title: Naturopathy

text: Naturopathic doctors are not eligible for medical residencies, which are available exclusively for medical doctors and doctors of osteopathic medicine. There are limited post-graduate "residency" positions available to naturopathic doctors offered through naturopathic schools and naturopathic clinics approved by the CNME. Most naturopathic doctors do not complete such a residency, and naturopathic doctors are not mandated to complete one for licensure, except in the states of Utah and Connecticut. Continuing education in naturopathic modalities for health care professionals varies greatly.


title: Naturopathy

text: Naturopaths affiliated with the CNME-accredited schools lobby state, provincial, and federal governments for medical licensure and participation in social health programs. The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians represents licensed naturopaths in the United States; the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors represents licensed naturopaths in Canada. Naturopathic lobbying efforts are funded by vitamin and supplement makers and focus on portraying naturopathic education as comparable to medical education received by physicians and on having high professional standards. Medical societies and advocacy groups dispute these claims by citing evidence of licensed naturopaths using pseudoscientific methods without a sound evidence basis and lacking adequate clinical training to diagnose and treat disease competently according to the standard of care. Jann Bellamy has characterized the process by which naturopaths and other practitioners of pseudoscience convince lawmakers to provide them with medical licenses as "legislative alchemy".


title: Naturopathy

text: Since 2005, the Massachusetts Medical Society has opposed licensure based on concerns that NDs are not required to participate in residency and concerns that the practices of naturopaths included many "erroneous and potentially dangerous claims". The Massachusetts Special Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medical Practitioners rejected their concerns and recommended licensure. The Massachusetts Medical Society states:


title: Naturopathy

text: In 2015, a former naturopathic doctor, Britt Marie Hermes, who graduated from Bastyr University and practiced as a licensed ND in Washington and Arizona, began advocating against naturopathic medicine. In addition to opposing further licensure, she believes that NDs should not be allowed to use the titles "doctor" or "physician", and be barred from treating children. She states:


title: Naturopathy

text: Traditional naturopaths are represented in the United States by the American Naturopathic Association (ANA), representing about 1,800 practitioners and the American Naturopathic Medical Association (ANMA).


title: Naturopathy

text: The level of naturopathic training varies among traditional naturopaths in the United States. Traditional naturopaths may complete non-degree certificate programs or undergraduate degree programs and generally refer to themselves as naturopathic consultants. These programs often offer online unaccredited degrees, but do not offer comprehensive biomedical education or clinical training.


title: Naturopathy

text: Traditional naturopathic practitioners surveyed in Australia perceive evidence-based medicine to be an ideological assault on their beliefs in vitalistic and holistic principles. They advocate for the integrity of natural medicine practice.


title: Naturopathy

text: Naturopaths graduating from accredited programs argued in 2002 that their training used evidence-based scientific principles unlike traditional naturopathic programs, but this claim remains inaccurate.


title: Naturopathy

text: Naturopathy is practiced in many countries and is subject to different standards of regulation and levels of acceptance. The scope of practice varies widely between jurisdictions, with some covering naturopathy under medical regulation and allowing practitioners to prescribe drugs and perform minor surgery, while other jurisdictions outlaw naturopathy entirely.


title: Naturopathy

text: In 1977, a Commonwealth Government inquiry reviewed all colleges of naturopathy in Australia and found that despite having syllabuses appearing to cover the basic biomedical sciences, actual lectures had little connection to those syllabuses and no significant practical work was available. In addition, there did not appear to be significant or systematic coverage of techniques favoured by naturopaths, such as homeopathy, Bach's floral remedies, or mineral salts.


title: Naturopathy

text: The position of the Australian Medical Association is that "evidence-based aspects of complementary medicine can be part of patient care by a medical practitioner", but it has concerns that there is "limited efficacy evidence regarding most complementary medicine. Unproven complementary medicines and therapies can pose a risk to patient health either directly through misuse or indirectly if a patient defers seeking medical advice." The AMA's position on regulation is that "there should be appropriate regulation of complementary medicine practitioners and their activities".


title: Naturopathy

text: In 2015, the Australian government found no clear evidence of effectiveness for naturopathy. Accordingly, In 2017 the Australian government named naturopathy as a practice that would not qualify for insurance subsidy, saying this step would "ensure taxpayer funds are expended appropriately and not directed to therapies lacking evidence".


title: Naturopathy

text: In India, naturopathy is overseen by the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH); there is a 5½-year degree in "Bachelor of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences" (BNYS) degree that was offered by twelve colleges in India . The National Institute of Naturopathy in Pune that operates under AYUSH, which was established on December 22, 1986 and encourages facilities for standardization and propagation of the existing knowledge and its application through research in naturopathy throughout India.


title: Naturopathy

text: In five Canadian provinces, seventeen U.S. states, and the District of Columbia, naturopathic doctors who are trained at an accredited school of naturopathic medicine in North America are entitled to use the designation ND or NMD. Elsewhere, the designations "naturopath", "naturopathic doctor", and "doctor of natural medicine" are generally unprotected or prohibited.


title: Naturopathy

text: In North America, each jurisdiction that regulates naturopathy defines a local scope of practice for naturopathic doctors that can vary considerably. Some regions permit minor surgery, access to prescription drugs, spinal manipulations, midwifery (natural childbirth), and gynecology; other regions exclude these from the naturopathic scope of practice or prohibit the practice of naturopathy entirely.


title: Naturopathy

text: Five Canadian provinces license naturopathic doctors: Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. British Columbia has the largest scope of practice in Canada, allowing certified NDs to prescribe pharmaceuticals and perform minor surgeries.


title: Naturopathy

text: The Swiss Federal Constitution defines the Swiss Confederation and the Cantons of Switzerland within the scope of their powers to oversee complementary medicine. In particular, the Federal authorities must set up diplomas for the practice of non-scientific medicine. The first of such diplomas has been validated in April 2015 for the practice of naturopathy. There is a long tradition of naturopathy and traditional medicine in Switzerland. The Cantons of Switzerland make their own public health regulations. Although the law in certain cantons is typically monopolistic, the authorities are relatively tolerant with regard to alternative practitioners.


title: Naturopathy

text: Naturopathy is not regulated in the United Kingdom. In 2012, publicly-funded universities in the United Kingdom dropped their alternative medicine programs, including naturopathy.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Eric Michael Swalwell (born November 16, 1980) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 15th congressional district since 2013. His district covers most of eastern Alameda County and part of central Contra Costa County. He is a member of the Democratic Party.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Born in Iowa, Swalwell spent his childhood in Dublin, California. He was a first-generation college student, having briefly attended Campbell University on a soccer scholarship before earning degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. As a college student, Swalwell served as a student liaison to the College Park City Council and interned for Ellen Tauscher.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: After college, Swalwell returned to California and worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County. He was appointed to multiple municipal commissions in Dublin and later served two years on the Dublin City Council. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, defeating 40-year incumbent Pete Stark in an upset.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell has co-chaired the House Democratic Steering Committee since 2017. He was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries from April to July 2019 before dropping out and endorsing Joe Biden.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell was born on November 16, 1980, in Sac City, Iowa. He is the oldest of four sons of Eric Nelson Swalwell and Vicky Joe Swalwell, both of whom are Republicans. During his early childhood, his father served as police chief in Algona, Iowa. After leaving Iowa, the family eventually settled in Dublin, California. He graduated from Wells Middle School and then from Dublin High School in 1999. As a child, Swalwell suffered from Bell's palsy and worried the paralysis would never go away. To treat the condition, he had to wear an eyepatch.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell attended Campbell University in North Carolina on a soccer scholarship from 1999 to 2001. He broke both his thumbs during his sophomore year in 2001, ending the scholarship. Swalwell then transferred to the University of Maryland, College Park, where he received a bachelor of arts in government and politics in 2003. He then received a juris doctor from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in 2006.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: At the University of Maryland, Swalwell served as Vice President of Campus Affairs for the Student Government Association and was an elected member of the Student-Faculty-Staff University Senate and of its executive committee. He was an active member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He often organized protests at the Maryland State House and served as a student liaison to the College Park City Council; the latter appointment inspired other college towns to consider similar arrangements.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In 2001 and 2002, Swalwell worked as an unpaid intern for U.S. representative Ellen Tauscher, who represented . He focused on legislative research and constituent outreach and services. The September 11 terrorist attacks occurred during his internship, inspiring him to public service. The attacks also inspired his first legislative achievement: using his Student Government Association position at the University of Maryland to create a public–private college scholarship program for students who lost parents in the attacks.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: After graduating from law school, Swalwell returned to California and worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County. He served on the Dublin Heritage & Cultural Arts Commission from 2006 to 2008 and on the Dublin Planning Commission from 2008 to 2010 before winning election to the Dublin City Council in 2010. While he was running for the U.S. Congress, an anonymous group attempted to recall Swalwell from the city council, but the effort was later abandoned.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In September 2011, Swalwell filed to run for Congress in California's 15th district. The district had previously been the 13th, represented by 20-term incumbent Democrat Pete Stark. Swalwell took a leave of absence from the Dublin City Council in order to run for the seat.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell was able to contest Stark only in the general election because of California's "top two" primary system put in place by Proposition 14. Under that system, the top two primary vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. In the June primary, Stark finished first with 41.8% of the vote, Swalwell placed second with 36%, and independent candidate Chris Pareja third with 22.2%.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In the November general election, the "San Francisco Chronicle" endorsed Swalwell. During the 2012 election cycle, the Stark campaign accused Swalwell of being a Tea Party candidate. The accusation was denied by Swalwell and dismissed by the "San Jose Mercury News", which also endorsed Swalwell. Stark refused to debate Swalwell during the campaign. In response, Swalwell organized a mock debate with an actor playing Stark, quoting him verbatim when answering the moderator. Other campaign gimmicks included rubber ducks that stood in for rubber chickens and suggested that Stark was too "chicken" to debate. Stark pointed out that the ducks were made in China and criticized Swalwell for not "buying American".


