title: Serpents in the Bible

text: There is a debate about whether the serpent in Eden should be viewed figuratively or as a literal animal. According to one midrashic interpretation in Rabbinic literature, the serpent represents sexual desire; another interpretation is that the snake is the yetzer hara. Modern Rabbinic ideas include interpreting the story as a psychological allegory where Adam represents reasoning faculties, Eve the emotional faculties, and the serpent the hedonic sexual/physical faculties. Voltaire, drawing on Socinian influences, wrote: "It was so decidedly a real serpent, that all its species, which had before walked on their feet, were condemned to crawl on their bellies. No serpent, no animal of any kind, is called Satan, or Belzebub, or Devil, in the Pentateuch."


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: 20th-century scholars such as W. O. E. Oesterley (1921) were cognizant of the differences between the role of the Edenic serpent in the Hebrew Bible and its connections with the "ancient serpent" in the New Testament. Modern historiographers of Satan such as Henry Ansgar Kelly (2006) and Wray and Mobley (2007) speak of the "evolution of Satan", or "development of Satan".


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: According to Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament scholar, Lutheran theologian and University of Heidelberg professor, who applied form criticism as a supplement to the documentary hypothesis of the Hebrew Bible, the snake in the Eden's narrative was more an expedient to represent the impulse to temptation of mankind (that is, disobeying God's law) rather than an evil spirit or the personification of the Devil, as the later Christian literature erroneously depicted it; moreover, von Rad himself states that the snake is neither a supernatural being nor a demon, but one of the wild animals created by God (), and the only thing that differentiates it from the others in Eden is the ability to speak:


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: When God had revealed himself to the prophet Moses in , Moses recognized that the call of God was for him to lead the people of Israel out of slavery, but anticipated that people would deny or doubt his calling. In , Moses asked God how to respond to such doubt, and God asked him to cast the rod which he carried (possibly a shepherd's crook) onto the ground, whereupon it became a serpent (a "nachash"). Moses fled from it, but God encouraged him to come back and take it by the tail, and it became a rod again.


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: Later in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 7), the staffs of Moses and Aaron were turned into serpents, a "nachash" for Moses, a "tanniyn" for Aaron.


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: "Fiery serpent" ( "sārāf"; "burning") occurs in the Torah to describe a species of vicious snakes whose venom burns upon contact. According to Wilhelm Gesenius, "saraph" corresponds to the Sanskrit "Sarpa" ("Jawl aqra"), serpent; "sarpin", reptile (from the root "srip, serpere"). These "burning serpents" infested the great and terrible place of the desert wilderness (Num.21:4-9; Deut.8:15). The Hebrew word for "poisonous" literally means "fiery", "flaming" or "burning", as the burning sensation of a snake bite on human skin, a metaphor for the fiery anger of God (Numbers 11:1).


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: The Book of Isaiah expounds on the description of these fiery serpents as "flying saraphs", or "flying dragons", in the land of trouble and anguish (Isaiah 30:6). Isaiah indicates that these saraphs are comparable to vipers, worse than ordinary serpents (Isaiah 14:29). The prophet Isaiah also sees a vision of "seraphim" in the Temple itself: but these are divine agents, with wings and human faces, and are probably not to be interpreted as serpent-like so much as "flame-like".


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: In the Book of Numbers, while Moses was in the wilderness, he mounted a serpent of bronze on a pole that functioned as a cure against the bite of the "seraphim", the "burning ones" (). The phrase in Numbers 21:9, "a serpent of bronze," is a wordplay as "serpent" ("nehash") and “bronze” ("nehoshet") are closely related in Hebrew, "nehash nehoshet".


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: Mainstream scholars suggest that the image of the fiery serpent served to function like that of a magical amulet. Magic amulets or charms were used in the ancient Near East to practice a healing ritual known as sympathetic magic in an attempt to ward off, heal or reduce the impact of illness and poisons. Copper and bronze serpent figures have been recovered, showing that the practice was widespread. A Christian interpretation would be that the bronze serpent served as a symbol for each individual Israelite to take their confession of sin and the need for God's deliverance to heart. Confession of sin and forgiveness was both a community and an individual responsibility. The plague of serpents remained an ongoing threat to the community and the raised bronze serpent was an ongoing reminder to each individual for the need to turn to the healing power of God. It has also been proposed that the bronze serpent was a type of intermediary between God and the people that served as a test of obedience, in the form of free judgment, standing between the dead who were not willing to look to God's chosen instrument of healing, and the living who were willing and were healed. Thus, this instrument bore witness to the sovereign power of Yahweh even over the dangerous and sinister character of the desert.


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: In , a bronze serpent, alleged to be the one Moses made, was kept in Jerusalem's Temple sanctuary. The Israelites began to worship the object as an idol or "image of God", by offering sacrifices and burning incense to it, until Hezekiah was made King. Hezekiah referred to it as "Nehushtan" and had torn it down. Scholars have debated the nature of the relationship between the Mosaic bronze serpent and Hezekiah's Nehushtan, but traditions happen to link the two.


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: In the Gospel of Matthew, John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Saducees, who were visiting him, a "brood of vipers" (). Jesus also uses this imagery, observing: "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" (). Alternatively, Jesus also presents the snake with a less negative connotation when sending out the Twelve Apostles. Jesus exhorted them, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as "serpents", and harmless as doves" (). Wilhelm Gesenius notes that even amongst the ancient Hebrews, the serpent was a symbol of wisdom.


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: In the Gospel of John, Jesus made mention of the Mosaic serpent when he foretold his crucifixion to a Jewish teacher. Jesus compared the act of raising up the Mosaic serpent on a pole, with the raising up of the Son of Man on a cross ().


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: In the temptation of Christ, the Devil cites , "for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." He cuts off before verse 13, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon ("tanniyn") shalt thou trample under feet."


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: The serpent in Psalm 91:13 is identified as Satan by Christians: ""super aspidem et basiliscum calcabis conculcabis leonem et draconem"" in the Latin Vulgate, literally "The asp and the basilisk you will trample under foot; you will tread on the lion and the dragon". This passage is commonly interpreted by Christians as a reference to Christ defeating and triumphing over Satan. The passage led to the Late Antique and Early Medieval iconography of Christ treading on the beasts, in which two beasts are often shown, usually the lion and snake or dragon, and sometimes four, which are normally the lion, dragon, asp (snake) and basilisk (which was depicted with varying characteristics) of the Vulgate. All represented the devil, as explained by Cassiodorus and Bede in their commentaries on Psalm 91. The serpent is often shown curled round the foot of the cross in depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus from Carolingian art until about the 13th century; often it is shown as dead. The crucifixion was regarded as the fulfillment of God's curse on the serpent in . Sometimes it is pierced by the cross and in one ivory is biting Christ's heel, as in the curse.


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: Serpent (Greek: ; Trans: "Ophis", ; "snake", "serpent") occurs in the Book of Revelation as the "ancient serpent" or "old serpent" used to describe "the dragon", Satan the Adversary, who is the devil. This serpent is depicted as a red seven-headed dragon having ten horns, each housed with a diadem. The serpent battles Michael the Archangel in a War in Heaven which results in this devil being cast out to the earth. While on earth, he pursues the Woman of the Apocalypse. Unable to obtain her, he wages war with the rest of her seed (Revelation 12:1-18). He who has the key to "the abyss" and a great chain over his hand, binds the serpent for a thousand years. The serpent is then cast into the "abyss" and sealed within until he is released (Revelation 20:1-3).


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: In Christian tradition, the "ancient serpent" is commonly identified with the Genesis serpent and as Satan. This identification redefined the Hebrew Bible's concept of Satan ("the Adversary", a member of the Heavenly Court acting on behalf of God to test Job's faith), so that Satan/Serpent became a part of a divine plan stretching from Creation to Christ and the Second Coming.


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: The first deuterocanonical source to connect the serpent with the devil may be Wisdom of Solomon. The subject is more developed in the pseudepigraphal-apocryphal Apocalypse of Moses (Vita Adae et Evae) where the devil works with the serpent.


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: In Christianity, a connection between the Serpent and Satan is created, and where God curses the serpent, is seen in that light: "And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life / And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (KJV).


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: Following the imagery of chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation, Bernard of Clairvaux had called Mary the "conqueror of dragons", and she was long to be shown crushing a snake underfoot, also a reference to her title as the "New Eve".


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: Gnosticism originated in the late 1st century CE in non-rabbinical Jewish and early Christian sects. In the formation of Christianity, various sectarian groups, labeled "gnostics" by their opponents, emphasised spiritual knowledge ("gnosis") of the divine spark within, over faith ("pistis") in the teachings and traditions of the various communities of Christians. Gnosticism presents a distinction between the highest, unknowable God, and the Demiurge, "creator" of the material universe. The Gnostics considered the most essential part of the process of salvation to be this personal knowledge, in contrast to faith as an outlook in their worldview along with faith in the ecclesiastical authority.


