title: 2022 food crises

text: By the first half of the agricultural year 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, China acquired 50% of the world supply of wheat, 60% of rice, and 69% of corn. China has maintained its food stockpiles at a "historically high level", contributing to higher global food prices. Bloomberg columnist Adam Minter wrote that "For China, such stockpiles are necessary to ensure it won't be at the mercy of major food exporters such as the U.S."


title: 2022 food crises

text: The Biden administration responded to the growing shortages in April by trying to increase US farm production. The US policy community was worried about China or other countries filling the food gap. Obstruction in the US Congress prevented new funding and resources for the crises. A group of 160 advocacy groups challenged funding cuts by the Biden administration and Congress to USDA programs.


title: 2022 food crises

text: On 18 May 2022, the US announced $215 million in development assistance to mitigate the crises. This was in addition to $320 million for the Horn of Africa.


title: 2022 food crises

text: Germany is working on a proposal to phase out the use of biofuels produced from food crops by 2030. Up to 40% of corn produced in the US is used to make ethanol, and worldwide 10% of all grain is turned into biofuel. A 50% reduction in grain used for biofuels in the US and Europe would replace all of Ukraine's grain exports.


title: 2022 food crises

text: On 30 June 2022, Russia withdrew its troops from Snake Island in a so called "goodwill gesture" to not obstruct U.N. attempts to open a humanitarian corridor allowing grains to be shipped from Ukraine.


title: 2022 food crises

text: On 16 July, major news outlets reported that Kyiv is definitely a step closer to being able to export grain through its Black Sea ports after talks with Russia, facilitated by Turkey, and the United Nations. Russia was accused of blocking crucial shipments of grains from Ukrainian ports but claims its exports are impacted by economic sanctions. On 23 July, Russia shelled the port of Odesa which had recently been unlocked.


title: 2022 food crises

text: The first shipment since the grain agreement was set off for Lebanon, where the Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni carried the cargo of corn. As of August 20, the total number of vessels leaving Ukraine in accordance with the agreement reached 27.


title: 2022 food crises

text: On 14 September 2022, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his concerns over a constrained fertilizer supply from Russia due to the 2022 Russian invasion of the Ukraine and subsequent economic sanctions. According to the source, UN diplomats held discussions to re-open the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline carrying ammonia. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had offered such a move in exchange for the release of prisoners of war held by Russia. But TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who dismissed such a idea, as saying “are people and ammonia the same thing?”.


title: 2022 food crises

text: On 29 October 2022, Russia suspends participation in grain initiative. However, vessel traffic will resume on November 3.


title: 2022 food crises

text: In May, the United Nations called for Russia to facilitate the reopening of Ukrainian grain ports to mitigate the global food crises.


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: Pedro Gregorio Armendáriz Hastings (May 9, 1912 – June 18, 1963) was a Mexican film actor who made films in both Mexico and the United States. With Dolores del Río and María Félix, he was one of the best-known Latin American movie stars of the 1940s and 1950s.


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: Armendáriz was born in Mexico City, to Pedro Armendáriz García Conde (Mexican) and Adela Hastings (American). He was also the cousin of actress Gloria Marín. Armendáriz and his younger brother Francisco lived with their uncle Henry Hastings Senior in Laredo, Texas, after their mother died. He later studied in California, attending the California Polytechnic State University from September 1928 to May 1932. At Cal Poly, he studied mechanics and in May 1931 graduated from the academic course of the school. He remained an additional year as a freshman in the Junior College division, but in 1932 returned to Mexico after the end of the school year. While at Cal Poly, Armendáriz was active in student activities, including editing the student newspaper and the student yearbook and acting in several student dramatic productions.


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: When Armendáriz finished his studies, he moved to Mexico, where he worked for the railroad, as a tour guide, and as a journalist for the bilingual magazine "México Real". He was discovered by film director Miguel Zacarías when Armendáriz recited a soliloquy from "Hamlet" to an American tourist. His meeting with the director Emilio Fernández was providential, whereupon the actor and director began working in numerous films: "Soy puro mexicano" (1942), "Flor silvestre" (1942) and specially "María Candelaria" (1943) were the first films of intense common path. Under the guidance of Emilio Fernández, Pedro Armendáriz developed the film personality traits of strong nationalist; often, he played tough and manly men, indigenous, peasants and revolutionaries. Amendáriz repeatedly portrayed Pancho Villa and played opposite actresses such as Dolores del Río and María Félix.


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: With Katy Jurado, Dolores del Río, Amendáriz formed one of the most legendary couples of the Mexican cinema. "María Candelaria" provided Armendáriz with international visibility. The film was awarded the Palme d'Or at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. Other prominent titles where Armendáriz appeared with Dolores del Río were "Las Abandonadas" (1944), "Bugambilia" (1944) and "La Malquerida" (1949). Maria Felix was his other partner in such films as "Enamorada" (1946) or "Maclovia" (1948).


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: In the late 40s, he made the jump to Hollywood by the hand of John Ford. Armendáriz was a favorite of Ford, appearing in three of his films: "The Fugitive" (1947), "Fort Apache" and "3 Godfathers" (both 1948).


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: Besides his career in the Mexican cinema, Armendáriz made a remarkable career in Hollywood and Europe. His other prominent films in Hollywood were: "We Were Strangers" (1949, directed by John Huston), "The Torch" (1950), "Border River" (1954), "The Conqueror" (1956) and "Diane" (1956), among others. In Europe, highlighted his participation in the film "Lucrèce Borgia" (1953), filmed in France. In Mexico, his participation highlighted such notable films such as "El Bruto" (1953, directed by Luis Buñuel), "La Cucaracha" (1959) and "La Bandida" (1962).


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: Armendáriz's last appearance was in the second James Bond film, "From Russia with Love" (1963), as Bond's ally, Kerim Bey. Armendáriz was terminally ill with cancer during the filming of "From Russia with Love", and towards the end of shooting he was too ill to perform his part; his final scenes were performed by his double, director Terence Young. Armendáriz died four months before the release of the film.


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: Armendáriz was married to actress Carmelita Bohr (née Pardo) by whom he had one son and daughter. Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. also became an actor and appeared in the James Bond film "Licence to Kill" (1989); his daughter Carmen Armendáriz became a TV producer.


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: In 1956, Armendáriz had a role in "The Conqueror", produced by Howard Hughes. It was filmed in the state of Utah at the time when the US government was conducting atmospheric nuclear testing in neighboring Nevada. Within 25 years, 91 of the 220 people involved in the production (41%) developed cancer, 46 of whom died of cancer or complications related to it.


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: Armendáriz began to suffer pain in his hips; years later it was discovered that he had neck cancer. He learned his condition was terminal while at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, and, reportedly, endured great pain to film "From Russia with Love" in order to assure his family financial resources.


title: Pedro Armendáriz

text: On June 18, 1963, Armendáriz committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a gun he had smuggled into the hospital. He was 51 years old. He is buried in the Panteón Jardín cemetery in Mexico City, Mexico.


title: Sátántangó

text: Sátántangó (; meaning 'Satan's Tango') is a 1994 drama film directed by Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr. Shot in black-and-white and running for more than seven hours, it is based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai, who had been providing Tarr with stories since his 1988 film "Damnation". Tarr had hoped to make the film since 1985 but was unable to proceed with production due to the strict political environment in Hungary.


title: Sátántangó

text: "Sátántangó" has received wide acclaim from film critics. In 2012, it appeared in the British Film Institute's "Sight & Sound" critics' top fifty films.


title: Sátántangó

text: In a desolate Hungarian village, after the collapse of a collective farm, two people, Futaki and Mrs. Schmidt (Éva Almássy Albert), are in a romantic embrace and are awakened at dawn by the ringing of church bells. Mr. Schmidt (László Lugossy) conspires with another co-worker named Kráner to steal the villagers' money and flee to another part of the country. As Futaki is sneaking out of the Schmidt home, he overhears Schmidt's plans, after which he demands to become part of the scheme — all this being watched by a lonely drunken man known as the Doctor (Peter Berling), who writes the events down in a notebook.


title: Sátántangó

text: However, the conspiracy fails when rumors spread across the village that the charismatic and manipulative Irimiás (Mihály Vig), a former co-worker who had been presumed dead, is returning with his friend Petrina (Putyi Horváth). Meanwhile, Irimiás and Petrina make a secret deal with a police captain in a near-by city to spy on the village community. They are welcomed by their young ally Sanyi Horgos (András Bodnár), with whom they had made a deal so that Sanyi would spread word among the villagers that the two had died.


title: Sátántangó

text: At the village, the Doctor discovers he has run out of fruit brandy. Unaccustomed to leaving his house, he decides to go out to buy liquor nonetheless. Outside, he is met with hostile weather and the arrival of night. He meets Sanyi’s older sisters, who are destitute prostitutes. Approaching the local tavern to purchase his brandy, he is accosted by Estike (Erika Bók), Sanyi’s little sister, a lonely, mentally disabled girl whose father hanged himself. Estike desperately reaches out for his help. In a state of emotional tension, reacting angrily to the child’s pleas, the Doctor reconsiders and naively tries to apologize as the girl leaves and disappears in the darkness. Chasing after her, the Doctor passes out and collapses in a nearby wood, and is found in the morning by the town's conductor who takes him to a hospital.


title: Sátántangó

text: The morning before the Doctor left his house, Estike is tricked by her older brother Sanyi into planting a "money tree" in the forest. She tortures and poisons her cat to death, and carries its corpse to the money tree, which she finds has been dug up. After finding out she has been deceived by her brother who has reclaimed the money, she succumbs to silent despair. Marauding through the woods, the girl approaches the local tavern and peers through its window, where most of the villagers dance to accordion music, unaware of the peeping child. Afterwards, she encounters the Doctor and cries out for his help to save her cat. Rebuffed, she retreats into an abandoned ruin, fatally poisons herself and finally dies.


