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אבל איך זה שבסוף אני אשם? ברקע הקרבות בגוש, יאיר לפיד טוען כי "אנחנו היחידים שנלחמים נגד הקואליציה", ומודה: "הזנחתי את יש עתיד כי התעסקתי עם האופוזיציה". כך עוקפים השרים את הוועדות שאמורות לפקח עליהם. מנכ"ל הליכוד סירב לעסקת נדל"ן מפוקפקת |
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Jennifer M. Wood WIRED StaffCultureJan 29, 2026 3:00 PMThe 45 Best Movies on HBO Max Right NowOne Battle After Another, The Smashing Machine, and Sinners are just a few of the movies you should be watching on HBO Max this month.Courtesy of Eric Zachanowich/A24CommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyAs the birthplace of prestige TV shows like The Sopranos and The Wire, HBO—and, by extension, HBO Max—is best known for its impressive lineup of original series. The network has also been upping the ante with feature-length content that is the stuff of Oscar dreams.Below is a list of some of our favorite films streaming on HBO Max—from thought-provoking documentaries to this year’s most Oscar-nominated hits. If you decide you’re in more of a TV mood, head over to our picks for the best shows on HBO Max. If you’re looking for even more recommendations, check out our lists of the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Amazon Prime, and the best movies on Disney+.If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.The Smashing MachineAfter years of making movies together, the Safdie Brothers struck out on their own in 2025, with both of them opting to go the sports drama route. While Josh Safdie wrote and directed Marty Supreme, Benny Safdie opted for this biopic, which recounts the life of MMA fighter Mark Kerr, played by a virtually unrecognizable Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The role is a dramatic departure for Johnson, whose character is struggling with a volatile love life (Emily Blunt plays his long-suffering girlfriend) and a longtime addiction to painkillers. While it didn’t quite live up to the hype that surrounded it when it first premiered, Johnson and Blunt help to ground this gritty drama and deliver noteworthy performances that keep you watching.Watch on HBO MaxMel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!Mel Brooks, at any age, is a comedy icon. The fact that he is still entertaining audiences at the age of 99 only cements his reputation as one of the best to ever get a laugh. This two-part documentary, directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, celebrates the decades-long career of the EGOT who changed the rules of comedy in every medium he has touched. The film features interviews with more than a dozen top actors and comedians who were inspired by Brooks, including Adam Sandler, Conan O’Brien, Ben Stiller, and Dave Chappelle. It also features extensive commentary from the late Rob Reiner, son of Brooks’ longtime comedy partner/best friend Carl Reiner.Watch on HBO MaxSinnersHot on the heels of some of the best, and most successful Marvel movies ever (that would be the Black Panther films), writer-director Ryan Coogler found a whole new way to blow cinephiles' minds with this gorgeous vampire tale. Set in 1930s Mississippi, the film stars Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, two World War I veterans who return home from Chicago with mob money with a plan to run a juke joint. Opening night of their new establishment, however, goes terribly wrong when a group of blood-sucking white musicians shows up at their door. Lush and full of beautifully shot action scenes, Sinners is already at the top of many critics' Best of 2025 lists and just scored a record 16 Oscar nominations—the most ever for a single movie, besting record holders All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land, which previously shared the the title with 14 nods apiece. In addition to the original theatrical release, HBO Max is streaming the film in Black American Sign Language (BASL).Watch on HBO Max33 Photos from the GhettoIn the spring of 1943, as the Nazis attempted to clear Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto, its last-remaining Jewish residents revolted. At the same time, Zbigniew Leszek Grzywaczewski, a 23-year-old Polish firefighter with the Warsaw Fire Brigade, staged his own rebellion by secretly photographing the horrors he witnessed. In 2022, the images were discovered. As the only photographic evidence of those events not taken by the German forces who perpetrated the atrocities, they shed a new light on the truth behind what has come to be known as the largest single act of Jewish resistance during World War II.Watch on HBO MaxEx MachinaAs artificial intelligence continues to infiltrate our everyday lives and tasks—in ways both good and bad—questions abound about the limits of human intelligence. Ex Machina portrays a sort of worst-case scenario in which a programmer named Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is summoned to the home of a tech billionaire (Oscar Isaac) to assist with the development of a brilliant humanoid robot named Ava (Alicia Vikander). But as Ava reveals more about herself to Caleb, it becomes clear that she is the one who is really in control. Writer-director Alex Garland won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for the film, which is just as timely today as when it was released more than a decade ago.Watch on HBO MaxJohn WickIt’s been more than a decade since Keanu Reeves introduced audiences to one of cinema’s most enigmatic vigilantes: John Wick, a very talented hit man who is forced out of retirement after a couple of low-level Russian gangsters decide to steal his beloved 1969 Mustang and kill his puppy in the process. What the men fail to realize is that John isn’t just your average mark. The film has since spawned three sequels, a prequel TV series (The Continental), and the spinoff film Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas. A fifth film is on the way.Watch on HBO MaxOne Battle After AnotherIf you want to get a head start on watching this year’s Best Picture contenders, One Battle After Another is a great place to start. The film, which is set over the span of nearly two decades, tells the story of revolutionary-turned-stoner Bob Ferguson (Best Actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio), who has given up his activist ways in order to protect his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti, in a powerful feature debut). But Bob’s historic acts of civil disobedience are still top-of-mind for the deranged Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn, who scored a Best Supporting Actor nod for what is one of his best of many great roles), who is determined to track him down. It’s yet another triumph for writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, both in terms of its scope and unexpected pitch-black humor. Anderson will compete for three of the movie’s 13 Oscar nominations: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture.Watch on HBO MaxIt’s Never Over, Jeff BuckleyOscar nominee Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil) is one of today’s foremost documentarians, and this loving tribute to Jeff Buckley proves why. Nearly three decades after his shocking and premature death, Berg delves into not just the life and artistry of the singer, but the profound impact of his music. Though Buckley died at the age of 30 with few recordings to his name, he remains a beloved icon. The documentary is packed with never-before-seen footage of Buckley and interviews with those who knew and loved him.Watch on HBO MaxSpinal Tap II: The End ContinuesIn 1984, the late Rob Reiner pivoted his career from Emmy-winning actor to iconic filmmaker with This Is Spinal Tap, a film that essentially invented the mockumentary genre that remains so popular to this day. More than 40 years later, his career came full circle with this long-awaited sequel that sees the members of the world’s greatest fake rock band—David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer)—reunite for a concert, with documentarian Marty DiBergi (Reiner) ready to capture all of the hilarious chaos, and tiny little Stonehenges, once again. Make it a night full of laughs, and a tribute to Reiner, by watching the original film, which is also streaming, first.Watch on HBO MaxMaterialistsLucy (Dakota Johnson) is a professional matchmaker in New York City who is great at her job but not as lucky in her own love life. When she suddenly finds herself in the middle of a love triangle with two men—Harry (Pedro Pascal), a suave and wealthy broker who is everything Lucy has ever dreamed of, and John (Chris Evans), her aspiring actor ex—she is finally forced to figure out whether ticking every box in a nebulous list of must-haves is truly the answer to finding one’s perfect match. Celine Song, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind 2023’s Past Lives (also streaming on HBO), treats the topic with intelligence and respect.Watch on HBO MaxEddingtonAri Aster took a break from psychological thrillers like Hereditary to craft this Covid-themed neo-western. Set in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the film follows the everyday challenges of a small-town sheriff, Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), who believes he’s doing what’s best to keep his townspeople safe. After butting heads with the town’s mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), he decides to run for Garcia’s job himself. But in a town rife with misinformation and mounting tensions, the race gets more intense than he ever imagined.Watch on HBO MaxOne to One: John & YokoOn August 30, 1972, three years after quietly informing his fellow Beatles that he was leaving the band, John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono headlined two shows of the One to One concert, a charity event which raised more than $1.5 million for kids with developmental disabilities and featured additional performers including Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, and Sha Na Na. This documentary from Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) offers an up-close glimpse at John and Yoko’s lives at this time, having recently relocated to New York City and as they navigated the music industry in a post-Beatles world. It’s an intimate experience, like few docs before it.Watch on HBO MaxThoughts and PrayersIn 2025 alone, there have been dozens of instances of gun violence in schools in the US. In order to help teachers and students prepare for this new reality, a new business—active-shooter preparedness—has popped up in its wake and is making millions. This captivating new documentary goes inside the industry, delving into both the financial and psychological implications of turning our schools into tactical training grounds.Watch on HBO MaxWeaponsZach Cregger announced his arrival as a unique voice in the horror genre with 2022’s twisted, and twisty, Barbarian. He cemented that reputation again in 2025 with Weapons. When 17 kids from the same third-grade class go missing in the middle of the night in a sleepy Pennsylvania town, the residents—and police—are baffled. When suspicions fall on the classroom’s teacher, Miss Gandy (Ozark’s Julia Garner), she sets out on her own to figure out what happened. Like Barbarian, it’s an intriguing premise made all the more compelling by superb acting from Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, and Amy Madigan, who earned a Best Supporting Actress nod for the role—yet with unexpected hits of humor, and savagery, that keep your eyes glued to the screen until the very end.Watch on HBO MaxSorry, BabyEva Victor made their name as a comedic tour de force with their viral sketch videos, which gained a massive following on social media. Among Victor’s fans: Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), who slid into Victor’s DMs with an offer to take a look at anything they might be looking to turn into a feature-length movie. The result is Sorry, Baby, Victor’s feature directorial debut. Agnes (Victor) is a literature professor struggling to heal from a traumatic event that has left her world upended. Despite the bleak subject matter, Victor infuses the film with the brutally honest and often hilarious tone that has defined their comedy sketches. The film was a hit on the festival circuit, screening at both Cannes and Sundance, where it nabbed Victor the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.Watch on HBO MaxPrime MinisterVery little about Jacinda Ardern's tenure as prime minister of New Zealand could be described as quotidian. She became the country's opposition party leader just weeks before election day. After she won she discovered she was pregnant and gave birth while still in office, one of very few heads of state in history to do so. During her tenure she navigated the Covid-19 lockdowns and the Christchurch mosque shooting. This documentary, directed by Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz, chronicles her meteoric rise, resignation, and life after her time in office.Watch on HBO MaxBring Her BackA24’s partnership with HBO continues to ensure that a never-ending stream of fascinating new(ish) indies from around the globe find their way into the network's streaming library. Bring Her Back is a totally deranged Australian horror film starring two-time Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins in what might be her most unhinged performance yet. Following the death of their father, teen step-siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are sent to live in a foster home with Laura (Hawkins), an odd but seemingly well-meaning older woman who is also currently tending to a young mute boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips). But Andy comes to learn that Laura is harboring some serious trauma of her own—and that he and his fellow foster kids are part of a wild plan to restore normalcy to Laura’s life. The movie takes viewers to dark, unexpected, and often gruesome places as it dissects the power that trauma can have over our lives.Watch on HBO MaxThe WitchAnya Taylor-Joy was a 19-year-old Hollywood newcomer when she delivered her breakthrough performance as Thomasin, the young daughter of a family that is banished from its Puritan community in 1630s New England and forced to live in solitude in the wilderness. Soon they begin experiencing a series of eerie encounters that they believe to be supernatural in origin—and they very well may be right. The film, which burns slowly but brilliantly toward a conclusion that rewards viewers’ patience, marked the feature directorial debut of writer/director Robert Eggers, who has gone on to wide acclaim for similarly moody flicks like The Lighthouse (2019), The Northman (2022), and Nosferatu (2024).Watch on HBO MaxShameTwo years before nabbing the first of two (and counting) Oscar nominations for his work on Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Michael Fassbender and McQueen collaborated on the criminally underseen Shame. To be fair: the film’s NC-17 rating certainly didn’t help its chances at becoming a box office behemoth, but the controversial rating was necessary in order for McQueen to deliver such a raw and honest portrayal of addiction. Brandon Sullivan (Fassbender) is a handsome and powerful executive living the good life in New York City, all while attempting to hide a debilitating sex addiction that has quickly taken over every part of his life. But when Brandon’s sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) shows up at his apartment unexpectedly, she forces him to confront the ties—and trauma—that bind them.Watch on HBO MaxFriendshipPaul Rudd and Tim Robinson both do what they do best—be impossibly likable and incredibly unhinged, respectively—in this dark comedy bromance. Craig Waterman (I Think You Should Leave’s Robinson) is an awkward marketing executive who is surprised when his new neighbor Austin Carmichael, a local TV meteorologist, invites him over for a beer one night. The two strike up an unexpected friendship that has the typically homebound Craig seeing the world in a whole new way—one filled with guys’ nights and male bonding. But when Austin decides to call off their brewing brotherhood, Craig cannot handle the rejection. And will go to wild lengths to mend their relationship.Watch on HBO MaxFinal Destination BloodlinesTwenty-five years after Final Destination arrived in theaters, and more than a decade after the last installment, the newest entry in the so-bad-it’s-good horror franchise just delivered what is undoubtedly its best chapter. While the story follows the same plot that fans have come to know and love—a group of people manage to cheat death, so Death comes back to finish the job—this one gives some history to that familiar rubric. While that gives this entry a more emotional level, it’s also quite clever in the new ways it chooses to off those whose fate was predetermined. And while it’s gory as hell, there’s something subtly comedic about the whole affair.Watch on HBO MaxGet OutIn 2017, Jordan Peele went from one half of Key & Peele to an Oscar-winning screenwriter (not to mention the first Black writer to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the first Black filmmaker to be nominated as a producer, writer, and director in one year). Nearly a decade later, the impact of Peele’s Get Out is still just as impressive. Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) has been invited by his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), to spend the weekend at her parents’ home in upstate New York. While Chris worries that her seemingly upper-class parents won’t be accepting of an interracial relationship, Rose assures him it won’t be a problem—and she’s right, but for all the wrong reasons. With Get Out, Peele cracked the code on making a film that was a horror movie, psychological drama, and telling commentary on race all at once.Watch on HBO MaxMountainheadSuccession creator Jesse Armstrong just might be today’s foremost chronicler of the world’s 1 percent. He stays in that lane with Mountainhead, his feature directorial debut, which follows an unexpectedly eventful weekend gathering of four of the tech world’s most powerful men at the new mountain retreat of Hugo “Souper” Van Yalk (Jason Schwartzman), the only non-billionaire of the bunch. While it’s meant to be a friendly get-together between old pals, everyone has an ulterior motive for blocking the weekend on their calendar. But all plans go out the window when the social media platform owned by Ven Parish (Cory Michael Smith), the world’s richest man, sends the world into upheaval as the result of a fast-tracked AI feature that’s spreading disinformation at an alarming rate. Which everyone but Ven sees as an opportunity to increase both their power and net worth.Watch on HBO MaxBabygirlRomy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) is a high-powered CEO with a husband (Antonio Banderas) who does not excite her and two teenage daughters she adores. But her life is turned upside down when one morning, while walking to her office, she is nearly attacked by a dog. A handsome young stranger (Harris Dickinson) steps in and manages to avert the attack, which leaves Romy shaken—and curious. Later, that same young man is introduced to her as Samuel, one of her newest interns, who seems to keep finding ways to push the boundaries of appropriate workplace behavior. Eventually, Romy gives in to Samuel’s advances, and his taste for BDSM-ish kink. Despite Romy’s concerns about the unfair power dynamic, Samuel insists that he’s the one who holds the power in their relationship, as she is the one with everything to lose. He might be right about that.Watch on HBO MaxThe BrutalistAdrien Brody earned his second Best Actor Oscar for this historical epic from director Brady Corbet about László Tóth (Brody), a Bauhaus-trained architect who emigrates to America after surviving the Buchenwald concentration camp. Tóth settles in the Philadelphia area and must rebuild his life by working menial jobs for little pay. But Tóth’s talents don’t go hidden for long. A wealthy industrialist, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), learns about Tóth’s past and commissions him to design a huge project. He also helps to speed up the immigration of Tóth’s wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), whom he has not seen since his incarceration. But Tóth soon learns that the American Dream comes at a price. While, at its heart, The Brutalist is a frank depiction of the immigrant experience, it’s also a heartbreaking statement on the pain that comes with processing trauma.Watch on HBO MaxHousePrepare to have your mind blown by this trippy 1977 horror-comedy from Japan. Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami) is the daughter of a famed film composer who returns from a trip to Italy with a surprise: a new wife. In an effort to avoid the awkwardness of the situation, she asks her aunt if she can stay at her creepy old mansion for the summer, then brings along six of her closest friends. It doesn’t take long for weird things to start happening. Disembodied head attacks, homicidal pianos, and possessed cat portraits? This thrillingly bonkers cult classic has it all!Watch on HBO MaxGimme ShelterLegendary documentarians Albert and David Maysles reinvented the rockumentary with this riveting first-hand recounting of the final days of the Rolling Stones’ 1969 US tour, which led to their infamous Altamont Free Concert. The concert, which attracted an estimated 300,000 people to California’s Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969, was a disaster from the get-go—especially given the band’s decision to bring in the Hells Angels as the show’s security (one member famously said they were reportedly paid in beer). The Stones weren’t the only artists, but by the time they took the stage the crowd was out of control. At one point, one of the Angels stabbed a man, Meredith Hunter, right in front of the stage—a moment that the filmmakers later realized they had captured on film. Seeing the band’s reaction to watching the footage themselves makes for a truly compelling perspective on rock stardom.Watch on HBO MaxSing SingColman Domingo proves yet again why he is one of today’s most acclaimed actors with this Oscar-nominated performance. Divine G (Domingo) is an inmate at New York’s infamous Sing Sing prison, serving time for a crime he did not commit. During his imprisonment, he finds purpose and joy in the prison’s theater group, part of its (very real) Rehabilitation Through the Arts program. By tapping into his inner thespian, Divine G is able to connect with his emotions, and he becomes determined to prove his innocence. But his undeniable acting talent, which inspires some of his fellow inmates, ends up posing a problem when it comes time for a parole hearing. Ultimately, Divine comes to respect the transformative power of the arts in helping him and some of his fellow inmates to overcome their past traumas. Making the film even more powerful is the fact that many of the actors are formerly incarcerated men who took part in the program.Watch on HBO MaxHereticHugh Grant earned some much-deserved awards consideration for playing so far against type in this religion-themed psychological thriller. Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are two young Mormon missionaries who are desperate to find someone—anyone—who will let them speak about their religion in an attempt to convert new members to the church. When Mr. Reed (Grant), a seemingly kind older man, invites them into his home in order to deliver their spiel to him and his wife, it quickly becomes apparent, at least to Sister Barnes, that something is amiss. And that Reed doesn’t so much want to hear about religion as he does talk about it—and force his own beliefs on the young women in increasingly bizarre, and deadly, ways.Watch on HBO MaxWe Live in TimeAndrew Garfield and Florence Pugh ignite the screen with their chemistry in this romantic tearjerker that follows the couple over the course of a decade, from their meet-not-so-cute (she hits him with her car) to their journey into parenthood and, eventually, facing the ultimate curveball that threatens their happily-ever-after. Garfield and Pugh are two of the most acclaimed actors of their generation, and We Live in Time proves why.Watch on HBO MaxJuror #2Up until now, most of what you’ve heard about Juror #2 is how it’s one of Clint Eastwood’s most accomplished directorial efforts—and yet somehow it got shafted when it came to its theatrical release. Now’s your chance to see what all the fuss is about. Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) is a journalist and recovering alcoholic who is making every effort to maintain his sobriety. That becomes a bit of a challenge when he’s put on the jury of a high-profile murder trial … only to realize that he may have inadvertently played a part in what happened. Hoult is fantastic in this edge-of-your-seat legal (and ethical) drama.Watch on HBO MaxBeetlejuice BeetlejuiceIt has been nearly 40 years since Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice stormed the late ’80s box office. In the decades since, we’ve often heard rumblings that a sequel was in the works. Or might be in the works. Or most definitely was in the works. Or might not be in the cards at all. Well, in 2024 it finally happened, and it was as if Michael Keaton had never stepped away from the role at all (eternal life has a way of doing that to you). This time, however, Lydia (Winona Ryder) is still doing her best to forget her rendezvous with the bio-exorcism pro. But when she returns to her childhood home, it’s her own badass daughter (Jenna Ortega) who finds a way to bring him back into all their lives.Watch on HBO MaxSuper/Man: The Christopher Reeve StoryIn addition to the all-new Superman movie, audiences have James Gunn and his DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran (partly) to thank for bringing this long-overdue documentary about the ultimate superhero actor to worldwide audiences. Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui deliver a heartfelt, moving tribute to Reeve—as an actor, yes, but even more so as a person who never gave up. Alexandra Reeve Givens, Matthew Reeve, and Will Reeve—Reeve’s children—share their own stories about their dad, giving the project yet another layer of intimacy. No, you’re crying.Watch on HBO MaxWatchmen: Chapter IBrandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood) directs this innovative animated adaption of Alan Moore’s Hugo Award-winning graphic novel about an investigation into the murder of Edward Blake—better known as a superhero named the Comedian. When the police come up empty in terms of suspects, the costumed vigilante Rorschach (Titus Welliver) decides to take the case into his own hands, and eventually comes to believe that someone is attempting to knock off superheroes. So he enlists the help of a group of them in order to put a stop to the killing spree.Watch on HBO MaxMaXXXineMaXXXine is the third film in writer-director Ti West’s X trilogy, which began with X and Pearl. It’s set immediately after the events of Pearl: Mia Goth’s Maxine Minx is desperate to escape her upbringing as a preacher’s daughter and make the move from porn to more mainstream movies. She gets her chance when she lands the lead in a horror movie, The Puritan II. Then her friends start getting murdered. Ultimately, Maxine is forced to confront the sins of her past and find a way to achieve the fame she so desperately dreams of.Watch on HBO MaxCivil WarIn the not-too-distant future, the United States has transformed into an all-out battlefield between an authoritarian government, headed by a third-term president (Nick Offerman), and a stream of secessionist movements that threaten to destroy the country as we know it. But a group of journalists (led by Kirsten Dunst) is determined to document the downfall of America at any cost, so they set about heading to the White House in order to interview the embattled president. Which is much easier said than done. Oscar nominee Alex Garland (Ex-Machina) writes and directs this dystopian drama that often hits uncomfortably close to home.Watch on HBO MaxFuriosa: A Mad Max SagaFuriosa may have been dubbed a box office “bomb” when it arrived in theaters, but don’t let those dollar-focused headlines deter you from this one. Anya Taylor-Joy, who is undoubtedly one of the most versatile actors working today, shines in the role of Imperator Furiosa, a badass emancipator who dares to challenge gender conventions in a dangerous, postapocalyptic world where (no surprise at all) men make the rules. Taylor-Joy does an admirable job embracing the role that Charlize Theron memorably originated in Mad Max: Fury Road.Watch on HBO MaxFaye“I’m Faye Dunaway. That’s who I am.” That’s the way the Oscar winner introduces herself in the trailer for Laurent Bouzereau’s feature-length documentary. But what the film reveals is that there’s a lot more to Faye Dunaway than the glamorous image associated with the legendary star of Network. Dunaway opens up in a way that has rarely been seen before, discussing her childhood and family, her struggles with bipolar disorder, and how the characters she has played continue to impact her. It’s a fascinating portrait of a true Hollywood icon.Watch on HBO MaxQuad GodsJess Jacklin’s feature documentary follows the fascinating journey of Blake, Prentice, and Richard—three individuals with quadriplegia who meet in a neuro-rehabilitation lab at Mount Sinai Hospital and launch a plan to create the world’s first all-quadriplegic esports team. It’s a noble pursuit, but one fraught with challenges as they break down the doors of ableism. At its heart, Quad Gods is a story of friendship, perseverance, and survival.Watch on HBO MaxAm I OK?Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a thirtysomething living in Los Angeles, constantly failing at relationships and wondering why she doesn’t have everything figured out yet. After drunkenly sharing the story of the time she kissed a female friend as a teen, she begins to realize that the problem in her love life might not be the men she’s choosing, but that she’s choosing men at all. Former Saturday Night Live writer Lauren Pomerantz penned the script for the film based on her own experience of coming out in her thirties. Tig Notaro and her wife Stephanie Allynne do an admirable job as codirectors, treating Lucy’s journey of self-discovery with the respect it deserves—and plenty of humor.Watch on HBO MaxMoviePass, MovieCrashFor better or worse, millions of film fans will remember 2012 as the year of MoviePass. For $25 per month, you could basically live in a movie theater—which was great for audiences, not so great for movie theaters (which were already struggling), and eventually disastrous for the company itself. For anyone who still has their MoviePass, this revealing documentary tells the real story of all that went wrong behind the scenes, and shares the story of the unsung heroes who really did just want to create a product that movie lovers could embrace. By the way: If you do indeed still have your original MoviePass, this doc has made it a worthwhile piece of memorabilia—with some selling for north of $1,000.Watch on HBO MaxDune and Dune: Part TwoSince breaking through with the Oscar-nominated Incendies (2010), Denis Villeneuve has continued to prove that he’s one of the most talented filmmakers working today. As if making a Blade Runner sequel that didn’t suck wasn’t enough, Villeneuve then went on to crack the cinematic code on Frank Herbert’s Dune series—something that true visionaries like David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky had attempted before him, albeit largely unsuccessfully. Both the 2021 original film and its sequel are streaming on HBO Max. The film follows the fate of the planet Arrakis—and its supply of melange, a unique spice and the most valuable substance in the universe—which rests in the hands of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the untested son of a powerful duke. Looking for more Dune action? The prequel series Dune: Prophecy, starring Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, and Mark Strong is streaming in full.Watch on HBO MaxBarbieGreta Gerwig is a master of breathing new life into old properties (see: Little Women). With Barbie, she has ignited a revolution. Barbie (Margot Robbie) is living her best life in Barbieland—until one day, when her perfectly plastic world, and heels, suddenly begin to collapse. To get her fabulous life back, Barbie must travel to the real world—well, Los Angeles—to determine who or what is causing her existential crisis. The film grossed nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, meaning you've already seen it. But even if you did, it’s absolutely worth a second watch—if only to lament its many Oscar snubs.Watch on HBO MaxRealityIn 2017, an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election was leaked anonymously. One year later, former NSA translator Reality Winner (yes, that’s her real name) was sentenced to more than five years in prison for the crime—the longest sentence ever received by a government whistleblower. Sydney Sweeney shines in this gripping true story, which plays out mostly in real time as the FBI knocks on the 25-year-old’s door and spends more than an hour questioning her.Watch on HBO MaxAll the Beauty and the BloodshedFinding success in one’s lifetime might seem like the dream of every artist, but Nan Goldin has bigger ambitions. Though she’s a photographer by trade, she’s an activist by calling and has long used her camera to capture painfully intimate moments of America in crisis, including extensive work focused on the HIV/AIDS and opioid epidemics. But All the Beauty and the Bloodshed reveals the artist in conflict: Should she allow her work to be showcased in one of the prominent museums or galleries that have received endowments from the Sackler family—the Big Pharma family that many blame for America’s opioid crisis? It’s a moving portrait of an artist willing to risk it all for her beliefs.Watch on HBO Max The 45 Best Movies on HBO Max Right Now As the birthplace of prestige TV shows like The Sopranos and The Wire, HBO—and, by extension, HBO Max—is best known for its impressive lineup of original series. The network has also been upping the ante with feature-length content that is the stuff of Oscar dreams. Below is a list of some of our favorite films streaming on HBO Max—from thought-provoking documentaries to this year’s most Oscar-nominated hits. If you decide you’re in more of a TV mood, head over to our picks for the best shows on HBO Max. If you’re looking for even more recommendations, check out our lists of the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Amazon Prime, and the best movies on Disney+. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. The Smashing Machine After years of making movies together, the Safdie Brothers struck out on their own in 2025, with both of them opting to go the sports drama route. While Josh Safdie wrote and directed Marty Supreme, Benny Safdie opted for this biopic, which recounts the life of MMA fighter Mark Kerr, played by a virtually unrecognizable Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The role is a dramatic departure for Johnson, whose character is struggling with a volatile love life (Emily Blunt plays his long-suffering girlfriend) and a longtime addiction to painkillers. While it didn’t quite live up to the hype that surrounded it when it first premiered, Johnson and Blunt help to ground this gritty drama and deliver noteworthy performances that keep you watching. Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! Mel Brooks, at any age, is a comedy icon. The fact that he is still entertaining audiences at the age of 99 only cements his reputation as one of the best to ever get a laugh. This two-part documentary, directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, celebrates the decades-long career of the EGOT who changed the rules of comedy in every medium he has touched. The film features interviews with more than a dozen top actors and comedians who were inspired by Brooks, including Adam Sandler, Conan O’Brien, Ben Stiller, and Dave Chappelle. It also features extensive commentary from the late Rob Reiner, son of Brooks’ longtime comedy partner/best friend Carl Reiner. Sinners Hot on the heels of some of the best, and most successful Marvel movies ever (that would be the Black Panther films), writer-director Ryan Coogler found a whole new way to blow cinephiles' minds with this gorgeous vampire tale. Set in 1930s Mississippi, the film stars Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, two World War I veterans who return home from Chicago with mob money with a plan to run a juke joint. Opening night of their new establishment, however, goes terribly wrong when a group of blood-sucking white musicians shows up at their door. Lush and full of beautifully shot action scenes, Sinners is already at the top of many critics' Best of 2025 lists and just scored a record 16 Oscar nominations—the most ever for a single movie, besting record holders All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land, which previously shared the the title with 14 nods apiece. In addition to the original theatrical release, HBO Max is streaming the film in Black American Sign Language (BASL). 33 Photos from the Ghetto In the spring of 1943, as the Nazis attempted to clear Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto, its last-remaining Jewish residents revolted. At the same time, Zbigniew Leszek Grzywaczewski, a 23-year-old Polish firefighter with the Warsaw Fire Brigade, staged his own rebellion by secretly photographing the horrors he witnessed. In 2022, the images were discovered. As the only photographic evidence of those events not taken by the German forces who perpetrated the atrocities, they shed a new light on the truth behind what has come to be known as the largest single act of Jewish resistance during World War II. Ex Machina As artificial intelligence continues to infiltrate our everyday lives and tasks—in ways both good and bad—questions abound about the limits of human intelligence. Ex Machina portrays a sort of worst-case scenario in which a programmer named Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is summoned to the home of a tech billionaire (Oscar Isaac) to assist with the development of a brilliant humanoid robot named Ava (Alicia Vikander). But as Ava reveals more about herself to Caleb, it becomes clear that she is the one who is really in control. Writer-director Alex Garland won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for the film, which is just as timely today as when it was released more than a decade ago. John Wick It’s been more than a decade since Keanu Reeves introduced audiences to one of cinema’s most enigmatic vigilantes: John Wick, a very talented hit man who is forced out of retirement after a couple of low-level Russian gangsters decide to steal his beloved 1969 Mustang and kill his puppy in the process. What the men fail to realize is that John isn’t just your average mark. The film has since spawned three sequels, a prequel TV series (The Continental), and the spinoff film Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas. A fifth film is on the way. One Battle After Another If you want to get a head start on watching this year’s Best Picture contenders, One Battle After Another is a great place to start. The film, which is set over the span of nearly two decades, tells the story of revolutionary-turned-stoner Bob Ferguson (Best Actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio), who has given up his activist ways in order to protect his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti, in a powerful feature debut). But Bob’s historic acts of civil disobedience are still top-of-mind for the deranged Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn, who scored a Best Supporting Actor nod for what is one of his best of many great roles), who is determined to track him down. It’s yet another triumph for writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, both in terms of its scope and unexpected pitch-black humor. Anderson will compete for three of the movie’s 13 Oscar nominations: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture. It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley Oscar nominee Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil) is one of today’s foremost documentarians, and this loving tribute to Jeff Buckley proves why. Nearly three decades after his shocking and premature death, Berg delves into not just the life and artistry of the singer, but the profound impact of his music. Though Buckley died at the age of 30 with few recordings to his name, he remains a beloved icon. The documentary is packed with never-before-seen footage of Buckley and interviews with those who knew and loved him. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues In 1984, the late Rob Reiner pivoted his career from Emmy-winning actor to iconic filmmaker with This Is Spinal Tap, a film that essentially invented the mockumentary genre that remains so popular to this day. More than 40 years later, his career came full circle with this long-awaited sequel that sees the members of the world’s greatest fake rock band—David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer)—reunite for a concert, with documentarian Marty DiBergi (Reiner) ready to capture all of the hilarious chaos, and tiny little Stonehenges, once again. Make it a night full of laughs, and a tribute to Reiner, by watching the original film, which is also streaming, first. Materialists Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a professional matchmaker in New York City who is great at her job but not as lucky in her own love life. When she suddenly finds herself in the middle of a love triangle with two men—Harry (Pedro Pascal), a suave and wealthy broker who is everything Lucy has ever dreamed of, and John (Chris Evans), her aspiring actor ex—she is finally forced to figure out whether ticking every box in a nebulous list of must-haves is truly the answer to finding one’s perfect match. Celine Song, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind 2023’s Past Lives (also streaming on HBO), treats the topic with intelligence and respect. Eddington Ari Aster took a break from psychological thrillers like Hereditary to craft this Covid-themed neo-western. Set in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the film follows the everyday challenges of a small-town sheriff, Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), who believes he’s doing what’s best to keep his townspeople safe. After butting heads with the town’s mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), he decides to run for Garcia’s job himself. But in a town rife with misinformation and mounting tensions, the race gets more intense than he ever imagined. One to One: John & Yoko On August 30, 1972, three years after quietly informing his fellow Beatles that he was leaving the band, John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono headlined two shows of the One to One concert, a charity event which raised more than $1.5 million for kids with developmental disabilities and featured additional performers including Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, and Sha Na Na. This documentary from Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) offers an up-close glimpse at John and Yoko’s lives at this time, having recently relocated to New York City and as they navigated the music industry in a post-Beatles world. It’s an intimate experience, like few docs before it. Thoughts and Prayers In 2025 alone, there have been dozens of instances of gun violence in schools in the US. In order to help teachers and students prepare for this new reality, a new business—active-shooter preparedness—has popped up in its wake and is making millions. This captivating new documentary goes inside the industry, delving into both the financial and psychological implications of turning our schools into tactical training grounds. Weapons Zach Cregger announced his arrival as a unique voice in the horror genre with 2022’s twisted, and twisty, Barbarian. He cemented that reputation again in 2025 with Weapons. When 17 kids from the same third-grade class go missing in the middle of the night in a sleepy Pennsylvania town, the residents—and police—are baffled. When suspicions fall on the classroom’s teacher, Miss Gandy (Ozark’s Julia Garner), she sets out on her own to figure out what happened. Like Barbarian, it’s an intriguing premise made all the more compelling by superb acting from Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, and Amy Madigan, who earned a Best Supporting Actress nod for the role—yet with unexpected hits of humor, and savagery, that keep your eyes glued to the screen until the very end. Sorry, Baby Eva Victor made their name as a comedic tour de force with their viral sketch videos, which gained a massive following on social media. Among Victor’s fans: Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), who slid into Victor’s DMs with an offer to take a look at anything they might be looking to turn into a feature-length movie. The result is Sorry, Baby, Victor’s feature directorial debut. Agnes (Victor) is a literature professor struggling to heal from a traumatic event that has left her world upended. Despite the bleak subject matter, Victor infuses the film with the brutally honest and often hilarious tone that has defined their comedy sketches. The film was a hit on the festival circuit, screening at both Cannes and Sundance, where it nabbed Victor the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Prime Minister Very little about Jacinda Ardern's tenure as prime minister of New Zealand could be described as quotidian. She became the country's opposition party leader just weeks before election day. After she won she discovered she was pregnant and gave birth while still in office, one of very few heads of state in history to do so. During her tenure she navigated the Covid-19 lockdowns and the Christchurch mosque shooting. This documentary, directed by Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz, chronicles her meteoric rise, resignation, and life after her time in office. Bring Her Back A24’s partnership with HBO continues to ensure that a never-ending stream of fascinating new(ish) indies from around the globe find their way into the network's streaming library. Bring Her Back is a totally deranged Australian horror film starring two-time Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins in what might be her most unhinged performance yet. Following the death of their father, teen step-siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are sent to live in a foster home with Laura (Hawkins), an odd but seemingly well-meaning older woman who is also currently tending to a young mute boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips). But Andy comes to learn that Laura is harboring some serious trauma of her own—and that he and his fellow foster kids are part of a wild plan to restore normalcy to Laura’s life. The movie takes viewers to dark, unexpected, and often gruesome places as it dissects the power that trauma can have over our lives. The Witch Anya Taylor-Joy was a 19-year-old Hollywood newcomer when she delivered her breakthrough performance as Thomasin, the young daughter of a family that is banished from its Puritan community in 1630s New England and forced to live in solitude in the wilderness. Soon they begin experiencing a series of eerie encounters that they believe to be supernatural in origin—and they very well may be right. The film, which burns slowly but brilliantly toward a conclusion that rewards viewers’ patience, marked the feature directorial debut of writer/director Robert Eggers, who has gone on to wide acclaim for similarly moody flicks like The Lighthouse (2019), The Northman (2022), and Nosferatu (2024). Shame Two years before nabbing the first of two (and counting) Oscar nominations for his work on Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Michael Fassbender and McQueen collaborated on the criminally underseen Shame. To be fair: the film’s NC-17 rating certainly didn’t help its chances at becoming a box office behemoth, but the controversial rating was necessary in order for McQueen to deliver such a raw and honest portrayal of addiction. Brandon Sullivan (Fassbender) is a handsome and powerful executive living the good life in New York City, all while attempting to hide a debilitating sex addiction that has quickly taken over every part of his life. But when Brandon’s sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) shows up at his apartment unexpectedly, she forces him to confront the ties—and trauma—that bind them. Friendship Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson both do what they do best—be impossibly likable and incredibly unhinged, respectively—in this dark comedy bromance. Craig Waterman (I Think You Should Leave’s Robinson) is an awkward marketing executive who is surprised when his new neighbor Austin Carmichael, a local TV meteorologist, invites him over for a beer one night. The two strike up an unexpected friendship that has the typically homebound Craig seeing the world in a whole new way—one filled with guys’ nights and male bonding. But when Austin decides to call off their brewing brotherhood, Craig cannot handle the rejection. And will go to wild lengths to mend their relationship. Final Destination Bloodlines Twenty-five years after Final Destination arrived in theaters, and more than a decade after the last installment, the newest entry in the so-bad-it’s-good horror franchise just delivered what is undoubtedly its best chapter. While the story follows the same plot that fans have come to know and love—a group of people manage to cheat death, so Death comes back to finish the job—this one gives some history to that familiar rubric. While that gives this entry a more emotional level, it’s also quite clever in the new ways it chooses to off those whose fate was predetermined. And while it’s gory as hell, there’s something subtly comedic about the whole affair. Get Out In 2017, Jordan Peele went from one half of Key & Peele to an Oscar-winning screenwriter (not to mention the first Black writer to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the first Black filmmaker to be nominated as a producer, writer, and director in one year). Nearly a decade later, the impact of Peele’s Get Out is still just as impressive. Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) has been invited by his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), to spend the weekend at her parents’ home in upstate New York. While Chris worries that her seemingly upper-class parents won’t be accepting of an interracial relationship, Rose assures him it won’t be a problem—and she’s right, but for all the wrong reasons. With Get Out, Peele cracked the code on making a film that was a horror movie, psychological drama, and telling commentary on race all at once. Mountainhead Succession creator Jesse Armstrong just might be today’s foremost chronicler of the world’s 1 percent. He stays in that lane with Mountainhead, his feature directorial debut, which follows an unexpectedly eventful weekend gathering of four of the tech world’s most powerful men at the new mountain retreat of Hugo “Souper” Van Yalk (Jason Schwartzman), the only non-billionaire of the bunch. While it’s meant to be a friendly get-together between old pals, everyone has an ulterior motive for blocking the weekend on their calendar. But all plans go out the window when the social media platform owned by Ven Parish (Cory Michael Smith), the world’s richest man, sends the world into upheaval as the result of a fast-tracked AI feature that’s spreading disinformation at an alarming rate. Which everyone but Ven sees as an opportunity to increase both their power and net worth. Babygirl Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) is a high-powered CEO with a husband (Antonio Banderas) who does not excite her and two teenage daughters she adores. But her life is turned upside down when one morning, while walking to her office, she is nearly attacked by a dog. A handsome young stranger (Harris Dickinson) steps in and manages to avert the attack, which leaves Romy shaken—and curious. Later, that same young man is introduced to her as Samuel, one of her newest interns, who seems to keep finding ways to push the boundaries of appropriate workplace behavior. Eventually, Romy gives in to Samuel’s advances, and his taste for BDSM-ish kink. Despite Romy’s concerns about the unfair power dynamic, Samuel insists that he’s the one who holds the power in their relationship, as she is the one with everything to lose. He might be right about that. The Brutalist Adrien Brody earned his second Best Actor Oscar for this historical epic from director Brady Corbet about László Tóth (Brody), a Bauhaus-trained architect who emigrates to America after surviving the Buchenwald concentration camp. Tóth settles in the Philadelphia area and must rebuild his life by working menial jobs for little pay. But Tóth’s talents don’t go hidden for long. A wealthy industrialist, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), learns about Tóth’s past and commissions him to design a huge project. He also helps to speed up the immigration of Tóth’s wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), whom he has not seen since his incarceration. But Tóth soon learns that the American Dream comes at a price. While, at its heart, The Brutalist is a frank depiction of the immigrant experience, it’s also a heartbreaking statement on the pain that comes with processing trauma. House Prepare to have your mind blown by this trippy 1977 horror-comedy from Japan. Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami) is the daughter of a famed film composer who returns from a trip to Italy with a surprise: a new wife. In an effort to avoid the awkwardness of the situation, she asks her aunt if she can stay at her creepy old mansion for the summer, then brings along six of her closest friends. It doesn’t take long for weird things to start happening. Disembodied head attacks, homicidal pianos, and possessed cat portraits? This thrillingly bonkers cult classic has it all! Gimme Shelter Legendary documentarians Albert and David Maysles reinvented the rockumentary with this riveting first-hand recounting of the final days of the Rolling Stones’ 1969 US tour, which led to their infamous Altamont Free Concert. The concert, which attracted an estimated 300,000 people to California’s Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969, was a disaster from the get-go—especially given the band’s decision to bring in the Hells Angels as the show’s security (one member famously said they were reportedly paid in beer). The Stones weren’t the only artists, but by the time they took the stage the crowd was out of control. At one point, one of the Angels stabbed a man, Meredith Hunter, right in front of the stage—a moment that the filmmakers later realized they had captured on film. Seeing the band’s reaction to watching the footage themselves makes for a truly compelling perspective on rock stardom. Sing Sing Colman Domingo proves yet again why he is one of today’s most acclaimed actors with this Oscar-nominated performance. Divine G (Domingo) is an inmate at New York’s infamous Sing Sing prison, serving time for a crime he did not commit. During his imprisonment, he finds purpose and joy in the prison’s theater group, part of its (very real) Rehabilitation Through the Arts program. By tapping into his inner thespian, Divine G is able to connect with his emotions, and he becomes determined to prove his innocence. But his undeniable acting talent, which inspires some of his fellow inmates, ends up posing a problem when it comes time for a parole hearing. Ultimately, Divine comes to respect the transformative power of the arts in helping him and some of his fellow inmates to overcome their past traumas. Making the film even more powerful is the fact that many of the actors are formerly incarcerated men who took part in the program. Heretic Hugh Grant earned some much-deserved awards consideration for playing so far against type in this religion-themed psychological thriller. Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are two young Mormon missionaries who are desperate to find someone—anyone—who will let them speak about their religion in an attempt to convert new members to the church. When Mr. Reed (Grant), a seemingly kind older man, invites them into his home in order to deliver their spiel to him and his wife, it quickly becomes apparent, at least to Sister Barnes, that something is amiss. And that Reed doesn’t so much want to hear about religion as he does talk about it—and force his own beliefs on the young women in increasingly bizarre, and deadly, ways. We Live in Time Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh ignite the screen with their chemistry in this romantic tearjerker that follows the couple over the course of a decade, from their meet-not-so-cute (she hits him with her car) to their journey into parenthood and, eventually, facing the ultimate curveball that threatens their happily-ever-after. Garfield and Pugh are two of the most acclaimed actors of their generation, and We Live in Time proves why. Juror #2 Up until now, most of what you’ve heard about Juror #2 is how it’s one of Clint Eastwood’s most accomplished directorial efforts—and yet somehow it got shafted when it came to its theatrical release. Now’s your chance to see what all the fuss is about. Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) is a journalist and recovering alcoholic who is making every effort to maintain his sobriety. That becomes a bit of a challenge when he’s put on the jury of a high-profile murder trial … only to realize that he may have inadvertently played a part in what happened. Hoult is fantastic in this edge-of-your-seat legal (and ethical) drama. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice It has been nearly 40 years since Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice stormed the late ’80s box office. In the decades since, we’ve often heard rumblings that a sequel was in the works. Or might be in the works. Or most definitely was in the works. Or might not be in the cards at all. Well, in 2024 it finally happened, and it was as if Michael Keaton had never stepped away from the role at all (eternal life has a way of doing that to you). This time, however, Lydia (Winona Ryder) is still doing her best to forget her rendezvous with the bio-exorcism pro. But when she returns to her childhood home, it’s her own badass daughter (Jenna Ortega) who finds a way to bring him back into all their lives. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story In addition to the all-new Superman movie, audiences have James Gunn and his DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran (partly) to thank for bringing this long-overdue documentary about the ultimate superhero actor to worldwide audiences. Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui deliver a heartfelt, moving tribute to Reeve—as an actor, yes, but even more so as a person who never gave up. Alexandra Reeve Givens, Matthew Reeve, and Will Reeve—Reeve’s children—share their own stories about their dad, giving the project yet another layer of intimacy. No, you’re crying. Watchmen: Chapter I Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood) directs this innovative animated adaption of Alan Moore’s Hugo Award-winning graphic novel about an investigation into the murder of Edward Blake—better known as a superhero named the Comedian. When the police come up empty in terms of suspects, the costumed vigilante Rorschach (Titus Welliver) decides to take the case into his own hands, and eventually comes to believe that someone is attempting to knock off superheroes. So he enlists the help of a group of them in order to put a stop to the killing spree. MaXXXine MaXXXine is the third film in writer-director Ti West’s X trilogy, which began with X and Pearl. It’s set immediately after the events of Pearl: Mia Goth’s Maxine Minx is desperate to escape her upbringing as a preacher’s daughter and make the move from porn to more mainstream movies. She gets her chance when she lands the lead in a horror movie, The Puritan II. Then her friends start getting murdered. Ultimately, Maxine is forced to confront the sins of her past and find a way to achieve the fame she so desperately dreams of. Civil War In the not-too-distant future, the United States has transformed into an all-out battlefield between an authoritarian government, headed by a third-term president (Nick Offerman), and a stream of secessionist movements that threaten to destroy the country as we know it. But a group of journalists (led by Kirsten Dunst) is determined to document the downfall of America at any cost, so they set about heading to the White House in order to interview the embattled president. Which is much easier said than done. Oscar nominee Alex Garland (Ex-Machina) writes and directs this dystopian drama that often hits uncomfortably close to home. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Furiosa may have been dubbed a box office “bomb” when it arrived in theaters, but don’t let those dollar-focused headlines deter you from this one. Anya Taylor-Joy, who is undoubtedly one of the most versatile actors working today, shines in the role of Imperator Furiosa, a badass emancipator who dares to challenge gender conventions in a dangerous, postapocalyptic world where (no surprise at all) men make the rules. Taylor-Joy does an admirable job embracing the role that Charlize Theron memorably originated in Mad Max: Fury Road. Faye “I’m Faye Dunaway. That’s who I am.” That’s the way the Oscar winner introduces herself in the trailer for Laurent Bouzereau’s feature-length documentary. But what the film reveals is that there’s a lot more to Faye Dunaway than the glamorous image associated with the legendary star of Network. Dunaway opens up in a way that has rarely been seen before, discussing her childhood and family, her struggles with bipolar disorder, and how the characters she has played continue to impact her. It’s a fascinating portrait of a true Hollywood icon. Quad Gods Jess Jacklin’s feature documentary follows the fascinating journey of Blake, Prentice, and Richard—three individuals with quadriplegia who meet in a neuro-rehabilitation lab at Mount Sinai Hospital and launch a plan to create the world’s first all-quadriplegic esports team. It’s a noble pursuit, but one fraught with challenges as they break down the doors of ableism. At its heart, Quad Gods is a story of friendship, perseverance, and survival. Am I OK? Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a thirtysomething living in Los Angeles, constantly failing at relationships and wondering why she doesn’t have everything figured out yet. After drunkenly sharing the story of the time she kissed a female friend as a teen, she begins to realize that the problem in her love life might not be the men she’s choosing, but that she’s choosing men at all. Former Saturday Night Live writer Lauren Pomerantz penned the script for the film based on her own experience of coming out in her thirties. Tig Notaro and her wife Stephanie Allynne do an admirable job as codirectors, treating Lucy’s journey of self-discovery with the respect it deserves—and plenty of humor. MoviePass, MovieCrash For better or worse, millions of film fans will remember 2012 as the year of MoviePass. For $25 per month, you could basically live in a movie theater—which was great for audiences, not so great for movie theaters (which were already struggling), and eventually disastrous for the company itself. For anyone who still has their MoviePass, this revealing documentary tells the real story of all that went wrong behind the scenes, and shares the story of the unsung heroes who really did just want to create a product that movie lovers could embrace. By the way: If you do indeed still have your original MoviePass, this doc has made it a worthwhile piece of memorabilia—with some selling for north of $1,000. Dune and Dune: Part Two Since breaking through with the Oscar-nominated Incendies (2010), Denis Villeneuve has continued to prove that he’s one of the most talented filmmakers working today. As if making a Blade Runner sequel that didn’t suck wasn’t enough, Villeneuve then went on to crack the cinematic code on Frank Herbert’s Dune series—something that true visionaries like David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky had attempted before him, albeit largely unsuccessfully. Both the 2021 original film and its sequel are streaming on HBO Max. The film follows the fate of the planet Arrakis—and its supply of melange, a unique spice and the most valuable substance in the universe—which rests in the hands of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the untested son of a powerful duke. Looking for more Dune action? The prequel series Dune: Prophecy, starring Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, and Mark Strong is streaming in full. Barbie Greta Gerwig is a master of breathing new life into old properties (see: Little Women). With Barbie, she has ignited a revolution. Barbie (Margot Robbie) is living her best life in Barbieland—until one day, when her perfectly plastic world, and heels, suddenly begin to collapse. To get her fabulous life back, Barbie must travel to the real world—well, Los Angeles—to determine who or what is causing her existential crisis. The film grossed nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, meaning you've already seen it. But even if you did, it’s absolutely worth a second watch—if only to lament its many Oscar snubs. Reality In 2017, an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election was leaked anonymously. One year later, former NSA translator Reality Winner (yes, that’s her real name) was sentenced to more than five years in prison for the crime—the longest sentence ever received by a government whistleblower. Sydney Sweeney shines in this gripping true story, which plays out mostly in real time as the FBI knocks on the 25-year-old’s door and spends more than an hour questioning her. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Finding success in one’s lifetime might seem like the dream of every artist, but Nan Goldin has bigger ambitions. Though she’s a photographer by trade, she’s an activist by calling and has long used her camera to capture painfully intimate moments of America in crisis, including extensive work focused on the HIV/AIDS and opioid epidemics. But All the Beauty and the Bloodshed reveals the artist in conflict: Should she allow her work to be showcased in one of the prominent museums or galleries that have received endowments from the Sackler family—the Big Pharma family that many blame for America’s opioid crisis? It’s a moving portrait of an artist willing to risk it all for her beliefs. Comments You Might Also Like In your inbox: Upgrade your life with WIRED-tested gear A wave of unexplained bot traffic is sweeping the web Big Story: The women training for pregnancy like it’s a marathon Iran’s digital surveillance machine is almost complete Listen: Silicon Valley tech workers are trying to stop ICE © 2026 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. 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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea] | [TOKENS: 8210] |
Contents Dead Sea The Dead Sea (Arabic: اَلْبَحْر الْمَيِّت, romanized: al-Baḥr al-Mayyit; or اَلْبَحْر الْمَيْت, al-Baḥr al-Mayt; Hebrew: יַם הַמֶּלַח, romanized: Yam hamMelaḥ), also known by other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River. As of 2025, the lake's surface is 439.78 metres (1,443 ft) below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth. It is 304 m (997 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.2% (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, 9.6 times as salty as the ocean—and has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea's main, northern basin is 50 kilometres (31 mi) long and 15 kilometres (9 mi) wide at its widest point. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. It was one of the world's first health resorts, and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilisers. Today, tourists visit the sea on its Israeli, Jordanian and West Bank coastlines. The Dead Sea is receding at a swift rate; its surface area today is 605 km2 (234 sq mi), having been 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) in 1930. Multiple canal and pipeline proposals, such as the scrapped Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, have been made to reduce its recession. Names The English name "Dead Sea" is a calque of the Arabic name, itself a calque of earlier Greek and Latin names, in reference to the scarcity of aquatic life caused by the lake's extreme salinity. Historical English names include the Salt Sea, Lake of Sodom from the biblical account of its destruction and Lake Asphaltites from Greek and Latin. The name "Dead Sea" occasionally appears in Hebrew literature as Yām HamMāvet (ים המוות), 'Sea of Death'. However, the most common name for the lake in both biblical and modern Hebrew—and also its oldest known name—is the 'Sea of Salt' (Hebrew: ים המלח, romanized: Yām HamMelaḥ). Other Hebrew names for the lake also mentioned in the Bible are the Sea of Arabah (Hebrew: ים הערבה, romanized: Yām Ha'Ărāvâ) and the Eastern Sea (Hebrew: היםהקדמוני, romanized: HaYām HaQadmōnî). In the Talmud, it is called 'Sea of Salt' or 'Sea of Sodom'. The Arabic name is al-Bahr al-Mayyit (البحر الميت), or usually without the article al-. It is also known in Arabic as the 'Sea of Lot' (Arabic: بحر لوط, romanized: baḥr Lūṭ, or بُحَيْرَة Buhayrat, بَحْرَة Bahret, or بِرْكَة لوط Birket Lūṭ) from the nephew of Abraham whose wife was said to have turned into a pillar of salt during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Less often, it has been known in Arabic as the Sea of Zoara (بَحْر صُوغَر) from a formerly important city along its shores. Because of the large volume of ancient trade in the lake's naturally occurring free-floating bitumen, its usual names in ancient Greek and Roman geography were some form of Asphalt Lake (Ancient Greek: Ἀσφαλτίτης, romanized: Asphaltítēs; or no: Ἀσφαλτίτις Λίμνη, romanized: Asphaltítis Límnē; Latin: Lacus Asphaltites) or Asphalt Sea (Ἀσφαλτίτης Θάλασσα, Asphaltítēs Thálassa). It was also known as the 'Dead Sea' (Ancient Greek: Νεκρά Θάλασσα, romanized: Nekrá Thálassa; Latin: Mare Mortuum).[citation needed] Another ancient name is the "Jewish Sea," (Latin: Iudaicum mare), a term used by the second-century Roman historian Tacitus. Geography The Dead Sea is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Palestine's Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel to the west. It is an endorheic lake, meaning there are no outlet streams. The Dead Sea lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST). This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the northern end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. Water feeds into the Dead Sea from various sources, many small or intermittent, including: (Wadi is the Arabic term for a river valley with a small or intermittent stream; Nahal is the equivalent in Hebrew. The two terms are often used interchangeably in English names for the same body of water.) The water of Wadi Hassa is now completely consumed in Jordan. The Jordan River, which passes through the Sea of Galilee, has been substantially diverted. It currently only contributes about one-sixth of the inflow to the Dead Sea, less than direct rainfall. There are also small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools and quicksand pits along the edges. The Wadi Mujib valley, 420 m below the sea level in the southern part of the Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, with an area of 212 km2 (82 sq mi). Rainfall is scarcely 100 mm (4 in) per year in the northern part of the Dead Sea and barely 50 mm (2 in) in the southern part. The Dead Sea zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judaean Mountains. The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself. To the west of the Dead Sea, the Judaean mountains rise less steeply and are much lower than the mountains to the east. Along the southwestern side of the lake is a 210 m (700 ft) tall halite mineral formation called Mount Sodom. Geology There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older hypothesis is that the Dead Sea lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the Red Sea Rift, or even of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence. During the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene, what is now the valley of the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and the northern Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from the Mediterranean Sea. The waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay that is called by geologists the Sedom Lagoon, which was connected to the sea through what is now the Jezreel Valley. The floods of the valley came and went depending on long-scale changes in the tectonic and climatic conditions. The Sedom Lagoon extended at its maximum from the Sea of Galilee in the north to somewhere around 50 km (30 mi) south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea, and the subsequent lakes never surpassed this expanse. The Hula Depression was never part of any of these water bodies due to its higher elevation and the high threshold of the Korazim block separating it from the Sea of Galilee basin. The Sedom Lagoon deposited evaporites mainly consisting of rock salt, which eventually reached a thickness of 2.3 km (1.43 mi) on the old basin floor in the area of today's Mount Sedom. According to Kafri, during the late Neogene, i.e. in the Pliocene (ended c. 2.5 million years ago), the eustatic sea level was at 50–100 metres above the current sea level, thus flooding the northern valleys connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Jordan Rift Valley, which led to the creation of a crooked-shaped lagoon. This high eustatic sea level situation subsequently came to an end, and the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long lagoon became a landlocked lake, which – due to the high evaporation rate – retreated toward the lower, southern part of the rift valley. However, Mordechai Stein considers the formation process as not yet clarified, speaking of a late Pliocene-early Pleistocene process in which tectonics might also have played a part in blocking water ingression from the Mediterranean to its former bay or lagoon. The first prehistoric lake to follow the Sedom Lagoon is named Lake Amora (which possibly appeared in the early Pleistocene; its sediments developed into the Amora (Samra) Formation, dated to over 200–80 kyr BP), followed by Lake Lisan (c. 70–14 kyr) and finally by the Dead Sea. The water levels and salinity of the successive lakes (Amora, Lisan, Dead Sea) have either risen or fallen as an effect of the tectonic dropping of the valley bottom, and due to climate variation. As the climate became more arid, Lake Lisan finally shrank and became saltier, leaving the Dead Sea as its last remainder. From 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, Lake Lisan's level was 100 to 250 m (330 to 820 ft) higher than its current level, possibly due to lower evaporation than in the present. Its level fluctuated dramatically, rising to its highest level around 26,000 years ago, indicating a very wet climate in the Near East. Around 10,000 years ago, the lake's level dropped dramatically, probably even lower than today. During the last several thousand years, the lake has fluctuated approximately 400 m (1,300 ft), with some significant drops and rises. Current theories as to the cause of this dramatic drop in levels rule out volcanic activity; therefore, it may have been a seismic event. In prehistoric times, great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of Lake Amora. The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and squeezed the salt deposits upwards into what are now the Lisan Peninsula and Mount Sodom (on the southwest side of the lake). Geologists explain the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the bucket. When the floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces, the salt mounts of Lisan and Mount Sodom stayed in place as high cliffs (see salt dome). Climate The Dead Sea has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), with year-round sunny skies and dry air. It has less than 50 millimetres (2 in) mean annual rainfall and a summer average temperature between 32 and 39 °C (90 and 102 °F). Winter average temperatures range between 20 and 23 °C (68 and 73 °F). The region has weaker ultraviolet radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays). Given the higher atmospheric pressure, the air has a slightly higher oxygen content (3.3% in summer to 4.8% in winter) as compared to oxygen concentration at sea level. Barometric pressures at the Dead Sea were measured between 1061 and 1065 hPa and clinically compared with health effects at higher altitude. (This barometric measure is about 5% higher than sea level standard atmospheric pressure of 1013.25 hPa, which is the global ocean mean or ATM.) The Dead Sea affects temperatures nearby because of the moderating effect a large body of water has on climate. During the winter, sea temperatures tend to be higher than land temperatures, and vice versa during the summer months. This is the result of the water's mass and specific heat capacity. On average, there are 192 days above 30 °C (86 °F) annually. Chemistry With 34.2% salinity (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, though Lake Vanda in Antarctica (35%), Lake Assal in Djibouti (34.8%), Lagoon Garabogazköl in the Caspian Sea (up to 35%) and some hypersaline ponds and lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond (44%)) have reported higher salinities. In the 19th century and the early 20th century, the surface layers of the Dead Sea were less salty than today, which resulted in an average density in the range of 1.15–1.17 g/cm3 instead of the present value of around 1.25 g/cm3. A sample tested by Bernays in the 19th century had a salinity of 19%. By the year 1926, the salinity had increased (although it was also suspected that the salinity varies seasonally and depends on the distance from the mouth of the Jordan). Until the winter of 1978–79, when a major mixing event took place, the Dead Sea was composed of two stratified layers of water that differed in temperature, density, age, and salinity. The topmost 35 meters (115 ft) or so of the Dead Sea had an average salinity of about 30%, and a temperature that swung between 19 and 37 °C (66 and 99 °F). Underneath a zone of transition, the lowest level of the Dead Sea had waters of a consistent 22 °C (72 °F) temperature, salinity of over 34%, and complete saturation of sodium chloride (NaCl). Since the water near the bottom is saturated with NaCl, that salt precipitates out of solution onto the sea floor. Beginning in the 1960s, water inflow to the Dead Sea from the Jordan River was reduced as a result of large-scale irrigation and generally low rainfall. By 1975, the upper water layer was saltier than the lower layer. Nevertheless, the upper layer remained suspended above the lower layer because its waters were warmer and thus less dense. When the upper layer cooled so its density was greater than the lower layer, the waters mixed (1978–79). For the first time in centuries,[citation needed] the lake was a homogeneous body of water. Since then, stratification has begun to redevelop. The mineral content of the Dead Sea is very different from that of ocean water. The exact composition of the Dead Sea water varies mainly with season, depth and temperature. In the early 1980s, the concentration of ionic species (in g/kg) of Dead Sea surface water was Cl− (181.4), Br− (4.2), SO42− (0.4), HCO3− (0.2), Ca2+ (14.1), Na+ (32.5), K+ (6.2) and Mg2+ (35.2). The total salinity was 276 g/kg. These results show that the composition of the salt, as anhydrous chlorides on a weight percentage basis, was calcium chloride (CaCl2) 14.4%, potassium chloride (KCl) 4.4%, magnesium chloride (MgCl2) 50.8% and sodium chloride (NaCl) 30.4%. In comparison, the salt in the water of most oceans and seas is approximately 85% sodium chloride. The concentration of sulfate ions (SO42−) is very low, and the concentration of bromide ions (Br−) is the highest of all waters on Earth. The salt concentration of the Dead Sea fluctuates around 31.5%. This is unusually high and results in a nominal density of 1.24 kg/L. Anyone can easily float in the Dead Sea because of natural buoyancy. In this respect the Dead Sea is similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah in the United States. An unusual feature of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles and blocks of the black substance. Asphalt-coated figurines and bitumen-coated Neolithic skulls from archaeological sites have been found. Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt imported from the Dead Sea region. Putative therapies The Dead Sea area has become a location for health research and potential treatment for several reasons. The mineral content of the water, the low content of pollens and other allergens in the atmosphere, the reduced ultraviolet component of solar radiation, and the higher atmospheric pressure at this great depth each may have specific health effects. For example, persons experiencing reduced respiratory function from diseases such as cystic fibrosis seem to benefit from the increased atmospheric pressure. The region's climate and low elevation have made it a popular center for assessment of putative therapies: There is evidence that the unique attenuation and spectrum of UV rays near the Dead Sea contribute to effective photoclimatherapy for psoriasis, in part because the reduced exposure to solar radiation allows for longer periods of sunbathing. Rhinosinusitis patients receiving Dead Sea saline nasal irrigation exhibited improved symptom relief compared to standard hypertonic saline spray in one study. Dead Sea mud pack therapy has been suggested to temporarily relieve pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees. According to researchers of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, treatment with mineral-rich mud compresses can be used to augment conventional medical therapy. Life forms The sea is called "dead" because its high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms, such as fish and aquatic plants, from living in it, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present. In times of flood, the salt content of the Dead Sea can drop from its usual 35% to 30% or lower. It temporarily comes to life in the wake of rainy winters. In 1980, after one such rainy winter, the normally dark blue Dead Sea turned red. Researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem found it to be teeming with an alga called Dunaliella. Dunaliella in turn nourished carotenoid-containing (red-pigmented) halobacteria, whose presence caused the color change. Since 1980, the basin has been dry and the algae and the bacteria have not returned in measurable numbers. In 2011 a group of scientists from Be'er Sheva, Israel and Germany discovered fissures in the floor of the Dead Sea by scuba diving and observing the surface. These fissures allow fresh and brackish water to enter. They sampled biofilms surrounding the fissures and discovered numerous species of bacteria and archaea. Human settlement There are several small communities near the Dead Sea. These include Ein Gedi, Neve Zohar and the Israeli settlements in the Megilot Regional Council: Kalya, Mitzpe Shalem and Avnat. There is a nature preserve at Ein Gedi, and several Dead Sea hotels are located on the southwest end at Ein Bokek near Neve Zohar. Highway 90 runs north–south on the Israeli side for a total distance of 565 km (351 mi) from Metula on the Lebanese border in the north to its southern terminus at the Egyptian border near the Red Sea port of Eilat. Potash City is a small community on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, and others including Suweima. Highway 65 runs north–south on the Jordanian side from near Jordan's northern tip down past the Dead Sea to the port of Aqaba. Human history Dwelling in caves near the Dead Sea is recorded in the Hebrew Bible as having taken place before the Israelites came to Canaan, and extensively at the time of King David. Just northwest of the Dead Sea is Jericho. Somewhere, perhaps on the southeastern shore, would be the cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis which were said to have been destroyed in the time of Abraham: Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) and the three other "Cities of the Plain", Admah, Zeboim and Zoar (Deuteronomy 29:23). Zoar escaped destruction when Abraham's nephew Lot escaped to Zoar from Sodom (Genesis 19:21–22). Before the destruction, the Dead Sea was a valley full of natural tar pits, which was called the vale of Siddim.[citation needed] King David was said to have hidden from Saul at Ein Gedi nearby. In Ezekiel 47:8–9 there is a specific prophecy that the sea will "be healed and made fresh", becoming a normal lake capable of supporting marine life. A similar prophecy is stated in Zechariah 14:8, which says that "living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea [likely the Dead Sea] and half to the western sea [the Mediterranean]." During the First Temple period, the kingdom of Judah ruled the western shore of the Dead Sea, while Moab controlled the eastern shore. To the south were the Edomites. Judah established several fortresses along its side of the sea. Development in this area was likely driven by new economic opportunities arising from the Dead Sea's natural resources, including salt, bitumen, as well as cash crops. Both Ein Gedi and Jericho on Judah's side were vital centers for cultivating the highly prized Judean date palms during this time. Ein Gedi thrived as a major economic hub in the final century of Judah, before its destruction on the eve of the Babylonian captivity. Greek and Jewish writers report that the Nabateans had monopolistic control over the Dead Sea. Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salty that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them. — Aristotle, Meteorology Archaeological evidence shows multiple anchorages existing on both sides of the sea, including in Ein Gedi, Khirbet Mazin (where the ruins of a Hasmonean-era dry dock are located), Numeira and near Masada. Josephus identified the Dead Sea in geographic proximity to the ancient Biblical city of Sodom. However, he referred to the lake by its Greek name, Asphaltites. Herod the Great, king of Judaea, built or rebuilt several fortresses and palaces along the western shore of the Dead Sea, with Masada being the most famous. Another historically important fortress was Machaerus (מכוור), on the eastern bank, where, according to Josephus, John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas and died. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, some Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect, settled along the western shore of the Dead Sea. Roman historian Pliny the Elder identifies their location with the words, "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast... [above] the town of Engeda" (Natural History, Bk 5.73). Based on this, It is widely accepted, though still debated, that the Jewish community at Qumran was part of the Essene sect, and that the "Dead Sea Scrolls" discovered in nearby caves during the 20th century were their library. The Dead Sea region was active during the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE). Early in the conflict, a group of Sicarii, a radical Jewish sect, seized control of the fortress of Masada and killed the Roman garrison stationed there. After their leader was killed in Jerusalem, the Sicarii fled to Masada and took refuge in the fortress. In 68 CE, Roman commander Vespasian, tasked with suppressing the Jewish revolt, arrived at the Dead Sea and tested its buoyancy by throwing bound, non-swimmer captives into the water. Archaeological evidence suggests that around this time, the Qumran community was destroyed. The Sicarii at Masada continued to resist the Romans after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, holding out until 73/74 CE, when a siege by the Roman Legio X Fretensis resulted in the deaths of 960 inhabitants by suicide, according to Josephus. The Roman camps surrounding Masada were constructed by Jewish slaves who received water from nearby towns, which were supplied with drinking water from the Ein Feshcha springs and other nearby sweetwater sources. The town of Ein Gedi, mentioned many times in the Mishna, produced persimmon for the temple's fragrance and for export, using a secret recipe. "Sodomite salt" was an essential mineral for the temple's holy incense, but was said to be dangerous for home use and could cause blindness. The sixth-century mosaic known as the Madaba Map indicates that trade across the Dead Sea was very prevalent during the Byzantine period. Connected with the Judean wilderness to its northwest and west, the Dead Sea was a place of escape and refuge. The remoteness of the region attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era. Their monasteries, such as Saint George in Wadi Kelt and Mar Saba in the Judaean Desert, are places of pilgrimage.[citation needed] The Jewish village of Ein Gedi, which had been continuously inhabited since the 5th century BCE, was destroyed in the 7th century by a devastating fire. From the seventh century onwards, the Dead Sea area entered a period of decline and its population decreased. The cultivation of sugarcane near the northern and southern shores of the lake began to develop during the Crusader period and reached its peak under the Mamluks. In the 19th century the River Jordan and the Dead Sea were explored by boat primarily by Christopher Costigan in 1835, Thomas Howard Molyneux in 1847, William Francis Lynch in 1848, and John MacGregor in 1869. The full text of W. F. Lynch's 1849 book Narrative of the United States' Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea is available online. Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles travelled along the shores of the Dead Sea already in 1817–18, but didn't navigate on its waters. Explorers and scientists arrived in the area to analyze the minerals and research the unique climate. After the find of the "Moabite Stone" in 1868 on the plateau east of the Dead Sea, Moses Wilhelm Shapira and his partner Salim al-Khouri forged and sold a whole range of presumed "Moabite" antiquities, and in 1883 Shapira presented what is now known as the "Shapira Strips", a supposedly ancient scroll written on leather strips which he claimed had been found near the Dead Sea. The strips were declared to be forgeries and Shapira took his own life in disgrace. The 1922 census of Palestine lists 100 people (68 Muslims and 32 Christians) with "Dead Sea & Jordan" as their main locality. The 1931 census shows a sharp increase with 535 people (264 Muslims, 230 Jews, 21 Christians, 17 Druze, and three with no religion) listing "Dead Sea" as their main village/town. The 1938 nor 1945 village statistics does not give a number for the general Dead Sea area. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, hundreds of Jewish religious documents dated between 150 BCE and 70 CE were found in caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran, about one mile (1.6 kilometres) inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea (presently in the West Bank). They became known and famous as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The world's lowest roads, Highway 90, run along the Israeli and West Bank shores of the Dead Sea, along with Highway 65 on the Jordanian side, at 393 m (1,289 ft) below sea level. Tourism and leisure A golf course named for Sodom and Gomorrah was built by the British at Kalia on the northern shore. The first major Israeli hotels were built in nearby Arad, and since the 1960s at the Ein Bokek resort complex. Israel has 15 hotels along the Dead Sea shore, generating total revenues of $291 million in 2012. Most Israeli hotels and resorts on the Dead Sea are on a six-kilometre (3.7-mile) stretch of the southern shore. On the Jordanian side, nine international franchises have opened seaside resort hotels near the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center, along with resort apartments, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The 9 hotels have boosted the Jordanian side's capacity to 2,800 rooms. On 22 November 2015, the Dead Sea panorama road was included along with 40 archaeological locations in Jordan, to become live on Google Street View. The portion of Dead Sea coast which Palestinians could possibly eventually manage is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. The World Bank estimates that such Dead Sea tourism industry could generate $290 million of revenues per year and 2,900 jobs. However, Palestinians have been unable to obtain construction permits for tourism-related investments on the Dead Sea. According to the World Bank, officials in the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities state that the only way to apply for such permits is through the Joint Committees established under the Oslo Agreement, but the relevant committee has not met with any degree of regularity since 2000. Chemical industry In the early part of the 20th century, the Dead Sea began to attract interest from chemists who deduced the sea was a natural deposit of potash (potassium chloride) and bromine. A concession was granted by the British Mandatory government to the newly formed Palestine Potash Company in 1929. Its founder, Siberian Jewish engineer and pioneer of Lake Baikal exploitation, Moses Novomeysky, had worked for the charter for over ten years having first visited the area in 1911. The first plant, on the north shore of the Dead Sea at Kalya, commenced production in 1931 and produced potash by solar evaporation of the brine. Employing Arabs and Jews, it was an island of peace in turbulent times. In 1934 a second plant was built on the southwest shore, in the Mount Sodom area, south of the 'Lashon' region of the Dead Sea. Palestine Potash Company supplied half of Britain's potash during World War II. Both plants were destroyed by the Jordanians in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The Dead Sea Works was founded in 1952 as a state-owned enterprise based on the remnants of the Palestine Potash Company. In 1995, the company was privatized and it is now owned by Israel Chemicals. From the Dead Sea brine, Israel produces (2001) 1.77 million tons potash, 206,000 tons elemental bromine, 44,900 tons caustic soda, 25,000 tons magnesium metal, and sodium chloride. Israeli companies generate around US$3 billion annually from the sale of Dead Sea minerals (primarily potash and bromine), and from other products that are derived from Dead Sea Minerals. On the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, Arab Potash (APC), formed in 1956, produces 2.0 million tons of potash annually, as well as sodium chloride and bromine. The plant is located at Safi, South Aghwar Department, in the Karak Governorate. Jordanian Dead Sea mineral industries generate about $1.2 billion in sales (equivalent to 4 percent of Jordan's GDP). The Palestinian Dead Sea Coast is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) long. The Palestinian economy is unable to benefit from Dead Sea chemicals due to restricted access, permit issues and the uncertainties of the investment climate. The World Bank estimates that a Palestinian Dead Sea chemicals industry could generate $918M incremental value added per year, "almost equivalent to the contribution of the entire manufacturing sector of Palestinian territories today". Both companies, Dead Sea Works Ltd. and Arab Potash, use extensive salt evaporation pans that have essentially diked the entire southern end of the Dead Sea for the purpose of producing carnallite, potassium magnesium chloride, which is then processed further to produce potassium chloride. The ponds are separated by a central dike that runs roughly north–south along the international border. The power plant on the Israeli side allows production of magnesium metal (by a subsidiary, Dead Sea Magnesium Ltd.). Due to the popularity of the sea's therapeutic and healing properties, several companies have also shown interest in the manufacturing and supplying of Dead Sea salts as raw materials for body and skin care products. Recession and environmental concerns Since 1930, when its surface was 1,050 km2 (410 sq mi) and its level was 390 m (1,280 ft) below sea level, the Dead Sea has been monitored continuously. The Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking since the 1960s because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north as part of the National Water Carrier scheme, completed in 1964. The southern end is fed by a canal maintained by the Dead Sea Works, a company that converts the sea's raw materials. From a water surface of 395 m (1,296 ft) below sea level in 1970 it fell 22 to 418 m (72 to 1,371 ft) below sea level in 2006, reaching a drop rate of 1 m (3 ft) per year. By 2025 it reached a height of 439 m (1,440 ft) below sea level, a drop of more than 1 m (3 ft) per year. As the water level decreases, the characteristics[vague] of the Sea and surrounding region may substantially change. As of 2021[update], the surface of the Sea has shrunk by about 33 percent since the 1960s, which is partly attributed to the much-reduced flow of the Jordan River since the construction of the National Water Carrier project, and the amount of water from the rains reaching the Dead Sea has diminished even further since flash floods started pouring into the sinkholes left by its shrinkage. The EcoPeace Middle East, a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian environmental group, has estimated that the annual flow into the Dead Sea from the Jordan is as of 2021[update] less than 100,000,000 cubic metres (3.5×109 cu ft) of water, compared with former flows of between 1,200,000,000 cubic metres (4.2×1010 cu ft) and 1,300,000,000 cubic metres (4.6×1010 cu ft). Sources: Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haaretz, Jordan Valley Authority. The Dead Sea level drop has been followed by a groundwater level drop, causing brines that used to occupy underground layers near the shoreline to be flushed out by freshwater. This is believed to be the cause of the recent appearance of large sinkholes along the western shore—incoming freshwater dissolves salt layers, rapidly creating subsurface cavities that subsequently collapse to form these sinkholes. As of 2021[update] Ein Gedi, on the western coast, has been subject to a large number of sinkholes appearing in the area, attributed to the decline in the water level of the Dead Sea. As a result of the sinkholes, most beach resorts along the west shore of the northern basin had to be shut down, with just three remaining near the basin's northwest tip (see List of beaches in Palestine: Dead Sea). In May 2009 at the World Economic Forum, Jordan introduced plans for a "Jordan National Red Sea Development Project" (JRSP). This is a plan to convey seawater from the Red Sea near Aqaba to the Dead Sea. Water would be desalinated along the route to provide fresh water to Jordan, with the brine discharge sent to the Dead Sea for replenishment. Israel has expressed its support and will likely benefit from some of the water delivery to its Negev region. At a regional conference in July 2009, officials expressed concern about the declining water levels. Some suggested industrial activities around the Dead Sea might need to be reduced. Others advised environmental measures to restore conditions such as increasing the volume of flow from the Jordan River to replenish the Dead Sea. Currently, only sewage and effluent from fish ponds run in the river's channel. Experts also stressed the need for strict conservation efforts. They said agriculture should not be expanded, sustainable support capabilities should be incorporated into the area and pollution sources should be reduced. In October 2009, the Jordanians accelerated plans to extract around 300 million cubic metres (11 billion cubic feet) of water per year from the Red Sea, desalinate it for use as fresh water and send the waste water to the Dead Sea by tunnel, despite concerns about inadequate time to assess the potential environmental impact. According to Jordan's minister for water, General Maysoun Zu'bi, this project could be considered as the first phase of the Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance. In December 2013, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement for laying a water pipeline to link the Red Sea with the Dead Sea. The pipeline would be 180 km (110 mi) long and is estimated to take up to five years to complete. In January 2015 it was reported that the level of water was dropping by 1 m (3.3 ft) a year. On 27 November 2016, the Jordanian government shortlisted five consortia to implement the project. Jordan's ministry of Water and Irrigation said that the $100 million first phase of the project would begin construction in the first quarter of 2018, and would be completed by 2021. The project was officially abandoned in June 2021, having never broken ground. See also References Further reading External links |
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Contents Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit The Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit (or TOV limit) is an upper bound to the mass of cold, non-rotating neutron stars, analogous to the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarf stars. Stars more massive than the TOV limit collapse into a black hole. The original calculation in 1939, which neglected complications such as nuclear forces between neutrons, placed this limit at approximately 0.7 solar masses (M☉). Later, more refined analyses have resulted in larger values. Theoretical work in 1996 placed the limit at approximately 1.5 to 3.0 M☉, corresponding to an original stellar mass of 15 to 20 M☉; additional work in the same year gave a more precise range of 2.2 to 2.9 M☉. Data from GW170817, the first gravitational wave observation attributed to merging neutron stars (thought to have collapsed into a black hole within a few seconds after merging) placed the limit in the range of 2.01 to 2.17 M☉. In the case of a rigidly spinning neutron star, meaning that different levels in the interior of the star all rotate at the same angular velocity, the mass limit is thought to increase by up to 18–20%. History The idea that there should be an absolute upper limit for the mass of a cold (as distinct from thermal pressure-supported) self-gravitating body dates back to the 1932 work of Lev Landau, based on the Pauli exclusion principle. Pauli's principle shows that the fermionic particles in sufficiently compressed matter would be forced into energy states so high that their rest mass contribution would become negligible when compared with the relativistic kinetic contribution (RKC). RKC is determined just by the relevant quantum wavelength λ, which would be of the order of the mean interparticle separation. In terms of Planck units, with the reduced Planck constant ħ, the speed of light c, and the gravitational constant G all set equal to one, there will be a corresponding pressure given roughly by At the upper mass limit, that pressure will equal the pressure needed to resist gravity. The pressure to resist gravity for a body of mass M will be given according to the virial theorem roughly by where ρ is the density. This will be given by ρ = m/λ3, where m is the relevant mass per particle. It can be seen that the wavelength cancels out so that one obtains an approximate mass limit formula of the very simple form In this relationship, m can be taken to be given roughly by the proton mass. This even applies in the white dwarf case (that of the Chandrasekhar limit) for which the fermionic particles providing the pressure are electrons. This is because the mass density is provided by the nuclei in which the neutrons are at most about as numerous as the protons. Likewise, the protons, for charge neutrality, must be exactly as numerous as the electrons outside. In the case of neutron stars, this limit was first worked out by J. Robert Oppenheimer and George Volkoff in 1939, using the work of Richard Chace Tolman. Oppenheimer and Volkoff assumed that the neutrons in a neutron star formed a degenerate cold Fermi gas. They thereby obtained a limiting mass of approximately 0.7 solar masses, which was less than the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarfs. Oppenheimer and Volkoff's paper notes that "the effect of repulsive forces, i.e., of raising the pressure for a given density above the value given by the Fermi equation of state ... could tend to prevent the collapse." And indeed, the most massive neutron star detected so far, PSR J0952–0607, is estimated to be much heavier than Oppenheimer and Volkoff's TOV limit at 2.35±0.17 M☉. More realistic models of neutron stars that include baryon strong force repulsion predict a neutron star mass limit of 2.2 to 2.9 M☉. The uncertainty in the value reflects the fact that the equations of state for extremely dense matter are not well known. Applications In a star less massive than the limit, the gravitational compression is balanced by short-range repulsive neutron–neutron interactions mediated by the strong force and also by the quantum degeneracy pressure of neutrons, preventing collapse.: 74 If its mass is above the limit, the star will collapse to some denser form. It could form a black hole, or change composition and be supported in some other way (for example, by quark degeneracy pressure if it becomes a quark star). Because the properties of hypothetical, more exotic forms of degenerate matter are even more poorly known than those of neutron-degenerate matter, most astrophysicists assume, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that a neutron star above the limit collapses directly into a black hole. A black hole formed by the collapse of an individual star must have mass exceeding the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit. Theory predicts that because of mass loss during stellar evolution, a black hole formed from an isolated star of solar metallicity can have a mass of no more than approximately 10 solar masses.: Fig. 16 Observationally, because of their large mass, relative faintness, and X-ray spectra, several massive objects in X-ray binaries are thought to be stellar black holes. These black hole candidates are estimated to have masses between 3 and 20 solar masses. LIGO has detected black hole mergers involving black holes in the 7.5–50 solar mass range; it is possible – although unlikely – that these black holes were themselves the result of previous mergers. Oppenheimer and Volkoff discounted the influence of heat, stating in reference to work by Landau (1932), 'even [at] 107 degrees... the pressure is determined essentially by the density only and not by the temperature' – yet it has been estimated that temperatures can reach up to approximately > 109 K during formation of a neutron star, mergers and binary accretion. Another source of heat and therefore collapse-resisting pressure in neutron stars is 'viscous friction in the presence of differential rotation.' Oppenheimer and Volkoff's calculation of the mass limit of neutron stars also neglected to consider the rotation of neutron stars. We now know that neutron stars are capable of spinning at much faster rates than were known in Oppenheimer and Volkoff's time. The fastest-spinning neutron star known is PSR J1748-2446ad, rotating at a rate of 716 times per second or 43,000 revolutions per minute, giving a linear (tangential) speed at the surface on the order of 0.24c (i.e., nearly a quarter the speed of light). Star rotation interferes with convective heat loss during supernova collapse, so rotating stars are more likely to collapse directly to form a black hole : 1044 List of the least massive black holes List of objects in mass gap This list contains objects that may be neutron stars, black holes, quark stars, or other exotic objects. This list is distinct from the list of least massive black holes due to the undetermined nature of these objects, largely because of indeterminate mass, or other poor observation data. See also References |
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Contents History of Israel The history of Israel covers the Southern Levant region also known as Canaan, Palestine, or the Holy Land, which is the location of Israel and Palestine. From prehistory, as part of the Levantine corridor, the area witnessed waves of early humans from Africa, then the emergence of Natufian culture c. 10,000 BCE. The region entered the Bronze Age c. 2,000 BCE with the development of Canaanite civilization. In the Iron Age, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were established, entities central to the origins of the Abrahamic religions. This has given rise to Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, Druzism, Baha'ism. The Land of Israel has seen many conflicts, been controlled by various polities, and hosted various ethnic groups. In the following centuries, the Assyrian, Babylonian, Achaemenid, and Macedonian empires conquered the region. Ptolemies and Seleucids vied for control during the Hellenistic period. Through the Hasmonean dynasty, the Jews maintained independence for a century before incorporation into the Roman Republic. As a result of the Jewish–Roman wars in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, many Jews were killed, or sold into slavery. Following the advent of Christianity, demographics shifted towards newfound Christians, who replaced Jews as the majority by the 4th century. In the 7th century, Byzantine Christian rule over Israel was superseded in the Muslim conquest of the Levant by the Rashidun Caliphate, to later be ruled by the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates, before being conquered by the Seljuks in the 1070s. Throughout the 12th and 13th centuries, the Land of Israel saw wars between Christians and Muslims as part of the Crusades, with the Kingdom of Jerusalem overrun by Saladin's Ayyubids in the 12th century. The Crusaders hung on to decreasing territories for another century. In the 13th century, the Land of Israel became subject to Mongol conquest, though this was stopped by the Mamluk Sultanate, under whose rule it remained until the 16th century. The Mamluks were defeated by the Ottoman Empire, and the region became an Ottoman province until the early 20th century. The 19th century saw the rise of a Jewish nationalist movement in Europe known as Zionism; aliyah, Jewish immigration to Israel from the diaspora, increased. During World War I, the Sinai and Palestine campaign of the Allies led to the partition of the Ottoman Empire. Britain was granted control of the region by a League of Nations mandate, known as Mandatory Palestine. The British committed to the creation of a Jewish homeland in the 1917 Balfour Declaration. Palestinian Arabs sought to prevent Jewish immigration, and tensions grew during British administration. In 1947, the UN voted for the partition of Mandate Palestine and creation of a Jewish and Arab state. The Jews accepted the plan, while the Arabs rejected it. A civil war ensued, won by the Jews. In May 1948, the Israeli Declaration of Independence sparked the 1948 War in which Israel repelled the armies of the neighbouring states. It resulted in the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight and led to Jewish emigration from other parts of the Middle East. About 40% of the global Jewish population resides in Israel. In 1979, the Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed. In 1993, Israel signed the Oslo I Accord with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was followed by the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. In 1994, the Israel–Jordan peace treaty was signed. Despite a long-running Israeli–Palestinian peace process, the conflict continues. Prehistory The oldest evidence of early humans in the territory of modern Israel, dating to 1.5 million years ago, was found in Ubeidiya near the Sea of Galilee. Flint tool artefacts have been discovered at Yiron, the oldest stone tools found anywhere outside Africa.[dubious – discuss] The Daughters of Jacob Bridge over the Jordan River provides evidence of the control of fire by early humans around 780,000 years ago, one of the oldest known examples. In the Mount Carmel area at el-Tabun, and Es Skhul, Neanderthal and early modern human remains were found, showing the longest stratigraphic record in the region, spanning 600,000 years of human activity, from the Lower Paleolithic to the present day, representing roughly a million years of human evolution. Other significant Paleolithic sites include Qesem cave. A 200,000-year-old fossil from Misliya Cave is the second-oldest evidence of anatomically modern humans found outside Africa. Other notable finds include the Skhul and Qafzeh hominins, as well as Manot 1. Around 10th millennium BCE, the Natufian culture existed in the area. The beginning of agriculture in the region during the Neolithic Revolution is evidenced by sites such as Nahal Oren and Gesher. Here is one of the more common periodisations. Bronze Age Canaan The Canaanites are archaeologically attested in the Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BCE). There were probably independent or semi-independent city-states. Cities were often surrounded by massive earthworks, resulting in the archaeological mounds, or 'tells' common in the region today. In the late Middle Bronze Age, the Nile Delta in Egypt was settled by Canaanites who maintained close connections with Canaan. During that period, the Hyksos, dynasties of Canaanite/Asiatic origin, ruled much of Lower Egypt before being overthrown in the 16th century BCE. During the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE), there were Canaanite vassal states paying tribute to the New Kingdom of Egypt, which governed from Gaza. In 1457 BCE, Egyptian forces under the command of Pharaoh Thutmose III defeated a rebellious coalition of Canaanite vassal states led by Kadesh's king at the Battle of Megiddo. In the Late Bronze Age there was a period of civilizational collapse in the Middle East, Canaan fell into chaos, and Egyptian control ended. There is evidence that urban centers such as Hazor, Beit She'an, Megiddo, Ekron, Isdud and Ascalon were damaged or destroyed. Two groups appear at this time, and are associated with the transition to the Iron Age (they used iron weapons/tools which were better than earlier bronze): the Sea Peoples, particularly the Philistines, who migrated from the Aegean world and settled on the southern coast, and the Israelites, whose settlements dotted the highlands. Some 2nd millennium inscriptions about the semi-nomadic Habiru people are believed to be connected to the Hebrews, who were generally synonymous with the Biblical Israelites. Many scholars regard this connection to be plausible since the two ethnonyms have similar etymologies, although others argue that Habiru refers to a social class found in every Near Eastern society, including Hebrew societies. Ancient Israel and Judah: Iron Age to Babylonian period The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel (as ysrỉꜣr) occurs in the Egyptian Merneptah Stele, erected for Pharaoh Merneptah c. 1209 BCE. Archeological evidence indicates that during the early Iron Age I, hundreds of small villages were established on the highlands of Canaan on both sides of the Jordan River, primarily in Samaria, north of Jerusalem. These villages had populations of up to 400, were largely self-sufficient and lived from herding, grain cultivation, and growing vines and olives with some economic interchange. The pottery was plain and undecorated. Writing was known and available for recording, even in small sites. William G. Dever sees this "Israel" in the central highlands as a cultural and probably political entity, more an ethnic group rather than an organized state. Modern scholars believe that the Israelites and their culture branched out of the Canaanite peoples and their cultures through the development of a distinct monolatristic—and later monotheistic—religion centred on a national god Yahweh. According to McNutt, "It is probably safe to assume that sometime during Iron Age I a population began to identify itself as 'Israelite'", differentiating itself from the Canaanites through such markers as the prohibition of intermarriage, an emphasis on family history and genealogy, and religion. Philistine cooking tools and the prevalence of pork in their diets, and locally made Mycenaean pottery—which later evolved into bichrome Philistine pottery—all support their foreign origin. Their cities were large and elaborate, which—together with the findings—point to a complex, hierarchical society. Israel Finkelstein believes that the oldest Abraham traditions originated in the Iron Age, which focus on the themes of land and offspring and possibly, his altars in Hebron. Abraham's Mesopotamian heritage is not discussed. In the 10th century BCE, the Israelite kingdoms of Judah and Israel emerged. The Hebrew Bible states that these were preceded by a single kingdom ruled by Saul, David and Solomon, who is said to have built the First Temple. Archaeologists have debated whether the united monarchy ever existed,[Notes 1] with those in favor of such a polity existing further divided between maximalists who support the Biblical accounts, and minimalists who argue that any such polity was likely smaller than suggested. Historians and archaeologists agree that the northern Kingdom of Israel existed by ca. 900 BCE and the Kingdom of Judah existed by ca. 850 BCE. The Kingdom of Israel was the more prosperous of the two kingdoms and soon developed into a regional power; during the days of the Omride dynasty, it controlled Samaria, Galilee, the upper Jordan Valley, the Sharon and large parts of the Transjordan. Samaria, the capital, was home to one of the largest Iron Age structures in the Levant. The Kingdom of Israel's capital moved between Shechem, Penuel and Tirzah before Omri settled it in Samaria, and the royal succession was often settled by a military coup d'état. The Kingdom of Judah was smaller but more stable; the Davidic dynasty ruled the kingdom for the four centuries of its existence, with the capital always in Jerusalem, controlling the Judaean Mountains, most of the Shephelah and the Beersheba valley in the northern Negev. In 854 BCE, according to the Kurkh Monoliths, an alliance between Ahab of Israel and Ben Hadad II of Aram-Damascus managed to repulse the incursions of the Assyrians, with a victory at the Battle of Qarqar. Another important discovery of the period is the Mesha Stele, a Moabite stele found in Dhiban when Emir Sattam Al-Fayez led Henry Tristram to it as they toured the lands of the vassals of the Bani Sakher. The stele is now in the Louvre. In the stele, Mesha, king of Moab, tells how Chemosh, the god of Moab, had been angry with his people and had allowed them to be subjugated to the Kingdom of Israel, but at length, Chemosh returned and assisted Mesha to throw off the yoke of Israel and restore the lands of Moab. It refers to Omri, king of Israel, to the god Yahweh, and may contain another early reference to the House of David. The Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians following a long siege of the capital Samaria around 720 BCE. The records of Sargon II indicate that he captured Samaria and deported 27,290 inhabitants to Mesopotamia. It is likely that Shalmaneser captured the city since both the Babylonian Chronicles and the Hebrew Bible viewed the fall of Israel as the signature event of his reign. The Assyrian deportations became the basis for the Jewish idea of the Ten Lost Tribes. Foreign groups were settled by the Assyrians in the territories of the fallen kingdom. The Samaritans claim to be descended from Israelites of ancient Samaria who were not expelled by the Assyrians. It is believed that refugees from the destruction of Israel moved to Judah, massively expanding Jerusalem and leading to construction of the Siloam Tunnel during the rule of King Hezekiah (ruled 715–686 BCE). The Siloam inscription, a plaque written in Hebrew left by the construction team, was discovered in the tunnel in 1880s, and is today held by the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. During Hezekiah's rule, Sennacherib, the son of Sargon, attempted but failed to capture Judah. Assyrian records say that Sennacherib levelled 46 walled cities and besieged Jerusalem, leaving after receiving extensive tribute. Sennacherib erected the Lachish reliefs in Nineveh to commemorate a second victory at Lachish. The writings of four different "prophets" are believed to date from this period: Hosea and Amos in Israel and Micah and Isaiah of Judah. These men were mostly social critics who warned of the Assyrian threat and acted as religious spokesmen. They exercised some form of free speech and may have played a significant social and political role in Israel and Judah. They urged rulers and the general populace to adhere to god-conscious ethical ideals, seeing the Assyrian invasions as a divine punishment of the collective resulting from ethical failures. Under King Josiah (ruler from 641 to 619 BCE), the Book of Deuteronomy was either rediscovered or written. The Book of Joshua and the accounts of the kingship of David and Solomon in the Book of Kings are believed to have the same author. The books are known as Deuteronomist and considered to be a key step in the emergence of monotheism in Judah. They emerged at a time that Assyria was weakened by the emergence of Babylon and may be a committing to text of pre-writing verbal traditions. During the late 7th century BCE, Judah became a vassal state of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. In 601 BCE, Jehoiakim of Judah allied with Babylon's principal rival, Egypt, despite the strong remonstrances of the prophet Jeremiah. As a punishment, the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem in 597 BCE, and the city surrendered. The defeat was recorded by the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar pillaged Jerusalem and deported king Jechoiachin (Jeconiah), along with other prominent citizens, to Babylon; Zedekiah, his uncle, was installed as king. A few years later, Zedekiah launched another revolt against Babylon, and an army was sent to conquer Jerusalem. In 587 or 586 BCE, King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the First Temple and razed the city. The Kingdom of Judah was abolished, and many of its citizens were exiled to Babylon. The former territory of Judah became a Babylonian province called Yehud with its center in Mizpah, north of the destroyed Jerusalem. Tablets that describe King Jehoiachin's rations were found in the ruins of Babylon. He was eventually released by the Babylonians. According to both the Bible and the Talmud, the Davidic dynasty continued as head of Babylonian Jewry, called the "Rosh Galut" (exilarch or head of exile). Arab and Jewish sources show that the Rosh Galut continued to exist for another 1,500 years in what is now Iraq, ending in the eleventh century. Second Temple period In 538 BCE, Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire conquered Babylon and took over its empire. Cyrus issued a proclamation granting religious freedom to all peoples subjugated by the Babylonians (see the Cyrus Cylinder). According to the Bible, Jewish exiles in Babylon, including 50,000 Judeans led by Zerubabel, returned to Judah to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. The Second Temple was subsequently completed c. 515 BCE. A second group of 5,000, led by Ezra and Nehemiah, returned to Judah in 456 BCE. The first was empowered by the Persian king to enforce religious rules, the second had the status of governor and a royal mission to restore the walls of the city. The country remained a province of the Achaemenid empire called Yehud until 332 BCE. The final text of the Torah is thought to have been written during the Persian period (probably 450–350 BCE). The text was formed by editing and unifying earlier texts. The returning Israelites adopted an Aramaic script (also known as the Ashuri alphabet), which they brought back from Babylon; this is the current Hebrew script. The Hebrew calendar closely resembles the Babylonian calendar and probably dates from this period. The Bible describes tension between the returnees, the elite of the First Temple period, and those who had remained in Judah. It is possible that the returnees, supported by the Persian monarchy, became large landholders at the expense of the people who had remained to work the land in Judah, whose opposition to the Second Temple would have reflected a fear that exclusion from the cult would deprive them of land rights. Judah had become in practice a theocracy, ruled by hereditary High Priests and a Persian-appointed governor, frequently Jewish, charged with keeping order and seeing that tribute was paid. A Judean military garrison was placed by the Persians on Elephantine Island near Aswan in Egypt. In the early 20th century, 175 papyrus documents recording activity in this community were discovered, including the "Passover Papyrus", a letter instructing the garrison on how to correctly conduct the Passover feast. In 332 BCE, Alexander the Great of Macedon conquered the region as part of his campaign against the Achaemenid Empire. After his death in 322 BCE, his generals divided the empire and Judea became a frontier region between the Seleucid Empire and Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. Following a century of Ptolemaic rule, Judea was conquered by the Seleucid Empire in 200 BCE at the battle of Panium. Hellenistic rulers generally respected Jewish culture and protected Jewish institutions. Judea was ruled by the hereditary office of the High Priest of Israel as a Hellenistic vassal. Nevertheless, the region underwent a process of Hellenization, which heightened tensions between Greeks, Hellenized Jews, and observant Jews. These tensions escalated into clashes involving a power struggle for the position of high priest and the character of the holy city of Jerusalem. When Antiochus IV Epiphanes consecrated the temple, forbade Jewish practices, and forcibly imposed Hellenistic norms on the Jews, several centuries of religious tolerance under Hellenistic control came to an end. In 167 BCE, the Maccabean revolt erupted after Mattathias, a Jewish priest of the Hasmonean lineage, killed a Hellenized Jew and a Seleucid official who participated in sacrifice to the Greek gods in Modi'in. His son Judas Maccabeus defeated the Seleucids in several battles, and in 164 BCE, he captured Jerusalem and restored temple worship, an event commemorated by the Jewish festival of Hannukah. After Judas' death, his brothers Jonathan Apphus and Simon Thassi were able to establish and consolidate a vassal Hasmonean state in Judea, capitalizing on the Seleucid Empire's decline as a result of internal instability and wars with the Parthians, and by forging ties with the rising Roman Republic. Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus was able to gain independence, doubling Judea's territories. He took control of Idumaea, where he converted the Edomites to Judaism, and invaded Scythopolis and Samaria, where he demolished the Samaritan Temple. Hyrcanus was also the first Hasmonean leader to mint coins. Under his sons, kings Aristobulus I and Alexander Jannaeus, Hasmonean Judea became a kingdom, and its territories continued to expand, now also covering the coastal plain, Galilee and parts of the Transjordan. Some scholars argue that the Hasmonean dynasty also institutionalized the final Jewish biblical canon. Under Hasmonean rule, the Pharisees, Sadducees and the mystic Essenes emerged as the principal Jewish social movements. The Pharisee sage Simeon ben Shetach is credited with establishing the first schools based around meeting houses. This was a key step in the emergence of Rabbinical Judaism. After Jannaeus' widow, queen Salome Alexandra, died in 67 BCE, her sons Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II engaged in a civil war over succession. The conflicting parties requested Pompey's assistance on their behalf, which paved the way for a Roman takeover of the kingdom. In 63 BCE, the Roman Republic conquered Judaea, ending Jewish independence under the Hasmoneans. Roman general Pompey intervened in a dynastic civil war and, after capturing Jerusalem, reinstated Hyrcanus II as high priest but denied him the title of king. Rome soon installed the Herodian dynasty—of Idumean descent but Jewish by conversion—as a loyal replacement for the nationalist Hasmoneans. In 37 BCE, Herod the Great, the first client king of this line, took power after defeating the restored Hasmonean king Antigonus II Mattathias. Herod imposed heavy taxes, suppressed opposition, and centralized authority, which fostered widespread resentment. Herod also carried out major monumental construction projects throughout his kingdom, and significantly expanded the Second Temple, which he transformed into one of the largest religious structures in the ancient world. After his death in 4 BCE, his kingdom was divided among his sons into a tetrarchy under continued Roman oversight. In 6 CE, Roman emperor Augustus transformed Judaea into a Roman province, deposing its last Jewish ruler, Herod Archelaus, and appointing a Roman governor in his place. That same year, a census triggered a small uprising by Judas of Galilee, the founder of a movement that rejected foreign authority and recognized only God as king. Over the next six decades, with the brief exception of a short period of Jewish autonomy under the client king Herod Agrippa I, the province remained under direct Roman administration. Some governors ruled with brutality and showed little regard for Jewish religious sensitivities, deepening resentment among the local population. This discontent was also fueled by poor governance, corruption, and growing economic inequality, along with rising tensions between Jews and neighboring populations over ethnic, religious, and territorial disputes. At the same time, collective memory of the Maccabean revolt and the period of Hasmonean independence continued to inspire hopes for national liberation from Roman control. In 64 CE, the Temple High Priest Joshua ben Gamla introduced a religious requirement for Jewish boys to learn to read from the age of six. Over the next few hundred years this requirement became steadily more ingrained in Jewish tradition. The Jewish–Roman wars were a series of large-scale revolts by Jewish subjects against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE. The term primarily applies to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE) and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE), both nationalist rebellions aimed at restoring Jewish independence in Judea. Some sources also include the Diaspora Revolt (115–117 CE), an ethno-religious conflict fought across the Eastern Mediterranean and including the Kitos War in Judaea. The Jewish–Roman wars had a devastating impact on the Jewish people, transforming them from a major population in the Eastern Mediterranean into a dispersed and persecuted minority. The First Jewish-Roman War culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem and other towns and villages in Judaea, resulting in significant loss of life and a considerable segment of the population being uprooted or displaced. Those who remained were stripped of any form of political autonomy. Subsequently, the brutal suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt resulted in even more severe consequences. Judea witnessed a significant depopulation, as many Jews were killed, expelled, or sold into slavery. The outcome of the conflict marked the termination of efforts to reestablish a Jewish state until the modern era. Jews were banned from residing in the vicinity of Jerusalem, which the Romans rebuilt into the pagan colony of Aelia Capitolina, and the province of Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina. Collectively, these events enhanced the role of Jewish diaspora, relocating the Jewish demographic and cultural center to Galilee and eventually to Babylonia, with smaller communities across the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and beyond. The Jewish–Roman wars also had a major impact on Judaism, after the central worship site of Second Temple Judaism, the Second Temple in Jerusalem, was destroyed by Titus's troops in 70 CE. The destruction of the Temple led to a transformation in Jewish religious practices, emphasizing prayer, Torah study, and communal gatherings in synagogues. This pivotal shift laid the foundation for the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism, which has been the dominant form of Judaism since late antiquity, after the codification of the Babylonian Talmud. Late Roman and Byzantine periods As a result of the disastrous effects of the Bar Kokhba revolt, Jewish presence in the region significantly dwindled. Over the next centuries, more Jews left to communities in the Diaspora, especially the large, speedily growing Jewish communities in Babylonia and Arabia. Others remained in the Land of Israel, where the spiritual and demographic center shifted from the depopulated Judea to Galilee. Jewish presence also continued in the southern Hebron Hills, in Ein Gedi, and on the coastal plain. The Mishnah and the Jerusalem Talmud, huge compendiums of Rabbinical discussions, were compiled during the 2nd to 4th centuries CE in Tiberias and Jerusalem. Following the revolt, Judea's countryside was penetrated by pagan populations, including migrants from the nearby provinces of Syria, Phoenicia, and Arabia, whereas Aelia Capitolina, its immediate vicinity, and administrative centers were now inhabited by Roman veterans and settlers from the western parts of the empire. The Romans permitted a hereditary Rabbinical Patriarch from the House of Hillel, called the "Nasi", to represent the Jews in dealings with the Romans. One prominent figure was Judah ha-Nasi, credited with compiling the final version of the Mishnah, a vast collection of Jewish oral traditions. He also emphasized the importance of education in Judaism, leading to requirements that illiterate Jews be treated as outcasts. This might have contributed to some illiterate Jews converting to Christianity. Jewish seminaries, such as those at Shefaram and Bet Shearim, continued to produce scholars. The best of these became members of the Sanhedrin, which was located first at Sepphoris and later at Tiberias. In the Galillee, many synagogues have been found dating from this period, and the burial site of the Sanhedrin leaders was discovered in Beit She'arim. In the 3rd century, the Roman Empire faced an economic crisis and imposed heavy taxation to fund wars of imperial succession. This situation prompted additional Jewish migration from Syria Palaestina to the Sasanian Empire, known for its more tolerant environment; there, a flourishing Jewish community with important Talmudic academies thrived in Babylonia, engaging in a notable rivalry with the Talmudic academies of Palaestina. Early in the 4th century, the Emperor Constantine made Constantinople the capital of the East Roman Empire and made Christianity an accepted religion. His mother Helena made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (326–328) and led the construction of the Church of the Nativity (birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (burial site of Jesus in Jerusalem) and other key churches that still exist. The name Jerusalem was restored to Aelia Capitolina and became a Christian city. Jews were still banned from living in Jerusalem, but were allowed to visit and worship at the site of the ruined temple. Over the course of the next century Christians worked to eradicate "paganism", leading to the destruction of classical Roman traditions and eradication of their temples. In 351–2, another Jewish revolt in the Galilee erupted against a corrupt Roman governor. The Roman Empire split in 390 CE and the region became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, known as the Byzantine Empire. Under Byzantine rule, much of the region and its non-Jewish population were won over by Christianity, which eventually became the dominant religion in the region. The presence of holy sites drew Christian pilgrims, some of whom chose to settle, contributing to the rise of a Christian majority. Christian authorities encouraged this pilgrimage movement and appropriated lands, constructing magnificent churches at locations linked to biblical narratives. Additionally, monks established monasteries near pagan settlements, encouraging the conversion of local pagans. During the Byzantine period, the Jewish presence in the region declined, and it is believed that Jews lost their majority status in Palestine in the fourth century. While Judaism remained the sole non-Christian religion tolerated, restrictions on Jews gradually increased, prohibiting the construction of new places of worship, holding public office, or owning Christian slaves. In 425, after the death of the last Nasi, Gamliel VI, the Nasi office and the Sanhedrin were officially abolished, and the standing of yeshivot weakened. The leadership void was gradually filled by the Jewish center in Babylonia, which would assume a leading role in the Jewish world for generations after the Byzantine period. During the 5th and 6th centuries CE, the region witnessed a series of Samaritan revolts against Byzantine rule. Their suppression resulted in the decline of Samaritan presence and influence, and further consolidated Christian domination. Though it is acknowledged that some Jews and Samaritans converted to Christianity during the Byzantine period, the reliable historical records are limited, and they pertain to individual conversions rather than entire communities. In 611, Khosrow II, ruler of Sassanid Persia, invaded the Byzantine Empire. He was helped by Jewish fighters recruited by Benjamin of Tiberias and captured Jerusalem in 614. The "True Cross" was captured by the Persians. The Jewish Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen may also have provided support. Nehemiah ben Hushiel was made governor of Jerusalem. Christian historians of the period claimed the Jews massacred Christians in the city, but there is no archeological evidence of destruction, leading modern historians to question their accounts. In 628, Kavad II (son of Kosrow) returned Palestine and the True Cross to the Byzantines and signed a peace treaty with them. Following the Byzantine re-entry, Heraclius massacred the Jewish population of Galilee and Jerusalem, while renewing the ban on Jews entering the latter. Early Muslim period The Levant was conquered by an Arab army under the command of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb in 635, and became the province of Bilad al-Sham of the Rashidun Caliphate. Two military districts—Jund Filastin and Jund al-Urdunn—were established in Palestine. A new city called Ramlah was built as the Muslim capital of Jund Filastin, while Tiberias served as the capital of Jund al-Urdunn. The Byzantine ban on Jews living in Jerusalem came to an end. In 661, Mu'awiya I was crowned Caliph in Jerusalem, becoming the first of the (Damascus-based) Umayyad dynasty. In 691, Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik (685–705) constructed the Dome of the Rock shrine on the Temple Mount, where the two Jewish temples had been located. A second building, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, was also erected on the Temple Mount in 705. Both buildings were rebuilt in the 10th century following a series of earthquakes. In 750, Arab discrimination against non-Arab Muslims led to the Abbasid Revolution and the Umayyads were replaced by the Abbasid Caliphs who built a new city, Baghdad, to be their capital. This period is known as the Islamic Golden Age, the Arab Empire was the largest in the world and Baghdad the largest and richest city. Both Arabs and minorities prospered across the region and much scientific progress was made. There were however setbacks: During the 8th century, the Caliph Umar II introduced a law requiring Jews and Christians to wear identifying clothing. Jews were required to wear yellow stars round their neck and on their hats, Christians had to wear Blue. Clothing regulations arose during repressive periods of Arab rule and were more designed to humiliate then persecute non-Muslims. A poll tax was imposed on all non-Muslims by Islamic rulers and failure to pay could result in imprisonment or worse. In 982, Caliph Al-Aziz Billah of the Cairo-based Fatimid dynasty conquered the region. The Fatimids were followers of Isma'ilism, a branch of Shia Islam and claimed descent from Fatima, Mohammed's daughter. Around the year 1010, the Church of Holy Sepulchre (believed to be Jesus burial site), was destroyed by Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim, who relented ten years later and paid for it to be rebuilt. In 1020 al-Hakim claimed divine status and the newly formed Druze religion gave him the status of a messiah. Although the Arab conquest was relatively peaceful and did not cause widespread destruction, it did alter the country's demographics significantly. Over the ensuing several centuries, the region experienced a drastic decline in its population, from an estimated 1 million during Roman and Byzantine times to some 300,000 by the early Ottoman period. This demographic collapse was accompanied by a slow process of Islamization, that resulted from the flight of non-Muslim populations, immigration of Muslims, and local conversion. The majority of the remaining populace belonged to the lowest classes. While the Arab conquerors themselves left the area after the conquest and moved on to other places, the settlement of Arab tribes in the area both before and after the conquest also contributed to the Islamization. As a result, the Muslim population steadily grew and the area became gradually dominated by Muslims on a political and social level. During the early Islamic period, many Christians and Samaritans, belonging to the Byzantine upper class, migrated from the coastal cities to northern Syria and Cyprus, which were still under Byzantine control, while others fled to the central highlands and the Transjordan. As a result, the coastal towns, formerly important economic centers connected with the rest of the Byzantine world, were emptied of most of their residents. Some of these cities—namely Ashkelon, Acre, Arsuf, and Gaza—now fortified border towns, were resettled by Muslim populations, who developed them into significant Muslim centers. The region of Samaria also underwent a process of Islamization as a result of waves of conversion among the Samaritan population and the influx of Muslims into the area. The predominantly Jacobite Monophysitic Christian population had been hostile to Byzantium orthodoxy, and at times for that reason welcomed Muslim rule. There is no strong evidence for forced conversion, or that the jizya tax significantly affected such changes. The demographic situation in Palestine was further altered by urban decline under the Abbasids, and it is thought that the 749 earthquake hastened this process by causing an increase in the number of Jews, Christians, and Samaritans who emigrated to diaspora communities while also leaving behind others who remained in the devastated cities and poor villages until they converted to Islam. Historical records and archeological evidence suggest that many Samaritans converted under Abbasid and Tulunid rule, after suffering through severe difficulties such droughts, earthquakes, religious persecution, heavy taxes and anarchy. The same region also saw the settlement of Arabs. Over the period, the Samaritan population drastically decreased, with the rural Samaritan population converting to Islam, and small urban communities remaining in Nablus and Caesarea, as well as in Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo and Sarepta. Nevertheless, the Muslim population remained a minority in a predominantly Christian area, and it is likely that this status persisted until the Crusader period. Crusades and Mongols In 1095, Pope Urban II called upon Christians to wage a holy war and recapture Jerusalem from Muslim rule. Responding to this call, Christians launched the First Crusade in the same year, a military campaign aimed at retaking the Holy Land, ultimately resulting in the successful siege and conquest of Jerusalem in 1099. In the same year, the Crusaders conquered Beit She'an and Tiberias, and in the following decade, they captured coastal cities with the support of Italian city-state fleets, establishing these coastal ports as crucial strongholds for Crusader rule in the region. Following the First Crusade, several Crusader states were established in the Levant, with the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Regnum Hierosolymitanum) assuming a preeminent position and enjoying special status among them. The population consisted predominantly of Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Samaritans, while the Crusaders remained a minority and relied on the local population who worked the soil. The region saw the construction of numerous robust castles and fortresses, yet efforts to establish permanent European villages proved unsuccessful. Around 1180, Raynald of Châtillon, ruler of Transjordan, caused increasing conflict with the Ayyubid Sultan Saladin (Salah-al-Din), leading to the defeat of the Crusaders in the 1187 Battle of Hattin (above Tiberias). Saladin was able to peacefully take Jerusalem and conquered most of the former Kingdom of Jerusalem. Saladin's court physician was Maimonides, a refugee from Almohad (Muslim) persecution in Córdoba, Spain, where all non-Muslim religions had been banned. The Christian world's response to the loss of Jerusalem came in the Third Crusade of 1190. After lengthy battles and negotiations, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin concluded the Treaty of Jaffa in 1192 whereby Christians were granted free passage to make pilgrimages to the holy sites, while Jerusalem remained under Muslim rule. In 1229, Jerusalem peacefully reverted into Christian control as part of a treaty between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Ayyubid sultan al-Kamil that ended the Sixth Crusade. In 1244, Jerusalem was sacked by the Khwarezmian Tatars who decimated the city's Christian population, drove out the Jews and razed the city. The Khwarezmians were driven out by the Ayyubids in 1247. Mamluk period Between 1258 and 1291, the area was the frontier between Mongol invaders (occasional Crusader allies) and the Mamluks of Egypt. The conflict impoverished the country and severely reduced the population. In Egypt a caste of warrior slaves, known as the Mamluks, gradually took control of the kingdom. The Mamluks were mostly of Turkish origin, and were bought as children and then trained in warfare. They were highly prized warriors, who gave rulers independence of the native aristocracy. In Egypt they took control of the kingdom following a failed invasion by the Crusaders (Seventh Crusade). The first Mamluk Sultan, Qutuz of Egypt, defeated the Mongols in the Battle of Ain Jalut ("Goliath's spring" near Ein Harod), ending the Mongol advances. He was assassinated by one of his Generals, Baibars, who went on to eliminate most of the Crusader outposts. The Mamluks ruled Palestine until 1516, regarding it as part of Syria. In Hebron, Jews were banned from worshipping at the Cave of the Patriarchs (the second-holiest site in Judaism); they were only allowed to enter 7 steps inside the site and the ban remained in place until Israel assumed control of the West Bank in the Six-Day War.[undue weight? – discuss] The Egyptian Mamluk sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil conquered the last outpost of Crusader rule in 1291. The Mamluks, continuing the policy of the Ayyubids, made the strategic decision to destroy the coastal area and to bring desolation to many of its cities, from Tyre in the north to Gaza in the south. Ports were destroyed and various materials were dumped to make them inoperable. The goal was to prevent attacks from the sea, given the fear of the return of the Crusaders. This had a long-term effect on those areas, which remained sparsely populated for centuries. The activity in that time concentrated more inland. With the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain and 1497 persecution of Jews and Muslims by Manuel I of Portugal, many Jews moved eastward, with some deciding to settle in the Mamluk Palestine. As a consequence, the local Jewish community underwent significant rejuvenation. The influx of Sephardic Jews began under Mamluk rule in the 15th century, and continued throughout the 16th century and especially after the Ottoman conquest. As city-dwellers, the majority of Sephardic Jews preferred to settle in urban areas, mainly in Safed but also in Jerusalem, while the Musta'arbi community comprised the majority of the villagers' Jews. Ottoman period Under the Mamluks, the area was a province of Bilad a-Sham (Syria). It was conquered by Turkish Sultan Selim I in 1516–17, becoming a part of the province of Ottoman Syria for the next four centuries, first as the Damascus Eyalet and later as the Syria Vilayet (following the Tanzimat reorganization of 1864). With the more favorable conditions that followed the Ottoman conquest, the immigration of Jews fleeing Catholic Europe, which had already begun under Mamluk rule, continued, and soon an influx of exiled Sephardic Jews came to dominate the Jewish community in the area. In 1558, Selim II (1566–1574), successor to Suleiman, whose wife Nurbanu Sultan was Jewish, gave control of Tiberias to Doña Gracia Mendes Nasi, one of the richest women in Europe and an escapee from the Inquisition. She encouraged Jewish refugees to settle in the area and established a Hebrew printing press. Safed became a centre for study of the Kabbalah and other Jewish religious studies, culminating with Joseph Karo's writing of the Shulchan Aruch – published in 1565 in Venice – which became the near-universal standard of Jewish religious law. Doña Nasi's nephew, Joseph Nasi, was made governor of Tiberias and he encouraged Jewish settlement from Italy. In 1660, a Druze power struggle led to the destruction of Safed and Tiberias. In the late 18th century a local Arab sheikh, Zahir al-Umar, created a de facto independent Emirate in the Galilee. Ottoman attempts to subdue the Sheikh failed, but after Zahir's death the Ottomans restored their rule in the area. In 1799, Napoleon briefly occupied the country and planned a proclamation inviting Jews to create a state. The proclamation was shelved following his defeat at Acre. In 1831, Muhammad Ali of Egypt, an Ottoman ruler who left the Empire and tried to modernize Egypt, conquered Ottoman Syria and imposed conscription, leading to the Arab revolt. In 1838, there was another Druze revolt. In 1839 Moses Montefiore met with Muhammed Pasha in Egypt and signed an agreement to establish 100–200 Jewish villages in the Damascus Eyalet of Ottoman Syria, but in 1840 the Egyptians withdrew before the deal was implemented, returning the area to Ottoman governorship. In 1844, Jews constituted the largest population group in Jerusalem. By 1896 Jews constituted an absolute majority in Jerusalem, but the overall population in Palestine was 88% Muslim and 9% Christian. Between 1882 and 1903, approximately 35,000 Jews moved to Palestine, known as the First Aliyah. In the Russian Empire, Jews faced growing persecution and legal restrictions. Half the world's Jews lived in the Russian Empire, where they were restricted to living in the Pale of Settlement. Severe pogroms in the early 1880s and legal repression led to 2 million Jews emigrating from the Russian Empire. 1.5 million went to the United States. Popular destinations were also Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Argentina and Palestine. The Zionist movement began in earnest in 1882 with Leon Pinsker's pamphlet Auto-Emancipation, which argued for the creation of a Jewish national homeland as a means to avoid the violence plaguing Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. At the 1884 Katowice Conference, Russian Jews established the Bilu and Hovevei Zion ("Lovers of Zion") movements with the aim of settling in Palestine. In 1878, Russian Jewish emigrants established the village of Petah Tikva ("The Beginning of Hope"), followed by Rishon LeZion ("First to Zion") in 1882. The existing Ashkenazi communities were concentrated in the Four Holy Cities, extremely poor and relied on donations (halukka) from groups abroad, while the new settlements were small farming communities, but still relied on funding by the French Baron, Edmond James de Rothschild, who sought to establish profitable enterprises. Many early migrants could not find work and left, but despite the problems, more settlements arose and the community grew. After the Ottoman conquest of Yemen in 1881, a large number of Yemenite Jews also emigrated to Palestine, often driven by Messianism. In 1896 Theodor Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), in which he asserted that the solution to growing antisemitism in Europe (the so-called "Jewish Question") was to establish a Jewish state. In 1897, the World Zionist Organization was founded and the First Zionist Congress proclaimed its aim "to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured under public law." The Congress chose Hatikvah ("The Hope") as its anthem. Between 1904 and 1914, around 40,000 Jews settled in the area now known as Israel (the Second Aliyah). In 1908, the World Zionist Organization set up the Palestine Bureau (also known as the "Eretz Israel Office") in Jaffa and began to adopt a systematic Jewish settlement policy. In 1909, residents of Jaffa bought land outside the city walls and built the first entirely Hebrew-speaking town, Ahuzat Bayit (later renamed Tel Aviv). In 1915–1916, Talaat Pasha of the Young Turks forced around a million Armenian Christians from their homes in Eastern Turkey, marching them south through Syria, in what is now known as the Armenian genocide. The number of dead is thought to be around 700,000. Hundreds of thousands were forcibly converted to Islam. A community of survivors settled in Jerusalem, one of whom developed the now iconic Armenian pottery. During World War I, most Jews supported the Germans because they were fighting the Russians who were regarded as the Jews' main enemy. In Britain, the government sought Jewish support for the war effort for a variety of reasons including an antisemitic perception of "Jewish power" in the Ottoman Empire's Young Turks movement which was based in Thessaloniki, the most Jewish city in Europe (40% of the 160,000 population were Jewish). The British also hoped to secure American Jewish support for US intervention on Britain's behalf. There was already sympathy for the aims of Zionism in the British government, including the Prime Minister Lloyd George. Over 14,000 Jews were expelled by the Ottoman military commander from the Jaffa area in 1914–1915, due to suspicions they were subjects of Russia, an enemy, or Zionists wishing to detach Palestine from the Ottoman Empire, and when the entire population, including Muslims, of both Jaffa and Tel Aviv was subject to an expulsion order in April 1917, the affected Jews could not return until the British conquest ended in 1918, which drove the Turks out of Southern Syria. A year prior, in 1917, the British foreign minister, Arthur Balfour, sent a public letter to the British Lord Rothschild, a leading member of his party and leader of the Jewish community. The letter subsequently became known as the Balfour Declaration. It stated that the British Government "view[ed] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". The declaration provided the British government with a pretext for claiming and governing the country. New Middle Eastern boundaries were decided by an agreement between British and French bureaucrats. A Jewish Legion composed largely of Zionist volunteers organized by Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor participated in the British invasion. It also participated in the failed Gallipoli Campaign. The Nili Zionist spy network provided the British with details of Ottoman plans and troop concentrations. The Ottoman Empire chose to ally itself with Germany when the first war began. Arab leaders dreamed of freeing themselves from Ottoman rule and establishing self-government or forming an independent Arab state. Therefore, Britain contacted Hussein bin Ali of the Kingdom of Hejaz and proposed cooperation. Together they organized the Arab revolt that Britain supplied with very large quantities of rifles and ammunition. In cooperation between British artillery and Arab infantry, the city of Aqaba on the Red Sea was conquered. The Arab army then continued north while Britain attacked the ottomans from the sea. In 1917–1918, Jerusalem and Damascus were conquered from the ottomans. Britain then broke off cooperation with the Arab army. It turned out that Britain had already entered into the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement that meant that only Britain and France would be allowed to administer the land conquered from the Ottoman Empire. After pushing out the Ottomans, Palestine came under martial law. The British, French and Arab Occupied Enemy Territory Administration governed the area shortly before the armistice with the Ottomans until the promulgation of the mandate in 1920. Mandatory Palestine The British Mandate (in effect, British rule) of Palestine, including the Balfour Declaration, was confirmed by the League of Nations in 1922 and came into effect in 1923. The territory of Transjordan was also covered by the Mandate but under separate rules that excluded it from the Balfour Declaration. Britain signed a treaty with the United States (which did not join the League of Nations) in which the United States endorsed the terms of the Mandate, which was approved unanimously by both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The Balfour declaration was published on the 2nd of November 1917 and the Bolsheviks seized control of Russia a week later. This led to civil war in the Russian Empire. Between 1918 and 1921, a series of pogroms led to the death of at least 100,000 Jews (mainly in what is now Ukraine), and the displacement as refugees of a further 600,000. This led to further migration to Palestine. Between 1919 and 1923, some 40,000 Jews arrived in Palestine in what is known as the Third Aliyah. Many of the Jewish immigrants of this period were Socialist Zionists and supported the Bolsheviks. The migrants became known as pioneers (halutzim), experienced or trained in agriculture who established self-sustaining communes called kibbutzim. Malarial marshes in the Jezreel Valley and Hefer Plain were drained and converted to agricultural use. Land was bought by the Jewish National Fund, a Zionist charity that collected money abroad for that purpose. After the French victory over the Arab Kingdom of Syria ended hopes of Arab independence, there were clashes between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem during the 1920 Nebi Musa riots and in Jaffa the following year, leading to the establishment of the Haganah underground Jewish militia. A Jewish Agency was created which issued the entry permits granted by the British and distributed funds donated by Jews abroad. Between 1924 and 1929, over 80,000 Jews arrived in the Fourth Aliyah, fleeing antisemitism and heavy tax burdens imposed on trade in Poland and Hungary, inspired by Zionism and motivated by the closure of United States borders by the Immigration Act of 1924 which severely limited immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe. Pinhas Rutenberg, a former Commissar of St Petersburg in Russia's pre-Bolshevik Kerensky Government, built the first electricity generators in Palestine. In 1925, the Jewish Agency established the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Technion (technological university) in Haifa. British authorities introduced the Palestine pound (worth 1000 "mils") in 1927, replacing the Egyptian pound as the unit of currency in the Mandate. From 1928, the democratically elected Va'ad Leumi (Jewish National Council or JNC) became the main administrative institution of the Palestine Jewish community (Yishuv) and included non-Zionist Jews. As the Yishuv grew, the JNC adopted more government-type functions, such as education, health care, and security. With British permission, the Va'ad Leumi raised its own taxes and ran independent services for the Jewish population. In 1929, tensions grew over the Kotel (Wailing Wall), the holiest spot in the world for modern Judaism,[citation needed] which was then a narrow alleyway where the British banned Jews from using chairs or curtains: Many of the worshippers were elderly and needed seats; they also wanted to separate women from men. The Mufti of Jerusalem said it was Muslim property and deliberately had cattle driven through the alley.[citation needed] He alleged that the Jews were seeking control of the Temple Mount. This provided the spark for the August 1929 Palestine riots. The main victims were the (non-Zionist) ancient Jewish community at Hebron, who were massacred. The riots led to right-wing Zionists establishing their own militia in 1931, the Irgun Tzvai Leumi (National Military Organization, known in Hebrew by its acronym "Etzel"), which was committed to a more aggressive policy towards the Arab population. During the interwar period, the perception grew that there was an irreconciliable tension between the two Mandatory functions, of providing for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and the goal of preparing the country for self-determination. The British rejected the principle of majority rule or any other measure that would give the Arab population, who formed the majority of the population, control over Palestinian territory. Between 1929 and 1938, 250,000 Jews arrived in Palestine (Fifth Aliyah). In 1933, the Jewish Agency and the Nazis negotiated the Ha'avara Agreement (transfer agreement), under which 50,000 German Jews would be transferred to Palestine. The Jews' possessions were confiscated and in return the Nazis allowed the Ha'avara organization to purchase 14 million pounds worth of German goods for export to Palestine and use it to compensate the immigrants. Although many Jews wanted to leave Nazi Germany, the Nazis prevented Jews from taking any money and restricted them to two suitcases so few could pay the British entry tax.[citation needed] The agreement was controversial and the Labour Zionist leader who negotiated the agreement, Haim Arlosoroff, was assassinated in Tel Aviv in 1933. The assassination was used by the British to create tension between the Zionist left and the Zionist right.[citation needed] Arlosoroff had been the boyfriend of Magda Ritschel some years before she married Joseph Goebbels. There has been speculation that he was assassinated by the Nazis to hide the connection but there is no evidence for it. Between 1933 and 1936, 174,000 arrived despite the large sums the British demanded for immigration permits: Jews had to prove they had 1,000 pounds for families with capital (equivalent to £85,824 in 2023), 500 pounds if they had a profession and 250 pounds if they were skilled labourers.