title: Foreign relations of the United States

text: The United States toppled the government of Saddam Hussein during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Turkey is host to approximately 90 B61 nuclear bombs at Incirlik Air Base. Other allies include Qatar, where 3,500 US troops are based, and Bahrain, where the United States Navy maintains NSA Bahrain, home of NAVCENT and the Fifth Fleet.


title: Foreign relations of the United States

text: Many countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are important partners for United States in both economic and geostrategic aspects. ASEAN's geostrategic importance stems from many factors, including: the strategic location of member countries, the large shares of global trade that pass through regional waters, and the alliances and partnerships which the United States shares with ASEAN member states. In July 2009, the United States signed ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, which establishes guiding principles intended to build confidence among its signatories with the aim of maintaining regional peace and stability. Trade flows are robust and increasing between America and the ASEAN region.


title: Somen Banerjee

text: Somen "Steve" Banerjee (; October 8, 1946 – October 23, 1994) was an Indian entrepreneur, and the founder of Chippendales.


title: Somen Banerjee

text: Somen Banerjee was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India on October 8, 1946. After operating a Mobil gas station and a failed backgammon club, Banerjee bought a failed Los Angeles club named "Destiny II" and turned it into a nightclub that featured female mud wrestling and a "Female Exotic Dancing Night." The 1979 addition of a male stripper dance troupe performing to target female audiences was the first of its kind in the United States. Banerjee partnered with Paul Snider (eventual killer of Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten) but shortly afterwards developed a more theatrical show with Emmy award-winning producer Nick De Noia.


title: Somen Banerjee

text: Banerjee was charged with enlisting the aid of Ray Colon, former Palm Springs police officer and lounge room entertainer, to commit the murder of show producer De Noia in 1987, and in 1990 and '91, a plot to kill Michael Fullington, a former Chippendales dancer and choreographer, and two other ex-Chippendales dancers, who Banerjee felt were competition to the Chippendales franchise. He eventually pleaded guilty to attempted arson, racketeering, and murder for hire. He entered into a plea agreement that would have led to 26 years in prison, and loss of his share of Chippendales.


title: Somen Banerjee

text: In the early morning of October 23, 1994, hours before he was due to be sentenced, Banerjee was found dead in his cell, having hanged himself. Reports stated that while Banerjee was depressed, it was not thought he would take his own life.


title: Somen Banerjee

text: Banerjee had married an accountant, Irene, sometime in the 1980s. They had two children — daughter Lindsay and son Christian. Even when Banerjee was arrested on federal charges of attempted arson, racketeering, and murder for hire, targeting competitors as well as former employees, Irene seemingly never separated from him. Irene had frantically managed to organize a group of character witnesses for him. She hoped it would sway the judge to reduce Steve’s penalty of 26 years. When Banerjee died, she inherited the entirety of Chippendales, along with all the money, properties, and assets associated with it. She passed away from breast cancer on February 8, 2001.


title: Somen Banerjee

text: Notable other attempts to film Banerjee's life story include by director Tony Scott in 2009, by Trisha Ray and Salman Khan in 2016, and by director Craig Gillespie and actor Dev Patel in 2020.


title: Vipera berus

text: Vipera berus, the common European adder or common European viper, is a venomous snake that is extremely widespread and can be found throughout most of central and eastern Europe and as far as East Asia.


title: Vipera berus

text: Known by a host of common names including common adder and common viper, adders have been the subject of much folklore in Britain and other European countries. They are not regarded as especially dangerous; the snake is not aggressive and usually bites only when really provoked, stepped on, or picked up. Bites can be very painful, but are seldom fatal. The specific name, "berus", is New Latin and was at one time used to refer to a snake, possibly the grass snake, "Natrix natrix".


title: Vipera berus

text: The common adder is found in different terrains, habitat complexity being essential for different aspects of its behaviour. It feeds on small mammals, birds, lizards, and amphibians, and in some cases on spiders, worms, and insects. The common adder, like most other vipers, is ovoviviparous. Females breed once every two or three years, with litters usually being born in late summer to early autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Litters range in size from three to 20 with young staying with their mothers for a few days. Adults grow to a total length (including tail) of and a mass of . Three subspecies are recognized, including the nominate subspecies, "Vipera berus berus" described here. The snake is not considered to be threatened, though it is protected in some countries.


title: Vipera berus

text: The subspecies "V. b. bosniensis" and "V. b. sachalinensis" have been regarded as full species in some recent publications.


title: Vipera berus

text: The name 'adder' is derived from "nædre", an Old English word that had the generic meaning of serpent in the older forms of many Germanic languages. It was commonly used in the Old English version of the Christian Scriptures for the devil and the serpent in the Book of Genesis. In the 14th century, 'a nadder' in Middle English was rebracketed to 'an adder' (just as 'a napron' became 'an apron' and 'a "nompere" changed into 'an umpire').


title: Vipera berus

text: In keeping with its wide distribution and familiarity through the ages, "Vipera berus" has a large number of common names in English, which include:


title: Vipera berus

text: In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the snake is known as "hugorm", "hoggorm" and "huggorm", roughly translated as 'striking snake'. In Finland, it is known as "kyykäärme" or simply "kyy", in Estonia it is known as "rästik", while in Lithuania it is known as "angis". In Poland the snake is called "żmija zygzakowata," which translates as 'zigzag viper', due to the pattern on its back.


title: Vipera berus

text: Relatively thick-bodied, adults usually grow to in total length (including tail), with an average of . Maximum size varies by region. The largest, at over , are found in Scandinavia; specimens of have been observed there on two occasions. In France and Great Britain, the maximum size is . Mass ranges from to about .


title: Vipera berus

text: The head is fairly large and distinct and its sides are almost flat and vertical. The edge of the snout is usually raised into a low ridge. Seen from above, the rostral scale is not visible, or only just. Immediately behind the rostral, there are two (rarely one) small scales.


title: Vipera berus

text: Dorsally, there are usually five large plates: a squarish frontal (longer than wide, sometimes rectangular), two parietals (sometimes with a tiny scale between the frontal and the parietals), and two long and narrow supraoculars. The latter are large and distinct, each separated from the frontal by one to four small scales. The nostril is situated in a shallow depression within a large nasal scale.


title: Vipera berus

text: The eye is relatively large—equal in size or slightly larger than the nasal scale—but often smaller in females. Below the supraoculars are six to 13 (usually eight to 10) small circumorbital scales. The temporal scales are smooth (rarely weakly keeled). There are 10–12 sublabials and six to 10 (usually eight or 9) supralabials. Of the latter, the numbers 3 and 4 are the largest, while 4 and 5 (rarely 3 and 4) are separated from the eye by a single row of small scales (sometimes two rows in alpine specimens).


title: Vipera berus

text: Midbody there are 21 dorsal scales rows (rarely 19, 20, 22, or 23). These are strongly keeled scales, except for those bordering the ventral scales. These scales seem loosely attached to the skin and lower rows become increasingly wide; those closest to the ventral scales are twice as wide as the ones along the midline. The ventral scales number 132–150 in males and 132–158 in females. The anal plate is single. The subcaudals are paired, numbering 32–46 in males and 23–38 in females.


title: Vipera berus

text: The colour pattern varies, ranging from very light-coloured specimens with small, incomplete, dark dorsal crossbars to entirely brown ones with faint or clear, darker brown markings, and on to melanistic individuals that are entirely dark and lack any apparent dorsal pattern. However, most have some kind of zigzag dorsal pattern down the entire length of their bodies and tails. The head usually has a distinctive dark V or X on the back. A dark streak runs from the eye to the neck and continues as a longitudinal series of spots along the flanks.


title: Vipera berus

text: Unusually for snakes, it is often possible to distinguish the sexes by their colour. Females are usually brownish in hue with dark-brown markings, the males are pure grey with black markings. The basal colour of males will often be slightly lighter than that of the females, making the black zigzag pattern stand out. The melanistic individuals are often females.


title: Vipera berus

text: "Vipera berus" has a wide range. It can be found across the Eurasian land-mass; from northwestern Europe (Great Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany, France) across southern Europe (Italy, Serbia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and northern Greece) and eastern Europe to north of the Arctic Circle, and Russia to the Pacific Ocean, Sakhalin Island, North Korea, northern Mongolia and northern China. It is found farther north than any other snake species. The type locality was originally listed as 'Europa'. Mertens and Müller (1940) proposed restricting the type locality to 'Upsala, Schweden' (Uppsala, Sweden) and it was eventually restricted to Berthåga, Uppsala by designation of a neotype by Krecsák & Wahlgren (2008).


title: Vipera berus

text: In several European countries, it is notable as being the only native venomous snake. It is one of only three snake species native to Britain. The other two, the barred grass snake and the smooth snake, are non-venomous.


title: Vipera berus

text: Sufficient habitat complexity is a crucial requirement for the presence of this species, in order to support its various behaviours—basking, foraging, and hibernation—as well as to offer some protection from predators and human harassment. It is found in a variety of habitats, including: chalky downs, rocky hillsides, moors, sandy heaths, meadows, rough commons, edges of woods, sunny glades and clearings, bushy slopes and hedgerows, dumps, coastal dunes, and stone quarries. It will venture into wetlands if dry ground is available nearby and thus may be found on the banks of streams, lakes, and ponds.


title: Vipera berus

text: In much of southern Europe, such as southern France and northern Italy, it is found in either low lying wetlands or at high altitudes. In the Swiss Alps, it may ascend to about . In Hungary and Russia, it avoids open steppeland; a habitat in which "V. ursinii" is more likely to occur. In Russia, however, it does occur in the forest steppe zone.


title: Vipera berus

text: In Great Britain, it is illegal to kill, injure, harm or sell adders under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The same situation applies to Norway under the (The Wildlife Act 1981) and Denmark (1981). The common viper is categorised as 'endangered' in Switzerland, and is also protected in some other countries in its range. It is also found in many protected areas.