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell was challenged by Republican Hugh Bussell, a senior manager at Workday, Inc., and by Democratic State Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett of Hayward. Corbett, placed third in June's primary, not earning enough votes to make the general election. Swalwell defeated Bussell in the November general election, 69.8% to 30.2%. He was sworn into his second term on January 3, 2015.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell was challenged by Republican Danny Reid Turner of Livermore. He defeated Turner in the November general election, 73.8% to 26.2%. He was sworn into his third term on January 3, 2017.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell was challenged by Republican Rudy Peters of Livermore. He defeated Peters in the November general election, 73.0% to 27.0%. He was sworn into his fourth term on January 3, 2019.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In the House, Swalwell has become known for innovative and extensive use of social media to connect with constituents. In April 2016, "The Hill" dubbed him "the Snapchat king of Congress", and he used Facebook Live and Periscope to broadcast House Democrats' gun-violence sit-in in June 2016. Swalwell later called for new policies regarding cameras on the House floor.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell is only the third person to represent his district and its predecessors since 1945. George P. Miller held the seat from 1945 to 1973; Stark won it after unseating Miller in the 1972 Democratic primary.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In his first term, Swalwell served on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. He helped lead the fight against Transportation Security Administration administrator John S. Pistole's decision to lift the ban on pocketknives at airport security; the decision eventually was reversed.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Soon after taking office, Swalwell helped establish the United Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan group of freshman House members who met regularly to discuss areas of agreement.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: During a House vote on June 18, 2013, Swalwell recorded a video of his vote against a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks to his mobile phone (the video was a six-second clip of him pressing the "nay" button on the electronic voting machine) and uploaded it to Vine, an internet video service. House rules bar "the use of mobile electronic devices that impair decorum" and provide that "No device may be used for still photography or for audio or video recording." Swalwell defended the action, saying, "We operate under rules that were created in the 18th century, and I think it's time that the Congress start to act more like regular Americans do. I did not see this as impairing the decorum. I think what this did was highlight, for all to see, the democratic process."


title: Eric Swalwell

text: On December 12, 2013, Swalwell introduced the Philippines Charitable Giving Assistance Act into the House. The bill allowed Americans to deduct from their 2013 taxes any charitable donations made between January 1 and April 15, 2014, for the relief of victims in the Republic of the Philippines of Typhoon Haiyan. The typhoon caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and killed thousands of people. Swalwell said, "Typhoon Haiyan devastated many parts of the Philippines and we should make it as easy as possible for Americans who want to assist those affected by the storm." Swalwell saw the bill as providing "another incentive for Americans to donate and donate now—when their help is needed most". On March 25, 2014, President Barack Obama signed this legislation into law.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: By the end of his first term, Swalwell had gotten three bills through the House and two of them signed into law—more than any other freshman.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In 2014, Swalwell announced that he would serve as chairman of Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's O' Say Can You See PAC's Young Professionals Leadership Circle due to his friendship with O'Malley. Although he made clear that his support was about the 2014 midterm elections and not an endorsement of a potential presidential bid by O'Malley in 2016, Swalwell endorsed O'Malley for president in July 2015.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: During his second term, Swalwell served on the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and as ranking member of its Central Intelligence Agency Subcommittee. He also retained his seat on the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In April 2015, Swalwell founded Future Forum, a group of young House Democrats focused on the concerns of millennials. A year later, Swalwell said that in the meetings the groups had held at places like college campuses and startups, participants had brought up student loan debt as their most pressing concern. At the time, Swalwell himself still carried almost $100,000 in debt from his undergraduate and law-school education.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In May 2015, Swalwell and Representative Darrell Issa launched the bipartisan Sharing Economy Caucus to explore how this burgeoning new economic sector can benefit more Americans.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In February 2016, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi elevated Swalwell to vice-chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, which sets the Democratic policy agenda and nominates Democratic members for committee assignments.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In December 2016, Swalwell was named the co-chair of House Democratic Steering Committee, replacing Donna Edwards and serving with Rosa DeLauro. He now co-chairs the committee with Barbara Lee and Cheri Bustos.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell also retained his seat on the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence but left the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in order to serve on the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, and its Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, and Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In December 2016, Swalwell and Representative Elijah Cummings introduced the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which would create an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate foreign interference in the 2016 election. They reintroduced the legislation for the 115th Congress in January 2017, but it failed to win any meaningful bipartisan support. The bill was widely seen as unnecessarily duplicative given the then ongoing Mueller special counsel investigation, as well as multiple existing committee investigations in Congress. Swalwell's bill attracted support along strictly partisan lines, except for two Republicans, and ultimately failed to reach a vote in the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He remained a constant presence on national news networks throughout 2017, voicing his views on the investigations.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Given Swalwell's position on the House Intelligence Committee, he played a role in investigating the purported links between Trump associates and Russian officials during his third term, saying, "[i]t's always smelled like collusion."


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice under the Trump administration seized Swalwell's personal data. The record seizure also targeted Adam Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: On March 5, 2021, Swalwell filed a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Representative Mo Brooks, and Rudy Giuliani, seeking damages for their alleged role in inciting the January 6 attack on the Capitol.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In December 2020, Swalwell was named in a press report about suspected Chinese spy Fang Fang or Christine Fang, who had since at least 2012 been cultivating contacts with California politicians who the Chinese government believed had promising futures in politics. "Axios" reported that Fang participated in fundraising for Swalwell's 2014 congressional election bid, met Swalwell at events, and helped place an intern inside his congressional office. Swalwell ended ties with Fang in 2015 after U.S. intelligence briefed him and top members of Congress on concerns that Chinese agents were attempting to infiltrate Congress. Officials believe Fang did not obtain classified information from her contacts, and Swalwell was not accused of any impropriety.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In March 2021, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy moved to remove Swalwell from his seat on the House Intelligence Committee, which was tabled 218–200–3 on a party-line vote. Swalwell suggested that someone in the Trump administration may have leaked the information to the press, as he had been a vocal critic of Trump and served on two committees involved in Trump's impeachment.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: On April 8, 2019, Swalwell announced his candidacy for president on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert". He also released a campaign ad announcing his campaign on his social media pages. Swalwell said that gun control would be the primary focus of his campaign. He made a formal announcement at Dublin High School on April 14, 2019.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell participated in one presidential debate. During the debate, he commented that he was six years old when Joe Biden spoke of passing the torch to a younger generation. Swalwell's polling average never rose above 1%. On July 8, 2019, he withdrew from the race. At the time, he was at risk of not qualifying for the second set of debates.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell has called for greater authenticity from politicians, saying that they should not insult each other publicly and then expect to have friendly relationships "backstage", and comparing some politicians' behavior to a fake, entertainment-focused professional wrestling show. He has proposed the idea of a "mobile Congress", with members casting votes remotely while spending more time in their districts.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell advocated the repeal of the No Child Left Behind Act, and increasing funding for education, while decreasing funding for defense. He also advocated creating renewable energy jobs with federal stimulus money. He said he would attempt to raise the cap on the Social Security payroll tax (which applies to annual earnings only up to $110,000 ), so that wealthier Americans would pay more into the program.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In March 2013, Swalwell led the writing of an open letter to John S. Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), opposing a new policy that would allow passengers to bring knives onto airplanes. He supports same-sex marriage and is pro-choice. Swalwell opposed the overturning of "Roe v. Wade" in "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization" and called it "an attack on everyone's freedom" and "government-mandated pregnancy".


