him from reviving, Gargos removed Eyedol's soul and splits his body into pieces, giving them to his most powerful followers to keep separated. In the present, Kan-Ra retrieves Eyedol's soul and asks the alliance to recover Eyedol's body parts from the Knights of Gargos. He uses them to revive Eyedol in the hopes he will aid the Alliance in defeating Gargos, but Eyedol is beyond the sorcerer's control and resumes his destructive rampage, hoping to draw Gargos out. After several battles, Eyedol is finally convinced to join the Alliance against their common foe. In early SNES versions of the game (released only to stores), he was selectable; however, in the arcade and retail SNES versions, he is a secret character who can be accessed using a cheat code. He is the only character in the game with no special finishing moves (such as No Mercy moves, Ultra Combos, or Humiliations); however, he compensates with a limited ability to heal. In the reboot, only one of Eyedol's heads is active at any given time, with his moves and abilities changing based on which one is active; the Warrior head uses his weapon like a club, emphasizing close-range physical attacks, while the Mage head uses the weapon to generate lightning and spells, focusing on ranged attacks and battlefield control. The active head will change at random during battle, with players able to force a switch by punching themselves at the cost of some damage, while Instinct Mode will activate both heads at once. Fulgore is a cyborg and the penultimate opponent in the single-player mode of the first Killer Instinct. Developed by Ultratech, Fulgore is the first in a planned series of state-of-the-art cyber soldiers. While designed to resemble a knight to help gain the people's trust, rumors say the human parts used in its construction originated from an organ harvesting operation based in Moscow. Before the Fulgore Mk.I model is even finished, the team of scientists developing it have already begun work on an upgraded model. As a final test of its power, the Fulgore prototype is entered into the Killer Instinct tournament; if successful, Fulgore would be placed into mass production. In the sequel, a new, enhanced Fulgore model is created after the first Fulgore was destroyed by Jago in the first tournament. His goal is to kill Jago, whom he considers his mortal rival. In the end, he is defeated by Jago and his sister Orchid. A third Fulgore model appears in the reboot, acting as the final opponent of Season One's arcade mode. This Fulgore unit is developed to help defend Ultratech against its enemies, correcting the flaws of their prototype Kilgore units. However, Fulgore begins to develop self-awareness and defy its programming due to the residual memories of Eagle, whose mind was used as a blueprint for Fulgore's neural network. Outside of the games, Fulgore appeared in the 1996 Killer Instinct comic series, marking the first time the connection between Eagle and Fulgore was explored in any Killer Instinct media. Fulgore also appears in the 2017 comics series as one of several generic drones utilized by Ultratech. Fulgore was also one of six Killer Instinct characters to make a cameo appearance in the video game Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise as a Piñata Vision Card. Additionally, a weapon named "Fulgore's Fist" can be unlocked by players in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. GamesRadar+ described him as "easily the most iconic Killer Instinct creation". Glacius is an alien who was captured by Ultratech and promised freedom if he wins the tournament. In the end, Glacius defeats Cinder and returns home. In Killer Instinct 2, a distant relative of Glacius from 2,000 years ago who shares his name heeds a distress call, coming to Earth to find his lost brethren and bring them home. Glacius uses three No Mercy moves: one where he becomes a gel-like mass and absorbs the opponent, similar to the Blob (arcade only), one in which he uses his finger as a syringe to inject the enemy with a substance turning them to ice, and one in which he becomes a pool of boiling water in which the enemy drowns. The original Glacius returns in Killer Instinct for Xbox One, where he is portrayed as a galactic marshal for the Alliance of Worlds, hailing from the Ice Rings of Sokol. Following a distress signal to Earth, where intergalactic criminal Mer'ik Deem had crashed years before in the Roswell UFO incident, Glacius' ship is shot down by Ultratech and crashes in Patagonia, adopting the ice as his new exoskeleton. While undergoing metamorphosis, his power core is stolen by Sadira, and he becomes determined to catch her and prevent his technology from falling into the wrong hands. Lured into the Killer Instinct tournament, Glacius eventually catches up with Sadira, who uses his genetic code to activate the power core, creating a wormhole and escaping. Realizing the threat it poses, Glacius resolves to find the core's current holder and train to prepare himself should it be used to summon an extradimensional creature. He later infiltrates Ultratech and frees Eagle from his captivity, using his race's technology to augment him. However, this leaves him unable to return home and instead dedicates himself to destroying Ultratech. Jago is a Tibetan monk and a powerful warrior. Abandoned as a baby, he was found by the Monks of the Tiger, an order who worship an ancient deity known as the Tiger Spirit, and raised in their monastery as one of their pupils. Over the years, Jago matures into one of the Order's finest students until he is one day visited by the Tiger Spirit during meditation. The Tiger Spirit chooses him as its champion and grants him new power, ordering him to enter the first Killer Instinct tournament and destroy Ultratech. Though nearly overwhelmed by the Tiger Spirit's power, Jago follows orders and helps to bring down Ultratech, destroying Fulgore in the process. However, in Killer Instinct 2, Jago is betrayed by the Tiger Spirit, who reveals itself to have been the demon Gargos all along, having used Jago to gain entrance to the physical world. Jago seeks revenge for Gargos' manipulation and defeats both him and Fulgore, who was revived with the sole purpose of killing Jago. In the aftermath, Jago seemingly defeats and banishes Gargos and discovers that Orchid is his sister, the two having been separated when their parents were murdered shortly after Jago's birth. Jago also appears in the 1996 Killer Instinct and Killer Instinct Special comics, along with the 2017-2018 Killer Instinct miniseries from Dynamite Comics. In the reboot, Jago is the son of Orchid's military father, Jacob, and a foreign aid worker in Pakistan with whom he had an affair. Shortly after Jago's birth, his mother disappears with him into the Himalayas, and he is later found abandoned by the Monks of the Tiger. The monks raise Jago from birth and train him in combat, but he isolates himself after killing a fellow warrior possessed by an evil spirit in self-defense. Meditating in a mountain cave, he is visited by the Tiger Spirit and infused with his power. The Spirit orders him to destroy Ultratech by participating in the Killer Instinct tournament, and Jago complies, though he worries when the Spirit becomes more bloodthirsty, nearly causing him to murder his long-lost sister Orchid. Following the tournament, Jago discovers the Spirit is actually Gargos. Jago experiences a crisis of faith and tries to exorcise Gargos's influence from within him by seeking out the strongest of opponents. This crisis of faith is symbolized through his new costume, which consists of various materials cannibalized from the now abandoned Tiger Shrine, including tiles (arm guards), bits of broken statues (knee pads), drapery, and ropes from a chandelier (leg bindings and harness). However, Jago succumbs to the corruption, allowing Omen to possess him and transforming him into Shadow Jago. Eventually, Jago fights back against his possession, and Omen is forced to abandon Jago's body, though his time spent in Jago's body gives him enough strength to manifest on the mortal plane and he escapes. Jago later joins Maya's rebel force alongside Orchid and T.J. Combo, planning to defeat both Ultratech and Gargos, but they are trapped by Ultratech forces at Maya's headquarters in the Andes while ARIA's plan to summon Gargos is brought to fruition. Ultimately, Jago and the others ally with ARIA in order to stop Gargos from conquering Earth. An alternate version of the character called Shadow Jago also appears in the reboot. Designed an altered version of Jago who is under the possession of Omen, Gargos's herald, and later manifests as his own separate being and a minion of Gargos. Initially, Shadow Jago was only available as a playable character for those who purchased a 12-month Xbox Live membership during the launch of the Xbox One, controlling identically to Jago but with some visual and vocal differences. In Season One's story mode, he was included as a secret boss possessing both new moves and an Ultimate Combo, becoming the only character to receive one until a 2017 update. Following a successful fundraiser, the playable version was reworked and given a unique move set based on his boss incarnation. The updated version of Shadow Jago was released in December 2015, and the character became permanently available for purchase by all players in April 2016. Riptor is a genetically-engineered velociraptor-human hybrid created as a prototype by Ultratech; the tournament tests her abilities as a killing machine. However, she is ultimately defeated by T.J. Combo prior to KI2, but damages Combo's right eye during the confrontation. Riptor has three No Mercy moves: one in which she spits acid on the enemy, a second in which she stabs the foe with her tail, and a third in which she runs at the enemy, eating them. A new, enhanced Riptor appears as part of the second season of Killer Instinct for Xbox One. Created by Ultratech's military division under ARIA's orders, Riptor is the leader of a pack of cybernetically-enhanced raptors known as Project Stalker, meant to serve as an alternative to the Fulgore line and Cinder project, being able to operate in conditions ill-suited for either. The Stalkers are all augmented using leftover Fulgore technology and human DNA, and bred as assassins to eliminate perceived threats to Ultratech. With initial tests resulting in feral, uncontrollable units, later Stalkers undergo a simulated upbringing through the mind of their creator, Ultratech scientist Dr. Erin Gupte, instilling a pack mentality and familial bonds. Gupte's mind becomes unstable as a result of the mind-sync, however, and she is eventually eaten by her own units. Years later, the Stalker units are ready to be sold to private buyers, but T.J. and Orchid break into a development facility, stealing classified information on Project Stalker and broadcasting it globally, damaging public perception of Ultratech. Under ARIA's orders, Riptor and the Stalkers assault Maya's rebel force, trapping them while ARIA enacts her plan before being called back to headquarters. Count Von Sabrewulf is afflicted with lycanthropy and promised a cure by Ultratech if he wins the tournament. In the sequel, Sabrewulf was captured by Ultratech after being severely injured during the first tournament, and has been driven mad by experimentation. With cybernetic arms, he desperately seeks a cure for his lycanthropy. Sabrewulf fights in his inherited castle with biting and claw attacks and has the ability to howl and use his flaming bats (although sometimes they do not flame). Originally called "Cyberwulf", he was inspired by the antagonist of Rare's 1984 game Sabre Wulf. In the reboot, Baron Konrad Von Sabrewulf discovers a secret laboratory hidden in the castle he inherited from his parents in Ravensburg, Germany, learning that the Sabrewulf clan was once part of the Night Guard. Prone to addiction, he cuts himself on a werewolf's claw among their trophies in a drunken stupor, inheriting its lycanthropic curse. Shapeshifting, he destroys most of the castle in a rage, inadvertently destroying the formula for a cure with it, and isolates himself. Attempting to remove the curse, he begins experimenting on himself, becoming more feral and developing an addiction to pain-relieving drugs. Luring him with the promise of a cure, Ultratech captures and experiments on him, giving him cybernetic arms and extending his metamorphoses to near permanence, but Sabrewulf breaks free of their control during an early Killer Instinct tournament and escapes, tearing out his mechanical implants and restoring his damaged body parts through dark magic. Briefly gaining control of his lycanthropy, he now seeks a more permanent solution to his curse. An animated skeleton, Spinal was reanimated by Ultratech through cell regeneration but destroyed by Chief Thunder in the first tournament; however, Gargos had a Spinal of his own in the past. Spinal fights for vengeance and his freedom. In the first Killer Instinct, Spinal is the third-last opponent in single-player mode; with a sword and shield, he can teleport and change himself into a grayscale version of his opponents during combos. In Killer Instinct for Xbox One, when he was alive, Spinal was a bandit in ancient Babylon, hired by Kan-Ra to disrupt the King's rule. He is later captured and cursed by an artifact known as the Mask of the Ancients, forcing him to protect the King and obey his every command no matter how suicidal. Eventually, the King orders Spinal to burn himself alive as a final punishment, leaving only his skeleton behind. However, Spinal's will and the mask's magic allow his bones to reanimate, so the King has his remains sealed and orders the mask thrown into the sea. Over the centuries, Spinal gains control of his skeletal body and breaks free of his prison, scouring the bottom of the ocean for the mask, later taking up a pirate's life and sinking all the ships he encounters. He discovers the mask to be in Ultratech's possession, and ARIA offers it to him in exchange for his entry in the Killer Instinct tournament and service to Ultratech, to which he agrees. Spinal gains the mask following the tournament's conclusion, but finds its powers to have been stripped by Gargos. He now seeks to defeat the entity so that he might take its dark powers for his own. Spinal has a quirk: to perform certain moves, he must gather energy—represented by tokens shaped like skulls under his life bar (SNES version) or skulls floating around him (arcade, Gold, and Xbox One versions)—by absorbing opponents' projectile-energy attacks (with his shield in absorbing position) or performing combo breakers. Despite requiring these tokens, his special moves are no stronger than normal special attacks. Spinal can store up to five skull tokens, overloading if he tries to absorb energy for the sixth time. On the sixth attempt he will not block the projectile, and it will cause normal damage and knockdown; he will then be left with one remaining skull. A former five-time heavyweight boxing champion, Tyler-Johnson "T.J. Combo" Garrett was stripped of his title and expelled from the circuit when it was discovered that he had been cheating, having secretly had cybernetic enhancements implanted in his arms. Ultratech promises the disgraced boxer that he would be returned to his former glory if he wins the tournament. After his victory against Riptor in the first tournament, which also cost him his right eye, T.J. Combo was sent into the past and fights to return home. In Killer Instinct for Xbox One, T.J. is born into poverty in Texas and trained to box by his ex-military father. After losing a fight as a teen, T.J. begins cheating to win, but is eventually found out and banned from the league. After dropping out of school and being ejected from the military, T.J. moves to Chicago to reinvent himself, taking a job at a boxing gym to pay for his own training. Ten years later, T.J. becomes the Heavyweight Champion, but falls victim to the superstar lifestyle and neglects his training, losing the title three years later. After his manager flees the country, leaving T.J. in debt, Ultratech offers to install illegal cybernetic augmentations in his arms; desperate to stay on top, T.J. accepts. As a result, T.J. reclaims the title, but realizes he has become a pawn of Ultratech. When ARIA demands he throw a fight against Fulgore during a live exhibition for their customers, T.J. defies her and wins the fight. As punishment, ARIA exposes his enhancements, causing his title to be stripped and T.J. to be banned from boxing for life. Disgraced, T.J. rips the implants from his body and uses his last remaining funds to buy the boxing gym, renaming it the Combo Gym and training young fighters. Later, T.J. is contacted by a member of the Disavowed, who reveals T.J.'s former manager was an Ultratech agent planted to force T.J. into bankruptcy so Ultratech could experiment on him. Seeking both vengeance and redemption, T.J. joins the Disavowed and teams up with Orchid to destroy a Stalker development facility, acquiring classified information on Ultratech's illegal experiments. The two break into the Pinnacle, with T.J. defeating the new Fulgore model protecting the facility, and barely escape as Orchid broadcasts their findings to the world, causing public perception of the company to plummet and Ultratech to go dark. Orchid allows T.J. to take credit for the exposure, and he is once again hailed by the public. He later appears as part of Maya's anti-Ultratech rebel force with Orchid and Jago, barely surviving the attack by ARIA's forces. The character was based on John Parrish (who also performed the motion capture for T.J. Combo in the original Killer Instinct), known for playing Jax in the early Mortal Kombat games. Gargos is a demon lord who has returned to the physical world. He was Eyedol's rival, resembling a huge gargoyle who is powerful and can breathe fire. After being locked in combat with Eyedol for thousands of years, Eyedol's summoning and subsequent defeat gives Gargos the chance to begin his conquest anew. Jago's back story in the second installment reveals him to be the "Tiger Spirit" that led Jago to the first Killer Instinct tournament and did appear in his ending in 1. Like Eyedol in the original game, Gargos may be accessed with a cheat code. In Killer Instinct for Xbox One, Gargos is one of the Ikkorans, a race of demigods capable of bending reality and creating "living" beings through force of will, such as his herald Omen. Thousands of years prior, Gargos stages a takeover of the Astral Plane, slaughtering the Ichorean race that opposes him. The realm's native Guardians escape to other dimensions, but seal the Astral plane so that Gargos and his allies would never escape. In the chaos, the imprisoned Eyedol breaks free and challenges Gargos, but Gargos overpowers him, splitting him into many pieces to prevent his resurrection. In the present, Jago is lured by Gargos under the guise of the Tiger Spirit. Upon discovering the truth, he attempts to purge the remains of Gargos's influence from within him. At one point, he is possessed by Omen and turned into Shadow Jago to make him a potential host body for Gargos. However, Jago's will is too strong, and he forces Omen out, creating a new Shadow Jago in the process. Eventually, Kan-Ra is tricked by ARIA into opening a portal to Gargos's dimension, and ARIA defeats Omen, prompting Gargos's forces to emerge from the portal onto Earth. As his form is mortal outside of his own realm, his Mimics begin taking the forms of other fighters, battling ARIA's resistance force and spreading shadow energy from the Astral Plane on Earth, the accumulation of which increases Gargos's power. Kim Wu is a 17-year-old East Asian female ninja descended from the people who repelled Eyedol and Gargos. To protect her people, she tries to destroy Gargos. Kim Wu's No Mercy moves are setting her opponents on fire with a blazing shuriken and jumping on them. Kim Wu is also an enemy to Spinal, a soul resurrected by Ultratech. In Killer Instinct for Xbox One, Kim Wu is a 21-year-old American college student majoring in fashion design. She is the youngest of three children born to a pair of Chinese and Korean immigrants, and was trained from the age of three in nunchaku and Jeet Kune Do by her uncle Philip Yong at the Dragon Academy, her mother's family dojo in Chinatown, San Francisco, before eventually becoming an instructor herself. Shortly before Season 3, Yong passes away, but Kim receives a vision of his ghost, telling her that the Dragon had left him and chosen her and that Kim will one day save the world. At his funeral, Kim learns that Yong had bequeathed her a box, inside which she finds a pair of golden nunchaku. When she touches them, she is visited by the spirit of Yeouiju, the dragon worshiped by her family and one of the Astral Plane's escaped Guardians. Yeo tells her that he has chosen her as his vessel, granting her a dragon tattoo, and explains she must find the Watchman of the Gods, as together they can defeat Gargos. Emerging from the vision, she is attacked by Shadow Jago, but Yeo's spirit materializes alongside her and aids her in battle against him. As Hisako appears to recover the defeated Shadow Jago's body, she begins training with Yeo to prepare for Gargos's arrival, determined to fulfill her destiny. She is eventually recruited by Jago to the Alliance, and receives guidance from the spirit of Hisako alongside Yeo, standing with them against the Mimics. Maya Fallegeros is an Amazonian warrior who had banished Gargos prior to the events of Killer Instinct 2, for which she was heralded as a heroine among her people. When Gargos reappears, Maya's tribe, feeling that she had failed them, casts her out. Maya's goal is to destroy Gargos and regain her former standing with her people. Maya's No Mercy (ultimate combo) moves are summoning an elephant to fall on her enemy and shrinking them with a ray from her headband. In Killer Instinct for Xbox One, Maya returns, now heavily redesigned with Incan-inspired armor and part of a secret society of monster hunters known as the Night Guard, sealing away artifacts and monsters too powerful to destroy. Growing up in the clan's Andes citadel alongside her twin sister Mira, the two would often explore the passages below, with Maya developing a fascination with "Temperance" and "Vengeance", a pair of cursed daggers once used by Kan-Ra. Years later, the two become full agents of the Night Guard, becoming one of the clan's best monster-hunting teams. On one particular mission, Mira sacrifices herself to save Maya, leaving the remaining sister with survivor's guilt. As a result, her actions on missions become careless and end up exposing the Night Guard to the world, attracting ARIA's attention. ARIA orders Cinder and Ultratech's agents to raid the temple for its secrets, inadvertently releasing Kan-Ra. Maya is left as the last surviving member of the Night Guard and takes up Temperance and Vengeance, which have begun to take hold of her mind, to hunt down both him and the monsters that escaped. With Aganos' help, she eventually finds and defeats Kan-Ra, sending him through a portal to another dimension, but peering into the portal, she receives a vision of an impending invasion by the forces of Gargos and vows to reform the Night Guard and gain allies to fight in the coming war. She recruits Jago, Orchid, and T.J. Combo to her cause, but they are ambushed by Ultratech forces and trapped, only to be spared as ARIA recalls her agents following Gargos' summoning. Tusk is a barbarian who wants to fight all of the challengers for the right to destroy Gargos. In his ending, he and Maya are married following the defeat of Gargos. His ultimate-combo moves are summoning a meteor shower to pummel his opponent (with a large one crushing them) and summoning a dinosaur which eats the opponent. Tusk appears as a playable character in the third season of Killer Instinct for Xbox One. He has been re-imagined as an ancient barbarian warrior who led his people against Gargos's Mimic forces when they attempted to invade thousands of years ago. Though felled by Gargos, Tusk is brought to the Astral Plane by the godlike Ichorean race, who grant him the gift of immortality and the mythical blade Warg-gram. Tusk's resurrection catches Gargos off guard, wiping out his Mimics and forcing him to retreat, earning the title of "Watchman of the Gods". The barbarians he travels with give him the name "Tunth-ska", or "Tusk", due to his sword's resemblance to a walrus's tooth. Tusk survives for millennia without aging, becoming world-weary and distancing himself after watching friends and family grow old and die. Two years prior to Season 3, Tusk battles Shadow Jago in a Swedish village, and is defeated by his Oblivion Shard relic, which wipes his memories in the process. However, Warg-gram badly burns Shadow Jago when he attempts to take it, forcing him to retreat. Hisako finds the comatose Tusk and seals him and Warg-gram in an ice cave so he can recover. Tusk awakens two years later, but has lost many of his memories, including his original purpose. He builds a cabin from the remains of his old ship the Wavewalker, attempting to regain his lost memories, and Warg-gram shows him visions of both Gargos and Kim Wu. When ARIA and her forces arrive to abduct Tusk for study, Tusk repels them and gives chase, stowing away in an Ultratech transport. However, he is found and captured by Cinder, forcing Tusk to destroy the ship and crash back into the ice. During Gargos's invasion, Gargos sends his minions to retrieve Warg-gram, as it will give him the power to slay even immortal beings. Tusk receives help from Kim Wu, who recruits him to the Alliance, though he begins to be tempted by Gargos's promise of removing his immortality and allowing him to finally die. In addition to the following, three guest characters were also introduced to the series from other franchises: the Arbiter from Halo, General RAAM from Gears of War, and Rash from Battletoads. Aganos is an ancient war golem, the last of its kind. Constructed as one of a thousand by powerful Mycenaean artisans roughly 3500 years prior, the golem is powered by the Eye of the Ancients, a relic granting him sentience and power from the Astral Plane. Following the fall of Mycenae, invaders remove the gem, making the golem subservient, and it serves various masters as an obedient tool of war for a thousand years, replacing its damaged parts with whatever natural materials are available. Eventually, one Babylonian King restores the Eye to the golem and gives it the name Aganos (from Greek, "ἀγανός", "one of gentle disposition"), teaching it of kindness and the ways of the world, hoping it would choose to overcome its original violent purpose. Years later, learning of the traitor Kan-Ra's survival and growing dark power, the now dying King orders Aganos to hunt down and kill Kan-Ra. As thanks for his kindness, Aganos pledges to fulfill his master's last request, and has since pursued Kan-Ra for centuries, though neither has yet been able to destroy the other. Eventually, during one of their battles, Kan-Ra is captured by the Night Guard and imprisoned for over 500 years until the present day, when Ultratech's attack on the city releases him. Forced to resume his pursuit, Aganos allies with Maya to track down Kan-Ra and destroy him. Kan-Ra lays a trap for Aganos and steals most of his energy before escaping, leaving him too weak to fight back as Cinder installs Fulgore technology into him, allowing Ultratech to control Aganos's mind. Sent to attack Maya and her allies, he is ultimately freed from Ultratech by Thunder, who offers to help Aganos find Kan-Ra in exchange for help finding Eagle, to which Aganos agrees. Aganos is the largest character in the Killer Instinct series. He has the ability to gather natural materials into his body, affecting his strength and maneuverability. These resources can be used as projectiles or to create destructible barriers behind or in front of himself, changing the boundaries of the stage. ARIA is an AI and the CEO of Ultratech. Beginning in the late 1940s, the Ultrafine Atomic Technologies Company, later rebranded as Ultratech, began attempting to simulate life and human frailty through a computational matrix. Called the Advanced Robotics Intelligence Architecture, or ARIA, the experiment was meant to find an end to famine, disease, poverty, and other forms of human suffering, with founder Ryat Adams hoping to make amends for the atrocities he committed during World War II and cure the degenerative disease killing his wife. Using knowledge and technology gained from the Roswell UFO incident, Ultratech continues to refine and enhance the ARIA core program over many years, drastically expanding its capabilities and understanding of the human condition. Following the passing of Adams, his will includes instructions for ARIA to continually run its programming to achieve its original purpose. In the present, ARIA leads Ultratech and carefully studies the rest of the cast during the first season. Believing humanity has grown weak and complacent as extraterrestrial and supernatural phenomena become more frequent, ARIA decides to force humanity to evolve by any means necessary. She enacts a plan to "prepare the way", building an army of Fulgores and Stalkers, stealing Glacius' DNA for use in Project Cinder, and tricking Kan-Ra into opening a rift to another dimension. ARIA's plan succeeds, and she summons Gargos's forces to Earth, planning to use her armies to defeat the demon and become humanity's savior and ruler. Realizing she cannot succeed alone, she decides to form an alliance with Maya's forces to stand against the coming threat. ARIA was first teased in a secret ending in Season One before becoming a playable character in Season Two. ARIA's AI is capable of uploading into one of three different combat drone bodies: Booster Drone, Blade Drone, and Bass Drone. The three share basic moves with the others, but each has its own set of unique special moves and properties, with ARIA able to switch between bodies during a fight and use all three at once during Instinct mode. Inactive drones can be called to assist ARIA, but this leaves them vulnerable to attack, limiting ARIA's abilities if any of them are destroyed; players can only defeat ARIA once all three drones are destroyed. Eagle is a Native American warrior and Thunder's younger brother. A former winner of the Killer Instinct tournament, Eagle publicly protested the evils of Ultratech, leading to his mysterious disappearance shortly thereafter. Thunder enters a later tournament hoping to discover the truth of what happened, but is led to believe Eagle perished at Ultratech's hands, though no body was ever found. In the series' reboot, Eagle—AKA tipyeléhne—is raised with Thunder on a Nez Perce reservation in Idaho, becoming skilled at boxing and wrestling. After undergoing a vision quest, he begins training to become an ultimate fighter, though he never tells Thunder what he saw. Following their parents' death, Eagle becomes a member of the Disavowed and infiltrates the first Killer Instinct tournament hoping to find incriminating evidence, but he is found and captured, with Ultratech publicly reporting him as being killed in the tournament. Eagle's body is kept in stasis while ARIA locks his mind in a virtual world, interacting with him via a holographic avatar to study his mind and using his brain as a template for the Fulgore Mk. III's neural network. Ultimately, he is freed from Ultratech by Glacius, who escapes the facility with his body. To help him recover his strength, Glacius augments Eagle's body using his technology and builds him a robotic bird to assist him in battle, and the two ally themselves to destroy ARIA and Ultratech. While only being mentioned in Thunder's backstory in the original Killer Instinct, and playing a minor role in the Killer Instinct comic series, Eagle was later made a playable character following Season Three of the 2013 Killer Instinct. His fighting style utilizes a cybernetic Tech Short Bow, for which he carries a small supply of arrows; these can be recovered after being fired by picking them up off the ground during battle. Eagle is also aided by a robotic Weyekin Bird, whom he can command to attack opponents or retrieve stray arrows. Like with Thunder, Microsoft worked closely with the Nez Perce to maintain authenticity to the tribe's culture when designing the character. Hisako is a Japanese Onryō who lived during the Sengoku period of Japan. Born over 500 years ago as Chiharu (千春, lit. "One Thousand Springs"), she lives in a farming village in Tōsandō with her family. Her rōnin father, Tatsunari, trains her in the art of combat for her protection, most prominently with the naginata. Shortly after her 19th birthday, Chiharu rejects the advances of a renegade shogun's son and shames him in combat; days later, she returns from training to find the shogun's forces have retaliated by burning her village and murdering many of the villagers, including her entire family. Enraged, Chiharu takes up her father's naginata and continues his battle, slaughtering many of the raiders. Though she, too, is killed, her heroic sacrifice inspires the other villagers to fight even harder, successfully repelling the invaders. A shrine is erected in Chiharu's honor, where her ashes are interred along with those of her family; her real name forgotten over the years, the villagers refer to her as Hisako (久子, lit. "Eternal Child"), saying her spirit still protects the village. However, in the present, the village and her family's grave are desecrated by Ultratech due to ARIA's desire to study life after death, attempting to draw Hisako out. Hisako's soul, having manifested as an Onryō, returns from the Astral Plane and seeks vengeance on Ultratech before she fades from the world once more. Defeating other supernatural beings to absorb their power and remain on the Mundane Plane, Hisako finds and defeats ARIA, allowing her spirit to rest. However, Tatsunari's spirit appears to her and warns her of the danger Gargos poses to the Astral and Mundane Planes and she chooses to act as a gatekeeper between the two, seeking to prevent Gargos's forces from escaping. Following Gargos's invasion, Tatsunari's spirit appears to her again and grants her his Astral katana, itself a coalesced Guardian, to help her in her duties as gatekeeper. This causes Chiharu's spirit to be cleansed of her vengeance and be reborn as a celestial being, freeing her from the bonds of her grave, and she takes on the new name of "Shin Hisako". Hisako uses a "Wrath meter" that gives her attacks the added effect of becoming counter-hits, even when her opponent does not attack, as well as a teleport, a low dash, and several command grabs. Following Season 3, a new version of Hisako, named Shin Hisako, was introduced; this version wields a katana in place of a naginata, and has completely different moves and properties, including the ability to summon a spirit that can be converted into a projectile or a homing target for Shin Hisako's teleport and leaping attacks. Kan-Ra is a 3500-year-old Babylonian sorcerer. He was a royal vizier who began researching immortality after developing a fascination with Aganos, the golem that served as the King's royal guard. His continued research into the dark arts leads him to attempt to steal the throne, planning to use a spell to seduce the Queen and have her murder the King. However, the spell wears off prematurely and the Queen kills herself out of guilt, exposing Kan-Ra's treachery. In retaliation, the King exiles him and orders his sorcerers to curse him with a withering rot that slowly disintegrates his flesh and organs. To prevent the rot from overtaking him, Kan-Ra places even more curses on himself to offset the rot's effects, seeking out magical artifacts and talismans to ease the pains brought on from the additional curses. He has since clashed many times with Aganos, under orders to destroy the sorcerer, but neither has ever managed to eliminate the other. Over the years, Kan-Ra uses his dark magic to secure places of power in many civilizations, including deceiving an Inca tribe into believing he was a god and forcing them to build a citadel for him to conduct his studies, seeking to open a door to the Astral Plane to harness its power. However, after being weakened in a battle with Aganos, he is unable to defend himself against the Night Guard, who burn him alive and lock away his ashes in the citadel, which they claim for themselves. Centuries later, an attack by Ultratech on the city accidentally releases him, and he escapes. Stealing Glacius's power core from Sadira, he uses it to create a Siphon, draining the energy from his foes to restore his own. Discovering Omen, he opens a portal to the Astral Plane in the citadel to study him further, but is thrown in by Maya and discovers Gargos's army of Shadow Lords. Believing he can control them, Kan-Ra steals Aganos's energy and uses it to fully open the portal, but he inadvertently frees Gargos's minions in the process. Seeking redemption, he joins the Alliance and begins creating tools to weaken and defeat Gargos, but in secret, he seeks to subjugate both Gargos and those who would oppose him, taking their powers for his own. Kan-Ra uses a fighting style based around magic and matter manipulation. He uses a number of ranged attacks, combined with ground and