title: Sátántangó

text: The following day, Irimiás arrives at the village while Estike's funeral is being held. Feigning grief, Irimiás tells the villagers they were all guilty of Estike’s death and talks them into handing him all the money of their proposed venture in order to start a new collective farm in a near-by village. The villagers, except for the innkeeper and the Doctor, walk together, wheeling their few belongings to a distant abandoned building where they collapse into sleep, whereupon the narrator describes the dreams each of them has. Meanwhile, Irimiás and Petrina meet with an accomplice in a nearby city to acquire a large amount of explosives, for reasons never explicitly explained.


title: Sátántangó

text: The next morning, when Irimiás is late, the villagers decide they have been duped by Irimiás, and fight among themselves. Schmidt and Kráner (János Derzsi) accuse Futaki of having led them into this trap and demand that he return their money. As they beat him up, Irimiás arrives, scolds them for their squabbling and tells them that his plan to establish a new farm has been delayed by the authorities and that their only hope is to scatter around the country for an unspecified amount of time. Kráner demands that Irimiás give their money back. Irimiás does so, but expresses his disappointment at their lack of trust and unreliability, shaming Kráner into once more giving his money to him. Irimiás, Petrina and Sanyi drive the villagers and their belongings by truck to the city, where Irimiás assigns the Schmidts, the Kráners and the Halicses different towns and different tasks, gives them each 1,000 forints and dismisses them. Futaki, however, tells Irimiás that he would rather find a job as a watchman, takes his thousand forints and leaves on his own. The fate of the headmaster remains unclear.


title: Sátántangó

text: The police receive Irimiás’ devastating report about the villagers’ poor abilities and defects and decide to rewrite it in a less vulgar manner before filing it away and leaving.


title: Sátántangó

text: The Doctor returns home after thirteen days in the hospital, unaware that Irimiás has taken the entire community away with him. He sits down to write his notes, assuming that all his neighbors are snoring in their beds. He suddenly hears the same bells toll that woke Futaki at the beginning of the film. The Doctor leaves his house again to investigate the ruined church from which the sound of the bells comes, because the bell tower is not supposed to be working. He discovers a madman inside the ruins striking a bell clapper with a metal rod like a gong and shouting endlessly that the Turks are coming. Frightened, the Doctor returns home and proceeds to board up the window in front of his desk, plunging himself into total darkness as he sits and writes the narration which began the film. The tolling of church bells continues throughout the last part of the film and the displaying of the end credits.


title: Sátántangó

text: The structure of the film is based on that of the novel, which borrows, as its title suggests, from tango. The film is broken into twelve parts, and does not always move chronologically, as it follows the tango scheme of going six moves forward, then six back (hence 6 + 6 parts in total). The twelve parts are titled as follows "(in the original Hungarian and in English translation)":


title: Sátántangó

text: The film is composed of long takes, a trait found in Tarr's work. Tarr's adoption of this style has led many people to draw parallels between Tarr, Andrei Tarkovsky and Theo Angelopoulos, all of whom use very long takes and let their films play out at a slow pace. According to Tarr himself, there are roughly only 150 shots in the entire film. several shots last nearly ten minutes, such as dance sequences, during which the camera rarely moves, but we see the main characters dance and drink. Tarr has said that the cast was actually drunk during these scenes.


title: Sátántangó

text: The opening shot, in which the camera tracks alongside a herd of cows, lasts nearly eight minutes. There are shots depicting main characters walking (and talking) for minutes at a time, unimpeded by a cut.


title: Sátántangó

text: This film is based on literary sources and had a screenplay, but much of it was still improvised on set. Tarr had this to say on the subject of having a screenplay, but on his filming method in general:


title: Sátántangó

text: An omniscient narrator can be heard at several points throughout the film, textually quoting parts of the novel. It also adapts every moment in the book, leaving nothing out.


title: Sátántangó

text: Mihály Víg, who plays Irimiás in the film, was Béla Tarr's film composer since working on "Almanac of Fall" in 1984, until the director's retirement in 2011 with the film "The Turin Horse". Tarr has described his collaboration with Víg, as well as that with his wife and editor Ágnes Hranitzky and cinematographer Fred Kelemen, as "collaborative filmmaking", in which each one of their individual works stands as a relevant production of its own. As with "Damnation" (1987) and all of Tarr's work since 1994, "Sátántangó" utilizes a small set of original compositions by Víg that play at strategic points of the film, to establish connections between themes or situations.


title: Sátántangó

text: For "Sátántangó", Víg composed a type of score that has been described as "carnivalesque" by Tim Brayton. It is composed of melancholic and haunting accordion themes, reminiscent of a slow and repetitive tango. The most prominent musical theme of the film is "Rain II", which is featured at most of the film's signature moments. Three tango suites play once at separate moments of the film, "Galicia" and "May I Have This Tango?" in "The Job of the Spider II"—while the villagers feast as Estike watches from outside the bar—and "Circle Dance II" after the villagers arrive at the new building that is supposed to be their farm, while the camera goes through their faces and emotions. Additionally, the unearthly sound of distant church bells plays several times throughout the film. In the 2009 compilation "Music From the Films of Béla Tarr", all of the mentioned tracks appear, and the latter is listed as "Bell I" and "Bell II."


title: Sátántangó

text: As with the novel upon which it is based, "Sátántangó" deals with strong pessimistic philosophical themes surrounding the absence of authority, the prevalence of nihilism, and the evils of indifference. The opening shot, lasting nearly 8 minutes, depicts a vast herd of cows wandering in a desolate farm and then vanishing in the distance. Although the scene is largely seen as an establishment of the area and the farm's ambiance, several reviewers thought that it symbolizes the outcome of the story. In the chapter "We Are Resurrected", Irimiás and Petrina broker a deal with a Captain that will lead to the inevitable death or imprisonment of the villagers. The Captain does not appear to be comfortable with the lack of empathy and sociopathic conduct of Irimiás. For this reason, the Captain delivers an extended monologue about the importance of authority, quoting Pericles on the subjects of order and freedom. Some authors have judged the figure of the captain to represent a symbol of authoritarianism during the Hungarian People's Republic.


title: Sátántangó

text: Regarding the film's most prominent theme, the character of Irimiás can be seen wielding a God-like influence over the villagers to the point of convincing them of doing anything and to make himself greatly feared by them. In "The News is They Are Coming", Futaki and Mr. Schmidt are forced to cut off their plans to escape with the money of the village's farm as a result of Mrs. Kráner telling them of the discovery of Irimiás' return. Futaki is seen reflecting on the character of Irimiás with great fear, saying at one point "he could turn a pile of cow shit into a castle if he wanted to." The divine influence of Irimiás is symbolized heavily throughout the film. In "Knowing Something", the Doctor catches a glimpse of Irimiás and his companions' arrival before he blacks out in the forest. In the three middle chapters, concerning Estike's death, the villagers burst into an impromptu feast at the tavern in fear of Irimiás' imminent arrival. Precisely because of their fear of him, as well as their inherent mistrust of their neighbours, they fail to see Estike in the woods outside as she first watches from a window, proceeds to cry to the Doctor for help and subsequently kills herself. Further on, Irimiás makes use of his rhetoric to persuade the villagers to hand him all of the money they had earned at the collective farm, pledging them to the guilt of Estike's death. In many scenes, Irimiás appears as a knowledgeable and worldly person capable of manipulating the villagers, but also fearful of people less naive, such as the Captain and, to an extent, Futaki. Repressed fear of true authority from Irimiás can also be seen in "Going to Heaven? Having Nightmares?", when he encounters the ruins where Estike committed suicide. While he is ignorant of the event that took place in the ruins, Irimiás nonetheless bows before them, almost instinctively, as an acknowledgement. The fact that the villagers are aware they have lost all prospects of stability, but are still willing to follow Irimiás due to his leadership, places him in the position of an archetypical False Prophet, with more Satanic traits to him than divine ones.


title: Sátántangó

text: Similarly, the character of the Doctor wields an important symbolic side of the film's themes. Appearing as man of culture and developed interests, the old Doctor is past the point of disillusion of his village, staying indoors most of the time and behaving antisocially. The Doctor only decides to go out after running out of brandy, and his choice is deeply regretted when he is met with hostile weather under the cover of darkness and collapses. In "The Perspective From the Front", the villagers remember they have left the Doctor in the desolate village — although he was actually in the hospital — and Futaki's suggestion is that they leave him behind "to starve." The Doctor seems to be deprived of the villagers' indifference; in spite of his hostile behavior towards Mrs. Kráner, he attempts to help Estike before she commits suicide and is disturbed enough to investigate the ringing of the bells in "The Circle Closes." Out of the entirety of the village's inhabitants, the Doctor seems to be the only one willing to accept death, as he chooses to remain in the abandoned village — perhaps to starve — rather than follow Irimiás.


title: Sátántangó

text: "Sátántangó" has garnered virtually unanimous acclaim from critics since its 1994 release, and grew in reputation among American art house circles following the release of the director-approved 2006 DVD from Facets Video. It currently has a 100% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews. Tarr's direction has been a frequent subject of praise. Ed Halter called Tarr "one of filmdom's criminally undersung geniuses"; in referencing the film's ominous and illusory tones, Halter wrote, "Tarr's overwhelmingly bleak oeuvre makes Robert Bresson seem like an upbeat party animal by comparison." In "The New York Times", Manohla Dargis lauded the director's use of long takes. J. Hoberman of "The Village Voice" described it as "one of the great, largely unseeable movies of the last dozen years," and Jonathan Rosenbaum of the "Chicago Reader" has called the film his favorite of the 1990s. Susan Sontag described "Sátántangó" as "devastating, enthralling for every minute of its seven hours," adding she would be "glad to see it every year for the rest of [her] life."