title: Vipera berus

text: This species is listed as protected (Appendix III) under the Berne Convention. Despite the convention, it is not protected in Finland because of a reservation.


title: Vipera berus

text: The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species describes the conservation status as of 'least concern' in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, broad range of habitats, and likely slow rate of decline though it acknowledges the population to be decreasing. Reduction in habitat for a variety of reasons, fragmentation of populations in Europe due to intense agriculture practices, and collection for the pet trade or for venom extraction have been recorded as major contributing factors for its decline. A citizen science based survey in the UK found evidence of extensive population declines in the UK, especially affecting smaller populations. A combination of public pressure and disturbance, habitat fragmentation and poor habitat management were considered the most likely causes of the decline. The release of 47 million non-native pheasants and 10 million partridges each year by countryside estates has also been suggested to have a significant impact on adder populations across the UK, with the possibility the reptile could be extinct within 12 years.


title: Vipera berus

text: This species is mainly diurnal, especially in the north of its range. Further south it is said to be active in the evening, and it may even be active at night during the summer months. It is predominantly a terrestrial species, although it has been known to climb up banks and into low bushes in order to bask or search for prey.


title: Vipera berus

text: Adders are not usually aggressive, tending to be rather timid and biting only when cornered or alarmed. People are generally bitten only after stepping on them or attempting to pick them up. They will usually disappear into the undergrowth at a hint of any danger, but will return once all is quiet, often to the same spot. Occasionally, individual snakes will reveal their presence with a loud and sustained hissing, presumably to warn off potential aggressors. Often, these turn out to be pregnant females. When the adder is threatened, the front part of the body is drawn into an S-shape to prepare for a strike.


title: Vipera berus

text: The species is cold-adapted and hibernates in the winter. In Great Britain, males and females hibernate for about 150 and 180 days, respectively. In northern Sweden hibernation lasts 8–9 months. On mild winter days, they may emerge to bask where the snow has melted and will often travel across snow. About 15% of adults and 30–40% of juveniles die during hibernation.


title: Vipera berus

text: Diet consists mainly of small mammals, such as mice, rats, voles, and shrews, as well as lizards. Sometimes, slow worms are taken, and even weasels and moles. Adders also feed on amphibians, such as frogs, newts, and salamanders. Birds are also reported to be consumed, especially nestlings and even eggs, for which they will climb into shrubbery and bushes. Generally, diet varies depending on locality. Juveniles will eat nestling mammals, small lizards and frogs as well as worms and spiders. One important dietary source for young adders is the alpine salamander ("salamadra atra"). Because both species live at higher altitudes, "S. atra" could be a prevalent food source for adders, since there may be fewer other animals. One study suggests that alpine salamanders could consist of almost half of the adders' diets in some locations. They have been witnessed swallowing these salamanders in the early morning hours


title: Vipera berus

text: In Hungary, mating takes place in the last week of April, whilst in the north it happens later (in the second week of May). Mating has also been observed in June and even early October, but it is not known if this autumn mating results in any offspring. Females often breed once every two years, or even once every three years if the seasons are short and the climate is not conducive.


title: Vipera berus

text: Males find females by following their scent trails, sometimes tracking them for hundreds of metres a day. If a female is found and then flees, the male follows. Courtship involves side-by-side parallel 'flowing' behaviour, tongue flicking along the back and excited lashing of the tail. Pairs stay together for one or two days after mating. Males chase away their rivals and engage in combat. Often, this also starts with the aforementioned flowing behaviour before culminating in the dramatic 'adder dance'. In this act, the males confront each other, raise up the front part of the body vertically, make swaying movements and attempt to push each other to the ground. This is repeated until one of the two becomes exhausted and crawls off to find another mate. Appleby (1971) notes that he has never seen an intruder win one of these contests, as if the frustrated defender is so aroused by courtship that he refuses to lose his chance to mate. There is no record of any biting taking place during these bouts.


title: Vipera berus

text: Females usually give birth in August or September, but sometimes as early as July, or as late as early October. Litters range in size from 3 to 20. The young are usually born encased in a transparent sac from which they must free themselves. Sometimes, they succeed in freeing themselves from this membrane while still inside the female.


title: Vipera berus

text: Neonates measure in total length (including tail), with an average total length of . They are born with a fully functional venom apparatus and a reserve supply of yolk within their bodies. They shed their skins for the first time within a day or two. Females do not appear to take much interest in their offspring, but the young have been observed to remain near their mothers for several days after birth.


title: Vipera berus

text: Because of the rapid rate of human expansion throughout the range of this species, bites are relatively common. Domestic animals and livestock are frequent victims. In Great Britain, most instances occur in March–October. In Sweden, there are about 1,300 bites a year, with an estimated 12% that require hospitalisation. At least eight different antivenoms are available against bites from this species.


title: Vipera berus

text: Mallow et al. (2003) describe the venom toxicity as being relatively low compared to other viper species. They cite Minton (1974) who reported the values for mice to be 0.55 mg/kg IV, 0.80 mg/kg IP and 6.45 mg/kg SC. As a comparison, in one test the minimum lethal dose of venom for a guinea pig was 40–67 mg, but only 1.7 mg was necessary when "Daboia russelii" venom was used. Brown (1973) gives a higher subcutaneous LD range of 1.0–4.0 mg/kg. All agree that the venom yield is low: Minton (1974) mentions 10–18 mg for specimens in length, while Brown (1973) lists only 6 mg.


title: Vipera berus

text: Relatively speaking, bites from this species are not highly dangerous. In Britain there were only 14 known fatalities between 1876 and 2005—the last a 5-year-old child in 1975—and one nearly fatal bite of a 39-year-old woman in Essex in 1998. An 82-year-old woman died following a bite in Germany in 2004, although it is not clear whether her death was due to the effect of the venom. A 44-year-old British man was left seriously ill after he was bitten by an adder in the Dalby Forest, Yorkshire, in 2014. Even so, professional medical help should always be sought as soon as possible after any bite. Very occasionally bites can be life-threatening, particularly in small children, while adults may experience discomfort and disability long after the bite. The length of recovery varies, but may take up to a year. Surprisingly, Norway has on average registered one death from the snake every 10 years, despite only having 200-500 reports of bites a year.


title: Vipera berus

text: Local symptoms include immediate and intense pain, followed after a few minutes (but perhaps by as much as 30 minutes) by swelling and a tingling sensation. Blisters containing blood are not common. The pain may spread within a few hours, along with tenderness and inflammation. Reddish lymphangitic lines and bruising may appear, and the whole limb can become swollen and bruised within 24 hours. Swelling may also spread to the trunk, and with children, throughout the entire body. Necrosis and intracompartmental syndromes are very rare.


title: Vipera berus

text: Systemic symptoms resulting from anaphylaxis can be dramatic. These may appear within 5 minutes post bite, or can be delayed for many hours. Such symptoms include nausea, retching and vomiting, abdominal colic and diarrhoea, incontinence of urine and faeces, sweating, fever, vasoconstriction, tachycardia, lightheadedness, loss of consciousness, blindness, shock, angioedema of the face, lips, gums, tongue, throat and epiglottis, urticaria and bronchospasm. If left untreated, these symptoms may persist or fluctuate for up to 48 hours. In severe cases, cardiovascular failure may occur.


title: Vipera berus

text: Adders were believed to be deaf, which is mentioned in Psalm 58 (v. 4), but snake oil made from them was used as a cure for deafness and earache. Females were thought to swallow their young when threatened and regurgitate them unharmed later. It was believed that they did not die until sunset. Remedies for adder "stings" included killing the snake responsible and rubbing the corpse or its fat on the wound, also holding a pigeon or chicken on the bite, or jumping over water. Adders were thought to be attracted to hazel trees and repelled by ash trees.


title: Vipera berus

text: Druids believed that large frenzied gatherings of adders occurred in spring, at the centre of which could be found a polished rock called an adder stone or "Glain Neidr" in the Welsh language. These stones were said to have held supernatural powers.


title: Ö

text: Ö, or ö, is a character that represents either a letter from several extended Latin alphabets, or the letter "o" modified with an umlaut or diaeresis. In many languages, the letter "ö", or the "o" modified with an umlaut, is used to denote the close- or open-mid front rounded vowels or . In languages without such vowels, the character is known as an "o with diaeresis" and denotes a syllable break, wherein its pronunciation remains an unmodified .


title: Ö

text: The letter "o" with umlaut ("ö") appears in the German alphabet. It represents the umlauted form of "o", resulting in or . The letter is often collated together with "o" in the German alphabet, but there are exceptions which collate it like "oe" or "OE". The letter also occurs in some languages that have adopted German names or spellings, but it is not normally a part of those alphabets. In Danish and Norwegian, "ö" was previously used in place of "ø" in older texts to distinguish between open and closed ö-sounds. It is also used when confusion with other symbols could occur, on maps for instance. The Dano-Norwegian "ø" is, like the German "ö", a development of "oe" and can be compared with the French "œ".


title: Ö

text: In other languages that do not have the letter as part of the regular alphabet or in limited character sets such as ASCII, "o"-umlaut is frequently replaced with the digraph "oe". For example, in German (hear/listen) can be easily recognized even if spelled .


title: Ö

text: The letter "ö" also occurs in two other Germanic languages: Swedish and Icelandic, but it is regarded there as a separate letter, not as an orthographic variation of the letter "o". Apart from Germanic languages, it occurs in the Uralic languages such as Finnish, Karelian, Veps, Estonian, Southern Sami, and Hungarian, in the Turkic languages such as Azeri, Turkish, Turkmen, Uyghur (Latin script), Crimean Tatar, Kazakh, and in the Uto-Aztecan language Hopi, where it represents the vowel sounds . Its name in Finnish, Swedish, Icelandic, Estonian, Azeri, Turkish, Turkmen, Uyghur, Crimean Tatar, Hungarian, Votic and Volapük is "Öö" , not "O with two dots" since is not a variant of the vowel but a distinct phoneme.