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: In Gnosticism, the biblical serpent in the Garden of Eden was praised and thanked for bringing knowledge ("gnosis") to Adam and Eve and thereby freeing them from the malevolent Demiurge's control. Gnostic Christian doctrines rely on a dualistic cosmology that implies the eternal conflict between good and evil, and a conception of the serpent as the liberating savior and bestower of knowledge to humankind opposed to the Demiurge or creator god, identified with the Hebrew God of the Old Testament. Gnostic Christians considered the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as the evil, false god and creator of the material universe, and the Unknown God of the Gospel, the father of Jesus Christ and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God. In the Archontic, Sethian, and Ophite systems, Yaldabaoth (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he created.


title: Serpents in the Bible

text: However, not all Gnostic movements regarded the creator of the material universe as inherently evil or malevolent. For instance, Valentinians believed that the Demiurge is merely an ignorant and incompetent creator, trying to fashion the world as good as he can, but lacking the proper power to maintain its goodness. All Gnostics were regarded as heretics by the proto-orthodox Early Church Fathers.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: The WorldCom scandal was a major accounting scandal that came into light in the summer of 2002 at WorldCom, the USA's second-largest long-distance telephone company at the time. From 1999 to 2002, senior executives at WorldCom led by founder and CEO Bernard Ebbers orchestrated a scheme to inflate earnings in order to maintain WorldCom's stock price.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: The fraud was uncovered in June 2002 when the company's internal audit unit, led by unit vice president Cynthia Cooper, discovered over $3.8 billion of fraudulent balance sheet entries. Eventually, WorldCom was forced to admit that it had overstated its assets by over $11 billion. At the time, it was the largest accounting fraud in American history.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: In December 2000, WorldCom financial analyst Kim Emigh was told to allocate labor for capital projects in WorldCom's network systems division as an expense rather than book it as a capital project. By Emigh's estimate, the order would have affected at least $35 million in capital spending. Believing that he was being asked to commit tax fraud, Emigh pressed his concerns up the chain of command, notifying an assistant to WorldCom chief operating officer Ron Beaumont. Within 24 hours, it was decided not to implement the directive. However, Emigh was reprimanded by his immediate superiors and subsequently laid off in March 2001.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: Emigh, who was from the MCI half of the 1997 WorldCom/MCI merger, later told "Fort Worth Weekly" in May 2002 that he had expressed concerns about MCI's spending habits for years. He believed that things had been reined in somewhat after WorldCom took over, but he was still unnerved by vendors billing WorldCom for exorbitant amounts. The "Fort Worth Weekly" article was eventually read by Glyn Smith, an internal audit manager at WorldCom headquarters in Clinton, Mississippi. After examining it, he suggested to his boss, Cynthia Cooper, that she should start that year's scheduled capital expenditure audit a few months early. Cooper agreed, and the audit began in late May.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: During a meeting with the auditors, corporate finance director Sanjeev Sethi explained that differing amounts in two capital spending expenditures were related to "prepaid capacity," something Cooper had never heard of. When pressed for an explanation, Sethi claimed that he did not know what the term meant, despite his division approving capital spending requests. He referred the auditors to corporate controller David Myers. Cooper asked Glyn Smith for an auditor with technical skills in order to locate the entries in the accounting system. Smith returned with Eugene Morse, who had helped with some reports on the wireless allowance audit. Morse subsequently joined Cooper and other auditors in trying to figure out what prepaid capacity was.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: Since Sethi did not provide enough information, Cooper went to the head of property at WorldCom, Mark Abide. Abide claimed that he was not familiar with prepaid capacity, even though he made multiple entries on it in the computerized accounting system. With no new information, she asked Abide to provide accounts he had booked the relevant entries to. He named the accounts of furniture, fixtures, and other, transmission equipment, and communications equipment.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: With starting points in hand, Cooper told her "techie" Morse to peruse the accounting system and look for any references to prepaid capacity. He eventually was able to locate one and took this information to Cooper. Since this only represented one side of the entry, she asked him to trace it through the system. Morse took all he could find to Cooper. Unable to effectively put the entries in any sensible order, Cooper and her team tried to decipher them using basic T accounts. However, the amounts were bouncing between accounts in an unusual manner, resulting in a large round amount moving from WorldCom's income statement to its balance sheet. Not totally satisfied with the results, Cooper asked Morse to try and find another prepaid capacity entry that moved around in similar fashion.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: While continuing to search for more entries, Cooper began to get emails from David Myers questioning why she was looking into capital expenditures. He told her that she was wasting her time and tying up employees, like Sethi, d for other projects. Despite this pushback, she told him that the employees he needed could report back to him when they finished her other projects. The next day, Cooper received another email from Myers, more direct and formal than the first one. It claimed the capital expenditure audit was a waste of time. This intrigued Cooper, so she decided not to reply and continue with her investigation. Meanwhile, Morse had begun the search for other entries, but pulled so much data that he frequently clogged up the accounting servers. Fearing that Sullivan or Myers would eventually be alerted to the increased server activity, Cooper decided that she and her team would begin working at night to avoid detection. Finally, on June 10, they found more entries about "prepaid capacity"; large amounts that had been transferred from the income statement to the balance sheet from the third quarter of 2001 to the first quarter of 2002.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: Soon afterward, chief financial officer Scott Sullivan, Cooper's immediate supervisor, called Cooper in for a meeting about audit projects, and asked the internal audit team to walk him through recently completed audits. When Smith's turn came, Cooper asked about the prepaid capacity entries. Sullivan claimed that it referred to costs related to SONET rings and lines that were either not being used at all or were seeing low usage. He claimed those costs were being capitalized because the costs associated with line leases were fixed even as revenue dropped. He planned to take a restructuring charge in the second quarter of 2002, after which WorldCom would allocate these costs between restructuring charges and expenses. He asked Cooper to postpone the capital-expenditure audit until the third quarter, heightening Cooper's suspicions.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: That night, Cooper and Smith called Max Bobbitt, a WorldCom board member and the chairman of the Audit Committee, to discuss their concerns. Bobbitt was concerned enough to tell Cooper to discuss the matter with Farrell Malone of KPMG, WorldCom's external auditor. KPMG had inherited the WorldCom account when it bought Arthur Andersen's Jackson practice in the wake of Andersen's indictment for its role in the accounting scandal at Enron. By this time, the internal audit team had found 28 prepaid capacity entries dating back to the second quarter of 2001. By their calculations, if not for those entries, WorldCom's $130 million profit in the first quarter of 2002 would have become a $395 million loss. Despite this, Bobbitt thought it was premature to discuss the matter with the Audit Committee at that point. He did, however, discuss the matter with Sullivan, and assured Cooper that he would have support for those entries by the following Monday.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: Cooper decided not to wait to discuss the matter with Sullivan. She decided to ask the accountants who made those entries to provide support for them herself. She first asked Kenny Avery, who had been Andersen's lead partner on the WorldCom account before KPMG took over, if he knew about prepaid capacity. Avery had never heard of the term, and knew of nothing in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles that allowed for capitalizing line costs. Andersen, it turned out, had never tested WorldCom's capital expenditures for it.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: Cooper and Smith then questioned Betty Vinson, the accounting director who made the entries. To their surprise, Vinson admitted she had made the entries without knowing what they were for or seeing support for them. She had done so at the direction of Myers and general accounting director Buford Yates. When Cooper and Smith spoke with Yates, he admitted that he did not know what prepaid capacity was. Yates also claimed that accountants reporting to him booked entries at Myers' direction.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: Finally, the internal auditors spoke with Myers. He admitted that there was no support for the entries. In fact, they had been booked "based on what we thought the margins should be," and there were no accounting standards that supported them. He admitted that the entries should have never been made, but it was difficult to stop once they started. Although he was uncomfortable with the entries, he never thought that he would have to explain them to regulators. The following day, Farrell met with Sullivan and Myers and concluded that their rationale for the entries made sense "from a business perspective, but not an accounting perspective." In response, Sullivan, Myers, Yates, and Abide scrambled to find amounts that were expensed when they should have been capitalized in hopes of offsetting the prepaid capacity entries. They believed that the only other alternative was an earnings restatement.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: Bobbitt finally called an Audit Committee meeting for June 20. By this time, Cooper's team had discovered over $3 billion in questionable transfers from line cost expense accounts to assets from 2001 to 2002. At the meeting, Farrell stated that there was nothing in GAAP that would allow those entries. Sullivan claimed that WorldCom had invested in expanding the telecom network from 1999 onward, but the anticipated expansion in customer usage never occurred. He argued that the entries were justified on the basis of the matching principle, which allowed costs to be booked as expenses so they align with any future benefit accrued from an asset. He also contended that since capital assets were worth less than what the books said they should be, he reiterated his proposal for a restructuring charge, or an "impairment charge," as he called it, for the second quarter of 2002. He claimed that Myers could provide support for the entries. The committee gave him until the following Monday to get support.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: Over the weekend, Cooper and her team discovered several more suspicious "prepaid capacity" entries. All told, the internal audit unit had discovered a total of 49 prepaid capacity entries detailing $3.8 billion in transfers spread out across all of 2001 and the first quarter of 2002. Several of them were keyed in on explicit directions from Sullivan and Myers under the line "SS entry." While some of the suspicious entries were made by directors and managers, others were made by lower-level accountants who didn't understand the seriousness of what they were doing. While meeting with another accounting director, Troy Normand, they learned about more potentially illicit accounting. According to Normand, management had drawn down the company's cost reserves in portions of 2000 and 2001 to artificially reduce expenses.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: At the same time, the Audit Committee asked KPMG to conduct its own review. KPMG discovered that Sullivan had moved system costs across a number of property accounts, allowing them to be booked as capital expenditures. The expenses were spread out so they weren't initially obvious. When KPMG asked Andersen's former WorldCom engagement team about the entries, the Andersen accountants said they would have never approved of the entries had they known about them. Sullivan was asked to present a written explanation for his actions by Monday.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: At an Audit Committee meeting that Monday, Sullivan presented a white paper explaining his reasoning. The Audit Committee and KPMG were not persuaded. They concluded that the amounts were transferred with the sole purpose of meeting Wall Street targets, and the only acceptable remedy was to restate corporate earnings for all of 2001 and the first quarter of 2002. Andersen withdrew its audit opinion for 2001, and the board demanded Sullivan and Myers' resignations.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: On June 25, after the amount of the illicit entries was confirmed, the board accepted Myers' resignation and fired Sullivan when he refused to resign. On the same day, WorldCom executives briefed the SEC, revealing that it would have to restate its earnings for the previous five quarters. Later that day, WorldCom publicly admitted that it had overstated its income by over $3.8 billion over the previous five quarters. The disclosure came at a particularly bad time for WorldCom. Even before the scandal broke, its credit had been reduced to junk status, and its stock had lost over 94 percent of its value. It had been facing a separate SEC investigation into its accounting that had started earlier in the year, and was laboring under $30 billion in debt. Amid rumors of bankruptcy, WorldCom said it would lay off 17,000 employees.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: The federal government had already begun an informal inquiry earlier in June, when Vinson, Yates, and Normand secretly met with SEC and Justice Department officials. The SEC filed civil fraud charges against WorldCom on June 26, speculating that WorldCom had engaged in a concerted effort to manipulate its earnings in order to meet Wall Street targets and support its stock price. Additionally, it claimed that the scheme had been "directed and approved by senior management", hinting that executives in higher positions than Sullivan and Myers had known about the scheme.