title: Sátántangó

text: In the 2012 "Sight & Sound" critics' poll of the greatest films ever made, the film tied for 36th place, with 34 critics having voted for it.


title: Sátántangó

text: The film has developed a cult following among certain audiences, due in part to its artistry and length, but also to its having long been unavailable on DVD. The film was only briefly out in VHS and DVD formats in the 1990s, and went out of print very quickly, initiating a period in which only bootlegs transferred from old VHS sources were available. It has since been released in a new transfer supervised by Tarr.


title: Sátántangó

text: "Sátántangó" is rarely screened in theatres due to its lengthy running time. Theatres generally show the film either in two separate parts, or in its entirety with two intermissions. Tarr has expressed a wish for the film to be viewed without any interruption.


title: Sátántangó

text: The scene in "Unraveling” when Estike (Erika Bók) kills her cat led to some difficulties in getting the film shown in the United Kingdom, due to legislation protecting nonhuman animals from cruelty and the British Board of Film Classification refusing to certify such films. Tarr has insisted that there was a veterinarian on the set at all times, and that the cat was under the vet's supervision and was not killed.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel (, , ; ) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel, situated on the shoreline of Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, the city has approximately 45,000 inhabitants (80,000 in the metropolitan area). The city is sometimes referred to historically by the German name ; both the French and German names mean "New Castle". It was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy, then part of the Holy Roman Empire and later under Prussian control from 1707 until 1848, with an interruption during the Napoleonic Wars from 1802 to 1814. In 1848, Neuchâtel became a republic and a canton of Switzerland.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel is a centre of the Swiss watch industry, the site of micro-technology and high-tech industries, and home to research centres and organizations such as the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), and Philip Morris International's "Cube". The apparel company heidi.com established its headquarters in the city.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The official language of Neuchâtel is French. Neuchâtel is a pilot of the Council of Europe and the European Commission Intercultural Cities programme.


title: Neuchâtel

text: "Neuchâtel" is a medieval toponym derived from the "new" (Modern French "neuf") and "castle" (now "château") in reference to the 10th century Neuchâtel Castle. In French, most adjectives, when used attributively, appear after their nouns; however, the leading position of the adjective is a phenomenon widely attested in the north and east of France, as well as in Belgium and in French-speaking Switzerland (Romandy). As with the various other places named Neuchâtel, Neufchâtel, Neufchâteau of northern France and Belgium, this reflects the Germanic influence on Gallo-Romance languages retained in the toponymy today. This contrasts with the Occitan Castelnaus (and the Frenchified Châteauneufs) in the south of France.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Of the other three national languages of Switzerland, the German name for the town is "Neuenburg" , which also translates roughly as "new castle". The longer form "Neuenburg am See" ("Newcastle by the lake") is sometimes used to disambiguate it from the numerous other Neuenburgs, especially Neuenburg am Rhein. The Romansh language uses the French "Neuchâtel", and occasionanally "Neuschatel" and "Neufchâtel"; contemporary Italian largely uses the French name as well, but occasionally the historic "Neocastello" is seen.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Regionally, the Romand (Arpitan) name for the town is "Nôchâtél" in the broad "Orthographe de référence B" and is pronounced "N'tchati" locally, "N'tchatai" in La Sagne, "N'tchaté" in Les Planchettes and "Nchaté" or "Ntchaté" in .


title: Neuchâtel

text: The New Latin name for Neuchâtel is the Greek-derived "Neocomum", and this gives the adjective "neocomensis" which appears on the seal of the University of Neuchâtel (in "Universitas Neocomensis Helvetiorum") and the English adjective Neocomian, a term for a former stratigraphic stage of the Early Cretaceous. Other Latin names seen historically include "Novum castellum" in 1011 (upon the presentation of Neuchâtel Castle by Rudolph III of Burgundy to his wife Ermengarde) and "Novum Castrum" in 1143.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Historic French names included "Nuefchastel" (attested in 1251), "Neufchastel" (1338), and "Neufchatel", with modern "Neuchâtel" in use by 1750. In the Franche-Comté, the city was also called "Neuchâtel-outre-Joux" ("Neuchâtel beyond Joux") to distinguish it from another Neuchâtel in that region, now called Neuchâtel-Urtière.


title: Neuchâtel

text: German names of the town included "Nienburg", "Nuvenburch" (attested in 1033) "Nüwenburg", "Welschen Nüwenburg", "Newenburg am See" ("Newcastle by the lake") and "Welschneuburg", with modern "Neuenburg" established by 1725.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The oldest traces of humans in the municipal area are the remains of a Magdalenian hunting camp, which was dated to 13,000 BC. It was discovered in 1990 during construction of the A5 motorway at Monruz (La Coudre). The site was about below the main road. Around the fire pits carved flints and bones were found. In addition to the flint and bone artifacts three tiny earrings from lignite were found. The earrings may have served as symbols of fertility and represent the oldest known art in Switzerland. This first camp was used by Cro-Magnons to hunt horse and reindeer in the area. Azilian hunters had a camp at the same site at about 11,000 BC. Since the climate had changed, their prey was now deer and wild boar.


title: Neuchâtel

text: During the 19th century, traces of some stilt houses were found in Le Cret near the red church. However, their location was not well documented and the site was lost. In 1999, during construction of the lower station of the funicular railway, which connects the railway station and university, the settlement was rediscovered. It was later determined to be a Cortaillod culture (middle Neolithic) village. According to dendrochronological studies, some of the piles were from 3571 BC.


title: Neuchâtel

text: At Les Favarger a Gallo-Roman and at André Fontaine a small coin depot were discovered. In 1908, an excavation at the mouth of the discovered Gallo-Roman baths from the 2nd and 3rd Centuries AD.


title: Neuchâtel

text: One of the most important Merovingian cemeteries in the canton was discovered at Les Battieux in . In 1982, 38 graves dating from the 7th century were excavated many of which contained silver-inlaid or silver-plated belt buckles. Also in Serrières at the church of Saint-Jean, the remains of a 7th-century shrine were excavated.


title: Neuchâtel

text: In 1011, Rudolph III of Burgundy presented a "Novum castellum" or "new castle" on the lake shore to his wife, Ermengarde. It was long assumed that this new castle replaced an older one, but nothing about its location or design is known. At the time of this gift Neuchâtel was probably the center of a newly created royal court, which was recently developed to complement the other royal estates which managed western estates of the kings of Burgundy.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The first counts of Neuchâtel were named shortly afterwards, and in 1214 their domain was officially dubbed a city.


title: Neuchâtel

text: For three centuries, the County of Neuchâtel flourished, and in 1530, the people of Neuchâtel accepted the Reformation, and their city and territory were proclaimed to be indivisible from then on. Future rulers were required to seek investiture from the citizens.


title: Neuchâtel

text: With increasing power and prestige, Neuchâtel was raised to the level of a principality at the beginning of the 17th century. On the death in 1707 Marie d'Orleans-Longueville, duchess de Nemours and Princess of Neuchâtel, the people had to choose her successor from among fifteen claimants. They wanted their new prince first and foremost to be a Protestant, and also to be strong enough to protect their territory but based far enough away to leave them to their own devices. Louis XIV actively promoted the many French pretenders to the title, but the Neuchâtelois people passed them over in favour of King Frederick I of Prussia, who claimed his entitlement in a rather complicated fashion through the Houses of Orange and Nassau. With the requisite stability assured, Neuchâtel entered its golden age, with commerce and industry (including watchmaking and lace) and banking undergoing steady expansion.


title: Neuchâtel

text: At the turn of the 19th century, the King of Prussia was defeated by Napoleon I and was forced to give up Neuchâtel in order to keep Hanover. Napoleon's field marshal, Berthier, became Prince of Neuchâtel, building roads and restoring infrastructure, but never actually setting foot in his domain. After the fall of Napoleon, Frederick William III of Prussia reasserted his rights by proposing that Neuchâtel be linked with the other Swiss cantons (to exert better influence over all of them). On September 12, 1814, Neuchâtel became the capital of the 21st canton, but also remained a Prussian principality. It took a bloodless revolution in the decades following for Neuchâtel to shake off its princely past and declare itself, on March 1, 1848, a republic within the Swiss Confederation. Prussia yielded its claim to the canton following the 1856–1857 Neuchâtel Crisis.


title: Neuchâtel

text: On 1 January 2021 the former municipalities of Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux and Valangin merged into the municipality of Neuchâtel. Corcelles-Cormondrèche was first mentioned in the historical record in 1092 as "Curcellis". Around 1220 it was mentioned as "Cormundreschi". Peseux was first mentioned in 1195 as "apud Pusoz" though this comes from a 15th-century copy of an earlier document. In 1278 it was mentioned as "de Posoys". Valangin was first mentioned in 1241 as "de Valengiz".


title: Neuchâtel

text: Before the 2021 merger of municipalities, Neuchâtel had an area, , of . Of this area, or 10.2% was used for agricultural purposes, while or 53.8% was forested. Of the rest of the land, or 35.5% was settled (buildings or roads), or 0.2% was either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% was unproductive land.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 18.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 10.1%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.3%. Out of the forested land, 51.8% of the total land area was heavily forested and 2.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.4% was used for growing crops and 8.0% was pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The city is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, a few kilometers east of Peseux and west of Saint-Blaise. Above Neuchâtel, roads and train tracks rise steeply into the folds and ridges of the Jura range—known within the canton as the "Montagnes neuchâteloises". Like the continuation of the mountains on either side, this is wild and hilly country, not exactly mountainous compared with the high Alps further south but still characterized by remote, windswept settlements and deep, rugged valleys. It is also the heartland of the celebrated Swiss watchmaking industry, centered on the once-famous towns of La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, which both rely heavily on their horological past to draw in visitors. The river Doubs marks for a part the border with France, set down in a gorge and forming along its path an impressive waterfall, the , and lake, the Lac des Brenets.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The municipality was the capital of Neuchâtel District, until the district level of administration was eliminated on 1 January 2018.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is "Or, an Eagle displayed Sable beaked, langued and membered Gules, escutcheon Or, on a pale Gules three Chevrons Argent."