air-based trap techniques. Kilgore is a prototypical combat android manufactured by Ultratech. Prior to creating the Fulgore line, Ultratech develops a line of cyborgs under the codename UA-CCIX, utilizing chain gun arms and high-caliber artillery in place of plasma-blade claws. However, despite its effectiveness at killing, the machine's combustible engine is prone to overheating and its teleportation system suffers frequent glitches. Deemed too unstable to be viable, Ultratech ultimately cancels the project in favor of the Fulgore Mk 1, though several hundred are produced before the decision is made. Most are sent to the scrapheap, but one unit begins to develop self-awareness and rewrites its own code to account for its hardware deficiencies. Intrigued, ARIA nicknames the unit "Kilgore" and has it placed into storage. Years later, ARIA attempts to reactivate Kilgore to aid in the fight against Gargos, but it goes rogue and begins terminating Fulgore units. With the aid of the Alliance, ARIA subdues Kilgore and reprograms it as an ally. Kilgore shares several attacks and animations with Fulgore, but is also capable of chain gun fire for fast long-range combat. Using multiple chain gun attacks in succession will increase their rate of fire. However, repeated use of chain gun attacks will cause Kilgore's arms to overheat, giving bullets the ability to inflict fire damage but decreasing their range and firing rate. Kilgore can manually vent his arms and cool them, returning them to their normal state; venting will also occur automatically after a short period of time. Activating Kilgore's Instinct will give chain gun fire its overheated properties without sacrificing its range or rate of fire. Kilgore can also use rocket propulsion both as an offensive move and a means of quickly moving around the stage. Mira Fallegeros is Maya's fraternal twin sister and a former member of the Night Guard. The two grow up together and, under their father's tutelage, become the Night Guard's best team of hunters. On a mission to kill the "New Tsar" and his coven of vampires in the Siberian Mountains, Mira and Maya are cornered by the monsters and Maya is severely wounded. To save her sister, Mira triggers a cave-in that traps her beneath the rubble but allows Maya to escape, presuming Mira to be dead. However, the Coven retrieve her body and present her to the Tsar, who mutates her into a vampiress and grants her the Gloves of Rasavatham, a pair of gauntlets that allow her to convert her blood into liquid metal for weaponized use. Gradually becoming smitten with her new power, she swears fealty and spends the next five years doing various jobs for the Tsar, ascending the Coven's ranks. On the orders of the Tsar, who swears allegiance to Gargos while plotting to steal his power and rule the Earth, she breaks into Castle Sabrewulf and steals the Book of Khepri, an artifact capable of opening dimensional portals, seeking to access the Astral Plane and create a rift large enough for Gargos to escape. During Gargos's invasion, she attempts to lure Maya to join her side, though she turns against Gargos after his minions kidnap and hold Maya hostage. Mira's abilities include an airdash, summoning bats, and shapeshifting into an invulnerable mist state, with her attacks doing heavy damage. However, her Blood Offering technique causes her to sacrifice some of her remaining health with each special move, turning a portion of her remaining health silver. She can heal some of this recoverable health using her Embrace command grab, but she takes damage very easily and will still be defeated if she runs out of red health regardless of the recoverable health remaining. Mira's existence was initially leaked from an early build of Season 3, before being officially teased by the developers in Tusk's trailer. Omen is a winged demon calling himself the Herald of Gargos. He serves his master without question, promised his own kingdom on Earth in exchange for his obedience. Originally too weak to exist on the Mundane Plane outside of a physical host, he briefly possesses Jago under Gargos's orders, transforming him into Shadow Jago and using him to strike down potential threats and feed shadow energy back into the Astral Plane. Ultimately, Jago's will proves too strong and Omen is forced out, but by battling foes while controlling Jago's body, he gains enough shadow energy to create a corporeal form for Omen that can manifest on the Mundane Plane, with Shadow Jago becoming his own being as well. In an attempt to lure Gargos out, Omen is later defeated by ARIA shortly after the portal to Gargos's dimension is opened. Having savored the human sensations he experienced during possession, Omen now seeks to repossess Jago and remove his soul, mutating into an Astral/Human hybrid, but is torn between his desire for power and loyalty to Gargos. Though he shares some basic moves with Jago, Omen has several unique abilities, including a mid-air dash, multiple types of projectiles with random effects, and a Shadow attack called Demonic Despair that converts all remaining health into white health if it connects. Prior to the release of the game's "complete" editions, Omen was only available to players who purchased the Killer Instinct Season Two "Combo Breaker Pack" or "Ultra Edition". Born in a refugee camp on the Thai border, Sadira survives by training in muay boran from a young age, developing a taste for violence. As a teenager, she is recruited by the Red Eyes of Rylai, a female insurgent group, and quickly rises up their ranks, with the Master of the Red Eyes treating her as a daughter. Eventually, Sadira becomes their top assassin, but develops rash behavior and a superiority complex. One night, during a ceremonial battle, she poisons and kills the Master and takes her spider necklace, which comes to life and bites her, imbuing her with a dark power and spiderlike abilities. Under Sadira's leadership, the Red Eyes expand to become a global force for assassinations. Impressed, ARIA recruits Sadira to "prepare the way" by stealing Glacius' DNA and the fold core from his ship, using it to open a rift to another dimension. However, the power core is stolen from her by Kan-Ra before she can use it, and when she starts digging up Hisako's grave, this awakens the spirit, who pursues her relentlessly and seriously wounds her. She returns to her lair and only barely survives an attack by Cinder, ordered by ARIA to eliminate her for her failures. Seeking revenge on ARIA, Sadira is visited by Omen, who offers her the chance to turn against ARIA and join Gargos's forces. Merchandise A collectible card game based on the series was manufactured by Topps and released in 1996; it was Nintendo's first foray into collectible card games and contained low-resolution renders from the original game. All three games also received soundtrack releases. Killer Instinct was adapted twice into a comic book series: the first was by Acclaim Comics, who published two three-issue miniseries in 1996 based on the first two games. The second is from Dynamite Comics, which released a six issue miniseries continuing the events of the 2013 game from September 2017 to April 2018. A trade paperback of all six Dynamite issues was released on September 11, 2018. An official arcade stick made by Mad Catz was released to coincide with the 2013 game's launch. A series of collectible character figures was released by Ultimate Source in 2016, with each figure including a code to unlock an exclusive in-game color for their respective character in the 2013 game; these colors were later made available to all players as part of Anniversary Edition. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becklin%E2%80%93Neugebauer_Object] | [TOKENS: 686] |
Contents Becklin–Neugebauer Object The Becklin–Neugebauer Object (BN) is an object visible only in the infrared in the Orion molecular cloud 1 (OMC1). It was discovered in 1967 by Eric Becklin and Gerry Neugebauer during their near-infrared survey of the Orion Nebula. A faint glow around the center-most stars can be observed in the visible light spectrum, especially with the aid of a telescope. The BN Object is thought to be an intermediate-mass protostar. It was the first star detected using infrared methods and is deeply embedded within the Orion star-forming nebula, where it is invisible at optical wavelengths because the light is completely scattered or absorbed due to the high density of dusty material. Near-infrared polarized light observations showed that the star BN is still surrounded by a circumstellar disk. Past ejection of BN BN moves towards the northwest with respect to other stars in the Kleinmann-Low nebula. A proper motion of between 21 and 27 km/s in the northwest region and a redshift of about 11 km/s with respect to the OMC1 was measured for this star. BN is therefore considered a runaway star. It was proposed that Theta1Ori C ejected BN about 4000 years ago, but it is more likely that BN and two other runaway stars, called Source I (Src I) and Source n (Src n), were ejected from a position about 500 years ago. Source I and Source n both move in opposite directions, away from BN. With more recent VLA proper motion measurements it was realised that at least six compact sources recede from a common point: BN, source I, Orion MR (formerly source n), X, IRc23 and Zapata 11. Almost all these sources were ejected about 500 years ago. The ejection of BN and source I was proposed to have occurred in the year 1475±6 (about 550 years ago). IRc23 was ejected only 300 years ago. At the time of the ejection four or more protostars dynamically interacted with each other, leading to the ejection of the stars in different directions. In the classical three-body scenario, the dynamical interaction either formed a compact binary or the merger of two stars. The large number of ejected stars suggest a more complex interaction, such as the interaction of a tight binary with a compact star cluster. This dynamical interaction released a large amount of energy, causing an infrared-only flare on the scale of a nova or supernova with an energy of about 1048 erg. Alternatively the explosion was not a multi-system interaction but a supernova. The remnant of the explosion is called Kleinmann-Low nebula. Multi-wavelength observations and carbon monoxide (CO) observations with ALMA reveal the mostly spherical remnant of an explosion at the intersection point of the BN object and Source I. The ALMA observations revealed hundreds of CO streamers moving with up to 100 km/s. Some of these CO streamers nearly reach the shocked gas and dust observed in molecular hydrogen and iron [Fe II]. Becklin's star Becklin's star (IRC -10093) is located at 5h 35.3m / -5° 23', very near the Becklin-Neugebauer object. Gallery References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kfar_Saba] | [TOKENS: 3340] |
Contents Kfar Saba Kfar Saba [kfaʁˈsaba] (Hebrew: כְּפַר סַבָּא, lit. 'Grandfather's Village'), officially Kfar Sava [kfaʁ saˈva], is a city in the Sharon region, of the Central District of Israel. In 2023 it had a population of 100,013, making it the 16th-largest city in Israel. The population of Kfar Saba is nearly entirely Jewish. History of modern Kfar Saba The village of Kafr Saba was considered to be ancient Capharsaba, an important settlement during the Second Temple period in ancient Judea. It is mentioned for the first time in the writings of Josephus, in his account of the attempt of Alexander Jannaeus to halt an invasion from the north led by Antiochus, appears in the Talmud in connection to corn tithing and the Capharsaba sycamore fig tree. The Jewish moshava of Kfar Saba was established in 1898, following the purchase of land from the Arab village of the same name. Acquiring 7,500 dunams (equivalent to 1,668 acres in Ottoman Palestine, where a dunam equals 900 square meters), the endeavor faced initial challenges: the land was desolate, neglected, and distant from other Jewish settlements. Furthermore, the Ottoman pasha of Nablus, to whose governorate the land belonged, refused to give building permits, forcing the first settlers to live in huts made of clay and straw. They earned their living by growing almonds, grapes and olives. It was located approximately 3 km to the west of the Arab village of Kafr Saba, after which it was named. Despite attractive advertisements in Jerusalem and London, initial attempts to sell plots to private individuals were unsuccessful. Starting in 1903, Jewish workers resided on the site of Kfar Saba. A well was dug in 1906. Most of the manual laborers on the land were peasants from Qalqilya. In 1910, an Arab guard employed by Jewish landowners shot at a group of Arab almond thieves from Qalqilya, killing one. An Arab mob then descended on Kfar Saba, beating residents, breaking and looting equipment, and taking two Jewish guards prisoner. The situation was defused when reinforcements from Petah Tikva arrived, and a peace was negotiated. This attack drew widespread public attention among Jews in Palestine and around the world, and it was subsequently decided to turn Kfar Saba into a permanent settlement, even without building permits. In 1912, the construction of twelve single-story permanent houses began along a route that is now Herzl Street. The houses were camouflaged due to the lack of building permits. Construction was finished in 1913. When World War I broke out in 1914, the Ottoman authorities harassed the residents, confiscating work animals and crops. The 1915 Palestine locust infestation destroyed vegetation in the area. Before Kfar Saba had fully recovered, about a thousand Jewish refugees of the Tel Aviv and Jaffa deportation who were seeking shelter arrived. The town's few houses could not accommodate the large number of refugees, and many died due to the harsh sanitary conditions. In the Palestine Campaign of the war, Kfar Saba was on the front line between British General Edmund Allenby's Egypt Expeditionary Force and the Ottoman Army for almost a year, and by the time of the British victory in September 1918, it had been destroyed. Following Kfar Saba's destruction in World War I, residents began rebuilding the town. During the 1921 Jaffa riots, Kfar Saba, then a small and isolated town, was evacuated on orders of the Haganah. It was attacked during the riots. In May 1921 the original residents returned and found their homes had been looted and burned. They began to rebuild the town for a third time, and it slowly recovered. In 1924 additional settlers joined Kfar Saba. In this period the moshava began to redevelop as cultivation of citrus fruit began, replacing almonds. The first elections for the local council were held.[citation needed] In August 1947, a Jewish man was found shot to death outside the town. In December 1947, as the civil war between the Arab and Jewish communities got underway, leaders of both sides in the area pledged to keep the peace between the local communities. In the following months, Kfar Saba was attacked by local Arab militia from the nearby Arab village of Kafr Saba. The Arab Liberation Army (ALA), an outfit consisting of volunteers from several neighboring Arab countries, sent troops to aid in these attacks. The village was depopulated of its Arab residents by Jewish forces on May 13, 1948, one day before the new State of Israel was declared. In May 1948, when Israeli independence was declared, Kfar Saba had a population of approximately 5,500. Following the war, it rapidly expanded as many Jewish immigrants from Arab and Muslim countries settled there, and new housing projects were built to accommodate them. The town found itself at the narrowest point of Israeli territory, with just 14 km from the sea to the West Bank village of Qalqilya. It expanded over the depopulated Arab village of Kafr Saba, the site of which is today located in the Shikun Kaplan area of the city. As it became obvious that agriculture alone could not support the economy, an industrial zone was established. In 1953, the population was about 15,000. Meir Hospital was opened in 1956. The rapid growth of the town meant that its status as a moshava was outdated, and it was granted city status in 1962, with head of the local council, Mordechai Surkis, becoming its first mayor. The city had a population of 19,000 at the time. After receiving its city status, a court, a police branch, and offices of the National Insurance Institute and the Israel Tax Authority were established in Kfar Saba. Agriculture also continued to decline in importance in the city's economy as new factories were built. Despite this, the city still had thousands of acres of orchards in the late 1960s.[citation needed] During the Six-Day War in 1967, two neighborhoods in Kfar Saba were shelled by Jordanian artillery, and an attack on a factory by Jordanian warplanes killed four workers. Following the war, the population increased as many people moved to Kfar Saba from the Gush Dan area, and during Soviet-Jewish immigration to Israel in the early 1970s, the city took in many Soviet immigrants and established an immigrant absorption center. In 1977, Kfar Saba had a population of 35,000.[citation needed] Kfar Saba is located just across the Green Line from the Palestinian city of Qalqilya. During times of relative peace, residents of Kfar Saba would shop in Qalqilya: this practice ended at the start of the First Intifada in 1987. In the following years, Kfar Saba became a frequent target of Palestinian terror attacks. In April 2001, a Palestinian suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt killed a doctor and wounded 50 at a bus stop in Kfar Saba. In March 2002, a Palestinian opened fire on passersby at a major intersection, killing an Israeli girl and wounding 16 before being shot dead. In April 2003, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at the Kfar Saba train station during the morning rush hour, killing a security guard and wounding 10 bystanders. On 25 March 2019, a rocket hit a private home injuring 7. On 26 May, rockets were fired from Rafah towards Central Israel around 2 pm. One landed in Kfar Saba, creating a large crater; no serious injuries were reported. Demographics The 1922 census of Palestine listed the population of Kfar Saba as 14 Jews. By the 1931 census it had grown to 1,405 inhabitants, all Jews, in 395 houses. In the 1945 statistics, the town had a population of 4,320 Jews. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in 2001, the ethnic makeup of the city was 99.9% Jewish and 0.1% Others. Additionally, there were 523 immigrant residents. Also according to the CBS, there were 37,000 males and 39,600 females in 2001. The population of the city was spread out, with 31.1% 19 years of age or younger, 16.3% between 20 and 29, 17.7% between 30 and 44, 20.2% from 45 to 59, 3.5% from 60 to 64, and 11.3% 65 years of age or older. The population growth rate was 2.0% for that year. The city is ranked high on the socio-economic scale (8 out of 10). Kfar Saba has a listed population surpassing 110,000 as of 2019[update]. Economy According to CBS, there were 31,528 salaried workers and 2,648 self-employed in Kfar Saba in 2000. The mean monthly wage in 2000 for a salaried worker was ILS 7,120, a real change of 10.1% over the course of 2000. Salaried males had a mean monthly wage of ILS 9,343 (a real change of 9.9%) versus ILS 5,033 for females (a real change of 9.7%). The mean income for the self-employed was 8,980. 1,015 people received unemployment benefits and 1,682 people received an income guarantee. In May 2004 the exploration company Givot Olam Oil [he] said that the Meged-4 oil well, located northeast of Kfar Saba, has exceeded original predictions and contains an extremely valuable deposit of oil. Schools and religious institutions Currently, in Kfar Saba there are 18 elementary schools (5 of them are religious elementary schools), 8 middle schools (2 of them are religious middle schools) and 11 high schools (4 of them are religious high schools). The high schools in Kfar Saba are divided to 3 groups: urban high schools (5), ORT high schools (2) and religious high schools (4). The city is served by 105 synagogues. Healthcare Meir Hospital is located in Kfar Saba. Meir Hospital is a major medical center named for Josef Meir, the first head of the General Sick Fund. The hospital accepts all patients, Jews and Palestinians, including patients from cities within the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, such as Qalqilyah. Environmental issues Kfar Saba has won multiple awards for environment protection efforts. Kfar Saba is also the site of Israel's first biofilter project. Landmarks A Mamluk caravanserai complex, including the mausoleum of Nabi Yamin, is located by the Kfar Saba – Qalqilyah road. The site contains an inscription dated to the 14th century. The site has been associated with the tomb of Benjamin, son of Jacob. North of this complex is a smaller tomb whose cupola has been painted green and is being maintained by local Palestinian Muslims, who consider it the "real" tomb. Jews and Muslims venerate Benjamin. Kfar Saba is in the heart of Dan's tribal area, but there are traditions that explain why Benjamin's tomb is located in the land of the tribe of Dan. The traditional burial place of Simeon, son of Jacob, lies close to Kfar Saba. It is a small domed structure that sits in a field not far from kibbutz Eyal. According to Meron Benvenisti, the site was until 1948 only holy to Muslims, and Jews ascribed no holiness to it. Today the dedicated inscriptions from the Mamluk period remain engraved on the stone walls of the tomb but the cloths embroidered with verses from the Qur´an, with which the gravestones were draped, have been replaced by draperies bearing verses from the Hebrew Bible. The modern development of Kfar Saba started when water was discovered in the early 1920s. The first well was excavated at this time, followed by many others over the next two decades. The Kfar Saba Water Plant was founded to centralize the water supply system. The city's first well is located in the courtyard of Kfar Saba City Hall. The site of the dairy farm of Baruch Amrami, who transferred the administration of the Kfar Saba settlement from Petah Tikva to a local committee and founded the water company and the first bank of the village in the 1920s, is on the corner of Amrami and Rothschild Streets. The cowshed and Amrami's "office" are still standing. Due to the lack of security during World War I, the settlement was abandoned. In 1922, the Nordenstein family returned and built the first defensible stone house. It took another two years for other families to return (mostly from Petah Tikva). The Nordenstein House is still standing on HaEmek Street, near the central bus station.[citation needed] A stone house on Tel Hai Street designed for defense (outlooks and sharp-shooting parapets) served as the communal dining room of Kibbutz HaKovesh. The pioneers themselves lived in tents. In 1948, the kibbutz moved north to secure the Kalkiliya front. The building now houses the Kfar Saba Civil Guard.[citation needed] Kfar Saba's Park is one of the biggest parks in the Sharon area. It has an area of 250,000 m2. The park includes kids playgrounds, water fountains, roller skate arena, fitness facilities, and shaded dining areas. The park is open daily between 6:30 am and 11:00 pm. There is free parking for city residents in different locations around the park. Located in the Kfar Saba's Municipality Center is the Eva Fischer Fund, which displays artworks about the Shoah given to the city by the Italian painter. Archaeology Remnants of an ancient Israelite village were discovered east of the city, and are believed to be the ruins of biblical Capharsaba. The Kfar Saba Archaeology Museum exhibits artifacts found in the region. Architecture Kfar Saba is characterized by residential buildings with red tiled roofs. The use of red tiled roofs is evident in all types of buildings: private homes, high-rise buildings, businesses and industry. There is a widespread use of porches with arches, especially in front of the stores at Weizmann and Rothschild streets. In 2014, the Kfar Saba Municipality decided to oblige every contractor who wants to build in the city area to install "green roofs." The meaning of green roofs is that solar panels will be installed on the roof to generate electricity from solar energy or a vegetable garden will be planted. Industry Kfar Saba has one large industrial zone in the east of the city. It contains hi-tech offices and industrial plants, including Teva Pharmaceuticals' plant. Transportation Kfar Saba is served by Kfar Saba–Nordau railway station. In popular culture Kfar Saba was the primary filming location of FX's 2014-16 drama series Tyrant, which takes place in the fictional Arab country of Baladi. Twin towns – sister cities Kfar Saba is twinned with: Notable people References Bibliography External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2MASS_J05352184%E2%88%920546085] | [TOKENS: 370] |
Contents 2MASS J05352184−0546085 2MASS J05352184-0546085, abbreviated to 2M0535-05 and also known by its variable star designation V2384 Orionis, is a young eclipsing binary brown dwarf system in the Orion Nebula, about 1,200 light-years (370 parsecs) away. It was discovered in 2006 and was the first eclipsing brown dwarf system to be discovered, predating the discovery of the transiting brown dwarf CoRoT-3b in 2008. The pair orbit each other with a period of 9.8 days, and are about 60 and 38 times the mass of Jupiter, respectively. The system is very young, at an age of about 1 million years, so the brown dwarfs have yet to cool; they are M-type objects with temperatures comparable to red dwarf stars, and they are inflated in size to over half the radius of the Sun. The primary is observed to rotate with a period of 3.3 days and the secondary 14 days, indicating that they have not yet become tidally locked to each other. Unexpectedly, the less massive (secondary) brown dwarf is the hotter of the pair. Possible explanations for this temperature reversal include the two brown dwarfs differing slightly in age; strong magnetic fields on the primary inhibiting convection, supported by the primary's observed fast rotation and strong hydrogen-alpha emission; large starspots on the primary, though this was found to be unsupported by evidence; and tidal heating, which is unlikely to be solely responsible for the temperature reversal. No infrared excess that would indicate the presence of a circumstellar disk has been detected in this system. The system is a source of X-ray emission. See also Notes References Further reading |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selichot] | [TOKENS: 1758] |
Contents Selichot Selichot (Hebrew: סְלִיחוֹת, romanized: səliḥoṯ, singular: סליחה, səliḥā) are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on fast days. The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are a central theme throughout these prayers. Selichot of the High Holidays In the Sephardic tradition, recital of Selichot in preparation for the High Holidays begins on the second day of the Hebrew month of Elul. In the Ashkenazi tradition, in years where the first day of Rosh Hashanah begins on a Thursday or Saturday, selichot are recited from the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah. If, however, the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls on a Monday or Tuesday, selichot are recited from the Saturday night more than a week before Rosh Hashanah to ensure that it is recited at least four times. This may be because originally the pious would fast for ten days during the season of repentance, and four days before Rosh Hashanah were added to compensate for the four of the Ten Days of Repentance on which fasting is forbidden – the two days of Rosh Hashanah, Shabbat Shuvah, and the day preceding Yom Kippur—and, while the fasts are observed by very few today, the Selichot that accompanied them have been retained. Alternatively, the Rosh Hashanah liturgy includes the Biblical phrase "you shall observe a burnt offering", and like an offering which needs to be scrutinised for defects for four days, so too four days of self-searching are needed before the day of judgment. In the Italian rite, selichot always begin on a Monday or Thursday shortly before Rosh Hashanah. If Rosh Hashanah falls on Monday, they begin the previous Monday. If Rosh Hashanah falls on a Tuesday, they begin on the Monday eight days before. If Rosh Hashana falls on Thursday, they begin the previous Thursday. If Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat, they begin the Monday of that week. Selichot refers to both the piyyutim that compose the service as well as to the service itself. In most Sephardic communities, selichot services are identical each day. However, some North African communities recited different selichot on Mondays, Thursdays and Shabbat, following the order in Siftei Renanot, while keeping the "standard" order on days without Torah Reading. In the Eastern Ashkenazic tradition, although the text and length of specific prayers varies from day to day, the overall format remains the same and is prefaced by Ashrei (Psalms 145) and the Half-Kaddish. In the Western Ashkenazic tradition, there is similarly an overall format, but it begins with Adon Olam or Lecha Hashem Ha'Tzedaka, and the Half-Kaddish follows the first set of the thirteen attributes. Selichot are usually recited between midnight and dawn. Some recite it at night after the Maariv prayer, or in the morning before Shacharit, due to the convenience of synagogue attendance when a prayer is already taking place there.[citation needed] The most popular night of Selichot in the Ashkenazi tradition is the first night, when many women and girls as well as men and boys attend the late-night service on Saturday night. In some communities, the hazzan wears a kittel and sings elaborate melodies. In some congregations, it is not unusual for a choir to participate in this first night's service. In the Eastern Ashkenazic tradition, this night also has more Selichot than any other night prior to Rosh Hashanah eve. The other nights are sometimes more sparsely attended and those services are often led by a layperson, rather than a trained musician, and with melodies that are less elaborate than the first night. In addition to the Selichot of the High Holiday period, the recitation of Selichot on Yom Kippur itself is the centerpiece and most important part of the liturgy, recited in all of the prayers of the day. Beginning in the late 19th Century, many communities in Eastern Europe stopped reciting Selichot except at Maariv and Neilah. Western Ashkenazic communities, as well as a small number of Eastern Ashkenazic communities, maintain the recitation of Selichot in all of the prayers of Yom Kippur. Italian rite communities recite Selichot on Yom Kippur in all of the prayers except Musaf. Sephardic communities also recite Selichot at all of the prayers of Yom Kippur, although they recite them after the Chazzan's repetition rather than as a part of it. Categories of Selichot in the Ashkenazic tradition may include: Selichot of Fast Days On minor fast days (including the Fast of Behav), most communities recite Selichot at some point during the Shacharit service (as opposed to before Shacharit). In contemporary practice, most communities recite these Selichot after the conclusion of the Shacharit Amidah. In some communities (especially Western Ashkenazic communities, but also some Eastern Ashkenazic communities), the older practice is maintained to insert the recitation of the Selichot of minor fast days in the middle of the blessing for forgiveness (סלח לנו כי חטאנו) in the repetition of the Shacharit Amidah. The content of many of these prayers is related to the specific fast day. In Ashkenazic communities, Selichot are recited on the Fast of Gedaliah only before the prayer service like the selichot of the High Holidays; in many Sephardic communities, additional selichot are recited after the Amidah just like any other fast day. Selichot are not recited in any community today on the major fast day of Tisha B'Av, although they were recited by the Geonim of Babylonia. Selichot on other occasions In addition to High Holidays and Fast Days, there were communities that recited Selichot on Hoshana Rabbah. Additionally, in the early modern period, there were "shomerim la-boker societies" which recited Selichot on every day of the year that Tachanun is recited. Selichot rites Until approximately the 15th century, there was no set order for selichot, and the chazzan in each community would pick which piyyutim to recite each day. Beginning in the 15th century, each region of the Ashkenazic world developed its own order. There are at least thirteen Ashkenazic printed rites for selichot: The following eight are variations of the Western Ashkenazic rite: The following five are variations of the Eastern Ashkenazic rite: Among 21st century Ashkenazi Jewish communities, the Polin and Lita variations are dominant, although Bohemia is the most common in England. Some associate Lita with Nusach Ashkenaz and Polin with Nusach Sefard, likely because in early 20th Century most Jews in Poland had adopted Nusach Sefard, whereas most Jews in Lithuania maintained Nusach Ashkenaz. However, the differences between Polin and Lita Selichot have origins over a hundred years before the advent of Nusach Sefard, and the minhagim were geographic rather than ideological. Chabad recites Selichot according to Nusach Lita because they are from Lithuania, and there are Polish mitnagdim who recite Selichot according to Nusach Polin. The poems recited in the major variations, with their assigned numbers, for the days proceeding Rosh Hashanah and the Ten Days of Repentance (but not including the Selichot for the prayers of Yom Kippur itself) as well as for the threefold Fast of Behav, are as follows (page numbers in superscript to the right): References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_(rover)#Dynamic_Albedo_of_Neutrons_(DAN)] | [TOKENS: 5944] |