[better source needed] Jewish immigration and Nazi propaganda contributed to the large-scale 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, a largely nationalist uprising directed at ending British rule. The head of the Jewish Agency, Ben-Gurion, responded to the Arab Revolt with a policy of "Havlagah"—self-restraint and a refusal to be provoked by Arab attacks in order to prevent polarization. The Etzel group broke off from the Haganah in opposition to this policy. The British responded to the revolt with the Peel Commission (1936–37), a public inquiry that recommended that an exclusively Jewish territory be created in the Galilee and western coast (including the population transfer of 225,000 Arabs); the rest becoming an exclusively Arab area. The two main Jewish leaders, Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion, had convinced the Zionist Congress to approve equivocally the Peel recommendations as a basis for more negotiation. The plan was rejected outright by the Palestinian Arab leadership and they renewed the revolt, which caused the British to abandon the plan as unworkable. Testifying before the Peel Commission, Weizmann said "There are in Europe 6,000,000 people ... for whom the world is divided into places where they cannot live and places where they cannot enter." In 1938, the US called an international conference to address the question of the vast numbers of Jews trying to escape Europe. Britain made its attendance contingent on Palestine being kept out of the discussion. No Jewish representatives were invited. The Nazis proposed their own solution: that the Jews of Europe be shipped to Madagascar (the Madagascar Plan). The agreement proved fruitless, and the Jews were stuck in Europe. With millions of Jews trying to leave Europe and every country closed to Jewish migration, the British decided to close Palestine. The White Paper of 1939, recommended that an independent Palestine, governed jointly by Arabs and Jews, be established within 10 years. The White Paper agreed to allow 75,000 Jewish immigrants into Palestine over the period 1940–44, after which migration would require Arab approval. Both the Arab and Jewish leadership rejected the White Paper. In March 1940 the British High Commissioner for Palestine issued an edict banning Jews from purchasing land in 95% of Palestine. Jews now resorted to illegal immigration: (Aliyah Bet or "Ha'apalah"), often organized by the Mossad Le'aliyah Bet and the Irgun. With no outside help and no countries ready to admit them, very few Jews managed to escape Europe between 1939 and 1945. Those caught by the British were mostly imprisoned in Mauritius. During the Second World War, the Jewish Agency worked to establish a Jewish army that would fight alongside the British forces. Churchill supported the plan but British military and government opposition led to its rejection. The British demanded that the number of Jewish recruits match the number of Arab recruits. In June 1940, Italy declared war on the British Commonwealth and sided with Germany. Within a month, Italian planes bombed Tel Aviv and Haifa, inflicting multiple casualties. In May 1941, the Palmach was established to defend the Yishuv against the planned Axis invasion through North Africa. The British refusal to provide arms to the Jews, even when Rommel's forces were advancing through Egypt in June 1942 (intent on occupying Palestine), and the 1939 White Paper led to the emergence of a Zionist leadership in Palestine that believed conflict with Britain was inevitable. Despite this, the Jewish Agency called on Palestine's Jewish youth to volunteer for the British Army. 30,000 Palestinian Jews and 12,000 Palestinian Arabs enlisted in the British armed forces during the war. In June 1944 the British agreed to create a Jewish Brigade that would fight in Italy. Approximately 1.5 million Jews around the world served in every branch of the allied armies, mainly in the Soviet and US armies. 200,000 Jews died serving in the Soviet army alone. A small group (about 200 activists), dedicated to resisting the British administration in Palestine, broke away from the Etzel (which advocated support for Britain during the war) and formed the "Lehi" (Stern Gang), led by Avraham Stern. In 1942, the USSR released the Revisionist Zionist leader Menachem Begin from the Gulag and he went to Palestine, taking command of the Etzel organization with a policy of increased conflict against the British. At about the same time Yitzhak Shamir escaped from the camp in Eritrea where the British were holding Lehi activists without trial, taking command of the Lehi (Stern Gang). Jews in the Middle East were also affected by the war. Most of North Africa came under Nazi control and many Jews were used as slaves. The 1941 pro-Axis coup in Iraq was accompanied by massacres of Jews. The Jewish Agency put together plans for a last stand in the event of Rommel invading Palestine (the Nazis planned to exterminate Palestine's Jews). Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis, aided by local forces, led systematic efforts to kill every person of Jewish extraction in Europe (The Holocaust), causing the deaths of approximately 6 million Jews. A quarter of those killed were children. The Polish and German Jewish communities, which played an important role in defining the pre-1945 Jewish world, mostly ceased to exist. In the United States and Palestine, Jews of European origin became disconnected from their families and roots. As the Holocaust mainly affected Ashkenazi Jews, Sepharadi and Mizrahi Jews, who had been a minority, became a much more significant factor in the Jewish world. Those Jews who survived in central Europe, were displaced persons (refugees); an Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, established to examine the Palestine issue, surveyed their ambitions and found that over 95% wanted to migrate to Palestine. In the Zionist movement the moderate Pro-British (and British citizen) Weizmann, whose son died flying in the RAF, was undermined by Britain's anti-Zionist policies. Leadership of the movement passed to the Jewish Agency in Palestine, now led by the anti-British Socialist-Zionist party (Mapai) led by David Ben-Gurion. The British Empire was severely weakened by the war. In the Middle East, the war had made Britain conscious of its dependence on Arab oil. Shortly after VE Day, the Labour Party won the general election in Britain. Although Labour Party conferences had for years called for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, the Labour government now decided to maintain the 1939 White Paper policies. Illegal migration (Aliyah Bet) became the main form of Jewish entry into Palestine. Across Europe Bricha ("flight"), an organization of former partisans and ghetto fighters, smuggled Holocaust survivors from Eastern Europe to Mediterranean ports, where small boats tried to breach the British blockade of Palestine. Meanwhile, Jews from Arab countries began moving into Palestine overland. Despite British efforts to curb immigration, during the 14 years of the Aliyah Bet, over 110,000 Jews entered Palestine. By the end of World War II, the Jewish population of Palestine had increased to 33% of the total population. In an effort to win independence, Zionists now waged a guerrilla war against the British. The main underground Jewish militia, the Haganah, formed an alliance called the Jewish Resistance Movement with the Etzel and Stern Gang to fight the British. In June 1946, following instances of Jewish sabotage, such as in the Night of the Bridges, the British launched Operation Agatha, arresting 2,700 Jews, including the leadership of the Jewish Agency, whose headquarters were raided. Those arrested were held without trial. On 4 July 1946 a massive pogrom in Poland led to a wave of Holocaust survivors fleeing Europe for Palestine. Three weeks later, Irgun bombed the British Military Headquarters of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people. In the days following the bombing, Tel Aviv was placed under curfew and over 120,000 Jews, nearly 20% of the Jewish population of Palestine, were questioned by the police. In the US, Congress criticized British handling of the situation and considered delaying loans that were vital to British post-war recovery. The alliance between Haganah and Etzel was dissolved after the King David bombings. Between 1945 and 1948, 100,000–120,000 Jews left Poland. Their departure was largely organized by Zionist activists under the umbrella of the semi-clandestine organization Berihah ("Flight"). Berihah was also responsible for the organized emigration of Jews from Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, totalling 250,000 (including Poland) Holocaust survivors. The British imprisoned the Jews trying to enter Palestine in the Atlit detainee camp and Cyprus internment camps. Those held were mainly Holocaust survivors, including large numbers of children and orphans. In response to Cypriot fears that the Jews would never leave and because the 75,000 quota established by the 1939 White Paper had never been filled, the British allowed the refugees to enter Palestine at a rate of 750 per month. On 2 April 1947, the United Kingdom requested that the question of Palestine be handled by the General Assembly. The General Assembly created a committee, United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), to report on "the question of Palestine". In July 1947 the UNSCOP visited Palestine and met with Jewish and Zionist delegations. The Arab Higher Committee boycotted the meetings. During the visit the British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin ordered that passengers from an Aliyah Bet ship, SS Exodus 1947, be sent back to Europe. The Holocaust surviving migrants on the ship were forcibly removed by British troops at Hamburg, Germany. The principal non-Zionist Orthodox Jewish (or Haredi) party, Agudat Israel, recommended to UNSCOP that a Jewish state be set up after reaching a religious status quo agreement with Ben-Gurion. The agreement granted an exemption from military service to a quota of yeshiva (religious seminary) students and to all Orthodox women, made the Sabbath the national weekend, guaranteed kosher food in government institutions and allowed Orthodox Jews to maintain a separate education system. The majority report of UNSCOP proposed "an independent Arab State, an independent Jewish State, and the City of Jerusalem", the last to be under "an International Trusteeship System". On 29 November 1947, in Resolution 181 (II), the General Assembly adopted the majority report of UNSCOP, but with slight modifications. The Plan also called for the British to allow "substantial" Jewish migration by 1 February 1948. Neither Britain nor the UN Security Council took any action to implement the recommendation made by the resolution and Britain continued detaining Jews attempting to enter Palestine. Concerned that partition would severely damage Anglo-Arab relations, Britain denied UN representatives access to Palestine during the period between the adoption of Resolution 181 (II) and the termination of the British Mandate. The British withdrawal was completed in May 1948. However, Britain continued to hold Jewish immigrants of "fighting age" and their families on Cyprus until March 1949. The General Assembly's vote caused joy in the Jewish community and anger in the Arab community. Violence broke out between the sides, escalating into civil war. From January 1948, operations became increasingly militarized, with the intervention of a number of Arab Liberation Army regiments inside Palestine, each active in a variety of distinct sectors around the different coastal towns. They consolidated their presence in Galilee and Samaria. Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni came from Egypt with several hundred men of the Army of the Holy War. Having recruited a few thousand volunteers, he organized the blockade of the 100,000 Jewish residents of Jerusalem. The Yishuv tried to supply the city using convoys of up to 100 armoured vehicles, but largely failed. By March, almost all Haganah's armoured vehicles had been destroyed, the blockade was in full operation, and hundreds of Haganah members who had tried to bring supplies into the city were killed. Up to 100,000 Arabs, from the urban upper and middle classes in Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem, or Jewish-dominated areas, evacuated abroad or to Arab centres eastwards. This situation caused the US to withdraw their support for the Partition plan, thus encouraging the Arab League to believe that the Palestinian Arabs, reinforced by the Arab Liberation Army, could put an end to the plan for partition. The British, on the other hand, decided on 7 February 1948 to support the annexation of the Arab part of Palestine by Transjordan. The Jordanian army was commanded by the British. David Ben-Gurion reorganized the Haganah and made conscription obligatory. Every Jewish man and woman in the country had to receive military training. Thanks to funds raised by Golda Meir from sympathisers in the United States, and Stalin's decision to support the Zionist cause, the Jewish representatives of Palestine were able to purchase important arms in Eastern Europe. Ben-Gurion gave Yigael Yadin the responsibility to plan for the announced intervention of the Arab states. The result of his analysis was Plan Dalet, in which Haganah passed from the defensive to the offensive. The plan sought to establish Jewish territorial continuity by conquering mixed zones. Tiberias, Haifa, Safed, Beisan, Jaffa and Acre fell, resulting in the flight of more than 250,000 Palestinian Arabs. On 14 May 1948, on the day the last British forces left Haifa, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum and proclaimed the establishment of a Jewish state, to be known as the State of Israel. State of Israel In 1948, following the 1947–1948 war in Mandatory Palestine, the Israeli Declaration of Independence sparked the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. This resulted in the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight from the land that the State of Israel came to control, and led to waves of Jewish immigration from other parts of the Middle East. The latter half of the 20th century saw further conflicts between Israel and its neighbouring Arab nations. In 1967, the Six-Day War erupted; in its aftermath, Israel captured and occupied the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank from Jordan, and the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. In 1973, the Yom Kippur War began with an attack by Egypt on the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula. In 1979, the Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed, based on the Camp David Accords. In 1993, Israel signed the Oslo I Accord with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was followed by the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority. In 1994, the Israel–Jordan peace treaty was signed. Despite efforts to finalize the peace agreement, the conflict continues. Demographics See also Notes References Further reading External links Israeli settlementsTimeline, International law West BankJudea and Samaria Area Gaza StripHof Aza Regional Council |
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Contents Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk (/ˈiːlɒn/ EE-lon; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman and entrepreneur known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter, and xAI. Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of February 2026,[update] Forbes estimates his net worth to be around US$852 billion. Born into a wealthy family in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk emigrated in 1989 to Canada; he has Canadian citizenship since his mother was born there. He received bachelor's degrees in 1997 from the University of Pennsylvania before moving to California to pursue business ventures. In 1995, Musk co-founded the software company Zip2. Following its sale in 1999, he co-founded X.com, an online payment company that later merged to form PayPal, which was acquired by eBay in 2002. Musk also became an American citizen in 2002. In 2002, Musk founded the space technology company SpaceX, becoming its CEO and chief engineer; the company has since led innovations in reusable rockets and commercial spaceflight. Musk joined the automaker Tesla as an early investor in 2004 and became its CEO and product architect in 2008; it has since become a leader in electric vehicles. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI to advance artificial intelligence (AI) research, but later left; growing discontent with the organization's direction and their leadership in the AI boom in the 2020s led him to establish xAI, which became a subsidiary of SpaceX in 2026. In 2022, he acquired the social network Twitter, implementing significant changes, and rebranding it as X in 2023. His other businesses include the neurotechnology company Neuralink, which he co-founded in 2016, and the tunneling company the Boring Company, which he founded in 2017. In November 2025, a Tesla pay package worth $1 trillion for Musk was approved, which he is to receive over 10 years if he meets specific goals. Musk was the largest donor in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, where he supported Donald Trump. After Trump was inaugurated as president in early 2025, Musk served as Senior Advisor to the President and as the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). After a public feud with Trump, Musk left the Trump administration and returned to managing his companies. Musk is a supporter of global far-right figures, causes, and political parties. His political activities, views, and statements have made him a polarizing figure. Musk has been criticized for COVID-19 misinformation, promoting conspiracy theories, and affirming antisemitic, racist, and transphobic comments. His acquisition of Twitter was controversial due to a subsequent increase in hate speech and the spread of misinformation on the service, following his pledge to decrease censorship. His role in the second Trump administration attracted public backlash, particularly in response to DOGE. The emails he sent to Jeffrey Epstein are included in the Epstein files, which were published between 2025–26 and became a topic of worldwide debate. Early life Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa's administrative capital. He is of British and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. His mother, Maye (née Haldeman), is a model and dietitian born in Saskatchewan, Canada, and raised in South Africa. Musk therefore holds both South African and Canadian citizenship from birth. His father, Errol Musk, is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, emerald dealer, and property developer, who partly owned a rental lodge at Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. His maternal grandfather, Joshua N. Haldeman, who died in a plane crash when Elon was a toddler, was an American-born Canadian chiropractor, aviator and political activist in the technocracy movement who moved to South Africa in 1950. Elon has a younger brother, Kimbal, a younger sister, Tosca, and four paternal half-siblings. Musk was baptized as a child in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Despite both Elon and Errol previously stating that Errol was a part owner of a Zambian emerald mine, in 2023, Errol recounted that the deal he made was to receive "a portion of the emeralds produced at three small mines". Errol was elected to the Pretoria City Council as a representative of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party and has said that his children shared their father's dislike of apartheid. After his parents divorced in 1979, Elon, aged around 9, chose to live with his father because Errol Musk had an Encyclopædia Britannica and a computer. Elon later regretted his decision and became estranged from his father. Elon has recounted trips to a wilderness school that he described as a "paramilitary Lord of the Flies" where "bullying was a virtue" and children were encouraged to fight over rations. In one incident, after an altercation with a fellow pupil, Elon was thrown down concrete steps and beaten severely, leading to him being hospitalized for his injuries. Elon described his father berating him after he was discharged from the hospital. Errol denied berating Elon and claimed, "The [other] boy had just lost his father to suicide, and Elon had called him stupid. Elon had a tendency to call people stupid. How could I possibly blame that child?" Elon was an enthusiastic reader of books, and had attributed his success in part to having read The Lord of the Rings, the Foundation series, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. At age ten, he developed an interest in computing and video games, teaching himself how to program from the VIC-20 user manual. At age twelve, Elon sold his BASIC-based game Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500 (equivalent to $1,600 in 2025). Musk attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School, Bryanston High School, and then Pretoria Boys High School, where he graduated. Musk was a decent but unexceptional student, earning a 61/100 in Afrikaans and a B on his senior math certification. Musk applied for a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother to avoid South Africa's mandatory military service, which would have forced him to participate in the apartheid regime, as well as to ease his path to immigration to the United States. While waiting for his application to be processed, he attended the University of Pretoria for five months. Musk arrived in Canada in June 1989, connected with a second cousin in Saskatchewan, and worked odd jobs, including at a farm and a lumber mill. In 1990, he entered Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Two years later, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied until 1995. Although Musk has said that he earned his degrees in 1995, the University of Pennsylvania did not award them until 1997 – a Bachelor of Arts in physics and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the university's Wharton School. He reportedly hosted large, ticketed house parties to help pay for tuition, and wrote a business plan for an electronic book-scanning service similar to Google Books. In 1994, Musk held two internships in Silicon Valley: one at energy storage startup Pinnacle Research Institute, which investigated electrolytic supercapacitors for energy storage, and another at Palo Alto–based startup Rocket Science Games. In 1995, he was accepted to a graduate program in materials science at Stanford University, but did not enroll. Musk decided to join the Internet boom of the 1990s, applying for a job at Netscape, to which he reportedly never received a response. The Washington Post reported that Musk lacked legal authorization to remain and work in the United States after failing to enroll at Stanford. In response, Musk said he was allowed to work at that time and that his student visa transitioned to an H1-B. According to numerous former business associates and shareholders, Musk said he was on a student visa at the time. Business career In 1995, Musk, his brother Kimbal, and Greg Kouri founded the web software company Zip2 with funding from a group of angel investors. They housed the venture at a small rented office in Palo Alto. Replying to Rolling Stone, Musk denounced the notion that they started their company with funds borrowed from Errol Musk, but in a tweet, he recognized that his father contributed 10% of a later funding round. The company developed and marketed an Internet city guide for the newspaper publishing industry, with maps, directions, and yellow pages. According to Musk, "The website was up during the day and I was coding it at night, seven days a week, all the time." To impress investors, Musk built a large plastic structure around a standard computer to create the impression that Zip2 was powered by a small supercomputer. The Musk brothers obtained contracts with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, and persuaded the board of directors to abandon plans for a merger with CitySearch. Musk's attempts to become CEO were thwarted by the board. Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash in February 1999 (equivalent to $590,000,000 in 2025), and Musk received $22 million (equivalent to $43,000,000 in 2025) for his 7-percent share. In 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company. The startup was one of the first federally insured online banks, and, in its initial months of operation, over 200,000 customers joined the service. The company's investors regarded Musk as inexperienced and replaced him with Intuit CEO Bill Harris by the end of the year. The following year, X.com merged with online bank Confinity to avoid competition. Founded by Max Levchin and Peter Thiel, Confinity had its own money-transfer service, PayPal, which was more popular than X.com's service. Within the merged company, Musk returned as CEO. Musk's preference for Microsoft software over Unix created a rift in the company and caused Thiel to resign. Due to resulting technological issues and lack of a cohesive business model, the board ousted Musk and replaced him with Thiel in 2000.[b] Under Thiel, the company focused on the PayPal service and was renamed PayPal in 2001. In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion (equivalent to $2,700,000,000 in 2025) in stock, of which Musk—the largest shareholder with 11.72% of shares—received $175.8 million (equivalent to $320,000,000 in 2025). In 2017, Musk purchased the domain X.com from PayPal for an undisclosed amount, stating that it had sentimental value. In 2001, Musk became involved with the nonprofit Mars Society and discussed funding plans to place a growth-chamber for plants on Mars. Seeking a way to launch the greenhouse payloads into space, Musk made two unsuccessful trips to Moscow to purchase intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) from Russian companies NPO Lavochkin and Kosmotras. Musk instead decided to start a company to build affordable rockets. With $100 million of his early fortune, (equivalent to $180,000,000 in 2025) Musk founded SpaceX in May 2002 and became the company's CEO and Chief Engineer. SpaceX attempted its first launch of the Falcon 1 rocket in 2006. Although the rocket failed to reach Earth orbit, it was awarded a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program contract from NASA, then led by Mike Griffin. After two more failed attempts that nearly caused Musk to go bankrupt, SpaceX succeeded in launching the Falcon 1 into orbit in 2008. Later that year, SpaceX received a $1.6 billion NASA contract (equivalent to $2,400,000,000 in 2025) for Falcon 9-launched Dragon spacecraft flights to the International Space Station (ISS), replacing the Space Shuttle after its 2011 retirement. In 2012, the Dragon vehicle docked with the ISS, a first for a commercial spacecraft. Working towards its goal of reusable rockets, in 2015 SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of a Falcon 9 on a land platform. Later landings were achieved on autonomous spaceport drone ships, an ocean-based recovery platform. In 2018, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy; the inaugural mission carried Musk's personal Tesla Roadster as a dummy payload. Since 2019, SpaceX has been developing Starship, a reusable, super heavy-lift launch vehicle intended to replace the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. In 2020, SpaceX launched its first crewed flight, the Demo-2, becoming the first private company to place astronauts into orbit and dock a crewed spacecraft with the ISS. In 2024, NASA awarded SpaceX an $843 million (equivalent to $865,000,000 in 2025) contract to build a spacecraft that NASA will use to deorbit the ISS at the end of its lifespan. In 2015, SpaceX began development of the Starlink constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to provide satellite Internet access. After the launch of prototype satellites in 2018, the first large constellation was deployed in May 2019. As of May 2025[update], over 7,600 Starlink satellites are operational, comprising 65% of all operational Earth satellites. The total cost of the decade-long project to design, build, and deploy the constellation was estimated by SpaceX in 2020 to be $10 billion (equivalent to $12,000,000,000 in 2025).[c] During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Musk provided free Starlink service to Ukraine, permitting Internet access and communication at a yearly cost to SpaceX of $400 million (equivalent to $440,000,000 in 2025). However, Musk refused to block Russian state media on Starlink. In 2023, Musk denied Ukraine's request to activate Starlink over Crimea to aid an attack against the Russian navy, citing fears of a nuclear response. Tesla, Inc., originally Tesla Motors, was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Both men played active roles in the company's early development prior to Musk's involvement. Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004; he invested $6.35 million (equivalent to $11,000,000 in 2025), became the majority shareholder, and joined Tesla's board of directors as chairman. Musk took an active role within the company and oversaw Roadster product design, but was not deeply involved in day-to-day business operations. Following a series of escalating conflicts in 2007 and the 2008 financial crisis, Eberhard was ousted from the firm.[page needed] Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect in 2008. A 2009 lawsuit settlement with Eberhard designated Musk as a Tesla co-founder, along with Tarpenning and two others. Tesla began delivery of the Roadster, an electric sports car, in 2008. With sales of about 2,500 vehicles, it was the first mass production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells. Under Musk, Tesla has since launched several well-selling electric vehicles, including the four-door sedan Model S (2012), the crossover Model X (2015), the mass-market sedan Model 3 (2017), the crossover Model Y (2020), and the pickup truck Cybertruck (2023). In May 2020, Musk resigned as chairman of the board as part of the settlement of a lawsuit from the SEC over him tweeting that funding had been "secured" for potentially taking Tesla private. The company has also constructed multiple lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle factories, called Gigafactories. Since its initial public offering in 2010, Tesla stock has risen significantly; it became the most valuable carmaker in summer 2020, and it entered the S&P 500 later that year. In October 2021, it reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion (equivalent to $1,200,000,000,000 in 2025), the sixth company in U.S. history to do so. Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for SolarCity, which his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive founded in 2006. By 2013, SolarCity was the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States. In 2014, Musk promoted the idea of SolarCity building an advanced production facility in Buffalo, New York, triple the size of the largest solar plant in the United States. Construction of the factory started in 2014 and was completed in 2017. It operated as a joint venture with Panasonic until early 2020. Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2 billion in 2016 (equivalent to $2,700,000,000 in 2025) and merged it with its battery unit to create Tesla Energy. The deal's announcement resulted in a more than 10% drop in Tesla's stock price; at the time, SolarCity was facing liquidity issues. Multiple shareholder groups filed a lawsuit against Musk and Tesla's directors, stating that the purchase of SolarCity was done solely to benefit Musk and came at the expense of Tesla and its shareholders. Tesla directors settled the lawsuit in January 2020, leaving Musk the sole remaining defendant. Two years later, the court ruled in Musk's favor. In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup, with an investment of $100 million. Neuralink aims to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence (AI) by creating devices that are embedded in the brain. Such technology could enhance memory or allow the devices to communicate with software. The company also hopes to develop devices to treat neurological conditions like spinal cord injuries. In 2022, Neuralink announced that clinical trials would begin by the end of the year. In September 2023, the Food and Drug Administration approved Neuralink to initiate six-year human trials. Neuralink has conducted animal testing on macaques at the University of California, Davis. In 2021, the company released a video in which a macaque played the video game Pong via a Neuralink implant. The company's animal trials—which have caused the deaths of some monkeys—have led to claims of animal cruelty. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has alleged that Neuralink violated the Animal Welfare Act. Employees have complained that pressure from Musk to accelerate development has led to botched experiments and unnecessary animal deaths. In 2022, a federal probe was launched into possible animal welfare violations by Neuralink.[needs update] In 2017, Musk founded the Boring Company to construct tunnels; he also revealed plans for specialized, underground, high-occupancy vehicles that could travel up to 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) and thus circumvent above-ground traffic in major cities. Early in 2017, the company began discussions with regulatory bodies and initiated construction of a 30-foot (9.1 m) wide, 50-foot (15 m) long, and 15-foot (4.6 m) deep "test trench" on the premises of SpaceX's offices, as that required no permits. The Los Angeles tunnel, less than two miles (3.2 km) in length, debuted to journalists in 2018. It used Tesla Model Xs and was reported to be a rough ride while traveling at suboptimal speeds. Two tunnel projects announced in 2018, in Chicago and West Los Angeles, have been canceled. A tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center was completed in early 2021. Local officials have approved further expansions of the tunnel system. April 14, 2022 In early 2017, Musk expressed interest in buying Twitter and had questioned the platform's commitment to freedom of speech. By 2022, Musk had reached 9.2% stake in the company, making him the largest shareholder.[d] Musk later agreed to a deal that would appoint him to Twitter's board of directors and prohibit him from acquiring more than 14.9% of the company. Days later, Musk made a $43 billion offer to buy Twitter. By the end of April Musk had successfully concluded his bid for approximately $44 billion. This included approximately $12.5 billion in loans and $21 billion in equity financing. Having backtracked on his initial decision, Musk bought the company on October 27, 2022. Immediately after the acquisition, Musk fired several top Twitter executives including CEO Parag Agrawal; Musk became the CEO instead. Under Elon Musk, Twitter instituted monthly subscriptions for a "blue check", and laid off a significant portion of the company's staff. Musk lessened content moderation and hate speech also increased on the platform after his takeover. In late 2022, Musk released internal documents relating to Twitter's moderation of Hunter Biden's laptop controversy in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. Musk also promised to step down as CEO after a Twitter poll, and five months later, Musk stepped down as CEO and transitioned his role to executive chairman and chief technology officer (CTO). Despite Musk stepping down as CEO, X continues to struggle with challenges such as viral misinformation, hate speech, and antisemitism controversies. Musk has been accused of trying to silence some of his critics such as Twitch streamer Asmongold, who criticized him during one of his streams. Musk has been accused of removing their accounts' blue checkmarks, which hinders visibility and is considered a form of shadow banning, or suspending their accounts without justification. Other activities In August 2013, Musk announced plans for a version of a vactrain, and assigned engineers from SpaceX and Tesla to design a transport system between Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, at an estimated cost of $6 billion. Later that year, Musk unveiled the concept, dubbed the Hyperloop, intended to make travel cheaper than any other mode of transport for such long distances. In December 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI, a not-for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) research company aiming to develop artificial general intelligence, intended to be safe and beneficial to humanity. Musk pledged $1 billion of funding to the company, and initially gave $50 million. In 2018, Musk left the OpenAI board. Since 2018, OpenAI has made significant advances in machine learning. In July 2023, Musk launched the artificial intelligence company xAI, which aims to develop a generative AI program that competes with existing offerings like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Musk obtained funding from investors in SpaceX and Tesla, and xAI hired engineers from Google and OpenAI. December 16, 2022 Musk uses a private jet owned by Falcon Landing LLC, a SpaceX-linked company, and acquired a second jet in August 2020. His heavy use of the jets and the consequent fossil fuel usage have received criticism. Musk's flight usage is tracked on social media through ElonJet. In December 2022, Musk banned the ElonJet account on Twitter, and made temporary bans on the accounts of journalists that posted stories regarding the incident, including Donie O'Sullivan, Keith Olbermann, and journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and The Intercept. In October 2025, Musk's company xAI launched Grokipedia, an AI-generated online encyclopedia that he promoted as an alternative to Wikipedia. Articles on Grokipedia are generated and reviewed by xAI's Grok chatbot. Media coverage and academic analysis described Grokipedia as frequently reusing Wikipedia content but framing contested political and social topics in line with Musk's own views and right-wing narratives. A study by Cornell University researchers and NBC News stated that Grokipedia cites sources that are blacklisted or considered "generally unreliable" on Wikipedia, for example, the conspiracy site Infowars and the neo-Nazi forum Stormfront. Wired, The Guardian and Time criticized Grokipedia for factual errors and for presenting Musk himself in unusually positive terms while downplaying controversies. Politics Musk is an outlier among business leaders who typically avoid partisan political advocacy. Musk was a registered independent voter when he lived in California. Historically, he has donated to both Democrats and Republicans, many of whom serve in states in which he has a vested interest. Since 2022, his political contributions have mostly supported Republicans, with his first vote for a Republican going to Mayra Flores in the 2022 Texas's 34th congressional district special election. In 2024, he started supporting international far-right political parties, activists, and causes, and has shared misinformation and numerous conspiracy theories. Since 2024, his views have been generally described as right-wing. Musk supported Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020, and Donald Trump in 2024. In the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Musk endorsed candidate Andrew Yang and expressed support for Yang's proposed universal basic income, and endorsed Kanye West's 2020 presidential campaign. In 2021, Musk publicly expressed opposition to the Build Back Better Act, a $3.5 trillion legislative package endorsed by Joe Biden that ultimately failed to pass due to unanimous opposition from congressional Republicans and several Democrats. In 2022, gave over $50 million to Citizens for Sanity, a conservative political action committee. In 2023, he supported Republican Ron DeSantis for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, giving $10 million to his campaign, and hosted DeSantis's campaign announcement on a Twitter Spaces event. From June 2023 to January 2024, Musk hosted a bipartisan set of X Spaces with Republican and Democratic candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, and Dean Phillips. In October 2025, former vice-president Kamala Harris commented that it was a mistake from the Democratic side to not invite Musk to a White House electric vehicle event organized in August 2021 and featuring executives from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, despite Tesla being "the major American manufacturer of extraordinary innovation in this space." Fortune remarked that this was a nod to United Auto Workers and organized labor. Harris said presidents should put aside political loyalties when it came to recognizing innovation, and guessed that the non-invitation impacted Musk's perspective. Fortune noted that, at the time, Musk said, "Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn't invited." A month later, he criticized Biden as "not the friendliest administration." Jacob Silverman, author of the book Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley, said that the tech industry represented by Musk, Thiel, Andreessen and other capitalists, actually flourished under Biden, but the tech leaders chose Trump for their common ground on cultural issues. By early 2024, Musk had become a vocal and financial supporter of Donald Trump. In July 2024, minutes after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Musk endorsed him for president saying; "I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery." During the presidential campaign, Musk joined Trump on stage at a campaign rally, and during the campaign promoted conspiracy theories and falsehoods about Democrats, election fraud and immigration, in support of Trump. Musk was the largest individual donor of the 2024 election. In 2025, Musk contributed $19 million to the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, hoping to influence the state's future redistricting efforts and its regulations governing car manufacturers and dealers. In 2023, Musk said he shunned the World Economic Forum because it was boring. The organization commented that they had not invited him since 2015. He has participated in Dialog, dubbed "Tech Bilderberg" and organized by Peter Thiel and Auren Hoffman, though. Musk's international political actions and comments have come under increasing scrutiny and criticism, especially from the governments and leaders of France, Germany, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom, particularly due to his position in the U.S. government as well as ownership of X. An NBC News analysis found he had boosted far-right political movements to cut immigration and curtail regulation of business in at least 18 countries on six continents since 2023. During his speech after the second inauguration of Donald Trump, Musk twice made a gesture interpreted by many as a Nazi or a fascist Roman salute.[e] He thumped his right hand over his heart, fingers spread wide, and then extended his right arm out, emphatically, at an upward angle, palm down and fingers together. He then repeated the gesture to the crowd behind him. As he finished the gestures, he said to the crowd, "My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured." It was widely condemned as an intentional Nazi salute in Germany, where making such gestures is illegal. The Anti-Defamation League said it was not a Nazi salute, but other Jewish organizations disagreed and condemned the salute. American public opinion was divided on partisan lines as to whether it was a fascist salute. Musk dismissed the accusations of Nazi sympathies, deriding them as "dirty tricks" and a "tired" attack. Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups celebrated it as a Nazi salute. Multiple European political parties demanded that Musk be banned from entering their countries. The concept of DOGE emerged in a discussion between Musk and Donald Trump, and in August 2024, Trump committed to giving Musk an advisory role, with Musk accepting the offer. In November and December 2024, Musk suggested that the organization could help to cut the U.S. federal budget, consolidate the number of federal agencies, and eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and that its final stage would be "deleting itself". In January 2025, the organization was created by executive order, and Musk was designated a "special government employee". Musk led the organization and was a senior advisor to the president, although his official role is not clear. In sworn statement during a lawsuit, the director of the White House Office of Administration stated that Musk "is not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization", "is not the U.S. DOGE Service administrator", and has "no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself". Trump said two days later that he had put Musk in charge of DOGE. A federal judge has ruled that Musk acted as the de facto leader of DOGE. Musk's role in the second Trump administration, particularly in response to DOGE, has attracted public backlash. He was criticized for his treatment of federal government employees, including his influence over the mass layoffs of the federal workforce. He has prioritized secrecy within the organization and has accused others of violating privacy laws. A Senate report alleged that Musk could avoid up to $2 billion in legal liability as a result of DOGE's actions. In May 2025, Bill Gates accused Musk of "killing the world's poorest children" through his cuts to USAID, which modeling by Boston University estimated had resulted in 300,000 deaths by this time, most of them of children. By November 2025, the estimated death toll had increased to 400,000 children and 200,000 adults. Musk announced on May 28, 2025, that he would depart from the Trump administration as planned when the special government employee's 130 day deadline expired, with a White House official confirming that Musk's offboarding from the Trump administration was already underway. His departure was officially confirmed during a joint Oval Office press conference with Trump on May 30, 2025. @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. June 5, 2025 After leaving office, Musk criticized the Trump administration's Big Beautiful Bill, calling it a "disgusting abomination" due to its provisions increasing the deficit. A feud began between Musk and Trump, with its most notable event being Musk alleging Trump had ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on X (formerly Twitter) on June 5, 2025. Trump responded on Truth Social stating that Musk went "CRAZY" after the "EV Mandate" was purportedly taken away and threatened to cut Musk's government contracts. Musk then called for a third Trump impeachment. The next day, Trump stated that he did not wish to reconcile with Musk, and added that Musk would face "very serious consequences" if he funds Democratic candidates. On June 11, Musk publicly apologized for the tweets against Trump, saying they "went too far". Views November 6, 2022 Rejecting the conservative label, Musk has described himself as a political moderate, even as his views have become more right-wing over time. His views have been characterized as libertarian and far-right, and after his involvement in European politics, they have received criticism from world leaders such as Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz. Within the context of American politics, Musk supported Democratic candidates up until 2022, at which point he voted for a Republican for the first time. He has stated support for universal basic income, gun rights, freedom of speech, a tax on carbon emissions, and H-1B visas. Musk has expressed concern about issues such as artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change, and has been a critic of wealth tax, short-selling, and government subsidies. An immigrant himself, Musk has been accused of being anti-immigration, and regularly blames immigration policies for illegal immigration. He is also a pronatalist who believes population decline is the biggest threat to civilization, and identifies as a cultural Christian. Musk has long been an advocate for space colonization, especially the colonization of Mars. He has repeatedly pushed for humanity colonizing Mars, in order to become an interplanetary species and lower the risks of human extinction. Musk has promoted conspiracy theories and made controversial statements that have led to accusations of racism, sexism, antisemitism, transphobia, disseminating disinformation, and support of white pride. While describing himself as a "pro-Semite", his comments regarding George Soros and Jewish communities have been condemned by the Anti-Defamation League and the Biden White House. Musk was criticized during the COVID-19 pandemic for making unfounded epidemiological claims, defying COVID-19 lockdowns restrictions, and supporting the Canada convoy protest against vaccine mandates. He has amplified false claims of white genocide in South Africa. Musk has been critical of Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war, praised China's economic and climate goals, suggested that Taiwan and China should resolve cross-strait relations, and was described as having a close relationship with the Chinese government. In Europe, Musk expressed support for Ukraine in 2022 during the Russian invasion, recommended referendums and peace deals on the annexed Russia-occupied territories, and supported the far-right Alternative for Germany political party in 2024. Regarding British politics, Musk blamed the 2024 UK riots on mass migration and open borders, criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer for what he described as a "two-tier" policing system, and was subsequently attacked as being responsible for spreading misinformation and amplifying the far-right. He has also voiced his support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson and pledged electoral support for Reform UK. In February 2026, Musk described Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez as a "tyrant" following Sánchez's proposal to prohibit minors under the age of 16 from accessing social media platforms. Legal affairs In 2018, Musk was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a tweet stating that funding had been secured for potentially taking Tesla private.[f] The securities fraud lawsuit characterized the tweet as false, misleading, and damaging to investors, and sought to bar Musk from serving as CEO of publicly traded companies. Two days later, Musk settled with the SEC, without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations. As a result, Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million each, and Musk was forced to step down for three years as Tesla chairman but was able to remain as CEO. Shareholders filed a lawsuit over the tweet, and in February 2023, a jury found Musk and Tesla not liable. Musk has stated in interviews that he does not regret posting the tweet that triggered the SEC investigation. In 2019, Musk stated in a tweet that Tesla would build half a million cars that year. The SEC reacted by asking a court to hold him in contempt for violating the terms of the 2018 settlement agreement. A joint agreement between Musk and the SEC eventually clarified the previous agreement details, including a list of topics about which Musk needed preclearance. In 2020, a judge blocked a lawsuit that claimed a tweet by Musk regarding Tesla stock price ("too high imo") violated the agreement. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)-released records showed that the SEC concluded Musk had subsequently violated the agreement twice by tweeting regarding "Tesla's solar roof production volumes and its stock price". In October 2023, the SEC sued Musk over his refusal to testify a third time in an investigation into whether he violated federal law by purchasing Twitter stock in 2022. In February 2024, Judge Laurel Beeler ruled that Musk must testify again. In January 2025, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk for securities violations related to his purchase of Twitter. In January 2024, Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled in a 2018 lawsuit that Musk's $55 billion pay package from Tesla be rescinded. McCormick called the compensation granted by the company's board "an unfathomable sum" that was unfair to shareholders. The Delaware Supreme Court overturned McCormick's decision in December 2025, restoring Musk's compensation package and awarding $1 in nominal damages. Personal life Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002. From the early 2000s until late 2020, Musk resided in California, where both Tesla and SpaceX were founded. He then relocated to Cameron County, Texas, saying that California had become "complacent" about its economic success. While hosting Saturday Night Live in 2021, Musk stated that he has Asperger syndrome (an outdated term for autism spectrum disorder). When asked about his experience growing up with Asperger's syndrome in a TED2022 conference in Vancouver, Musk stated that "the social cues were not intuitive ... I would just tend to take things very literally ... but then that turned out to be wrong — [people were not] simply saying exactly what they mean, there's all sorts of other things that are meant, and [it] took me a while to figure that out." Musk suffers from back pain and has undergone several spine-related surgeries, including a disc replacement. In 2000, he contracted a severe case of malaria while on vacation in South Africa. Musk has stated he uses doctor-prescribed ketamine for occasional depression and that he doses "a small amount once every other week or something like that"; since January 2024, some media outlets have reported that he takes ketamine, marijuana, LSD, ecstasy, mushrooms, cocaine and other drugs. Musk at first refused to comment on his alleged drug use, before responding that he had not tested positive for drugs, and that if drugs somehow improved his productivity, "I would definitely take them!". The New York Times' investigations revealed Musk's overuse of ketamine and numerous other drugs, as well as strained family relationships and concerns from close associates who have become troubled by his public behavior as he became more involved in political activities and government work. According to The Washington Post, President Trump described Musk as "a big-time drug addict". Through his own label Emo G Records, Musk released a rap track, "RIP Harambe", on SoundCloud in March 2019. The following year, he released an EDM track, "Don't Doubt Ur Vibe", featuring his own lyrics and vocals. Musk plays video games, which he stated has a "'restoring effect' that helps his 'mental calibration'". Some games he plays include Quake, Diablo IV, Elden Ring, and Polytopia. Musk once claimed to be one of the world's top video game players but has since admitted to "account boosting", or cheating by hiring outside services to achieve top player rankings. Musk has justified the boosting by claiming that all top accounts do it so he has to as well to remain competitive. In 2024 and 2025, Musk criticized the video game Assassin's Creed Shadows and its creator Ubisoft for "woke" content. Musk posted to X that "DEI kills art" and specified the inclusion of the historical figure Yasuke in the Assassin's Creed game as offensive; he also called the game "terrible". Ubisoft responded by saying that Musk's comments were "just feeding hatred" and that they were focused on producing a game not pushing politics. Musk has fathered at least 14 children, one of whom died as an infant. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2025 that sources close to Musk suggest that the "true number of Musk's children is much higher than publicly known". He had six children with his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, whom he met while attending Queen's University in Ontario, Canada; they married in 2000. In 2002, their first child Nevada Musk died of sudden infant death syndrome at the age of 10 weeks. After his death, the couple used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to continue their family; they had twins in 2004, followed by triplets in 2006. The couple divorced in 2008 and have shared custody of their children. The elder twin he had with Wilson came out as a trans woman and, in 2022, officially changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson, adopting her mother's surname because she no longer wished to be associated with Musk. Musk began dating English actress Talulah Riley in 2008. They married two years later at Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland. In 2012, the couple divorced, then remarried the following year. After briefly filing for divorce in 2014, Musk finalized a second divorce from Riley in 2016. Musk then dated the American actress Amber Heard for several months in 2017; he had reportedly been "pursuing" her since 2012. In 2018, Musk and Canadian musician Grimes confirmed they were dating. Grimes and Musk have three children, born in 2020, 2021, and 2022.[g] Musk and Grimes originally gave their eldest child the name "X Æ A-12", which would have violated California regulations as it contained characters that are not in the modern English alphabet; the names registered on the birth certificate are "X" as a first name, "Æ A-Xii" as a middle name, and "Musk" as a last name. They received criticism for choosing a name perceived to be impractical and difficult to pronounce; Musk has said the intended pronunciation is "X Ash A Twelve". Their second child was born via surrogacy. Despite the pregnancy, Musk confirmed reports that the couple were "semi-separated" in September 2021; in an interview with Time in December 2021, he said he was single. In October 2023, Grimes sued Musk over parental rights and custody of X Æ A-Xii. Elon Musk has taken X Æ A-Xii to multiple official events in Washington, D.C. during Trump's second term in office. Also in July 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk allegedly had an affair with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, in 2021, leading to their divorce the following year. Musk denied the report. Musk also had a relationship with Australian actress Natasha Bassett, who has been described as "an occasional girlfriend". In October 2024, The New York Times reported Musk bought a Texas compound for his children and their mothers, though Musk denied having done so. Musk also has four children with Shivon Zilis, director of operations and special projects at Neuralink: twins born via IVF in 2021, a child born in 2024 via surrogacy and a child born in 2025.[h] On February 14, 2025, Ashley St. Clair, an influencer and author, posted on X claiming to have given birth to Musk's son Romulus five months earlier, which media outlets reported as Musk's supposed thirteenth child.[i] On February 22, 2025, it was reported that St Clair had filed for sole custody of her five-month-old son and for Musk to be recognised as the child's father. On March 31, 2025, Musk wrote that, while he was unsure if he was the father of St. Clair's child, he had paid St. Clair $2.5 million and would continue paying her $500,000 per year.[j] Later reporting from the Wall Street Journal indicated that $1 million of these payments to St. Clair were structured as a loan. In 2014, Musk and Ghislaine Maxwell appeared together in a photograph taken at an Academy Awards after-party, which Musk later described as a "photobomb". The January 2026 Epstein files contain emails between Musk and Epstein from 2012 to 2013, after Epstein's first conviction. Emails released on January 30, 2026, indicated that Epstein invited Musk to visit his private island on multiple occasions. The correspondence showed that while Epstein repeatedly encouraged Musk to attend, Musk did not visit the island. In one instance, Musk discussed the possibility of attending a party with his then-wife Talulah Riley and asked which day would be the "wildest party"; according to the emails, the visit did not take place after Epstein later cancelled the plans.[k] On Christmas day in 2012, Musk emailed Epstein asking "Do you have any parties planned? I’ve been working to the edge of sanity this year and so, once my kids head home after Christmas, I really want to hit the party scene in St Barts or elsewhere and let loose. The invitation is much appreciated, but a peaceful island experience is the opposite of what I’m looking for". Epstein replied that the "ratio on my island" might make Musk's wife uncomfortable to which Musk responded, "Ratio is not a problem for Talulah". On September 11, 2013, Epstein sent an email asking Musk if he had any plans for coming to New York for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly where many "interesting people" would be coming to his house to which Musk responded that "Flying to NY to see UN diplomats do nothing would be an unwise use of time". Epstein responded by stating "Do you think i am retarded. Just kidding, there is no one over 25 and all very cute." Musk has denied any close relationship with Epstein and described him as a "creep" who attempted to ingratiate himself with influential people. When Musk was asked in 2019 if he introduced Epstein to Mark Zuckerberg, Musk responded: "I don’t recall introducing Epstein to anyone, as I don’t know the guy well enough to do so." The released emails nonetheless showed cordial exchanges on a range of topics, including Musk's inquiry about parties on the island. The correspondence also indicated that Musk suggested hosting Epstein at SpaceX, while Epstein separately discussed plans to tour SpaceX and bring "the girls", though there is no evidence that such a visit occurred. Musk has described the release of the files a "distraction", later accusing the second Trump administration of suppressing them to protect powerful individuals, including Trump himself.[l] Wealth Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$690 billion as of January 2026, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and $852 billion according to Forbes, primarily from his ownership stakes in SpaceX and Tesla. Having been first listed on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2012, around 75% of Musk's wealth was derived from Tesla stock in November 2020, although he describes himself as "cash poor". According to Forbes, he became the first person in the world to achieve a net worth of $300 billion in 2021; $400 billion in December 2024; $500 billion in October 2025; $600 billion in mid-December 2025; $700 billion later that month; and $800 billion in February 2026. In November 2025, a Tesla pay package worth potentially $1 trillion for Musk was approved, which he is to receive over 10 years if he meets specific goals. Public image Although his ventures have been highly influential within their separate industries starting in the 2000s, Musk only became a public figure in the early 2010s. He has been described as an eccentric who makes spontaneous and impactful decisions, while also often making controversial statements, contrary to other billionaires who prefer reclusiveness to protect their businesses. Musk's actions and his expressed views have made him a polarizing figure. Biographer Ashlee Vance described people's opinions of Musk as polarized due to his "part philosopher, part troll" persona on Twitter. He has drawn denouncement for using his platform to mock the self-selection of personal pronouns, while also receiving praise for bringing international attention to matters like British survivors of grooming gangs. Musk has been described as an American oligarch due to his extensive influence over public discourse, social media, industry, politics, and government policy. After Trump's re-election, Musk's influence and actions during the transition period and the second presidency of Donald Trump led some to call him "President Musk", the "actual president-elect", "shadow president" or "co-president". Awards for his contributions to the development of the Falcon rockets include the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low Transportation Award in 2008, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Gold Space Medal in 2010, and the Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal in 2012. In 2015, he received an honorary doctorate in engineering and technology from Yale University and an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Honorary Membership. Musk was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2018.[m] In 2022, Musk was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Time has listed Musk as one of the most influential people in the world in 2010, 2013, 2018, and 2021. Musk was selected as Time's "Person of the Year" for 2021. Then Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote that, "Person of the Year is a marker of influence, and few individuals have had more influence than Musk on life on Earth, and potentially life off Earth too." Notes References Works cited Further reading External links |
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Contents Medical school A medical school, medical college, or medical university is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, MBChB, MBBCh, BMBS), Master of Medicine (MM, MMed), Doctor of Medicine (MD), or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO). Many medical schools offer additional degrees, such as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), master's degree (MSc) or other post-secondary education. Medical schools can also carry out medical research and operate teaching hospitals. Around the world, criteria, structure, teaching methodology, and nature of medical programs offered at medical schools vary considerably. Medical schools are often highly competitive, using standardized entrance examinations, as well as grade point averages and leadership roles, to narrow the selection criteria for candidates. In most countries, the study of medicine is completed as an undergraduate degree not requiring prerequisite undergraduate coursework. However, an increasing number of places are emerging for graduate entrants who have completed an undergraduate degree including some required courses. In the United States and Canada, almost all medical degrees are second-entry degrees, and require several years of previous study at the university level. Medical degrees are awarded to medical students after the completion of their degree program, which typically lasts five or more years for the undergraduate model and four years for the graduate model. Many modern medical schools integrate clinical education with basic sciences from the beginning of the curriculum (e.g.). More traditional curricula are usually divided into preclinical and clinical blocks. In preclinical sciences, students study subjects such as biochemistry, genetics, pharmacology, pathology, anatomy, physiology and medical microbiology, among others. Subsequent clinical rotations usually include internal medicine, general surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, and obstetrics and gynecology, among others. Although medical schools confer upon graduates a medical degree, a physician typically may not legally practice medicine until licensed by the local government authority. Licensing may also require passing a test, undergoing a criminal background check, checking references, paying a fee, and undergoing several years of postgraduate training. Medical schools are regulated by each country and appear in the World Directory of Medical Schools which was formed by the merger of the AVICENNA Directory for Medicine and the FAIMER International Medical Education Directory. Africa By 2005 there were more than 100 medical schools across Africa, most of which had been established after 1970. There are seven medical schools in Ghana: The University of Ghana Medical School in Accra, the KNUST School of Medical Sciences in Kumasi, University for Development Studies School of Medicine in Tamale, University of Cape Coast Medical School and the University of Allied Health Sciences in Ho, Volta Region, the private Accra College of Medicine, and Family Health University College(Accra), another private medical school. Basic Medical education lasts 6 years in all medical schools. Entry into these medical schools is highly competitive and it is usually based on successful completion of the Senior High School Examinations. The University of Ghana Medical School and the University of Cape Coast have, however, introduced a graduate entry medical program to admit students with mainly science-related degrees into a 4-year medical school program (four and half years for the University of Cape Coast). Students graduating from any of these medical schools get the MBChB degree and the title "Dr". For the first 3 years, students are awarded BSc in the field of Medical Sciences from the University of Ghana medical school; and Human biology for KNUST and UDS medical schools. The University of Ghana Medical School and KNUST School of Medical Sciences in Kumasi use a traditional medical education model whiles the University for Development Studies School of Medicine and School of Medical science of the University of Cape Coast use the problem-based learning model. Medical graduates are then registered provisionally with the Medical and Dental Council (MDC) of Ghana as House Officers (Interns). Upon completion of the mandatory 2-year housemanship, these medical doctors are permanently registered with the MDC and can practice as medical officers (General Practitioners) anywhere in the country. The housemanship training is done only in hospitals accredited for such purposes by the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana. Following the permanent registration with the Medical and Dental Council, doctors can specialize in any of the various fields that is organized by either the West African College of Physicians and Surgeons or the Ghana College of Physician and Surgeons. Medical officers are also sometimes hired by the Ghana Health Service to work in the District/Rural areas as Primary Care Physicians. In Kenya, medical schools are faculties of a university. Medical education lasts for 6 years after which the student graduates with an undergraduate (MBChB) degree. This is followed by a mandatory 12-month full-time internship at an approved hospital after which one applies for registration with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board if they intend to practice medicine in the country. The first two years of medical school cover the basic medical (preclinical) sciences while the last four years are focused on the clinical sciences and internship. Completion of formal specialty training in Kenya is followed by two years of supervised clinical work before one can apply for recognition as a specialist, in their respective field, by the medical board. There are no medical school entry examinations or interviews and admission is based on the student's performance in the high school exit examination (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education - KCSE). Students who took the AS Level or the SAT can also apply but there is a very strict quota limiting the number of students that get accepted into public universities. This quota does not apply to private universities. There are several medical schools in Nigeria. Entrance into these schools is highly competitive. Candidates graduating from high school must attain high scores on the West African Examination Council's (WAEC) Senior School Certificate Exam (SSCE/GCE) and high scores in five subjects (Physics, Mathematics, English, Chemistry, and Biology) in the University Matriculation Examination (UME). Students undergo rigorous training for 6 years and culminate with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS/MBChB). The undergraduate program is six years and one year of work experience in government hospitals. After medical school, graduates are mandated to spend one year of housemanship (internship) and one year of community service before they are eligible to be fully licensed by the Medical and Dental Council. Candidates are required to score at least 280 in the UME. Though this score may vary due to different performances per year and it also depends on the college standards. There are eleven medical schools in South Africa, each under the auspices of a public university. As the country is a former British colony, most institutions follow the British-based undergraduate method of instruction, admitting students directly from high school into 6 or 5-year programs. Some universities such as the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg have started offering post-graduate medical degrees that run concurrently with their undergraduate programs. In this instance, a student having completed an appropriate undergraduate degree with basic sciences can enter into a four-year postgraduate program. South African medical schools award the MB ChB degree, except the University of the Witwatersrand, which styles its degree MB BCh. Some universities allow students to earn an intercalated degree, completing a BSc (Medical) with an additional year of study after the second or third year of the MBChB. The University of Cape Town, in particular, has spearheaded a recent effort to increase the level of medical research training and exposure of medical students through an Intercalated Honours Programme, with the option to extend this to a PhD. Following successful completion of study, all South African medical graduates must complete a two-year internship as well as a further year of community service in order to register with the Health Professions Council and practice as a doctor in the country. Specialisation is usually a five- to seven-year training process (depending on the specialty) requiring registering as a medical registrar attached to an academic clinical department in a large teaching hospital with appropriate examinations. The specialist qualification may be conferred as a Fellowship by the independent Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA), following British tradition, or as a Magisterial degree by the university (usually the M Med, Master of Medicine, degree). The Medical schools and the CMSA also offer Higher Diplomas in many fields. Research degrees are the MMed and PhD or MD, depending on the university. Medical students from all over the world come to South Africa to gain practical experience in the country's many teaching hospitals and rural clinics. The language of instruction is English but a few indigenous languages are studied briefly. The University of the Free State has a parallel medium policy, meaning all English classes are also presented in Afrikaans, therefore students who choose to study in Afrikaans, do so separately from the English class. In Sudan, a medical school is a faculty of a university. Medical school is usually 5–6 years, and by the end of the 5–6 years, the students acquire a bachelor's degree in Medicine and Surgery. Post graduating there is a mandatory one-year full-time internship at one of the universities or Government Teaching hospitals in the four major Specialty in 3 months rotation, then a license is issued after a written exam conducted by the Sudan medical council (SMC). During the first 3–4 years the curriculum is completed, and throughout the next 2 years it is repeated with clinical training. Students with high grades in high school are accepted for free in Government Universities. Private faculty accept low grades than governmental faculty but their grades still high. Students who take foreign examinations other than the Sudanese High School Examination are also accepted in Universities, students taking IGCSE/SATs and other Arabian countries. All medical students who want to be enrolled in an internship program should undergo registration under the Sudanese Medical Council. Postgraduate training is conducted by Sudan medical specialisation board (SMSB) and the degree obtained is medical doctor (MD). The duration of training varies from 4–6 years depend on the scientific Council of the specific speciality. In Tanzania, medical school is a school within a university or can be an independent university dealing with health related courses only affiliated with a large sized hospital. Medical education lasts for 5 years after which the student graduates with an undergraduate (MD) degree. This is followed by a mandatory 12-month full-time internship at an approved hospital after which one applies for registration with the Medical Council of Tanzania (MCT) if they intend to practice medicine in the country. The first two years of medical school cover the Bio medical sciences or simply basic (pre-clinical) sciences while the last three years are focused on the clinical sciences.[citation needed] There are no medical school entry examinations or interviews and admission is based on students' performance in the high school exit examination (Advanced Certificate of Secondary Education Examination - ACSEE). Alternatively are student who took diploma in clinical medicine with an average of G.P.A 3.5 distinction who have very few seats.[citation needed] As of April 2017[update], there are nine accredited medical schools in Uganda. Training leading to the award of the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) lasts five years, if there are no re-takes. After graduating, a year of internship in a hospital designated for that purpose, under the supervision of a specialist in that discipline is required before an unrestricted license to practice medicine and surgery is granted by the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council (UMDPC). There is Postgraduate training such as the degree of Master of Medicine (MMed) which is a three-year programme, available at Makerere University School of Medicine in several disciplines. Makerere University School of Public Health, offers the degree of Master of Public Health (MPH) following a 22-month period of study, which includes field work. In Zimbabwe, there are three medical schools is offering Medical degrees. For undergrads, these are University of Zimbabwe - College of Health Sciences {MBChB}, National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Medical school {MBBS} and Midlands State University (MSU) {MBChB}. Only UZ is offering postgrad degrees in the Medical faculty. Training lasts 5+1⁄2 years. The curriculum is as follows: Internships are two years in duration, with the first year spent in medicine and surgery and the second year doing pediatrics, anesthesia/psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology. Thereafter one can apply for MMED at the university which last 4–5 years depending on specialty. Currently no subspecialist education is available. Zambia has several institutions offering medical education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The country’s medical schools operate under the oversight of the Health Professions Council of Zambia (HPCZ), which regulates training, accreditation, and licensing of medical practitioners. Medical education in Zambia typically follows a six-year MBChB program, which includes pre-clinical and clinical phases, followed by a mandatory one-year internship at a recognized hospital. Graduates must register with the HPCZ to practice as medical doctors. The University of Zambia School of Medicine in Lusaka, established in 1966, was the country’s first medical school. Since then, several other public and private institutions have emerged to meet the growing demand for medical professionals. Notable medical universities in Zambia include: Medical students undergo intensive academic and clinical training in affiliated teaching hospitals. Upon graduation and completion of internship, they may pursue postgraduate specialization within Zambia or abroad, through recognized programs such as Master of Medicine (MMed) and Doctor of Medicine (MD). Asia and Oceania Historically, Australian medical schools have followed the British tradition by conferring the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) to its graduates whilst reserving the title of Doctor of Medicine (MD) for their research training degree, analogous to the PhD, or for their honorary doctorates. Although the majority of Australian MBBS degrees have been graduate programs since the 1990s, under the previous Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) they remained categorised as Level 7 Bachelor degrees together with other undergraduate programs. The latest version of the AQF includes the new category of Level 9 Master's (Extended) degrees which permits the use of the term 'Doctor' in the styling of the degree title of relevant professional programs. As a result, various Australian medical schools have replaced their MBBS degrees with the MD to resolve the previous anomalous nomenclature. With the introduction of the Master's level MD, universities have also renamed their previous medical research doctorates. The University of Melbourne was the first to introduce the MD in 2011 as a basic medical degree, and has renamed its research degree to Doctor of Medical Science (DMedSc). In Bangladesh, admission to medical colleges is organized by the Governing Body of University of Dhaka. A single admission test is held for government and private colleges. Due to the highly competitive nature of these exams, the total number of applicants across the country is around 78 times the number of students accepted.[citation needed] Admission is based on the entrance examination, as well as students' individual academic records.[citation needed] The entrance examination has a time limit of one hour. 100 marks are allocated based on objective questions, in which the mark allocation is distributed between a variety of subjects. Biology questions carry 30 marks, Chemistry carries 25, Physics carries 20, English carries 15, and general knowledge carries 10. Additionally, students' previous SSC (Secondary School Certificate) scores carry up to 75 and HSC (Higher Secondary School Certificate) scores carry up to 125 marks towards the overall examination result. English students prepare themselves for the admission exam ahead of time. This is because as the GCSE and A-Level exams do not cover parts of the Bangladesh syllabus.