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In 2022, Swalwell was one of 16 Democrats to vote against the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In 2017, Swalwell co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, a House bill designed to allow U.S. states to enact laws requiring contractors to sign pledges promising not to boycott any goods from Israel and Israeli-occupied territories or their contracts would be terminated.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In 2019, Swalwell criticized Trump's trade war against China. He condemned the 2019 Turkish offensive into northeastern Syria and called for possibly suspending Turkey's membership in NATO.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: In March 2022, Swalwell proposed the following measures in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on CNN: "Frankly, I think closing their embassy in the United States, kicking every Russian student out of the United States, those should all be on the table, and Putin needs to know that every day that he is in Ukraine, there are more severe options that could come." He received some backlash for his remarks, but defended his stance on Twitter. Others proposed expelling only those students who are part of the Russian ruling elite's families that espouse anti-Western rhetoric while sending their children to live there.


title: Eric Swalwell

text: Swalwell and his first wife are divorced. He married his second wife, Brittany Ann Watts, a sales director at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, in October 2016. They have a son, born in 2017, and a daughter, born in 2018. A third child was born in 2021.


title: Weapon

text: A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, self-defense, warfare, or suicide. In broader context, weapons may be construed to include anything used to gain a tactical, strategic, material or mental advantage over an adversary or enemy target.


title: Weapon

text: While ordinary objects – sticks, rocks, bottles, chairs, vehicles – can be used as weapons, many objects are expressly designed for the purpose; these range from simple implements such as clubs, axes and swords, to complicated modern firearms, tanks, intercontinental ballistic missiles, biological weapons, and cyberweapons. Something that has been re-purposed, converted, or enhanced to become a weapon of war is termed weaponized, such as a weaponized virus or weaponized laser.


title: Weapon

text: The use of weapons is a major driver of cultural evolution and human history up to today, since weapons are a type of tool which is used to dominate and subdue autonomous agents such as animals and by that allow for an expansion of the cultural niche, while simultaneously other weapon users (i.e., agents such as humans, groups, cultures) are able to adapt to weapons of enemies by learning, triggering a continuous process of competitive technological, skill and cognitive improvement (arms race).


title: Weapon

text: The use of objects as weapons has been observed among chimpanzees, leading to speculation that early hominids used weapons as early as five million years ago. However, this can not be confirmed using physical evidence because wooden clubs, spears, and unshaped stones would have left an ambiguous record. The earliest unambiguous weapons to be found are the Schöningen spears, eight wooden throwing spears dating back more than 300,000 years. At the site of Nataruk in Turkana, Kenya, numerous human skeletons dating to 10,000 years ago may present evidence of traumatic injuries to the head, neck, ribs, knees and hands, including obsidian projectiles embedded in the bones that might have been caused from arrows and clubs during conflict between two hunter-gatherer groups. But the evidence interpretation of warfare at Nataruk has been challenged.


title: Weapon

text: The earliest ancient weapons were evolutionary improvements of late Neolithic implements, but significant improvements in materials and crafting techniques led to a series of revolutions in military technology.


title: Weapon

text: The development of metal tools began with copper during the Copper Age (about 3,300 BC) and was followed by the Bronze Age, leading to the creation of the Bronze Age sword and similar weapons.


title: Weapon

text: During the Bronze Age, the first defensive structures and fortifications appeared as well, indicating an increased need for security. Weapons designed to breach fortifications followed soon after, such as the battering ram, which was in use by 2500 BC.


title: Weapon

text: The development of iron-working around 1300 BC in Greece had an important impact on the development of ancient weapons. It was not the introduction of early Iron Age swords, however, as they were not superior to their bronze predecessors,


title: Weapon

text: but rather the domestication of the horse and widespread use of spoked wheels by c. 2000 BC. This led to the creation of the light, horse-drawn chariot, whose improved mobility proved important during this era. Spoke-wheeled chariot usage peaked around 1300 BC and then declined, ceasing to be militarily relevant by the 4th century BC.


title: Weapon

text: Cavalry developed once horses were bred to support the weight of a human. The horse extended the range and increased the speed of attacks.


title: Weapon

text: In addition to land based weaponry, warships, such as the trireme, were in use by the 7th century BC.


title: Weapon

text: European warfare during the Post-classical history was dominated by elite groups of knights supported by massed infantry (both in combat and ranged roles). They were involved in mobile combat and sieges which involved various siege weapons and tactics. Knights on horseback developed tactics for charging with lances providing an impact on the enemy formations and then drawing more practical weapons (such as swords) once they entered into the melee. By contrast, infantry, in the age before structured formations, relied on cheap, sturdy weapons such as spears and billhooks in close combat and bows from a distance. As armies became more professional, their equipment was standardized and infantry transitioned to pikes. Pikes are normally seven to eight feet in length, and used in conjunction with smaller side-arms (short sword).


title: Weapon

text: In Eastern and Middle Eastern warfare, similar tactics were developed independent of European influences.


title: Weapon

text: The introduction of gunpowder from the Asia at the end of this period revolutionized warfare. Formations of musketeers, protected by pikemen came to dominate open battles, and the cannon replaced the trebuchet as the dominant siege weapon.


title: Weapon

text: The European Renaissance marked the beginning of the implementation of firearms in western warfare. Guns and rockets were introduced to the battlefield.


title: Weapon

text: Firearms are qualitatively different from earlier weapons because they release energy from combustible propellants such as gunpowder, rather than from a counter-weight or spring. This energy is released very rapidly and can be replicated without much effort by the user. Therefore even early firearms such as the arquebus were much more powerful than human-powered weapons. Firearms became increasingly important and effective during the 16th century to 19th century, with progressive improvements in ignition mechanisms followed by revolutionary changes in ammunition handling and propellant. During the American Civil War new applications of firearms including the machine gun and ironclad warship emerged that would still be recognizable and useful military weapons today, particularly in limited conflicts. In the 19th century warship propulsion changed from sail power to fossil fuel-powered steam engines.


title: Weapon

text: Since the mid-18th century North American French-Indian war through the beginning of the 20th century, human-powered weapons were reduced from the primary weaponry of the battlefield yielding to gunpowder-based weaponry. Sometimes referred to as the "Age of Rifles", this period was characterized by the development of firearms for infantry and cannons for support, as well as the beginnings of mechanized weapons such as the machine gun. Of particular note, howitzers were able to destroy masonry fortresses and other fortifications, and this single invention caused a revolution in military affairs, establishing tactics and doctrine that are still in use today.


title: Weapon

text: An important feature of industrial age warfare was technological escalation – innovations were rapidly matched through replication or countered by another innovation.


title: Weapon

text: World War I marked the entry of fully industrialized warfare as well as weapons of mass destruction ("e.g.", chemical and biological weapons), and new weapons were developed quickly to meet wartime needs. The technological escalation during World War I was profound, including the wide introduction of aircraft into warfare, and naval warfare with the introduction of aircraft carriers. Above all, it promised to the military commanders the independence from the horse and the resurgence in maneuver warfare through extensive use of motor vehicles. The changes that these military technologies underwent were evolutionary, but defined the development for the rest of the century.


title: Weapon

text: This period of innovation in weapon design continued in the inter-war period (between WWI and WWII) with continuous evolution of weapon systems by all major industrial powers. The major armament firms were Schneider-Creusot (based in France), Škoda Works (Czechoslovakia), and Vickers (Great Britain). The 1920s were committed to disarmament and outlawing of war and poison gas, but rearmament picked up rapidly in the 1930s. The munitions makers responded nimbly to the rapidly shifting strategic and economic landscape. The main purchasers of munitions from the big three companies were Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey—and, to a lesser extent, in Poland, Finland, the Baltic States, and the Soviet Union.


title: Weapon

text: Realistic critics understood that war could not really be outlawed, but its worst excesses might be banned. Poison gas became the focus of a worldwide crusade in the 1920s. Poison gas did not win battles, and the generals did not want it. The soldiers hated it far more intensely than bullets or explosive shells. By 1918, chemical shells made up 35 per cent of French ammunition supplies, 25 per cent of British, and 20 per cent of the American stock. The “Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous, or Other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare”, also known as the Geneva Protocol, was issued in 1925, and was accepted as policy by all major countries. In 1937 poison gas was manufactured in large quantities, but not used except against nations that lacked modern weapons or gas masks.


title: Weapon

text: Many modern military weapons, particularly ground-based ones, are relatively minor improvements of weapon systems developed during World War II. World War II marked perhaps the most frantic period of weapons development in the history of humanity. Massive numbers of new designs and concepts were fielded, and all existing technologies were improved between 1939 and 1945. The most powerful weapon invented during this period was the nuclear bomb, however many other weapons influenced the world, such as jet planes and radar, but were overshadowed by the visibility of nuclear weapons and long-range rockets.


title: Weapon

text: Since the realization of mutual assured destruction (MAD), the nuclear option of all-out war is no longer considered a survivable scenario. During the Cold War in the years following World War II, both the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a nuclear arms race. Each country and their allies continually attempted to out-develop each other in the field of nuclear armaments. Once the joint technological capabilities reached the point of being able to ensure the destruction of the Earth x100 fold, then a new tactic had to be developed. With this realization, armaments development funding shifted back to primarily sponsoring the development of conventional arms technologies for support of limited wars rather than total war.


title: Weapon

text: The arms industry is a global industry that involves the sales and manufacture of weaponry. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and servicing of military material, equipment, and facilities. Many industrialized countries have a domestic arms-industry to supply their own military forces - and some also have a substantial trade in weapons for use by its citizens, for self-defence, hunting or sporting purposes.


title: Weapon

text: Contracts to supply a given country's military are awarded by governments, making arms contracts of substantial political importance. The link between politics and the arms trade can result in the development a "military–industrial complex", where the armed forces, commerce, and politics become closely linked.


title: Weapon

text: According to research institute SIPRI, the volume of international transfers of major weapons in 2010–14 was 16 percent higher than in 2005–2009, and the arms sales of the world’s 100 largest private arms-producing and military services companies totalled $420 billion in 2018.


title: Weapon

text: The production, possession, trade and use of many weapons are controlled. This may be at a local or central government level, or international treaty. Examples of such controls include:


title: Weapon

text: All countries have laws and policies regulating aspects such as the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification and use of small arms by civilians.


title: Weapon

text: Countries which regulate access to firearms will typically restrict access to certain categories of firearms and then restrict the categories of persons who may be granted a license for access to such firearms. There may be separate licenses for hunting, sport shooting (a.k.a. target shooting), self-defense, collecting, and concealed carry, with different sets of requirements, permissions, and responsibilities.