title: WorldCom scandal

text: In 2005, a jury found Ebbers guilty of fraud, conspiracy, and filing false documents with regulators. He was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison. However he was released in December 2019 due to declining health. Ebbers died February 2, 2020.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The is a subcompact car produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota from 1999 to 2019 in a three- or five-door hatchback body styles. The "Vitz" nameplate was used consistently in Japan, while most international markets received the same vehicle as the Toyota Yaris, or as the Toyota Echo in some markets for the first generation. The Vitz was available in Japan from Toyota's "Netz Store" dealerships. Toyota began production in Japan and later assembled the vehicle in other Asian countries and in France.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: By 2010, the first two generations had achieved in excess of 3.5 million sales in over 70 countries, including more than 1.4 million in Japan.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In 2019, the "Vitz" nameplate was dropped in Japan due to faltering sales and the unification of Toyota sales network in Japan, and the vehicle was replaced by the XP210 series Yaris.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The first generation XP10 series Vitz was designed by Sotiris Kovos at Toyota's ED2 studio in Europe. It was first unveiled at the 1998 Paris Motor Show. Production began in late 1998, with a Japanese on-sale date of January 1999; European sales commenced two months later as the "Toyota Yaris". When introduced to Australasia in October 1999, the "Toyota Echo" name was used,<ref name = "Toyota Echo (NCP10R /NCP12R Echo)"></ref> as was the case in Canada when released there in 2003 for the 2004 model year. The "Echo" and "Yaris" names were also given to the export version of the related Japanese market Toyota Platz sedan, also available as a coupé in North America. Often sold alongside the hatchback and marketed as a single line of vehicles, exterior panels common between the Vitz and Platz were restricted to the front doors. However, as Vitz and Platz were designed using the same platform, the mechanicals are largely identical and both share a common dashboard module. There was also a "Yaris Verso" or "Echo Verso" variant sold in some export markets from late 1999, based on the Japanese "Toyota Fun Cargo". The Verso MPV utilizes the same running gear as the Vitz, but features a more spacious interior.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: What became the XP10 series was shown earlier in concept form at the 1997 Frankfurt Motor Show. This concept, titled "Funtime" was developed under the leadership of Shuhei Toyoda, who also commissioned two additional models based on the same platform: the "Funcoupe" and the "Funcargo", the predecessor to the forthcoming production model Fun Cargo. Styled in Brussels by Toyota's "European Office of Creation" (EPOC), the "Fun project" as it was known, was envisaged to underline the versatility of shared platform engineering. These concept vehicles morphed into the "New Basic Car" (NBC) program, with each separate NBC model designated a number, "NBC1" in the case of the Vitz three-door. The name "Vitz" is the phonetic Anglicized spelling of the German word "Witz" which means "wit" (however, its principal meaning in contemporary German is "joke"). Toyota claims the contrived name "Yaris" is "intended to convey a European impression", while "Echo" "is intended to Echo nothing."


title: Toyota Vitz

text: Instead of conventional analogue instruments, the Vitz utilized digital instruments which were mounted in a "pod" in the center of the dashboard. When sales commenced in the Canadian market this was not the case, with Toyota opting to fit a conventional speedometer, still mounted in the center of the dashboard.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In 2003, the facelifted 'Phase 2' Vitz was released with different bumpers and 'teardrop' front lights.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: Euro NCAP crash tested the dual-airbag equipped XP10 series in 2000, rating the car 29 out of 37 for adult occupant protection, or four out of five stars. The pedestrian rating (pre-2002) is 13 points or two of out of four stars. In July 2004, ANCAP tested the XP10 with only a driver's airbag fitted, resulting in a 23.64 out of 37 grading, or three out of five stars. The 2010 edition of Monash University's "Used Car Safety Ratings" (UCSR), found that the XP10 provides a "poor" (two out of five stars) level of occupant safety protection in the event of an accident.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Japanese launch of the Vitz occurred on 13 January 1999, and along with the related Platz, was retailed through the Netz Stores.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Vitz "RS" was introduced in October 2000. The "RS" featured revised front and rear bumpers, a mesh grille, black-tinted headlamps, front fog lamps, side skirts and alloy wheels. Interior upgrades include, sports-oriented front seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a leather and chrome gear shifter, and metallic door sill scuff plates. Two engines were available in the "RS", the 1.3-litre 2NZ-FE and the 1.5-litre 1NZ-FE. More powerful brakes and a firmer suspension calibration were also fitted to the "RS".


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Phase 2 Vitz RS was also available in a turbocharged version modified by Toyota Racing Development (TRD) mainly for the domestic Japanese market, and outfitted with an IHI Rhf4 turbocharger with boost. Produced in limited numbers, the TRD-tuned "RS" sported the 1.5-litre engine, and produced and offered a time of 7.9 seconds.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Yaris was also sold in China as the Xiali Vizi from December 2002 to 2012, equipped with a 1.0 and 1.3-litre engine.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The XP10 series was introduced to Australia on 8 October 1999 as the "Echo", replacing the Starlet. Both the three- and five-door hatchback variants were available, which sold alongside the four-door Toyota Platz-derived Echo sedan. Sourced from Japan, Australian-market Echo hatchbacks received the 1.3-litre 2NZ-FE engine with a standard five-speed manual transmission and optional four-speed automatic. The base model was fitted with a driver's airbag and cassette player, although the optional safety pack added a passenger airbag and anti-lock brakes (ABS). Power steering was made standard equipment in October 2002. The Echo "Sportivo" was introduced in March 2001, fitted with the 1.5-litre 1NZ-FE engine with manual transmission only. Compared to the models equivalent to the Echo "Sportivo" in other markets (the Vitz "RS" in Japan, and Yaris "T-Sport" in Europe), the Australian variant is distinguishable with its locally developed T-CAM (Toyota Conversions, Accessories and Motorsport) body kit and downgraded 14-inch alloy wheels.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: Sales of the facelifted hatchback range commenced in March 2003. At the same time, the price dropped and standard equipment was increased, with air conditioning, a CD player, and remote keyless entry included, although the safety pack was deleted as an option all together. Consequently, ANCAP tested the Echo in July 2004 and demoted it from a four- to a three-star safety rating. ANCAP had previously based its four-star rating on the test conducted by Euro NCAP, which was performed with the passenger airbag fitted. Following the reassessment, Toyota reintroduced the safety pack from 1 December 2004 for the 2005 model year. In June 2005, Toyota Australia launched the Echo "Rush" three- and five-doors. Additional equipment fitted over the base model included 14-inch alloy wheels, front power windows, and front fog lamps.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Vitz, marketed as the "Yaris" in Europe, was initially available with gasoline-powered inline-four engines in displacements of 1.0 and 1.3-litres, both featuring Toyota's VVT-i technology. The use of sophisticated engine management systems was said to give the equivalent of 1.4-litre performance from the 1.0-litre engine, while maintaining low fuel consumption and emissions. In 2001, the range was expanded via the addition of the hot hatch "T Sport" (equivalent to the Vitz "RS" in Japan), fitted with the 1.5-litre engine. After March 2002, a 1.4-litre D4-D diesel engine offering was also included in the lineup.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In most European markets, the Yaris was a stronger seller than the Starlet that it replaced. The XP10 was voted European Car of the Year in 2000, and also the 2000 Semperit Irish Car of the Year.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: From 31 January 2001, the Yaris was produced in the Toyota Motor Manufacturing France (TMMF), in Onnaing.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Vitz hatchback was not sold in North America until 2003, when it launched only in Canada under the "Echo" name for the 2004 model year. Prior to this, only the Platz-based Echo sedan and coupé were available in Canada. The hatchback (three and five doors) was introduced in Canada only due to the higher sales achieved by the sedan and coupé compared to the United States, where they have failed due to low demand. Minor changes were made to meet Canadian safety requirements such as larger bumpers. The Echo hatchback was offered in four different trims in Canada, the LE being the standard version available in three or five door variants. The CE was an economy version only available with three doors and did not feature power steering, a rear wiper or a four-way speaker system, while the RS was only available with five doors and featured an aero package, aluminium alloy wheels, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob along with sport seats.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: Although an RS version was offered, it consisted of cosmetic changes only. All Canadian-bound Echo hatches were sold with the 1.5-litre 1NZ-FE engine and rated at .