title: Ö

text: In certain languages, the letter "ö" cannot be written as "oe" because minimal pairs exist between "ö" and "oe" (and also with "oo", "öö" and "öe"), as in Finnish "eläinkö" "animal?" (interrogative) vs. "eläinkoe" "animal test" (cf. Germanic umlaut). If the character "ö" is unavailable, "o" is substituted and context is relied upon for inference of the intended meaning. In Volapük, "ö" can be written as "oy", but never as "oe".


title: Ö

text: In Romagnol, "ö" is used to represent , e.g. "cöt" "cooked". In mountain dialects of Emilian, it is used to represent , e.g. "tött" "all".


title: Ö

text: In Swedish, the letter "ö" is also used as the one-letter word for an island, which is not to be mixed with the actual letter. "Ö" in this sense is also a Swedish-language surname.


title: Ö

text: In the Seri language, "ö" indicates the labialization of the previous consonant, e.g. "cöihiin" "sanderling".


title: Ö

text: In some alphabets it is collated as an independent letter, sometimes by placing it at or near the end of the alphabet, such as after "Z", "Å" and "Ä" in Swedish and Finnish, after "Ý", ("Z"), "Þ" and "Æ" in Icelandic, and after "V", ("W"), "Õ" and "Ä" in Estonian ( thus fulfilling the place of omega, for example in the Finnish expression "aasta ööhön" "from A to Z", literally "from A to Ö". However, in Hungarian, and in the Turkish alphabet and other Turkic alphabets that have "ö", it is an independent letter between "o" and "p".


title: Ö

text: "O" with diaeresis occurs in several languages that use diaereses. In these languages the letter represents a normal "o", and the pronunciation does not change (e.g. in the Dutch/Afrikaans word "coöperatief" [cooperative]).


title: Ö

text: Some writers and publications, such as "The New Yorker", use it in English words such as "zoölogy" and "coöperate" to indicate that the second vowel is pronounced separately. It is also employed in names such as "Laocoön", Coös County, and the constellation "Boötes". This is also done in Dutch.


title: Ö

text: In the Rheinische Dokumenta, a phonetic alphabet for many West Central German, the Low Rhenish, and few related vernacular languages, "ö" represents the close-mid front rounded vowel with the IPA notation .


title: Ö

text: Historically "O"-diaeresis was written as an "o" with two dots above the letter. O-umlaut was written as an "o" with a small "e" written above in cursive old German (Gothic) script (Oͤ oͤ): this minute "e" is represented by two vertical bars connected by a slanted line, which then degenerated to two vertical bars in early modern handwritings. In most later handwritings these bars in turn nearly became dots. The origin of the letter "ö" was a similar ligature for the digraph OE: "e" was written above "o" and degenerated into two small dots.


title: Ö

text: In some inscriptions and display typefaces, "ö" may be represented as an "o" with a small letter "e" inside.


title: Ö

text: In modern typography there was insufficient space on typewriters and later computer keyboards to allow for both an O-with-dots (also representing "ö") and an "o"-with-bars. Since they looked nearly identical, the two glyphs were combined, which was also done in computer character encodings such as ISO 8859-1. As a result, there was no way to differentiate between the different characters.


title: Ö

text: Other alphabets containing "o"-umlaut include: the Turkmen alphabet (for the vowel [ø]), the Azerbaijani alphabet (for the vowel [œ]), the Yapese alphabet (for [œ]), the Luxembourgian alphabet (when writing loanwords from Standard German), the Slovenian alphabet (when writing loanwords from German, Hungarian and Turkish), and the Dinka alphabet. The Hungarian alphabet contains both "ö" and "ő": "double acute o" is the longer pair of "ö". See double acute accent.


title: Minister of Finance (India)

text: The Minister of Finance (Vitta Mantrī ) (or simply, the Finance Minister, short form FM) is the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. One of the senior offices of the Union Cabinet, the finance minister is responsible for the fiscal policy of the government. A key duty of the Finance Minister is to present the annual Union Budget in Parliament, detailing the government's plan for taxation and spending in the coming financial year. Through the Budget, the finance minister also outlines allocations to all the ministries and departments. The Minister is assisted by the Minister of State for Finance and the junior Deputy Minister of Finance.


title: Minister of Finance (India)

text: There have been a number of Ministers of Finance that went on to become the Prime Minister; Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Manmohan Singh and also to serve as the President; R.Venkataraman and Pranab Mukherjee. Several Prime Ministers have also gone on to hold the position of Minister of Finance.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: Taurus (Latin for "the Bull") is one of the constellations of the zodiac and is located in the northern celestial hemisphere. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the Northern Hemisphere's winter sky. It is one of the oldest constellations, dating back to the Early Bronze Age at least, when it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox. Its importance to the agricultural calendar influenced various bull figures in the mythologies of Ancient Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Its old astronomical symbol is (♉), which resembles a bull's head.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: A number of features exist that are of interest to astronomers. Taurus hosts two of the nearest open clusters to Earth, the Pleiades and the Hyades, both of which are visible to the naked eye. At first magnitude, the red giant Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation. In the northeast part of Taurus is Messier 1, more commonly known as the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant containing a pulsar. One of the closest regions of active star formation, the Taurus-Auriga complex, crosses into the northern part of the constellation. The variable star T Tauri is the prototype of a class of pre-main-sequence stars.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere's winter sky, between Aries to the west and Gemini to the east; to the north lies Perseus and Auriga, to the southeast Orion, to the south Eridanus, and to the southwest Cetus. In late November-early December, Taurus reaches opposition (furthest point from the Sun) and is visible the entire night. By late March, it is setting at sunset and completely disappears behind the Sun's glare from May to July.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: This constellation forms part of the zodiac and hence is intersected by the ecliptic. This circle across the celestial sphere forms the apparent path of the Sun as the Earth completes its annual orbit. As the orbital plane of the Moon and the planets lie near the ecliptic, they can usually be found in the constellation Taurus during some part of each year. The galactic plane of the Milky Way intersects the northeast corner of the constellation and the galactic anticenter is located near the border between Taurus and Auriga. Taurus is the only constellation crossed by all three of the galactic equator, celestial equator, and ecliptic. A ring-like galactic structure known as Gould's Belt passes through the constellation.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: The recommended three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "Tau". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 26 segments. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between 31.10° and −1.35°. Because a small part of the constellation lies to the south of the celestial equator, this can not be a completely circumpolar constellation at any latitude.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: The brightest member of this constellation is Aldebaran, an orange-hued, spectral class K5 III giant star. Its name derives from "", Arabic for "the follower", probably from the fact that it follows the Pleiades during the nightly motion of the celestial sphere across the sky. Forming the profile of a Bull's face is a "V" or "K"-shaped asterism of stars. This outline is created by prominent members of the Hyades, the nearest distinct open star cluster after the Ursa Major Moving Group. In this profile, Aldebaran forms the bull's bloodshot eye, which has been described as "glaring menacingly at the hunter Orion", a constellation that lies just to the southeast. Aldebaran has around 116% the mass of the Sun. It also hosts a candidate exoplanet.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: The Hyades span about 5° of the sky, so that they can only be viewed in their entirety with binoculars or the unaided eye. It includes a naked eye double star, Theta Tauri (the proper name of Theta Tauri is "Chamukuy"), with a separation of 5.6 arcminutes.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: In the northwestern quadrant of the Taurus constellation lie the Pleiades (M45), one of the best known open clusters, easily visible to the naked eye. The seven most prominent stars in this cluster are at least visual magnitude six, and so the cluster is also named the "Seven Sisters". However, many more stars are visible with even a modest telescope. Astronomers estimate that the cluster has approximately 500–1,000 stars, all of which are around 100 million years old. However, they vary considerably in type. The Pleiades themselves are represented by large, bright stars; also many small brown dwarfs and white dwarfs exist. The cluster is estimated to dissipate in another 250 million years. The Pleiades cluster is classified as a Shapley class c and Trumpler class I 3 r n cluster, indicating that it is irregularly shaped and loose, though concentrated at its center and detached from the star-field.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: To the east, the two horns of the bull are formed by Beta (β) Tauri and Zeta (ζ) Tauri; two star systems that are separated by 8°. Beta is a white, spectral class B7 III giant star known as "El Nath", which comes from the Arabic phrase "the butting", as in butting by the horns of the bull. At magnitude 1.65, it is the second brightest star in the constellation, and shares the border with the neighboring constellation of Auriga. As a result, it also bears the designation Gamma Aurigae. Zeta Tauri (the proper name is "Tianguan") is an eclipsing binary star that completes an orbit every 133 days.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: The star Lambda (λ) Tauri is an eclipsing binary star. This system consists of a spectral class B3 star being orbited by a less massive class A4 star. The plane of their orbit lies almost along the line of sight to the Earth. Every 3.953 days the system temporarily decreases in brightness by 1.1 magnitudes as the brighter star is partially eclipsed by the dimmer companion. The two stars are separated by only 0.1 astronomical units, so their shapes are modified by mutual tidal interaction. This results in a variation of their net magnitude throughout each orbit.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: Located about 1.8° west of Epsilon (ε) Tauri is T Tauri, the prototype of a class of variable stars called T Tauri stars. This star undergoes erratic changes in luminosity, varying between magnitude 9 to 13 over a period of weeks or months. This is a newly formed stellar object that is just emerging from its envelope of gas and dust, but has not yet become a main sequence star. The surrounding reflection nebula NGC 1555 is illuminated by T Tauri, and thus is also variable in luminosity. To the north lies Kappa Tauri, a visual double star consisting of two A7-type components. The pair have a separation of just 5.6 arc minutes, making them a challenge to split with the naked eye.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: In the northern part of the constellation to the northeast of the Pleiades lies the Crystal Ball Nebula, known by its catalogue designation of NGC 1514. This planetary nebula is of historical interest following its discovery by German-born English astronomer William Herschel in 1790. Prior to that time, astronomers had assumed that nebulae were simply unresolved groups of stars. However, Herschel could clearly resolve a star at the center of the nebula that was surrounded by a nebulous cloud of some type. In 1864, English astronomer William Huggins used the spectrum of this nebula to deduce that the nebula is a luminous gas, rather than stars.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: North-west of ζ Tauri by 1.15 degrees is the Crab Nebula (M1), a supernova remnant. This expanding nebula was created by a Type II supernova explosion, which was seen from Earth on July 4, 1054. It was bright enough to be observed during the day and is mentioned in Chinese historical texts. At its peak, the supernova reached magnitude −4, but the nebula is currently magnitude 8.4 and requires a telescope to observe. North American peoples also observed the supernova, as evidenced from a painting on a New Mexican canyon and various pieces of pottery that depict the event. However, the remnant itself was not discovered until 1731, when John Bevis found it.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: This constellation includes part of the Taurus-Auriga complex, or Taurus dark clouds, a star-forming region containing sparse, filamentary clouds of gas and dust. This spans a diameter of and contains 35,000 solar masses of material, which is both larger and less massive than the Orion Nebula. At a distance of , this is one of the nearest active star forming regions. Located in this region, about 10° to the northeast of Aldebaran, is an asterism NGC 1746 spanning a width of 45 arcminutes.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: During November, the Taurid meteor shower appears to radiate from the general direction of this constellation. The Beta Taurid meteor shower occurs during the months of June and July in the daytime, and is normally observed using radio techniques. Between 18 and 29 October, both the Northern Taurids and the Southern Taurids are active; though the latter stream is stronger. However, between November 1 and 10, the two streams equalize.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: The identification of the constellation of Taurus with a bull is very old, certainly dating to the Chalcolithic, and perhaps even to the Upper Paleolithic. Michael Rappenglück of the University of Munich believes that Taurus is represented in a cave painting at the Hall of the Bulls in the caves at Lascaux (dated to roughly 15,000 BC), which he believes is accompanied by a depiction of the Pleiades. The name "seven sisters" has been used for the Pleiades in the languages of many cultures, including indigenous groups of Australia, North America and Siberia. This suggests that the name may have a common ancient origin.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: Taurus marked the point of vernal (spring) equinox in the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age, from about 4000 BC to 1700 BC, after which it moved into the neighboring constellation Aries. The Pleiades were closest to the Sun at vernal equinox around the 23rd century BC. In Babylonian astronomy, the constellation was listed in the MUL.APIN as , "The Bull of Heaven". Although it has been claimed that "when the Babylonians first set up their zodiac, the vernal equinox lay in Taurus," there is a claim that the MUL.APIN tablets indicate that the vernal equinox was marked by the Babylonian constellation known as "the hired man" (the modern Aries).