title: Weapon

text: International treaties and agreements place restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of weapons from small arms and heavy weapons to weapons of mass destruction. Arms control is typically exercised through the use of diplomacy which seeks to impose such limitations upon consenting participants, although it may also comprise efforts by a nation or group of nations to enforce limitations upon a non-consenting country.


title: Weapon

text: Arms trafficking is the trafficking of contraband weapons and ammunition. What constitutes legal trade in firearms varies widely, depending on local and national laws.


title: Weapon

text: There are a number of issue around the potential ongoing risks from deployed weapons, the safe storage of weapons, and their eventual disposal when no longer effective or safe.


title: Weapon

text: Strange and exotic weapons are a recurring feature or theme in science fiction. In some cases, weapons first introduced in science fiction have now been made a reality. Other science fiction weapons remain purely fictional, and are often beyond the realms of known physical possibility.


title: Weapon

text: At its most prosaic, science fiction features an endless variety of sidearms, mostly variations on real weapons such as guns and swords. Among the best-known of these are the phaser used in the "Star Trek" television series, films and novels and the lightsaber and blaster featured in the "Star Wars" movies, comics, novels and TV series.


title: Weapon

text: In addition to adding action and entertainment value, weaponry in science fiction sometimes become themes when they touch on deeper concerns, often motivated by contemporary issues. One example is science fiction that deals with weapons of mass destruction.


title: Smart contract

text: A smart contract is a computer program or a transaction protocol that is intended to automatically execute, control or document events and actions according to the terms of a contract or an agreement. The objectives of smart contracts are the reduction of need for trusted intermediators, arbitration costs, and fraud losses, as well as the reduction of malicious and accidental exceptions. Smart contracts are commonly associated with cryptocurrencies, and the smart contracts introduced by Ethereum are generally considered a fundamental building block for decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFT applications.


title: Smart contract

text: Vending machines are mentioned as the oldest piece of technology equivalent to smart contract implementation. The original Ethereum white paper by Vitalik Buterin in 2014 describes the Bitcoin protocol as a weak version of the smart contract concept as originally defined by Nick Szabo, and proposed a stronger version based on the Solidity language, which is Turing complete. Since Bitcoin, various cryptocurrencies have supported programming languages which allow for more advanced smart contracts between untrusted parties.


title: Smart contract

text: Smart contracts were first proposed in the early 1990s by Nick Szabo, who coined the term, using it to refer to "a set of promises, specified in digital form, including protocols within which the parties perform on these promises". In 1998, the term was used to describe objects in rights management service layer of the system "The Stanford Infobus", which was a part of Stanford Digital Library Project.


title: Smart contract

text: A "smart contract" does not typically constitute a valid binding agreement at law, although a "smart legal contract" is intended to be both executable by a machine and legally enforceable.


title: Smart contract

text: Smart contracts are not legal agreements, but rather means of performing obligations deriving from agreements that can be executed automatically by a computer program or a transaction protocol, such as technological means for the automation of payment obligations or obligations consisting in the transfer of tokens or cryptocurrencies. Some scholars have argued that the imperative or declarative nature of programming languages would impact the legal validity of smart contracts.


title: Smart contract

text: Since the 2015 launch of the Ethereum blockchain, the term "smart contract" has been more specifically applied toward the notion of general purpose computation that takes place on a blockchain or distributed ledger. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology describes a "smart contract" as a "collection of code and data (sometimes referred to as functions and state) that is deployed using cryptographically signed transactions on the blockchain network". In this interpretation, used for example by the Ethereum Foundation or IBM, a smart contract is not necessarily related to the classical concept of a contract, but can be any kind of computer program. A smart contract also can be regarded as a secured stored procedure, as its execution and codified effects (like the transfer of value between parties) are strictly enforced and cannot be manipulated; after a transaction with specific contract details is stored into a blockchain or distributed ledger, it cannot be changed. That's because the actual execution of contracts is controlled and audited by the platform, not by arbitrary server-side programs connecting to the platform.


title: Smart contract

text: In 2017, by implementing the Decree on Development of Digital Economy, Belarus has become the first-ever country to legalize smart contracts. Belarusian lawyer Denis Aleinikov is considered to be the author of a smart contract legal concept introduced by the decree.


title: Smart contract

text: In 2018, a US Senate report said: "While smart contracts might sound new, the concept is rooted in basic contract law. Usually, the judicial system adjudicates contractual disputes and enforces terms, but it is also common to have another arbitration method, especially for international transactions. With smart contracts, a program enforces the contract built into the code." A number of states in the US have passed legislation on the use of smart contracts, such as Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee, and Wyoming. And in April 2020, Iowa's House of Representatives passed a bill legally recognizing smart contracts in the state.


title: Smart contract

text: In April 2021, the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) published the Digital Dispute Resolution Rules (the Digital DR Rules) to help enable the rapid resolution of blockchain and crypto legal disputes in Britain.


title: Smart contract

text: Similar to a transfer of value on a blockchain, deployment of a smart contract on a blockchain occurs by sending a transaction from a wallet for the blockchain. The transaction includes the compiled code for the smart contract as well as a special receiver address. That transaction must then be included in a block that is added to the blockchain, at which point the smart contract's code will execute to establish the initial state of the smart contract. Byzantine fault-tolerant algorithms secure the smart contract in a decentralized way from attempts to tamper with it. Once a smart contract is deployed, it cannot be updated. Smart contracts on a blockchain can store arbitrary state and execute arbitrary computations. End clients interact with a smart contract through transactions. Such transactions with a smart contract can invoke other smart contracts. These transactions might result in changing the state and sending coins from one smart contract to another or from one account to another.


title: Smart contract

text: The most popular blockchain for running smart contracts is Ethereum. On Ethereum, smart contracts are typically written in a Turing-complete programming language called Solidity, and compiled into low-level bytecode to be executed by the Ethereum Virtual Machine. Due to the halting problem and other security problems, Turing-completeness is considered to be a risk and is deliberately avoided by languages like Vyper. Some of the other smart contract programming languages missing Turing-completeness are Simplicity, Scilla, Ivy and Bitcoin Script. However, measurements in 2020 using regular expressions showed that only 35.3% of 53,757 Ethereum smart contracts at that time included recursions and loops — constructs connected to the halting problem.


title: Smart contract

text: Several languages are designed to enable formal verification: Bamboo, IELE, Simplicity, Michelson (can be verified with Coq), Liquidity (compiles to Michelson), Scilla, DAML and Pact.


title: Smart contract

text: Processes on a blockchain are generally deterministic in order to ensure Byzantine fault-tolerance. Nevertheless, real world application of smart contracts, such as lotteries and casinos, require secure randomness. In fact, blockchain technology reduces the costs for conducting of a lottery and is therefore beneficial for the participants. Randomness on blockchain can be implemented by using block hashes or timestamps, oracles, commitment schemes, special smart contracts like RANDAO and Quanta, as well as sequences from mixed strategy Nash equilibria.


title: Smart contract

text: In 1998, Szabo proposed that smart contract infrastructure can be implemented by replicated asset registries and contract execution using cryptographic hash chains and Byzantine fault-tolerant replication. Askemos implemented this approach in 2002 using Scheme (later adding SQLite) as the contract script language.


title: Smart contract

text: One proposal for using bitcoin for replicated asset registration and contract execution is called "colored coins". Replicated titles for potentially arbitrary forms of property, along with replicated contract execution, are implemented in different projects.


title: Smart contract

text: , UBS was experimenting with "smart bonds" that use the bitcoin blockchain in which payment streams could hypothetically be fully automated, creating a self-paying instrument.


title: Smart contract

text: Inheritance wishes could hypothetically be implemented automatically upon registration of a death certificate by means of smart contracts. Birth certificates can also work together with smart contracts.


title: Smart contract

text: Chris Snook of "Inc.com" suggests smart contracts could also be used to handle real estate transactions and could be used in the field of title records and in the public register.


title: Smart contract

text: Seth Oranburg and Liya Palagashvili argue that smart contracts could also be used in employment contracts, especially temporary employment contracts, which according to them would benefit the employer.


title: Smart contract

text: A blockchain-based smart contract is visible to all users of said blockchain. However, this leads to a situation where bugs, including security holes, are visible to all yet may not be quickly fixed. Such an attack, difficult to fix quickly, was successfully executed on The DAO in June 2016, draining approximately million worth of Ether at the time, while developers attempted to come to a solution that would gain consensus. The DAO program had a time delay in place before the hacker could remove the funds; a hard fork of the Ethereum software was done to claw back the funds from the attacker before the time limit expired. Other high-profile attacks include the Parity multisignature wallet attacks, and an integer underflow/overflow attack (2018), totaling over million.


title: Smart contract

text: Issues in Ethereum smart contracts, in particular, include ambiguities and easy-but-insecure constructs in its contract language Solidity, compiler bugs, Ethereum Virtual Machine bugs, attacks on the blockchain network, the immutability of bugs and that there is no central source documenting known vulnerabilities, attacks and problematic constructs.


