title: Demographics of the world

text: The population numbers below are computed by a combination of census reports, random surveys (in countries where religion data is not collected in census, for example United States or France), and self-reported attendance numbers, but results can vary widely depending on the way questions are phrased, the definitions of religion used and the bias of the agencies or organizations conducting the survey. Informal or unorganized religions are especially difficult to count. Some organizations may wildly inflate their numbers.


title: Demographics of the world

text: Since the late 19th century, the demographics of religion have changed a great deal. Some countries with a historically large Christian population have experienced a significant decline in the numbers of professed active Christians: see demographics of atheism. Symptoms of the decline in active participation in Christian religious life include declining recruitment for the priesthood and monastic life, as well as diminishing attendance at church. On the other hand, since the 19th century, large areas of sub-Saharan Africa have been converted to Christianity, and this area of the world has the highest population growth rate. In the realm of Western civilization, there has been an increase in the number of people who identify themselves as secular humanists. Despite the decline, Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western world, where 70% of the population is Christian. In many countries, such as the People's Republic of China, communist governments have discouraged religion, making it difficult to count the actual number of believers. However, after the collapse of communism in numerous countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, religious life has been experiencing resurgence there, in the form of traditional Eastern Christianity. While, Islam however has gained considerably in the Soviet Unions former republics in Central Asia.


title: Demographics of the world

text: Studies conducted by the Pew Research Center have found that, generally, poorer nations had a larger proportion of citizens who found religion to be very important than richer nations, with the exceptions of the United States and Kuwait.


title: Demographics of the world

text: The average age of marriage varies greatly from country to country and has varied through time. Women tend to marry earlier than men and currently varies from 17.6 for women in Niger, to 32.4 for women in Denmark while men range from 22.6 in Mozambique to 35.1 in Sweden.


title: Demographics of the world

text: According to the 2021 CIA World Factbook, around 25% of the world's population is below 15 years of age.


title: Demographics of the world

text: According to a report by the Global Social Change Research Project, worldwide, the percent of the population age 0–14 declined from 34% in 1950 to 27% in 2010. The elderly population (60+) increased during the same period from 8% to 11%.


title: Demographics of the world

text: Globally, the growth rate of the human population has been declining since peaking in 1962 and 1963 at 2.20% per annum. In 2009, the estimated annual growth rate was 1.1%. The CIA World Factbook gives the world annual birthrate, mortality rate, and growth rate as 1.915%, 0.812%, and 1.092% respectively The last one hundred years have seen a rapid increase in population due to medical advances and massive increase in agricultural productivity made possible by the Green Revolution.


title: Demographics of the world

text: The actual annual growth in the number of humans fell from its peak of 88.0 million in 1989, to a low of 73.9 million in 2003, after which it rose again to 75.2 million in 2006. Since then, annual growth has declined. In 2009, the human population increased by 74.6 million, which is projected to fall steadily to about 41 million per annum in 2050, at which time the population will have increased to about 9.2 billion. Each region of the globe has seen great reductions in growth rate in recent decades, though growth rates remain above 2% in some countries of the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, and also in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.


title: Demographics of the world

text: Some countries experienced negative population growth, especially in Eastern Europe mainly due to low fertility rates, high death rates and emigration. In Southern Africa, growth is slowing due to the high number of HIV-related deaths. Some Western Europe countries might also encounter negative population growth. Japan's population began decreasing in 2005.


title: Demographics of the world

text: Population in the world increased from 1990 to 2008 with 1,423 billion and 27% growth. Measured by persons, the increase was highest in India (290 million) and China (192 million). Population growth was highest in Qatar (174%) and United Arab Emirates (140%).


title: Demographics of the world

text: As of 2009, the average birth rate (unclear whether this is the weighted average rate per country [with each country getting a weight of 1], or the unweighted average of the entire world population) for the whole world is 19.95 per year per 1000 total population, a 0.48% decline from 2003's world birth rate of 20.43 per 1000 total population.


title: Demographics of the world

text: According to the CIA – The World Factbook, the country with the highest birth rate currently is Niger at 51.26 births per 1000 people. The country with the lowest birth rate is Japan at 7.64 births per 1000 people. Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, is at 7.42 births per 1000 people. As compared to the 1950s, birth rate was at 36 births per 1000 in the 1950s, birth rate has declined by 16 births per 1000 people. In July 2011, the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced that the adolescent birth rate continues to decline.


title: Demographics of the world

text: Birth rates vary even within the same geographic areas. In Europe, as of July 2011, Ireland's birth rate is 16.5 percent, which is 3.5 percent higher than the next-ranked country, the UK. France has a birth rate of 12.8 per cent while Sweden is at 12.3 percent. In July 2011, the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced a 2.4% increase in live births in the UK in 2010 alone. This is the highest birth rate in the UK in 40 years. By contrast, the birth rate in Germany is only 8.3 per 1,000, which is so low that both the UK and France, which have significantly smaller populations, produced more births in 2010. Birth rates also vary within the same geographic area, based on different demographic groups. For example, in April 2011, the U.S. CDC announced that the birth rate for women over the age of 40 in the U.S. rose between 2007 and 2009, while it fell among every other age group during the same time span. In August 2011, Taiwan's government announced that its birth rate declined in the previous year, despite the fact that it implemented a host of approaches to encourage its citizens to have babies.


title: Demographics of the world

text: Birth rates ranging from 10 to 20 births per 1000 are considered low, while rates from 40 to 50 births per 1000 are considered high. There are problems associated with both an extremely high birth rate and an extremely low birth rate. High birth rates can cause stress on the government welfare and family programs to support a youthful population. Additional problems faced by a country with a high birth rate include educating a growing number of children, creating jobs for these children when they enter the workforce, and dealing with the environmental effects that a large population can produce. Low birth rates can put stress on the government to provide adequate senior welfare systems and also the stress on families to support the elders themselves. There will be less children or working age population to support the constantly growing aging population.


title: Demographics of the world

text: The ten countries with the highest and lowest crude birth rate, according to the 2018 and 2022 CIA World Factbook estimates, are:


title: Demographics of the world

text: The ten countries with the highest and lowest crude death rate, according to the 2018 and 2022 CIA World Factbook estimates, are:


title: Demographics of the world

text: According to Jean Ziegler (the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food for 2000 to March 2008), mortality due to malnutrition accounted for 58% of the total mortality in 2006: "In the world, approximately 62 millions people, all causes of death combined, die each year. In 2006, more than 36 millions died of hunger or diseases due to deficiencies in micronutrients".


title: Demographics of the world

text: Of the roughly 150,000 people who died each day across the globe, about two-thirds—100,000 per day—died of age-related causes in 2001, according to an article which counts all deaths "due to causes that kill hardly anyone under the age of 40" as age-related.<ref name="doi10.2202/1941-6008.1011"></ref> In industrialized nations, the proportion was even higher according to that article, reaching 90%.


title: Demographics of the world

text: There is an inverse correlation between income and fertility, wherein developed countries usually have a much lower fertility rate. Various fertility factors may be involved, such as education and urbanization. Mortality rates are low, birth control is understood and easily accessible, and costs are often deemed very high because of education, clothing, feeding, and social amenities. With wealth, contraception becomes affordable. However, in countries like Iran where contraception was made artificially affordable before the economy accelerated, birth rate also rapidly declined. Further, longer periods of time spent getting higher education often mean women have children later in life. Female labor participation rate also has substantial negative impact on fertility. However, this effect is neutralized among Nordic or liberalist countries.


title: Demographics of the world

text: In undeveloped countries on the other hand, families desire children for their labour and as caregivers for their parents in old age. Fertility rates are also higher due to the lack of access to contraceptives, generally lower levels of female education, and lower rates of female employment in industry.


title: Demographics of the world

text: The average number of hospital beds per 1,000 population is 2.94. It is highest in Switzerland (18.3) and lowest in Mexico (1.1)


title: Demographics of the world

text: 96% of the urban population has access to improved drinking water, while only 78% of rural inhabitants have improved drinking water. A total average of 87% of urban and rural have access to improved drinking water.


title: Demographics of the world

text: 4% of the urban population does not have access to improved drinking water, leaving 22% of rural people without improved drinking water with a total world population of 13% not having access to drinking water.


title: Demographics of the world

text: 76% of the urban population has access to sanitation facilities, while only 45% of the rural population has access. A total world average of 39% do not have access to sanitation facilities.


title: Demographics of the world

text: As of 2009, there are an estimated 33.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS, which is approximately 0.8% of the world population, and there have been an estimated 1.8 million deaths attributed to HIV/AIDS.


title: Demographics of the world

text: The value for the entire world population is 1.02 males/female, with 1.07 at birth, 1.06 for those under 15, 1.02 for those between 15 and 64, and 0.78 for those over 65.


title: Demographics of the world

text: The Northern Mariana Islands have the highest female ratio with 0.77 males per female. Qatar has the highest male ratio, with 2.87 males/female. For the group aged below 15, Sierra Leone has the highest female ratio with 0.96 males/female, and Georgia and China are tied for the highest male ratio with 1.13 males/female (according to the 2006 CIA World Factbook).


title: Demographics of the world

text: The "First World" G7 members all have a gender ratio in the range of 0.95–0.98 for the total population, of 1.05–1.07 at birth, of 1.05–1.06 for the group below 15, of 1.00–1.04 for the group aged 15–64, and of 0.70–0.75 for those over 65.