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: In the Old Babylonian "Epic of Gilgamesh", the goddess Ishtar sends Taurus, the Bull of Heaven, to kill Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. Enkidu tears off the bull's hind part and hurls the quarters into the sky where they become the stars we know as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Some locate Gilgamesh as the neighboring constellation of Orion, facing Taurus as if in combat, while others identify him with the sun whose rising on the equinox vanquishes the constellation. In early Mesopotamian art, the Bull of Heaven was closely associated with Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare. One of the oldest depictions shows the bull standing before the goddess' standard; since it has 3 stars depicted on its back (the cuneiform sign for "star-constellation"), there is good reason to regard this as the constellation later known as Taurus.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: The same iconic representation of the Heavenly Bull was depicted in the Dendera zodiac, an Egyptian bas-relief carving in a ceiling that depicted the celestial hemisphere using a planisphere. In these ancient cultures, the orientation of the horns was portrayed as upward or backward. This differed from the later Greek depiction where the horns pointed forward. To the Egyptians, the constellation Taurus was a sacred bull that was associated with the renewal of life in spring. When the spring equinox entered Taurus, the constellation would become covered by the Sun in the western sky as spring began. This "sacrifice" led to the renewal of the land. To the early Hebrews, Taurus was the first constellation in their zodiac and consequently it was represented by the first letter in their alphabet, Aleph.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: In Greek mythology, Taurus was identified with Zeus, who assumed the form of a magnificent white bull to abduct Europa, a legendary Phoenician princess. In illustrations of Greek mythology, only the front portion of this constellation is depicted; this was sometimes explained as Taurus being partly submerged as he carried Europa out to sea. A second Greek myth portrays Taurus as Io, a mistress of Zeus. To hide his lover from his wife Hera, Zeus changed Io into the form of a heifer. Greek mythographer Acusilaus marks the bull Taurus as the same that formed the myth of the Cretan Bull, one of The Twelve Labors of Heracles.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: Taurus became an important object of worship among the Druids. Their Tauric religious festival was held while the Sun passed through the constellation. Among the arctic people known as the Inuit, the constellation is called Sakiattiat and the Hyades is Nanurjuk, with the latter representing the spirit of the polar bear. Aldebaran represents the bear, with the remainder of the stars in the Hyades being dogs that are holding the beast at bay.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: In Buddhism, legends hold that Gautama Buddha was born when the full moon was in Vaisakha, or Taurus. Buddha's birthday is celebrated with the Wesak Festival, or Vesākha, which occurs on the first or second full moon when the Sun is in Taurus.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: In 1990, due to the precession of the equinoxes, the position of the Sun on the first day of summer (June 21) crossed the IAU boundary of Gemini into Taurus. The Sun will slowly move through Taurus at a rate of 1° east every 72 years until approximately 2600 AD, at which point it will be in Aries on the first day of summer.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: , the Sun appears in the constellation Taurus from May 13 to June 21. In tropical astrology, the Sun is considered to be in the sign Taurus from April 20 to May 20.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: The space probe "Pioneer 10" is moving in the direction of this constellation, though it will not be nearing any of the stars in this constellation for many thousands of years, by which time its batteries will be long dead.


title: Taurus (constellation)

text: Several stars in the Hyades star cluster, including Kappa Tauri, were photographed during the total solar eclipse of May 29, 1919, by the expedition of Arthur Eddington in Príncipe and others in Sobral, Brazil, that confirmed Albert Einstein's prediction of the bending of light around the Sun according to his general theory of relativity which he published in 1915.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: The Mighty Ducks is an American media franchise. It features a trilogy of live-action films released in the 1990s by Walt Disney Pictures, an animated , a live-action , and a real-world hockey team in the National Hockey League. The movies revolve around a Twin Cities ice hockey team, composed of young players that stick together throughout various challenges. Despite negative reviews from film critics, the trilogy's commercial success paved the way for the franchise's expansion.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: After being pulled over for drunk driving, Minneapolis-based attorney Gordon Bombay is sentenced to 500 hours of community service, coaching youth hockey. There he meets the District 5 peewee hockey team perennial losers who finish at the bottom of the league standings year after year. They are shut out every game and lose by at least five goals. The players learn Bombay was once a player for the Hawks and the team in the same league but left hockey because of the embarrassment that followed after a failed attempt at a penalty shot at the end of regulation causing them to lose in overtime costing them a peewee championship. With the help of Coach Bombay and a desperately needed infusion of cash and equipment from Bombay's law firm, the players learn the fundamentals of the sport. Soon enough the District 5 team now christened the Ducks after Bombay's employer Gerald Ducksworth start winning games and manage to make the playoffs, reaching the finals and adding new player Adam Banks, an ex-Hawk who is a talented player and an asset for the Ducks. Bombay faces the Hawks, the team he grew up playing for still led by Jack Reilly, the same coach Bombay played for. Fittingly, the Ducks win the title game on a penalty shot by Bombay's protege Charlie. The movie was released in the UK, Australia and South Africa as Champions. It was directed by Stephen Herek.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: Inspired by his own players, Bombay decides to try out in the hockey minor leagues and becomes the star player for the fictional Minnehaha Waves, with an easy pathway to the NHL. After a career-ending knee injury, he is offered a chance to coach a team representing the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games. For this, he reunites most of his Ducks(while 5 of them have moved away) and introduces them to five new players from across the country to form Team USA. While they win several early games, the lure of celebrity eventually becomes a distraction to both Bombay and the players, and reality kicks in when they lose against Team Iceland in an embarrassing defeat. Frustrated, Bombay drives his players even harder, yet Team USA continues to suffer, until they come across a street hockey team who teaches them how to play like "the real Team USA". New player Russ Tyler (Kenan Thompson), who earlier heckled Team USA during its matches, is recruited into the roster. Bombay realizes the most important thing is to have fun and after a change in attitude, the Ducks redeem themselves by working up the playoff ladder to meet Team Iceland in the finals. Team USA proves to be a match for Iceland, but the game ends in a tie, resulting in a shootout which - due to fast glove of new goalie Julie Gaffney - Team USA ends up winning the championship.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: The movie shifts focus from Bombay to protégé Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson). After their victory at the Junior Goodwill Games, Charlie and his teammates are awarded scholarships to Eden Hall Academy (a fictitious name from crossing Southwestern suburb Eden Prairie, Cretin-Derham Hall, and Saint Thomas Academy), a prestigious Minnesota high school Bombay attended. Their arrival is met with hostility from the varsity team (mainly consisting of players who are members of rich families, whose younger siblings were cut from the junior varsity team to make room for the Ducks), as well as Bombay's hand-picked successor, Ted Orion (Jeffrey Nordling), whose emphasis on defensive two-way hockey irks Charlie. Not wanting to be on a team led by Orion, who he believes to be a washed-up former professional player, Charlie leaves the team, but rejoins as he learns the truth about Orion from Bombay. Charlie and Orion quickly bond in time for the JV-Varsity Showdown, and thanks in large part to the work of Charlie, the Ducks win on a shorthanded goal in the dying seconds of the game from unlikely goal scorer Greg Goldberg (who is converted from goalie to defenseman).