title: Neuchâtel

text: The Municipal Council (, CC) constitutes the executive government of the City of Neuchâtel and operates as a collegiate authority. It is composed of five councillors (), each presiding over administrational sections and services comprising the related commissions. The president of the executive department acts as mayor (') and is nominated annually in a tournus by the collegiate itself. In the mandate period January 2021 – June 2022 (') the Municipal Council is presided by " Violaine Blétry-de Montmollin. Departmental tasks, coordination measures and implementation of laws decreed by the General Council (parliament) are carried by the Municipal Council. The regular election of the Municipal Council by any inhabitant valid to vote is held every four years. Any resident of Neuchâtel allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the Municipal Council. Due to the constitution by canton of Neuchâtel not only Swiss citizens have the right to vote and elect and being elected on communal and cantonal level, but also foreigners with a residence in the canton of Neuchâtel and being resident in the canton of Neuchâtel for at least one year for communal elections and votes, and at least five years of residence in the canton for cantonal elections and votes. The current mandate period is from 2021 to 2024. The delegates are selected by means of a system of proportional representation.


title: Neuchâtel

text: , Neuchâtel's Municipal Council is made up of two representatives of the PS/SP (Social Democratic Party), two representatives of the PLR/FDP (), and one member of the PES/GPS (Green Party). The last regular election was held on 25 October 2020.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The General Council (, CG), the city parliament, holds legislative power. It is made up of 41 members, with elections held every four years. The General Council decrees regulations and by-laws that are executed by the Municipal Council and the administration. The delegates are selected by means of a system of proportional representation.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The sessions of the General Council are public. Unlike members of the Municipal Council, members of the General Council are not politicians by profession, and they are paid a fee based on their attendance. Any resident of Neuchâtel allowed to vote can be elected as a member of the General Council. Due to the constitution of the canton of Neuchâtel not only Swiss citizen have the right to vote and elect and be elected on the communal level, but also foreigners in the canton of Neuchâtel having been resident in the canton of Neuchâtel for at least one year for communal elections and votes, and at least five years of residence in the canton for cantonal elections and votes. The CG holds its meetings in the Town Hall ('), in the old city on '.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The last regular election of the General Council was held on 25 October 2020 for the mandate period (') from 2020 to 2024. Currently the General Council consist of 12 members of The Liberals (PLR/FDP), 11 ' members (an alliance of the Green Party (PES/GPS) and others), 10 Social Democratic Party (PS/SP), 5 members of the Green Liberals (pvl/glp), 2 members of the left party ', and one of the Swiss Party of Labour (PST-POP/PdA) (').


title: Neuchâtel

text: In the 2015 federal election the most popular party was the PS which received 29.3% of the vote. The next four most popular parties were the PLR (22.8%), the UDC (13.6%), the Green Party (12.1%), and the Swiss Party of Labour (10.1%). In the federal election, a total of 8,136 voters were cast, and the voter turnout was 41.4%.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel has a population () of . , 32.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 3.9%. It has changed at a rate of 2.4% due to migration and at a rate of 1% due to births and deaths.


title: Neuchâtel

text: , the population was 47.7% male and 52.3% female. The population was made up of 10,371 Swiss men (31.5% of the population) and 5,344 (16.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 12,366 Swiss women (37.5%) and 4,892 (14.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 8,558 or about 26.0% were born in Neuchâtel and lived there in 2000. There were 5,134 or 15.6% who were born in the same canton, while 7,744 or 23.5% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 10,349 or 31.4% were born outside of Switzerland.


title: Neuchâtel

text: , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 19.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.6%.


title: Neuchâtel

text: , there were 14,143 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 14,137 married individuals, 2,186 widows or widowers and 2,448 individuals who are divorced.


title: Neuchâtel

text: , there were 15,937 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household. There were 7,348 households that consist of only one person and 547 households with five or more people. , a total of 15,447 apartments (89.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,429 apartments (8.3%) were seasonally occupied and 311 apartments (1.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.5 new units per 1000 residents.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Most of the population () speaks French (25,881 or 78.6%) as their first language, German is the second most common (1,845 or 5.6%) and Italian is the third (1,421 or 4.3%). There are about six people who speak Romansh.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel was historically Protestant, but Catholics have since formed a plurality due to immigration. From the , 10,809 or 32.8% were Roman Catholic, while 9,443 or 28.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 374 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.14% of the population), there were 80 individuals (or about 0.24% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 1,756 individuals (or about 5.34% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 58 individuals (or about 0.18% of the population) who were Jewish, and 1,723 (or about 5.23% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 99 individuals who were Buddhist, 100 individuals who were Hindu and 59 individuals who belonged to another church. 7,549 (or about 22.94% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 1,717 individuals (or about 5.22% of the population) did not answer the question.


title: Neuchâtel

text: In 2014 the crime rate, of crimes listed in the Swiss Criminal Code, in Neuchâtel was 140.4 per thousand residents. During the same period, the rate of drug crimes was 16.3 per thousand residents. The rate of violations of immigration, visa and work permit laws was 5.7 per thousand residents.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel is a centre of the watch industry, and is also the site of micro-technology and high-tech industries. It is home to research centres and organizations such as the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), Microcity innovation pole, University of applied Sciences HE-Arc in Engineering and also Philip Morris International's "Cube". The apparel company heidi.com also established its headquarters in the city.


title: Neuchâtel

text: , Neuchâtel had an unemployment rate of 7.5%. , there were 46 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 14 businesses involved in this sector. 5,658 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 261 businesses in this sector. 20,472 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 1,955 businesses in this sector. There were 16,353 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which women made up 45.4% of the workforce.


title: Neuchâtel

text: , there were 15,535 workers who commuted into the municipality and 6,056 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.6 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 33.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 43.4% used a private car.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel is home to the French-speaking University of Neuchâtel. The university has five faculties and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, law, economics and theology. For the 2005–2006 academic year, 3,595 students (1,987 women and 1,608 men) were enrolled. The Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences is the largest school of those that comprise the university of Neuchâtel with 1,500 students. Some courses at the University are taught in English.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel is home to eight libraries: the Bibliothèque de la Faculté des Lettres, the "Bibliothèque de l'Institut d'ethnologie et du Musée d'ethnographie", the "Bibliothèque de la Faculté des Sciences", the "Bibliothèque de droit", the "Bibliothèque des sciences économiques", the "Bibliothèque de la Faculté de théologie", the "Service de coordination des bibliothèques" and the "Haute école Arc - Santé". There was a combined total () of 736,773 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 58,427 items were loaned out.


title: Neuchâtel

text: In Neuchâtel about 11,076 or (33.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 5,948 or (18.1%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a "Fachhochschule"). Of the 5,948 who completed tertiary schooling, 43.6% were Swiss men, 28.4% were Swiss women, 16.4% were non-Swiss men and 11.6% were non-Swiss women.


title: Neuchâtel

text: In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory kindergarten, followed by five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend. During the 2010–11 school year, there were 27 kindergarten classes with a total of 527 students in Neuchâtel. In the same year, there were 78 primary classes with a total of 1,424 students. Secondary schools include the Lycée Jean-Piaget.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Apart from one International Montessori school for kids up to age 11 offering an English and a French class there is no international school in Neuchâtel. Neuchâtel Junior College was founded in 1956 as a non-profit foundation of the Ville de Neuchâtel to provide a unique international education. Neuchâtel Junior College is a one-year school annually welcoming over 100 students in their final pre-university year to study the Ontario Grade 12 curriculum as well as Advanced Placement.


title: Neuchâtel

text: , there were 3,859 students in Neuchâtel who came from another municipality, while 346 residents attended schools outside the municipality.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel has local public transport provided by Les Transports Publics du Littoral Neuchâtelois (TN), which operates the Neuchâtel trolleybus system, a funicular, and an interurban light rail line to Boudry. The total length of the TN network is . It serves 78,400 people (more than half using it on a daily basis) and in 2007 transported 17,670,000 travelers.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel railway station forms part of one of Switzerland's most important railway lines, the Jura foot railway (Olten–Genève-Aéroport), which is operated by the Swiss Federal Railways. The station is also a junction for several other lines, including a cross-border line served by the TGV (High Speed Train), with direct trains linking Neuchâtel to Paris in four hours.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel's airport is about away from the center of the city and it takes 9 minutes to get into town with the direct tramway. It is a small airport that does not offer commercial flights. Neuchâtel is also linked to four international airports: Bern, Geneva, Basel and Zürich which are respectively , , and away by car. Geneva and Zürich airports both have direct trains to Neuchâtel, connecting the cities respectively in 1h 17min and 1h 49min.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The Société de Navigation sur les Lacs de Neuchâtel et Morat SA is the boat company which serves 17 towns on Lake Neuchâtel, 6 towns on Lake Murten and 7 towns on Lake Bienne from 6:30am to 9pm. Some boats offer free wireless internet connections.