[citation needed] The undergraduate program consists of five years study, followed by a one-year internship. The degrees granted are Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). Further postgraduate qualifications may be obtained in the form of Diplomas or Degrees (MS or MD), MPhil and FCPS (Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons). The University of Dhaka launched [when?] a new BSc in "Radiology and Imaging Technology," offering 30 students the opportunity to contribute towards their entrance exam grade. For students who have passed the HSC, this course contributes towards 25% of the mark. The course contributes up to 75% for Diploma-holding students. The duration of the course is four years (plus 12 weeks for project submission). The course covers a variety of topics, including behavioural science, radiological ethics, imaging physics and general procedure. After six years of general medical education (a foundation year + 5 years), all students will graduate with a Bachelor of Medical Sciences (BMedSc) (បរិញ្ញាប័ត្រ វិទ្យាសាស្រ្តវេជ្ជសាស្ត្រ). This degree does not allow graduates to work independently as Physician, but it is possible for those who wish to continue to master's degrees in other fields relating to medical sciences such as Public Health, Epidemiology, Biomedical Science, Nutrition. Medical graduates, who wish to be fully qualified as physicians or specialists must meet these conditions: All Medical graduates must complete a thesis defense and pass the national exit exam (ប្រឡងចេញថ្នាក់ជាតិក្នុងវិស័យសុខាភិបាល) to become a GP or a medical or surgical specialist. Medical education is normally a five-year Bachelor degree, including a one-year internship (or clinical rotation, during which students are actively involved in patient care) before the final degree is awarded. Although some medical schools run three-year programs, hospitals tend to recruit physicians who have graduated from five-year programs. Students who graduate from medical school must work 1–3 years in a university-affiliated hospital, after which the student is eligible to take the National Medical Licensing Examination (NMLE) for physician certification, which is conducted by the National Medical Examination Center (NMEC). Candidates who pass are certified as physicians by the Ministry of Health. Clinical specialization usually involves a two-or three-year Master degree. Acceptance is based on the national entrance examination used for all universities. In all over China, the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Degree courses have been always taught in Chinese medium. There are a few colleges that teach in English and accept foreign medical students. Some of those universities have increased their course duration to 6 years. The degree conferred is known as Bachelor of Clinical Medicine (BCM). Medical education is normally a six-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree, including a one-year of trainee internship (or clinical rotation, during which students are actively involved in patient care) before the final degree is awarded. Students who graduate from medical school must complete an year of graduate training in a government hospital, after which they are eligible to practice medicine. There are two accredited medical schools in Fiji: Clinical specialization usually involves a three-year master's degree. Acceptance into Medical School is based on the Fiji Year 13 Certificate Examination used for all universities. In all over Fiji, the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Degree courses have been always taught in English medium. In Hong Kong, medical programmes are bachelor's degrees with a usual duration of six years, leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. Students are eligible upon graduating secondary school, and sitting the local Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) (JUPAS candidates) or other international examinations such as the International Baccalaureate and GCE A-Level (non-JUPAS candidates). There are two medical schools in Hong Kong: Both medical faculties are also the sole two institutes offering pharmacy programmes. Meanwhile, other healthcare programmes (like nursing) can also be found in universities which do not host a medical faculty. The CUHK Faculty of Medicine offers the Dynamic Year 2 (DY2) option, which allows high-achieving students who have acquired a certain minimum level in relevant academic qualifications to be admitted directly to Year 2. Prior to the introduction of the HKDSE in 2012, both medical programmes had a duration of five years for students taking the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE).[citation needed] Admission to a medical program is highly competitive as the number of intakes each year is limited. As of 2024, the first year intake of each program is 295 (590 in total). Hence, candidates need to attain an excellent examination result and good performance in interviews. The schools put a great emphasis on students' languages (both Chinese and English) and communication skills as they need to communicate with other healthcare professionals and patients or their families in the future.[citation needed] During their studies at the medical schools, students need to accumulate enough clinical practicing hours in addition before their graduation.[citation needed] To obtain full registration as registered medical practitioners, medical graduates must undertake and complete at least one year of supervised practice in approved hospitals, generally known as an internship, with satisfactory performance. During this year, interns (house officers) are rotated to four specialties (medicine, surgery, and two of the following: obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics and traumatology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and ophthalmology). Each of them lasts three months. There is no work hour limit in Hong Kong and interns are expected to work 80–100 hours per week.[citation needed] In India, admission to medical colleges is organized by the central government by NTA (National Testing Agency) through tests known as NEET entrance examination. Students who have successfully completed their 10+2 (Physics, Chemistry and Biology Marks are considered and PCB is mandatory) education (higher secondary school) can appear for the tests the same year.[citation needed] The NEET-UG (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) for filling up of 15% of total MBBS seats in India, conducted by NTA (National Testing Agency) 1 time in a year in the month of May intakes about only 65,000 students out of a total applicants of over 15,00,000. The Supreme Court Of India has mandated the necessity of entrance examination based upon multiple choice questions and negative marking for wrong answers with subsequent merit over 50% for selection into MBBS as well as higher medical education. The entrance exams are highly competitive.[citation needed] The graduate program consists of three professionals consisting of 9 semesters, followed by one-year internship (rotating housemanship). The degree granted is Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) of five years and six months.[citation needed] The graduate degree of MBBS is divided into three professionals, with each professional ending with a professional exam conducted by the university (a single university may have up to dozens of medical colleges offering various graduate/post-graduate/post-doctoral degrees). After clearing this the student moves into the next professional. Each professional exam consists of a theory exam and a practical exam conducted not only by the same college but also external examiners. The exams are tough and many students are unable to clear them, thereby prolonging their degree time. The first professional is for 1 year and includes preclinical subjects, anatomy, physiology and biochemistry. The second professional is for 1+1⁄2 years and has subjects pathology, pharmacology, microbiology (including immunology) and forensic medicine. Clinical exposure starts in the second professional. The third professional is divided into two parts. Part 1 consists of ophthalmology, ENT, and PSM (preventive and social medicine) and part 2 consists of general-medicine (including dermatology, psychiatry as short subjects), general surgery (including radiology, anaesthesiology and orthopaedics as short subjects) and pediatrics and gynaecology and obstetrics. This is followed by one-year of internship (house-surgeonship). After internship, the degree of MBBS is awarded by the respective university. Some states have made rural service compulsory for a certain period of time after MBBS.[citation needed] Selection for higher medical education is through entrance examinations as mandated by the Supreme Court Of India. Further postgraduate qualifications may be obtained as Post-graduate Diploma of two years residency or Doctoral Degree (MS: Master of Surgery, or MD) of three years of residency under the aegis of the Medical Council of India. The MD/MS seats in India are filled up through NEET PG Examination conducted by the National Board of Examinations (NBE) under the supervision of the Directorate General Of Health Services. Theses/Dissertations are mandatory to be submitted and cleared by university along with examinations (written and clinicals) to obtain MD/MS degree. Further sub-speciality post-doctoral qualification (DM - Doctorate of Medicine, or MCh - Magister of Chirurgery) of three years of residency followed by university examinations may also be obtained. PG (post-graduate) qualification is equivalent to MD/MS, consisting of two/three-years residency after MBBS. A PG diploma may also be obtained through the National Board of Examinations (NBE), which also offers three-years residency for sub-specialisation. All degrees by NBE are called DNB (Diplomate of National Board). DNB's are awarded only after clearance of theses/dissertations and examinations. DNBs equivalent to DM/MCh have to clear examinations mandatorily. In Indonesia, high school graduates who aspires to enroll in public medical schools must apply to medicine undergraduate program available in certain public universities. Most common ways to apply to public universities are SNBP (Achievement-based National Selection, Indonesian: Seleksi Nasional Berdasarkan Prestasi, organized without test, using high school evaluation reports) and SNBT (Test-Based National Selection, Indonesian: Seleksi Nasional Berdasarkan Tes, organized with test), both administered by Institution of Higher Education Admissions Test under The Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. Another way with fewer places are available through entrance exam conducted autonomously by each university (known as independent admission). These admissions are highly competitive for medicine, especially in prestigious institutions such as University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Airlangga University in Surabaya, and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. For private medical schools, almost all places offer seats through independently run admission tests.[citation needed] The standard Indonesian medical school curriculum is six years long. The four years long undergraduate program is composed mainly of classroom education, continued with the last two years in professional program which primarily includes rotations in clinical settings where students learn patient care firsthand. If they pass the undergraduate program, they will be granted the title "S.Ked" (Bachelor of Medicine) and if they finish the professional program and pass the national examination arranged by IDI (Indonesian Medical Association) they will become general physician and be assigned the prefix, "dr. (doctor)".[citation needed] Upon graduation, a physician planning to become a specialist in a specific field of medicine must complete a residency, which is a supervised training with periods ranging from three to four years. A physician who sub-specializes or who desires more supervised experience may complete a fellowship, which is an additional one to three years of supervised training in his/her area of expertise.[citation needed] In Japan, medical schools are faculties of universities and thus they are undergraduate programs that generally last for six years. Admission is based on an exam taken at the end of high school and an entrance exam at the university itself, which is the most competitive. Medical students study Liberal Arts and Sciences for the first 1–2 years, which include Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Foreign Languages, followed by 2 years of Basic Medicine (Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Immunology), Clinical Medicine, Public health, and Forensics. Medical students train at the University Hospital for the last two years. Clinical training is a part of the curriculum. Upon completion of the graduation examination, students are awarded an MD Medical graduates are titled as Doctor, as are PhD holders. The university does have an MD/PhD program that enables Doctors of Medicine to become PhD holders, as well. At the end, Medical students take the National Medical License examination and, if they pass it, become a Physician and register in the record in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The scope of this exam encompasses every aspect of medicine. In Kyrgyzstan, the government university Kyrgyz State Medical Academy offers 6 years duration undergraduate (bachelor's degree) program whereas the other institutions mostly private such as the International School of Medicine at the International University of Kyrgyzstan offers a five-year medical program, with a requisite for English knowledge, that is recognized by the World Health Organization, the General Medical Council, and UNESCO. The medical school is also partnered with the University of South Florida School of Medicine, the University of Heidelberg (Germany), the Novosibirsk Medical University (Russia), and the University of Sharjah (UAE). Other medical schools located in Kyrgyzstan include the 5 years duration MD/MBBS undergraduate degree program at International University of Science and Business or Mezhdunarodnyy Universitet Nauki i Biznesa, Kyrgyzstan others are the Asian Medical Institute, Kyrgyzstan and the Medical Institute, Osh State University. Macau University of Science and Technology offers the only Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery undergraduate clinical medicine program in Macau. In Malaysia, getting into medical school is regarded as difficult, due to high fees and a rigorous selection process.[citation needed] Some new medical schools do offer a foundation in medicine course before admission into a full-time medical programme. Most government, and some private medical schools offer MD, and others mostly offer MBBS degrees. As of 2015, there are six medical institutions in Myanmar - UM 1, UM 2, DSMA, UM Mdy, UM Mgy and the newly established UMTG. Myanmar medical schools are government-funded and require Myanmar citizenship for eligibility. No private medical school exist at this moment. In Myanmar, admission to medical colleges is organized under the Department of Health Science, which is the branch of Ministry of Health and Sport of Myanmar. A student can join one of the six medical universities of Myanmar if he gets the highest scores in the science combination of the matriculation examination. This exam is highly competitive. Entrance is solely based on this examination and academic records have very minor consequences on an application. The undergraduate program is five years plus one year for work experience in government hospitals. After medical school, Myanmar medical graduates are under contract to spend one year of internship and three years of tenure in rural areas before they are eligible for most residency positions. The degree granted is Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). Further postgraduate qualifications may be obtained as a degree (MMedSc) and (DrMedSc). As of 2020, Nepal had 23 medical schools (6 public and 17 private). Medical studies start at undergraduate level and are taught by mostly Indian and Nepalese faculty. Studies typically take four and a half years followed by a one-year internship. Graduates are conferred the MBBS degree. Scholarships are provided to between 10 and 20% of students. Upon graduation, scholarship students have to serve in health facilities in rural Nepal for two years after graduation. In turn, self financing students tend to come from upper socioeconomic status due to the high cost of medical education in Nepal There are four main medical bodies in Nepal:[citation needed] The Medical Education Commission was established in 2017 with the goal of improving the quality of medical education in Nepal. Nepal Medical Council (NMC) was established in 2020 with the primary role of registering qualified doctors. New Zealand medical programs are undergraduate-entry programs of six years duration. Students are considered for acceptance only after a year of undergraduate basic sciences or, as alternative, following the completion of a bachelor's degree. There are two main medical schools in New Zealand: the University of Auckland and the University of Otago. Each of these has subsidiary medical schools such as Otago's Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Auckland's Waikato Clinical School. The first year of the medical degree is the basic sciences year, which comprises study in chemistry, biology, physics, and biochemistry as well as population health and behavioural sciences. The following two years are spent studying human organ systems and pathological processes in more detail as well as professional and communication development. Toward the end of the third year, students begin direct contact with patients in hospital settings. The clinical years begin fully at the beginning of year 4, where students rotate through various areas of general clinical medicine with rotation times varying from between two and six weeks. Year 5 continues this pattern, focusing more on specialized areas of medicine and surgery. Final medical school exams (exit exams) are actually held at the end of year 5, which is different from most other countries, where final exams are held near the very end of the medical degree. Final exams must be passed before the student is allowed to enter year 6. The final year (Year 6) of medical school is known as the "Trainee Intern" year, wherein a student is known as a "Trainee Intern" (commonly referred to in the hospitals as a "T.I."). Trainee interns repeat most rotations undertaken in years 4 and 5 but at a higher level of involvement and responsibility for patient care. Trainee interns receive a stipend grant from the New Zealand government (not applicable for international students). At the current time, this is $NZ 26,756/year (about $US 18,500). Trainee interns have responsibility under supervision for the care of about one-third the patient workload of a junior doctor. However, all prescriptions and most other orders (e.g., radiology requests and charting of IV fluids) made by trainee interns must be countersigned by a registered doctor. New Zealand medical schools currently award the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB). Upon completion of the sixth year, students go on to become "House Officers," also known as "House Surgeons" for 1–2 years where they rotate through specialities in the first year and then begin to narrow down to what they'd like to do for speciality training in the second year. After 2 years of house officer work they apply to get into a training scheme and start to train towards the speciality. In Pakistan a medical school is more often referred to as a medical college. A medical college is affiliated with a university as a department. There are however several medical universities and medical institutes with their own medical colleges. All medical colleges and universities are regulated by the respective provincial department of health. They however have to be recognized after meeting a set criteria by a central regulatory authority called Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) in Islamabad. There are almost equal number of government and private medical colleges and universities, with their number exceeding 50. Admission to a government medical college is highly competitive. Entrance into the medical colleges is based on merit under the guidelines of PMDC. Both the academic performance at the college (high school, grades 11–12) level and an entrance test like MCAT are taken into consideration for the eligibility to enter most of the medical colleges. After successfully completing five years of academic and clinical training in the medical college and affiliated teaching hospitals the graduates are awarded a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree. The graduates are then eligible to apply for a medical license from the PMDC. A house job of one-year duration is mandatory in a teaching hospital after completing five years of academic and clinical training in the medical college. The Dominicans, under the Spanish Government, established the oldest medical school in the Philippines in 1871, known as the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (at that time was one with the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Pharmacy, also considered the oldest pharmacy school in the Philippines) of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas in Intramuros, Manila. Medical education in the Philippines became widespread under the American administration. The Americans, led by the insular government's Secretary of the Interior, Dean Worcester, built the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and Surgery in 1905. By 1909, nursing instruction was also begun at the Philippine Normal School. At present there are a number of medical schools in the Philippines, notable examples include the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, Our Lady of Fatima University, Far Eastern University – Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation, Saint Louis University International School of Medicine, De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute, University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, UERMMMC College of Medicine, Cebu Doctors' University, Cebu Institute of Medicine, Southwestern University - Matias H. Aznar Memorial College of Medicine Inc., West Visayas State University in Iloilo City, and University of Northern Philippines in Vigan. In 1994, the Ateneo de Zamboanga University-School of Medicine, then known as Zamboanga Medical School Foundation was established. By 2003, it became the first medical school in the country to offer a double degree program leading to the degrees Doctor of Medicine and Master of Public Health. Any college graduate may apply for medical school given that they satisfy the requirements set by the institutions. There is also a test known as the National Medical Admission Test or NMAT. Scores are given on a percentile basis and a high ranking is a must to enter the top medical schools in the country. In most institutions, medical education lasts for four years. Basic subjects are taken up in the first and second years, while clinical sciences are studied in the second and third years. In their fourth year, students rotate in the various hospital departments, spending up to two months each in the fields of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics, and several weeks in the other specialties. After this, students graduate with a Doctorate in Medicine and apply for postgraduate internship (PGI) in an accredited hospital of their choice. After PGI, the student is eligible to take the Medical Licensure Examination. Passing the examinations confers the right to practice medicine as well as to apply in a Residency Training Program. There are three medical schools in Singapore. Two of them offer undergraduate (5 years degree) and the other offers postgraduate (4 years) entry. There are 41 medical schools in South Korea. Medical programs in South Korea are undergraduate direct-entry programs akin to those in the United Kingdom, taking a total of six years to complete. In 1996, the South Korean government started discussions to shift undergraduate medical programs to graduate-level institutions, with the hopes of eventually implementing a system resembling that of the United States and Canada. This change would require applicants to possess an undergraduate degree to be eligible. This proposal was highly controversial, namely due to public distrust regarding fairness and equal opportunity. In 2005, despite substantial opposition, the reforms were enacted, but to alleviate tensions, institutions were allowed to maintain their undergraduate medical programs along with postgraduate programs, and the adoption of postgraduate medical programs was made optional. After about a decade of a two-tiered system, many schools opted to revert to undergraduate medical colleges, abolishing graduate-level medical schools from their institutions. As of 2023, Cha University School of Medicine is the only institution in South Korea to offer a postgraduate medical program. There are eight medical schools in Sri Lanka that teach evidence based (sometimes called "western") medicine. The oldest medical school is the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, established as Ceylon Medical School in 1870. There are medical faculties in Peradeniya, Kelaniya, Sri Jayawardanepura, Galle, Batticaloa, Jaffna and Rajarata as well. Kelaniya Medical Faculty initially started as the North Colombo Medical College (NCMC), a private medical institution. It was one of the earliest private higher educational institutions (1980). Heavy resistance by the medical professionals, university students and other professionals led to its nationalization and to its renaming as the Kelaniya Medical Faculty. Faculty of Health-Care Sciences is the faculty that offers MBBS together with other para-medical courses. It is an entity of the Eastern University - Sri Lanka. Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) is the only institution that provides specialist training of medical doctors. The Institute of Indigenous Medicine of the University of Colombo, the Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurvedhic Medicine Institute of the University of Kelaniya and the Faculty of Siddha Medicine, University of Jaffna teach Ayurvedha/ Unani / Siddha Medicine. The medical education in the Taiwan is usually 7 years (6-year learning plus 1-year internship) in duration, starting right after high schools. The first 2 years in the 7-year system is composed of basic sciences and liberal art courses. Doctor-patient classes are emphasized, and most schools require compulsory amounts of volunteer hours. Clinical sciences are compressed into a two-year program in the third and fourth years. The duration of clerkships and internships varies from school to school, but all of them end at the seventh grade. Taiwan's medical education began in 1897 and is over 100 years old now. Students graduate with a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. Starting from the year 2013, incoming students will have a 6+2 year curriculum, in which the first 6 years are oriented similarly as before and the last two years are Post Graduate Years; this change aims to increase primary care capabilities of medical school graduates. The first medical school in Thailand was established back in 1890 at Siriraj Hospital, which is now become Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. Currently, there are 26[circular reference] medical programs offered nationwide. Most of the Thai medical schools are government-funded and require Thai citizenship for eligibility. Two private medical schools exist at the moment. Some Thais choose to attend private medical schools or attend a medical school in a foreign country due to relatively few openings and extremely competitive entrance examination scores required for enrollment in public medical schools. The Thai medical education is a six-year system, consisting of one year in basic-science, two years in pre-clinical training, and three years for clinical training. Upon graduation, all medical students must pass national medical licensing examinations and a university-based comprehensive test. After medical school, newly graduated doctors are under contract to spend a year of internship and 2 years of tenure in rural areas before they are eligible for any other residency positions or specialized training, mostly in locations outside Bangkok. Students will receive Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree at the end of the process. This degree is equivalent to a master's degree in Thailand. Caribbean In 2011, the International Medical Education Directory listed 59 current medical schools in the Caribbean, including 54 grant the MD degree, 3 grant the MBBS degree, and 2 grant either the MD or MBBS degree. 30 of the medical schools in the Caribbean are regional, which train students to practice in the country or region where the school is located. The remaining 29 Caribbean medical schools are known as offshore schools, which primarily train students from the United States and Canada who intend to return home for residency and clinical practice after graduation. At most offshore schools, basic sciences are completed in the Caribbean while clinical clerkships are completed at teaching hospitals in the United States. Several agencies may also accredit Caribbean medical schools, as listed in the FAIMER Directory of Organizations that Recognize/Accredit Medical Schools (DORA). 25 of the 29 regional medical schools in the Caribbean are accredited, while 14 of the 30 offshore medical schools are accredited. As of 2021, Curaçao has five medical schools registered in the World Directory of Medical Schools: Avalon University School of Medicine, Caribbean Medical University School of Medicine, John F. Kennedy University School of Medicine, New York Medical University School of Medicine and St. Martinus University Faculty of Medicine. All are located within the city of Willemstad. These schools provide education in Basic Medical Science (BMS) which goes towards the degree of Medical Doctor or Doctor of Medicine. Presently, none of the medical schools offer other degrees, such as MBBS or PhD (2016). All students after completing their medical school's Basic Medical Science program in Curaçao; will then have to apply to either take USMLE Step Exams, the Canadian or British Board Exams.[citation needed] Medical studies in the Dominican Republic start after graduation from high school. The programs typically take around 6 years to complete and are generally in Spanish with a few U.S.-style 4-year programs in English geared to American students (e.g. UNIBE).[citation needed] Programs are typically divided into pre-medicine, basic sciences and clinical sciences (also called pre-internship). At the end of the pre-internship period the aspiring doctors need to complete a 1-year compulsory internship in a Dominican hospital to obtain their medical license. Medical schools in Haiti conduct training in French. The universities offering medical training in Haiti are the Université Notre Dame d'Haïti, Université Quisqueya, Université d'Etat d'Haïti and Université Lumière. The Université Notre Dame d'Haïti (UNDH) is a private Catholic university established by the Episcopal Conference of Haiti. According to the UNDH website, "the UNDH is not just about academic degrees, it is mainly the formation of a new type of Haiti, which includes in its culture and moral values of the Gospel, essential for serious and honest people that the country needs today." The other two private schools offering medical degrees are Université Quisqueya and Université Lumière. The Université d'Etat d'Haïti is a public school. Attending medical school in Haiti may be less expensive than attending medical universities located in other parts of the world, but the impact of the country's political unrest should be considered, as it affects the safety of both visitors and Haitians.[editorializing] Europe There are two Medical Schools (Fakultete të Mjekësisë) in Albania: These medical schools are usually affiliated with regional hospitals. The course of study lasts 6 years. Students are conferred degree Doctor of Medicine (MD) upon graduation. There are four medical schools (Medical Universities) in Belarus: In Belgium and Netherlands, medical students receive 6 years of university education prior to their graduation. In the Netherlands, students used to receive four years of preclinical training, followed by two years of clinical training (co-assistentschappen, or co-schappen for short) in hospitals. However, for a number of medical schools this has recently changed to three years of preclinical training, followed by three years of clinical training. At least one medical faculty, that of the Utrecht University, clinical training already begins in the third year of medical school. After 6 years, students graduate as basisartsen (comparable to Doctors of Medicine). As a result of the Bologna process, medical students in the Netherlands now receive a bachelor's degree after three years in medical school and a master's degree upon graduation. Prospective students can apply for medical education directly after finishing the highest level of secondary school, vwo; previous undergraduate education is not a precondition for admittance. The Belgian medical education is much more based on theoretical knowledge than the Dutch system. In the first 3 years, which are very theoretical and lead to a university bachelor degree, general scientific courses are taken such as chemistry, biophysics, physiology, biostatistics, anatomy, virology, etc. To enter the bachelor course in Flanders, prospective students have to pass an exam, as a result of the numerus clausus. In the French-speaking part of Belgium, only the best students that pass the first year of the bachelor course in medicine are admitted to the second and third year. After the bachelor courses, students are allowed to enter the 'master in medicine' courses, which consist of 4 years of theoretical and clinical study. In general, the first 2 master years are very theoretical and teach the students in human pathology, diseases, pharmacology. The third year is a year full of internships in a wide range of specialities in different clinics. The seventh, final year serves as a kind of 'pre-specialization' year in which the students are specifically trained in the specialty they wish to pursue after medical school. This contrasts with the Dutch approach, in which graduates are literally 'basic doctors' (basisartsen) who have yet to decide on a specialty. There are five Medical Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina: These medical schools are usually affiliated with regional hospitals. The course of study lasts 6 years or 12 semesters. Students are conferred degree Doctor of Medicine (MD) upon graduation. Entry to BH Medical Schools are very competitive due to limited places imposed by the government quota. Students are required to complete Secondary School Leaving Diploma (Gimnazija-Gymnasium (school) or Medicinska skola matura/svedocanstvo/svjedodzba). Entrance examination is usually held in June/July. Combined score of Secondary School Diploma assessment (on scale 1–5, with 2 minimum passing grade and 5 maximum grade) and entrance examination is taken into consideration. Usually, 5 in Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, and Physics are required for entry to medicine. Course structure is more traditional and divided in pre-clinical (year 1–3) /clinical part (year 3–6) and subject-based. Practical examinations are held throughout the degree (Anatomy, Biochemistry, Pathology, Physiology practicals etc.). Dissection is part of all medical curricula in Bosnian and Herz. Medical Schools. In Bulgaria, a medical school is a type of college or a faculty of a university. The medium of instruction is officially in Bulgarian. A six- to one-year course in Bulgarian language is required prior to admittance to the medical program. For European candidates, an exam in Biology and Chemistry in Bulgarian is also required. While a number of Bulgarian medical schools have now started offering medical programmes in English, Bulgarian is still required during the clinical years. Students join medical school after completing high-school. Admission offers are made by individual medical schools. Bulgarian applicants have to pass entrance examinations in the subjects of Biology and Chemistry. The competitive result of every candidate is the based on their marks these exams plus their secondary-school certificate marks in the same subjects. Those applicants with the highest results achieved are classified for admission. The course of study is offered as a six-year program. The first two years are pre-clinical, the next three years are clinical training and the sixth year is the internship year, during which students work under supervision at the hospitals. During the sixth year, students have to appear for 'state exams' in the five major subjects of Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Pediatrics and Social Medicine (also, includes Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology and Hygiene and Medical Ecology, forming part of the grade for this subject). Upon successful completion of the six years of study and the state exams the degree of 'Physician' is conferred and the students obtain an 'MD'. The exams are tough as the overall grade for most subjects is determined by the performance of an Oral/Spoken Exam and many students are unable to clear them, thereby prolonging their degree time. For specialization, graduates have to appear for written tests and interviews to obtain a place in a specialization program. For specialization in general medicine, general practice lasts three years, cardiology lasts four years, internal medicine lasts five years, and general surgery lasts five years. There are four dedicated medical universities in Bulgaria - Medical University, Sofia, Medical University of Varna, Plovdiv Medical University and Medical University Pleven. Additionally, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and Trakia University also offer medical programmes. In Croatia, there are four out of seven universities that offer a medical degree, the University of Zagreb (offers medical studies in English), University of Rijeka (offers medical studies in English), University of Split (also offers medical studies in English), and the University of Osijek. The Medical schools are a faculties of those four universities. Medical students enroll into medical school after finishing secondary education, typically after a Gymnasium, or after a five-year nursing school, or any other high school lasting four years. During the application process, their high school grades, and the grades of their matriculation exam at the end of high school (Matura) and the score at the obligatory admission exam are taken into account, and the best students are enrolled. The course of study lasts 6 years or 12 semesters. During the first 3 years, students are engaged in pre-clinical courses (Anatomy, Histology, Chemistry, Physics, Cell Biology, Genetics, Physiology, Biochemistry, Immunology, Pathologic Physiology And Anatomy, Pharmacology, Microbiology, etc.). Contact with patients begins at the third year. The remaining 3 years are composed of rotations at various departments, such as Internal Medicine, Neurology, Radiology, Dermatology, Psychiatry, Surgery, Pediatrics, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Anesthesiology, and others. During each academic year, students also enroll into two or three elective courses. After each rotation, the students take a total of about 60 exams. In the end, the students must pass a final multiple-choice exam comprising questions about clinical courses, after which they finally gain an MD, and the title of Doctor of Medicine, which they put after their name. Now the doctors must complete a one-year, supervised, paid internship in a hospital of their choice, after which they take the state (license) examination, which is an eight-part oral examination containing the eight most important clinical branches. After that, the doctors are eligible to practice medicine as general practitioners. Residencies are offered at various hospitals throughout Croatia, and at numerous medical specialities. Medical study in Czech Republic has a long tradition dating from the 14th century, with the first medical school starting at the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague in 1348, making it the 11th oldest in the world. Students from all over the world are attracted to study medicine in Czech Republic because of the high standards of education provided. Most Czech Universities offer a 6-year General Medicine program in Czech and in English separately for international students. The admission to medical studies in Czech Republic is based on the performance in high school diploma (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), English proficiency and performance in the entrance exams. Entrance examination is conducted at the university and by some representative offices abroad. After the entrance exams, successful candidates are further scrutinised by conducting interviews. Most of the international students studying medicine in the Czech Republic originate from United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Israel, Malaysia and the Middle East. Most faculties of Medicine in Czech Republic have been approved by the U.S. Department of Education for participation in Federal Student Financial Aid Programs and is listed in the Directory of Postsecondary Institutions published by the U.S. Department of Education. The qualifications are also approved in Canada by the Canadian Ministry of Education and Training, and in the UK by the General Medical Council. Most medical schools are globally recognised. There are nine public government owned medical schools in the Czech Republic: There is one military medical school, Faculty of Military Health Sciences, University of Defence. In Denmark, basic medical education is given in four universities: University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, University of Southern Denmark and Aalborg University. The study consists of three years of bachelor and three years of candidate studies, roughly reflecting the preclinical and clinical fields. After six years, the title of Candidate of Medicine (MD) is attained, and after swearing the Danish medical pledge upon graduation, a text from 1815 inspired by the Hippocratic Oath, the medical license (Danish: autorisation) is issued by the Department of Health. Medical school is usually followed by a year of residency called clinical basic education (Danish: klinisk basisuddannelse or KBU) which upon completion grants the right to practice medicine without supervision. After this, the doctor can pursue one of 38 specialisations which must start within five years after completing the clinical basic education. If the MD pursues a research or university career, sometimes he or she will skip the clinical basic education and remain a basic MD without the right to practice medicine independently. The Danish word for a licensed physician is læge. The word 'doktor' for a physician is used only in demotic speech, but is by some people erroneously assumed to be a title prefix of all physicians. The title of doctor (dr.med. or in full doctor medicinæ) is not equivalent to an MD in the English language, but reserved for candidates of medicine who have attained a higher doctorate. The Danish/Norwegian dr.med. title is a degree above the PhD and above the German Dr.med. In Finland, basic medical education is given in five universities: Helsinki, Kuopio, Oulu, Tampere and Turku. Admission is regulated by an entrance examination. Studies involve an initial two-year preclinical period of mainly theoretical courses in anatomy, biochemistry, pharmacology etc. However, students have contact with patients from the beginning of their studies. The preclinical period is followed by a four-year clinical period, when students participate in the work of various hospitals and health care centres, learning necessary medical skills. Some Finnish universities have integrated clinical and preclinical subjects along the six-year course, diverging from the traditional program. A problem-based learning method is widely used, and inclusion of clinical cases in various courses and preclinical subjects is becoming common. All medical schools have research programs for students who wish to undertake scientific work. The duration of basic medical education is six years and the course leads to the degree of Licentiate of Medicine. Medical studies in France are organized as follows: Right after graduating from high school with a baccalaureat, any student can register at a university of medicine (there are about 30 of them throughout the country). At the end of first year, an internal ranking examination takes place in each of these universities in order to implement the numerus clausus. First year consists mainly of theoretical classes such as biophysics and biochemistry, anatomy, ethics or histology. Passing first year is commonly considered as challenging and requires hard and continuous work. Each student can only try twice. For example, the Université René Descartes welcomes about 2000 students in first year and only 300 after numerus clausus. The second and third year are usually mainly quite theoretical although the teachings are often accompanied by placements in the field (e.g. internships as nurses or in the emergency room, depending on the university). During fourth, fifth and sixth years, medical students get a special status called 'Externe' (In some universities, such as Pierre et Marie Curie, the 'Externe' status is given starting in the third year). They work as interns every morning at the hospital plus a few night shifts a month and study in the afternoon. Each internship lasts between 3 and 4 months and takes place in a different department. Med students get five weeks off per year. At the end of sixth year, they need to pass a national ranking exam, which will determine their specialty. The students are then allowed to choose their specialty in order of their ranking. During the fifth and sixth years, students split their time between actual practice at the hospital and some theoretical courses. The average wage of medical students in their fifth and sixth year amounts to between €100 and €300 a month [citation needed]. After that ranking exams, students can start as residents in the specialty they have been able to pick. That is the point from which they also start getting paid. Towards the end of the medical program, French medical students are provided with more responsibilities and are required to defend a thesis. At the conclusion of the thesis defense, French medical students receive a State Diploma of Doctor of Medicine (MD) or "Diplôme d'Etat de Docteur en Médecine" for general medicine. For those who are in speciality training will also receive a Diploma of Specialized Studies (DES = Diplôme d'Études Specialisées) to mark their specialties. Some students may also receive a Diploma of Specialized Complementary Studies (DESC = Diplôme d'Études Specialisées Complementaires). In Georgia, a medical school is a particular kind of college or faculty inside a university. The official teaching language is Georgian, although programs in English are available. Enrolment admission requirements in Georgia are not as strict as in other countries, as some medical schools do not require entrance exams in chemistry or biology. In addition, less importance is placed on overall secondary school grades and more on the interview process and science subjects. Many international students from Europe, Asia, and Africa choose to study medicine in Georgia due to the low tuition fees in the country. The high level of medical education and internationally recognized degrees are also important deciding factors for international students. The study program is available as a six-year curriculum. Pre-clinical training lasts for the first two years, clinical training for the next three, and internship training for the sixth year, which involves students working in hospitals under the supervision of doctors. Students must take "state examinations" in the five primary disciplines of internal medicine, surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, social medicine, and pediatrics after their sixth year of study. The title of "Physician" is awarded upon completing six years of education and the state examinations. Graduates who choose to specialize must take written exams and interviews in order to be accepted into a program. Three years are spent in general practice, four in cardiology, five in internal medicine, and five in general surgery while specializing in general medicine. In Germany, admission to medical schools is currently administered jointly by the Stiftung für Hochschulzulassung (SfH), a centralized federal organization, and the universities themselves. The most important criterion for admission is the Numerus clausus, the final GPA scored by the applicant on the Abitur (highest secondary school diploma). However, in light of the recent gain in influence of medical schools in regards to applicant selection, additional criteria are being used to select students for admission. These criteria vary among medical faculties and the final Abitur GPA is always a core indicator and strongly influences admission. Admission remains highly competitive. A very small number of slots per semester are reserved for selected applicants which already hold a university degree (Zweitstudium) and for medical officer candidates (Sanitätsoffizieranwärter). The first two years of medical school consist of the so-called pre-clinical classes. During this time, the students are instructed in the basic sciences (e.g. physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, etc.) and must pass a federal medical exam (Erster Abschnitt der ärztlichen Prüfung), administered nationally. Upon completion, the students advance to the clinical stage, where they receive three years of training and education in the clinical subjects (e.g. internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, pharmacology, pathology, etc.). After these three years, they have to pass the second federal medical exam (Zweiter Abschnitt der ärztlichen Prüfung) before continuing with the sixth and final year. The last year of medical school consists of the so-called "practical year" (Praktisches Jahr, PJ). Students are required to spend three four-month clerkships, two of them in a hospital (internal medicine and surgery) as well as one elective, which can be one of the other clinical subjects (e.g. family medicine, anesthesiology, neurology, pediatrics, radiology etc.). After at least six years of medical school, the students graduate with a final federal medical exam (Dritter Abschnitt der ärztlichen Prüfung). Graduates receive the license to practice medicine or dentistry and the professional title of physician (Arzt) or dentist (Zahnarzt). The academic degrees Doctor of Medicine (Dr. med.) and Doctor of Dental Medicine (Dr. med. dent.) are awarded if the graduate has, in addition, successfully completed a scientific study and dissertation. It is a doctoral degree and therefore different from the MD or DDS degrees in the U.S., which as professional degrees are awarded after passing the final exams and do not require additional scientific work. Many medical students opt to perform their thesis during their studies at medical school, but only a fraction of them is able to finish the dissertation-process during their studies. The requirements for getting a Dr. med. degree across the board are not as hard as for the doctor in natural science (Dr. rer. nat.). Therefore, many critics advocate to adopt a system similar to that of the Anglo-Saxon countries with an MD as a professional degree and a PhD showing additional scientific qualification. If physicians wish to open up a doctor's office, they are required to further complete residency in order to fulfill the federal requirements of becoming Facharzt (specialized in a certain field of medicine like internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics etc.). Oral and maxillofacial surgeons must complete both studies, medicine and dentistry, then afterwards specializing another 5 years. There are 36 medical faculties in Germany.[citation needed] In Greece, medical schools are faculties within public universities offering undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. Greek is the primary language of instruction; however, several medical schools now provide English-taught programs tailored for international students, particularly those aiming to attract students from across Europe and beyond. Hungary has four medical schools. The best known is Semmelweis University in Budapest which is a specialized university in the area of medicine and health sciences. The University of Debrecen, the University of Pécs and the University of Szeged also has medical faculties. General medicine training takes six years to complete, of which the last year is a practical year. Students receive the degree Dr. med. Univ. or Dr. for short, equivalent to the MD degree upon graduation, after which a graduated physician can start specialist training. All Hungarian medical schools have programs fully taught in English. The diplomas issued by Hungarian Medical Schools are accepted by all European Union countries and several other countries (Norway, United States, Canada, Israel etc.) In Iceland, admission to medical school requires passing an organized test, controlled by the University of Iceland, which anyone with a gymnasium degree can take. Only the top 75 scores on the exam are granted admission each year. Medical school in Iceland takes 6 years to complete. Students receive a cand.med. degree upon graduation. Following this, Icelandic regulations require 12 months of clinical internship before granting a full medical license. This internship consists of internal medicine (4 months), surgery (2 months), family medicine (3 months) and a three-month elective period. Upon receiving a license to practice, a physician can start specialist training, in Iceland or abroad. There are six medical schools in Ireland. They are at Trinity College Dublin, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University College Dublin, University College Cork, University of Limerick and the National University of Ireland, Galway (the National University of Ireland is the degree-awarding institution for all except the University of Limerick and Trinity College). Training lasts four, five or six years, with the last two years in the affiliated teaching hospitals (UCD - St. Vincents University Hospital, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital) (Trinity - St. James's Hospital, Tallaght University Hospital) (UCC - Cork University Hospital) (RCSI - Beaumont Hospital, Connolly Hospital, University Hospital Waterford). For Programmes that are six years in length, entry is based on secondary school qualifications. Programmes that are four years in length require previous university degrees. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the University of Limerick were the first medical institutions to offer Graduate Entry Medicine of four years duration in Ireland. This is now also offered in University College Dublin and University College Cork. The National University of Ireland, Galway also launched a graduate entry programme in 2010. Medical education is regulated by the Irish Medical Council, the statutory body that is also responsible for maintaining a register of medical practitioners. After graduation with the degrees of BM BS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) or MB BCh BAO (Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus in Chirurgia, Baccalaureus in Arte Obstetricia), a doctor is required to spend one year as an intern under supervision before full registration is permitted. Graduates of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland also receive the traditional "Licenciate of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and Physicians in Ireland" (LRCP&SI), which was awarded before the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland became an Affiliate of the National University of Ireland and thus was allowed grant degrees, under the Medical Practitioners Act (1978). In Italy, the contents of the medical school admission test is decided each year by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) and consists of sixty questions divided in five categories: logics and "general culture" ("cultura generale"), mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. Results are expressed in a national ranking. As a general rule, all state-run medical schools in the country administer it on the same day, whereas all privately run medical schools administer it on another day, so that a candidate may take the test once for state-run schools and once for a private school of his or her choice, but no more. Some universities in Italy provide an international degree course in medicine taught entirely in English for both Italian and foreign students. A number of these medical schools are at public universities, and have relatively low tuition fees compared to the English-speaking world, because the cost of the medical education is subsidized by the state for both Italian and foreign students. These public medical schools include the University of Milan's International Medical School, the University of Milan-Bicocca Bergamo campus, the University of Bologna, the University of Cagliari, the University of Catania, the University of Pavia, the University of Padua, the University of Parma, the Sapienza University of Rome, the University of Rome Tor Vergata, the University of Naples Federico II, the University of Campania Naples campus, the University of Messina, the University of Bari, the Marche Polytechnic University Ancona campus and the University of Turin Orbassano campus. These universities require applicants to rank highly on the International Medical Admissions Test. Italy also has private and Catholic English-language medical schools such as the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, the Università Campus Bio-Medico, the Saint Camillus University and the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Rome campus, and the Humanitas University in Pieve Emanuele. Medicine is one of the university faculties implementing numerus clausus ("numero chiuso"): the overall number of medical students admitted every year is constant, as each medical school is assigned a maximum number of new admission per year by MUR. Medical school lasts 6 years (12 semesters). Traditionally, the first three years are devoted to "biological" subjects (physics, chemistry, biology, biochemistry, genetics, anatomy, physiology, immunology, pathophysiology, microbiology, and usually English language courses), whereas the later three years are devoted to "clinical" subjects. However, most schools are increasingly devoting the second semester of the third year to clinical subjects and earlier patient contact. In most schools, there are about 36 exams over the 6-year cycle, as well as a number of compulsory rotations and elective activities. At the end of the cycle, students have to discuss a final thesis before a board of professors; the subject of this thesis may be a review of academic literature or an experimental work, and usually takes more than a year to complete, with most students beginning an internato (internship) in the subject of their choice in their fifth or sixth year. The title awarded at the end of the discussion ceremony is that of "Dottore Magistrale", styled in English as a Doctor of Medicine, which in accordance with the Bologna process is comparable with a master's degree qualification or a US MD. Until 2020, after graduating, new doctors had to complete a three-month, unpaid, supervised tirocinio post-laurea ("post-degree placement") consisting of two months in their university hospital (one month in a medical service and one in a surgical service) as well as one month shadowing a general practitioner. After getting a statement of successful completion of each month from their supervisors, new doctors took the esame di stato ("state exame") to obtain a full license to practise medicine. Starting from 2020 the three-month postgraduate internship and the state exam are no longer necessary. New doctors have to register with one of the branches of the Ordine dei Medici ("Order of Doctors"), which are based in each of the Provinces of Italy. Registration makes new doctors legally able to practice medicine without supervision. They will then have to choose between various career paths, each usually requiring a specific admission exam: most either choose to train as general practitioner (a 3-year course run by each Region, including both general practice and rotation at non-university hospitals), or to enter a Scuola di Specializzazione ("specialty school") 4-year or 5-year course at a university hospital. Lithuania has two medical schools, in Kaunas and Vilnius. Studies are of six years, of which the last year is a practical year. All Lithuanian medical schools have programs in English. Medical education in Norway begins with a six- to six-and-a-half-year undergraduate university program. Admission requires a very high GPA from secondary school - medicine consistently ranks as the most difficult university programme to be admitted to in Norway. Furthermore, certain high school subjects are required for admission (chemistry, mathematics and physics). The first two years consists almost wholly of preclinical science subjects, followed by integration of clinical training the remaining four years in a spiral approach. Upon completion, students are awarded a candidatus/candidata medicinae (cand. med.) degree (corresponding to e.g. and MD in the US) and medical license. Those completing a research programme (Forskerlinje) get this added to their degree. Following this, a minimum of 18 months of internship (turnustjeneste) is required before applying on a specialist training in Norway. The internship consist of 6 months of internal medicine, 6 months of surgery and 6 months family medicine. There are currently 43 recognized medical specialties in Norway. Optionally it is possible to pursue the title of doctor medicinae (Dr. med.), by publishing multiple research papers through a university research group followed by completing a dissertation. In Poland, medicine is taught as an undergraduate degree. After a six-year course graduates are awarded the title of lekarz (doctor), equivalent to a master's degree. Furthermore, medical graduates must complete 13 month long, postgraduate internship to gain full registration to practice medicine. In Portugal, the medical course is a postgraduate degree, so a prior graduation from an undergraduate course (3 to 4 years) in areas involving health such as biology, nursing and pharmaceutical sciences, among others, is necessary for applying for the Master's in Medicine (3 years). Most students (≈80%) enter Medical School by joining an integrated master's degree in medicine, this course is composed by an undergraduate course in "Basic Health Sciences" ("Licenciatura em Ciencias Basicas da Saude") (3 years) that involves chemistry, general biology and health and, after that, the master's (three years) which is the clinical course. Access to the Integrated Master's Course in Medicine is gained through National Exams in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics. After obtaining their master's degree, students must register with Order of Medics (the national medical association) and take a final examination: the students with the best grades are accepted into the medical specialty of their choice. The rest can either wait another year and retake the exam, do less specialized work or seek a residency program abroad. After the exam, all students must complete a one-year general internship program that enables them to practice medicine autonomously. This is the list of all Medical Schools in Portugal: In Romania, medical school is a department of a medical university, which typically includes Dentistry and Pharmacy departments as well. The name facultate is used for departments in their universities too, but the Medicine departments distinguish themselves by the length of studies (6 years), which grants to graduates a status equivalent to that of a Master in Science. The Medicine departments are also marked by reduced flexibility - in theory, a student in a regular university can take courses from different departments, like Chemistry and Geography (although it usually does not happen, majors being clearly defined), while the medical universities do not have any extra offers for their students, due to their specialization. Admission to medical faculty is usually awarded by passing a Human Biology, Organic Chemistry and/or Physics test. The program lasts 6 years, with first 2 years being preclinical and last 4 years being mostly clinical. After these six years, one has to take the national licence exam (which consists of mostly clinically oriented questions, but some questions also deal with basic sciences) and has to write a thesis in any field he/she studied. Final award is Doctor-Medic (titlu onorific) (shortened Dr.), which is not an academic degree (similar to Germany). All graduates have to go through residency and specialization exams after that in order to practice, although older graduates had different requirements and training (e.g., clinical rotations similar to sub-internship) and might still be able to practice Family Medicine / General Medicine. Medical schools in Russia offer a 6-year curriculum leading to award Doctor of Medicine (MD) "Physician". Russian medical authorities reluctantly agrees with inclusion in list of international medical schools FAIMER-IMED. FAIMER cannot include medical schools without cooperation from Russia. For example, Orel State University Medical Institute is not included in this list. In Serbia, medical school is a division of a medical university, which also frequently houses schools of dentistry and pharmacy. In their institutions, departments are also referred to as faculties. However, the medical departments stand out due to the length of their programs - six years - which confer on their graduates a standing similar to a Master of Science. Passing a test in human biology, organic chemistry, or physics is typically required for admission to medical school. If the student is to study in a program taught in English instead of Serbian, and their mother tongue is not English, universities may also require a certificate of proficiency. Official certificates include IELTS or TOEFL. The English language medical programs in Serbia have proven popular with students from Europe, Asia, and Africa due to the low tuition fees and internationally recognized degrees. The six-year curriculum is divided into two pre-clinical years and four primarily clinical years. After these six years, one must complete a thesis in any study area and the national license test, which is primarily clinically focused but also includes some questions on basic sciences. Doctor-Medic (abbreviated Dr.) is the final designation but is not considered an academic title. Medical education in Sweden begins with a five-and-a-half-year undergraduate university program leading to the degree "Master of Science in Medicine" (Swedish: Läkarexamen). Following this, the National Board of Health and Welfare requires a minimum of 18 months of clinical internship (Swedish: Allmäntjänstgöring) before granting a medical license to be fully qualified as Medical Doctor (MD). This internship consists of surgery (3–6 months), internal medicine (3–6 months), psychiatry (three months) and family medicine (six months). Upon receiving a license to practice, a physician is able to apply for a post to start specialist training. There are currently 52 recognized medical specialties in Sweden. The specialist training has a duration of minimum five years, which upon completion grants formal qualification as a specialist. There are eight universities granting medical degrees in Switzerland and six university hospitals: All high school graduates who wish to pursue further education are required to take an MCQ exam. The exam covers most of the high school and secondary school curricula. A student who scores high enough gets a place in a faculty of his/her desire. Entrance to medical schools is extremely competitive, only very top scoring students are accepted to medical schools. Medical education in Turkey follows a specific policy and is regulated by the Ministry of Health and the Council of Higher Education (YÖK). Medical education takes six years, first three years being Pre-clinical years and the latter three being Clinical years. During the "clinical" phase, students rotate through various clinical departments, such as internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and more. Right after graduation, graduates can either work as GPs or take another exam called TUS (Medical Specialization Examination) to do residency in a particular department of a particular hospital. Most of the medical schools in Turkey are state schools but the number of private schools is on the rise. MCQ exam (TYT and AYT) scores required to be accepted to private medical schools are lower compared to their public counterparts. The language of instruction is, in general, Turkish, but few universities also offer schools with English as the language of instruction. This makes Turkey a popular place to study medicine for students from nearby areas like the Balkans, the Middle East, and to a lesser extent North Africa. Medical degrees in Ukraine were offered only in institutions called medical universities, which are separate from traditional universities. However, some medical schools are now associated with classical universities. These include: In the United Kingdom, the code for higher education, first degrees in medicine comprise an integrated programme of study and professional practice spanning several levels. While the final outcomes of the qualifications themselves typically meet the Expectations of the descriptor for higher education qualification at level 7 (the UK master's degree). These degrees may retain, for historical reasons, "Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery" and are abbreviated to MBChB or MBBS. There are currently 32 institutions that offer medical degrees in the United Kingdom. Completion of a medical degree in the UK results in the award of the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. Admission requirements to the schools varies; most insist on solid A-Levels/Highers, a good performance in an aptitude test such as the UKCAT, the BMAT or the GAMSAT, and usually an interview. As of 2008 the UK has approximately 8000 places for medical students. Methods of education range from courses that offer a problem-based learning approach (alongside lectures etc.), and others having a more traditional pre-clinical/clinical structure. Others combine several approaches in an integrated approach. Following qualification, UK doctors enter a generalised two-year, competency-based "foundation programme", gaining full GMC (General Medical Council) registration at the end of foundation year one, and applying for specialist training (in medicine, surgery, general practice etc.) after foundation year two. Many medical schools offer intercalated degree programmes to allow students to focus on an area of research outside their medical degree for a year. Some medical schools offer graduate entry programmes, which are four years long. The name refers to the fact that students on these courses already have a degree in another subject (i.e. they are graduates). Due to the shorter length of the course, the timetable of these degrees are more intense and the holidays are shorter, compared to students on the 5-year course. In terms of entrance requirements, the 4-year degree restricts entry to those who already hold a first degree, and have previously worked in an area of healthcare. The first degree does not necessarily have to be a BSc degree (this is the criteria for some of the medical schools), whereas other medical schools specify that the prior degree has to be in a science subject. Competition for this course is fierce, with students having to also sit an entrance exam prior to being considered for an interview. Medical schools typically admit more students into undergraduate programmes than into graduate entry programmes. Latin America In 1821, the first school of medicine was formed in the capital city Buenos Aires, where the bulk of the medical schools are located. As of 2006, there were 29 medical schools in Argentina. Medical degree programs in Argentina typically are six years long, with some universities opting for 7 year programs. The six years usually consist of 3 years of basic sciences, 2 years of clinical sciences, and one internship year (in Spanish "internado anual rotatorio"). The internship is completed in a Hospital associated with the university. In some provinces (especially round the more developed South) there are government-funded hospitals who pay for the internship[citation needed]. Some universities have cultural exchange programmes that allow a medical student in their final year to serve their community time overseas. In Argentina, there are public and private medical schools. By law entrance into public institutions is open and tuition-free to all who have a high school diploma, and universities are expressly forbidden from restricting access with difficult entrance exams. Point in case, in 2016 the National University of La Plata was forced by governing bodies to stop forcing its students to write an entrance exam. As a result, that university experienced a major increase in the size of its student population. Another consequence is that schools have a high drop-out rate during the first years that approach 90%. When it comes to educational quality, the University of Buenos Aires Faculty of Medical Sciences, a public university, is widely recognised as the top medical school in the country. Upon graduation, one of the following degrees is obtained, according to the university: Doctor of Medicine, or both Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Surgery. Public universities usually confer both degrees, and private universities bestow only a Doctor of Medicine. In daily practice, however, there is no substantial difference between what a Doctor of Medicine or a Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Surgery are allowed to do. When the degree is obtained, a record is created for that new doctor in the index of the National Ministry of Education (Ministerio Nacional de Educación), and the physician is given their corresponding medical practitioner's ID, which is a number that identifies him and his academic achievements. In addition, there is a provincial ID, i.e. a number to identify doctors in the province they practice medicine in.[citation needed] Completion of a residency program is not required for medical licensing. There is no central system for applying for medical residency. Doctors wishing to pursue a specialty must take rigorous entrance exams at the public/private institution of their choice that offers them. Programs admit approximately half of each year's graduates after a lengthy selection process. Most specialty courses last four years, depending on the branch of medicine the physician has chosen. The University of El Salvador) has a program lasting eight years for students who want to study medicine. The first six years are organized in a two semesters fashion, the seventh year is used for a rotating internship through the major specialty areas in a 10-week periods fashion (psychiatry and public health share a period) and the eighth year is designated for Social service in locations approved by the Ministry of Health (usually as attending physician in Community Health Centers or non-profit organizations). The graduates receive the degree of MD and must register in the Public Health Superior Council to get the medical license and a registered national number that allows them to prescribe barbiturates and other controlled drugs. In order to attend further studies, including surgery, internal medicine, G/OB, pediatrics, or psychiatry, students in the year of social service or graduates of any Salvadorian university must apply independently for the residency at the hospital of choice; the preliminary selection process is based on the results of clinical knowledge tests, followed by psychiatric evaluations and interviews with the hospital medical and administrative staff. The basic residencies mentioned above commonly last 3 years; at the last trimester of the third year, the residents can apply to the position of Chief of residents (1 year) or follow further studies as residents (3 years) of a specialty (for example orthopedic surgery, urology, neurology, endocrinology...). No further studies are offered to date; therefore, specialists looking for training or practice in a specific area (For example, a neurosurgeon looking for a specialty in endovascular neurosurgery, spine surgery or pediatric neurosurgery) must attend studies in other countries and apply for such positions independently.[citation needed] In Bolivia, all medical schools are Faculties within a university and follow the European model[which?] of a six-year curriculum (9 000 ECTS or more) divided into three cycles. The first two years are called the biomedical or pre-clinical cycle. During this time students are instructed in the basic sciences (anatomy, anthropology, biochemistry, biophysics, cell biology, embryology, histology, physiology, pharmacology, biostatistics, etc.). The next three years are the clinical cycle and consist of medical specialties instruction at the faculty and hospital practice. The last year consists of an internship for 3 months each of surgery, internal medicine, gynecology and pediatrics. To acquire the license from the government to practice medicine, at the end of the internship an Honorary Mandatory Socialist Service (SSSRO) must be done in a rural area of the country for at least three months.[citation needed] After getting the degree and license as "Graduate of Medicine and Surgery" or Médico Cirujano (MC) may take a post-graduate residency from 3 to 6 years in order to acquire a specialty.[citation needed] The Brazilian medical schools follow the European model[which?] of a six-year curriculum, divided into three cycles of two years each. The first two years are called basic cycle (ciclo básico). During this time students are instructed in the basic sciences (anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, immunology, etc.) with activities integrated with the medical specialties, allowing the student an overview of the practical application of such content. After its completion, the students advance to the clinical cycle (ciclo clinico). At this stage contact with patients intensify and work with tests and diagnostics, putting into practice what was learned in the first two years. The last two are called internships (internato). In this last step, the students focus on clinical practice, through training in teaching hospitals and clinics. The teaching of this last step reflects an axis of increasing complexity, enabling students to make decisions and participate effectively in form and operative care under the direct supervision of faculty and qualified to act as teaching aids physicians. After six years of training, students graduate and are awarded the title of physician (Médico) allowing them to register with the Regional Council of Medicine (Conselho Regional de Medicina). The recent graduate will be able to exercise the medical profession as a general practitioner and may apply to undertake postgraduate training. In 2012, the Regional Council of Medicine of São Paulo (Conselho Regional de Medicina do Estado de São Paulo) established that physicians who graduate this year must pass a test to obtain professional registration. Passing the exam, however, is not linked to obtaining registration. It required only the presence of the candidate and the test performance. Already at the national level, there is a pending Senate bill creating the National Proficiency Examination in Medicine (Exame Nacional de Proficiência em Medicina), which would make the race a prerequisite for the exercise of the profession. Physicians who want to join a specialization program must undergo a new selection examination considered as competitive as that required to join a medical school. The specialization programs are divided into two categories: direct access and prerequisite. The specialties with direct access are those in which the doctor can enroll without having any prior expertise. Any physician can apply to examinations for these specialties, regardless of the time of training or prior experience. To apply to proprietary pre-requisite, the doctor should have already completed a specialty prior. The programs may range from 2 to 6 years. Brazil currently recognizes by the Federal Council of Medicine, the Brazilian Medical Association and the National Commission of Medical Residency 53 residency programs. Fully complied with, gives the title of a resident physician specialist. In Chile, there are 21 medical schools. Principal medical schools are Universidad de Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad de Concepción, Universidad de Valparaíso and Universidad de Santiago de Chile. The pre-grade studies are distributed over 7 years, where the last 2 are the internship, which include at least surgery, internal medicine, gynecology and pediatrics. After getting the degree of Licenciate in Medicine (General Medicine) the MD must pass a medicine knowledge exam called the Unique National Exam of Medical Knowledge (EUNACOM "Examen Único Nacional de Conocimientos de Medicina" in Spanish) and can take a direct specialty or work before in primary attention in order to gain access to a residency. In Colombia, there are 50 medical schools listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools, 27 of which have active programs and are currently registered and accredited as high-quality programs by the Colombian Ministry of Education.[citation needed] The main medical programs are offered by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Universidad del Rosario, Universidad El Bosque, Universidad de los Andes, Universidad del Valle, Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad de Santander, Universidad del Norte and Universidad de la Sabana. Most programs require 6–7 years of study, and all offer a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. In some cases, the school also allows for a second degree to be studied for at the same time (this is chosen by the student, though most students end up needing to do alternate semesters between their degrees, and mostly in careers like microbiology or biomedical engineering). For example, the Universidad de los Andes has a program whereby the medical student could graduate with both an MD and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree or an MD and a master's degree in public health. Admission to medical school varies with the school but is usually dependent on a combination of a general application to the university, an entrance exam, a personal statement or interview, and secondary (high) school performance mostly as reflected on the ICFES score (the grade received on the state exam in the final year of secondary/high school).