title: Smart contract

text: Smart legal contracts are distinct from smart contracts. As mentioned above, a smart contract is not necessarily legally enforceable as a contract. On the other hand, a smart legal contract has all the elements of a legally enforceable contract in the jurisdiction in which it can be enforced and it can be enforced by a court or tribunal. Therefore, while every smart legal contract will contain some elements of a smart contract, not every smart contract will be a smart legal contract.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The Tupolev Tu-22 (NATO reporting name: Blinder) was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union. Manufactured by Tupolev, the Tu-22 entered service with the Soviet military in the 1960s.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The aircraft was a disappointment, lacking both the speed and range that had been expected. It was also a difficult design to fly and maintain. It was produced in small numbers, especially compared to the Tupolev Tu-16 it was designed to replace. The aircraft was later adapted for other roles, notably as the Tu-22R reconnaissance aircraft and as carriers for the long-range Kh-22 antiship missile.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Tu-22s were sold to other nations, including Libya and Iraq. The Tu-22 was one of the few Soviet jet bombers to see combat: Libyan Tu-22s were used against Tanzania and Chad, and Iraqi Tu-22s were used during the Iran–Iraq War.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: In the immediate postwar era, the Soviet aircraft establishment was repeatedly upset by Joseph Stalin, who chose favourites and enemies at whim and created chaos within the design bureaus. Andrei Tupolev's OKB-156 had successfully converted the Boeing B-29 Superfortress into the Tupolev Tu-4, while their suggestions to create a more advanced design were ignored as they fell from favour. In 1951, Stalin created OKB-23 under the direction of Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev to build new long-range bomber designs, forming the bureaus by picking designers out of Tupolev's OKB-156. OKB-23 began development of the four-engined Myasishchev M-4 intercontinental jet bomber.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: To keep themselves in the bomber field, OKB-156 designed their own entry for a jet-powered bomber, the twin-engined Tupolev Tu-16 medium bomber. They were aware that the range of the design would not be enough to fill the intercontinental role of the M-4, and for this mission, they also proposed the four-turboprop Tupolev Tu-95. Ultimately neither the M-4 nor Tu-16 met their range requirements, leaving only the Tu-95 really able to carry out attacks against the US, with more limited performance. The M-4 was built only in small numbers, while the Tu-16 had much more widespread uses in a variety of roles.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: All of these aircraft were still being introduced when the State Committee for Aviation Technology (soon to become the Ministry of Aircraft Production, or MAP) announced a contest for supersonic designs that would replace all previous designs. Tupolev's chief designer, Sergey Mikhailovitch Yeger, was determined not to lose to Myasishchev once again.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: They quickly proposed a new design, Samolyot 103 (Plane 103). This was essentially a Tu-16 with four much more powerful engines, either Dobryniun VD-7s or Mikulin AM-13s. However, experience on the experimental Samolyot 98 tactical bomber design suggested that the 103 would not have supersonic performance. They decided to start over with a blank-sheet design.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: After considering many possible solutions from TsAGI, Yeger eventually settled on what became Samolyot 105 in 1954. Among its features was the selection of a single pilot with no copilot, which allowed the cockpit to be narrower, as only one person had to be seated forward to see the runway. This had positive political aspects as it reduced crew size to three.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Myasishchev was also working to fulfill the requirement with his much larger Myasishchev M-50. It was designed to have intercontinental range, filling the role for which the M-4 was intended. Both the Tupolev and Myasishchev designs were approved for prototype production in 1954.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: At the time, supersonic aerodynamics were still in their infancy, as were the engines that would power the designs. By this point, three engine models were being considered for the 105: the VD-5, the VD-7, and the new Kuznetsov NK-6. Of the three, the NK-6 offered the best performance, but was still in the initial stages of development. As the engines possibly would not meet their goals and leave the 105 underpowered, much attention was spent on cleaning up the aerodynamics to reach the required speed. This was notable in the design of the wing and landing gear, which were designed to be as "clean" as possible, with the main wheels retracting into the fuselage to allow the wing to be thinner.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Around the same time, LII wind tunnel experiments revealed a tendency for aircraft to pitch up around Mach 1. This led to the decision to move the engines from the wing roots, as in the Tu-16, to an unconventional external tail-mounted position, on either side of the vertical stabilizer. This location also reduced drag and inlet losses. The wings were highly swept, between 52 and 55°, and led to poor take-off performance and high landing speeds. This limited the design to "first-class airfields", those with runways at least long.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The first prototype 105 was completed and shipped to the Flight Test and Development Base at Zhukovsky in August 1957. It flew for the first time on 21 June 1958, flown by test pilot Yuri Alasheev. Initial flights quickly demonstrated that the design had neither the speed nor range that was expected. Around this time, TsAGI independently discovered the area rule for minimizing transonic aerodynamic drag, and this design was applied to 105. A key problem was that the wing root was too thick to properly exploit this effect and to further thin it, a new landing-gear design was introduced, along with several more changes to the layout of the cabin and tail areas.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The result of all of these changes was the 105A, which first flew on 7 September 1959. Serial production of 20 examples was issued around this time, even before testing had completed. The first serial-production Tu-22B bomber, built by Factory No. 22 at Kazan, flew on 22 September 1960, and the type was presented to the public in the Tushino Aviation Day parade on 9 July 1961, with a flypast of 10 aircraft. It initially received the NATO reporting name 'Bullshot', which was deemed to be inappropriate, then 'Beauty', which was deemed to be too complimentary, and finally the 'Blinder'. Soviet crews called it ""shilo"" (awl) because of its shape.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The Tu-22 entered service in 1962, but it experienced a considerable number of problems, resulting in widespread unserviceability and several crashes. Amongst its many faults was a tendency for aerodynamic heating of the aircraft skin at supersonic speed, distorting the control rods and causing poor handling. The landing speed was greater than previous bombers and the Tu-22 had a tendency to pitch up and strike its tail on landing, though this problem was eventually resolved with the addition of electronic stabilization aids. Even after some of its problems had been resolved, the Blinder was not easy to fly, and was maintenance-intensive. Among its unpleasant characteristics was a wing design that allowed aileron reversal at high deflections. When the stick had been neutralized following such an event, the deformation of the wing did not necessarily disappear, but could persist and result in an almost uncontrollable aircraft.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Pilots for the first Tu-22 squadrons were selected from the ranks of "First Class" Tu-16 pilots, which made transition into the new aircraft difficult, as the Tu-16 had a co-pilot, and many of the "elite" Tu-16 pilots selected had become accustomed to allowing their co-pilots to handle all the flight operations of the Tu-16 except for take-offs and landings. As a consequence, Tu-16 pilots transitioning to the single-pilot Tu-22 suddenly found themselves having to perform all the piloting tasks, and in a much more complicated cockpit environment. Many, if not most, of these pilots were unable to complete their training for this reason. Eventually, pilots were selected from the ranks of the Su-17 "Fitter" crews, and these pilots made the transition with less difficulty.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: By the time the Tu-22B (Blinder-A) entered service, its operational usefulness had been found to be limited. Despite its speed, it was inferior to the Tu-16 with respect to combat radius, weapon load, and serviceability. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev believed that ballistic missiles were the way of the future, and bombers like the Tu-22 were in danger of cancellation. As a result, only 15 (some sources say 20) Tu-22Bs were built.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: While the Tu-22 was being introduced, the Strategic Rocket Forces division was formed up in 1959, and Tupolev concluded that manned bombers would soon be downgraded in favor of missiles instead of "outdated and improvising means of delivery of nuclear weapons". To save the program, Tupolev proposed a long-range aerial reconnaissance version of the aircraft, which could be modified in the field to return it to a bombing role.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The resulting combat-capable Tu-22R (Blinder-C) entered service in 1962. The Tu-22R could be fitted with an aerial refueling probe that was subsequently fitted to most Tu-22s, expanding their radius of operation; 127 Tu-22Rs were built, 62 of which went to the Soviet Naval Aviation (AVMF) for maritime patrol use. Some of these aircraft were stripped of their cameras and sensor packs and sold for export as Tu-22Bs, although in other respects, they apparently remained more comparable to the Tu-22R than to the early-production Tu-22Bs.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: A trainer version of the Blinder, the Tu-22U (Blinder-D), was fielded at the same time; it had a raised second cockpit for an instructor pilot. The Tu-22U had no tail guns, and was not combat-capable; 46 were produced.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: To try to salvage some offensive combat role for the Tu-22 in the face of official hostility, the Tu-22 was developed as a missile carrier, the Tu-22K (Blinder-B), with the ability to carry a single Kh-22 (AS-4 Kitchen) stand-off missile in a modified weapons bay. The Tu-22K was deployed both by Long Range Aviation and AVMF.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The last Tu-22 subtype was the Tu-22P (Blinder-E) electronic warfare version, initially used for electronic intelligence gathering. Some were converted to serve as stand-off electronic countermeasure jammers to support Tu-22K missile carriers. One squadron was usually allocated to each Tu-22 regiment.