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Yaris Cabrio concept car was presented at the March 2000 Geneva Motor Show. The Yaris Cabrio featured a fabric roof. It never reached the production stage. Another similar concept based on the XP150 series Yaris was showcased at the 23rd Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show in August 2015, being called Yaris Legian.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: Toyota redesigned the Vitz in early 2005, going on sale in Japan that February. While the previous generation Vitz hatchback and Platz sedan look and feel virtually alike, the redesigned XP90 Vitz and Belta are more subtly related in terms of appearance. The two cars share underpinnings, notably the frame and the drivetrain components, however the sheet metal and interior is different. While the Vitz was designed at Toyota's European ED design studios, the Belta was designed at their Japanese design studios.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The European, Australian, Canadian, Mexican, Venezuelan and Puerto Rican markets received the second-generation Vitz near the end of 2005. In the Australia and North America, the car was sold under the Yaris nameplate for the first time; the Belta is also sold there but with the nameplate Yaris sedan. The production Yaris for the US market was unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 2006. The XP90 series Yaris was built in Japan, France, Thailand, China and Taiwan.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The previous 4-cylinder 1.0 VVT-i engine was replaced by the 3-cylinder engine also found in the Toyota Aygo. The 1.3-litre engine was revised to offer slightly more power, and the 1.4 D-4D got a boost to , the former engine allowing it to achieve exceptional fuel economy. For the European market in early 2009 the Yaris added a 1.33-litre engine with Stop & Start technology. The Yaris became the first car in its class to offer nine airbags.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: It also received a minor facelift in 2009 with slight subtle revisions to its bumper with in-built cornering protectors, air dams and an orange tinted signal on its tail lamps.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: From 2011 to 2013, Daihatsu sold the five-door XP90 Yaris in Europe as the Daihatsu Charade. Imported from Thailand, powertrains comprised a 1.3-litre engine and six-speed manual or optional automatic. The Charade was sold alongside the XP130 series Yaris.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The XP90 series Yaris continued to be built in China and Thailand until it was replaced by the XP150 model in November 2013.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Vitz RS was launched in 2005. It is powered 1.5 L 4-cylinder VVT-i engine rated 107 bhp (80 kW) and . The RS features 16-inch alloy wheels, an RS badged mesh grille, a redesigned front and rear bumper, redesigned tail lamps, deep side skirts and a tail spoiler. It also features sports tuned steering and suspension as well as disc rear brakes.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Vitz RS was sold in North American market equipped with the base 1.5-litre engine, and in European markets as the Yaris TS. It was first seen at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show. As with the previous T-Sport, there are extra rear reflectors on the bumper. Essentially, it is a Japanese market Vitz RS fitted with a 1.8-litre "2ZR-FE" engine rated and , which can reach in under 10 seconds.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: For model year 2007 on Japanese models only, G-BOOK, a subscription telematics service, was offered as an option.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In January 2009, Toyota recalled 1.28 million vehicles worldwide based on the Yaris platform, such as the Vitz, Belta and the Ractis. The recall is based on a seat belt defect that, in severe front-end collisions, could cause a foam pad in the vehicle to ignite.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In Japan, the second generation model is sold as the "Vitz". It is available in B, F, I and RS model grades. Engine available ranges from 1 to 1.5-litres starting with the basic B variant to the sporty RS variant featuring a sports package and minor cosmetic bits on its interior and minor tweaks to its suspension. The models which have automatic transmission adopt a 4WD layout while the manual version use a standard front 2WD layout.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In September 2008, Toyota Modellista International launched three special editions of the Vitz RS with a number of cosmetic and TRD performance parts for the Japanese market. These models were known as "Vitz TRD Racing", "Vitz TRD Sport M" and turbocharged "Vitz TRD Turbo M". Available for sale through "Toyota Netz Store" dealerships, same as the regular Vitz.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In Australia, the Yaris is available in hatchback and sedan forms. It comes in a 1.5-litre powered petrol engine. Models sold are the basic YR, the mid-range YRS, and the sportier YRX which features a sporty bumper with bodykit. Across the model lineup, a seven airbag package is available as part of the Enhanced Safety Pack option.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The second generation US Yaris is the successor to the previous North American Toyota Echo. In the US, the 3-door Vitz shares the Yaris name with the Toyota Belta sedan. The 3-door model is called the 'Yaris Liftback', while the 5-door model would be sold starting with the 2009 model year and competes with the similarly equipped Scion xD. The 2008 model year US Yaris comes standard with the 1.5-litre VVT-i engine producing and and five-speed manual transmission C54, the four-speed automatic U340E being optional. Fuel economy is rated at in the city and on the highway with the manual transmission. While front airbags are standard, as mandated by the law, ABS and side airbags are available only as an option. In some southern states, a special Yaris Onyx was released in January 2009 that added 17-inch wheels and a number of cosmetic items.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Canadian Yaris hatchback was available in 3 and 5-door models and is similar to the US variant, running on the Toyota NZ engine, a 1.5 L 4-cylinder VVT-i engine rated and . The 2006 Yaris with the 1.5-litre engine can achieve fuel economy ratings of during highway driving and during city driving. 3-door CE and 5-door LE versions come with 14-inch wheels, while RS models are equipped with 15-inch alloys with standard anti-lock braking system (ABS) and electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD). In addition, 2008 RS models include new front and rear skirts. The CE, LE, and RS packages were replaced by the more modular convenience, power, and all-weather guard packages.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: For the 2009 year, the Yaris 5-door liftbacks join the lineup of the existing 4-door sedans and 3-door liftbacks because of the increased demand for fuel efficient subcompact cars. In addition to the new 5-door liftback, all 2009 Yaris models come standard with anti-lock brakes (ABS), front seat-mounted side airbags and front and rear curtain side airbags. For 2009, Toyota also added cruise control as an option on liftback models, and has added a few more colour choices.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Yaris has been praised by the automotive press for its extremely high fuel economy, but criticized for its excessive body roll (due to a soft suspension and high ride height) and the initial lack of a manual transmission on 5-door models.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The 2010 model has a 5-speed manual option for the 5-door. It also has the Star Safety System – Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) + Traction Control (TRAC), Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD) and Brake Assist.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The third generation Vitz was introduced in December 2010 featuring a sportier stance, a redesigned front and a roomier interior. The new model uses a single windshield wiper instead of a pair of wipers and has its meter cluster positioned back in front of the driver and behind the wheel compared to its previous models. In European countries, the Yaris was also offered in 6-speed manual transmission for the 1.33L engine, or a CVT transmission often marketed as "7-speed MultiDrive" or "MultiDrive S". The 7-speed refers to the possibility to select a predefined gear ratio among 7 available, emulating a 7-speed sequential gearbox, with steering wheel levers.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: On 10 October 2012, Toyota recalled 7.4 million vehicles worldwide, including certain Vitz, Yaris and Corolla models, due to malfunctioning power windows. They include: 2.47 million in the United States, 1.4 million in China and 1.39 million in Europe.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The third generation Vitz was launched on 22 December 2010 in Yokohama, Japan. Aerodynamic drag has been reduced with a coefficient drag value of 0.285.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: This generation introduces a new 1.3-litre 4-cylinder engine which is as economical as the 1.0-litre engine, according to Toyota Japan. New features include a single windscreen wiper and an engine start-stop system with a claimed for the Japanese streets. The Vitz came with "Toyota Safety Sense C" package including features Lane Departure Alert, Automatic High Beam and Pre-crash safety system. Pre-crash safety system alarm will work when vehicle is between 15km/h to 140km/h, whereas automatic brakes will apply when vehicle is between 10km/h to 80km/h. The XP130 model comes with up to nine airbags: driver and front passenger airbags, front-seat mounted side airbags, a knee airbag for the driver, first and second row side-curtain airbags and two front seat cushion airbags.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Vitz was offered in F, U, Jewela and RS model grades. The engines available range from 1.0- to 1.5-litres. The 1.5-litre RS model has a CVT transmission for the automatic, sporty front fascia and taillamps. Just like the previous generation, 2WD and 4WD drivetrains are available in Japan. The different engine size choices give Japanese drivers an option as to which annual road tax obligation they wish to pay, and larger engines are installed in vehicles with higher levels of optional equipment. On 6 September 2011, new RS G's sport trim based from the regular RS was launched. This model has new aero bodykit, tuned suspensions, lightweight 17-inch aluminium wheels and high performance tires. The Vitz received its facelift on 21 April 2014. The F, U and Jewela models received the updated front fascia that was only marketed in Japan, while the RS model shares the front fascia with the facelifted Yaris in export markets, but with different headlamps and tail lamps (also marketed as the Yaris ZR in Australia). The RS model was discontinued and replaced by the Sporty package variant of the U model with the second facelift in January 2017. The GR Sport and GR variant of the Vitz was introduced on 19 September 2017, as part of the Gazoo Racing series lineup, replacing both RS and RS G's trims.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In Japan, a sharp drop in sales from a height of 160,000 a year to 87,000 prompted Toyota to rebrand the Vitz as Yaris in order to expand its middle-aged customer base.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The third generation Yaris/Vitz entered production in Toyota Motor Manufacturing France plant in June 2011 and was launched in September of the same year. The Yaris Hybrid assembly started in April 2012.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: Toyota Motor Manufacturing France started to build the Yaris for export to the US, Canadian and Puerto Rican markets from May 2013 until 2019.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: A facelift version was introduced in 2014. Both the original and facelift share the drivetrain and transmission choices, however, the facelift claims to have improved ride comfort and interior quality among other features.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In 2013, a different XP150 series Yaris which is based on the XP150 series Vios sedan was launched in some Asian markets, including many Southeast Asian regions. This version is not related to the XP130 series Vitz-based Yaris, other than sharing the same B platform.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In Singapore, the local dealer launched the XP130 series Yaris in 1.33-litre variant in the first quarter of 2013 to mid-2014. It was the only Asian country outside Japan and Hong Kong to source the Vitz-based Yaris.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The XP130 series Yaris for the Australian market was revealed at the July 2011 Australian International Motor Show held in Melbourne. The new Yaris has a sportier, more rounded grille and redesigned front bumper. The Australian Yaris comes in either a 1.3-litre or 1.5-litre powered petrol engine. Models sold are the basic YR, the mid-range YRS, YRX and the sportier ZR which features a sporty bumper with body kit. The basic YR model features 7 SRS airbags and Multi-Information Display as standard. Since the facelift in 2014, the range is 5-door only and has had a name change. They are now: Ascent for the base model, SX for the mid-range and ZR is the top level. In January 2017, there was another facelift and tech change, this bought a slightly different headlight/bumper/grill combination and Toyota Safety sense (auto high beam, lane departure alert and autonomous braking) became an option on Ascent and SX and standard on ZR.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: For the North American market, the XP130 series Yaris was released in the fourth quarter of 2011, for the 2012 model year, under the Yaris Liftback name. Offered in both three- and five-door hatchback styles, the Yaris Liftback offered only the previous generation's 1.5-litre engine with a five-speed manual or optional four-speed automatic transmission. The 2012 model year three- and five-door hatchbacks were available in the base L (CE in Canada), mid-range LE and sport-tuned SE trim levels. The SE was available only as a five-door and came with larger 16-inch alloy wheels, sport-tuned suspension and disk brakes on all four wheels. For the 2012 model year, the Yaris Liftback had nine standard airbags. For the 2015 model year, it was given a facelift.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Yaris Liftback was discontinued in the United States for the 2019 model year but remained available in Canada. In early 2019, the Mazda2-based Yaris hatchback debuted at the 2019 New York International Auto Show and replaced the Yaris Liftback in both countries.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In the US, the previous XP90 Yaris sedan was replaced by the Scion iA, a rebadged Mazda2 sedan, from the 2016 model year until the Scion marque was dropped. The iA was later renamed to the Yaris iA, and then back to the Yaris sedan. However, the Scion iA was marketed as the Yaris sedan in Canada since its introduction.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Yaris HSD Concept was introduced at the March 2011 Geneva Motor Show featuring a hybrid powertrain. The production version was presented at the March 2012 Geneva Motor Show, and went on sale in June 2012.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Yaris Hybrid shares the same powertrain as the Toyota Prius c sold in North America and as the Toyota Aqua in Japan. The Prius c is not available in Europe. It has a 1.5 L gasoline engine with a maximum output of and a electric motor which combine for a total output of . Its NiMH battery has a capacity of 0.9 kWh.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Yaris Hybrid sold 23,692 units during 2012. Cumulative sales reached 35,151 units through March 2013.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: In 2014, a facelift version was introduced. This version was marketed in North America, Europe and Australia. This version was also sold in Japan as the Vitz RS. North America and Australia variations include a 1.5-litre, engine with a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic. In Europe, the largest displacement version available was offered with a 1.33-litre engine, coupled with a six-speed manual or a CVT automatic. The facelift has been led by Toyota Europe, as opposed to all previous generations that had been designed so far in Japan. Toyota claims to have improved ride comfort, quietness at high speed, and the feeling of the interior, among other changes.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: On 12 January 2017, a second facelift version of the Vitz was launched in Japan. It was also offered with a hybrid drivetrain. The second facelift version of the Yaris has been available in Europe and Australia since March 2017 and in South Africa and North America since June 2017. The North American version was revealed at the April 2017 New York International Auto Show. The South African models were later replaced by the facelifted XP150 series Yaris hatchback.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The Vitz/Yaris GRMN ("Gazoo Racing, tuned by the Meister of the Nürburgring") is a limited-production high-performance variant of the Vitz/Yaris. There are two variants of these limited-production Vitz/Yaris. The first variant was launched in August 2013, this model is powered by a turbocharged 1.5-litre "1NZ-FE Turbo" engine (similar engine that powered the previous generations Vitz RS/Yaris T-Sport Turbo). This engine produces at 6,000 rpm and of torque at 4,000 rpm. Only 200 examples of the Vitz GRMN Turbo were made and only available for the local Japanese market.