title: Demographics of the world

text: Countries on the Arabian Peninsula tend to have a "natural" ratio of about 1.05 at birth but a very high ratio of males for those over 65 (Saudi Arabia 1.13, United Arab Emirates 2.73, Qatar 2.84), indicating either an above-average mortality rate for females or a below-average mortality for males, or, more likely in this case, a large population of aging male guest workers. Conversely, countries of Eastern Europe (the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia) tend to have a "normal" ratio at birth but a very low ratio of males among those over 65 (Russia 0.46, Latvia 0.48, Ukraine 0.52); similarly, Armenia has a far above average male ratio at birth (1.17), and a below-average male ratio above 65 (0.67). This effect may be caused by emigration and higher male mortality as result of higher post-Soviet era deaths; it may also be related to the enormous (by western standards) rate of alcoholism in the former Soviet states. Another possible contributory factor is an aging population, with a higher than normal proportion of relatively elderly people: we recall that due to higher differential mortality rates the ratio of males to females reduces for each year of age.


title: Demographics of the world

text: note: 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%–12% unemployment (2007 est.)


title: Demographics of the world

text: Worldwide, English is used widely as a lingua franca and can be seen to be the dominant language at this time. The world's largest language by native speakers is Mandarin Chinese which is a first language of around 960 million people, or 12.44% of the population, predominantly in Greater China. Spanish is spoken by around 330 to 400 million people, predominantly in the Americas and Spain. Hindustani is spoken by about 370 to 420 million speakers, mostly in India and Pakistan


title: Demographics of the world

text: Arabic is spoken by around 350 million people predomimantly in Arab world. Bengali is spoken by around 250 million people worldwide, predominantly in Bangladesh and India. Portuguese is spoken by about 230 million speakers in Portugal, Brazil, East Timor, and Southern Africa.


title: Demographics of the world

text: note: over two-thirds of the world's 793 million illiterate adults are found in only eight countries (Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan); of all the illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, the Arab states, South and West Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, where around one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005–09 est.)


title: Demographics of the world

text: As of 2008, the school life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) for a man or woman is 11 years.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Programmer Yuji Naka and artist Naoto Ohshima are generally credited with creating Sonic. Most of the games are developed by Sonic Team. The original "Sonic the Hedgehog" (1991) was released to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's flagship character Mario. Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa for "Sonic Adventure" (1998), with a more mature look designed to appeal to older players.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic is one of the world's best-known video game characters and a gaming icon. His series had sold more than 80 million copies by 2011.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: While Sega was seeking a flagship series to compete with Nintendo's Mario series, several character designs were submitted by its research and development department. Many results came forth from their experiments with character design, including an armadillo, a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas (who would later be the basis of Doctor Eggman's design), and a rabbit (who would use its extendable ears to collect objects, an aspect later incorporated in "Ristar"). Naoto Ohshima took some of these internal designs with him on a trip to New York City and sought feedback by asking random passersby at Central Park their opinions; of the designs, the spiky teal hedgehog, initially codenamed , led this informal poll, followed by Eggman and the dog character. Ohshima felt that people selected it because it "transcends race and gender and things like that". On return to Japan, Ohshima pitched this to the department, and the hedgehog was ultimately selected as the new mascot.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: The detailed design of Sonic was aimed to be something that could be easily drawn by children and be familiar, as well as exhibit a "cool" attitude, representative of the United States at the time. Sonic's blue pigmentation was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo, and his shoes evolved from a design inspired by both Santa Claus and Michael Jackson's boots with the addition of the color red, which was inspired by the contrast of those colors on Jackson's 1987 album "Bad"; his personality was based on then-presidential candidate and later President of the United States Bill Clinton's "Get it done" attitude during the 1992 presidential campaign. To help sell the idea to Sega's higher-ups, Ohshima pitched the concept framed by a fictional fighter pilot that had earned the name "Hedgehog" due to his spiky hair, and had decorated his plane with images of Sonic. When this pilot retired, he married a children's book author, who wrote stories about the Sonic character, the first which became the plot for the first "Sonic" game; Ohshima stated that this influence can be seen in the logo of the game, which features Sonic in a pilot's wing emblem.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: The origins of "Sonic" can be traced farther back to a tech demo created by Yuji Naka, who had developed an algorithm that allowed a sprite to move smoothly on a curve by determining its position with a dot matrix. Naka's original prototype was a platform game that involved a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a long winding tube, and this concept was subsequently fleshed out with Oshima's character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic was created without the ability to swim because of a mistaken assumption by Yuji Naka that all hedgehogs could not do so. A group of fifteen people started working on the first "Sonic the Hedgehog" game, and renamed themselves Sonic Team. The game's soundtrack was composed by Masato Nakamura of the band Dreams Come True. Sega sponsored the group's "Wonder 3" tour, painting Sonic on the tour bus, distributing pamphlets advertising the game, and having footage of the game broadcast above stage prior to its release. The original concepts gave Sonic fangs and put him in a band with a human girlfriend named Madonna. However, a team from Sega of America, led by Madeline Schroeder, who calls herself "Sonic's mother," "softened" the character up for an American audience by removing those elements. This sparked a heated issue with Sonic Team. Naka later admitted that it was probably for the best.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic's appearance varies greatly depending on the medium and the style in which he is drawn. In the video games, Sonic's original design by Oshima was short and round, with short quills, a round body, and no visible irises. Artwork featuring this design and drawn by Akira Watanabe was displayed on the package artwork for "Sonic the Hedgehog". Sonic's proportions would change for the release of "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" on the Mega Drive; Sonic's head to height ratio was changed from 1:2 to 1:2.5. For the 1998 release of "Sonic Adventure", Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa as a character with longer legs and a less spherical body, longer and more drooping quills, and green-colored irises. For the 2006 game, Sonic was redesigned to make him look adult-like and taller to appeal to the next generation players. This was also done because Sonic would interact with humans more often and his design was supposed to fit. An alternative "Werehog" form was introduced in "Sonic Unleashed", placing more emphasis on Sonic's melee skills rather than speed. Although Tetsu Katano acknowledged the large negative fan response to the Werehog, he believes it could return in a future game.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Bob Raffei, CEO of "Sonic Boom" developer Big Red Button, stated that "Sonic Boom" Sonic is "very different... both in tone and art direction."


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic originally had a few voice samples in "Sonic CD", with designer Masato Nishimura providing the voice. Sonic's first true voice actor was Takeshi Kusao for the arcade game "SegaSonic the Hedgehog", with Junichi Kanemaru continually voicing the role beginning with the release of "Sonic Adventure". Kanemaru also voices Sonic in "Sonic X", "Sonic Boom", and the Japanese dub of the "Wreck-It Ralph" films. In "Sonic Unleashed", Sonic was voiced by Tomokazu Seki while in Werehog form. Jaleel White voiced the character in the DiC animated series "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog", "Sonic SatAM", and "Sonic Underground". Sam Vincent provided his singing voice in the latter DiC cartoon.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Starting with "Sonic Adventure", Sonic was voiced in English by Ryan Drummond. Drummond was replaced by Jason Griffith starting from "Sonic X", with Griffith voicing Sonic within the games starting with "Shadow The Hedgehog" in 2005. Griffith was replaced by Roger Craig Smith, starting with "Sonic Free Riders" and "Sonic Colors". Smith announced on his Twitter account on January 29, 2021, that he would no longer voice Sonic, with his departure confirmed by Sega the same day. On May 26, 2021, Smith and Sega confirmed that he was voicing Sonic once again. Ben Schwartz voiced Sonic in the 2020 feature film and reprised his role for its 2022 sequel. Canadian actor Deven Mack voices Sonic in the "Sonic Prime" animated series.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic's first shown appearance in a video game was in the 1991 arcade racing game "Rad Mobile", as a decorative ornament hanging from a rearview mirror. This was followed by an unlicensed appearance in "The Adventures of Quik & Silva" as a villain. Sonic's first playable appearance was in the platform game "Sonic the Hedgehog" for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, which also introduced his nemesis Dr. Robotnik. His two-tailed fox friend Tails joined him in the game's 1992 sequel, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2". "Sonic CD", released in 1993, introduced Sonic's self-appointed girlfriend Amy Rose and recurring robotic doppelgänger Metal Sonic as Sonic traveled through time to ensure a good future for the world. "Sonic 3" and its direct sequel "Sonic & Knuckles", both released in 1994, saw Sonic and Tails battle Robotnik again, with the additional threat of Knuckles, who is tricked by Robotnik into thinking Sonic is a threat. "" (2010–2012) continues where the story of "Sonic 3" left off, reducing Sonic to the only playable character and releasing in episodic installments. The second episode sees the return of both Tails as Sonic's sidekick and Metal Sonic as a recurring enemy.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Other two-dimensional platformers starring Sonic include "Sonic Chaos" (1993), "Sonic Triple Trouble" (1994), "Sonic Blast" (1996), "Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure" (1999), "Sonic Advance" (2001), "Sonic Advance 2" (2002), "Sonic Advance 3" (2004), "Sonic Rush" (2005), "Sonic Rush Adventure" (2007), "Sonic Colors" (2010), and "Sonic Generations" (2011), all in which were released for handheld consoles.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: "Sonic Adventure" (1998) was Sonic Team's return to the character for a major game. It featured Sonic returning from vacation to find the city of Station Square under attack by a new foe named Chaos, under the control of Dr. Robotnik (now known as Dr. Eggman). It was also the first Sonic game to feature a complete voice-over. "Sonic Adventure 2" (2001) placed Sonic on-the-run from the military (G.U.N.) after being mistaken for Shadow the Hedgehog. "Sonic Heroes" (2003) featured Sonic teaming up with Tails and Knuckles, along with other character teams like Team Rose and Chaotix, against the newly rebuilt Metal Sonic, who had betrayed his master with intentions of world domination. "Sonic the Hedgehog" (2006) features Sonic in the city of water, "Soleanna," where he must rescue Princess Elise from Dr. Eggman while trying to avoid a new threat to his own life, Silver the Hedgehog. He is the only playable character in "Sonic Unleashed" (2008), in which he unwillingly gains a new personality, "Sonic the Werehog," the result of Sonic being fused with Dark Gaia's power. He gains strength and flexibility in exchange for his speed, and new friends including a strange creature named Chip who helps him along the way. In "Sonic Colors" (2010), Eggman tries to harness the energy of alien beings known as "Wisps" for a mind-control beam. "Sonic Generations" (2011) features two playable incarnations of Sonic: the younger "classic" Sonic, whose gameplay is presented in a style reminiscent of the Mega Drive/Genesis games, and present-day "modern" Sonic, who uses the gameplay style present in "Unleashed" and "Colors", going through stages from past games to save their friends. "Sonic Generations" features various theme songs including modern and retro versions that are able to be selected from throughout Sonic's twenty-year history. In April 2013, Sega announced that "Sonic Lost World" would launch in October 2013 for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: "Sonic and the Secret Rings" (2007) features Sonic in the storybook world of "One Thousand and One Nights". A sequel, "Sonic and the Black Knight" (2009), continued the storybook theme, this time taking place within the realm of the Arthurian legend.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic has also been featured in other games of many genres other than 2D and 3D platform games. These include "Sonic Spinball", "Sonic Labyrinth" (1995), the racing games "Sonic Drift" (1994), "Sonic Drift 2" (1995), "Sonic R" (1996), "Sonic Riders" (2006), "Sonic Rivals" (2006), "Sonic Rivals 2" (2007), "" (2008), and "Sonic Free Riders" (2010), the fighting games "Sonic the Fighters" (1996) and "Sonic Battle" (2003), the mobile game "Sonic Jump" (2005), and the role-playing video game "" (2008).