title: Neuchâtel

text: There are 34 sites in Neuchâtel that are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire old city of Neuchâtel, the urban village of Corcelles the small city of Valangin, the Bussy/Le Sorgereux region and the La Borcarderie region are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel's Old Town has about 140 street fountains, a handful of which date from the 16th century. The Place des Halles is overlooked by Louis XIV architecture – shuttered façades and the turreted orioles of the 16th-century Maison des Halles. To the east, on Rue de l’Hôpital, is the grand 1790 Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall), designed by Louis XVI's chief architect Pierre-Adrien Paris.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The center of the Old Town is located at the top of the hill, accessed by the steeply winding Rue du Château. The Collégiale church, begun in 1185 and consecrated in 1276, is an example of early Gothic. The east end of the church has three Norman apses. The main entrance, to the west, is crowned by a giant rose window of stained glass. Within the vaulted interior, the transept is lit by a lantern tower. The Cenotaph of the Counts of Neuchâtel is located on the north wall of the choir. Begun in 1372, and the only artwork of its kind to survive north of the Alps, the monument comprises fifteen near-life-size painted statues of various knights and ladies from Neuchâtel's past, framed by 15th-century arches and gables. Beside the church is the Castle, begun in the 12th century and still in use as the offices of the cantonal government. The nearby turreted Prison Tower, which is the remains of a medieval bastion, has panoramic views over the town, along with models of Neuchâtel in different eras.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel has several museums, including the Laténium, an archeology museum focusing on the prehistorical times in the region of Neuchâtel and Hauterive, particularly the La Tène culture, with the eponym site being a few kilometers away; the Musée d'ethnographie de Neuchâtel (MEN), an ethnography museum; and the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, which houses the Automates Jaquet-Droz (Jaquet-Droz Mechanical Figurines).


title: Neuchâtel

text: During the summer of 2002, Neuchâtel was one of five sites which held Expo.02, the sixth Swiss national exhibition, which was subject to financial controversy. The Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival is held every year to celebrate fantastic cinema from around the world. The festival of the Fête des Vendanges, representing the wine harvest, is held traditionally in late September.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Neuchâtel Xamax is the most important football club based in Neuchâtel. It was created in 1970 through a merger between FC Cantonal (1906) and FC Xamax (1916). The club plays in Swiss Super League, the highest Swiss football league. The club plays its home matches at the Stade de la Maladière.


title: Neuchâtel

text: HC Uni Neuchâtel plays in the MySports League, the third tier of the Swiss hockey league system. Their home games are held in the 7,000-seat Littoral.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Union Neuchâtel Basket is the city's top basketball team, which plays in the Championnat LNA, Switzerland's only professional basketball league.


title: Neuchâtel

text: William Ritter, Jean Piaget, Marcel Junod, Robert Miles and Yves Larock were all born in Neuchâtel. Friedrich Dürrenmatt lived in Neuchâtel the last 30 years of his life. Prens Sabahaddin, was an Ottoman sociologist and thinker of the Ottoman dynasty, lived in Neuchâtel the last 25 years of his life.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Canadian illustrator John Howe, well known for his illustrations of J. R. R. Tolkien's work and his participation in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy as chief conceptual designer, also lives in the Swiss city. It was also the site of a secret first meeting between French novelist Honoré de Balzac and the married woman who later became his wife, Eveline Hanska.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Roger Schutz, founder of the Taizé Community in France, was born on 12 May 1915 at the village of Provence near Neuchâtel. He was stabbed to death on 16 August 2005 by a mentally deranged woman during a prayer meeting in Taizé's Church of Reconciliation.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The de Pury family, a Prussian noble family, is from Neuchâtel. Swiss merchant and philanthropist David de Pury, a native of Neuchâtel, left a large fortune to the city for public works and charities. His relative, James-Ferdinand de Pury, also a merchant and philanthropist, bequest his villa to house the town's ethnography museum. Other members of the family who were born or resided in the town include explorer and colonist Jean-Pierre Pury, winemaker and diplomat Frédéric Guillaume de Pury, painter Edmond Jean de Pury, and biblical scholar Albert de Pury.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The de Castello family, a French noble family, including winemakers Hubert de Castella and Paul de Castella, is from Neuchâtel. The de Montmollin family, including the Protestant minister David-François de Montmollin, are also from the town. Frédéric Louis Godet (1812-1900) was another Swiss Protestant theologian who was born and died in Neuchâtel; as was Jean-Frédéric Osterwald (1663–1747), a further Protestant pastor.


title: Neuchâtel

text: French counter-revolutionary Louis Fauche-Borel was born and died in Neuchâtel, and François Bigot, the last Intendant of New France, relocated to there after being exiled from France.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Abraham Louis Breguet, the founder of the Breguet watch company and an esteemed inventor, often regarded as the father of modern horology, was born in Neuchâtel. The company still maintains its headquarters at L'Abbaye, about 40 km southwest of Neuchâtel.


title: Neuchâtel

text: The psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Silvio Fanti was born in Neuchâtel in 1919. He founded and developed Micropsychoanalysis, a new school of psychoanalysis. Another important psychiatrist, Gottlieb Burckhardt, practiced in Neuchâtel. Alexander Agassiz (1835–1910), was an American scientist and engineer from the town.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Didier Burkhalter, 94th President of the Swiss Confederation was born in Neuchâtel, as was Logitech founder Daniel Borel.


title: Neuchâtel

text: Footballers Max Abegglen, Jayson Leutwiler, and Yann Kasaï, as well as Swiss Olympic field hockey player Albert Piaget were all born in Neuchâtel. It is also the current residence of French tennis players Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon and Florent Serra, as well as the Mexican Formula 1 driver Sergio Pérez, and the artist and designer Ini Archibong. Anthropologist, artist, and filmmaker Véréna Paravel was also born in Neuchâtel.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Ford Focus Mk 2 is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from 2005 to 2010. It was launched at the Paris Motor Show on September 25, 2004, as a three and five-door hatchback and an estate, although the new car was previewed, in 4-door saloon form, as the 'Focus Concept' developed by Ford Europe at the Beijing Motor Show in mid-2005.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Mk 2, codenamed C307, uses the Ford C1 platform which is shared with the Volvo S40, V50 and C70, Mazda3 and Focus C-MAX. Ford calls this platform sharing programme "Global Shared Technologies".


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The basic suspension design, which contributed much to the Mk 1's success, was carried over largely unchanged from its predecessor which, along with a 10% stiffer bodyshell, offers a better ride according to Ford. The same body styles as the Mk 1 Focus were offered, though the saloon did not appear until mid-2005.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Focus Mk 2 is much larger and considerably heavier than its predecessor with a 25 mm (1 in) increase in wheelbase 168 mm (6.6 in) longer. It is 8 mm (0.3 in) taller and 138 mm (5.4 in) wider. As a result, the interior and boot space have increased. New technologies include a KeyFree system, a solar-reflect windshield, adaptive front lighting, Bluetooth hands-free phones and voice control for audio, telephone and climate control systems.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: It also features either a Durashift 6-speed manual, Durashift 4-speed automatic transmission, the all-new Durashift advanced manual transmission or just the standard manual.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The perceived build quality and finish of the interior was another important step up from the Mk 1 - an area where the original car was criticized in comparison to the Volkswagen Golf Mk4 which had defined a much higher standard for the class overall. As a consequence, the Mk 2 featured a padded, soft feel dashboard, damped action for the glovebox, interior grab handles, chrome finish interior door handles, more positive action switchgear, and with better attention paid to material quality and overall finish compared to the Mk 1.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: Stylistically, the Mk 2's styling features the same design language found in the Mondeo and Fiesta. Although still recognisable as a Focus the new car uses styling features from the abandoned B-Proposal for the "original" Focus which never reached production.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Focus Mk 2 was also built in Silverton, South Africa for export to Australia and New Zealand. However shortly after launch, Ford New Zealand surrendered its supply to satisfy Australia's high demand, and now receives vehicles from the German factory in Saarlouis. In 2006 the Mk 2 made its debut in the Americas with its launch on the Mexican market as the 4-door saloon or the sporty 3-door in ST trim. The Mk 2 Focus is now available alongside base versions of the Mk I model in some other markets worldwide such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela. In Argentina, the Mk 1 Focus was built alongside the Mk 2 in the Pacheco Factory until 2008, and was discontinued in 2010, when the Mk 2 finally replaced it.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: In the U.S. and Canada, the Mk 1 Focus was offered in a redesigned form as either a saloon or coupe, the hatchbacks and wagon having been dropped after the 2008 redesign. Sales of the coupe model have been only a small fraction of the previous 3-door hatchback, despite rising sales of the Focus saloon and compact cars in general.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The new car has gained the best ever Euro NCAP ratings for its class (5 stars for adult protection, 4 of 5 for child protection and 2 of 4 for pedestrian protection) in 2004, beating such contenders as the Vauxhall/Opel Astra and Volkswagen Golf Mk5, including full (16/16) marks for the front impact test.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Focus in its most basic Latin American configuration received 4 stars for adult occupants and 3 stars for toddlers from Latin NCAP in 2011.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The engine line up for the Mk 2 is a mixture of old and new. The 1.4 L and 1.6 L all aluminium Zetec-SE (codenamed Sigma) engines from the previous generation Focus were heavily upgraded and renamed Duratec, with the addition of 1.6 L Duratec Ti-VCT engine with variable valve timing. For the South African market, the 1.6L BZ inline-four engine was used in their Mk2. For the 2009 facelift it was replaced by the 1.8 Duratec.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The "Duratorq" Diesel engine in 'Tiger' Duratorq 1.6 L and editions, 'Lynx' Duratorq 1.8L diesel carried over from the previous model and the diesel in 2.0 L form rounds off the range in standard Focus guise (this is a different unit to the diesel in the Mondeo).