title: Toyota Vitz

text: The second variant was launched in September 2017. This version is powered by a Lotus-tuned, supercharged 1.8-litre "2ZR-FE" engine (shared with the Series 3 Elise) that produces at 6,800 rpm and of torque at 5,000 rpm. It has a claimed acceleration in around 6.3 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of . 150 units were built for Japan and 400 units were built for Europe. It was later succeeded by the mass-produced, four-wheel drive variant of the GR Yaris.


The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), is an economics award administered by the Nobel Foundation.


Although not one of the five Nobel Prizes which were established by Alfred Nobel's will in 1895, it is commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics. The winners of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences are chosen in a similar way, are announced along with the Nobel Prize recipients, and the prize is presented at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony.


title: Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences

text: The award was established in 1968 by an endowment "in perpetuity" from Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, to commemorate the bank's 300th anniversary. It is administered and referred to along with the Nobel Prizes by the Nobel Foundation. Laureates in the Memorial Prize in Economics are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It was first awarded in 1969 to Dutch economist Jan Tinbergen and Norwegian economist Ragnar Frisch "for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes".


text: An endowment "in perpetuity" from Sveriges Riksbank pays the Nobel Foundation's administrative expenses associated with the award and funds the monetary component of the award.


text: Since 2012, the monetary portion of the Prize in Economics has totaled 8 million Swedish kronor. This is equivalent to the amount given for the original Nobel Prizes. Since 2006, Sveriges Riksbank has given the Nobel Foundation an annual grant of 6.5 million Swedish kronor (in January 2008, approx. US$1 million; €0.7 million) for its administrative expenses associated with the award as well as 1 million Swedish kronor (until the end of 2008) to include information about the award on the Nobel Foundation's web site.


text: The Prize in Economics is not one of the Nobel Prizes endowed by Alfred Nobel in his will. However, the nomination process, selection criteria, and awards presentation of the Prize in Economic Sciences are performed in a manner similar to that of the original Nobel Prizes.


text: Laureates are announced with the Nobel Prize laureates, and receive the award at the same ceremony. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the prize "in accordance with the rules governing the award of the Nobel Prizes instituted through his [Alfred Nobel's] will", which stipulate that the prize be awarded annually to "those who ... shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind".


text: According to its official website, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences "administers a researcher exchange with academies in other countries and publishes six scientific journals. Every year the Academy awards the Nobel Prizes in Physics and in Chemistry, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, the Crafoord Prize and a number of other large prizes".


text: Each September the Academy's Economics Prize Committee, which consists of five elected members, "sends invitations to thousands of scientists, members of academies and university professors in numerous countries, asking them to nominate candidates for the Prize in Economics for the coming year. Members of the Academy and former laureates are also authorised to nominate candidates." All proposals and their supporting evidence must be received before February 1. The proposals are reviewed by the Prize Committee and specially appointed experts. Before the end of September, the committee chooses potential laureates. If there is a tie, the chairman of the committee casts the deciding vote. Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences vote in mid-October to determine the next laureate or laureates of the Prize in Economics. As with the Nobel Prizes, no more than three people can share the prize for a given year; they must still be living at the time of the Prize announcement in October; and information about Prize nominations cannot be disclosed publicly for 50 years.


text: Like the Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature, each laureate in Economics receives a diploma, gold medal, and monetary grant award document from the King of Sweden at the annual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm, on the anniversary of Nobel's death (December 10).


text: The first prize in economics was awarded in 1969 to Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen "for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes". Two women have received the prize: Elinor Ostrom, who won in 2009, and Esther Duflo, who won in 2019.


text: In February 1995, following acrimony within the selection committee pertaining to the awarding of the 1994 Prize in Economics to John Forbes Nash, the Prize in Economics was redefined as a prize in social sciences. This made it available to researchers in such topics as political science, psychology, and sociology. Moreover, the composition of the Economics Prize Committee changed to include two non-economists. This has not been confirmed by the Economics Prize Committee. The members of the 2007 Economics Prize Committee are still dominated by economists, as the secretary and four of the five members are professors of economics. In 1978, Herbert A. Simon, whose PhD was in political science, became the first non-economist to win the prize, while Daniel Kahneman, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University is the first non-economist by profession to win the prize.


text: Some critics argue that the prestige of the Prize in Economics derives in part from its association with the Nobel Prizes, an association that has often been a source of controversy. Among them is the Swedish human rights lawyer Peter Nobel, a great-grandnephew of Ludvig Nobel. Nobel accuses the awarding institution of misusing his family's name, and states that no member of the Nobel family has ever had the intention of establishing a prize in economics. He explained that "Nobel despised people who cared more about profits than society's well-being", saying that "There is nothing to indicate that he would have wanted such a prize", and that the association with the Nobel prizes is "a PR coup by economists to improve their reputation".


text: According to Samuel Brittan of the "Financial Times", both former Swedish minister of finance (Kjell-Olof Feldt) and Swedish former minister of commerce (Gunnar Myrdal) wanted the prize abolished, saying, "Myrdal rather less graciously wanted the prize abolished because it had been given to such reactionaries as Hayek (and afterwards Milton Friedman)." Relatedly, it has been noted that several members of the awarding committee have been affiliated with the Mont Pelerin Society.


text: In his speech at the 1974 Nobel Prize banquet, Friedrich Hayek stated that had he been consulted on the establishment of a Nobel Prize in economics, he would "have decidedly advised against it" primarily because, "The Nobel Prize confers on an individual an authority which in economics no man ought to possess. ... This does not matter in the natural sciences. Here the influence exercised by an individual is chiefly an influence on his fellow experts; and they will soon cut him down to size if he exceeds his competence. But the influence of the economist that mainly matters is an influence over laymen: politicians, journalists, civil servants and the public generally."


text: Critics cite the apparent snub of Joan Robinson as evidence of the committee's bias towards mainstream economics, though heterodox economists like Friedrich Hayek (Austrian School) and Ronald Coase (associated with new institutional economics) have won.


text: Milton Friedman was awarded the 1976 prize in part for his work on monetarism. Awarding the prize to Friedman caused international protests. Friedman was accused of supporting the military dictatorship in Chile because of the relation of economists of the University of Chicago to Pinochet, and a controversial six-day trip he took to Chile during March 1975 (less than two years after the coup that deposed President Salvador Allende). Friedman himself answered that he never was an adviser to the dictatorship, but only gave some lectures and seminars on inflation and met with officials, including Augusto Pinochet, in Chile.


text: Four Nobel Prize laureatesGeorge Wald, Linus Pauling, David Baltimore and Salvador Luriawrote letters in October 1976 to "The New York Times" protesting Friedman's award.


text: The 1994 prize to John Forbes Nash caused controversy within the selection committee because of Nash's history of mental illness and alleged anti-Semitism. The controversy resulted in a change to the rules governing the committee during 1994: Prize Committee members are now limited to serve for three years.


text: The 2005 prize to Robert Aumann was criticized by the European press for his alleged use of game theory to justify his stance against the dismantling of Israeli settlements in occupied territories.


text: The award's official Swedish name is "Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne". The Nobel Foundation's translations of the Swedish name into English have varied since 1969:


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: Kim Min-jae (; born 15 November 1996) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Napoli and the South Korea national team.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: Kim was born in Tongyeong. Both of his parents are former athletes and his brother was also a footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Myongji University.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: Kim started his youth football career with the football club of Tongyeong Elementary School. He later transferred to Gaya Elementary School in Haman and graduated from there. He entered Yeoncho Middle School and Suwon Technical High School which has produced many international footballers such as Park Ji-sung and Kim Sun-min.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: After he graduated from high school in 2015, he went on to Yonsei University. In July 2016, when he was sophomore, he dropped out of school to fulfill his dream of making his professional debut, although Yonsei University tried to dissuade him.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: Kim joined semi-professional club Gyeongju KHNP on 1 July 2016, and participated in the Korea National League since the middle of the 2016 season. Kim played 15 matches for KHNP until the end of the regular season, leading his team to the play-offs.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: On 2 November, Kim played the quarter-final game of the play-offs for 78 minutes, contributing to a 2–0 victory over Changwon City. On 5 November, however, he failed to help KHNP advance to the final despite playing as a full-time player in the semi-final game against Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: On 22 December 2016, Kim joined K League club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on a free transfer. Jeonbuk manager Choi Kang-hee expressed his expectancy about him during the pre-season training camps in Dubai, and used him as a key player from the beginning.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: Kim made his debut goal for his career in a K League 1 match against Daegu FC on 25 June 2017. He scored his second goal for Jeonbuk against Gwangju FC with a mid-range volley on 19 August. He was ousted from the game against Sangju Sangmu for warnings accumulated on 20 September. On 15 October, it turned out that Kim suffered a semilunar valve injury and for this reason Kim had to have surgery in Japan, being unable to play remaining games of the season. With his performance, he was named the K League Young Player of the Year and nominated for a part of the K League Best XI, although he was shown nine yellow cards and one red card during 29 appearances.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: Kim made his first AFC Champions League debut in a 3–2 victory over Kashiwa Reysol on 13 February 2018. Kim scored his first goal of the 2018 season with a header as well as showing strong defense in a K League 1 match against FC Seoul on 18 March, and was named the MVP of the week. Afterwards, he led Jeonbuk's defense to six consecutive clean sheets. Unfortunately, however, Kim suffered from a fibula injury in a match against Daegu FC on 2 May, absenting himself from the 2018 FIFA World Cup.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: On 29 January 2019, Kim transferred to Beijing Sinobo Guoan. With his impressive defensive performance, Kim went on to play an integral role in Beijing's runner-up finish in the 2019 CSL Season.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: In May 2020, Kim engendered controversy by expressing dissatisfaction about Beijing teammates' method of play in a YouTube channel, which was being operated by a South Korean football commentator, after his wedding in South Korea. At a similar time, he received intensive attention from a wide range of European clubs, and European media predicted €15 million for Kim's transfer. Among them, Tottenham Hotspur actively tried to negotiate with Beijing, but they did not finish the deal before the transfer window closed.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: Kim transferred to Fenerbahçe on 16 August 2021 with a transfer fee of €3 million and signed a 4-year contract.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: Kim won the most number of unclaimed balls and won the most tackles among Fenerbahçe defenders in his first match for Fenerbahçe against Antalyaspor on 22 August. He made his European debut in the UEFA Europa League Group D match against Eintracht Frankfurt on 16 September. Two days after receiving his first red card in the Süper Lig against Trabzonspor on 17 October, Kim said "This was a first for me in my 5-year career playing football at the highest level, I guess we have to have such experiences in Turkey." Kim led Fenerbahçe to a 2-1 victory by making the most passes and blocks in the Intercontinental Derby on 21 November, and was selected as the man of the match by Fenerbahçe fans with 76.3 percent of the votes. Kim scored his first goal for Fenerbahçe against Konyaspor on 20 March 2022. At the end of the 2021–22 season, International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), FIFA 22 and Opta Sports selected Kim for the Süper Lig Team of the Season.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: On 27 July 2022, Kim signed for Serie A club Napoli for a reported fee of €18.05 million, as a replacement for Kalidou Koulibaly, who departed to join Chelsea. He was named Serie A player of the month for September 2022, in his second month at Italy.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: On 14 August 2017, Kim was named in South Korea's squad for the last two qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup against Iran and Uzbekistan. In a qualifier against Iran on 31 August 2017, Kim made his international debut as a starter and sent off Iranian player Saeid Ezatolahi as well as showing great defense for 84 minutes. On 5 September, Kim played as a full-time player against Uzbekistan, helping South Korea keep one more clean sheet. After these matches, South Korea qualified for the ninth consecutive FIFA World Cup. But he was injured on 8 May 2018 and unable to take part in 2018 FIFA World Cup.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: On 1 September 2018, South Korea defeated Japan 2–1 in the gold medal match of the 2018 Asian Games. As a result of this victory, Kim and his teammates received an exemption from military service, reducing the two-year conscription to just a few weeks of basic training.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: As a central defender, Kim has excellent physical attributes, notably his strength, speed, and flexibility. Kim has a strong predictive ability in defense, and can often start and finish plays when the team advances. His long pass accuracy enables him to immediately hit the ball after the steal to complete a quick counterattack, and his excellent aerial ability and positioning allows him to perform headers to break up opposition attacks and start offensive plays.


title: Kim Min-jae (footballer)

text: January 2021, Kim was appointed as an ambassador for the Purme Foundation. He decided to contribute to the rehabilitation of children with disabilities and the independence of young people with disabilities, and donated ₩50 million.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Guru Tegh Bahadur (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਤੇਗ਼ ਬਹਾਦਰ ; ; 1 April 1621 – 11 November 1675) was the ninth of ten Gurus who founded the Sikh religion and the leader of Sikhs from 1665 until his beheading in 1675. He was born in Amritsar, Punjab, India in 1621 and was the youngest son of Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh guru. Considered a principled and fearless warrior, he was a learned spiritual scholar and a poet whose 115 hymns are included in "Sri Guru Granth Sahib," the main text of Sikhism.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed on the orders of Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor, in Delhi, India. Sikh holy premises Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib and Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in Delhi mark the places of execution and cremation of Guru Tegh Bahadur. His martyrdom is remembered as the "Shaheedi Divas of Guru Tegh Bahadur" every year on 24 November.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Guru Tegh Bahadur was the youngest son of Guru Hargobind, the sixth guru: Guru Hargobind had one daughter, Bibi Viro, and five sons: Baba Gurditta, Suraj Mal, Ani Rai, Atal Rai, and Tyaga Mal. Tyaga Mal was born in Amritsar in the early hours of 1 April 1621. He came to be known by the name Tegh Bahadur (Mighty of the Sword), given to him by Guru Hargobind after he had shown his valor in a battle against the Mughals.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Amritsar at that time was the center of the Sikh faith. As the seat of the Sikh Gurus, and with its connection to Sikhs in far-flung areas of the country through the chains of "Masands" or missionaries, it had developed the characteristics of a State capital.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Guru Tegh Bahadur was brought up in the Sikh culture and trained in archery and horsemanship. He was also taught the old classics such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Puranas. Tegh Bahadur was married on 3 February 1632 to Mata Gujri.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: In the 1640s, nearing his death, Guru Hargobind and his wife Nanaki moved to his ancestral village of Bakala in Amritsar district, together with Tegh Bahadur and Mata Gujri. Bakala, as described in "Gurbilas Dasvin Patshahi", was then a prosperous town with many beautiful pools, wells, and "baolis". After Guru Hargobind's death, Tegh Bahadur continued to live in Bakala with his wife and mother.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: In March 1664, Guru Har Krishan contracted smallpox. When asked by his followers who would lead them after him, he replied "Baba Bakala", meaning his successor was to be found in Bakala. Taking advantage of the ambiguity in the words of the dying Guru, many installed themselves in Bakala, claiming themselves as the new Guru. Sikhs were puzzled to see so many claimants.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Sikh tradition has a myth concerning the manner in which Tegh Bahadur was selected as the ninth guru. A wealthy trader, Baba Makhan Shah Labana, had once prayed for his life and had promised to gift 500 gold coins to the Sikh Guru if he survived. He arrived in search of the ninth Guru. He went from one claimant to the next making his obeisance and offering two gold coins to each Guru, believing that the right guru would know that his silent promise was to gift 500 coins for his safety. Every "guru" he met accepted the two gold coins and bid him farewell. Then he discovered that Tegh Bahadur also lived at Bakala. Labana gifted Tegh Bahadur the usual offering of two gold coins. Tegh Bahadur gave him his blessings and remarked that his offering was considerably short of the promised five hundred. Makhan Shah Labana forthwith made good the difference and ran upstairs. He began shouting from the rooftop, "Guru ladho re, Guru ladho re" meaning "I have found the Guru, I have found the Guru".


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: In August 1664, a Sikh Sangat arrived in Bakala and appointed Tegh Bahadur as the ninth guru of Sikhs. The "Sangat" was led by Diwan Durga Mal,], elder brother of Guru Tegh Bahadur, conferring Guruship on Him.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: As had been the custom among Sikhs after the execution of Guru Arjan by Mughal Emperor Jahangir, Guru Tegh Bahadur was surrounded by armed bodyguards. He himself lived an austere life.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Guru Tegh Bahadur contributed many hymns to Granth Sahib including the "Shloks", or couplets near the end of the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Tegh Bahadur toured various parts of the Mughal Empire and was asked by Gobind Sahali to construct several Sikh temples in Mahali. His works include 116 shabads, and 15 ragas, and his bhagats are credited with 782 compositions that are part of "bani" in Sikhism. His works are included in the "Guru Granth Sahib" (pages 219–1427). They cover a wide range of topics, such as the nature of God, human attachments, body, mind, sorrow, dignity, service, death, and deliverance.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Guru Tegh Bahadur traveled extensively in different parts of the country, including Dhaka and Assam, to preach the teachings of Nanak, the first Sikh guru. The places he visited and stayed in became sites of Sikh temples. During his travels, Guru Tegh Bahadur spread the Sikh ideas and message, as well as started community water wells and langars (community kitchen charity for the poor).