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Video games such as "Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine" (1993), "Knuckles' Chaotix" (1995), "Tails' Skypatrol" (1995), "Tails Adventure" (1995), and "Shadow the Hedgehog" (2005) starred supporting characters of the "Sonic" series, although Sonic himself cameos in most of them.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic makes cameos in various other games, such as "Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg" as a power-up, in the main hallway in "Phantasy Star Universe", and in the 2008 remake of "Samba de Amigo". He is also a playable character in "Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams". Nintendo, Sega's former rival, references Sonic in "", by showing Sonic's shoes next to a trash can that reads "No Hopers" on the Cranky's Video Game Heroes screen.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic has appeared in several crossover games, including playable appearances in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" (2008), "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U" (2014), and "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" (2018), "Lego Dimensions" (2015), and "" (2021). He appears in the crossover party game series "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games" and is also a playable character in all three "Sega Superstars" games. An official Sonic the Hedgehog skin is available in the platformer battle royale game "Fall Guys". Sonic appears as a playable character in "Puyo Puyo Tetris 2" via free update. An official Sonic the Hedgehog world with skins are available with DLC in "Minecraft".


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: The first three animated series featuring Sonic were created by the international company DiC. The first of these series, "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog", premiered in 1993, and depicts Sonic and his friend Tails opposing Doctor Ivo Robotnik and his robots on the planet Mobius. Another animated series premiering the same year, simply titled "Sonic the Hedgehog", depicts Sonic and a group of rebels aiming to defeat Robotnik in a futuristic version of Mobius. The third animated series, "Sonic Underground", premiered in 1999, and features Sonic as the protagonist alongside his siblings Sonia and Manic.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: In 1996, a two-part OVA, "Sonic the Hedgehog," was released in Japan. For the American release, the two episodes combined and released as "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie" by ADV Films. A new series, "Sonic X," began airing in 2003. The 78-episode anime series detailed Sonic's struggle to protect the Chaos Emeralds from Eggman and new villains. Featuring a cross-world and interstellar journey, "Sonic X" depicted Sonic and his human friend Chris Thorndyke in quests to save the world. "Sonic: Night of the Werehog" is a short film produced by Sega's VE Animation Studio, released to coincide with the release of "Sonic Unleashed". In the film, Sonic and Chip enter a haunted house, and must deal with two ghosts trying to scare them in attempt to win the heart of the girl ghost. Sonic also makes multiple cameo appearances in the Disney films, "Wreck-It Ralph" and its sequel "Ralph Breaks the Internet".


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: In October 2013, Sega announced a CGI animated series, "Sonic Boom". The show ran for 104 11-minute episodes between 2014 and 2017 on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and the UK, and Canal J and Gulli in France. Sonic makes several appearances in 2014 anime "Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls" and guest-stars in the "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes" episode "Let's Meet Sonic".


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: In February 2021, "Sonic Prime" was announced by Netflix with a 2022 release window, though the series' development was initially revealed in a deleted tweet in December 2020. The show will primarily be for children ages six to eleven, as well as longtime fans of the franchise. In October 2022, Netflix sets its release for December.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: On June 10, 2014, a film based on the "Sonic" series was announced. Simply known as "Sonic the Hedgehog", it was produced by Neal Moritz on his Original Film banner alongside Takeshi Ito and Mie Onishi, with Toby Ascher as executive producer. The film was written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller and produced as a joint venture between Paramount Pictures and Marza Animation Planet. The film is a live-action and CGI hybrid. The movie was filmed in 2018, with a release date initially set for November 8, 2019. Upon the release of the film's first trailer in late April 2019, however, Sonic's appearance was heavily criticized, leading to the director, Jeff Fowler, to announce a redesign of him, pushing back the release date to February 14, 2020. The second trailer for the film was released on November 12, 2019, featuring the redesign, which drew in a far more positive response from both fans and critics alike. In the first film, it centers on Sonic, born with supersonic speed powers and abilities, who befriends the sheriff named Tom Wachowski, to stop the villainous Dr. Robotnik who plots to have Sonic's speed powers for world domination. A sequel, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2", was released on April 8, 2022, and it centers on Sonic and Tails on a race to prevent Robotnik and Knuckles from getting the hands on the Master Emerald.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: The original design of Sonic from the first movie's initial trailer appears in "", voiced by Tim Robinson. Named "Ugly Sonic", he is portrayed as a washed up actor looking to make a comeback after he was kicked off the film.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic's first comic appearance was in a promotional comic printed in "Disney Adventures" magazine (and also given away as a free pull-out with a copy of "Mean Machines" magazine), which established a backstory for the character involving the origin of his color and abilities and the transformation of kindly scientist Dr. Ovi Kintobor into the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Numerous British publications, including "Sega handbook" "Stay Sonic" (1993), four novels published by Virgin Books (1993–1994) and the comic book "Sonic the Comic" (1993–2001), published by Fleetway Publications/Egmont Publishing, used this premise as their basis.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: The American comics published by Archie Comics, "Sonic the Hedgehog" (1993–2017), "Sonic X" (2005–2008), and "Sonic Universe" (2009–2017) are based on the settings established by earlier animated TV series, the ABC "SatAM" cartoon, the "Sonic X" anime, and an expansion to the series, respectively. The former series is currently the second longest-running licensed comic series in the history of American comic books, second only to Marvel's Conan series (first issue released in 1970).


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: In France two comic books named "Sonic Adventures" were published by Sirène in 1994. "Guinness World Records" recognized Sonic comic as the longest-running comic based on a game. Archie Comics also released a twelve part crossover with Mega Man beginning in 2013. The Archie comics were later succeeded by a new comic series by IDW Publishing in 2018, which is currently ongoing.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic has also been featured in two different manga. One series was simply called "Sonic the Hedgehog", and featured a story about a normal hedgehog boy named Nicky who can change into Sonic. The other series was a compilation of short stories and was separated into two volumes, the first being called "Dash and Spin", and the other called "Super Fast Sonic!!".