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: "Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series", aired on the American Broadcasting Company for one season consisting of 26 episodes, from 1996-1997. Created in a collaboration between Marty Isenberg, Robert N. Skir, and David Wise, the show ran regularly during The Disney Afternoon block. The series takes place in a futuristic alternate anthropomorphic-universe, and follows the adventures of humanoid-duck superheroes.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: The series theme song, written by Carl Swander Johnson, was performed by Mickey Thomas of Jefferson Starship and Starship fame.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: In January 2018, it was announced that a television series based on the original films was in the early stages of development at ABC Signature Studios, with screenwriter Steven Brill and producer Jordan Kerner being attached to the series. By February of the same year it was announced that the series is being created as exclusive content for Disney+ streaming service.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: By November 2019, the plot was announced to center around a 13-year-old boy - whose mother helps him assemble a new team, find a coach and build a rink where they can play - when he gets kicked off the junior division of the Mighty Ducks hockey team. In February 2020, it was announced that Emilio Estevez would reprise his role as Coach Gordon Bombay in the series. The series was originally scheduled to begin production in February 2020, with principal photography taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In August 2020, it was announced that filming could officially begin after Disney TV Studios made a deal with British Columbia unions about testing the cast and crew members for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The series premiered on March 26, 2021. It was announced in August 2021 that the series had been renewed for a second season.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: The following is the roster of the fictional players for the team. Provided are their jersey numbers, playing positions and indication of their appearances in movies.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: "The Mighty Ducks" series has become a cult classic. Several professional athletes have expressed their appreciation for the series, with NFL Arizona Cardinals' J.J. Watt and MLB Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper among the trilogy's fans.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: Following the financial success of the first film, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team were founded in 1993, by The Walt Disney Company. The franchise was accepted by the NHL in December 1992, with an entrance fee of $50 million. Additionally, a brand-new arena, Anaheim Arena, was constructed for the team, located a short distance east of Disneyland. The team's name was derived from the first film. Philadelphia-arena management specialist Tony Tavares was appointed as the team president, while Jack Ferreira, became the Mighty Ducks' general manager. Ron Wilson was selected to be the first head coach in the team's history. During the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, the Mighty Ducks drafted as their fourth overall pick Paul Kariya, who would be the face of the franchise for years. The initial roster had the lowest payroll in the NHL at only $7.9 million.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: Under the leadership of team captain Troy Loney, the team finished the season at 33–46–5, a record-breaking number of wins for an expansion team. The Mighty Ducks sold out 27 of 41 home games and filled the Arrowhead Pond to 98.9% of its season capacity. Licensed merchandise shot to number one in sales among all NHL clubs. This was aided by the team's merchandise presence in Disney's theme parks and Disney Stores. The Walt Disney Company sold the franchise in 2005 to Henry and Susan Samueli, who along with then-general manager Brian Burke, changed the name of the team to the Anaheim Ducks before the 2006–07 season. That season, the team won its first Stanley Cup.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: An electronic, handheld LCD game titled, "Mighty Ducks" and based on the animated series of the same name, was released in 1996. The game was developed, created, and released by Tiger Electronics.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: At the now-defunct DisneyQuest locations, "Mighty Ducks: Pinball Slam" featured as one of the theme park attractions. Opened by Disney Regional Entertainment (which was a subsidiary of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts), the line of limited, smaller-scaled locations included a number of indoor interactive rides and activities. The concept was short-lived and though there were meant to be various locations in numerous cities, the company ultimately opened two locations.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: The ride itself allowed the audience to "become" a pinball in a gigantic projected pinball game; by rocking their "duck" back and forth, up to twelve players at a time control their corresponding pinball on the screen, attempting to collect the most points throughout the duration of the ride.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: Disney's All-Star Movies Resort, a "value" resort hotel located at the Walt Disney World Resort, features a "Mighty Ducks"-themed section and swimming pool.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: A podcast channel dedicated to the trilogy titled "The Quack Attack", has over 200 episodes dedicated to the topic.


title: The Mighty Ducks

text: The trilogy of films were released in a collection set on DVD and Blu-ray on September 2, 2002 and May 23, 2017, respectively.


title: Tarsier

text: Tarsiers ( ) are haplorhine primates of the family Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes. Although the group was once more widespread, all of its species living today are found in Maritime Southeast Asia, specifically the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei.They are found primarily in forested habitats, especially forests that have liana, since the vine gives tarsiers vertical support when climbing trees.


title: Tarsier

text: Fossils of tarsiiform primates are found in Asia, Europe, and North America, with disputed fossils from Africa, but extant tarsiers are restricted to several Southeast Asian islands in Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia. The fossil record indicates that their dentition has not changed much, except in size, in the past 45 million years.


title: Tarsier

text: Within the family Tarsiidae, there are two extinct genera, "Xanthorhysis" and "Afrotarsius". However, the placement of "Afrotarsius" is not certain, and it is sometimes listed in its own family, Afrotarsiidae, within the infraorder Tarsiiformes, or considered an anthropoid primate.


title: Tarsier

text: The genus "Tarsius" has a longer fossil record than any other primate genus, but the assignment of the Eocene and Miocene fossils to the genus is questionable.


title: Tarsier

text: The phylogenetic position of extant tarsiers within the order Primates has been debated for much of the 20th century, and tarsiers have alternately been classified with strepsirrhine primates in the suborder Prosimii, or as the sister group to the simians (Anthropoidea) in the infraorder Haplorhini. Analysis of SINE insertions, a type of macromutation to the DNA, is argued to offer very persuasive evidence for the monophyly of Haplorhini, where other lines of evidence, such as DNA sequence data, remain ambiguous. Thus, some systematists argue the debate is conclusively settled in favor of a monophyletic Haplorrhini. In common with simians, tarsiers have a mutation in the L-gulonolactone oxidase (GULO) gene, which confers the need for vitamin C in the diet. Since the strepsirrhines do not have this mutation and have retained the ability to make vitamin C, the genetic trait that confers the need for it in the diet would tend to place tarsiers with haplorhines.


title: Tarsier

text: At a lower phylogenetic level, the tarsiers have, until recently, all been placed in the genus "Tarsius", while it was debated whether the species should be placed in two (a Sulawesi and a Philippine-western group) or three separate genera (Sulawesi, Philippine and western groups). Species level taxonomy is complex, with morphology often being of limited use compared to vocalizations. Further confusion existed over the validity of certain names. Among others, the widely used "T. dianae" has been shown to be a junior synonym of "T. dentatus", and comparably, "T. spectrum" is now considered a junior synonym of "T. tarsier".


title: Tarsier

text: In 2010, Colin Groves and Myron Shekelle suggested splitting the genus "Tarsius" into three genera, the Philippine tarsiers (genus "Carlito"), the western tarsiers (genus "Cephalopachus"), and the eastern tarsiers (genus "Tarsius"). This was based on differences in dentition, eye size, limb and hand length, tail tufts, tail sitting pads, the number of mammae, chromosome count, socioecology, vocalizations, and distribution. The senior taxon of the species, "T. tarsier" was restricted to the population of a Selayar island, which then required the resurrection of the defunct taxon "T. fuscus".


title: Tarsier

text: In 2014, scientists from the University of the Philippines (Diliman Campus) – Institute of Biology in partnership with the University of Kansas have discovered a distinct genus of Philippine tarsier. The genetically distinct populations are found in the Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, and probably Siargao Islands in Mindanao Island's northeast portion. Isolation is the key to the population's distinctiveness. Prior to the study, scientists generally accepted three subspecies of Philippine tarsier: the large island of Mindanao contained one subspecies, "Tarsius syrichta carbonarius"; while the islands of Samar and Leyte sported another, "Tarsius syrichta syrichta"; and Bohol held the third, "Tarsius syrichta fraterculus". However the new genetic research found the relationships among the Philippine tarsier populations was even messier. Looking at mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, Brown's team uncovered three different evolutionary lineages: one lineage of tarsier makes their home on Bohol, Samar, and Leyte Islands (putting two presently accepted Philippine tarsier subspecies into a single subspecies); another has conquered the vast majority of Mindanao; while a long-cryptic branch has evolved in northeastern Mindanao and Dinagat Island (the new subspecies). For the purposes of the paper, the scientists refer to this as the Dinagat-Caraga tarsier. Rafe Brown of the University of Kansas' Biodiversity Institute, an author of the study, also said that through a more keen study, the only current Philippine tarsier species, "Carlito syrichta", could be split into three distinct full species in the future.


title: Tarsier

text: Tarsiers are small animals with enormous eyes; each eyeball is approximately in diameter and is as large as, or in some cases larger than, its entire brain. The unique cranial anatomy of the tarsier results from the need to balance their large eyes and heavy head so they are able to wait silently for nutritious prey. Tarsiers have a strong auditory sense, and their auditory cortex is distinct. Tarsiers also have long hind limbs, owing mostly to the elongated tarsus bones of the feet, from which the animals get their name. The combination of their elongated tarsi and fused tibiofibulae makes them morphologically specialized for vertical clinging and leaping. The head and body range from 10 to 15 cm in length, but the hind limbs are about twice this long (including the feet), and they also have a slender tail from 20 to 25 cm long. Their fingers are also elongated, with the third finger being about the same length as the upper arm. Most of the digits have nails, but the second and third toes of the hind feet bear claws instead, which are used for grooming. Tarsiers have soft, velvety fur, which is generally buff, beige, or ochre in color.


title: Tarsier

text: Tarsiers morphology allows for them to move their heads 180 degrees in either direction, allowing for them to see 360 degrees around them.


title: Tarsier

text: Unlike many nocturnal vertebrates, tarsiers lack a light-reflecting layer (tapetum lucidum) of the retina and have a fovea.


title: Tarsier

text: The tarsier's brain is different from that of other primates in terms of the arrangement of the connections between the two eyes and the lateral geniculate nucleus, which is the main region of the thalamus that receives visual information. The sequence of cellular layers receiving information from the ipsilateral (same side of the head) and contralateral (opposite side of the head) eyes in the lateral geniculate nucleus distinguishes tarsiers from lemurs, lorises, and monkeys, which are all similar in this respect. Some neuroscientists suggested that "this apparent difference distinguishes tarsiers from all other primates, reinforcing the view that they arose in an early, independent line of primate evolution."