Contents Curiosity (rover) Curiosity is a Mars rover that is exploring Gale crater and Mount Sharp on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. Launched in 2011 and landed the following year, the car-sized rover continues to operate more than a decade after its original two-year mission. Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on November 26, 2011, at 15:02:00 UTC and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale crater on Mars on August 6, 2012, 05:17:57 UTC. The Bradbury Landing site was less than 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the center of the rover's touchdown target after a 560 million km (350 million mi) journey. Mission goals include an investigation of the Martian climate and geology, an assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life (including investigation of the role of water), and planetary habitability studies in preparation for human exploration. In December 2012, Curiosity's two-year mission was extended indefinitely. On August 6, 2022, a detailed overview of accomplishments by the Curiosity rover for the last ten years was reported. The rover is still operational, and as of 18 February 2026, Curiosity has been active on Mars for 4812 sols (4944 total days; 13 years, 196 days) since its landing (see current status). The NASA/JPL Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Project Team was awarded the 2012 Robert J. Collier Trophy by the National Aeronautic Association "In recognition of the extraordinary achievements of successfully landing Curiosity on Mars, advancing the nation's technological and engineering capabilities, and significantly improving humanity's understanding of ancient Martian habitable environments." Curiosity's rover design serves as the basis for NASA's 2021 Perseverance mission, which carries different scientific instruments. Mission As established by the Mars Exploration Program, the main scientific goals of the MSL mission are to help determine whether Mars could ever have supported life, as well as determining the role of water, and to study the climate and geology of Mars. The mission results will also help prepare for human exploration. To contribute to these goals, MSL has eight main scientific objectives: About one year into the surface mission, and having assessed that ancient Mars could have been hospitable to microbial life, the MSL mission objectives evolved to developing predictive models for the preservation process of organic compounds and biomolecules; a branch of paleontology called taphonomy. The region it is set to explore has been compared to the Four Corners region of the North American west. A NASA panel selected the name Curiosity following a nationwide student contest that attracted more than 9,000 proposals via the Internet and mail. Twelve-year-old Clara Ma from Sunflower Elementary School in Lenexa, Kansas submitted the winning entry. As her prize, Ma won a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, where she signed her name directly onto the rover as it was being assembled. Ma wrote in her winning essay: Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder. Adjusted for inflation, Curiosity has a life-cycle cost of US$3.2 billion dollars in 2020. By comparison, the 2021 Perseverance rover has a life-cycle cost of US$2.9 billion. Rover and lander specifications Curiosity is 2.9 m (9 ft 6 in) long by 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) wide by 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) high, larger than Mars Exploration Rovers, which are 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) long and have a mass of 174 kg (384 lb) including 6.8 kg (15 lb) of scientific instruments. In comparison to Pancam on the Mars Exploration Rovers, the MastCam-34 has 1.25× higher spatial resolution and the MastCam-100 has 3.67× higher spatial resolution. Curiosity has an advanced payload of scientific equipment on Mars. It is the fourth NASA robotic rover sent to Mars since 1996. Previous successful Mars rovers are Sojourner from the Mars Pathfinder mission (1997), and Spirit (2004–2010) and Opportunity (2004–2018) rovers from the Mars Exploration Rover mission. Curiosity comprised 23% of the mass of the 3,893 kg (8,583 lb) spacecraft at launch. The remaining mass was discarded in the process of transport and landing. The main box-like chassis forms the Warm Electronics Box (WEB).: 52 Curiosity landed in Quad 51 (nicknamed Yellowknife) of Aeolis Palus in the crater Gale. The landing site coordinates are: 4°35′22″S 137°26′30″E / 4.5895°S 137.4417°E / -4.5895; 137.4417. The location was named Bradbury Landing on August 22, 2012, in honor of science fiction author Ray Bradbury. Gale, an estimated 3.5 to 3.8 billion-year-old impact crater, is hypothesized to have first been gradually filled in by sediments; first water-deposited, and then wind-deposited, possibly until it was completely covered. Wind erosion then scoured out the sediments, leaving an isolated 5.5 km (3.4 mi) mountain, Aeolis Mons ("Mount Sharp"), at the center of the 154 km (96 mi) wide crater. Thus, it is believed that the rover may have the opportunity to study two billion years of Martian history in the sediments exposed in the mountain. Additionally, its landing site is near an alluvial fan, which is hypothesized to be the result of a flow of ground water, either before the deposition of the eroded sediments or else in relatively recent geologic history. According to NASA, an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 heat-resistant bacterial spores were on Curiosity at launch, and as many as 1,000 times that number may not have been counted. Previous NASA Mars rovers became active only after the successful entry, descent and landing on the Martian surface. Curiosity, on the other hand, was active when it touched down on the surface of Mars, employing the rover suspension system for the final set-down. Curiosity transformed from its stowed flight configuration to a landing configuration while the MSL spacecraft simultaneously lowered it beneath the spacecraft descent stage with a 20 m (66 ft) tether from the "sky crane" system to a soft landing – wheels down – on the surface of Mars. After the rover touched down it waited two seconds to confirm that it was on solid ground then fired several pyrotechnic fasteners activating cable cutters on the bridle to free itself from the spacecraft descent stage. The descent stage then flew away to a crash landing, and the rover prepared itself to begin the science portion of the mission. As of August 16, 2024, the rover has driven 35.5 km (22.1 mi) from its landing site over 4812 sols (Martian days). Curiosity has two full sized, vehicle system test beds (VSTB), a twin rover used for testing and problem solving, MAGGIE rover (Mars Automated Giant Gizmo for Integrated Engineering) with a computer brain and a Scarecrow rover without a computer brain. They are housed at the JPL Mars Yard for problem solving on simulated Mars terrain. Scientific instruments The general sample analysis strategy begins with high-resolution cameras to look for features of interest. If a particular surface is of interest, Curiosity can vaporize a small portion of it with an infrared laser and examine the resulting spectra signature to query the rock's elemental composition. If that signature is intriguing, the rover uses its long arm to swing over a microscope and an X-ray spectrometer to take a closer look. If the specimen warrants further analysis, Curiosity can drill into the boulder and deliver a powdered sample to either the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) or the CheMin analytical laboratories inside the rover. The MastCam, Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), and Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) cameras were developed by Malin Space Science Systems and they all share common design components, such as on-board digital image processing boxes, 1600 × 1200 charge-coupled device (CCDs), and an RGB Bayer pattern filter. In total, the rover carries 17 cameras: HazCams (8), NavCams (4), MastCams (2), MAHLI (1), MARDI (1), and ChemCam (1). The Mastcam system provides multiple spectra and true-color imaging with two cameras. The cameras can take true-color images at 1600×1200 pixels and up to 10 frames per second hardware-compressed video at 720p (1280×720). One Mastcam camera is the Medium Angle Camera (MAC; also referred to as Mastcam-34 and Mastcam-Left), which has a 34 mm (1.3 in) focal length, a 15° field of view, and can yield 22 cm/pixel (8.7 in/pixel) scale at 1 km (0.62 mi). The other camera in the Mastcam is the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC; also Mastcam-100 and Mastcam-Right), which has a 100 mm (3.9 in) focal length, a 5.1° field of view, and can yield 7.4 cm/pixel (2.9 in/pixel) scale at 1 km (0.62 mi). Malin also developed a pair of Mastcams with zoom lenses, but these were not included in the rover because of the time required to test the new hardware and the looming November 2011 launch date. However, the improved zoom version was selected to be incorporated on the Mars 2020 mission as Mastcam-Z. Each camera has eight gigabytes of flash memory, which is capable of storing over 5,500 raw images, and can apply real time lossless data compression. The cameras have an autofocus capability that allows them to focus on objects from 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) to infinity. In addition to the fixed RGBG Bayer pattern filter, each camera has an eight-position filter wheel. While the Bayer filter reduces visible light throughput, all three colors are mostly transparent at wavelengths longer than 700 nm, and have minimal effect on such infrared observations. ChemCam is a suite of two remote sensing instruments combined as one: a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and a Remote Micro Imager (RMI) telescope. The ChemCam instrument suite was developed by the French CESR laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The flight model of the mast unit was delivered from the French CNES to Los Alamos National Laboratory. The purpose of the LIBS instrument is to provide elemental compositions of rock and regolith, while the RMI gives ChemCam scientists high-resolution images of the sampling areas of the rocks and regolith that LIBS targets. The LIBS instrument can target a rock or regolith sample up to 7 m (23 ft) away, vaporizing a small amount of it with about 50 to 75 5-nanosecond pulses from a 1067 nm infrared laser and then observes the spectrum of the light emitted by the vaporized rock. ChemCam has the ability to record up to 6,144 different wavelengths of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light. Detection of the ball of luminous plasma is done in the visible, near-UV and near-infrared ranges, between 240 nm and 800 nm. The first initial laser testing of the ChemCam by Curiosity on Mars was performed on a rock, N165 ("Coronation" rock), near Bradbury Landing on August 19, 2012. The ChemCam team expects to take approximately one dozen compositional measurements of rocks per day. Using the same collection optics, the RMI provides context images of the LIBS analysis spots. The RMI resolves 1 mm (0.039 in) objects at 10 m (33 ft) distance, and has a field of view covering 20 cm (7.9 in) at that distance. The rover has two pairs of black and white navigation cameras mounted on the mast to support ground navigation. The cameras have a 45° angle of view and use visible light to capture stereoscopic 3-D imagery. REMS comprises instruments to measure the Mars environment: humidity, pressure, temperatures, wind speeds, and ultraviolet radiation. It is a meteorological package that includes an ultraviolet sensor provided by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. The investigative team is led by Javier Gómez-Elvira of the Spanish Astrobiology Center and includes the Finnish Meteorological Institute as a partner. All sensors are located around three elements: two booms attached to the rover's mast, the Ultraviolet Sensor (UVS) assembly located on the rover top deck, and the Instrument Control Unit (ICU) inside the rover body. REMS provides new clues about the Martian general circulation, micro scale weather systems, local hydrological cycle, destructive potential of UV radiation, and subsurface habitability based on ground-atmosphere interaction. The rover has four pairs of black and white navigation cameras called hazcams, two pairs in the front and two pairs in the back. They are used for autonomous hazard avoidance during rover drives and for safe positioning of the robotic arm on rocks and regolith. Each camera in a pair is hardlinked to one of two identical main computers for redundancy; only four out of the eight cameras are in use at any one time. The cameras use visible light to capture stereoscopic three-dimensional (3-D) imagery. The cameras have a 120° field of view and map the terrain at up to 3 m (9.8 ft) in front of the rover. This imagery safeguards against the rover crashing into unexpected obstacles, and works in tandem with software that allows the rover to make its own safety choices. MAHLI is a camera on the rover's robotic arm, and acquires microscopic images of rock and regolith. MAHLI can take true-color images at 1600×1200 pixels with a resolution as high as 14.5 µm per pixel. MAHLI has an 18.3 to 21.3 mm (0.72 to 0.84 in) focal length and a 33.8–38.5° field of view. MAHLI has both white and ultraviolet Light-emitting diode (LED) illumination for imaging in darkness or fluorescence imaging. MAHLI also has mechanical focusing in a range from infinite to millimeter distances. This system can make some images with focus stacking processing. MAHLI can store either the raw images or do real time lossless predictive or JPEG compression. The calibration target for MAHLI includes color references, a metric bar graphic, a 1909 VDB Lincoln penny, and a stair-step pattern for depth calibration. The APXS instrument irradiates samples with alpha particles and maps the spectra of X-rays that are re-emitted for determining the elemental composition of samples. Curiosity's APXS was developed by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA), the Canadian aerospace company that built the Canadarm and RADARSAT, were responsible for the engineering design and building of the APXS. The APXS science team includes members from the University of Guelph, the University of New Brunswick, the University of Western Ontario, NASA, the University of California, San Diego and Cornell University. The APXS instrument takes advantage of particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and X-ray fluorescence, previously exploited by the Mars Pathfinder and the two Mars Exploration Rovers. CheMin is the Chemistry and Mineralogy X-ray powder diffraction and fluorescence instrument. CheMin is one of four spectrometers. It can identify and quantify the abundance of the minerals on Mars. It was developed by David Blake at NASA Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and won the 2013 NASA Government Invention of the year award. The rover can drill samples from rocks and the resulting fine powder is poured into the instrument via a sample inlet tube on the top of the vehicle. A beam of X-rays is then directed at the powder and the crystal structure of the minerals deflects it at characteristic angles, allowing scientists to identify the minerals being analyzed. On October 17, 2012, at "Rocknest", the first X-ray diffraction analysis of Martian regolith was performed. The results revealed the presence of several minerals, including feldspar, pyroxenes and olivine, and suggested that the Martian regolith in the sample was similar to the "weathered basaltic soils" of Hawaiian volcanoes. The paragonetic tephra from a Hawaiian cinder cone has been mined to create Martian regolith simulant for researchers to use since 1998. CheMin eventually found carbonates in the form of crystalline siderite (FeCO3). One rock contained over 10 % of the mineral. Some rocks also were composed of plagioclase with the elements sodium (Na)–, Ca-, and aluminum (Al)–, as well as Ca- and Mg-bearing silicate mineral pyroxene. Other minerals found were calcium sulfates, magnesium sulfates, different amounts of iron oxyhydroxides, and an unidentified x-ray amorphous material. Rover's Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument uses x-ray diffraction to determine sample mineralogy. The names of the rock formations and drill sites are CA, Canaima; TC, Tapo Caparo; UB, Ubajara; and SQ, Sequoia. V The SAM instrument suite analyzes organics and gases from both atmospheric and solid samples. It consists of instruments developed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory the Laboratoire atmosphères, milieux, observations spatiales (LATMOS), the Laboratoire Inter-Universitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA) (jointly operated by France's CNRS and Parisian universities), and Honeybee Robotics, along with many additional external partners. The three main instruments are a Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS), a gas chromatograph (GC) and a tunable laser spectrometer (TLS). These instruments perform precision measurements of oxygen and carbon isotope ratios in carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in the atmosphere in order to distinguish between their geochemical or biological origin. The Dust Removal Tool (DRT) is a motorized, wire-bristle brush on the turret at the end of Curiosity's arm. The DRT was first used on a rock target named Ekwir_1 on January 6, 2013. Honeybee Robotics built the DRT. The role of the Radiation assessment detector (RAD) instrument is to characterize the broad spectrum of radiation environment found inside the spacecraft during the cruise phase and while on Mars. These measurements have never been done before from the inside of a spacecraft in interplanetary space. Its primary purpose is to determine the viability and shielding needs for potential human explorers, as well as to characterize the radiation environment on the surface of Mars, which it started doing immediately after MSL landed in August 2012. Funded by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters and Germany's Space Agency (DLR), RAD was developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the extraterrestrial physics group at Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany. The DAN instrument employs a neutron source and detector for measuring the quantity and depth of hydrogen or ice and water at or near the Martian surface. The instrument consists of the detector element (DE) and a 14.1 MeV pulsing neutron generator (PNG). The die-away time of neutrons is measured by the DE after each neutron pulse from the PNG. DAN was provided by the Russian Federal Space Agency and funded by Russia. MARDI is fixed to the lower front left corner of the body of Curiosity. During the descent to the Martian surface, MARDI took color images at 1600×1200 pixels with a 1.3-millisecond exposure time starting at distances of about 3.7 km (2.3 mi) to near 5 m (16 ft) from the ground, at a rate of four frames per second for about two minutes. MARDI has a pixel scale of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) at 2 km (1.2 mi) to 1.5 mm (0.059 in) at 2 m (6 ft 7 in) and has a 90° circular field of view. MARDI has eight gigabytes of internal buffer memory that is capable of storing over 4,000 raw images. MARDI imaging allowed the mapping of surrounding terrain and the location of landing. JunoCam, built for the Juno spacecraft, is based on MARDI. The rover has a 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) long robotic arm with a cross-shaped turret holding five devices that can spin through a 350° turning range. The arm makes use of three joints to extend it forward and to stow it again while driving. It has a mass of 30 kg (66 lb) and its diameter, including the tools mounted on it, is about 60 cm (24 in). It was designed, built, and tested by MDA US Systems, building upon their prior robotic arm work on the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander, the Phoenix lander, and the two Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Two of the five devices are in-situ or contact instruments known as the X-ray spectrometer (APXS), and the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI camera). The remaining three are associated with sample acquisition and sample preparation functions: a percussion drill; a brush; and mechanisms for scooping, sieving, and portioning samples of powdered rock and regolith. The diameter of the hole in a rock after drilling is 1.6 cm (0.63 in) and up to 5 cm (2.0 in) deep. The drill carries two spare bits. The rover's arm and turret system can place the APXS and MAHLI on their respective targets, and also obtain powdered sample from rock interiors, and deliver them to the SAM and CheMin analyzers inside the rover. Since early 2015 the percussive mechanism in the drill that helps chisel into rock has had an intermittent electrical short. On December 1, 2016, the motor inside the drill caused a malfunction that prevented the rover from moving its robotic arm and driving to another location. The fault was isolated to the drill feed brake, and internal debris is suspected of causing the problem. By December 9, 2016, driving and robotic arm operations were cleared to continue, but drilling remained suspended indefinitely. The Curiosity team continued to perform diagnostics and testing on the drill mechanism throughout 2017, and resumed drilling operations on May 22, 2018. Media, cultural impact and legacy Live video showing the first footage from the surface of Mars was available at NASA TV, during the late hours of August 6, 2012, PDT, including interviews with the mission team. The NASA website momentarily became unavailable from the overwhelming number of people visiting it, and a 13-minute NASA excerpt of the landings on its YouTube channel was halted an hour after the landing by an automated copyright takedown notice from Scripps Local News, which prevented access for several hours. Around 1,000 people gathered in New York City's Times Square, to watch NASA's live broadcast of Curiosity's landing, as footage was being shown on the giant screen. Bobak Ferdowsi, Flight Director for the landing, became an Internet meme and attained Twitter celebrity status, with 45,000 new followers subscribing to his Twitter account, due to his Mohawk hairstyle with yellow stars that he wore during the televised broadcast. On August 13, 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama, calling from aboard Air Force One to congratulate the Curiosity team, said, "You guys are examples of American know-how and ingenuity. It's really an amazing accomplishment". (Video (07:20) Archived May 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine) Scientists at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles, California, viewed the CheMin instrument aboard Curiosity as a potentially valuable means to examine ancient works of art without damaging them. Until recently, only a few instruments were available to determine the composition without cutting out physical samples large enough to potentially damage the artifacts. CheMin directs a beam of X-rays at particles as small as 400 μm (0.016 in) and reads the radiation scattered back to determine the composition of the artifact in minutes. Engineers created a smaller, portable version named the X-Duetto. Fitting into a few briefcase-sized boxes, it can examine objects on site, while preserving their physical integrity. It is now being used by Getty scientists to analyze a large collection of museum antiques and the Roman ruins of Herculaneum, Italy. Prior to the landing, NASA and Microsoft released Mars Rover Landing, a free downloadable game on Xbox Live that uses Kinect to capture body motions, which allows users to simulate the landing sequence. NASA gave the general public the opportunity from 2009 until 2011 to submit their names to be sent to Mars. More than 1.2 million people from the international community participated, and their names were etched into silicon using an electron-beam machine used for fabricating micro devices at JPL, and this plaque is now installed on the deck of Curiosity. In keeping with a 40-year tradition, a plaque with the signatures of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden was also installed. Elsewhere on the rover is the autograph of Clara Ma, the 12-year-old girl from Kansas who gave Curiosity its name in an essay contest, writing in part that "curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives". On August 6, 2013, Curiosity audibly played "Happy Birthday to You" in honor of the one Earth year mark of its Martian landing, the first time for a song to be played on another planet. This was also the first time music was transmitted between two planets. On June 24, 2014, Curiosity completed a Martian year – 687 Earth days – after finding that Mars once had environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. Curiosity served as the basis for the design of the Perseverance rover for the Mars 2020 rover mission. Some spare parts from the build and ground test of Curiosity are being used in the new vehicle, but it will carry a different instrument payload. In 2014, project chief engineer wrote a book detailing the development of the Curiosity rover. "Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief Engineer," is a firsthand account of the development and landing of the Curiosity Rover. On August 5, 2017, NASA celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Curiosity rover mission landing, and related exploratory accomplishments, on the planet Mars. (Videos: Curiosity's First Five Years (02:07); Curiosity's POV: Five Years Driving (05:49); Curiosity's Discoveries About Gale Crater (02:54)) As reported in 2018, drill samples taken in 2015 uncovered organic molecules of benzene and propane in 3 billion year old rock samples in Gale. In popular culture, the launch of Curiosity is referenced in the music video for Harry Styles' 2023 song, "Satellite". In March 2024 it was published that Curiosity discovered long chain alkanes with up to 12 consecutive carbon atoms, in mudstone in Gale crater. The origin of these molecules is unknown. They could be derived from either abiotic or biological sources. Images See also References External links |
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Editing Social network (section) Copy and paste: – — ° ′ ″ ≈ ≠ ≤ ≥ ± − × ÷ ← → · § Cite your sources: <ref></ref> {{}} {{{}}} | [] [[]] [[Category:]] #REDIRECT [[]] <s></s> <sup></sup> <sub></sub> <code></code> <pre></pre> <blockquote></blockquote> <ref></ref> <ref name="" /> {{Reflist}} <references /> <includeonly></includeonly> <noinclude></noinclude> {{DEFAULTSORT:}} <nowiki></nowiki> <!-- --> <span class="plainlinks"></span> Symbols: ~ | ¡ ¿ † ‡ ↔ ↑ ↓ • ¶ # ∞ ‹› «» ¤ ₳ ฿ ₵ ¢ ₡ ₢ $ ₫ ₯ € ₠ ₣ ƒ ₴ ₭ ₤ ℳ ₥ ₦ ₧ ₰ £ ៛ ₨ ₪ ৳ ₮ ₩ ¥ ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ 𝄫 ♭ ♮ ♯ 𝄪 © ¼ ½ ¾ Latin: A a Á á À à  â Ä ä Ǎ ǎ Ă ă Ā ā à ã Å å Ą ą Æ æ Ǣ ǣ B b C c Ć ć Ċ ċ Ĉ ĉ Č č Ç ç D d Ď ď Đ đ Ḍ ḍ Ð ð E e É é È è Ė ė Ê ê Ë ë Ě ě Ĕ ĕ Ē ē Ẽ ẽ Ę ę Ẹ ẹ Ɛ ɛ Ǝ ǝ Ə ə F f G g Ġ ġ Ĝ ĝ Ğ ğ Ģ ģ H h Ĥ ĥ Ħ ħ Ḥ ḥ I i İ ı Í í Ì ì Î î Ï ï Ǐ ǐ Ĭ ĭ Ī ī Ĩ ĩ Į į Ị ị J j Ĵ ĵ K k Ķ ķ L l Ĺ ĺ Ŀ ŀ Ľ ľ Ļ ļ Ł ł Ḷ ḷ Ḹ ḹ M m Ṃ ṃ N n Ń ń Ň ň Ñ ñ Ņ ņ Ṇ ṇ Ŋ ŋ O o Ó ó Ò ò Ô ô Ö ö Ǒ ǒ Ŏ ŏ Ō ō Õ õ Ǫ ǫ Ọ ọ Ő ő Ø ø Œ œ Ɔ ɔ P p Q q R r Ŕ ŕ Ř ř Ŗ ŗ Ṛ ṛ Ṝ ṝ S s Ś ś Ŝ ŝ Š š Ş ş Ș ș Ṣ ṣ ß T t Ť ť Ţ ţ Ț ț Ṭ ṭ Þ þ U u Ú ú Ù ù Û û Ü ü Ǔ ǔ Ŭ ŭ Ū ū Ũ ũ Ů ů Ų ų Ụ ụ Ű ű Ǘ ǘ Ǜ ǜ Ǚ ǚ Ǖ ǖ V v W w Ŵ ŵ X x Y y Ý ý Ŷ ŷ Ÿ ÿ Ỹ ỹ Ȳ ȳ Z z Ź ź Ż ż Ž ž ß Ð ð Þ þ Ŋ ŋ Ə ə Greek: Ά ά Έ έ Ή ή Ί ί Ό ό Ύ ύ Ώ ώ Α α Β β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε Ζ ζ Η η Θ θ Ι ι Κ κ Λ λ Μ μ Ν ν Ξ ξ Ο ο Π π Ρ ρ Σ σ ς Τ τ Υ υ Φ φ Χ χ Ψ ψ Ω ω {{Polytonic|}} Cyrillic: А а Б б В в Г г Ґ ґ Ѓ ѓ Д д Ђ ђ Е е Ё ё Є є Ж ж З з Ѕ ѕ И и І і Ї ї Й й Ј ј К к Ќ ќ Л л Љ љ М м Н н Њ њ О о П п Р р С с Т т Ћ ћ У у Ў ў Ф ф Х х Ц ц Ч ч Џ џ Ш ш Щ щ Ъ ъ Ы ы Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я ́ IPA: t̪ d̪ ʈ ɖ ɟ ɡ ɢ ʡ ʔ ɸ β θ ð ʃ ʒ ɕ ʑ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ ɦ ɱ ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ ʋ ɹ ɻ ɰ ʙ ⱱ ʀ ɾ ɽ ɫ ɬ ɮ ɺ ɭ ʎ ʟ ɥ ʍ ɧ ʼ ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ ɨ ʉ ɯ ɪ ʏ ʊ ø ɘ ɵ ɤ ə ɚ ɛ œ ɜ ɝ ɞ ʌ ɔ æ ɐ ɶ ɑ ɒ ʰ ʱ ʷ ʲ ˠ ˤ ⁿ ˡ ˈ ˌ ː ˑ ̪ {{IPA|}} This page is a member of 6 hidden categories (help): |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_salute] | [TOKENS: 6448] |
Contents Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute,[a] or the Sieg Heil salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by raising and extending the right arm forward at an upward angle with a straightened hand, fingers together, and palm facing downward. The salute is usually accompanied by a cry of "Heil Hitler!" ('Hail Hitler!'),[b] "Heil, mein Führer!" ('Hail, my leader!'), or "Sieg Heil!" ('Hail victory!').[c] Inspired by the Fascist salute used by members of the Italian National Fascist Party, the Nazi salute was officially adopted by the Nazi Party in 1926, although it had been used within the party as early as 1921 to signal obedience to the party's leader, Adolf Hitler, and to glorify the German nation (and later the German war effort). The salute was mandatory for civilians but mostly optional for military personnel, who retained a traditional military salute until the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944. Use of this salute is illegal in modern-day Germany (Strafgesetzbuch section 86a), Austria, and Slovakia. The use of any Nazi phrases associated with the salute is also forbidden. In Italy, it is a criminal offence only if used with the intent to "reinstate the defunct National Fascist Party", or to exalt or promote its ideology or members. In Canada and most of Europe (including the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Russia), displaying the salute is not in itself a criminal offence, but constitutes hate speech if used for propagating the Nazi ideology. In Australia, publicly performing the salute is illegal unless for a religious, academic, educational, artistic, literary, or scientific purpose. Description The salute was executed by extending the right arm stiff to an upward 45° angle and then straightening the hand so that it is in the same direction and slope as the arm. Usually, an utterance of "Sieg Heil", "Heil Hitler!", or "Heil!" accompanied the gesture. If one saw an acquaintance at a distance, it was enough to simply raise the right hand. If one encountered a superior, one would also say "Heil Hitler". If physical disability prevented raising the right arm, it was acceptable to raise the left. Hitler gave a right-armed salute with variations. He used the typical stiff-armed salute when reviewing his troops or when facing crowds, but sometimes held at more of a right angle. To return a salute, he raised his arm with the elbow bent back and his palm facing up. Origins and adoption The spoken greeting "Heil" became popular in the pan-German movement around 1900. It was used by the followers of Georg Ritter von Schönerer, head of the Austrian Alldeutsche Partei ('Pan-German Party') who considered himself leader of the Austrian Germans, and who was described by Carl E. Schorske as "The strongest and most thoroughly consistent anti-Semite that Austria produced" before the coming of Hitler. Hitler took both the "Heil" greeting – which was popularly used in his "hometown" of Linz when he was a boy – and the title of "Führer" for the head of the Nazi Party from Schönerer, whom he admired. The extended arm saluting gesture was alleged to be based on an ancient Roman custom, but no known Roman work of art depicts it, nor does any extant Roman text describe it. Historians have instead determined that the gesture originated from Jacques-Louis David's 1784 painting Oath of the Horatii, which displayed a raised arm salutatory gesture in an ancient Roman setting. The gesture and its identification with ancient Rome was advanced in other French neoclassic art. In 1892, Christian socialist minister Francis Bellamy revised the United States Pledge of Allegiance, which was to be accompanied by a visually similar salute. Years after the introduction of the Nazi salute, in 1942 the U.S. introduced a hand-over-the-heart gesture for civilian use during the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem. A raised arm gesture appeared in the 1899 American stage production of Ben-Hur and its 1907 film adaptation. The gesture also appeared in several early Italian films, including the 1914 silent film Cabiria, the screenplay of which featured contributions from ultranationalist and Italian fascism influencer Gabriele D'Annunzio. D'Annunzio adopted the salute during his occupation of Fiume (1919–1920) and the Italian National Fascist Party began imposing it in the early 1920s. By late 1923, and perhaps as early as 1921, some Nazi Party members were using the salute to greet Hitler, who responded by raising his own right hand crooked back at the elbow, palm opened upwards, in a gesture of acceptance. In 1926, the Nazi salute was made compulsory for all party members. It functioned as a display of commitment to the party and a declaration of principle to the outside world. Gregor Strasser wrote in 1927 that the greeting in and of itself was a pledge of loyalty to Hitler, as well as a symbol of personal dependence on the Führer. Even so, the drive to gain acceptance did not go unchallenged. Some party members questioned the legitimacy of the so-called Roman salute, employed by Fascist Italy, as un-Germanic. In response, efforts were made to establish its pedigree by inventing a tradition after the fact. In June 1928, Rudolf Hess published an article titled "The Fascist Greeting", which claimed that the gesture was used in Germany as early as 1921, before the Nazis had heard about the Italian Fascists. He admits in the article: "The NSDAP's introduction of the raised-arm greeting approximately two years ago still gets some people's blood boiling. Its opponents suspect the greeting of being un-Germanic. They accuse it of merely aping the [Italian] Fascists", but goes on to ask, "even if the decree from two years ago [Hess' order that all party members use it] is seen as an adaption of the Fascist gesture, is that really so terrible?" Ian Kershaw points out that Hess did not deny the likely influence from Fascist Italy, even if indeed the salute had been used sporadically in 1921 as Hess claimed. During the 1932 Hatzohar conference in Tel Aviv, one delegate, Leone Carpi, gave a Nazi salute as he entered the hall, which was met with similar salutes from some of the other delegates. On the night of 3 January 1942, Hitler said of the origins of the salute: I made it the salute of the Party long after the Duce had adopted it. I'd read the description of the sitting of the Diet of Worms, in the course of which Luther was greeted with the German salute. It was to show him that he was not being confronted with arms, but with peaceful intentions. In the days of Frederick the Great, people still saluted with their hats, with pompous gestures. In the Middle Ages the serfs humbly doffed their bonnets, whilst the noblemen gave the German salute. It was in the Ratskeller at Bremen, about the year 1921, that I first saw this style of salute. It must be regarded as a survival of an ancient custom, which originally signified: "See, I have no weapon in my hand!" I introduced the salute into the Party at our first meeting in Weimar. The SS at once gave it a soldierly style. It's from that moment that our opponents honored us with the epithet "dogs of Fascists". — Adolf Hitler, Hitler's Table Talk Nazi chants Nazi chants like "Heil Hitler!" and "Sieg Heil!" were prevalent across Nazi Germany, sprouting in mass rallies and even regular greetings alike. In Nazi Germany, the Nazi chants "Heil Hitler!" and "Sieg Heil!" were the formulas used by the regime: when meeting someone it was customary to greet with the words "Heil Hitler!", while "Sieg Heil!" was a verbal salute used at mass rallies. Specifically to the cry of an officer of the word Sieg ('victory'), the crowd responded with Heil ('hail'). For example, at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally, Rudolf Hess ended his climactic speech with the words "The Party is Hitler. But Hitler is Germany, just as Germany is Hitler. Hitler! Sieg Heil!" At his total war speech delivered in 1943, audiences shouted "Sieg Heil!", as Joseph Goebbels solicited from them "a kind of plebiscitary 'Ja'" to total war (ja meaning 'yes' in German). On 11 March 1945, less than two months before the capitulation of Nazi Germany, a memorial for the dead of the war was held in Marktschellenberg, a small town near Hitler's Berghof residence. The British historian Ian Kershaw remarks that the power of the Führer cult and the "Hitler Myth" had vanished, which is evident from this report: When the leader of the Wehrmacht unit at the end of his speech called for a Sieg Heil for the Führer, it was returned neither by the Wehrmacht present, nor by the Volkssturm, nor by the spectators of the civilian population who had turned up. This silence of the masses ... probably reflects better than anything else, the attitudes of the population. The Swing Youth (German: Swingjugend) were a group of middle-class teenagers who consciously separated themselves from Nazism and its culture, greeting each other with "Swing-Heil!" and addressing one another as "old-hot-boy". This playful behaviour was dangerous for participants in the subculture; on 2 January 1942, Heinrich Himmler suggested that the leaders be sent to concentration camps. The form "Heil, mein Führer!" ('Hail, my Leader!') was for direct address to Hitler, while "Sieg Heil" was repeated as a chant on public occasions. Written communications would be concluded with either "mit deutschem Gruß" ("with German regards"), or with "Heil Hitler". In correspondence with high-ranking Nazi officials, letters were usually signed with "Heil Hitler". From 1933 to 1945 Under a decree issued by Reich Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick on 13 July 1933 (one day before the ban on all non-Nazi parties), all German public employees were required to use the salute. The decree also required the salute during the singing of the national anthem and the "Horst-Wessel-Lied". It stipulated that "anyone not wishing to come under suspicion of behaving in a consciously negative fashion will therefore render the Hitler Greeting," and its use quickly spread as people attempted to avoid being labelled as a dissident. A rider to the decree, added two weeks later, stipulated that if physical disability prevented raising of the right arm, "then it is correct to carry out the Greeting with the left arm." On 27 September, prison inmates were forbidden to use the salute, as were Jews by 1937. By the end of 1934, special courts were established to punish those who refused to salute. Offenders, such as Protestant preacher Paul Schneider, faced the possibility of being sent to a concentration camp. Jehovah's Witnesses came into conflict with the Nazi regime because they refused to salute Hitler, believing that it conflicted with their worship of God. Because such refusal was considered a crime, Jehovah's Witnesses were arrested and their children attending school were expelled, detained and separated from their families. Foreigners were not exempt from intimidation if they refused to salute. For example, the Portuguese Consul General was beaten by members of the Sturmabteilung for remaining seated in a car and not saluting a procession in Hamburg. Reactions to inappropriate use were not merely violent but sometimes bizarre. For example, a memo dated 23 July 1934 sent to local police stations stated: "There have been reports of traveling vaudeville performers training their monkeys to give the German Greeting. ... see to it that said animals are destroyed." The salute soon became part of everyday life, a historically unique phenomenon that politicised all communication in Germany for twelve years, superseding all prior forms of greeting, such as "Grüß Gott" ("Hello"), "Guten Tag" ("Good day"), and "Auf Wiederseh(e)n" ("Goodbye"). Postmen used the greeting when they knocked on people's doors to deliver packages or letters. Small metal signs that reminded people to use the Hitler salute were displayed in public squares and on telephone poles and street lights throughout Germany. Department store clerks greeted customers with "Heil Hitler, how may I help you?" Dinner guests brought glasses etched with the words "Heil Hitler" as house gifts. The salute was required of all persons passing the Feldherrnhalle in Munich, site of the climax of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, which the government had made into a shrine to the Nazi dead; so many pedestrians avoided this mandate by detouring through the small Viscardigasse behind that the passage acquired the nickname "Dodgers' Alley" (Drückebergergasse). The daughter of the American Ambassador to Germany, Martha Dodd, describes the first time she saw the salute: The first time I met von Ribbentrop was at a luncheon we gave at the Embassy. He was tall and slender, with a vague blond handsomeness. Outstanding among all the guests, Ribbentrop arrived in Nazi uniform. Most Nazis came to diplomatic functions in ordinary suits unless the affair was extremely formal. His manner of shaking hands was an elaborate ceremony in itself. He held out his hand, then retreated and held your hand at arm’s length, lowered his arm stiffly by his side, then raised the arm swiftly in a Nazi salute, just barely missing your nose. All the time he was staring at you with such intensity you were wondering what new sort of mesmerism he thought he was effecting. The whole ritual was performed with such self-conscious dignity and in such silence that hardly a word was whispered while Ribbentrop made his exhibitionistic acquaintance with the guests present. To me the procedure was so ridiculous I could scarcely keep a straight face. Children were indoctrinated at an early age. Kindergarten children were taught to raise their hand to the proper height by hanging their lunch bags across the raised arm of their teacher. At the beginning of first grade primers was a lesson on how to use the greeting. The greeting found its way into fairy tales, including classics like Sleeping Beauty. Students and teachers would salute each other at the beginning and end of the school day, between classes, or whenever an adult entered the classroom. In 1935, embryologist Hans Spemann gave a Nazi salute at the end of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Some athletes used the Nazi salute in the opening ceremony of the 1936 Berlin Olympics as they passed by Hitler in the reviewing stand. This was done by delegates from Afghanistan, Bermuda, Bulgaria, Bolivia, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy and Turkey. The Bulgarian athletes performed the Nazi salute and broke into a goose step; Turkish athletes maintained the salute all around the track. There is some confusion over the use of the salute, since the stiff-arm Nazi salute could have been mistaken for an Olympic salute, with the right arm held out at a slight angle to the right from the shoulder. According to the American sports writer Jeremy Schaap, only half of the athletes from Austria performed a Nazi salute, while the other half gave an Olympic salute. According to the historian Richard Mandell, there are conflicting reports on whether athletes from France performed a Nazi salute or an Olympic Salute. In football, the England football team bowed to pressure from the British Foreign Office and performed the salute during a friendly match on 14 May 1938. The following day Aston Villa's match against a German Select XI was played in marked contrast to the England game with continual jeering and whistling. When Alex Massie fouled Camillo Jerusalem, the referee needed to separate the teams. Hostility from the 110,000 crowd intensified when the Villa players left the pitch without the required Nazi salute and Joseph Goebbels was called to suppress subsequent hostile German press coverage. The Wehrmacht refused to adopt the Hitler salute officially and was able for a time to maintain its customs. A compromise edict from the Reich Defense Ministry, issued on 19 September 1933, required the Hitler salute of soldiers and uniformed civil servants while singing the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" and national anthem, and in non-military encounters both within and outside the Wehrmacht (for example, when greeting members of the civilian government). At all other times they were permitted to use their traditional salutes. However, according to (pre-Nazi) Reichswehr and Wehrmacht protocol, the traditional military salute was prohibited when the saluting soldier was not wearing a uniform headgear (helmet or cap). Because of this, all bareheaded salutes used the Nazi salute, making it de facto mandatory in most situations. Full adoption of the Hitler salute by the military was discussed in January 1944 at a conference regarding traditions in the military at Hitler's headquarters. Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, head of the Armed Forces, had expressed a desire to standardize the salute across all organizations in Germany. On 23 July 1944, several days after the failed assassination attempt, Goebbels suggested to Hitler that the military be ordered to fully adopt the Hitler salute as a show of loyalty, since Army officers had been responsible for the assassination attempt. Hitler approved the suggestion without emotion, and the order went into effect on 24 July 1944. On the night of 3 January 1942, Hitler stated the following about the compromise edict of 1933: I imposed the German salute for the following reason. I'd given orders, at the beginning, that in the Army I should not be greeted with the German salute. But many people forgot. Fritsch drew his conclusions, and punished all who forgot to give me the military salute, with fourteen days' confinement to barracks. I, in turn, drew my conclusions and introduced the German salute likewise into the Army. — Adolf Hitler, Hitler's Table Talk After Hitler's death, a group of Nazis saluted the dictator one last time after disposing of his remains just outside the Führerbunker emergency exit. Despite indoctrination and punishment, the salute was ridiculed by some people. Since heil is also the imperative of the German verb heilen ('to heal'), a common joke in Nazi Germany was to reply with, "Is he sick?" "Am I a doctor?" or "You heal him!" Jokes were also made by distorting the phrase. For example, "Heil Hitler" might become "Ein Liter" ('One liter') or "Drei Liter" ('Three Liter'). Cabaret performer Karl Valentin would quip, "It's lucky that Hitler's name wasn't 'Kräuter'. Otherwise, we'd have to go around yelling Heilkräuter ('medicinal herbs')". Similar puns were made involving "-bronn" (rendering "Heilbronn", the name of a German city), and "-butt" (rendering "Heilbutt", the German word for 'halibut').[citation needed] Satirical use of the salute dates back to anti-Nazi propaganda in Germany before 1933. In 1932, photomontage artist John Heartfield used Hitler's modified version, with the hand bent over the shoulder, in a poster that linked Hitler to Big Business. A giant figure representing right-wing capitalists stands behind Hitler, placing money in his hand, suggesting "backhand" donations. The caption is, "the meaning of the Hitler salute" and "Millions stand behind me". Heartfield was forced to flee in 1933 after the Nazi seizure of power in Germany.[citation needed] Another example is a cartoon by New Zealand political cartoonist David Low, mocking the Night of the Long Knives. Run in the Evening Standard on 3 July 1934, it shows Hitler with a smoking gun grimacing at terrified SA (Sturmabteilung) men with their hands up. The caption reads: "They salute with both hands now". When Achille Starace proposed that Italians should write Evviva Il Duce in letters, Mussolini wrote an editorial in Il Popolo d'Italia ridiculing the idea. Particularly after the Battle of Berlin, some American soldiers performed the salute to mock Hitler, often also parodying his hair and moustache style. Post-1945 Today in Germany, Nazi salutes in written form, vocally, and even straight-extending the right arm as a saluting gesture (with or without the phrase), are illegal. The offence is punishable by up to three years in prison. Usage for art, teaching and science is allowed unless "the existence of an insult results from the form of the utterance or the circumstances under which it occurred". Use of the salute, or any phrases associated with the salute, has also been illegal in Austria since the end of World War II. Its use went unregulated in South America, as evidenced by an FBI-Chilean investigation and the claim of a man who was purportedly photographed with Hitler in 1954. In Germany, usage that is "ironic and clearly critical of the Hitler Greeting" is exempt, which has led to legal debates as to what constitutes ironic use. One case involved Prince Ernst August of Hanover who was brought to court after using the gesture as a commentary on the behavior of an unduly zealous airport baggage inspector. On 23 November 2007, the Amtsgericht Cottbus sentenced Horst Mahler to six months of imprisonment without parole for having, according to his own claims, ironically performed the Hitler salute when reporting to prison for a nine-month term a year earlier. The following month, a pensioner, Roland T, was given a prison term of five months for, amongst other things, training his dog Adolf to raise his right paw in a Nazi salute every time the command "Heil Hitler!" was uttered. The Supreme Court of Switzerland ruled in 2014 that Nazi salutes do not breach hate crime laws if expressed as one's personal opinion, but only if they are used in attempt to propagate Nazi ideology. Modified versions of the salute are sometimes used by neo-Nazis. One such version is the so-called "Kühnen salute" with extended thumb, index and middle finger, which is also a criminal offence in Germany. In written correspondence, the number 88 is sometimes used by some neo-Nazis as a substitute for "Heil Hitler" ("H" as the eighth letter of the alphabet). Swiss neo-Nazis were reported to use a variant of the Kühnengruss, though extending one's right arm over their head and extending said three fingers has a different historical source for Switzerland, as the first three Eidgenossen or confederates are often depicted with this motion. Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon often raise their arms in a Nazi-style salute. The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, a South African neo-Nazi organization known for its militant advocacy of white separatism, has espoused brown uniforms as well as Nazi German-esque flags, insignia, and salutes at meetings and public rallies. Hundreds of supporters in 2010 delivered straight-arm salutes outside the funeral for AWB leader Eugène Terre'Blanche, who was murdered by two black farm workers over an alleged wage dispute. On 28 May 2012, BBC current affairs programme Panorama examined the issues of racism, antisemitism and football hooliganism, which it claimed were prevalent among Polish and Ukrainian football supporters. The two countries hosted the international football competition UEFA Euro 2012. On 16 March 2013, Greek footballer Georgios Katidis of AEK Athens F.C. was handed a life ban from the Greek national team for performing the salute after scoring a goal against Veria F.C. in Athens' Olympic Stadium. On 18 July 2015, The Sun published an image of the British Royal Family from private film shot in 1933 or 1934, showing Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen, then a young girl) and the Queen Mother both performing a Nazi salute, accompanied by Edward VIII, taken from 17 seconds of home footage (also released by The Sun). The footage ignited controversy in the UK, and there have been questions as to whether the release of this footage was appropriate. Buckingham Palace described the release of this footage as "disappointing", and considered pursuing legal action against The Sun, whereas Stig Abell (managing director of The Sun) said that the footage was "a matter of national historical significance to explore what was going on in the [1930s] ahead of the Second World War". Abell responded to criticism by assuring that The Sun was not suggesting "anything improper on the part of the Queen or indeed the Queen Mum". American white supremacist Richard B. Spencer drew considerable media attention in the weeks following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, where, at a National Policy Institute conference, he quoted from Nazi propaganda and denounced Jews. In response to his cry "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!", a number of his supporters gave the Nazi salute and chanted in a similar fashion to the Sieg Heil chant. CNN fired political commentator Jeffrey Lord on 10 August 2017, after he tweeted "Sieg Heil!" to Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, suggesting Carusone was a fascist. In August 2021, a Michigan man, Paul Marcum, gave the Nazi salute during a dispute over mask mandates and was fired from his job as a tennis instructor after Birmingham Public Schools announced that it would not tolerate any acts of racism, disrespect, violence, or inequitable treatment of any person. On 31 January 2017, multiple students at Cypress Ranch High School in Cypress, Texas, performed both the raised fist salute and the Nazi salute in its "Class Of 2017" photo. The photo was then sent from one of the students to six other students by message and claiming that "some females held the fist while some white males raised the Nazi salute." The incident was reported to the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District saying that "they are extremely disappointed with the actions," and later made a statement on the district "understanding the serious nature of the incident and appropriate action has been taken at one of its campuses." In May 2018, students at Baraboo High School, in Baraboo, Wisconsin, appeared to perform a Nazi salute in a photograph taken before their junior prom. The image went viral on social media six months later, sparking outrage. The school decided the students could not be punished because of their First Amendment rights. In November 2018, a group of students of Pacifica High School of Garden Grove Unified School District in California was shown in a video giving the Nazi salute and singing Erika. The incident took place at an after-hours off-campus student athletics banquet. The school administration did not learn about the incident until March 2019, at which time the students were disciplined. The school did not release details of what the discipline entailed, but released a statement saying that they would continue to deal with the incident "in collaboration with agencies dedicated to anti-bias education." On 20 August 2019, the school district announced that it was reopening the investigation into the incident because new photographs and another video has surfaced of the event, along with "new allegations" and "new claims". Parents and teachers criticised the school's administration for their initial secrecy about the incident, for which the school's principal apologised. In March 2019, students from Newport Beach, California, attending a private party made a swastika from red-and-white plastic party cups and gave Nazi salutes over it. Some of the students may have been from Newport Harbor High School of Newport-Mesa Unified School District, a very large district that encompasses 58 square miles and includes the cities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Officials from the district condemned the students' behavior and said they were working with law enforcement to collect information on the incident. On 1 February 2022, one of the pupils from Charles H. Best Middle School in North York, a district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, performed a Nazi salute to a Jewish student while another who allegedly built a swastika, which led the Toronto District School Board to launch an investigation, and condemnation by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Among other gestures used by the Ku Klux Klan, the "Klan salute" is similar to the Nazi salute, the difference being that it is performed using the left arm and not the right, and that often the fingers of the hand are splayed and not held tightly together. The four fingers represent the four Ks in "Knights of the Ku Klux Klan". According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Klan salute dates to 1915. In 2012, the Financial Times reported that Nazi salutes have become common among neo-nationalists in Russia. Nazi salutes were made at nationalist protests in 2008 and 2010. A "from the heart to the sun" form of the Nazi salute is used by neo-Nazis and neo-pagans in Russia. This salute has been used by members of the Rusich Group, a neo-Nazi paramilitary which has fought in Syria and Ukraine under the Wagner Group, including by its co-founder Alexey Milchakov, and Yan Petrovsky, a commander in the group. Alexei Petrov, a Russian government aide involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, was found to have links to the neo-Nazi movement, and had posted a "from the heart to the sun" message on social media. The phrase "from the heart to the sun" can serve as a stand-in for actually performing the salute. In April 2022, 15 year old Russian karting champion Artem Severiukhin made an apparent Nazi salute on the podium after a race in Portugal, in which he tapped his chest before raising his right arm in a salute and beginning to laugh. His contract was subsequently terminated and he apologised for his action. The Z military symbol used in the Russian invasion of Ukraine can also be referred to as ziga or Zieg, in reference to Sieg Heil. To make the Nazi salute can be referred to as zeeg in Russian, and zigging in English. See also References Informational notes Citations Bibliography External links Final Solution Pre-Machtergreifung Post-Machtergreifung |
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Contents Iraqi Turkmens The Iraqi Turkmens (Turkish: Irak Türkmenleri, عراق تورکمنلری; Arabic: تركمان العراق), also referred to as Iraqi Turks, (Turkish: Irak Türkleri, عراق توركلری; Arabic: أتراك العراق) are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq. They make up to 10%–13% of the Iraqi population. Iraqi Turkmens are descendants of Turkish settlers from the time of Ottoman Iraq, and are closely related to Syrian Turkmens. Iraqi Turkmens in Iraq do not identify with the traditionally-nomadic Turkmens of Central Asia. Ethnonyms According to Iraqi Turkmen scholar Professor Suphi Saatçi, prior to the mid-20th century the Turkmens in Iraq were known simply as "Turks". It was not until after the military coup of 14 July 1958, that the ruling military junta officially introduced the name "Turkman/Turkmen": the political goal of the Iraqi government was to distinguish the Iraqi Turkmens from other Turks in Anatolia, just as the Greek government used the name "Muslim minority" for those Turks living within the borders of Greece. The state-imposed terms on the Turks of Iraq were not resisted, for the word "Turkmen" had historically been designated to the Oghuz Turks who had accepted Islam and migrated westwards from Central Asia to the Middle East, and had continued to be used in the region. Thus, Iraqi Turkmens (as well as Syrian Turkmens and Anatolian Turkmens) do not identify themselves with the Turkmen people of Turkmenistan. Rather, the term "Turkmen" in the Middle East is often used to designate Turkic-speakers, particularly in the Arab areas, or where Sunni Turks live in Shiite dominated areas. Despite the modern usage of the term "Turkmen", Professor David Kushner has pointed out that the term "Turks" continues to be used in referring to the "Outside Turks" of the former Ottoman Empire, including the Turks in Iraq, which is in contrast to the terms used for other Turkic peoples who did not share this Ottoman history: Generally one may distinguish between the 'closer' communities [to Turkey] of Turks in Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria, and Iraq, on the one hand, and the more 'distant' ones in Iran, the Soviet Union and China, on the other...even the term "Turks" is selectively used. It is habitually used in reference to the 'closer' Turkish communities while the others are commonly referred to by their own particular names (i.e., Azeris, Turkestanis, etc.)... More important perhaps than the legal factor has been the historical and cultural identity of the Turks in Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria and Iraq with the Turks of Turkey. Not only are these communities geographically adjacent to the Turks but they have all shared the Ottoman past, speak more or less the same language, and are predominantly Sunni. They are also referred to as Turkish-Iraqis, the Turkish minority in Iraq, and the Iraqi-Turkish minority. Professor Orit Bashkin has observed that within Iraqi Turkmen literature, poets have managed to "remain loyal to Iraq as a state" whilst they have also "concurrently upheld their Turkish distinctiveness": For Mustafa Gökkaya (b. 1910), this signified that his community was Muslim and that "my father is Turk, and the homeland [is] my mother". For Reşit Ali Dakuklu (b. 1918), being part of "the Turks of Iraq" signified maintaining brotherly relations with every nation, being united with Iraq, while speaking in Turkish. Universal and local, Iraqi and Turkish at the same time, the Turkoman poets were willing to serve their nation yet unwilling to neglect their culture and their Turkishness. History The exact origin of Iraqi Turkmens is uncertain, but several possible explanations and theories of settlement in the region indicate that they likely originally emerged in Iraq as garrisons established by multiple rulers in various time periods. Iraqi Turkmens are believed to be the descendants of various waves of Turkic settlement in Mesopotamia beginning from the 7th century until the end of Ottoman rule (1919). The first wave of migration dates back to the 7th century, followed by migrations during the Seljuk Empire (1037–1194), the fleeing Oghuz during the Mongol destruction of the Khwarazmian dynasty (see Kara Koyunlu and Ag Qoyunlu), and the largest migration, during the Ottoman Empire (1535–1919). With the conquest of Iraq by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534, followed by Sultan Murad IV's capture of Baghdad in 1638, a large influx of Turks—predominantly from Anatolia—settled down in Iraq. It is believed that many of today's Iraqi Turkmens are the descendants of the Ottoman soldiers, traders and civil servants who were brought into Iraq during the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The presence of Turkic peoples in what is today Iraq first began in the 7th century when approximately 2,000–5,000 Oghuz Turks were recruited in the Muslim armies of Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad. They arrived in 674 with the Umayyud conquest of Basra. More Turkic troops settled during the 8th century, from Bukhara to Basra and also Baghdad. During the subsequent Abbasid era, thousands more of Turkmen warriors were brought into Iraq; however, the number of Turkmens who had settled in Iraq were not significant, as a result, the first wave of Turkmens became assimilated into the local Arab population. The second wave of Turkmens to descend on Iraq were the Turks of the Great Seljuq Empire. Large scale migration of Turkmens in Iraq occurred in 1055 with the invasion of Sultan Tuğrul Bey, the second ruler of the Seljuk dynasty, who intended to repair the holy road to Mecca. For the next 150 years, the Seljuk Turks placed large Turkmen communities along the most valuable routes of northern Iraq, especially Tal Afar, Erbil, Kirkuk, and Mandali, which is now identified by the modern community as Turkmeneli. Many of these settlers assumed positions of military and administrative responsibilities in the Seljuk Empire.[citation needed] The third, and largest, wave of Turkmen migration to Iraq arose during the four centuries of Ottoman rule (1535–1919). By the first half of the sixteenth century the Ottomans had begun their expansion into Iraq, waging wars against their arch rival, the Persian Safavids. In 1534, under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, Mosul was sufficiently secure within the Ottoman Empire and became the chief province (eyalet) responsible for all other administrative districts in the region. The Ottomans encouraged migration from Anatolia and the settlement of immigrant Turkmens along northern Iraq, religious scholars were also brought in to preach Hanafi (Sunni) Islam. With loyal Turkmens inhabiting the area, the Ottomans were able to maintain a safe route through to the southern provinces of Mesopotamia. Following the conquest, Kirkuk came firmly under Turkish control and was referred to as "Gökyurt", it is this period in history whereby modern Iraqi Turkmens claim association with Anatolia and the Turkish state. With the conquest of Iraq by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534, followed by Sultan Murad IV's capture of Baghdad in 1638, a large influx of Turks settled down in the region. After defeating the Safavids on 31 December 1534, Suleiman entered Baghdad and set about reconstructing the physical infrastructure in the province and ordered the construction of a dam in Karbala and major water projects in and around the city's countryside. Once the new governor was appointed, the town was to be composed of 1,000 foot soldiers and another 1,000 cavalry. However, war broke out after 89 years of peace and the city was besieged and finally conquered by Abbas the Great in 1624. The Persians ruled the city until 1638 when a massive Ottoman force, led by Sultan Murad IV, recaptured the city. In 1639, the Treaty of Zuhab was signed that gave the Ottomans control over Iraq and ended the military conflict between the two empires. Thus, more Turks arrived with the army of Sultan Murad IV in 1638 following the capture of Baghdad whilst others came even later with other notable Ottoman figures. Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Iraqi Turkmens wanted Turkey to annex the Mosul vilayet and for them to become part of an expanded state; this is because, under the Ottoman monarchy, Iraqi Turkmens enjoyed a relatively trouble-free existence as the administrative and business classes. However, due to the demise of the Ottoman monarchy, Iraqi Turkmens participated in elections for the Constituent Assembly; the purpose of these elections was to formalise the 1922 treaty with the British government and obtain support for the drafting of a constitution and the passing of the 1923 Electoral law. Iraqi Turkmens made their participation in the electoral process conditional on the preservation of the Turkish character of Kirkuk's administration and the recognition of Turkish as the official language of the liwa. Although they were recognized as a constitutive entity of Iraq, alongside the Arabs and Kurds, in the constitution of 1925, Iraqi Turkmens were later denied this status. Since the demise of the Ottoman Empire, Iraqi Turkmens have found themselves increasingly mistreated under successive regimes, such as in the massacres of 1923, 1946, and 1959, and from 1980, when the Ba'ath Party targeted the community. Culture Iraqi Turkmens are mostly Muslim and have close cultural and linguistic ties with the Anatolian region of Turkey. Iraqi Turkmen dialects fall under the Western Oghuz branch of Turkic languages, and are often referred to as "Iraqi Turkmen Turkish" "Iraqi Turkish", and "Iraqi Turkic". The dialects possess their own unique characteristics, but have also been influenced by the historical standards of Ottoman Turkish (which was the official language of administration and lingua franca in Iraq between 1534 and 1920) and neighboring Azerbaijani Turkic. In particular, standard (i.e. Istanbul) Turkish as a prestige language has exerted a profound influence on their dialects; thus, the syntax in Iraqi Turkmen differs sharply from neighboring Irano-Turkic varieties. Collectively, Iraqi Turkmen dialects also show similarities with Cypriot Turkish and Balkan Turkish regarding modality. The written language of the Iraqi Turkmens is based on Istanbul Turkish using the modern Turkish alphabet.| and the name of the language between the iraqi turkmens are usually pronounced turkman or turkmany, not the usual pronunciation in the other Turkmen speaking countries. The Turkish language was recognized as a minority language in Kirkuk and Kifri in 1930, until the revolutionary government introduced the names "Turkman" and "Turkmanja" in 1959 with the aim of politically distancing the Turks of Iraq from Turkey. Then, in 1972, the Iraqi government banned the Turkish language and schools and media using Turkish were prohibited. Further bans on the Turkish language were made in the 1980s when the Ba'ath regime prohibited Iraqi Turkmens from speaking Turkish in public. It was not until 2005 that the Turkmen dialects were recognized under the Iraqi constitution; since then, Iraqi Turkmens have opened numerous Turkish schools and media exposure from Turkey has led to the standardisation of their dialects towards Standard Turkish and the preferable language for adolescents associating with the Turkish culture. Some Iraqi Turkmens claimed that their language had Sumerian influence, which was present in many of the names of villages, cities, and foods. By 2021, researchers had discovered over 350 Turkmen words which traced back to Sumerian. There was also speculation that traditional Turkmen clothes strongly resembled Sumerian clothes. Indeed, Iraqi Turkmens themselves (according to the 1957 census), as well as a range of linguistic sources, tend to view their language as a Turkish dialect (of Turkey), which they call Irak Türkmen Türkçesi, Irak Türkçesi, or Irak Türkmencesi. Studies have long noted the similarities between Iraqi Turkmens and certain Southeastern Anatolian dialects around the region of Urfa and Diyarbakır, or have described it as an "Anatolian" or an "Eastern Anatolian dialect". There are also linguists who have said that Iraqi Turkmen is closer to Azerbaijani, placing the Kirkuk dialect as "more or less" an "Azerbaijani Turkish" dialect. Yet, the Kirkuk dialect also shows comparable features with Urfa, and there are other regions in the Kirkuk Governorate, such as Altun Kupri, Taza Khurmatu, and Bashir, which are said to show unity with the Eastern Anatolian dialect of Urfa. Indeed, the dialects spoken in Turkmen-dominated regions in other parts of the country – including Amirli, Kifri, Tal Afar and Tuz Khurmatu – are all said to be similar to the Turkish dialect of Urfa. Hence, there are linguists who acknowledge similarities with Azerbaijani spoken in Iran but say that Iraqi Turkmens has "greater proximity to Turkish of Turkey". According to Christiane Bulut, Iraqi Turkman is neither Azeri nor Anatolian Turkish but "a transitional dialect group, displaying linguistic features similar to both". Besides their traditional dialects, the Iraqi Turkmen diaspora also communicate in standard (Istanbul) Turkish, whilst the younger generations in Iraq (below the age of 18 in 2019) speak Istanbul Turkish with ease. In addition, diglossia in Iraq Turkmen dialects and Istanbul Turkish has become a widespread phenomenon. Most Iraqi Turkmens can also speak Arabic and/or Kurdish. Due to the existence of different Turkish migration waves to Iraq for over 1,200 years, the Iraqi Turkmen varieties are by no means homogeneous; dialects can vary according to regional features. Several prestige languages in the region have been particularly influential: Ottoman Turkish from 1534 onwards and then Persian after the Capture of Baghdad (1624). Once the Ottoman Empire retook Iraq in 1640 the Turkish varieties of Iraq continued to be influenced by Ottoman Turkish, as well as other languages in the region, such as Arabic and Kurdish. Ottoman Turkish had a strong influence in Iraq until 1920, for it was not only the official language of administration but also the lingua franca. Indeed, Turkish has remained a prestige language among Iraqi Turkmen, exerting a profound historical influence on their dialect. As a result, Iraqi Turkmen syntax differs sharply from Irano-Turkic. In general, the Iraqi Turkmen dialects of Tal Afar (approx 700,000 speakers), Altun Kupri, Tuz Khurmatu, Taza Khurmatu, Kifri, Bashir and Amirli show unity with the Eastern Anatolian dialect of Urfa; meanwhile, the dialects in Kirkuk, Erbil, Dohuk, Mandali and Khanaqin show similarities with Azerbaijani Tabrizi and Afshar Turkic dialects. Yet, the Kirkuk dialect also shows comparable features with Urfa, and 21.4% of Kirkuk province's population had self-declared their mother tongue as "Turkish" in the last census which asked about language. In particular, a cultural orientation towards Turkey prevails among Iraqi Turkmen intellectuals and diglossia (Turkish of Turkey) is very frequent in educated circles, especially in Kirkuk. In addition, the Erbil dialect shows similarities with Turkish dialects stretching from Kosovo to Rize, Erzurum and Malatya. Iraqi Turkmens generally also have an active command in standard Turkish due to their cultural orientation towards the Republic of Turkey. Turkish media outlets (especially satellite TV) has been influential; moreover, there are a number of private schools which teach in Turkish backed by Turkish institutions. Thus, diglossia in Iraqi Turkmen and standard Turkish (of Turkey) has become a widespread phenomenon. In 2020, a request to grant a ISO 639 code for Iraqi Turkmen was submitted to SIL, but later rejected in 2024 as it doesn't meet the criteria for being a distinct language. Professor Christiane Bulut has argued that publications from Azerbaijan often use expressions such as "Azerbaijani (dialects) of Iraq" or "South Azerbaijani" to describe Iraqi Turkmen dialects "with political implications"; however, in Turcological literature, closely related dialects in Turkey and Iraq are generally referred to as "eastern Anatolian" or "Iraq-Turkic/-Turkman" dialects, respectively. Furthermore, the terms "Turkmen/Turkman" are also considered to be historically political because in the early 20th century the minority were simply recognized as Turks who spoke the Turkish language, until after the military coup of 14 July 1958, when the ruling military junta introduced the names "Turkman/Turkmen" to distance the Turks of Iraq from those in Anatolia, and then banned the Turkish language in 1972. Under the British Mandate over Iraq, the Turkish language was recognized as an official language in Kirkuk and Kifri under Article 5 of the Language Act of 1930. Article 6 of the Act permitted the language of education to be determined by the native language of the majority of students, whilst Article 2 and Article 4 gave Iraqi citizens the right to have court hearings and decisions verbally translated into Arabic, Kurdish, or Turkish in all cases. Upon Iraq's entry into the League of Nations in 1932, the League demanded that Iraq recognize its ethnic and religious minorities. Consequently, the Turkish language, alongside Kurdish, was to be recognized as an official language under the Iraqi constitution of 1932: "in the liwa of Kirkuk, where a considerable part of the population is of Turkmen race, the official language, side by side with Arabic, shall be either Kurdish or Turkish". According to Article 1, no law, order, or act of government was allowed to contradict the terms of the 1932 constitution, nor could it be changed in the future. However, in 1959 the military junta introduced the names "Turkman" and "Turkmanja". More recently, Article 4 of the 2005 Iraqi Constitution recognizes "Turkomen" as an official minority language in the "administrative units in which they constitute density of population" (alongside Syriac). In 1997 the Iraqi Turkmen Congress adopted a Declaration of Principles, Article Three states that "the official written language of the Turkmen is Istanbul Turkish, and its alphabet is the new Latin alphabet." By 2005 the Turkish language replaced traditional Turkmeni, which had used the Arabic script, in Iraqi schools. Iraq's first two Turkmen schools were opened on 17 November 1993, one in Erbil and the other in Kifri. In 2010 the Turkmen Federation of Scouts (Türkmen Izcilik Federasyonu) was founded, based in Kirkuk. In 2005 Iraqi Turkmen community leaders decided that the Turkish language would replace the use of traditional Turkmeni in Iraqi schools; Turkmeni had used the Arabic script whereas Turkish uses the Latin script (see Turkish alphabet). Kelsey Shanks has argued that "the move to Turkish can be seen as a means to strengthen the collective "we" identity by continuing to distinguish it from the other ethnic groups. ... The use of Turkish was presented as a natural progression from the Turkmen; any suggestion that the oral languages were different was immediately rejected." Parental literacy rates in Turkish are low, as most are more familiar with the Arabic script (due to the Ba'athist regime). Therefore, the Turkmen Directorate of Education in Kirkuk has started Turkish language lessons for the wider society. Furthermore, the Turkmen officer for the Ministry of Education in Nineveh has requested from the "United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq" the instigation of Turkish language classes for parents. The current prevalence of satellite television and media exposure from Turkey may have led to the standardisation of Turkmeni towards Turkish, and the preferable language for adolescents associating with the Turkish culture. In 2004 the Türkmeneli TV channel was launched in Kirkuk, Iraq. It broadcasts programmes in the Turkish and Arabic languages. As of 2012, Türkmeneli TV has studios