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: According to various official materials from Sega, Sonic is described as a character who is "like the wind": a drifter who lives as he wants, and makes life a series of events and adventures. Sonic hates oppression and staunchly defends freedom. Although he is mostly quick-witted and easygoing, he has a short temper and is often impatient with slower things. Sonic is a habitual daredevil hedgehog who is honest, loyal to friends, keeps his promises, and dislikes tears. He took the young Tails under his wing like a little brother, and is uninterested in marital proposals from Amy Rose. In times of crisis, he focuses intensely on the challenge as if his personality had undergone an astonishing change.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic's greatest strength is his running speed, being known in the game's universe as the world's fastest hedgehog. Many of his abilities are variations on the tendency for hedgehogs to roll into tight balls for protection with the addition of spinning his body. Since his introduction in 1991's "Sonic the Hedgehog", Sonic's primary offensive maneuver is the basic "Spin Attack" (or "Sonic Spin Attack"). Later games in the series expanded on this basic attack and two of these enhancements have become mainstays of his: the Spin Dash which was introduced in "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" and involves Sonic spinning on the spot before blasting off at full speed, and the Homing Attack, officially introduced in "Sonic Adventure", in which Sonic dashes toward a target in midair. Sonic's only weakness is that he cannot swim, sinking like a rock if plunged to a deep body of water. The reason for this is because Yuji Naka had a misunderstanding about hedgehogs not being able to swim. The only exception is that he can swim in the Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebooks. When the seven Chaos Emeralds are collected and used, Sonic transforms into , a faster, stronger and invulnerable version of himself that can fly. In Super Sonic form, Sonic's irises turn red and his body becomes golden.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: As Sega's mascot and one of the key reasons for the company's success during the 16-bit era of video game consoles, Sonic is one of the most famous video game characters in the world. In 1993, Sonic became the first video game character to have a balloon in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In 1996, Sonic was also the first video game character to be seen in a Rose Parade. Sonic was one of the three game characters inducted on the inaugural Walk of Game class in 2005, along with former rivals Mario and Link (both from Nintendo). One of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes, has been named "sonic hedgehog" after him.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: On the other hand, Sonic's apparent romantic relationship with Princess Elise in the 2006 video game resulted in major criticism. Sonic's characterization and relationship with Eggman in "Sonic Boom" earned a positive response by Patrick Lee of "The A.V. Club" and Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Sonic has also been used as a symbol for Sega's various sponsorships. Between 1993 and 1997, Sega sponsored the JEF United Ichihara Chiba football team, during which period Sonic appeared in the team's uniform. During the 1993 Formula One championship, Sega sponsored the Williams Grand Prix team, which won the Constructors' Championship that year, as well as the team's lead driver, Alain Prost, winning the Drivers' Championship. Sonic was featured in the cars, helmets, and their rivals McLaren used to paint a squashed hedgehog after winning races over Williams. The 1993 European Grand Prix featured a Sonic balloon and Sonic billboards. In 1992, according to Sega of America marketing director Al Nilsen, Sonic was found to be more recognizable than Mickey Mouse in the six-to eleven-year-old demographic, based on the character's respective Q Scores, although this claim could not be confirmed by Q Score developer Marketing Evaluations, Inc.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Nintendo Power listed Sonic as their sixth favorite hero, stating that while he was originally Mario's nemesis, he seems at home on Nintendo platforms. They added that he has remained as one of gaming's greatest icons. In 2004, the character won a Golden Joystick Award for "The Sun Ultimate Gaming Hero". The character's popularity declined in the mid-1990s, and Sonic failed to place in "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s Coolest Mascot of 1996 in either the editors' or readers' picks, being beaten out by not only competitors Mario and Crash Bandicoot, but Sega's own Nights; however, in a 2008 poll of 500 people, Sonic was voted the most popular video game character in the UK with a 24% vote while his old rival Mario came second with 21% of the vote. Later that year, Sonic was ranked as the most iconic video game character in an MSN rankings list. In 2011, "Empire" ranked him as the 14th greatest video game character. And he was voted 10th out of the top 50 video game characters of all time in "Guinness World Records" 2011 Gamers' Edition. Sonic ranked ninth on GameDaily's Top 10 Smash Bros characters list. GameDaily also listed his "next-generation stumble" in their list of video game characters' worst moments, using his relationship with a human female as one of the worst parts of it.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: Ken Balough, Sega's former associate brand manager, said that Sonic's appeal endured because the character is "a gaming legend, first and foremost" who originated "from a series of games that defined a generation in gaming history, and his iconic personality was the epitome of speed in the early ‘90s, pushing the limits of what gamers knew and expected from high-speed action and platforming games."


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: A Japanese team developing the Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) instrumentation for the upcoming "Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer" spacecraft, to be launched by ESA and Airbus in 2022, was able to gain Sega's approval to use Sonic as the mascot for the device.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

text: An Internet meme called "Sanic" has been used based on a poorly drawn Sonic; typically, the meme uses one of Sonic's catchphrases but with poor grammar. Sega's official Sonic Twitter account has made numerous references to it, and it appeared in official downloadable content for "Sonic Forces" on in-game shirts. The meme also appears as a drawing in the theatrical film.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: The RS-28 Sarmat (, named after the Sarmatians; NATO reporting name: SS-X-29 or SS-X-30), known as "Satan II", is a Russian liquid-fueled, MIRV-equipped super-heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) produced by the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau since 2009. It is intended to replace the R-36M ICBM (SS-18 'Satan') in Russia's arsenal.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: The "Sarmat" is one of the six new Russian strategic weapons unveiled by Russian president Vladimir Putin on 1 March 2018. The RS-28 Sarmat made its first test flight on 20 April 2022, and the Russian government expects the missile is entering service in 2022. On August 16, 2022, a state contract was signed for the manufacture and supply of the Sarmat strategic missile system.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: In February 2014, a Russian military official announced the "Sarmat" was expected to be ready for deployment around 2020. In May 2014 another official source suggested that the program was being accelerated, and that it would, in his opinion, constitute up to 100 percent of Russia's fixed land-based nuclear arsenal by 2021.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: In late June 2015, it was reported that the production schedule for the first prototype of the "Sarmat" was slipping.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: In early 2017, prototype missiles had been reportedly built and delivered to Plesetsk Cosmodrome for trials, but the test program was delayed to re-check key hardware components before initial launch.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: In early 2017, according to the commander of the Russian Strategic Forces Col. Gen. Sergei Karakayev, the RS-28 Sarmat would be deployed with the 13th Red Banner Rocket Division of the 31st Missile Army at Dombarovsky Air Base, Orenburg Oblast, and with the 62nd Red Banner Rocket Division of the 33rd Guards Rocket Army at Uzhur, Krasnoyarsk Krai, replacing the previous R-36M ICBMs currently located there.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: In late December 2017, the first successful launch test of the missile was carried out at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Oblast. According to the report, the missile flew several dozen kilometers and fell within the test range.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: On 1 March 2018, Russian president Vladimir Putin, in his annual address to the Federal Assembly, said that "the active phase of tests" of the missile had begun. Shortly after, an anonymous military source was cited as saying that the 2007 information about the Sarmat missile had been leaked to the West deliberately. On 30 March 2018, the Russian Defence Ministry published a video showing the "Sarmat" performing its second successful test-launch at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: On 24 December 2019, during the exhibition of the modern weapon systems at the National Defense Management Center, it was reported that "Sarmat" is capable of a "35,000 km sub-orbital flight". The trials of the "missile complex" were expected to be completed in 2021, and, during the 2020–2027 period, "twenty missile regiments are planned to be rearmed with the RS-28".


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: The RS-28 Sarmat will be capable of carrying about 10 tonnes of payload, for either up to 10 heavy or 15 light MIRV warheads, and up to 24 Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) or a combination of warheads and several countermeasures against anti-ballistic missile systems. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the missile is Russia's response to the U.S. Prompt Global Strike system.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: Sarmat has a short boost phase, which shortens the interval when it can be tracked by satellites with infrared sensors, such as the U.S. Space-Based Infrared System, making it more difficult to intercept. It is speculated that the Sarmat could fly a trajectory over the South Pole, completely immune to any current missile defense system, and that it has the Fractional Orbital Bombardment (FOBS) capability.


title: RS-28 Sarmat

text: According to various sources, RS-28's launch sites are to be equipped with the ""Mozyr"" active protection system, designed to negate a potential adversary's first strike advantage by discharging a cloud of metal arrows or balls kinetically destroying incoming bombs, cruise missiles and ICBM warheads at altitudes of up to 6 km.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (; 2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918), known in English as Baron von Richthofen or the Red Baron, was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Originally a cavalryman, Richthofen transferred to the Air Service in 1915, becoming one of the first members of fighter squadron "Jagdstaffel 2" in 1916. He quickly distinguished himself as a fighter pilot, and during 1917 became the leader of "Jasta 11". Later he led the larger fighter wing "Jagdgeschwader I", better known as "The Flying Circus" or "Richthofen's Circus" because of the bright colours of its aircraft, and perhaps also because of the way the unit was transferred from one area of Allied air activity to another – moving like a travelling circus, and frequently setting up in tents on improvised airfields. By 1918, Richthofen was regarded as a national hero in Germany, and respected by his enemies.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen was shot down and killed near Vaux-sur-Somme on 21 April 1918. There has been considerable discussion and debate regarding aspects of his career, especially the circumstances of his death. He remains one of the most widely known fighter pilots of all time, and has been the subject of many books, films, and other media.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen was a "Freiherr" (literally "Free Lord"), a title of nobility often translated as "baron." This is not a given name nor strictly a hereditary title, since all male members of the family were entitled to it, even during the lifetime of their father. Richthofen painted his aircraft red, and this combined with his title led to him being called the "Red Baron" (), both inside and outside Germany. During his lifetime, he was more frequently described in German as "Der Rote Kampfflieger," variously translated as "The Red Battle Flyer" or "The Red Fighter Pilot". This name was used as the title of Richthofen's 1917 autobiography.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen was born in Kleinburg, near Breslau, Lower Silesia (now part of the city of Wrocław, Poland), on 2 May 1892 into a prominent Prussian aristocratic family. His father was Major Albrecht Philipp Karl Julius Freiherr von Richthofen and his mother was Kunigunde von Schickfuss und Neudorff. He had an elder sister, Ilse, and two younger brothers.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: When he was four years old, Manfred moved with his family to nearby Schweidnitz (now Świdnica, Poland). He enjoyed riding horses and hunting as well as gymnastics at school. He excelled at parallel bars and won a number of awards at school. He and his brothers, Lothar and Bolko, hunted wild boar, elk, birds, and deer.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: After being educated at home he attended a school at Schweidnitz for a year before beginning cadet training at the Wahlstatt (now Legnickie Pole, Poland) military school when he was 11. After completing cadet training at the Groß-Lichterfelde Preußische Hauptkadettenanstalt in 1911, he joined an Uhlan cavalry unit, the "Ulanen-Regiment Kaiser Alexander der III. von Russland (1. Westpreußisches) Nr. 1" ("1st Emperor Alexander III of Russia Uhlan Regiment (1st West Prussian)") and was assigned to the regiment's "3. Eskadron" ("No. 3 Squadron").