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The Tu-22 was upgraded in service with more powerful engines, in-flight refueling (for those aircraft that did not initially have it), and better electronics. The -D suffix (for "Dalni", long-range) denotes aircraft fitted for aerial refueling.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Tu-22s were exported to Iraq and Libya during the 1970s. An Egyptian request was refused as a result of Soviet objections to the Yom Kippur War.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The Tu-22 has a low-middle mounted wing swept at an angle of 55°. The two large turbojet engines, originally Dobrynin VD-7M, later Kolesov RD-7M2, are mounted atop the rear fuselage on either side of the large vertical stabilizer, with a low-mounted tailplane. Continuing a Tupolev OKB design feature, the main landing gear are mounted in pods at the trailing edge of each wing. The highly swept wings gave little drag at transonic speeds, but resulted in very high landing speeds and a long take-off run.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The Tu-22's cockpit placed the pilot forward, offset slightly to the left, with the weapons officer behind and the navigator below, within the fuselage, sitting on downwards-firing ejector seats. The downward direction meant the minimum altitude for ejection was , which precluded their use during take-off and landing, when most accidents occur. The crew entered the plane by lowering the seats on rails and then climbing external stepladders, sitting in the seats, and then being cranked upward into the cockpit.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The cockpit layout was also criticized by the pilots; it was filled with levers and handles that gained it comparisons to a hedgehog, and some of those controls could not be reached by the pilots, who took to flying with metal hooks and other "ad hoc" devices. Adding to its problems was a very high panel on the right, which blocked the view of the runway during landing if the aircraft had to crab against a wind from the left. This led to it being forbidden for flight by new pilots in crosswind conditions above fresh breeze on the Beaufort scale.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Air for the crew was provided by a bleed air system on the engine compressors. This air was hot and had to be cooled before being pumped into the cockpit. This cooling was provided by a large total-loss evaporator running on a mixture of 40% ethanol and 60% distilled water (effectively vodka). This system garnered the aircraft one of its many nicknames, the "supersonic booze carrier". As the system vented the coolant after use, the aircraft could run out during flight, and comfort had to be balanced by the possibility of running out of coolant. Numerous cases of Tu-22 crews drinking the coolant mixture and becoming paralytically drunk led to a crackdown by Soviet Air Force authorities. Access to the bombers after flights was restricted, and more frequent checks were made on coolant levels. This higher level of security, however, did not end the practice outright.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The Tu-22's defensive armament, operated by the weapons officer, consisted of a remotely controlled tail turret beneath the engine pods, containing a single R-23 gun. The turret was directed by a small PRS-3A Argon gun-laying radar due to the weapons officer's total lack of rear visibility (and generally much more accurate and precise fire control than optical aiming). The bomber's main weapon load was carried in a fuselage bomb bay between the wings, capable of carrying a variety of free-fall weapons – up to 24 FAB-500 general-purpose bombs, one FAB-9000 bomb, or various nuclear bombs. On the Tu-22K, the bay was reconfigured to carry one Raduga Kh-22 (AS-4 Kitchen) missile semirecessed beneath the fuselage. The enormous weapon was big enough to have a substantial effect on handling and performance, and was also a safety hazard.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The early Tu-22B had an optical bombing system (which was retained by the Tu-22R), with a Rubin-1A navigation/attack radar. The Tu-22K had the Leninets PN (NATO reporting name 'Down Beat') to guide the Kh-22 missile. The Tu-22R could carry a camera array or an APP-22 jammer pack in the bomb bay as an alternative to bombs. Some Tu-22Rs were fitted with the Kub ELINT system, and later with an under-fuselage pallet for M-202 Shompol side-looking airborne radar, as well as cameras and an infrared line scanner. A few Tu-22Ks were modified to Tu-22KP or Tu-22KPD configuration with Kurs-N SIGINT equipment to detect enemy radar systems and provide compatibility with the Kh-22P antiradiation missile.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The Libyan Arab Republic Air Force used the Tu-22 in combat against Tanzania in 1979 as part of the Uganda–Tanzania War to help its Ugandan allies, with a single Tu-22 flying a completely unsuccessful bombing mission against Mwanza on 29 March 1979.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The Libyan aircraft were also used against Chad as part of the Chadian–Libyan conflict, with strikes into western Sudan and Chad. Libyan Tu-22s flew their first mission over Chad on 9 October 1980 against Hissène Habré's forces near the Chadian capital of N'Djamena. Occasional bombing raids by small numbers of Tu-22s against targets in Chad and Sudan, including a raid on Omdurman in September 1981, which killed three civilians and injured 20 others, continued to be performed until a ceasefire was arranged in November 1981.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Fighting restarted in July 1983, with Libyan air power, including its Tu-22s, being used in attacks against forces loyal to Habré, before a further ceasefire stopped the fighting until Libyan-assisted forces began a fresh offensive in early 1986. On 17 February 1986, in retaliation for the French Operation Épervier (which had hit the runway of the Libyan Ouadi Doum Airbase one day earlier), a single Tu-22B attacked the airfield at N'Djamena. Staying under French radar coverage by flying low over the desert for more than , it accelerated to over Mach 1, climbed to and dropped three heavy bombs. Despite the considerable speed and height, the attack was extremely precise; two bombs hit the runway, one demolished the taxiway, and the airfield remained closed for several hours as a consequence. The bomber ran into technical problems on its return journey. U.S. early warning reconnaissance planes based in Sudan monitored distress calls sent by the pilot of the Tu-22 that probably crashed before reaching its base at Aouzou (maybe hit by antiaircraft guns that fired in N'Djamena airport). On 19 February, another LARAF Tu-22 attempted to bomb N'Djamena once again. Libyan sources have claimed that this attempt was spoiled when the Tu-22 was detected while approaching N'Djamena, and two Mirage F1s were scrambled to intercept it. However, French officers present in Chad don't recall any contact with Libyan aircraft on that day. One bomber was shot down by captured 2K12 Kub (SA-6) surface-to-air missiles during a bombing attack on an abandoned Libyan base at Aouzou on 8 August 1987. One eyewitness report suggests that the pilot ejected, but his parachute was seen on fire.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Another Blinder was lost on the morning of 7 September 1987, when two Tu-22Bs conducted a strike against N'Djamena. A French battery of MIM-23 Hawk SAMs of the 402nd Air Defence Regiment shot down one of the bombers, killing the East German crew. This raid was the last involvement of the Tupolev Tu-22 with the Chadian–Libyan conflict.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The last flight of a Libyan Blinder was recorded on 7 September 1992. They are probably now unserviceable because of a lack of spare parts, although seven are visible at the Al Jufra Air Base at . They were reportedly replaced by Su-24s.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Iraq used its Tu-22s in the Iran–Iraq War from 1980 to 1988. Offensive operations started on the first day of the war, when a Tu-22 based at H-3 Air Base struck an Iranian fuel depot at Mehrabad International Airport, Tehran, which in conjunction with other Iraqi attacks resulted in a shortage of aviation fuel for the Iranians in the early period of the war. Otherwise, these early attacks were relatively ineffective, with many raids being aborted owing to Iranian air defences and operations being disrupted by heavy Iranian air strikes against Iraqi airfields. Iran claimed three Tu-22s shot down during October 1980, one on 6 October over Tehran, and two on 29 October, one near Najafabad by an AIM-54 Phoenix missile launched by an F-14 interceptor and one over Qom.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Iraq deployed its Tu-22s during the War of the Cities (along with Tu-16s, Su-22s and MiG-25s), flying air-raids against Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz, with these attacks supplemented by Iraqi Scud and Al Hussein missiles. Iran retaliated against Iraqi cities with its own Scuds. The Iraqi Air Force were particularly enthusiastic users of the gargantuan FAB-9000 general-purpose bomb, which skilled Tu-22 pilots could deploy with impressive accuracy, using supersonic toss bombing techniques at stand-off distances and allowing the aircraft to escape retaliatory anti-aircraft fire. Usage of the FAB-9000 was so heavy that the Iraqis ran low of imported Soviet stocks and resorted to manufacturing their own version, called the Nassir-9.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: Iraqi Tu-22s were also deployed in the last stages of the "Tanker War". On 19 March 1988, four Tu-22s together with six Mirage F.1s carried out a raid against Iranian oil tankers near Kharg Island. The Tu-22s sank one supertanker and set another on fire, while Exocet missiles from the Mirages damaged another tanker. A second strike against Kharg Island later that day was less successful, encountering alerted Iranian defences, with two Tu-22s being shot down. These were the final operations carried out by Iraq's Tu-22s during the Iran–Iraq war. Iraq lost seven Tu-22s during the war, with several more badly damaged. The remaining Iraqi Tu-22s were destroyed by American air attacks during the 1991 Gulf War.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The only Soviet combat use of the Tu-22 occurred in 1988, during the Soviet withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan. Tu-22P Blinder-E electronic jammers were given the task of covering the withdrawal route back to the Soviet Union. Radar-jamming Tu-22PD aircraft covered Tu-22M3 Backfire-C bombers operating from the Mary-2 airfield in the Turkmen SSR on missions in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. They protected the strike aircraft against Pakistani F-16 air defence activity and suppressed radar systems, which could aid Pakistani F-16 attacks on the Soviet bombers in the border region. Tu-22PD crews were also tasked with photoreconnaissance missions, to assess bomb damage, in addition to their primary electronic warfare missions.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: The Tu-22 was gradually phased out of Soviet service in favor of the more-capable Tupolev Tu-22M. At the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, 154 were remaining in service, but none are now believed to be used.