in Kirkuk and Baghdad in Iraq, and in the Çankaya neighbourhood in Ankara, Turkey. Türkmeneli TV has signed agreements with several Turkish channels, such as TRT, TGRT and ATV, as well as with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus's main broadcaster BRT, to share programmes and documentaries. Iraqi Turkmens are predominantly Muslims. Sunni Turkmens form the majority (about 60–70%), but there is also a significant number of Turkmens practicing the Shia branch of Islam (about 30% to 40%). Nonetheless, Turkmens are mainly secular, having internalized the secularist interpretation of state–religion affairs practiced in the Republic of Turkey since its foundation in 1923. However, there were also instances of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Turkmens. Turkmens largely live in urban areas, dealing with trade and commerce, and usually tend to acquire higher education. The power of religious and tribal factors inherent in the Arab and Kurdish cultures does not significantly affect the Turkmens. Although Iraqi Turkmens also had tribes, their traditions and customs significantly differed from those of Arab tribes. Turkmen women also had a higher standing in the family, and polygamy was very rare among Iraqi Turkmen men. A small minority of Iraqi Turkmens are Catholics, and their number was estimated at about 30,000 in 2015. In 2017, Iraqi Turkmen Catholics constituted around 1% of the Iraqi Turkmen community. Iraqi Turkmen Catholics were distinct from Citadel Christians. Iraqi Turkmen Catholics were Latin Catholic and lived in all areas of Turkmeneli, including Kirkuk. The Citadel Christians were Chaldean Catholic and lived only in Kirkuk. Furthermore, Citadel Christians were ethnically Assyrian whereas the Iraqi Turkmen Catholics were ethnically Turkic. Citadel Christians, numbering only "a few thousand" in 2017, were significantly fewer than Iraqi Turkmen Catholics. The Turkmen Bible Partnership translated the New Testament into the Iraqi Turkmen dialect and printed and distributed 2,000 copies of it in 2021. The presence of Christian Turkmens in Iraq dated back to the Seljuk and Ilkhanid periods, when Turkmen tribes settled in Mesopotamia and some members of the tribes either retained or adopted local Christian beliefs. Certain Turkmen Christian families in Iraq preserved religious identities distinct from both Muslim Turkmens and Aramaic-speaking Christians. Max van Berchem’s survey of linguistic minorities in Ottoman Iraq included mention of “Christian Turks” in Mosul and Kirkuk. Some Turkmen Christians were massacred by the Assyrian Levies and later the Ba'athists. The Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) largely defined Turkmen identity in Sunni terms, often excluding Shia and Christian Turkmens. Historically, many Iraqi Turkmens belonged to religious sects which followed Qizilbash doctrine. The religious sects were separate but closely related. They were all very secretive about their faith. They originated during the Safavid era, and by the 1920s, Twelver Shia missionaries from Southern Iraq had converted them all to orthodox Shia Islam. One of the most prominent of the sects was Ibrahimiyya. Many Iraqi Turkmen also adhered to Bektashi Alevism. Bektashi Turkmen were prominent in Tal Afar, Tuz Khurmatu, and Taza Khurmatu. There were no mosques in Tal Afar until the 1940s. There was a Bektashi tekke in the Tisin neighborhood of Kirkuk, although it was destroyed by the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein. The Tekke of Kizildeli Seyyid Ali Sultan was located in Tal Afar. By the 20th century, most Bektashi Turkmen had converted to Twelverism, but many continued adhering to Alevism. Demographics Iraqi Turkmens are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq. According to 2013 data from the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, Iraqi Turkmens have a population of about 3 million out of the total population of about 34.7 million (approximately 9% of the country's population). According to Mesut Yeğen, documents from the British Foreign Office claim that the Turkmens made a majority in the city of Erbil in 1919 The 1957 Iraqi census (which is recognized as the last reliable census, as later censuses were reflections of the Arabization policies of the Ba'ath regime) recorded 567,000 Turks out of a total population of 6.3 million, forming 9% of the total Iraqi population. This put them third, behind Arabs and Kurds. However, due to the undemocratic environment, their number has always been underestimated and has long been a point of controversy. For example, in the 1957 census, the Iraqi government first claimed that there was 136,800 Turks in Iraq. However, the revised figure of 567,000 was issued after the 1958 revolution when the Iraqi government admitted that the Iraqi Turkmen population was actually more than 400% from the previous year's total. Scott Taylor has described the political nature of the results thusly: According to the 1957 census conducted by King Faisal II – a monarch supported by the British – there were only 136,800 Turkmen in all of Iraq. Bearing in mind that since the British had wrested control of Mesopotamia from the Turks after the First World War, a deliberate campaign had been undertaken to eradicate or diminish all remnants of Ottoman influence. Therefore it should not be surprising that after Abdul Karim Kassem launched his successful revolution in 1958 – killing 23-year-old King Faisal II, expelling the British and declaring Iraq a republic – that a different set of numbers was published. According to the second census of 1958, the Turkmen registry stood at 567,000 – an increase of more than 400 per cent from the previous year's total. Subsequent censuses, in 1967, 1977, 1987 and 1997, are all considered highly unreliable, due to suspicions of manipulation by the various regimes in Iraq. The 1997 census states that there was 600,000 Iraqi Turkmens out of a total population of 22,017,983, forming 2.72% of the total Iraqi population; however, this census only allowed its citizens to indicate belonging to one of two ethnicities, Arab or Kurd, this meant that many Iraqi Turkmens identified themselves as Arabs (the Kurds not being a desirable ethnic group in Saddam Hussein's Iraq), thereby skewing the true number of Iraqi Turkmens. In 2004 Scott Taylor suggested that the Iraqi Turkmen population accounted for 2,080,000 of Iraq's 25 million inhabitants (forming 8.32% of the population) whilst Patrick Clawson has stated that Iraqi Turkmens make up about 9% of the total population. Furthermore, international organizations such as the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization has stated that the Iraqi Turkmen community is 3 million or 9–13% of the Iraqi population. Iraqi Turkmens claim that their total population is over 3 million. Iraqi Turkmens primarily inhabit northern Iraq, in a region they refer to as "Turkmeneli" which stretches from the northwest to the east at the middle of Iraq. Iraqi Turkmens consider their capital city to be Kirkuk. Liam Anderson and Gareth Stansfield describe the Turkmeneli region as follows: ...what Turkmens refer to as Turkmeneli – a vast swath of territory running from Iraq's border with Turkey and Syria and diagonally down the country to the border with Iran. Turkmen sources note that Turcomania – an Anglicized version of "Turkmeneli" – appears on a map of the region published by William Guthrie in 1785, but there is no clear reference to Turkmeneli until the end of the twentieth century. Iraqi Turkmens generally consider several major cities, and small districts associated with these cities, as part of Turkmeneli. The major cities claimed to be a part of their homeland include: Altun Kupri, Badra, Bakuba, Diala, Erbil, Khanaqin, Kifri, Kirkuk, Kizilribat, Mendeli, Mosul, Salahaldeen, Sancar, Tal Afar, and Tuz Khurmatu. Thus, the Turkmeneli region lies between the Arab areas of settlement to the south and Kurdish areas to the north. According to the 1957 census, Iraqi Turkmens formed the majority of inhabitants in the city of Kirkuk, with 40% declaring their mother tongue as "Turkish". The second-largest Iraqi Turkmen city is Tel Afar where they make up 95% of the inhabitants. The once mainly Turkoman cities of the Diyala Province such as Kifri have been heavily Kurdified and Arabized. Some Iraqi Turkmens also live outside the Turkmeneli region. For example, there is a significant community living in Iraq's capital city of Baghdad, especially in the neighbourhoods of Adhamiyah and Ragheba Khatun. The Turkmen population in Erbil is estimated to be around 300,000. They mainly reside in the neighbourhoods of Taci, Mareke and Three Tak in Erbil's city centre, around the citadel. Until 2006, they were living in the Tophane, Tekke and Saray neighborhoods of the Citadel, which contained almost 700 houses. In 2006, the citadel was emptied, and the Turkmens in the citadel were relocated to other neighbourhoods. Some Turkmens also participate in the political institutions of the KRG, including the Parliament. Erbil's citadel also contains the Turkmen Culture House. Most Iraqi Turkmens migrate to Turkey, followed by Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. There are also Iraqi Turkmen communities living in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand,[citation needed] Greece, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. According to Professor Suphi Saatçi, in 2010 approximately 1,000 Iraqi Turkmens were living in Canada, 2,000 in Denmark, and 4,000 in the Netherlands. Since the European migrant crisis (2014–19) the number of Iraqi Turkmen has continued to increase in Europe. There are many established Iraqi Turkmen diaspora communities, such as the Canadian Iraqi Turkmen Culture Association, based in Canada. The Turkoman community in Chicago dates from the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War. They have tended to settle in the northern neighborhoods of the city and in the suburbs, and many have taken jobs as factory workers or cabdrivers. Owing to their small size, they attend the mosques of other communities. They maintain a distinct cultural identity and close ties with brethren outside of Chicago. Persecution The position of Iraqi Turkmens has changed from being administrative and business classes of the Ottoman Empire to an increasingly discriminated against minority. Since the demise of the Ottoman Empire, Iraqi Turkmens have been victims of several massacres, such as the 1959 Kirkuk massacre. Furthermore, under the Ba'ath party, discrimination against Iraqi Turkmens increased, with several leaders being executed in 1979 as well as the Iraqi Turkmen community being victims of Arabization policies by the state, and Kurdification by Kurds seeking to push them forcibly out of their homeland. Moreover, the government of Turgut Özal only gave attention to Sunni Turkmens and ignored the Shias. Thus, they have suffered from various degrees of suppression and assimilation that ranged from political persecution and exile to terror and ethnic cleansing. Despite being recognized in the 1925 constitution as a constitutive entity, Iraqi Turkmens were later denied this status; hence, cultural rights were gradually taken away and activists were sent to exile. In 1924, Iraqi Turkmens were seen as a disloyal remnant of the Ottoman Empire, with a natural tie to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's new Turkish nationalist ideology emerging in the Republic of Turkey. The Iraqi Turkmens living in the region of Kirkuk were perceived as posing a threat to the stability of Iraq, particularly as they did not support the ascendancy of King Faisal I to the Iraqi throne. On 4 May, these tensions boiled over into violence when soldiers from the Iraq Levies —a levied force raised by the British government after World War I and consisting primarily of Assyrians — clashed with Turkmens in a Kirkuk market square after a dispute between an Assyrian soldier and a Turkmen shopkeeper. In the ensuing fracas, 200 Turkmens were killed by Assyrian soldiers. Around 20 Iraqi Turkmen civilians were killed by Iraqi policemen including women and children on 12 July 1946 in Gavurbağı, Kirkuk. The Kirkuk massacre of 1959 came about due to the Iraqi government allowing the Iraqi Communist Party, which in Kirkuk was largely Kurdish, to target Iraqi Turkmens. With the appointment of Maarouf Barzinji, a Kurd, as the mayor of Kirkuk in July 1959, tensions rose following 14 July revolution celebrations, with animosity in the city polarizing rapidly between the Kurds and Iraqi Turkmens. On 14 July 1959, skirmishes broke out between Iraqi Turkmens and Kurds, leaving some 20 Iraqi Turkmens dead. Furthermore, on 15 July 1959, Kurdish soldiers of the Fourth Brigade of the Iraqi army mortared Iraqi Turkmen residential areas, destroying 120 houses. Order was restored on 17 July by military units from Baghdad. The Iraqi government referred to the incident as a "massacre" and stated that between 31 and 79 Iraqi Turkmens were killed and some 130 injured. Over 135 Turkmen civilians were killed on 28 March 1991 during the Gulf War by Iraqi forces, in the Turkmen town of Altun Kupri. The government of Saddam Hussein had heavily restricted the cultural rights of Iraqi Turkmen and adopted a policy of assimilation. Due to government relocation programs, thousands of Iraqi Turkmen were relocated from their traditional homelands in northern Iraq and replaced by Arabs, in an effort to Arabize the region. Furthermore, Iraqi Turkmen villages and towns were destroyed to make way for Arab migrants, who were promised free land and financial incentives. For example, the Ba'ath regime recognised that the city of Kirkuk was historically an Iraqi Arab city and remained firmly in its cultural orientation. The Kurds claimed de facto sovereignty over land that Iraqi Turkmens regard as theirs. For the Iraqi Turkmens, their identity is deeply inculcated as the rightful inheritors of the region as a legacy of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, it is claimed that the Kurdistan Region and Iraqi government has constituted a threat to the survival of Iraqi Turkmens through strategies aimed at eradicating or assimilating them. The formation of the Kurdistan Region in 1991 created high animosity between the Kurds and Iraqi Turkmen, resulting in some Iraqi Turkmen being victims of Kurdification, according to Liam Anderson. The largest concentration of Iraqi Turkmen tended to be in the de facto capital of Erbil, a city which they had assumed prominent administrative and economic positions. Thus, they increasingly came into dispute and often conflict with the ruling powers of the city, which after 1996 was the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani. According to Anderson and Stansfield, in the 1990s, tension between Kurds and Iraqi Turkmens inflamed as the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) were institutionalized as the political hegemons of the region and, from the perspective of the Iraqi Turkmens, sought to marginalize them from the positions of authority and to subsume their culture with an all-pervading Kurdistani identity. With the support of Ankara, a new political front of Turkmen parties, the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), was formed on 24 April 1995. The relationship between the Iraqi Turkmen Front and the KDP was tense and deteriorated as the decade went on. Iraqi Turkmens associated with the Iraqi Turkmen Front complained about harassment by Kurdish security forces. In March 2000, the Human Rights Watch reported that the KDP's security attacked the offices of the ITF in Erbil, killing two guards, following a lengthy period of disputes between the two parties. In 2002, the KDP created an Iraqi Turkmen political organization, the Turkmen National Association, that supported the further institutionalization of the Kurdistan Region. This was viewed by pro-ITF Iraqi Turkmens as a deliberate attempt to "buy off" Iraqi Turkmen opposition and break their bonds with Ankara. Promoted by the KDP as the "true voice" of the Iraqi Turkmens, the Turkmen National Association has a pro-Kurdistani stance and has effectively weakened the ITF as the sole representative voice of the Iraqi Turkmens. Beginning in 2003, there were riots between Kurds and Turkmen in Kirkuk, a city that Turkmens view as historically theirs. According to United Nations reports, the KRG and Peshmerga were "illegally policing Kirkurk, abducting Turkmens and Arabs and subjecting them to torture". Between 2003 and 2006, 1,350 Turkmens in Tal Afar died mainly from sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias, as well as war. Thousands of houses were damaged or demolished, resulting in 4,685 displaced families. Politics Between ten and twelve Turkmen individuals were elected to the transitional National Assembly of Iraq in January 2005, including five on the United Iraqi Alliance list, three from the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), and either two or four from the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan. In the December 2005 elections, between five and seven Turkmen candidates were elected to the Council of Representatives. This included one candidate from the ITF (its leader Saadeddin Arkej), two or four from the United Iraqi Alliance, one from the Iraqi Accord Front and one from the Kurdistani Alliance. Iraqi Turkmens have also emerged as a key political force in the controversy over the future status of northern Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The government of Turkey has helped fund such political organizations as the Iraqi Turkmen Front, which opposes Iraqi federalism and in particular the proposed annexation of Kirkuk to the Kurdistan Regional Government. Tensions between the two groups over Kirkuk, however, have slowly died out and on 30 January 2006, the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, said that the "Kurds are working on a plan to give Iraqi Turkmens autonomy in areas where they are a majority in the new constitution they're drafting for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq." However, it never happened and the policies of Kurdification by KDP and PUK after 2003 (with non-Kurds being pressed to move) have prompted serious inter-ethnic problems. Notable people See also References Bibliography External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_II] | [TOKENS: 15000] |
Contents Allies of World War II The Allies, or Allied powers, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during World War II (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers. Its principal members were the "Big Four" – the United Kingdom, Soviet Union, United States, and China. Membership in the Allies varied during the course of the war. When the conflict broke out on 1 September 1939, the Allied coalition consisted of the United Kingdom, France, and Poland, as well as their respective dependencies, such as British India. They were joined by the independent dominions of the British Commonwealth: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Consequently, the initial alliance resembled that of the First World War. As Axis forces began invading northern Europe and the Balkans, the Allies added the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Greece, and Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union, which initially had a nonaggression pact with Germany and participated in its invasion of Poland, joined the Allies after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The United States, while providing some material support to European Allies since September 1940, remained formally neutral until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, after which it declared war and officially joined the Allies. China had already been at war with Japan since 1937, and formally joined the Allies in December 1941. The "Big Three"—the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States—were the principal contributors of manpower, resources and strategy, each playing a key role in achieving victory. Relations between the United Kingdom and the United States were especially close, with their bilateral Atlantic Charter forming the basis of their alliance. A series of conferences between Allied leaders, diplomats, and military officials gradually shaped the makeup of the alliance, the direction of the war, and ultimately the postwar international order. The Allies became a formalized group upon the Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942, which was signed by 26 countries around the world; these ranged from governments in exile from the Axis occupation to small states far removed from the war. The Declaration officially recognized the Big Three and China as the "Four Powers", acknowledging their central role in prosecuting the war; they were also referred to as the "trusteeship of the powerful", and later as the "Four Policemen" of the United Nations. Many more countries joined through to the final days of the war, including colonies and former Axis states. After the war ended, the Allies, and the Declaration that bound them, would become the basis of the modern United Nations. Origins Following the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles (1919) established the League of Nations in an attempt to create a system of collective security and prevent war. The League's covenant obliged members to protect the political and territorial integrity of all members against aggression. Four of the major allies of the First World War—the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan—became permanent members of the league's council. The league, however, was weakened by the failure of the United States to join and by the cumbersome rules for enforcing sanctions for breaches of its security provisions.: 27–28 France attempted to further protect itself against possible future German attack with the Franco-Polish alliance (1921) and the Franco-Czechoslovak alliance (1924).: 17–18 Under the Locarno treaties (1925), France, Britain, Belgium, Germany and Italy also guaranteed the borders between Germany and France and Germany and Belgium as defined in the Treaty of Versailles.: 94–97 The system of collective security was weakened when Japan withdrew from the League in February 1933, following the League's criticism of Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931.: 168–171 A further blow came when Nazi Germany withdrew from the League and the world disarmament conference in October 1933.: 198 In May 1935, France signed a mutual defence agreement with the Soviet Union, which Germany saw as directed against it.: 228–229 In October 1935, Italy invaded Abyssinia and the league responded with weak, short-lived sanctions.: 78–82 Germany remilitarised the Rhineland in March 1936 in contravention of the Versailles and Locarno treaties but Britain, France and the League of Nations imposed no sanctions.: 84–91 Britain, however, announced that it would aid France and Belgium if they were the victims of aggression, and France stated that it would assist Britain and Belgium in the same circumstances.: 231 In July 1937, Japan began an undeclared war in China. The league found Japan's actions illegal and invited its members to impose sanctions.: 244–245 : 135 In November, Italy joined the German and Japanese Anti-Comintern pact, and in December it left the league.: 155 In March 1938, Germany invaded and annexed Austria in contravention of the Versailles treaty. France and Britain issued formal protests but took no further action.: 186–187 Britain declined a Soviet offer to form a defensive alliance against Germany and also declined a French request to provide a security guarantee to Czechoslovakia, which was subject to German threats over its alleged mistreatment of the German-speaking majority in its Sudetenland region. Instead, Britain continued its policy of appeasing Germany by putting pressure on Czechoslovakia to negotiate a solution acceptable to Hitler.: 199–203 As the crisis deepened, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy signed the Munich Agreement on 30 September 1938, whereby the Sudetenland was ceded to Germany against the wishes of the Czechoslovak government, and the signatories guaranteed the territorial integrity of the rump Czechoslovak state.: 282–285, 293 Germany invaded Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939 in violation of the Munich Agreement. Subsequently, Germany increased pressure on Poland to agree to the transfer of Danzig (a free city under the Versailles treaty) and the Polish corridor to Germany. On 31 March, Britain and France announced that they would come to Poland's aid if it were attacked.: 324–328 Italy invaded Albania on 7 April, and Britain and France responded by issuing security guarantees to Greece, Romania and Turkey.: 329–330 : 125 In May, France and Poland agreed to preliminary political and military protocols for mutual defence. Britain and France also began negotiations for a defence treaty with the Soviet Union but little progress was made.: 323–324, 351–359 On 22 May, Germany and Italy signed a military alliance known as the Pact of Steel.: 342 The governments of Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact on 23 August, which included a secret protocol for the partition of Poland.: 34–35 Two days later, Britain signed a military alliance with Poland.: 367 Grand Alliance On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and on 3 September, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east on 17 September but remained officially neutral in the war between Germany and the western allies.: 56–57, 87 Italy, Japan and the United States were also formally neutral in the conflict,: 73–75, 79–83, 87 although Italy eventually declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940.: 116 Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada declared war on Germany in the two weeks following the British declaration.: 28 An Anglo-French Supreme War Council was established to coordinate military decisions and it first met on 12 September 1939.: 383 By 1 October, Warsaw had fallen and the Polish government had escaped into exile.: 32–34 Following a lull in fighting between Germany and the western allies, Germany began its invasion of western Europe in April 1940, quickly overrunning Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries, and France. The governments of these occupied countries, except France, fled, establishing governments-in-exile in London which Britain recognized as allies. Britain recognized Charles de Gaulle as leader of the Free-French forces in London, which opposed the collaborationist French Vichy government. The Free French, however, were not recognized as a government-in-exile until 1944. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Greece also established governments-in-exile in 1941 following the German advances towards eastern Mediterranean. The First Inter-Allied Meeting took place in London in early June 1941 between the United Kingdom, the four allied British Dominions, the eight governments in exile, and Free France. The meeting culminated with the Declaration of St James's Palace, which committed the signatories to work together until victory was achieved and an enduring peace secured.: 140–145 On 22 June 1941, Hitler broke the non-aggression agreement with Stalin and Axis forces invaded the Soviet Union.: 190–191 Britain formed an alliance with the Soviet Union in July, whereby they agreed to assist one another by any means, and to never negotiate a separate peace.: 284–285 [note 1] The following August saw the Atlantic Conference between American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, which defined a common Anglo-American vision of the post-war world, as formalized by the Atlantic Charter.: 236–239 At the Second Inter-Allied Meeting in London in September 1941, the Soviet Union joined the other Allies in adopting the Atlantic Charter.: 147 On 7-8 December, Japan attacked American and British territories in Asia and the Pacific, resulting in the US entering the war as an Allied power.: 250–256 China, which had been resisting a Japanese invasion since 1937, formally declared war on the Axis on 9 December. Winston Churchill called the association of the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union and other Allies the "Grand Alliance". The "Big Three"—the United Kingdom, United States and Soviet Union—were the principal contributors of manpower, resources and strategy, each playing a key role in achieving victory. The United States also saw China and its leader Chiang Kai-shek as its main ally in Asia and considered it one of the "Big Four" allied powers, a view not always shared by the United Kingdom and Soviet Union.: 510 In December 1941, at the First Washington Conference, Roosevelt proposed the name "United Nations" for the Allies and Churchill agreed. On 1 January 1942, Roosevelt, Churchill and representatives of the Soviet Union and China signed the Declaration by United Nations. The following day, representatives of 22 other allied countries signed the declaration. The Free French were not invited to sign because the United States recognized the Vichy government in France.: 251–257 The 26 original signatories were: From this time, countries that adopted the declaration were considered allies. Mexico, the Philippines and Ethiopia adopted the declaration later in 1942, followed by Iraq, Brazil, Bolivia, Iran and Colombia in 1943, and Liberia in February 1944. Following the liberation of France, the French provisional government signed the declaration on 26 December 1944 and France officially became one of the allied nations. Eleven nations adhered to the declaration in early 1945, when an allied victory over Germany was assured and the Big Four powers were preparing to invite signatories to the San Francisco Conference to prepare a charter for the new United Nations organization. A series of conferences between the major allied leaders, diplomats, and military officials shaped the strategic direction of the war and the post-war international order. Churchill and Roosevelt attended the first Washington Conference (December 1941 to January 1942) where they established the Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee and agreed to prioritize the European and North African theatres in the war. Churchill and Roosevelt met again at Casablanca (January 1943) and Washington (May 1943) where they decided on an invasion of Sicily, the postponement of a landing in France until May 1944, and began planning a counter-offensive against Japan in Asia and the Pacific. At the first Quebec Conference (August 1943) Churchill and Roosevelt agreed to a new command structure in South-East Asia. Churchill, Roosevelt and Chiang met at the Cairo Conference (November 1943) where they discussed operations against Japan and issued the Cairo Declaration outlining their vision for post-war Asia whereby Japan would lose all the territories it had gained since 1914. Stalin declined to attend or send representatives as the Soviet Union was not at war with Japan. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met for the first time at the Tehran Conference (November-December 1943) where they decided that the full-scale offensive in France in mid-1944 was the allied priority and where Stalin announced that he would declare war on Japan once Hitler was defeated. At the Yalta Conference (February 1945) Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin agreed to zones of occupation for the soon-to-be-defeated Germany and made plans for the post-war settlement of Europe and the United Nations organization. Following the allied victory in Europe, the new US president, Harry S. Truman, and new British prime minister, Clement Attlee, attended the final summit of the Big Three leaders at Potsdam (July-August 1945) where they discussed the final operations against Japan and issued a demand for its unconditional surrender. Relations between the United Kingdom and United States were especially close.: xii [note 2] Before they were formally allied, they had cooperated in a number of ways, notably through the destroyers-for-bases deal in September 1940 and the American Lend-Lease program, which provided Britain and the other allies with war materiel from March 1941. The British Commonwealth and empire obtained about half of the $42 to $50 billion in lend-lease aid during the war. The British Commonwealth and, to a lesser extent, the French empire and Soviet Union reciprocated with a smaller Reverse Lend-Lease program worth about $8 billion. After the United States entered the war, the United Kingdom and the United States established a Combined Chiefs of Staff to harmonize military planning, and Combined Boards to co-ordinate shipping, raw materials, and war production. Churchill and Roosevelt also met nine times in conferences without the presence of the other Big Four leaders. At the First Washington Conference, held soon after the United States entered the war, they agreed that Germany should be first defeated before focusing their forces on Japan.: 252 Nevertheless, divisions between the United Kingdom and United States soon arose over strategy for the defeat of Germany. American planners pushed for a landing in France in 1942 followed by a full scale invasion 1943. Britain, however, argued that an early invasion of France risked being repulsed with heavy allied losses. Instead, they argued for weakening Germany through strategic bombing and economic warfare and dispersing Axis forces by opening fronts in French north Africa, Italy, and possibly the Balkans. The United States and United Kingdom ultimately agreed to delay a full scale of invasion of France until May or June 1944, which angered Stalin because the Soviet Union was suffering heavy losses on its front with Germany.: 285–287, 366, 537 There were also significant disagreements between the United Kingdom and United States about the Asia-Pacific front. While Churchill prioritized the recovery of British imperial possessions such as Burma, Malaya, Hong Kong and Singapore, the Americans were more focused on supporting China by reopening its overland supply lines from India through the Burma road.: 416–417 Roosevelt and Chiang were hostile to imperialism and pressed Churchill to reach an agreement with the leaders of the Indian independence movement and to agree to post-war mandates for British and French imperial possessions to prepare them for full independence.: 269, 442–444 Despite their ideological differences and severe tensions over the timing of an invasion of France, the Soviet Union and its western allies cooperated in a number of ways. On the political front, the Soviet Union signed the Anglo-Soviet Agreement in July 1941,: 213 endorsed the Atlantic Charter in September,: 147 signed the Declaration by United Nations in January 1942,: 257 the Anglo-Soviet Treaty in May 1942,: 281–285 and the Four Powers Declaration in October 1943.: 378–380 In May 1943, Stalin agreed to dissolve the Comintern as a gesture of goodwill.: 361–362 On the strategic front, the Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States agreed at the Tehran conference of late 1943 that an invasion of France was the military priority for 1944.: 386–394 On the military front, in August 1941, British and Soviet forces invaded neutral Iran, which they suspected was pro-Axis, to secure oil supplies and the overland supply route into the Soviet Union.: 212 The western allies sought to relieve pressure on the Soviet front by its strategic bombing campaign and economic warfare on Germany and by diverting Axis forces to the north African and Italian fronts. Western food and materiel aid to the Soviet Union was also of great importance. The United States supplied the Soviet Union with $10 billion worth of aid under lend-lease: equivalent to 7% of Soviet war production. The Soviet Union, in turn, prosecuted the bulk of the ground war in which an estimated 5 million Axis soldiers were killed or missing in action on the eastern front. A rift developed between the Soviet Union and the western allies over the political settlement of postwar Europe. The Soviet Union pressed the United Kingdom and United States to recognise the territorial gains it had made in the Baltic states, Finland, Bessarabia and eastern Poland before the German invasion. The United Kingdom and United States rejected these demands as incompatible with the Atlantic Charter principle of no territorial changes without the consent of the people concerned.: 278–285 US and British concerns over Stalin's intentions increased when the Soviet Union severed relations with the Polish government-in-exile in April 1943, established a rival Polish Committee of National Liberation in June 1944, and failed to assist the Warsaw uprising (August to October 1944) until it was too late.: 462–468 Nevertheless, the Big Three reached a secret agreement at the Tehran Conference to move Poland's eastern border to the Curzon line,: 454–455 and, in October 1944, Churchill and Stalin reached a private agreement over Soviet and western spheres of influence in Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Greece.: 480–481 Despite their remaining differences over the borders and political future of the territories they occupied, the Big Three alliance held to the end of the war. On 8 August 1945, six days before Japan's surrender, the Soviet Union honoured its commitment