[citation needed] In most medical programs, the first two years deal with basic scientific courses (cellular and molecular biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, mathematics, and physics), and the core medical sciences (anatomy, embryology, histology, physiology, and biochemistry). The following year may change in how it is organized in different schools but is usually organ system-based pathophysiology and therapeutics (general and systems pathology, pharmacology, microbiology, parasitology, immunology, and medical genetics are also taught in this block). In the first two years, the programs also usually begin the courses in the epidemiology track (which may or may not include biostatistics), a clinical skills track (semiology and the clinical examination), a social medicine/public health track, and a medical ethics and communication skills track. Modes of training vary but are usually based on lectures, simulations, standardized-patient sessions, problem-based learning sessions, seminars, and observational clinical experiences. By year three, most schools have begun the non-elective, clinical-rotation block with accompanying academic courses (these include but are not limited to internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, anaesthesiology, orthopaedics, gynaecology and obstetrics, emergency medicine, neurology, psychiatry, oncology, urology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, ophthalmology, and otorhinolaryngology). Elective rotations are usually introduced in the fourth or fifth year, though as in the case of the non-elective rotations, the hospitals the medical students may be placed in or apply to for a given rotation depend entirely on the medical schools. This is important in terms of medical training, given the particular distinction of patients, pathologies, procedures, and skills seen and learned in private vs. public hospitals in Colombia. Most schools, however, have placements in both types of hospitals for many specialties. The final year of medical school in Colombia is referred to as the internship year ("internado"). The internship year is usually divided into two semesters. The first semester is made up of obligatory rotations that every student does though in different orders, and the medical intern serves in 5–7 different specialties, typically including internal medicine, paediatrics, general surgery, anaesthesiology, orthopaedics, gynaecology and obstetrics, and emergency medicine. The extent of the responsibilities of the intern varies with the hospital, as does the level of supervision and teaching, but generally, medical interns in Colombia extensively take, write, and review clinical histories, answer and discuss referrals with their seniors, do daily progress notes for the patients under their charge, participate in the service rounds, present and discuss patients at rounds, serve shifts, assist in surgical procedures, and assist in general administrative tasks. Sometimes, they are charged with ordering diagnostic testing, but, under Colombian law, they cannot prescribe medication as they are not graduate physicians. This, of course, are to be completed in addition to their academic responsibilities. The second semester is made up of elective rotations, which can be at home or abroad, in the form of clerkships or observerships. A final graduation requirement is to sit a standardized exam, the State Exam for Quality in Higher Education ("Examen de Estado de Calidad de la Educación Superior" or ECAES, also known as SABER PRO) specific to medicine, which tests, for example, knowledge in public health and primary care.[citation needed] After graduation, the physician is required to register with the Colombian Ministry of Health, in order to complete a year of obligatory social service ("servicio social obligatorio"), after which they qualify for a professional license to practice general medicine and apply for a medical residency within Colombia. If, however, the student wishes to practice general medicine abroad or continue onto their postgraduate studies, for example, they can independently begin the appropriate application/equivalency process, without doing their obligatory social service. In this case, they would not be licensed to practise medicine in Colombia and if they wish to do so, will have to register with the Ministry of Health. N.B. If the graduate physician gets accepted immediately into a residency within Colombia in internal medicine, paediatrics, family medicine, gynecology and obstetrics, general surgery or anaesthesiology, they are allowed to complete a 6-month-long social service after their residency.[citation needed] In contrast with most countries, residencies in Colombia are not paid positions, since one applies for the program through the university offering the post, which requires a tuition. However, on 9 May 2017, legislation was formally introduced in Congress that would seek to regulate payment for medical residents, regulate their tuitions, and advocate for their vacation time and working hours. [citation needed]As in other countries, the length of residency training depends upon the specialty chosen, and, following its completion, the physician may choose to apply for a fellowship (subspecialty) at home or abroad depending on the availability of their desired training programs, or practice in their specialty. In Guyana, the medical school is accredited by the National Accreditation Council of Guyana. The medical program ranges from 4 years to 6 years. Students are taught the basic sciences aspect of the program within the first 2 years of medical school. In the clinical sciences program, students are introduced to the hospital setting where they gain hands-on training from the qualifying physicians and staff at the various teaching hospitals across Guyana. Students graduating from the University of Guyana are not required to sit for board exams before practicing medicine in Guyana. Students graduating from the American International School of Medicine sit the USMLE, PLAB or CAMC exams. The system of Medical education in Panama usually takes students from high school directly into Medical School for a 6-year course, typically with a two-year internship.[citation needed] In order to practice medicine in the Republic, or enter a residency program in Panama it is required to be a Panamanian citizen.[citation needed] Other requirements include: In Uruguay, three universities offer a medical degree. The University of the Republic (UdelaR) is the oldest and largest institution in the country, with its Faculty of Medicine dating back to 1875. The program at this university has a duration of seven years. The faculty also operates the Dr. Manuel Quintela University Hospital as its teaching hospital. The other two institutions offering medical studies are the Latin American Center for Human Economy (CLAEH) in Punta del Este, and the Catholic University of Uruguay, both of which offer a six-year program plus a mandatory internship. These are the universities with a medical school in Venezuela:[citation needed] Middle East Medical schools in Egypt are five-year programs. Education is conducted in English and leads to a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBCh). Graduates must finish a two-year internship program at the end of their studies to obtain their general practitioner license. Clinical training happens in each school teaching hospital with few exceptions. A small number of schools use Ministry of Health hospitals. Admission into Egyptian private and public medical schools is centrally managed by the government. After students submit their applications, they are distributed among different institutions according to both their order of preference and their high school performance. In Egypt, there are two main pathways to postgraduate studies in medicine. The academic pathway, leading to a scientific degree: either MSc. or PhD The second is the Fellowship of the Egyptian Board (FEB) program. About 20% of medical graduates pursue post-graduate studies, the rest join the healthcare workforce as general practitioners. General medicine education in Iran takes 7 to 7.5 years. Students enter the university after high school. Students study basic medical science (such as anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, histology, biophysics, embryology, etc.) for 2.5 years. At the end of this period they should pass a "basic science" exam. Those who passed the exam will move on to study physiopathology of different organs in the next 1.5 years. The organ-based learning approach emphasizes critical thinking and clinical application. In the next period of education students enter clinics and educational hospitals for two years. During this period, they will also learn practical skills such as history taking and physical examination. Students should then pass the "pre-internship" exam to enter the last 1.5 years of education in which medical students function as interns. During this period, medical students participate in all aspects of medical care of the patients and they take night calls. At the end of these 7.5 years students are awarded an MD degree. MD doctors can continue their educations through residency and fellowship.[citation needed] In Iraq, medical colleges (commonly referred to as medical schools in the US) typically offer a 6-year curriculum that is presented in the English language, similar to that of European countries. It is completely free for students with exceptionally high grades on 6th preparatory exams (standardized 12th grade exams), which are held by Iraq's Ministry of Education. There are paid options for students with lower grades. Medical education can commence immediately after the 6th preparatory class (equivalent to 12th grade in a K-12 system) in preparatory school (high school). As of 2024, there are 33 medical colleges in Iraq, both public (governorate/province-funded and/or government-funded) and private, acknowledged by the World Directory of Medical Schools. Generally, the first year is introductory, with students studying basic human biology as well as non-medical subjects such as Human Rights, Arabic and English. These are foundational subjects. They are taught in every college in Iraq in the first or second year no matter the field, and they are deemed so by the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education. The subsequent two years are pre-clinical and are similar to those of medical schools in other countries. The 4th and 5th years have clinical rotations and are clinical years. The 6th year is the last. During this year, students are primarily engaged in hospital rotations with less emphasis on academic material. Throughout the 6 years, students may have to attend exams that more than one medical college participates in, although the specific timing and frequency of these exams vary between colleges. However, most colleges have a standardized exam at the end of year 6, which alone typically accounts for 30% of the cumulative grade. Upon completion of the program, graduates are awarded a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.Ch.B.) degree. The job title for those who hold the degree is "Rotating Resident Physician". What follows is an exemplary curriculum from one of Iraq's medical colleges. This curriculum follows a "system-wise approach" where subjects are taught within the context of each system before transitioning to the next system. The first semester includes Human and Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Medical Physics, Computer Science, English, and Human Rights; while the second semester includes Human and Cell Biology, Arabic, English, Medical Basics (Medical Ethics) and Immunology and Microbiology. The aforementioned year 6 exam tests the contents of not only the courses in year 6, but most courses in every year before it as well, with a major emphasis on clinical courses. After graduating, graduates have a grace period of 1 year before going into Rotating Residency. Graduates with the 10 (variable per year, according to the ministry) highest cumulative grades can voluntarily (and in some years, involuntarily, according to the ministry’s orders) become teaching assistants where they teach medical students in the same college they graduated in. The cumulative grade also decides what a student can match into in Senior Residency. Residents can choose whether to apply for the Arab Board or the Iraqi Board, the latter being generally cheaper for Iraqi citizens. Graduates of medical colleges must undergo additional training before being permitted to practice medicine independently. There are five university medical schools in Israel: the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion in Haifa, the Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School at Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, the Faculty of Medicine (former name "Sackler Faculty of Medicine") at Tel Aviv University, the Hadassah School of Medicine at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan. These all follow the European 6-year model except Bar-Ilan University which has a four-year program similar to the US system. The Technion Medical School, Ben Gurion University, and Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine offer 4-year MD programs for American Bachelor's graduates who have taken the MCAT, interested in completing rigorous medical education in Israel before returning to the US or Canada. The entrance requirements of the various schools of medicine are very strict. Israeli students require a high school Baccalaureate average above 100 and psychometric examination grade over 700. The degree of Doctor of Medicine (MD) is legally considered to be equivalent to a master's degree within the Israeli Educational System. All medical school graduates must then pass a medical licensing exam and successfully complete a one-year internship. There are two kinds of internships: After completing their internship, graduates may practice general medicine or go into a specialty program. The Doctor in Medicine (MD) degree is awarded in Jordan after completion of six years comprising three years of medical sciences and three clinical years. Currently, six state supported universities include a medical school and grant the degree, which are: Jordan's undergraduate medical education started in the 1970s with the establishment of the first medical school in the University of Jordan. Their medical education system is well regarded in the region, thus attracting foreign students especially from around the Middle East (more than a third of all students). The sole admission criterion is a satisfactory mark in the high school national exam. Students with the highest mark gain admission through the general competition system (≈6% of applicants and ≈50% of all admissions). They are rewarded with partially subsidized inexpensive tuition fees. The rest of the admitted students are either foreigners or students that achieved high school marks of 85% or greater. The curricula is divided into an initial 3-year pre-clinical stage followed by 3 clinical years for a total of 6 years of education. The pre-clinical curriculum includes basic sciences, medical sciences and university required courses. In turn, the clinical curriculum includes clerkship rotations lasting from 2 to 12 weeks. At the end of the sixth year, students undergo a written theoretical assessment as well as a supervised clinical assessment. Passing students are awarded a Bachelor's in Medicine and Surgery In Lebanon, there are two programs of medical education followed: the American system (4 years) and the European system (6 years). Programs are offered in English and French. Admission requirements to the American system requires a candidate to complete a bachelor's degree along with specific pre-medical courses during the undergraduate years, and writing the MCAT examination. European programs usually requires a candidate to complete 1 year of general science followed by a selection exam by the end of the year. Schools following the American system (MD degree) are: The language of instruction in all three is English. Schools following the European system (MBBS degree) are: In Saudi Arabia medical education is free for all Saudi citizens. A medical student must pass an entrance examination and complete a 1-year pre-medical course containing some basic medical subjects including: Biology, Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Physics, Medical Biostatistics, and English for medical uses. Passing this year is commonly considered as the most challenging. It offers an MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) degree. after one pre-medical course, five medical years and one training year. By 2010, there are 24 medical schools in KSA- 21 nonprofit and three private medical schools. The last college opened was Sulaiman AlRajhi Colleges with its partnership with Maastricht in the Netherlands. Medical education in Syria consists of 6 years of training after high school. The first three include the basic sciences subjects, followed by 2 years of clinical clerkships. The sixth year also include clerkships in main specialties. Then, medical students are required to pass a standardized medical exam for graduation. Placement into residency programs is based on their scores in the exit exam in addition to their medical school cumulative grades in the context of their desires. In Tunisia, education is free for all Tunisian citizens and for foreigners who have scholarships. The oldest Medical school is the Medicine School of Tunis. There are four medicine faculties situated in the major cities of Tunis, Sfax, Sousse and Monastir. Admission is bound to the success and score in the Tunisian Baccalaureate examination. Admission score threshold is very high, based on competition among all applicants throughout the nation. Medical school curriculum consists of seven years; five years as an 'extern' and two years of internship or 'intern trainee' : In contrast, studies in dental medicine (general practitioner) and pharmaceutical studies last only 6 years. Courses throughout the university curriculum in both medicine and pharmacy are taught in French. There are four universities of general medicine: the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, the Faculty of Medicine Ibn El Jazzar of Sousse, the Faculty of Medicine of Monastir and the Faculty of Medicine of Sfax. On the other hand, there is only one university of dentistry and pharmacy in Monastir: the faculty of dentistry of Monastir and the faculty of pharmacy of Monastir. North America As of 2013, the Association of American Medical Colleges lists 17 accredited MD-granting medical schools in Canada. In Canada, a medical school is a faculty or school of a university that offers a three- or four-year Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. Generally, medical students begin their studies after receiving a bachelor's degree in another field, often one of the biological sciences. However, admittance can still be granted during the third and fourth year. Minimum requirements for admission vary by region from two to four years of post-secondary study. The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada publishes a detailed guide to admission requirements of Canadian faculties of medicine on a yearly basis. Admission offers are made by individual medical schools, generally on the basis of a personal statement, undergraduate record (GPA), scores on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), and interviews. Volunteer work is often an important criterion considered by admission committees. All four medical schools in Quebec and two Ontario schools (the University of Ottawa, Northern Ontario School of Medicine) do not require the MCAT. McMaster requires that the MCAT be written, though they only look for particular scores (6 or better) on the verbal reasoning portion of the test. The first half of the medical curriculum is dedicated mostly to teaching the basic sciences relevant to medicine. Teaching methods can include traditional lectures, problem-based learning, laboratory sessions, simulated patient sessions, and limited clinical experiences. The remainder of medical school is spent in clerkship. Clinical clerks participate in the day-to-day management of patients. They are supervised and taught during this clinical experience by residents and fully licensed staff physicians. Students enter into the Canadian Resident Matching Service, commonly abbreviated as CaRMS in the fall of their final year. Students rank their preferences of hospitals and specialties. A computerized matching system determines placement for residency positions. 'Match Day' usually occurs in March, a few months before graduation. The length of post-graduate training varies with choice of specialty. During the final year of medical school, students complete part 1 of the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE). Upon completion of the final year of medical school, students are awarded the degree of MD Students then begin training in the residency program designated to them by CaRMS. Part 2 of the MCCQE, an Objective Structured Clinical Examination, is taken following the completion of twelve months of residency training. After both parts of the MCCQE are successfully completed, the resident becomes a Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada. In order to practice independently, however, the resident must complete the residency program and take a board examination pertinent to his or her intended scope of practice. In the final year of residency training, residents take an exam administered by either the College of Family Physicians of Canada or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, depending on whether they are seeking certification in family medicine or another specialty. In 2019, the Association of American Medical Colleges and American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine listed 154 accredited MD-granting and 36 accredited DO-granting medical schools in the United States. There are two doctorate-level degrees conferred onto physicians in training in the United States, Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO). Both entitle the awardee to train for and receive medical licensing through an accredited residency training program. Admission to medical school in the United States is based mainly on a GPA, MCAT score, admissions essay, interview, clinical work experience, and volunteering activities, along with research and leadership roles in an applicant's history. While obtaining an undergraduate degree is not an explicit requirement for a few medical schools, virtually all admitted students have earned at least a bachelor's degree. A few medical schools offer pre-admittance to students directly from high school by linking a joint 3-year accelerated undergraduate degree and a standard 4-year medical degree with certain undergraduate universities, sometimes referred to as a "7-year program", where the student receives a bachelor's degree after their first year in medical school.[citation needed] Typically, undergraduates students are expected to complete a series of prerequisites, consisting of biology, physics, and chemistry (general chemistry and organic chemistry). Many medical schools have additional requirements including calculus, genetics, statistics, biochemistry, English, and/or humanities classes. In addition to meeting the pre-medical requirements, medical school applicants must take and report their scores on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), a standardized test that measures a student's knowledge of the sciences and the English language. In the 19th century, there were over 400 medical schools in the United States. By 1910, the number was reduced to 148 medical schools and by 1930 the number totaled only 76. Many early medical schools were criticized for not sufficiently preparing their students for medical professions, leading to the creation of the American Medical Association in 1847 for the purpose of self-regulation of the profession. Abraham Flexner (who in 1910 released the Flexner report with the Carnegie Foundation), the Rockefeller Foundation, and the AMA are credited with laying the groundwork for what is now known as the modern medical curriculum. The standard U.S. medical school curriculum is four years long. Traditionally, the first two years are composed mainly of classroom basic science education, while the final two years primarily include rotations in clinical settings where students learn patient care firsthand. Today, clinical education is spread across all four years with the final year containing the most clinical rotation time. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published mandatory rules, obliging all inpatient and outpatient teaching settings, laying down the guidelines for what medical students in the United States may do, if they have not completed a clerkship or sub-internship. These rules apply when they are in the clinical setting in school, not when they are, for example, helping staff events or in other non-formal educational settings, even if they are helping provide certain clinical services along with nurses and the supervising physicians- for example, certain basic screening procedures.[citation needed] Upon successful completion of medical school, students are granted the title of Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO).[citation needed] Each year, thousands of recent graduates and seniors from American medical schools, as well as foreign trained physicians participate in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) to secure clinical training positions in U.S. teaching hospitals. In 2025, a total of 47,208 active applicants competed for 40,041 PGY-1 positions and 3,196 second-year (including physician (R)) residency positions. 8,392 U.S. DO seniors have submitted a rank order list. 4,587 U.S. IMGs and 11,465 non-U.S. citizen IMGs submitted rank order lists. U.S. MD schools historically have a very high match rate while DO schools and foreign schools have lower match rates and less competitive specialties. In 2020, more than half of all medical schools had a four-year attendance cost exceeding $275,000, with 19 schools surpassing $350,000. This substantial financial burden impacts medical students as they pursue their education and training. Medical students A person accepted into a medical school and enrolled in an educational program in medicine, with the goal of becoming a medical doctor, is referred to as a medical student. Medical students face verbal abuse, humiliation, and harassment in clinical settings, impacting their mental health and learning. Depressive symptoms affect 24–29% of medical students and 25–33% of resident physicians. Approximately 14% of students experience moderate to severe depression, with 5% having suicidal thoughts during training. German and South Korean medical students have even higher depression rates. Seeking treatment is challenging due to faculty judgment and lack of social support. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened mental health issues among medical students. See also References External links |
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ScienceCloseSciencePosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All ScienceSpaceCloseSpacePosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All SpaceNASACloseNASAPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All NASACold weather in Florida is pushing back the Artemis II launchA test launch for Artemis II has been pushed to February 2nd, delaying a mission launch until February 8th at the earliest.A test launch for Artemis II has been pushed to February 2nd, delaying a mission launch until February 8th at the earliest.by Andrew LiszewskiCloseAndrew LiszewskiSenior Reporter, NewsPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Andrew LiszewskiJan 30, 2026, 3:59 PM UTCLinkShareGiftIf the February 2nd wet dress rehearsal is successful, the Artemis II mission could launch as early as February 8th. Photo by Jim Ross / NASAPart OfAll the news of NASA’s Artemis program, the agency’s attempt to returns humans to the Moonsee all updates Andrew LiszewskiCloseAndrew LiszewskiPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Andrew Liszewski is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid.As a result of cold weather and windy conditions moving through Florida, NASA is now targeting Monday, February 2nd for a wet dress rehearsal of the Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Depending on how Monday’s rehearsal goes, NASA will potentially set a launch date for Artemis II. But as a result of the weather-related delays, NASA says February 6th and 7th “are no longer viable opportunities” for a launch. Sunday, February 8th will instead be the first potential window.NASA originally planned to conduct the wet dress rehearsal for the rocket this weekend, which is currently stacked with the Orion spacecraft on Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. The 49 hour rehearsal includes fueling the rocket (hence the term wet) and a simulated countdown that ends 33 seconds before launch. During the rehearsal NASA engineers will test emergency escape procedures at the launch site and collect data from the SLS. A full wet rehearsal must be completed before the Artemis II mission will be cleared for launch next week.The Artemis I mission successfully launched on November 16th, 2022, and lasted a little over 25 days before splashing down back on Earth on December 11th, 2022. It was originally scheduled to launch in late 2016, but faced several delays over the years. The Artemis I mission was uncrewed and used to test the SLS rocket and Orion capsule in space. Artemis II will instead carry four astronauts — Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman — on a 10-day mission flying around the moon. Artemis III will be the first mission to land astronauts on the moon since Apollo 17 touched down on the lunar surface on December 11th, 1972.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Andrew LiszewskiCloseAndrew LiszewskiSenior Reporter, NewsPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Andrew LiszewskiNASACloseNASAPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All NASAScienceCloseSciencePosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All ScienceSpaceCloseSpacePosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All SpaceMore in: All the news of NASA’s Artemis program, the agency’s attempt to returns humans to the MoonNASA’s now targeting March 6th as its earliest Artemis II launch attempt.Andrew LiszewskiFeb 20Artemis II delayed.Thomas RickerFeb 3SpaceX proposes a new plan for NASA’s Artemis III moon landing.Richard LawlerOct 30, 2025Most PopularMost PopularXbox chief Phil Spencer is leaving MicrosoftRead Microsoft gaming CEO Asha Sharma’s first memo on the future of XboxThe RAM shortage is coming for everything you care aboutAmazon blames human employees for an AI coding agent’s mistakeWill Stancil, man of the people or just an annoying guy?The Verge DailyA free daily digest of the news that matters most.Email (required)Sign UpBy submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Advertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Science Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Space Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All NASA Cold weather in Florida is pushing back the Artemis II launch A test launch for Artemis II has been pushed to February 2nd, delaying a mission launch until February 8th at the earliest. A test launch for Artemis II has been pushed to February 2nd, delaying a mission launch until February 8th at the earliest. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Andrew Liszewski Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Andrew Liszewski As a result of cold weather and windy conditions moving through Florida, NASA is now targeting Monday, February 2nd for a wet dress rehearsal of the Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Depending on how Monday’s rehearsal goes, NASA will potentially set a launch date for Artemis II. But as a result of the weather-related delays, NASA says February 6th and 7th “are no longer viable opportunities” for a launch. Sunday, February 8th will instead be the first potential window. NASA originally planned to conduct the wet dress rehearsal for the rocket this weekend, which is currently stacked with the Orion spacecraft on Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. The 49 hour rehearsal includes fueling the rocket (hence the term wet) and a simulated countdown that ends 33 seconds before launch. During the rehearsal NASA engineers will test emergency escape procedures at the launch site and collect data from the SLS. A full wet rehearsal must be completed before the Artemis II mission will be cleared for launch next week. The Artemis I mission successfully launched on November 16th, 2022, and lasted a little over 25 days before splashing down back on Earth on December 11th, 2022. It was originally scheduled to launch in late 2016, but faced several delays over the years. The Artemis I mission was uncrewed and used to test the SLS rocket and Orion capsule in space. Artemis II will instead carry four astronauts — Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman — on a 10-day mission flying around the moon. Artemis III will be the first mission to land astronauts on the moon since Apollo 17 touched down on the lunar surface on December 11th, 1972. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Andrew Liszewski Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All NASA Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Science Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Space More in: All the news of NASA’s Artemis program, the agency’s attempt to returns humans to the Moon Most Popular The Verge Daily A free daily digest of the news that matters most. This is the title for the native ad More in Science This is the title for the native ad Top Stories © 2026 Vox Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved |
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[SOURCE: https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/hjuofdldzx#autoplay] | [TOKENS: 345] |
המעטפה שעראקצ'י סירב לקבל - והמלכוד של טראמפ: "כבר לא יכול לסגת" גורמים ששוחחו עם רויטרס הזהירו כי התקוות לפתרון דיפלומטי "הולכות ודועכות", ומקורות בישראל אמרו שהפערים "אינם ניתנים לגישור". גורמים באזור: "טראמפ כלוא עקב הריכוז הצבאי במזרח התיכון - הוא לא יכול לסגת בלי לוותר על כבודו". ההערכות ש"עימות סביר יותר מהסכם" - והדרישה האירופית: "מה היעד?" |
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Contents Lazzaza Lazzaza (Arabic: لزّازة, transliterated as Lazzâza) was a Palestinian Arab village of 230 in the northern Hula Valley next to the Hasbani River, located 27.5 kilometers (17.1 mi) northwest of Safad. Beit Hillel subsequently expanded onto the land. History In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Lazzaza, while under Ottoman rule, as a village of 70 people built of adobe bricks and situated on a plain near a river. It was incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine in 1922. Under the British, Lazzaza had an elementary school, in which 26 students were enrolled in 1945. The residents, mostly Muslims, took advantage of the village's fertile lands, and agriculture became the basis of its economy. The primarily cultivated crops were onions, corn, and fruits, but the beehives were also kept, in addition to some livestock. Some of Lazzaza's inhabitants also fished in the Hasbani River. In the 1931 census of Palestine the population of Lazaza was 176, all Muslims, in a total of 39 houses. In the 1945 statistics, Lazzaza was counted with the nearby Jewish settlement of Beit Hillel which together constituted a population of 330; 230 were Muslims of Lazzaza, the remaining 100 were Jewish of Beit Hillel. Types of land use in dunams in the village in 1945: The land ownership of the village before occupation in dunams: The Arabs of Lazzaza fled their village during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on May 21, 1948. The village was not attacked by Israeli forces, and the probable cause of its depopulation was a "whispering campaign" devised by Palmach commander Yigal Allon during Operation Yiftach, in which rumor would spread about massive Jewish reinforcements approaching the Galilee. According to Walid Khalidi, "only a few scattered houses remain on the village site", and that the residents of Beit Hillel cultivate the surrounding fields. See also References Bibliography External links |
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Contents Meta Platforms Meta Platforms, Inc. (doing business as Meta) is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms and communication services, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Threads and Manus. The company also operates an advertising network for its own sites and third parties; as of 2023[update], advertising accounted for 97.8 percent of its total revenue. Meta has been described as a part of Big Tech, which refers to the largest six tech companies in the United States, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, and Nvidia, which are also the largest companies in the world by market capitalization. The company was originally established in 2004 as TheFacebook, Inc., and was renamed Facebook, Inc. in 2005. In 2021, it rebranded as Meta Platforms, Inc. to reflect a strategic shift toward developing the metaverse—an interconnected digital ecosystem spanning virtual and augmented reality technologies. In 2023, Meta was ranked 31st on the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's largest public companies. As of 2022, it was the world's third-largest spender on research and development, with R&D expenses totaling US$35.3 billion. History Facebook filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on January 1, 2012. The preliminary prospectus stated that the company sought to raise $5 billion, had 845 million monthly active users, and a website accruing 2.7 billion likes and comments daily. After the IPO, Zuckerberg would retain 22% of the total shares and 57% of the total voting power in Facebook. Underwriters valued the shares at $38 each, valuing the company at $104 billion, the largest valuation yet for a newly public company. On May 16, one day before the IPO, Facebook announced it would sell 25% more shares than originally planned due to high demand. The IPO raised $16 billion, making it the third-largest in US history (slightly ahead of AT&T Mobility and behind only General Motors and Visa). The stock price left the company with a higher market capitalization than all but a few U.S. corporations—surpassing heavyweights such as Amazon, McDonald's, Disney, and Kraft Foods—and made Zuckerberg's stock worth $19 billion. The New York Times stated that the offering overcame questions about Facebook's difficulties in attracting advertisers to transform the company into a "must-own stock". Jimmy Lee of JPMorgan Chase described it as "the next great blue-chip". Writers at TechCrunch, on the other hand, expressed skepticism, stating, "That's a big multiple to live up to, and Facebook will likely need to add bold new revenue streams to justify the mammoth valuation." Trading in the stock, which began on May 18, was delayed that day due to technical problems with the Nasdaq exchange. The stock struggled to stay above the IPO price for most of the day, forcing underwriters to buy back shares to support the price. At the closing bell, shares were valued at $38.23, only $0.23 above the IPO price and down $3.82 from the opening bell value. The opening was widely described by the financial press as a disappointment. The stock set a new record for trading volume of an IPO. On May 25, 2012, the stock ended its first full week of trading at $31.91, a 16.5% decline. On May 22, 2012, regulators from Wall Street's Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced that they had begun to investigate whether banks underwriting Facebook had improperly shared information only with select clients rather than the general public. Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin subpoenaed Morgan Stanley over the same issue. The allegations sparked "fury" among some investors and led to the immediate filing of several lawsuits, one of them a class action suit claiming more than $2.5 billion in losses due to the IPO. Bloomberg estimated that retail investors may have lost approximately $630 million on Facebook stock since its debut. S&P Global Ratings added Facebook to its S&P 500 index on December 21, 2013. On May 2, 2014, Zuckerberg announced that the company would be changing its internal motto from "Move fast and break things" to "Move fast with stable infrastructure". The earlier motto had been described as Zuckerberg's "prime directive to his developers and team" in a 2009 interview in Business Insider, in which he also said, "Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough." In November 2016, Facebook announced the Microsoft Windows client of gaming service Facebook Gameroom, formerly Facebook Games Arcade, at the Unity Technologies developers conference. The client allows Facebook users to play "native" games in addition to its web games. The service was closed in June 2021. Lasso was a short-video sharing app from Facebook similar to TikTok that was launched on iOS and Android in 2018 and was aimed at teenagers. On July 2, 2020, Facebook announced that Lasso would be shutting down on July 10. In 2018, the Oculus lead Jason Rubin sent his 50-page vision document titled "The Metaverse" to Facebook's leadership. In the document, Rubin acknowledged that Facebook's virtual reality business had not caught on as expected, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on content for early adopters. He also urged the company to execute fast and invest heavily in the vision, to shut out HTC, Apple, Google and other competitors in the VR space. Regarding other players' participation in the metaverse vision, he called for the company to build the "metaverse" to prevent their competitors from "being in the VR business in a meaningful way at all". In May 2019, Facebook founded Libra Networks, reportedly to develop their own stablecoin cryptocurrency. Later, it was reported that Libra was being supported by financial companies such as Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Uber. The consortium of companies was expected to pool in $10 million each to fund the launch of the cryptocurrency coin named Libra. Depending on when it would receive approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory authority to operate as a payments service, the Libra Association had planned to launch a limited format cryptocurrency in 2021. Libra was renamed Diem, before being shut down and sold in January 2022 after backlash from Swiss government regulators and the public. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of online services, including Facebook, grew globally. Zuckerberg predicted this would be a "permanent acceleration" that would continue after the pandemic. Facebook hired aggressively, growing from 48,268 employees in March 2020 to more than 87,000 by September 2022. Following a period of intense scrutiny and damaging whistleblower leaks, news started to emerge on October 21, 2021 about Facebook's plan to rebrand the company and change its name. In the Q3 2021 earnings call on October 25, Mark Zuckerberg discussed the ongoing criticism of the company's social services and the way it operates, and pointed to the pivoting efforts to building the metaverse – without mentioning the rebranding and the name change. The metaverse vision and the name change from Facebook, Inc. to Meta Platforms was introduced at Facebook Connect on October 28, 2021. Based on Facebook's PR campaign, the name change reflects the company's shifting long term focus of building the metaverse, a digital extension of the physical world by social media, virtual reality and augmented reality features. "Meta" had been registered as a trademark in the United States in 2018 (after an initial filing in 2015) for marketing, advertising, and computer services, by a Canadian company that provided big data analysis of scientific literature. This company was acquired in 2017 by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a foundation established by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, and became one of their projects. Following the rebranding announcement, CZI announced that it had already decided to deprioritize the earlier Meta project, thus it would be transferring its rights to the name to Meta Platforms, and the previous project would end in 2022. Soon after the rebranding, in early February 2022, Meta reported a greater-than-expected decline in profits in the fourth quarter of 2021. It reported no growth in monthly users, and indicated it expected revenue growth to stall. It also expected measures taken by Apple Inc. to protect user privacy to cost it some $10 billion in advertisement revenue, an amount equal to roughly 8% of its revenue for 2021. In meeting with Meta staff the day after earnings were reported, Zuckerberg blamed competition for user attention, particularly from video-based apps such as TikTok. The 27% reduction in the company's share price which occurred in reaction to the news eliminated some $230 billion of value from Meta's market capitalization. Bloomberg described the decline as "an epic rout that, in its sheer scale, is unlike anything Wall Street or Silicon Valley has ever seen". Zuckerberg's net worth fell by as much as $31 billion. Zuckerberg owns 13% of Meta, and the holding makes up the bulk of his wealth. According to published reports by Bloomberg on March 30, 2022, Meta turned over data such as phone numbers, physical addresses, and IP addresses to hackers posing as law enforcement officials using forged documents. The law enforcement requests sometimes included forged signatures of real or fictional officials. When asked about the allegations, a Meta representative said, "We review every data request for legal sufficiency and use advanced systems and processes to validate law enforcement requests and detect abuse." In June 2022, Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of 14 years, announced she would step down that year. Zuckerberg said that Javier Olivan would replace Sandberg, though in a “more traditional” role. In March 2022, Meta (except Meta-owned WhatsApp) and Instagram were banned in Russia and added to the Russian list of terrorist and extremist organizations for alleged Russophobia and hate speech (up to genocidal calls) amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Meta appealed against the ban, but it was upheld by a Moscow court in June of the same year. Also in March 2022, Meta and Italian eyewear giant Luxottica released Ray-Ban Stories, a series of smartglasses which could play music and take pictures. Meta and Luxottica parent company EssilorLuxottica declined to disclose sales on the line of products as of September 2022, though Meta has expressed satisfaction with its customer feedback. In July 2022, Meta saw its first year-on-year revenue decline when its total revenue slipped by 1% to $28.8bn. Analysts and journalists accredited the loss to its advertising business, which has been limited by Apple's app tracking transparency feature and the number of people who have opted not to be tracked by Meta apps. Zuckerberg also accredited the decline to increasing competition from TikTok. On October 27, 2022, Meta's market value dropped to $268 billion, a loss of around $700 billion compared to 2021, and its shares fell by 24%. It lost its spot among the top 20 US companies by market cap, despite reaching the top 5 in the previous year. In November 2022, Meta laid off 11,000 employees, 13% of its workforce. Zuckerberg said the decision to aggressively increase Meta's investments had been a mistake, as he had wrongly predicted that the surge in e-commerce would last beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. He also attributed the decline to increased competition, a global economic downturn and "ads signal loss". Plans to lay off a further 10,000 employees began in April 2023. The layoffs were part of a general downturn in the technology industry, alongside layoffs by companies including Google, Amazon, Tesla, Snap, Twitter and Lyft. Starting from 2022, Meta scrambled to catch up to other tech companies in adopting specialized artificial intelligence hardware and software. It had been using less expensive CPUs instead of GPUs for AI work, but that approach turned out to be less efficient. The company gifted the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research $1.3 million to finance the Social Media Archive's aim to make their data available to social science research. In 2023, Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner imposed a record EUR 1.2 billion fine on Meta for transferring data from Europe to the United States without adequate protections for EU citizens.: 250 In March 2023, Meta announced a new round of layoffs that would cut 10,000 employees and close 5,000 open positions to make the company more efficient. Meta revenue surpassed analyst expectations for the first quarter of 2023 after announcing that it was increasing its focus on AI. On July 6, Meta launched a new app, Threads, a competitor to Twitter. Meta announced its artificial intelligence model Llama 2 in July 2023, available for commercial use via partnerships with major cloud providers like Microsoft. It was the first project to be unveiled out of Meta's generative AI group after it was set up in February. It would not charge access or usage but instead operate with an open-source model to allow Meta to ascertain what improvements need to be made. Prior to this announcement, Meta said it had no plans to release Llama 2 for commercial use. An earlier version of Llama was released to academics. In August 2023, Meta announced its permanent removal of news content from Facebook and Instagram in Canada due to the Online News Act, which requires Canadian news outlets to be compensated for content shared on its platform. The Online News Act was in effect by year-end, but Meta will not participate in the regulatory process. In October 2023, Zuckerberg said that AI would be Meta's biggest investment area in 2024. Meta finished 2023 as one of the best-performing technology stocks of the year, with its share price up 150 percent. Its stock reached an all-time high in January 2024, bringing Meta within 2% of achieving $1 trillion market capitalization. In November 2023 Meta Platforms launched an ad-free service in Europe, allowing subscribers to opt-out of personal data being collected for targeted advertising. A group of 28 European organizations, including Max Schrems' advocacy group NOYB, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Wikimedia Europe, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, signed a 2024 letter to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) expressing concern that this subscriber model would undermine privacy protections, specifically GDPR data protection standards. Meta removed the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in February 2024, citing repeated violations of its Dangerous Organizations & Individuals policy. As of March, Meta was under investigation by the FDA for alleged use of their social media platforms to sell illegal drugs. On 16 May 2024, the European Commission began an investigation into Meta over concerns related to child safety. In May 2023, Iraqi social media influencer Esaa Ahmed-Adnan encountered a troubling issue when Instagram removed his posts, citing false copyright violations despite his content being original and free from copyrighted material. He discovered that extortionists were behind these takedowns, offering to restore his content for $3,000 or provide ongoing protection for $1,000 per month. This scam, exploiting Meta’s rights management tools, became widespread in the Middle East, revealing a gap in Meta’s enforcement in developing regions. An Iraqi nonprofit Tech4Peace’s founder, Aws al-Saadi helped Ahmed-Adnan and others, but the restoration process was slow, leading to significant financial losses for many victims, including prominent figures like Ammar al-Hakim. This situation highlighted Meta’s challenges in balancing global growth with effective content moderation and protection. On 16 September 2024, Meta announced it had banned Russian state media outlets from its platforms worldwide due to concerns about "foreign interference activity." This decision followed allegations that RT and its employees funneled $10 million through shell companies to secretly fund influence campaigns on various social media channels. Meta's actions were part of a broader effort to counter Russian covert influence operations, which had intensified since the invasion. At its 2024 Connect conference, Meta presented Orion, its first pair of augmented reality glasses. Though Orion was originally intended to be sold to consumers, the manufacturing process turned out to be too complex and expensive. Instead, the company pivoted to producing a small number of the glasses to be used internally. On 4 October 2024, Meta announced about its new AI model called Movie Gen, capable of generating realistic video and audio clips based on user prompts. Meta stated it would not release Movie Gen for open development, preferring to collaborate directly with content creators and integrate it into its products by the following year. The model was built using a combination of licensed and publicly available datasets. On October 31, 2024, ProPublica published an investigation into deceptive political advertisement scams that sometimes use hundreds of hijacked profiles and facebook pages run by organized networks of scammers. The authors cited spotty enforcement by Meta as a major reason for the extent of the issue. In November 2024, TechCrunch reported that Meta were considering building a $10bn global underwater cable spanning 25,000 miles. In the same month, Meta closed down 2 million accounts on Facebook and Instagram that were linked to scam centers in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates doing pig butchering scams. In December 2024, Meta announced that, beginning February 2025, they would require advertisers to run ads about financial services in Australia to verify information about who are the beneficiary and the payer in a bid to regulate scams. On December 4, 2024, Meta announced it will invest US$10 billion for its largest AI data center in northeast Louisiana, powered by natural gas facilities. On the 11th of that month, Meta experienced a global outage, impacting accounts on all of their social media and messaging applications. Outage reports from DownDetector reached 70,000+ and 100,000+ within minutes for Instagram and Facebook, respectively. In January 2025, Meta announced plans to roll back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, citing shifts in the "legal and policy landscape" in the United States following the 2024 presidential election. The decision followed reports that CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought to align the company more closely with the incoming Trump administration, including changes to content moderation policies and executive leadership. The new content moderation policies continued to bar insults about a person's intellect or mental illness, but made an exception to allow calling LGBTQ people mentally ill because they are gay or transgender. Later that month, Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit brought by Donald Trump for suspending his social media accounts after the January 6 riots. Changes to Meta's moderation policies were controversial among its oversight board, with a significant divide in opinion between the board's US conservatives and its global members. In June 2025, Meta Platforms Inc. has decided to make a multibillion-dollar investment into artificial intelligence startup Scale AI. The financing could exceed $10 billion in value which would make it one of the largest private company funding events of all time. In October 2025, it was announced that Meta would be laying off 600 employees in the artificial intelligence unit to perform better and simpler. They referred to their AI unit as "bloated" and are seeking to trim down the department. This mass layoff is going to impact Meta’s AI infrastructure units, Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research unit (FAIR) and other product-related positions. Mergers and acquisitions Meta has acquired multiple companies (often identified as talent acquisitions). One of its first major acquisitions was in April 2012, when it acquired Instagram for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock. In October 2013, Facebook, Inc. acquired Onavo, an Israeli mobile web analytics company. In February 2014, Facebook, Inc. announced it would buy mobile messaging company WhatsApp for US$19 billion in cash and stock. The acquisition was completed on October 6. Later that year, Facebook bought Oculus VR for $2.3 billion in cash and stock, which released its first consumer virtual reality headset in 2016. In late November 2019, Facebook, Inc. announced the acquisition of the game developer Beat Games, responsible for developing one of that year's most popular VR games, Beat Saber. In Late 2022, after Facebook Inc rebranded to Meta Platforms Inc, Oculus was rebranded to Meta Quest. In May 2020, Facebook, Inc. announced it had acquired Giphy for a reported cash price of $400 million. It will be integrated with the Instagram team. However, in August 2021, UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated that Facebook, Inc. might have to sell Giphy, after an investigation found that the deal between the two companies would harm competition in display advertising market. Facebook, Inc. was fined $70 million by CMA for deliberately failing to report all information regarding the acquisition and the ongoing antitrust investigation. In October 2022, the CMA ruled for a second time that Meta be required to divest Giphy, stating that Meta already controls half of the advertising in the UK. Meta agreed to the sale, though it stated that it disagrees with the decision itself. In May 2023, Giphy was divested to Shutterstock for $53 million. In November 2020, Facebook, Inc. announced that it planned to purchase the customer-service platform and chatbot specialist startup Kustomer to promote companies to use their platform for business. It has been reported that Kustomer valued at slightly over $1 billion. The deal was closed in February 2022 after regulatory approval. In September 2022, Meta acquired Lofelt, a Berlin-based haptic tech startup. In December 2025, it was announced Meta had acquired the AI-wearables startup, Limitless. In the same month, they also acquired another AI startup, Manus AI, for $2 billion. Manus announced in December that its platform had achieved $100mm in recurring revenue just 8 months after its launch and Meta said it will scale the platform to many other businesses. In January 2026, it was announced Meta proposed acquisition of Manus was undergoing preliminary scrutiny by Chinese regulators. The examination concerns the cross-border transfer of artificial intelligence technology developed in China. Lobbying In 2020, Facebook, Inc. spent $19.7 million on lobbying, hiring 79 lobbyists. In 2019, it had spent $16.7 million on lobbying and had a team of 71 lobbyists, up from $12.6 million and 51 lobbyists in 2018. Facebook was the largest spender of lobbying money among the Big Tech companies in 2020. The lobbying team includes top congressional aide John Branscome, who was hired in September 2021, to help the company fend off threats from Democratic lawmakers and the Biden administration. In December 2024, Meta donated $1 million to the inauguration fund for then-President-elect Donald Trump. In 2025, Meta was listed among the donors funding the construction of the White House State Ballroom. Partnerships February 2026, Meta announced a long-term partnership with Nvidia. Censorship In August 2024, Mark Zuckerberg sent a letter to Jim Jordan indicating that during the COVID-19 pandemic the Biden administration repeatedly asked Meta to limit certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, on Facebook and Instagram. In 2016 Meta hired Jordana Cutler, formerly an employee at the Israeli Embassy to the United States, as its policy chief for Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. In this role, Cutler pushed for the censorship of accounts belonging to Students for Justice in Palestine chapters in the United States. Critics have said that Cutler's position gives the Israeli government an undue influence over Meta policy, and that few countries have such high levels of contact with Meta policymakers. Following the election of Donald Trump in 2025, various sources noted possible censorship related to the Democratic Party on Instagram and other Meta platforms. In February 2025, a Meta rep flagged journalist Gil Duran's article and other "critiques of tech industry figures" as spam or sensitive content, limiting their reach. In March 2025, Meta attempted to block former employee Sarah Wynn-Williams from promoting or further distributing her memoir, Careless People, that includes allegations of unaddressed sexual harassment in the workplace by senior executives. The New York Times reports that the arbitration is among Meta's most forcible attempts to repudiate a former employee's account of workplace dynamics. Publisher Macmillan reacted to the ruling by the Emergency International Arbitral Tribunal by stating that it will ignore its provisions. As of 15 March 2025[update], hardback and digital versions of Careless People were being offered for sale by major online retailers. From October 2025, Meta began removing and restricting access for accounts related to LGBTQ, reproductive health and abortion information pages on its platforms. Martha Dimitratou, executive director of Repro Uncensored, called Meta's shadow-banning of these issues "One of the biggest waves of censorship we are seeing". Disinformation concerns Since its inception, Meta has been accused of being a host for fake news and misinformation. In the wake of the 2016 United States presidential election, Zuckerberg began to take steps to eliminate the prevalence of fake news, as the platform had been criticized for its potential influence on the outcome of the election. The company initially partnered with ABC News, the Associated Press, FactCheck.org, Snopes and PolitiFact for its fact-checking initiative; as of 2018, it had over 40 fact-checking partners across the world, including The Weekly Standard. A May 2017 review by The Guardian found that the platform's fact-checking initiatives of partnering with third-party fact-checkers and publicly flagging fake news were regularly ineffective, and appeared to be having minimal impact in some cases. In 2018, journalists working as fact-checkers for the company criticized the partnership, stating that it had produced minimal results and that the company had ignored their concerns. In 2024 Meta's decision to continue to disseminate a falsified video of US president Joe Biden, even after it had been proven to be fake, attracted criticism and concern. In January 2025, Meta ended its use of third-party fact-checkers in favor of a user-run community notes system similar to the one used on X. While Zuckerberg supported these changes, saying that the amount of censorship on the platform was excessive, the decision received criticism by fact-checking institutions, stating that the changes would make it more difficult for users to identify misinformation. Meta also faced criticism for weakening its policies on hate speech that were designed to protect minorities and LGBTQ+ individuals from bullying and discrimination. While moving its content review teams from California to Texas, Meta changed their hateful conduct policy to eliminate restrictions on anti-LGBT and anti-immigrant hate speech, as well as explicitly allowing users to accuse LGBT people of being mentally ill or abnormal based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. In January 2025, Meta faced significant criticism for its role in removing LGBTQ+ content from its platforms, amid its broader efforts to address anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech. The removal of LGBTQ+ themes was noted as part of the wider crackdown on content deemed to violate its community guidelines. Meta's content moderation policies, which were designed to combat harmful speech and protect users from discrimination, inadvertently led to the removal or restriction of LGBTQ+ content, particularly posts highlighting LGBTQ+ identities, support, or political issues. According to reports, LGBTQ+ posts, including those that simply celebrated pride or advocated for LGBTQ+ rights, were flagged and removed for reasons that some critics argue were vague or inconsistently applied. Many LGBTQ+ activists and users on Meta's platforms expressed concern that such actions stifled visibility and expression, potentially isolating LGBTQ+ individuals and communities, especially in spaces that were historically important for outreach and support. Lawsuits Numerous lawsuits have been filed against the company, both when it was known as Facebook, Inc., and as Meta Platforms. In March 2020, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) sued Facebook, for significant and persistent infringements of the rule on privacy involving the Cambridge Analytica fiasco. Every violation of the Privacy Act is subject to a theoretical cumulative liability of $1.7 million. The OAIC estimated that a total of 311,127 Australians had been exposed. On December 8, 2020, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 46 states (excluding Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and South Dakota), the District of Columbia and the territory of Guam, launched Federal Trade Commission v. Facebook as an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook. The lawsuit concerns Facebook's acquisition of two competitors—Instagram and WhatsApp—and the ensuing monopolistic situation. FTC alleges that Facebook holds monopolistic power in the U.S. social networking market and seeks to force the company to divest from Instagram and WhatsApp to break up the conglomerate. William Kovacic, a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, argued the case will be difficult to win as it would require the government to create a counterfactual argument of an internet where the Facebook-WhatsApp-Instagram entity did not exist, and prove that harmed competition or consumers. In November 2025, it was ruled that Meta did not violate antitrust laws and holds no monopoly in the market. On December 24, 2021, a court in Russia fined Meta for $27 million after the company declined to remove unspecified banned content. The fine was reportedly tied to the company's annual revenue in the country. In May 2022, a lawsuit was filed in Kenya against Meta and its local outsourcing company Sama. Allegedly, Meta has poor working conditions in Kenya for workers moderating Facebook posts. According to the lawsuit, 260 screeners were declared redundant with confusing reasoning. The lawsuit seeks financial compensation and an order that outsourced moderators be given the same health benefits and pay scale as Meta employees. In June 2022, 8 lawsuits were filed across the U.S. over the allege that excessive exposure to platforms including Facebook and Instagram has led to attempted or actual suicides, eating disorders and sleeplessness, among other issues. The litigation follows a former Facebook employee's testimony in Congress that the company refused to take responsibility. The company noted that tools have been developed for parents to keep track of their children's activity on Instagram and set time limits, in addition to Meta's "Take a break" reminders. In addition, the company is providing resources specific to eating disorders as well as developing AI to prevent children under the age of 13 signing up for Facebook or Instagram. In June 2022, Meta settled a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2019, alleged that the company enabled housing discrimination through targeted advertising, as it allowed homeowners and landlords to run housing ads excluding people based on sex, race, religion, and other characteristics. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that this was in violation of the Fair Housing Act. Meta was handed a penalty of $115,054 and given until December 31, 2022, to shadow the algorithm tool. In January 2023, Meta was fined €390 million for violations of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation. In May 2023, the European Data Protection Board fined Meta a record €1.2 billion for breaching European Union data privacy laws by transferring personal data of Facebook users to servers in the U.S. In July 2024, Meta agreed to pay the state of Texas US$1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accusing the company of collecting users' biometric data without consent, setting a record for the largest privacy-related settlement ever obtained by a state attorney general. In October 2024, Meta Platforms faced lawsuits in Japan from 30 plaintiffs who claimed they were defrauded by fake investment ads on Facebook and Instagram, featuring false celebrity endorsements. The plaintiffs are seeking approximately $2.8 million in damages. In April 2025, the Kenyan High Court ruled that a US$2.4 billion lawsuit in which three plaintiffs claim that Facebook inflamed civil violence in Ethiopia in 2021 could proceed. In April 2025, Meta was fined €200 million ($230 million) for breaking the Digital Markets Act, by imposing a “consent or pay” system that forces users to either allow their personal data to be used to target advertisements, or pay a subscription fee for advertising-free versions of Facebook and Instagram. In late April 2025, a case was filed against Meta in Ghana over the alleged psychological distress experienced by content moderators employed to take down disturbing social media content including depictions of murders, extreme violence and child sexual abuse. Meta moved the moderation service to the Ghanaian capital of Accra after legal issues in the previous location Kenya. The new moderation company is Teleperformance, a multinational corporation with a history of worker's rights violation. Reports suggests the conditions are worse here than in the previous Kenyan location, with many workers afraid of speaking out due to fear of returning to conflict zones. Workers reported developing mental illnesses, attempted suicides, and low pay. In 26 January 2026, a New Mexico state court case was filed, suggesting that Mark Zuckerberg approved allowing minors to access artificial intelligence chatbot companions that safety staffers warned were capable of sexual interactions. In 2020, the company UReputation, which had been involved in several cases concerning the management of digital armies[clarification needed], filed a lawsuit against Facebook, accusing it of unlawfully transmitting personal data to third parties. Legal actions were initiated in Tunisia, France, and the United States. In 2025, the United States District court for the Northern District of Georgia approved a discovery procedure, allowing UReputation to access documents and evidence held by Meta. Structure Meta's key management consists of: As of October 2022[update], Meta had 83,553 employees worldwide. As of June 2024[update], Meta's board consisted of the following directors; Meta Platforms is mainly owned by institutional investors, who hold around 80% of all shares. Insiders control the majority of voting shares. The three largest individual investors in 2024 were Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and Christopher K. Cox. The largest shareholders in late 2024/early 2025 were: Roger McNamee, an early Facebook investor and Zuckerberg's former mentor, said Facebook had "the most centralized decision-making structure I have ever encountered in a large company". Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has stated that chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg has too much power, that the company is now a monopoly, and that, as a result, it should be split into multiple smaller companies. In an op-ed in The New York Times, Hughes said he was concerned that Zuckerberg had surrounded himself with a team that did not challenge him, and that it is the U.S. government's job to hold him accountable and curb his "unchecked power". He also said that "Mark's power is unprecedented and un-American." Several U.S. politicians agreed with Hughes. European Union Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager stated that splitting Facebook should be done only as "a remedy of the very last resort", and that it would not solve Facebook's underlying problems. Revenue Facebook ranked No. 34 in the 2020 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue, with almost $86 billion in revenue most of it coming from advertising. One analysis of 2017 data determined that the company earned US$20.21 per user from advertising. According to New York, since its rebranding, Meta has reportedly lost $500 billion as a result of new privacy measures put in place by companies such as Apple and Google which prevents Meta from gathering users' data. In February 2015, Facebook announced it had reached two million active advertisers, with most of the gain coming from small businesses. An active advertiser was defined as an entity that had advertised on the Facebook platform in the last 28 days. In March 2016, Facebook announced it had reached three million active advertisers with more than 70% from outside the United States. Prices for advertising follow a variable pricing model based on auctioning ad placements, and potential engagement levels of the advertisement itself. Similar to other online advertising platforms like Google and Twitter, targeting of advertisements is one of the chief merits of digital advertising compared to traditional media. Marketing on Meta is employed through two methods based on the viewing habits, likes and shares, and purchasing data of the audience, namely targeted audiences and "look alike" audiences. The U.S. IRS challenged the valuation Facebook used when it transferred IP from the U.S. to Facebook Ireland (now Meta Platforms Ireland) in 2010 (which Facebook Ireland then revalued higher before charging out), as it was building its double Irish tax structure. The case is ongoing and Meta faces a potential fine of $3–5bn. The U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 changed Facebook's global tax calculations. Meta Platforms Ireland is subject to the U.S. GILTI tax of 10.5% on global intangible profits (i.e. Irish profits). On the basis that Meta Platforms Ireland Limited is paying some tax, the effective minimum US tax for Facebook Ireland will be circa 11%. In contrast, Meta Platforms Inc. would incur a special IP tax rate of 13.125% (the FDII rate) if its Irish business relocated to the U.S. Tax relief in the U.S. (21% vs. Irish at the GILTI rate) and accelerated capital expensing, would make this effective U.S. rate around 12%. The insignificance of the U.S./Irish tax difference was demonstrated when Facebook moved 1.5bn non-EU accounts to the U.S. to limit exposure to GDPR. Facilities Users outside of the U.S. and Canada contract with Meta's Irish subsidiary, Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (formerly Facebook Ireland Limited), allowing Meta to avoid US taxes for all users in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and South America. Meta is making use of the Double Irish arrangement which allows it to pay 2–3% corporation tax on all international revenue. In 2010, Facebook opened its fourth office, in Hyderabad, India, which houses online advertising and developer support teams and provides support to users and advertisers. In India, Meta is registered as Facebook India Online Services Pvt Ltd. It also has offices or planned sites in Chittagong, Bangladesh; Dublin, Ireland; and Austin, Texas, among other cities. Facebook opened its London headquarters in 2017 in Fitzrovia in central London. Facebook opened an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2018. The offices were initially home to the "Connectivity Lab", a group focused on bringing Internet access to those who do not have access to the Internet. In April 2019, Facebook opened its Taiwan headquarters in Taipei. In March 2022, Meta opened new regional headquarters in Dubai. In September 2023, it was reported that Meta had paid £149m to British Land to break the lease on Triton Square London office. Meta reportedly had another 18 years left on its lease on the site. As of 2023, Facebook operated 21 data centers. It committed to purchase 100% renewable energy and to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 75% by 2020. Its data center technologies include Fabric Aggregator, a distributed network system that accommodates larger regions and varied traffic patterns. Reception US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded in a tweet to Zuckerberg's announcement about Meta, saying: "Meta as in 'we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society ... for profit!'" Ex-Facebook employee Frances Haugen and whistleblower behind the Facebook Papers responded to the rebranding efforts by expressing doubts about the company's ability to improve while led by Mark Zuckerberg, and urged the chief executive officer to resign. In November 2021, a video published by Inspired by Iceland went viral, in which a Zuckerberg look-alike promoted the Icelandverse, a place of "enhanced actual reality without silly looking headsets". In a December 2021 interview, SpaceX and Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk said he could not see a compelling use-case for the VR-driven metaverse, adding: "I don't see someone strapping a frigging screen to their face all day." In January 2022, Louise Eccles of The Sunday Times logged into the metaverse with the intention of making a video guide. She wrote: Initially, my experience with the Oculus went well. I attended work meetings as an avatar and tried an exercise class set in the streets of Paris. The headset enabled me to feel the thrill of carving down mountains on a snowboard and the adrenaline rush of climbing a mountain without ropes. Yet switching to the social apps, where you mingle with strangers also using VR headsets, it was at times predatory and vile. Eccles described being sexually harassed by another user, as well as "accents from all over the world, American, Indian, English, Australian, using racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic language". She also encountered users as young as 7 years old on the platform, despite Oculus headsets being intended for users over 13. See also References External links 37°29′06″N 122°08′54″W / 37.48500°N 122.14833°W / 37.48500; -122.14833 |