title: Tarsier

text: Philippine tarsiers are capable of hearing frequencies as high as 91 kHz. They are also capable of vocalizations with a dominant frequency of 70 kHz.


title: Tarsier

text: Tarsiers are the only extant entirely carnivorous primates: they are primarily insectivorous, and catch insects by jumping at them. Their favorite prey are arthropods like beetles, spiders, cockroaches, grasshoppers, and walking sticks. They are also known to prey on birds, snakes, lizards, and bats.


title: Tarsier

text: Pygmy tarsiers differ from other species in terms of their morphology, communication, and behavior. The differences in morphology that distinguish pygmy tarsiers from other species are likely based on their high altitude environment.


title: Tarsier

text: All tarsier species are nocturnal in their habits, but like many nocturnal organisms, some individuals may show more or less activity during the daytime. Based on the anatomy of all tarsiers, they are all adapted for leaping even though they all vary based on their species.


title: Tarsier

text: Ecological variation is responsible for differences in morphology and behavior in tarsiers because different species become adapted to local conditions based on the level of altitude. For example, the colder climate at higher elevations can influence cranial morphology.


title: Tarsier

text: Gestation takes about six months, and tarsiers give birth to single offspring. Young tarsiers are born furred, and with open eyes, and are able to climb within a day of birth. They reach sexual maturity by the end of their second year. Sociality and mating system varies, with tarsiers from Sulawesi living in small family groups, while Philippine and western tarsiers are reported to sleep and forage alone.


title: Tarsier

text: Tarsiers tend to be extremely shy animals and are sensitive to bright lights, loud noises, and physical contact. They have been reported to behave suicidally when stressed or kept in captivity.


title: Tarsier

text: Due to their small size, tarsiers are prey to snakes, owls, lizards, and cats. When a predator is present the tarsiers surround the threat vocalizing and attacking it. While tarsier groups only contain one male, when confronting a threat other groups will join, meaning there are multiple alpha male tarsiers attacking the predator.


title: Tarsier

text: Tarsiers have never formed successful breeding colonies in captivity. This may be due in part to their special feeding requirements.


title: Tarsier

text: A sanctuary near the town of Corella, on the Philippine island of Bohol, is having some success restoring tarsier populations. The Philippines Tarsier Foundation (PTFI) has developed a large, semi-wild enclosure known as the Tarsier Research and Development Center. Carlito Pizarras, also known as the "Tarsier man", founded this sanctuary where visitors can observe tarsiers in the wild. As of 2011, the sanctuary was maintained by him and his brother. The trees in the sanctuary are populated with nocturnal insects that make up the tarsier's diet.


title: Tarsier

text: The conservation status of all tarsiers is vulnerable to extinction. Tarsiers are a conservation dependent species meaning that they need to have more and improved management of protected habitats or they will definitely become extinct in the future.


title: Tarsier

text: The 2008-described Siau Island tarsier in Indonesia is regarded as Critically Endangered and was listed among The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates by Conservation International and the IUCN/SCC Primate Specialist Group in 2008.


title: Tarsier

text: The Malaysian government protects tarsiers by listing them in the Totally Protected Animals of Sarawak, the Malaysian state in Borneo where they are commonly found.


title: Tarsier

text: A new scheme to conserve the tarsiers of Mount Matutum near Tupi in South Cotabato on the island of Mindanao is being organised by the Tupi civil government and the charity Endangered Species International (ESI). Tarsier UK are also involved on the margins helping the Tupi Government to educate the children of Tupi about the importance of the animal. ESI is hoping to build a visitor centre on the slopes of Mount Matutum and help the local indigenous peoples to farm more environmentally and look after the tarsiers. The first stage in this is educating the local peoples on the importance of keeping the animal safe and secure. A number of native tarsier-friendly trees have been replanted on land which had been cleared previously for fruit tree and coconut tree planting.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: The Thai Public Broadcasting Service (; ), or TPBS (), is a public broadcasting service in Thailand. It was established by the Thai Public Broadcasting Service Act, BE 2551 (2008), which came into force on 15 January 2008. Under this act, TPBS holds the status of state agency with legal personality, but is not a government agency or state enterprise.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: TPBS operates Thai PBS (ไทยพีบีเอส), which was formerly known as iTV, TITV and TV Thai television station, respectively. Thai PBS is a public television station broadcasting on UHF Channel 29. The station broadcasts on a frequency formerly held by the privately run channel, iTV. Thai PBS tested its broadcast by connecting to a temporary signal for broadcasting to the special programs chart which had been appropriated by Television of Thailand (TVT or TV 11 Thailand) at TVT New Phetchaburi Road Broadcasting Station. (presently National News Bureau of Thailand headquarters and NBT World TV Station and formerly UHF Channel 29, from 15 to 31 January 2008. Programs began on 1 February 2008.)


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: Discussion of a public television station in Thailand began in the aftermath of the "Bloody May" crackdown on anti-government protests in 1992, in which the need was expressed for a TV station that would broadcast news and information free from state intervention. The resulting public debate gave rise to iTV, a privately owned channel which started broadcasting in 1995 under a 30-year state concession. According to the covenant, iTV had to include news and information no less than 70% of its total airtime. This condition made it difficult for iTV to make a profit. Soon after the 1997 economic crisis in which Thailand was hard hit, iTV underwent massive debt restructuring. Nation Multimedia Group, a major news and publishing company and shareholder, pulled out and was replaced by Shin Corporation, a telecommunications conglomerate owned by the family of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was elected prime minister in 2001.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: Under Shin Corporation, iTV was granted permission by an arbitration panel to increase the amount of entertainment programming and pay a significantly reduced amount of annual licensing fee in 2004. The case was contested in Thailand's Central Administrative Court, but iTV restructured its programming to include more entertainment and less news. This move was criticized as an act contrary to its original mandate. iTV was also harshly criticized for its biased coverage in favor of the Thaksin government, particularly when the government encountered fierce public scrutiny surrounding the sale of Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings and its aftermath which eventually led to the 2006 Thai coup d'état.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: In June 2006, the Administrative Court ruled that iTV's move to change its programming structure violated conditions stated in the covenant and ruled that iTV pay fines and concession fees illegitimately lessened by the arbitration panel. Penalties totalled 94 billion baht. The ruling nearly bankrupted iTV. The concession was later repealed and iTV was returned to state possession during the Surayud administration, which renamed the station TITV, but continued programming provided by the former iTV.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: The Surayud administration formed a task force headed by Somkiat Tangkijvanich to conduct a possibility study to transform iTV into a fully public-financed television station. This effort resulted in the proposal of the Public Broadcasting Service Act, in which legal measures were put in place to protect the new TV station against both political and commercial influence. According to the PBS Act, the new public TV station, called TPBS (Thai Public Broadcasting Service), receives financial support derived from sin taxes to ensure its financial independence and to protect itself against any possible business links. The organization is designed such that autonomy and immunity to any intervention from politicians or state power are ensured. The required establishment of a "viewers committee" would also help guarantee accountability and the quality of programs that reflects viewer preferences.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: The creation of Thai PBS was controversial, because it displaced the privately run iTV. The announcement that iTV was to be shut down and replaced by the commercial-free TPBS in accordance with the Public Broadcasting Service Act was made with no prior announcement. Approximately 800 employees of the former TITV were uncertain of their jobs.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: All of TITV's old programming was pulled from the air and, during a two-week interim period, programming was provided by the Public Relations Department's Television of Thailand, and mainly consisted of tributes to Princess Galyani Vadhana, who had died on 2 January 2008.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: New programming by TPBS commenced on 1 February 2008, consisting of documentaries and children's programs, commissioned by the Public Relations Department. Broadcast hours were originally from 16:30 to 23:00 daily, later 11:30 to 23:00, and later 05:00 to 02:00, with five to six hours of news programs.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: Most of the production staff for TPBS has come from the ranks of former iTV/TITV crew. The status of around 300 for iTV/TITV journalists has been uncertain. managing director of Thai PBS is Thepchai Yong, a former editor of "The Nation" newspaper and News Director of iTV who in 2009 was awarded a "Media Leadership Award" by the US-based international media development NGO Internews.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: During its short history, Thai PBS has been attacked persistently by the government of the day. In the latest example (March 2016) Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha slammed the public broadcaster for being "one-sided" in its coverage of the ongoing drought crisis. The junta leader was angry because he thought Thai PBS was giving too much emphasis to people's suffering while neglecting what the government was doing to alleviate problems. He pointed to the fact that Thai PBS is financed by the state, which he claimed should oblige it to propagate government news releases.


title: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

text: Starting in December 2015, Thai PBS started the process of switching off analog transmissions around the country, starting with transmitters in Chiang Mai (Specifically at Fang District) and Surat Thani (Specifically at Koh samui District) provinces on 1 December. The switch off was completed at midnight on 15 June 2018 into 16 June with Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai site transmitters.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: Edda Ciano, Countess of Cortellazzo and Buccari ("née" Mussolini; 1 September 1910 – 9 April 1995) was the daughter of Benito Mussolini, Italy's fascist dictator from 1922 to 1943. Her husband, the fascist propagandist and Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano, was executed in January 1944 for his role in Mussolini's ouster. She strongly denied her involvement in the National Fascist Party regime after her father's execution by the Italian partisans in April 1945.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: She was born out of wedlock to Benito Mussolini and Rachele Guidi in Forlì, Romagna. Her parents did not marry until December 1915. In her early years, while her father was editor of "Il Popolo d'Italia" in Milan, Edda lived with Rachele in Forlì. Her father became Prime Minister of Italy in October 1922 and dictator after January 1925.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: In March 1925, Rachele and Edda with her brothers and sisters, moved from Milan to Carpegna and then to Rome in November 1929 to live with their father. Edda was a rebellious woman in her youth. Her powerful father made dating difficult, as most young men feared him. She has been described as being opinionated and outspoken. It was while in Rome that she met Galeazzo Ciano, son of Admiral Count Costanzo Ciano, a loyal Fascist and supporter of Benito Mussolini before his March on Rome. They were married on 24 April 1930 in a lavish ceremony attended by 4,000 guests.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: Her husband was appointed Italian Consul in Shanghai. The couple moved back to Italy in 1932, where Galeazzo took the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. In China, she had an affair with the Chinese general Chang Hsüeh-liang (Zhang Xueliang).