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: When World War I began, Richthofen served as a cavalry reconnaissance officer on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, seeing action in Russia, France, and Belgium; with the advent of trench warfare, which made traditional cavalry operations outdated and inefficient, Richthofen's regiment was dismounted, serving as dispatch runners and field telephone operators. Disappointed and bored at not being able to directly participate in combat, the last straw for Richthofen was an order to transfer to the army's supply branch. His interest in the Air Service had been aroused by his examination of a German military aircraft behind the lines, and he applied for a transfer to "Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches" (Imperial German Army Air Service), later to be known as the "Luftstreitkräfte". He was widely reported to have written in his application for transfer, "I have not gone to war in order to collect cheese and eggs, but for another purpose." His request was granted, and Richthofen joined the flying service at the end of May 1915.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: From June to August 1915, Richthofen served as an observer on reconnaissance missions over the Eastern Front with "Feldflieger Abteilung 69" ("No. 69 Flying Squadron"). In August 1915, he was transferred to a flying unit in Ostend, a coastal city in Belgium. There he flew with a friend and fellow pilot Georg Zeumer, who would later teach him to fly solo. On being transferred to the Champagne front, he is believed to have shot down an attacking French Farman aircraft with his observer's machine gun in a tense battle over French lines; he was not credited with the kill, since it fell behind Allied lines and therefore could not be confirmed.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Manfred von Richthofen had a chance meeting with German ace fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke which led him to enter training as a pilot in October 1915. In February 1916, Manfred "rescued" his brother Lothar from the boredom of training new troops in Luben and encouraged him to transfer to the "Fliegertruppe". The next month, Manfred joined "Kampfgeschwader 2" ("No. 2 Bomber Squadron") flying a two-seater Albatros C.III. Initially, he appeared to be a below-average pilot. He struggled to control his aircraft, and he crashed during his first flight at the controls. Despite this poor start, he rapidly became attuned to his aircraft. He was over Verdun on 26 April 1916 and fired on a French Nieuport, shooting it down over Fort Douaumont—although he received no official credit. A week later, he decided to ignore more experienced pilots' advice against flying through a thunderstorm. He later noted that he had been "lucky to get through the weather" and vowed never again to fly in such conditions unless ordered to do so.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen met Oswald Boelcke again in August 1916, after another spell flying two-seaters on the Eastern Front. Boelcke was visiting the east in search of candidates for his newly formed "Jasta 2", and he selected Richthofen to join this unit, one of the first German fighter squadrons. Boelcke was killed during a midair collision with a friendly aircraft on 28 October 1916, and Richthofen witnessed the event.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen scored his first confirmed victory when he engaged Second Lieutenant Lionel Morris and his observer Tom Rees in the skies over Cambrai, France, on 17 September 1916. His autobiography states, "I honoured the fallen enemy by placing a stone on his beautiful grave." He contacted a jeweller in Berlin and ordered a silver cup engraved with the date and the type of enemy aircraft. He continued to celebrate each of his victories in the same manner until he had 60 cups, by which time the dwindling supply of silver in blockaded Germany meant that silver cups could no longer be supplied. Richthofen discontinued his orders at this stage, rather than accept cups made from base metal.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: His brother Lothar (40 victories) used risky, aggressive tactics, but Manfred observed a set of maxims known as the "Dicta Boelcke" to assure success for both the squadron and its pilots. He was not a spectacular or aerobatic pilot like his brother or Werner Voss; however, he was a noted tactician and squadron leader and a fine marksman. Typically, he would dive from above to attack with the advantage of the sun behind him, with other pilots of his squadron covering his rear and flanks.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: On 23 November 1916, Richthofen shot down his most famous adversary, British ace Major Lanoe Hawker VC, described by Richthofen as "the British Boelcke". The victory came while Richthofen was flying an Albatros D.II and Hawker was flying the older DH.2. After a long dogfight, Hawker was shot in the back of the head as he attempted to escape back to his own lines. After this combat, Richthofen was convinced that he needed a fighter aircraft with more agility, even with a loss of speed. He switched to the Albatros D.III in January 1917, scoring two victories before suffering an in-flight crack in the spar of the aircraft's lower wing on 24 January, and he reverted to the Albatros D.II or Halberstadt D.II for the next five weeks.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen was flying his Halberstadt on 6 March in combat with F.E.8s of 40 Squadron RFC when his aircraft was shot through the fuel tank, by Edwin Benbow, who was credited with a victory from this fight. Richthofen was able to make a forced landing near Hénin-Liétard without his aircraft catching fire. He then scored a victory in the Albatros D.II on 9 March, but his Albatros D.III was grounded for the rest of the month so he switched again to a Halberstadt D.II. He returned to his Albatros D.III on 2 April 1917 and scored 22 victories in it before switching to the Albatros D.V in late June.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen flew the celebrated Fokker Dr.I triplane from late July 1917, the distinctive three-winged aircraft with which he is most commonly associated—although he did not use the type exclusively until after it was reissued with strengthened wings in November. Only 19 of his 80 kills were made in this type of aircraft, despite the popular link between Richthofen and the Fokker Dr.I. It was his Albatros D.III Serial No. 789/16 that was first painted bright red, in late January 1917, and in which he first earned his name and reputation.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen championed the development of the Fokker D.VII with suggestions to overcome the deficiencies of the current German fighter aircraft. He never had an opportunity to fly the new type in combat, as he was killed before it entered service.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen received the Pour le Mérite in January 1917 after his 16th confirmed kill, the highest military honour in Germany at the time and informally known as "The Blue Max". That same month, he assumed command of "Jasta 11", which ultimately included some of the elite German pilots, many of whom he trained himself, and several of whom later became leaders of their own squadrons. Ernst Udet belonged to Richthofen's group and later became Generaloberst Udet. When Lothar joined, the German high command appreciated the propaganda value of two Richthofens fighting together to defeat the enemy in the air.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen took the flamboyant step of having his Albatros painted red when he became a squadron commander. His autobiography states: "For whatever reasons, one fine day I came upon the idea of having my crate painted glaring red. The result was that absolutely everyone could not help but notice my red bird. In fact, my opponents also seemed to be not entirely unaware [of it]". Thereafter he usually flew in red-painted aircraft, although not all of them were entirely red, nor was the "red" necessarily the brilliant scarlet beloved of model- and replica-builders.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Other members of "Jasta 11" soon took to painting parts of their aircraft red. Their official reason seems to have been to make their leader less conspicuous, to avoid having him singled out in a fight. In practice, red colouration became a unit identification. Other units soon adopted their own squadron colours, and decoration of fighters became general throughout the . The German high command permitted this practice (in spite of obvious drawbacks from the point of view of intelligence), and German propaganda made much of it by referring to Richthofen as —"the Red Fighter Pilot".


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: During a visit to her home, the Baron’s mother asked him why he risked his life every day, and he said: "For the man in the trenches. I want to ease his hard lot in life by keeping the enemy flyers away from him."


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen led his new unit to unparallelled success, peaking during "Bloody April" 1917. In that month alone, he shot down 22 British aircraft, including four in a single day, raising his official tally to 52. By June, he had become the commander of the first of the new larger "fighter wing" formations; these were highly mobile, combined tactical units that could move at short notice to different parts of the front as required. Richthofen's new command, Jagdgeschwader 1, was composed of fighter squadrons No. 4, 6, 10, and 11. J.G. 1 became widely known as "The Flying Circus" due to the unit's brightly coloured aircraft and its mobility, including the use of tents, trains, and caravans, where appropriate.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen was a brilliant tactician, building on Boelcke's tactics. Unlike Boelcke, however, he led by example and force of will rather than by inspiration. He was often described as distant, unemotional, and rather humorless, though some colleagues contended otherwise. He was cordial to officers and enlisted men alike; indeed, he urged his pilots to remain on good terms with the mechanics who maintained their aircraft. He taught his pilots the basic rule which he wanted them to fight by: "Aim for the man and don't miss him. If you are fighting a two-seater, get the observer first; until you have silenced the gun, don't bother about the pilot."