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: The Guru made three successive visits to Kiratpur. On 21 August 1664, Guru Tegh Bahadur went there to console Bibi Roop upon the death of her father, Guru Har Rai, the seventh Sikh guru, and of his brother, Guru Har Krishan. The second visit was on 15 October 1664, at the death on 29 September 1664, of Bassi, the mother of Guru Har Rai. A third visit concluded a fairly extensive journey through the northwest Indian subcontinent. His son Guru Gobind Singh, who would be the tenth Sikh Guru, was born in Patna, while he was away in Dhubri, Assam in 1666, where stands the Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. There he helped end the war between Raja Ram Singh of Bengal and Raja Chakardwaj of Ahom state (later Assam). He visited the towns of Mathura, Agra, Allahabad and Varanasi.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: After his visit to Assam, Bengal, and Bihar, the Guru visited Rani Champa of Bilaspur who offered to give the Guru a piece of land in her state. The Guru bought the site for 500 rupees. There, Guru Tegh Bahadur founded the city of Anandpur Sahib in the foothills of the Himalayas. In 1672, Tegh Bahadur traveled through Kashmir and the North-West Frontier, to meet the masses, as the persecution of non-Muslims reached new heights.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: The primary nucleus of Sikh narratives remains the "Bachittar Natak", a memoir of Guru Gobind Singh, Guru Tegh Bahadur's son, dated between late 1680s and late 1690s.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: More Sikh accounts of Tegh Bahadur's execution, all claiming to be sourced from the "testimony of trustworthy Sikhs", only started emerging in around the late eighteenth century, and are thus, often conflicting. Chronicler Sohan Lal Suri states that the Guru gained thousands of followers of soldiers and horsemen during his travels between 1672 and 1673 in southern Punjab and provided shelter to those who were resistant to Mughal representatives. Aurangzeb was warned about such activity, as a cause of concern that could possibly lead to rebellion.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Persian sources maintain that the Guru was a bandit whose plunder and rapine of Punjab along with his rebellious activities precipitated his execution. The earliest Persian source to chronicle his execution is "Siyar-ul-Mutakhkherin" by Ghulam Hussain Khan c. 1782, where Tegh Bahadur's (alleged) oppression of subjects is held to have incurred Aurangzeb's wrath:


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Satish Chandra however cautions against taking Hussain Khan's argument at face value. He was a relative of Alivardi Khan — one of the closest confidantes of Aurangzeb — and might have been providing an "official justification". There are other challenges to the above narrative. Ghulam Husain lived far away from Punjab. Also, the Guru's association with Hafiz Adam is anachronistic. Hafiz Adam died in Medina in A.D. 1643, 21 years before Tegh Bahadur attained the status of Guru. Further, it should be pointed out that according to Ghulam Husain, Tegh Bahadur was confined in Gwalior, where, under imperial orders, his body was "cut into four quarters" and hung at the four gates of the fortress while it is well-known that Tegh Bahadur was executed in Delhi where the Sisganj Gurudwara is situated at present. The Sikh sakhis written during the eighteenth century indirectly support the narrative in the Persian sources; nothing that the Guru was in "violent opposition to the Muslim rulers of the country" in response to the dogmatic policies implemented by Aurangzeb. Both Persian and Sikh sources agree that Tegh Bahadur militarily opposed the Mughal state and was therefore targeted for execution in accordance with Aurangzeb's zeal for punishing enemies of the state.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Many scholars identify the narrative as follows: A congregation of Hindu Pandits from Kashmir requested help against Aurangzeb's oppressive policies, to which Guru Tegh Bahadur decided to protect their rights. Tegh Bahadur left from his base at Makhowal to confront the persecution of Kashmiri Brahmins by Mughal officials but was arrested at Ropar and put to jail in Sirhind. Four months later, in November 1675, he was transferred to Delhi and asked to perform a miracle to prove his nearness to God or convert to Islam. The Guru declined and three of his colleagues, who had been arrested with him, were tortured to death in front of him: Bhai Mati Das was sawn into pieces, Bhai Dayal Das was thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, and Bhai Sati Das was burned alive. Thereafter, Tegh Bahadur was publicly beheaded in Chandni Chowk, a market square close to the Red Fort.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Satish Chandra expresses doubt about the authenticity of these meta-narratives, centered on miracles — Aurangzeb was not a believer in them. He further expresses doubt pertaining to the narrative of the persecution of Hindus in Kashmir within Sikh accounts, remarking that no contemporary sources mentioned the persecution of Hindus there. Louis Fenech refuses to pass any judgement, in light of the paucity of primary sources; however, he notes that these Sikh accounts had coded martyrdom into the events, with an aim to elicit pride than trauma in readers. He further argues that Tegh Bahadur had sacrificed himself for the sake of his own faith; the janju and tilak in the passage in the Bachittar Natak referring to his own.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Remarkably, in contrast to this dominating theme in Sikh literature, some pre-modern Sikh accounts had laid the blame on an acrimonious succession dispute: Ram Rai, elder brother of Guru Har Krishan, was held to have instigated Aurangzeb against Tegh Bahadur by suggesting that he prove his spiritual greatness by performing miracles at the Court. Sohan Lal Suri, the court historian of Ranjit Singh, in his magisterial "Umdat ut Tawarikh" (c. 1805) chose to reiterate Hussain Khan's argument at large: Tegh Bahadur had provided refuge to all classes of rebels and commanded a huge nomadic army across Punjab; so he was put down at the earliest, lest he declares an insurrection in near future.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Every year November 24 is observed as the day of the Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur. On this day in 1675, he was publicly Executed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi for refusing to convert to Islam, as it was forcibly done at that time. The sites of his death and cremation were converted into sacred sites and are now known as Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib and Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in Delhi, respectively. Apart from the Contributions made by Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji to uphold the Pride of the Indian community before the Mughals, he also made his Contribution to the Holy Guru Granth Sahib. In total, there are 115 hymns including the slokas of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji at the end of the Holy Book. In all his works he tried to explain the nature of God, human attachments, sorrow, mind, life, and death, etc.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Guru Har Gobind was Guru Tegh Bahadur's father. He was originally named "Tyag Mal" () but was later renamed "Tegh Bahadur" after his gallantry and bravery in the wars against the Mughal forces. He built the city of Anandpur Sahib and was responsible for saving a faction of Kashmiri Pandits, who were being persecuted by the Mughals.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: After the execution of Tegh Bahadur by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, a number of Sikh temples were built in his and his associates' memory. The Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, was built over where he was beheaded. Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib, also in Delhi, is built on the site of the residence of a disciple of Tegh Bahadur, who burned his house to cremate his master's body.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Gurdwara Sisganj Sahib in Punjab marks the site where in November 1675, the head of the martyred Guru Tegh Bahadar which was brought by Bhai Jaita (renamed Bhai Jiwan Singh according to Sikh rites) in defiance of the Mughal authority of Aurangzeb was cremated here. During his journey to Anandpur Sahib Bhai Jaita Singh reach a village near Delhi in Sonipat and the Mughal army also reach that village. Bhai Jaita demand for help to villagers so the villagers hideout Bhai Jaita with Guru' head. A villager named Kushal Singh Dahiya came ahead and offers his own head in the place of Guru's head to Mughal army. After beheading Kushal Singh Dahiya the villagers shuffle the heads and give the head of Kushal Singh Dahiya to Mughal army.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: Tegh Bahadur has been remembered for giving up his life for the freedom of religion, reminding Sikhs and non-Muslims in India to follow and practice their beliefs. Guru Tegh Bahadur was martyred, along with fellow devotees Bhai Mati Dass, Bhai Sati Das and Bhai Dayala. 24 November, the date of his martyrdom, is observed in certain parts of India as a public holiday.


title: Guru Tegh Bahadur

text: The execution hardened the resolve of Sikhs against Muslim rule and persecution. Pashaura Singh states that "if the martyrdom of Guru Arjan had helped bring the Sikh Panth together, Guru Tegh Bahadur's martyrdom helped to make the protection of human rights central to its Sikh identity". Wilfred Smith stated "the attempt to forcibly convert the ninth Guru to an externalized, impersonal Islam clearly made an indelible impression on the martyr's nine-year-old son, Gobind, who reacted slowly but deliberately by eventually organizing the Sikh group into a distinct, formal, symbol-patterned community". It inaugurated the Khalsa identity.


title: Local Group

text: It consists of two collections of galaxies in a "dumbbell" shape: the Milky Way and its satellites form one lobe, and the Andromeda Galaxy and its satellites constitute the other. The two collections are separated by about and are moving toward one another with a velocity of . The group itself is a part of the larger Virgo Supercluster, which may be a part of the Laniakea Supercluster.


title: Local Group

text: The exact number of galaxies in the Local Group is unknown as some are occluded by the Milky Way; however, at least 80 members are known, most of which are dwarf galaxies.


title: Local Group

text: The two largest members, the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way, are both spiral galaxies with masses of about solar masses each. Each has its own system of satellite galaxies:


title: Local Group

text: The Triangulum Galaxy (M33) is the third-largest member of the Local Group, with a mass of approximately , and is the third spiral galaxy. It is unclear whether the Triangulum Galaxy is a companion of the Andromeda Galaxy; the two galaxies are 750,000 light years apart, and experienced a close passage 2–4 billion years ago which triggered star formation across Andromeda's disk. The Pisces Dwarf Galaxy is equidistant from the Andromeda Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy, so it may be a satellite of either.


title: Local Group

text: The membership of NGC 3109, with its companions Sextans A and the Antlia Dwarf Galaxy, is uncertain due to extreme distances from the center of the Local Group.


title: Local Group

text: The other members of the group are likely gravitationally secluded from these large subgroups: IC 10, IC 1613, Phoenix Dwarf Galaxy, Leo A, Tucana Dwarf Galaxy, Cetus Dwarf Galaxy, Pegasus Dwarf Irregular Galaxy, Wolf–Lundmark–Melotte, Aquarius Dwarf Galaxy, and Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy.