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The main trim levels of the pre-facelift Focus Mk 2 in the United Kingdom are listed below. For other countries, the range is either a cut down version of this list (e.g., for New Zealand) or it is almost completely different altogether (e.g., for South Africa, which uses trim levels Ambiente, Si and Trend, or Australia, which continues to use the old CL/LX/Zetec/Ghia trim levels)


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: From September 2006, Ford revised the standard trim specifications slightly, to allow for the introduction of further options called X-Packs.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: In the People's Republic of China, the Focus has been built by Chang'an Ford since April 2005. It is available as a five-door hatchback or four-door saloon. Engines are 1.8 and 2.0 petrol.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: •Trend (2008-2013) Sigma 1.6 110cv, TDCi 1.8 Turbo Diesel. 5-Door Hatchcback. 5 Speed manual transmission


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: •EXE Trend (2008-2013) Sigma 1.6 110cv, TDCi 1.8 Turbo Diesel. 4-Door Sedan. 5 Speed manual transmission


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: •Trend Plus (2008-2013) Duratec HE 2.0 140cv, TDCi 1.8 Turbo Diesel. 5-Door Hatchback. 5 Speed manual transmission


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: •EXE Trend Plus (2008-2013) Duratec HE 2.0 140cv, TDCi 1.8 Turbo Diesel. 4-Door Sedan. 5 Speed manual transmission


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: •Ghia (2008-2013) Duratec HE 2.0 140cv, TDCi 1.8 Turbo Diesel. 5-Door Hatchback. 5 Speed manual transmission/4 Speed Automatic


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: •EXE Ghia (2008-2013) Duratec HE 2.0 140cv, TDCi 1.8 Turbo Diesel. 4-Door Sedan. 5 Speed manual transmission/4 Speed Automatic


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: A minor facelift of the Mk2 Focus went on sale in Australia, China and South Africa in 2008. Part of the update included a new front bumper that was shared with the Cabriolet/Coupe, integrated indicators into the side mirrors and new style alloys for Zetec and Ghia models. All models also received dual airbags and ABS with EBD standard, as well as the addition of new safety packages which included; front side airbags, curtain airbags, stability & traction control and Emergency Brake Assist.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: Ford unveiled a facelifted Mk2 Ford Focus at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2007. Sales began in the United Kingdom in February 2008. Changes include:


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: Late 2008 saw the introduction of the 'Zetec S' trim, adding a body kit of front and rear spoilers, side skirts and the large roof spoiler from the ST. It includes aluminium pedals, a silver hand brake cover, and an optional WRC pack which adds flag decals and WRC scuff plates.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: Prices were similar (if not identical) to that of the pre-facelift Focus (Prices being at least £250 more, the price of stability control as an option on the previous model, now included as standard). This was as its lead at the top of the British car sales charts was cut, by the Vauxhall Astra in the previous years.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: Ford collaborated with singer and Strictly Come Dancing Winner Alesha Dixon in January 2008 to create an exclusive special edition remix and video to celebrate the launch of the new Ford Focus.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: In June 2009, the Focus Saloon was scrapped in the United Kingdom, and the rest of Western Europe (although it was still available in RHD in South Africa, Ireland & Australia). However, sales continued until 2011 in Continental Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, China & Taiwan (although produced in LHD). Production ended in 2011, but for some markets, such as Brazil, along with China & Argentina, it was still sold as the Focus Classic or Focus until production ended in 2014, but China still sells it under the name of Focus Classic.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: In 2005 Ford unveiled a hot hatch version of the Mk 2 Focus. Called Focus ST, and available in either three or five-door hatchback variant, the car uses the Volvo Modular engine, a turbocharged 2.5 L 5-cylinder engine producing . Ford however rebadged it as the Ford Duratec ST, applied variable valve timing to both camshafts, applied a lighter flywheel and performed a throttle recalibration.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Ford Focus Mk 2 ST is also known as the XR5 Turbo in the Australian and New Zealand market, but is sold as a five-door hatchback only. In 2008 Ford, in conjunction with Mountune Racing, unveiled a power upgrade kit which raises the power output to . The kit consists of: a K&N panel filter, larger intercooler, and a re-map. Although the platform is the same, no saloon version was ever released.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Focus Coupé-Cabriolet, a two-piece retractable hardtop, was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in February 2006 and went on sale in October 2006. Originally it was previewed at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show. Pininfarina performs final assembly.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: In February 2008, Ford revealed a new Focus Coupé-Cabriolet sporting the new 'Kinetic Design' front end of the generic Ford Focus. Notably however, unlike the generic Focus models, the side and rear body panels were not changed, and neither were the door mirrors upgraded to the new-style units, as on the rest of the new Focus models. Nor were bodyside mouldings removed, as with the rest of the Focus range. Some press outlets had expected such changes in line with the rest of the range.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: Shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2007 as part of the facelifted range, the Focus ECOnetic is an emissions-friendly model, similar to Volkswagen's "BlueMotion" range, using a 109 PS 1.6 Duratorq TDCi engine with a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF). Aerodynamic features including low-resistance tyres contribute to fuel consumption figure with average CO emissions of 115g/km.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Focus X Road, a Focus Wagon with crossover look which featured a new body kit consisting of revised front and rear bumpers with a matching black finish on the doors and side panels, was introduced at the AutoRAI Amsterdam in April 2009. The X Road was only available in The Netherlands with 1.8 Flexifuel engine and limited to 300 units. However, a month later the X Road also made its debut at the Barcelona International Motor Show and later made its debut in other left-hand drive countries with the regular petrol and diesel engines.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: On December 17, 2007, Ford of Europe confirmed that a Mk 2 Focus RS would be launched in 2009. The press release also notes that a concept version of the RS is due in mid-2008. Contrary to numerous rumours and speculation the RS was announced by Ford to have a conventional FWD layout with an upgraded Duratec ST engine with 305PS Duratec RS, gearbox, suspension, and LSD. As announced, the Focus RS MK2 hit the road on 5 January 2009.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: When Ford completed the production run of the Mk I, Ford of Britain's managing director Paul Thomas said "We always knew Focus RS would be a sales winner, but we could never have predicted its fantastic reception and the effect it had in re-igniting passion for the Ford RS brand."


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: In 2008, Ford revealed the new Focus RS in "concept" form at the British International Motor Show. The Duratec RS engine was upgraded to produce at 6500 rpm and of torque at 2250-4500 rpm. 0 to acceleration was quoted to be under 6 seconds. The RS uses a modified Volvo-engineered inline-five engine found in the Focus ST. A larger BorgWarner K16 turbo now delivers up to of boost. A new air-to-air intercooler has been developed as a complement, while the forged crankshaft, silicon-aluminum pistons, graphite-coated cylinder bores, a compression ratio of 8.5:1 and variable valve timing also up the power output. The car remains front wheel drive, but to reduce torque steer uses a Quaife Automatic Torque Biasing LSD, and a specially designed MacPherson strut suspension at the front called RevoKnuckle, which provides a lower scrub radius and kingpin offset than traditional designs while avoiding the increased weight and complexity of double wishbone and multi-link suspension setups. Ford UK claim: "It's as close as you'll come to driving a full-spec rally car (Ford Focus RS WRC).


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: Focus RS available in three expressive exterior colours: Ultimate Green, Performance Blue and Frozen White.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: Focus RS has an exclusive 'Ultimate' Green classic 1970s Ford Le Mans Green of the Ford Escort RS1600 era.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Focus RS500 was launched in April 2010. A limited production run of 500 units (101 of them for Britain) were produced. It has a turbocharged 2.5 L5 petrol engine which produces and can do 0-62 mph in 5.4 seconds, with a top speed of making it the fastest Focus yet.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The new model was given the RS500 designation to highlight its strictly limited production run of 500 individually numbered vehicles, all of which were offered for customers to purchase. Each RS500 carries a metal plaque on the centre console, hand-engraved with a unique identification number from 001 to 500.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: To provide the RS500 with a fitting power unit, the turbocharged Duratec RS 2.5-litre engine from the standard Focus RS has been upgraded to deliver significantly more top-end and mid-range power. Peak power is increased by to at 6,000 rpm, while torque has been increased from 440 to , delivered across a broad speed range from 2,500 to 4,500 rpm.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The changes include a significantly larger air-to-air intercooler to deliver a cooler, denser charge; a larger air filter box for increased airflow; larger diameter exhaust downpipe; and an uprated fuel pump, along with an updated software calibration to optimise the performance of the revised engine.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: Preliminary performance figures for the Focus RS500 indicate that it achieves 0–100 km/h in 5.6 seconds, with a top speed similar to the in the standard RS.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Focus RS500 engine has been modified by a team from Ford TeamRS in partnership with Revolve Technologies, the automotive engineering firm which develops Ford approved performance upgrades through its Mountune Performance brand.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: All Focus RS500 vehicles will be painted in a standard Panther Black metallic colour, before being shipped to a dedicated 3M facility near Frankfurt, Germany, where a special film will be applied to the bodywork to create the matte black effect.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: A prototype Focus battery electric vehicle was demonstrated in August 2008. The variant, sometimes known as the "Focus EV".