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Although Richthofen was now performing the duties of a lieutenant colonel (a wing commander in modern Royal Air Force terms), he was never promoted past the relatively junior rank of Rittmeister, equivalent to captain in the British army. The system in the British army was for an officer to hold the rank appropriate to his level of command, if only on a temporary basis, even if he had not been formally promoted. In the German army, it was not unusual for a wartime officer to hold a lower rank than his duties implied; German officers were promoted according to a schedule and not by battlefield promotion. It was also the custom for a son not to hold a higher rank than his father, and Richthofen's father was a reserve major.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen sustained a serious head wound on 6 July 1917, during combat near Wervik, Belgium against a formation of F.E.2d two-seat fighters of No. 20 Squadron RFC, causing instant disorientation and temporary partial blindness. He regained his vision in time to ease the aircraft out of a spin and execute a forced landing in a field in friendly territory. The injury required multiple operations to remove bone splinters from the impact area.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: The Red Baron returned to active service against doctor's orders on 25 July, but took convalescent leave from 5 September to 23 October. His wound is thought to have caused lasting damage; he later often suffered from post-flight nausea and headaches, as well as a change in temperament. There is a theory (see below) linking this injury with his eventual death.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: During his convalescent leave, Richthofen completed an autobiographic sketch, "Der rote Kampfflieger" ("The Red Battle Flyer", 1917). Written on the instructions of the "Press and Intelligence" (propaganda) section of the "Luftstreitkräfte" (Air Force), it shows evidence of having been heavily censored and edited. There are, however, passages that are most unlikely to have been inserted by an official editor. Richthofen wrote: "My father discriminates between a sportsman and a butcher. The latter shoots for fun. When I have shot down an Englishman, my hunting passion is satisfied for a quarter of an hour. Therefore I do not succeed in shooting down two Englishmen in succession. If one of them comes down, I have the feeling of complete satisfaction. Only much later have I overcome my instinct and have become a butcher". In another passage, Richthofen wrote "I am in wretched spirits after every aerial combat. I believe that [the war] is not as the people at home imagine it, with a hurrah and a roar; it is very serious, very grim." An English translation by J. Ellis Barker was published in 1918 as "The Red Battle Flyer". Although Richthofen died before a revised version could be prepared, he is on record as repudiating the book, stating that it was "too insolent" and that he was no longer that kind of person.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: By 1918, Richthofen had become such a legend that it was feared that his death would be a blow to the morale of the German people. He refused to accept a ground job after his wound, stating that "every poor fellow in the trenches must do his duty" and that he would therefore continue to fly in combat. Certainly he had become part of a cult of officially encouraged hero-worship. German propaganda circulated various false rumours, including that the British had raised squadrons specially to hunt Richthofen and had offered large rewards and an automatic Victoria Cross to any Allied pilot who shot him down. Passages from his correspondence indicate he may have at least half-believed some of these stories himself.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen received a fatal wound just after 11:00 am on 21 April 1918 while flying over Morlancourt Ridge near the Somme River, . At the time, he had been pursuing, at very low altitude, a Sopwith Camel piloted by Canadian novice Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May of No. 209 Squadron, Royal Air Force. May had just fired on the Red Baron's cousin, Lieutenant Wolfram von Richthofen. On seeing his cousin being attacked, Richtofen flew to his rescue and fired on May, causing him to pull away. Richthofen pursued May across the Somme. The Baron was spotted and briefly attacked by a Camel piloted by May's school friend and flight commander, Canadian Captain Arthur "Roy" Brown. Brown had to dive steeply at very high speed to intervene, and then had to climb steeply to avoid hitting the ground. Richthofen turned to avoid this attack, and then resumed his pursuit of May.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: It was almost certainly during this final stage in his pursuit of May that a single .303 bullet hit Richthofen through the chest, severely damaging his heart and lungs; it would have killed Richthofen in less than a minute. His aircraft stalled and went into a steep dive, hitting the ground at in a field on a hill near the Bray-Corbie road, just north of the village of Vaux-sur-Somme, in a sector defended by the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). The aircraft bounced heavily upon hitting the ground: the undercarriage collapsed and the fuel tank was smashed before the aircraft skidded to a stop. Several witnesses, including Gunner George Ridgway, reached the crashed plane and found Richthofen already dead, and his face slammed into the butts of his machine guns, breaking his nose, fracturing his jaw and creating contusions on his face.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps was the nearest Allied air unit and assumed responsibility for the Baron's remains. His Fokker Dr.I "425/17" was soon taken apart by souvenir hunters.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: In 2009, Richthofen's death certificate was found in the archives in Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland. He had briefly been stationed in Ostrów before going to war, as it was part of Germany until the end of World War I. The document is a one-page, handwritten form in a 1918 registry book of deaths. It misspells Richthofen's name as "Richthoven" and simply states that he had "died 21 April 1918, from wounds sustained in combat".


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Controversy and contradictory hypotheses continue to surround who actually fired the shot that killed Richthofen.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: The RAF credited Brown with shooting down the Red Baron, but it is now generally agreed by historians, doctors, and ballistics experts that Richthofen was actually killed by an anti-aircraft (AA) machine gunner firing from the ground. An autopsy showed the bullet that killed Richthofen penetrated from the right underarm and exited next to the left nipple. Brown's attack was probably from behind and above Richthofen's left. Even more conclusively, Richthofen could not have continued his pursuit of May for as long as he did (up to two minutes) had his wound come from Brown. Brown himself never spoke much about what happened that day, claiming, "There is no point in me commenting, as the evidence is already out there."


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Many sources have suggested that Sergeant Cedric Popkin was the person most likely to have killed Richthofen, including a 1998 article by Geoffrey Miller, a physician, and historian of military medicine, and a 2002 edition of the British Channel 4 "Secret History" series. Popkin was an AA machine gunner with the Australian 24th Machine Gun Company, and he was using a Vickers gun. He fired at Richthofen's aircraft on two occasions: first as the Baron was heading straight at his position, and then at long range from the plane's right. Given the nature of Richthofen's wounds, Popkin was in a position to fire the fatal shot when the pilot passed him for a second time. Some confusion has been caused by a letter that Popkin wrote in 1935 to an Australian official historian. It stated Popkin's belief that he had fired the fatal shot as Richthofen flew straight at his position. In this respect, Popkin was incorrect; the bullet which caused the Baron's death came from the side (see above).


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: A 2002 Discovery Channel documentary suggests that Gunner W. J. "Snowy" Evans, a Lewis machine gunner with the 53rd Battery, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, Royal Australian Artillery is likely to have killed von Richthofen. Miller and the "Secret History" documentary dismiss this theory because of the angle from which Evans fired at Richthofen.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Other sources have suggested that Gunner Robert Buie (also of the 53rd Battery) may have fired the fatal shot. There is little support for this theory. In 2007, a municipality in Sydney recognised Buie as the man who shot down Richthofen, placing a plaque near his former home. Buie died in 1964 and has never been officially recognised in any other way.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen was a highly experienced and skilled fighter pilot—fully aware of the risk from ground fire. Further, he concurred with the rules of air fighting created by his late mentor Boelcke, who specifically advised pilots not to take unnecessary risks. In this context, Richthofen's judgement during his last combat was clearly unsound in several respects. Several theories have been proposed to account for his behaviour.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: In 1999, a German medical researcher, Henning Allmers, published an article in the British medical journal "The Lancet", suggesting it was likely that brain damage from the head wound Richthofen suffered in July 1917 played a part in his death. This was supported by a 2004 paper by researchers at the University of Texas. Richthofen's behaviour after his injury was noted as consistent with brain-injured patients, and such an injury could account for his perceived lack of judgement on his final flight: flying too low over enemy territory and suffering target fixation.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen may have been suffering from cumulative combat stress, which made him fail to observe some of his usual precautions. One of the leading British air aces, Major Edward "Mick" Mannock, was killed by ground fire on 26 July 1918 while crossing the lines at low level, an action he had always cautioned his younger pilots against. One of the most popular of the French air aces, Georges Guynemer, went missing on 11 September 1917, probably while attacking a two-seater without realizing several Fokkers were escorting it.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: There is a suggestion that on the day of Richthofen's death, the prevailing wind was about 40 km/h (25 mph) easterly, rather than the usual westerly. This meant that Richthofen, heading generally westward at an airspeed of about 160 km/h (100 mph), was travelling over the ground at up to 200 km/h (125 mph) rather than the more typical ground speed of 120 km/h (75 mph). This was considerably faster than normal and he could easily have strayed over enemy lines without realizing it.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: At the time of Richthofen's death, the front was in a highly fluid state, following the initial success of the German offensive of March–April 1918. This was part of Germany's last opportunity to win the war. In the face of Allied air superiority, the German air service was having difficulty acquiring vital reconnaissance information, and could do little to prevent Allied squadrons from completing effective reconnaissance and close support of their armies.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: In common with most Allied air officers, No. 3 Squadron AFC's commanding officer Major David Blake, who was responsible for Richthofen's body, regarded the Red Baron with great respect, and he organised a full military funeral.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: The body was buried in the cemetery at the village of Bertangles, near Amiens, on 22 April 1918. Six of No. 3 Squadron's officers served as pallbearers, and a guard of honour from the squadron's other ranks fired a salute.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Allied squadrons stationed nearby presented memorial wreaths, one of which was inscribed with the words, "To Our Gallant and Worthy Foe".


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: In the early 1920s, the French authorities created a military cemetery at Fricourt, in which a large number of German war dead, including Richthofen, were reinterred. In 1925 von Richthofen's youngest brother, Bolko, recovered the body from Fricourt and took it to Germany. The family's intention was for it to be buried in the Schweidnitz cemetery next to the graves of his father and his brother Lothar von Richthofen, who had been killed in a post-war air crash in 1922. The German Government requested that the body should instead be interred at the Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery in Berlin, where many German military heroes and past leaders were buried, and the family agreed. Richthofen's body received a state funeral. Later the Third Reich held a further grandiose memorial ceremony at the site of the grave, erecting a massive new tombstone engraved with the single word: Richthofen. During the Cold War, the Invalidenfriedhof was on the boundary of the Soviet zone in Berlin, and the tombstone became damaged by bullets fired at attempted escapees from East Germany. In 1975 the body was moved to a Richthofen family grave plot at the Südfriedhof in Wiesbaden.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: For decades after World War I, some authors questioned whether Richthofen had achieved 80 victories, insisting that his record was exaggerated for propaganda purposes. Some claimed that he took credit for aircraft downed by his squadron or wing.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: In fact, Richthofen's victories are unusually well documented. A full list of the aircraft the Red Baron was credited with shooting down was published as early as 1958—with documented RFC/RAF squadron details, aircraft serial numbers, and the identities of Allied airmen killed or captured—73 of the 80 listed match recorded British losses. A study conducted by British historian Norman Franks with two colleagues, published in "Under the Guns of the Red Baron" in 1998, reached the same conclusion about the high degree of accuracy of Richthofen's claimed victories. There were also unconfirmed victories that would put his actual total as high as 100 or more.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: For comparison, the highest-scoring Allied ace, the Frenchman René Fonck, achieved 75 confirmed victories and a further 52 unconfirmed behind enemy lines. The highest-scoring British Empire fighter pilots were Canadian Billy Bishop, who was officially credited with 72 victories, British Mick Mannock, with 61 confirmed victories, Canadian Raymond Collishaw, with 60, and British James McCudden, with 57 confirmed victories.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Richthofen's early victories and the establishment of his reputation coincided with a period of German air superiority, but he achieved many of his successes later on against a numerically superior enemy, who flew fighter aircraft that were, on the whole, better than his own.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: At various times, several different German military aviation "Geschwader" (literally "squadrons"; equivalent to Commonwealth air force "groups", French "escadrons" or USAF "wings") have been named after the Baron:


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: "Red Flag", the US Air Force's large scale training exercise held multiple times a year, was an outgrowth of Project Red Baron, which happened in three phases ( to ) during the period of the Vietnam War.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Captain Roy Brown donated the seat of the Fokker triplane in which the German flying ace made his final flight to the Royal Canadian Military Institute (RCMI) in 1920.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: Apart from the triplane's seat, the RCMI, in Toronto, also holds a side panel signed by the pilots of Brown's squadron.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: The engine of Richthofen's Dr.I was donated to the Imperial War Museum in London, where it is still on display. The museum also holds the Baron's machine guns. The control column (joystick) of Richthofen's aircraft can be seen at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.


title: Manfred von Richthofen

text: The Australian National Aviation Museum has what is suspected to be the fuel tank of Richthofen's Dr.I, however there is no conclusive proof.


title: Declan Rice

text: Declan Rice (born 14 January 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club West Ham United and the England national team.


title: Declan Rice

text: Born in England, Rice has paternal Irish grandparents and previously represented the Republic of Ireland internationally at both youth and senior levels, before switching allegiance to England in 2019.


title: Declan Rice

text: Rice was born and raised in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. His paternal grandparents were from Douglas, County Cork, in Ireland. He grew up in Kingston upon Thames and joined the academy of Chelsea in 2006, as a seven-year-old. In 2014, after his release at the age of 14, he joined the academy of West Ham United. West Ham United Academy coach Trevor Bumstead stated it was Rice's determination and persistence that helped him break through the ranks at West Ham.


title: Declan Rice

text: On 16 December 2015, just over a year after joining West Ham United at youth level, Rice signed his first professional contract with the club. Rice received his first call-up to the West Ham senior squad for the games against Sunderland and Everton in April 2017, after impressing in the under-23 team. He made his senior debut against Burnley on the last day of the 2016–17 Premier League season, coming on as a 91st-minute substitute for Edimilson Fernandes in a 2–1 away win, five days after captaining the under-23's to promotion with a 2–1 win at Newcastle United. His full senior debut came on 19 August 2017 in a 3–2 defeat at Southampton.


title: Declan Rice

text: In April 2018, Rice was named as runner-up for the 2017–18 Hammer of the Year award behind Marko Arnautović. On 22 December, he made his 50th appearance for West Ham, the first player to do so while still a teenager since Michael Carrick. On 28 December 2018, Rice signed a new contract until 2024 with the option of an additional year. On 12 January 2019, Rice scored his first goal for West Ham and was named man of the match in a 1–0 win against Arsenal, in West Ham's 50th Premier League game at the London Stadium. On 20 April 2019, Rice was named on the shortlist for the PFA Young Player of the Year award, which was eventually awarded to Rice's England teammate Raheem Sterling. At the end of the 2018–19 season, he was named the Players' Player of the Year and won the award for Individual Performance of the Season, for his match winning game against Arsenal, and was named the Young Hammer of the Year for the third consecutive season. On 28 December 2019, Rice captained West Ham for the first time, at the age of 20, in a 2–1 home loss against Leicester City.


title: Declan Rice

text: On 17 July 2020, Rice scored his first and only Premier League goal of the season, an outside-the-box strike against Watford, in a 3–1 win. In the 2019–20 season, Rice played in all 38 league games for West Ham, playing every single minute. He was in the Premier League's top five players for both tackles and interceptions leading West Ham players in both categories and making more passes than any other West Ham player. He was named Hammer of the Year.


title: Declan Rice

text: On 15 February 2021, Rice scored his first goal of the season when he converted the penalty and put the team in the lead against Sheffield United in a home league win that ended 3–0. In April 2021, having played in all of West Ham's games in the 2020–21 season, Rice was ruled out for four weeks with a knee injury picked-up on international duty with England.


title: Declan Rice

text: On 16 September 2021, Rice made his European debut and scored his debut European goal in a 2–0 away victory over Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League. On 9 May 2022, Rice was named as Hammer of the Year for a second time. Following West Ham's Europa League campaign, which saw them reach the semi-final, Rice was named in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League Team of the Year alongside teammate Craig Dawson. Following the retirement of Mark Noble in May 2022, Rice was named as captain of West Ham.


title: Declan Rice

text: Although born in London, Rice was eligible to play for Ireland as his grandparents are from Cork. On 19 March 2017, Rice was named Republic of Ireland U17 player of the year. On 23 May 2017, only days after his Premier League debut, Rice was named in the Republic of Ireland squad to play friendlies against Mexico and Uruguay and a World Cup qualifier at home to Austria. He made his senior debut on 23 March 2018 in a 1–0 defeat to Turkey.


title: Declan Rice

text: In August 2018, Rice was omitted from the squad to play Wales by manager Martin O'Neill, who said that Rice was considering switching to play for England after being approached by them. By November 2018, having been omitted from three squads selected by O'Neill, Rice said he was no closer in deciding whether to play for Ireland or England. In December 2018, Rice met with new Ireland manager Mick McCarthy and his assistant, Robbie Keane. McCarthy said that Rice was a potential future captain of Ireland and that he would build the team around Rice should he decide to play for the country.


title: Declan Rice

text: On 13 February 2019, Rice pledged his future to England. On 5 March, his change of allegiance was confirmed by FIFA. On 13 March, he was called up by England for their forthcoming UEFA Euro 2020 qualification matches against the Czech Republic and Montenegro. He made his debut on 22 March as a 63rd-minute substitute against the Czech Republic at Wembley Stadium.


title: Declan Rice

text: On 25 March 2019, England manager Gareth Southgate handed Rice his first start for the national side during a 5–1 victory over Montenegro. Following Rice's successful season, he was handed a place in the England squad for the 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals. In September 2019, Rice said that he had received online death threats after switching allegiance from Ireland to England. He was the first player to play for both countries since Jack Reynolds in the 1890s. Rice was named in the England squad for UEFA Euro 2020. Rice played in all of England's seven games in Euro 2020 where they lost in the final to Italy.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the "Imperial Cricket Conference", it was renamed the "International Cricket Conference" in 1965, and took up its current name in 1987.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The ICC has 108 member nations currently: 12 Full Members that play Test matches, and 96 Associate Members. The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, most notably the Cricket World Cup and the T20 World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. It promulgates the ICC Code of Conduct, which sets professional standards of discipline for international cricket, and also co-ordinates action against corruption and match-fixing through its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).


title: International Cricket Council

text: The ICC does not control bilateral fixtures between member countries (which include all Test matches), and neither does it govern domestic cricket within member countries. It does not make or alter the laws of the game, which have remained under the governance of the Marylebone Cricket Club since 1788.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The Chairman heads the board of directors and on 26 June 2014, Narayanaswami Srinivasan, the former president of BCCI, was announced as the first chairman of the council. The role of ICC president has become a largely honorary position since the establishment of the chairman role and other changes were made to the ICC constitution in 2014. It has been claimed that the 2014 changes have handed control to the 'Big Three' nations of England, India and Australia. The last ICC president was Zaheer Abbas, who was appointed in June 2015 following the resignation of Mustafa Kamal in April 2015. When the post of ICC president was abolished in April 2016, Shashank Manohar, who replaced Srinivasan in October 2015, became the first independent elected chairman of the ICC.


title: International Cricket Council

text: On 30 November 1907, Abe Bailey, the President of South African Cricket Association, wrote a letter to the Marylebone Cricket Club's (MCC, England) secretary, F.E. Lacey. Bailey suggested the formation of an 'Imperial Cricket Board'. In the letter, he suggested that the board would be responsible for formulation of rules and regulations which will govern the international matches between the three members: Australia, England and South Africa. Bailey, wanted to host a Triangular Test series between the participant countries in South Africa. Australia rejected the offer. However, Bailey did not lose hope. He saw an opportunity of getting the three members together during the Australia's tour of England in 1909. After continued lobbying and efforts, Bailey was successful.


title: International Cricket Council

text: On 15 June 1909, representatives from England, Australia and South Africa met at Lord's and founded the "Imperial Cricket Conference". A month later, a second meeting between the three members was held. The rules were agreed amongst the nations, and the first ever Tri-Test series was decided to be held in England in 1912.


title: International Cricket Council

text: In 1926, West Indies, New Zealand and India were elected as Full Members, doubling the number of Test-playing nations to six. After the formation of Pakistan in 1947, it was given Test status in 1952, becoming the seventh Test-playing nation. In May 1961 South Africa left the Commonwealth and therefore lost membership.