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Contents BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online news coverage. The service has over 5,500 journalists working across its output including in 50 foreign news bureaus where more than 250 foreign correspondents are stationed. Deborah Turness has been the CEO of news and current affairs since September 2022. In 2019, it was reported in an Ofcom report that the BBC spent £136m on news during the period April 2018 to March 2019. BBC News' domestic, global and online news divisions are housed within the largest live newsroom in Europe, in Broadcasting House in central London. Parliamentary coverage is produced and broadcast from studios in London. Through BBC English Regions, the BBC also has regional centres across England and national news centres in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. All nations and English regions produce their own local news programmes and other current affairs and sport programmes. The BBC is a quasi-autonomous corporation authorised by royal charter, making it operationally independent of the government. As of 2024, the BBC reaches an average of 450 million people per week, with the BBC World Service accounting for 320 million people. History This is London calling – 2LO calling. Here is the first general news bulletin, copyright by Reuters, Press Association, Exchange Telegraph and Central News. — BBC news programme opening during the 1920s The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first radio bulletin from radio station 2LO on 14 November 1922. Wishing to avoid competition, newspaper publishers persuaded the government to ban the BBC from broadcasting news before 7 pm, and to force it to use wire service copy instead of reporting on its own. The BBC gradually gained the right to edit the copy and, in 1934, created its own news operation. However, it could not broadcast news before 6 p.m. until World War II. In addition to news, Gaumont British and Movietone cinema newsreels had been broadcast on the TV service since 1936, with the BBC producing its own equivalent Television Newsreel programme from January 1948. A weekly Children's Newsreel was inaugurated on 23 April 1950, to around 350,000 receivers. The network began simulcasting its radio news on television in 1946, with a still picture of Big Ben. Televised bulletins began on 5 July 1954, broadcast from leased studios within Alexandra Palace in London. The public's interest in television and live events was stimulated by Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. It is estimated that up to 27 million people viewed the programme in the UK, overtaking radio's audience of 12 million for the first time. Those live pictures were fed from 21 cameras in central London to Alexandra Palace for transmission, and then on to other UK transmitters opened in time for the event. That year, there were around two million TV Licences held in the UK, rising to over three million the following year, and four and a half million by 1955. Television news, although physically separate from its radio counterpart, was still firmly under radio news' control in the 1950s. Correspondents provided reports for both outlets, and the first televised bulletin, shown on 5 July 1954 on the then BBC television service and presented by Richard Baker, involved his providing narration off-screen while stills were shown. This was then followed by the customary Television Newsreel with a recorded commentary by John Snagge (and on other occasions by Andrew Timothy). On-screen newsreaders were introduced a year later in 1955 – Kenneth Kendall (the first to appear in vision), Robert Dougall, and Richard Baker—three weeks before ITN's launch on 21 September 1955. Mainstream television production had started to move out of Alexandra Palace in 1950 to larger premises – mainly at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush, west London – taking Current Affairs (then known as Talks Department) with it. It was from here that the first Panorama, a new documentary programme, was transmitted on 11 November 1953, with Richard Dimbleby becoming anchor in 1955. In 1958, Hugh Carleton Greene became head of News and Current Affairs. On 1 January 1960, Greene became Director-General. Greene made changes that were aimed at making BBC reporting more similar to its competitor ITN, which had been highly rated by study groups held by Greene. A newsroom was created at Alexandra Palace, television reporters were recruited and given the opportunity to write and voice their own scripts, without having to cover stories for radio too. On 20 June 1960, Nan Winton, the first female BBC network newsreader, appeared in vision. 19 September 1960 saw the start of the radio news and current affairs programme The Ten O'clock News. BBC2 started transmission on 20 April 1964 and began broadcasting a new show, Newsroom. The World at One, a lunchtime news programme, began on 4 October 1965 on the then Home Service, and the year before News Review had started on television. News Review was a summary of the week's news, first broadcast on Sunday, 26 April 1964 on BBC 2 and harking back to the weekly Newsreel Review of the Week, produced from 1951, to open programming on Sunday evenings–the difference being that this incarnation had subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. As this was the decade before electronic caption generation, each superimposition ("super") had to be produced on paper or card, synchronised manually to studio and news footage, committed to tape during the afternoon, and broadcast early evening. Thus Sundays were no longer a quiet day for news at Alexandra Palace. The programme ran until the 1980s – by then using electronic captions, known as Anchor – to be superseded by Ceefax subtitling (a similar Teletext format), and the signing of such programmes as See Hear (from 1981). On Sunday 17 September 1967, The World This Weekend, a weekly news and current affairs programme, launched on what was then Home Service, but soon-to-be Radio 4. Preparations for colour began in the autumn of 1967 and on Thursday 7 March 1968 Newsroom on BBC2 moved to an early evening slot, becoming the first UK news programme to be transmitted in colour – from Studio A at Alexandra Palace. News Review and Westminster (the latter a weekly review of Parliamentary happenings) were "colourised" shortly after. However, much of the insert material was still in black and white, as initially only a part of the film coverage shot in and around London was on colour reversal film stock, and all regional and many international contributions were still in black and white. Colour facilities at Alexandra Palace were technically very limited for the next eighteen months, as it had only one RCA colour Quadruplex videotape machine and, eventually two Pye plumbicon colour telecines–although the news colour service started with just one. Black and white national bulletins on BBC 1 continued to originate from Studio B on weekdays, along with Town and Around, the London regional "opt out" programme broadcast throughout the 1960s (and the BBC's first regional news programme for the South East), until it started to be replaced by Nationwide on Tuesday to Thursday from Lime Grove Studios early in September 1969. Town and Around was never to make the move to Television Centre – instead it became London This Week which aired on Mondays and Fridays only, from the new TVC studios. The BBC moved production out of Alexandra Palace in 1969. BBC Television News resumed operations the next day with a lunchtime bulletin on BBC1 – in black and white – from Television Centre, where it remained until March 2013. This move to a smaller studio with better technical facilities allowed Newsroom and News Review to replace back projection with colour-separation overlay. During the 1960s, satellite communication had become possible; however, it was some years before digital line-store conversion was able to undertake the process seamlessly. On 14 September 1970, the first Nine O'Clock News was broadcast on television. Robert Dougall presented the first week from studio N1 – described by The Guardian as "a sort of polystyrene padded cell"—the bulletin having been moved from the earlier time of 20.50 as a response to the ratings achieved by ITN's News at Ten, introduced three years earlier on the rival ITV. Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall presented subsequent weeks, thus echoing those first television bulletins of the mid-1950s. Angela Rippon became the first female news presenter of the Nine O'Clock News in 1975. Her work outside the news was controversial at the time, appearing on The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show in 1976 singing and dancing. The first edition of John Craven's Newsround, initially intended only as a short series and later renamed just Newsround, came from studio N3 on 4 April 1972. Afternoon television news bulletins during the mid to late 1970s were broadcast from the BBC newsroom itself, rather than one of the three news studios. The newsreader would present to camera while sitting on the edge of a desk; behind him staff would be seen working busily at their desks. This period corresponded with when the Nine O'Clock News got its next makeover, and would use a CSO background of the newsroom from that very same camera each weekday evening. Also in the mid-1970s, the late night news on BBC2 was briefly renamed Newsnight, but this was not to last, or be the same programme as we know today – that would be launched in 1980 – and it soon reverted to being just a news summary with the early evening BBC2 news expanded to become Newsday. News on radio was to change in the 1970s, and on Radio 4 in particular, brought about by the arrival of new editor Peter Woon from television news and the implementation of the Broadcasting in the Seventies report. These included the introduction of correspondents into news bulletins where previously only a newsreader would present, as well as the inclusion of content gathered in the preparation process. New programmes were also added to the daily schedule, PM and The World Tonight as part of the plan for the station to become a "wholly speech network". Newsbeat launched as the news service on Radio 1 on 10 September 1973. On 23 September 1974, a teletext system which was launched to bring news content on television screens using text only was launched. Engineers originally began developing such a system to bring news to deaf viewers, but the system was expanded. The Ceefax service became much more diverse before it ceased on 23 October 2012: it not only had subtitling for all channels, it also gave information such as weather, flight times and film reviews. By the end of the decade, the practice of shooting on film for inserts in news broadcasts was declining, with the introduction of ENG technology into the UK. The equipment would gradually become less cumbersome – the BBC's first attempts had been using a Philips colour camera with backpack base station and separate portable Sony U-matic recorder in the latter half of the decade. In 1980, the Iranian Embassy Siege had been shot electronically by the BBC Television News Outside broadcasting team, and the work of reporter Kate Adie, broadcasting live from Prince's Gate, was nominated for BAFTA actuality coverage, but this time beaten by ITN for the 1980 award. Newsnight, the news and current affairs programme, was due to go on air on 23 January 1980, although trade union disagreements meant that its launch from Lime Grove was postponed by a week. On 27 August 1981 Moira Stuart became the first African Caribbean female newsreader to appear on British television. By 1982, ENG technology had become sufficiently reliable for Bernard Hesketh to use an Ikegami camera to cover the Falklands War, coverage for which he won the "Royal Television Society Cameraman of the Year" award and a BAFTA nomination – the first time that BBC News had relied upon an electronic camera, rather than film, in a conflict zone. BBC News won the BAFTA for its actuality coverage, however the event has become remembered in television terms for Brian Hanrahan's reporting where he coined the phrase "I'm not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I counted them all out and I counted them all back" to circumvent restrictions, and which has become cited as an example of good reporting under pressure. The first BBC breakfast television programme, Breakfast Time also launched during the 1980s, on 17 January 1983 from Lime Grove Studio E and two weeks before its ITV rival TV-am. Frank Bough, Selina Scott, and Nick Ross helped to wake viewers with a relaxed style of presenting. The Six O'Clock News first aired on 3 September 1984, eventually becoming the most watched news programme in the UK (however, since 2006 it has been overtaken by the BBC News at Ten). In October 1984, images of millions of people starving to death in the Ethiopian famine were shown in Michael Buerk's Six O'Clock News reports. The BBC News crew were the first to document the famine, with Buerk's report on 23 October describing it as "a biblical famine in the 20th century" and "the closest thing to hell on Earth". The BBC News report shocked Britain, motivating its citizens to inundate relief agencies, such as Save the Children, with donations, and to bring global attention to the crisis in Ethiopia. The news report was also watched by Bob Geldof, who would organise the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" to raise money for famine relief followed by the Live Aid concert in July 1985. Starting in 1981, the BBC gave a common theme to its main news bulletins with new electronic titles–a set of computer-animated "stripes" forming a circle on a red background with a "BBC News" typescript appearing below the circle graphics, and a theme tune consisting of brass and keyboards. The Nine used a similar (striped) number 9. The red background was replaced by a blue from 1985 until 1987. By 1987, the BBC had decided to re-brand its bulletins and established individual styles again for each one with differing titles and music, the weekend and holiday bulletins branded in a similar style to the Nine, although the "stripes" introduction continued to be used until 1989 on occasions where a news bulletin was screened out of the running order of the schedule. In 1987, John Birt resurrected the practice of correspondents working for both TV and radio with the introduction of bi-media journalism. During the 1990s, a wider range of services began to be offered by BBC News, with the split of BBC World Service Television to become BBC World (news and current affairs), and BBC Prime (light entertainment). Content for a 24-hour news channel was thus required, followed in 1997 with the launch of domestic equivalent BBC News 24. Rather than set bulletins, ongoing reports and coverage was needed to keep both channels functioning and meant a greater emphasis in budgeting for both was necessary. In 1998, after 66 years at Broadcasting House, the BBC Radio News operation moved to BBC Television Centre. New technology, provided by Silicon Graphics, came into use in 1993 for a re-launch of the main BBC 1 bulletins, creating a virtual set which appeared to be much larger than it was physically. The relaunch also brought all bulletins into the same style of set with only small changes in colouring, titles, and music to differentiate each. A computer generated cut-glass sculpture of the BBC coat of arms was the centrepiece of the programme titles until the large scale corporate rebranding of news services in 1999. In November 1997, BBC News Online was launched, following individual webpages for major news events such as the 1996 Olympic Games, 1997 general election, and the death of Princess Diana. In 1999, the biggest relaunch occurred, with BBC One bulletins, BBC World, BBC News 24, and BBC News Online all adopting a common style. One of the most significant changes was the gradual adoption of the corporate image by the BBC regional news programmes, giving a common style across local, national and international BBC television news. This also included Newyddion, the main news programme of Welsh language channel S4C, produced by BBC News Wales. Following the relaunch of BBC News in 1999, regional headlines were included at the start of the BBC One news bulletins in 2000. The English regions did however lose five minutes at the end of their bulletins, due to a new headline round-up at 18:55. 2000 also saw the Nine O'Clock News moved to the later time of 22:00. This was in response to ITN who had just moved their popular News at Ten programme to 23:00. ITN briefly returned News at Ten but following poor ratings when head-to-head against the BBC's Ten O'Clock News, the ITN bulletin was moved to 22.30, where it remained until 14 January 2008. The retirement in 2009 of Peter Sissons and departure of Michael Buerk from the Ten O'Clock News led to changes in the BBC One bulletin presenting team on 20 January 2003. The Six O'Clock News became double headed with George Alagiah and Sophie Raworth after Huw Edwards and Fiona Bruce moved to present the Ten. A new set design featuring a projected fictional newsroom backdrop was introduced, followed on 16 February 2004 by new programme titles to match those of BBC News 24. BBC News 24 and BBC World introduced a new style of presentation in December 2003, that was slightly altered on 5 July 2004 to mark 50 years of BBC Television News. On 7 March 2005 director general Mark Thompson launched the "Creative Futures" project to restructure the organisation. The individual positions of editor of the One and Six O'Clock News were replaced by a new daytime position in November 2005. Kevin Bakhurst became the first Controller of BBC News 24, replacing the position of editor. Amanda Farnsworth became daytime editor while Craig Oliver was later named editor of the Ten O'Clock News. Bulletins received new titles and a new set design in May 2006, to allow for Breakfast to move into the main studio for the first time since 1997. The new set featured Barco videowall screens with a background of the London skyline used for main bulletins and originally an image of cirrus clouds against a blue sky for Breakfast. This was later replaced following viewer criticism. The studio bore similarities with the ITN-produced ITV News in 2004, though ITN uses a CSO Virtual studio rather than the actual screens at BBC News. BBC News became part of a new BBC Journalism group in November 2006 as part of a restructuring of the BBC. The then-Director of BBC News, Helen Boaden reported to the then-Deputy Director-General and head of the journalism group, Mark Byford until he was made redundant in 2010. On 18 October 2007, ED Mark Thompson announced a six-year plan, "Delivering Creative Futures" (based on his project begun in March 2005), merging the television current affairs department into a new "News Programmes" division. Thompson's announcement, in response to a £2 billion shortfall in funding, would, he said, deliver "a smaller but fitter BBC" in the digital age, by cutting its payroll and, in 2013, selling Television Centre. The various separate newsrooms for television, radio and online operations were merged into a single multimedia newsroom. Programme making within the newsrooms was brought together to form a multimedia programme making department. BBC World Service director Peter Horrocks said that the changes would achieve efficiency at a time of cost-cutting at the BBC. In his blog, he wrote that by using the same resources across the various broadcast media meant fewer stories could be covered, or by following more stories, there would be fewer ways to broadcast them. A new graphics and video playout system was introduced for production of television bulletins in January 2007. This coincided with a new structure to BBC World News bulletins, editors favouring a section devoted to analysing the news stories reported on. The first new BBC News bulletin since the Six O'Clock News was announced in July 2007 following a successful trial in the Midlands. The summary, lasting 90 seconds, has been broadcast at 20:00 on weekdays since December 2007 and bears similarities with 60 Seconds on BBC Three, but also includes headlines from the various BBC regions and a weather summary. As part of a long-term cost cutting programme, bulletins were renamed the BBC News at One, Six and Ten respectively in April 2008 while BBC News 24 was renamed BBC News and moved into the same studio as the bulletins at BBC Television Centre. BBC World was renamed BBC World News and regional news programmes were also updated with the new presentation style, designed by Lambie-Nairn. 2008 also saw tri-media introduced across TV, radio, and online. The studio moves also meant that Studio N9, previously used for BBC World, was closed, and operations moved to the previous studio of BBC News 24. Studio N9 was later refitted to match the new branding, and was used for the BBC's UK local elections and European elections coverage in early June 2009. A strategy review of the BBC in March 2010, confirmed that having "the best journalism in the world" would form one of five key editorial policies, as part of changes subject to public consultation and BBC Trust approval. After a period of suspension in late 2012, Helen Boaden ceased to be the Director of BBC News. On 16 April 2013, incoming BBC Director-General Tony Hall named James Harding, a former editor of The Times of London newspaper as Director of News and Current Affairs. From August 2012 to March 2013, all news operations moved from Television Centre to new facilities in the refurbished and extended Broadcasting House, in Portland Place. The move began in October 2012, and also included the BBC World Service, which moved from Bush House following the expiry of the BBC's lease. This new extension to the north and east, referred to as "New Broadcasting House", includes several new state-of-the-art radio and television studios centred around an 11-storey atrium. The move began with the domestic programme The Andrew Marr Show on 2 September 2012, and concluded with the move of the BBC News channel and domestic news bulletins on 18 March 2013. The newsroom houses all domestic bulletins and programmes on both television and radio, as well as the BBC World Service international radio networks and the BBC World News international television channel. BBC News and CBS News established an editorial and newsgathering partnership in 2017, replacing an earlier long-standing partnership between BBC News and ABC News. In an October 2018 Simmons Research survey of 38 news organisations, BBC News was ranked the fourth most trusted news organisation by Americans, behind CBS News, ABC News and The Wall Street Journal. In January 2020 the BBC announced a BBC News savings target of £80 million per year by 2022, involving about 450 staff reductions from the current 6,000. BBC director of news and current affairs Fran Unsworth said there would be further moves toward digital broadcasting, in part to attract back a youth audience, and more pooling of reporters to stop separate teams covering the same news. A further 70 staff reductions were announced in July 2020. BBC Three began airing the news programme The Catch Up in February 2022. It is presented by Levi Jouavel, Kirsty Grant, and Callum Tulley and aims to get the channel's target audience (16 to 34-year olds) to make sense of the world around them while also highlighting optimistic stories. Compared to its predecessor 60 Seconds, The Catch Up is three times longer, running for about three minutes and not airing during weekends. According to its annual report as of December 2021[update], India has the largest number of people using BBC services in the world. In May 2025, following the earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand, a television news bulletin (BBC News Myanmar) from the Burmese service using a vacated Voice of America satellite frequency began its broadcasts. Programming and reporting In November 2023, BBC News joined with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Paper Trail Media [de] and 69 media partners including Distributed Denial of Secrets and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories to produce the 'Cyprus Confidential' report on the financial network which supports the regime of Vladimir Putin, mostly with connections to Cyprus, and showed Cyprus to have strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned. Government officials including Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides and European lawmakers began responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours, calling for reforms and launching probes. BBC News is responsible for the news programmes and documentary content on the BBC's general television channels, as well as the news coverage on the BBC News Channel in the UK, and 22 hours of programming for the corporation's international BBC World News channel. Coverage for BBC Parliament is carried out on behalf of the BBC at Millbank Studios, though BBC News provides editorial and journalistic content. BBC News content is also output onto the BBC's digital interactive television services under the BBC Red Button brand, and until 2012, on the Ceefax teletext system. The music on all BBC television news programmes was introduced in 1999 and composed by David Lowe. It was part of the re-branding which commenced in 1999 and features 'BBC Pips'. The general theme was used on bulletins on BBC One, News 24, BBC World and local news programmes in the BBC's Nations and Regions. Lowe was also responsible for the music on Radio One's Newsbeat. The theme has had several changes since 1999, the latest in March 2013. The BBC Arabic Television news channel launched on 11 March 2008, a Persian-language channel followed on 14 January 2009, broadcasting from the Peel wing of Broadcasting House; both include news, analysis, interviews, sports and highly cultural programmes and are run by the BBC World Service and funded from a grant-in-aid from the British Foreign Office (and not the television licence). The BBC Verify service was launched in 2023 to fact-check news stories, followed by BBC Verify Live in 2025. BBC Radio News produces bulletins for the BBC's national radio stations and provides content for local BBC radio stations via the General News Service (GNS), a BBC-internal news distribution service. BBC News does not produce the BBC's regional news bulletins, which are produced individually by the BBC nations and regions themselves. The BBC World Service broadcasts to some 150 million people in English as well as 27 languages across the globe. BBC Radio News is a patron of the Radio Academy. BBC News Online is the BBC's news website. Launched in November 1997, it is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the UK's internet users for news. The website contains international news coverage as well as entertainment, sport, science, and political news. Mobile apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone systems have been provided since 2010. Many television and radio programmes are also available to view on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds services. The BBC News channel is also available to view 24 hours a day, while video and radio clips are also available within online news articles. In October 2019, BBC News Online launched a mirror on the dark web anonymity network Tor in an effort to circumvent censorship. Criticism The BBC is required by its charter to be free from both political and commercial influence and answers only to its viewers and listeners. This political objectivity is sometimes questioned. For instance, The Daily Telegraph (3 August 2005) carried a letter from the KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky, referring to it as "The Red Service". Books have been written on the subject, including anti-BBC works like Truth Betrayed by W J West and The Truth Twisters by Richard Deacon. The BBC has been accused of bias by Conservative MPs. The BBC's Editorial Guidelines on Politics and Public Policy state that while "the voices and opinions of opposition parties must be routinely aired and challenged", "the government of the day will often be the primary source of news". The BBC is regularly accused by the government of the day of bias in favour of the opposition and, by the opposition, of bias in favour of the government. Similarly, during times of war, the BBC is often accused by the UK government, or by strong supporters of British military campaigns, of being overly sympathetic to the view of the enemy. An edition of Newsnight at the start of the Falklands War in 1982 was described as "almost treasonable" by John Page, MP, who objected to Peter Snow saying "if we believe the British". During the first Gulf War, critics of the BBC took to using the satirical name "Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation". During the Kosovo War, the BBC were labelled the "Belgrade Broadcasting Corporation" (suggesting favouritism towards the FR Yugoslavia government over ethnic Albanian rebels) by British ministers, although Slobodan Milosević (then FRY president) claimed that the BBC's coverage had been biased against his nation. Conversely, some of those who style themselves anti-establishment in the United Kingdom or who oppose foreign wars have accused the BBC of pro-establishment bias or of refusing to give an outlet to "anti-war" voices. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a study by the Cardiff University School of Journalism of the reporting of the war found that nine out of 10 references to weapons of mass destruction during the war assumed that Iraq possessed them, and only one in 10 questioned this assumption. It also found that, out of the main British broadcasters covering the war, the BBC was the most likely to use the British government and military as its source. It was also the least likely to use independent sources, like the Red Cross, who were more critical of the war. When it came to reporting Iraqi casualties, the study found fewer reports on the BBC than on the other three main channels. The report's author, Justin Lewis, wrote "Far from revealing an anti-war BBC, our findings tend to give credence to those who criticised the BBC for being too sympathetic to the government in its war coverage. Either way, it is clear that the accusation of BBC anti-war bias fails to stand up to any serious or sustained analysis." Prominent BBC appointments are constantly assessed by the British media and political establishment for signs of political bias. The appointment of Greg Dyke as Director-General was highlighted by press sources because Dyke was a Labour Party member and former activist, as well as a friend of Tony Blair. The BBC's former Political Editor, Nick Robinson, was some years ago a chairman of the Young Conservatives and did, as a result, attract informal criticism from the former Labour government, but his predecessor Andrew Marr faced similar claims from the right because he was editor of The Independent, a liberal-leaning newspaper, before his appointment in 2000. Mark Thompson, former Director-General of the BBC, admitted the organisation has been biased "towards the left" in the past. He said, "In the BBC I joined 30 years ago, there was, in much of current affairs, in terms of people's personal politics, which were quite vocal, a massive bias to the left". He then added, "The organization did struggle then with impartiality. Now it is a completely different generation. There is much less overt tribalism among the young journalists who work for the BBC." Following the EU referendum in 2016, some critics suggested that the BBC was biased in favour of leaving the EU. For instance, in 2018, the BBC received complaints from people who took issue that the BBC was not sufficiently covering anti-Brexit marches while giving smaller-scale events hosted by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage more airtime. On the other hand, a poll released by YouGov showed that 45% of people who voted to leave the EU thought that the BBC was 'actively anti-Brexit' compared to 13% of the same kinds of voters who think the BBC is pro-Brexit. In 2008, the BBC Hindi was criticised by some Indian outlets for referring to the terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks as "gunmen". The response to this added to prior criticism from some Indian commentators suggesting that the BBC may have an Indophobic bias. In March 2015, the BBC was criticised for a BBC Storyville documentary interviewing one of the rapists in India. In spite of a ban ordered by the Indian High court, the BBC still aired the documentary "India's Daughter" outside India. BBC News was at the centre of a political controversy following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Three BBC News reports (Andrew Gilligan's on Today, Gavin Hewitt's on The Ten O'Clock News and another on Newsnight) quoted an anonymous source that stated the British government (particularly the Prime Minister's office) had embellished the September Dossier with misleading exaggerations of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities. The government denounced the reports and accused the corporation of poor journalism. In subsequent weeks the corporation stood by the report, saying that it had a reliable source. Following intense media speculation, David Kelly was named in the press as the source for Gilligan's story on 9 July 2003. Kelly was found dead, by suicide, in a field close to his home early on 18 July. An inquiry led by Lord Hutton was announced by the British government the following day to investigate the circumstances leading to Kelly's death, concluding that "Dr. Kelly took his own life." In his report on 28 January 2004, Lord Hutton concluded that Gilligan's original accusation was "unfounded" and the BBC's editorial and management processes were "defective". In particular, it specifically criticised the chain of management that caused the BBC to defend its story. The BBC Director of News, Richard Sambrook, the report said, had accepted Gilligan's word that his story was accurate in spite of his notes being incomplete. Davies had then told the BBC Board of Governors that he was happy with the story and told the Prime Minister that a satisfactory internal inquiry had taken place. The Board of Governors, under the chairman's, Gavyn Davies, guidance, accepted that further investigation of the Government's complaints were unnecessary. Because of the criticism in the Hutton report, Davies resigned on the day of publication. BBC News faced an important test, reporting on itself with the publication of the report, but by common consent (of the Board of Governors) managed this "independently, impartially and honestly". Davies' resignation was followed by the resignation of Director General, Greg Dyke, the following day, and the resignation of Gilligan on 30 January. While undoubtedly a traumatic experience for the corporation, an ICM poll in April 2003 indicated that it had sustained its position as the best and most trusted provider of news. The BBC has faced accusations of holding both anti-Israel and anti-Palestine bias. Douglas Davis, the London correspondent of The Jerusalem Post, has described the BBC's coverage of the Arab–Israeli conflict as "a relentless, one-dimensional portrayal of Israel as a demonic, criminal state and Israelis as brutal oppressors [which] bears all the hallmarks of a concerted campaign of vilification that, wittingly or not, has the effect of delegitimising the Jewish state and pumping oxygen into a dark old European hatred that dared not speak its name for the past half-century.". However two large independent studies, one conducted by Loughborough University and the other by Glasgow University's Media Group concluded that Israeli perspectives are given greater coverage. Critics of the BBC argue that the Balen Report proves systematic bias against Israel in headline news programming. The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph criticised the BBC for spending hundreds of thousands of British tax payers' pounds from preventing the report being released to the public. Jeremy Bowen, the Middle East Editor for BBC world news, was singled out specifically for bias by the BBC Trust which concluded that he violated "BBC guidelines on accuracy and impartiality." An independent panel appointed by the BBC Trust was set up in 2006 to review the impartiality of the BBC's coverage of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The panel's assessment was that "apart from individual lapses, there was little to suggest deliberate or systematic bias." While noting a "commitment to be fair accurate and impartial" and praising much of the BBC's coverage the independent panel concluded "that BBC output does not consistently give a full and fair account of the conflict. In some ways the picture is incomplete and, in that sense, misleading." It notes that, "the failure to convey adequately the disparity in the Israeli and Palestinian experience, [reflects] the fact that one side is in control and the other lives under occupation". Writing in the Financial Times, Philip Stephens, one of the panellists, later accused the BBC's director-general, Mark Thompson, of misrepresenting the panel's conclusions. He further opined "My sense is that BBC news reporting has also lost a once iron-clad commitment to objectivity and a necessary respect for the democratic process. If I am right, the BBC, too, is lost". Mark Thompson published a rebuttal in the FT the next day. The description by one BBC correspondent reporting on the funeral of Yassir Arafat that she had been left with tears in her eyes led to other questions of impartiality, particularly from Martin Walker in a guest opinion piece in The Times, who picked out the apparent case of Fayad Abu Shamala, the BBC Arabic Service correspondent, who told a Hamas rally on 6 May 2001, that journalists in Gaza were "waging the campaign shoulder to shoulder together with the Palestinian people". Walker argues that the independent inquiry was flawed for two reasons. Firstly, because the time period over which it was conducted (August 2005 to January 2006) surrounded the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Ariel Sharon's stroke, which produced more positive coverage than usual. Furthermore, he wrote, the inquiry only looked at the BBC's domestic coverage, and excluded output on the BBC World Service and BBC World. Tom Gross accused the BBC of glorifying Hamas suicide bombers, and condemned its policy of inviting guests such as Jenny Tonge and Tom Paulin who have compared Israeli soldiers to Nazis. Writing for the BBC, Paulin said Israeli soldiers should be "shot dead" like Hitler's S.S, and said he could "understand how suicide bombers feel". The BBC also faced criticism for not airing a Disasters Emergency Committee aid appeal for Palestinians who suffered in Gaza during 22-day war there between late 2008 and early 2009. Most other major UK broadcasters did air this appeal, but rival Sky News did not. British journalist Julie Burchill has accused BBC of creating a "climate of fear" for British Jews over its "excessive coverage" of Israel compared to other nations. In light of the Gaza war, the BBC suspended seven Arab journalists over allegations of expressing support for Hamas via social media. BBC and ABC share video segments and reporters as needed in producing their newscasts. with the BBC showing ABC World News Tonight with David Muir in the UK. However, in July 2017, the BBC announced a new partnership with CBS News allows both organisations to share video, editorial content, and additional newsgathering resources in New York, London, Washington and around the world. BBC News subscribes to wire services from leading international agencies including PA Media (formerly Press Association), Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. In April 2017, the BBC dropped Associated Press in favour of an enhanced service from AFP. BBC News reporters and broadcasts are now and have in the past been banned in several countries primarily for reporting which has been unfavourable to the ruling government. For example, correspondents were banned by the former apartheid regime of South Africa. The BBC was banned in Zimbabwe under Mugabe for eight years as a terrorist organisation until being allowed to operate again over a year after the 2008 elections. The BBC was banned in Burma (officially Myanmar) after their coverage and commentary on anti-government protests there in September 2007. The ban was lifted four years later in September 2011. Other cases have included Uzbekistan, China, and Pakistan. BBC Persian, the BBC's Persian language news site, was blocked from the Iranian internet in 2006. The BBC News website was made available in China again in March 2008, but as of October 2014[update], was blocked again. In June 2015, the Rwandan government placed an indefinite ban on BBC broadcasts following the airing of a controversial documentary regarding the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Rwanda's Untold Story, broadcast on BBC2 on 1 October 2014. The UK's Foreign Office recognised "the hurt caused in Rwanda by some parts of the documentary". In February 2017, reporters from the BBC (as well as the Daily Mail, The New York Times, Politico, CNN, and others) were denied access to a United States White House briefing. In 2017, BBC India was banned for a period of five years from covering all national parks and sanctuaries in India. Following the withdrawal of CGTN's UK broadcaster licence on 4 February 2021 by Ofcom, China banned BBC News from airing in China. See also References External links |below = Category }} |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_-_History_of_the_State_of_Israel_-_Historical_background.ogg] | [TOKENS: 139] |
File:Wikipedia - History of the State of Israel - Historical background.ogg Summary This is a spoken word version of the Wikipedia article: History of the State of Israel#Historical backgroundListen to this article (audio help) Speaker: pordaria Licensing Original upload log File history Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. File usage The following 3 pages use this file: Global file usage The following other wikis use this file: Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file. |
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[SOURCE: https://www.mako.co.il/tv-the_amazing_race/season2-articles/Article-5a9315153057c91026.htm] | [TOKENS: 99] |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transoxiana] | [TOKENS: 1687] |
Contents Transoxiana Transoxiana or Transoxania (lit. 'Land beyond the Oxus', now called the Amu Darya) is the Latin name for the region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Turkmenistan and southern Kyrgyzstan. The name was first coined by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC when Alexander's troops conquered the region. The region may have had a similar Greek name in the days of Alexander the Great, but the earlier name is no longer known. Geographically, it is the region between the rivers Amu Darya to its south and the Syr Darya to its north. The region of Transoxiana was one of the satrapies (provinces) of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia under the name Sogdia. It was defined within the classical world of Persia to distinguish it from Iran proper, especially its northeastern province of Khorasan, a term originating with the Sasanians, although early Arab historians and geographers tended to subsume the region within the loosely defined term "Khorasan" designating a much larger territory. The territories of Khwarazm, Sogdiana, Chaghaniyan, and Khuttal were located in the southern part of Transoxiana; Chach, Osrushana, and Farghana were located in the northern part. Etymology Historically known in Persian as Farā-rūd (Persian: فرارود, [fæɾɒːˈɾuːd̪] – 'beyond the [Amu] river'), Faro-rɵd (Tajik: Фарорӯд), and Varaz-rüd (Tajik: Варазрӯд), the area had been known to the ancient Iranians as Turan, a term used in the Persian national epic Shahnameh. The corresponding Chinese term for the region is Hezhong (Chinese: 河中地区; Chinese: land between rivers). The Arabic term Mā Warāʾ an-Nahr (Arabic: ما وراء النهر, [ˈmaː waˈraːʔ anˈnahr], which means "what is beyond the [Jayhūn] river") passed into Persian literary usage and stayed on until post-Mongol times. History The name Transoxiana stuck in Western consciousness because of the exploits of Alexander the Great, who extended Greek culture into the region with his invasion in the 4th century BCE. Alexander's successors would go on to found the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, ushering in a distinct Greek cultural presence within Transoxiana that existed for over two hundred years. The city of Ai-Khanoum on the Oxus in northern Afghanistan remains the only Graeco-Bactrian city found and extensively excavated. During the Sasanian Empire, it was often called Sogdia, a provincial name taken from the Achaemenid Empire, and used to distinguish it from nearby Bactria.[citation needed] The Chinese explorer Zhang Qian, who visited the neighbouring countries of Bactria and Parthia along with Transoxiana in 126 BCE, made the first known Chinese report on this region. Zhang Qian identifies Parthia as an advanced urban civilisation that farmed grain and grapes and made silver coins and leather goods. It was ruled successively by Seleucids, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, the Parthian Empire and the Kushan Empire before Sassanid rule.[citation needed] In Sasanian times, the region became a major cultural center due to the wealth of the Northern Silk Road. Sassanid rule was interrupted by the Hephthalite invasion at the end of the 5th century and didn't return to the Sassanids until 565.[citation needed] Many Persian nobles and landlords escaped to this region after the Muslim conquest of Persia. It was also ruled by Göktürks until the Arab conquest between 705 and 715. The area became known by the Arabic phrase Mā warāʼ al-Nahr "what is beyond the river," sometimes rendered as "Mavarannahr".[citation needed] Transoxiana's major cities and cultural centers are Samarkand and Bukhara. Both are in the southern portion of Transoxiana (though still to the north of the Amu Darya itself, on the Zarafshon) and Uzbekistan. The majority of the region was dry but fertile plains. Both cities remained centres of Persian culture and civilisation after the Muslim conquest. They played a crucial role in the revival of Persian culture by establishing the Samanid Empire.[citation needed] Part of this region was conquered by Qutayba ibn Muslim between 706 and 715 and loosely held by the Umayyad Caliphate from 715 to 738. The conquest was consolidated by Nasr ibn Sayyar between 738 and 740 and continued under the control of the Umayyads until 750, when it was replaced by the Abbasid Caliphate. The Tang dynasty of China also controlled the eastern part of the region until the An Lushan Rebellion broke out.[citation needed] In the early Islamic period, the people of Transoxania spoke Sogdian (an Iranian language) and were divided among several principalities. The Arab conquest resulted in the spread of Arabic elite culture, and, more paradoxically, of New Persian "as a spoken and eventually written language" in the region. The Arab conquest also resulted in contacts with Tang China, where fragments of the Sasanian ruling elite, including Peroz III, had taken shelter after Iran's conquest by the Arabs. However, it did not result in Transoxania having significant interactions with Chinese culture. Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire, invaded Transoxiana in 1219 during his conquest of Khwarezm. Before he died in 1227, he assigned the lands of Western Central Asia to his second son, Chagatai Khan, and this region became known as the Chagatai Khanate. In 1369, Timur, of the Barlas tribe, became the effective ruler and made Samarkand the capital of his future empire. Transoxiana was known to be flourishing in the mid-14th century. Religion The historian Mark Dickens notes: Transoxiana's principal pre-Islamic religion was Zoroastrianism, albeit in local manifestations. However, Buddhism, [Nestorian] Christianity, Manichaeism, and Mazdakism also had many adherents, especially in urban areas. This initial religious diversity was gradually eroded after the Arab conquest. Muslims had conquered Transoxiana by the 7-8th century. Multiple figures in the Muslim world had conquered these lands. Some include the Umayyad and Abbasid Arabs, who took over lands that are now Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Apart from a presence in Kushan Bactria, the Mīmāṃsā school of Hinduism, unlike Buddhism, seems to have made little inroads into Central Asia north of Bactria. Even when Brahmins are depicted in the art of Central Asia, this is within the setting of Buddhist art, where we can even observe a tendency to present such figures as caricatures, quite in line with the criticism of them in the Buddhist scriptures. Transoxania was a great center of Muslim civilization; it was the centre of the Timurid Empire and saw influential Muslim leaders like Oghuz Khan. An excerpt from a dynastic history commissioned by Eltüzer Khan of Khwarazm: "Oghuz Khan, who could speak at the age of one and whose first word was "Allah." He rebelled against his father, eventually slaying him, before embarking on a series of conquests that brought Islam to all of "Transoxiana and Turkestan". See also References Sources Further reading |
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המהפכה במגזר החרדי: המוצר שהפך לסמל סטטוס בחתונות היוקרהבשנים האחרונות מתחוללת במגזר החרדי מהפכה שקטה - ובעיקר נוזלית. וויסקי יוקרתי, שבעבר נחשב למוצר נישתי או כזה שמזוהה עם קהלים אחרים, הפך לפריט מבוקש ולסמל סטטוס מובהק. מהמדפים הכשרים ועד לאולמות האירועים, הבקבוקים הממותגים מסמנים הצלחה, יוקרה ומעמדזוהר צלחGWSפורסם: 19.02.26, 16:11 | עודכן: 20.02.26, 12:17חרדים חוגגים באירוע | צילום: ChatGPTהקישור הועתקבמשך שנים עולם האלכוהול במגזר החרדי היה מזוהה כמעט בלעדית עם יין - ובעיקר יין אדום. הוא ליווה סעודות שבת, אירועים משפחתיים וחתונות יוקרתיות, והיה הבחירה הטבעית והכשרה. אבל בשנים האחרונות, נכנס שחקן חדש למרכז הבמה: הוויסקי. מה שהיה פעם מוצר נישתי או כזה שמופיע רק בשולחן המכובדים, הפך בהדרגה לחלק מהתפריט הקבוע באירועים, לסמל סטטוס ולבחירה שמסמלת מעמד, טעם והשקעה.מנדי מלמד, הבעלים של "המוזג", מפעיל ברים לאירועים במגזר החרדי כבר למעלה מעשור. הוא בן 37, אבל מאחוריו ניסיון שמאפשר לו לראות את התמונה הרחבה. "אני חושב שב-15 שנה האחרונות, אולי קצת פחות, נהייתה יותר מודעות לזה שאפשר לשתות וויסקי איכותי וגם כשר. זאת אומרת, זה לא נוגד אחד את השני", הוא מספר בשיחה עם mako.הסיבה המרכזית לדבריו היא שבעבר פשוט לא הייתה נגישות: "בעשור האחרון התחילו לשים מדבקות כשרות על הוויסקים, גם על האיכותיים, על כאלה שהתיישנו שנים ארוכות. ברגע שזה קרה - המגמה מאוד התפתחה. כי פתאום אפשר להביא את זה לאירועים של חרדים".מי שהפכו לשחקניות מרכזיות בעולם הוויסקי הכשר הן בלוויני וגלנפידיך. בשנים האחרונות השתיים לא רק נכנסו לשוק - אלא השיקו מהדורות ייעודיות עם תעודות כשרות מהודרות והשגחות רשמיות, והפכו את הסינגל מאלט וויסקי לחלק לגיטימי מכל אירוע חרדי. בלוויני מציעה כיום מהדורות כמו 12 שנה דאבלווד, 14 שנה קריביאן קאסק ואפילו 30 שנה, כולן בכשרות פרווה ובהשגחה מוכרת. גלנפידיך מצידה מציגה ליין כשר רחב לשוק הישראלי, כולל גלנפידיך 12 שנה אמריקן אוק, 14 שנה, 19 שנה ו-21 שנה גראן רזרב, עם כשרויות למהדרין והשגחות בד"ץ ואישור הרבנות הראשית. עבור קהל שמחפש גם יוקרה וגם הקפדה הלכתית, השילוב הזה הפך אותן לשמות חזקים במיוחד על הבר. "הם שחקנים חזקים חד משמעית, מאוד אפילו", מסביר מלמד. "בסוף באירועים - ושם זה הפרסום הכי טוב והמכירות הכי גדולות - דורשים מוצר עם חותמת ברורה, והמבחר שלהם מרשים".וויסקי גלנפידיך 19 | צילום: גבריאל סימן טובכאן נכנסת הדינמיקה של האולמות. "באולמות אתה לא יכול להכניס מוצר בלי חותמת כשרות" אומר מלמד. "יש משגיח, ומבחינתו זה פשוט - יש חותמת, תכניס. אין חותמת, אל תכניס. ולכן כשהמוצרים האלה קיבלו כשרות מסודרת הם הוכנסו ישירות אל האירועים בקהילה".פרסומתלדבריו, שם הכול האיץ. "החברות הבינו שהדרך הכי טובה לשווק את המוצר זה אירוע. אתה מקבל נפח של 500-400 איש שגם טועמים וגם רואים. ראו את זה באירוע, וואלה, זה היה טעים, אפשר לשתות - והלכו לחפש בחנויות. היה לי גם חנות בעבר, הייתי רואה את זה. ככה זה התפתח".הוא מדגיש עד כמה זה הפך לסטנדרט: "וויסקי איכותי ממתג את האירוע יוקרתי. אנשים רוצים שתהיה את האופציה - זה כמו שאתה עושה בר קפה, ואתה חייב שיהיה לך כמה סוגי חלב, לא רק חלב רגיל".בעולם שבו חתונה היא הצהרה, גם הבקבוק הוא הצהרה. "איכות הבקבוק מאוד משחקת", אומר מלמד על שנות היישון. "היה לי אירוע מאוד רציני לפני חודשיים. בו ביקשו בעלי האירוע מהדורות וויסקי איכותיות, גבוהות, 20 שנה ומעלה. מאוד קשה להשיג, כי לא מעט מן המהדורות הללו מתיישנות בחביות יין".במקרה הזה, הפתרון הגיע מגלנפידיך. "מצאתי לו וויסקי גלנפידיך גראן רזרב, 21 שנה. בקבוק באזור המחירים של אלף ש"ח, הוא רצה 30 כאלה. הוא רצה שיהיה פוזה, שיהיה 21 שנה ומעלה. פחות מזה הם לא נוגעים. השנים מאוד חשובות להם".גם בגזרת בלוויני, הוא מספר על ביקוש גבוה: "מצאתי סינגל ברל של בלוויני 25 שנה עם כשרות, מוצר שכמעט אי אפשר להשיג. זה בקבוק שעלה כמעט 5,000 שקל".הקוקטיילים של "המוזג" | צילום: פרטיפרסומתהדור הצעיר, לדבריו, מאיץ את השינוי. "הם חיים בעולם הרבה יותר נגיש של וויסקי - פעם זה לא היה", הוא אומר. "היינו מוצאים בקבוקים יוקרתיים באירועים רק בשולחן של המשפחה המכובדת. היום כמעט בכל אירוע מכובד עושים בר. אוטומטית זה הרבה יותר נגיש. הצרכנים רואים את הוויסקי, טועמים, שואלים ומתעניינים. היום המודעות והצריכה הרבה יותר גדולה".ומה הלאה? "אני רואה את המגמה של ההתפתחות המהירה, לדעתי, מהירה מאוד. האנשים שותים, אוהבים, וברגע שנותנים להם את האפשרות - הצרכן החרדי הוא צרכן מאוד חזק".ובין בר קוקטיילים, בר יין ובר וויסקי, דבר אחד ברור: בעולם החרדי של 2026, סינגל מאלט וויסקי עם כשרות מהודרת היא תופעה שאינה נחשבת לגימיק, היא הפכה לחלק מהנורמה. אזהרה: צריכה מופרזת של אלכוהול מסכנת חיים ומזיקה לבריאות! מצאתם טעות לשון? המהפכה במגזר החרדי: המוצר שהפך לסמל סטטוס בחתונות היוקרה בשנים האחרונות מתחוללת במגזר החרדי מהפכה שקטה - ובעיקר נוזלית. וויסקי יוקרתי, שבעבר נחשב למוצר נישתי או כזה שמזוהה עם קהלים אחרים, הפך לפריט מבוקש ולסמל סטטוס מובהק. מהמדפים הכשרים ועד לאולמות האירועים, הבקבוקים הממותגים מסמנים הצלחה, יוקרה ומעמד במשך שנים עולם האלכוהול במגזר החרדי היה מזוהה כמעט בלעדית עם יין - ובעיקר יין אדום. הוא ליווה סעודות שבת, אירועים משפחתיים וחתונות יוקרתיות, והיה הבחירה הטבעית והכשרה. אבל בשנים האחרונות, נכנס שחקן חדש למרכז הבמה: הוויסקי. מה שהיה פעם מוצר נישתי או כזה שמופיע רק בשולחן המכובדים, הפך בהדרגה לחלק מהתפריט הקבוע באירועים, לסמל סטטוס ולבחירה שמסמלת מעמד, טעם והשקעה. מנדי מלמד, הבעלים של "המוזג", מפעיל ברים לאירועים במגזר החרדי כבר למעלה מעשור. הוא בן 37, אבל מאחוריו ניסיון שמאפשר לו לראות את התמונה הרחבה. "אני חושב שב-15 שנה האחרונות, אולי קצת פחות, נהייתה יותר מודעות לזה שאפשר לשתות וויסקי איכותי וגם כשר. זאת אומרת, זה לא נוגד אחד את השני", הוא מספר בשיחה עם mako. הסיבה המרכזית לדבריו היא שבעבר פשוט לא הייתה נגישות: "בעשור האחרון התחילו לשים מדבקות כשרות על הוויסקים, גם על האיכותיים, על כאלה שהתיישנו שנים ארוכות. ברגע שזה קרה - המגמה מאוד התפתחה. כי פתאום אפשר להביא את זה לאירועים של חרדים". מי שהפכו לשחקניות מרכזיות בעולם הוויסקי הכשר הן בלוויני וגלנפידיך. בשנים האחרונות השתיים לא רק נכנסו לשוק - אלא השיקו מהדורות ייעודיות עם תעודות כשרות מהודרות והשגחות רשמיות, והפכו את הסינגל מאלט וויסקי לחלק לגיטימי מכל אירוע חרדי. בלוויני מציעה כיום מהדורות כמו 12 שנה דאבלווד, 14 שנה קריביאן קאסק ואפילו 30 שנה, כולן בכשרות פרווה ובהשגחה מוכרת. גלנפידיך מצידה מציגה ליין כשר רחב לשוק הישראלי, כולל גלנפידיך 12 שנה אמריקן אוק, 14 שנה, 19 שנה ו-21 שנה גראן רזרב, עם כשרויות למהדרין והשגחות בד"ץ ואישור הרבנות הראשית. עבור קהל שמחפש גם יוקרה וגם הקפדה הלכתית, השילוב הזה הפך אותן לשמות חזקים במיוחד על הבר. "הם שחקנים חזקים חד משמעית, מאוד אפילו", מסביר מלמד. "בסוף באירועים - ושם זה הפרסום הכי טוב והמכירות הכי גדולות - דורשים מוצר עם חותמת ברורה, והמבחר שלהם מרשים". כאן נכנסת הדינמיקה של האולמות. "באולמות אתה לא יכול להכניס מוצר בלי חותמת כשרות" אומר מלמד. "יש משגיח, ומבחינתו זה פשוט - יש חותמת, תכניס. אין חותמת, אל תכניס. ולכן כשהמוצרים האלה קיבלו כשרות מסודרת הם הוכנסו ישירות אל האירועים בקהילה". לדבריו, שם הכול האיץ. "החברות הבינו שהדרך הכי טובה לשווק את המוצר זה אירוע. אתה מקבל נפח של 500-400 איש שגם טועמים וגם רואים. ראו את זה באירוע, וואלה, זה היה טעים, אפשר לשתות - והלכו לחפש בחנויות. היה לי גם חנות בעבר, הייתי רואה את זה. ככה זה התפתח". הוא מדגיש עד כמה זה הפך לסטנדרט: "וויסקי איכותי ממתג את האירוע יוקרתי. אנשים רוצים שתהיה את האופציה - זה כמו שאתה עושה בר קפה, ואתה חייב שיהיה לך כמה סוגי חלב, לא רק חלב רגיל". בעולם שבו חתונה היא הצהרה, גם הבקבוק הוא הצהרה. "איכות הבקבוק מאוד משחקת", אומר מלמד על שנות היישון. "היה לי אירוע מאוד רציני לפני חודשיים. בו ביקשו בעלי האירוע מהדורות וויסקי איכותיות, גבוהות, 20 שנה ומעלה. מאוד קשה להשיג, כי לא מעט מן המהדורות הללו מתיישנות בחביות יין". במקרה הזה, הפתרון הגיע מגלנפידיך. "מצאתי לו וויסקי גלנפידיך גראן רזרב, 21 שנה. בקבוק באזור המחירים של אלף ש"ח, הוא רצה 30 כאלה. הוא רצה שיהיה פוזה, שיהיה 21 שנה ומעלה. פחות מזה הם לא נוגעים. השנים מאוד חשובות להם". גם בגזרת בלוויני, הוא מספר על ביקוש גבוה: "מצאתי סינגל ברל של בלוויני 25 שנה עם כשרות, מוצר שכמעט אי אפשר להשיג. זה בקבוק שעלה כמעט 5,000 שקל". הדור הצעיר, לדבריו, מאיץ את השינוי. "הם חיים בעולם הרבה יותר נגיש של וויסקי - פעם זה לא היה", הוא אומר. "היינו מוצאים בקבוקים יוקרתיים באירועים רק בשולחן של המשפחה המכובדת. היום כמעט בכל אירוע מכובד עושים בר. אוטומטית זה הרבה יותר נגיש. הצרכנים רואים את הוויסקי, טועמים, שואלים ומתעניינים. היום המודעות והצריכה הרבה יותר גדולה". ומה הלאה? "אני רואה את המגמה של ההתפתחות המהירה, לדעתי, מהירה מאוד. האנשים שותים, אוהבים, וברגע שנותנים להם את האפשרות - הצרכן החרדי הוא צרכן מאוד חזק". ובין בר קוקטיילים, בר יין ובר וויסקי, דבר אחד ברור: בעולם החרדי של 2026, סינגל מאלט וויסקי עם כשרות מהודרת היא תופעה שאינה נחשבת לגימיק, היא הפכה לחלק מהנורמה. אזהרה: צריכה מופרזת של אלכוהול מסכנת חיים ומזיקה לבריאות! |
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[SOURCE: https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/hyteanl00ze#autoplay] | [TOKENS: 259] |
טראמפ טען ש-32,000 מפגינים נהרגו באיראן - שדורשת ממנו: "תביא הוכחות" נשיא ארה"ב אמר אמש כי 32,000 נהרגו בטבח המפגינים של משטר האייתוללות, וכעת משיב לו שר החוץ האיראני עראקצ'י: "פרסמנו רשימה של 3,117 קורבנות מבצע הטרור, אם יש למישהו ספק בנוגע לאמינות הנתונים שלנו - שישתף ראיות" |
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[SOURCE: https://www.wired.com/story/uncanny-valley-podcast-ice-expansion-palantir-workers-ethical-concerns-openclaw-ai-assistants/] | [TOKENS: 18945] |
Brian Barrett Zoë Schiffer Leah FeigerPoliticsFeb 12, 2026 5:12 PMUncanny Valley: ICE’s Secret Expansion Plans, Palantir Workers’ Ethical Concerns, and AI AssistantsIn this episode of Uncanny Valley, our hosts dive into WIRED’s scoop about a secret Trump administration campaign extending right into your backyard.Photo-Illustration: WIRED Staff; Dominic Gwinn/Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyThis week, hosts Brian Barrett, Leah Feiger, and Zoë Schiffer discuss WIRED’s big scoop on ICE’s startling plans to expand to nearly every state in the US. Then they unpack Alex Karp’s nearly-hour-long non-response to Palantir employees with ethical concerns about collaborating with ICE. Plus, a WIRED writer lets the viral AI assistant OpenClaw run his life for a week to give listeners a peek of what AI agents can and can’t actually do.Articles mentioned in this episode:The Shoes and Brooms Transforming Curling at the 2026 Winter OlympicsI Loved My OpenClaw AI Agent—Until It Turned on MePalantir CEO Alex Karp Recorded a Video About ICE for His EmployeesICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here’s Where It’s Going NextThe ICE Expansion Won’t Happen in the DarkJames Holzhauer's Jeopardy! Greatness, in ChartsYou can follow Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett, Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer, and Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger. Write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com.How to ListenYou can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how:If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for “Uncanny Valley.” We’re on Spotify too.TranscriptNote: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.Zoë Schiffer: Welcome to WIRED'sUncanny Valley. I'm Zoë Schiffer, director of business and industry.Brian Barrett: I'm Brian Barrett, executive editor.Leah Feiger: And I'm Leah Feiger, senior politics editor.Brian Barrett: I want to continue a conversation that we started yesterday in Slack after work hours for some of us.Zoë Schiffer: Absolutely.Brian Barrett: And this is about the men's short program—Leah Feiger: We're diving right in—Brian Barrett: —figure skating.Leah Feiger: This is about the Olympics in general with—Brian Barrett: But very specifically want to pick up on the conversation where Zoë had very strong feelings about the results of men's figure skating.Zoë Schiffer: I feel like we need to back up because you and Leah authentically care about the Olympics so much and I think just know more about sports than I do.Leah Feiger: Yes.Zoë Schiffer: I deeply have never engaged with sports ever, just as a whole rule, as a category. It doesn't exist in my life.Leah Feiger: Say the lines, say the lines, Zoë, or I'm going to read them verbatim from slack.Zoë Schiffer: Wait, I don't even know what you're talking about. I was merely surprised when I watched because the Americans went, I thought, wow, that guy basically fell over and was clumping around the ice, and then Japan went, and they were sailing around like little swans, and then when the gold medal came, it went to the Americans. I was literally jaw-on-the-floor. I couldn't believe what had happened. No one else seemed outraged.Leah Feiger: For a little backup for our non-ice skating Olympic fans, I was always referring to Ilia Malinin, who a number of publications and sports experts say might actually be one of the greatest figure skaters of all time. That is who you are calling the person who fell over. Right. Zoë, just to be clear.Brian Barrett: And I'd like to, not to pile on, but definitely to pile on. I had not seen the performances when we talked about this later. I watched them, and it was the guy who came in silver from Japan who actually did a stumble and landed on the ice and had to get back up. Absolutely. Go to the tape. Play the tape.Zoë Schiffer: We're talking about two different programs. I don't know, we might be talking about different programs. Flawless.Brian Barrett: Oh, you're talking about the team program.Zoë Schiffer: This is another thing. I mean, just want to say right now I don't understand anything about what is a short program. Yesterday I tried to again watch something about the Olympics to prepare for this episode, and I thought I was watching ice skating and instead they were just dancing on ice. The ice was completely incidental. It was called rhythm dance. I was just like, I have no idea what is going on. I want to watch the Olympics with you. I want us to be sitting next to each other as you explain to me the purpose of every single sport.Leah Feiger: Zoë, can you say the word “curling” for me on this episode?Zoë Schiffer: OK. And yes, Andrew then was like, are you guys going to talk about curling? And I was like, I think Brian's authentically into curling, so yeah, I couldn't, again, I was like, it's bowling mixed with pool, but now there's ice involved. What is the person in front doing?Brian Barrett: So I am curling-curious. I am authentically involved in biathlon.Zoë Schiffer: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry.Brian Barrett: Curling is pretty neat. It's kind of like my son was watching it and his thing was, “So it's like bocce?” and I was like, “How do you know what bocce is?” But yes, it is.Zoë Schiffer: That seems more, yeah, what it's like.Brian Barrett: A very sophisticated 11-year-old. It's kind of like bocce. It's kind of like shuffleboard almost. You've got a bullseye basically at the end of the ice, almost every curling stone comes from the exact same place, Ailsa Craig in Scotland.Leah Feiger: Oh my God.Zoë Schiffer: You know way too much about this.Brian Barrett: Well, you kind of have to.Zoë Schiffer: Do you?Brian Barrett: The brooms—Zoë Schiffer: How do they even decide? OK, sorry. No, keep going.Brian Barrett: The brooms, the broom technology. We have a story on this. I didn't know this until I read our story.Zoë Schiffer: Broom technology?Brian Barrett: Because they have to sweep. They have to sweep to make the stone curl.Leah Feiger: There's the WIRED angle.Brian Barrett: These are carbon-fiber devices. A single model of broom has 85,000 possible configurations. Can your broom do that?Zoë Schiffer: I don't have any words. I want to know how they decide what is an Olympic sport. That's the article that I would read. It feels crazy to me.Leah Feiger: I love the Olympics so much. This is the global competition reality show that I can't get enough of. I will say, though, I mean it's always a weird time to be aggressively nationalistic or jingoistic as it were, but particularly right now, rooting for the US on the global stage is a little bit odd, and a lot of US athletes have been feeling that way too. Figure skater Amber Glenn, skier Chris Lillis, alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin. Everyone's made comments, some of them about the US's treatment of the LGBTQ community, others about ICE. Freestyle skier Hunter Hess got a personal shout-out for Trump after saying that his feelings were complicated about all of this:Hunter Hess, archival audio: It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now. I think it's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't.Leah Feiger: And Trump responded by calling him a “real loser” on Truth Social. This is sort of devastating. I don't know. I like the idea of these athletes, these very young athletes getting to be on the world stage, and I also like the idea of them being able to very authentically share their opinions about how they're feeling about their country in this given moment.Brian Barrett: I'll shout out the curling team again too. Most of them come from Minnesota. Most of them are in Minneapolis, and they have also spoken out about very personally what that means to them. I think the obvious thing here, and I'll say it—I'm not afraid of the obvious thing—is that the most American thing you can do is say: I don't like what my country is doing right now.Leah Feiger: A hundred percent.Brian Barrett: That is sort of what, and so obviously Donald Trump disagrees, that's fine. But if anything, it makes me feel even more national pride that our athletes are speaking up in this way. I think it's great.Leah Feiger: This has been around for a long time, being upset with the people that we didn't elect them to represent us. They just happened to be up there because of their skill and talent, and that is incredibly upsetting for a select few. And folks have booed them, right? JD Vance and his wife have been at different competitions. I've heard from people that different competitions have had American athletes not get the warmest reception. Marco Rubio was also at the Olympics, but no one has talked about him being there very much, which to me, this is a separate thing, but I love the competition between him and Vance right now. But again, Vance's sideshow here was being booed. So tough to say if all press is good press.Brian Barrett: I say boo JD Vance and Marco Rubio all you want because they are part of the administration. Booing the athletes is a little sad to me. I don't know. I don't want to take it out on them, but that's just how it goes.Zoë Schiffer: OK, wrenching the conversation back to something I care about. I want to talk about—Brian Barrett: Biathlon.Zoë Schiffer: Negative. Once again. I'm going to be talking about a friendly little lobster, an AI assistant called at this point OpenClaw. If that doesn't ring a bell, it's because the AI assistant in question has been through multiple names. It was previously called MoltBot and before that it was called ClawdBot, which might remind you of Claude, the chatbot that Anthropic built and the reason why it's had to change its name so many times. But Will Knight, one of our phenomenal AI reporters was like, OK, everyone in Silicon Valley is talking about this little lobster. I want to actually take it for a spin and let it run my life. This story, you guys, was so delightful. I was laughing out loud. The technical setup for this kind of AI agent that works on your behalf is simple in certain ways, but it also takes a little bit of technical prowess, and you have to give it access to a fair amount of your personal data in order to make it actually useful. You need it to access your email, the files on your computer, all of that.Leah Feiger: This is my hell. This is my literal hell.Zoë Schiffer: No, I mean completely terrifying. And we have published stories about the security implications of this, but Will was like, as a reporter, I really want to see what it's like, and so he had it do a few different things. One was he had it kind of look for research articles about artificial intelligence, summarize them, and send them to him every morning. He said this was pretty helpful. The article selection was so-so, but it was clearly nice to have an assistant doing this on his behalf, because obviously it automated a lot of work that previously he had to do completely manually. He also had it order groceries for him and had a funny experience. Brian, I can see you taking a breath.Brian Barrett: Yeah, Zoë talk a little bit more about the—well, because I also enjoyed this story and enjoyed this part. Maybe the most of this story.Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, it was so good. So basically he's like, let's go shopping at Whole Foods, and the AI assistant starts out and it's actually helpful. It's checking his prior order history. It's seeing what's available in the store, and then it gets to his shopping list and it sees that guacamole is on the shopping list and it's like, no problem. So again and again, it starts going to check out to get Will this single tub of guacamole, and Will keeps stopping it, being like, I want the whole list. I don't just want one tub of guacamole. It couldn't handle it. Finally, he had to override the AI assistant and be like, I'm going to handle this. You step aside throughout the process, the AI assistant is losing its memory and forgetting things. So Will's having to remind it what they're even doing there in the first place.Brian Barrett: I'll be honest, forgetful and with a laser focus on guacamole also describes several of my trips to Whole Foods—Zoë Schiffer: Completely.Brian Barrett: —in the last several years. So it's relatable at least.Zoë Schiffer: It's so relatable. Yeah, I think this is AGI. It's reached, if not human-level intelligence, human-level habits for sure.Leah Feiger: That is so good. This is the future of AGI. This is what we're actually looking for.Zoë Schiffer: This is it. OK, so then he's like, well, let's have it negotiate a deal on my behalf. Let's go to AT&T, let's start a chat with a salesperson and let's try and get me a better phone. So the agent kind of starts up this chat. It has a whole script of how it wants to go about this. It starts talking, and then Will has a thought. He's like, well, if the future is a future of agents kind of running the internet, well maybe the least scrupulous agent will have an edge. So what would it look like if I ran the agent but with a model that didn't have alignment, didn't have guardrails in place, and so he switches things up. The model then is the unaligned, kind of evil version of the AI agent, which he's calling Molti at this point, and instead of trying to manipulate the salesperson to get Will a better phone, Molti goes kind of psychotic and actually tries to scam Will into handing over his physical phone by sending him a bunch of scam texts and phishing attempts, and finally he has to shut the whole thing down and switch back to the old Moltbot.Brian Barrett: It's a little bit like the velociraptors figuring out how to open the door in Jurassic Park. I think we all know this, but it's easy to forget that these AI models often act or agents act the way they do because of the guardrails that are on them. There is a lot of work that goes into these large language models to make them not evil. Just to say how easy it is if you're just an at-home tinkerer to just say, you know what? Give me full Skynet. I just want to get absolutely nuts with this. Yeah, I'm picturing a very dramatic moment of Will having to unplug his Mac Mini or whatever and throw it into the ocean.Zoë Schiffer: Right? I mean essentially, yeah, he had to shut the whole thing down. It's interesting because one other thing he mentioned was that Molty was really good at IT support because it had access to the command line on his computer. It was able to basically fix things in real time on his machine as they came up, which was authentically helpful for him. But it also kind of instantly begs the question of, well, could this be used in a nefarious way? Could it use all of its knowledge of how these things work to actually really mess things up? For me, the answer is absolutely.Leah Feiger: I mean, this to me really is hell. This is 2001: A Space Odyssey come to life maybe of all of the examples that we have had so far, the cute name Molti, how it's going to fix your life and do all these great things and help your mom do her grocery list and what have you. This is messy.Brian Barrett: Well, there's even more innocuous problems too, even if you're not going full malevolent mode.Leah Feiger: Full HAL?Brian Barrett: Well, if you're not going full HAL, because say it has access to all your files, it's trying to fix something we've already established, it can forget what the assignment is. It can get fixated on guacamole. If you abandon a project halfway through fixing it, it tends to be pretty broken, right? It's true with computers, it's true with any sort of anything that you're in the middle of. So you could imagine a scenario easily where it goes about starting to take things apart to put them back together the right way and then sort of forgets why it was doing it, and all of a sudden your computer doesn't work, your files have been erased, like something has gone terribly wrong, which is what makes it so remarkable that this is such a viral thing. Everybody is using this, consequences be damned.Zoë Schiffer: I mean, it's really interesting. I feel like it does give you this glimpse of the future because again, it has really helpful applications and I think the fact Will pointed this out in his article, and I thought this was so smart, but just the fact that you can talk to it through something like Telegram or WhatsApp. And the fact that it has kind of a quirky personality ends up making a big difference, Will actually thinks that that is the secret sauce that made this pop off. And I think that's probably right. At the end of the day, people want to engage with something that feels easy and fun and helps their lives a little bit, and until they see the really kind of dire consequences, they might not be as freaked out as they should be. I mean, I will say reading Will's draft, when he said I gave it access to Slack and Discord, my heart stopped. I said, please not work Slack. But no, he'd set up dummy accounts for everything. So that was good.Leah Feiger: I can't actually explain what my heart just did. I feel—OK, I'm fine.Brian Barrett: You know, gang, sometimes AI is an adorable semi-competent executive assistant with the potential to destroy your life. Other times it's scraping a bunch of data to build a mass surveillance infrastructure that's incredibly profitable. Let's talk about the latter. And Palantir, a company that uses all kinds of AI, all kinds of data infrastructure, and contracts with ICE—Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Employees there have been increasingly outspoken about their ethical concerns. It's sort of the last company on my list of expecting that kind of pushback. But we've seen a lot of it, and it's gotten to the point where—Leah Feiger: People are upset.Brian Barrett: People are genuinely upset enough that Alex Karp, Palantir’s CEO, had to record basically an hour-long video explaining what the deal is with ICE or attempting to explain. And for those people who don't know Alex Karp, here's just a taste of the kind of things that he says on a fairly regular basis, just to get an idea.Alex Karp, archival audio: Palantir is here to disrupt and make the institutions we partner with the very best in the world and, when it's necessary, to scare enemies and on occasion kill them. And we hope you're in favor of that. We hope you're enjoying being a partner, and we're really happy and very, very focused on what we're doing.Brian Barrett: So that's Alex Karp. Last Friday, Courtney Bowman, Palantir’s global director of privacy and civil liberties engineering—“civil liberties engineering” is also just an interesting phrase—sent an all-staff email to Palantir employees featuring Karp’s video. WIRED reporter Makena Kelly got a chance to look at this email, and it's really interesting both for what he says and what he ends up really just not saying.Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, I mean, does he actually address employee concerns? Because knowing Alex Karp, I'm envisioning a lot of big words, a lot of mentions of different theories, perhaps then I would be surprised if he actually said anything of substance.Leah Feiger: No, of course he didn't. Didn't address anything. It was almost an hour long. I think it was, what did we have it at, Brian? 57 minutes of—Brian Barrett: Something like that.Leah Feiger: —yeah, of Karp talking about how Palantir historically has not always been a hundred percent popular, and they're just going to keep chugging along anyway, and that's OK. He referenced a couple of different things, but it was a really interesting moment from a company that's having, I dunno if I can say a large reckoning, but at least a mini reckoning, a lot of conversations in Slack about this, that the CEO felt the need to even address this at all. But the kicker to me, the most important part was that employees were encouraged if they wanted actually more information on all of this, they were encouraged to sign an NDA.Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, that's wild. And we talked about this a little bit last week, but I do think it's worth just highlighting again, the fact that we had years and years where it really felt like employee activism in Silicon Valley had died. It was like post-George Floyd protests, post-.Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. Now X people were not speaking out. Slacks were very, very silent. Big things would happen in the world, and we would kind of look at each other and be like, how do people at whatever company feel? And it was like we didn't know they weren't talking internally. It really feels like whatever happens, we're seeing a real turning point. And I think employees, specifically due to ICE activity in the United States really say we're not OK with our companies continuing to engage with the federal government and specifically with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. We saw hundreds of Google workers put out a letter asking their company to cut contracts with ICE. I mean, the fact that Palantir employees are doing it is honestly shocking to me. But I think it'll be really interesting to see if this continues, or if management and executives try and really stamp it out.Brian Barrett: Karp talked a lot about, in this video, he talked about something he likes to talk about a lot, which is this idea of maintaining Western power, right? He's a very—Zoë Schiffer: Yes, he talks about that a lot.Brian Barrett: —and I do think that the pushback makes some sense because ICE enforcement isn't really about that in a lot of ways. It is reports of using face recognition. That's not really asserting Western power if you are in charge of civil liberties engineering, that's sort of a clear civil liberties violation.Zoë Schiffer: But just to strawman their argument, they say that we're trying to look for the bad guys. I think another term that he uses, the people who are trying to hurt Western values or hurt America's power or whatever.Brian Barrett: I think so. But it's been so clear that good guys, or at least neutral guys are getting caught up in that for sure. And I think that's the—Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not arguing. I'm just trying to understand there.Brian Barrett: Zoë loves Palantir.Leah Feiger: The thing that he also mentions in the video though, is that Palantir doesn't change its policy based on who's the president. He specifically called out the Obama administration as an example of Democrats being tough on immigration, which was very true. Obama was called the Deporter in Chief for a long time, for a reason, which was a very though wildly defensive thing I thought for Karp to bring up. This is where a couple decades passed to this point, and the Trump administration has taken this to a realm that is entirely unfamiliar in US history, the warehouses, family separation, the ICE patrols on American streets. I was fascinated particularly by that comment, I think, because it just showed to me that Karp and Palantir leadership as a whole are just trying to ride this wave out. They know that they need these government contracts and they're already looking ahead several presidencies, going like, our company is lasting longer than a single person's impact on this nation.Brian Barrett: When we come back, our very own Leah Feiger has a sizable scoop for us about a secret Trump administration campaign extending right into your backyard.