title: Edda Mussolini

text: After the Italian invasion of Albania in June 1939, the city of Santi Quaranta (Sarandë in Albanian) was renamed "Porto Edda."


title: Edda Mussolini

text: During the Greco-Italian War, Edda Ciano volunteered for service with the Italian Red Cross. On 14 March 1941, she was embarked near the Albanian port of Valona (now Vlorë) on the Lloyd Triestino liner "Po", which had been converted into a hospital ship. British planes attacked and sank the ship, with some loss of life. The ship was moored among other vessels with her lights switched off on the orders of the port authorities and was, therefore, a legitimate target and would not have been easily identifiable as a hospital ship. Edda managed to survive, being picked up from the water by another ship. She continued to work for the Red Cross until 1943.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: It is rumored that Heinrich Himmler bestowed Edda the rank of an honorary SS leader ("SS Ehrenführerin") in 1943.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: After Edda's close call in the Adriatic Sea, Rachele and Benito Mussolini were doubly distressed when her brother, Bruno, died in August of the same year.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: In July 1943, when internal opposition against Mussolini finally emerged in the Fascist Grand Council, Galeazzo Ciano voted against his father-in-law. For this act, he was arrested for treason, tried and executed on 11 January 1944.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: Edda Ciano escaped to Switzerland on 9 January 1944, disguised as a peasant woman. She managed to smuggle out the Count's wartime diaries, which had been hidden in her clothing by her confidant Emilio Pucci. At that time he was a lieutenant in the Italian Air Force but later found fame as a fashion designer. War correspondent Paul Ghali of the "Chicago Daily News" learned of her secret internment in a Swiss convent in Neggio and arranged the publication of the diaries. They reveal much of the secret history of the Fascist regime between 1939 and 1943 and are considered a prime historical source. The diaries are strictly political and contain little of the Cianos' personal lives.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: After returning to Italy from Switzerland, Edda was arrested and held in detention on the island of Lipari. On 20 December 1945, she was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for aiding Fascism.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: An Italian film is dedicated to the residence of Edda in Lipari and her relationship with a young communist of the place.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: Her autobiography, "La mia vita", was published in translation as "My Truth" by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1975.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: It was widely reported at the time that the daughter of Hermann Göring and Emmy Göring (born 2 June 1938) was named Edda Göring after her.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: A number of films have been made about Edda's life, including "Mussolini and I" (1985) in which she was played by Susan Sarandon.


title: Edda Mussolini

text: Her son Fabrizio Ciano wrote a personal memoir entitled "Quando il nonno fece fucilare papà" ("When Grandpa had Daddy Shot").


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: David Lesley Schultz (June 6, 1959 – January 26, 1996) was an American Olympic and World champion freestyle wrestler, and a seven-time World and Olympic medalist. He coached individuals and teams at the college level and also privately.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: Dave and his brother, wrestler Mark Schultz, both won gold at the same Olympics (1984). The Schultzes were one of three sets of brothers (the others are Buvaisar and Adam Saitiev, and Anatoli and Sergei Beloglazov) to win both World and Olympic championships. The Schultz brothers won more NCAA, U.S. Open, World, and Olympic titles than any other American brother combination in history.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: Schultz was employed as a coach by John du Pont, a multimillionaire philanthropist who sponsored the private Foxcatcher wrestling team at an amateur sports center known as Foxcatcher Farm that he set up on his estate in Pennsylvania. In January 1996, du Pont murdered Schultz.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: David Lesley Schultz was born in Palo Alto, California, to Dorothy Jean St. Germain (née Rich) and Phillip Gary Schultz. He was the brother of Mark Schultz, and two half-siblings – Michael and Seana. Schultz was of half Ukrainian Jewish and half British descent. His paternal grandparents were Estelle (Bernstein), a prominent paper company executive, and Maxwell L. Schultz, a business consultant. He said in a video that he was a Christian by faith.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: As a young child, Dave was overweight (nicknamed "Pudge"), and was often bullied at school by classmates for his weight and appearance. He also had dyslexia, which many of his teachers mistook for mental disabilities.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: Schultz began wrestling in junior high school at David Starr Jordan Middle School in Palo Alto coached by Robert Hoskins. In 1977 as a senior at Palo Alto High School, he became state champion. That year he also won both his first national and international wrestling titles. As a high school senior he pinned 2-time NCAA champion and NCAA "Outstanding Wrestler" Chuck Yagla at the Great Plains Championships. His brother Mark started competing in sports in gymnastics, winning the Northern California All-Around Gymnastics Championships in his age group. In his junior year he switched to wrestling, and in his senior year won state.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: Schultz's high school wrestling records included winning first place in the prestigious Great Plains freestyle tournament, which qualified him to compete on his first U.S. international team in the Tbilisi Tournament in then-Soviet Georgia. The Tbilisi Tournament is considered by many experts in the wrestling community to be the "toughest tournament in the world." Schultz earned a silver medal and was the highest-placing American at the tournament. Due to the timing of Tbilisi, Schultz was not able to compete in the high school tournaments that were required to qualify for the California State Championships, but his coach Ed Hart successfully petitioned the state coaches association to allow him to compete. Wrestling two weight classes above his normal division, Schultz pinned all his opponents in the state championships but the last, whom he defeated 12–1 in the final match. Later that year he won his first national title by winning the U.S. National Open Greco-Roman Championships and won the award for most falls in the least amount of time. Schultz's senior year is considered by most experts as the most successful senior year in U.S. high school wrestling history.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: In college, Schultz was a three-time NCAA All-American, first at Oklahoma State University and then twice at the University of Oklahoma. In 1982, he was the 167-pound weight class NCAA Champion defeating Mike Sheets from Oklahoma State University in the finals by criteria tie-breaker in overtime. His career collegiate record was 91–8: 30–4 at Oklahoma State University, 61–4 at the University of Oklahoma.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: Schultz won ten Senior National titles (eight in Freestyle and two in Greco-Roman) over a 19-year span, at three weight divisions: 149.9 lb, 163 lb and 180.5 lb. In international competition, Schultz won a 1983 World Championship and a 1984 Olympic gold medal, competing with the United States team. Schultz won the gold medal at the 74 kg weight class over Martin Knosp from West Germany. He won four World Cup and two Pan American Games titles, and is the only American ever to twice win the tournament in Tbilisi, Georgia. In all, he was a seven-time World and Olympic medalist. Together, Dave and his brother Mark Schultz, along with the Banach brothers, were the first American brothers to each win gold medals in the same Olympics, and likewise the only American brothers to win both World and Olympic championships.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: At various times, Schultz also served as an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma, Stanford University, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Among many other top U.S. wrestlers, Schultz trained 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, who later became a professional wrestler. In the 1990s, he worked as a coach for John du Pont's "Team Foxcatcher", which trained at a complex built on the du Pont family farm in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. In 1996, Schultz was murdered there by a mentally-ill du Pont.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: Schultz trained at the Foxcatcher center while preparing for another Olympic bid, as well as coaching the wrestling team. On January 26, 1996, he was shot and killed by John du Pont, the owner of the center. Du Pont had exhibited bizarre and threatening behavior for an extended period preceding the murder.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: Schultz was 36 at the time of his death. His body was cremated. Schultz's surviving family included his wife Nancy, his son Alexander, his daughter Danielle, his siblings, and both parents.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: At the trial, neither the prosecution nor the defense suggested a motive for the crime. A jury rejected du Pont's plea of not guilty by reason of insanity; he was convicted as guilty but mentally ill. Du Pont was sentenced by Judge Patricia Jenkins to 13–30 years incarceration and died in prison on December 9, 2010. Schultz's father Philip told "The New York Times" that "the fact that he's officially gone is almost a moot point. I did forgive the man for what he did. I never forgave the act."


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: The story of the events leading to his death are portrayed in the 2014 film "Foxcatcher", with Schultz portrayed by Mark Ruffalo.


title: Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

text: After Schultz's murder, 20 former Foxcatcher athletes were left without training or coaching resources six months before the 1996 Olympic Games. Schultz's widow founded the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club in March 1996 to sponsor the stranded wrestlers through the Olympics. The Club succeeded beyond the initial goal. It continued to train athletes in both men's and women's freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling until it closed in 2005. Among the wrestlers who competed under Dave Schultz WC sponsorship were Olympic gold medalists Kurt Angle (100 kg/220 lbs Men's Freestyle, 1996) and Brandon Slay (76 kg/167.5 lbs Men's Freestyle, 2000), Olympic bronze medalist Patricia Miranda (48 kg/105.5 lbs Women's Freestyle, 2004), and World Champion Stephen Neal (130 kg/286 lbs. Men's Freestyle, 1999).