title: Local Group

text: The term "The Local Group" was introduced by Edwin Hubble in Chapter VI of his 1936 book "The Realm of the Nebulae". There, he described it as "a typical small group of nebulae which is isolated in the general field" and delineated, by decreasing luminosity, its members to be M31, Milky Way, M33, Large Magellanic Cloud, Small Magellanic Cloud, M32, NGC 205, NGC 6822, NGC 185, IC 1613 and NGC 147. He also identified IC 10 as a possible part of the Local Group.


title: Blowup

text: Blowup (sometimes styled as Blow-up or Blow Up) is a 1966 mystery drama thriller film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and produced by Carlo Ponti. It was Antonioni's first entirely English-language film, and stars David Hemmings as a London fashion photographer who believes he has unwittingly captured a murder on film. The film also stars Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, John Castle, Jane Birkin, Tsai Chin, Peter Bowles, and Gillian Hills, as well as 1960s model Veruschka. The film's plot was inspired by Julio Cortázar's short story "Las babas del diablo" (1959). The screenplay was by Antonioni and Tonino Guerra, with English dialogue by British playwright Edward Bond. The cinematographer was Carlo di Palma. The film's non-diegetic music was scored by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, while rock group the Yardbirds also feature. The film is set within the mod subculture of 1960s Swinging London.


title: Blowup

text: In the main competition section of the Cannes Film Festival, "Blowup" won the Palme d'Or, the festival's highest honour. The American release of the counterculture-era film with its explicit sexual content was in direct defiance of Hollywood's Production Code. Its subsequent critical and box-office success influenced the abandonment of the code in 1968 in favour of the MPAA film rating system.


title: Blowup

text: "Blowup" would inspire subsequent films, including Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" (1974) and Brian De Palma's "Blow Out" (1981). In 2012, "Blowup" was ranked No. 144 in the "Sight & Sound" critics' poll of the world's greatest films.


title: Blowup

text: After spending the night at a doss house, where he has taken pictures for a book of art photos, photographer Thomas is late for a photo shoot with model Veruschka at his studio, which in turn makes him late for a shoot with other models later in the morning. He grows bored and walks off, leaving the models and production staff in the lurch. As he departs the studio, two teenaged girls who are aspiring models ask to speak to him, but Thomas drives off to visit at an antique shop.


title: Blowup

text: Wandering into Maryon Park, Thomas takes photos of two lovers. The woman, Jane, is furious at being photographed, and pursues Thomas, demands his film, and ultimately tries to snatch his camera. He refuses and photographs her as she runs away through a meadow. Thomas then meets his agent Ron for lunch, and notices a man following him and looking into his car. Back at his studio, Jane arrives, asking desperately for the film. She and Thomas have a conversation and flirt, but he deliberately hands her a different film roll. She, in turn, writes down a false telephone number and gives it to him.


title: Blowup

text: Thomas, curious, makes multiple zooms of the black-and-white film of Jane and her lover. They reveal Jane worriedly looking at a third person lurking in the trees with a pistol. Thomas excitedly calls Ron, claiming his impromptu photo session may have saved a man's life. Thomas is disturbed by a knock on the door, and it is the two girls again, with whom he has a romp in his studio and falls asleep. Awakening, he finds they hope he will photograph them, but he realizes there may be more to the photographs in the park. He tells them to leave, saying, "Tomorrow! Tomorrow!"


title: Blowup

text: Further examination of a blurred figure under a bush makes Thomas suspect the man in the park may have been murdered after all, during the time Thomas was arguing with the woman around the bend.


title: Blowup

text: As evening falls, the photographer goes back to the park and finds the body of the man, but he has not brought his camera and is scared off by the sound of a twig breaking, as if being stepped on. Thomas returns to find his studio ransacked. All the negatives and prints are gone except for one very grainy blowup of what is possibly the body.


title: Blowup

text: After driving into town, he sees the woman and follows her into a club where The Yardbirds, featuring both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck on guitar and Keith Relf on vocals, are seen performing the song "Stroll On". A buzz in Beck's amplifier angers him so much, he smashes his guitar on stage, then throws its neck into the crowd. A riot ensues. The photographer grabs the neck and runs out of the club before anyone can snatch it from him. Then, he has second thoughts about it, throws it on the pavement, and walks away. A passer-by picks up the neck and throws it back down, not realizing it is from Beck's guitar. Thomas never locates the elusive woman.


title: Blowup

text: At a drug-drenched party in a house on the Thames near central London, the photographer finds Veruschka, who had told him that she was going to Paris; when confronted, she says she is in Paris. Thomas asks Ron to come to the park as a witness, but cannot convince him of what has happened because Ron is incredibly stoned. Instead, Thomas joins the party and wakes up in the house at sunrise. He returns to the park alone, only to find that the body is gone.


title: Blowup

text: Befuddled, Thomas watches a mime troupe perform a tennis match, is drawn to it, after a bit picks up the imaginary ball and throws it back to the two players. As he watches the mime, the sound of the ball being played is heard and his image fades away, leaving only the grass as the film ends.


title: Blowup

text: The plot of "Blowup" was inspired by Julio Cortázar's short story "Las babas del diablo" (1959), collected in the book "End of the Game and Other Stories", in turn based on a story told to Cortázar by photographer Sergio Larraín. Subsequently, the short story was retitled "Blow Up" to connect it with the film. The life of Swinging London photographer David Bailey was also an influence.


title: Blowup

text: Several people were offered the role of the protagonist, including Sean Connery, who declined when Antonioni refused to show him the script, the photographer David Bailey, and Terence Stamp, who was replaced shortly before filming began after Antonioni found David Hemmings in a stage production of Dylan Thomas's "Adventures in the Skin Trade".


title: Blowup

text: The opening mimes were filmed on the Plaza of "The Economist" Building in St. James's Street, London, a project by 'New Brutalists' Alison and Peter Smithson constructed between 1959 and 1964. The park scenes were at Maryon Park, Charlton, south-east London, and the park has changed little since the film, despite Antonioni painting the grass green to meet his requirements. Photographer John Cowan leased his studio at 39 Princes Place to Antonioni for much of the interior and exterior filming, and Cowan's own photographic murals are featured in the film. Other locations included Heddon Street where the album cover of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" was later photographed, and Cheyne Walk, in Chelsea.


title: Blowup

text: The rock club scene featuring the Yardbirds performing "Stroll On" – a modified version of "Train Kept A-Rollin'" – was filmed at Elstree Studios, from 12 to 14 October 1966. Also in the rock club scene English broadcaster, journalist, writer Janet Street-Porter appears as a dancing extra in a silver coat and red/yellow striped trousers.


title: Blowup

text: Actor Ronan O'Casey claimed that the film's mysterious nature is the product of an "unfinished" production. In a 1999 letter to Roger Ebert, O'Casey wrote that scenes which would have "depict[ed] the planning of the murder and its aftermath – scenes with Vanessa, Sarah Miles and Jeremy Glover, Vanessa's new young lover who plots with her to murder me – were never shot because the film went seriously over budget." O'Casey had previously told this story to "Der Spiegel" in 1967, where he stated that Dyson Lovell played the part of the murderous lover. Two scenes in particular give credence to this theory: the first in the restaurant when the new lover's character (played by Lovell) is seen apparently tampering with Thomas' car, and the second when Glover and Redgrave are glimpsed together in a Rover 2000 (which also appears elsewhere) following Thomas' Rolls-Royce.


title: Blowup

text: Thomas drives a rare Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III 'Chinese Eye' Mulliner Park Ward Drophead Coupé owned by DJ and Television presenter Jimmy Savile. It was originally painted white and painted black by the production. Only approximately 100 coach built Silver Clouds IIIs were made with the unique slanted headlights, and it remains an iconic element of the film.


title: Blowup

text: MGM did not gain approval for the film under the MPAA Production Code in the United States. The film was condemned by the National Legion of Decency. The code's collapse and revision was foreshadowed when MGM released the film through a subsidiary distributor, Premier Productions, and "Blowup" was shown widely in North American cinemas.


title: Blowup

text: Writing about Antonioni for "Time" in 2007, the film writer Richard Corliss stated that the film grossed $20 million (about $ million in ) on a $1.8 million budget and "helped liberate Hollywood from its puritanical prurience."


title: Blowup

text: The film earned $5.9 million (about $ in ) in theatrical rentals in the United States and Canada in 1967.


title: Blowup

text: Film critic Andrew Sarris said the movie was "a mod masterpiece". In "Playboy" magazine, film critic Arthur Knight wrote that "Blowup" would be "as important and seminal a film as "Citizen Kane", "Open City" and "Hiroshima, Mon Amour" – perhaps even more so". "Time" magazine called the film a "far-out, uptight and vibrantly exciting picture" that represented a "screeching change of creative direction" for Antonioni; the magazine predicted it would "undoubtedly be by far the most popular movie Antonioni has ever made".


title: Blowup

text: Bosley Crowther, film critic of "The New York Times", called it a "fascinating picture," but expressed reservations, describing the "usual Antonioni passages of seemingly endless wanderings" as "redundant and long"; nevertheless, he called "Blowup" a "stunning picture – beautifully built up with glowing images and color compositions that get us into the feelings of our man and into the characteristics of the mod world in which he dwells". Even film director Ingmar Bergman, who generally disliked Antonioni, called the film a masterpiece.


title: Blowup

text: Anthony Quinn, writing for "The Guardian", described "Blowup" as "a picture about perception and ambiguity," suggesting an association between elements of the film and the Zapruder film of the 1963 Kennedy assassination.


title: Blowup

text: According to author Thomas Beltzer, the film explores the "inherently alienating" qualities of our media, where "the camera has turned us into passive voyeurs, programmable for predictable responses, ultimately helpless and even inhumanly dead". Bilge Eberi of "Houston Press" notes the contrast between "the sinewy movements of the girls, their psychedelic jumpsuits and slinky dresses and multicolored minis," and "the blurred, frozen, inchoate unknowability of the death contained within his image," explaining that the photo "is a glimpse of the eternal and elemental – the dead body and the gun are both in the bushes, almost like a natural fact – that completely reorders, or rather disorders, Thomas' world. As an artist, he can't capture it or understand it or do anything with it. As an individual, he can't possess it or consume it."