title: International Cricket Council

text: In 1964, the ICC agreed upon including the non-Test playing countries. The following year, the ICC changed its name to the International Cricket Conference. The US, Ceylon and Fiji were admitted as Associates, a new class of member.


title: International Cricket Council

text: In 1968, Denmark, Bermuda, Netherlands, and East Africa were admitted as Associates, while South Africa had still not applied to rejoin the ICC.


title: International Cricket Council

text: At the 1971 meeting, the idea of organizing a World Cup was introduced. At the 1973 meeting, it was decided that a World Cup would be played in 1975 in England. The six Test playing nations and East Africa and Sri Lanka were invited to take part.


title: International Cricket Council

text: In 1978, Papua-New Guinea was admitted as an Associate. South Africa applied to rejoin, but their application was rejected.


title: International Cricket Council

text: In 1984, a third class of membership (Affiliate) was introduced. Italy was the first such member, followed by Switzerland in 1985. In 1987, Bahamas and France were admitted, followed by Nepal in 1988.


title: International Cricket Council

text: At the July 1989 meeting, the ICC renamed itself as the International Cricket Council, and the tradition of the MCC President automatically becoming the Chairman of ICC was abolished.


title: International Cricket Council

text: In 1991, for the first time in ICC history, the meeting was held away from England, in Melbourne. South Africa was re-elected as a Full Member of the ICC in July, following the end of apartheid.


title: International Cricket Council

text: In 1992, Zimbabwe was admitted as the ninth Full Member. Namibia joined as an Associate member. Austria, Belgium, Brunei and Spain joined as Affiliates.


title: International Cricket Council

text: In 1993, the position of "Chief Executive of ICC" was created; David Richards of the Australian Cricket Board was the first person appointed to the position. In July, Sir Clyde Walcott, from Barbados, was elected as the first non-British Chairman. The emergence of new technology saw the introduction of a third umpire who was equipped with video playback facilities.


title: International Cricket Council

text: By 1995, TV replays were made available for run-outs and stumpings in Test matches, with the third umpire required to signal out or not out with red and green lights respectively. The following year, the cameras were used to determine if the ball had crossed the boundary, and in 1997 decisions on the cleanness of catches could be referred to the third umpire. This year also saw the introduction of the Duckworth-Lewis method of adjusting targets in rain-affected ODI matches.


title: International Cricket Council

text: In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland were admitted as the eleventh and twelfth Full Members of the International Cricket Council after a unanimous vote at the ICC Full Council meeting at The Oval. Affiliate Membership was also abolished, with all existing Affiliate Members becoming Associate Members.


title: International Cricket Council

text: Full Members – The twelve governing bodies of teams that have full voting rights within the International Cricket Council and play official Test matches.


title: International Cricket Council

text: Associate Members – The 96 governing bodies in countries where cricket is firmly established and organised, but have not been granted Full Membership yet.


title: International Cricket Council

text: From its formation, the ICC had Lord's Cricket Ground as its home, and from 1993 had its offices in the "Clock Tower" building at the nursery end of the ground. The independent ICC was funded initially by commercial exploitation of the rights to the World Cup of One Day International cricket. As not all Member countries had double-tax agreements with the United Kingdom, it was necessary to protect cricket's revenues by creating a company, ICC Development (International) Pvt. Ltd – known as IDI, outside the UK. This was established in January 1994 and was based in Monaco.


title: International Cricket Council

text: For the remainder of the nineties, the administration of IDI was a modest affair. But with the negotiation of a bundle of rights to all ICC events from 2001 to 2008, revenues available to International cricket and the ICC member countries rose substantially. This led to a growth in the number of commercial staff employed by IDI in Monaco. It also had the disadvantage that the council's cricket administrators, who remained at Lord's, were separated from their commercial colleagues in Monaco. The Council decided to seek ways of bringing all of their staff together in one office while protecting their commercial income from tax.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The option of staying at Lord's was investigated and a request was made, through Sport England, to the British Government to allow the ICC to have all its personnel (including those working on commercial matters) in London – but be given special exemption from paying UK corporation tax on its commercial income. The British Government was unwilling to create a precedent and would not agree to this request. As a consequence, the ICC examined other locations and eventually settled on the emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. ICC is registered in British Virgin Islands. In August 2005, the ICC moved its offices to Dubai, and subsequently closed its offices at Lord's and Monaco. The move to Dubai was made after an 11–1 vote by the ICC's executive board in favour.


title: International Cricket Council

text: While the principal driver of the ICC's move to Dubai was the wish to bring its main employees together in one tax-efficient location, a secondary reason was the wish to move offices closer to the increasingly important new centres of cricketing power in South Asia. Lord's had been a logical venue when the ICC had been administered by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) (a situation that lasted until 1993). But the growing power of India and Pakistan in world cricket had made the continued control of international cricket by a British private members club (the MCC) anachronistic and unsustainable. A direct consequence of the changes and reforms instituted in 1993 was eventually to be the move away from Lord's to a more neutral venue.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The ICC generates income from the tournaments it organises, primarily the Cricket World Cup, and it distributes the majority of that income to its members. Sponsorship and television rights of the World Cup brought in over US$1.6 billion between 2007 and 2015, by far the ICC's main source of income. In the nine-month accounting period to 31 December 2007 the ICC had operating income of $12.66 million, mainly from member subscriptions and sponsorship. In contrast, event income was US$285.87 million, including $239 million from the 2007 World Cup. There was also investment income of $6.695 million in the period.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The ICC has no income streams from the bilateral international cricket matches (Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals), that account for the great majority of the international playing schedule, as they are owned and run by its members. It has sought to create other new events to augment its World Cup revenues. These include the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Super Series played in Australia in 2005. However, these events have not been as successful as the ICC hoped. The Super Series was widely seen as a failure and is not expected to be repeated, and India called for the Champions Trophy to be scrapped in 2006. The Champions Trophy 2004 event was referred to in "Wisden 2005" by the editor as a "turkey of a tournament" and a "fiasco"; although the 2006 edition was seen as a greater success due to a new format.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The ICC World Twenty20, first played in 2007, was a success. The ICC's current plan is to have an international tournament every year, with a Twenty20 World Cup played in even number years, the World Cup continuing to be held the year before the Olympic Games, and the ICC Champions Trophy in the remaining year of the cycle. This cycle began in 2010, one year after the 2009 edition.


title: International Cricket Council

text: In 2015, Sam Collins and Jarrod Kimber made the documentary "Death of a Gentleman" on the internal organisation of the ICC, saying that the richer member countries were running the organisation to the detriment of the other members.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The International Cricket Council oversees playing conditions, bowling reviews, and other ICC regulations. The ICC does not have copyright to the "Laws of Cricket": only the MCC may change the Laws, though this is usually done in consultation with the game's global governing body. The ICC maintains a set of playing conditions for international cricket which make slight amendments to the Laws. They also have a "Code of Conduct" to which teams and players in international matches are required to adhere. Where breaches of this code occur the ICC can apply sanctions, usually fines. In 2008, the ICC imposed 19 penalties on players.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The ICC appoints international umpires and match referees who officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. The ICC operates three panels of umpires: the Elite Panel, the International Panel, and the Associates and Affiliates Panel.


title: International Cricket Council

text: As of April 2012, the Elite Panel included twelve umpires. In theory, two umpires from the Elite Panel officiate at every Test match, while one Elite Panel umpire stands in ODI matches together with an umpire from the International Panel. In practice, members of the International Panel stand in occasional Test matches, as this is viewed as a good opportunity to see whether they can cope at the Test level, and whether they should be elevated to the Elite Panel. Members of the Elite Panel are full-time employees of the ICC, although they do still, very occasionally, umpire first-class cricket in their country of residence. The average annual officiating schedule for Elite Umpires is 8–10 Test matches and 10–15 ODIs, a potential on-field workload of 75 days per year, plus travel and preparation time.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The International Panel is made up of officials nominated from each of the ten Test-playing cricket boards. The Panel Members officiate in ODI matches in their home country, and assist the Elite Panel at peak times in the cricket calendar when they can be appointed to overseas ODI and Test matches. International Panel members also undertake overseas umpiring assignments such as the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup to improve their knowledge and understanding of overseas conditions, and help them prepare for possible promotion to the Elite Panel. Some of these umpires also officiate in the Cricket World Cup. Each of the Test cricket boards nominates a "third umpire" who can be called upon to review certain on-field decisions through instant television replays. All third umpires are first-class umpires in their own country, and the role is seen as a step onto the International Panel, and then the Elite Panel.


title: International Cricket Council

text: The inaugural ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires Panel was formed in June 2006. It superseded the ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires Panel, created in 2005, and serves as the pinnacle for umpires from non-Test playing Members, with selection achieved through each of the five ICC Development Program Regional Umpires Panels.


title: International Cricket Council

text: Members of the Associate and Affiliate International Umpires Panel are eligible for appointments to ODIs involving ICC Associate Members, ICC Intercontinental Cup matches and other Associate and Affiliate tournaments. High-performing umpires may also be considered for other ICC events, including the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup, and could also be invited to be involved in the ICC Champions Trophy and ICC Cricket World Cup.


title: International Cricket Council

text: There is also an Elite Panel of ICC Referees who act as the independent representative of the ICC at all Test and ODI matches. As of January 2009, it had 6 members, all highly experienced former international cricketers. The Referees do not have the power to report players or officials (which has to be done by the umpires), but they are responsible for conducting hearings under the ICC Code of Conduct and imposing penalties as required at matches, ranging from an official reprimand to a lifetime ban from cricket. Decisions can be appealed, but the original decision is upheld in most cases.