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The concept car unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show was developed to participate in the UK Government's "Ultra-Low Carbon Vehicles" demonstration initiative in early 2010. A consortium of Ford, Scottish and Southern Energy and University of Strathclyde will use a fleet of 15 Ford Focus BEVs and a charging infrastructure in and around the London Borough of Hillingdon from early 2010. This new BEV demonstration fleet is being developed partly with public funding from the UK Government's Technology Strategy Board (TSB) which promotes innovative industry-led projects that reduce CO.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: As a publicity stunt, the Focus BEV was featured on "The Jay Leno Show" in a segment called "Green Car Challenge" in which celebrity guests drove the electric car.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Focus RS WRC is a version built for the BP Ford World Rally Team by Ford and M-Sport, developed to compete in the World Rally Championship. The RS stands for "Rallye Sport" and the WRC for "World Rally Car", the car's FIA specification.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: Like all contemporary World Rally Cars, the car is heavily modified from the production version, with which it shares only the basic shape and some parts of the bodyshell. The car features four wheel drive, rather than the front wheel drive of the road car. The engine used in the 2007 Focus WRC is based on Ford's 2.0 Litre Duratec from other models in the Focus range as rallying rules do not permit the standard 2.5 Litre engine of the Focus ST or road going RS. As with most rally cars, the 2.0 Litre engine is heavily modified and performance was increased using a turbocharger. Also the 2009 Ford Focus WRC uses a Ford 1998cc Pipo built l4 Duratec WRC engine (Four Cylinders, 16 Valves, Bore 85 mm and Stroke 88 mm), Pi electronic engine Management system, Garrett Turbocharger (with required 34 mm inlet restrictor), air intercooler, and a catalytic converter.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: From the last rally of the 2005 season, Ford campaigned a brand new model, the Focus RS WRC 06, following the launch of the new road-going version of the car. The engine chosen for this Focus was a Duratec motor developed by the French engine specialist Pipo Moteur. The car took twelve world rally wins, starting with the 2006 season opener Monte Carlo Rally in the hands of Marcus Grönholm.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Focus RS WRC 07 is based on the 2006 model, and according to Ford's technical director Christian Loriaux "the changes on the new car are mainly to save weight and to improve efficiency, driveability and performance at the bottom end of the range." The car debuted very successfully at the 2007 Rally Finland as Ford's Finns Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen finished in first and second. It later made history at the 2008 Swedish Rally when Jari-Matti Latvala used the car to become youngest-ever driver to win a world rally.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The Focus RS WRC 08 is based on the 2007 model, Ford Focus WRC 08 seen here for the first time with its new front aero design at the Rallye Deutschland 2008 Shakedown. This is the first time Hirvonen and Latvala have driven the 08 car with the new front styling.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The 2008 version of the Focus RS WRC includes design style changes as well as engine improvements. Style changes to the grill area reflect the looks of the recently previewed Focus RS Mk II road sport car.


title: Ford Focus (second generation, Europe)

text: The rally car Focus RS WRC won four times in 2008 and has 36 WRC victories to its credit since the original model debuted in 1999.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Hellenistic philosophy is a time-frame for Western philosophy and Ancient Greek philosophy corresponding to the Hellenistic period. It is purely external and encompasses disparate intellectual content. There is no single philosophical school or current that is either representative or dominating for the period.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: The classical period in Ancient Greek philosophy had begun with Socrates (c. 470–399 BC), whose student Plato had taught Aristotle, who, in turn, had tutored Alexander. The period began with the death of Alexander in 323 BC (followed by the death of Aristotle the next year in 322 BC). While the classical thinkers were mostly based in Athens, at end of the Hellenistic period philosophers relocated at Rome or Alexandria. The shift followed Rome's military victories from the middle of the second century. Sulla's capture of Athens in 87 led to destructions and the shipping of Aristotle's manuscripts to Rome. The end of the Hellenistic period does not correspond with anything philosophical but gradually during the Roman Imperial period the predominance of Ancient Roman philosophy becomes perceptible.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: The founders of the Academy, the Peripatetics, Cynicism and Cyrenaicism had all been students of Socrates, while Stoicism was indirectly influenced by him. Socrates' thought was therefore influential for many of these schools of the period, leading them to focus on ethics and how to reach "eudaimonia" (the good life), and some of them followed his example of using self-discipline and autarky to this end. According to A. C. Grayling, the greater insecurity and loss of autonomy of the era drove some to use philosophy as a means to seek inner security from the external world. This interest in using philosophy to improve life was captured in Epicurus' claim that "empty are the words of that philosopher who offers therapy for no human suffering".


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: The epistemology of the Epicureans was empiricist, with knowledge being ultimately sourced from the senses. Epicurus argued that sensory information is never false, though it may be misleading sometimes, and that "If you fight against all sensations, you will not have a standard against to which judge even those of them you say are mistaken". He responded to an objection to empiricism made by Plato in "Meno", according to which one cannot search for information without having some pre-existing idea of what to search for, hence meaning that knowledge must precede experience. The Epicurean response is that "prolepsis" (preconceptions) are general concepts which allow particular things to be recognised, and that these emerge from repeated experiences of similar things.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Platonism represents the philosophy of Socrates' student, Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it. While Plato himself was not a Hellenistic philosopher, the Platonic Academy which he founded continued into the Hellenistic Period until its building was destroyed by the Roman general Sulla in 86 BC.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Early Platonism, known as the "Old Academy" begins with Plato, followed by Speusippus (Plato's nephew), who succeeded him as the head of the school (until 339 BC), and Xenocrates (until 313 BC). Both of them sought to fuse Pythagorean speculations on number with Plato's theory of forms.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Academic skepticism is the period of ancient Platonism dating from around 266 BC, when Arcesilaus became head of the Platonic Academy, until around 90 BC, when Antiochus of Ascalon rejected skepticism, although individual philosophers, such as Favorinus and his teacher Plutarch continued to defend Academic skepticism after this date. The Academic skeptics maintained that knowledge of things is impossible. Ideas or notions are never true; nevertheless, there are degrees of truth-likeness, and hence degrees of belief, which allow one to act. The school was characterized by its attacks on the Stoics and on the Stoic dogma that convincing impressions led to true knowledge.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Around 90 BC, Antiochus of Ascalon rejected skepticism, making way for the period known as Middle Platonism, in which Platonism was fused with certain Peripatetic and many Stoic dogmas. In Middle Platonism, the Platonic Forms were not transcendent but immanent to rational minds, and the physical world was a living, ensouled being, the World-Soul. The eclectic nature of Platonism during this time is shown by its incorporation into Pythagoreanism (Numenius of Apamea) and into Jewish philosophy (Philo of Alexandria)


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Neoplatonism, or "Plotinism", is a school of religious and mystical philosophy founded by Plotinus in the 3rd century AD and based on the teachings of Plato and the other Platonists. The summit of existence was the One or the Good, the source of all things. In virtue and meditation the soul had the power to elevate itself to attain union with the One, the true function of human beings. Non-Christian Neoplatonists used to attack Christianity until Christians such as Augustine, Boethius, and Eriugena adopted Neoplatonism.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Cyrenaicism was founded in the fourth century BC by Aristippus (c. 435–356), who was a student of Socrates. Aristippus the Younger, the grandson of the founder, argued that the reason pleasure was good was that it was evident in human behavior from the youngest age, because this made it natural and therefore good (the so-called "cradle argument"). The Cyrenaics also believed that present pleasure freed one from anxiety of the future and regrets of the past, leaving one at peace of mind. These ideas were taken further by Anniceris (fl. 300 BC), who expanded pleasure to include things like friendship and honour. Theodorus (c. 340–250) disagreed with this, and instead argued that social ties should be cut and self-sufficiency be espoused instead. Hegesias of Cyrene (fl. 290) on the other hand claimed that life could ultimately not be overall pleasurable.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: The Cynics thought was based on living with bare necessities and in accordance with nature. The first Cynic was Antisthenes (c. 446–366 BC), who was a student of Socrates. He introduced the ideas of ascetism and opposition to social norms. His follower was Diogenes (c. 412–323 BC), who followed in this direction. Instead of pleasure, the Cynics promoted purposefully living in hardship ("ponos"). All of this was because it was seen as natural and therefore as good, whereas society was innately unnatural and therefore bad, as were material benefits. Pleasures provided by nature (which would be immediately accessible) were acceptable, however. The Cynic Crates of Thebes (365–285 BC) hence claimed that "Philosophy is a quart of beans and to care for nothing".


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: The Peripatetic school was composed of philosophers who maintained and developed the philosophy of Aristotle after his death. They advocated examination of the world to understand the ultimate foundation of things. The goal of life was the eudaimonia which originated from virtuous actions, which consisted in keeping the mean between the two extremes of the too much and the too little.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Pyrrhonism is a school of philosophical skepticism that originated with Pyrrho in the 3rd century BC, and was further advanced by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC. Its objective is ataraxia (being mentally unperturbed), which is achieved through epoché (i.e. suspension of judgment) about non-evident matters (i.e., matters of belief). Because Pyrrho had traveled to India, some historians believe that Pyrrhonism was influenced by Buddhism.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Epicureanism was founded by Epicurus in the 3rd century BC. Its epistemology was based on empiricism, believing that sensual experiences cannot be false, even if they can be misleading, as they are product of the world interacting with one's body. Repeated sensory experiences can then be used to form concepts ("prolepsis") about the world, and such concepts which are widely shared ('common conceptions') can further provide the basis for philosophy. Applying his empiricism, Epicurus supported atomism by noting that matter could not be destroyed as it would eventually dwindle down to nothing, and that there must be void for matter to move around. While this in itself did not prove the existence of atoms, he argued against the alternative by noting that infinitely divisible objects would be infinitely large, similar to Zeno's paradoxes.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: It viewed the universe as being ruled by chance, with no interference from gods. It regarded absence of pain as the greatest pleasure, and advocated a simple life.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium in the 3rd century BC. Based on the ethical ideas of the Cynics, it taught that the goal of life was to live in accordance with Nature. It advocated the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Pythagorean views were revived in Plato's Old Academy and during the Hellenistic period pseudo-pythagorean writings began circulating. Eventually in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD Neopythagoreanism came to be recognized.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Hellenistic Judaism was an attempt to establish the Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism. Its principal representative was Philo of Alexandria.


title: Hellenistic philosophy

text: Hellenistic Christianity was the attempt to reconcile Christianity with Greek philosophy, beginning in the late 2nd century. Drawing particularly on Platonism and the newly emerging Neoplatonism, figures such as Clement of Alexandria sought to provide Christianity with a philosophical framework.