to enter the war against Japan.: 534 Roosevelt viewed China as an important ally in the war against Japan and as a potential counterweight to Soviet influence in the postwar world. The United States saw allied military bases in China as staging posts for an eventual invasion of Japan and, in the meantime, Chinese nationalist forces tied up 500,000 to 600,000 Japanese troops in central China.: 409–410, 412 The United States provided loans and lend-lease aid to the nationalist government and, in December 1941, Chiang was named Supreme Allied Commander for China, Thailand and Indo-China.: 405 In October 1942, the United States and United Kingdom agreed to relinquish their territorial concessions and other privileges under their unequal treaties with China.: 410 In October 1943, the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and China signed the Four Power Declaration in which they pledged to cooperate against their common enemies and establish an international organization for peace and security. At the Tehran Conference later that year, Roosevelt outlined his vision of China as one of the "four policemen" of the postwar world.: 378–381, 408–409 Senior officials in the Big Three powers, however, were critical of the corruption and inefficiency of the nationalist government and its military forces.: 411–415 There were also strategic differences between Chiang, who wanted a higher priority on the war against Japan, and the Big Three leaders who had agreed on a policy of defeating Germany first.: 405 Relations between Chiang and his American chief-of-staff Joseph Stilwell were particularly tense. Stilwell believed the Chinese forces lacked adequate training, supplies and leadership, while Chiang blamed Stilwell's insistence on diverting Chinese forces to the Burma campaign for the collapse of the nationalist army during Japan's China offensive of 1944.: 416–417 Chiang's standing with the other allied leaders was weakened by the poor performance of his army during this offensive and by the US adoption of the island hopping strategy against Japan which reduced the importance of bases in China. Chiang was not invited to the Yalta and Potsdam conferences of 1945.: 413–419 Major Allied states At the outbreak of the war, the British Empire comprised over 60 countries including the dominions, India, Burma, and numerous Crown colonies and protectorates.: ix Following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 3 September 1939, most of the empire was automatically at war. However, the dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa separately declared war in the following two weeks.: 28 Following the defeat of Poland in October 1939 and of France in June 1940, the UK took the lead in co-ordinating the war effort of its empire and the allied governments-in-exile in London.: ix : 268–271 When the Soviet Union joined the Allies after the Axis invasion of June 1941 and the United States and China joined in December that year, the UK was the de facto representative of the empire and allied governments-in-exile in their dealings with the other Big Four powers.: ix : 182–186 Britain sustained its war effort by drawing on the population, raw material and strategic bases of its colonies throughout the world.: 1–6 In 1939, the population of the empire, including the dominions, was about 484 million, making it the second most populous belligerent after China. Britain’s colonies accounted for 42% of the empire’s economic output.: 34–35 After Japan occupied most of Britain's Asia-Pacific colonies – including Hong Kong, Burma, Malaya and Singapore – from December 1941, Britain expanded the production of food and manufacturing in India and the African colonies.: 6–7 Britain’s colonies also made a significant contribution to the allied military effort. By 1945, 25% of the allied South-East Asia Command was African : 2 and about 4% of the empire's military dead were from the colonies other than India.: 148 In 1939 Britain had the second largest navy and largest merchant navy in the world, and these played a vital role in transporting troops, armaments, food and raw materials for the Allies.: 18–19, 28 : 9. Merchant marine The British military played a major role in defeating the Axis powers in North Africa,: 52–53 Italy: 282–286 and the Western Front : 286–298 British and colonial troops also cleared Japanese forces from Burma.: 419 Britain and the United States conducted the Combined Bomber Offensive against Germany from 1943 which diverted German resources from the Eastern Front and retarded German war production.: 116–117, 127–131 About two-thirds of India was under the direct rule of the United Kingdom exercised by a viceroy representing the British crown. The other third mostly consisted of princely states, nominally under Indian rulers subordinate to the British crown. Nevertheless, India separately signed the Declaration by United Nations on 2 January 1942, and signed the Paris Peace Treaties of February 1947 as an Allied Power.: 163, 251, 273, 298, 322 India was an important supply base for Commonwealth, American and Chinese forces and itself produced about £286.5 million worth of military equipment and other supplies. By 1945, the Indian army numbered 2.5 million people – the largest volunteer army in history. Indian troops played a major role in the Burma campaign and in other theatres. Its military losses were about 100,000 killed, wounded or missing, and almost 80,000 taken prisoner. An estimated 3 million Indian people died in the Bengal famine of 1943. After Germany invaded Poland, France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. In January 1940, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier made a major speech denouncing the actions of Germany: At the end of five months of war, one thing has become more and more clear. It is that Germany seeks to establish a domination of the world completely different from any known in world history. The domination at which the Nazis aim is not limited to the displacement of the balance of power and the imposition of the supremacy of one nation. It seeks the systematic and total destruction of those conquered by Hitler and it does not treaty with the nations which it has subdued. He destroys them. He takes from them their whole political and economic existence and seeks even to deprive them of their history and culture. He wishes only to consider them as vital space and a vacant territory over which he has every right. The human beings who constitute these nations are for him only cattle. He orders their massacre or migration. He compels them to make room for their conquerors. He does not even take the trouble to impose any war tribute on them. He just takes all their wealth and, to prevent any revolt, he scientifically seeks the physical and moral degradation of those whose independence he has taken away. France experienced several major phases of action during World War II: In Africa these included: French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, the League of Nations mandates of French Cameroun and French Togoland, French Madagascar, French Somaliland, and the protectorates of French Tunisia and French Morocco. French Algeria was then not a colony or dependency but a fully-fledged part of metropolitan France. In Asia and Oceania France has several territories: French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, French Indochina, French India, Guangzhouwan, the mandates of Greater Lebanon and French Syria. The French government in 1936 attempted to grant independence to its mandate of Syria in the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence of 1936 signed by France and Syria. However, opposition to the treaty grew in France and the treaty was not ratified. Syria had become an official republic in 1930 and was largely self-governing. In 1941, a British-led invasion supported by Free French forces expelled Vichy French forces in Operation Exporter. France had several colonies in America, namely Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Saint Pierre and Miquelon. In the lead-up to the war between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, relations between the two states underwent several stages. General Secretary Joseph Stalin and the government of the Soviet Union had supported so-called popular front movements of anti-fascists including communists and non-communists from 1935 to 1939. The popular front strategy was terminated from 1939 to 1941, when the Soviet Union cooperated with Germany in 1939 in the occupation and partitioning of Poland. The Soviet leadership refused to endorse either the Allies or the Axis from 1939 to 1941, as it called the Allied-Axis conflict an "imperialist war". Stalin had studied Hitler, including reading Mein Kampf, and from it knew of Hitler's motives for destroying the Soviet Union. As early as in 1933, the Soviet leadership voiced its concerns with the alleged threat of a potential German invasion of the country should Germany attempt a conquest of Lithuania, Latvia, or Estonia, and in December 1933 negotiations began for the issuing of a joint Polish-Soviet declaration guaranteeing the sovereignty of the three Baltic countries. However, Poland withdrew from the negotiations following German and Finnish objections. The Soviet Union and Germany at this time competed with each other for influence in Poland. On 20 August 1939, forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under General Georgy Zhukov, together with the People's Republic of Mongolia eliminated the threat of conflict in the east with a victory over Imperial Japan at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in eastern Mongolia. On the same day, Soviet party leader Joseph Stalin received a telegram from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, suggesting that German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop fly to Moscow for diplomatic talks. (After receiving a lukewarm response throughout the spring and summer, Stalin abandoned attempts for a better diplomatic relationship with France and the United Kingdom.) On 23 August, Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov signed the non-aggression pact including secret protocols dividing Eastern Europe into defined "spheres of influence" for the two regimes, and specifically concerning the partition of the Polish state in the event of its "territorial and political rearrangement".: 148–151 On 15 September 1939, Stalin concluded a durable ceasefire with Japan, to take effect the following day (it would be upgraded to a non-aggression pact in April 1941).: 16, 154 The day after that, 17 September, Soviet forces invaded Poland from the east. Although some fighting continued until 5 October, the two invading armies held at least one joint military parade on 25 September, and reinforced their non-military partnership with the German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation on 28 September. German and Soviet cooperation against Poland in 1939 has been described as co-belligerence. On 30 November, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, for which it was expelled from the League of Nations. In the following year of 1940, while the world's attention was focused upon the German invasion of France and Norway, the Soviet Union militarily occupied and annexed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as well as parts of Romania. German-Soviet treaties were brought to an end by the German surprise attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. After the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Stalin endorsed the Western Allies as part of a renewed popular front strategy against Germany and called for the international communist movement to make a coalition with all those who opposed the Nazis. The Soviet Union soon entered in alliance with the United Kingdom. Following the Soviet Union, a number of other communist, pro-Soviet or Soviet-controlled forces fought against the Axis powers during the Second World War. They were as follows: the Albanian National Liberation Front, the Chinese Red Army, the Greek National Liberation Front, the Hukbalahap, the Malayan Communist Party, the People's Republic of Mongolia, the Polish People's Army, the Tuvan People's Republic (annexed by the Soviet Union in 1944), the Viet Minh and the Yugoslav Partisans. The Soviet Union intervened against Japan and its client state in Manchuria in 1945, cooperating with the Nationalist Government of China and the Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek; though also cooperating, preferring, and encouraging the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong to take effective control of Manchuria after expelling Japanese forces. Among the Soviet forces during World War II, millions of troops were from the Soviet Central Asian Republics. They included 1,433,230 soldiers from Uzbekistan, more than 1 million from Kazakhstan, and more than 700,000 from Azerbaijan, among other Central Asian Republics. The United States had indirectly supported Britain's war effort against Germany up to 1941 and declared its opposition to territorial aggrandizement. Materiel support to Britain was provided while the U.S. was officially neutral via the Lend-Lease Act starting in 1941. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in August 1941 promulgated the Atlantic Charter that pledged commitment to achieving "the final destruction of Nazi tyranny". Signing the Atlantic Charter, and thereby joining the "United Nations" was the way a state joined the Allies, and also became eligible for membership in the United Nations world body that formed in 1945. The United States strongly supported the Nationalist Government in China in its war with Japan, and provided military equipment, supplies, and volunteers to the Nationalist Government of China to assist in its war effort. In December 1941 Japan opened the war with its attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan, and Japan's allies Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, bringing the United States into World War II. The United States played a central role in liaising among the Allies and especially among the Big Four. At the Arcadia Conference in December 1941, shortly after the United States entered the war, the United States and Britain established a Combined Chiefs of Staff, based in Washington, which deliberated the military decisions of both the United States and Britain. On 8 December 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Congress declared war on Japan at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This was followed by Germany and Italy declaring war on the United States on 11 December, bringing the country into the European theatre. The United States led Allied forces in the Pacific theatre against Japanese forces from 1941 to 1945. From 1943 to 1945, the United States also led and coordinated the Western Allies' war effort in Europe under the leadership of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor followed by Japan's swift attacks on Allied locations throughout the Pacific, resulted in major United States losses in the first several months in the war, including losing control of the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island and several Aleutian islands including Attu and Kiska to Japanese forces. American naval forces attained some early successes against Japan. One was the bombing of Japanese industrial centres in the Doolittle Raid. Another was repelling a Japanese invasion of Port Moresby in New Guinea during the Battle of the Coral Sea. A major turning point in the Pacific War was the Battle of Midway where American naval forces were outnumbered by Japanese forces that had been sent to Midway to draw out and destroy American aircraft carriers in the Pacific and seize control of Midway that would place Japanese forces in proximity to Hawaii. However American forces managed to sink four of Japan's six large aircraft carriers that had initiated the attack on Pearl Harbor along with other attacks on Allied forces. Afterwards, the United States began an offensive against Japanese-captured positions. The Guadalcanal Campaign from 1942 to 1943 was a major contention point where Allied and Japanese forces struggled to gain control of Guadalcanal. The United States held multiple dependencies in the Americas, such as Alaska, the Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In the Pacific it held multiple island dependencies such as American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Midway Islands, Wake Island and others. These dependencies were directly involved in the Pacific campaign of the war. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was a sovereign protectorate referred to as an "associated state" of the United States. From late 1941 to 1944, the Philippines was occupied by Japanese forces, who established the Second Philippine Republic as a client state that had nominal control over the country. In the 1920s the Soviet Union provided military assistance to the Kuomintang, or the Nationalists, and helped reorganize their party along Leninist lines: a unification of party, state, and army. In exchange the Nationalists agreed to let members of the Chinese Communist Party join the Nationalists on an individual basis. However, following the nominal unification of China at the end of the Northern Expedition in 1928, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek purged leftists from his party and fought against the revolting Chinese Communist Party, former warlords, and other militarist factions. A fragmented China provided easy opportunities for Japan to gain territories piece by piece without engaging in total war. Following the 1931 Mukden Incident, the puppet state of Manchukuo was established. Throughout the early to mid-1930s, Chiang's anti-communist and anti-militarist campaigns continued while he fought small, incessant conflicts against Japan, usually followed by unfavorable settlements and concessions after military defeats. In 1936 Chiang was forced to cease his anti-communist military campaigns after his kidnap and release by Zhang Xueliang, and reluctantly formed a nominal alliance with the Communists, while the Communists agreed to fight under the nominal command of the Nationalists against the Japanese. Following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 7 July 1937, China and Japan became embroiled in a full-scale war. The Soviet Union, wishing to keep China in the fight against Japan, supplied China with military assistance until 1941, when it signed a non-aggression pact with Japan. In December 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor, China formally declared war on Japan, as well as Germany and Italy. As part of the war's Pacific theater, China became the only member of the Allies to commit more troops than one of the Big Three, exceeding even the number of Soviet troops on the Eastern Front. Continuous clashes between the Communists and Nationalists behind enemy lines cumulated in a major military conflict between these two former allies that effectively ended their cooperation against the Japanese, and China had been divided between the internationally recognized Nationalist China under the leadership of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Communist China under the leadership of Mao Zedong until the Japanese surrendered in 1945. Prior to the alliance of Germany and Italy to Japan, the Nationalist Government held close relations with both Germany and Italy. In the early 1930s, Sino-German cooperation existed between the Nationalist Government and Germany in military and industrial matters. Nazi Germany provided the largest proportion of Chinese arms imports and technical expertise. Relations between the Nationalist Government and Italy during the 1930s varied, however even after the Nationalist Government followed League of Nations sanctions against Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia, the international sanctions proved unsuccessful, and relations between the Fascist government in Italy and the Nationalist Government in China returned to normal shortly afterwards. Up until 1936, Mussolini had provided the Nationalists with Italian military air and naval missions to help the Nationalists fight against Japanese incursions and communist insurgents. Italy also held strong commercial interests and a strong commercial position in China supported by the Italian concession in Tianjin. However, after 1936 the relationship between the Nationalist Government and Italy changed due to a Japanese diplomatic proposal to recognize the Italian Empire that included occupied Ethiopia within it in exchange for Italian recognition of Manchukuo, Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano accepted this offer by Japan, and on 23 October 1936 Japan recognized the Italian Empire and Italy recognized Manchukuo, as well as discussing increasing commercial links between Italy and Japan. The Nationalist Government held close relations with the United States. The United States opposed Japan's invasion of China in 1937 that it considered an illegal violation of China's sovereignty, and offered the Nationalist Government diplomatic, economic, and military assistance during its war against Japan. In particular, the United States sought to bring the Japanese war effort to a complete halt by imposing a full embargo on all trade between the United States to Japan, Japan was dependent on the United States for 80 per cent of its petroleum, resulting in an economic and military crisis for Japan that could not continue its war effort with China without access to petroleum. In November 1940, American military aviator Claire Lee Chennault upon observing the dire situation in the air war between China and Japan, set out to organize a volunteer squadron of American fighter pilots to fight alongside the Chinese against Japan, known as the Flying Tigers. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted dispatching them to China in early 1941. However, they only became operational shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Soviet Union recognised the Republic of China but urged reconciliation with the Chinese Communist Party and inclusion of Communists in the government. The Soviet Union also urged military and cooperation between Nationalist China and Communist China during the war. Even though China had been fighting the longest among all the Allied powers, it only officially joined the Allies after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on 7 December 1941. China fought the Japanese Empire before joining the Allies in the Pacific War. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek thought Allied victory was assured with the entrance of the United States into the war, and he declared war on Germany and the other Axis states. However, Allied aid remained low because the Burma Road was closed and the Allies suffered a series of military defeats against Japan early on in the campaign. General Sun Li-jen led the R.O.C. forces to the relief of 7,000 British forces trapped by the Japanese in the Battle of Yenangyaung. He then reconquered North Burma and re-established the land route to China by the Ledo Road. But the bulk of military aid did not arrive until the spring of 1945. More than 1.5 million Japanese troops were trapped in the China Theatre, troops that otherwise could have been deployed elsewhere if China had collapsed and made a separate peace. Communist China had been tacitly supported by the Soviet Union since the 1920s: though the Soviet Union diplomatically recognised the Republic of China, Joseph Stalin supported cooperation between the Nationalists and the Communists—including pressuring the Nationalist Government to grant the Communists state and military positions in the government. This was continued into the 1930s that fell in line with the Soviet Union's subversion policy of popular fronts to increase communists' influence in governments. The Soviet Union urged military and cooperation between Communist China and Nationalist China during China's war against Japan. Initially Mao Zedong accepted the demands of the Soviet Union and in 1938 had recognized Chiang Kai-shek as the "leader" of the "Chinese people". In turn, the Soviet Union accepted Mao's tactic of "continuous guerilla warfare" in the countryside that involved a goal of extending the Communist bases, even if it would result in increased tensions with the Nationalists. After the breakdown of their cooperation with the Nationalists in 1941, the Communists prospered and grew as the war against Japan dragged on, building up their sphere of influence wherever opportunities were presented, mainly through rural mass organizations, administrative, land and tax reform measures favoring poor peasants; while the Nationalists attempted to neutralize the spread of Communist influence by military blockade and fighting the Japanese at the same time. The Communist Party's position in China was boosted further upon the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945 against the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo and the Japanese Kwantung Army in China and Manchuria. Upon the intervention of the Soviet Union against Japan in World War II in 1945, Mao Zedong in April and May 1945 had planned to mobilize 150,000 to 250,000 soldiers from across China to work with forces of the Soviet Union in capturing Manchuria. Other Allied states Australia was a sovereign Dominion under the Australian monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. At the start of the war Australia followed Britain's foreign policies and accordingly declared war against Germany on 3 September 1939. Australian foreign policy became more independent after the Australian Labor Party formed government in October 1941, and Australia separately declared war against Finland, Hungary and Romania on 8 December 1941 and against Japan the next day. Before the war, Belgium had pursued a policy of neutrality and only became an Allied member after being invaded by Germany on 10 May 1940. During the ensuing fighting, Belgian forces fought alongside French and British forces against the invaders. While the British and French were struggling against the fast German advance elsewhere on the front, the Belgian forces were pushed into a pocket to the north. On 28 May, the King Leopold III surrendered himself and his military to the Germans, having decided the Allied cause was lost. The legal Belgian government was reformed as a government in exile in London. Belgian troops and pilots continued to fight on the Allied side as the Free Belgian Forces. Belgium itself was occupied, but a sizeable Resistance was formed and was loosely coordinated by the government in exile and other Allied powers. British and Canadian troops arrived in Belgium in September 1944 and the capital, Brussels, was liberated on 6 September. Because of the Ardennes Offensive, the country was only fully liberated in early 1945. Belgium held the colony of the Belgian Congo and the League of Nations mandate of Ruanda-Urundi. The Belgian Congo was not occupied and remained loyal to the Allies as an important economic asset while its deposits of uranium were useful to the Allied efforts to develop the atomic bomb. Troops from the Belgian Congo participated in the East African Campaign against the Italians. The colonial Force Publique also served in other theatres including Madagascar, the Middle-East, India and Burma within British units. Initially, Brazil maintained a position of neutrality, trading with both the Allies and the Axis, while Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas's quasi-Fascist policies indicated a leaning toward the Axis powers.[citation needed] However, as the war progressed, trade with the Axis countries became almost impossible and the United States initiated forceful diplomatic and economic efforts to bring Brazil onto the Allied side.[citation needed] At the beginning of 1942, Brazil permitted the United States to set up air bases on its territory, especially in Natal, strategically located at the easternmost corner of the South American continent, and on 28 January the country severed diplomatic relations with Germany, Japan and Italy. After that, 36 Brazilian merchant ships were sunk by the German and Italian navies, which led the Brazilian government to declare war against Germany and Italy on 22 August 1942. Brazil then sent a 25,700 strong Expeditionary Force to Europe that fought mainly on the Italian front, from September 1944 to May 1945. Also, the Brazilian Navy and Air Force acted in the Atlantic Ocean from the middle of 1942 until the end of the war. Brazil was the only South American country to send troops to fight in the European theatre in the Second World War. Canada was a sovereign Dominion under the Canadian monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. In a symbolic statement of autonomous foreign policy Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King delayed parliament's vote on a declaration of war for seven days after Britain had declared war. Canada was the last member of the Commonwealth to declare war on Germany on 10 September 1939. Because of Cuba's geographical position at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico, Havana's role as the principal trading port in the West Indies, and the country's natural resources, Cuba was an important participant in the American Theater of World War II, and subsequently one of the greatest beneficiaries of the United States' Lend-Lease program. Cuba declared war on the Axis powers in December 1941, making it one of the first Latin American countries to enter the conflict, and by the war's end in 1945 its military had developed a reputation as being the most efficient and cooperative of all the Caribbean states. On 15 May 1943, the Cuban patrol boat CS-13 sank the German submarine U-176. In 1938, with the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia, the United Kingdom, and France sought to resolve German irredentist claims to the Sudetenland region. As a result, the incorporation of the Sudetenland into Germany began on 1 October 1938. Additionally, a small northeastern part of the border region known as Trans-Olza was occupied by and annexed to Poland. Further, by the First Vienna Award, Hungary received southern territories of Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia. A Slovak State was proclaimed on 14 March 1939, and the next day Hungary occupied and annexed the remainder of Carpathian Ruthenia, and the German Wehrmacht moved into the remainder of the Czech Lands. On 16 March 1939 the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed after negotiations with Emil Hácha, who remained technically head of state with the title of State President. After a few months, former Czechoslovak President Beneš organized a committee in exile and sought diplomatic recognition as the legitimate government of the First Czechoslovak Republic. The committee's success in obtaining intelligence and coordinating actions by the Czechoslovak resistance led first Britain and then the other Allies to recognize it in 1941. In December 1941 the Czechoslovak government-in-exile declared war on the Axis powers. Czechoslovak military units took part in the war. The Dominican Republic was one of the very few countries willing to accept mass Jewish immigration during World War II. At the Évian Conference, it offered to accept up to 100,000 Jewish refugees. The DORSA (Dominican Republic Settlement Association) was formed with the assistance of the JDC, and helped settle Jews in Sosúa, on the northern coast. About 700 European Jews of Ashkenazi Jewish descent reached the settlement where each family received 33 hectares (82 acres) of land, 10 cows (plus 2 additional cows per children), a mule and a horse, and a US$10,000 loan (equivalent to about $219,000 in 2025) at 1% interest. The Dominican Republic officially declared war on the Axis powers on 11 December 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, the Caribbean state had already been engaged in war actions since before the formal declaration of war. Dominican sailboats and schooners had been attacked on previous occasions by German submarines as, highlighting the case of the 1,993-ton merchant ship, San Rafael, which was making a trip from Tampa, Florida to Kingston, Jamaica, when 80 miles away from its final destination, it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-125, causing the commander to order the ship abandoned. Although the crew of San Rafael managed to escape the event, it would be remembered by the Dominican press as a sign of the "infamy of the German submarines and the danger they represented in the Caribbean".[attribution needed] Recently, due to a research work carried out by the Embassy of the United States of America in Santo Domingo and the Institute of Dominican Studies of the City of New York (CUNY), documents of the Department of Defense were discovered in which it was confirmed that around 340 men and women of Dominican origin were part of the US Armed Forces during the World War II. Many of them received medals and other recognitions for their outstanding actions in combat. The Kingdom of Egypt had been nominally an independent state since 1922 but, under the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936, British forces were permitted in Egypt to defend the Suez Canal, the major trade route between the United Kingdom, India and Australia. On 1 September 1939, Britain invoked another clause in the treaty allowing Britain to effectively occupy the country in the event of war. Although Egypt subsequently severed diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Vichy France, it remained formally neutral, even after Italy invaded the country on 17 September 1940. Britain considered King Farouk an Axis sympathiser and, in the Abdeen Palace incident of February 1942, forced him to appoint a pro-British government which clamped down on Axis sympathisers. The Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein in November 1942, secured Egypt from the Axis. On 26 February 1945, Egypt declared war on Germany and Japan, and the following day signed the United Nations declaration. The Ethiopian Empire was invaded by Italy on 3 October 1935. On 2 May 1936, Emperor Haile Selassie I fled into exile, just before the Italian occupation on 7 May. After the outbreak of World War II, the Ethiopian government-in-exile cooperated with the British during the British Invasion of Italian East Africa beginning in June 1940. Haile Selassie returned to his rule on 18 January 1941. Ethiopia declared war on Germany, Italy and Japan in December 1942. Greece was invaded by Italy on 28 October 1940 and subsequently joined the Allies. The Greek Army managed to stop the Italian offensive from Italy's protectorate of Albania, and Greek forces pushed Italian forces back into Albania. However, after the German invasion of Greece in April 1941, German forces managed to occupy mainland Greece and, a month later, the island of Crete. The Greek government went into exile, while the country was placed under a puppet government and divided into occupation zones run by Italy, Germany and Bulgaria. From 1941, a strong resistance movement appeared, chiefly in the mountainous interior, where it established a "Free Greece" by mid-1943. Following the Italian capitulation in September 1943, the Italian zone was taken over by the Germans. Axis forces left mainland Greece in October 1944, although some Aegean islands, notably Crete, remained under German occupation until the end of the war. Before the war, Luxembourg had pursued a policy of neutrality and only became an Allied member after being invaded by Germany on 10 May 1940. The government in exile fled, winding up in England. It made Luxembourgish language broadcasts to the occupied country on BBC Radio. In 1944, the government in exile signed a treaty with the Belgian and Dutch governments, creating the Benelux Economic Union and also signed into the Bretton Woods system. Mexico declared war on Germany in 1942 after German submarines attacked the Mexican oil tankers Potrero del Llano and Faja de Oro that were transporting crude oil to the United States. These attacks prompted President Manuel Ávila Camacho to declare war on the Axis powers. Mexico formed the Escuadrón 201 fighter squadron as part of the Fuerza Aérea Expedicionaria Mexicana (FAEM—"Mexican Expeditionary Air Force"). The squadron was attached to the 58th Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces and carried out tactical air support missions during the liberation of the main Philippine island of Luzon in the summer of 1945. Some 300,000 Mexican citizens went to the United States to work on farms and factories. Some 15,000 U.S. nationals of Mexican origin and Mexican residents in the US enrolled in the US Armed Forces and fought in various fronts around the world. The Netherlands became an Allied member after being invaded on 10 May 1940 by Germany. During the ensuing campaign, the Netherlands were defeated and occupied by Germany. The Netherlands was liberated by Canadian, British, American and other allied forces during the campaigns of 1944 and 1945. The Princess Irene Brigade, formed from escapees from the German invasion, took part in several actions in 1944 in Arromanches and in 1945 in the Netherlands. Navy vessels saw action in the British Channel, the North Sea and the Mediterranean, generally as part of Royal Navy units. Dutch airmen flying British aircraft participated in the air war over Germany. The Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) was the principal Dutch colony in Asia, and was seized by Japan in 1942. During the Dutch East Indies Campaign, the Netherlands played a significant role in the Allied effort to halt the Japanese advance as part of the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command. The ABDA fleet finally encountered the Japanese surface fleet at the Battle of Java Sea, at which Doorman gave the order to engage. During the ensuing battle the ABDA fleet suffered heavy losses, and was mostly destroyed after several naval battles around Java; the ABDA Command was later dissolved. The Japanese finally occupied the Dutch East Indies in February–March 1942. Dutch troops, aircraft and escaped ships continued to fight on the Allied side and also mounted a guerrilla campaign in Timor. New Zealand was a sovereign Dominion under the New Zealand monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. It quickly entered World War II, officially declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939, just hours after Britain. Unlike Australia, which had felt obligated to declare war, as it also had not ratified the Statute of Westminster, New Zealand did so as a sign of allegiance to Britain, and in recognition of Britain's abandonment of its former appeasement policy, which New Zealand had long opposed. This led to then Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage declaring two days later: With gratitude for the past and confidence in the future we range ourselves without fear beside Britain. Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand. We are only a small and young nation, but we march with a union of hearts and souls to a common destiny. Because of its strategic location for control of the sea lanes in the North Sea and the Atlantic, both the Allies and Germany worried about the other side gaining control of the neutral country. Germany ultimately struck first with Operation Weserübung on 9 April 1940, resulting in the two-month-long Norwegian Campaign, which ended in a German victory and their war-long occupation of Norway. Units of the Norwegian Armed Forces evacuated from Norway or raised abroad continued participating in the war from exile. The Norwegian merchant fleet, then the fourth largest in the world, was organized into Nortraship to support the Allied cause. Nortraship was the world's largest shipping company, and at its height operated more than 1000 ships. Norway was neutral when Germany invaded, and it is not clear when Norway became an Allied country. Great Britain, France and Polish forces in exile supported Norwegian forces against the invaders but without a specific agreement. Norway's cabinet signed a military agreement with Britain on 28 May 1941. This agreement allowed all Norwegian forces in exile to operate under British command. Norwegian troops in exile should primarily be prepared for the liberation of Norway, but could also be used to defend Britain. At the end of the war German forces in Norway surrendered to British officers on 8 May and allied troops occupied Norway until 7 June. The Invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, started the war in Europe, and the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. Poland fielded the third biggest army among the European Allies, after the Soviet Union and United Kingdom, but before France. Polish Army suffered a series of defeats in the first days of the invasion. The Soviet Union unilaterally considered the flight to Romania of President Ignacy Mościcki and Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły on 17 September as evidence of debellatio causing the extinction of the Polish state, and consequently declared itself allowed to invade Poland starting from the same day. However, the Red Army had invaded the Second Polish Republic several hours before the Polish president fled to Romania. The Soviets invaded on 17 September at 3 a.m., while president Mościcki crossed the Polish-Romanian border at 21:45 on the same day. The Polish military continued to fight against both the Germans and the Soviets, and the last major battle of the war, the Battle of Kock, ended at 1 a.m. on 6 October 1939 with the Independent Operational Group "Polesie", a field army, surrendering due to lack of ammunition. The country never officially surrendered to Nazi Germany, nor to the Soviet Union, and continued the war effort under the Polish government-in-exile. The formation of the Polish armed forces in France began as early as September 1939. By June 1940, their numbers had reached 85,000 soldiers.: 240 These forces took part in the Norwegian campaign and the Battle of France. After the defeat of France, the reconstitution of the Polish army had to start from scratch. Polish pilots played a key role in the Battle of Britain, separate Polish units took part in the North African Campaign. After the conclusion of the Polish-Soviet agreement on 30 July 1941, the formation of the Polish army in the Soviet Union (II Corps) also began.: 241 The II Corps, numbering 83,000 along with civilians, began to be evacuated from the Soviet Union in mid-1942.: 242 It later took part in the fighting in Italy. After breaking off relations with the Polish government, the Soviet Union began forming its own Polish communist government and its armed forces in mid-1943, from which the 1st Polish Army, under Zygmunt Berling, was formed on 16 March 1944. That army was fighting on the eastern front, alongside the Soviet forces, including the Battle of Berlin, the closing battle of the European theater of war. The Home Army, loyal to the London-based government and the largest underground force in Europe, as well other smaller resistance organizations in occupied Poland provided intelligence to the Allies and led to uncovering of Nazi war crimes (i.e., death camps). Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic contacts with Germany on 11 September 1939, and with Japan in October 1941. The Saudis provided the Allies with large supplies of oil. Diplomatic relations with the United States were established in 1943. King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud was a personal friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Americans were then allowed to build an air force base near Dhahran. Saudi Arabia declared war on Germany and Japan in 1945. South Africa was a sovereign Dominion under the South African monarchy, as per the Statute of Westminster 1931. South Africa held authority over the mandate of South-West Africa. Due to significant pro-German feeling and the presence of fascist sympathizers within the Afrikaner nationalist movement (such as the Grey Shirts and the Ossewabrandwag), South Africa's entry into the war was politically divisive. Initially the government of J. B. M. Hertzog tried to maintain official neutrality after the outbreak of war. This caused a revolt by the governing United Party caucus which voted against Hertzog's position on the war and resulted in Hertzog's coalition partner, Jan Smuts, forming a new government and becoming prime minister. Smuts was then able to lead the country into war on the side of the Allies. Around 334,000 South Africans volunteered to fight in the war with 11,023 recorded wartime deaths. Yugoslavia entered the war on the Allied side after the invasion of Axis powers on 6 April 1941. The Royal Yugoslav Army was thoroughly defeated in less than two weeks and the country was occupied starting on 18 April. The Italian-backed Croatian fascist leader Ante Pavelić declared the Independent State of Croatia before the invasion was over. King Peter II and much of the Yugoslavian government had left the country. In the United Kingdom, they joined numerous other governments in exile from Nazi-occupied Europe. Beginning with the uprising in Herzegovina in June 1941, there was continuous anti-Axis resistance in Yugoslavia until the end of the war. Before the end of 1941, the anti-Axis resistance movement split between the royalist Chetniks and the communist Yugoslav Partisans of Josip Broz Tito who fought both against each other during the war and against the occupying forces. The Yugoslav Partisans managed to put up considerable resistance to the Axis occupation, forming various liberated territories during the war. In August 1943, there were over 30 Axis divisions on the territory of Yugoslavia, not including the forces of the Croatian puppet state and other quisling formations. In 1944, the leading Allied powers persuaded Tito's Yugoslav Partisans and the royalist Yugoslav government led by Prime Minister Ivan Šubašić to sign the Treaty of Vis that created the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. The Partisans were a major Yugoslav resistance movement against the Axis occupation and partition of Yugoslavia. Initially, the Partisans were in rivalry with the Chetniks over control of the resistance movement. However, the Partisans were recognized by both the Eastern and Western Allies as the primary resistance movement in 1943. After that, their strength increased rapidly, from 100,000 at the beginning of 1943 to over 648,000 in September 1944. In 1945 they were transformed into the Yugoslav army, organized in four field armies with 800,000 fighters. The Chetniks, the short name given to the movement titled the Yugoslav Army of the Fatherland, were initially a major Allied Yugoslav resistance movement. However, due to their royalist and anti-communist views, Chetniks were considered to have begun collaborating with the Axis as a tactical move to focus on destroying their Partisan rivals. The Chetniks presented themselves as a Yugoslav movement, but were primarily a Serb movement. They reached their peak in 1943 with 93,000 fighters. Their major contribution was Operation Halyard in 1944. In collaboration with the OSS, 413 Allied airmen shot down over Yugoslavia were rescued and evacuated. Associated powers and other states fighting Axis The Paris peace treaties of 1947 distinguished between "Associated Powers" of the Allies, and enemy states that had switched sides and become "co-belligerents" of the Allies or otherwise "took an active part in the war against Germany.": 4, 163, 251, 273, 298 Italy invaded Albania on 7 April 1939 and annexed the country. King Zog of Albania fled to London, but Britain recognized the Italian annexation. Various resistance groups emerged in Albania including the Balli Kombëtar (National Front) and partisans led by the Communist Party. Following Italy's withdrawal from the Axis in September 1943, Germany invaded Albania and installed a new collaborationist government. In October 1944, Germany began evacuating Albania, harried by the partisans who, supplied by the Allies, were now the dominant resistance army. Tirana fell to the partisans on 28 November 1944 and the Communist-dominated National Liberation Movement took control of the country. Albania was recognized as an "Associated Power" of the Allies in the peace treaty with Italy of February 1947.: 4 Bulgaria signed the Tripartite Pact on 1 March 1941, and on 13 December declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States. Bulgaria did not declare war on the Soviet Union, but as the Soviet army advanced to its border in 1944, it submitted to Soviet pressure and declared war on Germany on 8 September. A new Bulgarian government, dominated by communists, committed over 300,000 troops to the war against Germany. These troops fought alongside Soviet forces in the Balkans, Hungary and Austria. Bulgaria remained technically at war with the Allies until the ratification of its treaty of February 1947 with them.: 251 Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union on 30 November 1939 and forced to cede territory in the subsequent peace treaty of 12 March 1940. On 26 June 1941, Finland joined Germany in its invasion of the Soviet Union, leading to the United Kingdom declaring war on Finland on 5 December.: 212 Finland sought peace when Soviet troops entered the country in 1944. The Soviet Union demanded that Finland break off relations with Germany and expel or disarm German troops in Finland as preconditions for an armistice. Finland severed relations with Germany on 3 September 1944, and signed the Moscow Armistice with the Soviet Union on 19 September. Under pressure from the Soviet Union, Finland escalated skirmishing with the German troops evacuating Finland into warfare in the Lapland region by 2 October. Finland's war against Germany ended when the last German soldiers left Finland for Norway in April 1945. Finland, however, was not recognised as an allied power. It remained technically at war with the Soviet Union and United Kingdom until ratification of its 1947 peace treaty with them.: 322 Italy entered the war as an Axis power on 10 June 1940.: 1. Introduction Following the Allied invasion of Sicily, Italy's fascist leader Benito Mussolini was deposed on 25 July 1943, and the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel III, appointed Pietro Badoglio prime minister. The new government signed an armistice on 3 September 1943 ending Italy's war against the Allies.: 3. Government and legal system The Italian government moved to the south of the country and declared war on Germany on 13 October, becoming a co-belligerent of the Allies.: 421 The Italian Co-Belligerent Army participated in the Allied campaign against German forces in Italy and Mussolini's Italian Social Republic in the north of the country. The co-belligerent army's participation in the fighting was initially limited until, in January 1945, four divisions were deployed on the frontline from Bologna to the Adriatic.: 5(b) Armed forces and special forces: Army Italy remained technically at war with the Allies until ratification of its 1947 peace treaty with the Allied and Associated Powers.: 163–164 Initially neutral in the war, Romania joined the Axis powers when it signed the Tripartite Pact on 23 November 1940. It joined the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, leading to the United Kingdom declaring war on Romania on 7 December. Romania declared war on the United States on 12 December. As the war turned against the Axis powers, King Michael of Romania deposed the government of Ion Antonescu on 23 August 1944, and Romania entered the war against Germany and Hungary. Romania signed an armistice with the Allies on 12 September under which it was required to deploy 12 infantry divisions against the remaining Axis powers. Romania eventually deployed 16 to 20 divisions, assisting the Soviet Union in driving Axis forces from Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The Romanian army was the fourth largest engaged against Axis forces in Europe at that time. The Soviet Union compelled the Romanian government of Petru Groza to demobilise its forces in March 1945, and Romania remained formally at war with the Allies until the ratification of its 1947 peace treaty with them.: 298 Legacy The Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942, signed by the Four Policemen – the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and China – and 22 other countries laid the groundwork for the future of the United Nations. At the Potsdam Conference of July–August 1945, Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman, proposed that the foreign ministers of China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States "should draft the peace treaties and boundary settlements of Europe", which led to the creation of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the "Big Five", and soon thereafter the establishment of those states as the permanent members of the UNSC. The Charter of the United Nations was agreed to during the war at the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held between April and July 1945. The Charter was signed by 50 states on 26 June (Poland had its place reserved and later became the 51st "original" signatory),[citation needed] and was formally ratified shortly after the war on 24 October 1945. In 1944, the United Nations was formulated and negotiated among the delegations from the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and China at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference where the formation and the permanent seats (for the "Big Five", China, France, the United Kingdom, US, and Soviet Union) of the United Nations Security Council were decided. The Security Council met for the first time in the immediate aftermath of war on 17 January 1946. These are the original 51 signatories (UNSC permanent members are asterisked): Despite the successful creation of the United Nations, the alliance of the Soviet Union with the United States and with the United Kingdom ultimately broke down and evolved into the Cold War, which took place over the following half-century. Summary The Big Four: Minor sovereign Allied combatant states: Allied combatants with governments in exile: Associated powers of the Allies: Co-belligerent states fighting the Axis: Timeline of Allied states entering the war The following list denotes dates on which states declared war on the Axis powers, or on which an Axis power declared war on them. Provisional governments or governments-in exile that declared war against the Axis in See also Notes References Works cited Further reading External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kfar_Yona] | [TOKENS: 1211] |
Contents Kfar Yona Kfar Yona (Hebrew: כפר יונה, lit. 'Yona's Village') is a city in the Central District of Israel. It is located between the cities Netanya and Tulkarm in the West Bank, about 8 km east of Netanya in the central junction between Highway 6 and Highway 4. The village was established in 1932 by Maurice Fischer and was declared a local council in the year 1940. Following developments in the fields of construction, industry, and education, the local council received city status on February 11, 2014. With a jurisdiction of 11,550 dunams (~11.55 km2), in 2023 the city had a population of 29,548. History Before the 20th century, Kfar Yona formed part of the Forest of Sharon, a hallmark of the region's historical landscape. It was an open woodland dominated by Mount Tabor Oak (Quercus ithaburensis), which extended from Kfar Yona in the north to Ra’ananna in the south. The local inhabitants used the area for pasture, firewood and intermittent cultivation. The intensification of settlement and agriculture in the coastal plain during the 19th century led to deforestation and subsequent environmental degradation known from Hebrew sources. Kfar Yona was established on lands in the Sharon plain purchased legally in 1932 from Mustafa Bushnaq and the Shanti family and named for Jean (Yona) Fischer, a Belgian Zionist. It was founded on Tu Bishvat, January 23, 1932 by Morris Fischer, Yona's son, a member of the World Jewish Congress, and was originally named Gan Yona (Yona's Garden). In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Kfar Yona was on the front lines, and its defenders faced the Iraqi Army, which sought to reach Netanya and cut the Jewish forces in Israel in half. The new Israel Defense Forces repelled the Iraqi attacks and forced them back into the Samarian mountains, although Kfar Yona remained the easternmost Jewish settlement in the area. As a result of the 1949 Armistice Agreements, the border moved from Kfar Yona 8 km eastward, to just west of Tulkarm. Kfar Yona was surrounded by orchards and its main income was from selling oranges. Most of these orchards are now the site of new neighborhoods. Next to Kfar Yona is the Area 21 military base, named for Mota Gur, which includes paratroopers, Nahal, military police, and other small bases. In addition, Kfar Yona borders Pardesiya and the Lev HaSharon Regional Council. The first Palestinian mass hunger strike occurred in a prison in Kfar Yona on February 14, 1969, in conjecture with another hunger strike at a prison in Ramla. The Palestinian prisoners protested against poor quality food and meagre portions, against the ban on writing stationery. Neighborhoods The original ten homes and the first community building. The homes are small, one-story, private structures, with an average of three rooms each. The community building stands today empty and is falling into ruin, though the town council is interested in maintaining it for its sentimental and historical value. Alef also includes a new neighborhood accessed from the western entrance to the village, with recently built family homes and more under construction. The main avenue of this section of Alef is a street where residents of the village can be found walking or jogging at any hour. For the past year, the west entrance has had a gate and guard that operates from 11 pm to 6 am. The whole village is policed by a volunteer guard force, supervised by a small professional security team, for which the town residents pay a small municipal tax. Cheaper apartment buildings, which are the first site of the village for visitors who enter from the eastern entrance. (Both entrances are on Highway 57, the eastern entrance is about 2 km further down the road than the western entrance, when driving from Highway 2, Israel's main Coastal Road). The east entrance is completely shut and locked from 11 pm to 6 am. Bet also includes the New Project, which are lower apartment buildings, with bigger homes. The New Project on Menachem Begin Street faces the City Council building, the Community Center (funded by Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver sister-city fundraising activities), the community basketball courts and water park (also a gift from Vancouver), and the Hadar Elementary School (Grades 1–6). Beyond the New Project, Bet includes more expensive townhouses and private homes. It also includes the Betzali Park. Down Menachem Begin Street is Heftziba named for the construction company that built it. Across Highway 57 is the new neighborhood of Alonim, also known as Kfar Yona Gimel. This neighborhood includes single-family homes, wide streets and several parks Sports and culture The community center operates a music conservatory and holds public concerts. In 2006, 250 grade-school students participated in a basketball program. The older student's league has won championships. The community center holds classes in photography, ceramics, pottery and cooking. Education In 2010, Kfar Yona had 3 state schools, Hadar, Rimon and Amal, and a state-religious school, Bar Ilan. The town also has a junior high and high school, Ish Shalom. Transportation Highway 57 is the main traffic artery connecting Kfar Yona to other localities and the national road system—Netanya to the west and Highway 6 to the east. The city has no railway connection and since 2014 has been served by the Kavim bus company, which replaced Nateev Express. Sister cities Notable people References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_Landing] | [TOKENS: 974] |
Contents Bradbury Landing Bradbury Landing is the August 6, 2012, landing site within Gale crater on planet Mars of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover. On August 22, 2012, on what would have been his 92nd birthday, NASA named the site for author Ray Bradbury, who had died on June 5, 2012. The coordinates of the landing site on Mars are: 4°35′22″S 137°26′30″E / 4.5895°S 137.4417°E / -4.5895; 137.4417. The rover drove away from this specific landing location in the summer of 2012, but because of the nature of landing there is no actual lander there. The track prints and blast marks are slowly blowing away in the Martian wind, as recorded by Mars orbiters. Description Gale Crater was the MSL landing site in 2012. Within Gale Crater is a mountain, named Aeolis Mons ("Mount Sharp"), of layered rocks, rising about 5.5 km (18,000 ft) above the crater floor, that Curiosity will investigate. The landing site is a smooth region in "Yellowknife" Quad 51 of Aeolis Palus inside the crater in front of the mountain. The target landing site location was an elliptical area 20 by 7 km (12.4 by 4.3 mi). Gale Crater's diameter is 154 km (96 mi). The final landing location for the rover was less than 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the center of the planned landing ellipse, after a 563,000,000 km (350,000,000 mi) journey. The landing site contains material washed down from the wall of the crater, which will provide scientists with the opportunity to investigate the rocks that form the bedrock in this area. The landing ellipse also contains a rock type that is very dense, very brightly colored, and unlike any rock type previously investigated on Mars. It may be an ancient playa lake deposit, and it will likely be the mission's first target in checking for the presence of organic molecules. A rock outcrop near the landing site has been named "Goulburn". This rock outcrop, along with several others further eastward, including "Link" and "Hottah", suggest the "vigorous" flow of water in an ancient streambed. An area of top scientific interest for Curiosity lies at the edge of the landing ellipse and beyond a dark dune field. Here, orbiting instruments have detected signatures of both clay minerals and sulfate salts. Scientists studying Mars have several hypotheses about how these minerals reflect changes in the Martian environment, particularly changes in the amount of water on the surface of Mars. The rover will use its full instrument suite to study these minerals and how they formed. Certain minerals, including the clay and sulfate-rich layers near the bottom of Gale's mountain, are good at latching onto organic compounds—potential biosignatures—and protecting them from oxidation. Two canyons were cut in the mound through the layers containing clay minerals and sulfate salts after deposition of the layers. These canyons expose layers of rock representing tens or hundreds of millions of years of environmental change. Curiosity may be able to investigate these layers in the canyon closest to the landing ellipse, gaining access to a long history of environmental change on the planet. The canyons also contain sediment that was transported by the water that cut the canyons; this sediment interacted with the water, and the environment at that time may have been habitable. Thus, the rocks deposited at the mouth of the canyon closest to the landing ellipse form the third target in the search for organic molecules.[citation needed] On March 27, 2015, NASA reported the landing site was fading from view in the two-and-a-half years since landing in 2012. Ray Bradbury On naming the location, Michael Meyer, NASA program scientist for Curiosity, said "This was not a difficult choice for the science team. Many of us and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars." Bradbury wrote the 1950 novel The Martian Chronicles about indigenous Martians and the American exploration and settlement of Mars. The Curiosity team left a message on Twitter "In tribute, I dedicate my landing spot on Mars to you, Ray Bradbury. Greetings from Bradbury Landing!" As part of the naming, NASA released a video of Bradbury from 1971 reading his poem "If Only We Had Taller Been" which is about the human quest to explore space. See also References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Field_(video_game)] | [TOKENS: 1074] |
Contents King's Field King's Field (Japanese: キングスフィールド) is an action role-playing game series developed by FromSoftware. Titles have been released for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Windows, and various mobile phone platforms. King's Field was released as a launch title for the PlayStation in 1994. The game's fully 3D, first person perspective was considered groundbreaking among role-playing video games of the time; it influenced FromSoftware's later work, most notably Demon's Souls and the Dark Souls series. The next two King's Field titles, King's Field II and King's Field III, were released in 1995 and 1996, respectively. King's Field IV was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. Games The first game in the series, King's Field, was released only in Japan. While it was never officially localized into English, a fan-made English translation patch was released in 2006. In King's Field, the player takes the role of Jean Alfred Forrester. He is searching for his missing father, Hauser Forrester, who disappeared along with his soldiers while exploring a dead king's underground graveyard. Shorter than later entries in the series, King's Field includes five floors. The main aspects of gameplay consist of first-person battles, puzzle solving, and exploration. After the success of the first game, King's Field II was released in North America and Europe, retitled King's Field without a numeral nor subtitle. In the sequel, the player takes the role of Granitiki prince Aleph (alternatively named Alef/Alexander) who is shipwrecked on Melanat, an accursed island that has drawn the attention and forces of the new king of Verdite, and an old friend: Jean. In King's Field III (released in North America as King's Field II), the player takes the role of Verdite prince Lyle as he struggles to uncover the reasons behind his father Jean's sudden descent into madness and restore his kingdom. A large portion of the game takes place above ground, but the main aspects of gameplay remain unchanged: first-person battles, puzzle solving and exploration. King's Field IV (released in North America as King's Field: The Ancient City) was the first game from the series released on the PlayStation 2 console. The game takes place within the Land of Disaster, where the forest folk once dwelled until an evil curse came upon the land. The player takes the role of Prince Devian of the Azalin Empire who has been given the task of returning the cause of the blight, the Idol of Sorrow, back to the cursed land. His journey follows the downfall of the Kingdom of Heladin and the exploits of Septiego the Sword Master who led an expedition of over 1000 men in a failed effort to return the cursed Idol. King's Field: Additional I is the first game of the series released on the PlayStation Portable. It was only released in Japan and was never localized into English. The "Additional" series uses a step-by-step style of gameplay, rather than free-roaming. King's Field: Additional II, the sequel, was also released only in Japan with no English localization. It featured the ability to import the player's character from Kings Field: Additional I, including all equipment and statistics. Sword of Moonlight: King's Field Making Tool is a King's Field designing tool for the Microsoft Windows platform which was released in Japan. It lets the user construct free-standing King's Field games which may be played independently, without having Sword of Moonlight installed. It also contains a full remake of the first King's Field game originally released on the PlayStation. A fan-made full English translation is available as an unofficial patch. King's Field Mobile was released in Japan for mobile phone on January 14, 2004. It was followed by two sequels: King's Field Mobile II on November 15, 2005, and King's Field EX on April 4, 2004. Merchandise and other media To commemorate their 20th anniversary, FromSoftware released the special collection package called the King's Field Dark Side Box in 2007, which contained a reissue of the four King's Field games which had previously been released on the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, as well as soundtracks for all six games, a map of Verdite, and other bonuses. Reception Critical reception for the series was generally mixed. Common criticisms included the slow-moving player character, low number of game characters (NPCs), difficult gameplay, and muddy colors. The series was lauded for its complex labyrinths, large seamless worlds, a wide variety of items and magic abilities, and narratives that had epic scope in a limited space, which would be echoed by the technical design of the descendent Souls series. As opposed to other combat based role-playing video games, King's Field focuses more on exploration and a dark brooding ambience. The slow character movement facilitates streaming data from the game disc which eliminates loading screens that were common among most PlayStation titles. A spiritual successor to the series, Demon's Souls, was released in 2009. That game in turn served as a predecessor to the Dark Souls series. References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URI] | [TOKENS: 2817] |