title: Tupolev Tu-22

text: In total, 311 Tu-22s of all variants were produced, the last in 1969. Production numbers were: 15 of bomber version (B), about 127 of reconnaissance versions (R, RD, RK, RDK and RDM), 47 of ELINT versions (P and PD), 76 of missile carriers (K, KD, KP and KPD) and 46 of training versions (U and UD).


title: Somebody's Watching Me

text: "Somebody's Watching Me" is a song recorded by American singer Rockwell, released by the Motown label in 1984, as the lead single from his debut studio album of the same name. It features guest vocals by brothers Michael Jackson (in the chorus) and Jermaine Jackson (additional backing vocals). The song became a major commercial success internationally, topping the charts in Belgium, France, and Spain, and reaching the top 5 in Canada, West Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. In the UK, it reached No. 6 and is Rockwell's only top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Somebody's Watching Me

text: Rockwell is a son of Motown CEO Berry Gordy. At the time of the recording, Rockwell was estranged from his father and living with Ray Singleton, his father's ex-wife and the mother of his older half-brother, Kerry Gordy. Singleton served as executive producer on the project and would occasionally play some demo tracks to Berry. The elder Gordy was less than enthusiastic about Rockwell's music until he heard the single with Michael Jackson's familiar voice featuring prominently on background vocals.


title: Somebody's Watching Me

text: "Somebody's Watching Me" was written in the key of C minor, though the final recording is a quarter tone sharp. The song is in time with a tempo of 124 beats per minute. The vocals span from C to C.


title: Somebody's Watching Me

text: Produced by Curtis Anthony Nolen, the song featured backing vocals by Michael and Jermaine Jackson, with Alan Murray on percussion.


title: Somebody's Watching Me

text: DJ BoBo based his 1992 single "Somebody Dance with Me" on "Somebody's Watching Me" with new lyrics and rap. The DJ BoBo single reached No. 1 in Sweden and Switzerland, and the Top 5 in Austria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. In 2012, a remix of the hit was made by Remady titled "Somebody Dance With Me (Remady 2013 Mix)" by DJ BoBo featuring Manu-L. Released early in 2013, it charted on the Swiss Hitparade, reaching No. 4. The mix was made on the 20th anniversary of the initial hit by DJ BoBo in November 1992.


title: Somebody's Watching Me

text: In 2006, Dutch dance group Beatfreakz recorded a pseudo-cover of the song that samples the chorus but omitted the verses. This version was a top-10 hit in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Latasha Harlins (January 1, 1976 – March 16, 1991) was an African-American girl who was fatally shot at age 15 by Soon Ja Du (), a 51-year-old Korean-American convenience store owner. Du was tried and convicted of voluntary manslaughter over the killing of Harlins, based in part on security camera footage. The judge sentenced Du to 10 years in state prison but the sentence was suspended and the defendant was instead placed on five years' probation with 400 hours of community service, a $500 restitution, and funeral expenses. The sentencing was widely regarded as an extremely light sentence, and a failed appeal contributed to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, especially the targeting of Koreatown, Los Angeles. The killing of Harlins came 13 days after the videotaped beating of Rodney King.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Latasha Harlins was born January 1, 1976, in East St. Louis, Illinois, to Crystal Harlins and Sylvester "Vester" Acoff Sr. Latasha had one younger brother, Vester Acoff Jr., and one younger sister, Christina. The family moved from Illinois to south-central Los Angeles in 1981. In 1982, when Latasha was six years old, her father took a job in a steel foundry while her mother worked as a waitress in a local tavern. They lived near 89th St. and Broadway, just a few blocks from where Latasha would be killed ten years later.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Acoff Sr. was known to be abusive towards Crystal, attacking and beating her in front of Latasha and her younger siblings. Their unstable marriage eventually ended in 1983. On November 27, 1985, Crystal was brutally shot dead outside a Los Angeles nightclub by Cora Mae Anderson, Acoff's new girlfriend, leaving Latasha and her younger siblings in the care of their maternal grandmother, Ruth Harlins. The death of her mother had a devastating impact on Latasha, who began to rebel and argue with her maternal grandmother and her maternal aunt Denise. At the time of her own death in 1991, Latasha was a student at Westchester High School. She was buried next to her mother in Paradise Memorial Park, Santa Fe Springs, California.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Soon Ja Du's store, Empire Liquor, was located at the intersection of West 91st Street and South Figueroa Street, Vermont Vista, Los Angeles, and was normally staffed by Du's husband and son. However, on the morning of the shooting, Du was working behind the counter, and her husband was outside resting in the family van.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Shortly before 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 16, Harlins entered the store. Du observed Harlins putting a $1.79 bottle of orange juice in her backpack. Du concluded Harlins was attempting to steal, and did not see the money Harlins held in her hand. Du claimed to have asked Harlins if she intended to pay for the orange juice, to which Du claimed Harlins responded, "What orange juice?" Two eyewitnesses—9-year-old Ismail Ali and his 13-year-old sister Lakeshia Combs—disputed that claim, saying that Du called Harlins a "bitch" and accused her of trying to steal, to which they claimed Harlins replied that she intended to pay for the orange juice. After speaking with the two eyewitnesses present and viewing the videotape of the incident, recorded by a store security camera, the police concluded that Harlins intended to pay for the beverage with money in hand. The videotape showed that Du grabbed Harlins by her sweater and snatched her backpack. Harlins then struck Du with her fist twice, knocking Du to the ground. After Harlins backed away, Du angrily threw a stool at her. Harlins then picked up the orange juice bottle that dropped during the scuffle and handed it to Du, who snatched the bottle from her, and Harlins turned to leave. Du reached under the counter, retrieved a revolver, and fired at Harlins from behind at a distance of about . The gunshot struck Harlins in the back of the head, killing her instantly. Du's husband, Billy Heung Ki Du, heard the gunshot and rushed into the store. After speaking to his wife, who asked for the whereabouts of Harlins before fainting, he dialed 9-1-1 to report an attempted holdup.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Soon Ja Du testified on her own behalf, claiming that the shooting was in self-defense and that she believed her life was in danger. But her testimony was contradicted by the statements of the two witnesses present at the time, as well as the store's security camera video, which showed Du shooting Harlins in the back of the head as she turned away from Du and attempted to leave the store. The Los Angeles Police Department ballistics report also found that the handgun Du used was altered in such a way that it required much less pressure on the trigger to fire than an ordinary handgun.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: On November 15, 1991, a jury found that Du's decision to fire the gun was fully within her control and that she fired the gun voluntarily. The jury found Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter, an offense that carries a maximum prison sentence of 16 years. However, the trial judge, Joyce Karlin, sentenced Du to five years of probation, 10 years of suspended prison, 400 hours of community service, and a $500 fine.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Judge Karlin suggested that there were mitigating circumstances in the killing of Harlins. She stated, "Did Mrs. Du react inappropriately? Absolutely. But was that reaction understandable? I think that it was." Karlin added, "this is not a time for revenge... and no matter what sentence this court imposes Mrs. Du will be punished every day for the rest of her life." The court also stated that Du shot Harlins under extreme provocation and duress and deemed it unlikely that Du would ever commit a serious crime again. Furthermore, Karlin deemed that Du's capacity to act rationally in the situation was undermined by her experience with past robberies.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: A state appeals court later unanimously upheld Judge Karlin's sentencing decision, 3–0, on April 21, 1992, about a week before the LA riots. In July 1992, Latasha's brother and sister received a $300,000 settlement from a civil suit brought against Soon Ja Du, which was paid by the store's insurance policy.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: The incident and reduced sentencing by the court exacerbated the existing tensions between African-American residents and Korean-American merchants in south-central Los Angeles. Those tensions were later interpreted by some members of the public and activists as being one of the catalysts for the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The Los Angeles mayor's office estimated that 65 percent of all businesses vandalized during the riots were Korean-owned. On August 17, 1991, while Du was awaiting trial, a small fire occurred at her store.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: During the 1992 riots, Du's store was looted and burned down; it never reopened. The property later became a market under different ownership.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: After the widely publicized shooting of Latasha Harlins, relations between the black and Korean communities continued to deteriorate rapidly. Despite intervention from leaders of both communities, the time after the death of Latasha Harlins was characterized by boycotts, tense debate, bitterness, Molotov cocktails, and more convenience store murders. However, while tensions had exponentially increased because of the killing of Harlins, they were built on existing conflict that had been present in the community. Korean immigrant shop-owners had a growing presence in black communities since before the 1970s. Since then, they had been a target of anger from both black shop-owners and black customers, with incompatible claims from either group that say Korean shop-owners "undercut prices" by the shop-owners and that they overcharged customers.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: In 1984, seven years before Harlins was shot, an editorial was posted in a black community newspaper urging a boycott of Korean stores, saying that any black person who went to their stores was a 'traitor'. Korean immigrants bought their storefronts in black neighborhoods, specifically South Los Angeles, because the real estate was significantly cheaper than other neighborhoods. The distrust ran possibly even further, because in the same editorial the writer exclaims, "The real question is, why was my brother's brains blown out fighting for those Koreans?" in reference to the Korean War. Further, the stereotypes of the two groups were a source of contention, with black people often being labeled as economically "dependent", with Koreans and other Asians often labeled economically self-sufficient.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Tensions only continued to mount, particularly after police officers were found not guilty of beating Rodney King. These events were considered factors in deadly and destructive riots which began on April 29, 1992, and continued through May 4, 1992. Many of the targets of looting and destruction were Korean stores; more than two-thousand Korean stores burned or looted. Though these ethnic tensions have not resulted in wide-scale violence since 1992, the relationship between Koreans and the black community was still strained as of 1996. Recent years have seen improved relations between the two communities, as a younger generation of Korean American LA residents showed up in great numbers—in some cases even organizing protests—to support the Black Lives Matter movement during the summer of 2020.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: The killing of Latasha Harlins was one of many events in Los Angeles that may have led to the riots in 1992. In the eyes of many in the black community, it was tragic that Soon Ja Du did not receive any jail time for her crime. While the jury convicted Du of manslaughter, which normally carries a maximum of 16 years in prison, the judge, Joyce Karlin, commuted her sentence to probation and a $500 fine—this angered many in the black community, as well as other community members, who felt that the sentencing set a dangerous precedent. The sentencing of Soon Ja Du reflected that of the police officers who beat Rodney King. In both cases, there was video evidence depicting wrongdoing and in both cases, the defendants did not serve any jail time. After the verdict in King's case was delivered, massive riots ensued in Los Angeles, protesting the miscarriage of justice for black victims and racial inequality. While King's case was the immediate catalyst to the violence, cases like that of Harlins fueled anger and demonstrated injustices against black people, which ultimately led to the riots.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Karlin's rulings in the case prompted Los Angeles County District Attorney Ira Reiner to instruct his deputies to effectively bar Judge Karlin from trying cases by invoking a statute to remove a judge for any reason. In justifying his directive, he said "[t]his was such a stunning miscarriage of justice that Judge Karlin cannot continue to hear criminal cases with any public credibility."