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: The Tuvan People's Republic (TPR; ; Yanalif: "Tьʙа Arat Respuʙlik", ), known as the Tannu Tuva People's Republic until 1926, was a partially recognized socialist republic that existed between 1921 and 1944. The country was located in the same territory as the former Tuvan protectorate of Imperial Russia, known as Uryankhay Krai, north-west of Mongolia part of the Chinese Outer Mongolia, and now corresponds to the Tuva Republic within the Russian Federation.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: The Soviet Union and Mongolia were the only countries to formally recognize it during its existence, in 1924 and 1926 respectively. After a period of increased Soviet influence, in October 1944, the polity was absorbed into the Russian SFSR (the largest constituent republic of the Soviet Union) at the request of the Tuvan parliament, ending twenty-three years of independence.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: Since 1759, Tuva (then called Tannu Uriankhai) had been part of Mongolia, which in turn was a part of the territory of the Chinese Qing dynasty. As the Qing dynasty fell in the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, revolutions in Mongolia were also occurring, leading to the independence of both Mongolia and the Tuvan Uryankhay Republic. After a period of political uncertainty, the new republic became a protectorate of the Russian Empire in April 1914, known as Uryankhay Krai. After the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917 and the establishment of the Russian Republic, both it and Uryankhay Krai reaffirmed its status as a Russian protectorate.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: During the subsequent Russian Civil War, both Russian Whites and Reds, Mongols, as well as Chinese soldiers seeking to retake Mongolia and Tuva, were engaged in combat in the region. In the 5th Congress of the Russian population in Uryankhay Krai in the summer of 1918, it was decided that the power would be transferred to the "Uryankhay Regional Council of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers' Deputies", and with backing from the Russian SFSR, that a Soviet power would be established and would recognize the Tuvan people and allow them to create their own national state. On 26 January 1920, Ivan Smirnov – Chairman of the Siberian Revolutionary Committee – sent an encrypted telegraph regarding Tuva to Moscow stating: ""The Mongols have entered the province and ejected our [Russian] peasants from the villages. These peasants fought against Kolchak and were independent of him. The Soyoty [Tuvans] are a nomadic tribe oppressed by both Mongols and Russians. Do you consider it necessary to allow the Mongols possession of the Uryankhay [Tuvan] region or to take it by force of arms or to organise an Uryankhay Soviet Republic on the Bashkir pattern? Let me know.""


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: The Reds had, by December 1920, taken the capital of Khem-Beldyr and had, by March 1921, taken all of Tuva. On 14 August 1921, the "Tannu Tuvan People's Republic" ("Tannu" refers to the Tannu-Ola mountains) declared independence and the newly created Tuvan People's Revolutionary Party (TPRP) became the ruling party. The first chapter of the first constitution of the newborn country stated that ""...in international affairs, the state acts under the auspices of Soviet Russia.""


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: In the beginning of February 1922, the first meeting of the TPRP took place and a government was created, which began to work on 3rd March the same year. The Soviet-Tuvan border was defined in January 1923 and Red Army divisions on Tuvan territory were withdrawn in accordance with an agreement from 1921. The first Great "Khural" (People's Congress) was held on 12 October 1923 and, in the second one, on 28 September 1924, a new constitution proclaimed that the country would develop along non-capitalist lines with the TPRP being the only party and the Tuvan section of the Communist International.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: In the summer of 1925, the Soviet Union initiated the “Agreement between the Russian SFSR and the Tannu Tuvan People’s Republic on the Establishment of Friendly Relationships”, which was signed by the two countries, strengthening their relations. The treaty stated that the Soviet government "[did] not consider Tannu-Tuva as its territory and [had] no views on it."


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: In 1926, the government adopted their first official flag and emblem, changed the name of its capital from "Khem-Beldyr" to "Kyzyl" (meaning "Red"), and the name of the country to simply "Tuvan People's Republic". It also signed a “Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Recognition” with the Mongolian People's Republic, another Soviet satellite state. Much of this work was done by Prime Minister Donduk Kuular, a former Lama monk with strong ties to the country's many lamas. Kuular sought to establish stronger ties with Mongolia and to make Buddhism the state religion while trying to limit Soviet influence and propaganda. The Soviet Union responded with alarm to Kuular's theocratic and nationalist leanings and policies, which were considered in opposition to the communist principles of state atheism and internationalism.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: Kuular's theocratic, nationalist and anti-Soviet policies led to a Soviet-backed coup d'état in 1929. While Kuular was implementing his policies, the Soviet Union had laid foundations for a new leadership – staunchly loyal to Joseph Stalin – including the creation of the "Tuva Revolutionary Youth Union" where members received military training. Five young Tuvan graduates from the Communist University of the Toilers of the East were appointed "Extraordinary Commissioners" and overthrew the government in January 1929 during the 2nd Plenary Session of the Central Committee.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: Following the coup, Kuular was removed from power and executed, and about a third to half the members of the TPRP were also purged. Kuular's policies were reverted and the country's traditionally nomadic cattle-breeders were put in collectivization programs. Similarly to the Stalinist repressions in Mongolia, Buddhist lamas, aristocrats, members of the intelligentsia and other political dissidents were purged, and Buddhist temples and monasteries were destroyed. As part of this process, the written language in Tuva was changed from the Mongol script to the Latin-based alphabet in June 1930. Religious symbols, such as the Khorlo, were also removed from the flag and emblem. Evidence of the effect of these actions can be seen in the decline in the numbers of lamas in the country: in 1929, there were 25 lamaseries and about 4,000 lamas and shamans; in 1931, there were just one lamasery, 15 lamas, and approximately 725 shamans. The attempts at eradicating nomadic husbandry were more difficult. A census in 1931 showed that 82.2% of Tuvans still engaged in nomadic cattle breeding.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: One of the five Extraordinary Commissioners, Salchak Toka, became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the TPRP in 1932 and would be the de facto leader of Tuva until his death in 1973.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: In July 1932, with mediation from the Soviet Union, Tuva signed an agreement and received a substantial territorial gain from Mongolia as a fixed border was created between the two countries. Mongolia was forced to sign under Soviet pressure and did not ratify the agreement in the Mongol Great Khural. The new territory notably included mountain, the only source of salt mining for Tuva. The border between Tuva and Mongolia remained controversial during the 1930s, with Mongolia referring to Qing dynasty documents to argue their ownership of the mountain.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: The debate continued to flare up in the following years, and Mongolian leadership demanded the return of the mountain "arbitrarily captured by Tuvans", criticizing the 1932 agreement as unjust due to Soviet pressure for Mongolia to sign. Soviet authorities reiterated their official position that Mongolia had no reason to revise the 1932 agreement and did not need the salt mountain, asking Tuva not to revise the agreement. Mongolia promised not to raise the issue again, but relations between it and Tuva became very strained. The Tuvan government made concessions to avoid conflict with its neighbor, and in 1940, the two governments signed a new agreement "On the border based on historical materials and documents". However, while Tuva sought to clarify the border established in 1932, Mongolia sought to revise it completely; this led to irreconcilable positions and the ratification of the new agreement was stopped.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: Both parties turned to the Soviet Union for mediation, but with the outbreak of World War II, Soviet authorities insisted on ceasing any discussion regarding the border dispute, especially in regard to Mount Dus-Dag. In 1943, the Mongolian ambassador said ""The Salt Mountain has been exploited by the Tuvans for about ten years now and is also located in disputed territory, so the demand for the Tuvan government to return it is too harsh."" This more or less ended the controversial issue, but some minor disputes continued until the absorption of Tuva into the Soviet Union in 1944, at which point Mongolia ratified the original 1932 agreement (and even then, border protection such as alarmed fences had to be introduced in the area in 1946).


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: In the 1930s, the Empire of Japan undertook several aggressive actions against China. This included the invasion of Manchuria and the creation of the Manchukuo puppet state, and culminated in a full-scale war against China in 1937. The Tuvan government undertook measures to strengthen their army, and the 11th Congress of the TPRP, held in November 1939, instructed the Central Committee to fully equip the Tuvan People's Revolutionary Army in the next two to three years and to further raise combat readiness. The Ministry of Military Affairs was created in late February 1940 and immediately started equipping the army with new weapons and equipment, as well as improving training of officers and army units. The Soviet Union assisted the Tuvans with significant assistance in materiel and technical development. The middle and high commands of the Tuvan Army were trained in Soviet military academies, including the M. V. Frunze Military Academy and the General Staff Academy.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: As Germany and other Axis powers launched their invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the 10th Great Khural of Tuva declared that ""The Tuvan people, led by the entire revolutionary party and government, not sparing their lives, are ready by any means to participate in the struggle of the Soviet Union against the fascist aggressor until their final victory over it."" It has sometimes been stated that Tuva declared war on Germany on 25 June 1941, but the sources are dubious.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: Nevertheless, Tuva helped the Soviet Union in substantial ways, transferring its entire gold reserve of ~20,000,000 Rbls to the Soviet Union, with additional extracted Tuvan gold worth around 10,000,000 Rbls annually. Between June 1941 and October 1944, Tuva supplied the Soviet Red Army with 700,000 livestock, of which almost 650,000 were donated. In addition, 50,000 war horses, 52,000 pairs of skis, 10,000 winter coats, 19,000 pairs of gloves, 16,000 boots and 67,000 tons of sheep wool as well as several hundreds tons of meats, grain, carts, sledges, horse tacks and other goods totaling 66,500,000 Rbls were sent. Up to 90% were donated.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: In March 1943, 10 Yakovlev Yak-7 fighters were built with funds raised by the Tuvans and placed at the disposal of the Soviet Air Forces. Also during 1943, Tuva mustered 11 volunteer tankers and 208 volunteer cavalrymen. The tankers and 177 of the cavalrymen were assigned to the Red Army and served on the Eastern Front from early 1944, especially around Ukraine.


title: Tuvan People's Republic

text: Tuvan orientation towards Moscow intensified during the war. In September 1943, the written language was again changed, this time from the Latin to the Cyrillic alphabet, the standard alphabet in the Soviet Union. By 1941, the national symbols, such as the flag and emblem, had been changed to the same style as various Soviet regions. Tuvan underwent intense Russification of social and economic practices, and virtually all remaining opposition to Stalinist policy was eradicated. The Soviets desired the mineral resources of the republic and a permanent end to Mongolian-Chinese geopolitical intrigues in the region. This process culminated in the absorption of Tuva in 1944, under the rule of General Secretary Salchak Toka and his wife, Head of State Khertek Anchimaa-Toka.