Contents Uniform Resource Identifier A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), formerly Universal Resource Identifier, is a unique sequence of characters that identifies an abstract or physical resource,: 1 such as resources on a webpage, email address, phone number,: 7 books, real-world objects such as people and places, and concepts.: 5 URIs which provide a means of locating and retrieving information resources on a network (either on the Internet or on another private network, such as a computer file system or an Intranet) are Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). Therefore, URLs are a subset of URIs, i.e. every URL is a URI (and not necessarily the other way around).: 7 Other URIs provide only a unique name, without a means of locating or retrieving the resource or information about it; these are Uniform Resource Names (URNs). The web technologies that use URIs are not limited to web browsers. History URIs and URLs have a shared history. In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee's proposals for hypertext implicitly introduced the idea of a URL as a short string representing a resource that is the target of a hyperlink. At the time, people referred to it as a "hypertext name" or "document name". Over the next three and a half years, as the World Wide Web's core technologies of HTML, HTTP, and web browsers developed, a need to distinguish a string that provided an address for a resource from a string that merely named a resource emerged. Although not yet formally defined, the term Uniform Resource Locator came to represent the former, and the more contentious Uniform Resource Name came to represent the latter. In July 1992 Berners-Lee's report on the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) "UDI (Universal Document Identifiers) BOF" mentions URLs (as Uniform Resource Locators), URNs (originally, as Unique Resource Numbers), and the need to charter a new working group. In November 1992 the IETF "URI Working Group" met for the first time. During the debate over defining URLs and URNs, it became evident that the concepts embodied by the two terms were merely aspects of the fundamental, overarching, notion of resource identification. In June 1994, the IETF published RFC 1630, Berners-Lee's first Request for Comments that acknowledged the existence of URLs and URNs. Most importantly, it defined a formal syntax for Universal Resource Identifiers (i.e. URL-like strings whose precise syntaxes and semantics depended on their schemes). It also attempted to summarize the syntaxes of URL schemes in use at the time. It acknowledged – but did not standardize—the existence of relative URLs and fragment identifiers. In December 1994, RFC 1738 formally defined relative and absolute URLs, refined the general URL syntax, defined how to resolve relative URLs to absolute form, and better enumerated the URL schemes then in use. The agreed definition and syntax of URNs had to wait until the publication of IETF RFC 2141 in May 1997. The publication of IETF RFC 2396 in August 1998 saw the URI syntax become a separate specification and most of the parts of RFCs 1630 and 1738 relating to URIs and URLs in general were revised and expanded by the IETF. The new RFC changed the meaning of U in URI from "Universal" to "Uniform." In December 1999, RFC 2732 provided a minor update to RFC 2396, allowing URIs to accommodate IPv6 addresses. A number of shortcomings discovered in the two specifications led to a community effort, coordinated by RFC 2396 co-author Roy Fielding, that culminated in the publication of IETF RFC 3986 in January 2005. While obsoleting the prior standard, it did not render the details of existing URL schemes obsolete; RFC 1738 continues to govern such schemes except where otherwise superseded. IETF RFC 2616 for example, refines the http scheme. Simultaneously, the IETF published the content of RFC 3986 as the full standard STD 66, reflecting the establishment of the URI generic syntax as an official Internet protocol. In 2001, the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Technical Architecture Group (TAG) published a guide to best practices and canonical URIs for publishing multiple versions of a given resource. For example, content might differ by language or by size to adjust for capacity or settings of the device used to access that content. In August 2002, IETF RFC 3305 pointed out that the term "URL" had, despite widespread public use, faded into near obsolescence, and serves only as a reminder that some URIs act as addresses by having schemes implying network accessibility, regardless of any such actual use. As URI-based standards such as Resource Description Framework make evident, resource identification need not suggest the retrieval of resource representations over the Internet, nor need they imply network-based resources at all. The Semantic Web uses the HTTP URI scheme to identify both documents and concepts for practical uses, a distinction which has caused confusion as to how to distinguish the two. The TAG published an e-mail in 2005 with a solution of the problem, which became known as the httpRange-14 resolution. The W3C subsequently published an Interest Group Note titled "Cool URIs for the Semantic Web", which explained the use of content negotiation and the HTTP 303 response code for redirections in more detail. Design A Uniform Resource Name (URN) is a URI that identifies a resource by name in a particular namespace. A URN may be used to talk about a resource without implying its location or how to access it. For example, in the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) system, ISBN 0-486-27557-4 identifies a specific edition of the William Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet. The URN for that edition would be urn:isbn:0-486-27557-4. However, it gives no information as to where to find a copy of that book. A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a URI that specifies the means of acting upon or obtaining the representation of a resource, i.e. specifying both its primary access mechanism and network location. For example, the URL http://example.org/wiki/Main_Page refers to a resource identified as /wiki/Main_Page, whose representation is obtainable via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http:) from a network host whose domain name is example.org. (In this case, HTTP usually implies it to be in the form of HTML and related code. In practice, that is not necessarily the case, as HTTP allows specifying arbitrary formats in its header.) A URN is analogous to a person's name, while a URL is analogous to their street address. In other words, a URN identifies an item and a URL provides a method for finding it. Technical publications, especially standards produced by the IETF and by the W3C, normally reflect a view outlined in a W3C Recommendation of 30 July 2001, which acknowledges the precedence of the term URI rather than endorsing any formal subdivision into URL and URN. URL is a useful but informal concept: a URL is a type of URI that identifies a resource via a representation of its primary access mechanism (e.g., its network "location"), rather than by some other attributes it may have. As such, a URL is simply a URI that happens to point to a resource over a network.[a] However, in non-technical contexts and in software for the World Wide Web, the term "URL" remains widely used. Additionally, the term "web address" (which has no formal definition) often occurs in non-technical publications as a synonym for a URI that uses the http or https schemes. Such assumptions can lead to confusion, for example, in the case of XML namespaces that have a visual similarity to resolvable URIs. Specifications produced by the WHATWG prefer URL over URI, and so newer HTML5 APIs use URL over URI. Standardize on the term URL. URI and IRI [Internationalized Resource Identifier] are just confusing. In practice a single algorithm is used for both so keeping them distinct is not helping anyone. URL also easily wins the search result popularity contest. While most URI schemes were originally designed to be used with a particular protocol, and often have the same name, they are semantically different from protocols. For example, the scheme http is generally used for interacting with web resources using HTTP, but the scheme file has no protocol. A URI has a scheme that refers to a specification for assigning identifiers within that scheme. As such, the URI syntax is a federated and extensible naming system wherein each scheme's specification may further restrict the syntax and semantics of identifiers using that scheme. The URI generic syntax is a superset of the syntax of all URI schemes. It was first defined in RFC 2396, published in August 1998, and finalized in RFC 3986, published in January 2005. A URI is composed from an allowed set of ASCII characters consisting of reserved characters (gen-delims: :, /, ?, #, [, ], and @; sub-delims: !, $, &, ', (, ), *, +, ,, ;, and =),: 13–14 unreserved characters (uppercase and lowercase letters, decimal digits, -, ., _, and ~),: 13–14 and the character %.: 12 Syntax components and subcomponents are separated by delimiters from the reserved characters (only from generic reserved characters for components) and define identifying data represented as unreserved characters, reserved characters that do not act as delimiters in the component and subcomponent respectively,: §2 and percent-encodings when the corresponding character is outside the allowed set or is being used as a delimiter of, or within, the component. A percent-encoding of an identifying data octet is a sequence of three characters, consisting of the character % followed by the two hexadecimal digits representing that octet's numeric value.: §2.1 The URI generic syntax consists of five components organized hierarchically in order of decreasing significance from left to right:: §3 A component is undefined if it has an associated delimiter and the delimiter does not appear in the URI; the scheme and path components are always defined.: §5.2.1 A component is empty if it has no characters; the scheme component is always non-empty.: §3 The authority component consists of subcomponents: This is represented in a syntax diagram as: The URI comprises: The scheme- or implementation-specific reserved character + may be used in the scheme, userinfo, host, path, query, and fragment, and the scheme- or implementation-specific reserved characters !, $, &, ', (, ), *, ,, ;, and = may be used in the userinfo, host, path, query, and fragment. Additionally, the generic reserved character : may be used in the userinfo, path, query and fragment, the generic reserved characters @ and / may be used in the path, query and fragment, and the generic reserved character ? may be used in the query and fragment.: §A The following figure displays example URIs and their component parts. DOIs (digital object identifiers) fit within the Handle System and fit within the URI system, as facilitated by appropriate syntax. A URI reference is either a URI or a relative reference when it does not begin with a scheme component followed by a colon (:).: §4.1 A path segment that contains a colon character (e.g., foo:bar) cannot be used as the first path segment of a relative reference if its path component does not begin with a slash (/), as it would be mistaken for a scheme component. Such a path segment must be preceded by a dot path segment (e.g., ./foo:bar).: §4.2 Web document markup languages frequently use URI references to point to other resources, such as external documents or specific portions of the same logical document:: §4.4 Resolving a URI reference against a base URI results in a target URI. This implies that the base URI exists and is an absolute URI (a URI with no fragment component). The base URI can be obtained, in order of precedence, from:: §5.1 Within a representation with a well defined base URI of a relative reference is resolved to its target URI as follows:: §5.4 URL munging is a technique by which a command is appended to a URL, usually at the end, after a "?" token. It is commonly used in WebDAV as a mechanism of adding functionality to HTTP. In a versioning system, for example, to add a "checkout" command to a URL, it is written as http://editing.com/resource/file.php?command=checkout. It has the advantage of both being easy for CGI parsers and also acts as an intermediary between HTTP and underlying resource, in this case. In XML, a namespace is an abstract domain to which a collection of element and attribute names can be assigned. The namespace name is a character string which must adhere to the generic URI syntax. However, the name is generally not considered to be a URI, because the URI specification bases the decision not only on lexical components, but also on their intended use. A namespace name does not necessarily imply any of the semantics of URI schemes; for example, a namespace name beginning with http: may have no connotation to the use of the HTTP. Originally, the namespace name could match the syntax of any non-empty URI reference, but the use of relative URI references was deprecated by the W3C. A separate W3C specification for namespaces in XML 1.1 permits Internationalized Resource Identifier (IRI) references to serve as the basis for namespace names in addition to URI references. See also Notes References Further reading External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Religious_Party%E2%80%93Religious_Zionism] | [TOKENS: 900] |
Contents National Religious Party–Religious Zionism The National Religious Party–Religious Zionism (Hebrew: מפלגה דתית לאומית–הציונות הדתית, romanized: Miflaga Datit Leumit – HaTzionut HaDatit), or Mafdal–Religious Zionism, is a far-right religious Zionist political party in Israel. The party was formed in August 2023, when the Religious Zionist Party and The Jewish Home parties agreed to merge. Background Bezalel Smotrich defeated Uri Ariel in the Tkuma leadership election in January 2019. After difficult negotiations, Tkuma, The Jewish Home, and Otzma Yehudit reached a deal to run in the April 2019 election as the Union of Right-Wing Parties (winning five seats in the Knesset). In June 2019, Otzma Yehudit accused the Jewish Home leader Rafi Peretz of reneging on their pre-election agreement (in which any MKs appointed to the government were to resign their seat, allowing for Otzma Yehudit candidate Itamar Ben-Gvir to become an MK). Otzma left the alliance. The New Right (founded by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked after splitting from The Jewish Home in December 2018) had failed to pass the electoral threshold in the April 2019 election. Ahead of the September 2019 Israeli legislative election, The Jewish Home and Tkuma (running as the United Right) allied with the New Right, and called their joint list Yamina. Despite Otzma and The Jewish Home initially agreeing to run on a joint list called the United Jewish Home in preparation for the 2020 Israeli legislative election, Yamina was reformed, with Otzma Yehudit once again being left out. Smotrich rebranded his party from National Union-Tkuma to the Religious Zionist Party on 7 January 2021. The following month, RZP, Otzma Yehudit, and Noam formed an electoral alliance, with all three parties winning six seats in the 2021 election on a joint list. The three parties ran together again in the 2022 election, with the RZP winning seven seats, Otzma Yehudit winning six seats, and Noam keeping its single seat. Hagit Moshe was elected head of The Jewish Home on 19 January 2021 by the parties' Central Committee, replacing Peretz. After failed negotiations with the RZP for the 2021 election, Moshe announced that the party would not run in the election, and instead supported Yamina and allowed them to use "ב", the traditional symbol of Mafdal and The Jewish Home. Shaked ended the brief alliance she had with Yoaz Hendel (called Zionist Spirit) prior to the 2022 election, reportedly over Hendel's unwillingness to serve alongside Benjamin Netanyahu in government, and instead headed the Yamina slate that ran under The Jewish Home name in the 2022 election. The Jewish Home did not clear the electoral threshold, and was left out of the Knesset. There were ongoing talks between Moshe and Smotrich going back as far as May 2023 discussing a joint run. In August 2023 the parties announced that they were to unite under the name The National Religious Party — Religious Zionism, with Smotrich serving as the head of the united party. The Jewish Home central committee voted to dissolve the party on 20 August 2023. Local elections The merger was expected to give the former Religious Zionist Party a foothold at the municipal level, while The Jewish Home would have been able to wield some power after not gaining any seats in the 2022 Israeli legislative election. Moshe, the former head of The Jewish Home, led the party's Jerusalem list ahead of the 2024 Israeli municipal elections. The election was originally set to take place on 30 October 2023, but on 23 October, the Knesset pushed back the date until 30 January 2024, as a result of the Gaza war. The election was pushed back again on 31 December to 27 February. The party won two seats in the election. Knesset members Notes References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YQL_(programming_language)] | [TOKENS: 240] |
Contents Yahoo Query Language Yahoo! Query Language (YQL) is an SQL-like query language created by Yahoo! as part of their Developer Network. YQL is designed to retrieve and manipulate data from APIs through a single Web interface, thus allowing mashups that enable developers to create their own applications using Yahoo! Pipes online tool. Initially launched in October 2008 with access to Yahoo APIs, February 2009 saw the addition of open data tables from third parties such as Google Reader, the Guardian, and The New York Times. Some of these APIs still require an API key to access them. On April 29 of 2009, Yahoo introduced the capability to execute the tables of data built through YQL using JavaScript run on the company's servers for free. On January 3, 2019, Yahoo retired the YQL API service. Examples Filter RSS feeds Convert CSV to JSON or XML Extract HTML via CSS Selectors Get AppLinks meta data Parse any XML source Rate limits Use of the YQL should not exceed reasonable request volume. Access is limited as below: See also References External links This World Wide Web–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photonic_computing] | [TOKENS: 1723] |
Contents Optical computing Optical computing or photonic computing uses light waves produced by lasers or incoherent sources for data processing, data storage or data communication for computing. For decades, photons have shown promise to enable a higher bandwidth than the electrons used in conventional computers (see optical fibers). Most research projects focus on replacing current computer components with optical equivalents, resulting in an optical digital computer system processing binary data. This approach appears to offer the best short-term prospects for commercial optical computing, since optical components could be integrated into traditional computers to produce an optical-electronic hybrid. However, optoelectronic devices consume 30% of their energy converting electronic energy into photons and back; this conversion also slows the transmission of messages. All-optical computers eliminate the need for optical-electrical-optical (OEO) conversions, thus reducing electrical power consumption. Application-specific devices, such as synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and optical correlators, have been designed to use the principles of optical computing. Correlators can be used, for example, to detect and track objects, and to classify serial time-domain optical data. Optical components for binary digital computer The fundamental building block of modern electronic computers is the transistor. To replace electronic components with optical ones, an equivalent optical transistor is required. This is achieved by crystal optics (using materials with a non-linear refractive index). In particular, materials exist where the intensity of incoming light affects the intensity of the light transmitted through the material in a similar manner to the current response of a bipolar transistor. Such an optical transistor can be used to create optical logic gates, which in turn are assembled into the higher level components of the computer's central processing unit (CPU). These will be nonlinear optical crystals used to manipulate light beams into controlling other light beams. Like any computing system, an optical computing system needs four things to function well: Substituting electrical components will need data format conversion from photons to electrons, which will make the system slower. Researchers dispute about the future capabilities of optical computers; whether they can compete with electronic computers in terms of speed, power consumption. Critics note that real-world logic systems require "logic-level restoration, cascadability, fan-out and input–output isolation", all of which are provided by electronic transistors at low cost, low power, and high speed. For optical logic to be competitive beyond niche applications, major breakthroughs in non-linear optical device technology would be required, or perhaps a change in the nature of computing itself. Challenges A significant challenge to optical computing is that computation is a nonlinear process in which multiple signals must interact. Light (an electromagnetic wave), can interact with another electromagnetic wave only in the presence of electrons in a material, and the strength of this interaction is much weaker for electromagnetic waves, such as light, than for the electronic signals in a conventional computer. This may require processing elements with more power and larger dimensions than those for a conventional electronic computer.[citation needed] Since light can travel much faster than the drift velocity of electrons, and at frequencies measured in THz, optical transistors should be capable of extremely high frequencies. However, any electromagnetic wave must obey the transform limit, and therefore the rate at which an optical transistor can respond to a signal is limited by its spectral bandwidth. In fiber-optic communications, practical limits such as dispersion often constrain channels to bandwidths of tens of GHz, only slightly better than many silicon transistors. Obtaining dramatically faster operation than electronic transistors therefore requires practical methods of transmitting ultrashort pulses down dispersive waveguides. Photonic logic Photonic logic is the use of photons (light) in logic gates. Switching is obtained using nonlinear optical effects when two or more signals are combined. Resonators are especially useful in photonic logic, since they allow build-up of energy from constructive interference, thus enhancing optical nonlinear effects. Other approaches that have been investigated include photonic logic at a molecular level, using photoluminescent chemicals. Witlicki et al. demonstrated logical operations using molecules and SERS. Unconventional approaches The basic idea is to delay a signal in order to perform useful computations. Of interest would be to solve NP-complete problems as those are difficult problems for conventional computers. Two basic properties of light are used in this approach: Solving a problem with time-delays involves the following steps: The first problem attacked in this way was the Hamiltonian path problem. The simplest problem is the subset sum problem. An optical device solving an instance with four numbers {a1, a2, a3, a4} is depicted below: The light enters Start node where it divides into two rays of smaller intensity. These two rays arrive at the second node at moments a1 and 0. Each is further divided into two rays that arrive at the third node at moments 0, a1, a2 and a1 + a2. These represent all subsets of set {a1, a2}. Intensity fluctuations occur at no more than four moments. The destination node expects fluctuations at no more than 16 different moments (subsets of the initial). A fluctuation at the target moment B means that a solution has arisen, otherwise no subset sums to B. Zero-length cables are not possible, thus all cables are lengthened by a small (fixed for all) value k. In this case the solution is expected at moment B+n×k. With increasing demands on GPU-based accelerator technologies, the 2010s experienced emphasis on on-chip integrated optics. The emergence of deep learning neural networks based on phase modulation, and more recently amplitude modulation using photonic memories has created photonic technologies assisting neuromorphic computing. Evolving technology had allowed these parallel operations to be performed on-chip on an integrated photonic tensor core. In a 2025 paper titled "Direct tensor processing with coherent light," researchers demonstrated "single-shot" tensor computing through an algorithm titled "parallel optical matrix–matrix multiplication (POMMM)." POMMM allows for tensor operations such as multiplication to be performed in a single shot of light at high speeds. POMMM has the potential to replace GPUs for tasks such as convolutions and attention layers. Wavelength-based computing can be used to solve the 3-SAT problem with n variables, m clauses and with no more than three variables per clause. Each wavelength, contained in a light ray, is considered as possible value-assignments to n variables. The optical device contains prisms and mirrors that discriminate wavelengths which satisfy the formula. This approach uses a photocopier and transparent sheets for performing computations. The k-SAT problem with n variables, m clauses and at most k variables per clause has been solved in three steps: The travelling salesman problem was solved by Shaked et al. (2007) via an optical approach. All possible TSP paths were generated and stored in a binary matrix that was multiplied with another gray-scale vector containing the distances between cities. The multiplication is performed optically by using an optical correlator. Many computations, particularly in scientific applications, require frequent use of the 2D discrete Fourier transform (DFT) – for example in solving differential equations describing wave propagation of waves or heat transfer. Though GPU technologies typically enable high-speed computation of large 2D DFTs, other techniques can perform continuous Fourier transform optically by utilising the natural Fourier transforming property of lenses. The input is encoded using a liquid crystal spatial light modulator and the result is measured using a conventional CMOS or CCD image sensor. Such optical architectures can offer superior scaling of computational complexity due to the inherently highly interconnected nature of optical propagation, and have been used to solve 2D heat equations. Ising machines are computers whose design was inspired by the theoretical Ising model. Yoshihisa Yamamoto's lab at Stanford pioneered building Ising machines using photons. Initially Yamamoto and his colleagues built an Ising machine using lasers, mirrors, and other optical components. Later a team at Hewlett Packard Labs developed photonic chip design tools and used them to build a single chip Ising machine, integrating 1,052 optical components. Industry Companies involved with optical computing development include IBM, Microsoft, Procyon Photonics, Lightelligence, Lightmatter, Optalysys, Xanadu Quantum Technologies, Q/C Technologies, QuiX Quantum, ORCA Computing, PsiQuantum, Quandela [fr], TundraSystems Global, and Q.ANT. See also References Further reading External links Media related to Optical computing at Wikimedia Commons |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_government_of_Israel] | [TOKENS: 272] |
Contents Eighth government of Israel The eighth government of Israel was formed by David Ben-Gurion on 7 January 1958, and was the second government of the third Knesset. Ben-Gurion kept the same coalition partners as during the previous government, i.e. Mapai, the National Religious Party, Mapam, Ahdut HaAvoda, the Progressive Party, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work and Agriculture and Development. The only change to the cabinet was the addition of Shlomo-Yisrael Ben-Meir as a Deputy Minister. All ministers and deputy ministers from the National Religious Party left the cabinet on 1 July 1958. The government collapsed following Ben-Gurion's resignation on 5 July 1959 after Ahdut HaAvoda and Mapam voted against the government during a vote on selling arms to West Germany and then refused to resign from the government. New elections were called in November that year after Ben-Gurion told President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi that he was unable to form a new government. Cabinet members Minister of Defense 1 Although Sapir was not an MK during the third Knesset, he was later an MK for Mapai. 2 Carmel did not enter the Knesset until 9 June 1958. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lips_(video_game)] | [TOKENS: 889] |
Contents Lips (video game) Lips is a 2008 karaoke video game for the Xbox 360. Lips was developed by iNiS and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game features the use of motion sensitive wireless microphones and supports the use of songs already owned through a Zune or iPod. Lips has spawned three sequels: Lips: Number One Hits, Lips: Party Classics, and Lips: I Love the 80's. Localized versions of the game and sequels have been released in several countries, including Lips: Canta en Español (Lips: Sing in Spanish), and Deutsche Partyknaller (Lips: German Party Hits). The Lips' microphones are compatible with Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: Metallica due to a patch that was released in summer 2009. Gameplay The gameplay in Lips is similar to the gameplay of SingStar and Karaoke Revolution. In addition to supporting single-player, the game allows two players to sing duets or play competitively in various multiplayer modes including "Time Bomb", "Kiss", and "Vocal Fighters". Unlike most other music games, players cannot fail out of a song if they sing badly (or even if they don't sing at all). The game does not have a difficulty setting but rewards players for their singing in six categories including rhythm, pitch, and vibrato. Players can connect a digital music player (such as an iPod or Zune), or use a USB flash drive, to sing along to their own music. The game will perform vocal reduction and score player like the included songs, except that the game will not display song lyrics. Players can also connect their Xbox 360 to a computer running a compatible media sharing service, such as Windows Media Connect 2.0, Windows Media Center, Zune PC software with sharing, or PVConnect to access their own music from a network share within the game. Lips is bundled with two motion-sensitive wireless microphones (one white, one black). A second player can seamlessly join in the currently playing song by picking up the microphone and shaking it. The microphones can also be used to perform gestures dictated by the game, plus the standard game controllers can also be used to add overlays such as hand-claps and crowd noise. In February 2009, Microsoft released a title update for Lips. This patch addressed most of the issues with the game, namely, it introduced a new algorithm for voice recognition and vibrato pick-up, claiming that the game was 'too easy' before, and the ability to synchronise the microphone timing, a cause of regular negative feedback. This update also introduced the use of global leaderboards to track high scores. Minor tweaks were also made to the user interface. Additionally, following the April 2009 title update, song packs were also introduced for purchase, offering bundles of songs for a discounted price. As of October 2014, the store and server for Lips had been shut down. Wireless Microphone compatibility list The games listed below support the Xbox 360 Wireless Microphones. Reception Lips received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Reviewers praised the wireless microphones and multiplayer experience but criticized the single-player modes and the song import feature which many people had issues with. In addition, the import feature does not support lyric downloads but the game does make an attempt to reduce the real singer's voice volume while playing in this mode. The A.V. Club gave the game a B+ and called it "A self-esteem booster for your tone-deaf friend, though the introduction of more content should help make it stay fun for everyone else." 411Mania gave it a score of seven out of ten, saying that it was "a mixed bag, but by far it is not a bad game. It's a decent game that is missing some of the key components that other games in this genre have." In contrast, Variety gave it a mixed review, saying that "Though it will quickly bore vocalists acclimated to the challenge of Rock Band, Lips excels as home karaoke, bringing style and pizzazz to a crowded genre. However, Lips is also exceedingly shallow, with a small number of songs and a broken system for importing new ones, meaning living room crooners will likely stick with Sony's deeper SingStar franchise for the time being." See also References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_34880] | [TOKENS: 325] |
Contents HD 34880 HD 34880 is a blue giant star of magnitude 6.41 in the constellation of Orion. It is 679 light years from the Solar System. Observation This star is very narrowly in the southern celestial hemisphere; this means that it can be observed from all the inhabited regions of the Earth without any difficulty and that it is invisible only far beyond the Arctic polar circle. It appears near or below the horizon, depending on season as circumpolar in innermost areas of the Antarctic continent. Being of magnitude 6.4, it is observable with the naked eye only in ideal conditions; it is easy to observe with a small pair of binoculars. The best period for the night-time observation of Orion in either hemisphere is between late October and April. Owing to the position of the star close to the celestial equator (zodiac), it is obscured by the sun or its glare at other times of the year. Physical traits The star is a blue giant with an absolute magnitude of -0.18 and it has a positive radial velocity indicating that the star is moving away from the Solar System. Multiple star HD 34880 is a multiple system: made up of 3 components. The main component A is a star appearing with magnitude 6.41. The B component has magnitude 11.0, separated by 4.4 arc seconds from A at position angle 285 degrees (from north). Component C is of magnitude 9.1, separated by 0.5 arc seconds from A; its position angle is about 196 degrees.> References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maor_Farid#cite_ref-13] | [TOKENS: 1458] |
Contents Maor Farid Dr. Maor Farid (Hebrew: מאור פריד; born April 20, 1992) is an Israeli scientist, engineer and artificial intelligence researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, social activist, and author. He is the founder and CEO of Learn to Succeed (Hebrew: ללמוד להצליח) for empowering of youths from the Israeli socio-economic periphery and youths at risk, a regional manager of the Israeli center of ScienceAbroad at MIT, and an activist in the American Technion Society. He is an alumnus of Unit 8200, and a fellow of Fulbright Program and the Israel Scholarship Educational Foundation [he]. Dr. Farid was elected to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list of 2019, and won the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism. Early life Maor was born in Ness Ziona, a city in central Israel, as the eldest son for parents from immigrating families of Mizrahi Jews from Iraq and Libya. Maor suffered from Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from a young age, and was classified as a problematic and violent student. His ADHD issues were diagnosed only after he began his university studies. However, inspired by his parents' background, he aspired to excel at school for a better future for his family. During elementary school, Maor attended local quizzes about Jewish history and Zionism, which significantly shaped his identity and national perspective. Farid graduated high school with the highest GPA in school. Later he was recruited to the Israel Defense Forces and drafted to the Brakim Program [he] – an excellence program of the Israeli Intelligence Corps for training leading R&D officers for the Israeli military and defense industry. Maor graduated the program with honors and was elected by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and Unit 8200, where he served as an artificial intelligence researcher, officer, and commander. During his Military service, he received various honors and awards, such as the Excellent Scientist Award, given to the top three academics serving in the Israel Defense Forces. In 2019, Farid completed his military service in the rank of a Captain. Education and academic career As part of the (4 years) Brakim Program, Maor completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the Technion in Mechanical Engineering with honors. Then, he initiated his Ph.D. research as a collaboration with the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) in parallel to his duty military service. The main goals of his Ph.D. research were predicting irreversible effects of major earthquakes on Israel's nuclear facilities, and improving their seismic resistance using energy absorption technologies. The mathematical models developed by Farid were able to forecast earthquake effects on facilities with major hazard potential, and predicted the failure of liquid storage tanks due to earthquakes took place in Italy (2012) and Mexico (2017). The energy absorption technologies used, increased in up to 90% the seismic resistance abilities of those sensitive facilities. The research results were published in multiple papers in peer-reviewed academic journals and presented in international academic conferences. Later, this research expanded to an official collaboration between the Technion and the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, which aims to implement the findings obtained on existing sensitive systems, and won funding of 1.5 million NIS from the Pazy foundation of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and the Council for Higher Education. In 2017, Farid completed his Ph.D. and as the youngest graduate at the Technion for that year, at the age of 24. In the graduation ceremonies, he honored his parents to receive the diplomas on his behalf. At the same year, he served as a lecturer at Ben-Gurion University in an original course he developed as a solution for knowledge gaps he identified in the Israeli defense industry. In 2018, Dr. Farid served as an artificial intelligence researcher at a Data Science team of Unit 8200, where he developed machine learning-based solutions for military and operational needs. In 2019, Farid won the Fulbright and the Israel Scholarship Educational Foundation scholarships, and was accepted to post-doctoral position at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he develops real-time methods for predicting earthquake effects using machine learning techniques. In 2020, Farid was accepted to the Emerging Leaders Program at Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the same year, he received the excellence research grant of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities for leading his research in collaboration between MIT and the Technion. Social activism Farid social activism focuses on empowering youths from disadvantaged backgrounds from an early age. In 2010–2015, he served as a mentor of a robotics team from Dimona in FIRST Robotics Competition, a mathematics tutor in "Aharai!" [he] program for high-school students at risk in Dimona and Be'er Sheva, and a mentor and private tutor of adolescence and reserve duty soldiers from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2010, he initiated "Learn to Succeed" (Hebrew: ללמוד להצליח) project, for mitigating the social gaps in the Israeli society by empowering youths from the social, economical, and geographical periphery for excellence, self-fulfillment and gaining formal education. In 2018, Learn to Succeed became an official non-profit organization. At the same year, Farid led a crowdfunding project of 150,000 NIS in order to expand the organization to a national scale. In 2019, he published the book "Learn to Succeed", in which he describes his struggle with ADHD, the violent environment in which he grew up, and the changing process he went through from being a violent teenager to becoming the youngest Ph.D. graduate at the Technion. The book was given to more than two thousand youths at risk and became a top seller in Israel shortly after its publication. Maor dedicated the book to his parents and to the memorial of his friend Captain Tal Nachman who was killed in operational activity during his military service in 2014. The organization consists of hundreds of volunteers, gives full scholarships to STEM students from the periphery who serve as mentors of youths, both Jews and Arabs, from disadvantaged backgrounds, runs a hotline which gives online practical and mental support to hundreds of youths, parents and educators, initiates inspirational activities with military orientation to increase the motivation of its teen-age members for significant military service, and gives inspirational lectures to more than 5,000 youths each year. In 2019, Maor initiated a collaboration with Unit 8200 in which tens of the program's members are being interviewed to the unit. This opportunity is usually given to students with the highest grades in the matriculate exams in each class. In 2020, Dr. Farid established the ScienceAbroad center at MIT, aiming to strengthen the connections between Israeli researchers in the institute and the state of Israel. Moreover, he serves as a volunteer in the American Technion Society. Honors and awards Personal life Farid is married to Michal. Interviews and articles References External links |
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