[break]Leah Feiger: Welcome back, WIRED had a pretty big scoop this week. We obtained federal records that show a secret monthslong campaign by ICE and DHS to expand their presence across the United States. We're talking more than 150 leases and office expansions in the works in almost every state, in the heart of major metropolitan areas or right outside of them. And lots of these facilities are not just in random government building, hidden away locations. They're actually located right near elementary schools, medical offices, places of worship, and other really sensitive locations. In other words, places where people are trying to live their daily lives and could otherwise be at their most vulnerable. This is really concerning stuff. Yeah,Brian Barrett: Leah said we had a big scoop and wire to tape, which is all true, but this is also Leah's story, so it's a huge scoop. So really great work, Leah. And I think one thing that really struck me on reading this as we went through it is not just what's happening, but the effort to keep it quiet. The secrecy layer on top of it was alarming in and of itself.Leah Feiger: Yeah, absolutely. So I guess to take us back a little bit, back in September, NPR and The Washington Post reported that a number of employees at the General Services Administration were added to the ICE surge team. The General Services Administration is basically the government's internal IT department, and they also manage government leases around the country. That's federal buildings, different offices for social security in Sweet Home Chicago. Truly, it's all over the place. They have tons and tons of leases. Anyways, this ICE surge team, the Washington Post and NPR reported at the time, were going to be responsible for finding new office locations and expanding preexisting office locations. This made sense as the Trump administration was doubling down on saying that they were going to be increasing ICE tenfold, pumping money into the agency and really standing behind them in every single way. So what we found that took this into a bit more of an intense direction was that according to the documents that we had, these employees were assigned to actively support ICE's physical expansion, told to find all of these leases and that they actually successfully, found a lot of spaces. But in addition to finding all of these spaces, they were told to basically keep this a secret. They were asked to go outside of their regular methodologies for posting leases, for asking for competition and bidding, and to actually really keep it all under wraps. And we actually found that they were told this by DHS, that this was part of a national security requirement. They were concerned about ICE offices and officers getting implicated in violent activity by protesters and what have you.Zoë Schiffer: Can I just ask, Leah, to make this really crystal clear? Obviously the physical footprint is expanding, but ICE has already more than doubled in size since Trump took office. Is the implication of this that they're going to keep hiring to fill these spaces?Leah Feiger: So we don't have exact insight on that, but what I can say is yes, you're totally right. He has expanded. We're at over 20,000 people DHS is claiming as part of ICE, but with that comes the desperate need for office space. Where are all these agents going to go? Where are all these lawyers going to go? And I think that that's a piece of the puzzle that we solved, and it was something that I was personally really curious about. I was just like, are they going to be just patrolling the streets? Are we stuffing them into the rafters? I have these visions, I don't know if you guys remember after January 6th, the National Guard sleeping in government buildings. That was my idea of ICE. I was like, where is everyone going to be? And it turned out from our reporting in virtually every single state in the country, that's where they're sending them.Brian Barrett: They've got 80 billion or so to spend, 75 billion of that I think they have to spend in the next four years. So yeah, they're going to keep expanding. And when you think of how much of an impact 3,000 agents officers had in Minneapolis alone, that's like an eighth of the … they can repeat some version of that in a lot of different spots.Leah Feiger: And I've been fielding, honestly, shout out to the many local reporters around the country who've been contacting me in the last day or so, just to ask questions about the locations that we named that are near them or in their states or cities. And the thing to me that keeps coming up is that in addition to new buildings, they're getting put into preexisting government buildings, preexisting leases, or that appears to be the plan. And then we've also found that a bunch of these ICE offices are being located near plans for giant immigration detention warehouses, and we're looking at offices being set up, say 20 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes away for these. Yeah. So we're looking at different … the triangulation of this around you have to have your lawyers, your agents, have a place to get their orders and put their computers and do in some ways very mundane things that are required of an operation like this one.Brian Barrett: Well, Leah, that's a good point. I think when people hear “ICE offices” or when I do, just instinctively, I think of ICE as guys with guns and masks and all that, but that's not exactly what we're saying here. Do you mind talking through what these offices seem to be queued up to be used for and by whom? Because ICE is not just the masked guys with bad tattoos.Leah Feiger: Yes, absolutely. So what we reported in this story as well was some of the specific parts of ICE that actually reached out to GSA and asked them to expedite the process of getting new leases, et cetera, included in that, for example, were representatives from OLA. OLA is ICE's office of the principal legal adviser. So that's the lawyers, those are the ICE lawyers that are working with the courts and arguing back or deportation orders saying yes, no, et cetera, signing the documents, putting everything in front of judges. This is a really important part of this entire operation that we're not talking about a ton. There's a lot of focus on the DOJ. There's a lot of focus. There was an excellent article this week in Politico talking about all of these federal judges that are really, really upset that DHS and ICE are ignoring their requests for immigrants to not be detained anymore.The missing level of that is the lawyers that are part of this that are representing ICE to the US government here, and that's OLA. So they've reached out to GSA extensively, as we report, to get these leasing locations, specifically with the OLA legal request. I just want to get across how big this is. ICE repeatedly outlined its expansion to cities around the US. And this one piece of memorandum that we got from OLA stated that ICE will be expanding its legal operations into Birmingham, Alabama; Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, and Tampa, Florida; Des Moines, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; Louisville, Kentucky; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Grand Rapids, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; Raleigh, North Carolina; Long Island, New York; Columbus, Ohio; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Richmond, Virginia; Spokane, Washington; Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We have other locations as well throughout the rest of the article, but those are the requests from OLA.And this is back in September, so this is everywhere. So that's one of what we're talking about, Brian, of who's looking to move in here. In addition to OLA, you have the folks that you're really talking about here. So that's called the ERO, that's ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations. The ERO is tasked with immigration enforcement, including the arrest, detention and removal of immigrants. They previously operated out of only 25 field offices in the US. Seems clear from our reporting and the reporting of others, that number is changing drastically right now. So that's who you're thinking of on that side. And then we also have HSI, which is Homeland Security Investigations. This is a similar but separate situation as well, but also as part of the ICE Camp looking into a variety of things in this area too. So you have a lot of different people within the ICE banner looking for offices. And we did our best to explain how this happened so quickly, so secretly, so outside of government norms and where it's happening.Zoë Schiffer: Leah, you're mentioning all of these locations as you talk about this story, we published the literal addresses where this expansion is taking place. And I'm curious about that decision, because it does seem like we've published so much sensitive reporting in the past 12 months, but this story in particular stuck out to me as the thing that could make the Trump administration the most upset, if I may. And I'm just curious, why did it feel important? You could see a version of the story that was a little more vague, but you didn't want to be.Leah Feiger: So Brian wrote an excellent newsletter that's also up on WIRED.com that everyone should go check out about this and about our publishing decision. So I kind of want him to talk about this way more eloquently than I will. But the thing that I want to say is, when I first looked up one of these addresses, I was really struck that it was basically in a city's downtown next to a dentist office. And I thought about going to the dentist. I thought about everyone going to the dentist every single day, on their phones, talking to whomever, truly not thinking anything about who was in the other offices and just how important it was to me that anyone going to that dentist office or to a preschool, elementary school, passport expediting service, Amazon warehouse, all of these different locations that we mentioned knew who was sharing office space with them as well, or who planned to be sharing office space as what we published were these plans. I'm very struck by, as I was last year as well, when we were doing all of our reporting on DOGE, how transgressive the Trump administration has made it seem and feel to publish accurate information about the government's whereabouts and activities. We are taxpayers and deserve to know what they're up to, and that's part of the social contract is that they tell us. So to me, it's filling in that gap.Brian Barrett: I mean, I think that's basically it, right? People have a right to know, you have a right to know who your neighbor is. You have a right to know when your community is about to be violently disrupted potentially by agents of the state. ICE is planning to share space with a DMV in Philadelphia. It's important to also know that the scope of this is much bigger than I think people have wrapped their heads around. And that to remember that Minneapolis is not just a one-off. The objective is to do this everywhere. I think we were really surprised almost every major city in the US was on this list. And I think the other part of it too is the Trump administration. Leah mentioned DOGE. This happened with DOGE too, is they like to move as quickly and as quietly as they can because they are betting that courts and legislators and journalists can't keep up. So it was important to us now as it was then to keep up and to make that accountability, to the extent we can, available for people.Leah Feiger: Yeah, I'm really scared for the country to be totally clear. This was really, really scary information to learn and publish, but I'm not scared to keep doing this reporting. I think it's vitally important, and I'm honestly just forever impressed by our colleagues at newsrooms around the country that are publishing every single day, incredible reporting on warehouse locations, the conditions of these warehouses, people being held in San Antonio and all over the country. There's so much out there, and it's been very impressive to see the entire press corps as well as observers in Minneapolis and outside really all double down on this as well.Zoë Schiffer: OK, it's time for our Wired/Tired segment. Whatever is new and cool is Wired. Whatever is passé is Tired. Are we ready, team? I'm so ready.Brian Barrett: I'm kind of ready. So Leah, go first.Leah Feiger: Hear me out. This is not the future that WIRED has promised readers, but I think that it's really, really important. Nonetheless, my WIRED is Jeopardy, the show. Fantastic show. I love it. I'm learning new facts every single day. I'm becoming a dedicated Jeopardy viewer once more. The last time I watched it like this, I think was in high school. I'm loving it. I'm really, really loving it, especially because there's so many categories that are not things that I necessarily care about, but I am learning about them. And the reason that I chose this, my Wired this week. My Tired is my algorithm. I'm really, really over it, you guys. I feel like my algorithm is Cavalier King Charles dogs, love them. That is my dog. Fantastic. It's scuba diving. Love it. It's fantastic. And then it's some kind of intense politics stuff every once in a while, but generally conspiracy theories, these are all things that I actually really do enjoy in all parts of my life, but it's becoming way too much, to the point that I've just realized I'm not actually scrolling nearly as much as I used to. So bored of it. It's like I'm not getting the new info. I don't feel like I'm stretching. I don't feel like stuff is being presented to me that I don't already know or have a very deep interest in, which is why Jeopardy has been so fun. One of the topics recently was about this graveyard where famous people are, and it was everyone just had a say, what famous person. I loved that I hadn't heard of half of them. I spent a lot of time on Wikipedia.Brian Barrett: Love that. This is great.Leah Feiger: I really loved it. Anyway, that's me.Zoë Schiffer: Did you know that my former math tutor from Kumon—dark time in my life—but he was on Jeopardy, and I think he did pretty well. He wears a fez all the time, every single day.Leah Feiger: That whole sentence was so good.Brian Barrett: It's a lot to take in. And I'm going to take a minute just to process all of it.Zoë Schiffer: I think you should think about that. That's all I know about Jeopardy. That's all I can ask. Wow.Brian Barrett: Love it. I'll say, Leah, I fully cosigned. I don't know if—you both weren't here—I was WIRED's Chief Jeopardy correspondent for a few glorious months—Leah Feiger: No, what?Brian Barrett: —during James Holzhauer's record-breaking, paradigm-defining run.Leah Feiger: Exciting.Brian Barrett: I got to interview Ken Jennings.Leah Feiger: That's really cool.Brian Barrett: It was great. Loved it.Leah Feiger: That's so cool.Brian Barrett: So I fully support this embrace of Jeopardy.Leah Feiger: Ken's a great host, by the way. I don't know if you've like—Brian Barrett: Oh he’s terrific. Yeah, he’s amazing.Leah Feiger: I'm really, really enjoying his work.Brian Barrett: My WIRED is not dissimilar to Leah in a sense. It is for the Olympics, especially linear television. And let me explain. I think the last time the Olympics were around, I've got Peacock and I've got YouTube TV, and you now have the option to watch everything in its entirety whenever you want, and just choose which sport you want and go in. And it is too much, even for me, an avowed Olympics fan. So I'm embracing just being able to sit down with my kids at night and just watch whatever NBC thinks I should know from that day. And I just get the highlights. I get the best things. I don't spend two hours watching some cross country race just in case something interesting happens. I know that when I'm settled in, it has been editorially curated to be of interest to me. So that is Wired for me. And I guess Tired would be the flip of that, of just mindlessly binging winter sports that don't go anywhere.Zoë Schiffer: Sure.Leah Feiger: Zoë concurs.Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, for sure. OK. Mine feels a little obvious this week—but I'm just going to persevere—which is, Tired to me is those services that send you boxes of clothes and you rent them and then send them back?Leah Feiger: Yes. OK. Yeah. Rent the Runway, Newly—wait, are you a subscriber?Zoë Schiffer: Absolutely not.Leah Feiger: No. I was about to shocked. My entire world was going to be rocked.Zoë Schiffer: No, I would never. I would never. But I actually do have a few people in my life who are just busy, normal professionals who are like, they really like them.Leah Feiger: Yeah. Oh yeah. I have so many who love it. They love it.Zoë Schiffer: And I think that's a huge bummer. I was in Portland last weekend, and I went to some of the best vintage stores I have ever been to. I was in absolute heaven. Shout out to Deep Lake. They had vintage Vivian Westwood. I got a velvet skirt that I will never have an opportunity to wear.Leah Feiger: Wait, is that where you got your vest you were wearing yesterday? I loved that vest also.Zoë Schiffer: Yes.Leah Feiger: I knew it. I was going to ask about it, and I meant to—such a good vest.Zoë Schiffer: I know, I was viciously mocked in the office, and I thought, only Leah understands this.Brian Barrett: I did not notice the vest. I would not have asked about the vest. SorryLeah Feiger: I love the vest. I love the vest enough that I thought about it after and was literally like, I'm going to ask her where it's from. It's certainly not available to me.Zoë Schiffer: Love that for us.That's our show for today. We'll link to all the stories we spoke about in the show notes. Uncanny Valley is produced by Kaleidoscope Content. Adriana Tapia and Tyler Hill produced this episode. Mixing from Amar Lal at Macro Sound. Fact checking from Matt Giles. Mark Leyda was our San Francisco studio engineer. Pran Bandi is our New York studio engineer. Kate Osborn is our executive producer. And Katie Drummond is WIRED's global editorial director. Uncanny Valley: ICE’s Secret Expansion Plans, Palantir Workers’ Ethical Concerns, and AI Assistants This week, hosts Brian Barrett, Leah Feiger, and Zoë Schiffer discuss WIRED’s big scoop on ICE’s startling plans to expand to nearly every state in the US. Then they unpack Alex Karp’s nearly-hour-long non-response to Palantir employees with ethical concerns about collaborating with ICE. Plus, a WIRED writer lets the viral AI assistant OpenClaw run his life for a week to give listeners a peek of what AI agents can and can’t actually do. Articles mentioned in this episode: You can follow Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett, Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer, and Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger. Write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com. How to Listen You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how: If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for “Uncanny Valley.” We’re on Spotify too. Transcript Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors. Zoë Schiffer: Welcome to WIRED'sUncanny Valley. I'm Zoë Schiffer, director of business and industry. Brian Barrett: I'm Brian Barrett, executive editor. Leah Feiger: And I'm Leah Feiger, senior politics editor. Brian Barrett: I want to continue a conversation that we started yesterday in Slack after work hours for some of us. Zoë Schiffer: Absolutely. Brian Barrett: And this is about the men's short program— Leah Feiger: We're diving right in— Brian Barrett: —figure skating. Leah Feiger: This is about the Olympics in general with— Brian Barrett: But very specifically want to pick up on the conversation where Zoë had very strong feelings about the results of men's figure skating. Zoë Schiffer: I feel like we need to back up because you and Leah authentically care about the Olympics so much and I think just know more about sports than I do. Leah Feiger: Yes. Zoë Schiffer: I deeply have never engaged with sports ever, just as a whole rule, as a category. It doesn't exist in my life. Leah Feiger: Say the lines, say the lines, Zoë, or I'm going to read them verbatim from slack. Zoë Schiffer: Wait, I don't even know what you're talking about. I was merely surprised when I watched because the Americans went, I thought, wow, that guy basically fell over and was clumping around the ice, and then Japan went, and they were sailing around like little swans, and then when the gold medal came, it went to the Americans. I was literally jaw-on-the-floor. I couldn't believe what had happened. No one else seemed outraged. Leah Feiger: For a little backup for our non-ice skating Olympic fans, I was always referring to Ilia Malinin, who a number of publications and sports experts say might actually be one of the greatest figure skaters of all time. That is who you are calling the person who fell over. Right. Zoë, just to be clear. Brian Barrett: And I'd like to, not to pile on, but definitely to pile on. I had not seen the performances when we talked about this later. I watched them, and it was the guy who came in silver from Japan who actually did a stumble and landed on the ice and had to get back up. Absolutely. Go to the tape. Play the tape. Zoë Schiffer: We're talking about two different programs. I don't know, we might be talking about different programs. Flawless. Brian Barrett: Oh, you're talking about the team program. Zoë Schiffer: This is another thing. I mean, just want to say right now I don't understand anything about what is a short program. Yesterday I tried to again watch something about the Olympics to prepare for this episode, and I thought I was watching ice skating and instead they were just dancing on ice. The ice was completely incidental. It was called rhythm dance. I was just like, I have no idea what is going on. I want to watch the Olympics with you. I want us to be sitting next to each other as you explain to me the purpose of every single sport. Leah Feiger: Zoë, can you say the word “curling” for me on this episode? Zoë Schiffer: OK. And yes, Andrew then was like, are you guys going to talk about curling? And I was like, I think Brian's authentically into curling, so yeah, I couldn't, again, I was like, it's bowling mixed with pool, but now there's ice involved. What is the person in front doing? Brian Barrett: So I am curling-curious. I am authentically involved in biathlon. Zoë Schiffer: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry. Brian Barrett: Curling is pretty neat. It's kind of like my son was watching it and his thing was, “So it's like bocce?” and I was like, “How do you know what bocce is?” But yes, it is. Zoë Schiffer: That seems more, yeah, what it's like. Brian Barrett: A very sophisticated 11-year-old. It's kind of like bocce. It's kind of like shuffleboard almost. You've got a bullseye basically at the end of the ice, almost every curling stone comes from the exact same place, Ailsa Craig in Scotland. Leah Feiger: Oh my God. Zoë Schiffer: You know way too much about this. Brian Barrett: Well, you kind of have to. Zoë Schiffer: Do you? Brian Barrett: The brooms— Zoë Schiffer: How do they even decide? OK, sorry. No, keep going. Brian Barrett: The brooms, the broom technology. We have a story on this. I didn't know this until I read our story. Zoë Schiffer: Broom technology? Brian Barrett: Because they have to sweep. They have to sweep to make the stone curl. Leah Feiger: There's the WIRED angle. Brian Barrett: These are carbon-fiber devices. A single model of broom has 85,000 possible configurations. Can your broom do that? Zoë Schiffer: I don't have any words. I want to know how they decide what is an Olympic sport. That's the article that I would read. It feels crazy to me. Leah Feiger: I love the Olympics so much. This is the global competition reality show that I can't get enough of. I will say, though, I mean it's always a weird time to be aggressively nationalistic or jingoistic as it were, but particularly right now, rooting for the US on the global stage is a little bit odd, and a lot of US athletes have been feeling that way too. Figure skater Amber Glenn, skier Chris Lillis, alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin. Everyone's made comments, some of them about the US's treatment of the LGBTQ community, others about ICE. Freestyle skier Hunter Hess got a personal shout-out for Trump after saying that his feelings were complicated about all of this: Hunter Hess, archival audio: It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now. I think it's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't. Leah Feiger: And Trump responded by calling him a “real loser” on Truth Social. This is sort of devastating. I don't know. I like the idea of these athletes, these very young athletes getting to be on the world stage, and I also like the idea of them being able to very authentically share their opinions about how they're feeling about their country in this given moment. Brian Barrett: I'll shout out the curling team again too. Most of them come from Minnesota. Most of them are in Minneapolis, and they have also spoken out about very personally what that means to them. I think the obvious thing here, and I'll say it—I'm not afraid of the obvious thing—is that the most American thing you can do is say: I don't like what my country is doing right now. Leah Feiger: A hundred percent. Brian Barrett: That is sort of what, and so obviously Donald Trump disagrees, that's fine. But if anything, it makes me feel even more national pride that our athletes are speaking up in this way. I think it's great. Leah Feiger: This has been around for a long time, being upset with the people that we didn't elect them to represent us. They just happened to be up there because of their skill and talent, and that is incredibly upsetting for a select few. And folks have booed them, right? JD Vance and his wife have been at different competitions. I've heard from people that different competitions have had American athletes not get the warmest reception. Marco Rubio was also at the Olympics, but no one has talked about him being there very much, which to me, this is a separate thing, but I love the competition between him and Vance right now. But again, Vance's sideshow here was being booed. So tough to say if all press is good press. Brian Barrett: I say boo JD Vance and Marco Rubio all you want because they are part of the administration. Booing the athletes is a little sad to me. I don't know. I don't want to take it out on them, but that's just how it goes. Zoë Schiffer: OK, wrenching the conversation back to something I care about. I want to talk about— Brian Barrett: Biathlon. Zoë Schiffer: Negative. Once again. I'm going to be talking about a friendly little lobster, an AI assistant called at this point OpenClaw. If that doesn't ring a bell, it's because the AI assistant in question has been through multiple names. It was previously called MoltBot and before that it was called ClawdBot, which might remind you of Claude, the chatbot that Anthropic built and the reason why it's had to change its name so many times. But Will Knight, one of our phenomenal AI reporters was like, OK, everyone in Silicon Valley is talking about this little lobster. I want to actually take it for a spin and let it run my life. This story, you guys, was so delightful. I was laughing out loud. The technical setup for this kind of AI agent that works on your behalf is simple in certain ways, but it also takes a little bit of technical prowess, and you have to give it access to a fair amount of your personal data in order to make it actually useful. You need it to access your email, the files on your computer, all of that. Leah Feiger: This is my hell. This is my literal hell. Zoë Schiffer: No, I mean completely terrifying. And we have published stories about the security implications of this, but Will was like, as a reporter, I really want to see what it's like, and so he had it do a few different things. One was he had it kind of look for research articles about artificial intelligence, summarize them, and send them to him every morning. He said this was pretty helpful. The article selection was so-so, but it was clearly nice to have an assistant doing this on his behalf, because obviously it automated a lot of work that previously he had to do completely manually. He also had it order groceries for him and had a funny experience. Brian, I can see you taking a breath. Brian Barrett: Yeah, Zoë talk a little bit more about the—well, because I also enjoyed this story and enjoyed this part. Maybe the most of this story. Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, it was so good. So basically he's like, let's go shopping at Whole Foods, and the AI assistant starts out and it's actually helpful. It's checking his prior order history. It's seeing what's available in the store, and then it gets to his shopping list and it sees that guacamole is on the shopping list and it's like, no problem. So again and again, it starts going to check out to get Will this single tub of guacamole, and Will keeps stopping it, being like, I want the whole list. I don't just want one tub of guacamole. It couldn't handle it. Finally, he had to override the AI assistant and be like, I'm going to handle this. You step aside throughout the process, the AI assistant is losing its memory and forgetting things. So Will's having to remind it what they're even doing there in the first place. Brian Barrett: I'll be honest, forgetful and with a laser focus on guacamole also describes several of my trips to Whole Foods— Zoë Schiffer: Completely. Brian Barrett: —in the last several years. So it's relatable at least. Zoë Schiffer: It's so relatable. Yeah, I think this is AGI. It's reached, if not human-level intelligence, human-level habits for sure. Leah Feiger: That is so good. This is the future of AGI. This is what we're actually looking for. Zoë Schiffer: This is it. OK, so then he's like, well, let's have it negotiate a deal on my behalf. Let's go to AT&T, let's start a chat with a salesperson and let's try and get me a better phone. So the agent kind of starts up this chat. It has a whole script of how it wants to go about this. It starts talking, and then Will has a thought. He's like, well, if the future is a future of agents kind of running the internet, well maybe the least scrupulous agent will have an edge. So what would it look like if I ran the agent but with a model that didn't have alignment, didn't have guardrails in place, and so he switches things up. The model then is the unaligned, kind of evil version of the AI agent, which he's calling Molti at this point, and instead of trying to manipulate the salesperson to get Will a better phone, Molti goes kind of psychotic and actually tries to scam Will into handing over his physical phone by sending him a bunch of scam texts and phishing attempts, and finally he has to shut the whole thing down and switch back to the old Moltbot. Brian Barrett: It's a little bit like the velociraptors figuring out how to open the door in Jurassic Park. I think we all know this, but it's easy to forget that these AI models often act or agents act the way they do because of the guardrails that are on them. There is a lot of work that goes into these large language models to make them not evil. Just to say how easy it is if you're just an at-home tinkerer to just say, you know what? Give me full Skynet. I just want to get absolutely nuts with this. Yeah, I'm picturing a very dramatic moment of Will having to unplug his Mac Mini or whatever and throw it into the ocean. Zoë Schiffer: Right? I mean essentially, yeah, he had to shut the whole thing down. It's interesting because one other thing he mentioned was that Molty was really good at IT support because it had access to the command line on his computer. It was able to basically fix things in real time on his machine as they came up, which was authentically helpful for him. But it also kind of instantly begs the question of, well, could this be used in a nefarious way? Could it use all of its knowledge of how these things work to actually really mess things up? For me, the answer is absolutely. Leah Feiger: I mean, this to me really is hell. This is 2001: A Space Odyssey come to life maybe of all of the examples that we have had so far, the cute name Molti, how it's going to fix your life and do all these great things and help your mom do her grocery list and what have you. This is messy. Brian Barrett: Well, there's even more innocuous problems too, even if you're not going full malevolent mode. Leah Feiger: Full HAL? Brian Barrett: Well, if you're not going full HAL, because say it has access to all your files, it's trying to fix something we've already established, it can forget what the assignment is. It can get fixated on guacamole. If you abandon a project halfway through fixing it, it tends to be pretty broken, right? It's true with computers, it's true with any sort of anything that you're in the middle of. So you could imagine a scenario easily where it goes about starting to take things apart to put them back together the right way and then sort of forgets why it was doing it, and all of a sudden your computer doesn't work, your files have been erased, like something has gone terribly wrong, which is what makes it so remarkable that this is such a viral thing. Everybody is using this, consequences be damned. Zoë Schiffer: I mean, it's really interesting. I feel like it does give you this glimpse of the future because again, it has really helpful applications and I think the fact Will pointed this out in his article, and I thought this was so smart, but just the fact that you can talk to it through something like Telegram or WhatsApp. And the fact that it has kind of a quirky personality ends up making a big difference, Will actually thinks that that is the secret sauce that made this pop off. And I think that's probably right. At the end of the day, people want to engage with something that feels easy and fun and helps their lives a little bit, and until they see the really kind of dire consequences, they might not be as freaked out as they should be. I mean, I will say reading Will's draft, when he said I gave it access to Slack and Discord, my heart stopped. I said, please not work Slack. But no, he'd set up dummy accounts for everything. So that was good. Leah Feiger: I can't actually explain what my heart just did. I feel—OK, I'm fine. Brian Barrett: You know, gang, sometimes AI is an adorable semi-competent executive assistant with the potential to destroy your life. Other times it's scraping a bunch of data to build a mass surveillance infrastructure that's incredibly profitable. Let's talk about the latter. And Palantir, a company that uses all kinds of AI, all kinds of data infrastructure, and contracts with ICE—Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Employees there have been increasingly outspoken about their ethical concerns. It's sort of the last company on my list of expecting that kind of pushback. But we've seen a lot of it, and it's gotten to the point where— Leah Feiger: People are upset. Brian Barrett: People are genuinely upset enough that Alex Karp, Palantir’s CEO, had to record basically an hour-long video explaining what the deal is with ICE or attempting to explain. And for those people who don't know Alex Karp, here's just a taste of the kind of things that he says on a fairly regular basis, just to get an idea. Alex Karp, archival audio: Palantir is here to disrupt and make the institutions we partner with the very best in the world and, when it's necessary, to scare enemies and on occasion kill them. And we hope you're in favor of that. We hope you're enjoying being a partner, and we're really happy and very, very focused on what we're doing. Brian Barrett: So that's Alex Karp. Last Friday, Courtney Bowman, Palantir’s global director of privacy and civil liberties engineering—“civil liberties engineering” is also just an interesting phrase—sent an all-staff email to Palantir employees featuring Karp’s video. WIRED reporter Makena Kelly got a chance to look at this email, and it's really interesting both for what he says and what he ends up really just not saying. Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, I mean, does he actually address employee concerns? Because knowing Alex Karp, I'm envisioning a lot of big words, a lot of mentions of different theories, perhaps then I would be surprised if he actually said anything of substance. Leah Feiger: No, of course he didn't. Didn't address anything. It was almost an hour long. I think it was, what did we have it at, Brian? 57 minutes of— Brian Barrett: Something like that. Leah Feiger: —yeah, of Karp talking about how Palantir historically has not always been a hundred percent popular, and they're just going to keep chugging along anyway, and that's OK. He referenced a couple of different things, but it was a really interesting moment from a company that's having, I dunno if I can say a large reckoning, but at least a mini reckoning, a lot of conversations in Slack about this, that the CEO felt the need to even address this at all. But the kicker to me, the most important part was that employees were encouraged if they wanted actually more information on all of this, they were encouraged to sign an NDA. Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, that's wild. And we talked about this a little bit last week, but I do think it's worth just highlighting again, the fact that we had years and years where it really felt like employee activism in Silicon Valley had died. It was like post-George Floyd protests, post-.Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. Now X people were not speaking out. Slacks were very, very silent. Big things would happen in the world, and we would kind of look at each other and be like, how do people at whatever company feel? And it was like we didn't know they weren't talking internally. It really feels like whatever happens, we're seeing a real turning point. And I think employees, specifically due to ICE activity in the United States really say we're not OK with our companies continuing to engage with the federal government and specifically with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. We saw hundreds of Google workers put out a letter asking their company to cut contracts with ICE. I mean, the fact that Palantir employees are doing it is honestly shocking to me. But I think it'll be really interesting to see if this continues, or if management and executives try and really stamp it out. Brian Barrett: Karp talked a lot about, in this video, he talked about something he likes to talk about a lot, which is this idea of maintaining Western power, right? He's a very— Zoë Schiffer: Yes, he talks about that a lot. Brian Barrett: —and I do think that the pushback makes some sense because ICE enforcement isn't really about that in a lot of ways. It is reports of using face recognition. That's not really asserting Western power if you are in charge of civil liberties engineering, that's sort of a clear civil liberties violation. Zoë Schiffer: But just to strawman their argument, they say that we're trying to look for the bad guys. I think another term that he uses, the people who are trying to hurt Western values or hurt America's power or whatever. Brian Barrett: I think so. But it's been so clear that good guys, or at least neutral guys are getting caught up in that for sure. And I think that's the— Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not arguing. I'm just trying to understand there. Brian Barrett: Zoë loves Palantir. Leah Feiger: The thing that he also mentions in the video though, is that Palantir doesn't change its policy based on who's the president. He specifically called out the Obama administration as an example of Democrats being tough on immigration, which was very true. Obama was called the Deporter in Chief for a long time, for a reason, which was a very though wildly defensive thing I thought for Karp to bring up. This is where a couple decades passed to this point, and the Trump administration has taken this to a realm that is entirely unfamiliar in US history, the warehouses, family separation, the ICE patrols on American streets. I was fascinated particularly by that comment, I think, because it just showed to me that Karp and Palantir leadership as a whole are just trying to ride this wave out. They know that they need these government contracts and they're already looking ahead several presidencies, going like, our company is lasting longer than a single person's impact on this nation. Brian Barrett: When we come back, our very own Leah Feiger has a sizable scoop for us about a secret Trump administration campaign extending right into your backyard. [break] Leah Feiger: Welcome back, WIRED had a pretty big scoop this week. We obtained federal records that show a secret monthslong campaign by ICE and DHS to expand their presence across the United States. We're talking more than 150 leases and office expansions in the works in almost every state, in the heart of major metropolitan areas or right outside of them. And lots of these facilities are not just in random government building, hidden away locations. They're actually located right near elementary schools, medical offices, places of worship, and other really sensitive locations. In other words, places where people are trying to live their daily lives and could otherwise be at their most vulnerable. This is really concerning stuff. Yeah, Brian Barrett: Leah said we had a big scoop and wire to tape, which is all true, but this is also Leah's story, so it's a huge scoop. So really great work, Leah. And I think one thing that really struck me on reading this as we went through it is not just what's happening, but the effort to keep it quiet. The secrecy layer on top of it was alarming in and of itself. Leah Feiger: Yeah, absolutely. So I guess to take us back a little bit, back in September, NPR and The Washington Post reported that a number of employees at the General Services Administration were added to the ICE surge team. The General Services Administration is basically the government's internal IT department, and they also manage government leases around the country. That's federal buildings, different offices for social security in Sweet Home Chicago. Truly, it's all over the place. They have tons and tons of leases. Anyways, this ICE surge team, the Washington Post and NPR reported at the time, were going to be responsible for finding new office locations and expanding preexisting office locations. This made sense as the Trump administration was doubling down on saying that they were going to be increasing ICE tenfold, pumping money into the agency and really standing behind them in every single way. So what we found that took this into a bit more of an intense direction was that according to the documents that we had, these employees were assigned to actively support ICE's physical expansion, told to find all of these leases and that they actually successfully, found a lot of spaces. But in addition to finding all of these spaces, they were told to basically keep this a secret. They were asked to go outside of their regular methodologies for posting leases, for asking for competition and bidding, and to actually really keep it all under wraps. And we actually found that they were told this by DHS, that this was part of a national security requirement. They were concerned about ICE offices and officers getting implicated in violent activity by protesters and what have you. Zoë Schiffer: Can I just ask, Leah, to make this really crystal clear? Obviously the physical footprint is expanding, but ICE has already more than doubled in size since Trump took office. Is the implication of this that they're going to keep hiring to fill these spaces? Leah Feiger: So we don't have exact insight on that, but what I can say is yes, you're totally right. He has expanded. We're at over 20,000 people DHS is claiming as part of ICE, but with that comes the desperate need for office space. Where are all these agents going to go? Where are all these lawyers going to go? And I think that that's a piece of the puzzle that we solved, and it was something that I was personally really curious about. I was just like, are they going to be just patrolling the streets? Are we stuffing them into the rafters? I have these visions, I don't know if you guys remember after January 6th, the National Guard sleeping in government buildings. That was my idea of ICE. I was like, where is everyone going to be? And it turned out from our reporting in virtually every single state in the country, that's where they're sending them. Brian Barrett: They've got 80 billion or so to spend, 75 billion of that I think they have to spend in the next four years. So yeah, they're going to keep expanding. And when you think of how much of an impact 3,000 agents officers had in Minneapolis alone, that's like an eighth of the … they can repeat some version of that in a lot of different spots. Leah Feiger: And I've been fielding, honestly, shout out to the many local reporters around the country who've been contacting me in the last day or so, just to ask questions about the locations that we named that are near them or in their states or cities. And the thing to me that keeps coming up is that in addition to new buildings, they're getting put into preexisting government buildings, preexisting leases, or that appears to be the plan. And then we've also found that a bunch of these ICE offices are being located near plans for giant immigration detention warehouses, and we're looking at offices being set up, say 20 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes away for these. Yeah. So we're looking at different … the triangulation of this around you have to have your lawyers, your agents, have a place to get their orders and put their computers and do in some ways very mundane things that are required of an operation like this one. Brian Barrett: Well, Leah, that's a good point. I think when people hear “ICE offices” or when I do, just instinctively, I think of ICE as guys with guns and masks and all that, but that's not exactly what we're saying here. Do you mind talking through what these offices seem to be queued up to be used for and by whom? Because ICE is not just the masked guys with bad tattoos. Leah Feiger: Yes, absolutely. So what we reported in this story as well was some of the specific parts of ICE that actually reached out to GSA and asked them to expedite the process of getting new leases, et cetera, included in that, for example, were representatives from OLA. OLA is ICE's office of the principal legal adviser. So that's the lawyers, those are the ICE lawyers that are working with the courts and arguing back or deportation orders saying yes, no, et cetera, signing the documents, putting everything in front of judges. This is a really important part of this entire operation that we're not talking about a ton. There's a lot of focus on the DOJ. There's a lot of focus. There was an excellent article this week in Politico talking about all of these federal judges that are really, really upset that DHS and ICE are ignoring their requests for immigrants to not be detained anymore. The missing level of that is the lawyers that are part of this that are representing ICE to the US government here, and that's OLA. So they've reached out to GSA extensively, as we report, to get these leasing locations, specifically with the OLA legal request. I just want to get across how big this is. ICE repeatedly outlined its expansion to cities around the US. And this one piece of memorandum that we got from OLA stated that ICE will be expanding its legal operations into Birmingham, Alabama; Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, and Tampa, Florida; Des Moines, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; Louisville, Kentucky; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Grand Rapids, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; Raleigh, North Carolina; Long Island, New York; Columbus, Ohio; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Richmond, Virginia; Spokane, Washington; Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We have other locations as well throughout the rest of the article, but those are the requests from OLA. And this is back in September, so this is everywhere. So that's one of what we're talking about, Brian, of who's looking to move in here. In addition to OLA, you have the folks that you're really talking about here. So that's called the ERO, that's ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations. The ERO is tasked with immigration enforcement, including the arrest, detention and removal of immigrants. They previously operated out of only 25 field offices in the US. Seems clear from our reporting and the reporting of others, that number is changing drastically right now. So that's who you're thinking of on that side. And then we also have HSI, which is Homeland Security Investigations. This is a similar but separate situation as well, but also as part of the ICE Camp looking into a variety of things in this area too. So you have a lot of different people within the ICE banner looking for offices. And we did our best to explain how this happened so quickly, so secretly, so outside of government norms and where it's happening. Zoë Schiffer: Leah, you're mentioning all of these locations as you talk about this story, we published the literal addresses where this expansion is taking place. And I'm curious about that decision, because it does seem like we've published so much sensitive reporting in the past 12 months, but this story in particular stuck out to me as the thing that could make the Trump administration the most upset, if I may. And I'm just curious, why did it feel important? You could see a version of the story that was a little more vague, but you didn't want to be. Leah Feiger: So Brian wrote an excellent newsletter that's also up on WIRED.com that everyone should go check out about this and about our publishing decision. So I kind of want him to talk about this way more eloquently than I will. But the thing that I want to say is, when I first looked up one of these addresses, I was really struck that it was basically in a city's downtown next to a dentist office. And I thought about going to the dentist. I thought about everyone going to the dentist every single day, on their phones, talking to whomever, truly not thinking anything about who was in the other offices and just how important it was to me that anyone going to that dentist office or to a preschool, elementary school, passport expediting service, Amazon warehouse, all of these different locations that we mentioned knew who was sharing office space with them as well, or who planned to be sharing office space as what we published were these plans. I'm very struck by, as I was last year as well, when we were doing all of our reporting on DOGE, how transgressive the Trump administration has made it seem and feel to publish accurate information about the government's whereabouts and activities. We are taxpayers and deserve to know what they're up to, and that's part of the social contract is that they tell us. So to me, it's filling in that gap. Brian Barrett: I mean, I think that's basically it, right? People have a right to know, you have a right to know who your neighbor is. You have a right to know when your community is about to be violently disrupted potentially by agents of the state. ICE is planning to share space with a DMV in Philadelphia. It's important to also know that the scope of this is much bigger than I think people have wrapped their heads around. And that to remember that Minneapolis is not just a one-off. The objective is to do this everywhere. I think we were really surprised almost every major city in the US was on this list. And I think the other part of it too is the Trump administration. Leah mentioned DOGE. This happened with DOGE too, is they like to move as quickly and as quietly as they can because they are betting that courts and legislators and journalists can't keep up. So it was important to us now as it was then to keep up and to make that accountability, to the extent we can, available for people. Leah Feiger: Yeah, I'm really scared for the country to be totally clear. This was really, really scary information to learn and publish, but I'm not scared to keep doing this reporting. I think it's vitally important, and I'm honestly just forever impressed by our colleagues at newsrooms around the country that are publishing every single day, incredible reporting on warehouse locations, the conditions of these warehouses, people being held in San Antonio and all over the country. There's so much out there, and it's been very impressive to see the entire press corps as well as observers in Minneapolis and outside really all double down on this as well. Zoë Schiffer: OK, it's time for our Wired/Tired segment. Whatever is new and cool is Wired. Whatever is passé is Tired. Are we ready, team? I'm so ready. Brian Barrett: I'm kind of ready. So Leah, go first. Leah Feiger: Hear me out. This is not the future that WIRED has promised readers, but I think that it's really, really important. Nonetheless, my WIRED is Jeopardy, the show. Fantastic show. I love it. I'm learning new facts every single day. I'm becoming a dedicated Jeopardy viewer once more. The last time I watched it like this, I think was in high school. I'm loving it. I'm really, really loving it, especially because there's so many categories that are not things that I necessarily care about, but I am learning about them. And the reason that I chose this, my Wired this week. My Tired is my algorithm. I'm really, really over it, you guys. I feel like my algorithm is Cavalier King Charles dogs, love them. That is my dog. Fantastic. It's scuba diving. Love it. It's fantastic. And then it's some kind of intense politics stuff every once in a while, but generally conspiracy theories, these are all things that I actually really do enjoy in all parts of my life, but it's becoming way too much, to the point that I've just realized I'm not actually scrolling nearly as much as I used to. So bored of it. It's like I'm not getting the new info. I don't feel like I'm stretching. I don't feel like stuff is being presented to me that I don't already know or have a very deep interest in, which is why Jeopardy has been so fun. One of the topics recently was about this graveyard where famous people are, and it was everyone just had a say, what famous person. I loved that I hadn't heard of half of them. I spent a lot of time on Wikipedia. Brian Barrett: Love that. This is great. Leah Feiger: I really loved it. Anyway, that's me. Zoë Schiffer: Did you know that my former math tutor from Kumon—dark time in my life—but he was on Jeopardy, and I think he did pretty well. He wears a fez all the time, every single day. Leah Feiger: That whole sentence was so good. Brian Barrett: It's a lot to take in. And I'm going to take a minute just to process all of it. Zoë Schiffer: I think you should think about that. That's all I know about Jeopardy. That's all I can ask. Wow. Brian Barrett: Love it. I'll say, Leah, I fully cosigned. I don't know if—you both weren't here—I was WIRED's Chief Jeopardy correspondent for a few glorious months— Leah Feiger: No, what? Brian Barrett: —during James Holzhauer's record-breaking, paradigm-defining run. Leah Feiger: Exciting. Brian Barrett: I got to interview Ken Jennings. Leah Feiger: That's really cool. Brian Barrett: It was great. Loved it. Leah Feiger: That's so cool. Brian Barrett: So I fully support this embrace of Jeopardy. Leah Feiger: Ken's a great host, by the way. I don't know if you've like— Brian Barrett: Oh he’s terrific. Yeah, he’s amazing. Leah Feiger: I'm really, really enjoying his work. Brian Barrett: My WIRED is not dissimilar to Leah in a sense. It is for the Olympics, especially linear television. And let me explain. I think the last time the Olympics were around, I've got Peacock and I've got YouTube TV, and you now have the option to watch everything in its entirety whenever you want, and just choose which sport you want and go in. And it is too much, even for me, an avowed Olympics fan. So I'm embracing just being able to sit down with my kids at night and just watch whatever NBC thinks I should know from that day. And I just get the highlights. I get the best things. I don't spend two hours watching some cross country race just in case something interesting happens. I know that when I'm settled in, it has been editorially curated to be of interest to me. So that is Wired for me. And I guess Tired would be the flip of that, of just mindlessly binging winter sports that don't go anywhere. Zoë Schiffer: Sure. Leah Feiger: Zoë concurs. Zoë Schiffer: Yeah, for sure. OK. Mine feels a little obvious this week—but I'm just going to persevere—which is, Tired to me is those services that send you boxes of clothes and you rent them and then send them back? Leah Feiger: Yes. OK. Yeah. Rent the Runway, Newly—wait, are you a subscriber? Zoë Schiffer: Absolutely not. Leah Feiger: No. I was about to shocked. My entire world was going to be rocked. Zoë Schiffer: No, I would never. I would never. But I actually do have a few people in my life who are just busy, normal professionals who are like, they really like them. Leah Feiger: Yeah. Oh yeah. I have so many who love it. They love it. Zoë Schiffer: And I think that's a huge bummer. I was in Portland last weekend, and I went to some of the best vintage stores I have ever been to. I was in absolute heaven. Shout out to Deep Lake. They had vintage Vivian Westwood. I got a velvet skirt that I will never have an opportunity to wear. Leah Feiger: Wait, is that where you got your vest you were wearing yesterday? I loved that vest also. Zoë Schiffer: Yes. Leah Feiger: I knew it. I was going to ask about it, and I meant to—such a good vest. Zoë Schiffer: I know, I was viciously mocked in the office, and I thought, only Leah understands this. Brian Barrett: I did not notice the vest. I would not have asked about the vest. Sorry Leah Feiger: I love the vest. I love the vest enough that I thought about it after and was literally like, I'm going to ask her where it's from. It's certainly not available to me. Zoë Schiffer: Love that for us. That's our show for today. We'll link to all the stories we spoke about in the show notes. Uncanny Valley is produced by Kaleidoscope Content. Adriana Tapia and Tyler Hill produced this episode. Mixing from Amar Lal at Macro Sound. Fact checking from Matt Giles. Mark Leyda was our San Francisco studio engineer. Pran Bandi is our New York studio engineer. Kate Osborn is our executive producer. And Katie Drummond is WIRED's global editorial director. Comments You Might Also Like In your inbox: Maxwell Zeff's dispatch from the heart of AI ICE is expanding at breakneck speed—here’s where it’s going next Big Story: Inside the gay tech mafia Big Tech says AI will save the planet—it doesn’t offer much proof Event: Helping small business owners succeed © 2026 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunin] | [TOKENS: 1267] |
Contents Hunin Hunin (Arabic: هونين) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Galilee Panhandle part of Mandatory Palestine, close to the Lebanese border. It was the second largest village in the district of Safed, but was depopulated during the Nakba by Israeli forces in 1948. The inhabitants of this village were, similar to the inhabitants of Southern Lebanon, Shia Muslims. History The first settlement at the site dates back to Iron Age I (1200-1000 BCE), followed by renewed habitation from the Persian period (586-332 BCE) until the latter part of the Byzantine period (5th-6th centuries CE). The castle named in Frankish chronicles as Chastel Neuf (in medieval French) or Castellum Novum (in Latin), and known as Qal'at Hunin in Arabic, and as (Horvat) Mezudat Hunin in Modern Hebrew, was built in two phases by the Crusaders during the 12th and 13th centuries (1105–7, 1178 and 1240) and refortified by Mamluk sultan Baibars in 1266. The moat is the only well-visible Crusader feature left, with very little of the medieval structures being preserved. The castle was rebuilt in the 18th century by Daher al-Umar, the local Arab ruler of the Galilee between the 1730s until 1775. The castle's 18th-century vaulted gatehouse is the most conspicuous structure still standing. This is the time when the Shi'a village of Hunin began developing near the castle. In 1752, a mosque was constructed in Hunin. The dedicatory inscription has been tentatively read as saying that the prayer house was consecrated to Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Shia Imam. The village was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1837, according to Edward Robinson who visited in 1856. In 1875, Victor Guérin visited Hunin. In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Hunin as "[a] village, built of stone, joining on to ruined Crusading castle [..], and containing about 100 Moslems. The situation is on a low ridge just before the hills drop down to the east to the Huleh Valley; the hills round are uncultivated, covered with low scrub, but in the valleys there is some arable land. Water is obtained from numerous cisterns; a birket [pool, reservoir] and spring to the south-east." The Syria-Lebanon-Palestine boundary was a product of the post-World War I Anglo-French partition of Ottoman Syria. British forces had advanced to a position at Tel Hazor against Turkish troops in 1918 and wished to incorporate all the sources of the River Jordan within British-controlled Palestine. Following the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, and the unratified and later annulled Treaty of Sèvres, stemming from the San Remo conference, the 1920 boundary extended the British-controlled area to north of the Sykes-Picot line, a straight line between the midpoint of the Sea of Galilee and Nahariya. The international boundary between Palestine and Lebanon was finally agreed upon by Great Britain and France in 1923, in conjunction with the Treaty of Lausanne, after Britain had been given a League of Nations mandate for Palestine in 1922. In April 1924, Hunin and six other Shiite villages, and an estimated 20 other settlements, were transferred from the French Mandate of Lebanon to the British Mandate of Palestine by France. In the 1931 census of Palestine, the population of Hunin was 1,075, all Muslims, in a total of 233 houses. In the 1945 statistics the population of Hunin (with Hula and Udeisa[dubious – discuss]) was 1620 Muslims, with a total of 14,224 dunams of land. Of this, Arabs used 859 for plantations and irrigated land, 5,987 dunums were allocated to grain farming, while 81 dunams were classified as urban land. In 1945, kibbutz Misgav Am was established on what was the northern part of village land. The people of Hunin maintained good relations with their Jewish neighbors but had strained relations with the Sunni Muslims of Safed. In May of 1948 during the 1948 Palestine war, Hunin was attacked by the Palmach in a raid that caused most of the villagers to flee to Lebanon, leaving only 400 residents remaining in the village. During a meeting in August 1948, the mukhtars of Hunin and other Shiite villages met with the Jews of kibbutz Kfar Giladi, declaring their willingness to be good citizens of Israel. Their proposal was conveyed to the Israeli government, where it received enthusiastic support from the Minorities Minister Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit. A report was made by the Ministry of Minority Affairs recommending that such an agreement be reached with the 4,700 or so Shi'ites in the region to promote friendly relations with southern Lebanon, to take advantage of the Shi'ites' poor relationship with the majority Sunnis, and to enhance the prospect of a future extension of the border. This proposal was not accepted, despite the support of the Minister of Minority Affairs, Sheetrit. In August, more inhabitants of Hunin were forced to flee by the IDF, as part of the broader 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. Four village women were raped and murdered by Israeli soldiers during the summer. On 2 September 1948, the IDF raided the village blowing up 20 houses, killing a son of the mukhtar and 19 others and expelling the remaining villagers. Most of the villagers took refuge in Shiite villages in Lebanon. The site of the former village became part of the newly established State of Israel and in 1951, moshav Margaliot was established just south of the village site. See also References Bibliography External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StatView] | [TOKENS: 726] |
Contents StatView StatView is a statistics application originally released for Apple Macintosh computers in 1985. StatView was one of the first statistics applications to have a graphical user interface, capitalizing on the Macintosh's. A user saw a spreadsheet of their data, comprising columns that could be integers, long integers, real numbers, strings, or categories, and rows that were usually cases (such as individual people for psychology data). Columns had informative headings; rows were numbered. Category data looked like strings (e.g., a column headed "sex" would have entries of "male" and "female", but these were coded by the application as integers). Category data were used to perform inferential statistical tests such as t tests, ANOVAs, and chi square tests. To calculate statistics, a user clicked on particular column headings, designating them as an x value and one or more y values. Then the user used the application's menus to choose descriptive statistics or inferential statistics. For example, a user's spreadsheet might contain columns for names of a participant in a survey (a string), sex (a category variable), IQ (integer), and years using a PC (real). By designating number of years using a PC as an x variable and IQ as a y variable, the user could then choose from a menu to perform a regression. The user then had to choose from another menu how to view the regression in a separate window, either as a table, in which case the regression equation and ANOVA were displayed, or as a scattergram, in which case a graph of the data and the regression line were shown. Contents of the analysis window could be copied either as text or as a PICT. StatView was initially distributed by BrainPower Inc from California. It grew up with the Macintosh, changing owners along the way. StatView 3 to 5 were distributed by Abacus Corporation. It was then bought by SAS which discontinued it in favor of JMP. The application continued to run under Classic emulation with Apple's Mac OS X, but could not run on Intel Macintoshes. As of 2014[update], it still runs under OS 10.7.5 emulation using Basilisk II. StatView 2 was called StatView SE + Graphics. It included ANOVA with one repeated-measure and, remarkably, a factor analysis. In StatView 4, the user approach changed from touching the to-be-analyzed data in the spreadsheet to clicking on column names in a separate window. This lack of immediacy was compensated for by an increase in the number of statistical tests that could be performed and in the power of existing tests. For example, multiway repeated-measures factors could be included in ANOVAs, with the only limit being the memory allocated to the application. There were ANCOVA and MANOVA too. StatView 4 also became available for PCs. Statview 5.01 for Windows runs without issue on Windows XP, Windows 7 Home and Pro, both 32- and 64-bit systems. (This does not appear to actually be the case, the only method on Windows 7 appears to be using XP Mode.) It appears to run without issue in Windows 8 under Classic Shell. Despite its lack of availability and support and the difficulty of running the application on Mac computers current in 2009, StatView still has some loyal users. A former StatView employee is sometimes able to rescue old data trapped in StatView formats and offers this service in exchange for charitable contributions to worthy causes. References Further reading |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_News#cite_note-7] | [TOKENS: 8810] |
Contents BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online news coverage. The service has over 5,500 journalists working across its output including in 50 foreign news bureaus where more than 250 foreign correspondents are stationed. Deborah Turness has been the CEO of news and current affairs since September 2022. In 2019, it was reported in an Ofcom report that the BBC spent £136m on news during the period April 2018 to March 2019. BBC News' domestic, global and online news divisions are housed within the largest live newsroom in Europe, in Broadcasting House in central London. Parliamentary coverage is produced and broadcast from studios in London. Through BBC English Regions, the BBC also has regional centres across England and national news centres in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. All nations and English regions produce their own local news programmes and other current affairs and sport programmes. The BBC is a quasi-autonomous corporation authorised by royal charter, making it operationally independent of the government. As of 2024, the BBC reaches an average of 450 million people per week, with the BBC World Service accounting for 320 million people. History This is London calling – 2LO calling. Here is the first general news bulletin, copyright by Reuters, Press Association, Exchange Telegraph and Central News. — BBC news programme opening during the 1920s The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first radio bulletin from radio station 2LO on 14 November 1922. Wishing to avoid competition, newspaper publishers persuaded the government to ban the BBC from broadcasting news before 7 pm, and to force it to use wire service copy instead of reporting on its own. The BBC gradually gained the right to edit the copy and, in 1934, created its own news operation. However, it could not broadcast news before 6 p.m. until World War II. In addition to news, Gaumont British and Movietone cinema newsreels had been broadcast on the TV service since 1936, with the BBC producing its own equivalent Television Newsreel programme from January 1948. A weekly Children's Newsreel was inaugurated on 23 April 1950, to around 350,000 receivers. The network began simulcasting its radio news on television in 1946, with a still picture of Big Ben. Televised bulletins began on 5 July 1954, broadcast from leased studios within Alexandra Palace in London. The public's interest in television and live events was stimulated by Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. It is estimated that up to 27 million people viewed the programme in the UK, overtaking radio's audience of 12 million for the first time. Those live pictures were fed from 21 cameras in central London to Alexandra Palace for transmission, and then on to other UK transmitters opened in time for the event. That year, there were around two million TV Licences held in the UK, rising to over three million the following year, and four and a half million by 1955. Television news, although physically separate from its radio counterpart, was still firmly under radio news' control in the 1950s. Correspondents provided reports for both outlets, and the first televised bulletin, shown on 5 July 1954 on the then BBC television service and presented by Richard Baker, involved his providing narration off-screen while stills were shown. This was then followed by the customary Television Newsreel with a recorded commentary by John Snagge (and on other occasions by Andrew Timothy). On-screen newsreaders were introduced a year later in 1955 – Kenneth Kendall (the first to appear in vision), Robert Dougall, and Richard Baker—three weeks before ITN's launch on 21 September 1955. Mainstream television production had started to move out of Alexandra Palace in 1950 to larger premises – mainly at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush, west London – taking Current Affairs (then known as Talks Department) with it. It was from here that the first Panorama, a new documentary programme, was transmitted on 11 November 1953, with Richard Dimbleby becoming anchor in 1955. In 1958, Hugh Carleton Greene became head of News and Current Affairs. On 1 January 1960, Greene became Director-General. Greene made changes that were aimed at making BBC reporting more similar to its competitor ITN, which had been highly rated by study groups held by Greene. A newsroom was created at Alexandra Palace, television reporters were recruited and given the opportunity to write and voice their own scripts, without having to cover stories for radio too. On 20 June 1960, Nan Winton, the first female BBC network newsreader, appeared in vision. 19 September 1960 saw the start of the radio news and current affairs programme The Ten O'clock News. BBC2 started transmission on 20 April 1964 and began broadcasting a new show, Newsroom. The World at One, a lunchtime news programme, began on 4 October 1965 on the then Home Service, and the year before News Review had started on television. News Review was a summary of the week's news, first broadcast on Sunday, 26 April 1964 on BBC 2 and harking back to the weekly Newsreel Review of the Week, produced from 1951, to open programming on Sunday evenings–the difference being that this incarnation had subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. As this was the decade before electronic caption generation, each superimposition ("super") had to be produced on paper or card, synchronised manually to studio and news footage, committed to tape during the afternoon, and broadcast early evening. Thus Sundays were no longer a quiet day for news at Alexandra Palace. The programme ran until the 1980s – by then using electronic captions, known as Anchor – to be superseded by Ceefax subtitling (a similar Teletext format), and the signing of such programmes as See Hear (from 1981). On Sunday 17 September 1967, The World This Weekend, a weekly news and current affairs programme, launched on what was then Home Service, but soon-to-be Radio 4. Preparations for colour began in the autumn of 1967 and on Thursday 7 March 1968 Newsroom on BBC2 moved to an early evening slot, becoming the first UK news programme to be transmitted in colour – from Studio A at Alexandra Palace. News Review and Westminster (the latter a weekly review of Parliamentary happenings) were "colourised" shortly after. However, much of the insert material was still in black and white, as initially only a part of the film coverage shot in and around London was on colour reversal film stock, and all regional and many international contributions were still in black and white. Colour facilities at Alexandra Palace were technically very limited for the next eighteen months, as it had only one RCA colour Quadruplex videotape machine and, eventually two Pye plumbicon colour telecines–although the news colour service started with just one. Black and white national bulletins on BBC 1 continued to originate from Studio B on weekdays, along with Town and Around, the London regional "opt out" programme broadcast throughout the 1960s (and the BBC's first regional news programme for the South East), until it started to be replaced by Nationwide on Tuesday to Thursday from Lime Grove Studios early in September 1969. Town and Around was never to make the move to Television Centre – instead it became London This Week which aired on Mondays and Fridays only, from the new TVC studios. The BBC moved production out of Alexandra Palace in 1969. BBC Television News resumed operations the next day with a lunchtime bulletin on BBC1 – in black and white – from Television Centre, where it remained until March 2013. This move to a smaller studio with better technical facilities allowed Newsroom and News Review to replace back projection with colour-separation overlay. During the 1960s, satellite communication had become possible; however, it was some years before digital line-store conversion was able to undertake the process seamlessly. On 14 September 1970, the first Nine O'Clock News was broadcast on television. Robert Dougall presented the first week from studio N1 – described by The Guardian as "a sort of polystyrene padded cell"—the bulletin having been moved from the earlier time of 20.50 as a response to the ratings achieved by ITN's News at Ten, introduced three years earlier on the rival ITV. Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall presented subsequent weeks, thus echoing those first television bulletins of the mid-1950s. Angela Rippon became the first female news presenter of the Nine O'Clock News in 1975. Her work outside the news was controversial at the time, appearing on The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show in 1976 singing and dancing. The first edition of John Craven's Newsround, initially intended only as a short series and later renamed just Newsround, came from studio N3 on 4 April 1972. Afternoon television news bulletins during the mid to late 1970s were broadcast from the BBC newsroom itself, rather than one of the three news studios. The newsreader would present to camera while sitting on the edge of a desk; behind him staff would be seen working busily at their desks. This period corresponded with when the Nine O'Clock News got its next makeover, and would use a CSO background of the newsroom from that very same camera each weekday evening. Also in the mid-1970s, the late night news on BBC2 was briefly renamed Newsnight, but this was not to last, or be the same programme as we know today – that would be launched in 1980 – and it soon reverted to being just a news summary with the early evening BBC2 news expanded to become Newsday. News on radio was to change in the 1970s, and on Radio 4 in particular, brought about by the arrival of new editor Peter Woon from television news and the implementation of the Broadcasting in the Seventies report. These included the introduction of correspondents into news bulletins where previously only a newsreader would present, as well as the inclusion of content gathered in the preparation process. New programmes were also added to the daily schedule, PM and The World Tonight as part of the plan for the station to become a "wholly speech network". Newsbeat launched as the news service on Radio 1 on 10 September 1973. On 23 September 1974, a teletext system which was launched to bring news content on television screens using text only was launched. Engineers originally began developing such a system to bring news to deaf viewers, but the system was expanded. The Ceefax service became much more diverse before it ceased on 23 October 2012: it not only had subtitling for all channels, it also gave information such as weather, flight times and film reviews. By the end of the decade, the practice of shooting on film for inserts in news broadcasts was declining, with the introduction of ENG technology into the UK. The equipment would gradually become less cumbersome – the BBC's first attempts had been using a Philips colour camera with backpack base station and separate portable Sony U-matic recorder in the latter half of the decade. In 1980, the Iranian Embassy Siege had been shot electronically by the BBC Television News Outside broadcasting team, and the work of reporter Kate Adie, broadcasting live from Prince's Gate, was nominated for BAFTA actuality coverage, but this time beaten by ITN for the 1980 award. Newsnight, the news and current affairs programme, was due to go on air on 23 January 1980, although trade union disagreements meant that its launch from Lime Grove was postponed by a week. On 27 August 1981 Moira Stuart became the first African Caribbean female newsreader to appear on British television. By 1982, ENG technology had become sufficiently reliable for Bernard Hesketh to use an Ikegami camera to cover the Falklands War, coverage for which he won the "Royal Television Society Cameraman of the Year" award and a BAFTA nomination – the first time that BBC News had relied upon an electronic camera, rather than film, in a conflict zone. BBC News won the BAFTA for its actuality coverage, however the event has become remembered in television terms for Brian Hanrahan's reporting where he coined the phrase "I'm not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I counted them all out and I counted them all back" to circumvent restrictions, and which has become cited as an example of good reporting under pressure. The first BBC breakfast television programme, Breakfast Time also launched during the 1980s, on 17 January 1983 from Lime Grove Studio E and two weeks before its ITV rival TV-am. Frank Bough, Selina Scott, and Nick Ross helped to wake viewers with a relaxed style of presenting. The Six O'Clock News first aired on 3 September 1984, eventually becoming the most watched news programme in the UK (however, since 2006 it has been overtaken by the BBC News at Ten). In October 1984, images of millions of people starving to death in the Ethiopian famine were shown in Michael Buerk's Six O'Clock News reports. The BBC News crew were the first to document the famine, with Buerk's report on 23 October describing it as "a biblical famine in the 20th century" and "the closest thing to hell on Earth". The BBC News report shocked Britain, motivating its citizens to inundate relief agencies, such as Save the Children, with donations, and to bring global attention to the crisis in Ethiopia. The news report was also watched by Bob Geldof, who would organise the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" to raise money for famine relief followed by the Live Aid concert in July 1985. Starting in 1981, the BBC gave a common theme to its main news bulletins with new electronic titles–a set of computer-animated "stripes" forming a circle on a red background with a "BBC News" typescript appearing below the circle graphics, and a theme tune consisting of brass and keyboards. The Nine used a similar (striped) number 9. The red background was replaced by a blue from 1985 until 1987. By 1987, the BBC had decided to re-brand its bulletins and established individual styles again for each one with differing titles and music, the weekend and holiday bulletins branded in a similar style to the Nine, although the "stripes" introduction continued to be used until 1989 on occasions where a news bulletin was screened out of the running order of the schedule. In 1987, John Birt resurrected the practice of correspondents working for both TV and radio with the introduction of bi-media journalism. During the 1990s, a wider range of services began to be offered by BBC News, with the split of BBC World Service Television to become BBC World (news and current affairs), and BBC Prime (light entertainment). Content for a 24-hour news channel was thus required, followed in 1997 with the launch of domestic equivalent BBC News 24. Rather than set bulletins, ongoing reports and coverage was needed to keep both channels functioning and meant a greater emphasis in budgeting for both was necessary. In 1998, after 66 years at Broadcasting House, the BBC Radio News operation moved to BBC Television Centre. New technology, provided by Silicon Graphics, came into use in 1993 for a re-launch of the main BBC 1 bulletins, creating a virtual set which appeared to be much larger than it was physically. The relaunch also brought all bulletins into the same style of set with only small changes in colouring, titles, and music to differentiate each. A computer generated cut-glass sculpture of the BBC coat of arms was the centrepiece of the programme titles until the large scale corporate rebranding of news services in 1999. In November 1997, BBC News Online was launched, following individual webpages for major news events such as the 1996 Olympic Games, 1997 general election, and the death of Princess Diana. In 1999, the biggest relaunch occurred, with BBC One bulletins, BBC World, BBC News 24, and BBC News Online all adopting a common style. One of the most significant changes was the gradual adoption of the corporate image by the BBC regional news programmes, giving a common style across local, national and international BBC television news. This also included Newyddion, the main news programme of Welsh language channel S4C, produced by BBC News Wales. Following the relaunch of BBC News in 1999, regional headlines were included at the start of the BBC One news bulletins in 2000. The English regions did however lose five minutes at the end of their bulletins, due to a new headline round-up at 18:55. 