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Karlin became the target of protests and an unsuccessful recall campaign. Denise Harlins, the maternal aunt of Latasha Harlins, led protests outside Karlin's home and the Compton courthouse. Protesters noted that a week after the death of Latasha Harlins, a Glendale man received a more severe sentence than Du for kicking a dog. After the "Los Angeles Times" endorsed one of her opponents in her re-election campaign, she wrote a letter to the newspaper, saying "[I]f judges have to look over their shoulders as they decide a case; if they have to test the political winds in order to arrive at a politically correct verdict—then the judicial system and the freedoms it guarantees will be destroyed." The Harlins family held vigils outside the Du residence every year on the anniversary of her sentencing.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Denise Harlins interrupted an awards ceremony at the Biltmore Hotel for Du defense attorney Charles Lloyd. Karlin and Du's son also attended that ceremony. "All you people sitting, applauding over a child killer," Harlins yelled. "Latasha was defenseless. She didn't do nothing!" After Denise Harlins was removed from the ballroom, Karlin gave a speech, stating "There are those in the community who demand that we define justice by what is politically correct. I think that we must unanimously reject such demands ... What's politically correct today may not be politically correct tomorrow or the next day. But what is justice today is justice always. ... I for one am sick and tired of less than five percent of this community trying to tell the rest of us what to do, what to think, and what to say." Karlin was re-elected to the Superior Court bench by a reduced margin from previous elections. She then moved to Juvenile Dependency Court, a transfer she had requested before the Du case. "I have been honored to spend the last 20 years serving the public but now I want to devote time to my family," Karlin wrote. Karlin resigned from the bench in 1997. Upon hearing of retirement, Denise Harlins stated, "I'm glad to hear that she's removed herself from the bench and that she's retired. But she didn't belong [on the bench] anyway." Since retiring from the bench Karlin has used her husband's surname Fahey.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Hip-hop artist 2Pac took particular note of the death of Harlins and in 1993 released a song titled "Keep Ya Head Up" which was dedicated to Latasha Harlins. Thereafter, Shakur made frequent mention of Harlins in his songs, including in tracks like "Something 2 Die 4 (Interlude)" ("Latasha Harlins, remember that name... 'Cause a bottle of juice is not something to die for"), "Thugz Mansion" ("Little Latasha, sho' grown/Tell the lady in the liquor store that she's forgiven/So come home"), "I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto" ("Tell me what's a black life worth/A bottle of juice is no excuse, the truth hurts/And even when you take the shit/Move counties get a lawyer, you can shake the shit/Ask Rodney, Latasha, and many more"), "" ("Rest in Peace to Latasha, Little Yummy, and Kato"), "Hellrazor" ("Dear Lord if ya hear me, tell me why/Little girl like Latasha, had to die") and "N.I.G.G.A" ("Korean motherfuckers was crooked/So niggas had to burn and loot 'em [...] Lickin' off shots for Latasha, that's proper").


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Rapper Ice Cube composed a song about the incident for his album "Death Certificate" titled "Black Korea".


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane composed "Empire Liquor Mart (9127 S. Figueroa St.)" for the album "The Ambassador" in 2014"," which tells the story of Latasha's life and the event that transpired.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: Steph Cha's novel "Your House Will Pay" centers on the aftermath of the murder of a 16-year-old African-American girl in south-central Los Angeles. It is a fictionalized account of the killing of Latasha Harlins and the effects on both her family and the family of the shooter.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: In her book "American Dream", Sapphire wrote the poem "Strange Juice (or the murder of Latasha Harlins)" giving voice to the murdered girl.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: The short documentary film "A Love Song for Latasha" (2019) gives some biographical background on the life of Latasha Harlins, drawing on memories from her cousin and her best friend. Directed by Sophia Nahli Allison, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021.


title: Killing of Latasha Harlins

text: In early 2021, a mural celebrating Latasha Harlins was unveiled in front of Algin Sutton Recreation Center. The mural was created by visual artist Victoria Cassinova.


The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.


title: Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

text: When the first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929, to honor films released in 1927/28, there was no separate category for foreign language films because most of the films released in 1927 and in 1928 were silent films. Between 1947 and 1955, the academy presented Special/Honorary Awards to the best foreign language films released in the United States. These awards, however, were not handed out on a regular basis (no award was given in 1953), and were not competitive since there were no nominees but simply one winning film per year. For the 1956 (29th) Academy Awards, a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since then.


text: Unlike other Academy Awards, the International Feature Film award is not presented to a specific individual (although it is accepted on-stage by its director), but is considered an award for the submitting country as a whole. Over the years, the Best International Feature Film Award and its predecessors have been given predominantly to European films: out of the seventy-two awards handed out by the academy since 1947 to foreign language films, fifty-seven have gone to European films, seven to Asian films, five to films from the Americas and three to African films. Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini directed four Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award–winning motion pictures during his lifetime, a record that remains unmatched (if Special Awards are taken into account, then Fellini's record is tied by his countryman Vittorio De Sica).


text: The most awarded foreign country is Italy, with 14 awards won (including three Special Awards) and 29 nominations, while France is the foreign country with the most nominations (37 for 12 wins, including three Special Awards). Israel is the foreign country with the most nominations (10) without winning an award, while Portugal has the most submissions (34) without a nomination. In 2020 (92nd), South Korea's entrant "Parasite" became the first International Feature Film winner, and first non-English film overall, to also win Best Picture.


text: When the first Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929, no foreign-language film was honored. During the early post-war era (1947–1955), eight foreign language films received Special or Honorary Awards. Academy leader and board member Jean Hersholt argued that "an international award, if properly and carefully administered, would promote a closer relationship between American film craftsmen and those of other countries". The first foreign language film honored with such an award was the Italian neorealist drama "Shoeshine", whose citation read: "the high quality of this motion picture, brought to eloquent life in a country scarred by war, is proof to the world that the creative spirit can triumph over adversity". In the following years, similar awards were given to seven other films: one from Italy ("The Bicycle Thief"), two from France ("Monsieur Vincent" and "Forbidden Games"), three from Japan ("Rashomon", "Gate of Hell" and ""), as well as a Franco-Italian co-production ("The Walls of Malapaga"). These awards, however, were handed out on a discretionary rather than a regular basis (no award was given at the 26th Academy Awards held in 1954), and were not competitive since there were no nominees but simply one winning film per year.


text: A separate category for non-English-language films was created in 1956. Known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, it has been awarded every year since then. The first recipient was the Italian neorealist drama "La Strada", which helped establish Federico Fellini as one of the most important European directors.


text: During the academy's board of governors meeting on April 23, 2019, it was decided that the category would be renamed Best International Feature Film beginning at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020. It was argued that use of the term "Foreign" was "outdated within the global filmmaking community", and that the new name "better represents this category, and promotes a positive and inclusive view of filmmaking, and the art of film as a universal experience". Animated and documentary films will also be permitted in this category. The existing eligibility criteria remain.


text: Unlike other Academy Awards, the International Feature Film Award does not require films to be released in the United States in order to be eligible for competition. Films competing in the category must have been first released in the country submitting them during the eligibility period defined by the rules of the academy, and must have been exhibited for at least seven consecutive days in a commercial movie theater. The eligibility period for the category differs from that required for most other categories: the awards year defined for the International Feature Film category usually begins and ends before the ordinary awards year, which corresponds to an exact calendar year. For the 80th Academy Awards, for instance, the release deadline was set on September 30, 2007, whereas the qualifying run for most other categories extended until December 31, 2007.


text: Although the award is commonly referred to simply as the Foreign Film Oscar in newspaper articles and on the Internet, such a designation is misleading, since a film's nationality matters much less than its language. Although a film has to be produced outside the United States in order to be nominated for the award, it also has to be in a language other than English. Foreign films with dubbed American actors can be nominated, for example "Battle of Neretva" (1969) starring Orson Welles and Yul Brynner. Foreign films where most of the dialogue is in English cannot qualify for the International Feature Film Award, and the academy has usually applied this requirement very seriously by disqualifying films containing too much English dialogue, the most recent case being that of the Nigerian film "Lionheart" (2019), despite English being the official language of Nigeria. Despite the basic importance of the foreign language requirement, the 1983 Algerian dance film "Le Bal" was nominated despite completely lacking dialogue.