The 2016 United States presidential election in Florida was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Florida voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. Florida has 29 electoral votes in the Electoral College.


title: 2016 United States presidential election in Florida

text: Trump carried the state with a plurality of 49.0% of the popular vote, which included a 1.2% winning margin over Clinton, who had 47.8% of the vote. Trump consequently became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying Hillsborough County since Calvin Coolidge in 1924. Trump was also the first Republican presidential candidate to carry St. Lucie County since 1992, and the first to carry Jefferson and Monroe Counties since 1988; all three of these counties were last carried by George H. W. Bush.


text: Florida voted for Donald Trump by a margin of 1.2%. It was the fifth-closest state result, with only Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania closer. According to the National Election Pool, Trump got a majority of 54% from the Cuban-American voters in the state—in comparison to the 71% of Clinton support by Latino voters from other origins.


text: The eighth debate took place on March 9, 2016, at 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time in Building 7 of the Kendall Campus of Miami Dade College in Kendall, Florida. It was broadcast through a partnership between Univision and "The Washington Post". The debate was discussed during a job interview conducted in early 2015 between the Democratic National Committee's then-Communications Director Mo Elleithee and future Hispanic Media Director Pablo Manriquez. After starting at the DNC in April 2015, Manriquez "talked about the idea for a debate for Democratic candidates on Univision to anyone who had ears to listen." The debate was officially announced on November 2, 2015.


text: The twelfth debate was the fourth and final debate to air on CNN and led into the Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Missouri, and Ohio primaries on March 15. The candidates debated at the University of Miami, moderated by Jake Tapper and questioned by CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash, Salem Radio Network talk-show host Hugh Hewitt, and "Washington Times" contributor Stephen Dinan. "The Washington Times" cohosted the debate. The debate was originally scheduled considering the likelihood that no candidate would clinch the Republican nomination before March 15, due to the overall size of the field. On the day of the debate, CNN summarized the immediate stakes: "This debate comes just five days ahead of 'Super Tuesday 3', when more than 350 delegates are decided, including winner-take-all contests in Florida and Ohio. Both Trump and Rubio are predicting [a win in] Florida. For Trump, a win here would fuel his growing momentum and further grow his delegate lead; for Rubio, losing his home state could be the death knell for his campaign." This was the twelfth and final debate appearance of Rubio, who suspended his campaign on March 15.


text: On July 31, 2016, the Green Party of Florida announced that Jill Stein had won the Florida primary via instant-runoff voting.


text: In early polling conducted in late 2015, Trump started with strong momentum and won almost every poll against Clinton by margins varying from 2 to 8 points. In March 2016, Trump's early momentum seemed to slow, as Clinton won every poll until June 2016, when Trump won a poll 45% to 44%. Most polling conducted throughout the summer was favorable to Clinton, but both candidates were neck and neck in late August and early September, with neither having a consistent lead. From mid September to October 20, Clinton won every poll but one. In the last weeks, polling was extremely close, with neither candidate taking the lead. The third to last and fourth to last poll ended in a tie, but Trump won the last poll 50% to 46%. The average of the last three polls showed Trump ahead 47.3% to 46.7%, where the race was essentially tied.


title: Maximilian Osinski

text: Maximilian Osinski is an Austrian-born American actor known for his recurring role as Agent Davis on "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.".


title: Maximilian Osinski

text: Maximilian Osinski was born in Austria, but raised in Chicago before moving to New York City to study acting. Max has acted on film, including "Love & Other Drugs" and "". He makes a recurring appearance on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." as Agent Davis where his wife Dichen Lachman portrayed the villain in season 2. He co-wrote and co-produced the web series "Hollywood Hitmen" along with Enver Gjokaj, and starred opposite 'Scream Queen' Jordan Ladd and Australian actor Adam J. Yeend in the hit short film Brentwood Strangler.


title: Maximilian Osinski

text: Osinski has been married to Australian actress Dichen Lachman since January 2015. In May of the same year she gave birth to their daughter.


title: Estates General of 1789

text: The Estates General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom of France. Summoned by King Louis XVI, the Estates General of 1789 ended when the Third Estate formed the National Assembly and, against the wishes of the King, invited the other two estates to join. This signaled the outbreak of the French Revolution.


title: Estates General of 1789

text: The suggestion to summon the Estates General came from the Assembly of Notables installed by the King on 22 February 1787. This institution had not been called since 1614. In 1787, the Parlement of Paris was refusing to ratify Charles Alexandre de Calonne's program of badly needed financial reform, due to the special interests of its noble members. Calonne was the Controller-General of Finances, appointed by the King to address the state deficit. As a last measure, Calonne was hoping to bypass them by reviving the archaic institution. The initial roster of Notables included 137 nobles, among them many future revolutionaries, such as the Comte de Mirabeau and the Marquis de Lafayette, known at this time for his central role in the American Revolution. Calonne received little cooperation from the assembly, being dismissed on 8 April 1787 and banished shortly after for proposing a 'Subvention Territoriale', or land tax. He continued to comment on the French political scene from London.


title: Estates General of 1789

text: Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne, President of the Assembly of Notables, succeeded Calonne as the Controller-General of Finances. He was offered the post of Prime Minister by the king, which was to include being Controller. The Notables nevertheless remained recalcitrant. They made a number of proposals but they would not grant the King money. Lafayette suggested that the problem required a national assembly. Brienne asked him if he meant the Estates General. On receiving an affirmative answer, Brienne recorded it as a proposal. Frustrated by his inability to obtain money, the King staged a day-long harangue, and then on 25 May dissolved the Notables. Their proposals reverted to the Parlement.


title: Estates General of 1789

text: Turning again to the parlements, the king found that they were inclined to continue the issues that had been raised in the Assembly of Notables. Their proper legal function, besides giving advice to the king, was only to register, or record, his edicts as law, a matter of simple obedience, which the king's antecessors had been able to command, sometimes by sternness, threats, and losses of temper. Unless registered, the edicts were not lawful.


title: Estates General of 1789

text: On 6 July 1787, Loménie forwarded the "Subvention Territoriale" and another tax, the "Edit du Timbre", or "Stamp Act," based on the American model, for registration. The parlement refused to register an illegal act, demanding accounting statements, or "States," as a prior condition. It was the king's turn to refuse. The members of the parlement insisted that they required either the accounting States or a meeting of the Estates General. The king would not let this slight to his authority pass and commanded the parliament to assemble at Versailles, where on 6 August he ordered them in person to register the taxes. On 7 August back in Paris, parlement declared in earnest this time the order to be null and void, repudiating all previous registrations of taxes. Only the Estates General, they said, could register taxes.


title: Estates General of 1789

text: For the second time, the king summoned the parlement away from Paris, where crowds of people cheered their every action from the street, this time to meet at Troyes, Champagne on 15 August. He did not personally appear. By messenger he and the parlement negotiated an agreement: the king withdrew the Stamp Tax and modified the Land Tax to exclude the lands of people of title in return for the assured registration of further loans. The parlement was allowed to return on 20 September. Encouraged, Loménie, with the support of the king, went beyond what was agreed to by parlement—the granting of specific loans. He proposed an Emprunt Successif (Successive Loan) until 1792 giving the king a blank cheque. When parlement delayed, the king resorted to a ruse; he scheduled a Royal Hunt for 19 November. On that day at 11:00 AM the king and his peers noisily entered the session of parlement dressed in hunting clothes. They would confer with each other and have the decisions registered immediately, they said.


title: Estates General of 1789

text: Nearly the entire government was now face-to-face. They argued the problems and issues concerned until dusk, some six hours later. Parlement believed that the problem had gone beyond the government and needed the decisions of the Estates General which did not correspond to the king's concept of monarchy. At the end of the day, the king demanded the registration of the Successive Loan. The Duc d'Orléans (a previous Notable, a relative of the king, and an ardent revolutionary), later known as "Philippe Égalité", asked if this were a Royal Session of the Peers or a Session of Parlement. On being told it was a Royal Session he replied that edicts were not registered at Royal Sessions. The king retorted, "Vous êtes bien le maître" (do as YOU will) with some sarcasm as the king's will was legally required, and strode angrily from the session with a retinue. "Lettres de Cachet," or arbitrary arrest warrants, followed on the 20th for D'Orleans and two others. They were taken into custody and held under comfortable conditions away from Paris; D'Orleans on his country estate. Parlement began a debate on the legality of "Lettres de Cachet". The men being held became a "cause célèbre."


title: Estates General of 1789

text: As the king and parlement could accomplish no more together, Brienne, over the winter, pressed for an alternative plan; to resurrect even more archaic institutions. The "Grand Bailliages," or larger legal jurisdictions that once had existed, would assume parlements' legal functions, while the Plenary Court, last known under Louis IX, when it had the power to register edicts, would assume the registration duties of the parlements, leaving them with no duties to perform. The king planned a sudden revelation and dismissal of parlement. However, Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil heard the government presses running and bribed the printer to give him the proofs of the edict. Hearing it read the next day, 3 May 1788, parlement swore an oath not to be disbanded and defined a manifesto of their rights.


title: Estates General of 1789

text: Warrants were issued for d'Eprémesnil and another but they escaped from their homes over the rooftops in the early morning to seek refuge in parlement. The king sent his guards to arrest them, and they surrendered. Parlement filed silently out between a line of guards. The commander gave the key to the building to the king.


title: Estates General of 1789

text: The transfer of power to the new government was to begin on 8 May 1788 with the registration of the edicts establishing it in the regional Parlement. The latter refused unanimously following the Parlement of Paris. If the King's commissioners forced the issue Parlement abandoned the meeting place only to return the next day to declare the registration null and void. Armed protest swept the kingdom. Street fighting broke out at Rennes, Brittany. A deputation sent to Paris from there was imprisoned in the Bastille. The Bretons in Paris founded the Breton Club, later renamed the Jacobin Society. The Grand Bailliages could not be created and the Plenary Court met only once.