2000 also saw the Nine O'Clock News moved to the later time of 22:00. This was in response to ITN who had just moved their popular News at Ten programme to 23:00. ITN briefly returned News at Ten but following poor ratings when head-to-head against the BBC's Ten O'Clock News, the ITN bulletin was moved to 22.30, where it remained until 14 January 2008. The retirement in 2009 of Peter Sissons and departure of Michael Buerk from the Ten O'Clock News led to changes in the BBC One bulletin presenting team on 20 January 2003. The Six O'Clock News became double headed with George Alagiah and Sophie Raworth after Huw Edwards and Fiona Bruce moved to present the Ten. A new set design featuring a projected fictional newsroom backdrop was introduced, followed on 16 February 2004 by new programme titles to match those of BBC News 24. BBC News 24 and BBC World introduced a new style of presentation in December 2003, that was slightly altered on 5 July 2004 to mark 50 years of BBC Television News. On 7 March 2005 director general Mark Thompson launched the "Creative Futures" project to restructure the organisation. The individual positions of editor of the One and Six O'Clock News were replaced by a new daytime position in November 2005. Kevin Bakhurst became the first Controller of BBC News 24, replacing the position of editor. Amanda Farnsworth became daytime editor while Craig Oliver was later named editor of the Ten O'Clock News. Bulletins received new titles and a new set design in May 2006, to allow for Breakfast to move into the main studio for the first time since 1997. The new set featured Barco videowall screens with a background of the London skyline used for main bulletins and originally an image of cirrus clouds against a blue sky for Breakfast. This was later replaced following viewer criticism. The studio bore similarities with the ITN-produced ITV News in 2004, though ITN uses a CSO Virtual studio rather than the actual screens at BBC News. BBC News became part of a new BBC Journalism group in November 2006 as part of a restructuring of the BBC. The then-Director of BBC News, Helen Boaden reported to the then-Deputy Director-General and head of the journalism group, Mark Byford until he was made redundant in 2010. On 18 October 2007, ED Mark Thompson announced a six-year plan, "Delivering Creative Futures" (based on his project begun in March 2005), merging the television current affairs department into a new "News Programmes" division. Thompson's announcement, in response to a £2 billion shortfall in funding, would, he said, deliver "a smaller but fitter BBC" in the digital age, by cutting its payroll and, in 2013, selling Television Centre. The various separate newsrooms for television, radio and online operations were merged into a single multimedia newsroom. Programme making within the newsrooms was brought together to form a multimedia programme making department. BBC World Service director Peter Horrocks said that the changes would achieve efficiency at a time of cost-cutting at the BBC. In his blog, he wrote that by using the same resources across the various broadcast media meant fewer stories could be covered, or by following more stories, there would be fewer ways to broadcast them. A new graphics and video playout system was introduced for production of television bulletins in January 2007. This coincided with a new structure to BBC World News bulletins, editors favouring a section devoted to analysing the news stories reported on. The first new BBC News bulletin since the Six O'Clock News was announced in July 2007 following a successful trial in the Midlands. The summary, lasting 90 seconds, has been broadcast at 20:00 on weekdays since December 2007 and bears similarities with 60 Seconds on BBC Three, but also includes headlines from the various BBC regions and a weather summary. As part of a long-term cost cutting programme, bulletins were renamed the BBC News at One, Six and Ten respectively in April 2008 while BBC News 24 was renamed BBC News and moved into the same studio as the bulletins at BBC Television Centre. BBC World was renamed BBC World News and regional news programmes were also updated with the new presentation style, designed by Lambie-Nairn. 2008 also saw tri-media introduced across TV, radio, and online. The studio moves also meant that Studio N9, previously used for BBC World, was closed, and operations moved to the previous studio of BBC News 24. Studio N9 was later refitted to match the new branding, and was used for the BBC's UK local elections and European elections coverage in early June 2009. A strategy review of the BBC in March 2010, confirmed that having "the best journalism in the world" would form one of five key editorial policies, as part of changes subject to public consultation and BBC Trust approval. After a period of suspension in late 2012, Helen Boaden ceased to be the Director of BBC News. On 16 April 2013, incoming BBC Director-General Tony Hall named James Harding, a former editor of The Times of London newspaper as Director of News and Current Affairs. From August 2012 to March 2013, all news operations moved from Television Centre to new facilities in the refurbished and extended Broadcasting House, in Portland Place. The move began in October 2012, and also included the BBC World Service, which moved from Bush House following the expiry of the BBC's lease. This new extension to the north and east, referred to as "New Broadcasting House", includes several new state-of-the-art radio and television studios centred around an 11-storey atrium. The move began with the domestic programme The Andrew Marr Show on 2 September 2012, and concluded with the move of the BBC News channel and domestic news bulletins on 18 March 2013. The newsroom houses all domestic bulletins and programmes on both television and radio, as well as the BBC World Service international radio networks and the BBC World News international television channel. BBC News and CBS News established an editorial and newsgathering partnership in 2017, replacing an earlier long-standing partnership between BBC News and ABC News. In an October 2018 Simmons Research survey of 38 news organisations, BBC News was ranked the fourth most trusted news organisation by Americans, behind CBS News, ABC News and The Wall Street Journal. In January 2020 the BBC announced a BBC News savings target of £80 million per year by 2022, involving about 450 staff reductions from the current 6,000. BBC director of news and current affairs Fran Unsworth said there would be further moves toward digital broadcasting, in part to attract back a youth audience, and more pooling of reporters to stop separate teams covering the same news. A further 70 staff reductions were announced in July 2020. BBC Three began airing the news programme The Catch Up in February 2022. It is presented by Levi Jouavel, Kirsty Grant, and Callum Tulley and aims to get the channel's target audience (16 to 34-year olds) to make sense of the world around them while also highlighting optimistic stories. Compared to its predecessor 60 Seconds, The Catch Up is three times longer, running for about three minutes and not airing during weekends. According to its annual report as of December 2021[update], India has the largest number of people using BBC services in the world. In May 2025, following the earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand, a television news bulletin (BBC News Myanmar) from the Burmese service using a vacated Voice of America satellite frequency began its broadcasts. Programming and reporting In November 2023, BBC News joined with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Paper Trail Media [de] and 69 media partners including Distributed Denial of Secrets and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories to produce the 'Cyprus Confidential' report on the financial network which supports the regime of Vladimir Putin, mostly with connections to Cyprus, and showed Cyprus to have strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned. Government officials including Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides and European lawmakers began responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours, calling for reforms and launching probes. BBC News is responsible for the news programmes and documentary content on the BBC's general television channels, as well as the news coverage on the BBC News Channel in the UK, and 22 hours of programming for the corporation's international BBC World News channel. Coverage for BBC Parliament is carried out on behalf of the BBC at Millbank Studios, though BBC News provides editorial and journalistic content. BBC News content is also output onto the BBC's digital interactive television services under the BBC Red Button brand, and until 2012, on the Ceefax teletext system. The music on all BBC television news programmes was introduced in 1999 and composed by David Lowe. It was part of the re-branding which commenced in 1999 and features 'BBC Pips'. The general theme was used on bulletins on BBC One, News 24, BBC World and local news programmes in the BBC's Nations and Regions. Lowe was also responsible for the music on Radio One's Newsbeat. The theme has had several changes since 1999, the latest in March 2013. The BBC Arabic Television news channel launched on 11 March 2008, a Persian-language channel followed on 14 January 2009, broadcasting from the Peel wing of Broadcasting House; both include news, analysis, interviews, sports and highly cultural programmes and are run by the BBC World Service and funded from a grant-in-aid from the British Foreign Office (and not the television licence). The BBC Verify service was launched in 2023 to fact-check news stories, followed by BBC Verify Live in 2025. BBC Radio News produces bulletins for the BBC's national radio stations and provides content for local BBC radio stations via the General News Service (GNS), a BBC-internal news distribution service. BBC News does not produce the BBC's regional news bulletins, which are produced individually by the BBC nations and regions themselves. The BBC World Service broadcasts to some 150 million people in English as well as 27 languages across the globe. BBC Radio News is a patron of the Radio Academy. BBC News Online is the BBC's news website. Launched in November 1997, it is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the UK's internet users for news. The website contains international news coverage as well as entertainment, sport, science, and political news. Mobile apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone systems have been provided since 2010. Many television and radio programmes are also available to view on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds services. The BBC News channel is also available to view 24 hours a day, while video and radio clips are also available within online news articles. In October 2019, BBC News Online launched a mirror on the dark web anonymity network Tor in an effort to circumvent censorship. Criticism The BBC is required by its charter to be free from both political and commercial influence and answers only to its viewers and listeners. This political objectivity is sometimes questioned. For instance, The Daily Telegraph (3 August 2005) carried a letter from the KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky, referring to it as "The Red Service". Books have been written on the subject, including anti-BBC works like Truth Betrayed by W J West and The Truth Twisters by Richard Deacon. The BBC has been accused of bias by Conservative MPs. The BBC's Editorial Guidelines on Politics and Public Policy state that while "the voices and opinions of opposition parties must be routinely aired and challenged", "the government of the day will often be the primary source of news". The BBC is regularly accused by the government of the day of bias in favour of the opposition and, by the opposition, of bias in favour of the government. Similarly, during times of war, the BBC is often accused by the UK government, or by strong supporters of British military campaigns, of being overly sympathetic to the view of the enemy. An edition of Newsnight at the start of the Falklands War in 1982 was described as "almost treasonable" by John Page, MP, who objected to Peter Snow saying "if we believe the British". During the first Gulf War, critics of the BBC took to using the satirical name "Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation". During the Kosovo War, the BBC were labelled the "Belgrade Broadcasting Corporation" (suggesting favouritism towards the FR Yugoslavia government over ethnic Albanian rebels) by British ministers, although Slobodan Milosević (then FRY president) claimed that the BBC's coverage had been biased against his nation. Conversely, some of those who style themselves anti-establishment in the United Kingdom or who oppose foreign wars have accused the BBC of pro-establishment bias or of refusing to give an outlet to "anti-war" voices. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a study by the Cardiff University School of Journalism of the reporting of the war found that nine out of 10 references to weapons of mass destruction during the war assumed that Iraq possessed them, and only one in 10 questioned this assumption. It also found that, out of the main British broadcasters covering the war, the BBC was the most likely to use the British government and military as its source. It was also the least likely to use independent sources, like the Red Cross, who were more critical of the war. When it came to reporting Iraqi casualties, the study found fewer reports on the BBC than on the other three main channels. The report's author, Justin Lewis, wrote "Far from revealing an anti-war BBC, our findings tend to give credence to those who criticised the BBC for being too sympathetic to the government in its war coverage. Either way, it is clear that the accusation of BBC anti-war bias fails to stand up to any serious or sustained analysis." Prominent BBC appointments are constantly assessed by the British media and political establishment for signs of political bias. The appointment of Greg Dyke as Director-General was highlighted by press sources because Dyke was a Labour Party member and former activist, as well as a friend of Tony Blair. The BBC's former Political Editor, Nick Robinson, was some years ago a chairman of the Young Conservatives and did, as a result, attract informal criticism from the former Labour government, but his predecessor Andrew Marr faced similar claims from the right because he was editor of The Independent, a liberal-leaning newspaper, before his appointment in 2000. Mark Thompson, former Director-General of the BBC, admitted the organisation has been biased "towards the left" in the past. He said, "In the BBC I joined 30 years ago, there was, in much of current affairs, in terms of people's personal politics, which were quite vocal, a massive bias to the left". He then added, "The organization did struggle then with impartiality. Now it is a completely different generation. There is much less overt tribalism among the young journalists who work for the BBC." Following the EU referendum in 2016, some critics suggested that the BBC was biased in favour of leaving the EU. For instance, in 2018, the BBC received complaints from people who took issue that the BBC was not sufficiently covering anti-Brexit marches while giving smaller-scale events hosted by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage more airtime. On the other hand, a poll released by YouGov showed that 45% of people who voted to leave the EU thought that the BBC was 'actively anti-Brexit' compared to 13% of the same kinds of voters who think the BBC is pro-Brexit. In 2008, the BBC Hindi was criticised by some Indian outlets for referring to the terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks as "gunmen". The response to this added to prior criticism from some Indian commentators suggesting that the BBC may have an Indophobic bias. In March 2015, the BBC was criticised for a BBC Storyville documentary interviewing one of the rapists in India. In spite of a ban ordered by the Indian High court, the BBC still aired the documentary "India's Daughter" outside India. BBC News was at the centre of a political controversy following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Three BBC News reports (Andrew Gilligan's on Today, Gavin Hewitt's on The Ten O'Clock News and another on Newsnight) quoted an anonymous source that stated the British government (particularly the Prime Minister's office) had embellished the September Dossier with misleading exaggerations of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities. The government denounced the reports and accused the corporation of poor journalism. In subsequent weeks the corporation stood by the report, saying that it had a reliable source. Following intense media speculation, David Kelly was named in the press as the source for Gilligan's story on 9 July 2003. Kelly was found dead, by suicide, in a field close to his home early on 18 July. An inquiry led by Lord Hutton was announced by the British government the following day to investigate the circumstances leading to Kelly's death, concluding that "Dr. Kelly took his own life." In his report on 28 January 2004, Lord Hutton concluded that Gilligan's original accusation was "unfounded" and the BBC's editorial and management processes were "defective". In particular, it specifically criticised the chain of management that caused the BBC to defend its story. The BBC Director of News, Richard Sambrook, the report said, had accepted Gilligan's word that his story was accurate in spite of his notes being incomplete. Davies had then told the BBC Board of Governors that he was happy with the story and told the Prime Minister that a satisfactory internal inquiry had taken place. The Board of Governors, under the chairman's, Gavyn Davies, guidance, accepted that further investigation of the Government's complaints were unnecessary. Because of the criticism in the Hutton report, Davies resigned on the day of publication. BBC News faced an important test, reporting on itself with the publication of the report, but by common consent (of the Board of Governors) managed this "independently, impartially and honestly". Davies' resignation was followed by the resignation of Director General, Greg Dyke, the following day, and the resignation of Gilligan on 30 January. While undoubtedly a traumatic experience for the corporation, an ICM poll in April 2003 indicated that it had sustained its position as the best and most trusted provider of news. The BBC has faced accusations of holding both anti-Israel and anti-Palestine bias. Douglas Davis, the London correspondent of The Jerusalem Post, has described the BBC's coverage of the Arab–Israeli conflict as "a relentless, one-dimensional portrayal of Israel as a demonic, criminal state and Israelis as brutal oppressors [which] bears all the hallmarks of a concerted campaign of vilification that, wittingly or not, has the effect of delegitimising the Jewish state and pumping oxygen into a dark old European hatred that dared not speak its name for the past half-century.". However two large independent studies, one conducted by Loughborough University and the other by Glasgow University's Media Group concluded that Israeli perspectives are given greater coverage. Critics of the BBC argue that the Balen Report proves systematic bias against Israel in headline news programming. The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph criticised the BBC for spending hundreds of thousands of British tax payers' pounds from preventing the report being released to the public. Jeremy Bowen, the Middle East Editor for BBC world news, was singled out specifically for bias by the BBC Trust which concluded that he violated "BBC guidelines on accuracy and impartiality." An independent panel appointed by the BBC Trust was set up in 2006 to review the impartiality of the BBC's coverage of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The panel's assessment was that "apart from individual lapses, there was little to suggest deliberate or systematic bias." While noting a "commitment to be fair accurate and impartial" and praising much of the BBC's coverage the independent panel concluded "that BBC output does not consistently give a full and fair account of the conflict. In some ways the picture is incomplete and, in that sense, misleading." It notes that, "the failure to convey adequately the disparity in the Israeli and Palestinian experience, [reflects] the fact that one side is in control and the other lives under occupation". Writing in the Financial Times, Philip Stephens, one of the panellists, later accused the BBC's director-general, Mark Thompson, of misrepresenting the panel's conclusions. He further opined "My sense is that BBC news reporting has also lost a once iron-clad commitment to objectivity and a necessary respect for the democratic process. If I am right, the BBC, too, is lost". Mark Thompson published a rebuttal in the FT the next day. The description by one BBC correspondent reporting on the funeral of Yassir Arafat that she had been left with tears in her eyes led to other questions of impartiality, particularly from Martin Walker in a guest opinion piece in The Times, who picked out the apparent case of Fayad Abu Shamala, the BBC Arabic Service correspondent, who told a Hamas rally on 6 May 2001, that journalists in Gaza were "waging the campaign shoulder to shoulder together with the Palestinian people". Walker argues that the independent inquiry was flawed for two reasons. Firstly, because the time period over which it was conducted (August 2005 to January 2006) surrounded the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Ariel Sharon's stroke, which produced more positive coverage than usual. Furthermore, he wrote, the inquiry only looked at the BBC's domestic coverage, and excluded output on the BBC World Service and BBC World. Tom Gross accused the BBC of glorifying Hamas suicide bombers, and condemned its policy of inviting guests such as Jenny Tonge and Tom Paulin who have compared Israeli soldiers to Nazis. Writing for the BBC, Paulin said Israeli soldiers should be "shot dead" like Hitler's S.S, and said he could "understand how suicide bombers feel". The BBC also faced criticism for not airing a Disasters Emergency Committee aid appeal for Palestinians who suffered in Gaza during 22-day war there between late 2008 and early 2009. Most other major UK broadcasters did air this appeal, but rival Sky News did not. British journalist Julie Burchill has accused BBC of creating a "climate of fear" for British Jews over its "excessive coverage" of Israel compared to other nations. In light of the Gaza war, the BBC suspended seven Arab journalists over allegations of expressing support for Hamas via social media. BBC and ABC share video segments and reporters as needed in producing their newscasts. with the BBC showing ABC World News Tonight with David Muir in the UK. However, in July 2017, the BBC announced a new partnership with CBS News allows both organisations to share video, editorial content, and additional newsgathering resources in New York, London, Washington and around the world. BBC News subscribes to wire services from leading international agencies including PA Media (formerly Press Association), Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. In April 2017, the BBC dropped Associated Press in favour of an enhanced service from AFP. BBC News reporters and broadcasts are now and have in the past been banned in several countries primarily for reporting which has been unfavourable to the ruling government. For example, correspondents were banned by the former apartheid regime of South Africa. The BBC was banned in Zimbabwe under Mugabe for eight years as a terrorist organisation until being allowed to operate again over a year after the 2008 elections. The BBC was banned in Burma (officially Myanmar) after their coverage and commentary on anti-government protests there in September 2007. The ban was lifted four years later in September 2011. Other cases have included Uzbekistan, China, and Pakistan. BBC Persian, the BBC's Persian language news site, was blocked from the Iranian internet in 2006. The BBC News website was made available in China again in March 2008, but as of October 2014[update], was blocked again. In June 2015, the Rwandan government placed an indefinite ban on BBC broadcasts following the airing of a controversial documentary regarding the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Rwanda's Untold Story, broadcast on BBC2 on 1 October 2014. The UK's Foreign Office recognised "the hurt caused in Rwanda by some parts of the documentary". In February 2017, reporters from the BBC (as well as the Daily Mail, The New York Times, Politico, CNN, and others) were denied access to a United States White House briefing. In 2017, BBC India was banned for a period of five years from covering all national parks and sanctuaries in India. Following the withdrawal of CGTN's UK broadcaster licence on 4 February 2021 by Ofcom, China banned BBC News from airing in China. See also References External links |below = Category }} |
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Contents Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk (/ˈiːlɒn/ EE-lon; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman and entrepreneur known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter, and xAI. Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of February 2026,[update] Forbes estimates his net worth to be around US$852 billion. Born into a wealthy family in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk emigrated in 1989 to Canada; he has Canadian citizenship since his mother was born there. He received bachelor's degrees in 1997 from the University of Pennsylvania before moving to California to pursue business ventures. In 1995, Musk co-founded the software company Zip2. Following its sale in 1999, he co-founded X.com, an online payment company that later merged to form PayPal, which was acquired by eBay in 2002. Musk also became an American citizen in 2002. In 2002, Musk founded the space technology company SpaceX, becoming its CEO and chief engineer; the company has since led innovations in reusable rockets and commercial spaceflight. Musk joined the automaker Tesla as an early investor in 2004 and became its CEO and product architect in 2008; it has since become a leader in electric vehicles. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI to advance artificial intelligence (AI) research, but later left; growing discontent with the organization's direction and their leadership in the AI boom in the 2020s led him to establish xAI, which became a subsidiary of SpaceX in 2026. In 2022, he acquired the social network Twitter, implementing significant changes, and rebranding it as X in 2023. His other businesses include the neurotechnology company Neuralink, which he co-founded in 2016, and the tunneling company the Boring Company, which he founded in 2017. In November 2025, a Tesla pay package worth $1 trillion for Musk was approved, which he is to receive over 10 years if he meets specific goals. Musk was the largest donor in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, where he supported Donald Trump. After Trump was inaugurated as president in early 2025, Musk served as Senior Advisor to the President and as the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). After a public feud with Trump, Musk left the Trump administration and returned to managing his companies. Musk is a supporter of global far-right figures, causes, and political parties. His political activities, views, and statements have made him a polarizing figure. Musk has been criticized for COVID-19 misinformation, promoting conspiracy theories, and affirming antisemitic, racist, and transphobic comments. His acquisition of Twitter was controversial due to a subsequent increase in hate speech and the spread of misinformation on the service, following his pledge to decrease censorship. His role in the second Trump administration attracted public backlash, particularly in response to DOGE. The emails he sent to Jeffrey Epstein are included in the Epstein files, which were published between 2025–26 and became a topic of worldwide debate. Early life Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa's administrative capital. He is of British and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. His mother, Maye (née Haldeman), is a model and dietitian born in Saskatchewan, Canada, and raised in South Africa. Musk therefore holds both South African and Canadian citizenship from birth. His father, Errol Musk, is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, emerald dealer, and property developer, who partly owned a rental lodge at Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. His maternal grandfather, Joshua N. Haldeman, who died in a plane crash when Elon was a toddler, was an American-born Canadian chiropractor, aviator and political activist in the technocracy movement who moved to South Africa in 1950. Elon has a younger brother, Kimbal, a younger sister, Tosca, and four paternal half-siblings. Musk was baptized as a child in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Despite both Elon and Errol previously stating that Errol was a part owner of a Zambian emerald mine, in 2023, Errol recounted that the deal he made was to receive "a portion of the emeralds produced at three small mines". Errol was elected to the Pretoria City Council as a representative of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party and has said that his children shared their father's dislike of apartheid. After his parents divorced in 1979, Elon, aged around 9, chose to live with his father because Errol Musk had an Encyclopædia Britannica and a computer. Elon later regretted his decision and became estranged from his father. Elon has recounted trips to a wilderness school that he described as a "paramilitary Lord of the Flies" where "bullying was a virtue" and children were encouraged to fight over rations. In one incident, after an altercation with a fellow pupil, Elon was thrown down concrete steps and beaten severely, leading to him being hospitalized for his injuries. Elon described his father berating him after he was discharged from the hospital. Errol denied berating Elon and claimed, "The [other] boy had just lost his father to suicide, and Elon had called him stupid. Elon had a tendency to call people stupid. How could I possibly blame that child?" Elon was an enthusiastic reader of books, and had attributed his success in part to having read The Lord of the Rings, the Foundation series, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. At age ten, he developed an interest in computing and video games, teaching himself how to program from the VIC-20 user manual. At age twelve, Elon sold his BASIC-based game Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500 (equivalent to $1,600 in 2025). Musk attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School, Bryanston High School, and then Pretoria Boys High School, where he graduated. Musk was a decent but unexceptional student, earning a 61/100 in Afrikaans and a B on his senior math certification. Musk applied for a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother to avoid South Africa's mandatory military service, which would have forced him to participate in the apartheid regime, as well as to ease his path to immigration to the United States. While waiting for his application to be processed, he attended the University of Pretoria for five months. Musk arrived in Canada in June 1989, connected with a second cousin in Saskatchewan, and worked odd jobs, including at a farm and a lumber mill. In 1990, he entered Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Two years later, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied until 1995. Although Musk has said that he earned his degrees in 1995, the University of Pennsylvania did not award them until 1997 – a Bachelor of Arts in physics and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the university's Wharton School. He reportedly hosted large, ticketed house parties to help pay for tuition, and wrote a business plan for an electronic book-scanning service similar to Google Books. In 1994, Musk held two internships in Silicon Valley: one at energy storage startup Pinnacle Research Institute, which investigated electrolytic supercapacitors for energy storage, and another at Palo Alto–based startup Rocket Science Games. In 1995, he was accepted to a graduate program in materials science at Stanford University, but did not enroll. Musk decided to join the Internet boom of the 1990s, applying for a job at Netscape, to which he reportedly never received a response. The Washington Post reported that Musk lacked legal authorization to remain and work in the United States after failing to enroll at Stanford. In response, Musk said he was allowed to work at that time and that his student visa transitioned to an H1-B. According to numerous former business associates and shareholders, Musk said he was on a student visa at the time. Business career In 1995, Musk, his brother Kimbal, and Greg Kouri founded the web software company Zip2 with funding from a group of angel investors. They housed the venture at a small rented office in Palo Alto. Replying to Rolling Stone, Musk denounced the notion that they started their company with funds borrowed from Errol Musk, but in a tweet, he recognized that his father contributed 10% of a later funding round. The company developed and marketed an Internet city guide for the newspaper publishing industry, with maps, directions, and yellow pages. According to Musk, "The website was up during the day and I was coding it at night, seven days a week, all the time." To impress investors, Musk built a large plastic structure around a standard computer to create the impression that Zip2 was powered by a small supercomputer. The Musk brothers obtained contracts with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, and persuaded the board of directors to abandon plans for a merger with CitySearch. Musk's attempts to become CEO were thwarted by the board. Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash in February 1999 (equivalent to $590,000,000 in 2025), and Musk received $22 million (equivalent to $43,000,000 in 2025) for his 7-percent share. In 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company. The startup was one of the first federally insured online banks, and, in its initial months of operation, over 200,000 customers joined the service. The company's investors regarded Musk as inexperienced and replaced him with Intuit CEO Bill Harris by the end of the year. The following year, X.com merged with online bank Confinity to avoid competition. Founded by Max Levchin and Peter Thiel, Confinity had its own money-transfer service, PayPal, which was more popular than X.com's service. Within the merged company, Musk returned as CEO. Musk's preference for Microsoft software over Unix created a rift in the company and caused Thiel to resign. Due to resulting technological issues and lack of a cohesive business model, the board ousted Musk and replaced him with Thiel in 2000.[b] Under Thiel, the company focused on the PayPal service and was renamed PayPal in 2001. In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion (equivalent to $2,700,000,000 in 2025) in stock, of which Musk—the largest shareholder with 11.72% of shares—received $175.8 million (equivalent to $320,000,000 in 2025). In 2017, Musk purchased the domain X.com from PayPal for an undisclosed amount, stating that it had sentimental value. In 2001, Musk became involved with the nonprofit Mars Society and discussed funding plans to place a growth-chamber for plants on Mars. Seeking a way to launch the greenhouse payloads into space, Musk made two unsuccessful trips to Moscow to purchase intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) from Russian companies NPO Lavochkin and Kosmotras. Musk instead decided to start a company to build affordable rockets. With $100 million of his early fortune, (equivalent to $180,000,000 in 2025) Musk founded SpaceX in May 2002 and became the company's CEO and Chief Engineer. SpaceX attempted its first launch of the Falcon 1 rocket in 2006. Although the rocket failed to reach Earth orbit, it was awarded a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program contract from NASA, then led by Mike Griffin. After two more failed attempts that nearly caused Musk to go bankrupt, SpaceX succeeded in launching the Falcon 1 into orbit in 2008. Later that year, SpaceX received a $1.6 billion NASA contract (equivalent to $2,400,000,000 in 2025) for Falcon 9-launched Dragon spacecraft flights to the International Space Station (ISS), replacing the Space Shuttle after its 2011 retirement. In 2012, the Dragon vehicle docked with the ISS, a first for a commercial spacecraft. Working towards its goal of reusable rockets, in 2015 SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of a Falcon 9 on a land platform. Later landings were achieved on autonomous spaceport drone ships, an ocean-based recovery platform. In 2018, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy; the inaugural mission carried Musk's personal Tesla Roadster as a dummy payload. Since 2019, SpaceX has been developing Starship, a reusable, super heavy-lift launch vehicle intended to replace the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. In 2020, SpaceX launched its first crewed flight, the Demo-2, becoming the first private company to place astronauts into orbit and dock a crewed spacecraft with the ISS. In 2024, NASA awarded SpaceX an $843 million (equivalent to $865,000,000 in 2025) contract to build a spacecraft that NASA will use to deorbit the ISS at the end of its lifespan. In 2015, SpaceX began development of the Starlink constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to provide satellite Internet access. After the launch of prototype satellites in 2018, the first large constellation was deployed in May 2019. As of May 2025[update], over 7,600 Starlink satellites are operational, comprising 65% of all operational Earth satellites. The total cost of the decade-long project to design, build, and deploy the constellation was estimated by SpaceX in 2020 to be $10 billion (equivalent to $12,000,000,000 in 2025).[c] During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Musk provided free Starlink service to Ukraine, permitting Internet access and communication at a yearly cost to SpaceX of $400 million (equivalent to $440,000,000 in 2025). However, Musk refused to block Russian state media on Starlink. In 2023, Musk denied Ukraine's request to activate Starlink over Crimea to aid an attack against the Russian navy, citing fears of a nuclear response. Tesla, Inc., originally Tesla Motors, was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Both men played active roles in the company's early development prior to Musk's involvement. Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004; he invested $6.35 million (equivalent to $11,000,000 in 2025), became the majority shareholder, and joined Tesla's board of directors as chairman. Musk took an active role within the company and oversaw Roadster product design, but was not deeply involved in day-to-day business operations. Following a series of escalating conflicts in 2007 and the 2008 financial crisis, Eberhard was ousted from the firm.[page needed] Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect in 2008. A 2009 lawsuit settlement with Eberhard designated Musk as a Tesla co-founder, along with Tarpenning and two others. Tesla began delivery of the Roadster, an electric sports car, in 2008. With sales of about 2,500 vehicles, it was the first mass production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells. Under Musk, Tesla has since launched several well-selling electric vehicles, including the four-door sedan Model S (2012), the crossover Model X (2015), the mass-market sedan Model 3 (2017), the crossover Model Y (2020), and the pickup truck Cybertruck (2023). In May 2020, Musk resigned as chairman of the board as part of the settlement of a lawsuit from the SEC over him tweeting that funding had been "secured" for potentially taking Tesla private. The company has also constructed multiple lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle factories, called Gigafactories. Since its initial public offering in 2010, Tesla stock has risen significantly; it became the most valuable carmaker in summer 2020, and it entered the S&P 500 later that year. In October 2021, it reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion (equivalent to $1,200,000,000,000 in 2025), the sixth company in U.S. history to do so. Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for SolarCity, which his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive founded in 2006. By 2013, SolarCity was the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States. In 2014, Musk promoted the idea of SolarCity building an advanced production facility in Buffalo, New York, triple the size of the largest solar plant in the United States. Construction of the factory started in 2014 and was completed in 2017. It operated as a joint venture with Panasonic until early 2020. Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2 billion in 2016 (equivalent to $2,700,000,000 in 2025) and merged it with its battery unit to create Tesla Energy. The deal's announcement resulted in a more than 10% drop in Tesla's stock price; at the time, SolarCity was facing liquidity issues. Multiple shareholder groups filed a lawsuit against Musk and Tesla's directors, stating that the purchase of SolarCity was done solely to benefit Musk and came at the expense of Tesla and its shareholders. Tesla directors settled the lawsuit in January 2020, leaving Musk the sole remaining defendant. Two years later, the court ruled in Musk's favor. In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup, with an investment of $100 million. Neuralink aims to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence (AI) by creating devices that are embedded in the brain. Such technology could enhance memory or allow the devices to communicate with software. The company also hopes to develop devices to treat neurological conditions like spinal cord injuries. In 2022, Neuralink announced that clinical trials would begin by the end of the year. In September 2023, the Food and Drug Administration approved Neuralink to initiate six-year human trials. Neuralink has conducted animal testing on macaques at the University of California, Davis. In 2021, the company released a video in which a macaque played the video game Pong via a Neuralink implant. The company's animal trials—which have caused the deaths of some monkeys—have led to claims of animal cruelty. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has alleged that Neuralink violated the Animal Welfare Act. Employees have complained that pressure from Musk to accelerate development has led to botched experiments and unnecessary animal deaths. In 2022, a federal probe was launched into possible animal welfare violations by Neuralink.[needs update] In 2017, Musk founded the Boring Company to construct tunnels; he also revealed plans for specialized, underground, high-occupancy vehicles that could travel up to 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) and thus circumvent above-ground traffic in major cities. Early in 2017, the company began discussions with regulatory bodies and initiated construction of a 30-foot (9.1 m) wide, 50-foot (15 m) long, and 15-foot (4.6 m) deep "test trench" on the premises of SpaceX's offices, as that required no permits. The Los Angeles tunnel, less than two miles (3.2 km) in length, debuted to journalists in 2018. It used Tesla Model Xs and was reported to be a rough ride while traveling at suboptimal speeds. Two tunnel projects announced in 2018, in Chicago and West Los Angeles, have been canceled. A tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center was completed in early 2021. Local officials have approved further expansions of the tunnel system. April 14, 2022 In early 2017, Musk expressed interest in buying Twitter and had questioned the platform's commitment to freedom of speech. By 2022, Musk had reached 9.2% stake in the company, making him the largest shareholder.[d] Musk later agreed to a deal that would appoint him to Twitter's board of directors and prohibit him from acquiring more than 14.9% of the company. Days later, Musk made a $43 billion offer to buy Twitter. By the end of April Musk had successfully concluded his bid for approximately $44 billion. This included approximately $12.5 billion in loans and $21 billion in equity financing. Having backtracked on his initial decision, Musk bought the company on October 27, 2022. Immediately after the acquisition, Musk fired several top Twitter executives including CEO Parag Agrawal; Musk became the CEO instead. Under Elon Musk, Twitter instituted monthly subscriptions for a "blue check", and laid off a significant portion of the company's staff. Musk lessened content moderation and hate speech also increased on the platform after his takeover. In late 2022, Musk released internal documents relating to Twitter's moderation of Hunter Biden's laptop controversy in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. Musk also promised to step down as CEO after a Twitter poll, and five months later, Musk stepped down as CEO and transitioned his role to executive chairman and chief technology officer (CTO). Despite Musk stepping down as CEO, X continues to struggle with challenges such as viral misinformation, hate speech, and antisemitism controversies. Musk has been accused of trying to silence some of his critics such as Twitch streamer Asmongold, who criticized him during one of his streams. Musk has been accused of removing their accounts' blue checkmarks, which hinders visibility and is considered a form of shadow banning, or suspending their accounts without justification. Other activities In August 2013, Musk announced plans for a version of a vactrain, and assigned engineers from SpaceX and Tesla to design a transport system between Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, at an estimated cost of $6 billion. Later that year, Musk unveiled the concept, dubbed the Hyperloop, intended to make travel cheaper than any other mode of transport for such long distances. In December 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI, a not-for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) research company aiming to develop artificial general intelligence, intended to be safe and beneficial to humanity. Musk pledged $1 billion of funding to the company, and initially gave $50 million. In 2018, Musk left the OpenAI board. Since 2018, OpenAI has made significant advances in machine learning. In July 2023, Musk launched the artificial intelligence company xAI, which aims to develop a generative AI program that competes with existing offerings like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Musk obtained funding from investors in SpaceX and Tesla, and xAI hired engineers from Google and OpenAI. December 16, 2022 Musk uses a private jet owned by Falcon Landing LLC, a SpaceX-linked company, and acquired a second jet in August 2020. His heavy use of the jets and the consequent fossil fuel usage have received criticism. Musk's flight usage is tracked on social media through ElonJet. In December 2022, Musk banned the ElonJet account on Twitter, and made temporary bans on the accounts of journalists that posted stories regarding the incident, including Donie O'Sullivan, Keith Olbermann, and journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and The Intercept. In October 2025, Musk's company xAI launched Grokipedia, an AI-generated online encyclopedia that he promoted as an alternative to Wikipedia. Articles on Grokipedia are generated and reviewed by xAI's Grok chatbot. Media coverage and academic analysis described Grokipedia as frequently reusing Wikipedia content but framing contested political and social topics in line with Musk's own views and right-wing narratives. A study by Cornell University researchers and NBC News stated that Grokipedia cites sources that are blacklisted or considered "generally unreliable" on Wikipedia, for example, the conspiracy site Infowars and the neo-Nazi forum Stormfront. Wired, The Guardian and Time criticized Grokipedia for factual errors and for presenting Musk himself in unusually positive terms while downplaying controversies. Politics Musk is an outlier among business leaders who typically avoid partisan political advocacy. Musk was a registered independent voter when he lived in California. Historically, he has donated to both Democrats and Republicans, many of whom serve in states in which he has a vested interest. Since 2022, his political contributions have mostly supported Republicans, with his first vote for a Republican going to Mayra Flores in the 2022 Texas's 34th congressional district special election. In 2024, he started supporting international far-right political parties, activists, and causes, and has shared misinformation and numerous conspiracy theories. Since 2024, his views have been generally described as right-wing. Musk supported Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020, and Donald Trump in 2024. In the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Musk endorsed candidate Andrew Yang and expressed support for Yang's proposed universal basic income, and endorsed Kanye West's 2020 presidential campaign. In 2021, Musk publicly expressed opposition to the Build Back Better Act, a $3.5 trillion legislative package endorsed by Joe Biden that ultimately failed to pass due to unanimous opposition from congressional Republicans and several Democrats. In 2022, gave over $50 million to Citizens for Sanity, a conservative political action committee. In 2023, he supported Republican Ron DeSantis for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, giving $10 million to his campaign, and hosted DeSantis's campaign announcement on a Twitter Spaces event. From June 2023 to January 2024, Musk hosted a bipartisan set of X Spaces with Republican and Democratic candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, and Dean Phillips. In October 2025, former vice-president Kamala Harris commented that it was a mistake from the Democratic side to not invite Musk to a White House electric vehicle event organized in August 2021 and featuring executives from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, despite Tesla being "the major American manufacturer of extraordinary innovation in this space." Fortune remarked that this was a nod to United Auto Workers and organized labor. Harris said presidents should put aside political loyalties when it came to recognizing innovation, and guessed that the non-invitation impacted Musk's perspective. Fortune noted that, at the time, Musk said, "Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn't invited." A month later, he criticized Biden as "not the friendliest administration." Jacob Silverman, author of the book Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley, said that the tech industry represented by Musk, Thiel, Andreessen and other capitalists, actually flourished under Biden, but the tech leaders chose Trump for their common ground on cultural issues. By early 2024, Musk had become a vocal and financial supporter of Donald Trump. In July 2024, minutes after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Musk endorsed him for president saying; "I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery." During the presidential campaign, Musk joined Trump on stage at a campaign rally, and during the campaign promoted conspiracy theories and falsehoods about Democrats, election fraud and immigration, in support of Trump. Musk was the largest individual donor of the 2024 election. In 2025, Musk contributed $19 million to the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, hoping to influence the state's future redistricting efforts and its regulations governing car manufacturers and dealers. In 2023, Musk said he shunned the World Economic Forum because it was boring. The organization commented that they had not invited him since 2015. He has participated in Dialog, dubbed "Tech Bilderberg" and organized by Peter Thiel and Auren Hoffman, though. Musk's international political actions and comments have come under increasing scrutiny and criticism, especially from the governments and leaders of France, Germany, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom, particularly due to his position in the U.S. government as well as ownership of X. An NBC News analysis found he had boosted far-right political movements to cut immigration and curtail regulation of business in at least 18 countries on six continents since 2023. During his speech after the second inauguration of Donald Trump, Musk twice made a gesture interpreted by many as a Nazi or a fascist Roman salute.[e] He thumped his right hand over his heart, fingers spread wide, and then extended his right arm out, emphatically, at an upward angle, palm down and fingers together. He then repeated the gesture to the crowd behind him. As he finished the gestures, he said to the crowd, "My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured." It was widely condemned as an intentional Nazi salute in Germany, where making such gestures is illegal. The Anti-Defamation League said it was not a Nazi salute, but other Jewish organizations disagreed and condemned the salute. American public opinion was divided on partisan lines as to whether it was a fascist salute. Musk dismissed the accusations of Nazi sympathies, deriding them as "dirty tricks" and a "tired" attack. Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups celebrated it as a Nazi salute. Multiple European political parties demanded that Musk be banned from entering their countries. The concept of DOGE emerged in a discussion between Musk and Donald Trump, and in August 2024, Trump committed to giving Musk an advisory role, with Musk accepting the offer. In November and December 2024, Musk suggested that the organization could help to cut the U.S. federal budget, consolidate the number of federal agencies, and eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and that its final stage would be "deleting itself". In January 2025, the organization was created by executive order, and Musk was designated a "special government employee". Musk led the organization and was a senior advisor to the president, although his official role is not clear. In sworn statement during a lawsuit, the director of the White House Office of Administration stated that Musk "is not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization", "is not the U.S. DOGE Service administrator", and has "no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself". Trump said two days later that he had put Musk in charge of DOGE. A federal judge has ruled that Musk acted as the de facto leader of DOGE. Musk's role in the second Trump administration, particularly in response to DOGE, has attracted public backlash. He was criticized for his treatment of federal government employees, including his influence over the mass layoffs of the federal workforce. He has prioritized secrecy within the organization and has accused others of violating privacy laws. A Senate report alleged that Musk could avoid up to $2 billion in legal liability as a result of DOGE's actions. In May 2025, Bill Gates accused Musk of "killing the world's poorest children" through his cuts to USAID, which modeling by Boston University estimated had resulted in 300,000 deaths by this time, most of them of children. By November 2025, the estimated death toll had increased to 400,000 children and 200,000 adults. Musk announced on May 28, 2025, that he would depart from the Trump administration as planned when the special government employee's 130 day deadline expired, with a White House official confirming that Musk's offboarding from the Trump administration was already underway. His departure was officially confirmed during a joint Oval Office press conference with Trump on May 30, 2025. @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. June 5, 2025 After leaving office, Musk criticized the Trump administration's Big Beautiful Bill, calling it a "disgusting abomination" due to its provisions increasing the deficit. A feud began between Musk and Trump, with its most notable event being Musk alleging Trump had ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on X (formerly Twitter) on June 5, 2025. Trump responded on Truth Social stating that Musk went "CRAZY" after the "EV Mandate" was purportedly taken away and threatened to cut Musk's government contracts. Musk then called for a third Trump impeachment. The next day, Trump stated that he did not wish to reconcile with Musk, and added that Musk would face "very serious consequences" if he funds Democratic candidates. On June 11, Musk publicly apologized for the tweets against Trump, saying they "went too far". Views November 6, 2022 Rejecting the conservative label, Musk has described himself as a political moderate, even as his views have become more right-wing over time. His views have been characterized as libertarian and far-right, and after his involvement in European politics, they have received criticism from world leaders such as Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz. Within the context of American politics, Musk supported Democratic candidates up until 2022, at which point he voted for a Republican for the first time. He has stated support for universal basic income, gun rights, freedom of speech, a tax on carbon emissions, and H-1B visas. Musk has expressed concern about issues such as artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change, and has been a critic of wealth tax, short-selling, and government subsidies. An immigrant himself, Musk has been accused of being anti-immigration, and regularly blames immigration policies for illegal immigration. He is also a pronatalist who believes population decline is the biggest threat to civilization, and identifies as a cultural Christian. Musk has long been an advocate for space colonization, especially the colonization of Mars. He has repeatedly pushed for humanity colonizing Mars, in order to become an interplanetary species and lower the risks of human extinction. Musk has promoted conspiracy theories and made controversial statements that have led to accusations of racism, sexism, antisemitism, transphobia, disseminating disinformation, and support of white pride. While describing himself as a "pro-Semite", his comments regarding George Soros and Jewish communities have been condemned by the Anti-Defamation League and the Biden White House. Musk was criticized during the COVID-19 pandemic for making unfounded epidemiological claims, defying COVID-19 lockdowns restrictions, and supporting the Canada convoy protest against vaccine mandates. He has amplified false claims of white genocide in South Africa. Musk has been critical of Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war, praised China's economic and climate goals, suggested that Taiwan and China should resolve cross-strait relations, and was described as having a close relationship with the Chinese government. In Europe, Musk expressed support for Ukraine in 2022 during the Russian invasion, recommended referendums and peace deals on the annexed Russia-occupied territories, and supported the far-right Alternative for Germany political party in 2024. Regarding British politics, Musk blamed the 2024 UK riots on mass migration and open borders, criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer for what he described as a "two-tier" policing system, and was subsequently attacked as being responsible for spreading misinformation and amplifying the far-right. He has also voiced his support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson and pledged electoral support for Reform UK. In February 2026, Musk described Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez as a "tyrant" following Sánchez's proposal to prohibit minors under the age of 16 from accessing social media platforms. Legal affairs In 2018, Musk was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a tweet stating that funding had been secured for potentially taking Tesla private.[f] The securities fraud lawsuit characterized the tweet as false, misleading, and damaging to investors, and sought to bar Musk from serving as CEO of publicly traded companies. Two days later, Musk settled with the SEC, without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations. As a result, Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million each, and Musk was forced to step down for three years as Tesla chairman but was able to remain as CEO. Shareholders filed a lawsuit over the tweet, and in February 2023, a jury found Musk and Tesla not liable. Musk has stated in interviews that he does not regret posting the tweet that triggered the SEC investigation. In 2019, Musk stated in a tweet that Tesla would build half a million cars that year. The SEC reacted by asking a court to hold him in contempt for violating the terms of the 2018 settlement agreement. A joint agreement between Musk and the SEC eventually clarified the previous agreement details, including a list of topics about which Musk needed preclearance. In 2020, a judge blocked a lawsuit that claimed a tweet by Musk regarding Tesla stock price ("too high imo") violated the agreement. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)-released records showed that the SEC concluded Musk had subsequently violated the agreement twice by tweeting regarding "Tesla's solar roof production volumes and its stock price". In October 2023, the SEC sued Musk over his refusal to testify a third time in an investigation into whether he violated federal law by purchasing Twitter stock in 2022. In February 2024, Judge Laurel Beeler ruled that Musk must testify again. In January 2025, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk for securities violations related to his purchase of Twitter. In January 2024, Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled in a 2018 lawsuit that Musk's $55 billion pay package from Tesla be rescinded. McCormick called the compensation granted by the company's board "an unfathomable sum" that was unfair to shareholders. The Delaware Supreme Court overturned McCormick's decision in December 2025, restoring Musk's compensation package and awarding $1 in nominal damages. Personal life Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002. From the early 2000s until late 2020, Musk resided in California, where both Tesla and SpaceX were founded. He then relocated to Cameron County, Texas, saying that California had become "complacent" about its economic success. While hosting Saturday Night Live in 2021, Musk stated that he has Asperger syndrome (an outdated term for autism spectrum disorder). When asked about his experience growing up with Asperger's syndrome in a TED2022 conference in Vancouver, Musk stated that "the social cues were not intuitive ... I would just tend to take things very literally ... but then that turned out to be wrong — [people were not] simply saying exactly what they mean, there's all sorts of other things that are meant, and [it] took me a while to figure that out." Musk suffers from back pain and has undergone several spine-related surgeries, including a disc replacement. In 2000, he contracted a severe case of malaria while on vacation in South Africa. Musk has stated he uses doctor-prescribed ketamine for occasional depression and that he doses "a small amount once every other week or something like that"; since January 2024, some media outlets have reported that he takes ketamine, marijuana, LSD, ecstasy, mushrooms, cocaine and other drugs. Musk at first refused to comment on his alleged drug use, before responding that he had not tested positive for drugs, and that if drugs somehow improved his productivity, "I would definitely take them!". The New York Times' investigations revealed Musk's overuse of ketamine and numerous other drugs, as well as strained family relationships and concerns from close associates who have become troubled by his public behavior as he became more involved in political activities and government work. According to The Washington Post, President Trump described Musk as "a big-time drug addict". Through his own label Emo G Records, Musk released a rap track, "RIP Harambe", on SoundCloud in March 2019. The following year, he released an EDM track, "Don't Doubt Ur Vibe", featuring his own lyrics and vocals. Musk plays video games, which he stated has a "'restoring effect' that helps his 'mental calibration'". Some games he plays include Quake, Diablo IV, Elden Ring, and Polytopia. Musk once claimed to be one of the world's top video game players but has since admitted to "account boosting", or cheating by hiring outside services to achieve top player rankings. Musk has justified the boosting by claiming that all top accounts do it so he has to as well to remain competitive. In 2024 and 2025, Musk criticized the video game Assassin's Creed Shadows and its creator Ubisoft for "woke" content. Musk posted to X that "DEI kills art" and specified the inclusion of the historical figure Yasuke in the Assassin's Creed game as offensive; he also called the game "terrible". Ubisoft responded by saying that Musk's comments were "just feeding hatred" and that they were focused on producing a game not pushing politics. Musk has fathered at least 14 children, one of whom died as an infant. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2025 that sources close to Musk suggest that the "true number of Musk's children is much higher than publicly known". He had six children with his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, whom he met while attending Queen's University in Ontario, Canada; they married in 2000. In 2002, their first child Nevada Musk died of sudden infant death syndrome at the age of 10 weeks. After his death, the couple used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to continue their family; they had twins in 2004, followed by triplets in 2006. The couple divorced in 2008 and have shared custody of their children. The elder twin he had with Wilson came out as a trans woman and, in 2022, officially changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson, adopting her mother's surname because she no longer wished to be associated with Musk. Musk began dating English actress Talulah Riley in 2008. They married two years later at Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland. In 2012, the couple divorced, then remarried the following year. After briefly filing for divorce in 2014, Musk finalized a second divorce from Riley in 2016. Musk then dated the American actress Amber Heard for several months in 2017; he had reportedly been "pursuing" her since 2012. In 2018, Musk and Canadian musician Grimes confirmed they were dating. Grimes and Musk have three children, born in 2020, 2021, and 2022.[g] Musk and Grimes originally gave their eldest child the name "X Æ A-12", which would have violated California regulations as it contained characters that are not in the modern English alphabet; the names registered on the birth certificate are "X" as a first name, "Æ A-Xii" as a middle name, and "Musk" as a last name. They received criticism for choosing a name perceived to be impractical and difficult to pronounce; Musk has said the intended pronunciation is "X Ash A Twelve". Their second child was born via surrogacy. Despite the pregnancy, Musk confirmed reports that the couple were "semi-separated" in September 2021; in an interview with Time in December 2021, he said he was single. In October 2023, Grimes sued Musk over parental rights and custody of X Æ A-Xii. Elon Musk has taken X Æ A-Xii to multiple official events in Washington, D.C. during Trump's second term in office. Also in July 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk allegedly had an affair with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, in 2021, leading to their divorce the following year. Musk denied the report. Musk also had a relationship with Australian actress Natasha Bassett, who has been described as "an occasional girlfriend". In October 2024, The New York Times reported Musk bought a Texas compound for his children and their mothers, though Musk denied having done so. Musk also has four children with Shivon Zilis, director of operations and special projects at Neuralink: twins born via IVF in 2021, a child born in 2024 via surrogacy and a child born in 2025.[h] On February 14, 2025, Ashley St. Clair, an influencer and author, posted on X claiming to have given birth to Musk's son Romulus five months earlier, which media outlets reported as Musk's supposed thirteenth child.[i] On February 22, 2025, it was reported that St Clair had filed for sole custody of her five-month-old son and for Musk to be recognised as the child's father. On March 31, 2025, Musk wrote that, while he was unsure if he was the father of St. Clair's child, he had paid St. Clair $2.5 million and would continue paying her $500,000 per year.[j] Later reporting from the Wall Street Journal indicated that $1 million of these payments to St. Clair were structured as a loan. In 2014, Musk and Ghislaine Maxwell appeared together in a photograph taken at an Academy Awards after-party, which Musk later described as a "photobomb". The January 2026 Epstein files contain emails between Musk and Epstein from 2012 to 2013, after Epstein's first conviction. Emails released on January 30, 2026, indicated that Epstein invited Musk to visit his private island on multiple occasions. The correspondence showed that while Epstein repeatedly encouraged Musk to attend, Musk did not visit the island. In one instance, Musk discussed the possibility of attending a party with his then-wife Talulah Riley and asked which day would be the "wildest party"; according to the emails, the visit did not take place after Epstein later cancelled the plans.[k] On Christmas day in 2012, Musk emailed Epstein asking "Do you have any parties planned? I’ve been working to the edge of sanity this year and so, once my kids head home after Christmas, I really want to hit the party scene in St Barts or elsewhere and let loose. The invitation is much appreciated, but a peaceful island experience is the opposite of what I’m looking for". Epstein replied that the "ratio on my island" might make Musk's wife uncomfortable to which Musk responded, "Ratio is not a problem for Talulah". On September 11, 2013, Epstein sent an email asking Musk if he had any plans for coming to New York for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly where many "interesting people" would be coming to his house to which Musk responded that "Flying to NY to see UN diplomats do nothing would be an unwise use of time". Epstein responded by stating "Do you think i am retarded. Just kidding, there is no one over 25 and all very cute." Musk has denied any close relationship with Epstein and described him as a "creep" who attempted to ingratiate himself with influential people. When Musk was asked in 2019 if he introduced Epstein to Mark Zuckerberg, Musk responded: "I don’t recall introducing Epstein to anyone, as I don’t know the guy well enough to do so." The released emails nonetheless showed cordial exchanges on a range of topics, including Musk's inquiry about parties on the island. The correspondence also indicated that Musk suggested hosting Epstein at SpaceX, while Epstein separately discussed plans to tour SpaceX and bring "the girls", though there is no evidence that such a visit occurred. Musk has described the release of the files a "distraction", later accusing the second Trump administration of suppressing them to protect powerful individuals, including Trump himself.[l] Wealth Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$690 billion as of January 2026, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and $852 billion according to Forbes, primarily from his ownership stakes in SpaceX and Tesla. Having been first listed on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2012, around 75% of Musk's wealth was derived from Tesla stock in November 2020, although he describes himself as "cash poor". According to Forbes, he became the first person in the world to achieve a net worth of $300 billion in 2021; $400 billion in December 2024; $500 billion in October 2025; $600 billion in mid-December 2025; $700 billion later that month; and $800 billion in February 2026. In November 2025, a Tesla pay package worth potentially $1 trillion for Musk was approved, which he is to receive over 10 years if he meets specific goals. Public image Although his ventures have been highly influential within their separate industries starting in the 2000s, Musk only became a public figure in the early 2010s. He has been described as an eccentric who makes spontaneous and impactful decisions, while also often making controversial statements, contrary to other billionaires who prefer reclusiveness to protect their businesses. Musk's actions and his expressed views have made him a polarizing figure. Biographer Ashlee Vance described people's opinions of Musk as polarized due to his "part philosopher, part troll" persona on Twitter. He has drawn denouncement for using his platform to mock the self-selection of personal pronouns, while also receiving praise for bringing international attention to matters like British survivors of grooming gangs. Musk has been described as an American oligarch due to his extensive influence over public discourse, social media, industry, politics, and government policy. After Trump's re-election, Musk's influence and actions during the transition period and the second presidency of Donald Trump led some to call him "President Musk", the "actual president-elect", "shadow president" or "co-president". Awards for his contributions to the development of the Falcon rockets include the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low Transportation Award in 2008, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Gold Space Medal in 2010, and the Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal in 2012. In 2015, he received an honorary doctorate in engineering and technology from Yale University and an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Honorary Membership. Musk was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2018.[m] In 2022, Musk was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Time has listed Musk as one of the most influential people in the world in 2010, 2013, 2018, and 2021. Musk was selected as Time's "Person of the Year" for 2021. Then Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote that, "Person of the Year is a marker of influence, and few individuals have had more influence than Musk on life on Earth, and potentially life off Earth too." Notes References Works cited Further reading External links |
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[SOURCE: https://www.theverge.com/news/882340/xbox-phil-spencer-microsoft-retirement-memo] | [TOKENS: 2234] |
GamingCloseGamingPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All GamingNewsCloseNewsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All NewsTechCloseTechPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All TechRead Xbox chief Phil Spencer’s memo about leaving MicrosoftAsha Sharma is now stepping into the role of Microsoft Gaming CEO.Asha Sharma is now stepping into the role of Microsoft Gaming CEO.by Tom WarrenCloseTom WarrenSenior EditorPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Tom WarrenFeb 20, 2026, 8:30 PM UTCLinkShareGiftImage: Cath Virginia / The VergePart OfXbox shakeup: Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond are leaving Microsoftsee all updates Tom WarrenCloseTom WarrenPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Tom Warren is a senior editor and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.Xbox chief Phil Spencer has just announced to employees that he’s leaving Microsoft after 38 years. In a memo entitled “A new chapter for Microsoft Gaming,” Spencer reveals to Xbox employees that he made the decision to retire from Microsoft last fall.He also reveals Xbox president Sarah Bond is leaving Microsoft, triggering a big change in management at Xbox. Asha Sharma, currently the president of CoreAI product at Microsoft, is stepping into the Microsoft Gaming CEO role, reporting directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.Here’s Phil Spencer’s full memo on his retirement:When I walked through Microsoft’s doors as an intern in June of 1988, I could never have imagined the products I’d help build, the players and customers we’d serve, or the extraordinary teams I’d be lucky enough to join. It’s been an epic ride and truly the privilege of a lifetime.Last fall, I shared with Satya that I was thinking about stepping back and starting the next chapter of my life. From that moment, we aligned on approaching this transition with intention, ensuring stability, and strengthening the foundation we’ve built. Xbox has always been more than a business. It’s a vibrant community of players, creators, and teams who care deeply about what we build and how we build it. And it deserves a thoughtful, deliberate plan for the road ahead.Today marks an exciting new chapter for Microsoft Gaming as Asha Sharma steps into the role of CEO, and I want to be the first to welcome her to this incredible team.Working with her over the past several months has given me tremendous confidence. She brings genuine curiosity, clarity and a deep commitment to understanding players, creators, and the decisions that shape our future. We know this is an important moment for our fans, partners, and team, and we’re committed to getting it right. I’ll remain in an advisory role through the summer to support a smooth handoff.I’m also grateful for the strength of our studios organization. Matt Booty and our studios teams continue to build an incredible portfolio, and I have full confidence in the leadership and creative momentum across our global studios. I want to congratulate Matt on his promotion to EVP and Chief Content Officer.As part of this transition, Sarah Bond has decided to leave Microsoft to begin a new chapter. Sarah has been instrumental during a defining period for Xbox, shaping our platform strategy, expanding Game Pass and cloud gaming, supporting new hardware launches, and guiding some of the most significant moments in our history. I’m grateful for her partnership and the impact she’s had, and I wish her the very best in what comes next.Most of all, to everyone in Microsoft Gaming, I want to say “thank you”. I’ve learned so much from this team and community, grown alongside you, and been continually inspired by the creativity, courage, and care you bring to players, creators, and to one another every day.I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built together over the last 25 years, and I have complete confidence in all of you and in the opportunities ahead. I’ll be cheering you on in this next chapter as Xbox’s proudest fan and player.PhilXBL: P3Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Tom WarrenCloseTom WarrenSenior EditorPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Tom WarrenGamingCloseGamingPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All GamingMicrosoftCloseMicrosoftPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All MicrosoftNewsCloseNewsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All NewsTechCloseTechPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All TechXboxCloseXboxPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All XboxMore in: Xbox shakeup: Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond are leaving MicrosoftRead Xbox president Sarah Bond’s memo about leaving Microsoft.Richard Lawler12:15 AM UTCMicrosoft says today’s Xbox shake-up doesn’t mean game studio layoffsSean HollisterFeb 20Xslop?Andrew WebsterFeb 20Most PopularMost PopularXbox chief Phil Spencer is leaving MicrosoftThe RAM shortage is coming for everything you care aboutRead Microsoft gaming CEO Asha Sharma’s first memo on the future of XboxAmazon blames human employees for an AI coding agent’s mistakeA $10K+ bounty is waiting for anyone who can unplug Ring doorbells from Amazon’s cloudThe Verge DailyA free daily digest of the news that matters most.Email (required)Sign UpBy submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Advertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech Read Xbox chief Phil Spencer’s memo about leaving Microsoft Asha Sharma is now stepping into the role of Microsoft Gaming CEO. Asha Sharma is now stepping into the role of Microsoft Gaming CEO. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Tom Warren Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Tom Warren Xbox chief Phil Spencer has just announced to employees that he’s leaving Microsoft after 38 years. In a memo entitled “A new chapter for Microsoft Gaming,” Spencer reveals to Xbox employees that he made the decision to retire from Microsoft last fall. He also reveals Xbox president Sarah Bond is leaving Microsoft, triggering a big change in management at Xbox. Asha Sharma, currently the president of CoreAI product at Microsoft, is stepping into the Microsoft Gaming CEO role, reporting directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Here’s Phil Spencer’s full memo on his retirement: When I walked through Microsoft’s doors as an intern in June of 1988, I could never have imagined the products I’d help build, the players and customers we’d serve, or the extraordinary teams I’d be lucky enough to join. It’s been an epic ride and truly the privilege of a lifetime. Last fall, I shared with Satya that I was thinking about stepping back and starting the next chapter of my life. From that moment, we aligned on approaching this transition with intention, ensuring stability, and strengthening the foundation we’ve built. Xbox has always been more than a business. It’s a vibrant community of players, creators, and teams who care deeply about what we build and how we build it. And it deserves a thoughtful, deliberate plan for the road ahead. Today marks an exciting new chapter for Microsoft Gaming as Asha Sharma steps into the role of CEO, and I want to be the first to welcome her to this incredible team.Working with her over the past several months has given me tremendous confidence. She brings genuine curiosity, clarity and a deep commitment to understanding players, creators, and the decisions that shape our future. We know this is an important moment for our fans, partners, and team, and we’re committed to getting it right. I’ll remain in an advisory role through the summer to support a smooth handoff. I’m also grateful for the strength of our studios organization. Matt Booty and our studios teams continue to build an incredible portfolio, and I have full confidence in the leadership and creative momentum across our global studios. I want to congratulate Matt on his promotion to EVP and Chief Content Officer. As part of this transition, Sarah Bond has decided to leave Microsoft to begin a new chapter. Sarah has been instrumental during a defining period for Xbox, shaping our platform strategy, expanding Game Pass and cloud gaming, supporting new hardware launches, and guiding some of the most significant moments in our history. I’m grateful for her partnership and the impact she’s had, and I wish her the very best in what comes next. Most of all, to everyone in Microsoft Gaming, I want to say “thank you”. I’ve learned so much from this team and community, grown alongside you, and been continually inspired by the creativity, courage, and care you bring to players, creators, and to one another every day. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built together over the last 25 years, and I have complete confidence in all of you and in the opportunities ahead. I’ll be cheering you on in this next chapter as Xbox’s proudest fan and player. Phil XBL: P3 Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Tom Warren Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Microsoft Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. 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